 9       5,2%

   1  2022       5,2%        699 553 .
Winds of up to 125 kms per hour swept through several rural communities of Funing and Sheyang counties on the outskirts of Yangcheng.

People look at damaged trees after a tornado hit Funing on Thursday, in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China June 24, 2016.Credit:Reuters

By India Today Web Desk: The death toll from a fierce tornado and hailstorm in China's Jiangsu province rose to 99, with 846 others injured, officials said on Sunday.

The deadliest tornado recorded in the area since 1966 was accompanied by strong and gusty winds and heavy rains. The hailstorms strike the farmland and factories in Yancheng city on Thursday causing destruction to houses, damaging wire poles and destroying a solar panel factory where hazardous chemicals were stored, Xinhua news agency reported.

advertisement

SHELTER TO HOMELESS VICTIMS

The city government said 1,591 homeless victims were accommodated in temporary shelters in two countries, and rescuers are rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunication facilities.

AIR CURRENT SWEEPS RURAL RESIDENTS FROM YANGCHENG

Winds of up to 125 kms per hour swept through several rural communities of Funing and Sheyang counties on the outskirts of Yangcheng.



CHEMICAL LEAK HAZARD LOOMS LARGE

Now, the main concern is to avoid chemical leaks as some of them are toxic such as sulphuric acid, nitric acids, ammonia, hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen fluoride that were in the solar panels warehouse.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) President Pranab Mukherjee today said terrorism, smuggling and drug activities are co-related and a concerted effort is needed to break the nexus which was creating "havoc" in the countrys social life.

Regretting that the menace of alcoholism and drug abuse was leading to a "complete loss of values" and rise in crime rate, the President said governments, NGOs and civil society members have to work together to eradicate these vices.

advertisement

His remarks came on the occasion of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as the President also presented the National Awards for Outstanding Services in the field of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drugs) Abuse.

Referring to the growing menace of terrorism, Mukherjee questioned the sources of funding for growing terrorist activities and said many studies have established that terrorism, smuggling and drug activities are co-related.

Unless these linkages are broken, it will be very difficult to fight all three, he said.

"These social vices have caused havoc in our country as well as across the world. The menace can never be eradicated only by the efforts of the government, and large number of NGOs and civil society organisations have to work together to create awareness about the two social menace.

"It is not only the problems of the individuals, it has an affect on the society as it gives rise to a tendency for criminal activities, violence, rape.

"There is a complete loss of values which bind the society together," said Mukherjee.

Congratulating the recipients of the awards for their outstanding contributions in the field of prevention of alcoholism and substance abuse, he told them not to be complacent and to continue with efforts to eradicate the twin menace.

Thaawarchand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, said efforts should be directed towards bringing drug abuse victims into the mainstream society and make their lives a success.

He also said his ministry is fully committed to implementation of demand reduction strategy in the country. With this in view, the ministry is implementing the Scheme of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse since 1985-86, under which financial assistance is provided to Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) engaged in demand reduction activities.

He said he had also launched, a National Toll Free Helpline (1800-11-0031)to assist the alcoholics and drug dependent persons, their family members and community. PTI PLB SAI RT SAI

--- ENDS ---
The Army's artillery modernization plan sees induction of a mix of canons included mounted, towed, self propelled and wheeled guns costing more than one lakh crore rupees. Dhanush is an indigenous answer to fill the requirement.

By Gautam Datt: The end of Army's gun drought is in sight as the government on Saturday cleared decks for the long stuck purchase of ultra-light howitzers from the US and Dhanush, the much delayed "desi" Bofors, is getting ready to fire.



LONG TIME COMING

India has not bought a new piece of artillery since the Bofors inducted in the 1987 was caught in the corruption fire. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in its meeting on Saturday, approved procurement of 145 M-777 light guns from the United States of America.

advertisement

The contract for these guns, meant to be deployed in the forward locations across the China border, had been hanging for around 12 years. A defence ministry official said that these guns, which will be acquired for $750 million, will be delivered in India to reduce the transportation cost substantially.

Ultra light howitzers can easily be carried in helicopters as under slung load and transported to high altitude areas along the India-China border where the Army is raising a new strike corps.



THE PATH FORWARD

Under the plan, 25 guns will be supplied directly from the US and the rest will be assembled in India at a facility being set up by Mahindra.

India had sent a letter of request to the US government for the purchase of these guns. After going through the response by the US government, New Delhi approved the Letter of Acceptance to be sent back for completing the purchase. The DAC also cleared road map for the induction of Dhanush, the local version of Bofor guns.

Dhanush is based on the designs provided in the 1980s at the time of the purchase of Bofors FHB02 guns. It took three decades for the government to pull out these designs and start production in India.

A defence ministry official said that three Dhanush guns will be provided to the Army by June 30 and another three by September end for use. It will be followed by supply of another 18 guns leading to the final production by the Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) for the bulk orders by the Army.

MODERNIZATION OF THE ARMY

The extensive design of Dhanush was received as part of Transfer of Technology (ToT) clause signed with the purchase of Bofors in the 1980s. The long delays in procurements had severely affected Army's fire power.

The Army's artillery modernization plan sees induction of a mix of canons included mounted, towed, self propelled and wheeled guns costing more than one lakh crore rupees. Dhanush is an indigenous answer to fill the requirement.

The gun has performed well during trials leading to the final run beginning this month end. There are several improvements that have been in the Dhanush. For instance, the gun has a longer range of 38 km as against the 27-km of Bofors.

advertisement

And, it automatically changes targeting systems to adopt to changes in ammunition and atmospheric pressures. Besides, the gunner has a high resolution sight which includes infrared that helps better targeting at night.

ALSO READ:



Indian Army warns Rs 40,000 crore Arunachal border road could be a liability



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) completed the tunnelling on the under construction Dwarka?Najafgarh corridor (Line-9) as part of the Delhi Metros Phase-III project in South-West Delhi.

The 400 metric tonne Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) emerged at Najafgarh retrieval shaft near Tura Mandi site after making a 0.67 KM (555 rings) long tunnel from the site near Sai Baba Mandir of Najafgarh, sources said.

advertisement

At this point the elevated alignment coming from Dwarka goes underground through a ramp. The tunnelling on this stretch began on November 9 last year. The depth of the tunnel varies from 6.1 metre to 10.5 meter below the ground surface, they said. PTI PLB RG

--- ENDS ---
A senior police officer posted in south Kashmir said things are changing in the Valley and there is a surge in militancy, not fuelled by Pakistan. He attributed it to radicalisation of the youth coupled with intense anger.

By Mail Today: In Karimabad village, 56-year-old Ghulam Rasool Pandit was the lone person who didn't participate in his son 28-year-old son Naseer Ahmad Pandit's funeral procession. In the region, where thousands participate in funeral prayers of militants, it was something unusual. But he had his reasons.

"After all he was my son, dear son. Being a father, I couldn't muster the courage to participate in my son's funeral. I didn't want people to see me in tears", he says.

advertisement

MILITANCY

In 2015 Naseer, a constable with the Jammu and Kashmir Police decamped with two AK-47 rifles and joined the Hizbul Mujahideen. He was seen close to Hizbul Mujahideen's 22-yearold commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani.

Naseer was killed in an encounter in south Kashmir Shopian district on April 7. Ghulam Rasool says being a man of principles his son was against drug traffickers and once he saw the police being hand-in-glove with them, he decided to call it a day and joined militancy. The father says his son had his own approach and ideology.

RADICALISATION

Police officers say not Pakistan, but the ideology coupled with anger against the system, was responsible for surge in the militancy. This year, according to police 38 youth so far have joined militancy. In the same period last year the number stood at 29. Last year, 72 youths had joined militant outfits. According to sources, this year 68 militants have been killed including 41 unidentified, 22 locals.

A senior police officer posted in south Kashmir said things are changing in the Valley and there is a surge in militancy, not fuelled by Pakistan. He attributed it to radicalisation of the youth coupled with intense anger.

BATTLE OF HEARTS AND MINDS

The Army, police and security agencies have long tried to win, what they call, "battle of hearts and minds" in protracted insurgency in Kashmir. But the largescale funeral processions in South Kashmir, which now spread everywhere, show different picture of the ground zero. On Friday, youths having stones and bricks in their hand assembled in the old town Srinagar and halted stone throwing at the police and paramilitary forces for few moments to offer prayers in absentia for six militants, all foreigners, killed in two separate encounters in frontier Kupwara on Thursday. In Kupwara hundreds of people participated in the last rites of a militant in frontier district.

ALSO READ:

2 terrorists gunned down in Kashmir's Uri sector



Pak pitches for speedy resolution of Kashmir dispute

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Jalandhar, Jun 24 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said his government will ensure that all victims of terror in the state get justice.

"A number of them (terror victims) have already got justice. Whoever comes forward will get it as well," he told reporters on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme in Dhariwal village in Nakodar Assembly segment here.

advertisement

The Chief Minister was replying to a query regarding justice for around 25,000 terror victims in Punjab.

"Whenever a case has come to our notice or someone has contacted us, we have ensured justice for the victims. If there are cases that are yet to come to the governments notice, we will seek information about them and ensure justice," he said.

His comments come in the backdrop of AAP state convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepurs recent announcement in Jalandhar that if his party comes to power in Punjab, a probe committee will be formed to look into the cases of those who lost their lives in terror-related incidents.

Earlier, Badal told the gathering that his government has propelled Punjab to the number one spot in the electricity sector. PTI CORR RC ZMN SRY

--- ENDS ---
These pre-wedding photographs also include the groom's trip to a hospital, after getting bitten by a snake.

By India Today Web Desk: Gladiator groomsmen crashing a wedding? Sure. But what if the uninvited guest turns out to be a venomous reptile?

Yup! This bride and groom's wedding photo-shoot was gate-crashed by a rattlesnake, who was hiding in the bushes, which led the couple to make an inadvertent trip to the hospital.

Also read: Spartan groomsmen with six-pack abs will make you wish they gatecrashed your wedding

advertisement

A Colorado couple was getting their pre-reception photo-shoot done, when a rattlesnake bit the groom in the ankle.

"All of a sudden, it was like someone had kicked me in the shin. Then I looked over and saw the snake sitting there, and it was rattling," Johnny Benson told the Denver Post.

The photographer, Maddie Mae, and the bride, Laura Benson, said they shouted out to a park ranger, who was at a distance and thus clearly unable to hear them. So, he yelled back, "Congratulations!"

Also read: Can you believe that these wedding gowns are made of toilet paper? Even we couldn't!

The park ranger eventually reached the spot and took care of Johnny till the paramedics arrived, who put him in an ambulance and treated him in the emergency room.

Maddie being an adventure photographer kept snapping, and thus, these pictures tell the whole, epic story!

The doctors said Johnny was only bitten by the snake and no venom was injected into the body. Keeping in mind that the couple had a wedding reception to attend, the medical staff did not hold them for too long in the hospital.

The couple reached their reception venue only one hour late! "I've never seen such an emotional 'grand entrance' as all 184 guests cheered when Johnny and Laura walked in, and showered them in a sea of passionate hugs. I admire Laura & Johnny so much for staying calm, and holding each other's hand through the first great test of their brand new marriage," Maddie Mae wrote.

Laura Benson called the whole experience "pretty epic".

Pictures courtesy: Maddie Mae

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) With a complaint being lodged against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, 52 MLAs of the ruling AAP today created high drama here as they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence to "surrender" him but they were detained more than a kilometre away.

The MLAs, including six ministers, were detained for violating prohibitory orders around 7 Race Course Road residence of the Prime Minister, a high security area.

advertisement

The police, which asserted that they would take action against anybody violating the law, detained them outside Race Course Metro station and took them to the Parliament Street police station. They were released after some time.

Aam Aadmi Party has 67 MLAs in the House of 70.

The latest confrontation between AAP government and the Centre was triggered over a complaint against Sisodia by the traders of Ghazipur market that he had threatened them. This came close on the heels of arrest of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya on charges of molestation and sexual harassment yesterday.

"I had just gone to tell Modi ji that let us work for the people of Delhi. If you are fond of arresting us then do it. Before they ask the police to arrest us, we said you have enmity against the MLAs. Arrest us. But dont obstruct the work of Delhi," said Sisodia who led the march.

After his release, he said, "We (AAP MLAs) all went together. If you (PM) want to do politics of sending us to jail then we will all come to you. Send us to jail together. At least the Delhi Police can nab the rapists. Which is why we went, but they detained us."

Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM."

The decision to take out a march to the Prime Ministers residence was taken a meeting of Legislators called by Kejriwal this morning. It was attended even by Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel and his deputy Rakhi Birla. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju termed the act as "a drama". He said the people of Delhi have given the AAP a mandate to work but Kejriwal was indulging in "theatrics". (MORE) PTI PR DEY AKK AKK

--- ENDS ---
The girl has been allegedly denied the right to stay in the hostel of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay residential school in Kendrapara district since past one year, though the school authorities allowed her to continue studies.

By PTI: 13-year-old girl affected by HIV/AIDS has been driven out of the hostel of a Central government-run school in Odisha's Kendrapara district allegedly on the insistence of other students parents, a child rights activist said.

The girl has been allegedly denied the right to stay in the hostel of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay residential school since past one year, though the school authorities allowed her to continue studies.

advertisement

CONFIDENTIALITY OF HIV-POSITIVE STATUS CHILD BREACHED



"Its very unfortunate that authorities of a school run by the Ministry of Human Resources Development treated the child unfairly. The confidentiality of her HIV-positive status child has been breached. This led to violation of her right to privacy. Stigmatisation of this nature has undermined her dignity," said child rights campaigner Biraja Prasad Pati.

Pati alleged that the school authorities took this action following opposition from parents of other students.

CHILD HAS NEVER BEEN DISCRIMINATED, SAYS SCHOOL



Navodaya Vidyalay Principal Parvati Pradhan, however, said, "The child has never been discriminated. On health ground, we had allowed her to study here while staying at home on her guardians request. We had done so purely on humanitarian consideration."

The girl who is good at studies has recently been promoted to standard nine, but because of the humiliation, her guardians have decided to seek transfer and admit her in the village school, she said.

She has stopped going to school after being denied hostel stay, Pati said, adding she goes to school only to write the examination twice a year.

"Our village is at least 45 km from the school. We used to take her to school occasionally. But as the strenuous journey took a toll on her health, we later stopped it," her family members said. "We have decided to enrol her in village school in 9th standard."

GIRL LOST HER PARENTS TO AIDS



The girl lost her parents to AIDS long back and is presently being taken care of by her paternal uncle. Her younger brother is also HIV/AIDS carrier.

"Denying education to children with HIV/AIDS is an offence as per Supreme Court order," Pati said.

"I have petitioned the district collector and has sought action against the school authorities," Pati said.

Kendrapara Additional District Magistrate, Dhananjay Swain, said, "We have received a petition which alleged discrimination against the child living with HIV/AIDS. The administration is inuring into it. If the charge is proved, action would be taken against the school authorities."

--- ENDS ---
Mira Rajput is currently in the third trimester of her pregnancy and couldn't travel to Madrid with Shahid Kapoor.

By India Today Web Desk: Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput had tied the knot in July 2015 and are known to send the paparazzi into a frenzy every time they step out together. Mira is currently in the third trimester of her pregnancy and the baby is expected to arrive sometime in mid-September.

ALSO READ: Mira Rajput happy and overwhelmed with response to Shahid Kapoor's performance as Tommy Singh



advertisement

And Shahid is currently in Spain and the 17th edition of International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) was hosted by the Haider actor and Farhan Akhtar. Shahid has been keeping a close eye on Mira as she is admitted in the hospital. This is the reason Mira couldn't travel to Madrid with Shahid.

According to a report in DNA, when asked about Mira, Shahid said, "It's always hard to leave her behind. You will also understand it the day you get married."

Shahid also talked about his film Udta Punjab at IIFA's green carpet. The film has been recieving positive reviews from both the critics and the audience. The Shaandaar actor said, "It is weird that such a dark movie (Udta Punjab) is the biggest opening of my career. So, I guess there is only good content and bad content."

Just yesterday, there were reports that Mira is overwhelmed with the response Shahid has been getting for the potrayal of rockstar Tommy Singh in Udta Punjab.

--- ENDS ---
The Economic Affairs Secretary said India would continue to attract investments, adding that the Indian economy was real strong.

By Devina Gupta: As the world faced the Brexit jolt, India is ready to firewall the impact on its economy.

Allaying fears of Indian economy shakeup, the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das while speaking to India Today said we would continue to attract investments.

"Our real economy is real strong. Macro parameters of our country are quite strong like Fiscal Deficit and Current Account Deficit. India continues to be an attractive destination for FDI and FII inflows.," he said.

advertisement

He made this comment after furious Friday on the D-street.



THE IMPACT ON INDIAN ECONOMY The Indian markets reacted to global sell off with Sensex and Nifty plunging over 4 percent or 1090 points and 343 points in intraday trade respectively but domestic investors helped gain some lost ground at the market close. Even the Rupee breached 68 but closed at 67.2, a level seen in February this year. "We expect Indian markets to stabilize much faster compared to other global markets. Also the forex reserve of the RBI are quite robust at 366 billion dollars and India is far better placed to deal with any eventuality arising out of BREXIT", added Shaktikanta Das. Indian exports to EU and Britain stood at $35.35 billion and $9,35 billion in 2015-16 respectively. While healthy pile of forex reserve may calm exporters reeling under Euro and Pound uncertainity, Indian companies operating in the UK are feeling the Brexit blues. For example, the Tata Group that is present in the UK since 1907 is projected to take the biggest hit. Tata Motors itself will face loss of $1.47 billion dollars in next 4 years if it wants to access EU through UK and pay levy on vehicles. Tata Steel's UK exit could see fresh hurdles. "India is the 3rd largest investor in the UK and nearly 800 Indian companies are present in the UK. Many of them use the UK as a gateway to EU and they will have to reorient their business models. But the specifics of the reorientation of their business model will depend on how the negotiations are done between the UK and EU", said Shaktikanta Das. Interestingly, the Finance Minister who is in Beijing and monitoring the BREXIT impact closely will be meeting his Chinese counterpart on Sunday. China maybe facing a slowdown but that hasn't stopped it from blocking India's NSG bid at Seoul. Already Indo-China foreign secretary level talks is shrouded in diplomatic quagmire this meeting will determine future of Indo-China trade relations in this time of global volatility. "Incidentally the FM is in Beijing and he is having a meeting with the Finance Minister of China and all these issues will be discussed in the meeting and we will know about it. The official secretary level bilateral dialogue between India and China which was also planned during this period but had to be postponed, contrary to some wrong reports in the media, because I had to stay back because of the BREXIT voting. I can tell you that bilateral economic relations between India and China continue to be as they were", said Shaktikanta Das.

Also Read:

How the Brexit referendum is going to affect global economy, foreign policy

UKs EU Commissioner resigns after Brexit





--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Shirish B Pradhan

Kathmandu, Jun 26 (PTI) More than 8,000 pillars along the India-Nepal border will be linked to a Global Navigation Satellite System, allowing authorities for the first time to effectively manage the over 1,700-km-long porous boundary.

Nepals Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Nepal?India Boundary Global Navigation Satellite System (NIB GNSS) will be used for the boundary pillars.

advertisement

The decision in this regard was made at the third meeting of Nepal?India Boundary Working Group (BWG) which concluded here yesterday, a statement from the ministry said.

Krishna Raj BC, Director General of the Survey Department, led the Nepali delegation during the three-day meeting while the Indian delegation was led by Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General of India.

"The BWG meeting reviewed reports submitted before it by the SOC (Survey Officials Committee) and Joint Field Survey Teams (FST), and appreciated the progress made on the ongoing boundary work carried out at Nepal?India border," it said.

The officials decided that the completion of the "backlogged tasks from previous field seasons" will be given high priority.

"Both the delegations reaffirmed the importance of effective boundary management. In this context, they emphasised the importance of making local authorities and people living along the border aware of the field works being conducted by joint field teams," it said.

Before the BWG meeting, the fourth meeting of the SOC was held here from 20 to 22 June. The two countries have decided that the SOC would next meet in September this year and the BWG in August 2017, in India. PTI SBP ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
The Commission said that thousands of farmers were being affected on account of the state government's move of "evicting them and cancelling their lease and collecting advance rentals."

By India Today Web Desk: The Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission, after reports stating that the state government was evicting minorities- be it Dalits, Christians or Muslims- from the temple lands, has issued notices to the Andhra Pradesh government. The issue came to light after India Today reported the blatant disregard of the government.

The non-Hindus were barred from working on the grounds that the land which belonged to a Hindu temple or mutt could not be cultivated by a non-Hindu.

advertisement

HERE ARE THE LATEST UPDATES The State Minorities Commission took cognisance of the issue after India Today reported how the AP government started evicting minority farmers from temple land. The Commission said that thousands of such farmers were being affected on account of the state government's move of "evicting them and cancelling their lease and collecting advance rentals." The Commission has sought a reply on the issue from the Secretary of the Revenue Department of the AP government by July 4.

THE ISSUE

The Andhra Pradesh government started serving notices to the tenant farmers from minority communities- Dalits, Christians or Muslims- earlier this month. The farmers were asked to hand over the land under their possession to the state government.

Further, the Dalit tenants had to submit a certificate from the Church which would declare that they were not practicing Christianity, in order to continue working on the temple lands. The Muslims, on the other hand, were barred from taking up any work on these lands.

The notices came after the government directed its officials to start evicting the farmers belonging to minority community from the endowment lands. This was apparently done on the grounds that the land which belonged to a Hindu temple or a mutt could not be cultivated by a non-Hindu.

This move came after the government, in November 2015, issued an order regarding this. The order, however, was being implemented now with the beginning of the new agricultural season, when the land lease is renewed.

Also Read:

Andhra Pradesh Tourism announces 25 tour packages; check them out

Andhra Pradesh CM to tour China from tomorrow; attend WEF meet





--- ENDS ---
The assault is part of a wider offensive by Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants who seized swathes of territory in 2014 but are now being driven back.

Military vehicles of the Iraqi security forces pass flag of Islamic State militants in the northwestern Golan district of Falluja. (Photo:Reuters)

By Reuters: Iraqi forces recaptured the last district held by Islamic State militants in the city of Falluja on Sunday and the general commanding the operation declared the battle over after nearly five weeks of fighting.

Iraqi forces reached the centre of Falluja last week but militants remained holed up in some parts of the city west of Baghdad, including in its Golan district, which Iraqi forces retook on Sunday.

advertisement

OFFENSIVE AGAINST ISIS

The assault is part of a wider offensive by Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants who seized swathes of territory in 2014 but are now being driven back by an array of forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

The success of the Falluja operation launched on May 23 gives fresh momentum to Iraqi forces in the campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city anywhere in the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria.

"As we promised you, today this flag is flying high in Falluja and, God willing, it will soon fly in Mosul," said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, standing in front of Falluja's main hospital waving the Iraqi flag.



ISIS BEING DRIVEN BACK

The swift entry of Iraqi forces into central Falluja last week surprised many who expected a drawn-out battle with Islamic State for the bastion of Sunni insurgency, where some of the toughest fighting of the U.S. occupation took place after 2003.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, who was in charge of the operation, told state TV on Sunday that at least 1,800 Islamic State fighters had been killed in the operation to retake Falluja and the rest had fled. Some militants were still holding out in buildings, he said.

Iraqi forces are now dismantling bombs and booby-trapped houses, whilst pursuing militants who slipped out of the city from the northwest, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism forces that spearheaded the offensive, told Reuters.

FALLUJA



The insurgents had put up limited resistance in Falluja and folded after some of their commanders abandoned the fight.

Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said on Twitter around 90 percent of Falluja remained "safe and habitable", comparing that favourably with the cities of Ramadi and Sinjar, which were recaptured from Islamic State but badly damaged in the process.

Fighting to recapture the Iraqi city has forced more than 85,000 residents to flee to overwhelmed government-run camps. The United Nations says it has received allegations of abuse of civilians fleeing the city, including by members of Shi'ite armed groups supporting the offensive.

The militants seized Falluja in January 2014, six months before they declared a "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq.

advertisement

The mayor of Falluja told Reuters that displaced families could return to the city within two months if the government and intentional aid agencies provided assistance.

"The city doesn't just require a rebuilding of its infrastructure but also serious rehabilitation of its society," said Esa al-Esawi.

"Daesh (Islamic State) worked to brainwash people and we need serious programmes by the international community to help people get rid of Daesh's deviant ideologies and restore their normal life."

ALSO READ:

Islamic State halts Iraqi army at gates of Fallujah, civilians in crossfire



Iraq announces start of Falluja operation, some residents flee



--- ENDS ---
According to Chouhan, it is mandatory to maintain good relationship with China despite its opposition to India's entry in the NSG.

By Rahul Noronha: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said that his proposed cabinet reshuffle is on schedule but refused to assign a date by which it would happen. Earlier, at a BJP state executive meet on June 16 and 17 ,Chouhan had hinted at a cabinet reshuffle by the end of June.

Chouhan, who returned to Bhopal after a week-long visit to China and Hong Kong said that it is imperative that the two countries continue to maintain a cordial relation inspite of Chinese opposition to India's entry in the NSG.

advertisement

"It is not a question whether I am disappointed at China's opposition to India's entry but what I witnessed in China was that they are keen to forge ties with India. Both countries are keeping in mind what is favourable for them,"he said adding that the PM tried his best to get India NSG membership.

"MADHYA PRADESH ATTRACTING INVESTMENT"

Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a favourable investment destination for the Chinese. While in China, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his entourage visited Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and met chambers of commerce to solicit investments.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan also met representatives of the Chinese community party. The CM upon his return to Bhopal on Sunday said that in China the communist party plays a role in running the government as well. When asked if he saw a role like that for the BJP, Chouhan sidestepped the issue.

He said that the government has enhanced the engagement level with China. The PM met his Chinese counterpart, the union finance minister also visited China and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister too was making a trip to China soon.



--- ENDS ---
Directed by Bani, an erstwhile assistant director of Samuthirakani, the film went on floors recently in Thiruvannamalai.

By India Today Web Desk: Acting in Kabali should have been a game changer for Dhanshika since the actor is now flooded with offers. The actor has recently signed in for a film titled Rani, which is directed by Bani, an erstwhile assistant director of Samuthirakani.

ALSO READ: Kabali star Dhanshika to play sex worker in a short film

advertisement

The film is touted to be a women-centric movie, and it recently went on floors in Thiruvannamalai. According to Kollywood, few portions of the film will be shot in Malaysia.

Now, maestro Ilaiyaraaja has been roped in to compose the music for the film.

The actor also has another project in her kitty which is titled Kaathadi. Dhanshika is playing a cop in the film which is about a kidnapping of a 6-year-old child. Starring Kali Venkat, Mano Bala, John Vijay and Sampath, the film is shot in parts of Chennai and Kerela.

Though Dhanshika has earlier acted in quality films like Aravaan and Paradesi, Kabali has provided the deserving spotlight for the actor.

--- ENDS ---
Police claimed that on the night of June 20, Chinnaraj and Pandiammal, had a heated argument over him not being not allowed into his house after sunset. In a fit of rage, he hit her with an iron rod. Pandiammal collapsed and died soon.

By Mail Today: Even before the shock of a woman techie's murder in a railway station in the middle of the city could subdue, another gruesome murder occurred near Royapettah in Chennai.

A 35-year-old man was arrested after he killed his wife and three stepdaughters and lived with their decomposing bodies for two days.

Chinnaraj was arrested by a special team of the Chennai police from near Marina Beach Service Road. The accused stayed with his wife Pandiammal and three step daughters in a 200 sq ft house behind Royapettah police station. He met Pandiammal (38) four years ago when he was on a trip to Palani, a famous pilgrimage spot. They moved to Chennai along with Pandiammal's three daughters.



PROBLEMS

advertisement

Problems began as the house was very small for the girls to stay.

Pandiammal's daughters Pavithra (19), Parimala (17) and Sneha (15) needed privacy and for this reason Chinnaraj was not allowed to stay inside the house at night.

FATEFUL NIGHT

Police claimed that on the night of June 20, Chinnaraj and Pandiammal had a heated argument over him not being not allowed into his house after sunset. In a fit of rage, he hit her with an iron rod. Pandiammal collapsed and died soon.

Chinnaraj later used the same rod to kill his three step daughters who were mortified. He later kept the bodies in four corners of the house covered with a sheet. Neighbours grew suspicious after stench rose from the decomposing bodies.

According to police, when they asked Chinnaraj about the stench, he said that a rat had died and added that he would clean it up soon. But as the stench became unbearable, Chinnnaraj's land owner informed the cops, who then broke into his home to find four decomposed bodies.

Police said that the eldest daughter wanted to do a paramedical course and the youngest was studying in standard 12. The other daughter was pursuing a course in polytechnic.



ALSO READ:

Woman Infosys employee hacked to death at railway station, CCTV footage shows attacker



--- ENDS ---
The LeT commanders took the cover of Ramazan and organized several Iftar camps for orphan kids in Gaza last year, and has been there since then. FIF organized its first camp in Somalia this year.

By Ankit Kumar: The recent activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba affiliated charity organization Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) outside Pakistan is a reason to worry for security agencies- it has been openly spreading its wings not just inside Pakistan but in faraway places like Gaza and Somalia.

FIF first set its foot in Gaza two years back; this year the group organized its first camp in Somalia.

advertisement

With troubled complex situation in Gaza and volatile socioeconomic conditions in Somalia, Lashkar commanders hope to find recruits and radicalize them easily in places like Gaza and Somalia than even in Pakistan and PoK.

TERRORISM IN FORM OF CHARITY

Ever since its formation, FIF has been the social front of LeT which is used extensively by the terrorist organization to make inroads into Pakistan's rural population.

Being a charity organization, it was also able to collect tax free money in the form of donation from several countries; this money was later transferred to LeT for their terrorist activities (mostly in India).

Two years after the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attacks, on November 24, 2010 the US government officially declared FIF, the charity wing of Hafiz Saeed's Jamat -ud-Dawa as an alias of LeT.

The executive order no E.O. 13224 also declared Hafiz Abdur Rauf, (the present chairman of FIF) a key financial facilitator for LeT and designated him as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

CHARITY GOES GLOBAL, SO DOES TERROR

In 2014, despite having the tag of affiliation with a global terrorist organization, FIF Pakistan managed to make an entry into Gaza.

The LeT commanders were wise enough to take the cover of holy month of Ramazan and several Iftar camps were organized for orphan kids in Gaza during the month of Ramadan. The Gaza camps of FIF Pakistan have been there since then.

Earlier this year, in the month of May, FIF took first steps towards the African nation of Somalia and organized their first camp in Somalia.

Most of these camps were organized around cities like Bosaso and Hargeisa, once again these activities started just two weeks before the holy month of Ramazan and were publicized as a charity event from a fellow Muslim country.

LeT operatives can get an uninterrupted access to a larger mass in the African nation through these charity camps. The local governments hardly care as there seems to be no prima facie threat about such charity camps that provide free food to poor during the holy month of Ramazan.

advertisement

As far as the governments of India and US are concerned, there are no visible signs of concern yet, not at least to the effect of tangible action as far as these terror sponsored charity camps on foreign lands are concerned.



TERROR FUND COLLECTION GOES HI-TECH Even though the activities of FIF and JuD have never been affected inside Pakistan due to the US government designating them as terrorist organization, the US order certainly restricted them in their attempts to extend their activities outside Pakistan. In 2015, FIF saw major revamp in their strategy and outreach activities, with an overhaul change in campaigning and fundraising style. In November 2015, on the anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, FIF launched their new website (www.devotedtohumanity.com). On March 12, 2015 FIF also launched its android app which allowed users to donate money using smartphones, thousands of JuD volunteers spent days promoting the newly launched FIF app on social media platforms. This app was designed to attract the tech-savvy Muslim youth towards the outfit and also collect donations in electronic form using smartphones. But the app vanished from Google's app store after few weeks of its launch. It is believed that it was done after the app caught eyes of US security agencies. Only a few days after the launch of FIF mobile application, on 31st March 2016, USA and Saudi Arabia jointly imposed sanctions against two people for allegedly funding FIF Pakistan from Saudi Arabia. These two terror financers named Naveed Qamar and Muhammad Ijaz Safarash were allegedly coordinating finances of LeT through FIF from Saudi Arabia and other countries from the middle east.

advertisement

Also Read:

LeT attacks CRPF convoy in Pampore, 2 militants killed, operation underway

EXCLUSIVE: UPA govt, Lashkar worked in tandem in Ishrat Jahan case, claims Kiren Rijiju







--- ENDS ---
Bill had been working for the New York Times for the past 40 years.

By Reuters: Bill Cunningham, the celebrated New York Times fashion photographer known for his shots of emerging trends on the streets of New York City, breathed his last on Saturday at age of 87 after being hospitalised for a stroke.

Cunningham worked for the New York Times for nearly 40 years, operating as "a dedicated chronicler of fashion and as an unlikely cultural anthropologist," the newspaper said.

advertisement

His photo spreads were a staple of the paper's Style section and chronicled changing fashion through his choice of themes such as swirling skirts, Birkin bags and gaudy floral prints.

"A lot of people complain about fashion and fast fashion. There is no fashion. That is baloney. Look at this," he said in a video for a recent spread in the paper on the use of black and white contrasts in clothing.

Cunningham took pictures of celebrated New Yorkers at swank events and travelled the city by bicycle for decades, often wearing his signature blue jacket, to shoot street fashion typically using a single-lens reflex camera.

Picture courtesy: Reuters

"He wanted to find subjects, not be the subject. He wanted to observe, rather than be observed. Asceticism was a hallmark of his brand," the newspaper said.

Cunningham, who had tried his hand at hat-making, was drafted by the US Army during the Korean War. After he got out in 1953, he eventually found work as a fashion reporter.

In the mid-1960s he acquired a small camera to help him with his work, and that started him off in fashion photography.

"I had just the most marvelous time with that camera. Everybody I saw I was able to record," he wrote in the Times in 2002.

In 2008, the French government awarded him the Legion d'Honneur for his work. A year later, he was named a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

Cunningham became known to a wider world through an acclaimed 2010 documentary chronicling his career, in which Vogue Magazine editor Anna Wintour quipped: "We all get dressed for Bill."

In an obituary in Vogue, editor-at-large Hamish Bowles wrote "his scrupulous editorial standards of both content and comportment were old world."

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., publisher and chairman of the Times, said Cunningham's "company was sought after by the fashion world's rich and powerful, yet he remained one of the kindest, most gentle and humble people I have ever met."

His life was one of austerity. He slept on a single size cot where he lived until 2010 in a studio above Carnegie Hall, chock full of file cabinets containing his negatives.

When asked why he spent years ripping up checks for his work from magazines, he said, "Money's the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive," the Times reported.

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
The actress has been globe-trotting with both her mothers, and these pictures are proof of how much fun she's having.

By India Today Web Desk: This may be the most expensive city in the world (according to a recent survey), but Mahhi Vij sure knows how to live it up!

The actress recently took a vacation to Hong Kong, with both her moms--her mother and mother-in-law--sans husband Jay Bhanushali.

The actress feels that it's her responsibility to pamper both her moms, as both of them work extra hard on a daily basis to make sure Mahhi and Jay's everyday in smooth-sailing.

advertisement

"Both my moms are very homely and they spend their time taking care of me and my husband and our demands. Hence, when I had a few days free from work, I wanted to make it really special for them by taking them out on a short trip. Needless to say we enjoyed so much that we did not want to come back," Mahhi Vij told Hindustan Times.

"Travelling with your family strengthens bonds and it is always very comfortable. They know you very well and you know what kind of places would they like to travel. You end up feeling a lot secure with your parents or your husband is travelling with you," she added.

This is what the actress posted on her Instagram account:



#hongkong #family #love#inlaw#venetian A photo posted by Mahhi Vij (@mahhivij) on Jun 20, 2016 at 12:39pm PDT

"I am very comfortable with my mother and Jay's mother and both of them gel really well with each other too. This means the fun is double!," concludes Mahhi.

Mahhi has been roaming about quite a bit with her mom-in-law, in fact, as is evident from these pictures:

V travel together stay together shop together ???????? A photo posted by Mahhi Vij (@mahhivij) on Jun 24, 2016 at 11:45pm PDT

#mother in law #love #blessing A photo posted by Mahhi Vij (@mahhivij) on Jun 25, 2016 at 10:18pm PDT



Here's to more travel with the family, Mahhi!

--- ENDS ---
Controversial performance artist Milo Moire had to spend 24 hours in jail after she was arrested for letting strangers touch her private parts, in the middle of London, as part of her Mirror Box show.

By India Today Web Desk: All is fair in love and war.

And art.



A controversial performance artist who, in the name of art, invited public to stroke her private parts in the busy Trafalgar Square of London was arrested and jailed for more almost 24 hours. The police had to intervene after getting a complaint from a passerby, who was clearly not-so-impressed with the artistic expression.

advertisement



MILO MOIRE, THE ARTIST



Swiss performance artist Milo Moire is known for her nude performances and for making her body a substantial part of her art. In her latest work - Mirror Box show - she walks around busy streets and lets strangers fondle her breasts or genitals for 30 seconds.

Photo Source: Facebook@milomoireofficial

Moire has a point to make with this strange activity. To highlight the need of consent in sexual acts.

Photo Source: Facebook@milomoireofficial Photo Source: Facebook@milomoireofficial



MIRROR BOX SHOW, THE ART

In the YouTube video she has put up on her website www.milomoire.com, which by the way has censored and uncensored versions, Moire is seen saying "I'm standing here for women's rights and sexual equality, because we decide for ourselves when we will be touched or not."

She came up with the idea of such a performance after learning about over 1,000 women sexually assaulted in Cologne, Germany on New Year's eve. Milo is originally from Spain, but works in Germany. She has been travelling Europe with her Mirror Box show.



Photo Source: Facebook@milomoireofficial

ARREST

Moire walked around in Trafalgar Square and invited people over the age of 18 to step in and feel her private parts for 30 seconds. She used a stopwatch to time them.

Photo: Facebook@milomoireofficial



Moire told Mirror Online that the police warned her she was breaking the law before making the arrest.

She has earlier taken the Mirror Box performance to other European cities like Dusseldorf and Amsterdam, and said people in these places were more liberal and had an accepting approach to her show.

Milo was produced at the Westminster Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty. She was fined 750 Pound Sterling which is approximately Rs 70,000. She was also ordered to pay approximately Rs 8,000 as costs and approximately Rs 7,000 as victim surcharge.



Also read: US mom takes 2-hour break from work every day to breastfeed boyfriend

Also read: Kangaroo uses woman as airbag, ruptures her breast implants





--- ENDS ---
Yoga has the power to connect the entire world, if only each one of us connect ourselves with Yoga, said PM Modi while addressing the 21 st edition of Mann Ki Baat.

By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today addressed the nation through his monthly radio programme 'Mann ki Baat'. This is the 21st edition of the programme.

Here are the highlights

People with undisclosed assets have an opportunity to declare their assets before September 30.

We lose our peace by violating rules, why not give correct information about our income and assets to Govt?

We must not forget that our power is democracy, our power lies in every citizen's strength.

Jan Bhagidari is essential in a democracy.

Democracy is our strength and we will have to always make our democratic fabric strong.

Very often #MannKiBaat is criticised but this is possible because we are in a democracy. Do you remember 25-26 June 1975.

Use #YogaFightsDiabetes and please share your experiences on how Yoga can help mitigate diabetes.

We need to think about how Yoga can mitigate diabetes.

Projections of Yoga on UN building became popular.

You would have seen Twitter joining Yoga Day celebrations through a special emoji.

You would have seen postage stamps related to Yoga being released.



Yoga has the power to connect the entire world, if only each one of us connect ourselves with Yoga.

International Yoga Day was celebrated at over 1 lakh places in our country with enthusiasm.

On 18th June, first batch of women fighter pilots inducted in Air Force, we feel very proud, I congratulate them and their families.

'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' Bharat mein jan jan ki #MannKiBaat ban gyi hai.



PM Narendra Modi congratulates ISRO during #MannKiBaat and lauds the efforts of the organisation.

Similar work was done by students from Chennai.

This satellite signifies the skills and aspirations of the youth of India.

Yesterday I was in Pune where I met college students who made one of the satellites that was launched along with others a few days ago.

Our scientists are working hard to take our country to new heights.

For the last few weeks we have got positive news about rainfall in various parts of the nation.

Earlier, PM Modi had asked people to share their thoughts in MyGov Open Forum or by dialling the toll free number 1800-11-7800.

advertisement

In his earlier addresses, Modi shared his thoughts on issues like drug addiction, farmer suicides, corruption and many more.

In his last Mann Ki Baat radio show, Modi spoke about water conservation. While the country was reeling under severe drought, Modi requested citizens to save every drop of water. He expressed concern for the farmers in Latur who were highly affected due to drought conditions. He also talked about the lack of medical services in rural areas.



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 26 (PTI) State-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is planning to set up a 600-MW solar power project at the Koyna hydel power complex in Maharashtra as part of an initiative to expand its solar portfolio.

The company is already carrying out the feasibility and financial viability study for the project, wherein it plans to set up floating solar panels with pumped storage system, a senior company official said.

advertisement

"We want to expand our solar portfolio and we are continuously looking out for opportunities. We are looking at setting up a floating solar project of around 600 MW at the Koyna complex in Satara district of Maharashtra," NHPC Technical Director Balraj Joshi told PTI.

The Koyna project, run by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, is the largest completed hydroelectric power plant in the country with a total capacity of 1,960 MW.

It is a complex project with four dams, including the largest dam on the Koyna river.

Joshi said various departments are currently carrying out the feasibility and technical and financial viability studies.

"The gestation period of construction of hydroelectric project is relatively longer than any other projects. Also, the uncertainty of the monsoons and geological problems make it difficult to set up hydel projects.

"Therefore, we want to expand in the solar sector. At Koyna, we plan to develop the project on solar hybrid model," he said.

The official further said once the work commences, it will take almost five years to complete.

Once the report is ready, they will approach Maharashtra government seeking its participation in developing the project.

About the investments required for the project, Joshi said, "Cost per MW is likely to be Rs 9-10 crore. We do not have any problem in funding it. We may also seek financial assistance from the Centre and the state. But these modalities will be worked out only when the report is ready."

He, however, did not give a timeline by when the report is likely to be submitted.

NHPC also plans to set up 188 MW solar projects across the country during the current fiscal.

Last year, NHPC signed a memorandum of understanding with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up projects to the tune of 250 MW.

Meanwhile, the central utility is also in advanced talks with Kerala, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh for setting up more solar projects.

In Kerala, it will be setting up a 72 MW project and a 50 MW plant in Maharashtra.

advertisement

In UP, it already has an agreement with Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency to jointly develop a 50 MW solar power plant. PTI PSK BEN RSY ABM

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Amid the Modi governments push for yoga, AYUSH Ministry has decided to certify institutes imparting training in the ancient discipline for physical and mental well-being to ensure quality control and check mushrooming of centres which do not meet even the basic standards. The ministry has asked yoga institutes across the country to apply for government certification by the end of this year. The module for this scheme has already been prepared by the ministry.

advertisement

"The scheme provides a mechanism to ensure the credibility and authenticity of the services provided," AYUSH Minister Sripad Yesso Naik said.

Secretary, department of AYUSH, Ajit M Sharan said, the Ministry is likely to issue guidelines in this regard soon.

The scheme applies to both wellness centres and institutes that offer training and diploma/degree courses in yoga. The various criteria for certification will include infrastructure of a given institute, number of instructors employed, the period it has been in existence and the kind of courses it offers.

An institute seeking accreditation will have to apply online with Quality Control of India (QCI). "We will put a detailed accreditation form on our website. There is a guidelines book that will be published and will be freely available to all institutions. Institutes can then apply following which our assessors will visit them and decide whether they qualify to be certified by the Ministry of AYUSH," QCI secretary general R P Singh said. Secretary, AYUSH, Ajit M Sharan said the exercise has been necessitated because of mushrooming of yoga institutes which do not meet even the basic standards.

"Rishikesh has 300 yoga institutes. There have been instances when people have come from abroad and felt these institutes hardly have anything to offer. So there are instances of litigation and police complaints. ...Hence, there is a need to certify or give accreditation to these centres so that they carry certain credibility. We are not regulating them but we are saying that these are the minimum required standards, if you meet them then we will certify you," he said.

The Ministry had last year announced voluntary certification of yoga professionals in collaboration with QCI in order to certify the competence level of trainers. Around 10,500 yoga professionals have since registered with QCI and 300 of them have received the certification. QCI secretary general Singh said,"We intend to homogenise the whole chain through which professionals and institutes are accredited so that there is a uniformity in the entire yoga curriculum." He went on to add that eventually yoga centres, including those abroad, will get certified by QCI and AYUSH Ministry. The council has roped in prominent yoga exponents like ISHA Foundations Jaggi Vasudev, Art of Livings Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ramdev, H R Nagendra and O P Tiwari, among others, who have helped design the module of the scheme. PTI JC SK SUK

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) In its bid to compete with other Gulf carriers, Omans flag carrier Oman Air plans to increase its flight services in India to 175 weekly by 2018 besides seeking an enhanced weekly seat entitlement.

The Muscat-headquartered carrier currently operates 126 weekly flights across 11 destinations here.

"We are in the first phase trying to look in increasing our frequencies to the existing destinations where we have today 126 weekly frequencies to 175 per week by 2018," Oman Air chief executive officer Paul Gregorowitsch told PTI.

advertisement

India is an "extremely important" destination for Oman Air and being the fastest growing economy in the world it offers a huge potential, he said.

Seeking equal footing with other Gulf-based carriers such as Emirates, which enjoy almost 25 per cent more weekly seat entitlement than Oman Air, Gregorowitsch said, "We have currently 21,147 seats per week. We are looking to increase it to total 29,820 flights by 2018 and hope to increase further to 40,000."

All this depends about the bilateral negotiations between Oman and India, he added.

Three major Gulf carriers -- Emirates, Etihad (with its Indian Partner Jet Airways) and Qatar Airways enjoy a major share in Indias international traffic.

Under the air services agreement, Dubai has a maximum seat entitlement of 65,200 seats per week, followed by Abu Dhabi 49,670. Qatar is allowed to operate 24,800 seats per week between India and Doha.

India had enhanced bilateral traffic rights with Oman last November, increasing the number of weekly flights for the carriers of the two countries by 5,131 seats.

He said his airline at present did not have any new destination in "mind" but did not rule out the possibility of launching flights from new airports.

The India government has recently decided to brush up quite some airstrips, he said adding, "we have not excluded that."

In India, Oman Air operates from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Hyderabad, Goa, among others.

"Oman Air has seen that a number of measures have been taken to boost civil aviation like Indian airlines have been allowed to fly on international routes as 5/20 has more or less lifted on the other side, he said.

"We have also seen the possibility of foreign investors to further invest in Indian carriers... We at Oman Air and Oman Government would like to partner further and work together, " he added. PTI IAS RG

--- ENDS ---
Recalling the sacrifices of the security forces in combating militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said such dastardly acts of senseless violence are against the basic tenets of humanity and they should be condemned by one and all.

By Ashraf Wani: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti this morning visited CRPF Centre at Humhama, on the outskirts of Srinagar, to pay homage to the slain CRPF personnel killed in a gruesome militant attack near Pampore on Saturday. She laid ceremonial floral wreath on the mortal remains of the CRPF personnel killed in the attack.

Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh, Minister for Health and Medical Education, Bali Baghat, Minister for Forests, Choudhary Lal Singh, Minister for Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Abdul Ghani Kohli, Minister of State for Tourism and Education, Ms Priya Sethi, Legislator, Choudhary Sukhnandan Kumar, Chief Secretary, B R Sharma and Director General of Police, Mr K Rajendra Kumar also laid the wreath at the mortal remains of the slain CRPF personnel.

advertisement

EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH CRPF MARTYRS' KIN

The Chief Minister expressed solidarity with the Special Director General CRPF, who was present at the wreath-laying ceremony. She also expressed solidarity with the families of the deceased CRPF personnel and prayed for peace to the departed souls. "My heart goes out to the families of the CRPF men killed in the gruesome attack," she said.

Recalling the sacrifices of the security forces in combating militancy in the state, Mehbooba said such dastardly acts of senseless violence are against the basic tenets of humanity and they should be condemned by one and all. "I fail to understand how somebody can indulge in such senseless acts of blood-letting in the name of Islam and that also in holy month of Ramadhan, which is the month of peace and blessings for the people," she said and added that how can somebody even think of bringing anguish to the lives of families whether of security forces personnel or civilians. "Violence is unacceptable in any way and for any reason," she said.

URGES PEOPLE TO ISOLATE PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENCE



The Chief Minister said such attacks are desperate attempts by the militants to derail the peace and reconciliation process started by the state government. She urged people to isolate the perpetrators of violence as they have brought immense miseries to the people.

IG Police Kashmir, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani, IG CRPF, DIG Police Central Kashmir Range, Mr Ghulam Hassan Bhat, Deputy Commissioner Budgam, Mir Altaf Hussain, SSP Budgam Mr Fayaz Ahmad Lone and other senior officers of the civil and police administration were present.

ALSO READ: Mehbooba Mufti invites wrath of Opposition for linking militant attack on CRPF with Islam

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Aditi Khanna

London, Jun 26 (PTI) A constantly growing online petition pressing for a second referendum on the UKs decision to quit the EU passed 3 million signatures today, all garnered in just 48 hours, signalling a major backlash against the shock Brexit vote.

By this morning, as many as 3,048,000 people had signed the petition on the official UK Parliament website. The figure takes it well over the 100,000-signature threshold required to trigger a debate in the House of Commons.

advertisement

Ben Howlett, a Conservative MP, confirmed on Twitter that the petition will be discussed on Tuesday by the House of Commons petitions Select Committee.

With signatures to the petition constantly rising, Labour MP David Lammy appealed to fellow MPs to ignore the result of the referendum on Friday which, he said, was only advisory.

On Twitter, he wrote:"We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end through a vote in Parliament. Our sovereign Parliament needs to now vote on whether we should exit the EU.

"The referendum was was an advisory, non-binding referendum. The Leave campaigns platform has already unravelled and some people wish they hadnt voted to Leave.

"Parliament now needs to decide whether we should go forward with Brexit, and there should be a vote in Parliament next week. Let us not destroy our economy on the basis of lies and the hubris of Boris Johnson."

The development came as some voters who had backed the "Leave" campaign took to Twitter to register their regret - adopting the #Regrexit hashtag.

A "Leave" voter told the London Evening Standard she would change her vote if given the opportunity.

"This morning the reality is actually hitting in and the regret is hitting in," she said. "I wish I had the opportunity to vote again, simply because I would do things differently."

The petition, started by William Oliver Healey, states: "We the undersigned call upon (the UK) Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 per cent, based on a turnout less than 75 per cent, there should be another referendum."

Demand for a fresh vote was so high that it crashed the parliament.uk website on Friday as the petition was shared widely on social media and new signatures were added at a rate of more than 1,00,000 an hour.

Meanwhile, a second petition urging London mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the British capitals independence has also crossed 100,000 signatures.

However, this petition was on the Change.org platform rather than the official Parliament.uk website.

Set up by James OMalley, it read: "Lets face it - the rest of the country disagrees. So rather than passive aggressively vote against each other at every election, lets make the divorce official and move in with our friends on the continent.

advertisement

"This petition is calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare London independent, and apply to join the EU ... Mayor Sadiq, wouldnt you prefer to be President Sadiq? Make it happen!" PTI SAI/AK ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
The protest march , which was led by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, was against the "harassment by cops at the behest of Modi".

By India Today Web Desk: AAP MLAs, who were detained by the Delhi Police while they were marching towards PM Modi's residence, have just been released. The MLAs has organized a protest march to 7 RCR after a meeting at the Delhi Chief Minister's residence at 9 this morning.

The protest march was against "harassment by cops at the behest of Modi".

advertisement

They alleged false and frivolous cases were being lodged against them, the latest being the arrest of party legislator Dinesh Mohaniya yesterday.



HERE ARE THE LATEST UPDATES The detained AAP MLAs released. The Delhi Police, during the media briefing after the detention, said that the police is only maintaining law and order. The AAP MLas, including Manish Sisodia, detained near Tughlaq Road. "All the MLAs including Sisodia have been detained and taken to the Tughlaq Road police station," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal told IANS. Sisodia told the reporters "We will all go and surrender ourselves to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is an attempt by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) to stop the AAP government from working." Section 144 has been imposed at 7 RCR. Race Course metro station shut. Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, led the protest march.

THE REASON FOR PROTEST : MOHANIYA'S ARREST

Dinesh Mohaniya, AAP MLA from Sangam Vihar and the Vice-Chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was arrested by the Delhi Police yesterday for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women who had gone to him to complain about a water crisis.

A Delhi court had also rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody till Monday.

Mohaniya was picked up by the police while addressing a news conference at his office in Khanpur.

He was booked on charges of causing hurt, criminal intimidation and using word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman. However, AAP termed the charges as fabricated.

COMPLAINT AGAINST SISODIA

Delhi Police on Saturday received a complaint against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia from the president of East Delhi's Ghazipur vegetable market association.

The president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association had submitted a complaint against Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating the businessmen there during his official visit to the market.

The police said that no FIR would be registered as no cognizable offence was found to be committed.



Also Read:

AAP Vs. Centre: Complaint filed against Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia





advertisement

--- ENDS ---
By Indo-Asian News Service: In an exclusive interview to the IANS, ace-filmmaker SS Rajamouli, talks about the film industry at present and his experience directing the magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning.

When asked the reason for not making Baahubali: The Beginning, a straight Hindi film, the Eega director said, "When I started Baahubali: The Beginning and had the script and the schedule ready, we knew that I need my stars to give me their dates for two years. Can you think of any of the Bollywood stars who can give their dates for two years without committing to any other movies? It wouldn't have happened."



ALSO READ: SS Rajamouli ups curiosity quotient, shares a photo from Baahubali 2



ALSO READ: X-Men stunt crew to choreograph action sequence in Baahubali 2, says Rana Daggubati

advertisement

Baahubali: The Beginning, which was made on a whopping Rs 120 crore-plus budget, released across the world in different languages and minted over Rs 600 crore worldwide.

Asked whether a film should be released as a bilingual project, Rajamouli said, "Each and every film cannot be released in all the languages. If you get a subject which is predominantly based on human emotions, which are general to everyone irrespective of caste, creed, region, language or culture specific, then it is eligible to release in all the languages."

The National Award winner says mediocre subjects cannot register huge footfalls at theatres.

"Art is a very difficult business, and cinema is both art and business. You just cannot say that it is all art, and vice-versa. So that way, one has to give space for another and you should be sensible enough to think of both angles. No one wants to make films to be bankrupt. When you start believing in a mediocre subject thinking that it is going to fetch more in various markets just by pumping in more money to it, then that's where the problem starts," said Rajamouli.

Now, Baahubali: The Beginning, is set to release next month in 6,500 screens across China, which is increasingly becoming an important market for Indian movies.

"There has been a lot of effort from the producer's side to release it as a mainstream film in China. This is not the first time as PK broke that (image) as it got a wide release there. Baahubali: The Beginning is going to release in 6,500 screens. Our film is going to release all over China. It's bigger than its India release," Rajamouli said.

"I hope our film does well, not just for us, but for the string of Indian films to follow," he added.

Baahubali: The Conclusion, the sequel to its predecessor is slated to release in 2017.



--- ENDS ---
In a Facebook post, director SS Rajamouli thanked the director of Manamantha for roping in Mohanlal, the actor he adores the most.

By India Today Web Desk: Mohanlal, who is the megastar of Malayalam industry, is set to make his entry in Tollywood. Fondly called as Lalettan, Mohanlal is awaiting the release of his upcoming flick Manamantha, which is tipped to be a family drama.



ALSO READ: Baahubali wouldn't have happened with Bollywood stars, says SS Rajamouli

SEE PIC: Nivin Pauly's fanboy moment with Jyothika

advertisement

The teaser of Mammatha was out on June 25, and director SS Rajamouli was all in praise for the film. In a Facebook post, the Baahubali director appreciated the combination between Chandra Sekhar and Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram. Rajamouli also thanked the director for bringing Mohanlal in Telugu industry.



The Drishyam actor, who has a huge fan following in Kerala, is also likely to be well received by the Telugu audience.

Manamantha, which is an anthology of four stories, is helmed by the National Award winning director Chandrasekhar Yeleti.

This film will be Mohanlal's second Telugu film after a cameo appearance in Gandeevam (1994). Manamantha, is a bilingual film which stars Mohanlal, veteran actor Gautami, Viswant Duddumpudi and Anisha Ambrose and slated for release later this year.

A dubbed Tamil version Nammadhu, will be released simultaneously along with the original versions in Telugu (Manamantha) and malayalam (Visayam). Also, Mohanlal and Gautami are coming together on screen after 18 years since Iruvar (1997). Meanwhile, Mohanlal has another Telugu film Janatha Garage, lined up for release later this year.

Here's the teaser:





--- ENDS ---
Ranveer Singh gave a special shout out to rumoured girlfriend Deepika Padukone at the IIFA ceremony, saying saying she makes him the happiest.

By India Today Web Desk: Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are one of the most loved B-Town couples. The duo never fails to make their fans go into a tizzy with their cute pictures and extra special gestures towards each other.

ALSO SEE: These pictures of Ranveer and Deepika prove that all is well between them

The Gunday actor never hesitates when it comes to praising Deepika. Ranveer gave a special shout out to rumoured girlfriend Deepika Padukone at the IIFA ceremony, saying she makes him the happiest.

advertisement

While accepting his best actor honour at the 17th IIFA awards here for Bajirao Mastani, Ranveer told PTI, "There is another special person I must thank. I was moved by her performance. She is the Leela to my Ram, Mastani to my Bajirao and I don't know what's next. Girl, you are so fine. Nothings makes me happier than you, I mean winning an awards here with you."



Leela to my Ram...

Mastani to my Bajirao...

Best Actress to my Best Actor ??@deepikapadukone #IIFA2016

Koi Shaq? pic.twitter.com/hGQR8YsxTB Ranveer Singh (@RanveerOfficial) June 26, 2016

The Piku actor also danced on the tunes of Ranveer's song Malhari from the 2015 film Bajirao Mastani. Ranveer could not contain his excitement to see Deepika's power-packed performance on the number and stood up cheering her as she finished her set.



The duo have been rumoured to be dating since they started shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela.

--- ENDS ---
Saif Ali Khan was reportedly rushed to the hospital after he was critically injured while shooting for his home production.

By India Today Web Desk: Actor Saif Ali Khan reportedly had to be rushed to the hospital on Saturday (June 25) morning after he was injured on the sets of a film he is presently shooting in Mumbai.

The Phantom actor severely injured his thumb while shooting for his home production directed by Akshat Verma, best known for writing 2011's hit comedy Delhi Belly.

advertisement

ALSO READ: Is Saif Ali Khan's daughter dating politician Sushil Kumar Shinde's grandson?

ALSO READ: Does Saif Ali Khan's daughter have a promise ring on her finger?



Saif was admitted to the Kokaliben Ambani Hospital where he underwent a minor surgery. He was being taken care of by a specialised team of orthopaedic and plastic surgeons.

"He will be discharged tomorrow or day after tomorrow," said a source.

Saif's sister, Soha Ali Khan confirmed the incident, and told PTI, "He is recovering well, thank you for asking - had hurt his thumb quite badly but is on the mend happily."

She also added that Saif will be discharged in accordance with his doctors' advice.

"Yes (he was admitted) in the early hours of yesterday (Saturday, June 25), as for release, doctor will advice but not today (Sunday, June 26)" she told PTI.

Kareena Kapoor Khan was spotted walking out of Kokaliben Ambani Hospital earlier today after visiting her husband.

Kareena Kapoor walking out of Kokaliben Ambani Hospital in Mumbai (Photo: Yogen Shah)

The Pataudi scion is not new to freak injuries on film sets, such as these. This year, in April, Khan injured his hand while shooting for Vishal Bhadwaj's Rangoon, a love story set against the backdrop of World War II, mildly inspired by the classic Casablanca. Earlier, in 2011, Khan was injured while working on an action scene on the sets of another home production, Sriram Raghavan's Agent Vinod.

--- ENDS ---
Inaugurating the 81 km Sonipat-Jind new rail line, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Sunday said Chandigarh willl be developed as a world class railway station and will offer all amenities to the commuters.

By Manjeet Sehgal: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Sunday said that the work on the proposed semi-high speed track between Chndigarh and New Delhi will begin soon.

Prabhu was in Chandigarh to inaugurate 81 km Sonipat-Jind new rail line besides the inauguration of a new passenger train service between Sonipat and Jind. He also dedicated 17 lifts and 10 escalators at various stations.

advertisement

He said Chandigarh will be developed as a world class railway station and will offer all amenities to the commuters. Prabu also assured Punjab Minister Adesh Prarap Singh Kairon that it will double the transportation facility enabling the state government to send its farm produce to the godowns. He also inaugurated mechanised laundry for washing linen at Chandigarh.

Suresh Prabhu said Railways has planned installation of 10,000 water vending machines during the next two years which will generate employment to around 20,000 persons. He said 300 such machines have already been installed at various railway stations.

ALSO READ: How railways gained from tender bender under Suresh Prabhu



--- ENDS ---
Shah Rukh Khan in a Twitter banter with Uday Chopra revealed his fondness for superhero costumes.

By India Today Web Desk: Batman? Superman? SpiderMan? Or Iron Man? Guess which superhero's armour King Khan wants for himself?

In a candid conversation on Twitter, Shah Rukh Khan revealed that he would love to get body armours of superheroes for himself.

ALSO READ: Top 10 definitive performances of Shah Rukh Khan's 24-year-long career



But particularly that of Spiderman's.

advertisement

ALSO READ: Did Uday Chopra break up with Nargis Fakhri over WhatsApp?



When Uday Chopra shared an Instagram picture of himself wearing a Batman costume on Twitter, Shah Rukh Khan threatened him to get him similar armours of superheroes.

Today I'm batman @underarmour with gloves! A photo posted by Uday Chopra (@udayc) on Jun 25, 2016 at 1:45am PDT

If u dont get me these body armours & a Spider-Man also?by like yesterday, I will tell everyone u are sane & normal https://t.co/QqMmYspy4E Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) June 25, 2016

Shah Rukh Khan has dabbled only once with the superhero genre in his 24-year-long career with Anubhav Sinha's Ra.One; technically twice, if you count Shah Rukh's comedy routine as Mohabbat Man in 2007's Om Shanti Om directed by Farah Khan.



While Ra.One did not fare well critically or commercially, Shah Rukh has expressed his interest in doing a sequel to the film.

ALSO READ: Does Kareena Kapoor not want to work in Ra.One sequel?



After Shah Rukh threatened Uday by saying that he'll give a certificate of sanity to the Dhoom 3 actor, Uday responded in the affirmative.

@iamsrk Oh I cant let that happen?Ok done! Do you also want iron Man? Uday Chopra (@udaychopra) June 25, 2016

To which SRK replied like a 12-year-old fanboy.

You are killing me!! Yes yes yes!!! Please

https://t.co/stTnAjtV5O Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) June 25, 2016

Uday Chopra's last screen outing was 2013's Dhoom 3. Since then, he has been involved in producing Hollywood films. Both his Hollywood productions 2014's Grace of Monaco and The Longest Week did not do well.

--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: If Shaktimaan wasn't part of your childhood, you didn't grow up right.

Okay, maybe you did. But Shaktimaan is Shaktimaan, and the news of him returning to the small screen obviously has us all excited!

So, as it turns out, if everything goes according to plan, you might find an all-new Shaktimaan on your television screens very soon.

advertisement

Mukesh Khanna, the actor who essayed the role of Shaktimaan on the show, told Times of India, "Maybe within a few months or within this year, I might be able to bring Shaktimaan back. I am already talking to GECs and Doordarshan, which aired the show. I strongly object to the bhedchaal of coming up with shows that only cater to women. They say that only women watch TV, but even men sit down at the dinner table and want to watch TV! When I made Shaktimaan, it was a challenge. And the show wasn't just for kids."

And if you're wondering what would be different about the show this time around--the makers will most probably be taking viewers through Shaktimaan's childhood. Khanna, however, said that he will be reprising the role, "My Shaktimaan will remain the same, but it will have advanced computer graphics and techniques. I will also have the older characters like Geeta Biswas, Kilwish and Dr Jackal. Also, kids will be a part of the show and we might even show kids being trained to become Shaktimaan!"

So, Shaktimaan is the reason Khanna hasn't been dabbling in daily soaps. Though he is currently a part of Waaris, his character will soon be shown dying on the show. "When I had done Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara, I had said that it might be one of my first and last shows. But when the makers of Waaris contacted me, I found the concept appealing. The problem of a male child being preferred over a girl child is prevalent in our country. I told them that I will only do a cameo, which won't go beyond three months. I don't want to get stuck in daily soaps and ghar ghar ki kahani. Shaktimaan was the main reason why I didn't opt for a daily soap. I have gracefully exited Waaris. Even my death scene has been shot--it was after a long time that I did horse-riding (for his exit sequence in the show)."

--- ENDS ---
By Sukanya Deb: The bones of Grace is an ambitious, sprawling novel by BangladeshiBritish writer Tahmima Anam, following the narrator and protagonist Zubaida Haque's path towards self-discovery. Fragments of her life are pieced together from memory. The story begins at the end, as a letter Zubaida writes to her love, Eiljah Strong, whom she has lost several times along the way as collateral damage. In the letter, she unflinchingly bares her soul, in all its beauty, strength, confusion, selfishness and ugliness.

advertisement

Her journey is outlined through four distinctive settings. The first is Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Zubaida completes her PhD in Evolutionary Biology and meets Elijah. Second is Dera Bugti in Pakistan, a hotbed of political turmoil, where she goes to dig out the full skeleton of the Ambulocetusnatans or the 'walking whale'.

Also read: I plan to write a book on Indira Gandhi: Jairam Ramesh

Dhaka is her home, where she lives a sheltered life with her passionately Marxist parents and later with her childhood sweetheart Rashid and his family in a grand mansion filled with ornaments and servants. Lastly, and arguably most important, is Chittagong, where she goes to help shoot a documentary on shipbreakers, who tear ships apart for reusable material, and their inhumane working conditions. Anam toes the line between Romanticism and Realism, swaying and switching between landscapes created through poetry disguised as prose, and gritty, heart-breaking realism.

Zubaida is portrayed as orphaned and lost, without an understanding of her place in the world as she resigns herself to reality. The Ambulocetus is used as a metaphor for the protagonist--an "in-between species" that shows the whale's transition from land-living mammals. This feeling of being in between cultures, generations, and social standings is at the heart of her story. Due to being in between, Zubaida has been rendered inactive all her life--through a good portion of the novel, she is a mere bystander as life goes on around her.

She marries Rashid, not out of love but merely out of habit, having been with him for over a decade. Despite their long relationship,there appear to be no strong feelings, attachment, or even responsibility towards him. This sense of detachment is depicted throughout the novel, in relation to her doting adoptive parents, the political tension she experiences first hand in Dera Bugti, and to some extent, Elijah.

It is not until later in the novel that she is shocked into being more present and involved, taking a plunge into reality. This feeling of drifting through life is deceptively naive in conveyance that Anam skilfully articulates. Zubaida's fascination and love for Elijah lies in his liveliness, intensity, curiosity and creativity that she has a hard time keeping up with. "I had never seen a gaze like that, so direct, so unambivalent. Most people like to be in at least two places at once, but you--you were standing there as if roots had grown around your feet."

The Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam, Penguin; Rs499 The Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam, Penguin; Rs499

advertisement

This is the key to understanding Zubaida and Elijah's attraction--she, herself, is always in at least two places at once. Her parents' role as freedom fighters in the Bangladesh War of Independence overshadows any possible achievements in her own life. She cannot match up to the totality of their feeling towards their country. This ties in with the theme of understanding and making peace with one's past and cultural history.

Also read: A tale of India's 300-year-old Turkish hammam

Tangentially, Anam contemplates privilege and the role of chance, creating a stark contrast between the different parts even within Bangladesh, Zubaida's inlaws' air-conditioned mansion in Dhaka versus the workers in Chittagong stacked up in a shack. In Chittagong, she witnesses horrific working conditions--one chapter from the point of view of a worker, Anwar, is especially affective.

advertisement

Anam's treatment of these issues is sensitive as well as realistic. These injustices continue to exist beyond the pages of the book. The Bones of Grace is beautifully written and carefully crafted, satisfyingly weaving together its twists and turns as Zubaida learns her identity. Anam's words are weighed, and matched in profundity; the novel is unexpectedly and astonishingly reaching as it relays human stories. Finally, at the end, when the incomplete skeleton of the Ambulocetus is put on display, it is Zubaida revealing herself, unashamed. It is all about finding closure.



--- ENDS ---
Reliable sources have told India Today that Zaid, who owns a chain of Restaurants in Morocco, was staying on the 50th floor of Burj Khailfa in Dubai when the meeting regarding a big drug consignment happened.

By Munish Chandra Pandey: India Today investigations in Thane drug haul case have revealed that one of the biggest international drug players, Zaid, had a meeting with his Indian counterparts Kishore Rathod and Jaymukhi.

Reliable sources have told India Today that Zaid, who owns a chain of Restaurants in Morocco, was staying on the 50th floor of Burj Khailfa in Dubai when the meeting regarding a big drug consignment happened.



advertisement

Thane police claimed that Kishore Rathod and Jaymukhi had met a Moroccan resident on the 126th floor of Burj Khalifa.

Jaymukhi was recently arrested by Thane Police whereas Kishore Rathod, son of a former congress MLA from Gujarat, is still on the run.

Thane Police recently released the photograph of an alleged international drug dealer named Abdullah. Police claimed that Abdullah wanted to set up a drug factory along with Vicki Goswami. However when India Today questioned Goswami, he denied having any knowledge about Abdullah.

SECOND CHARGESHEET FILED

Meanwhile, Thane Police have filed second charge sheet in the Rs 2,000-crore drugs haul case on Thursday last week at the Thane Sessions court.

It includes the description of five more accused arrested in the case. The Thane police have filed this additional charge sheet with a total of 385 pages from 250 pages earlier.

Also Read:

Mamta Kulkarni an accused in India's biggest ever drug seizure: Police

TV should take up drug abuse related shows, feels Mandira Bedi



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Karachi, Jun 26 (PTI) "Udta Punjab" has opened in Pakistani theatres but the fans have turned to the pirated version of the Bollywood film as they are disappointed with the 100 cuts imposed by the countrys censors.

Earlier this week, the Pakistani censor board passed the movie, based on the issue of drug abuse in Punjab, with 100 cuts and A certificate.

advertisement

But director Abhishek Chaubey says the makers had decided against the films release in Pakistan as they were unhappy with the cuts.

"As per my last conversation we had decided to not release the film in Pak because we found the cuts unacceptable but please confirm it with the producers," Chaubey told PTI.

Strangely enough, the movie hit Pakistani screens on June 24, reported Dawn.

The cinegoers were left disappointed with the cuts and many muted dialogues and have now turned to the movies pirated copies.

At least in three major localities of Karachi including Clifton, Defence and Civil Lines the video shop owners are doing good business selling pirated copies of "Udta Punjab".

The owner of a leading video shop in the posh Clifton area said his customers were demanding uncut pirated copies of the film.

"Some of them went to watch the film in cinema halls and came back disappointed as they say it has been censored badly," he said.

At another shop, a worker said "Udta Punjab" DVD copies were in demand although it was illegal to keep pirated copies of latest Bollywood films.

"If the purpose of making the film was to convey a point about drug abuse and menace it is now lost after the many cuts in Udta Punjab," said well known film critic, Omair Alavi.

He noted that the filmmakers of "Udta Punjab" went to court and fought hard in India to get it passed from Censors without any cuts but noted they cant do the same in Pakistan.

Mobashir Hasan, chairperson of the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC), admitted that they were around a 100 cuts in the film.

He said that since the film contained foul language, swearing, derogatory words it has been given an adult rating after the cuts.

"We have muted the swearing at and derogatory words and with certain excisions of scenes," he said.

Hasan said references to Pakistan had also been excised.

"Udta Punjab", starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh, earlier fought a tough censorship battle in India for its release. PTI CORR PSH AKJ PSH

--- ENDS ---

advertisement
By PTI: From Aditi Khanna

London, Jun 25 (PTI) Britains most senior diplomat to the European Union, Jonathan Hill, today announced he will step down from the position saying "what is done cannot be undone", a day after his country decided to leave the 28-member bloc.

Hill said he did not believe it was right for him to carry on with his work as the UKs European Commissioner - in charge of financial services at the European Commission.

advertisement

"I wanted it to end differently and had hoped that Britain would want to play a role in arguing for an outward-looking, flexible, competitive, free trade Europe. But the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works," the Conservative party peer and a close aide of David Cameron said in a statement.

"I came to Brussels as someone who had campaigned against Britain joining the euro and who was sceptical about Europe. I will leave it certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy," he said.

"But what is done cannot be undone and now we have to get on with making our new relationship with Europe work as well as possible," he added.

European Commissioners are among the most powerful officials within the EU, based in Brussels, with the ability to make laws across a range of policy areas.

Each of the 28 member countries have a commissioner in charge of a particular portfolio within the Commission.

The UK will cease to have one when it leaves the EU.

European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said he had accepted Hills resignation "with great regret," hailing him as a "true European".

Hill will stay on for a period of weeks to ensure an "orderly handover" and be replaced by Latvian politician Valdis Dombrovskis, currently European Commissioner for the Euro.

Meanwhile, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said negotiations on the UKs exit from the EU should begin as "soon as possible" after an urgent meeting of the six EU founder members ? France, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium ? to discuss the decision.

Cameron has said he will step down as Prime Minister by October to allow his successor to conduct talks and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will formally take the UK out of the EU after two years of exit negotiations.

A timetable for a Conservative party leadership election is to be announced on Monday, with former London mayor Boris Johnson - who spearheaded the Brexit campaign ? in the lead.

advertisement

MPs will select two candidates to go forward to a vote of Conservative Party members, with the winner becoming the UKs next prime minister, as well as party leader. PTI AK ABH

--- ENDS ---
Swamy has turned out to be a hot potato for the BJP leadership which is finding it difficult to control him.

By Amit Agnihotri: A war of words broke out between Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, who took a dig at BJP leader Subramanian Swamy over his recent remarks about waiters.

VADRA VS SWAMY



The problem began when Vadra, being targeted by the BJP for his alleged land deals, took a dig at Swamy's recent jibe, allegedly aimed at finance minister Arun Jaitley, that "BJP should direct our Ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie they look like waiters."

advertisement

"Undermining waiters who work hard for a living; making condescending and derogatory remarks about them is deplorable and classist," Vadra, who received an ED notice in a land deal, wrote in his Facebook post.

Swamy, who is a sworn enemy of the Gandhis, hit back saying Vadra should focus on "staying out of jail" instead of making political comments.

"Mr Vadra should concentrate on staying out of jail instead of making political comments," Swamy said.

BJP STRUGGLING TO CONTROL SWAMY'S



Swamy, who has been targeting key finance ministry officials of late, has turned out to be a hot potato for the BJP leadership which is finding it difficult to control him.

Even Jaitley had strongly responded to his comments against his ministry officials.

BJP is reportedly miffed with Swamy's relentless targeting of senior ministers in the Narendra Modi Cabinet and top officials of the central government.

The Rajya Sabha MP's tweet - "If I disregard discipline there would be a bloodbath" reportedly did not go down well within the party leadership.

Swamy's tweet is being viewed as a response to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley even though he took no names.

The Congress had joined the war of words saying the Swamy-Jaitley episode exposed chinks within the saffron party.

Also read:

Swamy's tweet on waiters is deplorable, classist, says Robert Vadra



--- ENDS ---
By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: The ascent to cafe OMG (Oh My God) is an interesting one. After climbing a flight of stairs, an image crafted entirely of buttons greets the visitor. Another flight, which deposits one to the restaurant's door, ends with the visitor face to face with a Harry Potter-style moving picture. The heavenly style gets more pronounced inside the restaurant, where huge angelic wings stretch from the ceiling to the floor.

advertisement

The team behind Cafe OMG has gone a bit overboard with their 'pursuit of heaven'. There is a huge screen that displays live games, make-believe aquariums plush sofas that look straight out of a set. Once you've settled down the seat, begins the real test of the restaurant. The appetizers cover a wide range of dishes under the edible umbrella of vegetarian, chicken, lamb, pork and sea food.

On the vegetarian side, the Veg Phyllo Spring Rolls were a delight. Filled with bok choy and other ingredients, the spring rolls were presented inside shot glasses lined with a peanut-based sauce at the bottom. The delicious sauce was the star of the dish. A sample each from the chicken and lamb appetizers comes in the form of the Sriracha Chili Chicken and Crispy Triple Cooked Shredded Lamb. The former is sufficiently spicy on the outside and perfectly soft on the inside.

Also read: 11 places in Delhi for the most drool-worthy summer desserts

The lamb, on the other hand, looks a bit like tiny ladyfingers in the darkness but tastes crispy and chewy once it is bit into. For mains, the restaurant throws open the floor for the customer. Under its pasta and pizza sections, the make-your-own dish style allows for one to create a pizza or pasta of their own choice.

The pasta dish, therefore, arrived in the form of spaghetti in red sauce with jalapenos, broccoli, babycorn and smoked chicken. The real hero of the restaurant is all that comes under the drinks section. Under the 'Trapped Cocktails' section, there are four options--Adams Apple, The Forbidden Fruit, Tangerine and Passion Fruit. All of them come with an inflated sugar ball which adds an element of adventure to the drinks.

The Forbidden Fruit cocktail, which contains white rum, vodka, muddled basil and green apple, comes with an inflated sugar shaped like an apple (and a piece of a real apple) which has to be broken with a small hammer. Once the path to the cocktail is cleared, the task of drinking the potent mixture by intermixing it with bites of the inflated sugar begins.

advertisement

On the non-alcoholic side, there are plenty of mocktails and shakes to go around. (A special mention here for the chocolate and coconut shake, which was incredible). On the whole, Cafe OMG serves up quite the spread, one which both the mortal man and the divine deity can enjoy.

Cafe OMG is located at 14-15, 2nd floor, Block F, Inner Circle, Connaught Place; 12 p.m. to 1 a.m. Rs1,800 for two people (approx.) with alcohol.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) To raise public awareness and mobilise support against drug abuse and trafficking, civilians and military personnel today participated in a run in the national capital.

The walkathon to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was flagged off by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot and Minister of State for Social and Justice Empowerment Vijay Sampla followed by a symbolic slogan march with police bands.

advertisement

Around 4,000 jawans of Narcotics Control Bureau, CRPF, BSF, Coast Guard, SSB and CISF and volunteers from educational institutes took part in the walkathon.

The Minister also administered pledge to the participants to say no to drugs.

As part of its efforts to curb the menace of drug abuse, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has been implementing the Scheme of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance since 1985.

This scheme provides financial aid to NGOs who have been actively involved in these work. PTI PLB RT

--- ENDS ---
We came across a Reddit thread that was discussing who would pay the bill if a homosexual couple goes on a date and saw people struggling to come up with answers and rationales.

By India Today Web Desk: According to urban legends and stereotypes, it's chivalry for a man to take care of his woman, and thus pay the bill, whereas it is a matter of equality and hence a legit obligation for a woman to pay up. The answer to who should pay the bill is quite simple, split the bill and pay equal shares. We came across a Reddit thread where people struggled to answer who would pay the bill in case of a homosexual couple. We say, the answer is still the same.

advertisement



However, here are a few harmless crackers to decide who should pay.



Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock

The guy who still thinks he has a chance?

The person who did not make the sandwich in the morning?

Both pay equally, as mentioned earlier?

Random guys who are hitting on the couple, not knowing their orientation?

The one who rides a motorcycle?

Anybody from Team-Forever-Alone?

There are endless possibilities here, but since it's time we start respecting equality, the bill should be split, regardless of sexuality or gender, unless your dad has an oil well. Then you have to pay, because it's legit.



--- ENDS ---




Does the first sentence of Article 23(1) of [the Regulation] preclude a licensee who is not registered from bringing proceedings alleging infringement of a Community trade mark?.

Legal acts referred to in Articles 17, 19 and 22 concerning a Community trade mark shall have effects vis-a-vis third parties in all the Member States only after entry in the Register. Nevertheless, such an act, before it is so entered, shall have effect vis-a-vis third parties who have acquired rights in the trade mark after the date of that act but who knew of the act at the date on which the rights were acquired.

Read in isolation, that sentence could be interpreted as meaning that the licensee cannot, if the licence has not been entered in the Register, rely on the rights conferred by that licence vis-a-vis third parties, including the party infringing the trade mark.

 in interpreting a provision of EU law, it is necessary to consider not only its wording but also the context in which it occurs and the objectives pursued by the rules of which it is part (citation omitted).

With regard to the purpose of the rule laid down in the first sentence of Article 23(1) of the Regulation, the Court takes the view that  the lack of effects, vis-a-vis third parties, of the legal acts referred to in Articles 17 [ transfer ], 19 [ rights in rem] and 22 [ licensing ] of the Regulation which have not been entered in the Register is intended to protect a person who has, or may have, rights in a Community trade mark as an object of property. It follows that the first sentence of Article 23(1) of the Regulation does not apply to a situation, such as that in the main proceedings, in which a third party, by infringing the mark, infringes the rights conferred by the Community trade mark.

In the best of circumstances, the law of licensing is the murky side of trademark law. A broad chasm in approach between the common law and civillaw traditions has characterized trademark licensing for over a century and even within each of the legal traditions, differences remain. This Kat, having penned a treatise on the subject two decades ago, continues to prowl the legal landscape for current developments, although he admits to sometimes missing an event worthy of notice. For this reason, he is grateful to Eckhard Ratjen , a member of the Bremen office of Kat friend Boehmert & Boehmert, for discussing, in the firms most recent newsletter (and sharing his thoughts with this Kat), the judgment given by the CJEU on February 4, 2016 (Case C163/15,).At issue is a question that has occupied trademark law and practice for many decades: must a trademark license be registered for a licensee to be authorized to bring an action for infringement? In the words of the referralMember States of the EU differ on the answer to the question (e.g., Spain yes; Germany no). The answer given by the CJEU is that no registration is required. While this Kat believes that the result is reasonable, the legal analysis given shows how inadequate the nature of CJEU decision-making can sometimes be in providing a compelling explanation in support of it ruling.The focus of the Courts attention is Article 23(1) of the European Union Trademark Regulation, which provides thatThe Court states (para. 18) that--However, the Court goes on to qualify what seems to be the plain meaning of Article 23(1) in favor or requiring registration of the license, stating that (para. 19) Given this analytical framework for resolving the question, the Court reaches the conclusion that (para. 25)--With all due respect, this Kat finds the Courts reasoning conclusion unconvincing why the plain meaning of Article 23(1) should be disturbed. Even if we acknowledge that Articles 17, 19 and 22 all deal with trade marks as on object of property, this still does not explain why Article 23(1) does not govern the legal effect of a registration pursuant to Article 22(5) (On request of one of the parties the grant or transfer of a licence of a trade mark shall be entered and published). One gets the sense that the CJEU reached the result that it wanted and then it imposed a restriction on the scope of Article 23(1) to comport with this result, what Eckhard Ratjen calls a teleological construction of the Regulation.The question of whether registration of a trademark license is mandatory or permissive has arisen in various jurisdictions and the ultimate result is not uniform. At the end of the day, the tribunal decides either yes or no. As such, whatever their decision, courts that place a value on fully disclosing the underlying policy grounds for their decision will need to address two major issues; (i) do we want to require registration in such circumstances, and (ii) if so, it is workable? It is unfortunate that the CJEU did not do so to provide a helpful window into its policy considerations in connection with its ruling on trademark licensing.
CHARLESTON -- A preliminary Eastern Illinois University budget for fiscal year 2017 was approved Friday, with assured updates in the future once the administration gets a clearer understanding of the financial climate in the state.

Some numbers in the recently approved budget serve only as quasi-placeholders in order for the university to have a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Because of the states budget impasse, that we are having significant difficulty in identifying what kind of numbers we should be using for FY17, both from the standpoint of the state appropriation and the standpoint of the tuition and fees, said Paul McCann, vice president for business affairs.

This budget includes a substantial decrease in revenue compared to previous years, barring fiscal year 2016s revenues, of which the university currently has only received one-third of what was appropriated from the state in 2015.

The decrease largely comes from a dip in state revenue budgeted. Using the figure in Gov. Bruce Rauners proposed fiscal year 2017 budget released in February, EIU budgeted for $34 million in state revenue, which is approximately three-fourths of 2015s appropriation.

Other revenue streams are budgeted to dwindle as well. According to board documents, money from tuition and fees is budgeted for a decline from the year before. Currently, $57.3 million is budgeted for the upcoming year, a stark difference from tuition money received in fiscal year '14 with $72 million.

The board also approved the submission of the fiscal year 2018 budget to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. This had many similar figures to next years budget, but like that of fiscal year '17, are subject to change pending information available in the future.

(A tentative fiscal year '17 budget) would allow us to continue to function until we get more certainty on these additional items, McCann said.

The numbers are likely to be updated once given currently missing elements, possibly in September, according to the board meeting documents.

Along with the approval of these budgets, board members authorized the use of auxiliary facilities system surplus revenues, essentially surplus money collected over years from housing operations, to assist in supporting general operating expenses.

Eastern officials have continually called on the state legislature to appropriate more funds to the university as the stopgap funding appropriated earlier will not bring them to the point when fall tuition dollars start rolling in without more potential cuts and layoffs.

The state has yet to do so, leading to the university's need to use the surplus revenue, which is approximately $8 million currently, if income and reserve money runs out.

Aside from discussing budget uncertainties, two new degree programs, a masters of science in talent development and a bachelors of science in computer and information technology, were approved.

The master's program would be offered online and in the Chicago area. In this program, students will acquire skills necessary toward developing training programs within organizations, said Austin Cheney, School of Technology chair. The proposed program will be housed in the Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences School of Technology.

The objective of the program would be to provide employers within the state and nation with skilled talent (or training) development professionals, board records stated.

The bachelors program will be built upon the existing Applied Engineering and Technology (AET) program.

At the masters level, the School of Technology has developed and offered an area of study in computer technology since Spring 2000 and has seen a steady growth in enrollment to over 235 majors in Spring 2016, board records state. This growth is attributed to the demand in the area of computer technology, which has not been met at the undergraduate level.

Peter Ping Liu, School of Technology assistant chair, said this program will prepare students to work in typical Information Technology (IT) settings.

At the meeting, specific fiscal year 2017 student fees were increased. The fee increase raises the union bond revenue fee from $22.17 per credit hour to $25.81 per credit hour, a $3.64 per credit hour increase.

Lynette Drake, vice president for student affairs, explained the increases will provide additional funding for the University Union operations. Over the past 10 years, this fee has increased about $1.50 per credit hour.

According to board meeting records, the increase would be used to offset increases in costs of utilities, equipment maintenance, salaries, and help offset significant revenue reductions.

Also, a health service fee re-adjustment was approved. This re-adjustment will raise the current cap at nine credit hours to 12 credit hours, aligning this fee with other student fees.

This would in essence freeze the fee once a student reaches 12 credit hours rather than nine as it is now, and therefore will remain the same regardless of how many credit hours a student takes beyond 12 hours, Drake said.

The board records state this will offset increases in operating expenses and help offset significant revenue reductions.
NORTH PLATTE  A Colorado man was killed in a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 west of North Platte on Saturday afternoon.

A Ford Explorer was eastbound on I-80 when it crossed the median and crashed into a sedan near mile marker 175 around 2 p.m., according to the Nebraska State Patrol. The Explorer then struck a semitrailer on the left side, causing a gas leak.

The 55-year-old Colorado man driving the sedan was killed, and his female passenger was taken to a hospital with injuries.

The 67-year-old California man who drove the Explorer was also taken to a hospital. The 67-year-old Paxton man driving the semi suffered minor injuries, according to reports.

Part of the interstate was closed until shortly after 6 p.m.
A 22-year-old man, suspected in an early Sunday homicide, was shot and killed by two Lincoln police officers around 9 a.m. Sunday after he brandished a pistol and pointed it at the officers, Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said Sunday afternoon.

The man was suspected of fatally shooting a 20-year-old woman and injuring a 23-year-old woman around 3 a.m., Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said.

The names of the woman killed and the suspect are not being released until relatives are contacted.

Those two officers have been placed on leave, per department policy.

Police developed the 22-year-old man as a homicide suspect through witnesses statements. Officers found the man on 14th Street between Adams and Harley streets and there was a foot pursuit, the chief said.

A witness who was driving on 14th Street told LSO the man pulled out a pistol, refused to drop it when ordered and then pointed the pistol at the officers before they opened fire, Wagner said.

LPD will investigate the homicide while LSO investigates the officer-involved shooting. Once LSO's investigation is complete, it will be handed to the Lancaster County Attorney's Office for review and then to a grand jury, which is standard in officer-related shootings.

Near Belmont Elem School where there's been an apparent shooting related to 3 am homicide. Waiting on more info #LNK pic.twitter.com/Rzayb36aAP  Nichole Manna (@LJSNicholeManna) June 26, 2016

Lincoln police officers went to the 3400 block of Portia Street in north Lincoln around 3 a.m., and while investigating a reported physical altercation they heard gunshots near Portia and Adams streets. Police don't know what caused the initial altercation.

The two women were shot in separate vehicles between Adams and Knox streets on Portia. They were not involved in the altercation, Bliemeister said.

"At this point in the investigation, we believe the deceased male was the only person culpable for the homicide and the assault of the 23-year-old," he said.

Both the victims and the suspect are from Lincoln, but police don't yet know if the women knew each other or if they knew the man who shot them, Bliemeister said. At least three cars were stopped on Portia Street when the shooting happened. Police don't know if anyone else was injured.

The injured woman was taken into surgery and she remains hospitalized Sunday afternoon.

Almost six months into 2016, the eight killings Lincoln police have investigated mark a 10-year-high for murders in Nebraska's capital.
Children from Lincolns low-income families will have more opportunities for quality early childhood education and health, nutrition and fitness programming thanks to the Community Health Endowments most recently awarded grants.

Grants totaling $707,137 for year one and $960,929 over three years were approved. Grants worth $10,000 or more were awarded for these projects:

* Community Action Partnership of Lancaster and Saunders Counties, $235,000  construct Head Start early childhood classrooms at Health 360 clinic, 2301 O St.

* Willard Community Center, $100,000  help renovate the 98-year-old community center in southwest Lincoln to provide quality early childhood education, before- and after-school programs, educational enrichment, recreational opportunities and health/neighborhood activities.

* City Impact, $40,000  support health and fitness in low-income neighborhoods in central Lincoln through construction of a health and wellness center.

* Lincoln Parks and Recreation, $13,360  establish a running/fitness program for youth and adults with a focus on neighborhoods served by the F Street Community Center.

* Community CROPS, $25,055  support a mobile farmers market located at the Health 360 clinic to serve low-income clinic patients and residents of nearby neighborhoods.

* Food Bank of Lincoln, $30,000 over three years  provide fresh fruit to students using public school food markets at selected Lincoln schools.

* Mental Health Association of Nebraska, $71,862 over three years  pilot peer-based mental health support for students in selected high schools and provide staff training to reduce student mental illness, drug/alcohol abuse, self-harm and suicide.

* Legal Aid of Nebraska, $150,000 over three years  ensure legal representation for low-income patients of the Health 360 clinic and Peoples Health Center who are facing legal issues that may negatively impact their health.

* Family Violence Council, $35,000 over two years  develop a community-based Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program to support victims of sexual assault.

* St. Monicas, $40,000  extend equine-assisted psychotherapy for women in treatment for addiction and train a local clinician to provide ongoing equine-assisted therapy.

* Tabitha, $212,652 over two years  provide service coordination at no cost to low-income, high-risk elders to enable them to age in their homes.

The Community Health Endowment of Lincoln was created in 1998 as a result of the city's sale of Lincoln General Hospital. The sale to Bryan Health resulted in $37 million for the city of Lincoln. Since its inception, the endowment has returned more than $24.5 million to the community.
Sensory overload was an understatement Saturday at Haymarket Park during the Goodguys/Speedway Motors A Day at the Hay car show.

To the right stretched a seemingly endless line of bright hot rods, from 1970 and older. Some people took pictures, circling with gaping jaws. Others chatted up the owners, getting each car's mini history lesson.

To the left, adrenaline junkies maneuvered the hard twists and turns of a racetrack marked by orange cones, wheels sliding around each corner. Revving engines drowned out all other noise.

And everywhere, the smell: a mix of fuel and fresh paint  just like grandpa's garage.

This is Goodguys second summer hosting the show, and participation nearly doubled since last year, with nearly 1,000 registered cars.

Jan Sanfords 1940 silver-beige Ford was a history-rich presence in the back row.

The car once belonged to Sanford's brother, Kenny Gritz, who put Nebraska on the racing radar in the the late 1960s.

Gritz shocked the racing world by winning the 1969 Knoxville Nationals, upsetting multiple world-class racers with much more experience.

Tragedy struck 16 days later: While racing on a rainy day on a slick track at the Nebraska State Fair, Gritz crashed and died.

Sanford and her husband were in the stands and had to break the news to her mother, who had always worried about Gritz's safety.

"He always told her, if he had to die, that's what he'd like to die doing," Sanford said.

His death led racing officials to implement safety regulations that probably have saved the lives of many other racers, she said: "His death probably saved a lot of people from dying. So that's how we have to look at it."

Sanford and her husband bought the Ford, which her brother was restoring, and now travel the state sharing Gritz's legacy.

People here are real passionate about their vehicles," Sanford said. "And I am, too."

Although shes been showing her car frequently over the past several years, shes recently had to slow down due to her husbands declining health. Still, whenever she can make a trip out to a show, she pounces on the opportunity.

I love the people, she said. Car people are great. One of the best things about going to the car show is every one of these cars has a history, theres a story behind it. And it is so interesting.

Through these statewide events, shes met two of her dearest friends, Don Shinkus and Larry Reifschneider. The three have grown so close that they soon will each have matching plaques on the back of their cars, all saying Friends.

Shinkus, who has owned his 1970 Nova SS for nearly 30 years and been showing it since 88, said hes run into people decades after meeting them at car shows and theyre still able to have a conversation. On Saturday, three people came by and said they recognized him and his car from a show in Fairbury in 1989.

It was very, very cool, he said.

Shinkus' chats with people who come to look at his car have fostered some of his most memorable moments from 20 years of showing his car.

If that car can bring back even one I remember when' story, my day is complete, he said. Its just the most fun you can have.

Reifschneider's pride and joy is a candy-apple red, 1932 Ford Roadster.

You can go to small towns and whenever you go back to that same town, theyll remember you, he said.
Like everybody else in London, I woke up Friday morning, after not much sleep, to graphic depictions of the pound crashing, the stock exchange collapsing and markets all over the world in turmoil. I have no doubt that within days, the story will be different. Traders will take a step back and notice that nothing, actually, has happened yet. There will be cheap assets to pick up. Markets will stabilize.

The true impact, on Britain and on Europe, will not be visible for many years. In a certain sense, it will not be visible at all, for the real damage will be done by the things that will now not happen. The slow agony of the divorce proceedings will take up precious political time and energy in London and other European capitals, so Europe's leaders will not unite to cope with other crises. The U.K. will turn farther in on itself, so British energy and talent will not be dedicated to pushing back against the Islamic State, resettling migrants, resisting Russia. The situation of the U.K. will be unstable and uncertain for a long time to come, so investments will not take place. Money will not be spent. Opportunities will not be created.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of decisions to be made in the U.K., on legal issues, on joint foreign policy, security and diplomacy and, if Britain leaves the European single market altogether, on tariffs and trade.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in Europe, and so the question of Scottish independence necessarily returns. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, has called the referendum result "democratically unacceptable" for Scots, and one sees her point.

Northern Ireland voted to stay in Europe, and so the unification of northern and southern Ireland becomes a live issue again. Minutes after the referendum result was announced, Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, declared that "This British Government has forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests of people in Northern Ireland," and so it has. It can only be a matter of time before a movement calling for a northern Irish referendum takes off.

Other European countries may now face political instability as well. The British vote has, in just a few hours, energized the supporters of anti-European - and in some cases anti-democratic - parties elsewhere in Europe. Not just in the smaller European nations but in big countries - France, the Netherlands, Italy and possibly even Germany - the political scene may shift dramatically, particularly given the likelihood of slower economic growth. Once again, much of the damage will be invisible, taking the form of things that will not happen. The Dutch prime minister, the German chancellor or the French president, consumed with fighting off new political challenges at home, will not have time to think creatively about their own economies or Europe's institutional structures, let alone the outside world.

Finally, I do realize that it's facile to talk about the impact on a U.S. election which is still many months away, that it's too simple to say "first Brexit, then Trump." But there is a way in which this election has to be seen, at the very least, as a possible harbinger of the future. This referendum campaign, as I wrote a few days ago, was not fought on the issues that are normally central to British elections. Identity politics trumped economics; arguments about "independence" and "sovereignty" defeated arguments about British influence and importance. The advice of once-trusted institutions was ignored. Elected leaders were swept aside. If that kind of transformation can take place in the U.K., then it can happen in the United States, too. We have been warned.
Are we really going to respond to the threat of Islamic terrorism by disarming Americans? In the wake of the attack in Orlando, Fla., Hillary Clinton announced that weapons of war have no place on our streets, and she specifically focused on the AR-15.

While the Orlando killer used a Sig Sauer MCX carbine, since the shooting, it has been another roughly similar rifle, the AR-15, that has been the focus of so much anger. Possibly this is because it is the most popular rifle in America. Possibly it is because the media jumped to the conclusion that this was the weapon used before they had confirmation.

The AR-15 looks like the M-16, which has been in use by the U.S. military since the Vietnam War. While the M-16 is a machine gun, the AR-15 is semiautomatic, meaning that it fires only one bullet at a time. Yet the AR-15 was covered by the 1994 federal assault-weapons ban (which expired in 2004).

But people continue to ask: Why do people need a semiautomatic AR-15 to go out and kill deer? The answer is simple: Because it is a hunting rifle. It has just been made to look like a military weapon.

The AR-15 uses essentially the same bullets as small-game hunting rifles, fires at the same rapidity and does the same damage.

The .223-inch rounds used by the AR-15 are actually small compared with what is usually used to hunt deer. Indeed, many states prohibit using bullets of that size for deer hunting. The concern is that the animal will suffer from its wounds rather than experiencing a quick death.

But hunting isnt the issue here. Semiautomatic weapons also protect people and save lives. Single-shot rifles that require manual reloading after every round may not do people a lot of good when their first shot misses or when they are faced by multiple attackers.

During her talk, Clinton gave the false impression that the assault weapons used in Orlando and San Bernardino, Calif., are commonly used in mass public shootings. But such weapons were used exclusively in only 12 percent of the mass public shootings from President Barack Obamas 2009 inauguration through the end of 2015. In another 12 percent of shootings, a rifle was used in conjunction with a handgun or a shotgun.

Since the federal ban expired in September 2004, murder and overall violent-crime rates have actually fallen. In 2003, the last full year before the law expired, the U.S. murder rate was 5.7 per 100,000 people. By 2014, the murder rate had fallen to 4.5 per 100,000 people. In none of the years since the ban ended has the murder rate been higher than it was in 2003. The average murder rate during the 10 years of the ban was 6.7 per 100,000 people and in the 10 years after it was 5.1.

In fact, murder rates fell immediately after September 2004, especially in the states that did not have their own assault-weapons bans. My published academic research accounts for other factors and confirms the apparent benefits of the federal bans expiration.

There is also a misunderstanding about the large-capacity ammunition magazines used by some of these killers. The common perception is that so-called assault weapons can hold larger magazines than hunting rifles. Any gun that can hold a magazine can hold one of any size. That is true of handguns as well as rifles. A magazine, which is basically a metal box with a spring, is trivially easy to make and virtually impossible to stop criminals from obtaining. The 1994 assault-weapons law banned larger magazines and yet had no benefit on crime rates.

If we finally want to deal seriously with multiple-victim public shootings, it is about time that we acknowledge a common feature of these attacks. Since at least as far back as 1950, all but three U.S. mass public shootings (with more than three fatalities) have occurred in places where citizens are not allowed to carry their own firearms.

Let licensed citizens carry guns in the sorts of places that keep getting attacked. They will sometimes be able to stop these killings before police can get to the scene. In the Orlando attack, it took three hours before police entered the nightclub and engaged the killer.

The AR-15 is a dangerous weapon, but it is not a weapon of war. It doesnt make sense to ban certain semiautomatic guns just because of how they look. And no, banning all semiautomatic guns is not the answer either. Despite the immediate emotional appeal of doing so, it will actually make Americans less safe.
In a recent editorial mentioning me (Property tax should be the target, June 19), the Journal Star wrote that Nebraskas taxpayers only want the Legislature to focus on reducing local property tax rates, implying such a change should occur by raising state taxes. I am running for chairperson of the Nebraska Legislatures Revenue Committee because I simply dont believe this to be true. Individual taxpayers, businesses, military personnel and retirees all have been asking for tax relief for years. Its time our state stops thinking so narrowly and instead seeks to broaden our tax base by providing comprehensive tax relief for all.

I came to Lincoln in 2011 because I felt there were not enough voices for small businesses and individual taxpayers in our Legislature. If I am elected Revenue Committee chairperson, I plan to be an advocate for taxpayers and to set a course in the years ahead for a tax climate that benefits all Nebraskans.

Heres the truth: the Nebraska Legislature could reduce local property tax rates immediately by forcing local levy limits to be lowered.

But when the Legislature has come anywhere near restraining local taxes and spending, there is a loud outcry that such action would be detrimental to important government services such as public safety and K-12 education.

It has been suggested the state provide more funding to state priorities like K-12 education, but it cant guarantee those funds will be used to lower local tax rates without local cooperation. Instead of playing a continuing blame game between state and local governments, the state should responsibly address the tax policies under its control.

Despite how the Journal Star runs the numbers, the income tax is the largest single source of revenue for the State of Nebraska. No property tax dollars make their way to the states General Fund budget. The Journal Stars choice of words in calling income tax relief counter-productive is interesting, since empirical studies find that income tax is among the most harmful taxes on economic productivity, more destructive than even sales and property tax.

Income tax directly affects the incentive to work, produce, invest, and save for the future. States which have no income tax at all, which exempt retirees, or levy lower income tax rates, predominate the list of states to which Nebraska loses income and people.

A conversation that only includes property taxesand as it happened this past session, only property taxes paid by agricultural land ownersis a conversation that excludes enormous numbers of taxpayers that Nebraska needs to retain and attract.

Nebraskas wage earners, retirees on fixed incomes, and small businesses are all affected by income taxes, and are currently paying the countrys 16th highest top personal income tax rate at very modest levels of income. We can bring this rate down by reducing unnecessary exemptions in our tax system.

We should remove features to our tax system that cause tax rates to be higher. The Journal Star has previously suggested Nebraskans should pay sales tax when buying candy or soft drinks. But have you noticed that newspapers are also exempt from sales tax?

My small business is no different. If I sell a garage or entry door to a customer, I must collect sales tax on the parts, but not on the service itself. This makes little sense in a service economy, and means we must all pay higher income and sales tax rates to make up the difference.

Beyond this, many companies will not willingly locate or remain in Nebraska unless offered generous tax incentives. This is a sign that tax rates are too high, and the solution should be to reduce them for everyone, not only big business or those who own property.

New research from the Platte Institute shows that Nebraska falls behind the national average for new job creation and population growth. Under these conditions, its not sufficient to only target tax relief to the best-known taxpayers, when so many other Nebraskans are capable of creating new, innovative jobs that can help grow our state.

The evidence shows we cannot secure the Good Life unless we enact tax reforms that help all Nebraskans provide more for their families and businesses, and build a better future in Nebraska.
1876: Lincoln hotels were so crowded before the July 4 celebration that an outstate minister had to sleep on a billiard table, while beds were hastily put together in hotel parlors to accommodate the overflow of visitors.

1886: Mr. C.W. Kitchen, an Omaha innkeeper, bought the Commercial Hotel at 11th and P streets, and changed its name to the Capital Hotel. It was originally a drugstore that was converted and enlarged into The Douglas House, the predecessor of the Commercial Hotel. Today, the building houses the Downtown YMCA.

1896: Marshal Ed R. Sizer issued a bulletin to all Lincoln Republicans urging them to participate in the celebration parade for President William McKinley. The parade formed on M Street and started at the Lindell Hotel, ending at the Capital Hotel, where a platform was erected from which R.H. Townley and other Republican leaders spoke.

1906: Lincoln was without running water for three days due to storm damage to the Lincoln water plant in Antelope Park.

The battleship Nebraska was put through her paces by her builder at Seattle.

1916: The Lincoln City Council chose to live with a refuse disposal system problem rather than bid future administrations to a definite line of action, said the city attorney.

Forty Lincoln businessmen took a two-day trip to outstate Nebraska towns to promote Lincoln businesses.

1926: A portrait of Judge W.G. Hastings of Omaha, formerly dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law, was presented to the university.

1936: Fire destroyed the outdoor theater and stage at Capital Beach. The penny arcade, a stall housing a bingo game and other buildings were either destroyed or damaged severely. According to then-manager R.H. Ferguson, the loss was only partially covered by insurance.

Dr. Earl H. Bell, University of Nebraska anthropologist, and George W. Wilcox of Inman unearthed an ancient Indian city near Lynch. The city was believed to be 4,000 or more years old.

1946: The Lincoln Board of Education approved leasing the old Jackson High School building at 47th and Adams streets to Nebraska Wesleyan University for a dormitory.

1956: The Lincoln School Board approved a budget of $7.5 million for the 1956-57 school year.

1966: President Lyndon B. Johnson visited Omaha and said powerful air strikes would continue in North Vietnam. The president spoke beside the Missouri River where barges were being loaded with grain for India.

Consumers Public Power District said it planned to join an Iowa electric utility company to build a nuclear power plant on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River.

1976: University of Nebraska President D.B. Varner announced his resignation and said he would join the NU Foundation full time on or before Jan. 1.

Severe thunderstorms that produced 90 mph winds and at least one tornado hit Omaha, causing damage along the southwest edge of the city.

1986: The Peter Kiewitt Foundation of Omaha gave the Lied Center a grant of $1.5 million, putting it $1 million over its goal.

1996: Parishioners at St. Luke's Czech Shrine in Loma were abuzz over the appearance of a halo above a statue of the Virgin Mary during a Mass celebration.

Rallies brought out pro- and anti-death penalty advocates during demonstrations preceding the scheduled execution of confessed child killer John Joubert.

2006: Potential sites for a downtown arena, convention center and hotel have been whittled from nine to three, all of which are in or near the Haymarket: Site of the downtown post office, Seventh and R streets; directly west of Lincoln Station, using the building as sort of a historic entrance and on the south side of Harris Overpass, near Seventh and N streets. Subcommittees will now look at the specifics of building and paying for the arena.
RACINE  When Jud and Mary Wyant reminisce about their law careers together, inevitably the conversation drifts back to their two years in rural Afghanistan with the Peace Corps.

It was such a formative experience for the two community-minded lawyers who on Friday will close their practice, Wyant Law Offices at 510 College Ave.

They spent 1970 and 1971 in rural Gardez, Afghanistan, Jud teaching boys English and Mary teaching girls English. That was long before the Taliban became such a dangerous threat, they said.

Jud explained that Gardez means It is dusty.

Its an accurate name, Mary said.

During one of their summer vacations there, Jud also supervised cattle-vaccination teams in Khost. He was asked: Dont you have to know about livestock or veterinary medicine to do that?

You sure have to know which way a cow kicks, Jud replied with a smile. And I learned that very quickly.

Afghanistan is where Mary nudged Jud toward the legal profession, as they sat on the roof of their whitewashed mud house. Jud was then trying to choose between law and becoming a historian. Mary had grown up in the home of two lawyers, Jerome and Ruth Foley.

I said, I dont want to go into law, because thats what your family does, Jud recalled. And she congratulated me on such a stupid way to make a decision.

She said, You would rather be in the battle than write about it.

Jud knew instantly that Mary, his high school sweetheart from St. Catherines, was right.

In the atmosphere

Having lawyering parents paved the road to the legal profession for Mary. In fact, their son, Peter, is a fourth-generation lawyer who will move his practice to 601 Lake Ave.

I often think its not so much that my folks talked about legal things, or that I knew laws and things like that growing up, Mary said,  I realized later on that I grew up knowing how to think like a lawyer. It was just in the atmosphere at home.

Jud, 70, and Mary, 69, both Marquette University Law School alumni, have practiced together for their entire careers: Mary doing estate planning and probate; Jud doing business and real estate law.

Early on, Jud and Mary worked together on two grueling litigation cases in the same year: one that lasted 2 weeks; and the other 3 weeks. They won the first and essentially fought to a draw on the second. Their three children were all in grade school then.

Basically those two trials convinced us we did not want to make litigation one of our primary focuses, Mary said.

Its just so hard on a family, Jud added.

More recently, one of Juds highest-profile cases has been Machinery Row, Racines planned riverfront development. He helped developer Rodney Blackwell clear out two tenants whose storage belongings have slowed the project.

Community service

Both Wyants have been, and still are, tremendously involved in volunteer community endeavors.

Mary has given her free time to the United Way of Racine County Community Investment Committee, St. Monicas Senior Living board and St. Vincent de Paul Council. She is also chairwoman of the City of Racine Board of Ethics.

Juds biggest contribution was serving for more than 30 years on the Racine Plan Commission. Other volunteer causes have been the Boy Scouts Three Harbors Council, Racine Symphony board and Milwaukee Civil War Roundtable.

One disappointment for Jud was the outcome of his hard work in 2006 to help devise a plan to consolidate eight local Catholic grade schools, some of them struggling, into one school with five campuses. At one point, every parish supported it.

But after the committee named the three schools it advised shuttering, Jud said, one priest backed out, and the plan collapsed like a house of cards.

It wasnt long before all three of the schools the committee had recommended closing did, in fact, close one by one.

Now, as the Wyants wind up their remaining cases and close their own office, their Afghan experience still gives them perspective on their lives and careers.

Jud said they will do some traveling, but said, I dont have a big wanderlust because Ive already done a lot of that stuff.

And this: Every once in a while I think, Electricity is so cool. A reminder of what they didnt have in Afghanistan.
Name: Terri Lynn Johnson

Age: 62

Occupation: Executive director of Wisconsin Independent Learning College, an autism specific organization.

Hometown/residence: Waukesha

Tell us what you do to make a positive impact on the community. I am and have been a special education educator and administrator since 1976  working with students and their families over that time period for more than 37 years from K-12, post secondary, college and university. Waterford was the founding home for Wisconsin Independent Learning College from 2012 to 2014, and Racine County provided our 501(c) 3, a nonprofit post secondary educational organization for teaching adults with autism in daily living, communication, community/recreation, and prevocational and vocational skills.

What do you appreciate the most about Racine County? Racine County and Waterford were a wonderful welcoming community for our school for the beginning years.

Who inspires you, and why? I have been inspired by so much: Great writers, hard-working parents and teachers, beautiful sunrise and sunsets, a good book, the mountains, a calm moment.

Tell us about the greatest life lesson you have learned so far. A greatest life lesson I was taught by my talented mother who was an educator, seamstress, writer, artist and true Renaissance woman of substance, is if you can read and follow directions, you can repair and or learn almost anything.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years I hope to have traveled extensively in Spain with my family where my husband lived, which is our life dream together.

What is the most adventurous thing you've done? The most adventurous event in my life was a year-long journey across the U.S., traveling, meeting many new friends, while working a variety of unique jobs such as landscaping/construction, the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival, hiking and biking in the Rocky Mountains to name a few from that great adventure.

If you could have dinner with any four other people (living or dead), who would you invite, and why? I would love to have a dinner with four unique dinner companions who have brightened the world through their words and actions: James Michener, author; Michelangelo, inventor/artist; Gandhi; and Madame Curie.

Tell us about your favorite teacher. My favorite teacher was Robert Burrows from UW-Whitewater, who was my Mr. Chips. He inspired and motivated me to be the best student and person during a challenging time  my freshman year in college as I was questioning my life purpose.

What is the best gift youve ever received, and what made it so special? The gift of good books to read and enjoying learning, and sharing that with others.

What would you do if you won $1 million: I would share it with those who have greater need than I, after I had a very good cup of fresh brewed coffee, some sweet nutty chocolates and the company of a good friend to help choose the deserving recipients.
RACINE  The City of Racine has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Racine Police officers and the city for $100,000.

The case, Veguilla v. City of Racine et al, involves Racine resident Miguel Veguilla, who claimed he was unfairly treated and had his civil rights violated by four Racine police officers on July 3, 2014. The City Council approved the settlement Tuesday, but not without first emphasizing its support for the Police Department.

According to the lawsuit filed in July 2015, Veguilla was allegedly handcuffed and beaten outside of his home while in his underwear after police came to investigate a crash Veguilla wasn't personally involved in.

Veguilla's girlfriend at the time, Marisol Martinez, had allegedly been in an accident earlier that day, left her information with another driver and left the scene before police arrived, according to the complaint. Police found the vehicle Martinez had driven in the accident at Veguilla's house, but Veguilla didn't know about the accident because he had been sleeping, the complaint stated.

"I think the fact that they paid that amount underscores that they thought that there was real misconduct on the part of the police officers," said Michael Sperling, the attorney for the plaintiff.

"We believe they entered his home without the right to do so," Sperling said. "He was arrested for doing nothing. He was not a threat of any kind to anybody."

Veguilla was arrested and held on suspicion of resisting arrest, a charge that court records show was dropped.

In May, the case was sent to Magistrate Judge William E. Callahan Jr. for mediation, according to federal court records. Records show that the parties reached a settlement agreement at a June 13 hearing and the Tuesday City Council meeting agenda valued the settlement at $100,000.

"We believe the city paid close to the full value of the case," Sperling said.

The city was initially implicated for improper training of the officers, but that part of the lawsuit was let go, according to Sperling. The city remained responsible for the misconduct of its officers, he said.

Racine City Attorney Scott Letteney represented the city in the settlement.

"Under the circumstances of this case, it just seemed more appropriate to settle it rather than move forward with a trial," he said.

Chief stands by officers

Racine Police Lt. Dave Wohlgemuth confirmed that the four officers named in the suit  Robert Rasmussen, Allan Wassil, Andrew Matson and Christopher Brush  are still with the department.

Racine Police Chief Art Howell said the incident was reviewed both internally and by independent use of force experts, and the officers' actions were determined to have been legal.

"Force was legally used to effect the arrest, not to inflict or intentionally cause injury," Howell said in an email on Saturday.

According to Sperling, Veguilla sustained a torn rotator cuff and had to have surgery. Howell said Veguilla's injury was not the optimal or desired outcome of the arrest.

"When possible, it is our objective to avoid physical confrontation, as the probability for injury (to both officers and those who resist being taken into custody) increases," Howell wrote. "The fact that an injury occurred in this case (and the fact that members of the Racine Police Department have sustained injuries during the past year while making arrests) is unfortunate and not the optimal or desired outcome.

"The overwhelming number of arrests (where cooperation and compliance is gained) do not result in physical confrontation or injury," Howell said.

City Council OKs settlement

The Racine City Council approved the settlement at Tuesday's meeting by a 12-2 vote, with 1st District Alderman Jeff Coe and 5th District Alderman Steve Smetana voting against it. That approval came after discussion from four aldermen, including Coe, who said he found the settlement "atrocious."

Sixth District Alderman Sandy Weidner voted to approve settlement, but only after making sure she communicated the council's support for the Police Department and the difficult jobs they do.

"I think its so important for our police officers to understand that we, the city council, have their back," Weidner said. "We know that we send them out into harm's way every day that theyre working and sometimes things happen. We have to sometimes make decisions that are based on fiscal reasons rather than any kind of criticism or judgment for what they may or may not have done."

While he agreed with Weidner on the importance of supporting the Police Department, 8th District Alderman Q.A. Shakoor II also stressed the importance of agreeing to the legal settlement.

"True enough, its $100,000, but it could go up to 300 (thousand dollars), (a) half million (dollars), who knows?" Shakoor said. "It all depends on what a jury would decide. I dont think we need to take that chance. I think this is being responsible."

Third District Alderman Michael Shields also commended the Police Department, but emphasized his concern that the city's financial burden in the case "could go deeper than that" based on the evidence presented to the Finance and Personnel Committee.

"Citizens should be protected and the Police Department should be protected," he said. "Public safety goes both ways and we cant assume that officers are always right and citizens are always wrong."
RACINE  A 73-year-old Caledonia man died Saturday night after choking on a large piece of meat at Greek Fest, Racine County Medical County Examiner Michael Payne said Sunday.

First responders were called to the festival grounds at Kimissis Tis Theotokou Church, 1335 S Green Bay Road, at about 6:15 p.m., Payne said.

When they arrived, however, they found that initial attempts to dislodge the meat from the victims throat, including the Heimlich maneuver, had failed and that the man, Wayne Staufenbeil, was already unconscious.

The responders were eventually able to remove the blockage from Staufenbiels throat at the scene, but the victim died at about 7:45 p.m., about an hour after arriving at Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints Hospital, 3801 Spring St., Payne said.

Payne said the kind of blockage that killed Staufenbeil is something doctors often refer to as food bolus.

It was a significant piece of meat that was lodged in that poor mans throat, he said.
UNION GROVE  For the past several months, village officials and the American Roller Company have worked to muffle a persistent whirring sound somehow emanating from a 52,000 square-foot plant that company opened in 2015.

The noise, described variously as a droning, humming, whirring or thumping, has bugged some residents who live less than a half-mile away from the facility at 1450 13th Avenue.

American Roller designs and builds rollers used in the paper, printing, packaging, film, plastic, and steel industries. The firm, which has customers all over the globe, also covers machine parts used in the food, mining, petrochemical and oil and gas industries with specialized, high-tech coatings.

The company has been in Union Grove since 1954. In 2015, the firm built a new coatings plant at the corner of 13th Avenue and York Street.

Less than a half-mile away lives Gary DeVries. He has resided at 914 Park Circle for 25 years. He and neighbor Jeff Nimmer, who lives at 924 Park Circle, approached the Union Grove Village Board in March about the issue.

Park Circle, an enclave of medium-sized one-story residences, is north of the plant, off 10th Avenue. A long line of tall trees separates the plant from the neighborhood, but the sound can still be heard.

DeVries said he first noticed the noise last fall, soon after the company finished the new plant. And despite the company making some mechanical adjustments at the facility, the noise continues.

The noise is still there. I still notice it, DeVries said. You dont hear it so much during the day when there are other activities going on. A humming or droning would be as good a description as any for what seems to be happening.

DeVries told the Village Board that the frequency of the noise was continual, but hoped it would be corrected before the weather warmed up and people wanted to sit outside or keep their windows open.

After the March meeting, company officials were notified about the issue by Mark Osmundsen, the villages director of public works.

An engineering team at American Roller worked on the issue almost immediately, said Nicolae Epping, marketing specialist at American Roller.

Osmundsen said the company had decibel readers installed within an hour to determine the extent of the issue. Initial decibel levels were around 92.

During the next two months, company engineers installed new mufflers in the dust system, as well as a new bearing assembly at the plant, Epping said.

We were able to make some mechanical investments on equipment to reduce noise levels, Epping said.

Once the improvements were made, noise from the plant dropped to 72 decibels, Osmundsen told the Village Board in May.

Osmundsen also told village trustees that none of the residents living in a mobile home park located between 10th and 11th avenues  closer to the facility than the residences on Park Circle  had complained about the noise.

The village and American Roller are continuing to work together to solve the problem, which DeVries said he appreciates.

By no means are we anti-business, DeVries said. I believe they are trying to make some good-faith efforts to mitigate the noise.

Epping agreed. We have always had a positive and proactive relationship with the village and the community, Epping said. So we will continue to work with officials in an ongoing fashion.
Following an act of terror and violence, the nation should come together. We should stand up for our brothers and sisters who lost their lives.

Its a time to show compassion. Its not a time to discriminate and perpetuate the trend of hate.

Unfortunately here in our own community, in the immediate wake of the June 12 terror attack that left 50 dead in Orlando, we saw two despicable incidents of intolerance and discrimination. They are incidents that never should have happened.

The first one occurred the Tuesday following the attack  the same night that 200 people gathered at North Beach to honor the deceased in the attack.

A teen was arrested at Marcus Renaissance Theater for reportedly harassing and threatening gay patrons.

According to a criminal complaint, the Mount Pleasant Police Department was called to the theater, 10411 Washington Ave., Sturtevant, at 12:05 a.m. Wednesday to assist with an unruly patron.

The theater manager told police that 18-year-old Nicholas A. Sabala IV had engaged in a verbal altercation with a group of male homosexual patrons, calling them faggots and using other inflammatory words, The Journal Times reported last week after receiving the criminal complaint.

Even more disturbing: the manager reportedly told police that Sabala threatened the group by saying he had a firearm in his car.

After what happened in Orlando, and anytime for that matter, that threat is terrifying.

We just saw what happened when hate overtakes all else. Sadly, that is only one incident.

The next day, a carnival worker in town for the Kraut Music Fest was reportedly harassed about being transgender.

That came out as part of a criminal complaint, where the individuals co-worker was charged after he reportedly threatened the alleged harassers with a knife.

According to reports of the incident, Jerade T. Walker, 27, of Gibsonton, Fla., and a co-worker were walking through the park when they encountered a large group of teenagers.

Walker asked the group if anyone had a lighter, but the teens started making derogatory comments to them about being carnival employees and to the co-worker for being transgender, the complaint said. That is when he reportedly took out the knife, which led to his charges.

Walker deserved to be charged for his actions. But the teens derogatory comments leading up the disorderly conduct were just as bad.

In the wake of the June 12 attack on a gay night club in Orlando that left 50 dead, controversy has stirred.

There is controversy and anger over gun rights, over what information has been released to the public and controversy over how politicians are reacting.

Its one thing to debate policies. Its another thing to discriminate and make threats.

Racine resident Karen Aber, who organized a vigil at North Beach in Racine following the attacks, said it best.

The hate has to stop.
NEW YORK  Michael Herr, the author and Oscar-nominated screenplay writer who viscerally documented the ravages of the Vietnam War through his classic nonfiction novel Dispatches and through such films as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 76.

His death in an upstate New York hospital was confirmed by publisher Alfred A. Knopf, which released Dispatches in 1977, two years after the U.S. left Vietnam.

A native of Syracuse, New York, and graduate of Syracuse University, Herr was part of the part of the New Journalism wave that included Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote and Norman Mailer and advocated applying literary style and techniques to traditional reporting. Dispatches is often ranked with Tim OBriens novel The Things They Carried, Stanley Karnows Vietnam: A History and a handful of other works as essential reading about the war.

If you think you dont want to read any more about Vietnam, you are wrong, critic John Leonard of The New York Times wrote when the book came out.

His other books included Walter Winchell, a 1990 novel about the powerful and irascible gossip columnist.
15 die as Somali Islamist militants attack hotel in Mogadishu

Somalia's al Shabaab Islamist group launched a suicide bomb attack on a hotel in the center of Mogadishu on Saturday before fighters stormed inside, police and the militant group said.
40 Nepali workers to return from Afghanistan

Forty Nepali migrant workers employed at G4 Secure Solution in Afghanistan are returning to Nepal on Sunday.
A national debate

It is unrealistic to say that Nepali youths should not go abroad to work, but some things need to change
China blow to India's Nuclear Suppliers Group hopes

India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has suffered a setback following Chinese opposition.
CIAA condemns Dr KC's demand seeking impeachment motion against Karki

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has condemned Dr Govinda KCs demand seeking impeachment motion against CIAA Chief Lokman Singh Karki, among other commissioners.
CIB launches fresh manhunt to nab criminals on the run

The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has launched a fresh a man-hunt to nab long-time fugitives.
Dr KC to begin hunger strike if past agreements not implemented

Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) professor and senior orthopaedic surgeon Dr Govinda KC has said that he will stage an indefinite hunger-strike from July 10 if the government doesnt abide by the agreements reached with him in the past.
Early Warning System in Seti out of order

The Early Warning System (EWS), which was installed in Seti River a year after the devastating flash flood in 2012, has remained dysfunctional due to lack of proper attention from the authorities.
Exposing the plights of students through play

Theatre Mall in Sundhara in the Capital is currently staging the play Upiyanko Nibandha, written and directed Kedar Shrestha.
First Nepal-bound cargo from Indias Vizag port flagged off

A Nepal-bound cargo container was flagged off from Indias Visakhapatnam Port for the first time on Friday.
Govt to allow telcos to start 4G services

The government is gearing up to amend the Radio Frequency Policy to allow telecom operators to start 4G-based services.
Indias road project raises flood concerns in Nepal

Nepali officials say several villages in the Tarai at risk of inundation
Major auto importers yet to return to Birgunj

Some of the major automobile dealers, who started using the Bhairahawa-Sunauli trade route for vehicle imports following Indias trade embargo, have yet to return to the Birgunj-Raxaul route.
Misplaced priorities

Prime Minister Oli would do well to reflect upon his tenure and set his priorities accordingly
More out of love than reverence

Seven to 10 cases of calves being killed by stray dogs are reported daily from different parts of Kathmandu
Need of lightning protection system stressed

The international conference on lightning has suggested that physical infrastructure being reconstructed after the earthquake must be equipped with lightning protection system.
Nepathya in the City of Angels

Nepali folk-rock ensemble Nepathya are currently in Los Angeles, US. As scheduled, the band is set to perform at the Barnum Hall on June 25. Following their concert in Los Angeles, the band will travel to Atlanta.
Not so new

Bhattarais initiative has shown some promising signs, but it is beset by significant challenges
6 yr old boy playing with gun fatally shoots brother in US

Authorities say a 6-year-old New Jersey boy playing with a gun fatally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head.
Pop-arts on display at NAC

It is not long ago that the sign board painters had a charm of their own and would be leading a stable life, economically. But these days, those very painters are compelled to flee to overseas for employment.
Rigging test? Son of exam board member comes out on top

CIAA had taken over the entrance examination of KU School of Medicine after suspecting a question leak
Scotland could veto Brexit: Nicola Sturgeon

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has told the BBC that Holyrood could effectively block the UK's exit from the EU.
Security tight after Chand Maoist threat

In the wake of a threat from the Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist, the local administration has beefed up security in Khalanga, the district headquarters.
Tenth university in the offing

The much talked about Open Universityfor students who cannot attend regular classesis in the making with the Legislature-Parliament set to endorse the law to govern it in its next meeting.
Those luring people to change their religion will be booked: DPM Thapa

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Kamal Thapa has warned that those luring people to change their religion would be booked.
Tornado kills at least 98 in east China

A tornado and hailstorm have killed at least 98 people and injured nearly 800 in the east Chinese province of Jiangsu, according to state media.
Two held in Mahottari over toxic liquor

District Police Office in Mahottari has arrested two persons on charge of producing and selling bootleg liquor that claimed five lives in the district.
Viber announces Nepal investment plans

Viber, one of the worlds leading messaging apps with over 711 million users worldwide, plans to expand its reach in Nepal.
Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits

Yes, they will make the city more inviting

Maybe ... does it really matter?

No, the signs in place are fine

No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars

Vote

View Results
Seoul braces for biggest Brexit fallout among Asian nations



By Kim Jae-won

The export-driven Korean economy will feel the biggest squeeze in Asia from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, as Brexit will bring protectionism back to the international stage, economists said Sunday.

They said the country, whose trade volume accounts for almost 90 percent of its gross net income, will suffer a further shrinkage in external trade with other nations, affected by the downward spiral to an anti-globalization mood.

"If the broader EU were to experience a growth slump as a result of Brexit, the impact on Asia would be more material," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC, in a report. "The external trade and finance- (or debt-) dependent economies are expected to feel the biggest squeeze: Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand."

As Asia's fourth-largest economy faces heightening uncertainty and unfavorable trade conditions in global markets, the government will come under increasing pressure to draw up a supplementary budget to keep the already sluggish economic growth from weakening further.

The government recently revised down its growth forecast from 3.1 percent to 2.8 percent, but it became more difficult to achieve the lowered target, according to economists.












Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 33F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Kendallville salutes pageant winners

KENDALLVILLE  Kendallvilles newly crowned Miss Indiana Brianna DeCamp and Miss Indianas Outstanding Teen Jordan Axel were honored Tuesday evening with a surprise ride on a fire truck, keys to the city and accolades from hundreds of onlookers along Main Street and those gathered in front of City Hall.

It was a community welcome home for DeCamp, who was crowned Miss Indiana Saturday night at the Miss Indiana Scholarship Pageant in Zionsville, and Axel, who was crowned Miss Indianas Outstanding Teen. It is the first time both winners have come from the same hometown.

Mayor Suzanne Handshoe and Ann Barnard of Kendallville secretly planned the community surprise. Handshoe invited DeCamp and Axel to join her for a meal at Applebees before the City Council meeting Tuesday, but the fire truck was waiting to pick them up at the restaurant.

Vintage depot is now Amtrak station

WATERLOO  A building from Waterloos history will play a big role in its future.

The towns 1883 railroad depot began a new life Friday as a station for Amtrak passengers who board trains four times a day in Waterloo.

This is your front door, and its a fantastic front door you have here, Amtrak official Charlie Monte Verde said about the remodeled building.

Waterloo made the day doubly special by also cutting a ribbon to open its new Town Hall in a former bank at 280 S. Wayne St.

Trine gains funding from Regional Cities

FORT WAYNE  The Northeast Indiana Regional Development Authority has approved granting Trine University $2.8 million in Regional Cities Initiative funding for a new ice arena and athletic and event center, after the Angola school agreed to reduce its original request.

At their meeting Tuesday in Fort Wayne, RDA board members also backed the University of Saint Francis request for $2.8 million in Regional Cities money for ongoing renovations at its downtown Fort Wayne campus.

Both requests must by approved by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. before the schools receive the money.

The Northeast Indiana RDA board voted to take under advisement two projects presented by YMCA of DeKalb County Inc. and the Embassy Theatre, and most likely will make funding recommendations at its next meeting in July.

The YMCA of DeKalb County is seeking $947,000 for its $7.2 million project to build a natatorium and a soccer and football field complex in Auburn.

Central Noble hires three principals

ALBION  Parents and students will meet three new faces in their school offices this year.

Central Noble Community School Corp. hired three principals Tuesday to head up Albion Elementary and Wolf Lake Elementary schools and fill an assistant principal vacancy at Central Noble Junior-Senior High School.

High school Assistant Principal Jeff Harper is shifting to the elementary level as the new principal at Albion; Robby Morgan was hired as principal in Wolf Lake; and newly hired football coach Greg Moe will fill the assistant principal job being vacated by Harper.

Ligonier ranks as states safest city

LIGONIER  Its more than just a job well done by the citys police force. Ligoniers recent recognition as 2016s Safest City in Indiana is a reflection on the community.

Its a complete honor to get it, said Public Safety Director and Police Chief Bryan Shearer. Law enforcement today is about getting back to the basics and taking care of the community and the people.

Previously ranked as the second safest city in Indiana by SafeWise, a safety and home security news organization, continuing efforts by both Ligonier Police Department and residents elevated the city to take the top spot this year.

After reviewing FBI crime reporting statistics regarding violent and property offenses for 2014, the latest year available, along with population data, SafeWise determined Ligonier is the safest place to live in the state.

Northeastern Center opens Albion office

ALBION  The Northeastern Center has opened a new outpatient office in Albion.

The full-service facility at 833 E. Main St. joins the centers Kendallville outpatient office to better serve Noble County residents, said the centers spokesman Michael Steigmeyer.

Megan Oetting, assistant director for Noble County, will head up the facility that currently has 14 employees and can accommodate more than 25 staff members to allow for future growth.

Bank recovers citys stolen money

KENDALLVILLE  With the help of its local bank, the city of Kendallville has recovered about 84 percent of the funds believed lost in April from cyber theft.

Clerk-Treasurer Sheryl Hanes announced this week Campbell & Fetter Bank had recovered $40,585 of the $48,500 lost, and the money has been deposited in the citys account with the bank.

Persistence was the word Campbell & Fetter Bank Chairman and President Larry Doyle used to describe how the bank recovered the money.

Local unemployment numbers improve

INDIANAPOLIS  Mirroring a statewide trend, more people found employment in May and the number of unemployed people dropped in northeast Indiana, said data released Monday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

The unemployment fell to was 3.2 percent in LaGrange County, 3.5 percent in Steuben County and 3.8 percent in both DeKalb and Noble counties. In Allen County, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent. All of the local rates for May improved from Aprils statistics.

LaGrange Countys unemployment rate ranked as third-lowest in the state, while Steuben Countys tied for 10th-lowest. DeKalb and Noble counties were tied for 32nd-lowest of the states 92 counties.
MINNEAPOLIS  Its so close, and so ours, that its easy to forget that the area around Lake Itasca is unlike any other in North America.

The continents four major biomes  large natural areas of plants and animals  meet here. Turn in one direction or another from up here, and in short order the land, the forests, and their inhabitants dramatically change.

One of the best ways to see those changes in stark contrast  youd pass through three of those four biomes  is to road trip south to north through the region. When I took that trip this spring  from the Twin Cities through Itasca State Park and on to the Big Bog State Recreation Area  we encountered flora and fauna by the dozens, some we could identify along the way, and others that remained a mystery.

Luckily, we were able to consult the Bell Museum of Natural Historys recently launched Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas. It was created as a way to open the Bells collection of biological samples to the public. The interactive maps show where each specimen was collected. The atlas provides scientists and the public access to the array of specimens that chronicle the more than 560,000 organisms that make Minnesota more than just soil, rock and water.

Paired together, the road trip and the Bells atlas offered the perfect guides to exploring this wild and, at times, prehistoric-feeling place.

Minneapolis: 211 miles to go

It had been at least 20 years since my last trip to Itasca, Minnesotas oldest state park. I had never been to the Big Bog, so we slapped the GoPro on the Saturn and headed north on Interstate 94. A forecast full of storms threatened a soggy reception, but today was the day.

Monticello: 173 miles to go

We took a right off the interstate and crossed the Mississippi River on our way into downtown Monticello. According to the Bell Atlas, there are jack-in-the-pulpits near the bridge over the river.

Xcel Energys nuclear power plant rose at the rivers edge, humming away and keeping the lights on down the line.

We took a left turn out of Monticello, U.S. Hwy. 10 stretching out before us. Before Interstate 94 became the premier east-west route through the upper midwest, U.S. 10 held that mantle. Like many of those early routes, it follows the course of a river, connecting the communities that sprung up on the banks of the Mississippi.

Little Falls: 113 miles to go

At Little Falls, we cross the Mississippi again  and this time its much smaller than at the crossing in Monticello. The farther north we travel the smaller and more adolescent the river becomes.

Staples: 74 miles to go

After U.S. 10s big left turn at Motley, we head into Staples, where the rail lines that run next to the highway expand into a large rail yard. Here, on one of the many stops along Amtraks Empire Builder line, rises a station that looks nearly untouched by the passage of time.

The trees are starting to look different as we head north on Hwy. 71. Black spruce pierce the treeline like grand spearheads. Gossamer tamaracks with fresh needles sink their roots in this region where the prairie grasslands of the west, the deciduous forests of the southeast, the coniferous forests of the northeast and the tallgrass aspen parkland of the far north come together.

As if to punctuate how different the forests are in this region, white pines stretch their limbs above their neighbors like ungainly teenagers in a growth spurt.

Menahga: 35 miles to go

From the highway, we spied what appeared to be a large statue of a man with a pitchfork, holding court over a pleasant-looking park.

We stopped and had lunch in the park, which is dominated by the statue of St. Urho  the guy with the pitchfork  a fictional patron saint of Finland, who according to northern Minnesota legend, chased the grasshoppers out of Finland to save the vineyards.

We finished our lunch under the gaze of St. Urho, standing tall with a gargantuan grasshopper impaled on his pitchfork, noted the lack of grasshoppers and returned to the road.

Arrived! Itasca State Park

It isnt a trip to Itasca without visiting the headwaters of the Mississippi, where the water flows across the rocks from Lake Itasca, starting that long journey down to the Gulf of Mexico. Standing on those rocks evoked hazy memories of scampering across them as a child.

Wandering down the trails leading away from the headwaters, we heard the drumming of a ruffed grouse as the cacophony of other birds calls away. The rains of the previous night seem to have made everything even more green.

We left from the south entrance of the park, and on the way we stopped at an overlook to take a look at Itasca one last time before heading home.

On the short trail to the overlook, we found some yellow ladys slippers, the close sibling of Minnesotas state flower, blooming trailside. For many protected plants like the ladys slippers, the Bell atlas hides location data to preserve the wild plants from poachers.

And of course there was moss. In the forests of Itasca all the trees are covered with lichens or mosses or both, creating layer upon layer of verdant living organisms.

The final destination: Big Bog State Recreation Area

From Itasca we continue north, leaving the headwaters behind, with 104 miles to our final destination. We skirt Lower Red Lake to reach the largest bog in the lower 48 states, which lies on the northern side of Upper Red Lake.

The stormy forecasts failed, and the skies were filled with puffy cumulus clouds, threatening only shade.

The Big Bog State Recreation Area is divided into two parts: The smaller section, just north of the town of Waskish, includes a ranger station, with a climbable fire tower, campgrounds and cabins. Nine miles north of that first section are 500 square acres of peat bog, with a boardwalk winding through.

The boardwalk, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, was built in 2005 to provide a guided path through the varied ecosystems of the Big Bog, also known as the Red Lake Peatland. Suspended above the ground, the pierced panels allow sunlight and rain down to the plants below.

Along the winding, mile-long path, we wander through ecosystems that rapidly transition from swampy wetlands to the fens to the full bog, which stretches out as far as the eye can see.

A fen, by the way, is a type of wetland thats neither swamp nor bog. While bogs get most of their water from rainfall, the water in fens comes from streams and groundwater.

Each major ecosystem within Big Bog  the bog land, the fens and the swamps  is made up of many smaller systems, with varying plant life, humidity  and, in some places, even air temperature. Along the path there were spots that felt dramatically cooler than just before or just after, the original swamp cooler, perhaps?

In Big Bog, the fens have running water and only a small amount of moss, while the ground of the bog itself is a nearly continuous mat of sphagnum moss, according to the DNR.

The vegetation is pervasive. The moss even finds a foothold on the walkway itself, as tamarack branches catch the wind. Labrador Tea plants reach for the sunlight among the spindly trees.

Soon, wed moved from the black spruce and tamarack coniferous swamp forest to the more open sphagnum bogs. The plants start looking even stranger: They grow close to the bottom, with tiny leaves. The trees are extremely spindly.

There is no ground, only moss here, as we hiked into the domains of carnivorous pitcher plants. Pitcher plants cope with the nutrient poor bog by making slow snacks of insects that happen to get trapped in their water-filled maws.

As we near the end of the hike, the rings of pitcher plants poke scarlet water traps up through the moss, and cottongrass gently bobs in the breeze.

About a mile down the trail, the boardwalk ends. For the first time since we started this little adventure, there are no nearby trees  and all of the plants at the end of the walkway are close to the ground, which opens up the view of the bog, all the way down to the horizon.

The vastness of this place comes into focus here. From this spot, the bog looks endless  even though I know that Upper Red Lake is only a few miles to the south.
Theres a big birthday celebration coming up! No, its not for my knees, although tomorrow marks six years since the second replacement was done (the first was at the end of April 2010). Time really flies when you are not in constant pain. And no, its not my birthday, although in August I will observe my 65th birthday (probably with a glass of wine followed by a nap!).

This celebration is eight days away. You all know I am referring, of course, to the United States of Americas birthday, the Fourth of July.

In the midst of Riverfest, family picnics, fireworks big and small, and generally celebrating with family and friends, try to be mindful of the fierce courage and the years of struggle involved for our upstart little country across the pond, to achieve independence and acquire the freedoms we all treasure today.

We sometimes take those freedoms for granted though, so dedicate at least a few minutes to remembrance and giving thanks to all the courageous men and women who have given their all since then to defend and preserve those freedoms for us.

As usual for a holiday, I have found some recipes to help with your celebration.

The first recipe is for overnight French toast, submitted to allrecipes.com by KARAN1946, who says, This is a very unique breakfast dish. Good for any holiday breakfast or brunch, its filled with the fresh taste of blueberries, and covered with a rich blueberry sauce to make it a one of a kind. Assemble this dish the day before your party, refrigerate it overnight, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes and pop it in the oven in the morning.

Next is a patriotic little potato salad, made with small red, white and blue  inside and out  potatoes. This too can be made a day or so ahead of time. There is a note of caution at the end of this recipe for special handling of the blue potatoes (cooking separately; adding to salad at the last minute). I have used blue potatoes many times and never noticed a problem with the color bleeding, but youll have to decide for yourselves how you want to proceed.

You wont want to assemble your plum-glazed pork kabobs the day before, but you can get the meat and vegetables cut up and the glaze made, so all that is left the day of the party is to slide them on skewers (if using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in water for half an hour or so first) and let the grillmaster have at them. Taste of Home, the source for this recipe, suggests serving a light-bodied white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio with these kabobs.

The simple macadamia nut clusters can be made a few days ahead and stored in an airtight container. If the weather is very warm, you might want to refrigerate them, but otherwise room temperature is okay. Try a little experiment: Set a tray of these clusters out next to a tray of vegetables and dip, and see which tray empties first.

The final recipe came just in time for Americas birthday party, shared with us by Karen Vick of La Crosse. The recipe is for birthday cake shots, requested a while ago by an anonymous friend of the Exchange. Karen says the cupcake flavored vodka is available at Woodmans. I have suggested serving it over ice, for sipping, rather than slamming shots. Enjoy. But not too much. A smooth drink like this can really sneak up on you.

As you can see, almost all of the work for these recipes can be done the day before your celebration, leaving you free to sit back and enjoy your guests and the celebration rather than spending the day in the kitchen, missing much of the party.

An admonition from Alice: Unfortunately, holiday celebrations also tend to lead to more drunk drivers than usual, endangering themselves, but more importantly endangering their families and the rest of us. Dont be one of them.

Next week well return to our current requests, for iced coffee, watercress, Brussels sprouts and vegan recipes.

Overnight French toast

12 slices day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup fresh blueberries

12 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 cup maple syrup

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup water

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange half the bread cubes in the dish; top with cream cheese cubes. Sprinkle 1 cup blueberries over cream cheese; top with remaining bread cubes. In a large bowl, mix eggs, milk, vanilla extract and syrup. Pour over bread cubes. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove bread cube mixture from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover; continue baking 25 to 30 minutes, until center is firm and surface is lightly browned. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and water; bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook 3 to 4 minutes. Add remaining blueberries. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes, until blueberries burst. Stir in butter; pour sauce over baked French toast (Recipe by KARAN1946)

Red, white and blue potato salad

10 to 12 ounces small white potatoes, quartered

10 to 12 ounces small red potatoes, quartered

10 to 12 ounces small blue potatoes, quartered

 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

3 hard-cooked large eggs, finely chopped

 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1  teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

Place white and red potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool slightly. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Place blue potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool slightly. Add blue potatoes, onion, parsley, dill, chives and eggs to bowl; toss gently. Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients. Pour over potato mixture; toss gently to combine. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Note: Blue potatoes are starchier than the others and might bleed if cut, so cook them separately. If you want to, prepare this dish a day ahead, but add the blue potatoes just before serving. If your potatoes are larger than the ones called for, cut them to a uniform size.

Plum-glazed pork kabobs

 cup plum jam

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

 teaspoon ground ginger

1 medium sweet red pepper

1 medium green pepper

1 small red onion

2 12-ounce pork tenderloins

Glaze: In a small bowl, combine jam, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Cut vegetables and pork into 1-inch pieces. On six metal or soaked wooden skewers, alternately thread pork and vegetables. Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, rub on grill rack to coat lightly. Grill kabobs, covered, over medium heat 12 to 15 minutes or until pork is tender, turning occasionally and brushing with  cup glaze during the last 5 minutes. Brush with remaining glaze before serving.

Macadamia coconut clusters

1 10- to 12-ounce package white baking chips

2 teaspoons shortening

1 cup flaked coconut, toasted

 cup crisp rice cereal

 cup chopped macadamia nuts, toasted

In microwave, melt baking chips and shortening in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Add coconut, cereal and nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper; let stand until set. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Birthday cake shot

Cupcake flavored vodka

Baileys Irish Cream

Pour equal parts vodka and Baileys over ice; give it a stir and serve. (Recipe by Karen Vick, La Crosse)
LA CRESCENT, Minn.  The Bike Shoppe has a new location that could allow it to reach new heights.

The nonprofit La Crescent Bike Shoppe was made possible by a five-year grant given to the La Crescent Area Healthy Community Partnership in 2007. The Active Living La Crescent grant was used to develop Safe Routes to School programs and teach area children about bicycles.

The Bike Shoppe was run by paid staff near the La Crescent Aquatic Center until the grant ended in 2013. Then the Shoppe became completely volunteer-run. It moved into a two-car garage behind La Crescent Community Arena, which allowed volunteers to use four work stations  and little space to move around in.

But the space issue has been resolved with a move in the front of the arena, thanks to a partnership with the city of La Crescent. The space, formerly occupied by the Boys and Girls Club, gives group space for six work stations with plenty of storage space for tools, bikes and hardware.

Long-term, this provides the Bike Shoppe with a home, said city administrator Bill Waller. The last two locations were more temporary, but this is a more permanent location. Its a better spot.

Linda Larson is a health educator at Gundersen Health System and program director for the Bike Shoppe. Shes excited to see how the new space helps the organization.

We just kind of ran out of room at the old location, she said. This new space gives us a little bit of breathing room.

Since moving into the new location on June 4, the Bike Shoppe has repaired 12 bikes, but the Shoppe doesnt just do repairs. Larson said they hope to be more than just a bike store.

Our goal is to improve the health of the community and to be good stewards to the community, as well, she said.

Its a benefit to our community to have the shop here, Waller added.

The Bike Shoppe takes in damaged or worn bikes and makes them road-worthy again. Workers salvage and recycle when bikes cant be reconditioned.

The group also has a partnership with the La Crosse landfill. Larson predicted the volunteers can repair two of every 10 bikes they find in the landfill.

The Bike Shoppe is helping the community in other ways, as well. In the past, it has donated bikes to the court systems, children in foster care and other worthy causes.

The past two years, it has also shipped 30 bikes to children in Guatemala. The shop hopes to start shipping even more bikes to developing countries across the globe, installing a devices that allow the bikes to pull wheelchairs.

Greg Skolaski, who worked for 32 years at Gundersen Health System as a therapist, is the Bike Shoppe volunteer in charge of these projects. He has been in touch with the nonprofit Hope Haven International Ministries, which has shipped bikes abroad since 1999.

The La Crescent Lions Club donated money to the Bike Shoppe to help fund the repairs on some of the bikes headed around the globe.

We want to make sure that every moving part on the bike is in good condition before we send it over, Skolaski said. If it cant work here, it wont work over there, and its harder for them to get it fixed properly in other places across the world.

The Bike Shoppes new location makes room for more volunteers than the 15 people who volunteer regularly now.

We need people on all levels, from greeters to bike technicians to inventory. We will take anyone willing to help out, Larson said. No prior experience is needed.

If the Shoppe gets enough volunteer help, Larson said, she could see it being open more often.

A small fee is charged for the work done on bikes, but all of money goes back to keeping the Shoppe open and functioning. The Bike Shoppe is open Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings June through August and can be reached by phone at 608-790-2850 or in person by going to the shop at 544 S. 14th St. in La Crescent.

Our goal is to improve the health of the community and to be good stewards to the community, as well. Linda Larson, program director for the Bike Shoppe
BANGOR  Sometime in the late 1960s, John McCue awoke in a camp not far from the railroad. It had rained the night before and his sleeping bag was soaked through. He didnt have a lot of time. The train would be moving again soon and he needed to be on it.

The camp wasnt much different from the countless others hed slept in that year. Just a place to lay his head until he found work again, but where that would be he did not know.

His brain still hazy with sleep, he rolled up his sleeping bag and tied it down to his pack. Pack in hand, he found a boxcar on the tracks and threw his sack in, clambering aboard just as the train began to roll.

The boxcars floor was strewn with dirt and wood chips that quickly caked his damp clothing. Hed change when he got to his destination.

As the train began to pick up speed, he wondered where that might be.

Miles flew by as he was bumped and knocked about the car. His wandering mind worried hed be caught by one of the bulls  railroad police whod at best fine him for trespassing and at worst take him straight to jail.

McCue wasnt interested in a free meal if it was from the inside of a jail cell. He was looking for work, and he was intent on finding it. If it came to it, he could talk his way out of jail, or so he hoped. He could dodge a fine.

A few hours passed before the train slowed to crawl. McCue peeked out from the opening of the box car and caught sight of a small town not far from the tracks.

As the train reached a crawl, he threw out his pack and hopped down. Hed decided to try his luck here.

This is the way McCue describes how he spent much of his early 20s after returning from Vietnam War and before he returned to school.

McCues journey to becoming a hobo started when he dropped out of college.

I went to the University of Missouri-St. Louis for about 15 minutes until I could find out where the party was, he said.

In 1966, McCue received a draft notice. He was going to war. After failing his eye exam twice, he was assigned the role of helicopter mechanic and was shipped off to Vietnam.

From 1966 to 1968, he worked on helicopters at a base in Nha Trang off the coast of the South China Sea.

After returning from the war, he decided he wasnt ready for another try at school. McCue wanted to see the country, so he set off on a life of train-hopping and long, cold nights sleeping with one eye open.

His time in the Army had served him well. He said it made him a little more self-reliant and taught him to sleep lightly. The lifestyle wasnt one that McCue had been forced into. He entered willingly. He wasnt homeless. He knew his family was there for him if he ever needed them.

He was living a life of self reliance. He was a hobo, not that he knew it at the time.

It wasnt until the late 1970s while reading a copy of Readers Digest that he happened across an article about a hobo convention.

Up to that point, I never realized that I was a hobo, said McCue. I didnt think of myself as a hobo.

McCue, now in his early 70s, has been honored twice for his hobo adventure. The first time was in 1990 when he was named King of the Hobos for the first time. He received the honor again in 2014.

McCue is quick to point out that a hobo is not a bum. He quoted Merriam-Websters dictionary, which defines hobo as 1) a migratory worker, and 2) a homeless and usually penniless vagabond.

According to McCue, the popular caricature of a weary traveler shuffling along the tracks with a bindle hung from a stick over his shoulder is largely legend.

Hobos date to the end of the Civil War, when a large number of recently discharged soldiers were returning home.

Guys would see a train and jump on, he said. Sometimes the passing freight train would take them a little closer to home.

At the time, they (the railroad conductors) were more lenient, he said.

The railroad became the means of transportation for the wayward traveler and became central to what it meant to be a hobo. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, hobo jungles began to sprout up near the tracks anywhere the trains slowed or stopped.

A jungle is where you camp, McCue said, anywhere there are places where the trains slow down and stop.

He said sometimes it was just a quiet place in the woods to sleep; other times, there were more permanent camps. Some of them are pretty big, he said.

McCue said despite the freedom the rails brought many hobos, the life wasnt without its dangers. It was easy for a hobo to be crushed under a train.

This is a huge iron-clad thing rolling along, he said. Getting accidentally locked in was dangerous, too.

Then there were the bulls, the railroad security, who could be incredibly understanding  or violent.

McCue said he was fortunate never to have run into trouble on the rails.

Some of the engineers and conductors were pretty friendly, he said. If you were nice and had a brain, you could talk your way onto a train.

Once he was on board, he made himself useful and acted like another member of the crew.

For the early hobos, the bulls werent the only arm of the law to be feared. During the late 1800s, hobos, who were often penniless, were often arrested for vagrancy.

Sometime in the mid-1800s, a group of hobos  63 of them, the story goes  got together to found Tourist Union No. 63.

McCue explained that at the time, anyone who didnt have money but could prove he was on his way to work or at least looking for work couldnt be arrested for vagrancy.

He said members of a union couldnt be arrested, either.

McCue said there are a lot of misconceptions about hobos, like they are dirty or always drunk.

When youre on a train, a real hobo doesnt drink, he said. It makes it all the more dangerous.

He said riding the rails was often a dirty business, but most hobos carried clean clothes in the pack for job interviews or other occasions. The sixth tenet of the hobo code reads, Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals treatment of other hobos.

The Hobo Code of Ethics was established in 1889 by Tourist Union No. 63 at the National Hobo Convention in St. Louis.

It provided guidelines that served to protect not only hobos themselves but their image, too.

What connected all hobos was the need to find work.

You were always trying to find work, McCue said. You had to work before you could play.

Nowadays, a lot of these guys would go out to North Dakota, he said referring to the influx laborers needed when the oil industry was booming there.

During his years hoboing across the country, McCue often found work as a bartender.

Mostly, I was a bartender, he said. If you know how to bartend, you can get a job just about anywhere. A lot of hobos had trades.

When he couldnt find work, McCue got creative. He described one occasion in Boulder Colo. He said he got hold of a pen and some paper and sold people personalized poems.

McCue said it all sounds very romantic, but it isnt. He described being a hobo as a hard, dirty and an often scary life filled with uncertainty.

Hoboing is extremely dangerous, he said. Dont romanticize about hoboing; read about it in books.

McCue said many hobos played instruments to raise their spirits. He had his voice.

He said that when he was a child his mother would say, John was born with a song in his heart. His love for singing later earned him the hobo moniker songbird.

McCue now lives along the rail in Bangor, where he can be found hanging out at Augies Bar, delivering the Foxxy Shopper and occasionally influencing local government through his seat on the Bangor Village Board.
A handful of dissident Wisconsin Republicans are sounding the alarm that nominating Donald Trump for president could spell disaster for the state GOP in November.

They include at least one delegate and two alternate delegates to next months Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Others, such as the state GOPs former political director Brian Fraley and conservative activist Eric OKeefe, have in recent weeks written open letters urging support for a Trump alternative.

Several other delegates interviewed by the Wisconsin State Journal, including former Gov. Tommy Thompson, expressed some reservations about Trump but said they will support the partys nominee.

The concerns were heightened last week as the presumptive nominee reported abysmal fundraising and a skeletal national campaign staff, and fired his campaign manager after weeks of missteps, including a race-based critique of the judge hearing a lawsuit against the defunct Trump University and a widely panned response to the Orlando shooting.

I think there is a real concern that Trump is going to lead the Republicans to a Barry Goldwater-type 1964 defeat, said Roger Stauter, an RNC delegate from Monona. It just does not seem to be taking shape as a credible presidential campaign as far as content is concerned or the technique. This is not going to be won through tweets and speeches at rallies. Republicans who are in responsible positions have endorsed Trump and are trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Stauter, who is currently bound to vote for Ted Cruz at the convention because the Texas senator won the most votes in the 2nd Congressional District, said he wont vote for Trump or Clinton in November.

The thought of Hillary for four years is indeed depressing and I certainly wouldnt vote for her, Stauter said. Im not a happy camper.

Different states have different rules for how delegates are assigned to candidates. In Wisconsin, delegates signed an affidavit swearing to support their assigned candidate until that candidate receives less than a third of the convention vote. Thirty-six candidates are pledged to Cruz and six are pledged to Trump.

Stauter said he has had some discussion with other Republicans about a national Free the Delegates movement, which is urging the 112-member RNC rules committee when it meets the week before the convention to override state rules and allow delegates to vote their conscience.

The movement received a boost last week when both House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville and Gov. Scott Walker suggested delegates should be able to do just that.

Walker continued to downplay the possibility that he could be drafted at the convention to be the nominee, but reiterated his concerns about Trump.

I think historically, not just this year, delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit, Walker said. I would imagine there will be plenty of roller coaster rides between now and the middle of July when the convention is going on.

Walker added he will vote for Cruz at the convention not just because Im obligated to, but because thats who I supported in the Wisconsin primary.

Earlier in the week Ryan said on Meet the Press that delegates write the rules. They make their decisions. He also said he wouldnt tell someone to violate their conscience, but said as House Speaker I should not be leading some chasm in the middle of our party.

Steve Lonegan, national spokesman for Courageous Conservatives PAC and a co-founder of the Free the Delegates movement, said he interpreted their comments as an affirmation that they understand the historic role of conventions in determining the nominee and that Trump could lead the party to a cataclysmic defeat.

He said his group has reached out to Walker for his support but without success so far.

The concern is that Trump will lose and lose big, Lonegan said. What we are doing in our movement is challenging Trump to be a better candidate. As of today he doesnt even seem to care to do that.

The group held a conference call last Sunday that purportedly attracted 1,000 participants. One of them was David Blaska, an alternate delegate for the 2nd Congressional District, who also said he wont vote for Trump or Clinton in November.

Blaska said the movement is still collecting contact information for each states delegates and rules committee members and trying to determine who might be amenable to changing the rules. Blaska said he asked the state party for contact information for the delegates but so far hasnt received a response.

We can do the Thelma and Louise thing and go over the cliff with Trump, or we can do one of those Rockford Files U-turns, which I think is what weve got to do, Blaska said. How did we ever get to this situation where we were handed the most unpopular person in America with Clinton and then were able to trump that with Trump?

The latest Marquette Law School Poll shows evidence that Republican discontent with Trump is legion in Wisconsin. The poll asked a series of questions about how respondents felt about the candidates, and Trump fared nine points worse on average among Republicans than Clinton did among Democrats.

Trump does appear to be in somewhat worse standing with his partys voters than is Clinton with hers, poll director Charles Franklin said.

A Republican Party of Wisconsin spokesman said in a statement that its members are engaged, motivated and have the energy to be successful in November and that more Republicans than Democrats voted in the primary. The Republican National Committee has dismissed discussion of the anti-Trump movement as silly and a media creation.

Thompson, who has been a delegate at every GOP convention since 1976, acknowledged there are concerns about Trump, but emphasized at the end of the day Donald Trump is going to be the nominee of the Republican Party and that he would vote for him.

You dont even have to be an activist Republican to recognize weve got problems, Thompson said.

Bob Spindell, a delegate from the 4th Congressional District, said the idea that a group without a leader could sweep in and change the rules at the last minute is pretty far-fetched and wishful thinking on the part of some people.

With Trump overwhelmingly winning the primaries and the delegates, I dont think thats going to go anywhere, Spindell said.

Its still my feeling that whoever the nominee is we must rally around that person and do every possible thing to get that person elected, knowing the consequences of a Hillary victory, Spindell added. If that person is Donald Trump, then I think we must get around him and support him and get him elected. The better he does in Wisconsin, the better it will be for (U.S. Sen. Ron) Johnson.

Rohn Bishop, an alternate delegate from the 6th Congressional District who said he wont vote for Trump or Clinton in November, said the broader concern is Trumps candidacy could put a damper on local fundraising and volunteer activity in the state. In Fond du Lac County, where Bishop is local party treasurer, the GOP raised $20 in May, far less than the hundreds it would typically bring in during the months leading up to a presidential election, he said.

The Trump people have a lot of keyboard courage, but theyre not writing checks and theyre not out at the doors, Bishop said. If the next three weeks are as awful as the six weeks since he clinched the primary, theres going to be some real trouble here.
Unbeknownst to many Americans, House Speaker Paul Ryan is on a mission.

In late 2012, the Wisconsin congressman began traveling the country on a listening and learning tour in an effort to gain a better understanding of poverty in America.

He visited with struggling families, felons, addicts and disabled people whose situations have kept them in a cycle of hopelessness.

With the help of civil rights-era leader and community activist Robert L. Woodson, he met with faith-based and community leaders around the country who, through grassroots efforts that target the most devastated communities, are having great success at transforming lives and helping people overcome their circumstances.

The meetings even inspired a series of short documentary films titled Comeback, following the stories of Americans who are breaking the cycle of poverty.

Indeed, it seems Ryans perspective has been transformed.

He threw his support behind an expanded earned income tax credit for low-wage workers.

In 2014, after Ryan began softening his rhetoric about how best to fight poverty, John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, told The Washington Post that Ryans experiences appear to have made him less partisan and more knowledgeable.

And in an open letter dated May 3, Heather Reynolds, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Fort Worth, thanked the speaker for listening and learning, and expressed hope that his newfound understanding of poverty can be telegraphed to every elected official and every administrator in Washington.

That, perhaps, is Ryans biggest challenge.

As former Education Secretary Bill Bennett once said: When liberals look at the poor, they see a sea of victims. When conservatives look at the poor, they see a sea of aliens.

These incongruous attitudes about the poor and how to assist them have made the American welfare state a flash point in contemporary politics.

Theyve likely also exacerbated the hodgepodge of programs that, while intended to help Americans in need, have been not just largely ineffectual but potentially harmful.

More than five decades after President Lyndon Johnson launched his War on Poverty, some measures indicate the percentage of Americans living in poverty has not been reduced.

Thats at least partly the result of devastating demographic shifts  including the skyrocketing number of unwed mothers, fatherless children and young men who are incarcerated or unemployed and detached from the workforce  that experts on both sides of the aisle agree have intensified the failed welfare state.

In addition to taking flak from liberals who consider themselves the champions of the poor, Ryan also has to convince his own caucus why raising these issues to the forefront of his partys agenda is crucial to its future and the future of the nation.

He began that effort in early June by releasing a report from a task force of congressional Republicans on how to tackle poverty.

The report lays out broad recommendations that offer a principled starting point for future discussions, including strengthening government-funded employment support programs that make low wages go further and emphasizing the need to carefully evaluate programs, expanding those that deliver results and phasing out those that are ineffective.

Indeed, in a presidential election year, its a safe bet that little will get passed by Congress.

But Ryans emphasis on his new anti-poverty agenda  the first policy focus of his Better GOP effort  signifies he means to make a positive shift in the partys direction, even if that means talking about an issue that has not traditionally animated his constituency.

Thats leadership, and its the direction the party needs to take  rather than the Trumpian way of division and resentment.

Ryan is a man on a mission, and it will serve the country best if both conservatives and liberals agree to join him.
The idea of markets defines the way we think about our economic, even social interaction, today. Market reports are essential ingredients of the news. Online services can make dating a market-driven activity. Perhaps youve heard someone say, let the market make that determination.

Can the market concept establish not just economic decisions, but also moral and ethical conclusions we should abide by? When did we start thinking that the market is the natural way to understand ourselves?

I recently encountered a startling revelation: medieval Franciscans may have been the first writers to conceptualize market society. Their market conception predates even our understanding of when capitalism came into existence.

In 1202 A.D., in the midst of an economic boom, Francis of Assisi committed to serving the poor. The rule he wrote to govern his very popular Order spurned even touching a coin. However, coins were in fact the key reality in the towns and cities where his followers endeavored to serve those who earned too few coins to live prosperously, many struggling even to survive.

Some Franciscans began to record observations of life in their towns  using market-based depictions. They saw merchants performing a public service by exchanging goods and determining prices, and recognized the risks taken in such transactions. Wealth accumulated through business was seen not only as legitimate, but even comparable in nobility to Franciscan poverty.

Yet not all winners or losers were the consequence of market determinations.

These writers fell in line with the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which abrogated all Christian debts owed to Jews. Anti-Judaic prejudice transitioned from doctrinal to economic, because the market was to be a restrictively Christian association.

But even Christians too poor to contribute to market success were considered suspect. A counselor to kings in Aragon and Sicily, Francis Eiximenis advocated hanging a lead coin around legitimate beggars necks to distinguish them from able-bodied beggars who should have been working.

Bernardino of Sienna, perhaps Europes most influential 15th-century economist, argued for expansionist Christian market outreach. However, those outside the virtuous circuit of his own faith were seen as doing business only to rob Christians. Such advocacy justified European imperial conquest, exploitation of new people, and gave impetus to our current globalized conditions.

These medieval economist friars still teach us important lessons today in market psychology. First and foremost, we humans construct our market parameters. A market is not a force of nature. We the people comprise a market through our collective decisions.

And in order to continue creating our more perfect union, we must have market-based outcomes we accept as legitimate, fair and sustainable.

Second, we value the efficiency of market economics, and respect the contributions of business persons. But in the 21st century, we also have the right, indeed, even the duty, to tame unjust outcomes. In this years presidential nominating process weve witnessed the extent of public unrest with the current market construction. Our governing representatives play pivotal roles in our market construction, and should be held accountable for the results of the system they advocate and construct.

Third, the medieval Franciscans engaged in their market reflections to benefit the community they dedicated their lives to serving. We too aspire to have a healthy community, and no doubt market psychology has become a foundational aspect of our approach to community building. But our social psychology today is oriented towards inclusion, as opposed to the medieval fear and exclusion put on display in the economist friars market conception.

Over the past four decades an individuals role in our market practices has been privileged, to the detriment of the community as a whole. The Wisconsin Budget Project recently reported that we now suffer near record discrepancy between rich and poor, reversing our 20th-century progressive heritage. This deep divide is not only unsustainable, it is unjust.

Modern Franciscans, such as David Courtuier, advocate for a more relational economic foundation, as opposed to the individual competition that predominates now. Gross domestic product is the sum of our collective working lives. The term behooves us to consider the communal aspect of our economic order.
In whats being touted as a turning point in the way the Supreme Court considers the factor of race in the criminal justice system, Justice Sonia Sotomayor last week delivered a scathing dissent in Utah vs. Strieff, a Fourth Amendment case about police searches.

The court ruled in a 5-3 decision that it was legal for police to search someone even if he or she had been stopped without a lawful reason, as long as an outstanding warrant was later discovered. Unlawful stop or not, if you have so much as an outstanding traffic ticket, any evidence of wrongdoing turned up in a search could count against you.

Sotomayor was in the minority, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, but her dissent effectively sent a stronger message than the ruling itself.

Decrying the way the decision forgives police who detain people based on nothing more than a hunch, Sotomayor drew on her own experience as a Latina and invoked the lessons of the Black Lives Matter movement.

For generations, black and brown parents have given their children the talk, she wrote,   instructing them to never run down the street; always keep your hands where they can be seen; do not even think of talking back to a stranger  all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react.

She cited Michelle Alexanders book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, and Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, which wrestles with the legacies of racism in terms so plain as to be revolutionary.

People of color, Sotomayor wrote, are disproportionate victims of unlawful police stops that corrode all our civil liberties and threaten our lives.

Though its hardly news to many blacks and Latinos, plenty of middle-class whites are only now beginning to grasp the scope of their privilege when it comes to dealing with the police. Cavalier as it sounds, I can tell you that as a white person (a blond, female one at that) my interactions with law enforcement over the years have taken a notably breezy tone.

Im hard pressed to think of a situation where being in the presence of a cop would make me fear for my life  even if, ahem, I had actually done something wrong.

As it happens, last week, right around the time Sotomayors dissent began making a splash, I did have a run-in with the law. Near where Im living in New York City, theres a stretch of road closed to traffic and used as an unofficial dog run. NYPD officers routinely sit in a cruiser nearby, paying no attention to local canines enjoying a few minutes of illicit freedom. However, on Monday my dog and I were stopped by a sanitation officer whod observed my infraction and demanded to see ID. Since I didnt have any on me, he said he would escort me to my building to retrieve my drivers license, and then he made a big show of radioing in to see if I was wanted for anything.

Hoping to defuse the encounter, I registered disbelief: Youre kidding me! Then I kicked it up a notch, gently teasing the officer: How did you get stuck on this detail? Finally, I resorted to the sympathy card: My dog and I are here from California and its been a hard adjustment. In the end, I still got a $200 ticket, but the officer apologized because I seemed so nice. And I said I was sorry he had such a difficult job.

Speaking of apologies, Im also sorry to say that before I read Between the World And Me, I probably wouldnt have thought much about the extraordinary display of privilege contained in this encounter. Like Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has indicated in the past that he has never been stopped by police, I have generally operated on the notion that if youre law-abiding, the police are nothing to be afraid of. And Im an NPR-listening, Obama-loving, supposedly enlightened liberal whos supposed to think beyond that.

Thats why Sotomayors dissent is so important. In pointing out where the courts decision went wrong, it points the way forward. It suggests that the day might come when the law of the land more accurately echoes the cultural conversation. Either that or the day Roberts gets busted for no good reason. Well see which comes first.
Equine therapy

Flying Horses Stable is more than horses. The goals are tranquility and healing, a bond between horse and human. Learn more come from the bond between horse and human. Learn more about therapeutic horsemanship from Tribune reporter Emily Pyrek in Sundays Tribune.
Small human-like creatures lived in Indonesia 50,000 years ago, and a recent study found evidence of their much older ancestors.

Scientists working in Indonesia say they found several teeth and part of a jawbone that date back 700,000 years.

The scientists are with the Research Center of Human Evolution at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Two reports describing the findings appears this month in the journal Nature.

The researchers said the teeth and bones are from small creatures, or similar ones, that lived before what they call hobbit hominin.

The name hobbit comes from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. It is used to describe members of an imaginary race. In Tolkiens stories, hobbits are similar to human beings, only smaller.

Scientists have used the term hobbit to describe ancient human-like creatures, measuring only about a meter high. Not only were hobbits small in height, they also had small heads. But their feet and toes were big for their size. The hobbits are hominins  a group that includes modern humans and human species that no longer exist.

The newly discovered fossils belong to an adult and two children. The older hobbit was about the same size as its much younger relative.

The remains were found in 2014 on the Indonesian island of Flores. They were discovered about 70 kilometers from an opening in the ground where scientists found the first hobbit fossils over 10 years ago. Scientists named these creatures homo floresiensis.

That first fossil discovery created much talk about what these small creatures are, and how they got to Flores.

The new fossils are from a bigger species that arrived on the island about a million years ago. The Australian researchers say the creature began to shrink over time in a process called island dwarfism. According to Nature, supporters of this idea think that the creature became dwarfed  or smaller -- in just a few hundred thousand years because of a lack of food or other resources on Flores.

Island dwarfism is something well known among animals. Some animals are up to six times smaller than their ancestors because of a lack of resources. There was just less to go around on an island. For example, at one time, Flores was home to a very small elephant-like animal.

The new finding put an end to the idea that hobbits were just sick or underfed homo sapiens -- the scientific name for humans.

The hobbit was real, archeologist Adam Brumm told AFP. It was an ancient human species that is separate to ours and that no longer exists on the planet today.

Brumm was lead writer of one of the studies published in Nature. He works at Griffith Universitys Research Center of Human Evolution.

But there is still debate as to what the hobbits really are, and from where they came.

Scientists hope that the new fossils can help researchers decide what the older species was, and how the hobbits came to be their small size.

One possibility is that hobbits are a dwarfed version of homo erectusthe first human-like creature to leave Africa.

Other scientists have also studied hobbits. They say qualities like the creatures long, flat feet could mean that it came from a smaller, more primitive human relative. Such possibilities include Homo habilis or Australopithecus, known only from remains in Africa.

Researcher Gerrit van den Bergh is with the University of Wollongong in Australia. He spent four years looking for the hobbits ancestors. In 2014, he was about to give up at the end of the year.

We had given up hope we would find anything, then it was bingo!, van den Bergh told Nature. He said they had a huge party with dancing and food to celebrate the discovery.

Im Anne Ball.

This story appeared on VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted the story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, and find us on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

fossil  n. something (such as a leaf, skeleton, or footprint) that is from a plant or animal which lived in ancient times and that you can see in some rocks

dwarfism  n. the condition that causes a person, or creature, to stop growing before reaching normal adult size

primitive  adj. of, belonging to, or seeming to come from an early time in the very ancient past

bingo  expression. A word used to announce a successful result that is quick or unexpected
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a new ongoing series about international student life at colleges and universities across the U.S. Please join us over the next several weeks as we bring you stories about these amazing individuals and the American higher education system as a whole.

Ruofei Chens family is from China and she grew up in Lima, Peru. She knew those parts of the world and studied for her undergraduate degree in Asia and Latin America.

When Ruofei Chen chose to start a masters degree program in 2015, she says she wanted something really different.

Ruofei Chen chose a new field of study called development practice. This field tries to explain how economic development can help solve poverty and other issues around the world.

As this field is so new, only a few universities around the world offer a degree program for it. For Roufei Chen, it has also meant new challenges.

Because the U.S. is involved in development around world, Ruofei Chen wanted to study at a U.S. university. She chose Emory University, a private research university just outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

Founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1836, the school is now home to over 14,700 students. The founders of the Coca-Cola Company helped build the current campus in 1914.

When Ruofei Chen arrived at Emory, she had no idea what to expect. This caused some problems for her right away.

"Grad school in (the) U.S. can be really busy -- like, really busy, depending on how much elective classes you are enrolled in."

Ruofei Chen studies in the hours between her classes, at night and on the weekends. She also has to make connections with people and work on group projects.

She is also planning a trip to Nicaragua in the summer of 2016 to help prevent diseases that affect people in poverty. This is part of an Emory Global Health Institute project.

All of this happens in English, which is not her native language.

But Ruofei Chen has found that Emory wants her to succeed. For over 20 years, Emorys Laney Graduate School English Language Support Program has offered special English lessons.

Once a week Ruofei Chen meets one-on-one with Peggy Wagner, a teacher with the program. Together, they work on more than just English grammar or vocabulary. Wagner helps Ruofei Chen examine how her voice sounds and how to use the language in different ways.

"Whats really fun for me is how to find ways to engage in discussions in a more professional way so that they can let their intellect shine and really express the intent that they want."

Sharon Chen found similar support when she began her undergraduate studies at Emory in 2014.

From Wuhan, China, Sharon Chen says she did not know what she wanted to study when she started looking for schools. She only knew she wanted to study at a U.S. university.

Sharon Chen began her research by looking at the U.S. News and World Report. The U.S. News and World Report is a media company that creates a list of what it calls Americas Best Colleges.

She saw Emory high on this list and chose to study business at the university.

But Sharon Chen was not fully prepared for her U.S. college experience either. She says high school classes in China are not interactive. When her professors at Emory first asked her to speak in class she felt lost.

Some of her classes had as many as 36 students in them, but others were as small as six students. These classes required her to engage with native English speakers in unfamiliar ways.

Luckily, Natalie Cruz, the director of international student life, was there to support Sharon Chen.

Cruz says it is a continuing problem for international students to communicate or make friends with students from the U.S.

Cruz began working in the Office of International Student Life at Emory in 2013. She says right away she began looking to solve this problem.

"So I was able to come in and really work with students to find out what their needs were, how could we really best serve students at Emory?"

Cruz organizes programs that build relationships between foreign and domestic students. The Conversation Partners program is one example. International students and students from the U.S. join this program and agree to meet once a week to talk.

The Office of International Student Life often holds events that celebrate the food and culture of different countries.

For her efforts, Cruz was the winner of Emorys Advisor of the Year award for the 2015 school year. Sharon Chen speaks very highly of the help Cruz has given her.

"Natalie is my mentor and my friend. She taught me a lot and we organize events together. So I enjoy working with her a lot."

Ruofei Chen has no regrets about her decision to come to Emory. She loves how personal her learning experience has been. But she does have some advice for international students considering a U.S. education.

She says that U.S. universities provide lots of support for their students. But students must be willing to look for that support themselves.

She also says students should learn as much as they can about a school before choosing to attend it.

"Get to know the place before you come. It will help you to minimize the gap between your expectations and what you will actually find here."

Im Pete Musto.

Pete Musto reported and wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Adam Brock produced the video. Hai Do was the editor. Now its your turn. What kinds of supports do universities in your country of their students? What do you think is most challenging about life as an international student? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

undergraduate degree  n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after four years of study

masters degree  n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after one or two years of additional study following a bachelor's degree

challenge(s)  n. a difficult task or problem

campus  n. the area and buildings around a university, college or school

grad(uate) school  n. one or two years of additional study following completion of an undergraduate degree

elective  adj. not required in a particular course of study

class(es)  n. a series of meetings in which students are taught a particular subject or activity

enroll(ed)  v. to enter someone as a member of or participant in something

one-on-one  adv. involving two people who are dealing with or competing against each other directly

engage in  p.v. to do something

intellect  n. the ability to think in a logical way

intent  n. the thing that you plan to do or achieve

interactive  adj. requiring people to talk with each other or do things together

advisor  n. an employee of a school who gives opinions or suggestions to students about what should be done

minimize  v. to make something bad or not wanted as small as possible

gap  n. a difference between two people, groups, or things
American Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker says now is a great time to invest in the United States.

She made the comment earlier this week in a speech to an international business gathering in Washington, D.C. Business owners and investors from around the world attend the SelectUSA Investment Summit.

Pritzker said the U.S. economy is almost 15 percent larger than it was in 2009. She said 14.5 million more people are now employed. And she said the U.S. economy is growing faster than that of any other nation.

President Barack Obama also spoke at the conference Monday. Obama said America leads the world in cutting-edge manufacturing. He also said no other country is home to more foreign direct investment than the United States.

But investing in the U.S. is not always easy. Small and medium-size businesses can find investing in America difficult.

Felicia Pullam is the director of outreach for SelectUSA.

When they look at the United States, they see you've got 50 states, plus the territories, and so sometimes they just dont know where to start. And you know, whenever you invest in a new country, it's a new country, so it's a foreign system and you need to learn about it. So that's why SelectUSA was created -- to help people understand the system."

Pullam said companies can find all the resources about America in one room.

One of those companies is 85C Bakery Cafe. Gloria Gorden is its human resources director.

"The company started in 2004 in Taiwan. As of now we have more than 900 stores in Asia, primarily Taiwan and China. We have 19 stores, as of last Friday, in the U.S., all of which are in California. We are looking to expand out of state toward the end of this year..."

Gorden said her company wants to open restaurants in the states of Texas and Washington, as well as in Washington D.C. and New York City.

She said opening in California was hard because of its many business rules. She said she wished the company had done more research about starting a business there.

Taner Basaga is the general manager of flooring manufacturer Yildiz Entegre USA. He said his company has been in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Alabama for about six years. He said it hopes to build more factories in other parts of America.

Basaga said getting started in the United States was easy for his company. He said we came with capital, [and] we did a study.

Basaga had advice for companies wishing to come to America. In his words, spend a lot of time and try to understand the country first.

Not every company that attended the conference is established in the U.S.

Xanga and InnovAir is a real estate, marketing and development company based in Hungary. Nandor Nagy told VOA that his company wants to open offices in the U.S.

He described America as a big market with great possibilities and strong rule of law. He said that, after the conference, he was going to search for places to establish a factory in the U.S.

The unbeatable South

Many foreign investors go to the better-known U.S. cities, such as New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco. Gene Stinson is president of the Southern Economic Development Council. He was at the meeting to sell the unbeatable potential of doing business in 17 southern U.S. states.

"All of the critical components of doing business: transportation costs, energy, labor, all of those, as a rule, are less in our region than in other parts of the U.S."

This was the third SelectUSA Investment Summit. The number of foreign investors in attendance has increased each year. American business people from every state and two territories also attended.

The Commerce Department reports that, as of 2013, American affiliates of foreign companies directly employed 6.1 million people in the U.S.

Im Caty Weaver.

Mariama Diallo wrote this story for VOA News. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

cutting-edge  n. the newest and most advanced area of activity in an art, business or science

outreach  n. the activity or process of bringing information or services to people

capital  n. money and property that is used to start or operate a business

potential  n. an ability that someone has that can be developed to help that person become successful

affiliate  n. an organization that is a member of a larger organization
Some young Arabs want Islam, the religion of Muslims, to be separated from politics and governments in Middle Eastern countries.

Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar is a writer and humanist. He is a former refugee from Iraq. He created the Global Secular Humanist Movement in 2009 to support human interests and the worth of individuals without relying on religion.

He recently spoke to VOA about the importance of supporting those who want religion to be separated from government.

There is a growing number of Arab millennials between 20 and 30 who are advocating for human rights and secular liberal values, Faisal said. I think that the United States and the West should stand in solidarity with these people.

Faisal says politics in the Middle East is a problem. He notes that in many Arab countries homosexuals can be executed.

He does not believe Islam will accept homosexuality. He says both the Islamic State and Al-Qaida terror groups use their religious beliefs to justify killing homosexuals by throwing them from tall buildings.

On his Facebook page, Faisal said if religions do not change to accept homosexual and womens rights, then religions need to die, not people.

Im John Russell.

VOA Correspondent Esha Sarai reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

humanist  adj. a person who believes in a system of values and beliefs that is based on the idea that people are basically good and that problems can be solved using reason instead of religion

secular  adj. not spiritual; of or relating to the physical world and not the spiritual world

secular humanism  n. humanism viewed as a system of values and beliefs that are opposed to the values and beliefs of traditional religions

millennial  adj. a person reaching young adulthood around the year 2000

advocate  v. to support or argue for (a cause, policy, etc.)

solidarity  n. a feeling of unity between people who have the same interests, goals, etc.

justify  v. to provide a good reason for the actions of (someone)
SYRACUSE  Colleen Deacon, Eric Kingson and Steve Williams don't disagree on much, but they found a point of contention during the final televised debate before Tuesday's Democratic primary in the 24th Congressional District.

Williams, D-Baldwinsville, accused Deacon, D-Syracuse, of utilizing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's talking points several times during the NewsChannel 9 debate, which aired Saturday night.

He also claimed she has received significant support from outside of the district and that U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has taken her to New York City for fundraisers.

"I think it does matter where money comes from," he said.

Deacon, who said she's proud to have support from Democrats at the federal, local and state levels, added that she will answer only to her constituents if she's elected to represent the Syracuse area in Congress.

"Where the money comes from does not dictate what legislation I'm going to vote on or what issues I'm going to focus on," she said.

Williams found himself on the receiving end of a similar critique.

Kingson claimed Williams has turned to law firms for campaign donations  a charge Williams denied. He also touted the support he's received from various elected officials and organizations, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

"I appreciate the many donations that I've received," he said.

While the candidates disagree on how they've financed their campaigns, they do agree the entire system needs to be reformed.

The trio agree that the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which enables corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns and parties, must be overturned.

Deacon and Williams said they support lowering contribution limits. Kingson would go further. He called for public financing of elections  a program that would provide matching funds for small dollar donations.

The debate capped off a busy stretch for the three candidates. They participated in three debates this week and more than 20 forums over the past several months.

Democratic voters will go to the polls Tuesday to nominate the party's candidate to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko, a freshman Republican. The general election race is a top priority for both parties. Democrats are looking to win back the seat they lost in 2014, while Republicans are hoping to retain the seat they've lost in the past two presidential elections.

The 24th Congressional District includes all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western portion of Oswego County.
As Colleen Deacon travels throughout central New York to campaign in the 24th Congressional District, the landscape is familiar territory.

Prior to launching her congressional campaign, Deacon, D-Syracuse, worked for six years as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director. In that capacity, she crisscrossed the region representing the senator at events or talking to constituents about a problem they were experiencing.

"She's dedicated herself to public service," Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said in an interview about Deacon's candidacy. "She understands what upstate New Yorkers go through every day."

Before Deacon was a senator's staffer and a candidate for Congress, she was in a much different position.

At 26, she was working as a waitress when she became pregnant with her son, Adrian. Since her employer didn't offer paid family leave, she had to quit her job. During this period of her life, she relied on food stamps, Medicaid and WIC.

Deacon recalled an experience at an event she recently attended. After delivering remarks, a woman approached her and said she was on WIC when her two children were younger and never told anyone.

"I can't tell you how many people have had a similar experience," she said. "I think that makes me feel so much more happy to know that there are people who want to somebody like them representing them as well."

One issue Deacon wants to work on in Congress is paid family leave  a benefit she wasn't able to tap into when she was pregnant with her son.

Gillibrand introduced a bill called the FAMILY Act, which would establish a national paid family leave program. The initiative would be funded by modest employee and employer contributions and managed by the Social Security Administration.

"Having a perspective there that actually shows why we need something like a paid leave program in place," she said. "That's my own personal story. I think that it's so valuable to keep the conversation going and express why it is so important that we do these things for our constituents."

If she's successful in the Democratic primary Tuesday  she's squaring off against two other challengers, Eric Kingson and Steve Williams, for the party's nomination  and wins the general election against U.S. Rep. John Katko, a freshman Republican, Deacon doesn't expect too much of a learning curve.

She knows the departments to turn to if her constituents need assistance. She knows the elected officials  Democrats and Republicans  in the district.

In many ways, she views it as an extension of her work in Gillibrand's Syracuse office.

"I have proven myself to be a results-oriented person in this district and that's what I want to continue to do," she said.

If she does win, Deacon plans to work with Gillibrand on many issues. Gillibrand has been supportive throughout her campaign. She was the first to endorse Deacon's candidacy and traveled to central New York earlier this month to hold a press conference with Deacon on the importance of passing paid leave.

Gillibrand acknowledged that it wasn't easy for Deacon to run for Congress. She left a good paying job and has to run in not just one, but two tough elections.

But Gillibrand believes Deacon is up for the task.

"I'm so grateful that she took the challenge and really put herself out there to fight for central New York families," she said.
Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court has declined to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to restrain the electronic and print media from alleged glorification of the Kairana incident which may disturb communal harmony.

However, the court left it open to the authorities concerned to take appropriate action or the aggrieved person to approach the appropriate forum, if any such action was required be taken under the law.

A division bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Shamsher Bahadur Singh passed this order on June 23 on a PIL filed by a journalist impleading major political parties and news channels as well as the Press Council of India (PCI).

"We have considered the submissions raised and we find that in absence of statutory obligations, the nature of the advisory or administrative direction as sought may not be possible at this stage on the material placed on record but in the event any such publication of views, ideas or news either by electronic or print media is likely to cause communal disharmony, then it would be appropriate for respective central and the state governments through their authorities as well as the PCI to issue such necessary instructions that may be required for the purpose of containing any such situation that is being apprehended," the court said.

The petition had alleged that the entire atmosphere which had been created in connection to a particular incident at Kairana amounts to a clear violation of ethical principles pronounced by PCI and also leads to a situation, which may precipitate communal tensions.

The allegations were about the alleged exodus of certain members of a particular community from Kairana that were being "glorified" and were being "politically utilised" to the detriment of the public at large in order to disturb communal harmony.
Bhubaneswar: Condemning the terrorist attack on a CRPF bus near Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir a day earlier, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said it is an act of frustration and assured the government will deal with such incidents strongly.

"In the last one month, over 25 terrorists have been killed by security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. It is an act of frustration on their part to show that they still hold power," the minister said while addressing an ex-servicemen's convention here.

Calling it a very unfortunate incident, Parrikar said he had doubts if the standard operating procedure (SOP) was followed in the case.

He, however, said the exact reason of the incident will only come out after inquiry.

"This nation has to seek peace. We seek peace, but from a position of strength and not from a position of weakness," he added.

Parrikar said that after becoming the Defence Minister, he had told soldiers to retaliate in case of a terrorist attack.

"... I told jawans that if terrorists attack you, you don't need to stop; you have all the freedom to retaliate," the minister said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 22 others wounded when terrorists attacked a bus carrying security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference later, he welcomed the changes in the Foreign Direct Investment policy in the defence sector.

"The government has taken a big step in the defence sector by increasing the FDI. This has been done so that India becomes an 'export hub' over the years," the minister said.

He said the capacity of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's MiG factory in Odisha's Sunabeda will be doubled within two to four years.

Parrikar also highlighted several central welfare programmes initiated for the benefit of the people.
Hyderabad: Describing the killing of eight CRPF troopers by terrorists in Srinagar as "desperate attempts to create problems for the country", Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said the government is committed to ensuring peace and security and necessary action will be taken.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were on Saturday killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore near Srinagar, in what appeared to be a Fidayeen attack carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"The incident is very unfortunate... We condemn such ghastly attack by terrorists and we pay homage to the departed martyrs and send our condolences to the bereaved family members," Rijiju told reporters.

"The CRPF team, they were returning from the firing range to the headquarters when they were attacked near Jhelum river. It was a tragic incident where eight of our jawans lost their lives," he said.

"The situation is challenging...people who believe in extremism, they are very desperate because we have got a very dynamic Prime Minister and India is progressing very well and so they are doing everything to scuttle the efforts of the government to taking India to new level of prosperity," the Union minister said.

"There are desperate attempts to create problems for the country...these are desperate attempts...but, we are committed and necessary action and response will be taken up...let the officers come back from the spot after they review the entire situation," he said.

"There may be claims by groups (taking responsibility for the attack), but we have to make complete official assessment of the situation. Our DG CRPF has been asked to go there and other senior officers have rushed to Srinagar," he said.

On reports about statement given by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on the incident, Rijiju said, "He has a habit of giving such statements and the whole world is watching. I don't want to make political statements...I think the Ministry of External Affairs and PMO may react to it."

Reacting to another query, the minister said, "The efforts to infiltrate along the LoC in the western side has come down. The attempts have increased but the level of success has drastically come down and that is why this kind of desperate attempts are being made, and they may try to increase the level, but infiltration itself has come down."

On the Pathankot incident, he said, "We are waiting for the date which Pakistan has to give and as and when the date comes our people  NIA team is ready."
Bhubaneshwar: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday condemned the attack on the vehicles of BJP leaders allegedly by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) workers in Odisha and dared the ruling party to target him.

"I am the defence minister of the country. If anyone (BJD) has guts, let him come in front of me," Parrikar told reporters.

The Odisha government is feeling insecure even though the assembly elections are three years away, he said.

"The ground under their feet is slipping. They are doing this out of fear," said Parrikar.

He said the incident in Bargarh district on 24 Junein which some BJD leaders allegedly attacked the convoy of central ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Mundawas pre-planned and condemnable.

The three were attacked in the district town when they were on their way to attend Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Vikas Ustav in Bargarh.

Union Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Ram Kripal Yadav and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also criticised the ruling BJD.

"It is a very unfortunate incident. I had never seen such incident anywhere else in the country. What happened in Bargarh is open hooliganism," said Yadav who represents Bihar's Pataliputra constituency in the Lok Sabha.

He said Bihar also suffers from bitter political divisions, but there is no goondaism among the parties.

"The politics of this kind can be possible only in Odisha, not in any other part of this country. I strongly condemn this incident. There is no place for such hooliganism in a democracy," he added.

Petroleum Minister Pradhan said the ruling party has resorted to undemocratic processes.

"The people of Odisha always believe in the democratic process. Slippers, sticks, stones and using filthy language are utterly undemocratic methods. As the ground under their feet is slipping, they have become totalitarian," said Pradhan.

Parrikar, Yadav and Pradhan were in Odisha to attend BJP's Vikas Ustav in Cuttack on Sunday.

The ruling BJD has been trying to make light of the incident and denying responsibility.

"There was no attack on anyone. The issueless BJP is making it an issue unnecessarily. The police is investigating into the matter," said BJD MP Prasanna Acharya.

Meanwhile, the state BJP has decided to stage block-level demonstrations on 29 June to protest against the attack on its leaders' vehicles. It will also hold a demonstration in front of Raj Bhavan here on 4 July.
Democratic congressional candidate Eric Kingson has been praised for being a leading expert on aging issues, especially Social Security and the fight to preserve  and expand  the social insurance program.

But he insists that his campaign is bigger than one issue.

"I really like to help people," he said. "I like to be of service to others because I believe we're really here for others, not just for ourselves."

Kingson, D-Manlius, is seeking the Democratic nomination in the 24th Congressional District race. He is facing two opponents for the party's nod  Colleen Deacon, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Steve Williams, a Syracuse-area attorney and U.S. Navy veteran.

A professor at Syracuse University, Kingson has made a name for himself as a gerontologist. (A gerontologist focuses on aging issues.) He's written books on Social Security. He's served on federal commissions. And he founded Social Security works with Nancy Altman.

Altman, who has known Kingson for more than 30 years, said she was among the group of people he spoke with before announcing his congressional bid.

"I was very enthusiastic about him doing it because it seemed to me that it would highlight the issue, it would elevate the issue, it would be good for the issue and that he would be terrific as a representative in Congress," she said.

After years of having a front-row seat to Kingson's work, Altman said one thing voters in central New York should know about him is that he's compassionate.

"He's gone into this issue because he really cares," she said. "He always emphasizes the values that are embodied in Social Security. He takes that very seriously. I think as an elected official he would have the highest standards, the highest integrity because that's the way he's lived his life."

Beyond Social Security, Kingson said he wants to address poverty, which is affecting rural and urban areas throughout the 24th District. He also wants to make constituent service a top priority and focus on the region's infrastructure issues.

He views economic inequality as more than just a policy discussion. He says it's about human dignity.

"I look at our economy, which undermines dignity in many different ways," he said. "Wages needed to be raised."

Kingson thinks his career sets him apart from his Democratic colleagues. As a leading voice on Social Security, he's been in a position to work with members of Congress to preserve the program. He takes credit for President Barack Obama's recent comments that Social Security should be expanded.

Democratic voters in the 24th District will decide whether Kingson will be the party's nominee to face U.S. Rep. John Katko, a freshman Republican, in November.

"I know how to work with other groups. I know how to fight," he said. "It's not bad to have someone who knows a hell of a lot about somethings and who really cares about people."
Beijing: India needs over USD 1.5 trillion in investment in the next 10 years to bridge infrastructure gap as the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Sunday.

"We have been able to sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge," Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of AIIB, said.

"Over the next decade, we require over USD 1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us.

"In investing large public finance into infrastructure, for instance, we have seven hundred thousand villages in India. We intend to connect each of them by 2019," he said while addressing a seminar on "Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth" organised by China sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with Finance Ministers of many countries.

He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India's current infrastructure programme.

"In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation," he said.

Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs.

The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said.

"These are all the emphasis areas we have under taken," he said.

About arranging funding for the massive development, he said "we realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins a lot of private funds".

At the same time there are large number of developmental institutions like World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long time returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said.

Jaitley said infrastructure development is key to halt the slowdown of the global economic slowdown.

Infrastructure is where inequalities exist and the requirement of large number of economies world over is to fill up this infrastructure gap, he said.

"Over the next decade the world needs trillions of dollars to fill up this gap. I think it is extremely important if the world is to pulled from the present slowdown phase, infrastructure development holds the key," he sad.

"We have been able sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge," he said.

Projects succeeds when risks for investment in projects reduced and eliminated, Jaitley told the seminar.

He said "the risk element (for investments) has to be minimised and virtually eliminated. It is only then the infrastructure creation can take place at a faster pace," he said.

"The projects have to be bankable, there has to social acceptability of the fact that users must pay for infrastructure. Infrastructure does not come for free," he said.

"So if it is a road, those who use it have to pay for. If it is an airport or sea port users must pay for it," Jaitley said.

"Those who use power must pay the actual tariff. Concessional tariffs do not work beyond a particular point," he said.

"They make infrastructure creation itself difficult. Therefore reduction and finally elimination of risk element will involve the social acceptability, where the society accepts the principle that the funding of infrastructure, eventually has to come from users themselves. That is how the projects becomes bankable," he said.

"Otherwise the risk element will remain and projects will stop halfway, be incomplete," he said.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims.

In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, India's application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday. India is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that was the ground used to thwart India's bid.

Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, called India's NSG bid as a process which will take a long time.

There are some processes which take longer,I'd evaluate the NSG membership process in that category-Vikas Swarup,MEA pic.twitter.com/gnv0mwtXpX  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Further, he said that India will continue to work actively on its bid to join NSG. He added that as far as India is concerned, we have already implemented all NPT provisions.

If the goal post is the implementation of NPT, India has met all criteria and has all the credentials, said Swarup. India's credentials and track record speaks for itself, he added.

Refusing to term 'no consensus' on India's bid in the NSG plenary at Seoul as "failure", Swarup agreed that India certainly did not get the expected results.

I won't use the word 'failure', but certainly yes, we did not get the expected results: Vikas Swarup, MEA #NSG pic.twitter.com/8Sb2tngOGT  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Without naming any particular country, he said that except that one country, no one else opposed our membership.

Some countries did raise procedure-related issues but not a single country apart from that 1 country opposed India's membership of NSG: MEA  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Attacking Pakistan of trying to foil India's bid and equating the two countries, he said, "I don't think anyone in global community can ever equate India with Pakistan on nuclear non-proliferation issue."

I don't think anyone in global community can ever equate India with Pakistan on Nuclear non-proliferation issue: Vikas Swarup, MEA  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Diplomatic sources said on Sunday that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources said that Mexico's suggestion was also opposed by China but it found support from a large number of countries including the US. A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossi's appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a "path forward" for India's acceptance as a member. "We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official told PTI in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits. An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.

(With inputs from PTI)
Army troops on Saturday gunned down two militants as it foiled an infiltration bid on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, an official said.

A senior police officer said troops detected a group of militants trying to infiltrate into Indian territory in the Lachipora area in Uri sector of Baramulla.

J&K: 2 terrorists killed in an ongoing encounter in Uri Sector of J&K's Baramulla district (visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/hQiIv8LbIG  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

"The group of militants was intercepted. The militants opened fire at the troops setting off a gunfight. Two militants have been killed so far," the officer told IANS.

He said the gunfight was still on in the area.

In the adjoining Kupwara district, the army gunned down seven militants in three separate gun battles in the past two days.

ANI further reported that security forces busted a terror hideout in Kalkote area of Rajouri and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition.

J&K: Security forces busted terror hideout,recovered cache of arms & ammunition in Kalakote area of Rajouri, yday pic.twitter.com/dGvob1gf8k  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

(With inputs from IANS)
New Delhi: Close on the heels of a setback on the issue of membership into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India on Sunday said it is all set to get into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on Monday and that joining the NSG may take "slightly longer".

"In the past also, we (India) have tried to get membership into restrictive regimes so to speak. We had applied membership into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and MTCR. At that time, many people said we will never get it. We had applied 10 years back," said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

He said "this week alone", India got membership into SCO and on Monday "we are going to become full members of MTCR".

"As I said, there are some processes which take longer. I will evaluate the NSG membership process in that category," he said.

The MTCR seeks to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500 kg payload for at least 300 km.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is likely to sign the document of accession into MTCR in the presence of Ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on Monday.

Swarup, admitting that India "did not get the desired result" at Seoul vis-a-vis NSG, added: "Probably it will take slightly longer."

Official sources said NSG is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India.

On Friday, India had failed to seek entry into the NSG at the plenary meet in Seoul primarily due to technical objections raised by China.

Much to India's discomfort, China's objections also got support from a few other members like South Africa, Norway, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey.

India has blamed China for the same as the set back in Seoul came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 45-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Tashkent.

Sources on Sunday claimed at the suggestion of countries like Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the 2015.

Swarup also said: "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."

His comments assume significance as Beijing also said that its opposition to India at NSG will not impact bilateral ties adversely.

"Today, the Indian diplomacy doesn't have fear of failure. If we don't get desired results it only means that we redouble our efforts. There are some processes which take longer," Swarup said.
Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab): In a clear reference to Pakistan, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the neighbouring country was trying to destabilise India even as he announced that a committee will be sent to Pampore to look into any lapses in the handling of the terror attack that left eight CRPF personnel dead.

Showering praise on security men for successfully eliminating two terrorists involved in yesterday's attack, he said, "I have asked the Home Secretary to send a two-member committee to Pampore to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur here.

The Home Minister said Indian youth should stand up to face forces which want to destabilise the country.

"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India. I call upon Indian youth to stand up to face such forces and we should greet and welcome the bravery of our security people and the way they are working with such valour and courage," said Singh without naming any country.

The Home Minister said, "India cannot forget those security men who got martyred. They are not with us now and we pay our tributes to them."

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 others critically wounded yesterday when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore, in Kashmir.

The Minister stressed that the country needed brave and courageous people to face the current challenge.

"But this period is going on and we need brave people in this time like Banda Singh Bahadur who were ready to lay down their lives for the country and society. Such people can protect the nation," he said.

He noted that people should take inspiration from people like Banda Singh Bahadur. "Today our country is facing many challenges and to win over these challenges, we can take inspiration from life of people like Banda Singh Bahadur," he said.

The Union Home Minister also assured the people that the Centre would deliver justice to the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

"Whenever I come to Punjab, I recall the 1984 riots. The burden of 1984 riots is still being felt. (1984 riots ke dangon ka jo bojh hai hamare dil par barabr bana rehta hai)," he said.

"But I want to assure you that being the Home Minister of the country, we have initiated effective action (in this regard)," said the Minister while addressing the gathering.

Singh said that after coming to power, the Modi-led government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe 1984 riots.

"After we formed the government, we constituted a SIT and I told SIT that if the (1984) victims and their families are not satisfied with the investigation and if they feel that the way the investigations should have been be held was not carried out, all such matters should be looked into," said Singh.

The Home Minister said that SIT has recommended re-investigation into 22 such cases pertaining to 1984 riots.

"Several cases are being reviewed. There are 286 such cases. Many cases have been reviewed. But SIT has so far recommended re-investigation into 22 such cases," he said.

"I want to assure you that you will get justice," asserted Union Home Minister.
New Delhi: Congress on Sunday dubbed as "event management" the Narendra Modi government's push to get NSG membership and accused it of "embarrassing" the nation with its "misplaced euphoria".

"There was no reason for our government to file the application. It was ill-advised  the desperation, which the Prime Minister showed and also the premature claims which he made when he went to Switzerland and Mexico as if everybody is endorsing us," former Union Minister and senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said.

"I want to reiterate. Diplomacy is not done by loud pronouncements, creating hype and expectations or misplaced euphoria that ends in embarrassment for the country," he added.

Another party spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said there was no need for this "event management on NSG". "There were huge celebrations that Switzerland and various other countries are supporting us. But eight to nine countries opposed us including Switzerland," he said, alleging that the Foreign Minister of this country has "no role" in deciding issues of foreign affairs.

The Congress' attack on the government came after India's push for becoming a member of the NSG came a cropper at the plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group recently as divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members with China leading the opposition to it.

Ahead of the meeting, India had pushed its case with a number of countries, with Prime Minister Modi leading the charge and also meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent urging him to take a decision on India's membership on merit while seeking Beijing's support.
The film Independence Day: Resurgence is probably playing at a theatre near you as you read this. Apart from carrying forward the premise of its highly successful original from two decades ago -- an alien invasion of earth that the US stymies -- it's also been in the news for another reason: that among all the monuments that were shown being destroyed by the wannabe (extraterrestrial) conquerors, the Gateway of India wasn't among them.

The film's makers wanted to avoid any issue with the Mumbai landmark being depicted under attack as the imagery may have been too reminiscent of the 26/11 terror siege, which unfolded in the vicinity of the Gateway.

India's tryst with the aliens may have come to nought on the big screen this time round, but curiously enough, we do seem to have a connection with the little green men, as most popular portrayals paint them.

A Google search for aliens in India leads you down quite the rabbit hole. There are fewer testimonies perhaps of alien abductions and UFO sightings than say, in the US, but these still account for a significant number. On Quora forums, users raise queries about everything from where in India one can report alien phenomena/UFO sightings, to why crop circles aren't seen here.

(The answer to where you can report alien sightings is, the MUFON India Facebook page. MUFON -- the Mutual UFO Network -- based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the largest organisation of its kind in the world; a nonprofit, civilian enterprise that investigates reported phenomena. Firstpost reached out to MUFON and the India Facebook group -- the latter says it is not connected to the Ohio organisation -- but didn't receive any comment at the time of publishing.)

More than such modern concerns, there seems to be a greater interest in the historical: there are a slew of blogs and sites dedicated to examining whether or not ancient aliens had a presence in India. Pinterest boards claim to have photos that show evidence from sites such as Mahabalipuram, that aliens interacted with our forebearers. Others discuss Alexanders war campaign here, and how his army encountered spacecraft-like objects which, however, did not attack this invading horde.

There are also pop theories that centre on whether or not (Hindu) gods were really aliens -- these ideas are well known enough that the TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D brought it up in one of its episodes, only to face the indignation of Hindu groups in the US.

The Vedas, the Mahabharata and Ramayana have also been closely scanned for references to alien phenomena -- some writers insist that the vimanas mentioned in ancient texts benefitted from the advanced knowledge of technology visiting life forms from other planets imparted, while others point to war descriptions in the epics that indicate some weapon(s) not of this earth.

These are popular theories, says leading Indian mythology expert Devdutt Pattanaik. There is no way to prove or disprove them. For some people God exists. For others, aliens exist. We do want fantastic explanations for fantastic stories -- they make us feel special.

What seems incontrovertible is that our interest in aliens has certainly been around for a while. In 2014, the department of archaeology and culture in Chhattisgarh found cave paintings and stick-figure drawings in Bastar -- dating about 10,000 years ago -- that have been interpreted as a depiction of alien-like figures and spacecraft.

Thousands of years after the Bastar drawings of these (presumably) alien spacecraft were made, UFO sightings have made the headlines sporadically. From a 1952 incident where air traffic controllers at New Delhi airport reported seeing a disc or cigar shaped flying object to October 2015, when a group of women working in paddy fields in Kanagal village in Mysuru district said they saw a flying craft hovering nearby, out of which some humanoid forms emerged, and the latest, in February 2016 when news emerged of an unidentified flying object being shot down by military forces in Barmer (India's Roswell? One article wondered) -- there has been plenty to keep alien enthusiasts busy. Pet theories about the Indian government being the first to tell the truth about alien encounters and of there being a UFO base in the Himalayas which only the Indian and Chinese governments know about, abound.

This is of course, not taking into account the rigorous scientific search for extraterrestrial life that is taking place in agencies like the Indian Astrobiology Research Centre.

But there are at least some people in India whore willing to take the existence of extraterrestrial life on faith alone. Raelians -- a global religious group that believes an alien species called the Elohim scientifically created life on earth -- have been slowly but steadily attracting newer members to the faith. Rishi, a Mumbai-based professional with a background in IT, was initiated just this April.

What is God? asks Rishi when questioned about how his interest in Raelism developed. My parents were not religious and I had to find my own answers.

For Rishi, the answers emerged when he came across Raelism on the Internet; he found its philosophy and practice authentic and compelling and after making contact with the group in India this January, had his transmission two months ago. (The transmission is a ceremony whereby the DNA of new initiates is registered on the Elohims mother computer).

Rishi recounts a conversation with his father about Gods existence; the words stayed with him: My father told me that his prayer was the awe he felt for the beauty of this universe and everything in it. (So) I don't have to kneel...I just look at the sky, the sea, trees -- and that feeling of awe (they inspire), that is my prayer.

The modern world's first reported UFO incident took place on 24 June 1947; the word flying saucer is believed to have been introduced by newspapers covering the incident two days later, on 26 June -- the same date this article is being published, nearly seven decades later.

As the debate around their existence continues, these intervening years have established only one thing: whether based on fact, faith or fiction, our fascination with aliens will continue unabated, for the foreseeable future.
Haridwar: Describing the Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand as "one steeped in corruption", BJP president Amit Shah asked the people to dislodge it from power and help the lotus "bloom" in the state.

"With a BJP government at the Centre, it would be ideal if there is a BJP government in the state as well. That would ensure smooth implementation of development schemes conceived for the state by the Centre," he said sounding the poll bugle from the party's Shankhnad rally at Rishikul Maidan here.

Asking the people to get rid of a "corrupt government embroiled in scams", Shah said if they were looking for development, they should overthrow it in the 2017 Assembly polls in the state and let the lotus bloom.

Mocking at Congress for accusing BJP of "murdering democracy" in the hill state, Shah urged the people never to forget 25 June, the date on which former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had declared Emergency and "muzzled the whole nation".

"You should never forgive those who imposed Emergency and murdered democracy silencing a whole nation and reducing the media to a helpless mouthpiece of those in power," he said.

Assuring that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "grandiose" plans for Uttarakhand, Shah said it was necessary to have a BJP government in the state to help those plans materialise.

Taking a dig at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for "repeatedly asking" what has the BJP government done in the last two years, he said the party has given the country an "audible" Prime Minister in place of "one who was audible only to Sonia and Rahul Gandhi."

"You ask us what did we do? My answer is, we have given the country a Prime Minister who speaks. You had given the country a PM who could be heard either by you or Soniaji," he said, adding that the Congress' also left a legacy of scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore.

Rolling out a long list of schemes launched by the Modi government, especially for the poor, farmers and women, the BJP president said Rahul should pose the question to Rawat instead.

"While you (Rahul) relax and beat the heat in a foreign land, you ask us what did we do in two years. You better ask that question to your Harish Rawat whom the whole country saw negotiating a deal to buy back the support of disgruntled MLAs for Rs 5 crore each," said Shah referring to the sting CD controversy involving the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.

With his "track record of corruption," Rawat has no right to remain as the Chief Minister even for a minute, he said, exhorting the people to give BJP a mandate so that Centre's schemes, including distribution of free LPG connections to five crore poor by 2018, could be achieved in totality.

Responding to senior Congress leader Kamal Nath's comment on Modi's frequent foreign visits, Shah said former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh used to go abroad more often than Modi but he did it so quietly that no one got a whiff of it.

"The only difference was Manmohanji went abroad silently and came back after reading out his written speech. Sometimes, he would read out a speech in Thailand which was supposed to be delivered in Malaysia whereas, when Modiji visits a country, he attracts international attention and the whole world listens to him," said Shah.

The BJP chief also lashed out at Congress for opposing the creation of Uttarakhand and said it was the result of BJP's efforts that the state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh.

Senior party leaders including former chief ministers Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank and Vijay Bahuguna (who recently defected to BJP), Harak Singh Rawat, BJP state in-charge Shyam Jaju, state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt shared the dais with Shah as a large crowd gathered to listen to him despite Section 144 being in force.

Earlier, accompanied by Bhatt, Jaju, Harak Singh Rawat and others, Shah paid obeisance at Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines.
New Delhi: With nearly a month left for the start of the monsoon session of Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday accused the Congress of delaying the much-awaited economic reforms in the country.

"If one looks back at the Congress history after Independence, the blots on it are delay in economic reforms by over two decades, transformation of India into a dynastic democracy, the imposition of Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption," Jaitley said in a blog written on the 41st anniversary of the imposition of Emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Jaitley questioned various decisions taken by the Congress, especially by Indira Gandhi which, according to him, proved to be politically counter-productive for the party.

"I wonder whether the current Congress leadership has a view on this subject. Will the Congress have an internal debate on these issues," the minister said.

Jaitley's assault is seen as another attempt to marginalise the opposition Congress who which has been blocking the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill in Parliament for a year.

While the central government is trying to garner support for the early passage of the constitutional amendment bill, the Congress wants the government to accept its proposed changes to the bill in lieu of its support.

The monsoon session of Parliament is expected to start in the third week of July.

In his blog, the minister accused the Congress of turning the country into a totalitarian state during the Emergency.

"The impact of the Emergency was to inflict a dictatorship on the country. All political opponents were detained. The authority of the courts to hear a challenge against the detentions was suspended. The Supreme Court caved in before the dictator. The Press was subjected to pre-censorship. The Press became a spokesperson of the dictator," Jaitley said.

The minister said that the collapse of the media and the Supreme Court before the dictatorship was the most significant phenomenon of that time.
New Delhi: On the 41st anniversary of imposition of Emergency, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday took swipes at Congress and blamed it for delaying economic reforms by two decades, transforming India into a 'dynastic democracy' and bringing in corruption.

Besides Emergency, operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple was another blot on its record, he said, throwing a challenge at the present Congress leadership and asking if it had any views on these issues.

"If one looks back at the history of the Congress Party after independence, the blots on it are economic reforms being delayed by over two decades, transformation of India in to a dynastic democracy, the imposition of Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption.

"I wonder whether the current leadership of the Congress Party has a view on this subject. Will the Congress Party have an internal debate on these issues?" the minister said in his Facebook post - 'Constitutional dictatorship imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi forty-one years ago'.

On 26 June, 1975, Indira Gandhi imposed an internal emergency in the country, he said, adding "the phoney reason she gave was that there was a breakdown of public order in as much as Jai Prakash Narain had asked the police and the army not to follow illegal orders."

The actual reason, however, was that her continuation as the Prime Minister was threatened since the Allahabad High Court had unseated her as Member of Parliament for adopting corrupt practices during her election, he said.

"The impact of the Emergency was to inflict a dictatorship on the country. All political opponents were detained. The authority of the Courts to hear a challenge against the detentions was suspended. The Supreme Court caved in before the dictator.

"The Press was subjected to pre-censorship. The Press became a spokesperson of the dictator. No public protest was allowed.

"The Parliament was without an opposition. By projecting her son Sanjay as her successor, the dictator converted India into a dynastic regime. Inner party democracy was throttled," Jaitley said.

Recalling the days of Emergency, Jaitley said Parliament without an opposition amended the Constitution in order to legitimise a Constitutional dictatorship and only political workers offered some resistance by courting arrest and going to jail.

He outlined as "most significant" the collapse of the media and the Supreme Court before the dictatorship.

"Politicians were the only institution that fought the emergency since they were the only accountable section of society.

"The standards of accountability of the political class are high," he said, adding that the "even the dictator had to face an electorate when faced with International and National opinion pressures."
Whether it's his campaign website, social media handles or TV ads, there's a common theme in the message Steve Williams delivers to Democratic voters.

Jobs.

That message, he said, will motivate him if he's elected to represent the 24th Congressional District.

"Creating jobs is the number one thing for this district," he said in an interview. "That's been the theme of my campaign from day one. I really want to fight to bring jobs back to this area."

Williams, D-Baldwinsville, is one of three Democrats vying for the party's nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko. His opponents are Colleen Deacon, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Eric Kingson, a Syracuse University professor and expert on aging-related issues.

Before running for Congress, Williams, 53, established himself as a successful attorney in central New York. He also served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Navy for five years.

While the length of his Navy service is just a fraction of his lifetime, he said that experience shaped him in many ways.

"It helped me to be a better person and I wouldn't want to trade that experience for anything," he said.

Kevin Whitmore, an assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis and a Navy captain, said he bonded with Williams after an incident involving their unit's executive officer, or XO in military jargon.

Whitmore, who's black, recalled Williams approaching him and warned him to be careful around the XO. The XO had made some offensive remarks about Whitmore, which Williams heard.

When a command assessment team visited the unit, Whitmore informed them of the XO's comments. While others in the unit who heard the remarks denied the XO said anything offensive about Whitmore, Williams confirmed what the XO had said.

"He didn't have to do that," Whitmore said. "He didn't even have to tell me that."

Since meeting in the Navy 25 years ago, Whitmore said they have been friends ever since.

"He's just one of those guys  and I know it sounds cliche  but he's going to do the right thing."

As an attorney, Williams said he took on cases in which his clients were the underdog. One example is when he fought to recover pension funds affected by the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

His advocacy on behalf of the workers is something Williams has touted during the campaign. It was highlighted in one of the two television ads released by Williams' campaign.

"It shows that I'm willing to take on a tough fight and win," Williams said.

Democratic voters will go to the polls Tuesday to determine who will be the party's nominee to challenge Katko, R-Camillus, in the general election. Williams said one trait that sets him apart from the other candidates in the race is that he has private sector experience.

The other Democrats and the lone Republican in the race all have worked in either academia or in government positions.

But there are other traits he has that he believes are important for a member of Congress: Hard work and determination.

"I exhibit more than any other candidate the qualities that we need for this district," he said.
New Delhi: Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday flayed the Narendra Modi government over its vigorous push to get NSG membership, saying there was no need for it and India should not have gone to the elite grouping as an "applicant".

The BJP veteran, who has often been critical of the Modi government after being sidelined in the party, said India should not accept NSG membership as it has already got what it needs.

"India which has shown so much keenness in getting NSG membership, it is not required at all. I say this very strongly that India should not accept the NSG membership. We should not go there as an applicant. Whatever we had to get, we have got it," 83-year-old Sinha said.

His comments come after India's push for becoming at member of the NSG came a cropper at the plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group recently as divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members with China leading the opposition to it.

Ahead of the meeting, India had pushed its case with a number of countries, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge and also meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent urging him to take a decision on India's membership on merit while seeking Beijings support.

Sinha, who was External Affairs minister in the previous NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has spoken out against various aspects of Modi government's foriegn policy especially its handling of Pakistan.

Terming the developments at the NSG meet in Seoul as an "embarrassment" to India, Congress too had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he needs to realise that diplomacy needs "depth and seriousness and not public tamasha".
Mumbai: Dubbing the war of words between BJP and Shiv Sena as detrimental to Maharashtra's progress, NCP on Sunday sought intervention of the Prime Minister's Office to end the slugfest between the ruling allies.

The opposition party also urged the BJP to seek "derecognition" of the Sena, contending that it cannot be allowed to contest the forthcoming Mumbai civic polls owing to alleged "hundreds of crore having been looted by the party in various scams".

"Both the allies are forgetting that people have given them a mandate to rule, not to create a ruckus. The daily bickering and no end to the problems being faced by people have made them lose faith in the institution of government. If this continues, people will lose faith in democracy," Pawaskar told reporters.

"We urge the PMO to take cognisance of the melee going on in the state and put an end to this. Instead of using its mouthpiece to ask the Sena to fall out of the government, they should simply come out in the open and say they are ready for

mid-term polls," he said.

The NCP's comments come in the backdrop of the intensifying war of words between the ruling allies. A recent article in BJP's fortnightly publication Manogat dared the Sena to take "divorce" and poked fun at Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray by drawing an analogy from the popular Bollywood flick Sholay, in which the character of a jailor played by actor Asrani asks policemen to march in different directions, only to find later that no one was standing behind him.

The Sena had retorted by demanding a clarification from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that by making "below the belt comments, the BJP probably wanted to finish off its own government".

"Being in power at the Centre and the state, it is the BJP's responsibility to seek Sena's derecognition because they had come to power on a corruption-free governance plank. "It will be a gross injustice to the people if Sena is allowed to contest BMC polls where it has indulged in scams amounting to hundreds of crores and thereby looted people," Pawaskar alleged.

"It is shocking that a CM, who otherwise gives such good speeches in public, is from the last two years digesting the criticism aimed at his party in Sena mouthpiece," he added.
Patna: On Sunday LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should implement reservation in private sector in his state first.

Addressing a programme on the issue of 'reservation' on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister V P Singh, he said, "Nitish Kumar is advocating reservation in private sector but he should implement it in his state first."

The Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister said his party would launch a movement against the Nitish Kumar government's decision to "scrap reservation in promotion".

Hitting out at Kumar for his government's decision to enforce complete prohibition in the state, he alleged spurious liquor are being sold in the state while Nitish is undertaking tours to extend prohibition across the country.

Questioning Lalu Prasad's claim of being champion of the backwards and the Dalits, Paswan asked, "If Prasad is so concerned about them, then why does he talk about 'Muslim-Yadav' combination."

Terming the Grand Secular Alliance government as a "failure on all fronts", he reiterated that the government would not last more than two and half years.

Praising former Prime Minister V P Singh, Paswan said, Singh implemented recommendations of Mandal Commission despite being born in an upper-caste family.
Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CFPF) personnel were killed and 24 injured on Saturday after militants, believed to be Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives operatives, opened fire at a convoy belonging to the paramilitary force in Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar. Two militants were also shot dead in retaliatory fire.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and other leaders paid homage to the martyred jawans on Sunday.

Srinagar: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti pays homage to CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Pampore terror attack yesterday pic.twitter.com/QOjuM43HxH  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of CRPF jawans who lost their lives in yesterday's terror attack in Pampore (J&K) pic.twitter.com/vVaLyIAKdB  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Mehbooba Mufti strongly condemned the militant attack and said that the assault was aimed at "subverting peace" and development initiatives launched by the state government.

"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

Mehbooba said the elements inimical to interests of Jammu and Kashmir have always tried to derail the peace efforts and the latest militant strike in Pampore was again aimed at "subverting the peace and development initiatives launched by the government".

While expressing solidarity with the bereaved families of the security forces personnel, she prayed for early recovery of the injured. "I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in today's dastardly militant attack," she said, adding, violence has not served any purpose in the past, nor is it going to do anything in future, except shedding precious human blood.

Governor N N Vohra too conveyed his grief on the killing of the CRPF personnel in the attack, an official spokesman said. He said the Governor conveyed his sympathy to the families of those killed and wished early recovery to the injured personnel.

After the deadliest attack in the recent times, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir needs to be solved between India and Pakistan.

We hope we will sit and discuss on the issue and find a solution. Its the month of Ramzaan, lets focus on this Iftaar party, Basit told the media, after the Iftar party hosted at the Pakistan High Commission.

#WATCH: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Pampore (Jammu & Kashmir) terrorist attack.https://t.co/jkzSn90gXs

 ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2016

Meanwhile, the Janata Dal launched an attack on Basit for not condemning the attack in Pampore. JD(U) leader Ajay Alok told ANI, "How does it matter to Abdul Basit if terrorist attack takes place in India, will he cancel his Iftar? He called the separatists in the Iftar. Who are these separatists? They are the ones who help the terrorists. The Government of India knows this, but still turning a blind eye to this. They say they will make Kashmir a part of India. They say something and do something else."

Militants attacked the convoy at Pampore, though two terrorists were killed in the gun battle, reports suggest that two militants are still at large.

The injured were rushed to the hospital where doctors declared five of them having been brought dead, while the condition of four of the 21 personnel was stated to be critical.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid homage to the eight martyred CRPF personnel on Twitter saying that he was "pained by their demise."

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/746736668791562240

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/746737007464849408

Home Minister Rajnath Singh too expressed deep anguish over the killing in the Pampore ambush.

"My heart goes out to the families of the CRPF men who lost their lives in Pampore. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," he said in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/rajnathsingh/status/746695212437807104

https://twitter.com/rajnathsingh/status/746695587018440704

Calling it a "tragedy", Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said, "All aspects will be looked into."

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the attack and expressed his views on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/abdullah_omar/status/746719388993216512

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, strongly condemned the attack.

"It is painful to learn about the death of our soldiers who are fighting a proxy war and had succeeded in creating an atmosphere in the state, as a result of which the tourists from across the world are visiting Kashmir, thereby contributing to the economy of the state," Azad said in a statement.

"This terrorist attack at this juncture on our brave security forces should be condemned by one and all," he said.

The Congress leader also expressed hope that the state authorities and security agencies will nab the culprits involved in the act.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi condemned the killing of the eight CRPF men as a "dastardly" act. She said the sacrifice of the CRPF men is "supreme and unforgettable."

"We stand with their families in this hour of grief and distress," she said.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha expressed grief and accepted that the government's Pakistan's policy has failed.

With great sadness, I would like to say that our Govt's Pakistan policy has completely failed: Yashwant Sinha,BJP pic.twitter.com/NSeeV25NfY  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Condemning the attack, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Pradip Bhattacharya, demanded a thorough investigation by NIA into the incident.

"I strongly condemn this attack and I demand that there should be a thorough investigation by the NIA into the case," he told PTI.

Bhattacharya, also a senior Congress leader from West Bengal, said the Centre should be more alert about the terror activities in the country.

"The government should be more cautious and alert in dealing with terror activities," he said.

This is the third terror strike in three weeks targeting security personnel and the deadliest after the 24 June, 2013 attack on Army personnel at Hyderpora on the outskirts of Srinagar in which nine armymen were gunned down.

This is the second attack on a bus carrying security personnel within three weeks. On 3 June, terrorists had fired at a bus carrying BSF personnel in Bijbehara, killing two of them. On June four, terrorists had gunned down three policemen at general bus stand.

With inputs from PTI
Pune: Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday said Shiv Sena may break off its ruling alliance with BJP in Maharashtra before next year's civic polls in Mumbai and other cities of the state.

"The coalition of BJP and Shiv Sena is full of contradictions and the kind of spat the two parties are having is evidence of the same," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister told reporters.

"As a politician, it is my reading that before the civic body polls in Mumbai and other parts of the state, Shiv Sena may withdraw their support and pull out from the (state) government," Chavan, a former Union Minister, said.

"Once Shiv Sena withdraws the support, the government will automatically go into a minority and further political developments will take place," he added.

Recently, the ruling alliance partners had locked horns with each other over an article in BJP's fortnightly magazine Manogat. The article had dared the Sena to take "divorce" while enumerating the sacrifices the saffron party has made in the past to keep the alliance intact.
Pune: BJP's ally Shiv Sena and other political parties in Pune on Saturday boycotted the event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his government's flagship 'Smart City mission' in 20 cities.

Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap attended the program for the sake of protocol, but his party, NCP, along with Sena, MNS and Congress, boycotted it.

Shiv Sena is a ruling alliance partner of BJP in Maharashtra and a part of the NDA. However, the relations between the two allies are strained, especially in the last few days when state-level leaders of both parties traded barbs at each other.

On Friday, leaders of NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena and MNS accused BJP of hijacking the PM's programme and slammed the Centre for not following protocol as the invitation cards did not have the name of the Mayor.

Jagtap, however, later agreed to attend after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to him over phone.

Local NCP leaders stayed away from the event, saying that the PM had not even once visited Maharashtra when it was reeling under drought, and that he came only when civic elections were round the corner.
Thiruvananthapuram: Mounting a scathing attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Saturday alleged that she wanted to declare a state of emergency in the country by "cooking up Hindu terror business" in the period 2011-12.

Inaugurating a meeting to mark the 41st anniversary of the Emergency in Thiruvananthapuram, Swamy said no more emergency could be declared in the country because of the significant constitutional amendment passed by the Janata government which had come into power after the Emergency had been withdrawn in 1975.

"In 2011-12, Sonia Gandhi was planning to declare a state of emergency in the country and she had cooked up this Hindu terror business," he said.

Swamy said he would soon release further details in this regard.

BJP state president Kummanom Rajasekaran and other party leaders were present during the programme held at Gandhi Park in Thiruvananthapuram.
Maverick Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamys thinly veiled attacks on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appear to have upset the senior party leadership. A talk by Swamy at KC College in south Mumbai, scheduled for Sunday evening, was abruptly cancelled following a directive from no less than party president Amit Shah, sources told Firstpost.

Subramanian Swamy was slated to speak at KC College at an event to discuss the completion of 41 years since the proclamation of the Emergency. However, Shah himself is believed to have called up Swamy and asked him not to attend the function. The party president told Swamy not to go for the event because of heavy rains in Mumbai. However, the real reason was that the senior party leadership was miffed over his recent remarks over Jaitley. The party wanted to avoid a situation which could lead to further controversy, a source close to a senior BJP leader said.

Whats more, the BJP leadership has directed that Swamy should not be called for any public functions of the party, sources said.

The event in question was a public meeting on Emergency-Lessons for Future. Senior leaders, including the BJPs Maharashtra chief Raosaheb Danve and Mumbai president Ashish Shelar, were to be present at the meet.

The public meeting was initially scheduled in April. However, the event was cancelled following fears that he might make adverse comments about alliance partner Shiv Sena.

When contacted by Firstpost, Ashish Shelar said, Yes, it is true that the programme has been cancelled. However, he declined to speak on what the reasons for the cancellation were.

Recently, Subramanian Swamy had hit out Jaitley without explicitly naming him, after the finance minister asked Swamy to refrain from criticising Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian. Swamy had said, People giving me (unsolicited) advice of discipline and restraint don't realise that if I disregard discipline there would be a bloodbath. The remarks reportedly did not go down well with the BJP. The criticism of the chief economic advisor was perceived as an indirect criticism of Finance Minister Jaitley.

In another statement seen to be aimed at Jaitley, Swamy said,

BJP should direct our Ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie they look like waiters  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 24, 2016

This was after photographs of Jaitley meeting Bank of China chairman Tian Guoli wearing a lounge suit appeared in newspapers.

Subramanian Swamy also recently launched an attack on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan. Following the tirade, Rajan announced his decision not to go for a second term at the post.

According to an article on Firstpost, there is confusion in the BJP ranks as there is an apprehension on who his next target could be. It is also not clear as of now whether Swamy is acting on his own or at the behest of someone powerful in the Sangh Parivar.

If the unofficial ban on Swamy attending public functions of the BJP is any indication, it appears that the party is attempting to rein in its most prominent loose cannon.
Chennai: Supporters of TNCC President EVKS Elangovan, who resigned from the post for the party's poor show in 16 May Assembly elections, on Sunday demanded withdrawal of his resignation.

High drama prevailed outside his Manapakkam residence here when one of the supporters tried self-immolation by pouring kerosene on him. However, other Congress workers prevented him from going ahead as they snatched away the container and threw it away.

About 40 TNCC district secretaries loyal to the former Union Minister met him and held consultations where they demanded withdrawal of his resignation, senior leaders said.

N Rangabashyam, district secretary, North Chennai, said that the supporters had sought withdrawal of his resignation, adding, "We are confident he will continue as TNCC President." He also denied reports that the office-bearers bearing loyalty to Elangovan, planned to quit en masse.

Elangovan had submitted his resignation on 15 June, owning moral responsibility to the party's poor show in the 16 May Assembly polls, where it had joined hands with former ally DMK.

Congress had won just eight out of the 41 seats it had contested. However, the Congress high command has so far not accepted Elangovan's resignation so far.

V R Sivaraman (Kancheepuram North) said that Elangovan had not offered to quit 'under pressure' but had taken moral responsibility for the poor show in election.

The supporters said that Elangovan had asked them to cooperate with any new leader who could replace him as TNCC President and work for the party's good show in the coming local body polls.
Beijing: At least 35 people were killed in a fire that reduced a tour bus to ashes and a twisted frame on Sunday morning in China's Hunan province, authorities said.

The bus carried 55 persons, a government official said. At least 11 persons were hospitalised and four of them were in critical conditions, Xinhua news agency reported.

The accident occurred when the bus crashed into the guardrail on a highway in Yizhang county.

The ensuing oil leak caused the fire, according to the government.

A photo taken at the site shows huge clouds of black smoke rising from the vehicle, and another shows the black skeletons of the bus after fire was put out.

State Councillor Guo Shengkun, who is also public security minister, has ordered all-out efforts to save the injured and to take measures to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

The police has detained the driver.
Sofia Darovskikh knew she wanted to participate in the Rotary Youth Exchange after high school  especially after hearing countless times from her mother and aunt about their exchanges in Sweden and Denmark, respectively  but she didn't think she could go to Finland with the program.

Yet, that is exactly where she ended up: The 2015 Skaneateles High School graduate is completing a school year abroad in the northeastern European country through the Rotary program.

Not only that, the 18-year-old musician  who produces her songs electronically with equipment she has set up in her room at home  studies at Kuopion Yhteiskoulun Musiikkilukio, a Finnish high school that specializes in music and dance.

"I am so, so, so happy that I am in this school," Darovskikh said via email. "The students in there are all so incredibly talented and unique. I don't see as much competitiveness as in the U.S. We all collaborate together with music or dance to create something wonderful."

To get into the school  initially, she was going to attend Kuopion Lyseon Luko, an International Baccalaureate school  Darovskikh had to go through a series of auditions that included meeting with the headmaster and talking about her songs.

The school is a collaboration of Kuopio Conservatory, the Sibelius Academy's Kuopio department and Petrozavodsk Art School, and Darovskikh said her schedule consists of two dance classes  modern dance, with some African dance thrown in, and ballet  as well as a gym class, a photography class working with old cameras and film, and yoga.

"Even though I was in Finland, I wanted to continue to make my music and learn even more about the business and production if I could," she said. "Naturally, hearing that there was a music school made me very interested. ... I am very grateful that they let me in."

One of her classes was a music technology class that met weekday evenings from 4 to 8:30, and sometimes on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The task  one with which Darovskikh is quite familiar  was to create or recreate a song using the tools and programs available to the students.

"It was hands-down one of my favorite classes," Darovskikh said, noting she wrote an original song, "Hypnotize You," as part of the assignment.

Even outside of that class, Darovskikh said, she continues to create her own music, calling it "a necessity in my life." When working on any part of a song, she goes into "complete Zen mode" and her mind is not focused on anything else. Being in Finland has focused her mind on music even more.

"Not only am I collaborating with people who share my love for music, I am collaborating with people from a different culture and country," she said. "This brings so much more to the table  new ideas, new ways of thinking, new instruments. I have been exposed to more types of music, too."

It was an experience she, at first, didn't know she could have. When applying for the Rotary program, students choose five places they would like to go. Darovskikh said she listed all of the Scandinavia countries and would have put Finland, but was told the country would not accept anyone who was already 18 years old.

When she received her acceptance letter, though, she saw that she got Finland.

"I was initially shocked, but very happy," she said. "Even though I was already 18, I guess they made an exception for me and I was allowed to go there. The board really tries their best to match your personality with the country."

One thing she did know was that wherever she went, she wanted to share her experiences with her family and friends back home. Darovskikh said she has always loved filming and editing videos, so vlogging felt like a perfect fit. She revamped her YouTube channel that she already uses to post her original music  youtube.com/sofiepeach  to include videos of her life in Finland, complete with background music and clips spliced together.

If she knows that an event is going to happen, Darovskikh said she thinks about how she wants to film it, including what background music she wants to play and what kinds of feelings she wants to convey.

"I want to evoke as much emotion as possible, whether it is happiness or excitement," she said, acknowledging that she doesn't like talking into the camera. "It is getting to the point where I can now speak to the camera like I am talking to my family, updating them on what's been happening. I think I have gained more confidence, too."

Darovskikh's videos depict her adventures with her friends  five other exchange students and several Finnish friends  and her three host families. Her host families have included one with six siblings  four young boys and two teenage girls  another with three girls ages 23, 18 and 14, and her current family, which has one girl who is older than Darovskikh and another who is younger.

She said people like to see her videos, from her parents  who leave her messages responding to what they see in the videos or asking her questions about it  to fellow students, who think about becoming exchange students themselves after watching the videos.

"I choose to share the happiest and best moments of my exchange in my vlogs because it makes me happy to look back at them and also so my family and friends can experience them," Darovskikh said. "There are bad days, and there are good days, but what comes with being an exchange student is learning to be your own best friend. You will have to open your heart to the people around you. You have to be there for yourself when you feel down. You will learn patience and compassion. Every day you will see the world around you in a different light, and that is one of the many beauties of being an exchange student."

For those presented with an opportunity to study abroad, Darovskikh offered simple advice that came in all capital letters in her email: "TAKE IT. TAKE IT. TAKE IT."

"I cannot tell you how much I have changed for the better this year," she said. "The people you will meet and relationships you will form are ones you will carry with you throughout your whole life, and this I mean. Take every opportunity. Open your heart, even when you don't want to."
PARIS/BERLIN Germany and France agree on one thing: that Europe must change following the shock of last week's Brexit referendum.

But after years of economic and political crisis in Europe that have left deep scars in Berlin and Paris, there appears to be little agreement between the bloc's top two powers about what kind of change is needed and how fast it should come.

That suggests that the Franco-German engine that has powered the EU for decades may struggle to deliver the change many European officials feel is necessary to win back the support of citizens, fight off a right-wing populist surge and avert a gradual disintegration of the bloc.

Over the weekend, as Europe began digesting the prospect of an EU without Britain, a cacophony of conflicting signals were being sent out by politicians on either side of the Rhine, despite a joint paper by the German and French foreign ministers meant to minimise the differences and highlight common ground.

The most obvious and immediate divide is over how to treat Britain in the immediate aftermath of the vote.

At a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives south of Berlin, she and her aides made clear that they were ready to give Britain the time it needs to sort through its political mess before starting talks on the terms of a Brexit.

Some officials in Berlin may even be hoping that the referendum could be reversed. Regardless, their priority is to prevent an acrimonious rupture with London.

"Of course the EU has the means to pressure Britain but we shouldn't focus on that," one senior German official told Reuters. "They need the time to realise what they've done. There is no need for threats or pressure at the moment."

French politicians from across the political spectrum are sending a different message. They have made clear in recent days that a quick divorce is necessary. Some are describing Brexit as an opportunity for France to reassert its leadership in the EU.

"There can be no cat and mouse game," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.

DIVERGING PRIORITIES

Beyond the question of how quickly Brexit talks should start, Germany and France remain deeply divided over how to reform Europe, beyond the notion that something must be done to remind sceptical populations of Europe's purpose.

Merkel will meet with Hollande in Paris on Monday, along with European Council President Donald Tusk and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, to try to forge a common message before an EU summit on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The ever-cautious Merkel told members of her conservative party at the weekend that she saw no need for a radical reinvention of the European Union in the wake of the Brexit vote. Instead, she said, Europe should take time to reflect and work patiently to address its flaws.

For the Germans, there are two main priorities for Europe: agreeing a fair mechanism for distributing refugees across the bloc and pressing ahead with structural reforms in economically weak countries to improve long-term growth prospects.

The French are in a different place. Unlike Merkel, who seems on track to win a fourth term next year, President Francois Hollande is politically weak and, if he runs at all, seems unlikely to make it into the second round of the French election next spring.

His government faces a major challenge from the far-right National Front. It is battling protests against its labour market reforms. And the country remains in a state of emergency following attacks by Islamic militants last November which killed 130 people in Paris.

"The Franco-German couple no longer exists as far as I'm concerned, not because of who is in power, but because we no longer have any credibility with the Germans," said former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Sunday.

"It will be very difficult for Francois Hollande to launch a new European initiative. You need credibility to do that."

That hasn't prevented Hollande and his Prime Minister Manuel Valls from talking about the need to move fast to "reinvent" Europe.

Their vision however, elements of which can be found in the joint paper from Ayrault and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is one that prioritises security on the one hand and a more "social" Europe on the other.

This vision is shared by Germany's Social Democrats (SPD). SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel and his party colleague Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, issued a separate paper at the weekend which called for a major shift in economic priorities in Europe, away from fiscal discipline towards more pro-growth policies.

But Merkel's conservative allies are having none of it.

"The Socialists want German taxpayers to subsidise countries that aren't reforming," one senior ally told Reuters. "This would be a catastrophe."

(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander, Paul Carrel; Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Anna Willard)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
London: Britain's Opposition Labour party was on Sunday thrown into turmoil after Jeremy Corbyn sacked his foreign secretary Hilary Benn while other members of the shadow cabinet are set to step down as divisions within the party emerged over the veteran socialist leader's handling of the EU referendum.

Benn was sacked after he said that he no longer had confidence in Corbyn's leadership. Soon after, his colleague, shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander announced her resignation on Twitter.

Other members of Corbyn's shadow cabinet are also expected to follow suit as many of the Labour MPs have been critical of Corbyn's handling of Britain's EU referendum.

The shock decision by the country to vote to leave the 28-member European Union was against the wishes of most Labour lawmakers.

"There is no confidence to win the next election if Jeremy continues as leader. In a phone call to Jeremy I told him I had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party and he dismissed me," Ben said.

After Benn was sacked, other Labour MPs came out in his support.

The 67-year-old Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence over claims he was "lacklustre" and "half-hearted" during the EU referendum campaigning.

Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey had submitted a motion of no confidence against Corbyn to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chairman John Cryer soon after the results of the EU referendum in favour of Brexit.

The motion has no formal constitutional force but calls for a discussion at the PLP's next meeting on Monday.

The chairman will decide whether it is debated. If accepted, a secret ballot of Labour MPs could be held on Tuesday.

The Labour party campaigned for Remain during the referendum but it was widely felt that the party leader did not do enough to convince Labour voters after a 52-48 percent result in favour of Leave.

In her resignation letter, Alexander said, "Our country needs an effective opposition which can hold the government to account. As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."

A spokesperson for the Labour leader, however, said, "Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so."

In a speech yesterday, Corbyn said: "I did all I could Two-thirds of Labour voters voted for Remain in response to our party's call for that. There are some people in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would probably want somebody else being the leader of this party, they have made that abundantly clear in the past few days."

Asked if he would stand again if there was a challenge to his leadership, he said: "Yes, I'm here, thank you."

This is the greatest threat Corbyn has faced to his leadership since he was elected leader of the Labour party just under a year ago.
Paris: Britain must "act quickly" and notify Brussels of its intention to leave the European Union to avoid prolonged uncertainty, a top European commissioner said on.

"There needs to be a notification by the country concerned of its intention to leave (the EU), hence the request to (British Prime Minister David) Cameron to act quickly," Moscovici, the EU's economic affairs commissioner, told French media.

"There is no reason to prolong the uncertainty," he added. Moscovici was referring to notification via Article 50 of the EU's 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which Britain must cite in order

to initiate the exit process.

Under European Union law, only the member state concerned can notify Brussels of its intent to quit.

An exit cannot be forced on Britain by Brussels, despite the 23 June referendum which saw a majority of British voters opt out of the EU bloc.

The very day the referendum was held, Cameron announced he would resign by October, raising speculation over whether he would himself notify Brussels  or whether he would leave

that task to his successor.

"Everyone agrees on the fact that a three-month waiting period is too long. But after (the notification is submitted), there will be months, years of negotiations" to re-define Britain's ties with the EU, Moscovici said.

Despite voting to leave the bloc, Britain "remains a strategic country", he added.

Asked whether there could be a way back from Brexit, Moscovici said no.
LOS ANGELES A massive wildfire burning out of control in the foothills of central California has left at least 150 homes in ruins and damaged another 75, officials said on Saturday, warning that more residents may be forced to flee the advancing flames.

The so-called Erskine fire, which broke out on Thursday some 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Bakersfield in Kern County, has already claimed at least two lives, sent three firefighters to the hospital and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

More than 1,100 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze, which has blackened some 35,700 acres and was zero percent contained as of Saturday afternoon. California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Kern County.

"It is a vicious wildfire. We are going to be committed to this for some time," Captain Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department told CNN. "A lot of communities are still in danger."

Crews were working in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames that were fueled by hot, dry weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by California's devastating five-year drought.

Officials have not identified the two people killed in the huge conflagration, one of the worst in an already intense fire season in California.

The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators had found what they believed to be the remains of a third victim at a mobile home in the community of South Lake.

"We are treating it like a crime scene. It appears to be one set of human remains, pretty badly burned," Kern County Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt told the paper.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a Friday evening press conference that more fatalities could be discovered once authorities are able to search burned-out neighborhoods with cadaver dogs.

Authorities say the cause of the fire remains unknown.

"My heart goes out to everyone here who has lost a home and my heart goes out to the family that perished yesterday in the fire," Sergeant Henry Bravo of the sheriff's office told evacuees at a community meeting on Saturday.

On Friday, authorities warned the more than 3,000 residents of the community of Lake Isabella on the shore of a reservoir to be prepared to evacuate.

Southeast of Lake Isabella, dozens of burned-out homes and car frames were left behind in a neighborhood reduced to a field of mangled metal and collapsed roofs.

To the south, firefighters were struggling to manage the so-called San Gabriel Complex fire in the foothills of Los Angeles County. There were two fires that started on Friday and cover a combined 5,285 acres, fire officials said. Containment was at nearly 50 percent for both blazes.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio and Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BRUSSELS Following are answers to key questions on what will happen next in Britain's relations with the European Union following its referendum vote to leave:

1. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

The EU is in shock and entering uncharted territory. No member state has ever left, and Article 50 of the EU treaty, which sets out how a state can exit the bloc, offers little detail. Although it provides a sketchy legal framework for a two-year period of withdrawal (see below), many believe it will take longer to establish a new trading relationship between Britain and the EU. Some fear the process will become bitter, disrupting the economy and European affairs across the board.

There is already a tug-of-war over Britain delivering the formal notice to quit that will set the two-year clock ticking.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who said before the vote that Article 50 would be triggered straight away, announced on Friday he would resign and leave that task to a successor who may not be chosen by the Conservative party until October.

One potential successor, Boris Johnson, sees no rush. Some Brexit campaigners argue for negotiating a comprehensive new relationship with the EU, including access for British business to the EU market, before triggering the mechanism, which states Britain must leave with no deal at all if none is agreed within two years.

EU leaders demand Cameron start the clock immediately but are divided on whether that means days or, maybe, a few months. In any case, they see no way to force his hand, beyond appeals to his "honour" and that he respect the will of his own voters.

A deal Cameron struck with EU leaders in February to curb EU immigration, protect London finance interests from the euro zone and opt out of "ever closer union" has been killed by the referendum result, and EU leaders have ruled out new talks on a different form of British EU membership - "Leave means leave".

The stalemate essentially results from dilemmas on either side: Whoever speaks for Britain wants to be seen to honour the referendum result and also get the best possible EU trade deal, which it is unlikely can be negotiated in just two years; the EU is anxious for minimum economic disruption, which implies a fast move to a new deal with Britain but fears conceding anything new to London will trigger a domino effect wrecking the whole Union.

Many EU officials see two treaties with Britain being worked on in parallel: a "divorce" pact under Article 50, unwinding the EU budget for example, which would have to be agreed by a weighted majority of the 27 others and done in under two years; and a separate deal on a new economic relationship that would require unanimous acceptance by the bloc and which most expect would take longer to complete.

That mechanistic approach may not give the kind of smooth transition leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel say they want and Brussels' creative officials and diplomats are certain to consider a range of flexible options.

The two-year limit is intended to shorten uncertainty but can be dodged: the leave notice could be held back; a unanimous decision by all 28 states can extend it (though many question how feasible that unanimity is); and one EU official has said a departure treaty negotiated within two years, and approved by a majority, might carry a delayed action clause to bring it into effect only later, once a broader new relationship was agreed.

There are a number of options open to Britain, including to maintain access to EU markets as Switzerland and Norway have -- although EU leaders have said the price for that could be allowing free EU migration and accepting other EU rules that British voters have just rejected in the referendum.

For now, Britain remains, in principle, a full member of the EU but will be excluded from discussions affecting its exit terms. In practice, many expect British ministers and lawmakers to be rapidly frozen out of much of the Union's affairs.

Some Brexit campaigners have also said Britain should act more quickly, for example to stop funding the EU budget or curb immigration from EU states. That could provoke EU reprisals.

An array of laws and EU entitlements will cease to apply to British business and citizens, creating what Brexit campaigners say will be opportunities for more growth and more selective immigration but which Cameron has said will do long-term damage to the economy and Britain's global influence.

2. WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?

EU leaders and the heads of EU institutions in Brussels have delivered statements that broadly stress a mantra of Three Rs: Regret - at losing nearly a fifth of the EU economy and more of its military and global clout; Respect - for the will of the British people; and Resolve - to keep the other 27 together. They also reminded Britain that it remains a full member for the time being, with all the rights and obligations that entails.

EU "sherpa" advisers to the leaders meet in Brussels at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Sunday, when a Spanish general election will also affect EU business. On Monday, EU summit chair Donald Tusk and French President Francois Hollande meet in Paris at 11 a.m. and then travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at 3 p.m.

Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the EU's executive Commission which will negotiate the details of a deal with Britain, plans a meeting of its college of national commissioners for Monday. Britain's commissioner, Cameron ally Jonathan Hill, resigned on Saturday. It was untenable to keep a key portfolio overseeing financial services, a battleground of the Brexit negotiations. Cameron has left it to his own successor to decide how to use the Commission seat Britain is entitled to until it leaves.

EU leaders meet in Brussels for a 24-hour summit starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. EU officials expect Cameron to report on the vote and what Britain will do next over dinner, then go home. Tusk will chair a meeting on Wednesday of the remaining 27, a format that will become familiar in the coming divorce talks.

Leaders may agree to meet again in July.

3. WHAT IS ARTICLE 50?

These are the key phrases of its 261 words:

- A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention ... The Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union.

- It shall be concluded ... by the Council, acting by a qualified majority.

- The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification ... unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.

- The member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions ... or in decisions concerning it.

4. WHERE DOES THE EU GO FROM HERE?

The Union needs quickly to fill a 7 billion euro hole in its 145 billion euro annual budget, which is currently fixed out to 2020, as it loses Britain's contributions while saving on what Britons receive from EU accounts.

The EU will also want to clarify as quickly as possible the status of firms and individuals currently using their EU rights to trade, work and live on either side of a new UK-EU frontier.

Britain is expected to give up its six-month presidency of EU ministerial councils, due to start in July next year. Its place may be filled by Estonia or, possibly, Malta or Croatia.

EU leaders may push for a quick show of unity on holding the bloc together in the face of eurosceptics inspired by the result in Britain -- including National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who leads polls for next April's French presidential election. But there is little prospect of major new projects.

Divisions between Berlin and Paris on managing theeuro zone probably rule out a big move on that front before bothhold elections in 2017. A major EU security and foreign policy review is already on the summit agenda as is a new push to tighten control on irregular immigration from Africa.

Many leaders caution against alienating voters by moving too fast on integration, which they say has alienated voters. Summit chair Tusk wants to launch a formal process of reflection on where the Union has failed to connect with people.

5. SO WHAT CHANGES?

In principle, nothing changes immediately. Britons remain EU citizens and business continues as before. In practice, many believe trade, investment and political decisions will quickly anticipate British departure from the bloc. The EU could also face a Britain breaking apart as europhile Scots plan another push for independence and seek to join the EU on their own.

There is a "Brussels consensus" that Britain must be made an example of for leaving to discourage others and will face a chilly future, cast out to perhaps talk its way back later into some kind of trade access in return for concessions such as free migration from inside the bloc and contributions to the EU budget - things which Brexit voters want to end but which the likes of Norway and Switzerland have accepted in varying forms.

However, cautious diplomats do not rule out surprise turns.

There is even speculation that Britons could try to step back from the brink -- the referendum itself is not binding. EU leaders would not -- indeed could not -- throw Britain out if a London government simply decided to ignore the Leave vote.

In theory, if London holds fire on Article 50 but pushes for a new membership deal, the EU would have to accept its remaining an awkward presence at the table. Patience for a soured marriage is already short, however, and other states would probably look for ways to end strife that would risk destabilising the Union.

(Editing by Mark John, Janet McBride, Anna Willard)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley liked Osama bin Laden's theory of having several women in one's life but found Pakistani women to be cumbersome than those from Arab countries, says a new book.

Laden's father, Mohammed bin Laden, had at least 54 children from 22 different wives. So while Laden was attending college, he and a friend decided they would each also take several wives and have large families. Laden himself had over 20 children from six wives.

"Laden later developed a theory on the advantages of having several women in one's life. Four was the optimal number, prescribed by the Prophet Muhammad himself, according to bin Laden," writes investigative journalist Kaare Sorensen in his new book The Mind of a Terrorist.

"One is okay, like walking. Two is like riding a bicycle: it's fast but a little unstable. Three is a tricycle, stable but slow. And when we come to four, ah! This is the ideal. Now you can pass everyone!" he says quoting Laden.

According to the author, Headley was, as usual, very excited about Laden's thoughts, including those on women. "Headley himself loved women. And he had many of them. He bragged to a group of friends that he had been with more black women than his entire class at the military academy combined. That was about one hundred students," the book, published by Penguin Random House India, says.

It contains Headley's personal emails, revealing the psyche of the terrorist. "But he (Headley) found Pakistani women to be cumbersome. They'd all seen too many Bollywood movies with big, dramatic romance scenes, and they didn't want to live their lives as the third or fourth wife in a complicated marriage," argues Sorensen.

"Arab women are much more understanding and open to it. They only ask that you be fair," Headley wrote to his friends, he says.

However, the author says Headley's many women were also his Achilles' heel. "He could manage the American narcotics authorities; connections to the drug trade; heroin smugglers in Pakistan; major Iqbal from the intelligence service; and Pasha, Sajid Mir and the others in Lashkar, and he could juggle all his roles and opportunities at once - without everything coming crashing down to the ground.

"But when it came to women  wives, girlfriends, friends and his own mother  everything went wrong," he says. Headley revealed too much and there was always one who talked; her name was Faiza Outalha, the author says.

"She was originally from Morocco, but she was studying medicine at a university in Lahore, and it's not difficult to see why Headley fell for her. In late February 2007, the two got married in Pakistan...Near the end of 2007, less than a year after they got married, his relationship with Faiza was on the verge of collapse," the book says.

In December 2007, Faiza talked her way into the American embassy in Pakistan. "She was angry and loudly let the agents from the department of state's security agency know that her husband, an American citizen, was a terrorist. He had stayed in Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps and sometimes spoke about suicide missions, she said. And he might be involved in some activities in Mumbai.

"A few months before the Mumbai attack, Faiza went directly to Lashkar leader Hafiz Saeed and asked for help in saving their troubled marriage. Saeed then paid a visit to Headley, who downplayed the matter and explained that he had been busy with his Lashkar duties and hadn't had much time to take care of wife number two," the book says.

Faiza and Headley, however, got back together again, and that they watched the terrorist attack in Mumbai together on Headley's TV in their house in Lahore, Sorensen writes.
Colombo: Former Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday accused the government of a political "witch hunt" against him and to wipe out the legacy of his regime that had ended the separatist war with LTTE with an aim to achieve reconciliation with the minority Tamil community.

Addressing a gathering in the rural Polonnaruwa, he said the current government under President Maithripala Sirisena is attempting to wipe off from public memory his legacy of ending the war waged by the LTTE.

"I ended the war to achieve reconciliation," Rajapaksa said, adding he in the last stages of his rule had begun to handover the Tamil civilian lands back to their owners".

"I held elections and was taking action to achieve normalcy in the areas", Rajapaksa said.

Rajpaksa also alleged that Sirisena's government is wasting time on its current political "witch hunt" aimed at taking political revenge from him.

"The government is wasting time on investigations without delivering the promises," Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa's government became unpopular with the the minority Tamil and Muslim communities. They backed Sirisena in defeating Rajapaksa in the snap presidential election called by the latter two years ahead of schedule.

Rajapaksa's family has faced a string of investigations over alleged wrongdoing after he was thrown out of power.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict.
The cataclysm has happened. The die is cast. Events will now roll their painful course. Nobody knows what will actually happen.

The British premier has resigned. And there is no clear idea who will take his place. Till someone does actually take his place, a reference to the EU for actually withdrawing cannot be made. The British pound has plummeted in value. Nobody is sure which way to go.

But there are few indications which suggest that the mood for rebellion was just building up. The voting patterns predicted before the polls  and the results thereafter  clearly show that most analysts had read the situation correctly (see chart, alongside).

The old wanted to say enough is enough. Their way of life was rapidly changing. The pride with which they lived their lives was rapidly eroding. After all, by virtue of being older, they could legitimately claim that they built the UK. The young were only inheriting what they had created or preserved.

There was another side to the picture. The young were apathetic. In areas where the youth predominated, many of the young did not go out to vote at all.

Immigration headaches

One of the most vexatious issues at the heart of all this discomfort was the big elephant in the room  immigrants.

It is an issue that has bothered India. Remember the Nellie massacre? And then look at the electoral verdict in Assam. It is likely to affect outcomes in other North Eastern states as well. The issue of immigration is bothering Myanmar too. It is plaguing the EU. There is a big clash between national pride, and the need to show humanitarianism. The same issue now vexes Turkey. And it has always been simmering in the UK.

Most importantly, it is likely to be a big headache for the US as well. Barack Obama, the outgoing US President, wanted to legalise and integrate migrants. But when this is done in an election year, there is the real danger of demographic tinkering taking place. That was probably the key reason why the US Supreme Court decided to nix Obamas proposals. The immigrants will remain without citizenship or regularization papers, till the courts rule otherwise.

Humanitarianism versus National Identity

At the heart of the immigration problem is a clash between the need to be humanitarian, and the need to preserve national or local identity. When the Bangladesh war occurred, millions of migrants spilled over from that country into India. The then government decided that this could be used to win the next elections, and allowed many to become citizens. Overnight, the demographic pattern of the North Eastern regions changed. Not surprisingly, when the present ruling party talked about the need to protect local identity, it struck a chord with many.

The same fears are being played out in Germany, Italy, the UK and even in the US.

To be fair, the migrant is a wonderful asset. Most migrants are young, gutsy (they would not have dared to give up everything they had and venture forth into a new (often inhospitable) land. They are willing to work.

But they are also outsiders.

Unfortunately, most governments use the humanitarian angle and buttress it with the justification that they can be assets for the host country. But the locals dont like this. Migrants are willing to work for lower salaries. When unemployment rates are high, migrants are seen as usurpers.

Look at the way the British dont like the way Polish immigrants have flocked to their country, established colonies just as the Indians and the Pakistanis did before them. They look at the emergence of mini-India, mini-Pakistan and now mini-Poland as a threat to their way of life. And when they are given voting rights too, they could sway national politics. There is always the danger of the immigrant becoming the national leader and destroy the very concept of nationhood.

This is something that the Arabs understood quite well. They need young labour. They have the money (thanks to oil) but need skills from elsewhere. So what they do is to separate work permits from citizenship. People can come and work there for limited periods. Their work permits can be renewed, if their behavior is satisfactory. But they can rarely become citizens. The political identity of the Arab states must always remain Arab.

Britain forgot to do this. So did Germany. India chose to tinker with demographics slyly, and even brutally. Today, there is growing opposition to such moves. Ideally, all these countries could have saved themselves a great deal of resentment if they had separated work permits from citizenship where migrants were concerned.

This is more desperately required in the North Eastern areas of India. Periodic floods cause local populations to move to drier areas  Indians do it by straying into Bangladeshs territory. The opposite also happens. What is therefore needed is a system of work permits, which makes is difficult for them to apply for citizenship and thus influence local politics.

But for that to happen, you first need to clearly identify who is a citizen. That is where the Aadhaar card becomes immensely relevant. It will be the first national citizenship card Indians will have.

The British vote for Brexit must therefore be seen in this light. The older Britons want to reclaim their country. They want migrants to be allowed, but only in limited numbers, and in such a way that it does not change their way of life, or their politics. This is what the EU is also trying to grapple with. They think they have found an answer in Turkey, which has agreed to give them a work permit of sorts, but not citizenship. The US courts also want to think about this issue a bit more carefully.

The Brexit vote is a warning. The issue of immigration is likely to become the most hotly debated issue in the coming months.
Yerevan: Pope Francis insisted on Saturday that the world should never forget or minimize the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians but urged Armenians themselves to infuse their collective memory with love so they can find peace and reconcile with Turkey.

Francis began his second day in Armenia by paying his respects at the country's imposing genocide memorial and greeting descendants of survivors of the 1915 massacres, who have been emboldened by the pope's recognition of the 1915 "genocide."

Francis presented a wreath at the memorial and stood, head bowed, in silent prayer before an eternal flame as priests blessed him with incense and a choir sang haunting hymns.

"Here I pray with sorrow in my heart, so that a tragedy like this never again occurs, so that humanity will never forget and will know how to defeat evil with good," Francis wrote in the memorial's guest book. "May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should never be watered-down or forgotten. Memory is the source of peace and the future."

Francis also greeted descendants of the 400 or so Armenian orphans taken in by Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI at the papal summer residence south of Rome in the 1920s. Also approaching Francis was Sosi Habeschyan, 68, and her sister; their mother was a genocide orphan adopted and raised by Danish missionary Maria Jacobsen, who worked in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and wrote about the massacre.

"A blessing has come down on the land of Mt. Ararat," said Andzhela Adzhemyan, a 35-year old refugee from Syria who was a guest at the memorial. "He has given us the strength and confidence to keep our Christian faith no matter what."

Francis returned to the theme of memory during a Mass in Gyumri, where several thousand people gathered in a square for his only public Catholic Mass of his three-day visit to Armenia.

Nestled in the rolling green hills and wildflower fields of northwestern Armenia, Gyumri has long been a cradle of Christianity, and Francis came to pay homage to its faith even in times of trial.

"Peoples, like individuals, have a memory," he told the crowd from the altar. "Your own people's memory is ancient and precious."

Francis again raised the importance of memory at an evening prayer in Yerevan's Republic Square, which drew the largest crowds of his visit, some 50,000 according to Vatican estimates. With the patriarch of the Apostolic Church, Karekin II, by his side and President Serzh Sargsyan in the front row, Francis said even the greatest pain "can become a seed of peace for the future."
SKANEATELES  As Vincent Viego put it, he and his fellow Skaneateles High School graduates were facing "a precipice."

In the literal sense, those of the 140 graduates that took to Clift Park for their graduation ceremony Sunday sat in waiting near the edge of Skaneateles Lake, ready to leap into the waters at the event's closing.

And when they did jump into the lake, they joined the ranks of alumni before them with splashes, smiles, laughter and cheers. Viego  the class of 2016 valedictorian  said he believes the tradition marked a "first taste of the shocking realities of the world."

"And not just because the lake is absolutely freezing," he joked during his speech to classmates, adding, "Define your own success. No one in life has the same aspirations as you nor will anyone impact humanity in the same way."

Before its jump into the lake, the Skaneateles class of 2016 accepted its diplomas before a wide crowd of parents, faculty and friends, some of whom docked in boats along the lakeside borders. Skaneateles' 66th annual commencement saw speakers impart prideful remarks ahead of the next step for graduates, whether that's college, a job or otherwise.

For Viego, he will be off to Harvard University in the fall, while Salutatorian Aimee La France will be heading to Cornell University.

"Fight for your place. Fight for your dreams. Fight for the person you hope one day to be," La France said. "And do so with the same grace and dignity that your teachers, peers and parents have demonstrated to you. We are the class of 2016, and we have not only passed: We have surpassed."

Wherever that fight takes place, the graduates will be sure to run into others that have their own stories, said Evan Bille, honorary class speaker.

Everyone's story, he noted, develops when they get out of bed in the morning, shaping their identities through experience. Bille challenged his fellow graduates to not only tell their own stories, but to also be there and listen to others as the experiences might prove life-changing.

"But if there's one thing I can say with 110-percent certainty, the story of the class of 2016 has only just begun," Bille said.
London: An online petition pressing for a second referendum on Britain's decision to leave the EU passed 3 million signatures on Sunday, all garnered in just 48 hours, signalling a major backlash against the shock Brexit vote.

By this morning, as many as 3,048,000 people had signed the petition on the official UK Parliament website. The figure takes it well over the 100,000-signature threshold required to trigger a debate in the House of Commons.

Ben Howlett, a Conservative MP, confirmed on Twitter than the petition would be discussed by the House of Commons petitions Select Committee on Tuesday. The development came as some voters who had backed the "Leave" campaign took to Twitter to register their regret  adopting the #Regrexit hashtag.

A "Leave" voter told the London Evening Standard she would change her vote if given the opportunity. "This morning the reality is actually hitting in and the regret is hitting in," she said. "I wish I had the opportunity to vote again, simply because I would do things differently."

The petition, started by William Oliver Healey, states: "We the undersigned call upon (the UK) Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 per cent, based on a turnout less than 75 percent, there should be another referendum."

Demand for a fresh vote was so high that it crashed the parliament.uk website on Friday as the petition was shared widely on social media and new signatures were added at a rate of more than 1,00,000 an hour.
MADRID The conservative People's Party (PP) of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won most seats in Spain's parliamentary election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, although the result was largely overshadowed by the surge of the far left.

The poll by state broadcaster TVE showed the PP winning between 117 and 121 seats in the 350-strong parliament, compared to 123 seats in December and way short of the 176 seats needed for an absolute majority.

Unidos Podemos ("Together We Can"), a coalition led by anti-austerity party Podemos, was seen coming second with 91 to 95 seats, overtaking the 137-year-old Socialist party as the main force on the left. The Socialists were seen obtaining 81 to 85 seats. The two parties together could obtain an absolute majority.

Liberal Ciudadanos, meanwhile, would repeat its fourth-place showing in December with 26 to 30 seats, the exit poll showed.

(Reporting by Julien Toyer)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A small snake was instrumental in the narrow view Cathy Stepp adopted regarding state Department of Natural Resources employees years before she was appointed to lead the agency.

Stepp was a builder of custom homes in 1997 when the state placed the Butlers garter snake on its threatened species list. She heard countless complaints at builders association meetings about how DNR protection of the reptile was complicating the business.

In 2000, Stepp landed a seat as a Republican appointee on the DNRs policy board, but it wasnt until her 2002 election to the state Senate that she started swinging hard at the agency and its workers for what she saw as their anti-business practices.

She fought to streamline environmental regulations, earned a zero rating from conservationists, gathered testimony about overzealous DNR employees, and authored a bill to criminalize state worker retaliation against companies seeking pollution permits.

Frustrated by the slow pace of change, Stepp left the Senate when her four-year term ended. She worked for Republican causes until 2011 when the party took control of state government, and Gov. Scott Walker appointed her as the DNRs top administrator.

Waving off mounting signs that the agencys enforcement of existing laws has faltered, top Republican leaders say they are focused on easing unneeded burdens on private companies. And they say they are unreservedly happy with Stepp.

For her part, Stepp insists she remains uniquely qualified to represent the agency before a Legislature that is skeptical of the way it protects the states air, water, wildlife and other natural resources.

Among her qualifications she lists her record of self-described strident criticism of DNR employees  for example, her sarcastic 2009 blog entry calling them anti-business, cubicle-bound bureaucrats who develop outrageous ideas people in the real world have to contend with.

In an interview in her Madison office last week, Stepp said her well-known antipathy for the DNR helps her win over GOP skeptics.

I think I have a lot of credibility there because my former colleagues certainly know where I was coming from, Stepp said. So they say If Cathy thinks this is OK and shes comfortable, then I feel comfortable because I know where Cathy was coming from before.

Stepps critics scoff, saying she and the Legislature are far too comfortable with deteriorating enforcement of pollution laws.

They point to her policy that ended the DNRs practice of pushing back publicly against proposed laws agency scientists see as harmful. Department leaders havent openly fought budget cuts like the ones that wiped away nearly 200 positions since 2011 including last years loss of 93 senior scientists, educators, foresters and others.

When things are proposed in the Legislature that are very damaging to the environment, you have to have the secretary out there saying, Its still your decision, Legislature, but here are the ramifications, said George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and a former DNR secretary.

Stepp said she fights for the DNR behind the scenes, and her top administrators have said they have quietly stopped budget cuts that would have been worse than those enacted in 2015. Out of respect for the lawmakers involved, Stepp said, she wont detail those proposals.

We have made terrific inroads with some the toughest critics in the Legislature against this agency who have a very skewed perception of who makes up this agency, Stepp said.

The agency must be apolitical publicly, deferring to elected officials, Stepp said. As DNR secretary she said she has no opinion on whether environmental regulations are excessive or inadequate. The DNRs job is to put the law into practice, she said.

Conservationists point to failings in water quality enforcement documented by the states nonpartisan audit bureau and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stepp says she has been hobbled for five years by organizational problems she inherited, and state work rules that slow hiring of key personnel.

But she claims progress in her primary mission  better customer service. She exhorts employees to address the public with an unfailingly pleasant tone and a full willingness to explain.

Some people misconstrued that, at least early on, to infer that it means something that it doesnt mean: saying yes to every question you are asked, granting every permit thats applied for, Stepp said. What its really about is being able to speak to people the way they speak to each other, being able to help people comply with the rules and explain the why behind the what that we do.

Stepp acknowledged that poor customer service can often be traced to chronic staff shortages had have left employees overwhelmed by heavy workloads. This summer she plans to reveal a comprehensive plan aimed at coming to their rescue.

Snake made impression

Stepp said her initial view of the DNR  and its employees  was shaped by her time as a builder in Racine County when other builders in southeastern Wisconsin were frustrated because their developments were complicated by DNR activities such as the protection of the endangered Butlers garter snake.

As Stepp has molded the DNR, she has changed the way she speaks about the DNR employees she once openly ridiculed.

I actually apologized to my staff at all supervisors meetings a few years ago about the comments I made because I painted with such a broad brush, and it was unfair, and was myopic, Stepp said.

In five years, DNR employees have taken her to visit a bear den, on tours of forestry sites and on ride-alongs with game wardens, allowing her to see how multi-faceted the agency is. And she has learned more about the science, laws and rules behind regulations.

I am a far more enriched person than I ever could have imagined being at this time in my life, Stepp said.

Still, she stands by other seemingly harsh comments she has made more recently. In employee meetings she has referred to some DNR activities as beloved but nonessential glitter and rainbows. In a videotaped management seminar in Florida, she described difficulty remaking the DNR, saying she has needed to tell employees that deer and the butterflies and clean air and clean water ... dont pay taxes and they dont sign our paychecks.

Stepps words and the belief of some employees that she hasnt defended them has spurred employee departures and a huge drain of expertise, several critics said.

Its heartbreaking, said Kimberlee Wright, a former DNR attorney and now the director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, whose petition for federal intervention to fix state water pollution flaws drew signatures of more than 50 agency retirees.

She was making fun of staff, Wright said of Stepp. Oh, hey, you care about some little bug. They are talented professionals and they deserve respect.

Stepp said employees tell her that department morale is higher than ever. They understand that her remarks mean the agency must set realistic goals and take a practical, customer-oriented approach to its core mission of protecting resources, Stepp said.

Sprawling reach

The DNR has long been a lightning rod, drawing complaints from hunters who fail to bag deer, businesses subject to regulations, homeowners downwind of sand mines, and conservationists who are alarmed about waters that are polluted or simply drying up.

The agencys full-time work-force has declined 15 percent in the last two decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations. During Stepps tenure, a shrinking workforce collided with rapid expansion of industries the DNR regulates.

An explosion of industrial frac sand mining has fouled streams and raised worries about air pollution as the department struggled to write adequate permit rules. Rapid growth of large feedlots, manure spills and high-capacity well drilling are linked to tainted drinking water and widespread limitations on use of lakes and streams.

A recurring theme is inadequate staffing dating back at least a decade.

Stepp and her top administrators have been working for a year to document what each DNR employee does and how those duties are responsive to federal and state mandates. Soon the department will unveil plans created with staff input for shedding unneeded activities and shifting resources to where they are needed, she said.

She tells DNR employees theyve been asked to do more with less for too long.

This is a collective work product to give them the relief that they have been begging for for fourteen years, Stepp said. Finally they have a secretary that is willing to acknowledge it.

The core work analysis document will also help lawmakers understand the effects of any proposed budget cuts in the future.

When they say they want to cut staff, I will have the list of things that they will no longer get done in legislators back yards, and they can make better educated decisions, Stepp said.

Now (if) I ask for more staff, I will have a business reason why, Stepp said. I have the documentation to back it up. Thats the best way to advocate for staff.

Answering questions about water program problems at a meeting of the policy-making Natural Resources Board last week, Stepp said its possible she could ask Walker to propose more staffing in the 2017-2019 budget, but she was sensitive to the needs of other departments.

Thanks to Cathy Stepps strong leadership, the DNRs mission is to enforce our laws, work proactively with citizens to avoid violations, and take a common sense approach in balancing economic growth with environmental protection, said Walker spokesman Tom Evenson.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he has been pleased with Stepps work.

You dont just walk in the front door of that agency and make all the changes overnight because you have to be sensitive to the concerns of the people in that agency, Fitzgerald said in an interview. It doesnt happen overnight, but ultimately you reach the goals the governor has set.

In 2013, the Natural Resources Board removed the Butlers garter snake from the states list of threatened species. Stepp signed off on the change, but said the proposal was generated by DNR scientists.
Is Britain really going to break from the European Union?

On a day of fast-moving events that plunged the increasingly divided country deeper into the worst national crisis it has faced World War II, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said British politicians should be given time to re-consider the consequences of Brexit.

Kerry in Europe



Merkel's conciliatory remark came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Europe, first stopping in Rome before heading for emergency meetings this week in London and Brussels. U.S. officials say hes seeking to act as a mediator and that Washington has been advising EU leaders not to press the British government to invoke Article 50, which would set Britain on an automatic two-year path to Brexit.

We are monitoring and involved in conversations that are going on between the British and their counterparts in Europe and trying to help with those communications, a senior U.S. government official told VOA.

In her remarks Sunday, made via her chief of staff, Chancellor Merkel said that Britain should have the possibility to reconsider the consequences of exit. Her aide, Peter Altmaier, added, though, that did not mean, reconsidering Brexit itself.

On Saturday, the German Chancellor also sounded an appeasing note by urging her fellow EU leaders to react cautiously to Britains Brexit referendum, breaking sharply with European foreign ministers who on the same day called for a quick divorce. The foreign ministers argue uncertainty will continue to roil financial and currency markets.

Secretary Kerry sought to reassure Britain and the European Union of continued American support, during a news conference Sunday in Rome. He said while Washington regretted the Brexit referendum result, the changes that now are being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and the values that bind us together.

Noticeably, while acknowledging Britain had made a decision, Kerry appeared to stop short of indicating it was irreversible. He said, In a democracy, when the voters speak, it is the job of leaders to listen and then to make sure that they are moving in a way that that is responsible to address the concerns.

With Britain in uproar and, in the words of Labor lawmaker Emily Thornberry, turned upside down and inside out and with no sense of where we are going, pro-EU lawmakers in all parties are seeking ways to delay Brexit.

They are exploring their best options on how best to avert it altogether or at least to secure an association deal with the EU similar to Norways and Switzerlands.

Scotland's case



Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the most pro-active politician north or south of the border, threw a political bomb Sunday as far as Leave campaigners are concerned by insisting that the Scottish Parliament had the power to veto Brexit by withholding its consent.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly in Thursdays referendum to stay in the European Union. Sturgeon has already warned she will explore every option to keep Scotland in the bloc, including seeking a possible second independence plebiscite.

She told the BBCs Sunday Politics show, The issue you are talking about is would there have to be a legislative consent motion or motions for the legislation that extricates the UK from the European Union? Looking at it from a logical perspective, I find it hard to believe that there wouldnt be that requirement. I suspect the UK Government will take a very different view on that, and well have to see where that discussion ends up.

Asked by the presenter, Can you imagine the fury of the British people if you stopped them leaving Europe? Scotlands First Minister replied, I can, but its perhaps similar to the fury of many of the people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will.

Legal experts are divided on whether the Scottish parliaments consent would be required legally for a Brexit. Politically, though, it could prove very hard to ignore the Scottish parliament. Sidestepping the legislature north of the border would almost certainly fuel Scottish nationalist sentiment and make Scotlands break with the British union inevitable.

Labour Party politics



In other developments Sunday, open rebellion broke out in the countrys opposition Labour Party with senior lawmakers resigning their shadow cabinet positions in a bid to force Jeremy Corbyn to relinquish the leadership and to make way for a more effective replacement.

They argue the leftwing Corbyn shares the blame for the Brexit referendum result, accusing him of only half-heartedly campaigning on behalf of remaining in the European Union.

Centrists in the parliamentary Labor Party suspect the crisis the country is gripped in will force the Conservative government, which only has an eight-seat majority in the House of Commons, to call an early general election within months. They say that with a strong leader campaigning to Remain, Labour could win.

While pro-EU politicians were involved behind-the-scenes searching out ways of averting a break with the European Union, Leave campaigners, including the normally talkative Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, were quiet.

Like Labor, the ruling Conservative Party has also been thrust into a toxic leadership battle in the wake of the Brexit referendum. Prime Minister David Camerons decision to make way for a replacement  a decision some analysts suspect was made to delay invoking Article 50  is adding to recriminations about the Brexit referendum. The Sunday Times reported that a Stop Boris movement is building among pro-EU Conservative lawmakers who are determined to block Johnson from succeeding Cameron, fearing he will worsen Britains relations with the EU.

A petition for re-running the referendum has gained more than three million signatures, almost guaranteeing a parliamentary debate that will likely compound the fractures within both the Labour and Conservative parties over Brexit.
Aftershocks from Britains stunning decision to leave the European Union continued Sunday, as the countrys politics and its relations with the world plunged into deeper uncertainty. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, already in Europe, added previously unannounced stops in London and Brussels to his trip at the last minute.

Kerry plans to meet with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials as part of a process of maintaining ties with Washington's top ally in a new era when Britain is less engaged with Europe.

U.S. President Barack Obama had urged Britain not to quit Europe. The two countries Special Relationship  a phrase first used by the late prime minister Winston Churchill  had enabled the United States to have a greater voice in the EU through Britain.

The Obama administration has reacted with concern to the Brexit referendum and what it will mean for relations with London and with the EU.

The United Kingdom and the European Union will remain indispensable partners of the United States even as they begin negotiating their ongoing relationship, President Obama said in a statement Friday.

In London, Kerry will find a political situation in flux. Having lost his mandate in the referendum, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday and has clearly indicated he will not be the one to negotiate the formalities of Britains separation from the EU.

Cameron is to name a negotiating team to begin the process, but the formal notification that would start the disengagement may not come until after October when a new prime minister, of Camerons Conservative party, is expected to take over.

Brexit has also sent Britains Labour party into turmoil, with calls growing for party leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign. Party members accuse him of having failed to galvanize support within Labour to defeat Brexit.

Meanwhile, founding member states of the European Union are pressing for Britain to leave quickly.

This week will see much shuttle diplomacy as officials work to contain Brexit fallout.

Before London, Kerry will meet with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini Monday at EU headquarters in Brussels. The top U.S. diplomat was in Rome Sunday to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process.

In London, Kerry will begin a process of shoring up a relationship in a drastically new landscape, and with a group that was deeply offended by what it viewed as President Obamas meddling in Britains internal affairs.

Some British voters who cited sovereignty as their main reason for voting to leave the EU said Obama helped them make the decision when he visited Britain in April and warned them against voting for a Brexit, telling them Britain would go to the back of the queue on trade deals if they voted out.

We wanted our democracy back. We wanted to take control control of our country, said London voter Trevor Bayley. I think your president unwittingly had a part to play in that. He tried to shore up the establishment vote, and people didnt like to be told what to do.

On Tuesday, Cameron travels to Brussels where the EUs other 27 member states will for the first time meet without Britain.
"They were cut off from their families and it was very difficult," says Line Ouellet, telling the story of many aboriginal people in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada who were confined to reservations as recently as 50 years ago. Their children were sent to convents for their education, depriving them of access to their native language and culture.

Ouellet is the director of Quebec City's National Museum of Fine Arts, which has just opened a new pavilion to showcase 400 contemporary works by Quebec artists, including native artist Nadia Myre, whose work The Scar she is describing. In small beige canvases, Myre has collected the memories of her people and the breaking up of families. Each person stitched an image onto a canvas, which was then displayed in a grouping with others, each telling an individual tale of loss in a story with hundreds of chapters.

The work is housed in the museum's 15,000-square-meter, three-level pavilion constructed of glass and steel and cement, with transparency, translucency, and literal windows in walls to connect the galleries with each other and museum-goers with the world around them. Even a staircase leading from the third floor to the second is structured on the side of the building and encased in glass, so one can see the rolling fields and the river that surround the museum. At night, the museum looks like a box full of light.

Bridging green space, urban life

The pavilion's glass front opens onto one of Quebec's grandest avenues, connecting the street with the museum. It offers an alternative to the old entrance, which sits 500 meters back in the city's National Battlefields park. "Winter is long here, almost six months," says Ouellet. "The intention was to be in the city, to have an urban facade," which will allow visitors to duck into the building from the street, rather than trudging into the park through the snow.

The Pierre Lassonde pavilion, named for the gold-mining magnate who heads the museum's board of directors, looks like three boxes set on top of each other, with the lowest level facing the St. Lawrence River and the highest level facing the street and the historic city of Quebec beyond. Outdoor terraces connect visitors with the natural world outside the museum. Interior spaces connect them with the stories told by Quebecois art.

Myre's piece is part of the museum's collection of contemporary art (created in 1960 or later) by the native Inuit people, who were traditionally nomadic. Earlier pieces would have been small, Ouellet says, so as to be easily carried from one place to another. Today's art includes large, delicate pieces - intricate carvings of wood and bone, and smooth, graceful stone sculptures depicting various forms of wildlife.



The new space available in the museum, which also includes a former church and a former prison, has made it possible to display 34 art installations, three-dimensional creations that can surround the viewer, offering an immersive experience and, in many cases, taking up a lot of space. One smaller piece, Yannick Pouliot's Le Courtesan, looks from the outside like a packing crate, perhaps left over from the recent construction. But when the viewer steps inside and shuts the door, a light pops on, music springs to life, and one finds oneself in a tiny, elegantly decorated octagon that looks and sounds like the 18th century. It is French history in a box.

Other spaces inside the museum house displays of Quebec-made ceramics (a deliberate choice, as ceramics will not fade when exposed to sunlight) and industrial design - artfully designed everyday objects such as chairs, tools, and tableware.

French language and culture

The museum, like Quebec, is focused on preserving its unique heritage in a French-speaking province of a nation that is part of the British Commonwealth. Quebecois are known for their endless battles to preserve their Francophone culture and even to break off from the rest of Canada entirely. On Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in town to speak at the museum's opening ceremony, was booed for speaking English for 17 seconds - about Britain's vote to exit the European Union - before he switched to French.



Fittingly, the incident took place on the grounds of the battlefield where British and French troops battled for sovereignty over Quebec. Britain won the battle, but Quebecois have never fully capitulated.

To be fair, Trudeau also made his gaffe on a day when patriotism was running high. June 24 is Quebec's fete nationale, or national holiday, celebrated with parades, music, food, and parties that take full advantage of the early summer weather. It seemed the perfect day to invite people into a new, light-filled house of Quebecois culture.
Afghanistan's Taliban said Saturday that it would strongly retaliate for the resumption of U.S. airstrikes against the insurgent group, and it rejected assertions that bombing operations ever paused.

The U.S. military began anti-Taliban air raids in the last week, but it has declined to provide details.

The move came just days after President Barack Obama expanded the authorities under which U.S. troops in Afghanistan can attack insurgents; attacks can now proceed as long as they help the Afghan offensive succeed.

"U.S. airstrikes have continued against our countrymen from the onset of the [foreign] invasion. There has been no cessation, so talk of restart is hollow," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

'Harsher' response

The increase in U.S. airstrikes will be met with a "harsher" reaction from the Islamist insurgency, he said in a statement sent to reporters.

"The Afghan Mujahid nation is now used to airstrikes. Continuation of bombings cannot break the will of this nation nor subdue them," Mujahid asserted.

The U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, said it would be premature to discuss the battlefield impact of the "limited number of strikes" conducted under the new authorities.

"But really, the goal is to help achieve a strategic effect," he told reporters Thursday. "Using these authorities, of course, one evening or a couple of days is probably not going to ultimately result in the strategic effect. It will be a combination of the use of enablers, and it will be combined with Afghan operations over a period of time."

Cleveland noted a relative reduction in the Afghan fighting because of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, but he predicted hostilities would intensify in July.

"We recognize that we are still very early in the fighting season and that there is a long way to go, and that the ANDSF [Afghan National Defense Security Forces] are going to suffer casualties and they are going to have bad days. There is no doubt about that," he said.

U.S. cutback ahead

The Afghan military has struggled in the battle against the Taliban since taking the lead from foreign troops in 2014.

A residual U.S. force of 9,800 soldiers in Afghanistan has since been involved primarily in a train-advise-and-assist mission for local forces. The number of U.S. troops is set to decrease to 5,500 by the end of this year.

Until now, U.S. commanders were authorized only to use airstrikes to protect their forces on the ground and to protect Afghan partners when they faced being overrun by the Taliban, or to go after the Islamic State or the remnants of al-Qaida.

Afghan security forces suffered 6,637 personnel killed and 12,471 wounded in 2015, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

"In the first two months of 2016, an additional 820 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in action and 1,389 were wounded," SIGAR said in its quarterly report, quoting U.S military officials.
China's state news agency says 35 passengers on a bus died Sunday after the vehicle smashed into a highway guardrail and burst into flames.

The official Xinhua news agency said 20 people were injured in the incident in Hunan province in central China.

Police have detained the bus driver.

The agency said local officials believe an oil leak, caused by the crash, likely ignited the fire.

Traffic accidents are common in China. Exhausted drivers, poorly maintained vehicles and road obstructions are generally blamed for the frequent mishaps.
A month after Russian-backed Syrian forces re-took the ancient city of Palmyra last spring, a renowned Russian orchestra came to town.

In the heart of arguably the worlds most gruesome warzone, the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra played Prokofiev and Bach in the same Roman theatre that Islamic State had made a killing ground.

It was a moment that shed light on the complexity of the war. Both Russia and the U.S.-led coalition are fighting Islamic State. But Russia supports the Syrian government, while the U.S. supports rebel groups fighting both the government and Islamic State.

For the U.S., the concert in Palmyra celebrated the defeat of an enemy - IS. It also celebrated the victory of an enemy of U.S. allies - the Syrian government. In Syria, the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend.

To add to the complexity, Washington is allied with Saudi Arabia, and Russia with Saudi foe Iran.

Having a mutual enemy and mutually exclusive allies, Russia and United States are sharing operational space and airspace. Pundits on both sides are calling for aggression.

Last week, Russia dropped cluster bombs on rebel soldiers allied with the U.S., prompting an outcry from Washington. Moscow then complained that the U.S. had not provided enough information about the locations of American-allied militant groups versus those groups considered terrorist organizations.

As the tussle continues, some analysts say that both the U.S. and Russia may be vying for power, but neither would actually benefit from a fight. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has declined direct battle with Assad partially due to the danger of escalation, according to Gulf State Analytics founder Giorgio Cafiero.

A host of factors have contributed to the White Houses reluctance to wage direct military action against the Syrian Arab Army. These include the dangerous risks of a Russian response, he said.

Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor at Kings College London who also works with the Qatar Armed Forces, said the Russians are a more aggressive actor in Syria in general, but their actions are calculated to create the image of a power-position, not an actual battle.

They would never take the risk of having a direct confrontation with the U.S. and the West, he said.



Friends with your enemies



In modern days, the term "Third World" is generally used to describe poor countries.

But in its Cold War origin, Third World countries were those not allied with the First World under the U.S.s sphere of influence or the Second World influenced by the Soviet Union.

Khalifa Gaballah, the foreign affairs editor at Almasry Alyoum, a prominent Egyptian newspaper, said in the Middle East, where some U.S. allies are angry and some U.S. enemies are slowly looking more like friends, this paradigm - where a country is either with Russia or with the U.S. - appears to be re-emerging.

Russia, allied with Iran, is becoming more involved in the region, and the U.S., allied with rival Saudi Arabia, is trying to avoid greater engagement in Middle East conflicts.

You feel like an international change is happening, he said.

Gaballah added the U.S.s new relationship with Iran is complicating its alliance with Saudi Arabia. The Iran nuclear deal is fragile and the Obama administration risks losing a hard-won diplomatic victory if it comes into conflict with Iran in Syria by attacking Assad's army.

As a result, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, while on the same side in Syria, do not see eye to eye. Saudi Arabia has taken a firm stance against the Syrian government, saying they will under no circumstances accept an Assad-led Syria because, they say, it would threaten their sovereignty.

The U.S. has suggested a compromise, like keeping the Assad government, but with a different figurehead.

The Obama Administration and the Al Saud rulers have had major disagreements about the Syrian crisis, said Cafiero of Gulf State Analytics.

The Leak

The document that revived the posturing in both the U.S. and Russia was a State Department memo last week, signed by 51 employees, many of who worked closely on Syria policy.

The letter called on the Obama administration to fight Assad directly, and not limit force to fighting Islamic State. Assads systematic violations against the Syrian people are the root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region, reads the leaked note.

However, Yan St-Pierre of Berlin-based security firm MOSECON suggested that note, along with the Russian outrage that ensued, may be more of a diplomatic ploy than an actual call to battle . He said if the Syrian War is to end with peace talks, one side will have to back down on the question of the Assad regime.

Leaks are never released out of the goodness of their hearts. For proper negotiations, especially of that kind, you need a bit of saber-rattling, he said.

Saber rattling, he explained, demonstrates to competing negotiators that the player is capable and willing to use force to back its position.

However, Krieg from Kings College London said even as the United Nations looks towards reviving peace talks next month, the Syria War is not expected to end soon.

We are far away from any national dialogue, from any state building or nation-building in Syria. Its mostly about finding a military solution to these problems, he said.
On that awful night in 2009, a drunken William LeVea got behind the wheel of an automobile and proceeded to terrorize Christopher Spack by repeatedly ramming Spack's vehicle until pushing into the path of an oncoming driver in Ira.

Onondaga County resident Spack was killed in an extremely violent collision, and LeVea, a Fulton man with a violent history, displayed no regret at the scene.

LeVea, now 85, was eventually convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated and sent to prison. But about three years after starting his six- to 18-year sentence, he and his family persuaded the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to give him a hearing for an early release under the medical parole program. He claimed he was on the verge on the death, and was so debilitated that he couldn't possibly be a danger to society.

Fortunately, and perhaps thanks to the efforts of Spack's family, friends and the community at large to convey their vehement opposition to such a release, LeVea's request was denied.

The bottom line is that unless LeVea is in a coma, he's a danger to society. His history proves that. And his family demonstrated on that day in 2009 that they can't be relied upon to keep him out of trouble.

Despite this undeniable reality, LeVea asked for and was given a second medical parole hearing in 2015. It was again denied, but not after Spack's loved ones had to live through the horror of this case again.

Now LeVea is back asking for medical parole for a third time in roughly two years, not to mention a regular parole hearing that he had late last year. Again, the victims of his horrific crime must go through this terribly emotional process.

Observing this case, we hope to see two things happen:

1. LeVea must not be allowed early release under the medical parole provision.

2. New York state must reform this medical parole system so that violent criminals like LeVea cannot repeatedly inflict terror upon their victims and their families long after their underlying crimes have been committed.

To force all who loved Christopher Spack to go through this process again and again and again in such a short time period is hardly an example of justice.
Referenda can be divisive, very much so. And the vote over whether to remain in the European Union or not that is taking place in the United Kingdom at the very moment I write this column, demonstrates just that, or should I say reminds us of that, with the extra measure of ever invasive social media. A Poll-tracker set up by The Economist indicates that on June 20th, we were in for a tie  44% to remain, 43% to leave, and 11% undecided. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) supporters are the leading force for what now everybody knows as Brexit (90%), the Conservatives are less supportive but clearly in favour of leaving (48%), so are people from the north of the country (43%), the Welsh (51%), the poor (52%) and the old (57%). The opposite is also true: Liberal Democrats (69%) and voters who identify with Labour (64%) want the UK to stay within the EU, Scots too (54%), and southerners (44%), the rich (53%) and the young (60%). Gender, however, does not seem to lean to either side  men are evenly divided, and so are women.

As a French citizen, I participated in four referenda  and for two of these I was already living abroad. The two referenda pertaining to domestic politics  the self-determination process for New Caledonia back in 1988 and the shortening of the presidents term to five years instead of seven in 2000  went rather smoothly and did not provoke a nationwide schism. Abstention ran high, respectively 63% and close to 70%, and in both cases the highly anticipated approbation was a clear-cut winner, respectively 80% and 73% of the votes cast. Referenda only existed as a validation of something that almost everybody considered the right  even dignified thing to do.

The other two popular consultations proved to be much more challenging, so much so in fact that the second one resulted in a rebuttal of the governments proposal. And guess what? In both cases, Europe was at stake!

In 2005, the question was about whether to ratify the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The no prevailed (almost 55% of the votes cast) whereas participation had been very high (close to 70%). This translated into a thorough revamping of the existing treaties that ultimately led to the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007, which came into force in December 2009.

Back in 1992, the question had been about the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty that was to create the European Union. As the poll was getting closer, the no grew in strength and then President Francois Mitterrand launched a very energetic campaign to convince the citizens to give their approval.

The whole atmosphere is still very vivid in my mind as I was myself campaigning for the no, considering that European institutions were taking yet again a bureaucratic turn, away from the democratic ideals they were supposed to not only profess but also practice.

Mitterrand had started his political crusade in my university, Sciences Po, targeting the educated and politically savvy future generation, when some friends and I unfolded the Danish flag right in front of his eyes as he was about to deliver his lecture. I perceived a certain form of annoyance in the statesmans eyes  to the point where security services ripped apart our big bright banner! The Danes had voted predominantly against the Treaty just a few weeks before! Even though the yes eventually triumphed (51%), and despite my own frustration, the whole experience had actually proven constructive: arguments of all hues had been laid bare and populist rants were indeed almost like a necessary evil  on both sides! This is what popular sovereignty is also about!

The infighting of epic proportion between Brexit and Bremain is thus not only about divide but also interest, awareness, sense of belonging, community-wide soul searching, and ultimately freedom. Branding referenda as disrespectful when they are not, illegal when they are not, can only serve one purpose: deception, not harmony.
TWIN FALLS  Idaho and the Magic Valley got a lot more attention this year from foreign companies at the SelectUSA Investment Summit 2016.

The third annual event June 19-21 promoted foreign direct investment in the U.S., and representatives in Idahos 21-member team say the state is a real player in the global economy.

Local attendees established multiple leads and connections that could bring more investors and companies to the Magic Valley.

The state of Idaho was a rock star at this event, Twin Falls Mayor Shawn Barigar said.

Gov. C.L. Butch Otter spoke at the summit Sunday, which Barigar thinks helped draw attention to the state.

We had a line at our booth all day Monday from individual companies and investors, he said. This was sort of like drinking out of a fire hose.

Rupert City Administrator and State Sen. Kelly Anthon said he has high hopes many of those will come to southern Idaho.

I think Ive got at least three interested this week that would apply to Rupert and the Mini-Cassia area, he said.

Jeff Hough, executive director of Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization, also said he came away with three solid prospects  international companies that are looking to open plants in the U.S.

Anthon predicts the Magic Valley will continue to see more interest from European companies in food manufacturing. Thats because the U.S. has different demographics than Europe, and there is more predictability in non-European currencies, he said.

He also got an unexpected, but welcome, invitation to a reception at the residence of Kenichiro Sasae, Japanese ambassador to the U.S. Anthon is fluent in Japanese, and has consulted Japanese companies for 20 years.

This year, we got much more interest from Japan, he said.

One company at that special reception is ultimately looking for a corporate headquarters in either eastern or southern Idaho, Anthon said.

Barigar said he personally talked to 20 or 30 individuals at the booth with interest in expansions or investment opportunities in Idaho. Prior to the summit, the state had secured five formal meetings with companies.

Working as a team, Idaho representatives spread the message that while the state is small in population, its officials are accessible and available, Barigar said.

They were intrigued by that accessibility and partnership, he said.

In southern Idaho, Barigars focus was to try and sell the strengths of the region, and look for companies that would complement current businesses such as plastics or dairy processing.

Hough said leaders including Eastern Idahos Jan Rogers and SIEDOs Lisa Buddecke worked to put the booth together and applied for the governor to be a speaker. Idaho was one of four diamond-level sponsors of the event, giving it a lot of visibility, he said.
BOISE (AP)  Ada Countys Oregon Trail Recreation Area provides a different perspective of Boise and the Treasure Valley.

First, the views  a unique look straight down the Boise River valley along the Foothills to the Downtown Boise skyline. Use the trail system in the evening and you might get some dramatic sunset lighting, too.

Then, the history  with interpretive signs placed at several locations on the property explaining the history of American Indians, settlers and wildlife in the Boise area.

Its not the refined trail experience of the Ridge to Rivers system. The nonmotorized Oregon Trail property doesnt have a formal trail, rutted former roads provide most of the surface and weeds will put foxtails in your socks.

What it lacks in polish, it makes up for with the unique vantage point.

Its one of the first views that those emigrants on the Oregon Trail saw of the valley, said Scott Koberg, director of Ada County Parks and Waterways. As they sought water down in the valley  it was hot coming across the Snake River Plain  they finally found access to the river. Thats pretty interesting, to see it from their eyes.

Koberg recommends avoiding the property on summer afternoons when its hot and dusty  but thats also when youd get the best feel for what the emigrants faced. An interpretive sign says most Oregon Trail users crossed the area in August.

The choking dust of the dry desert and long stretches without water made travel extremely unpleasant, the sign reads. Seeing the Boise River valley gave them hope.

Stats: My walk covered 2.65 miles and about 100 feet of elevation gain. I went to the left of the large interpretive center at the trailhead and followed the canyon rim for the views, eventually reaching Columbia Road. I followed roughly the same route back, but there are several options to mix it up.

Getting there: Trailhead access is on the south side of Idaho 21 in southeast Boise, directly across from Lake Forest Drive. Dogs are allowed.
Five of the top executives at the six Idaho companies that trade on major stock exchanges took home multimillion-dollar compensation packages in their companies latest fiscal years.

Three of the six had pay cuts, reflecting a mix of factors that included falling profitability at some companies, especially Boises Micron Technology Inc. The pay changes ranged from an 18 percent reduction for Microns Mark Durcan, who made $9.4 million, to an 82 percent increase for U.S. Ecologys Jeff Feeler, who made $1.4 million.

For the average Idahoan, the annual wage in 2015 was $38,792, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a 1 percent increase from 2014s $37,960.

Last year brought change at the top at only one of Idahos publicly traded companies. Thomas Carlile at Boise Cascade retired, handing the company to a new CEO.

A seventh company, tiny Timberline Resources of Coeur dAlene, replaced its CEO. But Timberline also yielded to its lackluster performance on the New York Stock Exchange-owned NYSE MKT and delisted itself in February 2016, moving its shares to an over-the-counter exchange for speculative investors.

Of the five CEOs who remained from 2014, three had overall pay cuts. Almost all received more compensation in bonuses, stocks, options and other forms than they received in salary.

1. Mark Durcan, Micron Technology: $9.4 million

It was a rough year for his company, but Mark Durcan retained his title as the highest-paid corporate CEO in Idaho in 2015.

Durcans total compensation fell by more than $2 million as Micron suffered amid a worldwide glut of memory chips. Revenue barely rose, from $16.13 billion to $16.19 billion, in the fiscal year that ended in August, and it has fallen for the past five quarters. Profits for the year fell to $2.88 billion from $3.04 billion.

The damage to investors was deep: The Boise companys stock price tumbled 59 percent during the calendar year 2015 to $14.16.

Durcan did not meet company targets for profitability and customer satisfaction. He volunteered for a 50 percent cut in his base salary, effective last October, to $525,000 a year while the company cuts costs. That is equivalent to 5.5 percent of his total compensation based on 2015s pay.

Micron employs 32,000 people worldwide, including 6,000 in Boise.

2. Phillips S. Baker Jr., Hecla Mining Co.: $4.12 million

Hecla maintained its production levels for gold, silver, lead and zinc. But the Coeur dAlene company turned from an $18 million profit in 2014 to an $87 million loss last year, thanks to tumbling metals prices. The average price of silver  Heclas largest metal by volume  fell nearly 18 percent, continuing a five-year trend over which the price has plunged 56 percent.

Baker, who is also president, saw his total compensation drop from nearly $4.6 million in 2014 to $4.1 million last year because of drops in his stock awards and incentive pay. He did hit some incentive thresholds that reward production rather than sales or profit.

Heclas sales fell from about $501 million in 2014 to nearly $444 million last year, an 11.4 percent decline. The companys stock price fell from $2.79 to $1.89.

Hecla continued a string of mine acquisitions by purchasing Revett Mining Co. and its Rock Creek Mine near Noxon, Mont., for $20.1 million. The company incurred a $25 million loss related to its 2012 suspension of operations at the Lucky Friday mine in North Idaho to solve safety problems after two fatal accidents.

The company has 1,400 employees.

3. Darrel T. Anderson, Idacorp: $2.48 million

Anderson led Idaho Powers parent company through another highly profitable year, with nearly $195 million net income in the year ending Dec. 31. That was just $1.5 million more than the company made in 2014 but marked the eighth consecutive year of net-income growth.

Increased sales volumes associated with continued growth in the number of Idaho Power customers increased operating income by $10.3 million, though this was partially offset by a $6.7 million decrease from reduced overall usage per customer, the company said in its annual report.

Revenues were $1.27 billion, barely down from $1.28 billion in 2014. The stock price rose from $66.31 to $68.

Anderson became CEO in mid-2014 after nearly two decades with the Boise company, which employs 2,000 people. His base salary in 2015 was significantly higher than it was in 2014. But the company said it was still less than the median base salaries of three industry data sets because of the short time he has been CEO.

Anderson won praise from the companys board for his effective and thoughtful outreach in the community, among other things.

4. Thomas K. Corrick, Boise Cascade Co.: $2.36 million

When Corrick was promoted from chief operating officer after Thomas Carlile retired in March 2015, he took control of a company on its way to a second straight year of modest sales growth  and falling profits.

In 2015, Corrick earned about half as much as Carlile did in his last full year as CEO, 2013. Thats partly due to a change in Boise Cascades executive compensation plan, which is shifting to long-term performance goals with rewards that wont vest for two years.

The Boise company, with 6,000 employees, reported sales of $3.6 billion in 2015, up less than 2 percent from the year before. Profits fell from $80 million to $52 million , a 37 percent drop. The stock dropped from $37.15 to $25.53.

Boise Cascade makes and sells building materials, and its fortunes are tied to residential construction. Starts for single-family homes and apartments saw double-digit increases in 2015, driving $60 million in sales increases. However, those gains were offset by costs rising $88 million.

5. Jeffrey R. Feeler, U.S. Ecology: $1.44 million

Feeler, the CEO since 2013, has led the Boise company through a growth period and was rewarded last year with an 82 percent raise, mostly in stocks, options and other compensation.

The company, with 1,400 employees in the U.S. and Canada, more than doubled its business in two years. Revenues were $563 million, compared with $447 million in 2014.

But profits shrank from $171 million to $146 million, largely due to higher operating costs. The share price slid from $41.38 to $36.44.

Last year, U.S. Ecology took a breather from buying other environmental services businesses in the U.S. and Canada. Instead, it sold off Allstate Power-Vac, a New Jersey company that it acquired when it bought EQ Holdings (also known as Environmental Quality Co.) in June 2014. U.S. Ecology used cash proceeds from the $58 million sale to pay down debt. It had paid for the $465 million acquisition of EQ with a combination of cash and debt.

6. Dennis Gilles, U.S. Geothermal: $785,774

The smallest of the six, this Boise company tallied 2015 sales that were nearly identical to 2014s, rising less than 1 percent to $31 million. Profits fell from $14.9 million to nearly $5 million, and the stock rose to 63 cents from 43 cents.

With 48 employees, U.S. Geothermal had grown in previous years by completing its largest plant, Neal Hot Springs near Vale, Ore., and buying low on unused or incomplete sites in California, Oregon, Nevada and Guatemala.

The value of Gilles compensation package has dropped slightly in each of his three years running the company.

A drop in Gilles bonus from $150,000 in 2014 to $102,500 more than offset a salary hike from $399,000 to $410,000. The cuts were stipulated in his contract rather than based on performance.
TWIN FALLS  Cable One recently sent an alert to its customers warning of a fake email requesting customers update their account information.

The bogus email informs customers their recent payment was declined and they should update their payment information online to avoid being delinquent on their bill.

Cable One reported it had nothing to do with the email and is investigating the scam. The company has also blocked the website and the email sender from its network.

The Better Business Bureau said misspelled words can be a giveaway that an email was not sent by the company. Pay attention to a websites URL. Hover over any links to see where they lead.

Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different  but similar  domain.

Also be wary of an email that includes urgent instructions to take quick action such as Click on the link or your account will be closed. Cable Ones customer support department said it will never email or call our customers requesting personal information such as your social security number or email password.

Reports can be made with Better Business Bureau at 208-342-4649 or at bbb.org.
I have been asked questions about the changes to the carry/conceal law that takes effect on July 1, 2016. I have never claimed to be a gun expert so I thought Id have Sergeant Jeremiah Justesen, whom I consider to be very knowledgeable in firearms, explain the new law.

Idaho Statute 18-3302 will be changing in section 3(d) and it reads as follows: No person shall carry concealed weapons on or about his person without a license to carry concealed weapons, except: (d) Outside the city limits of or confines of any city if the person is over eighteen years of age and is not otherwise disqualified from being issued a license.

Section 4(f) in 18-3302 reads as follows: Subsection (3) of this section shall not apply to restrict or prohibit the carrying or possession of: A concealed handgun by a person who is: over twenty-one; a resident of Idaho and is not disqualified from being issued a license.

So what is the change with the new law? The person must be 21 years of age, an Idaho resident, and is not disqualified from having a permit. This also applies to only a concealed handgun. If it is a knife of over four inches or any other weapon requiring a permit, then a permit must still be secured.

Idahos standard and enhanced concealed permits are still available. One must secure one of these permits to gain reciprocity in other states. There will be no reciprocity under the constitutional carry law taking effect in July 2016. The constitutional carry law applies to only Idaho residents, in the state of Idaho. You still cant carry a gun on government properties; i.e. federal property(s), courthouses, jails, and juvenile detention facilities, etc. Private/Public primary and secondary schools are also places where one cannot carry a gun on their person.

To dispel any myths, under current law, anyone qualified to carry a gun 18 plus years of age can do so as long as it is in plain view or open carry. No training is required at all to carry out this 2nd amendment right. The change will be that they can cover it up as long as they are 21 or older. To get a standard permit, hardly any training is required, as a matter of fact, taking and passing hunters education qualifies one to get the standard permit.

The enhanced permit was created to mimic requirements of other states i.e. Nevada, so Idaho residents could carry in those states. The training is a mix of teaching Idaho law concerning weapons and when one can use lethal force or any force lawfully. The rest is range time and it consists of shooting 98 rounds. The entire class is a mandatory minimum of 8 hours long.

Also remember that everywhere you go to apply these four safety rules. 1) Every gun is always loaded, 2) Never point a gun at anything you are not willing to kill or destroy, 3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target, 4) Beware of your target and what is beyond. Do not be afraid to point out unsafe behavior to violators of these rules, the life you save may be your own.

Officer down

Please put these officers, killed in the line of duty, and their families in your prayers. They fought the good fight, now may they rest in peace. God bless these heroes.

Police Officer Endy Ekpanya, Pearland Police, Texas

Police Officer Michael Katherman, San Jose Police, California

Police Officer Zach Larnerd, Gainesboro Police, Tennessee

Have a question for Policemandan? Email your question(s) to policemandan@yahoo.com or look for Ask Policemandan on Facebook and click the like button. Mail to: Box 147, Heyburn, Idaho 83336
JEROME  When Marta Abalos arrived in Jerome about 11 years ago from Guadalajara, Mexico, she planned to earn money and return home to finish her college degree.

But that didnt happen. She met her husband and they got married, had three children and moved into a home in the Stoney Ridge subdivision in northeast Jerome.

Abalos was watching television when she saw a story about a 4-4 split U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday. It leaves an appeals court ruling in place blocking President Barack Obamas plan to allow undocumented immigrants to work legally and avoid deportation.

Its sad because there was a little hope for everybody, Abalos said Friday through an interpreter.

She and her children were at a friends house, sitting inside of an open garage with items organized on tables in the driveway. The two families, who live just a couple of houses apart, were having a garage sale.

Abalos, a stay-at-home mother, didnt specifically disclose her immigration status to the Times-News, but said she had wanted to apply for deferred action.

Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents  announced in 2014  would have affected undocumented immigrants whove lived in the U.S. for at least five years and whose children were born in the U.S.

The ruling is particularly relevant here in Idaho, which joined in a lawsuit opposing the plan.

The Gem State has a smaller number of undocumented immigrants than many surrounding western states, but nearly half would have qualified for deportation relief.

About 46 percent would have been eligible  the highest percentage in the nation, according to a 2014 story from the Pew Research Center. The story estimates Idaho had about 50,000 undocumented immigrants in 2012.

As for the Supreme Court decision, its bad for the people who come here to work, Abalos said, and for young people who want to go to college.

Whats the next step now that DAPA is on hold? Theres no other options, she said, and its a waiting game to see what happens in the future.

It closes the doors, she said, but added theyre still pushing for change and havent given up.

Abalos said she hasnt worked with an attorney to pursue a change in her legal status.

Texas led 26 Republican-dominated states  including Idaho  in challenging the immigration plan. Congressional Republicans also backed the states lawsuit.

In a statement Thursday, Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter said: I applaud todays Supreme Court ruling against President Obamas misguided immigration plan. A big victory over an administration run amok.

Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, also issued a statement Thursday, saying the authority of Congress was upheld.

The Presidents disregard for the legislative process enshrined in our Constitution has frustrated all meaningful efforts for immigration reform, Labrador said in a statement. The Courts decision clears the way for the next Congress and the next President to craft real solutions within the bounds of Constitutional authority.

Twin Falls attorney Lisa Barini-Garcia, whose practice includes family-based immigration law, said shes sure the Supreme Court spent a lot of time deliberating, but their opinion was only one sentence long.

We were very hopeful that the court would do the right thing, she said.

Theres about 10 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., Barini-Garcia said. The majority have no ability to get legal status under the current law. The executive action was a welcome relief.

Obama told reporters Thursday, though, the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program wont be affected, the Washington Post reported. The program is for people who were brought illegally into the U.S. as children.

The Supreme Courts tie vote sets no national precedent, but leaves in place a ruling by a lower court. The federal appeals court in New Orleans said the Obama administration lacked the authority to shield up to 4 million immigrants from deportation and make them eligible for work permits without approval from Congress.

On Thursday, Idaho Community Action Network expressed opposition to the decision. Board chairman Luis Herrera said in a statement the group is appalled and deeply disappointed.

Our Idaho families will continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform in spite of this decision, he wrote. Anti-immigrant politicians, he added, have been waging a hate-filled war against our families.

Politicians need to realize that this is not just a policy issue, this is a personal issue. Most Latino voters know someone who is undocumented. This is about friends and family members. Its about respect and dignity. Its about millions of lives.

Josefina Cervantes, a resident of Jeromes Stoney Ridge subdivision, said the decision is pretty bad.

As she talked at her home Friday, her 7-year-old son, Luis Francisco Capilla, was in living room watching a video on a tablet.

Cervantes came to the U.S. about 12 years ago from Tecoman, Mexico. She said her husband is a U.S. citizen and shes waiting for documentation so she can apply.

Cervantes said she doesnt know anyone who has applied for DAPA. But for some immigrants, she said, people are not going to vote because they are very angry.

Bob Naerebout, executive director of the Idaho Dairymens Association, declined to comment on the Supreme Court decision.

Officials werent available to comment at La Posada, a nonprofit organization that has served Spanish-speaking immigrants in south-central Idaho for more than 20 years.

Barini-Garcia estimates she handles about 50 immigration-related cases per year, but its not the sole focus of her practice. Shes also the supervising attorney for La Posada, which is recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

In her practice, she sees many DACA cases, but helps with other legal needs such as people seeking to gain status as a legal permanent resident. Barini-Garcia sees clients from as far away as Elko, Nev. and Oregon.

Whenever there are changes to immigration programs, there are issues with fraudsters, she said.

Barini-Garcia recommends people seeking immigration legal help should make sure theyre dealing with a licensed Idaho attorney or a community-based organization recognition by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
TWIN FALLS  Idaho ranks in the middle of the pack nationwide for child well-being, according to new data.

The 2016 Kids Count data book, released earlier this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows the Gem State ranks 22nd nationwide for how children are faring.

But Idaho has the highest percentage in the nation of young children who arent in preschool. It means children may not be prepared for kindergarten and could struggle to catch up.

In Idaho, were missing an opportunity to make investments in early learning that will have long-term benefits to children and communities, said Lauren Necochea, director of Boise-based nonprofit organization Idaho Voices for Children.

Having access to early childhood education can lead to increased educational success, greater productivity in adulthood and reductions in crime rates, Necochea said, adding funding preschool programs is a wise investment.

Across Idaho, 69 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds werent in school in 2012-14, according to the report.

Here in south-central Idaho, the percentage of 3 and 4-year-olds enrolled in any type of school ranges from 16 percent in Minidoka County to 41 percent in Blaine County, according to data from Idaho Voices for Children. Twin Falls County comes in at 34 percent.

Idaho is among eight U.S. states without a state-funded preschool program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.

But Head Start programs offer preschool for low-income families. Mancole Fedder, director of the College of Southern Idahos Head Start/Early Head Start programs, wasnt available to comment Thursday.

In the Twin Falls School District, 48 percent of kindergartners meet benchmarks on the Idaho Reading Indicator during the first or second week of school.

To meet the benchmark, students are shown letters and must be able to name 11 or more in one minute.

Of the students who werent able to do that, 25 percent were labeled under the intensive category. It means they werent able to identify two letters in a minute.

We see huge discrepancies in students, elementary programs director Teresa Jones said.

Some students arrive at kindergarten knowing how to read, while others dont know their letters. Theres some really big differences," she said.

Idaho doesnt require students to attend preschool or kindergarten.

To me, it would be really nice to have more funding for the lower-age education, Jones said, whether thats preschool or full-day kindergarten. It would help us to have more time with students.

But as a former kindergarten teacher, Jones said, its pretty amazing to see children who havent been to preschool catch up and get to grade-level expectations by the end of the school year.

The Twin Falls School District offers preschool only for children who have developmental delays.

Overall, Idaho ranks 37th in the nation for education, according to the Kids Count data. Thats based on factors such as young children who arent in school, reading and math proficiency, and high school students not graduating on time.

The states overall education ranking dropped three sports, Necochea said. Im hopeful that our states new commitments to literacy interventions and other education initiatives will result in big gains in the coming years.

Idaho Voices for Children aims to provide a voice for children at the Idaho statehouse. The organization plans to give a copy of the new Kids Count data to state legislators.

With the overall rankings this year, we havent seen big movement, Necochea said. Theres nothing here thats shocking.

Other conclusions in the Kids Count data: Idaho ranks 14th for economic wellbeing and 30th for child health.

The states best ranking is for family and community, coming in 13th. Thats based on having a low percentage of single-parent families, household heads who dont have a high school diploma, teen pregnancy rates and children living in high-poverty areas.

One problem area, though, is about one-in-five Idaho children are living under the poverty line, Necochea said. When kids are living in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, it can have negative impacts

Another concern: It means families may fall into the health care coverage gap, she said, where they cant qualify for Medicaid or the states health insurance exchange.
TWIN FALLS  High schoolers will soon have access to more money to pay for college-level classes.

State legislators expanded funding for advanced opportunity programs this year to $4,125 for seventh-through-12th graders.

Its a significant increase in funding, meaning thousands of Idaho public school students can take more college-level classes without having to pay. The purpose is to boost Idahos college-going rate  which hovers around 53 percent  and lower the financial burden for students.

Its a substantial amount compared with what they used to have, said Jarred Aslett, advanced opportunities senior coordinator at the College of Southern Idaho.

The new funding amount kicks in July 1. Each student has $4,125 to use throughout their school years.

Students can use that money for overload classes, dual credit classes, and exams such as Advanced Placement or professional-technical certifications.

The Idaho Department of Educations advanced opportunity programs include Fast Forward, which was implemented in July 2014. It helps high schoolers pay for dual credit classes, allowing them to earn high school and college credit simultaneously.

Other offerings include the 8-in-6 program, allowing students in seventh through 12th grades to take overloaded classes to accelerate their education.

And the Early Completers program allows students who finish graduation requirements early to stay in high school and take dual credit classes.

Last school year through Fast Forward, high school seniors could get enough state money to pay for two dual credit classes and juniors could pay for one.

Now, the pool of funding is enough to pay for 63 college credits. A typical college class is three credits, meaning students could take about 21 classes.

Aslett expects more high schoolers will take college classes since more funding is available. Were expecting quite a bit of an increase, he said.

More high school teachers are also trying to get approval through CSI to teach dual credit classes, he added.

During spring semester, about 2,400 students across Idaho were enrolled in dual credit classes through CSI.

They were from about 65 high schools, most of which are in south-central Idaho. But even some schools in northern Idaho are participating.

Last school year, 431 students in the Twin Falls School District took at least one dual credit course.

The school district is working with CSI to offer students a chance to earn an academic certificate. After students earn 36 credits, theyll receive documentation showing theyre done with their college general education classes.

The new funding level is almost enough to complete an associates degree, said L.T. Erickson, director of secondary programs for the Twin Falls School District.

We dont have a lot of students who want to do that, but he expects that number to increase.

And not everyone is ready for college credits, Aslett said. CSI recommends students should be at least a high school sophomore with a minimum 2.5 grade point average, but there arent any requirements.

There are consequences, though, if students dont do well in a college class.

The grade will end up on a permanent transcript and could affect their chances of getting into a four-year university or earning scholarships further down the road.

If a student fails a class, they wont be able to access state funding again until they successfully complete a college class theyve paid for.

If a student wants to access dual credit money, the first step is visiting a high school counselor.

The counselor can help the student sign up through the advanced opportunities portal on the Idaho Department of Educations website.
The idea that hate exists has again been proven! It was the same "hate" that existed in 1974 when my 17-year-old took his own life.

My son had been living with his father on the West Coast who threw him out because he was gay. After living on the streets in San Francisco for a year, he decided to come home to commit suicide because he could no longer tolerate the open display of hate he was continually being put through, which included two broken arms!

He agreed to first meet with three psychologists who talked to him at great length. They told me, he won't do it! But he did!

There were no hate laws back then and not much could be done until the '90s when because enough was enough, laws were finally enacted!

It's been decades since my son (and others) were openly put through hell! And apparently, there's still hell to pay for a difference of opinion on the part of those who are bias/prejudiced/closed minded!

Our differences are our right in a nation that allows the right to choose who we want to be close to, care about, etc. Also important is that we have the right to worship whatever God we want to believe in. (However, what is unfortunate is the likelihood that there will always be folks who believe that you have a right to your own opinion as long as it agrees with theirs.)

But the biggest surprise is yet to come! It'll be the day we come to realize we've all been praying to the same God after all!

Joyce Hackett Smith-Moore

Auburn
Tourism promoters will tell you about the scenic byway and the state park. Outfitters will offer you whitewater rafting excitement, and a string of river access sites invite you to bring your boat and fishing pole.

But our reporters will show you the Hagerman you never knew.

On the Hagerman reach of the Snake River, the arts and sciences flourish  wine making and paleontology, sculpture and entomology. It's a polymath's dream.

Our three-part series beginning today reports new developments in riverside business and recreation. But it also features innovation and exploration on the Hagerman reach.

Leonardo da Vinci would be proud.

A. Islands of mystery

In a shallow channel of the Snake River, Steve Ross maneuvered the jet boats bow to the bank of an island edged in willows and Russian olives, and Ross Winton hopped off to whack a path into the scratchy tangle.

What lay beyond, in the islands unseen interior? Bird nesting habitat? Invasive plant species?

Winton and his fellow biologists didnt know on that morning of June 9.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game owns this small island  just south of 1000 Springs Resort  and others nearby on the Snake around Box Canyon and Banbury Springs. But Winton, a regional nongame wildlife biologist for Fish and Game, and colleague Dennis Newman, a regional habitat biologist, couldnt find records of any habitat monitoring there.

I dont think anyones done anything on these islands for, like, 20 years, Winton said.

Armed with binoculars, notebooks and specimen vials, the two biologists began laying a baseline for an understanding of the island habitats with their June 9 excursion  piloted by Ross, a senior conservation officer, and trailed by wildlife technician Austin Young and a pair of journalists.

Youll definitely be looking for ticks when you get home, Ross warned from behind the wheel as Winton labored to open a path through the brush.

Ross was right. But Winton and Newman cheerfully picked ticks off their clothing as they narrated their discoveries on the island: ripe golden currants, a monarch on blooming milkweed, a barn owl that emerged silently from the branches overhead.

You take the Russian olive out, and so far were pretty native, Newman said.

Winton was in the lead as the group broke into an open grassland of native bromes and wheatgrasses, and he announced: Look at all the deer bedding areas!

Newman plucked a ball of milkweed seeds and spread it as he walked. Young watched a black-headed grosbeak through binoculars. Winton collected a plug of grass when debate with Newman failed to settle on its name, and he picked a few gooseberries to offer the others.

The birds love that stuff, he said.

Youngs joy over the grosbeaks song was interrupted by competing excitement:

Youre going to love this beetle, Winton called to him, crouching to watch two metallic-blue milkweed leaf beetles mating.

The island visitors glimpsed a mule deer fawn  probably less than two weeks old  retreating through the grasses. And as their boat pulled away, a doe and two fawns swam from the island to the riverbank.

At an island farther upstream, south of Banbury Springs, the biologists observations began before they disembarked.

Winton: Theres anglewing butterflies all over here.

Newman: Apparently weve got a porcupine working on these trees.

But the centerpiece attraction on this island is one you can hear from U.S. 30: a rookery for great blue herons, black-crowned night herons and great egrets. Juveniles flew among the tops of old-growth willows and elms or stood in their high nests, and the rookery produced a constant soundscape of harsh, rasping caws.

Newman led the group through shoulder-high Canada thistle for the sake of a few berries. And Winton had a more important goal at the upstream end of the island, so they bushwhacked through poison hemlock whose feathery white blooms waved a couple of feet over their heads. Suddenly, the plants around them were coated in white.

Now were in the poop zone, Winton said. Birds screamed as the visitors passed near the nests.

Winton and Newman stomped down stinging nettle to emerge onto a beach strewn with mussel shells  the remains of mussels eaten by raccoons or muskrats or exposed by changes in the river level.

Idaho designates the western ridged mussel as a species of greatest conservation need, and Winton wanted to know if the rocky beds in the shallow water above the island still held live mussels. He and Young donned chest waders and waded into the river with aquascopes fashioned from plastic piping.

That is weird. All those dead ones, and not many lives ones, Winton said, leaning over his aquascope.

Actually, he hadnt found any living western ridged mussels yet. But he suddenly straightened. Got one! There it is with its tongue sticking out.

Virginia Hutchins

B. New place for a winter soak

You don't really know southern Idaho until you've enjoyed a warm soak in Hagerman's geothermal waters.

It's a time-honored tradition, but it's getting an update.

Dean and Lola Olsen founded Miracle Hot Springs in 1959 south of Hagerman, and four generations of Olsens have worked at the family business. Grandson Enoch Olsen took over in 2003, and in August Enoch purchased Banbury Hot Springs, a similar business on the other side of U.S. 30 fronting the Snake River.

Enoch was visiting Banbury's previous owners when they offered to sell.

"It caught me off guard," Enoch said. "I jumped right on the opportunity. I saw that as a great benefit to Miracle Hot Springs and a great asset."

Banbury was owned by Bob Jensen, his son-in-law Kenny Webb and friend Bill Ehrstrom, who purchased the 10.5-acre property from longtime owners Herb and Zippy Deuel in April 2014. The Deuels owned it for 40 years. Banbury, built in 1920 along the Snake River, was founded by John Banbury, who moved to the valley from Chicago in 1906 and purchased the property after discovering the hot springs. In 1918, he began piping water from a cooler spring across the river and opened the main pool for business. The family sold the resort in 1950.

Banbury was typically open only during summer, but Enoch has opened it year-round.

"When we took over in August, it was pretty slow letting people know it's open during the winter," Enoch said.

For Miracle, summer is a slow season. It's better known as a place for a hot soak during winter than as a place to swim. Banbury, on the other hand, is busier during summer with its diving boards and a log for children to play on.

"Miracle is known for its hotter water, and Banbury is known for summertime swimming," Enoch said.

Buying a business that's almost a century old means change is certain.

"Right from the start, we needed to do quite a bit of renovations," Enoch said. "Things are getting old."

But if you plan to head to Banbury this summer, don't worry. Major renovations won't occur this season; Enoch intends to evaluate the property at the end of summer. Banbury features 10 1/2 riverfront acres with an RV park and a boat ramp, but the property is overgrown, making river access difficult.

"We'll be renovating the main pool and all the restroom and dressing room facilities," Enoch said. "Our future plan is to add more camping cabins along on the river and make more use of the riverfront property."

Tetona Dunlap

C. Endangered gastropods

You have to squint to see them, but their significance is weighty.

Three threatened or endangered gastropods unique to southern Idaho inhabit the Hagerman reach of the Snake River or the springs that feed it.

Theyre about the size of the head of a pin, said Ross Winton, a regional nongame wildlife biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Theyre all very, very small aquatic snails.

Technically, two of them are snails. The third is a lanx, a gastropod with a conical, pyramid-shaped shell.

Its pretty unique, Winton said, because we dont have anything related to it anywhere close by.

The endangered Snake River physa snail, which can reach a length of about 6.5 millimeters, lives on sand and rocks in areas of swift current. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the species current range at more than 300 river miles  all in the Snake  the snail has been recorded in only 5 percent of the collected samples and never in high densities.

The threatened Bliss Rapids snail lives on cobbles in cold-water springs and spring-fed tributaries to the Snake River  including waters at the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery and Fish and Games Billingsley Creek Wildlife Management Area  and in some reaches of the Snake. The snails discontinuous distribution covers only 22 miles of river, and the free-flowing, cool-water environments it needs are vulnerable to deteriorating water quality and invasion of the non-native New Zealand mudsnail.

The endangered Banbury Springs lanx, or limpet, lacks specialized respiratory organs and requires cold, clear, well-oxygenated water with swift currents. Lanx colonies  found on underwater boulders and cobbles  exist only in four springs of the Thousand Springs portion of the Snake.

In late April, Winton was midway through a three-week survey, checking for the three listed species in the aquatic habitats at all of Fish and Games Magic Valley fish hatcheries and wildlife management areas along the Snake. Surveying, in this case, means picking up rocks in the springs that come from the canyon walls, turning them over to examine the undersides and using a handheld lens for a closer look.

Winton proposed this survey after a crisis three years ago.

A major irrigation ditch blew out in Fish and Games Hagerman WMA, and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water carried sediment into Riley Creek, the main water source for the agencys hatchery there. Fish and Game needed to stop the sediment flowing into the hatchery or risk losing a lot of fish, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service required surveys for listed species before construction could proceed.

Its better to know now where the endangered gastropods are, Winton argued, rather than waiting until other construction needs loom.

Virginia Hutchins

D. Drivers beware

In 2018, a highway widening project south of Hagerman will address a dangerous intersection.

U.S. 30 will be widened both north and south of 4800 North to create a center left-turn lane with deceleration lanes. The Idaho Transportation Department estimates the project will cost $2.1 million and take six to 10 months.

This intersection of U.S. 30 and 4800 North has a high crash rate, said Nathan Jerke, ITD spokesman. It's near the bottom of a long 3.5 percent grade, it's partially obscured by cut slopes, and it lacks turn bays.

The highway here has average daily traffic of 1,600 with about 18 percent trucks. The intersection provides access to Miracle Hot Springs to the west and River Road to the east.

To add the left-turn lane, ITD will need to replace the Salmon Falls Creek bridge, built in 1956. Also, the department will add signs to warn drivers of the partially obscured intersection.

Tetona Dunlap

E. May you get the goose?

If a goose flies low past your duck hunting blind on the Hagerman reach of the Snake River, are you allowed to put a heavier load into your shotgun and get the goose?

Since last year, the answer is yes if youre hunting upstream of Ritter Island.

Three decades ago  before hunter-conservationists massive effort to build nesting platforms helped Canada goose numbers recover  Idaho closed a stretch of the Snake River to goose hunting.

Geese arent particularly vulnerable to a decoy spread on a river, so most hunters target them in the fields where they feed. But geese are sensitive creatures, upset by any disturbance.

If theyre pressured for any reason  they will tend to move on. And when geese move on, they move long distances, said Josh Royse, regional conservation officer for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. If we give waterfowl a place to be, then well hold them in the area.

Now, Canada goose numbers are substantially up, and agricultural producers complained of geese-inflicted crop damage. It was time for reevaluation.

Hagermans longstanding goose-hunting closure stretched from the Lower Salmon dam to the pipeline that crosses the river at Banbury Springs. But last spring, after taking public comment, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission reduced the size of that closure  opening up the stretch of river from the southern tip of Ritter Island to the Banbury pipeline, as well as canyon rim land on both sides.

Thats a significant change.

Duck hunters come from all over the Western U.S. to hunt this part of Idaho, and that particular stretch of water is one of the states most popular. Now they have the option of harvesting geese, too.

Not many did so in the first season of the reduced closure, Royse said, though Fish and Game did see some goose hunting in newly opened fields above the canyon rim.

Virginia Hutchins

F. B&B on the river

Thousand Springs Winery and Bed and Breakfast offers breathtaking views of the Snake River along with its locally grown and produced wine.

Now you can book a room after summer ends, too.

Newly open year-round, the bed and breakfast is owned by Bernard and Marguerite Janes, who moved to Hagerman in 2013. The couple, from Seattle, decided on the Hagerman area after years of commuting between Nevada and Washington.

Visitors to their bed and breakfast can stay on the top floor, which has three bedrooms  The Sunshine Room, The Green Room and The Suite  living room, dining room, kitchen and deck area with views of the river. The home is Tuscan-inspired, with touches of Idaho such as a living room fan made from fishing rods and bicycle sprockets.

The Janeses are considering a few ideas for their first winter season. One is to increase two-night stays by offering a winter weekend package deal.

"I haven't worked all the details yet," Marguerite said. A New Year's package for a group of three couples will include a catered dinner and sparkling wine to toast at midnight.

The Janeses plan to increase their reservation add-ons. For example, they may offer in-room massages, sparkling wine, Hagerman caviar, wine and cheese, catered dinner for two and a pass to a local hot springs.

"We are trying to showcase local businesses in these offerings," Marguerite said. "With the year-round capability, it opens more marketing and advertising opportunities as many such businesses require a 12-month contract. Hagerman attracts hunters and bird-watchers during the winter months. We plan to begin advertising to those markets."

She hopes increased business will allow them to hire part-time workers.

The Janeses had a record weekend for Memorial Day  an increase in visitors, great wine sales and plenty of overnight guests. The bed and breakfast side of the business doubles each year.

"We expect to double again for 2016," Marguerite said. "With our first wines, launched in September 2015, our wine sales are increasing."

They offer eight wines and have five more in the making. Their first, Feathered Winds Rose, a Syrah wine of Hagerman grapes, won a bronze medal in the 2015 Idaho wine competition.

"We were very jazzed about that," she said.

However, one aspect of the business went sour. Their downtown tasting room, which opened in January, will close at the end of June.

Though the tasting room is open only three days a week, Marguerite said, business has been dismal. Its closure will give them more time to focus on other aspects of the business.

Tetona Dunlap

G. Arts festival in new hands

For the first time in 17 years, a new entity will organize the Thousands Springs Festival of the Arts.

But dont worry: The magic of the event wont fade. It still will be on Thousand Springs State Park's Ritter Island  a place full of history nestled next to springs tumbling from the cliffs  and will continue to draw artisans, musicians and food vendors from around the Magic Valley and surrounding states.

It's a classic southern Idaho experience.

After a bus ride into the Snake River Canyon, the festival's visitors can browse the work of painters, sculptors, wood carvers and jewelry makers, rent a canoe to paddle around the island, take a wagon ride and walk through a historical dairy barn.

Every year, more artists ask to show their creations than the Thousand Springs festival has space for. About 90 wanted to come last year; organizers chose about 65 of the best.

This year, the Southern Idaho Land Trust is handing over the Sept. 24-25 event to the Magic Valley Arts Council.

"We've been involved for many, many years," said Jack Kulm, president of the land trust. "We're just getting to the point where we are retiring."

The nonprofit is managed by local residents, and its mission is to preserve and protect natural, historical, productive, recreational and open space values in south-central Idaho. Land trust members will continue to be involved with the arts festival as volunteers and will assist with the transition.

"We wanted to find an organization that is focused on the arts, and it was a perfect fit," Kulm said. "The Magic Valley Arts Council is a much larger organization. We expect to have the same festival, and there is always new music and new artists. The arts council has enough associated artists there may be many be more applicants this year."

Last year's 23rd annual Thousand Springs Festival of the Arts returned to Ritter Island after a two-year absence due to bridge repairs; in those years it was held at the state park's Malad Gorge unit.

Tetona Dunlap

H. Ice cream on Ritter Island

More than 300 people showed up when Thousand Springs State Park served free ice cream on Ritter Island.

Naturally, the park wants to repeat that success.

The parks first ice cream social, in July 2015, celebrated the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreations 50th anniversary and recalled the ice cream traditions of a dairywoman who lived on the island in the early 1900s. Now park manager Dave Landrum wants to make it an annual affair.

This summers ice cream social is set for 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. July 9. While you savor your ice cream, you can watch a square dancing clubs exhibition and line up for a lesson. Another spectacle that day: An old-time tractor club will plow and disc a field, then members of a mule and horse association will plant oats meant to benefit deer, ducks, geese, quail and pheasants.

The state park is making other changes on Ritter Island, too.

It started last fall remodeling all the houses on the island: a large rock house built in the early 1900s, a yellow house, a pink house and a red house. Workers removed lead and asbestos and by May were still painting, redoing flooring and repairing plaster cracks. Landrum hopes to rent out the houses by the night and offer them for reunions, church groups, business retreats and weddings; they should be available within the next year.

The park received a grant  matched by local clubs, businesses and volunteers  to repaint the historical dairy barns exterior this summer. The parks next project will be finding funding to reroof the barn.

Other than that, the building is very solid and stout, Landrum said. The park gives barn tours by appointment, and people can walk through on their own any day.

Virginia Hutchins

I. Magical invention

William W. Priestly was a man before his time.

In about 1890, Priestly created a pump that allowed water to flow uphill. His hydraulic ram accomplished this feat without the use of any moving parts, and it allowed him to irrigate his Hagerman land just above Thousand Springs.

The site of his creation, near the present-day Thousand Springs Power Plant, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

"Although evidence points to a similar less sophisticated device in Arizona in 1886, four years before, Priestly is thought to have come upon his invention independently," says the National Register of Historic Places nomination form. "Similar hydraulic air compressors were built near Montreal, Conn., in 1902. However, these pumps, which operated with about 70 percent efficiency, were displaced by much more efficient steam, gasoline and electric pumps, before any possible development of widespread use of Priestly's pump."

Priestly's pump consisted of a series of 24-inch-diameter pipes made of 1/4-inch boilerplate.

To operate it, he placed one pipe opening at the largest spring flowing from the cliff. It caught the water in such a way that a lot of air was combined with the water. This aerated water fell through the pipe for 190 feet to a tank reservoir at the bottom of the cliff. The water was drained off into the river, and the channeled air was forced by great pressure back up the cliff in a second pipe. The air pipe was connected to a third pipe, which also caught spring water, but not as much as the first pipe. This pipe dropped the water 60 feet before it met the air pipe. When the air from the second pipe met the water from the third pipe, it pushed up a fourth pipe that fed the water onto the arid farmland 110 feet above Thousand Springs.

The 1974 nomination form said parts of the pipeline and the storage tank remained at the site. But it's uncertain what happened to the hydraulic ram next.

"It may have been taken apart and salvaged for parts," said Shane Baker, Idaho Power senior archaeologist. "Or moved somewhere else, or perhaps abandoned in place.

"To my knowledge, no one has ever found any remnants of the facility. The exact location for the ram is unknown, and it may be possible that the first hydroelectric plant built at Thousand Springs in 1912 may have been built over top of the location of the old ram."

Tetona Dunlap

J. Castellated architecture

The 1919 black-and-white photo looks like a scene from a fantasy movie.

A white castle sits in front of waterfalls tumbling from high, rocky cliffs. Fast-forward 97 years and the Hagerman scene is still recognizable, despite some changes. But instead of a princess living inside these walls, you are more likely to find Idaho Power employees in safety goggles and steel-toed boots.

The 1912 Thousand Springs Powerhouse was made from black volcanic rock with a light mortar and arched windows. After 1920 additions, it's still a fanciful design.

Idaho Power Co. acquired the plant in March 1917 from the Thousand Springs Power Co. In Idaho Powers first several decades, the company focused on expanding its plants' generation capacity, and it wanted to do the same at Thousand Springs.

In the fall of 1919, Idaho Power established two camps for workers here. One was on the bench near Snowbank Springs; the other was near the plant where the utility's day use park is today. Each camp consisted of six bunkhouses with a capacity of 20 men each, mess hall, office, blacksmith shop, storehouse and foremans house.

The Thousand Springs Powerhouse's 1920 expansion boosted capacity but took away from the building's history. It may look similar from afar, but the renovated side is made of a steel frame covered in horsehair and concrete. The entire exterior was plastered to make the original lava rock side and the additions look the same.

The windows with high arches are still there, but the top of each has been covered.

And the generating capacity? The original plant: 2,500 kilowatts. Now: 6,800 kilowatts.

Tetona Dunlap

K. Tours of paradise

C.J. Holmes wants other people to fall in love with Hagerman as quickly as she did.

Two years ago, Holmes traded in the fast-paced world of California for something simpler in Hagerman. The former real estate broker now spends her days tending her farm.

"We bought an old farmhouse and are getting to know the community," Holmes said. "It's really wonderful, and the people are so friendly and they care."

But Hagerman represents an entrepreneurial opportunity, too.

Holmes this month was preparing to launch a tourism business, Hagerman Touring Co., with a lineup of June 25 tours. The $39 version: the historical Minnie Miller farm, barn and dairy on Ritter Island; a Malad Gorge geological guided tour; and a wine tasting. The $64 variation: riverboat tour, Malad Gorge and wine tasting. The $79 option: whitewater rafting and wine tasting.

Her prices included transportation to and from Twin Falls and a picnic lunch; tours from Boise cost a little more.

Holmes, who's preparing for another round of tours in July, plans to serve as the tour guide and greeter but will also have experienced docents for each item on the tour.

Holmes, who's active with the Hagerman Valley Historical Society and Museum, said out-of-state visitors often stumble upon the museum, not knowing about other interesting Hagerman highlights.

"We got recreation, fishing and hunting and whitewater river rafting," Holmes said. "They don't know about the museum or the fossils."

Her guided tours (208-352-2080, hagermantours@gmail.com, Hagermantours.org) will also feature historical downtown buildings, the Hagerman Valley Museum, the Oregon Trail south of Hagerman and possibly a windmill farm across the river from the town.

"I think it's a good and exciting introduction to the area," Holmes said in an email.

Other aspects she'll highlight: birding and photography opportunities, hot springs, fish hatcheries, the Shoshone tribe and fossils founds in the area.

"There are some things we can really build on in this community to bring tourism here."

Tetona Dunlap
This appeared in the Lewiston Tribune:

United we stand.

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

E pluribus unumout of many, one.

Blah.

Blah.

Blah.

When it comes to doing something about gun violence, the U.S. is so polarized you have to worry whether our experiment in self-government is failing.

Whether its 20 students and six teachers killed at Newtown, Conn., 14 more murdered at a San Bernardino, Calif., office party or the 49 killed and more than 50 wounded at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, the response is always the same.

Nothing can be done.

Its not as if anyone is talking about registering guns.

Nor is there a serious suggestion to ban military assault weapons. People even throw up their hands in defeat about limiting the capacity of magazines.

But how in the world has the countrys politics become so sclerotic that you cant even make incremental steps?

How does restricting the sales of weapons to suspected terrorists weaken anybodys Second Amendment rights? Ask the U.S. Senate, where Republicans such as Idahos Mike Crapo and Jim Risch voted against Democratic plans they considered too robust.

Net result: stalemate.

The country cant even get its act together filling the background check loopholes that may allow gun sales, largely over the internet, to go unscrutinized.

Somehow keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons, individuals so mentally ill they have been adjudicated as dangerous to themselves or others and people with a history of domestic violence is an assault on gun ownership rights of law-abiding citizens.

How about untying the hands of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research ways to effectively combat gun-related deaths  most notably suicides? You wouldnt think an investigation would undermine anybodys gun rights. But for two decades, the National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress stymied that effort by stipulating the agency may not spend its funds to advocate or promote gun control.

More than a dozen attorneys general, including Washingtons Bob Ferguson, have asked Congress to reconsider.

Why would holding a gun owner accountable for keeping his firearms out of the reach of minors weaken the Second Amendment?

And why isnt the gun rights lobby not more enthusiastic about developing smart gun technology? How would a gun that wont fire for anyone other its owner violate anybodys constitutional rights?

Public opinion is not standing in the way.

As the Associated Press reported Monday, universal background checks enjoy broad support85 percent told Pew they support the idea. A separate poll shows the idea has support among 74 percent of the NRAs membership.

In fact, the public would go much further than the politicians:

70 percent would support having the feds monitor who bought and sold guns.

57 percent would go along with banning military assault weapons.

But the answer in Idahoand other rural statesis always the same.

Treat the mentally ill. Do something about terrorists.

All to the good. Reverse four decades of neglecting mental health. Address lapses in security. But where is it written that reasonable efforts to restrain gun violence should not be part of that same package?

The leave-my-guns-alone mantra prevails because the Senate gives voters in small states such as Idaho a voice equal to that of large states such as California.

No matter what the nation as a whole believes, a lot of voters in Idaho follow as gospel what the NRA says. If a candidate gets an A from the NRA, Idahoans tend to vote for him. If the candidate gets a F from the gun lobby, they dont.

All of which gives the gun lobby outsized leverage over how Idahos politicians vote in Washington, D.C., or

Boise.

Its not going to change until ordinary folks in Idaho stop interpreting every idea that comes along, however modest, as the beginning of the end of the Second Amendment.

In their hands, Idahoans hold a veto over solving this problem. They also carry the burden that comes with it.
Trevor Schaefer of Boise not only fought hard and survived after being diagnosed with brain cancer at the young age of 13, but also he has fought for the last seven years to get legislation through Congress and to the presidents desk that will help others through the documentation and tracking of childhood and adult cancer clusters in Idaho and around the nation.

In 2010, Trevor shared his story with me, and he and his mother, Charlie Smith, and Susan Rosser proposed cancer cluster legislation. I worked with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., to introduce the original bill in 2011 and similar legislation again in 2013. To help advance the bill, Trevor testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which I serve. Trevor and his family have worked to raise awareness of cancer clusters and the possible links of clusters to toxins in the environment. The Schaefer family has also helped build support for legislation to assist communities experiencing suspected cancer clusters. Every step of the way, Trevor stayed with the legislation and overcame many hurdles. His perseverance is an example to me and an honor to Idaho.

I worked with EPW Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and ranking member Barbara Boxer to write and include the Trevors Law language in the final compromise legislation of the Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill. The bill, which the U.S. Senate recently passed by unanimous voice vote and the House of Representatives passed by a vote of 403-12 in May, was signed into law by the president on Wednesday.

Trevors law makes the following important changes:

The law would strengthen federal agency coordination and accountability when investigating potential clusters of cancer;

It would increase assistance to areas impacted by potential cancer clusters; and

It would authorize federal agencies to form partnerships with states and academic institutions to investigate and help address cancer clusters.

The enactment of Trevors law is a significant milestone in how cancer clusters will be identified, monitored and treated in the United States. As a two-time cancer survivor, I recognize that cancer can come from many sources. This law may provide the answers to questions that many families face when confronting cancer, and finding ways to help Americans fully understand cancer clusters is important. Through increasing federal agency coordination and accountability and providing more resources to affected communities, families will have more information and tools to maintain health and well-being. The enactment of Trevors Law is also a testament to the determination and commitment of many people  including Trevor Schaefer and his mother, Charlie Smith  in never giving up on enacting this law that will benefit Americans nationwide.
In February, Nakotah LaRance successfully retained his title of World Champion Hoop Dancer at the Heard Museums annual competition. At only 26 years old, he is applauded for flawlessly melding tradition with the continually evolving conversation of modern hoop dancing.

And now, LaRance will continue this dialogue at the 83rd annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture, the longest-running Hopi festival in the world.

Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3, the Museum of Northern Arizona will host the event that highlights the vibrancy of Hopi culture with jewelry and weaving demonstrations, performances from the Tsootro Dance Group, music from Ed Kabotie and Tha Yoties, plus an array of discussions exploring historical and modern topics.

One Heritage Insights Lecture Series panel  Robert Breunig (President Emeritus), Kelley Hays-Gilpin (Edward Bridge Danson Chair of Anthropology), Gerald Lomaventema (Hopi jeweler) and Dr. Atsunori Ito (MNA Research Associate)  will discuss the Hopi Overlay Jewelry Project. MNA is the first museum to ever attempt such a feat: detailed cataloguing of all 500 pieces of overlay in their collection.

The weekends events last from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. both days and entry is included with museum admission. Call 774-5213 or visit musnaz.org to learn more.

Nakotah LaRance (Hopi/Tewa/Assiniboine) and his father Steve LaRance  a master silversmith and jeweler  will present at 12:30 p.m. during both days of the festival.

Though he had been named World Champion as a youth many times, it was in 2015 that the younger LaRance first bested his own mentor, Derrick Suwaima Davis (Hopi/Chocktaw), a renowned, seven-time World Champion Hoop Dancer and champion Fancy Dancer.

LaRance was only 4 years old when he first saw Davis dance, and over 22 years hes combined control of foot and body movements to further express the weight of the hoop dance tradition. With fluidity and grace, he keeps perfect time with singing and drumming his father provides alongside explanations of each dance, offering a glimpse at the richness of Hopi heritage.

His sons artistry is difficult as he uses five hoops that revolve around his torso and legs, pop into the air with a barely visible tap, or wrap around his back into butterfly and eagle wings.

Hoop dance is originally a medicine dance, for healing, LaRance explained. Mine is involved in modern and Native American performance for the beauty of movement and to be in touch with oneself when one is moving.

When asked if hoop dancing comes naturally to him, LaRance said, I suppose so, noting the discipline of the dance. My inspirations are movements in the world from hip-hop to martial arts. When I was younger, Michael Jackson was a huge influence. Growing up, a big influence has been The Twins from Paris.

Gathering inspiration from history and modern pop culture has left an indelible mark on LaRance, who has been known to incorporate Jacksons famous Moon Walk, and has allowed the young hoop dancer to develop his technique at showcases around the world  including with Cirque du Soleil.

The Canadian company is renowned the world over for its colorful, multi-disciplinary shows that highlight the most accomplished dancers from across the globe. LaRance said he was discovered through his YouTube videos.

The company found his movements with firm roots in traditional and contemporary worlds a match for Totem, a dance piece that explores evolutionary themes, and still tours today. As one of two solo hoop dance artists in the show, LaRance performed as the Amerindian Dancer, who traced evolution of species through rings, from the shows opening in 2010 through 2012.

They were looking for a specific Native American movement, LaRance added. It was an amazing company to work for; good energy.

And LaRances own energy is certainly comparable. In addition to appearing in a number of films and in a music video, he carries the artistry of hoop dance across the United States and Canada whenever he gets the call.

When hes not traveling, he instructs and mentors emerging dancers near his home of OhKay Owingeh Pueblo, N.M.  still building on the next chapter of the hoop dance anthology.

Regarding modernity and tradition, LaRance added, This generation, and also before that, they seem to be molding together and you have to mix it up. Youre doing traditional and modern-day stuff. Theres no challenge except to find a balance of it all. You learn and accept everything.
Cape Verde has recorded 11 cases of microcephaly associated with Zika virus, and one of the babies diagnosed with the disease was stillborn, according to the Ministry of Health.

The women became pregnant during the second half of 2015. They began to give birth and now we count 11 cases of babies with microcephaly in a cumulative total, an epidemiologist from the Ministry of Health, Maria de Lourdes Monteiro, said.

Nine of these cases were reported in Praia and two on the island of Maio.

The official said the virus is under control in the archipelago and a laboratory to screen all pregnant women living in the islands affected by the virus was introduced in March in Praia with the help of the Pasteur Institute in Dakar.

The archipelago nation off the northwest coast of Africa had been observing 100 pregnant women who are infected with the mosquito borne Zika virus.

The country has over 7,500 cases of Zika in the latest epidemic that has seen Brazil investigate over 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly.

Much remains unknown about the virus and whether it is the main factor behind microcephaly.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently declared the virus a global emergency and anticipates it will affect as many as 4 million people.

The Zika virus causes microcephaly, a condition in which babies conceived by infected moms are born with abnormally small heads.

Since no Zika vaccine has been approved, some infectious disease specialists think that delaying or avoiding pregnancies is the only safe way to avoid giving birth to babies with brain damage.
SCOTTSDALE -- The governors of Sonora and Arizona said they are not going to let the rhetoric of the presumed Republican presidential contender get in the way of their efforts to expand the cross-border economy.

In an interview Friday with Capitol Media Services, Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich said she is trying to build a "mega-region'' with Arizona designed to attract companies interested in doing business on both sides of the border. She said that means more trade, more tourism and more emphasis on convincing businesses that the border is not a barrier but instead simply separates two halves of a whole.

Yet all that comes amid statements by Donald Trump calling Mexican immigrants "rapists'' and saying he will build a wall along the border "and make Mexico pay for it.'' Pavlovich said she is not blind to all that.

"We have to overcome all the obstacles that are before us,'' Pavlovich said. "Gov. (Doug) Ducey and myself will overcome all the obstacles that we see in front of us.''

Ducey, who has agreed to back Trump as his party's nominee, said that the candidate's rhetoric is just something that has to be dealt with.

"There are certain political realities we need to be aware of,'' he said of the presidential campaign and the possibility that Trump could be the next occupant of the White House. The trick, said Ducey in his own interview with Capitol Media Services, is not letting those comments and the political race get in the way.

"If we focus on what the goal is, what are objectives are in terms of growing the economy, having safer communities, improving tourism and trade, we can work around those,'' he said.
New associates

Skyler Willard was appointed as safety director at Dick Anderson Construction. Willard is a certified safety professional by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and a certified mine safety professional from the International Society of Mine Safety Professionals. Willard is based in the Helena office.

Foundation for Community Health began serving as lead agency for the Safe Kids Missoula Coalition in June 2014. Two foundation staff members now share co-coordinator responsibilities for Safe Kids: Kira Huck, operations and programs manager for the foundation, and Dannette Fadness. Huck graduated from the University of Montana with degrees in communication studies and psychology, and a minor in nonprofit administration. She also holds a masters in public relations from Montana State University-Billings. She joined the foundation in January 2016 with work experience in nonprofit development, volunteer engagement, community outreach, and programming. Fadness joined the foundation in July 2012, and now works part-time on Safe Kids child passenger safety and social media. She also administers the Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps program at the University of Montana, providing leadership and support to campuses and communities across Montana working to connect first generation and low-income Montanans with post-secondary education.

Mykal Eden has joined the Greater Missoula Family YMCA staff as the associate director of membership and engagement. Eden graduated from Boise State University with a degree in environmental science with a minor in sustainability from the department of economics. She comes to the YMCA with 10 years experience in retail and customer service, including two and a half years as the store manager at the Buckle in Southgate Mall. In this position Eden will oversee the Ys welcome center and financial assistance program, as well as the delivery of quality member service.

Jamie Breidenbach has been hired as the new volunteer coordinator at Missoula Food Bank. Breidenbach has experience working with people of all ages. She was the ranch manager at Dunrovin Ranch in Lolo where she coordinated employees, volunteers, and horses. Prior to that she worked at the YMCA as the summer camp director, and before that she worked at Missoula Food Bank as our warehouse assistant.

Dr. Marlie Johnson has joined Grant Creek Veterinary Services. She worked in emergency medicine for two years and her interests include soft tissue surgery and ophthalmology. Johnson is a 2012 graduate of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine and a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Promotions

Dianne Hansen has been named chief executive officer for Partners in Home Care. Hansen will be responsible for the overall leadership of the agency, including operations, strategic planning, fiscal management, employee safety, quality of care, service delivery, business development, and community and health system relations. She has been with Partners since 1993, serving in a variety of increasingly responsible positions, the last being director of clinical operations since 2009. She holds a masters degree in health administration from Montana State University. Before joining Partners, she worked as a medical technologist and as a medical technology instructor.

Jesseca Letke-Cummins has been named hospice nurse supervisor at Partners in Home Care. She will supervise the nurses and home health aides in the hospice department and oversee the day-to-day operations of the program. She joined Partners in February 2015, serving most recently as registered nurse and case manager in hospice. She recently obtained certification as a hospice and palliative care nurse. She graduated from Watts School of Nursing at Duke University. She also holds a B.A. in environmental studies from the University of North Carolina. Shes been a registered nurse since 2011.

Butch Froberg has been promoted to Hospice social work supervisor at Partners in Home Care. Froberg will oversee the day-to-day activities and professional development of the hospice social workers. He has worked in hospice since 1998. He worked for PHC early in his career and recently re-joined PHCs hospice program in April, when he returned to Missoula from Colorado. He holds a masters in social work and a B.A. in psychology from San Diego State University. He became a certified hospice administrator in 2005 and has been an licensed clinical social worker since 2010.

Krystie Wyant has been promoted to accounting officer and finance analyst for First Montana Bank. Wyant has been with the bank since 2002, previously working as the branch retail manager for the banks Missoula branches. Wyant holds a degree in business information technology from Montana Tech with a minor in liberal studies. Wyant is a graduate of the First Montana Bank Tom Giblin Leadership Program and a member of the Missoula Business Womens Network.

Elected

Rozlyn Haley was elected president of Find Your Voice at UM Toastmasters. Her cabinet includes Susan Hansen, vice president of education; Jeff Haley, vice president of membership; Stella Marcrie, vice president of public relations; Josh Backer, secretary-treasurer; and Daryl Lee, sergeant-at-arms.

John Roemer has been named chairman of the board of the Montana Retail Association, a professional trade group advocating for retailers on both a state and national level. The MRA also provides benefits to its members in the form of training and many money-saving services. Roemer is the owner of Roemers Point S Tire and Auto Service located at 240 E. Broadway.

Recognition

Hampton Inn Missoula received a 2016 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award. Now in its sixth year, the achievement celebrates hospitality businesses that have earned great traveler reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. Courtney Szalay is general manager of Hampton Inn Missoula located at 4805 N. Reserve St.
Jessica Johnson, an eighth-grade social studies teacher in the Ronan School District, is the winner of the 27th Montana Statehood Centennial Bell Award honoring the Montana History Teacher of the Year at the 7th-12th grade level.

Her experience has included teaching grades 6-8 technology, current events, Native American studies and grades 6-8 social studies. She has been actively engaged in the aligning and development of Indian Education for All curriculum in the Ronan Middle School.

Using the Ronan-Pablo community, Johnson utilizes many resources from the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes and the state to intertwine the duality of being a Montana citizen and living on a reservation. Her annual field trip to Helena often offers her students a first-time visit to the Capitol.

She and her class will travel to Helena for a ceremony Nov. 7 to ring the Montana Statehood Centennial Bell.

***

Nate Sager, a 2016 graduate of Sentinel High School, is the recipient of the 2016 Distribute Education Clubs of America Emerging Leader Honor Award. The award recognizes students studying marketing, finance, hospitality and management for being an academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leader through participation in DECA. He is the son of Julie and Scott Sager.

***

Students from Corvallis, Fairfield, Hamilton, Lolo, Missoula and West Yellowstone captured top honors in this years Montana Letters About Literature writing contest. Judges selected the winning entries from 148 submissions statewide in three separate age categories.

Letters About Literature is a reading and writing promotion program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and is sponsored at the state level by Humanities Montana and the Montana Center for the Book. Every fall, young readers across Montana write a personal letter to an author whose book has especially affected them. Children write about being inspired to pursue their dreams, appreciate friends and family, and imagine possibilities. First-place letters can be read online at humanitiesmontana.org/centerforthebook/lettersaboutlit.php.

The winners from western Montana are:

GRADES 46

First place  Madeline Gilder , Hamilton, wrote to Robert Munsch, author of Love You Forever.

, Hamilton, wrote to Robert Munsch, author of Love You Forever. Second place  Chase Williams , Missoula, wrote to Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

, Missoula, wrote to Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Third place  Jenna O'Hearn, Corvallis, wrote to Colleen Houk, author of Tiger's Quest.

GRADES 78

First place  Maeve Daley, West Yellowstone, wrote to Kate DiCamillo, author of The Tale of Despereaux.

GRADES 912

First place  Isabella Christensen , Lolo, wrote to Anne Frank, author of The Diary of Anne Frank.

, Lolo, wrote to Anne Frank, author of The Diary of Anne Frank. Second place  Katie Armstrong , Missoula, wrote to Alex McAulay, author of Oblivion Road.

, Missoula, wrote to Alex McAulay, author of Oblivion Road. Third place  Jessica Yorgason, Missoula, wrote to Ann M. Martin, author of A Dog's Life.

***

The following area students were elected to statewide positions during the recent Boys State session, which is sponsored by the American Legion to educate a selected group of high school juniors about citizenship: Abraham Macy of Dillon, secretary of state; Benjamin River of Polson, auditor; Daniel Koehler of Ronan, Ben Yakawich of Missoula Sentinel and Brennan Williams of Corvallis, Supreme Court justices; and Colter Mason of Hamilton, Public Service Commission.

***

Deans List

University of Montana, Missoula: Go to news.umt.edu/2016/06/060916dean.php.

Carroll College, Helena: Kinley Pope , Charlo; Megan Brouwer and Tieson Lewis , Corvallis; Keely Ehmann , Darby; Paige Fickler , Drummond; Torrey Hoff and Hannah Porch , Florence; David Anderson , Frenchtown; Cody Noffsinger, Rebecca Poliquin, Kyle Scovill, Kaitlin Stromberg and CodyTredik , Hamilton; Morgan Harrington and Madison Jones , Lolo; Whitney Bowditch, Julianne Goldammer, Marissa Hewitt, Heather Huguet, Ryan Koster, Joel Kramer, Matthew McHugh, Daniel Norris, Emma Priddy, Stephen Schmidt, Kari Tirrell, Allison Trent and Paul Wilson , Missoula; Hunter Shima , Ronan; Daniel Lockman , Stevensville; Alex Polsin , Superior; Zachery Agee , Victor.

, Charlo; and , Corvallis; , Darby; , Drummond; and , Florence; , Frenchtown; and , Hamilton; and , Lolo; and , Missoula; , Ronan; , Stevensville; , Superior; , Victor. University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Blade Jacobson, Thompson Falls.

***

Presidents List

Gonzaga University, Spokane: Alyssa Bashor, Alexander Carlson, Joshua Harrison, Kimberly Maurer, Sarah Ramsbacher, Matthew Roberts and Nicholas Simmons, Missoula.

***

Graduated

University of Montana, Missoula: Go to news.umt.edu/2016/06/060916grad.php.

Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona: Shane Johnson of Missoula, doctor of optometry degree.

of Missoula, doctor of optometry degree. Boston University: Rachel Dykstra of Missoula, bachelor of science in business administration and management, and Kristina Cassone of Missoula, master of laws in graduate taxation, Missoula.

of Missoula, bachelor of science in business administration and management, and of Missoula, master of laws in graduate taxation, Missoula. Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon: Flint Martino of Kalispell, B.S. in applied physics.

of Kalispell, B.S. in applied physics. Kent State University, Ohio: Jennifer Keintz of Missoula, master of arts from the College of Communication & Information.

***

Compiled by Mary Gerber, Missoulian
Another contentious campaign season is well underway, and as usual in a major election year, the candidates and issues vying for votes are adding a lot of noise to an already raucous summer.

Your quiet public library is the place to cut through the clamor and this year in particular, its an invaluable resource for Missoulians in more ways than one. Its neutral territory from which to get good information about the people and initiatives appearing on this Novembers ballot. And its the place to conduct on-the-ground research on one local ballot measure specifically: a proposal for a new Missoula Public Library.

Missoula voters ought to plan on paying at least one visit, and perhaps several visits, over the next few months to gauge the need for themselves. Theyll find that the busiest library in Montana is past due for replacement.

Of course, the biggest concern with making such a major replacement is cost. The bond measure to build a new library totals about $30 million, which breaks down to $2.34 per month per $200,000 in home value. Thats less than $30 a year.

Additionally, library supporters are busily raising at least another $5 million, and possibly as much as $8 million, in private donations to ensure the new building starts off on the best possible footing.

Taxpayers weary of adding yet another bond to their household expenses should be first in line when the library opens its doors tomorrow morning. They will find themselves among the estimated 1,500 people who use the library each day. They may also find the computer labs full and every seat occupied.

The current building counts 42,000 square feet  making it about one-third the size it should be to serve a population the size of Missoulas. The bond measure would fund the construction of a building large enough to house a growing library, and make good use of every last bit of space in the meantime.

The library building will be dramatically enhanced as a community asset by housing three local nonprofits offering free public admission: the University of Montana spectrUM Discovery Area, Childrens Museum Missoula and Missoula Community Access Television.

And fear not, downtown devotees: the library will remain in downtown Missoula, very near its current location. A few weeks ago, Missoulas city council members voted to accept a land swap that paves the way for the new library building to go up about one block east of the current site at 301 E. Main St. This means the library will remain open for business at its current location while the new building is being completed.

In addition to the limitations of its current size, the library is struggling with limitations brought on by age. The building that currently houses the library was meant to last for about 30 years: it is now more than 40 years old. Like many similarly sized buildings of that era, the boilers and plumbing are beginning to fail with regularity, and repairs become more difficult and expensive with each passing year. These days, boiler repairs alone are running about $10,000 per failure. Thats money that ought to be spent on obtaining the latest resources for library patrons.

The bond proposal is the result of more than five years of research and community discussion. Can Missoula afford to wait another five years?

After all, a library is so much more than books. It is music, movies, maps, photographs, historical documents, internet access  and reference librarians to offer guidance through the unlimited maze of materials. Missoulas new library will be able to offer more access to the digital tools and technology so necessary to todays students, job-seekers and news junkies.

Its the space where organizations like the Sierra Club can host a free public class on lightweight backpacking. Where tots can gather for Tiny Tales, where free meals are served to children during the summer months, where families can gather to watch family-friendly movies. Its where students of all ages can practice arts and crafts, take computer classes and participate in community meetings.

And it provides access to this essential world of information without regard for ones ability to pay. In this way, libraries play an essential role in a community, bringing people from all walks of life and with vastly different interests together while providing the least fortunate with the tools needed to improve their lives. A library says a lot about the community in which its located. What do we want our library to say about Missoula?

Bozeman answered that question when its residents came together to build a new library in 2006. Billings did the same more recently when it opened the doors to its new award-winning library in 2014.

And just a couple of months ago, nearly 300 residents of Missoula County answered that same question when they signed a letter asking Missoula Countys commissioners for the choice to vote on a general obligation bond to fund a new library. All three commissioners agreed to place the measure on the ballot, and earlier this month, a new citizens committee called Yes for Missoula Library marked its official launch with the goal of providing information to encourage votes for the bond.

Count us with the bibliophiles and library lovers, and count us among the many Missoulians who support the bond measure to build a new Missoula Public Library.
Gov. Steve Bullock just announced his important public lands access initiative, including creation of a full-time public access specialist, creation of an Office of Outdoor Recreation and full authorization of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to purchase land for conservation under the Habitat Montana program.

Habitat Montana is a state program around since 1987, funded by hunters license fees and used to secure critical wildlife habitat lands. It generates about $3 million a year and since its inception has secured thousands of acres through use of conservation easements and fee title purchases. In addition to conserving critical habitat, it provides critical public access for hunting, fishing, hiking and all types of outdoor family recreation.

However, the 2015 Legislature regrettably said no more private land acquisitions. This was pretty much a bad deal for everyone. Hunters, anglers and other recreationists are denied the right to see the funds they provided used for the intended purpose. Landowners who might have an opportunity to sell to the state under the program are denied that opportunity, even though some would like that to be part of their legacy. (Isnt that a slap in the face to private property rights?)

The upcoming 2017 Legislature can fix this. You can contact your returning legislator and ask them to overturn this ban. You can also insist that legislative candidates understand what is going on and pledge to rescind this restriction. Habitat Montana is one of our best tools to secure public access and guarantee hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities for our kids and grandkids.

Lee Gustafson,

Laurel
Tuesday, 3rd Sept. 1805  went up and down rout rockey mountains all daySome of the horses fell backwards and roled to the bottomSome places oblidged to cut a road for to git along thro thicketsSeveral small showers of rain. So we lay down wet hungry and cold wit much fatigue 11 days this day  John Ordway

***

No matter how many times hes come this way, Ted Hall never tires of telling the story.

This day is no different.

Standing in a clearing along the ridgeline that hes certain the famed Lewis and Clark expedition used to drop down off of Lost Trail Pass, the retired engineer is pointing across the timber-covered expanse at Saddle Mountain.

Gathered around him is a group of people interested in seeing firsthand the trail that could someday soon attract people interested in following in the footsteps of the actual explorers.

It was up there near the top of Saddle Mountain that a tired John Ordway and others of the expedition were desperately searching for a way down off the rugged mountainside.

With a replica of the expeditions map in hand, Hall points out the path he believes eventually led to its Sept. 4, 1805 descent into the Bitterroot Valley where they would meet up with 400 Salish camped near Sula at a place now called Rosss Hole.

At this point, the trail to get to this site is marked with yellow ribbons tied to tree branches.

In many places, its not much more than a well-used game trail as it winds down a ridgeline that eventually ends near the valley bottom.

This summer, if everything goes as planned, a group of retired smokejumpers will spend a week or so making some minimal upgrades to the upper portion of the trail and create a few switchbacks toward the bottom where the terrain becomes more steep and rocky.

That organization has agreed to take on the upkeep of this newest segment of the countrys Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail.

When the smokejumpers finish their work, Bitterroot National Forest officials will install a couple of interpretative signs at the top and bottom of the 2.75 miles of new trail and officially open it to the public.

I think its going to be a wonderful opportunity for people to find that sense of discovery along the Lewis and Clark Trail, said Deb Gale of the Bitterroot National Forest. It will take them a little bit of effort to get to the trailhead. Its not something you stop along the highway to see. You have to make an effort to get here.

Gale still has to write the final decision notice on the project, but most of the pre-work has already been completed.

***

While theres still a bit of a debate on the exact route the explorers took to the top of the pass, there seems to be a general agreement that this ridge was their logical way down.

At the time, there were 33 people traveling with 29 horses in the party.

As the group made its way down along the winding path, Hall offered some insight into what it must have been like for the explorers.

They would come over here and look over the side of the ridge to see if there was an easy way down, Hall said. You can see how steep it is. There wasnt anything easy about it.

At one point the ridge narrows, with steep ravines on either side.

There arent many places along the trail where you can say you are actually walking in the footsteps of the expedition, Hall said. This is one of them.

Thats the kind of experience that people fascinated with the explorers journey are looking for, said Mark Weekley, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Superintendent.

Adding new trail to the national system is rare. Weekley cant remember when it happened last.

This is a big deal, he said. People are going to like this.

Weekley and Dan Wiley of the same organization visited the Bitterroot Valley last week to learn about local efforts to build awareness about the historic trail.

Those efforts include a new initiative focused on bringing attention to the fact that Bitterroot Valley holds three nationally designated trails. Besides the Lewis and Clark trail, the Nez Perce (Nee-Me-Poo) National Historic Trail and the relatively new Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail are found there too.

The initiative is being called the Valley of the Three Trails.

Kristine Komar of the Bitter Root Cultural Heritage Trust believes that it could draw a varied group of people to the valley.

We have a route that includes three totally different times in history, she said. There has been a lot of work by a lot a different people to bring all of this together.

The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation stepped forward with a $2,200 grant to help pay for the upcoming trail work this summer.

The foundations executive director, Lindy Hatcher, is certain that people interested in Lewis and Clark are going to be drawn to the new trail.

I anticipate that people will go out of their way to come here to walk this trail, Hatcher said. Establishing a new Lewis and Clark trail is trail stewardship at its best.
More than a century ago, a 22-year-old Aldo Leopold, fresh out of Yale University, ventured across the country to take a ranger position in Arizonas White Mountains.

Leopold spent his days riding on horseback through the Apache National Forest, marking trees for cutting, planting seed plots and carrying out the Forest Service mandate to control predator species. In the two years he was there, the landscape left an indelible impact on the man who would come to be known as the father of wildlife management and of the countrys wilderness system.

The Apache would always be a special place in Leopolds heart ... where he fully learned what wild country was, where the binding power between landscape and mind became an irrepressible factor in his life, author Curt Meine wrote in a biography of Leopold.

Now, nearly 70 years after Leopolds death and not far from where he got his first taste of wilderness, 25 professors from across the country are in the midst of a four-week institute at Northern Arizona University aimed at bringing new life and modern perspectives to the words and teachings of the famous conservationist.

The "Extending the Land Ethic" institute looks at contemporary notions of sustainability that have spawned from Leopolds work, from climate justice to a redefinition of the concept of wilderness, said Joan McGregor, a philosophy professor at Arizona State University.

He really was, at least in the West, one of the springboards for environmental ethics so if we want to talk about sustainability, there is no one else better to start with, McGregor said.

ASU is putting on the institute thanks to a $193,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its the third institute ASU has hosted focusing on Leopolds work and combines classroom discussions with field trips to places like Arcosanti, Grand Canyon National Park and Homolovi State Park.

Local residents also will have an opportunity to learn from the institutes guest faculty members, as each will give a public presentation at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Upcoming talks will feature author, conservation biologist and local food movement pioneer Gary Paul Nabhan, Native American novelist and essayist Linda Hogan and climate philosopher Dale Jamieson. The talks are scheduled for the next three Tuesdays starting at 7 p.m.

Meine, Leopolds primary biographer, was the guest faculty member for the institute's first week last week. He led discussions about how Leopold reconciled the idealism of wilderness untouched by humans and the reality of mans ever-increasing impact on the landscape.

Thats the messiness of human reality, Meine told the class.

Despite decades of research, much of Leopolds work is relevant today, he said.

To that point, students brought up Leopolds focus on how humans can engage with the land, rather than advocating for preservation in its most pristine form. Many agreed that the 20th century conservationists focus on land health rather than wilderness is a more practical and useful goal in the 21st century when virtually no part of the planet been untouched by people.

Leopold wants farmers to mix up uses on their property, he wants people to create wild spaces wherever they are, said Laura Hartman, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

The potential to apply Leopolds teachings to modern agriculture was what drew Samantha Noll to the institute. Noll is a visiting assistant professor at Haverford College in Pennsylvania who does work in agricultural ethics, global food security and sustainability.

If we want to deal with climate change, sequester carbon, promote biodiversity, we need to think about using the agricultural space and I think going back to Aldo Leopold can really help us, Noll said.

Every institute participant must also work on an individual project during the session and Noll said hers will focus on a book project about an updated land ethic for the 21st century in the context of industrial agriculture.

Another participant Todd Richardson said hes using the institute to develop a syllabus for a new undergraduate nature writing course at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, where he is an associate professor of English.

I want to devise something for folks that maybe are coming to these ideas for the first time and so how can I present the material to them in a way that will touch the places they care about? he said.

Richardson said hes also hoping to learn how to better talk about sustainability and environmentalism with students, colleagues and community members.

So often the impression of the environmental movement is that it is for elitists who read the New York Times and drive Priuses, that kind of thing and theres really so much more to it than that. There are so many ways that all of us can benefit from some of this wisdom, Richardson said.
The body of a 36-year-old California man who police say was the victim of a kayaking accident has been recovered from Storm Lake near Anaconda.

He was identified as Matthew Boehler of San Diego, Anaconda Police Chief Tim Barkell said Monday afternoon.

A team from Butte-based Rocky Mountain Divers Search and Recovery found the body 50 feet below the lake's surface at 11:22 a.m. Sunday, said Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Assistant Police Chief Bill Sather. Divers from Butte's 15-90 Search and Rescue assisted.

The cause of death was drowning, Sather said Sunday evening. Barkell said Monday Boehler was not wearing a life jacket.

Boehler was camping with friends on Saturday. He and another man were paddling on the lake when a gust of wind overturned their kayaks, Sather said.

The one man freed himself and was able to get to shore. However, the victim never surfaced.

Law enforcement officers and search and rescue personnel combed the perimeter of the lake Saturday night in hopes of finding Boehler. The water temperature was 41 degrees, Sather said, adding that when he arrived at the scene early Sunday morning there was frost on the ground.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. Sunday, he said, divers were preparing to begin their search of Storm Lake, which is about 20 miles west of Anaconda.

"It's not a rescue, it's a recovery," Sather said.

Editor's note: We incorrectly stated the age of the victim in Saturday's drowning. We regret the error.
Former Missoulian Editor Sherry Devlin has dismissed her lawsuit against the newspaper's publisher and its parent company.

Missoulian Publisher Mark Heintzelman and Eric Henkel, one of Devlins attorneys, said they could not comment on the lawsuit or say if a settlement had been reached.

Devlin filed her lawsuit in February, claiming Heintzelman as well as the Missoulians parent company, Lee Enterprises, had discriminated against her, demoted her, and subjected her to a hostile work environment that led to her resignation in November 2015.

She also filed a complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau alleging she had been discriminated against on the basis of her age and gender. In May, an HRB investigation concluded that Devlin had not been the victim of discrimination on those grounds.

Last week, Devlin informed the Missoula County District Court that she was dismissing the lawsuit.

Devlin, 61, was at the Missoulian for 30 years and was editor from 2005 until the summer of 2015, when she became features editor after the newspaper hired Matthew Bunk to be its editor in August. Bunk resigned in April.

Kathy Best, who most recently served as editor of the Seattle Times, has been hired as the next editor of the Missoulian and will begin her job Monday.

In May, a lawsuit brought by the Missoulian against its former publisher, Jim McGowan, and several other former employees who had started another advertising agency was dismissed after the two parties settled the matter out of court. The terms of that settlement were not disclosed in Missoula County District Court records.
The national battle over whether food labels should identify genetically modified ingredients took a major turn that Montana producers say they can stomach but dont necessarily find helpful.

After years of debate over whether genetically modified ingredients were unique enough to warrant listing on food labels, lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee have agreed disclosure is necessary, sort of.

A proposal requiring food companies to identify genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, is expected to be introduced in the Senate after the Fourth of July break. It would be the first mandatory nationwide label for GMOs, though the ingredients might not actually be printed on food labels.

Companies are being the given the option of providing a phone number or a website referral where the information would be listed instead of simply printing the GMO ingredients on the wrapper. Thats a compromise that food manufactures required, insisting that the science has repeatedly shown no difference between GMO and non-GMO ingredients.

Its a compromise demanded by sugar beet growers, a group that harvests 45,000 Montana acres annually. There are at least five different GMO crops raised on Montana farms. Sugar processed from GMO beets have no unique traits, according to the American Sugar Beet Growers Association.

These were very difficult negotiations, and they played out right until the end, said Luther Markwart of the American Sugar Beet Growers Association. I think the piece they got is the best compromise you can get.

The only way the compromise would have been better is if it were struck earlier. Senate lawmakers announced the deal a little more than a week before Vermont was prepared to roll out its own GMO labeling requirements. Other states had been working on their own labeling laws as well, and food companies were concerned about the expense of complying with a patch quilt of individual state food labeling laws.

The Senate proposal, should it become law, would supplant the state requirements. Its the kind of national response that lawmakers like U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, were ready to support.

Montanas agriculture producers shouldnt be hindered by arbitrary regulations. Sound science and the free market should drive innovation in agriculture, Daines said.

The proposal had just been circulated to lawmakers at weeks end. Daines was still looking into the details Friday.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, did not respond to a Gazette email requesting comment Friday. He had previously opposed a labeling plan that would have supplanted state laws with a non-mandatory federal labeling law. The compromise issued last week had some of the same labeling options as the plan to which Tester objected, but compliance is mandatory. Tester farms organic crops near Big Sandy.

Montana organic producers were ambivalent about the compromise proposals effect on their businesses, mostly because certified organic labeling is an established marketing tool. They werent certain consumers would be helped by the Senates plan.

It may be that this is good for our business, said Doug Crabtree, chairman of the Montana Organic Association. But pretty much everyone has a right to know whats in their food. This seems like a very weak way to do that.

If consumers cant tell if a product has GMO ingredients without making a phone call or consulting the Internet, maybe they reach for organic labeled foods as the sure bet, Crabtree said. On his farm near Malta, Crabtree raised 19 different crops, some of which wind up in national organic brands like Kashi, Daves Killer Bread or Annies Homegrown, an organic line of pasta and prepared foods from General Mills.

Bob Quinn, of Kamut International, a company dealing in organic ancient grain varieties, said it was hard to see a shopper saddled with a couple children scanning packages with a mobile phone to determine whether GMO ingredients were included.
A range fire fueled by Saturdays high winds prompted an hours-long power outage at the Barrick Golden Sunlight Mine near Whitehall, the mine's general manager said Sunday.

Horizontal supports for power lines off the propertys site broke contact with nearby power lines, causing an arc that ignited brush on the propertys south side, Daniel Banghart said.

Thirty-two acres  on land belonging to the mine and the federal Bureau of Land Management  were involved, according to Leona Rodreick, public affairs officer for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The cause of the fire was a downed power line.

Rodreick said the blaze was fully contained by Saturday night with a secure line around the fire. On Sunday, about 15 Forest Service firefighters were monitoring hot spots and ensuring the fire line was secure. She anticipated the fire would be controlled or extinguished by 6 p.m. Monday.

The fire knocked out power to the mine for about eight hours beginning at around 2 p.m. Saturday. Some of the 50 employees and contractors on duty were evacuated while others stayed to assist with fire response. No one was injured, said Banghart.

At the height of the fire, emergency responders from three to four volunteer departments in Jefferson County were at the scene. Grass, brush, juniper, and Douglas fir provided fuel for the flames, Rodreick said.

Asked if the shutdown of the mill resulted in a significant loss, Banghart said it was minimal. Monitoring of the mill and the tailings storage facility occurred into the late evening.

In the grand scheme of things, it was minimal due to the excellent response and cooperation.  I was really pleased with the response of local emergency responders. It was great, Banghart said.

By 6:30 a.m. Sunday  when the mines day shift began  things were back to normal, he added.
ART WITTICH: THE REST OF THE STORY

On April 1, 2016, a Montana jury found that Republican Art Wittich had violated Montanas campaign practice laws by failing to maintain and preserve campaign finance records and by accepting and failing to report $19,599 in illegal corporate contributions during the 2010 primary season.

Since that verdict, there have been at least three guest columns claiming that Wittich was unfairly targeted by Jonathan Motl, the Commissioner of Political Practices. None of the three individuals (Austin Knudsen, Carl Glimm and Ed Argenbright) sat through the week-long trial or heard the evidence proving that Wittich was a law breaker and a corporate-sponsored candidate.

Now that District Judge Ray Dayton has determined that Wittich owes the citizens of this state approximately $84,000 by reason of his illegal conduct, I want to respond to these editorials.

Wittichs name, along with eight other 2010 Republican legislative candidates, first appeared on documents found in three boxes discovered in Colorado. Based on this and other information, Wittich was included in the investigation on a complaint filed with the Commissioner of Political Practices by Debra Bonogofsky against Dan Kennedy, who was also a 2010 candidate, and unnamed others.

The Commissioner filed a Complaint against Wittich on April 1, 2014, alleging failure to maintain proper campaign records, illegal acceptance of corporate contributions, and failure to report those contributions. At that time, the Commissioners office had a staff of seven. With a big backlog of cases and several new ones, it was impossible for the Commissioners office to thoroughly investigate and prosecute them all. So, John Heenan and I volunteered to assist in this endeavor, on a pro bono basis. We were appointed as Special Attorneys General in late May of 2015.

From the outset, it was apparent that the Republican primaries at issue involved unprecedented amounts of out-of-state corporate involvement and money. The National Right to Work Committee, located in Virginia, and other related corporations, had a well developed, targeted campaign program designed to elect chosen candidates who would support their agendas. Art Wittich was one of the chosen candidates.

It is simply not possible to summarize here all the evidence we reviewed, including about 70,000 pages of documents, many obtained from young staffers who had worked on NRTWCs payroll in the 2010 Montana primary, showing Wittichs willing participation in the NRTWCs election program. As time passed and the case showing Wittichs willing participation grew stronger, Wittich claimed the Commissioner was asserting new theories and changing his case. In truth, the Commissioner was merely fleshing out the claims that had been asserted against Wittich all along. In my business it is called driving nails.

Meanwhile, Wittich accused Commissioner Motl of conducting a witch hunt and seeking a lynching based on his political ideology. Wittich said he looked forward to trial to prove his innocence.

Finally, two years after the Complaint was filed, the trial date arrived. After five days of hearing the evidence from both sides, a jury of his peers- selected with Wittichs participation and sworn to impartiality- found that he had committed every single one of the violations alleged against him.

Even now, Wittich continues to rail against the Commissioner. He and others jumping on his bandwagon continue to attack Commissioner Motl and the integrity of our judicial system. But an unbiased jury, with no political axe to grind, found him liable on each and every claim asserted by the Commissioner. Wittichs claims of bias and improper prosecution have been disproven by the jurys verdict.

As the first Montana politician in 75 years to be found by a jury to have violated our campaign laws, Art Wittich will forever be a symbolic reminder to politicians willing to cheat to win office. I meant it when I told the jury in the closing argument that if politicians were like NASCAR drivers, Wittich would have a big NRTWC printed on his business suits.

The jurys verdict sends the following message to Montana politicians: Montanans do care enough to demand that you comply with our campaign laws; and if you dont, we are brave enough to hold you accountable.

For the reader who still cant believe that Wittich broke the law, I make the following offer: Call me and I will be glad to meet with you and go over the 80-plus exhibits that were used in this trial to prove that Wittich broke the law.

-- Gene R. Jarussi, Billings, tried the case of the Commissioner of Political Practices vs. Arthur Art Wittich on behalf of the commissioner.
In addition to Montanans posting their feelings on Facebook regarding the future move of the state Title and Registration Bureau (TRB) from Deer Lodge to Helena, they can write and call their concerns to Attorney General Tim Fox at doj.mt.gov, 444-2026, Fax 444-3549, and to Gov. Steve Bullock at governor.mt.gov, 444-3111, Fax 444-5529.

And good luck: when I called, all I could do was leave messages with the receptionists. One stated the governors office had nothing to do with the issue; it is an Attorney General issue, she said. I notice the governor has stood up for the working families on the east side of Montana regarding coal; where is he regarding Deer Lodges working families losing their jobs?

Along with the hardship on TRBs 35 families, when Montanans call, post and write, remind Bullock and Fox of the impact moving the bureau will have on Deer Lodges local businesses, its tax base, and down the road, its property values. Ask them what the actual cost of the move will be.

Ask Fox and Bullock about the impact on those who utilize the TRB. Right now customers can get off I-90, buy gas, eat a sandwich and complete their business fairly quick. If the TRB moves to Helena, one will have to drive downtown, and find a parking site before arriving at the office. Forget about lunch.

During Thursday nights meeting two poorly prepared representatives from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Mike Milburn and Sarah Garcia, stated the move would be more efficient. Ask Fox and Bullock what efficiency model the DOJ used, and what the process was in making their decision. Who were the players, who signed off on each step? Where is their documentation? Did they have a business plan? Did they receive feedback from Powell County or City of Deer Lodge officials; from the citizens of Deer Lodge or from any of their 35 impacted employees?

Ask Bullock and Fox why a newspaper article from last Wednesday stated deferred maintenance costs required the owner to raise the rent and require a long-term lease, but at the meeting the owners refuted that and said they were not raising the rent.

Ask Bullock and Fox to produce the list of properties the DOJ claimed to have looked at in Deer Lodge, Anaconda and Butte before deciding there were none suitable. Milburn and Garcia didnt have a list; and they blamed the decision on an unknown lease manager.

Ask Bullock how he thinks moving the TRB matches his Main Street Montana Project, whose goal is to create a dynamic private-public partnership to build and implement a business plan for Montana by Montanans.

Fox states our campaign donations toward his re-election will help him work on behalf of Montanans. Really?

Bullock states the supporting votes from the primary will help him keep working for the best interests of Montanans. Really?

Ask Bullock and Fox this: Was this really a well thought out decision or was it the political whim of someone lurking in the state buildings of Helena.

-- Peggy Kerr lives and works in Deer Lodge and is active in local civic projects.
OK, so I am confused again. Imagine that. The president is speaking about gun violence and the terrible effects it is having and the escalation surely to happen without immediate action. I get it, but Barack Obama has released killers, rapists, drug dealers, terrorists and gun dealers with Mexican drug lords, etc. So how can he preach against violence when he has contributed to increasing gun violence?

Reports show the criminals he has released are repeat offenders. Where is the support to law enforcement? Why do we not hear the true statistics on violence in this country? Perhaps the best action is to educate and train people how to protect themselves by proper gun handling, self defense, working with law enforcement officials, etc. Stop so-called religious immigrants who clearly do not support everything this country was built on. It is pure stupidity to allow anyone into this country behind freedom of religion when their religion is based on eliminating all other non-believers.

U.S. citizens have rights to protection "against all threats foreign and domestic." Google news reports from other countries with "open arms" to Christian-hating immigrants to see what is coming to a city near you. Remember that people get fat due to being blind to over-eating. Alcoholics become alcoholics due to the effects of alcohol. Smokers get addicted to nicotine due to smoking cigarettes. We are all warned against the effects of improper use of these substances but say "it will not happen to me" or "I can control it." Stop immigrants with destructive religious beliefs from coming into this country. I bet Native Americans wish they could turn back history.

-- Ron Albrecht, Whitefish
It might not be a turning point, but at least Congress is on the move.

Twenty schoolchildren gunned down in Connecticut didnt move the legislative needle. But 49 bodies in a gay club in Orlando and dozens more wounded at least have congressional Democrats and even some Republicans either pushing for floor votes or sitting on the floor.

Two weeks after the massacre, more than 80 percent of the public is holding strong in polls for denying guns to prospective terrorists, despite fear tactics by the National Rifle Association. The NRA uses the same tired arguments for every common-sense gun control measure: It is the first step down a slippery slope toward gun confiscation by a federal government that cant be trusted to manage a VA waiting list, much less a database with 800,000 security risks.

Well concede that there are plenty of examples of government incompetence and even malfeasance  some veterans on the waiting list died before getting treatment. And the IRS and the NSA dont inspire confidence that our civil liberties are uppermost in the minds of bureaucrats.

But when gun deaths top 30,000 a year and mass shootings keep climbing in frequency and severity, the public, according to polls, is willing to at least give the government the power to do background checks on all gun purchases, including at gun shows, and put in place tougher standards for those with violent pasts and links to terrorist networks.

If the NRA insists its not the gun but the person using it inappropriately who must be stopped, they should have no problem with proposals to register all handguns with the local police and setting up procedures for the police to deny a purchase for a range of disqualifying behaviors. If challenged, the police have the burden to prove to the judge why the denial should stand. But a Second Amendment right to own a firearm is simply not absolute  otherwise, wed let convicted felons have guns. So we have already started down the slippery slope  and there should be no turning back.

Research is also starting to show a correlation between guns and violence, notwithstanding the falling crime rate. The latter is attributed to a variety of factors, but more guns holding off criminals is not one of them. In fact one academic study has found just the opposite: as the share of households with guns drops, a drop in the homicide rate follows. And taking guns out of the hands of domestic abusers reduces intimate partner homicide by 10 percent.

On the other side, studies are showing that laws that allow people to carry firearms without training are associated with a substantial rise in the incidence of assaults with a firearm and other crimes like rape and robbery. Firearms homicide rates rose 25 percent in Missouri in the five years after a law requiring a permit to purchase a gun was repealed. Reverse the ban on the CDC sponsoring research on gun violence, and youre likely to see even more proof of the link between irresponsible gun ownership and violence

So the No Fly, No Buy proposal is a good first step, but most of the mass shootings of recent years and nearly all other gun homicides are not committed by jihadists. So here, again, are a few more common-sense approaches to greater gun safety:

provide greater access under the law to mental health records to prevent persons with serious mental illness from purchasing weapons;

ban the sale of armor-piercing bullets;

limit magazines to 10 bullets;

expand restrictions on gun possession and ownership to those with a history of domestic violence and stalking

repeal the ban on studies by the Centers for Disease Control on the effects of gun ownership and use on public health

lengthen the waiting period for gun purchases when background checks have been delayed.

As others have noted, none of those measures might have stopped the Orlando shooter. But there are 30,000 other gun deaths in America each year, and contrary to what the NRA says, they are not all inevitable with some common sense. Many observers saw the assassination of British MP Jo Cox, tragic though it was, as ratification of strict gun laws that prevented more people from being collateral deaths.

The continuing stonewalling in Congress on gun controls against overwhelming public support for many common-sense measures speaks to a larger inability of elected leaders to move beyond polarization to enact long overdue reform. Its not just gun violence, but also illegal immigration, financial reform and health care, too. Elections have consequences, and if Congress continues to listen to special interests instead of 80 percent of their constituents, voters need the courage to set them straight  no how matter how much fear the NRA attempts to inject into the issue.
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Al--Ahram Weekly

Amany Maged reports on the Muslim Brotherhoods current crises

Recent days have brought an onrush of unprecedented crises in the history of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood. Some concern Brotherhood youth, others the old guard, and still others the leaders who have been standing trial in criminal court, most notably ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Naturally, all these crises are interrelated and will impact one way or another on the organisations future. What is certain, however, is that the Muslim Brotherhood is caught up in a major internal conflict and it is impossible to predict who will emerge as the victor.

The first crisis, or Act I, revolves around the verdicts handed down against Morsi. Last Saturday, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the former president to 40 years in prison. This brings the total number of years against him, in four of the five cases the courts have ruled on so far, up to 85 plus one death sentence.

On 18 June Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Morsi to life imprisonment and an additional 15 years in what is known as the Qatar espionage case. Life imprisonment in Egypt is 25 years. On 21 April 2015, Morsi was sentenced to 20 years in the Ittihadiya case, where he was charged with the forceful and violent obstruction of demonstrators and arresting, detaining and subjecting them to physical torture in front of the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace.

Also on 16 May 2015, the court handed down two more verdicts against him. He was sentenced to death by hanging on the charge of planning the storming of prisons and security facilities and the murder of officers and prisoners during the 2011 January revolution. He was also sentenced to life for spying for Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Morsi was not the only Muslim Brotherhood leader to be sentenced last Saturday in the Qatar espionage case. There were 10 other co-defendants charged with spying for Qatar, leaking national security documents and selling them to the TV station Al-Jazeera.

The head of Morsis office, Ahmed Abdel-Ati, and Amin Al-Serafi, a presidential secretary, were also sentenced to life (25 years) on charges of having led an illegally established organisation, the purpose of which was to promote the suspension of the constitution and the law, prevent the institutions of government and public authorities from carrying out their duties, assailing the personal freedom and public rights of citizens, and harming national unity and social peace.

The charges also stated that the defendants were leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who sought to overturn the system of government by force, attack personnel and infrastructure of the armed forces and police and target public facilities in order to disrupt public order and endanger social peace and security. The indictment stated that terrorism is one of the means the group used to attain its aims.

The court also sentenced Morsi, Al-Serafi and Karima Al-Serafi to 15 years in prison. The first two defendants were accused of having purloined papers and documents which they knew concerned matters of state security and national interests, with the intent of jeopardising the countrys military, political, diplomatic and economic position, and conveying these confidential reports (detailed in Item One, Paragraph A of the indictment), to which they had access by virtue of their official positions, from the places equipped for their safekeeping in the presidency headquarters to the third defendant.

This defendant, according to the charges, then delivered these documents and divulged the confidential information they contained to Qatar, again with the intent of jeopardising the countrys military, political, diplomatic and economic position and harming its national interests.

The court acquitted Morsi, Abdel-Ati, Amin Al-Serafi, Khaled Radian, Mohamed Kilani, Ahmed Ismail, Karima Al-Serafi and Asmaa Al-Khatib of the charge of obtaining confidential national defence information with the purpose of divulging it to a foreign country.

In this regard, the first two defendants had been accused of purloining reports and documents produced by the General Intelligence and military intelligence agencies, the Armed Forces, the national security sector and the Administrative Control Authority and containing information and data pertaining to the Armed Forces, where they were stationed or positioned, and domestic and foreign policies of the government and making these documents available to defendants three through 11 in Xerox form, with the purpose of conveying and divulging their contents to Qatar and those who work to promote the interests of that state.

Following the pronouncement of the verdicts on Saturday, Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Abdel-Moneim Abdel- Maqsoud announced that Morsis defence team would examine the verdict during the next 30 days so as to prepare an appeal within 60 days.

Both Turkey and Qatar were quick to condemn the verdict. The Turkish Foreign Ministry released a statement saying, as reported by the Anadolu news agency, We condemn and express our concerns over the life sentence issued to Mohamed Morsi, Egypts first democratically elected president who has been imprisoned since 2013. We are of the belief that this verdict will not contribute to Egypts comfort and stability.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry issued a more strongly worded statement in which it denounced and totally rejected the attempt to embroil the name of the state of Qatar in the verdict that the Cairo Criminal Court issued in the case commonly referred to in Egypt as the Qatar espionage case.

Although the verdict is not final, it is devoid of accuracy and an affront to justice and the truth in view of the misleading claims the substance of which goes against Qatars policy toward all sister nations, including Egypt, said Ambassador Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, director of the press office at the Qatari Foreign Ministry. He added that the accusation of espionage against former president Morsi and the journalists was both unacceptable and astonishing.

This verdict is not surprising in view of the record of the Egyptian courts during the past two years of handing down death and life imprisonment to more than 1,000 people, which were then overturned by the Egyptian Court of Cassation, Al-Rumaihi said.

These rulings, which are devoid of justice in its proper sense and which are based on reasons that have nothing to do with the law but rather on other well-known reasons, do not help establish the bonds and relations of brotherhood between sister nations. Rather, they mark a dangerous precedent in the relations between Arab states.

Al-Rumaihi stressed that Qatar was among the strongest supporters of the Egyptian people since the outbreak of the 25 January Revolution, as was in keeping with the duty incumbent upon brother Arab peoples. He added that his country would remain committed to the values and bonds of brotherhood with the Egyptian people.

The Qatar and Turkish reactions met with an equally strong Egyptian response. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Counsellor Ahmed Abu Zeid told the press, It is not surprising to hear such statements from those who spent so much money and effort during the past years towards marshalling their media mouthpieces to attack the Egyptian people and their state and institutions.



He added, The lofty Egyptian judiciary cannot be harmed by such unrestrained claims that reveal more about the intentions of those who utter them, as well as their ignorance of the history, integrity and professionalism of the Egyptian judiciary, which dates back many decades. Neither history nor the Egyptian people will forget those who offend them.



Concluding his remarks, Abu Zeid said, The relations and fraternal bonds that connect the Egyptian people to their brother Qatari people will remain strong and unshakable. Egypt will remain a loyal sister that cares for the welfare of all Arab peoples, does not interfere in the affairs of other nations and works to protect the security and safety of her nation.



As for the other major crisis, or Act II, it relates to the ongoing tension between the Muslim Brotherhood youth and the old guard. The youth have, for some time, been demanding internal elections and the removal of leaders they believe have clung on to power too long, and have proved incapable of managing the situation since 30 June 2013, when nationwide protests eventually ousted Morsi. This crisis may be the most difficult, as the internal controversy and rancour it has stirred could cause the organisation to splinter.



Clearly, the crisis-ridden Muslim Brotherhood is reeling under the strains and nearing its demise. But even in the midst of this dark moment, some of them found a little comic relief in the sentences handed down to Morsi. Their social networking sites have been full of witticisms over Morsis 85-year-prison term plus a death sentence.



Meanwhile, only the coming days will tell whether the Brotherhood factions will part ways or reconcile and which side will win  the youth or the old fogeys.
SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has reportedly ordered the broadcasters camera operators to be retrained as they make him look shorter than he really is.

According to a report by the City Press, Motsoeneng gave the instruction as part of his bid to change how the SABC operates.

Motsoeneng also reportedly ordered that no negative coverage of President Jacob Zuma be shown by the SABC, as Zuma deserves a certain degree of respect.

Motsoeneng told the City Press to speak to the SABCs spokesperson  Kaizer Kganyago  about the allegations.

Kganyago said the report on a ban of negative Zuma coverage was not true, and people were obsessed with Hlaudi.

He added that the requested retraining of the camera operators was to ensure visuals given were a true reflection of the person being photographed.

No negative news

Journalists at the SABC told the City press that the news coverage of the broadcaster was changing completely.

Municipal and political stories have begun disappearing and the focus has shifted to covering ceremonies rather than issues.

The report follows the SABC declaring it will not cover protests in South Africa if there is destruction of property.

The full report is in the City Press of 26 June 2016.

More on the SABC

SABC needs evidence to back up protest decision: Icasa

Icasa cant reverse Hlaudi Motsoenengs protest decision: SABC lawyer
South Africas Basic Conditions of Employment Act states that employees are entitled to rest periods, and bosses cannot force them to answer WhatsApp work group messages outside of their working hours.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, South Africans are coming under increased pressure from work due to WhatsApp work groups  which require them to respond to and act on any messages sent by colleagues or superiors.

The Sunday Times reported that a general manager of a national firm said his staff were issued warning letters if they failed to respond to a WhatsApp message or did not follow an instruction.

As the company provided the cellphone and data, it was a requirement  and was included in their employment contracts.

Illegal to demand 24/7 attention

Norton Rose Fulbright lawyer Joe Mothibi said it is illegal for a boss to demand around-the-clock attention from employees, though.

He said an employer couldnt expect an employee to be available at their beck and call 24/7.

You cant say I have to be on my WhatsApp answering instructions [during my rest]. I cannot be expected to take instructions outside my core hours unless of course there are emergencies, said Mothibi.

The report also quoted a Durban public relations practitioner, who was told that participation in her works WhatsApp group was non-negotiable.

It stresses me. I tried to mute it but I then have anxiety because I am afraid to miss a message, she said.

Other employees complained of waking up in the morning to hundreds of notifications from work groups.

The full report is in the Sunday Times of 26 June 2016.

More on WhatsApp

WhatsApp calling growth flat

WhatsApp being used to beg for money
Three firefighters and an engine from Cal Fires Napa County station are part of the battle against the major wildfire in Kern County, the agency has announced.

The vehicles and firefighters were dispatched by the state Office of Emergency Services on June 20 and remain involved in attacking the Erskine Fire 40 miles northeast of Bakersfield, according to Capt. Leah Simmons-Davis of Cal Fires St. Helena station. The locally based engine is part of a strike team assigned to various spots in fighting the blaze, which has killed two people and burned 200 homes and buildings in the southern Central Valley.

As of Sunday morning, some 1,700 firefighters were battling the flames, which had covered 58 square miles and were threatening more than 2,500 homes. Crews had contained 10 percent of the blaze by late Saturday, according to Capt. Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department.

It was not immediately clear when the three local firefighters would return to St. Helena. Firefighters said they hope to fully contain the wildfire by Thursday, according to Joe Reyes, an operations chief for the Kern County Fire Department.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Less than a week after being hired by a St. Helena hotel, a Napa man has been arrested on suspicion of credit card fraud, according to police.

Officers arrested Matthew Jacob Prieto, 28, at 3:03 p.m. Saturday at Harvest Inn Napa Valley on 1 Main St. He was booked into the Napa County Jail for investigation of felony criminal impersonation as well as various misdemeanor allegations of illegal credit card use.

After being hired by Harvest Inn, Prieto used hotel guests' card information to complete several purchases and attempt others, St. Helena Police Officer Steve Coultrup said. The illicit purchases totaled about $450, he added.
I want to give a "Shout Out" to American Canyon.

I have lived here almost 40 years and am proud to be a resident. I am very active in our community. I just want to express how blessed I feel to be a resident of American Canyon.

I love our community for so many reasons, but I want to mention only two of so many.

First, last Saturday was a true testament of how our community comes together and shows their love and concern for our own. Just a few short weeks ago, one of our beloved residents, Paul Schapiro, was killed while riding his bicycle from work on Highway 29. Paul had no blood family in California. However he had a community full of family.

In his honor, the local Lions Club held a memorial service for Paul at our Wetlands Edge. It began with a ceremony, presentations from co-workers, residents, bicycle advocates, and yes, political representatives. In fact, Rep. Mike Thompson flew a flag over the Capitol building on Flag Day in Paul's memory.

Following the ceremony, we had a bike ride on The Mike Thompson Hike and Bike Trail.

I want to give the Lions Club a big "thank you" for putting that memorial service together.

No. 2 shout-out goes to Erik Burrow, general manager of the DoubleTree hotel. A few of us at our job learned about an individual who was displaced, through no fault of their own, and needed temporary housing assistance.

One guardian angel at work, whose name I will not mention, was willing to pay for a week's stay at a local hotel. She asked me for my assistance, the first individual I thought of was Erik.

When I contacted Erik, he immediately worked with us and assisted us with providing facilities for this individual.

Although I should be amazed about this type of reaction from our community, I am not. You see, American Canyon is a unique place to live. It is a very family-oriented community, provides free events for families, and it is very giving and shows compassion.

I also love the fact that our local government involves our high school children in our various committees. They are grooming our future with our high school students.

In closing, I want to again thank our community for all they do.

I also want to thank the Lions Club for their involvement in making Paul's last moments memorable.

And, to thank Erik Burrow of the DoubleTree hotel for his assistance.

I can't wait until the Watson Ranch Project is complete so that we have a beautiful place to come together and celebrate life.

Thank you, and God bless our community.

Beth Marcus

American Canyon
In April, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed a deal to transfer control of the Red Sea islands of Sanafir and Tiran to Saudi Arabia, hoping to win economic concessions, finance and investment from Riyadh. (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Summary

Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court faces an important decision. In April, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi signed a deal to transfer control of the Red Sea islands of Sanafir and Tiran from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. Al-Sisi hoped that the agreement would win Cairo economic concessions, finance and investment from Riyadh, but instead it met with stiff public opposition and sparked protests. Judge Yahya al-Dakroury invalidated the deal on June 21, stating that the islands near the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba "should remain part of Egyptian territory."

Now the Supreme Administrative Court, the highest administrative court in Egypt, is set to hear an appeal of the decision on June 26. Even if al-Dakroury's ruling is overturned, it still represents a political blow to al-Sisi. Though an unfavorable ruling would not necessarily cause Saudi Arabia to waver in its support for al-Sisi's government, the case could further embolden Egyptian opposition groups and strain the president's popular support.

Analysis

Ownership of the islands has proved a controversial subject. Al-Sisi's government has argued that Egypt never owned the islands near the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Instead, it contends, Egypt began leasing Sanafir and Tiran in 1950 to keep them from being seized by Israel at a time when Saudi Arabia was too weak to defend them. To support the claim, al-Sisi's administration has pointed to a 1990 decree by former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that demarcated the maritime border between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, placing the islands' control beyond Egyptian territorial waters. Meanwhile, opponents of the April transfer have presented a number of other documents, decrees and prior court rulings that show that Egypt has been exerting sovereign control over the islands.

The distinction between the two arguments is an important one. Al-Dakroury  who is vice president of Egypt's administrative court system, the State Council  was succinct in his ruling, upholding the country's control of the islands and affirming that "it is forbidden to change their status in any form or through any procedure for the benefit of any other state." Article 152 of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution includes three salient points relevant to the case:

"The President of the Republic shall represent the State in its foreign relations and conclude treaties and ratify them after the approval of the House of Representatives.

Voters must be called for referendum on the treaties related to making peace and alliance, and those related to the rights of sovereignty. Such treaties shall only be ratified after the announcement of their approval in the referendum.

In all cases, no treaty may be concluded which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution or which results in ceding any part of state territories."

The appeal puts the decision in the hands of the Supreme Administrative Court, where a panel of five judges will hear the case. If the court confirms the previous decision that the islands are part of Egyptian territory, then the treaty ceding the islands to Saudi Arabia would be unconstitutional. In that event, al-Sisi  should he respect the ruling  would need to seek a constitutional amendment to push the deal through. If the court decides that the islands are not Egyptian territory but that Egypt has been exercising sovereign power over them, then the deal could require parliamentary approval and a public referendum. Alternatively, the court could determine that Egypt is only administering the islands without acting in a sovereign manner. In that case, the deal, like any other treaty, would need only ratification in parliament to be valid. Otherwise, the court could rule that the deal was a sovereign decision over which it has no jurisdiction.

Many of the concepts at play here are ambiguous and relatively untested. The definition of sovereign control and the interpretations of maritime delineation and ownership are not well defined. This could work to al-Sisi's advantage in his attempt to exert informal influence over the high administrative court's decision.

The Judiciary and Challenges to al-Sisi

The judicial system has played a fundamental role in post-Mubarak Egypt. In 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament under former President Mohammed Morsi, contributing to the rise of the Tamarod movement and its associated protests, as well as to Morsi's ultimate ouster in 2013. The country's judicial bodies have largely been more amenable to working with the military and al-Sisi since Mubarak fell from power, though there are underlying political divisions in the country's complicated court structure. Since Morsi's removal, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and its head, al-Sisi, have been successful in cracking down on judges favorable to the Muslim Brotherhood by forcing their early retirement. Nonetheless, the judiciary remains fairly strong and independent under al-Sisi.

The State Council, which has jurisdiction over cases involving Egypt's state bodies, was not as instrumental in bringing down Morsi and ushering in al-Sisi as other parts of the judiciary were. But earlier this year, it sided with the al-Sisi government when the Supreme Administrative Court declined to review a 2013 law that severely restricts legal protests, citing a lack of jurisdiction. Furthermore, the trend in Egyptian judiciary rulings has broadly favored strengthening stability, a position that al-Sisi shares.

Most observers think the Supreme Administrative Court will uphold the island transfer. If it does not, though, al-Sisi and his Cabinet have said that they will respect the court's ruling  and the parliament's decision, if it comes to that. The approval of parliament, which is stacked with al-Sisi supporters, is not nearly as significant an obstacle as the final court ruling could be. Moreover, if al-Sisi wins a favorable judgment, it will demonstrate that he can work through the legal system rather than defy it.

Should the court rule against al-Sisi, it could embolden opposition groups to challenge him in the limited outlets where they can. Already, protests have increased over the past few months in Egypt, most notably over the island deal and the state's control of the press. Al-Sisi's honeymoon period after taking over for Morsi is winding down, and his popularity has been waning. Though he initially passed some economic reforms, his progress on that front has since slowed, and the country is now under even greater financial strain. The lack of progress on further reforms, along with cumbersome regulatory and bureaucratic oversight, continues to hamper economic growth.

Saudi Silence

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been noticeably silent about the public backlash against the island deal and the court's ruling. Riyadh would like the islands returned to Saudi control for sentimental  or even economic or security  reasons. But realistically, the islands are of little economic or military value to either country. The proposed bridge to connect Saudi Arabia to Egypt, which would span at least part of the islands, could still be built regardless of their ownership, even if the economic gains from that project are limited. The strategic value of the territory has declined dramatically since the post-World War II era, when Israel was establishing itself.

Besides this, Riyadh's support for an al-Sisi or military-backed government in Egypt does not hinge on the island deal. Riyadh needs al-Sisi to prevent a resurgence of the Muslim Brotherhood and wants Egypt's support for larger security initiatives in places like Yemen. For these reasons, Saudi Arabia will continue to back the al-Sisi government financially to limit the potential for Egypt's financial crisis to cause his government to fail.

Al-Sisi has taken the rare position as a political leader of fighting to relinquish control over territory. Regardless of whether he prevails in his fight, the courts have made an obvious statement by visibly pushing back, and it will be important to watch how al-Sisi reacts.
Raisi: Terrorist attack in Shiraz will not go unanswered

Turkey arrests doctor who called for investigation into chemical weapons use in northern Iraq

Blinken: China has decided that the status quo in Taiwan is no longer acceptable

Steven Mnuchin says China will face significant economic downturn that will affect rest of world

German government allows Chinese company to buy reduced stake in Hamburg port terminal

'Corridor' between Armenia and Azerbaijan becomes subject of heated debate in European Parliament

Awkward lunch: Macron humiliates Scholz in Paris

Polish government prepares for 'potential use of nuclear or chemical weapons' by Kremlin

Iran: Unknown shoot and kill 2 IRGC members

EU calls on defense ministers of bloc countries to coordinate arms purchases

What will Israeli defense minister discuss in Turkey

Erdogan: We cannot allow 'terrorist organizations' to take the issue of Sweden's membership in NATO hostage

KGB: Opponents of authorities will begin to rock situation in country in November-December

Finance Ministry: Armenia plans to increase pensions in July next year

Terrorist who carried out shooting in Shiraz is foreigner

Saudi Arabia slams countries for using emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices

Azerbaijani who fought in ranks of AFU killed in Kiev as result of Iranian drone strike

Konstantin Zatulin: You don't have to be Armenian to love Armenia and Armenians

Biden's approval rating approaches lowest level of his presidency just 2 weeks before election

White House tones down its previous optimism about the midterm elections

Ford Motor leaves Russian market by selling its stake in Sollers joint venture

Council of Lazarev Club considers ban on Konstantin Zatulin to enter Armenia outrageous trick

The New York Times: Saudi Arabia pissed off U.S. by derailing a secret deal

Samvel Karapetyan: Various forces are pushing Armenia away from Russia, this cannot be allowed

Dubai Silicon Oasis interested in cooperation with Armenia in IT sector

Jens Stoltenberg announces his intention to visit Turkey

Wiktorin: EU observation mission will ease tensions

Saudi Aramco: European embargo on Russian oil increases uncertainty in global oil market

Commander of Lithuanian Armed Forces against transfer of howitzers and air defense systems to Ukraine

Armenian Finance Ministry gives outlook on economic activity and debt ratio

Minister: Rehabilitation works after Azerbaijani Armed Forces' invasion continue

About 230 kilometers of roads are being built and repaired in Syunik

Bloomberg: Europe has more gas than it can use

Pashinyan says he would like to sign Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal before end of year

168.am: President of Artsakh leaves for Russian capital

Armenia's Pashinyan: I will attend trilateral meeting in Sochi

Bloomberg: China's budget deficit since beginning of year approached record trillion dollars

PM: There is expectation that CSTO will adopt roadmap to restore Armenias territorial integrity

Pope receives Armenian FM

Armenia ruling party convention to be closed to media

Dollar falls, euro rises in Armenia

Kremlin: Russia has information that Ukraine is preparing terrorist attack using 'dirty bomb'

Governor underscores EU envoy to Armenias efforts in returning of Shirak Province POWs (PHOTOS)

Putin: US is using Ukraine as battering ram against Russia, CSTO, and CIS

Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak leaves Russia

Russian military practices massive nuclear strike in response to nuclear attack of adversary

Germany restricts visas for Iranian passport holders

Belarus Foreign Minister visits Iran

Iran expands sanctions against EU

Zatulin says it is necessary to discuss relations between Russia and Armenia at different levels

Ardshinbank is the only company from Armenia with assigned ratings from the big three credit rating agencies

Armenia Security Council chief receives OSCE needs assessment mission members

Kremlin comments on deployment of American division in Romania

Iltalehti: draft bill on Finland's membership in NATO allows deployment of nuclear weapons

Kremlin informs about preparation for Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting

Armenia envoy briefs Costa Rica president on South Caucasus situation

Legislature head on chances of Armenia leaving CSTO: There is very little time left for us to make decision

Mercedes confirms intention to leave Russia

Armenia parliament speaker: No document on table

Air-raid alarm sirens to be installed in Estonia

Armenia legislature head: PM will go to Sochi on October 31, meet with Russia, Azerbaijan presidents

US State Department: Armenia, Azerbaijan should decide whether Putin's invitation would be useful to them

US transfers to Ukraine first 2 NASAMS complexes

Armenia National Assembly speaker: Phrase about signing peace treaty by years end is tacit deadline

Armenia parliament speaker: We have 240 casualties as result of Azerbaijan attack

Armenia FM in Vatican, meets with Substitute for Holy See Secretariat of State for General Affairs

Israel president gives US intel on Iran UAVs in Ukraine

Copper prices are rising

World oil prices falling

Armenia MPs approve several changes to laws

FM: Armenia has never lost its belief in humanity despite facing many challenges, calamities

Canada embassy to soon be opened in Armenia

Biden: Russia would be making serious mistake to use tactical nuclear weapon

Margarita Simonyan says she is banned from entering Armenia

Newspaper: Artsakh Public Council establishment causes concern in political arena

First sneakers for horses created in US

India fines Google for $113 million

Mass dedicated to peace in Armenia is celebrated at Vatican

Saudi Arabia decides to be more mature guy in its quarrel with US

Biden says Russia would make 'serious mistake' if it deploys tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Ukrainian media report on Dnipro rocket attack

Romania plans to intensify talks on Black Sea and military purchases

Karekin II and Aram I refuse to participate in World Armenian Forum

IMF Director: Ukraine's need for external financing could reach $5 billion month

Turkey continues to beat out gas discount from Russia and payment deferral from Gazprom

Alen Simonyan refuses to participate in fifth meeting of Russian-Armenian Lazarev Club

New Serbian government plans to invest 12 billion euros in energy projects

UN Security Council to meet at Russia's request over accusations that Iran is supplying drones to Russia

Leading Wall Street bankers warn of recession in US and Europe

Armenian FM tells Vatican secretary of state about Azerbaijani aggression

Secretary of Armenian Security Council holds telephone conversation with Biden's aide

IEA head: World still needs Russian oil to flow into the market

Norwegian police arrest man on suspicion of spying for Russia

Ambassador-at-Large meets with Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office

EU to offer banks to offer mandatory instant payments in euros

Ambassador: Active efforts of Armenian authorities are registering regress in Armenian-Russian relations

Saudi minister: Saudi Arabia and US will overcome unjustified spat

Zatulin: My ban on entering Armenia coincides with trilateral meeting planned in Russia

Rishi Sunak vows to fix 'mistakes' of Liz Truss

MFA comments on information about meeting of special envoys of Armenia and Turkey
YEREVAN.  Pope Francis spoke about his greatly-desired and unforgettable visit following the Divine Liturgy held by Catholicos of all Armenians Karekin II.

Your Holiness, Dear Bishops,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the end of this greatly-desired visit, one already unforgettable for me, I join my gratitude to the Lord with the great hymn of praise and thanksgiving that rose from this altar. Your Holiness, in these days you have opened to me the doors of your home, and we have experienced how good and pleasant it is when brothers live in unity (Ps 133:1). We have met, we have embraced as brothers, we have prayed together and shared the gifts, hopes and concerns of the Church of Christ. We have felt as one her beating heart, and we believe and experience that the Church is one. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph 4:4-6). With great joy we can make our own these words of the Apostle Paul! Our meeting comes under the aegis of the holy Apostles whom we have encountered. Saints Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who first proclaimed the Gospel in these lands, and Saints Peter and Paul who gave their lives for the Lord in Rome and now reign with Christ in heaven, surely rejoice to see our affection and our tangible longing for full communion. For all this, I thank the Lord, for you and with you: Park astutso! (Glory to God!).

During this Divine Liturgy, the solemn chant of the Trisagion rose to heaven, acclaiming Gods holiness. May abundant blessings of the Most High fill the earth through the intercession of the Mother of God, the great saints and doctors, the martyrs, especially the many whom you canonized last year in this place. May the Only Begotten who descended here bless our journey. May the Holy Spirit make all believers one heart and soul; may he come to re-establish us in unity. For this I once more invoke the Holy Spirit, making my own the splendid words that are part of your Liturgy. Come, Holy Spirit, you who intercede with ceaseless sighs to the merciful Father, you who watch over the saints and purify sinners, bestow on us your fire of love and unity, and may the cause of our scandal be dissolved by this love (Gregory of Narek,Book of Lamentations, 33, 5), above all the lack of unity among Christs disciples.

May the Armenian Church walk in peace and may the communion between us be complete. May an ardent desire for unity rise up in our hearts, a unity that must not be the submission of one to the other, or assimilation, but rather the acceptance of all the gifts that God has given to each. This will reveal to the entire world the great mystery of salvation accomplished by Christ the Lord through the Holy Spirit (Greeting at the Divine Liturgy, Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Istanbul, 30 November 2014).

Let us respond to the appeal of the saints, let us listen to the voices of the humble and poor, of the many victims of hatred who suffered and gave their lives for the faith. Let us pay heed to the younger generation, who seek a future free of past divisions. From this holy place may a radiant light shine forth once more, and to the light of faith, which has illumined these lands from the time of Saint Gregory, your Father in the Gospel, may there be joined the light of the love that forgives and reconciles.

Just as on Easter morning the Apostles, for all their hesitations and uncertainties, ran towards the place of the resurrection, drawn by the blessed dawn of new hope (cf. Jn 20:3-4), so too on this holy Sunday may we follow Gods call to full communion and hasten towards it.

Now, Your Holiness, in the name of God, I ask you to bless me, to bless me and the Catholic Church, and to bless this our path towards full unity.
Raisi: Terrorist attack in Shiraz will not go unanswered

Turkey arrests doctor who called for investigation into chemical weapons use in northern Iraq

Blinken: China has decided that the status quo in Taiwan is no longer acceptable

Steven Mnuchin says China will face significant economic downturn that will affect rest of world

German government allows Chinese company to buy reduced stake in Hamburg port terminal

'Corridor' between Armenia and Azerbaijan becomes subject of heated debate in European Parliament

Awkward lunch: Macron humiliates Scholz in Paris

Polish government prepares for 'potential use of nuclear or chemical weapons' by Kremlin

Iran: Unknown shoot and kill 2 IRGC members

EU calls on defense ministers of bloc countries to coordinate arms purchases

What will Israeli defense minister discuss in Turkey

Erdogan: We cannot allow 'terrorist organizations' to take the issue of Sweden's membership in NATO hostage

KGB: Opponents of authorities will begin to rock situation in country in November-December

Finance Ministry: Armenia plans to increase pensions in July next year

Terrorist who carried out shooting in Shiraz is foreigner

Saudi Arabia slams countries for using emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices

Azerbaijani who fought in ranks of AFU killed in Kiev as result of Iranian drone strike

Konstantin Zatulin: You don't have to be Armenian to love Armenia and Armenians

Biden's approval rating approaches lowest level of his presidency just 2 weeks before election

White House tones down its previous optimism about the midterm elections

Ford Motor leaves Russian market by selling its stake in Sollers joint venture

Council of Lazarev Club considers ban on Konstantin Zatulin to enter Armenia outrageous trick

The New York Times: Saudi Arabia pissed off U.S. by derailing a secret deal

Samvel Karapetyan: Various forces are pushing Armenia away from Russia, this cannot be allowed

Dubai Silicon Oasis interested in cooperation with Armenia in IT sector

Jens Stoltenberg announces his intention to visit Turkey

Wiktorin: EU observation mission will ease tensions

Saudi Aramco: European embargo on Russian oil increases uncertainty in global oil market

Commander of Lithuanian Armed Forces against transfer of howitzers and air defense systems to Ukraine

Armenian Finance Ministry gives outlook on economic activity and debt ratio

Minister: Rehabilitation works after Azerbaijani Armed Forces' invasion continue

About 230 kilometers of roads are being built and repaired in Syunik

Bloomberg: Europe has more gas than it can use

Pashinyan says he would like to sign Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal before end of year

168.am: President of Artsakh leaves for Russian capital

Armenia's Pashinyan: I will attend trilateral meeting in Sochi

Bloomberg: China's budget deficit since beginning of year approached record trillion dollars

PM: There is expectation that CSTO will adopt roadmap to restore Armenias territorial integrity

Pope receives Armenian FM

Armenia ruling party convention to be closed to media

Dollar falls, euro rises in Armenia

Kremlin: Russia has information that Ukraine is preparing terrorist attack using 'dirty bomb'

Governor underscores EU envoy to Armenias efforts in returning of Shirak Province POWs (PHOTOS)

Putin: US is using Ukraine as battering ram against Russia, CSTO, and CIS

Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak leaves Russia

Russian military practices massive nuclear strike in response to nuclear attack of adversary

Germany restricts visas for Iranian passport holders

Belarus Foreign Minister visits Iran

Iran expands sanctions against EU

Zatulin says it is necessary to discuss relations between Russia and Armenia at different levels

Ardshinbank is the only company from Armenia with assigned ratings from the big three credit rating agencies

Armenia Security Council chief receives OSCE needs assessment mission members

Kremlin comments on deployment of American division in Romania

Iltalehti: draft bill on Finland's membership in NATO allows deployment of nuclear weapons

Kremlin informs about preparation for Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan leaders meeting

Armenia envoy briefs Costa Rica president on South Caucasus situation

Legislature head on chances of Armenia leaving CSTO: There is very little time left for us to make decision

Mercedes confirms intention to leave Russia

Armenia parliament speaker: No document on table

Air-raid alarm sirens to be installed in Estonia

Armenia legislature head: PM will go to Sochi on October 31, meet with Russia, Azerbaijan presidents

US State Department: Armenia, Azerbaijan should decide whether Putin's invitation would be useful to them

US transfers to Ukraine first 2 NASAMS complexes

Armenia National Assembly speaker: Phrase about signing peace treaty by years end is tacit deadline

Armenia parliament speaker: We have 240 casualties as result of Azerbaijan attack

Armenia FM in Vatican, meets with Substitute for Holy See Secretariat of State for General Affairs

Israel president gives US intel on Iran UAVs in Ukraine

Copper prices are rising

World oil prices falling

Armenia MPs approve several changes to laws

FM: Armenia has never lost its belief in humanity despite facing many challenges, calamities

Canada embassy to soon be opened in Armenia

Biden: Russia would be making serious mistake to use tactical nuclear weapon

Margarita Simonyan says she is banned from entering Armenia

Newspaper: Artsakh Public Council establishment causes concern in political arena

First sneakers for horses created in US

India fines Google for $113 million

Mass dedicated to peace in Armenia is celebrated at Vatican

Saudi Arabia decides to be more mature guy in its quarrel with US

Biden says Russia would make 'serious mistake' if it deploys tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Pope Francis' description of Armenians Genocide shows "the mentality of the Crusades", Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said referring to the fact that the Holy Farther described as "Genocide" the 1915 events during his visit to Armenia.

He stated that the Popes statement is very unfortunate. It is unfortunately possible to see all the reflections and traces of Crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy and the pope.

He also added that it is not an objective statement, and it does not reflect the truth: the whole world knows this and so do the Armenians.

Canikli also added that the main purpose of the Popes expression is to corner Turkey.

The reason that Turkey was not accepted in EU and that the Pope made such a statement is the same. They do not take it seriously as there can be no question of accepting it. Turkey could not have done and would never do such things Deputy PM Nurettin Canikli noted.

Pope Francis used the word "genocide" to describe the mass killings during his speech in Yerevan, a year after infuriating Turkey with a similar statement made at the Vatican.
ETCHMIADZIN. -- Thousands of faithful have accompanied the Holy Father Francis and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin with applauses and exclamations of Viva il Papa (photos).

The heads of the two churches left the open altar under Saint Trdat's arch and under papal canopy, and approached the faithful blessing them.

Pope Francis and Karekin II went to the Patriarchate.

It should be noted that during the Divine Liturgy in Etchmiadzin Catholicos of All Armenians and the Bishop of Rome turned to the thousands of faithful reminded of the need to live in peace and faith.

The Holy Father Francis is in Armenia on a three-day visit. The Pope has already visited the Memorial Complex Tsitsernakaberd dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, approached the eternal flame and laid white roses. The pontiff also made visit to Gyumri which is considered a spiritual center of Armenian Catholics.

The ecumenical ceremony was held and prayer for peace was made with the participation of the Pope and of All Armenians Karekin II at the central square of Yerevan, Republic Square on Saturday evening.

Today the Bishop of Rome plans to head for the Khor Virap monastery, where St. Gregory the Illuminator was imprisoned for 14 years.
Pope's visit to Armenia continues to draw attention of international media.

The German press again underlined the importance of calling the Armenian massacres a genocide, adopting a resolution on the genocide in the Bundestag against the background of Turkeys response that followed the Bundestags vote.

Everybodys nerves were strained to see what word the Pope will use while referring to the persecution of Armenians . He used the word genocide and called on the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, writes Die Zeit.

Until the last moment it was not clear, if the Pope will say the word genocide or not. The word genocide was missing in the text of his speech, but he said it on the first day of his visit and told the world not to forget about the Armenian Genocide, writes Tagesspiegel. Tagesspiegel particularly emphasized the importance of the Pope's visit to Gyumri.

The mass that the Pope served in Gyumri was a great event for the Armenian believers. Pope in his prayer recalled the devastating earthquake of 1988 and the city that has revived, writes the newspaper.

Deutsche Welle also notes that the Pope was not afraid to stir anger of Ankara. "The Pope confirmed his position he stated last year about the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire and again condemned the genocide. The pope decided to add the word genocide to the text of his speech, despite Ankara's objections. Thus, he ignored the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threats, who in April of 2015 warned him not to make such mistakes again, writes the publication.

The Pope 's visit emphasized the role of Christianity as a part if the Armenian identity. The visit of the Pope to Tsitsernakaberd Memorial was a visit of peace . He did not say a word, just kept praying . He expressed his opinion about the Armenian Genocide a day before , citing a large number of victims, writes the Deutschlandfunk .
10:46





The ministry has asked yoga institutes across the country to apply for government certification by the end of this year. The module for this scheme has already been prepared by the ministry.





"The scheme provides a mechanism to ensure the credibility and authenticity of the services provided," AYUSH Minister Sripad Yesso Naik said. The secretary, department of AYUSH, Ajit M Sharan, said the ministry is likely to issue guidelines in this regard soon.





The scheme applies to both wellness centres and institutes that offer training and diploma/degree courses in yoga. The various criteria for certification will include the infrastructure of a given institute, number of instructors employed, the period it has been in existence and the kind of courses it offers.

Amidst the Modi government's push to popularise yoga, the AYUSH ministry has decided to certify institutes imparting training in the ancient discipline for physical and mental wellbeing, to ensure quality control and check the mushrooming of centres which do not meet even the basic standards.
"The security forces backed by warplanes began attacks in Kot, Khogiani and Ghani Khil districts on Saturday night and so far 18 militants loyal to Islamic State group and seven Taliban insurgents have been killed," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

According to the statement, 22 more militants loyal to the IS outfit and two Taliban fighters were injured.

Neither Taliban nor the Islamic State outfit has commented yet.

--IANS py/vt

( 112 Words)

2016-06-26-18:00:03 (IANS)
"The effect of the South Korea-EU FTA on Britain will automatically become void at the time of its official withdrawal from the EU. But a revision to the FTA is deemed necessary to reflect it," said the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in a statement.

Seoul signed an FTA with Brussels in 2009, which came into force two years later, EFE news reported.

The ministry explained that it will discuss the situation with the EU and negotiate with the bloc, excluding London, the necessary changes in the treaty.

Until Britain's departure comes into effect, a process that can take two years, "the current South Korea-EU FTA will continue to hold true," read the statement.

It added that Seoul will consider signing another FTA with London to resolve "legal uncertainties" in bilateral trade.

The priority, concludes the statement, is to minimise the negative impact of the exit on the country's businesses.

--IANS ksk/vt

( 195 Words)

2016-06-26-13:50:03 (IANS)
Bigger ships could mean bigger paydays for commodity producers when the expanded Panama Canal opens this weekend as they can utilise larger vessels more frequently to tap into fast growing Asia-Pacific consumer markets.The Panama Canal Authority estimates that the enlarged waterway will cut sailing times between Atlantic Ocean ports and Asia by up to 16 days for ships that previously could not fit through.Soybean farmers, natural gas producers, container shippers, and coal miners hope to be among the winners when the expanded Panama Canal is inaugurated on Sunday at a cost of $5.2 billion and after a two-year delay. Crude oil and iron ore exporters will see less benefit as they still depend on vessels too big for the waterway.The U.S. Soy Transportation Coalition, which represents soybean farmers, said moving to ships carrying up to 100,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) of beans on the canal from the current 76,000 tonne limit would add up to $8 million in value per vessel."A customer of U.S. soybeans in Asia could save 35 cents per bushel simply due to greater transportation efficiency," said Mike Steenhoek, the Coalition executive director.The United States is the second-largest exporter of soybeans to China, accounting for 30 percent of China's 81.5 million tonnes of imports last year, according to China customs figures. Brazil accounted for 54 percent.Shipping volumes through the Canal stalled in the mid-2000s, after rising earlier in the decade on increased Chinese trade, as vessels became too large to traverse the waterway.Post-expansion, the Canal Authority hopes that tonnage volumes will rise by an average of 3 percent per year, from almost 341 million tonnes in 2015.GAS & COALLiquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sellers from the U.S. Gulf and Caribbean, as well as Colombian coal suppliers should benefit from the expansion.The U.S. is ramping up LNG and LPG exports after the shale extraction boom and will compete with Middle East LPG sellers and Australian LNG exporters."It will create competition for all the producers in the Arabian Gulf by getting products from the U.S. almost as quickly as from the Arabian Gulf," said a senior executive at a tanker shipping company who declined to be named.Colombian shippers hope the bigger canal will open up trade to Asia as rising natural gas and renewable energy usage has cut coal consumption in its traditional North American and European markets.Colombian miners have already started shipping coal to Japan and South Korea but the voyages around South America and Africa can take up to two months.Container shippers, carrying everything from fresh food to electronics, can sail ships of up to 13,000 teu (20-foot equivalent units) through the bigger Canal from the current limit of 5,000 teu.SLOW CHANGECrude oil traders will be less affected because the supertankers they use remain too big for the canal at 300,000 dwt.Water depth and lock restrictions still mean the enlarged canal will not be able to handle the biggest 180,000 to 200,000 tonne dry cargo ships, which mostly carry Brazilian iron ore.Shippers also say the expansion will not make an immediate impact as ports need upgrading."Trading patterns will not change so quickly because of loading and discharge port limitations," said Ong Choo Kiat, president and director at U-Ming Marine Transport Corporation , Taiwan's largest dry-bulk and tanker ship owner.One group with generally negative views of the expansion are shippers, already battling an eight-year downturn, as shorter routes mean less charter income."Not only will charter hire revenues decrease in view of shorter duration, but with shorter trips the total sea days will be less and thus weigh extra on the already heavily oversupplied market," said Jean Yves Brion, commercial manager at Belgian dry shipper Boconti Shipping. REUTERS DS0443 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0098-804856.Xml
With the rise in drug addiction among the youth of the state, the illegal cultivation of opium is also increasing

These days heroin addiction has risen to alarming levels.

Director-General of Police K Rajendra Kumar told UNI that the way narcotics are being smuggled into the state from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Amritsar (Punjab), the complicity of the cross border cannot be ruled out.

The DGP said that the police administration is aware of the gravity of the situation. Apart from its campaign to nab drug peddlers and annihilate them at the root levels, the police administration has also launched a comprehensive public awareness programme.

The Excise Department has also launched a campaign to put an end to the illegal cultivation of opium. However, no arrests have been made till date. MORE UNI NS CJ ADG 0940

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0101-803648.Xml
Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez has refuted reports that she is essaying a key role in 'Don 3'. Reacting to reports that she will step into Priyanka Chopra's shoes for "Don 3", Jacqueline said,''I just came back to Mumbai last night and this news has been doing the rounds. I don't know where it is coming from because I have not spoken to anyone remotely close to 'Don' team. It's a false news.'' At the same time, the actress said she would love to share screen space with superstar Shahrukh Khan.''As actors, we want to work with as many actors and directors as we can. For me, it would be interesting to work with Shah Rukh and I would love to work with him.''she said.UNI AR PY -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0137-805420.Xml
The 'Veer Naris' (War Widows) of 8 JAK LI (Siachen) today called on President Pranab Mukherjee here at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 8 JAK LI is organising a pilgrimage tour for these 'Veer Naris' from Rashtrapati Bhavan to Rishikesh, Haridwar and Badrinath to commemorate the 30th year of the capture of Bana Top, President's Secretariat said in a statement. The Infantry contingent of the Army Guard belongs to 8th Battalion Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry(Bravest of the Brave). 8 JAK LI (Siachen) was raised as the first Battalion Border Scouts by volunteers who took arms in the aftermath of communal passion and the smouldering embers of partition to check the multitude of kabalies infringing into Poonch on December 18, 1947. Born in battle and purified in blood, the battalion was rechristened as 8th Jammu & Kashmir Militia. In 1971 war, the Battalion was outwitted, outnumbered but never outclassed in valour and fought the defensive battle successfully despite enemy's passion for Chhamb. The battalion was awarded Battle Honour - Laleali and Picquet 707. The Regiment was rechristened as the Jammu & Kashmir Light Infantry on April 27, 1976. During the Siachen tenure in June 1987, the Battalion created history by capturing 'Quaid Post' at an high altitude of 21, 153 feet, the highest battle field in the world. The post was renamed as Bana Top in honour of Naib Subedar Bana Singh, Param Vir Chakra. The battalion was awarded Chief of Army Staff Unit Citation in 2001 for its sterling performance in the Poonch Sector. The Battalion established the United Nation Mission in Sudan 2006 and was conferred with United Nation Unit Citation in the year 2007 for handling the bloodiest of clashes ever in the history of Sudan. UNI NY RSA 1752 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-805593.Xml
President Pranab Mukherjee today extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Republic of Djibouti on the eve of their Independence Day. In a message to Mr Ismail Omar Guelleh, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, Mr Mukherjee said, ''On behalf of the Government, the people of India and on my own behalf, I extend warm greetings and felicitations to Your Excellency and to the friendly people of the Republic of Djibouti on the occasion of your Independence Day.'' ''India remains committed to work together with Djibouti for further strengthening the cordial, diverse and mutually beneficial relations that exist between our two countries and peoples,'' the President said. ''Excellency, during your visit to New Delhi for the India-Africa Forum Summit, and your meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, various possibilities of furthering our bilateral relations were discussed. I am confident that these relations will be further strengthened and diversified to our mutual benefit in the years ahead. I avail of this opportunity to convey to Your Excellency my good wishes for your personal well-being and happiness, as well as for the progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Djibouti,'' Mr Mukhejee added. UNI NY SB 1846 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-805705.Xml
Union Home Ministry today announced to send its team to Jammu and Kashmir by June 28 to look into the issues of cross-border infiltration, in the wake of attack on CRPF convoy in the state which killed eight personnel. ''The team would be leaving for J&K by Tuesday,'' the Ministry said in a statement. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has set up the team owing to his deep concern for the loss of life of brave CRPF personnel. The Union Home Minister has directed that the team should submit its report at the earliest. The team will look into the issues of possible increase in cross-border infiltration, and the practices and procedures being followed by the CRPF during movement of their convoys. The team consists of the Secretary (Border Management), Mr Susheel Kumar and Special Secretary, (Internal Security), Mr Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary (Kashmir), Mr Gyanesh Kumar. Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, including an officer, and two militants were killed and 23 other personnel injured in a fierce encounter at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway yesterday afternoon. Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfit has, meanwhile, claimed the responsibility for the attack. A senior CRPF officer told reporters at the site of encounter that militants attacked a convoy at Fristabal, Pampore, on the highway. A bus on way to Srinagar from Awantipora came under heavy fire resulting in on-the-spot death of five CRPF personnel and 23 others injured. He said two militants were also killed in the retaliatory firing. The injured were rushed to hospital where three more succumbed. The injured have been admitted to Army base hospital. The officer said the security forces were returning from routine firing practice. UNI NY SB 1955 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-805825.Xml
The hand-pulled rickshaw, which has through the decades emerged as a symbol of Kolkata despite facing threats to its existence in an age of speed and mechanised transport, is the cynosure of all eyes in an ongoing photo exhibition depicting the trials and tribulations of the pullers. Part of A big project "Stone - Being and Becoming", the 14-day exhibition that began on Friday, showcases 15 freeze shots of the slow-moving but environmental-friendly vehicles, which run through large parts of the eastern metropolis carrying passengers. Clicked by Rajesh Gupta, an eye-catching photo captures a wheel of the rickshaw and the tired feet of a puller apparently resting on the vehicle. Another frame in black and white presents a row of rickshaws against the background of a desolate house enveloped by the gigantic roots of what could be an unseen grand old banyan tree. A third photo contains a melancholy portrait of a rickshaw puller sitting on the footrest of his vehicle with an intense gaze. With some of the photographs bringing out the lonely existence of rickshaw pullers, Gupta said: "While interacting with them I realised that they don't have any dream. They are forced to stay within their circle. Even if they want to come out of that circle, they can't." Forty two of the rickshaw pullers were felicitated on Sunday at the exhibition venue - Harrington Street Art gallery. The rickshaw pullers had their moments under the sun as they were given t-shirts, served blueberry cakes, and introduced to celebrities like actors Om Puri and Swastika Mukherjee. "Rickshaw pullers are intrinsic to Kolkata. Memorabilia, t-shirts everything talks about them. We wanted to glorify the real heroes of the city," said photographer Kounteya Sinha, one of the key persons in the project. Om Puri, who once played the role of a rickshaw puller in Roland Joffe's "City of Joy", said: "Kolkata's iconic rickshaw, which is part of its history, should never die." "In monsoons when the streets are flooded, rickshaws become the only mode of transportation" he said. Puri added that like Hong Kong, Kolkata should also make rickshaws a tourist attraction and allow them to function in limited parts of the city where they don't cause hindrance to the traffic. The hand pulled rickshaw has been a medium of conveyance in the city since 1914, three years after the national capital was shifted to Delhi from Kolkata. Few years back the West Bengal government brought a proposal to ban rickshaws. But in the face of tremendous opposition from green activists, civil society and heritage experts, the decision was taken back. --IANS int-ssp/vd ( 443 Words) 2016-06-26-22:46:02 (IANS)
On Friday, Hank Paulson, who was in office during the 2008 financial crisis, announced his support which came amid mounting concerns about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump's candidacy, CNN reported.

Paulson, a controversial figure given former President George W. Bush's handling of the downturn, said "a Trump presidency is unthinkable" and predicted that other conservatives would rally behind her.

"I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world," Paulson wrote in The Washington Post.

"To my Republican friends: I know I'm not alone."

Paulson, once the CEO of Goldman Sachs, criticised Trump's business record, divisiveness and brand of populist rhetoric.

Clinton has been criticised for close ties to Wall Street, but not many Republicans of Paulson's stature have formally endorsed her.

"I can't help but think what would have happened if a divisive character such as Trump were president during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when leadership, compromise and careful analysis were critical," Paulson wrote.

Paulson's support comes days after Brent Scowcroft, a top national security adviser to Republican presidents dating back to Gerald Ford, similarly backed Clinton, and Robert Kagan, a prominent Republican neoconservative, is headlining a fundraiser for Clinton, Foreign Policy reported on Thursday.

Last week, Richard Armitage, who served in the State and Defence Departments under Bush and former President Ronald Reagan, announced he will vote for Clinton.

--IANS ksk

( 278 Words)

2016-06-25-10:14:03 (IANS)
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IS released an execution video of the five activists -- who had been held captive for nine months -- which showed them being killed in five different ways, EFE news reported.

One of the victims was identified as Sami Jawddat al-Rabbah, an activist who worked at SOHR.

The IS jihadis killed al-Rabbah by detonating his laptop, to which he was tied.

The group said the five victims were accused of acting against IS and releasing information in exchange for money, among other things.

--IANS ksk/dg

( 123 Words)

2016-06-26-15:28:02 (IANS)
Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen today, residents said, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict.Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government.The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa.Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported.There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations.Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war."The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise," Ban said, according to a text received from the world body."I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he added.The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized.The Yemeni government insists that any new government would only be formed after the Houthis hand over their weapons and turn into a political party.REUTERS DS0036 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0098-806076.Xml
Iraqi forces today recaptured the last district of Falluja held by Islamic State militants and the commander of the operation declared the battle over following a month of fighting.Iraqi troops reached the city centre, an hour's drive west of Baghdad, last week but militants had holed up in some parts, including Golan district which the military retook today.The assault is part of a wider offensive against Islamic State, which seized swathes of territory in 2014 but is now being driven back by an array of forces backed by a US-led coalition.Gains in Falluja give fresh momentum to the campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city anywhere in the jihadists' self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria."As we promised you, today this flag is flying high in Falluja and, God willing, it will soon fly in Mosul," said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, wearing a black military uniform and waving the Iraqi tricolour in front of the main hospital.Swift advances in Falluja surprised many who expected a drawn-out battle for the bastion of Sunni Muslim insurgency, where some of the toughest fighting of the US occupation took place in 2004 against Islamic State's al Qaeda forerunner.Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, who was in charge of the operation, told state TV at least 1,800 militants had been killed and the rest had fled or been captured. Some were still holding out in buildings, he said.The US-led coalition continued to provide air strikes and intelligence support in Falluja, a spokesman said.Iraqi officers said air strikes had killed most of the insurgents ahead of ground advances to clear out remnants. Aerial bombardment also dug craters into main streets to prevent militants from slipping between neighbourhoods.Insurgents in Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, had put up limited resistance and folded after some commanders abandoned the fight, military officials said.Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said on Twitter around 90 per cent of Falluja remained "safe and habitable", comparing that favourably with Ramadi and Sinjar, cities recaptured from Islamic State last year but badly damaged in the process.Parts of Falluja, especially a southern frontline that was mostly static for around two years, have been severely scarred by air strikes, artillery fire and Islamic State mines.Many buildings are pancaked or damaged beyond repair; others, like a stadium near the city centre that partially collapsed, less so. Dozens of homes were set ablaze but remain standing.REHABILITATION NEEDEDTrenches and earthen berms bisect many of Falluja's main arteries. Debris from weeks of clashes -- rubble, bullet casings, discarded water bottles -- are strewn across roads and piled more than a metre high on either side.Iraqi forces are now dismantling bombs and booby-trapped houses, whilst pursuing militants who slipped out of the city from the northwest, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism forces that spearheaded the offensive, told Reuters.Combat units mortared Islamic State positions in a western outskirt today afternoon as the thunder of controlled detonations echoed across the city.Counter-terrorism forces and local police tasked with keeping Islamic State out after military units leave refrained from entering most buildings to avoid improvised mines.Fighting to recapture Falluja forced the remaining 85,000 residents to flee over the past month, overwhelming government-run camps. The population was more than three times that size before Islamic State's takeover.The mayor of Falluja told Reuters that displaced families could return within two months if the government and intentional agencies provided assistance."The city doesn't just require a rebuilding of its infrastructure but also serious rehabilitation of its society," said Essa al-Esawi."We need serious programmes from the international community to help people get rid of (Islamic State's) deviant ideologies and restore their normal life."But an aid group said it was too early to speak of returns."We just do not know which areas are safe and which aren't," said Nasr Muflahi of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "We are not in a position to ensure people will get basic supplies and services in Falluja."The United Nations says it has received allegations of abuse of civilians fleeing the city, including by members of Shi'ite armed groups supporting the offensive under the umbrella of Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF).Fearing they would enflame sectarian tensions in the mostly Sunni city, PMF that fought in outlying areas were largely sidelined during the main push into central Falluja. But some units appeared near the frontlines at the weekend and a top commander visited the battlefield yesterday.Two fighters wearing military fatigues who were patrolling a northwestern district on Sunday said they belonged to Badr Organisation, one of the most powerful Shi'ite factions, while counter-terrorism forces detained three PMF fighters on allegations of vandalism and arson. REUTERS DS0107 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0098-806078.Xml
BRUSSELS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Britain's European commissioner Jonathan Hill, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, announced Saturday to resign from his post, said a press release issued by the European Commission.

"Like many people here and in the UK, I am obviously very disappointed about the result of the referendum," said Hill in a statement, noting that he "do not believe it is right that I should carry on as the British Commissioner as though nothing had happened."

"I wanted it to end differently and had hoped that Britain would want to play a role in arguing for an outward-looking, flexible, competitive, free trade Europe. But the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works," he said.

"I came to Brussels as someone who had campaigned against Britain joining the euro and who was sceptical about Europe. I will leave it certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy. But what is done cannot be undone and now we have to get on with making our new relationship with Europe work as well as possible," he said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he had accepted Hill's decision with regret.

"Lord Hill is an experienced politician for whom I have great respect and I want to sincerely thank him for his loyal and professional work as a member of my team," said Juncker.

"The work of the European Union must go on. After having spoken with Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, I have asked Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, to take over the portfolio for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union," Juncker noted.

Hill's resignation will take effect on July 15, while President Juncker's decision to transfer his portfolio will take effect on July 16. This will allow for an orderly transition of this important portfolio.

Under the EU treaties, there should be one commissioner per member state in the Commission. The Commission said Juncker stands ready to discuss swiftly with the British prime minister potential names for a Commissioner of UK nationality as well as the allocation of a possible portfolio. Enditem
KATHMANDU, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Nepal and India agreed on Saturday to use global navigation satellite system for boundary pillars between the two neighbors.

Sureshman Shrestha, a senior official at the Nepal's Department of Survey, said the third meeting of Nepal-India Boundary Working Group (BWG) finalized the target and schedule for the next field season which is expected to begin in November 2016.

"The meeting approved internationally accepted positioning system using Nepal-India Boundary Global Navigation Satellite System (NIB GNSS) for Nepal-India boundary pillars," the Nepalese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

All the 8,553 pillars on the 1,880-km-long Nepal-India border will be fitted with the NIB GNSS and monitored with the help of 83 control points.

During the three-day meeting, Indian and Nepalese delegations reaffirmed the importance of effective boundary management.

"In this context, they emphasized the importance of making local authorities and people living along the border aware of the field works being conducted by joint field teams," the statement said.

The BWG is one of the highest bilateral technical mechanisms between Nepal and India, which is entrusted to restore the border pillars, undertake their reconstruction and repair by clearing the "no-man's land" on both sides of the border in line with the strip maps jointly prepared by the two countries in 2007.

However, this bilateral mechanism is not mandated to resolve two most disputed territories - Kalapani and Susta area - along the Nepal-India border, officials said.

The two sides agreed to hold next meeting of India-Nepal BWG in August 2017 in India. Enditem
WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the sudden flooding in the eastern U.S. state of West Virginia has risen to 26 on Saturday as the bodies of three more victims were found overnight.

The newly found victims in Kanawha County were one male and two females who presumably drowned when high water flooded their homes, said a USA Today report, quoting the county's Sheriff's Office.

Just after midnight on Saturday, the state's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management tweeted that at least 23 people died in the flooding and more than 32,000 homes and businesses were without power across the state.

A state of emergency has been declared in 44 of the state's 55 counties, according to an ABC News report.

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said Friday that the damage is widespread and devastating, lamenting the flooding "among the worst in a century for some parts of the state."

As much as 8 to 10 inches of rain fell in six to eight hours in parts of the state on Thursday, said the National Weather Service, calling the amount of rain in such a short time likely a "one-in-a-thousand-year event."
SANTIAGO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc grouping Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, will step up efforts to boost cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, an official has said.

Leaders of the group will meet next week in Chile to discuss ways to forge closer ties and take joint efforts to approach the Asian markets, said Andres Rebolledo, chief of international economic relations at the Chilean Foreign Ministry.

All four member countries have the same interest in jointly approaching the Asian markets. Each year they carry out dozens of joint activities in Asia, Rebolledo told a press conference.

The bloc has come to the point of "implementing a precise and concrete negotiation (for a free trade agreement) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations," Rebolledo said.

Many of the 49 observer countries of the Pacific Alliance are also keen to seek more cooperation with China and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Chile will take the presidency of the trade bloc at a summit to be held at the Chilean city of Puerto Varas from Tuesday to Friday. A Chinese delegation will attend the meeting, as well as representatives from Germany, Britain and Israel, among others.

Formed in 2011, the Pacific Alliance is a free trade zone with the initial goal of furthering free trade with a clear orientation toward Asia. Enditem
HOUSTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and several others wounded Saturday in a shooting at a dance studio in a city in the northern part of the U.S. state of Texas, police said.

Police officers discovered one victim dead outside Studio 74 in Fort Worth and sent several injured to hospitals, a spokesman for the city's police department said in a statement.

But one of the injured died later at the hospital, the spokesman said, adding that homicide detectives were investigating at the scene.

No further information was immediately available.

In a separate incident, Houston police said on Saturday that a mother shot and killed her two daughters in southwest Houston on Friday, and that she was killed by a police officer who tried to stop the killing.

Because of loose gun control, the United States, with more than 300 million guns scattered nationwide, has long been plagued by gun violence.

The Republican-controlled Texas supports people's right of owning a gun. As of Jan. 1, 2016, the state of Texas allows concealed handgun permit holders to begin carrying handguns openly.

Currently, purchasing firearms at gun shows and on the Internet does not require any background check in the majority of U.S. states.

The country is still reeling from the deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded by a lone gunman on June 12 in a shooting spree at a popular nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Enditem
MOGADISHU, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- People help an injured man out of the gunfire site by a notel Mogadishu, Somalia, June 25, 2016. Twin car bomb explosions rocked a hotel in the center of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, followed by ongoing gunfire. (Xinhua/Faisal Isse)

MOGADISHU, June 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and scores injured in twin car bomb explosions on a hotel in Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday afternoon, a police officer has said.

Police officer Mohamed Nor, who was at the scene, told Xinhua those killed were mostly civilians who were in the Nasa-Hablod Hotel at the time of the explosions.

"The first explosion hit the entrance of the hotel and gunmen entered the hotel. A second explosion happened immediately thereafter," Nor said.

He said security agencies were "responding to the situation".

Islamist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sporadic gunfire can still be heard from the hotel and police reports indicated there was hostage situation.

Nasa-Hablod Hotel is located at the central business district in Mogadishu and frequented by politicians.

The Al-Shabaab militants, fighting against the Somali government, frequently carry out attacks in Mogadishu.

Early this month, at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in an Al-Shabaab attack on another hotel in Mogadishu.
TEHRAN, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Saturday that its forces have killed five armed insurgents in the fresh clashes in the Kurd-populated region of Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan.

"In the clashes on Friday night between IRGC's Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada forces and the counter-revolutionary armed insurgents in the border point of Sarvabad as well as Mahabad region, five mercenaries of global arrogance, including two of their commanders Arash Menbari and Shouresh Menbari, were killed," said the statement issued by the public relations of IRGC's ground forces.

In the operations, sizable number of arms and facilities were seized from them, it said.

There were no casualties on the Iranian security forces, it added.

On June 16, IRGC said that its forces had smashed two terrorist cells in northwestern country and had killed twelve terrorists.

Three members of the IRGC also died in the clashes with "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," it said.

Reports said that the "terrorists" belonged to the members of outlawed "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," including the Kurdish Democrat Party, who had crossed the northwestern borders into the country. Enditem
KIGALI, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Over 600 climate change experts from governments across Africa and beyond are expected to gather at this year's Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) scheduled for next week in the Rwandan capital Kigali.

The high-level meeting that will run from June 28 to 30, will deliberate Africa's roadmap to sustainable development and shared prosperity.

Participants at this year's forum will also highlight the continent's readiness and requirement for accelerated private and public financing of low-carbon development.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Vincent Biruta, Rwanda minister of natural resources, said that the country was ready to host the meeting that will address climate change challenges across Africa.

"The Africa Carbon Forum is an ideal venue for climate change experts to weigh options, policies and pathways that can promote low carbon emissions on the continent," he noted.

"Our continent is fast-rising in industrial development, hence an increased carbon emissions which greatly affect our environment. We needed an ideal platform to address to share knowledge and solutions to climate change impacts that impede Africa's development."

ACF supports Africa's participation in global carbon markets and its access to green investment with a range of conference sessions, side events and networking opportunities.

The forum is organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Environment Programme, along with World Bank, African Development Bank and International Emissions Trading Association.

It is organised under the umbrella of the Nairobi Framework, which was launched in 2006 by then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with the aim to assist developing countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, to improve their level of participation in the low carbon emissions.

The participants are expected to consult on their contributions to the agreement via their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) while exploring and encouraging greater opportunities for low-carbon development. Enditem
BEIJING, June 25, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia vowed to strengthen global strategic stability in a joint statement signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The statement was signed after their talks on Saturday afternoon in Beijing.

In the joint statement, the two sides voiced concern over increasing "negative factors" affecting the global strategic stability.

Some countries and military-political alliances seek decisive advantage in military and relevant technology, so as to serve their own interests through use or threat to use of force in international affairs. Such policy resulted in an out-of-control growth of military power and shook the global strategic stability system, the joint statement said.

It expressed concern over the unilateral deployment of anti-missile systems all over the world, which it said is non-constructive and has negatively affected global and regional strategic balance, stability and security.

The statement said China and Russia are strongly opposed to the deployment of the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system in Europe and the possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in northeast Asia, which severely infringe upon the strategic security interests of countries in the region.

The long distance precision attack weapons developed by some countries, such as the global system for instant attack, may seriously damage the strategic balance and trigger a new round of arms race, according to the joint statement.

It said arms control is an important means to strengthen global security and stability, and that disarmament and arms control should be fair and balanced, and be conducive for every country's security.

The statement expressed concern over the rising danger of chemical and biological weapons falling into the hands of non-state entities for the conduct of terrorist and violent extremist activities, saying a way to cope with such threat is to improve relevant international law.

"Strategic stability" has been a military concept in nuclear weapon. The statement said this conception is outdated and the international community should regard "strategic stability" from a wider angle.

In political field, the joint statement called on all countries and groups of countries to abide by the principle on use of force and coercive measures stipulated by the UN Charter and international law, respect the legitimate rights and interests of all countries and peoples while handling international and regional hot issues, and oppose interference in other countries' political affairs.

In miliary field, all countries should keep its military capability at the lowest level necessary to maintain its national security, refrain from moves that may be seen by other countries as threat to their national security and force them to take counter measures such as military buildup,establishing or expanding military-political alliance, to restore damaged balance, the statement said.

All countries should solve disputes through positive and constructive dialogue and promote mutual trust and cooperation, the joint statement said.

The two countries voiced willingness to strengthen dialogue, cooperation and exchanges with the international community on the basis of the above principles, the joint statement said.

The two presidents also signed a joint statement on promoting the development of information and cyber space.

The two sides agreed that facing tough security challenges and the abuse of information technology, countries should conduct dialogue and cooperation on how to guarantee the security of cyberspace and promote the development of information network.

They both advocated for the establishment of a new cyberspace order that is peaceful, secure, open and cooperative, and the formulation of widely accepted code of conduct within the framework of the United Nations.

The two sides called for respect for countries' Internet sovereignty and voiced opposition to actions that infringe upon other countries' Internet sovereignty.

The two sides agreed to strengthen network governance and crack down on terrorist and other crimes conducted through the Internet.

The two countries agreed to hold regular meetings for consultations on cyberspace cooperation, according to the document.

Foreign Ministers of the two countries also signed a declaration on the promotion of international law.

The principles of international law are the cornerstone for just and equitable international relations featuring win-win cooperation, creating a community of shared future for mankind, and establishing common space of equal and indivisible security and economic cooperation, the declaration said.

The two countries reaffirmed the principle that states shall refrain from the threat or use of force in violation of the UN Charter and condemned unilateral military interventions.

The two countries voiced firm support to the principle of non-intervention in other countries' internal or external affairs, and condemned any interference by states in other states' internal affairs with the aim of forging change of legitimate governments.

The declaration reaffirmed the principle of peaceful settlement of disputes. It is crucial for the maintenance of international legal order that all disputes settlement means and mechanisms are based on consent and used in good faith and in the spirit of cooperation, and their purposes shall not be undermined by abusive practices, the declaration said.

The declaration criticised the adoption of unilateral coercive measures and condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations. It said to counter threat from terrorism requires collective action in full accordance with international law, including the UN Charter.

In the declaration, the two countries emphasized the important role of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in maintaining the rule of law relating to activities in the oceans.

It is of utmost importance that the provisions of this universal treaty are applied consistently, in such a manner that does not impair rights and legitimate interests of contracting parties and does not compromise the integrity of the legal regime established by the convention, the declaration said.

The declaration said the two countries are resolved to further enhance their cooperation in upholding and promoting international law and in establishing of a just and equitable international order based on international law.

Related:

China, Russia pledge "unswerving" partnership

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia vowed to unswervingly deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination during the talks between the two heads of state here on Saturday afternoon.
DUBAI, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Vice President and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has launched on Saturday the 2030 Dubai Industrial Strategy, UAE state news agency WAM reported.

The strategy aims to elevate Dubai into a global platform for knowledge-based, sustainable and innovation-focused businesses, said the report.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid said "the UAE is on track" to integrate its economic sectors and optimize industrial capacity to increase the gross domestic product (GDP) and other revenues to the national economy in the coming years.

He said sustainable development influences all the economic sectors, saying "conducive environment is necessary for our future industrial development based on knowledge, science and research."

Although 29 percent of the UAE's GDP is based on oil exports, the oil industry contributes only three percent to Dubai's economy.

The WAM quoted the Dubai Industrial Strategy paper that the industrial sector in Dubai is expected to grow by 18 billion dirham (4.9 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030, with export to gain 16 billion dirham.

Meanwhile, 27,000 jobs will be created and investment in research and development will increase by 700 million dirham by 2030.

The contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP was around 14 percent in 2014. "The sector's resilience and competency led to its growth over the past years, even during the global financial crisis," said WAM. Enditem
CAPE TOWN, June 25 (Xinhua)-- South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday highlighted the role of youths in ending violent protests in the run-up to local government elections.

The youths have the responsibility to help restore order and end the violent protests and looting in which some young people participate, Zuma said while addressing thousands of people at a youth rally at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, eastern South Africa.

The rally, organized by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), was part of the national Youth Month activities.

The youths should demonstrate their leadership and readiness to lead the country by fighting the demons of racism and tribalism, promoting stability and order and to end the violent protests, Zuma said.

He was speaking after violent protests swept several townships in Pretoria over the past few days.

The protests were sparked by the ANC decision to place former cabinet minister Thoko Didiza as its candidate for Pretoria mayor to replace current mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa in the local government elections scheduled for August 3.

The protesters are unhappy with Didiza and preferred Ramokgopa as their mayor. But the ANC said it would not change its candidate.

At least five people have been killed during the protests. Dozens of houses and buses burned, and numerous shops looted.

Speaking at the rally, ANCYL Secretary General Njabulo Nzuza said the ANCYL has a role to educate the youth against the destroying of property.

"You have people burning schools and people now looting taverns; those are criminal activities. The role of the youth league is to make sure that we mobilise young people to make sure they refrain from those things," Nzuza said.

"There are genuine ways to raise your issues and process them, not by burning things," he added.

Sporadic acts of violence were still reported in some parts of Pretoria, but relative calm has returned to most areas, police said. Enditem
KISUMU, Kenya, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Nine people are feared dead after a boat capsized in Lake Victoria near Bondo, western Kenya on Saturday, police say.

Regional police commander, Willy Lugusa, said eight of the 17 people, who were on board the boat, were rescued after the incident took place at 9:00 a.m. local time.

"The bodies of the other nine are yet to be recovered. We believe they are dead," said Lugusa.

He said the police were waiting for the bodies to float.

The 17 people on board are the members of a local band called Boyieta Wuod Awasi. The missing people include two women and seven men.

Lugusa said the boat capsized en route to the Ndenda Island in Siaya County from Lihunda beach in Bondo.

It is not clear what caused the accident.

The band was expected to perform on Saturday evening at a concert in Ndenda. Enditem
MADRID, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Spaniards will return to the polls for the second time in just six months on Sunday.

The previous election on December 20 last year was special as it was the first one since the rise of the new parties, Podemos and Ciudadanos and the results of that vote led to a hung parliament and a political stalemate in which none of the major parties were able to reach an agreement to form a viable coalition government, and then led to the calling of a new election.

If opinion polls are to believed, the situation has changed little in six months, although the decision taken by left wing parties Podemos and the United Left to form an electoral pact 'Unidos Podemos' could see them overtake the Socialist Party (PSOE) as the second political force in Spain.

The election will be held just three days after Britain voted to leave the European Union. It remains to be seen if the decision in Britain will have any effect on Spanish voters.

Although no polls can be carried out in the last week of the Spanish campaign, some political commentators believed the uncertainty about the future of the EU could lead to Spanish voters being more cautious with their votes, thus favoring established parties such as the PSOE and the ruling People's Party (PP).

The PP, led by acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, are predicted to remain as the major force in Spain, but to once again fall well short of the 176 seats needed for an absolute majority in the 350-seat Congress.

The PP have been rocked by further corruption scandals over the past six months, while the last week of the campaign also saw recordings leaked which show acting Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz apparently conspiring with anti-fraud officials to incriminate political rivals.

But the party relies on a core of support which guarantees them a minimum of around 28 percent of the vote. That guaranteed backing will give Rajoy an advantage if participation is down on six months ago.

For that reason, other party leaders made appeals on the last day of campaigning before Saturday's day of reflection, calling on their supporters to get to the ballot box.

Unidos Podemos' Pablo Iglesias insisted his party was within "touching distance" of winning, while PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez and Ciudadanos' Albert Rivera both presented their parties as the center ground against the "irresponsible right and populism" of the PP and Podemos.

The result is very hard to call and much may depend on just how many Spaniards actually will go out and cast their votes. Enditem
MEXICO CITY, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Global central banks are being vigilant about the stability of financial markets and are cooperating closely after the UK voted to exit the European Union, Agustin Carstens, governor of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), said on Saturday.

Carstens is currently president of the Global Economy Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements (GEM), headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. The institution met Saturday to discuss joint preparations for the fallout of the UK's decision.

"The governors of central banks, in the GEM, discussed the implications of the referendum," said Carstens in a statement.

The Banxico governor said that the group supported the measures taken by the Bank of England, which announced on Friday that it would release 250 billion pounds (342 billion U.S. dollar) in additional funds to help secure monetary and fiscal security.

Stock markets around the world suffered massive losses and currencies tumbled on Friday, due to the uncertainty caused by Thursday's referendum, which saw the UK vote to leave the EU.

The GEM brings together the central bank governors from 30 largest economies, which make up around 80 percent of global gross domestic product. Enditem
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The explosive growth of new energy vehicle (NEV) sales in China is expected to push up demand for lithium batteries and lithium products over the next few years, analysts say.

Over the past two years, the government released a slew of measures to promote the burgeoning sector, including subsidies, tax cuts and favorable number plate allocation.

Driven by the incentives, output and sales of NEVs climbed 131.4 percent and 134.1 percent to 132,000 and 126,000 in the first five months of this year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Wang Chuanfu, president of BYD, told Xinhua that the NEV sector has seen rapid growth since the latter half of last year, resulting in higher demand for lithium resources and a surge in lithium prices.

In 2015, the average price for lithium carbonate used in batteries surged 41 percent from a year earlier, data from the China Non-Ferrous Metal Association showed.

A guideline for the sector released last November forecast that China will have more than 5 million NEVs by 2020, with more than 4.3 million being electric cars.

Duan Dongping, head of Qinghai Lithium Industry Alliance, said prices of lithium products will continue to climb as lithium production is unlikely to develop at the same rate as NEV growth.
SAMUI ISLAND, Thailand, June 25 (Xinhua)-- The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Saturday held a "White Romance Beach Party" for 51 Chinese honeymoon couples in Thailand's southern province Surat Thai, in a bid to attract more Chinese honeymooners.

Runjuan Tongrut, Director of TAT's East Asian Region said, this is part of activities under the "honeymoon campaign in Thailand", which is promoted by TAT's five offices in China in cooperation with Chinese travel agents who are offering luxury packages, costing around 16,000 to 40,000 yuan (2,450-6,120 U.S.dollars)per couple, to attract high-end tourists and raise awareness of Thailand as a honeymoon destination.

At the welcome reception, honeymooners dressed up in all white to match the theme of a beach party. They participated in a contest to share their photographs or videos via social media networks in China. The couple who won the highest number of "likes" received a prize of a fully hosted tour package and free round trip air tickets from China to Thailand. "The most popular couple" are voted by audiences and awarded a prize of two air tickets.

Held annually since 2014, the "honeymoon in Thailand" campaign has helped make Thailand the top outbound destination for Chinese travelers, particularly for weddings and honeymooners.

Thailand is one of the world's most popular wedding and honeymoon destinations, an acclaim that is backed by several awards and honors across the world.

Samui Island is the premier island destination in the gulf of Thailand, which is about 560 kilometers from Bangkok. It's the third largest island in Thailand which boats fabulous beach resorts, internationally acclaimed restaurants and world-class accommodation. It's also well known for its clear water and rich marine life, which makes it a so-called diving paradise.

The international wedding and honeymoon market in Thailand is valued at around 30 billion baht (850,000 million U.S. dollars) per year, or about three percent of the overall tourism revenue.

Chinese tourists, numbering about 7.9 million, contribute most revenue to Thailand's tourism. In the first quarter of 2016, Chinese visitors to Thailand totaled 3,445,501, up 27.35 percent over the same period of 2015. TAT estimated that Chinese tourists will total 19.5 million with an expected expenditure of 509 billion baht in 2016.
YANGON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- More than 2,500 hectares of confiscated land in Myanmar's southwestern Ayeyawaddy region have been returned to 324 farmers in two townships of Pantanaw and Pyapon, official media reported Sunday.

Work will be speeded up to release more remaining land, Vice President U Henry Van Htio was quoted as saying.

The vice president, who is also Chairman of the Central Review Committee on Confiscated Farmland, told farmers in Pantanaw township that the government is making systematic efforts to ensure transparency in order to hand over confiscated land back to farmers, urging the regional authorities to take bold steps to solve the land issues within the legal framework.

Meanwhile, plans are also underway to return over 445 hectares of land to farmers in Mandalay region.

More than one month after taking office, the new government voiced commitment to the speedy resolution of farmland confiscation issue and for the speedy return of abandoned land to their lawful owners.

Permissions were granted in accordance with the 2012 Farmland Law during the previous government to private companies and government departments to confiscate land, including farmland, under the pretext of urbanization and industrialization.

The move has evoked land disputes among the government, landowners and investors over ownership.
Firefighters work to put out fire at a multi-storey industrial building in East Kowloon area of Hong Kong, south China, June 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

HONG KONG, June 25 (Xinhua) -- A deadly fire that engulfed an industrial building in Hong Kong's East Kowloon was "largely put out" late Saturday night after burning for over 100 hours and killing two firefighters.

The blaze broke out at a self-storage unit in an industrial building on Tuesday morning, and was upgraded to No. 4 alarm later that day.

Thomas Cheung, a 30-year-old senior station officer, died on Tuesday after losing consciousness while battling the fire.

Firefighters work to put out fire at a multi-storey industrial building in East Kowloon area of Hong Kong, south China, June 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

The second victim Hui Chi-kit, 37, was killed on Thursday evening.

Police said on Saturday that after an examination of CCTV footage, no evidence was found to suggest an arson.

Secretary for Development Paul Chan said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government may tighten the regulation of self-storage units.
MEXICO CITY, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines is seeking a political victory, not a real territorial solution, to disputes concerning the South China Sea, an expert in Mexico has said.

Manila should seek to resolve the conflict by engaging in a bilateral dialogue with China, Marisela Connelly, a Chinese studies professor at the College of Mexico, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague is expected to soon give its verdict on a dispute brought forward by the Philippines concerning China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea.

"This is a political matter for the Philippines concerning balance of power in the region. This is clear as the U.S. is an ally of the Philippines and is increasing its military presence in the country," Connelly said.

The Philippines brought the case to the PCA in January 2013, stating that China is infringing on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

However, Beijing has steadfastly stated that neither the PCA nor UNCLOS apply to matters of national sovereignty.

Connelly said the Chinese reaction is fully justified as China has consistently sought to entertain good relations with its neighbors, including the Philippines.

China has always maintained that dialogue is the best way to resolve bilateral problems, including issues about the South China Sea, said the expert.

The Philippines' request to the PCA also surprised her as Manila has expressed interest in expanding trade with China in order to benefit its own development, said Connelly.

The professor said China sees national sovereignty as a matter of supreme importance, especially after unjust international treaties resulted in China losing some of its territories in the past.

"In this case with the Philippines, China is showing that it will not give up its territories and that it will not be pressured to do so by anyone," she said.

Related:

Interview: Manila intensifies tension in South China Sea -- former diplomat

MANILA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has been behind the intensifying tensions in the South China Sea, a former diplomat of the country told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Alberto Encomienda, former secretary-general of Maritime and Ocean Affairs Center of the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department, said: "China has been for the negotiations all along, but from the beginning we are not." Full story

How to Bridge the Divide Over the South China Sea

The differences between China and the U.S. over the South China Sea issue have become a matter of concern and even anxiety. But some of the perceptions in the U.S. and elsewhere about Chinas policy and intentions in the area are misplaced. A pressing task is to understand the facts and Chinas intentions correctly so as to avoid real danger and consequences as a result of misinterpretation and miscalculation. Full Story

China urges Philippines to immediately cease arbitral proceedings

BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday again urged the Philippines to stop its arbitral proceedings and return to the right track of settling relevant disputes in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiation with China.
PHNOM PENH, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Piles of drugs are burned down in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 26, 2016. The Cambodian authorities on Sunday ceremonially burned down about 1.56 tons of marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin, which were seized from criminals last year, anti-drug chief said. The drug destruction ceremony was held here to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which has been observed globally on June 26 since 1987. (Xinhua/Sovannara)

PHNOM PENH, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian authorities on Sunday ceremonially burned down about 1.56 tons of marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin, which were seized from criminals last year, anti-drug chief said.

The drug destruction ceremony was held here to celebrate the International Day against Drug.

Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), said the drugs set on fire included 1.49 tons of dry marijuana, 1.5 kilograms of marijuana oil, 67.4 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 0.34 kilogram of heroin.

He appreciated anti-drug police officers for their active and constant suppression on drug-related crimes.

"Cambodia is not the country that produces illicit drugs, but it has been suffering from drug trafficking from regions around the world, especially from the Golden Triangle," he said.

He added that criminals always attempted to use Cambodia as a "drug transit point" and a "drug processing den" for exporting to the third countries, but their attempts had been foiled thanks to timely crackdowns.

The Southeast Asian country saw a sharp rise in drug arrests in 2015. According to the NACD, some 7,008 drug suspects with 1.6 tons of drugs had been arrested last year in 3,061 cases.

In a message on the occasion, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said despite active crackdowns on drugs, Cambodia still continued facing and suffering from the impacts of illicit drug production and circulation inside and outside the region.

"Practically, in early 2016, even though we have cracked down on many drug offences, drug use is likely to spread to some rural areas," he said.

He said drugs have not only caused issues to users and their families, but also had adverse impacts on security, public order and development in the society.

Meanwhile, the prime minister called on all circles to cooperate well with the authorities in order to combat drugs timely and effectively.

Cambodia has about 16,575 drug addicts, some 7,753 of them have received treatment to quit their drug habit, according to the NACD.

The country has no death sentence for drug traffickers under its law, and a person who traffics more than 80 grams of drug will be facing life imprisonment.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese customs has confiscated 15.6 tonnes of smuggled drugs since 2014, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and opium, were confiscated in 1,091 cases involving more than 1,055 suspects.

Most were discovered in checks on tourists, postal packages and courier deliveries, accounting for 474 cases.

Though fewer smuggling cases were carried out through freight transport, these cases involved large quantities of drugs. For example, Guangzhou customs in south China's Guangdong Province uncovered two smuggling cases through freight transport, seizing 339 kilograms of methamphetamine in total.

Smuggling channels have become more hidden. Shanghai customs intercepted cocaine concealed in red wine, and Qingdao customs found cocaine in plastic bags sewn into underwear.

Smugglers have been hiring or coercing pregnant women, minors, the elderly, and college-educated women to carry drugs.

China has been active in global cooperation efforts to fight drug smuggling.

A global customs enforcement operation, codenamed "SKY-NET" organized in 2012 by the World Customs Organization in close cooperation with the GAC, had resulted in the discovery of 18.6 tonnes of illicit goods by the end of 2015.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking has been observed globally on June 26 since 1987.




BUENOS AIRES, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Contestant Luisina Mendoza sings a Chinese song during the contest "Sing in Chinese" at the Chinese Embassy to Argentina in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, on June 25, 2016. The Chinese Embassy to Argentina hosted its first Chinese singing competition in a bid to raise local interest in Chinese culture. (Xinhua/Martin Zabala)

BUENOS AIRES, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Argentina Saturday hosted its first Chinese singing competition here, in a bid to stimulate local interest in Chinese culture.

Eighty people have competed in previous rounds of the match that have been supported by the Chinese Ministry of Education. Thirteen of them have made it to the final, which will be held on Sept. 10 in a famous theater known for its tango shows in Buenos Aires.

Yang Chuanying, the embassy's cultural attache, said the event was held to deepen understanding of Chinese music and language among the Argentine people and develop mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations.

"We are very happy and satisfied with the wide participation of contestants coming from various provinces," said Yang.
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, June 26 (Xinhua) -- About 16 Taliban militants were killed in a U.S. drone attack in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz overnight, a military statement said on Sunday.

"A senior Taliban leader named Mullah Jannat Gul along with 15 of his men were killed after a pilotless plane of international forces struck two vehicles running along a road in Quash Tipa, Chahar Dara district Saturday night," said the statement issued by the Afghan army's Division 20 Pamir stationed in the region.

The insurgents tried to relocate but the struck came after a tip-off confirmed the movement of the insurgents in the restive district, the statement noted.

In an unrelated incident, Abdul Samad, a Taliban intelligence agent and insurgents' suicide attack facilitator, was captured in an Afghan army security checkpoint in Ghorband district of eastern Parwan province on Saturday, an army source told Xinhua earlier.

The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations and NATO-led forces increased drone attacks against militants since early April after Taliban militants started their so-called annual spring offensive and step up attacks across the country.

The Taliban militants group has yet to make comments.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has wrapped up his state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan, with the Belt and Road Initiative he proposed strengthening China's ties with the three nations that sit right along the ancient trade route.

The initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt that links China with Europe through Central and Western Asia by inland routes, and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road connecting China with Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe by sea.

The Belt and Road Initiative has been a focus of the meetings between Xi and leaders of the three countries that were among the first to respond to the initiative and play key roles in its implementation.

China and Serbia signed a memorandum on jointly promoting the Belt and Road construction in 2015. At present, Serbia is pushing forward re-industrialization and attracting more foreign investment, while Poland hopes to provide a gateway for China to enter Europe.

"Our cooperation on major projects is making heartening and sweeping progress, delivering economic and social benefits to and having a positive impact on the entire Central and Eastern European region," Xi said in a signed article in leading Serbian newspaper Politika published on June 16.

In response, Serbia said it is ready to seize this crucial opportunity and play an active role in China's initiative so as to align the development strategies of the two countries, deepen their pragmatic cooperation and realize common development and prosperity.

In Poland, the biggest nation in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of territory, population and economic volume, Xi reached agreements with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on promoting economic ties within China's Belt and Road and Poland's Amber Road frameworks.

Xi also called on the two countries to make their partnership a paradigm of cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

For their parts, Polish leaders pledged support for the initiative and commitment for promoting Europe-Asia cooperation, adding that the dovetailing of Poland's Amber Road and the Silk Road will play a significant role in promoting the security, prosperity and development of Europe and Asia.

In Uzbekistan, Xi and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov vowed to jointly promote the initiative, and seek synergy between their respective development strategies.

While addressing the Uzbek Parliament on Wednesday, Xi called for building a "green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful" Silk Road.

Under the Belt and Road framework, a series of key projects is being carried out in the three countries, such as the Hungary-Serbia railway, the Pupin Bridge on the Danube River in Belgrade, the expansion and upgrading of the Kostolac Power Plant, the China-Europe freight train service, the Qamchiq Tunnel in Uzbekistan, as well as the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline system.

Related:

Commentary: Belt and Road cooperation gaining momentum

BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The early results of practical cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road serve as inspiration for further collaborative projects under the initiative.

The Belt and Road -- the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road -- will run through Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant Asian economic circle at one end with developed Europe at the other. Full story

Xinhua Insight: Belt and Road Initiative draws China, Europe closer

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday concluded state visits to Serbia and Poland, two of China's old friends in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and important links in China's Belt and Road Initiative.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China welcomed a newcomer to its Long March carrier rocket family on Saturday as the new generation Long March-7 blasted off successfully. It brings China one step closer to its goal of operating a permanent space station.

As China ventures deeper into space, the country has not wavered in the key principles that govern its space missions -- namely, peaceful development in space exploration.

China has taken an active part in international space cooperation and been willing to provide platforms for countries and regions to use outer space peacefully.

Currently, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), independently developed and operated by China, provides open services to the Asia-Pacific region free of charge.

China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe, which is scheduled to land on the moon in 2018, is expected to carry three scientific payloads, developed by the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. The cooperation aims to help engineers and scientists from different countries conduct joint research and share scientific data.

In addition, China has offered high-resolution imagery of the Ecuador quake zone, captured by satellite Gaofen-2, to aid relief work following the deadly earthquake in April upon request from Ecuador's government.

Long March carrier rockets have sent 49 satellites into pre-set orbit in 43 missions for 22 countries, regions and international satellite organizations, according to the latest data released by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technologies.

China is willing to provide space products and services to more countries and regions, especially developing countries, on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and peaceful use.

Scientists with China's manned space program have repeatedly expressed willingness to cooperate internationally, and foreign astronauts are expected aboard China's space station.

China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, said earlier this year that payload has been reserved for international projects and foreign astronauts on the Chinese space station, which is due to enter service around 2022.

Upon request, China will also train astronauts for other countries, and jointly train astronauts with the European space station, Yang said.

Progress in aerospace technology has greatly benefited ordinary people and boosted development of multiple industries.

Each dollar that goes to space programs could generate 7 to 12 dollars in economic returns, according to assessments made by U.S. and European research institutions.

Satellite communication technology alone has greatly transformed daily life through telephone, data transmission, and emergency rescue services as well as providing platforms for distance learning and medical treatment.

China will complete construction of national civilian space infrastructure around 2025. It will include satellite remote sensing, satellite communication and broadcasting, satellite navigation and positioning.

China is a latecomer in space development compared with the United States and Russia, but the country is no less ambitious in contributing to the peaceful development of outer space.

The future of space exploration lies in international cooperation, rather than fierce competition. Cooperation in the global arena will help the development of mankind.
CHANGSHA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 30 people were killed after a tour bus burst into flames in Hunan Province on Sunday morning, local authorities confirmed.

The accident happened at about 10:20 a.m. when the bus carrying 56 people crashed into the guardrails on a highway in Yizhang County. The ensuing oil leak may have caused the fire, the county government said.

Twenty-one people have been sent to hospitals, and rescuers are still searching the charred frame of the bus.

The police has detained the driver.
LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The European tourism sector may be among the first to weather the storm after the sterling fell to a 31-year low amid the Brexit vote Friday.

Statistics show that more than two thirds of British foreign travels are made to European Union (EU) destinations. Spain, France, Italy and Germany are among the most visited countries.

Italy alone receives about 12 million British tourists every year, with the majority of foreign visitors to the country being British, said Italian tourism association Federturismo.

Hotel and restaurant managers and tourism agencies all strongly believed in a Remain victory. They were shocked after the final result was revealed Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Spain is expecting a big loss, as roughly one fifth of its visitors are Britons. Tourism agencies in London said they are expecting hard years ahead.

A weakened pound will put Britons at a disadvantage in paying for accommodations and travels out of the country, they said.

On Friday morning, by obtaining nearly 52 percent of ballots, the Leave camp pulled Britain out of the 28-nation European Union after a 43-year membership.

The sterling and euro were hit hard after the vote, as investors' worries about the impact of a Brexit on Britain and the eurozone economy have soared. Sterling plunged 10 percent against the greenback.

Robert Savage, chief executive officer of CC Track Solutions, told Xinhua on Friday that the British pound "is likely going to continue to suffer given uncertainty of politics and growth."

Prior to the referendum, billionaire investor George Soros had predicted that a Brexit would be a catastrophe for the British economy, saying that the pound would drop by 15-20 percent.

Apart from its looming impact on European tourism, the City of London also risks losing its so-called "EU passport" allowing British banks to operate freely with European banks.

European Central Bank's Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau told France Inter radio that if Britain leaves the EU, the country wouldn't be able to keep the passport and continue relations with the bloc's banking sector unhindered.

Britain will have to continue complying with European rules after the fallout if it wants to keep access to the single market, said de Galhau.

Foreign ministers from six founding countries of the EU met on Saturday in Berlin, pushing for speedy exit procedures for Britain.

"This process should start as soon as possible," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The aim must be "not to fall into a prolonged stalemate," he added.

While the EU pushed Britain for a quick exit, a petition to parliament calling for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership gathered more than one million signatures by midday Saturday.

The petition demands a change in the law to pave the way for a re-run of Thursday's national vote. It calls for a majority of 60 percent and a turnout of 75 percent before any change in Britain's EU membership can take place.
JIUQUAN, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7 touches down successfully in Badain Jaran Desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Zhenhua)

JIUQUAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7 touched down successfully on Sunday afternoon in Badain Jaran Desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
TIANJIN, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Visitors watch a movie with VR headsets at the exploration zone on the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016, or the Summer Davos Forum, in Tianjin, north China, June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Bai Yu)



TIANJIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China's start-ups are vying against big companies for the best minds as the country pushes for entrepreneurship and innovation-driven growth.

Start-ups offer the prospect of realizing one's dreams, leading many to give up high-paying jobs at established firms, according to investors and entrepreneurs on Sunday at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin in north China.

A growing number of talented people are starting their own companies instead of working for big firms. China's start-up boom comes as the Internet plays a growing role in retail and other services and following endorsements of entrepreneurship by authorities.

"Back then there was a lack of talent in young companies, because there were a lot of risks and fear in not taking the traditional path," said Calvin Chin, founder of Transist, a start-up incubator. "But now as start-ups become increasingly more popular, and more and more companies grow into success from nothing, what you see is that smart people are opening their own companies in China."

Anna Fang, partner and CEO of Beijing-based venture capital firm ZhenFund, said the Chinese start-up community is studded with both ambitious up-and-comers and corporate veterans.

"Not just college graduates, but also senior corporate executives and public relations specialists -- they all want to start their own company, and that's really a significant advancement," Fang said.

The list of corporate veterans joining start-ups in China runs long. Jean Liu, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, joined Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi, Uber's arch-rival in China. Maggie Tan Jing quit her job at UBS to co-found Home-Cook, a start-up that sends people to cook homemade meals for white-collar workers in nearby office buildings. Longhsiang Loh, a veteran banker, joined online wealth management start-up Dianrong after nearly 18 years at Standard Chartered Bank.

"For companies, a big paycheck is no longer the best lure for talent," said Yuan Hui, founder of Shanghai-based artificial intelligence firm Xiaoi.

"It has to be the vision, something that touches the softest part of their hearts and make them realize that doing what they do can really make a difference for the world," Yuan said.

Investors are keen to see China attract talent from around world in the future, lured by the country's supportive atmosphere for entrepreneurship.

By attracting global talent, China could measure up to places like Silicon Valley in the United States, which has drawn bright minds, such as Elon Musk from South Africa, to create some of the world's most valuable companies.


This photo taken on Dec. 11, 2015 shows uniquely beautiful winter scenery of the Zhaoshu Island in the South China Sea. (Xinhua file photo/Zhao Yingquan)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- It is widely believed that the verdict on the arbitration case against China over South China Sea disputes unilaterally filed by the Philippines will not be legally binding.

China maintains that the tribunal handling of the arbitration proceedings has no jurisdiction over the case, which is in essence about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation.

Here are some notable opinions on this issue:

Dogu Perincek, chairman of Turkey's Patriotic Party, said the arbitration is "an obvious intervention in regional countries' sovereignty", and that as an independent and sovereign country, China "has no obligation to obey the decision of the international tribunal."

Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh, president of the royalist Funcinpec Party, said: "We, the Funcipec Party, cannot support the Philippines for unilaterally filing the arbitration case."

Former Egyptian Ambassador to China, Mahmoud Allam, said: "The arbitration is apparently unlawful with China being absent. This is common sense in international law."

Surakiart Sathirathai, chairman of Saranrom Institute of Foreign Affairs Foundation and the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council, Thailand, said: "If the country has reservation (for the arbitration) from the very beginning, we have to respect its sovereignty of decision. We can't force that country to bow."

Related:

Interview: Philippines' dispute with China over S. China Sea politically motivated: expert

MEXICO CITY, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines is seeking a political victory, not a real territorial solution, to disputes concerning the South China Sea, an expert in Mexico has said.

Manila should seek to resolve the conflict by engaging in a bilateral dialogue with China, Marisela Connelly, a Chinese studies professor at the College of Mexico, told Xinhua in a recent interview. Full Story

China insists direct negotiation to resolve South China Sea issue: experts

TOKYO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China always insists direct and peaceful negotiation with relevant countries to resolve the South China Sea issue, Chinese experts said on Friday at the Japan's National Press Club.
JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli court on Sunday gave a life sentence to an ultra-Orthodox Jew for murdering a girl and attempting to murder five others during 2015's Jerusalem gay pride parade.

The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Yishai Schlissel, 39, to life in prison and an additional 31 years in prison.

He was also ordered to pay damages amounting to 2,064,000 shekels (about 531,060 U.S. dollars) to his victims.

On July 30, 2015, Schlissel was arrested during a stabbing rampage, after stabbing and wounding six people. One of his victims, 16-year-old Shira Banki, died of her injuries a few days later.

On April 19 he was convicted of murder and five attempted murders.

His attack was made only three weeks after he was released from prison, where he served a 10-year sentence for carrying out a similar stabbing attack in the 2005 Jerusalem pride parade. Three people were injured in the attack.

The killing shocked the Israeli society, prompting across the board condemnation by political leaders.
Birthday wishes

Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

Happy Birthday Wishes
DHAKA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved 150 million U.S. dollars in additional financing to help strengthen Bangladesh's health systems and improve its health services, particularly for the poor.

The additional financing to the Health Sector Development Program will continue support to implement the government's Health Sector-wide Program, said the lender in a statement on Sunday.

It said the support will help the government address health sector challenges, including sustaining and improving immunization coverage, further improving deliveries for pregnant women at public health facilities and tackling multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

The financing will also help Bangladesh improve public financial management to get more value from its public spending on health. Furthermore, the financing will support developing a robust health information system, including for the first time in Bangladesh a web-based complaint-handling mechanism, it added.

The Health Sector Development Program and its predecessors have contributed to a 40 percent reduction in maternal mortality since 2010, the World Bank said, adding that Bangladesh has reduced under-five child mortality by 29 percent between 2007 and 2014, and during the same period, births attended by medically trained professionals increased from 21 percent to 42 percent.

"The additional financing will follow a new fund disbursement modality linked to the achievement of disbursement linked results, which will pave the way for more results-based intervention in the future," said Bushra Alam, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project.

With this additional financing, the World Bank's support to the project now stands at 508.9 million U.S. dollars.
BAGHDAD, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iraqi commander on Sunday declared full liberation of the city of Fallujah from Islamic State (IS) militants after about a month of battles against the extremist militants.
CHANGSHA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A fire that reduced a tour bus into charred frames on Sunday morning has killed at least 35 people, including two children, in Hunan Province, local authorities said.

The bus was carrying 55 people, the county government of Yizhang said, correcting the previous report saying 56 were on board. Eleven people were hospitalized, including four seriously injured.

The accident happened at about 10:20 a.m., when the bus crashed into the guardrail on a highway in Yizhang. The ensuing oil leak caused the fire, according to the government.

A photo taken at the site shows huge clouds of black smoke rising from the vehicle, and another shows the black skeletons of the bus after fire was put out.

State Councilor Guo Shengkun, who is also public security minister, has ordered all-out efforts to save the injured, identify the cause of the accident, and to take measures to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

A work team headed by Vice Public Security Minister Huang Ming is heading for Hunan to guide the investigation and handling of the accident on site.

Police have detained the driver.
FALLUJAH, Iraq, June 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi army soldier shows signs of victory in Dhubbat district, northeast of Fallujah city, Iraq, June 19, 2016. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced substantial victory against the Islamic State (IS) militants in Fallujah in the western province of Anbar on June 17, the state-run Iraqiya TV reported. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

BAGHDAD, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iraqi commander on Sunday declared full liberation of the city of Fallujah from Islamic State (IS) militants after about a month of battles against the extremist militants.

Iraqi troops entered Golan district in northwestern Fallujah, which was the last area to be freed from IS militants in the city, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, Commander of Operations Command for Fallujah Liberation, said in a press release.

A statement from media office of Iraq's Joint Operations Command confirmed that Fallujah was fully liberated and said the paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, are conducting clearance operations to the newly-freed neighborhoods.

The operation to free the IS stronghold in Fallujah was launched on May 23, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory against IS group in the city on June 17 after the security forces recaptured of the government compound in central the Fallujah, which located some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar province from IS militants, who attempted to approach Baghdad after seizing most of the province.

Iraq has witnessed intense violence since the IS controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June of 2014.
A member of Iraqi government forces flashes the sign of victory in the back of an armoured vehicle during an operation, backed by air support from the US-led coalition, in Fallujah's southern Shuhada neighbourhood to retake the area from the Islamic State (IS) group on June 15, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP)

BAGHDAD, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iraqi commander on Sunday declared full liberation of the city of Fallujah from Islamic State (IS) militants after about a month of battles against the extremist militants.

Iraqi troops entered Golan district in northwestern Fallujah, which was the last area to be freed from IS militants in the city, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, Commander of Operations Command for Fallujah Liberation, said in a press release.

A statement from media office of Iraq's Joint Operations Command confirmed that Fallujah was fully liberated and said the paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, are conducting clearance operations to the newly-freed neighborhoods.

The operation to free the IS stronghold in Fallujah was launched on May 23, and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory against IS group in the city on June 17 after the security forces recaptured of the government compound in central the Fallujah, which located some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar province from IS militants, who attempted to approach Baghdad after seizing most of the province.

Iraq has witnessed intense violence since the IS controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June of 2014.
File photo shows an interior view of a Nairobi Java House outlet in Nairobi, Kenya. (Reuters photo)

NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The freezing cold that enveloped the Kenyan capital Nairobi has created a lull in the normally busy offices as young workers dashed into nearby coffee shops to revitalize their mind and body with hot beverages.

At the Azuri cafe and restaurant that is located at the heart of Nairobi, a young crowd filled the expansive balcony while engaging in hearty banter over steamy specialty coffee.

The elegantly dressed cast of young professionals enjoyed every moment as waiters refilled their mugs with cappuccino and latte.

Sam Gitau, 29, a self-employed IT professional, was part of the crowd that devoted an entire afternoon to a lively debate over coffee as biting cold swept the nearby streets.

During a conversation with Xinhua, Gitau said his sojourn at Azure Cafe was motivated by a desire to beat cold while networking with old friends.

"Going by the huge crowd that has filled this cafe to enjoy exotic coffee, it is evident that nobody is prepared to endure freezing cold outdoors. I feel at home while boding with old friends over hot latte and organic tea," said Gitau.

Gitau also hailed coffee shops for creating a space for youngsters to interact and discuss business opportunities.

"Let me admit that were it not for cafes and restaurants, some of us would be struggling to find our footing in the cut-throat world of work and business," Gitau said.

"The youth will spend their last coin in a cafe that has ambience and class. Our loyalty to coffee shops will be unrivalled as the cold season reaches a peak."

A male waiter at Azuri cafe who requested anonymity told Xinhua that the business has been brisk since mid June when the cold season kicked off.

According to the waiter, demand for specialty coffee and green tea among youthful clients has been at an all time high this month.

Gitau and his young comrades bore witness to the bonanza coffee shops had relished the better of this month as the cold season kicked off in many parts of Kenya.

Quality control workers pick out unsuitable green, unroastedcoffee beans from a conveyor belt at Dormans coffee factory in Nairobi on April 6, 2016. (AFP photo)

Both the young and ageing Kenyans left nothing to chance in their bid to warm themselves with hot beverages in swanky cafes spread across Nairobi's central business district.

The Kilimanjaro Jamia coffee shop that opened to the public recently in the Kenyan capital was a beehive of activity on Wednesday as dusk beckoned from a distance.

An architectural masterpiece located at a busy intersection, the cafe has struck a chord with upwardly mobile young Kenyans in search of solace.

Besides the alluring interior decor and comfy seats, Kilimanjaro cafe has an expansive balcony that can accommodate a huge crowd at any given hour.

Well heeled Kenyans and foreigners mingled freely as they sipped exotic coffee served in paper cups.

To a keen observer, the cafe is the embodiment of upward mobility and opportunities that a thriving Kenyan economy has unleashed lately.

Cathy Kendi, an administrative secretary with a listed company, disclosed to Xinhua that she has been a frequent guest to the swanky establishment near her workplace.

"This cafe has an enduring appeal to people from all walks of life and as the cold season sets in, I will not be surprised to see the entire space occupied," Kendi said.

Across the street, Kaldis coffee shop had a capacity crowd as the evening chill forced Nairobians to seek solace in steaming mugs of locally blended coffee and tea varieties.

The cafe's management had a premonition of brisk business ahead of the onset of cold season as evidenced by additional chairs and tables that were placed at the entrance.

A female supervisor at the Kaldis cafe, who spoke to Xinhua in confidence, disclosed that this year's cold season witnessed unprecedented spike in demand for indigenous coffee and tea.
JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Turkish teams will meet Sunday in Rome to finalize a deal to normalize relation, nearly six years after deadly raid strained relations, Israeli media reported.

Recent reports in Israeli and Turkish media said the agreement is likely to be concluded on Sunday.

If a deal is reached, it will be brought for the approval of Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will depart to Rome in the afternoon, for meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Relations between Israel and Turkey, former allies, broke apart after the May 2010 deadly raid by the Israeli Navy on a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla headed to the Palestinian enclave in demand to remove the Israeli blockade. Ten Turkish nationals were killed in the clashes.

The expected deal has angered families of missing Israeli civilians, who according to Israel are being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and of two dead soldiers, who were killed during the 2014 Israeli military campaign in Gaza and whose remains are also held by Hamas.

Families and dozens of supporters protested outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, demanding their loved ones will be returned to Israel as part of the reconciliation deal.

Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian descendent, 29, and another unnamed Bedouin citizen of Israel, described as mentally ill, voluntarily crossed the security fence into Gaza in 2014.

Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls Gaza, confirmed that Mengistu was captured but said he was later released and crossed into Egypt. Hamas has never confirmed the capture of the Bedouin citizen.

In a bid to soothe the criticism, Netanyahu addressed the issue during his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, promising that "we will neither rest nor be silent until we bring the boys back home."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen during the the 2016 Genesis Prize award-ceremony in Jerusalem, June 23, 2016.

JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli and Turkish teams will meet Sunday in Rome to finalize a deal to normalize relation, nearly six years after deadly raid strained relations, Israeli media reported.

Recent reports in Israeli and Turkish media said the agreement is likely to be concluded on Sunday.

If a deal is reached, it will be brought for the approval of Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will depart to Rome in the afternoon, for meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Relations between Israel and Turkey, former allies, broke apart after the May 2010 deadly raid by the Israeli Navy on a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla headed to the Palestinian enclave in demand to remove the Israeli blockade. Ten Turkish nationals were killed in the clashes.

The expected deal has angered families of missing Israeli civilians, who according to Israel are being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and of two dead soldiers, who were killed during the 2014 Israeli military campaign in Gaza and whose remains are also held by Hamas.

Families and dozens of supporters protested outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on Sunday morning, demanding their loved ones will be returned to Israel as part of the reconciliation deal.

Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian descendent, 29, and another unnamed Bedouin citizen of Israel, described as mentally ill, voluntarily crossed the security fence into Gaza in 2014.

Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls Gaza, confirmed that Mengistu was captured but said he was later released and crossed into Egypt. Hamas has never confirmed the capture of the Bedouin citizen.

In a bid to soothe the criticism, Netanyahu addressed the issue during his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, promising that "we will neither rest nor be silent until we bring the boys back home."
YIZHANG COUNTY, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- The injured receive treatment at a hospital in Yizhang County, central China's Hunan Province, June 26, 2016. A fire that reduced a tour bus into charred frames on Sunday morning has killed at least 35 people, including two children, in Hunan Province, local authorities said. The accident happened at about 10:20 a.m., when the bus crashed into the guardrail on a highway in Yizhang. (Xinhua/Li Zhuo)

CHANGSHA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A fire that reduced a tour bus to a charred frame on Sunday morning has killed at least 35 people, including two children, in Hunan Province, local authorities said.



The bus was carrying 55 people, the county government of Yizhang said, correcting a previous report that said 56 were on board. Eleven people were hospitalized, including four who were seriously injured.

The accident happened at about 10:20 a.m., when the bus crashed into the guardrail on a highway in Yizhang. The ensuing oil leak caused the fire, according to the government.

A photo taken at the site showed huge clouds of black smoke rising from the vehicle, and another showed the black frame of the bus after the fire was put out.

A survivor surnamed Huang said the driver told them the bus door could not open, and the driver then escaped from the window next to his seat. Huang smashed a window with a fire extinguisher in order to get out.

Video footage taken by a witness showed that fire and screams engulfed the bus minutes after the crash. Some passengers were seen limping out of the bus covered in blood.

State Councilor Guo Shengkun, who is also public security minister, has ordered all-out efforts to save the injured, identify the cause of the accident, and to take measures to prevent similar tragedies from happening.

A work team headed by Vice Public Security Minister Huang Ming is heading for Hunan to guide the investigation and handling of the accident on site.

Police have detained the driver.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China will employ qualified lawyers and legal experts as legislative workers through open recruitment, a document issued by the general office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee said Sunday.

The legislative affairs bodies of the legislatures, and those of the government, will be allowed to recruit lawyers and legal experts to draft bills and regulations, according to the document.

The document also asks courts and procuratorial organs to reserve an appropriate number of vacancies for qualified lawyers and legal experts when recruiting judges and prosecutors.

In addition to rich experience and professionalism, the candidates for those positions should uphold the leadership of the CPC and be loyal to the Constitution and laws, according to the document.

It mandates that their belief in socialist legal system should be firm.

The 17-clause document also lists seven occasions which will disqualify a candidate from recruitment, including receiving criminal penalties or losing licenses or jobs due to the violation of laws and codes of conduct.

Once recruited, the lawyers and legal experts can no longer hold part-time jobs in enterprises and law firms, according to the document which took effect on June 2.
LAGOS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria has concluded arrangement to acquire 10 super mesh training aircraft from Pakistan Air Force to boost the country's security, a top official said.

Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, disclosed this on Saturday at the graduation of Student Pilot Course (SPC) 41B in northern city of Kaduna.

He said the aircraft would be inducted into the 301 Flying Training School, Kaduna.

According to him, Pakistani pilots would soon arrive in the country to train Nigerian pilots at the 310 Flying Training School.

He said the induction of the super mesh aircraft would enhance the capability of student pilots to the full spectrum of military flying training.

The top official said in the pursuance of professionalism in the service, 20 out of 42 pilots recently departed Nigeria to be trained abroad.

He told reporters that 10 of the pilots were sent to South Africa while the other 10 were sent to the United Kingdom.

He added that another set of eight pilots were being trained at the International Aviation College, Ilorin.

The CAS said the Nigerian Air Force was doing everything humanly possible to locate and destroy the radio station allegedly being operated by Boko Haram insurgents.
LAGOS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The police in Nigeria have reiterated their readiness to recover the Mobile Police Training School at Gwoza in restive northeast state of Borno from Boko Haram activities.

Acting Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris disclosed this at a ceremony for Squadron Commanders in southwest town of Ila in Osun State.

In August 2014, heavily armed insurgents belonging to the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, invaded the well-known Nigerian Police training college in Gwoza, Borno State.

The militants, who numbered several hundred, stormed the police college with five armored tanks they had earlier seized from Nigerian soldiers who had had made several unsuccessful attempts to dislodge the sect from Gwoza.

The new police chief reiterated the determination of the police under his watch to accord more attention to special police unit.

Idris added that due to enormous security challenges facing the country, the police would go through total restructuring and reforms to ensure the stability of the nation.
BUJUMBURA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The 15 members of the African Union Peace and Security Council have urged quick and inclusive talks to solve Burundi's year-long crisis, the Council said while concluding a four-day visit in Burundi.

"For four days, we have met various groups and authorities including the Burundian president, religious groups, civil society organizations, the UN system and diplomats accredited in Burundi. All Burundian stakeholders said that they need a quick solution to the crisis," Lazare Makayat Safouesse, head the African Union Peace and Security Council delegates, told a press conference late Saturday.

According to him, all groups expressed "urgency" of an inclusive dialogue to settle Burundi's year-long crisis.

"The internal dialogue that is ending in four months can feed the dialogue at the external level under the mediation of the East African Community (EAC), with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni as the main mediator and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa as the co-facilitator," said Safouesse.

He commended the recent visit by Mkapa in Brussels, Belgium where he met Burundian citizens who had been unable to attend the inter-Burundian dialogue held in May in Arusha, Tanzania.

"Dialogue is not done between friends. We hope that Burundian citizens will show their maturity as it was the case when they reached the 2000 Arusha Agreement," said Safouesse.

He noted that the security situation has "positively" progressed.

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza met with members of the AU Peace and Security on Friday at Makamba chief town in the province of Makamba, some 200 km south of the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

With regards to the deployment of 100 troops and 100 human rights monitors recommended in February after a visit in Burundi of an AU high level delegation of heads of state, Safouesse indicated that the deployment "has not yet been possible", adding that discussions are still underway between the AU and the government of Burundi for their deployment.

He said, "We hope that there will be an agreement for the deployment of troops and the human rights monitors to oversee the situation in Burundi."

Burundi is facing a political turmoil that broke out since April 2015 following the announcement that he would be seeking a third term.

His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted into a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup on May 13, 2015.

Over 451 people are reported to have been killed since then while some 270,000 citizens sought exile in neighboring countries.
Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2015 shows a train operating on the light rail in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The rail project was constructed by the China Railway Group in the capital of the east African country. (Xinhua/SunRuibo)

KIGALI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- As Africa looks forward to continental integration, the Chinese government announced plans to roll out major joint ventures that will enable the continent to achieve integration agenda.

Last year, the Chinese government announced that it will roll out 10 cooperation plans that will strengthen cooperation with Africa within the next three years.

The programs cover the areas of agriculture modernization, infrastructure, industrialization, financial services, trade and investment facilitation, green development, peace and security, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health and people-to-people exchanges.

China will also offer 60 billion U.S. dollars to ensure the smooth implementation of the cooperation initiatives.

Speaking to Xinhua, Claver Gatete, Rwanda minister of finance and economic planning, said that China's major economic cooperation arrangements with Africa will play a crucial role towards boosting economic integration on the continent.

"These economic initiatives and other efforts toward Africa regional integration hold the promise of boosting intra-regional trade and improving investment prospects in the continent, as well as African competitiveness," he said.

Africa trade integration has long been a strategic objective for Africa policy makers and economists, despite the continent's market remains highly fragmented.

On June 10, 2015 in Cairo, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) was officially launched which seeks to boost economic growth in Africa.

File photo shows vehicles running along the Nairobi Eastern & Northern Bypass, constructed by China Road and Bridge Corporation in Nairobi, capital of Kenya. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

TFTA brings together three of Africa's major regional economic communities -- the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

According to Dr. Martyn Davies, managing director for emerging markets and Africa, Deloitte Frontier Advisory South Africa, the development strategies of China towards Africa economic integration are pivotal force for promoting common development.

"With Africa having reached a point where industrialization plans are ready to take off, China's 10 major plans will help Africa realize inclusive, sustainable development that defines the structural transformation of the continent," he said.

"Barriers to trade continue to limit the growth of trade throughout all African regional groupings. China-Africa programs will create opportunities, new jobs, and brighter futures for Africans."

Since 2000, China has been extending its assistance and conducting cooperation activities with African countries through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) framework.

The FOCAC, a collective consultation and dialogue mechanism between China and African countries, has, since its launch, seen billions of dollars from Chinese government channeled to Africa countries for economic development.
NAY PYI TAW, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar First Vice President U Myint Swe Sunday pledged to make efforts to mitigate drug problems in the country through the process of the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Ethnic Conference.

U Myint Swe made the remarks here at a ceremony to mark the 29th International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

He said drug problems in Myanmar are deeply concerned with the historical background of the armed conflicts, adding that the government has recognized the links between internal insurgency and the drug problems.

U Myint Swe recalled that Myanmar armed forces and police had waged operations to eradicate poppy cultivation and production in border areas dominated by insurgents between 1976 and 1988.

Since 1988, the government and the ethnic armed groups have been able to collaboratively intensify efforts towards the elimination of illicit drugs, he said.

Peace process has been in progress since October 2015 with the signing of a Nationwide Ceasefire Accord by eight ethnic armed groups and the reduction of opium poppy cultivation and illicit trafficking has been witnessed in cooperation with the groups.

U Myint Swe anticipated that successful convening of the upcoming Panglong Conference will play a key role in reducing drug problems through national reconciliation and peace process.

He pointed out that Myanmar had conducted a 15-year drug elimination plan from 1999 to 2014 which covered 51 townships.

He said that through the efforts of successive governments, over 100,000 hectares of opium cultivation in 1999-2000 was reduced by 80 percent with 21,600 hectares in 2006.

However, opium cultivation increased again after 2006 due to growing illicit drug markets, increasing demand, geographic remoteness of poppy cultivation areas, under-development and weak security and stability, he blamed.

As a result of the government's prioritized efforts, the successive years of increase in opium poppy cultivation was halted in 2014 and 2015, a report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was citing as saying.

On the occasion, Myanmar authorities also burned over 56 million U.S. dollars worth of seized narcotic drugs across the country Sunday.

The narcotic drugs, put on fire, included those seized in Yangon, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw and Taunggyi.

In Yangon alone, the narcotic drugs destroyed were valued at 19.7 million U.S. dollars.

The country has extended its drug elimination plan from 2014-2015 to 2018-2019 to fight the drug problems.
LONDON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Britain's post-referendum challenges can be turned into tomorrow's opportunities, government business secretary, Sajid Javid said Sunday.

Javid, who had backed remaining in the EU, said his job was to ensure Britain remain's open for business.

Javid's comments were released by the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation after being published in London's Sunday Times.

Headlining his message "together, we will make Brexit work for British business," Javid wrote: "Like me, most business leaders wanted the UK to remain in the EU. With the pound on a rollercoaster ride and UK stocks taking a hit, you could be forgiven for thinking the result of this week's referendum was a disaster for employers and employees alike.

"But a clear majority of the country wanted us to leave. My job now is to put the wishes of the people into action to ensure the UK remains open for business, continues to grow and continues to thrive. Despite the current turmoil and uncertainty, I genuinely believe there are grounds for optimism," he added,

"Over the past 6 years, we've worked hard to make Britain one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business. More British people are in work than ever before - during the last Parliament more jobs were created in Birmingham than in the whole of France. The UK is still one of the biggest economies in the world."

He added: "For all the downsides of leaving, opportunities really do exist. Freed from Brussels' more bureaucratic tendencies we will be able to tackle the excessive red tape that can choke small businesses. We will also be able to make our tax system even more competitive, helping local businesses to grow and attracting investment from overseas."

Describing the international element as particularly important, Javid said afresh start also gives a unique opportunity to shape a bright future for the UK as a global trading nation and open economy.

"But that chance will be squandered if we react to the referendum result by pulling down the shutters and turning our backs on the world," he warned.

Javid, responding to complaints about "unrestricted migration" Javid said it's vital they are addressed "if we're going to tackle the rising tide of anti-politics, anti-business sentiment."

He said tightening Britain's borders cannot mean barring the door. "For centuries, foreign businesses, foreign investors and skilled foreign workers have come to the UK and helped build the world-beating economy we have today. That outward-looking attitude must continue."

He plans to stress his optimistic lesson when he holds a roundtable meeting this week with dozens of senior figures from across Britain's economy. That's why I'm confident that, together, we can turn today's challenges into tomorrow's opportunities," he concluded.
Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2016 shows the UK and EU flags outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BERLIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- After Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in a historic referendum, foreign ministers from six founding countries of EU met here on Saturday, pushing for a speedy exit procedures of Britain.

"This process should start as soon as possible," said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Saturday in Berlin.

The aim must be "not to fall into a prolonged stalemate", he added.

"We'll start immediately", French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also said, adding that "we now expect that the process will be triggered under Article 50." He said British Prime Minister David Cameron initiated this referendum, and "he must now live with the consequences".

With his colleagues, he would send the signal that "Europe is alive," Ayrault said.

Meanwhile, the official also urged a speedy transfer of power in Britain.

Cameron announced on Friday his intention to step down after his country has voted to leave the EU.

Beyond that, Britain's European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, also decided to resign from his post, said a press release issued by the European Commission on Saturday.

In the meantime, Labour's opposition leader is urged to go and there is a new call for Scottish independence. All these were reactions to a shock decision by Britain to say "au revoir" to its membership of the European Union.

"I hope that we are not playing cat and mouse," warned Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn with a view at London's policy.

"The people have spoken. And we need to implement this decision," he said, adding that Britain must now quickly start up the mechanism for exit which was defined in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

While EU pushed Britain for a quick exit, a petition to parliament calling for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership have gathered more than one million signatures by midday Saturday.

The petition demands a change in the law to pave the way for a re-run of Thursday's national vote. It calls for a majority of 60 percent and a turnout of 75 percent before any change in Britain's EU membership can take place. The petition was gaining pace at a rate of thousands of signatures every hour.

The petition was started by British citizen William Oliver Healey, and reads:"We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 percent based a turnout less than 75 percent, there should be another referendum."

It was started by Healey following shockwaves after 17.5 million Britons voted to leave the EU. That represented 51.9 percent of voters, compared to 48.1 percent who opted to remain part of the bloc.

A second petition, already signed by more than 100,000 people, is calling on London's mayor Sadiq Khan, to declare the British capital independent from Britain so that it can apply to join the EU.

The petition, launched by Londoner James O'Malley, stated that London is an international city and "we want to remain at the heart of Europe".

So far,the outcome of the referendum has not only caused political earthquake across Europe, but also sent shock waves aross European stock markets on Friday.

The result came as a surprise to European stock markets, which saw slumps in nearly every major index. The Euro Stoxx index plummeted by 8.62 percent, France CAC 40 down by 8.04 percent, FTSE 100 by 3.2 percent and Germany's DAX index by 6.82 percent.
A policeman stands guard next to seized drugs to be burnt during a ceremony in Yangon, Myanmar, June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/U Aung)

VIENNA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- As the world drug problem is closely connected with sustainable development, paths could found to reduce illicit drug production in some regions by pushing forward economic development, Yury Fedotov, the chief of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told Xinhua.

The theme of UNODC's 2016 world drug report is about the role of sustainable development in dealing with the world drug problem, Fedotov said.

"There is a very clear connection" between the two, the executive director said.

He noted the drug trade in Afghanistan precisely illustrated this relation.

"Sustainable development can support the eradication of illicit drugs because farmers in Afghanistan, may be psychologically prepared to move from illicit crops to licit crops, but they don't have sustainable markets for this production, no one is buying their fruits and vegetables. There are no roads, no bridges, no markets," he noted.

He said the situation in other countries was similar, such as the one in Myanmar where in some remote or mountainous regions, farmers also have difficulties selling normal crops and have to cultivate illicit drugs to make a living.

"With drugs there are drug dealers, they are coming, they are offering cash, they are taking everything and farmers don't have to worry about their future," he said.

The UNODC head said there had been some progress made in Afghanistan, in which small industries had been built to process fruit and vegetables to help farmers gain access to a good market.

Some progress had also been made in Latin America, where in major cocaine producing areas, UNODC was supporting programs to reduce this phenomenon.

"But we need to do more, for that we need more funds," Fedotov stressed.

In the past years, UNODC, together with other partners, has been trying to support farmers to grow alternative crops with many success stories in the above-mentioned regions.

"If we make important efforts to develop countries, to provide alternatives to people, in terms of job creation, either in agriculture or some small industry, it can immediately have an impact on cultivation and production of illicit drugs," he noted.

Proof of this was evident in Thailand where they succeeded to entirely eradicate all illicit cultivation of the opium poppy 10 years ago, because of very meaningful alternative development programs for farmers.

For this to work elsewhere, three things were needed, he said.

"First of all, strong political commitment at a national level, and strong support at an international level, and sufficient finances for that. If all these components are there, we can count on the success in eradicating illicit cultivations," Fedotov stressed.

There is still a lot of work to be done to promote sustainable development in many less-developed regions in the world to find the way out of the drug economy which has lasted for many years.

"We need to establish a clear international policy in support of countries like Myanmar and Afghanistan, and that requires more efforts in sustainable development of these countries. Building roads, infrastructure, creating new markets, other jobs not necessarily in agriculture, that is the only way we can solve this problem," he said.

The UNODC's chief concern was drugs providing the main funding source for insurgents, rebels, and the Taliban in Afghanistan, as most of the drugs are produced in provinces under their control.

"They can finance their activities, their insurgency, through selling drugs and getting enormous benefits. In accordance with some estimates, the Taliban can get up to 200 million U.S. dollars a year from drug lords to support their activities," he said.

According to UNODC's report, published in May, Afghanistan remains the world's largest opium producer, accounting for some 70 percent of global production.

After the war in Afghanistan broke out in 2001, the drug problem seemed to worsen, and the average annual production of opium seemed to grow due to a lack of strong governance in the country, resulting in some regions of the country becoming economically dependent on drugs, he said.

"I would say safely about 20 to 25 percent of GDP of this country consists of production of drugs," saying it was possibly "the only economic activity in Afghanistan that works well," he said.

The UNODC chief said that to combat the complex drug problem worldwide, drug policies should put people first.

"As long as demand for drugs continues, there will be always supply. That's why we need to address the world drug problem from another angle ... the prevention, treatment, rehabilitation ... people first. We need to pay more attention to human beings, on all continents, and save them from the deadly impact of drugs," he said.

The office's 2016 report shows the world drug problem has remained grave in the past years. Around five percent of the adult population, nearly 250 million people between the ages of 15 and 64, used at least one drug in 2014.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China's meteorological authorities on Sunday warned of possible geological disasters in the south and southwest as heavy rain in the region showed few signs of weakening.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) and the Ministry of Water Resources together warned of high risks of mountain torrents in parts of Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hunan, Guizhou, Hubei and Anhui from Sunday evening to Monday evening, suggesting people in the areas take precautions.

The NMC renewed a blue alert for a rainstorm on Sunday afternoon, forecasting that torrential rain will hit areas of Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang on Sunday and Monday, with precipitation expected to reach up to 130 millimeters in some places.

China has a four-tier color-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

Heavy rains in the south last weekend left dozens of people dead, while a powerful tornado and hailstorm that hit Yancheng City in China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday killed about 100.
DAMASCUS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has unleashed a "huge" military campaign against rebel-held areas in the northern province of Aleppo, advancing on four fronts at once, pro-government al-Watan daily reported on Sunday.

The military campaign was launched after midnight Friday, following airstrikes from the Syrian and Russian air forces, said the report.

According to the newspaper, Russia's air strikes on the rebels' positions in Aleppo and its northern countryside put pressure on the armed militant groups, forcing some of them to flee their positions, mainly in the Bani Zaid neighborhood east of Aleppo, where the rebels were targeting government-controlled areas in the western part of the city.

Al-Watan said the amount of firepower used was "unprecedented," citing local sources as describing the battles in Aleppo as "World War III."

The wide-scale offensive started after an aerial and ground bombardment on the rebel-held areas in the northern and northwestern part of the city, namely from Bani Zaid through the district of Lairamoun all the way to al-Zahra neighborhood.

"The military forces have broken through the defenses of the rebels, who have started sending distress calls and withdrawing from several areas with tens of their comrades dead," said the paper.

The battles continued until the government forces held several positions in the areas on Saturday morning.

In the northern countryside of Aleppo, the ground troops backed by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah and other allied fighters mounted an offensive in the al-Mallah farmlands and kept advancing toward Castello Road, the rebels' last supply route in northern Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once an economic hub, has been a focal point for clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels as it is a strategically important area located on the borders with Turkey.

In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts in Aleppo from its countryside, which struck the economic nerves of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels for undeclared interests in Aleppo.

The rebels captured several districts in eastern Aleppo city and repeatedly tried to expand their presence to the government-controlled areas in the west.

The rebels also besieged the western Aleppo districts after cutting the international road to Aleppo in 2014, although the Syrian army, with the help of Hezbollah, broke the siege and reopened the road later.

"Defending Aleppo is defending all of Syria and defending Damascus, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan," said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, on Thursday.

Being the industrial capital of Syria and the largest city as well as bordering Turkey has made Aleppo an easy target for the international and regional powers supporting the rebels, analysts say.

Military experts say the initial aim of the battles in Aleppo is to lay a siege on the rebel-held areas and cut off their supply lines to force a surrender.

Another aim is to ensure the security of the government-controlled areas and prevent the militant groups from blocking the main road connecting Aleppo with the Syrian coast and other provinces in central and southern Syria.

The military campaign also aims to recapture areas in the northern and southern countryside of Aleppo in the face of Ankara's attempts to establish a safe zone in northern Syria.

Military experts told Xinhua the operation will dampen Turkey's efforts in backing the rebels in northern Syria, something the Syrian government has for long accused Turkey of doing.

Finally, the battles in Aleppo have paved the way for expanding the military campaign to the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and the northern province of al-Raqqa, both with heavy presence of the Islamic State (IS) group.

While the Syrian army has launched a broad offensive in Aleppo, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), dealt another heavy blow to IS by capturing areas in the southern part of the key city of Manbej in northwen Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A Syrian man reacts following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Bustan al-Qasr on June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/AFP)

DAMASCUS, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian army has unleashed a "huge" military campaign against rebel-held areas in the northern province of Aleppo, advancing on four fronts at once, pro-government al-Watan daily reported on Sunday.

The military campaign was launched after midnight Friday, following airstrikes from the Syrian and Russian air forces, said the report.

According to the newspaper, Russia's air strikes on the rebels' positions in Aleppo and its northern countryside put pressure on the armed militant groups, forcing some of them to flee their positions, mainly in the Bani Zaid neighborhood east of Aleppo, where the rebels were targeting government-controlled areas in the western part of the city.

Al-Watan said the amount of firepower used was "unprecedented," citing local sources as describing the battles in Aleppo as "World War III."

The wide-scale offensive started after an aerial and ground bombardment on the rebel-held areas in the northern and northwestern part of the city, namely from Bani Zaid through the district of Lairamoun all the way to al-Zahra neighborhood.

"The military forces have broken through the defenses of the rebels, who have started sending distress calls and withdrawing from several areas with tens of their comrades dead," said the paper.

The battles continued until the government forces held several positions in the areas on Saturday morning.

In the northern countryside of Aleppo, the ground troops backed by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah and other allied fighters mounted an offensive in the al-Mallah farmlands and kept advancing toward Castello Road, the rebels' last supply route in northern Aleppo.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once an economic hub, has been a focal point for clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels as it is a strategically important area located on the borders with Turkey.

Syrian civil defence volunteers help a boy out of the rubble following a reported attack by Syrian government forces on May 30, 2016, in the Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo. (Xinhua/AFP)

In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts in Aleppo from its countryside, which struck the economic nerves of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels for undeclared interests in Aleppo.

The rebels captured several districts in eastern Aleppo city and repeatedly tried to expand their presence to the government-controlled areas in the west.

The rebels also besieged the western Aleppo districts after cutting the international road to Aleppo in 2014, although the Syrian army, with the help of Hezbollah, broke the siege and reopened the road later.

"Defending Aleppo is defending all of Syria and defending Damascus, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan," said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, on Thursday.

Being the industrial capital of Syria and the largest city as well as bordering Turkey has made Aleppo an easy target for the international and regional powers supporting the rebels, analysts say.

Military experts say the initial aim of the battles in Aleppo is to lay a siege on the rebel-held areas and cut off their supply lines to force a surrender.

Another aim is to ensure the security of the government-controlled areas and prevent the militant groups from blocking the main road connecting Aleppo with the Syrian coast and other provinces in central and southern Syria.

The military campaign also aims to recapture areas in the northern and southern countryside of Aleppo in the face of Ankara's attempts to establish a safe zone in northern Syria.

Military experts told Xinhua the operation will dampen Turkey's efforts in backing the rebels in northern Syria, something the Syrian government has for long accused Turkey of doing.

Finally, the battles in Aleppo have paved the way for expanding the military campaign to the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and the northern province of al-Raqqa, both with heavy presence of the Islamic State (IS) group.

While the Syrian army has launched a broad offensive in Aleppo, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters led by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), dealt another heavy blow to IS by capturing areas in the southern part of the key city of Manbej in northwen Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
LHASA/KUNMING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A team of 500 volunteers clubbed together Sunday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region vowing to fight drug abuse and illicit trafficking on the "roof of the world".

The volunteers are from all walks of life in Tibet. They will work under Tibet's association of young volunteers to keep the public alert to drug abuse and trafficking, help addicts abstain from drugs, and carry out exchanges and cooperation with nationwide anti-drug organizations.

"I hope I can help more people realize the harm of drugs, so that we can together set up a stronger 'firewall' against drugs," said Zhang Qiaoting, one of the volunteers based in Lhasa.

"Tibet encourages people from all walks of life to join the fight against drugs," said Deng Xiaogang, chief of Tibet's regional narcotics control commission.

Sunday is the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

To mark the occasion, Tibet's regional government destroyed more than 200 kilograms of drugs that were seized across the plateau region over the past three years.

Many other Chinese provinces and cities openly destroyed narcotics Sunday to demonstrate government's determination in fighting drugs and to warn citizens to stay away from drugs.

Xishuangbanna prefecture in Yunnan Province destroyed more than 2,000 kilograms of drugs in public, including ice, heroin, opium and morphine.

Yunnan is one of the Chinese border regions most affected by drug use, due to its proximity to the opium-growing Golden Triangle in neighboring Southeast Asia. It is also a source of domestic drugs.

Police authorities in Yunnan seized 9.6 tonnes of drugs in the first five months of this year.
JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel said Sunday it arrested a 36-year-old Palestinian dentist for allegedly committing a bomb attack at a West Bank checkpoint in May, wounding an army officer.

A statement by the army's spokesperson unit identified the suspect as Samer Mahmoud Daud al-Khalbiyah from Abu Dis, a Palestinian town east of Jerusalem.

He was arrested in a joint operation of the army and the Shin Bet security service. The forces also arrested al-Khalbiyah's father, a 64-year-old hospital nurse, his brother, 36-year-old dentist, and a third dentist, non-relative, from Qalandia, a town outside Jerusalem. The statement did not elaborate on their alleged involvement in the incident.

According to the military, al-Khalbiyah was responsible for "planting and detonating explosive devices" on a road near the Hizma checkpoint outside Jerusalem on May 5.

"During the investigation, it was revealed that the assailants had prepared 56 additional pipe bombs in order to carry out similar attacks," the statement read.

A separate notice by the Shin Bet said the suspects were not members in any political organization and had no previous security convictions.

The attack came amidst a nine-month-long Palestinian uprising. At least 205 Palestinians and 32 Israelis have been killed since the beginning of the unrest in mid-September.

Some of the Palestinians died after clashes ensued with Israeli security forces during protests. Others were gunned down after allegedly committing -- or trying to commit -- an attack against Israelis.

Israel accuses the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the violence, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, where more than five million Palestinians live, and where they wish to establish a Palestinian state.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has held talks with a visiting special envoy from the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in Beijing.

Song Tao, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, held talks on Sunday with Salvador Valdes Mesa, special envoy of First Secretary of the PCC Central Committee Raul Castro.

Valdes is also a member of the Politburo of the PCC Central Committee and Vice President of the Council of State.

Both sides agreed to strengthen ties between two parties, implement the guiding function of inter-party relations between two countries, boost practical cooperation in various fields, and benefit both peoples.

Prior to his Beijing trip, Valdes made a visit to China's eastern city of Shanghai.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Experts have warned of stronger downward pressure and recommended policy tools to cushion shocks as China's economy confronts challenges such as slowing investment, high debt and weak exports.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 6.7 percent in the first quarter, the slowest reading since the global financial crisis in early 2009. Experts with Renmin University of China estimated in a report the economy would expand 6.6 percent annually this year, 0.3 percentage points lower than last year.

Liu Yuanchun, an economist at Renmin University of China, said although the economy steadied earlier this year, downward pressure will weigh due to a volatile overseas outlook and rising financial risks. Structural reform will also increase the pain.

The report observed that the world's second largest economy will reach a bottom between late 2016 and early 2017.

Li Daokui, an economics professor with Tsinghua University, cautioned the investment boom will not persist, and consumer spending has shown risks. Wage growth lags behind GDP growth, and exports will not bottom out until the second half of 2017.

Authorities have predicted that China's economy will follow an L-shaped path as downward pressures weigh and new growth momentum has yet to pick up.

The central leadership is counting on supply-side structural reform, essentially cutting overcapacity, reducing stockpiles and de-levering, to address economic woes.

Proposed by policymakers in November, the reforms are generally regarded as a harder path, but a more sustainable one.

The Bank of China's chief economist Cao Yuanzheng said that if cutting overcapacity, reducing stockpiles and de-levering happen at the same time, the economy and the financial system might not be able to withstand the multiple shocks brought by these activities.

The Renmin University report advised the authorities to close "zombie" businesses and restructure debt-laden companies, while maintaining relatively easy monetary policy to shore up growth.

Fixed-asset investment, once the core engine of China's breakneck growth, cooled in the first five months. However, private investment is cooling, revealing pessimism over the economic outlook.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that from January to May, private investment grew 3.9 percent, 1.3 percentage points lower than in the first four months. Private investment accounts for only 62 percent of the nation's aggregate investment, 3.4 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago.

Li Daokui said the sagging private investment in the first quarter should not be overstated, as it may be the result of a recent landmark tax reform, which gives government less leverage in persuading the private sector to invest more in exchange for tax incentives.

Gu Shengzu, a member of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, said the government should open more sectors to private business and further liberalize their access to financial resources.

In the next five years, sectors including urban development, high-end manufacturing and energy conservation still provide ample opportunities for private business, he added.
BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Central Military Commission (CMC) on Sunday commended outstanding units and individuals of the armed forces ahead of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Eighteen Party organizations above the regiment level, 36 at the grassroots level and 76 Party members were commended in recognition of their deeds. Another 27 Party affairs workers were cited in recognition of their contributions to party building.

In a statement, the CMC urged all Party members and organizations in the army and armed police forces to take the commended ones as examples and firmly implement the arrangement of the CMC and CMC Chairman Xi Jinping in the process of deepening national defense and military reform.
TIANJIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese economy is decarbonizing fast as it has made building a clean, low carbon energy system a priority for the upcoming five years.

"This indicates China's strong determination to transform its energy system into a low carbon one, with an aim to fulfill its international responsibility," said Li Zheng, head of the Department of Thermal Engineering under Tsinghua University, on Sunday at a meeting of World Economic Forum in north China's coastal city Tianjin.

China aims for an 18 percent cut in carbon intensity in five years from 2015 levels.

According to Li, energy production and use account for two thirds of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and he believed that a low-carbon energy system is key to tackling climate change.

China, the world's second largest economy, is one of the world's biggest carbon emitter. The country began to pilot in 2013 carbon emissions trading in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Tianjin, Hubei and Chongqing.

In 2014, China said it aimed for a 40 to 45 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 compared to 2005 levels. Moreover, the country also announced plans to end carbon dioxide growth by 2030.

"China's carbon emission has already declined by about 37 percent from 2005 levels, which is quite an accomplishment for a developing country," said Zhang Xiliang, director of Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy with Tsinghua University.

China will continue to press for environmental protection as it has made it one of the priorities for the country's future development. Li said that decarbonizing may give a new chance for eco-friendly growth.
JIUQUAN, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Technical personnel monitor the reentry module in Badain Jaran Desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 26, 2016. A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7 touched down successfully in Badain Jaran Desert Sunday. (Xinhua/Chen Bin)

JIUQUAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7, which was launched on Saturday, was successfully recovered on Sunday, a move paving the way for technological breakthroughs in China's future manned spacecraft.

According to officials in charge of the country's manned space engineering, the module landed in Badain Jaran Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 3:41 p.m.

Before its landing, the reentry module weighing about 2,600 kilograms spent about 20 hours in orbit.

In addition to laying a solid foundation for technological breakthroughs in designing future manned spacecraft, the recovery of the reentry module also means the Long March-7 has fulfilled all the objectives of its maiden flight, according to the officials.

In a message congratulating on the success of the mission, the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission said the move marks the nation's improved capability in entering the space.

The success will encourage people of all ethnic groups and military officers and soldiers in the process of realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and building a strong army, the message read.

As China's new generation of carrier rocket, Long March-7 was launched from the Wenchang space launch center in south China's Hainan Province. The launch is the first at the Wenchang site, and the 230th of China's Long March carrier rocket family.

Tang Yagang, an official with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the mission tested the core technologies of future manned spacecraft in orbit.

According to Tang, who works for the Long March-7 project, future reentry modules would be able to stay longer in orbit and carry more people.
KABUL, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Eleven members of the Haqqani militant group had been captured by the personnel of Afghan law enforcement agencies in the country's eastern province of Khost, the National Directorate for Security (NDS) said Sunday.

"Personnel of NDS have busted an 11-member group of Haqqani terrorist network during a recent operation in Khost province," the national intelligence agency said in a statement.

The group was responsible for organizing and conducting subversive activities, kidnapping and planting landmines in the province, it added.

Some 11 AK-47 guns, five pistols, 26 rounds of different weapons, 18 rounds of heavy guns' shell, 6,000 different weapons' bullets and a big amount of ammunition and explosive materials were seized after the raid, the statement noted.

As a Taliban-linked group of militants, the Haqqani network mostly operating in eastern provinces and capital Kabul, has been responsible for many high-profile attacks against security forces.

The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants recently as spring and summer known as fighting season is drawing near in the country.

The militant group has yet to make comments.
BUDAPEST, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban focused on what he called "a disorderly Europe" as the reason the UK voted to leave the EU, while addressing newly graduating law enforcement officers and disaster management officers at a ceremony here on Sunday.

Orban said the British have had enough of being told what to do, of uncertainty, of paralysis, of a "flood of words and no deeds," and of not feeling at home in Europe.

He blamed the EU and its attitude towards migration, saying that many European leaders were not ready to combat the flood of illegal migrants who were violating law. The result, he said, was the deterioration of public safety, a threat of violence and general dissatisfaction.

Today's Europe, he said, was unable to respond to the challenges of illegal migration, human traffickers, and terrorism. However, he predicted that Europe would change rapidly in the wake of Brexit.

Hungary, he underlined, was the country representing order among increasing disorder and he called on the new graduates to help maintain that order.
Image taken on June 19, 2016, shows people that are part of the "Hogares Crea" program helping in the organization a fundraising event during the Father's Day commemoration in Alajuela, Costa Rica. (Xinhua/Kent Gilbert)

By Javier Cordoba, Dang Qi

SAN JOSE, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Jesus Fernandez fell into drug addiction at a very young age in Costa Rica. "Cocaine hit me hard, from when I tried it at 14 until I was 29," he said.

To fund his habit, Fernandez sold his body on the streets of the capital of San Jose.

However, as the world prepares to celebrate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, Fernandez has turned his difficult past into a learning experience for his community.

Fernandez managed to change a heavy past with an abusive, alcoholic father, and a spiral into prostitution and drug addiction by becoming an organizer for Hogares Crea, an NGO devoted to getting young people and adults alike out of drug addiction.

Today, he is also the coordinator and graphic designer for Crea, a magazine which seeks to gives families a message of hope while educating them about the very real threat of drugs.

Fernandez told Xinhua that he began by taking "thinner," a solvent mixed with shoe polish. This drug is widely used by young and poor Costa Ricans for being cheap and easy to make.

From there, Fernandez began cocaine and turned to prostitution to fuel his habit.

He recalled meeting a Canadian man who hired his services and went travelling with him around the world. During their trip, Fernandez was introduced to LSD, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and various amphetamines.

"I went from being an introverted kid to an extrovert man. Things change in electronic music clubs," he said.

Image taken on June 19, 2016 shows a patient of the "Hogares Crea" program kissing his granddaughter during the Father's Day commemoration in Alajuela, Costa Rica. (Xinhua/Kent Gilbert)

However, in the Netherlands, he had an epiphany. "Drugs were killing me, I was sleepwalking through life. I had hallucinations about killing myself and I began to lose my sight."

This is when Fernandez decided to leave drugs behind and return home. His family helped him contact Hogares Crea, which has been working to recover drug addicts in Costa Rica since 1984.

His recovery lasted 20 months, including a phase where he was kicked out of the program for falling back into his old ways and taking "thinner."

Eventually, Fernandez worked his way up to managing Hogares Crea's largest of 12 centers, where "50 young people are attended at any one time." He also takes part in the organization's PR events and fundraising.

"Thanks to God, on June 7, I completed three years without touching drugs," he told Xinhua with satisfaction.

However, the young man leads a daily battle against temptation, not even daring to smoke a cigarette for fear of being drawn in by his vice once again.

Fernandez said that while Hogares Crea offers no magic formula, he hopes that the beacon of hope the NGO offers will draw in young people who have the desire to quit drugs.
TEHRAN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) will target terrorists and armed rebels within the country's borders and beyond, Commander of IRGC's Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said on Sunday.

Pakpour made the remarks in a reference to the recent clashes between the IRGC's forces and the Kurdish rebel groups in northwestern Iran.

Since the headquarters of these groups are in the northern Iraq, the authorities of the country should take responsibility to prevent the moves by these groups which may threaten the security of the Islamic republic, the commander said.

Iran will target the bases of the terrorist groups anywhere, he stressed.

On Saturday, the IRGC said in a statement that its forces had killed five armed insurgents in the fresh clashes in the Kurd-populated region of Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan.

In the operations, a sizable number of arms and facilities were seized from them, it said.

On June 16, the IRGC said that its forces had smashed two terrorist cells in northwestern country and had killed twelve terrorists.

Three members of the IRGC also died in the clashes with "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," it said.

Reports said the "terrorists" belonged to the members of outlawed "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," including the Kurdish Democrat Party, who had crossed the northwestern borders into the country.
Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, south China. (Xinhua file photo)

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China's sovereignty over the South China Sea islands has already been established and there are no legal reasons for the Philippines'claim for the sovereignty over the Huangyan Island, a Brazilian expert has said.

The islands belong to China and not to the Philippines, and that is a matter already settled decades ago, Carlos Tavares, an author of 10 books on China and a longtime expert of China-Brazil relations, told Xinhua.

He criticized the Philippines for its decision to resort to an arbitration by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) based in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Philippines unilaterally initiated an arbitration from the PCA over the South China Sea disputes in 2013. The Chinese government has reiterated its non-acceptance and non-participation stance in the case.

"This sort of conflict should be solved within Asia's borders, preferably by the two parties only," Tavares said.

On the U.S. influence in the case, Tavares said that it was inappropriate for the North-American country to meddle in matters of the Asian nations.

He said that the United States should keep itself out of Asian matters, leaving to Asian nations the task of solving their own disputes.

"China is not interfering in the matters of the North Atlantic, so why is the U.S. trying to meddle in the matters of the South China Sea?" he said.

Tavares remained optimistic about the resolution of the territorial dispute, noting that the issue should be settled as soon as possible.

The Brazilian expert hoped that the new Philippine government would solve its dispute with China through dialogue.

Related:

South China Sea disputes should be resolved through bilateral dialogue: Argentine expert

BUENOS AIRES, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The disputes between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea should be settled through bilateral negotiation, Argentine expert Paola de Simone said Thursday.

Simone, a lawyer and political analyst from the University of Buenos Aires, told Xinhua that Manila's arbitration request over the issue "violated the Philippines' commitment to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)." That is, territorial and jurisdictional disputes should solved through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned. Full story

Interview: Manila intensifies tension in South China Sea -- former diplomat

MANILA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has been behind the intensifying tensions in the South China Sea, a former diplomat of the country told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Alberto Encomienda, former secretary-general of Maritime and Ocean Affairs Center of the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department, said: "China has been for the negotiations all along, but from the beginning we are not." Full story

How to Bridge the Divide Over the South China Sea

The differences between China and the U.S. over the South China Sea issue have become a matter of concern and even anxiety. But some of the perceptions in the U.S. and elsewhere about Chinas policy and intentions in the area are misplaced. A pressing task is to understand the facts and Chinas intentions correctly so as to avoid real danger and consequences as a result of misinterpretation and miscalculation. Full Story

China urges Philippines to immediately cease arbitral proceedings

BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday again urged the Philippines to stop its arbitral proceedings and return to the right track of settling relevant disputes in the South China Sea through bilateral negotiation with China.
TIANJIN, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in Tianjin, north China, June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

TIANJIN, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday called on all countries to enhance coordination to jointly face up to difficulties and challenges.

Li made the remarks when he met with Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and executive chair, in north China's Tianjin Municipality during the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016, also known as the Summer Davos Forum.

This year's forum, held from Sunday to Tuesday, carries the theme of "the fourth industrial revolution and its transformational impact." Li will address the opening ceremony of the forum on Monday.

"The Summer Davos Forum has played an active role in promoting exchanges and cooperation between China and the world since it was first held in 2007," Li told Schwab.

This year's theme, which complies with the trend of a new round of scientific, technological and industrial reform, is conducive to extending perspectives and accumulate consensus for the transformation and upgrading of all countries' economic structures, Li said.

As all economies are highly interdependent in the current world, no country can stay out and be immune to the risks and challenges, he said.

The increase of instable and insecure elements in a certain country or a certain region can cause the Butterfly Effect, which will in turn have an impact on the world economic recovery and the stability of financial markets, the premier said.

He called on all countries to enhance coordination, work together to address difficulties and challenges, safeguard peace and stability, continue reform and innovation, stick to opening up and inclusiveness so as to realize a robust, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy.

Schwab, for his part, said the WEF has established a good partnership with China.

The WEF will fully support the Chinese government in promoting reform and innovation, he said, adding that he believes China's strategies including the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry will add new impetus into the country's development.

Around 1,700 politicians, entrepreneurs, scholars and media representatives from over 90 countries attend the forum this year.

The annual event is held alternatively in Tianjin and the northeastern coastal city of Dalian.
BEIJING, June 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- A Long March-7 carrier rocket lifts off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, south China's Hainan Province, June 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

BEIJING, June 26 (Xinhua) -- China launched its Long March-7 carrier rocket successfully late on Saturday, hailed as a prelude for the country's five-year plan (2016-2020) for the space sector.

China is expected to have more than 200 spacecraft in orbit by 2020 and perform about 30 launches per year on average, said Yang Baohua, deputy manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC), on Sunday.

China plans to launch the Long March-5 in the second half of the year, according to the Carrier Rocket Technology Research Institute.

The Long March-5 will be the country's largest carrier rocket, designed to carry 25 tonnes into low-Earth orbit (LEO). It is expected to carry lunar probe Chang'e-5, the core module for China's space station and the Mars probe.

The CASTC carries out about 20 space launches annually, and it faces further research and development challenges, Yang said.

Saturday's launch marks a key step toward China's plan to eventually operate a permanent space station in the final step of the country's three-phase manned space program.

The country launched its first manned spaceflight in 2003, and its first space lab, Tiangong-1, blasted off in 2011.

The third and final step will be to assemble and operate a 60-tonne space station around 2022.

To do that, Chinese engineers have planned four space launches in the next ten months. The Long March-7 mission is the first of these missions.

A second mission in late September will put the Tiangong-2 space lab into orbit, and the third will see the Shenzhou-11 spacecraft, which will carry two Taikonauts, dock with Tiangong-2 in October.

In April 2017, China's first cargo ship Tianzhou-1, which literally means "heavenly vessel," will be sent to dock with Tiangong-2 in the final mission.

China's mission to Mars will begin around 2020.

"The probe is expected to orbit the red planet, land and deploy a rover all in one mission, which is quite difficult to achieve," said Xu Dazhe, director of China's National Space Administration, on April 22, ahead of celebrations on April 24 marking the launch of the country's first satellite 46 years ago.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, which is being developed as an alternative to GPS, will be completed around 2020, according to the CASTC.

The Long March-7 carrier rocket is expected to become the main carrier for space launches. It is a medium-sized, two-stage rocket that can carry up to 13.5 tonnes into LEO.

Developers will continue to improve the Long March series to make them safer, better designed for transportation and more flexible in various tasks to catch up with advanced international levels, Yang said.
BUJUMBURA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Pan African Youth Union President Francine Muyumba has requested Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza to create a national fund for youth promotion in Burundi, Muyumba said Saturday after meeting the Burundian president in Makamba province.

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza met with Muyumba after community development activities in Makamba, some 200 km south of the Burundian capital Bujumbura.

"We discussed ways of investing in the youth and benefits out of such an investment. We also discussed the ratification of the African Youth Charter. I told him that we want the charter to be ratified by all members of the African Union before the end of this year and he accepted that he will do his best via the country's National Assembly and the Senate," said Muyumba.

"I requested him to create a national fund for the promotion of the Burundian youth to support young entrepreneurs through granting them small loans," said Muyumba.

She pledged that the Pan African Youth Union is ready to support Burundi in programs of promoting Burundian youth's initiatives.

A delegation of the Pan African Youth Union led by Muyumba is visiting Burundi since Wednesday to share experience with the Burundian youth. Enditem
FAISALABAD, Pakistan, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Part of a major highway extension project in central Pakistan, which falls under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, is expect to be completed in less than two years' time, a project manager said Sunday.

"We will deliver the project on time and up to standard," Wang Feng of China Railway First Group Co., Ltd (CRFG) told Xinhua at the site.

The CRFG is commissioned to pave 30 km of a 192 km-long project to connect the central cities of Faisalabad and Khanewal with a four-lane highway.

Once completed, the road will halve commute time between the two cities to 2 hours.

"Even though the construction site is located in one of the hottest regions in Pakistan, we are doing our best to weather the harsh climate," Wang said, adding daytime temperature in summer can reach 53 degrees Celsius.

Commenced in April, the 30-km segment is expected to take two years to complete. CRFG will apply the highest standards during construction, Wang said.

The segment is funded by the Asian Development Bank, while another segment of the same project has attracted one of the first investments from the newly founded Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

CPEC is a comprehensive agreement reached by the two countries in 2013 to upgrade Pakistan's infrastructure. Enditem
VIENTIANE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has urged the public to participate in fighting against illicit drugs which is deemed an obstacle to socio-economic development and a serious threat to the country.

The Prime Minister made the call in his statement delivered on the 29th International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking which falls on Sunday this year.

The government organized a ceremony in capital Vientiane of drugs on Saturday, destroying drugs confiscated, with leaders and officials from the party and government, representatives of diplomatic corps, representatives of international organizations, and students all in attendance.

Prime Minister Thongloun began his speech by pointing out the dangers of drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking.

"It is an obstacle to national social and economic development, and an important source of crime and corruption, and not to mention a tremendous loss for drug victims and their families," Lao state-run online newspaper Vientiane Times Sunday quoted the prime minister as saying.

According to the report disseminated at the ceremony by the Minister of Public Security, Major General Somkeo Silavong, more than 2,400 drugs-related cases have been cracked down in the past year with more than 3,500 suspects arrested, 77 of whom are foreigners.

This involved the confiscation of more than three million methamphetamine tablets (ATS), about 232 kg of heroin, about 39 kg of raw opium, more than 2,800 kg of dry cannabis, more than 150 kg of crystal amphetamine (ice), 6,690 kg of chemical precursors, and 1,105 kg of powder for mixing and producing drugs.

Prime Minister Thongloun also proposed to ministries, departments, and local authorities at different levels to pay attention to the implementation of the National Drug Control Master Plan from now until the year 2020.

He pointed to the importance of the campaign against and the prevention of the spread of illicit drugs, speeding up the restructuring of the organization of drug control committees at all levels, widely building of civic awareness in different forms, drug treatment, rehabilitation and vocational training, and the supervising and mobilizing of people to stop the cultivation of opium and cannabis.

He also stressed increasing strict control and prevention measures to drug traffickers at different localities, to find, list, and monitor main drug dealer targets, including Lao and foreigners who traffic drugs in the country.

"This is to bring them to criminal justice proceeding according to the national rule of law," the prime minister said. Enditem
KOLKATA, India, June 26 (Xinhua) -- For the first time in India, a Chinese Dragon Boat festival was held on Sunday in this eastern Indian metropolis, drawing large number of crowds other than the ethnic Chinese population from the old and new China town.

Inaugurating the festival, Consul General of China in Kolkata Ma Zhanwu said: "This festival, being the first ever in India, will usher in a new era of development and cooperation between India and China with more exchanges between the two historic countries."

The festival was organized by the Indian Chinese Association in the city with support from the consulate-general of China here. The dragon boat race was held in the lake in the southern part of the city and hosted by the Calcutta Rowing Club, the second oldest rowing club in the world and the oldest in Asia.

Thousands of people lined up on the shore of the lake and clapped their hands to watch the two batches of rowers compete with each other as they pulled the oars of the boats with small dragon cutouts.

On such a holiday afternoon, thousands of city's inhabitants turned up with their families, and the children were enthralled by artists from China Town who performed the dragon dance with Chinese drums and cymbals.

Visitors to the festival also enjoyed varieties of Chinese food catered by stalls set up by owners of restaurants at China Town.

Several senior leaders of the association who have been doing business in this famous city and reside at Tangra in the eastern part of the city were overjoyed and felt such festivals would bring the two countries together.

73-years-old Yingwah Chu who owns a leather factory said in fluent Bengali, the local tongue: "We have been here for four generations and felt isolated. We are very happy and this is a good sign."

Xie Ying Xing, former vice-president of the association and owner of Big Boss Restaurant at China Town, said: "We are thrilled with this festival being held in this city for the first time in India. We have received a lot of support from the Consulate-general of China. We hope to organize such festivals every year."

The relations between West Bengal and China has a long history, and more interactions will improve China's relations with this state of eastern India, said Consul Ma.

"This will continue and the consulate is ready to work and promote cooperation and friendship," he said.

Liu Fei, principal of Beijing Painting and Calligraphy School, and Feng Yingjie, vice chancellor of Beijing Tanzhou Art Academy, attracted much attention as they painted in front of the gathering who appreciated their work of art during the event.

Two British young women tourists, Remy Edwards from Cambridge and Grace Kampling from London, said they found the festival very "engrossing".

"We are working as volunteers to teach English at the China Town here. We find the community very friendly and family-oriented. We have never attended such a festival and are enjoying a lot," they said.
by Dawa Gyelmo

THIMPHU, June 26 (Xinhua) -- It was almost 9:30 p.m. when Wangmo reached home after dropping off her last passenger of the day. Her children were already off to bed as she reached home.

This is the daily routine for Wangmo, a 37-year-old mother of three, who has been driving taxi in Bhutan for four years. She is a professional driver, holding PD-license. She is one of the less than 30 women cabbies of Bhutan among thousands of male cabbies.

For a woman, taking up such profession is not just uncommon in the small society that is heavily influenced by principals of Buddhism and traditional conservative culture. Due to various reasons, women cabbies were often viewed skeptically or stigmatized as unfit in the society.

But for Wangmo, nothing stops her from driving a cab, indeed it has become a sole source of livelihood. In a small district of Wangdue, among 250 male cabbies, she is the only female cabbie.

"My parents were humble farmers from eastern Bhutan. They were too poor and could not afford to send us to school," Wangmo told Xinhua. "Since we were six siblings, our parents had to go through enormous hardship to raise us."

She was married early and became mother of three children. When the children were young, her husband's earning was enough for the family of five, as schooling and health care was free. But as they grow older, they have to study in private colleges, and subsequently all expenses increased rapidly.

"I had no choice but to do something, and driving was one thing that I enjoy to the fullest," Wangmo said.

Like many female cabbies, Wangmo said she was also bullied and criticized by male drivers and neighbors all the time, but she never let it hurt her pride. "Many passengers asked me why are you driving taxi, it's a job of male. But I slammed their question with big smile," she said.

"It might not be a decent job or a high earning profession, but our earning is enough to pay a house rent, children's education fee and meet other household expenses," said Jamyang, another female cabbie who requested to use an assumed name. "I started driving after my husband left me with two children.

She said they face many challenges, unlike male cabbies. The most fretting was to hear news of passengers stabbing and even killing taxi drivers on various occasions.

"We try not to express our fear but we always have fear inside," Jamyang told Xinhua. "Life is not easy, but it is far better than depending on other's income."

Jamyang said forget about neighbors, she was criticized by her family members, who flatly suggested her to leave the job. "It hurts, but I fight back," she told Xinhua. "What they don't understand is that I am compelled by the situation."

Female cabbies said despite rise in competition with increasing number of cabbies in the country, male cabbies are becoming more understanding of their situation and treating them as co-workers unlike earlier.

"I don't see any thing wrong in driving taxi," said a male driver, who is a committee member for taxi-drivers. It is true that there are only few female drivers among thousands of male cabbies but they are working and earning for their families.

The world is developing, so is Bhutan, where things are changing faster than flashlights, he said. Thimphu has many women doing odd jobs than driving taxi.

He said women in Bhutan are increasingly taking jobs that were traditionally male domain, like driving taxi. From pilot to police constables and entrepreneur to politics, women of the small developing nation are emerging, although sluggishly but breaking taboos.

Meanwhile, Wangmo said she has become tired especially with bad road and having to travel across the country, driving continues for days.

She wishes to give up driving cab after helping her children get through colleges. "I have plans to return to my village in Mongar and help my old parents with their field," she said.
Farmers Reliant on EU Subsidy May Want Brexit Anyway

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/farmers-reliant-on-eu-subsidy-may-want-brexit-anyway



View from Walestown showered with EU cash votes to leave EU

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/25/view-wales-town-showered-eu-cash-votes-leave-ebbw-vale

Brexit: a vote that changes everything

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/61e81a90-3953-11e6-9a05-82a9b15a8ee7.html

June 24, 2016 5:46 am

Vote against the EU could turn out to be a vote against the United Kingdom

Where to start? This was a vote that changed everything. Economic and foreign policies crafted over nearly half a century overturned in the course of a single night. A political establishment shattered by an insurgency against the elites. The nations of the United Kingdom divided; and England split between its metropolitan cities and post-industrial provinces. A vote against globalisation. A decision that weakens Europe and the west. Political earthquake is an understatement.

Sixty years ago the Suez debacle brought down the curtain on empire. The referendum has seen a badly divided Britain sign off as one of the wests leading powers. David Cameron had warned that a decision to pull up the drawbridge against Europe would be an act of self-harm. It is much more than that. For centuries a global player  and for one long spell an unrivalled empire  Britain has sounded the retreat. Forget dreamy nostalgia about a nation unshackled from Brussels reconquering the world. Britain will spend the next decade in search of what will be a much diminished role.

A vote against the EU could well turn out also to be a vote against the United Kingdom. The Brexiters were English nationalists. Scotland and Northern Ireland wanted to remain. So did London, the pre-eminent global city. So the leaving of one union may be the death of another. Who could blame the Scots for preferring Europe over an England turned in on itself? How long before the English tire of picking up the bill for Northern Ireland?

The political shocks from this revolt against the ancien regime will be felt well beyond Britains shores. It is a big blow to Europe, and a warning to established parties across liberal democracies. The outcome was shaped as much as by a revolt against globalisation as by the peculiar British antipathy towards the Eurocrats of Brussels. Immigration loomed largest  this in a nation that has always been open to the world. How easily expansive patriotism can curdle into narrow-eyed nationalism.

Across advanced democracies politics has been soured by resentment against wealthy elites. Look across Europe, or across the Atlantic to Donald Trumps Republican presidential campaign, and you see the same seething discontent about globalisation, migration and cuts in welfare. The postwar political order, dominated as it has been by parties of the centre-right and centre-left, is under unprecedented strain. Rising populism of the extreme left and right has begun to sound echoes of the 1930s.

In England, the divisions were apparent in the pattern of voting. London voted overwhelmingly to remain. The leave vote was strongest in those parts of provincial England  the north-east and north-west notably  that feel left behind by globalisation.

Mr Cameron has said he will resign. History will remember him as a prime minister who gambled the nations future on an attempt to appease his own party. But the political consequences will reach well beyond the choice of Conservative leader. Labour voters defied the party line in their millions. With the Tories divided and Labour rebuffed it is hard to imagine how the present order can be sustained.

In the short term, the economic shock and the turbulence on financial markets will be most likely matched by political paralysis. The people have voted to leave the EU, but there is no agreement about what might replace membership. Whoever among the Outers replaces Mr Cameron in Downing Street  and the favourite Boris Johnson would be absolutely the worst choice  he or she will struggle to build a consensus.

No, Britain will not be visited with famine and pestilence. But it will be poorer and weaker for this weeks decision. US President Barack Obama was telling the truth when he said that Britains role in Europe buttressed its influence in Washington. You could add a dozen other capitals to the list  Beijing, Delhi and Tokyo among them.

The world no longer belongs to the west. Liberty, democracy, the rule of law  the values that Britain often claims as its own  are under challenge. Europe, for all its flaws and annoyances, was the agency through which Britain could make a difference.

For much of the past 70 years Britain has sought, in the words of one former foreign secretary, to punch above its weight in global affairs. Now it plans to withdraw into itself. Yet going it alone ignores at once the international nature of Britains interests and the stark geopolitical realities. How long before the regret sets in?
Residents take part in the inaugural transit of the vessel COSCO Shipping Panama through the expanded Panama Canal in the city of Colon, capital of Colon Province, Panama, on June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Mauricio Valenzuela)

by Chris Dalby

PANAMA CITY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Cosco Shipping Panama, a vessel belonging to China COSCO Shipping Corporation, sailed down the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday morning, becoming the first ship to mark the official opening of the expanded canal on the day.

Sailing from the Atlantic, the vessel, which changed its name from Andronikos for the occasion, approached the Agua Clara locks in Colon pulled by four tugboats.

The 299.99-meter-long container vessel with a carrying capacity of 9,443 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) opened a chapter in the international shipping history during a ceremony, marking the conclusion of the nine-year expansion project of the canal.

Thousands of people lined up along the canal to mark its passage while events are being held in Panama City and regional capitals for the occasion.

Shouts of "Viva Panama (Long Live Panama)" could be heard from the crowd, cheering a new page for a legendary piece of infrastructure that Panama is very proud of.

After arriving early on Sunday at the Agua Clara docks, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela spoke briefly, saying that it "is an historic day for the country" and inviting all people to celebrate this great success, as free tickets were distributed to those wishing to attend the ceremony.

The jubilant head of state also took to Twitter, writing "our Canal has entered a new era. Congratulations Panama!"

Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Luis Quijano flew over the locks before the ship arrived and told the press that the good weather should make the passage very smooth.

A representative from COSCO Shipping also presented Varela with a plaque for the company's ship having the honor of being the first through the expanded Canal.

The expansion of the Panama Canal will bring the traffic through the inter-oceanic passage to a new level, which already handles around 6 percent of global trade transportation, Quijano said on Saturday.

Residents pose for a picture during the inaugural transit of the container vessel COSCO Shipping Panama through the expanded Panama Canal in the city of Colon, capital of Colon Province, Panama, on June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Mauricio Valenzuela)

With the expansion of the canal's width and depth, the volume of traffic will double, as Neopanamax-class vessels will now be able to pass through, carrying up to 14,000 standard containers, or TEUs.

In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, Ilya Espina de Marotta, head of the canal's expansion plan, said that "there is already big interest in transit through the new locks.

The Panama Canal Administration has already received bookings for the next 90 days, with at least 120 passages. Most ships involved are container vessels of more than 8,000 TEUs.

Furthermore, during a press conference on Saturday, Francisco Jose Miguez, the Panama Canal Authority's vice president of administration and finances, said that "the expansion will see the Canal double its contribution to Panama's finances by 2021."

Earlier in June, Jude Sebastian Rodrigues, captain of Cosco Shipping Panama, told Xinhua that "it is a great honor for me to be the captain of the ...vessel selected to make the first transit across the Canal."

"It is an honor not only for the vessel and its crew, but also for COSCO Shipping and all its employees working on board and at sea," the captain said.
Five people were wounded on Sunday as Iranian artillery bombarded Iran's Kurdish rebel posts along the border within Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

BAGHDAD, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Five people were wounded Sunday as Iranian artillery bombarded Iran's Kurdish rebel posts along the border within Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, a Kurdish security source said.

"Iranian artillery pounded the bordering areas of Sodkan and Soran in the province of Arbil, wounding five people and damaging several residential buildings," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The Iranian attack also bombarded the villages of Alana, Kuna Re and Harman, in Haj Omran which is near the border with Iran in the area of Chorman in Arbil, the source said.

There were no casualties resulting from the shelling in the villages, however many families were forced to leave their homes for safer areas, the source added.

Apparently, the Iranian army pounded Kurdistan's border claiming the presence of Iran's Kurdish Democratic Party (KDPI) fighters, also known as Iran's Kurdish rebels, the source explained.

The KDPI is a Kurdish political party in Iran's Kurdistan.

The Party is struggling to attain its Kurdish national rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran.
NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has urged African countries to increase investment in family planning to benefit girls and women.

UNFPA Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin, told Xinhua on Sunday that the largest burden of unmet family planning needs globally was in Africa.

"Many African governments are not investing enough in family planning," said Osotimeh, who also holds the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General.

Osotimehin said family planning was central to the welfare of families and women.

He said that in many circumstances African women didn't have the opportunity to decide on the number of children to have.

"Women face many obstacles depending on the context including cultural and religious reasons," he said, adding "we therefore have to educate our boys and men on the role they have towards gender equality."

Osotimehin said that for family planning to be successful, there was need for a comprehensive approach including training of health workers.

In 2012, UNFPA came up with the FP2020 initiative that aimed to enable 120 million women in the 69 poorest countries globally to access modern contraception. Osotimehin said a majority of the women to benefit from the initiative will be from Africa. Enditem
ISTANBUL, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Sunday fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse gay activists in Istanbul.

hundreds of people gathered in the busy Istiklal Avenue near the iconic Taksim Square to stage the annual LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) pride march, despite a ban announced by the Turkish authorities a week before.

At least 12 people including two foreigners were detained, the Hurriyet daily reported, while the police chased others in the small lanes and streets of Istiklal Avenue.

Volker Beck, a politician from the German Green Party, and Terry Reintke, a member of the European Parliament, were later freed, the daily said.

The riot police also used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a transgender pride march on June 19.

The Islamist and ultranationalist groups had threatened the LGBTI groups for holding rallies during the Ramadan, the holly month for Muslims. Enditem




LINDAU, June 27, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Nobel laureates and guests arrive at the city theater for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, south Germany, June 26, 2016. The 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings kicked off at the theater on Sunday, attracting 29 Nobel laureates and more than 400 young scientists from all over the world. (Xinhua/Zhu Sheng)

LINDAU, Germany, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings kicked off on Sunday in southern German city of Lindau, attracting 29 Nobel Laureates and more than 400 selected young scientists from all over the world.

More than 30 Chinese young scientists, the third largest group after Germany and the United States, attended the yearly event, which will last until July 1, according to the official statistics.

The young participants are outstanding students, graduate students and post-docs under 35 years old, who conduct research in the field of physics. The proportion of women is 31 percent.

"Innovation depends on knowledge transfer, inspiration and collaboration, which is why our mission is 'Educate, Inspire, Connect'," said Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg, president of the council for the meetings.

In front of guests from about 80 countries and regions, Austrian President Heinz Fischer addressed the meeting participants as this year's host country.

Due to renovation work of the usual meeting hall, this year's event is held in the city theater of Lindau. The meeting since 1951 is designed as a forum for exchange, networking and inspiration.

The 66th event is dedicated to the field of physics and focuses on the core areas of the discipline. Key topics are about cosmology, particle physics and quantum technology.
A wind farm in western Texas. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

by Xinhua Writer Zhang Yongxing

HOUSTON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Georgetown, a small city in the U.S. state of Texas, has a big dream to become greener by using 100 percent renewable energy next year, the first in the state and one of the few in the nation to be entirely powered by wind and solar energy.

Located about 40 kilometers north of the Lone Star state's capital Austin, Georgetown, with a population of about 65,000, has witnessed the fastest growing in the United States thanks to the use of green energy over the past years.

In the eyes of Dale Ross, Georgetown's mayor, the city is charming and unique and has a rich and proud history that goes back to nearly 170 years. Its pursuit of 100 percent renewable energy is just like icing on the cake.

A street view of Georgetown. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

"We are happy that we have not lost our small town charm, and we are happy to lead the way with regards to innovating for the future with our move to 100 percent renewable energy from our city-owned utility, and what we are doing is to save our residents' money, to attract more big high tech companies to come to Georgetown, to develop our economy and to create a favorable environment for our people to work and live," Ross told Xinhua in an exclusive interview recently.

Ross, who enjoyed a two-week-long visit to China last year, said proudly that Georgetown embraces renewable energy more aggressively than most Texas cities as it knows that such green energy can provide the city with much more cheaper and reliable electricity at a longer term, and help eliminate the risk of the fossil fuels-generated electricity's long-term price fluctuation.

"This is a long-term source of power that creates cost certainty, brings economic development and helps our environment," he said. "Maybe national gas price now is cheaper than green energy, but in the long term, during the 25 years ...renewable energy will surely be cheaper."

According to Chris Foster, manager of Georgetown's resource planning and integration,the city had the idea of fully using green energy in 2008 and it took them years for a feasibility study and preparations.

Georgetown's green energy plan includes a 144 megawatt agreement (in 2014) with a wind plant in northern Texas and another 150 megawatt agreement (in 2015) with a solar farm in western Texas.

The 25- and 20-year contracts allow the city to lock in low wholesale power rates and hedge against the price and regulatory uncertainty for energy produced by fossil-fuels, Foster said.

Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross (third from left) and Xinhua correspondent in Georgetown Utility Systems. (Xinhua/Zhang Yongxing)

The Spinning Spur 3 wind project by EDF (Electricite de France) Renewable Energy near the northern Texas city of Amarillo came online in September 2015 and is now producing 90 percent of Georgetown energy.

The solar farm, which belongs to a giant multinational solar energy company SunEdison, near the western Texas city of Fort Stockton, is scheduled to be operational in April 2017, and this means Georgetown will since then become a 100 percent renewable energy city. Sixty percent will be wind power while the rest will be from solar power.

Energy produced at the two sites is sent to central Texas via transmission lines. Electricity from generating plants across the state is managed every hour of every day by ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, to ensure that energy supply meets demand.

In recent years, Texas, which has its own separate power grid from the rest of the country, has begun updating its power grid to facilitate more renewable energy generation.

As part of the state's Competitive Renewable Energy Zone program (CREZ), Texas has spent around 7 billion U.S. dollars building transmission lines to make far-removed wind and solar projects accessible to population centers in the central and eastern parts of the state.

Ross believes that wind and solar power can be mutually complementary as Texas is rich in both wind and solar power. The wind power is becoming more efficient and the solar power is getting better and better.

Wind farms generate most of the energy Georgetown needs in the evenings while solar energy will meet the city's power need during the daylight hours. The combination of the wind and solar farm has resulted in lower cost power than any coal, gas, or nuclear bid the city has reviewed.

Texas, the nation's second largest state, is actually a leader in clean energy development. Programs like state renewable portfolio standards from 1999 and federal tax credits from 2005 (Emerging Technology Fund) for renewable energies have encouraged the growth of wind and solar power generation. With such incentive programs, Texas' energy demand met with wind power increased from one percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2014.

Ross said that for the years to come, if the wind and solar plants produce more renewable power than the city consume, Georgetown will sell off the excess power into the ERCOT market.

Currently, Texas produces the most wind power of any U.S. state and Texas' wind power consists of many wind farms with a total installed nameplate capacity of 17,713 MW from over 40 different projects. In 2015, wind power accounted for 11.7 percent of the electricity generated in the state.

In solar power, Texas is lagging behind the nation's some other sunny southwestern states, but the state has great potentials in solar energy. In 2014, the state installed 129 megawatts of solar, ranking the eighth for the year nationally.

Nowadays,it seems that fossil fuels still dominates the energy sector, but green energy, like wind and solar power, will surely have a brighter future.

No doubt, Georgetown, a pioneer in taking the advantages of renewable energy, has seized the chance to develop itself by using 100 percent green energy.
An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in south China Sea. (Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)

BARCELONA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- "Bilateral agreement is the best solution" for resolving the dispute in the South China Sea, Spanish political scientist and PhD in Intercultural Studies Marc Selgas Cors said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

It is expected that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will soon announce the decision on the arbitration case brought by the Philippines.

"An inclusive negotiation favors cooperation over any jurisdiction of any court," Selgas said.

"If we know the inclusive and harmonious culture of the parties, we will understand that the bilateral agreement is the best solution for the conflict," he added.

According to Selgas, "Conflict resolution does not go through a Court unilaterally, in this case, but should be addressed at the political level between the two countries involved."

In addition, the court's decision "should not have any implications, if one of the parties no longer recognizes the legitimacy of the Court in this mediation, as in the case of China," Selgas said.

He explained that in the convention of 2002 between China and 10 ASEAN countries, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea was signed, in which Article IV states that any dispute between two parties must be resolved "through friendly consultations and negotiations."

"Therefore, the Court itself is acting, in this case, unilaterally, therefore its legitimacy in the process is void," he said.

According to Selgas, bilateral negotiation would be the key to the resolution of the dispute, noting "the decision of the Court, will not facilitate the resolution of the conflict but may even aggravate, increasing tensions and clashes with other international actors."
ADDIS ABABA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has condemned the attack on Nasa Hablod Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia.

A statement from the East African bloc on Sunday said "it is with deep sorrow that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development learnt of the terror attack carried out by the Al Shabaab on June 25, 2016 at the Nasa Hablod Hotel in which innocent people lost their lives."

IGAD condemned "in the strongest words possible the senseless violence incurred by this terror group known as a desperate group who has no respect for human life," said the statement.

IGAD offered its heartfelt condolences to the government and people of Somalia and to the families who lost their loved ones.

It also wished speedy recovery to those who were injured in the attack at the Nasa Hablod Hotel.

Death toll from the attack has risen to 16 and a state minister was among those killed. More than 30 others were injured, according to spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Security, Abdikamil Mo'allim Shukri on Sunday. Enditem
JERUSALEM, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel and Turkey will announce on Monday a reconciliation agreement reached following six years of diplomatic detente, reported Israeli media on Sunday.

Israeli and Turkish negotiation teams met for last-minute talks in Rome on Sunday, after months of intense negotiations.

According to local media reports citing Israeli and Turkish officials, negotiations substantially progressed ten days ago.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Rome on Sunday to meet with U.S. Secretary John Kerry, and it is believed he will announce the reconciliation agreement Monday, reported the Ha'aretz daily on Sunday.

Netanyahu will also reveal the complete agreement text which ended six years of hostility between both countries, said the Ha'aretz daily, adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also deliver a statement simultaneously in Turkey.

Reports published last week by Turkish and Israeli media outlets estimated that the reconciliation agreement will be announced on Sunday.

If a deal has in fact been reached, it will be brought forward for approval by Israel's security cabinet, a forum of ministers responsible for security and diplomatic affairs' decisions on Wednesday.

A unanimous approval of the deal by the cabinet is anticipated.

Relations between Israel and Turkey soured following a deadly 2010 raid by an Israeli naval ship against a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara.

The Mavi Marmara was part of a flotilla headed to the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip demanding the lifting of the Israeli blockade from it.

The incident killed 10 Turkish nationals.

According to the agreement, Israel will fund 20 million U.S. dollars in compensation for the victims' families.

The agreement will also enable Turkey to undertake infrastructure projects in the Gaza Strip, reported the Ynet news website. There are talks on installing Turkish natural gas pipelines through Israeli territory.

As for Turkey, it relinquished its demand to remove the Israeli blockade from the Gaza Strip, and will bar judicial prosecution against Israeli soldiers and officers.

Turkish officials also committed to ban the Islamic militant Hamas movement from carrying out or planning terrorist or military attacks against Israel from its territory, Ynet reported.

Under these terms, both countries will normalize their diplomatic relations and reinstate their respective embassies.

The deal angered families of missing Israeli civilians who, according to Israel, are being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in addition to two dead soldiers' remains also held by Hamas, killed during the 2014 Israeli military campaign against Gaza.

In an attempt to allay the criticism, Netanyahu addressed the issue during his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, promising that "we will neither rest nor be silent until we bring the boys back home." Enditem
NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government plans to repatriate about 150,000 Somali refugees from the Dadaab refugee camp by the end of 2016.

The plan was revealed in a statement issued after the Tripartite Commission for the Voluntary Repatriation of Somali Refugees living in Kenya held a meeting over the weekend. The commission consists of officials from Kenya, Somalia and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

The statement said the voluntary repatriation has seen the return of more than 16,000 Somali refugees to date, and will be implemented with continued support from Kenya, Somalia and partners.

"The parties noted the prospect of the reduction of the population in the Dadaab camps by 150,000 individuals by the end of 2016 as a result of voluntary returns to Somalia, relocation of non-Somali refugees, the de-registration of Kenyan citizens who registered as refugees, and a population verification exercise," reads the statement.

The meeting was attended by Somalia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdusalam Hadliye Omer, and UNHCR chief, Filippo Grandi.

"The commission directed the tripartite technical committee to conclude concrete operational modalities and support measures which will be provided in Kenya and Somalia," the statement said.

Kenya in May announced it will close Dadaab and repatriate the more than 300,000 Somalis living in it, citing environmental and security concerns. Somalia has said it is ready to receive the Somalis back home.

Located in northeastern Kenya, Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, was set up more than 20 years ago to house people fleeing conflict in Somalia.

The Dadaab closure process will also involve the identification of non-Somali refugees who will be taken to Kenya's Kakuma camp and local citizens who live in the camp will obtain humanitarian assistance, according to the statement.

As of the end of May, the number of Somali refugees registered in Dadaab had decreased to 326,000, a reduction of over 100,000 people in the past five years -- many of whom are believed to have spontaneously returned to Somalia, the statement said.

Grandi called for more financial support as they plan to increase the repatriation package given to refugees, saying funds will be a significant determinant of how fast the process goes.

"We are planning to increase the package or double as this is what most of the refugees have requested because they actually want to go home. The package is in need of cash for food and also other non-food items. But all in all, the most important part of repatriation process will be cash," Grandi said.

Omer said Somalia and Kenya had agreed to conduct the repatriation in a humane and dignified way.

"Their (the refugee's) safety is assured and land (in Somalia) has been set aside for refugees. All the work is in progress and 20,000 Somalis have expressed their willingness to go back home," said Omer.

The tripartite commission committed to engaging bilateral and multilateral development partners in raising necessary funds to facilitate the repatriation.

Kenya estimates that at least 200 million U.S. dollars were needed for the repatriation to be completed in a humane manner.

The tripartite commission agreed to meet in October to review progress made in the voluntary repatriation.

Kenya believes Somalia's Islamist group Al-Shabaab has hideouts in Dadaab. Al-Shabaab militants have carried out several deadly attacks in Kenya in recent years. Enditem
by Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, June 26 (Xinhua) -- While growing up in a low income suburb northwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Mohammed Kimani never dreamt that he would one day become an accomplished entrepreneur with a large footprint in his native country and China.

Kimani endured the indignities of poverty at a tender age while growing up in a shanty village where youth often fell on the wayside thanks to limited chances in life.

The death of his estranged biological father cast a dark shadow in Kimani's life and that of his three siblings.

Having observed the immense struggles his widowed mother endured in order to feed, clothe and educate her offspring, Kimani vowed to work hard in school in order to secure a lucrative career that would salvage his next of kin from the shackles of deprivation.

While in high school, Kimani did manual work to raise tuition fees and the trend continued when he joined college to study information technology.

The self made businessman who founded Amana Export Company (A.E.C) after graduating from a mid-level college in Nairobi is an embodiment of courage and resilience in the face of adversity.

Now in his early 30s, Kimani has witnessed the growth of a medium scale enterprise into a profit churning behemoth that has a large presence in Kenya and China.

During a recent interview with Xinhua, Kimani said that a visit to China in 2012 paved the way for the rapid growth of his start-up that is not only involved in import and export business but also facilitates interaction between Kenyan and Chinese entrepreneurs.

"When I first landed in China in 2012, I applied for a teaching career although my heart was in business," said Kimani, adding that perks and exposure gained in the teaching profession paved way for realization of his dream as a distinguished entrepreneur.

He was employed briefly as a teacher in Shenzhen and Henan province and later moved to Beijing to build his start-up.

While in Beijing, Kimani interacted with successful Chinese and Kenyan entrepreneurs whose advice and connections would later open new opportunities to the ambitious youngster.

"I knew from the beginning that Beijing was a strategic springboard for a foreigner yearning to venture into business since it is a cosmopolitan city," Kimani said.

Ever the optimist, Kimani defied skeptical voices to oversee growth of his flagship company in a foreign land while maintaining loyalty to his country of birth.

"My company picked up in 2012 shortly after settling in China and we have been importing general merchandise like clothes, electronics, foot wear, machinery and household goods from the Asian giant to Kenya," Kimani said.

He said his Amana Export Company has offices in Nairobi and Guangzhou to help facilitate interactions between Kenyan and Chinese enterprises.

"We have been assisting Kenyan entrepreneurs to prepare travel documents to China and also link them up with suppliers there. Our company also facilitate shipping of goods imported from China," said Kimani.

He revealed that in 2014, his company facilitated 200 Kenyan entrepreneurs to travel to China to buy products while exploring new markets.

Kimani's start-up has been facilitating Kenyan small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in importing high quality and affordable products from China at a modest commission.

"My work is to identify suppliers in China and link them with our small and medium scale entrepreneurs. We can also order products for Kenyan importers through online platforms," Kimani said.

Kimani is among a growing cadre of Kenyan professionals and entrepreneurs who consider China their second home as bilateral ties between the two countries blossom to new heights.

Kimani alternates between China and Kenya as he oversees growth of an enterprise that has created many jobs.

"I returned to Kenya last month and in some instances, I stay in China for a whole year due to heavy workload," said Kimani, adding that Kenyan youth consider China a prized destination to hone their entrepreneur skills.

Chinese manufactured goods have gained traction with Kenyan small and medium sized enterprises due to their quality and affordable prices.

Kimani said that a robust interaction between Kenyan and Chinese entrepreneurs has fostered trust and friendship.

"Our businesspeople are amazed whenever they visit China to buy a wide range of products. They are surprised to discover that Chinese society is very welcoming and friendly," Kimani said.

He said that Kenyan youth who had lengthy work or study tours in China are currently behind investment frenzy back home.

"Hundreds of Kenyan youth have been able to lift themselves from poverty after staying in China where they gained business skills," said Kimani.

He is currently studying Chinese language at a University in Guangzhou and while in Kenya he offers mentorship on entrepreneurship to disadvantaged children.
EDINBURGH, June 26 (Xinhua) -- A total of 10 people were injured after a rollercoaster crashed off the rails at a theme park in North Lanarkshire in central Scotland on Sunday, local police said.

The two adults and eight children were all being treated at local hospitals, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted Police Scotland as saying.

One adult and one child are in stable condition and three children are expected to be allowed home later, said the report.

The accident involved the Tsunami ride at the M&D's park near Strathclyde Park in Motherwell. Six ambulance crews and a specialist operation team, as well as six fire engines were on the scene after being called on Sunday afternoon.

Police Scotland revised down the number of the injured from its initial estimate of 11 and confirmed there were nine passengers on the ride at the time, while eyewitnesses claimed the carriage smashed into a toddlers' ride when it hit the ground, as reported by the online Scotsman newspaper.

"On arrival it became clear a series of five gondolas connected on a train on the Tsunami ride have detached from the rails, struck the superstructure and then struck the ground." Chief Inspector David Bruce was quoted by BBC as saying.

"As a result of this accident, 10 people have been injured, two adults and eight children," he added.

The M&D's theme park announced on its website that the theme park is closed due to an incident.

"A serious incident occurred at M&D's today involving the tsunami rollercoaster. We have all emergency services on site to assist. The theme park is closed until further notice," said the spokesperson for the theme park.

There are also messages and videos on social media about the incident of the rollercoaster carriage crash with children and adults on board, saying "it's like something out a horror film".

Scottish First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said:"My thoughts are with everyone involved in this terrible incident at M&D's theme park, especially those injured."

Earlier, Police Scotland declined to make any comment on the incident on the phone when contacted by Xinhua.
Photo taken with mobile phone on June 13, 2016 shows customers selecting gun at a shop in Orlando, the United States. The American society has been buzzing with measures to prevent further gun-related violence in the United States, after a shooting spree in an Orlando nightclub left 49 dead and 53 wounded on Sunday. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- After staging a historic sit-in protest in the U.S. House of Representatives, House Democratic lawmakers are planning a "day of action" nationwide next week to keep pushing for gun control.

In a letter sent to all Democratic colleagues in the House on Friday, six Democratic Representatives, including John Lewis, John Larson, Katherine Clark, David Cicilline, Robin Kelly and Mike Thompson, called for holding a "day of action" on June 29.

The letter came after House Democrats staged a chaotic sit-in protest on Wednesday to take over the House floor, in an attempt to push for a vote on curbing gun violence. The protest forced the House into earlier recess for the July Fourth Day as the Republicans, who control the House, rejected the Democrats' call.

The letter said that the aim of holding a "day of action" across the country is to carry their message on gun control further.

"A movement was born and will only continue to grow," the letter said, referring to the sit-in protest.

It said that Democratic lawmakers can use any tactics on the day to keep fighting for gun control, including holding a press conference, roundtable, or telephone town hall in their own constituencies.

"Local partners including survivors, law enforcement and faith leaders can be excellent partners and can help carry our message even further," the letter added.

Behind the clash between the Democrats and Republicans on the gun control issue lies this year's presidential race, as the two campaigns are now gearing up to woo more voters.

The sit-in protest by House Democrats was staged after the June 12 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which a lone gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.

The sit-in also came less than two days after the also Republican-controlled Senate failed to pass four gun-control measures.

In the wake of the Orlando shooting, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump are espousing two competing narratives as explanation for the incident, in hope to control the agenda in the presidential race.

The Clinton campaign described the Orlando attack as the worst mass shooting in the nation's history, while the Trump team called it as a terrorist attack citing that the gunman, Omar Marteen, pledged allegiance to the terror group Islamic State.

The Democrats are pushing Congress to pass bills on curbing gun violence, including barring gun sales to those on the terror watch lists and expanding background checks on buyers.

The move by the Democrats is apparently aimed at firing up the voters advocating for stricter gun control in a country long plagued by gun violence and killings.

But the Republicans have rejected the proposals, arguing that the focus should be on fighting terrorism rather than passing bills that they think would infringe on the gun-ownership rights endowed by the Second Amendment in the Constitution.

The Republican lawmakers have been criticized by many for being kidnapped by powerful U.S. gun lobbying groups led by the National Rifle Association which boasts more than 5 million members.
TORONTO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Austin Clarke, the Toronto-based laureate of multiple prestigious writers prizes, has died at the age of 81, his family confirmed Sunday.

Clarke was the winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for his 2002 novel "The Polished Hoe" and won Toronto Book Award in 2009.

Born in Barbados in 1934, Austin "Tom" Clarke moved to Canada in 1955 to attend the University of Toronto. He was sometimes known as "Canada's first multicultural writer."

Clarke became a leader in the North American civil rights movement before publishing his first novel, The Survivors of the Crossing, in 1964.

He went on to write more than two dozen books in various genres, including novels, nonfiction and poetry. His latest work was a memoir, "'Membering," which was published in 2015.

Clarke was best known for his novel "The Polished Hoe," the story of Mary-Matilda, an elderly woman who confesses to a long-ago murder of a plantation owner, sharing her story over the course of a single night to a police officer.

Over the course of his long career, Clarke frequently wrote about the immigrant experience and being black in Canada.

"Certainly, there is no other black Canadian author who has been so heartily embraced as Austin Clarke," wrote literary critic Donna Bailey Nurse in a 2003 profile published by the trade magazine Quill & Quire.

Clarke's death was confirmed by his daughter Darcy Ballantine. She told local media that her father "passed away quietly" after a prolonged illness.

Reynaldo Walcott, a University of Toronto professor, described Clarke as a "brilliant mind who cared deeply about Barbados, Bajans and people from across the Caribbean and Canada."

"Writing has been a mainstay and the most important aspect of my life," Clarke said to CBC Books in 2015. "It shall continue this way until I die."

Clarke became a Canadian citizen in 1981. He was honored as a member of the Order of Canada in 1998.

Clarke's funeral service is scheduled for July 9 at Toronto's St. James Cathedral.
MADRID, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The People's Party of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy won the most seats in the general election on Sunday, preliminary results have showed.

With 95 percent of votes counted, the party won 32.9 percent of the votes, which translated into 137 seats in Spain's 350-seat Congress, 14 more than the number of seats it secured in the previous election in December 2015.

The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) finished second, a surprise given that opinion polls during the campaign and exit polls on Sunday had predicted them to drop into third place behind Unidos Podemos.

The PSOE won 22.77 percent of the votes to claim 85 seats, five less than that of the previous election.

Meanwhile, Unidos Podemos, which had been predicted to finish second in the election by an exit poll, won 21.13 percent of the votes and claimed 71 seats.

It will still be difficult for Rajoy to form a coalition government given that center-right party Ciudadanos lost ground on Sunday. The party led by Albert Rivera saw how voters abandoned them to vote for the PP. Rivera's group polled 12.94 percent of the votes and lost 8 seats to the PP.

The political balance in Spain has not fundamentally changed after the latest election. Despite the PP gained more support than they did during the last election, a coalition between the party and Ciudadanos would only give them a total of 169 seats, seven short of an overall majority, while a "progressive" pact between the PSOE and Podemos would leave them with a total of 156 seats.

The Catalan nationalist party Ezquerra Republicana won nine seats, the same as in December, while Democratic Convergence of Cataluna (CDC) claimed eight seats, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) five Bildu two and the Canary Island Coalition one.

It is hard to imagine any nationalist party wanting to form a post-electoral pact with Rajoy, whose best hope for forming a government could well be to persuade the PSOE to abstain in a future vote.

The final turnout at the polls was 69.8 percent, up 0.11 percent compared with that of the previous election.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton smiles as she campaigns at East Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, the United States, May 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong)

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is holding a 12-point lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump as support for the latter tumbled in the past month, found a poll released Sunday.

Clinton enjoys 51 percent of support among Americans, up by seven points from May, compared to Trump's support at 39 percent, which is down by seven points, according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll.

This is Clinton's biggest lead over Trump since last fall and is a dramatic reversal from the May poll, in which Trump led Clinton slightly by 46 percent to 44 percent.

The poll discovered that 56 percent of American voters believe Trump stands against their beliefs, while 64 percent say Trump does not have the necessary credentials to be president.

Clinton's lead over Trump narrows to 10 points by 47 percent to 37 percent, when the two third-party presidential candidates were mentioned in the poll. Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson gains 7 percent of support, while Green Party's Jill Stein garners only 3 percent, according to the poll.

The controversial comments on women, minorities and Muslims made by Trump, a brash New York billionaire, may have contributed to his recent slide in the poll, as the majority of American voters regard them as biased.

Overall, 66 percent of Americans think Trump's remarks as "unfairly biased," while only 29 percent say they are "not unfairly biased."

Even among the Republicans, 41 percent think Trump's remarks are "unfairly biased," while 53 percent say they are "not unfairly biased."

Trump has been criticized recently by publicly attacking a Mexcian-American judge overseeing the Trump University fraud case. The poll found that 68 percent of Americans regard Trump' s criticism of Judge Gonzalo Curiel as racist and 85 percent say they are inappropriate.

Related:

U.S. Democrat Bernie Sanders says to vote for his rival Hillary Clinton to beat Donald Trump -- TV network

WASHINGTON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders said Friday that he will vote for the party's presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in November, saying stopping Donald Trump from becoming president must be an overarching goal. Full story

U.S. President Obama endorses Hillary Clinton for president
SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Six people were stabbed on Sunday outside the state capitol in Sacramento, California, and there was unconfirmed report of seventh stab wound victim.

Reports from Sacramento, some 140 kilometers north of San Francisco, said violence broke out between members of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi group and counter-protesters against its scheduled rally outside the capitol.

In a Twitter posting, Sacramento Fire Department described it as a "mass casualty incident."

The neo-Nazi group, known as the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), had planned the event for several weeks and stated that members of its California affiliate would be "marching in the city of Sacramento to protest against globalization and in defense of the right to free expression." With a permit from authorities, it was scheduled to begin at noon.

Witnesses said the group had some 25 members on the scene.

More people -- about 150 according to some accounts -- were there as counter-protesters. The violence apparently started before the rally began. And authorities immediately revoked the TWP's permit to protest.

The capitol building was locked down, as local and state police were deployed.

Officials said six people were stabbed and hospitalized, five in critical conditions. An additional victim of stab wound was reported by a local TV station but yet to be confirmed. However, none of their wounds were believed to be life-threatening.

Despite social media postings identifying some of those being helped as counter-protesters, there have been no official words about the identities of the wounded.

The TWP claims to be "America's first political party created by and for working families" and states on its website that "European-American identity is under constant attack by members of American institutions such as the state, education, culture and even churches."

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a non-profit organization that combats hate, intolerance and discrimination in the United States, reveals that the TWP was formed in January of this year as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network (TYN), an umbrella group that aims to indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism.

The TYN was believed to be a small group established in 2013.
Residents welcome the container vessel COSCO Shipping Panama at the expanded Panama Canal in the city of Colon, capital of Colon Province, Panama, on June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Mauricio Valenzuela)

by Chris Dalby

PANAMA CITY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Cosco Shipping Panama, a vessel belonging to China COSCO Shipping Corporation, sailed down the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday morning, becoming the first ship to mark the official opening of the expanded canal on the day.

Sailing from the Atlantic, the vessel, which changed its name from Andronikos for the occasion, approached the Agua Clara locks in Colon pulled by four tugboats.

The 299.99-meter-long container vessel with a carrying capacity of 9,443 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) opened a chapter in the international shipping history during a ceremony, marking the conclusion of the nine-year expansion project of the canal.

Thousands of people lined up along the canal to mark its passage while events are being held in Panama City and regional capitals for the occasion.

Shouts of "Viva Panama (Long Live Panama)" could be heard from the crowd, cheering a new page for a legendary piece of infrastructure that Panama is very proud of.

After arriving early on Sunday at the Agua Clara docks, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela spoke briefly, saying that it "is an historic day for the country" and inviting all people to celebrate this great success, as free tickets were distributed to those wishing to attend the ceremony.

The jubilant head of state also took to Twitter, writing "our Canal has entered a new era. Congratulations Panama!"

Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Luis Quijano flew over the locks before the ship arrived and told the press that the good weather should make the passage very smooth.

A representative from COSCO Shipping also presented Varela with a plaque for the company's ship having the honor of being the first through the expanded Canal.

The expansion of the Panama Canal will bring the traffic through the inter-oceanic passage to a new level, which already handles around 6 percent of global trade transportation, Quijano said on Saturday.

Residents pose for a picture during the inaugural transit of the container vessel COSCO Shipping Panama through the expanded Panama Canal in the city of Colon, capital of Colon Province, Panama, on June 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Mauricio Valenzuela)

With the expansion of the canal's width and depth, the volume of traffic will double, as Neopanamax-class vessels will now be able to pass through, carrying up to 14,000 standard containers, or TEUs.

In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, Ilya Espina de Marotta, head of the canal's expansion plan, said that "there is already big interest in transit through the new locks.

The Panama Canal Administration has already received bookings for the next 90 days, with at least 120 passages. Most ships involved are container vessels of more than 8,000 TEUs.

Furthermore, during a press conference on Saturday, Francisco Jose Miguez, the Panama Canal Authority's vice president of administration and finances, said that "the expansion will see the Canal double its contribution to Panama's finances by 2021."

Earlier in June, Jude Sebastian Rodrigues, captain of Cosco Shipping Panama, told Xinhua that "it is a great honor for me to be the captain of the ...vessel selected to make the first transit across the Canal."

"It is an honor not only for the vessel and its crew, but also for COSCO Shipping and all its employees working on board and at sea," the captain said.
Talk of $32M legal fee ridiculous

He was responding to statements made by Al-Rawi in Parliament on Friday during his contribution to debate in the House of Representatives on a no-confidence motion against Al-Rawi filed by Oropouche East MP Roodal Moonilal.

He had said actions of certain attorneys representing Petrotrin in the legal matter against its former executive chairman Malcolm Jones constitute, a breach of the Legal Professions Act. He reported the total amount of unpaid legal fees the Peoples Partnership administration left behind was a small amount of $55,583,826.07 and the legal fees Ramdeen (one of the attorneys representing Petrotrin) within this sum was $32,858,901.67. In a statement yesterday Ramdeen said the AG has a penchant for quoting ridiculous legal fees and I merely wish to state that these figures are inaccurate and incorrect.

He also commented that it was amusing to note that every problem that Al Rawi uncovers he is quick to report to the Law Association.

I am confident that this has nothing to do with the fact that its President (Reginald Armour) is his former business partner and former attorney for Dr Rowley. I am even more confident that his resort to the Law Association has nothing to do with the fact that its vice president (Gerry Brooks) is the new Calder Hart of the PNM, serving on approximately ten state boards with stipends of over $100,000 per month, Ramdeen stated.

He also described as interesting that it took a motion of no confidence for the Attorney General to realise that he had a desire to refer lawyers acting against Malcolm Jones to the Disciplinary Committee.

When did he come to this realisation and why did he continue to retain those lawyers for the past nine months if he felt so strongly? This is a classic Seukeran red herring, he added.

Ironically, the AG may himself be before the Disciplinary Committee for continuing to retain lawyers who he claims to have known to have breached the Legal Profession Act. Al-Rawi must mind the hole that he digs for others lest he falls into it himself.

The AG may himself be before the disciplinary committee for his role in the appointment of a member of the Standing Committee on Energy when he was alleging that he was reviewing the merits of the case against Malcolm Jones, Ramdeen cautioned.

He said that clearly the AG prejudged and predetermined Joness innocence even while he attempted to don the disguise of the guardian of the public interest.

We have come to accept that when the Honourable Attorney General cannot match the legal acumen of another, which is not an infrequent occurrence, he resorts to personal attacks and yesterday was no different. It is a pattern of behaviour that is displayed by Mr Al Rawi and the de facto Attorney General Mr Young, he added.

Mr Al-Rawi has indicated that he will refer certain persons to the Disciplinary Committee and if he feels justified in so doing and he has the evidence in his possession to support such action then he is duty bound so to do.

It is clear that what Mr Al-Rawi sought to do yesterday (Friday) by his statements was simply try and create a soundbite for the media to distract from the real issues in support of the no confidence motion. Ramdeen stated that In the past ten months the legacy of Al-Rawi as the Attorney General of this country has been as follows: - Taking to oath of office before the Prime Minister - Telling the citizens of this country that they have no right to privacy, a position that was quickly put right by a former President of the CCJ and the dean of the Faculty of Law - Declaring he has information that ought properly to be only in the possession of the SSA - Delaying in making a decision with respect to providing a child with funds from the Childrens Life Fund resulting in the childs death - Inviting independent senators to a meeting during the debate on the SSA bill which the majority refused to attend - Speaking out of turn with respect to the legalisation of marijuana until he was reprimanded by the Prime Minister.

And we should not at all forget that his greatest accomplishment is his chairmanship of CFATF (Caribbean Financial Action Task Force) a position that he did not earn but inherited from his predecessor Mr. Anand Ramlogan SC, Ramdeen added.
Explosion in Palo Seco

Luckily, there were no fatalities, workers having scampered for safety and quickly contacted fire officials.

When Sunday Newsday visited the scene yesterday, the gates to the company located in a forested area off Los Charos Road, were closed and the affected area cordoned off.

However, one person who was on the compound surveying the ruins, remained tightlipped about the incident.

Police reports are that the explosion occurred shortly after 5pm on Friday when workers were refueling a truck (tanker) on the compound. It is believed that some of the liquid leaked and caused the trucks battery to ignite.

The fire quickly spread inside and outside of the compound and officers of the Siparia Fire Station were called in. The officers, with the assistance from the Petrotrin Fire Department as well as workers, extinguished the fire.

The tanker as well as the security booth were destroyed inside the compound.

A van and a maxi taxi which were parked outside the entrance gates were also completely destroyed.

Efforts to contact the company proved futile as all calls went unanswered.

Cpl James of the Santa Flora Station is spearheading investigations.
Tsoiafatt Angus wants no run-off

Noting that a recent Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES) poll had put her ahead of the six other candidates contesting the leadership of the PNM Council, Tsoiafatt Angus, however, told supporters that elections were won on election day.

The party has taken a beating with this election campaign and we cannot survive a runoff.

Let us put this campaign to rest with a clean victory. There is not need for a run-off, she said.

When you vote for Denise, you would have made the right choice at the right time so that we can regroup and energise new voters for the THA election (constitutionally due next year).

Tsoiafatt Angus, THAs Secretary for Community Development and Culture, also made an appeal to undecided voters.

The PNM needs you now.

Not voting is not an option, she said.

Under her campaign slogan, Lets Embrace Out Future Together, Tsoiafatt Angus said the election, held for the first time under the one man, one vote system, was not just about choosing a leader but protecting the legacy of the PNM.

Your vote should not be a friendship vote and not have a price tag on it. It must be a conscience vote, said Tsoiafatt Angus, who is the current PRO of the Tobago Council.

Outlining her manifesto pledges, some of which include new initiatives to improve the health sector, agriculture and fishing sectors, Tsoiafatt Angus said programmes to bolster the agro-processing and service sectors also will be a priority.

The PNM must be seen as the vehicle to secure Tobagos future, she said.
Ode to a seafarer

Harold died in Grenada on June 12 and his funeral took place on June 23 after his sons sailed home with his body on June 18, the day he would have turned 83.

As some of you may know, my father passed away in Grenada.

In all likelihood, he slipped and fell while getting on his boat, and hit his head. He was probably rendered unconscious as he fell into the water where he took his last few breaths. But my father was a philosophical fellow.

He probably would have said that after decades of sailing, and traversing close to 65,000 miles of open ocean, and surviving raging storms at sea - that the sea finally reclaimed her favourite son.

My father was the youngest of six children from a Belmont family.

His father was Charles Harold La Borde who worked at the Trinidad Guardian as a printing press technician. My fathers mother was a beautiful Venezuelan lady, Zoila Arias, from the island of Margarita. Unfortunately she passed away when my father was a boy. My grandfather eventually remarried a good woman, Marie Dasent, whom we knew as Max, and who raised my father through the rest of his childhood.

Dad used to reminisce about when his father would take him for walks down to the Port-of- Spain docks, where they would watch the sailing schooners come in from Grenada and St Vincent, with their cargoes of ground provisions, green figs and plantains.

He thought that it was from these experiences that he first had an inkling that he would want to get into sailing.

Eventually he did start sailing dinghies off the shores of Cocorite, where the Aquatic Club was located. His mentor was a man named Ken Ali who taught him how to sail and the basics of seamanship. It was around this time that he and my mother started dating.

His first boat was an 11-foot dinghy named Lark. His second was a Snipe class dinghy named Whip. Then he built a Rebel class, 18-foot dinghy named Revenge. It was in this little boat that he made his first historic voyage. He and two friends, Kelvin Buck Wong Chong, and Fong Lue Shue, decided to sail this dinghy to Grenada.

People said they must be mad, but they did it anyway, and sailed the 80 or so nautical miles in their little boat.

My father then decided he wanted to sail to England. He was inspired by reading the books of the early sailing pioneers like Joshua Slocum, Vito Dumas, and Harry Pidgeon. He bought plans and started building Humming Bird I. It was a small 26-foot boat with no engine, no electricity, and no toilet, but it had a little kerosene stove.

The boats maiden voyage took my parents on their honeymoon to Grenada. And they took their best man Buck Wong Chong with them. When people asked why they were taking a third person with them on their honeymoon, they said: Listen, Buck is not just our best friend, he helped to build this boat with his two hands, sweat and tears, and we are absolutely not leaving him behind. And off they went.

In 1960, they left Trinidad, those same three people, and sailed to Antigua, then across the Atlantic to the Azores, and thence to England. They became the first West Indians to sail across the Atlantic in their own sail boat. They were celebrated in the press in England after their arrival. One headline read, Mary crosses the Atlantic! (Mary is my mothers English name). My father wrote a book on this voyage, An Ocean to Ourselves, and up to time of his death, was working on a script of a short documentary he wanted to make about the voyage. Already our friend and editor Sham Mohammed, had been working on it, and we intend to complete this project.

After selling Humming Bird I, and doing a stint in Nigeria as Outward Bound instructors, my parents returned to Trinidad, and my father decided he would sail around the world. He bought plans and started building Humming Bird II, a 40-foot ketch, this time with the proper amenities of a toilet, electricity, and an engine.

And so in 1969, when I was just five-years-old, we set off in a westerly direction, through the Panama Canal, and over to the Galapagos Islands where we bathed with sea-lions off the beach, and saw marine iguanas, and the giant tortoises. We then crossed the wide Pacific to the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji, The Solomon Islands, and many more places. My father adored the people of the Pacific Islands. We saw wondrous things, and encountered amazing cultures. My father brought us to all that, and I am a better person for it. My brother Andre was born on this voyage in New Zealand, and this was a joyous occasion for my parents. After this, we sailed our way northwards to New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Bali, and across the Indian Ocean. As we neared South Africa, we encountered a huge storm, and our boat was knocked flat on its side by a rogue wave.

We sustained damage to our vessel, and Dad effected repairs the best he could. Eventually we made it into port safely. Another yacht that was travelling with us was not so lucky. Their boat was rolled through 360 degrees, and a young French woman on board, hit her head and died at sea. We were lucky to have survived.

After South Africa, we crossed the Atlantic and returned home in 1973, where we became the first Trinidad and Tobago nationals to circumnavigate the globe, and my parents were both awarded the Trinity Cross. Dad wrote a book about this voyage, All Oceans Blue, and made a film of the same name with the help of the Government Film Unit. That same boat Humming Bird II is the one you see at South Quay at Fort San Andres. Successive governments have had plans to renovate her and make her into a museum piece, but those plans never came to fruition. I hope that work to restore her starts soon so that she does not deteriorate any further.

After 1973, my father decided he had another great challenge left to accomplish, a second circumnavigation of the globe; this time in an easterly direction, and would include sailing down to the infamous Cape Horn at the bottom of South America. And so he started building Humming Bird III, a 55-foot cold moulded ketch. He had a team of young apprentice boat builders, and two shipwrights to assist him. The boat would be built extra strong to withstand the rigours of the Southern Ocean.

We departed T&T in 1984, and on the first leg to Brazil, we were joined by Andre and my friend Michael Perreira. After they left us, my parents and I, now a young man, crossed the Atlantic to South Africa, then across the Indian Ocean to Australia. In Sydney, Andre rejoined us, and then in Fiji, my girlfriend Ave flew in from Canada to meet us. When we reached New Zealand, my mother was not feeling up to making that next leg to Cape Horn. And so when we departed, it was just Dad, Ave and myself. It took us 42 days in some of the roughest weather imaginable to get there. The seas were mountainous; the winds were most of the time over 30 knots, and the temperatures were frequently near freezing.

But we persevered, and on the 18th February 1986, we rounded Cape Horn. My father may have been the happiest man on the planet. We laughed and took photos and had a shot of rum to celebrate. We next stopped at the Falkland Islands, then worked our way up the coast of South America until we reached back home later in 1986. Dad wrote a book on this voyage, Lonely Oceans South, and made a film as well, again with the help of the Government Film Unit. On both circumnavigations, we had a 16mm Bolex hand wound camera.

After this, Dad made two more Atlantic crossings. In 1992, he and Mom, along with some friends, sailed to Spain carrying the Trinidad and Tobago flag that would be used that year in the opening ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics. And in 2000, Dad, myself, and an American friend Jim, sailed to Spain. We explored Madrid, Santiago de Compostela, and went to run with the bulls in Pamplona in July.

Ladies and gentlemen, we come here not to mourn Harold La Borde, but to celebrate his life. Henry David Thoreau wrote of men who led lives of quiet desperation - men who had dreams and desires, but for one reason or another, were never able to fulfil them. My father was not one of these men. He never let societal norms get in his way or hold him back. When people said he was crazy to go off sailing, he just ignored them and did it anyway.

In fact he did it his way, like one of his favourite songs by Sinatra.

But he could not have achieved what he did without my mothers strength and iron will at his side. She herself has led an extraordinary life, and my father would have been the first to say the she was the rock upon which the foundation of his sailing career was built.

My father was a self-made man. He was largely self-taught. He never attended secondary school, as his father could not have afforded to send him. He was a voracious reader. He had an almost encyclopaedic body of knowledge in his head. His favourite writer was Hemingway - another larger than life character. His favourite painter was Gaugin, who himself left the so-called civilized life in France, to paint among the natives of Tahiti.

My father was not just a seafarer - he was a writer, a boat builder, a film maker, and an adventurer. He was all these things and more.

Rest in peace Dad.
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Nearly two dozen potential constitutional amendments have been introduced this legislative session

Prohibit homeowners' associations from foreclosing on real property for unpaid association dues, to allow homeowners' associations to obtain judgments for past-due assessments, and to allow for setoff against state income tax returns for past-due assessments. (House Bill 931) Establish an independent redistricting commission to prepare redistricting plans after the 2030 census and thereafter. (Senate Bill 28) Limits on the growth of state spending. (H.B. 929) Require that all changes made by the General Assembly to the forms of government and electoral district boundaries for counties, cities, and school boards shall be by referendum only, and to provide that all changes made by city governing boards to the city's form of government shall be by referendum only. (H.B. 179) Set the state minimum wage. (S.B. 347) Have the Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a team on the general election ballot. (H.B. 344) Protect those whose property is being taken by eminent domain by providing that when a local government condemnor is not an elected board, a majority of the elected boards appointing it must approve filing of the condemnation action. (S.B. 380) Provide for taxpayer protections that limit the growth of state spending, establish a state emergency savings reserve fund, and reduce the maximum of the income tax rate to 5 percent from 10 percent. (S.B. 607) Prohibit condemnation of private property except for a public use, to provide for the payment of just compensation with right of trial by jury in all condemnation cases. (S.B. 74) Simplify the management of public primary and secondary education by providing for a secretary of education to replace the current system of a superintendent of public instruction and a state board of education. (S.B. 94) Protect the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife. (S.B. 889) Require a two-thirds vote for the General Assembly to levy state taxes. (H.B. 928) Lower the age to run [for elected office]. (H.B. 990) Provide that the maximum tax rate on incomes cannot exceed 5.5 percent. (S.B. 817) Authorize an official other than a district attorney to request a special prosecutor. (H.B. 935) Set the state minimum wage and provide for automatic cost-of-living adjustments. (H.B. 1046) Require a specific portion of lottery proceeds to be allocated to pre-K and higher education assistance programs. (S.B. 602) Amend the income tax laws of the state in anticipation of a constitutional amendment to make clear that the constitutional amendment applies only to the percentage rate of tax imposed and not other changes affecting income tax liability. (S.B. 606) Provide that a person must have the consent of the prosecutor in addition to the consent of the trial judge to waive the person's right to a jury trial in Superior Court for a noncapital offense. (H.B. 115) Provide that candidates for judgeships must have a least five years' experience as licensed attorneys. (House Bill #213) Guarantee that lottery funds are used to supplement and not supplant other funding for public educational purposes. (H.B. 788) Protect a person's right to carry a concealed weapon. (H.B. 1148)

RALEIGH - In addition to the U.S. Constitution, every state has one as well. North Carolina's is an important governing document - one that limits government, protects rights, and sets state policy. State constitutions are longer, more detailed, and more policy-driven than their federal counterpart. They are also more frequently amended.How does one go about amending the N.C. Constitution? The answer can be found in - guess where - the state constitution. It starts in the General Assembly, whose members vote, not for or against the amendment, but whether to put it before a vote of the people. Article XIII says the power to amend the constitution lies with the people of North Carolina. But that action must be initiated by the General Assembly with a three-fifths approval vote of all the members in order to submit the proposed amendment to the voters. The legislature can determine the date of the election on a proposed amendment.North Carolina's current Constitution has been amended 36 times . Some examples are lowering the voting age to 18 in 1971, requiring a balanced state budget in 1977, granting the governor veto power in 1995, and defining marriage in 2011.This year's General Assembly has some ideas about amending the state constitution, too. More than 20 bills proposing a state constitutional amendment of some kind have been introduced this session. Because constitutional amendment bills are eligible to be filed at any time and are not subject to deadlines, any of these could be considered before adjournment.Eight amendments would make changes to elections - create an independent redistricting commission, require the governor and lieutenant governor to run as a team, or replace the superintendent of public instruction and State Board of Education with a new secretary of education.Six amendments would limit spending and taxes. Eminent domain and property rights protection are the subject of three proposed amendments. Two would guarantee lottery funds are used for education. A couple more would set a state minimum wage. For all those wildlife constitutionalists, one would protect the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife. One of the amendments filed most recently would protect a person's right to carry a concealed weapon.Most of these have not been heard in committee or received much attention past the date they were filed. An exception to that is an amendment to drop the cap on the state's personal income tax rate from 10 percent to 5.5 percent. The Senate pulled the bill back from a floor vote but indicated that senators might revisit the issue before the short session ends. If it passes, voters would see the amendment on the November ballot.Amending the Constitution is serious business and should be done thoughtfully and carefully. At the John Locke Foundation, we welcome ideas, full debate, rigorous research, and data-driven crafting of changes to our constitution.Regular readers here know that we have advocated for constitutionally protected property rights and, for more than a decade, urged consideration of an amendment placing limits on use of eminent domain. Will this be the year? There's always a chance, until the final gavel comes down.And if not this year, we'll be back - fighting for your rights and defending the state constitution. We're so committed to celebrating, studying, and preserving our state's constitutional rights and principles that we have an online encyclopedia ( NorthCarolinaHistory.org ) dedicated to North Carolina's rich constitutional history and stories.JLF is the only source for a hard copy of the N.C. Constitution. Contact me to learn more, including how you can get your own copy of the state constitution.Becki Gray (@BeckiGray) is vice president for outreach at the John Locke Foundation.Here's a list of constitutional amendments filed in the N.C. General Assembly this biennium and eligible for consideration:
In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic?

Complete overhaul of the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm.

Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice."
She was referring to the referendum held in 2005, in which French voters rejected a draft European Union constitution that was backed by President Francois Hollande's Socialists and ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP, now known as The Republicans. Natacha Bouchart said: "The British must take on the consequences of their choice".

Hollande's call to relaunch Europe, Brexit or no, was echoed by both Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who met the French leader in Paris on Wednesday, and by Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo during a visit to Berlin.

Hollande, whose country was a founding pillar of European unity, is holding emergency meetings Saturday with leaders of France's political parties as EU leaders try to keep the bloc from unravelling after the British vote. It was time to reinvent Europe or risk the bloc's fragmentation, he said.

Mr Hollande said on Friday that Britain's vote to leave the European Union was a "grave test for Europe" in view of the economic and financial consequences. "This teaches a lesson to the whole of Europe; either we change it or we leave it. This is the time for a plan B".

France's border with Britain for migration will remain on French soil, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday, dismissing calls for it to be moved to the English coast following the Brexit vote.

"Europe must act quickly where it's needed and must, once and for all, let member states handle what is their exclusive domain", Mr Hollande said in a televised address. "The danger of populism and extremism is huge".

French Prime Minister Valls said the Brexit vote revealed a malaise within Europe that had been ignored for too long.

Spain's foreign minister proposed sharing Britain's small Mediterranean enclave of Gibraltar after Britain voted to exit the European Union, saying it would allow the overseas territory to maintain access to the E.U.'s single market.

Admitting it was "not an easy day", Mr Renzi said: "Europe is our house, the house of our children and our grandchildren".
"It's in Britain's interest and in the interest of Europeans not to have a period of uncertainty that would have financial consequences, and that could have economic and political consequences", he added.

The German foreign minister invited his counterparts from France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg to the government's Villa Borsig mansion on the outskirts of Berlin.

On Saturday, Steinmeier told reporters that European Union politicians needed to further consider "the expectations of the people".

Britain must invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty "as soon as possible" in order to trigger negotiations on leaving the European Union, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a meeting of top diplomats in response to the Brexit vote.

In London, Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, said Britain should begin informal negotiations on a full settlement governing its post-Brexit relationship with the European Union before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. "The people have spoken and we need to implement this decision".

"Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame", Merkel told a news conference at a meeting of her party outside Berlin. Instead it is likely to take months to name a replacement to Prime Minister David Cameron, who is resigning and wants his successor to handle the departure negotiations.

He mentioned the refugee crisis, high unemployment among young people in southern Europe and security concerns following the terror attacks in France and Belgium as important issues where people had the right to expect better answers from European Union policy makers. "While not stepping back from what we have achieved, we have to find better ways of dealing with these different levels of ambition so as to ensure that Europe delivers better on the expectations of all European citizens" - a call which so many citizens and euro parliamentarians have been making for years. "It is up to us to recreate this spirit", he said, noting all the European countries that subsequently joined after overthrowing dictatorships and embracing democracy.

Despite a need for a solution of these and other pressing issues in the European Union, he cautioned against rash decisions.

The document indicated that Germany would drive a hard bargain to "avoid offering false incentives for other member states when settling on new arrangements".

"The populists will not leave out this opportunity to promote their anti-Europe politics with much noise", he said. "As a effect of the decision of the British people, the agreement the European Council had found on 18/19 February ceases to exist".

With global markets in turmoil, Ms Merkel said it was important to "not draw quick and simple conclusions from the referendum in Great Britain, which would only further divide Europe".
An global consensus is building around India's bid for membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday, sounding confident of India's bid that will come up for discussion at the NSG plenary on June 23rd in Seoul.

Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday described a statement of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about Pakistan-India relations as surprising. "I want to point out that the NSG agenda has never covered any issue concerning non-NPT countries joining the NSG", she added.

Kirby said: "We continue to call on the participating governments of the NSG to support India's application at the plenary session in Seoul".

Speaking with 'India Today, President Putin, who is strongly backing India's entry into the NSG, revealed that Russian Federation has had "honest discussions on this issue with our Chinese friends and we have no secrets between us". India advocates nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament and commits itself to no-first-use of nuclear weapons as China does. India is the only non-NPT country that has garnered the support of most of the NSG's members, and also the only non-NPT country to have been granted a waiver for civilian nuclear cooperation with the US, in 2008.

"As far as the Indian government is concerned, its policy against Pakistan became obvious in the speech Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made in United States congress during his recent visit", he said.

The fresh statement from the U.S. on India's NSG membership came after China said that it was not on the agenda of the NSG meeting in Seoul.

India's case for NSG membership is being backed strongly by the United States, while China has blocked India's entry into the 48-member group at the behest of its ally Pakistan on the grounds that India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. "Within the group of the NSG, members have different opinions regarding whether or not non-NPT countries can join", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Finally, China was unwilling to make an exception for India's NSG membership.

"We will succeed in convincing China too", Ms Swaraj said.

Responding to a Mail Today question, Sushma Swaraj clarified that New Delhi is not in a position to block Pakistan's possible entry into the nuclear club at the moment since India is yet to join itself. The NSG works on unanimity and even one "no" vote can scuttle India's bid. The External Affairs Minister said government had touched base with 140 countries in the past year and listed India's growing ties with nations in the African continent, countries of the Gulf region and Pacific islands as major achievements.

Swaraj said the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad had met the authorities on the issue twice and "they said they are analysing (the evidence)".
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said after supervising the test launch of an intermediate-range missile that the country now has the capability to attack USA interests in the Pacific, official media reported on Thursday.

Concern that North Korea is getting closer to perfecting its ballistic missile technology heightened on Wednesday after it fired what appeared to be two intermediate range ballistic missiles.

An official for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the country assumed North Korea's missile engine performance had improved, although it couldn't say definitively if the launch could be considered a success.

The US and Japan, after consulting South Korea, requested a closed-door briefing from the UN Secretariat on North Korea's reported firing of the two midrange missiles.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) said the "provocative actions" undermine worldwide security, while the USA state department spokesman John Kirby said the launches "only serve to increase the global community's resolve to counter the DPRK's (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) prohibited activities".

"For now, we have no thoughts about taking part in talks to discuss the DPRK's denuclearisation", said Choe Son-hui, deputy director-general at the North American affairs bureau in Pyongyang's foreign ministry. The second test propelled a missile more than 870 miles high, and is estimated to have a potential range of more than 2,000 miles, encompassing much of Asia.

After North's nuclear test and rocket launch, the security council adopted a resolution targeting North Korea's banks, cargo ships and mineral exports - a key source of hard currency for the Kim regime. Japan's Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the missile appeared to have reached an altitude of 1,000 kilometers.

Japan wants the council to send a powerful message to North Korea speedily, Bessho said, although he did not mention when such a message will be released.

In March, the UNSC slapped its toughest sanctions to date on North Korea for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket test in the following month. The UN Security Council has met to consider a response. He said he hoped a statement condemning the move could be agreed on soon.

The North is believed to have up to 30 Musudan missiles, according to South Korean media, which officials said were first deployed around 2007, although the North had never attempted to test-fire them until this year. The North regularly threatens to destroy Japan, South Korea and the United States, South Korea's main ally.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter urged the expansion of missile defence systems in the region.
After the launch of a Musudan on Wednesday that disintegrated after 150km, a second missile, dubbed Hwasong-10 in state media, is believed to have travelled 400 km and reached an altitude of 1,000km just hours later.

In the KCNA report, Mr Kim said North Korea must bolster its pre-emptive nuclear attack capability to cope with threats from the United States and continue the development of strategic weapons systems.

The US, Nato, Japan and South Korea denounced the test.

In Washington, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that the three countries reiterated their strong condemnation of these launches, urged North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that undermine peace and security and instead focus on fulfilling its global obligations and commitments.

North Korea claimed Thursday that it has succeeded in test-firing its mid-range missile, boasting of its capacity to hit US forces in the Pacific region. Military analysts focus on the North's technical advance in terms of missile engine power, saying the North seems to intentionally increase a firing angle to shorten the launch range and not to fly over Japan.

Choe Son-Hui, deputy director-general of the North American affairs bureau in Pyongyang's foreign ministry, said in Beijing: "For now, we have no thoughts about taking part in talks to discuss the DPRK's denuclearisation".

Approval of the press statement by the U.N.'s most powerful body followed an emergency council meeting on Wednesday called by the United States and Japan after consulting South Korea.

Japan's Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said the launch was an indication that North Korea's threat to Japan was intensifying.

A day after the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on North Korea's two missile tests, it adopted a press statement condemning Pyongyang's continuous violations of its obligations to the global community.

Top government sources said that Indian agencies have become active after claims that nuclear missile materials are being transported by Pakistan to North Korea by sea, using cargo ships.

Japanese investigators are examining a suspected nose cone of a rocket from an earlier North Korean rocket, which washed up on one of country's beaches.

Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said the international community had to find a way to get Pyongyang to accept a missile test moratorium.
In fact, it is one that has been discussed within the NSG at every Plenary since 2011.

The five countries insisted that a criteria based process be followed for allowing non NPT members into the NSG.

"We were able to end discussion this week and we have a clear path forward for India to become a full member by the end of the year", the official asserted. "It persistently raised procedural hurdles and as a result of which no result could be arrived at", he added.

"Our stand on the NPT is well known. So there was no need of this desperation on the NSG issue", Sharma said. "It was completely unnecessary because the 2008 waiver was already enabling us to have nuclear commerce with nuclear advanced countries and we already have agreements with Russia, France and the United States for reactor projects.", he said in an interview to PTI today.

As a member of the US House of Representative, Markey has unsuccessfully led effort to block passage of civil nuclear deal between India and the US.

"By refraining from admitting India, the NSG strengthened both the treaty and the broader global non-proliferation regime", said Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat. Incidentally, the Opposition Congress too had hit out at the Prime Minister, saying he needs to realise that diplomacy needs "depth and seriousness and not public tamasha".

India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has suffered a setback following the opposition from China and some other member countries of the group.

Back then the senator had warned India to follow the worldwide safeguards before its admitted to the NSG. Prime Minister Modi had urged the Chinese president to "make a fair and objective assessment of India's application and judge it on its own merit". India is going to continue talking with China and hope for a favorable outcome. He had recalled that the U.S. had supplied Uranium to India in 1980; followed by 2008 waiver by the NSG without making India accepting full scope of safeguards. "Needless drama (India's diplomatic push on NSG membership) has gone on for a number of days", he said. "It got members like New Zealand, Ireland.all these people who have no nuclear programme of any kind", he said.

Though its commitments to Pakistan can not be underestimated, China's success in cloaking its opposition to India as an issue dealing with all non-NPT nations is likely to be increasingly challenged by Delhi and perhaps NSG members too.

The Madhya Pradesh CM seemed to calling out for sanity to prevail at a time when several observers have come out with dire warnings about how the NSG episode could impact India-China bilateral relations in trade and other sectors.
Militia forces aligned with the UN-sponsored Government of National Accord (GNA) Friday pushed back Islamic State (IS) group fighters who had tried to drive out loyal forces making progress into the coastal city of Sirte where the militant group has been reigning, reports say.

The pro-GNA forces are still facing fierce opposition from IS fighters who have become more resilient after loyal forces surfed almost unchallenged into Sirte; hometown of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

IS has stepped up offensive against loyal forces this week. The group killed 34 fighters on Tuesday. Four other fighters were reportedly killed on Friday in a new offensive. 24 other fighters were injured.

Friday clashes also claimed lives of ten militants, a military source told media.

Death toll based on medical sources has been put at more than 200 fighters on the side of loyal forces. It has been difficult to verify number of casualties in the camp of the militant group.

Pro-GNA forces have made impressive progress into the town captured last June by the militants. Sirte fell into the hands of IS as result of rivalry between Beida-based government and Tripoli-self-imposed government.

Also on Friday, the GNA forces discovered a bomb producing workshop, Libya Herald reports. The factory according to the Libyan media contained explosives leached from shells, detonators and wireless detonators.

IS fighters have turned Gaddafis hometown into their command center as the group loses ground in Iraq and Syria under mounting offensive by international coalition.

IS control of Sirte has stirred fear in the West as the terrorist group could smuggle fighters among illegal migrants hopping into makeshift boats from Libyas coasts to reach European coasts.

The GNA, birthed in December in Morocco as a result of Political Accord among rival camps has received support from the International community.
Police forces Friday prevented critical Media El Watan from moving to its news headquarters although it was in possession of official permit, reports say.

A police unit stopped the El Watan staff from joining the new location.

Police blocked access to the building and rounded it. They did not give any explanation. They only indicated they received orders, El Watan said, explaining that it received official permit form local authorities to move to its new headquarters.

El Watan is known for being critical of authorities and the latest incident comes at the time when chemistry between the state and private media known critical of government is not at its best.

Authorities have this week locked up the head of critical KBC TV channel. Mehdi Benaissa was arrested on Thursday at dawn after appearing in court on Monday at the instruction of the state prosecutor.

Authorities accuse Benaissa of recording Ki Hna Ki Nass program in an outlawed studio. The content of the program has been criticised by authorities.
Trump seems to be the midst of a June swoon. Photo: Michal Wachucik/AFP/Getty Images

A new Washington Post/ABC poll indicates that almost two thirds of American voters dont believe that Donald Trump is qualified to be president, and shows Clinton with a 12-point national lead, 51 to 39 percent, over the presumptive GOP nominee if there were a head-to-head matchup. The poll, which was conducted from June 20 to 23, also shows that roughly the same percentage of voters believe Trumps comments have indicated an unfair bias against women, minorities and Muslims, and believe that his attack on the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing a Trump University lawsuit was racist. 85 percent believe his comments were inappropriate. A majority, 56 percent, believe Trump stands against their beliefs.

WaPo/ABC national poll



Clinton 51% (+7 since May)

Trump 39% (-7) pic.twitter.com/HIiu8wFJym  Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 26, 2016

The results of a separate NBC/Wall Street Journal poll which were also released on Sunday show Clinton with a mere 46 to 41 percent lead (when excluding third-party candidates), which is a two-point drop for Trump since the last NBC/WSJ poll in May. When third-party candidates are added in, Clinton has only a one point lead, so within the margin of error.

Digging into the WaPo/ABC poll, however, suggests some very bad news for Trump among Republicans: Nearly a third see him as unqualified, and 18 percent say he doesnt represent their beliefs. Only 79 percent of those leaning Republican now back Trump, while 88 percent of Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents now support Clinton. In the NBC/WSJ poll, Clintons support among Democrats was at 85 percent. Both results suggest that Democrats are indeed coalescing around their eventual nominee following the end of the partys divisive primary battle.

On the other hand, in the WaPo/ABC poll, just 69 percent of Republicans who voted for someone other than Trump say they will now support him. Eight percent of Bernie Sanders supporters indicated they will support Trump; down 12 points from last month, so it seems Trumps direct appeal to disaffected Berners may not be bearing any co-revolutionary fruit. Other interesting details from the WaPo/ABC poll: Clinton is also now tied in male support with Trump, though still lags among white men. 77 percent of non-white voters prefer Clinton, and the Post adds that Trump now has the worst advantage among white voters of any Republican candidate since Bob Dole.

The sort-of-but-not-really silver lining for Trump? As many as 18 percent of respondents who think Trump is racist or has bias against minorities will still vote for him anyway, as will 11 percent of those who believe he is unqualified to lead the country. Actual good news for Trump is that some 64 percent of those respondents who believe the country needs a new direction favor him. In addition, half of all respondents were uneasy over the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

As of Sunday, the Real Clear Politics poll average has Clinton with a 6.7 point lead over Trump. The new WaPo/ABC poll is the third this month showing her with a double-digit lead.

Obama, on the other hand, is enjoying a 56 percent approval rating, according to the WaPo/ABC poll, his highest since the strike that killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011, and higher than either President Bush enjoyed near the end of their respective presidencies.

Looking at swing states, results from a CBS/YouGov poll released on Sunday indicate that:
Will Trump need Christian conversion therapy? Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Donald Trump may have recently become a born again Christian, according to conservative Evangelical leader and Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson. Politico notes that when Dobson was asked about his recent meeting with Trump in an interview, he indicated that he knew the person who led [Trump] to Christ. And thats fairly recent. Dobson, who has not been much of a fan of Trump in the past, seems more convinced now, adding that, I believe he really made a commitment, but hes a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him.

Trump has, of course, had some issues convincing leaders of the Christian right that he was authentically Christian enough in the past, from his long history of adultery and divorce, to messing up Bible references at events full of Bible scholars, to memorably wondering, Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes? Just this past week, around the time Trump was suggesting that opponent Hillary Clinton wasnt Christian enough, he posed for a picture with Jerry Falwell Jr. in front of his framed Playboy cover.

Now it should be noted that, as Trump likes to remind conservative Evangelicals, he has still done pretty well with conservative Evangelicals in the voting booth, who have seemed to overlook the many un-Christian things Trump likes to say and do in favor of backing a self-proclaimed winner for the White House. Nonetheless, so far Trump has not been able to win much in the way of endorsements or promises of organizational support from Evangelical leaders, but that may change if they believe Trump has truly begun, in Dobsons words, a relationship with Christ, ahead of the moguls long awaited pivot to the general election, and especially if they believe they can help escort him from baby Christian to adolescent Christian or more after he gets to Pennsylvania Avenue.

As pastor Michael Anthony, who conducted the interview with Dobson, noted in his post about the revelation, If God gets a hold of Trump, it wont be the first time people didnt believe it. It wont be the first time that a terrible person who lived completely against Christ, came to know him.
Is this what you want? Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

In the hours and days following the U.K.s stunning vote to leave the European Union on Thursday, one of the most prolific hot-take subjects has been to interpret what the vote and the factors that drove that vote may mean for the U.S. election. Donald Trump himself got that conversation started immediately after the Brexit passed when he attempted to frame what the U.K. had done as something that was, like most things in Trumps mind, about him, as well as the wave of anxiety and anger he has ridden to the GOP nomination.

There are of course similarities between the pro-Brexit movement and pro-Trump movement, including working-class angst over free trade and lost jobs, increased nationalism, emotionally driven fears regarding immigration, simple demographics, and distaste for the elite and its assurances about globalization specifically, and progress more generally. However, most commentators and analysts do not seem to believe that the Brexit vote is some guaranteed harbinger of a Trump presidency, as its important to realize that in as many ways as the U.S. and U.K. political situations are similar, they are also unique.

Regardless, plenty who observe the U.S. political environment, especially on the left, are certainly a bit more nervous this weekend than they were on Thursday morning, and not just about the global economic impact, now underway, that numerous experts have been warning about for the entire Brexit campaign. When an important Western country and close U.S. ally veers in a new direction so drastically, that tends to be something worth getting nervous about, let alone when a Brexit-happy, Trump-like figure is vying to be leader of the free world.

Jonathan Freedland has a good summary in the New York Review of Books of why Americans should heed the warning of the Brexit vote,

[Americans] may think that there are not enough of the white, poor, angry, and left-behind to win an election. But Brexit suggests that when that constituency can be allied to a conservative cause that has millions of other, more ideologically-motivated devotees, victory is possible. It suggests that hostility to migrants, a cynical trampling on the truth, and a cavalier disdain for expertise can work wonders, such is the loathing of anything that can be associated with the elite. And it suggests that even great nations, those whose democratic arrangements were once regarded as a beacon to the world, are capable of acts of grievous, enduring self-harm.

The Washington Posts Anne Applebaum sounds a similar alarm:

[The EU referendum campaign] was not fought on the issues that are normally central to British elections. Identity politics trumped economics; arguments about independence and sovereignty defeated arguments about British influence and importance. The advice of once-trusted institutions was ignored. Elected leaders were swept aside. If that kind of transformation can take place in the U.K., then it can happen in the United States, too.

But Ben Jacobs at the Guardian does a good job rounding up some basic differences between the U.S. and U.K. electorates and political processes. Chief among them, he notes, is the U.K.s lack of diversity. White voters, especially older and/or less educated ones, powered the Brexit decision, and 86 percent of U.K. residents are white, while only 63 percent of Americans are (non-Hispanic) white. Putting that in an electoral context, Jacobs notes that more than 30 percent of U.S. voters this fall are expected to be members of a minority group. Minorities, en masse, did not support the Brexit, and across the pond they dont support Trump either. So the possible outcome that Freeland presents, of perhaps near-universal support for Trump from white, poor, and angry voters in the U.S., faces longer odds if minority voters really do vote as a block against Trump, and thats before considering support among white women voters, who also, for the time being, really dont like Trump.

In addition, Brookingss Elaine Kamarck looks at how Americas long history of welcoming and integrating immigrant groups forms a crucial component of the electorate:

[E]ven though the United States has many illegal immigrants, it also has many foreign born and second generation immigrants who are citizens and who can vote. This group  mainly Latino and increasingly Asian  forms a powerful counter weight to the anti-immigrant sentiment represented by Trump.  In the recent British election citizens of the Commonwealth countries (countries that were part of the British Empire) who live in the United Kingdom could vote but citizens from other European Union countries living in Great Britain do NOT get to vote. In other words, the United States has a coherent voting bloc that has the numbers to counter Trump  while Britain does not.

Another key difference is the nature of partisan politics in the U.S., where Americans tribal-like loyalty to one of the two parties typically directs the way they vote, whereas party was not a reliable indicator of Brexit support in the U.K. Campaign finance restrictions in the U.S. are practically non-existent compared to the tight restrictions in the U.K., as well.

Also, while U.S. presidential elections are often referred to as a referendum on where the country is headed, and particularly on whichever party has been in power to manage that direction, they are nothing like a simple up/down vote on a single issue like the EU referendum was. Instead voters are weighing the temperaments, statements, and perceived effectiveness of two individual candidates, as well as a whole host of specific issues which may or may not be important to each voter. At this point, if anything about this years election in the U.S. is going to be a simple up/down vote, it will be a distinction regarding voters personal feelings about Trump, the most polarizing presidential candidate in decades, and one who continues to be way down in the polls.

But here is what the New Yorkers Amy Davidson had to add, with regards to her concerns about anyone in the U.S. who is complacent about Trumps, at this point, low chances:

The [British and American] political institutions are very different: we dont worry so much here about the labyrinthine regulations put out by Brussels bureaucrats; they dont quite have super pacs. But the word rigged, or its local variations, is probably the key one on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Trump and [UKIP leader Nigel] Farage and his allies have made openly racist and ethnic appeals. The European Union is a great idealistic project, and it is a tragedy that it might be torn down now. A lesson for Americans is that fortified idealistic structures can be torn down, by means of some of the same wrecking tools Trump has been willing to deploy, even if those who are considered the serious people, in a country that reminds us of our own, warn against doing so. One pattern seen in the Brexit results was a disconnect between party leadersin all of the major partiesand their bases. Sneering is not going to save the republic.

Indeed, however likely or unlikely a Brexit-like revolt is in the U.S., its important not the underestimate the forces behind it and their power to drive change in any country, including the U.S. As Voxs Timothy B. Lee argues, its worth realizing that support for Trump-style politics may be bigger than support for Trump himself:

Trump, after all, is a terrible general election candidate: Hes misogynistic, ignorant about public policy, and has proven completely incompetent at raising money and building a campaign organization. Hell probably lose in November. But a future candidate with Trumps agenda but not his other baggage could be formidable in a general election.

Indeed, in this next election, some voters may not be voting for Trump at all, but against everything else. Along those lines, both the New York Times and Washington Post took a look at Hillary Clintons potentially not-so-ironclad Rust Belt support this weekend, with the Times noting that Clintons underlying argument for stability and incremental change over the risks entailed in radical change isnt going over very well, at least anecdotally, in some big blue states like Michigan  which Democrats have historically counted on in presidential elections. They note that unlike Trump, Clinton offers reasonableness instead of resentment and is a pragmatic internationalist battling against nationalist anger like now-disgraced British Prime Minister David Cameron was. Even the Clintons seem to realize they may be rowing against the tide:

According to their friends and advisers, Mrs. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have worried for months that she was out of sync with the mood of the electorate, and that her politically safe messages  like Im a progressive who gets results  were far less compelling to frustrated voters than the political revolution of Senator Bernie Sanders or Mr. Trumps grievance-driven promise to Make America Great Again.  While Mrs. Clinton is counting on Mr. Trumps history of racist and sexist remarks to doom his candidacy, Thursdays Brexit referendum was an unnerving reminder that voter anger is deeper and broader than many elite politicians and veteran pollsters realize. In swing states like Ohio, many Democrats and Republicans yearn for an economic comeback and are not confident that Mrs. Clinton understands their frustrations or has the ideas and wherewithal to deliver the sort of change that could satisfy them.

This section from the Posts piece, summarizing the positions of some Rust Belt voters, could have been plucked out of the British press on Friday:

People here said they feel left behind in the economy and wronged by politicians. They are anxious about immigration and terrorism. They see corporations rebounding from the recession, but they wonder why their families arent better off. They villainize globalization, fear losing their national identity, and distrust elites and institutions. These attitudes are shaping a rollicking presidential campaign defined by two historically unpopular nominees. We just have garbage candidates, said Joe Fish, 33. Or, as 18-year-old Julie Downey put it, picking between Clinton and Trump is like finding the shiniest turd.

According to the Posts reporting, that it-doesnt-matter-anyway sentiment is one of the forces driving some Rust Belt Democrats to consider voting for Trump, just to mess with the system  a change-for-the-sake-of-change vote.

As the Times also pointed out, then there is the matter of style and how Trump and Clinton are arguing their cases, and that dimension connects to the Brexit campaign as well. Returning to the New York Review of Books Jonathan Freedland, he underlines the importance, or in Trumps case, the lack of importance, of simple truth:

[N]ot for nothing has [Trump] earned The Washington Posts maximum Pinocchio rating. For their part, leaders of the Leave campaign drove around in a vehicle that was itself a lie: a bus emblazoned with a declaration that Britain sends 350m a week to the EU. Again and again, opponents, journalists and experts pointed out that the figure was bogus, failing to take account of, among other things, the cash rebate on Britains contribution negotiated years ago by Margaret Thatcher, and that the realistic figure was closer to a third of that sum. But to no avail. The slogan stayed on the bus, along with the promise that, after Brexit, that weekly bonanza of 350m would be spent on Britains cherished National Health Service. In the early hours of Friday morning, Nigel Faragethe leader of the UK Independence Party whose pressure brought about this referendum in the first placeadmitted that the promised 350m figure was a mistake and there would be no such windfall for hospitals and doctors. But by then of course, it was too late. Voters had made their choice.

Then again, rising nationalist sentiment often goes hand-in-hand with overly simplistic framing and promise-making, as nationalism scholar Yascha Mounk tells NPR:

[T]he basic approach of many populist, nationalist candidates can be boiled down to this: I embody the will of the people. And the problems that we face are actually completely straightforward, [Mounk] said. The problem is that the elites are corrupt. Theyre in cahoots with minorities, with business interests. And all that needs to happen is for me to be elected. Its a sentiment that can be heard in Trumps most recent major campaign speech. When I see the crumbling roads and bridges, or the dilapidated airports, or the factories moving overseas to Mexico, or to other countries for that matter, he said, I know these problems can all be fixed. But not by Hillary Clinton. Only by me.

But it also helps, as the New Yorkers John Cassidy explains, if you actually have something you are campaigning for, rather than just protecting against. To illustrate why that lens is important, consider the point the Washington Posts Dan Drezner makes, which is also surely a rationale being discussed within the Clinton campaign:

Brexit allows Americans to witness what Trump-like policies will produce over the next four months.  [I]f Brexits negative effects over [that time] are severe, it creates some very odd dynamics. On the one hand, worsening U.S. economic prospects will benefit Trump. On the other hand, those same bad outcomes can help Clinton point out the policy disaster that a Trump administration would create. Either way, it puts U.S. politicians in the very odd and uncomfortable position of rooting against Britains near-term economic prospects.

But here is Cassidys warning:

[T]he fate of the Remain campaign should serve as a reminder of the limits of negative campaigninga reminder that Hillary Clinton would do well to take note of as she goes up against Donald Trump. In confronting populist demagoguery, it isnt enough to attack its promulgators. To get people to turn out and vote in your favor, you also have to give them something positive to rally behind. The Leave campaign, for all its lies and disinformation, provided just such a lure. It claimed that liberating Britain from the shackles of the E.U. would enable it to reclaim its former glory. The Remain side argued, in effect, that while the E.U. isnt great, Britain would be even worse off without it. That turned out to be a losing story.

Meanwhile Megan McArdle, writing for Bloomberg, underlines how important nationalism is becoming, and shakes her head at globalism proponents who attempt to write it off:

[N]ationalism and place still matter, and that elites forget this at their peril. A lot people do not view their country the way some elites do: as though the nation were something like a rental apartment  a nice place to live, but if there are problems, or you just fancy a change, youll happily swap it for a new one. In many ways, members of the global professional class have started to identify more with each other than they have with the fellow residents of their own countries.

This issue of elite overconfidence, that a prevailing and rational adherence to some macro status quo would always find a way, has been another recurring theme in analysis of the Brexit vote. Buzzfeeds Rosie Gray zooms in on that failure:

One of the issues with the way the Brexit polls were interpreted was an elite belief that a Leave win was out of the question, despite evidence to the contrary. This mirrors the way the conventional wisdom on Trump continued to discount the probability of his winning the nomination even after he had won several primaries and had been the frontrunner for months  simply put, political insiders out of touch with a resurgent populist mood in the country just didnt consider it a real possibility. The markets discounting a Brexit were more about elite biases than what the data actually showed, [GOP digital strategist Patrick] Ruffini said. Likewise, in the Republican primary, there was a widespread expectation that voters would come home to a normal candidate. But through the polls, voters were telling us where home was for them. Elites chose to ignore it.

Voxs Ezra Klein, sort of speaking for the elite, to the elite, says stop trusting your gut:

On some level, were all good Bayesians: Were skeptical of data that baldly contradicts how we know the world to work. But in politics right now, the world isnt working the way we think it does. Polling is proving a much more reliable guide to political outcomes than the does-this-seem-insane? test most people use to guide their predictions. The lesson here is not that the least likely, most disruptive outcomes are suddenly a safe bet. Brexits win doesnt predict Trumps victory, contrary to some of the chatter Ive seen on Twitter. Rather, when evaluating the likeliest outcomes, look to trustworthy polls rather than your gut. Hillary Clintons 7-point lead over Donald Trump still makes her the favorite, but if those numbers flip, take it seriously.

Lastly, Scottish political commentator Alex Massie argues that Americans who want to understand how the Brexit vote could happen should go find themselves a mirror:
Bill Cunningham Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images

Everyone in fashion has a Bill Cunningham story. Heres mine. A couple of years ago, I was on my way to breakfast at Tiffanys (seriously) hovering at the corner of 57th and Fifth  one of Bills favorite spots  and suddenly I saw him. The Schwinn-riding photographer, taking a picture of oblivious tourists with a selfie stick. I was crossing the street and still regret not taking that picture of the scene: an octogenarian with a film camera shooting the iPhone selfie generation. Unlike Bill, I wasnt quick enough to get the shot.



Cunningham, who died today at the age of 87 after falling victim to a stroke, was fashion photographys most democratic eye. He didnt see style in the top-down sense of what walked the runways and was decreed as fashionable by magazines and luxury advertising  a somewhat radical approach when he was starting out. Instead, he took in the street as a whole and picked out the seemingly random trendlets that real people were adopting. Fashions near-obsessive emphasis on personal style and street fashion now owes a great deal to his influence.

Some of the details he identified over the years: fur coats worn with sneakers. MoMAs uber-minimalist shopping bag (a low-key status symbol, since it required the purchase of a $45 exhibition catalogue.) Businessmen on roller skates during a 1980 transit strike, T-shirts worn under slip dresses in the grunge era, skaters wallet chains, Soviet-era surplus coats bought in Brighton Beach, Vuitton bags (real and fake intermingled), Prada gym bags, newsprint patterns inspired by John Gallianos infamous homeless-chic Dior collection, Balenciaga motorcycle bags, and the red-white-and-blue ribbons worn everywhere right after 9/11.



I dont decide anything, he said in the 2010 documentary Bill Cunningham New York. I let the street speak to me, and in order for the street to speak to you, youve got to stay out there and see what it is.



Sometimes, that meant heading outside the confines of the fashion establishment. In the 60s, he left an Oscar de la Renta show to take photos of a Vietnam war protest. Three decades later, he was one of the few mainstream fashion people milling about at X-Girls DIY show on the street in Soho.



Cunningham started paying attention to peoples clothes early on. After dropping out of Harvard in 1948, he worked at several womens clothing stores, including the New York boutique Chez Ninon. While there, he dyed a red suit black for Jackie Kennedy to wear to JFKs funeral. He also began designing ultra-fanciful hats for his own label, William J  his customers included Marilyn Monroe and Joan Crawford.



Cunningham quit millinery after he was hired by John Fairchild of Womens Wear Daily to cover fashion. He would go on to write for the Chicago Tribune and Details magazine, then a downtown bible. At the latter, with the first-to-the-party instincts that would later serve him as a photographer, he was the first to write about Azzedine Alaia and Jean Paul Gaultier. He wasnt afraid to call designers out as well as praise them: During his tenure there, he accused both Giorgio Armani and Isaac Mizrahi of copying other designers.



In 1978, his first photo set published in the New York Times featured passers-by on the corner of his beloved 57th and 5th, including the elusive Greta Garbo wearing a fur coat, beanie and sunglasses. (He said didnt recognize her.) Over the years, he would photograph socialites, fashion editors, eccentric fashion plates like Patrick McDonald, and scores of regular people, too. As Anna Wintour said in the documentary, We all dress for Bill.



But he stayed away from the well-trod party photographer beat. Im not interested in celebrities with their free dresses, he told WWD in 2008. That made him an anomaly among nightlife chroniclers.



And that was his biggest contradiction: despite being surrounded by so much excess, Cunningham lived a hyper-ascetic existence. He famously wouldnt take so much as a glass of water from event hosts for fear of seemingly unduly influenced. He was content living an apartment with little more than a bed and a file cabinet, eating at Chock Full o Nuts and sporting a bright blue French street-cleaners jacket as his uniform.



That kind of self-separation is rarer and rarer in fashion, where the chroniclers now want to be part of the story. Cunninghams detachment from the elites helped him connect to the part of fashion where the real energy was contained: young people, eccentric outliers, and the denizens of the street.



The ad exec Ronnie Newhouse, once his fellow editor at Details, told the New York Times that one of Cunninghams favored phrases was Oh, no, child, you cant fall into the traps of the rich. Or, wed be at a show, and Id say, Bill, its really hard to see from the last row. Hed say, All the people who tell the truth are in the last rows.

Photo: Patrick McMullan Co./AP Photo

Bill Cunningham and Anna Wintour

Receiving the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, on April 23, 2012.

Photo: Scott Wintrow/Getty Images

Bill Cunningham and Iris Apfel

Bergdorf Goodman on September 10, 2008.

Photo: Joe Corrigan/Getty Images

Carine Roitfeld, Stephen Gan, and Bill Cunningham

El Museo Del Barrio Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on May 26, 2011.

Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Bill Cunningham

Spring 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center on September 11, 2012, in New York City.

Photo: Ron Galella/Getty Images

Bill Cunningham

Fete de Famille Benefit for AIDS Research on October 3, 1989, at Mortimers Restaurant in New York City.
Photo: Karwai Tang/Mark Davis/WireImage/Getty Images

Another day, another milestone in Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddlestons inexorable march to eternal WASP-y love.

Just days after Swift introduced Hiddles to her parents in Nashville, where they enjoyed a fancy dinner that might have included Gulf Red Snapper and (debatably enjoyed) a Selena Gomez concert, they hopped on her private jet to pop in on Toms mum in the UK.

Two very respectable English websites, the Sun and the Daily Mail, have posted photos and breathless details of their visit, such as the fact that Swift had five bodyguards with her, and that they rented a very fancy Jag thats not dissimilar to the kind of fancy car that James Bond might drive, if he didnt usually drive Aston Martins. The three were photographed walking around Suffolk and strolling on Aldeburgh beach.

Then they probably went home and watched Hiddlestons star turn in High-Rise, based on the novel by acclaimed writer J.G. Ballard. Its Toms moms favorite movie of his, although Taylor generally prefers his performance in Terence Daviess underrated Deep Blue Sea. Just kidding. Everyone knows that Deep Blue Sea is boring as hell.
Private equity (PE) funds are warming up to the idea of investing in the oil and gas sector, on the prospects of higher oil prices in the future. While the PE funds had enough firepower to invest in 2015, they lacked confidence in the market.

Nevertheless, 25 of the 100 funds who took part in the latest EY survey conveyed that they are keen on a buyout by the end of 2016, and if we increase that time period to a year, the number of PE firms keen on acquisitions in the oil and gas sector rises to 43.

The current oil crisis, which saw prices plunge from three figures to less than $30 per barrel, have led to large-scale bankruptcies in the sector. The banks have tightened their lending norm, post-publication of new strict guidelines by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The bank squeeze and persistent low oil prices are likely to push the highly leveraged players to the brink of insolvency. The efforts of the oil companies to sell their low-quality assets have, so far, not met with much success.

"There is a valuation gap between the sellers and the buyers right now," says Andy Brogan, global oil and gas transactions leader at EY in London. "With oil prices remaining low, buyers views on assets are lower than those of the sellers. But we are likely to start seeing some forced sales of assets, or transactions coming in lower than sellers would prefer," reports Euromoney.

The PE firms are awash with liquidity; they have more than $1 trillion in dry powder waiting to be invested in the oil and gas sector, according to the EY survey.

Nonetheless, the PE funds that have invested in the oil sector have faced a bumpy ride so far. Large firms such as KKR, Riverstone, Apollo and EIG Global Energy Partners have all faced losses on their investments in the sector.

"Its true that some private equity firms have experienced losses," says Brogan, "but a lot of that pain was concentrated in funds that were latecomers or that were generalists. They were buying at the top of the cycle in 2012 and 2013," reports Euromoney.

However, with oil prices consistently remaining below $50 per barrel, the scenario seems to be changing. Related: Move Over Oil  Lithium Is The Future Of Transportation

"Greater consensus over the oil price future and more favorable asset valuations are improving the conditions for PE, and we expect to see an uptick in deals before the end of the year," said Brogan, reports the Business Insider.

The next round of pullback in oil prices is around the corner, according to David Bianco and the strategy team at Deutsche Bank.

"The strong oil price bounce from Feb low meets some resistance," said Bianco in a note to clients. "Disruption in Canadian output recedes; U.S. rig count rose for 3 weeks; and no output freeze pact is in sight from OPEC," reports the Business Insider.

If oil retraces the steep rise from the lows, it will usher in a new wave of debt burden on the companies. The companies will be left with no other option than going into deals with the private equity players, who have the cash.

"PE-backed companies are looking to joint ventures to help them cut costs, while others hope contingent pricing will offer much-needed price stability," said Michael Rogers, the Ernst & Young global deputy private-equity leader.

With the oil and gas sector struggling to stay afloat, the PE players with their huge cash reserves are ready to make the most of this opportunity to buy assets at distressed prices.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Reprinted from Counterpunch

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it." ~~ Thomas Paine

British voters delivered a savage deathblow to the EU corporate superstate on Thursday sending global markets tumbling and forcing Prime Minister David Cameron to announce his resignation. The narrow victory, which caught the prognosticators by surprise, is the strongest sign yet that working people across the continent are awakening to economic and political disaster that has been created in the name of European integration.

Not only has the EU failed to live up to its promise of lifting all boats and widening prosperity, it has also transformed the region into a low-growth, high unemployment charnel house where bankers and their corporate allies siphon off the wealth of the weaker states to enrich high-flying speculators and voracious bondholders. And while the referendum's outcome will surely be challenged in the months to come, it represents a critical turning point in the public's attitude towards a thoroughly reactionary and odious institution that is solely responsible for the abysmal state of the economy, the progressive erosion of living standards, and steady rise of right wing extremism. Here's a short clip from Raul Ilargi Meijer explaining what Brexit really means:

"Nobody seems to understand it's not about Cameron or Nigel Farage, or Michael Gove vs Boris Johnson, it's about voting for or against the EU, for or against Juncker and Tusk and five other unelected presidents having a say in one's life. "And that's not all either. It's about voting to leave, or remain in, a Union that is already dead and preserved only in a zombie state. Brexit is just one vote and many more will inevitably follow. Brexit is not the first, Grexit had that 'honor' last year. Later this month, elections in Italy and Spain have the potential to turn into preliminary Italix and Spexit votes. And then there will be more. "The reason why these things are taking place, and will be, going forward, is that the economies of all these countries are fast deteriorating. The sole reason why people have accepted the rule of Brussels coming from far away over their daily lives, is the promise that it would make those lives better and more comfortable. That promise has been shattered. The EU has made things worse for most Europeans, not improved them. And when seen in that light, why should people agree to continue to be told what to do by those who've made them poorer? There's no democratic model in which that remotely makes sense. There are only undemocratic models left... "An economy in decline means the end of centralization and the end of existing political power structures. This is inevitable." ("Murder, Lifeboats, an Iceberg and an Orchestra," Automatic Earth)

The Brexit referendum represents a fundamental rejection of austerity for working people and subsidies (QE) for the markets. It is an indictment of the destructive policies that have thrust a broad swathe of southern Europe into a permanent depression while bankers in Paris and Berlin make out like bandits. Even now the loathsome European Central Bank continues to run up massive debts (ECB-QE is $80 billion per month) just to line the pockets of corporate CEOs who offload their toxic bonds with the clear intention of using the money to buyback their own shares further enriching themselves and their swinish shareholders at the expense of ordinary investors. This Ponzi-rip off is what passes as economic policy in the EU. Brexit threatens put an end to this huckster's swindle. Here's a little more background from the World Socialist Web Site:

"The EU is an instrument of the ruling classes of Europe for the imposition of brutal austerity measures -- most directly on the workers of Greece, of Spain, Portugal and Ireland, but also on workers in the UK, France and Germany...Prime minister Cameron has even proclaimed an 'Age of Austerity' as his government imposes cuts of 210 billion, (263 billion), equivalent to over 10 percent of Britain's GDP, at the cost of the destruction of 20 percent of all public sector jobs, millions more in the private sector and the decimation of vital services. "The EU is second of all an instrument of military aggression. It is a vital ally of NATO in its escalating conflict with Russia and China as the US and European powers seek to control all of the world's markets and resources -- including vital oil and gas riches commanded by the Putin regime in Moscow and the giant production platform manned by billions of super-exploited workers led by President Xi Jinping in Beijing." ("The Brexit referendum and the struggle for socialism," World Socialist Web Site)

Brexit is also a rejection of incoherent immigration policies whose objective is to accommodate the millions of victims of US war-making in the Middle East. EU leaders should make every effort, including economic sanctions, to stop Washington from arming and training extremist proxies that are currently fighting in Syria and who have forced roughly 4 million refugees to flee to Europe for safety.

Europe shouldn't be blamed for the blowback from America's bloodthirsty foreign policy. Even so, Brussel's unwillingness to stand up to Washington on this matter has allowed radical elements to emerge whose xenophobia is fueling widespread anti-immigrant hysteria. In the US, GOP hopeful, Donald Trump has capitalized off anti-immigrant sentiment making a wall along the Mexico border a central tenet of his platform.

Trump issued a statement shortly after the results of the EU referendum were announced. He said:

"The people of the United Kingdom have exercised the sacred right of all free peoples. They have declared their independence from the European Union and have voted to reassert control over their own politics, borders and economy. A Trump administration pledges to strengthen our ties with a free and independent Britain, deepening our bonds in commerce, culture and mutual defense. The whole world is more peaceful and stable when our two countries -- and our two peoples -- are united together, as they will be under a Trump administration... Come November, the American people will have the chance to re-declare their independence. Americans will have a chance to vote for trade, immigration and foreign policies that put our citizens first. They will have the chance to reject today's rule by the global elite, and to embrace real change that delivers a government of, by and for the people. I hope America is watching, it will soon be time to believe in America again."

Trump owes his popularity entirely to the mismanagement of the US economy which -- like the EU -- provides trillions for Wall Street while leaving Main Street to fend for itself. The widening of inequality is paralleled by the rise in political extremism which is hastening the dissolution of the EU superstate and the move towards war. And Britain is just the tip of the iceberg. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, only 38 percent of people in France had a favorable view of the EU, down from 69 percent in 2004. (which is lower than the level of support in the UK). Similarly, only 47 percent of the Spanish population holds a favorable view of the EU, down from 80 percent in 2007.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

The verdict is in, and it's time for conservatives to face the cold hard facts.

Right-wing trickle-down Reaganomics doesn't work.

It doesn't work internationally, it doesn't work nationally and it doesn't work at the state level.

And we know this is true thanks in part to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's 2010 decision to turn his state into a "real live experiment" in Reaganism and the religion of trickle-down economics.

Quickly after taking office, Brownback and the Tea Party-controlled legislature passed massive tax breaks for the state's 1%; repealed all income taxes for more than 100,000 businesses; tightened welfare requirements, making life harder for the working poor and poor children; privatized the delivery of Medicaid so his corporate buddies could have a bigger slice of the state action; cut $200 million from the education budget; eliminated four state agencies; and laid off 2,000 government employees.

In 2013, after he signed the largest tax cut in Kansas history with the help of legislators backed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), he told The Wall Street Journal, "My focus is to create a red-state model that allows the Republican ticket to say, 'See, we have a different way, and it works.'"

And in 2016, six years after Governor Brownback took office and started shaping Kansas into the "red-state model," you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in their right mind, Republican or Democrat, who would say that the economy in Kansas "works."

Back when Governor Brownback initiated the plan, conservative economists like Arthur Laffer predicted a massive boom in the state, and the CATO-inspired Kansas Policy Institute projected that his tax cuts would create $323 million in new local revenues by the year 2018.

In reality, during the first year of Brownback's budget, the state lost $688 million and job growth shrank to 1.1 percent below the national average.

And it didn't get better.

In following years, job growth dropped to one-tenth of 1 percent, and personal income growth slowed from 6.1 percent to 3.6 percent.

According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, the poorest one-fifth of households in Kansas, households that make less than $23,000 a year, saw their average taxes go up about $200 a year, while the richest 1% are saving an average of $25,000 a year.

That means that under Sam Brownback's "red state model," the richest 1% in Kansas are SAVING $2,000 more in TAXES than the bottom fifth of households EARN in a year in INCOME.

As a direct result of this policy, now one health insurance CEO is taking his company across the border to Missouri, just to get away from the cruelty of Brownback's so-called "red state model."

Jeff Blackwood, the president and CEO of Pathfinder Health Innovations, recently published a blog post called "Kansas Isn't Home Anymore," announcing that Pathfinder's headquarters will be moving from Kansas to Missouri.


Debbie Wasserman Schultz

(Image by InterAmericanDialogue) Details DMCA



It's no surprise to me or, probably, most Bernie supporters, to see that the DNC platform committee people who are not Bernie supporters are blocking policy that Hillary gave lip service to, particularly TPP opposition.

Just as the time when Colin Powell told us that there were WMDs in Iraq and I shook my head and knew he was lying, I knew Hillary was lying when she said she opposed TPP.

Hillary did say that she'd re-evaluated the TPP and now opposed it. Yet her people at the DNC platform policy committee blocked a policy position that would oppose support of the TPP.

If Hillary wanted her people to oppose TPP, they would oppose it. It's that simple.

"The lesson of Brexit is that while the very rich get much richer, working people throughout the world are not seeing the global economy and an explosion of technology benefiting their lives. In fact, in the United States the middle class has been in decline for 35 years while there has been a huge increase in income and wealth inequality. Unfettered free trade has made multi-national corporations more profitable and their CEOs richer, but it also has led to the loss of millions of good-paying jobs in this country and a race to the bottom.



"The challenge for us today is to take on the greed and power of Wall Street and corporate America, and create a government and an economy that works for all of us and not just the 1 percent."

"Unfortunately... the platform drafting committee voted down some very important provisions. Despite Secretary Clinton's opposition, as a candidate for president, to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, her supporters in St. Louis voted down a proposal to keep the trade deal from coming up for a vote in Congress.

There's only one conclusion. Hillary lied about her position on TPP. That's the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. This is not a small thing. Position on trade deals is huge. Here's what Bernie Sanders says,

The reality is the DNC represents establishment Democrats, the same ones who are the Superdelegates who committed to Hillary Clinton before Bernie Sanders even entered the primary. The DNC is not your friend, unless you are a big corporation.
This is outrageous!Yesterday the Democratic platform committee refused to take a stand on the heinous TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership).It's high time we told them off but good.The snaky language they voted through says that there are "a diversity of views" in the Democratic party on the TPP.Oh, really?Given that every Democratic candidate for president SAYS they oppose it, the only diversity we can see is between the bought off paid off corporate creeps and their supposed constituents. Let those who still hold to a perverse contrary view clearly identify themselves now, so we can make sure we never vote for them again.We just went through a huge dog and pony show sit-in in the House with Democrats lambasting the Republicans for not taking a stand on gun control, all the while substantial numbers of them got the slogans backwards or were unable to even remember the tune to "We Shall Overcome." And the next shoe that drops is the Democrats refuse to take a stand on the TPP.This is all just a ruse to try punt the TPP to a lame duck session of Congress where members can betray their constituents AFTER we re-elect them. Please tell us you don't see it coming.And please tell THEM that you do!What Part Of No TPP Don't You Get? action page: https://www.utalk.us/?a=no_TPP
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser
Editors note: This is the second in a series of articles on the quality of water in our region and threats that could compromise it. Next week, we will examine what water quality means for local recreation.

GLENS FALLS  Its not safe to drink lead, ammonia or formaldehyde, but it is legal for companies to dump all of those into the water.

The legal pollution allows Finch Paper to dump 1.6 million pounds of chemicals into the Hudson River and emit another 114,000 pounds of chemicals into the air every year.

Every company must report every chemical it releases into the air, water or land in a federal public database called the Toxic Releases Inventory. Its used by various agencies and groups to learn about the dumping near them and to push for changes. Its particularly of use to those who are studying health because they can see what chemicals are being released that could be affecting people.

The Environmental Protection Agency hopes the database puts public pressure on companies to voluntarily dump less than the laws allow.

One of the best indicators that the TRI program has been a success is the steady and significant decline in releases since 1988, said EPA spokesman John Martin.

That can also be seen at Finch, which is the second-largest polluter in New York state and the 31st largest polluter among the countrys 368 paper mills.

Finch sends most of its chemicals directly into the water. The main problem there is nitrates, which Finch dumps after treating its ammonia in an effort to avoid releasing ammonia into the river.

Finch has improved greatly: It released 81,000 pounds of ammonia into the river in 2006, and reduced that to 41,000 pounds in 2014, the most recent year for which the TRI had data.

In recent years, Finch also eliminated the formaldehyde it released into the river.

The chemicals it releases into the air include nitrogen oxide, which contributes to acid rain. To address that, the company stopped burning fuel oil and now burns only natural gas, which generates less nitrogen oxide. It permanently shut down the least efficient of its five power boilers to reduce the pollutant.

Those steps were taken after the state Department of Environmental Conservation classified Finch as violating the Clean Air Act every quarter for three years in a row and finally listed the issue as a high priority violation because Finch had taken so long to reduce its nitrogen oxide pollution.

Other chemicals released also contribute to acid rain, so Finch has to test the pH of the Hudson River around its mill to make sure the chemicals dont make the water so acidic that fish eggs and other aquatic life cannot hatch. It has passed that test every quarter for the past three years. Testers even measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the river, because oxygen is critical to life in the river.

But its a balancing act. Eliminating some very harmful chemicals, like ammonia, has led to the creation of other chemicals.

In fighting ammonia, Finch quadrupled the amount of nitrates it dumps into the river.

Nitrates are more environmentally benign than ammonia and other chemicals, wrote spokesman John Brodt in a prepared statement. Brodt works for Behan Communications, which represents Finch Paper. He would not allow The Post-Star to speak with Finch officials directly, but answered written questions.

Nitrates are tracked because they arent good for the environment. The typical sources are agricultural fertilizer runoff and releases from sewage treatment plants. But Brodt argued that Finch dumped far fewer nitrates than those sources, and he noted that no one drinks the water in the upper Hudson River.

The company has also been chronically non-compliant with both the Clean Air and Clean Water acts. It violated the Clean Water Act for five quarters in the past three years and is currently classified as non-compliant. Last year, the company signed a consent order with the state that included a $21,771 fine.

Some of those violations are technical  a mistake in a sample means an immediate violation even without any evidence that the company put the environment at risk.

In other cases, Finch argues with the EPA over technical issues, such as whether devices the company uses to control pollution are control devices, so that it can avoid being subject to various regulations.

Enforcing regulations can be contentious. On the high priority Clean Air violation, Finch said it has just taken a long time to get approval for a new plan to control nitrogen oxide emissions. But according to DEC, Finch submitted deficient plans three times over the course of three years. It submitted an acceptable plan in April.

Despite the violations, it could be much worse. Finch reuses 4.5 million pounds of chemicals a year, particularly ammonia and carbon dioxide. The ammonia is used to convert wood chips into pulp, while the carbon dioxide helps create precipitated calcium carbonate, a brightening agent for the paper Finch makes.

Finch Paper takes great pride in its environmental stewardship and considers environmentally responsible operations one of the foundations of its operating principles, Brodt said.

Finch does all it can to recover and re-use chemicals and other raw materials. Its the responsible way to do business from both the economic and environmental perspectives. By recovering and re-using raw materials, we lower our costs, reduce waste and minimize what is released to the environment or sent to the landfill, he said.
FORT EDWARD  A lawsuit filed over injuries a good Samaritan suffered at the scene of a fatal car crash two years ago is headed to trial in coming weeks.

Granville resident Logan Hall filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Washington County, seeking unspecified monetary damages from two drivers involved in a July 2013 fatal crash on Route 22 in Hebron. A trial is set to start July 11 before state Supreme Court Justice Stan Pritzker in Fort Edward.

Hall had stopped at the crash scene to help drivers in a head-on collision, before emergency responders arrived, when a vehicle driven by Dorothy Brace of West Pawlet, Vermont, hit one of the vehicles involved in the crash, pushing it into Hall, police said at the time.

Hall filed a lawsuit against Brace, who was 87 at the time of the crash, as well as the Hebron man who was blamed for the fatal collision. Lisa Martin, 43, of North Adams, Massachusetts, died in the crash, which occurred when 44-year-old Hebron resident Ora L. Roaix crossed into the oncoming lane and hit her vehicle head-on.

State Police determined that Roaix deliberately crossed into the oncoming lane and was trying to kill himself when the crash occurred. He pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, a felony, and was sentenced to 6 months in Washington County Jail and 5 years on probation.

Halls lawsuit alleges that Brace should have stopped or avoided the overturned vehicle, and that he suffered severe injuries that werent specified.

Braces lawyers had asked Pritzker to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that the entire situation was the result of Roaixs actions.

All of the evidence shows that the situation faced Mrs. Brace on the night of July 20, 2013 was not of her own making, lawyer Ingrid Effman wrote in court papers.

The judge, though, rejected the request, setting the stage for a trial.

This argument fails to acknowledge that there may be more than one proximate cause of an accident, Pritzker wrote.

In addition to Roaix and Brace, the owner of the vehicle that Roaix was driving, Lillian Hansen of Hebron, has also been named in the lawsuit.
FORT EDWARD  A bidding war and high bids on other properties at the Washington County tax auction brought in more money than ever before, officials said.

Up for auction were 41 properties that owners lost after not paying their taxes for three years. Every property sold.

The auction generally raises much more than the amount needed to cover the lost tax revenue.

The county needed to raise $362,000 to cover the unpaid taxes on the properties. This year, it raised $515,759 more than that, setting a record.

By comparison, last year the county auctioned off 58 parcels and raised $243,147 more than the lost taxes.

In recent years, the most revenue collected was in 2006, when the county raised $473,904 more than the taxes owed on 32 parcels.

This year, the biggest sale was for 110 acres of farmland on Lees Crossing Road in Cambridge.

Two farmers went to bid on it, pushing each others bids higher and higher until one won at $189,000.

Their only explanation was that it was good farmland, Treasurer Al Nolette said.

The county started with 144 properties, but most owners paid their delinquent taxes before the auction, leaving just 41 properties for sale.

Last year, Nolette loosened rules for paying off the taxes in hopes of helping more people keep their land. Previously, owners had to pay up no later than one week before the auction, and only the owner on the deed could write the check.

Now anybody can save the property, he said. I dont care who I get the check from.

In one case, a relative came in and paid off the taxes for an elderly owner. In another case, a bank set up a new mortgage for the owners and managed to close on the new deal at the last minute, Nolette said.

If it had been the way it was before, that bank would not have gotten that closing done, he said. Weve been able to keep more people in their homes.

Many of the properties up for auction were not the previous owners main residences. There were empty buildings, summer homes, farmland and vacant land in the auction catalog.

But there were also homes, including a few expensive ones. Selling them would have brought the county more money, but Nolette isnt concerned about that.

My goal is as a tax collector, not a realtor, he said.
One of our readers sent me a personal note this week about how he enjoyed one of my columns, and then related his own life experiences.

At the end of the letter, he noted, My favorite one of your colleagues has to be Don Coyote. In fact, if the choice this fall turns out to be Hillary v. The Donald, Ill be tempted to vote for Mr. Coyote as a write-in.

I thought that was high praise for our featured cartoon character, which daily shows a disdain for pretty much everything.

The reader also wondered how many others made the connection between Don Coyote and Don Quixote.

I was not sure, but I do know that more than one reader has wondered if Don Coyote is one of our reporters who is also named Don. He is not.

I reached out to Mark Mahoney, our former editorial page editor, for birth information and a full history on our eastern coyote.

Mark reminded me that we ran detailed information in our Answers Please column in 2003.

Don Coyote appeared for the first time in The Post-Star on Jan. 4, 1996, when then-Managing Editor Stephen Bennett said his job was to tilt at the occasional windmill and offer down to earth observations on the days news, and his comments were intended to range from whimsical to sarcastic, the type of thing one might hear in a barbershop or at a lunch counter.

Get it? Don Quixote, Don Coyote.

The concept was developed by former Post-Star Publisher Jim Marshall, who still has a house in Queensbury and remains affiliated with the Adirondack Stampede Rodeo.

Marshall brought the idea from previous papers where he worked.

In Casper, Wyoming, the paper had a ball with a frowning faced called the Old Grouch. They would place the ball in front of an eyesore property, photograph it and publish it in the newspaper.

At the Citizen in Auburn, New York, he modified the idea into a printed caricature that provided commentary called Old Crow. The crow was modeled after a weathervane atop the state prison there.

Looking for an Adirondack flavor in Glens Falls, the coyote was selected as the image.

He has now been howling here for more than 20 years. Some days, it seems longer.

Ken Tingley is the editor of The Post-Star and may be reached via email at tingley@poststar.com. You can read his blog The Front Page daily at www.poststar.com or his updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kentingley.
As dawn broke Thursday, I sat with a blanket pulled up around me watching the hissy fit in the House of Representatives.

It was a spectacle, it was theater and it was inspiring in its juvenile simplicity.

The Democrats didnt want their way, they wanted a vote.

Thats it.

So do I.

Isnt that what we all want?

They stomped around in their business suits at the front of the chamber, waved signs, sang songs and gave speeches to each other and a growing audience on C-SPAN thanks to social media.

When Speaker Paul Ryan tried to be the adult in the room, they shouted him and his gavel down. There would be no curfew this night.

It was wildly ridiculous behavior for mature modern-day politicians who probably havent been out past 10 in years.

And its about time.

Our democracy is based on electing representatives who make decisions on our behalf. That is a government of the people.

No matter where you stand on any issue, we should be able to debate its merits and let our representatives know how we think they should vote.

But for too long, the highly nuanced rules of the modern Congress have been beyond our comprehension.

Majority doesnt rule.

Often, it doesnt get you a vote.

Party leadership decides what will help them win, not what is best for the country.

What the Democrats were doing, Ive wanted to do for years.

So with 49 corpses in Orlando, Speaker Ryan chose to gavel Congress home through the Fourth of July to enjoy graduations, barbecues, fireworks and a celebration of our American independence without bothering to address gun violence in America.

I think a hissy fit is the appropriate response. We should try it as an electorate.

What Speaker Ryan does not realize is that the angry American has had it with Congress and its inability to do anything for fear of offending special interests and the flow of campaign contributions from big-money donors.

Our elected leaders should be able to debate this, but they cant in a world where the National Rifle Association makes this an all-or-nothing issue.

If you are a politician who believes in background checks, or that gun locks might prevent child accidents, or that the government should fund studies on gun violence, you are against the Second Amendment and the NRA will give you a failing grade that costs you votes and campaign contributions. They will come after you.

That is un-American.

Nobody is against the Second Amendment. At least, not anybody I have heard.

Nobody is coming for the guns, but if President Obama is going to get it done, hed better hurry up because hes running out of time.

Congress should vote, then we get to vote on Congress.

Thats how it works.

Stop the gamesmanship and start the statesmanship.

Start making a difference.

Do something besides fundraising.

This is not one political party over another. We all know politicians are bought and paid for by special interests every day. The Democrats made that clear during their sit-in when they tried to raise money for the party.

Speaker Ryan called the sit-in a gimmick, a publicity stunt.

It was, and it wasnt.

I hope he was up at sunrise when Rep. Elijah Cummings, who represents the city of Baltimore, addressed that accusation.

Its not a gimmick to me, Cummings said sternly. There are 300 people who die in my city every year.

There are thousands of other stories from the victims of gun violence, from accidental shootings and the legacy of this generation  mass shootings.

Were just too good a country to do nothing. Even if that something is standing up by sitting down.

The Democrats wanted a vote on federal background checks. Surveys show that over 90 percent of people favor this, including most members of the NRA.

The Democrats also wanted a vote on whether individuals on the no fly terrorist list should be allowed to buy guns. Is anyone in the country against this, except the NRA? This is America.

Congress should vote.

If we dont like the vote, then it is in our hands.

Ken Tingley is the editor of The Post-Star and may be reached via email at tingley@poststar.com. You can read his blog The Front Page daily at www.poststar.com or his updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kentingley.
This represents an 8 % increment compared to the 1.24 billion cedis recorded in 2014 thus positioning the sector as the leading source of fiscal revenue for the country.

The sectors statutory payments comprised 463.12 million cedis in corporate taxes, 485.6 million cedis in royalties, 404.74 million cedis in PAYE and 0.87 million cedis in other taxes.

According to the Bank of Ghana , the sector was the leading source of foreign exchange in 2015 , contributing in excess of 31 percent of total merchandise exports .

Volume and proceeds from export fall

Meanwhile proceeds from the exports of minerals reduced from 3.94 billion dollars in 2014 to 3.39 billion in 2015.

The GFMS Gold survey (2016) reports that total gold output in Ghana reduced to 95 tons in 2015, relative to the 107 tons recorded in 2014 mainly due to the suspension of mining by Anglogold Ashanti and the power crisis that hit the country.

Outlook of the mineral sector in 2016

According to the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mine Kwame Addo-Kufuor, "the price of gold is expected to remain under pressure for most part of 2016 as the US Federal Reserve Bank eases its quantitative monetary programme".
He said the project, which would be funded by the World bank and Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund) would increase facilities such as; classroom blocks, dormitories, science laboratory and libraries among other projects.

President Mahama said this when he addressed staff and students of Aburi Girls' Senior High School during the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the academic entity at Aburi in the Akwapim South District in the Eastern Region.

The theme for the celebration was:"@70: Forging ahead for greater heights in educational excellence."

The school, which started in 1946 with only seven students currently runs three-year Senior High School system in General Science, General Arts, Business and Vocational programmes that prepares students for the West African Senior High School Examinations.

The programme was also attended by Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, Minister of Education, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, former First Lady and a former student of the school and Ms Mavis Ama Frimpong, Regional Minister who is also an old student of the school.

President Mahama said although 123 new Community Day Senior High schools are under construction, the expansion programme in the existing schools would help increase enrollment.

He called on the past students of Aburi Senior School to stick to their motto of the school: "The light on the hill" by providing the necessary expertise and resources that would contribute to the growth and development of Ghana.

The President said although the youth literacy rate had moved to 80.5 per cent in 2012/2013 academic year, government would do everything possible to ensure that the country achieves 100 per cent by the next decade.

He promised to complete the school's dormitory block, which was initiated by the Parent-Teacher Association some years back.

The President has also directed the GETFund to construct a12-unit staff apartment block to ease the accommodation issues of the school.

Madam Christine Amoako-Nuama, a former Minister of Education and old student of the school, urged the old students who are occupying responsible positions in the country, to serve as mentors to the current generation.

She commended the Presbyterian Church for their feat in establishing educational institutions including Aburi Girls Senior High School.

She urged the churches to step up their programmes that are crucial to ending illiteracy in the country.

Ms Rosemond Bampo, Headmistress of the school said the institution has over the years distinguished itself in academic disciplines including science, mathematics and General Arts.

She said apart from speech a prizes, the school had also organised memorial service on Sunday and clean-up programmes to herald in their anniversary.

Prizes were given to students who distinguished themselves academically.
The case involved some aggrieved workers of the bank who were laid off under controversial circumstances resulting in a law suit against StanChart .

An Accra High court on May 11 cited Kweku Bedu-Addo for contempt after Standard Chartered Bank failed to obey the courts order restraining them from going ahead with a planned redundancy exercise.

Speaking for the first time following weeks of negative publicity Bedu-Addo suggested the media got it all wrong.

Instead of publishing anecdotes and hearsays, I think the professional thing to do is to obtain the ruling and let a professional help you to interpret the ruling before you publish because you have peoples reputation at stake.
In an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Prisons Service, Vitalis Aryee blamed the frequent medicine shortage to insufficient budgetary allocation from government.

We still keep appealing to people that government alone cannot do it. The Prisons Service has always appealed to philanthropic organizations and individuals to come to the aid of the Prisons and the prisoners because it could be anybodys turn in prison, he said.

Mr. Aryee indicated that the only way they can stock up on medicines is by appealing to well-meaning Ghanaians.

We will keep appealing because that is the only way out, he remarked.

A few weeks ago, the Brong Ahafo Regional PRO of the Ghana Prisons Service, ASP Vincent Ziniel Bekyur revealed that the Sunyani Central Prisons Infirmary had no medicines to treat sick inmates.
Western Regional Manager of FDA, Mr. Abu Sumailar, explained that every medicine has some side effects with unpleasant reactions like nausea, diarrhoea, dizziness, headache and sometimes deaths.

He said over the years, the FDA had tried to improve the safety of medicines by receiving feedback from patients through institutional contact persons (ICP) in various health facilities.

However, he said, the feedback had not been forthcoming, therefore, the Authority decided to revive it reporting by training physicians, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technicians from selected public and private health facilities in 15 districts in the Region, in order to improve healthcare delivery.

He said the training was undertaken by the FDA in partnership with the Ghana Health Service for health professionals selected from the Effia-Nkwanta Regional, Takoradi and, Essikado Hospitals, Kwesimintsim Polyclinic, as well as other private health facilities.

The Regional FDA Boss tasked the health professionals to fill adverse drug reaction forms for patients whenever they report any side effects of medicines for onward submission to the Authority for the necessary action.

He added that the Authority had created Patients Safety Centres in community pharmacies across the country and urged the public to take advantage to report adverse effects of medicines.

He observed that although there is no sanction for health professionals for wrongful prescription of medication to patients in Ghana, however, this could end up in legal tussle in advanced countries.

Meanwhile, Mr Alfred Dadzie, Clinical Pharmacist at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, has advised the public to be vigilant and report any counterfeit household chemicals, blood and blood-related products, vaccines, anti-biotics and cosmetics to the FDA for investigation.

He noted that people react to medicines due to differences in genetics and, therefore, admonished breast-feeding mothers and care-givers to report any abnormal reaction of their babies after every immunization.He said the Ghana Health Service has added pharmacovigilance assessment to its Annual Peer Preview Mechanism.

Explaining the term pharmacovigilance, he said, it is the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of drugs and other drug-related problems.

This involves monitoring the effects of medicines after they had been licensed for use, especially in order to identify and evaluate previously unreported adverse reactions.
This was after they detailed the experience of two women, ages 22 and 40, for months in a new report published in the June 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The women had complained of recurring instances of "transient smartphone blindness", where they suddenly lose vision in the eye for up to 15 minutes after they were done reading from the smart phone and got up to do other things.

The women subsequently went through different medical examinations, including MRI scans and heart tests. However, the doctors could not find anything wrong with the women until they approached an eye specialists office, the report said.

Both patients were asked to experiment and record their symptoms. They reported that the symptoms were always in the eye contra lateral to the side on which the patient was lying the report added.

READ ALSO: Why eating cake at work is dangerous to your health

An ophthalmologist with Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, Dr. Gordon Plant explained that both women typically looked at their smart phones with only one eye while resting on their side in bed in the dark while their other eye was covered by the pillow, dailypost.ng reports.
Presenting the items on behalf of Groupe Ideal, the Managing Director for Ideal Trade, Emmanuel Buah said We are excited to share in your joy on this day. The donation is also to signify how important the period of Ramadan in Islam is to us. We believe you contribute in making our business a success and so this donation is to strengthen our bonds over the years.

Receiving the items on behalf of the Muslim communities, the Muslim clerics lauded the initiative of Groupe Ideal and called on other corporate bodies to emulate.

The Group Head, Corporate Communications and Strategy, Ekow Blankson added that Groupe Ideal will continue to show its love and support to our Muslim brethren to let them know how important their contribution to our various businesses are to us.

The Nima central mosque and the New Town central mosque all located in Accra were the two communities that benefited from the companys gesture.

Groupe Ideal is a registered management company with a core mandate to provide financial and managerial services to its subsidiaries operating in the areas of investment banking and fund management, business finance, commodity trading, asset solutions, mining and offshore consultancy services.
We have a strong ICTdepartment at the police. But so far, their work has been involved in investigating [crimes committed with new technologies] and not engaging people on social media. We are working very hard and soon, we will be strongly represented on social media.

He said this at Blog Camp 2016, an annual congregation of bloggers and social media users organized by Blogging Ghana.

There was public uproar when the Inspector General of Police, in a press interaction, said blocking social media during the elections was an alternative the police was considering if the country became very tensed because of the spread of falsity online.

This led many to criticise the police for thinking about banning a platform it does not even use. The last tweet from an account widely believed to have been run by the police was in 2011.

In an interview with Pulse News, the project lead of Ghana Decides (Blogging Ghanas election project) Kinna Likimani, announced that they were willing to offer the police training on how to engage the public on social media before, during and after the elections.
Addressing the Chiefs and elders of Atebubu on Saturday, Dr. Bawumia said: Our message is therefore simple, the NDC has had eight years and all we have seen are hardships and mismanagement, which is why we are asking for a chance to change the current circumstances and bring real development and relief to the people of Ghana,

He pointed out that every Ghanaian wants a country they can be proud of and the only way that could happen is by focusing on key sectors like agriculture which the "NPP will revitalise and develop it to make it worthwhile.

Secondly, we all know of the current unemployment situation. Many of our youths dont have jobs and this is why we want to transform this economy to provide jobs and create wealth, he added.
The NPP National Prayer Co-ordinator for the Northern Sector, Dr Aboagye Mensah, who led the prayers in Tamale, said the party is not taking its preparations for granted despite the Poor administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

The prayer session was attended by regional and constituency executives and supporters of the NPP in the region.

Dr Mensah said it is very important for the NPP to pull its spiritual powers together and pray without ceasing to ensure that the party wins the upcoming Parliamentary and Presidential elections saying, The battle is the Lords.

Dr Mensah noted that God has interceded to safe many people in times of difficulties and was convinced that a similar thing is going to happen on November 7, where the people of Ghana would be salvaged by the NPP through the power of God.

Mr Daniel Bugri Naabu, Regional Chairman of the NPP said the party belief in God as the creator and has therefore dedicated its political struggle unto His hands.

We of the NPP believe that we are all children of God created by Him to be happy and free.

He claimed that the NDC had exploited and subjected Ghanaians to misery and indignity occasioned by greed, wickedness and outright incompetence and must be voted out of power.

He prayed to God to intervene and bring Nana Akufo-Addo, the partys Presidential Nominee to power to redeem Ghanaians from the economic bondage that would put smiles on the faces of the people.

We know that the NDC has always stolen the verdict of the people of this country when it comes to elections. We also know and believe that the time has come for our Lord to fight the battle for us, Mr Naabu said.

Dr Mensah said it is very important for the NPP to pull its spiritual powers together and pray without ceasing to ensure that the party wins the upcoming Parliamentary and Presidential elections saying, The battle is the Lords.

He urged Muslims across the country to pray for the NPP since they are in their Ramadan period.
He said deifying the President will play him into the hands of his opponents who will capitalize on it for political expediency.

Mr. Pratt Jnr was of the view that once the Presidents opponents are able to prove that he is not a deity that whole effort and verification could lead to the detriment of the President.

Some members of government and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been describing the President as incorruptible.

This follows the revelation that in 2012, President John Mahama received a brand new Ford Expedition vehicle by a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe after he was given the contract to construct the $650,000 Ghana Embassy wall in the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou.

Commenting on the manner in which government communicators have portrayed the President in the midst of the scandal, Mr. Pratt Jnr on Joy FM said: Sometimes I listen to government communicators and I begin to wonder whether the person they are speaking about is my friend for a long time that they are talking about. It is no secret; he is my friend for a very long time. Sometimes I think it is not President John Mahama they are describing.
After the Supreme Court ruling last Thursday, the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) indicated that the EC may not be able to furnish the Supreme Court with the full list of the NHIS registrants within six days.

According to CODEO, the Commission does not have all the documents in its database for it to be able to fully determine all those who registered using NHIS cards, for subsequent deletion.

However, the EC is insisting that it is also false for anyone to claim that the EC cannot comply with the orders of the Supreme Court.

The statement asked, where lies the difficulty or impossibility when the EC has the primary registration document (Form 1As)? The Commission will fully satisfy the request of the Apex Court.

Meanwhile, the Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Kwaku Baako has expressed concern about news emerging that the Electoral Commission (EC) may be unable to produce the list of persons who registered to vote with their National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards as directed by the Supreme Court.

I am getting worried; I am getting frightened to hear of the possibility that the EC doesnt have persons who registered with their NHIS cards on their data base. That is worrying! That is frightening, he said on Accra-based Joy FM.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a six-day ultimatum to the EC to furnish the court with the list of persons who registered with their NHIS identity cards.

The apex court also ordered the EC to indicate in writing, the modalities it intends to use in removing the names of those persons from the voters register.

However, it is being speculated that the EC may not be able to beat the six-day deadline because it does not have the list of persons who registered with NHIS cards.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Joy FM, Kwaku Baako was of the view that based on the record of proceedings before the Supreme Court, it is evident that we are dealing with a gargantuan challenge; a big matter.

According to him, it is not 10, 15 people who registered with it; its not some 100,000 people; its massive, its a big job so why all this dilly dallying, protracted transition towards a solution that we could have reached years ago?
The appeal is to enable more scholarships from the Fund to sponsor a number of students to attain higher education so as to be able to compete with other children anywhere in the world.

President Mahama gave the assurance in a statement on his behalf by Alhaj Dr Abdul Rashid Pelpuo, the Minister of State in charge of Public Private Partnerships and MP for Wa Central, at a get-together for the Muslim faithful, dubbed: The Sixth Annual Night of Power at the State Banquet Hall in Accra.

The event, organised by the Muslim Caucus in Parliament, was on the theme: Peace, Unity and Tolerance: the Roadmap to a Prosperous Nation.

President Mahama praised Allah for His special grace on the nation for its peace, and commended Muslims for their peaceful co-existence with other faiths.

Our cultural identity as peaceful and hospitable people is unique and we must jealously guard and protect that trademark as in our dealings with one another and in our dealings with other people as well, he said.

He urged Ghanaians not to take the peace and unity being enjoyed by the citizens for granted, as we must all remain vigilant and be ready to expose the bad nuts in our midst who may be willing to exchange the peaceful teachings of the Quran for coins or empty promises by unscrupulous politicians before, during and after the elections in November.

The President said democracy must not be reduced to mere voting or election of representatives based on mere partisan considerations, but also to ensure that the people who are elected into office are those who would recognise, respect, tolerate and accept the diverse nature of the people.

The Speaker of Parliament Edward Korbly Doe Adjaho, saluted Muslims for maintaining peace, unity and tolerance; and gave the assurance the House would continue to support the annual Night of Power event.

In a sermon, Lt Col Umar Sanda Ahmed (Rtd), Ambassador to Egypt, exhorted Muslims to continue to pursue peace where ever they found themselves, adding that This Jihad must start with yourself.

He said Islam stands for peace, and it would be hypocritical for one to preach peace and foment trouble.

Lt Col Ahmed charged Muslims to continue to work consciously in the communities in which they find themselves towards peace.

Peace is a universal concept, and as Muslims, we are supposed to work towards peace, he said.

Sheikh Dr Nuhu Sharabutu, the National Chief Imam offered prayers for the nation.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Idris disclosed this at the Passing-Out of the Squadron Commanders Seminar/Combat Operation Course 02/2016 at Ila-Orogun in Osun.

According to him, the training school deserted due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgents will be recovered.

The Acting IGP added that due to enormous security challenges facing the country, the police would go through total restructuring and reforms to ensure the stability of the nation.

He urged the Squadron Commanders to display high level of professionalism and commitment in discharging their duties as human life was directly connected to their activities, hence the need to be in control of their men always.

"Certain core values of accountability, transparency, and respect for diversity of the country must be imbibed as part of policy direction of the police.

"Security challenges in our country today requires special police unit that is equipped to tackle serious crime and not bodyguards of some individuals.

"This training is timely and significant, considering the level of security challenges facing the nation as the present administration is striving hard to tackle issues like terrorism, kidnapping, and oil theft," he said.

Fifty nine out of the 60 Squadron Commanders who attended the three -week course had been recommended for pass-out after a rigorous, tedious and all- encompassing course.

Meanwhile, the Commandant of the Training school, ACP Mohammed Dankwara explained that the 3-week training saw the course participants through theory and practical work including strategic leadership/management course.

Dankwa further explained that the course participants had exhibited a high sense of discipline and commitment while the course lasted.

The state Governor Rauf Aregbesola congratulated the new IGP and urged him to make a difference.

Aregbesola also charged the commandant of the training school to include agricultural activities in the scope of their training in line with the arable nature of the environment where the school was located.

"This environment is typically forest belt, with enough arable land for agricultural activities, l hereby urge you to include agriculture in the scope of your training.
Report said one Civilian JTF member was killed, a soldier, policeman and another Civilian JTF member were injured during the encounters, while arms, ammunition and logistics equipment in large quantities were recovered from the terrorists.

The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, confirmed the rescue operations in a statement.

Troops of 21 Brigade and Civilian JTF weekend conducted a fighting patrol to Zangebe, Maiwa, Algaiti and Mainari villages in which they killed 6 Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others," he said.

The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists and recovered 5 motorcycles and similar number of bicycles.

Similarly, troops of 7 Division Garrison Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) II, in conjunction with some of elements of Mobile Police Force and Civilian JTF today also conducted Boko Haram terrorists clearance operations at Masu Yiwa, Ladin Buta, Bazaka, Kesa Gala, Tabla, Fahinde, Shirori, Gizina, Maska Aribe, Maska and Maska Lawanti villages, all in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State," Usman said.

He further stated that during the clearance operations, the troops encountered Boko Haram terrorists at Maska Lawanti in which they killed 2 terrorists and recovered 2 motorcycles."

Unfortunately, we lost 1 Civilian JTF, while a soldier and 1 Mobile Policeman were wounded in action. The body of the heroic Civilian JTF and the wounded soldier and his police counterpart has since been evacuated to Maiduguri.

While we commiserate with the families of the departed Civilian JTF, we wish to state that the wounded are in stable condition and responding to treatment.

In a related development, troops of 192 Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade and some vigilantes also embarked on fighting patrol along Kusarha-Zalidava general area today (Saturday)."
Tejuoso, who represents Ogun Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said the PDP administrations in the past 16 years destroyed the health care system.

He stated this in Abeokuta on Monday, June 20, at the sideline of his empowerment programme where he distributed many items including cars to the people of his constituency.

He disclosed that Buhari had to travel to the United Kingdom for treatment because his ear problem did not improve after he was treated by his Nigerian doctors.

Do you know the party of the President? Its All Progressives Congress. Do you know the party that ruled for 16 years? It is PDP. We have just taken over. We inherited a rotten health sector; our budget is just about to start," he said.

So we are still suffering from the PDP structure. If in one years time the president should go to UK for health, then you talk about why is he going.

In medicine, there is what they call second opinion. The President did not leave the day he was sick. He was in Nigeria for days, he was seeing our Nigerian doctors and after that, there was no improvement, he went for what we call second opinion to confirm whatever it is that is the problem. And thank God hes back hale and hearty," Tejuoso said.

The Senator however called for the removal of the immunity clause from Constitution, arguing that it will make the leaders in the executive and legislative arms of government comport themselves.
According to the Director, New Media of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Deji Adeyanju, the EFCC operative who attacked Fani-Kayode was identified as Kabiru Suleiman.

"Yes I have verified, Egbon @realFFK was attacked today by 1 idiot who thinks Buhari will rule 4ever. He's name is Sulaiman from Kebbi State," Adeyanju wrote on Twitter.

Matters came to a head on Saturday when, without any provocation, Suleiman Kabiru, a Muslim from Kebbi state charged at Fani-Kayode injuring him in the process, an unconfirmed source said.

The source said Suleiman's colleagues had to stop Suleiman from further injuring Fani-Kayode.
According to Vanguard, Magu said he has urged the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to stop private banking, saying its illegal.

"I insisted that this so-called private banking should be stopped. It is illegal. It is wrong. We are not only going after the personnel of the banks but also after the banks," the EFCC boss said.

"What happens is that when a staff of the bank is involved in such activities, what the bank does is to take the person out of the system through dismissal. But now, we are going to go after the banks and the personnel used to perpetrate the fraud. It takes two to tango. In fact, very soon you will see us going after the Managing Directors of the banks."

Magu stressed the EFCC is no respecter of anyone found culpable, adding that the bank MDs given a lot of room for the money laundering activities to thrive.

He said they were used to hide all the funds stolen from Nigeria's treasury.
The Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri.

Abdullahi said that the suspects were arrested in Makera area of the state capital while re-bagging the flour into Dangote product sacks.

He said that the suspects were allegedly re-bagging expired flour into Dangote sacks and selling them to unsuspected consumers in the market.

"The NSCDC had apprehended one Bukar Muhammad who smuggled and imported expired flour from Qatar through Lagos state.

"He also confessed to have sold many of the sacks of flours to unidentified consumers. The sacks we suspected are from Qatar Tender Committee meant for humanitarian purposes.

"The problem is that if anything happens today, people would say Dangote flour is killing people.

"We also know that anything that is expired must have health consequences and is not good for consumption," Abdullahi said.
The seven of them - five foreigners and two Nigerians, were said to have been released on Sunday, June 26, after an undisclosed amount of money was paid to secure their release.

The armed militants abducted the workers in the Cross River capital last Wednesday on their way to the office and in the process killed the driver of one of the vehicles that conveyed the workers.

It was gathered the workers were released with injuries.

All the seven of them were released in the early hours of today with injuries. Nobody knows why they were injured but they are receiving medical attention, a source told the newspaper.
Dr Muyideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant to the state Governor on Media and Communications, stated made this known in a statement released in Ilorin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the statement was issued in the wake of a call by the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) on the state government to prioritise the payment of salary arrears to teachers, local government workers and others.

He also said the inability of the institutions to raise their share of the internally generated revenue to augment the federal government subvention as earlier agreed, contributed to the non-payment of the salaries.

"Nevertheless, the government has commenced the process of remedying the situation with the payment of 5 months arrears to workers in the College of Arabic and Islamic Studies Ilorin, the statement said.

Akorede said government released N50million to the Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin last week, and that the balance of N17million would be released soon.

According to the statement, the remaining tertiary institutions in the state will be paid in the due course and as funds become available.

The state government explained that the drop in allocation to the local government by more than 50 percent, rather than the operation of the statutory Joint Accounts allocation Committee (JAAC), was responsible for salary arrears at the local government councils.

The government also assured IEDPU that it was already working on its recommendation to focus on agriculture and solid minerals development for diversifying the states economy.

It stressed, however, that these measures were long term and could not be relied on to solve the current problems bedevilling all tiers of government in the country.

The governors aide restated Governor Abdulfatah Ahmeds commitment to ending the salary payment problem in the state.
The state Commander of the agency, Mr Mohammed Sokoto, disclosed this at a news conference to mark this years International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Sunday in Akure.

Sokoto said the agency would not relent in its effort to reduce the circulation of illicit drugs in the society.

"The impact of this constant awareness programme is reduction in abuse of drug. It is not based on number of seizure, but the pattern determines the success, he said.

Sokoto also revealed that 23 drug users had been counselled, while 7 clients were rehabilitated in six months.

He noted that Ondo state was famously known for the cultivation of cannabis, while the abuse is not prevalent in the state.

Sokoto said sensitisation and enlightenment programmes were carried out in 18 primary and secondary schools with two tertiary institutions of learning.

He said the week-long event with the theme "Just Listen", was to showcase the activities of the command in drug control in the state.
Some of them, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Plateau, Benue, Niger, and Taraba states, said the situation was particularly ``annoying'' because there was no commensurate power supply to match the high bills.

"I hardly get four hours of power supply in three days, but I am always asked to cough out thousands of naira at the end of the month,'' Mrs Mary Pam, a widow, who lives in Hwolshe, in Jos metropolis, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

"I live in a one-bedroom apartment; I have just one television set and a fridge.

"I use energy saving bulbs in my house, yet I am charged between N4000 to 5000 every month, even with the epileptic power supply, she lamented.

She said that she had very often visited JEDC's Rwang Pam office without luck.

"I have asked them to give me a prepaid meter so that I will pay for only what I consume, but the story is always the same, she said.

Philemon Achi, a banker, who resides in Jenta-Adamu area of Jos, has a similar complaint:

"The issue of outrageous bills I get every month is saddening; clearly, I know that I dont consume one tenth of the electricity I am charged for,'' he told NAN in Jos.

He called on the management of JEDC to work out a strategy where those without meters would be moderately charged so as not to create doubt over the integrity of the power distribution firm.

Mr Eze Chuka, a resident of Bukuru Lowcost housing, said that the act of estimated billing was a ``very wicked one''.

"Consumers, who are without meters are made to pay for what they do not consume.

"The act of estimated billing is wicked; you pay far more than the electricity supplied to your line.

"I live in a five-bedroom flat. Before I received my prepaid meter, I was charged between N9,000 and N12,000 monthly.

"In the months that we experienced epileptic power supply, I was charged either N8,000 or N9,000.

"But since I obtained my prepaid meter, the highest I have vended is N5,000, which takes me through two months even when I still use all the appliances I was using when my bill was being estimated, he said.

He, therefore, called on the JEDC management to work out a reasonable way of charging people who do not have meters.

The situation was found to be the same in Minna, with consumers accusing the electricity supply companies of massive exploitation.

Mrs Simi Adams, a hairdresser, who operates close to the Federal Government College, Minna, said that her shop had no meter and that she was usually charged between N 10,000 and N 15,000 monthly.

"The electricity distribution company is very unfair in its billing system.

"Because I run a saloon, they assume that I consume a lot of power.

"I just wish they could give me a prepaid meter so that I will pay for only what I consume, she said.

She expressed dismay that the massive charges have had an adverse effect on her business.

"Because of the bills, I hardly make much profit because most of what I get goes to the payment of utility bills.''

Mr Solomon Dingo, a welder in Central Jalingo, who spoke with NAN, also had similar tales of suffering and exploitation.

"Due to the outrageous bills, I disconnected my shop from the electricity company supplying power to me.

"Currently, I depend on a power generating set for my business and so I pay far less.

"When I was connected to the Electricity Distribution Company, I hardly made any meaningful profit.

"Most of my gain went to the payment of light bills; but since I got disconnected, it has been better for me.

"I just buy the diesel that powers my generator and I still make profit, he said.

He called on the company to provide prepaid meters to its consumers, pointing out that it was the only way the consumer could get a fair deal.

Electricity consumers in Makurdi, Benue State, who spoke with NAN correspondent, decried the high tariff charges by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC).

Most of the respondents, who described the charges as ``very exploitative'', blamed the situation on the lack of meters, whether prepaid or analogue.

A landlady at Wurukum area of the state capital, Mrs Veronica Afia, berated JEDC for its inability to make meters available to consumers, alleging that it had taken advantage of the situation to charges electricity consumers arbitrarily.

"I feel that denying the consumers prepaid meters is a deliberate attempt to enrich the company and impoverish electricity consumers,'' she said.

Also speaking to NAN, Mr Justin Kwaghshi, who runs a shopping mall at North-South Bank area of Makurdi, saqid he was frustrated by the outrageous electricity bills he received every month.

"I have always refused to pay because I am wise enough not to allow anybody or group to defraud me under any guise,'' he said.

He said that the company had disconnected electricity in the complex "for about four months now''.

"But I am not bothered because I now make good use of my power generator.

"I feel I am better off without the public light because the charges were more than what I now spend on diesel.

"The least amount I was charged was N20,000, which was in the month of February; the rest were between N25,000 to N38,000,'' he said.

Mr Shadrach Nwonkwo, an electric welder around Benue University area, corroborated Kwaghshi, and stated that the charges were "abnormal and unreasonable''.

"The charges are always very high even in months that I hardly see light, much less use it.

"So, I decided to allow them to disconnect electricity from in my shop and I am now using diesel to power my generator which is relatively cheaper compared to the outrageous charges,'' he said.

He lamented that he was not breaking even when he relied on electricity from JEDC.

"I was not breaking even and had to contend with massive losses; but the situation is better by far now that I depend on my generating set and can control time of usage and how much to spend,'' he said.

A barber in Kanshio, a suburb of Makurdi, Mr James Ullam, also lamented that he closed his shop because of the steady blackout in the area which had spanned three months now.

"I cannot make any profit if I am to use a generating set because the cost of fuel is very high and will gulp the little money that I may realise.
Alhaji Musa Jidawa, the Secretary of the state Committee on Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons, said in Damaturu in the course of distributing the food items that the gesture was to meet the food needs of the IDPs.

Others items distributed to IDPs in the three camps located in Kukareta, Kassaisa, and Mohammed Gombe farm are: 27 bags of sugar and 650 cartons of sphaghetti.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government recently constituted a committee under the chairmanship of the deputy governor of the state, Abubakar Aliyu, to resettle the IDPs.

NAN reports that some of the IDPs have relocated to their communities of origin, while some others from Borno are still living in the camps.

Jidawa said government would continue to support the internally displaced persons notwithstanding where they came from.

He cautioned the IDPs against selling both the food and non-food items provided for them.

Malam Abubakar Goni, one of the internally displaced persons from Ngamdu in Borno, commended the state government for assisting IDPs with the food especially during the Ramadan fast.

"We feel at home by the generosity of the Yobe government for providing this assistance in spite of the fact that most of us are from Borno state," he said.
The Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP had on Monday, June 20, conducted its Edo State governorship primary election, which produced Osagie Ize-Iyamu as the party's flag bearer.

But Sheriff, who has insisted that he is still the legitimate Chairman of the party, declared the primary election conducted by Makarfi illegal.

He had on Thursday, June 23, set up another committee to conduct primaries for three PDP governorship candidates in Edo State.

Speaking to reporters in Benin on Saturday, June 25, a lawmaker representing Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency in Edo State, Honourable Ehiozuwa Johnson-Agbonayinma, said he has purchased the nomination form for an election to be organised by the Sherrifs faction.

Agbonayinma said that Sheriff noted that the only legally recognised PDP in Nigeria is the one headed by Sheriff.

The ongoing crisis in the party stemmed from the removal of Sheriff as the Chairman at a convention held in Port Harcourt, River State.
The group said that the freezing of Fayose's account was lawful "under section 308 of the 1999 constitution and international law particularly the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party."

The freezing of the account is a preventive measure targeting the rem, which is necessary for the conduct of an effective investigation of allegations of corruption involving former National Security Adviser Sambo Dazuki, it said.

In a statement issued on Sunday, June 26, by the SERAP executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the group said the freezing of accounts of sitting governors and other high-ranking public officials accused of corruption is essential for the flow of investigation which is allowed under section 308. The investigation is pointless without the freezing of the account.

The statement reads in part: Specifically, article 30 of the UN Convention against Corruption entrenches a functional notion of immunity; that is, it attaches to the office and not the office holder. Under article 30, states are required to ensure that immunity of public officials is not used as a ploy to frustrate prosecution of cases involving other persons such as Dazuki, accused of corruption. SERAP believes without the freezing of the accounts of Fayose by the EFCC, the investigation and adjudication of corruption allegations involving the former National Security Adviser may be undermined, which will directly violate article 30 requirements.

Similarly, article 31 of the convention covers the what and not the who. It allows states to take measures to identify, trace, restrain, seize or freeze property that might be the object of an eventual confiscation order. One such measure provided for under the provision is to ensure that anticorruption bodies such as the EFCC can adopt provisional measures including freezing of assets involved in suspicious transaction reports, at the very outset of an investigation.

According to the UN Technical Guide on the interpretation of the convention, to be effective, restraint, seizure or freezing measures by anticorruption agencies should be taken ex parte and without prior notice. Where judicial authorization is required, the procedure should be fashioned in such a manner as not to delay the authorization and frustrate the procedure.

The Guide also provides that under an administrative freezing system, the agency receiving the suspicious report is empowered to decide upon a provisional freezing, and its decision is subject to judicial confirmation. In automatic freezing, the gatekeeper is obligated to freeze the assets involved in the transaction at the time of reporting, without tipping off its client, and for a short period of time within which a competent authority must decide whether to keep the assets frozen or not. In both cases, the decision is moved forward in order to increase efficiency and allow for timely freezing.

The objective of this in rem procedure of freezing is a temporary immobilization of any account pending investigation into allegations of corruption cases. Freezing of accounts only covers the rem and is different from confiscation which is linked to the conviction of a defendant that could only be adopted in personam.

Immunity shouldnt be available to bar effective investigation of corruption cases including freezing of accounts because such cases are entirely unrelated to the legitimate exercise of constitutional powers by public officials covered under section 308. Immunity doesnt mean impunity and a licence for serving high-ranking public officials including governors to imply that they are untouchable in cases of allegations of corruption against them.

In several cases, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has made it clear that immunity under section 308 is not absolute and does not bar investigation of serving high-ranking public officials such as Governor Fayose, including relating to allegations of corruption. International and regional courts have also circumscribed the application of immunity in corruption matters.

The group further noted that apart from the UN Convention against Corruption, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption which Nigeria has ratified also includes mandatory provisions requiring states to restrict the scope of application of immunity for public officials in corruption matters.
Two men attacked a convoy of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on a highway near the Pampore town, 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the state capital Srinagar. The militants were killed by CRPF officials who were guarding the highway, police spokesman Bhavesh Kumar Choudhary said.

Dr. Abdullah Gaznavi, a spokesman for LeT, told Reuters by phone that the attack was carried out by members of the group's suicide squad. Gaznavi claimed 13 CRPF police officials were killed in the fighting that lasted for an hour.

Violence in Kashmir has spiked against a backdrop of rising social tension and separatist sentiment in the Muslim-majority region, which for decades has been at the centre of a strategic tussle between India and Pakistan.

In May, militants shot dead three Indian policemen at point-blank range. In February, militants attacked a bus carrying police reservists near Srinagar, before breaking into a training institute.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels in the portion it controls and sending them to the Indian side, a claim its neighbour denies.

Mehbooba Mufti, state chief minister, condemned Saturday's attack.
Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iranian-allied Houthis from overthrowing the government.

Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.

In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports.

Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a message to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war.

"I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he wrote.

The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized.
In recent months insurgents claiming allegiance to Islamic State had largely appeared to be bottled up in a mountainous area along the border with Pakistan under threat of U.S. air strikes.

At least a dozen Afghan security forces and civilians had been killed, with another 18 wounded, Nangarhar province governor Saleem Khan Kunduzi said in a statement.

Local officials claimed more than 100 Islamic State fighters had been killed in fighting in Nangarhar over the past three days, although exact figures varied and could not be independently verified.

"There is no doubt that Daesh do not respect anyone," Kunduzi said, using a common term for Islamic State.

"They kill people, regardless of whether they're a child or a woman. They burn down madrasas, mosques and schools."

As many as 25 homes had been burned down in Kowt district, and five civilians were reported kidnapped, Nangarhar officials said.

Hundreds of police and soldiers are engaged in the area with reinforcements on the way, provincial police chief Zarawar Zahid said.

At a small event on Sunday in Kabul, the head of Afghanistan's civil society federation, Sediq Ansari, blamed local leaders for being negligent in the face of Islamic State threats and called on them to be suspended.

"They should be accountable for every drop of blood that has been shed in Nangarhar so it becomes a lesson to other officials," he told gathered reporters.

Militants linked to Islamic State have not made as much progress in Afghanistan as in Syria and Iraq, where the group seized major cities and wide swaths of territory and attracted thousands of recruits.

In Afghanistan, the group is thought to consist mostly of disaffected members of other insurgent movements, including the Taliban, who have often battled Islamic State for control of areas in Nangarhar.

In January, U.S. President Barack Obama gave U.S. forces in Afghanistan more freedom to attack Islamic State targets, leading to a spike in air strikes and other operations, especially in Nangarhar.
That underlying dispute, as well as differences over Yerevan's support of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, have led to fraught relations that include closed borders and a lack of diplomatic ties.

"May God bless your future and grant that the people of Armenia and Turkey take up again the path of reconciliation, and may peace also spring forth in Nagorno-Karabakh," he said at the outdoor prayer service in a Yerevan square.

A nation's collective memory has been a key theme of the trip. At the prayer service on Saturday night, he said "memory, infused with love" could make "designs of hatred become projects of reconciliation".

On Saturday morning, a sombre Francis paid tribute to massacred Armenians during a visit to Tzitzernakaberd, the official genocide memorial and museum, whose centrepiece is a towering granite needle on a hillside overlooking the Armenian capital.

"Here I pray, with pain in my heart, so that never again will there be tragedies like this, so that humanity does not forget and knows how to overcome evil with good," he wrote in the guest book in Italian.

On Friday night in a speech to the president, the government and diplomats, Francis departed from his prepared text to use the word "genocide", a description that infuriated Turkey when he first used it a year ago.

Turkey waited more than 24 hours to react, indicating it did not want the incident to blow up into a new diplomatic dispute. Last year Ankara recalled its ambassador to the Vatican and kept him away for 10 months.

"Of course the pope's statement is very unfortunate," deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli told reporters. "It is unfortunately possible to see all the reflections and traces of Crusader mentality in the actions of papacy and the pope."

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide. It also says many Muslim Turks perished at that time.
Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind
Two Quad-City area men are facing federal drug charges alleging they have been trafficking crystal methamphetamine in the Quad-City region since January 2015 until their arrest in May.

John Allen Abbot, 49, also known as Tree Man, and Max Bradley Herman, 48, are charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of actual methamphetamine, and 500 grams or more of mixtures containing methamphetamine.

According to the criminal complaint filed by agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, on March 2, while in Clinton, a confidential source was used to pay Abbott $300 for past and future acquisitions of methamphetamine from Abbott.

On April 19, agents questioned the confidential source who was able to identify Abbot and Herman from a set of photographs, according to the criminal complaint.

On May 23, Drug Enforcement agents met with the confidential source in Grand Junction, Colorado. The confidential source had been driving a Hyundai Santa Fe and had acquired more than one kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of crystal methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint.

On May 25, drug agents made two fictitious packages to look like the packages of methamphetamine that had been seized in Colorado. Those packages contained only about 16 grams of real methamphetamine that had been seized in Colorado, according to the criminal complaint.

The packages were placed back into the Hyundai, which was the parked in the parking lot of a store in Clinton. The confidential source sent a message to Herman to come get the vehicle. Abbott and two other people showed up and Abbott was arrested.

Agents then served a search warrant at Hermans home in Clinton where they seized 29.6 grams of methamphetamine.

It was learned in the investigation that Herman, Abbott and two other people have traveled together to purchase crystal methamphetamine. The pair sometimes used other people to transport the methamphetamine back to Iowa or to mail it to them through the U.S. Postal Service, according to the criminal complaint.

Both men are being held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Greater Mississippi Valley affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), will hold a kickoff luncheon on Friday, July 15, at Modern Woodmen Park, 209 S. Gaines St., Davenport, for NAMIWalk, an annual fundraising event to support free education programs for families living with a serious mental health condition. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the program begins at noon.

The free luncheon is for anyone interested in organizing a walk team or learning more about NAMI. Featured speaker will be Heidi Huiskamp Collins of Rock Island, honorary walk chair and Blackhawk Bank & Trust senior vice-president.

To register for the luncheon, visit namiwalks@namigmv.org or 563-322-8870. The luncheon is sponsored by Robert Young Center and UnityPoint HealthTrinity.

The NAMIWalk will be Sept. 24.
DAVENPORT  Albert Joseph Olvera, 65, formerly of Davenport, passed away Feb. 11, 2016. A memorial service will be noon July 8 at Trimble Funeral Home, in Moline.

Albert was born June 30, 1949, in Davenport, the son of Augustine and Mary (Vasquez) Olvera. He married Rose Trevino in 2005. He was a former member of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Davenport.

Albert attended the University of Iowa in the early '70s, where he completed his bachelors degree. While attending there, he was active in encouraging Chicano youth in Davenport to continue their education by promoting college-bound activities. Albert continued his belief in equal opportunity throughout his professional career. He received numerous awards of recognition and accomplishments, including a nationwide acknowledgement on Student Career Experience Program internships. While at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Albert was honored with Outstanding Diversity Contribution through activities to direct events that promote identification of minority veterans, foster employment and career advancement, and to eliminate barriers for equal opportunity to all groups. Albert was a federal employee for most of his professional life, working with the Army Corps of Engineers and retiring from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Albert was dedicated to his profession, was very family oriented, was easy to talk to, and had many friends. He will always be remembered as a loving husband, a wonderful step-father who loved life, dancing, eating Mexican food, and read extensively about Chicano history. He enjoyed talking about his work and he enjoyed sharing his knowledge to help people.

Albert had a passion for the Seattle Seahawks and Iowa Hawkeyes! Go Hawks!!!

He will be missed by all who knew him.

Albert is survived by his wife, Rosa; their children, Miranda, Bobby (Tavusa), Davey; granddaughter, Maryam; his mother, Mary; his son-in-law, Cody McKay; his sister, Donna; his brothers, Augustine (Sue) and Mario (Sharon); brother-in-law, Arnold; sisters-in-law, Gina, Dora and Janie; other family members and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, Augustine in 2005.
Recently, Eric Berger, a University of Nebraska law school administrator and professor, criticized U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley for not holding Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland, for whom professor Berger once worked as a law clerk. Bergers loyalty to his former boss is admirable but his statement that Sen. Grassleys conduct has been anything less than exemplary is not.

Sen. Grassley has declined to hold hearings on Judge Garlands nomination to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom I clerked, and who died in February. There is a long-standing rule and practice in the U.S. Senate that Supreme Court vacancies that happen in a presidential election year do not get filled until a new president and Senate have been elected by the voters. This is called democracy by some and The Biden Rule by others.

In 1992, when Vice President Joe Biden held the same office that Sen. Grassley holds now, Biden announced that no Supreme Court vacancies would be filled in the 1992 election year even though there were then no vacancies on the Court. Biden just wanted to make crystal clear that as everyone has known for decades: Supreme Court vacancies do not get filled in presidential elections years. In fact, even nominations to the second most important federal court after the Supreme Court have been left unfilled for up to 14 months prior to a presidential election. Sen. Grassley is following tradition and practice in refusing to hold hearings during this circus like presidential election brawl. Grassley should be praised not blamed for his conduct in office.

Replacing Justice Scalia, who was a conservative, with Judge Garland, who is a liberal would, in my professional opinion result in:

The elimination of a personal right to own a gun unless you serve in the National Guard.

Extinguish religious liberty to such an extent that the Catholic Church might lose its tax exempt status because of its refusal to allow women to be priests.

Lead to Supreme Court gerrymandering of every U.S. House of Representatives district under the guise that the court was trying to be neutral.

Lead to campaign finance laws under which challengers could never raise any money so incumbent politicians would be safe from serious electoral challenges.

Flood the federal courts with thousands of new cases touching every aspect of American life as judicial standing rules are relaxed.

A catastrophe of this magnitude should only happen if the voters in November willfully chose to elect both a Democratic president and a majority Democratic Senate. Hillary Clinton is well ahead of Donald Trump in the polls, so the only thing that stands between us and disaster is Sen. Charles Grassley and the Republican Senate.

The Framers of our Constitution believed in a system of checks and balances. Sen. Grassley is checking and balancing the Democrats right now, and every American alive should praise him for doing so.
SPRINGFIELD  The interminable budget impasse at the Capitol has crippled public universities, cut off mental health and social services to people in need and even left Illinois unable to pay its water and power bills for prisons and other state facilities.

As the state nears the start of its second fiscal year without a full budget in place, voters looking to assign blame for the gridlock likely are quick to point the finger at Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly. But they may need to look in the mirror.

That's the message of a recent report from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. Reviewing data from public opinion polls taken since 2008, the report, titled "The Climate of Opinion in Illinois 2008-2016: The Roots of Gridlock," concludes:

"Our data support the argument that the voters themselves bear significant responsibility for the current debt crisis and gridlocked government. Not only did they elect the leaders responsible for this state of affairs, but their steadfast insistence on the untenable high-service/low-tax status quo gave the politicians permission to drive the vehicle of state to the edge of the cliff, where it teeters today on the brink."

John Jackson, a political science professor at the Simon Institute and the report's lead author, said, however, this does not excuse elected leaders from all blame.

"The leadership class bears major responsibility for misleading the voters, particularly at campaign time," he said.

This was especially true during the gubernatorial and legislative elections in 2014, when the temporary state income tax increase instituted in 2011 was a key issue, Jackson said.

Lawmakers who voted in favor of raising the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent and supported postponing the rollback that began in January 2015 failed to make a strong case, he said, and opponents  most notably then-candidate Rauner  weren't honest with voters about the help the additional revenue provided in catching up on the state's backlog of unpaid bills or what its loss would mean for the state budget.

When Rauner took office, the personal income tax rate was allowed to roll back from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, blowing a $5 billion hole in the budget.

At the heart of the problem, according to the report, is voters' "adamant insistence, in effect, of having our cake and eating it too."

The institute's polling shows that the largest share of voters  57 percent in 2009 and 47 percent in 2016  think the best way to balance the budget is by cuts alone. But there isn't a major area of state spending that a majority of voters would support cutting. The largest share, 49 percent, supported cuts to spending on state employee pensions in the 2016 poll.

The report says this apparent contradiction results from the "bedrock belief that waste and fraud are widespread and consume major proportions of the total state budget."

"As long as a majority, or near-majority, think the solution is easy and generally painless and that it only requires sacrifice from someone else, then it is going to be very difficult to have a rational public dialogue about the realities of budgeting in this state," it states.

Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, said this, too, comes from politicians' lack of candor with the people they represent.

"It is a failure on the part of legislators, governors, legislative leaders to really educate the public and be honest with the public," Redfield said.

Despite the general lack of appetite for raising revenue through new or expanded taxes, there are some proposals that a majority of voters would support, according to the Simon Institute's polling.

In this year's poll, 54 percent said they would support taxing retirement income of more than $50,000, 66 percent supported a tax system that would charge higher rates for people with higher incomes, and 75 percent supported an additional tax on income of more than $1 million.

The latter two ideas would require amending the Illinois Constitution, and efforts to put the proposals to voters in November failed to win legislative approval this spring.

After reviewing the data, Jackson said one silver lining is the small increase in the share of voters who favor some combination of spending cuts and revenue increases to balance the budget. That group was up to 33 percent this year from 27 percent in 2009.

Rauner has said he favors this strategy, coupled with approval for portions of his pro-business, union-weakening "turnaround agenda," but he has yet to publicly endorse any concrete proposal on taxes.

"I won't negotiate new revenues without major reforms to protect our taxpayers and grow our economy," the governor said this month at the annual meeting of the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois.
NATION

Columnist Will says he will leave GOP

Conservative columnist George Will has parted ways with the Republican Party, changing his voter registration to "unaffiliated" because of the GOP's support of Donald Trump.

Will tells The Washington Post that he made the change several weeks ago. The news site PJ Media reports that Will discussed his decision during an event Friday for the conservative group the Federalist Society.

Will isn't saying whom he will support for president. He has been criticizing the billionaire businessman for months in his column for the Post and, in doing so, has drawn Trump's scorn.

Recently, Will wrote a column in which he urged Republican donors to "save their party by not aiding its nominee."

Six stabbed during protest in California

Six people who were stabbed outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento on Sunday during a protest.

Sacramento Fire Department official Harvey said a rally by KKK and other right-wing extremists groups turned violent Sunday when they were met by counterprotesters. He said a large fight broke out after people carrying sticks rushed into the area where the rally was being held.

Forgotten vets finally get a funeral

Fort Logan National Cemetery honored 30 veterans whose remains have gone unclaimed with a funeral ceremony Saturday in Denver.

The Unclaimed Veterans Remains Ceremony is part of the nationwide Missing In America Project.

Cemetery staff assistant O'Neal Hughes says the veterans' cremated remains were left at funeral homes, sometimes for decades, and others had no next of kin.

During the ceremony, the names were read aloud, including their rank, branch and war in which they served. A bell was rung to honor each veteran.

WORLD

Pope: Gays deserve an apology

Pope Francis says gays  and all the other people the church has marginalized, such as the poor and the exploited  deserve an apology.

Francis was asked Sunday en route home from Armenia if he agreed with one of his top advisers, German Cardinal Karl Marx, who told a conference in Dublin in the days after the deadly Orlando gay club attack that the church owes an apology to gays for having marginalized them.

Francis responded with a variation of his famous "Who am I to judge?" comment and a repetition of church teaching that gays must not be discriminated against but treated with respect.

Somali minister dies in hotel attack

A Somali Cabinet minister is among the 15 killed in an Islamic extremist attack on a hotel in the capital, police say.

Four attackers also died in the assault which was claimed by al-Shabab, Somalia's militant rebels who are allied to al-Qaida.

State Minister for the Environment, Buri Hamza, was among those killed, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior Somali police officer. Hamza died when his hotel room collapsed Saturday because of the powerful car bomb which extremists used to blast their way into the Nasa-Hablod Hotel.
Could it be any more appropriate than for a new mattress store to have a soft opening?

This isnt as much the coming of a new store in Rapid City, but rather an existing business boosting its available floor space in a building it already owns.

Denver Mattress has remodeled and reopened its original location at 240 Knollwood Dr. as an outlet store, a companion to the current Denver Mattress-Furniture Row Shopping Center on Eglin Street just west of Rushmore Crossing.

The outlet store will stock Denver Mattresss beds along with their other national brands, Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Serta, Simmons, Simmons Black, and Green Choice, Denver Mattresss line of organic beds.

We thought it would make sense to better serve our customers, said store manager Christine Clark. If we have more product in stock, we could have two locations.

Even though its not that far from our other store, it is more convenient for some people to come here, she said.

Denver Mattress has been in Rapid City since 2001. The Knollwood Drive location has been home to a local home improvement business since the Furniture Row Shopping Center opened a few years ago, but has been vacant in recent months.

Clark said remodeling is still underway even after the outlet store quietly opened the doors more than a week ago. A full grand opening is planned in the coming month, she said. Call 605-341-8502 for more information.

At Home to open at Rushmore Mall

At Home, a Plano, Texas-based home decor superstore, will open the doors of its first Rapid City location on Thursday at the Rushmore Mall at 2200 N. Maple Ave., in the former Target wing on the north side of the mall.

Grand opening activities will start with a ribbon-cutting at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 8, and continue with in-store giveaways for customers on Saturday, July 9.

With the opening of the Rapid City store, At Home will have more than 100 stores in 28 states, offering seasonal and holiday decor, patio and home furnishing, wall art and decorative accents, rugs and housewares.

The 101,000 square-foot store, most recently serving as a temporary location for J.C. Penney during its recent remodel on the west end of the mall, will provide about 25 full- and part-time jobs, according to a news release.

Tracking the elusive Caribou

Reports are circulating that Caribou Coffee, the Minneapolis-based coffeehouse with more than 270 company-owned stores and 130 licensed kiosks in the U.S., could be expanding its Rapid City presence with a new shop on Mount Rushmore Road.

City spokesman Darrell Shoemaker has confirmed that Caribou has applied for a building permit for 902 Mount Rushmore Road, the former Thimble Cottage site, but no permit has been issued or approved for that property other than a permit for the original buildings demolition, completed last month.

Shoemaker said Caribou initially applied in March, then reapplied a couple of weeks ago. Such delays are typical in the application process, he said.

Caribou did not respond to inquiries seeking comment.
Two pieces of correspondence from a state historian and Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum are now on display at the South Dakota State Historical Society-Archives at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.

The correspondence, sent in August 1924 between state historian Doane Robinson and Borglum, shows first contact between the man who had the idea to carve major sculptures in the Black Hills and their eventual sculptor. There is no charge to see the letters, which are on display 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CDT Monday to Friday and the first Saturday of the month through the end of July.

Robinson believed in the importance of bringing tourist traffic through South Dakota, with the sculptures highlighting the state's history. Early proposals included Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea and Red Cloud.

"I know there was another gentleman Robinson reached out to beforehand whose name escapes me," said Matthew T. Reitzel, manuscript archivist. "He was injured or ill, and Robinson either never got a response or else got a message that he wasn't able to do it."

Soon after, Robinson sent a letter to Borglum on Aug. 20, 1924:

Dear Mr. Borglum: In the vicinity of Harney Peak, in the Black Hills of South Dakota are opportunities for heroic sculpture of unusual character. Would it be possible for you to design and supervise a massive sculpture there. The proposal has not passed beyond the mere suggestion, but if it be possible for you to undertake the matter I feel quite sure we could arrange to finance such an enterprise. I shall be glad to hear from you at your convenience. Faithfully, Doane Robinson

Borglums telegram reply came on Aug. 28, 1924:

Doane Robinson, Department of History, Pierre. Your letter forwarded to me from Stone Mountain (Georgia). Very much interested in your proposal. Great scheme you have; hold to it; the north will welcome it. Am two years ahead in my southern work can get to Black Hills during September. Gutzon Borglum

Borglum traveled to South Dakota in September 1924, touring Custer State Park and climbing Harney Peak. He soon began talking of the possibility of a grand monument with carvings of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Borglum's visit and enthusiasm encouraged Robinson and brought publicity to the notion of a carved monument project in South Dakota, with attention going beyond the state and throughout the nation.

Reitzel said that the archives had 30 years of correspondence from Robinson, though he did not know whether there were more Borglum telegrams or letters. He added that there has been interest in displaying the correspondence for some time.

"It's always been one of those collections that we know we have that piqued interest," Reitzel said. "With the 75th anniversary of the completion of Mount Rushmore, it's a good time to have them out."

Part of the Doane Robinson collection and all of his correspondence concerning Mount Rushmore, as well as other publications and photographs concerning the National Monument, are available online at history.sd.gov.

A sampling of books from the State Archives library will also be on display alongside the correspondence. Since the completion of Mount Rushmore 75 years ago numerous books have been researched and written to commemorate the historic project. These books about Borglum and Mount Rushmore are available in the research room during open hours.
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. | Last month, 432nd Attack Squadron achieved another remotely piloted aircraft first by participating in Virtual Flag, the Air Force's largest virtual warfighting exercise, using an MQ-9 Reaper flight simulator, May 13 to 19.

The 432nd ATKS  an Air Combat Command tenant unit located at Ellsworth  has been flying combat air patrols since the squadron was formed in 2012.

In previous exercises, MQ-9 crews had to travel to Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, where the exercise is hosted and use a generic computer to participate. But through a ground-up effort, the 432nd Attack Squadron was able to build and test a new capability to join these exercises from home station using a realistic MQ-9 cockpit.

"For 15 years, the MQ-1 and MQ-9 units in the Air Force have not been able to fully participate in one of the main training venues of the Air Force and the other services. Today we've solved that problem," explained Lt. Col. Matt Martin, who initiated the project. "Every other weapons system in the Air Force has had this ability for years, and they use it to conduct complex, joint training at a fraction of the cost of live flights. But, because the MQ-1/9 enterprise has been flying non-stop combat missions since 9/11, we're only just now catching up."

Called Distributed Mission Operations, this new capability gives the 432nd ATKS the ability to connect its flight simulator to potentially hundreds of other simulators via a global network. The participants can then conduct combat training that simulates highly complex missions and prepare for future wars.

According to Lt. Col. David Henshaw, 432nd Operations Group deputy commander at Creech AFB, Nevada (the parent unit of the squadron), the achievement is the product of local hard work.

"This is a great example of innovation at the unit level to solve urgent problems when we have limited budgets and constrained resources," Henshaw said. "With the help of the 28th Bomb Wing, and some ground-breaking work being done by an (U.S.) Army lab in Huntsville, Alabama, called the Joint Simulation Integration Laboratory, the 432nd was able to achieve this using existing resources. We hope to spread this capability to the rest of the MQ-1/9 fleet."

The flight simulator provides the squadron with the ability to take part in complex, realistic exercises where they are able to work with live forward air controllers, aircrews from other aircraft, and different command centers, added Capt. Andrew, an MQ-9 pilot who participated in the exercise"

"We can connect all our simulators and get great training," said Andrew. "It's a game-changer for us."

"One of our missions in the 28th Communications Squadron is to support the 432nd so they can conduct 24/7 combat operations," said Staff Sgt. Kelby Rossmiller, the 28th CS's lead communications technician on the project. "But they've always had a real challenge getting the training they needed. So when we found out we could help close that gap, we were eager to put in the extra hours and make it happen."

As stated on the Kirtland AFB website, the Virtual Flag exercises are currently the only exercise to train full spectrum Theatre Air Control System warfighters from start to finish, and warfighter focused events.

Now, with innovative efforts from Airmen at multiple levels, 432nd ATKS aircrews are able to participate in this training.
Fire crews on the ground and in the air Saturday battled a lightning fire near Sundance, a shed and forest fire at Hayward and a burning semi-truck pulling a fuel tanker near Custer.

The 12,000-acre Kara Creek Fire in Wyoming destroyed a home, at least a dozen outbuildings, like maintenance shops, and threatened 740 structures in the area east of Keyhole Reservoir between Pine Haven and Sundance. No injuries were reported.

Heavy drifting smoke and other safety issues forced the Wyoming Highway Patrol to temporarily close Interstate 90 travel between Moorcroft and Sundance shortly after 7 p.m.

Fire commander Dick Terry said safety needs of crews also forced continuing the evacuation order for the area east of the reservoir to Pine Ridge Road, Old Sundance Road to I-90, H-Kay Road, Inyan Kara Creek Road, Windmill Lane, Arrowhead Drive, Tom Cat Lane, Tomcat Creek Road and Nefsy Road.

Fire commanders are using a variety of water-carrying helicopters, a heavy air tanker, four single-engine air tankers, multiple fire engines, the Entiat Hotshots and two hand-crews.

A community meeting to review the firefighting efforts will be held today at 4 p.m. at the Crook County Courthouse at 309 Cleveland St. in Sundance.

Several area fire crews battled a shed and forest fire at Hayward near Rushmore Cave shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The fire destroyed the shed and burned a little over 3 acres. Pennington County Fire Administrator Denny Gorton said the owner family was not home at the time. A state fire investigator was assigned to determine if the fire started in the structure or in the nearby trees.

The fire in the truck hauling 11,000 gallons of gasoline through Hell Canyon near Jewel Cave National Monument scorched the outside of the tanker but did not spread to the flammable fuel or to nearby trees. The driver was not injured. The incident caused extensive traffic delays between Newcastle and Custer.

Fire danger throughout the Black Hills remains very high and is high to extreme in the surrounding prairies.
There is a place between Hot Springs and Edgemont that might be attracting tourists off the highway this summer if things had gone differently decades ago.

A visitor center was once envisioned there, maybe in the shape of a pineapple or beehive, to resemble the dozens or possibly even hundreds of dinosaur-age plant fossils that were once visible at the site.

But the place was spoiled by fossil collectors who exploited it and federal bureaucrats who neglected it.

Today, there is no visitor center, and the above-ground fossils are all gone. Nobody stops or even looks twice as they pass by on U.S. Highway 18, oblivious to the nondescript patch of land that was formerly the Fossil Cycad National Monument.

In this 100th anniversary year of the National Park Service, the story of the monuments birth and death includes an important lesson for anyone who cares about the 411 areas  monuments, parks, battlefields and historic sites among them  that are under the Park Services care.

For Sally Shelton, associate director of the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, the lesson is obvious.

If you want to manage something as a public resource, you need to make sure that youve got the resources to make that commitment, Shelton said. Just saying its a national park or monument doesnt give it any protection.

120 million years of history

The story of Fossil Cycad National Monument goes back a long, long time  about 120 million years  to an era when dinosaurs roamed a warmer and wetter planet. One of the now-extinct plants of that era was the cycadeoid, with frond-like leaves that protruded from a woody base shaped like a modern pineapple or beehive.

At some point during the Cretaceous Period, hundreds of cycadeoids were buried in a clump on the southwestern edge of the Black Hills, possibly by a flood. Eventually, minerals in the groundwater turned the plant remains into stone fossils, and erosion exposed many of them to view.

As settlers came to the southern Black Hills in the late 1800s, they noticed a fossil forest on the landscape. Dozens or perhaps even hundreds of stone fossils, some as big as several feet high and wide and weighing hundreds of pounds, littered the ground. Some had distinct honeycombing, and locals began to collect and sell the most striking examples of what they called petrified pineapples.

In 1893, a professor from the University of Iowa visited the area, collected 40 to 50 fossils, and published the first scientific paper about the site.

That got the attention of other scientists, including O.C. Marsh, of Yale University, who obtained 126 fossils from a South Dakota collector around 1900. One of Marshs student assistants was George Wieland, who became enthralled with cycadeoids and especially the ones he found in South Dakota.

Wieland went on to devote much of his life and career to the collection and study of cycadeoid fossils, which held many clues about the climate and environment of the Cretaceous Period. In the early 1900s, he published two massive volumes titled American Fossil Cycads.

In 1920, fearing that the fossils between Edgemont and Hot Springs would all end up in unworthy hands, Wieland applied to obtain ownership of the 320-acre site under the terms of the Homestead Act. Two years later, he offered to relinquish the claim if the federal government made the site a national monument.

On Oct. 21, 1922, then-President Warren Harding issued a proclamation establishing Fossil Cycad National Monument. The proclamation noted the great scientific interest and value of the site, which by that time was believed to contain one of the worlds greatest concentrations of cycadeoid fossils.

The presidential proclamation did nothing to protect the few above-ground fossils at the site that had not already been carted away. Supervision of the monument was assigned to the superintendent of nearby Wind Cave National Park, but he rarely visited the monument and entrusted its daily surveillance to local ranchers.

Site's proponent was also culprit

In an ironic twist, the man who was principally responsible for the establishment of Fossil Cycad National Monument  George Wieland  turned out to be a main culprit in the mass fossil removal that led to the monument's demise.

Wieland apparently took more than 1,000 fossils from the site for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, which today touts its collection of cycadeoid fossils as the world's largest.

By 1929, a visiting National Park Service employee found that all the above-ground fossils at the monument were gone, and there was little to justify the sites continued status as a national monument. The site had been so completely exploited that by 1933, when the office of the National Park Service director sought a fossil specimen from the monument to exhibit at The Chicago Worlds Fair, none could be found and a specimen had to be loaned from a private collector in Nebraska.

Wieland, perhaps seeking to justify the monuments continued existence, conducted an excavation there with the help of a Civilian Conservation Corps crew in 1935. More than a tons worth of fossils were dug up and initially stored at Wind Cave National Park before being sent to Yale.

Wieland attempted to parlay the successful dig into the development of a visitor center to house a cycadeoid collection on the site. He enlisted Yale architectural students to draw conceptual designs and sent the designs to the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service.

Nobody in the federal bureaucracy shared Wielands enthusiasm for the site, and no support could be found for the expenditure of federal funds during the Great Depression to build a visitor center on a barren patch of ground in a remote corner of South Dakota. The slim chance of the site ever being developed was further hindered by a quarrel that erupted between Wieland and a National Park Service official.

That official was Carrol Wegemann, the services acting chief geologist. Wegemann accused Wieland of stealing the fossils collected during the 1935 excavation and noted Wielands removal of numerous other surface fossils before he donated the land to the government.

The monument continued to exist in undeveloped limbo through Wieland's death in 1953. Four years later, Fossil Cycad National Monument was abolished by an act of Congress and the land was turned over to the Bureau of Land Management.

Legacy of lost opportunity

The defunct monument faded deeper into obscurity with every passing year until the 1980s. Early in that decade, a highway construction project within the former monument boundaries unearthed more fossilized cycadeoids, which were sent to the School of Mines museum in Rapid City. Then, in 1985, a young seasonal ranger named Vincent Santucci at South Dakotas Badlands National Park developed what would turn out to be an abiding interest in the monuments history. He began excavating documents about the monument from archives around the country and has never stopped.

Hes now the senior paleontologist for the National Park Service and has thousands of documents pertaining to Fossil Cycad National Monument.

I just think its a fascinating story that just seemed to be lost to history, he said in a Journal interview. The more records that I found, the more interesting the story became, and it kind of became a lifelong project.

Santucci has written scholarly articles on the history of the monument (which provided most of the historical material for this news story). He is also developing a traveling exhibit that will feature the monument and is writing a book that will include the monuments story as part of a broader examination of fossil resources at National Park Service sites.

He hopes the story of the abolished monument will help illuminate and prevent fossil theft, a common problem at the 262 National Park Service areas where fossils are found.

The story of Fossil Cycad is a really good example of the threat that could impact our nonrenewable fossil resources, Santucci said, even in the case of a national monument, when people assume its being protected.

Had the cycadeoid fossils in the southern Black Hills been appropriately protected, there might be a visitor center there today with fossils on display and even a walking path for visitors to view fossils in their natural outdoor environment, like the experience offered at Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. That kind of attraction might have provided an economic boost to Edgemont, about 10 miles to the southwest of the monument site, and Hot Springs, about 15 miles to the east.

Instead, the fossils can only be viewed in private collections and at museums, including those at Yale, the University of Iowa, and at the School of Mines where there are even some large cycadeoid fossils in the landscaping around the campus.

Its fun to see fossils in a museum, but to me its really exciting to see them in their natural setting, Santucci said. We lost that opportunity at Fossil Cycad.
SPEARFISH | One week before Americans celebrate the nations 240th birthday, a homeowners' association near this Northern Hills community is in a tiff with one of its members and an adjacent landowner over a campaign sign and 20-foot flagpole flying the Stars and Stripes and a POW flag.

The Aspen Hills Homeowners' Association says its a matter of being a good neighbor. The man responsible for erecting the lighted flagpole and the Trump for president sign claims its all about patriotism and the right to free speech.

Aspen Hills resident Alan Gross originally asked homeowners' association President Harvey Fayer for permission to place an American flag at the entrance to the development.

I am very patriotic, said Gross, who bought his first farm when he was 17. Even with all the things that are wrong with our country, I still love it. Its still the best place to live in the world. I think of all those who died for our country, who shed blood for our country, and the American flag represents how I feel about our nation.

Gross, 56, on Friday said he was dismayed and disappointed by the response to his request.

I assumed it would be an easy, great conversation, but the answer I got was, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, Alan, you cant do this. What if someone would be offended by the flag and sue us?'

My reaction was, Are you serious? Would someone really be offended by flying the American flag? " Gross added with a sigh. Someone in the association said, `Why do we need a flagpole? This isnt a school or a courthouse. At that point I saw I was going to have to take a different route.

So he did.

Gross contacted his friend Jason Ward, whose family owns private land directly across the road from the entrance to Aspen Hills, a private development of about a dozen homes and several dozen undeveloped lots four miles from Spearfish on Tinton Road. Ward enthusiastically endorsed the plan, gave permission to use the property, and asked if they could add a Trump campaign sign to the equation, Gross said.

On Memorial Day, Gross completed installation of the 20-foot-tall lighted pole with a 4-by-6-foot American flag. Nearby sits a 3-by-10-foot Trump campaign sign encouraging voters to Make America Great Again!

When Gross posted photos of the flag fluttering in the wind on Facebook, he said the response was overwhelmingly positive. Someone suggested adding a POW flag, which he did without hesitation. But, not everyone was on board.

In a June 11 letter to Gross from the Aspen Hills Homeowners' Association Board of Directors, President Fayer and the six other members objected to both the flagpole and the campaign sign.

As a board, it is our responsibility to uphold the integrity and appearance of the development, the letter stated. We feel that the placement of the flagpole and campaign sign does not enhance the development and may be interpreted that these items have been agreed upon by the members of the Aspen Hills Homeowners' Association. This is not the case.

The letter noted that, prior to installation, Gross had been asked to bring his request before the association membership at its annual meeting in September. Furthermore, the board said it was disappointed he had disregarded its request and chosen to proceed on his own.

The board has also received a number of complaints from non-board members; both homeowners and visitors to the development, as to the placement of these items and what they potentially represent for the development, the letter stated. As a development, we cannot have individual homeowners/landowners taking matters into their own hands and doing what they want.

On Friday, Fayer said the dispute had nothing to do with the U.S. flag and everything to do with being a good neighbor.

All of the board members are patriots, Fayer said. We love America, and we love the flag.

Fayer said the homeowners' association simply wanted Gross to wait until members could consider his request and express their preference.

All we asked him to do was please wait, and well take a vote, he said. If more people said, 'Go with the flag, fine, well put a flag up. But just to be clear, this has nothing to do with not respecting the flag or wanting a flag. Were all patriotic, but we wanted him to be considerate of the neighborhood, to consider the feelings of the members of the association, and he didnt want to do that and went ahead and put it up anyway.

Its a matter of being a good neighbor.

Gross, whose uncle lost an arm at the Battle of Iwo Jima, has poles flying the American flag at his farm near Onida, on his camper and on a second home in Florida. He said he was so proud of the new flagpole he had worked so hard to install that he was heartbroken when he received the letter from the association.

I was terribly offended, amazed and disappointed they were asking that the flagpole be taken down, he said. I can understand the objection to the Trump sign, but its a matter of free speech and it will go away in November. But when they asked for the flagpole to be removed, they were messing with my patriotism; they were dealing with a whole different Alan Gross.

Gross said the situation grew even more complex and disheartening on Flag Day, when his friend Jason Ward received a letter from the associations board encouraging him to rescind the permission for the flagpole and campaign sign he had granted to Gross.

In his response to the board, Gross noted that he and his wife, Angie, had chosen to live in the Heart of America, in the shadows of Americas Shrine of Democracy, where VA facilities at Fort Meade and Hot Springs cared for our nations veterans, and where thousands who had sacrificed so much had found their final resting place at Black Hills National Cemetery.

The sound of B-1 Bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base can often be heard overhead to remind us the fight for freedom goes on every day, he wrote. Apparently the board is embarrassed by our nations flag and the campaign sign, so they have resorted to bullying tactics in order to get them removed  I hope the signers of these letters are ashamed of themselves for trying their attempt to intimidate, but more so because of their blatant lack of appreciation for the precious freedoms that have been bought for all of us by the blood of patriots.

For his part, Ward said he was surprised to receive the letter from the homeowners' association, but has no plans to remove either item.

I dont know if everyone in the family supports Trump, but I think our family likes him better than the other option, Ward said. The flagpole will stay, I hope, and after the election season the Trump sign will go away.

Ward, a house builder, said he was not surprised that the installation of the flag and the Trump sign had created a stir.

I am in the development business, he said. Nothing surprises me anymore.
PIERRE | Every so often the South Dakota Banking Commission finds itself in muddy waters.

There was the 2010 decision in which the commissioners decided an offshore lender wasnt a bank. The matter involved a large loan to what then was Northern Beef Packers at Aberdeen.

Unknown to the public at the time, the EB-5 programs management was headed into scandal land. We learned a lot about it three years later. We still dont know it all.

This month the commission emerged from a different thicket, allowing First State Bank of Roscoe to open a branch in Eureka.

The commissions 4-0 decision reversed the state banking division.

The divisions regulators thought the expansion should be denied because, based on three sets of lawsuits, character and fitness of management were lacking.

The commissions five members are current or former bankers. They thought otherwise.

Just days later, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Charles Nail found First State Bank of Roscoe and its chief, John R. Beyers, guilty of contempt.

The federal judge awarded two debtors about $160,000 for attorney fees and $50,000 in punitive damages.

He held the bank and Beyers each responsible for $25,000 of the damages.

How could there be two seemingly opposite results?

The commission decided the bank and Beyers put on a stronger case.

Further, the commission found the contempt order involved a single incident which must be weighed against all other evidence involving the entire management team.

The commission specifically noted the state regulators never expressed concern about the rest of the banks management team.

Instead, the team had been rated as satisfactory during examinations since 2007.

Further, an inspection of 100 bank loans over $400,000 found Beyers involved as principal loan officer on 15 percent.

The commission concluded Beyers, who is chairman of the board of directors and the principal shareholder in its holding company, wasnt running a one-man bank.

The commission also decided that events from 2005 through 2007 werent relevant to the question of whether the bank should be allowed to open a branch in Eureka.

And, the commission also noted, the banks management had taken corrective actions in the past.

Then there was the matter of citizens wanting First State Bank of Roscoe to open a branch in Eureka.

The commission said the bank already had nearly 400 accounts in the Eureka area.

The commission declared it entirely appropriate  to recognize the outpouring of public support for the bank to open a Eureka branch and the willingness of a community bank to open a physical main street presence in a small rural community.

One of the commissioners, Richard Westra of Aberdeen, didnt participate. The four commissioners who did are current bankers Steve Hayes of Presho and John Lillibridge of Burke and retired banking executives Jeff Erickson of Sioux Falls and Paul Christen of Huron.

State law provides for two of the five members to be people other than bankers but the law doesnt prohibit all five from being bankers.

Given that the court cases go back a decade, the people of Eureka should know what theyre getting. The commission is going to let them have what they want.
Once again we are forced to state the obvious: Democracy can be a total pain. As we were reminded during the Arab Spring movements, the people's wisdom can result in some really stupid decisions. And we're witnessing it still again with the self-destructive vote by those in the United Kingdom to split off from the European Union.

Right now, everyone is giving his or her "expert" opinion on the meaning of the Brits' election and what happens next. Well, I'm not an expert, so maybe I have a more clear-eyed view of the future's murkiness. In short, we don't have the slightest idea what Brexit means to our economic prospects.

Certainly, we'll have the immediate financial panic, and we are seeing the markets do their swoon dives. What this means long term, however, is based on too many variables, such as what kind of deal jolly old England negotiates over the next couple of years it will take to untie all the tangled knots in its no-longer-jolly relationship with the European Union. The fact is, when all is said and done, the final arrangement might effectively be close to the present setup.

True, the EU was the outgrowth of the massive efforts needed to dig out Europe from the rubble that was left by the catastrophe of World War II. The Marshall Plan and various other economic initiatives provided the structures needed to go from rescue to prosperity and finally a confederation of the continent's nations that was the EU. Britain had started out a reluctant participant. After all, the whole concept of a united Europe quasi-government is inherently flawed. It forces together nations that have centuries' worth of different, even hostile, cultures. Their aspirations, way of life, forms of government, religions and histories are strikingly different. The glue that held them together was a bureaucracy that had grown, as bureaucracies always do, to be stifling. Add to that the refugee problem, which forced the Brits to face their own bigotries and made them realize they weren't as bloody civilized as they pretended to be.

In fact, it's amazing how much they resemble us riffraff colonists, as they like to call us. Here in the U.S., as in the U.K., we have our hooligans. You see them here at political rallies. They are joined by millions of people who are fed up with all these "experts" and self-serving elitists who somehow manage to enrich themselves while the masses they talk down to live in constant financial insecurity.

Those who write off Donald Trump's chances to become president, even with all of his ill-informed, hateful bombast, are deluding themselves, just like they did in England. There was a feeling the status quo would win out, stiff upper lip and all that. Well, it was status clobbered over there, and it could well be here. Hillary Clinton, when all is said and done, presents herself as the common-sense candidate, as opposed to the nutsy sleazebag she depicts Donald Trump to be.

Are the Americans as sick and tired of common sense as the Brits? Let us not forget that success usually leads to failure. On both sides of the Atlantic, the various public and corporate intertwined institutions achieved economic order, often leading to prosperity. But institutions inevitably calcify. They become easy targets for the hustlers who bleed off that prosperity, depleting everyone else. Then they use their wealth to gain more advantage. In the process, they sow the seeds for rebellion.

That's what we've just observed in the United Kingdom, and what we're seeing in the United States, where there is even a festering movement in states like Texas for secession. Perhaps that movement, let's call it "Texit," will grow, unless those in power realize that they're risking everything with their selfishness. That's the lesson of what happened back in the old country: Reform or dissolve.
There's a lot of things wrong with this country and its government, but for them to allow years for auto manufacturers to correct life-taking defects is shameful - shameful! Airbags exploding, hurling shards of metal; brakes that fail and other improperly made or designed parts killing innocent folks, and this shameful, complicit, non-functioning and completely unresponsive, dispassionate, elitist group of selfish millionaires give the automakers a pass for years - years - to fix the problems while insulting the intelligence of the American driver and letting its citizens die behind the wheel or, like recently, standing in front of the vehicle. What have we done? Why aren't we demanding more out of these ... people?
Researchers are back in the Bitterroot tracking elk calves.

After a two-year hiatus, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has teamed Montana State University to see how young elk are faring following changes in predator management in the southern reaches of the Bitterroot.

This spring, the research team radio ear-tagged 81 calves in the east and west forks of the Bitterroot and an adjoining reach in the Big Hole Valley.

Through this summer and fall, the researchers will tune in on the unique radio frequencies each of the ear tags emit to follow the calves through their first year of life.

The tags are designed to emit a mortality signal if the animal stops moving. If that occurs, the research team makes a beeline for that site in hopes of getting there soon enough to determine how the calf died.

This years study follows an intensive three-year elk and predator study that occurred in the same landscape.

That study was driven by a dramatic decline in the elk herd a decade ago, especially in the West Fork of the Bitterroot. Because that population drop coincided with a growing number of wolves in the area, many were quick to point their finger at that predator as the cause.

But the research showed that mountain lions were the top predator on elk calves.

After FWP completed a mountain lion population survey, the state increased lion quotas in the area in an attempt to reduce numbers of that predator. The state also increased hunting opportunities for black bears and wolves.

This current follow-up study hopes to determine if those management changes have made a difference in elk calf survival.

FWPs Ben Jimenez is leading the field effort. He is working closely with a MSU graduate student and two others in tracking the elk calves movements.

Between flying and driving, we hear every animal every day, Jimenez said.

Their plan calls for documenting precise locations on each calf two to four times a month in hopes of gaining better understanding of migration patterns.

As of early last week, 12 of the ear tagged calves have died.

We havent determined all the causes of mortality yet, Jimenez said. Weve sent samples of predator scat and hair to the lab. Were still sorting that out.

Its not unusual to see a 30 percent mortality rate in elk calves during their first few weeks of life.

I think were seeing some of the usual suspects, Jimenez said. Elk calves are most vulnerable during those first weeks. Calves just die from lots of different reasons.

During the first study, researchers found calves that starved to death, had heart failure, were caught in a fence or drowned in a creek.

Thats how it works for them, he said. Elk have this huge explosion of calves in the spring. They put a ton of them on the ground and then some die.

It only took researchers a little over a week to capture and ear tag the 81 calves.

We finished up earlier than what we had anticipated, Jimenez said. We are getting better at this and more efficient.

Initially, the team depended heavily on teams on the ground to search out the young animals. In the first few days of their lives, elk calves will remain still on the ground long enough for researchers to sneak up and capture them.

This year, Jimenez said the ground crews worked closely with a helicopter to locate the animals in a more efficient manner.

We are very careful in how we handle the calves, he said. The amount of time we spend handling them is very short. We do everything as quick as possible in order to keep mom as close as possible.

All of the handling was done by the ground crews. There was no darting or net gunning from the helicopter.

We also limited the chase time on any calves that got up and ran, he said. That was probably more limited by us than the calves. None of us are in as good a shape as the calves tend to be.

This winter, researchers will return to complete another mountain lion population estimate. A similar effort will be completed in Granite County, where there hasnt been any increases in mountain lion harvest quotas.

Once thats completed, the research team will compare the two areas in an attempt to determine the impacts of mountain lion density may have on elk populations.

With the study just getting underway with a new partnership through Montana State University, Jimenez said there may be other questions that may be considered through this research project.

I think this study is probably the last hurrah for this particular project, Jimenez said.
Flag Day provided us the opportunity to reflect upon many positive things in our nation. But it also gave us the chance to reflect upon how much our democracy has been going downhill on a slide greased by political money. Much of the polarization and dysfunction of the federal government comes from money in politics and elections. The pernicious influence of excessive money has also begun to invade Montanas electoral processes.

The root cause of big moneys dominance of politics was the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision that enshrined corporations as people/citizens and guaranteed them the right to spend their funds to unduly influence American elections. That Supreme Court decision was used to eviscerate Montanas firewall against such excesses  The Corrupt Practices Act of 1912. That act was an initiative placed on the ballot and passed by the people of Montana, designed to curb the corruption of the infamous Montana Copper Kings, who had been buying elections and power. The Corrupt Practices Act declared that corporations may not make an expenditure in connection with a candidate or a political committee that supports or opposes a candidate or a political party. For 100 years, the Corrupt Practices Act protected our elections. Then in 2012, Montana reaffirmed the essence of the corrupt practices prohibitions in another initiative passed by 75 percent of the voters. It provided that:

 Rights under the U.S. Constitution are the rights of human beings, not corporations,

 Money is property, not speech, and

 There should be a level playing field in campaign spending that allows all individuals, regardless of wealth, to express their views to one another and their government.

For over 100 years, though often rough and tumble, our elections have had been essentially free of corruption. Big, outside money did not, by and large, play a role in here. However, since Citizens United, advocates of big money power both inside and outside of Montana are using Citizens United to rip apart any constraints and big money is starting to taint our elections.

Citizens United may well be the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case in 1857, which affirmed slavery in the U.S., seeing those human beings as chattel to be used, abused, traded or sold. Interestingly, Dred Scott ruled that enslaved black humans were not legally people, while Citizens United ruled that corporations were people.

The Dred Scott decision was overturned by addition of the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which took until 1865 and 1868 respectively. Short of a Supreme Court reversal, the legal and political path to getting rid of Citizens United may also have to be a constitutional amendment. Thats a tough row to hoe (passage by 2/3 of each house of Congress and ratification by 3/4 of the states), but it may well be the only way to ensure for the long-haul that people who participate in our elections are real human beings, not faceless corporate entities.

On Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m. at the UM Law School in Missoula, folks will gather together to address how we can get started. A forum called Building to Overturn Citizens United  How We Pass the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will feature two prominent leaders: Jeff Clements (of American Promise and Free Speech for People) and Montanas own retired Supreme Court Justice Jim Nelson, (Board member of Free Speech for People and Advisory Board member for American Promise) who has become a national leader on this important issue.

Fair elections are not a partisan issue. Montanans of all stripes  independents, Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats - want fair elections, free of the corrupting influence of big money and campaign money from corporations. As a well-known Democratic leader and a long-time Republican elected official, we are helping host this event. Join the effort, so that what Montanans have passed into law can become the law across the entire country. Lets pass a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reverse Citizens United and remove the pernicious influence of excessive money in our election processes.

Evan Barrett, Democrat of Butte, has spent the last 46 years at the top level of Montana economic development, government, politics and education.

Bob Brown, Republican of Whitefish, is a former Montana Secretary of State, State Senate President and 28-year Legislator.
Guwahati: Emphasizing on preventive healthcare initiatives for the media persons a special program titled 'Evening with a Doctor' has been planned at the premises of Guwahati Press Club (GPC) of northeast India. Under this program a practicing doctor will be available for free consultations on healthcare issues for the benefit of GPC member-journalists along with their close relatives.

The doctor, representing any government or private hospital, will arrive at press club on every Saturday by 5 pm and continue the consultations till 8 pm. A number of city based hospitals has already agreed to support the initiative of the press club providing their qualified physicians of different departments to the program on a

regular interval.

The program, scheduled to start by next month, is also expected to help the interested scribes to understand various aspects of healthcare in a better way that would finally encourage them to cover the vital issue with more authenticities, said GPC secretary Nava Thakuria in a statement issued to the media.
I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy
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.
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).


George Lucas made it official last week that he'd be abandoning his plan to build his museum of graphic art and movie memorabilia in Chicago, and chances are high that he'll be shifting his focus back to San Francisco, specifically to Treasure Island, to locate the project. That idea first made headlines in May, and now Matier & Ross have some new rumors to share, including confirmation that Yale-educated Chinese architect Ma Yansong of Beijing-based MAD Architects will be doing the design. And while it may end up being similar to the circus tent-like structure designed for the Chicago waterfront site, it won't be exactly the same  and they get from an anonymous source that the Treasure Island design would feature more windows with "sweeping views of the bay and city."

City leaders on all sides of the political spectrum are firmly behind the idea, given that Lucas would essentially be giving a cultural gift to the city that he plans to fully fund himself. Mayor Lee has already joined with many in the business community in taking out a full page ad in the Chronicle welcoming Lucas back with his museum  a project that previously had been thwarted by the Presidio Trust, leading Lucas to consider his adopted second home, and the home of his wife, Chicago.

And what was then thought to be a $700 million project is now said to be a $1.5 billion project that will include special ferry service across the Bay.

But, it's far from a done deal, and Los Angeles remains in the running for a possible location as well. "We understand Mr. Lucas is weighing his options, says Deirdre Hussey, Mayor Lee's spokesperson. The mayor and the Board of Supervisors are working closely with the Lucas team to have a home for his world-class collection on Treasure Island.

Previously: Full Page Chronicle Ad Implores George Lucas To Build His Museum On Treasure Island
SIOUX CITY | Rod Nieman knew the first utility bill he saw after Goodwill of the Great Plains converted to LED lighting would be a little different.

He knew the conversion would lead to savings, he just wasn't expecting the types of numbers he saw on that bill.

"I was pretty surprised," said Nieman, the building and grounds supervisor. "We are waiting for a year to do a comparison, but I can already tell we're seeing anywhere from $700 to $1,000 (savings) a month. We thought we would save it, but we didn't think it would be that fast."

When it converted its office, store and warehouse at 3100 W. Fourth St. from fluorescent and incandescent lighting to LED in November and December, Goodwill joined a growing number of Siouxland employers and residents that have made the switch in the hopes of increasing energy efficiency, thus cutting electric bills.

Sioux City electric contractors have noticed the surge, especially in the past two years as rebates available through MidAmerican Energy and other government programs have made the cost of switching out old light bulbs and fixtures to the more costly LED models more affordable.

"We're probably bidding LED re-lights daily," said Doug Bauman, project manager at Lewis Electric.

Thompson Electric Co. has one division, Thompson Specialty Services, dedicated to lighting retrofits, and it's constantly busy, general manager Jason Glover said.

"We're seeing a real boom in this business the last year and expect it to continue quite a while," Glover said. "We're seeing everyone from small business owners -- bars and restaurants -- all the way up to large industries. It's really reached a point now where everyone is making the switch to LED."

Contractors said businesses and homeowners switch for three main reasons: LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, give off a better quality of light; to save money; and to conserve energy, joining the green, environmentally conscious movement.

Not surprisingly, the decision to make the switch is heavily weighted toward the financial benefits. The cost of bulbs and fixtures can be high, but rebates, especially from MidAmerican Energy, can significantly cut the overhead.

Nieman said Goodwill received a $55,000 rebate from MidAmerican to put in 2,200 LED bulbs and 240 new ballasts.

"We got a substantial amount of rebate back," he said. "I don't know if we could have done it without it."

It's one of many energy-efficiency rebates and programs the energy company provides, MidAmerican spokeswoman Ruth Comer said.

"One of our responsibilities as a regulated utility is to find ways to use less energy and be more efficient," she said.

But after those up-front costs, LEDs pay for themselves in energy savings after one to three years, contractors said, because the bulbs and fixtures are using about two-thirds the energy as standard bulbs.

"Payback is quick in most cases," said Charlie Hacker, senior vice president of Metro Electric.

In addition to retrofits, contractors also are installing LEDs in most new construction. Architects are incorporating LED costs into most new building projects, Hacker said.

"It's the standard now in the field of construction," he said.

Whether it's new construction or a retrofit, LEDs put out more light with half the number of fixtures.

"It's just so much more efficient," Bauman said. "Residential, I can pay for that bulb in three years, easy."

The bulbs last longer, meaning less time spent buying and replacing bulbs, too.

Nieman said the savings in bulbs, labor and, most of all, energy use, mean Goodwill can spend its resources on the clients it serves rather than on electricity. Once he showed his front office the potential savings, they were convinced to make the switch.

"We could save that kind of money, and it would go back into our mission," Nieman said.

Nieman said Goodwill has been so pleased with the change that other retrofits are being studied.

"We are looking at our other stores to see what we can do," he said.
WEST POINT, Neb. | Tim Mueller farms about 500 acres near Columbus.

He always considered the farm too small to support himself and his sons, 31 and 23. Then he heard about Costco Wholesale Inc.s plans to build a chicken processing plant near Fremont and its need for producers to raise the birds and earn as much as a 7 to 8 percent return on investment.

This is a chance to get my boys included in the farming operation and make some decent money. What a golden opportunity, he said during a Monday hearing on annexing 417 acres of farm ground south of Fremont for Costco's proposed hatchery, feed mill and processing plant.

But critics of the poultry industry are urging farmers like Mueller to take the companys promises with a grain of salt and read their contracts with a magnifying glass.

The details are important," said Lynn Hayes, an attorney and program director for Minnesota-based Farmers Legal Action Group Inc. "In poultry contracts, there is no way that you can tell whether a poultry operation is going to cash flow your loans and make any income until you see every word.

Hayes made the comment to about 70 people in West Point Monday. He also spoke at other informational meetings last week with Mike Weaver, a poultry grower from West Virginia and president of the Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias.

Lincoln Premium Poultry, the Georgia-based company created to run Costcos chicken plant, has said its contract will be a far cry from the industry norm.

First of all, its a 15-year contract," said Premium Poultry General Manager Walt Shafer, who used to be head of operations support for Pilgrims Pride, one of the nation's largest chicken producers. "That is typically the term of the loan that these growers would go out and borrow to finance the equipment and houses. So were committing to the life of the loan essentially.

And the contract will not have a clause that would pit farmers against each other. Often called a tournament system, companies set an average price for chickens, then pay some farmers more and others less based on a formula that measures how well birds put on weight compared to how much feed the company provides.

The practice has drawn criticism, but the industry defends it.

Premium Poultry says it plans to offer a guaranteed base pay for farmers, plus incentives.

If you do well we reward you more, but we dont take pay away. Their pay is guaranteed through the contract," Shafer said, adding that the contract, which has yet to be finalized, will be nonnegotiable.

Company representatives have met with about 300 area farmers interested in signing up to host as many as 12 barns, each capable of housing 43,000 chickens, Shafer said. Costco would need a network of about 400 barns in all, according to the Greater Fremont Development Council.

The company would own the chickens and provide the feed. Farmers would own the barns and raise the birds.

Development Council estimates say building four barns would cost $1.5 million and net the producer $116,600 in annual profits.

Weaver, who has been raising chickens on contract in West Virginia since 2001, said the cost estimates appear too low and profit estimates too high. He also scoffed at suggestions by the Development Council that farmers could sell a year's worth of manure for $40,000.

If you can get that much, Ill ship you mine, he said.

Do the math, he told farmers, and have an attorney look over the contract.

If they (Costco) do it right, this could be a good thing for you folks, Weaver said.

He also recommended Nebraska farmers create a growers association to advocate for them.

Costco had $113.7 billion in sales for fiscal year 2015. President Jack Frank put the company's reputation on the line during a Monday night presentation to the Fremont planning commission.

We take care of our members. We take care of our employees. And we respect our vendors, he said.

Costco sold 76 million rotisserie chickens at $4.99 each in 2014. But as demand for the savory birds continues to increase supply has become tighter and costs inched up, Frank said.

As supply shrinks and demand increases, it is incumbent upon us to find creative ways to develop a sustainable supply, he said.

Thats where Fremont comes in. It would process nearly 350,000 birds daily.

Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen, one of six organizations that sponsored and paid for a series of informational meetings, hopes Costco's reputation and actions will outweigh industry history.

"Costco has a good national reputation as a retailer who is known for exacting their practices and standards out of their providers and vendors," he said. "The downside is the reputation and industry standard of the poultry industry, which has been a known problem for some considerable amount of time."
SIOUX CITY | Jackson Recovery Centers announces the hiring of Heidi Kammer-Hodge as vice president and chief operating officer. In her new role, Kammer-Hodge will assist in the organizations overall strategies, as well as leading all of the clinic operations.

Kammer-Hodge has 17 years of experience in addiction, mental health and integrated care, including 14 years of health care management/leadership. She most recently held the title of vice president at RESOURCE, a substance use and mental health facility in Minneapolis.

Kammer-Hodge, a Siouxland native, grew up on a farm, just outside of Bloomfield, Nebraska. She has moved back to the area with her husband and two children.

Kammer-Hodge received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Dakota in social work and drug and alcohol abuse studies. She received her masters degree in family practice and police and administration from Augsburg College in Minneapolis. She has also completed the Non-Profit Leadership Institute.
ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Four Northwestern College professors have published essays in the May/June issue of the academic journal "Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought."

Dr. Sara Sybesma Tolsma, professor of biology and co-editor of the journal, wrote "Integrating Science and Faith," which challenges the belief that science and faith are often in conflict with each other.

Ecology professor Dr. Laura Furlong's essay, "For I Am Convinced," describes her journey as a college student and the challenges she faced reconciling her maturing Christian faith with her development as a scientist.

"Let Us Behold" by biology professor Dr. Byron Noordewier argues that we need not fear what we might learn about God by studying his world with an open mind.

Dr. James Mead, professor of religion, published "Genesis 1 Within the Faith-Science Debate," an argument about theological intent and literary artistry in the first chapter of Genesis.
DETROIT -- Hailing a ride with a smartphone app in many U.S. cities is coming down to a fight over fingerprints.

Following incidents where Uber drivers were found to have criminal records, a number of state and local officials have proposed fingerprint background checks for ride-hailing drivers  often with the support of local taxi companies.

Uber and its chief rival, Lyft, have fought those checks, contending their own method of vetting drivers is just as safe. Their political muscle showed in recent weeks. The Chicago City Council on June 22 passed ride-hailing regulations that exclude fingerprint checks after an alderman removed the fingerprint requirement when Uber and Lyft threatened to leave the city. Rhode Island on June 18 passed regulations without fingerprint checks, which also are under consideration in Atlanta and the states of New Jersey, California and Massachusetts.

Uber and Lyft have recently made good on threats to vacate cities that impose fingerprint checks, such as Austin, Texas, leaving drivers without jobs and riders without an alternative to taxis. Agreeing to fingerprint checks, as Uber did in Houston, slows the pace of hiring and increases pickup times. If passengers have to wait too long, the companies say, they give up on ride-hailing.

Uber and Lyft hire private background companies that run a driver's name, license and Social Security number through local court records, national criminal databases and a federal sex offender registry. Searches can take as little as 24 hours. Lyft rechecks drivers each year, but Uber does not.

Fingerprint checks, which are run through the FBI's national database, can take a few days longer. But experts say fingerprinting catches people who lie about their names.

"The accuracy of a fingerprint check is eons beyond what you could do in a name check," says Jay Wachtel, a criminal justice lecturer at California State University Fullerton and retired U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent.

In a lawsuit against Uber, prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco found 25 drivers who passed Uber's checks despite having criminal histories, including a driver convicted of felony sexual exploitation of a minor. Uber paid $25 million to settle the case in April. Lyft paid a smaller amount, and both agreed to stop implying that their background checks were safer.

Both companies have enlisted high-powered supporters to fight fingerprinting. In June, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, whose law firm advises Uber, sent letters to New Jersey and Chicago lawmakers saying fingerprints are unfair and potentially discriminatory.

Uber, after just six years, completes 150 million rides per month in nearly 450 cities worldwide. Lyft, which started four years ago, does 11 million rides per month in more than 200 U.S. cities. The companies need thousands of drivers to make the model work.

Chicago passenger Giovanni Thurman, 33, says he feels safe using Lyft and Uber because apps give you the driver's picture, name and other information. Thurman runs a consulting business and works with a nonprofit that helps ex-convicts, including some who have gotten back on their feet by driving for the companies.

"Those drug dealers that I knew, they drive Uber because it's an option to not go back (to dealing)," he says. "If you impose all of those background checks ... then now you've cut off another way."

San Francisco-based Uber and Lyft pulled out of Austin in May after voters decided against overturning a city ordinance that requires fingerprinting.

The companies say around 10,000 full- and part-time drivers lost work, and tens of thousands of riders were stranded. But Austin City Councilwoman Ann Kitchen says smaller ride-hailing companies  which agreed to fingerprints  have helped make up the difference, along with roughly 900 registered taxis.

Kitchen, a fingerprint backer, can't figure out why Uber and Lyft spent $9.1 million to fight fingerprints.

"I suspect that it's much more than Austin," she says. "It's a national issue."

In Chicago, Alderman Anthony Beale agreed to delay fingerprinting for at least six months to allow more time to study that requirement.

Sam Abuelsamid, transportation analyst with Navigant Research, thinks Uber and Lyft will eventually agree to fingerprint drivers if they get something in return, like a promise that drivers will remain independent contractors and not employees. Such a promise could insulate the companies from liability.

Uber and Lyft blame taxi companies for the fingerprint push. Cab drivers in most major cities are fingerprinted and even drug-tested. The ride-hailing companies say their drivers  almost all part-time  are squeezed for time and cash and don't want additional hurdles.

In Houston, ride-hailing drivers who pass a background check from Uber can drive for 30 days until doing a city-required fingerprint check, a physical and a drug test.

Dorothy Chou, Uber's head of public policy for safety, says more than 19,000 drivers in Houston passed its screening but failed to do fingerprint checks and other steps because they're so cumbersome. She says the company has seen no difference in the rate of complaints about Houston drivers with a company background check and those that were fingerprinted.

"Why would we say yes to a process that doesn't improve safety?" she asked.

Torren Smith, 30, needed just over a month to get his license to drive for Uber in Houston. The fingerprint check took fewer than five days, Smith says. But it was difficult for him, as full-time truck driver, to get to a drug-testing clinic, fingerprint office and car inspection site. The whole process cost him around $150.

But Houston insists that fingerprint checks are needed. In a March report, city officials said such checks found a driver who passed Uber's background check despite having 24 aliases, 10 Social Security numbers and an arrest warrant. It also found drivers charged with murder and drunken driving.

Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor, cautions that neither check is foolproof. Private background checks have improved but FBI records may lack data on whether a person was convicted of a crime. Saltzburg says ideally, the companies would do both.

"The driver is in a pretty good position to engage in criminal acts," Saltzburg says. "The car is moving, the doors lock."
NEW YORK  Fans of Jenny Mollen don't want her to hold back  and she doesn't disappoint.

Her new book, "Live Fast Die Hot," is a follow-up to her best-selling "I Like You Just the Way I Am."

The 37-year-old actress-writer shares her thoughts on social media, spouting off hilarious  and often politically incorrect  comments about everything from her husband, actor Jason Biggs, and their 2-year-old son, Sid, to ABC's "The Bachelor" and "Bachelorette."

Mollen talked about her family, gaining notoriety through Twitter and living in New York in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Associated Press: Why did you write another book?

Jenny Mollen: Just the chaos of being a new mom gave me a lot of fodder for this book. But I do think this book is less about having a baby  because I always say I would never read a book about having a baby ... but it is about what happened to somebody like me once I had one.

AP: After your son was born, your family moved to New York. How has that been?

Mollen: Mentally I feel better in New York. Partially because one of the things that happened to me when I had Sid is I think my house was haunted and after consulting with a medium I found out that it was a ghost dog, but he had an old man partner but I couldn't split them up. I was like, 'I can deal with the dog but the old man needs to leave.' So, because of that I had to sell the house in L.A. as one does and move my entire life in New York City.

In New York I feel safer because there's only one entrance, one exit to my apartment. I'm fairly certain the ghost didn't follow me. And I also think that New York just in general is a city where you're just surrounded by people. You're confronted by human begins wherever you go and there's a sense of community that I did not have in L.A.

AP: You're an actress, but you're more known for being you. Do you like that?

Mollen: It's the greatest gift. Thank god for Twitter. It really democratized comedy and I was able, I just hit it at the right time, I was able to put my voice out there and for whatever reason it was heard on some level and I was able to build something out of it. Nothing compares to being able to tell your own stories.

AP: Who's funnier, you or your husband?

Mollen: I think I'm funnier but Jason's delivery is always better. I think I'm the funniest when Jason's saying my words. My favorite dynamic with Jason is when we're on a set together and I can just feed him (expletive) to say.

AP: You and your husband tweet regularly about "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette." (Mollen was a co-host of the after-show of "Bachelor in Paradise.") Do you ever lose interest in following the show so closely?

Mollen: Every season right about this time I'm like, 'I'm done. I don't want to watch it. I'd rather stalk myself on Instagram, I'm not interested in these people. They all look the same.' Ask me in two weeks and I'm gonna be so ... invested all over again.
RICHMOND, Minn.  Angry black clouds roll through the sky. Thunder growls ominously as torrents of rain pelt the hillside at El Rancho Manana Campground outside St. Cloud, Minnesota.

But this natural chaos is no match for 50 ukuleles. Huddled under a dripping canopy, players crammed in elbow to elbow, their song rises in unison:

Ti-i-i-ny bubbles,

I-i-i-n the wine 

As the song ends, the clouds pass. The rain stops. The June sun shines warmly.

Arne Brogger, organizer of the annual Great Minnesota Ukulele Gathering, shrugs. God loves ukuleles.

Gods not the only one. The humble uke is ditching its image as a Tiny Tim toy and stepping up in the music world. Music stores that once sold two ukuleles a month now sell 50. Ukulele virtuosos garner millions of views on YouTube, and tuxedoed ukulele orchestras fill concert halls in London, Seoul and Tokyo.

Whats the appeal? The baby of the stringed family is cheap, portable  and fun.

The ukulele is a worldwide craze, said Dan Ryerson. Its phenomenal. I was at a three-day ukulele festival in Bangkok, and I cant tell you how many thousands of people were there.

He discovered the uke after 30 years as a Minneapolis lawyer. To relieve the stress of law practice, he took up guitar making.

Lo and behold, I discovered that people actually like guitar makers, he said. He and his wife, Carol, moved to Hawaii in 2000, where the uke is the official state instrument. Thats when the four strings snared him.

He began crafting ukes of exotic tropical hardwoods: koa, mango, milo and kamali. He sells them mainly to dealers in Asia, who sell them for as much as $4,000.

The couple left Hawaii for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, several years ago, but Ryerson remains a board member of the Ukulele Guild of Hawaii. Hes waging a one-man battle to encourage the proper Pacific Island pronunciation of the instrument: Oo-kulele.

Theres no y in ookulele, he said sternly.

As recently as five years ago, Groth Music Co. might sell two or three ukes a month in its Bloomington, Minnesota, store, said Randy Bailey, manager of the instrument department. Now the store regularly moves 50 a month.

Its fun. It relieves tension. Its entertaining, Bailey said. Ukes also are affordable, with beginner models available from $50 to $150.

For people who have never played an instrument, its less overwhelming than a guitar, he said. If youre going Up North, its easy to throw in the car and play around the campfire.

Evangelist of the uke

Inside the bar at El Rancho Manana, Tony Anthonisen is leading a dozen beginners through a group lesson. An affable bear of a man from Richfield, the 70-year-old is Minnesotas premier ukulele evangelist.

Below his signature on every e-mail is the line, You just never see someone playing a ukulele without a smile on their face!

With the patient, cheerful air of an elementary teacher running kids through a spelling drill, he leads the group through some basic fingering and strumming exercises. Dont worry if you miss a note, he said. Nobody else is going to notice.

Within 30 minutes, the group is strumming and singing Beautiful Brown Eyes, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? and a handful of other old campfire favorites.

An accomplished bluegrass guitar player, Anthonisen decided several years ago to introduce his grandchildren to music by giving them ukuleles. He learned to play himself so he could teach them.

Then I got hooked and they didnt, he said with a laugh.

His newfound devotion to the uke brought him some grief from his traditionalist bluegrass friends. Then one of them came to a uke jam where Anthonisen was leading 30 strummers through a set of bluegrass songs.

He said, You just introduced 30 people to bluegrass music,? Anthonisen said. Ill never give you grief again.
EARLY, Iowa | Steve Dahm celebrated his 70th year by walking 500 miles over a five-week period this spring. He crossed the Pyrenees Mountains in the process, praying and reflecting throughout his 15- to 20-mile days, all spent on the Camino de Santiago.

Translated, it means "The Way of St. James."

"My sister Elizabeth, who is becoming a nun, mentioned it to me last year," says Dahm, who turns 71 next month. "She's a worldly person who has taught her whole life. She mentioned this pilgrimage."

Dahm, who resides with his wife, Mary, on a farm west of Early, began reading about St. James and the Camino de Santiago, a walk that stretches from France to Spain and ends at the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.

St. James became a disciple of Christ after following Jesus' command and catching fish in great numbers on the Sea of Galilee. Following His ascension, James spread the Gospel and was beheaded by King Herod in 44 A.D., the first apostle to die.

He wasn't allowed to be buried at the time, and his followers removed his remains and took them to Compostela, Spain. In the ninth century, those remains were discovered and moved to a tomb in the Cathedral of Santiago.

"The Way of St. James" is a network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and ending at his tomb. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk these routes every year.

Dahm is now one of them.

"It was painful, a lot of work," says Dahm, who walked the route from April 26 to May 31. "We climbed more than 1,000 meters over a 6-mile span on the first day."

Walkers would follow the path, which was rock in some places, dirt in others, and paved in certain stretches, through the countryside and into villages. Overnight stays were often in facilities similar to old dormitories or military barracks, sometimes sleeping several dozen people to a room. The term "Spartan" might apply.

"Europeans, for the most part, don't seem to mind that kind of lodging," Dahm said. "For an old guy from Iowa, it isn't ideal."

That's not the spirit of the walk, either. The pilgrimage puts a person in remote areas of France and Spain, with only a path, the elements and one's thoughts. Dahm took earplugs and planned to listen to books on tape. He didn't reach for the tapes once.

"Each day I took a member of my family and spent the early part of the day reflecting on where they were," he says, noting how he focused on both living and dead members of his family.

While he walked alone, he made new friends along the way: a couple from Australia, for example, and a few students from Europe and the U.S. Three men from Great Britain became chums, as did a couple from San Francisco and a pair of physical therapists from Iowa.

"Some of the hostels had Wi-Fi, so I sent some email along the way," Dahm says. "I sent postcards and I called Mary every three to four days to let her know how I was doing."

Dahm, it seems, has always been on the move. The 1963 graduate of Sacred Heart High School in Early served a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1967, toiling as a U.S. Army engineer. The 1971 graduate of Buena Vista University then spent 30 years working as an engineer, helping to design and construct power plants in places all over the world, living and working in countries such as Taiwan, Korea, Pakistan, Mexico, Japan and the Dominican Republic.

"Mary and I have moved 34 times in our 43 years of marriage," he says. "Sometimes, we moved right across the street. (Home base was San Francisco for three decades.) And sometimes we moved halfway across the world."

He weighs his words and the lifelong experience of relocating while raising two children. "Mary is a saint," he says with a smile.

His pilgrimage was interrupted just once as he tended to a tendonitis condition cared for by a doctor and a nurse in Najera, Spain, who demanded that he not pay them for their time. Instead, they asked him to light a candle for them when he reached Santiago.

Dahm reached the end on May 31. He attended Mass, received a blessing and picked up two certificates that showed he had completed the famed Camino de Santiago. He lit candles for the doctor, the nurse, his family and many friends.

Dahm lost 15 pounds in the process, but gained perspective in a trek he classified as one-third physical, one-third emotional and one-third spiritual.

"This trail suited me as it was organized," he says. "And there were people of all faiths on the Camino de Santiago as, really, many faiths have pilgrimages."

The experience leaves him wanting a bit more, thoughts he now entertains while cutting hay on the farm in Sac County.

"I used to run a lot, but gave that up after a heart attack when I was 48," he said. "I still do a lot of walking around here. I will say that, after this, my attitude has changed. I think I want the walk to be something more involved."

He examines a certificate that, in Latin, says he did it.

"I think I'll do it again," he says.
NEW YORK  A high-energy Hungarian herding dog is the latest new breed headed to the Westminster Kennel Club and many other U.S. dog shows.

The American Kennel Club this week recognized the pumi, the 190th breed to join the roster of the nation's oldest purebred dog registry. That means the pumi can vie for best of breed at Westminster for the first time next February.

With coats of corkscrew curls and ears that flop at the tips, the pumi (pronounced POOM'-ee) has a whimsical expression that belies its strong work ethic, fanciers say. The 20-to-30-pound breed goes back centuries in Hungary, where it herded cattle, sheep, and swine. It's related to the puli, a breed already recognized by the AKC and known for its coat of long cords.

Like many herding dogs, pumis  the proper plural is actually "pumik"  are alert and active.

"They're not for somebody who's going to sit and watch TV all day long," said Chris Levy, president of the Hungarian Pumi Club of America. But if provided with enough exercise and stimulation, "the pumi can chill out."

Considered quick learners, pumis have done well at agility and other canine sports. Some in the U.S. also herd rabbits, chickens, goats and even cats in a cattery, said Levy, who breeds the dogs in Salem, Oregon. She and others have been working to build up the breed in the U.S. for two decades, but it's still quite rare.

AKC recognition requires having at least 300 dogs of the breed nationwide, among other criteria. Two other new breeds, the American hairless terrier and an ancient North African hound called the sloughi, were recognized this past January and will also be eligible for Westminster for the first time next year.

Some animal-rights advocates say dog breeding is too appearance-focused and irresponsible when many mixed-breed animals need adoption. The AKC says conscientious breeding helps people and pets make happy matches by making the animals' characteristics somewhat more predictable.
SIOUX CITY | U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst reassured fellow veterans Friday that she continues to fight for them.

"Theres a lot of issues through the VA, and those are the types of things that were trying to identify so we can find the right solution to move forward," Ernst told a crowd of about 40 at a town hall meeting at Sioux City North High School Friday.

Ernst was adamant that certain discussions need to happen in order for change to occur.

The Iowa Republican urged her constituents to speak up about the issues that affect them, and to continue to help provide potential solutions.

"If you're not seeing the results that you feel you should have, reach out to us," she said.

Ernst, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard who was the first female combat veteran elected to the U.S. Senate, has made veterans issues a main topic of her 99-county tour of the state.

Community leaders Mary Sam Hacker and Scott Bixenman, representatives of Support Siouxland Soldiers and SAFE (Serving Armed Forces Everyday), respectively, made remarks during the meeting and stayed afterward to answer questions.

During the forum, local residents also quizzed Ernst on a number of other topics, including the future of health care.

John Kounas of Sloan, Iowa, said he is particularly concerned about the future of the nation in regard to Medicare's impending insolvency.

"Ive got grandchildren, Ive got children. Itll affect those people. Yet I dont see any effective action being taken by anyone, in my opinion. If it is, its something thats not being brought to light," Kounas said.

Kounas also expressed fear that the Medicare trust fund is running out of funds, but nobody in politics cares anymore.

"This is not something that is going to go away. I understand that it costs money, but we need to find a solution," he said. "Why arent we addressing this problem? Were not. Its not being addressed."
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | An Inwood, Iowa, man was killed and a teenage boy was injured Saturday afternoon in a one-vehicle rollover crash on Highway 9 in Lyon County.

The incident occurred shortly before 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

According to an Iowa State Patrol report, a 1992 Ford F-150 carrying two occupants was traveling west on Highway 9 about a quarter mile east of Ibex Avenue when the the vehicle crossed left of center, entered the south ditch, struck a field drive and rolled over, coming to rest upside-down in the south ditch.

The driver, 14-year-old Ryan Schneidermann, of Inwood, was transported by his family to Sanford Rock Rapids Medical Center. His condition is unknown. The report said he had been wearing a seat belt.

The passenger, 46-year-old Bradley Schneidermann, also of Inwood, died of his injuries. He had not been wearing a seat belt, the report said.

Ryan Schneidermann later told authorities he had been tired from working outside all day and briefly fallen asleep at the wheel.

The Iowa State Patrol was assisted by Rock Rapids Fire and Rescue and the Lyon and Osceola county sheriff's offices.
SIOUX CITY | Nearly 200 Republican Party delegates in Woodbury County face a long night Tuesday to pick the party's nominee for a seat on the county board of supervisors.

In the June primary election, none of the seven GOP candidates for the District 5 seat crossed the 35 percent threshold required by state law for nominees to advance to the November ballot. That triggered Tuesday's special convention at Sioux City East High School, where each contender will try to sway delegates that they should be the party's standard bearer against Democratic nominee Bruce Garbe.

The roughly 190 Republicans who served as delegates at the county convention in March can vote on the nominee at the Tuesday meeting, which is technically known as a reconvened county convention.

County Republican Party official Suzan Stewart said it isn't known how many of the potential delegates will participate, but "hopefully we will have a good turnout."

In the June 7 primary, Gary Niles, chief juvenile court officer for the 3rd Judicial District, led the voting with 1,157 votes, or 23 percent of the total cast. Rocky De Witt, of Lawton, finished a close second with 1,070 votes, or 21 percent.

Rounding out the field were Tom Verzani, of Lawton, with 983 votes, or 19 percent; Brian McNaughton, of Lawton, 808 votes, or 16 percent; Correctionville Mayor Nathan Heilman, 431 votes, 8 percent; John Van Eldik, rural Sioux City, 295 votes, or 5 percent; and Bruce Hokel, rural Sioux City, 234 votes, or 4 percent.

Since the primary, the candidates have had a chance to lobby individual delegates to gain their support.

During Tuesday's convention, which starts at 7 p.m., each candidate will have up to five minutes to address the delegation. A series of delegate votes will then winnow the field until a victor emerges.

After that, there will be up to two votes by all the delegates on their preferences.

If none of the seven candidates secure a majority on either the first or second ballot, then more votes will follow.

Stewart said additional votes are possible. With each ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes would be dropped from consideration. A sixth-such vote would pit the two finalists, resulting in the nominee selection.

Stewart said there will be intrigue in the convention.

"You have no idea what will happen," she said.

So, with the potential for up to eight votes, Stewart said, "It may well be a long process."

The GOP nominee and Garbe will compete in November for the District 5 seat being vacated by Democratic Supervisor Larry Clausen, who is retiring after 34 years on the board.

The special convention process in Iowa is rarely used. The last time a Republican Party convention in Woodbury County was held to determine a county supervisor nominee was in 2004.

At Tuesday's special convention, two other nominees could also be selected. In the June primary, no Republicans filed to run for the Supervisor District 3 seat or for county auditor. Stewart said people who want to run for either of the positions could make that announcement at the convention to the delegates. It is also possible that no Republican wants to run for either positions.

The District 3 seat is held by incumbent Supervisor Mark Monson, who was defeated by Marty Pottebaum in the Democratic primary. Democratic Auditor Pat Gill is running for re-election.
CAMPUS NEWS

Green Mountain College graduate

POULTNEY, Vermont | Shannon Colleen Saulsbury of Sioux City graduated summa cum laude from Green Mountain College on May 14 with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in philosophy.

Dr. John P. Holdren, President Obama's top advisor on science and technology issues, delivered the commencement address. Over 200 degrees were conferred in total, making the class of 2016 the largest in Green Mountain College history.

Albracht wins business graduate award

WAYNE, Neb. | Cale Albracht of Columbus earned the State Nebraska Bank-Outstanding Business Graduate Award at Wayne State College. The award is presented to a student annual who demonstrates characteristics predictive of success in their chosen path.

Albracht graduated in December 2015 with a bachelor's of science degree after studying public accounting and international business. He accepted a position with Deloitte accounting firm in Omaha and will start in August.

MILITARY APPOINTMENTS

Grassley nominates students to service academy

WASHINGTON, D.C. | Senator Chuck Grassley announced the appointment of 21 high school students whom he nominated to the United States service academics earlier this year.

The following area high school students have been offered an appointment: Emma Baller, a student at Sioux City North High, was offered an appointment with the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Caroline Ascherl, a student at MOC-Floyd Valley High School in Granville, Iowa., was offered an appointment with the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Nigerian army conducted a series of raids in Islamist-infested eastern Borno state on Sunday, freeing some 5,000 hostages held by Boko Haram, an army spokesman said.

The so-called clearance operations were conducted in a dozen of villages occupied by the notorious Islamist group. At least 10 militants were killed.

"The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists," a statement by Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman read.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Somalian State Minister for Environment Buri Hamza was among the victims of the terrorist attack at a Somali hotel in the nation's capital Mogadishu, local Hiiraan news outlet said Sunday.

Hamza also served as foreign minister in 2014.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)The three men were set free alongside a New Zealander, a South African and two Nigerians after they were ambushed on Wednesday, Macmahon Holdings said in a statement cited by the national broadcaster ABC.

The men were employed by the Perth-based mining company to work in Nigerias oil-rich Niger Delta. They were attacked by a group of 30 gunmen near the city of Calabar. Four Australians managed to flee, while their Nigerian driver was killed.

Macmahon Holdings chief executive Sy van Dyk said five of the kidnapped men were injured. He did not say whether the company had paid a ransom for them.
Approximately 35,000 high-school graduates from all across Russia, and about 800,000 people in total attended the event, with 1,800 police officers providing security.

The onlookers were treated to a spectacular show and a majestic fireworks display.

  M  R I (@semki_na)  26 2016  3:17 PDT

The key element of the festival is a ship with the eponymous scarlet sails that glides along the Neva River  a reference to the popular 1922 book Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin. This year it was a Swedish brigantine called Tre Kronor.

  !  Holiday "Scarlet sails"   Alexander Remnev (@a_remnev)  25 2016  3:25 PDT

The first Scarlet Sails celebration was held on June 27, 1968, though the tradition was abandoned in 1979, only to be reestablished in 2005 by the city administration, and has been celebrated annually since then.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  At least 131 militants presumed to be Daesh terrorist group fighters were killed Sunday in a government security operation in eastern Afghanistan, local television reported.

The operation to wipe out some 600 alleged Daesh fighters began in the eastern Nangarhar province on the border with Pakistan two days ago after Islamists attacked the Kot district, Tolo News channel reported.

"Nearly 36 Daesh rebels were killed in face-to-face battle with security forces, 95 others were killed in airstrikes. The clashes still continue," Nangarhar Gov. Salim Kunduzi told the channel.
LUGANSK (Sputnik)  According to Lugansk Information Center citing a source in the self-proclaimed LPR, the shelling began at 23:15 local time [20:15 GMT].

"Artillery barrage literally rained down on our position in Veselohorivka from the Ukrainian security forces in village of Troitsky," the source said.

The source specified that the Ukrainian army is using 120-millimeter mortars and automatic mounted grenade launchers to open fire on the LPR militia.
Corbyn's future leadership became uncertain after 51.9 percent of the voters in the referendum said they were in favor of the UK leaving the bloc.

A divide has been widening in Britains main opposition party since hardliner Corbyn was elected to fill the job abandoned by Ed Miliband after his defeat at May 2015 general election.
The poll also revealed that the majority of the German population, namely 63 percent, regrets the outcome of the United Kingdom (UK) referendum on the exit from the EU and only 11 percent positively evaluated the outcome of the vote.

In addition, according to the poll results, as many as 70 percent of respondents said that the EU should be reformed.
In June, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stated that he would oppose the automatic renewal of EU anti-Russian sanctions. Renzi attended the forum alongside European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and led a high-profile Italian business delegation. The prime minister also met Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which he said that both Europe and Russia must make efforts to solve the existing problems in bilateral relations.

The ambassador was highly positive in evaluating the results of the SPIEF, stressing that Renzi's appearance and meeting with Putin indicate Italy's desire to minimize damage to Italian-Russian ties amid the crisis in EU-Russian relations.

"At the same time, reality must be acknowledged. Italy is an EU and NATO member, and it is subject to the demands of block discipline and euroatlantic solidarity," Razov said.

Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies have introduced several rounds of anti-Russia sanctions since the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, accusing Moscow of meddling in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia has repeatedly refuted the allegations, warning that the Western sanctions are counterproductive and undermine global stability.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia and Italy plan to conduct the first meeting of a new joint counter-terrorism working group before 2017, Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergei Razov said on Saturday.

"Our countries have agreed to form a new bilateral cooperation mechanism, the Russian-Italian working group on new threats and challenges. We intend to hold the group's first meeting before the end of the year. Both sides will send high-ranking diplomats and representatives from relevant agencies that deal with counter-terrorism," Razov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Italy's willingness to form such a working group positively differentiates the country from certain other states that are less inclined toward genuine cooperation based on a broad international anti-terrorist coalition as advocated by Russia, he added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said Sunday that England and Scotland should not have a border in future.

"I certainly don't want to see in any circumstances a border between Scotland and England," Sturgeon told the BBC.
LONDON (Sputnik)  UK Foreign Ministry hopes to keep access to the single European market after it leaves the European Union, UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said Sunday.

"Essential we protect our access to Single Market" Hammond told ITV channel.

UK Foreign Secretary also stressed that London does not want to rush in notifying the European Union of its exit from the bloc.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)The United Kingdom voted on Thursday to leave the European Union, prompting calls for more EU reforms across the remaining member states. Waszczykowski described UKs decision as a "serious trouble" for Europe.

"The main topic of talks between the heads of Polish and German diplomacy was the result of Thursdays referendum in Britain," the Polish foreign ministry said, adding they exchanged opinions on "additional scenarios of how the EU could function."

Waszczykowski and Steinmeier are due in the Czech capital of Prague on Monday for talks among Visegrad countries  the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary  that will be dominated by Brexit.


TALLINN (Sputnik)Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Sunday evening will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda, coming on a private visit to discuss the situation in the European Union following Brexit, the presidential office said in a press release on Sunday.

"The two presidents will discuss new challenges that Europe is currently facing over the UK decision to leave the bloc, as well as the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw," the press release read.

The Warsaw NATO summit will take place on July 8-9.
"There is a divorce, we regret that, but we must respect the will of the people."

Les Republicans leader and former French President Sarkozy said that the EU needs urgent reforms in the aftermath of Brexit, and wants France to take a leading role.

"I told President Hollande I think it is vital that France takes a strong initiative to lay the foundations for a new intergovernmental treaty."

"Europe today is facing a crisis of great magnitude. This is not a question of our relationship with the English, but the question of the nature of the Europe of 27," Sarkozy said.

Le Monde reported Sarkozy also told a television program that a new EU treaty could be put to the popular vote in other EU countries.

"I believe that we should not be afraid of the people: if they do not believe in the European idea and it does not stand the test of a referendum, then it is not the right path," Sarkozy said.
The NATO leadership recently became troubled by what it perceives as Berlins attempt to avoid its commitments as a member of the alliance, following German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeiers call for less saber rattling and more active dialogue with Russia.

However, these concerns are baseless, as Chancellor Angela Merkel recently announced that she intends to increase the countrys armed forces by recruiting 7,000 additional troops and by purchasing more tanks and helicopters, according to the German news magazine Focus.

"It is a sign that Germany intends to play a greater military role in the future," the magazine claims.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Kerry McCarthy, the environment secretary in the UK Labour Partys shadow cabinet, resigned on Sunday to become the seventh minister to join a coup against party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Britain voted on Thursday to exit the European Union. Labour cabinet ministers accused Jeremy Corbyn of running a lackluster campaign to keep the country in and called for a change of leadership.

"Although I do not doubt your personal commitment to your long-held principles, I believe that a new leader is needed to take on the challenges ahead," McCarthy wrote in a letter to Corbyn posted on Twitter.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Tuesdays summit of EU leaders is the right time for London to start proceedings to leave the European Union, the European Parliament's President Martin Schulz said Sunday.

"Hesitation only for the sake of accommodating tactics of the British Conservative party will hurt everyone," Schulz told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

The EU Parliament chief warned that UKs dragging feet on the EU pullout would lead to "more uncertainty and puts jobs at risk."
The Air Force, for its part, has 57 F-16 multirole fighters, while the Navy has five frigates, six corvettes and six submarines.

With these figures and the government's latest plans in mind, the journalist pointed out that Norway is "effectively planning to double the strength of its Navy and Air Force (or completely modernize it). We are talking about billions of dollars of spending, a lot even for a wealthy country like Norway."

Unfortunately, Knyazev emphasized, "all of this is directed solely against us [Russia]." At the same time, "Norway's desire to 'play with toy soldiers' and to create conditions which could destabilize our northern border seems doubly strange in the context of Moscow's long record of friendly relations toward Oslo."

For a start, the journalist pointed out, the Russian Empire was one of the first to recognize Norway's independence, soon after the country broke off from Sweden in 1905. Later, after the collapse of the Russian Empire and the emergence of the Soviet Union, diplomatic relations were established in short order, with relations established in 1924.

"In 1944," Knyazev recalled, "its was the Red Army which fought to liberate [northern] Norway from the Nazi invaders. Thousands of Soviet soldiers and officers paid with their lives for the country's freedom. After that, the Soviet Union, itself ravaged by war, helped to restore its northern neighbor. The USSR provided food rations, and Red Army engineering units helped rebuild ruined buildings. Moreover, the Soviet Union did not even try to create a zone of influence in Norway or to reshape its borders. In September 1945, having assisted its neighbors with aid, Soviet troops voluntarily left the country."
STOCKHOLM (Sputnik)  The majority of Swedes want their country to stay in the European Union, a poll conducted on the heels of Britains decision to leave has shown.

The United Kingdom voted on Thursday to exit the European Union by 52 percent to 48 percent, triggering aftershocks across Europe. Fears are that more referendums to quit could follow.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Two more ministers of the UK Labours shadow cabinet resigned on Sunday in a mass walkout that was triggered by party leader Jeremy Corbyns decision to sack the shadow foreign secretary.

Shadow secretary for Northern Ireland Vernon Coaker and shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra are the newest additions to the list of now eight departures, in addition to fired Hilary Benn.

In her letter of resignation, Malhotra said that the Labour party was "hugely divided and those divisions are growing."
BRUSSELS (Sputnik)  The European Union expects London to initiate formal exit proceedings before discussing a possible format of their future relations, a high-ranking EU official told reporters in Brussels.

"One thing, which I have several times stressed, is clear: there will be no negotiations on UKs status until Brussels receives a formal note that Article 50 has been invoked," the EU official said Sunday on conditions of anonymity.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)A European Council meeting is due to be held on June 28-29, where the United Kingdom's Brexit referendum will become the chief topic of discussion.

"It is necessary that there is a notification by the country of its intention to leave. So a request to [UK Prime Minister David Cameron] must be made to do this quickly because there is no reason to prolong the uncertainty," Moscovici said, as quoted by French media.

The United Kingdom is required to submit a formal notification of leaving the bloc under Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty.
MADRID (Sputnik)  With some 80 percent of all votes counted, the center-right Popular Party (PP) is leading the election with 32 percent, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) is coming second with 23 percent and Podemos third with 21 percent.

"We do not consider these results to be good nether for Podemos, neither for Unidos Podemos, nor for Spain. We have shown that we have a set position on political change. But these are not happening with the speed that we would like. These are not the results that we had expected."
According to The Telegraph newspaper, May has already gathered a team which is aimed to help her in the party leadership race.

A committee of Conservative members of parliament is due to meet on Monday to agree on the rules of choosing a party leader, with a shortlist of just two candidates expected by the end of July. The new leader will be voted on in September and announced at the party conference in October.

Tories are preparing to vote on a new prime minister by October to replace David Cameron, who declared his resignation on Friday after the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
Mikhail Belyat, an expert in Latin American affairs from the Russian State University for the Humanities told RT Russian that shareholders in the 77-kilometer long canal will take a long time to recoup their costs.

"There is a lot of money from US shareholders invested in that canal," Belyat explained, and added that the US will do its best to oppose a Chinese project to build an alternative canal.

A Chinese telecoms mogul named Wang Jing has set up the Hong Kong Nicaragua Development, which has agreed on its construction with Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. The company says the new canal will cost $50 bln to build, and it will be deeper and longer than the Panama Canal.

"According to the current (Nicaraguan) project, there will be two powerful ports at the entrance and exit to the canal; they will compete with the Panamanian ones," Belyat said.

"In addition, the price of using the channel and the ports along the coast will decrease. That doesn't suit the US," he said.

"The US has staged a few interventions in Nicaragua with the aim of building a canal there. However, in the 20th century they intervened to stop a canal from being built, because it would become an alternative to the one in Panama."


UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik)Iraqi armed forces have recently made great strides against the remaining pockets of Daesh militants in the central city of Fallujah, which has been an Daesh stronghold since 2014.

"The Secretary-General welcomed the progress made by Iraqs security forces in retaking areas from Daesh," a UN statement read.

Ban pledged UN support in addressing the "severe humanitarian needs of civilians in Fallujah," but urged the minister to investigate reports that claim armed groups allied with the Iraqi government have been abusing displaced Fallujah residents.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Abadi has raised the country's flag in the center of Fallujah, which was recently liberated from Islamic States (ISIL or Daesh) militants, local media said Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, Abdul-Wahad Saadi, the Iraqi army commander heading the counter-terrorism operation in the city, said that Iraq's armed forces had "fully liberated" Fallujah.

Abadi, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, raised the Iraqi flag next to the city hospital while surrounded by dozens of security personnel, the Alsumaria television channel reported.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Iraqi forces have been able to liberate the city of Fallujah from Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) militants due to a unified effort by all groups taking part in the operation, Hadi Amiri, the head of the Badr Organization in the Popular Mobilization Forces, said Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, Abdul-Wahad Saadi, the Iraqi army commander heading the counter-terrorism operation in the city, said that Iraq's armed forces had "fully liberated" Fallujah. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi later raised the country' national flag near the city hospital, urging Iraqi people to celebrate the victory and pledging to liberate Mosul, which is still overrun by militants.

"The lessons to be learned from this battle show that a quick and important victory is possible thanks to our unity. If we want to determine the outcome of the battle for the liberation of Iraq this year, avoiding large losses and winning quickly, we must fight while supporting each other," Amiri said in a statement.
NOVOSIBIRSK (Sputnik)  Russian Aerospace Forces will receive six S-400 Triumph air defense missile systems in 2016, Aerospace Forces Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Sunday.

"The industry is reaching its full capacity, so this year we will receive six S-400, and next year, we won't slow down the pace as well," Bondarev said.

Bondarev stressed that S-400 Triumph is characterized by high reliability and quality.
In any case, hope (for Washington and for NATO) remains, according to the analyst. "Indeed, the Scots have said they would not insist that Britain depart from Faslane until 2020. Washington and London therefore have some time to consider how to mitigate the potential impact of Scottish independence on their common force posture."

In this case, Zakheim suggested, "one possibility could be the basing of British Tridents at King's Bay, Georgia, which houses the Atlantic Fleet's Trident Force. Doing so would facilitate the redeployment of additional American Tridents to the Third Fleet on the West Coast, as part of the much-heralded pivot to Asia," (effectively an attempt to surround an emerging China in the East and South China seas).

At the same time, the former official noted, Washington could attempt to buy off the Scots, in the event of a successful independence vote.

"Another possibility would be to pay the Scots for both British and American use of Faslane, much as Washington pays for some of its overseas bases elsewhere in the world." The sweeteners for Edinburgh, Zakheim argued, include low oil prices (Scotland is an oil-producing region), the loss of English subsidies, and the overall "negative economic impact of Scottish independence."

Ultimately, the analyst emphasized, "it is critical that the Pentagon and the [UK's] Ministry of Defense quickly begin the process of developing a Plan B for their respective forces should Scotland actually secede from the United KingdomDefense planners should recognize that for too long, policymakers in Brussels and London buried their heads in the sand regarding Brexit, assuming incorrectly that, at the end of the day, the British public would never vote to leave the European Union. The pundits and the polls validated those assumptions, and both were wrong."
MOSCOW(Sputnik)  The Russian Defense Ministry is surprised at German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen's insistence on Russia reporting about the movements and the number of its troops, the ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday.

German media reported earlier on Sunday that von der Leyen said NATO and Russia should publicly report on the movements and the number of its troops within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She added that the initiative has long been promoted by NATO, stressing that the alliance is a defensive organization.

"The German defense minister's statements have surprised us. She is possibly unaware that we have, at our initiative, been informing our European partners about all snap drills and large-scale exercises for two years, which is something we are not obliged to do under the Vienna Convention," Konashenkov said.
In terms of air defense systems, Konovalov admitted that here, things aren't so bad, at least in theory. Kiev "relies on the weapons left over from the Soviet Union. And this is quite an inheritance, including the S-300 missile system. At the very least, they can deliver strikes of some kind. The condition of Ukrainian surface-to-air systems is another story however, considering the quality of their servicing. Moreover, Ukraine sold six S-300 systems, while a portion has broken up or been left to rot. How many combat-ready air defense systems Kiev has left remains a real mystery."

"The fact that they are useless in land battles with the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics is another matter. After all, the breakaways have no air forces. I think that Poroshenko was talking about a confrontation with Russian aviation. If that's the case, it's just ridiculous  the Russian Air Force is among the strongest in the world, with only the American and Chinese air forces able to rival ours."

Ukraine's rivals, meanwhile, include countries like Moldova and Albania, Konovalov suggested.

In light of these realities, asked whether Poroshenko was bluffing when speaking about building up the air force to 'deter Russia,' Konovalov said that it wasn't clear what exactly this should be called. "The president of Ukraine discredited himself long ago. Perhaps if he knew what kind of nonsense, quite frankly, he was talking about, and the degree to which he was exposing himself as a laughingstock, he would refrain from such assessments. He doesn't seem to be a fool. So perhaps it's just that, speaking before the Kharkiv Air Force University, his 'post requires' him to say what he did."

Renowned defense analyst Igor Korotchenko holds another view, and suggested that "the latest menacing statements by Mr. Poroshenko, to the effect that he is practically prepared to carry out air strikes on Russia, evokes nothing but feelings of sincere astonishment. The whole of Ukrainian aviation, and its military's equipment as a whole, consists of scrap metal and untrained soldiers. The most they can do is to kill their own citizens in the country's east, and they've been doing so with great success for over two years."
"[In reality], less than one per cent of all exports [requests] are denied [to India]. They are not denied because of India. They are denied because of global U.S. licensing policies. We do not share certain technologies with anybody in the world," the official added, referring to an idea shared in New Delhi that this denial is reflective of the India-U.S. relationship.

According to the joint US-India statement made during President Obama's visit to New Delhi, India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with unspecified steps that New Delhi has committed to taking to advance its export control objectives.

Ashley Tellis of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top American think-tank, says that this special status is "meant to recognize that although India will not be an alliance partner of the United States, the administration seeks to treat it as such for purposes of giving it access to advanced technologies of the kind that are reserved for close US allies."

"It is intended to signal to both the outside world and to the US bureaucracy that oversees licensing that India is viewed as a unique collaborator and will be treated as such where access to advanced technologies are concerned," he added.

"India desires advanced US technology today, while the U.S. would like more clarity on the specific operations India may be willing to undertake in the future to contribute to regional security," says Richard M. Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US India Policy Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, another top American think-tank.

"But the term Major Defense Partner' does not automatically trigger a specific process or program in the U.S. system," he added.
Soros called for "serious program of Eurozone reform, which would have to include a genuine banking union, a limited fiscal union, and much stronger mechanisms of democratic accountability," noting that "time is not on Europes side."

Following the Brexit referendum, several other EU states witnessed the requests for holding the referendum on the exit from the EU.

On Saturday, a petition to hold a referendum on Finland's membership in the EUhas been launched by the country's nationalist Finns Party, gathering over 10,000 signatures so far, local media reported.

Also on Saturday, the Slovakian far-right People's Party  Our Slovakia on Saturday launched the petition to Brexit-style referendum, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of Frances National Front (FN) party, said that French President Francois Hollande has rejected the possibility of a Brexit-style referendum to be held in France which her party is calling for.
Earlier in June, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier blamed NATO member states for saber rattling, provoking much criticism from German politicians, including from the ruling Christian Democratic Union.

"It would be wise if NATO and Russia would publicly reported on the movements and the number of its troops within the framework of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]. Such a proposal has been made a long time ago by NATO, which is exclusively a defensive alliance," the minister said in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to Brok, having a common headquarters would help the EU strengthen its role in providing for the countries' security and defense, as well as take on more responsibility throughout the world.

"We need a common headquarters and a coalition of the willing in accordance with the permanent structural cooperation laid down in the EU Treaties. An EU army could eventually arise from such a group," Brok told Welt am Sonntag.
BEIJING (Sputnik)  Russia and China are planning to sign an agreement to launch two projects in the Far East by the beginning of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), Russian deputy prime minister and presidential plenipotentiary envoy to the Far Eastern District Yury Trutnev said Sunday.

The second Eastern Economic Forum in the Russian city of Vladivostok is scheduled for September 2-3.

"Now, we aim by September 3 this year, by the beginning of the Eastern Economic Forum to launch the first projects. Today, the Chinese colleagues came up with the figure of 2. They said that the first two projects would be signed during the forum," Trutnev told reporters during his working visit to China.
MADRID (Sputnik)  Spains center-right Popular Party (PP) is projected to win Sundays parliamentary election with 28.5 percent of votes, according to a fresh exit poll.

After sampling 132,000 voters at over 1,000 polling stations, the Sigma Dos pollster predicted that Unidos Podemos, a left-wing alliance, will come second with 25.6 percent of votes.

The Socialists (PSOE) will be edged out to the third place with 22 percent after finishing second in Decembers vote, which failed to give majority to any of the leading parties.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in June, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the Hmeimim airbase command to increase assistance to the Syrian population, especially to those trapped in settlements blocked by terrorists.

"Low income families of Akrad Ibrahim (Hama province) and Lehait (Aleppo Province) have received six tonnes of humanitarian cargo. Food products and flour were the basis of the cargo," the Russian Hmeimim-based reconciliation center in Syria said in a statement on Sunday.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with numerous opposition factions and Islamic extremist groups fighting government forces seeking to topple the government of President Bashar Assad.
 . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form

The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  A Moscow court has issued an arrest warrant for a Tajikistan-born man suspected of recruiting fighters for the outlawed Daesh terror group, an investigation source told RIA Novosti on Sunday.

The 38-year-old caught police attention in connection to a series of deadly assaults by a Central Asian gang on car owners near the Russian capital in 2012-2014.

"The court has granted the prosecutor an arrest warrant in absentia for Tadijistan-born Farrukh Azamdzhonov, who is on the security agencies list of suspected recruiters for illegal armed groups, including the outlawed [in Russia and many other states] Daesh," the source said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russias federal health and epidemic monitoring service Rospotrebnadzor has filed an official request with the World Health Organization (WHO) over the epidemic situation in the Ukraine's southern city of Izmail, Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Andrey Abramchenko, the mayor of Izmail, said that over 700 people in the Odessa region had asked for medical aid over intoxication, including 410 children. According to the Ukrainian Emergency Service, the mass disease was presumably caused by a rotavirus in tap water, which spread there after heavy rains.

"There is no official information over the causes and agents, which have led to aggravation of the epidemiological situation. In this regard, an official request has been sent to the World Health Organization. Rospotrebnadzor has taken measures to strengthen the sanitary and quarantine control in respect of persons arriving from Ukraine and monitored the epidemiological situation in the border regions," the statement reads.
He also admitted that the war of words between Russia and the West shows no sign of abating.

"We are in a state of hybrid war, and the West and Russia currently have an objective conflict of interests. There are anti-Russian sentiments in our media aimed at pitting the local population against Russia, which does not stick to Western diktat. So an information war does exist," he pointed out.

Fassbender was echoed by Berlin-based journalist Matthias Broeckers, who said that "we are dealing with kindergarten-style news that was never supported by any proof."

"I do not think that all this is connected with the mood of ordinary citizens. Rather, it can be attributed to the fact that our media outlets are owned by large corporations and are controlled by those who clearly and openly pursue transatlantic interests," he said.

Broeckers added that "like any other country, Russia, too, has hackers" who he said were hardly behind creating the Cyber Caliphate.
Separately, the Russian oil company Rosneft and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation signed an agreement on the construction and delivery of a floating transfer dock facility for the Zvezda shipbuilding complex.

Additionally, Rosneft and China's Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment company inked a memorandum of understanding and strategic partnership concerning oil-related services, according to Rosneft's chief executive Igor Sechin.

Bilateral cooperation on foreign policy and security

China and Russia cooperate closely in terms of foreign policy and security, and have demonstrated a common approach to a wide range of global and regional issues, including counter-terrorism efforts, President Putin said during a reception to mark the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation.

"It is this document that legally defined the strategic and partner character of relations between Russia and China, which are based on mutual respect, friendship and the recognition of each other's interests; these relations not only meet the interests of our peoples, but also serve as an important factor regarding global and regional stability and security," Putin said.

He added that by "building up the Russian-Chinese partnership, we relied on the centuries-old traditions of relations between our countries."

"We achieved an unprecedented level of mutual trust and understanding, which allowed us to solve complex and very sensitive issues and which, most importantly, opened opportunities to move forward and bolster multilateral relations in various spheres," Putin pointed out.

Invitation to visit a G-20 summit

Also on Saturday, the Chinese President invited Vladimir Putin to visit a summit of the Group of Twenty that is due to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September 2016.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The United Kingdom's exit from the European Union will not have direct impact on Israeli economy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

"There is no direct effect [of Brexit] on Israel apart from the fact that we are part of the global economy. Over the weekend I held a discussion with the Finance Minister, the Governor of the Bank of Israel I can say one thing: The Israeli economy is strong. It has very considerable foreign currency reserves; therefore, to the extent that there is some effect, it is not expected to be strong, other than unrest in the global economy," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
In 2030, Russia, China, India, the United States and Britain will have the most powerful navies in the world, the American magazine National Interest quotes San Francisco-based defense writer Kyle Mizokami as saying.

He claims that by 2030, there will be two main types of warships to define the most powerful navies, namely, aircraft carriers and ballistic missile submarines.

"Aircraft carriers reflect the need to maintain a global, or even regional, power-projection capability, while ballistic missile submarines reflect a maturation and diversification of a country's nuclear arsenal," he says.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  US Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he would pay a visit to Brussels and London the following day to discuss ties with Britain and the European Union.

The United Kingdom voted on Thursday to leave the European Union, sending aftershocks across Europe and the Atlantic. The US vice president admitted Friday that Washington preferred a different outcome.

"I will travel to Brussels and London on Monday to reaffirm our unwavering partnership with the EU and UK," Kerry wrote on Twitter.
Have you ever been on the deck of a Mistral assault ship? RT correspondent Amal al-Hinnawi was lucky enough to seize the opportunity while covering news about the first helicopter carrier of two purchased by Egypt from France arriving in Alexandria.

The warship, named after Egypt's former leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, is due to take part in joint drills being conducted by the French and Egyptian Navy, which are scheduled to take place in the Mediterranean Sea in the coming days.

Al-Hinnawi quoted local journalist Ahmed Ayoub as saying that the arrival of the Mistral assault ship will further add to "the Egyptian armed forces' defense capability so as to protect the country's national security."


MOSCOW (Sputnik)On Thursday, UK voters chose to leave the European Union in a referendum. The results triggered a host of emergency consultations between EU member states ahead of the Tuesday's European Council meeting, where Brexit will be the main issue.

Mitov had planned to arrive to Yerevan on Monday, where meetings with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian were set to take place.

The last visit by a Bulgarian foreign minister to Armenia took place in 2013.
YEREVAN (Sputnik)  Pope Francis has not said anything offensive about Turkey during his visit to Armenia, Director of the Holy See Press Office Federico Lombardi said Sunday.

Pope Francis visited the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian genocide memorial complex in Yerevan on Saturday during his visit to the country. During his earlier speech at the presidential residence, the head of the Roman Catholic Church used the phrase "Armenian genocide" for the second time during his reign. This promoted a response from Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli, who reportedly accused the pope of having "crusader mentality."

"He did not speak against the Turkish people. The pope was speaking on the issue of reconciling the Armenian and Turkish peopleThere is nothing in pope's words that may be interpreted as 'crusader spirit.' The pope's mission is not to foment war, but to lay the foundation for peace between the peoples," Lombardi said.
The Turkish leader made this announcement during an evening event hosted by the Industry and Business Association, according to Yeni Safak newspaper.

"[Trump] has no tolerance for Muslims living in the US. And on top of that they used a brand in [Istanbul] with his name. The ones who put that brand on their building should immediately remove it," Erdogan said, the Turkish Sun reports.

Trump Towers Istanbul was opened in 2012 by Turkish tycoon Aydn Dogan who paid Trump in order to use the brand name.
The opening leg of the Summertime Series highlighted racing action on Saturday night (June 25) at Mohawk Racetrack.

The three-week series for sophomore pacing colts and geldings attracted a field of 11 for the $18,000 first leg.

Dave Menary trainee Sintra entered Saturdays opening round undefeated in five starts this season. Despite a large field, Sintra was sent off as the 1-9 favourite from post three.

Major Hill, also a Menary trainee, was blasted to the front by driver Doug McNair from post nine and posted an opening quarter of :26.2. Sintra got away fifth with driver Jody Jamieson, who was able to angle out nearing the half to pick up cover.

After stealing a :30 second quarter, Major Hill paced a :28 third panel while being confronted by Some Gold, who was pressing first over.

In the stretch, Major Hill turned aside the first over challenger, but Sintra was ready to pounce and shot off cover to pace home in :26 to win by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:50.4. Always A Hotshot, who was third over around the final turn, finished second, while Major Hill was third.

A son of Mach Three, Sintra is now a perfect six-for-six to start his three-year-old season after going winless in three starts as a rookie. His wins this season include scores in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event and a Three-Year-Old Open on Pepsi North America Cup night.

Sintra has now earned $86,500 this season for owners Brad Gray, Michael Guerriero and Menary Racing Inc. He paid $2.30 to win Saturday.

In order to be eligible to the Summertime Series, the three-year-old pacing colts and geldings had to be non winners of $30,000 lifetime as of March 31, 2015.

The second leg of the Summertime Series will take place next Saturday (July 2).

In other action, North America Cup starter Beast Mode was victorious in a career-best 1:50.3 clocking in a $20,000 conditioned pace, providing Christopher Nicol with his first training victory. Nicol owns the Rock N Roll Heaven colt and took over the training duties heading into the Cup. Trevor Henry worked out the winning drive, his first of three on the card to move him within two victories of reaching the 6,000 milestone mark.

Live racing resumes Monday night at Mohawk with a 10-race card, featuring three $75,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold divisions for sophomore trotting colts and geldings. Post time is 7:30 p.m.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.

(With files from WEG)
Long Live Rock made his local debut a winning one in Saturdays Open Pace at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Owned and trained by Rene Allard, the seven-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover dropped in fourth in the early going in the $15,000 feature that was contested at a distance of 1-1/16 miles. Billy Dobson moved Long Live Rock first over on fellow Yonkers invader UF Rockin Dragon (Jim Devaux) and overpowered that rival en route to an impressive win that covered the 1-1/16 miles in 1:57.3. UF Rockin Dragon held on to win a photo for place while Artful Way (Frank Coppola Jr.) earned the show spot.

Long Live Rock was the 5-2 co-favourite in Saturdays Open, returning $7 to win. The exacta and triple came back $87.50 and $432, respectively.

(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)
The body of 52-year-old Catherine Marie Sellards was recovered from the Cowlitz River around 3 p.m. Saturday.

According to a press release from the Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office, officials received a call around 8 a.m. Saturday from a woman who said her friend had gone missing. The caller said she was worried the woman had gone into the river and drowned.

Deputies searched the river bank and talked with several campers in the area, the press release said.

The sheriffs office later launched a boat and found the womans body at about 3 p.m. in the shallow part of the river. Sellards body was found a short way downstream from where Tennant Way crosses over the Cowlitz River. The two women had been camping nearby.

According to the release, the caller said Sellards had gone a short distance into the river at about 1 a.m. Friday, saying that the river had healing power.

The sheriffs office said there was no indication of foul play but the cause and manner of Sellards death would have to be determined by the Cowlitz County Coroner.

An autopsy has not yet been scheduled.
According to a report, Chinese smartphone giant Huawei is developing its own operating system that will help them to remove dependency over Googles Android OS. Amir Efrati from The Information reports that Huawei is working on building the alternative mobile operation system secretly.

According to the sources, Huawei has also planned to launch its latest flagship smartphone P9 in the Indian market soon. In response to the question on offline markets, the company officials said that the P9 series will be targeting the Indian markets as soon as possible, likely next month.

Coming to the report by Amir Efrati, the project is in its starting period and ex-employees from Nokia are working on that project. Abigail Brody, former Apple creative director who was joined Huawei last year and appointed as the chief user experience designer, refused to give any details on the new OS but she indicated that she is going to meet the team in August. Till now, the information regarding the new OS is restricted.

The report also said that Abigail Brody will make several modifications to the company owned Emotion UI that is said to be developed on top of Android OS. Brody without telling the modifications suggested that the new Emotion UI version introducing this fall will deal with pain points and glaring cosmetic issues.

One of the important tasks of her is to develop the upcoming version of the Emotion UI more likely based on the material design of the Android and remove the elements that present it like iOS. The new EMUI is expected to support fresh colors, new icons and additional features like an app drawer.

Separately, 9to5 google also reported on the newer version EMUI and claims that it will look almost similar to the stock Nexus smartphone experience with some elements added by the Huawei.

Moving to the new flagship smartphone Huawei P9, which is launching in India soon, is featured with a 5.2-inch full HD IPS display and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with its company owned EMUI 4.1 on the top. Huawei P9 also boasts a dual 12MP camera at the back, built in collaboration with the popular camera manufacturer Leica. The company is focusing on upgrading the P9 photography to the next level.

The smartphone supports octa-core Kirin 955 processor paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage or 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It is backed by a 300mAh battery and includes the 4G connectivity, USB Type C connectivity and fingerprint scanner.
First Electric Highway System in Sweden goes under testing, to be featured in California soon

Sweden has launched its first electric highway system for trucks. It being reported that Siemens will help the country for next two years to test the eHighway system on a 1.25 miles stretch of highway on the north of Stockholm. The project is currently under testing phase and it might be unveiled soon in California.

Similar to the electrified railroad, the distance stretched by the system will support overhead wires such that hybrid trucks can make a connection using connectors integrated at the top of the vehicles.

The generalized trucks used for the electric highway include sensors which control for the presence of the wires. Once located, the truck leaves a connector which is also called Pantograph, either automatically or by the driver manually.

Once a pantograph-enabled truck is successfully made the connection to the systems wires, the drivers can switch off the combustion engine of the vehicle and drive it by using the electric powered system. The connection will only utilize the battery of the truck while it is traveling. But, it will also use excess energy that is being generated back to the overhead wires and into the system.

Once the electric highway finishes, the driver can easily switch on the engine of the truck to go forward in his remaining trip.

According to the Roland Edel, chief engineer in the Siemens Mobility Division, the system will allow to reduce half of the energy consumption and decrease the air pollution. An official from Scania Claes Erixon also said that the testing is an essential milestone in the request toward fossil fuel-free transportation, with it completing the project that developed in the two years.

Siemens is also recently working to set up electric highway in California, this time done in a partnership with Volvo. The testing of the system will go through next year, with the companies seeming to solve the interactions of different truck configurations along Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Another currently reported startup to decrease the consumption of the fossil fuels by trucks is from Nikola Motor, which is seeming to be the Tesla Motors for trucks. The Nikola Motors first motive is to cover a range of up to 1,200 miles on a single charge, which will take half of a cost as compared to the fuel required to boost a combustion-engine truck over the equal distance.
Bangladeshi shot by BSF near Satkhira border

Satkhira, June 26 (UNB) - A Bangladeshi national sustained bullet injuries as members of the Border Security Force of India opened fire on him at Koijhuri in India near Boikari border of Sadar upazila on Sunday morning. The injured identified as Alamgir Kabir, son of Golam Mostafa, a resident of Gorerkanda area of the district town, was a cattle trader. Subedar Humayun Kabir of Boikari camp of Border Guard Bangladesh said Alamgir along with his four associates went to India through the border point on Saturday afternoon for bringing cattle. While they were returning, BSF members opened fire on them, leaving Alamgir injured. Later he was admitted to Satkhira Sadar Hospital.
PM opens metro rail, bus rapid transit projects

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday inaugurated the construction works on the much-hyped first-ever metro rail service in the capital and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Shahjalal International Airport to Gazipur. Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the construction works on these two mega projects unveiling plaques digitally from the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the city. The MRT Line 6 metro rail service is expected to open half of its 20.10 kilometers by the end of 2019. The entire metro rail route and its all the 16 stations will be elevated as well. Only the depot will be on the ground. A formal commencement of ground development for a depot began today. The depot is the foremost component to be in place for building the metro rail service system. Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project, official name of the metro rail scheme, stretches from Uttara to Motijheel. The Tk 21,985.07 crore ($2.5 billion) ambitious metro rail project is expected to provide an improved, safe, faster and affordable but modern means of urban public transport service significantly reducing the perennial traffic congestion in the capital and prevent environmental pollution, said eminent transport engineering expert Prof Shamsul Hoque. With every metro rail train comprising six air-conditioned spacious cars, a city commuter will travel between Motijheel and north Uttara in 38 minutes and there will be a train in every four minutes at each of the 16 stations on the way in both directions. A total of 24 trains will together transport 60,000 passengers every hour on both directions. A 10-km metro rail service, including five km from the depot to Pallabi and another five from Pallabi to Agargaon, will be ready for operation by the end of 2019, and the following year, the entire 20km metro system will ready for use. The entire project is being implemented under eight separate contracts, including four for building the 20km elevated overpass. The 16 stations would be in north Uttara, Pallabi, Mirpur, Kazipara, Sheorapara, Agargaon, Rokeya Sharani, Bijoy Sharani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Secretariat and Motijheel. The fifth part will be on the construction of a viaduct and stations from Agargaon to Karwan Bazar and the sixth on similar construction from Karwan Bazar to Motijheel. The seventh will be electrical and mechanical work, and the eighth procurement of 144 metro rail cars. Procurement of 24 locomotives and the cars will go on simultaneously and be delivered by the second half of 2019. The project is being implemented by government-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd while Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority is supervising. A consortium of consultants, led by Nippon Koei Ltd of Japan and including Nippon Koei India Ltd, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, Mott MacDonald Ltd India, Mott MacDonald Ltd UK and Development Design Consultants Ltd Bangladesh, was hired in November 2013 for general consultancy. They are taking care of the project's design, construction supervision, procurement support and management of work. Of the estimated total project cost of Tk 21,985.07 crore, the Japanese government through JICA will provide Tk 16,594.59 crore of the project's total cost as soft loan while Bangladesh government will provide the rest of Tk 5,390.48 crore. Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Division will implement the Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project (BRT, Gazipur-Airport) by December 2018 with an estimated cost of Tk 2039.85 crore. Of the total project cost, Tk 389.15 crore will come from the national exchequer while the rest of Tk 1650.70 crore will come from project assistance from the The Asian Development Bank, French Development Agency and Global Environment Facility Fund. There will be 25 stations, six flyovers, 4.50km elevated BRT lane from Uttara to Tongi and 16km flat grade on the route. Besides, an 18-metre-long 100 articulated buses will run on the route. There will be an electronic smart card system for collecting bus fare. Apart from this, there will be construction of eight-lane Tongi bridge, development of eight markets, development of some 113 connecting roads, some 20.50 kilometer footpath development and construction of our bus depot in Gazipur. Once the project is completed, it would take only 50 minutes to travel from Gazipur to Airport with the frequency of buses from 2 to 5 minutes. Some 25,000 passengers will be able to travel from both sides of the route in one hour. -- Dhaka, June 26 (UNB)
Islami Bank Board meeting held

A meeting of the Board of Directors of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited held on Saturday at Islami Bank Tower in the city. The meeting elected Yousif Abdullah Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia and M. Azizul Huq as Vice Chairmen of the Bank. Besides, Executive Commit

Economic Reporter :

A meeting of the Board of Directors of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited held on Saturday at the Board Room of Islami Bank Tower in the city.

Engr. Mustafa Anwar, Chairman of the Bank presided over the meeting. Directors along with Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Managing Director of the Bank were present in the meeting.

The meeting elected Yousif Abdullah Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia and M. Azizul Huq as Vice Chairmen of the Bank. Besides, Executive Committee, Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee of the Bank were reformed with Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam, Helal Ahmed Chowdhury and Md. Abdul Mabud, P.P.M as Chairmen respectively.

The meeting expressed its satisfaction while evaluating the performance of the Bank over the success & progress achieved so far. Besides, the board advised the management to play more significant role in accelerating the national economy through diversified investment in industries and employment generation in the country.


Green industry confce begins in S Korea tomorrow



The fourth green industry conference titled 'Green Industry for Sustainable Cities' begins in Ulsan, South Korea on Tuesday.

Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu will attend the three-day conference representing Bangladesh. He left Dhaka for Korea on Saturday night, said an official on Sunday. The conference is jointly organised by the Ulsan Metropolitan City, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and UNIDO, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea.



The conference will explore the interdependence between industries and cities in the context of resource efficiency, green technology and eco-innovation.

A special feature of the event will be field visits to state-of-the-art manufacturing sites in the city of Ulsan, the industrial powerhouse of Korea and a model for eco-industrial parks.

Around 300 participants, including high-level government officials, representatives of the private sector, industry associations, academia and civil society are expected to take part in the event.

The key topics of discussions will include green industry for sustainable cities, Korean green strategy in urban industrial areas and low-carbon transport and energy for sustainable cities.




Formulating a foreign language policy for Bangladesh

A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D. :

Formulation of alanguage policy involves three kinds of tasks: i) assignment of status and function of a language (or languages) of national priority over some other indigenous and foreign language(s), ii) promotion of language(s) of national priorities to be selected by means of the methods of revitalization or vernacularization and iii) the cultivation of those languages of national priorities with the provision for education of those languages. It is to be reminded that globalization- as an extension ofsociolinguistic ideology of internationalization- provides a basis for the provision of ELE as a part of an all-encompassing FL education policy in the language situation of Bangladesh.

Globalization as a linguistic ideology does not provide a forthright basis for formulation of a language policy. It rather creates a basis for a language policy in consolidation with the fundamental principles of Bangladesh. It, however, has been appeared as antagonistic to some of the national fundamental principles, therefore a language policy underpinned withthe globalization requires to be formulated in such a way that it does not withheld four fundamental principles of thecountry Bangladesh: Bangalee nationalism, socialism(meaning economic and social justice for all), democracyand secularismwith the provision of a national religion, i.e. Islam. Each of the Bangalee nationalism and socialism(meaning economic and social justice for all)and Islam respectively endorses a policy favouring the status, function, cultivation of languages into different extent. Bangalee nationalism as a national ideology creates a basis for a language policy favoring Bangla language. Socialism(meaning economic and social justice for all) and democracy create a basis for the recognition of languages of minority speech communities, e.g. Garo, Santali and Tripura. Islam creates a basis for the promotion of religious languages including Arabic and auxiliary languages, i.e. Persian and Urdu.

Bangalee being the fundamental national ideology bear preeminence over all other ideologies whatever the importance or support they receive in line with the fundamental principles of socialism, democracy and Islam as national religion. Therefore any policy aiming to undermine the status, and discard the process of promotion and cultivation of Bangla language require reconsideration. Hence a language policy underpinned with the Bangalee nationalism allows the policy that elevates the status and function of Bangla language over all other minority languages, e.g. Garo, Santali and Tippera as well as foreign languages, e.g. Arabic, English and Persian. It endows the authority to enact a regulation helpful to elevate the status of Bangla language and impose ban on the use and practice of English language in the institutions of national importance, e.g. armed forces, government offices and judiciary system. Accordingly this policy will allow the authority of Bangladesh to promote and cultivate Bangla language with the optional provision of the ELE. To speak from the perspective of patriotism, the more important arethe government, public and private institutions, the more oblige would be they in using and practicing Bangla in their premises except in their foreign affairs desks. Theyrequire to oblige a set of principles helping to use and maintain Bangla language in their official works.

Though globalization creates abasis for a FL policy, it requires to be complyingwith the fundamental principles of the nation. Therefore the FL policy requires to be formulated in such way that it does not obstruct the policy for the promotion and cultivation of Bangla language. A FL policyprimarily entails the studies of globe distinguished into area studies as well as the FLE associated with each of those areas.The typical area study involves the study and research of history,political science, sociology, cultural studies, languages, geography, literature, and related academic topics of a particular area. Hence it has been customary to studythe area of the globe divided in terms of national/federal, geographical and cultural lines in the global studies.

Therefore area/regional studies entail the study of languages associated with those areas/regions of national priority. For example, Asia as a continent which can be divided into five different areas, i.e. subcontinents: i) West Asia, ii) Central Asia, iii) South Asia, iv) Southeast Asia and v) East Asia, each of which has one or more languages of global importance, therefore the FLs of global importance associated with these area studies from i)~v) can respectively be i) Arabic (West Asia), ii) Persian (Central Asia), iii) Hindi-Urdu, Bangla (South Asia), iv) Malay-Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese (Southeast Asia), and v) Chinese and Japanese (East Asia). Similarly continent of Europe divided into four different areas, i.e. subcontinents: i) Eastern Europe, ii) Northern Europe, iii) Southern Europe and iv) Western Europe, each of which has one or more regional languages, therefore the FLs of global importance associated with these area studies from i)~iv) can respectively be i) Russian and Polish, ii) English, Swedish and Norwegian, iii) Italian and Spanish and iv) Dutch, France and German.

Hence ideology of globalization leads to making a decision in the selection of areas/regions of national priorities in consideration with historical, cultural, diplomatic and economic relation that exit between Bangladesh and a particular region. It subsequently entails making decision on the selection of a language associated with each area/regional studies for the provision of language education.

Thus globalization as an ideology supports a policy covering a policy of area studies and that of FLs associated with those area studies, which may includethe Anglophone studies, Chinese studies, German Studies and Malay-Indonesian studies as well as theFLs associated with each of these area studiesare respectively English, Chinese, German and Malay-Indonesian.

Hence globalization provides a basis for the education of FLs as well as the area/regional studies associated with these languages; it accordingly endorses ELE as it is associated with the Anglophone studies. Hence the prevalent English-only FL education practices in Bangladesh goes against ideology of globalization.



(A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D. Professor, Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka, E-mail :[email protected])
Eid shopping in city gains momentum

Mantra Exclusive Fashion Store at Bashundhara Shopping Mall in the city displayed a wide range of dresses ahead of Eid designed by renowned designers both from home and abroad. The exclusively designed quality dresses, in the mean time, have drawn a huge

UNB, Dhaka :

Shopping is going on in full swing as families and friends are thronging the city markets to buy their Eid gifts.

Visiting different shopping centres over the last couple of days, this UNB correspondent listened to some of the euphoric individuals in their efforts to 'buy some joys' to their near and dear ones for the upcoming Eid.

People are seen crowding the luxurious shopping

malls more for the good environment and good collections.

A visitor, Mahmuda Akhter, said, "The environment is congenial to us. It's very tough to stay at the shopping centre for a long time without air conditioner in the summer. So, I've chosen the Bashundara Shopping Mall. It's a centre for good collections with fresh arrivals of national international brands. The price is too high, but is comfortable to shop." Rafiq, a salesman of a saree shop at Eastern Plaza, said the sale of saree has increased after the 10th Ramzan. "Now we're selling a huge number of products. The rush of buyers goes high after the iftar." Humiyara Anka, a student of North South University, was visiting Jamuna Future Park.

Talking to UNB, she said, "We didn't expect this huge crowd. It would have been better had we come some days ago. All the sellers are busy with the sale. We're not getting enough time to choose in the rush."

Alongside the luxurious shopping malls, middle- and lower middle-income people are gathering at different shopping centres like Rajdhani Super Market in Tikatuli, New Market that sell products at formidable prices.

Talking to UNB at Rajdhani Super Market, Rahim, a day labourer, said, "I don't have the ability to go to the big markets. I buy dresses from this market. The price is low.


Exporters for reducing tax burden

UNB, Dhaka :Leading exporters here on Sunday urged the government to provide supports instead of imposing 'tax burden'saying another 'big turmoil' is apparently coming following the fast-changing scenario in entire Europe.They reiterated their call to reduce the source tax on export and keep it at least 0.6 percent as the Finance Minister proposed 1.5 percent source tax in the coming budget. The top exporters were addressing an iftar mahfil organised by Exporters Association Bangladesh (EAB) at the Sonargaon Hotel in the city.EAB President Abdus Salam Murshedy, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Md Siddiqur Rahman, Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh (LFMEAB) Md Saiful Islam and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) first vice president AH Aslam Sunny, among others, spoke at the event."It seems that the Europe experienced a tremor after the majority people in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union (EU)," Murshedy said mentioning that pound plummeted against all of the major currencies due to the UK public decision to the leave the European Union.He hoped that the government will realise the changes and will take proper policy steps to keep export competitive in the global export market. "We're losing competitiveness as the tax burden is increasing on us," said Saiful Islam, also involved in shipbuilding industry, mentioning that another big turmoil is coming following the Brexit. He said the source tax on export should be kept at 0.60 percent. "If tax burden on export is reduced, investment will increase creating more employment, boosting export. Export will also be diversified and the country will march forward."
Wasim shot Mitu

Anowar was also involved, says CMP Commissioner * SP Babul was grilled as per law: DMP Boss

Staff Reporter :Police Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police [CMP] Iqbal Bahar on Sunday said that Mohammad Wasim, one of the two detainees in connection with the murder of SP's wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, fired shot from point blank range.His accomplice another accused Anowar Hossain, among others, was also directly involved in the targeted killing of Police Superintendent Babul Akhter's wife at GEC Circle in Chittagong city in the early morning of June 5. He worked as a backup team member, he said. "They killed Mitu in a planned way. Wasim was on board of the bike and shot directly targeting Mitu. Wasim and Anowar, both hailed from Rangunia upazila, were detained recently. Wasim and Anowar, both the detainees, are professional killers and members of killing gang," Police Commissioner also claimed while addressing the press meet held at CMP headquarters. He disclosed that Wasim and Anowar confessed their involvement in the killing mission in police interrogation and accordingly gave confessional statements under section 164 to the Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Harunur Rashid yesterday . In reply to the questions of the journalists about the reasons of killing and its main masterminds, CMP Chief tactfully avoided the journalists saying it will take time to complete the investigation. In another question of the journalists, CMP Commissioner said the arrested 'professional killers' and have no political identity. When asked about the police confinement of SP Babul Akter in Dhaka residence, CMP Commissioner said police force were deployed in his residence for additional security measures. The press meet was told that Babul Akter was not detained in Detective Branch headquarters in Dhaka, rather he was called for some information as a plaintiff of the murder case. Senior officials of DB and CMP were present in the press meet. Apart from the two, five other persons, including a woman, were arrested in connection with the SP's wife murder in the last four days and they have been kept at Dampara police lines.Earlier, SP Babul Akter was picked up from his father-in-law's Bhuiyan Para residence in the city's Khilgaon area around 1:05am on Saturday. He was set free more than fifteen hours after he was taken into police custody for interrogation. Dhaka Metropolitan Police authority said they quizzed SP Babul to verify some information revealed by several suspects who have already been arrested in connection with his wife's murder."SP Babul Akter was questioned in accordance with law. He is the plaintiff of the murder case and it is a normal process that an investigation officer will interrogate a complainant," Dhaka Metropolitan Police [DMP] Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said yesterday. The DMP Boss said Babul was quizzed by a four-member team of Chittagong police at the Detective Branch office in the capital's Minto Road on Saturday. "It was totally a matter of CMP, we [DMP] didn't interfere," he said. "The overnight interrogation of SP Babul in the case over his wife's murder is 'nothing but a part of a natural process of investigation. There is no need to misinterpret this. The investigator quizzes the plaintiff, crosschecks the information he hasit's a natural process," he said.Answering to a question, the DMP Chief also said police did not keep Babul under watch. "If any accusation is proved in the investigation, there is scope for taking direct steps The SP was asked to come to the DB office for questioning, but he wanted DB to send him a car to attain the office. We sent the vehicle as per his consent," he said.CMP team also interrogated him as the five arrested suspects allegedly divulged his link with the killing, said the sources. After his release from the police custody around 4:30pm on Saturday, Babul said that investigators questioned him about the murder case, as he was the plaintiff of the case.At the same time, Babul also claimed that he had maintained a very good relation with his wife and denied allegations of marital problems with his wife. "We had a very good relationship. These are completely false allegations," he said.Not only that, Inspector General of Police [IGP] AKM Shahidul Haque said that Babul Akter was not detained. As he is the plaintiff and that is why the police called upon him to ask some questions in that regard.On the fateful day, miscreants shot and stabbed Mahmuda Khanam while she went there to drop her son Mahir Akhter, 7, for his school bus. Later, a case was filed with Panchlaish police station of CMP, accusing three unidentified people after the incident.Babul Akter was attached with the police headquarters in the capital for his posting after his promotion as SP.
Jeremy Corbyn under pressure amid top team revolt

A string of Labour shadow cabinet members have quit, with more walkouts expected, in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership over the EU referendum.

Heidi Alexander, Ian Murray, Gloria de Piero, Lillian Greenwood, Lucy Powell, Kerry McCarthy and Seema Malhotra quit.

It comes after Mr Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.

Mr Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence following a "lacklustre" EU campaign but shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he "wasn't going anywhere".

Mr McDonnell and shadow cabinet members Andy Burnham, Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry have given Mr Corbyn their support despite the resignations.

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker has said he is considering his position.

The Labour Party campaigned for Remain during the referendum, which saw the UK voting to leave the EU by 52% to 48% on Thursday.

But Mr Corbyn - who has been a long-standing critic of the EU and who is regarded as the most Eurosceptic Labour leader in years - was accused by some in his party of not making the case for the EU forcefully enough.

As a result, a motion of no confidence against Mr Corbyn has been submitted by Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey - and it is expected to considered at the next meet of Labour MPs on Monday. A secret ballot could be held the following day. Sources close to Mr Corbyn have said he would stand again in the event of any leadership election - and Mr McDonnell said he would chair his campaign again. Meanwhile, union members on Labour's National Executive are to call for unity and will support Mr Corbyn's leadership.
DB Inspector's wife commits suicide in Ctg

Body of the wife of Sub-Inspector of DB police Sathi Akhter, 24, was recovered from the residence at Love Lane in city under Kotwali thana at about 1 pm yesterday.

The victim is the wife of DB Sub Inspector Md. Aftab who has been working in city DB police.

Duty Officer of Kotwali thana SI Raju Ahmed confirmed the matter to this correspondent . Police recovered the body and sent it to Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.

Kotwali police sources said, Sathi Akhter commits suicide by hanging.


Reduce sufferings during construction: Planners

M M Jasim :

Urban planners on Sunday urged the government to take necessary measures to complete the Metro Rail Project timely as per the original layout to reduce the sufferings of city dwellers during the construction works.

At the same time, they said it (government) should deploy efficient project director and skilled manpower to properly manage the project taking lessons from the Moghbazar-Malibagh-Mouchak flyover.

Sufferings of the city dwellers were mounted due to the slow construction works due mainly to faulty design and lack of skilled persons in the project.

"The initiative to set up the metro rail in the city is appreciable. It will definitively help reduce the city's traffic jam," Prof Nazrul Islam, a leading urban planer of the country told The New Nation on Sunday.

Expressing his satisfaction over the government initiative, he said, "No doubt it's a good initiative. But the utmost priority should be give on timely implementation of the project."

"The delay in project implementation will not only increase the project cost significantly but also intensify sufferings of the city dwellers," he added.

Referring to the experience of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover project, Prof Islam said, "We have the experience that traffic movement apparently came to a mess in the adjacent areas of Moghbazar-Malibagh-Mouchak flyover due to the delay of construction works and piling up construction machineries and materials."

As a result, he said, roads were narrowed down and blocked. The vehicles were seen waiting in a queue for hours on roads creating huge sufferings to the commuters.

"It's a regular phenomenon there. But the authorities concerned did a little to reduce the problem."

We want that such scenario will not be seen again. The government must properly manage the metro rail project to ensure the easy movement of the commuters during its construction works.

Prof Islam, also the Chairman of Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), said although the metro rail project was approved in 2009. But it takes seven years time to start construction work. The delay is unexpected and it only happens due to indifference of the agencies concerned and red tapism.

"Now it has been started and we are happy," he said.

When asked, Prof Islam said Dhaka demands for metro rail and other modern traffic facilities to reduce its mounting congestion and improve transport facilities for the city dwellers.

Welcoming the metro rail project, Architect Iqbal Habib told The New Nation yesterday that it is a modern system to ensure easy movement of traffic and reduce the jam in over populated cities like Dhaka.

"But it is not the only solution to commute traffic jam in Dhaka. The government will have to ensure walking friendly environment in the city. It will be more effective if commuter railway is built," said Iqbal Habib.

Stressing the need for increasing public transport facilities in the city, he said, "The government must provide public transport to the people where every one could move easily. The transport must be ensured for all, not a portion of people."

Asking about the plan of the metro rail project, he said there were some silly mistakes in the plan which actually unexpected. The route near the Parliament may hamper the design of the structure and obviously it looks odd, the architect said.

"The people suffered most during the construction of the Moghbazar- Mouchak flyover which was scheduled to open in February of 2015. But it was inaugurated and opened partially for the traffic on March 30 in 2016. It is bad luck for us," he said.

Iqbal Habib suggested the government to take necessary measures to ensure proper management of the metro rail project and its timely implementation.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday inaugurated construction work for the first metro rail service in Dhaka.

The prime minister inaugurated the construction work from Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.

Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project, official name of the metro rail scheme, stretches from Uttara to Motijheel.

The Tk 22,000 crore ($2.5 billion) metro rail project has been taken with an aim to open half of the 20km metro line by the end of 2019.

The entire metro rail route will be elevated and all 16 stations will be elevated as well. Only the depot will be on the ground. A Japanese firm Tokyo Construction Ltd is carrying out the depot land development work.

The 16 stations include North Uttara, Pallabi, Mirpur, Kazipara, Sheorapara, Agargaon, Rokeya Sarani, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Secretariat and Motijheel.
Country of easy swindling and unrestrained capital flight

Unchecked capital flight at several billion dollars annually over the past decade has brought the country's banking sector to the brink. It appears scandalous to note that Bangladesh as a capital deficit country has sadly turned into a major capital exporting nation in recent past. The economy is losing so much money when it is starving from capital shortage to finance the much-needed socio-economic services.

The country lost around $55.87 billion from 2004 to 2013 as a news report said on Sunday quoting disclosure by high profile economists at a seminar in the city. It means that $5.59 billion went out illegally every year on an average. The capital flight moreover escalated to $9.66 billion in a single year in 2015.

The drainage continued unabated as our Finance Minister was sitting in total ignorance until recently when he suddenly woke up and told Parliament that the banking sector saw unbridled looting in the past years, and sea level theft is only the appropriate expression to describe the situation. But the Minister was defiant only few years ago when swindling of state-owned banks came to the light. Muhith had laughed out Hall Mark swindling of Tk 4,000 crore from a single Sonali Bank branch in 2013 saying it was just peanut and blamed media for harming the banking sector by publishing such report.

Now that most banks are empty and swindlers have moved out over Tk 4.5 trillion abroad which is around 1.25 times of our national budget for 2016-17, he agreed that massive theft from banks and capital flight have taken place. The Minister however does not know how the swindled money, which is no less than Tk 30,000 crore in some estimates from banks, would be recovered and how he would trace the capital moved out of the country. It appears that Bangladesh is a country where easy swindling and unrestraint capital flights are possible.

Capital flight makes other nations richer while making our nation poorer. The thieves are using this money abroad to buy assets or set up business creating jobs and income for other nations when our people are suffering from joblessness. They have become human commodity to be exported out of the country.

It appears that the country lost 5.5 percent of the GDP annually through capital flight over the past decade when our economy also reportedly grew at around 6 percent. It means in one hand we were either hovering at around zero percent growth annually except tall talks about development or that the country's growth potentials remained drastically underutilized due to removal of investment fund to outside world.

The discussants blamed lack of proper investment climate in uncertain political situation for much of the capital flight as owners of the fund want to protect in safe custody. Businessmen are even openly demanding permission now to legally transfer capital abroad for investment. So it is important we must overcome these investment shortfalls to stop capital flight.

The disclosure about terrible capital flight in presence of past policy makers such as former advisers to caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan, Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, former governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Farashuddin led many to question how the looters of public money felt so secured as if we do not have people with strong sense of patriotism and love for the country.

The biggest allegation for capital flight goes to big business houses. But when FBCCI President Abdul Matlub Ahmed asked the government to take action to stop capital flight, it sounds hollow and evasive. When powerful businessmen closer to the ruling party are engaging in capital flight, his suggestions for action appears meaningless.

The frustrated people can only ask for whom the government exists? It has no anxiety to save public property.


Country

United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
90% Android Devices are Vulnerable to Godless Rooting Malware

Here's what a Godless-Packed App can do to your Device:

"With root privilege, the malware can then receive remote instructions on which app to download and silently install on mobile devices," Trend Micro says. "This can then lead to affected users receiving unwanted apps, which may then lead to unwanted ads. Even worse, these threats can also be used to install backdoors and spy on users."

It's not at all surprising that the Google Play Store is surrounded by a large number of malicious apps that has the ability to gain users' attention into falling victim for one, but this time, it is even worse than most people realize.Researchers at Trend Micro have detected a family of malicious apps, dubbed ',' that has the capability of secretly rooting almost 90 percent of all Android phones.Well, that's slightly terrifying.The malicious apps are distributed via different methods and variety of app stores, including Google Play Store, which is usually considered as a safe option for downloading apps.The malicious apps packed with Godless contain a collection of open-source or leaked Android rooting exploits that works on any device running Android 5.1 Lollipop or earlier.Since Android ecosystem is so broken that around 90 percent of all Android devices are vulnerable to this malicious software. Godless apps have already been installed on more than 850,000 devices worldwide so far.Rooting a device could expose a user to several security risks as it practically opens the door to unwanted access, hardware failure, data leaks and information theft, and so on if the developer has malicious intent.Based on the source code they analyzed, Trend Micro researchers say that once an app with Godless malware is installed on a victim's device, it uses a framework known as "android-rooting-tools" to gain root access to the victim's device.From there, the malware will make sure the victim's screen is turned off before executing the malicious code.Once Godless gained root privileges, it starts communicating with a command and control (C&C) server, from where it gets an apps list to be installed on the rooted device and installs them without the users knowledge, and all of this can be done remotely as well.The researchers say the malware has the ability to bypass security checks done Google Play store and other online app stores.Although there are several apps in Google Play, including utility apps like flashlights, Wi-Fi apps, and popular game apps, that contain the malicious Godless code, Trend Micro had identified only one such Android app by name.Dubbed Summer Flashlight, the malicious app had been installed from 1,000 to 5,000 times, and was recently removed from the Google Play store, but it's still listed in search engine caches for the time being.Godless is the latest Android malware to use rooting exploits in order to gain a persistent foothold on victims' handsets. Based on the graphic, most victims are located in India, followed by Indonesia, and Thailand (9.47 percent). The US also has around 17,000 Godless downloads."Unknown developers with very little or no background information may be the source of these malicious apps," Trend Micro notes.So, in order to avoid being a victim to one such app, Android users are advised to avoid using third-party app stores and always "review the developer" when downloading apps even from Google's official store.
Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.

What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?

Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.

Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property  there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:

You get to see exactly what will happen to your money

When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.

Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.

A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.

You find out about potential major repairs

Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.

If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.

You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on

One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.

Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.

You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for

While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.

This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.

Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.

You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price

If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.

You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.

You can sell your home faster and for more money

If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.

In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.

Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.

Your home will hold its value longer

As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.

When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.

You can make smart decisions about property investments

Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.

If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.

There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.

If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage

If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.

They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.

You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors

If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.

For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.

You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition

Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.

You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.

Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.

As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war?

You voted:
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.

Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.

In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.

India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.

Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.

But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?

Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.

If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.

I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.

I want more variation in masturbation

I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.

If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.

What is sex toys for Indian?

Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.

It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.

They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.

Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...

[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
Hunter Arnold, of Creal Springs, has been promoted to manager at Accu-Grow Lawn and Tree Care in Marion.

Arnold replaces Al Lenz, who will be retiring June 30 after 20 years of service with the company.

After his retirement, Lenz will continue as a consultant for Accu-Grow on a part-time basis. Accu-Grow serves all of Southern Illinois and is located at 315 S. Granite St. in Marion. Call Arnold at 618-997-4769 to discuss any lawn or landscaping needs.
The Illinois CPA Society recently honored Marcus Odom, a full professor and the Deloitte and Touche faculty fellow at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, with its Outstanding Educator Award.

Odom was recognized for significant contributions to accounting education in Illinois through leadership, teaching excellence and active involvement in the accounting profession. He received the honor June 14 at the Illinois CPA Societys annual Leadership Recognition Dinner in Chicago.

As a professor in the Universitys school of accountancy, Odom teaches upper-level and master-level auditing, information systems, and managerial accounting courses. Odom served as the director of the school of accountancy from 2004 through 2014 and currently serves as director of the schools Master of Accountancy program and its internship program.

Odom also served on the Illinois CPA Societys Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015.
CARBONDALE  During a Race Unity Group discussion June 21, Harvey Welch  chair for the Carbondale Park District Board  said reflections of his past demonstrates the significance of the city's Super Splash Park  and the Park District Board's initiatives to gather youth from various backgrounds and lifestyles at the facility.

"When I was a little one I couldn't get in the pool based on my skin color," he said. "So it's important to me that these little kids get a chance to know each other."





Despite the racial prejudices that kept Welch from enjoying an aquatic experience in the time of his youth, Welch said he sought other ways to participate in his community.

A skill, the 85-year-old Centralia native said youth in the community should adapt.

"I experienced the trauma of not being able to swim in a pool. That put a scar on me and it will always be there," Welch said. "Thankfully (with support from) my mom, my sisters, and my wife I was able to say, 'Hey, this is not going to limit me. I am going to do what I can to be a citizen participating in this environment.'"

Kathy Renfro, the executive director for the city's Park District, relates the initiative to a novel by Marine Biologist and Author Wallace J. Nichols.

In his novel, Blue Minds, Nicholas addresses the emotional, physical, psychological behaviors of human beings in an aquatic setting.

"He came up with the neuroscience theory to support the theory that people actually do behave differently in, and around, water," she said. "So it sort of gave us affirmation that we could be the vehicle that changes the way we interact with each other as community members."

Based on Nicholas' research, Renfro said she  in cooperation with initiating unity with youth  adopted Nicholas' 100 Days of Blue, which encourages visitors to the Super Splash Park to share their experiences through photos and videos.

"Water can change the way we relate to each other," she said. "So we are asking people to participate in that, and again it's an extension to the community to get people to share their personal experiences around water."
For the past week, it has been hot outside with blistering temperatures reaching well into the mid-90s, and while many may have the cool homes and offices, there are some who make their living by working outside.

Construction workers, laborers, and other outside professions have to take extra precautions in the hot summer months, and be aware of the signs of heat-related illnesses.

Dr. Joshua Miksanek of Emergency Department at Herrin Hospital said extra breaks and staying hydrated is a must for those who have to be outside.

He said signs such as a rapid heartbeat or breathing harder than usual is an early warning sign that something could be wrong. Also, cramps, muscle pains, and feeling weak are signs that a person should probably take a break. He said finding shade and as little as a cool mist could help.

Coming back too early from a break could also be costly because the body will be unable to function properly, Miksanek said.

If you try to come back too soon if you getting to the heat stroke level, it is going to be hard to get any work done, he said.

Laura Wilson, safety manager at E.T. Simonds Construction Company in Carbondale, said there are safety training for supervisors and employees.

We try to provide shade when it isnt available for those on the job, she said. We provide them with water and Gatorade. We make sure somebody is keep an eye on the workers for signs.

She said the company allows for extra breaks, and training has been provided to spot when somebody is experiencing heat-related illnesses.

Nancy Fricke, co-owner of Samron Midwest Contractor, said the summer months are a very dangerous time of year.

She said the company just had a safety meeting on a job site this past week.

There arent going to be any issues with taking breaks. In fact, we encourage it, Fricke said.

She said the company even shut down a job site earlier in the week because of the heat. Many times, the company will have their employees come in earlier, so they can leave earlier before the hottest part of the day comes.

Miksanek said it is important to keep an eye on elderly loved ones during heat waves.

If you have some loved ones that live by themselves, you should check on them and see how their house feels, he said.

When the air conditioning breaks down, or when people are trying to get by with open windows and fans, their bodies just cant deal with it as well, he said. Young children are a major concern as well, because parents may often think it is a fever, but it could be a heat illness, he said.
CARBONDALE  Carbondale will celebrate one of the local legends of music, Tawl Paul, also known as Paul Frederick, on Tawl Paul Day from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at PKs.

In 2013, then-Carbondale Mayor Joel Fritzler issued a proclamation declaring June 23 as Tawl Paul Day.

Bill Carter, who sits in as guitarist for Tawl Paul and Slapin Henry Blue, remembered that first celebration.

Mayor Fritzler declared Tawl Paul Day, as he did for Large Larry. We had 40 different musicians show up for the first show, some from Texas, some from Chicago, Carter said. It was so large an event that we ended up at two venues. It started at Hangar and ended at PKs.

Carter added that the band has been playing at PKs for 27 years.

Were regulars. They decided the following year to do it again. Its an annual event now, Carter said.

Charles Vieceli of PKs said the bar has hosted the event since 2013. This years celebration will start with a potluck at 4 p.m., followed by an evening of music with Tawl Paul and Slappin Henry Blue and many other artists.

Its generally early hours, so the old folks can attend as well as the college kids. Well start at 5 p.m. and well play until 9 p.m. or later, if were having fun, Carter said.

Lew Hendrix and Cathie Hutcheson of Banjovi will join a many different bands and individuals to honor Tawl Paul. Carter said he is not really sure who will attend, but the crowd will be big.

We will call people up and have them do what they do, Carter said.

Frederick has been singing the blues for more than 40 years. Carter said he started in the early 70s. Slappin Henry Blue debuted on March 17, 1989, at PKs, according to an article published in 2009 by The Southern Illinoisan.

Its nice that we recognize Paul and his continuous contribution to the music scene in Carbondale, Carter said.
MAKANDA -- Interested in running a camp site in Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking proposals for operation of a roughly 257-acre camp that that been operated since 1953 as the Girl Scouts Camp Cedar Point.

The Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois, the regional council that oversees Girl Scout troops across the bottom third of Illinois, has decided not to renew its cooperative agreement with the federal government to continue operating the camp. The Girl Scouts agreement expires on Nov. 10.

While there is a group, Friends of Camp Cedar Point, working to try to save the 63-year-old camp from closure, refuge managers have begun the process of trying to find a replacement operator given that they were informed last fall that the Girl Scouts intended to retire its resident camp. The refuge is under the umbrella of the Fish and Wildlife Services.

We really want to get some proposals in and see what we can do to get another camp going again, said Richard Speer, refuge manager at the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.

According to a news release from the refuge, there are more than 50 facilities on-site totaling more than 26,000 square feet. Those structures include a site managers residence, dining hall, lodges/cabins, shower houses, camping units, maintenance buildings, trails, and a beach front area on Little Grassy Lake.

Speer said late this past week that no proposals had been submitted yet. The request for proposals has been available on The Federal Business Opportunities website  fbo.gov  since June 10, he said. The deadline listed for submitting proposals is July 10.

Speer said the refuges goal is to find a camp operator that fits with the mission of the federally owned site. It is one of four group camps located on the refuge.

The others are a Boy Scout camp, and camps operated by the Presbyterian and Methodist churches.

The primary purpose of the camps is to promote environmental education, outdoor recreation and conservation, according to the refuges new release.

For more information, go to: fbo.gov (Federal Business Opportunities) and search for Solicitation No. F16PS00712.

Speer said that navigating the site can be a bit tricky. He encouraged anyone who needs help accessing the request for proposal, or with questions, should call Beth Kerley at 618-998-5910, or beth_kerley@fws.gov for further information.
To the Editor:

Last weekend I returned home from work to find a flyer left on my door by the Terri Bryan campaign. I question their targeting my house because I am a Democratic Party precinct committeeman. That said, I did take the time to carefully read her literature.

Some things Terri and I agree on, other things we don't. It said, "Terri supports term limits to stop career politicians . . . " I've found that there are of a lot of voters who share this view. It is certainly a concern of mine. But, I wonder how concerned Terri is about term limits.

It is a bit hypocritical of Rep. Bryant to say she favors term limits after supporting career politician Mike Best for 11 terms. I remember hearing years ago Bost say that he too favored term limits. Obviously, he evolved. Since she has followed in his footsteps into his old job, I suspect she too will evolve on her term limits position. We all remember the Congressman John Shimkus evolution.

James (Jim) Clough

Murphysboro
Pop Quiz: Name a campaign promise made two years ago by your state representative/senator during his or her election campaign. Well give you a minute to think about it.

The minute probably didnt help. A study recently released by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute indicates that specific promises and courageous stands on issues are largely nonexistent in Illinois politics. This should hardly be a surprise.

John Jackson, a visiting professor at the Public Policy Institute and a co-author of the 90-page Simon Institute report, had this to say, People have to support those who step out occasionally and put their career on the line, and most legislators wont do that. He went on to say that the tendency to pull ones head down until it blows over is the prevailing tendency among the political leadership class."

Sure, thats the ticket. Keep your head down and hope that things just blow over.

But, of course, they have not. This time is different. Weve endured corrupt politics and incarcerated governors. Weve endured lies and broken promises. Weve endured the willful penalization of our future selves to finance the appetites of our present selves. But it has caught up with us, and our decades-long love affair for electing those who promise to let us have our cake and eat it, too has now caused pain for our present selves. Now that wasnt supposed to happen.

The Policy Institute report concludes that we the voters are co-conspirators in the current situation. Our data support the argument that the voters themselves bear significant responsibility for the current debt crisis and gridlocked government. Not only did they elect the leaders responsible for this state of affairs, but their steadfast insistence on the untenable high-service/low-tax status quo gave the politicians permission to drive the vehicle of state to the edge of the cliff, where it teeters today on the brink.

But having been complicit in creating the petri dish in which our budget crisis festers, we are not powerless to change it.

There will again be tens of millions spent this fall by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party just on state campaigns. The advertisements will all look pretty much the same. Theyll blame the opposition party. Theyll blame the opposition candidate as the person responsible for all of your problems. And then theyll subtly infer that they will miraculously cure the states problems without raising taxes or decreasing services. And while approving this ad, they hope that youll forget that theyve been the incumbent for a long, long time.

Sound public policy necessitates courage by those elected to create that policy. Term limits are often the electorates prescription to the disease of partisanship and job preservation. They have been enacted in 15 states and support for term limits for state legislative office is very high among Illinois voters, where 78 percent either favor or strongly favor them.

Without a change to the state constitution to force term limits, the electorate could exert its will and implement term limits by simply voting out incumbents. The electorate could make this Novembers election about incumbent vs. challenger rather than Democrat vs. Republican. And we believe that it would be a very good place to start.
The members of the Orangeburg Rotary Club awarded scholarships to five area high school graduates who will be enrolling in college in the fall semester.

The scholarship awards were presented on June 21 at a special meeting of the Orangeburg Rotary Club that was attended by the students and their parents. Each scholarship was for $1,000.

The recipients of the Orangeburg Rotary Club Scholarships are: Alexis Hunter, a graduate of Bethune-Bowman High School, who will be attending Clemson University; Graham McDonald, a graduate of Orangeburg Preparatory School, who will be attending the University of South Carolina Honors College; Lindsey Ott, a graduate of Branchville High School, who will be attending Winthrop University; Keosha Simpson, a graduate of Bethune-Bowman High School, who will be attending Newberry College; and Will Williamson, a graduate of Orangeburg Preparatory School, who will be attending the University of South Carolina.

The Orangeburg Rotary Club has been awarding college scholarships to deserving students since 1980, said Bob McCurry, president of the Orangeburg Rotary Club.

He added, The Orangeburg Rotary Club is a local service club that supports a number of charitable causes throughout the area, and awarding scholarships to these outstanding young people is a tradition we are proud to continue.

The Orangeburg Rotary Club was chartered on May 19, 1921 and continues to fulfill its mission of Service Above Self as it approaches nearly 100 years of service to the Orangeburg community.

Those interested in joining the Rotary Club can contact Bob McCurry or visit one of the clubs weekly meetings. The Orangeburg Rotary Club meets at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoons at Cornerstone Community Church, 1481 Chestnut Street, Orangeburg.
This dedication is for a true person who earned it, Eutawville resident Susie Washington said at the official dedication of the Eutawville Fire Station's headquarters on Dawson Street.

The highlight of the ceremony was catching former Eutawville fire chief Jim Logan by surprise, when Eutawville Fire Chief Stephen Shuler announced that the building was being dedicated in honor of him.

I had to ride down and see what yall were doing, Logan said.

About an hour after he arrived, the building dedication got underway and unbeknownst to him, Logan was the guest of honor.

Shuler thanked Logan for the years he spent leading the Eutawville Fire Department.

He noted that Logans dedication to the community through about 15 years of service as its chief will forever be remembered on a plaque that will be placed on the outside of the fire station.

Shuler also presented Logan with a personal plaque in appreciation for his dedication.

I enjoy helping people, Logan said.

He retired as chief in spring 2011 because of health concerns.

What Im most proud of is getting able to see these youngsters beginning to take over (the fire department), Logan said.

Orangeburg County Fire System Director Gene Ball said Logan was instrumental in the formation of the countywide fire service 20 years ago.

Logans devotion to fire service is one for the record, Bell said. He noted that Logan drove a new fire truck from Appleton, Wisconsin to Orangeburg County and before Logan arrived at the fire station with the new truck, he was already answering a fire call with it.

Eutawville firefighter Jeremiah Gathers said he and Logan served together for several years. He said he tried time and time again to beat Logan to fire calls, but no matter how much effort he made, Logan would always beat him there.

Gathers said he would put his clothes, boots and gear at his bedside so he would be prepared to get dressed to go to a fire immediately even in the middle of the night.

But even when he made deliberate efforts to respond to a fire call faster than Logan, he was no match for the firefighting veteran.

Eutawville Fire Commission Chairman Jeff Barnes expressed his appreciation to Logan and to the Eutawville firefighters.

These are all volunteers, Barnes said. They dont take a dime for what they do and theyre often taking out of their own pockets to help the community."

Were proud of our new facility, he said.

The fire station was built on Dawson Street about three years ago, but hadnt had a formal dedication or open house since it came into service.

The Eutawville Fire Department recently acquired a former Coca-Cola distribution truck for use as a service truck.

It will cost approximately $7,500 to retrofit the vehicle for fire service needs, Barnes said.

At Saturdays dedication and open house festivities, opportunities were available for the public to make donations toward the renovation of the service truck.

The fire department is also scheduled to receive a new tanker truck funded through a federal grant.
Heavy rains began to pound The T&D Region late Friday night on Oct. 2, 2015.

The rains fell steadily on Saturday before picking up in intensity late that afternoon into Sunday morning.

When all was said and done, the storm dropped about 20 inches of water in the Holly Hill area and copious amounts of rain elsewhere. It caused dams to breach, rivers to overflow their banks and individuals to flee their homes.

The Church of the Redeemer's Camp Anderson was hit hard during the historic flooding. Heavy rains overwhelmed the infrastructure, with water breaching the dam and draining the pond.

The dam, located on Lake Edisto Road, is classified as a Class 2 dam by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

This means the dam is considered a significant hazard, meaning a failure could damage a home, industrial facility, commercial facility, secondary highway, railroad or public utilities.

DHEC issued an emergency order for the churchs dam, meaning the church was required to lower the water level or empty the reservoir and to have the dam inspected and repaired.

DHEC says engineers are working on conceptual plans for the repair of the dam. Camp officials could not be reached for information on the dams future.

"DHEC continues to work with dam owners to provide technical assistance so that they can make final decisions on the future of their dams and implement the repairs," DHEC spokesman Robert Yanity said.

According to DHEC records, the dam was inspected three times since 2008, with the last being in December 2014.

In December 2014, the dam received a satisfactory rating.

The Camp Anderson dam was not the only one that succumbed to Mother Nature's fury.

Of the 52 dams that were breached statewide during the flood, four were in Orangeburg County, two were in Calhoun County and none were in Bamberg County, according to DHEC.

None of the dams which breached locally were considered Class 1 or high-hazard dams, meaning the dam's failure would lead to a loss of life and have a great impact on structures near its vicinity.

The other Orangeburg County dam issued an emergency order by DHEC was the Culler Pond dam owned by North Edisto Farms. The dam is near Salem Branch Road in North.

The dam impounds Salem Creek and was classified as high, which has the same level of hazard as the significant classification.

DHEC spokeswoman Cassandra Harris said an application for the repair of the Culler dam was submitted on June 9. The Culler Pond dam owner could not be reached for comment.

Yanity and Harris explained that should a dam breach, the dam owner is responsible for repairing and overseeing the structure.

If an owner decides to repair or remove a dam, the owner must follow state requirements, including filing a permit application and plans to DHEC. Dams throughout the state are regulated by the S.C. Dams and Reservoirs Act.

After repairs are made, each dam is inspected by a professional engineer, according to DHEC.

Yanity said all high-hazard dams (Class 1) are inspected every two years and significant-hazard dams (Class 2) are inspected every three years.

After the historic flooding in October 2015, DHEC teams assessed all high-hazard and significant-hazard, and some low-hazard (Class 3) dams statewide as a precaution, Yanity said.

While the dams safety hazard classification refers to the consequences of a dam's failure, it does not reveal the dam's current condition.

Also in Orangeburg County, temporary repairs have been made on Busbees Pond Dam on Firetower Road northeast of Springfield and Cleveland Dam on Cleveland Street near Elloree. Both dams received emergency orders requiring action from DHEC.

"We are currently working with the responsible parties to evaluate the repairs that were made and to determine if additional work is needed," Harris said.

Busbees Pond Dam impounds Tampa Creek.

The hazard for the dam was described by DHEC as "significant.

DHEC records reveal the dam was inspected three times since 2008 with the last being in December 2014. The last inspection report came back fair.

The Cleveland Dam impounds Browning Branch with a hazard potential identified as low, meaning that minimal property damage would result from its failure.

According to DHEC records, the dam was inspected in February 2015. The dam was repaired shortly after the flood.

Calhoun County

In Calhoun County, DHEC is in contact with Marion Shores LLC about its dam off of Community Club Road south of Lone Star. The dams potential hazard is classified by DHEC as low.

The agency is also in contact with Steven and Katherine Patterson, owners of the dam at Church Camp Road near Cameron, which breached. The hazard for the dam is also classified by DHEC as low.

"As of today, the department has not received a permit application request for repair for either of the two dams in Calhoun County," Harris said.

DHEC records indicate that because the dams have a low hazard potential, they do not have any past inspection reports. Low hazard dams may cause minimal property damage, according to DHEC.

Marion Shores LLC could not be reached for comment. Messages left for the Pattersons were not immediately returned.

Yanity said in an effort to keep the public informed, the agency provides updates on its website about confirmed dam breaches and ongoing efforts being taken by the department following the flood.

Non-emergency orders

In addition to the dams which breached and needed immediate attention, DHEC and the Army Corps of Engineers inspected all of the state's 652 Class 1 and Class 2 dams and identified its low-hazard dams after the flood. Statewide, 184 dams were identified for inspection.

DHEC issued non-emergency inspection letters for five Orangeburg County and three Calhoun county dams fitting this classification. No inspection letters were issued for any dams in Bamberg County.

The letters notified owners about dam damage and required an inspection by a professional engineer. DHEC says these dams do not pose a public safety risk.

These dams in Orangeburg County included:

 Class 2: Landings Dam on Landing Way off of Columbia Road in Orangeburg -- The dam was inspected in September 2015. DHEC says the dam has also been inspected and reviewed since the flood. The department has determined repairs are needed and has asked for a plan of action to address repairs by Aug. 5, 2016.

 Class 2: Pricketts Pond Dam off of Russell Street near Cameron -- The dam was inspected in March 2012 was deemed to be in fair condition. Following the flood, DHEC inspected and reviewed the dam and requested an action plan by owner Lee Prickett by Aug. 16.

Prickett said debris has been removed on the face of the dam and a temporary siphoning system is used.

 Class 2: Robert Shirer Dam near Elloree -- The dam was inspected in March 2015. It was rated as a satisfactory at the time. DHEC has inspected the dam and a permit has been issued for repairs after the flood. The repairs are ongoing.

 Class 2: Bolin Millpond Dam -- DHEC said the owners have hired engineers and have submitted a permit application. The application has been reviewed and comments provided back to the owner for response. The location of the dam is uncertain. The owners could not be reached for comment.

 Class 2: Upper Santee Shores Dam near Santee -- The dam was inspected by DHEC and the inspection is currently under review.

Dam owner Mike Holt said the dam sustained superficial damage that is primarily cosmetic in nature.

"We were fortunate," Holt said. "We had a little bit of wash on it, but it is just classified as normal maintenance. There is no immediate danger."

The dams in Calhoun County included:

 Class 2: Moss Lake Dam off of Cameron Road near Creston -- Dam was listed as fair in March 2012 inspection due to some clearing on dam. The dam was inspected after the flood and DHEC is currently reviewing the report.

 Class 2: Peter Buycks House Pond Dam near Gadsen  The dam was listed as poor during a March 2012 inspection. DHEC noted a sink hole was seen from a downstream slope of the dam and a pipe through the dam was failing.

DHEC has inspected and reviewed the dam. The department has determined repairs are needed and plan of action by July 15, 2016.

 Class 2: Dorothy Rast Pond Dam -- The location of the dam is unknown. The dam was inspected and reviewed with plan of action needed to address repairs by July 29. The owner could not be reached for comment.

Keeping up with dams

DHEC says in the T&D Region there are four high-hazard, 33 significant-hazard and 101 low-hazard dams.

Calhoun County has one high-hazard, 10 significant-hazard and 106 low-hazard dams. In Bamberg County there are no high-hazard, no significant-hazard and 21 low-hazard dams.

According to the Association of State Dam Safety website, through 2012 (the latest data available) there were 162 potentially high-hazard and 463 potentially significant-hazard dams in the state. About 1,755 are considered low-hazard dams.

Overall, there are 2,439 regulated dams statewide according to the Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams. These dams are regulated because they reach a specific height or hold a certain amount of water.

Under South Carolina law, the state only regulates dams that are at least 25 feet tall or hold back at least 50 acre-feet, or 16.3 million gallons, of water.

In Orangeburg County, there are 142 regulated dams and in Calhoun County there are 112 regulated dams according to the Corps of Engineers Inventory. Both counties rank third and sixth in the state in the number of regulated dams. Bamberg County does not make the top 10 list of regulated dams in the state.

However, across the state the S.C. Emergency Management Division estimates there are 10,000 to 20,000 dams that are not regulated by government dam safety programs.

Following the flood, state officials began to research the state's dam inventory and determine whether previously unregulated dams would need to be regulated.

The responsibility to inspect these unregulated dams resides with the dam owner, which is typically a private property owner.

The state does not have a funding program to assist dam owners with repair, abandonment or removal of dams.
The Legislature has missed another chance to make government more accessible and open to the people it serves.

Forget the critics who contend changes in the S.C. Freedom of Information Act are championed by the press because they primarily are applicable to reporters in their daily jobs. Legislation aimed at strengthening FOIA is about access for every South Carolinian every bit as much as for the journalists whose mission it is to inform the people of the state.

After six years of pushing for changes that a majority of the states lawmakers and organizations representing local governments support, the General Assembly has completed another session without giving its approval.

The legislation this year passed the House 90-16 and won approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 17-1 vote. But it ran into an unexpected obstacle with the opposition of a single senator who used the upper chambers rules to stall it late in the legislative process.

House proponents led by Aiken Republican Rep. Bill Taylor thought they had a legislative maneuver that would get the FOIA improvements put into law, but the tactic failed when the Senate refused to go along.

The outcome leaves doubt as to just how serious lawmakers are about making the FOIA improvements.

The Senates late explanation was that there was no time remaining in 2016 for its members to debate the changes, but reality is lawmakers in both chambers have been familiar with the proposal in essentially the same form for more than a half decade.

The changes are sensible and are badly needed to put teeth back into an FOIA that when approved 40 years ago was a model for other states.

 If an individual (or media organization) has a problem getting a request for public information filled, the person at present must file a lawsuit, hire an attorney and take the matter before a circuit judge. Depending on the severity of the situation, individuals and media likely and understandably will not want to spend the money and have so long a time go by as a request runs through the legal process.

The legislation would create an Office of Freedom of Information Act Review with the Administrative Law Court to hear direct challenges from citizens or media pertaining to alleged FOIA violations. Public officials, bodies and agencies could also use the review process to seek relief from unduly burdensome, overly broad and otherwise improper requests to public bodies.

 Criminal penalties for FOIA violations, which have never been imposed, would be removed. The legislation makes violations subject to awards for damages and attorney fees.

 The waiting period for response to a request for access to public records would be reduced from 15 days to 10. If the records at issue are older than two years, an agency would have 20 days to respond to an FOIA request. At present, no time limits exist for when documents must be provided.

 Documents considered by a public body in public session would be available to the public.

 Agencies would be required to post fees for searching and copying documents. The reasonable cost specified in FOIA has come to mean anything from an agency billing a person thousands of dollars for research to amounts far above market rates for making copies of documents.

The bill requires agencies fees not exceed the prorated hourly salary of the lowest-paid agency employee. Copying fees would have to be at the commercial rate and cannot be charged if documents are transmitted by electronic means.

Making matters worse is what happened to related legislation setting parameters for public release of police dashcam videos. The Senate approved a measure to require police to get a judge's approval to withhold such videos from release.

The late effort to combine the FOIA changes with the dashcam video bill spelled doom for both.

But there is always another year and our hope is the will of the majority of lawmakers will finally prevail in 2017.

Until then, the people of South Carolina, not just the press, lose.

Few people or organizations have the resources to bring litigation against local governments that violate the law, and these governments know that. So they feel secure in violating the law, meeting behind closed doors, withholding public information.

A bill working its way through the General Assembly would address this problem. It would create an administrator who could hear disputes about public information. If a local government denies you information, you could appeal to this administrator and he or she could force the local government to give you the information. On the other hand, if you were pestering a school board with frivolous, time-consuming requests, the administrator could rule for the school board.

The bill would create an enforcement mechanism for the Freedom of Information Act that wouldnt force citizens to take on the costs of litigation to defend their rights.

The bill would also require local governments to respond more quickly to requests and would limit their ability to delay delivering information. And it would limit their ability to charge unreasonable fees for information.

The bill had been blocked in the Senate by a single senator, Margie Bright Matthews, D-Walterboro, but House members have restored hope for the bill through a procedural maneuver that may allow senators to bypass her objection.

South Carolinas Freedom of Information Act is meant to ensure that you can watch over your city and county councils and your school district to make sure they are making the correct decisions. It needs some teeth so that South Carolinians can enforce their rights without the burden of bringing a lawsuit. The bill needs to pass.
WASHINGTON -- At this ominous moment -- as England seems about to destroy the European Union by voting to abandon it, when the Arab Spring threatens to turn into an Arab winter -- what possible reason is there for the statue of an early Arab leader returned to its place in an Arab city to grasp our attention?

The late Habib Bourguiba, the handsome, Frenchified Tunisian revolutionary who led his country to oust the French and declare independence in 1957, remains little known to Americans.

But the man who became president of Tunisia for three decades and was never known for his modesty -- he once declared, "I invented Tunisia!" -- has now had his legacy revived. Is it possible that, in the doing, other important things will also be revived?

Bourguiba and his horse have been brought back this June to their old spot on an elegant downtown boulevard in Tunis, and this unusual act of state signals a change in thinking, both on where Tunisia is going and, although remotely, on where America is going and how it goes about saving the world (in great part from itself).

Bourguiba, you see, was a worldly man, but he was the personification of a specific philosophy of state and status. "He was a man of specificity and of possibility, not of diffuse and grandiose plans about things that could never be," I wrote in my book "Tunisia: A Journey Through a Country That Works," published in 2003.

Indeed, every historian and biographer of the melodramatic and often enchanting Bourguiba noted the extent to which he eschewed violent revolution a la Francaise, or even a la Arabesque, and embraced moderation and gradualism in developing his nation. His philosophy would come to be called "politics by stages" or a "strategy based on realism" or, perhaps most important, "evolutionary change."

And it worked, if not wonders, to bring Tunisia into the modern world. It was in Tunisia that the Arab Spring began, of course; in Tunisia that a group of reformers only a year ago won the Nobel Peace Prize; and in Bourguiba's Tunisia that the once-rigid Islamic political party has now accepted the formerly unthinkable multiparty state.

But his story becomes even more interesting because, in these same days as the E.U. seems to be collapsing, we have also heard the respected former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, here in Washington to receive the Brzezinski Prize for his "strategic thinking with moral purpose," speaking of "evolutionary change" as the answer to the gnawing questions of what should or could be America's role in the world to come.

In his speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where Zbigniew Brzezinski is a shining light of rational scholarship, Gates spoke of how America had long wrestled with the conflict between high-minded idealism and realism in its search for how to bring democracy to others in the world.

"The Atlantic democracies came together to get the big things right," he said at one point in his acceptance speech, "but short of total war, democracy cannot be imposed on others by force." However, he then asserted, there are "many ways short of force."

Bob Gates speaks so reasonably, without cant or gyration, that sometimes one does not quite grasp the extent of what he is saying. But it was suddenly clear that he was speaking about the last 50 years of American foreign policy, so often disastrous: from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan. Reforms, when they go against centuries of experience, cannot be achieved overnight, he said, quoting other philosophers.

In short, it's time for an end to the idea of overnight revolution and time for a new era, much like the one Habib Bourguiba ushered in in Tunisia, in which step after evolutionary step is built upon, so that time and movement do not destroy what the reformers set out to build. I would add, although he did not use the word, that it's time for an end to "empire dreaming," the sickness of the neo-conservatives who got us into Iraq, Afghanistan and the Greater Middle East where -- have you noted? -- we are still deeply stuck in the quicksands of history.

So, perhaps there IS a new era emerging. I note around Washington's think tanks that the idea of evolution and carefulness in American actions is growing. The CATO Institute recently had a seminar on "restraint" in foreign policy, for instance.

Maybe it's not hopeless. Maybe we can get back on our horses, too, and start to ride off into the right sunset for a change.

-----

Georgie Anne Geyer has been a foreign correspondent and commentator on international affairs for more than 40 years. She can be reached at gigi_geyer@juno.com.
An ordinary sociopath would have known to pretend shock and sorrow after the terrible mass murders in Orlando. Shielded from ordinary human interaction by his arrogance and wealth, however, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump had no clue how to act. So he sent out an instinctive, self-serving reaction on Twitter:

"Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!"

Meghan McCain, Arizona Sen. John McCain's daughter, reacted incredulously: "You're congratulating yourself because 50 people are dead this morning in a horrific tragedy?"

Even more pointed was GOP consultant and TV talking head Ana Navarro: "Translating Trump: '20 people (sic) are dead. 42 people are injured. But of course, 1st, it's all about Me. Me. Me.' Ugh."

Both women spoke for millions. Is there no tragedy so grave, no sorrow so profound, that it can penetrate the hardened carapace of Donald Trump's ego?

Clearly not. Unless polls showing a steep drop in Trump's chances to win the presidency are all wrong, many Americans are just now awakening to that reality. Unless they find some way to save themselves, Republicans are on the verge of nominating a psychological cripple: an ego-driven, self-obsessed narcissist preoccupied with fantasies of power, and incapable of empathy.

Too harsh? Overnight, Trump doubled down. In an interview on Fox News, he allowed as how President Obama had not only failed to prevent ISIS-inspired homophobe Omar Mateen from massacring 50 innocent souls in Orlando's Pulse nightclub, but that he's probably a traitor.

"Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind -- you know, people can't believe it," he said. "People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on ... (Obama) doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands -- it's one or the other and either one is unacceptable."

In his withering fashion, the president dismissed Trump's "yapping" while pronouncing the supposedly forbidden words "radical Islamists."

"It's a political talking point," he said. "It's not a strategy ... Not once has an adviser of mine said, 'Man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around.' Not once."

Obama's mockery makes Trump crazy precisely because it diminishes his shaky self-esteem. People who are genuinely self-confident don't feel the need for constant boasting. The clinical term for what ails the candidate is "Narcissistic Personality Disorder."

Improperly -- shrinks aren't supposed to diagnose public figures they haven't met -- but no doubt accurately, a growing number of clinicians have used the phrase to explain Trump's disturbing personality traits.

"He's so classic that I'm archiving video clips of him to use in workshops because there's no better example of his characteristics," psychologist George Simon, who conducts seminars on manipulative behavior, told Vanity Fair.

"He's like a dream come true."

And that was back last fall during GOP debates, when Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush and Megyn Kelly were Trump's targets of choice. Having bluffed and bulldozed his way into the Republican nomination, the candidate now finds himself in a new world where different rules apply. He appears incapable of adjusting.

"Success emboldens malignant narcissists to become even more grandiose, reckless and aggressive," writes psychologist John D. Gartner. "Sure enough, after winning the nomination, there has been no 'pivot' towards more reasonable behavior and ideas, just the opposite. He has become more shrill, combative and openly racist."

Trump's unprovoked attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ethnicity appear to have repulsed even voters resentful of liberal cant about racism, but who do think of themselves as fair. In consequence, fully 56 percent in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll had a "strongly unfavorable" view of Trump -- the kind of judgment that may be irreversible.

Josh Marshall sums things up from a political perspective on Talking Points Memo: "Almost every day since he clinched the nomination almost six weeks ago has been a surreal tour through Trump's damaged psyche -- the insecurities, silly feuds, the mix of self-serving lies and attacks on people he's supposed to be courting ... The daily particulars are so mesmerizing that you have to step back to see that Trump isn't even running a campaign."

So now we learn that the Trump campaign is flat broke. How can that be? This is a guy who claims he's worth $10 billion and who was supposed to be self-financing his campaign. Except now he's not.

Ten billion is 10,000 million. If Trump were anywhere near that rich, the $42 million in Hillary Clinton's campaign coffers would be chump change.

Can he sustain this act until November? Can Trump's fragile psyche risk losing to a girl?

I'm starting to have my doubts.

-----

Arkansas Times columnist Gene Lyons is a National Magazine Award winner and co-author of "The Hunting of the President" (St. Martin's Press, 2000). You can email Lyons at eugenelyons2@yahoo.com.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Euros over for Irish Blues as they are beaten by France

, 26 June,



Ireland, with three Blues players in their ranks (but only Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy in the starting XI), were hoping to spring another shock and continue their story of recovery from the brink of elimination following a heavy and potentially damaging defeat to Belgium in their second group game.

That 3-0 defeat had left Martin O'Neill's side with just one point and facing a mountain to climb with the Italians looming as their final opponents in the group.

Robbie Brady's late strike sealed a win, though, and they could secure a place in the last eight if they could overcome the French.

They were on their way early on when Brady converted a penalty in only the second minute but the game turned in eight minutes of the second half.

Antoine Griezmann powered home an equalizer just short of the hour mark and then put France into the lead three minutes later when he swept home an Olivier Giroud knockdown.

Shane Duffy's red card five minutes after that made Irelands's task exponentially more difficult and they were unable to claw their way back to parity.

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

About these ads

 ToffeeWeb
Major central banks will limit market turbulence as much as possible after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the head of the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday.



Some of the world's biggest central banks offered financial backstops on Friday to soothe plunging markets after the British referendum, and some intervened in currency markets as they worried that the volatility could hit growth.



The BIS, a Switzerland-based forum of major central banks that is holding its annual general meeting this weekend, said on Saturday evening that central banks are ready to cooperate to support financial stability.



"There is likely to be a period of uncertainty and adjustment," BIS head Jaime Caruana said in the text of a speech to be delivered on Sunday. "With good cooperation at the global level, I am confident that uncertainty can be contained and that adjustments will proceed as smoothly as possible."



The Bank of England has offered to provide more than 250 billion pounds plus "substantial" access to foreign currency to ease any squeeze in markets, and Governor Mark Carney has said it would consider more measures if needed.



The US Federal Reserve has said it is ready to provide dollar liquidity through its swap lines with central banks, "as necessary, to address pressures in global funding markets, which could have adverse implications for the US "economy" .



Caruana said stronger capital and liquidity buffers put in place by banks had made markets more resilient in the face of disturbances, and central banks were ready to ensure markets keep working in an orderly manner.



"Central banks have acted swiftly in the past, they stand ready to act again, and they have the tools," he said.  Reuters
With Brexit confirmed as the UKs new reality, investors from the Middle East region, who are looking to buy residential property in London, will now benefit by up to 31 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2007, according to property expert Cluttons.



With Britain waking up to a new and uncertain dawn, Cluttons said, that for those invested in the property market, the deterioration in the value of sterling overnight will have erased any gains in recent years, particularly buyers from the Gulf, whose currencies retain a fixed peg to the US dollar.



"Any US dollar or UAE dirham investors will find the price of an average prime Central London residential asset $96,000 less than it was on June 20," remarked Faisal Durrani, he head of research at Cluttons.



"Conversely of course, London residential property is now $96,000 cheaper for international buyers looking to enter the market," he added.



According to Durrani, the long-term implications are too early to assess, "but we may start to see the unlocking of Londons stalled residential property market, with investors both exiting and entering the market as we head towards a period of demand volatility."



A silver lining today is that those from the Gulf eyeing up a London residential asset will find it 31 per cent cheaper than it was during the last market peak in Q3 2007," he stated.

"This means that we may be on the cusp of seeing a significant resumption in property investment activity in the British capital, mirroring the results of our recent Middle East Private Capital Survey, particularly as global investors seek out safe haven assets such as gold and Londons bricks and mortar, which we expect will retain its appeal," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
UAE Space Agency has teamed up global technology leader Lockheed Martin to launch a comprehensive dual-track space training programme for students and early career professionals in space fundamentals. 



In line with the UAEs national vision, the programme was developed as part of Lockheed Martins growing collaboration with the UAE Space Agency.



Designed to prepare tomorrows Emirati leaders for future careers in space, the programme will feature a comprehensive four-month space training programme that will take place at the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation and Security Solutions in Masdar City and in the US. The programme supports the UAEs strategic vision to create an indigenous talent pipeline of students and professionals inspired towards long-term careers in the space industry.



Dr Khalifa Mohamed Al Romaithi, chairman, UAE Space Agency, said: The UAE Space Agency recognizes the importance of partnering with a global space leader to inspire, train and develop future Emirati trailblazers in this field of space. Were proud to work with Lockheed Martin to develop capabilities and support knowledge transfer in this area of critical national significance. We look forward to seeing these early career professionals leading the UAEs space sector into a bright future.



Robert S Harward, chief executive Lockheed Martin UAE, said: Were committed to working together with the UAE Space Agency to execute their national priorities and space ambitions. We are excited to help develop the UAEs most important resource: the human potential that will power the country into space.



This programme reflects our support for this sector of vital importance to the UAE. Lockheed Martin has been at the forefront of space exploration technology since the beginning, and were deploying all of our expertise from around the world to encourage and train the UAE space explorers of tomorrow, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
The GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI) has signed a three-year partnership agreement Evonik, a global speciality chemicals company, in a move to develop high-performance boards in the Gulf.



Headquartered in Germany, Evonik has maintained a strategic role in Mena for more than four decades and in partnership with Tasnee erected the regions first superabsorbents production facility in Saudi Arabia.



We are delighted to have Evonik join our network of partners and sponsors as a Corporate Affiliate, said Jane Valls, executive director, GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI).



Now more than ever, sound board and governance practices are under the microscope of investors and most stakeholders. Working with a global leader like Evonik will support us in promoting the latest corporate governance trends and best practices, improving the effectiveness of boards, and as a result contributing positively to the development of GCC economies. We look forward to a fruitful cooperation and lasting relationship.



Klaus Engel, Group CEO of Evonik, said: In the complex and ever-changing world we live in, a company needs strong guiding principles to take position as a credible and reliable partner.



We at Evonik are aware of the responsibility that our company has and therefore consider the question of corporate governance a key element in our management philosophy; we believe that transparent corporate governance is the key to our good reputation and to sustainable value. For this purpose, Evonik has partnered with GCC Board Directors Institute to gain further insight into best practices in the Gulf, Engel added.



As a leading speciality chemicals company we are always on the lookout for partnerships with organisations that hold the same values as us, Michael Wring, president of Evonik Middle East, noted. We believe that by sharing our experiences with the GCC Board Directors Institute we can help promote best practice sharing at regional and international level, while also strengthening our business acumen needed to engage in successful economic activities. - TradeArabia News Service
India's defence procurement agency has cleared a proposal to buy 145 M777 Ultra Lightweight Howitzer artillery guns from BAE Systems in a deal worth an estimated $750 million, a defence ministry source said on Saturday.



Under the deal, 120 of the 145 guns will be assembled in India, said the source, who asked not to be identified in line with defence ministry rules.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to upgrade the country's military hardware by replenishing its range of artillery weapons after years of delays in ordering new equipment.



But Modi wants deals with foreign companies to include the setting up of factories and plants in India to boost the local industry.



BAE said in February it had chosen Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group to build a plant for the assembly of Howitzer artillery guns it hopes to sell to India.



The source said the proposal would soon be communicated to the US, where BAE manufactures the weapons.-Reuters
Midea Group Company, Chinas biggest appliance manufacturer, signed an agreement to buy an 80 per cent stake in Clivet SpA, an Italian maker of air conditioners.



The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year, pending anti-monopoly reviews, reported Bloomberg citing a company statement. The Chinese company, however, didnt reveal the value of the acquisition.



As part of the transaction, Midea will also acquire Clivet Espana and some properties, the statement stated.



Credit Agricole CIB is the sole financial adviser for Midea on the deal, while DC Advisory acts for Clivet, according to the statement.



The Chinese company began a tender offer last week to raise its stake in robot-maker Kuka AG, provoking calls from within the German government for an alternative European investor.



Midea offered 115 euros a share, contingent on it being able to increase its stake to at least 30 per cent, in a deal that values Kuka at 4.6 billion euros ($5.1 billion).-Bloomberg
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels and British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond in London on Monday, a senior State Department official said.



The trip comes as European Union and UK officials weigh the political and economic fallout from Friday's shock British referendum vote in favour of leaving the 28-nation bloc.



The senior official said Kerry would stress the importance of other members not following Britain and further weakening the EU.



US President Barack Obama had urged voters in Britain - long seen as Washington's closest European ally - not to approve Brexit.-Reuters
PetroChina, China's second-largest state-run refiner, aims to start operating a new refinery in the country's southwest in October after several delays, boosting the nation's already-surging crude imports.

The 260,000-barrels per day Anning plant in Yunnan province would be the first major Chinese refinery to come online in nearly two years, amid a scaleback by state energy firms in adding refining capacity as lower oil prices slashed earnings.

Saudi state oil firm Aramco is looking to invest $1-1.5 billion in the refinery as well as the retail assets of PetroChina, sources told Reuters last year. Aramco was not immediately available for comment.

"The latest schedule for the Yunnan refinery start-up is October," said a PetroChina spokesperson, without elaborating. The refinery has been delayed several times as tightening environmental regulations forced PetroChina to resubmit approvals for changes to plant configurations.

Crude imports into China, the world's second-largest buyer, soared by 16 per cent, or over 1 million bpd, in the first five months of 2016 from the same period last year, the fastest growth in more than a decade.

That demand, which has helped push oil prices back near $50 a barrel, has been driven by Chinese oil firms building stockpiles and fresh appetite from a new group of importers, the independent plants allowed to import crude for first time since late last year.

A PetroChina official with knowledge of the company's oil trade said that if a deal was finalised with Aramco, the Saudis would supply at least part of the refinery's crude oil requirements. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.

Saudi Arabia has for three straight months lost to Russia the spot as the top crude supplier to China.

The plant is designed to process high sulphur crude oil that will be shipped in tankers and then pumped through a pipeline connecting the southwest coast of neighbouring Myanmar and Yunnan, said the industry sources. The last target for the start of operations was the middle of this year.

PetroChina parent CNPC early this year started trial operations of the 2,400-kilometre (1491 miles), 440,000-bpd pipeline that runs parallel to an operating natural gas pipeline, but has to wait for the full completion of the refinery for commercial start-up.

The refinery start-up had also been delayed as the new Myanmar government has been reviewing the deal on the pipeline, said the second PetroChina official.

Local Chinese media have reported the company modified some of the 15 refining units, including adding a 1.2 million tonnes per year delayed coking unit, which allows for the processing of heavier crude oil. -- Reuters
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) and its operating subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), have both moved into their new headquarters at Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.



The move to Masdar City has a clear synergy for Enecs mission and vision to deliver safe, clean and efficient nuclear energy to the UAE, stated its chief executive Mohamed Al Hammadi while speaking at the inauguration of the new headquarters.



Enec is committed to powering the future growth and prosperity of the UAE through sustainable energy: a goal that aligns with Masdar Citys purpose and vision, he added.



Masdar City, which broke ground in 2008, is one of the worlds most sustainable urban developments. Located next to Abu Dhabi International Airport, it also hosts the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the worlds first graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies besides the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena).



Masdar City is home to the regions largest cluster of certified high-performance buildings, including the Estidama 4 Pearl development that will house Enecs new headquarters.



The building, the first to achieve a 4 Pearl rating under Abu Dhabis green building standards, uses 64 per cent less energy and consumes 75 per cent less water than standard buildings in Abu Dhabi.



Al Hammadi said: "Since its inception, Enec has been delivering the countrys first nuclear energy plant safely and steadily and we continue to move closer to providing the UAE with clean and sustainable energy, saving up to 12 million tons in carbon emissions every year."



"Masdar City, and the renewable energy that powers its facilities, are other examples of how the UAE continues to pursue clean and sustainable forms of energy following the leaderships innovative decision to diversify the nations supply," he added.



Masdar City holds many opportunities beyond its great facilities as we continue to grow as a company. The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology lies at the heart of the city and we look forward to working with educators and students to promote opportunities created by the UAEs peaceful nuclear energy program, added Al Hammadi.



Mohammed Sahoo AlSuwaidi, the acting CEO of Nawah, said: "As the recently established operating company for the UAE peaceful nuclear energy program, Nawah will continue to work closely with Enec, building on the momentum already laid for operational readiness of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant."



"Having our established headquarters with Enec in Masdar City, strengthens our alliance and shared goal to provide the UAEs electricity needs with sustainable nuclear energy," he added.



Commenting on the move, Al Ramahi said: As the recently established operating company for the UAE peaceful nuclear energy program, Nawah will continue to work closely with Enec, building on the momentum already laid for operational readiness of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant."

"Having our established headquarters with Enec in Masdar City, strengthens our alliance and shared goal to provide the UAEs electricity needs with sustainable nuclear energy," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
To commemorate the World Health Organisation days and spread awareness on healthy living among its staff, Downtown Rotana, the newly opened luxury hotel in the heart of Manama, hosted a Health Awareness Day for its employees at the hotel, in cooperation with the Bahrain Specialist Hospital (BSH).



Over 90 Downtown Rotana employees received complimentary medical screening that included blood sugar tests, blood pressure, height and weight among others; all participants also received discounted vouchers for follow up check-ups at BSH.



Lilian Roger, general manager of Downtown Rotana, said: Our staff is our core and as such we want to make sure that they are happy and healthy. We are keen to promote awareness initiatives that remind our people how important it is to take care of their health and adopt a preemptive approach with regular check-ups as part of their routine. We are happy the results showed a healthy Downtown Rotana team. - TradeArabia News Service


Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate's dedicated entity for heritage, arts and culture, has been announced the winner of the Government Green IT Initiative of the Year 2016 at the .Gov Dubai & Northern Emirates Awards Ceremony.



The prize recognises the Information Technology Department at Dubai Culture, for their ongoing work delivering projects using environmental friendly practices and technologies.



The Information Technology team at Dubai Culture received the award at a special ceremony, which was recently held at the Conrad Hotel Dubai in the presence of leading VIPs and businessmen. Dubai Cultures acting director of Information Technology Department, Mohammed Yousef Al Hammadi said: "We are delighted to receive this hugely valuable recognition, which honours the passion and team work our department has dedicated towards the latest environmentally friendly technologies and systems, whilst also encouraging senior management to achieve excellence across all of the authoritys activities and operations."



The authority was selected from a field of 300 entities and organisations participating across 15 different categories, following its launch of the Government Green IT, which reduced the amount of paper used for printing. Additionally green practices and technologies were adopted across a number of management activities, through the conversion of all services into automated electronic and smart services.



Moreover a number of awareness-raising initiatives for energy consumption were launched, to familiarise staff with green technology practices. The aim of this was to increase the effectiveness of printing services operations and to follow environmentally friendly methods in the disposal of electronic waste.



The Government Green IT Initiative of the Year 2016 and the .Gov Dubai & Northern Emirates Awards are aimed towards highlighting the remarkable progress made by the UAE in the shift towards smart government, and to encourage government entities to optimise information technology to improve Dubai residents quality of life. - TradeArabia News Service
Arch Coal could afford secured financing to cover its reclamation obligations in Wyoming, the company wrote in a recent court filing.

The statement represents a reversal for the bankrupt coal company, which has previously maintained it lacked the financial ability to replace $485 million in unsecured reclamation liabilities with guaranteed financing.

It remains to be seen, however, if Arch will be required to replace its self-bonds, as such unsecured liabilities are frequently called. In a disclosure statement submitted June 14, the company said it has been in periodic negotiations with Wyoming regulators over its reclamation obligations.

The debtors are continuing to work with the state of Wyoming to re-evaluate their bonding liability and to determine the extent to which the debtors will be permitted to self-bond upon the effectiveness of the plan, the company wrote.

If the company were required to replace its self-bonds, either in part or in full, The debtors believe that they have the financial resources to obtain such third-party financial assurances if necessary, Archs attorneys wrote.

Logan Bonacorsi, Arch spokeswoman, said the company hopes to have better clarity regarding the issue as the bankruptcy process progresses.

We are committed to having the necessary financial assurances in place to meet state requirements on our reclamation obligations, she wrote in an email to the Star-Tribune.

State regulators have given conflicting signals over whether they would allow three bankrupt coal companies to maintain self-bonds after emerging from Chapter 11, at one point saying companies would be required to replace their unsecured bonds while at others saying mining firms would be able to apply for self-bonding status.

A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality declined to comment, citing bankruptcy proceedings.

Critics of the self-bonding program said the filing proves state regulators should insist on replacement bonds.

It is an acknowledgement, if DEQ made them do it, they could do it, said Shannon Anderson, a lawyer at the Powder River Basin Resource Council. Whats holding them up?

Arch had previously argued in court filings that replacing its self-bonds would reduce the companys liquidity and hinder its ability to reemerge from bankruptcy. In February, the St. Louis-based firm agreed to a deal with the state to cover roughly 19 percent, or $75 million, of the companys $485 million in reclamation obligations. That deal only lasts for the duration of Archs bankruptcy, however.
When Johnny Stassinos proposed, his future wife thought he was joking. There he was, on his knee, with a tinfoil ring hed quickly fashioned in the kitchen. Hed taken a bottle of wine from his older brother Jimmy, who, he told her, might be mad if they drank it without a reason. And so she laughed and said yes and he handed her a coffee mug of wine. When Jimmy appeared 15 minutes later, she flashed the ring. Jimmy just shook his head and walked away. It all seemed like a joke. Except it wasnt.

Two months later, Johnny and Mary Stassinos were married. Mary is legally blind. So Johnny was her eyes. He was her fishing companion. Her never-ending source of laughter. Then, on June 18, it all came to an end.

Johnny was on a workover rig in North Dakota, working for Jimmys company, Most Wanted Well Service, when a fire broke out. Two were critically injured in the ensuing blaze. Johnny Stassinoshusband, father of four, eternal pranksterwas killed. He was 52.

Mary used one word to describe a future without Johnny. She called it boring, and the description hung there for a moment, dominating the ensuing silence.

Johnny is one of 10 Stassinos children. Together, they have known their share of tragedy in recent years, explained his sister Jan Levitt. A sister, Debbie, died in April; Chris, a nephew, passed in January; brother Chris died two years ago in a heavy equipment accident at the Bridger Coal Mine.

Weve been through a lot, but we always have our family, Jan said.

Johnny Harry Stassinos was born in Rock Springs in 1964 to Harry and Evelyn Stassinos. He graduated from Rock Springs High School in 1983 and was a plumber by trade.

His family described him as sometimes ornery, inappropriate and protective. But he also was the type to give his shirt off his back to someone in need, the type who put on four pig roasts, a family specialty, last year to benefit friends and local causes.

For a time Johnny ran his own plumbing business, and he was fond of bringing his daughter, Ryann, to work with him. She was a little more than 5-years-old then, but she knew all the tools, the nozzles, the different pieces of equipment. Ryann, in Johnnys estimation, was the best assistant he ever had.

Some of his other children floated away with their mothers to different states. But Ryann was his rock. Shes 18 now, graduated from high school and headed for her future. Still, Johnny was protective. He would have wrapped her in bubble wrap if he could, family members said.

Johnny ultimately left plumbing for the oil field. It paid better, and he had a family to look after. So he quit his job and went to work for Jimmy. He spent 11 years in the oil patch, often in North Dakota.

It is a dangerous occupation. North Dakota has recorded 108 workplace fatalities since 2010. Of those, 48 were oil field-related.

The cause of the fire that claimed Johnnys life is still under investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. The crew was snubbing at the time of the accident, or removing pipe from the well.

They had a blowout of product, said Eric Brooks, OSHAs area director in Bismark. There had to be an ignition source nearby.

A preliminary investigation found a split gas line nearby, though it remains to be determined if that ignited the blaze. OSHA is also investigating potential safety violations at the site, which is owned by an ExxonMobile subsidiary, XTO Energy Inc.

Most Wanted Well Service, an oil field service company, is a family operation. Richard Chad Maheau, who remained in critical condition Friday at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, was like a son to Johnny and Mary.

Joe, Johnnys nephew, was also on the crew that day. He was uninjured and helped extinguish the blaze. Later, he sat by his uncles hospital bed in Minot, comforting him as Ryann and Mary dashed across Wyoming in an attempt to get there in time. They didnt.

He was a hard worker, said Jimmy, who was in North Dakota this week sorting through the wreckage of the accident. It is a big blow to me. Im up here dealing with all the crap. I havent even had a chance to mourn. I havent even seen my family.

The Stassinos are Greek. Comparisons to their fictional counterparts portrayed in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding are (Windex aside) not unwarranted, Jan said. Often times, more than 50 people will gather in a large garage at the Stassinos Ranch north of Rock Springs for a family get-together.

There is a growing hole in those gatherings now. But if there is any consolation, Jan said, it is that their departed love-ones are together somewhere else.

Were getting sick of them having a party up there without us, she said.
BIGFOOT, Texas  The worst oil bust since the 1980s is putting oil producing states on the hook for thousands of newly abandoned drilling sites at a time when they have little money to plug wells and seal off environmental hazards.

As U.S. rig counts plunge to historic lows, and with at least 60 oil producers declaring bankruptcy since 2014, energy-producing states are confronting both holes in their budgets and potentially leaking ones in the ground. In Texas alone, the roughly $165 million price tag of plugging nearly 10,000 abandoned wells is double the entire budget of the agency that regulates the industry.

The problem is forcing states to get creative: Texas regulators now want taxpayers to cover more of the clean-up, supplementing industry payments. Wyoming and Louisiana are riling drillers with steeper fees. Oklahoma is reshuffling money among agencies in the face of a $1.1 billion state budget shortfall, while regulators also grapple with earthquakes linked to oil and gas activities.

As downturns go, this one happened faster and accelerated. It moved downward faster than the big downturn we had in the 80s, said John Graves, a Houston oil consultant. For some people in our industry, its been more intense. Crude prices that peaked above $100 a barrel in 2014 plunged by 60 percent in just six months.

But these responses  if they even wind up working  are still years from meeting the growing backlog of untended wells. Texas officials predict the number of orphaned wells could soar to 12,000, which would be nearly 25 percent more than what regulators cant keep up with now. Landowners, meanwhile, are growing restless with abandoned pump jacks and damage while drillers warn that crackdowns would only put them out of business faster at a time when oil has finally crept from below $30 a barrel to about $50.

Its the magnitude because this bust is so deep. In Wyoming they had a single operator walk away, and instead of it being 5, 10, 20 wells, it was 150, said Bruce Baizel, who monitors oil and gas regulators for the environmental group Earthworks. Its not the small, marginal operators. Youre starting to get into some medium-sized independents walking away from things.

Orphaned wells are potential environmental hazards below ground as well as rusted-out eyesores above. A 2011 report by the multistate Ground Water Protection Council found at least 30 cases of groundwater contamination in Texas caused by orphan wells between 1993 and 2008.

In the Bigfoot Field south of San Antonio, tall stalks of weedy thistle surround dormant wellheads, some stained with crude or leaking fluids. State regulators place a higher priority on bigger hazards.

The problem is not new. Energy-rich states had thousands of orphaned wells on the books for decades, particularly in Texas, where the backlog exceeded 25,000 in the early 2000s before landowners pressured lawmakers to light a fire under state regulators. Landowners are getting antsy again, as the states Republican comptroller, Glenn Hegar, has predicted that a third of oil producers in Texas will go bankrupt this summer.

These landowners are chained to a corpse, said Trey Scott, a managing partner of Trinity Mineral Management, which represents landowners who own thousands of acres in the Texas oil patch. With the state facing an average cost of $17,000 per well, Scott said, If you have those wells, your chances of getting them plugged are slim to none.

Such expenses are normally covered by fees paid by producers, a reliance that Texas regulators say is no longer sufficient as they appeal for more taxpayer funding. Texas hasnt raised the price of required bonds on drillers since 1991, which are as low as $25,000 for smaller operators. Last year, Texas collected $4 million from drillers who abandoned more than 1,500 wells  about a fifth of the cost of plugging all of them. Texas lawmakers wont decide whether to give regulators more money until 2017, while a critical report by the states Sunset Commission in April urged finally hiking bonding rates to protect both the environment and public safety.

Last winter, Louisiana started requiring producers to put up a new bond of $7 for every foot drilled in an attempt to deal with the states roughly 3,000 abandoned wells. After drillers revolted, however, Louisianas Office of Conservation in April suspended the new bonding until August.

The states broke and theyre trying to raise funds however they can, said Dempsey Oil Company owner Jimmy Dempsey, an operator in northwest Louisiana. It doesnt take a genius to fill a well with concrete.

In Oklahoma, budget cuts to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have led to fewer well-plugging contracts. Nearly $400,000 in emergency funding that Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin sought for the agency this year was used instead for technology upgrades and earthquake monitoring.

Were not going to have that same luxury next year, Oklahoma Corporation Commissions Director of Finance Cleve Pierce said of the states well-plugging dollars.

Associated Press writer Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.
Artists worked, shoppers browsed, people danced to music while food truck aromas beckoned. Walkers, baby strollers, dogs and even a potbelly pig wended their way through the tents and booths.

People never know what theyll find at Nic Fest, the annual outdoor arts festival held at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and surrounding grounds. The free event continues through 6 p.m. Sunday.

Chi E Shenam Westin, of Boise, is one of more than 70 artists displaying and selling work there this year. He started painting a scene Saturday morning from the Casper campground where hes staying.

The Newsome siblings, ages 3 to 11, crowded around his easel shortly after arriving at Nic Fest. One of their favorite things to do at the festival each year is ask artists how they created their works, said their mother, Tonya Newsome. This is the first year theyve seen some artists demonstrating as well, they said. They also watched a potter work, and enjoyed seeing a variety of art, from woodwork to recycled materials.

I like seeing the different, creative ways people use their talents, Tonya said.

Westin told them he paints the reflections first, then the trees, and that the reflections are made out of shapes. Chance Newsome, 8, said his favorite part of Nic Fest is seeing the art, because its one of his favorite activities, too.

His three siblings also enjoy art, but mostly looked forward to the kids activities. An outdoor family area includes music and performances for all ages, face painting and a chance for children to create their own art in the museums Discovery Center.

Natrona County High School student Riley Brush, of Casper, landed a gig helping Denise Mraz at her License Plate Posse booth. She sorted letters and numbers cut from plates while Mraz, who is from Nevada, fastened some onto custom signs.

Brush was happy to work at and wander through Nic Fest this year, saying she hadnt been able to attend for the last few years. A booth of handmade leather journals particularly caught her eye.

I like to see the different vendors, live music and different activities, she said.

By afternoon, Westin, the Boise artist, was fleshing in the details to his painting inspired by his first trip to Wyoming for the festival. He said he hopes to be back again after seeing the skies, spaces and geology.

So Nic Fest has made me discover Wyoming, he said.
First Presbyterian Church is pleased to welcome "New Song," in concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the church. The New Song group is a music and drama ministry sponsored by Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Through music and drama, the timeless words of the love of God are conveyed in a contemporary and dynamic way. Admission is free, however, a free-will offering will be collected to offset the choirs tour expenses. First Presbyterian Church is at 804 S. Wolcott St., across from City Park.
Grownup Stuff

Fun things for adults.

Korean peace medal presentation

Republic of Korea Consul General SHIN Chae-Hyun of San Francisco will be joining Governor Matt Mead to present the Republic of Korea Ambassador for Peace Medal to Wyoming veterans at 11:30 a.m., on Thursday, June 30, at the Parkway Plaza Hotel. The public is welcome to attend.

Adult coloring club

Drop by the Natrona County Library anytime between 2 and 5 p.m. on Friday, July 1, for our Adult Coloring Club. Coloring books and pages will be available for you to turn into works of art. Colored pencils, crayons, and markers also will be provided. Just bring yourself and your friends, and enjoy the afternoon. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Rock painting

Do you like to paint? And would like to paint on rocks? Then come join us on Saturday, July 2, at 2 p.m. for our monthly adult-level crafting program. You will be able to paint your favorite animal, flower or thing on your own special rock. Supplies and space limited. Creating opportunities for adult creativity and interaction, Craftastic Saturday is free and open to ages 18 and up, and held the first Saturday of every month. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information.

Free Wednesday lectures at fort

Fort Caspar Museum is pleased to announce its annual free summer lecture series for 2016. The lectures will be held on seven consecutive Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm, through July 20. Each presentation will focus on a different Impression on Wyoming, from past to present and from east to west. These free programs are funded in part by the Fort Caspar Museum Association and the Wyoming Humanities Council.

Each lecture will take place in the Multi-Use Room at Fort Caspar Museum. The programs are adult focused and will last approximately 60 minutes, including the lecture and a discussion opportunity. Most of the talks will feature a PowerPoint presentation, and if the speaker has published on a relevant topic, the lecture will conclude with a book signing.

Here are the dates, speakers, and their topics for the other six free summer lectures:

June 29, Ray Maple will delve into the complex biography of Tom ODay. He will portray the outlaw whom he calls "the least known" member of the Hole in the Wall Gang in this entertaining and informative presentation. As an added treat, Tom O'Day's gun, holster, and belt-which are in the collection of Fort Caspar Museum-will be on view for the lecture.

During the wild outlaw years of 1903 to 1910, O'Day was an active participant in many of the bank and train robberies that occurred in Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah. He was a sometime member of the infamous Hole in the Wall gang, and, although quick tempered and good with a gun, he never killed anyone. O'Day also had a passion for good horses-especially other people's-which ended his outlaw career in 1910 when he was caught rustling horses belonging to Wyoming-governor-to-be B.B. Brooks.

Ray Maple has performed at various libraries, schools, and senior centers, and he has also made a name for himself at Festival of the West, Single Action Shooter Society events, and the Cheyenne Cowboy Consortium.

July 6, Tom Rea will talk about Wyoming Bone Wars; July 13, Phil Roberts will explore Wyoming Prohibition; and finally, July 20, John Farr will present Wyoming: Sheepherders State.

For more information, contact the museum at 235-8462 or check the Fort Caspar Museum website, www.fortcasparwyoming.com. Fort Caspar Museum is located at 4001 Fort Caspar Road.

New displays at senior center

What is Zentangle? Zentangle is a fun, relaxing ,easy method of drawing that creates structured images.

Visit the Senior Center at 1831 E. 4th St. to view this fascinating display of amazing drawings by local artists. Also featured is a collection of Japanese collectibles including pottery, clothing, dishes and more.

For more information, call 265-4678.

Veteran Cigar Night

Every Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m., all veterans are invited to Veteran Cigar Night at the Casper Cigar Company, 4717 W. Yellowstone Highway, sponsored by Casper Cigar Company. There is no cost to attend.

This is a time and place for our community's combat veterans to relax and share their stories with other combat veterans while enjoying a good cigar. Veterans receive 20 percent off cigars. For more information, call Josh Cruse at 307-337-4400 or josh@caspercigar.com.

Downtown walking tours

Casper Theater Company will present two downtown walking tours this summer. All tours are $25 per person and reservations are required.

The Casper Ghost Tour will begin at 8:30 p.m., on Thursdays and Fridays, July 15 through July 29. The Ghost Tour guide will provide you with information on downtown hauntings in buildings, alleys, and businesses. She will take you on a 90-minute tour through the alleys of downtown talking about strange phenomenon seen by citizens, business owners and employees of several locations in the downtown area. You will learn about some locations such as Eggingtons, Wonder Bar, Wolfords, Lou Tauberts, the Downtown Parking Garage, the two movie theaters and much more. Tickets are $25 per person and a reservation is needed by calling 267-7243.

The Sand Bar Tour will be a murder mystery walking tour. The tour guide will take you for a walk on the Sand Bar at 7:30 p.m., where you will come upon a victim of the times. There will be characters to will meet all of which had a motive. Each character will talk with you and tell you about their life on the Sand Bar, businesses, painted ladies, bootleggers, and gamblers. All will culminate at the end to find out Who Dun It? Tickets are $25 and the tour runs two weekends, Friday and Saturday, September 9-10 and 16-17. Reservations are required by calling 267-7243.

If you have any questions about either tours please call Casper Theater Company at the above number, or email us at caspertheatercompany@gmail.com Our website is www.caspertheatercompany.net.
Monday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; 10 a.m., 136 W. Eighth St.; 6 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 7 p.m., Glenrock, 615 W. Deer St. (downstairs); 7:30 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200, closed; 7:30 p.m., Douglas, 628 E. Richards; 8 p.m., 328 E. A St. Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: 307-351-1688.

Al-Anon: Noon, 701 S. Wolcott, St. Marks Church.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 7 p.m., 302 E. 2nd, Methodist Church; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Teen Addiction Anonymous: 3:30-4:30 p.m., Boys & Girls Club Teen Center. Info: 258-7439.

Adult Children of Alcoholics: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 12-24 Club, 500 S. Wolcott St., Suite 200.

TOPS Weight Loss: 5:30 p.m., Weight Loss Support Group TOPS #246, Wyoming Oil & Gas Building, 2211 King Blvd. Use NE door entry. Info: 265-1486.

VBS at Trinity Lutheran

Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to noon, Trinity Lutheran Church, 1240 Missouri Street, will host a Barnyard Vacation Bible School, where Jesus is at the center of each morning. During the Barnyard Round-up, we will give five Bible accounts where God gathers His people, just as a shepherd gathers his sheep, providing abundantly for their needs, leading them, and finding them when they wander away. We will also look at the book of Johns account, which includes the reference to the boy whose lunch was the source of the five loaves and two fish used by Jesus to feed the 5,000. Jesus provides now and forever. All 3-year-old children to those who are in the 5th grade are invited to join. For further information, please call 234-0568.

Monday career

symposiums

The Department of Workforce Services will be holding a Career Symposium for job seekers showcasing career opportunities throughout the State of Wyoming. We are hoping to assist individuals who may be struggling to determine a career pathway or are changing careers due to recent layoffs. Stop by the Casper Department of Workforce Services, 851 Werner Court, Ste. 120, on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 27 through August 8. Opportunities will include statewide college or training options as well as many different career pathways that may not need additional schooling.

Musical robot at library

Experience Musical Robots contagious sense of wonder and enthusiasm at the Natrona County Library! Shows will be presented at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Musical Robot is a ukulele and drum combo that is programmed for fun. Combining songs, storytelling, puppetry, and out of this world dance moves, Musical Robot is ready and willing to provide an opportunity for kids to engage in fun and frolic. These family-friendly shows are free and open to the public, regardless of age. Seating is limited, so plan to arrive early. We will begin handing out tickets one hour prior to each performance. Call 577-READ ext. 5 for more information.

Tween Book Club

The Natrona County Librarys monthly Tween Book Club will meet at 4 p.m. Participants will read Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelsen. Students in grades 4-6 can read great books and make new friends by participating in this special book club just for Tweens. Space is limited, so please register in advance by calling 577-READ ext. 5 or sign up when you stop by the Childrens Department to pick up a copy of Jungle of Bones.

Mended Hearts

Mended Hearts will meet at 7 p.m., in the Support Services Building of the Wyoming Medical Center, in the board room. This is located off the second floor lobby area, down the first hallway and through the automatic double doors.

The first speaker will be Diane Kavanagh, RN, who has an impressive background of 33 years, mostly working with children in pediatric cardiology. Our other speaker, Dr. W. Lee Warren, Jr., a neurosurgeon, will share stories from being in a tent hospital in Iraq.Follow community news editor Sally Ann Shurmur on Twitter @WYOSAS.
1. Like most Americans, Im fed up with the lack of action in Washington, and I believe our childrens future is on the line. If we do not stand up to be counted, our children will inherit a country that is not nearly as free and prosperous as the United States we now enjoy. Ive dedicated my life to helping people in poverty around the world by sharing my Wyoming values abroad. At the same time here in the United States, our national debt has reached unconscionable levels; our borders are porous not protected; immigration without assimilation has put our in-country security at risk; unelected bureaucrats are unconstitutionally stopping Wyomings fossil fuels from making America energy independent; and our religious liberties are undergoing a full-on, frontal assault. We need to export Wyoming values to Washington and restore the Constitutional balance of power to the people, and Im the person for the job.

2. The most pressing issue facing Wyoming is reviving our economy. The greatest threat facing America isnt climate change, its reliance on foreign oil, and we still import 9 million barrels of oil a day. Unconstitutional overregulation of our coal industry, coupled with a downturn in energy prices and an abundance of natural gas, have devastated Wyomings economy. Weve got to get our coal trains moving and our product to market. I have a plan to do just that. In fact, my plan taps into the vital need for American energy independence. Any good business promotes its products, a restaurant promotes its food, a dealership promotes its cars, and Wyoming should beat the radical environmentalists at their own game by promoting our clean-burning natural gas as the transportation fuel of choice! Increased consumption of natural gas leads to increased price, which helps both the natural gas and coal industries. Its great for the environment and helps solidify our nations security. Even a bad idea will work if executed well. Wyoming must lead the way in fighting for American energy independence. It revives Wyomings economy, and its good for America.

3. The only people I answer to are the citizens of the State of Wyoming. I will work with anybody of any political ideology to advance Wyomings best interests. However, I will not sell our children down the river and will never agree to more deficit spending. $20 trillion is enough.

4. I will export my Wyoming values to Washington, and my Wyoming values are this: I am pro-God, pro-family, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-business, pro-oil and gas, pro-coal, pro-agriculture, pro-veteran, and for every right the Constitution guarantees us. As Wyomingites, we are the least-regulated, least-taxed, most free people on earth. If we can pull back an overreaching federal government and release the power of the free market, Wyoming will be the center of energy production and manufacturing in the western United States.
Roger Fenner is the conductor of the Casper Municipal Band and administrator of the entire operation.

I do everything: I plan programs, get the music out, collect it after each concert, prepare the programs in advance, in charge of budget, basically all the details, he said.

He has been the administrator for 28 years and has been associated with the band since 1974. He started as the band and brass instructor at Casper College and also taught music history there for about 16 years. He retired from the college 12 years ago.

Would you give us a brief history of the band? The band was formed in 1890, so we have had a history of 126 years. In a Casper publication called the Wyoming Derrick, there was a story that said, Perhaps no one thing enlivens a town as much as a good cornet band. After the first oil well was planted here in 1888, there were only about 1,094 people living in Casper then, but they said they needed a band for the Fourth of July programs. In 1939, Percy Shallenberger, an early banker and musician, donated $40,000 to build a performance area, a permanent home, for the band, currently called the Shallenberger Band Shell. The size of the band could be much, much larger because many individuals would love to be in it, but we have a problem  not a large enough area to perform in. At the most 70 members, we are maxed out with room. With all the percussion equipment, you cannot put any more people into the band shell. Whenever there is an opening, I run an ad for auditions. Each year we have a few individuals who may move out, college students have taken on permanent jobs. Most of our members have been with the band many, many years. We need to bring in more young faces, young students to carry on the tradition within the band.

Why does the band still have that appeal? Im thinking of a quote by Pablo Picasso, The purpose for art is to dust off the dirt from our soul. In summer, people like getting outdoors, enjoy going to the park, enjoy listening to music. Community members look forward to this. They socialize, maybe bring a picnic, enjoy a nice evening of good music. Weve done fairly well because our audience size generally is quite good. Its a little on the small side when we get started each June, but we run over 1,000 or more, which is really quite good once we get going.

How is the band funded? We are supported through a mill levy passed in 1929. The city felt the band had a very important function in the community. The purchase of music obviously is very expensive, and we do provide the very expensive instruments. A tuba or bassoon will run $12,000, or a set of timpani, $27,000. The sound equipment  we recently had to update some things and it was $10,000 just for small updates. I have a six-month, part-time contract through the city to run this organization. For me, my season is not done usually until December because Im in preparation of laying out the programs for the coming year.

Tell us about the annual Fouth of July concert, which is Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Its a good tradition. We try playing a number of marches, more than I usually do. I like playing music that has American flavor to it. American Panorama is an assortment of compositions, Hayride, America the Beautiful, Mississippi Gambler. We play military tunes; I think thats important. We play a selection called the Armed Forces Salute, which represents all of our military branches. We need to give our veterans and current military the attention they deserve to have. Well play God Bless America and Stars and Stripes Forever and music that represents our country.

Why is the Star-Spangled Banner always the final number? To be honest with you, it was that way when I came, and I dont know the reason behind it. I think once weve done the program, its just a nice way of representing our country again, the flag. I just think its a neat way to end the concert. Actually, I prefer it over what other communities have done. I really think we have an outstanding community band. Casper Municipal Band has represented the city extremely well. I want to thank the community and individuals for the support they have given us.
The Wyoming Department of Corrections will trim $17.9 million from its budget by leaving positions vacant and cutting substance abuse treatment spending, among other things.

The reductions come in response to falling state revenues, which prompted Gov. Matt Mead last week to announce $248 million in cuts. State agencies will see their budgets shrink as a result.

Corrections Department Director Bob Lampert told a group of lawmakers last week his agency would do whatever it safely could to help reduce the states budget.

I urge you to keep in mind, that at the heart of it, the Department of Corrections is a public safety agency, Lampert said during a presentation on his agencys budget. You will have to assess the risk.

The planned cuts represent about 8 percent of the states two-year budget that starts July 1, Mead said. They come amid a downturn in oil, gas and coal, which provide 70 percent of the money in state coffers.

Following Meads announcement, the heads of state agencies described for lawmakers what they could cut from their respective budgets.

The Department of Corrections is cutting about 6.2 percent of its budget. The savings will come primarily from keeping vacant 125 full-time positions. Those positions are spread throughout the department, Lampert said.

There is a risk inherent in removing positions, he said. There are staffing standards required to meet national accreditation, and staff and offender safety is affected. But we have been operating for some time without all positions filled.

Lampert lamented that now is the time the agency could fill all its positions. The Department of Corrections has always experienced trouble recruiting and retaining officers because jobs in the oil field and coal mines have higher wages than corrections can offer. But the current energy crisis is sending laid off workers to apply for jobs in the prisons.

For the first time we actually have a waiting list for correctional officer positions, Lampert said.

Though the prisons remain safe with fewer employees, Lampert said, the vacancies have led to a high level of employee burnout and increasing overtime pay.

An international police union sent a letter to Mead earlier this month expressing anger over the budget cuts. The union said the reductions will reduce offender success rates, increase recidivism and place the public at large in danger.

Poor staffing will place an unfair burden on those officers still working and the lack of adequate support in critical situations will place them in physical danger from violent inmates, wrote Sam Cabral, the president of the International Union of Police Associations.

The department also plans to cut field services for offenders on probation and parole. These services include drug testing and electronic monitoring, Lampert said.

Other cuts will come from reducing the number of beds available in prison for substance abuse treatment. The agency will continue to target offenders with the highest assessed needs for treatment, Lampert told lawmakers.

We will have a number of users leaving prison who did not get treatment in prison, he said. This will put a strain on local treatment providers and recidivism rates will go up.

The agency is also cutting from its investigations unit. Other reductions will come from a health services program and the human resources division.

Some cuts will also be made to the departments recruiting and training programs. Though, Lampert conceded, the agency will have fewer positions to fill anyway.
CHEYENNE  Not all heroes wear capes.

Thats what the internet says, anyway, and its a rare person who will disagree.

Historians and museum curators likely would count Larry Fulton of Cheyenne as a hero.

Fulton rescues old farm equipment from the salvage heaps and fixes them up. Some of his patients date as far back as the 19th century,

My thrill in life is to find a tractor thats complete, thats been sitting in a tree row for 50-60 years, and bring it back to life, he said.

His 21-year-old granddaughter, Erin Fulton, who helps with his various projects, said, He could fix anything. Hes a genius.

She is right, its not just tractors. Fulton fixed up two towering rope water well drills. Based on the features of the drills, he dated his first one at about 1870 and his second about 1880.

He estimated the date of the first one, which he received in 2013, based on built-in oil trays, a single drum and a 15-foot derrick, among other features.

All of this pushes it before 1880, Fulton said.

That same drill has wheel protection strips that he had to move to accommodate the steel wheels that were on its wagon when it came to him. The strips original placing indicated the driller originally had wooden-spoke wheels. In 1890 is when the steel wheels on the wagons became common, he said.

Theres a lot of these old water well drills and stuff around, but theyve never been restored. People have got them, but these two are actually the only two functioning ones that I know of in existence, Fulton said. I do a lot of looking through the internet, trying different waysasked for percussion drilling, rope drilling and stuff like that.

Fulton said hes found a lot of similar ones, but none exactly like his. A lot of them have the big walking beam arms on top or a clutch-typeall different functions of getting the rope to go up and down. But these are the only two that Im aware of that actually have the freefall.

Much of Fultons restoration work is focused on tractors. He said his favorite piece is a reddish 1940 Cletrac crop tractor that he paid a scrap metal price for. He adhered rubber blocks to the tractors treads in order to ride it in street parades.

Fulton said he will have that Cletrac, a green Oliver tractor and an old-fashioned kitchen sink pump at Superday on Saturday, June 25, but he wont be able to bring his water well drills.

But he said he will have at least one of those at the Laramie County Fair Aug. 1-13.

Fulton has more than water well drills and tractors on his property too. In addition to the kitchen pump, he has a water pump from the Civil War era, old washing machine motors that had to be run by hand or foot pedal, and a rusted International pickup truck from about 1937-1940.

The truck has rotted out tires with spoke rims and a rusted 1948 license plate on which you can still make out a 31. My brother-in-law up there in Shoshoni had what they call the KB series of International trucks, and he was storing all of them. He had all of his restored trucks in a Quonset hut along with a farm loader. The alternator shorted out on the loader and burned the building down and ruined all of his trucks, Fulton said.

They just took them out of the building and just parked them along a ditch that they call a tree row. So they were just sitting there, and somehow this pickup appeared in that lineup. No one knows where it came from. They dont know if he bought it at an auction or if it was given to him.

Fulton said that his family gave him the truck to restore because hed been looking for an International pickup truck. Hed had one years ago when he was young.

Adding to the rarities at Fultons workshop is a huge wrench circle that was used for 20- to 24-inch diameter bits, and had to be used by laying it on the ground. Fulton said when he found it he didnt know what it was at first. Its the only one hes ever seen, he said, and he bought it specifically to be donated to a museum at some point.

Fulton, who is the vice president of the Centennial Antique Tractor and Engine Club, hopes many of his restored projects will benefit future generations.

I think when Im gone and dead, you know, whats gonna happen to this? And I just hope some of this stuff will wind up in museums. Thats what I would like to see, he said.
Inside the Tiger Classroom, a 3-year-old boy rolled small lumps of Play-Doh into shapes. He sat at a table next to his teacher, and they discussed a laminated picture of a blank face before them. It was the boys task to stick Play-Doh features on the face  eyes, nose and a mouth.

Were working on emotion, said the teacher, Erin Castle.

The boy is autistic, and he attends a half-day summer program at the Child Development Center of Natrona County. The developmental preschool program helps kids 5 and younger gain skills to be successful in school and life.

But funding for the program and others like it is being cut.

Gov. Matt Mead last week announced $248 million in state budget reductions in response to declining revenues. The cuts go into effect Friday.

The reductions will hit the center and similar programs that, combined, serve nearly 4,000 Wyoming kids with developmental disabilities and delays.

The preschool program will lose $6.7 million in state funding. As a result, $5.9 million in federal matching funds could go away. That means the preschool program could suffer $12.6 million in cuts over the next two years  over 15 percent of its budget.

The cuts are concerning to center officials, who worry they will affect services provided to kids like the 3-year-old boy.

We work to bring them to their full potential, whatever that may be, said Jane Rhoades, executive director of the Weston County Childrens Center, which serves children and families in Weston and Crook counties.

Back in the Tiger Classroom in Casper, where teachers help children on the autism spectrum, the 3-year-old boys mother picked him up for the day. Adults in the room waved goodbye.

And the boy made eye contact as he waved back  unusual because he doesnt frequently engage with others.

Castle, the teacher, was delighted.

Thats huge, she said.

Local cuts

As state reports showed revenue was falling last spring, John Starnes, executive director of the Child Development Center, began drafting plans for how to run the center under different financial scenarios.

He now believes the state cuts will result in a $500,000 to $800,000 hit to the centers $5.1 million budget. The center is expected to serve over 500 Natrona County children this fall, he said.

Starnes wasnt prepared to publicly say where he was cutting from the Casper center. He talked generally about the effects of the cuts across the state.

I think you might see some caseloads increase, he said.

Preschool directors across the state will have to look at services and make decisions about what to cut. But state and federal rules specify that certain services must be offered to children, Starnes said.

The centers are expected to find children with developmental disabilities and delays through activities such as screenings and outreach with local pediatricians, he said. Once they identify children who need help, they must provide services to them. They are expected to help children with a wide range of conditions  including speech and language delays, hearing and visual impairments, Down syndrome, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and orthopedic impairments.

You have services (and ask) What is essential and what is an enhancement? Starnes said. That will impact services.

Rhoades, of the Weston County Childrens Center, expects a $91,000 cut to her centers $1.2 million budget. The center serves 135 children and their families.

She plans to make reductions in travel, supplies and equipment. Shes working hard to avoid employee layoffs, she said.

Its going to get tough, she said.

Statewide, nearly 700 private-sector jobs are expected to be lost as a result of the budget cuts. Most of the people who will who be laid off work in businesses contracted by the state to perform various services for the Wyoming Health Department.

State regulations require the developmental preschools to pay their employees competitive salaries relative to local school districts and speech and occupational therapy practices.

You employ people, Starnes said. Theyre buying houses. Theyre buying cars. Theyre paying taxes. We pay a livable wage.

Activities

A handful of children played outside the Child Development Center at the end of their half day of summer school. But the play has a purpose.

Some children rode tricycles  working on their gross motor skills, which is the movement and coordination between muscle groups. They were also learning independence and how to navigate around other children, said teacher Janie Woolson.

In a sandbox, kids shoveled sand into buckets, comparing the amount of sand each held. They were also working on social and language skills, Woolson said.

Three-year-old Clover Cheney, who just learned to walk, practiced climbing up playground equipment. Ronald Ortiz, also 3, is learning to identify colors as part of speech and cognitive goals. He enthusiastically shows his teachers every yellow thing he sees, Woolson said.

Theres a lot more going on than youd think by just watching, she said.

Although the centers are generally referred to as preschools by the state, they also offer in-home services.

In Casper, therapists will visit the home of a baby with hearing loss and teach the family sign language. They will work with the child on the hearing he does possess, so he can use it to listen and speak, said Jan Hinz, director of therapy at the childrens center.

Therapists help children with cleft palates learn to eat, visiting their homes at mealtimes, said Rebecca McOmie, a development center occupational therapist.

They might bring a device called a balance board, which looks a bit like a skateboard, to help a deaf child work on balance skills, McOmie said.

Its unclear whether any of the activities are on the chopping block, as Starnes hasnt announced his cuts yet.

But therapists at the CDC said the activities, known collectively in the education world as early intervention, are the best methods to help kids with developmental delays and disabilities succeed in life.

After all, numerous studies show most of a childs brain development occurs before age five. The programs are the best chance children have to maximize their potential in life, said Sue Sharp, executive director of Child Development Services of Wyoming, an association that represents the preschools.

Safety net

State funding for the preschools has generally been on the decline since 2009, according to a table provided by the Child Development Services of Wyoming.

To receive state money, each preschool must obtain 3 percent of their budgets from local governments, or find the money through grants and fundraisers. Property taxes and sales taxes are down in local government, and grants are becoming more competitive in Wyoming, Sharp said.

The preschools also obtain money from the federal government. Federal law requires Wyoming offer education and health services to developmentally disabled children.

Rhoades of the Weston County Childrens Center said she recently sent a letter requesting money from Weston County. Officials there told her to resend the letter and to ask for less.

If cuts continue, some of the states 46 preschools will struggle to remain viable, Sharp said.

If we cant keep our doors open, the state would have to provide (those services,) she said.

That could cost Wyoming even more money. The state would have to establish a program in an area, find a building and begin services from the ground up, she said.

The state has a legal responsibility to provide service for the kids, said Starnes of the Casper center.

If that is what were supposed to do, and the funding isnt following that, something has to give, he said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.  A man killed by police has been identified as 25-year-old Josiah Williams.

The Wednesday shooting is under investigation by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

Officers confronted Williams in a convenience store parking lot.

Police said he had a gun in one hand and an alcoholic beverage in the other.

A department spokeswoman said the man refused to drop a gun he had pointed at an officer.

Williams died at a hospital.

The unidentified officer who fired the shot that killed Williams is on paid administrative leave.
A wildfire burning near Sundance has destroyed one home and more than a dozen outbuildings.

Fire officials say the Kara Creek Fire grew to 20 square miles Saturday, but intensive work allowed firefighters to get it 50 percent contained.

The fire is located east of the Keyhole Reservoir in northeast Wyoming, near the border with South Dakota. It started with lightning on Friday, and spread quickly.

Authorities closed Interstate 90 between Moorcroft and Sundance for a brief time Saturday to allow firefighters to build a fire line. The highway reopened Saturday evening.

The efforts of the crews yesterday kept the fire from crossing the interstate," Kara Creek Fire Incident Commander Dick Terry said Sunday in a written statement. "They have been putting their hearts into this fire, and it shows.

Firefighters on Sunday focused on improving fire lines and breaking apart hot areas on the edge of the fire.

A second fire burning near Sundance, meanwhile, has been completely contained, fire officials said. The Douglas Fire burned about 2,000 acres.
I recently testified at the Bureau of Land Managements May 17 hearing in Casper about the need to reform the federal coal-leasing program, through which the federal government sells the right to mine publicly owned coal.

At the hearing I heard environmental experts and advocates testify about how the federal coal-leasing program puts our future at risk.

As a Wyoming native (my formative years were spent in Cheyenne), I am deeply concerned about the future of our state. Wyoming is my home, the place where my mothers recently bought the house I grew up in. I care about this issue and have deep concerns for not only myself but for those I love.

Forty percent of all coal burned in the United States is federal coal that belongs to all Americans. Mining and burning federal, publicly owned coal is a major contributor to the climate change impacts that Wyoming already experiences, including more severe weather extremes, drought, reduced snowpack and severe wildfires. If we keep subsidizing federal coal mining, I fear Wyoming may bear very little resemblance to the Wyoming I have lived in and loved since I was 4.

As BLM considers how to reform and modernize this program, they must include thorough evaluations of the full costs of mining and burning public coal, including impacts on climate change and how much those impacts will cost our society.

Not only does the current program accelerate climate change by leasing federal coal at below market non-competitive rates, most of the publicly owned coal mined in our state lies under prairie grasslands, ranches, wildlife habitats and open spaces. Many of us choose Wyoming as our home because of our beautiful landscapes and diverse wildlife.

But as weve recently learned here in Wyoming, sometimes coal companies avoid their responsibility to properly restore the lands they tear apart with strip mining. Coal companies in our state have been allowed to self-bond instead of obtaining real environmental insurance that would cover the costs of reclaiming these lands after mining is complete. The insurance would ensure that if (or when) the companies go bankrupt, the scars left on our states landscapes could potentially be healed.

Out of a total of 450 square miles of mined land across Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, only about 10 percent have been fully reclaimed. The federal coal-leasing program must be reformed to prohibit self-bonding and require timely and complete reclamation. We can then protect and sustain our land, water, and wildlife instead of creating huge sacrifice zones for a resource that is becoming less and less economically viable with every passing day.

At the hearing I also learned about the economic challenges Wyoming faces as we transition away from a fossil-fuel-based economy. I was deeply moved by the stories of people whose livelihoods will be seriously impacted by this transition. I know full well that this transition impacts people on a broad level, from the miners themselves to the education programs that rely heavily on coal excise tax revenue to function. There will be challenges our state must work through and face head-on.

As BLM considers how to update and modernize this outdated program, it is essential to include strong support for workers and families who are most affected by the downturn in coal production in Wyoming. We should tie royalties from all future mining of public coal directly to job training and other support programs for workers so that we can ensure a fair and just transition away from fossil fuels.

We can also look toward President Barack Obamas initiative, called the Power(+) Plan. This plan draws funding from a multitude of governmental departments (including the Department of Labor, Dislocated Workers National Reserve, Department of Commerce, Economic Development Assistance Programs and the USDA Department of Rural Development) to the tune of $1.8 trillion in all. These funds go to a wide variety of purposes such as improved healthcare legislation for miners and their families, job training, and abandoned mine reclamation. It is designed to alleviate the suffering of communities facing the dire need to transition towards more viable forms of energy production and consumption.

Wyomingites must work together to solve our economic challenges while also protecting our states future and way of life. People like me, who will be here long enough to experience the impact of climate change, care about the future of our state. Its time for our state elected leaders to get serious about preparing for a transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy.
Wyomings financial situation didnt need to be this difficult.

Certainly, the news from Gov. Matt Meads office last week was bleak: The governor has proposed cutting $248 million from the two-year state budget that goes into effect July 1 as well as laying off almost 700 private-sector workers whose jobs depend on state-funded work.

The state Department of Health will bear the brunt of these cuts, with a $90 million reduction thats made worse by the loss of federal matching funds. Twenty-three programs within the department are being cut. For instance, the department will eliminate an oral health program for low-income people, primarily children. It will also reduce spending on substance abuse and suicide prevention programs, which is particularly troubling given Wyomings historically high suicide rate.

Mead also discussed the possibility of $86.2 million in cuts to Wyoming Medicaid. In the wake of major layoffs at Wyoming Medical Center earlier this month, the governor warned that the same specter might loom at other hospitals around the state.

Its fair to say that much of the economic challenge stems from factors outside Wyomings control, from changing energy markets to geopolitical uncertainty. Those are real problems that we as a state must contend with.

But we cant blame all of the cuts on these variables. Some of the responsibility rests squarely with our leaders in Cheyenne.

Wyoming legislators have missed opportunity after opportunity to accept federal money to expand Medicaid to 20,000 low-income adults in the state. Approving expansion  a key component of the Affordable Care Act  would unleash the flow of $268 million to hospitals, clinics and doctors around Wyoming. It would help provide treatment for people who cant pay and for whom the medical facility ends up picking up the tab. Since Wyoming hospitals tally more than $100 million in uncompensated care each year, thats significant. Its money that matters now, in our current financial situation, more than ever.

Even before the Medicaid expansion debate, lawmakers missed a chance to address the persistent challenge of caring for the uninsured at a time when the state was still flush with cash from an energy boom. Some critics, mostly Democrats, say the Legislature put a spending priority on projects, rather than people. More could have been done to diversify our economy when times were good. Now, we must make those efforts while money is scarce.

Unfortunately, lawmakers have again and again allowed ideology to shape the state. They have had chance after chance to take advantage of the federal funding that comes with expanding Medicaid, and each time, they have refused. They had a chance to attract more industries to the state, but they focused too much on preserving the status quo.

Today, we see the effects of those decisions. Our state budget has taken a huge hit. Our people will have fewer health care options during a bust, when they would need help most.

If this is Wyoming legislators idea of a system that works, voters should explore other options.
LONDON  Britains shocking decision to remove itself from the European Union brought more political turmoil Sunday as Scotlands leader threatened to block the move and the opposition Labour Partys leader faced a coup attempt from his own legislators.

The sense of unease spread as European leaders stepped up the pressure on Britain to begin its complex exit from the 28-nation EU immediately, rather than wait several months as British Prime Minister David Cameron prefers.

The vote to leave sent the pound and global stock markets plunging. Britains Treasury said Finance Minister George Osborne would make an early morning statement Monday to provide reassurance about financial and economic stability before the London Stock Exchange opens.

The leaders of the successful campaign to leave the EU stayed largely out of the public eye, as opponents accused them of lacking a plan to calm the crisis the result has triggered. In his first statement since Friday morning, leave leader and former London Mayor Boris Johnson used his column in the Daily Telegraph newspaper to urge unity and say the negative consequences (of the vote) are being wildly overdone.

He said Britain would forge a new and better relationship with the EU  based on free trade and partnership, rather than a federal system.

The vote, however, risks causing a political schism in the United Kingdom. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would consider advising the Scottish Parliament to try to use its power to prevent Britain from leaving the EU. She said Scottish lawmakers might be able to derail the move by withholding legislative consent for a British exit.

If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of whats right for Scotland, then the option of saying Were not going to vote for something that is against Scotlands interests, of course, that is on the table, she said of the possibility of withholding consent.

Sturgeon said she believes Scotlands approval is required for the move, but conceded the British government would likely take a very different view.

Thursdays UK-wide vote to leave the EU was very unpopular in Scotland, where 62 percent cast ballots to stay, and Sturgeon says she is studying ways to keep Scotland in the EU.

The Scottish question looms large because Sturgeon also has said another referendum on Scottish independence from Britain is highly likely as a result of Britains EU vote. A Scottish referendum in 2014 ended with voters deciding to remain in the United Kingdom, but analysts believe Britains withdrawal from the EU may strengthen the independence movement.

In Northern Ireland, which also is part of the UK, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said his priority is forging special arrangements to enable Northern Ireland to maintain its EU ties. Some opponents of the departure have also talked of trying to use Northern Irelands Assembly to try to block the move.

Northern Ireland voters also expressed a preference for keeping the UK in the EU, but

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, Camerons lead official in Belfast,

said decision-making power resides solely in the British Parliament.
Women sometimes drive for hours to see Tucson surgeon Eric Whitacre, and often with concerns they want clarified quickly.

When an additional mammogram screening is needed, a drive back home and return visit another day can compound an already stressful time.

Thats not something they have to contend with anymore.

During the last week, Whitacres Breast Center of Southern Arizona started working with another Tucson-based company, Assured Imaging, so patients can now do initial or follow-up screenings right at the center, 6288 E. Grant Road.

These combined services, which appear to be a first for Tucson, according to several who work in related fields, is a relief for Brandy Bien of Safford, who will be returning to see Whitacre next month for a followup.

After an initial screening showed a breast abnormality, she was referred to Whitacre and got good news: Nothing was wrong. She is returning in July to make sure nothing has changed, she said, and shell take care of the follow-up mammogram screening and consultation during the same visit.

Thats the biggest part of it, that I have to drive two hours just to get to Dr. Whitacres practice, said Bien, who works full time as an investigator for Arizonas Department of Child Safety. This is much more convenient.

This is the first time Assured Imaging has set up a collaboration with a surgeon, said Joe Shafe, the companys vice president of sales.

In addition to other brick-and-mortar sites, the company  which is owned by Shafe and his father, Rick  runs 20 mobile-health buses in Arizona as well as in New Mexico, Texas, Georgia and Washington. The company employs about 140 people.

In addition to mammography, Assured Imaging provides bone density tests, dermatological checks, heart health screenings, diabetic screenings and colorectal cancer screenings. It offers 3-D imaging, which Shafe said provides radiologists and surgeons with more information than before.

For years, Shafe said, the companys focus has been on serving women living in rural areas, where there arent as many services available. Women who cant afford the testing can apply for aid through a nonprofit set up by Assured Imaging to help poor patients, he said.

The company is now also bringing mobile services to corporations so women dont have to miss work to get medical screenings.

Assured Imaging offered to collaborate with the Breast Center a while back, and the two companies will continue to operate independently from each other, with separate check-in and billing.

This is more convenient and efficient from the patients standpoint, said Whitacre, who has had a practice in Tucson since 2003. A number of patients we see come in from all over the Southwest.

Whitacre said he often needs additional screenings so he can determine whats needed.

Weve often said, If only we had a more intense study of that area,  he said. Now were better able to assess the problem. The more valid and useful tools I have to focus on a problem, the better it is for the patient.
Activity in Tucsons commercial real-estate market was a mixed bag in the first half of the year, with some sectors performing better than expected and others struggling.

Overall, commercial brokers are expressing optimism that the local economy is stabilizing as Tucson gets attention from investors looking for opportunities in markets that arent saturated.

The multifamily market has been the star of the show so far this year, attracting big investors and record sales. And the arrival of national retailers to Tucson has resulted in demolition of old shops and the rise of modern shops in the citys core.

MULTIFAMILY

The apartment market in Tucson and the entire West Coast is on fire, said Kami Taylor, sales manager for CBREs Tucson office. Its a safe investment; youre not looking at big dips in income stream.

Tucson has a good supply of workforce housing with rents that match the salaries in the area.

Many investors want those, she said. Markets of our size have been flooded with investors in apartments, and Tucson is a rare gem with product available for purchase. Its one of the benefits of being a secondary market.

Student housing will also continue to attract investors, Taylor said.

How do you go wrong with a class of 40,000? she said. Its not as if they are going to commute from another town.

Michael Gross, investment specialist with Tucson Realty & Trust, said there have been 41 sales of communities with 25 or more units so far this year.

Apartments have been the king and leading the investment market, he said. Unheard of, but in a low-return market, investors are chasing yield, which is the return on investment over a long term.

RETAIL

Since the beginning of the year, wrecking balls have been swinging away at old, outdated retail buildings in midtown.

Urban infill is still where the action is, said Pat Darcy, retail head for Tucson Realty & Trust. This trend will continue, as the central area of Tucson has an overabundance of these older properties.

The current vacancy rate for retail space is about 6.9 percent, and many new buildings are coming online.

Darcy predicts nontraditional shopping center tenants will increase, such as health clubs, charter schools, thrift stores and medical/dental care centers.

Independent gas stations will continue to close, Darcy said, and will be redeveloped into single-tenant retail sites  think mattress companies, he said.

Reaching the 1 million population mark in the metro area was a big barometer for retailers, said Barbi Reuter, chief operating officer for Picor Commercial Real Estate.

She foresees more new retail space being developed around the city, and expects vacancy rates to drop below 6 percent this year.

INDUSTRIAL

There is definitely renewed interest from a diverse number of industries, CBREs Taylor said. Several out-of-state companies are looking to Tucson for growth and expansion, and nearly half are in industries which are new to our community.

Again, Tucson is benefiting from being a secondary market because the primary markets are full and expensive.

She said interest is coming from home health, repair, distribution and manufacturing organizations with both regional and national footprints.

Tucsons geography, transportation planning and supportive government is paying off, she said.

The vacancy rate is below 10 percent for the first time since 2006.

There are 71 industrial buildings larger than 1,000 square feet for sale, with 41 sold since the beginning of the year, said Chuck Blacher, industrial specialist with Tucson Realty & Trust.

This trend leaves us with about a one-year supply, he said.

No spec industrial buildings are currently under construction. The largest occupancy in the past six months was the new 800,000-square-foot warehouse for Home Goods near the airport.

Rents remain flat, falling from $6.79 a square foot to $6.77 per square foot since January.

A meaningless amount, but nevertheless confirming that its still a tenants market, Blacher said.

Job creation and relocation of jobs to Tucson will help the industrial market, he said.

We believe we are now finally in an upward trend ... which should reduce vacancy rates, increase rental rates moderately and increase the depressed values of industrial properties.

OFFICE

In the office sector, particularly, its been mediocre, said Taylor, sales manager for CBREs Tucson office. Its less about demand and more about supply. We have a lot of older buildings that dont appeal to national tenants.

Obtaining financing to build a spec Class A building isnt feasible.

When you say youre coming to a community of 1 million people, they expect to see high-rises, Taylor said of visiting prospective tenants.

Unlike the retail market, which has had great success in demolishing old stores to lure new shops, the office market cant afford that type of investment because it would lead to higher rents.

Gutting the interiors and opening them up to collaborative work spaces could go far in luring more businesses.

The brokers role in encouraging landlords to remodel old space would be to secure longer lease terms, Taylor said.

Instead of leasing for three to five years, landlords would be more comfortable investing with 10- or 15-year leases.

Its the sector that has struggled the most, said Picors Reuter. A big reason is that technology has changed the sort of office space employers need.

You dont need the law libraries and lots of file space, she said.
DONT MISS

Shark Week  Televisions longest-running summer programming event is back to make another big splash. Celebrating its 28th anniversary, Shark Week again offers a jam-packed lineup of compelling documentaries and specials devoted to the toothy creatures of the deep. In addition, Eli Roth returns to host the late-night series, Shark After Dark. The action begins at 8 p.m. Today with Tiger Beach on Discovery (Check listings for specific programs throughout the week).

OTHER GOOD BETS

TODAY: Season 4 of Ray Donovan launches with our title character (Liev Schreiber) in recovery mode after last seasons bloody shootout with the Armenian mafia. When will this guy learn to just chill out? 9 p.m., Showtime.

TODAY: Host Michael Strahan brings his genial personality to The $100,000 Pyramid. The revived classic is part of a Sunday Fun & Games programming block that includes Celebrity Family Feud and Match Game. 8 p.m., ABC.

TODAY: Roadies is a new music-filled dramedy from producer-writer Cameron Crowe that focuses on the unsung heroes who travel with, and set the stage for, a fictional rock band. Luke Wilson and Carla Gugino head the cast. 10 p.m., Showtime.

MONDAY: The tear-stained drama on The Bachelorette continues in Buenos Aires, where another awkward two-on-one date goes down. Then, at the rose ceremony, JoJo stuns the guys when she runs out. 7 p.m., ABC.

TUESDAY: Will the animals keep behaving badly on the second season of Zoo? Of course. If they didnt, there would be no show. 8 p.m., CBS.

TUESDAY: We hope the new horror series Dead of Summer will be scary good. It follows a group of counselors who begin working at a summer camp thats set to reopen five years after it was closed under ominous circumstances. 9 p.m., Freeform.

WEDNESDAY: On American Gothic, a new suspect emerges in the Silver Bells Killer case. We suspect he or she wont be the last one. 9 p.m., CBS.

THURSDAY: Denis Leary and his dysfunctional band are back for Season 2 of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. In the opener, the sudden death of an old friend forces the band to question where theyre going in life. 10 p.m., FX.

FRIDAY: Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and her gang of space bounty hunters are back for more adventures in Season 2 of Killjoys. Now theyre off to Eulogy, an outlaw-only barter town where they hope to steal a high-tech shield. 9 p.m., Syfy.
Usually a change-of-plea hearing is a dry affair.

The judge makes sure the defendant is pleading guilty voluntarily, he reels off a bunch of legalistic phraseology, and the deal is signed off. The prosecutor may dismiss a charge or two in exchange for the defendant admitting to another crime and accepting some prison time.

Its a routine affair in any criminal court.

But that hasnt been the case several times recently in a certain Nogales courtroom. Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink has decided he will no longer approve plea agreements that dictate a prison term for the defendant in cases that originated with arrests by federal agents, the Nogales International reported May 27.

By doing so, Fink is taking a stand on an issue that has long rankled some border-county officials: Why should county and state taxpayers cover the costs of prosecuting someone who was arrested by federal agents committing a federal crime, in many cases at the international border?

Most of these cases are drug-smuggling arrests from the ports of entry at Nogales or the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19. Federal prosecutors may decline them because theyre small or a little complicated  as when drivers are carrying drugs but theres no confession to rely on and a question as to whether they knew the load was there.

In a series of cases May 23, Fink, a former federal prosecutor, turned down plea deals because they were cases the U.S. Attorneys Office had declined that were picked up by Santa Cruz County prosecutors, the International reported.

This is another case that was declined by the federal government, the U.S. Attorneys Office, Fink said at change-of-plea hearing for Maria Santiago Quintero, caught at the port with 24 pounds of cocaine hidden in her dashboard.

The court is going to reject the sentencing provision in the plea. The court does not believe its appropriate to tie the courts hands in sentencing in this matter to require a prison-only plea when this matter is a federal declination of what is, in reality, and should be a federal case.

The U.S. Attorneys Office declined to answer my questions about the issue Friday, and Fink declined to explain his position further. But he brought this issue up in his 2014 campaign and its obviously something hes thought about during his career. He was a federal prosecutor for 14 years in Tucson before becoming a criminal defense attorney in Santa Cruz County in 2003.

Its been a hot topic for decades, Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre and Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada told me Friday.

In fact, McIntyres predecessor in the Bisbee prosecutors office, Ed Rheinheimer, vigorously declined to accept any federal cases, considering it their job, not his.

McIntyre, who was a prosecutor under Rheinheimer, has taken the opposite tack, especially when it comes to Mexican juvenile smugglers.

Under federal law, juveniles caught smuggling drugs were usually returned to Mexico without much consequence, which led traffickers to continue using them for smuggling.

McIntyre and the federal prosecutors arranged for Cochise County to take those cases, prosecute them under state law, and turn them into adult cases. That way, the kids would feel a consequence and traffickers would stop thinking kids were an easy vehicle for smuggling loads.

The federal government has the money, the resources, the manpower and the obligation to handle and provide consequences in this area, McIntyre said. However, if they dont, I was born and raised here. Its my county. If theres a problem, Ive got to help fix it.

The taxpaying citizen expects government to work. They dont care if its county, city or federal.

George Silva, McIntyres counterpart in Santa Cruz County, made much the same argument when we talked Friday: If the feds dont prosecute a given case, then its up to him to ensure some consequences are brought. And in his county, those cases add up to hundreds per year, meaning costs such as jail, judges, court interpreters and probation officers are covered in good measure by the local residents in a poor county.

I have a responsibility to prosecute crimes committed in my community, Silva said. Im not necessarily looking at all the financial aspects of a prosecution.

In Pima County, local prosecutors took up 85 cases last year that were originally federal cases.

Longtime Santa Cruz County Sheriff Estrada has seen the phenomenon since he started his law-enforcement career in Nogales decades ago.

Back in the 70s, we were happy to take these cases. There werent so many of them, he said Friday.

If the U.S. attorney doesnt want it because its not on a silver platter, theyre doing an injustice, Estrada went on. The last thing they should think about is handing it to a poor county.

Federal prosecutors may turn down prosecuting a given drug case for many reasons. One of them, McIntyre said, is that the feds are trained to work upward in a smuggling organization, not worrying much about the grunts who carry the loads.

And border counties do get some help: Silva, for example, has one prosecutor, a detective and a legal assistant whose salaries are paid for through federal grants. But of course, the prosecutions costs arent the only ones in any given case, and theres no reason local taxpayers should be asked to carry this load financially.

If weve got so many federal agents that there arent enough federal prosecutors, probation officers and judges to handle the cases they produce, then we need to increase their numbers, too.

That, or make sure the feds pay back the local officials for every cent they spend on federal cases, and that the local prosecutors are using their leverage to make this happen. Even if it means turning down some federal cases.
Detroit Copper Co. was one of the earliest to operate in the Clifton-Morenci district.

The company was officially incorporated on Jan. 14, 1875, with William Church as its president and general manager. It played a major role in the development of mining operations over the next 42 years, beginning with the erection of its first smelter at Clifton, though it was later moved to Copper Mountain several miles south.

The smelter was equipped with two 36-inch round furnaces, and its blast was powered by a water-driven blower. A gray limestone quarry nearby supplied flux to the smelter.

It successfully processed ore for two years, converting 16 thousand tons into black copper while earning a profit.

Church arrived with his brother in Joys Camp, which was named after Capt. Miles Joy, deputy mineral surveyor for the Clifton district in 1872.

Church would soon acquire the estate of Capt. Eber Brock Ward, a Detroit industrialist and investor. It included four contiguous mining claims: the Arizona Central, Copper Mountain, Montezuma and Yankie near Clifton. Joys Camp was later renamed Morenci.

In need of financial support, Church visited the offices of Phelps Dodge & Co. in January 1881 to request a loan of $50,000 for the Detroit Copper Co.

Phelps Dodge & Co. had been engaged in mercantile business involving bolts, brass, boiler plate, tin, spikes and zinc for the better half of the century.

William E. Dodge, Jr. recognized the market for copper as his brass works in Ansonia, Connecticut, had been treating copper originating from Arizonas Copper Queen Mine. Furthermore, he had capital to invest in such a venture through a bequeathment of funds by the Stokes, a founding family of Phelps Dodge.

Dodge would confirm the validity of Churchs property by sending consultant James Douglas, superintendent of a copper smelter and refinery complex in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to inspect the operation.

Douglas reported back favorably, and Church received the loan and used it to expand his mining operations. He also relocated the smelter to Morenci, which was supplied by a pumping system contrived by Douglas to lift water to higher elevations. Phelps Dodge in turn received a substantial block of Detroit Copper Co. stock, beginning its 126-year involvement in Arizonas copper mining industry.

Early production was hindered by Apache raids and outlaws. Church was beaten and robbed by Kid Louis and his gang in his own office. The attackers absconded with a rich haul from Churchs company safe.

Additional challenges beset the company, including transportation, high fuel and smelting costs, a depressed copper market, competition from the Arizona Copper Co. and a close brush with bankruptcy.

The 1880s through the mid-1890s saw an annual production averaging 3 million pounds of copper. However, the company was not paying dividends.

High-grade oxide ores quickly became mined out, necessitating more extensive operations deeper below the surface.

The first copper concentrator in the Arizona Territory to treat these abundant sulfide ores was erected by William Church for the Detroit Copper Co. in 1886. A 120-ton furnace to accommodate full production of its mines was started up two years later.

By 1897, William Church sold his interest in the Detroit Copper Co. to Phelps Dodge Co. As an affiliate of Phelps Dodge, the Detroit Copper Co. would go on in 1901 to incorporate the Morenci Southern Railroad, extending a line from the Clifton-Morenci area to Guthrie.

The line was christened the corkscrew railroad of America because of its layout involving the construction of three large looping trestles that adjusted to the topography of low hills by an increase in elevation by 1,800 feet.

The company name remained until 1917, when it became the Morenci Branch of the newly reorganized Phelps Dodge Corp. By 1921, Phelps Dodge Corp. was the sole owner of copper holdings around Morenci and Clifton.
Pima Community College continues to flirt with disaster in its record-keeping for students who served in the military, says its former head of veteran services, who recently quit after 18 months on the job.

Daniel L. Kester resigned his $80,000 a year position effective April 30. The Arizona Daily Star obtained a copy of his resignation letter through a public-records request.

Chancellor Lee Lambert hired Kester in October 2014 to improve the schools troubled veterans services systems and to serve as key compliance officer for state and federal regulations affecting veterans.

One of Kesters first tasks was to oversee cleanup of PCC record-keeping mistakes that caused some veterans to receive more student aid than they were entitled to, money they later had to repay.

In an April 7 resignation letter addressed to the chancellor, Kester said conditions at PCC are such that he hasnt been able to accomplish what he was hired for.

He blamed a flawed job description, disrespectful staff members and a clear lack of institutional will to support veteran students.

Ive tried everything I can think of to design and implement a plan for Pima College to recover from years of VA records violations, Kester wrote. It is untenable for me to continue trying against all odds.

A large number of the components of the veteran turnaround plan that you and I signed (are) still left untouched, he told Lambert.

We continue to flirt with disaster as the (federal veterans agency) could audit any day now and we still have over 1,500 files backlogged, he said.

PCC officials dispute Kesters claim that much of what he was hired to do remains undone.

The college does not agree with several of Dr. Kesters statements, said an email from Paul Schwalbach of the marketing and communications department.

PCC has made a priority of supporting veterans and this is especially important to the chancellor, who is a veteran, Schwalbach said.

He cited several positive changes under the Lambert administration, such as hiring more veterans support personnel, increasing the total number from less than five to 13. The college also assigned a vice president to supervise Dr. Kester directly, he said

The 1,500 files backlogged in Kesters letter is overstated, Schwalbach said. About 800 files of former students are awaiting inspection for deficiencies as PCC prepares for its next scheduled federal compliance audit in October, he said.

Kester who has served on active duty, in the Air National Guard, and as a superintendent at the 612th Air and Space Operations Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, declined to comment on his resignation letter when contacted by the Star.

PCC board chairman Mark Hanna said the board was not made aware of Kesters resignation letter. He said Lambert has assured him that the situation is under control and has appointed a temporary replacement.

Hector Acosta, a longtime program manager at PCCs Desert Vista Campus and a retired Army officer, has assumed the position on an acting basis.

PCC typically serves between 1,000 and 1,500 students a year who receive veterans educational benefits.
Arizonas top schools chief is coming to Tucson to seek feedback on her education reform plan.

Diane Douglas is scheduled to appear at the Leading Change Conference at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort Tuesday evening. She will also be at the Joel D. Valdez Pima County Public Library downtown Wednesday evening.

Both Tucson talks, which are part of the superintendents outreach tour around the state, are open to the public.

In October 2015, Douglas released a 156-page education-reform plan titled, AZ Kids Cant Wait. The plan includes more than 30 proposals, including permanently ending Arizonas relationship with common core and improving language arts and math standards.

Through the talks in Tucson and around the state, Douglas wants to hear from teachers, administrators, parents and students about what they like and dont like, said Charles Tack, an Arizona Department of Education spokesman.

The public will have an opportunity to meet the superintendent and ask her questions, he said.

Another issue Douglas wants to address during the tour is the Every Student Succeeds Act, federal legislation replacing No Child Left Behind.
The Environmental Protection Agency wont release memos and other documents to another federal agency on the latest Rosemont Mine mitigation plan and on the mines general impacts.

Its citing a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption, to protect what it calls the integrity of the deliberative process. But the University of Arizonas journalism school chief, David Cuillier, says the agencys action raises questions about what its trying to hide.

The EPA has written several letters to the Army Corps of Engineers in the past, criticizing Rosemonts application to dredge and fill washes under a federal Clean Water Act permit. In a widely circulated November 2013 letter, the EPA urged the Corps to reject the application and criticized an earlier version of Rosemonts mitigation plan as inadequate.

On the mining companys current mitigation plan, however, the EPA has only released consultants critique of one element: a proposal to construct channels near the existing Sonoita Creek to accommodate floodwater and create more habitat.

It sent the Corps a separate, technical memo in April 2015 commenting on the broader mitigation plan. But it withheld that comment under an exemption to FOIA protecting correspondence between agencies. In December 2015, the EPA sent the Corps three other documents on the mines impacts, marked draft and withheld under the same exemption.

These actions are consistent with a recent statement by outgoing EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld that the agency doesnt want to prejudge the issue before reviewing the most recent documents, such as the mines final biological opinion.

In withholding the 2015 memo on the mitigation plan, EPA is asserting the deliberative process privilege, the general purpose of which is to prevent injury to the quality of agency decisions, agency spokeswoman Margot Perez Sullivan said in an email. The privilege protects not merely documents, but the integrity of the deliberative process itself, Perez Sullivan said.

But UAs Cuillier said that while people can understand that inter-agency discussions can be more open and productive if officials know the comments wont be made public, agencies should be open when communications start reaching a certain amount of finality that the public deserves to know about.

If the EPA has made some final determination in how they view this particular project, then it seems that they should be open about that, said Cuillier, a board member of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona.

The public deserves to know how they come down on the issue. To hang secrecy on this technical loophole betrays the intent of FOIA, he said.
This weeks brutal heat is nothing compared to what well see in 45 years, if a new studys forecast is accurate.

The new report predicts that summers in the Southwest and many other regions of the world have a 90 percent chance of breaking heat records in a given year between 2060 and 2080, if the level of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions rises significantly.

But if nations can take measures in the next few decades to clamp down on their carbon-dioxide emissions even moderately, the odds of record-setting heat waves will diminish considerably, the study found.

The emission cutbacks needed would be significant. But they wont be as stiff as those required to reach the goal of holding down temperature increases to no more than 2.7 degrees F that were set last December by negotiators at the global Paris climate talks, said Flavio Lehnert, one of the studys three researchers.

Heat-related deaths, more droughts and crop damage could all result if the heat waves are as severe as predicted in the computer models used in this study, the researchers said.

Recent examples of fatal heat waves and food crises linked to record breaking summer temperatures can therefore serve as case studies for a potential future norm, said the study, prepared by the federally run National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

The study went online last week, a few days before two hikers died Sunday in record-setting heat in the Catalina Foothills, while a third person died while walking on the Loop multi-use path on the south side. A fourth hiker who had been missing since Sunday was found dead on Tuesday just off the Ventana Canyon Trail. Two others died that day while hiking in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and the Superstition Mountains in Phoenix and Pinal County.

Tucson, the Bisbee-Douglas area, Phoenix and Yuma broke temperature records that day with respective readings of 115, 109, 118 and 120 degrees.

But while this heat has been extreme even for June, the hottest month, the new study made ominous predictions for future summers.

Mean summer temperatures in parts of the Southwest will rise by 8 to 9 degrees F by 2060-80, compared to average summertime temperatures from 1920 to 2014, researcher Lehnert said, if greenhouse gas emissions keep rising. Temperature increases would be about half that if the world can achieve moderate emission reductions, Lehnert said.

Looking specifically at the odds of heat records, the study found:

 Globally, the odds of a given summer breaking heat records will rise from about 10 percent today to 80 percent by 2070, if greenhouse-gas emissions keep rising.

 The Southwest and other large parts of North America, and South America, central Europe, Asia and Africa face a 90 percent risk of record-setting summers by 2060-80. That means nearly every summer in those areas will be warmer than the warmest summer from 1920 to 2014.

 The central U.S., Alaska, Scandinavia, Siberia and Australia have a less than 50 percent chance of routine, record-hot summers by then.

 If greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced, the odds of record high temperatures in a given summer, globally, sink to 41 percent. In the Southwest and Far West in general, the odds are reduced to a range of 10 to 70 percent.

 By 2070, 87 percent of the worlds population will live in areas that have at least a 50 percent chance of record-setting summers most years, if greenhouse-gas emissions keep increasing. If theyre moderated, 45 percent of people will be subject to that risk.

The study compared two scenarios of greenhouse-gas emission trends. One assumes emissions will climb steadily, as they had done in recent decades, before leveling off a bit in 2013 and 2014. Human population would grow continuously and energy efficiency improve slowly, meaning demand for electricity and gasoline would stay high.

The other scenario shows greenhouse gas emissions rising very slowly at first and tapering off by about 2060. This would occur with significant increases in renewable energy use and moderate fossil fuel use decreases.

Energy efficiency would increase significantly and some effort would be needed to capture carbon and store it underground.

The new study will be published in an upcoming special issue of the journal Climatic Change, which will detail what researchers conclude are benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This studys research was financed by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The Arizona Daily Stars Sportsmens Fund Send a Kid to Camp program has increased its funding allotment to send more local children to camp this summer because of community need.

The program raises money so children from low-income households and military families can attend overnight YMCA, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps for little or no cost to their families.

Our original goal was to raise $180,000 to send 670 kids to summer camp. So far this year weve received 1,162 donations totaling $137,133.

On June 16, the YMCA asked for and was granted an additional $10,000 because families were still applying and the Y had already allotted all of the Sportsmens Fund scholarship money.

That day alone, 10 scholarship requests were submitted, Chip Hutler, executive director of the YMCAs Triangle Y Ranch Camp, wrote in an email.

We have reached out to a variety of nonprofits and community service groups to reach those who might have need including C.A.S.A.-Court Appointed Special Advocates, Black Womens Task Force, Doolen Middle School/IDOC, 355th Force Support Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 162nd Arizona Air National Guard, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Tucson, Tucson Refugee Ministry, Casa de los Ninos, TUSD Native American Studies, Compass Affordable Housing, Arizona Childrens Association, numerous schools and the YMCA branches in Tucson.

We are grateful to the Sportsmens Fund and all of the donors who provide us with the opportunity to serve youth at camp who would otherwise not have a camp experience, he wrote.

Since 1947, the Arizona Daily Star Sportsmens Fund has helped pay for 37,907 children to go to camp. It is one of the oldest 501c(3) charities in Arizona.

Your contribution qualifies for the Arizona tax credit of up to $400 for donations to qualifying charitable organizations. Donations are welcome throughout the year.

Recent donations include:

Jack Alexander, $100.

Alpha Delta Kappa PSI, $150.

Abe and Barbara Aragon, in memory of Abe Aregon Sr., $50.

Charles Autrey, $400.

Bill Baker, $50.

Dorothy Baldwin, $25.

Patricia Banner, $50.

Gino Barone, $100.

S. Annette Bartlett, $250.

Patricia and Franklyn Bergen, $100.

Mary Black, $75.

Marjorie Blaine, $100.

Dan and Mary Boone, $100.

Anne Britt, $50.

Cranston Broadfoot family, in loving memory of Brian Keith Pranger, $150.

Kathleen Brooks, $200.

Jean Burton, $100.

Cheri Cross-Bushnell, in memory of Ace Bushnell, $100.

Elaine Carlton, $100.

Maj. Carl Carlton, USAF (Ret.), $500.

Linda and John Carter, in memory of Jim Leader Sr., $100.

Mark Cavins, $100.

Karen Chadwell, $100.

Dolores Christensen, $100.

Karen Christensen, in memory of Ryan Kay, $100.

Robert Coate, $100.

Sam and Laverne Cohen, $35.

Kathleen Colsman, $1,000.

Joe Conley, $25.

R.J. Daniels, $100.

Linda Dashew, $200.

Patsy Davis and Glenn Davis, CSM (Ret.), $200.

Jeanine Delgman, $100.

Sue and Ron Detrick, in memory of Gladys Hurt, $300.

Doris Dinsmore, $100.

Judith and Richard Dowse, Jan McCarron, $100.

Ruby Duke, $75.

Vicki Edwards, $400.

Constance Elson, $15.

Susan Enholm, thinking of her sister Chris Mankowitz who hated camp, $100.

Warren Essig, in memory of Bill Pahle, $20.

James Fogltance, $75.

Jacqueline Ford, $75.

Bill and LaVerne Foster, $100.

Eugene Foushee, $100.

Martha Frailey, $50.

Robert Fusinati, $200.

Lori Gaudette, $200.

Mona Gentz, $90.

Steven Gibson, in memory of Steve Minder, Jim Gibson and Johnny Gibson, $100.

Christopher Goldsmith, $25.

Derek Roth Gordon, $750.

Janet Grimes, $50.

Janet and Kai Haber, M.D., $100.

Eleanor Hagen, $100.

Deborah Hammar, $35.

Pat Heller, $200.

Bruce Hilbert, $30.

Alice Hinton, $50.

Linda Howland, $25.

Sharidah Jenkins, $95.

Becky and Sid Johnson, in memory of our sister Jan McCarron, $2,000.

Joseph and Toni Kane, $100.

Janet and Kai Keepers, $50.

Patrick Kelly, in memory of Elizabeth Dickey Kelly, $400.

Susan Kettlewell, $200.

R. Keyser, $200.

Philip King, $100.

Joan Kleinerman, $20.

George Campbell and Debbie Kornmiller, in memory of Ken Carlton, $100.

Elaine Kozolchyk, $54.

Wendy Kriendler, $50.

Lois Kulakowski, $200.

More donations will be acknowledged in the coming week.
SCOTTSDALE  The governors of Sonora and Arizona say they wont let the rhetoric of the presumed Republican presidential contender get in the way of their efforts to expand the cross-border economy.

In an interview Friday with Capitol Media Services, Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich said she is trying to build a mega-region with Arizona to attract companies interested in doing business on both sides of the border.

That means more trade, more tourism and more emphasis on convincing businesses that the border is not a barrier, but rather something that simply separates two halves of a whole, she said.

As Pavlovich acknowledged, that comes amid statements by Donald Trump calling Mexican immigrants criminals  at one time, he said many were rapists  and that he will build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it.

We have to overcome all the obstacles that are before us, Pavlovich said.  Governor (Doug) Ducey and myself will overcome all the obstacles that we see in front of us.

Ducey, who has agreed to back Trump as his partys nominee, said the candidates rhetoric is just something that has to be dealt with.

There are certain political realities we need to be aware of, he said of the presidential campaign and the possibility that Trump could be the next White House occupant.

The key, said Ducey in his own interview with Capitol Media Services, is not letting those comments and the political race get in the way.

If we focus on what the goal is, what our objectives are in terms of growing the economy, having safer communities, improving tourism and trade, we can work around those, he said.

The pair were at last weeks meeting of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, an annual event that brings together political, business and civic leaders from both countries to discuss ways of improving the economy.

Ducey has made relations with Sonora a priority since taking office last year.

Specifically, he has tried to heal what has at times been a heated relationship between his predecessor, Jan Brewer, and officials south of the border.

Brewer signed 2010s SB 1070, designed to give state and local police more power to detain and arrest people believed to be in this country illegally.

Brewer also issued an executive order in 2012 denying Arizona drivers licenses to people brought to this country illegally as children.

At her own last Arizona-Mexico Commission meeting in 2014, Brewer made a point of talking about illegal immigration and flaying the federal government for flying migrant families and unaccompanied children into Arizona after processing facilities in Texas were overwhelmed.

Guillermo Padres, at the time the governor of Sonora, instead chose at the 2014 meeting to talk about ensuring the safety and civil rights of those detained.

In contrast to Brewer, Ducey has made special efforts to build ties with Sonora, and specifically with Pavlovich.

This is not their first meeting. He attended her inauguration, and she has visited Phoenix before.

I think the relationship with Mexico, the relationship that Ive built with Governor Pavlovich in Sonora has been a positive, Ducey said.

He said trade between Arizona and Mexico, much of which goes through and is attributed to Sonora, has increased by $1 billion during the past 12 months.

Thats an excellent start, Ducey said, with Mexico being the states largest trading partner.

The Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona puts Arizona exports to Mexico last year at $9.2 billion, with imports of $7.6 billion.

So its incumbent for me to build this relationship and to build up our economy, Ducey said. And I think thats a benefit to both of us.

What I try to do is prioritize whats most important, the governor said. That includes growing the economy.

Ducey has not ignored the public safety aspects of being along the border.

Earlier this year, he asked lawmakers to provide an extra $31.5 million for the Arizona Border Strike Force Bureau within the state Department of Public Safety, saying it would help fight those who smuggle drugs and people.

Lawmakers provided $26 million.

Ducey said some of the border issues, such as immigration, are a job for Washington, D.C. And thats a job where weve seen zero leadership from both sides over the past 10 years.

Asked if he thinks Trump as president would change that, Ducey responded, Im going to focus on my day job.
Even though special master Ken Feinberg, who was in charge of the first federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, distributed $6 billion to the estates of those killed on 9/11  an average of more than $2 million to the nearly 3,000 victims  the House of Representatives passed its new Fairness for 9/11 Families Act to allow additional claims for the deaths inflicted by the terrorists and set aside $2.7 billion for them.
A beefed-up plan to compensate for damages to washes from the proposed Rosemont Mine faces an Army Corps of Engineers decision in the next few weeks, a Corps spokesman says.

Mine owner Hudbay Minerals Inc., parent of Rosemont Copper company, has a revised mitigation plan that it says would preserve nearly 1,200 additional acres and restore more habitat than proposed in earlier plans that the Corps rejected as inadequate.

The revised plan would protect four parcels of more than 4,800 acres at a $48 million cost.

The Corps will rule on this mitigation plan as part of Rosemonts application for a federal Clean Water Act permit needed to build the $1.5 billion open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson.

Neither the Corps nor the Environmental Protection Agency has publicly commented on the plan.

But an EPA consulting team wrote a scathing report last summer warning that a key element  building a series of new artificial channels at one large mitigation site near Sonoita  wont work. The Arizona Daily Star obtained that report through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

The EPA has veto power over Clean Water Act permits and was critical of Rosemonts earlier mitigation efforts.

The latest Rosemont plan proposes to re-create and restore several washes and a creek on the Sonoita Creek Ranch, about 12 miles south of the proposed mine site.

The plan comes in response to Corps criticism in 2014 that previous plans wouldnt do enough restoration or enhancement.

Ranches key to plan

Mitigation  buying and preserving or restoring land  is a Corps legal requirement for a Clean Water Act permit. Rosemont must compensate for what the Corps says will be direct and indirect impacts to about 68 acres where the mining company would dredge and fill in federally regulated washes.

The EPA, in a November 2013 letter to the Corps, said construction would permanently fill approximately 18 miles of streams across an approximately 5,000-acre project footprint and result in the fragmentation of an intact natural hydrologic landscape unit composed of hundreds of streams stretching many linear miles.

The Sonoita Creek Ranch, containing 1,580 acres of grassland, mesquite, native vegetation, a spring and two ponds, is the core element of its 354-page mitigation plan, Hudbay says.

The companys purchase of the ranch is a unique opportunity to return a major Santa Cruz River tributary to its historic floodplain and secure a valuable conservation parcel on the landscape, the plan says.

The ranch, between Sonoita and Patagonia, includes 4.8 miles of Sonoita Creek, a tributary to the Santa Cruz River. Unlike the better-known stretch of Sonoita Creek near Patagonia where the Nature Conservancy runs a birdwatching preserve, the stretch through the ranch is dry except after rainstorms.

Much of the ranch has been used for agriculture, which required constructing an artificial channel for significant reaches of Sonoita Creek to reduce flood risks, the mitigation plan says. Until that happened, Sonoita Creek flowed through a system of channels in a broad floodplain, laden with wetlands and traditional riparian trees and shrubs, the mitigation plan says. But the creek was realigned, straightened and deepened to keep flows from flooding roads and fields.

The plan would try to reverse mans past work by re-establishing at least five channels, totaling 65 acres, adjoining the creek. The restoration would create another 113 acres of floodplain and desert-like riparian habitat. The ranch also lies within a wildlife corridor linking the Patagonia and Santa Rita mountains, the plan says.

The ranch includes a spring whose owner has nearly 600 acre-feet of water rights and contains 6 acres of wetlands associated with the two ponds.

The mitigation plan quotes Arizona Game and Fish as saying the ranch has rich riparian values and describing its environs as a well-known core area for biodiversity in Southeastern Arizona.

Problems cited

In their report, EPA consultants Mathias Kondolf and James Ashby faulted a Rosemont consultants conceptual design for re-creating the Sonoita Creek side channels on numerous grounds.

The Rosemont mitigation plan says that decades of human alteration of Sonoita Creek have created a channel that maximizes the speed of water flows, causing an unstable channel. Rosemont proposes channel improvements that include removal of large debris and bank stabilization.

The re-established Sonoita Creek floodplain would direct high flows into parallel, meandering, constructed channels, reducing the amount and speed of flood flows through the creek and creating a more stable channel that improves habitat.

But EPAs consultants said:

Rosemont consultant Water and Earth Technologies, which designed the constructed channels, used computer models that significantly overestimated how much water is available for the creek and channels. Its forecast for flood flows was two to three times higher than what has been measured in the area by the U.S. Geological Survey and estimated in computer models by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The computer model used by the Rosemont consultant unrealistically assumed the Sonoita creekbed would stay at fixed elevations, although Sonoita Creeks flow varies wildly year to year. Even a slight change in the creekbeds elevation could make a difference in whether the flows in the constructed channels behave as planned or dont happen.

The constructed channels probably cant hold the flows they get because much of the bottom soils in the Sonoita Creek valley are highly permeable and have high infiltration rates.

The lower 6,000 feet of Sonoita Creek through the ranch are extremely active and complex, supporting valuable riverfront vegetation such as Fremont cottonwoods. If some of this creek is diverted into constructed channels, the creeks flows will be reduced and that could result in reduced success for cottonwoods.

The design of the proposed constructed channels will require considerable maintenance and wont have the same ecological value as the original Sonoita Creek channel.

Kondolf is a University of California-Berkeley environmental planning professor and a consultant in environmental planning, hydrology and the science of rivers. Ashby works for PG Environmental LLC in Golden, Colorado. Water and Earth Technologies is a water resources and environmental engineering firm in Fort Collins, Colorado.

In response to the Stars request for comment on the EPA consultants report and other matters, Hudbay released a statement saying, We respect the time needed by the agencies for a thorough review and await their decision.

Removing grazing also key

The mitigation plan also calls for rehabilitating 22.4 acres of existing Sonoita Creek channel and enhancement of 6 acres of ponds. It also would enhance existing riparian habitat by keeping cattle out of the area by building wildlife-friendly fencing.

Removing grazing is also a key element in restoration plans for a second Rosemont mitigation parcel, the 1,763-acre Fullerton Ranch, in the Altar Valley about 28 miles west of the mine site. The ranch has been intensively overgrazed, offering opportunities for restoration to improve the watersheds condition and operations, the Rosemont plan said.

By kicking out cattle and building wildlife-friendly fencing, the mining company can rehabilitate about 312 acres of stream channels and surrounding riparian areas, the plan said. Another 310 acres at a third Rosemont mitigation spot, Helvetia Ranch parcels two miles northwest of the mine, will also be rehabbed in part by removing cattle, the Rosemont plan said.

Of the three mitigation sites, the Fullerton Ranch has been the most heavily grazed and stands to benefit most from cattle removal, the plan says.

It cites more than a half-dozen studies to make the case that cattle removal can quickly improve grass cover and riparian vegetation and reduce erosion.
The American Medical Association has officially warned about the danger that excessive night lighting poses to our health, citing a growing body of medical research on the subject.

In a unanimous vote this month, it adopted a report from its Council on Science and Public Health that advises cities making a switch to LED street lighting to choose bulbs that operate at the warmer end of the light spectrum, avoiding the cool blue light that approximates bright sunshine.

Tucson, which plans to convert most of its outdoor municipal lighting to LED, or light-emitting diodes, this year, has already chosen the least blue lighting that is commercially available and plans to dim those lights when not needed for safety reasons.

The AMA report notes that humans evolved in a world that was not artificially lit.

With waning ambient light, and in the absence of electric lighting, humans begin the transition to nighttime physiology at about dusk; melatonin blood concentrations rise, body temperature drops, sleepiness grows, and hunger abates, the AMA reports.

When we spend the evening on streets ablaze with bright light or cuddling with our mobile devices, we disrupt that transition, along with our sleep patterns and eating habits.

Insomnia, obesity, diabetes and even heart disease and some cancers have been potentially linked to our light-filled evenings, said cancer epidemiologist Richard Stevens, a professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut, who contributed to the AMA report.

Stevens published his first study on the potential link between artificial light and breast cancer in shift-workers in 1987.

Since then, a growing body of studies and medical experiments have bolstered the theory that artificial light disrupts the bodys circadian rhythm, with negative health consequences, he said in a telephone interview Thursday.

We evolved for 3 billion years, and I mean we as life on the planet, with the sun for about 12 hours and 12 hours of dark. We have this endogenous circadian rhythmicity.

We dont require pitch dark, he said. Starlight, moonlight and firelight are essentially circadian neutral, he said.

But then, 130 years ago, that all changed with the electric light bulb.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with electric light bulbs or even LED lights, but the lower wavelength LED lights that easily scatter and mimic bright, white daylight should be reserved for daylight hours, he said.

He suggests dimming lights after dusk and letting your body ease into its evening rhythm. Your body temperature starts to drop, melatonin rises, metabolism slows. We start losing hunger as the hormone leptin rises.

Melatonin, in addition to being a sleep aid, has been shown to diminish the growth of cancerous tumors in mice, he said.

The International Dark-Sky Association, based in Tucson, praised the AMA action. Weve been sounding the alarm on this, basically, for the last six years, said John Barentine, an IDA project manager.

The weight of the evidence has been mounting. We just see more and more studies that confirm it, Barentine said. This is deep, deep physiology.

The IDAs principal reason for reducing outdoor lighting is its advocacy of astronomy, Barentine said, but it also recognizes the adverse effects of over-lighting on humans and the natural world.

The recently published New World Atlas of Artificial Sky Brightness found that about 83 percent of the worlds population and more than 99 percent of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies.

The Milky Way, our home galaxys sea of stars, is not visible to 60 percent of Europeans and nearly 80 percent of North Americans, said researchers led by Fabio Falchi of Italy, who published the atlas in last weeks edition of the journal Science Advances.

Neither Barentine nor Stevens advocates a return to totally dark skies in populated areas. LEDs are a good source of efficient lighting, they said, but city planners need to be careful in selecting the light sources.

Christian Monrad helped sound the alarm about the noxious glare of blue LED lighting as president of the IDA in 2009. Cities were switching to them as an energy-saving strategy using federal economic stimulus money, he said.

Monrad, vice president of Monrad Engineering, is working as a consultant on the city of Tucsons upcoming switch to LED lighting. He said the city wanted to avoid interfering with astronomical observations at nearby observatories, but he and others planning the switch were also aware of the potential health effects and certain environmental effects.

Monrad said the American Medical Association is also researching the much more significant health issue of hand-held devices and E-readers.

Indoor lighting and the glare from our computer screens and mobile devices also disrupt our physiology, he said. Think about our evolutionary history. Were introducing frequencies into our environment that have no precedent.

Barentine said consciousness of that problem is growing.

There are apps available for changing the lighting on computers and other devices, he said. It was a pretty significant victory when Apple decided to build that capability into their operating systems for their mobile devices, he said.

Apples setting, known as Night Shift, is described on its website:

Night Shift adjusts the color of your display after sunset. Many studies have shown that exposure to bright blue light in the evening can affect your circadian rhythms and make it harder to fall asleep. Night Shift will shift the colors in your display to the warmer end of the spectrum after sunset, making it easier on your eyes. In the morning, it returns the display to its regular settings.

That ability to adjust the color of light is also being built into some LED light bulbs, said Stevens.

Stevens said city planners need to consider placement of lighting as well. Light seeping into your home at night, whatever its color, disrupts sleep, he said.

The AMAs report encourages the use of 3000K or lower lighting for outdoor installations such as roadways. All LED lighting should be properly shielded to minimize glare and detrimental human and environmental effects, and consideration should be given to utilize the ability of LED lighting to be dimmed for off-peak time periods.

All those features are built into the citys program, said Monrad.

The city has completed one pilot program for the new LED network, said Michael Graham, spokesman for the Tucson Department of Transportation.

It is installing more lights in the same vicinity, near Fire Station One downtown, this week.
Josie may not be the worlds ugliest dog, but she comes close.

The 7-year-old hairless mix, who lives with owner Linda Elmquist in Tucson, placed second in the Worlds Ugliest Dog contest Friday, held annually at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California.

Top honors in the competition went to SweePee Rambo, a 4-pound, Chinese crested Chihuahua mix from Encino, California.

The contest, a tradition for more than 50 years, is used as a way to promote the adoption of dogs who dont necessarily fall into the cute category.

Josie, a veteran of Worlds Ugliest Dog, has been competing since 2012, but had never placed higher than third.

She was a big deal this year, Elmquist, 64, said. The crowds were screaming for the two finalists. We won a trophy bigger than my grandson."

Elmquist, a nurse, fostered and subsequently adopted Josie after Josie was rescued from a local puppy mill by the group Saving Animals From Euthanasia.

When friends and family kept telling Elmquist how ugly Josie was, she knew she had a potential contender.

I had known about the competition and always thought it was such a good way to showcase these animals, she said. It is not a march of shame. It offers an opportunity to let people know just how beautiful these ugly dogs can be."

Elmquist said Josie held her own this year.

She is a tongue dog, her tongue hangs out really far, and that is always a really big thing, Elmquist said. She has a lot of personality. We always make her a different necklace and paint her toenails, make her look cute.

In addition to the trophy, Elmquist and Josie got some television time on Today on NBC and "Good Morning America on ABC, and won $200, which did very little to offset the cost of traveling to Petaluma from Tucson.

Elmquist said they might try again in 2017, depending on Josies health and Elmquists work schedule.

In the end, Elmquist was not surprised that SweePee won.
PETALUMA, Calif.  A 17-year-old Chinese Crested Chihuahua with legs bowed out like a frog and an oozing sore is the winner of this year's World's Ugliest Dog contest.

SweePee Rambo took home the title at the annual Petaluma World's Ugliest Dog contest Friday night at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds after besting 15 other malformed pooches, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported Saturday.

Judges in the contest, now on its 28th year, take into account bad appearance, including stench, poor complexion and a host of other inherited and acquired maladies.

SweePee has a mohawk that glistens in the sun and a tongue that sticks out. She is blind in both eyes and has to wear doggie diapers.

Owner Jason Wurtz, 44, of Encino, said he got the dog as a gift for his first wife but after a week she didn't want anything to do with the gremlin-like pooch. Wurtz, however, said he couldn't bear to let her go, calling her a "ride or die chick" in the description he wrote for the contest.

When the 4-pound Chinese Crested Chihuahua mix was announced the winner, Wurtz's younger brother, Jeffrey Wurtz, burst into tears, shouting SweePee's name, and shaking a homemade sign that read "SweePee Rambo for President 2016."

The presidential election was a theme present in the contest.

One pup named Himisaboo, who didn't place, had a flowing golden tuft that resembled that of the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

"Whether you love him, or loathe him, a vote for Himisaboo is a vote for a dog that looks like Donald Trump," said Heather Wilson, Himisaboo's owner, who drove out from Idaho for the occasion.

Jason Wurtz and SweePee took the first-place title and trophy and a prize of $15,000. He says he will use the money to pay for the removal of a tumor that recently popped up on SweePee's gum line.
Help India!

By IANS,

New Delhi: Two legal luminaries locked horns in the Rajya Sabha Thursday, with Home Minister P. Chidambaram cautioning against dividing the countrys polity on religious lines and Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) countering that the minorities needed to be protected but not at the cost of the majority.

Support TwoCircles



Chidambarams remarks came at the fag end of his reply to a 10-hour discussion spread over two days on the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition and the governments action taken report (ATR) were in response to what Jaitley had said while participating in the discussion Wednesday.

To divide polity on the basis of religion is dangerous, Chidambaram maintained, adding: Please do not try to create a division on the lines of colour or religion.

You can construct a majority on a political ideology, an idea, a theory, a principle. I can accept that. But if you construct a platform on religion, that cannot be accepted, the minister contended.

Jaitley replied that his argument was not of majorityism.

India is secular. We must protect the minorities but not at the discrimination of the majority because of vote ban politics, he contended.

For good measure, Chidambaram prefaced his remarks by saying religions like Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Islam, Zorastrianism and Sikhism had come to India between 6 BC and the 1490s.

All these religions are Indian religions. Those who practice them are as Indian as any other Indian, he contended.


Help India!

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Chennai: While the national leadership of the Muslim League takes credit of its role in the amiable solution to the DMK-Congress seat-sharing, problems are apparently fuming in the Tamil Nadu Muslim League. Partys womens wing organizer Ms Fathima Muzaffar has come out against the party decision to compromise with only two seats in the coming Assembly elections. Ms Muzaffar has decided to go against the state and central leadership of the party on the matter and will hold a press conference at 12 pm today.

Support TwoCircles



We want the party leadership to go back to the former decision. The Muslim League should contest in three seats to the Assembly and that should be in the party symbol also, said Ms Muzaffar to TwoCircles.net. We demand a dignified representation of the Muslim community in the Assembly.

The Muslim League has been in alliance with the DMK for the past seven years. When the Assembly elections were announced, the League had demanded eight seats, in conformation with the DMK governments policy of 3.5% reservation to Muslims in the state. But the DMK was willing to give only three, and that too on DMK symbol. And, one of the three seats allotted to the League was taken away to solve the seat-sharing problem between the Congress and the DMK.

The Muslim community in general and the Muslim League in particular are agitated with this step-motherly attitude, said Ms Muzaffar. The decision of the party leadership is not safeguarding the interest of the community or the party. It is like sabotaging the League and burying the dignity of the community.

When asked who all will support this move against the leadership, Ms Muzaffar said, Many district units have released press statements against the decision of the leadership. And thousands of SMS are pouring into my phone supporting my stand. These SMS come not only from Tamil Nadu, but also from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and from the Tamil Muslim settlers of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Muslim League national president and central Minister E Ahmed had last day claimed that his role was crucial in the solution to the DMK-Congress seat-sharing rift in Tamil Nadu. The generosity of the League saved the DMK-Congress alliance. He added that the League had always tried to maintain unity and strengthen secular forces in the best interests of the nation.

It might be coincidental that the first woman leader to question the party leadership has come from the land of the Leagues first President Qaid e Millat Muhammed Ismail Sahib and that too on the 64th anniversary of the formation of the Indian Union Muslim League. Presently the Tamil Nadu Muslim League has one member in the Lok Sabha  Mr Abdul Rahman who represents the Vellore constituency. The party has two members in the Assembly  Mr A Kaleelur Rahman and Mr H Abdul Basith.


Help India!

By IANS,

Kolkata: The counting process for the West Bengal assembly polls will be a time consuming affair because of elaborate security arrangements and the need to ensure transparency, a top Election Commission (EC) official said Wednesday.

Support TwoCircles



Because of the security arrangements and to ensure transparency, the counting process will be a time consuming affair and the declaration of the results might be delayed, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sunil Kumar Gupta.

Gupta said: Votes for each constituency will be counted in separate halls. There will be 312 halls for the 294 constituencies out of which 18 have been allotted an additional hall each.

An observer and a returning officer will be present in each counting hall.

The counting halls will be spread across 87 counting centres with each centre wrapped in three tier security. Only the counting officials, observers, returning officer along with the candidates and their agents will be allowed to go past the third tier of security, said Gupta.

The total number of officials involved in the counting process will be 14,500.

At least 75 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a strong contingent of the state police will be manning the counting centres, while 144 companies of the CRPF will continue to be deployed across the state for 10 days after the counting process.

The EC has called an all party meeting Thursday and urged the political parties to cooperate with us, added Gupta.


Help India!

By Abdul Basith MA, TwoCircles.net,

The ever green hero of Malayalam cinema Padmabhushan Prem Nazir [7 April 1926  16 Jan 1989] is considered the first ever super star of Malayalam film industry.

Support TwoCircles



Nazir was born in Chirayankeezhu in the princely state of Travancore, to Akkode Shahul Hamid and Asuma Beevi. His mother died when he was very young. He completed his formal education from Kadinamkulam Lower Primary School, Sri Chithiravilasam School, S D College (Alappuzha), and Saint Berchmans College (Changanassery). By the time he completed his education, he had become an experienced drama artist. While he was in SB College he performed in many Shakespeare plays and this indeed was a big leap by a Muslim boy.

His debut film Marumakal in 1952 was indeed the beginning of an acting career which set unassailable records before his successors. It was at the set of Marumakal that late Malayalam actor Thikurishi Sukumaran called him by the name Prem Nazir, until then he was Chiranyinkeezhu Abdul Khader. During those times actors used to take up names which suits their career and the trend is still prevalent in Malayalam cinema and Thikurishi had this habit of calling newcomers by romantic or character related names which he felt might later suit their film career.







Prem Nazir [Photo courtesy kerala-zone.com]



The 37 year long acting career has earned him even Guinness records, one for playing lead role in 610 films and another for pairing up with actress Sheila in 120 films. Besides these 610 Malayalam films he has acted in 37 Tamil, seven Telugu and 2 Kannada films. In a single year in 1979, 39 Prem Nazir films were released. Another such important record is that, he acted opposite 80 heroines across his career.

He started his acting career as a drama artist and after his entry into the film industry, got his career break through the film Visappinte Vili, which turned out to become a hit during that time.

He soon won the hearts of his audience by acquiring the halo of a romantic hero. Romantic scenes surrounding a tree were a trend set through Prem Nazir films and none other than him enacted this scenes with that beauty and elegance after his period. He had extra ordinary handsomeness and ease of acting in romantic roles particularly in romantic song sequences.

Though his film career started in the 1950s, he is known for his amazing longevity as he was active during the peak years of other iconic Malayalam super stars like Sathyan and Jayan in 60s and 70s respectively. Later he acted alongside popular future stars like Mammootty and Mohan Lal in the 80s. He even played a campus character while in his late 50s.

The film Jnana sundari starring Prem Nazir turned out to become a flop, Nazir then called the producer of the film and gave his date for another film without any payment. Whenever his films failed in the box-office he called those directors and often gave dates for the very next film without asking for any payment. Many among those directors and producers have recovered from the crisis they met with through his kind approach towards them. He often recognised the failures as his own and this indeed is an attitude which the present day super stars lack.

He was so punctual in the film sets and was found to be waiting for the other artists to come reaching there minutes before the asked time. He was an icon of simplicity and though he didnt have fans associations, D-lits or awards under his belt he will be remembered for ever as he was not only a fine actor but also a good human being.

Former law secretary and retired district judge C Khalid, who was lucky enough to meet Prem Nazir from a marriage function held at former late Kerala Chief Minister CH Muhammed Koyas residence recollected memories of two experiences narrated by the great actor, which he says very well exhibits the humbleness and humour sense of the great actor.

One among those narrations was one of his experiences when he was travelling by an airplane along with a well known cashew business man from Kerala seated next to him. Nazir was a celebrity by then and he introduced himself as the Malayalam cine actor, business man actually havent even heard about him and Prem Nazir recognised this as an experience which made him think a lot regarding the fact that still there are people, who even havent hardly heard about Prem Nazir in Kerala!

Khalid says another such incident was when Nazir went to meet a civil service officer in Thiruvanathapuram. At the officers residence, from the very first sight the officers son recognised him and was greeted in. The officer was in the Pooja room offering the morning rituals and Nazir was asked to wait.

Nazir was actually in a hurry and he asked the boy, whether he could get into the Pooja room to meet his father? The boy sought permission from his father but the officer was reluctant to admit Nazir in to the Pooja room. But by that time Nazir some how got into the Pooja room and the officer was up against him citing that a Muslim is not supposed to enter the Place. But it was only then Prem Nazir recognised that the Officer was worshiping a Rama idol with Prem Nazirs face. The officer was worshiping the Rama idol sketch developed in to a calendar based on Prem Nazirs epic role in Sri Rama Pattabhishekam! This was an instance which later made Prem Nazir laugh a lot, said Khalid.

Farjas Hameed, doing his bachelors degree now is a big fan for the great actor of the old times and he says the present day actors cant in any way match the perfection he exhibited while moving lips to those romantic songs sung by KJ Yesdudas. Farjas often mimics the great actor and he says that though Nazir might not have won many awards he was successful in conquering the Malayali hearts.

Farjas cited a recent incident were MT Vasudevan Nair, the well renowned Malayalam director approached both Mammootty and Mohan Lal to play the role of the central character earlier played by Prem Nazir, as the director was planning to remake the Prem Nazir film Murapennu. Both Mohanlal and Mammootty backed out telling that they can never match Prem Nazir`s charm and innocence in the original film, this indeed proves the greatness of the ever green actor, said Farjas.

Most among his companions admires him for the stunning memory power he had, which saved money and time for his producers; as with Nazirs acting the number of takes were the least. He had innate abilities to move his lips to the dialogues and songs that too with a special memory to grasp and deliver dialogues in no time with optimum perfection. Nazirs bottomless humility and his amazingly handsome face will stay ever green in the hearts of his fans. The Guinness records which he set are unbreakable and no great actor could replicate his roles.


Help India!

Pushkar Raj for TwoCircles.net,

Last month, Hyderabad police registered a case against Prof. Kancha Ilaiah for writing an article in a Telugu daily, entitled Is God not a democrat? The article questioned inequality in society and discussed concept of god. For doing so the professor was reproached for insulting sentiments of a community and charged for promoting enmity between different religious groups under section 153 (A) and 295 (A) of Indian Penal Code.

Support TwoCircles



This is an example of hundreds of incidents that take place in different parts of the country revealing absurdity to which a law in India could be interpreted and applied to target an individual or civil society organization (CSO) holding a dissimilar view on an issue or advocating a different narrative of history and society.

Last week, Prof. Mahesh Chandra Guru of Mysore University was charged for insulting Prime Minister Modi, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani and god Rama on two different occasions. The professor was arrested when he appeared before a Mysore district court in the second case when his bail application was rejected and he was sent to jail (Hindustan Times, 21 June, 2016).

Though the previous governments have not been admirers of civil liberties in any ways, the present administration seems to have a condescending view of them. According to a US based democracy advocacy group, Freedom Houses 2015 report, after the 2014 elections, at least 18 people were arrested and questioned for anti-Modi posts on online forums such as Twitter and Facebook.

Arundhati Roy has rightly said that one is unable to say things that Dr. Ambedkar could say in 1936 as one risks being put into jail (Janta ka reporter, 31 May 2016). It is apparent that there is an atmosphere of fear, where journalists, writers, artists, intellectuals feel defenseless and dispensable leading to engaging in what Human Rights Watch terms self-censorship (Human Rights Watch Report release press statement, 24May, 2016).

At the same time, the government is not secretive about its resolve to suffocate and persecute the CSOs that oppose its ideology, policies or actions. The suspension and cancelation of license of Sabrang Trust and Lawyers Collective to receive foreign funding is in line with the series of actions against those CSOs that the government considers opposed to it. Earlier, organizations like INSAF, Peoples Watch and Green Peace have also experienced similar actions based on deliberate misinterpretation of vague terms such as political activity and public interest under the Foreign Contributions (Regulation) Act, 2010.

It is ironic that while the Prime Minister goes around the world soliciting foreign funding for countrys economic development, his home ministry ensures that select civil society organizations are prevented from receiving foreign funding which is critical to assisting millions of Indians in pursuing their legal, cultural and social development. Besides, as the UN repertoire on human rights noted that the ability to access foreign funding is vital to human rights work and is an integral part of the right to freedom of association (The Wire, 17 June 2016).

Apart from a direct attack on individuals and organizations, a more sinister hunt (social) movement of conformity by coercion is in operation under the broad banner of Hindutava with scores of its regional organizational varieties mushrooming in the country. The Hindu right organizations are using what the peace activist Scilla Elworthy describes political and physical violence to intimidate and emotional and mental violence to undermine. One of such organizations have allegedly killed writers and intellectuals such as Dr Dabholkar, Dr Panasare and Prof Kalburgi for holding views on religion that displeased certain Hindu fanatics (The Indian Express, 22 June 2016).

The present administration has forced withdrawal of some history books (Wendy Donigers, The Hindus: An Alternative History) and is busy rewriting history in other parts where it can (Christophe Jaffrelot, The Indian Express,7 June 2016). Meanwhile a process is on to saffronise education as indicated by the union minister of educations veiled statement that saffronisation of education would take place as (if) it is good for the country (The Indian Express, 20 June, 2016). It is a blinkered understanding of contemporary history and politics as talibanisation and islamisation of education in Afghanistan and Pakistan has not done any good to those countries.

The challenge before the civil society today is to confront this saffron mindset replacing secular values embedded in Indian history, culture and constitution. This might be easier when there are alliances across movements and groups and sharing of experiences of constructive and non-violent methods to assert democratic rights by engaging and organizing people through education. In the words of investigative journalist Will Potter, like sunlight education is an activists best weapon. (Will Potter, Ted.com).

(Pushkar Raj is a Melbourne based writer. Earlier he taught political science in Delhi University and was the National General Secretary of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He tweets @pushkarraaj)
Help India!

By Sabrina Iqbal Sircar for TwoCircles.net

I feel constrained at times. Its like I have to think a hundred times to speak or express myself on a public forum, thinking what implications it will have, when people deduce my words on the basis of my religion and my sex. I am often reminded that I am a Muslim, and of course that I am a woman, whenever I have voiced my free opinion. Cliched isnt it? We are a an apparently free country, with freedom of religion and equality irrespective of sex, as our fundamental rights, but every time I talk, I have to keep in mind that people should not deduce otherwise.

Support TwoCircles



I want to talk, and when I do, I do not want to be judged as having said what I did, because I am a woman or because I am a Muslim. I want to be perceived, solely as being an individual in myself. I do not want any biological, social or cultural definitions to my person. I hold my opinions that I do because of my rationality and not because I belong to a particular sex or a community. I would have thought this way, had I been a man, or had I belonged to any other community.





Photo Courtesy: Aljazeera



I feel the way I do because apparently and evidently a section of people think that my being a woman or my being a Muslim, is a fault in itself. The trope of the angry feminist, talked about by Barbara Tromlinson, is what I am reminded of here; and secondly, they think that because I am a Muslim, the doings of all the radical Muslims is on my hands because apparently, I and others like me the liberal lot have not done our bit in educating and informing them right. So basically, the liberal Muslims are at fault because we apparently havent tried to reform the radicals of the religion. Now, the point I am trying to get at is that, I absolutely agree that a section of Muslims are hugely misguided about the religion and kill innocents in the name of it; but how do you blame the doings of that section on all other Muslims? We are trying to withdraw from the radical religion tag. We are trying to give a secular dimension to the religion, and to scapegoat all the liberals of the religion, would be like blaming all the men on the planet, for the rapes committed by only a section of them. Now, we dont do that do we? Then why blame all Muslims for the doings of that lot, who claim to be doing all possible wrong in the name of the religion. We are not denying the existence of radicalism and fundamentalism, but that section which blames the entire community for it, needs to understand that, it is not our doing and we are as external to it, as people from any other religion. And the part when they say that we are to educate the radicals, okay we are willing to do it. But it is a responsibility not only on our part, it is a responsibility on everybodys part, as innocents are being killed, and these people who kill, before being Muslims are human beings and as such , it becomes, a humanitarian duty on the entire human communitys part. It is not that we the liberal Muslims are shrugging off the apparent responsibility, but it is not solely our responsibility. Think about it, will a good man be willing to take the blame of a rapist? Will he be okay, when the women say that it is your lot which destroys the dignity of women? Not only is that hurtful, but it is absolutely not right.

Then comes the being woman part. You must have come across the term Feminazi. Every time, you make any reasonable argument on the womens part, you become the feminist or worse even, feminazi. The people who use this term, do not realise the gravity of adding nazi to the term, identifying feminism, with one of the worst eras and practices that the world has ever seen. And if you are talking about the rights of the Muslim women..be ready for the bombing! Rights and Muslim women? Uh..are you serious? The internet and media are chock-full of pseudo references to the Quran and the Hadiths (traditions of the Prophet of Islam) claiming the most utmost dire things in the name of religion. And as someone who might have a little greater degree of knowledge on the issue, when one attempts to correct themBoom! They connect womens oppression and killing of innocents in the name of religion and put you on the spot as the bad girl! Now go on and justify and save your faces! That is the attitude one has to face. Simply put, it is disillusioning. When educated people begin to believe they know it all on the basis of some internet sources that they come across, instead to trying to adopt a scientific and logical approach to religion and gender, the result is often, pointless debates with people unwilling to understand and reason.

It is because of such approaches in public life that to be and survive as a Muslim woman becomes difficult quite often. It is like the argument of the Black feminists, that, we are doubly subjugated, firstly, of course for being women, and secondly, for being Muslims.

I want to shed all identities. I want to talk and be judged only as a rational and thinking human being. The identities I have, have no bearing on my thought process. I do not want the tag of the cliched oppressed Muslim woman, because I am not one. I am an independent, rational, sensitive human being, who identifies with every rational thing on the planet.

I do not want people to presume that I will talk in a particular way, because there is no particular way for me. It is sad when people presume. It is sad when people judge you beforehand because you are a woman, or because you are a Muslim. It is to be understood that these apparent identities are only superficial. Like debates in various disciplines have often highlighted, that identities are fluid. They are dynamic and not in any way static. Therefore I will not have some superficial aspect define my being and my thoughts. I want to speak, and when I do, I do not want to judged as a woman or as a Muslim.

I guess this is part of the problem of living in a developing society, which is not yet ready to let go of its cultural and deeply social ascriptions. We are so hugely influenced by things like sex, caste, religion, ethnicity, and the like, that very often, we forget and overlook the person under all those layers of identity. We are so staunchly socially conditioned to presume and pre-judge that, even before a person talks, we tag him a name. Lets us stop doing that. Let us speak without inhibitions, without fears, and without apprehensions, let us be free.

The author is Faculty, Department of Political Science, Cotton College State University, Guwahati, Assam
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata has been in news recently for Karan Mehras exit from the show. But now the longest running show on Indian television is rumored to go all out by shooting at a foreign location post its much hyped and most awaited five year leap which took place last month. Though the makers have added a lot of twists and turns in the show post the leap, the viewers are feeling let down because of Karan Mehras exit and this special shoot seems to be a way to pay back to the loyal fan base.

Yet another outdoor shoot for Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai

This is not the first time the show has been shot outdoors apart from their sets, but Switzerland is a first since foreign shoots on Indian Television are quite rare due to the cost constraints.

The plot for which Switzerland is being chosen as the location will showcase Mohsin Khans character Karthik , Shivangi Joshis character Naira and Kanchi Singhs character Gayatri i.e the young brigade of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. There is yet no official confirmation on the destination of the special shoot from the makers themselves but since the show had earlier shot in Cape Town and Hongkong, Switzerland seems to be the next exciting location.

Karan's exit disappointed a lot of fans

Karan Mehras exit from the show post a long association of seven years created a lot of waves recently with many of his diehard fans even threatening to stop watching the show if he wasnt brought back. His exit not only disappointed his loyal fans but also angered them largely. Though Karan through his social media posts cleared that his exit was a result of his health problems, rumors still believe that it was a result of his long time cold war and fights with his co star Hina Khan who plays Naitiks wife Akshara on the show.

Amidst all the tension and drama which unfolded post his exit, a special foreign location shoot seems to be a great idea to keep up the ratings of the show.

All we can hope is that the Switzerland shoot brings the show to normalcy and keeps the fans of the show happy and content. The showairs on Star Plus Monday to Friday at 9.30 pm IST.
The WPTN Rozvadov Returns to King's Casino Czech Republic on July 28

June 26 2016 Jason Glatzer

It seems just about every week there is a big week at Europe's largest poker room, King's Casino. Located on the border of Germany in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, the room is always bustling with games of every level.

Coming up, things will be getting even bigger at King's Casino with the return of the partypoker World Poker Tour National Rozvadov from July 28-Aug. 8.

The highlight of the festival is the partypoker WPTN Rozvadov Main Event, which features a 1,100 buy-in along with a 200,000 guaratneed prize pool. The tournament kicks off with two opening days on Aug. 5-6, and surviving players will compete on Day 2 on Aug. 7 and Day 3 on Aug. 8.

Last year's WPTN Rozvadov Main Event almost doubled the posted guarantee with 372 entrants generating a 362,780 prize pool. This year's event is expected to be bigger. Last time around, German poker pro Manig Loeser padded onto his $1.5 million in tournament winnings by winning for 76,000 ($82,906).

Players are expected to show up much earlier than the Main Event, too, considering the schedule kicks off with the WPT Starter on July 28. In that event, players will be competing for a 100,000 guaranteed prize pool for just a 200 buy-in.

While the poker festival is sure to attract some big names, low-stakes players will find plenty of tournaments on the schedule with tournament buy-ins starting at just 45. Additionally, there are plenty of live satellites for the Main Event and others.

Players do not need to wait until the tournament festival kicks off to try to win a satellite to the Main Event either, as partypoker is hosting qualifiers and sub-qualifiers starting at just $0.01. These feed into a tournament every Sunday where players can win a package valued at 1,800. That package includes a seat to the WPTN Rozvadov Main Event, three-nights hotel accommodations, and $300 in cash which can be used for travel expenses.

PokerNews Cup Returns to King's Casino Aug. 10-15

Straight after the WPTN Rozvadov poker festival, the PokerNews Cup is once again returning for the third time in two years to King's Casino. From Aug. 10-15, the 10th anniversary of the PokerNews Cup will take place.

The schedule will feature 11 exciting tournaments, highlighted by an amazing 250 Main Event that features a mouth-watering 200,000 guaranteed prize pool. The tournament features four opening flights from Aug. 11-13 before the surviving players compete for the title on Day 2 (Aug. 14) and Day 3 (Aug. 15).

For more information about the 2016 PokerNews Cup and to know everything about the online satellites that will soon run at TonyBet Poker, visit www.PokerNewsCup.com

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Sharelines The partypoker WPTN Rozvadov returns to King's Casino Czech Republic from July 28-Aug. 8.
How to Take Your Poker Math Beyond Counting Outs, Part 1

June 26 2016 Robert Woolley

Most poker players who get past being rank novices soon learn how to count their outs, and memorize a few frequently encountered probabilities. However, most still remain stymied when faced with more complex poker math situations, or ones that cant easily be looked up in a book or online.

Heck, I have on my shelf a whole book filled with tables of poker probabilities (Texas HoldEm Odds and Probabilities by Matthew Hilger  a really useful resource), but at least a few times a year I still come across poker probability questions that I cant look up there or anywhere else.

The general technique to address more complicated poker probability problems is simple and straightforward, but it involves doing something that doesnt come natural to anybody: working with combinations of cards. My goal in this two-part article is to introduce you to how this works, starting with simple and familiar cases, and working up to more complex ones.

In each example, well perform the same three fundamental steps:

Step 1. Count the total number of possible outcomes.

Count the total number of possible outcomes. Step 2. Count the number of outcomes of the kind were interested in.

Count the number of outcomes of the kind were interested in. Step 3. Divide the latter by the former to arrive at a probability.

But first I need to familiarise you with a powerful tool  the combinations calculator.

Using the Combinations Calculator

Suppose you wanted to know how many different combinations of numbers might be picked in a lottery. Lets imagine that this lottery uses one of those ping-pong ball machines, with 60 numbered balls, of which five will be chosen at random as the winning combination of numbers.

The actual math is straightforward but extremely tedious to work out by hand. But theres a much easier way to go about it  spreadsheets have a built-in function for performing exactly this kind of computation. In Microsoft Excel, you type into any cell

where x is the number of possible objects to draw from, and y is the number to be drawn. For our hypothetical lottery, you would enter 60 and 5, respectively. Hit return or enter, and the spreadsheet spits out the answer: 5,461,512.

If you dont have immediate access to a spreadsheet, you can find many online combination calculators that do the same thing (for example, this one). We will be using this tool in all of the examples that follow, because learning how to apply it to poker problems is the entire point of this article.

Example 1: Flush draw

You have . The flop is . What is the probability that you will have a flush by the time the board is complete?

Most players soon learn the following way of thinking about it. There are nine hearts left somewhere among the 47 still-unseen cards. The probability of the turn card being a heart, then, is 9/47, or about 19%. Double that because the river card gives you a second shot at it, and youre around 38%. Rounding that off to 40% is easily close enough for the practical purpose of making a decision at the poker table.

Though it wont do better while in the middle of a hand, its useful to know how to make the calculation more precisely, because its the same basic process well use later for harder problems. The key is this  rather than treat fourth and fifth streets as separate events, well consider them together, as pairs of cards.

How many different combinations of turn and river cards are there? For the question as it was posed, we dont care in what order they come; the followed by the is just as good as the followed by the .

You could, with some work, count up all of the possible two-card combinations that could be drawn from 47 unknown cards. But life is short  lets use technology to do it for us.

I go to my spreadsheet and type in

I hit enter, and Excel instantly displays 1,081. That is the number of different combinations of two cards that can be drawn from a pile of 47.

So thats Step 1  the total number of possible outcomes.

Step 2 is determining how many of those pairs are the kind that we are interested in  namely, those that include at least one heart. Because there are nine hearts left among the unseen cards, the number of pairs that we could pick that would both be hearts is given by COMBIN(9,2), which is 36. The number of different pairs with exactly one heart is given by 9 x 38 = 342, because each of the nine hearts can be paired with each of the 38 non-hearts. Therefore, the number of different pairs of cards, containing at least one heart, that one could draw from the unseen cards is 36 + 342 = 378.

Step 3 then is the easiest one. We divide the 378 from Step 2 by the 1,081 from Step 1, and get 0.350, or 35.0%.

Of course thats pretty close to our original quick-and-dirty estimate. However, this method is much more powerful, not so much for this particular question, but because of how it can be applied to poker math problems that are unsolvable by the kind of rapid mental estimates that can be done while in the middle of a hand.

Example 2: Suited flops

Suppose you want to know, just for the sake of your general fund of poker knowledge, the relative frequencies of flops that are rainbow (i.e., three different suits), two-suited, or one-suited. This is something you could look up online if you wanted to, but Id like you to be able to do the math yourself  not only because youll remember the answer better if you work it out than if you just look it up, but because the same methodology can be applied to other questions that you cant look up anywhere.

Step 1: As before, we need to calculate the total number of possible outcomes  in this case, the total number of flops. Now, we could do this two ways, either taking into consideration the two cards we have been dealt in a specific hand, or ignoring them and looking at it as a more general question. I think the latter is more useful, though the two answers will be very close to each other.

So we need to know how many three-card combinations can be drawn from a deck of 52 cards.

The formula in Excel is

Or in an online combinations calculator, you enter 52 as n and 3 as r. The answer is 22,100. That is, there can be exactly 22,100 different flops in games such as holdem and Omaha. This calculation treats all orders of any three-card combination as being equal and interchangeable. After all, we dont really care if the dealer rearranges the three cards on the table after dealing them out.

Step 2 is counting the number of outcomes of a given type that were interested in. Lets start with the easiest one  flops of all one suit.

How often is a flop "rainbow"? Two-suited? All one suit?

Well take spades as an example. How many different combinations of three spades are there? Back at our combinations calculator, we plug in 13 (the total number of spades) and 3 (the number were picking at a time), and discover that there are 286 different combinations of three spades that could make up a flop. With four suits, we have a total of 286 x 4 = 1,144 different one-suited flops.

Step 3 requires us to divide that answer by the total number of possible flops  which we previously noted to be 22,100  to get a final answer of 0.052, or 5.2%. That is, just over 5% of all flops will be monochrome. Thats one part of our answer.

Next we have to repeat those steps to figure out the likelihood of a rainbow flop  three different suits. This is trickier, and its actually easier to think of this one in terms of probabilities than combinations.

Suppose the first card of the flop is a club. What is the probability that the next card is something other than a club? There are 51 cards left unseen, of which 12 are clubs and 39 are non-clubs, so the probability is 39/51. For the third flop card, we now have 50 cards left, of which 12 are clubs, and 12 are whatever the suit of the second card was, leaving 26 that can complete our rainbow flop. The probability of that third card being a third suit, then, is 26/50. Thus the combined probability that both the second and third cards of the flop will be of suits different from the first, and different from each other, is 39/51 x 26/50, which is 0.398. Lets round that to a nice, even 40%.

Now we have to determine the number of flops that have two cards of one suit and one of another. There are COMBIN(13,2) = 78 different pairs of cards that can be drawn from any one suit, say, diamonds. Then we have left 13 cards in each of the other three suits that can be the third card in our flop, making 39 in all. So thats 78 x 39 = 3,042 different flops with two diamonds and one non-diamond. Multiply that by 4, because of four suits, and we get 12,168. Step 3 tells us to divide that by the total number of possible flops (22,100), for a final answer of 0.551, or 55%.

But if youre attentive enough, you could have bypassed that last paragraph by simple logic. Flops must have one, two, or three suits. We had already worked out the probability of one-suited flops (5%) and of three-suited flops (40%), so all the rest  55%  must be two-suited.

So theres your worth-remembering conclusion: Over your poker career, the flops you see will be about 5% single-suited, 55% two-suited, and 40% rainbow.

Next time, well raise the stakes in this game, and tackle some harder problems using the same basic steps and tools.

Image: AtomSmasher. [URL="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" target="_blank"]Creative Commons Attributions Share-Alike 3.0 Unported/URL].

Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the Poker Grump blog.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Sharelines How do you find answers to poker math questions that aren't easily searchable online? Read and learn.

If you want to do serious poker math, you need to learn how to use a combinations calculator.
Reentry module aboard Long March-7 lands successfully Updated: 2016-06-26 19:48 (Xinhua)

A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7 touches down successfully in Badain Jaran Desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, June 26, 2016.[Photo/Xinhua]

A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7, which was launched on Saturday, touched down successfully on Sunday afternoon in a landing area in north China.

According to officials in charge of China's manned space engineering, the module landed in Badain Jaran Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 3:41 p.m.

Before its landing, the re-entry module, which weighs about 2,600 kilograms, spent about 20 hours in orbit.

Recovery of the module laid a solid foundation for technological breakthroughs in designing future manned spacecraft. It also means the Long March-7 has fulfilled all the objectives of its maiden flight, according the officials.
It was a year ago on June 26 when the US Supreme Court ruled that all states should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and to recognize same-sex marriages in other jurisdictions.

A lot has changed since the early 1990s during my stay in Hawaii, when that state tried to become the first US state to legalize same-sex marriage. That became a reality in the Rainbow State only in 2013.

On June 24, US President Barack Obama designated the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village as a national monument to commemorate the uprising of the LGBT community on June 28, 1969. The protest that day in response to a police raid ushered in the LGBT civil rights movement in the US.

"I'm designating the Stonewall National Monument as the newest addition to America's National Park System. Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights," Obama said.

As a journalist based in the Big Apple three years ago, I was outside the Stonewall Inn at midnight on July 24, 2011, to cover the celebration when the New York state Legislature passed the Marriage Equality Act, signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo the same day.

In fact, the president of the Hawaii Gay and Lesbian Association I interviewed back in 1993 was a participant in the 1969 Stonewall movement.

June is a month of Pride parades and festivals across the world, but this year celebrations are heavy with sadness because of the June 12 shooting in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people and injured 53 others. It was the deadliest event against the LGBT community in US history.

In Shanghai, my hometown, the 10-day eighth Shanghai Pride festival ended Sunday. While the Shanghai festival still does not have a parade like many other global cities, the colorful activities this year featured a film festival, drama, Pride run, bicycle ride, exhibitions, conference, awareness campaign, parties and awards.

Shanghai is regarded the most LGBT-friendly city on the Chinese mainland, demonstrating the tolerance and acceptance that is required for an international city that Shanghai aspires to become.

I happened to be on the China Daily team writing editorials back in 2009 when the piece "Pride of Tolerance" I wrote was hailed as probably the first endorsement from a national newspaper. The first Shanghai Pride festival that year was not as smooth as this year's. Some activities had to be canceled because government authorities intervened.

The situation regarding the LGBT community in China has improved considerably over the years, but there still is no comparison to the US and many other nations today.

Same-sex marriage is still impossible in China. On April 13, two gay men lost a court case in Furong district, Changsha, capital of Hunan province, when they challenged a local civil affairs bureau that had denied them the right to marry. Both vowed to carry on the fight.

On June 14, a Beijing court accepted a woman's case against the Ministry of Education to revise textbooks that call homosexuality a "psychological disorder". It was the third attempt by the woman, a lesbian at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, and it was removed from the list of mental disorders in 2001.

According to a United Nations report published on May 17, less than 15 percent of LGBT people in China choose to come out to their close family members.

The study, conducted by the UN Development in China, Peking University's sociology department and Beijing LGBT Center, polled 28,000 people in late 2015.

The poll found that young people in China were less prejudiced against the group, a good sign for more progress in the years ahead. The LGBT group in China is believed to number from 39 million to 52 million.

Li Yinhe, a sociologist and sexologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has been the leading voice for LGBT rights in China. For years, she has helped craft measures for the country's legislature that push for legalizing same-sex marriage.

While such bills have not made any legislative progress, Li expressed optimism in various interviews that the progress in the US will have a positive impact on China.

So far, senior Chinese officials, both at the central and local levels, have been largely reticent about the subject.

Some Chinese-language news media covering the 2016 Shanghai Pride cited the long fight in the US, starting with the Stonewall Uprising 47 years ago.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
EU ministers push Britain for quick exit as Britons strive for re-running referendum Updated: 2016-06-26 07:05 (Xinhua)

After Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in a historic referendum, foreign ministers from six founding countries of EU met on Saturday here, pushing for a speedy exit procedures of Britain.

"This process should start as soon as possible," said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Saturday in Berlin.

The aim must be "not to fall into a prolonged stalemate", he added.

"We'll start immediately", French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also said, adding that "we now expect that the process will be triggered under Article 50." He said British Prime Minister David Cameron initiated this referendum, and "he must now live with the consequences".

With his colleagues, he would send the signal that "Europe is alive," Ayrault said.

Meanwhile, the official also urged a speedy transfer of power in Britain.

Cameron announced on Friday his intention to step down after his country has voted to leave the EU.

Beyond that, Britain's European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, also decided to resign from his post, said a press release issued by the European Commission on Saturday.

In the meantime, Labour's opposition leader is urged to go and there is a new call for Scottish independence. All these were reactions to a shock decision by Britain to say "au revoir" to its membership of the European Union.

"I hope that we are not playing cat and mouse," warned Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn with a view at London's policy.

"The people have spoken. And we need to implement this decision," he said, adding that Britain must now quickly start up the mechanism for exit which was defined in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

While EU pushed Britain for a quick exit, a petition to parliament calling for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership have gathered more than one million signatures by midday Saturday.

The petition demands a change in the law to pave the way for a re-run of Thursday's national vote. It calls for a majority of 60 percent and a turnout of 75 percent before any change in Britain's EU membership can take place. The petition was gaining pace at a rate of thousands of signatures every hour.

The petition was started by British citizen William Oliver Healey, and reads:"We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 percent based a turnout less than 75 percent, there should be another referendum."

It was started by Healey following shockwaves after 17.5 million Britons voted to leave the EU. That represented 51.9 percent of voters, compared to 48.1 percent who opted to remain part of the bloc.

A second petition, already signed by more than 100,000 people, is calling on London's mayor Sadiq Khan, to declare the British capital independent from Britain so that it can apply to join the EU.

The petition, launched by Londoner James O'Malley, stated that London is an international city and "we want to remain at the heart of Europe".

So far,the outcome of the referendum has not only caused political earthquake across Europe, but also sent shock waves aross European stock markets on Friday.

The result came as a surprise to European stock markets, which saw slumps in nearly every major index. The Euro Stoxx index plummeted by 8.62 percent, France CAC 40 down by 8.04 percent, FTSE 100 by 3.2 percent and Germany's DAX index by 6.82 percent.

Commenting on the result, Deutsche Bank AG CEO John Cryan said in a written statement that it was not a good day for Europe and negative on all sides.
Philippines' dispute with China over S. China Sea politically motivated Updated: 2016-06-26 13:37 (Xinhua)

MEXICO CITY - The Philippines is seeking a political victory, not a real territorial solution, to disputes concerning the South China Sea, an expert in Mexico has said.

Manila should seek to resolve the conflict by engaging in a bilateral dialogue with China, Marisela Connelly, a Chinese studies professor at the College of Mexico, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague is expected to soon give its verdict on a dispute brought forward by the Philippines concerning China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea.

"This is a political matter for the Philippines concerning balance of power in the region. This is clear as the U.S. is an ally of the Philippines and is increasing its military presence in the country," Connelly said.

The Philippines brought the case to the PCA in January 2013, stating that China is infringing on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

However, Beijing has steadfastly stated that neither the PCA nor UNCLOS apply to matters of national sovereignty.

Connelly said the Chinese reaction is fully justified as China has consistently sought to entertain good relations with its neighbors, including the Philippines.

China has always maintained that dialogue is the best way to resolve bilateral problems, including issues about the South China Sea, said the expert. The Philippines' request to the PCA also surprised her as Manila has expressed interest in expanding trade with China in order to benefit its own development, said Connelly.

The professor said China sees national sovereignty as a matter of supreme importance, especially after unjust international treaties resulted in China losing some of its territories in the past.

"In this case with the Philippines, China is showing that it will not give up its territories and that it will not be pressured to do so by anyone," she said.
Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page.

Loading...

Checking your browser before accessing the website.

This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly.

Please wait a few seconds.
BINH DUONG - When someone falls from a motorbike during an accident in Viet Nam, passersby often do not stop. Its unfortunately commonplace. But in Binh Duong Provinces Di An Town, a 24-member motorbike first-aid team is always available at intersections where accidents frequently occur.

For years, the teams drivers of motorbike taxis and delivery tricycles have taken hundreds of people involved in accidents to hospitals.

Founded by the Di An Ward Red Cross Association 13 years ago, the team has received enthusiastic support from motorbike-taxi drivers.

Nguyen Van Vao, a member of the team, recalls that once, after hearing a loud sound, he found a man lying unconscious on the ground. The man had crashed into an electricity pole. Vao immediately took him to the hospital.

Huynh Thi Mai, a resident of Di An Ward, was also helped by Vao when he took her to ong Nai Hospital to give birth. Vao stayed at the hospital and gave her money since she had no one else to help her.

Vao says the reward for him is the gratitude shown by people he has supported.

Another team member, Tien Giang native Pham Ngoc An, 51, says that he once took a worker who had a serious wound to the hospital, where the doctor would not allow An to leave because he thought he had caused the accident. The doctor had no idea that An was one of the volunteer first-aid drivers. After that, the Red Cross Association gave all the team members identification cards. VNS
Tan Loc Islet residents dont wait around for things to get done. Instead, they take to the streets to repair infrastructure on their own. Tuan Quang and Thu Huong report.

Despite the scorching mid-summer heat, members of the Voluntary Road Fixing Group, both young and old, remain absorbed in repairing an old, deteriorated bridge on Tan Loc Islet in the southern province of Can Tho.

Le Van Nam, the oldest member of the group at 84, is busy sawing planks, which will be joined together to create the structure of the bridge.

Im old, but I have a lot of free time, so I want to join groups with other young men in order not to waste my time and to do something beneficial for my villagers, he says.

Together with other members, Nam has fixed many kilometres of bumpy roads and many deteriorated bridges in the area, bringing great safety and convenience to the locals.

Hands-on approach: Members of the Voluntary Road Fixing Group fix a bridge in disrepair on Tan Loc Islet in the southern province of Can Tho. Photos courtesy of the Voluntary Road Fixing Group

Many villagers on Tan Loc Islet still remember seeing Tran Minh Trung riding his old motorbike along rural roads 10 years ago in search of potholes, and then filling them up himself.

Born and raised on the islet, Trung witnessed the difficulties the locals faced while riding on pothole-ridden roads or driving on narrow and unsafe bridges.

He then started to memorise the location of the potholes and unsafe bridges and began to fix them himself.

Trung is neither a road worker nor employed by any construction company. He is a contract worker and cow herder, but as long as he has saved enough money, he will continue to buy materials to fix roads and bridges, despite leading a difficult life.

At first, many people cast doubts on my free services, but I have never felt discouraged nor have I intended to give up because I want to do something helpful for my village, Trung said.

Inspired by Trungs voluntary deeds, many villagers followed in his footsteps, leading to the establishment of the Voluntary Road Fixing Group. The number of volunteers has increased over the years and now includes more than 30 at present.

By joining the group, many young people also have a chance to get more life experience.

Safer streets: Members of the Voluntary Road Fixing Group at work.

Im very happy to help other older members of the group fix roads and bridges in my hometown whenever I have free time, said 14-year-old ang Thanh Liem, the youngest member and a seventh-grader at a local secondary school.

I have learnt many new things, from how to do small and heavy work to empathising with disadvantaged people, he said, adding that he has also encouraged friends to join the group.

The headquarters of the group is based in its leader Trungs small old house, and the main means of transport is not a lorry, but instead a delivery tricycle, which is used to transport their equipment.

Whenever part of a road needs repaired, all the members agree on a specific time and location to assemble and then travel to the location separately. Though each one has their own jobs to tend to, they try to arrange their work to show up on time.

Moved and inspired by the voluntary work that Trung and other members of the group are doing, many benefactors and locals have offered to support the group financially.

Thanks to their support and encouragement, we still have a budget for the operations of our group. The money that is donated and spent is listed and announced publicly to every member and benefactor, Trung says.

People living next to the road that is being repaired by the group often cook meals and serve cold drinks or fresh fruit to the members for free. Some even invite them over for a meal. Though the dishes are simple - boiled vegetables, fish sauce and some soup - everyone seems to enjoy the food and happily chats with each other.

Because of our busy business, I could not join the group, but I frequently support them with money and food, as well as cook for them when they repair the roads next to my house, says Tran Van Tiep, a villager from ong Binh Commune.

To get more money for the groups operations, the members have come up with the idea of offering services to any household that needs roads or bridges built. The money will then be spent on purchasing new equipment and materials for any upcoming repair projects.

Over the past 10 years, the Voluntary Road Fixing Group has repaired hundreds of kilometres of roads and dozens of bridges on the Tan Loc Islet.

Their most valued treasures are 32 certificates of merit from authorities at all levels, in particular those granted by former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Minister of Transport inh La Thang.

To top it off, they have also received the love, trust and admiration of the local people.

Thanks to the Voluntary Road Fixing Group, all the roads on Tan Loc Islet have barely any potholes and nearly all the bridges have been widened, offering greater safety and convenience to villagers, said Nguyen Trong Ngoc, chairman of the local Peoples Committee.

They have also significantly contributed to local development and set a good example for the young generation to follow. VNS
By Ha Nguyen

Nguyen inh Tru of Viet Nam was presented with the ASEAN Award as an outstanding herbalist who had made significant contributions to the community.

He was among 100 outstanding enterprises and businessmen from ASEAN nations, invited by the ASEAN Enterprise Association, to receive the award in Thailand last week.

Tru, 60, from Ha Noi, was presented the award for his effective treatment of gastritis and colitis, apart from many other diseases such as kidney stones and strangury.

Bui Huu Giao, 80, a patient from the southern province of Binh Duong, who had suffered from otitis since he was a little boy, said, My parents took me to many places and herbalists for treatment, but my ears continued to discharge matter all year until six years ago when someone told me about herbalist Tru.

Tru asked me carefully about my ailment and then gave me a dose of medicine. After a week, the ailment disappeared and has never reappeared in six years, Giao said.

Nguyen Thi Tho, 45, who faced gastritis for a decade, said she had spent more than VN100 million to treat the ailment but failed, until she began her treatment recently under Tru. At a cost of only VN200,000, she was completely cured.

Tho said, I was prepared to pay any amount of money Tru asked, but to my surprise, the treatment was very cheap.

Asked why and when he went into the health sector, Tru said his mother lived with chronic headaches and his younger sister suffered heart failure when she was young.

I loved them so much that I decided to study medicine so that I could treat them, my friends and my neighbours, he said.

He spent all his time in research and accumulated medical knowledge via books and outstanding herbalists nationwide.

I travelled throughout the country to research and learn about traditional medicines from herbalists That and Ty in the northern provinces of Bac Giang and herbalist Giang in the central province of Thanh Hoa and many others in the south, Tru said.

As a result, after 50 years of pursuing traditional medicine, he has treated thousands of patients who faced different ailments including vestibular disorder, stomach upset and bronchial asthma.

I have tried to find out the basic source of an ailment and treat it from its root. My effort is to help patients recover soon without the ailment recurring, and most importantly at affordable costs, Tru said.

For example, it needs only 5g of traditional medicine to treat a patient with dermatitis plantaris sicca, or 3g for a patient with a stomach ache.

His experiences have also helped him treat children effectively. For example, for a child suffering from diarrhoea, Tru can only needs to see his or her nether region to see whether it is red or not, and then prescribe medication.

My secret is to know the symptom of an ailment well and treat it effectively, Tru said.

In 1984 Tru announced his research on gastritis caused by Helicobacter Pylori (HP) which Australian scientists discovered in 1995.

The difference was that Tru discovered an herbal cure for the ailment.

His fame flies far and wide, and patients from every region in the country come to him for treatment. They say Trus ethics are great and his medical professional is excellent. He often examines the patient very carefully before prescribing the medicine.

Several foreign investors including those from China, have asked Tru to co-operate with them or sell them his precious remedies but he has refused. I will leave it for my community if it is approved by the Ministry of Health. If not, I will leave it for my children, Tru said.

Unfortunately, he is now faced with renal haemodialysis and has to travel to Huu Nghi Hospital thrice a week for treatment.

Despite that, he continues to treat patients, both adults and children.

His tireless efforts finally paid off. Last year, he was among 80 outstanding physicians, awarded a prize in the name of Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac, a famous physician of Viet Nam in the 18th century.

Now comes the ASEAN award for being an outstanding herbalist who has made a sterling contribution to the community.  VNS
State-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) is planning to set up a 600-MW project at the Koyna hydel power complex in Maharashtra as part of an initiative to expand its solar portfolio.

The company is already carrying out the feasibility and financial viability study for the project, wherein it plans to set up floating solar panels with pumped storage system, a senior company official said.

"We want to expand our solar portfolio and we are continuously looking out for opportunities. We are looking at setting up a floating solar project of around 600 MW at the Koyna complex in Satara district of Maharashtra," NHPC Technical Director Balraj Joshi told PTI.

The Koyna project, run by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, is the largest completed hydroelectric power plant in the country with a total capacity of 1,960 MW. It is a complex project with four dams, including the largest dam on the Koyna river.

Joshi said various departments are currently carrying out the feasibility and technical and financial viability studies.

"The gestation period of construction of hydroelectric project is relatively longer than any other projects. Also, the uncertainty of the monsoons and geological problems make it difficult to set up hydel projects.

"Therefore, we want to expand in the solar sector. At Koyna, we plan to develop the project on solar hybrid model," he said.

The official further said once the work commences, it will take almost five years to complete.

Once the report is ready, they will approach Maharashtra government seeking its participation in developing the project.

About the investments required for the project, Joshi said, "Cost per MW is likely to be Rs 9-10 crore. We do not have any problem in funding it. We may also seek financial assistance from the Centre and the state. But these modalities will be worked out only when the report is ready."



He, however, did not give a timeline by when the report is likely to be submitted.

NHPC also plans to set up 188 MW solar projects across the country during the current fiscal.

Last year, NHPC signed a memorandum of understanding with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up projects to the tune of 250 MW.

Meanwhile, the central utility is also in advanced talks with Kerala, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh for setting up more solar projects.

In Kerala, it will be setting up a 72 MW project and a 50 MW plant in Maharashtra.

In UP, it already has an agreement with Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency to jointly develop a 50 MW plant.
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.

Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.

Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.

Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.

26 years of website archives.
India is expected to become a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on Monday. China, which along with half dozen other countries stonewalled Indias bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), is not a member of the bloc.
Imports of truck and bus radials surged 57 per cent in the first two months (April-May) of this financial year.
Italian Prime Minister says Europe must react to Brexit's "wake-up" call by ending austerity.

"Austerity policies are clouding the horizon. They have turned the future into a threat. They have given fear a push," Renzi wrote in an article published today by financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

Renzi is due in Berlin tomorrow to discuss how the EU reacts to with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

Italy is a long-standing critic of EU economic policy as overly focused on fiscal rigour at the expense of fostering jobs and growth.

And Renzi said his demand for greater flexibility on the bloc's budget rules had been made more urgent because of the shockwaves from the British vote.

"Let's try to wake up now," Renzi wrote. "To wake up better than we did on Friday morning.

"Without growth, there are no jobs. Without investment, there is no tomorrow. Without (budgetary) flexibility, there is no community."



Arguing that the vote was prompted by collapse of manufacturing industry in parts of England, Renzi added: "Europe is not finished. It only needs to be liberated from resentment, bureacracy and myopia."



As well as jobs and growth, Italy's priorities for the post- EU include an acceleration of moves towards a Eurozone banking union, which Germany is opposed to.

Rome is also pushing its plan to end the migrant crisis by paying African countries to take back some of those arriving in Europe and restrict others from leaving.
WATERLOO -- If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gets its way, Iowa farmers may have to wage war against pesky weeds without one of their most important weapons.

In a June 16 draft ecological assessment report on atrazine, the EPA posited routine use of the herbicide likely will harm animals and the surrounding ecosystem.

Corn growers say they rely heavily on the chemical and describe it as well-tested, thoroughly effective and safe.

Based on the results from hundreds of toxicity studies on the effects of atrazine on plants and animals ... aquatic plant communities are impacted in many areas where atrazine use is heaviest, and there is potential chronic risk to fish, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates in these same locations, states the EPA report, chiefly authored by scientists Frank Farruggia, Colleen Rossmeisi, James Hetrick and Melanie Biscoe.

On land, aztrazine use poses risk concerns for mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and plant communities, the report states.

EPA levels of concern for chronic risk are exceeded by as much as 22, 198, and 62 times for birds, mammals, and fish, respectively, the authors write. For aquatic phase amphibians, a weight of evidence analysis concluded there is potential for chronic risks to amphibians based on multiple effects endpoint concentrations compared to measured and predicted surface water concentrations.

Drift and runoff are cited as problems used at current labeled rates, with concentrations in water at or above 5 grams per liter predicted to cause reproductive effects in fish, while a 60-day average of 3.4 grams per liter has a high probability of impacting aquatic plant community primary productivity, structure and function, the report said.

Questions

Farmers and agriculture officials are questioning the report.

The EPAs own Science Advisory Panel deemed this study flawed, so its interesting that theyre pushing it now, said Bob Hemesath, president of the Johnston-based Iowa Corn Growers Association. He and his brother, Ron, grow corn on 2,400 acres near Decorah.

The report is on the Federal Register and is open to comments until Aug. 5 at https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2015-0794-0003.

Hemesath is urging all Iowa farmers to weigh in on the issue.

There have been over 7,000 science studies on atrazine in the 50 years its been used, Hemesath said. Its been well studied and well understood that its safe. Its been a good product and not harmful.

He said the chemical has gone through some of the most rigorous safety testing anywhere.

The Iowa Corn Growers cited a 2012 study from the University of Chicago that said a ban on atrazine would cost corn growers up to $59 per acre more in input costs.

A decision to bar the use of this crop management tool would cause significant harm to both the food and agriculture sectors -- especially at a time when corn prices are lingering dangerously close to the break-even point and our farm economies are struggling, the association said.

The EPAs new attention to atrazine has been a concern, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said.

There seems to have been reassessments every few years, he said. Atrazine is a very important product and, used in conjunction with other products, it kind of helps make the other products more effective.

Atrazine has been heavily tested over the years, and Northey said he wonders why regulators are targeting the herbicide again.

It does feel like kind of a new run at atrazine, where EPA would look at either pulling it or reducing it to a level which would make it unusable, he said. If that would happen, it would seriously take some options away from producers. Using some studies that EPA said werent robust enough for them to use before, and now theyre looking at them again, just causes folks to wonder about a renewed attack.

High stakes

The stakes are high for Iowa farmers.

It is widely used across many crops because it is one of the most reliable herbicides on the market in managing tough-to-control weeds and has helped us increase yields, he said. It has allowed farmers to use less chemicals, making fewer passes in the field which means fewer carbon emissions.

Hamesath and others in the industry say an outright atrazine ban seems unlikely; however, EPA could come close.

Well, theyd probably limit the use of atrazine so much that it would basically outlaw it, Hemesath said.

Farmers already are prudent in their use of atrazine, said Norb Boyle, Iowa territory manager and crop consultant with Servi-Tech in Ackley.

If they pull it off the market its going to be tougher to control weeds in general because it just adds a little kick to a lot of different programs out there, especially a lot of resistant weeds, he said.

Losing atrazine could be a back-breaker.

Were just getting limited on choices we have in getting weeds because theres very little being developed in the marketplace, Boyle said. Theyre taking away potentially some of our old standbys."

Costlier limits

Micheal Owen, professor and associate chair with Iowa State University Extension weed science, said it seems unlikely atrazine will be banned. Much of the negative tox information has been reviewed in previous (studies) and found to be lacking, he said.

Limiting atrazine certainly would ripple across the industry, Owen said.

Given that atrazine is used on most of the corn acres, it would cause a significant change in herbicide use, he said. Costs would likely increase. The alternative herbicides would likely be more expensive and not deliver the same benefits.

Owen noted alternative tactics, such as inter-row cultivation, cost more, take more time and increase the potential for erosion, as well as require greater use of petroleum products.

Owen and his department have studied herbicide treatments at ISUs farm in Nashua for 30 years.

Terry Basol, field agronomist with Black Hawk County Extension at the Nashua farm, noted atrazine already is a restricted-use herbicide. So, its important to use it safely and adhering to the label to be able to keep it as a tool for growers to use now and into the future if we can.

Northey said he couldn't guess where the issue would end up.

"This report shouldnt have the same weight of a well-done study. Thats the concern of ag -- that it relies on (information) EPA is reading it had said was flawed.

"If that means theyre trying to get it off the market, I dont know, but it sure makes you wonder."
OELWEIN  The Oelwein Chamber & Area Development is inviting the public to attend an official groundbreaking ceremony for the East Penn Manufacturing expansion at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the site of the new plant on Industrial Drive near the RAMS Center in the Oelwein Industrial Park. Gov. Terry Branstad will be there.

East Penn Manufacturing Co. will grow its distribution and lead-acid battery Fill, Form, and Finish capabilities through this facility expansion.

The location will better reach its customers in the Western United States and other key points across North America.

This facility will create 350 new jobs and be an extension of the companys already well-established distribution and product delivery network.

Excavating has already begun, with completion of the project projected for the end of 2017.

For more information, contact the Oelwein Chamber & Area Development office at 283-1105.
OELWEIN  Waterloo-based Veridian Credit Union is moving its Oelwein branch into a larger facility. The branch will open at its new location at 1 W. Charles St. Monday without any disruption to business hours or member service.

Veridian has served Oelwein residents and surrounding communities from 124 E. Charles St. since 1997. The new location is two blocks to the west and will expand the branchs square footage from 2,200 to 5,050, adding lobby and office space, as well as a second drive-up lane, officials said.
Cedar Valley Hospice in Waterloo recently welcomed new employees to its staff. TINA CHIDESTER of Waterloo will join the Waterloo office as a hospice nurse. She is a graduate of Hawkeye Community College and comes to Cedar Valley Hospice with nearly 25 years of nursing experience. ZOEE HAYES of Waterloo will work in the Waterloo office as a hospice aide. She received her CNA degree from Hawkeye Community College and has four years of experience in the healthcare field. Correction: The photos attached for Cedar Valley Hospice employees KAREN SULLIVAN and LINDA SMITH on June 12 were incorrectly identified. The Courier regrets the error.

TINA HUMMEL has joined Community Bank & Trust as retail branch manager/real estate lender. Hummel has over 12 years of banking most recently at Cedar Falls Community Credit Union in Cedar Falls.

Four new associates have joined VGM Group, Inc. RON GREEN joins VGMs Insurance Department as the vice president of underwriting. He comes to VGM from Travelers Insurance and is a University of Minnesota graduate. JESSICA LEO-SHAFFER, a Hawkeye Community College graduate, comes to VGM as a marketing and account coordinator for VGMs Apparel & Promotions Division, previously being employed with Courier Communications. STEVE HAUSER is a developer with VGMs IT Department and is a University of Northern Iowa graduate. Hauser comes to VGM from AEA 267. MELODIE MAERZ joins VGMs Homelink division as the vice president of business development for Hearing Health Care. She previously was employed with Amplifon USA.
The Cedar Falls Business & Professional Womens Organization awarded scholarships to five women who are non-traditional students at the groups May meeting. Abigail Roete, Oelwein and Terri Westerman, Cedar Falls, were each awarded $1,000 Marie Robinson Memorial Scholarships.

Roete completed PRN radiologic technology at Mercy/St. Lukes School of Radiology in Cedar Rapids and will now attend Allen College in Waterloo to complete a bachelors degree in health science with an emphasis in sonography. Westerman will be completing nursing school at Hawkeye Community College in July and then will be pursuing a bachelor of science degree in nursing at Allen College.

Sandra Baas, of Algona, Julie Hendrickson of Waverly and Nancy Snider of Traer each received $500 BPW scholarships. Baas is currently studying for a bachelors degree in elementary education at UNI in Cedar Falls.

Hendrickson will receive an associate degree in business at HCC in July and then will attend UNI in the fall for a bachelors degree in business management degree with an emphasis in business analytics and management. Snider of Traer holds a B.A. degree in home economics/nutrition from UNI and will now study to receive a bachelors degree in elementary education at UNI.

These scholarships were presented by BPW president Taryn Colby and scholarship chairman Harriet Clabough. Twenty-five Marie Robinson Memorial scholarships have been given by Robert Robinson in memory of his wife in eleven years. BPW continues to be grateful for his generosity.

The BPW Fall event-Salute to Women helps fund their scholarship awards and has enabled the organization to give three awards per year since 2010.
SweePee Rambo is worlds ugliest dog

PETALUMA, Calif. (AP)  A 17-year-old Chinese crested Chihuahua with legs bowed out like a frog and an oozing sore is the winner of this years Worlds Ugliest Dog contest.

SweePee Rambo took home the title at the annual Petaluma Worlds Ugliest Dog contest Friday night at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds after besting 15 other malformed pooches.

Judges in the contest, now in its 28th year, take into account bad appearance, including stench, poor complexion and a host of other inherited and acquired maladies.

SweePee has a mohawk that glistens in the sun and a tongue that sticks out. She is blind in both eyes and wears diapers.

9 musicians drown in Kenyan boat crash

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  A Kenya police official said nine musicians drowned when their boat capsized on the Kenyan side of Lake Victoria.

Nyanza regional head of police Willy Lugusa said the rest of the 17 people on the boat Saturday were rescued.

Police said the boat was carrying artists of the Boyieta Wuod Awasi music group to Ndenda Island in western Kenya, where the group was expected to perform Saturday evening.

Motorcycle hits cow, killing rider

RUSSELL, Kan. (AP)  A 59-year-old Kansas man was killed when the motorcycle he was driving Friday night collided with a black cow on a blacktopped road.

Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Brant Birney said there were no witnesses when James Zordel hit the cow on a paved rural road about six miles south of Interstate 70 near Russell.

Zordel was driving in the roadway when the accident happened and it is not clear if he was speeding or if the cow suddenly appeared from the side of the road.

Zordel, who was not wearing a helmet, died at the scene.

Writer Will quits GOP over Trump

WASHINGTON (AP)  Conservative columnist George Will has parted ways with the Republican Party, changing his voter registration to unaffiliated because of the GOPs support of Donald Trump.

Will told The Washington Post he made the change several weeks ago. The news site PJ Media reports Will discussed his decision during an event Friday for the conservative group the Federalist Society.

Will isnt saying whom he will support for president. He has been criticizing the billionaire businessman for months in his column for the Post and, in doing so, has drawn Trumps scorn.

Will received a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1977 and has been a leading conservative voice for decades.

Boy, 6, accidentally shoots brother, 4

EAST ORANGE, N.J. (AP)  Authorities say a 6-year-old boy playing with a gun accidentally shot his 4-year-old brother in the head in their home.

A spokeswoman for the city of East Orange, N.J., said the shooting occurred around 11:15 a.m. Saturday. The wounded child was being treated at a hospital, but further details on his condition were not immediately available. East Orange is a few miles northwest of Newark.

The spokeswoman said the gun belonged to the boys mother. It was not immediately known how the child got the gun.

No charges have been filed so far. City police and investigators with Essex Countys Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the shooting.

The names of the mother and her sons have not been released.
WATERLOO  A summer band series can conjure up plenty of nostalgia.

Theres an inherent romance in settling back to watch the sun set in a blazing concerto of orange, pink and gold, while listening to good music wafting over a crowd on a warm breeze.

Its the good ol summertime, the zenith for municipal and community band performances. In Waterloo, the appreciation for live band music on a summer evening is still evident in the good crowds that gather on Thursdays to hear the Waterloo Municipal Band.

This year marks the 90th anniversary for the band, says Director Bill Shepherd. Summer bands like ours are steeped in history. Its a tradition that, for many communities, has its roots in military bands. We have an outstanding band, really great players. These are your neighbors, your kids music teacher, area band directors  people who really enjoy playing their instruments.

The 2016 season features a series of free concerts each Thursday now through July. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. in the RiverLoop Ampitheatre.

Community or municipal bands were a staple in small-town American in the early 20th century. According to Wikipedia, at one time there were as many as 10,000 such bands in the U.S. in 1889. Those numbers has dwindled to about 100, but since recent military engagements, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have caused a resurgence of interest in hearing the bands.

Concerts are packed with patriotic marches, nostalgic big band ballads, dance numbers, show tunes and orchestra pieces. Musicians include students, homemakers, business professionals, music teachers, music professors from area colleges and universities and members of local and area orchestras. Featured soloists and musicians regularly perform with the band.

One reason the band is still going is that the community likes to hear that kind of music in the summer months. Few bands like this perform in the winter. And people like to continue playing the instruments they learned to play in school, said Shepherd, who began conducting the band in 1981.

The Waterloo Community Concert Band was founded in 1926 as a service to the city. The band was first conceived by a local musician serving on a ship in the U.S. Navy during World War I. The group eventually became the Waterloo American Legion Band, and later was renamed the Waterloo Municipal Band.

Previous conductors include Clayton Chennette, Cressy Whalen, Charles Ball, George Kristufek, Jim Coffin, Bob Shafer, Jim Selland and Joseph Giunta. Shafer, a retired high school

Bob Shafer, a retired Waterloo Community Schools band director, still plays alto sax with the band. Hes the longest serving member, too, originally joining in 1954.

Id been in the UNI concert band when I was going to the University of Northern Iowa, and played in the Strategic Air Force Command Band at Offutt Air Base in Omaha. When I got out, a fellow I knew was directing the Waterloo American Legion Band and asked me to join, he recalls.

Shafer left the band for several years in the 1970s, and returned when Shepherd took over the podium. His wife, Mary Jane, played oboe, and his son, Bill, became the youngest ever member of the band in the seventh grade. He went on to become a school band director.

An enthusiastic musician, Shafer loves being a band man so much that he plays with at least three other summer bands, as well as the New Horizons Band.

People like hearing homegrown players play good music. I havent thought about any timetable for giving it up. When I cant play anymore, the way I want to play, then Ill give it up, Shafer adds.
CEDAR FALLS -- University of Northern Iowa President Bill Ruud makes plain his passion for the campus he called home for the past three years even as he prepares to leave it.

Ruud doesnt take all the credit for the universitys successes during his tenure, but he gets animated talking about them: from enrollment growth to foundation funding increases to decreases in student debt and more. He continues to lobby for what he calls the University of Nothing Impossible.

Theres no place like the Cedar Valley, Ruud told The Courier. This community continues to need to step up, speak up, be proud of this community, its university, its community colleges, its industry, its people, its success.

He continued, And just remind people -- (and) if I can be so brash to remind people in the other 98 counties, of which we have nearly two-thirds of our alums living -- let people in Des Moines know, let the leadership, let the governor, lieutenant governor, the leadership in the Legislature know we need to be appropriately funded.

Ruud officially departs UNI on July 2. He begins serving as president of the small private liberal arts Marietta College in Ohio on July 3. UNI Provost Jim Wohlpart will serve as interim president while a search for Ruuds replacement is conducted.

Ruud promises hell return to the Cedar Valley and puts it in stark terms: I love this place so much I cut a little piece of my heart out, and Im going to leave it here so Ive got to come back and visit.

Opportunity

Since Ruud announced May 18 he would be departing he has downplayed any conflict with the Iowa Board of Regents that led to his departure. Instead, he said he was recruited by 1,200-student Marietta College and found it to be the right fit.

I think it was the right opportunity, said Ruud, 63, of what caused him to accept the Marietta offer. You get to the point in your career where good opportunities only come along so often, and you know that if you turn down an opportunity it may not reappear, and this was a case of a great opportunity at a great college at a great time.

Ruud said the Ohio college offers a chance to repeat the successes he had at UNI -- to grow enrollment, to focus on contemporary liberal arts, to increase the schools endowment -- and join a supportive community.

He calls it Grinnell College on the Ohio River, referring the the private university in Iowa.

Its one of those decisions career-wise, that you put everything out there, and you say, OK, I think this is the right way to go, Ruud said.

Career advice

Before he left, Ruud also offered some simple advice for his successor, who will be the universitys 11th president.

Be persistent and patient; be aggressive without being obnoxious, and by that I mean stay the course, Ruud said. Keep the spirit. Keep the energy. Keep it going.

He said he wants to be able to check in on the university from time to time and see news that makes him smile. Echoing the ongoing regents efficiency initiative, Ruud said he wants to see continuous process improvement continue at UNI.

Ruud also stressed the challenges that lie ahead, particularly the budgetary challenges. He noted the university has been chronically underfunded for the past 50 years.

Ultimately, I would tell my successor, as Ive told this group and I will tell people in Marietta, Hey, its all about the students, Ruud said. We at the University of Northern Iowa are here to cause student success.

He said the other pieces of having a successful institution fall into place if the focus is on students.

Signs of success

Since he announced his exit, Ruuds supporters have had an easy time pointing to his successes. Ruud himself initially demurred before listing many of those accomplishments touted by the Iowa Board of Regents in a resolution honoring his service.

The regents, and others, pointed to the following:

The universitys growth in enrollment -- Ruud reported at the June regents meeting an anticipated 12,045 entering class this fall.

Developing a leadership group on campus, including a new chief diversity officer.

The growth in fundraising by the foundation -- Ruud also reported 41 million had been raised in 41 months for a new scholarship fund, which outpaced the initial time frame.

A reduction in student debt by more than 13 percent.

His appointment to several national and regional education organizations.

But Ruud also noted a different kind of growth the university has undergone since he arrived in Cedar Falls.

The university was facing challenges post- 08, 09, and 10, and some votes of no confidence, some censure possibilities, and I was able to come and do the right things at the right time and meet with people and talk with constituents to the point where we went from the possibility of censure to a year last year where we had no faculty grievances.

He said he is most pleased with getting faculty, students, staff and the community to help transform leadership of the university. He sees a philosophy or attitude change at the university since he came on board.

Ruud said even though there are still disagreements among those constituencies, theres also a comfort level of all rowing in the same direction.
WATERLOO -- Two Waterloo Community Schools employee groups were given raises Tuesday during a special Board of Education meeting.

The board approved 2016-17 contracts with a wage and benefit increase of 3.21 percent for the Waterloo Educational Support Personnel and 3.18 percent for the Waterloo Education Association. Both agreements are effective July 1.

About 900 teachers, counselors and family support workers are covered by the WEA contract. "That equals $450 on the base," Bev Smith, associate superintendent for human resources and equity, said of the association's salary increase.

During the past year, a teacher with a bachelors degree and no prior experience was paid $35,975 annually under the WEA contract. At the top of the salary schedule, a teacher with 18 years of experience and 45 credits beyond a masters degree earned $72,949. Those whose experience puts them beyond the salary schedule also earned additional longevity pay of $200 to $1,400 each year.

A total of 382 full-time equivalent employees are covered by the WESP contract. They include secretaries, home school workers, clerk typists, paraeducators, study hall monitors and behavior intervention specialists.

Their increase "roughly ends up being 38 cents on the hour," Smith told the board. Hourly pay for employees represented by the WESP ranged from $10.80 to $12.13 during the past year, with another eight cents per hour added annually beyond the final step.

The wage increases were possible because "they changed their base plan" for health insurance, Smith explained. WEA members "were instrumental in driving the higher deductible" for the insurance plan. The two bargaining groups and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2749 agreed to move to a higher insurance deductible to keep benefit costs from rising too much.

"We didn't negotiate with AFSCME, but they were at the table," said Smith, because of the insurance change.

Employees represented by AFSCME Local 2749 are in the midst of a three-year contract, so they didn't bargain this year. They will be starting the final year of the agreement, in which they'll receive a 2.5 percent wage and benefit increase

Salaries have not yet been set for non-bargaining administrative support staff, building administrators, Superintendent Jane Lindaman, and her leadership team, or cabinet. Lindaman, cabinet members and building administrators will have their raises determined through a performance pay plan.
Twelve jurors' task is to return a verdict against an inner-city youth charged with the murder of his father, where a guilty vote equals a mandatory death sentence.

Aux Dog Theatre Nob Hill proudly presents TWELVE ANGRY JURORS adapted by Sherman L. Sergel based on the Emmy award-winning television movie Twelve Angry Men, the 1954 teleplay by Reginald Rose for the CBS Studio One anthology television series. Twelve Angry Men was also a major motion picture, nominated for several Academy Awards and subsequently enjoyed great success on Broadway.

TWELVE ANGRY JURORS is performed by a mixed cast and is set in the present and begins as the twelve jurors enter a steamy jury room on a blisteringly hot summer day. Their task is to return a verdict against an inner-city youth charged with the murder of his father, where a guilty vote equals a mandatory death sentence. Expectations are that their deliberations will be quick and the vote will be a unanimous one for guilty - until one lone juror dissents and makes this "open and shut case" a debate that exposes individual biases and explores the critical role of the average citizen in our democracy.

This new production is directed by Joann Danella (the director of Love, Loss and What I Wore in the Aux Dog Theatre's 2014 Season) and is stage managed by Marcella Houghton.

The outstanding cast includes: Angela Littleton, Richard Boehler, Jaime Pardo, Michelle Boehler, Gail Spidle, Teresa Kizziah, Heather Donovan, Michael Girlamo, Pete Alden, Myles Winter, Noel Pugach, Vonna Witten

The show opens June 10th and runs through June 26th, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm in the Aux Dog Main Stage Theatre at 3011 Monte Vista Blvd. NE. TICKETS are available at https://www.artful.ly/store/events/9167 or call 505-254-7716. Ticket prices are $22, $20, $18 and $10 for Groups of 10 or more.
WATERLOO  U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, R-1st District, doesnt always follow his leadership, but they see eye to eye on the Democratic sit-in last week on the House floor meant to force a vote on certain gun control measures.

Yes, I definitely agree with the leader on that one, Blum said, referring to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryans comments the Democrats move was a publicity stunt. Its election season, so its obviously politically motivated, a publicity stunt.

Blum also criticized the Democratic Party for raising money from the sit-in, calling it kind of distasteful to be raising money off of 50 people losing their lives.

Democratic groups sent out fundraising appeals throughout the sit-in. That included a push by Blums general election opponent Monica Vernon that asked people to sign a petition thanking Democrats for their efforts.

Vernons campaign disagreed with Blums assessment, invoking civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who led the Democrats efforts last week.

The fact that Rod Blum would attack civil rights hero John Lewis for trying to keep guns away from suspected terrorists and violent criminals shows a disturbing lack of judgment and understanding of American history, said Vernon campaign spokeswoman Michelle Gajewski.

More than 150 Democratic lawmakers  including the Iowa delegations lone Democrat, U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa City  spent 25 hours occupying the House floor beginning Wednesday morning in attempt to get a vote on a bill to stop people on a terrorist watch list from purchasing guns.

Loebsack said it was demeaning to refer to the sit-in as a publicity stunt, calling it serious business people want Congress to act on.

Though the sit-in ended without any action, Democrats have said they would continue efforts when the U.S. House returns from its recess on July 5.

Blum said he sees no problem with a staged protest, just not on the House floor.

I think protesting is American. Its a good thing, Blum said. I have no problem with them protesting, you know on the front steps of the Capitol or outside the building, but we have rules.

He said the stunt reminded him of a banana republic.

Blum suggested the group should work within the rules to try to get a bill through committee or through a petition that would require a majority of House members to sign on to bypass the committee process.

I have a bill that eliminates first-class travel for Congress people paid for by the taxpayers. Well, that bill didnt make it out of committee. I didnt like that, but thats the way it works, Blum said. So, Im not going to take over the House floor to protest.

On the actual policy, Blum said he didnt want terrorists to have guns anymore than the protesting Democrats do. But he said, Also, though, we have a Second Amendment which guarantees that right so Congress cannot unilaterally prevent people from buying guns.

People want to sometimes to connect those two  no fly, no buy  and I remind people that flying is not a constitutional right. Purchasing a gun is a constitutional right, so theres a vast difference between the two, Blum said. I tend to think that were smart enough that we can keep peoples freedoms and liberties in tact and also try to keep our people safe, our citizens safe.

Vernon noted Blum has voted more than a dozen times against no-fly, no-buy legislation.

If a person is on the FBIs terror watchlist and is already too dangerous to fly, that person is too dangerous to purchase a firearm  plain and simple, Vernon said.

James Q. Lynch of The Gazette contributed to this story.
WATERLOO  Waterloo will hold a special election July 12 to fill the Ward 1 city council seat vacated by David Jones.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Election Day. Voting is limited to voters in Ward 1.

Absentee Ballots are available at the Election Office, Room 210 of the Black Hawk County Courthouse at 316 E. Fifth St. Ballots may be voted there 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday, through July 11. The courthouse will be closed on July 4 for Independence Day.

To vote by mail send an absentee ballot request form (found at www.sos.state.ia.us or www.co.black-hawk.ia.us) to the Election Office at the above address and a ballot will be mailed. Absentee ballot request forms must be received in the Election Office by 5 p.m. July 8 or no ballot will be mailed.

Voters may submit a request for an absentee ballot by email or fax. Domestic voters must also mail the original signed copy of their request to the auditor. If mailed the original request must be postmarked by the Friday before the election and received by the time the polls close election day. All electronic requests must include an image of the voters written signature.

Prepaid return postage is provided for all ballots returned by mail to the Election Office. Ballots must be postmarked on or before July 11 to be counted.

Persons who are admitted to hospitals and health care facilities within three days of the election may make a request by telephone to the Election Office, 833-3007, and an absentee ballot will be delivered to them. On Election Day the telephone request must be made at least four hours prior to the close of the polls.

The last day to preregister at the Election Office for this election is Friday before 5 p.m.

A person who is eligible to register to vote may do so on Election Day at the polling place for the precinct in which the person lives. The person must provide acceptable proof of both identity and residence.

Those unsure about where to vote may go to the Elections Page of the county website at www.co.black-hawk.ia.us, or use the Iowa Secretary of States website at www.sos.state.ia.usn.

Questions may be directed to the Election Office at 833-3007 or election@co.black-hawk.ia.us.
If propaganda looked like propaganda it wouldnt work, so lets see how it is done in todays America.

I picked up a copy of a major Las Vegas newspaper a while back. This paper was printed less than three weeks ago. The first thing to notice is how old, old news is. It is not really that old, especially considering how important it was made out to be at the moment, but for propaganda to be effective the average person must be kept ignorant, and simultaneously on the cusp of rapidly changing pseudo-information.

Second, Vegas papers would encourage readers to vote for Genghis Khan if that is who the liberals were pushing.

In this edition, the first page contained a puff piece about Hillary Clinton learning from her past mistakes. Eight pages later, Donald Trump gets an article in the opinion section headline Trump has history of mocking judges.

On page A8 is an article comparing Clinton and Trump. Hillary was said to have a better campaign, a better temperament, a saner stance on immigration and is less risky than Trump. Trump has a nicer family. On the same page, we learn the GOP is afraid Trump will alienate voters with racial remarks. Moving on is a brief mention of a group of women vowing to defend Trump, but the article adds Democrats and some Republicans have portrayed Trump as sexist.

This is followed by an article claiming Hillary will amass $1.1 billion to get herself elected. No comments were made about why she would need $1.1 billion to defeat a loose cannon who is a racist and a sexist.

I do have a proposal here. Maybe if Clinton keeps the $1.1 billion she wouldnt have to run for president, and Democrats could nominate someone like Bernie Sanders who actually has supporters who like him.

On the opinion page a cartoonist makes fun of Sanders for not dropping out of the race. There are several anti-Trump letters to the editor, and no anti-Clinton letters. Another columnist suggests even if Trump is disgusting, people maybe shouldnt assault his supporters. Then there is an entertainer at a local casino who has made a Trump dummy doll  this is news worthy of half a page. No mention of an entertainer with a Clinton doll.

Finally on page B7 there is an article defending Trump.

So there is all the news thats fit to print on a single day in a city that will vote for Clinton even if she is doing jail time for past crimes.

Do the editors realize they are biased to the point of being sycophants? After thinking about this for years, Ive come to the conclusion the answer is a partial yes but mostly it is no. A lot of media truthfully dont understand what it means when they are accused of being propagandists. They will tell you they covered all the news, and they were very fair. What they dont tell you is they live in a cultural bubble filled with people who think as they do and see themselves as intelligent and morally superior. They see a dummy of Trump as news, but it never crosses their minds anyone, anywhere, would ever create a dummy of Clinton.
Its hard to think of summer without thinking of the many neighbors we shared the southern Illinois heat, humidity and mosquitoes with on the dairy farm of my youth.

Back then, in the mid-1960s, wed often see neighbors across the table-flat Mississippi River Bottoms as they cultivated corn or soybeans and we baled straw or raked hay.

One set of neighbors, the bachelor brothers of Woodrow, Elvin and Tanny L., owned land on either side of our farm, so six days a week one of the men would ka-push, ka-push past our house on their Johnny Popper A. If Elvin was at its wheel, hed wave to my brothers and me like a long-gone uncle utterly delighted to meet his newly discovered nephews.

Since we milked 100 Holsteins, wed see many neighbors during their evening trips to the dairy barn to buy our 50-cents-a-gallon milk. The price never changed; the neighbors rarely did. Most arrived just in time to visit while we milked the last couple of cows.

Those visits leaned more toward local news than local gossip. Felix V. could be counted on to tell us if the morels were up. Young John O. (there was an Old John O.), who was the deckhand on the nearby Mississippi River ferry, always knew if the river was rising, falling or, as he liked to say, on a stand. Ivan M., who worked at a local grain elevator, offered the weeks price for wheat, corn and soybeans.

Sometimes a neighbor came to the dairy barn to arrange an equipment or manpower swap. For example, my father often borrowed Gary K.s three-point, two-row John Deere planter to plant the many rows our six-row Oliver planter, the worlds worst, had skipped due to its faulty engineering and our faulty attention.

In return, Dad would combine Garys red clover or loan him our baler on a June day when it wasnt the dusty center of his sons sweaty universe.

No one on either side of those transactions ever talked money; we were neighbors and neighbors were neighborly.

Money did change hands, however, when we bought food from each other. We always bought our butcher hogs from a neighbor, usually Elmer B. Also, every week we purchased four dozen eggs from Mrs. M. with the same dollar bill her son Ivan, the elevator man, had given us a couple of days earlier on his weekly, two-gallon milk run.

Two months ago, on a perfect spring day, I visited most of those old neighbors atop the nearby bluff during a slow meander through St. Leos Catholic Church Cemetery. I saw, for the first time in decades, Elvins hearty wave, Mrs. M.s lipsticked smile and Garys deeply creased grin.

Far below in the blue distance lay the lovely, fertile Bottoms where they had spent their entire lives, often together, making a living and enjoying life. None ever had much money by todays never-enough standards, but they had something money can never buy, the rarely mentioned respect and the never-mentioned love of their neighbors.

Today that respect and love  that neighborliness  seems to end at the property line or courthouse steps. For example, on June 14 voters in North Dakota rejected by a resounding 3-1 margin their legislatures loosening of the states corporate farming law.

That overwhelming defeat, however, will not deter the North Dakota Farm Bureau from pursuing its federal court suit to have the century-old state law declared unconstitutional. After the vote, NDFB President Daryl Lies said the suit must continue because Our court system is the only appropriate place to settle this question without the issue being derailed by emotion.

Not true; Lies neighbors from every city, village and farm in North Dakota calmly and democratically settled the question by a perfectly clear 75-to-25 percent margin.

In rejecting that outcome, though, the NDFB again proved what a growing segment of the American public now firmly believes: Farmers love to talk to consumers; they just dont want to listen to em.

A good neighbor would.
Late last month, a 3-year-old child on a trip to the zoo with his mother and three other children somehow managed to slip away and fall into a gorilla exhibit inhabited by a rare 450-pound silverback gorilla named Harambe. Video of the child and gorilla offer conflicting suggestions of the danger the child was in. In one image the gorilla seems to be rough with the boy but in another almost seems to be protecting him.

The situation was ultimately resolved when zoo authorities ordered the shooting of the gorilla and rescued the boy. Interestingly, primate expert Jane Goodall ultimately declared the action was tragic but necessary. Directors of other zoos across the country agreed.

Thats not the end of the story, however. Fueled by a social media frenzy, people expressed indignant outrage at the shooting. Perhaps worse, a petition was started called Justice for Harambe. Online signers say, We the undersigned want the parents to be held accountable for the lack of supervision and negligence that caused Harambe to lose his life. We the undersigned feel the childs safety is paramount in this situation. We believe that this negligence may be reflective of the childs home situation. We the undersigned actively encourage an investigation of the childs home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence that may result in serious bodily harm or even death.

Say what? A preschooler darts away while a parent is briefly occupied and this constitutes child neglect? How many of us have frantically searched for a toddler who disappeared while we were grocery shopping? How many of us have panicked on a family picnic when a small child suddenly couldnt be found? So many times (as all parents know) kids, who are so much quicker than us, just run off with us in hot pursuit. Many times theyll run right into the street, and we are so thankful a car wasnt coming. I dont care how good a parent you are, these things happen. Are these petition signers childless or just clueless? And more than 500,000 signatures have been garnered.

Have we always been like this, or is this a new phenomenon? Every time something happens to a small child we race to assign blame and shame to the parents. I find this self-righteous judgment troubling. Where does this come from? How is it justified? I am well aware there are parents who shouldnt be. We have many laws in place to protect the young. We dont need social media to do it.

The best remark made was by Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor Joseph Deters: By all accounts, this mother did not act in any way where she presented this child to some harm. She had three other kids with her and turned her back. And if anyone doesnt believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly, theyve never had kids. The zoo lost a beautiful animal that was beloved in the community, but its still an animal. It does not equate to human life.

Finally, a rare voice of reason in a sometimes crazy world. We need it more.
Nobody likes road construction except maybe construction workers and contractors.

The reconstruction of University Avenue near College Square, Black Hawk Village and Holiday Plaza shopping centers is no exception.

Local officials believe it is the largest road construction project since the metro highways were rebuilt when Interstate 380 was extended to Waterloo-Cedar Falls from Cedar Rapids more than 30 years ago.

The University Avenue project has been controversial for some because it includes roundabouts  those doughnut-shaped intersections that in the eyes of some are only supposed to exist in countries where they drive on the wrong side of the road anyway.

Six of Universitys eight signalized Cedar Falls intersections are being replaced with roundabouts, and the road is being narrowed from six lanes to four. There are a few roundabouts in town, but on the citys periphery. Never have so many been concentrated within a relatively short distance on a major thoroughfare.

The jurys still out on roundabouts and whether they will be better or worse for moving traffic. The string of stop-and-go lights on University, particularly in front of College Square and Black Hawk Village, have aggravated motorists for decades. Late longtime Black Hawk County supervisor and state legislator Francis Messerly once referred to that stretch of University as Christmas Tree Lane.

University was in terrible shape and needed to be reconstructed, whether with signals or roundabouts. And there are signs, regardless of the construction design, the work is spurring business development and along University.

Slumberland Furniture, which originally opened in nearby Black Hawk Village in 1969 and has been at 4020 University Ave. in Waterloo since 2000, plans to move into the former College Square Hy-Vee store building.

A Natural Grocers store is proposed on 1.3 acres of property at 5414 University Ave., according to plans approved by the city.

A subdivision plan and development agreement to revitalize College Square is working its way to the City Council for approval. The malls New York-based owners proposed subdividing and selling the malls out lots and reinvesting the proceeds in the mall. They believe the University reconstruction will enhance those lots value and the malls marketability to prospective tenants. They have already signed lease extensions with several mall anchor stores.

The final story on the University reconstruction has yet to be told. But we heard many of the same complaints about the metro highway construction program decades ago. It would displace too many businesses, be too expensive and, ironically, have too many traffic lights. To be sure, there were some casualties.

But there also was incredible expansion in the Cedar Falls Industrial Park, undreamed-of retail development on East Viking Road, housing construction on Greenhill Road and industrial growth at Waterloos northeast industrial site and along the citys southern periphery that is continuing today.

Given that history, were willing to reserve judgment on Universitys long-term economic impact given the positive signs weve seen so far.

We admire the spirit of merchants and businesses along the road who held a block party in the Holiday Plaza parking lot last week.

During the 1980s construction, the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce presented congratulatory certificates to businesses which came here, stayed here and reinvested concurrent with the road construction.

Perhaps the city of Cedar Falls should consider a similar gesture, starting with the Holiday Plaza block party organizers.
History is filled with periods of time when one group or another has resorted to atrocities against civilians to attract attention or exact revenge for perceived or real oppression. A few examples include the rash of airplane hijackings that took place in the 1970s by Palestinians, the Irish Republican Army resorting to terror attacks against the British and drug lords in Mexico terrorizing regions and countries to protect their interests.

The mobs and the Mafia in this country have caused terror and mayhem. Although all such groups have had periods of time in the limelight, all were eventually neutralized one way or another.

Todays atrocities and terror come primarily from the Middle East, mostly from those claiming to be from al-Qaida and the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which are no different than their predecessors. In time they too will lose their momentum. The indiscriminate brutalities committed against innocent civilians will hasten their demise. Collectively and instinctively, various governments and other entities will react to deal with them. Most terrorist groups in the past and present have had secret donors and supporters including governments and wealthy believers to their cause.

The Islamic State terrorists are exploiting the frustration of generations of people in the Middle East who see no hope for progress while the rest of the world is advancing at lightning speed. ISIS members are primarily thugs exploiting a chaotic circumstance created by the events in Iraq and Syria. But, their leadership is known to receive support from wealthy donors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries as well those with ethnic agendas.

An important difference between ISIS and other terror groups is the fact ISIS is determined to twist its cause into a religious war against the West. There are many branches of Islam and many Islamic countries with different cultures than that of ISIS. And ISIS brutalities against some branches, like the Yazidis or the Shiites, are indications of the folly of their goal of uniting Muslims to their cause.

The propaganda put out by ISIS indicates an aspiration to unite Muslims under one banner to fight against the West. They continue to refer to the Westerners as Crusaders. All aspects of their propaganda ultimately twist their agenda to a religious struggle against the infidels. This scapegoat tactic has been used for generations. We should remain steadfast in the fact this is not a religious war. Our fight is against thugs and terrorism regardless of what label they give themselves.

Inclusion of the name of a religion in any label such as Islamic extremists could imply legitimate inclusion of the religion in their goal. The actions of ISIS so far have shown they are neither Islamic nor extremists in the name of Islam. They are mob-like thugs who entice wealthy believers to donate and resort to extortion, kidnapping for ransom and illegal sale of oil and weapons to pad their pockets. How is this different from the Mafia? With humanitys collective conscience rising against them, in time they too will disappear or be replaced by another mob. It will be wise to define them, but not bestow any title upon them other than that of thugs.

The ISIS terrorists use all the technology developed by those they refer to as the infidels. There are no citations of sources or credits or dates for out-of-context statements used in their misinformation. Nothing they do is according to the norms of civility or standards of truth telling. We should counter their propaganda aggressively but not accept their desire to make this a religious war. To respond to such hooligans, its best to follow President Theodore Roosevelts advice: Speak softly and carry a big stick.
I was a 22-year-old college student with a history of breathing difficulties and a 20/400 right eye when I was called for my draft physical in 1970. Being the patriot I was, I tried everything short of wearing a dress (not an option nowadays) to avoid becoming an American hero.

Thing was, all of the National Guard slots were filled with people whose families had considerably more pull than mine, and despite my doctors best efforts to file copious amounts of data asserting I was not physically capable of baking cookies for Girl Scout events, I soon found myself a buck private in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and six months later was in Vietnam defending Des Moines from the Viet Cong threat.

During my entire time in those two places, I never met a rich or influential person. Imaging my shock.

What does this have to do with Donald Trump and the GOP right wing? Everything.

In my 45 years since mustering out, I have been forced to listen to numerous politicians I call chicken hawks. They are the Dick Cheneys, Donald Trumps and Rush Limbaughs of the world who praise military action, saber-rattling and tough talk as a sign of macho toughness in themselves when they are not the ones in any physical danger.

The fact all three of these super-patriots threw away their canes and deferments the day we declared a tie in Vietnam. They have all of these years since criticized other politicans and citizens for their lack of bravery and their weakness for not confronting every threat that has popped up in a YouTube video. As if the president himself is the one leading the charge, and showing care for the lives of those who actually do the dying shows a lack of manliness.

For Trump to declare he knows how to rebuild the military is as ludicrous of a statement as saying any student from Trump U. ever used their diploma as anything but a bookmark. Does he not understand you should not have to rebuild a military that already spends more than the next 22 countries combined? He then tells us they could not lick Guatemala and Costa Rica at the same time without calling up the Iowa National Guard, which now actually has to go to war. Could it be mismanagement and waste is still as rampant as when I was there?

Has he ever questioned his statement the vets have been treated terribly by the Veterans Administration and thousands have died waiting for care? Most of those vets had Medicare and could have gone to the hospital down the street. If the VA is so bad, why do the huge majority of vets over age 65, myself included, still choose to go there despite numerous other options in the outside medical world? Could it be that we know something he and the other VA critics do not?

The last things this country needs as a president is a man who adopts the ideas of the last person he talked to. The last thing we need is an insecure man who ties his own manhood to ordering others to use force. And the last thing we need is a man who thinks asking questions of people who actually know something is a sign of weakness.
Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required.

Your Full Name: (optional)

Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required.
past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)
If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino

 Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.

 Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.

 What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.

The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.

 How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!

 Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package  which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.

 Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.

Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice

It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices

 Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.

 Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.

 Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.

 Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.

With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks

Betway:

Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.

Coral Casino:

Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.

Ladbrokes Casino:

Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

Paddy Power Casino:

Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.

William Hill Casino:

William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.

Bonus: 100% Match Bonus up to 100  Register Now

Betway: 100% Match Bonus up to 100  Claim Now

Coral Casino: 25% Cash Back on Deposits  Claim Now

Ladbrokes Casino: 35% Cash Back on First 3 Deposits  Claim Now

Paddy Power Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200  Claim Now

William Hill Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200  Claim Now

If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
Canl Bahis siteleri sektoru son derece onu ack ve farkl ozelliklere sahip bir sektordur. Elbette bahis secenekleri arasnda yuksek kazanc getiren alan kuskusuz canl bahistir. Peki, canl bahis nedir?

Canl Bahis Nedir?

Canl bahis adndan da anlaslacag gibi devam eden musabakaya bahis yapmaktr. Bu bahis musabaka devam ederken de yaplabilir olmasdr. Basta futbol olmak uzere voleybol, tenis, hentbol, basketbol, buz hokeyi ve masa tenisi gibi spor organizasyonlarna canl bahisler yaplabilmektedir. Canl bahis siteleri bu oyunlarn hepsine yuksek oranlara bahis yapmanza imkan tanr. En fazla tercih edilen futbol canl bahisleri diger alanlara gore daha fazla on plandadr. Siteden siteye degisen sartlar ve uygulama esaslar soz konusu olsa da kurallar sabittir.

Canl bahisi populer klan ve heyecan katan en onemli ozellikle musabakann basladg ana dek bahis yapabilmedir. Canl bahis icerisinde yer alan secenekler kazanma sansnz da dogrudan arttrmaktadr. Ilk korneri kim kullanr, ilk tac, gol, sar kart, krmz kart gibi futbol musabakas icerisinde olabilecek hemen hemen her seye bahis yaplabilmektedir. Normal bahisegore de son derece yuksek oranda olmas avantajl yonlerini ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim dogru secenek ksa surede kazancl ckmanza etki edecektir.

Strateji ve dogru analizle 90 dakika gibi bir surede anaparanzkatlayabilirsiniz. Tabi bunu basarabilmek icin mutlaka musabakaya dair ayrntlar iyi degerlendirmek gerekir. Soz konusu musabakann detaylarn inceleyip, cezal, sakat oyuncu veya performans dusen takm oyunu gibi detaylar bilmek canl bahiste kazanc belirleyen onemli unsurdur. Guvenilir Canl bahis hem heyecanl zaman gecirmeyi hem de musabakalar takip ederken para kazanmay saglamaktadr.

Canl Bahis Nasl Oynanr?

Bahislerinizi guvenilir sitelerden gerceklestirdiginiz zaman herhangi bir sekilde para cekme de sorun yasamazsnz. Guvenilir bahis siteleri tespit edip sonrasnda da uyelik islemlerini tamamlamanz gerekmektedir. Belirlenen uyelik sartlarn yerine getirip hesabnza da paray aktardktan sonra bahis islemlerini sorunsuz yapabilirsiniz. Peki, canl bahis nasl oynanr?

Oncelikle bahis konusunda mutlaka dogru site arastrmas yapmalsnz. Yapacagnz arastrma neticesinde buldugunuz site uzerinden canl bahisislemlerini gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Bunun icin uye olup, hesaba para atp, canl bahis bolumune girmelisiniz. Sonrasnda dahil olmak istediginiz musabakann saatini ogrenip, gerekli analizleri yapmalsnz. Tahminlerinizi belirledikten sonra karsnza ckacak olan bahis sayfasndan istediginiz hamleyi yapmalsnz. Bahis tutarn belirledikten sonra musabaka baslayacaktr.

Canl bahis diger normal bahis esaslarna gore farkllklar icermektedir. Bunlardan en onemlisi musabakann gidisatna gore islem yapabilir olmaktr.Ayrca musabakann 2. Yarsna gore hamle yapp ayr bir bahisin soz konusu olmas da ciddi avantajdr. Dogru hamle ile sizde istediginiz bahisi yapp kazanc elde edebilirsiniz. Nitekim canl olarak yapacagnz bahis icin mac oncesi raporlara gore hareket etmek onemlidir. Cunku takmlarn durumlarn analiz etmek tahmin gucunu arttracaktr. Misal tamnn en iyi oyuncusu sakat ya da kart cezals ise takmn performansnda dusus yasanacaktr. Buna ek olarak takmn deplasman performans ile evinde ki performans ayr olacaktr. Burada da takmn musabakay nerede yaptgna bakmak gerekir. Bu ayrntlar da iyice analiz ettikten sonra bahsinizi yapp kazanmann keyfini yasayabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri

Son derece yuksek getiriye sahip bahis sektoru uzun zamandr faaliyet gostermektedir. Cok ciddi rakamlarn soz konusu oldugu bu sektor zamanla sanal ortamlara donusmustur. Elbette guvenli ve bir o kadar da avantajl olan bu siteler cok yonlu frsatlar sunmaktadrlar. Canl iddaa siteleri gerek yeni uyelere gerekse de hali hazrdaki uyelerine bolca bonus frsatlar vermektedir. Yatracagnz tutara gore belirlenen bonuslar site icerisinde rahat hareket etmenizi de saglayacaktr.

Canl bahis sitelerini kullanmadan once mutlaka guvenli olup olmadgna goz atmalsnz. Zira baz kullanclar guvenli olmayan sitelerden yaptklar islemlerden dolay magdur olmaktadrlar. Nitekim guvenli ve sorunsuz hizmet sunan yurt ds site tercih etmek en dogru secenektir. Sektorde uzun yllar faaliyet gosteren siteleri tercih edebilirsiniz. Bu alanda yer alan yabanc siteler musteri memnuniyetine onem vermektedir. Oncelik site kullanclarn sorunsuz sekilde bahislerini yapabilir olmasn saglamaktr. Bahis sitelerinde amac hem daha fazla kullancya hizmet vermek hem de sektorde emin admlarla ilerlemek onceliklidir. Dogru site tercihi ile sizde canl bahislerinizi sorun yasamadan gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Sizler icin hazrlams oldugumuz canl bahis siteleri listesi su sekildedir;

Mobilbahis Tempobet Bets10 Bahigo 1xbahis Betboo Youwin Superbahis

Sralams oldugumuz bu siteler sektorde basarl islere imza atms sitelerdedir. Canl bahis konusunda beklentileri karslayacak olan bu siteler sizlere kolaylk sunmaktadrlar. Bol bonuslu secenekle de sizlere farkl bahis yonlerini sunacaklardr. Sistemsel etki icerisinde her zaman etkin sonuc alabilmek icin surekli olarak faaliyet icerisindedirler.

Canl Bahis Taktikleri

Bahis sektorunun en fazla dikkat edilmesi gereken hususu dogru taktik ve dogru tahmindir. Elbette dogru tahmini yapabilmek icin analizi cok iyi yapmak gerekir. Canl bahis taktikleri arasnda ilk sra analiz gelmektedir. Analiz yapamadgnz zaman basarl tahminlerde bulunmanz pek de mumkun degildir. Cunku bahiste onemli olan konu musabakann analizini cok iyi yaplmas gerektigidir. Canl bahisin ozelliklerini iyi bilmek ve nasl bir hamle yapacagnz bilmek gerekir. Ozellikle riskli maclarda yaplacak degerlendirmeler cok daha onemlidir.

Canl bahis yapacaklarn takip edecegi degerler takmlarn durumlar ile alakal olmaldr. Performans uzerine kurulu bahis sisteminde takm degerlendirmesine iyi bakmak gerekir. Iki takmn son 5 macta nasl bir sonuc ortaya koyduguna bakarak hareket etmek onemlidir. Ayrca hangi takm evinde daha iyi performans sergiliyor diye de ayrca bakmak gerekir.

Analizlerle alakal puan durumlarna da goz atmak cok onemlidir. Puan degerlendirmesinde oncelikle takmlarn ihtiyaclar ile dogru orantl hareket etmek gerekir. Cunku olusturulan performans takmn da durumunu ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim istenilen sonucu elde edebilmek icin tum ayrntlar bilmek gerekir. Takm ici duzenden tutunda da takmn son durumuna kadar her ayrnt onemlidir. Iki takmn birbirleri arasnda ki sonuclar da incelemek gerekir. Burada dikkat edilecek detaylarn basnda maclarda kac gol oldugu ve gollerin hangi dakikalarda atldgdr. Cekismeli gecen musabakalarda bazen goller ilk yarda daha fazla olurken baz maclarda da ikinci yarda daha cok gol olmustur. Iki takm arasnda ki maclarda gollerin cogunlugu ilk yarda geliyorsa buna gore bahis yapabilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Bonuslar ve Kampanyalar

Bahis yapanlar veya yapmay dusununler sitelerin sunmus olduklar frsatlar merak etmektedirler. Cunku siteler daha fazla kullancya erismek icin her donem kampanyalar duzenleyerek kullanc odakl hamleler yapmaktadrlar. Canl bahis bonuslar ve kampanyalar oldukca populer olup, siteler bu konuda adeta birbirleri ile yarsmaktadrlar. Birbirinden farkl ozelliklere sahip olan kampanyalar size frsatlar sunmaktadr. Daha cok kazanma ihtimalinizi arttran bu bonuslar daha cesur olmanza da dogrudan etki edecektir. Nitekim bonuslar sitelerin cekiciligini ve avantajlarn arttrmaktadr. En cok kazandran canl bahis siteleri bedava bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin http://www.milano2018.com/canli-bahis-siteleri-2022/ linkinden yardm alabilirsiniz.

Hos geldin bonusu ile baslayan ve sonrasnda para yatrdkca bonus veren cok sayda site bulunmaktadr. Canl bahis bonusu veren siteler yeni uyelere sunduklar frsatlar farkl kampanyalarla mevcut uyelerine de sunmaktadrlar. Hali hazrda siteyi kullananlarn da bonus frsatlarndan yararlanmalar icin donemsel kampanyalar olusturmaktadrlar. Boylece baska sitelere gidisler olmayacag gibi site de daha keyifli zaman gecirmek mumkun klnmaktadr. Bu tur eklentiler yapan sitelerde musteri memnuniyeti daha fazladr.

Bahis siteleri ozellik ve uygulama bakmndan farkllklar bunyelerinde bulundurmaktadrlar. Verilen bonuslarn olusturulmas ve kullanclar aktarlmasnda yatrlan para miktarlar belirleyici olmaktadr. 1.000 TL yatran bir kullanc yuzde 20 bonus frsat olan bir kampanyadan 200 TL bonus kazanabilmektedir. Yatracag tutar 10.000 TL oldugunda bu bonustutar 2.000 TL olabilmektedir. Gerceklesen ve uygulanan esaslar tamamen donemsel olarak yaplan kampanyalarla alakaldr. Iyi Canl bahis siteleri bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin sitelerin vermis oldugu oranlar takip edebilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Yatrma

Online Canl bahis yapacaklarn merak ettigi konulardan bir digeri de para yatrma islemleridir. Oldukca onemli olan bu konuda hata yapmamak cok onemlidir. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemi sanlann aksine son derece basittir. Oldukca basit ve uygulama esas dogru etki olusturan bu yapda sizde islemi rahatca tamamlayabilirsiniz. Para yatrma konusunda su yolu izleyebilirsiniz.

Guvendiginiz ve herhangi bir sekilde aklnzda soru isareti kalmayan bahis sitesine uye olmanz gerekmektedir. Uyelik islemini sorunsuz sekilde tamamladktan sonra para yatrma islemine gecebilirsiniz.

Kullanacagnz siteye uye olduktan sonra karsnza kullanc ad ve sifresini gireceginiz yer gelecektir. Buraya giris yaptktan sonra site icerisine islemlere devam edebilirsiniz.

Sitede yer alan para yatrma sekmesine tklayp sonrasnda karsnza gelen sayfay inceleyebilirsiniz. Para yatrma bolumunde yer alan ksma ne kadar para yatracagnz yazp devam tusuna basmalsnz.

Yatrmak istediginiz tutar girip sonrasnda da devam tusuna bastktan sonra karsnza kart bilgilerinizi gireceginiz sayfa gelecektir. Kredi kart kullanarak para gondermek isteyenlerin tercih ettigi bu sayfa tum bilgiler girilip islem onaylanmaldr.

Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemini gerceklestirmek icin hesaba havale secenegini de kullanabilirsiniz. Site icerisinde musteri hizmetleri ile iletisime gecerek banka hesap numaralarn ogrenebilirsiniz. Belirtilen IBAN numarasna istediginiz tutar havale edebilirsiniz. Havale ederken acklama ksmna yazlacak bilgilere dikkat etmelisiniz.

Kredi kart veya banka havalesi ile gerceklesen para yatrma islemi sonucunda site hesabnzdan bakiyenize bakabilirsiniz. Bakiyenize gore dilediginiz sekilde bahislerinizi gerceklestirebilirsiniz.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Cekme

Canl bahiste dogru hamleler ve dogru tahminler sonucunda kazandgnz bedeli geri almak isteyebilirsiniz. Kazanclarnz istediginiz banka hesabnza cekebilmek icin uymanz gereken kurallar soz konusudur. Oncelikle bahis sitelerinden para cekebilmeniz icin uye olurken dogru bilgi paylasmnda bulunmanz gerektigidir. Cunku canl bahis sitelerinden para cekme islemi icin kullanc hesab ile talep edilen banka hesap bilgilerinin ortusmesi gerekir. Yani uye olurken verilen bilgi ile banka hesab kime ait ise o bilgiler ayn olmaldr. Bu uygulama sitenin hem kullancsn hem de kendisini guvene alma politikasdr. Ayrca frsatclarn onune gecerek yeni bir uye olusumunun da onune gecmek amac gutmektedir. Uye olan kisi farkl para cekilme talebi verilen hesap farkl oldugunda para cekme islemi gerceklesmeyecektir.

Bahisleriniz sonucunda kazanc elde edebilir ve bu kazancnz da hakknz olarak almak isteyebilirsiniz. Burada son derece basit uygulama soz konusu olurken siteler aras farkl gorunumler soz konusu olabilir. Fakat yine de tum sitelerde uyenin site icerisinde para cekme bolumune girmesi yeterlidir. Burada cekilecek olan tutarn belirlenmesi ve hesap numarasnn girilmesi ile birlikte islem onay gerekecektir. Para cekme taleplerinde sizden gerekli bilgiler istenmekte ve havale islemi istenilen bilgiler esliginde yurutulmektedir. Dogru bilgi paylasmak sorunsuz para cekebilmeniz en onemli kuraldr. Istenilen bilgiler girildikten sonra site sorumlular gerekli kontrolleri yapp herhangi bir sorun yoksa ksa surede hesabnza gerekli paray aktaracaklardr.

Canl Bahis Sitelerinden Para Cekmek Icin Istenen Belgeler

Bahis sitelerine uye olduktan sonra baz kullanclar para cekme taleplerinin karslanmadg konusunda sikayetlerde bulunmuslardr. Bu sikayetlersektorde uzun zamandr bulunan guvenilir bahis siteleri de yer almaktadr. Fakat sikayetlerin dayanaklarna bakldgnda ise islerin tamamen farkl oldugu gorulmektedir. Yasanan bu durum kullanclarn hatal bilgi girmesi ve uyelik bilgileri ile banka bilgilerinin uyusmamas ile dogru orantldr. Birde canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler eksik ya da hatal olarak sunulmus olabilir. Ortaya ckan karsklar neticesinde para cekme talebinde bulunan kisi istedigini alamadg icin sikayetci olmaktadr. Oysa ki istenilen bilgiler dogru ve istenilen evraklar eksiksiz sunulsa para cekme islemi sorunsuz olacak.

Sitelerin para cekme konusunda dikkatli hareket etmesi hilelerin ve illegal faaliyetlerin onune gecmek adnadr. Cunku baz kullanclar farkl bilgiler vererek ikinci hesap acabilmektedirler. Bazen de bilincsizce hatal bilgi girilebilmektedir. Hatal islemlerin cozumu konusunda islem yaptgnz sitenin musteri temsilcileri ile gorusebilirsiniz. Talepleriniz dogrultusunda para cekme islemlerinde ki sorunlar giderilecektir. Canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler listesi su sekildedir;

Kullanc bilgileri ile banka bilgilerini karslastrmak icin kimlik fotokopisi

Banka hesap bilgileri

Ikametgah ve kisiye ait herhangi bir fatura.

Kacak Iddaa

Turkiyede dogrudan bahis yapmak icin resmi kanallar kullanlabilmektedir. Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir.

Kacak Bahis

Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor.

Illegal Bahis

Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr.

Yasads Bahis

Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler.

Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir?

Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir?

Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir;

Iddaa

Bilyoner

Tuttur

Birebin

Oley

Nesine

Misli

Iddaa

2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir.

Bilyoner

Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir.

Tuttur

Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr.

Birebin

Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor.

Oley

2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr.

Nesine

Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur.

Misli

2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur.

Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri

Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir.

Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir.

Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr.

Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir.

Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz.
Jun 26, 2016 | By Alec

Fans of puzzles are increasingly finding their way to 3D printers to produce mindboggling and hitherto impossible puzzles, of which Oskar van Deventers record-breaking Over the Top 3D printed Rubiks Cube is perhaps the craziest weve ever seen. That same Dutch puzzle designer is now back with another remarkable creation: the 3D printed Magic Gears Grid, which seems to defy all engineering logic by turning clockwise and counter-clockwise simultaneously.

Its just the latest 3D printed marvel that has come out of the mind of Oskar van Deventer. A media scientist in real life, he has also been designing puzzles since he was a child. Thirty years later, he has already 3D printed hundreds of intriguing designs  some of which are available through Shapeways and other 3D printing services. Due to 3D printing costs, they tend to be very expensive but no less impressive because of it. A few are mass-produced, but the market for these puzzles is unfortunately very small.

Oskar is also a big name in the puzzle design scene, and is only raising expectations further with his Magic Gears Grid. A triangular grid of 3D printed gears featuring a single crank, it defies one supposed certainty in the world of gears: all adjacent gears should become gridlocked when turning in opposite directions. And yet, this doesnt affect the 19 gears on the Magic Gear Grid, which turn in other directions unhindered and with remarkable ease when the crank is turned. As you can see below, all gears with the green side up turn clockwise, and those with the red side up turn counter-clockwise. Remarkably, the gears also change direction if you crank in the opposite direction.

Right now, its little more than a logic-defying puzzle that gets you thinking, but this 3D printed innovation could obviously have its uses as well. We can already imagine very compact mechanical gears that take up less space than ever before. Of course, it also just shows what 3D printing can do to bring mindboggling designs alive.

But if youd like to 3D print this fun puzzle at home, weve got some bad news for you. While Oskar is more than happy to support the small puzzle-designing community, the quality of just about all desktop 3D printers is far too poor for most of his puzzle designs  which rely on very smooth surfaces to work properly.

His puzzles are therefore 3D printed by professional services, and a white version of the Magic Gear Grid is now available at i.Materialise here for 275 (approximately $311 USD). A full-colored, stickered and assembled puzzle can also be ordered through Oskars own website.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

Maybe you also like:












Kashmir Hill in Fusion:

An hours drive from Wichita, Kansas, in a little town called Potwin, there is a 360-acre piece of land with a very big problem.

The plot has been owned by the Vogelman family for more than a hundred years, though the current owner, Joyce Taylor nee Vogelman, 82, now rents it out. The acreage is quiet and remote: a farm, a pasture, an old orchard, two barns, some hog shacks and a two-story house. Its the kind of place you move to if you want to get away from it all. The nearest neighbor is a mile away, and the closest big town has just 13,000 people. It is real, rural America; in fact, its a two-hour drive from the exact geographical center of the United States.

But instead of being a place of respite, the people who live on Joyce Taylors land find themselves in a technological horror story.

For the last decade, Taylor and her renters have been visited by all kinds of mysterious trouble. Theyve been accused of being identity thieves, spammers, scammers and fraudsters. Theyve gotten visited by FBI agents, federal marshals, IRS collectors, ambulances searching for suicidal veterans, and police officers searching for runaway children. Theyve found people scrounging around in their barn. The renters have been doxxed, their names and addresses posted on the internet by vigilantes. Once, someone left a broken toilet in the driveway as a strange, indefinite threat.

All in all, the residents of the Taylor property have been treated like criminals for a decade. And until I called them this week, they had no idea why.

More here.
WASHINGTON  Rebuffed by Russias president, the Obama administration toned down demands Tuesday that fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden be expelled from a Moscow airport in a sign that the United States believes he is not worth scuttling diplomatic relations between the former Cold War enemies.

The White House issued a measured, if pointed, statement asking again that Russia help U.S. authorities capture Snowden  but stopped far short of threatening a cooling detente if he escapes.

It was a turnabout from tough talk against China a day earlier for letting Snowden flee Hong Kong instead of sending him back to the U.S. to face espionage charges for revealing classified national security surveillance programs that critics worldwide say violate privacy rights.

The outright refusals by Russia and China to cooperate on Snowden served as a fresh wake-up call to the U.S. that it cannot expect burgeoning superpowers to comply with its requests despite recent attempts to overcome longtime suspicions and improve global partnerships.

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to reporters in Saudi Arabia, called for calm and reasonableness as Moscow and Washington danced around Snowdens fate.

We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive from justice, Kerry said. Were not looking for a confrontation. We are not ordering anybody.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said he wished to avoid a diplomatic showdown over Snowden. But he refused to back off his refusal to turn over Snowden to the United States.

Mr. Snowden is a free man, and the sooner he chooses his final destination the better it is for us and for him, Putin said. I hope it will not affect the business-like character of our relations with the U.S. and I hope that our partners will understand that.

Snowden remained for a third day in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport, and Putin said he was out of Moscows reach since he had not passed through immigration and was, technically, not on Russian territory. Snowden was believed to be waiting to fly to an undisclosed location  most likely in South America or Iceland  that would give him political asylum despite frustrated U.S. demands that he be extradited.

Experts predicted that Putin, ultimately, will not stop Snowden from leaving or take any steps to help the U.S. catch him. But Washington may have to place Snowdens escape against the risk of damaging relations as the U.S. and Russia negotiate a number of high-priority issues, including nuclear arms reductions and a peace settlement in Syria.

Gary Hart, the former Democratic senator and presidential candidate, doubted that Washington would let Snowden make already poor U.S.-Russian relations any worse. Hart is an expert on Russia and board chairman of the American Security Project think-tank that was created by Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

An incident like this should not interfere with the ongoing relationship between both countries, Hart said in an interview Tuesday. There is too much else at stake to seriously impair a bilateral relationship with both Russia and China. In the grand scheme of things I dont think its going to make much difference.

But Russia hasnt made it easy for the U.S.

Earlier this month, Putin held off President Barack Obamas call for negotiations to reduce nuclear weapons by noting that any talks would have to involve other nations. And Putin has refused to back down from Russias support for the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and, in turn, has forced leaders of the Group of Eight industrial economies to call for a negotiated Syrian peace settlement instead of Assads outright ouster.

For quite some time now, the Russians have shown themselves when the opportunity presents itself to poke a finger in the U.S. eye, said Andrew Weiss, a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace expert who oversaw Russian issues on the White House National Security Council in the late 1980s and 1990s.

At this point, both sides see an interest in not having a huge rupture over Snowden, mostly, I think, over the expectation that Snowden doesnt want to stay in Russia, Weiss said. I think on the U.S. side theres a desire, with President Obama scheduled to be in Moscow in early September, not to blow up the relationship over this issue.

Kerry also was expected to meet next week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Brunei.
Growing up, Max Baptiste said his family didnt own a television and his backyard was the wilderness of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

He lived in Taos with his brother and mother, a native of Los Angeles, and said his slightly unconventional upbringing has shaped who he is.

It was definitely an influence, he said. I learned that life is something to be experienced.

He has carried that thought with him through life, choosing what some might consider a not so conventional path. After years of being a business owner, he started the nonprofit organization We Are This City in an effort to help the work of local artists reach a larger audience and to help beautify the exterior of vacant buildings in Albuquerque.

The first building the group is tackling with the permission of the city is the Rosenwald Building on Fourth and Central. They are placing white origami dove decals on the exterior windows of the first two floors.

His upbringing, he said, may be different from some but it put him on a path to see the world in a unique way. Baptiste, 34, said his family moved to Albuquerque when he was 15 and he graduated from Freedom High, an alternative high school that allows students to work at their own pace in a smaller class setting. After graduation, he went to school for audio engineering.

I audited (took for no grade) all my classes, he said. I went more for the knowledge instead of the degree.

He eventually moved to Seattle and started his own company developing video games, even though he admits he was never much of a gamer. Growing up without a television can do that. The business lasted for 12 years, during which time he also lived in Los Angeles before returning to New Mexico in 2012.

He said he attended dozens of conferences during his years as a video game developer and honed his networking skills. Hes now trying to apply those skills to his latest endeavor.

Baptiste said he learned the success of bringing people together with a common interest while working in the gaming industry.

Video games have helped build the largest community in the world, he said. How do we use that concept to help economic development in our community?

Hes gotten local city and county community leaders on board with his organization. Mayor Richard Berry serves on his advisory board. Berry said the group attracted him because of its passion for the arts and the pride its artists and Baptiste have in Albuquerque.

You cannot make up or force civic pride, he said. Just because you dont have what some would consider a standard business does not mean you are not an entrepreneur.

Berry said the city needs to support not only traditional industries but its creative economy. He said We Are This City is a way to connect business people with local artists.

One of those businesses is Southwest Capital Bank. County Commissioner Lonnie Talbert is the banks chief operating officer. He said the bank offered the group a small cash infusion.

Talbert also serves on the groups advisory board. He said its important to give local artists as much exposure as possible. He also likes the groups mission to transform vacant buildings.

There isnt anything beautiful about a boarded up structure, he said. By doing this, the buildings will no longer be a magnet for vandalism.

The current project of We Are This City is an exhibit of paintings done by 70 local artists. Baptiste filled a bunch of balloons with paint and had local children throw the balloons at the blank canvasses. The artists were then given a canvas and told to finish painting it anyway they would like.

The paintings hang in the We Are This City offices on Gold Avenue in Downtown Albuquerque. They will be on display for one night only for a reception at the Albuquerque Museum on Sept. 8. Theres also something in the works to take the show to San Francisco.

I want to give the artists a broader audience, he said. We have a lot of art here and we need to find a way to support the local creative economy.
I am responding to your June 21 article Supreme Court Ruling Leaves Nonprofit Trapped. Larry and Deborah Littlebird, the owners of Hamaatsa, Inc., have described their situation in dramatic but untruthful terms.

They are neither trapped nor penned in.

It is not true that the road at issue in the litigation provides the only access to their property. Another road exists along public BLM land that permits full public access to the Hamaatsa property.

The Pueblo has never sought to interfere with Hamaatsas access to the road along the public BLM property.

Because the litigation never progressed to the evidentiary stage, these facts do not appear in the courts decisions. They were, however, argued by the Pueblo in its pleadings and are in fact true.

While sympathetically reporting the Littlebirds sense of grievance, your article ignores the Supreme Courts fidelity to what is in fact settled federal law.

Like federal and state governments, Indian tribal governments are immune from suit unless the tribe waives its immunity or Congress permits such a suit. This is the law and has been consistently recognized by courts at all levels throughout the country, including the United States Supreme Court.

The Pueblo of San Felipe, like the nine New Mexico tribes that joined in its appeal as amici curiae, is pleased by the informed respect accorded this federal law by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Sadly, many legal principles do not always appear at first glance to produce an equitable result. In this case, however, it did.

The Court recognized the long-embedded principle of tribal sovereign immunity. Hamaatsa has adequate, if less convenient, access to its property by means of the road along the public BLM property.

The Littlebirds are neither trapped nor penned in.

Good neighbors should be truthful neighbors.
WASHINGTON  The Leave campaign won the referendum on withdrawing Britain from the European Union because the arguments on which the Remain side relied made Leaves case. The Remain campaign began with a sham, was monomaniacal with its Project Fear, and ended in governmental thuggishness.

The sham was Prime Minister David Camerons attempt to justify Remain by negotiating EU concessions regarding Britains subservience to the EU. This dickering for scraps of lost sovereignty underscored Britains servitude and achieved so little that Remainers rarely mentioned it during their campaign.

Project Fear was the relentless and ultimately ludicrous parade of Cassandras, experts all, warning that Britain, after more than a millennium of sovereign existence, and now with the worlds fifth-largest economy, would endure calamities were it to end its 23-year membership in the EU.

Remain advocates rarely even feigned enthusiasm for the ramshackle, sclerotic EU. Instead, they implausibly promised that if Brexit were rejected, Britain  although it would then be without the leverage of the threat to leave  would nevertheless somehow negotiate substantially better membership terms than Cameron managed when Brexit was an option.

Voters were not amused by the Cameron governments threat of what critics called a Punishment Budget to inflict pain on pensioners and others because Brexit might cause GDP to contract 9.5 percent and home prices might plummet 18 percent.

Voters did not like being told they had no choice. And that it was too late to escape from entanglement in the EUs ever-multiplying tentacles.

Voters chose the optimism of Brexit. Sixty years after Britains humiliation in the Suez debacle, Britain has a spring in its step, confident it will flourish when Brussels no longer controls 60 to 70 percent of the British governments actions. Britain was last conquered by an invading army in 1066. In 2016, it repelled an attempted conquest by the EUs nomenklatura.

By breaking the leftward-clicking ratchet that moves steadily, and only, toward more pooled sovereignty and centralization of power, Brexit refutes the progressive narrative that history has an inexorable trajectory that experts discern and before which all must bow.

To understand why Brexit could and should be the beginning of an existential crisis for the EU, look across the English Channel, to France. There, King Clovis recently was invoked 1505 years after his death in 511. Before a particular battle, Clovis promised that if the God to whom his Christian wife prayed would grant him victory, he would become a Christian. He won the battle and converted. Recently, Nicolas Sarkozy, Frances once and perhaps future president, said France was born of the baptism of Clovis, it has a Christian tradition and remains a country of churches, cathedrals, abbeys and shrines.

Actually, 71 percent of the French say religion is unimportant to them and fewer than 4.5 percent attend weekly church services. But Sarkozy was aligning himself with the palpable desire in France and elsewhere in Europe to resist cultural homogenization.

In Paris these days there are marches by a group called Generation Identitaire, described as the hipster right. It aims to rally young French and Europeans who are proud of their heritage.

A recent statement on its website declared that Islamist attacks and the migrant invasion made 2015 a turning point in the history of our country. The statement continued: The French have been silent for too long.  It is time to show our determination to live on our land, under our laws, our values and with respect to our own identity.

Euroskepticism is rising dramatically in many EU nations. There might be other referendums. Or the EU might seek to extinguish this escape mechanism. A poll in Sweden indicated that it might follow Britain out. In France, there could be a campaign for Frexit.

Such was the Remain sides intellectual sloth, it wielded the threadbare aspersion that advocating withdrawal amounted to embracing isolationism. Actually, Brexit was the choice for Britains international engagement as a nation.

The revival of nationhood is a prerequisite for the reinvigoration of self-government through reclaimed national sovereignty. Hence June 23, 2016, is now among the most important dates in post-war European history.
FULSHEAR, Texas  Police say a Houston-area woman fatally shot her two daughters before officers shot and killed her.

The incident happened about 5 p.m. Friday in front of a home just outside the Houston suburb of Fulshear. The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office identified the mother as 42-year-old Christy Sheats and her daughters as 22-year-old Taylor Sheats and 17-year-old Madison Sheats.

Sheriff Troy Nehls says the shooting apparently climaxed a family argument, but the reason for the argument remains unclear.

Nehls says the two younger women had already been shot when a Fulshear police officer arrived and saw the mother with a gun in her hand, apparently preparing to shoot one of her daughters again. The officer shot and killed the woman.
Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White says he is no longer a certified law enforcement officer, doesnt have a concealed handgun carry license but does own a firearm.

White has also publicly disclosed that he is a medical cannabis user and an investor in a new medical marijuana grower and dispensary in Albuquerque, as well as its chief administrator and security chief.

But medical marijuana use  regardless of whether its permitted by state law  remains illegal under federal law, and federal law prohibits unlawful users of controlled substances, such as marijuana, from possessing firearms, according to the long-held position of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

White, who headed the state Department of Public Safety before serving eight years as sheriff, says he shouldnt be forced to give up his gun because he chooses medical marijuana to treat his chronic back and knee pain, the result of injuries suffered as an Albuquerque police officer and while in the Army.

Its no different than using a prescription narcotic, White says, noting that people who lawfully use pain drugs such as Oxycodone can legally possess firearms.

The ex-lawman cautions, however, that people who are under the influence of medical cannabis or Oxycodone should stay away from their weapons.

White says the federal government is behind the times with its position on firearms and medical cannabis.

Its very similar to most of the ways the federal government approaches marijuana, he says. They have not caught up to the states. They do not recognize medical cannabis at all. States tend to lead the way on issues like this. They already have.

New Mexico is among more than two dozen states that have legalized physician-supervised use of medical cannabis. A handful of states, including neighboring Colorado, have also legalized marijuana for recreational use.

ATFs position that medical marijuana users cannot legally possess firearms was announced prior to the first state legalizing recreational use of marijuana, but the bureaus legal reasoning appears to extend to any marijuana use permitted by a state.

A spokesman for NORML, a group that has long worked to legalize marijuana use, says the group hasnt heard of any federal prosecution of a person for firearm possession while using marijuana in compliance with state laws.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, which has legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational use, has asked the U.S. Justice Department to revisit its position that a person who uses marijuana pursuant to state law is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

It is my judgment that denying Americans the personal Second Amendment right to possess firearms  for mere use of marijuana pursuant to state law is arbitrarily overbroad and should be narrowed, Murkowski wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in March.

Such a change in position by the Justice Department wouldnt be unprecedented. The department said in 2013 that it wouldnt challenge state laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use, provided the states impose strict regulations.

Possible penalty

ATF, which is part of the Justice Department, laid out its position on marijuana use and firearms possession in a letter in 2011 to federally licensed sellers of firearms.

Federal law prohibits any person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance from possessing a firearm or ammunition, ATF said. Marijuana is a controlled substance under federal law, and its use isnt permitted by federal law for medicinal purposes, even if such use is sanctioned by state law, the bureau said.

ATF told firearms dealers that they could not sell guns or ammunition to a person if they had reasonable cause to believe that the person was an unlawful user of a controlled substance  for example, if the person showed a medical marijuana card for identification purposes.

ATF also advised dealers that medical marijuana users seeking to purchase firearms should answer yes to the question on the background check form that asks: Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance. A yes answer disqualifies a person from buying a gun.

A Journal reporter, without identifying himself as working for the newspaper, recently visited firearms stores in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and asked sales workers whether someone with a medical marijuana card could buy a gun. The answers ranged from no to its a gray area. One sales worker said, The other option is to lie on the form.

Will Hogsett, chief operating officer of the Calibers gun shops in Albuquerque, which werent among the firearms dealers visited by the reporter, says the Calibers stores advise medical marijuana users that they cannot buy guns.

We follow federal guidelines when it comes to that, Hogsett says. It is black and white.

A false statement on a background check form is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Concealed carry

Like many states that have authorized medical marijuana use, New Mexico issues licenses for concealed carry of handguns.

The application for a concealed carry license includes a drug-related question similar to the one on the federal background check form. The application asks, Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to any controlled substances and/or alcohol. A yes answer disqualifies a person from having a concealed carry license.

As part of the application to the state Department of Public Safety for a concealed carry license, a person must sign a form authorizing the department to obtain any health information concerning the applicant from any provider or any source.

The authorization form also says:

The health information will specifically be related to (a) adjudication of mental incompetence or any commitment to a mental institution; (b) any addiction to alcohol or controlled substances.

Asked whether the Department of Public Safety accesses physician records or records of the Health Department, which runs the medical cannabis program, to determine whether a concealed carry applicant is a medical marijuana user, Public Safety Department spokesman H.L. Lovato said:

The Concealed Handgun Carry Act does not use medical marijuana information as a factor in the process of issuing a license. Information about behavioral or mental health services, and treatment for alcohol or drug/substance abuse are only read when it has been adjudicated by the courts. Otherwise, no medical information is accessed by DPS.

Lovato declined to say what the department does if it learns that an applicant is a medical marijuana user or how the Concealed Handgun Carry Unit responds when asked by a potential applicant whether someone with a medical cannabis card can obtain a concealed carry permit.

As of May, about 25,000 people had medical marijuana cards issued by the Health Department. About 41,000 New Mexicans had concealed handgun carry licenses in 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Other states laws

The issue of marijuana use, guns and concealed carry permits has come up in other states.

According to United Patients Group, which provides education to physicians and others on the uses of medical cannabis, Nevada state law allows medical marijuana users to have firearms in their homes for protection as long as they arent used while under the influence.

A public outcry in Illinois in 2013 caused state policymakers to kill a proposal that would have required medical marijuana users to give up their firearms, and the Oregon Supreme Court in 2011 upheld the right of a medical cannabis user to obtain a concealed carry permit under state law.

In Colorado, county sheriffs issue concealed carry permits, and some sheriffs specifically ask applicants whether they are marijuana users. Supporters of a proposal that would have prohibited sheriffs from denying permits because of marijuana use were unsuccessful in forcing a statewide vote this year on the proposal.

Heres what federal law says:

 The Controlled Substances Act lists marijuana as a controlled substance.

 The Gun Control Act says any person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance as defined in the Controlled Substances Act is prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving or possessing any firearm or ammunition.

 The Gun Control Act also prohibits any person from selling or otherwise transferring any firearm or ammunition when there is reasonable cause to believe the recipient is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance as defined in the Controlled Substances Act.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

Things went south very quickly for musician Joshua McNiel, 33, of Oklahoma City, who moved his wife and two young children to Albuquerque in mid-February while he worked on the music for a documentary about a Native American author.

We loaded up our house into a U-Haul truck, moved into an extended-stay motel on East Central Avenue and placed the contents of our home in a self-storage rental unit, he said.

Unfortunately, the film project got bogged down, and McNiel wont get paid until its completed.

By May, the family, which includes wife Megan Tsoodle, 25, and their sons Nathan Tsoodle, 9, and Jacoby Tsoodle, 3, were living at Joy Junction, a Christian-based ministry and the states largest homeless shelter, which in July observes its 30th anniversary.

For Joy Junctions chief executive officer Jeremy Reynalds, this familys story underscores why the South Valley shelter he founded three decades ago remains relevant.

McNiel took side work in Albuquerque painting buildings, but that work eventually dried up and the familys savings ran out. The self-storage company sold off the contents of the familys locker, and the family had to vacate their motel room.

I did a Google search on the words family, Christian and shelter, and Joy Junction popped up, McNiel said. I called and they came out and got us from the motel. Wed never been homeless before. I was scared and had feelings of inadequacy in having let my family down.

The family now has its own room with a bathroom and serves as a sort of dormitory monitor for other families. Their two children are enjoying the summer on the Joy Junction playground, making friends and participating in supervised activities with other children who are staying at the shelter.

Tsoodle enrolled in the shelters nine-month Christ in Power Program, which teaches life and employment skills. She also does volunteer work processing in-kind donations to Joy Junction.

McNiel is enrolled in the Hand Up Program, which offers help in resume writing, job searches, appointment scheduling and applying for food stamps, permanent housing, Social Security or other services, as needed.

Joy Junction also has showers, provides clothing, pastoral counseling and uses a Bible-based approach, focusing on a persons physical, emotional and spiritual needs to help them overcome addictions and other destructive behaviors, Reynalds explained.

It was hard on me to bring my family here, but we had no choice, McNiel said. Its tough out there, and you can quickly get behind and dig yourself into a hole that you cant get out of. If it wasnt for Joy Junction, I dont know where wed be or what we would have done.

Ending homelessness

Joy Junction is the realization of a vision Jeremy Reynalds had to understand the problems that feed into homelessness and attempt solutions.

Raised in Bournemouth, England, Reynalds attended a Bible college and, in 1978, bought a one-way ticket to the United States. He was 20 years old, had $50 in his pocket and a burning desire to preach the Bible. He lived for a while in Florida, where he met his now ex-wife, started a family, volunteered in a Christian prison ministry and experienced homelessness.

The infamous 1980 New Mexico state prison riot was still on Reynalds mind when, two years later, he decided to move to Santa Fe, hoping to get a job as a corrections officer and start a Christian prison ministry. That never happened.

It was a poorly conceived idea, he said. Im really not corrections officer material.

Instead, Reynalds opened His Place, a Christian coffee shop in a storefront on Agua Fria Street in Santa Fe, which offered free coffee and burritos to homeless people.

The need was so great that, in four years, I was able to take only four days off, he said. I got burned out.

Learning that the old vacant chapel at Kirtland Air Force Base had been made available to a nonprofit organization that worked with the homeless  part of a Department of Defense initiative to help communities  Reynalds offered to assist and moved his family to Albuquerque in 1986. He didnt remain there long.

Joy Junction is born

A former South Valley Catholic boarding school that had most recently served as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center had just closed and the nonprofit that owned the property was eager for suggestions about what to do with it. Reynalds struck an agreement for free rent for a short time, while he established a shelter for homeless families.

At the time  and its still the case  the few local shelters that existed were not configured to accept entire families. Men and boys went to one; women, girls and very young children went to another.

My aim was to provide a safe place where an entire family could stay together during one of the worst times in their lives, he said.

Reynalds refused to apply for government funding and relied solely on private donations, a practice he maintains to this day as assurance that the shelter can be operated as a Christian ministry. After a while, Reynalds was not only able to pay rent, but was also able to arrange financing to purchase the site in 1998. Joy Junction now owns the property free and clear.

Located on 52 acres off Second Street, south of Rio Bravo Boulevard, Joy Junction was originally able to accommodate about 60 people. Then, in 1990, two donated former Bureau of Indian Affairs barracks expanded the capacity to 190. In 2002, the second story from a dismantled motel in White Rock was donated and now serves as a transitional living center for up to 50 people.

Today, Joy Junction can provide shelter for up to 300 people on any given night. It also provides 16,000 meals each month, a combination of breakfast, lunch and dinner, and meals handed out from its Lifeline of Hope food truck.

Since 2007, when records were computerized, more than 18,200 people have sought shelter and services at Joy Junction. The shelters annual budget, which includes in-kind gifts, is $4.5 million. Only 4 percent of its budget goes toward administration and salaries.

Danny Whatley, executive director of The Rock at Noon Day, an Albuquerque day shelter and meal site for the homeless, said there are only about 550 bed spaces available for the homeless in the metro area. Thats not nearly enough to accommodate the homeless population, estimated from a low of 800 to more than 4,000, depending on who is asked, the definition of homeless and the method of counting.

We couldnt survive without Joy Junction, Whatley said. All the missions do a great job, but none of them takes families, except the overnight shelter in the old West Side jail thats open during the winter. Joy Junction is the one place in Bernalillo County where the family unit can be maintained and where a man can retain a semblance of dignity knowing he can take care of his family, keep them safe and keep them together.

Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless does twice-a-week outreach at Joy Junction with a pediatrician and a behavior health specialist, said Anita Cordova, the organizations director of development and planning.

Joy Junction is our largest family and childrens shelter, and thats an important niche in the community, she said.

The homeless not only experience poverty, but they lack the most basic of resources, she said, including medical and mental health care.

A subset of the people we serve at Joy Junction would not get to us any other way, so this is one of the only opportunities we have to get integrated care to these families and children who are experiencing homelessness.

Personal transformation

While the shelter has evolved over time, so has Reynalds. For years, he declined to take donations from gay or lesbian organizations and individuals, and did not allow same-sex couples to stay at the shelter.

He underwent a personal transformation while studying for his doctorate in intercultural education. He now accepts donations from people and organizations, regardless of their sexual orientation or agenda, and welcomes same-sex couples who need shelter.

Im much less judgmental than I used to be and thats made me a much happier person, he said. My mantra for the last eight or nine years is Let God do the judging, and I will do the loving. 

couldnt



survive

without

Junction

ABQs largest family and childrens shelter has been helping the homeless for 30 years



Joy

We

Please suggest a hedline:

We couldnt survive without Joy Junction

and a deck:

ABQs largest family and childrens shelter has been helping the homeless for 30 years

Celebration

The public is invited to a 30th anniversary celebration for Joy Junction 4-7 p.m. July 14 in the Casa Blanca Room at Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second Street NW.

To reserve a place, call 217-9586 by noon, July 7.
SANTA FE  New Mexicos court challenges against the federal government and Colorado over a massive mine spill are being financed by money collected in past legal settlements, not by taxpayers.

During this years 30-day legislative session, state lawmakers earmarked $1 million from an Attorney Generals Office consumer settlement fund to pay for environmental litigation sparked by the Gold King Mine spill, in which more than 3 million gallons of toxic waste was discharged into a tributary of the Animas River and flowed into New Mexico.

The Environment Department has spent about $559,179 of that amount via contracts with an outside law firm that is representing the state in two different cases, an agency spokeswoman said Friday.

The two cases are the lawsuit filed against Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court this week, and a suit filed in federal court last month against the Environmental Protection Agency and the owners of the Gold King Mine.

Both lawsuits seek reimbursement to the state for costs connected to the August 2015 mine spill  more than $136 million in damages is being sought in the EPA case  that forced water systems and irrigation ditches in San Juan County to stop drawing water from the Animas and San Juan rivers for more than a week and raised concerns about damage to blue-ribbon trout waters.

Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said he is confident in the abilities of the legal team representing the state, including the Texas-based firm Jackson, Gilmour and Dobbs, which was hired by the agency to head up the litigation.

The firm has previously worked on such environmental cases as the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico and toxic pollution in the Passaic River in New Jersey. That case resulted in a multimillion-dollar settlement.

I really think weve got the best legal representation we could have in this situation, Flynn said in a recent interview.

Meanwhile, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman described New Mexicos lawsuit as unfortunate, adding that it could take years, even decades, to resolve the litigation.

I have done what I can within the bounds of my power and authority as attorney general to resolve this matter without litigation, Coffman said in a statement. It is unfortunate that New Mexico has chosen to sue the state of Colorado over the Gold King Mine spill when it was the EPAs actions that sent acid mine drainage pouring into the Animas River last August.

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is an active participant in both mine spill lawsuits and earlier this week described the Gold King Mine spill as being the result of two decades of disastrous environmental decision-making by Colorado.
LONDON  The European Union wants a quickie divorce, but Britain wants time to think things over.

Senior EU politicians demanded Saturday that the U.K. quickly cut its ties with the 28-nation bloc  a process Britain says wont begin for several months  as the political and economic shockwaves from the U.K.s vote to leave reverberated around the world.

There is a certain urgency  so that we dont have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at a meeting in Berlin of the EUs six founding nations.

More than 2.1 million people joined an online petition by Saturday urging the government to hold a second referendum on Britains membership of the EU.

The petition said the government should implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 per cent, based on a turnout of less than 75 per cent, there should be another referendum.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the split was not an amicable divorce, but noted it was never a tight love affair anyway.

Britons voted 52 percent to 48 percent Thursday in favor of ending their countrys 43-year membership in the 28-nation bloc. But no country has ever left the EU before, so no one knows exactly how the process will play out. Britain must, at some point, unambiguously notify the bloc of its intentions and set a two-year clock ticking for negotiating its departure. Until then, Britain remains an EU member.

In contrast to the clamoring of EU officials, the leaders of Britains leave campaign, who had reassured voters that the EU would offer Britain good terms for a new relationship, were largely silent Saturday.

Englands 300-year-old union with Scotland could be another casualty of the referendum, since most people in Scotland voted to remain in the EU, but were outvoted by a majority in much-larger England.

Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Saturday that her semi-autonomous administration would seek immediate talks with EU nations and institutions to ensure that Scotland could remain in the bloc. (We will) explore possible options to protect Scotlands place in the EU, she said after meeting with her Cabinet in Edinburgh, adding that a new referendum on Scottish independence is very much on the table.

Scotland voted in 2014 to remain a part of the U.K., but that decision was seen as being conditional on the U.K. staying in the EU.

The victorious leave campaigners have said theres no rush to trigger Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon Treaty, which will begin a two-year exit process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the U.K. and what will become a 27-nation bloc.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday and said his successor, to be chosen by October, should be the one to navigate the tricky process of withdrawing from the bloc.

The favorite to succeed him, former London Mayor Boris Johnson, has said theres no need for haste  but EU leaders are saying the opposite, in insistent tones.

Juncker said Saturday the British had voted to leave and it doesnt make any sense to wait until October to try and negotiate the terms of their departure.

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron accused Britain of taking the EU hostage with a referendum called to solve a domestic political problem: challenges to Cameron from right-wing euroskeptics. The failure of the British government has opened up the possibility of the crumbling of Europe, Macron said at a debate in Paris.

Top diplomats from the European Unions six founding nations  France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg  met in Berlin for hastily arranged talks and stressed that the exit process should be speedy.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters, The people have spoken and we need to implement this decision.

Frances Ayrault suggested Britain could name a new prime minister within several days  but that is likely instead to take several months. The process calls for Conservative lawmakers to winnow candidates down to two choices who will then be voted on in a postal ballot of party members.

Legally, there is little the EU can do to force Britains hand, since Article 50 must be triggered by the country that is leaving. But political pressure and economic instability may force British politicians to act more quickly than they had hoped.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a conciliatory note, saying it shouldnt take forever for Britain to deliver its formal notification of leaving.

There is no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations, Merkel said at a news conference in Potsdam, outside Berlin.

Britains leave campaigners have been accused of lacking a plan for the aftermath of a victory.

Dominic Cummings, director of the Vote Leave group, said it would be unthinkable to invoke Article 50 before a new prime minister was in place.

Britain will remain an EU member until the divorce is finalized, but its influence inside the bloc is already waning. Leaders of the bloc will hold a summit in Brussels next week, and the second day, Wednesday, will take place for the first time without Britain.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  A plan to widen hundreds of miles of camping corridors south of the Grand Canyon would be detrimental to the landscape, according to state conservationist groups.

Kaibab National Forest officials say popular corridors to the canyons South Rim will be expanded from 30 feet to 300 feet over the next three years. The move would be a significant change of longtime management rules for the forest and its paths. The final rule revision is expected later this summer, the Arizona Daily Sun reported (http://bit.ly/28YmKNo).

The limit is 300 feet in several other forests in Arizona.

The proposal would expand the width on roughly 290 miles of roads. In addition, it would open access to another 21,000 acres for off-road camping as well as 24 miles of official road within two forest districts.

Environmental groups say off-road vehicles could potentially damage wildlife habitats, grasslands and other landscape. We see unregulated travel at odds with the goals to restore these important habitats, said Alicyn Gitlin, of the local Sierra Club.

Katie Davis, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said a risk of fire across a greater area could be another after-effect.

Conservation advocates have been closely observing the Kaibabs travel management rulemaking process since 2005, Davis said. That is when national forests in the U.S. were told to establish rules for motorized access and recreation on forest grounds.

The Tonto National Forest recently issued a draft of its final Travel Management Rule. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club are currently reviewing it.

The change was made because of complaints about initial road limits closing off campsites that had been used for years, Kaibab spokeswoman Jackie Banks said. The expanded corridors will be consistent with corridors in the Coconino and Prescott national forests and eliminate confusion for visitors, she added
ZAPATA, Texas  Authorities have been searching for a 5-year-old boy who fell into a South Texas lake when the inflatable raft he was on flipped over.

The Laredo Morning Times (http://bit.ly/28UvjF5 ) reports that the Zapata County sheriffs office got a call Saturday afternoon that the boy had fallen into Falcon Lake.

Authorities said high winds had caused the raft to drift away from the shore and his family.

Several agencies were helping with the search and rescue operation.

The sheriffs office did not immediately return a call Sunday to The Associated Press for an update on the search.

___

Information from: Laredo Morning Times, http://www.lmtonline.com
PHOENIX  United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch will make a stop in Phoenix during a tour focused on community policing and law enforcement strategies.

Lynch will be in town on Tuesday visiting with the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy to observe community policing practices.

Phoenix is one of six jurisdictions recognized by Lynch for excelling in areas of policy and oversight, trust and legitimacy, technology and social media and crime reduction, among others.

Lynch says she wants to strengthen relationships between police and the communities they serve.
Marketing

AD Stars is recruiting its new & young stars of 2021

AD STARS is now inviting junior creatives to apply for its New Stars program, and university students to apply for its Young Stars program.The New....
An Indian Air force Sukhoi Su 30 MK fighter aircraft successfully flew with a BrahMos missile fitted to it for 45 minutes at the HAL Airport in Nashik and it is a significant success. It is the first time in the world that such a heavy weight supersonic cruise missile has been integrated on a fighter aircraft. It is a unique achievement because the 2500 kg heavy weight missile has been integrated in a fighter aircraft with significant success. The development, under the BrahMos air-launched flight test programme, has huge implications for the weapons delivery system and capability of the IAF. The Su-30-BrahMos combination will carry out air combat operations within and beyond visibility range. It will also provide the IAF with the capability of attacking targets protected by powerful air defense assets. Integration of BrahMos with the Su-30MKI will render the weapon a multi-platform capability while making the IAF the only Air Force in the world in procession of a supersonic cruise missile system. The flight trial has been keenly observed by several other nations in the world in possession of the Su-30 strike fighter who are looking towards acquiring a lethal weapon system for the Russian-made warplanes. It is indeed a unique success.

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
India needs to get the past the last hurdle in NSG in accepting India into the elite International nuclear technology club. Thus China remained the last major obstacle in the way of Indias membership bid in the Nuclear Suppliers Group as 47 of 48 members supported New Delhis application at the groups special plenary session in Seoul.

The session failed to come to a conclusion after hours of discussions, with China adamant in its opposition. Questions and doubts by other fence-sitting countries dissolved in the course of the evening, leaving China as the last man standing against India. China raised a procedural block early in the day, refusing to admit the India membership issue to be discussed in the meeting. This caused a delay of over five hours, as the members wrestled with an agenda item.

Chinas stand might wreck Indias chances this time if Beijing continues to hold out. But the fact that India has mounted such a huge diplomatic exercise will play to Indias advantage going forward. All eyes now will be on the role that the US and other big supporters of India play to help bring China around.

Lakshmi Raghu

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims.



In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, Indias application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that was the ground used to thwart Indias bid.

However, diplomatic sources said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources said that Mexicos suggestion was also opposed by China but it found support from a large number of countries including the US.

A panel for informal consultations on Indias membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossis appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a path forward for Indias acceptance as a member.

We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year, the Obama administration official said in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting Indias NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support Indias case on its merits.

An upset India later accused one country, a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.
Its a full Meet the Parents week for Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston, as they continue their whirlwind romance.



The 26-year-old pop star jetted off with her new beau to his native England and the two met up with his mother, Diane Hiddleston. The three were photographed Friday walking together and smiling on a sidewalk in Suffolk, with the Thor actors mom in the middle with her arms around both stars.

The two women both dressed casually, with Taylor in a flowing black jumpsuit and Diane in a blue button-down shirt and black pants. Tom wore a form-fitting black T-shirt with its long sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black jeans.

The three were also spotted strolling together on Aldeburgh beach. Taylor, bundled up in a gray and black striped fleece and blue skinny jeans, walked hand-in-hand with Tom, who wore a dark shirt and matching jacket and pants. His mom walked beside them, wearing a red winter vest over a long sleeve white shirt and black pants.

Tom had met Taylors parents, Andrea Swift and Scott Swift, in Nashville Thursday.

He and Swift made their public debut as a couple a week and a half ago, when they were photographed kissing near her Rhode Island home. The two, who met at the 2016 Met Gala in May, have not commented about their relationship.

Swift, who previously dated stars such as Harry Styles and as recently as last month, Calvin Harris, has met her boyfriends family members before but never in such a short period of time from the start of their relationships.

Also on Friday, Tom drove Taylor around Suffolk in a rented Jaguar. The actor is a previous celebrity spokesmodel for the luxury British car brand.

Several models have also been used in five James Bond movies, including the most recent, the 2015 film Spectre. Tom has for months been rumored to be in the running to be the next actor to play the title star in the hit spy movie franchise.
June 26, 2016

"Whether its deliberate or with good intentions, its still your loss and ours. Under this slogan, the Egyptian government has launched an advertising campaign dedicated to combating corruption; commercials began to be broadcast on a number of channels starting with the beginning of Ramadan earlier this month.

One ad, which targets wasta  a term that roughly translates to cronyism, and refers to using one's connections to bypass or speed up procedures  depicts an official exploiting a government position and his ties to the head of an agency where he works in order to appoint the son of a personal friend to a position that he doesnt deserve, without conducting any tests to determine his suitability for the position. Before the ad concludes, an outside voice stresses the gravity of such actions that destroy the possibility of a decent job for everyone.

The ad campaign includes four televised ads whose messages include: raising awareness of the role of cronyism and nepotism in securing positions, raising awareness among the bureaucracy inside government departments, trembling hands (an Egyptian colloquialism that refers to officials being afraid to take decisions for fear of being held accountable for mistakes) and raising awareness about bribes in the customs process. However, it is not explained at the end of any of these ads which government body is funding the ad campaign or which media agency is producing the ads.

Samy Abd al-Aziz, a professor at the College of Media at Cairo University who has developed concepts for anti-corruption ad campaigns, told Al-Monitor, These advertising campaigns are seeking to modify citizens behavior and values, to stress that corruption doesnt just mean financial profit, but also encompasses other areas, such as nepotism, cronyism and the bureaucratic procedures by which the employees of government ministries impinge on citizens interests. He said this sort of advertising is common throughout the world, such as in the United States, where spending on media campaigns designed to raise public awareness reaches into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

As for the size of this anti-corruption ad campaign, Abd al-Aziz said, Its impossible to calculate the size of the expenditure for any ad campaign unless we can estimate the size of the influence of this quality of campaign. This type of campaign wont demonstrate its effectiveness until a substantial period of time has passed. Additionally, the way to calculate the [net] cost will have no relation to material return, but rather to the behavioral return.

He added, In this campaign, the government hasnt paid anything, because the campaigns financing has come from international organizations. Further, all who participated in preparing it forwent their salaries and TV stations broadcast it for free without taking any material compensation from the Egyptian government.

During the era of President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian Finance Ministry launched an ad campaign under the slogan Taxes: In your interest first in order to encourage merchants to file tax returns and pay their taxes. In this regard, Abd al-Aziz, who also participated in launching that ad campaign, said, That campaign was one of the more successful campaigns that I prepared, because it coincided with structural measures in the tax system being taken by the Ministry of Finance. We achieved the main goal of the campaign in a short period of time.

Regarding the divergent objectives of the advertising campaigns in the presidencies of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Mubarak, he said, "Every phase [of history] has its own ideas and its own priorities. In Mubarak's era, the priority was the housing problem and tax collection, while in President Sisi's era the priority is the issue of countering corruption. These advertisements are one way of answering the repeated calls to eliminate corruption in all its forms."

Despite Abd al-Aziz's point of view that these advertising campaigns enjoy long-term success, Asim Abd al-Mu'ti, the former undersecretary of the Accountability State Authority (ASA), the largest regulatory agency in Egypt charged with fighting corruption, said in an interview with Al-Monitor that these ads cost the government vast sums of money  sums that then are not available to pay the wages of government employees. He stressed that during his tenure, instances of corruption pertaining to the production of these TV ads were discovered, and the guilty parties were generally officials close to the ministry, who received large sums of money for their involvement.

"The government does not sincerely believe what it purports to in these ads about fighting corruption. For example, there is no law that protects informers and witnesses in corruption cases. Many informants have been subject to various forms of harassment and intimidation, including deductions from their salaries by their superiors in the absence of any legal framework for their protection," he said. "In most cases these media campaigns are funded by the Ministry of Finance, which dedicates a portion of its budget to these efforts.

He added, The governments practical procedures contradict the advertising campaigns stated goals, which are being financed by [the effort to] combat corruption. They tend to pass laws that work to the advantage of businessmen embroiled in corruption cases, without any procedures that might have a deterrent effect on them. The same goes for officials accused [of complicity] in corruption cases. He stressed that these procedures are ineffective in the absence of any seriousness on the part of the government to embark on institutional reform to prevent corruption.

Abd al-Mu'ti recalls an instance of corruption related to these advertisement campaigns during his tenure at ASA. He said, "In 2005, an ad campaign was launched by the Finance Ministry about the importance of citizens' paying their taxes, and after reviewing all the items in the contract between the ministry and the relevant party, it became clear that said party was owned by one of the minister's family members, who owned an up-and-coming advertising agency. The value of the ad was estimated at 1,850,000 Egyptian pounds [roughly $300,000 at the time].

According to the 2015 annual report issued by Transparency International, Egypt occupied the 88th place out of 168 countries in terms of combating corruption. A report issued by the same institution in May found that Egypt was among eight states where the level of corruption had actually increased since the previous year.

Ahmad Saqr Ashur, an expert with the United Nations on fighting corruption, told Al-Monitor, These ads amount to a kind of squandering of financial resources and lack of appreciation for understanding the phenomenon of corruption, and for confronting it strategically. The type of corruption that is truly present in Egypt fundamentally relates to the loopholes in the laws governing the regulatory agencies responsible for combating it, and the imbalance in authority between the various regulatory bodies. Additionally, theres the lack of evaluation for practices pursued by all government institutions.

Ashur added, The nature of corruption  which is present in all sectors of the state  demands that it be fought with a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy, that the ruling authorities invest serious political will and that institutional reform programs strengthen the role of labor within them. He stressed that corruption has become more entrenched, especially as the current dire economic situation has given citizens incentives to engage in certain behaviors unsanctioned by the law.

Ashur said programs for institutional reform must include legal statutes that obligate all organs of the state to disclose their budgets, and called for launching effective programs for prosecuting corruption cases, especially since most of these agencies confront these cases after they occur and deal with most of them by merely providing media shows. He explained that there are some forms of corruption that have greatly weakened in the current era, particularly what he termed political corruption, while other forms of corruption in the education and health sectors have continued to thrive.
June 25, 2016

Zarif, Soleimani reportedly on same page on Syria

Ali Hashem reported that a recent reshuffle of senior officials at the Iranian Foreign Ministry does not signal a shift in Irans approach to Syria.

The changes, announced June 19, include former ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari being appointed deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, succeeding Hossein Amir-Abdollahian; Amir-Abdollahian being named adviser to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, with perhaps some special envoy responsibilities; and Bahram Ghassemi taking over as head of the Public and Media Diplomacy Center as well as becoming the new ministry spokesman.

The reshuffle follows the designation of Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council, as being responsible for political and military strategy in Syria, including coordination with Syria and Russia.

As Hashem explained, the ongoing war in Syria is no longer a matter of regional security. The conflict now has direct effects and implications for Iran's national security.

Changes matter, but Irans national security decision-making may be more institutionalized than most observers acknowledge. A senior Iranian diplomat told Hashem, Irans foreign policy goes through four levels of decision-making. It starts with the supreme leader, then the Supreme National Security Council, then the government and finally the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Zarif said on June 22, Theres no bigger insult to the Islamic Republic than to claim that the change of an official is because of this or that person.

Hashem explained that alleged differences over Syria between Zarif and Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, as reported here by Laura Rozen, may be more division of labor than struggle for influence.

Zarif and Soleimani are national icons to many in Iran. The former negotiated the landmark nuclear agreement, and the latter has overseen the frontiers of his countrys zones of influence, reaching all the way to the Mediterranean. Now that both men are dealing with the same file, each from his own position of responsibility, the question of whose line of thinking will be adopted has been raised, Hashem wrote.

In direct response to such queries, Zarif said in the Netherlands on June 23, There is consensus over Syria in Iran, adding that he has had discussions with Soleimani about Syria and that they both agree that the crisis needs a political solution. Indeed, Iran has for years expressed consistent support for a political solution while rejecting the immediate departure of [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad. In this vein, one senior Iranian official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, There has been no change in our position [on Syria]. He added, We have been saying the same thing since we presented the four-point plan. We should not focus on individuals, because it prevents a solution, but we need to focus on institutions and constitutional reform and allow the Syrian people to make their own choice, Hashem concluded.

Russia losing patience with US in Syria

Russian officials, frustrated by US accusations of violations of the cessation of hostilities in Syria, may be rethinking Russia's approach to Syria, according to Maxim Suchkov.

Suchkov quoted Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian militarys general staff, on Moscows increasing exasperation with Washington: We are in full compliance with our obligations to maintain the cease-fire and ensure national reconciliation in Syria.  For three months weve been sending positioning data of [the Islamic State (IS)] and [Jabhat al-Nusra] to the Americans, and our US partners are still undecided where there are opposition forces and where there are turncoats from international terrorist organizations.

Suchkov explained that these and other statements reflect a broader disappointment within Moscow. Russian media and mainstream commentators have until now focused primarily on the battle for Raqqa, but more knowledgeable pundits and decision-makers are tacitly concerned that the events in Syria are not running the course Moscow initially charted. No doubt, IS is largely seen by most parties as an enemy that cannot be compromised with under any circumstances. But as far as the US presence in the area is concerned, some Russian reporters compare it to the run for Berlin, meaning Russia and the United States are desperately trying to ensure their own forces seize the city first.

Suchkov continued, Russian military experts were skeptical that Raqqa was ever a real goal for Assad, who devoted more effort toward capturing Tabqa to gain a foothold for further offensives. It is clear that plan hasn't been working well so far: IS recaptured large chunks of the territory from Syrian forces in Raqqa and other areas, while the opposition forces maintained their control as well. All of this makes the future of Assad and his army more uncertain. And Moscow's own uncertainty is growing over what it largely sees as Washington starting to pursue a more delicate policy.

Russia is especially wary of the US-backed offensive in Manbij, which is backed primarily by Syrian Kurdish forces, which allows access to a transit route for opposition groups to receive assistance via Turkey. Suchkov explained that this would allow US-backed opposition fighters to take Azaz and eventually Afrin.

The Russian rethink is concentrated on how to assist Syria to take Aleppo and Idlib, which could turn the tide of battle as well as the political negotiations in favor of the Syrian government. Moscows even greater concern, Suchkov wrote, is whether Washington will support Ankara in transferring additional resources into these areas. If that should happen, Russia fears Syria could lose some territory. So the Kremlin is desperately trying to devise an adequate counterplan. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's visits to Iran and Syria can be viewed as part of this effort. Or Russia might use its more traditional approach of recruiting former US allies from the cohort of rebel opposition groups. Both moves are understandable  Moscow wants to coordinate efforts with its tactical allies to make its policies more effective and, at the same time, secure its influence within opposition groups when and if they become part of the transition process in Syria. Theres a reasonable concern in Moscow that this might not be enough: Assads commanders have been making some grave mistakes on the battlefield while the opposition forces are stretching out government troops and hitting army-free areas.

De Mistura seeks US, Russia critical mass on Syria

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura flew to Washington after meeting with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin last week in advance of a UN Security Council meeting on Syria on June 29, Laura Rozen reported.

De Mistura is seeking to develop a US-Russian consensus on steps to prevent a further erosion of the cessation of hostilities and resume political negotiations.

Rozen quoted the UN Syria envoy as saying, Dont forget that the cessation of hostilities took place when the Russian Federation and the United States agreed on something, and that produced a critical mass. We are looking for the same type of critical mass on the beginning of the political transition, and we can help. We are helping, but we need that one.

De Mistura and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had met with Putin on the sides of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week. Putin told reporters after the meeting, I agree with the proposals of our partners, primarily our American partners that suggest  considering the possibility of bringing representatives of the opposition into existing power structures  for instance, the government.  It is necessary to think about what powers this government will have. Many of our partners are saying that Assad should go. Today they are saying no, lets restructure governing institutions in such and such a way, but in practical terms it will also mean his departure. But this is also unrealistic. Therefore, it is necessary to act carefully, step by step, gradually winning the confidence of all sides to the conflict.
June 22, 2016

Unlike Jacques Chirac of France, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Ehud Olmert of Israel and other presidents, no head of a municipality in Lebanon has moved on to a senior-level national government position, let alone the presidency. Today, more than two years into the Lebanese presidential void, could the recent municipal elections ironically lead to the election of a president of the republic.

Between May 8 and May 29, Lebanon conducted four phase municipal elections that engaged Lebanese voters in some 1,015 municipalities, in cities, towns and villages. This figure alone explains the intense mobilization surrounding the elections, which included more than 30,000 candidates. Further heightening mobilization efforts was that the elections were held almost three years after the cancellation of parliamentary elections and the parliaments extension of its mandate as its term ended in June 2013. Longing to cast their votes amid the mobilization generated by the municipal elections, the Lebanese turned the implications of this milestone into indicators that cannot be overlooked: that it is possible to hold elections in Lebanon today and that the traditional parties and forces face a crisis among their popular bases.

The May balloting dispatched with the political and security pretexts, mainly spillover from the Syrian war, that some members of parliament  including those affiliated with the Future Movement, Amal and Hezbollah  had invoked in seeking to cancel two consecutive, mandated parliamentary elections. None of the pretexts were convincing or accurate. Whats more, some legal experts argue that merely holding municipal elections has effectively in a legal, constitutional sense made the case behind the extension of the current parliament invalid.

Ziad Baroud, the former interior minister and a lawyer competent in electoral and constitutional law, told Al-Monitor, When the parliament extended its own term a second time [on Nov. 5, 2014], the members of parliament who were against the extension  mainly parliamentarians from the Change and Reform Bloc  challenged the decision before the Constitutional Council of Lebanon, which is the highest judicial authority authorized to decide on the constitutionality of laws. On Nov. 28 of that same year, the Constitutional Council issued a decision whereby the extension of the parliaments term could occur as government authorities thought that holding elections would not be possible in Lebanon amid the security situation prevailing at the time [mainly because of the Syrian war].

The council accepted the parliaments extension based on the exceptional circumstances theory used by the government to justify its desire not to hold elections. However, the same Constitutional Council decision said that the extraordinary measures should be limited to the exceptional circumstances period only. [The Lebanese government] should hold parliamentary elections as soon as the exceptional circumstances cease to prevail, without waiting for the expanded mandate to end.

According to Baroud, the mere holding of municipal elections in May means the extension of the parliament has now become null and void, so the government should hold parliamentary elections without delay. The current parliamentary term, based on the second extension, ends on June 20, 2017.

Some municipal election results caught the major parties and movements by surprise, indicating that they all have fallen somewhat from favor with the public. The Future Movement, which represents the Sunni majority and is led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, was shocked by the low turnout in its strongholds, namely, Beirut, Sidon and the western Bekaa Valley. The movement suffered a resounding defeat in Tripoli and some other northern municipalities.

The allied Hezbollah and Amal, which represent the Shiite majority, were surprised by the opposition they ran into in their traditional strongholds. Some 35% of voters in the south and some 45% of voters in Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, did not vote for them. A similar fate fell on the Druze camp led by Walid Jumblatt as well as Christian forces.

In the wake of successfully held municipal elections showing that parliamentary elections are possible and the unexpected results pointing to the major parties being in crisis, the issue now becomes whether politicians will try to overcome the current impasse by electing a new president, a move that would reshuffle the political cards and give the partisan forces a chance to catch their breath and regain some of their lost popularity.

Michel Aoun, the leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement, told Al-Monitor that this is likely to happen. A lot of indicators infer such a trend, he said, without providing details. Aoun is the most popular Christian leader and the most prominent candidate for the presidency. His parliamentary bloc is the largest Christian bloc. The other Christian bloc, the Lebanese Forces, also recently supported his candidacy.

Is a date for a presidential election in sight? It is Ramadan, and Muslims in Beirut are fasting. Everyone will have to wait until the second half of July to find out whether the end of the Muslim fast will be accompanied by an end to the Lebanese presidential void. The election of a president requires a two-thirds majority of parliament, that is, 86 members of parliament out of the 128 total. Since the seats are divided equally between Muslims and Christians  each having 64  the Muslim parliamentarians' presence and participation in the parliamentary session for the election of a Christian president is necessary to achieve a quorum and proceed with a vote.
One year ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in a 5-4 ruling.

The LGBT community gathered at the Jefferson County courthouse on this day one year ago to celebrate the decision. Many married that day.

"The country is moving in the right direction," state representative Patricia Todd said, while sitting outside the courthouse.

"We have to embrace it and move forward."

"It is clear that in the United States from this day forward that marriage is marriage," said Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King.

Since that day, there have been 1,622 same-sex marriages in the state, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

In the past decade, there have been about 40,000 marriages a year in the state- meaning gay marriages accounted for about 4 percent in the past year.

Last month, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was suspended for trying to block gay marriage. On January 6, Moore put out an administrative order telling probate judges that they could block the marriages.

His wife, Kayla Moore, said at a rally on May 21 that her husband was being persecuted for his traditional values.

"It's about freedom... It's about religious freedom and our constitution."

"He's done nothing wrong," she said. "He's done nothing illegal. He's done nothing unethical."

The first gay couple to be married in Jefferson County was Hunter Murphy and Danny Maharrey.

The men had been together for 16 years.

While the Hueytown pair could have traveled out of state to get married before the ruling, they wanted to wait until they could legally get married in Alabama.

"We wanted protection of the law more than the piece of paper," Murphy said.

"When I heard (about the ruling), I just couldn't wait."

The two were married at 12:50 p.m. on the historic day.

"We're having a shotgun wedding!" Murphy yelled before he and his husband returned to the courthouse to hand in their official license.

See more Alabamians celebrating the same-sex marriage ruling here.
Huntsville city officials tried to stop it, but they lost. So now an accountant and two dentists will build offices later this summer on the site of a nearly 70-year-old former church.

The brick building at 314 Bob Wallace Ave was constructed for Mayfair Church of Christ, which held the first services there in 1949. In 1960, the church sold the property on Bob Wallace Avenue to the Scottish Rite Free Mason group and moved to a larger home on Whitesburg Drive.

The property sits on the southern edge of a residential neighborhood that dates back to World War II. The neighborhood has no historic district protection. The property is zoned residential, but the 1963 zoning ordinance didn't exist when the church was built or when the property was sold to the Scottish Rite.

The area south of Huntsville Hospital is rapidly changing with new families renovating the remaining bungalows or tearing them down and building larger new homes. City officials are trying to protect the neighborhood.

The Scottish Rite needed to sell, a member explained this week. The membership was aging, the building has tricky stairs, and the upkeep was becoming a burden. The sale will mean a new building on the edge of Huntsville where the group can continue its work with dyslexic youth.

Enter Huntsville accountant Stephen Cutter, who wanted a new office and bought the property. Cutter asked the city to allow him to build offices on what was now residential property. "I was denied a variance," he said this week.

Cutter said he spent his early youth on nearby Brandon Street and respects the neighborhood. He plans to build "aesthetically pleasing buildings" and spend his professional career on Bob Wallace Avenue. He's not about to harm the neighborhood, Cutter said.

But the city was trying to hold a line here, according to city planner Jim McGuffey. Nearby Pansy Street north of Bob Wallace Avenue had already become a hodge-podge of offices and homes as previous property owners sought - and got - individual variances. The City Council wanted to stop the commercial advance, McGuffey said.

The property "is zoned residential," McGuffey said, and the zoning board said no variance. People spoke both for and against Cutter's plans.

Cutter appealed, and he won his variance in a jury trial in Circuit Judge Alison Austin's court earlier this year. The winning argument was that this really didn't amount to a variance. The land hasn't been used for homes in memory. It's held a church and a Scottish Rite hall for almost 70 years.

The Scottish Rite will be out in late July. The old building will come down and Cutter will begin building what's next. The offices will resemble homes and will occupy both the corner holding the Scottish Rite building and the opposite corner now used as a nearly 40-space parking lot for Huntsville High School.

The high school will need some new parking next year.

(Updated on June 28, 2016, to show that the seller of the building is the Scottish Rite Free Masons, not the Shriners as originally reported.)
Tommy Battle

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle told a federal judge this month that the U.S Department of Justice is going too far by trying to limit arrests within city schools.

Battle wrote a letter this month to U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala, who is overseeing the ongoing desegregation negotiations between the Justice Department and Huntsville City Schools. The letter, dated June 1, was published in the court file this week.

The mayor asks that police officers -- known as school resource officers or SROS -- continue to have the discretion to arrest children who possess illegal drugs or get in fights, contrary to the hands-off recommendations of the U.S. Department of Justice.

"From what I understand of the negotiations, the Justice Department appears to want to remove all disciplinary discretion from the SROs," writes Battle, "which is contrary to our agreement, which recognizes their competence to exercise proper discretion and judgment in determining whether a situation properly involves injury or actions constituting a criminal offense versus one necessitating only a 'incident' or 'miscellaneous report.'"

School board president Laurie McCaulley said the new agreement with Huntsville police has not reached the board for a vote yet, but that one point of contention is marijuana. She said some believe "any quantity is arrestable," while some are opposed to arresting children for small amounts.

Battle argues two different points in his letter, and one involves possession of contraband.

[Mayor Battle's Letter]

The draft of a new Huntsville school policy includes a page marked "Surrender for Safety," a policy which would allow children to turn in drugs or alcohol or weapons to avoid punishment.

The draft reads: "This policy recognizes that students make mistakes and may unintentionally bring inappropriate items to school, but also that students can learn from these mistakes."

The policy would require a student to surrender the item before being asked about it and before using it. "Using an item includes, but is not limited to, threatening any other student and/or actually harming another student with a weapon or drinking, ingesting or taking alcohol or drugs."

Battle argues that the policy, located in the draft of the system's new Behavioral Learning Guide, shifts authority from police to educators. "This places the administrator in jeopardy, and, potentially, the safety of other students as well," reads the mayor's letter.

His second argument deals with fights. Battle asserts that "the Justice Department is pushing for officers not to be involved except in case of serious injury." He argues that what constitutes serious injury in an assault should be determined by police, not by educators.

Battle writes that making a decision on what is a serious injury, and therefore what warrants police involvement, could leave administrators open to lawsuits.

"Judge, the school resource officers are among our most veteran and recognized officers," writes Battle. "They are the best we have, and they know the schools, the students and the administrators."

During a public hearing before Judge Haikala in May of 2014, Battle told the judge that Huntsville City Schools deserved to be free of the 53-year-old desegregation case. Everyone who spoke in favor of ending the order was white. All but one who spoke in favor of continuing federal oversight was black.

Madison County Commissioner Bob Harrison, among those most outspoken in arguing Huntsville does not deserve to be free of the desegregation oversight, agreed with the Justice Department position on police.

"Fighting does not, in my opinion, warrant arrest," said Harrison. He added that a case of serious injury should lead to arrest. But he said the system needed to improve its alternative schooling and do more to help children who are acting out.

"It's much more complicated than just the judge letting officers arrest kids," said Harrison.

Huntsville now operates under a federal consent decree, basically a court-approved to-do list between Huntsville and the Justice Department that updates and replaces the 46-year-old order to desegregate the schools.

Judge Haikala in 2014 found that Huntsville had not met all of the terms of that original 1970 order and that some racial disparities still might be traced back to the unconstitutional wrong of dual schooling.

Both sides agree the consent decree provides a plan to end any vestiges of the old dual system. Only then, when there is no longer any evidence of lingering effects of segregation, could the judge declare the system unitary, meaning two systems have become one, and end a case that first started in 1963.

Superintendent Casey Wardynski could not be reached for comment. Keith Ward, spokesman for the school system, referred to the consent decree, one section of which mentions that educators should not involve police when they aren't needed.

The consent decree reads: "The District will ensure that SROs and school security are focused on maintaining the safety of the District's students and personnel and that SRO involvement is not requested in response to any situation that can be safely and appropriately handled by the District through its internal disciplinary procedures."

Kelly Schrimsher, spokesperson for the city, said that Battle and Huntsville police have been in talks for some time with the school system about discipline policies. She said Battle wanted to make the judge aware of his concerns.

"The behavioral guide is a negotiated agreement between the Justice Department and the Huntsville City School Board, and as we understand it, the Judge will have the final say and determine the role and authority of SROs," said Schrimsher. "We are awaiting a final plan."
California firefighters are still looking for bodies in a wildfire that has already killed two, USA Today reported.

The Erskine Fire has covered 35,000 acres so far, and authorities believe some people may have died in the flames and have not been found.

Two people confirmed dead became trapped in their home, and died of smoke inhalation.

USA Today said that firefighters found one set of human remains near a home on Friday, but the remains were so badly burned that it couldn't be immediately determined if they belonged to a person or an animal.

Forensic investigators will review those remains in the coming days.

Hundreds of residents have been evacuated, and cannot return home until the fire is under control.

"The problem is this fire keeps shifting," Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said to the newspaper.

"We are throwing all the resources we have at this."

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency on Friday for Kern County.

Officials said that the heat predicted for the coming week will only fuel the wildfire.
A Texas mother, who shot and killed her two daughters on Friday evening, and was fatally shot by police had links to Alabama.

Christy Sheats, 42, shot her daughters, Taylor Sheats, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17, during their father's birthday party at their residence in a Houston suburb, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told ABC 13.

According to her Facebook page and public records, Christy Sheats is a native of Decatur, Ala. She frequently posted about Decatur and Alabama on her social media account.

Her husband, Jason, who wasn't injured in the shooting, is originally from Caddo, Ala., according to his Facebook page.

A Fulshear police officer fatally shot Christy Sheats when she refused to put down her gun, according to reports.

Authorities said the shooting occurred during a dispute but haven't released a motive.

"It would be too premature to give you a motive as to why something like this took place," Nehls said. "The best we can do is pray for the father and husband so he can work through this."

According to the report, both daughters were found lying in the street suffering from gunshot wounds. One of the girls died at the scene. The second died later at a hospital.

A neighbor told ABC 13 that Taylor collapsed on the street after being shot. He then saw Christy come outside with a gun and then go back inside presumably to reload her weapon.

The mother then came back outside and shot Madison in the back, the neighbor said.

KHOU reported that investigators recovered a handgun from the scene. They are trying to determine if the mother fired on police officers.

Another neighbor told ABC 13 that Jason and Christy recently got back together after being separated.
Guntersville Drops out of Listing of America's Top Bass Lakes

By Frank Sargeant

While giant bass like this one are still caught in good numbers at Lake Guntersville, many anglers say there seems to be several missing year classes of smaller fish, particularly those from 15 to 18 inches long.

After once sitting atop the heap, this year Lake Guntersville did not make the top 10 in the annual listing compiled by Bassmaster Magazine of the nation's top bass fishing spots. Toledo Bend Lake in Texas topped the charts this year, for the second year in a row.

In fact, Guntersville did not even top the southeast division, where it came in 5th. Santee Cooper in South Carolina was listed as the tops in the southeast.

And G'ville was only the third best lake in the TVA chain. Both Chickamauga, upriver, and Kentucky Lake, downriver, were placed above the 70,000 acre North Alabama lake.

What's happened to the big lake--the economic driver of much of the economy in Jackson and Marshall counties?

Nothing unusual, according to biologists with Auburn University and with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR).

"We're seeing a natural downturn at Guntersville, the result of what we call recruitment, or the success of spawning, in past years," says Matt Catalano, assistant professor of Fishery Science at Auburn.

"The lake had an outstanding year class in 2008 when a huge number of the fish that were hatched survived to eventually become adults, and by 2011, anglers were seeing the results of this year class in their catches--there were more 15 to 18 inch fish than ADCNR had ever recorded in a continuing study of over 20 years at the lake," said Catalano.

"But as fish get older, there's a natural mortality as well as some fishing mortality, and not only that the larger fish are harder to catch--they're more wary because they've been caught and released, and they're not in the same places that the smaller fish are most of the time."

Catalano said that continuing studies indicate that there are now more fish over 20 inches than there have been at any time during the study years, but that the more numerous 15 to 18 inch fish have fallen off to an average figure that's 30 to 40 percent below the numbers in the 2011 peak.

"We don't measure angler success, but with that many fewer fish in the mid-ranges, it's sure to have an impact on the fisherman's success," said Catalano.

What brought on the big year class in 2008--and can the lake be manipulated to make it happen again?

"There seems to be correlation between years with low water flow from the spawn on into June and having a high survival rate of the fry," says Catalano. Low flow typically results in clearer and shallower water, which results in more aquatic weed growth, and in return this builds a strong food chain as well as providing lots of cover where young fish can hide from predators.

Since Guntersville is part of the TVA chain, controlling the water levels to benefit the fish is probably not an option. The lake levels are manipulated to maintain navigation for commercial traffic, and for flood control; fish and fishermen have to deal with what Mother Nature give us.

However, Catalano said there's some evidence that past stocking of Florida strain bass has helped improve the overall genetics in some areas of Guntersville, and heavy stocking could have a good result in a year when the natural spawn is down.

"Stocking a lot of young fish on top of a healthy native population usually doesn't have much of an impact because the habitat is already full," says Catalano. "But we know that stocking Florida bass has had very good results in other lakes around the country--in the right place at the right time, and with the right volume, it could improve the fishing."

Changing the rules for anglers to reduce bass harvest, on the other hand, does not seem likely to produce much result.

"We tag a lot of bass on this lake and the number of returns we get give us some idea of what the harvest is relative to the number of fish. It's pretty minimal--we think natural mortality is a far larger factor here," he said. "That means tighter harvest rules probably would not have a measurable impact."

The Lake Guntersville Conservation Group, formed to try bringing the fishery back through stocking and other efforts, has slated its next meeting for July 31 at Goose Pond Bait & Tackle, on the water just south of Scottsboro, at 3 p.m. Those who would like to join the group can contact Sharon Carter at 256 218 0613.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
The recent legislation is a form of collective punishment towards Jerusalem and its youth, rights groups say.

Jerusalem  Walking towards Jerusalems Old City, it has become an ordinary sight to witness Israeli soldiers patting down several Palestinian teenagers simultaneously; hands pressed up against the wall, heads facing forward, and legs spread.

Thanks to a recent legislation, passed by the Israeli government in February, the  stop-and-frisk law  allows Israeli soldiers to body search any passer-by regardless of behaviour, in a location that is thought to be a target for hostile destructive actions.

It is blatant racism. Anyone that merely looks Arab  and apparently Israelis know what Arabs look like  is taken to the side, Jamil Freij, Palestinian resident of Jerusalem told Al Jazeera. Freij, 26, who works in the Old City, says the unbelievable number of Israeli forces deployed has made him extremely unsettled.

Theyre crazy. They would shoot me  just like that. All they need is a glimpse of doubt.

Since the start of the uprising in October, fear and paranoia have come to characterise the citys atmosphere, particularly at Damascus Gate, a vulnerable scene in the conflict.

Tens of heavily armed Israeli soldiers, with their fingers on the trigger in a show of force and power, are concentrated at strategic points at the entrance of the gate, a regular hangout spot for young Palestinian men. We have a problem now; young men who have no intention to fight in that manner start to become conscious in front of the army. When Im walking, I start thinking about not making any sudden movements in front of the soldiers  for example, if I shriek about forgetting something at home, said Freij.

The police see Palestinians as a threat. The way they treat them is not to safeguard the security of the Palestinians. It is a treatment between the occupation forces and a people under occupation. by Nisreen Allayan, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel

The past eight months of sporadic alleged attacks by Palestinians against Israeli soldiers and settlers have been met with a forceful crackdown in the form of point-blank shootings at alleged attackers and unarmed protesters, military checkpoints, body searching and a heavy deployment of troops throughout the city.

According to the law, soldiers can inspect any individual, in specific locations, without having to answer for their actions. This has resulted in what rights groups describe as openly racist treatment towards Palestinians who are being body searched, sometimes aggressively, based solely on their appearance.

Any Palestinian who is passing by is subject to being searched. Israeli soldiers would make them stand from between 15 minutes to an hour. It is not just that they search them  but the way they are being searched is humiliating, said Nisreen Allayan, the lawyer for the East Jerusalem project at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

They always make them lift their arms and open their legs. Sometimes they make them unbutton their pants and lift up their shirts in the middle of the street. They also make them stand on the side for a while even after theyre done searching them, said Allayan, describing the way young Palestinian men are being inspected.

A previous version of the bill allowed soldiers to inspect individuals only if they had enough reason based on behaviour and actions, to suspect them of potentially carrying out an attack. Accordingly, they would be taken to a police station for inspection rather than be humiliated on the street. Allayan believes the new legislation is a form of collective punishment towards Jerusalem and its youth.

Although the government has not disclosed the areas in which the law is being applied, Allayan says it clearly targets Damascus Gate, particularly due to the several attacks carried out against Israeli soldiers there.

Despite being heavily armed, Israeli soldiers have been seen responding to threats of alleged attacks with excessive force, as the United Nations pointed out in a recent report.

A horrific video filmed by Al Jazeera at Damascus Gate in February showed Israeli forces firing a hail of bullets into a 20-year-old Palestinian that allegedly attacked two Israeli border police with a knife, even after he was clearly dead and posed no threat.

Any movement that occurs in the wrong place at the wrong time  on impulse  can be interpreted wrongly and can be lead to the trigger being pulled, especially as there is encouragement from a national aspect, said Issam Jweihan, director of the Awareness Center at the al-Maqdese for Society Development NGO, an organisation that works to protect and defend Palestinian rights particularly in Jerusalem.

In March, another incident of disproportionate force was caught on camera when 19-year-old Israeli soldier Elor Azaria was filmed executing a disarmed Palestinian man who was lying wounded on the ground, although he appeared to pose no threat after allegedly conducting a stabbing attack.

Azaria was charged with manslaughter after the episode, which took place in Hebron. Consequently, thousands of Israelis took to Tel Avivs Rabin Square on April 19 to rally in support of Azaria shouting, Hes a hero.

According to Jweihan, the show of force is used to send a message to Palestinians: You are Arabs and you are all suspects.

Majd Zughayar, another young Palestinian man residing in Jerusalem, says he stopped going to the Old City as much due to the militarisation of the space.  Whenever I walk past the soldiers, I subconsciously start to expose my hands more to show that theres nothing in them, said Zughayar.

Before the legislation was passed, several opposition members in the Israeli Knesset expressed their reservations about the racism the law would arouse against weakened groups, and the free reign it would give the police.

Today, they hear a person speaking Arabic on the phone, they swarm around him or her in seconds and that person has reason to fear for their life, said Allayan.





Over time, Jweihan, who works with many Palestinian youths, believes the constant body searches, which are often violent and degrading, can lead to psychological problems for Palestinian youth  especially young men  as it strips away from their masculinity.

A young mans behaviour may become violent towards those that are weaker than him, for example, his wife or kids. It can also lead them to take drugs.

Those who do try to resist inspection can be arrested on the basis of trying to stop a soldier from carrying out their duty, or on accusations of trying to assault a soldier, despite not carrying any weapons. Jweihan says they have come across tens of cases in which unarmed men who tried to resist ended up being arrested.

He has two choices. Either he remains silent and surrenders to all the provocation, or he could get arrested if he tried to fight back, said Jweihan.

Despite the veneer of control, the fact that Israel is left unquestioned about its constant surveillance and dehumanisation of Palestinians under the pretext of security is a serious issue, according to rights groups.

The police see Palestinians as a threat, said Allayan. The way they treat them is not to safeguard the security of the Palestinians. It is a treatment between the occupation forces and a people under occupation.
On a cold winters day before Christmas, on December 2, 1984, Sokhoeurn and her two sons set foot in the United States for the first time, after fleeing their birthplace of Cambodia from civil war and genocide  arriving as refugees in a foreign land they would come to know as home.

Cambodia was ravished by the war and the Communist Khmer Rouge regime, which tortured, starved and worked to death 1.7 million people  one-quarter of Cambodias population. Over 100,000 Cambodian refugees were resettled in the United States after the war.

But, according to the Returnee Integration Support Center (RISC), a non-governmental organisation working with Cambodian deportees, on average, eight Cambodian Americans are now deported back to Cambodia every month. Since the US Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, RISC says that over 500 Cambodians have been deported back to a land of which they have little to no memory.

The retroactive laws, allowed noncitizens to be deported for committing certain crimes even if they were committed before the passage of the law.

With the authority of these laws, Sokhoeurns eldest son, Hov Ly Kol was deported to Cambodia in 2010, at the age of 36, for gang-related crimes he had committed as a teenager in 1996, and for which he had paid his dues to society in a 12-year jail sentence.

When Kol left jail, he became a prominent community member, but he was torn from this community and his family when the authorities carried out his deportation order.

In Cambodia, Kol met Elizabeth Beach, originally from Texas, and they fell in love. The two married and had a child, Kathleen, but as Kol can never return to live in the US, the country where both he and Beach grew up, this new family unit is torn as well.

Kathleen is now three years old, and together with Elizabeth, they travel between the US, South Korea, and Cambodia, in order to be together with her dad.

Kols mother, 60-year-old Sokhoeurn, lives in southern Philadelphia and is left without her sons, as even her youngest son is serving a prison sentence. Sokhoeurn goes about her daily life, looking after her grandchildren, cooking traditional khmer food, and watching old DVDs of outdated Cambodian soap operas.

RELATED: Cambodian refugees deported after decades in US
What will remain of the very idea of Europe now that the UK opted to bid it farewell?

In a famous passage in his now classic book, Wretched of the Earth (1961) Frantz Fanon wrote one of his most iconic phrases: Europe is literally the creation of the Third World.

Why would he say that and what could that phrase actually mean? What will have remained of the very idea of Europe that now even the UK has opted to bid it farewell?

Let us answer these related questions with another more recent  more urgent, perhaps  question.





Why would Dalai Lama, evidently a kind, gentle, caring man, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, for millions around the world, Buddhist or otherwise, the very definition of tolerance and gentility say: Europe, for example, Germany, cannot become an Arab country. Germany is Germany.

While finding his own remark entertaining, the Dalai Lama laughingly adds during his conversation with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: There are so many.

Germany cannot become an Arab country

That is right: Deutschland, he is reported to have said, konne kein arabisches Land werden. This is not a neo-Nazi skinhead sharing these sentiments with a leading German newspaper. This is His Holiness, the Dalai Lama: Germany cannot become an Arab country.

ALSO READ: Brexit: The night the UK became a little island

Germany is not an Arab country, nor is it even in danger of becoming an Arab country. But why would the Dalai Lama say such a thing  be so dismissive, derisive even, nervously sardonic of even the idea? What is it to him? He is neither a European nor an Arab.

Dalai Lama and the rest of Eurocentric universe around the world need this idea of 'Europe' as the figment of their own captured imagination ... by

The answer to this question rests on Fanons insight: Europe is literally the creation of the Third World.

To be sure, Fanon meant it literally, as he puts it bluntly: Latin America, China, and Africa. From all these continents, under whose eyes Europe today raises up her tower of opulence, there has flowed out for centuries towards that same Europe diamonds and oil, silk and cotton, wood and exotic products. Europe is literally the creation of the Third World.

But there is also an even more potent, metaphoric, aspect to his iconic phrase, that the Third World has been definitive and instrumental in manufacturing the very idea, the metaphoric normativity, of Europe, and with it the myth of the West.

Partaking in the Eurocentric universe

The Dalai Lama and the rest of Eurocentric universe around the world need this idea of Europe as the figment of their own captured imagination, the whitewashed epicentre of their own metaphoric cosmos.

He cannot imagine this metaphor of Europe, which in his mind is all white, all Christian, all the civilised measure of our humanity, tinted with the presence of non-Europeans, Arab or otherwise.

He, in effect, partakes freely and is categorically invested in the unexamined metaphor of Europe beyond all reality and geography. In that assumption, he is not a racist at all, for his mental makeup is already racialised, a normative entrapment he can never decode.

This figment of imagination has nothing to do with the reality of Europe: fragmented along race, gender, and class; some welcoming, many resentful of the new immigrants and refugees.

ALSO READ  Brexit: A wake-up call for the EU, but will it listen?

Not just the reality of this wave of migration, or even the reality of European Muslims long before this wave, but the reality of Europe as fractured in its layered composition opens to much different horizons. Put them together, these varied realities map out a vastly different Europe than the one the Dalai Lama imagines.

Europe is changing for good

The city of London has just elected its first Muslim mayor, just before the UK opted to exit the EU.

Yes, there was UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who, in order to prevent this from happening, tried to recreate sectarian hostility in London on the model of British colonial practices in India.

Yes, the new mayor had to shift to the right and denounce BDS before he could get elected. But elected he was: and on a merely symbolic and demographic register, this was an indication of what is dawning on the opening horizons.

The UK has now opted for nativism. Cameron has just announced his resignation.

Yes, there are nervous European philosophers (as they continue to insist in designating themselves) like Slavoj Zizek, or even more zealous Zionists like Bernard-Henri Levy and Alain Finkielkraut, or mass murderers like Anders Breivik, or politicians like Marine Le Pen, or Islamophobe atheists like Richard Dawkins, who fume and fumble at the sight of new Muslim immigrants.

But there are also other defiant voices like Alain Badious, who catch these retrogrades red-handed and whose visions are far more embracing of the newcomers.

Europe is changing, slowly but surely, self-imploding much quicker than the new immigrants and refuges would warrant it.

Muslim refugees are awakening Europe to its central paradox: both its racist foregrounding and its liberal illusions, and the force of this dialectic will forever alter the repressed memories of the thing that has called itself Europe, and even more so the West.

Refugees are liberators

Look at them closely: These refugees are liberators. They are liberating Europe from the deadpan myth of the West. The reaction of nervous philosophers like Zizek, Levy, and Finkielkraut, as indeed the rise of nativism in UK, are symptomatic of a futile resistance to the full dimensions of a seismic change they are unable to see yet.

But change is inevitable, not so much under the pressure of refugees, but because of the bursting bubble of the myth of Europe itself that has long since exhausted its enabling emotive universe.

Today, the Dalai Lama and millions of other retrograde cartographers of our changing world will be disoriented and dizzy if they were to be denied the European figment of their own captured imagination. But tomorrow the creative consciousness of a radically different geography will inform and people our fragile earth.

The bursting of the myth of Europe and its contingent metaphor of the West does not bode well for the Rest either, for it spells out the end of all the binary illusions it has manufactured to believe itself more ardently, chief among them the Islam it has colonially manufactured to rule it better, aided and abetted, to be sure, by Muslims themselves.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Israel has evolved a respect for Hamas forces and a practical preference for Hamas continued rule in Gaza.

Nine years ago this month, the security forces of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Gaza Strip suffered an embarrassing, debilitating defeat. In a matter of days, combined Hamas forces, including the military arm, the Qassam Brigades, and the more numerous Carabinieri forces of the Tanfizzia routed the alphabet soup of Palestinian security and intelligence forces led by Mohammad Dahlan.

No one was more surprised than Hamas officials at the complete dissolution of the Fatah-led military command in Gaza after months of escalating skirmishes. During the June 2007 battles, the surprising collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces encouraged local Hamas commanders to shut off their mobile phones, cutting communication with Hamas less aggressive political leadership.





Freed from the cautionary counsel of the exiled politburo led by Khaled Meshal, Hamas commanders rolled all over Gaza, achieving a complete military victory, the consequences of which are still being felt by Gazas long-suffering population of 1.8 million.

A new chapter

Hamas assumption of power in Gaza opened a new chapter in the political history of the modern Middle East.

Years before the Arab Spring exploded throughout the region, an avowedly Islamic party joined to the Muslim Brotherhood now ruled in Gaza.

ALSO READ: The mistakes of Hamas and the need for recalibration

Since then, and notwithstanding serial conflicts with Israel, Hamas hold on Gaza has been consolidated. Fatah and its cadre have removed Gazas administration. Abbas, who rarely travels anywhere in Palestine outside Ramallah, refuses to visit.

Despite the obstacles placed in its path, Hamas has achieved an historic victory. by

No one questions that the Israeli army could occupy Gaza. The key point, however, is that Israel, after weighing the pros and cons of such a move, has chosen to leave Gaza to Hamas. Almost a decade after it came to power, Hamas rules all but unchallenged.

Despite the obstacles placed in its path, Hamas has achieved an historic victory. But in a hundred years, no one will remember either Hamas nor Fatah.

Historians will instead record that, for the first time in modern Palestine, a real Palestinian army was created in Gaza that fights Israel, controls territory, and, at a great and continuing cost, deters its enemies.

Respect for Hamas

Israel vows that the next war will be Hamas last, but in the meantime, it has evolved a respect for Hamas forces and a practical preference for Hamas continued rule in Gaza over the claims of all others, including its nominal peace partners in the PLO and Fatah.

Israel has left Gaza, but it has not left Gaza alone. Hamas rules with Israels forbearance, but Israel has no interest in enabling Hamas or Gaza to enjoy the fruits of its victory.

Determined to assure that Gazans be permanently kept on the cusp of economic and environmental implosion, Israel, with the pained acquiescence of much of the international community, has confronted Hamas with an unending series of economic and humanitarian crises that constantly test the movements political staying power and popularity.

Such difficulties  from the draconian siege that has engineered the destruction of Gazas productive economy and made 70 percent of the population dependent upon international assistance, to a border regime maintained by Israel and Egypt that has transformed Gaza into an open air prison  aim at destroying Hamas popular support, an objective that incredibly has yet to be achieved.

ALSO READ: Netanyahu, Sisi and zero problems diplomacy

Hamas staying power speaks not only to Hamas continuing ability, however compromised, to present itself as the standard-bearer of Palestinian national dignity but also to the endemic shortcomings of its Palestinian opponents.

Yet, nine years after its surprise victory, Hamas too is suffering the ill effects of its continuing failure to do more than survive efforts of its antagonists to constrain its power.

Presiding over the slow motion destruction of Gazas social and economic foundations is not a legacy to which Hamas can point with any pride.

Gazas continued suffering

Simply surviving the efforts of enemies to weaken you may be an achievement, but it only thinly masks what has become in practice a race to the bottom  for Gazans, who are stuck in the stifling confines of a besieged and intolerant Alcatraz and for Palestinians as a whole who will next year celebrate half a century of occupation.

Whatever Hamas' achievements, Gaza's continued suffering is the most enduring testament to the continuing inability of Palestine's political class ... by

Whatever Hamas achievements, Gazas continued suffering is the most enduring testament to the continuing inability of Palestines political class, led by Fatah and Hamas  to chart a path to sovereignty, independence and an end to the occupation.

This is the only standard that matters for Palestinian parties like Hamas and Fatah that were born in order to gain independence. The failure to achieve this goal dwarfs whatever achievements they can claim, in Gaza or elsewhere.

Reconciliation and unity in the wake of the collapse of the PA in Gaza remain the basis for a vital but ever-elusive common Palestinian political programme.

But interminable efforts to achieve a reconciliation among Palestinian political forces have only recently recorded yet another failure.

Meetings in Doha earlier this month meant to patch things up instead broke up precipitously, accompanied by the usual recriminations.

A rapprochement between Cairo and Gaza, no less than reconciliation, and an Israeli decision to loosen its iron grip on Gaza trade, a potential result of an imminent Israeli-Turkey settlement, is at the top of Hamas to-do list.

But yet another meeting earlier this month in Cairo under the auspices of the Egyptian security services, who closely hold the Gaza and Palestine files, was postponed at the last minute.

Relations between the Sisi government and Hamas military and political leadership in Gaza are in the deep freezer, with no warming in sight.

After running Gaza for almost a decade, Hamas remains a pretender to power. It is firmly in the chair, but it has yet to meet the challenge of charting a path that will free Gaza, and Palestine, from a debilitating status quo, one that promises a new generation of Palestinians only misery and discontent.

Geoffrey Aronson writes about Middle Eastern affairs. He consults with a variety of public and private institutions dealing with regional political, security, and development issues.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
More than 50,000 Indian Muslim women and men have signed a petition demanding a total ban on the Muslim divorce.

Mariya Salim is a Kolkata born Indian with a degree in human rights law from the School of Oriental and African Studies.

I do not know when and where he gave me a divorce, reads an account of Rojakammal from Tamil Nadu, one of the cases brought forth by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.

The BMMA is an Indian Islamic feminist organisation which brings forth the plight of the ordinary Muslim women in India who constantly live under the fear of being unilaterally divorced by their husbands.

More than 50,000 Indian Muslim women and men have signed a petition demanding a total ban on the un-Quranic practice of the unilateral triple talaq or divorce and nikah-halala under the mantle of the BMMA.

In 2016, Shayara Bano and Afreen Rahman, unilaterally divorced by their husbands, approached the Supreme Court of India, demanding an end to triple talaq, seeking justice from the courts to nullify a practice which is not only unconstitutional but, according to the BMMA and a number of scholars, also un-Quranic.

Both cases have opened a Pandoras box, and now the question of whether it is the right time to abolish the practice in India is being debated by all quarters of the media and civil society.

Why ban it?

Over the past six years, the BMMA has been working with hundreds of women who have been suffering as a result of a unilateral divorce.

What makes the conditions of these women worse are sanctions from religious seminaries.

Darul Uloom Deoband, one such revered seminary, has often validated divorce given by a husband on the phone, by written communication, and also where a husband repeats the word

talaq thrice, even in the absence of his wife.

According to the findings of a BMMA study, more than 90 percent of the 4,710 women interviewed wanted a ban on unilateral divorce.

Triple talaq creates a power dynamic in a marriage which is greatly in favour of the man and oppressive to the woman, says filmmaker Shazia Javed, who is currently working on a documentary project on the issue, called 3 Seconds Divorce.

Litigation or reform?

After the Shah Bano verdict of 1985, when a court granted a 70-year-old divorcee maintenance for life, and the controversial Muslim Women Act  which was passed to overturn it when that judgement created uproar as being intrusive and against Muslim laws by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and others  there has hardly been any evident effort by the state or the judiciary towards reviving the process of reform towards gender-just laws.

With the Muslim community entangled with issues concerning its identity and socioeconomic security, working towards securing the basic human rights of Muslim women seems to have been relegated to the background.

With a legal system that is not conducive for the poor to reap benefits from or even access it, individual efforts by women are difficult to sustain. by

It is important to note, however, that there are a number of personal law cases where the courts have made very progressive judgements, such as those in the Shamim Ara vs State of UP. Supreme Court nullified arbitrary triple talaq, and opined that talaq has to be pronounced as per Quranic injunctions in order to be valid.

Although a good precedent, in the absence of any codified Muslim personal law (MPL) there can be no guarantee to always achieve similar outcomes.

Civil code



Moreover, with a legal system that is not conducive for the poor to reap benefits from or even access it, individual efforts by women are difficult to sustain.

When there was an effort to address the issue  as faced by women in general, no matter what religion they follow  the Supreme Court did not address it, stating that it was outside the scope of its jurisdiction to make laws for social change.

OPINION: Indias civil code  A source for ideological disputes

We welcome judgements which have helped Muslim women in their struggles. A directive from the Supreme Court to completely abolish triple talaq, advocating for the Ahsan method to be followed instead, and it being translated into law, is what we seek, says Dr Noorjehan Safia-Niaz, cofounder of the BMMA.

Another cofounder of the BMMA, Zakia Soman, argues: One major misinformation spread by conservative Muslim groups that needs correction is that if the courts or the legislators speak up in favour of reforms in MPL, it is an intervention, which is conflicting with the right to freedom of religion.

When organisations like the AIMPLB stand against Muslim women demanding their basic rights from the courts, it is they who are overstepping constitutional boundaries and denying women rights which are not only in accordance with the prevalent laws, but are also Quranic, declares Soman.

Freedom of religion cannot be allowed to translate into superior rights for men over women. Our gender-just demands are not only constitutional but also based on teachings from the Quran, add Niaz and Soman.

Mariya Salim is a Kolkata-born Indian citizen with a degree in human rights law from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She has been working in the development sector for five years, with a special focus on womens rights.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Haider al-Abadi urges all Iraqis to celebrate recapture of Fallujah after more than two years of ISIL rule.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has urged all Iraqis to celebrate the recapture of Fallujah during a visit to the city and has vowed the national flag will be raised in Mosul soon.

Iraqi forces took the last positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Fallujah on Sunday, establishing full control over one of the groups most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.

I call on all Iraqis wherever they are to get out and celebrate, he told Iraqiya state television, standing in front of Fallujahs main hospital with an Iraqi flag around his neck.

Abadi had already declared victory on June 17 after ISIL defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.

If true, Mosul, Iraqs second city, is the last remaining major hub of ISIL following the recapture of Fallujah.

Timeline: The battle for Fallujah

The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack Mosul.





Victory for the security forces in Fallujah came when elite forces retook Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood where the last ISIL fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.

Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for Iraqs elite Counterterrorism Service, that has been leading the fight, said: It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan.

Daesh did not fire a single bullet, he said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL. This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there.

Several other senior military commanders said only small pockets of ISIL fighters remained in the Fallujah area.

READ MORE: Fallujahs displaced endure inhuman conditions

Fallujah, in Anbar province, has been under the control of ISIL since January 2014.

The city, about 65km west of the capital Baghdad, was the first city to fall to the group.

Bloody battlefield

During a battle waged by ISILs predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces.

In 2004, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting armed rebels in house-to-house battles.

ISIL fighters still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the countrys second-largest city of Mosul.

Fallujah civilians: Militias take turns to torture us

ISIL declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

The latest government offensive began on May 23 and has displaced more than 60,000 people, with most people forced to fend for themselves.

They have been eating rotten dates and animal feed  and drinking from the river, which is undrinkable Karl Schembri, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, earlier told Al Jazeera, explaining that the city was already enduring difficult humanitarian conditions.

More than 3.4 million Iraqis have been displaced since January 2014, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Britains opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a crisis within his Labour Party following the EU referendum, having sacked one shadow cabinet minister for attempting a coup, and as more than a dozen other members resigned, citing ineffective leadership.

But, a defiant Corbyn said he will stand in any new Labour leadership election and reshape the shadow cabinet within a day.

I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet, the Labour leader said in a statement late on Sunday. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me  or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

Labour resignations so far:  Lord Falconer, shadow justice secretary  Anna Turley, shadow minister for civil society  Chris Bryant, shadow Commons minister  Karl Turner  shadow attorney general  Chris Bryant, shadow leader of the House of Commons  Heidi Alexander, shadow health secretary  Lucy Powell, shadow education secretary  Vernon Coaker, shadow Northern Ireland secretary  Ian Murray, shadow Scottish secretary and Labours only MP in Scotland  Kerry McCarthy, shadow environment secretary  Seema Malhotra, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury  Lillian Greenwood, shadow transport secretary  Yvonne Fovargue, junior shadow consumer minister  Steve Reed, shadow minister for local government  Alex Cunningham, junior shadow minister for environment  Roberta Blackman-Woods, junior shadow housing minister  Wayne David, junior shadow minister in justice, Scotland and Cabinet Office  Gloria de Piero, shadow minister for young people and voter registration  Diana Johnson, shadow foreign minister  Toby Perkins, shadow armed forces minister

Over the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labours campaign for a fairer Britain.

In the early hours of Sunday, Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn as deep divisions emerged in the Labour Party following the UKs vote to leave the European Union.

Corbyn, facing pressure to step aside after Thursdays referendum, dismissed Benn after reports that he was preparing to lead a coup against the Labour leader.

Hours later, Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, resigned. Soon after, Gloria de Piero, the shadow minister for young people, also quit, among many others. Shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant and Anna Turley, shadow minister for civil society, were among those who resigned a day later, on Monday.

In a letter posted to Corbyn, published on her Twitter page, Turley said: [I] do not believe the Labour Party under your leadership is, or ever will be, in good enough shape to go to the public in an election and ask to serve them in government.

Corbyn has been criticised for not campaigning hard enough in support of EU membership, and had failed to convince millions of voters in the partys heartlands to back Remain.

Many fear that should another general election be held in the wake of the Brexit, or British exit, vote, Corbyn would fail to inspire voters towards the Labour Party  the main opposition to the ruling Conservative leadership.

In a statement, Benn said he was sacked after telling Corbyn in a phone call that he had lost confidence in his leadership.

It has now become clear that there is widespread concern among Labour MPs and in the shadow cabinet about Jeremy Corbyns leadership of our party. In particular, there is no confidence in our ability to win the next general election, which may come sooner than expected, if Jeremy continues as leader, Benn said.

Benn, the son of former Labour politician Tony Benn, also publicly disagreed with Corbyn in September over air strikes on Syria.

Soon after the 52 to 48 percent vote in favour of Brexit, which triggered the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, two Labour MPs  Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey  submitted a motion of no confidence in Corbyn.

Immigration debate needed

Around one third of Labour voters are estimated to have backed a British exit from the EU on Thursday, with many of those coming from traditional working-class areas where high immigration tops the list of public concerns.

Responding to criticism from Labour colleagues that he had failed to address those concerns, Corbyn said there needed to be a national dialogue on immigration to reach a new settlement.

READ MORE: After Brexit, what happens next?

We cant duck the issue of immigration. Clearly it was a factor, he said. We need to start an open and honest debate.

Corbyn said the vote showed a backlash against the EU principle of free movement. But he added that if Britain wanted to retain access to the European single market  one of many issues cast into doubt by the vote  he believed it would have to accept free movement as a condition of that deal.

If we were part of the single market in future, then clearly that would be accompanied by the continuing free movement of people, he said.
At least 35 people killed after bus crashes into barrier along highway in the central Chinese province, Xinhua reports.

At least 35 people have been killed and 11 injured after a bus crashed and caught fire in Chinas central province of Hunan, according to Chinese state media.

The bus burst into flames after crashing into a barrier along a highway on Sunday morning in Hunan provinces Yizhang county, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Two children were among those killed, while four of the 11 people taken to hospital were seriously injured, Xinhua said, adding that the driver of the bus, which carried 55 people, had been arrested.

Earlier reports had said that 21 people were treated in hospital.

Local officials believe that an oil leak caused by the bus crashing into a roadside guard rail may have caused the fire, Xinhua said.

The cause of the crash remained unclear.

Traffic accidents are common in China, with more than 250,000 people dying each year on the countrys roads, according to the World Health Organization.

Long-distance buses are popular in the country as a cheap way of travelling between cities, and competition between bus firms can be fierce.

China has seen repeated bus fires in recent years which have caused a number of deaths.
CIA plan to arm Syrian rebels undermined by theft of weapons by Jordanian intelligence agents, officials say.

Amman, Jordan  Weapons shipped into Jordan by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia intended for Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, according to American and Jordanian officials.

Some of the stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November that killed two Americans and three others at a police training facility in Amman, FBI officials believe after months of investigating the attack, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The existence of the weapons theft, which ended only months ago after complaints by the US and Saudi governments, is being reported for the first time following a joint investigation by Al Jazeera and The New York Times.

The theft, involving millions of dollars of weapons, highlights the messy, unplanned consequences of programmes to arm and train rebels  the kind of programme the CIA and Pentagon have conducted for decades  even after the Obama administration had hoped to keep the training programme in Jordan under tight control.

The Jordanian officers who were part of the scheme reaped a windfall from the weapons sales, using the money to buy expensive SUVs, iPhones and other luxury items, Jordanian officials said.

The theft and resale of the arms  including Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades  have led to a flood of new weapons available on the black arms market.

Investigators do not know what became of most of them, but a disparate collection of groups, including criminal networks and rural Jordanian tribes, use the arms bazaars to build their arsenals. Weapons smugglers also buy weapons in the arms bazaars to ship outside the country.

The FBI investigation into the Amman shooting, run by the bureaus Washington field office, is continuing.

But American and Jordanian officials said the investigators believed that the weapons that a Jordanian police captain, Anwar Abu Zaid, used to gun down two Jordanians, two American contractors and one South African had originally arrived in Jordan intended for the Syrian rebel-training programme.

The officials said this finding had come from tracing the serial numbers of the weapons.

Mohammad H al-Momani, Jordans minister of state for media affairs, said allegations that Jordanian intelligence officers had been involved in any weapons thefts were absolutely incorrect.

Weapons of our security institutions are concretely tracked, with the highest discipline, he said.

He called the powerful Jordanian intelligence service, known as the General Intelligence Directorate, or GID, a world-class, reputable institution known for its professional conduct and high degree of cooperation among security agencies. In Jordan, the head of the GID is considered the second most important man after the king.

Representatives of the CIA and FBI declined to comment.

The US State Department did not address the allegations directly, but a spokesman said that the US relationship with Jordan remained solid.

The United States deeply values the long history of cooperation and friendship with Jordan, said John Kirby, the spokesman. We are committed to the security of Jordan and to partnering closely with Jordan to meet common security challenges.

The training programme, which in 2013 began directly arming the rebels under the code name Timber Sycamore, is run by the CIA and several Arab intelligence services and aimed at building up forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.





The United States and Saudi Arabia are the biggest contributors, with the Saudis contributing both weapons and large sums of money, and with CIA paramilitary operatives taking the lead in training the rebels to use Kalashnikovs, mortars, antitank guided missiles and other weapons.

The existence of the programme is classified, as are all details about its budget. US officials say that the CIA has trained thousands of rebels in the past three years, and that the fighters made substantial advances on the battlefield against Syrian government forces until Russian military forces  launched last year in support of Assad  compelled them to retreat.

The training programme is based in Jordan because of the countrys proximity to the Syrian battlefields. From the beginning, the CIA and the Arab intelligence agencies relied on Jordanian security services to transport the weapons, many bought in bulk in the Balkans and elsewhere around Eastern Europe.

The programme is separate from one that the Pentagon set up to train rebels to combat fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), rather than the Syrian military. That programme was shut down after it managed to train only a handful of Syrian rebels.

Jordanian and American officials described the weapons theft and subsequent investigation on the condition of anonymity because the Syrian rebel training is classified in the United States and a government secret in Jordan.

News of the weapons theft and eventual crackdown has been circulating inside Jordans government for several months.

Husam Abdallat, a senior aide to several past Jordanian prime ministers, said that he had heard about the scheme from current Jordanian officials. The GID has some corrupt officers in its ranks, Abdallat said, but added that the institution as a whole was not corrupt.

The majority of its officers are patriotic and proud Jordanians who are the countrys first line of defence, he said.

Jordanian officials who described the operation said it had been run by a group of GID logistics officers with direct access to the weapons once they reached Jordan. The officers regularly siphoned lorryloads of the weapons from the stocks, before delivering the rest of the weapons to designated drop-off points.

Then the officers sold the weapons at several large arms markets in Jordan. The main arms bazaars in Jordan are in Maan, in the southern part of the country; in Sahab, outside Amman; and in the Jordan Valley.

It is unclear whether the current head of the GID, General Faisal al-Shoubaki, had knowledge of the theft of the CIA and Saudi weapons. But several Jordanian intelligence officials said senior officers inside the service had knowledge of the weapons scheme and provided cover for the lower-ranking officers.
Commander says government forces now in citys al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area to remain under ISIL control.

A senior Iraqi commander has declared that the city of Fallujah is fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, after a military operation lasting more than a month.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under ISIL control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said on Sunday.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, is done and the city is fully liberated.

The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition air strikes and paramilitary forces, mostly Shia units.

From the centre of al-Julan neighbourhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief  and declare that the Fallujah fight is over, he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers.

Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

Fallujah, in Anbar province, has been under the control of ISIL, also known as ISIS, since January 2014.

The city, about 65km west of the capita Baghdad, was the first city to fall to ISIL.

Bloody battlefield

During a battle waged by ISILs predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces.

In 2004, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting armed rebels in house-to-house battles.

ISIL fighters still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the countrys second-largest city of Mosul.

Fallujah civilians: Militias take turns to torture us

ISIL declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

The latest government offensive began on May 23 and has displaced more than 60,000 people, with most people forced to fend for themselves.

They have been eating rotten dates and animal feed  and drinking from the river, which is undrinkable. Karl Schembri, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, earlier told Al Jazeera, explaining that the city was already enduring difficult humanitarian conditions.

Upwards of 3.4 million Iraqis have been displaced since January 2014, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
Deal comes six years after an Israeli raid killed Turkish activists on a flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza.

Israel and Turkey have reached an agreement to normalise ties, according to Israeli and Turkish media.

The highly anticipated agreement was reported on Sunday, six years after an Israeli raid that killed 10 Turkish activists as an aid flotilla sought to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Both sides have been pushing to complete the deal in recent months, with Israel in search of a potential customer for its offshore gas exports and NATO member Turkey wanting to restore its regional clout, analysts say.

The United States has also pushed for the two countries to resolve the dispute.

OPINION: What the Israeli-Turkish reconciliation says about Gaza

Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkish undersecretary to the foreign ministry, and Joseph Ciechanover, who represented Israel at the UN Gaza Flotilla investigation, met in Rome on Sunday to discuss the reconciliation deal, Turkish daily Hurriyet said.

The deal will see Israel apologise for the 2010 attack on an aid flotilla travelling to Gaza, in which 10 Turkish nationals were killed by Israeli commandoes, compensations for the victims families and a minor easing of Israels blockade of the Palestinian territory, Al Jazeeras Imtiaz Tyab reported from West Jerusalem.

Monday announcement

An Israeli official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity said that the agreement had been finalised but details would not be officially announced until Monday.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is also expected to hold a press conference about the Israel reconciliation deal in Ankara on Monday, Hurriyet reported, citing the prime ministers office as the source.

READ MORE: Both sides of flotilla story

Two of Turkeys key conditions for normalisation  an apology and compensation  were largely met earlier, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the main obstacle left.

Reports in recent days described a compromise on the issue.





Under the reported terms of the deal, Israel will allow the completion of a much-needed hospital in Gaza, as well as the construction of a new power station and a desalination plant for drinking water.

Turkeys aid to Gaza would also be channelled through the Israeli port of Ashdod rather than sending it directly to the Palestinian enclave, the reports said.

Turkey has long insisted that closing the file on the flotilla raid should include an end to Israeli restrictions on trade with Gaza.

In this context Turkey has demanded, and Israel has rejected, unrestricted access to Gaza for Turkish assistance and trade.

Israel has also committed to depositing some $20m in a fund for compensation for the Turkish victims families, the Israeli official told AFP, ending all claims against Israeli soldiers.

On the other hand, Turkey has committed to keeping Hamas from carrying out activities against Israel from its country, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Hamas would continue to be able to operate from Turkey for diplomatic purposes, the paper said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has said it was not involved in Turkeys decision to normalise ties with Israel, but its officials hope the deal will have a wider impact across the Palestinian territories.

READ MORE: Turkey will never forgive Israel

Netanyahu has come under pressure within Israel not to agree to the deal if it does not include provisions for Hamas to hand over four missing Israelis, including the remains of two soldiers presumed dead and two civilians believed held alive by Hamas in Gaza.





The Israeli official told AFP that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to instruct all relevant Turkish agencies to help resolve the issue of Israels missing citizens.

Previously tight relations between Israel and Turkey were significantly downgraded after Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on the six-ship flotilla in May 2010.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after Palestinian fighters there kidnapped an Israeli soldier. The restrictions were tightened a year later when Hamas took control of the enclave.

There have been three wars between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza since 2008, including a devastating 50-day conflict in the summer of 2014.
One civilian and six Boko Haram fighters killed during operation to evacuate four villages in the countrys northeast.

The Nigerian army says it has rescued more than 5,000 people who were being held hostage by Boko Haram following a clearing operation in four remote villages in the northeastern Borno state.

Our troops have decisively dealt with the Boko Haram terrorists, particularly hibernating in Sambisa forest, which used to be their stronghold, Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, army spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

The soldiers evacuated the villages of Zangebe, Maiwa, Algaiti and Mainari, the army said in a statement .





The fighting led to the killing of one civilian and six Boko Haram fighters, it added.

The 5,000 rescued, mostly women and children, had been living under Boko Haram for more than six years, since the armed group launched its violent campaign in 2009.

The army also reported that two other Boko Haram fighters were killed in a separate mission to 11 villages in Borno.

Boko Haram pledged support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) last year.

The Nigeria-based groups armed campaign, which has spread into neighbouring countries, has killed more than 20,000 people and driven some 2.5 million from their homes.

READ MORE: Nigeria hosts summit on battling Boko Haram

Under President Muhammadu Buharis command, and aided by Nigerias neighbours, the army has recaptured most of the territory seized by Boko Haram  but the armed group still regularly stages attacks.

Last month, Nigeria hosted regional and Western powers to discuss ways to defeat the group.
Monitoring group says 330 Palestinians, including 60 children, have been detained as raids in West Bank are stepped up.

About 330 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been detained by Israel since the start of Ramadan, the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies has said.

During the 20 days since June 6, when the Muslim holy month of fasting began, Israel has stepped up its raids on Palestinian towns, the centres director, Osama Shaheen, told Al Jazeera.

We noticed that the campaign of arrests against leaders and activists in Hebron has increased, especially due to the recent attack in Tel Aviv, Shaheen said, referring to the June 9 shooting of four Israelis by Palestinians.

According to the centres records, of the 330 held, at least 60 are children, with the youngest being 10-year-old Marwan Sharabati from Hebron. The figure also includes 21 women ranging from 18 to 45 years old.

About 15 Palestinians, 13 of whom are fishermen from Gaza, were also arrested at Israels Ashdod port, including Mohammad al-Halabi, the head of the Gaza programme at the Christian humanitarian organisation World Vision.

The raids have been taking place across occupied East Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin and Gaza.

INFOGRAPHIC: How many Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel?

There are daily raids in the West Bank. They target anyone who has been involved in the recent intifada or in any nationalistic activities, said Shaheen.

We are used to this. It is painful, but it has become a routine. There is not one house that hasnt been raided and not one family that doesnt have a martyr.

Israeli prison authorities were not available for comment.





After the attack at a Tel Aviv market, Israel suspended entry permits for 83,000 Palestinians from the West Bank, many of whom were hoping to pray in the holy al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem for Ramadan.

Since then, the Israeli army has been conducting raids in the West Bank and clamping down on Palestinians.

We discussed a range of offensive and defensive steps which we shall take in order to act against this phenomenon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

There are an estimated 7,000 Palestinians behind Israeli bars, according to the statistics of Jerusalem-based prisoner and human rights association Addameer. Of those, 70 are female prisoners and 414 are children, 104 of which are under 16.
At least seven Palestinians hurt after clashing with police over visit by Jews to Muslim holy site during Ramadan.

Several Palestinian worshippers have been hurt after they clashed with Israeli police at the al-Aqsa Mosque, following protests against Jewish visits at the site during Islams holy month of Ramadan.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday that its medical team took seven Palestinians to an East Jerusalem hospital for treatment of injuries from sponge-tipped bullets, tear gas and beatings.

Israeli police said officers at the Old City site revered by Muslims and also by Jews  who call it the Temple Mount  arrested four masked youths who were disrupting visits on the Temple Mount by non-Muslims.

Interactive: A 360-degrees exploration of Jerusalems al-Aqsa

Jews and other non-Muslims can visit the site but are banned from praying there.

The al-Aqsa compound is the third-holiest site in Islam. It is located in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967  in a move never recognised by the international community  as part of its occupation of the West Bank.

A police spokesman questioned by AFP said that he was not aware of officers using force. But images posted on social media showed Israeli police officers dragging a man with bloodied face and head.

Israeli military police brutally attack Muslim worshipper inside Al-Aqsa Mosque.https://t.co/jjAU0ddera  Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) June 26, 2016

Palestinian officials said the trouble began when Israel allowed Jewish visitors into the compound in breach of a tradition that only allows Muslim worshippers to enter during the last 10 days of Ramadan, which are now in progress.

They said that they were taken by surprise at the appearance of the visitors and a group of Muslim youths protested, before retreating to the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself.

The 10 days, which began on Sunday, are the most solemn for Muslims and the period attracts the highest number of worshippers to the site.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says her government may use legal means to block Britains exit from the EU

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to protect Scotland against the devastating fallout of Brexit and hinted that her government may use legal means to try to block Britains departure from the European Union.

Sturgeon said the United Kingdom that Scotland voted to remain a part of in a 2014 independence referendum does not exist any more after Thursdays referendum to leave the EU.

Whats going to happen with the UK is that there are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences  I want to try and protect Scotland from that, Sturgeon told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

In a round of broadcast interviews, she also said it was possible that the Scottish parliament may have to give its consent to laws to extricate Britain from the EU.

READ MORE: Scotland and Northern Ireland react to Brexit vote

Asked whether she would consider asking Scottish MPs not to give that consent, she replied: Of course.

Asked on the BBC if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said: I can, but its perhaps similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will.

But, Nina Schick, of Open Europe, told Al Jazeera that Scotland cannot actually block a Brexit.

Once the formal exit clause is triggered, and it can only be triggered by the UK government, the UK is on its way out, she said.

Sturgeon leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, which has 63 out of 129 seats in the devolved parliament, as well as 54 out of 650 seats in Britains House of Commons.

Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU but Scotland voted strongly for Britain to remain  by 62 percent to 38 percent.

Within hours of the result on Friday, Sturgeon said a new independence referendum within two years was now highly likely and on Saturday she said Scotland was seeking immediate discussions with European leaders.

Two new polls taken after Thursdays vote showed a majority of Scots would now support independence.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found that 52 percent of respondents now wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 percent were opposed.

In a poll for Scotlands Sunday Post, ScotPulse found that 59 percent would vote for independence.

READ MORE: Petition in UK urges new EU referendum

We are in uncharted territory right here and its clear that the Scottish nationalists have profited from this referendum, Schick said.

We may soon be on the way to an independent Scotland.

Sturgeon on Sunday warned that the consequences of dragging Scotland out of the European Union against [its] will would be devastating.

Asked what Scotlands negotiating position with Brussels could be and whether it would have to join the EU as a new member state, she said: This would not be a decision about Scotland leaving  this would actually be a decision about Scotland staying.





Our argument is that we dont want to leave. Its not that we want to leave and get back in, she said.

She also cautioned any future British prime minister against vetoing a new Scottish independence vote.

Andrew Scott, a professor of European Union studies at the University of Edinburgh, told AFP that one way in which Scotland could remain in the EU would be to vote for independence before Britains departure is finalised.

It could then define itself as a successor state and effectively inherit Britains EU membership, including the budget rebate, he argued.

A second option would be for an independent Scotland to leave the EU and then re-apply while in the meantime joining the European Economic Area, he said.

I think the European Union would have no reason to reject Scotlands participation or continuing membership of the EU, Scott added.
Spaniards vote for second time in six months but opinion polls suggest repeat election may not break deadlock.

People across Spain have cast their ballots for the second time in six months, in a closely watched election just days after Britains decision to exit the European Union.

Polls closed at 8pm (18:00 GMT) for Spains roughly 36.5 million voters on Sunday, with results expected shortly.

Sundays repeat vote came after the four main political parties failed to agree on a coalition after Decembers general election resulted in a hung parliament.

Yet, opinion polls suggested the new ballot might also not break the political deadlock.

The conservative Popular Party (PP) was expected to come again first without a majority, while the on-the-rise left-wing Unidos Podemos alliance was tipped to overtake the centre-left Socialists in second place.

The centrist, business-friendly Ciudadanos was expected to come fourth.

The Socialists and Unidos Podemos could potentially create a broad left-of-centre coalition.

Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from Spains capital, Madrid, said there was a lot at stake in this general election.

Spanish people are going back to the polls for the second time in six months. They are fed up and they want to put an end to this political impasse.

Crucial vote

Britains surprise vote on Thursday to leave the EU has further added to the uncertainty, with the PP insisting on the need for stability in the face of radicalism and populism.

It was a jab at the Unidos Podemos coalition, which rejects EU-backed austerity and pledges to fight for the least well-off.

If you want a united country and not a radical Spain, think about it, go for what is safe  vote for the Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, acting prime minister, said in one of his last comments on Twitter before the obligatory day of campaign silence.

The Unidos Podemos coalition, led by Pablo Iglesias, has responded with a message of calm aimed at defusing this criticism.

The left-wing alliance  the o of Unidos shaped as a heart  has made smile of a country its slogan for an emotional campaign.

Thank you. For everything, Iglesias said in his final campaign-related tweet, a picture of him from the back, raising his fist towards a crowd.

OPINION: Spain, a non-governmental organisation?

Rajoy argued that since the PP came to power in 2011, it has brought Spain back to growth and overseen a drop in unemployment  though at 21 percent, it was still the second highest rate in the EU after Greece.

But his rivals retort that inequalities have risen and the jobs created are mainly unstable.

The PP has also been engulfed by corruption scandals in recent years, with jailed party treasurer Luis Barcenas telling investigators about a scheme of illegal contributions and donations to the party.

The Socialists were fighting smaller scandals of their own, involving allegations that former party members ran a fraud scheme by siphoning off public funds.

After the vote, political leaders were expected to head back to the negotiating table, under more pressure this time to form a coalition.
Reports say 58 civilians among victims of Syrian-Russian raids on ISIL-held town amid claims of use of incendiary bombs.

Syrian and Russian air strikes have killed at least 82 people, including 58 civilians, in Syrias eastern Deir Az Zor province, according to a UK-based monitoring group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said three air raids hit the town of al-Quriyah, held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, in the suburbs of Deir Az Zor on Saturday.

ISIL fighters have now set up a security perimeter around the residential area, where the towns mosque is located, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the observatory, said, referring to the group also known as ISIS.

Russian fighter jets have been carrying out air raids over Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

Incendiary bombs claim

Elsewhere in Syria, activists say, warplanes have dropped incendiary bombs over populated areas in Aleppo city for the first time.

It was unclear whether the cluster bombs dropped in the northern citys Dahrat Awad district were from Russian or Syrian government planes.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify activists videos purporting to show Syrian children wounded by incendiary bombs.

These weapons are internationally prohibited due to their indiscriminate impact.

A Human Rights Watch report released in February found use of cluster bombs by Russian and Syrian military forces in attacks across Syria.

On yet another Syrian front line, Kurdish and Arab fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) overran a key road junction in the south of Manbij city, an ISIL stronghold on the eastern plains of Aleppo, after capturing nearby grain silos on Saturday, the observatory said.

The grain silos overlook more than half of Manbij. SDF fighters can climb to the top and monitor the city, said Abdel Rahman.

The Raqqa Revolutionaries Brigades, one of the Arab components of the Kurdish-dominated alliance, confirmed that SDF forces had seized the silos and pushed into Manbij.

The observatory said ISIL and the SDF were locked in intense street fighting as ISIL tried to defend their positions.

READ MORE: Is there still a political way out of Syrias crisis?

Hundreds of Kurds fleeing villages near Manbij controlled by ISIL came under fire, amid mass abductions by the group, according to opposition activists and a Kurdish official.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist-run monitoring group, said ISIL also opened fire at people trying to flee from Manbij, killing 10 of them, including children.

The Syria Democratic Council, the political wing of SDF, called on the international community and aid groups to supply those fleeing with whatever they need, saying many of them are in open areas.

The SDC called on the world to help the SDF prevent the occurrence of a catastrophe or a massacre, saying there were indications one might happen.
Water from the lake is being diverted to support the states growing population at the expense of the environment.

Utah, USA  The Great Salt Lake in the US state of Utah, the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere, has receded 48 percent since 1847 as a result of increased water use.

The lakes economic value is estimated at $1.32bn a year, which includes revenue from lakeside recreation, mineral excavation and harvesting of brine shrimp.

About 7.5 million birds from 257 species use the lake each year for breeding and migration.

However, today about 1,400sq km of lake bed are exposed. Water from the lake is increasingly being diverted to support the states growing population.

John Cavitt, a zoology professor, says the population prefers making use of the water despite the environmental impact that is taking a toll on the lake and the nearby city.

Most of the people in northern Utah view water that travels to the Great Salt Lake as wasted  water that cannot be used once its there, he said.

As a result of the exposed lake beds, toxic minerals are swirling in the dust and blowing into Salt Lake City, 24km away.

Wayne Wurtsbaugh, an inland water scientist, said for all the toxic dust storms and losing all the birds, the increased water use has its benefits.

Theres trade-offs  you get some more water, you grow more crops, and youre able to have massive lawn in front of your house and youre able to water it all the time, he said.

The Great Salt Lake initially formed through precipitation and rivers fed by melting mountain snow.

Scientists say increasing water use may contribute to its complete disappearance in a matter of decades if action is not taken.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said serious violations have been committed in the current ceasefire in Yemen, and called on warring forces to reach a peace deal before the conflict claims more casualties.

Ban told Yemeni negotiators gathered in Kuwait on Sunday that time was not on the side of the Yemeni people, pointing to food shortages and risks to the economy, as well as repeated breaches of a shaky ceasefire in force since April 10.





There is an alarming scarcity of basic food items. The economy is in precarious condition, Ban said.

While the cessation of hostilities is mostly holding, there have been serious violations, causing further casualties and suffering among the civilian population, including children.

Ban also called on Yemeni negotiators to heed the example of Colombia in reaching a peace deal. He said the agreement signed on Thursday showed what could be done when parties to a conflict were determined to resolve their differences, rather than destroy their rivals.

Bans intervention came two months into the on-and-off talks between the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on one side and Houthi rebels allied with forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh on the other.

Since March 2015 and up to June 2016, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has documented a total of 3,539 civilians killed in Yemen and 6,268 injured.

As the peace talks stumble, violence continues on the ground.

Reports on Sunday said two air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed five people in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa, and two more in Qubaita district, between the provinces of Taiz and Lahej.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition. Al Jazeera could also not independently verify the reports.

The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations.

Ban came under criticism earlier this month for pulling criticism of the Saudi-led bombing campaign against the Houthis from a UN report on violence against children.

The UN chief admitted that he had taken the move after what he said was undue pressure from unnamed member states, including threats to withdraw funding from various UN agencies.

Yemens conflict intensified in March 2015 when the Houthis advanced on Hadis temporary capital in the southern city of Aden. That action prompted Saudi Arabia and its allies to start an air campaign in Yemen against the rebels.
As the Supreme Court rejects President Obamas efforts to issue unconstitutional executive orders with regard to immigration law enforcement, the real issue for American voters is who pays for the benefits illegal immigrants receive. Its an issue to consider this November.

Illegal immigration was not created by business. Businesses cannot give them drivers licenses, government benefits, or issue unconstitutional executive orders as President Obama has. Only government can get away with those actions. How it forces you to financially support illegal immigrants in the U.S. is the real story.

It costs just as much for illegal immigrants to live in the U.S. as it does for documented immigrants. The price of gasoline is the same, along with food, used cars, and housing. Public education is actually higher for illegal immigrants, up to 50% higher, since illegal immigrants use expensive programs such as English as a Second Language that English-speaking students do not. So the question then becomes, if its so expensive to live in the U.S., how do people working at low-paid jobs no one else will do afford cars, housing, education, insurance and other expenses necessary for daily living?

Anyone who states that people earning ten dollars an hour can pay their own way should do a brief review of the expenses of living in the U.S. The Kaiser Health Group states that today it costs $12,000 and more to have one baby. Mexicans make up the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S., but there are many from Europe and other parts of the world who have overstayed their visas. With regard to family size, its important to note that Mexicans today have about twice as many children as white families and one more than black families. The Center for Immigration Studies has recently found that Mexicans are now having slightly smaller families, but regardless of family size, someone has to pay for that $12,000 per child. And, if you are aware of it or not, you are paying for it.

The other big cost is education. In Los Angeles it now costs $25,000 per year to teach one student, more for Hispanics since they use ESL programs. Chicago spends $16,000 per student and New York City $27,000. And these costs dont include ESL. These three cities are all sanctuary cities that violate Federal law by encouraging illegal immigration. They constantly raise taxes and fees in order to provide illegal immigrants with subsidies for food, housing and education. Since illegal immigrants earn so little money, and are supported by a number of local, state, and Federal programs, you end up being forced to pay for these programs. The Center for Immigration Studies found in 2015 that the average illegal immigrant family receives $6,234 in different benefits, 41% more than native households.

While illegal immigration is based upon violations of the 1996 Immigration Law, there has been a complete lack of obedience to the Constitution in other ways. With regard to financial support the main way the Constitution is violated is through misappropriation of funds, a U.S. Code Title 18 felony.

The money spent on illegal immigrants comes from several main sources. Those ever-higher fees you have to pay for cable TV, utilities, gasoline, property taxes and the other necessities of daily life are in part subsidies for illegal immigration. And much of these higher costs go to pay for the government employees, particularly teacher union members, who are paid to teach the children. Its a little known but very crucial fact that today one of every four children of school age is Hispanic and their number is the only number growing. If not for illegal immigrant children many school systems would have to cut back on the number of teachers. This also directly impacts their Federal and state subsidies. And since public-school teachers pay union dues, and these union dues are a major source of campaign contributions at local, state, and Federal levels, there is a direct connection between political power and the number of illegal immigrant children.

Recently there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children entering the U.S. illegally through the southern border. The reason for this is that children are the cash cow of public teacher unions. They then act as the foundation of political power. So the extra taxes, fees, and debt created by government to support illegal immigrants is a subsidy of political power. These taxes and fees then force you to support the one party, the Democrat Party, that is the sole beneficiary of all these public sector union campaign contributions.

This is why sanctuary cities and states, particularly those that created sanctuary policy in the beginning, are all run by Democrats. This is technically a violation of your First Amendment right of free speech since SCOTUS has already ruled that campaign contributions are a form of speech. This is another way that illegal immigration violates the Constitution, other than at the direct violation caused by the fact that only Congress has the authority to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.

Another way government has devised to pay for illegal immigrant is to divert money appropriated for city and state services to illegal immigrants. This creates a shortfall that states and cities make up by issuing bonds. The explosion of spending on illegal immigrants, as well as the explosion of retirement costs of public sector workers, are the reasons why municipal bond debt has skyrocketed in the past ten years and is now driving some cities and states into bankruptcy. While no state has yet had to confront bankruptcy in Federal court, the passage of time only increases interest costs, it never reduces them.

Public sector union pension costs are also driven by illegal immigration. And in states like Illinois state law puts priority on payments to municipal pensions. These are enforced through state law. So a city that cannot afford its annual pension contributions will have the state declare it is delinquent and can divert state grant money to the pension funds. This is why Chicagos mayor recently cut back on mental health facilities. Public pensions have, in IL state law, priority even though they say they are devoted to helping children and the disabled.

Other hidden costs are in property taxes. Illinois now has ten cities, including Chicago, where the entire property tax payment goes only to pensions, not services. This lack of revenue prompted Democrats to pass the stimulus programs and Recovery Act. So it ends up in the national debt. The exact amount of national debt created by illegal immigration has yet to be honestly audited.

Should Hillary Clinton become president there is no doubt that she will issue further executive orders to violate Federal law and force you to subsidize more illegal immigrants.
On June 12, despite polls indicating the Brexit referendum was too close to call, I predicted it would pass. I concluded by observing, One thing is clear -- both the EU officialdom and ours are wiser than voters only in their ability to feather their own nests, not in making us safer, richer, or happier. Many predict that if the UK exits Brexit, other European countries will follow. That, too, seems to be the case. So you can imagine how much fun I had watching the BBC coverage the night (and early morning hours) of the vote tally.

Unable to hide their shock and attributing the vote to many different reasons -- but largely persuaded that their countrymen who voted to leave were uneducated rubes -- the commentators revealed nothing so much as their cluelessness.

To quote a tweet by Sharyl Attkisson Media & politicians being so shocked about Brexit is like saying, We really have no idea what were talking about when we give analyses.

Nigel Farage v. Count Herman von Rompuy

I think there have been many great post-referendum analyses, but my favorite is Daniel Greenfields, which I urge you to read in its entirety. I will just cite some of what I consider the highlights:

Every propaganda gimmick was rolled out. Brexit was dismissed, mocked and ridiculed. It was for lunatics and madmen. Anyone who voted to leave the benevolent bosom of the European Union was an ignorant xenophobe who had no place in the modern world. And that turned out to be most of Britain. While Londonistan, that post-British city of high financial stakes and low Muslim mobs, voted by a landslide to remain, a decisive majority of the English voted to wave goodbye to the EU. 67% of Tower Hamlets, the Islamic stronghold, voted to stay in the EU. But to no avail. The will of the people prevailed. And the people did not want migrant rape mobs in their streets and Muslim massacres in their pubs. They were tired of Afghani migrants living in posh homes with their four wives while they worked hard and sick of seeing their daughters passed around by Asian cabbies from Pakistan in ways utterly indistinguishable from the ISIS slave trade while the police looked the other way so as not to appear racist. And, most of all, they were sick of the entire Eurocratic establishment that let it all happen. British voters chose freedom. They decided to reclaim their destiny and their nation from the likes of Count Herman Von Rompuy, the former President of the European Council, selected at an informal meeting who has opposed direct elections for his job and insisted that, the word of the future is union. When Nigel Farage of UKIP told Count Von Rompuy that I can speak on behalf of the majority of British people in saying that we don't know you, we don't want you and the sooner you are put out to grass, the better, he was fined for it by the Bureau of the European Parliament after refusing to apologize. But now its Farage and the Independence Party who have had the last laugh. [snip] The word of the future isnt union. Its freedom. A process has begun that will not end in Britain. It will spread around the world liberating nations from multinational institutions. [snip] Brexit has shown us the weakness of the multinational establishment. Its vast bureaucratic power rests on using the media to suppress political dissent. When the medias special pleading fails to stop the democratic process, it is more helpless than any dictator when the outraged mob pours into his palace. What was true of Britain is also true of America. [snip] That is the lesson of Brexit. It is the future.

I particularly love the sneering way those interviewed on the BBC as the night wore on -- and the globalists doom seemed assured -- attributed their loss to badly educated people. I mean, who educated them? Miners, fishermen, farmers, small shopkeepers, or the elites who control the maleducation machinery here and there? Obviously, its aimed at shaming them for not belonging to the smart set -- you know, people like Cher and Leonardo DiCaprio and Lindsey Lohan and Count von Rompuy.

B. Elections Turn on Many Things. Here are some other factors besides disgust with Multinationalism

1. Immigration. Cosseted in fancy, well-guarded digs in Brussels and chauffeured about in limousines, the EU officialdom doesnt seem to have figured out the high cost of unlimited Moslem immigration to the European workers who support them or the even more damaging effect on European civilization of unassimilated migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

Gatestone Institute reported on a disturbing survey of Turkish immigrants to Germany:

 Seven percent of respondents agreed "violence is justified to spread Islam." Although these numbers may seem innocuous, 7% of the three million Turks living in Germany amounts to 210,000 people who believe that jihad is an acceptable method to propagate Islam.  The survey also found that labor migration is no longer the main reason why Turks immigrate to Germany: the most important reason is to marry a partner who lives there.  A new statistical survey of Germany -- Datenreport 2016: Social Report for the Federal Republic of Germany -- shows that ethnic Turks are economically and educationally less successful than other immigrant groups, and that more than one-third (36%) of ethnic Turks live below the poverty line, compared to 25% of migrants from the Balkans and southwestern Europe.  "In our large study we asked Muslims how strongly they feel discriminated against, and we searched for correlations to the development of a fundamentalist worldview. But there are none. Muslim hatred of non-Muslims is not a special phenomenon of Muslim immigration, but is actually worse in the countries of origin. Radicalization is not first produced here in Europe, rather it comes from the Muslim world." -- Ruud Koopmans, sociologist. Nearly half of the three million ethnic Turks living in Germany believe it is more important to follow Islamic Sharia law than German law if the two are in conflict, according to a new study. One-third of those surveyed also yearn for German society to "return" to the way it was during the time of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, in the Arabia of the early seventh century. The survey -- which involves Turks who have been living in Germany for many years, often decades -- refutes claims by German authorities that Muslims are well integrated into German society.

Around Europe people are being tossed out of their homes to make way for (often ungrateful) immigrants. Women and children are being raped and assaulted by them. The streets are full of these wretches demanding the institution of sharia law in Europe. And there seems to be no end to the stream of them, most of who cannot and will not be employable or assimilate.

2. The War On Tea Kettles

Besides rendering countless British fishermen unemployed by fishing regulations, the thing that seemed to annoy most British voters was the threat to ban the ubiquitous high-powered electric tea kettles. Threats to ban them caused a rush to buy more of them -- and other small appliances, like toasters, before Brussels destroyed their breakfasts and afternoon teas just as it had earlier forced them to replace incandescent bulbs and proper vacuum cleaners.

"The only thing that should be toast is our EU membership," said Brian Monteith, Leave EU's chief spokesman, "They may take our tea and toast but they will never take our freedom, but we can have both when we vote to leave. "We are constantly told leaving the EU is a leap in the dark but the real unknown is just how much more depressing and grim life will be in the homogenised, soulless EU. They are already taking menthol out of our cigarettes, next they'll be saying oil of bergamot causes cancer and Earl Grey Tea will be no more." "Brussels is storing up all barmy regulations, power grabs and budget demands it can delay until after the referendum," added Robert Oxley, a spokesman for Vote Leave, "But if we vote remain quicker than you can boil a kettle the same damaging proposals will be back on the table and we will be powerless to say no. The only safe way to avoid a referendum hangover is to Vote Leave." What we want is to let the free market reign, not this diktat by bureaucrat, said David Coburn, a UK Independence party MEP from Scotland who highlighted the proposals set out in the EUs Ecodesign consultation. Mr. Coburn, who recently purchased a new kettle and toaster on moving house, has grumbled that his new appliances no longer seem to have the oomph they once did. I think I must have bought a euro-toaster, I have to put the bread in five times and its still pale and pasty. Perhaps its powered by windmills, he told The Telegraph, And the kettle? Watching a kettle boil has never been so boring.

Widespread objection induced the EU to halt implementation of the teakettle diktat in February but they didnt shelve it, just cynically pushed it back until after the referendum.

That there was nothing too small for the EU to tax and regulate was made clear by this effort to regulate every household appliance from light bulbs to vacuum cleaners to hair dryers, but striking at the beloved electric tea kettle seemed to really ignite voters.

3. The Certainty of even More and More Disturbing Power Grabs by the EU

The ineluctable tendency for all unelected bureaucracies to grow out of control and end up biting the hand that feeds them could not be more obvious than in the example of the EU. Give them a trade and customs treaty and theyll rule you forever in every possible way.

The EU is like the Hotel California. Up to now voters across Europe have rejected the expansion of the original customs and trade treaty -- limited scope of the original European Economic Community (EEC) -- to no avail. In 1992 Denmark voted against the Maastricht Treaty and was made to vote again, In 2001 Ireland voted against the Nice Treaty and was made to vote again. In 2005 France voted against the EU Constitution and the vote was ignored. In that same year the Netherlands voted against the EU Constitution and, that, too, was ignored, In 2008 Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty and was made to vote again. In 2015 Greece voted against the EU bailout and that vote was ignored. The lesson to voters must have been obvious -- spend your life voting, or just lie back and think of Brussels -- until now.

If you think Im being hyperbolic about the scope of the unelected apparatchik dream in Brussels consider this: until their reign seemed to be crumbling by the Brexit example, the EU seemed on its way to establishing its own army.

The EU was holding up until after the Brexit vote a trillion-dollar budget and a raft of unpopular new regulations, including what appears to be the groundwork for a EU army. Heres Frederica Mogherini, a far-left Italian politician at the EU helm on the subject:

On Friday EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will present top-secret plans which would see new European military and operational structures, including a headquarters. Ms Mogherini's proposals say, Security and defence is where a step change is most urgent. The EU can step up its contribution to Europes security and defence. "Our external action must become more joined up across policy areas, institutions and member states. Greater unity of purpose is needed across the policy areas making up our external action. However three years ago David Cameron said he would resist such a plan. He said: "It makes sense for nation states to co-operate over matters of defence to keep us safer. "But it isn't right for the European Union to have capabilities, armies, air forces and all the rest of it. "We need to get that demarcation right."

4. The Cost to Britain of Keeping this Undemocratic Nonsense Afloat

The UK pays dearly for membership in the EU. Last year it paid 13 billion pounds to the EU budget. In return the EU spent 4.5 billion pounds on the UK. And actually, its tab would have been 18 billion pounds (for a 4,5 billion return) were it not for a rebate the EU granted it. At some point it must dawn on those with math skills that this is a lousy return on an investment, especially one that is destroying native industries and production and limiting the countrys ability to enter into trade agreements with more dynamic parts of the world than the decaying Europe members of the EU.

5. The Youth Vote

The BBC on election night and others have made much of the divide between younger and older voters. I was young once, too, and know that kids are dumber than I am, but another factor in this split (especially among university students) is something called the Erasmus Program. The students and the Guardian seem to love it, in the same way college students love Sanders free college proposals, but how valuable it is, except in promoting globalist ideas, prolonging adolescence, and subsidizing cross-country lovemaking remains to be seen. Heres the Guardian in its impassioned defense of the program which subsidizes from the pockets of taxpaying Europeans college students working and traveling outside their own country:

Erasmus is a European Union exchange programme established in 1987, which is widely popular on the continent but barely mentioned in the business sections that lead the way on European coverage in the UK. More than 2.5 million students from across Europe have taken part in it since its inception The UK is one of the most popular destinations, but one of the less active participants, considering its size: in the 2009/10 academic year, the UK received 22,650 foreign students under the Erasmus exchange scheme, while sending abroad only 11,723. There are spades of people who have gone on these schemes and never come back. Germans who fell in love with Spaniards, Greek women who ended up marrying Frenchmen, Poles who have kids with Portuguese mothers. The Italian novelist Umberto Eco last year said that "Erasmus has created the first generation of young Europeans." He describes it as "a sexual revolution: a young Catalan man meets a Flemish girl -- they fall in love, they get married and they become European, as do their children." Personally, I can't imagine that these parents and their children would be able to listen to a nationalist rabblerouser calling for war and just listen in silence. They would speak up. What's more important: some of them are likely to become leading figures in the media, in business and in politics over the next 20 years, and they will increasingly think outside national boundaries. If the eurozone crisis can be overcome -- and that's a serious if -- then there are good chances that it will be followed by a period of peace so prolonged that the last 67 years will look short by comparison. British EU-sceptics will say that all that cross-country lovemaking was brought about not by stuffy EU bureaucrats, but free trade between nation states. But who has ever fallen in love in a business meeting? The beauty of a scheme like Erasmus is that it has enabled meetings between young people before they start to think about such encounters purely as the means to an exchange of capital, before they slip on the cold mask of commerce. And at any rate, who's to say that a prize shouldn't be romantic? If you really believe that nothing guarantees intercultural harmony as effectively as free trade, then you might as well hand the Nobel peace prize to Ronald McDonald. That would really inspire the continent.

How quickly will Britain actually exit the EU and how many states will follow in its wake is still unclear. I predict the split will come sooner than the two-year period set out in Article 50 of the EU Constitution and that other states will follow on. The EUs fate is far from clear. I certainly think it will fare worse than the UK, which will long outlive it.

For the beneficently compensated gang in Brussels, this has got to be a tragedy. In the meantime, they can amuse themselves by taking advantage of the free monthly ration of Viagra for which all EU officials are reimbursed.
In his wonderful book, The Rational Optimist, Matt Ridley explores the ways in which trade and commerce have propelled innovation and well-being. Ridley presents evidence that for the last 100,000 years, humans have engaged in trade and that the rise of complex civilizations can be tied to the exchange of ideas associated with trade. So widespread and deep-seated is this instinct for exchange that, according to Ridley, it is evidence of a fundamental genetic propensity in Homo sapiens. The human brain is hardwired to engage in all forms of exchange  commercial, social, and intellectual  and the result is an ever-improving quality of life.

Ridley is indeed an "optimist," but he is realistic enough to know that government can strangle innovation by preying upon private enterprise. Human history is full of examples of great civilizations brought low by the parasitic inclinations of powerful rulers  the kind of rulers who now govern our nation by executive order rather than by the rule of law. Under the weight of these parasites, as Ridley shows, civilization stagnates or regresses to earlier stages of development.

A simple count of U.S. patent awards confirms that the Obama era has not been good for innovation and exchange. The percentage of U.S.-based patent awards is now at an all-time low, having continued its decades-long decline during Obama's presidency. Instead of "saving the middle class," as he often boasts of doing, Obama has overseen further erosion of national innovation and prestige.

As for prosperity, recent data for U.S. family income has been dismal. Median household income has never recovered the high of the Bush years, when it reached $57,357 in 2007. In 2015, according to the U.S. census, it was $52,250. And for workers in the lowest quintile, the very ones Obama and Hillary Clinton claim to champion, it was $11,676 (2014 figure). One fifth of American families are living on less than $12,000 per year. That is the shameful truth of the Obama years.

Yet in February, Hillary Clinton told voters that Obama hasn't received "the credit he deserves." She has repeatedly stated that she intends to defend "Obama's legacy," but that is a legacy of poverty for most American workers. The reason Obama has such an abominable record is that he has smothered innovation and investment under the weight of increased taxes and regulation. And the intent and effect of new taxes and regulation are to transfer wealth and power to Washington.

Ridley's book helps us understand that the Obama stranglehold on business is nothing new. For as long as innovation and exchange have existed, there have been kings, dictators, and democratic socialists eager to cash in. In practically every great society, "governments gradually employ more and more ambitious elites who capture a greater and greater share of society's income by interfering more and more in people's lives as they give themselves more and more rules to enforce" (Ridley, p. 182). Ultimately, the productive society stagnates and dies out, and innovation and commerce move elsewhere.

This is precisely the tipping point at which America now stands. The evidence of business moving elsewhere is not hard to find. Despite frantic attempts on the part of the Obama administration to prevent them, tax inversions are taking place with greater frequency and on a larger scale than before. Treasury's new rules designed to block inversions will not be successful. By making corporate inversions less desirable, they will only spur foreign buy-outs of American businesses by foreign firms.

Not only are new rules unsuccessful in preventing corporate inversions, but they impose a huge burden on businesses of all sizes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest Treasury Department ban on "earnings stripping" "mainly punishes companies that aren't leaving the country." And by weakening businesses, Treasury's new regulations further reduce wages for American workers.

What's revealing is Secretary Lew's rationale for blocking tax inversions. Lew has said nothing, so far as I know, about advancing productivity or promoting innovation. What seems to worry the administration is loss of federal revenue. The parasites in Washington truly believe that every dime produced by private enterprise belongs to government, to do with as it wills. What really upsets them is the possibility that some portion of that money might escape their control.

The parasites are so numerous that a full list would include practically every prominent figure on the left working in government, media, and academe. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren, the progressive activist near the top of Hillary Clinton's V.P. list. Even in its brief history, the CFPB has succeeded in imposing thousands of costly new regulations, including new rules that would provide consumers (and their lawyers) new avenues for suing banks and credit card companies by restricting arbitration clauses in financial contracts. In 2015 alone, the CFPB doubled the number of prosecutions of businesses. According to Tony Alexis, the CFPB's director of enforcement, the agency plans to be "particularly active" in 2016. Is there a better example of government parasites run amuck?

Well, yes, there is. Eric Schneiderman's attempted shakedown of ExxonMobil may be the best example yet of the tendency of those in authority to parasitize the productive labor of others. The New York attorney general, joined by A.G.s from Massachusetts, California, and the Virgin Islands, is seeking reams of documents (stretching back as far as 40 years) relating to Exxon's stance on global warming. Exxon has pushed back on these demands, filing its own charges against Virgin Islands A.G. Claude Walker. Apparently, these state A.G.s hope to catch the oil giant in an inadvertent misrepresentation and proceed to a lucrative settlement  while opening up the company for class action lawsuits on the part of "wronged" investors and other groups. It's the same playbook that has fettered American banks, auto companies, pharmaceutical companies, and countless others ever since Obama took office. Investigate without real proof, sue, settle, and transfer assets from investors to Washington.

In the face of such attacks, it is no wonder that the economy has stagnated throughout Obama's term. Companies are now crushed with hundreds of thousands of rules, and they are deterred from new investments by the fear of lawsuits. Under the weight of this government interference, as well as the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world, there are only three rational options for corporate leaders. (1) Accept de facto nationalization and the restrictions that come with it; (2) defer investment and hiring, and return profits to investors by way of dividends and share buybacks; or (3) relocate to a less onerous environment via a corporate inversion or outright buyout by a foreign company. For businesses that wish to expand, the third option is the obvious choice.

If we are not to suffer the fate of past civilizations, we must expel the parasites who now control our economy and who will continue controlling it if Hillary Clinton is elected. The Washington elite are terrified by Donald Trump because he is serious about making America great again  and he knows that the only way to do so is the kick the parasites out. Trump's announced policies on taxes and regulation make perfect sense. They would free up American businesses to compete on a level playing field. They appeal to one of the most basic human instincts: the desire to produce more and retain the proceeds.

For eight years, the Obama administration has undermined our nation's competitive instincts. It's time to unleash them by putting producers first  and putting parasites in their place.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture, including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
The new film about Newton Knight is quite a tale. It's based on a true Civil War story that has been fictionalized to a certain extent by the great screenwriter writer Gary Ross (Big, Seabiscuit, Dave). The core of the story is the betrayal by Confederate soldiers and their leaders of their own people, particularly the poorest among them in Jones County, Mississippi and beyond.

Beginning in 1862, when the war was at its most brutal and bloody, when young men and boys were being regularly marched to their deaths in double rank battle lines at the better armed Union armies, Knight, thoroughly disgusted by the senseless death all around him became a deserter. He is helped, befriended and then comes to lead a group of runaway slaves and a few other deserters. They grow into an army of a hundred or so that rebels against the Confederate practice of going to small homes and farms and taking their "ten percent." That would be ten percent of their clothes, food, crops, livestock, etc. But these soldiers always took nearly everything leaving these families, mostly women and children, barely ten percent on which to survive.

The Confederate soldiers tasked with "supplying the army" in this manner were beasts - think ISIS! They beat the people who resisted, burned homes and churches, killed and hanged young boys and runaway slaves and they did these things with a certain relish. The Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the war did little to better the lives of the people, black or poor white, in the deep South. That fact is pretty much common knowledge. What is not common knowledge are the actions of men like Newton Knight, men and women who fought against the Confederacy for the heinous wrongs they regularly committed against them while leaving the wealthy plantation owners and their property alone.

Like Martin Luther King, skin color did not matter to Knight, the content of one's character did. It is a fine film. It is a film about people who think without thinking that they are smarter and better than others and believe they can dictate how others should live their lives, and that they should be able to take from them whatever they want. These are the kind of people who never recognize the truly gifted and good people who exist around them. They are blinkered to righteousness smf do not know it when they see it.

All of which brings us to Brexit, Hillary and Obama. All those people around the world who are so shocked that Brexit passed are of the same ilk. Thankfully less overtly violent for the moment but the same. They have nothing but contempt for those who voted for their nation's sovereignty, who want their borders back, their culture back. YouTube is chock full of such folks spewing their insults at the Leavers. (See Van Jones' rant.)

Obama and Hillary similarly demonstrate contempt for the millions of Americans who want their country back, like Knight wanted his county back and to be treated with respect and civility. Obama and Hillary daily lecture us about how many more immigrants and refugees they mean to bring here, "because that's who we are," despite the millions of American citizens out of work, despite the obvious terrorist threat from those from ISIS territory, without regard for the diseases the may bring to our shores, the crimes they may commit, and without regard for the cost to taxpayers to settle them with magnanimous benefits Obama provides.

Americans who support Trump are mocked, loathed and abhorred by the internationalist, anti-American, pro-globalist left, the congressional establishment and academic intellectuals, the NYT, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, NBC, CBS, and ABC. Quite an impressive and powerful list of boosters.

But self-immolation by colonization is NOT who we are. Nor is it who the Brits are who voted to Leave the EU, nor is it the French, Italian, Spanish and Netherlanders who want their countries back as well. They are justifiably sick and tired of idiotic non-entities in Brussels telling them what they can eat, how their cucumbers and bananas must be shaped, how much they must pay to the EU.

Newton Knight was an object of derision for the Confederate soldiers he tormented in revenge for their crimes even after his numerous successful exploits brought them low. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are figures of fun the globalist left loves to ridicule but they are connecting with the people who vote. And vote they did and vote they will.
Spain has been in a political crisis for 7 months as no party was able to form a government following the December general election. So once again, the Spanish people are going to the polls - but this time, in the wake of the Brexit earthquake.

The two major parties - the Socialists and the People's Party - are likely to lose ground to the far left Podemos party. Podemos is rebelling against the austerity forced upon them by the EU when their banks were bailed out in 2012. Spain exited the bailout but still owe tens of billions to the EU.

Like their counterparts in Greece - Syriza - who overturned the old order, ordinary people are rebelling against the status quo and are likely to strengthen the far left.

Reuters:

In theory, the rise of Unidos Podemos ("Together We Can"), a leftist alliance led by Podemos, could offer a way out. The 90 seats it is expected to win, combined with around 80 for the Socialist Party (PSOE), would be close to a majority. Support from some of the regional parties could enable them to form a government. Many analysts believe, however, that the 137-year-old Socialist Party would prefer to form a 'grand coalition' with the PP, led by the acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, or give passive support to a minority PP government, rather than combine with a group that threatens their existence. "This is a crucial time for the left. Our time has come. We have an opportunity for change," said Carlos Martinez, a retired administrative clerk who cast his ballot for Unidos Podemos in the Arganzuela neighborhood, in the south of Madrid. However, the 77-year-old, who voted in December for the former communists of United Left, now part of Unidos Podemos, said the anti-austerity alliance might find it hard to govern because other parties may coalesce to block it. Such a scenario would have echoes of Greece, where a long-established center-left party, PASOK, joined a conservative-led government in 2012, only to find itself subsequently humiliated by the rise to power of the far-left Syriza party -- which is close to Podemos. After Britain's vote to quit the EU, Greece's Syriza prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias called for a re-launch of the European Union based on improved democracy, social protection and solidarity. "It's bad news for the future of Europe. We are very worried about the decision of the British people. And we think we need to reconstruct another idea of Europe based on social rights and human rights," Iglesias told journalists on Friday as he closed his campaign. It is not clear which impact the result of the British referendum will have on the Spanish election.

I think you can safely throw out the polls taken before Brexit. But while Podemos portrays itself as "anti-establishment," its real strength still resides in the old communist party that is stronger in Spain than most other European countries. Podemos must reverse the austerity measures that are slowly reducing the Spanish deficit, in order to fulfill its promises for vastly expanded social programs.

I think we can expect some surprises in the Spanish election today with Podemos benefiting the most from the Brexit fallout.
Reuters, whose polling data is so biased in favor of liberal viewpoints as to be an affront to any real standards in this "profession" -- assuming there are any, has conveniently updated its ongoing survey of whether or not Americans want to "temporarily stop all Muslims from entering the United States."

Before looking at the data, and adding some other considerations, it is now safe to say that any media outlet from here on that reports Reuters data without acknowledging the existence of, and at least trying to correct for, the massive bias is simply not a credible outlet exercising due diligence in journalism. That applies whether the outlet is a polling aggregrator such as RealClearPolitics or HuffPost Pollster, or any site across the spectrum.

In its latest five-day rolling average released June 24, Reuters wants us to believe that 47.2% of all Americans disagree with a Muslim ban, whereas just 44.2% agree. Some might argue that it is impressive -- from the conservative perspective -- that the survey results are so close. One might expect that after decades of political correctness indoctrination, even the most diehard conservatives would be so intellectually neutered as to oppose the ban.

But when we drill into the data, and unravel the ridiculously large liberal bias, reality emerges. And that reality shows a large majority of the public supports the ban, with just a small minority in opposition.

Of the 1,638 respondents, 780 (48%) are Democrats while only 526 (32%) are Republicans. Of those surveyed, 41% voted Obama in 2012 compared to just 24% who chose Romney. Consequently, we are looking at a liberal bias of, at least, 13-15% in the data. Remove that bias, and the corrected polling data -- since Republicans and Romney 2012 supporters overwhelmingly support the ban, whereas Democrats and Obama 2012 voters do not -- suggests that those in favor of the ban probably hold a minimum 10-12% lead over the opponents.

In an article published Saturday, John F. Banzhaf III -- a law professor at George Washington University -- confirmed the position I took last Sunday in stating that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that any and all grounds for immigration bans are constitutional, including and especially a ban on Muslim immigration. This is settled science among the legal profession.

But one of the core problems is how to avoid a porous national security net when it comes to imposing a Muslim entry ban, either for immigration alone or for both immigration and temporary visits. Word has obviously leaked out that many in the West may want to restrict entry to Muslims and/or deport them if they are already present. This has led, predictability, to mass purported conversions of Muslims to Christianity in Europe, to which a few have at least raised some concerns, albeit far too weak.

This supposed mass conversion is a fraud (taqiyya) designed to fool the public and circumvent any future national security policies targeting those of the Islamic faith.

Senator Ted Cruz's proposal to accept Christian refugees, but not Muslims, demonstrates a surprising level of naivety by an otherwise skeptical politician. How exactly are we to reliably differentiate between Muslims and Christians coming from the same region? What sort of specific test would we be able to accurately give, and how onerous in terms of administrative time and costs would this be? Any conceivable test of faith could be easily gamed, particularly given the corrupt nature of the homelands from which these refugees are arriving, what with no reliable church or government records, etc., not to mention the historical commonalities in the two faiths which can facilitate a false conversion from Islam to Christianity.

In addition to the Muslim faith ban, Donald Trump has suggested that he "will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats."

If we interpret Trump's statement in the broadest sense possible, he has wisely closed the loophole that Cruz and others had left open. Trump's policy could be construed to apply not only to those emigrating directly from Middle Eastern and similarly dominant Muslim areas, but also those individuals whose heritage derives from such regions. Otherwise, we are left with a flawed policy whereby a Muslim from, say, the Middle East could emigrate to Europe, fake a conversion to Christianity, and thereby escape the national security wall by claiming to be a European Christian.

Based on the views of credible legal commentators, this type of broadly restrictive immigration policy is not only constitutional, but has widespread bipartisan support among the voters.
In 2015, the German government ran a surplus of more than twelve billion euros. But if the German people thought this might be spent on bettering their lives, then they were deeply mistaken. Angela Merkel decided that instead, she'd give the people's hard earned money to more than a million refugees, which wiped out the entire German budget surplus.

We in Britain may not know how to save as the Germans do, but we do have experience in spending (usually money we don't have). And I can guarantee that if you gave us twelve billion euros to spend on your behalf, we would have found something better for you than one million angry, largely Muslim, ISIS-infested, terrorist-sympathizing young male sexual predators. In fact, I hope the Germans kept their receipt, because I would seriously consider asking for my money back on that purchase.

Germany is a nation of savers. Its savings rate is more than twice that of the U.K.'s and nearly double that of the U.S. It sells more to the rest of the world than it buys to the tune of seven percent of its entire economy. And alone among large, developed economies, it has been running a budget surplus of late.

Certainly, we English-speaking countries have some learning to do from them. But boy, can we teach them a thing or two about spending. That is something we can do. Don't believe me? Just look at our debt levels, and tell me we don't have lots of experience here.

What has this hard work, saving, and self-sacrifice bought for the German people? Not much. Besides wasting its entire budget surplus on flooding itself with refugees, Germany laid hundreds of billions of euros on the line when it bailed out Greece  an "investment" likely to turn sour at some point.

And what did Germany get in exchange?

The Greek people hate it now nearly as much as when Germany occupied the country! For us to even get close to that level of hatred, we had to literally invade more than half the world. And even then everyone loved us, really, deep down.

Once again, loan us the money, Germany, and not only will we definitely pay it back, but we'll give you something better than smoldering hot discontent and utter hatred in return. Hell, we'd even say "thank you."

But it doesn't stop there. Oh, no.

Germany has been a net contributor to the EU for a very long time, with net payments equaling 360 billion euros since it joined the EU. And in return, the southern half of the EU hates it, and both the southern and northern parts moan that Germany is dominating the institution and the Continent. People say it is achieving via the EU what it could not with its Panzers and Luftwaffe seventy years ago.

What a great use of resources! Normally when I give people money, they like me a bit more. They certainly don't like me less. And most of the time, few then go on to accuse me of trying to seek dominion over the European Continent. Truly, Germany, bravo.

And then there is Germany's attempt at being a "green superpower" (which is pathetically insecure German diplomat-speak for "how can we make the rest of the world like us even more?"). Average German energy prices for companies have increased by sixty percent over the last five years. A government estimate predicts that by 2040, the cost of weening itself off nuclear energy and fossil fuels will be more than a trillion euros.

And, of course, it will probably fail.

The self-hating liberals who run Germany have squandered their people's hard work and savings on completely unnecessary, self-harming, and frivolous vanity projects.

And why?

Because the German elites just want Germany to be liked abroad so it can move on from its horrible past. But they are doing it all the wrong way, and ruining their people's future in the process. Germany's birth rate is 1.3 children per woman; for Germany, today's savings are tomorrow's pensions and imports from abroad to look after the present-day population who will have too few children upon which to rely.

But hey, I'm sure all those rape-fugees will be happy to lend a hand. I'm sure they'll remember your generosity and repay you the favor in future.
The famous Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The canal is 6.4 kilometers in length and only 21.3 meters wide at its base. Earth cliffs flanking either side of the canal reach a maximum height of 63 meters. Aside from a few modest sized cruise ships, the Corinth Canal is unserviceable to most modern ships.

The Corinth Canal, though only completed in the late 19th century, was an idea and dream that dates back over 2000 thousand years.

Before it was built, ships sailing between the Aegean and Adriatic had to circumnavigate the Peloponnese adding about 185 nautical miles to their journey. The first to decide to dig the Corinth Canal was Periander, the tyrant of Corinth (602 BCE). Such a giant project was above the technical capabilities of ancient times so Periander carried out another great project, the diolkos, a stone road, on which the ships were transferred on wheeled platforms from one sea to the other. Dimitrios Poliorkitis, king of Macedon (c. 300 BCE), was the second who tried, but his engineers insisted that if the seas where connected, the more northerly Adriatic, mistakenly thought to be higher, would flood the more southern Aegean. At the time, it was also thought that Poseidon, god of the sea, opposed joining the Aegean and the Adriatic. The same fear also stopped Julius Caesar and emperors Hadrian and Caligula. The most serious try was that of Emperor Nero (67 CE). He had 6,000 slaves for the job. He started the work himself, digging with a golden hoe, while music was played. However, he was killed before the work could be completed.

Will it pass? Photo credit

In the modern era, the first who thought seriously to carry out the project was Capodistrias (c. 1830), first governor of Greece after the liberation from the Ottoman Turks. But the budget, estimated at 40 million French francs, was too much for the Greek state. Finally, in 1869, the Parliament authorized the Government to grant a private company (Austrian General Etiene Tyrr) the privilege to construct the Canal of Corinth. Work began on Mar 29, 1882, but Tyrr's capital of 30 million francs proved to be insufficient. The work was restarted in 1890, by a new Greek company (Andreas Syggros), with a capital of 5 million francs. The job was finally completed and regular use of the Canal started on Oct 28, 1893. Due to the canal's narrowness, navigational problems and periodic closures to repair landslips from its steep walls, it failed to attract the level of traffic anticipated by its operators. It is now used mainly for tourist traffic. The bridge above is perfect for bungee jumping.

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Sources: 1, 2
The announcement of Samsungs galaxy Note 7 still doesnt have an official date, but there have been more than enough rumors to keep people going until the tech giant actually unveils information about the device. Most recently, it was allegedly confirmed that Samsung will indeed be calling the next Note device the Galaxy Note 7, as a leaked logo suggests this is the case. That same leak also revealed that the device would reportedly be coming with an iris scanner as it has been previously rumored a couple of times earlier this year. Additionally, the leak also reveled that the Galaxy Note 7 will be coming in three different colors which include a Black, a Silver, and a Blue color, which has to do with todays rumor.

According to a post on Dutch site Galaxy Club, the name for the Blue model of the Galaxy Note 7 is to be called Blue Coral. While there is nothing particular about the name to suggest that this is most assuredly going to be the color name that Samsung has decided on, they, along with every other phone manufacturer for the most part, do tend to choose something a little more adventurous than simply, Blue or Black. Taking that into consideration, Blue Coral is a slight departure from the Blue Topaz color found on last years Galaxy S6 which was very bright. A name like Blue Coral suggests that the color will be vibrant and bold, if not vivid, but perhaps offer a deeper tone.

Advertisement

Color aside, the Galaxy Note 7 is also rumored to be sticking with a Quad HD display and not bump things up to the 4K resolution that was rumored for the device earlier this year. This would seem to be the case if another recent specs rumor proves to be true, as the device is said to have a 5.7-inch QHD screen, among other specs like the Dual Pixel 12MP rear camera along with a 5MP front camera, 64GB of internal storage space along with expandable storage through a microSD card, and an IP68 certification making the device resistant to water and dust. Samsung has been rumored to start mass production of the device next month, so its possible that they could be gearing up for an unveiling the following month.
Remain supporting media joins UKIP in spreading fear over migrants

Having warned against a vote for Leave in the EU Referendum, the Mirror titles are in a dither. Do they: a) ignore the whole thing; b) try to beat UK leader Nigel Farage at his own game by whipping up fears over immigration, and in so doing connect with the papers readership whose vote for Labour was once a given?

The Sunday Mirror just goes with a):

The Sunday People opts for b):



Congratulations to Wales, which voted out of the EU and stayed in the Euros (source for joke: all papers). But what about those half a million desperate migrants? Well, the People seems unsure who they are: are they migrants or EU workers? And what of the number? A clue to how speculative it is comes in a further headline:

Brexit to cause immigration surge as 500,000 East Europeans will rush in before borders close

The inverted commas means its untrue. Fact is now opinion. Whose opinion becomes clear  and no, its not the Daily Express leader writers:

The warning was issued by former minister Phil Woolas who said those who wanted to halt immigration will, perversely, cause the opposite

Woolas is a former Labour MP. He says:

Every time the UK Government announces a cap on immigration, thousands rush in before the deadline. Would-be immigrants see that the door is about to slam. So they bring forward their plans and a last-minute rush heads for the UK. In the Home Office, they call it the fire sale.

So the papers headline figure is a guess based on the opinion of a former Labour MP. And what do we know of him? Well, the BBC reported in 2010:

Former Labour MP Phil Woolas has admitted defeat in his battle to overturn a court ruling which stripped him of his Commons seat. It is the end of the road  I am out, the former immigration minister said as he left the High Court. It means a by-election in his Oldham East and Saddleworth is likely soon. Mr Woolas narrowly won the seat in May but the result was declared void by an election court which ruled he had lied about his Lib Dem rival. The specially convened election court ruled that comments in campaign material suggesting Lib Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins had tried to woo the votes of Muslim extremists, clearly amounted to an attack on his personal character and conduct. The court ruled he was guilty of breaching the Representation of the People Act 1983 and barred him from standing for elected office for three years, as well as fining him 5,000.

What the former Labour immigration minister says is now front-page news.

Anorak

Posted: 26th, June 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen will provide its Total Airport and Airspace Modeler (TAAM) solution to assist IGA and DHMI, Turkeys General Directorate of State Airports Authority. This group will support the development of Istanbul New Airport airspace design, the airport operation optimisation programme and an operational readiness plan.

We look forward to working with IGA and DHMI to find the most effective operational concepts for the Istanbul area, as part of the overall investment in the infrastructure of Turkish aerospace, said Aysem Sargin, managing director of Boeing Turkey. Using our TAAM tool, we will be able to show the impacts of all operational concepts and assist the Istanbul New Airport team to make the most informed decisions possible for the new airport.

The Jeppesen TAAM analysis tool will be used with the IGA and DHMI teams to conduct studies that would potentially maximize Istanbul New Airport runway operations and overall airspace capacity and efficiency. Maintaining safety and minimising airspace conflict within the regional Istanbul Terminal Control Area is another key aspect of the project.

Several operational procedure alternatives will be simulated and analysed by TAAM to assist the new airports airspace and runway optimisation process. Both IGA and DHMI will be trained to use the TAAM solution, allowing active participation in the project, as well as the ability to conduct their own continuing analysis projects, following the successful delivery of Jeppesens analysis.
The change to the larger Boeing 777-300ER aircraft will offer an enhanced onboard experience for Emirates Senegalese customers and those travelling to Dakar from across the airlines network. The aircraft will be in a three class configuration with eight private suites in First Class, featuring automated sliding doors for privacy, personal mini-bar, and fully inclined seats; 42 lie flat seats in Business Class; and due to its bigger size, 310 spacious seats in Economy Class.
Capt. Abdul Hakeem Al-Badr, assistant to GACA's president for safety, security and air transport, said in a statement that Flynas would be tasked with developing the region's connectivity with other towns around Saudi Arabia, as well as internationally. Hail already acts as the country's northern gateway.
At the ecumenical encounter and prayer for peace Francis says "we are walking together on a journey that has already taken us far". In the Middle East, "where so many of our brothers and sisters suffer violence and persecution on account of hatred and interminable conflicts. Those conflicts are fueled by the proliferation of weapons and by the arms trade".

Yerevan (AsiaNews) - Victims of a "immense and senseless slaughter" which is "only right" to remember, the Armenians are "ambassadors of peace" in a world where so many people are "forced to leave everything, especially in the Middle East, where so many of our brothers and sisters suffer violence and persecution. " Peace, with the exhortation "to resume the path of reconciliation between the Armenian and the Turkish people, and peace also in Nagorno Karabakh" - the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan - and the unity of Christians were at the center of speech that Pope Francis addressed to 50 thousand people gathered in Republic Square of Yerevan (photo), for an ecumenical meeting and prayer for peace.

Francis returned to Yerevan after celebrating Mass in Gyumri, where he also visited the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral "Yot Verk" and the Armenian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Martyrs. Francis, accompanied at every stage by the Catholicos, was welcomed by a festive crowd, President Sargsyan and a symphony orchestra.

Francis in his speech, recalled the "unique history, full of rugged faith and immense suffering, a story full of magnificent witnesses of the Gospel" of the Armenian people. He also spoke of the "the visits and meetings between our Churches, always cordial and often memorable, have, thank God, increased". "With great joy, we are walking together on a journey that has already taken us far, and we look confidently towards the day when by Gods help we shall be united around the altar of Christs sacrifice in the fullness of Eucharistic communion".

The unity of Christians "does not have to do with strategic advantages sought out of mutual self-interest. Rather, it is what Jesus requires of us and what we ourselves must strive to attain with good will, constant effort and consistent witness, in the fulfilment of our mission of bringing the Gospel to the world". "It is beautiful that we have gathered here to pray for one another and with one another. It is above all the gift of prayer that I come this evening to ask of you. For my part, I assure you that, in offering the bread and cup at the altar, I will not fail to present to the Lord the Church of Armenia and your dear people".

"" I give you my peace. Not as the world gives do I give to you "(Jn 14:27). We listened - said the Pope - these words of the Gospel, we have to implore God that peace which the world so hard to find. As the obstacles on the way of peace, and how tragic the consequences of war are big today! I think of the people forced to abandon everything, especially in the Middle East, where many of our brothers and sisters suffer violence and persecution, because of hatred and conflicts always fomented by the scourge of proliferation and the arms trade, the temptation to resort to strength and lack of respect for the human person, especially the weak, the poor and for those who demand only a dignified life. "

"Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives it, do I give it to you (Jn 14:27). We have heard these words of the Gospel, which invite us to implore from God that peace that the world struggles to achieve. How many obstacles are found today along the path of peace, and how tragic the consequences of wars! I think of all those forced to leave everything behind, particularly in the Middle East, where so many of our brothers and sisters suffer violence and persecution on account of hatred and interminable conflicts. Those conflicts are fueled by the proliferation of weapons and by the arms trade, by the temptation to resort to force and by lack of respect for the human person, especially for the weak, the poor and those who seek only a dignified life".

"Nor can I fail to think of the terrible trials that your own people experienced. A century has just passed from the Great Evil unleashed upon you. This immense and senseless slaughter (Greeting, Mass for Faithful of the Armenian Rite, 12 April 2015), this tragic mystery of iniquity that your people experienced in the flesh, remains impressed in our memory and burns in our hearts. Here I would again state that your sufferings are our own: they are the sufferings of the members of Christs Mystical Body (JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter on the 1700th Anniversary of the Baptism of the Armenian People, 4: Insegnamenti XXIV/1 [2001], 275). Not to forget them is not only right, it is a duty. May they be a perennial warning lest the world fall back into the maelstrom of similar horrors!".

"At the same time, I recall with admiration how the Christian faith, even at the most tragic moments of Armenian history, was the driving force that marked the beginning of your suffering peoples rebirth (ibid., 276). That is your true strength, which enables you to be open to the mysterious and saving path of Easter. Wounds still open, caused by fierce and senseless hatred, can in some way be configured to the wounds of the risen Christ, those wounds that were inflicted upon him and that he bears even now impressed on his flesh. He showed those glorious wounds to the disciples on the evening of Easter (cf. Jn 20:20). Those terrible, painful wounds suffered on the cross, transfigured by love, have become a wellspring of forgiveness and peace. Even the greatest pain, transformed by the saving power of the cross, of which Armenians are heralds and witnesses, can become a seed of peace for the future".

"Memory, infused with love, becomes capable of setting out on new and unexpected paths, where designs of hatred become projects of reconciliation, where hope arises for a better future for everyone, where blessed are the peacemakers (Mt 5:9). We would all benefit from efforts to lay the foundations of a future that will resist being caught up in the illusory power of vengeance, a future of constant efforts to create the conditions for peace: dignified employment for all, care for those in greatest need, and the unending battle to eliminate corruption".

"Dear young people, this future belongs to you. Cherish the great wisdom of your elders and strive to be peacemakers: not content with the status quo, but actively engaged in building the culture of encounter and reconciliation. May God bless your future and grant that the people of Armenia and Turkey take up again the path of reconciliation, and may peace also spring forth in Nagorno Karabakh (Message to the Armenians, 12 April 2015)".

"In this perspective, I would like lastly to mention another great witness and builder of Christs peace, Saint Gregory of Narek, whom I have proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. He could also be defined as a Doctor of Peace. Thus he wrote in the extraordinary Book that I like to consider the spiritual constitution of the Armenian people: Remember [Lord,] those of the human race who are our enemies as well, and for their benefit accord them pardon and mercy Do not destroy those who persecute me, but reform them; root out the vile ways of this world, and plant the good in me and them (Book of Lamentations, 83, 1-2). Narek, profoundly conscious of sharing in every need (ibid., 3, 2), sought also to identify with the weak and sinners of every time and place in order to intercede on behalf of all (cf. ibid., 31, 3; 32, 1; 47, 2). He became the intercessor of the whole world (ibid., 28, 2). This, his universal solidarity with humanity, is a great Christian message of peace, a heartfelt plea of mercy for all. Armenians are present in so many countries of the world; from here, I wish fraternally to embrace everyone. I encourage all of you, everywhere, to give voice to this desire for fellowship, to be ambassadors of peace (JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter for the 1700th anniversary of the Baptism of the Armenian People, 7: Insegnamenti XXIV/1 [2001], 278). The whole world needs this message, it needs your presence, it needs your purest witness. Khararutiun amenetzun! (Peace to you!)".
At the conclusion of his visit Francis signed a joint declaration with Catholicos Karenin II. The "constant conflicts based on ethnicity, political and religious in the Middle East and other parts of the world." The willingness of the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church to continue on the path towards full unity.

Yerevan (AsiaNews) - The assertion of the right to religious freedom and the will of the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church to continue on the path towards full unity are the principles established in the Joint Declaration signed by Pope Francis and the Catholicos Karenin II, which can be considered the summary and conclusion of the Pope's visit to Armenia, from where he departed at 18:30 (local time).

His last appointment before the farewell ceremony was a visit to the monastery of Khor Virap, one of the sacred places of the Armenian Church. The monastery at the foot of Mount Ararat, is tied to the memory of St. Gregory the Illuminator who is considered the founder of the Armenian Church. He was imprisoned here for 13 years in a well that still exists.

A short visit, marked by the recitation of the Our Father in Armenian and Italian by Karekin and Francesco. Symbolic, finally, the liberation (pictured) of two white doves towards Ararat, a symbol of peace and hope.

Hope, alongside the denunciation of violence against religious minorities, is at the heart of the Joint Declaration, which states: "Sadly, though, we are witnessing an immense tragedy unfolding before our eyes, of countless innocent people being killed, displaced or forced into a painful and uncertain exile by continuing conflicts on ethnic, economic, political and religious grounds in the Middle East and other parts of the world. As a result, religious and ethnic minorities have become the target of persecution and cruel treatment, to the point that suffering for ones religious belief has become a daily reality. The martyrs belong to all the Churches and their suffering is an ecumenism of blood which transcends the historical divisions between Christians, calling us all to promote the visible unity of Christs disciples. Together we pray, through the intercession of the holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, Thaddeus and Bartholomew, for a change of heart in all those who commit such crimes and those who are in a position to stop the violence. We implore the leaders of nations to listen to the plea of millions of human beings who long for peace and justice in the world, who demand respect for their God-given rights, who have urgent need of bread, not guns. Sadly, we are witnessing a presentation of religion and religious values in a fundamentalist way, which is used to justify the spread of hatred, discrimination and violence. The justification of such crimes on the basis of religious ideas is unacceptable, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (I Corinthians 14:33). Moreover, respect for religious difference is the necessary condition for the peaceful cohabitation of different ethnic and religious communities. Precisely because we are Christians, we are called to seek and implement paths towards reconciliation and peace. In this regard we also express our hope for a peaceful resolution of the issues surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh".

The statement denounces then that "The secularization of large sectors of society, its alienation from the spiritual and divine, leads inevitably to a desacralized and materialistic vision of man and the human family. In this respect we are concerned about the crisis of the family in many countries. The Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church share the same vision of the family, based on marriage, an act of freely given and faithful love between man and woman".

The document also emphasizes "the continuing and growing closeness in faith and love between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church in their common witness to the gospel in a world torn by conflicts and eager to comfort and hope". "We gladly confirm that despite continuing divisions among Christians, we have come to realize more clearly that what unites us is much more than what divides us. This is the solid basis upon which the unity of Christs Church will be made manifest, in accordance with the Lords words, that they all may be one (John 17.21). Over the past decades the relationship between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church has successfully entered a new phase, strengthened by our mutual prayers and joint efforts in overcoming contemporary challenges. Today we are convinced of the crucial importance of furthering this relationship, engaging in deeper and more decisive collaboration not only in the area of theology, but also in prayer and active cooperation on the level of the local communities, with a view to sharing full communion and concrete expressions of unity. We urge our faithful to work in harmony for the promotion in society of the Christian values which effectively contribute to building a civilization of justice, peace and human solidarity".
Pope Francis attends the Armenian Apostolic divine liturgy. The program does not include a Catholic mass today, to emphasize the unique Eucharistic mystery. The "common wealth" of the two traditions; the intercession of the Spirit, the Mother of God, the saints, the Armenian martyrs to "re-found unity". "Let us pay heed to the younger generation, who seek a future free of past divisions" and the end of the "scandal" of division among Christians.

Etchmiadzin (AsiaNews) - A liturgy full of yearning for unity among Christians, both sweet and sorrowful, was witnessed this morning by Pope Francis before St. Tiridates in Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate: sweet for the many signs of unity expressed; sorrowful because at communion, the Pope could not take the body and blood of Christ.

It was the Pope's desire not to celebrate a mass, but participate in the Armenian Divine Liturgy, to emphasize that the Eucharistic mystery that Catholics and Armenians celebrate is the same. The signs of fraternity between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church have multiplied during the ceremony until the final request of Pope Francis to be blessed by the Catholicos Karekin II: "Your Holiness, in the name of God, I ask you to bless me, bless me and the Catholic Church, to bless this our path towards full unity ".

Yesterday, after the Catholic liturgy, in which the Armenian Patriarch had witnessed, the Pope had invited him onto the popemobile so that together, side by side, they blessed the crowd of faithful. Today not a blessing "on par", but the request to be blessed, as if considering the patriarch superior to himself.

It is no secret that one of the problems that stand in the way of the Orthodox churches (and even the Armenian Apostolic) from full communion with Rome is the fear of being sucked into a hierarchical structure where the Pope is monarch and submits other sister Churches to rites and obligations. Instead, over the past few day, Pope Francis has shown himself to be a brother in the faith.

In his final greeting, translated into Armenian, the Pope explained this new style of ecumenical relations: "May the Armenian Church walk in peace and may the communion between us be complete. May an ardent desire for unity rise up in our hearts, a unity that must not be the submission of one to the other, or assimilation, but rather the acceptance of all the gifts that God has given to each. This will reveal to the entire world the great mystery of salvation accomplished by Christ the Lord through the Holy Spirit".

Francis recalled all its "common wealth" of the two traditions, on earth and in heaven: "the gifts, hopes and concerns of the Church of Christ. We have felt as one her beating heart, and we believe and experience that the Church is one"; the apostolic brotherhood in heaven among the saints Bartholomew and Thaddeus (first evangelizers of Armenia) and Peter and Paul.

In order to obtain this unity, the pontiff called for "the intercession of the Mother of God, the great saints and doctors, the martyrs, especially the many whom you canonized last year in this place" and the Holy Spirit "make all believers one heart and soul; may he come to re-establish us in unity" bestow on us your fire of love and unity, and may the cause of our scandal be dissolved by this love above all the lack of unity among Christs disciples".

This unity is a function of the mission: "Let us respond to the appeal of the saints, let us listen to the voices of the humble and poor, of the many victims of hatred who suffered and gave their lives for the faith. Let us pay heed to the younger generation, who seek a future free of past divisions".

At communion, the Pope stood aside while the patriarch and bishops took the sacred host, at the end of the liturgy Karekin II invited Pope Francis to bless the congregation. Both, together, under the canopy, greeted and blessed the crowd during the final procession.
By Paul Doornbusch, Adjunct professor of computer science at The University of Melbourne and Associate Dean, Australian College of

University of Melbourne/MSE-CIS Heritage Collection

We dont think twice about playing music via a computer  we have them in our pockets, and in our homes and offices, with music on tap. But playing music on a computer was once an almost unthinkable leap of the imagination and the most devilishly difficult programming challenge.

The worlds fourth digital computer was designed and built in Australia by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR, the precursor of the CSIRO). It started life as a dream in 1947, ran its first test program in 1949 and played music in 1950 or 1951.

Initially known as the CSIR Mark 1  later renamed CSIRAC (the CSIR Automatic Computer)  it was built at the CSIRs radiophysics division in Sydney.

CSIRAC was a very primitive computer by todays standards. It was very slow (1,000 cycles per second); it did not have very much memory (about 2KB of RAM and 3KB of disk memory); it filled a room and; it had no display like a modern computer.

Out of the hooter

Most output from CSIRAC was via punched paper tape that was later converted to text on another machine. The only familiar output device was a speaker (called the hooter), and it was used to track the progress of a program.

Programmers would place a sound at the end of their program so they knew it had ended (this was known as a blurt), or they would program progress-indicator blurts into a program.

Despite being primitive, CSIRAC performed groundbreaking work, including running the calculations to find the centre of our galaxy in 1953, and for the engineering of our first skyscraper building.









Paul Doornbusch





CSIRAC was a serial computer, it passed digital bits around one at a time unlike the 32 or 64 bits passed around in parallel in modern computers.

The memory on the CSIRAC was mercury acoustic delay lines. That means a pulse would be put into the memory tube, it would travel to the other end of the tube and be recycled back to the front. In this way, many bits and digital words could be stored in one tube of mercury. There were about 20 memory tubes functional at any time.

A consequence of using mercury acoustic delay time memory was that each memory access took a different time. This would prove problematic for any time-critical application, such as playing music in real time.

The music maker

The first software engineer or programmer was the mathematician Geoff Hill, who is something of an unsung hero of Australian computing.

Hill came from a very musical family; his mother was a music teacher, his sister a performer and he had perfect pitch. This is crucial, as the way CSIRAC created sounds was by sending raw pulses from the computer data bus to the speaker.

If casually programmed, these pulses would arrive at the speaker at somewhat random times, resulting in the blurting type of sound used by programmers to indicate points in the programs execution.

Hill would have quickly realised that if he could get the pulses to arrive at a regular time, then he would get a steady pitch. Then, perhaps he could program the notes of a musical scale.

This was an exceedingly difficult task because each memory access took a different time, and the overall clock frequency was only 1,000 cycles a second.

But Hill managed this, and his musical knowledge was invaluable, although on at least one occasion he telephoned his mother late at night and asked her if some notes were in tune while holding the telephone receiver to the computer speaker.

Her response on the first occasion was to scold Hill for playing silly buggers with a comb and a piece of paper and annoying her late and night when his dinner was in the oven! She didnt understand what was going on.

A simple tune

Hill programmed CSIRAC to play various popular tunes of the day, such as Colonel Bogey, Girl with Flaxen Hair and so on. This was natural as the programmers were not musical specialists and were not interested in what using a computer meant for the potential composition and performance of music.

The music was one of CSIRACs parlour tricks. Dick McGee remembers it playing music when he started at the CSIRO in April 1951. At Australias first computing conference, on August 7-9, 1951, everyone was talking about it afterwards and it caused quite a stir.

The late Trevor Pearcey led the team that created CSIRAC and he remembers its musical performances well, as recalls in the video interview from 1996, a couple of years before he died.





CSIRAC was thus the first computer in the world to play music. Sadly, none of the music it played was ever recorded.

Change of plan at CSIRO

There was some internal refocusing within the CSIRO and it was decided to concentrate on weather science and primary production rather than computation, leaving that to others and the commercial sector.

So it is not surprising that the CSIRO resisted the music being recorded at the time. However, it has now been faithfully reconstructed and can be heard again.

A team at The University of Melbourne, led by myself, built (valve) hardware to faithfully reconstruct CSIRACs pulse shapes, and software to be able to run the old programs.

After hand reading and entering the data from the old punched-paper program tapes, the programs were run with the reconstructed pulses and the music regenerated accurately.

The team even went to the trouble of sourcing a new speaker made within a few weeks of the original to play the music through. Museum Victoria very kindly let us put the speaker in the old cabinets to record the music being played so that it is as authentic as possible.









Paul Doornbusch, Author provided 116 KB (download) CSIRAC plays a music scale.









Paul Doornbusch, Author provided 270 KB (download) CSIRAC plays Colonel Bogey.









Paul Doornbusch, Author provided 289 KB (download) CSIRAC plays The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond.









Paul Doornbusch, Author provided 287 KB (download) CSIRAC plays Auld Lang Syne.

Shortly after CSIRAC first played music, in 1951 the BBC recorded a Ferranti Mark 1 computer playing music in Manchester, England. That is the oldest recording of a computer playing music.

When CSIRAC moved to the University of Melbourne in 1956, it continued to play music. The universitys mathematics professor Tom Cherry wrote a program so that anyone could punch a score or pianola tape for the computer to play without the intricacies of knowing how to program the hooter.

Professor Cherrys instructions on how to use the music program still exist.









Paul Doornbusch





A lost opportunity

The most significant early developments in computer music and digital audio happened in the United States from the late 1950s at Bell Labs.

In 1957, the acoustic researcher Max Mathews had the foresight to see the potential of this technology. He wrote a program that allowed an IBM 704 mainframe computer to play a 17-second composition.

Despite the earlier musical work with CSIRAC in Sydney, it is Matthews who is often referred to as the father of computer music.

But the developments started in the 1950s have led to the most exciting musical adventure we have ever embarked on  the application of digital technology to the creation, making, listening and distribution of music.

When discussing the CSIRAC music reconstruction project with the original engineers who had worked on CSIRAC in Melbourne, I lamented that the then Melbourne-based composer Percy Grainger had not been introduced to CSIRAC.

Peter Thorne, a former CSIRAC computer technician, told me:

We used to see him walk past the computation laboratory, wed say, There goes Percy Grainger.

I sighed. Grainger was Australias most adventurous composer of the day was a few metres away from a machine that could have realised some of his musical dreams. If he had met CSIRAC, some of the remarkable developments of combining computers and music could have been another Australian first.

Paul Doornbusch occasionally receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts for projects. He is author of the book The Music of CSIRAC: Australia's First Computer Music.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Hi



I am currently working for a government project associated with an international donor in the Health sector as an "Internal Audit officer". It has been almost 2 years and 8 months plus before this I was working for a private firm associated with health as an "Assistant Manager Internal Audit". Before that I was working for a bank I have a total of 4 years experience in Internal Audit . I completed my education in 2009 titled BBA (hons) with a major in Finance(Majors are not included in degrees but can be evaluated from the transcript). Around 18 credit hours for core accounting courses(No Course titled audit) and 113 credit hours for Business/Finance/social sciences. I was born in 1984. I personally assume that I have only a few months to avail the maximum age points.



What are my chances of a successful application for Immigration to Australia. Vettasses is the body assessing skills and education. Can anybody advise on my chances?



Regards
I have logged my 189 visa application and CO assigned on 17 march 2016. I have submitted all the document including form 80, 1221, and medical on 15 April 2016. On may 08 2016 my HR received my letter of role and responsibilities which i have signed from my senior colleague. HR replied my letter on 01 June 2016. I dont know whether they have given positive feedback or not. Almost one month has passed but CO haven't contacted me. Whether i assume my application is under process or in case of negative HR feedback how much time CO takes to reply the candidate. In addition to above the role and responsibility letter is authentic but only issued by my senior colleague
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Yerevans central square on Saturday to welcome the visiting Pope Francis during a joint prayer service which he held there with Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Many of them waved Armenian and Vatican flags as the two spiritual leaders walked through the crowd to step onto an imposing altar where they prayed for peace and delivered speeches afterwards.

Francis praised growing ties between the Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic Churches, expressing hope that they as well as other Christian denominations will eventually become united.

Let us race towards our full communion, he told the audience from the podium erected at Republic Square in the exact place where a statue of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, once stood.

The pontiff again stated that the immense and senseless slaughter of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which has repeatedly termed genocide in his previous statements, must not be forgotten. But he urged the people of Armenia to also look to the future and seek reconciliation with Turkey.

Even the greatest pain, transformed by the saving power of the cross, of which Armenians are heralds and witnesses, can become a seed of peace for the future, he said. Memory, infused with love, becomes capable of setting out on new and unexpected paths, where designs of hatred become projects of reconciliation, where hope arises for a better future for everyone.

We would all benefit from efforts to lay the foundations of a future that will resist being caught up in the illusory power of vengeance, a future of constant efforts to create the conditions for peace: dignified employment for all, care for those in greatest need, and the unending battle to eliminate corruption, he added, drawing loud applause from the crowd.

The papal address contained many quotes from the works of two medieval Armenian theologians. Francis bestowed the title of Doctor of the Universal Church on one of them, Gregory of Narek (Grigor Narekatsi), during a 2015 Vatican mass dedicated to the centenary of the Armenian genocide.

Garegin, meanwhile, lambasted both Turkey and Azerbaijan in remarks reflecting the Armenian governments views. In particular, he denounced Ankaras continuing denial of the Armenian genocide and its illegal blockade of Armenia.

Garegin also blamed Azerbaijan for last Aprils escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that threatened to degenerate into an all-out Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Francis and Garegin ended the service by watering a vine planted in a wooden model of Noah's Ark which had landed, according to the Bible, on Mount Ararat located in modern-day Turkey, just a few kilometers from the Armenian border. The snow-capped mountain overlooks Yerevan and some other parts of Armenia. It is viewed by many Armenians as a key national symbol.

Francis received the arks model as a gift from a group of Armenian teenagers clad in national costume.
Pope Francis hailed the Vaticans growing closeness with the Armenian Apostolic Church and called for an eventual union between the two Christian denominations at the end of a three-day visit to Armenia on Sunday.

In a joint declaration, Francis and Catholicos Garegin II pledged to promote Christian unity around the world by further deepening relations between their ancient churches.

They also expressed concern at the secularization of contemporary societies, reaffirmed their opposition to same-sex marriage, condemned the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and urged world powers to end bloody conflicts in and outside the region.

In this regard we also express our hope for a peaceful resolution of the issues surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, they said in the statement signed at Garegins headquarters in Echmiadzin, a small town near Yerevan.

After the signing ceremony, Francis and Garegin headed to the nearby historic monastery of Khor Virap where they prayed together and released two doves symbolizing peace towards Mount Ararat situated just a few kilometers away in Turkey.

Khor Virap was built at the site of a dungeon where Gregory the Illuminator, the first Armenian Catholicos, had been imprisoned before convincing King Tiridates III to adopt Christianity as Armenias state religion.

Francis repeatedly paid tribute to Armenias Christian heritage during the trip that set another milestone in a rapprochement between the Roman Catholic and Armenian churches. The two churches essentially ended their long-standing theological differences with a joint statement issued in 1996. In 2001, John Paull II became the first Pope to have ever visited Armenia.

Successive Armenian governments have similarly sought closer ties with the Vatican. President Serzh Sarkisian attended Franciss papal inauguration in 2013 and again visited the Vatican in 2014 and 2015.

Sarkisian, whose influential son-in-law is Armenias ambassador to the Holy See, attended most of Franciss engagements in Armenia, including an ecumenical service held in Yerevans biggest square on Saturday.

Francis and Garegin praised the continuing and growing closeness in faith and love between their churches. Today we are convinced of the crucial importance of furthering this relationship, engaging in deeper and more decisive collaboration not only in the area of theology, but also in prayer and active cooperation on the level of the local communities, with a view to sharing full communion and concrete expressions of unity, they said in their declaration.

Francis made a case for a complete reunion when he attended and addressed an open-air Armenian Apostolic mass held by Garegin II in Echmiadzin on Sunday morning. He called for a unity that must not be the submission of one to the other, or assimilation, but rather the acceptance of all the gifts that God has given to each.

We and our people will always pray for you, my beloved Brother, and your endeavors for the sake of the welfare and peaceful life of humankind, Garegin said for his part.

The joint declaration by the two men stresses the importance of global Christian unity in the context of an immense tragedy suffered by ancient Christian communities in the Middle East. The martyrs belong to all the Churches and their suffering is an ecumenism of blood which transcends the historical divisions between Christians, calling us all to promote the visible unity of Christs disciples, it says.

In a clear reference to Islamist extremism, the document condemns a presentation of religion and religious values in a fundamentalist way.

Francis and Garegin further deplored the declining role of religion in many Christian nations. The secularization of large sectors of society, its alienation from the spiritual and divine, leads inevitably to a desacralized and materialistic vision of man and the human family, they said. In this respect we are concerned about the crisis of the family in many countries.

The declaration emphasizes that both churches believe that marriage can only be an act of faithful love between man and woman.

Garegins sermon delivered at the Echmiadzin mass contained emphatic defense of this and other religious values. He went as far as to assert that attempts to build a world without God are at the root of political, socioeconomic and even environmental problems facing humanity.
26 June 2016 09:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan's Armed Forces celebrate 98th anniversary of the establishment of the South Caucasus most powerful army June 26.

The Azerbaijani Army is one of the strongest, most highly-disciplined armies in the world and the leading in the region. It is equipped with new high-quality weapons made by domestic and foreign military-industrial systems.

The history of the modern Azerbaijani army dates back to the establishment of the first Democratic Republic in the Muslim East -- Azerbaijan Democratic Republic -- in the early 20th century. The Armed Forces of the ADR were created on June 26, 1918 to protect the country from military aggression by Armenia and Russia.

Years passed and the history was sometimes a hard teacher for Azerbaijani people. But gaining the state independence, and the ongoing reforms in the military sphere, helped to create a powerful army and lay the foundation for its future development.

Nowadays, the skills and combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army are growing year by year and the army building process is progressing as well.

The army building process is of particular importance for Azerbaijan, as twenty percent of the country's territory is under Armenian occupation and the country is in a state of war with Armenia.



Azerbaijani Armed Forces are called to liberate the lands occupied by Armenian aggressors, stand in guard of national interests and protect the territorial integrity of the country.

Its known that despite ultramodern modernization of the army, the most required thing that makes any army powerful is the awareness of the need to protect a homeland. In the early 1990s, at the height of the "hot phase" of the conflict, Azerbaijani soldiers had nothing but faith in their own state, but today Azerbaijani army strikes fear into enemies hearts.

The recent April events on the front line between Azerbaijan and Armenia, showed the power of the Azerbaijani Army and willingness of Azerbaijan to liberate its historical lands from the enemy occupation. To prevent Armenian provocations launched on the contact line of troops on April 2, Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Today, material and technical equipment of the Azerbaijani army is at the highest level and the national army is one of the strongest armies in the world.

Azerbaijani army stands at the 60th place in the world ranking military power Global Firepower Index.



Azerbaijans military budget for 2016 is about $1.466 billion. The country's military budget exceeds the overall state budget of occupant Armenia by more than $1 billion.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces have entered a period of development and improvement. The country has created conditions for the formation of the military-industrial complex and the production of defense products.

In his speech to the soldiers on June 26, 2014, the Supreme Commander in Chief, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has a strong army.



The potential of the army becomes stronger and increases day by day. Construction of the army is our public policy and priority, and in this respect very much has been done in recent years. Our army is equipped with new appliances... the president emphasized.

Azerbaijan purchases military equipment mostly from Turkey, Israel, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, the U.S. etc.



The Azerbaijani army is supplied with modern weapons and technical equipment for maintaining a high level of combat capability. The army now possesses 120 mm portable mortars 2S12 SANI, 220 mm heavy flamethrower systems S-1, 152 mm self-propelled howitzers Msta-S, and 120 mm self-propelled artillery weapon 2S31 Vena, while one military unit is completely equipped with BMP-3 type military vehicles.

Azerbaijan, as the first state of the region manufacturing own armored defense technology, supplies the Defense Ministry with armored vehicles of Matador and Marauder manufacturing it jointly with foreign partners.

Over the past few years Azerbaijan has also succeeded to modernize and strengthen the Caspian fleet inherited from the Soviet time. At present the Azerbaijani Navy is considered as the second, after Russia, strongest fleet in the Caspian Sea for its capabilities.

Azerbaijan attaches importance to the improvement and modernization of its army's capabilities, including the level of combat efficiency both in terms of defense and attack operations.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have collaborated with NATO under the Partnership for the Peace Program since 1994 and have military cooperation with a number of foreign states.

The Azerbaijani Armed Forces contribution to international security and stability continues to grow.

Azerbaijan supports certain peacekeeping operations under NATO and the UN. Since September of 1994, the peacekeeping divisions of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces have served in international peacekeeping efforts forces in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Azerbaijans peacekeeping contingent, consisting of 34 soldiers, had successfully served in Kosovo from 1999 until 2008 under the Turkish Peace Keeping Forces of KFOR.

An Azerbaijani peacekeeping regiment, consisting of 150 soldiers and officers, has served in Iraq on the basis of a 2003 UN Security Council resolution.

Following a decree signed by President Heydar Aliyev on May 22, 1998, June 26 was announced a national holiday - the Day of the Armed Forces - and it has been celebrated in Azerbaijan since then.

With the strengthening of the armed forces, the military power of the country is increasing, and willingness of every officer and soldier to fight for each piece of the native land allow to say that Azerbaijan is ready to counter any threats posed by the foes.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
26 June 2016 10:17 (UTC+04:00)

An official reception marking the 98th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces has today been hosted by Azerbaijans representative office to NATO and the Military representative office of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces under the office at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The reception was attended by ambassadors of NATO member states, representatives of the diplomatic corps, military representatives of the NATO Military Committee countries, representatives of the NATO International Secretariat, NATO International Military Staff, members of NATO agencies, and military officials of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.

The event participants were informed about the history of the establishment and development of Azerbaijan`s Armed Forces, as well as its contribution to the international peacekeeping operations.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
26 June 2016 14:25 (UTC+04:00)

The 49th meeting of the Interstate Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification of the Commonwealth of Independence States will be held in Baku from June 27 to 29.

The council is the CIS Intergovernmental body for building and carrying out a coordinated policy in the field of standardization, metrology and certification.

The Interstate Council is recognized by the International Organization for Standardization.
26 June 2016 12:39 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR plans to increase the light oil products output in 2016, a source in the company told Trend.

The source said the light oil products are forecasted to account for 67.4 percent of the total oil products output in 2016.

The output of light oil products stood at around 3.5 million tons in 2015 and accounted for 64.2 percent of the total production, said the source. In 2016, we plan to increase this figure to 67.4 percent, which is around 3.6-3.7 million tons.

SOCAR is the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan. In 2015, the company announced the liquidation of Azneftyag oil refinery and its merger with the Heydar Aliyev Baku Oil Refinery, which is currently being modernized.

After the modernization, the refinerys production capacity will increase from 6 million tons to 7.5 million tons per year.

Azerbaijan produced 5.45 million tons of oil products in 2015, as compared to 5.31 million tons in 2014.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
26 June 2016 15:00 (UTC+04:00)

"The number of tourists coming from Iran to Azerbaijan has increased," Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism said.

"This growth is driven by common historical and cultural values and geographical neighborhood between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Azerbaijan."

"The number of foreign nationals who visited Azerbaijan in the first 5 months of last year was 61,096, while it rose to 74,890 in 2016. Compared with the same period in 2015, the number of Iranian citizens who visited Azerbaijan increased by 23 percent this year,"the ministry said.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The Erskine Fire, which has ravaged the southern Sierra Nevada of central Kern County for five days now, had burned 45,000 acres, destroyed 20
Parade goers showed up early for this years Pride parade in St. Petersburg.

Parade attracts 4,500 marchers

Law enforcement out in force to ensure security

Combined with a block party, the parade attracted 150 businesses and organizations, 4,500 marchers and tens of thousands of supporters to St. Petersburgs eclectic Grand Central District.

Lesa Weikel of Clearwater and Victoria Perro of Palm Harbor brought recycled flowers representing the colors of life and pride to show their support and celebrate St. Pete Pride. "In the wake of Orlando, we have to live!" said Weikel. (Viriginia Johnson, staff)



Food and souvenir vendors lined the streets starting at 4 p.m., and by 6 p.m. music and dancing had filled the streets. The parade itself got underway at dusk.



For participants like Jessica Palmer and Alan Elmiger, the celebrations were welcome  especially in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.



We came to support equal rights, said Palmer, and to support the victims of the Orlando shooting.



Both Palmer and Elmiger will be participating in the parade as representatives for their employer, Boulevard Burgers and Taphouse. But following the terrorist attack at Pulse nightclub on June 12, they admit to being apprehensive.



Theres so many under cover [police officers], said Elmiger.



I feel safe, added Palmer. You cant live in a bubble for the rest of your life. You have to support what you want.

Law enforcement has a significant and visible presence out in downtown St. Petersburg as marchers and supporters converge on the Grand Central district for St. Pete Pride. (Chay Baxley, staff)
Guests socialized as they took to their tables for the 25th annual Breakfast with the Bishop fundraiser Saturday morning at St. Jude Thaddus Catholic Church in Beaumont. The event raises funds to support Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas, which provides a myriad of social services to the community. Guests enjoyed the performance of a Cajun band while gathering for a buffet breakfast and silent auction. Bishop Curtis Guillory thanked the record-setting crowd that filled the parish hall before offering a prayer of thanks and blessing for the celebration. Fran Landry, long-time volunteer and organizer of the event who passed away last year, also was honored during the ceremony.
Brits who wanted to stay in the European Union painted all kinds of dire scenarios if UK voters approved the British Exit, or Brexit. That's exactly what happened Thursday, and now the reckoning begins. What is the future of the United Kingdom and Europe - economically, politically, socially? How will it affect the US? Will all this prove to be a blip in history, or the start of vast change like the fall of the Berlin Wall?

In truth no one knows now, and the full shakeout might not be apparent for several years. But it's hard to imagine many good things happening as a result, and it's easy to imagine some bad things.

Most notably, the United Kingdom might cease to be united. What Americans think of as one country is actually four combined entities in the British Isles that don't always like each other. They are England (the southern and dominant part of the main island) along with junior partners Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Scots voted on leaving the UK in 2014 and the measure was narrowly defeated. It will almost certainly be revived soon, and probably succeed this time. Many Scots want independence anyway, and a majority of Scottish voters supported remaining in the EU by the strong margin of 62-38 percent. Now the supporters of Scottish secession can add a return to EU membership as another incentive to bail out.

Northern Ireland, where 56 percent voted to remain in the EU, also might bolt. Previously, the largely Protestant north had stood apart from the Catholic southern part of Ireland, which is a separate republic. But sentiment for Irish unity is now growing.

If either Scotland or Northern Ireland leaves the UK, and certainly if both depart, a once-major economic and nuclear power becomes just another smallish country. That matters.

The UK was the best military and political ally the United States had not just in Europe, but anywhere. We helped each other stare down Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and now Russia. The UK sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan when US forces invaded those two countries, providing tremendous diplomatic and psychological support in those dark days. Almost overnight, that once-vaunted "special relationship" could vanish because the other partner no longer exists.

The European breakup isn't limited to the UK If those separations occur, Catalonians and Basques in Spain will redouble their efforts to hive off. Belgium might break in two. Even if Europe remains whole, other countries might leave the EU too. If France departs - and it's already being discussed - the EU would basically be finished. On this side of the pond, don't be surprised if Quebec again considers leaving Canada as the independence movement spreads.

All of these European maneuvers would affect NATO, and not in a good way. If the alliance falters, the predatory Putin may be emboldened to push further into Ukraine, or "reunite" the motherland with the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which desperately want to remain independent. Will a future American president be inclined to risk US troops to resist that Russian expansion? Highly unlikely, especially if a divided Europe and NATO won't.

Granted, the above is a worst-case scenario. But it's not unrealistic to think that A might lead to B, which could lead to C, D, etc. And every ripple over there touches the US economically, diplomatically or militarily - and the future of your job and your 401k.

We'll see what the second and third acts hold. But if the dominos start falling, our world will never be the same, or as good.

-------------------------

Thomas Taschinger, TTaschinger@BeaumontEnterprise.com, is the editorial page editor of The Beaumont Enterprise. Follow him on Twitter at @PoliticalTom
Southern Nevada Health District's Board of Health voted down bids from three Las Vegas hospitals to add Level III trauma centers, mirroring recommendations from both the Regional Trauma Advisory Board and the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System to deny the applications, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

The bids came from Centennial Hills Hospital, Mountain View Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital.

Both Mountain View and Southern Hills are owned by the Hospital Corporation of America headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. According to the Sun, HCA said the board was biased toward maintaining the status quo in the region's trauma system because the advisory board's members consisted of five physicians and two nurses from competitor University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. UMC operates a Level II pediatric trauma center and the region's sole Level I trauma center. HCA has argued that the board voted to protect UMC and not improve patient care in the region.

Opponents of the bids argued that such an expansion would hinder UMC's ability to provide quality care and adequately train physicians, which would harm the overall quality of care in the region. They also said HCA's primary motives were to boost profits, not to improve the quality of healthcare for the community.
Bombardier has finally secured a long-awaited $1bn bailout from the Quebec regional government to help boost its CSeries passenger jets, which are part-made in Belfast.

One aerospace expert said this summer was the Canadian firm's "time to shine" and secure further orders for the aircraft.

The regional government in Quebec, where Bombardier is based, has ploughed $1bn (670m) into the CSeries programme in return for a 49.5% equity share in the project.

The deal was delayed as discussions dragged on, but it is now understood the first payment will be made on June 30 and the second on September 1.

Talks are still under way for a further cash bailout from Canada's federal government.

Bombardier was left reeling after delays to its CSeries passenger jets, the wings and fuselage of which are built in Belfast.

The plane-maker, which employs around 5,000 staff here, in April secured a deal to sell 75 of its CS100 planes to Delta Airlines, with the potential for a further 50 orders. However, it revealed in February that it planned to cut around 1,080 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next two years.

Bombardier said the Quebec deal would see the creation of a limited partnership, the CSeries Aircraft Limited Partnership.

Its chief executive Alain Bellemare added: "We are delighted to officially welcome the government as an equity partner in the CSeries programme.

"We are grateful for the confidence that the people and the government of Quebec have in the CSeries.

"Their investment will accelerate the momentum that we have created, strengthen customer confidence in the aircraft and provide Bombardier with the financial flexibility needed to compete and win."

The company is in talks with Canada's Liberty Party government - led by Justin Trudeau. Mr Trudeau - whose home province is Quebec, where Bombardier employs at least 18,000 people - has been under pressure to match the regional funding with federal funding since taking office in November.

Former Shorts/Bombardier man and ex-chief executive of Pacific Asia Travel Association, Martin J Craigs, said: "The government support will be welcome, but global aircraft programmes live or die in the marketplace. This summer is the CSeries' time to shine."

Bombardier said it would "maintain operational control of the CSeries program and consolidate its financial results".

Fred Cromer will serve as president in the project, as well as continuing as president of commercial aircraft.

Earlier this year, the Delta deal to buy 75 CS100 jets was said to be worth as much as 400m to Belfast's workforce.

Just last week, Belfast City Airport boss Brian Ambrose said the CSeries passenger jets could open up a direct route from the city to the east coast of America and the Middle East.

The narrow-body passenger planes are fuel-efficient and potentially give small airports greater reach across the world.

Earlier this month, IAG boss Willie Walsh told the Belfast Telegraph he was having discussions with Bombardier boss Alain Bellemere about buying a number of the aircraft.

At the International Air Transport Association AGM in Dublin, he added that the other orders, including deals with Delta Airlines and Lufthansa subsidiary SWISS, were encouraging.
British Airways owner IAG has issued a profit warning following the UK's decision to leave the EU.

The company's share price tanked 19% to 425.6p in trading on Friday morning.

It issued a statement which read: ''Following the outcome of the referendum, and given current market volatility, while IAG continues to expect a significant increase in operating profit this year, it no longer expects to generate an absolute operating profit increase similar to 2015.''

The firm insisted it believes the vote "will not have a long-term material impact on its business", but added that it experienced "a weaker than expected trading environment" in the run-up to the referendum.

EasyJet announced that it was "working on a number of options to allow it to continue flying in all of its markets".

It insisted that the Brexit vote "will not have a material impact" on its strategy or ability to deliver "long-term sustainable earnings growth and returns to shareholders".

Pro-Remain campaigner Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet, said: "We remain confident in the strength of easyJet's business model and our ability to continue to deliver our successful strategy and our leading returns.

"We have today written to the UK Government and the European Commission to ask them to prioritise the UK remaining part of the single EU aviation market, given its importance to trade and consumers."

Several non-EU member countries are part of the European Common Aviation Area in return for compliance with safety rules and economic co-operation.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of t he British Air Transport Association, which represents UK-registered airlines , said: "The Government must now urgently confirm that the UK will seek to remain a member of the European single aviation market once we leave the EU.

"We also call on the Government to prioritise all aviation-related negotiations, agreements and decisions during the EU withdrawal process.

"Given our status as an island trading nation, and with excellent international air links and travel now being even more vital for our future prosperity and economic growth, the environment for aviation post-Brexit must be clarified as soon as possible."

Ryanair, which supported the Remain campaign, launched a sale to mark the referendum.

Robin Kiely, a spokesman for the Dublin-based carrier, said: " It's a good job we're better at running an airline than political campaigns.

"Britons are booking our 9.99 seats in record numbers in what will be the last big seat sale of its kind, as they look to flee a country which will be run by Boris, Gove and Farage."
Britain is split right down the middle. Half of us wanted to leave the European Union, and half of us wanted to remain. In the end, those who wanted to get out slightly edged it.

That's been the official interpretation of Thursday's historic referendum vote.

You can chalk it up as yet another thing that the political and media class in the UK have got spectacularly wrong.

Those who loathe the EU in Britain far outnumber those who feel any affection for it.

The percentage who actually voted in favour of independence may "only" have added up to 52%, but there are millions of others among Remain supporters who feel exactly the same way about Europe - they just couldn't bring themselves to take a leap in the dark when push came to shove.

I should know. I'm one of them.

My heart was always for Brexit. The EU is a bloated, complacent, autocratic and anti-democratic institution whose treatment of small peripheral nations in economic trouble has been shameful.

Its arrogant refusal to admit that it needed fixing was only further proof that this vainglorious project was fundamentally unreformable.

Having said that, I'm also risk-averse and innately conservative with a small 'c', not to mention worried about the implications for Northern Ireland.

Project Fear worked on me. With little enthusiasm, I voted to Remain.

The reaction to Thursday's vote has done little to reassure me, however, about the decency of Remain supporters.

Those who voted to leave the EU are being viciously pilloried as stupid, unsophisticated, reactionary, racist. They've even been denounced for being too old. How dare the over-50s have an opinion about the future direction of their own country!

Don't they realise that the under 25s are all passionate pro-Europeans who should automatically get their own way, despite the fact that practically every comfort they enjoy is paid for by the selfsame wrinklies that they're casually disparaging and whose life experience surely ought to count for something and be respected?

Now they've also turned on Prime Minister David Cameron (left) for calling a referendum at all, because it delivered the "wrong" result.

This is exactly what you'd expect from self-satisfied elites who think they know better than everyone else and have a divine right to run our lives. That's why they hate referendums.

On Thursday, the voices of the great and the good had no more weight than anyone else's.

Those with letters after their name, who've done quite nicely out of Europe, thank you very much, were forced to endure the ultimate indignity of realising that they had no more say in the future direction of the country than a welder in the West Midlands, a fisherman in Falmouth or a farmer in Fermanagh.

These masters of the universe still don't get it even now, wringing their hands and wondering how a Leave vote could have happened, when it's blindingly obvious to anyone who bothered to lift the blinkers that Britain has been naturally, deeply Eurosceptic for decades.

It's just that this was the first time ordinary people had the chance to express it.

If you seriously believe that a democratic vote is something to be embarrassed about, then you're part of the problem.

We ended up here because our so-called betters didn't listen. They're still not listening.
Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has said only the Westminster government has the final say on Brexit

The Northern Ireland Secretary has rejected suggestions Stormont or Holyrood could veto Brexit, insisting the parliament in Westminster has the final say.

Theresa Villiers was responding to comments from Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the prospect of the Scottish Parliament voting against a legislative consent motion to change the law in Scotland to reflect the referendum result.

In Northern Ireland, the SDLP has been among Remain campaigners claiming that the Stormont Assembly could also vote down such a motion.

In Scotland, 62% backed a Remain vote, and in Northern Ireland the figure was 56%.

At Stormont the situation is further complicated by the fact the two main parties in the power-sharing executive take different positions on the issue - Sinn Fein backing Remain and the Democratic Unionists supporting Brexit.

The outcome of the vote has prompted Sinn Fein to call for a border poll on Irish reunification. However, on Sunday, Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said a border vote was not his immediate focus, insisting his priority was ensuring "special arrangements" were made to enable Northern Ireland to retain its EU links.

Leave advocate Ms Villiers, who in a previous row over welfare reform implementation in Northern Ireland warned that the Government could step in and enact the changes without Stormont's legislative consent, made clear that Westminster held the ultimate authority in regard to enacting Brexit.

"In the weeks and months ahead we will be working with both the Scottish government and the Northern Ireland Executive on all these matters," Ms Villiers told the BBC's Sunday Politics.

"But ultimately it is parliament's decision whether we repeal the 1972 European Communities Act or whether we don't."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood provided a different interpretation.

"We have been studying this for the last number of days - I don't think the Leave campaign have thought this through," he said.

"I don't think they expected to win and now they are in a situation where they don't know how to deliver this.

"We believe that the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish parliament have the opportunity to say no."

He added: "We will not be about to give the Brexit campaigners the opportunity to ride roughshod over the democratic process in Northern Ireland."

Alliance Party deputy leader Naomi Long, who campaigned for Remain, said the devolved administrations could protest against Brexit but she conceded primacy rested with Westminster.

"Parliament remains with primacy, it can take back power from Holyrood, it can take back power from the Assembly," she said.

"So let's not kid ourselves - if parliament sets its face to do this, whilst we can put up a strong argument against it, ultimately parliament remains primacy."

A border poll can only be called by the region's Secretary of State in circumstances where there is clear evidence of a public opinion swing towards Irish unity.

Ms Villiers has insisted the criteria for triggering a border poll has not been met.

In regard to the prospect of a vote on reunification, Mr McGuinness said it was not his immediate priority.

"There needs to be a border poll at some stage in the future," he said.

"I think in the immediate future the focus needs to be on the whole issue of how we can maintain our relationship with Europe which has been so beneficial to us over the course of the last number of decades."

He added: "There needs to be special arrangements which take account of the democratically expressed wishes of the people of the north of Ireland and the people of Scotland who wish to remain and maintain our contacts and ability to work with very senior officials and governmental authorities within Europe."

DUP economy minister Simon Hamilton also said Northern Ireland's particular relationship with the EU had to be reflected in the Brexit negotiations.

"I think the negotiations that are going to start at some point in the future, particularly when there is a new prime minister in place, will have an involvement from Northern Ireland, just as they will from Scotland and Wales and England, the Prime Minister has made that perfectly clear - that is the right way to do that," he said.

He added: "We need to recognise the system of government we have; the aspects of our economy, the elements of our economy that have different needs to perhaps say England or Scotland and Wales; and the fact we are going to have a border which is going to be the border with the European Union."

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt said Northern Ireland faced five to ten years of uncertainty.

He also questioned the stance of DUP First Minister Arlene Foster.

"We need to ask the First Minister when she goes to negotiations, is she going to reflect the fact 56% of the people wanted to remain," he said.

"Because the Prime Minister, representing all the people of the United Kingdom, lost the referendum and resigned, the First Minister, representing all the people of Northern Ireland, lost the referendum and celebrated."
Melissa Reid and her father William before boarding their flight in Lima to return to the UK (AP)

Drugs mule Melissa Reid was caught smuggling 1.5 million of cocaine out of Peru after wanting a story to boast about to friends on the Ibiza party scene.

The 22-year-old from Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, was caught trying to smuggle 24lb (11kg) of cocaine with 23-year-old Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, in August 2013.

The pair - nicknamed the "Peru Two" - were jailed for six years and eight months after admitting the offence.

Reid admitted she had lied to police after her arrest that she had been coerced at gunpoint to carry the drugs in a bid to lessen her punishment.

She returned to Scotland on Wednesday after spending nearly three years in a string of hellish Peruvian prisons.

Reid told the Scottish Mail on Sunday how in summer 2013, aged 19, she had flown to Ibiza with a friend to spend the summer on the Spanish island.

But the holiday turned into a spiral of taking hard drugs and clubbing that led her to a British woman acting as a recruitment agent for drug smuggling gangsters.

She was offered 5,000 euro (4,100) to fly to Argentina, spend a few days sightseeing and return to Europe with a package in her luggage.

"I thought it sounded like a challenge and was blase about it," she told the newspaper.

"I was offered 5,000 euro but it wasn't just about the money. I had saved up before I left Scotland so I had cash for rent.

"I didn't owe any money or anything. I just wanted to be able to boast about it."

Reid said that she "wasn't in the right state of mind" and living a " ridiculous life".

"[I] wanted to show I could manage it. I now realise that I put myself at risk and no one would have known where I was if anything had happened to me, but I didn't care at the time."

Reid flew first to Majorca where she met McCollum for the first time.

After two nights in a house with a group of armed gangsters she moved on to Madrid, where she was told she would be going to Peru instead.

"I just went along with it. The guys had guns but I was never threatened," she said.

Reid was arrested as she tried to pass security at Lima airport on her return with the cocaine packed in her suitcase.

Her mother, Debbie Reid, described the moment she found out in a telephone call: "[They said] 'Mrs Reid? It's the Foreign Office here. Are you sitting down? I'm afraid your daughter has been arrested in Peru for drug-smuggling."

In an attempt to reduce her culpability Reid followed instructions the gang had given her before her departure - that she had been forced to smuggle the drugs against her will.

"We thought we would be believed and it would all go away, but we were wrong," she said.

McCollum and Reid faced the prospect of a maximum 15-year prison term but struck a behind-closed-doors plea bargain to secure the shorter sentence.

Reid, who was deported from Peru under an early release scheme, said she had been an "easy target" for the gang who she fears will seek her to recoup their losses.

"My life will never be the same," she said, adding that she wants to raise awareness and warn other young people not to get involved in drugs.

McCollum was freed in March under new legislation but was required to remain on parole in Peru.
Former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said he would not be a candidate for Labour leadership

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has lost several members of his shadow cabinet, including Heidi Alexander, right

Under fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to battle the co-ordinated attempt to topple him launched by MPs as he insisted he will not "betray" the trust of the party members who elected him.

Mr Corbyn dug-in for trench warfare with senior Commons colleagues after 11 members of the shadow cabinet quit his top team in despair at his ability to win a general election.

One, shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant, warned Mr Corbyn risked going down in history as "the man who broke the Labour Party" unless he stood aside.

In a tough talking statement Mr Corbyn insisted he would fight for his job and contest any leadership challenge.

"I was elected by hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members and supporters with an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics.

"I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me - or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

"Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.

"Over the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labour's campaign for a fairer Britain - and to get the best deal with Europe for our people."

The move came after a day of high drama at Westminster which saw critics take it in turn to ratchet-up pressure on Mr Corbyn by turning their backs on his shadow cabinet.

Mr Bryant accused the Labour leader of deliberately undermining his party's own Remain campaign.

"Your inability to give a clear, unambiguous message to Labour voters significantly contributed to the result," Mr Bryant told the Labour leader.

The party's influential deputy leader Tom Watson is to hold emergency talks with Mr Corbyn on Monday to "discuss the way forward" after the high profile resignations - with more expected to follow.

In a statement which pointedly did not explicitly back Mr Corbyn, Mr Watson said he was "saddened" so many colleagues felt unable to carry on and "deeply disappointed" at the sacking overnight of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn which triggered the walkout.

A source close to shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, who has not resigned, said: "She is heartbroken about the position in which the party finds itself and desperately worried we're failing to connect with communities across the country."

A series of senior trade unionists on Labour's ruling national executive committee rallied in support of Mr Corbyn - including Unite leader Len McCluskey and Dave Ward of the Communication Workers Union.

There was also support from shadow home secretary Andy Burnham who said he had no intention of taking part in a coup against the Labour leader.

However the rebels warned Mr Corbyn would be unable to form a new shadow team - with Labour MPs unwilling to serve under his leadership - if he tried to struggle on.

The revolt of the shadow cabinet was sparked by the dismissal of Mr Benn in the early hours of the morning following reports that he was orchestrating moves to mount a coup against Mr Corbyn.

First to go was shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander, then shadow minister Gloria De Piero.

They were followed at intervals through the day by shadow education secretary Lucy Powell, shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy, shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood, shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray, shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker, shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer, shadow Treasury chief secretary Seema Malhotra and Karl Turner, the shadow attorney general.

Mr Benn told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show: "He (Mr Corbyn) is a good and decent man but he is not a leader and that is the problem."

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell - one of Mr Corbyn's closest allies - insisted that he had no intention of quitting.

In a thinly veiled warning to rebels, he said that Mr Corbyn still had the backing of the grassroots activists who swept him to the leadership last year and who will decide the outcome of any new contest.

However Mr Corbyn now faces a vote of no confidence which will be discussed at the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party at Westminster on Monday with a secret ballot of MPs expected the following day.
ein Google-Unternehmen

Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben

Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen

Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern.

neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern

Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen

personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen

personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen

Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke.

Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten.

Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen.


Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar addressing the annual Unified Commanders' Conference (UCC) for Tri-Services Commanders in New Delhi on June 23, 2016. A PIB photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday directed the armed forces to carry out joint exercises with friendly foreign countries especially, in South East Asia, in tune with India's 'Act East Policy'.



He also asked them to optimise resources and enhance cost effectiveness even as he exhorted them to exploit joint capabilities for predominant role in the volatile region around the country.



Parrikar reviewed key security issues facing the nation and important strategic, operational, administrative and logistics aspects pertaining to tri-services were also deliberated upon.



"To keep in tune with India's Act East Policy, Parrikar urged the Armed Forces for conduct of joint exercises involving more than one Service with our friendly foreign countries specially, in South East Asia," a defence ministry statement said.



He stressed on the need for jointness of the three services to optimise resources and enhance cost effectiveness, so that maximum funds can be made available for modernisation of the armed forces, it said.



Parrikar while addressing the two-day Annual Unified Commanders' Conference in New Delhi, said by virtue of India's dominant geographical location, the country is poised for a predominant role in the volatile region around us.



The minister said, hence, there is a requirement to exploit this advantage by developing joint capabilities.



In order to achieve self-reliance, he emphasised on 'Make in India' initiative and indigenisation of defence production.



He commended the armed forces for their devotion to duty and the stellar role played by them in safeguarding the country's unity and integrity. The minister also paid homage to all valiant soldiers, sailors and air warriors for their supreme sacrifice in honour of the nation.



Earlier, opening remarks were given by the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha covering tri-services issues.



Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag and Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba addressed the conclave highlighting the major issues pertaining to their respective Services.



A report covering major achievements on key tri-services issue was presented by Officiating Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee Air Marshal A S Bhonsle.



During the day-long conference, key security issues facing the nation and important strategic, operational, logistical, administrative aspects pertaining to tri-services were deliberated upon.



The function was attended by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh and Deputy National Security Advisor Arvind Gupta, among others.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2016 (2313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HALIFAX  Clinicians at Halifaxs IWK Health Centre and the Hospital for Sick Children are using social media to ease the pain of children with cancer by providing parents with the latest research through an online hashtag.

Dr. Christine Chambers and Dr. Jennifer Stinson have partnered with the Cancer Knowledge Network to digitally bridge the gap between the medical and caregiver communities.

When your child has a condition or a disease like cancer, parents are there for the vast majority of painful experiences, Chambers said in a telephone interview. When theyre armed with the right information, they can be very powerful advocates.

The interactive campaign brings cutting-edge developments in pain management out of medical journals and onto the World Wide Web where parents can access it under #KidsCancerPain.

Chambers, a clinical psychologist and professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University, said parents are already scouring the Internet for ways to make their children feel better  its a matter discerning the good science from the bad.

Physicians will tell their patients, Dont Google this,' Chambers said. Parents dont know what to believe  Its our responsibility as health professionals to make sure that when parents go looking that they find good quality evidence-based information.

The Making Cancer Less Painful for Kids team will supply expert-vetted resources about gauging discomfort, administering treatment, addressing the psychological impact of illness and dispelling widespread myths about cancer that come up in your traditional Google search.

The Canadian Cancer Society funded the project based on the success of Chambers It Doesnt Have to Hurt campaign, which shared content about childrens pain through blogs, videos, Facebook polls and Twitter parties, at one point, directing so many parents to a childrens hospital website that it crashed their server.

If you have a child with cancer  you might be looking for information at three in the morning, Chambers said. (By) placing the information online, parents can find it when they need it, and through social media, they can engage with it.

As a mother of four, Chambers knows no parent wants to see their child in pain. She said the key to projects success will be getting direct feedback from caregivers to best equip them with the tools they need.

Weve had feedback from parents that they werent really sure before what role they had to play, she said. They used to sort of just shrink back and let the health professionals sort of deal with it. Parents are stepping up now.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/06/2016 (2314 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A drunk driver  who, remarkably, survived when he parked his car on railway tracks and it was hit by a train  has avoided jail but couldnt dodge a high fine.

But, judging from the damage done to his car, he was lucky to be alive to get that.

Its remarkable, your honour, that were not here dealing with a fatality, Crown attorney Deidre Badcock said.

Travis Lawrence Wyatt Cloud, 26, of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, pleaded guilty this week to driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit.

Badcock said that Cloud drove his 2008 Pontiac G6 onto the Canadian Pacific line near Kemnay on Nov. 21, 2015.

Its not clear what time he did so, but RCMP responded to the collision around 5:50 a.m.

It appears that Cloud had been lying down in the car across the two front seats at the time of impact, Badcock said.

The train was going 40 km/h when the conductor could see something glinting ahead in the lights of the train.

The trains horn was blasted, and the driver tried to stop the locomotive but couldnt avoid the collision.

The impact crumpled the car and sent it flying off the track. The car was totalled, and there was minor damage to the train.

Firefighters safely removed Cloud from the wreck and took him to hospital but, from what police saw, it seems he wasnt hurt too badly.

Hes described as obnoxiously asking the nurse for a kiss while being treated, Badcock said.

He was also slurring his words, smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes. Blood tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level more than double the legal limit.

Badcock said jail was a possibility for Cloud, but instead she joined defence lawyer Philip Sieklicki in asking for a high fine  Cloud himself was the one who suffered and put himself at risk from his actions, and he had no prior record.

There were no witnesses to how Cloud came to park his car on the tracks, and Sieklicki said his client had a concussion and cant recall that day at all.

Judge Judith Elliott fined Cloud $2,000 and banned him from driving for a year.

 ihitchen@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @IanHitchen
The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) have welcomed the decision by Minister for Health, Simon Harris to remove the permanent ban on blood donation by gay men.

We welcome the decision by Minister Harris to remove the permanent ban on blood donations by gay men.

"The ban carried an outdated stigma for all gay and bisexual men that has persisted since the 1980s when it was first introduced said Brian Sheehan, Director of GLEN.

The replacement by a one-year deferral for gay men is good progress and we would expect that this would be kept under close review on the basis of the further scientific evidence and experience from other countries, many of whom have already reduced or will reduce the deferral period further. said Sheehan.

Earlier Ireland is lifting the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood.

Health Minister Simon Harris revealed the decision days after the reform was recommended in a report by the board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS).

The move will allow men who have sex with men to donate blood a year after being sexually active or five years after they have been cleared of a sexually transmitted infection.

Ireland's lifetime ban on blood donations from gay men was put in place in the 1980s when Aids became a major sexual health risk. The reform now brings the Republic into line with the North, which commences its new policy in September.

Mr Harris said he welcomed the move.

"I would like to thank the chair of the IBTS, Professor Anthony Staines for their work and I have asked that they continue to engage with my officials on the development of a robust implementation plan to support this change in blood donation policy so that the policy change, its rationale and its implications can be well implemented and clearly explained to all potential blood donors, recipients of blood products and the general public," he said.

"Once this is in place it will be possible to set a date from which this policy change will commence."
US Secretary of State John Kerry is to rush to Brussels and London to meet top British and European Union diplomats, as the world grapples with the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

On Monday, Mr Kerry will bring messages of support but is less likely to offer answers or even suggestions for how to deal with a crisis that has spooked economists and forced countries in Europe and beyond to contemplate the possibility of unity across the continent crumbling.

The trip began on Sunday in Rome, where Mr Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also meet Italian government officials.

But confronted with the gravity of Britain's June 23 decision, which crushed markets from the US to Japan, Mr Kerry has set up a frantic, four-nation schedule on Monday.

After gathering with Mr Netanyahu in the morning, he will fly to Brussels to discuss Europe's situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. He will go from there to London to meet Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, before returning to Washington before the day's end.

In London, Mr Kerry will echo last week's immediate response from Washington focusing on the unchanged nature of the "special relationship" between the US and the UK.

Even the gloomiest of predictions about Brexit do not foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britain's divorce from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing US-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to "leave" could put them at the back of the line for similar deals.

Since the result of the referendum, however, Mr Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasise the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

In Brussels, Mr Kerry will emphasise US backing for the European project amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britain's lead.

The Obama administration sees a strong EU as key to stability in Europe and as a critical partner in bringing security to nearby flashpoints in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung places of conflict like sub-Afghanistan. It also has counted on the EU to enforce sanctions on Russia since its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014.

But it is unclear what more Mr Kerry, or the US, can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britain's exit negotiations are likely to be a complicated, protracted affair, and there is no guarantee of a smooth break-up. The Americans are likely to have little say in the matter.

And the US has no answer for Brussels' dilemma over how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.
Pope Francis said gays and all the other people the church has marginalised, such as the poor and the exploited, deserve an apology.

Francis was asked on Sunday en route home from Armenia if he agreed with one of his top advisers, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who told a conference in Dublin in the days after the deadly Orlando gay club attack that the church owes an apology to gays for having marginalised them.

Francis responded with a variation of his famous "Who am I to judge?" comment and a repetition of church teaching that gays must not be discriminated against but treated with respect.

He said some politicised behaviours of the homosexual community can be condemned for being "a bit offensive for others". But he said: "Someone who has this condition, who has goodwill and is searching for God, who are we to judge?"

"We must accompany them," Francis said.

"I think the church must not only apologise ... to a gay person it offended, but we must apologise to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labour, apologise for having blessed so many weapons" and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems.

Francis uttered his "Who am I to judge?" comment during his first airborne press conference in 2013, signalling a new era of acceptance and welcome for gays in the church.

Francis followed up by meeting with gay and transgender faithful, and most significantly, by responding to claims that he met with anti-gay marriage campaigner Kim Davis during his US visit.

He said the only personal meeting he held in Washington was with his gay former student and his partner.

Despite such overtures, however, many gay Catholics are still waiting for progress after a two-year consultation of the church on family issues failed to chart concrete, new pastoral avenues for them.

Read More:
One reader's incisive comment has been widely shared as the enormity of Brexit is digested.

The comment was posted underneath an article in the Guardian that reported on the crisis that Jeremy Corbyn's Labour is facing.

Corbyn's leadership has been plunged into dire straits as a string of shadow ministers have resigned over their lack of confidence in Corbyn's ability to win a general election.

This is the comment:

"If Boris Johnson looked downbeat yesterday, that is because he realises that he has lost.

Perhaps many Brexiters do not realise it yet, but they have actually lost, and it is all down to one man: David Cameron.

With one fell swoop yesterday at 9:15 am, Cameron effectively annulled the referendum result, and simultaneously destroyed the political careers of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and leading Brexiters who cost him so much anguish, not to mention his premiership.

How?

Throughout the campaign, Cameron had repeatedly said that a vote for leave would lead to triggering Article 50 straight away. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the image was clear: he would be giving that notice under Article 50 the morning after a vote to leave. Whether that was scaremongering or not is a bit moot now but, in the midst of the sentimental nautical references of his speech yesterday, he quietly abandoned that position and handed the responsibility over to his successor.

And as the day wore on, the enormity of that step started to sink in: the markets, Sterling, Scotland, the Irish border, the Gibraltar border, the frontier at Calais, the need to continue compliance with all EU regulations for a free market, re-issuing passports, Brits abroad, EU citizens in Britain, the mountain of legislation to be torn up and rewritten ... the list grew and grew.

The referendum result is not binding. It is advisory. Parliament is not bound to commit itself in that same direction.

The Conservative party election that Cameron triggered will now have one question looming over it: will you, if elected as party leader, trigger the notice under Article 50?

Who will want to have the responsibility of all those ramifications and consequences on his/her head and shoulders?

Boris Johnson knew this yesterday, when he emerged subdued from his home and was even more subdued at the press conference. He has been out-manoeuvred and check-mated.

If he runs for leadership of the party, and then fails to follow through on triggering Article 50, then he is finished. If he does not run and effectively abandons the field, then he is finished. If he runs, wins and pulls the UK out of the EU, then it will all be over - Scotland will break away, there will be upheaval in Ireland, a recession ... broken trade agreements. Then he is also finished. Boris Johnson knows all of this. When he acts like the dumb blond it is just that: an act.

The Brexit leaders now have a result that they cannot use. For them, leadership of the Tory party has become a poison chalice.

When Boris Johnson said there was no need to trigger Article 50 straight away, what he really meant to say was "never". When Michael Gove went on and on about "informal negotiations" ... why? why not the formal ones straight away? ... he also meant not triggering the formal departure. They both know what a formal demarche would mean: an irreversible step that neither of them is prepared to take.

All that remains is for someone to have the guts to stand up and say that Brexit is unachievable in reality without an enormous amount of pain and destruction, that cannot be borne. And David Cameron has put the onus of making that statement on the heads of the people who led the Brexit campaign."
Emergency crews transported six people who were stabbed outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento, the city's Fire Department said.

Spokesman Chris Harvey said a rally by Ku Klux Klan and other right-wing extremists groups turned violent on Sunday when they were met by counterprotesters.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a full scale revolt by his top team as a string of shadow ministers quit in protest at his leadership during the EU referendum campaign.

Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander, shadow minister for young people Gloria De Piero and shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray have all resigned.

Labour sources said shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood, shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant and shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy are among a group of at least 10 members of Labour's top team who are expected to follow.

The walkouts were triggered by the sacking overnight of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn amid reports that he was working to co-ordinate a coup against Mr Corbyn.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, one of Mr Corbyn's closest allies, insisted the leader has no intention of bowing to the demands to go.

"Jeremy's not going anywhere," he told the BBC's Sunday Politics.

"He was elected nine months ago, the biggest mandate of any political leader in our country, and he is not going anywhere."

But rebel MPs warned that Mr Corbyn would be unable to form a new shadow ministerial team if he tries to struggle on.

Ms Alexander said there are "a fair number" of other senior Labour figures considering their positions.

Asked how many could join her in resigning, she told ITV1's Peston on Sunday: "I think that there are a fair number of people who do feel similarly to me.

"I know a lot of my colleagues will be asking themselves similar questions to the one I've asked myself this morning."
It is that time of the year again! Cane crushing season is barely four weeks away, with proposals making round for...
LAGOS: More than 600 people are now known to have perished in the worst floods in a decade in Nigeria, according to...
A 13-year-old girl was driving, with her father sitting beside her, when her car and a cyclist crashed into each other on Saturday, police say.

Police said the 24-year-old cyclist was taken to hospital by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries.

"About 3pm, a black Holden Commodore turning right at the intersection of Cowper Street and Dickson Place, Dickson, collided with a cyclist travelling straight through the intersection in the opposite direction," police said in a statement.

Police arrived and found out the girl had been driving.

"The sole passenger in the vehicle was identified as the girl's father, a 50-year-old man from Canberra's north," police said.
What's on today No local data; NZ trade balance (May). Currencies Sterling edged off lows against the US dollar, recovering slightly from a 10 per cent plunge to its weakest in 31 years. Sterling was down 8.1 per cent against the US dollar in late New York trade, at $US1.3662, after touching its weakest since before the 1985 Plaza Accord of $US1.3228. Commodities

Oil futures dropped 4.9 per cent in New York and London, the biggest decline in four months. Brent for August settlement fell $US2.50 to $US48.41 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It's also the biggest drop since February 9. The global benchmark oil closed at a 77-cent premium to WTI. Gold soared as much as 8 per cent to its highest in more than two years on Friday. United States The S&P 500 turned negative for the year-to-date on Friday as Wall Street suffered its largest selloff in 10 months. In the busiest trading volume for a single session in nearly five years, financial stocks led the decline on the S&P 500 with a 5.4 per cent drop -the largest for the sector since November 2011. Europe
Fast food giant McDonald's Australia cut its tax bill by more than half in 2015 by routing payments via the low-tax nation of Singapore.

McDonald's reduces its profit, and thus its local tax bill, by using a legal loophole that allows it to pay McDonald's Asia Pacific based in Singapore, and registered in Delaware, a "service fee" amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

McDonald's financial accounts, obtained by Fairfax Media, show that McDonald's Australia reported paying $400.4 million in 2015 to McDonald's Asia Pacific.

This meant its overall income tax bill, totalling $111.5 million, was more than halved. Its income tax bill dropped from $194.7 million in 2014.
Thomas J. Perkins, who nurtured Silicon Valley's venture capital industry into a force that later helped foster the growth of companies like Google and Amazon, has died at his home in Marin County, California, aged 84. Perkins co-founded the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1972.

At the time parts of Silicon Valley were still orchards. Perkins and his partners popularised a model of investment that involved putting small amounts of money into promising young start-ups in return for a stake in the companies, giving them advice and counsel.

Some of the investments turned into gigantic hits. Perkins said that his favorite investment was Genentech, a biotechnology company that has since been acquired by Roche. Over time, Kleiner Perkins  and its home in Menlo Park, California  became a destination for other venture capitalists.

Perkins helped recruit venture capitalists such as John Doerr to his firm, leading to investments in a new generation of technology companies, including Netscape, AOL, Amazon and later Google.

The firm's success transformed Silicon Valley and the technology and biotechnology industries, leading to a proliferation of venture firms in the region and creating an ecosystem of investment in start-ups that today remains unrivalled in any other part of the world.
Your editorial puts a negative spin on Britain's decision to leave the EU. In particular, it is described as "a doomed attempt to try to hold out against globalisation" ("A disunited kingdom and the European disunion", 25-26 June). I prefer to think of this as one of the most positive things about the decision. It is clear to all observers that the main beneficiaries of globalisation are the large companies that produce cheaply in one country and sell dearly in another. Consumers where the goods are sold have the benefit of lower prices, but most of the profit and the benefits go to the companies, and the cost is loss of jobs and autonomy in the countries receiving the cheap imports. A majority of people in Britain have said this cost is too high. Business is always going to push to maximise profits, but perhaps now governments will take more measures to see the social costs of globalisation are minimised.



John Croker Woonona As the UK woke to the mother of all hangovers, Malcolm Turnbull unconvincingly suggests it is a reason to vote conservative. The real lessons just learned by David Cameron are: don't go to an election promising an ill-conceived plebiscite and; don't underestimate far-right zealots, particularly those in your own party. Rather undermines a lot of the LNP platform. Alan Watterson Koala Beach

May the demise of David Cameron be a salutary lesson to Malcolm Turnbull in the consequences of pandering to the unpleasant hard right.



Bill Carpenter Bowral Brexit, Donald Trump, the rise of Nick Xenophon and the Greens are all symptoms of the same problem. The conservative forces are not listening to the little people. The solutions they put in place don't deal with the problems faced by the great mass of ordinary people. When a great disparity in quality of life becomes obvious between those who have and those who don't, beware the consequences.



Janetta Gilbert Kirrawee Sixty-two per cent of Scottish people voted to remain; 72 per cent of young people voted to remain. Wanted for treason  lots of old English xenophobes. Eric Scott Bondi Junction Britain will be "great" no more so let's dump the Union Jack

Brexit has taken the "Great" out of "Britain". The Scots will ensure, given half a chance, that the "United Kingdom" will have an uphill battle to stay united. Hence, the time has come for us to consider a new Australian flag, because the Union Jack in the corner of our present flag is on borrowed time.



Jon Jovanovic Lenah Valley (Tas) Could Brexit finally achieve the unification of Ireland? In just a few decades, the south has been transformed from a Catholic theocracy, which banned birth control, into an integrated part of Europe, which has just voted for same-sex marriage. Out of Europe, the north faces the risk of becoming an isolated backwater.



The outcome of the Brexit result will make fascinating watching, because it will lay bare all the pros and cons of isolation versus globalisation. There are bound to be unexpected outcomes.



Margaret Kerr Mona Vale Well then, the momentum has started, I guess it's now OK for us to do our bit and become a republic.



Gus Plater Saratoga Can we now have our own "Leave" campaign? There's never been a better or more exciting time to be a republic, Malcolm Turnbull!

Cynthia Humphreys South Yarra

The Sydney community needs to take back planning control: a Plexit ("Sydney's planning storm is building to a tempest", June 25-26).



Diane Davie Rose Bay Same-sex marriage plebiscite a waste of money It is now obvious that the same-sex marriage plebiscite will not be binding on Coalition members ("Secret move to hobble same-sex vote", June 25-26). The matter will be determined by a "conscience" vote in the house, irrespective of the plebiscite results. Clearly, therefore, there is no need for the plebiscite and we could have had the conscience vote some time ago. Why are the so-called "good economic managers" wasting $160 million on a meaningless exercise?

Ian Morgan North Narrabeen Democracy works if voters are informed and national decisions are made by elected representatives. A country cannot be governed through decisions made on the basis of fear and ignorance. Plebiscites are fertile ground for ignorance and extremism to prevail. We need politicians who understand what the nation needs and are prepared to lead, not abrogate their responsibilities to mass hysteria. Paul Keating and John Howard made decisions on economic reform and gun control that exhibited leadership in the face of populist opposition. Our world needs politicians who can lead, not follow. Liz Adams Kareela Well, Nan Howard (Letters, June 25-26) just don't marry someone of the same sex, or do any of the other things that you imagine God to have forbidden. If you don't want to live by someone else's rules why should they have to live by yours?

Nick Hendel Roseville Terry Armstrong (Letters, June 25-26), it is not that long ago that the LGBTQIA card was more likely to land you in jail rather than get you out of it free.



Ralph Martens Pokolbin There is need for a degree of admission and honesty on the part of conservative Christian opponents of same-sex marriage (Letters, June 25-26). Ordinary, let alone "rigorous", scrutiny of Biblical statements in both Testaments relating to homosexual practices will reveal horrendous penalties being enjoined. The Bible has much that is good. But it also carries within its pages an ugly underbelly of cruel punishments for those who do not fit its ancient world view of such social relationships.



The existence of these Bible statements (and laws) should be honestly acknowledged and, in my view, jettisoned by contemporary Christians. So far in the current debate, conservative Christians seem to have swept them under the carpet.



There are Christians (myself included) who support same-sex marriage because, among a number of reasons, they do not believe such penalties (and the attitudes that they foster) have a place in contemporary Australian life.



Reverend Dr Ray Barraclough Currimundi (Qld) I applaud Jacqueline Maley's bold suggestion that redefining marriage is, in the end, the reasonable thing to do ("The world's most expensive delaying tactic", June 25-26). If only it were so.

But I am not sure if you can argue from reason, when you remove the ultimate, objective foundation for reason. If there is no God, and if we are just animals, then there is no sense in this whole exercise, and certainly no justice or otherwise. Maley's specious claim about faiths by definition lacking reason, itself lacks reason. It looks as if she has never seriously investigated the Christian faith for herself. Lacking reason? Countless teachers, doctors, scientists, engineers and philosophers would beg to differ. Gus Batley Tamworth LGBTQIA? This acronym has just gone too far. Can't we just simplify it to NS for non-straight?



Joseph Lee Belfield Building for the best

To call Elizabeth Farrelly's article intemperate is a vast understatement ("Destructive powers push through city", June 25-26). Moreover, it is misinformed and misguided. Is there any new infrastructure project that would ever meet with her approval? Is building a clean and efficient light rail system to serve south-east Sydney really driven by a "puritanical hatred of city as habitat"? Is properly planned higher density around the new metro stations in a growing city really a case of "vampires running the bloodbank"? Is a largely underground motorway designed to decongest Parramatta Road and the chronically clogged M5 really a "filthy and retrograde road"? Really? Most thinking citizens of our city rejoice that at last we have a government committed to improving our public transport and bringing our infrastructure up to 21st-century standards; a government that seeks and respects independent advice on project priorities, business cases and best use of scarce public funds. Non-political, independent advice from bodies like Infrastructure NSW, for example, an approach that is now being emulated by Labor governments in Victoria and Queensland. Graham Bradley chairman, Infrastructure NSW, Neutral Bay Jail needs protection

Transferring control of the former Darlinghurst jail site to the NSW government's property arm is an ominous development ("Historic Darlinghurst jail could be put up for sale", June 25-26). The government's response to community concern was hardly reassuring. It was a textbook case of corporate weasel words that left us none the wiser. Before we rush to give developers the green light over this site we should pause to reflect on its unique historical and cultural contribution to Australia. The amazing and nearly complete preservation of the old jail and the tremendous impact of the National Art School on the Australian art scene cannot be ignored. Let's hope our Premier will recognise this and protect one of our state's more valuable assets. Richard Whitaker St Ives

Next British PM should be Eddie Jones After Brexit, with David Cameron gone, Nigel Farange so much on the nose and with barking mad Boris Johnson seemingly another Donald Trump, the most likely successor to lead the United Kingdom has got to be Eddie Jones. Seeing how Jones has turned the formerly hopeless English rugby team into spectacular winners, he obviously is the one to lead the whole nation. Brian Millett Yass Now picture this

It will be a cartoonists' dream when Prime Minister Johnson meets President Trump. Geoff Ford Wahroonga Stars and swipes The Brexit vote will relegate Mother England to the granny flat in the American backyard.



Richard Blackburn Coogee Outers had the edge

Perhaps the title "Brexit" resulted in Britain's departure from the the European Union. Why was it not labelled "Britin"?



Ged McCue Marshall Mount Just keep voting So the Brits are calling for a second referendum because they don't like the result of the first. Does that mean that if we don't like the result of our election next Saturday we can have another go? Rick Drewer Gawler East (SA) Anti-agapanthus
If only Yes Minister was on air today. Then the Brexit issue would have been so much clearer.

Could you imagine if Britain's foreign minister Phillip Hammond had sat across from prime minister David Cameron and simply told him: "Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe.

Yes, Minister almost saw Brexit coming.

"In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians.

"Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?
There was no room in his 4000 word speech at the Liberal campaign launch for the words "same sex marriage".

Malcolm Turnbull has completed his transformation from progressive firebrand to ambassador for the conservative brand.

And the only time he spoke the word "fairness" was to promise fairness between generations by not bequeathing debt.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with his grandson Jack after addressing the party at the national Liberal party campaign rally in Homebush, Sydney. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Turnbull provided almost a caricature of Coalition brand identification, overwhelmingly emphasising economic growth and border security.

It was a deliberately restrained launch that announced only the most parsimonious of new spending, designed to portray the Liberals as the party of grown-ups.

The prime minister said that the UK's Brexit vote was "a sharp reminder of the volatility in the global economy" and went on to offer himself as the right leader for such times.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has placed economic management, Britain's shock exit from the European Union, the prospect of a "chaotic" Labor-Greens-independent minority government and $400 million in new spending promises at the heart of his re-election pitch.

In a low-key launch of the Liberal campaign in the western Sydney seat of Reid on Sunday, Mr Turnbull spent just over one-10th of the $3 billion Labor committed at its launch last Sunday.

Six days before Australians vote, the economy took centre stage for both major parties as Labor released its policy costings, which showed the budget deficit would be $16.46 billion larger over four years.
It would be unkind to call it daggy. Let's say it was homely. In a downmarket sort of way. As exciting as enduring a bout of influenza, which Malcolm Turnbull most assuredly was.

The poor fellow wore through it, and through it, and through it, until, mercifully, he got to the end, allowing himself a mighty sniff, so relieved he forgot for a moment the cameras were focused on his face, right up close.

The Liberal Party's official campaign launch, left until the start of the eighth week of this eight-week campaign, was a curiously humble affair. No rousing theme song, no hoopla. Not even a dress circle from which the faithful could view proceedings and possibly stomp their feet and cheer. Certainly no velvet covered seating. Not even a primary school choir was dragged in to sing the national anthem. A stock recording was played.
The next generation is making its voice heard ahead of next weekend's federal election, with about 500 young Australians taking part in a national campaign to put poverty on the election agenda.

In the 2013 Federal Election about a quarter of Australians aged 18 to 24 eligible to vote were not on the roll, but three years has made a major difference.

About 50 young Australians gathered in Queens Park on Sunday to highlight recent cuts to foreign aid. Credit:Oaktree Foundation

For this year's election the prevalence of young people on the electoral roll is growing, after a successful recruitment drive saw enrolments significantly increase since May.
Among those who put a dollar figure on their support, the average contribution totalled less than $7000 a year, placing Australia 10th out of 15 when contributions were ranked from most to least generous. Although fewer than 500 Australians were surveyed, the research is among the first to try to compare how much parents pay towards the cost of university. "In Australia we have HECS for higher education, meaning both the cost of the education and the way in which the loan is paid back is very favourable to the student," said Tim Pitman, a senior research fellow from Curtin University's National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. "So parents' attitudes to saving for university are fundamentally different than, say, the US, where it costs a lot more on average and student loans are generally at commercial rates."

Varying levels of government subsidy and student assistance such as scholarships, loans and social support payments made international comparisons very difficult, Dr Pitman said. For example, the vast majority of undergraduate domestic students in Australia and the UK draw on public loans to cover most or all of their tuition costs. This is a far cry from the US, where fewer than two-thirds of students have a public loan and the average loan covers less than half the cost of tuition, according to the latest figures from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development. Australian parents spent an average of $US 5150 ($6900) a year on their child's tertiary education, compared with $US 6570 ($8800) in the UK and $US 14,700 ($19,700) in the US, the Value of Education survey found.

Only 58 per cent of Australian parents contributed any money at all, compared with 97 per cent in Egypt, 90 per cent in China, 79 per cent in the US and 67 per cent in the UK. Australian parents may look like penny-pinchers, but the figures also reflect Australia's position as a "tertiary education exporter", Dr Pitman said. This means most Australians attend local universities and international students make up a large share of our student population. "In contrast, for example, Singapore is a tertiary education importer, sending more students overseas than are taught in Singapore. So parents factor in higher costs to allow for this," he said. Technology bills, food and textbooks were the most common expenses Australian parents help to cover, with roughly half saying they paid towards these, according to the survey. Just over 40 per cent said they contributed towards study fees.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey of parents painted them in a far more generous light than a 2012 Universities Australia survey of students. According to the latter, only 36 per cent of domestic undergraduate students received financial support from their parents, including 9 per cent whose parents contributed towards their tuition fees. Researcher and policy analyst Gwilym Croucher from the University of Melbourne's Centre for the Study of Higher Education said the $7000 figure may be plausible for tertiary students who had recently left school but it was unlikely to apply to the wider student population. "Students in Australia have much more diverse backgrounds now; they're not just school leavers," Dr Croucher said. "We also know a huge proportion of undergraduate students have part-time work, so I would imagine levels of students support would be less than what they were in the past."

In 2012, eight in 10 domestic full-time undergraduate students worked during semester, compared with seven in 10 in 2000 and five in 10 in 1984, according to Universities Australia research. Dr Denney-Wilson, an academic at UTS, said students who didn't have parental support were at a distinct disadvantage. "It's tough for university students. I see the way a lot of my students are working so many hours to afford living in Sydney while studying and I think it's really sad," she said. "They're rushing to class after doing night shifts. They're travelling long distances into the city and coming in really tired  There's so much to learn at university that's not taught in the classroom but they don't seem to be making friends or participating in university life. "That's not something we factor in when we talk about that cost of a university degree."
Cancer patients compulsorily transferred to a private hospital have been told they will now be charged a fee for their treatment, and will no longer be eligible to bulk-bill for tests and consultations.

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital outsourced many of its cancer services to the not-for-profit private hospital Chris O'Brien Lifehouse in 2013, under an agreement with the NSW government.

The Sydney Local Health District buys the treatment of public patients from the Lifehouse, which also treats private patients.

But gynaecology patients of the Lifehouse were told in April they would no longer be able to bulk-bill their treatment unless they had a pension or health care card, and would have to pay for the services they received on the day.
Refugee and asylum seeker advocates are blockading Wilson Security car parks in Sydney and Melbourne to mark 100 days of protests by people inside offshore detention centres.

Activists targeted complexes, such as those in Circular Quay and Melbourne Central from 7am on Monday.

They say Wilson Security is a major detention centre industry player, which profits from people seeking asylum.

"Boycott them and send a strong message to Wilson Security that it is time to withdraw from the detention centre industry," said Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance spokeswoman Sam Castro.
An alleged drink driver rolled his ute and ended up in the front yard of a Pacific Pines, Gold Coast residence on Saturday night.

Police said at 10.35pm a 45-year-old Pacific Pines man lost control of his vehicle which rolled onto its side and came to a stop in a Hillary Circuit address.

Queensland Police

Neither the driver of the vehicle nor the occupants of the house were injured.

The 45-year-old man has been issued with a notice to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on July 13 for driving under the influence.
Each cloak has multiple possum skins sewn together. Credit:Bradley Kanaris "They were very individual items but also as part of ceremony, there is a lot of documentation about ceremonies in Brisbane how the cloaks and rugs were used in initiation rites and ceremonies." The technique was rested after restrictions strained resources for Indigenous communities, Ms McGregor said. "Through the invasion practices you didn't have access to your land. You needed access to those possums," she said. "With the handing out of rations and the fencing off of lands, people didn't have access to that resource and that food.

"In Queensland, it is well documented, there were the Blanket Lists, people were governed by these lists and were allowed to have one or two blankets a year and you had to go along and receive your blanket. "If you were not doing the right things then you didn't get a blanket so the blanket lists were used as controls so not only did you not have access to the resource, you were given these blankets and told they were your resource instead." Ms McGregor and Ms Briggs worked with more than 120 Indigenous artists, elders and community members from Brisbane Aboriginal community, Gold Coast Aboriginal community, Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi community and Wiruungga Community to create the six intricately illustrated skins on show at the exhibition, with all possum skins used ethically sourced from New Zealand. There are two skins from each region on display and interactives on the walls to explain what each patch means to the artist in terms of their community and their connection. "With the Gubbi Gubbi cloaks, they wanted to just use pale skins because that was what was on their country, the pale possums," Ms McGregor said.

"The references that we found said that their cloaks were inscribed "rudely with markings", because the people who documented it didn't regard them as being beautiful artworks, they called them "crudely marked" and had only used red ochre. "So the Gubbi Gubbi as a community decided they were only going to use that red ochre that was traditionally used on that cloak." One of the Brisbane cloaks shows the river snaking through it, while the Gold Coast cloaks show one of the many ways the cloaks were used. "The Gold Coast has a drumming cloak because information from one of the elders and some of the references point to the cloaks being folded across women's knees and used as drums in ceremonies," Ms McGregor said. "We have a cloak there with lots of handprints on to represent the women slapping the skins."

Ms McGregor said cloaks were created using contemporary and traditional techniques that helped foster bonds between past and present. "It is a huge thing for people to sit down and start working with cultural practices like this, this is a contemporary way but it still has that tie, you are thinking about your ancestors, you are thinking about your family stories," she said. "When you are working with families and in family groups, they are telling those stories to their children who you know will strengthen that bond with their cultural connections and we need as many as we can. "It is also about healing that emotional trauma. "They are not just skins with artwork on them, there is a whole other level that is attached to each cloak and when you see each cloak completed, you can feel all the people's stories radiating out."
A woman is reportedly fighting for life after falling from an escalator at a Broadbeach shopping centre in what's been described as a "freak accident".

Paramedics rushed to the Oasis Shopping Centre in Broadbeach about 6.30pm to reports the woman had fallen two storeys.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the woman had serious head and facial injuries, with a fractured right hip and wrist and the accident appeared to be a "freak accident".

She was taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital in a serious condition but may have deteriorated further. News Corp described her injuries as life threatening.
A man fighting for life in hospital had been chased by police before being shot on the footpath outside a Townsville service station, the station operator says.

Police shot the man, believed to be in his 30s, about 4.20am outside United Petroleum in Hermit Park.

Paramedics said he was rushed to Townsville Hospital in a serious condition with gunshot wounds to his stomach and right leg but police confirmed he had been critical since at least 7am.

United Petroleum chief operating officer David Szymczak said the shooting was unrelated to the service station.
The CWA has launched a branch in Brisbane city and is debunking preconceived ideas about the association, with most of it's members unable to bake a scone "if their life depended on it."

On Wednesday night the Queensland Country Women's Association, popularly known as QCWA, Brisbane city night branch reached 42 members, making it the second largest inner city branch in Queensland.

QCWA Brisbane City Nights branch president Ann Bullen (centre) with (from left) Kylie Seymour-Clarke and Cathy Peel from the OFT, councillor Vicki Howard, Dianne shepherd and Jenn Bray.

The QCWA was established in 1922 to advocate and provide opportunities for women, focused on education, health, community and support.

The association was originally established in rural towns across the state but has since flourished, with more than four associations set up across Brisbane.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend a memorial service for Gold Coast man Reece Harding who was killed on a Syrian battlefield 12 months ago.

He died after stepping on a landmine while fighting for the Kurdish militia against Islamic State.

Australian Reece Harding was killed in Syria. Credit:Facebook

His parents, Keith and Michele Harding, have arranged a remembrance ceremony at the Somerville Chapel, Nerang on Sunday from 1pm to remember their son, who died aged 23.

Reece Harding's parents originally thought he had gone to Fiji for a break before federal authorities came knocking at their Gold Coast home to tell them he was in Iraq preparing to cross the Syrian border to join the fight against Islamic State.
Rumour has it that Apple's going to seriously shake up the way it updates the iPhone - and you probably won't like it that much.

For nearly a decade, Apple has alternated between releasing big overhauls and smaller upgrades to its phones. Citing a top Apple analyst, The Wall Street Journal reported that the firm will follow up last year's incremental upgrades to the iPhone with even more incremental upgrades - breaking its established update schedule.

That means consumers waiting to upgrade until this year's expected major revamp will have to either bite the bullet and get the iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, or wait an extra year and hope that rumours of a really big revamp for 2017 are true.

The reported decision - Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment - comes as the company faces mounting questions about slowing iPhone sales. The iPhone is at the heart of Apple's revenue, but sales numbers have started falling. That's bad news for the company.
Protesters from the True Blue Crew. Credit:Justin McManus In the chaos, one masked protester who took issue with having his picture taken damaged a Fairfax Media photographer's camera equipment. Just after 1pm  two hours after the first rally started  ugly fighting erupted on the steps of Parliament Station as right-wing protesters were being ushered towards the station by police. It is believed that at least one left-wing protester confronted the right-wingers on the steps, and fighting ensued. Protesters at the anti-racism rally at Parliament House. Credit:Justin McManus Two men, one from each rally, were forced to the ground by police and detained, while others were moved on.



Superintendent David Clayton said three people were arrested, two for assaulting each other and a third for criminal damage. The criminal damage was to the camera equipment of a Fairfax Media photographer. A True Blue Crew protester at the anti-immigration rally in Melbourne. Credit:Media Culture Those arrested were a 25-year-old female from Reservoir who was charged with assault, a 29-year-old male from Devon Meadows charged with assault, and a 24-year-old male from no fixed place of abode charged with criminal damage.

"Victoria Police are generally satisfied with the events of the protest today, however there were some breaches of the peace and some anti-social behaviour that resulted in three arrests," Superintendent Clayton said. A policeman with a protester at far-right, far-left rallies in Melbourne. Credit:Media Culture Asked about the burning of an Australian flag, he said: "Whilst it is not a very good look, and might be viewed as un-Australian, it's not an offence to burn flags." Earlier, anti-immigration protesters gathered outside the Exhibition Building, where United Patriots Front leader Blair Cottrell asked the crowd to consider this question: "Who are we? Are we cowards or conquerors?". Rise Up Australia's Daniel Nalliah also addressed the crowd, saying he was disgusted that some people had a problem with the Australian flag. "It's your problem. Tough luck," he said.

The group of about 150 right-wing protesters had marched up Nicholson Street carrying Australian flags and chanting: "Aussie pride, nationwide" and "We are taking our streets back". Police had searched them as they arrived, patting them down as they got off a bus in Albert Street. Police also conducted many bag searches of the right-wing protesters after they stepped off the bus, before they gathered in the Parliament Gardens. In the gardens they chanted slogans such as the ubiquitous "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi." One woman carried a poster emblazoned with the words "Islamic Refugees Not Welcome Here". Another woman, when approached by The Age to comment on the rally, said the right-wing protesters were not racist. "We're not racist, we're sick of being called racist," she said. "Everyone is welcome [in Australia]. But if you come to our country we should not have to change to suit your ways. We are not thugs, we are all normal."

Down on Spring Street  on the other side of a heavily manned police line  about 200 left-wing protesters rallied to disrupt the anti-immigration march down the road. They had rallied around cries of "we've got to beat back Nazi attacks" and "Always was, always will be Aboriginal land". Vashti Kenway, from the Coalition against Racism and Fascism, said: "We want to send a clear message there are individuals and groups, hopefully of a significant amount, who support multiculturalism." Premier Daniel Andrews said on Sunday morning there would be an "unprecedented" police presence, and the government would soon give police new public order powers against people who wore masks and meant to cause harm.

There would be additional penalties and specific offences for acting violently while wearing a mask, he said. "If it's not peaceful, it's not a legitimate protest." Sunday's action marks the first time the groups have met since seven people were arrested in violent clashes in Coburg in May. Punches were thrown, kicks landed and flags used as weapons as the warring groups brawled on the Bell Street bitumen, in front of a primary school. Australian Associated Press has reported more than 400 police were at the parliament precinct to keep the peace on Sunday.

The anti-Islam True Blue Crew  which organised Sunday's rally  describes itself as pro-Australian and said on Facebook that the rally was to "display our pride in our flag and country". Campaign Against Racism and Fascism posted on Facebook after the rally: "The 'True Blue Crew' racists said they were going to rally at Parliament House and march through the streets of Melbourne. They didn't. We did." Loading Since November, there have been eight violent clashes between the warring sides.
A Melbourne driver will face a string of charges after reportedly fleeing the scene of a car crash, leaving his 8-year-old son behind.

Homeowners along Chambers Road in Altona North heard the crash and found an SUV flipped on its side after it hit a parked car outside their homes.

A 41-year-old man will face drink-driving charges after flipping his SUV in Altona North.

One passer-by injured her hand while helping to pull the young boy from the wreckage, near Blackshaws Road, just after 9pm on Saturday, police said.

The 41-year-old driver's friends said he had been heading home from a party with his son in the passenger seat when he lost control of the vehicle, the Nine Network reported.
Melbourne Express: Monday, June 27, 2016

Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later.

Dismiss
If you're bored with clothes made of lambswool, cotton or alpaca this winter, a Melbourne spinner is offering an alternative  she makes garments from dog and cat hair.

Marion Wheatland says public demand led her to start a bespoke business, Spinning Pets Yarn, creating scarves, jumpers and beanies from the fur of clients' pets.

Ms Wheatland says some people's first response to the idea  even her own son's  is that it's creepy.

But the finished products feel, and smell, no different to garments made from conventional wool, and are just as warm.
"The Kremlin is interested in any kind of disagreement, any kind of trouble in the EU which makes it weaker," said Nikolay V. Petrov, a professor of political science at the National Research University's Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin: "It is unpleasant to link Russia to every problem, even those with which we have no link, nor to make Russia into a kind of boogeyman." Credit:AP For starters, he noted, the vote removes Britain as an influential voice in European efforts to isolate and punish Russia over its annexation of Crimea and its role in destabilising Ukraine. Second, it helps Putin in his preferred method of dealing with strong countries one on one rather than as blocs. Third, it can be exploited at home as an example of how a lack of unity can lead to weakness. "It can be used domestically to demonstrate that we are strong and everybody around us is not that strong," Petrov said. As for any negative economic consequences, he added, "Those are not the highest priority - geopolitically and strategically, the Kremlin thinks it will benefit." Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Credit:AP

The Kremlin is also believed to be following the Soviet tradition of underwriting other political groups that seek to weaken the European Union. Many Russian officials and commentators said they expected similar referendums across the Continent. "Don't be surprised if, instead of terms for individual countries like 'Grexit' or 'Brexit,' there will soon be a universal one, 'Whoexit,'" Maria Zakharova, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, wrote on her Facebook page. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during their meeting at a summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Credit:AP Putin broke his silence about the British campaign the week before the vote to deny accusations that the Kremlin was trying to sway the outcome. "It is unpleasant to link Russia to every problem, even those with which we have no link, nor to make Russia into a kind of boogeyman," he said. "I should say that this is absolutely none of our business. This is the choice of the British people."

While France and Germany, not Britain, led the drive to impose sanctions on Russia for the annexation of Crimea and the Ukraine crisis, there was some hope that those issues will fade somewhat now that Europe confronts monumental internal problems. "I don't think the European Union will now have time to think about Ukraine or about sanctions," said Andrei Klimov, the deputy chairman of the international affairs committee of the upper house of parliament. An unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman told Interfax that Russia expected Britain's vigorous support for sanctions to continue, although some analysts said they expected that Europe without the British voice might not be so adamant. "Without Britain, there won't be anybody in the EU to defend sanctions against us so zealously," Sergei S. Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, wrote on Twitter. Putin, however, said Friday that he doubted the result would have an impact on EU sanctions.

The Russian president has been trying to build close relations with those countries that have been less adamant about maintaining sanctions, including France, Greece, Hungary and Italy. Russia has given open financial support to the far-right National Front party in France, whose leader, Marine Le Pen, called for a similar exit referendum there. Putin said the results reflected public dissatisfaction with issues like security, immigration, the subsidising of weaker economies and excessive control from Brussels, which he compared unfavourably to the old Soviet Union. "People want to be more independent," he said. Also Friday, Putin's spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, told Russian news outlets he hoped a Britain outside the EU would understand "the need to build good relations" with Russia. Although Russia did not officially not take a position on the British vote, state-run news reports by the English-language service of RT television and the Sputnik news agency openly supported a British exit from the bloc. State-run news outlets give significant attention to issues that are considered central to the eurosceptic movement, particularly the migrant crisis, and they paint Europe as a continent in crisis. An analysis of Sputnik's English-language coverage by Ben Nimmo, a senior fellow at the British-based Institute for Statecraft, found a significant bias toward the exit campaign.
Latest News ANZ to launch digital home loans Full-year results show loan turnaround times 'back to normal'

ASIC appeals dismissal of petition against CBA and Colonial First State The case is over allegations of breached conflicted remuneration laws

Pressure on bank staff to push unsuitable financial products on customers is hurting the integrity of the industry, the Finance Brokers Association of Australia ( FBAA ) has warned.The FBAA is responding to a Fairfax Media report, which claimed Commonwealth Bank staff felt pressured to meet performance targets to sell products which are not in the customers interests.The FBAAs Peter White said this is another example of the way banks and major lenders stop at nothing to ensure they improve their financial bottom line.This might be great for shareholders but comes at the expense of customers who are being offered loans that are unsuitable and unsustainable.White has now highlighted that this is a fundamental difference between bank-originated and broker-originated loans.It is all about transparency as banks are under no obligation to disclose commissions, unlike finance brokers, he said.The Financial Services Union has got it right in condemning this sales culture within the banks. In fact it is this type of practice that provides ammunition to those pressing for a royal commission into the banking industry.Unlike banks, which have volume and sales targets, White said brokers are more inclined to act in the best interests of consumers.Brokers rely on repeat business and know the value of keeping the customer happy and more importantly sustaining an honest and open financial relationship, he said.
Latest News ANZ to launch digital home loans Full-year results show loan turnaround times 'back to normal'

ASIC appeals dismissal of petition against CBA and Colonial First State The case is over allegations of breached conflicted remuneration laws

While a number of Australian states have recently upped some stamp duty charges, South Australia has gone the other way in announcing a broadening of existing stamp duty discounts.Originally set to expire on 30 June, South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis yesterday announced that South Australia government would use their upcoming state budget to extend and expand stamp duty concessions for buyers of off-the-plan apartments.Under the new arrangements, a stamp duty concession of up to $15,500 will now be available until 30 June 2017 and will now apply to off-the-plan apartments across all of South Australia, rather than just the inner city areas of Adelaide.According to Koutsantonis, nearly 600 buyers accessed the concession in the past 12 months and the expansion and extension of the program will benefit the states economy and housing supply.The stamp duty concession for off-the-plan apartments has been an extremely effective and targeted mechanism for stimulating growth and jobs in the economy, he said.We want to maintain that stimulus to support the construction industry and expand it to renew housing stock and create jobs right across the state.While the government in South Australia believe the move is a positive, Angelo Mena, director of Adelaide based Alexa Real Estate, said a close eye needs to be kept on the scheme to ensure there isnt an oversupply of apartments, especially in inner Adelaide.If you jump online and look at whats around in Adelaide there are hundreds of apartments for sale at the moment, Mena told Australian Broker's sister publication, Your Investment Property.There are hundreds of them in a small geographical location, so I think they need to be careful about how many theyre trying to get built. Theres always a possibility of oversupply happening, he said.Mena said the extended concession is likely to increase interest in the states off-the-plan-market, he said it might not come from local buyers.One thing you do need to remember is that Adelaide has never traditionally been a high-rise, high density sort of city. Unlike Sydney and Melbourne where its accepted that you have that sort of inner city living, our metropolitan area is a lot different, he told Your Investment Property.We havent really embraced that sort of inner city living. Well probably see a few more Chinese investors come here if we get a lot of new apartments, but Im not sure just how interested your average South Australian will be.The announcement was welcomed by the Property Council of Australia (PCA), who believes it will boost affordability and is a step in the right direction for the future of stamp duty.Budget stimulus measures like extending stamp duty concessions for off-the-plan apartments are strongly welcomed by developers, investors and particularly first home buyers, South Australian PCA executive director Daniel Gannon said.Any assistance for first home buyers is a housing affordability measure at a time when affordability is becoming out of reach, Gannon said.While residential stamp duty abolition is the end game, this announcement is a positive step in the right direction for developers and buyers.
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

The South Sudanese and Zimbabwean governments are still embarked into discussion concerning the issue of health workers export to the South Sudan.This was revealed by Minister of Health and Child Care David Parliamentary in Parliament."Work is still in progress on a government to government agreement with the South Sudanese Government on a bilateral agreement on export of health workers," he said."Should the Government to Government agreement be finalised, such issues will be looked into with advice from the Attorney General's office."He said this will be discussed with the South Sudanese Government at the appropriate time."The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through their embassies, would be able to give guidance on security matters. On how many Zimbabweans have taken this offer, none through the Ministry of Health and Child Care," he said."Both the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the South Sudanese Embassy are not aware of the advert in the media inviting State Registered Nurses to seek employment in South Sudan. This was only brought to the attention of the Ministry through the question from Parliament."The minister said if there are any advertisements to be done, this will have to be discussed by the Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Health Services Board, guided by consultations at the appropriate levels.
News / International

by BBC

The UK's vote to leave the EU has sparked demands from far-right parties for referendums in other member states.France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the French must now also have the right to choose.Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders said the Netherlands deserved a "Nexit" vote while Italy's Northern League said: "Now it's our turn".The UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU after 43 years. David Cameron has announced he will step down as PM.Global stock markets fell heavily on the news and the value of the pound has also fallen dramatically.The European parliament has called a special session for next Tuesday.Analysts say EU politicians will fear a domino effect from Brexit that could threaten the whole organisation.Ms Le Pen hailed the UK vote, placing a union jack flag on her Twitter page and tweeting: "Victory for freedom. As I've been saying for years, we must now have the same referendum in France and other EU countries."She is the front-runner among candidates for the presidential election in 2017 but opinion polls suggest she would lose a run-off vote.Last Friday, Ms Le Pen had told a gathering of far-right parties in Vienna: "France has possibly 1,000 more reasons to want to leave the EU than the English."She said the EU was responsible for high unemployment and failing to keep out "smugglers, terrorists and economic migrants".Mr Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, said in a statement: "We want to be in charge of our own country, our own money, our own borders, and our own immigration policy."As quickly as possible the Dutch need to get the opportunity to have their say about Dutch membership of the European Union."The Netherlands faces a general election in March and some opinion polls suggest Mr Wilders is leading. A recent Dutch survey suggested 54% of the people wanted a referendum.Mateo Salvini, the leader of Italy's anti-immigration Northern League, tweeted: "Hurrah for the courage of free citizens! Heart, brain and pride defeated lies, threats and blackmail."THANK YOU UK, now it's our turn."The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats wrote on Twitter that "now we wait for swexit!"Kristian Thulesen Dahl, leader of the populist Danish People's Party, said a referendum would be "a good democratic custom".European Parliament President Martin Schulz denied Brexit would trigger a domino effect, saying the EU was "well-prepared".But Beatrix von Storch, of Germany's Eurosceptic AfD party, praising "Independence Day for Great Britain", demanded that Mr Schulz and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker resign."The European Union has failed as a political union," she said.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for human Rights has expressed concerns over continuing cases of state sponsored torture in the country."AS the rest of the world commemorates the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) remains particularly concerned by the general lack of progress and political will exhibited by the Government of Zimbabwe to put in place relevant administrative and legal reforms to prevent future occurrence of torture, and provide relevant holistic remedies that address the needs of victims," said the organisation."Although freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is an absolute right, the heinous crime of torture persists, 36 years after independence. Torture has regrettably occurred in places of detention, and sometimes in the full glare of the public with some law enforcement agents, and/ or other state actors. Disturbing incidents of torture that have been documented in the past and in recent weeks, involving human rights defenders and citizens, including suspects in police custody."ZLHR said torture is not only a crime against humanity, but it is an affront to fundamental human rights."Prohibition of torture also forms part of customary international law that binds all States  including Zimbabwe. Commendably, in 2011, during the United Nations Human Rights Council state-driven Universal Periodic Review, the Government of Zimbabwe made various commitments to take measures to address the prevalent scourge of torture," said the ZLHR."This includes ratifying outstanding human rights instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, its related protocols as well as criminalising all acts of torture. There has been no tangible progress to fulfill these voluntary commitments although Zimbabwe is up for a second review in November 2016."The organsaion said the Government has also not taken enough action to publicise the provisions of the Robben Island Guidelines for the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture in Africa adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.It said the Constitution now provides for freedom from torture and restates the prohibition of torture under international law."This progressive provision needs to be reinforced with implementation. Additionally responsible state actors have a duty to punish those who perpetrate such acts," said ZLHR."ZLHR recognises the positive role of the judiciary of providing remedies to victims of torture over the years. However, victims of torture continue to experience delays in determination and finalisation of cases. In some cases, the monetary awards provided by courts have not been honoured. This does not only affect the right to an effective remedy for victims but continues to breed the culture of impunity amongst the perpetrators.""As a law based organisation that is committed to fostering a culture of human rights in Zimbabwe, ZLHR will continue to assist victims of torture to access legal remedies and calls upon government to; honour the voluntary commitments to ratify and domesticate the provisions of United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its related protocols; adopt and implement adequate administrative and legal reform measures to prevent further occurrence of torture; establish a mechanism to ensure that monetary damages granted by courts in cases of torture are honoured; work closely with non state actors to restore the dignity of torture victims by adopting relevant complimentary holistic measures that include rehabilitation of victims," the organisation added.
Federal authorities investigating Bob Menendez, reports and adviser say

The investigation by New York prosecutors is reportedly connected to the 2017 trial in which the senior U.S. senator was acquitted.
As Britain decides to exit the European Union, all the three trade unions in the region  Unite, GMB and Community  have raised concerns over the fate of its 146,000 (active and inactive) members, part of the British Pension Scheme, under Tata Steels UK operations. In a telephonic interview with Aditi Divekar, Unites national officer (metals and foundary) Harish Patel talks about the nervous element that has set into the industry post referendum. Edited excerpts.
The Brexit development of last week has acted like a further spanner in Tata Steel's efforts to get rid of loss-making UK business. As if selling of the plant was any easy for Tata Steel since the time the company announced its plan to do so in March amid a hostile business climate, Britain's move has only worsened matters. As buyers will now have to study even the trade ties of Britain with other European countries, certainly the sale process will be further delayed, say experts.
From managing Gujarat State Electricity Corporation to being part of multinationals CLP and AES, and now heading thermal power giant NTPC, 51-year-old Gurdeep Singh has experience across the power industry. Three months after returning to his parent organisation as chairman and managing director, he speaks to Jyoti Mukul & Shreya Jai on a plan to add capacity and keep the energy cost low. Edited excerpts:



has been able to reduce power tariffs (rates). How was it made possible?



In FY16, our total cost was down to Rs 2.92 a unit against Rs 3.06 the previous year, due to reduction in both energy and capacity charges. Energy charges incurred on account of fuel came down to Rs 1.86 last year from Rs 2 in 2014-15. We sell approximately 20 billion units every month and if our cost comes down by 14p (a unit), there is a saving of nearly Rs 300 crore a month for the distribution .
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has shown noteworthy results in launching rockets and satellites to space on a shoestring budget. A S Kiran Kumar, the chairman, talks of whats on and what lies ahead, in an interview to Alnoor Peermohamed & Raghu Krishnan. Edited excerpts:



Where is Isro today? What are the plans in the coming decade?



We have focused on communication, navigation and earth observation capabilities in satellites. In all these areas, were limited by our capacity to realise and launch. Today, we have 35 satellites. If you see in terms of requirements, maybe I should have double this number operating at any given point of time, to meet our requirements. We have to build capacity and are increasing the number of launches of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). We started with once in a few years, then a couple in a year. Till recently, we were 2-2.5 per year but weve already tried to make it sic-seven a year in terms of PSLV.



But, then, this increase cannot happen on its own. We need a supply chain capacity and the industry is trying to build more. We have to give emphasis and make sure that industry capacity grows and our own capacity, the number of launches, grows. In the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), we had issues; we have overcome that. Weve launched two GSLV Mk-II and are planning that every two years, we will launch a Mark II. Then, Mark III this December and the next December we intend to complete that. In PSLV, while we are using it for our own capacity, whatever is left, were augmenting and providing solutions for others. So, it has become a vehicle that is sought after when it comes to that.



So, while we are enabling and enhancing the capacity for our own use, we also have an opportunity to make it commercial. Towards that, we are discussing with industry on how to form a consortium or a mechanism where our capacity for launching can go up to maybe 12-18 a year. One is a consolidation phase and the other is capacity building to meet the growing demand.In this, where are we compared to global agencies?



As things progress and there is more demand, you need to ensure something else. If you look at the cost of access to space, a lot of private entities are getting into this space, whether in America or Europe. When they start operating, they will be looking at how the cost can be brought down. So, these are also challenges to agencies like ours. All government agencies have to start looking at these scenarios.



A large number of smaller satellites are coming out. They require launch opportunities which others have not been able to provide and we have been able to. You need to leverage that but also ensure you continue to improve your ability to provide solutions at a contemporary and competitive price. That is where our reusable launch vehicle (RLV) comes into the picture.



We also have our own science missions. You need to make sure for the capacity you are building, that you keep challenging them to do more and more difficult activities. So that their ability to visualise and find solutions to even our regular activities also gets continued.


The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the investigative agency for white collar crimes, has sought loan details from lenders to the Vijay Mallya-owned defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

"Banks have been asked to provide all the details of the loans given to the Kingfisher Airlines. The agency wants to know whether all the procedures were followed by the lenders while giving loans to the airlines," a banking source said, adding the details have been furnished.

As a multi-disciplinary organisation, the SFIO probes cases of financial frauds that are referred to it by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

According to a banker, by asking these details, the SFIO is probably trying to ascertain whether or not there were any lapses on part of the lenders in the entire Kingfisher Airlines loan saga.

Last month, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, had said the SFIO was investigating the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines for alleged financial irregularities.

"The SFIO is currently investigating Kingfisher Airlines. Since the probe is in progress, no comments are offered at this stage," Jaitley had informed Parliament in a written reply.

Beleaguered liquor baron Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owe over Rs 9,000 crore, including interest, to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank.

Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank, United Bank of India and Dena Bank, among others.

On June 14, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai had declared Mallya a proclaimed offender in a loan default case.

The court issued the order on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been asking Mallya to join investigations "in person" in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud involving IDBI Bank.

On June 11, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and UB Ltd in connection with its money laundering probe in the IDBI Bank loan default case.

The assets brought under the "provisional attachment" order include bank balance of Rs 34 crore, a flat each in Bengaluru and Mumbai (2,291 sqft and 1,300 sqft respectively), an industrial plot in Chennai (4.5 acres), a coffee plantation in Coorg (28.75 acres) and residential and commercial areas in UB City and the Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru (84,0279 sq ft).

Mallya had left the country to Brtiain on March 2 using his diplomatic passport and London has turned down New Delhi's request to deport him.
Calling the 1975 emergency period a black day for the country, Prime Minister on Sunday said that he was "happy" that the people in India have always given priority to democracy.

"I am happy that people in my country have always given importance to democracy. There was a day when voice of people was trampled over but now, the people of India express their views how the government is doing," said Modi addressing the 21st edition of the monthly radio programme, 'Mann ki Baat'.

Stating that though people were enjoying complete democracy now, Modi said that there was a time in 1975, when the freedom of the people were curbed and 1,000 of political activist and student leaders were imprisoned without any reason.

"Democracy has given us strength, but the night of June 25-26, 1975, was the darkest night for democracy. I always request people to have full faith in democracy," he added.
Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar is set to survey the forests in Haryana on Monday along with state forest minister Rao Narbir Singh. This could lead to an early finalisation of the definition of forest for application of the forest laws.
Many of Indias states are in action mode to improve their profile and create a conducive policy environment for investments. Some have, of course, failed to move with the changing times. The first of a 11-part series on states push for ease of doing business looks at the progress made in .



On June 20, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off an intercity superfast express train between Vijayawada and here, a week before the governments June 27 deadline for the 25,000-odd staff and officers to relocate from the existing state headquarters to the new capital of Amaravati.
Exports from special economic zones (SEZs) logged a marginal growth of 0.77% to Rs 4.67 lakh crore in 2015-16.

The exports from such 204 zones were Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014-15, according to the data of the Commerce Ministry.

"Overseas shipments from these zones have recorded a positive growth in the last fiscal, this means that there is a potential to boost the country's total exports from these zones. We need to focus here," an official said.

The country's overall exports in rupee terms had registered a dip of 9.89% in the last fiscal due to global demand slowdown particularly in India's traditional market such as the EU.

Industry experts said taking into account the figures, the government should take some immediate steps to boost exports from SEZs.

"The reason for positive growth in SEZ exports are easy way to do business in these zones. It has huge potential but the government will have to extend support to us like rollback or cut in the minimum alternate tax (MAT)," Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES) Vice-Chairman Rahul Gupta said. EPCES is the apex body of special economic zones.

He said in the current fiscal, exports from SEZs would only improve if the government give special focus in resolving the taxation issues.

"We are hopeful that the commerce ministry would take the issue of SEZs with the Finance ministry to boost the exports," he said adding at the time when the government is putting special emphasis on generating new jobs and pushing manufacturing activity in the country, "the SEZs needs special attention".

About the duty forgone issues from these zones, another expert said that the view of the Finance Ministry on this is not logical.

As per the Commerce Ministry's data, as on March 31, these zones have attracted investments worth Rs 3.76 lakh crore and has generated employment to 15.91 lakh people.

Highest number of SEZs are operational in states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telengana and Maharashtra.
Over 8,000 boundary pillars along the Indo- border will be equipped with positioning system using Global Navigation Satellite System, allowing authorities for the first time to effectively manage the more than 1,700-km-long porous boundary.

Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Nepal-India Boundary Global Navigation Satellite System (NIB GNSS) would be used for Nepal-India boundary pillars.

The decision in this regard was made at the third meeting of Nepal-India Boundary Working Group (BWG) which concluded in Kathmandu yesterday, a statement from the ministry said.

Krishna Raj BC, Director General of the Survey Department, led the Nepali delegation during the three-day meeting while the Indian delegation was led by Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General of India.

"The BWG meeting reviewed reports submitted before it by the SOC meetings and Joint Field Survey Teams (FST) and appreciated the progress made on the ongoing boundary works carried out at Nepal-India border," the statement said.

The officials decided that the completion of the "backlogged tasks from previous field seasons" will be given high priority, The Himalayan Times reported quoting the statement.

"Both the delegations reaffirmed the importance of effective boundary management. In this context, they emphasised the importance of making local authorities and people living along the border aware of the field works being conducted by joint field teams," it said.

Before the BWG meeting, the fourth meeting of Survey Officials' Committee (SOC) was held here from 20 to 22 June.

The two countries have decided that the SOC would next meet in September this year and the BWG in August 2017, in India.
After pushing for tariff measures to protect the domestic steel industry, the ministry of steel has sought intervention of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in getting a level playing field for iron ore movement through the - it wants the railway rate for iron ore to be same as coal. This step has been taken even as it is plans to leave the decision on extension of the minimum import price (MIP) regime to the PMO and the ministry of finance. MIP has a sunset clause of August 2016.
Continuing its efforts to improve quality of services, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will next month launch a mobile app that will measure the speed of internet on mobile phones automatically and pass on the data to a portal, where people can see how operators are performing in terms of speed. The app, which will be available on Android and iOS platforms, will work automatically in the background. It will send the information to its server throughout the day.
This week, India completes 25 years of economic liberalisation. The process was started by then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh and has continued under all his successors. After the initial burst in the first two to three years, the reforms process slowed. The emphasis, thereafter, has been on gradual and incremental transition, rather than rapid restructuring. The slow process has transformed India in many ways over a long period of time but the transition has been relatively smooth.
A congressional candidate has sparked outrage by plastering white supremacist billboards in Tennessee including one saying, 'Make America White Again' -- a racist spin on Donald Trump's election campaign slogan.

The 'Make America White Again' sign was posted by Rick Tyler, an independent candidate in the race for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann.

Another billboard depicted the White House ringed with Confederate flags, with the statement, "I Have a Dream", a takeoff from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. Speech, WRCB-TV reported.

Tyler's billboard saying, 'Make America White Again', is an overtly white supremacist spin on Trump's slogan 'Make America Great Again'.

His views on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, seem conflicting. In blog posts on his website, Tyler calls Trump "latest stalking horse entity to be foisted upon the American electorate" -- but also an inspiration.

"His (Trump's) advocacy of a 'temporary ban' on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about ... Namely, the urgent and vital subject of race," Tyler wrote.

He, however, was quoted as saying that he has no hatred in his heart for "people of colour".

Tyler said he put up the billboard to make a point that "the 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'Mayberry' America of old was vastly superior to what we are experiencing today."



In a Facebook post, Tyler wrote: "It was an America where doors were left unlocked, violent crime was a mere fraction of today's rate of occurrence, there were no car jackings, home invasions, Islamic Mosques or radical Jihadist sleeper cells."



By Thursday the offending billboards located near Benton, Tennessee, were taken down after outraged residents complained, NBC News reported.

Asked if he feared for his safety or backlash from the campaign signs, Tyler was quoted as saying, "I don't fear it. I welcome it, and I will respond with the application of truth." He said he had been receiving death threats.

Tyler wants the signs to be put back up and said he paid for the signs to be there until after the November election.

"If I could I'd have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District," he said.

Congressman Fleischmann also released a statement condemning the billboards.

Voters will head to the polls for Tennessee's primary elections on August 4. The general election will be held November 8.
Creative head

DDB Mudra West has appointed Kapil Tammal as executive creative director. Tammal would be based in Mumbai and report to Rahul Mathew, creative head, DDB Mudra West. He joins DDB Mudra West from Scarecrow Communications where he was one of the founders. With over 15 years of industry experience, Tammal specialises in brands across categories ranging from FMCG, e-commerce, apparels, financial sectors, retail, real estate and media companies.
The S&P BSE on Friday plummeted a little over 1,000 points intra-day as Brexit spooked world . However, the recovered a good 500 points to close the day at 26,398.
Market experts expect increased volatility this week on account of the aftermath of . The move to safe haven assets from riskier assets is likely to continue.
At least 131 Daesh fighters were killed in an ongoing fighting with the Afghan security forces in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.

According to the local officials, seven security force personnel and five civilians were killed besides 31 others wounded in the clash, which continues over the past two days.

Nangarhar governor Salim Kunduzi said the gunbattle between the two sides started early on Friday after hundreds of Dash rebels attacked the security forces' outpost in Kot district.

Kunduzi said the clash still continues in Sayed Ahmad Khail and Sepai villages in the district, adding over 200 local police force members have been deployed to clear the area of militants.

"Nearly 36 Daesh rebels were killed in face-to-face battle with security forces, 95 others were killed in airstrikes. The clashes still continue [in Kot]," Tolo News quoted Kunduzi as saying.

General Dad Mohammad Harifi, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief in Nangarhar, said, "According to intelligence reports, nearly 600 Daesh fighters attacked the district and that the security forces are trying to eliminate them."

Meanwhile, Nangarhar police chief Zorawar Zahid said the military operation will continue in Kot to eliminate all the insurgents.

Reports say that a number of tribal elders in Nangarhar have announced their support to the Afghan security forces in fight against Daesh rebels in the province.
After the president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association submitted a complaint against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating the businessmen during his official visit there, Sisodia, in a sign of protest, will march to the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and surrender himself today.

"Complaint filed against yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM," Kejriwal tweeted this morning with a copy of the complaint filed against Sisodia.

After the complaint was filed yesterday, Sisodia, quickly turned to Twitter to state that the Prime Minister may turn the complaint into a case of extortion, violence and molestation and use it as an excuse to arrest him.

He also alleged that the people who filed the complaint were indulging in illegal activities in the market, where he had gone for a surprise inspection.

According to reports, the police said earlier that they have received a complaint from the president Surender Goswami, but no FIR would be registered as no cognizable offence was committed by Sisodia.
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a Chinese national for allegedly stealing data from a private bank with skimming devices at one of its ATM facilities.

The arrest came after bank management approached the investigation agency for its assistance when they observed suspicious activity of two foreigners at their Plaza Square branch, reports Dawn.

It was noticed by the management through CCTV footages installed inside the ATM facility that the foreigners spent an unduly long time there though for not any visible job.

The FIA has formally launched investigations into the matter and lodged the case against the suspect identified as Xie Yi.

Xie Yi had landed in Pakistan on June 18 with a friend named Xie Rongjing.

The FIA under Pakistan Penal Code has registered a case under Sections 36/37 of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) against the arrested suspect and his aide at large.
Hitting out at Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit for his casual reaction on the deadly Pampore attack in which eight CRPF personnel were martyred, the Congress Party on Sunday said Islamabad needs to be sensitive to such developments.

"They have to be sensitive to such developments. We have a situation in Jammu and Kashmir which requires alertness. India has been a repeated victim of forces of terror and violence which has a well organised syndicate which operates from the soil of Pakistan," Congress leader Anand Sharma told ANI.

"Unless and until the Prime Minister and his government are fully assured that the entire establishment of Pakistan is supportive of peace process, it will be meaningless to engage in talks with them," he added.

Basit on Saturday shrugged off the question on the attack and said that one should instead focus on the Iftaar celebrations in the Pakistan High Commission.

"It's the month of Ramzaan, let's focus on this Iftaar party. The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed issue between India and Pakistan. It's an issue, which needs to be solved. We hope we will sit and discuss on the issue and find a solution. Let's have the Iftaar party and enjoy ourselves," he told the media.

Saturday's attack was the fourth one on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir this month. At least 17 security personnel were killed and several others injured in the last three major strikes along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway during the period.

Officials say infiltration has dramatically gone up compared to the previous year with more than 50 terrorists crossing the border in the last five months. Last year, there was zero infiltration in the first four months.
Retired government employee Chandrakant Kulkarni, who donated almost a third of his pension from June 2015 to September 2019 to the Swachh Bharat Kosh, today said that he has firm belief in Prime Minister Narendra Modi whom he described like his brother.

Inspired by Prime Minister Modi's 'Swachh Bharat' campaign, Chandrakant yesterday presented 52 post-dated cheques worth Rs. 2,60,000 towards the Swachh Bharat Kosh to Prime Minister Modi during his visit to Pune.

Kulkarni told ANI that he has contributed the amount for the country's development as he was extremely sad to hear the Prime Minister's address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15 last year.

"He had said that 73 percent in our country don't even have toilets. Hearing that, I felt really sad. That's when I decided to contribute my pension money towards the development of our country," he said.

Talking about his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, the retired government employee said that he was shocked to see a big personality like the Prime Minister of India come all the way to meet a common man.

"I felt as if I met my elder brother," he said.

Meanwhile, Kulkarni's son Mangal said that his father was highly inspired by the 'Swachh Bharat' initiative.

"After his retirement, my father made himself busy with social works. He was highly inspired by the Swachh Bharat campaign. He then decided to give some amount from his pension to Swachh Bharat Kosh," Mangal told ANI.

Prime Minister Modi earlier in the day showered praise on Kulkarni for donating one-third of his pension to the Swachh Bharat Kosh.

"A retired government employee giving almost a third of his pension for a Swachh Bharat. What can be a greater inspiration?" he said while addressing the nation in the 21st edition of his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme.

The Swachh Bharat Kosh has been set up by the government to facilitate channelization of philanthropic contributions and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds towards the Clean India Campaign as individuals and philanthropists expressed interest in contributing to efforts to achieve the objective of 'Swachh Bharat' by the year 2019.
With India failing yet again to gain membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Delhi Chief Minister Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain to the nation as to why did this happen, despite him travelling to other countries seeking their support in the matter, in his 'Mann Ki Baat' address.

"Sir, I hope u will tell the nation tomo why did u fail so miserably at NSG despite so many foreign visits," Kejriwal said re-tweeting the Prime Minister tweet calling on the nation to join him in the 'Mann Ki Baat' show.

Earlier, accusing the present Modi Government of indulging in 'public tamashas', the Congress Party dubbed the BJP-led NDA government as 'desperate' and accused the saffron party of allowing India into the NSG elite group, saying this kind of hectic campaigning was not required.

"It is an embarrassment for India to do what was not required. When there are no obstacles when it comes to nuclear trade with the NSG countries, it was unnecessary. We do not know why India showed its desperation and allowed India to be equated with Pakistan on the issue of NSG membership," senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma told ANI.

On Friday, China said that the NSG will not discuss its membership bid into the elite group, adding that New Delhi will first have to sign the NPT, as it is a must and a major criteria set up by the NSG.

Speaking to ANI in Seoul, Director-General of the Arms Control Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Qun asserted that India's membership has 'never ever' been on the agenda of the NSG and that there is no such agenda item for the two-day plenary, adding that there is no point of China opposing or supporting India as well as the membership of other countries.

However, India remained buoyant asserting that an early decision on its application remains in larger global interest and India's participation in the NSG will further strengthen nuclear non-proliferation and make global nuclear commerce more secure.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will meet yet again this year to discuss the process of inclusion of countries like India, who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

A special plenary session of the NSG can be called by the year end.

According to sources, there is possibility of India's inclusion in the NSG, while New Delhi will continue to discuss the issue with China.

The NSG earlier on Thursday failed to reach a consensus on New Delhi's membership application after several members of the 48-member group insisted on adhering to NPT condition for admission.
Paris Jackson, the daughter of late King of Pop Michael Jackson, has paid emotional tribute to her father on the occasion of his death anniversary.

18-year-old Paris took to her Instagram page to pay her respect and shared a black and white photo collage of herself and her father, writing, "7 years, rest in peace, my best friend in the entire universe," reports E!Online.

She added, "i love you more than anything. things may be a little shitty in the press right now but everyone knows it's all bull and i swear on the family name i will protect you for as long as i live. there's no one like you, and there never will be. thank you for touching millions of hearts, but especially my own."

Recently, the 'Thriller' hit-maker's brothers Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Marlon gave ravishing performance on some of his hits, including 'One More Chance,' 'Wanna Be Startin' Something' in the honour of their late brother at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California, reports TMZ.com.

Michael Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood, Los Angeles on June 25, 2009.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday lauded retired government employee Chandrakant Kulkarni for donating one-third of his pension to the Kosh.

"A retired government employee giving almost a third of his pension for a . What can be a greater inspiration?" he said while addressing the nation in the 21st edition of his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme.

Kulkarni yesterday presented 52 post-dated cheques, worth Rs. 2,60,000 towards the Kosh to Prime Minister Modi during the latter's visit to Pune.

Kulkarni donated almost a third of his pension from June 2015 to Sept 2019 to the Swachh Bharat Kosh.

The Swachh Bharat Kosh has been set up by the government to facilitate channelization of philanthropic contributions and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds towards the Clean India Campaign as individuals and philanthropists expressed interest in contributing to efforts to achieve the objective of 'Swachh Bharat' by the year 2019.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy launching a series on attacks on political leaders and technocrats alike gaining massive criticism along the way, the Congress has accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of backing Swamy saying his silence on the Rajya Sabha MP clearly means he is agreeing with his controversial statements.

"PM Modi has brought him into the Rajya Sabha with the sole purpose of targeting certain people and with that causing disruption within the party. If the PM is still silent on this issue, then it means that he agrees with Swamy," Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge told ANI here.

Swamy came under attack after he posted on Twitter on Friday saying, "BJP should direct our Ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie they look like waiters."

Even though he didn't name anyone, his tweet soon as Jaitley came on TV channels wearing a coat and tie while meeting officials in Beijing.

However today, he said that his tweets on the matter had been taken out of context, adding that he thought that Jaitley looked quite good in western clothes when he travelled abroad.

Speaking to the media, Swamy said that he had always targeted politicians in western threads when they travelled abroad, even during the UPA regime.

"This is part of bharatiyakaran. I have always been in Indian clothes and I have always practiced what I preach. It was not aimed at anyone else. Actually Mr. Jaitley looks very good, he looks like an exception," Swamy said.
In view of the changing regional situation, Pakistan's Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has summoned all Pakistani diplomats stationed abroad to Islamabad, after Eidul Fitr.

Rashid, speaking to the standing committee of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), said the diplomats would be briefed in detail and given instruction in light of the changing scenario in the country.

Stating that Islamabad expects its neighbours not allow its enemies the use of their land against it, he called for cooperation between nations.

"Pakistan and Afghanistan should address each other's complaints," the Express Tribune quoted him as saying.

He added that peace between neighbours is necessary for economic prosperity.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in of vendetta and alleged that the Delhi Police's extraordinary alacrity against its MLAs and members even on frivolous cases is indeed a reminder of the 1975 Emergency imposed in the nation.

spokesperson Raghav Chadha said it is extremely unfortunate that after 41 years of emergency, similar scenes are being witnessed in the capital.

"An MLA (Dinesh Mohaniya), who was addressing fellow media persons during a press conference, in the middle of the conference Delhi Police barges into his office, nabs him, treats him like a terrorist and takes him into custody. This proves that Delhi Police does show extraordinary alacrity in case of ministers precisely because Mr. Modi wants to do vendetta politics," he added.

Chadha urged the BJP-led NDA regime not to take revenge from the people of Delhi and let them enjoy the fruits of development work in Delhi under the leadership of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"While it is fine and I am not expressing any anguish or disappointment. In fact, we are going one step further and saying please arrest every MLA and minister of AAP unleash your whichever agency you like, but for heaven's sake don't take revenge from the people of Delhi," he told ANI.

Another AAP member Dilip Pandey accused the Centre of interfering in the development works being done by the Kejriwal Government in Delhi.

"Whatever the AAP MLAs have done today is so that Modi ji can take revenge from us and not let Delhi suffer. If Modi ji would have used his energy in controlling crime and not arresting the AAP MLAs, the crime graph would have gone down," Pandey said.

"It is uncalled emergency as a people's representative when trying to put forth his point to the media was nabbed and treated like a terrorist instead of an MLA. This does not suit Modi ji," he added.

Meanwhile, as many as 52 AAP MLAs, who were detained along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia en-route Prime Minister Modi's official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) here, have been released by the Delhi Police.

Sisodia earlier today accused the ruling dispensation at the Centre of interfering in the AAP Government's good work and offered to surrender before Prime Minister Modi.

"We want to tell the Prime Minister that don't stop the work in Delhi. Why are you taking revenge on Delhi? You have enmity with me so arrest me. All the MLAs are going there," he said.

Asserting that no one is above the law, the Delhi Police earlier today said they take strong action against anybody violating the law, adding that the AAP leaders would be released only under assurance that they would not again march towards the Prime Minister's residence in protest.

In his latest outburst against Prime Minister Modi following the arrest of Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya a day earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier tweeted, "Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM."

Minutes after his detention, Sisodia too took on the Prime Minister.

"Modi ji, you have got us arrested and keeping us in Parliament (Street) police station. We are ready to go to Tihar but don't stop us from working for people of Delhi," he tweeted.

Mohaniya was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women, who had gone to him to complain about a water crisis.

Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was picked up by a police team while he was addressing a press conference yesterday at his office in Khanpur.

A Delhi Court yesterday rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody till Monday.
Calling the 1975 Emergency period a "black period for the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he was "happy" that the people in India have always given priority to democracy.

"I am happy that people in my country have always given importance to democracy. There was a day when voice of people was trampled over but now the people of India express their views on how the government is doing," said Modi addressing the 21st edition of the monthly radio programme, 'Mann ki Baat'.

Stating that though people were enjoying complete democracy now, Modi said that there was a time in 1975, when the freedom of the people was curbed and 1,000 of political activists and student leaders were imprisoned without any reason.

"Basic rights of the people were snatched and the country was turned into a huge jail and all the prominent politicians, including Jai Prakash Narayan, working for the people were put behind the bars," Modi said.

The nation, he added, must not forget that dark period as it is a stark reminder that the country's strength is individual and collective power of people.

"Democracy has given us strength, but the night of June 25-26, 1975, was the darkest night for democracy. I always request people to have full faith in democracy," he added.

Modi also said that the nation must move forward through people's participation, insisting his government is committed to strengthen the democratic values.

--IANS

vin-rup/ksk/vt
A day after eight CRPF troopers were killed by 'fidayeen' militants in Jammu and Kashmir, the government said on Sunday that a central team will visit the state to look into possible spike in cross-border infiltration of terrorists.

The team comprising Secretary (Boarder Management) Susheel Kumar; Special Secretary, (Internal Security), Mahesh Kumar Singla; and Joint Secretary (Kashmir) Gyanesh Kumar will visit the state on Tuesday, a Home Ministry statement said here.

"Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has directed for submission of the team's report at the earliest," it said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were killed and 22 others injured in firing on their bus by two LeT terrorists on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway in Pulwama district on Saturday. The two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were gunned down, officials said.

--IANS

sk/tsb/dg
A total of 134,000 persons with suspected links to nearly 113,000 drug-related crimes over the past year have been arrested in China, the National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) said on Sunday.

At least 1,238 suspects were arrested and around 2.8 tonnes of drugs were seized by the railway police alone, Xinhua news agency reported.

State Councillor Guo Shengkun, also head of the NNCC, inspected a compulsory detoxification centre under the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on Friday prior to the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.

Guo called for a prolonged "People's War" to stop the spread of drugs, saying all social forces should be mobilised for drug control.

The state councillor also vowed "zero tolerance" and severe punishment for drug-related crimes in order to deter offenders.

--IANS

py/dg
Over 2,500 hectares of confiscated land in Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy region were returned to farmers in Pantanaw and Pyapon townships, officials said on Sunday.

Vice President U Henry Van Htio said that more efforts were taken to release more remaining land, Xinhua news agency reported.

The vice president, who is also Chairman of the Central Review Committee on Confiscated Farmland, told farmers in Pantanaw township that the government was making systematic efforts to ensure transparency in order to hand over confiscated land back to farmers, urging the regional authorities to take bold steps to solve the land issues within the legal framework.

Meanwhile, plans are also underway to return over 445 hectares of land to farmers in Mandalay region.

More than one month after taking office, the new government voiced commitment to the speedy resolution of farmland confiscation issue and for the return of abandoned land to their lawful owners.

Permissions were granted in accordance with the 2012 Farmland Law during the previous government to private companies and government departments to confiscate land, including farmland, under the pretext of urbanisation and industrialisation.

The move has evoked land disputes among the government, landowners and investors over ownership.

--IANS

ksk
China's national observatory on Sunday renewed its yellow alert for a vast region across the country, where temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius are predicted for daytime.

China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the daytime on Sunday, high temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius are expected to scorch regions to the south of the Yangtze river and the central and southern parts of north China, the National Meteorological Centre said.

Parts of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian will see temperatures up to 39 degrees Celsius.

Rain storms are forecast in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river from Sunday night to Monday.

Heavy rains will hit parts of Chongqing, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

Geological disaster risks are high in parts of Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang, the centre warned.

--IANS

ksk
The Himachal Pradesh government is soliciting public opinion on how best to tackle the 'monkey menace' which has caused crop losses worth hundreds of crores of rupees in recent years, Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri said on Sunday.

Bharmouri told IANS he has requested the people, including farmers, animal rights activists and legislators, to suggest long-term solutions for the damage that a growing number of monkeys in the state has been inflicting on farming and the economy.

The number of monkeys in Himachal Pradesh increased five-fold from 61,000 to 317,000 between 1990 and 2004, according to the state wildlife department.

Their number has since declined, presumably due to the state government's sterilization programme. The state is currently home to 207,614 monkeys, still a very high number, according to Bharmouri.

The minister's canvassing of public opinion has been sparked by continued division on the long-standing issue: between those who advocate drastic measures to deal with animals that cause damage and those who raise moral and legal concerns.

Long been the subject of legal wrangling, the rift is currently being argued in the Himachal Pradesh High Court as well as the Supreme Court.

While the high court on April 19 issued notice to the central and state governments on the issue of declaring monkeys 'vermin' within the Shimla Municipal Corporation's jurisdiction, the apex court on June 20 refused to put on hold a notification that allows the culling of monkeys.

The notification was issued on March 14 by the central government, declaring monkeys 'vermin' in Shimla for a period of six months. Another notification was issued in May to treat monkeys as vermin for a period of one year in other districts of Chamba, Kangra, Una, Bilaspur, Shimla, Sirmour, Kullu, Hamirpur, Sonlan and Mandi.

The notifications allow mass killing or 'culling' of monkeys in the state.

Labelling monkeys 'vermin' has not yet led to their mass killing because the high court in January 2011 put on hold a state government measure to allow farmers to shoot the monkeys to save their crops.

Bharmouri said the state government will request the high court to withdraw the order now that the Supreme Court has refused to block the central government notification.

The next hearings at the high court and the Supreme Court are both scheduled for July.

Meanwhile, monkeys in Himachal Pradesh are legally safe as long as the high court does not withdraw its order.

Bharmouri now wonders if the measure the state has used since 2006 -- that of sterilizing monkeys -- is worth continuing with.

"Under the sterilization programme since 2006, more than 51 percent of the monkeys in the state have been neutered," he said.

Until March 31, a total of 108,325 monkeys were sterilised at eight centres, according to the state wildlife department.

The minister is asking people: Should monkeys be culled or sterilised in order to control their population?

His own opinion is clear by his efforts to get the central government to issue the notification and his stated position that the high court stay on killing monkeys should go.

Quoting the agriculture department report of 2014, Bharmouri said monkeys and other wild animals damaged agricultural crops worth Rs 184 crore annually.

He said the loss to horticulture crops was estimated at Rs 150 crore between 2006 and 2014.

According to official records, there were 674 attacks on humans by the monkeys in the last three years and the sufferers were compensated Rs 28 lakh during this period.

Kuldeep Singh Tanwar of Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, an NGO working for the cause of farmers, told IANS that farmers were in favour of culling.

"The monkeys should either be eliminated professionally by hiring hunters or the forest department should set up committees at the panchayat level to kill them," Tanwar said.

He said lifting the ban on the export of monkeys for bio-medical research is the humane alternative to check their rising numbers.

The central government had banned the export of wild animals in 1978.

--IANS

vg/kb/vt
Condemning the terrorist attack on a CRPF bus near Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir a day earlier, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday said it is an act of frustration and assured the government will deal with such incidents strongly.

"In the last one month, over 25 terrorists have been killed by security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. It is an act of frustration on their part to show that they still hold power," the minister said while addressing an ex-servicemen's convention here.

Calling it a very unfortunate incident, Parrikar said he had doubts if the standard operating procedure (SOP) was followed in the case.

He, however, said the exact reason of the incident will only come out after inquiry.

"This nation has to seek peace. We seek peace, but from a position of strength and not from a position of weakness," he added.

Parrikar said that after becoming the Defence Minister, he had told soldiers to retaliate in case of a terrorist attack.

"... I told jawans that if terrorists attack you, you don't need to stop; you have all the freedom to retaliate," the minister said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 22 others wounded when terrorists attacked a bus carrying security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference later, he welcomed the changes in the Foreign Direct Investment policy in the defence sector.

"The government has taken a big step in the defence sector by increasing the FDI. This has been done so that India becomes an 'export hub' over the years," the minister said.

He said the capacity of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's MiG factory in Odisha's Sunabeda will be doubled within two to four years.

Parrikar also highlighted several central welfare programmes initiated for the benefit of the people.

--IANS

cd/tsb/dg
Haryana Police have arrested a man after a doctor complained that he approached him with his pregnant wife and sought to determine the sex of the foetus and other manipulation to ensure a male child.

The accused who gave his name as Aryan, a resident of Delhi, has been booked under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, complainant Anurag Bishnoi of National Fertility Centre in Hisar told IANS.

Aryan sought Bishnoi's services after learning about pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a medical procedure meant for screening genetic diseases through which sex selection also has reportedly been attempted, Bishnoi said in his complaint.

"Many people demand the same verbally and we never had any proof. This man had all his research done and written on a paper. So we had proof this time. I asked him to wait and informed the police," Bishnoi said.

While his clinic is not authorised to conduct PGD, Aryan's intentions were clear and illegal, he said.

"The man did not have any reference of a doctor and he wanted PGD for (ensuring) a male child and not for getting a disease diagnosed," he said.

"He also mentioned about Thailand where PGD is available," Bishnoi said.

--IANS

kd/kb/dg
The driver of a mini truck who mowed down a woman while trying to abduct her in West Bengal's Hooghly district has been arrested, police said on Sunday.

The incident occurred on Friday night in Chinsurah when Jayanti Soren, a factory worker, was returning home with co-worker Puja Oraon at the end of their shift.

According to police, the driver and his helper grabbed her arm and tried to pull her inside the vehicle. When she resisted and tried to escape, the driver knocked her down and ran over her.

Puja too suffered injuries in the attack and is being treated.

Police on Saturday night arrested driver Ranjit Baitha, said Superintendent of Police Pravin Tripathi.

Charged with murder, molestation and abduction, Baitha on the day was presented before a court which sent him to police custody for five days.

--IANS

and/vd
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other AAP legislators were detained here on Sunday while they were marching towards the Prime Minister's residence to protest against the BJP's alleged obstructionism and targeting of Delhi government.

"All the MLAs including Sisodia have been detained and taken to the Tughlaq Road police station," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal told IANS.

Sisodia told reporters here: "We will all go and surrender ourselves to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is an attempt by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) to stop the AAP government from working."

"Every day they are arresting our MLAs. They have problem with AAP. But why are they impeding Delhi government's good work," Sisodia said.

On Saturday, the president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association here submitted a complaint against Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating the businessmen during his official visit there.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs were marching towards 7 RCR, Prime Minister Modi's official residence.

Delhi's Rural Development Minister Gopal Rai said: "The BJP government has been trying to obstruct the good work of the AAP government. Why is there no action against the BJP legislators despite allegations. Why are only AAP legislators being targeted?"

On Saturday, Dinesh Mohaniya, AAP legislator from Sangam Vihar in southern Delhi, was arrested on charges of "sexual harassment" and sent in judicial custody. The complaint was filed by a woman who visited his office-cum residence in Sangam Vihar over water supply problems.

Mohaniya was picked up by a Delhi Police team while he was addressing a press conference at his residence in the constituency.

--IANS

rup/kb
At a time when the demand for bilingual and dubbed versions of films is at an all-time high in Indian cinema, ace filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli of "Baahubali: The Beginning" fame, says it's only feasible to release those films in multiple languages which have a universal human connect.

Rajamouli's southern magnum opus "Baahubali: The Beginning", which was made on a whopping Rs 100 crore-plus budget, released across the world in different languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and minted over Rs 600 crore worldwide.

Rajamouli says whether a film should be released as a bilingual project or not depends on the subject of a project.

"Each and every film cannot be released in all the languages. If you get a subject which is predominantly based on human emotions, which are general to everyone irrespective of caste, creed, region, language or culture specific - if you know that your story is based on those human emotions and it connects to everyone - then it is eligible to release in all the languages," Rajamouli told IANS here.

"In the case of 'Baahubali: The Beginning' we believed it needs to be showcased to a wider audience," he added.

The National Award winner and Padma Shri awardee says mediocre subjects cannot register huge footfalls at theatres.

"Art is a very difficult business, and cinema is both art and business.

"You just cannot say that it is all art, and vice-versa. So that way, one has to give space for another and you should be sensible enough to think of both angles," said Rajamouli, credited with films like "Eega", "Magadheera" and "Vikramarkudu".

"If you are putting money in a film, there should be some avenue from where you can get the money back. No one wants to make films to be bankrupt. When you start believing in a mediocre subject thinking that it is going to fetch more in various markets just by pumping in more money to it, then that's where the problem starts," he added.

Now "Baahubali: The Beginning", starring Prabhas and Rana Daggubati in the lead, is set to release next month in 6,500 screens across China -- which is increasingly becoming an important market for Indian movies.

"There has been a lot of effort from the producer's side to release it as a mainstream film there (in China). This is not the first time, as a lot of (Indian) films have released there before. But all of them have received a very small number of screens," Rajamouli said.

" 'PK' broke that (image) as it got a wide release there. 'Baahubali: The Beginning' is going to release in 6,500 screens. Our film is going to release all over China. It's bigger than its India release," Rajamouli said.

He also appreciated how since the "Chinese are very aggressive in their marketing, they have grown exponentially (in terms of filmmaking) when they decided to put their eye on cinema 10 to 15 years ago".

"I hope our film does well, not just for us, but for the string of Indian films to follow," he added.

Asked why he never thought of making "Baahubali: The Beginning" in Hindi and release it as a commercial Bollywood film, Rajamouli said: "When I started 'Baahubali: The Beginning' and had the script and the schedule ready, we knew that I need my stars to give me their dates for two years.

"Can you think of any of the Bollywood stars who can give their dates for two years without committing to any other movies? It wouldn't have happened."

The sequel of "Baahubali: The Beginning", titled "Baahubali: The Conclusion", is slated to release in 2017.

(Sandeep Sharma can be contacted at sandeep.s@ians.in)

--IANS

sas/rb/vm/ky/tb
The Panama Canal is getting ready for expansion that will take traffic through the inter-oceanic passage to a new level, officials said.

With the expansion of the canal's width and depth, the volume of traffic will double, as Panamax-class vessels will now be able to pass through, carrying up to 14,000 cargo containers, Xinhua news agency reported.

Jorge Luis Quijano, administrator of the Panama Canal, said at a press conference on Saturday that this expansion, which will be inaugurated on Sunday, will open up new opportunities in sectors such as logistics and ship repairs.

The main contractor for the expansion was the consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal.

Espino de Marotta said the project had gone very smoothly, considering the complexity of the works involved. "The expansion of the Panama Canal is one of those projects that happens once every 100 years," he said.

--IANS

pgh/
Two days hence but in 1914 came possibly the most inept assassination in modern history, which may well have remained a farcical incident but for its consequences -- not only a long and ruinous war that engulfed and changed the world, but a further century of violence. Given what is at stake, it is not surprising that there have been many attempts -- in fiction -- to save Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his consort that fateful summer day in Sarajevo.

Britain may well have now signalled its intention to turn its back on Europe after centuries of involvement, but its engagement in the continent's affairs cannot be so easily forgotten. In half-a-dozen odd prominent stories of attempts to save the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, almost all involve British protagonists.

Only in one case, it is a trio of rebel Russian intelligence agents that tries to stop the assassins, while in one, a set of amateur British agents sent across Europe in a desperate bid to unearth and neutralise an effective opponent may have ended up helping to cause the assassination (Robert Wilton's "The Spider of Sarajevo", 2014).

And though the Master Detective - Sherlock Holmes himself - has so far not been involved in this case (in print at least though some related characters appear in a movie), he, decades back, foiled a similar plot (in Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Per Cent Solution", 1974) and warned of such an incident in the future.

But before taking up these tales, it is necessary to note the view that the Archduke's assassination only served a pretext for World War I. With growing competition among leading powers, and the continent already divided into sets of opposing alliances, and secret treaties of what each country would do for its allies, war was already inevitable, and if not the Archduke's case, some other such event could have triggered it.

But, on the other hand, it might be possible that had it involved countries other than increasingly moribund Austria-Hungary, with its belligerent generals like Franz Conrad von Hotzendorff, and cocky, fanatically irredentist Serbia, with its military intelligence chief, Col. Dragutin Dimitrijevic, who was a law unto himself, wiser counsels may have prevailed and a wider conflict prevented. But then counter-factual history is a tricky subject, so let us remain with the present issue.

The earliest dealing with the episode was Dennis Wheatley's "The Second Seal" (1950; chronologically third of his Duke de Richleau series but seventh in order of writing).

A nostalgic depiction of ante-bellum Europe, it sees de Richleau, an exiled Frenchman and now a naturalised British citizen, undertake a perilous mission in Vienna and Belgrade for British intelligence. Having a link with Dimitrijevic, he soon learns about the plot, and killing the Serbian spy chief and two of his aides, rushes to Sarajevo to foil it. He arrives on the day itself, but though managing to stop one assassin, cannot prevent the other. (The real Apis and his aides were executed by the Serbian government three years later)

The same plot, though with a protagonist much lower in the social pecking order, is in Alan Bardos' "The Assassins" (2016) but this I am yet to finish. One highlight however is a cameo by Leon Trotsky, whom the protagonist Johhny Swift meets in Vienna.

Subtly different is Ben Elton's "Time and Time Again" (2015) where an ex-army officer, Hugh Staunton, in a vaguely dystopian Britain of 2025, is sent back in time by a group of Cambridge dons (acting on posthumous instructions from Sir Issac Newton) to avert the ruinous World War I by saving the Archduke. But he also must instead eliminate the 'militaristic' German Kaiser, Wilhelm I. He achieves both aims but what this leads to must be read in its chilling entirety. There are twists galore but the message is clear - changing history may not always be a wise step.

A non-British perspective is provided in Stephen Miller's "A Game of Soldiers" (2006). (Tsarist spy agency) Okhrana investigator, Inspector Pyotr Ryzhkov, tasked with protecting holy man Rasputin, in St Petersburg, probes the murder of a girl prostitute, despite his superiors' disapproval. But the trail leads to a Russian oligarch funding the Serbian government, and our Dmitrijevic, and others, trying to drag in Russia for their own machinations.

When two junior ministers who back Ryzhkov are killed in a blast, attributed to terrorists but arranged by the conspirators, Ryzhkov and his associates, Konstantin Hokhodiev and Dima Dudenko, proceed on their own to Sarajevo in the last week of June 1914 to prevent the assassination.

There could be more but the assassination itself was chancy - out of the six assassins armed with guns and bombs, only one could react as the Archduke's car passed but failed, and had it not been for the vehicle later taking a wrong turn and then stalling, the royal couple would still be alive. This how history works.

(Vikas Datta is an Associate Editor at IANS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)

--IANS

vd/vm/tb
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday said Scotland's Parliament could attempt to block the UK's exit from the European Union.

Sturgeon said "of course" she would ask lawmakers sitting in the parliament to decline to give their "legislative consent" to Brexit, blocking any attempt by the British government in London to proceed with a split from Europe, Efe news reported.

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying look we're not to vote for something that's against Scotland's interest, of course that's got to be on the table," the first minister said.

Sturgeon also said she suspected that "the UK government will take a very different view on that and we'll have to see where that discussion ends up".

Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party has 63 of the 129 seats in Holyrood -- or the Scottish parliament, has already said a second referendum on Scotland's independence from the UK was back on the table.

--IANS

py/dg
Seven Indonesian sailors have been kidnapped and were probably being held in Sulu province of Philippines, a military spokesman said on Sunday.

They were kidnapped "on the high seas of Indonesia around June 22", Xinhua news agency quoted Brigadier General Restituto Padilla as saying.

He said the military "is now assessing the situation and will plan for the best course of action".

No further details of the abductions were provided by Padilla.

The abductions prompted Jakarta to halt its coal shipment to the Philippines unless the kidnapped sailors are secured.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi on Friday said: "The moratorium on coal exports to the Philippines will be extended until there is a guarantee for security from the Philippine government."

Indonesia supplies 70 per cent of the Philippines' coal import needs.

The notorious Abu Sayyaf group has not so far claimed responsibility for the latest hostage-taking.

Last March and April, at least 14 Indonesian sailors were abducted in two separate incidents, according to the Philippine military. They were all freed in May.

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have recently agreed to intensify their security operations in Sulu Sea where the Abu Sayyaf militants are operating.

This month, the three agreed to designate a transit corridor for commercial vessels crossing their water borders.

--IANS

py/dg
Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 51 other AAP MLAs were detained on Sunday while marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence and freed after some four hours, police said.

All the legislators were taken to the Parliament Street police station in the heart of Delhi after being stopped just over one kilometre from Modi's residence.

Accusing Delhi Police of arresting Aam Aadmi Party MLAs on fake charges, Sisodia said they wanted to go to Modi's residence to offer themselves for en masse arrest.

"We will all go and surrender ourselves to Narendra Modi. There is an attempt by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) to prevent the AAP government from working," he said. "Every day they are arresting our MLAs."

"Since they are doing the of arresting and harassing us one by one, why not arrest all of us at one go?" he told reporters before setting out to the prime minister's residence.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and some other AAP MLAs were not part of the group led by Sisodia. The AAP has 67 members in the 70-seat Delhi assembly.

The AAP decision came a day after one of its legislators, Dinesh Mohaniya, was arrested from a press conference on charges of "sexual harassment" - a charge he has denied.

At the Parliament Street police station, the AAP MLAs dramtically began cleaning the complex, one of the MLAs said.

Eventually, just before 3 p.m., police released all of them.

"All the MLAs including Sisodia have been released," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal told IANS.

Sisodia later accused Modi of sabotaging the Delhi government's bills including on regulating fees in private schools, increasing the wages of labourers and ending the no detention policy in schools.

On Saturday, the president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association here submitted a complaint against Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating traders during his official visit.

Delhi's Rural Development Minister Gopal Rai said: "Why no action is taken against BJP leaders despite allegations? Why are only AAP legislators targeted?"

AAP's Mohaniya was on Saturday sent to judicial custody.

The complaint was filed by a woman who visited his office-cum residence in Sangam Vihar in south Delhi over water related problems.

--IANS

am-rup-rak/mr
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in India are in the news. Last week, the government announced several measures to liberalise FDI norms in different sectors. It increased sectoral caps for some industries, allowed automatic clearances for foreign investment in certain areas and relaxed terms of such investments in some more. The industries that are likely to benefit from such liberalisation include aviation, airports, pharmaceuticals, defence, private security industry, broadcasting, e-commerce and single-brand retail.
It will be business as usual over the next two years as the United Kingdom negotiates the terms of its retreat from the European Union. In this interim period the UK will remain subject to EU law and European Commission decisions. However, in a parallel track running over the same period the UK will start making a new legal and regulatory regime applicable in the post- era.
It seems that Congress President is giving her customary iftar party a miss this year. It has been a tradition with the Congress president to host leaders from across the political spectrum for iftar during Ramzan. The ostensible reason for not hosting the iftar this year is that several Opposition leaders such as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav are said to be disinclined to attend. The Congress is no longer the force it used to be in national politics. Also, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi - who had visited some temples during his trips to Uttar Pradesh in recent months and had even trekked to Kedarnath - is on a short break.
A media briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday was addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, flanked by Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of information technology and communications. Jaitley took the opportunity to defend Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian against the attacks on him by Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy. The Cabinet had taken decisions related to Prasad's portfolio but the most important decision related to policy changes in the textiles sector. Many were intrigued to see Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma representing the ministry, while Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, who was present at the Cabinet meeting, was missing at the media briefing. Gangwar, an important Other Backward Classes leader from Uttar Pradesh, is unlikely to be dropped from the Union Cabinet with UP Assembly polls due early in 2017. It is a mystery as to why Gangwar was absent from the media briefing.
Britain's youth have been dealt a rough hand by their elders. Three-quarters of under-25s voted to stay in the European Union (EU) in the UK's June 23 referendum, according to YouGov. That compares to just 39 per cent of over-65s.
Sometimes it's better to be lucky than bad. has found a way to wriggle out of its $20-billion takeover of rival US pipeline operator Williams Companies. The buyer's tax lawyers botched an important interpretation but a Delaware judge ruled on Friday the mistake was genuine, not part of a broader scheme to scupper the deal.
The recent move of the (AAP) government in Delhi to rope in a public relations (PR) firm to "publicise" its work has given the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress more reason to criticise it. "Instead of spending on public welfare, AAP government spends taxpayers' money for professional help to build its image," Ajay Maken, president of the Delhi unit Congress tweeted. Delhi BJP legislator Vijender Gupta said, "Eighteen months after the historic win, the Kejriwal government requires a PR agency and is spending crores to improve its image!" Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the information and publicity portfolio, defended the government's decision. "Some TV channels are saying the AAP government has spent Rs 200 crore to hire a PR agency," he said. "This is incorrect. Hiring a PR agency to publicise a government's work is not a crime. Let the Lt Governor order a probe into the matter."


After 43 years in the European Union (EU), Britain has decided to exit the bloc. As the process of negotiating with the EU on the terms of withdrawal is likely to be a long one - almost two years - Britain will have to abide by EU treaties and laws till then. The separation will no doubt be messy.
Apropos Archis Mohan's report, "India singles out China for putting 'persistent' hurdles as bid fails" (June 25), in saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarrassed India by raising expectations about the country becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Congress leader Anand Sharma has not wished any good for India.
The Supreme Court lifted the corporate veil and upheld the cancellation of plot for an information technology campus because a Singapore company, the allottee, transferred the plot to a Dubai company without approval. In this case, Estate Officer, UT Chandigarh vs Esys Information Technologies Ltd, the plot was allotted for running an institution. However, the Singapore firm transferred its shares to a Dubai firm, Esys Global Holdings. There was another disputed transfer of shares to a Chennai firm. The estate officer asked the allottee company about the share transactions and nature of the business. He did not get a satisfactory answer. Therefore, he threatened to take back the land. The company moved the high court. It stayed the take-over. On appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the high court order. It stated that the company had concealed facts about the share transfers and not come to the court with "clean hands". There was a sale, not mere transfer of shares. The judgement emphasised that courts are entitled to "lift the mask of corporate veil when it is used for perpetrating fraud or for evasion of tax. Corporate veil can also be lifted where promoters act in furtherance of their dishonest and fraudulent design."



clause must be followed



When the clause in an agreement specifies the place of and the law applicable, it should be followed, the Supreme Court stated while dismissing the appeal case, Ashapura Minechem Ltd vs Eitzen Bulk A/S. The dispute arose out of the Contract of Affreightment Eitzen of Denmark entered into with Ashapura of Mumbai as charterers for shipment of bauxite from India to China. Disputes having arisen, the arbitrator in London held that Ashapura was guilty and awarded Eitzen Bulk $36,306,104-plus interest. The Indian firm moved Gujarat courts against the verdict without success as Eitzen insisted that Indian courts had no jurisdiction. However, a division bench of the Gujarat high court held in favour of the Mumbai firm. The dispute was also before the Bombay high court which ordered enforcement of the award. Meanwhile, the foreign firm got decrees in its favour from courts in the Netherlands, England and New York, all of them ruling that the award was enforceable in India. Both parties approached the Supreme Court. It ruled that the Bombay High Court was right and the Gujarat High Court wrong.
Builders, traders and service providers often take undue advantage to exploit consumers when the judiciary shows some leniency. Tough stand adopted by of the Maharashtra State Commission helped a consumer to vindicate his rights.
Download the wallet app, enter Aadhaar and PAN number for KYC (Know-your-Customer), visit a Cafe Coffee Day outlet for biometric verification and your bank account with Singapore-based DBS bank will be up and running.
Proximity to the airport, land availability, reducing supply in nearby sub-markets, infrastructure improvements and affordability will trigger new housing supply in the Dhanori region. Dhanori is adjacent to Lohegaon, where Pune's airport is located. It is a rather nascent market for the housing sector but is witnessing spillover development on account of its proximity to Viman Nagar. The interest of developers has now moved further towards Lohegaon and Dhanori, which are emerging as the new residential hubs in the neighbourhood.
On July 2, the Rashtriya Muslim Manch (RMM), affiliate of the (RSS), will host an Iftar party for ambassadors of countries where Eid is an important festival. RMM has hosted iftar parties in the past but this one will be bigger than ever before. RMM's members will hold smaller ones across the country. "The aim is to tell the world about Indian-ness, helping people from all communities live in peace and harmony... India is a ray of hope and peace for the Muslim world," said Indresh Kumar, RSS leader and patron of the Manch, said.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 injured in clashes over land between residents of two central Malian villages, a regional official said today.

The clash pitted villagers from Koussouma and Mougna near the ancient town of Djenne yesterday, with both sides claiming ownership over arable land nearby, the official from the province of Mopti told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"They clashed on Saturday over a land dispute. At least 14 were killed and 42 others were wounded," the official said.

A security source confirmed the clash.

"On Saturday, with the first drops of rainfall, residents started heading towards the land to cultivate it. Residents from the opposing sides protested and then launched an attack," the source said, adding that the violence quickly led to bloodshed.

There was no confirmation of the number of people involved in the clash. The two villages are located some 12 kilometres from each other.

Another security source told AFP a land dispute between the two sides has raged for "at least two years", and that it is the subject of an ongoing court case.

No court officials were available for comment today.

The governor of Mopti and a local prosecutor are due to visit the two villages today in a bid to calm tensions, the regional official said.
: Two friends of a jewellery shop owner were arrested today for allegedly murdering him and burning his body in a dry well at a village near Aruppukottai about a week ago, police said today.

They said the shop owner's wife had filed a missing person complaint. The woman said her husband had left their home at Tuticorin on Juen 16 with Rs 2.5 lakh cash to buy jewelerry, but did not return.

Police detained Gopal's friends Manikandan and Kannan, who used to accompany him whenever he went out to buy jewels.

The duo confessed that they strangulated him and when he fainted, pushed him into a dry well and burnt his body at Kovilangulam.

They were accompanied by one Beer Mohammed and his relative who followed them in another car and abetted them in the crime, police said.

Beer Mohammed and his relative are absconding, police said.
Surrounded by muddy devastation, Cathy Light and her husband Chris thought it was "heaven sent" they had free burgers to munch on in a Clendenin parking lot.

To their left, the roof of a Dairy Queen slumped to the pavement. Behind it, a trailer home was ripped from its foundation, with four concrete stairs all that remained in the ground. Occasional whiffs of rotten food wafted from a nearby grocery store that, not long ago, was filled with five feet of muck water.

Before they jumped in a rescue boat in Clendenin yesterday, the Lights could only save their dog Odie and a TV that sat atop a bedroom dresser the highest-up they stored anything in their house, really.

The heavy rains that pummeled West Virginia resulted in at least 24 deaths, leaving families homeless with the tearful realization that they're starting from scratch.

"I don't have anything," said Cathy Light, as she ate the free meal provided by Grace Community Church. "Where do we go now?"



The scene in Clendenin, located in Kanawha County, wasn't as deadly as in Ranielle. Sixteen people died in Greenbrier County, at least 15 of them in Ranielle. Greenbrier is the only county where Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration believes people remain missing.

"It does not appear there are unaccounted for people in other counties, but it's still a somewhat fluid situation," said Chris Stadelman, Tomblin's chief of staff.

Ranielle Mayor Andrea "Andy" Pendleton wept as she surveyed her town yesterday.

"I weep for my people, I weep for the businesses," she said.

About six buses full of people whose homes were either without power or too damaged to inhabit were evacuated. Some were taken initially to a fire department facility, but then it flooded so they were moved to an abandoned store. When that started to flood, buses took the evacuees to a church 40 miles away.

Search and rescue teams went house to house, marking those checked with a spray-painted 'X.' Abandoned pets were taken to a shelter. A water department filtration system, built with a $2.6 million loan, was damaged, Pendleton said.

Help came from multiple sources, including two search and rescue teams from Virginia.
In yet another shooting incident in the US involving toddlers, a six-year-old boy playing with his mother's gun accidentally shot and killed his four-year- old brother.

The older boy was playing with his mother's loaded gun at the family's third-floor apartment in New Jersey when he accidentally shot his brother in the head, Connie Jackson, a city spokeswoman, said.

The boy was taken to University Hospital in Newark where he was pronounced dead yesterday, a hospital spokesperson was quoted as saying by CBS .

The boys' mother, 22-year-old Itiyanah Spruill, was arrested later and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation. She was being held on USD 310,000 bail.

"This is a terribly unfortunate incident," Mayor Lester E Taylor III said in a statement.

"This is crazy because they should have a safe place," Vania Limage, a neighbour, was quoted as saying.

"Because that's been going on in the over and over, where you hear about those incidents going on. So people should not have a gun around a four-year-old and a six-year-old," Limage said.

City police and investigators with Essex County's Major Crimes Task Force were investigating the shooting.

The incident was the latest in a slew of shootings in the US involving toddlers.

A 5-year-old girl in Detroit last month died after she shot herself with a gun she found under her grandmother's pillow.

Also last month, a five-year-old girl accidentally shot herself dead while playing with her father's handgun in Lousiana.
Allowing private players to set up training facilities for air traffic control officers will help in addressing manpower shortage in air traffic management activities, says a report.

Air Navigation Services (ANS) comes under state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) and for quite sometime there has been a shortage of air traffic controllers.

A report prepared by industry body Assocham and consultancy KPMG has said the number of Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) grew to 2,600 last year but there is a shortage of around 1,500 such people.

Noting that staff crunch is a cause for concern, the report suggested enhancing capacity at existing ATCO training facilities and also permit private entities to carry out training activities.

The Civil Aviation Ministry may consider the option of allowing private players to set up ATCO training facilities, subject to adequate supervision by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), it said.

"This may be started in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode first and thereafter be made fully open to private sector in the long run," the report said, adding partnership with international ATC training institutes should also be explored.

Currently, there are ATC training facilities at the Civil Aviation Training College, Allahabad and at the Hyderabad airport.

A study done, sometime back, by the US-based Washington Consultancy Group for AAI had estimated that requirement of ATCOs would be 3,599 up to the year 2020.

As part of efforts to meet the growing manpower requirements, AAI plans to create additional posts of ATCOs.

"In order to meet the current and future requirements i.E. to cope with the growing requirement of air space and air traffic management, the AAI board has approved creation of additional posts of ATCOs in various grades," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma had told Rajya Sabha in March.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh today took a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party for its protest in Delhi over the arrest of its MLA, saying they always "cry wolf" for its "own faults".

Condemning party's "agitating and blackmailing" tactics, the former Punjab CM said it was a classic case of "double standards and political blackmail", which the AAP is best known for.

"Why not have faith in courts?" Amarinder asked the party.

He was referring to party's dharna in Delhi over the arrest of its legislator Dinesh Mohaniya on the charges of molestation.

Amarinder, in a statement here, said the AAP is now accusing the Central government of having imposed "emergency" in Delhi and resorting to the political vendetta, just because some of its legislators have been caught on the wrong foot, while the same AAP strongly defended the Enforcement Directorate notice to his son Raninder Singh, which, otherwise, was out of sheer political vendetta.

"When we said, it was a case of political vendetta, which actually it is, since Arun Jaitley wants to avenge his Amritsar defeat, they sided with him (Jaitley) and now when their MLA has been detained for serious criminal charges they are crying vendetta", he said.

The sitting MP from Amritsar asked the AAP as why it did not wait for the courts to decide on the matter.

"If you really think your legislator is innocent, why you are not having faith in the courts?" he asked, adding, "ultimately the matter will go to the court where nothing but the truth will prevail".
Asian Paints Ltd is investing around Rs 4,000 crore on setting up two manufacturing plants in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, although it has cautioned that demand conditions in the current fiscal "still remain uncertain" on account of the global economic situation.

Asian Paints chairman Ashwin Choksi said in the latest Annual Report that "the company would be investing in phases at both these facilities to enable it to service the future demand adequately".

The company has completed the land procurement process in both the states during the last fiscal and has taken possession of the identified land.

The report said the company will be set up a paint manufacturing plant with a maximum capacity of 4,00,000 kilolitres (KL) in phases at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh at an approximate investment of Rs 1,750 crore.

However, on June 21, it informed BSE that "the company has re-looked at its product portfolio to be manufactured at this proposed manufacturing plant and has decided to revise its plans of setting up of the plant with a maximum capacity of 5,00,000 kilolitres per annum, to be put up in phases."



"The approximate amount that would be invested by the company in phases over a period of 12 years from the date of commencement of construction, including the cost of land, would be Rs 1,785 crore," it said.

In addition, the report said, the firm will invest about Rs 2,300 crore to set up manufacturing facility with a maximum capacity of 6,00,000 KL in Mysuru, Karnataka.

Over the longer term, the growth potential for the company's various businesses is immense especially given the large impetus being put on infrastructure development and urbanisation through creation of smart cities.

"We are confident to convert this potential into reality and as a mark of this confidence, the company has initiated work on setting up new manufacturing facilities," Choksi said.

However, he cautioned that the demand conditions still remain uncertain in the financial year 2016-17. While the country continues to enjoy the benefits of a strong domestic consumption base, it cannot remain isolated from the external world where most of the large economies continue to exhibit weak growth trends.

The advance estimates for a good monsoon are encouraging signs and could provide a real push to the rural sector demand, he said.

During 2015-16, the company invested resources to augment its manufacturing capacities to be in a position to support the increased future demand in a timely manner.

The expansion project at Rohtak plant in Haryana to double the capacity from the existing 2,00,000 KL per annum to 4,00,000 KL per annum was successfully completed.The company would now be focusing on ramping up and stabilisation of output from the Rohtak plant, it said.

The modernisation programme at older facilities at Ankleshwar in Gujarat and Kasna in Uttar Pradesh have been completed in time last year, it added.
Describing the killing of eight CRPF troopers by terrorists in Srinagar as "desperate attempts to create problems for the country", Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju today said the government is committed to ensuring peace and security and necessary action will be taken.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were yesterday killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore near Srinagar, in what appeared to be a Fidayeen attack carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"The incident is very unfortunate... We condemn such ghastly attack by terrorists and we pay homage to the departed martyrs and send our condolences to the bereaved family members," Rijiju told reporters here.

"The CRPF team, they were returning from the firing range to the headquarters when they were attacked near Jhelum river. It was a tragic incident where eight of our jawans lost their lives," he said.

"The situation is challenging...People who believe in extremism, they are very desperate because we have got a very dynamic Prime Minister and India is progressing very well and so they are doing everything to scuttle the efforts of the government to taking India to new level of prosperity," the Union minister said.

"There are desperate attempts to create problems for the country...These are desperate attempts...But, we are committed and necessary action and response will be taken up...Let the officers come back from the spot after they review the entire situation," he said.

"There may be claims by groups (taking responsibility for the attack), but we have to make complete official assessment of the situation. Our DG CRPF has been asked to go there and other senior officers have rushed to Srinagar," he said.

On reports about statement given by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on the incident, Rijiju said, "He has a habit of giving such statements and the whole world is watching. I don't want to make political statements...I think the Ministry of External Affairs and PMO may react to it."



Reacting to another query, the minister said, "The efforts to infiltrate along the LoC in the western side has come down. The attempts have increased but the level of success has drastically come down and that is why this kind of desperate attempts are being made, and they may try to increase the level, but infiltration itself has come down."



On the Pathankot incident, he said, "We are waiting for the date which Pakistan has to give and as and when the date comes our people -- NIA team is ready.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today claimed the attack on the convoy of two Union ministers in Odisha's Bargarh on Friday was a "panic reaction" of the ruling BJD.

"General election in Odisha is scheduled to be held only in 2019. But, from now itself the earth beneath their (BJD leaders') feet have started slipping. (Abhi se unke paon ke nichhe ki zameen khisak rahi hai)," he said.

The senior BJP leader was responding to a question on Friday's incident at Baragarh where the cavalcade of Union ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was stoned allegedly by the ruling BJD's activists including MLAs who also carried black flags.

He said the incident was a "panic reaction" of the ruling party as the BJP has emerged as a force to reckon with in the state.

Dubbing the attack as a "planned action", Parrikar challenged the attackers to face him.

"It (attack on ministers convoy) was a planned action. I condemn it. Kisiko takat hei to mere samne ane do (If anyone has guts, let him come in front of me)," he told reporters here.

Stating that the people of Odisha are peace loving and therefore no one needs security here, Parrikar said, "As the former chief minister of Goa, I know that there are about 15,000 Odia people in Goa. They are absolutely humble and peaceful like the people of Goa. Therefore, one need not have security cover here. However, no one can do anything, if things are planned and executed."



Parrikar was on a visit to Odisha to attend a 'Vikash Ustav' of BJP at Cuttack, barely two days after the ruling BJD activists attacked the cavalcade of two union ministers and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda.
A bank manager has been arrested for allegedly defrauding the bank of Rs 1.52 crore during 2014-15, police said.

Solaisamy (55), who was working as a manager at branches of Indian Bank at Vembangudi and Manameludi in the district during the period was arrested last night, they said.

He allegedly provided loans for the jewels and had swindled money by showing on record short-term loans for bogus account holders, using fake addresses.

The fraud came to light during an audit. The Tiruchirapalli Zonal Manager R Selvaraj filed a complaint following which he was arrested, police said.

Two bank staffs, who reportedly helped the manager in the fraud are absconding and a search is on to nab them, police added.
The Executive Committee of BJP's UP unit will meet in Moradabad for a two-day session on July 16-17 where it would strategize for the state assembly polls due early next year.

"An important meeting of senior leaders was held here today in which it has been decided to hold state executive meeting on July 16 and 17 in Moradabad," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

The meeting was chaired by state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and was attended by several Union ministers besides party's state-in-charge Om Prakash Mathur.

Mahesh Sharma, Ramshankar Katheria, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sajeev Balyan were among Union ministers who attended the meeting along with former presidents of BJP's state unit.

Pathak said the meeting decided to hold training camps for party workers at district level between July 20 and 30.

Assembly segment-wise conferences will also be held in August, he said.
BJP Mahila Morcha workers today staged a protest near the residence of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya who is in jail under charges of molestation and misbehavior with women in his constituency.

The protesters led by Mehrauli district Mahila Morcha president Santosh Goel raised slogans against the Sangam Vihar MLA who was arrested by police yesterday.

The protesters were stopped at a police barricade as they tried to reach the residence of Mohaniya.

Earlier, 52 MLAs of ruling AAP today created high drama here as they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to "surrender" before him but they were detained more than a kilometer away.

The MLAs were detained for violating prohibitory orders around the 7 Race Course Road, a high security area. Later they were released.
On the 41st anniversary of imposition of Emergency, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today took swipes at Congress and blamed it for delaying economic reforms by two decades, transforming India into a 'dynastic democracy' and bringing in corruption.

Besides Emergency, operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple was another blot on its record, he said, throwing a challenge at the present Congress leadership and asking if it had any views on these issues.

"If one looks back at the history of the Congress Party after independence, the blots on it are economic reforms being delayed by over two decades, transformation of India in to a dynastic democracy, the imposition of Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption.

"I wonder whether the current leadership of the Congress Party has a view on this subject. Will the Congress Party have an internal debate on these issues?" the minister said in his Facebook post - 'Constitutional dictatorship imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi forty-one years ago'.

On June 26, 1975, Indira Gandhi imposed an internal emergency in the country, he said, adding "the phoney reason she gave was that there was a breakdown of public order in as much as Jai Prakash Narain had asked the police and the army not to follow illegal orders."



The actual reason, however, was that her continuation as the Prime Minister was threatened since the Allahabad High Court had unseated her as Member of Parliament for adopting corrupt practices during her election, he said.

"The impact of the Emergency was to inflict a dictatorship on the country. All political opponents were detained. The authority of the Courts to hear a challenge against the detentions was suspended. The Supreme Court caved in before the dictator.

"The Press was subjected to pre-censorship. The Press became a spokesperson of the dictator. No public protest was allowed.

"The Parliament was without an opposition. By projecting her son Sanjay as her successor, the dictator converted India into a dynastic regime. Inner party democracy was throttled," Jaitley said.

Recalling the days of Emergency, Jaitley said Parliament without an opposition amended the Constitution in order to legitimise a Constitutional dictatorship and only political workers offered some resistance by courting arrest and going to jail.

He outlined as "most significant" the collapse of the media and the Supreme Court before the dictatorship.

"Politicians were the only institution that fought the emergency since they were the only accountable section of society.

"The standards of accountability of the political class are high," he said, adding that the "even the dictator had to face an electorate when faced with International and National opinion pressures.
State-owned lender has undertaken a comprehensive review of its business and has finalised a detailed set of plans to fundamentally reposition it for future, Chairman Ravi Venkatesan has said.

The lender has reported its worst year in 2015-16.

"These plans are intended to create a more agile and capable organisation with better controls and compliance," Venkatesan told PTI on the sidelines of its annual general meeting here over the weekend.

To raise capital, the bank will be selling its non-core assets gradually, he said.

For FY16, BoB reported a huge Rs 5,067 crore loss, which followed the asset quality review mandated by RBI that required the lender to go for a higher provisioning to cover bad loans.

Venkatesan said the management has conducted a detailed review of business portfolio and intends to gradually exit unprofitable businesses and segments to improve margins and free up capital that can be deployed for customers with a better credit profile and many good business opportunities that exist.

"We can expect to see the bank rapidly return to historical levels of profitability," he said.

Emphasising that technology will play a critical role in revitalising the bank, Venkatesan said "over the next few quarters, there will be a significant upgrade of capabilities in four key business areas".

He listed out the focus areas as re-engineering and automating core business processes, closing the gap in Internet and mobile banking, improving the bank's capabilities in big data and analytics and transforming into a more digitally-savvy lender.

"Unquestionably, the most important transformation that we need to make is the transformation of our people and organisational capability," he said.

To augment expertise, BoB has appointed some globally respected experts as advisors to advise the board on IT, HR, risk management and financial inclusion. This is part of the process of systematically strengthening the board, he said.

"I am optimistic that these changes will gradually bring about a sustainable improvement in the performance of the bank," he added.
Union government's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on Sunday said Brexit was a sad development but India would not be affected by it due to its solid macroeconomics.

"Brexit is a very sad development. It has consquences for both the United Kingdom and Europe," he said while delivering keynote lecture on 'Overview of Indian Economy' at an international conference being held in Patna as part of the Asian Development Research Institute Silver Jubilee Celebrations.

"We are able to deal with it as we've solid macroeconomics," he said.

Stating that Brexit is a significant development with serious political and economic consequences for both the UK and Europe, Subramanian said it was a landmark moment in the history since World War II.

The decision has reversed the experiment by the European countries for togetherness as a collective entity, he said, adding the elites would now be forced to recalibrate and adjust.
Border Security Force (BSF) thwarted an attempt of about 300 Bangladeshi nationals to enter Indian territory at Champahaor area of Tripura's Khowai district and later they were taken back by the neighbouring country, police said on Sunday.

"Around 300 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday tried to enter through Champahaor but they were stopped by the BSF. They returned last night following a flag meeting between BSF and Border Guard Bangladesh," SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said.

He said they were tribals and evicted by the forest guards of Bangladesh from Chunarughat area of Habiganj district of the neighbouring country.

BSF and district administration of Khowai provided them food and drinking water during their stay along the border, he said.

Bhowmick said due to barbed wire fencing and alertness of the BSF, they could not enter the India.
State-run telecom operator will expand its network in Chhattisgarh by installing 2,000 new mobile towers in the next two years, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

" will set up new 2000 towers in next two years in Chhattisgarh which will be a historical step to strengthen mobile connectivity in the state," Prasad said at a press conference here.

Prasad held a meeting with Chief Minister Raman Singh and (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) officials at CM's official residence this afternoon.

"CM Singh had urged to install 1,600 mobiles towers in the state to improve telecom connectivity. I have spoken to BSNL officials and they have agreed to install as many as 2000 towers," he said.

Earlier, the Union minister and Singh dedicated 146 newly set-up mobile towers in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas of the state, particularly in Bastar.

"Maoists want to cause damage to roads, electricity supply, health and education facilities but through the communication medium, we are doing thejob of connecting people. Today, 146 BSNL towers were dedicated in Maoist-hit areas of the state. 35 more towers will soon be installed in these areas," Prasad said.

In an effort to boost 'digital drive', 220 new Wi-Fi spots will be set up in the state, mainly at tourist spots.

"The state presently has 27 Wi-Fi spots. In next one-and-half years, this facility will be extended to 220 more places. I have asked to cover prominent tourist places, including temples and waterfalls under the facility," he said.

On digital governance, Prasad said the government had set the target to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through Bharat Net optical fibre network.

"I had earlier said that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was known for four-lane, six-lane and highway and Narendra Modi government will be known for information highway," he said.
To discuss various issues related to economics of competition law, anti-trust regulator CCI will organise a national conference in March next year.

The conference, scheduled to be held on March 2-3, 2017, is part of the watchdog's larger efforts to evolve a better understanding about issues that are relevant to the domestic economy in the context of competition law.

The objective of this conference is to "bring together scholars from across the country and stimulate research and debate on contemporary issues in the field of the economics of competition law," according to a CCI communication.

The conference would target scholars with a keen interest in competition regulation, and practitioners of economics, including competition agency officials and competition economists, it added.

Competition Commission India (CCI) keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors and M&As beyond a certain threshold are compulsorily required to get the regulator's nod before consummation.
Police today released CCTV images of a suspect in the murder of a 24-year-old woman IT professional at a railway station here.

The images show a man wearing a blue shirt crossing the tracks and jumping outside the railway station premises.

The footage was acquired from a nearby house, police said.

Swathi, employed with IT major Infosys, was allegedly hacked to death by an unidentified man on a platform in the busy Nugambakkam railway station on Friday.

She was waiting to board a train on her way to office around 6:30 AM when she was murdered.

No arrest has been made so far.

Meanwhile, a candle light vigil was held in memory of Swathi here today.

Various members of civil society participated in the vigil held at the Nungambakkam railway station, where the Infosys employee was found murdered.

IT professionals and others participated in the vigil and stressed for better safety of working women.
On the first day of his four-day trip to China, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today held a meeting with Sri Lankan minister Malik Samara Vikrama in Tianjin city and discussed the possibility of the two governments working together for tourism promotion.

Chandrababu Naidu reached Tianjin this afternoon via Hong Kong along with a 12-member delegation to promote the state.

A communication from his office here said the Sri Lankan minister enquired the Chief Minister on the progress made in building the state's new capital Amaravati.

"The Sri Lankan minister conveyed his Prime Minister's greetings to the Chief Minister. He also invited Chandrababu to visit Sri Lanka. Both the governments have agreed to work together for promotion of tourism," the communication said.

Samara Vikrama told Chandrababu that there is a mention of Amaravati in Sri Lankan Buddhist history books.

The Chief Minister told the Sri Lankan minister the state was focusing on port-based economic development.

"We want to make AP the gateway for southeast Asian countries," Chandrababu said.

The Chief Minister also met chairman of Hangzhou Dingshen Industries group Zhou Xianhai and discussed mining and minerals sector.

Chandrababu informed Xianhai that AP has rich mineral wealth that could be explored and invited him to invest in the state, the CMO communication said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said a charitable group has expressed willingness to adopt the Dalit nursing student, a victim of alleged ragging, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kozhikode with severe stomach ailments.

Addressing a programme here, Vijayan said the group had sent him a letter showing willingness to adopt 19-year-old Aswathi, who hails from a financially backward family, and meet her treatment expenses.

"Here is a happy . The JDT Islam Orphanage has informed me that they are willing to adopt Aswathi. They sent me a letter in this regard," he said.

"The group also expressed readiness to enrol her in a B.Sc nursing institute, run by them," he said.

Aswathi was allegedly force-fed toilet cleaner by her seniors at the hostel of Al Qamal College of Nursing in Kalaburigi on May 9, seriously damaging her internal organs.

She is now battling for life at Kozhikode Medical College hospital, where she was admitted on June 2.

Based on her statement, police in Kozhikode had registered an FIR on June 22 against five of her seniors.

National Human Rights Commission took cognisance of media reports on the incident and asked the state government and Kozhikode district authorities to file a report and take action.

Based on her statement, Karnataka police had registered an FIR against five of her seniors and arrested three of them two days ago.
The death toll from China's destructive extreme weather has climbed to 99 after a fierce tornado and storm struckChina's Jiangsu Province two days ago leaving 846 others injured.

A powerful tornado and hailstorm pummeled the farmland and factories in Yancheng City, Jiangsu on Thursday, toppling houses, damaging wire poles and destroying a solar panel factory where hazardous chemicals had been stored.

The city government said in a press release that 1,591 homeless victims are staying in temporary shelters in two counties, and workers are rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunication facilities.

Of the injured, 107 had been discharged from hospitals and 152 have sustained serious injuries, said Wu Xiaodan, vice mayor of Yancheng City.

Zheng Yongguang with the China Meteorological Administration confirmed that an EF-4 tornado with a wind speed of 73 meters/second was responsible for the damage, citing radar data and their on-site investigation.

EF-4 is the second strongest rating for tornados.

Zheng said cement ships hurled upside-down onto shore and twisted communication towers were seen, demonstrating the power of the tornado.

A primary school teacher also recorded a video of a funnel cloud, a keytornado indicator, using a smartphone, state-run Xinhua agency reported.
Actor Chris Evan and girlfriend Jenny Slate made their first red carpet appearance as a couple at the premiere of the new animated film "The Secret Life of Pets" in New York.

The 35-year-old "Captain America" star was their to support his lady love, who has given the voice of Gidget, a white Pomeranian in the film, reported E! online.

Slate, 34 wore a red lace boat neck dress while the actor sported a light polo shirt and dark pants.

"The Secret Life of Pets was fantastic! @jennyslate was a personal favorite," Evans tweeted.

The two posed while standing close together.
Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels raged today on several fronts, killing 41 people, officials said, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kuwait to push forward peace talks.

The Iran-backed Huthi rebels pressed ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.

The rebels and their allies of forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province.

Eleven rebels were killed when warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition bombed them in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.

Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, a source in loyalist militia said.

Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official said.

Meanwhile, nine rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes in northern Yemen, after rebels attacked loyalists in Nahm, northeast of the capital Sanaa, a military official said.

Clashes have continued despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on April 11 and paved the way for peace talks in Kuwait.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived late Saturday in Kuwait to meet representatives of the rebels and the government in a bid to push forward talks that have made no headway after two months.

The Huthis overran the capital in late 2014 before moving into other parts of Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March last year.

The United Nations says more than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since then, mostly civilians.

The fighting has also driven 2.8 million people from their homes and left more than 80 percent of the population in need of humanitarian aid.
Scores of Congress workers today staged dharnas in the constituencies of 21 AAP MLAs, who have been appointed as parliamentary secretaries in alleged violation of office of profit rule, and demanded their resignation.

Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken asked party workers to carry out campaigns to expose the "failures and double talk" of the Arvind Kejriwal government.

The dharnas were staged at the end of the party's week-long door-to-door signature campaign demanding the resignation of the 21 AAP MLAs for holding office of profit after President Pranab Mukherjee refused assent to the bill passed by the AAP government to validate their appointment as parliamentary secretaries with retrospective effect.

"The Kejriwal government, which talks about morality and ethics, should immediately seek the resignation of the 21 MLAs as they have no right to remain as legislators after accepting office of profit in contravention of rules and regulations," Maken said.

He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi had resigned from Lok Sabha after she was issued a notice on the office of profit issue in 2006, and had sought re-election from Rae Bareilly.

Addressing a dharna, Maken said Kejriwal had promised that his MLAs would take only a nominal honorarium of Rs 25,000 per month but within one year of assuming office, the AAP MLAs were getting salary 12 times more than that.

Maken alleged the development works started by the Congress government have come to a "grinding halt" in the national capital as Kejriwal has been busy picking up fights with everyone and trying to expand his reach to other parts of the country at the cost of the people of Delhi.
A Congress leader was allegedly beaten to death by some unidentified assailants, suspectedly due to political rivalry in Baran district of Rajasthan.

"Sonu Goyal (33) had a political rivalry with some local men. He was attacked with batons last evening in Devri area. He died in the attack," police said today without naming who the suspects were.

Goyal was the Congress General Secretary of Shahabad block unit in Baran district and his wife is a local Sarpanch, the police said.

His body was shifted to a local hospital where the postmortem was conducted. The body could not be handed over to his family today.

No arrest in the case has been made so far, police said.

PCC President Sachin Pilot condemned Goyal's murder and demanded a high level inquiry into it.

He also said the party has constituted a three-member fact finding committee which will visit Baran and meet his family tomorrow.
A CRPF jawan was today injured during an encounter with Naxals in a forest under Etapalli taluka of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district.

The jawan, identified as Moolchand Tondre (28), sustained bullet injury near his cheeks but did not give up and continued firing on the Naxals in the Hadri forest area, the CRPF control room in Gadchiroli told PTI.

The exchange of fire between the CRPF patrol party and the rebels lasted for some time, but the Naxals managed to escape from the scene.

Tondre was airlifted by a chopper and shifted to a city hospital for treatment, the CRPF said, adding some Naxals were also suspected to have been injured in the firing.
Actress Deepika Padukone refused to comment on reports that she will one again be a part of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next "Padmavati", saying she is not in a position to confirm her casting.

There are reports that Bhasali will begin shooting the period drama in September. The film is based on oppressive ruler Alauddin Khilji's obsession for Rani Padmavati.

Ranveer Singh will reportedly play Khilji, while Deepika, 30, will take on the titular role.

When asked about the project, Deepika said, "Why don't you ask Sanjay sir, he is here. He will be able to tell you. I think IIFA was a good platform to announce it. But then I don't know. I can't say anything at the moment. It is up to Sanjay to confirm."



In 2008, Bhansali went to Paris to direct the 1923 opera ballet "Padmavati", written by Albert Rousselan, for the prestigious Theatre Du Chatelet.

The "Bajirao Mastani" star, who has wrapped shooting her debut Hollywood film "xXx: Return of Xander Cage", however said she will begin shooting her next film in September.

"I will begin shooting in the next two months for my next Bollywood film. I can't say which one," Deepika said on the IIFA Green carpet.

If things fall into place then "Padmavati" would be Deepika's third film with Bhansali, having previously collaborated with the director on "Ram Leela" and "Bajirao Mastani".
A deputy sarpanch was shot dead allegedly by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district after ultras branded him as apolice informer, an official said today.

Deputy Sarpanch of Chinna Kodepal village Anganpalli Lachhaiya wasshot dead by armed Maoists near his home late last night, a senior police official told PTI.

As per preliminary information, a group of armed naxals stormed into Lachhaiya's house in Chinna Kodepal, located around 16 km away from Bijapur district headquarters, and dragged him out, he said.

"The rebels badly thrashed Lachhaiya with sticks in front of his family before pumping three bullets into him leaving him dead on the spot," the official said.

Ultras also threatened his family members and other villagers with dire consequences if they attempt to help police in any way, he said.

After receiving an alert, police personnel reached the spot, he said, adding thatsecurity forces have launched a combing operation in the region to nab the assailants.

On June 10, a BJP leader and the member of Zila Panchayat Ramsai Majji (64) was hacked to death by Maoists in Sangampalli village of Bijapur.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister on Sunday said dialogue with China should continue to boost economic ties despite its strong opposition to India's bid to clinch membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"Dialogue with China should continue. Both countries have their own national interest," Chouhan told reporters in Bhopal after returning from his six-day visit to China.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made all out efforts to get entry in the NSG. Unfortunately, India couldn't become member of NSG," he said.

Chouhan said that during his visit to China, he felt the Chinese were keen to strengthen ties with India because of business opportunities.

"We and the Chinese government work akin in social sector  like uplift of poor," he added.

Describing his China visit as fruitful, Chouhan said that Chinese investors showed interest in Madhya Pradesh after learning that it was on the path of development.

He said that Sany Group of China is looking forward to invest $1 billion in the state, including for a 500 MW wind energy project and industrial infrastructure building.

India recently failed in its determined bid to clinch the elite NSG membership in the face of strong China-led opposition. In a clear setback to its efforts to join the 48-nation grouping, a two-day NSG plenary ended on Friday in Seoul after deciding against accepting India's membership application.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday expressed doubt if the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was followed properly by the bus-borne Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir who were attacked by terrorists leading to eight jawans being killed.

He expressed doubt, if the SOP was followed properly while noting that the clear picture will emerge after an inquiry.

"We will only get to know the exact reason after the inquiry," Parrikar told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.

The minister termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of frustration on part of Pakistani terrorists, several of whom were killed by Indian forces in past one year.

"In last one year, we have eliminated over 25 terrorist from Pakistan who had infiltrated into our country. It was an act of frustration," he said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 21 others wounded when terrorists rained bullets on the bus carrying them in Pulwama district on Saturday.
European lawmakers urged Britain today to begin EU exit proceedings at a summit this week, as Germany suggested the country should be given time to "reconsider" the impact of its vote.

Amid confusion and dissent over the timetable for any "Brexit", Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," Schulz, a German Social Democrat, said.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."



However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff insisted there was no rush to show Britain the door.

"The political leadership in London should have the chance to reconsider once again the consequences of a withdrawal," Peter Altmaier told the RND media group.

He later clarified in a statement to AFP that he was "explicitly" not suggesting a do-over of the fateful referendum.

He noted that once Britain left the union, it would be a "serious turning point with many consequences".

Altmaier had earlier told German public radio that he had "no indication" that British Prime Minister David Cameron would start the Brexit process Tuesday.

"I tend to think that the application will be filed in the coming weeks or months, possibly only by a new government," he said.

After the new administration has been formed, it will "then sort itself out and, as the case may be, present its application. We should all wait calmly for that".

Yet the German government itself appeared divided on the approach to negotiations, with Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel taking a hard line and ruling out any new EU offer to keep Britain in the fold.

"You can't be a little bit pregnant. Or have half a membership," he told business daily Handelsblatt, blasting Cameron for a "giant and historic mistake" in calling the referendum.

Echoing Schulz, the four biggest groups in the European Parliament have drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".

They added that "no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been completed".

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome that he would resign his office by October and leave the Brexit negotiations to his successor.

To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which sets the clock ticking on two years of negotiations.

Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding states meeting in Berlin on Saturday urged Britain to begin the exit process "as soon as possible".
The European Parliament's chief called today for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week.

Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone," he said.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."



The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".

They added that "no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been completed".

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave negotiations on the so-called "Brexit" to his successor.

To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.

The first step is to inform the European Council of member states which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.

The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.

Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding states meeting in Berlin yesterday urged Britain to begin the exit process "as soon as possible".
Drawing a parallel between former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and the incumbent Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said financial inclusion is the biggest success of the NDA government at the Centre.

"There are several successes of the Modi government in the last two years. But the financial inclusion is the greatest success. As many as 21.7 bank accounts were opened within five-six months with zero balance. 70 per cent of them have already deposited Rs 37,700 crore in banks," Parrikar told reporters here.

He was on Odisha trip to attend BJP's Vikash Ustav on completion of two years of the NDA government in Cuttack.

"Like Shastriji, Modiji had appealed to well-to-do families to give up gas subsidy for the sake of the country's poor. The response to the appeal was unprecedented. As many as 1.20 crore people have given up gas subsidy. Many poor families now get benefits from the Ujjwala scheme," Parrikar said.

Stating that Shastri in 1965 had made an appeal to people to fast for one day to overcome the food scarcity problem, Parrikar said, "About five lakh women have been given cooking gas. This apart, the government has been successful in detecting 3.5 crore bogus cards and therefore, saved subsidy."



Quoting former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the defence minister said only 15 per cent of the benefits were earlier reaching people. Now after direct transfer of cash to beneficiaries, people are getting full advantage, he added.

"This is the success of the NDA government," he said.

Parrikar claimed that the people have availed Rs 63,000 crore under 59 different schemes of the central government.

Parrikar also claimed that Modi is the first Prime Minister who has come out to give account of his government to people after completion of two years in office.

He recalled how Indian democracy was "in danger" when the then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975.

"The people of India reinstalled democracy in the country by defeating the Congress," he said, adding that those were black days in the history of the country.
The recent hacking of Air India's frequent flyer programme miles has brought to focus the cyber threats to the which depends substantially on sharing of information over the Internet.

"Every flight that takes off or lands is the result of working together and information sharing among many different entities such as airlines, airports and air navigation service providers (ANSPs). Yet the very nature of this collaboration also enables potential cyber vulnerabilities," top cyber security experts have said.

Like Air India, there have been recent cyber attacks on some major airlines, including one in Canada, and a global airlines alliance.

At a recent conference of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), these experts debated the critical issue and reviewed how a harmonised approach could be achieved in meeting these threats by working with governments across the world, as has been the case of decades of government- cooperation on safety matters.

Alarmed at the growing terrorist threat to aviation, the IATA has also stressed heightened coordination with governments and their agencies across the world for counter- measures and sharing of intelligence and information.

The cyber security specialists who took part in the discussion in Dublin included Maj Gen L R Urrutia-Varhall, Executive Director of the US National Intelligence Integration Office, Anja Kaspersen, Head of International Security of World Economic Forum, Alan Pellegrini, President and CEO of Thales USA, Matthew Finn MD of cyber firm Augmentiq and FBI's Assistant Legal Attache in UK Kurt Pipal.

These top experts pointed out that the cyber attacks could range from taking over of aircraft-to-ground communications to theft of information like that of credit cards or frequent flyer programmes and document frauds which could financially hit the aviation .

Pointing out that an estimated 13 per cent of hacking or phishing came from "insiders" in a company, FBI's Pipal asked how many have "hacking drills" like the hold fire- drills in their offices.

Asserting that there was "no way you can completely prevent hacking", Maj Gen Urrutia-Varhall and Kaspersen sought preparedness and regular upgrade of cyber security measures and reporting of information by the industry to governments and security agencies.

Pellegrini and Finn suggested the urgency of making of laws to fight these threats, but said on the positive side, "the technology exists to counter them". The panelists noted that no business was immune to cyber threats, but aviation was a "specific target" for those intent on doing cyber mischief and theft or something worse.

They said the airline industry should seriously examine how best to address the threats of "a constantly shifting cyber arena and identify actions that they can take to be prepared against cyber-security attacks."



At the IATA's recent annual meeting in Dublin, the airline industry pledged that their would uphold strict aviation security standards, remain vigilant and ensure the highest levels of preparedness against such acts.

Their resolution came in the backdrop of the Brussels airport attack and the bombings of Russia's Metrojet airline passenger plane in October 2015 and an aircraft of Somalia's Daallo Airline in February this year.

"These are grim reminders that aviation is vulnerable. Airlines rely on governments to keep passengers and employees secure as part of their responsibility for national security. And we are committed to working with them in that challenging task," IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said.

The resolution noted that air transport remained "a target for terrorists, exemplified by a series of recent tragic attacks on aircraft and aviation infrastructure to which terrorists have laid claim," and expressed concern that current conflicts around the world could lead to further terrorist activities, against airlines and the travelling public.
Four women from Bangladesh were arrested in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district for illegally crossing the border in an attempt to sell their products in a local market, officials said today.

The four women from Netrakona district of Bangladesh were apprehended after they sneaked into India along the International border along with goods and currencies of both countries, BSF spokesperson said here.

During search, 24 lungis, 12 towels, 40 washing soaps were seized from their possession, he said.

These women confessed to the BSF officials that they wanted to sell their products in Bhaghmara market.

They were identified as Bina Hajong, Nirma Sangma, Mallika Hajong and Shivli Sangma, the BSF said.

Meghalaya shares a 443 Km-long border with Bangladesh and two local border haats are in operation along the zero line where local from both sides of the border trade freely.

Although four more border haats are likely to be operationalised soon, the absence of legal haats has prompted people residing on both sides of the border to make such attempts.

Governor P Sathasivam, in his policy address in the state



Assembly last week, had announced a slew of women-friendly measures of CPI(M)-led LDF government including launch of a 'sex offenders register', a first such in the country which would contain all identification details of sex offenders.

According to the statistics, the highest number of crimes against women, including rape, was reported last year from northern district of Malappuram, where there were as many as 1406 cases under various categories.

The total number of rape cases reported from Malappuram was 160, followed by Thiruvananthapuram rural (138) and Ernakulam rural (112), it said.

Malappuram also witnessed highest number of cases in terms of molestation (275) and cruelty by husbands and other relatives (436), the statistics added.

The police figures also showed a steady increase in the crimes against women and children in the state in the last nine years.

The total number of crimes reported against women was 9,381 in 2007, 9,706 in 2008, 9,354 in 2009, 10,781 in 2010, 13,279 in 2011, 13,002 in 2012, 13,783 in 2013, 13,880 in 2014 and 12,383 in 2015, it said.

As many as 549 crimes against children were reported under various heads in the state in 2008, which rose to 589 in 2009, 596 in 2010, 1,452 in 2011, 1,324 in 2012, 1,877 in 2013, 2,286 in 2014 and 2,394 in 2015, it said.

On the alleged abduction and molestation of the actress, Shylaja said mere awareness classes and campaigns would not bring any change in the mindset of people but the need of the hour is the involvement of men and women in social activities.

"Films and television programmes influence people to a large extent. Visuals and dialogues, ill-treating women, should be regulated in such media. Public and civil society should take the responsibility to check the insulting of women and children in films and TV serials," she said.

People should also be ready to report every minute incident of harassment of women and children to the law enforcers, the minister added.

The incident of abduction and alleged molestation of the young actress had evoked widespread condemnation.

The prime accused in the case, 'Pulsar' Suni and his accomplice V P Vijeesh were arrested following high drama in the premises of a local court complex in Kochi on Thursday.
To clear the air on retrospective applicability of the stringent anti-avoidance rule, the I-T department has said the same will not apply to income from transfer of investments before April 1, 2017.

General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR), which will kick in from April 1 next year, contains provisions to prospectively tax overseas deals involving local assets and are aimed at minimising tax avoidance and evasion by entities based in tax havens.

The amendments carried out in the Income Tax Rules state that Rule 10U(1)(d) has been amended to provide that will not apply to income earned/received by any person from transfer of investments made before April 1, 2017. Earlier, this date was August 30, 2010.

Further, Rule 10U(2) has been amended to provide that will apply to any arrangement, irrespective of the date it has been entered into, if tax benefit is obtained on or after April 1, 2017. Earlier, this date was April 1, 2015.The industry has been demanding that GAAR provisions should apply prospectively. Through this amendment to the I-T Rules, the tax department aims to smoothen the procedure for GAAR implementation by removing any inconsistency.

"The rules make the application of GAAR on income from investments prospective in as much as any investment made prior to April 1, 2017 will stand grandfathered and will be outside the ambit of GAAR. This is a positive step as this will put to rest any controversy whether investments made prior to implementation of GAAR would be affected or not," said Rahul Jain, Partner Nangia & Co. Tax consultancy firm PwC said only income from transfer of investments made prior to April 1, 2017 has been grandfathered.

"Such grandfathering is a welcome step. It should allay some of the concerns with respect to implementation of GAAR provisions and provide certainty to taxpayers," PwC said.The amendment to the GAAR provisions is also in line with the timeline for implementation of the revised India-Mauritius DTAA.

According to the revised treaty, companies routing funds into India through Mauritius after March 31, 2017, will have to pay short-term capital gains tax at half the rate prevailing during the two-year transition period. The levy is currently at 15 per cent. The full rate will kick in from April 1, 2019.

"While this provision implies a certain degree of retroactive operation as it covers arrangements made before the cut-off date of April 1, 2017, one hopes that GAAR will be called into operation only to address the more egregious forms of tax avoidance and genuine arrangements made for business considerations are not unnecessarily hit," Jain said.

The industry has been demanding that the tax department come out with specific guidance note on when this provision will get triggered.

GAAR was introduced in his 2012-13 Budget speech by the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee with a view to checking tax evasion and avoidance. However, its implementation was repeatedly postponed because of apprehensions expressed by foreign investors.

GAAR, which was originally to be implemented from April 1, 2014, will now come into effect from April 1, 2017 (assessment year 2018-19).

There have been fears that through the use of GAAR, the government may try to tax P-Notes as indirect investments, which could attract a tax rate of up to 15%. To avoid tax altogether under GAAR, an investor may have to prove that P-Notes were not set up specifically to avoid paying taxes.
A gang of five persons decamped with a container belonging to Bharat Petroleum transporting lubricant oil worth Rs 40 lakh here while it was on its way to neighbouring Gujarat, police said today.

The container, costing nearly Rs 20 lakh, was proceeding towards Gujarat when it was intercepted by the gang in the wee hours of Friday on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway near Parole village in the district, Virar police station assistant police inspector N B Dhone said.

The miscreants beat up the driver who was alone inside the vehicle, abandoned him on the highway and decamped with the container.

The driver later reported the matter to the owner of the vehicle and a case was lodged in connection with the loot yesterday, the officer said.

An offence under sections 395 (dacoity), 341 (wrongful restrain), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC was registered against the unidentified persons, he said.

A manhunt has been launched to nab the five unidentified persons, police added.
Minority Hindus in Pakistan have demanded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government hand over their places of worship to them following allegations of land grab and illegal occupation of the community's sacred sites.

The All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement (APHRM) yesterday staged a protest here, demanding an immediate end of the illegal occupation and the alleged selling and leasing out of the religious places by Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB).

Speaking at the protest, APHRM chairman Haroon Sarbdiyal said that the board had unjustly sold or rented out religious places of the minority community to businessmen.

He said the provincial government should cancel the leases and take their possession and hand them over to the minorities.

"We are opposed to the sale of the attached properties because the worship places are extremely vulnerable and it is duty of Auqaf and archaeology departments to share details of properties and worship places with Hindus and Sikhs and hand over the properties to the minority groups," he said.

Sarbdiyal said the federal government had formed a 22-member committee to protect the rights of minorities but ironically, minorities had no representation in it.

He warned the sale of attached properties was not acceptable to Hindus. "Hindus have no objection to the shifting of Kashmiri families anywhere or giving them any lucrative place but the sale of entire attached properties should be stopped immediately," Sarbdiyal said.

Following yesterday's protest, the KP government in a statement today said that it had made special allocations and takes measures to protect the rights of the minorities.

It said 90 million rupees has been allocated in the provincial Budget this year for the renovation of temples, churches andgurdwaras.

Meanwhile, a government official claimed that the sealing of a Hindu temple and a Sikh gurdwara in the city were aimed at ensuring protection of the places of worship.

ETPB Assistant Administrator Asif Khan told reporters that the government had no intention to bar minorities from performing their religious obligations.

He refuted reports that land grabbers were trying to illegally occupy the properties belonging to Kashmiris and Hindus and Sikhs in Peshawar.

Asif Khan said the property included five places of worship of Hindus and Sikhs and several residential quarters. He said reports about forcing people out of their residences without prior notice were wrong.
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today demanded a CBI inquiry into the 'ink' controversy surrounding the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana.

He said it was unprecedented that as many as 12 votes had been cancelled in Rajya Sabha polls and truth needs to come out.

"A CBI probe is needed to find out the truth," the senior Congress leader told reporters here.

Congress and INLD have alleged that a BJP MLA replaced the pen during the biennial polls held here on June 11, resulting in rejection of 12 votes on the ground that these were marked with a different pen ink.

Election Commission is already holding an inquiry into the matter after losing candidate R K Anand, Congress and INLD approached it with complaints.

Commenting on the new railway line between Sonipat-Jind which was inaugurated by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today, Hooda said, "this was my dream project. During UPA time, we had completed 98 per cent work on this project, but the BJP Government took 18 months just to install pillars on this rail line".

"Be it Metro rail or this railway line, not even one project has started during their time," he said, hitting out at the BJP.

"This government has failed on all fronts. It is only doing one job, which is cutting ribbons for projects initiated during our time," Hooda said.

On the death of two youths during police recruitment drive at Kurukshetra recently, Hooda said, "for the first time I am witnessing that youths are being made to run on concrete as against proper tracks or kutcha path. Youths and their attendants, which number in thousands, are forced to sleep in parks with no adequate facilities for them".

He demanded adequate compensation for next of kin of those who had died during recruitment drive in Kurukshetra.

Hooda also slammed the BJP Government for invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act, for six months to prevent any disruption in power supply, after 25,000 employees of Haryana power distribution companies decided to observe two-day strike on June 29 and 30, seeking rollback of the decision of "outsourcing" of operation and maintenance of power sub-divisions.

"We never invoked ESMA during our ten years of rule. That is the last resort, but this government is using it as first resort. They want to murder democracy," Hooda alleged.
Hundreds of American yoga enthusiasts rolled out their colourful mats, twisting their bodies and performing 'Surya Namaskar' in front of the space shuttle at NASA's landmark Johnson Space Center early today.

Consulate General of India, Houston, in partnership with Patanjali Yogpeeth (USA), yoga studios and several community and supporting organisations held this repeat event on public demand, within a week of the successful Day of Yoga on June 21.

"It is our pleasure to bring together a large number of diverse Houstonians and institutions for celebrating the second Day of Yoga in a befitting manner," Anupam Ray, Consul General of India, told PTI.



"NASA and Johnson Space Center are icons and represent the finest of human endeavour. There is no better way to commemorate Day of Yoga than by linking timeless Yoga with the best of modern-science".

"Being a Yoga practitioner myself, I encourage all Houstonians to perform Yoga and actively participate in these events with interactive Yoga sessions to spread the message of Yoga for peace and harmony," he said.

The free event had everything for yoga lovers from interactive yoga sessions and demonstrations to Collective Yoga Session for Harmony and Peace consisting of Asanas, Relaxation, Pranayama as well as Meditation.

Many attendees were excited to perform Yoga in the backdrop of the landmark Space Shuttle.

International Yoga Day was observed for only the second year this year.
A person was arrested from the city's Salt Lake area for posing as an IPS officer and extorting money from people, the police said today.

Debraj Mazumdar, was arrested late Saturday night from Salt Lake Sector One area by Bidhannagar Police, a senior police officer said adding that Debraj was on their radar for long for his past records.

"We had specific inputs that he had been extorting money from people. Since he was earlier arrested on similar charges, we had an idea of his mode of operation. Based on specific inputs he was arrested on Saturday night," the official of Bidhannagar police said.

Posing as an IPS officer with Delhi Police, Mazumdar, originally from Agartala, was leading a flashy life and whenever he had a financial crunch arm-twisted others to extort money, the officer said.

Debraj, who was staying alone at the EC Block in Salt Lake, was arrested from a hotel on Marquis Street early this year after he denied paying bills after dinner. Later he was booked for cheating, forgery, impersonation and criminal intimidation.

He had tried to pose as the deputy superintendent (crime branch) of Delhi Police. But the owner had stopped him and started crossing him.

Mazumdar was arrested in 2013 too when he refused to pay the bills at a shopping mall in North Kolkata claiming that he is a deputy commissioner (special branch) of Delhi Police.

Bidhannagar Police has charged Mazumdar under IPC Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and when produced at a local court was remanded in two days' of judicial custody.
India needs over $1.5 trillion in investment in the next 10 years to bridge infrastructure gap as the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan, Finance Minister said today.

"We have been able to sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge," Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of AIIB, said.

"Over the next decade, we require over $1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us.

"In investing large public finance into infrastructure, for instance, we have seventeen hundred thousand villages in India. We intend to connect each of them by 2019," he said while addressing a seminar on "Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth" organised by China sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with Finance Ministers of many countries.

He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India's current infrastructure programme.

"In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation," he said.

Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs.

The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said.

"These are all the emphasis areas we have under taken," he said.

About arranging funding for the massive development, he said "we realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins a lot of private funds".

At the same time there are large number of developmental institutions like World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long time returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said.

The government has set up India infrastructure investment fund where the government holds minority stake, Jaitley said.

"This a new experiment we have undertaken which we hope will be a success," Jaitley said, adding that the emphasis of the India in the next decade to fill up the infrastructure gap which will also generate growth, employment, pull up number people out of poverty.

"In our bid as emerging economy graduating into developed economy category, we feel that this is extremely vital for a country with a large population like India," the Finance Minister said.

Besides Jaitley and his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei, those who took part in the seminar were Pierre Egide Gramegna, Minister of Finance, Luxembourg, Imad Najib Fakhoury, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan, Jin Liqun, AIIB President and Chris Heathcote, CEO, Global Infrastructure Hub, Thomas Maier, Managing Director, EBRD and Chair of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure.
India will be the only country outside the US' formal treaty allies that will gain access to almost 99% of latest America's defence technologies after being recognised as a 'Major Defence Partner', a senior Obama administration official has said.

"India enjoys access to defence technologies that is on par with our treaty allies. That is a very unique status. India is the only country that enjoys that status outside our formal treaty allies," the official told PTI explaining what 'Major Defence Partner' status means for India.

Early this month, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, the US, in a joint statement, recognised India as a 'Major Defence Partner'.

"We were looking for something unique. This language you would not find in any arms transfer legislation or any of our existing policies. This is new guidance and new language that is intended to reflect unique things that we have done with India under our defence partnership," the senior administration official said.

"This is intended to solidify the India-specific forward leaning policies for approval that the US President and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and our export control system have implemented in the last eight years," the official said.

Under this recognition India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that New Delhi has committed to take to advance its export control objectives.

Acknowledging that impression in New Delhi is that India is not getting access to the kind of technology it needs from the US, the official said it is a constant source of discussion.

"In reality, less than 1% of all exports requests are denied to India. They are not denied because of India. They are denied because of global US licensing policies. We do not share certain technologies with anybody in the world," the official asserted.

The perception in India that the denial of such technologies is reflective of India-US relationship is far from the truth, the official said.

According to the official, India being recognised as a major defence partner puts it on par with our treaty allies.

Inside the American bureaucratic system, such a recognition removes a number of major export control hurdles for India.

The category of 'Major Defence Partner' was created specifically for India, observed Ashley Tellis, of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top American think-tank.

"It was meant to recognise that although India will not be an alliance partner of the US, the administration seeks to treat it as such for purposes of giving it access to advanced technologies of the kind that are reserved for close US allies," Tellis told PTI.

"The US expects that bilateral defence ties will only grow in the years ahead. India and the US will continue to work together especially regarding maritime security, and India will eventually be admitted to global nonproliferation regimes, and it will sign the foundational agreements," he said in response to a question.

"As these developments materialise, India's access to US technology will also increase, and the major defence partner moniker is intended to signal to both the outside world and to the US bureaucracy that oversees licensing that India is viewed as a unique collaborator and will be treated as such where access to advanced technologies are concerned," Tellis said.

Calling India a Major Defence Partner is "more a term of art than a technical designation, noted Richard M Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, another top American think-tank.

"It certainly captures what is emerging as a unique relationship, exhibited by programs such as the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative and the establishment of a dedicated 'India Rapid Reaction Cell' inside the Pentagon. Neither exists for a country other than India," he said.

"But the term Major Defence Partner does not automatically trigger a specific process or program in the US system. Our two countries are feeling their way around the contours of our defence relationship," Rossow told
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said India would win against terrorism and no power could prevent it from achieving the success.

"We will win against terrorism," Singh said addressing 'Haryali Sapath Samaraho and Loktantra Bachao' programme oraganised by BJP's Mahanagar unit.

Expressing pain at the ambush of eight CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, Singh said the brave security personnel gunned down the two terrorists.

Stating that the approach of the neighbouring country was not like what it should be, Singh recalled he gave "standing orders" to the Director General after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers on the borders one-and-a-half years ago.

Singh elaborated when the DG had told him that there was no response from Pakistan even after the Indian side showed white flag for dialogue, he had given standing orders that while no bullet should be fired first, but if any bullet was fired from that side (then) "forget the count of the bullets fired" by us.
Infrastructure development is key to halt the global economic slowdown, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today as he made a strong case for global investments in India to fill the huge infrastructure gap which requires over USD 1.5 trillion in the next 10 years.

"We have been able to sustain growth in the face of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge," Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, said.

"Over the next decade, we require over USD 1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us," he said, adding that the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan.

Jaitley underlined that infrastructure development is key to halt the global economic slowdown.

"Infrastructure is where inequalities exist and the requirement of large number of economies world over is to fill up this infrastructure gap," he said.

Jaitley was addressing a seminar on "Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth" organised by China-sponsored AIIB along with finance ministers of many countries.

"Over the next decade the world needs trillions of dollars to fill up this gap. I think it is extremely important if the world is to be pulled out from the present slowdown phase, infrastructure development holds the key," he said.

He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India's current infrastructure programme.

"In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation," he said.

Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs.

The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said.

"These are all the emphasis areas we have undertaken," he said.

About arranging funding for the massive development, he said, "We realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins with a lot of private funds".

At the same time, there are large number of developmental institutions like the World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long-term returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said.

The government has set up India Infrastructure Investment



Fund where the government holds minority stake, Jaitley said.

"This a new experiment we have undertaken which we hope will be a success," Jaitley said, adding that the emphasis of India in the next decade will be to fill up the infrastructure gap which will also generate growth, employment and pull up number people out of poverty.

"In our bid as an emerging economy, graduating into developed economy category, we feel that this is extremely vital for a country with a large population like India," the Finance Minister said.

Projects succeed when risks for investment in projects are reduced and eliminated, Jaitley told the seminar.

He said "the risk element (for investments) has to be minimisedand virtually eliminated. It is only then the infrastructure creation can take place at a faster pace," he said.

"The projects have to be bankable, there has to be social acceptability of the fact that users must pay for infrastructure. Infrastructure does not come for free," he said.

"So if it is a road, those who use it have to pay for it. If it is an airport or sea port, users must pay for it," Jaitley said.

"Those who use power must pay the actual tariff. Concessional tariffs do not work beyond a particular point," he said.

"They make infrastructure creation itself difficult. Therefore reduction and finally elimination of risk element will involve the social acceptability, where the society accepts the principle that the funding of infrastructure eventually has to come from users themselves. That is how the projects become bankable," he said.

"Otherwise the risk element will remain and projects will stop halfway, be incomplete," he said.

Besides Jaitley and his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei, those who took part in the seminar were Pierre Egide Gramegna, Minister of Finance, Luxembourg, Imad Najib Fakhoury, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan, Jin Liqun, AIIB President and Chris Heathcote, CEO, Global Infrastructure Hub, Thomas Maier, Managing Director, EBRD and Chair of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure.

AIIB was officially established last year with an authorised capital of USD 100 billion in which India and 56 other countries joined as founding members. China is the largest shareholder with 26.06 per cent voting shares.

India is the second-largest shareholder with 7.5 per cent followed by Russia 5.93 per cent and Germany with 4.5 per cent.
Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group's last positions in the city of Fallujah today, establishing full control over one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.

The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.

"The Iraqi security forces now control the whole city of Fallujah," said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) that has been leading the fight.

CTS fighters today eased into Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of Fallujah where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.

"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.

"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."



A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah and that the overall operation could not be considered over yet.

"We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... The aim is to clear the whole area," he said.

The offensive began on May 22-23 with an initial phase of staging operations aimed at tightening a months-old siege on Fallujah and led by the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

Qassem Suleimani, the powerful head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' overseas operations arm, was more visible than ever before in Iraq during the early days of the operation.

The US-led coalition offered some aerial support but was less involved than six months ago during the operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.

The US had favoured focusing the battle on Mosul, the country's second city, where IS proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria two years ago almost to the day.

While some pockets of IS fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah remain to be flushed out, the jihadist organisation does not appear in a position to contest the area any longer.

The loss of Fallujah, which looms large in jihadist mythology and in 2004 saw US forces suffer some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, is a blow to IS.
Elite Iraqi forces today retook the Islamic State group's last bastion in Fallujah, securing full control of the city after a month-long operation, a spokesman said.

"Today the commander of Fallujah operations Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi announced that the city of Fallujah had been cleared after counter-terrorism forces (CTS) took control of the Jolan neighbourhood," the force's spokesman, Sabah al-Noman, told AFP.

"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.

"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."



A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah.

"We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... The aim is to clear the whole area," the spokesman said.

The Iraqi security forces launched a major offensive on May 22-23 to retake Fallujah, one of IS's most emblematic bastions, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.
Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group's last positions in the city of Fallujah, establishing full control over one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.

The offencive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the country's last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.

"This is joy for all Iraqis and it's the right of all Iraqi people to celebrate the retaking of Fallujah," Abadi said, speaking to Iraqiya state TV outside hospital.

Victory for the security forces in came when elite forces retook Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.

"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan," said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service that has been leading the fight.

"Daesh did not fire a single bullet," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."

Several other senior military commanders said only small pockets of IS fighters remained in the Fallujah area.

After a gruelling month-long campaign, fighters rejoiced at the liberation of what was the first Iraqi city to fall out of government control two and half years ago.

"Today, I am... Very happy," said Mohammed Abed, a major with the joint rapid response force and a Fallujah native. "Fallujah is very beautiful... It is very unfortunate what happened to Fallujah."

The offencive began on May 22-23 with an initial phase of staging operations aimed at tightening a months-old siege on Fallujah and led by the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

Qassem Suleimani, the powerful head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' overseas operations arm, was more visible than ever before in Iraq during the early days of the operation.

The US-led coalition offered some aerial support but was less involved than six months ago during the operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.

The US had favoured focusing the battle on Mosul, the country's second city, where IS proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria two years ago almost to the day.

Wearing a scarf with the national colours around his neck in Fallujah, Abadi vowed: "We will raise the Iraqi flag in Mosul soon."

While some pockets of IS fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah remain to be flushed out, the jihadist organisation does not appear in a position to contest the area any longer.

The loss of Fallujah, which looms large in jihadist mythology and in 2004 saw US forces suffer some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, is a blow to IS.
The (IS) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing this week that killed seven Jordanian soldiers on the Syrian border, the jihadist-linked news agency Amaq said in a statement on its website.

Tuesday's blast, which also left 13 soldiers wounded, struck near an area of no man's land where thousands of Syrian refugees are stranded and where the frontiers of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.

Quoting an unnamed source, the Amaq statement yesterday said the attack against "the Jordanian-American base at Rukban in Jordan was carried out by an fighter".

According to the Jordanian army, the suicide bomber set off from the makeshift Syrian refugee camp near the Rukban crossing in Jordan's remote northeast.

He then entered Jordanian territory through an opening used for humanitarian aid deliveries and blew himself up as he reached a military post, it added.

Jordan hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and thousands more have been stranded at the frontier since January.

King Abdullah strongly condemned the attack and said that Jordanian armed forces would strike back "with an iron fist".

Soon after, the army issued a statement declaring Jordan's desert regions that stretch northeast to Syria and east to Iraq "closed military zones".

Jordan is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq and while attacks on its territory are rare, it has been targeted by jihadists before.

Tuesday's bombing came two weeks after a gunman killed five Jordanian intelligence officers in a Palestinian refugee camp north of the capital.
In a first, an Islamic State terror suspect in custody over suspicions of his role in Paris and Brussels terror attacks has turned into an informer for UK police intelligence services against the terror outfit.

Mohamed Abrini, who became known as the "man in the hat" after he was spotted on CCTV footage following the Brussels airport attacks in March has become the first "ISIS supergrass" to assist British investigators, 'The Sunday Times' reported.

Following secret talks between Britain and Belgium, officers in Brussels asked Abrini questions provided by the UK authorities.

Abrini, who is facing terrorism charges in Belgium after being filmed at Brussels airport with two suicide bombers responsible for the attacks, has been helping British officers gather intelligence on suspected terrorist plots and jihadist sympathisers in the UK.

The 31-year-old, who was also caught on CCTV travelling by car to Paris two days before the attacks in the French capital last November, is the first ISIS terrorist suspect confirmed to have been "turned" and to be assisting authorities in the UK, the newspaper reports.

A "supergrass" is an informant or suspect who helps the authorities in return for immunity from prosecution, a more lenient sentence or a new identity.

However, the evidence they provide may not always be reliable.

Abrini appeared in court in Belgium last week where a judge rejected his bid to avoid extradition to France, where he is suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks that killed 130.

Prosecutors said Abrini would not be sent to France immediately because they are still investigating him over the Brussels attacks that claimed a total of 32 lives.
and Turkey reached a deal aimed at ending years of acrimony and restoring normalised ties that soured after a deadly 2010 raid on an aid flotilla, an Israeli official said.

Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the official said the agreement had been finalised but that details would not be officially announced until Tuesday.

Negotiations were said to have been held in Rome, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The agreement was expected to go before Israel's security cabinet for approval on Wednesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is expected to talk about the reconciliation deal at 1:00 p.m. in Ankara tomorrow, a Turkish official said.

The Turkish official confirmed that "the prime minister will talk about the contents of the Turkey- agreement at tomorrow's press conference."

The highly anticipated deal comes six years after an Israeli raid that killed 10 Turkish activists as an aid flotilla sought to run the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Both sides have been pushing to complete the deal in recent months, with Israel in search of a potential customer for its offshore gas exports and NATO member Turkey wanting to restore its regional clout, analysts say.

The United States has also pushed for the two countries to resolve the dispute as it seeks cooperation in the fight against extremists from the Islamic State group.
One of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses was arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, the authorities announced.

Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was captured in the early hours of the morning in an appartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.

Fazzalari was the second most-wanted 'Ndrangheta fugitive after "superboss" Matteo Messina Denaro.

On the run since 1996, he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova.

His arrest was hailed by the government as a significant victory for the state in its battle against what is now considered Italy's most powerful mafia group.

"Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described Fazzalari as "one of the most important fugitives and a leading underworld figure."



He added: "This shows that you cannot run from justice. These are the kind of victories that encourage and support us in the difficult but winnable fight against organised crime."



Notoriously ruthless, the 'Ndrangheta has surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.

That trade is worth billions and previous police operations have indicated that the 'Ndrangheta has well-established links with Colombian producer cartels, Mexican crime gangs and mafia families in New York and other parts of North America.

The organisation is made up of numerous village and family-based clans based in Calabria, the rural, mountainous and under-developed "toe" of Italy's boot.

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation's secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate.

A series of arrests in late 2014 and early 2015 confirmed that the organisation had expanded its Italian operations outside Calabria by buying up dozens of legitimate business across the wealthier north of the country, largely to launder cocaine profits.

Those arrests also providing an unprecedented glimpse into the group's shadowy culture with police secretly filming a quasi-religious initiation ceremony in which new "wise brothers" swear an "oath of poison" in which they vow to kill themselves rather than betray a fellow clan member.

There are dozens of 'NDrangheta fugitives still at large despite regular arrests in Italy and around the world.
An Israeli court today sentenced an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man to life in prison for killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding others during a stabbing spree at a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade.

The Jerusalem District Court convicted Yishai Schlissel in April of murder and six counts of attempted murder over the July 2015 stabbings.

He was sentenced to life plus 31 years, a court statement said, after prosecutors had requested life plus 60 years.

Schlissel was led into the courtroom with both his hands and feet shackled.

The incident triggered harsh criticism of the police when it emerged that Schlissel had been released from prison only three weeks earlier after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack.

He had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City and the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.

Many questioned how Schlissel, 40 when he was convicted, was allowed anywhere near the parade, which saw thousands marching through central Jerusalem.

Witnesses described terrifying scenes of Schlissel, with a long beard and dressed in the dark suit worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, storming the parade with a knife.

"This guy showed no remorse," Noam Eyal, 31, who said he was one of the victims, told AFP outside the court.

"In the last hearing before this he said that this is a religious war.
has received the environmental clearance for setting up an integrated steel unit and captive power plant in Jharkhand with an investment of Rs 35,000 crore.

The project would create up to 30,000 additional indirect jobs.

As per the proposal, the company will set up a 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity integrated steel unit and a 900 mw captive power plant as well as a township spread across over 3,800 acres in seven villages near Sonahatu block in Ranchi district.

"Early this month, we gave environment clearance to JSW Jharkhand Steel's proposal to install an integrated steel plant along with a captive power plant in Ranchi district," a senior Environment Ministry official told PTI.

The green clearance has been given subject to some conditions based on the recommendations of the government's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), the official said.

JSW has signed a pact with Jharkhand government for the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 35,000 crore and generate additional 20,000-30,000 indirect jobs, the official added.

During the first phase, the proposed plant would have a capacity of about 5 MTPA of liquid steel.

Among specific conditions, the company has been asked to earmark 2.5 per cent of the total cost of the project towards Enterprise Social Commitment based on public hearing issues and prepare a detailed corporate responsibility plan for next five years for the existing-cum-expansion project.

The company has been asked to cover all permanent workers under Employees' State Insurance Scheme and provide housing for construction labour within the site with all necessary infrastructure.

Besides, it has been asked to develop green belt in 33 per cent of the project area within the plant premises with 20-30 meters wide green belt on all sides along the periphery of the project area.

The company has proposed to invest Rs 1,750 crore on pollution control, treatment and monitoring systems including Rs 14 crore for greenbelt development.

The proposed project is in line with the government's National Steel Policy that has set a target to produce 110 million tonnes (MT) of steel by 2020 from the current level of 72 MT.

At present, JSW has steel plants in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra with a combined installed capacity of 18 MTPA.
Bombay High Court Justice V M Kanade has called for implementing various programmes for tribals in the country not just as work, but as a commitment to fulfil the rights given to them under the Constitution.

While launching the NALSA (Protection and Enforcement of Tribal Rights) Scheme-2015 here yesterday, Justice Kanade said there was shortage of NGOs, advocates and para-legal volunteers for implementing various programmes for tribals.

He asked the concerned officials to implement programmes for the sake of tribals not just as a work, but as their commitment to fulfil the rights given to the community under the Constitution.

The judge said it was sad that though Thane district is near Mumbai, there are still cases of malnutrition, health issues, child deaths, educational problems, legal rights, land issues and others, which need to be addressed.

While implementing various schemes for tribals, educating them about their rights should be taken up on priority, he stressed.

He also observed that while a city develops in the process of urbanisation, the tribals are left to suffer which should be avoided. They should also develop along with the other members of the society, Justice Kanade opined.

He further said that the Bombay High Court receives a number of PILs with regard to the issues of tribals.

The court has directed the Maharashtra government to conduct a study and research on the requirements of tribals in the state, especially their food and nutrition, he said.

It should be ensured that the rights and benefits guaranteed to the tribals reach them, he urged.
Judges from Telangana and Andhra Pardesh today protested against non-withdrawal of the list of provisional allocation of judicial officers between both the states.

Over 100 judges, under the banner of the Telangana Judges Association, today organised a rally from Gun Park to Raj Bhavan here and submitted a representation to the governor, ESL Narasimhan against the provisional allocation of judicial officers.

Earlier, at a meeting here, around 125 judicial officers of Telangana also gave their resignations to the Telangana Judges Association president and authorised him to present them to Governor as and when he feels proper if their demands are not met, a representative of the Association told PTI.

"We will wait for one more week seeking fulfilment of our demands," he said.

Meanwhile, Telangana Advocates JAC co-convener T Sriranga Rao said, "Of the 21 judges at the Hyderabad High Court, 18 are natives of Andhra Pradesh and only three are from Telangana".

"The allocation was done by the High Court without taking into consideration the guidelines framed by the High Court in February this year.

"We have been seeking preparation of a fresh list of allocation between the two states as per the native district declared by the judicial officers at the time of entry into service by following the guidelines notified for bifurcation of lower judiciary, and as per Section 77 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014," Rao said.

Advocates and judicial employees across Telangana had been protesting since June 6 against the provisional allocation through the 'Bar Association of High Court and all districts of Telangana state', along with the Telangana Advocates JAC, Telangana Judges Association, State Judicial Employees Association and Telangana Law Officers Association.
US Secretary of State John Kerry left Washington to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the publication of an international report expected to criticize Israeli settlement building.

Kerry was flying yesterday to Rome to meet the Israeli leader on today and tomorrow. Some reports have suggested he will use the meeting to assess the possibility of reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials have been careful not to predict any breakthroughs and the meeting is likely to touch on the imminent release of a report by the Quartet, which is seeking to foster a "two-state" solution to the conflict.

This diplomatic group - the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia - is concerned that Palestinian violence and Israel's building on occupied land is pushing the prospect of peace further away.

This week, ahead of Kerry's trip, his spokesman John Kirby said: "There are plenty of issues coming up that merit Israel and the United States's discussion."



Kirby said the Quartet's report "will include recommendations that will help inform international discussions on the best way to advance a two-state solution."



The document will "largely" reflect the Quartet's previous statement in September last year, he added.

The September report cited Israel's "ongoing settlement activity and the high rate of demolition of Palestinian structures" as "dangerously imperiling the viability" of a two-state deal.

Washington, the traditional mediator in Middle East peace efforts, has not taken the lead in recent months, concerned that the situation is not promising and that another round of failed talks would only further embitter both parties.

But France has launched a diplomatic initiative to build international pressure on both sides.

The United States gave the French move a cool reception, but Kerry attended its inaugural meeting in Paris and has called on both sides to take "affirmative steps" to calm tempers and preserve the possibility of peace.

On the ground, however, the situation remains fraught and sporadic violence since October has killed at least 210 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Most of the Palestinians were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
Days after the first recipient was arrested and four others identified in connection with the kidney racket unearthed at Apollo Hospitals here, Delhi Police will be sending teams to Jaipur, Jammu and Nagpur to arrest them.

The Nagpur-based recipient is a businessman and he is believed to be in a severe financial crunch after paying for three (including his own) kidney transplants in his family.

The recipients based in Jammu and Jaipur are small time entrepreneurs, said an official privy to the investigation.

While a 22-year-old Ghaziabad-based man, identified as Ashutosh, who is the son of a DJB junior engineer, was arrested on Thursday, another recipient who had produced forced documents showing his address as Ghaziabad before the transplant has been traced in Delhi, the official said.

All four of them are absconding from their residences at the moment. While one team is looking out for the recipient traced in Delhi, teams will soon be sent to Nagpur, Jammu and Jaipur to arrest the others, the senior official added.

DCP (southeast) M S Randhawa said, "Recipients in the first five cases have been identified. In other five, we have leads but the identities are yet to be established. Efforts are on to arrest them at the earliest."



The police have arrested 13 persons, including several middlemen, personal assistants of senior doctors, donors, a recipient and the racket's kingpin Rajkumar Rao, in connection with the matter so far.

Investigators have come across 10 transplant cases facilitated by the gang in Apollo Hospital here and registered two separate cases, but no senior doctor has been questioned so far despite three of them being under the police scanner.
In a bid to end confusion over retrospective applicability of new Krishi Kalyan Cess, the government has stated that the 0.5 per cent tax will not apply on services whose invoice had been issued on or before May 31.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget for 2016-17 fiscal introduced the 0.5 per cent Krishi Kalyan Cess on all taxable services. Proceeds of the cess are to be used for improvement of agriculture sector and farmer welfare.

While the new cess was to come into effect from June 1, 2016, questions had been raised about its applicability on services like telephony services that are rendered in May but billed in June.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in a notification said services for which invoice has been raised on or before May 31, 2016 will not attract the new cess.

"The Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts taxable services with respect to which the invoice for the service has been issued on or before the May 31, 2016, from the whole of Krishi Kalyan Cess leviable thereon," the notification said.

The new cess will apply on all taxable services including restaurant bills, travel, phone bills,



In the previous Budget, Jaitley had brought in a 0.5 per cent Swacch Bharat Cess.

The two additions has led to the service tax rate rising to 15 per cent.

Although charged along with service tax, KKC is to be listed separately by service providers on the invoice, as a distinct line-item and paid using a unique accounting code notified by the government.

Jaitley had pegged service tax receipts at Rs 2,16,000 crore, of which KKC will give Rs 5,000 crore.

In a separate notification, CBEC said the tax will not apply on service rendered in transportation of goods to India for which invoice has been raised on or before May 31.

"The Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts the taxable services by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from outside India up to the customs station in India with respect to which the invoice for the service has been issued on or before the May 31, 2016, from the whole of service tax leviable thereon," it said.

This would be subject to the condition that the import manifest or import report required to be delivered under section 30 of the the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) has been delivered on or before May 31, 2016 and the service provider or recipient produces Customs certified copy of such import manifest or import report.
Flagging off the issue of fall in women's representation in the labour force by as much as 10% between 2005 and 2014, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) on Sunday called for more steps to create an enabling environment to fix the anomaly.

The number of working women in India in 2000-05 jumped to 37% from the 34% earlier, but it has been on a downhill ever since, hitting 27% in 2014, especially when the economy experienced solid growth, the industry body said, quoting World Bank report on World Development Indicators.

"There is an urgent need to create more jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities to promote women empowerment, making them economically independent as female labour force participation (FLFP) rate in India has fallen significantly by 10% in the last decade," noted the Assocham-Thought Arbitrage Research study.

In terms of FLFP, India, with 27%, is ranked lowest among the BRICS  Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. China remains well ahead at 64%, followed by Brazil at 59%, the Russian Federation has 57% and South Africa has 45%.

The study, titled 'Female Labour Force Participation in India', analyses India's performance on this front in comparison with the rest of the world and identifies barriers to its growth.

Given the turn in Indian economy in the 1990s, the chamber noted, it is natural to expect FLFP to increase due to rise in disposal incomes, job opportunities, education and healthcare.

It attributed the lower participation of women in the labour force to a host of factors, including lack of access to higher education, dearth of opportunities to work and even lack of flexibility in working conditions, which forces them to turn to domestic duties.

Further, the gap between rural male and female labour force participation in India in 2011 stood at about 30% while in urban centres, it was more pronounced at about 40%. "This can be attributed to social and cultural curtailment and often lack of work opportunities," the report added.

The study also highlighted that in India, marriage decreases the probability of FLFP by about 8% in rural areas and more than twice as much in urban localities.

It hailed initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Make in India and Start-up India, among others, as positive steps for improving female labour force participation in India.

However, more initiatives towards women's empowerment need to be taken to create an enabling environment for increasing female employment and entrepreneurship, noted the Assocham-TARI study.

As per the latest available data, the FLFP rate in India was about 36% as of 2011-12, with 31 out of 35 states and union territories scoring rates below national average, while only the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh faring better in this regard.

The study suggested promoting skill training programmes for women, setting up child care centres in large numbers, ensuring women safety and security in every sphere through efforts by both Central and state governments and other such measures as imperative to boost female labour force participation.

Even a 10% increase in FLFP rate can boost gross domestic product by 0.3%, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
People born with a low birth weight due to genetic factors may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study has found.

Researchers from Tulane University in the US conducted the study on 3,627 type 2 diabetes cases and 12,974 controls of European ancestry.

They created a genetic risk score (GRS) based on five low birth weight-related genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

The analysis showed that for each one point increase in GRS (with the score ranging from 1-10), the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increased by six per cent, researchers said.

Using a statistical technique called Mendelian randomisation, they further found evidence that the low birth-weight was actually causing the excess risk in type 2 diabetes.

This type of analysis, is, researchers said, a new approach for establishing causal relationships in studies of this nature.

"Evidence from both population and experimental studies has suggested that restricted early life development has long-term structural and functional influence on individuals' predisposition to an increased risk of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes," researchers said.

"However, to our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the potential causal relation between low birth-weight and risk of type 2 diabetes," they added.

Since low birth-weight represents restricted intrauterine growth (foetal growth), it cannot be ruled out that it is in fact the risk factors for this restricted growth that are causing the low birth-weight and in turn causing type 2 diabetes to develop, researchers said.

Risk factors for restricted intrauterine growth include malnutrition, anaemia, infections and placental insufficiency, they said.

Researchers found that a genetically lowered birth weight was associated with increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes.

"Our findings support a potential causal relation between birth weight and risk of type 2 diabetes, providing novel evidence to support the role of intrauterine exposures in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes," researchers said.

The findings were published in the journal Diabetologia.
A Malaysian military transport plane was intercepted by two Indonesian jet fighters while flying a regular route over Indonesia's Natuna Islands, defence officials said today.

The C-130 aircraft was flying from west Malaysia yesterday towards the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"That (flying over the Natuna Islands) is a regular route," the official said, adding that the C-130 continued its journey to Sabah despite the interception.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed the incident.

"Yes... The aircraft was intercepted by two Indonesian jets," he was quoted as saying by the Star online portal.

The incident came two days after Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited the islands on a warship in an apparent show of force after clashes with Chinese fishing vessels in the area.

Unlike some of its Southeast Asian neighbours, Indonesia has no maritime disputes with China over reefs or islets in the South China Sea.

But Beijing's claims overlap Indonesia's exclusive economic zone -- waters where a state has the right to exploit resources -- around the Natunas.

Hishammuddin played down the incident, saying Malaysia and Indonesia enjoy close relations.

"I'm not worried as this is normal and it happens everywhere in the world. If there were any incidents between us, we can deal with each other diplomatically. We will not let any incident ruin our ties," he added.

The Natuna Islands are located in the middle of the South China Sea separating peninsular Malaysia and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island.

In 2002 Indonesia lost a case against Malaysia at the International Court of Justice over Sipadan and Ligitan, two small islands in the Celebes Sea off Sabah state.
One person was today arrested for allegedly being involved in an attempt to burn his wife when she protested against his excessive drinking habits in Garfa area in the southern part of the city, police said.

A former graphic designer with a city-based vernacular daily Amitava Dasgupta (55) was arrested in the early hours today for allegedly trying to burn his wife Malabika Dasgupta (45) by pouring kerosene on her following a fight over his drinking habits, a senior police officer of Kolkata Police said.

The woman, who had 35 per cent burns, was stated to be in critical condition.

Based on the complaint of the woman from her hospital bed, the police arrested her husband. He said.

"The husband and wife had a fight over his excessive drinking habits following which the woman was beaten up by her husband who then took kerosene from a cooking stove and set her on fire," the senior officer said.

Though Dasgupta, who took voluntary retirement from his job last year, has been denying any wrongdoing, their 14-year-old daughter who was present during the incident has corroborated her mother's statement, the officer said.

The man has been booked under "attempt to murder" charges, he added.
A man was arrested from Suri in Birbhum district today by a Delhi Police team in connection with a narcotics racket, police said today.

Birbhum Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar said the accused Samir Mallik was arrested from his residence by a Delhi police team, who were accompanied by the state police.

The SP refused to divulge any further details.

The arrested man is suspected to be an accomplice of the main accused, who had been picked up in Delhi few days back in connection with a banned narcotics substances racket. He hailed from Pandabeswar area of Birbhum's neighbouring Burdwan district, they said.

Mallik will be taken on transit remand, police added.
Police have registered a case of rape against a 28-year-old man for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl whom he married last year.

Police filed a case against 13 people, including the youth's kin and other family members, for abetting child marriage under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006. However, nobody is arrested yet.

Police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said the victim was a 17-year-old girl who got married to Sanjay Chavan last year.

"Despite the fact that the girl was a minor she was married to Chavan and was taken to her in-laws house where the youth raped her, following which she became pregnant," Narkar said quoting the complaint of the girl.

The initial complaint was registered at Saki Naka police station and was later transferred to Manpada police station in Dombivli.

Meanwhile, a police officer at Manpada police station said the case falls in jurisdiction of Tilak Nagar police station in Mumbai.
A local court has awarded life imprisonment to a person for kidnapping a man for ransom in 2002.

Additional District Judge Amber Ravat yesterday convicted Torab Hassan and sentenced him to life imprisonment, and also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on him.

Government Lawyer Mustakim Ali said Rajpal was abducted for ransom of Rs one lakh at Badhedi vkllage under Chapar police station here on September 5, 2002.

Hassan was arrested and Rajpal rescued from his possession.
A photo-op turned into a major embarrassment for Panaji mayor, landing him into murky waters literally, when a weeding machine he had climbed on along with other officials during a demonstration in a creek for media persons turned turtle due to overloading.

However, nobody was injured in the incident which happened this morning when the Corporation of City of Panaji Mayor Surendra Furtado took it upon himself to explain to media persons the use of a newly-introduced weeding machine to clean St Inez Creek, a water body running through the capital city.

The mayor along with five officials and a journalist climbed atop the machine, which can only carry two persons, as it ventured into the water.

The mayor waved to the media persons and other present on the banks as the machine moved.

Suddenly as it reached the bank and the jaws of its crane grabbed some seaweeds and wastes, the machine tilted to one side with all those on board precariously holding onto whatever they could so as not to fall into the water.

However, within seconds the mayor and others fell into the visibly dirty water as the machine overturned.

"Shortly after the mayor along with the officials ventured into the water, the vessel turned turtle throwing everyone in the murky water," an eyewitness said.

The mayor managed to come out of the water and was subsequently helped by officials to climb to safety.

"It was a minor incident. There is nothing to worry, I was safely back on the vessel. I am not hurt. The incident happened just at the bank of the creek," he said.

However, Congress MLA Jennifer Monserrate said she had cautioned the mayor not to climb the machine but he did not pay heed to it.

"I had specifically told the mayor not to go on it. The machine is not for joy ride. It is for work. I don't know why he did not listen to me," she said.

The machine is being used to cut the weeds from the creek as a part of cleanliness drive undertaken by the CCP for a week now.
Monsoon has weakened in Bihar with the Met department today predicting that there is very little chance of rainfall in the next 5-6 days.

"Monsoon will be weak in Bihar as the monsoon troughline has gone down towards south i.E. Towards Odisha. There is very little chance of rainfall in Bihar in the next 5-6 days," Patna Met Department Director Ashish Sen told PTI.

But few districts of north Bihar bordering Nepal and districts of Kishanganj, Katihar that borders West Bengal may witness scattered rainfall, Sen said.

In its forecast for the next 24 hours, Met department said Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea is likely to witness partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or thunder.

Patna is expected to have a maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius tomorrow while Gaya and Bhagalpur will have maxmium temperature of 38 and 37 deg respectively, the forecast said.

Patna today recorded the maximum temperature of 38.0 degrees Celsius while Gaya was the hottest place in the state at 38.8 deg.

Similarly, Bhagalpur and Purnea registered maximum temperature of 37.0 and 36.5 degrees Celsius respectively, it said.

Patna recorded the maximum level of humidity at 79 per cent in the morning while it was 63 per cent in the evening. Gaya had a humidity level of 69 and 54 per cent while Bhagalpur had a maximum humidity of 85 per cent and a minimum of 77 per cent. Purnea recorded the maximum level of humidity of 83 per cent and 65 per cent.

Patna and Purnea recorded no rainfall in the past 24 hours while Gaya and Bhagalpur reported traces of rain, Met department said.
Dubbing the war of words between BJP and Shiv Sena as detrimental to Maharashtra's progress, today sought intervention of the Prime Minister's Office to end the slugfest between the ruling allies.

The opposition party also urged the BJP to seek "derecognition" of the Sena, contending that it cannot be allowed to contest the forthcoming Mumbai civic polls owing to alleged "hundreds of crores having been looted by the party in various scams".

"Both the allies are forgetting that people have given them a mandate to rule, not to create a ruckus. The daily bickering and no end to the problems being faced by people have made them lose faith in the institution of government. If this continues, people will lose faith in democracy," Pawaskar told reporters here.

"We urge the PMO to take cognisance of the melee going on in the state and put an end to this. Instead of using its mouthpiece to ask the Sena to fall out of the government, they should simply come out in the open and say they are ready for mid-term polls," he said.

The NCP's comments come in the backdrop of the intensifying war of words between the ruling allies.

A recent article in BJP's fortnightly publication 'Manogat' dared the Sena to take "divorce" and poked fun at Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray by drawing an analogy from the popular Bollywood flick "Sholay", in which the character of a jailor played by actor Asrani asks policemen to march in different directions, only to find later that no one was standing behind him.

The Sena had retorted by demanding a clarification from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that by making "below the belt comments, the BJP probably wanted to finish off its own government".

"Being in power at the Centre and the state, it is the BJP's responsibility to seek Sena's derecognition because they had come to power on a corruption-free governance plank.

"It will be a gross injustice to the people if Sena is allowed to contest BMC polls where it has indulged in scams amounting to hundreds of crores and thereby looted people," Pawaskar alleged.

"It is shocking that a CM, who otherwise gives such good speeches in public, is from the last two years digesting the criticism aimed at his party in Sena mouthpiece," he added.
Dubbing the war of words between BJP and Shiv Sena as detrimental to Maharashtra's progress, NCP today sought intervention of the Prime Minister's Office to end the slugfest between the ruling allies.

The opposition party also urged the BJP to seek "derecognition" of the Sena, contending that it cannot be allowed to contest the forthcoming Mumbai civic polls owing to alleged "hundreds of crores having been looted by the party in various scams".

"Both the allies are forgetting that people have given them a mandate to rule, not to create a ruckus. The daily bickering and no end to the problems being faced by people have made them lose faith in the institution of government. If this continues, people will lose faith in democracy," NCP legisator Kiran Pawaskar RPT NCP legislator Kiran Pawaskar told reporters here.

"We urge the PMO to take cognisance of the melee going on in the state and put an end to this. Instead of using its mouthpiece to ask the Sena to fall out of the government, they should simply come out in the open and say they are ready for mid-term polls," he said.

The NCP's comments come in the backdrop of the intensifying war of words between the ruling allies.

A recent article in BJP's fortnightly publication 'Manogat' dared the Sena to take "divorce" and poked fun at Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray by drawing an analogy from the popular Bollywood flick "Sholay", in which the character of a jailor played by actor Asrani asks policemen to march in different directions, only to find later that no one was standing behind him.

The Sena had retorted by demanding a clarification from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that by making "below the belt comments, the BJP probably wanted to finish off its own government".

"Being in power at the Centre and the state, it is the BJP's responsibility to seek Sena's derecognition because they had come to power on a corruption-free governance plank.

"It will be a gross injustice to the people if Sena is allowed to contest BMC polls where it has indulged in scams amounting to hundreds of crores and thereby looted people," Pawaskar alleged.

"It is shocking that a CM, who otherwise gives such good speeches in public, is from the last two years digesting the criticism aimed at his party in Sena mouthpiece," he added.
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
All foreign and domestic-funded Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) will be under Lokpal, which will initiate an enquiry against them in the event of their involvement in corruption.

Besides, both the NGOs and their top executives will have to file details of income and assets before the proposed anti-corruption body.

As per the rules notified recently by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), NGOs receiving more than Rs one crore as government grant and donations above Rs 10 lakh from abroad will be under the ambit of the Lokpal.

Under the new rules, office bearers of such NGOs will be treated as "public servants" and charged under the anti-corruption law in case of financial irregularities.

These rules will apply to the NGOs, Limited Liability Partnership firms (LLPs)--which can be a law or real estate firm--or any such group partly or wholly financed by the central government. However, big corporates will be out of the ambit of Lokpal.

Anti-corruption activists have expressed concern over the government's move to allegedly ignore private sector bribery by exempting such companies from the Lokpal's jurisdiction.

"It is worrisome that the Lokpal Act and the recent notification of the DoPT relating to the monetary limit of government funding for societies, trusts, associations and LLPs to bring them under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal for purpose of corruption does not include private companies registered under the Companies Act 2013," said Venkatesh Nayak, Programme Coordinator, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative--an NGO.

He said since India has ratified United Nations Convention Against Corruption and, as per its provision, it is the duty of the government to take measures "to prevent corruption involving the private sector".

Nayak said with several basic services such as power and



water supply, telephone, education and health services being provided by the private sector or the increasing trend of relaxing FDI norms in crucial sectors such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals and even defence, it is imperative that private entities selling essential commodities or providing basic services to the public are also brought under the ambit of the Lokpal for the purpose of combating corruption.

As per the new rules, the Home Ministry has been made the competent authority to take action against executives of foreign-funded NGOs in case they are found misutilising overseas grants.

Any person who is or has been a director, manager, secretary or any other officer of a society, association of persons or trust (whether registered under any law for the time being in force or not), wholly or partly financed by the government, and the annual income of which exceeds Rs one crore will be under the Lokpal ambit, the rules said.

These rules assume significance as the government recently cancelled licences of two NGOs--Lawyers Collective and Sabrang Trust--for allegedly misutilising funds received from overseas.

Any of the top executives of the NGOs are supposed to file annual returns relating to receipt of donations from a foreign source "till such time the entire amount of the donation aforesaid, received by such society or association of persons or trust stands fully utilised", it said.

The institution of Lokpal is yet to be set up by the Centre as a bill to amend the Lokpal Act is pending in Parliament.

As per rules already notified under the Act, every public servant shall file annual returns pertaining to his assets and liabilities, along with that of spouse and dependent children.
Delhi Police today said that no action can be taken in connection with a complaint against deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia unlike in the case of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Dinesh Mohaniya whose offences were cognizable in nature and he was arrested as he did not join the investigation.

Delhi Police Chief Spokesperson Taj Hassan said, "Delhi police gets complaints from many people. We have got complaint from Ghazipur mandi. If the complaint involves any cognizable offence then we take action. The complaint received by us doesn't involve any cognizable offence.

"In Dinesh Mohaniya case, the complaint was cognizable. After the statements of the women were recorded in front of the magistrate, arrest was made. Also, he was not joining the investigation, therefore, arrest was made."



"Many public representatives give complaints against other public representatives. But the action is taken only after legal scrutiny. Delhi police clarifies that no legal action will be taken in the complaint. The MLAs have reached there despite Section 144 CrPC being imposed," the official added.

Elaborating on the case in which Mohaniya was arrested, DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said, "On the basis of the statements given by victims under 164 CrPC (judicial confession), further sections were imposed. Dinesh Mohaniya was sent notice twice. He was asked to join the investigation. He kept evading.

"It seemed that he was not cooperating and, therefore, the arrest was made. (Press) Conference was going on since a long time. His conduct was non-cooperative and evading. He had also slapped a resident of Govindpuri."



52 MLAs of the ruling AAP today created high drama here as they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to "surrender" before him but they were detained more than a kilometer away.

The MLAs, including six ministers, were detained for violating prohibitory orders around 7 Race Course Road residence of the Prime Minister, a high security area.

The police, which asserted that they would take action



against anybody violating the law, detained them outside Race Course Metro station and took them to the Parliament Street police station. They were released after some time.

Justifying action against the MLAs, Special Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) M K Meena said, "We are not concerned with any party or any person holding whatever position. We will take action against whoever violates the law."



The latest confrontation between the AAP government and the Centre was triggered over a complaint against Sisodia by the traders of Ghazipur market that he had threatened them. This came close on the heels of arrest of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya on charges of molestation and sexual harassment yesterday.

The Deputy Chief Minister had said yesterday that he had gone for a surprise inspection at Ghazipur Mandi where some people were running "illegal business" and they registered a complaint alleging that he had threatened them.

"I am sure that Modiji will tomorrow convert this complaint into accusations like violence, eve-teasing a girl and extortion and get me arrested," he had stated.

On the incident, Special Commissioner of Police (North) S B K Singh said the president of Ghazipur Aadhti Association had given a letter at Ghazipur Police Station stating that Sisodia adopted a "dictatorial attitude" on hearing their grievances during his visit to the market.

"He (the complainant) was worried that Sisodia could get something wrong organised due to his position. However, no police action is made out in the matter," he said.

Sisodia said although the AAP MLAs were detained, he and his party colleagues were "ready to go to Tihar Jail".
Life for the Africans at the crammed village of Rajpur Khurd in south Delhi's Chhatarpur is crawling back to normalcy, a month after a group of persons from African nations were allegedly attacked by locals.

As the sun breaks, the tapering lanes of Rajpur Khurd wakes up to life and several Africans can be seen pulling up shutters -- their occupations range from teachers, chefs and hairdressers to laundry service providers.

In the past six years, close to a thousand men and women from African nations, mostly from Nigeria, Uganda, Congo, South Africa and Cameroon, have settled in Rajpur Khurd.

In May, around a week after a Congolese youth was beaten to death in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, groups of Africans were allegedly attacked at the twin villages of Rajpur Khurd and Maidan Garhi in Chhatarpur in four separate incidents.

The surname 'Rathi' on most of the name plates outside the twin villages draws its significance from the fact that the villages were set up by one Raj Singh Rathi, a Jat farmer who came to Chhatarpur over 900 years ago, said Rathi's descendant Bhim Sain Rathi.

Almost all natives of the twin villages belong to the Rathi clan, he said.

He further said, the Africans started settling at Rajpur Khurd since 2008, when government started acquiring lands from the Rathis. So to protect the vacant tracts, the Rathis started building houses and renting them out.

"The best catch were the Africans who paid more than the others. We could make them shell out anything between Rs 10,000 - Rs 15,000, which wouldn't be possible in case of locals," said Rathi, who himself owns three buildings.

With the passage of time, a strong resentment apparently started to take shape, based largely on the differences in lifestyles.

"The resentment is natural. They are always loitering around. For them, life is all about clubs, late night parties and alcohol," said another local Himayat Singh.

However, no violence was reported after the May 26 incident and things are getting back to normal, Singh added.

The resentment crawled its way to the African community too, following which they started distancing themselves from the locals.

The process led to several rifts which started taking place every now and then over a range of issues which ranged from negotiating fares with the autowallahs and landlords over rents.

"The autowallas charge us more. The landlords think that they can loot us as we are foreigners. But they never try to feel our pain, that even we come here away from our families looking for work or better education," says Dacey, a Nigerian-national.

Another African woman, Sonia, said, "We feel that there is a very strong racist approach against us which makes us feel all the more unsafe. The way we live and dress up is always scrutinised and talked about by the local people, which is highly uncomfortable."



The Africans who own shops in the area and work there also do not feel very optimistic about the way locals treat them. They say that the locals lack sensitivity.

"They don't consider us friends. I understand this is not a posh area, this is a village where people are conservative but they can at least respect our emotions. Sometimes I want to have meaningful talk with them, but nobody appreciates that," said Mickey, who owns an eatery in Rajpur Khurd.

This is not how we would treat them had they come to our native places. Though things are normal now, we have to understand that these are bigger issues, Mickey said.

After the series of incidents, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had ensured safety and security of African people in the country, following which Delhi Police launched a series of sensitisation meetings to address the issue.

"They (African nationals) have come to our country, they are our guests and friends. They have come here just because they trust us. This is something which was communicated well in the sensitisation meetings," DCP (south) Ishwar Singh said.

One of the meetings was chaired by Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who was accompanied by Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma.
Online booking for DDA-run community halls is set to get easier and faster as the urban development body has decreased the time limit for making payment from 45 minutes to 15 minutes.

"For making the procedure faster and easier, the time for making payment has been decreased to 15 minutes," a Delhi Development Authority official said.

Applicants earlier had to fill in their details, upload scanned copies of required documents and were required to make the payment within 45 minutes through the payment gateway.

Also, bookings were to be confirmed/approved online by the Superintending Engineer concerned of the zone but no time limit was fixed, DDA said.

"Now for public convenience and to bring in transparency and efficiency, it has been decided that the Superintending Engineer concerned of the zone will approve the booking within three working days, failing which it shall be deemed to have been approved at the full personal liability of the Superintending Engineer concerned," the official said.

DDA had in 2012 started an online booking facility for 383 open spaces and 44 community halls for organising religious, spiritual and commercial functions as well as for circus and marriage activities.

Seeking to improve amenities, DDA had last November also launched a mobile app which allows people to give feedback about the quality of services being offered at its community halls.

"Rating in this community hall application is in the form of stars and below three stars will be rated as 'not satisfactory'. This will facilitate effective monitoring of maintenance and functioning. The payments to maintenance contractors shall be based on feedback from users," an official said.
is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India, which today made it clear to China, responsible for torpedoing its recent bid, that it was necessary to take care of India's "interests" for forward movement in bilateral ties.

The 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet again before the end of the year specially to discuss the process for granting membership to non-NPT signatories, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims after it failed to seal its entry into at the plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India faced strong opposition from China and a few other countries and the fact that it is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was used for foiling India's bid.

However, diplomatic sources today said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of should be held before the end of the year to consider the entry criteria for non-NPT countries. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Even as it emerged that NSG is likely to meet in the next few months, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."



His comments assume significance in the backdrop of Chinese Foreign Ministry's assertion that Beijing's opposition at NSG, which is a multi-lateral platform, will not impact the India-China ties adversely.

Swarup also said that though India did not get "expected results" at the Seoul meeting, the country will continue to make determined efforts to get into NSG.

China had voiced its opposition to Mexico's suggestion for an early NSG meeting on non-NPT countries' membership but the proposition found support from a large number of countries including the US.

A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossi's appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a "path forward" for India's acceptance as a member.

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official said in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.
NSG is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India, which today made it clear to China, responsible for torpedoing its recent bid, that it was necessary to take care of India's "interests" for forward movement in bilateral ties.

The 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet again before the end of the year specially to discuss the process for granting membership to non-NPT signatories, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims after it failed to seal its entry into NSG at the plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India faced strong opposition from China and a few other countries and the fact that it is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was used for foiling India's bid.

However, diplomatic sources today said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the entry criteria for non-NPT countries. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Even as it emerged that NSG is likely to meet in the next few months, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."



His comments assume significance in the backdrop of Chinese Foreign Ministry's assertion that Beijing's opposition at NSG, which is a multi-lateral platform, will not impact the India-China ties adversely.

Swarup also said that though India did not get "expected results" at the Seoul meeting, the country will continue to make determined efforts to get into NSG.

"Today, the Indian diplomacy doesn't have fear of failure. If we don't get desired results it only means that we redouble our efforts," Swarup said.

"There are some processes which take longer, I would evaluate the NSG membership process in that category," he said.
Veteran actor Om Puri, who had portrayed a rickshaw-puller in Roland Joffe's acclaimed film "City of Joy", today lent his voice against abolition of the mode of transport from city roads.

Puri said rickshaw-pullers formed an intrinsic part of Kolkata's life, often coming to the help of stranded passengers in a flooded city when all other modes of transport stood standstill.

"The city's iconic rickshaws should never die," Puri who was in the city to attend an event to felicitate Kolkata rickshaw-pullers, told reporters here today.

"In the monsoon months nothing moves in Kolkata apart from these rickshaws. Cars are flooded with water. I feel concerned about them," Puri said.

The actor said, "Rickshaws are part of Kolkata's history. Earlier Bimal Roy had made a film on the plight of these transporters."



Empathizing with their plight, he said, "Their lungs become weaker because of running all day. They are subjected to air pollution, much more than us, inhaling more toxic air as the lungs expand with running."



He felt that they could be a massive tourist draw if Bengal marketed them well.

"They can take tourists to the most interesting by-lanes of Kolkata. Look at what Hong Kong has done with their rickshaws. Even in Kolkata they should be allowed to function in areas where they are not a hindrance," he said.

Narrating his own experience about rickshaw-pulling during the filming of "City of Joy", a nostalgic Puri said, "I had spent three months in Kolkata shooting. As soon as I reached the hotel, I wanted to start pulling a rickshaw. So the next morning I left at 5.30 am with two real rickshaw-pullers who were my passengers."



"After 10 minutes a crowd assembled on the streets. I was wondering how I attracted their attention. Then I realised that I was actually wearing a track suit. From the next day I wore a lungi, a vest and took a gamcha around my neck and put it into my mouth like a lot of rickshaw walas do."



"Initially I felt tired but after 10 days, I pulled the rickshaw continuously for nearly three hours. I would start from Oberoi hotel and go to Dharamtalla, past Writer's Buildings, go by the Ganga, New Market and Nandan," the actor recalled.

Puri came to the city to felicitate 45 rickshaw- pullers



at journalist-photographer Kounteya Sinha's photography exhibition on the city.

Rickshaw-puller Ramu, who hails from a village in Bihar and lives with other rickshaw-pullers at a Ballygunje area, said he had never imagined to be honoured this way and talk to a film star.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India, a day after militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Kashmir killing 8 personnel, and said a central team will look into possible lapses which may have led to the incident.

He also said security forces have "standing orders" not to fire the first bullet, but "not count bullets while retaliating".

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

The team will look into the possible increase of cross border infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."



Strongly condemning the militants, Mehbooba said,"They not only defame the state but I think they also bring discredit to the religion behind which they take shelter to perpetrate such acts."



"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Later addressing a function in Ranchi, Singh said India will win against terrorism.

"We will win against terrorism," he said addressing a BJP event where he voiced deep pain over yesterday's incident.

He recalled an order he had given after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers a-year-and-half ago. "I told them we will not fire the first bullet, but when we come under attack don't count bullets while retaliating ....That standing order remains in force," he said.
In the wake of attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India even as he said lapses, if any, in yesterday's incident would be looked into and status of infiltration ascertained.

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest one on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

The team will look into the possible increase of cross border Infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased eight CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."



After the attack, CRPF has moved about half-a-dozen heavy-armoured mine protected vehicles (MPVs), which were earlier used for anti-Naxal operations, to Kashmir Valley to effectively secure its troops deployed there.

"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace "but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness".

He said the attack is a "fallout of frustration" as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from Pakistani side.

"I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry," he said.

Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to



send a team to Pampore "to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents."



The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.

"We should greet and welcome the bravery of our security people and the way they are working with such valour and courage... India cannot forget those security men who got martyred. They are not with us now and we pay our tributes to them," the Home Minister said.

Mehbooba, who laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the CRPF personnel in Srinagar, said targeting security forces personnel who were only doing their duty was "condemnable".

"This is a fasting month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins. This is the time when we should be making sure not to hurt others. This kind of attack where you are affecting families by snatching their bread earner is condemnable.

"Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a setback to the religion we practice," the Chief Minister said.

Emphasising that militants were also giving a setback to tourism of Kashmir, she told reporters that "People from many countries have started arriving but this would send a wrong signal about the situation here."



She said such attacks also deprived Jammu and Kashmir from its share of development witnessed in the rest of India.

"Today there is atmosphere of development. India is attracting lot of investments in infrastructure development and healthcare but when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the investors shy away because of these incidents. The worst sufferers of these attacks are people of Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar said, "It is a desperate act by the terrorists. You must have seen over the past few days the attacks at Anantnag, Bijbehara or Pampore, these are desperate acts. Over the past six months, many terrorists and their leadership have been eliminated."



He downplayed suggestions that the CRPF casualties could have been avoided if there had been better intelligence.

"The CRPF personnel were returning after doing their duty and in such cases they become sitting ducks. In earlier attacks, the militants managed to escape but yesterday, our jawans were alert, there were intelligence reports which led to neutralising of terrorists. They could not escape," Kumar said.

Asked if there was any militant involved in yesterday's attack on the loose, the DGP said, "We are investigating the case. We are looking at all possible angles and links and we will get them, we will get the perpetrators to the book."



On the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 2, Kumar said, "We will take all steps necessary for safe and secure environment for smooth conduct of the yatra."



On infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control, the DGP said while "some infiltration has taken place, JK police and security forces are all prepared and geared up to handle any sort of situation".
After pulling out of Tilaiya UMPP on a host of issues, is looking to secure a total of Rs 714 crore as bank guarantees and compensation from 18 procurers of the electricity project.

Of this, Rs 600 crore will be in the form of bank guarantees the procurers had offered to buy electricity and another Rs 114 crore as compensation for various expenses incurred by the Anil-Ambani led company.

The formalities with the 18 procurers in 10 states for the release of money are at final stage and the company hopes to achieve closure very soon, a person familiar with the matter said.

The power producer had in April last year given up the project, saying the host state, Jharkhand, had not co-operated in land acquisition, captive blocks and related infrastructure over the previous five years.

If it can get the bank guarantees of the procurers encashed, it would be a big relief for Reliance Power, which on June 21 was served a show-case by the Coal Ministry asking it to explain the reasons for delays in developing coal mines allocated for the Tilaiya project.

"You are called upon to show cause... As to why the delay in the development of the coal block should not be held as violation of the terms and conditions of the allocation of Kerandari B&C coal block and why the bank guarantee should not be deducted for non-achievement of milestones," the ministry said in the notice.

The Coal Ministry has a bank guarantee of Rs 208 crore for Kerandari B&C coal blocks allocated for the Tilaiya project.

Responding to the notice, has said it "terminated PPA for Tilaiya UMPP entered into with 18 procurers nearly 14 months ago. The PPA termination was due to prolonged delay in fulfilment of the procurers' development period obligations in respect of land for the power plant and coal mine for more than 5 years".

"The procurers led by the Lead Procurer, Jharkhand, Urja Vikas Nigam (JUVNL) have already accepted the termination in November 2015," it added.

The company further said the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the nodal agency for ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), has also recommended PPA termination due to procurers' event of default and communicated the same to the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Coal.

The company also added that it had replied to a similar notice from the Coal Ministry in January 2014 and there was no communication from the ministry on this thereafter.

A person involved in the settlement process said the



procurers are in the last lap to acquire Jharkhand Integrated Power, the special purpose vehicle for Tilaiya UMPP, from .

In November 2015, the offtakers of Reliance Power's 4,000-mw Tilaiya UMPP in Jharkhand had agreed to terminate their power purchase agreements (PPAs) and compensate Reliance Power for costs and bank guarantees aggregating Rs 714 crore.

Reliance Power had bagged the project in 2009 through competitive bidding by quoting a tariff of Rs 1.77 per unit. The company in April 2015 announced its exit from the project, citing a five-and-a-half-year delay in handing over of land for the project.

The project, which required 17,000 acres, was offered the Kerendari B&C coal block as a captive mine. The company had also said the project, which was to come up by 2015-17, would not be completed before 2023-24, given the prevailing status of land acquisition.

The termination of the PPAs will reduce Reliance Power's future capital expenditure burden by nearly Rs 36,000 crore, thereby avoiding an additional debt burden of nearly Rs 27,000 crore as well as an equity commitment of Rs 9,000 crore.

This fits in well with the parent Reliance Group's larger business architecture for future as it focuses on the capital-intensive defence manufacturing.

The group is also making efforts to lighten its financial load in telecom and other sectors. Reliance Power too has shifted its focus to renewable energy.
A veteran of the Billings restaurant scene has taken over a downtown lounge and country western dance hall and added his culinary touch.

Reid Pyburn, 37, of Billings, is now part owner of the High Horse Saloon and Eatery, formerly Montana Chads at 3953 Montana Ave. Pyburn was a longtime cook at the Rex downtown, and he said hed been looking at ownership opportunities outside the state when this one popped up.

Pyburn and partners Jim Kisling and Scott Ugrin, both local contractors, have spent about $250,000 to remodel the facility. This includes a new bar, new flooring, 12 additional beer taps, a photo wrap by the stage of galloping horses hooves and other improvements.

Were dressing up for the prom, Pyburn said last week.

With Kislings and Ugrins connections in the construction industry, renovations were completed swiftly, and the casino never closed during the ownership change, Pyburn said.

The business reopened April 25 under the High Horse name.

The spot is best known as longtime home of Montana Chads. About two years ago, the name changed to Smitty after the business was sold, but it went back to the original owners and Montana Chads last year.

Pyburn said the casino and bar remain the core of the business, but hes determined to make a name for his food, too. The menu is simple but heavy on homemade ingredients: fresh fries, steak and omelets and pancakes for breakfast.

Its not your typical casino/bar menu. Prime rib, all day, Pyburn said.

I knew the food would be good, but I didnt know it would be received like this.

The High Horse still has its outdoor patio, live country music on weekends and free dancing lessons Tuesday nights. The lounge has about 25 employees, mostly former Montana Chads workers, Pyburn said.

High Horse Saloon and Eatery is open from 8 a.m. to closing daily, which is at least midnight. Call 259-0111 for more information.

Activity at former Vann's site

Work is underway to build new storage space for Lowes Home Centers at the former Vanns appliance store at 2647 King Ave. W., according to city building permits.

The permit states that Lowes is spending about $10,000 to install racking to store overflow materials in the former appliance store.

A spokeswoman for North Carolina-based Lowes said the company has no plans to bring a new store to Billings. Lowes operates a retail box store a block away at 2717 King Ave. W.

The owners of Vanns, Florida-based Khaledi Group, closed at the end of 2014. The chain was in the news recently when its former chief financial officer, Paul Nisbet, pleaded guilty to federal charges that he conspired with former Chief Executive Officer Leslie Manlove to defraud the Missoula-based company and force it into bankruptcy as far back as 2011.

Manlove has pleaded not guilty to more than 200 charges of conspiracy and fraud and is scheduled for trial in October.

The Khaledi Group bought the chain out of bankruptcy and has closed all stores.

IRS shows some heart

If you did the time in the hoosegow for a crime you didn't commit, and then won some kind of financial settlement, chances are the IRS was first in line to collect a big chunk of it.

A new rule, however, offers the wrongly convicted a one-year window to file for a refund of the taxes paid.

Before Congress passed the new rule in December, that restitution was considered income.

Haikus from the valley

According to a new survey from Bankrate.com, about 66 million Americans have zero dollars saved for an emergency.

Members of my generation, Generation X, are the worst offenders: one-third of American ages 36-51 havent saved anything, compared to 27 percent in the same boat ages 18 and above.

So this got me thinking. Is this further evidence we children of the late '80s and '90s were truly the Slacker Generation, wallowing in our grunge music and multiple Reality Bites viewings when we should have been looking for jobs, and no, starving artist doesnt count?

Maybe. But something else hit us pretty hard in the wallet, too, and it wasnt all our own bad decisions and broken dreams.

Hard to save money

After recession destroyed
At least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said today in a new toll.

"Three Russian and Syrian regime air raids on the region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city, killed 58 civilians," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that 24 other people were killed, without specifying wether they were civilians or IS fighters.

The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, initially reported that 47 people including 31 civilians died in the raids around Al-Quriyah.

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS holds around 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, the capital of the province of the same name, which is next to the jihadist-held Raqa province.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, after a widespread protest movement evolved into a complex, multi-front war that has drawn in global powers.
A search has begun for a Congress general secretary in-charge of Punjab, a post which was relinquished by senior party leader Kamal Nath following a controversy over his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Another new All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary is needed to look after six northeastern states, a post lying vacant after V Narayansamy became the Chief Minister of Puducherry.

At present party general secretary C P Joshi is looking after northeastern states as an additional charge. Joshi is in-charge of Bihar and West Bengal.

Party sources said in Punjab, which is going to polls in early 2017, the leadership could make a temporary appointment of an existing general secretary till a decision is taken on induction of new leaders in the secretariat.

Nath had relinquished the charge of Punjab as the ghost of anti-Sikh riots came back to haunt him, with his political rivals stepping up attack on the party over the appointment. Nath, as also the Congress, had refuted the allegations of his role in the incidents.

In Punjab, where the Congress has been out of power for nearly a decade now, it is looking for a leader not only with experience but also a deeper understanding of the state and senior enough to work with Capt Amarinder Singh, the face of the party in the polls.

Search is also on for four Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Chiefs including those for Bihar and Assam. The Congress high command has to find a new PCC Chief for Tamil Nadu with incumbent E V K S Elangovan tendering his resignation following poor show of the party in the recent Assembly polls.

The talk in the is that Uttar Pradesh could have a new PCC chief, but incumbent Nirmal Khatri has denied reports.

With Gurudas Kamat resuming charge as a Congress general secretary looking after Gujarat and Rajasthan, the party no longer has to search for another leader to handle these states. Earlier this month, Kamat had announced his decision to quit active for personal reasons.

In Bihar, PCC chief Ashok Choudhary has now become a minister in the state cabinet and therefore will be replaced under the one man-one post rule.

In Assam, party chief Anjan Dutta died recently after being unwell for a long time.
Seven people were hospitalized with at least two in critical condition after a stabbing spree broke out during a neo-Nazi rally at California's state capitol building, officials said.

The white supremacist rally on Saturday was met by counter protesters, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey told AFP.

The fire department posted on Twitter that some of the patients had "critical trauma stab wounds." It was unclear to which group the wounded belonged.

According to The Sacramento Bee newspaper, the stabbing spree broke out between some 25 neo-Nazis who had permission to protest on the capitol's west steps and more than 150 anarchists and "anti-fascist" counterprotesters.

Emergency responders received a call to the scene just before noon (1900 GMT).

The Los Angeles Times reported that a white-supremacist, anti-immigration group called the Traditionalist Worker Party staged the event.

Protesters had mostly cleared the capitol lawn, with only small groups remaining as of mid-afternoon, Harvey said.
As Andhra Pradesh builds its new capital city Amaravati, the process of shifting of government employees from the common capital of Hyderabad is going on at a brisk pace.

"Our timelines are from (June) 27th, our shifting is going to pick up momentum. Already lot of employees have begun to go to Vijayawada, Amaravati, Guntur. Our Information and Public Relations department shifted, Culture, Agriculture, Civil Supplies have shifted. Health and Medical, a major portion shifted. Very actively, this process is going on.

"From 27th onwards, the momentum will even pick up much more," Parakala Prabhakar, Advisor (Communications) to the state government, said here.

Post-bifurcation in June 2014, Andhra Pradesh shares Hyderabad as common capital for a period of 10 years as per the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act. Thereafter, it will become part and parcel of Telangana.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for AP's permanent capital city Amaravati on the banks of Krishna river near Vijayawada last year.

Saying that the seat of administration should be within geographical location of the state, AP government is building an "interim government complex" near Vijayawada.

The construction project being carried out by L&T and other infra majors has been going on at a rapid pace.

The government had set June 27 as the date for shifting and, accordingly, several offices have started shifting to Vijayawada region.

Several departments have set up temporary offices in the region in rented premises in Vijayawada, Guntur and nearby places.

Emotional scenes have been witnessed here as employees are



leaving Hyderabad, where they lived and worked for decades. Some are shifting in groups in special private buses. The other employees, including those from Telangana, are bidding adieu to their colleagues who are shifting.

"Though we have relationship here (Hyderabad), we are shifting to Vijayawada to contribute our bit to the development of 'Navyandhra' (new Andhra) as per the Chief Minister's (N Chandrababu Naidu) call," Kiran Kumar, a government employee, said.

The state government is arranging different facilities for the convenience of the employees.

On the request of Naidu, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged-off a train between Hyderabad and Vijayawada recently.

A hostel-like facility is likely to be arranged for women staff.

The state government has decided to go ahead with the controversial Swiss Challenge model for selecting the master developer for the state's new capital city Amaravati.

Swiss Challenge model aims to award project works to bidders having best ideas to execute them.
Just days after a shock Brexit, Spaniards voted in repeat elections today to decide if they too want a radical shift as promised by a far-left coalition led by Podemos.

The election pits those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spain's slow economic recovery.

Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union has further exacerbated this division.

The outgoing conservative Popular Party (PP) is insisting on the need for "stability" in the face of "populism" - a thinly-veiled dig at the Unidos Podemos coalition.

Voters have the choice between four major political groupings after the emergence of Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudadanos last year uprooted the country's two-party dominance.

The December general election resulted in a 350-seat parliament so splintered that parties failed to agree on a coalition, and this is what has prompted Sunday's repeat vote.

Opinion polls - conducted pre-Brexit - suggested the results Sunday would also be fractured, with the PP coming first without a majority, tailed by Unidos Podemos, which could replace the 137-year-old Socialist party as Spain's main left-wing force.

If so, political leaders will have to go back to the negotiating table, under more pressure this time to form a coalition.

Throughout the campaign - and again on Friday after Brexit - the PP has hammered away at the need for stability in reference to the rise of Unidos Podemos, which like Greece's ruling Syriza party rejects EU-backed austerity and pledges to fight for the least well-off.

The coalition, led by charismatic, pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias, has responded with a message of calm aimed at defusing this criticism.

Unidos Podemos - the "o" of Unidos shaped as a heart - has run an emotional campaign.

Iglesias said Spain needed a coalition government of Podemos and the Socialists as he cast his ballot at a high school in Vallecas, the working class neighbourhood in southern Madrid.

He said Podemos would "sooner or later govern in Spain", adding that he hoped it would be now "because the country can't wait".

Rajoy has argued that since the PP came to power in 2011, it has brought Spain back to growth and overseen a drop in unemployment - though at 21 per cent it is still the second highest rate in the European Union after Greece.

But his rivals retort that inequalities have risen, the jobs created are mainly unstable, and they point to the repeated corruption scandals to have hit the PP.

In the latest case, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz was caught on tape talking to an anti-fraud official, apparently discussing how to incriminate his political rivals - an incident Rajoy shrugged off as a "farce".
Spain's repeat polls ended today with the incumbent conservatives appearing to have won the most seats tailed closely by a far-left coalition led by Podemos, exit polls said.

The election came just three days after Britain's shock vote to leave the European Union, pitting those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spain's slow economic recovery.

If the results are confirmed, this would be a historic shift in Spain with the Unidos Podemos coalition replacing the 137-year-old, crisis-hit Socialists as the country's main left-wing force.

Podemos was only created just over two years ago on the back of the Indignants anti-austerity protest movement, and has experienced a meteoric rise with charismatic, pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias at the helm.

"If this is confirmed, we would be faced with a historic opportunity for our country," said Alberto Garzon, one of the leaders of Unidos Podemos, although he urged caution on the results.

The outgoing conservative Popular Party (PP) had based much of its campaign on trying to counter the rise of the upstart, emphasising the need for "stability" in the face of "populism" -- and it reinforced this message Friday after Brexit.

But according to a wide-ranging exit poll for public television TVE, it may only have won up to 121 parliamentary seats, far below the 176 needed for an absolute majority and even lower than the 123 it won in December.

Unidos Podemos, meanwhile, looked poised to secure 91 to 95 seats, and the Socialists 81 to 85, according to the poll.

The general election in December had seen Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudadanos uproot the country's two-party dominance in an unprecedented result.

But this also resulted in a 350-seat parliament so splintered that parties failed to agree on a coalition, prompting today's repeat vote.

This time round, exit polls suggest the result is equally fractured.

All eyes will now be on subsequent coalition negotiations, with political leaders under more pressure this time to form some sort of government and avoid a third round of elections.

Throughout the campaign -- and again on Friday after the Brexit vote -- the PP had hammered away at the need for stability in reference to the rise of Unidos Podemos, which like Greece's ruling Syriza party rejects EU-backed austerity and pledges to fight for the least well-off.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed today to protect Scotland against the "devastating" fallout of Brexit, as new polls found over half of Scots now want independence, which she may put to a second referendum.

Scotland had rejected independence in a 2014 referendum but Sturgeon said the landscape had changed since then due to Thursday's seismic national vote to leave the European Union.

The United Kingdom -- as it was when Scotland voted to stay in it -- "does not exist any more", she said.

Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU but Scotland voted strongly for Britain to remain -- by 62 percent to 38 percent.

After the result became clear, Sturgeon said that a new independence vote within two years was now "highly likely" and that Scotland was seeking "immediate discussions" with European leaders.

"What's going to happen with the UK is that there are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences... I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Scots rejected independence two years ago by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent, but surveys taken after Thursday's vote showed most would now back going it alone.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 percent of respondents wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 percent were opposed.

In another poll for Scotland's Sunday Post by research firm Scotpulse, 59 percent said they would vote for independence.

In a round of broadcast interviews, Sturgeon also said it was possible that the Scottish parliament may have to give its consent to laws to extricate Britain from the EU.

Asked whether she would consider asking Scottish lawmakers not to give that consent, she replied: "Of course."



However, Adam Tomkins, an opposition Scottish lawmaker and professor of public law at Glasgow University, said the government did not have the right to bloc a Brexit.

"Holyrood has the power to show or to withhold its consent," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the seat of government in Edinburgh.

"But withholding consent is not the same as blocking."



Sturgeon leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, which has 63 out of 129 seats in the devolved parliament, as well as 54 out of 650 seats in Britain's House of Commons lower house of parliament.

Setting out Scotland's negotiating position with Brussels, Sturgeon said that the country would not need to rejoin the EU as a new member state because it would never leave.

"Our argument is that we don't want to leave. It's not that we want to leave and get back in," she said.

She also cautioned any future British prime minister against vetoing a new Scottish independence vote.

"I think people in Scotland would find that completely unacceptable," she said.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy's lecture here to mark the 41st anniversary of the Emergency was cancelled today.

The lecture was scheduled to take place at a private college in South Mumbai.

Swamy was featured as the main speaker of the programme, titled "Emergency-Lessons for the Future", to which Maharashtra BJP chief Raosaheb Danve and Mumbai city chief Ashish Shelar along with other leaders were invited.

Asked why the meeting was cancelled, a senior BJP functionary said "due to unavoidable reasons Swamy was not in a position to come to Mumbai on Sunday and hence meeting was cancelled."



However, when asked, Mumbai city chief Ashish Shelar told PTI, "It was Mumbai BJP that decided to cancel the programme".

He, however, did not disclose the reason for it.

Very recently, Subramanian Swamy had hit out at Finance Minister Jaitley, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikant Das. His remarks reportedly not gone down well with the BJP.
government will convene a special session of Legislative Assembly to pass a resolution granting 12% reservation to Muslims and will send it to the central government, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said on Sunday.

The Rashtra Samithi, headed by Rao, had promised during the elections that Muslims will be provided 12% reservation in proportion to their population.

"I had promised 12% reservation for Muslims. Main baat kahata hoon toh barkarar rahata hoon yeh aap tamaam janate hain (You all know that I don't deviate from what I say)," Rao said.

"A committee has been set up which will shortly submit its report (on reservation) and the moment the report is submitted a special session of Assembly will be called and a resolution will be passed which will be sent directly to central government... I am fully hopeful that we will succeed in this," Rao added.

The chief minister hosted an 'Iftar' party at Nizam College grounds here as part of 'Dawat-e-Iftars' being organised for Muslims across the state in the holy month of Ramadan.

The state government had constituted the panel to study the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims in .

Rao further said that a total of 120 minorities residential schools will be started this month across Telangana at the cost of Rs 3,900 crore.

"Telangana government made budget allocation of Rs 1,200 crore for Minority Welfare Department, the highest by any state government in the country," he claimed.

Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi were also present on the occasion.
Expressing concern over terror attacks on troops in J&K, Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said centre has conveyed its "readiness" and full support to state government to deal with it as security and safety of its troops is prime duty of government.

"It (terror attacks) is a matter of concern. Prime Minister has himself paid tributes to the martyred soldiers. Loss of every soldier is a big loss to the country. We are concerned about it and should ensure that such incidents are not repeated and loss of precious lives do not take place in future," Singh said.

He further said "India is proud of its armed forces and Para-military forces. Such a message should not go that we are not concerned about our troops. We are very concerned about them," he said.

"We are concerned about it. It is more important in view of forthcoming Amarnath yatra is approaching close. I hope that the state government and security agencies will take a call on it and ensure increased security and exercise more caution after taking cognisance of this," he said.

"Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already conveyed the centre's readiness and willingness to all types of support and cooperation in dealing with it", Singh said.

Asked about his reaction on Centre's move to reduce footprints of security forces on one side and increasing militancy on the other side resulting in demoralisation of Army, he said "Centre does not want that moral of the troops go down. The armed forces should get the highest respect and their security is prime."



"We hope that state government security agencies take measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated after going through any negligence in the security setup," he said.

On Amarnath yatra, he said "the state government has assured us that they are ready to ensure peaceful for yatra and we hope that they will be more cautious keeping in view the present incidents."



On the provocation by Pakistan over invite to separatists and carrying out terror attacks, he said "see whatever be the provocation I think it has been made amply clear by the MEA that if at all there be any talks it will only be bilateral talks and no third party would have any place and any recognition.

"You cannot have talks in the shadow of death and



therefore, as far as India is concerned or Modi government is concerned it is very clear about how to go about in tackling terrorism sponsored from Pakistan soil," he said.

Asked how will India takes these terror attacks, he said "Certainly it is serious issue...It is not something that is going to be taken lightly."



Asked whether goverment considers terror attacks as a provocation from Pakistan after invite to separatists, he said "India is country with tremendous degree of resilience towards it neighbours and follows certain amount of clarity and consistence and therefore we do not get affected by what is imported from a foreign soil as far our attitude towards Pakistan and Pak sponsored terrorism is concerned".

"We made it clear more than once by different quarters including Foreign Minister recently that we follow a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism. Whenever an initiative of talks with Pakistan in initiated, it is purely bilateral talks without involvement of any third party", he said.
Textile machinery manufacturers' body, India International Textile Machinery Exhibitions (ITME) Society, does not see any immediate threat from Brexit, its Chairman Sanjiv Lathia has said.

"England is not a big buyer of textile machinery. Textile manufacturing moved away from England long ago to China. So we don't see much impact on Indian textile machinery manufacturing," Lathia said here.

Though it is too early to react, it has come just two days after new textile policy was announced by the Centre which focuses on creation of 1 crore jobs as well as manufacturing and exports, he said in a release issued on Sunday.

The newly announced Central government's textile policy will strengthen employment in the country. The policy is aimed at creating 1 crore jobs over the next three years, following labour-friendly measures such as initiation of fixed term employment and enhancing duty drawback to push textile and apparel exports, he said.

Lathia and India ITME Society Vice Chairman Rajendran were in the city on Saturday in connection with the Roadshow of India ITME 2016 exhibition.

The 10th edition of the expo will be held in Mumbai from December 3 to 8. About 1,000 exhibitors from 93 countries will showcase some of the latest products and machinery at the event.

From fabric to finished garments, the expo will showcase the latest in textile engineering.

It is expected to have a footfall of 1.5 lakh, the release said.

The contributes 14% to industrial production, 4% to India's gross domestic product and constitutes 13% of the country's export earnings, it said.

is one of the largest source of employment generation in India. It employs over 4.5 crore people directly. India has the second largest manufacturing capacity globally.

Lathia further said India is the second largest textile market in the world, ranking first in loom capacity and second in spindlage.

Indian textile and apparel is expected to reach a market size of $220 billion by 2020, with an 11% annual growth, the release added.
With the arrest of three persons, including a woman, Mumbai police has claimed to solve the Malvani triple murder case.

Salman Akbar Shaikh (26), his wife Shabana Shaikh alias Anam (25) and their friend Salman Mohammad Ahmed Shaikh (22), were apprehended yesterday from Valsad in Gujarat by sleuths of the crime branch, a senior police official said here today.

46-year-old Babli Sahu and her two grandchildren -- Aryan (12) and Sania (9) were found brutally murdered on June 23 at their residence in suburban Malwani with their bodies having multiple stab wounds.

Salman Akbar and Anam had conspired to kill Sahu to rob hefty cash from his house, police said in a release.

Sahu was involved in liquor sale and flesh trade, it said.

Anam and Sahu resided in the same neighbourhood. Anam used to bring customers for Sahu's flesh trade and in-return took commission.

During a recent visit to Sahu's house, Anam had learnt that the former had kept hefty cash inside a cupboard, police said.

Subsequently, Anam, along with her husband Salman Akbar and friend Salman Mohammad, hatched a conspiracy to kill Sahu and flee with the money, they said.

On the night of June 22, when Sahu's grandchildren were asleep, the trio the victim's house. Anam introduced the two men as clients.

The trio had an argument with Sahu when one of the men took out a knife and stabbed her several times, they added.

Meanwhile, the other two tried to break the cupboard but did not succeed. Later, the trio noticed Sahu's grandchildren were awake and saw them commit the crime. Considering this as a threat, they murdered them as well, police said.

A mobile phone and bloodstained clothes were recovered from the accused's possession, police added.
Tunisia held a minute's silence today marking one year since a seaside attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 38 tourists including 30 Britons in the North African country.

Tunisia's Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik and British Foreign Office official Tobias Ellwood laid down flowers to remember the victims of the shooting in the town of Port El Kantaoui south of the capital.

A priest then called out the names of the victims under the watchful eye of security forces, who were out in high numbers for the occasion.

Hotel employees as well as diplomats from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Russia -- whose countries also lost victims in the attack -- also attended the ceremony.

Tourists fled in horror on June 26 last year, as a Tunisian gunman pulled a Kalashnikov rifle from inside a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel near the city of Sousse.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The beach bloodbath was the second of two deadly jihadist attacks that dealt heavy blows to the country's vital tourism sector last year, following four years of decline due to political instability.

The shooting came just months after 21 tourists and a policeman were killed in another attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Both were claimed by IS.

In November, a suicide bombing in the capital -- also claimed by the jihadist group -- killed 12 members of the presidential guard.

The authorities implemented a state of emergency, which remains in place after it was extended for the fourth time on Monday.
At least two people were killed and some 70 wounded in a grenade blast at a stadium in Madagascar's capital today during celebrations marking the country's independence day, the gendarmerie said.

"The explosion was caused by a grenade," general Anthony Rakotoarison, head of security and intelligence with the national gendarmerie, told AFP by phone.

"We consider this a terrorist act," he said, but added that the motive was as yet unclear.

The blast struck the Mahamasina municipal stadium in Antananarivo at around 1600 GMT, just as a free concert was taking place to celebrate the island nation's 56th anniversary of independence from France.

A military parade was held at the stadium earlier in the day.

Prime Minister Olivier Solonandrasana Mahafaly, who rushed to hospital to visit the injured, strongly condemned the "disgusting and shameful" attack.

He told reporters some 72 people were hurt in the explosion.

The last attack to hit Madagascar was in January 2014 when a grenade blast killed a toddler and injured several other people outside the same stadium targeted on Sunday.

No arrests were ever made in connection with that attack and there was no claim of responsibility.

Madagascar, one of the world's poorest countries, is slowly getting back on its feet after a lengthy period of political instability triggered by the 2009 ouster of president Marc Ravalomanana by Antananarivo's then-mayor Andry Rajoelina.

Rajoelina led a transitional government until late 2013, when a new election that was designed to resolve complex power struggles brought President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to power.

International donors, on which the country relies heavily, only recently returned to Madagascar after withdrawing over the 2009 turmoil, and the economy is starting to show the first signs of recovery.
"Udta Punjab" has opened in Pakistani theatres but the fans have turned to the pirated version of the Bollywood film as they are disappointed with the 100 cuts imposed by the country's censors.

Earlier this week, the Pakistani censor board passed the movie, based on the issue of drug abuse in Punjab, with 100 cuts and 'A' certificate.

But director Abhishek Chaubey says the makers had decided against the film's release in Pakistan as they were unhappy with the cuts.

"As per my last conversation we had decided to not release the film in Pak because we found the cuts unacceptable but please confirm it with the producers," Chaubey told PTI.

Strangely enough, the movie hit Pakistani screens on June 24, reported Dawn.

The cinegoers were left disappointed with the cuts and many muted dialogues and have now turned to the movie's pirated copies.

At least in three major localities of Karachi including Clifton, Defence and Civil Lines the video shop owners are doing good business selling pirated copies of "Udta Punjab".

The owner of a leading video shop in the posh Clifton area said his customers were demanding uncut pirated copies of the film.

"Some of them went to watch the film in cinema halls and came back disappointed as they say it has been censored badly," he said.

At another shop, a worker said "Udta Punjab" DVD copies were in demand although it was illegal to keep pirated copies of latest Bollywood films.

"If the purpose of making the film was to convey a point about drug abuse and menace it is now lost after the many cuts in Udta Punjab," said well known film critic, Omair Alavi.

He noted that the filmmakers of "Udta Punjab" went to court and fought hard in India to get it passed from Censors without any cuts but noted they can't do the same in Pakistan.

Mobashir Hasan, chairperson of the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC), admitted that they were around a 100 cuts in the film.

He said that since the film contained foul language, swearing, derogatory words it has been given an adult rating after the cuts.

"We have muted the swearing at and derogatory words and with certain excisions of scenes," he said.

Hasan said references to Pakistan had also been excised.

"Udta Punjab", starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh, earlier fought a tough censorship battle in India for its release.
Two men who absconded after being convicted of stealing an historic Aston Martin racing car 13 years ago are being hunted by British police, a media report said today.

The DB2, which competed in the 1949 Le Mans 24-hour race, was taken in 2002 from Baldock, Hertfordshire and found in Holland this year.

Bert Anton Visser, 64, and Heerke Jan Visser, 53, failed to return to court for sentencing in 2003.

The duo were known to still be in Holland, the BBC quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Detective Sergent Jo Goodson from Hertfordshire Police said: "We are working with the Dutch authorities to locate them."



The green prototype car was the only one of three Aston Martins in the 1949 race to cross the finish line.

Police tracked it down to a storage facility in Eindhoven in March, but Christopher Angell, the car's owner at the time of the theft, died before it was found.

The vehicle was eventually handed to a relative, Ashley Mack, who said Angell had been left "devastated" by the theft of his vehicle.

"Just before he died in 2003 he was still asking 'has that nice policeman got my car yet?'".

The car was sold for 605,000 pounds (USD 832,000) to an American buyer at Bonhams' Goodwood Festival of Speed auction on Friday, the report said.
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on Emergency, Congress today alleged that there is an "undeclared Emergency" in the country under his rule.

Party spokesperson Tom Vadakkan also attacked the Centre over its role in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand saying these were "examples of subjugation of democracy".

"We have this discussion initiated by the current government today on Emergency. Let me at the outset say that this country is going through an undeclared Emergency.

"This is an undeclared Emergency. I am also reminding you when Advani ji had talked about the proviso of Emergency that exists, he was clearly hinting at the fact that this dispensation is capable of declaring Emergency," Vadakkan said.

He was referring to BJP veteran L K Advani's remarks made a year ago that "forces that can crush democracy are stronger" now and Emergency was possible.

Alleging that an "unwritten, undeclared Emergency" was prevailing, the Congress spokesperson said that there is "disrespect for Constitution, subjugation of democracy by bringing down elected governments, right of dissent being taken away" under the current regime.

Vadakkan said that subjugation of democracy can be highlighted by examining what happened in Congress-ruled states of Arunchal Pradesh and Uttarkhand.

"We have a government led by an autocratic Prime Minister. The ministers are in suspended animation. The Foreign Minister of this country has no role, the Finance Minister is called a waiter by the unofficial spokesperson of the BJP. Can you call him his master's voice. May be he is the unofficial spokesperson of the PM indeed," Vadakkan said referring to recent spat between Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy.

Vadakkan also targeted the government over issues like the suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University, JNU row, controversy in IIT Chennai over Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle and FTII agitation, saying these are "examples of undeclared Emergency".

Recalling the "black night" of Emergency imposed on this day 39 years back, Modi today asserted that democracy is the country's strength and said this commitment needs to be taken further.

Jaitley also took swipes at Congress and blamed it for delaying economic reforms by two decades, transforming India into a 'dynastic democracy' and bringing in corruption.

The minister targeted his guns on the Congress in his Facebook post - 'Constitutional dictatorship imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi forty-one years ago'.
An outspoken gun advocate in Texas shot and killed her two teenage daughters before a responding police officer shot and killed her, authorities said today.

The 42-year-old mother, identified as Christy Sheats, shot her daughters on Friday in the Westheimer Lakes-North neighborhood near the Houston suburbs of Fulshear and Katy, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.

Christy shot and killed her two young daughters, Taylor, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17, on what neighbours said was their father's birthday, according to local reports. A family spat started inside the married couple's Houston-area home and spiraled into gun violence that spilled out onto their street.

"It was a family argument that turned into a shooting," Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said.

"But we're still trying to put the pieces together," Nehls was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle.

The woman's husband Jason Sheats was taken away by paramedics, but was not injured, CNN affiliate KTRK reported.

Jason and Christy recently reunited after separating, a neighbour told the TV station.

An eyewitness saw Taylor, Madison and Jason running out of their home.

According to the eyewitness, the young women were already wounded. The neighbour said Taylor collapsed on the street and he saw Christy come outside with a gun and then go back inside to reload. When she emerged again, she shot Madison in the back, according to the eyewitness.

Sheriff Nehls said deputies had gone to the family's home in the past, but he declined to provide additional details.

"It would be too premature to give you a motive as to why something like this took place," Nehls said.

"The best we can do is pray for the father and husband so he can work through this," the Sheriff added.
A US lawmaker has compared an unprecedented sit-in inside the House of Representatives by Democratic lawmakers to the protest by AIADMK members in the Rajya Sabha in March, saying "other governments may behave this way" but US should not follow suit.

Congressman Mark Meadows posted two photos -- one of the Democratic party sit-in and the other of AIADMK protest by lawmakers inside the Rajya Sabha in March -- saying they look "disturbingly similar".

"Other governments may behave this way, but it is crucial that we set an example for democracy and not follow suit," Meadows, who is a two-term Congressman from North Carolina, said in a tweet accompanying the photographs.

Under the leadership of legendary John Lewis, Democratic lawmakers resorted to an unprecedented sit-in inside the well of the House of Representatives demanding vote on a strong gun control laws earlier this month after the Orlando massacre in which 49 people were killed by Afghan-origin gunman Omar Mateen.

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives described this as a publicity stunt. The Democrats ended the sit-in after 24 hours.
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret today that Britain has chosen to leave the European Union and vowed Washington will maintain close ties with the bloc.

Kerry, who flies to Brussels and London on Monday for crisis talks with EU and British leaders, said the ideal of unity must remain paramount as Britain negotiates "Brexit".

"An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today," Kerry told reporters during a visit to Rome.

"One country has made a decision, obviously it's a decision that the United States had hoped would go the other way," he said, alongside Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

"The vote about Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU."



Gentiloni said Brexit demonstrated the need for the EU to change.

"We are working to relaunch the Union in light of the decision by the British electorate.

"Our historic friendship with Britain and our alliance through NATO are not up for discussion.

"The challenge we have before us is to translate a crisis into an opportunity by turning a difficult moment into the occasion to relaunch the EU."



Washington was dismayed last week when British voters chose to leave Europe, a decision that triggered global economic uncertainty and fears other EU members will follow suit.

But Kerry said he had no doubt that Europe would pull together and reassure the markets, noting that even without Britain the EU single market counts 455 million consumers.

President Barack Obama had also made clear his concern about the referendum, and now US officials are scrambling to try to stop the political crisis harming Western unity.

Kerry arrived in Rome today on a planned visit to have lunch with Gentiloni and a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But officials on his flight said that tomorrow he would fly on to EU headquarters in Brussels to meet EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini had been expected to meet Kerry in Rome today, but she was busy dealing with the fallout of the dramatic vote, which stunned European and world leaders.

From Brussels, Kerry will continue to London to see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials from outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron's government.

Hammond and Kerry are expected to hold a joint conference before Kerry leaves to return to Washington.

Obama and Kerry have been at pains to insist the vaunted "special relationship" between Washington and London will survive what US officials view as the Brexit debacle.
DICKINSON, N.D.  While the oil boom in North Dakota may be over, the recent wind boom could be here to stay.

In the past decade, there have been more than 400 wind turbines placed on the western side of the state with an additional 550 proposed to be constructed by 2018.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has approved every wind farm in the state and Commissioner Brian Kalk said there will only be more wind farm developments in the future.

North Dakotas wind capacity is the best in the country, Kalk said.

Kalk said other states are relying on North Dakota to reach renewable energy portfolio standards in the future. Thirty states have adopted RPS, which requires a specific percentage or amount of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal be produced within a certain amount of time.

PSC Chair Julie Fedorchak said one reason for the multiple wind projects proposed in a short time is because companies are trying to meet the deadline for the federal Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit, which expires at the end of the year

I think you are seeing that as the drive for the companies to meet the deadline for the production tax credit, she said. They are under the gun to meet those deadlines and North Dakotas limited construction season.

Kalk said with larger North Dakota wind farms costing around $250 million, theyre simply more economical when there are federal tax subsidies.

NextEras projects

NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida-based company with 11 operational wind farms in North Dakota, proposed three projects in the state in a short period of time.

Brady Wind Energy Center I, in southern Stark County, generated heated debates among neighbors and created the PSCs longest public hearing on a wind project at 15 hours on March 31.

Kalk attributed the hearings length to an increased awareness of wind energy, which brought with it more questions from residents.

The PSC on Thursday approved the $250 million Brady Wind I project, which will produce energy purchased by Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

The 87-turbine, 150 megawatt wind farm was one of the most contested projects the PSC has heard, commissioners said.

The Concerned Citizens of Stark County, a grassroots group opposing the project, was granted intervener status by a judge prior to the public hearing and brought their own exhibits and testimony on why Brady Wind I shouldnt be approved.

The PSC said after approving Brady Wind I that its legacy could be multiple changes to the way the commission holds public hearings on wind projects. Kalk called Brady Wind I kind of a reset for wind siting in the state because of the issues presented that the commission hadnt really seen before.

Nonetheless, construction will begin on the project as early as next week with the 87 turbines set to be in operation by the end of the year.

While Brady Wind I was being debated, the second phase of the project in northern Hettinger County was approved by the county commissioners and sent to the PSC for a 10-hour public hearing on June 7. The PSCs first work session for the 72-turbine 150 megawatt wind farm is Tuesday.

Another NextEra project, the 48-turbine 100-megawatt Oliver Wind III in Oliver and Morton counties  an add-on to an older 54-turbine two-phase project  was presented to the PSC for consideration on June 1.

NextEra spokesman Bryan Garner said the company has to make sure their possible locations have strong wind resources, access to transmission lines to deliver the energy and willing landowners.

Fedorchak said North Dakotas transmission lines make it attractive to wind investors because, at one time, they carried coal-fired energy.

The transmission system that exists in North Dakota has been reinforced and enhanced in the recent years to facilitate more wind, she said.

More wind farms

Some of the most wide-open spaces of western North Dakota, which ironically are also home to hundreds of oil wells, are being eyed as possible wind farm locations.

In Bowman County, Apex Clean Energy is proposing 100 turbines near Rhame. The company hopes to have construction completed by 2018. In the meantime, its also considering Homestead Wind, a project of undetermined size in Williams County.

Apexs website states that both projects are estimated to generate up to 300 megawatts of power.

Orion Renewables Energy Group is looking at northern Billings County for a 115-turbine project that would generate 250 megawatts of power. That project, however, hasnt been brought before that countys commission.

In northeast Williams County, Enel Green Power North America has started construction on its first North Dakota wind farm, the 75-turbine Lindahl Wind Farm.

We are going to see more wind farms in North Dakota, Kalk said.

As more wind turbines go up in the state, the industry is making small improvements that could hold a lot of weight with the PSC.

During the hearing for Brady Wind II, NextEra presented a system recently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration that would eliminate the constant red blinking lights atop the wind towers.

The company said it plans to incorporate an Aircraft Detection Light System, a new radar system to warn pilots in the vicinity of the towers with the lights only flashing when they are within a certain proximity.

Fedorchak, who made her distaste for the constant blinking lights known during the Brady Wind I hearing, said she plans to bring the system to the attention to every wind energy company aiming to erect turbines in North Dakota.

"We would sure like this being used as soon as it's turned on," she said during the hearing for Brady Wind II.
Rival immigration protesters clashed for the second time in a month in Melbourne today, with three people arrested as the government vowed to crack down on mask-wearing demonstrators.

About 120 people took part in an anti-immigration rally in the country's second largest city waving large Australian flags and carrying posters such as "Islamic refugees not welcome".

Anti-Muslim sentiment has mounted in Australia in recent years after a series of attacks by radicalised youth, including the killing of a police employee in Sydney in October.

Today's immigration protesters were confronted by about 200 anti-racism demonstrators, with hundreds of police on site to try and keep the two groups apart.

But some protesters broke through a police line and one man was kicked and punched before officers intervened, Melbourne's The Age newspaper reported.

"Two people were arrested for assault, that's assault of each other, (and) one person was arrested for criminal damage, that's damage of a reporter's camera," Superintendent David Clayton of Victoria Police told reporters.

The Age said one of its photographer's cameras was damaged by a protester, while footage from the rallies showed some demonstrators burning an Australian flag.

The latest round of clashes - the eighth since November, according to Melbourne's The Age - came as Victoria state's Police Minister Lisa Neville announced new police powers and stronger penalties against protesters who wear masks.

"Victorians have had enough of seeing this sort of incitement of hatred and violence," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted her as saying today.

"If you wear a facemask, you will be removed from a protest," Neville said, adding that the new laws would be introduced later this year.

"If you wear a facemask and commit an offence, you will go to jail for longer."



Seven people were arrested at violent clashes on the streets of the Melbourne suburb of Coburg in late May, with police describing demonstrators' behaviour as appalling.
With monsoon setting in the island city with spell of bountiful rains, catchment areas in the city are yet to receive good rainfall as water level in the seven reservoirs was recorded low as against last year.

According to the water level chart of seven reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai, issued by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today, as on June 26, 96,665 million litres water was available as compared to 3,32,647 million litres on June 26, 2015.

"There has been decent rainfall for the last few days in the catchment areas, but it is not satisfactory, specially if we compare lake (water) level of present day with corresponding period last year. We are keeping a close watch on the situation," BMC Deputy Municipal Commissioner (General Administration) Sudhir Naik told PTI.

Giving details of rainfall received in five major lakes from 6 AM to 6 PM today, Naik said, Modaksagar received 6 mm rainfall, Tansa 2.40 mm, Vihar 36 mm, Tulsi 19 mm, Middle vaitarna 0 mm and Bhandup complex 45.20 mm.

As per BMC weather stations, Mumbai recorded 65.06 mm rainfall, eastern suburb received 72.97 mm and western suburb 61.52 mm in the last 24 hours.

According to Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai, Colaba (south Mumbai) received 122.4 mm rainfall, while Santacruz (western suburbs) recorded 85 mm rains in the last 24 hours.

The seven reservoirs that supply water to Mumbai are Modak Sagar, Tansa, Vihar, Tulsi, Upper Vaitarna, Bhatsa and Middle Vaitarna.

BMC supplies 3,750 million litres of water everyday to the island city and suburbs, which still falls short of the actual demand of 4,200 million litres.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today targeted "political bosses" at the Centre, daring them to arrest all AAP MLAs at once.

"The attitude of their political bosses is that, somehow put the AAP MLAs in jail. They are making excuses left, right and centre and putting them in jail by any means possible. If you want to arrest, then why don't you arrest everyone together," Sisodia said at an Iftaar party organised in Delhi Assembly premises.

In the midst of Delhi government's running battle with the Centre, the deputy CM said, "Why waste Delhi police resources? Today they told them to arrest us which they did. They could have put us under arrest for more time. They will do so again and we will go again."



With a complaint lodged against Sisodia, 52 MLAs of the ruling AAP were detained by police today while they were on their way to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Race Course Road residence to protest the arrest of party MLA Dinesh Mohaniya.

The MLAs were detained for violating prohibitory orders in force around 7 RCR and were later released.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla and few other AAP MLAs were also present.

The Delhi government will organise its annual Iftaar party on June 30 at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Ram Niwas Goel said.
After much anticipation, Google's Gboard is fnally available to iOS users in India. Let's try to understand what the fuss is all about.
Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer"

By Patrick Dobson

Patrick Dobson opted for a long walk culminating in a long canoe trip in his effort to reclaim his life. His cathartic adventure begins by walking more than 1,400 miles from Kansas City to Helena. His memoir, Canoeing the Great Plains: A Missouri River Summer, takes readers on his return to Kansas City in a canoe on the Missouri River. A finalist for the High Plains Book Award in the Creative Nonfiction category, Dobsons memoir shares the challenges, the beauty and the disappointments offered by the river.

Dobson incorporates his extensive research about the river that beckoned him while living in Kansas City. The numerous words of warning and encouragement from those he meets during the trip help bring the research and history to life.

The adventure begins on July 15, 1995, on the river still swollen from spring rains. While acquaintances who helped equip the canoe encourage him, a woman sitting near the Wolf Creek bridge warns That rivers gonna eat you. While a dire prediction, Dobsons purpose for the return trip on the river is just that: let it eat him as he attempts to re-energize his current life.

Aloneness and loneliness dominate his trip. He describes his departure from Fort Benton, after a driving portage around the Great Falls, as a stretch of the Missouri where I would be more alone than any other time in my life. His writing of the journey to the entrance of Fort Peck Lake where plains weather, the wind, the mosquitoes and majestic sights lets us feel and see with him.

To relieve the loneliness of making little progress on the massive lake, Dobson befriends Kevin, the campground manager at Crooked Creek, who takes him across country to Bridge Park near Fort Peck Dam where Dobson puts his canoe back into the river. Dobson finds a soul mate in Kevin and they take side trips to Winnet and Lewistown before heading east on Highway 200.

Dobson meets and spends time with memorable people while in Montana. His presence attracts company when he stops at the more populous camp sites. He concludes that none of what these people said about Native Americans turned out to be true, after experiences on the Wind River Reservations during his walk and in Helena. Those in Poplar, were kind, he writes.

The Yellowstone didnt flow into the Missouri, he writes. It collided with the big river. Now in Williston and facing Lake Sakakawea followed by Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe, Francis Case and Lewis and Clark Lake  621 miles of wind-torn lake to the last dam at Yankton, Dobson once again faces a major decision. He misses his young daughter and the hoped-for healing trip on the Missouri to Kansas City takes another turn. He realizes that the nearly 800 miles of river including the stretches between reservoirs keeps him away too long and now he needs to move more quickly.

By a chance meeting he secures a ride to Yankton. The longing for home and the fear of returning keep Dobson on edge the remainder of his journey. Again, by chance, he meets an old acquaintance and they see a much different river during the remainder of the trip. Lush green along the beaches that do exist and almost excess activity from skiers and boats.

Dobsons book works for him. He spent nearly 20 years writing and editing the manuscript while he earned a Ph.D. in history, taught and worked as an ironworker. The book works for the reader as we feel his pain, his joys, his loneliness, his frustrations and finally his realization, I couldnt change the course of the river flowing through my life, I thought, and I didnt want to.

The category for this book recognizes the presentation of factual information on people, places or events using experiential techniques such as personal observations, narration and dramatic description of events. After 20 years, Dobsons recollection of specific conversations with all the people he met may be just a memory; yet they make the story worth reading.

A final thought: including a map of the River and his stops would be useful.
SHARE

Lee joins Trial Advocates

Attorney Michael S. Lee was invited into membership in Trial Advocates, an organization of trial attorneys.

Lee earned the highest rating by Martindale-Hubbell-AV, and he is board certified by the Texas Board of Specialization-Person Injury Trial. Lee is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association, officials said.

His office is in Corpus Christi with branch offices in Austin and Port Aransas. Lee works on family and civil litigation.

Garcia named news director at KIII-TV

KIII-TV, a TEGNA Company, announced Oscar E. Garcia was named news director, officials said.

Garcia will begin his position July 18. He started his television news career about 10 years ago in El Paso working his way through editor, reporter, producer and ultimately executive producer for KFOX14/CBS4. He holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees from New Mexico State University in mass communications and Spanish. He also has three Lone Star Emmy nominations under his belt for Best Newscast as producer, officials said.

Compiled by Natalia Contreras
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Edna Rodriguez, owner of Patsy's Beauty Salon, talks with the immigrant community in Corpus Christi often because they are her regulars, she said. She is up to date on immigration policy changes because her 23-year-old daughter is undocumented.

SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Edna Rodriguez, owner of Patsy's Beauty Salon, talks with the immigrant community in Corpus Christi often because they are her regulars, she said. She is up to date on immigration policy changes because her 23-year-old daughter is undocumented.

By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

Katia Gonzalez was asked by her mother not to let up.

"Someone has to stand up for us," her mother told Gonzalez.

Her parents migrated to Corpus Christi 16 years ago from Guanajuato, Mexico, to afford to send her and her sister to college. The couple, married 22 years, provide for a family of five through blue collar work. They pay property taxes on a $78,000 home, college tuition for their two eldest daughters who aspire to become medical professionals, and have no criminal history.

Had a federal immigration program not been halted Thursday by a 4-4 Supreme Court deadlock, Gonzalez's parents would have qualified to apply for temporary relief from deportation and allowed to work legally. Instead, they continue to live in the shadows and piecemeal the American dream for which they left their close-knit family in Mexico to pursue, their daughter said.

Gonzalez in 2013 was granted temporary stay 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 are eligible to apply for the program. The executive action defers deportation for two years. Gonzalez, along with another DACA recipient, co-founded an immigrant rights education and outreach group to increase awareness about the program. She said the Thursday Supreme Court opinion reinvigorated the group's mission of inciting a movement in Corpus Christi.

She said her mother's request to not let up will prevail.

"It's hard to come up from that, to stay positive," Gonzalez said of the halted possibility of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA. "But, I will be advocating (for immigration rights) even more."

Texas and 25 other states filed suit against the Obama administration's Immigration Accountability Executive Action last year, which stopped two immigration policy reforms, including deportation protection for some parents and an expansion of DACA privileges. Thursday's Supreme Court opinion elongated the limbo for more than 500,000 Texas families. Obama's proposal is a potential shield from deportation to as many as 4 million undocumented immigrants and would have allowed often blue collar, cash-paid heads of households to work legally.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimated the positive impact on the U.S. economy would range from $90 billion to $210 billion over the next 10 years. For Texas, that's an estimated $8.2 billion to $19.2 billion GDP swell over the next 10 years.

President Obama has stated the executive actions to defer deportations temporarily stem from a refusal from Congress to pass new immigration laws. Texas, which led the suit against the 2014 plan, accused the administration of overstepping boundaries.

"The president has no authority to circumvent Congress and disregard the U.S. Constitution by allowing millions of illegal immigrants to continue to stay in the U.S.," Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stated in a news release.

Congressman Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, said Thursday that Obama overstepped the bounds of the executive office.

"I'm glad the Supreme Court reaffirmed today that the power to legislate belongs to the legislative branch," he said in a news release.

Nothing is expected to happen until a new president is elected, said Justin Tullius, who is a managing attorney for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in Corpus Christi, or RAICES. It's now up to the sons and daughters of undocumented parents to push for changing the laws in their favor, he added.

The pro-bono legal group is advocating throughout Texas to increase the number of applicants for the available deferred deportation program. He said the program's growth and its impact on communities paves the way for other opportunities "because DACA recipients are teachers, nurses and valedictorians."

"More than 500,000 families need work authorization (in Texas)," he said. "That's what we need to call the new administration to do."

Edna Rodriguez, who owns a beauty salon off Ayers Street, said there is a vibrant immigrant community in Corpus Christi whose seclusion is driven by fear. She sees the people in the community often. They are her regulars.

Rodriguez, 51, said the fear can be paralyzing.

"I've seen parents who don't let their kids apply for DACA because they have to provide an address," she said.

Rodriguez stays up to date on immigration policy changes because her 23-year-old daughter is undocumented. She recently applied for DACA and said she does what she can to help families better understand the opportunities that are available. She hopes it will make a difference.

"They have rights, it doesn't matter if they are (undocumented)," Rodriguez said.

Twitter: @CallerBetty

YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR DACA IF ...

-- Younger than 35 as of June 15, 2016

-- Came to the U.S. before reaching 16th birthday

-- Have continuously resided in the U.S. since June 15, 2007

-- Were physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2012, and requested consideration of deferred action with USCIS

-- Entered U.S. without inspection before June 15, 2012, or lawful immigration status expired as of June 15, 2012

-- Are in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States

-- Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety

Source: Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services
Janie Gatica, Lydia Munoz and Nydia Villarreal touch the urn containing the ashes of their sister and daughter, Noemi Villarreal, on Thursday, June 23, 2016. Noemi Villarreal was killed June 8, six days after filing a police report against the man charged in her death.

By Natalia Contreras and Krista M. Torralva

Noemi Villarreal feared for her life.

The vibrant, strong, brave woman her friends and family knew had shriveled into a terrified victim looking to escape.

At 9:45 a.m. June 8, she called a friend.

"Luis, I need help ... Oh no, he's here." The phone went silent.

Later, she texted him and told him she was going to the hospital.

Thirteen hours later, police found Villarreal's naked, strangled, burned body stuffed in a trash can in a grassy field near Oso Bay.

Villarreal, 45, had been in abusive relationships before and escaped. But this time with Lance Taylor was different, friends and family said.

Maybe it was because she had slipped into depression after her only son was sentenced in October to 75 years in prison. His conviction: assault/family violence.

"She lived for that boy. In her heart, that was all she had," her sister Nydia Villarreal said.

Maybe it was because Noemi Villarreal became involved with a man she feared more than any man before. Maybe he was all she could depend on.

Or maybe it was because violence was what she knew. She and her siblings grew up witnessing violence between their parents.

Villarreal's income only came from dancing at a strip club and a disability check. She didn't have a car and didn't drive because she was prone to seizures. This made it difficult to visit her son in a prison 90 miles away.

"Yes, my sister took Xanax. Yes, she was a dancer. But that does not matter, she was a human being," Nydia Villarreal said.

The Caller-Times for more than a year has explained domestic violences effect on Corpus Christi as part of its Behind Broken Doors series. Noemi Villarreals story is emblematic of a cycle many victims have trouble breaking. She grew up witnessing family violence, had abusive men in her life, and watched her child resort to violence.

She tried to break the cycle.

But Villarreal, like Heather Coglaiti in 2015 and Patricia Askew in 2014, was killed after she sought help. Taylor was arrested on a murder charge Monday, 12 days after Villarreal's body was found.

Noemi became dependent on drugs and Taylor, a longtime friend, provided her with sedatives and antidepressants, her sister said. Taylor was out of prison on parole for drug and illegal firearm possession charges, according to state prison records. He was also on probation for a misdemeanor family violence assault charge involving a different woman the year before. Twice, the Caller-Times reached out to Taylor through his lawyer. Taylor declined to be interviewed. His mother also declined to comment.

By March, Noemi Villarreal and Taylor, 28, were a couple. They had separate apartments but Noemi relied on Taylor for transportation.

Soon though, caught in the same pattern and dependency on an abusive man, she wanted out.

In April, a friend put her in touch with the wife of a pastor. Melissa Canoge invited Villarreal to The Potter's House Church in Central Corpus Christi. On April 20, Canoge picked Villarreal up from her apartment behind Ray High School and took her to a service. Standing before the pastor in a long-sleeved, pink, white and black dress, Villarreal asked for God's forgiveness and help. The pastor raised his hands and prayed over the woman.

"I believe she did want to change," Canoge said. "That first time she came and accepted Jesus. It was an opportunity for her to be changed, and I believe God was trying to reach her."

It was Villarreal's first and last service she'd attend.

Canoge would invite Villarreal to services every week. There was always an excuse. Once Villarreal was embarrassed to go because she had a black eye. She told Canoge she got the injury in a street fight with other women on her way to the store.

Villarreal confided only in her sister about the abuse she endured at Taylors hands.

Since the late 1990s, Villarreal made 18 reports to Corpus Christi police about a violent partner, according to documents provided throu gh an open records request. The first abusive relationship was her 11-year marriage. She was 16 when she wed.

In some of those relationships, she picked up her own assault charges. And in about half of the reports she made, Villarreal did not cooperate with police and in some, wished to later drop the charge. Several of the reports noted she was provided information about victim services.

With Taylor, she did not tell her friends or police what was going on. She tried to handle the abuse herself.

She was humiliated. You never want anyone to know youre getting beat up, thats why she didnt say anything, Nydia Villarreal said.

But after an incident in May, she went to police about Taylor for the first time.

Villarreal told them on June 2 that Taylor held her captive for two weeks starting the week of May 16. During that time he beat her and watched over her.

Taylor would force her into his vehicle, drive from his apartment near Holly and Weber roads to an isolated place on Yorktown Boulevard where he would beat and choke her.

Noemi Villarreal's police report by callertimes

At the apartment, he would suffocate her to muffle her screams and cries as he hit her so neighbors would not hear, according to the report she gave to police.

Bright bruises coated Villarreal's body. Her eye was black. Her lip was swollen.

When he showered, he instructed her to sit on the toilet with the bathroom door closed. When she slept, he watched her.

"Noemi stated that Lance was wide-awake sitting down next to her each time she would wake up," the report states.

He showed her a gun and told her if she tried to leave, his fellow gang members would find her.

Two weeks later, after the bruising and swelling subsided, Taylor took Villarreal back to her apartment. That week, on a Thursday, Villarreal called the police. The dispatcher connected her to the telephone reporting unit. At about 2:30 p.m., a call taker spoke with Villarreal.

"Noemi stated that she does plan on pressing charges against Lance," the report states.

Police didn't take immediate action on her warning that he threatened to harm her.

Her call to police started the evaluation process that reports travel.

The call taker would have submitted the report to a supervisor for approval, said Patrick McMenamy, the lieutenant over the family violence unit.

The report's paper trail was probably as follows, McMenamy said: The supervisor likely approved the report Friday, June 3, and sent it to McMenamy. The family violence unit is closed on the weekends. McMenamy would have opened his inbox Monday morning and had 60-100 reports spanning a multitude of crimes  assaults, runaways, criminal mischief, theft. McMenamy's job is to comb through the reports, decide which to accept and assign them to one of the unit's nine investigators. Each one is juggling anywhere from 15-30 cases at any given time, McMenamy said.

"People don't understand we have the best system in the world, our criminal justice system, but it takes time," McMenamy said. "If you're a victim and you make a police report today, you have to allow a few days before we can have the opportunity to get to it."

But some cases are more urgent than others, McMenamy said. He looks at several factors to assess urgency. Is the accused a repeat offender? Did he or she make death threats? Is the victim out of harm's way? Did the incident just occur?

No, Villarreal hadn't reported Taylor before, McMenamy said. And based on the report, the immediate threat had passed.

"When you read that case, it's a bad case. So if I would have read that or a similar case and it occurred yesterday, then I would go to the detective and tell them, 'Hey, first thing this morning, jump on this case, contact the victim, let me know where we're at on it.' But that report was made (two weeks later)," McMenamy said.

McMenamy had to weigh this case against other bad cases.

"I have cases of equal. I have cases of worse," McMenamy said.

He assigned the case to a detective Tuesday, June 7. The state's parole department issued a warrant for Taylor's arrest. The next day, Villarreal was dead.

"The investigator hadn't even had a chance to get going on it," McMenamy said.

That week, Villarreal wasn't herself, her friend Luis Soto said. Soto saw her about four days before she was killed. Faded bruises and remnants of a busted lip were still visible, Soto said.

"It was not the Noemi I know. I really believe she was severely hurt and extremely afraid for her to be this defenseless," Soto said.

Still, the next day, on June 5, Villarreal told her sister she planned to go out of town with Taylor that week. Two days later, on June 7, she texted her sister. Taylor slapped her, she said. Their plans were off. Villarreal agreed to move to Dallas to live with her sister. That day, on a Tuesday, Nydia Villarreal said she would pick Noemi up Friday.

Wednesday morning, Villarreal called Soto. Taylor was at her door.

She later texted Soto. She was going to the hospital, she said. Soto never heard from Villarreal again. That night, Wednesday, June 8, Villarreal was strangled and burned like trash.

On Thursday, June 9, a victim advocate in the family violence unit put Villarreal's name and case number on a standardized letter the unit sends victims whose case it is investigating.

"Furthermore, we are available to assist you with any questions you might have about the case, criminal justice system, your rights in this process as well as programs in the community that are available to assist you," the letter stated.

It was likely dropped in an outgoing mailbox, McMenamy said, and the advocate probably had no idea Villarreal was dead. On June 14, the letter was postmarked.

"I really feel like this system failed my sister," Nydia Villarreal said. "Prior to her death, her shoulder was dislocated, she was in deep humiliation. From the time he started to beat her, her life started to expire until he took it completely."

Corpus Christi police are putting together their murder case. They'll present it to the Nueces County District Attorney's Office. Prosecutors will likely take the case to a grand jury who will decide whether there is enough evidence to pursue a conviction against Taylor. Taylor's lawyer, Fred Jimenez, said they plan to contest the case.

Taylor remains in the Nueces County Jail, ineligible for bail. A memorial service for Villarreal was June 17, her body was cremated.

Nydia Villarreal will take her sister's ashes with her back to Dallas.

"She won't be alone anymore," Nydia Villarreal said.

Twitter: @CallerKMT and @CallerNatalia
SHARE

It's ironic that the president of this nation of immigrants tries to help millions of hardworking immigrants, only to be thwarted by privileged descendants of immigrants. And if that weren't enough of an insult, this selfish gentry accuses him of trying to act like a king.

About 5 million undocumented parents of legal residents suffered a blow last week from the Supreme Court's tie vote on President Obama's order deferring action against this nonthreatening group of immigrants. These people are not threats to our security or our economic well-being. They're productive taxpaying members of our society who live in the shadows for fear that their families will be ripped asunder.

The court's decision  or, actually, its failure to reach one  leaves the decision-making to individual lower courts until a full nine-member Supreme Court can break its tie. It does not mean there's a verdict on the constitutionality of Obama's action. Whether Obama was exercising prosecutorial discretion, which is within a president's power and was exercised by his predecessors regularly on immigration policy, or usurping Congress' power to make law is left unsettled.

So, when U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, said Thursday, "I'm glad the Supreme Court reaffirmed today that the power to legislate belongs to the legislative branch," the part he got right was that he was glad. But when Farenthold said, "The President's job is not to create laws  that is the role of Congress," he scored 100 percent.

About that role-of-Congress thing  it's a real responsibility, it affects people's lives and Congress has been shirking it. Farenthold, now in his third term, is a fully vested shirker. He should be a leader in the effort to reform immigration law, considering that his hometown, the largest population center in his district, is populated mostly by Mexican immigrants or their descendants. Instead he toes the Republican party line of obfuscation and obstruction aimed more at scoring a win against Obama than governing responsibly.

And about that scoring-a-win thing, Texans for Greg Abbott sent a notice Friday headlined: "Governor Abbott Defeats President Obama's Executive Amnesty." Before Abbott became governor, he was the attorney general who filed the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court's tie vote. That headline coming from Abbott's political campaign apparatus just goes to show how personally political was the agenda behind the effort against Obama.

The president, in contrast, only was trying to provide the servant leadership that Congress hasn't. And for that, Abbott said Obama "acted like a king." Obama's priority was people. Abbott's priority was his interpretation of a rule book that clearly is not up to the task. If "Governor Abbott Defeats President Obama's Executive Amnesty" was meant to sound presidential, or even gubernatorial, it was neither. It was petty politics at people's expense.

We know Abbott is proud of the role he played in thwarting Obama. But we haven't heard a word of concern from him about immigrants  other than whether they pose a security risk. The sad irony is that Obama's order was aimed at making a prosecutorial priority of the immigrants who may pose an actual security risk  and that it wouldn't have been necessary had Congress done its job.
SHARE

More than 1,000 evangelicals met with Donald Trump this week but when eight prominent organizers spoke at a news conference afterward, they were asked who was ready to endorse the winner of the Republican presidential primaries. None raised their hand.

Not Franklin Graham, Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, nor Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, said she felt the meeting was "positive. But the question still is whether I can feel confident in asking people to join me."

Trump's comments were often odd. "The next president is going to be very vital  in freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts. You really don't have religious freedom."

I doubt that one attendee agreed with that. They oppose threats to religious freedom, such as the insistence by the Obama administration that employers give employees free "morning after pills" to terminate a pregnancy. But all feel they have personal religious freedom to choose a church or teach their children about God.

Trump also asserted, "The evangelical vote was mostly gotten by me." Not really. Sen. Ted Cruz won in 12 states with a high percentage of evangelicals such as Texas, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma. Trump did win much of the evangelical south, but in Missouri he squeaked out by 40.9% percent to 40.7%, but he lost those who attend church weekly by 20%.

Committed evangelicals sense he is not one of them. Many supported Cruz, such as Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, who mocked Trump's botched citation of "Two Corinthians and his admission that he's never asked God for forgiveness."

Trump even told attendees that things were different "when I used to go to church." However, he reassures us that he does attend every Easter and Christmas!

Trump pleased his audience by saying, "The first thing we will do is support Supreme Court Justices who are talented men and woman and pro-life." He has released a list of 11 noted conservative judges, from whom he promised to choose the next Supreme Court nominee if elected.

He surprised many by pledging to repeal the Johnson Amendment which prohibits tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. "I think it will be my greatest contribution to Christianity and all religions to allow you to speak openly. You have a right to do that. People walking down the street have more power than you, because they can say whatever they want."

However, a number of nationally prominent evangelicals were not even in attendance because they oppose his candidacy. For example, Dr. Russell Moore, President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote a column in The New York Times in September who called his support by evangelicals and social conservatives "illogical."

"To back Mr. Trump, these voters must repudiate everything they believe. His attitude toward women is that of a Bronze Age warlord. He tells us in one of his books that he revels in the fact he gets to sleep with some of the `top women of the world.' He has divorced two wives (so far) for other women."

His lack of "a moral compass" is not surprising since he built his career "off gambling, a moral vice and an economic swindle that oppresses the poorest and most desperate," Moore wrote. He praises the "good things" done by Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortionist. At a time of high racial tensions, Trump "incites division, with slurs against Hispanic immigrants and with protectionist jargon."

Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center wondered why none of the evangelicals asked Trump to release his tax returns, which all Presidential candidates have done for generations. "It is very sad and pathetic to see evangelicals seduced by power. Is this the new face of the Republican Party  a misogynist, racist, owner of casinos, who won't even release his tax returns?"

Moore warns, "We should also count the cost of following Donald Trump. To do so would mean that we've decided to join the other side of the culture war, that image and celebrity and money and power and social Darwinist `winning' trump the conservation of moral principles and a just society."

If not one evangelical "leader" can endorse Trump, they ought to take the lead in pressing Republicans to nominate a man they can support enthusiastically.

Trump is not yet the Republican nominee.

Michel J. McManus is president of Marriage Savers and a syndicated columnist.
Tara Cady Niche Publications Senior Editor for Niche Publications of the Billings Gazette Follow Tara Cady Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Despite summer having only officially started six days ago, Billings has been feeling the heat since early June. Now formally barbecue season, its time to take it up a notch and add a little luxury to your outdoor living space.

Its a safe bet that your kitchen cant get any hotter. With every window wide-open  or the A/C fully cranked  youre still working up a sweat and cant afford to let it drip onto your favorite meal. Dinner must be made, however, and the patio grill just doesnt have the counter space for preparing a dish of that caliber.

With the help of local experts who specialize in fire pits and outdoor kitchens, your backyard can soon transform into a cozy-yet-functional outdoor oasis.

Riding the heatwave

Tim OBrien, general manager at R and T Services describes the almost-limitless possibilities for cooking al fresco.

Outdoor kitchens can start simple with a natural gas line connected to a grill and grow more opulent with customized features such as patio heating and appliance storage.

People want to extend the amount of time spent outside as much as possible, and outdoor kitchens allow for that, said OBrien.

In the planning stages, a contractor meets at the homeowners residence to look at the space dimensions, see which direction the home faces and address potential weather-related issues that come with certain landscapes.

Maybe the grill area needs to provide a wind block, OBrien said. Or perhaps electrical and gas lines are required and concrete needs to be poured.

The construction timeline depends on the scope of the project, but OBrien estimates that a grill island takes four to six weeks to finish whereas larger projects, such as concrete or gas and electric lines, likely take a couple of months to complete.

The process is as long as it needs to be, said OBrien regarding the importance of reaching a point where the homeowner is comfortable with the proposed layout.

From cabinetry and countertops to weatherproof materials and storage capacity, outdoor kitchens often come custom-made to your specifications.

Custom cooking

While you prepare your midnight snack, outdoor kitchens afford the options of a gas or pellet grill that can be designed into an island.

Everything is custom-built, said OBrien of the feature his company constructs using steel-frames covered with concrete board and finished with EFIS (a concrete-textured product) or stone. We dont go to outdoor cabinet suppliers either because the inventory is very limiting.

According to OBrien, stainless steel drawers and doors work best for exterior cabinetry because they do not break down with exposure to the elements.

Within a grill island, space can be made for just about anything. Margarita makers, trash bins and microwaves are just a few of the options for homeowners who prefer their appliances and other kitchen amenities outside.

Wanting everything to fit exactly right, many local companies will do all of the electrical, plumbing, gas line and construction work themselves so that your outdoor kitchen has all the necessities without the involvement of multiple contractors. Hiring local also means that your contractor knows Montanas climate.

Conditional construction

The climate makes it tricky for certain amenities that come with outdoor kitchens, explained OBrien. The minute theres a freeze, you could be in trouble.

He cautions about installing outdoor fridges, ice-makers and water lines for that reason.

In Montana, luxury often takes a backseat to safety and feasibility. Prolong your time to prepare, dine and digest with surrounding warmth whenever the temperature kindly dips into the fifties at night. Electric radiant heaters can heat your patio to perfection, and a covered structure retains the temperature.

Options range from covers that tie into the home to those that are free-standing. What works best for your home depends on the limitations of the house structure, such as whether the roof line can support an extension to the home.

Currently, pergolas are the most popular, said OBrien of the free-standing cover that gives the impression of an outdoor room while not being dependent on a homes roof.

In terms of countertops, granite or poured concrete work best with Montanas weather. According to OBrien, grout lines and tile do not handle the elements well and quartz has no UV stabilizers, making it likely to fade and deteriorate outside.

We dont do anything mobile, either, said OBrien. Theres a safety issue because these units quickly reach 600 to 700 pounds.

Summer in Montana also means it is fire season. Luckily, many local stores and contractors avoid wood-burning fire features and stick with smokeless, natural gas products.

Lifes a gas

Not having warmth on a cool summer nightits the pits. Luckily, many local home improvement stores carry ready-made fire pits  or DIY materials  for your enjoyment. Get ready to stock up on marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers for an evening of smores and smiles.

Levi Ziegler, manager at Ziggys Building Materials and Lumber Store, explains the various choices homeowners have for their yards fire-friendly features.

We carry the Blue Rhino brand, one of the largest propane distributors in the country, he said. All roughly between 28 and 30 inches tall, the shapes and materials are what set fire pits apart.

The materials define the price, which ranges from $500 to $960.

A granite top is more expensive than metal, said Ziegler. But granites sleek, modern look is currently trending.

From square and round to hexagonal and octagonal, fire pits also range in shape and style.

Some contain glass while others feature a wood-grain look, he said. These are easy to light, and you can still use them with a fire ban in effect as long as they do not emit smoke.

While assembly is required, some stores deliver and may offer the service for free depending on the purchase amount.

Theyre becoming another essential piece of patio furniture, said Ziegler of pre-made fire pits.

O'Brien promotes the safety and ease of natural gas for outdoor ambiance.

You have to watch wood-burning fire pits and worry about your house burning down, noted OBrien. But with gas, you turn it on and off when you want and dont have to wash up after.

So if your backyard is blooming with perennials and decorated with cushioned seating but lacking in fire-friendly features, dont go inside because youre hungry and getting cold. Stay in the comfort of your backyard with a new fire pit and outdoor kitchen.
SHARE

U.S. Rep. John Lewis is one of the people responsible for my enjoying full citizenship as a black Southern member of Generation X. I owe him and other civil rights movement heroes a debt that cannot be repaid. That said, I respectfully disagree with the sit-in he led on floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to push for gun control legislation.

I wish he'd recall how armed volunteers protected nonviolent protesters like himself  a hushed self-defense fact illustrated in the book, "This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible."

Today, the premier threat to what I call the civil right of safety for "urban hostages" (inner-city residents) isn't distant White Citizens Councils nor racist police. Sadly, a chocolate Klan hunts black prey as methodically now as the white one did in the 1960s.

Self-defense shouldn't be reduced to a partisan issue or ideological talking point. For the poor and disenfranchised Congressman Lewis champions, gun ownership puts them on a level playing field with richer, safer Americans far removed from daily home invasion, rape and armed robbery.

I'd gladly join my hero John Lewis in a sit-in to ensure urban hostages can legally protect themselves.
Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 8:37PM

Evan Blass, who often gets reliable phone leaks and is also known as @evleaks on Twitter, claims Samsung will be skipping over the Galaxy Note 6 in favor of Galaxy Note 7. If they do the name change, thatll put Samsungs phablet in line with the naming scheme of its new flagships: the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. So, what should we expect this S-Pen-equipped phablet to carry? According to Blass, the device should come with a 5.7-inch display, an iris scanner, 64GB internal storage thats expandable via microSD, and a 12-megapixel rear shooter and 5-megapixel front camera. The rumoured Galaxy Note 7 will also be IP68-certified to protect it against water. It should come in black, silver, and blue editions. Of course, while Blass is reliable, this still has to be taken with a grain of salt.

Source: CNET
Like Canberra said the survey ran online over three weeks, with a $200 prize offered as an incentive to participate. Asked about the integrity of the survey, Mr Bohm said Survey Monkey lets you do the survey only once per browser, so if someone wanted to do the survey over and over again they would have to reset their browser, empty their cache each time. And he said 396 people had provided their details to have a chance at the prize, which was "a good sign real people did the survey".
While celebrating a decade of inhabiting a highly energy-efficient building Saturday, Northern Plains Resource Council officials also announced theyve raised the bar even higher.

About 80 people turned out to mark the 10-year milestone at the Northern Plains office, at 227 S. 27th Street. The multi-colored building is also home to parent organization Western Organization Resource Council and to tenant Western Native Voice.

Visitors took tours, ate treats and stepped outside to hear speeches about the history of the renovated building, dubbed Home on the Range. They also learned details about the newly installed solar array.

The 24.7-kilowatt array, in conjunction with the original solar array on the roof, will produce as much electricity per year as the 10,000-square-foot building uses. The silver structure, which sits adjacent to the parking lot, looks something like a carport and will also provide shade to vehicles.

Kate French, chairwoman of the Northern Plains Resource Council board, told the crowd that when the former grocery store was transformed into an office building, the goal was to build an inviting, welcoming space that brings joy to our staff and the community.

The three agencies housed in the building employ a staff of more than 30 representing nearly 10,000 members across seven states, French said.

Home on the Range has served as a ground-breaking model for sustainability and grassroots community action, she said. The benefits to our organization have ranged far and wide.

In 10 years, French said, NPRC and WORC have saved more than $80,000 on gas and electric bills, compared with a conventional building of the same size.

Northern Plains and its parent organization bought the building in 2003 after outgrowing their rented offices on Montana Avenue. Working with High Plains Architects and Hardy Construction, they came up with a design to save both energy consumption and money.

Ed Gulick, a board member who served as project manager for the original reconstruction, said transforming the structure into a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum building saved 20 percent in building costs, compared to demolishing it and constructing a building to conventional standards.

Energy-saving measures initially included super-insulating the exterior envelope of the building, Gulick said in a separate interview. And since lighting is the biggest energy user in a typical office building, accounting for 30 percent of the usage, the design used daylighting as a strategy to reduce energy use.

Light shelves were placed at exterior windows to reflect sunlight, which also was introduced into the building through the roof.

The cooling system uses evaporative cooling, which takes outside air and runs it through the equivalent of a wet Brillo pad, Gulick said. That picks up humidity and cools the air, using about 25 percent of the energy of a mechanical cooling system.

Solar panels on the roof provided 30 percent of the building's electricity, and a radiant floor heating system increased efficiency by about 20 percent more than the typical air-based heating system.

The renovated building qualified for the Platinum rating of the LEED program, the highest level awarded. The certification is granted by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Operational cost savings allows us to dedicate much more of our resources to the great organizing work we do, Gulick told the group Saturday.

Home on the Range was the first LEED Platinum-certified building in Montana and its surrounding states, he said. Now, there are 13 LEED-certified buildings in Billings and six of them are Platinum.

And I directly attribute that to Home on the Range setting the bar early and high, he said.

With the dedication of the 24-kilowatt photovoltaic panels Saturday, Gulick added, the bar is raised even higher.

Tim Crawford, a longtime Northern Plains Resource Council member from Belgrade, was the prime funder of the new solar array that he said cost less than $100,000. He helped cut the ribbon during the ceremony on Saturday.

The array is the fifth system he has had installed, including three in the Gallatin valley and one in Roundup. Crawford said he really believes in solar energy.

Onsite Energy of Bozeman installed the new solar array at Home on Range.

Whats really amazing is the cost of the (technology) has come down 40 percent in the last 10 years, Crawford said. And having done this over a period of a decade, its really exciting to get more bang for your buck.

Teresa Erickson, staff director for Northern Plains Resource Council, said the idea to produce more electricity from the sun came up last fall. It is part of a new project called Power, Innovation and History the nonprofit is undertaking.

The project includes upgrading the organizations technology and recording its "rich and deep" 44-year history, she said. The new solar array is part of the project, and it was designed with the future in mind.

We can expand or adapt it and have an electric car charging station, when electric cars are more commonplace so people can charge their cars, Erickson said. Its just really fun and satisfying that this has all come about, especially on the 10th anniversary.
Firefighters are battling a wildfire in Carter County that is estimated to be between 700 and 1,000 acres, according to the county's Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Georgia Bruski.

The "Yates 2" fire is located about 30 miles southeast of Ekalaka between Tie Creek Road and Sheep Mountain Road. The cause of the fire is currently unknown. As of 10:45 p.m., Bruski said some firefighters had been sent home for the night. She said firefighters on scene would continue to monitor the situation.

"At this point, the winds have died down," Bruski said.

Bruski said firelines were established on three sides of the fire, with a "strong watch" of firefighters on the fourth side.

The fire was first reported about 3 p.m. Saturday. Groups involved in the firefighting effort include the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Ekalaka Volunteer Fire Department, the Alzada Fire Department, Carter County Rural Fire Department and out of South Dakota, the Camp Crook Fire Department.

According to Bruski, updates will continue to be posted to the "Carter County DES-Georgia Bruski-Coordinator" Facebook page.

Brian Tesar, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Billings office, said he believed much of the fire's fuel was grass and pine.

Tesar said that before and during some of the fire, winds were coming out of the northwest at 25 to 30 mph, with gusts recorded as high as 47 mph and highs in the mid to upper 70s.

Tesar said humidity in the area was 20 to 25 percent and it would be about the same Sunday. Tesar said forecasts call for 10 to 20 mph northwest winds Sunday, with gusts reaching 25 mph and high temperatures in the low to mid 80s.

On Friday, thunderstorms were reported and a red flag warning for fire conditions in the area was issued, but it was lifted at midnight on Friday according to Tesar. "We have had fire starts across that whole area here for the last couple weeks, from southern Rosebud around Ashland, up to Carter County," Tesar said. "The fuels we watch are certainly ready to go out there because any lightning we've had out there has started some decent fires."
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.
One moment it is a shiny red and black jewel of carbon fiber, titanium, aluminum and unobtainium, the next a very, very expensive insurance claim.



This is not the first crashed LaFerrari weve seen, and in all likelihood it wont be the last (although itd be nice if it were), but its the latest and it happened in its homeland.

The hypercar was taking part at the 2016 Ferrari Cavalcade rally in Cortina dAmprezzo when, for unknown reasons, it veered to the left and hit a parked Lancia Ypsilon, climbed a boulder and knocked down a restaurants sign. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it does make for a sad spectacle, especially when the camera does a close up and shows the extent of the damage sustained by the LaFerrari, which is significant.

Being one of 499 examples to ever leave Maranello, the 950 HP hybrid hypercar now sells for close to $5 million  if and when an owner decides to part with it.

Is it a write-off? Probably not, especially with such a high value in the market right now, but thats for the insurers to decide. If they havent had a fit already, that is.

Video
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

An ambitious new book about birds of the Pacific Northwest will be the focus of an event at Mosaic Books in Kelowna next week with South OkanaganWest Kootenay MP Richard Cannings.

The book, "Birds of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest: A Complete Guide," co-authored by Cannings with American bird experts Hal Opperman and Tom Aversa, is considered to be the most comprehensive guide available to birds in the Pacific Northwest region.

Im very excited about the new field guide, Cannings said. It builds on the success of a series of books that covered smaller regionssouthwestern BC, the southern Interior of BC, the Puget Sound region, eastern Washington and Oregon.

This book covers about twice as many species as those books with more detail for each, including colour range maps.

A U.S. edition of the book, which took over four years to compile, was released this month by the Seattle Audubon Society.

The book is one of over a dozen award-winning titles authored or co-authored by Cannings, a renowned biologist and natural historian who was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley.

In 2015, he was elected as NDP Member of Parliament for South OkanaganWest Kootenay.

Cannings will be on hand to meet with the public and media at a meet-and-greet at Mosaic Books in Kelowna from noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 30.
Photo: Contributed

Surrey RCMP are looking for a suspect after a man was stabbed in the neck early Sunday morning.

At approximately 1:15 a.m., police received a call from staff of the Taphouse Bar in the 15300 Block of 102A Ave., reporting one of their staff was involved in an altercation with a person at the front door.

When police arrived, they found the employee at the front door of the establishment suffering stab wounds to his neck. The bar employee was taken to hospital. His condition is not known at this time.

The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, approximately 5'10" tall, with dark hair, wearing a light-coloured shirt and dark pants.

The suspect male got into the rear seat of a white-coloured Mercedes sedan that was last seen heading east bound on 102nd Ave.

Surrey R.C.M.P. are seeking the public's assistance and asking anyone that may have witnessed the incident at the Taphouse Bar, or observed the white Mercedes either arriving at the bar, or leaving are asked to call the Surrey R.C.M.P. At 604-599-0502 or to call Crime Stoppers.
Photo: The Canadian Press

UPDATE: 9:05 p.m.

A Seattle man who died BASE jumping from the Stawamus Chief Mountain in British Columbia wouldn't want anyone to assume the worst about the extreme sport, says his girlfriend.

Gary Kremer, a 30-year-old former marine, has been identified by his girlfriend Paige Anderson as the man who died near the popular outdoor adventure spot near Squamish, north of Vancouver, on Sunday.

"I just really want to make sure people don't look at this sport negatively because of what happened to him," said Anderson in a phone interview from Seattle.

"He loved it and he would not have changed a thing. He would have kept jumping for the rest of his life."

Neither the Squamish RCMP nor the B.C. Coroner's Service have identified the person who died in the accident. The coroner's service said the soonest a name would be released would be Monday.

Squamish RCMP have said the person jumped from the first peak of the Stawamus Chief, a granite cliff about 540 metres above the Sea-to-Sky Highway, just before 10 a.m. Sunday.

Witnesses told police the person's parachute failed to open until it was too late, and the person fell near the highway below, said RCMP.

Anderson said she was notified of the death of her boyfriend of two years by Mounties on Sunday. Her voice filled with emotion, she said Kremer began BASE jumping about nine years ago and fell in love with it.

"He was free. He could fly," she said. "It was a feeling he couldn't get anywhere else."

She said Kremer was a former five-year member of the U.S. Marine Corps. who now worked at Boeing and was also working toward becoming a full-time firefighter. He was drawn to the marines and firefighting because he loved to help others, she said.

Anderson, not a BASE jumper herself, said Kremer travelled often to go BASE jumping and he had jumped from the Stawamus Chief "many, many times" before.

"It was one of his favourite spots. He loved driving up there," she said.

She said she didn't want to talk about the details of what went wrong on Sunday, but he was with a group of friends who were able to help with the RCMP response.

Anderson stressed that people who participate in BASE jumping  and their family members  know it is risky, but it's what they love.

"They couldn't live without it. It's not a sport that's hurting anybody else," she said.

"People die hiking all the time. People die rock climbing all the time. But for some reason it's this sport that people look negatively upon."

BASE jumping is when people jump from a fixed structure or cliff using a parachute or wingsuit. It's considered more dangerous than skydiving due to the relatively low altitude of the jumps.

In 2010, after two BASE jumpers had to be rescued from the Stawamus Chief in less than a month, former Squamish mayor Greg Gardner called for a ban on the activity on the peak.

But current Squamish Mayor Patricia Heintzman said it would be difficult for her district to regulate the activity.

"The challenge is, where do you draw the limit? More people die of snowmobile deaths in avalanches," she said. "People make choices and have consequences of their choices every day of their lives, and sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not."

Sgt. Jolaine Percival of the Squamish RCMP said earlier Sunday that people from all over the world flock to the community to participate in activities like BASE jumping.

"Now, it's just ensuring that we deal with the family and get all the BASE jumper's belongings back to the family."

ORIGINAL

RCMP in British Columbia say a BASE jumper has died after the parachute apparently failed to open until it was too late.

The Mounties say the person jumped from the first peak of the Stawamus Chief Mountain, a popular spot for outdoors enthusiasts near Squamish, north of Vancouver.

Sgt. Jolaine Percival says witnesses have told police the person's parachute did not open until significantly after the jump on Sunday, and the person fell near the Sea-to-Sky Highway below.

The coroner has been called to the scene.

Percival says no further information about the person will be released while family members are being notified.

She says she believes the BASE jumper was with a group on Sunday, and the community of people who enjoy the activity is a tight-knit one.

"It's an adventurous kind of district that we live in, and people from all around the world flock to partake in activities like this," she says.

"Now, it's just ensuring that we deal with the family and get all the BASE jumper's belongings back to the family."
Photo: CTV

Vancouver police were kept busy Saturday night, responding to a shooting and two stabbings.

At 12:50 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a shooting near Fraser Street and 55th Avenue.

Police found a vehicle with bullet holes in it, but no one was injured.

No suspects have been identified at this time, but police say the shooting appears to be a result of a dispute between the occupants of two vehicles.

The Vancouver Police Department Gang Unit is investigating the incident.

At 2:15 a.m. police responded to Victoria Drive and Parker Street for a stabbing.

A man, who police say has not been cooperating with the investigation, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

No suspects have been arrested.

At 3:30 a.m., police made their way to the Inukshuk on English Bay near 1700 Beach Avenue for another stabbing.

Police believe the second stabbing was a result of a dispute between two groups of people.

One person was taken to the hospital and one person was detained, but charges have yet to be determined, according to police.

The three incidents are not believed to be related.

It was a violent evening throughout B.C., with a stabbing in Surrey and Kelowna as well.

- With files from CTV Vancouver
Photo: CTV

The federal government says it's investing an additional $150 million over the next two years to help British Columbia residents get affordable housing.

Jean-Yves Duclos, federal minister of families, children and social development, made the announcement in Vancouver on Sunday with B.C. housing minister Rich Coleman.

Duclos says the new funding includes $25.2 million for construction and repair of affordable housing for seniors and $10.9 million for the construction and renovation of shelters and transition houses for domestic violence victims.

He says it also includes $50.9 million to address the increasing demand for repairs as social housing units age and to improve efficiency and reduce energy and water use.

Coleman says the B.C. government will be working with communities throughout the province to identify specific housing needs and determine where the additional funding will be distributed.

The funding announced Sunday is in addition to the $63 million joint annual funding provided by the federal and B.C. governments under the Investment in Affordable Housing Agreement.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
Britain's welcome revival of nationhood

WASHINGTON  The Leave campaign won the referendum on withdrawing Britain from the European Union because the arguments on which the Remain side relied made Leave's case. The Remain campaign began with a sham, was monomaniacal with its Project Fear, and ended in governmental thuggishness.

The sham was Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to justify Remain by negotiating EU concessions regarding Britain's subservience to the EU. This dickering for scraps of lost sovereignty underscored Britain's servitude and achieved so little that Remainers rarely mentioned it during their campaign.

Project Fear was the relentless and ultimately ludicrous parade of Cassandras, "experts" all, warning that Britain, after more than a millennium of sovereign existence, and now with the world's fifth-largest economy, would endure myriad calamities were it to end its 23-year membership in the EU. Remain advocates rarely even feigned enthusiasm for the ramshackle, sclerotic EU. Instead, they implausibly promised that if Brexit were rejected, Britain  although it would then be without the leverage of the threat to leave  would nevertheless somehow negotiate substantially better membership terms than Cameron managed when Brexit was an option.

Voters were not amused by the Cameron government's threat of what critics called a Punishment Budget to inflict pain on pensioners (e.g., no more free bus passes) and others because Brexit might cause GDP to contract 9.5 percent and home prices might plummet 18 percent. Voters did not like being told that they really had no choice. And that it was too late to escape from entanglement in the EU's ever-multiplying tentacles. And that the very viscosity of the EU's statism guarantees its immortality.

Voters chose the optimism of Brexit. Sixty years after Britain's humiliation in the Suez debacle, Britain has a spring in its step, confident that it will flourish when Brussels no longer controls 60 to 70 percent of the British government's actions. Britain was last conquered by an invading army in 1066. In 2016, it repelled an attempted conquest by the EU's nomenklatura.

By breaking the leftward-clicking ratchet that moves steadily, and only, toward more "pooled" sovereignty and centralization of power, Brexit refutes the progressive narrative that history has an inexorable trajectory that "experts" discern and before which all must bow. The EU's contribution to this fable is its vow to pursue "ever-closer union." Yes, ever.

In Paris these days there are marches by a group called Generation Identitaire, described as the "hipster right." It aims to rally "young French and Europeans who are proud of their heritage." A recent statement on its website declared that "Islamist attacks" and "the migrant invasion" made 2015 "a turning point in the history of our country." The statement continued: "The French have been silent for too long. ... It is time to show our determination to live on our land, under our laws, our values and with respect to our own identity." Sarkozy, the son of Greek and Hungarian immigrants, sympathizes.

Euroskepticism is rising dramatically in many EU nations. There might be other referendums. Or the EU might seek to extinguish this escape mechanism. A poll in Sweden indicated that it might follow Britain out. In France, there could be a campaign for Frexit.

Such was the Remain side's intellectual sloth, it wielded the threadbare aspersion that advocating withdrawal amounted to embracing "isolationism." Actually, Brexit was the choice for Britain's international engagement as a nation. The revival of nationhood is a prerequisite for the reinvigoration of self-government through reclaimed national sovereignty. Hence June 23, 2016, is now among the most important dates in post-war European history.
If you havent spent time in the Billings Career Center in the past year, you dont know the full scope of learning in this unique building on Central Avenue. The school is changing again for the academic year that starts in August.

Since Scott Anderson became principal five years ago, classes have been added in biomedical sciences, technical math, technical writing, interior design, college welding, machining technology, human growth and development, engineering and aerospace engineering.

Five years ago, the Career Center served about 500 juniors and seniors with half of them spending the morning and the other half the afternoon. Students took classes at their home high school  Senior, Skyview or West  the rest of the day.

1,000 students enrolled

When classes start in August, Anderson expects an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students, including freshmen, sophomores and upperclassmen. Most will spend half days, but about 120 will be at the Career Center full time.

Every Career Center classroom will be in use. Two dozen classes already are full, including four levels of welding, Cafe Protege culinary, two engineering courses, the first level biomedical class, eight auto mechanic classes and six early childhood classes.

Many of the students who signed up for Career Center classes in the coming year will get an unexpected bonus from Montana State University Billings. They wont have to pay a fee to earn college credit for satisfactorily completing dual-credit classes. Gov. Steve Bullock recently announced the one-year pilot project for credit at no charge to high school students.

Students who earn college credits while still in high school tend to be more likely to enroll in college and complete a degree than students who didnt try college before high school graduation.

Graduation rates will go up with freshmen and sophomores out here, said Career Center Assistant Principal Darwin Schaaf.

The Career Center is at the forefront of Billings Public Schools efforts to expand dual credit and career track learning. Those opportunities also are essential for the other 4,500 high school students who will be at Senior, West or Skyview.

Ideally, the choices available at the Career Center would be available at all Billings high schools. In a perfect model, no students would miss out because a class they want is full.

Limited resources

But resources are limited. So Billings Public Schools arranged for an independent review of its career and technical education in all the high schools. It was a smart and gutsy move to seek advice from experts in other school districts, from the state, and from out-of-state educators. The district asked for an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses, and their experts didnt hold back.

Their report cites great counseling and CTE work in the middle schools. Yet theres not a smooth transition from middle to high school CTE for all students, the report says, noting communication gaps. The independent review team noted that some juniors and seniors have been unable to take CTE classes because they have already gotten far behind in their basic credit requirements for graduation.

There are examples of excellent collaboration between career and other teachers, yet some view the Career Center as a dumping ground, one member of the review team said.

Anderson and Schaaf praised Career Center teachers. Some have gone back to college to qualify to teach dual credit classes  even when that extra work didnt necessarily boost their own salaries.

Many of the CTE review teams recommendations would cost money, other recommendations would require new or expanded community partnerships, such as: providing job shadows for every junior, developing senior internships, maximizing partnerships with the colleges and developing clear high-school-to-college-to-careers pathways that meet local needs.

Community partnerships

Along with City College, BillingsWorks, a project of Big Sky Economic Development, has been an important partner for the Career Center. BillingsWorks strives to develop the workforce that Billings area employers need.

Everybody is hurting for skilled technical workers, Anderson said. Our job is to get them into the pipeline sooner to meet that need.

The Career Center must expand to meet the needs of students and the community.

Im out of classrooms, so if were going to do more, I need more classrooms, Anderson said.

In May when a majority of Billings voters turned down a levy increase that would have hired several more high school teachers, they limited what Billings Public Schools can do. Local business and education leaders recognize the importance of career track learning  for students who plan on four-year college degrees and for students who want good living wage jobs sooner. But the Career Center still has an image problem that only better public awareness can change.

Montana puts much less money per student into CTE, compared with neighbor states. If Billings and other Montana communities want to be competitive, we must support our schools. Students and future students need local business people to help deliver that message to their neighbors and state lawmakers.
UP

Pipeline safety. The PIPES Act, which became law last week with President Barack Obamas signature will tighten safety regulations for pipelines carrying hazardous materials, such as oil and gas. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., includes changes to prevent problems that occurred with pipeline spills into the Yellowstone River. The new law requires pipeline operators to have a cleanup plan in the event of an under-ice spill, such as occurred in January 2015 near Glendive. It also strengthens the Pipeline and Hazardous Waste Administrations authority to make a rule that applies to all pipelines when a problem is discovered with one pipeline. Both the Glendive area spill and a larger spill west of Billings in 2011 were related to buried pipeline being scoured out by the river.

UP

Battle anniversary. The 140th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn drew visitors to the dry, treeless hills where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and all soldiers under his command died in battle against Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. With a lot of work and planning by local residents, reenactments staged near the battlefield brought history to life.

UP

Building fun. Just in time for Native Days, which started Friday, a new childrens playground was installed at Crow Agency. The project moved forward quickly with a grant from the Shakopee Mdewakan Sioux Community in Minnesota.

UP

Historic fundraising. Led by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, a drive to raise money for walkways and interpretive exhibits at the grave site of Luther S. Yellowstone Kelly has nearly reached the $500,000 goal. History buffs and military members gathered last week to honor the U.S. Army scout who is buried atop the Rimrocks.
You dont build a business, you build people. And the people build the business.

In a state like Montana, known around the world for our work ethic and hospitality, building up people and building relationships is the undisputed strength of our businesses.

Thats why, in 2014, when we were asked by Gov. Steve Bullock to provide our perspective as small business owners on his Main Street Montana Project, we were excited to help. Between the two of us, weve been in the Montana business community for five decades. We both feel that the communities where we live and do business are our stakeholders as much as our customers who work hard and play hard outdoors. During the time weve both been in business, weve seen the global economy change and our local downtowns transform. In the face of these big transitions, weve always found it helpful to keep the lines of communication open with our neighbors, our peers, our customers and our elected leaders.

Public-private dialogue

We appreciated the opportunity to both share our ideas, challenges and concerns through the Main Street Montana Project, but also to engage our fellow business owners from every corner of the state. The power of the project comes from proactively engaging in a public-private dialogue. Too often, private business and public office holders only interact when theres a crisis.

The governors Main Street Montana Project included 13 industry-specific groups called Key Industry Networks to collaborate, discuss and make recommendations that will continue to grow job opportunities in the state, cut red tape, promote our Montana-made products, and research and invest in our shared business future.

July 13-14 symposium

Its exciting to see our ideas, collectively, as Montanas small business owners come to life. For example, we recommended that the governor hold an annual small business symposium that includes discussion forums, training opportunities for employees and managers, networking venues, a dynamic job fair, and the opportunity to build an ongoing grassroots alliance among small businesses. On July 13-14, Bullock will host the Peer-to-Peer Innovate Montana Symposium in Billings.

If you are a business owner, aspiring business owner, employee or entrepreneur at heart, the symposium will provide you with tools, insights, and professional connections that will be invaluable as you grow your business, engage your community, and contribute to Montanas vibrant small business ecosystem. We are also excited about the keynote speaker, Debbie Sterling, who is the Founder and CEO of GoldieBlox, an award-winning company thats on a mission to disrupt the pink aisle with toys, games and media for girls that encourages their interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

The July symposium is just the beginning. We hope this annual business symposium will serve as yet another avenue for the Montana business community to stay connected, share ideas and resources and inspiration. The Main Street Montana Project truly is a business plan for Montana by Montanans. By building each other up, we can strengthen our businesses and communities.
Honestly, who in Montana really trusts the government to properly screen or vet Syrian refugees coming into Montana? I dont. The people I talk to everyday dont. Why? Because the current push to move Syrian refugees into Montana is based on; political party lines, emotional frustration and or otherwise no common sense.

Gov. Steve Bullock likes the idea of Middle-Eastern refugees coming to Montana immediately. Greg Gianforte is against Syrian refugee resettlement without a thorough vetting process.

On the education front: Bullock likes what he sees. Gianforte wants more fiscal responsibility.

On the jobs-high-tech front: Bullock likes what he sees. Gianforte would like thousands more high-paying high-tech jobs.

On the energy front: Bullock likes what he sees. Gianforte wants to see coal and other mining activities advanced and increased.

On the keep your kids in Montana! front: Bullock likes what he sees. Gianforte likes all his kids at the dinner table every Sunday.

This is a no brainer for me folks. Im voting for the better of the two, I'm voting for Gianforte for governor. I encourage everyone to do their homework, research the candidates as I have. Gianforte represents superior governing techniques that will lead Montana to a bigger and brighter future.

Ken Nass

Bozeman
Douglas Leon Wheaton, 50, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, died on Saturday, June 25, 2016.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Louena Wheaton.

Doug was a 1983 graduate of Tyner High School where he played trombone in the high school marching band. He was an avid fisherman, worked as an electrician and was a member of the IBEW local 175.

He was a member of Silverdale Baptist Church.

Survivors include his father, Charlie Wheaton, of Chattanooga, sister and brother-in-law, Deborah and Tim Monroe, of Knoxville, nephew, Taylor D. Monroe and niece, Olivia Grace Monroe.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, June 27, in the Valley View Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home with Reverend Chuck Patrick officiating. Interment will be in Tyner Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 11 a.m.2 p.m. on Monday at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to Silverdale Baptist Church, 7236 Bonny Oaks Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37421.

Please share your thoughts and memories online at www. ChattanoogaValleyViewChapel. com .

Arrangements are by Chattanooga Funeral Home, Valley View Chapel, 7414 Old Lee Highway, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421.
CASPER, Wyo.  In a rare case of bipartisan consensus, both presumptive presidential nominees oppose transferring federal land to states, representatives from their campaigns said.

Donald Trump Jr., eldest son of Republican candidate Donald Trump and executive vice president of development and acquisitions for The Trump Organization, said access to public lands is paramount. Trump Jr. is an avid sportsman and advises his father, he said.

We have been pretty vocal about this for quite some time now, and its where weve broken away from traditional conservative dogma, Trump Jr. said Thursday morning at a Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership conference in Fort Collins, Colo.

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., speaking Friday morning at the conference on behalf of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, echoed similar sentiments.

My candidate is opposed to (public lands transfer). She doesnt believe we should be selling public land, Thompson said. "There is about $1.8 billion that is generated from the outdoor industry, thats 12 million jobs. And if that goes away, if access goes away, if public access goes away, that shrinks.

Trump Jr. talked about the dangers of states controlling federal lands, saying a takeover would ultimately result in states selling land, which is then lost to public use.

A sweeping western conservation poll completed in January says the majority of Wyoming residents agree. About 54 percent of those surveyed in the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project said they oppose Wyoming taking over national lands. Almost 80 percent believe there is an economic benefit in federal lands, and more than 70 percent of Wyomingites identify themselves as being conservationists.

The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee recently approved a bill telling the Department of Agriculture to give states up to 2 million acres of eligible National Forest to be managed primarily for timber production. When asked if Trump, as president, would veto such a bill, Trump Jr. said while hes not a policy expert, his father would make sure access to public lands remains.

Thompson said Clinton is committed to not only protecting access to public lands, but also improving access, in part through partnerships with private landowners.

She has made a commitment to increase and double down on access to public land that is currently not accessible at this time, Thompson said. She wants to increase it by, I believe her white paper says, 50 percent, and shes going to make a real effort to do that.

The statements were welcome news to some Wyoming sportsmen.

When you have both of the two main presidential candidates against a land transfer of public lands, its at least heartening, said Casper hunter Jeff Muratore. But also we have to be guarded, because with either one of them, they could have policies that could be detrimental to public lands use.

Some have proposed an arrangement where states manage land that's still technically owned by the federal government. But Muratore cautioned that such a system could ultimately be just as bad as land transfers. State management, he said, could mean closing access to the public, opening land to more development or exchanging parcels of prime hunting and fishing land for less desirable or inaccessible pieces.

Trump Jr. touted his background as a sportsman, referencing childhood summers spent with his grandpa in the woods of Czechoslovakia.

Hunting and fishing is my lifestyle. Its how I choose to live my life. Its how my brother and I choose to live, he said. Its how were going to raise our families.

He also echoed fears shared by many westerners  that land owned by the states is managed for state profit, and could be sold at any time.

Wyoming is working with the Department of Interior to sell two state-owned parcels in Grand Teton National Park. If the feds do not agree to buy them, state officials have said the land could be sold at auction.

Trump Jr. stressed the importance of access to public lands both for himself and his children, and his influence over his father.

While I may not be the policy guy, I know I can be a very, very loud voice in his ear, he said. I think we can definitely do something to make sure they are preserved and maintained.

Thompson said even though Clinton is not a hunter, she recognizes peoples right to hunt and own firearms. She will listen to people like Thompson, who is a lifelong hunter and angler, when making decisions about land and water, he said.

Shes 100 percent on sportsmens side when it comes to increasing investments in our outdoor industry, he said. She is completely opposed to selling public property.  She will listen to us. We have to figure out how to bring everybody together and resolve the challenges we face.
Marcus Harris, 19, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 15 shooting of Kenneth Brown, 31. (Chicago police photo)

A Chicago man shot and killed a South Side drug dealer after the dealer and the man's brother chest-bumped each other during a dispute, prosecutors said Saturday.

Marcus Harris, 19, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of Kenneth Brown, 31. The shooting happened at 11:30 p.m. March 15 in the 7000 block of South Morgan Street, prosecutors said.

Advertisement

Brown sold drugs out of a basement apartment on South Morgan, prosecutors said. He and a witness were out of the apartment making drug drops in the neighborhood when they got a phone call from another person saying Brown's apartment had been broken into, prosecutors said.

Brown and the witness went to the apartment, where they met up with the caller. While in the apartment, they heard a loud knocking and a man identified himself by name as Harris' brother, then entered with someone they didn't know, prosecutors said.

Advertisement

Brown and Harris' brother argued about a drug spot, and the argument ended after a few minutes, prosecutors said. The witness, Harris' brother and the unknown man went outside. The unknown man then walked across the street to some rowhouses.

Brown and Harris' brother began to argue again, and they began to chest-bump each other, prosecutors said. Marcus Harris walked across the street from the rowhouses and got between his brother and Brown, prosecutors said.

Marcus Harris then pulled out a gun and shot Brown five times, prosecutors said. Brown was dead on the scene but was taken to Stroger Hospital to be officially pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

The first witness did not name Harris on the scene because he was nervous, but both witnesses later came forward to identify Harris in a lineup and a photo array, prosecutors said.

Cook County Circuit Judge Laura M. Sullivan ordered Harris, of the 6800 block of South Sangamon Street, held without bail.

Chicago Tribune's Christy Gutowski contributed.
Miguel Gomez was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. (McHenry County sheriff's office)

Before Miguel Gomez was sentenced to 13 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, he proclaimed his innocence but also appeared the blame the victim.

Standing before the girl and her family in McHenry County court Friday, Gomez said through a translator: "I didn't rape her. We could have had sex, but that didn't happen. If I would have fallen for her game, we would have had sexual relations. Thanks to the Lord I was able to stop myself and didn't have sex with her."

Advertisement

Gomez, 37, who had also tried to fire his attorney and argued with the judge during the hearing, told the family, "You need to know the truth."

Flanked by three sheriff's deputies, Gomez asked for the family's forgiveness and said he hoped that "God forgives (the girl) for what she has done."

Advertisement

In March, Gomez was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault and grooming.

He was living with the girl's family in southwestern McHenry County in April 2015 when prosecutors said he assaulted the girl in her bedroom when no one else was home. He had also been accused of texting sexually explicit photographs to the girl prior to the assault. DNA evidence from the case matched Gomez, officials said.

"She rejected him, she stood up to him .... and he attacked her, he raped her," said Assistant State's Attorney John Gibbons, calling Gomez a "calculated rapist" and "thankless parasite."

The victim's mother read a statement in court saying in Spanish she was "devastated" by what Gomez had done to her daughter.

The mother recalled that after she learned of the assault, she lay on the bathroom floor with her daughter, who was distraught and physically ill throughout the night.

"My daughter didn't deserve this," she said. Gomez "robbed something that didn't belong to him."

Before handing down the sentence, Judge Sharon Prather said Gomez had "no remorse whatsoever."

"You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you on the face," she said.

Advertisement

Gibbons said Gomez had charges related to domestic violence pending in Wisconsin at the time of the assault.

Before the hearing got under way, Gomez told Prather that he wanted to discharge his assistant public defender, Rick Behof, represent himself and take back his plea.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Gomez said he was tricked by his attorneys and that the state had lodged "false charges" against him.

"I want to proceed on my own," Gomez said.

Prather questioned his knowledge of how to represent himself and strongly advised against him doing so.

"You will do nothing but get yourself into a deeper hole than you are already in," Prather said.

Advertisement

"This is my life. They set me up," Gomez said during what was at times a somewhat hostile exchange. Prather more than once told Gomez to "stop it," told him he was "being ridiculous" and not to argue with her.

Gomez, who is living in the U.S. illegally, faces deportation and must register as a sex offender for life.

Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
Two children and four adults were rushed to hospitals in serious to critical condition following a two-vehicle collision on the Dan Ryan Expressway Sunday afternoon on the South Side.

It happened about 2:30 p.m. on inbound Interstate 94 near 87th Street, according to an Illinois State Police trooper.

Advertisement

Two children were taken to University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital, two adults went to Stroger Hospital and two more adults went to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Jeff Lyle.

All six were in serious to critical condition, said Lyle, who said initially their ambulances were sent to 79th Street.

Advertisement

An EMS Plan I, which automatically sends six ambulances to the scene, was secured at 3 p.m., Lyle said.

Lanes will be blocked for a time, the trooper said.
The 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade kicked off at noon June 26, 2016, at Montrose Avenue and Broadway in Uptown. (Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune) (Brandon Chew / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Over the past few years, Chicago's Pride Parade has been marked with some important victories for LGBT people.

Last year, the North Side parade came on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling holding that same-sex couples had a constitutional right to marry nationwide. Before that, same-sex couples celebrated court victories that allowed them to enter into civil unions and receive federal benefits.

Advertisement

The leadup to Sunday's parade, themed "Solidarity Through Pride," was more sorrowful, coming just two weeks after the vicious mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where 49 people were killed. But despite the grief and fears over safety, a mood of defiance and determination took root: defiance of the hatred and violence targeting LGBT people and determination to continue on with the jubilant, raucous celebration that is a fixture of Chicago's summers.

When the parade kicked off around noon, a group of marchers led the procession carrying signs with the names and images of the Orlando victims. At the front of the line was an emotional Jason Mendes-McAllister, who carried the photo of his close friend, Edward Sotomayor, Jr.

Advertisement

"Our community is about tearing down walls, not building them up," Mendes-McAllister said. "Love will always conquer hate, and we have to remember that."

Many echoed Mendes-McAllister's sentiment, saying that of all times, it was particularly important for the LGBT community and its allies to stand their ground and not cower in the face of ignorance.

"There's a little reservation, but we're not going to stop showing our support," said Iselle Heredia, 19, of Hillside. "It's a celebration, and it's supposed to be fun. Obviously the circumstances are bad. But there's always going to be hate in the world. It's disgusting that some people grow up with that kind of ignorance. But all we can do is be here and try to educate people."

But for some, the impact of the Orlando shootings was too much to overcome.

Adrian Prado, 20, and his boyfriend, Chris Hidalgo, 21, both from the city's South Side, said some co-workers and friends opted to stay home.

"It was a scary and horrible wake-up call that still a lot needs to be done," Hidalgo said.

Gay, straight, Muslim, Hispanic: We're all the same. Love and acceptance is not for a certain type of people.  Logan Lutes-Steiner, 34, of Uptown

Many families were trying to bridge that gap, bringing their children to the parade to teach them about love and acceptance.

Carlos Medina, who is originally from Orlando, said he grew up in a very conservative Puerto Rican household that did not accept gay people or stereotypical aspects of gay life.

Advertisement

Medina, who is straight, said he has raised his kids differently, and his 29-year-old daughter just got married to another woman.

Medina, who attended the parade with several relatives, including his wife, Teresa, and 5-year-old daughter, Bella, said he was proud of the accepting household he and his wife have cultivated.

"We can't live a lifestyle in a vacuum," said Medina, 50, of Lakeview. "We have to live life with an open heart, with open eyes and an open mind, and that starts when you're young."

His wife agreed. "We need to raise (kids) to love everybody," Teresa Medina, 44, said. "I think with what's going on right now in the world, we just need to teach love. We're all equal, we all love each other and that's what matters. Bringing my 5-year-old here, I don't see anything wrong with it."

Zulema Chavez and Samantha Morales, both 24 and of Blue Island, said they were especially touched by Sunday's tribute to the Orlando victims because as gay Latina women, the shooting touches on an intersection of culture they're well-versed in. Many of the Orlando victims were Hispanic.

When Chavez came out to her parents in high school, she said they sent her to conversion therapy to make her straight. They're more accepting now, she said, but she's still sensitive to how others will react to her orientation  especially in their suburban, predominantly Latino neighborhood.

Advertisement

On Sunday, Chavez said, she doesn't have to worry about those things.

"This is our world. We can be free here," she said.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 44 Parade participants are cooled by a Chicago Fire Department hose at the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade on June 26, 2016, on Halsted Street and Belmont Avenue in Lakeview. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune)

For some couples, Pride marked a milestone in their relationships.

Maureen Nelson and Shelly Hurst, of Ukrainian Village, have been coming to the Pride Parade for years, but 2016 marked their first as an engaged couple.

Nelson, 33, and Hurst, 43, got engaged April 22 in Nashville, Tenn., after more than eight years together. On Sunday, they gathered with friends wearing light-blue T-shirts commemorating their engagement.

"It's always special to be at the parade because it's nice to feel the support of the community," Nelson said. "It has bigger meaning to us now that we're engaged. We have a lot of friends who are married and have kids, so it's great to be here celebrating with them."

Advertisement

Several politicians made appearances, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who greeted Mendes-McAllister and several other participants before beginning the route with his wife, Amy Rule. Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, former Gov. Pat Quinn, City Clerk Susana Mendoza and Kim Foxx, Democratic candidate for Cook County state's attorney, also marched and greeted spectators.

The parade proceeded amid a far tighter security presence than seen in previous years.

There were no specific threats made to either the parade, or to LGBT communities and businesses, and city officials boosted an already heavy police presence at the parade as a precaution.

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson deployed hundreds of additional uniformed officers, who constantly patrolled the route on foot. Additionally, parade organizers nearly doubled the number of security officers they hired for the event.

Cook County sheriff's officers and the FBI also helped with security staffing, while the Office of Emergency Management & Communications opened its response center throughout the event.

City officials said there were no major incidents reported. Spectators also praised the security presence, saying officers vigilantly walked throughout the area, checking bags and any coolers that appeared to have been left unattended.

Advertisement

"As we continue our celebrations, it is paramount that we support the LGBTQ community and remember the significance of today's events, which honored those who senselessly lost their lives to gun violence in Orlando," Johnson said in a statement.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

Logan Lutes-Steiner, 34, of Uptown, said it is important that there be a shared space to celebrate those who have fought for values like equality and tolerance.

Lutes-Steiner met his husband, Stephen, at a Pride weekend. The couple married in 2015, just a few weeks after last year's parade.

"Gay, straight, Muslim, Hispanic: We're all the same," Lutes-Steiner said. "Love and acceptance is not for a certain type of people."

Chicago Tribune's Tony Briscoe contributed.

cdrhodes@tribpub.com

Advertisement

mrenault@tribpub

tjdavis@tribpub
Adrianna Chica, 19, wanted in a robbery and fatal shooting in Iowa in May, was arrested on misdemeanor charges in Chicago on Friday. (Chicago police photo)

A 19-year-old woman wanted in connection with a robbery and fatal shooting at a mobile home park in Iowa two months ago was arrested on misdemeanor charges Friday in Chicago.

Adrianna Chica, of Dubuque, Iowa, was arrested in the 3600 block of North Fremont Street at 8:30 p.m. Friday, police said.

Advertisement

She was charged with misdemeanor obstructing identification and had a warrant out for her arrest, police said.

Chica is one of five people allegedly involved in the April 2 death of 21-year-old Collin Brown in Key West, Iowa. Brown was shot and killed after at least three people forced their way into his home, according to authorities.

Advertisement

The Dubuque County Sheriff's Department issued a warrant for Chica's arrest on a second-degree robbery charge last month.
This photo made available by the U.S. Coast Guard shows a kayak recovered within a debris field off the coast of Sanibel, Fla., Wednesday, June 22, 2016. The kayak and other personal items are believed to belong to a father and his three teenage children who were reported missing while they were aboard a sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.  The Coast Guard on Saturday suspended the search for a Florida family last seen on a sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ace Kimberly and his three teenage children were last in contact on Sunday while sailing from Sarasota to Fort Myers for repairs to the vessel they lived on in Sarasota Bay.

Advertisement

"We don't know where the boat is," Coast Guard Capt. Gregory Case told reporters in St. Petersburg.

The bodies of Kimberly, 45, and his 17-year-old daughter Rebecca were recovered this week, but the bodies of Kimberly's sons, 13-year-old Roger and 15-year-old Donny, remain missing, Case said

Advertisement

"Rebecca had a life jacket on but Ace, the father, did not," Case said.

Along with the two bodies, crews also recovered a sailboat mast, six life jackets and a bucket of items belonging to the family, including birth certificates, a GPS, wallet, cellphone and cigarettes.

The bodies and the debris were found within a few miles of each other, in a five-day search that covered 34,000 square nautical miles, Case said.

The Coast Guard launched search-and-rescue efforts Tuesday after Kimberly's brother reported them missing. Kimberly requested a weather report and said he was sailing in 6-foot seas off Englewood when the brothers last spoke on Sunday.

"He did the best he could when he knew that or thought or had a feeling that they might be in danger," Case said, adding that Kimberly's brother hadn't been given an itinerary or other details about the family's voyage.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will evaluate all the debris as part of an accident investigation. It remains unclear whether the boat sank where the debris was found, or if the family had to abandon ship.

"It's difficult when you don't find everything, you don't have anyone left to ask," Case said.

Associated Press
A mural in Bristol, England, depicts Donald Trump kissing former London Mayor Boris Johnson, now a member of Parliament and a prominent proponent of the United Kingdoms withdrawal from the European Union. (Matt Cardy / Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  With Britain's vote to leave the European Union, did Donald Trump just win the presidential election?

On the surface, this may seem an odd question, but the concerns that led a majority of Brits to vote "leave" on Thursday are similar to those that have catapulted Trump to the Republican nomination  immigration, refugees, underemployment.

Advertisement

Also similar have been reactions to Brexit and to Trump's political rise. Analysts and market speculators were shocked that the prediction models they used were wrong. Overnight, the political playbook seemed to have become a relic of some distant past.

The biggest gambler of all was Prime Minister David Cameron, who held the referendum despite his preference to "remain." His resignation essentially marked the death of the establishment and a rebirth of people who have risen in protest of a world they refuse to accept.

Advertisement

The populist, anti-establishment movement we've been witnessing in the U.S. isn't purely local. Other countries, especially in Europe, are feeling similar stresses to their psychic as well as their material infrastructure, leading to renewed calls for nationalism. Already, other nations are queuing up to join merry old England on the exit ramp.

The ground has shifted and, with it, global markets. Immediately, the pound plunged along with stock values. Rattled investors tried to regain their equilibrium. The world gaped in breathless wonderment as a new, upside-down landscape took shape.

All, that is, except for Donald Trump.

Conveniently in Scotland to visit his Turnberry resort, the brand-brandishing baron of bombast opined that Brexit was "a great thing." Never mind that the "Scotch," as Trump recently referred to his Scots heritage, voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU and likely will hold a referendum soon to separate from Britain.

What matters is that Trump saw in Brexit an opportunity to profit. Because that's what Trump does. One impoverished fellow's home foreclosure is Trump's business opportunity. One nation's lost cause is his tourist bonanza.

You probably thought Brexit was about national independence, didn't you? Trump thought it was about him. The pound's decline, he explained, could mean more travelers to his resorts  and what could be better than that?

Trump further explained that it was great the British people are taking their country back, just as Trump supporters are hoping to do in November. Indeed, in many respects, Trump is America's "Trexit"  a ticket to leave the establishment and entrenched bureaucrats whom Trump's admirers  and Britain's leavers  see as responsible for their respective nations' problems.

This message, though we've heard it a thousand times, has taken time to penetrate the minds of commentators and analysts who now humbly acknowledge that they didn't see "it" coming  neither Brexit nor Trump. It was easier to name the manifestations  xenophobia, racism, sexism, "fear of the other"  than it was to recognize the root causes, which, distilled, amount to a looming sense of lost identity.

Advertisement

The smartest thing Trump has said during his campaign was in a recent speech. Citing Hillary Clinton's slogan "I'm with her," he said his slogan is "I'm with you, the American people."

Brilliant. When Trump frames things this way, he wins. When his critics point to his xenophobia and racism, legitimate though these observations may be, he wins again. To his fans, the critics don't get it. When Trump supporters hear post-Brexit analysts say the "leavers" suffered "fear of the other," they hear fools ignoring the realities of unsecured borders, possible terrorists posing as refugees and illegal immigrants demanding entitlements.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 39 British Conservative party leadership candidate Theresa May speaks to members of the media at The St. Stephen's entrance to the Palace of Westminster in London on July 7, 2016. (Ben Stansall / AFP/Getty Images)

A majority of Brits apparently heard the same thing. Their retreat isn't only away from the European Union and, inferentially, from globalization, concubine of the New World Order. It is rather a turning back toward home, the idea as well as the place. Home is who we are, the values we share, the traditions we practice and the one flag to which we all pledge allegiance.

This is the red meat of the matter.

Those who miscalled Brexit haven't  or hadn't  fully grasped the gravity and intensity of the identity imperative. Trump, love him or hate him, grasped it, embraced it, gave it a helicopter ride and promised to respect it in the morning. He placed all bets on the power of nationhood and on his unique power to harness and reinvent globalization in his own image.

Clinton would do well to heed these identity concerns lest she become America's Cameron to Trump's Trexit.

Advertisement

Washington Post Writers Group

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist.

kathleenparker@washpost.com
The Kendall County Food Pantry is at 208 Beaver St. in Yorkville. Police are investigating a possible theft of funds from the facility. (Tony Scott / The Beacon-News)

It's the kind of headline charitable organizations dread reading: (Not-for-profit) under investigation for questionable spending.

It hits home. And it can carry a wallop.

Advertisement

Just last month, in fact, the Naperville-based Operation Welcome You Home veterans support group changed the name of its Wounded Warriors 5K Run because people were mistakenly associating it with the nationally-known Wounded Warrior Project that had just been sideswiped by a major scandal over how top administrators were spending money.

Those who work with local food pantries have been hit with a double whammy recently, after police announced an investigation into the possible theft of up to $200,000 from the Kendall County Food Pantry, then getting news its beloved executive director Maria Spaeth had been found dead Tuesday afternoon in a home she owned in Sandwich.

Advertisement

"It's been one of the most horrible things I've gone through in my life," said Kendall County Food Pantry Board member Jeff Young, who has taken on the role of acting chairman and director of the pantry.

While no one has been charged with any crime and Yorkville police say the investigation into the missing funds is ongoing, the news has certainly raised concerns not just for Kendall County, but for other nonprofits that rely on trust from the community to make sure donations go directly to the needy.

Diane Renner, executive director of Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora, says she's heard both extremes from people in the wake of the headlines. Some have said they don't want to donate again, while others who have never given to pantries before feel so badly about what happened they've begun donating for the first time.

"My first hope," said Renner, "is that people will continue to give to the Kendall County Food Pantry, if not with money than give them your time. It's a phenomenal organization that serves so many people. And Maria was a phenomenal person who was so well loved by the volunteers and community."

Young says he's been grateful for the outpouring of support. Donations are not down in the aftermath of the shocking news, nor is there a shortage of volunteers, he told me.

But Young, who became a Yorkville Middle School teacher after a long career in business, still expressed concern about long-term support from the larger donors.

"We are working vigorously to keep those supporters," he said. And part of that effort is to assure the public that "going forward, the board and pantry has done full reviews of its policies and have tightened and changed those policies so what happened here will never happen again."

"We have looked at the accounting and what needs to change and have put those procedures in place," he said.

Advertisement

At the same time, other pantry leaders want to offer assurances such systems are already in place.

For one thing, said Renner, the Marie Wilkinson pantry does not use credit cards. Plus, nobody working with this Aurora group on a regular basis has access to the bank accounts.

Melisa Taylor, who founded the Sugar Grove Food Pantry six years ago and donates her time as executive director, agrees that "from day one," it is important to put those checks and balances in place.

"We have multiple people involved in every aspect" of the pantry, she said.

Marilyn Weisner, executive director of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry, assured donors "we practice transparency" and "have safeguards in place" so "we remain as good stewards, as I know every local not for profit does."

According to Yorkville law enforcement sources, the Kendall County investigation involves the unauthorized use of credit cards and purchases using Food Pantry funds totaling between $150,000 and $200,000. Spaeth resigned from the pantry after the news broke about the investigation, as did her husband Ken, who was a board member and treasurer.

Advertisement

Jennifer Nau, spokesperson for Northern Illinois Food Bank, described the Kendall County investigation as "an unfortunate situation" for multiple reasons.

"I agree 100 percent that this kind of thing can lead to a loss of confidence," she said. "But I want to believe it's an anomaly."

All food pantries function as their own 501c3's, Nau added, so it's not the food bank's responsibility to oversee compliance with a tax-exempt nonprofit status. The food bank does conduct monitoring for food safety compliance, she said, but its main role is "to offer assistance and help" in setting up and maintaining the pantries.

If people have concerns about where their money is going, donations can be made through the Northern Illinois Food Bank but earmarked for a specific pantry, Nau pointed out.

The food bank is currently working with Kendall County to help its board of directors push through the crisis. The Yorkville-based pantry, stressed Young, is in no danger of closing, and in fact, will even be open, with volunteers sorting food, on Saturday, the day of Maria's funeral "because that's what she would have wanted."

Pantry officials I spoke with all stressed the importance of remembering how vital this pantry is to the Kendall community. According to statistics provided by Northern Illinois Food Bank, 8 percent of Kendall County residents (16 percent of its children) struggle with "food insecurity." In fiscal 2015, there were 973,000 meals handed out to residents in the county, a 6 percent increase over the previous year.

Advertisement

Much of the credit for meeting such demand must go to Maria Spaeth. Since she was named executive director in 2008, the pantry went from serving around 700 people out of a basement in the Kendall County Farm Bureau to a 36,000-square-foot building serving some 7,000 residents monthly.

In addition to providing food and clothing, the operation opened a free medical clinic, as well as satellite offices for the Pregnancy Information Center and Mutual Ground domestic violence shelter. Last year it also offered brown bag lunches for school children and this year is involved with a milk program through the National Dairy Council.

Young, who says the board is beginning the process of seeking a replacement  or replacements  for Spaeth, has gone through a roller coaster of emotions since the investigation came to light. "Anger, sadness, confusion  it was all swirling around me," he said. "Then I got tunnel vision and decided, we are going to make this work."

It helps to have the backing of colleagues who understand there was more lost in his community than dollars and cents.

"We are all very saddened," said Taylor. "Maria's death trumps all the chaos going on there . there was so much goodness left behind."

Dcrosby@tribpub.com
National EMS Memorial Bike Ride participants join members of the Waukegan Fire Department in paying respect to local first responder Kevin Oldham at Waukegan's Bowen Park Sunday. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

Cyclists participating in the National Emergency Medical Services Memorial Bike Ride made a brief stop at Waukegan's Bowen Park Sunday to pay respect to Waukegan firefighter/paramedic Kevin Oldham, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2011.

Members of the Waukegan Fire Department greeted the cyclists with handshakes, snacks and water.

Advertisement

The Waukegan site was the first stop of many for the 12 cyclists, who began in Northbrook and will be joined by others on their 400-mile, five-day trip to Woodbury, Minn.

Riders carried dog tags inscribed with the names of the firefighters who will be remembered.

Advertisement

Waukegan Fire Department Lt. Dave Paff said he is riding to honor Oldham and Kenosha, Wis., Fire Department Lt. Scott Schumacher.

Paff said it is important to remember those who put their lives on the line to keep others safe.

Cyclists on the 400-mile National EMS Memorial Bike Ride to Minnesota stop in Waukegan Sunday to pay respect for Waukegan first responder Kevin Oldham, who died in 2011. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

"Sixty percent of the job of a first responder is EMS related," Paff said. "There is always the risk of blood-borne pathogens, toxins and germs. For firefighters, the dangers can be poisons and carcinogen gases."

Funds raised from the ride benefit families of fallen EMS practitioners through the Fallen Angel Fund, said Tammy Chatman, public information officer for Flight for Life.

Last year's fundraiser was a day-long bike ride, Chatman said.

"We're hoping the Midwest route ride gets bigger each year," Chatman said.

Minnesota resident Alison Ober said she was feeling good after the Waukegan stop and was ready to continue Sunday's 80-mile ride.

"The challenge is not the ride, it's getting the awareness out about the cause," Ober said.

Advertisement

The final day for the scheduled 35 cyclists will end with a public memorial service in Minnesota, where the names of those being remembered will be read.

Riders will then present family members and agencies with one dog tag and riders will keep another as a reminder.

"It's a pretty emotional ride," Chatman said.

The National EMS Memorial Bike Ride will continue in Colorado in August and in September on the West Coast.

Yadira Sanchez Olson is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun
The first-ever zip line and treetop adventure course opened in Bemis Woods on June 24, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune) (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

If Melvin Hall was looking for a mental challenge, he found one in the leafy treetops of a suburban forest preserve.

Sliding to the mulchy ground on a zip line, Hall of Chicago completed all five stations of Go Ape, a new treetop adventure course near Western Springs, in Bemis Woods South, part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Advertisement

Although participants on the course that features five zip lines are harnessed so they cannot free fall to the ground, Hall of Chicago said it's easy for the mind to overlook that safety feature when staring down the length of a zip line while perched in a tree, dozens of feet from the ground.

"It's a play on the mind," he said. "You really have to dig deep to muster up the courage."

Advertisement

The course, which opened on Saturday has a total of 2,837 feet of zip lines. It also features a double Tarzan-style swing that enables two people to swing together 30 feet in the air and land in a cargo net, a series of rope ladders and bridges, spider webs and trapezes. Forty of the obstacles are located 40 feet high in the forest canopy.

Standing on a platform as he waited to slide down the first zip line, Gene Jenke of La Grange was excited.

"We're here for the challenge," said Jenke, who was tackling the course with his daughter, Jenna, 11. "We wanted to be one of the first ones to do it."

The treetop adventure course was installed by Go Ape, a provider of zip line and adventure courses, at a cost of $500,000.

"This was done at no cost to the forest preserves," said Lambrini Lukidis, a spokesperson for the Forest Preserves of Cook County. "Go Ape runs the zip line and we get a percentage of the sales."

Bemis Woods is the only place in Illinois where visitors can experience zip lines, high ropes and other challenges of the treetop obstacle course, she said.

The site was selected because while it is a lovely wooded area, it doesn't have any particular elements that needed to be preserved.

"This was not a high quality nature area," Ludikis said. "We didn't have to disturb any habitat."

Advertisement

Although there is an upper weight limit of 285 pounds, the course is designed so that nearly anyone can do it.

"It's absolutely easy for anyone. It's not intimidating," Lukidis said.

Ginelle Enrietti, 23, of Tinley Park, might disagree somewhat.

"It was a lot harder than I expected," said Enrietti, who completed the course with her friend, Kaitlyn O'Dwyer, also 23, and from Tinley Park.

The two said there were options along the course to do easier versions of particular tasks in order to proceed. They also appreciated the pre-course training sessions that lasts about 20 to 30 minutes and is provided by Go Ape instructors.

"It was scary, but they show you want to do," O'Dwyer said.

Advertisement

"We show them how to use the equipment and get them comfortable," said Danny Solis, a Go Ape instructor. "We go with them on the first two stations and then they're on their own. But there is no way they could fall because they're strapped in."

The course gets progressively more difficult. Each of the stations ends with a zip line to the ground where a participant can decide if they want to go further or stop. The cost to do the course is $57 for adults and $37 for children. It takes two to three hours to complete.

In case of an accident on the course, the police of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County would respond, along with emergency responders from Western Springs.

"If it's anything police-related then the forest preserve police respond because they have ATVs and can get better access. Then they'd contact us," said Alfredo Quinones, a dispatcher with the Western Springs police.

Waiting to take her first step on to the course, Anna Maliwat, 35, of Hainesville, Ill. said the more thrills on the course, the better.

"We wanted it to have sky diving at the end," said Maliwat, who was doing the course with her friend, Mary Lou Cabrera, 34, of Austin, Texas.

Advertisement

The course is intended for individuals, as well as groups to do.

"I think it's challenging for yourself personally and it would be a great bonding experience for a group," Lukidis said.

On that point, Enrietti, who felt exhilarated at making it through, would fully agree.

"Once you finish it you feel you can do anything," she said.

amannion@tribpub.com

Twitter triblocalam
The Chinese Embassy in Argentina Saturday hosted its first Chinese singing competition, in a bid to stimulate local interest in Chinese culture.

Eighty people have competed in previous rounds of the match that have been supported by the Chinese Ministry of Education. Thirteen of them have made it to the final, which will be held on Sept. 10 in a famous theater known for its tango shows in Buenos Aires.

Yang Chuanying, the embassy's cultural attache, said the event was held to deepen understanding of Chinese music and language among the Argentine people and develop mutual understanding and friendship between the two nations.

"We are very happy and satisfied with the wide participation of contestants coming from various provinces," said Yang.
You are here: Home

Apple Inc. launched its first retail store in Macao on Saturday, expanding the brand's presence in Greater China to 41 stores.

Hundreds of Apple fans queued at the new store at Galaxy complex in Cotai district before the store opened at 10 a.m..

Macao is an incredibly important region for Apple, Denny Tuza, senior director for Apple Retail Asia Pacific told Xinhua, noting that "Macao is a rich commercial and industrialized city with 600,000 residents and 32 million tourists annually. The city has a unique hybrid urban culture, representing a peculiar blend of Oriental and Western influences."

This new two-layer outlet includes sales space where over 150 Apple latest designs are displayed for customers to experience hands-on, and a gathering place for workshops.

According to Tuza, Macao store has 149 employees who are mainly hired locally, speaking nine languages including Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Portuguese.

Apple also brought two free camps designed to help spark the imagination of kids aged 8 to 12, teaching them to make movies and create interactive books completing with their own illustrations and sound effects.
You are here: Home

A deadly fire that engulfed an industrial building in Hong Kong's East Kowloon was "largely put out" late Saturday night after burning for over 100 hours and killing two firefighters.

The blaze broke out at a self-storage unit in an industrial building on Tuesday morning, and was upgraded to No. 4 alarm later that day.

Thomas Cheung, a 30-year-old senior station officer, died on Tuesday after losing consciousness while battling the fire.

The second victim Hui Chi-kit, 37, was killed on Thursday evening.

Police said on Saturday that after an examination of CCTV footage, no evidence was found to suggest an arson.

Secretary for Development Paul Chan said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government may tighten the regulation of self-storage units.

He said the Buildings Department will work with the Fire Services Departments to step up inspections.
You are here: Home

China's central government has appropriated a budget of 160 million yuan (24.2 million U.S. dollars) to cover disaster relief work in a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, which was hit by tornado Thursday.

Heavy rain, hailstorms and a tornado battered parts of Yancheng City in Jiangsu on Thursday, leaving 98 people dead and 846 injured.

The budget will cover relocation and resettlement, living support, housing reconstruction and agriculture-related costs.

More than 8,600 houses, two elementary schools and eight factories were damaged as gales of over 100 km per hour battered several outer townships in Funing and Sheyang counties.

The Ministry of Finance said it was closely following weather developments across the country and would release more relief funds when,and if, needed.
Zhang Min

A recent graduate of East China Normal University will be the first Shanghai student to become a full-time teacher in Tibet.

Zhang Min's decision may seem surprising given that most of her fellow grads are choosing to pursue careers in the big cities.

"I have been thinking about bringing better education to children there after seeing their poor living conditions during a volunteer program I took part in and an internship," said Zhang. "They deserve it."

The Shanghai government has a special program to support the development of Tibet. It sends professionals in various fields, including education, healthcare and agriculture, to help improve the quality of life in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

However, it is rare for an individual graduate such as Zhang to travel there to work independently.

She will take interviews in Tibet in mid-July to determine which school she will teach at.

Zhang said she has been aware of the poverty and poor quality of education in some parts of China from watching TV news programs since she was at middle school, but didn't know what she could do to help people there.

After entering university, she became acquainted with Tibetan classmates and joined a Tibetan cultural club, which organizes student volunteers to teach in the autonomous region during summer vacations.

Zhang took part in 2013 when she was a sophomore, working at a primary school in Shannan Prefecture as a volunteer teacher for one month.

She was impressed by the students but felt the approach to education had some shortcomings. Zhang said teachers forced students to memorize questions and answers in textbooks, which meant they usually performed well in tests given by the school, but failed in those organized by prefecture educational authorities.

One teacher told her that students who performed well at prefecture tests could potentially get into schools in more developed areas, but it had been two years since a child at the school she taught had been accepted.

Zhang was also perplexed by how the schools were managed. She said they changed the class schedules so often and so randomly to accommodate leave absences that one class had a whole week of math classes because all other teachers were absent.

"I could see many children there were clever and they really touched me when looking at me with their bright eyes as I was answering their questions," she said. "But they could not get scores high enough to enter better schools to get better educational resources just because of the poor education they were receiving."

She later spent another three months doing an internship at a middle school in Lhasa, the capital of the autonomous region, an experience that confirmed what she had seen of the education system was typical.

This prompted her to pursue a career as a teacher in Tibet after graduation.

"I don't think I am powerful enough to change any part of the local education system. I just hope my students will like my style and get a broader vision from me," she said. "I also hope I can bring out their potential."

Zhang said that it was a challenge to persuade her parents to agree with her choice as she had the opportunity to work at Shanghai local school. But they finally agreed to let her work in Tibet for three and a half years.

"I will try to make them better understand my choice in the years to come," she said.

"I don't think working in Tibet is a sacrifice," she added.
WILLISTON  Some oilfield companies that laid off workers in the Bakken are now hiring again, particularly for jobs related to hydraulic fracturing.

The Williston office of Job Service North Dakota is seeing job orders for fracking crews and other openings related to well completion, such as workover rigs and trucking, said manager Cindy Sanford.

We are starting to see a definite increase, Sanford said. Its not as crazy as it was before, but were starting to see some activity.

In some cases, companies are calling workers who had been let go due to low oil prices and asking them to come back to work, Sanford said.

Halliburton, which had laid off workers in the Bakken and elsewhere, is hosting a job fair next week at its Williston offices.

JMAC Resources of Williston also is among the companies recruiting oilfield workers, with job openings including heavy equipment operators, commercial drivers and diesel mechanics. Workers related to pipeline construction also are in demand, Sanford said.

We definitely are starting to see a need for some workers, said Sanford, adding that most employers are seeking at least one year of experience.

TrainND Williston, which provides workforce training, has not yet seen much of an uptick, but the center recently provided some refresher training for fracking service companies, said CEO Deanette Piesik.

Monte Besler, owner of FRACN8R Consulting in Williston, said hes recently received more inquiries from his oil company clients alerting him to work coming up.

Im hearing more chatter, Besler said. I wouldnt say anything real concrete yet.

In some cases, companies have told Besler theyre recruiting in Williston to work on fracking crews in other states.

They were actually hiring for jobs in Texas or Oklahoma more so than here right now, he said.

Besler, who also does some financial consulting, said hes also getting more requests from potential investors interested in investing in technologies and oilfield completions.

Thats going to be crucial to activity picking up, Besler said.

North Dakota had about 892 wells that were drilled but not fracked at the end of April, according to the Department of Mineral Resources.

An increase in fracking would be good news for North Dakota revenues. Every oil well contributes about $300,000 in sales tax revenue, with about two-thirds of that coming from the well completion stage, Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, has said.

Williston collected less than $970,000 in sales taxes in April compared with nearly $2.6 million collected in April 2015, according to figures compiled by Williston Economic Development.

While the well completion jobs are picking up, Sanford is not seeing an increase job openings related to drilling.

Helms has said he doesnt expect companies to bring idle drilling rigs back until the price of West Texas Intermediate oil is at least $60 for 90 consecutive days.

The statewide rig count increased slightly last week to 30 active rigs, up from a recent low of 25.

Williams County saw a drilling rig move in last week just outside of Williston. For about a week this month, Williams County had zero drilling rigs operating, a first for the county since October 2008.

Most drilling continues to be focused in the core of the Bakken in McKenzie and Dunn counties.
You are here: Home

A Long March-7 carrier rocket lifts off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, south China's Hainan Province, June 25, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

A reentry module aboard carrier rocket Long March-7 touched down successfully on Sunday afternoon in Badain Jaran Desert in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

China on Saturday successfully blasted off its new generation carrier rocket Long March-7 from a new space launch center in Wenchang, Hainan province.

According to Wang Hongyao, deputy chief commander of the mission, the rocket's payload, including the reentry module, separated from the rocket 603 seconds after blast-off, and entered an oval orbit with a low point, or perigee, of 200 kilometers, and a high point, or apogee, of 394 kilometers.

The Long March-7 is a medium-sized, two-stage rocket that can carry up to 13.5 tonnes to low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Experts say the 53.1-meter-long, 597-tonne rocket will become the main carrier for China's future space missions.
Cartoon by Liao Tingting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the 16th meeting of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Council of Heads of State convened in Tashkent, capital city of Uzbekistan, on July 24.

This is the highlight of Xis Eurasian trip. He delivered a speech titled, Upholding the "Shanghai Spirit, consolidating unity and mutual trust, and comprehensively deepening the SCO cooperation and proposed a five-point proposal on its future development.

Xi presided at the third meeting among heads of state including Russia, Mongolia and China, holding bilateral meetings with leaders attending the Tashkent summit and reached broad consensus.

2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the SCO. The Tashkent summit links the past and future. The SCO launched an expansion process officially for the first time, and approved the SCO Development Strategy by 2025, the Implementation Action Plan (20162020) and other documents, opening a new chapter for SCO history.

At a critical moment, Xi's speech injected new momentum for the SCO to promote cooperation in various fields, strengthen regional security and stability and sustainable development. Xis five-point proposal has guided the direction for the SCO to uphold the Shanghai Spirit at a higher level and a wider range.

People are convinced that under the guidance of the Shanghai Spirit, the circle of the SCOs friends will continue to expand, playing an increasingly important role in constructing a new Eurasian community of destiny.
You are here: Home

 Flash

After Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in a historic referendum, foreign ministers from six founding countries of EU met on Saturday, pushing for a speedy exit procedure of Britain.

"This process should start as soon as possible," said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in Berlin.

The aim must be "not to fall into a prolonged stalemate", he added.

"We'll start immediately," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, adding "we now expect that the process will be triggered under Article 50."

He said, British Prime Minister David Cameron initiated this referendum in the UK, and "he must now live with the consequences".

With his colleagues he would send the signal that "Europe is alive," Ayrault said.

Meanwhile, he also urged for a speedy transfer of power in the UK.

Cameron announced on Friday his intention to step down after his country has voted to leave the EU.

"I hope that we are not playing cat and mouse," warned Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn with a view at London's policy.

"The people have spoken. And we need to implement this decision," he said, adding that Britain must now quickly start up the mechanism for exit which was defined in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
You are here: Home

 Flash

At least 11 people were killed and scores injured in twin car bomb explosions on a hotel in Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday afternoon, a police officer has said.

People help an injured man out of the gunfire site by a notel Mogadishu, Somalia, June 25, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Police officer Mohamed Nor, who was at the scene, told Xinhua those killed were mostly civilians who were in the Nasa-Hablod Hotel at the time of the explosions.

"The first explosion hit the entrance of the hotel and gunmen entered the hotel. A second explosion happened immediately thereafter," Nor said.

He said security agencies were "responding to the situation".

Islamist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sporadic gunfire can still be heard from the hotel and police reports indicated there was hostage situation.

Nasa-Hablod Hotel is located at the central business district in Mogadishu and frequented by politicians.

The Al-Shabaab militants, fighting against the Somali government, frequently carry out attacks in Mogadishu.

Early this month, at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in an Al-Shabaab attack on another hotel in Mogadishu.
 Flash

South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday highlighted the role of youths in ending violent protests in the run-up to local government elections.

The youths have the responsibility to help restore order and end the violent protests and looting in which some young people participate, Zuma said while addressing thousands of people at a youth rally at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban, eastern South Africa.

The rally, organized by the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), was part of the national Youth Month activities.

The youths should demonstrate their leadership and readiness to lead the country by fighting the demons of racism and tribalism, promoting stability and order and to end the violent protests, Zuma said.

He was speaking after violent protests swept several townships in Pretoria over the past few days.

The protests were sparked by the ANC decision to place former cabinet minister Thoko Didiza as its candidate for Pretoria mayor to replace current mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa in the local government elections scheduled for August 3.

The protesters are unhappy with Didiza and preferred Ramokgopa as their mayor. But the ANC said it would not change its candidate.

At least five people have been killed during the protests. Dozens of houses and buses burned, and numerous shops looted.

Speaking at the rally, ANCYL Secretary General Njabulo Nzuza said the ANCYL has a role to educate the youth against the destroying of property.

"You have people burning schools and people now looting taverns; those are criminal activities. The role of the youth league is to make sure that we mobilise young people to make sure they refrain from those things," Nzuza said.

"There are genuine ways to raise your issues and process them, not by burning things," he added.

Sporadic acts of violence were still reported in some parts of Pretoria, but relative calm has returned to most areas, police said.
You are here: Home

 Flash

About 16 Taliban militants were killed in a U.S. drone attack in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz overnight, a military statement said on Sunday.

"A senior Taliban leader named Mullah Jannat Gul along with 15 of his men were killed after a pilotless plane of international forces struck two vehicles running along a road in Quash Tipa, Chahar Dara district Saturday night," said the statement issued by the Afghan army's Division 20 Pamir stationed in the region.

The insurgents tried to relocate but the struck came after a tip-off confirmed the movement of the insurgents in the restive district, the statement noted.

In an unrelated incident, Abdul Samad, a Taliban intelligence agent and insurgents' suicide attack facilitator, was captured in an Afghan army security checkpoint in Ghorband district of eastern Parwan province on Saturday, an army source told Xinhua earlier.

The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations and NATO-led forces increased drone attacks against militants since early April after Taliban militants started their so-called annual spring offensive and step up attacks across the country.

The Taliban militants group has yet to make comments.
Nearly two dozen state agencies have been granted a delayed deadline to submit 2017-19 agency budget proposals, the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget said this week.

To date, 23 have asked for and received extensions of the state's July 15 deadline, said Sheila Peterson, director of OMB's Fiscal Management Division.

This is out of a total of 73 agencies.

Of the 23 extensions granted, 14 come from higher education. The North Dakota University System office and all 11 state colleges and universities, along with the University of North Dakota medical school and North Dakota Forest Service, were granted extensions through Aug. 31.

All of the higher education campuses have asked  to run their requests through the state Board of Higher Education, Peterson said.

The campuses and NDUS typically get extensions for that purpose, she said.

Two of the larger agencies receiving extensions are the North Dakota Department of Human Services, which has until Oct. 3 to file; and the North Dakota Department of Health, which has until Aug. 17.

Those two state agencies have substantial amounts of federal funding included in their budgets, and more clarity on federal dollars is needed, according to Peterson.

She said there may be a few more agencies that request an extension before the June 30 deadline for doing so.

This is very normal. Its a fairly familiar list, Peterson said of the extension requests.

Education on process needed

A Libertarian Party candidate for statewide office -- who also is spearheading a push for a ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in North Dakota -- says more education of the public on the voting process is needed.

Eric Olson, of Fargo, is committee chairman for a marijuana legalization measure and the Libertarian Party candidate for state treasurer. He said people being unaware of the measure process and its importance has been somewhat of an eye-opener while gathering signatures to get his measure included on the November ballot.

While the group is close to having the 13,452 legitimate signatures it needs, he said explaining the importance of the process and the need for public involvement is almost more challenging than actually landing the signatures.

I didnt think it would hold us back. I didnt realize how much of our base we cant reach, Olson said.

The June 14 primary election also was an example of the importance of the process, according to Olson. For legislative candidates to remain on the ballot beyond the primary, they must receive a number of votes equivalent to 1 percent of the population in their district to advance to the general election. This requires 137 to 149 votes, depending on the county, according to data from the North Dakota Secretary of States Office.

The partys District 42 Senate candidate managed 20 votes. Its District 22 House candidate received 22 votes, and the District 46 House candidate had 27.

The potential crossover of votes for the Republican gubernatorial primary likely hurt the Libertarian Party, according to Olson, who said hes still optimistic in regards to the slow progress the party is making.

Overall, the party is doing really well, but the system is very much stacked against us in some ways, he said.
After a busy weekend of DUIs, simple assaults and drug arrests, Capt. Lisa Wicks comes into work on Tuesday with a big task: Where is she going to put all the inmates who couldn't post bail?

The Burleigh County Detention Center only holds 138 inmates, yet the jail was responsible for 170 people on an average day in May.

Like a traveler looking for a hotel room, she and other jail staffers call around the state to find empty beds.

One night at the Bismarck Transition Center, a halfway house that accepts some jail inmates, runs the county $46. It's $90 at the Dickinson jail.

"Some days, that feels like all I do, deciding where people go," said Wicks, who jokes that she could become a "prison overcrowding consultant."

It's a five-year-old ritual that will continue until next year, when the new Burleigh-Morton jail opens and the old facility becomes courtrooms and offices for the sheriff and states attorney. Then, population management will no longer cause concern, and officers like Wicks can turn back to corrections.

Sacrifices

The excess population has required the sheriff's department to forgo what many would see as the sheriff's departments most important functions  rounding up people wanted on warrants and rehabilitating criminals.

Burleigh County Sheriff Pat Heinert said the number of people out on warrants has risen and deputies have to prioritize who they seek out.

This means many people accused of low-level crimes are not facing their criminal charges in court because the sheriffs department does not have the resources to look for them. There is no space for them in the jail, and the four-person transportation division is too busy moving inmates around the state.

"Unless we run into them ... we probably are not looking at them as hard as we used to," Heinert said.

When the new facility opens, the transport division will switch to collecting people wanted by the court, Heinert said.

"In some cases, we're passing the buck and kicking the can down the road," he said.

Meanwhile, programs aimed at rehabilitating offenders in the jail have been all but thrown out.

Five years ago, program director Jennifer Rewald offered parenting classes and anger management therapy in the jail. She taught inmates to manage money and fill out job applications.

But due to overcrowding, the room used for classes became the room for everything else: video visitation monitors, weekly religious services and municipal court.

"They need help, and we can't because of population and space," Rewald said.

Difficult for inmates, families

Conditions have grown so unpleasant that some people ask to leave the overcrowded facility and serve their time elsewhere. They might have heard the conditions or food are better in Wahpeton. Or maybe they have family near Devils Lake.

"I've been to other jails in North Dakota," Merinda Villareal said. "This is by far the worst."

Villareal, who was serving seven days for sitting in the driver's seat of a parked vehicle while drunk, said she asked jail staff if she could move to the Bismarck Transition Center. She couldn't, they said, because that facility was also too full.

Her dorm had eight beds, she said. But four additional people slept in cots on the floor. Many people laid in their bunks and slept all day. Some were coming off drugs or having anxiety attacks.

"It was so hot in there, I'd be sweating if I barely jumped up and moved," she said.

Administrators later brought in a fan and cleared out a men's cell to house the extra women, she said.

For those with family in Bismarck, a move can be difficult.

Londa Bogola's brother was transferred to the jail in Washburn because of overcrowding in Bismarck. During his one-month stint, she was unable to make the drive to visit him or introduce him to his newborn son. Bogola has three kids of her own, making the extra travel difficult, she explained as she waited in the hallway outside the jail for his name to get called for a visit via video monitor.

He had finally been transferred back to Bismarck for a court date.

"He was giving up there for a while," she said.

Working together

Upstairs in the jail, corrections officers race around, shuttling as many as 70 people a day back and forth to the courthouse. Five years ago, 20 people with court dates was considered a lot.

"Now we're like, 20, yay! What are we going to do?" Rewald said.

In order to stay below capacity, Wicks and her staff weigh candidates to send to other corrections facilities.

People who are already sentenced or have a long wait before trial are likely to go. But Wicks said she tries to avoid pawning off people with serious health or behavior problems to other facilities. And if someone has close family in Bismarck, she tries to keep them.

"Sometimes, it gets to a point where some things have to not matter," Wicks said. "We have to do what we have to do to get by with the numbers."

Sheriff's deputies put inmates in transport vans and drive them from jail to jail in what Wicks calls an "informal shuttle system."

They trade people at mutually convenient locations to cut down on hours and miles, Heinert said. Burleigh deputies meet Cass County deputies in Jamestown and Ward County deputies by the Garrison Dam.

They often swap on the side of the highway, though they try to pull over in a quiet area, Heinert said. Some inmates do a one-night layover at the Bismarck jail.

Background

On an average day in May, a fourth of inmates  about 40 people  were housed elsewhere. They were in jails from Wahpeton to Selby, South Dakota.

The cost to jail inmates in other counties totaled $426,500 in the first five months of this year, nearly $300,000 more than was spent in the same period last year. These figures dont include transportation and logistical costs, which Heinert said he could not accurately calculate.

Jail staff said the inmate population started to grow in 2011.

The presiding judge in the district, Gail Hagerty, said the primary reason for the uptick in inmates is that more crimes are being charged.

The rise in charges is the result of increased population of the community and drug use, which has led to more drugs and thefts, said Bismarck Police Deputy Chief Randy Ziegler.

Heinert emphasizes that nearly half of the inmates have at least one drug charge.

Hagerty also noted that many people have moved to Bismarck from other states, meaning they do not have family in the area. Judges sometimes set lower bond for people with family nearby.

Others are skeptical that the right people are being held.

Sister Kathleen Atkinson of Annunciation Monastery, who works with people who were recently incarcerated, said she believes the jail is crowded with people held for detox, trespass, nonpayment of fines and pretrial detention. She said more people are living in poverty than a year ago, which can lead to crime.

While many believe judges and prosecutors take overcrowding into consideration when setting bond or imposing sentences, Hagerty said she rarely considers it.

"There is space, it's just expensive for the county to drive people," she said.

New jail

To some, the new $69 million jail is the answer.

Heinert said he believes the new 475-bed facility will better the community in the long run.

Heinert said he hopes to offer education programs, drug treatment and more religious programs. Also, inmates will be housed in pods and classified by their crime and history.

"You're not going to have the person who made a mistake and got charged with something sitting with a career criminal and learning the system even better," Heinert said.

Across the Missouri River, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who was elected after the new facility was planned, is less sure about the wisdom of the solution.

Kirchmeier's jail is full, too, but he worries the new jail will be expensive to run and require Morton County officers to do more transport, he said. The new jail is under construction near the state penitentiary in southeast Bismarck.

In the initial phase, Heinert projects nine additional hires. This will increase if the new jail hits capacity. But Heinert hopes the building will save the county money on transportation and garner revenue from housing out-of-county prisoners.

Atkinson warns the new jail will not solve the community's problems, only increase the number in custody.

"If you build it, they will come," she said.
Staff members prepare to arrange the conference hall which will be used at Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin, North China, June 25, 2016. China's northern port city of Tianjin is getting ready for the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2016, also known as the Summer Davos Forum, between June 26 and 28. [Photo/Xinhua]

TIANJIN - China's start-ups are vying against big companies for the best minds as the country pushes for entrepreneurship and innovation-driven growth.

Start-ups offer the prospect of realizing one's dreams, leading many to give up high-paying jobs at established firms, according to investors and entrepreneurs on Sunday at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin in North China.

A growing number of talented people are starting their own companies instead of working for big firms. China's start-up boom comes as the Internet plays a growing role in retail and other services and following endorsements of entrepreneurship by authorities.

"Back then there was a lack of talent in young companies, because there were a lot of risks and fear in not taking the traditional path," said Calvin Chin, founder of Transist, a start-up incubator. "But now as start-ups become increasingly more popular, and more and more companies grow into success from nothing, what you see is that smart people are opening their own companies in China."

Anna Fang, partner and CEO of Beijing-based venture capital firm ZhenFund, said the Chinese start-up community is studded with both ambitious up-and-comers and corporate veterans.

"Not just college graduates, but also senior corporate executives and public relations specialists -- they all want to start their own company, and that's really a significant advancement," Fang said.

The list of corporate veterans joining start-ups in China runs long. Jean Liu, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, joined Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi, Uber's arch-rival in China. Maggie Tan Jing quit her job at UBS to co-found Home-Cook, a start-up that sends people to cook homemade meals for white-collar workers in nearby office buildings. Longhsiang Loh, a veteran banker, joined online wealth management start-up Dianrong after nearly 18 years at Standard Chartered Bank.

"For companies, a big paycheck is no longer the best lure for talent," said Yuan Hui, founder of Shanghai-based artificial intelligence firm Xiaoi.

"It has to be the vision, something that touches the softest part of their hearts and make them realize that doing what they do can really make a difference for the world," Yuan said.

Investors are keen to see China attract talent from around world in the future, lured by the country's supportive atmosphere for entrepreneurship.
Villagers clear off debris in Danping Village of Chenliang Township in Funing County of Yancheng City, East China's Jiangsu Province, June 25, 2016. Rain, hail and a tornado battered parts of Yancheng City on Thursday afternoon, destroying buildings, trees, vehicles and electricity poles. [Photo/Xinhua]

NANJING -- The death toll has climbed to 99 after a fierce tornado and storm hit East China's Jiangsu Province, leaving 846 others injured, local authorities said Sunday.

A powerful tornado and hailstorm pummelled the farmland and factories in Yancheng City, Jiangsu on Thursday, toppling houses, damaging wire poles and destroying a solar panel factory where hazardous chemicals had been stored.

The city government said in a press release that 1,591 homeless victims are staying in temporary shelters in two counties, and workers are rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunication facilities.

Of the injured, 107 had been discharged from hospitals as of 4 p.m. Saturday, and 152 sustained serious injuries, said Wu Xiaodan, vice mayor of Yancheng City.

Zheng Yongguang with the China Meteorological Administration confirmed that an EF-4 tornado with a wind speed of 73 meters/second was responsible for the damage, citing radar data and their on-site investigation. EF-4 is the second strongest rating for tornados.

Zheng said cement ships hurled upside-down onto shore and twisted communication towers were seen, demonstrating the power of the tornado. A primary school teacher also recorded a video of a funnel cloud, a key tornado indicator, using a smartphone.
Not long ago, I went to the top of Crater Mountain searching for a trace of the last living Beat poet, Gary Snyder. His fire lookout at 8,128 feet, where he scanned the summits of the North Cascades for the Forest Service in 1952, is long gone. But I later found his work  his words enlivening new generations at a camp below  and the man himself, kinetic in California.

Turns out, hes not the last of the group of writers who included Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, as he scolded me for implying. The poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti, age 97, and Michael McClure, 83, are still stirring up trouble with verse and attitude. Snyder himself is a mischievous 86, a lifetime student of Zen and the art of coupling the perfect phrase to natures complexity.

They were known as literary subversives, rebel voices in the era of Silent Generation conformity. But among their other contributions to American life are words that some of the Beats marshaled on behalf of wild places. Kerouac, inspired by Snyders rapture about a summer spent in the clouds, followed him as a lookout to an area that eventually became North Cascades National Park in Washington state.

In this year when the Park Service is celebrating its centennial with all sorts of hand-wringing about the future, its instructive to remember how language can save landscape.

The peril to the parks in the 100th birthday year comes from three forces. One is climate change, which is killing forests, drying up waterfalls and leading to catastrophic wildfires. The glaciers of Glacier National Park may be completely gone within four years, as President Barack Obama noted during a trip to Yosemite last weekend. The second concern is about the nature deficit disorder of young people, who spend almost eight hours a day on average in the digital world. Swiping a screen is no way to build an engaged constituency for the future. The third threat is a domestic one: a certain political party intent on throwing out a century of consensus on how to manage this extraordinary legacy.

Snyders fellow warrior with well-chosen words, the essayist Terry Tempest Williams, has devised one of the best lines ever written about parks  apt to the terror of rising global temperatures. National parks are the breathing spaces for a society that increasingly holds its breath, she wrote in a new book, The Hour of Land, which explores the spiritual dimension of 12 parks.

Williams recalls that a mentor, the writer Wallace Stegner, curated a series of essays in 1955 to save a magical place in the Southwest from the idiocy of a federal government plan to flood it behind a massive dam. The dam was never built. In its place we have Dinosaur National Monument, protected under the Park Service umbrella.

That tradition continues today, in a fight against nature despoilers in Congress. Over the last three years, Republicans have filed more than 40 bills or amendments to remove or greatly diminish protections for parks and public lands. The latest is a plan, led by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, to determine the fate of 18 million acres. At the center is Bears Ears, a special place to native people.

Bears Ears will always be a significant healing place for young Navajos like me, who live in the concrete jungle of New York City, wrote Alastair Lee Bitsoi, a graduate student, whose essay appears in a new collection, Red Rock Testimony, a call for protection for the area.

Obama, summoning the writer inside him, took a stab at the rhapsodic during his most recent visit to the wild. After recalling childhood memories of seeing a moose, a bear and an elk for the first time, he simply let out an appreciative sigh, after a long week of sorrow: Nothing like trees to make you feel better.
Thousands of officials, residents, volunteers and students cheered as more than 130 kilograms of seized drugs were burned in a grand ceremony to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, in the southern metropolis of Zhuhai, located at the mouth of the Pearl River, on Sunday morning.

The drugs, which were burned in a local garbage incinerating plant, were seized by local police in special anti-drug operations in recent months.

Li Chunsheng, deputy governor of Guangdong province, said the event demonstrated Guangdong police's determination to fight drug and drug-related crimes.

But Li admitted fighting drug and drug-related crimes was a long-term challenge and a tough task in Guangdong, which has been the main theatre of China's anti-drug campaign for decades.

According to Li, who is also director-general of the Guangdong provincial department of public security, the province had registered more than 582,000 drug addicts at the end of last year, accounting for more than one-sixth of the countrys total.

Guo Shaobo, deputy director-general of the Guangdong provincial department of public security, said his department would further advance co-operation with its foreign counterparts and police forces in the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to fight against drug and related crimes in the coming months.

"Police in Guangdong has detained 243 suspected foreign drug traffickers and another 509 residents from the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan from the beginning of 2015 to the end of May," Guo told a press conference over the weekend.

Many Sino-foreign joint operations have been organized to crack down on the cross-border drug crimes in the past months, he said.

According to Guo, Guangdong police have seized more than 10.09 tons of different kinds of drugs after fighting 6,104 drug and related cases in the first five months of the year.

Between January and May, 7,496 suspects were detained, 225 drug gangs were busted and 49 secret drug dens were raided.

Guo said Guangdong had achieved its progress in fighting drugs and drug-related crimes after great efforts had been made to fight the crimes in recent years.

But police would not lower their vigilance, he added.

Guo hinted that more special campaigns would be launched to fight against drug and related crimes in the coming months.

He reiterated that Guangdong would not become a haven for drug traffickers from home or abroad.
The International Department of Communist Party of China saw dozens of ordinary people invited to its headquarters in Beijing on Sunday to witness the start of a two-way talk. [By ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY]

A low-key, mysterious presence for 65 years, the Communist Party of Chinas diplomatic organ saw dozens of ordinary people invited to its headquarters on Sunday to witness a talk.

Many of the assembled foreign experts, students and netizens took out their mobile phones to capture the first few minutes of the talk between Song Tao, head of the CPC International Department, and the visiting Cuban Communist Party delegation.

Ahead of the main event, Song told visitors that his department had compared notes with its counterparts on domestic governance as well as global and regional issues, and their recent work on the South China Sea issue.

Through party-to-party exchanges, many political parties across the globe offered their voices and supported the Chinese governments stance on the South China Sea issue. This shows the effect of our party-to-party exchanges, said Song, who is a former vice-foreign minister.

Established in 1951, Songs department has built contacts with more than 160 countries and around 600 parties or political organizations.

About 400 visits are handled annually by the department, which has also increased its contact with think tanks and the media, according to Song.

Party-to-party exchanges help shape long-term, stable two-way relations between China and other countries, he said.

Our foreign exchanges cover not only the ruling parties, but also opposition parties  the opposition today may be the ruling party in future, Song said.

Several officials with the department also spoke about their evolving mission to help China and the Party address emerging issues domestically and overseas.

Zhang Guangping, an official on political party research at the department, said they track how foreign political parties tighten self-discipline and fight graft as the CPC seeks to root out corruption.

By comparing Chinas national conditions and experiences with other countries, the department can provide policy advice and identify setbacks, Zhang said.

Sun Shouliang, a department official who specializes in making contact with countries such as Germany and Austria, said it was important to establish long-lasting relationships with both veteran politicians in important positions and younger players with great potential.

These relationships are cultivated via email, text messages and even through WeChat, the most popular instant messaging app in China, Sun said.

Wu Xingtang, a former chief of the departments policy research branch, said it acts as both an adviser and an aide on international relations for the Central Committee of the CPC.

Xu Liping, a researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Chinas wide spectrum of party-to-party contacts with Southeast Asia countries such as Indonesia has included many opposition parties and built effective communication mechanisms.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn
Cambodia is expected to attract nearly 1 million Chinese tourists this year and up to 2 millions in 2020, tourism minister Thong Khon said on Saturday.

The Southeast Asian country received 700,000 Chinese tourists in 2015, up 24 percent year-on-year, and in the first four months of 2016, the kingdom welcomed 275,000 Chinese tourists, up 13.6 percent if compared to the same period last year.

"Based on the figures, Cambodia could attract nearly 1 million Chinese tourists in 2016,"the minister said during the opening ceremony of a Cambodia-China tourism forum here.

He said that earlier this year, the country has launched a white paper targeting 2 million Chinese tourists by 2020.

The white paper lists steps to be taken by tourism authorities to facilitate visits by Chinese tourists, such as providing Chinese signage and documents for visa processing, encouraging local use of the Chinese yuan currency, encouraging the use of Chinese language and ensuring that food and accommodation facilities are suited to Chinese tastes.

"China is rich and Chinese people have spent a lot of money for overseas travel,"Thong Khon said. "This is a good opportunity for us to attract more Chinese tourists."

Meanwhile, the minister said that the China-proposed "One Belt One Road"initiative would importantly contribute to developing economies and tourism for countries along the route.

China is the second largest source of tourists to Cambodia after Vietnam.

Cambodian tourism ministry undersecretary of state So Visothy attributed the steady growth of Chinese tourists to Cambodia to close relations between the two countries, Cambodia's attractive tourism sites and many direct flight connections.

Yu Ningning, vice president of China International Travel Service Group (CITS), said Cambodia has become one of the most popular Southeast Asia traveling destinations for Chinese travelers following Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

"CITS Group will help advertise and promote Cambodian tourism resources and products to Chinese tourists,"she said at the forum, in which some 300 representatives of tour and travel companies from both countries took part.

"The forum will help promote a continuous tourism development between China and Cambodia,"she added.

Speaking at the forum, Tan Qingsheng, political councilor of the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, said that the"One Belt One Road"initiative would definitely contribute to the development of tourism industry in Cambodia.

"Tourism development necessarily needs physical infrastructure, including roads and bridges and energy,"he said, adding that China has fully supported Cambodia in these fields.

Besides, he said China has assisted Cambodia in renovating some temples in the complex of the Angkor Archeological Park in northwestern Siem Reap province.

Tan said that China would continue encouraging more tourists and investors to Cambodia for the benefits of the two countries and peoples.

Cambodia is famous for two cultural sites in the UNESCO's World Heritage List. One is the 12th century Angkor Archeological Park and the other is the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple.

The country also has many interesting eco-tourism sites, including a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four provinces in the country's southwestern region.
Doubt surrounds China-UK commerce links after Brexit, but experts also see new hope

The China-UK trade relationship  described last year as entering a "golden era"  is now mired in a web of challenges and uncertainties, but there are potential opportunities, according to analysts and business figures.

They were speaking after Britons shocked the world on Thursday by voting to leave the European Union, leaving markets in disarray, the British pound plunging, and the country's trading partners asking, "What does this mean for us?"

In 2013, when British Prime Minister David Cameron  who said on Friday that he will resign  visited China, bilateral trade between the two nations had reached $70 billion.

Last year, President Xi Jinping agreed to more than 30 commercial deals worth a combined $57 billion during a state visit to the United Kingdom, which was hailed as a great success by both countries. Last year, bilateral trade reached $78.5 billion.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said the UK-China trade relationship is strong, and he hopes Britain's vote to leave will not change this.

"What happened in Britain is one more challenge for the global economy, but I believe we will find new solutions to respond to it," Schwab said from the World Economic Forum in Tianjin. "I hope UK-China relations will continue to be intensive and friendly."

Stephen Perry, managing director of the London Export Corp and chairman of the long-established China-UK business network the 48 Group, believes it is too early to tell what impact the referendum result will have on the UK's trade relationship with China.

"It depends on how the UK and the EU settle their future relationship. That will be complex and take a long time and go through many different periods," he said.

A major concern is whether China's interest in the UK will cool if it no longer views the country as the best entry point into the EU's single market.

The EU market has played a major role in China's growth  Chinese imports into the EU have doubled over the past decade, reaching 350 billion euros ($389 billion) last year, while EU exports to China reached 170 billion euros.

Andy Clayton, chief executive of LNP China, which helps companies to do business with China, said that after the Brexit it will be in the UK's interests to have negotiated some form of relationship with the EU when it eventually enters new bilateral arrangements with China.

"My sense is that the opportunity for the UK here is to negotiate and position itself in a way where it maintains enough access to EU markets and has some form of preferential bilateral agreement with China, whereby it is still able to present itself as some form of steppingstone to access European markets," Clayton said.

When it does leave the EU, the UK will be able to agree free trade agreements with other economies, although it will no longer benefit from the EU's free trade pacts with 53 nations.

Gaining the ability to form FTAs with China and other fast-growing economies was one of Leave campaigner Boris Johnson's central arguments, although the prospect of agreeing a large number of new deals is something Jeremy Cook, chief economist at international payments company World First, calls an "onerous circumstance".

Clayton believes negotiations over an FTA with China will likely start during the two-year disengagement period, although they would only reach completion after the UK agrees its new deal with the EU.

"I would say that maybe a period of three to five years is probably realistic," he said of a time frame for a UK-China FTA.
GRAND FORKS -- Grand Forks County didnt get any younger in 2015, bucking a trend followed by a majority of its counterparts across North Dakota, but it seems to have maintained its youthful vigor.

Forty counties in the state saw their median ages decrease between July 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015, according to population estimate data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The median age in Grand Forks County remained at 29.1 during that year, making it one of four counties to keep its figure steady.

That doesnt mean the county isnt a picture of youth in the state.

Grand Forks County is the second youngest county and only one of two less than 30 years of age, said Kevin Iverson, manager of the North Dakota Census Office.

Sioux County comes in as youngest with a median age of 26.9. On the other end of the spectrum is Sheridan County, notching a median age of 53.1.

With 40 counties swinging younger, North Dakota became the only state to decrease its overall median age, which fell slightly from 34.9 years old to 34.6, according to a news release from the state Department of Commerce.

Younger residents

The influx of young people age 20 to 24 likely plays a role in the states lowered median age.

That age group in particular has grown significantly since 2010, rising about 26 percent to 74,446 last year.

The growth, however, is predicted by the North Dakota Census Office to slow and eventually reverse. In a projection the office released earlier this year, that 2015 total is expected to drop back down to about 68,000 over the next four years.

Population estimates show that loss could already be occurring in Grand Forks County, which lost 154 people from that age group over the 2014-15 timespan, according to a Herald analysis of census population estimate data.

Still, a growth spurt of people in the 20 to 24 age group has been recorded over the past several years in the county, and with their arrival locally and statewide comes another trend, according to a report released earlier this year by the North Dakota Census Office.

In-migration of younger individuals appears to have a corresponding impact on out-migration of older residents, the report said. In the recent past, for those counties that have experienced the highest overall growth, there appears to be a higher out-migration of older residents from these areas. Older residents appear to be migrating into the Bismarck and Fargo regions or out of state.

North Dakotas population did have the highest concentration of 20 to 24 years on the country in 2015, with 9.6 percent of residents falling into that age group, according to the census.
DEVILS LAKE -- Ramsey County commissioners are hoping to make a highway east of Devils Lake safer amid increasing traffic, but its not clear what option would be best for those turning left off the busy road.

Development east of Devils Lake along U.S. Highway 2 has picked up in recent years, said Bill Mertens, a Ramsey County commissioner who holds the highway department portfolio with Commissioner Adam Leiphon. As a result, more people are traveling along that highway.

There are approximately 300 new residential lots that are being developed on this side of town, Mertens said of the highway east of Devils Lake. There is new commercial development and there is very high traffic.

Development there is expected to continue along the highway, Mertens said, so the the road will likely become more of a major collector.

The commission asked the North Dakota Department of Transportation to study speed limits along the highway, which has a limit of 70 mph with some exceptions.

When people try to exit the highway to go into these new developments, it becomes dangerous and they often feel smothered and pushed to get off the highway, Mertens said. They sometimes have to dive off to the right and let traffic go by so they can turn left.

But a study revealed left turns, not speed, are the problem, said Greg Semenko, the Devils Lake district engineer for the DOT.

The area in question extends from the east edge of Devils Lake to Vining Oil and Gas, which is about 6 miles east of the city. There are left turns in several spots about to 2 miles east of Devils Lake, but those end with a frontage road along the highway.

Options

The commission has asked the DOT to study left turns along the highway that doesnt have turning lanes, though Leiphon doesnt expect the study will come out until next month.

There are several suggestions that could help make left turns easier for travelers. Left turns would likely be the least expensive option, Mertens said, but the DOT has told the commission it would not install left turning lanes along the stretch of highway.

Land along the highway was plotted several years ago for a frontage road, but that land was sold to a private owner, which could make that route harder to obtain.

Another option would be J-turns, a concept that is relatively new to North Dakota. Otherwise known as a reduced conflict intersection, a J-turn takes vehicles to the left side of the road and forces them to make a U-turn onto another road. The driver then heads down the road and is able to turn right onto a desired road.

J-turns have less cross points -- 18 conflict points -- than traditional intersections, which have 42 conflict points, and have been called safer options. The DOT had proposed to place a J-turn at Highway 2 and N.D. Highway 18 near Larimore, but residents voiced concerns that large farm equipment would not be able to use the turns. Others opposed the J-turn because of safety concerns and worries it would back up traffic. Those plans were halted amid opposition, but the DOT said it hasnt scrapped the concept.

Its not known if a similar proposal would meet as much opposition in Ramsey County, though Mertens said he felt J-turns were not the best option for Highway 2 near Devils Lake. He has drafted a letter asking the DOT to reconsider left turns, a request the commission is expected to review.

I just dont feel that that is appropriate, Mertens said of the J-turns. They are putting turnoff lanes in other parts of the state and on the west side of Devils Lake, so I think just for the safety of the residents, I think they should consider ... turnoff lanes for getting off the highway.

If the DOT approved J-turns along the highway, they would likely be the first to be built in the state.

But there is uncertainty about funding such a project amid depressed oil and farm commodity prices. Gov. Jack Dalrymple has ordered several cuts for state agencies after tax revenue from recent months came in was much lower than forecasts. As of June 16, revenues were about $90 million, or 3.6 percent, below forecasts for the two-year budget cycle, which could trigger a special session and more cuts to fix shortfall woes.

Leiphone noted those concerns, stating the sooner a project is approved the cheaper itll be for the county. Both Leiphon and Mertens said they hope the project is done as soon as possible for the safety of the residents.
(Photo : Reuters) The measure has been taken as a response to the Taiwanese governments failure to affirm the One-China principle.

Advertisement

China reported that it has halted a communication mechanism with Taiwan. The measure has been taken as a response to the failur of Taiwan's new government to affirm the "One-China" principle.



The statement released by Xinhua, the state run news agency, stated that the government is not in contact with the Taiwanese government with regard to the extradition of 25 Taiwanese nationals in Cambodia to China.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, stated, "Because the Taiwan side has not acknowledged the 1992 consensus, this joint political basis for showing the one China principle, the cross Taiwan Strait contact and communication mechanism has already stopped."



Taiwan's new president, Tsai Ing-Wen, is head of the Democratic Progressive Party, which is known for its pro-independence stance. She has announced that she is interested in maintaining the existing system with China but has failed to recognize the "1992 consensus," which was agreed to by Taiwan's then ruling Nationalists and China's Communists.



Taiwan has expressed its displeasure at the deportation of Taiwanese nationals from Cambodia to China. The island stated that Cambodia neglected to get the accused deported to Taiwan instead of China.



Taipei had previously accused China of kidnapping when some of its nationals in other countries - such as Malaysia and Kenya - were deported to China.



The Taiwanese president is currently on her first foreign trip since assuming the office. She will visit Panama and Paraguay, which are diplomatic allies of Taiwan.



She is likely to make transit stops in the United States. The new restriction are likely to put pressure on Tsai, who is also trying to reverse economic contraction in Taiwan.



Advertisement

TagsTaiwan, china, Tsai Ing-wen
(Photo : Getty Images.) Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is trying to reach out to Chinese investors during his visit to China.

Advertisement

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday met his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei and discussed a range of bilateral economic issues as well as global macroeconomic issues. The two finance ministers also held discussions on issues pertaining to the G20 Summit and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, and China).



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Jaitley is currently on a weeklong tour to China, where he is scheduled to attend the annual Financial Dialogue at the ministerial level on June 27.



Before meeting Lou, Jaitley attended the annual Board of Governors meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The bank - initiated by China late last year - seeks to provide financing for building world class infrastructures across the Asia Pacific region. India is the second-largest investor in the bank, after China.



Meanwhile, the Indian finance minister is going all out to woo Chinese investors. Jaitley claimed that the Indian economy is sustainable and the sky is limit as far as investment opportunities in India are concerned.



"It is sustainable for the reason that India has lot of distance in terms of economic growth to cover," Jaitely told Chinese state media.



Jaitely added that the Indian economy performed reasonably well during last two years, despite a poor monsoon season, and could perform even better this year if monsoon season turns out to be favorable this year.



The Indian finance minister trying to woo Chinese investors assumes lot of importance, given that a few months back, the Indian government was reportedly planning to make tough rules for Chinese investors. This was in response to China's snub of India in United Nations on Masood Azhar Issue.



The New Delhi-Beijing relationship is also likely to suffer after China successfully blocked India's membership in Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) on Friday in Seoul. However, Jaitley shied away from making any comments on NSG issue.



Most experts say that economic cooperation will largely remain unscathed despite the recent rocky issues of NSG and Masood Azhar.



Advertisement

Tagschina, India, Arun Jaitley, Chinese investors
(Photo : AVIC) AHL

Advertisement

Russia has reassured China only Russian technology is being used to design and build the Advanced Heavy Lifter (AHL), a heavy helicopter being built by China and Russia but that will only be used in China.



Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said work on the AHL is "totally autonomous from third countries." By third countries, Rogozin was referring to Ukraine. China had expressed concerns about the AHL's engine being made at the Motor Sich Plant located at the city of Zaporozhye in Ukraine.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Rogozin explained it was important for China to hear the project is independent from Ukraine in terms of technology participation. The AHL engine will be made in Russia, he said.



"We also informed (China) that we are completely independent from anyone else in this project. Because the work has started at the Perm-based Aviadvigatel Plant to create on the basis of the PD-14 engine a new engine, which has successfully passed flight tests", he said.



"The PD-10 and PD-12V - these engines, especially PD-12V, are designed to replace the helicopter engine, which had been previously manufactured at Ukraine's Zaporozhye-based Motor Sich Plant."



In 2015, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and Russian Helicopters (a helicopter design and manufacturing company based in Moscow) signed a framework agreement on cooperation to build the AHL.



Rogozin said AHL will be totally new helicopter and not a modification of an existing Russian helicopter.



AHL will have a lifting capacity of 10 tons if the cargo is stowed internally and 15 tons if carried on an external sling. The helicopter is being designed to operate 24/7 in hot climates; mountainous terrain and all weather conditions, said Russian Helicopters.



Analysts estimate demand for AHL in China could exceed 200 helicopters until 2040.



AHL will have a seven-bladed main rotor with five-bladed tail rotor. Its maximum takeoff will be 38.2 tons and its service ceiling will be 5,700 meters. The helicopter's flight range extends to 630 kilometers while its maximum speed is 300 km/h.



Advertisement

TagsAdvanced Heavy Lifter, Russia, china, Ukraine, Dmitry Rogozin
(Photo : Getty Images) A pharmacist pours Truvada pills back into the bottle at Jack's Pharmacy on November 23, 2010 in San Anselmo, California. A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that men who took the daily antiretroviral pill Truvada significantly reduced their risk of contracting HIV.

Advertisement

China will be offering free antiretroviral therapy for its citizens suffering from HIV/AIDS, the National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Wednesday.



Such initiative under the country's newly revised guideline will help more than half a million people living with HIV/AIDS in the country and will curb its spread, especially among the younger generations.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Before, only patients with low immunity level were offered this opportunity, since it is at this state that citizens with HIV/AIDS face severe health threat, leading to life-threatening infections such as pneumonia or encephalitis.



Under the new guidelines, citizens living with HIV/AIDS are recommended to undergo the antiviral therapy. However, the agency noted that this is on a voluntary basis, saying, "treatment facilities must not force people to receive the therapy." Furthermore, citizens should be ready to fully commit themselves to the lifelong treatment.



Meanwhile, Wu Hao, director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at You An Hospital, welcomed the move, saying, "it helps with better treatment outcomes for the sufferer and for public health as well. Informed consent therefore is required to help sufferers prepare for the lifelong therapy."



On the other hand, Bao Yugang, Asia bureau chief of the US-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, reemphasized the need for citizens' commitment to drug compliance, as this is very vital not only for the efficacy of the drugs but also for the avoidance of drug resistance.



Of the 577,000 people registered as living with HIV/AIDS in China, about 390,000 are undergoing therapy. Last year, over 100,000 received therapy, and it is expected that the figure will double this year.



Advertisement

Tagsantiretroviral therapy, HIV, AIDS, National Health and Family Planning Commission
RICHARDTON  It took seven years to build a home for the Richardton areas most valuable citizens, but Sunday the accomplishment was finally celebrated.

Dedication of a new 24-bed nursing home was the pinnacle of an effort that started in 2008, when the then-hospital gave up its certification in exchange for a nursing home license.

Its been a good trade off, but the old 1950-era hospital building needed expensive updating or replacement and, in the end, replacement made the most sense.

The brand new $6.7 million home on the west edge of town has specialized wings for residents, private rooms, a family dining room and all the comfort and convenience the community could borrow and buy.

Richardton Health Center Board President Clare Messmer said she felt personally driven to stay with the project so long because the areas oldest residents, who need help now, were ones who lived through the hardest times.

So many of them did with nothing. I feel like their last home should be their best home. Its gorgeous here, Messmer said.

The 20 or so residents have already come into the new facility to pick their rooms and as soon as the State Health Department signs off on a certificate of occupancy, the grand parade of belongings and people from the old home to the new one will begin.

Messmer said shes hoping that can happen sometime this week.

Donna Reich, a board member, said shes looking forward to moving her 98-year-old mother, Eugenia Messer, into the new home.

We are so happy to have her here with her family, she said.

Reich said the years-long struggle to find funding and keep the project alive was never a question, even after a groundbreaking two years ago was held to no avail when bids came in too high.

We knew we couldnt give up. It was either close or build. We forged forward and didnt look back, Reich said.

The Richardton community enjoys a close relationship with the monks of Assumption Abbey, who gave prayers for the residents' lives to be ones of dignity and respect and for their caretakers to act toward them with kindness and tenderness.

Most of the financing came through $5.5 million USDA Rural Development fund. North Dakotas director Ryan Taylor said the dedication was a good way to spend a breezy Sunday afternoon in North Dakota.

They (the board) asked for the loan, the project was deserving and it was our pleasure to help, he said. It will be paid back. These (community projects) are good loans.

Messmer said the old building is for sale for $300,000 and is extremely well maintained. She said the Stark County Commission is giving some thought to possibly using it for a treatment facility.
(Photo : Getty Images.) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a host of energy deals with China, in a bid to spur its energy-dependent economy.

Advertisement

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday praised the "all embracing" bilateral partnership with China during his latest visit to the country as both communist neighbors tired to foster a united front amid increasing tension with western nations.



Seeking economic cooperation through energy deals was clearly high on Russian President's agenda, as he sealed host of energy deals with China on Saturday. The energy deal includes sale of stakes in several Russian projects to Chinese companies and joint investments in petrochemical projects in Russia. The joint investments will be led by Russia's top oil producer Rosneft and Chinese companies ChemChina and Sinopec.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Putin's focus on energy deals was understandable in the wake of low global oil prices that has led to a sharp devaluation of the ruble. This, coupled with Western sanctions have greatly affected the energy-dependent Russian economy.



However, failure to implement past joint venture projects is likely to cast a shadow on these projects. Experts blame growing uncertainty in the Russian economy and increase in China's bargaining position due to its increasing economic might, have led to many projects stallingnin the past.



The Russian President discussed with Chinese leadership a host of political issues, including recent tensions in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the North Korea issue.



Earlier this year, China and Russia jointly decided to take on Western forces by weeding out all their differences on South China Sea and North Korea issues. The decision was reached after foreign ministers of both countries met in Beijing in April.



Military cooperation equally assumes an important role in the bilateral relationship. After lack of military cooperation during early 1990's, military cooperation has rebounded in recent years, as the two countries seek to cope with Western domination.



Although there are no confirmed reports, enhancing military cooperation is sure to have figured into Putin's discussions with Chinese leadership.



Advertisement

TagsRussia and China, china, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putin China
(Photo : Getty Images) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have signed multibillion dollar economic agreements ranging from gas plants to railway and aviation during the former's visit to Beijing

Advertisement

More than $50 billion worth of joint investments were agreed upon by China and Russia during Russian President Vladimir Putin's state visit to Beijing last Saturday.



"Fifty-eight various business initiatives with the total volume of investments being $50 billion have been selected," said Putin, who is on a three-day official visit to China.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Putin and President Xi Jinping are set to sign 50 cooperation documents and economic agreements in the coming days.



Trade relations



The Russian president was accompanied by his top economic officials and company executives during his visit.



President Xi has expressed optimism regarding its trade relations with its ally, saying China-Russia ties have never been stronger.



"The relevant departments and firms of both countries signed a large batch of agreements. This visit of President Putin has produced bountiful results," said Chinese President Xi after the meeting with Putin.



China-Russia strategic partnership



Xi emphasized that Putin's visit has brought "new propulsion and vitality in the overall strategic partnership of China and Russia."



Several economic deals amounting to billions of dollars have been secured by both countries. One of the projects is a large aviation project that could surpass rivals like Airbus and Boeing.



Beijing and Moscow agreed to build wide-bodied and longer aircraft that could carry up to 300 passengers.



The cooperation agreements also included energy deals and selling stakes in several Russian business initiatives to Chinese companies.



Putin expressed his deep appreciation over his "fruitful" visit, saying Moscow and Beijing have always been in agreement with their "meaningful work that always ends with a result. "



Advertisement

TagsRussian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi jinping, cooperation agreements, China-Russia ties, joint investments, china
A bus lies at the side of a ravine in flames following a traffic accident at Nandan county section of 210 national highway on January 10, 2012 in Hechi, China. A bus carrying 50 people collided with a truck and plunged 20 meters down a ravine in south China's Guangxi province, killing one and injuring another four. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

Advertisement

UPDATED: The death tool in China's bus fire Sunday morning has climbed to 35 as rescuers found more bodies inside the charred tour bus. Eleven people were hospitalized.



The victims died when the tour bus they were boarding in burst into flames while on a tour Sunday morning on a highway in Yizhang County.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

Local authorities said 56 people were on board the bus when it crashed into the guardrails at about 10:20 a.m. The crash resulted to an oil leak that caused the blaze, according to authorities.



"It happened quickly... the bus slammed into the guardrails and then it burst into flames," one witness told investigators.



It was not yet disclosed where the bus was heading to and where it came from. It was also unclear if there were foreign tourists who perished or hurt in the accident Sunday morning.



Rescuers who rushed to the scene of the accident immediately discovered seven bodies but authorities feared they will discover more bodies in the charred frame of the bus.



At least 21 passengers of the burnt bus were rushed to the hospital and rescuers were still searching the bus for possible charred bodies.



According to the Hunan Provincial police, the driver of the bus, who was not identified as of this posting, has escaped the accident unhurt but has been placed under detention.



Investigators were also gathering statements from witnesses and victims to determine if the blaze was not caused by arson.



A survivor surnamed Huang said the driver told authorities that the bus door could not open, and the driver then escaped from the window next to his seat. Huang smashed a window with a fire extinguisher in order to get out.



Last January, the police arrested a suspected arson who allegedly set a passenger bus ablaze in Ningxia Huia Autonomous Region, resulting to the death of 18 people and the injury of 32 other passengers.



The suspect, Ma Yongping, had been in a financial dispute with a construction contractor and expressed his discontent by setting the bus on fire, the police said.



Advertisement

TagsChina Bus Fire, bus fire, bus accident, China Bus Accident
(Photo : Getty Images) China will launch its second orbiting space laboratory, Tiangong-2, in mid-September this year, the country's manned space engineering office announced on Saturday.

Advertisement

China will launch its second orbiting space laboratory, Tiangong-2, in mid-September this year, the country's manned space engineering office announced on Saturday.



Wu Ping, deputy director of the manned space engineering office, revealed the information to the state-run Xinhua news agency.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

The announcement came on the day China successfully launched its new generation of carrier rocket - the Long March-7 - from Wenchang Space Launch Center, Hainan province.



"The successful launch of the Long March-7 is significant. It's a starting point of our mission as a whole. It will be followed by the launch of the Shenzhou-11, Tiangong-2 and Tianzhou spacecraft," Li Jian of Beijing Aerospace Control Center said after the launch.



Beijing launched the Tiangong-1 in 2011. The space laboratory, which fulfilled its mission and stopped functioning in March this year, will be replaced by Tiangong-2.



The second orbiting space lab will later be docked with country's planned first cargo ship, Tianzhou-1, which is scheduled to launch in 2017. The Shenzhou-XI manned spacecraft will carry two astronauts to dock the Tiangong-2. The astronauts, who are currently training, will stay in Tiangong-2 for 30 days.



"Unlike Tiangong I, the Tiangong II will be a genuine space lab. It is set to perform a lot of space scientific and application experiments and make preparations for our future space station," Liao Jianlin of China Academy of Space Technology said two months ago.



"Tiangong II has two cabins with different functions. The experiment cabin will be hermetically sealed, with astronauts living in it and conducting their missions, while the resource cabin will contain solar panels, storage batteries, propellant and engines."



Advertisement

Tagschina, space program, rocket launch, Space Lab
(Photo : US Navy) USS Cheyenne, a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine

Advertisement

China plans to build an "Underwater Great Wall of China" of sensors, robot undersea vehicles, torpedoes and a manned "deep-sea space station" beneath the South China Sea to further solidify its control over this hotly disputed area that might trigger a war between China and the United States and its Asian allies.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

The Underwater Great Wall Project will be disguised as a scientific "natural resource development project" requiring an undersea base and a fleet of drone submarines, according to sources.



Analysts said this allegedly civilian project will form the basis for a future underwater military defense system designed to cement Chinese hegemony over the South China Sea while keeping the U.S. Navy at bay.



This underwater defense line will complete China's triad of control over the South China Sea. The first leg of this triad are the military outposts on reclaimed islands defended by HQ-9 surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and supersonic jet fighters such as the J-11.



The second leg will be the forthcoming ADIZ or Air Defense Identification Zone that will effectively bar military and civilian aircraft from outside China entering the airspace above the South China Sea without China's permission.



The Underwater Great Wall, the third leg, is meant to counter the U.S. Navy's fleet of attack and ballistic missile submarines against which the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has no credible defense. Anti-submarine warfare is the greatest tactical weakness of the PLAN.



Also arousing suspicion is the proposed location of this "natural resources project." Its deep- sea space station will be built at a depth of 3,000 meters below the surface and will be manned by a full-time crew. No country has ever attempted to build a manned underwater base at these crushing depths.



Analysts said this underwater station might anchor the Underwater Great Wall. This wall will consist of a network of floating and submerged sensors designed to detect U.S. Navy submarines and those from other "unfriendly" nations such as Japan, India and Australia.



China revealed a few facets of this wall at a recent military exhibit that focused on a fleet of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) that are part of the wall's defense system. These drones will be capable of carrying torpedoes and other military payloads such as mines and sensors.



Chinese officials at this exhibit admitted this base could be used for military purposes.



"But we can't rule out it will carry some military functions," said Xu Liping, a senior researcher of Southeast Asia affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.



Advertisement

TagsUnderwater Great Wall of China, South China Sea, United States, U.S. Navy
Fire workers attempt rescue trapped people at a landslide site on May 10, 2016 in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. A landslide happened on Tuesday morning which trapped and killed four people, two grandparents and two boys aged eight and nine years old. (Photo by VCG/Getty Images)

Advertisement

Heavy downpours in China's southwestern province of Sichuan triggered a landslide that left 16 families homeless and five people missing early Sunday.



Authorities in Chengdu said the landslide occurred in a mountain village in Meigu County at 4 a.m. Sunday. The county is part of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.



Like Us on Facebook

Advertisement

According to a press release from the county committee of the Communist Party of China, the landslide followed downpours that pounded Sichuan Province since Saturday night.



The rain softened the soil, resulting to the landslide that covered houses and croplands. A total of 79 villagers from 16 families were affected, local authorities said.



Most of the residents in the area were sound asleep when the landslide occurred.



Rescue workers dug into the mud to look for the five persons reported missing but no sign of survivors were found as of this posting. However, no fatalities were confirmed as of Sunday evening.



Aside from damaging houses and cropland, the landslide also damaged country roads and disrupted communication and power supply.



So far this month, at least 33 people died due to floods and landslide in China, triggered by heavy downpours and hailstorms.



According to the country's Ministry of civil affairs, about 199,000 people have been displaced by rains and floods in China, with several hectares of crops ruined and nearly 1,000 houses destroyed. At least four persons remained missing.



Authorities pegged the damage in the June floods and landslides to about USD328.5 million in the region that covers the provinces of Jiangxi and Sichuan.



Vice Premier Wang Yan called for intensified efforts to prevent flood and keep losses to a minimum.



Advertisement

TagsChina Landslide, China Floods, China Rains
WATFORD CITY -- A McKenzie County deputy who was standing trial this week for reckless endangerment in relation to a police pursuit last year has been acquitted.

Southwest District Judge William Herauf delivered the decision early Wednesday afternoon, bringing an abrupt end to a trial that began Tuesday and was expected to last for several days.

Following the announcement, Corporal Travis Bateman shared emotional hugs with tearful family members and co-workers whod sat through hours of courtroom testimony.

Im elated, Bateman said. Im just glad that the truth came out and was exposed through this.

Bateman, 32, was charged with reckless endangerment, a Class C felony, for allegedly hitting a fleeing motorcyclist with his patrol car on an August night last year.

The motorcycle rider, Robert Volk, 56, of Watford City, suffered serious injuries as a result of the crash, and Cheryl Lyons, his passenger, had a broken leg.

Several witnesses testified this week about how the pursuit unfolded, although none said Batemans car was moving at the time of the impact.

Bateman approached the chase by heading west on Highway 85B outside Watford City, as Volk, tailed by a state trooper, was riding east. As he neared the oncoming vehicles, Bateman drove onto the eastbound shoulder, then cut back into the lane, where Volk, who had been riding on the shoulder, clipped the patrol car as he tried to ride around it.

Prosecutor Seymour Jordan maintained that videos of the incident taken from dashboard cameras showed that Bateman drove into Volks motorcycle, but by midday on Wednesday, defense attorney Mike Geiermann protested that the case was too shaky to proceed.

There is zero evidence that supports the states claim that Corporal Bateman struck that motorcycle, Geiermann told Herauf. All of the evidence supports that the motorcycle struck a stationary (patrol car.)

Herauf granted Geiermanns motion for acquittal, pointing out that emergency responders can legally make maneuvers to stop situations such as pursuits.

There was no eyewitness thats been presented that suggests he moved, the judge said, after reviewing videos of the crash.

Jordan declined to comment on the outcome of the case, or whether he plans to appeal to the state supreme court.

Bateman, a police dog officer and three-year veteran of the sheriffs office, will now return to patrol duties after spending the past 10 months in an administrative role.

I cant say I was expecting this, but I was hoping. I knew in my mind and my heart what happened that night, and it was anything but what the state was trying to prove, he said.

When reached by phone, Volk said he had no comment on the days outcome. He is facing DUI and other charges relating to the pursuit.

McKenzie County Sheriff Gary Schwartzenberger, who sat in on portions of the trial, wasnt surprised by the judges decision.

Im sure the truth will prevail in all these cases, and I believe it did today, Schwartzenberger said. Justice through the truth has prevailed today.

Batemans case was one of three involving the countys sheriffs office employees this year.

Schwartzenberger is facing a misdemeanor charge of misapplication of entrusted property for allegedly misusing the departments credit card at a law enforcement convention early last year, and Detective Michael Schmitz is charged with two misdemeanor counts of making false reports to law enforcement. State investigators allege Schmitz lied to them about a prescription pill habit, and his involvement in a divorce and domestic violence case.

No trial date has been set for Schwartzenberger, who is due in court in August for a hearing. Schmitzs case is set for trial on Nov. 15.
4,000 more residents flee ISIS-held Fallujah; 50,000 still trapped as Iraqi army offensive enters its third week

Thousands more people have fled from the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah through an exit corridor secured by the Iraqi army even as an offensive to retake the city from the terror group rages into its third week.

According to reports from the United Nations and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), 3,300 residents fled Monday, joining another 4,000 who escaped during the weekend. The number of residents fleeing the city now totals almost 30,000 since Saturday, the Associated Press reports.

"We expect thousands more to be able to leave in the coming days,'' Joint Operation Command spokesman Brigadier Gen. Yahya Rasool said.

The development, Rasool said, was made possible after the al-Salam junction route was secured by the Iraqi army. "There were exit routes previously, but this is the first to be completely secured and is relatively safe."

Lise Grande, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said around 50,000 civilians could still be trapped inside Fallujah, located about 40 miles (65 km) west of Baghdad. ISIS militants are reportedly demanding 150,000 Iraqi dinars or around $130 from each person to let them leave. Last week they allegedly shot at a group of people attempting to flee across the Euphrates River.

Many residents left behind in Fallujah are also in urgent need of assistance as the city is running low on humanitarian resources, according to NRC Country Director in Iraq Nasr Muflahi.

Mufhali said the international community has been urged to provide more help as "needs are great and the resources are limited."

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein meanwhile said there are credible eyewitness reports that some men and boys who escaped are facing physical abuse from armed militias operating in support of the Iraqi security forces, reports the Voice of America (VOA).

There are also allegations that some individuals have been summarily executed by armed groups, he added.

Grande said 7,200 men and boys had been separated from their families. About 2,000 are still being held in Fallujah, reports say.

Fallujah has been under ISIS control for over two years now and it is the last major city in western Iraq that is still held by the extremist group.

On Sunday, the Iraqi command announced that key areas to the west of Fallujah have been retaken and that Iraqi forces are pushing deeper into the city from its southern edges.

Authorities said the militants are putting up a tough fight in defending the city, which has long been an insurgent bastion where U.S. forces fought the heaviest battles of their own during the 2003-2011 occupation of Iraq.
An ABC of Referendum Recovery

Like many people in the UK June 24 2016 was a day strange emotions, not least genuine surprise as I, with most others it seems, had accepted the received wisdom that Remain would win. The intensity of the campaign, the high stakes, and the relative narrowness of the win inevitably means the Referendum result is loaded with strong emotions on both sides. Like the aftermath of the Scottish Referendum in 2014 the airwaves and social media seem to be full of recrimination (eg 'selfish pensioners' versus 'on the pay roll snobs')  then it was the failure to overturn the status quo, now it's the opposite.

The challenge for everyone (not least Christians) is not allowing those feelings to become a running sore. Something that is true in dealing with any decision that we have a strong sense of investment in  whether that be national politics, business restructuring or church reorganisation and change.

Now the challenge here will always be greater for the losing side (or those who feel they'll be adversely affected by it). If you got your way or feel you're a beneficiary then it's no great achievement to be magnanimous and ready to 'move on'. Your challenge is not to be smug or patronising.

So in order to guard against the temptation to point score, impute selfish motives and generally just be snarky in such situations it might be helpful to consider this ABC, of not just Referendum Recovery, but of how we can healthily and constructively try to approach all such matters.

1. Accept it, it's done, it's a fact  no amount of trying to rerun the debate on social media will alter it. We all knew the rules when we entered (50%+ wins), and we always accept them when it's our side that gets over the line. There are two sides in any argument and neither is likely to have a total monopoly on wisdom, morality or pure motives. Not everyone agrees with you (and that doesn't mean they're stupid or morally inferior), they simply don't see it the way you do and that's probably just as well.

2. Breathe  relax, it really isn't the end of the world. You're still here, the world is still turning and life goes. Crises, recessions, upheavals and booms come and go and will all come round again. The media exist to turn every story into the stuff of nightmares  whether terrorism, disease or the economy. At some point in the future it will all be old newspapers (it just will be).

3. Consider  that there might be some upside to the other point of view (whatever side you're on), it probably has some plus points and validity. It's not what you wanted, and maybe you'll never regard it as a great option, but it can probably work to some degree without being a disaster.

In all this be humble, after all while the post-modernism idea that all sides could be right is nonsense  it is possible that all sides are wrong! Perfect wisdom (and government) belongs only to God.

Andy Hunter is Scotland Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
Bishop tells massacre mourners: 'It may be hard to forgive, but an unforgiving spirit will never bring us peace'

Yes, it's hard to forgive, but not forgiving will never bring peace.

Thus said a Catholic bishop in Nigeria during the burial service for nine of the victims of a massacre that took place last April.

Fulani herdsmen attacked a community in the town of Nimbo in southeastern Nigeria's Enugu State, killing scores of people. The killers also slaughtered livestock and destroyed properties, including a church, the Catholic News Agency reports.

"Although we may find it hard to forgive the violent attack that has brought us so much grief, we know that an unforgiving spirit will never bring us peace," said Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah of Nsukka during the June 17 burial service at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Nimbo.

The bishop told the mourners that instead of harbouring hatred for the killers, they should "turn to God in gratitude, with faith, hope and charity."

"We are grateful to God, our merciful Father, that some of us are still alive today to bury and mourn our dead," he said, suggesting that if the attackers had their way, they would have killed everyone.

"Our faith assures us that those who die in the Lord are freed from the sorrows of this life and rest forever in the calm security of God's love in heaven," he said.

Anglican pastors joined Catholic clergy in the service.

Bishop Onah prayed that the charity and solidarity of the community will "help us to overcome our bitterness."

"We also thank God for the way in which he has shown us his love in these months of pain and sorrow, through the constant presence and help of persons, institutions and organisations from far and near," the bishop added. "May he continue to bless all those who have allowed themselves to be used as instruments of his love and consolation."
American Airlines dropping first class seats on long haul flights

Execs at the Dallas-based airline announced the momentous decision on a recent investor call.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Houstonians stripped down to their delicates for the world-famous Hot Undies Run.

The two-mile pub run took place Saturday morning, starting and ending at the Gorgeous Gael Irish Pub in Rice Village.

While there may have been a shortage of clothing, there were plenty of runners willing to head out in their skivvies for charity.

Runners were able to enjoy a drink afterwards, and all the proceeds from the race went to the charity Girls on the Run Greater Houston, which focuses on helping young girls be "joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running."

Take a look through the photos to see who came out for the fun, charitable event.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For some, the Houston Pride Festival was a day to celebrate a wedding anniversary one year after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

Others who turned out wanted to make a statement of defiance two weeks after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people.

Whatever the reason for attending, Saturday was an emotional day for many of the estimated 700,000 people who went to Houston's 38th annual Pride festival and parade. Police reported no incidents and said the crowd appeared larger than in years past.

John LaRue, 31, and Hunter Middleton 26  who a year ago were the first in line at the Harris County Courthouse to get a marriage license atter the high court's ruling  were among those marching in the parade.

LaRue said some friends who marched with them had been on the fence before. The June parade is typically hot and crowded and "a giant traffic mess," LaRue said.

"Once Orlando happened," he added, "it was like there's not really a question. We're all going to march this year."

City Hall was lit up brightly in rainbow hues as the parade officially rolled through downtown Saturday night.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, wearing a crisp white shirt and a neck full of colorful beads, rolled by in an open-air convertible. He waved and tossed beads left and right.

Fans grabbed at hundreds of glow sticks thrown their way out of the back of a police car; they were shined in remembrance of the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12. About 30 people carried a massive rainbow flag listing the names of all 49 victims of the deadly shooting rampage.

The honorary grand marshal of the parade was Imran Yousuf, the ex-Marine who as a bouncer at the Pulse nightclub helped to save the lives of people during the chaos.

Saturday night, he rode in a green SUV adorned with colorful flowers, standing up through the sunroof to wave at and salute the crowd.

"It feels enlightening now," Yousuf said before the parade. "I feel people are moving past the incident and coming out here. You can see people are trying to find ways to rebuild and just taking a dark situation and making light of it."

"It's such a good feeling  not to stay wallowing, but to get out there and help rebuild and remember the ones we lost in the best way we can."

Orlando was indeed on the minds of many, contributing to feelings of unease and solemnity but also to a sense of solidarity and mission.

Gerald Curlee, 49, and Jerry Chaffin, 71, were in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during the weekend of the shooting. "We had family members calling us constantly saying 'Oh my God, are you OK?" Curlee said.

Curlee and Chaffin, who have been together 18 years, wore matching khaki shorts and shirts to the Pride festival. On the shirts, it said "Happy" with a rainbow emblematic of the changes in the LGBT community.

"The tragedy in Orlando brought the world together to view the gay community as normal," Chaffin said.

He teared up recalling those he's lost in his life to violence against gays. He remembered feeling fear when he served in the Navy in the 1960s and during the '70s in Houston, a time he said when violence against gays was commonplace and the police looked the other way.



"We're happy in what we chose in life. It's very important that everyone understands that," Curlee said.

Monica Robledo, 45, who works at Walmart in Deer Park, came adorned in rainbow while her daughter Destiny, 18, wore a rainbow tutu. Monica, at her first Pride festival, had painted a message of "No Hate'' on her face.



"I wanted to spend it with my daughter. I'm here to support her because she's my daughter, she's my baby," Monica said. "I love her no matter what, whether she's gay or straight."

Mindful of the Orlando shooting, she said: "We shouldn't be scared. We got to be strong for our country and show people they can't defeat us."

The Green family, including four young children, came out for the festivities. Tresce Green, 37, a restaurant server, and her wife Aubrey Green, 43, a chef, made their own shirts that read "Straight Out of the Closet" a play on the movie "Straight out of Compton." Their kids, ages 9, 8, 5, and 2, also made their own shirts.

The Greens wanted their children to witness the tribute during the parade to the Orlando victims.

"We want them to be involved. We want them to know that hatred is out there but we raised them to be accepting of different cultures, different religions, and just different period," Tresce Green said.

MORE PRIDE: Houston Pride events you don't want to miss

Matthew Musler, 23, of Austin, was inspired by the Orlando massacre to come to the festival and parade in Houston.

"I didn't want them to win. I don't want to be a victim," said Musler, who identifies as transgender. A Costco worker, Musler began the transition from female to male in April 2015.

He also hopes the transgender community can become more visible after the tragedy.

"LGBT people are seen but transgender people are invisible now," he said. "I think they need to notice all of the letters."

Just beyond the concert stage near the tranquility pond downtown, Jennifer Nichols waited at a booth for her new custom-pressed t-shirt to dry. Nichols, 31, chose the same design as her friend Andi, a rainbow-colored outline of the state of Texas with a heart marking Houston. This was her first time attending the city's Pride festival, Nichols said.

A LOOK BACK: Pride festivals through the years

In previous years she'd been too nervous to attend. She wasn't always "out" to her family, she said, so it made her anxious to be a part of the crowd. This year, however, the events in Orlando also changed her mind.

"It's nice to be with my people," said Nichols, a teacher from Pearland.

More than 100 local businesses, organizations, and community members participate in the parade, which started at 8:30 p.m.

During a press conference Friday, Mayor Sylvester Turner urged Houstonians to come out and support the parade despite the recent violence in Orlando.

"I understand there's a concern," Turner said. "The message is simple: Let's not be afraid."

Turner and Police Chief Martha Montalvo said FRiday there would be a heavy police presence at the festival and along the parade route. According to Pride Houston's website, no firearms are allowed on the premises. There also will be random vehicle searches throughout the day.

Montalvo confirmed Friday that police investigated the circumstances around a tweet threatening a shooting during the Houston Pride parade. Police determined that a teen tweeted the message to discourage her brother from attending, but that it posted no danger.
A man died early Saturday morning after a crash in the 1800 block of the Gulf Freeway.

The driver of a tan Chevrolet Silverado 1500 was traveling north on the freeway when his truck swerved from the far-right lane to the fa- left lane at approximately 12:45 a.m., according to Houston police spokesperson John Cannon.

The truck struck a guard rail before rear-ending a Chevrolet Camaro that was driving in the far-left lane of the highway, Cannon said. The truck flipped over several times, ejecting the male driver.

The man, whose identity was not immediately known, was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Cannon said. There were no other injuries.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

A Fort Bend County woman shot her two adult daughters Friday evening - killing one of them at the scene - before she was fatally shot by a responding police officer.

On Saturday, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office identified the mother as Christy Sheats, 42, and her daughters as Taylor Sheats, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17.

Later, Fulshear police Facebook page reported one daughter was taken by Lifeflight to the Texas Medical Center and also died. It was unclear Saturday afternoon, which of the victims died at the scene and which was airlifted to the hospital.

The incident happened about 5 p.m. along the 6000 block of Remson Hollow in an unincorporated section near Fulshear.

More for you Police: Family argument caused mother to shoot, kill daughters

When officers arrived to investigate a 911 call of "shots fired," they found two women lying on the street in front of a home in a comfortable, middle class subdivision.

A Fulshear police officer shot and killed a third woman at the scene who was holding a pistol. Authorities said it was the mother of the two women on the ground.

One of the daughters of the suspected assailant was taken by air ambulance to the Texas Medical Center where she initially was reported in critical condition. But police later reported she, too, had died.

The motive remains under investigation.

"It was a family argument that turned into a shooting," Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said. "But we're still trying to put the pieces together."

As crowds of concerned neighbors began approaching, police blocked off the street where the bodies were found.

Austin Enke said he knew the women slightly and had a couple of classes with at least one of them when they attended Seven Lakes High School.

"They were always cheerful and never depressed. You never heard anything bad about them," Enke said.

Nehls said he did not know if the shooting happened inside the family's home or on the street.

Sheriff's records show deputies had been sent to the home in the past on more than one occasion. "But as to why we were called here, I don't know," Nehls said.

Nehls added he did know if the mother pointed her weapon at the officer or whether she was still pointing it at her daughters when the officer arrived.

The sheriff said the father was at home when the shooting occurred. He was not injured but was distraught and taken to be checked out at a local hospital.

Although the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office is leading the investigation, other agencies such as the Fulshear police and the Texas Rangers are involved, Nehls said.

A Fort Bend County justice of the peace will likely call for an autopsy. If so, the bodies will be taken to Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences or the Galveston County Medical Examiners Office, Nehls said.
A woman was fatally shot and a man wounded outside his north Houston house after an attempted robbery early Sunday, authorities said.

Juan Castro and his wife had arrived at their house in the 3500 block of Mohawk Street at about 2 a.m. when at least three men with handguns approached them in the driveway. The men demanded money before shooting Castro, 42, critically injuring him, said Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman.
PORT ARANSAS, TX -- Another man has been diagnosed with an infection from a "flesh-eating" bacteria after a trip to a Texas Gulf Coast beach.

KXAN-TV reported that 42-year-old Adrian Ruiz became sick after a Father's Day trip to the beach with his family in Port Aransas. The news station reported that he was running a fever within a day and had a rash on his leg.
Researchers with the Harte Research Institute (HRI) for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi traveled to Southern California to study Mako sharks with monster appetites to open the 29th season of Discovery Channel's summer television event, "Shark Week."

The shark experts set out on a 7-day expedition to tag and study the more than 1,000-pound Mako sharks near the Southern California coast for "Return of Monster Mako," which airs at 8 p.m. CDT, Sunday.
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.
Warriors end season with win over Rebels SIOUX RAPIDS - The Alta-Aurelia football team traveled to face Sioux Central for their final game of the season and...

Cherokee takes down Generals to finish season CHEROKEE - The Cherokee football team hosted Sibley-Ocheyedan on Friday and won 35-28 to finish out their season. The...

Warriors suffer heartbreaking end to season ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia volleyball team hosted Lawton-Bronson last Wednesday and suffered a nail-biting 3-2 loss to end their season....

Unity ends Cherokee volleyball season ORANGE CITY - Out of sync early, Cherokee's volleyball squad fell hard in the first set 25-8 to ranked Unity...
After shuttering his lumber mill for nearly a month when it was surrounded by raging fires in northern Alberta, Northland Forest Products Ltd. President Howard Ewashko sees a silver lining: a pickup in business from rebuilding what was lost.

It certainly helps to have a solid market to sell into when youve gone through something like this, Ewashko said in a telephone interview. It certainly helps when you know you can make a bit of money at the end.

Thousands of buildings were destroyed and entire neighborhoods burned to the ground in Fort McMurray, the gateway to the Canadian oil sands, as wildfires ripped across an area more than seven times bigger than New York City last month. The most expensive natural disaster in Albertas history is now expected to help boost a local real-estate market that recently hit a 20-year low after scores of workers lost their jobs in the energy industry.

Its going to be kind of hustle and bustle here over the next year or two, Lynn Edwards, president of the Fort McMurray Real Estate Board, said in a phone interview from the city.

Houses were sold even during the evacuation period and offers have been coming in during the past week, Edwards said. There are fewer than 600 currently for sale, down from 830 listings in the city at the end of April, she said, adding that more accurate figures wont be available for several weeks.

Accommodation Shortage

There is a shortage of accommodations in Fort McMurray right now, Ben Dutton, chief executive officer of Fort McMurray-based construction firm Casman Group of Companies said in a telephone interview. The hotels are maxed.

The city is going to need to find temporary housing for people displaced by the fire in addition to insurance adjusters and contractors involved in the rebuild, Dutton said. There will probably be upward pressure on prices due to limited supplies as some out-of-town builders see the citys housing market as an opportunity, he said.

The fire hit at a time when a wave of foreclosures was expected in Fort McMurray because of the oil industry downturn, Dutton said. There were only 193 housing starts in 2015 and just a single start in April, compared with 2,175 single and multi-family homes that broke ground in 2007, according to a May 9 report from the Canadian Home Builders Association.

Economic Boost

Early estimates suggest that 2,400 buildings were damaged or destroyed in Fort McMurray, including 1,600 private dwellings, and rebuild efforts may provide a C$1.3 billion boost to Albertas economy in 2017, according to the Conference Board of Canada. While most of the communitys public buildings were saved from the fire, the city will need additional money to repair and rebuild roads and other infrastructure, and construction will probably remain elevated until 2018 and 2019, the Conference Board said.

We anticipate theres a lot of spending that will occur as people rebuild their lives, Russell Dauk, vice-president of land and commercial for Edmonton-based homebuilder Rohit Group of Companies, said in a telephone interview.

A slowdown in housing in Calgary and Edmonton means there will be an available supply of contractors to work in Fort McMurray, Dauk said. Rebuilding efforts are unlikely to start before August and builders are still waiting to hear how or if the construction will be coordinated, he said.

Massive Undertaking

Homeowners are already phoning for information as they assess damage with their insurers, said John Dawson, a retail manager for the Fort McMurray area at Qualico, a Winnipeg-based home builder.

I can tell you its a massive undertaking, Dawson said in a telephone interview. I have no predictions how long its going to take.

The municipality still has to decide whether to rebuild homes in the same area or move them to other serviced lots in Fort McMurray that are ready to go for new construction, said Jim Rivait, chief executive officer of Albertas chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association.

Theres complete communities that have to be rebuilt, Rivait said. It could take a while.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
BAINBRIDGE TOWNSHIP, Ohio - If you're looking to celebrate the July 4th weekend by watching the sky light up with fireworks, Bainbridge Township and Solon are offering displays.

The Bainbridge festivities starts 6 p.m. July 3 with live music, bounce houses and face painting for youngsters, along with balloon sculpting and safety and service vehicle demonstrations at Kenston High School on Bainbridge Road. Contact bainbridgetwp.com.

Solon's display will take place at dusk Monday, July 4 at Community Park along SOM Center Road, south of Portz Parkway. If you arrive early, you can use a walking and fitness trail and let children take advantage of two playgrounds in the park. Contact solonohio.org.

Bentleyville Park is the location of the 7-9 p.m. July 5 Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce concert. Patriotic music will be performed by the Erie Heights Brass Ensemble. The concert is sponsored by Gertsburg Law Firm and First Federal of Lakewood. The park is on Solon Road.

You can stretch out 9-10 a.m. July 2 with Yoga by The Falls in Chagrin Falls' Triangle Park at the corner of Main and Franklin streets. Bring a yoga mat or towel for and enjoy the vinyasa flow style of yoga with energizing gentle bends and postures.

In case of rain the class will be held at Township Hall, 83 North Main St. The free community yoga session is offered by Your HomeTown Chagrin Falls. For questions and more information, please call 440-247-0900 or visit www.yourhometownchagrinfalls.com.

The Chagrin Falls Farmers Market will be open for business 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 2 along North Franklin Street, next to Triangle Park. Managed by North Union Farmers Market, it offers fresh locally grown produce, meats, bakery, pasta, cheeses, herbs and flowers. The market is held by Your HomeTown Chagrin Falls.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- While British voters put their economy at risk by voting to leave the European Union, the U.S. Congress continued to put the lives of innocent Americans at risk by remaining firmly in the National Rifle Association's pocket, killing common-sense gun control legislation.

On June 15, when I posted my cartoon and column on the Orlando mass shooting, I wrote that if Congress wouldn't pass reasonable gun-control legislation after 20 children were massacred at Sandy Hook, they were unlikely to do anything after 49 adults were massacred in a gay nightclub.

Sure enough, in the weeks after the worst terror attack since 9-11, several attempts to pass common-sense gun control either died in Congress or were put on life support in intensive care.

A 15-hour Democrat filibuster in the Senate, and 25-hour "sit-in" by Democrats in the House, both failed to pass so called "No fly,No buy" laws prohibiting those on terror watch lists from purchasing guns. No fly,no buy didn't fly in Congress because enough of its members have already been bought by the NRA.

Polls show an increasing number of Americans, including some NRA members, support common-sense, reasonable gun control legislation. That doesn't matter, because Congress doesn't represent the American people, it represents the NRA leadership and the lobbyists with the most money to contribute to their campaigns.

Opponents of the "No fly-No buy" law argue that some people have been erroneously put on terror watch lists, and their rights would be unfairly infringed. So we just have to live with innocent people getting massacred in mass shootings so the small percentage of people who were mistakenly put on watch lists aren't temporarily inconvenienced, the warped thinking goes.

A common argument against re-enacting the Assault Weapon Ban is that if someone is intent on going on a killing rampage, an Assault Weapon Ban won't stop them -- they'll find some other way of killing. That may be true, but they'll kill a lot less people using a knife, pistol or regular rifle, than they will with a high-powered, military grade assault weapon, like the one the Orlando killer used.

Emergency room doctors can tell you the type of gun and the caliber of bullet used is often the difference between whether a shooting victim lives or dies, not just where they've been wounded.

Assault Weapon ban opponents argue that the intent of the 2nd Amendment is that citizens have the right to arms equal to that of the U.S. Military, in the event they must defend themselves against the government. The big flaw in that argument is the even with the 2nd Amendment, you cannot now legally buy all the types of weapons currently in use by the U.S. military. There's a reason why you don't see missile launching drone dealerships next to the Ford and Chevy auto dealerships.

During his filibuster, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy paid tribute to Sandy Hook teacher Anne Marie Murphy and 6-year old student Dylan Hockley, who she tried to save. Murphy said the following:

" 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 takes courage to look into the eye of a shooter and instead of running, wrapping your arms around a 6-yeard-old boy and accepting death.

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?"

The answer from the cowards in Congress: "nothing."
state highway patrol car .jpg

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers arrested two men on suspicion of possessing 13 pounds of heroin while driving through Akron.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- Men from California and Canton are facing first-degree felony charges after state troopers reported finding more than 13 pounds of heroin in their car.

Ernesto Medina, 32, of Bell, California, and Roberto Campas, 28, of Canton, are both charged with two counts of drug trafficking and two counts of drug possession, all first-degree felonies that each carry a maximum of 11 years in prison.

They are being held in the Summit County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers stopped Campas' 2016 Lincoln Navigator with Michigan plates for speeding about 1 p.m. Friday on Interstate 76 eastbound near the Wolf Ledges exit.

Troopers reported noticing "numerous criminal indicators." A drug-sniffing dog alerted troopers to drugs in the car.

They searched the car and found a duffel bag in the back seat with 13 pounds of heroin and a half-pound of cocaine, troopers said.

To comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
warren-clinton.jpg

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (right) is scheduled to campaign in Cincinnati on Monday with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is reportedly on the short list to become Clinton's running mate.

(AP)

Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren to visit Cincinnati: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton plans to hold a 10:30 a.m. public event with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren at Cincinnati's Union Terminal. Check with cleveland.com for the latest coverage.

New leader of mayors' group to give inaugural address: On the final day of the three-day U.S. Conference of Mayors' 84th annual meeting in Indianapolis, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett is slated to give his inaugural address as the conference's 74th president.

Others to watch: Clinton has an evening fundraiser scheduled in Chicago.
John Kasich

Ohio Gov. John Kasich pauses to read his notes as he speaks during a news conference at The Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens May 4 in Columbus. Kasich announced the end of his underdog White House bid. Thomas Suddes writes that Kasich's willingness to think for himself is a key to his popularity in Ohio.

(John Minchillo, Associated Press, File)

In the latest Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll, released Wednesday, Gov. John Kasich drew a 58 percent job-approval rating among the Ohio voters Quinnipiac polled.

But Quinnipiac found that governors in the other two swing states it assayed, Pennsylvania Democrat Tom Wolf and Florida Republican Rick Scott, are, politically speaking, "both under ... water."

Here's a reason Kasich, a Republican, is politically successful in closely divided Ohio: He appears to think for himself, despite partisan pressures.

A few days before the Quinnipiac announcement, Kasich vetoed a bill every Republican in the Ohio General Assembly who was present had voted for; in contrast, every Democrat present voted against it. That is, Kasich - albeit, on very narrow grounds - sided, in effect, with Democrats.

Substitute Senate Bill 296 could have made it financially dangerous for someone to ask a judge to keep Election Day polling places open beyond the statewide 7:30 p.m. closing time.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. William Seitz, a suburban Cincinnati Republican, required someone asking for that to post a bond. Democrats called that a poll tax. Here's why:

If a court kept polls open, but its order were overturned, SB 296 said a judge could order the bond forfeited to cover costs a Board of Elections racked up to keep polls open. (An indigent wouldn't have to post a bond, but if a court kept polls open for him, only he could vote during the extra time.)

If the bond amount didn't cover an elections board's costs (including SB 296's requirement setting overtime pay at $22.50 an hour for each precinct official), a judge could order the person who'd asked to keep polls open to personally make up the shortfall.

What prompted SB 296 was a legal action last November. A (Republican) Hamilton County Common Pleas judge ordered polls kept open there till 9 p.m. Reason: Problems poll workers had with electronic poll books risked denying some voters a chance to cast ballots.

Former Ohio Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, a Cincinnati Democrat, was the plaintiff

who asked to keep the polls open. Kearney said he went to court when he learned voters were encountering difficulties at numerous polling places that day.

True, as Kasich noted, "Ohio law already requires that any voter in line when polls close at 7:30 p.m. can still vote" - something Seitz's bill wouldn't have changed. And Kasich said he supports a uniform statewide procedure for keeping polls open after 7:30 p.m., something SB 296 did. But, Kasich said, SB 296 also eliminated judges' discretion to waive a bond, "a step too far ... [which] should not become law."

So Kasich vetoed the bill.

Seitz said Kasich's reasoning is "legally and mathematically untenable" because the Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure Kasich cited to justify the veto "nowhere allows for the waiver of the bond requirement, although rogue judges have."

The veto, Seitz said, "subordinated the interests of Ohio taxpayers and poll workers to the interests of those who want to game Election Day voting hours."

But just maybe Kasich was upholding the (paramount) interests of Ohioans in the right to vote. And that's a matter of fairness - and John Kasich's perceived fairness, arguably, ornery independence, may be why a majority of the Ohioans Quinnipiac asked thinks its governor does a good job.

Meanwhile: Kasich last week appointed a Democrat to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio - Columbus lawyer M. Howard Petricoff.

He'll be the first Democrat on the five-member PUCO since the term of Steven D. Lesser, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, expired last year. Of the PUCO incumbents Petricoff will join, two are Republicans, two, independents.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@gmail.com, 216-999-4689
FILE- Fifth Harmony present Teen Choice award.

___________________________________________________________________________

[] http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/yingwendianying/

[]  http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/mysj/

____________________________________________________________________________

Top 5 Songs for Week Ending June 25 (ZT)

Were turning up the heat with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart, for the week ending June 25, 2016.

Summer begins this week in the Northern Hemisphere, which may explain why hardly any songs move in the Top Fivethey may just be too hot.

Ray McDonald's Top 5 Countdown for Week Ending June 25

Number 5: Fifth Harmony "Work From Home"



Bucking the trend is Fifth Harmony, sinking a slot to fifth place with Work From Home. The women were in Toronto on June 19, closing the 2016 IHeart Radio MuchMusic Video Awards ceremony with just that song. They also won the trophy for Fan Fave International Group while group member Camilla Cabello earned Best Pop Video and Fan Fave Video for her duet with Shawn Mendes, I Know What You Did Last Summer.

FILE - Andrew Taggart, right, and Alex Pall with the The Chainsmokers performs at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

Number 4: The Chainsmokers Featuring Daya "Don't Let Me Down"



I know what The Chainsmokers and Daya did this summer: they hit fourth place with Dont Let Me Down. This song just hit a sales milestone: It just received a platinum certification in the United States, selling at least one million units.



Well, you ask, what is a unit? A unit is equal to one paid download or 150 streams. Its The Chainsmokers third platinum single, following #Selfie and Roses.

FILE - Justin Timberlake.

Number 3: Justin Timberlake "Can't Stop The Feeling"



Justin Timberlake continues to relax in third place with Cant Stop The Feeling. This week, Justin honored a friend. On June 20, he took to social media to honor Anton Yelchin. The 27-year-old actor died on June 19, after a freak vehicular accident. Justin and Anton acted together in the 2006 film Alpha Dog.

Number 2: Desiigner "Panda"



Holding in second place is Desiigner, with his million-selling debut smash Panda. Its a former chart-topper in the United States, but hows it doing internationally? Its doing pretty well, hitting fourth place in Canada and New Zealand, and reaching the Top 10 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the U.K.

Number 1: Drake Featuring Wizkid & Kyla "One Dance"



Meanwhile, not only does Drake continue to command our hit list, he also won a bunch of awards on June 19.



Drake earned five wins at the IHeart Radio MuchMusic Video Awards in his hometown of Toronto, Canada. Although he was the nights biggest winner, Drake wasnt there to pick up the trophies: he was in the Dominican Republic, shooting a video with French Montana.

Thats it for now, but come back in a week and well do it all over again!
If you can't beat them, join them.

That's the attitude of a growing number of big banks, which have been locked in a battle against an unlikely competitor: web-based financial advisors. Slowly but surely, those foes appear to be winning by default as they force banks to adapt to the brave new world of giving financial advice online.

Wall Street has been stuck in what one executive recently said was "the Dark Ages" of wealth management services that haven't kept pace with technological change. With a generational wealth transfer of $30 trillion under way, how consumers respond to the overall shift to digital money management is set to play a big role in the future  and the bottom line  of some of Wall Street's most prominent financial services firms.

While big banks have been slow to confront the challenge posed by up-and-coming online fund managers, or robo-advisors, that may be changing. As a result, companies like Bank of America are responding by bolstering their existing web-based capabilities.





"We are constantly looking for ways to make the financial lives of our clients better," said Aron Levine, head of Merrill Edge at BofA.

"We see an opportunity for an automated portfolio management offering that could complement the advice and guidance offered by our financial solutions advisors," he said. "It's too soon to discuss any specifics, but any offering would be a natural extension of our existing platform."


Britain's departure from the 28-member European Union may be the start of something bigger, and far more chaotic.

Brexit has roiled world markets and divided other E.U. members, amid rumblings of other countries wishing to hold a vote on continued membership. One former diplomat told CNBC that the process of Great Britain leaving the community of European nations, which may take years, is likely to be fraught with peril and tension.

"It will be a messy divorce between the United Kingdom and the E.U.," says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. So could Brexit be the beginning of the end of the European Union itself?

"Quite possibly, if not the end of it, certainly the change of it," the former State Department official told "On The Money" in a recent interview.

"The scary thing, the frightening thing about this vote is it may have set in motion trends (in) which the entire E.U. itself," Haass predicts, "will begin to unravel."

Haass, a Republican and former State Department director of policy planning, was a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He says other "exit" votes could be ahead, as populist movements in countries like France, Italy and Spain gain momentum.

"Other countries in the E.U. may want to have their own referenda, and the E.U. is wildly unpopular," Haass said. "I think it creates all sorts of questions about this thing called the 'European project'."
The Brexit was not the only act of rebellion this week to rock the world's political establishment. The world was also greeted by an American version of a political shocker. A congressional sit-in demanding a vote on gun control, led by veteran civil rights campaigner and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., was in its 20th hour when C-SPAN cameras used to broadcast House business were shut off by the Republicans (deemed "in recess subject to the chair," in the technical congressional parlance).

John Lewis (D-GA), (3rd L), James Clyburn (D-SC), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Charles Rangel, (D-NY), right, speak with supporters outside the U.S. Capitol building June 23, 2016 in Washington, DC. Allison Shelley | Getty Images

Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., took to Twitter's Periscope live video app to stream the protest. For the first time in history, C-SPAN broadcast the doings of the U.S. government through a social media account. Other congressional leaders followed Peters lead, broadcasting the event via Facebook Live. "We're doing our best to fill the void," Peters tweeted, using #TurnOnTheCameras. House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed it as a "publicity stunt," but has the American public possibly just witnessed the birth of a new form of filibuster direct from the floor of Congress, produced by Facebook and Twitter ? In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring protests, activists used platforms like Facebook to raise awareness about political movements. Egyptians and Tunisians alike referred to themselves as "the Facebook generation," exemplifying their break away from the nonmodernized past. Social media gurus and political analysts say that we could be seeing the first steps in a parallel revolution from the heart of the political establishment, and using an issue, gun control, that has wide support from the American public but remains an intractable legislative battle between the nation's two major political parties.



Going rogue

"Our rogue broadcast opened up our dialogue on gun safety to the world," said Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. "I've been an ardent evangelist to other Members about adopting platforms like Twitter, Facebook Live, Periscope and Snapchat to keep their constituents in the know, and I'll continue to do so."

"Communication is going through the biggest shift since the printing press," said Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia, who said this week's action was an effective strategy from the Democrats. "There's a reason communist countries take control of the media." Political analyst Hernan Molina, who specializes in issues of importance to the Latin-American community, said gun control in some form has majority support of the general public but it isn't a conversation Republicans want to have, "They're trying to make Republicans pay the political price." The live streaming sit-in came after a 15-hour filibuster in the Senate and four failed voted in the Senate over gun control measures.

America and gun-control polling



Eight-five percent of Americans favor background checks on all private gun and gun show sales, according to Pew Research report from earlier this year.



In a just-released poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, 51 percent of Americans favored a ban on assault weapons, while 30 percent opposed it (19 percent were undecided)  but many Americans expressed ambivalence about how effective such a ban would be. In the biggest split, 50 percent of Americas worry the government would go too far in gun control legislation, while 47 percent of Americans worry the government will not regulate firearms access enough, the poll showed.



A Gallup poll after the San Bernardino, California mass shooting last year showed 71 percent of Americans in favor of banning gun sales to people on the federal no-fly watch list, expressing the belief it would be "effective."



This was not the first time the lights went out in Congress. In 2008, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned out the lights and cut off microphones on Republicans protesting over gas prices. But Brad Shear, who runs a law firm that specializes in social media law and public policy issues, dubbed Periscope's role in #NoBillNoBreak (the Twitter hashtag for the gun control sit-in), "The first social media filibuster." (Technically, the actual filibuster tactic in U.S. federal politics can only be used in the Senate.) Shear thinks the Democratic party's guerrilla film has inadvertently created a phenomenon, but added that if it is to be effective in the future, the key will be selectivity. "If lawmakers overuse these platforms they will lose their effectiveness," Shear said. "The key is pulling this arrow out of the quiver at the appropriate time and seizing a political moment."

Decades-old House rules from the pre-internet era shouldn't blind our nation to what their elected representatives are doing, or what they're refusing to do. Rep. Eric Swalwell

watch now

watch now

watch now
Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York. Andrew Kelly | Reuters

A streak of luminous rainbow colors greeted revelers at the 2016 San Francisco gay pride parade, with the celebration tempered by sober reminders of the massacre in an Orlando nightclub that left about 50 people dead and scores wounded. Gay pride celebrations across the U.S. on Sunday included cities such as New York a Chicago, where a heightened police presence was notable. In San Francisco, hundreds of uniformed officers lined the streets in an effort to safeguard the area from potential threats. SF tweet

Both uniformed and plain clothed officers were on site to monitor this year's parade as well as other Pride activities throughout the city. Organizers of the parade put in place security measures that included metal detectors at all points of entry and limiting the size of bags brought by attendees.



Mourners gather under an LGBT pride flag in San Diego, California, during a candlelight vigil in remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, June 12, 2016. Mike Blake | Reuters

It's been exactly two weeks since a gunman opened fire at Pulse, a Orlando night club where gunman Omar Mateen slaughtered 49 people before being killed by police. The scene became the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history. Earlier this month at the World Wide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the even with a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Orlando shooting, which he called an "unconscionable act of terrorism." Cook is one of the few openly gay CEOs of a Fortune 500 company. "We must remain strong and vigilant in the face of such hatred." said the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade and Celebration committee in a statement. "We are unbowed and unbroken by this attack, and will continue on in the memory of those who lost their lives for simply expressing their true selves."

At Sunday's festivities in San Francisco, Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Airbnb and Salesforce had a strong showing. Adobe had 450 employees in attendance, while Facebook had contingents in San Francisco as 15 additional cities.

Yahoo tweet

Absolut Vodka shows support of the LGBT community Source: Absolut

The two-day celebration has come a long way from its humble beginnings in June of 1972. When it first launched, the parade could barely fill up the confines of Market Street Yet on Sunday, the parade drew an estimated about 1 million attendees over the course of two days.


"It's not yet clear fewer people are going to get around cities so maybe it [Brexit] doesn't have as much of an effect on city transportation.As long as there's still roads and people in London, there's still great opportunities for us."

Speaking during a CNBC panel at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said a Brexit didn't pose any immediate challenges to his business, which is valued at more than $60 billion.

Uber, the ride-hailing app that has quickly gained a global presence, isn't concerned about the United Kingdom's decision to disrupt Europe's economic boundaries, its CEO said.

The U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union (EU) sent shockwaves across the world last Thursday and left many industries wondering about its long-term effects.



"It's harder for us to see the major impact [of Brexit] and what we do day to day," Kalanick continued. "We just need to continue serving people, making sure we can help people get to to work is a key tenet for making our system work."



Exploring the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the main theme of this year's WEF conference. Described as "the advent of cyber-physical systems involving entirely new capabilities for people and machines," according to WEF, the theme is especially pertinent for players such as Uber and Airbnb who are credited with restructuring the traditional industries of transportation and hotels.



"I guarantee you that by 2025, we're not going to waving at cars anymore," Kalanick laughed, referring to the taxi-hailing process.



But in order to get to that scenario, existing regulation needs a complete make-over, he noted.



"As tech gets more wound into cities, innovators are now dealing with the physical world, which is highly regulated. Many of these tools are defined to protect existing players and those protections hinder new innovationshow do we write new rules that better serve people and progress?"



Kalanick appeared unconcerned about its second place in China to homegrown ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, noting that his business remained focused on "serving riders and drivers better."



That long-term thinking also applied to Uber's stance on an initial public offering (IPO), the topic of much speculation in the tech industry.



"An IPO can slow a company down and make you think more short-term so we're going to wait as long as we can."



While Uber does have an obligation to its investors, Kalanick explained the act of going public can add unnecessary bureaucracy to a company's business strategy.



"Ultimately, a large injection of liquidity is required, certainly for employees that will be important. We're only six years old, so it will happen eventually."
The Polish National Bank said June 6 that a new 500-zloty note (the equivalent of $128) will enter circulation in February 2017 with a portrait of King Jan III Sobieski.

A year after it was announced, the Polish National Bank (Narodowy Bank Polski) said on June 6 that a new 500-zloty note (the equivalent of $128) will enter circulation in February 2017. The bank note will complete the Rulers of Poland series with a profile portrait of King Jan (John) III Sobieski, who reigned from 1674 to 1696. The back has Polands coat of arms with the imperial eagle and one of the countrys most important monuments, the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw.

This concludes a bank note redesign that began in 2014 with the issue of the first four notes  a 10-zloty note (Prince Mieszko I), a 20-zloty note (the first Polish king, Boleslaus the Brave), a 50-zloty note (Casimir III the Great) and a 100-zloty note (Ladislaus II Jagiello). A 200-zloty note with Sigismund I was issued this past February.

Connect with Coin World:

The bank claims that the modernization of its currency to include all the latest in security measures resulted in a significant drop in counterfeits. It says that more than 1.77 billion bank notes now circulate in Poland and it has recorded only 4.6 false bank notes per million, about half the number in previous years.

The new series of notes were all designed by Andrzej Heidrich and are produced for the National Bank by the Polish Security Printing Works SA.

Detailed descriptions of all of Polands bank notes and coins are on the banks website.
In 2 days, 80-20 has received 550 supportive emails. We should have received 667 ( 1,000 x 2/3). If our community can't even pass the first of many litmus tests to come - the last one being winning the lawsuit, then we

are not ready.

If you don't agree, then take a few minutes to send in your supportive email,

or inspire your friends to send in theirs. We 450 supportive emails today.

Why the litmus test? If 80-20 decides to file a lawsuit to stop the elite school from openly discriminating AsAm students, it'll be the BIGGEST fight it has even handled. We need to measure our internal resolve . 550 supportive emails in 2 days is very good, but we need the BIGGEST EMOTION & RESOLVE.

Read the words of the 3 Supreme Court justices again:

"... But UT's plan discriminates against Asian American students ... including racial discriminates that undeniably harms Asian Ams ... the court's willingness to allow this "discrimination against individuals of Asian descent is particularly troubling, in light of the long history of discrimination against Asian Americans, especially in education ... In particular, the Fifth Circuit's willful blindness to Asian-American students is absolutely shameless ."

If we accept such clear discrimination against us sitting down, ...

How it could affect your lives materially:

Will they be encourages to lower the glass ceiling in your workplace?

Will the barrier in college admissions against your children be raised?

Will they intern you , when, God forbid, there would be a war between

the US and some Asian nations?

How it could affect your family life:

Will your children still respect you?

Will your spouse still respect you?

Can you look into the mirror and still maintain self respect?

Who Are the Most Shameless?

Will it be the liberal justices in the Supreme court and Fifth Circuit court?

Will it be our rich who gave generously to elite schools without asking them

to not discriminate against AsAm students, and without donating to our

community's organizations which fight against such discrimination?

Or will it be us, if we take such clear discrimination against us sitting down ?
What you need to know ahead of mandatory CWD sampling in Missouri

outdoors
SHARE Doug Oliver

By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  Doug Oliver knows the power of a personal story.

People are clearly moved whenever he tells them he was legally blind for years but can see again, thanks to advances in medical technology.

If his story can move people, he figures, maybe it can help move legislation through Congress.

"I came here with an agenda," Oliver said last week, ahead of a series of meetings with congressional lawmakers.

At the top of that agenda: Make sure lawmakers understand that the kinds of treatment that restored his vision are available now and could help other people, if only Congress would remove regulatory barriers standing in the way.

Oliver, who lives in Nashville, shared his story with more than two dozen lawmakers in hopes it would encourage them to pass comprehensive biomedical legislation that could come up for a vote in the Senate in a few weeks.

The bill, championed by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, would speed approval of drugs and medical devices and boost funding for medical research into treatments and cures for diseases like cancer and the hereditary condition that robbed Oliver of his eyesight.

Alexander, who heads the Senate committee that oversees health issues, was so touched by Oliver's story that he asked for his input on the legislation and arranged for Oliver to meet with other senators.

"The more senators of either party hear these stories," Alexander said, "the more eager they will be to resolve any remaining differences we have and finish the bill."

Oliver, 54, underwent stem-cell treatment in Florida last August to correct a rare form of macular degeneration, an incurable disease that severely impaired the vision in both his eyes.

Oliver regained much of his eyesight after taking part in the Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Study, a privately funded, federally approved trial under way at Retinal Associates of South Florida, a clinic near Fort Lauderdale.

Last August, doctors used a needle to extract stem cells from Oliver's hip bone, spun them in a centrifuge, and then injected them into the damaged areas of his eyes. The goal was to see if the stem cells would grow into healthy cells and restore his vision.

Almost immediately, Oliver's eyesight started to improve. He's now able to drive for the first time in a decade.

As inspiring as his story is, Oliver recognizes there's even greater power in numbers. So he arranged for four other people who underwent the same treatment to join him on Capitol Hill and share their stories with lawmakers.

Vanna Belton, a Baltimore restaurant owner who tried everything from herbs and acupuncture to restore her vision, had the stem-cell surgery two years ago and now sees well enough to read her own menus.

Jennifer Carden of San Diego was stunned when, after undergoing the treatment two years ago, she looked out her window and could see, in the distance, a bug caught in a spider web.

Robin Blum of Washington, D.C., lost her job because of poor vision. It's already started to improve even though she had the procedure done just last May.

Nine months after she had the treatment, Theresa Taylor's improvement hasn't been as dramatic. But the Burlington, Wisconsin, mother of two still dreams of watching her kids hit a home run without depending on someone else to tell her when they're at bat.

"The worst feeling for a mother," she said, "is to hear somebody else cheer for your kid, and you're like, 'What did they do?'"

Oliver is convinced those stories can make a difference if lawmakers will only listen.

And for several days last week, they did. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who lost the vision in his right eye in an exercising accident, met with Oliver for an hour and an half.

"We had a very personal conversation," Oliver said, declining to offer details.

The meeting ended with Reid giving him a bear hug.

Other meetings also left Oliver hopeful that his story  and the stories of the four other people  provided just the spark needed to get the legislation moving.

"This might be a fire catching on," he said.
Patrick T. Fallon/ The Washington Post Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, his brother David and their allies are on track to spend about $750 million during this election cycle. Much of the money flows into an alliance of powerful nonprofit groups including Americans for Prosperity.

SHARE

By Matea Gold, Washington Post

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.  Jeremy Baker, a field director for the Americans for Prosperity conservative group, was looping through this neatly manicured Philadelphia suburb on a mission this month to make the case against Democratic Senate contender Katie McGinty.

But nearly every voter had someone else on their minds: Donald Trump.

"I thought you were going to ask about the presidential campaign," said Laura Ocker, a registered Republican in her 50s who had quickly assured Baker that she was voting for GOP Sen. Patrick Toomey. "That's a lot harder."

Baker let the comment pass. The 1,200 people employed by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and other groups in the Koch brothers' political network are mute when it comes to Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

It's an odd situation for the powerful conservative operation, which was expected to harness its sprawling machinery on behalf of this year's Republican nominee. But Trump's incendiary statements and inconsistent policy stances have dismayed Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist who leads the network and has said he is unlikely to support the real estate mogul. Instead, Koch-backed groups are training their resources on boosting vulnerable Republican Senate candidates.

Last week, AFP launched ground operations on behalf of GOP incumbents in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin  the earliest the group has ever begun making explicit political appeals in the field.

But just a few hours into the effort, it was apparent how difficult it will be to avoid Trump's outsize presence in the campaign. And it was clear that even if the Koch network stays out of the presidential race, it could still end up being one of Trump's best assets.

The Koch operation's field teams are gathering reams of information on voters in key battleground states, intelligence that filters back to the Republican National Committee and GOP candidates through a data-sharing agreement. Even more valuable is the early organizing push by the network's robust ground force, which far outstrips Trump's meager field operation and could help prod ambivalent voters to the polls.

That includes voters such as police Officer Joe Glasgow, who was just waking up after working a night shift when Baker stopped by his home on a drizzly morning to discuss the Senate race.

Glasgow assured the AFP organizer that he liked Toomey, then offered, unbidden: "I'm not a big Trump guy." But he will probably end up voting for the GOP candidate, he told a reporter later, adding, "I despise Hillary Clinton."

Over the next three days, AFP's state organizers and volunteers and staff from around the country blitzed 375,000 independent and Republican-leaning voters in Pennsylvania and 434,000 in Wisconsin with porch visits and phone calls. The network's top Senate race priorities also include Nevada and probably Florida  all swing states that will be pivotal in the White House race.

Corey Lewandowski, who departed his job as Trump's campaign manager on Monday, said last week, "I would think any effort to turn out Republican and right-leaning voters would benefit Mr. Trump."

Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden said the organization's current focus is simply on promoting Senate candidates. He declined to discuss a private meeting he had last week with Trump campaign officials at their request. But he said network officials have yet to see a presidential candidate who shares their commitment to limited government and is not engaging in "mudslinging."

"Our priorities are always the issues and the framework for a free society," said Holden, who serves on the board of Freedom Partners, the network's main funding arm. "This cycle, we've looked at where we have candidates that match up with that and the policies we care about."

Charles Koch, his brother David and their conservative brethren are on track to spend $750 million this cycle through the network, with roughly a third  $250 million  financing the policy and political campaigns of groups such as AFP, Freedom Partners Action Fund, Concerned Veterans for America, the LIBRE Initiative and Generation Opportunity, officials said.

That's less than the $889 million goal that the network set out to spend at the beginning of the two-year election cycle, in part because of the network's decision to stay out of the presidential race. Holden said the original figure was more of "wish-list number" that was adjusted "to reflect the reality of where we are now."

Even with a smaller footprint, the Koch operation is viewed as singular by both sides of the aisle. Most of the money flows into an alliance of nonprofit groups, allowing the organization to exert tremendous influence without revealing its donors.

"I think it's the most powerful machinery that has ever been assembled to execute at the state level," said Rob Stein, a Democratic strategist who has studied conservative political networks. "They have created a virtual political party."

Already, the network has spent $15.4 million on ads in Senate races and has reserved $30 million more for August and September. But much of the funds in this cycle are going into expanding its ground force and intensifying a data-analytics effort conducted by a Freedom Partners-backed company called i360, which maintains profiles of 194 million voters.

"After the 2012 election, we realized our capabilities weren't where they needed to be," Holden said. "We really upped our game and our investment in the permanent infrastructure."

The central database maintained by i360 includes information gleaned from tens of millions of voter contacts made by Koch network groups, along with data from numerous Republican campaigns that have hired the company and agreed to share the data they collected in the field. In this election cycle, i360 has more than 200 GOP campaigns and state parties as clients, officials said.

That reach has allowed the company to deepen its portraits of each voter. Currently, i360 has at least 400 to 500 pieces of data  and in some cases thousands of pieces  about each individual. The firm's president, Michael Palmer, said a regular flow of new information makes it possible to constantly refresh and refine voter profiles.

"Voters' minds change," Palmer said. "Making sure that data is updated in real time, or at least on a daily basis, so it's actionable to the field is key to what we've built over the last few years."

The company spent most of last year engaged in data-science experiments, working to better identify not only which voters need persuasion but also which messages are most likely to move them, Palmer said. That information feeds directly back to volunteers on the ground, who are automatically served up scripts on their iPads tailored to the homes they are contacting.

"If you go up to someone even remotely interested in health care and you say, 'Obamacare,' in the first breath, they are almost always going to talk to you," said Tim Phillips, AFP's president.

The network is also pouring resources into tests that measure the effectiveness of various political tactics. In one experiment in Ohio in April, the organization found that waging an intense door and phone-call program over one weekend was comparable to a three-week television ad buy in lowering Democratic candidate and former governor Ted Strickland's favorability ratings.

That's one reason that AFP decided to launch an early effort on the ground this month directly advocating for specific candidates, rather than the softer issue-based campaigns it typically runs until closer to Election Day. As a nonprofit "social welfare" organization, the group is permitted to spend less than half of its money on such political activity.

"You guys get a sneak preview of what we're going to be doing pretty aggressively over the next few months," AFP's Pennsylvania state director, Beth Anne Mumford, told a group of volunteers gathered in a small office in a King of Prussia office park last Thursday.

Mumford and a group headed out into the wet morning with piles of slick brochures featuring a picture of a man holding a fistful of cash over the words, "Pennsylvanians Cannot Afford Katie McGinty In The Senate."

Most of the voters they encountered were already solidly committed to back Toomey, such as Ocker. But she sighed heavily when a reporter asked about her views on Trump.

"I still believe in the Republican Party, but I have mixed feelings about the candidate," she said. "He doesn't stick to one viewpoint, which scares me."

So how does she plan to vote? Will she sit out the presidential race?

Ocker paused. "I think I probably will vote Republican."
SHARE

By Michael Gerson

WASHINGTON  Oh God  and I mean the entreaty seriously  the Trump/evangelical summit in New York was just as bad as some of us feared.

More than 900 conservative Christian leaders, put in a susceptible mood by a "prayer guide" ("Acknowledge any personal feelings that would keep you from honoring Mr. Trump for his participation") witnessed Donald Trump field some softball questions. This was reassuring enough to reward him with a standing ovation and a positive buzz. Trump can now (accurately) assume that these clerics and activists won't be giving him much more trouble.

Many participants insist they haven't yet given Trump their endorsement. The whole event, however, was taken  by the press, public and Trump campaign itself  as an evangelical stamp of approval. Seldom has a group seemed more eager to be exploited.

No one, remarkably, asked Trump to explain the moral theory that has guided his gyrations on the abortion issue  from supporter of partial-birth abortion to advocate of punishment for women who have abortions. That, presumably, would have been impolite. And few were offended when Trump used the occasion to question Hillary Clinton's faith. "She's been in the public eye for years and years," he said, "and yet there's no  there's nothing out there." It is like watching a man insult a mirror.

In the course of the event, Trump promised to nominate judges whom evangelicals would favor; to change laws that restrict church involvement in partisan politics; and to foster a cultural ethos that allows the unapologetic usage of "Merry Christmas." "You get racism, misogyny, torture and an authoritarian as commander in chief," one evangelical leader wrote me, "but you'll get to hear 'Merry Christmas' in stores. Now that's the art of the deal."

There is a case for reluctant support of Trump over Clinton  a weak one, I think, but embraced by some serious people. Yet this event was not the tortured search for partial truths in a fallen world. It was a sad parody of Christian political involvement, summarizing all the faults and failures of the religious right.

We were reminded, first, that many religious conservatives are a cheap political date. The late Chuck Colson often described how, during the Nixon administration, religious leaders (as opposed to, say, union leaders) were easily impressed and tamed by the proximity to power. After Tuesday's meeting, the Christian writer Eric Metaxas, in promoting his radio show, tweeted "I WAS RIGHT THERE!" Why such wide-eyed reactions from some in attendance? A panting desire for affirmation rooted in feelings of inferiority? A disorienting fear of fading cultural influence? Whatever the motivation, the public has seen a movement content with a pat on the head and a scratch under the chin.

We are reminded, second, that much of the religious right's criticism of President Bill Clinton's character was a ploy. Franklin Graham now argues that because Abraham lied, Moses disobeyed God and David committed adultery, Trump should get a pass, not just on his personal behavior, but on his deception, cruelty and appeal to bigotry. It is a non sequitur revealing the cynical subordination of faith to politics.

Third, we are seeing a group focused on the rights and privileges of their own community, rather than the welfare of others  the poor, struggling and vulnerable. Many in that room do wonderful good works. But they have reduced Christian political involvement to a narrow, special interest  and a particularly angry and unattractive one. A powerful source of passion for social justice  a faith that once motivated abolitionism and various movements for civil and human rights  has been tamed and trivialized.

It is not the first time. During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, one of the main organs of white evangelical opinion, Christianity Today, defended "voluntary segregation," criticized the March on Washington as a "mob spectacle" and took the side of the University of Mississippi against James Meredith. While that magazine is now a vocal advocate for racial reconciliation and social justice, the bad political choices of many evangelicals at a defining moral moment still damn and damage their movement.

It is happening again. Evangelical leaders, motivated by political self-interest, are cozying up to a leader who has placed bigotry and malice at the center of American politics. They are defending the rights of their faith while dishonoring its essence. Genuine social influence will not come by putting Christ back into Christmas; it will come by putting Christ and his priorities back into more Christians.

Contact Michael Gerson at michaelgerson@washpost.com.
If anyone in British politics knows the pain of defeat, it is the Eurosceptics. For more than 40 years  longer than I have been alive  we lost on almost everything. Aside from keeping Britain out of the Euro, those four decades were a story of defeat after defeat  Maastricht, Nice, Lisbon, the erosion of the British legal system, the partial loss of the rebate, the transfer of more and more powers from Westminster to Brussels, the emergence of EU diplomatic and defence functions, the sacrifice of veto after veto. At every turn we were outgunned, outmanoeuvred, outclassed and outwitted.

That hurt. So we of all people can understand the grief  and thats the right word for it  that many Remainers felt after their referendum defeat. Its not a nice experience, and we shouldnt mock it.

That isnt to say that we should indulge all expressions of that grieving process, though. The claim, indulged by too many broadcasters, that there was some widespread trend of remorse among Leave voters which somehow invalidated the result was bunkum  based on nothing more than some TV vox pops, and not backed up by any objective evidence. In a way its understandable that some might hope against hope for a silver bullet to make the result go away, but it is unhealthy to give any credence such straw-grasping.

Far less forgivable are those who dont even pretend that the result was somehow unrepresentative, but instead deny the right of Leave voters to have an equal say in the future of their nation. It should be emphasised that they are a minority  most Remain voters have honourably if sadly accepted the result  but the irreconcilables are still a sizeable group. The petition trying to implement a retrospective supermajority rule now stands at three million signatures  though thats at the more moderate, and thus more numerous, end of the spectrum.

Other responses were much worse. Suddenly, on Friday and Saturday, it became fashionable to argue that older voters views were less legitimate as they would have to live with the consequences of the decision for less time than the young. Leave aside the absurdity of an idea which by implication suggests that pension policy would be better decided by toddlers than by people of working age, and consider how personally unpleasant the argument is. Youre going to die soon, your views dont count, is one hell of a line from those who claimed on Monday to be kind. Ought the terminally ill, as well as just the elderly, be denied the right to vote, too? And if younger voters are the only source of valid authority on the future of the nation, why did most of them fail to turn out?

It isnt just the old who are the target of this contempt. Like many others, my Facebook timeline (populated mainly by friends fortunate enough to go to university) was filled with an outpouring of bile against those less well-educated and less well-off than them. Morons had made the wrong decision, they should never have been allowed to vote, they didnt represent the real Britain  Im sure none of those writing such things would have acknowledged it as such, but this was a rage against the dispossessed, against the poor and against the left-behind, as well as against the old.

Many of those sentiments may well have ebbed in the 48 hours since. Rage, like grief, can do funny things to otherwise reasonable and decent people when it is at full flow, and things said in its depths are often regretted afterwards. But we need to talk about the fact that these feelings exist and are increasingly acceptable among a certain section of our society. This rejection of a democratic defeat wasnt a one-off  we saw it to a lesser but still vitriolic degree after last years General Election, and in the protests outside Conservative Party Conference.

As I wrote above, grief and pain at defeat over something about which one cares deeply is entirely understandable. What I suspect intensified this feeling for some Remainers, though, is that the experience was a rare one. If youre part of the group who have the dominant, centre-left view of the world, things have broadly gone your way in recent years. Yes, you dislike the Conservative Government and austerity, but the wriggle room is always there to blame that on Murdoch and the First Past the Post system. Now, in a massive democratic exercise on a binary question, you have just been outvoted by millions of people whom you cant understand and whom you are unlikely ever to have met. If you do come across them in daily life, your reaction might be tinged with that of Matthew Parris when considering the people of Clacton:

Clacton-on-Sea is going nowhere. Its voters are going nowhere, its rather sad, and theres nothing more to say. This is Britain on crutches. This is tracksuit-and-trainers Britain, tattoo-parlour Britain, all-our-yesterdays Britain.

If you are indeed in this situation, theres something you havent yet considered: this undoubtedly painful experience of being outvoted by people you do not identify with and do not understand is most likely a first for you, but for many Leave voters it is the story of every single day of their lives until now. When they wanted the right to elect and sack the people who made their own laws, they were mocked as little Englanders. When they were concerned about immigration, they were dismissed as racists. When they wondered why their jobs had been lost and not replaced but London was still booming, they were ignored as mere occupants of a regional scrapheap. When they put an England flag outside their house to support their country, they were sneered at by Shadow Cabinet ministers. They felt grief and confusion of being endlessly defeated on issues which they believed were common sense and obvious  the same grief you feel now, and not just once but for years on end.

There was a wonderful moment in a clip on Newsnight on Friday, in which a Vote Leave activist in Burnley learned the result on camera in the early hours of that morning. Her face lit up, then dissolved into tears: We did iteverybody woke up in timeeverybody listened, everybody understands. Yes, its gonna be rough at the beginning, butweve done it. Her vote and her voice had counted, perhaps for the first time, and it was visibly a life-changing experience.

People dismissing this result as the product of ignorance, hate and stupidity ought to take a moment to try to understand her tears and her joy. First, because they deserve to be acknowledged and understood and accepted as every bit as legitimate as the opposite feelings on the losing side. But also because a retreat into denial will take Remainers nowhere. Ranting that it isnt fair, and that everyone else is to blame for your defeat, is a road to nowhere. Trust me, I know  Im a Eurosceptic.
SUBSCRIBE

Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox.
SHARE

When I walk behind Howard and Connie Norlin's home, usually in the evenings when the trees cool into shadows, I see 93-year-old Howard puttering on his back porch or working in the yard, and I vow to introduce myself and visit.

Last week I followed through, and here's why: "Older" usually connects to "wiser," and I've been looking for wisdom, wondering why it's so evasive. I've noticed that understanding often rides in on the back of longevity, and between Howard and his wife, Connie, the couple has lived 186 years.

Howard's parents both came to America as immigrants from Sweden and met in Duluth, Minnesota. Howard was born there and went to middle and high school with Connie. On a toboggan outing together, the two learned that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, and  like 9/11 for this generation  this pivotal event altered personal histories. "The next morning, everything was changed for us," Howard says, "Talk of college was put aside." Howard joined the Navy, and Connie went to Washington D.C., to work for the State Department.

When Howard was assigned to a naval hospital in Boston, the two decided to marry in what they called "a quiet, loving ceremony" in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1944. These seven decades later, the tiny Connie still leans in to hear Howard speak, and he touches her hand, seats her comfortably in the recliner, raises the footrest and closes the blinds against the sun to protect her eyes. She is gentle and quiet, and just above a whisper she tells me, "Every day we're conscious of how grateful we are for each other."

I file the comment away as my first lessons in Norlin wisdom: Love endures; gratefulness matters.

Connie tells me that Howard spoils her, and Howard replies, "She's so easy to live with."

Not that every year has been as idyllic as their life together now, a block away from their daughter, Barb, who comes to drive them to the grocery store and doctors' appointments, as well as to "prayer and knitting group at Old North Methodist" (for Connie). Both lived through the depression, the WPA, years with lard and sugar sandwiches, a grandchild lost in a traffic accident and many moves with Howard's career with GE.

Today the Norlins live in a house designed by their son Wayne, a retired architect, in a neighborhood of "good neighbors," with grandchildren (and triplet great-grandchildren) who visit and broaden their minds. Grandson Scott Hart, who with his mother's help, bound a history of his grandparents' life, describes his grandfather as conservative, but Howard's conservatism has been stretched by time and experience into a flexible understanding.

"You have to learn to accept things, " Howard says. He tells me of his extended family, complete with immigrants, nontraditional partners and relationships he has learned to value as customs change and evolve. "We have all nationalities and denominations," he says. "That teaches acceptance."

Lessons in wisdom three and four: Acceptance and flexibility.

Howard is quick to add that there are important things that never change. "When you make a promise, keep it. Strong parents are important." These are definites.

Howard shows me Connie's new magenta Rollator that helps her balance, he tells me she doesn't navigate the slanted driveway anymore on foot, and he gently holds her arm when she walks.

Lesson five: Strong and constant love is vital, parental and otherwise.

Maybe I knew these five nuggets of wisdom at some level, but not the way I see them played out before me in this couple that has been together lovingly for 72 years.

Grandson Scott writes in the foreword to the book he made for his grandparents: "Before my wedding in September of 2007, the first bound version of this autobiography will be presented  in recognition of their love and devotion [which] I hope to carry forward in my life and marriage."

The preferred guest hotel for Scott's wedding was The New Yorker Hotel on 34th Street in New York City.

On page 73 of the book bound for Howard and Connie is a copy of a receipt for their stay at this very hotel in September of 1944, 53 years, almost to the day, earlier. The total of the night's stay? $5.34.

Some things do change, of course, but the important things stay the same.
It's been over 48 years since Sgt. 1st Class Jim Pfister's helicopter was shot down over the jungles of Vietnam. The Carmi, Ill. resident and Evansville native was a door gunner when his chopper crashed Jan. 6, 1968. The next morning, all four crew members were captured and held in a POW camp for over five years.

Over the years, Pfister has been exceptionally humble about his military service, noting he doesn't deserve any special treatment because of his Vietnam experience. There are others who don't see it that way.

On Saturday, Jim Pfister became the first Stanley "Build Your America" beneficiary. It's a project of the House of Heroes program which honors the service and sacrifice of veterans with no-cost repairs to their homes.

Teams of craftsmen, supported by 20 soldiers from the 160th Special Operations Aviation regiment and the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) descended on Mr. Pfister's home, renovating his home's master bath, powder room, den and laundry room. Workers also replaced the furnace flue, repaired the driveway and power washed the front walk and backyard patio. It was a $10,000 makeover at no cost to Mr. Pfister.

Last week, I interviewed Jim about the honor. And again, he was exceptionally humble. "I asked my wife Karen 'Do I deserve this?' Pfister said. "I don't want any special treatment because of my Vietnam experience."

During my conversation with Jim, he was glad to talk about being only 17 when he enlisted in the Army. He also spoke about the day his chopper was shot down and his capture by the Viet Cong. And he had no problem talking about March 5, 1973, the day he was freed from captivity as part of Operation Homecoming. What he didn't discuss were the 1,887 days between those two events.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about that. My father served in the Army during WW II. Because he had only one eye, he was assigned to the medical corps. Dad told me stories about the day he received his draft notice in the mail, and the day he arrived overseas. He talked about how happy he was to return home to his family, but said virtually nothing about the years in between.

I cannot imagine the horrific treatment that Jim Pfister and the other soldiers endured during their captivity. But he survived and made it home to his family. What's fascinating to me is that after all he endured in the jungles of Vietnam as a POW; he decided to continue his military service after the war.

After Vietnam, Jim served stateside primarily as a Supply NCO until his military retirement in 1986. He then went on to serve as a Veterans Representative for the State of Indiana Workforce Development until his retirement in 2010.

Jim may not think he deserves any special treatment for what he calls his "Vietnam experience". But fortunately, he has a friend that understood his service and sacrifice and nominated him for the House of Heroes honor.

Jim summed it all up when he said, "They're giving back to veterans. This is making a difference to my whole life."

We should thank Jim and all our veterans for their service to this great nation.
SHARE

Education is not about adding information to what you know. It's about correcting what you only think you know. I was reminded of this recently while reading Erik Larson's 2015 book "Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania."

Like many my age, I vaguely remembered from history lessons that the Lusitania was a luxury liner sunk by the Germans in a surprise attack during World War I, killing many Americans and leading the U.S. to enter the war on the side of the Allies. The parallels between its sinking and that of the Titanic a few years earlier were striking.

What I didn't realize was that my understanding was, except in large outline, almost totally wrong.

The ship was indeed a luxury liner and it was sunk by a German submarine, or U-boat, but the attack was hardly a surprise. Larson points out that Germany actually took out advertisements in New York newspapers the day the Lusitania set sail for Liverpool (May 1, 1915) urging people not to board the ship because it would be entering a war zone and therefore susceptible to attack.

Indeed, passengers and crew either saw the ads themselves or heard about them from others. There was talk of little else during the voyage than the possibility of being torpedoed.

Regarding loss of American lives, of the 1,195 people who died in the disaster, only 123 were Americans  barely 10 percent. And more to the point, though the boat sank on May 7, 1915, the U.S. did not enter the war until April 6, 1917  almost two years later.

If the Lusitania was the instigator, it sure took a long time to take effect.

Parallels to the Titanic incident are also outweighed by differences. The Titanic struck an iceberg far out at sea and took more than two hours to sink beneath the waves. The accident occurred at night and took the life of, among many others, the ship's captain, Edward Smith. A significant (though nowhere near sufficient) number of people entered lifeboats and were eventually saved by several ships, mainly the Cunard liner Carpathia, which steamed to the Titanic's location as soon as they received the distress calls.

In contrast, the Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes in calm seas in sight of the Irish coast on a clear and bright afternoon. The short time span and the boat's severe list prohibited the successful deploying of more than a few lifeboats; most of those who survived were picked up from the water wearing life jackets. And the captain, William Turner, though he did "go down with the ship," was among those rescued.

Most tellingly, no large ships approached the scene to rescue people, fearing that the U-boat might still be in the area looking for additional targets.

But perhaps the biggest secret unearthed by Larson's book is that the British Admiralty knew a German sub was in the Lusitania's path yet refused to send destroyers to accompany it. The author suggests that this may have been a deliberate ploy by the Royal Navy, whose First Lord at the time was a young man named Winston Churchill, to draw America into the conflict.

If so, the plan took quite a while to succeed.

I feel chastened by my reading of this book. Plato once suggested Socrates was the wisest of people because, unlike most of us, he realized how little he knew. In our age of political demagoguery, this is an important lesson to learn.

Email John Gottcent at

jandjgott@gmail.com.
SHARE

By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press

For the first time this fall, Evansville Day School students in grades 6-12 will have the opportunity to take online courses.

The classes are possible through a partnership with the Hybrid Learning Consortium (HLC) and a two-year $20,000 grant from The Vectren Foundation. The grant funds will make classes more affordable to students and cover membership fees.

Tiki Thompson, director of marketing and communications, said Day School officials have considered for years the possibility of online classes. Thompson said the HLC classes share Day School values of rigorous, small classes and experiential learning opportunities.

"With the emphasis on distance learning on college campuses, and the increasing use of technology in everyday life, this is an ideal time to add online learning to our long list of forward-thinking programs," she said.

Online learning also improvers self-discipline, communication, time management and motivation, according to school officials.

Full-time students in grades 6-12 can take two online classes annually. Course options vary during spring, summer and fall semesters and can include Chinese; Introduction to Computer Coding; Coral Reef Ecology; 2D Foundations: Introduction to Design, Drawing and Painting; Essentials of Film: Why We Dig Movies; Many Voices of the Middle East and Comparative Government & Politics AP.

HLC limits class size to 17 students or less. That shouldn't be a problem, according to Thompson, who said Day School already maxes out class sizes at 17 students for grades 6-12.

Enrollment for classes is online, starts in the spring and ends when classes begin in early fall. Day School's Heather Heck, director of college counseling, can assist with enrolling.

The HLC offerings will also include electives and Advance Placement classes not currently offered at Day School. The classes also offer professional development opportunities for faculty through online courses.

"Hybrid Learning Consortium is a tremendous opportunity for our students," EDS Head of School Jarin Jaffee said in a news release. "A terrific professional development option for our faculty and an important step forward for Day School."
SHARE George Koonce Paul Koonce

By Jessie Higgins of the Courier and Press

News of Paul Koonce's death rocked the City of Evansville in the summer of 1918.

It was front page news: Paul Koonce, 22, was dead. His ship, the U.S.S. San Diego, was sunk by a German torpedo July 18, and his name was not on the list of survivors.

From her restaurant on Fulton Avenue, his mother Della Koonce began to publicly mourn.

"I am glad that he had the nerve and patriotism to step out for his country, although he had to lose his life," Della Koonce told the Evansville Press.

But Paul was not dead.

Della Koonce had no way of knowing that week as she mourned one son, it was actually her other son, George, who had died.

There is no one left alive who remembers the story. It lives on only through a few old newspaper articles that detail this terrible week in the Koonce family.

When World War I broke out, Paul's older brother, George, was already in the Army. So Paul decided to join the Navy. And in early July 1918, as Paul sailed on the U.S.S. San Diego, George was fighting on the front lines in Europe.

Both boys wrote their mother regularly, letters to reassure her they would return home.

It took time for the Navy to account for the men aboard the U.S.S. San Diego. The wait for official word must have been agonizing for Della, but later that week she received the best possible news  Paul was alive. He had been saved from the sinking ship. He would return home.

Her relief would have been short lived. That same week, Della received a second telegram  George was seriously wounded.

George Koonce "left May 7 for France, and since then Mrs. Koonce has received letters from him regularly," a July 27, 1918 article in the Evansville Press read. "He did not tell her, however, that he was seeing active service in the front lines."

George, 28, was in the Army for years before the war broke out, and he re-enlisted when it did. He apparently preached at his camp every Sunday, according to a Press article.

In his last letter to his mother, dated June 18, 1918, he wrote: "I am seeing many things that I would like to tell you about, but can't write them. I will tell you all about them when I come home, and don't worry, for I'm sure that I am coming home."

Sgt. George Koonce died in France on July 21, 1918.
Photos by JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS ABOVE: A member of the USS LST 325 crew fires the ship's twin 40mm gun during the ShrinersFest World War II invasion re-enactment along the Evansville Riverfront on Saturday. TOP: The landing force used the ship's Higgins boats to salute the assault on Salerno, Italy. BELOW: The re-enactors, including the defending German forces, are part of a Louisville, Ky., based group.

SHARE JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS Americans run off Higgins boats as they come ashore during the ShrinersFest World War II invasion re-enactment along the Evansville Riverfront on Saturday. Spectators applaud as the re-enactors pass by. ShrinersFest will continue Sunday, with gates opening at 10 a.m. and events running until the final air show concludes after 4 p.m. Visit ShrinersFest.com for details. JASON CLARK / COURIER & PRESS Enemy troops fire on Americans as they come ashore during the ShrinersFest World War II invasion re-enactment along the Evansville Riverfront on Saturday. With the battle lost and won, the troops march back to their encampment. The forces will clash again at noon Sunday. "This educates kids in a way they don't get in school,"said re-enactor Rick Dickerson. Related Photos ShrinersFest 2016

By Jessie Higgins of the Courier and Press

The World War II battle for Salerno, Italy, came to life on the shore of the Ohio River on Saturday.

A couple dozen re-enactors in period American and Nazi uniforms clashed at the Evansville Riverfront. Planes circled overhead and the USS LST 325 sailed in to send a men on Higgins boats to make their way carefully up the shore toward the waiting soldiers.

"We have a love of history," said re-enactor Rick Dickerson, who coordinated the battle scene in Evansville. "This brings history to life, and it's a way for us to honor veterans."

The 30-minute re-enactment is part of the Shrinerfest event along the Evansville riverfront this weekend. The group will hold a second re-enactment Sunday at noon.

Dickerson's group, which is based in Louisville, Kentucky, hosts a re-enactment annually at Shrinerfest.

Re-enactment is a hobby, Dickerson said. But it's a hobby that the re-enactors feel gives back to the community, and the country.

"This educates kids in a way they don't get in school," he said.

And it sometimes inspires people to learn about  or even join  the service.

Drew Whitworth, 16, of Paducah, Kentucky, said he was "born into" the hobby. His father, mother and brother all participate. And after a childhood spent learning about and honoring the military and those who served, he plans to join the service when he becomes an adult. It's also a family tradition.

"I want to give back to the country," Whitworth said. "I really want to help people."

The re-enactors hope their portrayals of history inspire people whether they're participating or just watching, Dickerson said. So, after the re-enactment, people are invited to meet with the re-enactors. During those times, Dickerson meets with curious adults, and children, he said.

"There are guys throughout history that gave it all," said Drew Whitworth, 16, who played an American GI at Saturday's re-enactment. "That is why I portray this history, to honor those that did."
SHARE

By Staff report

The Evansville Water Utility has lifted the boil advisory on Evansville's West Side.

Water utility officials said results of samples collected in the area of the water main break revealed no evidence of contamination.

___

June 25 - 4:35 p.m.  A boil advisory has been issued after a water main break at Mount Vernon Road and Tekoppel Avenue in Evansville.

Central Dispatch said they received a call about the water main break at 3:37 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

The Evansville Water Utility said residents in the area bounded to the south by the Ohio River, west to the Posey County Line, east to St. Joe Ave. and the northern boundary of Evansville City Water district should boil all cooking and drinking water until further notified.

The water utility said residents should bring water to a complete boil for five minutes before using.
SHARE George Will, a Washington Post columnist, told a new organization Friday that has left the Republican Party. (Photo: Provided to Lansing State (Mich.) Journal)

By Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  Conservative columnist has left the Republican Party, and he is urging others to make sure the GOPs presumptive nominee, , doesnt win.

Make sure he loses, Will told PJ Media, an online news company, in an interview Friday. Grit their teeth for four years and win the White House.

Will, a long-time columnist and commentator, spoke Friday at the luncheon. This is not my party, he said during the speech.

According to PJ Media, Will said he has changed his GOP registration in Maryland to unaffiliated.

Will, a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, has long been critical of Trump. The Washington Post columnist warned in a column in April that Trumps damage to the party had only just begun.

Trump, he said, would be the most unpopular nominee ever and unable to get support from women, minorities and young voters.

In a column earlier this week, Will urged Republican donors not to contribute to Trump's campaign.

Trump, in turn, called Will a major loser last month on MSNBCs Morning Joe.
His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, spoke at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis on Saturday, June 25, 2016. (Photo: Matt_Kryger/IndyStar)

SHARE

By Sara Salinas, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network

In a room filled with 6,400 Hoosiers, the Dalai Lama wanted to see their faces.

When the bright lights of the Indiana Farmers Coliseum blinded his view, the spiritual leader of Tibet shielded his eyes to see the people gazing up at him.

Because when the Buddhist leader returned to Indianapolis on Saturday for a public talk on the potential for harmony and the usefulness of compassion, the visit resembled a personal conversation more than a speech.

"Brothers and sisters, indeed, I am very happy  a great honor  to meet a large number of people," he said. "Essentially we are all human brothers and sisters."

Though the crowd was silent at first, offering only gestures of respect in place of applause, the Dalai Lama's two-hour visit included quick-hit jokes, shared laughter and resounding approval for his message of compassion.

For more than half of his time on stage, he took questions from the audience dealing with personal enlightenment, societal struggles and his own life experiences.

"I never consider I am something special," he said. "We all, actually 7 billion human beings, mentally, emotionally, physically  we are (the) same."

In the Buddhist tradition, Dalai Lamas are said to be reincarnations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed nirvana and leaving the earthly realm in order to serve humanity and aid others in achieving enlightenment. Tenzin Gyatso, 80, was recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama at the age of 2, and in his capacity as the spiritual leader of Buddhism, has advocated for nonviolence and world peace.

Throughout his talk, the Dalai Lama made several strong calls for personal and global peace. Here is a sampling:

1. Compassion is always the answer.

With a public talk titled "Compassion as the Pillar of World Peace," the Dalai Lama lived up to his billing. He said compassion is the antidote of anger, frustration and violence.

"Now scientists even say, basic human nature is compassionate," he said. "The compassionate feeling toward your enemy, the trouble maker  only we human beings can do that."

2. The external follows the internal.

The Dalai Lama, noting his own exceptional bill of health from his doctor, said a happy body comes from a happy mind.

When an audience member asked for advice in loving himself the way he loves others, the Dalai Lama responded that the question was silly: Self-love should be your first priority.

"The very fact we survive is self-love," he said. "We all have a seed of love."

3. Large-scale goals must start on a small scale.

World peace starts with inner peace, the Dalai Lama said. Big change can't come without small changes.

"Change in humanity must start from individuals," he said. "We created this violence, so we have the responsibility to reduce this violence."

He said prayers for world peace alone will not achieve it: Only action can bring change.

4. We all have the same capacity for love and happiness.

The Dalai Lama said distinctions and qualifiers on human beings serve only to divide the global community. At our root, he said, we all have the same humanity.

"We need oneness of 7 billion human beings," he said. "Sometimes there is too much discrimination on color, on class  rich and poor. This actually (is a) man-made distinction."

5. Religious fanaticism is misguided.

The Dalai Lama also spoke against linking religion and terrorism, saying killing in the name of different religions is unthinkable, and that doing so is a divergence from true religion.

"All religions carry the same message  love, compassion, things like that," he said. "That's the basis of our harmony."

6. In tragedy, we find opportunity.

When an Orlando, Fla., woman asked for advice for those suffering after the city's recent mass shooting, the Dalai Lama offered a suggestion: Think critically about how to make a positive change.

He also offered his condolences and prayers for the city of Orlando and said relief can start with one person.

"Those relatives who remain and those friends who remain instead of worry, worry, sadness, they must think of how to change that kind of society," he said, in part through his translator. "If one can turn the tragic situation into an opportunity to really awaken something, that will be really wonderful."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Country superstar Brad Paisley is known for his high-energy music, creative/often humorous videos, and the partylike atmosphere of his concerts. Saturdays show at Hartfords Xfinity Theatre was all of that and more.

Not only did Paisley perform hits like Mud On the Tires and Im Still a Guy, he also bonded with fans, helping them take selfies and videos, and walking through the audience  guitar in hand  to check on and perform for the folks in the cheap seats.

Several giant video screens helped assure everyone could see the action on stage, including Paisleys outrageous guitar work. The screens also helped with songs such as Without a Fight, his new duet with Demi Lovato, and Remind Me, his duet with Carrie Underwood. In both cases the women appeared via video, as if performing alongside him.

Dressed in jeans and a Mark Twain T-shirt, the West Virginia native referred to his fans as Yankees, and congratulated everyone on making it through the winter. He made sure to mention the UConn Huskies, and urged the crowd to just relax and enjoy the evening.

On several occasions Paisley took cellphones from outstretched hands and shot pictures for fans that theyd never have gotten from their seats, or standing in the pit. He also presented a young boy in the audience with an acoustic guitar, telling him to come back in 10 years to hit the stage.

At another point, a female fan showed Paisley a handmade American flag poster which also stated her husband is deployed in the military, and that she hoped Paisley would be in a selfie with her to send him. After showing the audience the poster, of course he complied. The crowd cheered.

Paisley, 43, expressed appreciation for his fellow musicians. He also thanked everyone for coming out to see him. At the end of the concert he removed his cowboy hat and gave it to another lucky fan.

The country star was joined in Hartford by Tyler Farr, and Maddie & Tae, as part of his Life Amplified World Tour, which stops next in Canada. He wont be back on the East Coast of the United States until Aug. 4, when he performs at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on Long Island. His next album drops in the fall.

lkoonz@newstimes.com / Twitter: @LindaTKoonz
HARTFORD  Towns and cities are crying the blues about new rules requiring them to take custody of unclaimed bodies, but local funeral directors will be the ones left holding the corpses.

When the new state budget year starts on Friday, Chief Medical Examiner James R. Gill, M.D. will stop collecting the bodies of those who die without family or friends, and storing them in his office refrigerator in Farmington.

Municipalities, which will have to bear the roughly $200 per body cost, are complaining that the shift is another unfunded mandate. But the brunt of the new procedure will fall on local funeral directors, who may end up losing money, increasing their liability and adding to their collections of unwanted cremated remains, called cremains.

Matthew Adzima, a Stratford funeral director, still has the cremains of two homeless men he took a year and a half ago as a favor to the medical examiner, when he picked up another corpse following an autopsy.

Its a major risk for us, said Adzima, who is on the board of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. What if I didnt know the person had a particular religious belief and a relative eventually came forward who is opposed to cremation? All funeral directors want to pull our weight and perform our due diligence, but with the medical examiner pushing off responsibility to the cities and towns, and the state only paying us $1,200, you are not making money here.

Gills office has traditionally collected about 100 unclaimed bodies a year. Some are donated to state medical schools, but not all of them are needed.

More Information Sooner or later Annual deaths statewide (2013) - 29,700 Fairfield County - 6,510 New Haven County - 8,428 Autopsies - 1,420 in Fiscal Year 2013 1,993 in 2015 See More Collapse

Last week two municipal advocacy organizations, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns, asked Gill to seek an official ruling from Attorney General George Jepsen on just who is responsible for unclaimed bodies.

Any legal advice our office provides is subject to attorney-client privilege and, therefore, we would be unable to comment, Jaclyn Falkowski, Jepsens spokeswoman, said Thursday.

Heroin and budget

The opioid and heroin epidemic has created a sharp increase in autopsies that is overwhelming Gills office, he said recently, threatening its annual certification. The problem is exacerbated by the state budget crisis and a $6.2 million budget cut. Gill laid off two employees and has 11 unfilled office vacancies.

With the belt tightening, the unclaimed bodies whose deaths do not require autopsies, were the first to go. The practice of picking up those bodies may date back 50 years, when the end of the county form of government signaled the end of county morgues, but Gill maintains it was always a courtesy.

Robert L. Muccino, vice president of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association, said that unless first responders see medical or legal issues at the scene of a dead body, they contact a local funeral home.

The challenge were faced with is the former $1,800 state stipend, which was reduced to $1,400 and on July 1 will be reduced further to $1,200 for the funeral home to cover the costs of following through with the disposition of that individual, Muccino said.

But funeral home costs include storing a body for 48 hours; $150 to the state; a $150 fee to the state Probate Court to take care and custody of the body; and a $400 cremation fee plus other costs, including death-notice expenses. Cremation is the simplest way to dispose of a cadaver, but permanent storage varies, with some funeral home having realtionships with cemeteries.

Towns react

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, who is currently president of the CCM, recalled that when Gill issued a statewide email to towns and cities last month announcing the change, it seemed to be a political maneuver to rile municipal officials.

It sounded like he was in panic mode, Boughton, a 2014 Republican candidate for governor, said in a Tuesday interview. For us its another unfunded mandate. Its bad enough they are bankrupting the state, but now theyre trying to bankrupt us.

Boughton expects to contract with local funeral homes and create a rotating schedule for picking up unclaimed bodies.

Joe DeLong, executive director of the CCM, said Tuesday that cities and towns will have to pay for the pick-up and transport of the bodies to the local funeral homes. The financial side isnt exorbitant, but its just another issue among a variety of issues in which the state is shifting costs onto the cities and towns, he said.

Gill, who makes $225,000 a year, did not respond to a request for comment

Currently, the medical examiner takes the unclaimed deceased and stores them in a large refrigerator at his headquarters. If a friend or relative fails to come forward, a cremation is arranged, said Muccino, who runs a funeral home in Bristol. The disposition of indigent people who are cremated - called cremains - varies among funeral homes. Some put them in vaults, others have arrangements with cemeteries.

Under state statutes, Gills office is allowed to give the bodies of people without known relatives who die in public institutions, such as municipal nursing homes, to state medical schools.

John F. Cascio, executive director of the funeral directors association, which represents 220 funeral homes, said that the industry has always had a good relationship with the chief medical examiner.

He said that it has been decades since towns and cities had their own morgues to store bodies.

It would be interesting to find what the attorney general says, Cascio said. This is certainly something the state of Connecticut needs to work at a little more, but the funeral directors will do their job if they need to support their communities.

Adzima said he and his fellow funeral directors are uncertain what will happen, but with only 100 deaths among 29,000 deceased state residents a year, it might be a while before he knows directly.

If theyre going to call us, were going to have to take time away from clients, Adzima said. Then there is how were going to store the body.

His funeral home has refrigerator storage for 12, plus the cremains of the two homeless men that he is holding onto indefinitely.

Its a big circle and no precedent has been set for this. The state is really passing the buck.

kdixon@ctpost.com;
Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

BRIDGEPORT  Which side will blink in the summer faceoff between Mayor Joe Ganim and city unions over the formers demand for $4 million in givebacks?

Cory Bromley isnt hanging around to find out.
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.
I-75 crash kills three in south Marion County

First responders said multiple vehicles were involved in the crash, which killed three people on I-75 near the Marion County and Sumter County line.
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.
Michael Heseltine: The Brexiteers owe it to all Conservatives to seek unity now

People could be forgiven for assuming that because Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were at the helm of Brexit, the Conservative Party won the referendum.

That would be a serious mistake.

The majority of the Cabinet and Tory MPs, along with a vast number of the partys traditional supporters, are intellectually, politically and emotionally in favour of our country remaining at the heart of the European Union.

There is as profound a sense of despair among this vital core of the party as I have ever known.

The black propaganda of the Brexiteers says that these people have sold out their birthright to some mystical concept of a federalist superstate.

But, in reality, they are practical men and women who understand the need to use influence in order to secure noble objectives.

Put at its simplest, they are Brits who believe that this country matters  and that in order to continue to matter, we have to be close to the levers of power.

These people are the spiritual and political inheritors of every Conservative prime minister since the war; of Harold Macmillan, whose wind of change speech articulated the end of empire and a new European destiny; of Ted Heath, a practical politician who had witnessed the horrors of the Second World War and saw in Europe a stabilising force to prevent it from ever happening again; of Margaret Thatcher, who in signing the Single European Act shared more of British sovereignty with the Continent than any of her predecessors or successors; and of John Major, whose opt-outs from Maastricht proved Britains ability to act in our essential self-interest.

This brings us to David Cameron, who removed the toxic reference to ever closer union from our relationship with European colleagues.

I have watched the growth of Euroscepticism since the late 1980s, fanned by the economic stresses that have beset many advanced economies.

Politicians and their acolytes in the national press have persistently sought to divert the anger and frustration of necessary change onto the shoulders of the hapless monsieur Humphrey in Brussels. They blamed the Brussels machine for the often irritating consequences of integrating a single market.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage did the dirty work in the streets of Britain by exploiting fears of immigration. Little was heard of the immigrants we needed to look after the elderly, man the Health Service, provide our public services and support our industry and commerce by importing the skilled and energetic people we have in such short domestic supply.

Now the referendum is over, and the leadership of the Tory Party is vacant.

It is now the unity of the party which should preoccupy those of its members who forced David Cameron from office, only months after he had secured the first overall majority for the party since 1992.

People could be forgiven for assuming that because Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were at the helm of Brexit, the Conservative Party won the referendum

It is pointless not to acknowledge that the party is deeply divided  there would not have been a referendum otherwise. It is equally unrealistic to assume that those who remained loyal to David Cameron are now about to roll over and proclaim that black is white.

We have no choice but to concede that the referendum expressed a marginal preference in favour of leaving the single market. We warned that to sever these connections would cause great damage to our country unless there was a clear alternative. We demanded to know what the plan for our divorced future would look like. They told us that there was time to sort this out. They were wrong.

The turmoil on the markets shows that Project Fear has already become Project Fact.

If this continues, proving the Brexit case to be false, it is essential for the all-party EU parliamentary group in the House of Commons  which represents our national interests  to remain in place so that voters have a voice amid the turmoil. The stock markets have plunged, taking the nations savings, insurance and pension cover with them. The pound has gone the same way, with the inevitable consequence for prices. The Bank of England has had to offer 250 billion to prevent panic in the markets.

In Frankfurt, Paris and Milan they are talking of attacking our financial services businesses in the City of London.

In Brussels, our commissioner Jonathan Hill has already had to depart, while the Prime Minister is being excluded from the governing Council of Ministers  with all the humiliation that implies. This is all in the space of two days.

After a campaign, of which one of the nastiest aspects was the dismissal of anyone in a position of leadership as a member of the out-of-touch elite, it is that same elite which is left to pick up the pieces.

Within 48 hours of the referendum, we can see that the Europeans who the Brexiteers claimed would be forced to offer us generous access arrangements to their market, actually want us to go  and go now.

They face domestic elections, and they want the uncertainty to end.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has already begun the process of dismembering the UK by calling for a second Scottish referendum.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has already begun the process of dismembering the UK by calling for a second Scottish referendum. We have a great gaping hole in Britains future

We have a great gaping hole in Britains future.

We have heard endlessly from the Brexit leaders about the restoration of national sovereignty, but not a word about how that sovereignty would be exercised prior to approval of the new Brexit arrangements. Is Parliament expected to play a role? Is there to be a second referendum?

It is one thing to jump into a gaping hole, but jumping is the easy bit: once you have done so, you are still left inside a gaping hole. Devising a way out is quite another matter.

The Tory Party is at its greatest as a one-nation party.

That is not just about social inclusion, in terms of the obligation which those with power and privilege owe to those at the other end of the scale, but it is also about generational inclusion: the future of the party depends on its ability to recruit from each successive generation. It is there that the Brexit agenda is so toxic.

Competition between European countries will intensify as we face the massive state-financed technology industries of America, China, India and many others.

In policy field after policy field, from climate change and drug running to tax avoidance, we have to ensure that the isolationist attitude of the Brexiteers doesnt cut off the younger generation from the cultural and social inter-relations that modern technology encourages them to take for granted.

Within hours of the result, I had heard about a European grant for long-term medical research being cancelled. The Brexiteers responded to all these issues with platitudes of good intent.

The younger members of the public  and Parliament  will insist on substance and detail. It is the responsibility of a united Conservative Party to ensure they get it.

The unity of the Tory Party is an essential ingredient for its success at the polls.

The most instructive thing I ever heard Margaret Thatcher say was that she never entered a room without knowing how to get out of it. The Brexiteers have ignored this sound advice.

Now, the unity of the Conservative Party will depend on finding answers acceptable to both sides of the debate.

We owe it to future generations to ensure this is not the death of the Tory Party as I have known it.
I have always respected David Camerons self-confidence and maturity, the ease and grace with which he has acted as PM.

But after a horror show of a referendum, his political career has been terminated at the age of 49  the same age Margaret Thatcher was when she began her long, historic period as leader of the Conservative Party.

This goes to the heart of the Cameron enigma. He was perhaps a little too inexperienced when he became leader, having been an MP for only four years. Was it the hubris of youth that led him to trust his own tactical manoeuvres and improvisation too much?

KWASI KWARTENG wonders if it was the hubris of youth which led to the end of Cameron's political career

He gloried in the lightness of touch, his ability to ride the popular mood, and seemingly drag victory from the jaws of defeat. The commitment to a referendum was always going to be risky. It is to Camerons immense credit that he gave the British people a say on a question that had been raging for years.

It was also brave for him to lead the campaign from the front.

Yet in the end, Project Fear failed. Enough voters were unbowed by the threats and blood-curdling prophecies of doom.

To believe the public would succumb to this kind of language was a flat denial of British history. Hitler had threatened to rub out the cities of Britain. Churchill said: You do your worst, we will do our best.

The British react badly to threats. I asked one man in my constituency, a third-generation Jamaican immigrant, why he was voting to leave the EU.

He said: I dont like being bullied. That summed up the feelings of millions on Thursday.

Cameron, however, is still a substantial figure in our recent history. He made the Conservatives electable again.

In the end, Project Fear failed. Enough voters were unbowed by the threats and prophecies of doom

His achievement in winning last years General Election  the first Tory majority in 23 years  was considerable. Yet the end, when it came, was bitter and humiliating.

He stood outside No 10, a man of dignity and great temperament. He was there to tell the world that the British people had ignored his warnings. They had voted against his wishes.

This was a greater humiliation for a Prime Minister than Suez in 1956. But Anthony Eden never had to make a public declaration of failure. His decisions were never put to a vote of his fellow countrymen and women.

Cameron had chosen the referendums timing. He had led the negotiations. He submitted his deal to the British people. They rejected it, firmly and decisively.
They shouldnt have tried to scare us. It is a sign of how little the Remainers understand or know about Britain, and above all about England, that they thought that would work.

I do sometimes wonder if these odd denatured shiny types, who actively prefer foreign rule to their own, ever visit their own country. Confined to glossy multicultural London neighbourhoods for most of the year, they then hurry abroad.

Most of them are more familiar with Florence or Barcelona than they are with the equal glory of Lincoln Cathedral, whose history, beauties and significance are alike unknown to them.

Well, they should have tried harder to visit Britain. They might also have learned to like it, its unspectacular difference from anywhere else in the world (I know, Ive visited 57 other countries), its gruff reserve that masks much deeper feelings, and its ancient dislike of being pushed around.

Immigrant workers are pictured working the fields near Boston in Lincolnshire. The town voted 75.5 per cent in favour of Leave

The Remainers snobbery was their undoing. They believed they were superior to their fellow countrymen and women, when they were just luckier and richer. Judging from their response to the referendum result, many of them still do.

For instance, they refused to be aware of the quiet seething resentment about mass migration that I found in Boston four summers ago. The established parties ignored this, and the liberal thought police tried to claim it was bigotry.

But it was real, and this was reflected on Thursday night in a 77.27 per cent turnout and a 75.5 per cent vote to leave in that town. I do not see how these people could be clearer about their discontent over the enforced transformation of their lives. I am amazed at their patience. I strongly advise against ignoring them any longer.

Of course, its not just about immigration. A wonderful alliance, which I have long hoped for, has been forged in this campaign.

It has brought together two groups who had never really met before. The first group are the social and moral conservatives, whose views the Blairised Tory Party despised, while it still relied on their money and their votes. The second are the working-class families whose votes the Blairised Labour Party relied on, while it dismissed and ignored their concerns.

It is not just mass migration that worries them. They are also distressed about the decline in their standard of living, the pressure to get into debt, the way good state schools are reserved for the rich and cunning, the shrivelling of opportunities for the young, the unchecked spread of crime and disorder, the ridiculous cost of housing, and the general overcrowding of everything from roads to hospitals.

If it werent for old tribal party labels, these two groups would long ago have realised they were friends and allies.

They would have combined in a mutiny against the PR men and hedge-fund types who lounge arrogantly on the upper deck of politics, claiming that none of these problems exist  because they dont experience them themselves.

For instance I, and millions of Tory voters, have far more in common with excellent Labour MPs such as Kate Hoey or Frank Field than I do with David Cameron and the weird, obedient, meaningless quacking robots with which he has filled the Cabinet Room and the Tory benches in the House of Commons.

But the ossified party system kept them apart until now. They could not and did not combine to defeat their common enemy. And so at Election after Election, those who merely wanted to live their lives much as they had always lived them, and were baffled and pained by the unending changes imposed on them, had nowhere to turn.

The parties they thought of as their own were in fact in an alliance against them. Blair became Cameron and Cameron became Blair, and after a while it was impossible to tell which was which.

Its not just me saying this. As Janan Ganesh, a writer in the Financial Times, recently noted: Conservatives and moderate adherents to the Labour cause share more with each other than with the rest of their own parties Against them in this referendum is a party in all but name drawn from the Tory Right and the Labour Left and incubated in the Leave campaign. These politicians are conservative and anti-establishment at the same time.

Noting that people such as Labours Ed Balls and Chancellor George Osborne have much more in common than they like to pretend, Mr Ganesh says: These politicians have the same basic orientation.

He believes it would be myopic for them to remain separate out of fealty to a party system that was forged in the industrial age for an empire nation. And he adds: I hear the Tory and Labour moderates newly mingling in the Remain offices rather get on.

I bet they do. That is why I dont care who fills David Camerons place at the head of a Tory Party that long ago outlived its usefulness. There shouldnt be any more David Camerons, thanks very much. In future, people like him should stand openly as what they are, globalist pro-migration Blairite liberals, and not call themselves Conservatives. So the important thing is that we do not miss this great moment when the people have joined together against a discredited and failed elite.

'Remainers refused to be aware of the quiet seething resentment about mass migration that I found in Boston four summers ago. The established parties ignored this, and the liberal thought police tried to claim it was bigotry'

What we need is for the Tory Party and the Labour Party to collapse and split and be replaced by two new parties that properly reflect the real divisions in the country.

Since both the old parties are empty and decrepit, with few active members and reliant on state support and dodgy billionaires, the collapsing and splitting bit should not be too hard. The replacement is up to us, the British people, who have now demonstrated our power if we unite.

But it can only happen if the next stage is a General Election, which is much more urgent than a Tory (or Labour) leadership contest.

Thursdays vote shows that the House of Commons is hopelessly unrepresentative. The concerns and hopes of those who voted to leave the EU  51.9 per cent of the highest poll since 1992  are reliably supported by fewer than a quarter of MPs, if that. Ludicrously, neither of the big parties agrees with a proven majority of the electorate  and neither shows any sign of changing its policies as a result.

If we do nothing about this scandal, for it is a scandal, then how can we be sure we will get out of the EU at all? The elite is rallying and whimpering that the minority must be treated with respect more than they would have done had they won.

Parliament is pro-EU. The Civil Service is pro-EU, the judiciary is pro-EU, the BBC is pro-EU and is now returning to its old bad habits after an admittedly creditable attempt at balance. Its 6am radio news bulletin on Friday said, falsely and dangerously, that the pound had collapsed following the result and there will be a lot more of this foolish panic-mongering in days to come.

We have had only half a revolution. If we do not now complete it, we will have missed an unequalled opportunity to reclaim what is and always was ours.
So what do we do now? Where do we go? The only thing that is clear is that a majority of people in the UK decided that we have to leave the European Union.

The choice has been made. We must accept it. Thats the easy bit. Deciding what to do next is much harder.

There is no point in asking the Brexit campaigners. For four months they quite deliberately concealed the difficult choices we now face.

ALISTAIR CAMPBELL says the choice has been made and we must accept it - the hard bit is what to do next

Theirs was a campaign based on fear-mongering, and in some cases downright lies. Over the past two days they have looked as bemused at victory as everyone else.

But they made promises  on immigration, on a massive increase in funding for the NHS, and just about everything else  from which I guess they will now try to run away.

On top of all that, the UK now has no effective Government until October.

David Cameron has resigned, as he was bound to, and there is no one in charge. If the new leader calls a General Election, which he or she may well have to do to get a mandate to negotiate out of the EU, there could well be even more uncertainty and instability.

Be in no doubt  we will pay for it. I am more worried than I was at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.

True, when I received a call from RBS, then the biggest bank in the world, to say they were about to run out of money in three hours time, it sent a shiver down my spine. The worlds banking system was within hours of collapse.

But I could see what to do. Gordon Brown and I were able to put in place a 500 billion rescue plan overnight. It worked.

This time is different. There is so much we do not know. Political, economic and constitutional uncertainty is uncharted territory here in the UK.

On top of which, the EU  never quick on its feet at the best of times  is hamstrung. Not least because the Germans and French face their own elections next year.

There is no point in asking the Brexit campaigners. Theirs was a campaign based on fear-mongering, and in some cases downright lies. Over the past two days they have looked as bemused at victory as everyone else

And the Brexiteers have sister independence movements across Europe. Some of them, such as Frances National Front, should scare us rigid.

So we have a divided country. Roughly half wanting in, the other half out. Scotland and London overwhelmingly in. The gap between Londoners and the rest of England is immense.

Successive governments have never truly faced up to this growing reality.

Things were said in the referendum that have left deep wounds which may never heal. In Scotland, the scars remain from the vote on independence. They could well reopen as the nationalists seize another chance, only two years after a decisive rejection of separation.

And of course, as we chart our future course we do so with massive uncertainty as to the economic background we face.

Fridays collapse of the pound was as predictable as the drop in share prices.

Over the next few weeks I believe we will see many firms simply taking stock. Very few will take precipitate decisions.

But it is a fact that those businesses based in the UK who sell into the EU market will consider where to go in the future. So what do we do? We cannot invoke the formal process of separation from Europe until we have a new Prime Minister.

However, we must begin thinking about our options. This cannot be something for the Tory party alone  their splits have caused enough damage to the rest of us already.

Fridays collapse of the pound was as predictable as the drop in share prices, the former Chancellor said

On trade, we need to decide what agreement we now want with Europe. The status quo is not on offer now.

The question is, how much are we willing to surrender to get a good trade deal?

Norway has access to the single market but it has to accept the free movement of people, which the Brexiteers claim to be out of the question. At the other extreme, we could unilaterally abandon tariffs, as some Brexiteers suggest, despite the fact it would almost certainly wipe out much of our manufacturing industry.

The concerns about immigration, which the Brexiteers ruthlessly prayed on, have to be considered as a priority. What happens to the three million EU nations now in the UK? And what would happen to the two million British citizens living and working in Europe?

There is no point in asking the Brexit campaigners. For four months they quite deliberately concealed the difficult choices we now face.

And then there is the nightmare of trying to disentangle the UK from EU law. You cannot just repeal the 1972 Act which joined us to the then Common Market. Most of our laws are influenced by EU laws. We face constitutional mayhem because EU laws are bound into the devolution acts that set up the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments.

There is a whole host of legislation covering the environment, medicine and workers rights which are completely intermeshed with Europe.

If we repeal the whole lot in one go, no one will have any idea what the law is. If we keep them all, why did we bother leaving in the first place?

There is another important point. To remove the European provisions from the Scotland Act, for example, would need the consent of the Scottish parliament. Which it would refuse point blank.

This brings me to Scotland itself. Like three quarters of the population of Edinburgh, I voted for the UK to stay in the EU.

BUT I did not vote for membership of the euro, still less for another referendum on Scottish independence. As First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said, that is back on the table after only two years.

I do not believe that a majority of people in Scotland would vote for independence, even now. The unanswered questions remain.

Suppose Scotland was to join the EU as an independent country. All new entrants have to join the euro.

As First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said, that is back on the table after only two years. I do not believe that a majority of people in Scotland would vote for independence, even now. The unanswered questions remain

If Ms Sturgeon is indeed phoning around the remaining 27 member states, she is duty bound to tell us what the price of joining would be.

The low oil price means that Scotlands financial position would be dire, which is why I believe that Ms Sturgeon is feeling more cautious than she seems.

She is in no hurry to hold a second independence referendum either. She has to throw red meat to her supporters but she also does not want to lead her party to a second failure.

As for Labour, it is blindingly obvious that we have lost connection and support from millions of people who previously trusted and voted for us.

Many of them voted Out because they saw no alternative to the Tories. It was a huge cry of despair and we in Labour could not answer it. I did not vote for Jeremy Corbyn but accepted his mandate and was prepared to give him time to show what he could do.

It is clear to me that no matter how well meaning he is (and Ive never had a conversation with him so I dont know) that his heart is not in this. It is now time for him to stand aside.
'Damn  a bad day for Europe, tweeted Sigmar Gabriel, leader of Germanys Social Democrats as the Brexit outcome percolated on Friday morning.

Seen from Berlin, capital of our largest trading partner in the EU, the result was the ultimate perversity from the Crazy Brits.

The mood is even more vinegary in France, with the Liberation newspaper featuring a vast picture of Boris on a zip wire and the sardonic message, Good Luck.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, has since warned ahead of a fraught EU meeting this week  dubbed the Bugger Off Britain summit by an official  that this was not the time for vengeance.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) has warned ahead of a fraught EU meeting this week that this is not the time for vengeance. Also pictured are French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (centre) and Belgium's Foreign minister Didier Reynders (pictured right)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (centre left) said it would 'not be an amicable' divorce; European Council President Donald Tusk (far right) said the UK would be 'blocked' from future EU talks

Only the Germans are being so nice: plenty of other EU states would like a large dollop of told-you-so served to Britain. The result marked the unwinding of a long, grumbly relationship between Britons and institutional Europe.

This was strained by the large waves of immigration that followed the opening up of Europe to the East after the fall of the Berlin Wall  and the EUs commitment to guarantee free movement of labour.

But a good portion of the referendums outcome was created by the tone-deaf nature of the powerful EU quartet responsible for dealing with David Camerons failed negotiations: the German and French leaders Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, Donald Tusk, the Pole who was in the chair, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the bullish head of the European Commission.

Together, they choked off any hope for Cameron that he could bring home a deal to reassure those fretful about immigration and control of borders.

Freedom of movement has always been at the heart of this conflict. The bitterest argument to take place between former friends Michael Gove and David Cameron when the referendum was first discussed was about whether they should make a temporary check on immigration a core part of Britains demands.

Gove insisted the negotiation would be meaningless without that, and voters would mete out punishment. Prescient, as it turned out. Cameron insisted that he could not get that through and would focus on welfare restrictions.

In one way, the pragmatic Prime Minister was right. Over beer in the No 10 kitchen at an impromptu meeting in autumn 2015, Merkel reiterated that there was no point in Cameron even raising the matter with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

As a former East German, Merkel insisted her position on freedom of movement was unantastbar (untouchable) because it was a theoretical basis of the entire post-1989 EU project.

Michael Gove and David Cameron had a bitter argument over whether there should be a temporary check on immigration before the Brexit vote (Cameron pictured at an Armed Forces Day event on Saturday)

Gove insisted Cameron's negotiation with the EU would be meaningless without a pledge over immigration

The propensity of Poles to seek work abroad meant that Tusk was just as intransigent.

Frances Francois Hollande was less fixated on the principle, more concerned by his own ratings than the impact of a Brexit.

In Juncker, a narrow-minded Eurocrat, UK negotiators encountered a passive-aggressive functionary who, as one source puts it, always wanted rid of the naughty child in the classroom.

There was an alternative to this, namely to offer the kind of temporary stop on migration the EU agreed member states could enact after Polish accession in 2004.

Britain did not take it up  but it was at least given the choice. That lack of choice in 2015 tied Camerons hands. The Prime Minister  fatally, as it turned out  and the quartet shoulder some responsibility for what follows.

Of the four, the most rueful at the course of events is Merkel, who has a sincere regard for Britain and will want to retain a sound relationship.

French President Francois Hollande pictured holding crunch meetings with the leaders of France's political parties over the UK's decision to leave the EU

In an exchange with Cameron over the weekend, she expressed personal sympathies for his position and vowed to assist in sorting out the spaghetti junction of trade deals and transitional arrangements we must now go through. Post-Brexit Britain will still need allies, and the German relationship is paramount.

For that reason, I would urge Michael Gove and Boris Johnson to rise above any appetite for revenge and invest in their relationship with Berlin. Neither country wants a resumption of bad blood in a century after two wars and with many shared values. And frankly, the Germans are as reasonable as the EU gets in dealing with Britain.

Less than an hour after Cameron announced he would stand down, I interviewed Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary. He knows the realities and constraints of our EU dealings inside out.

The price of free trade access to Europes large single market will, he told me, be retaining freedom of movement with only cosmetic tweaks. Without that commitment the EU has no reason to keep trade with Britain free of barriers that will do us severe economic damage. That might not be what the jubilant Brexiteers want to hear this weekend. It is nonetheless true.
Imagine a UK-sized meteorite crashing into the North Atlantic and you get a good idea of the impact of our Out vote on the rest of the EU.

Meteorites break up on impact, so Scotland may well vote to leave Britain. But the real tsunami is already hurtling towards the coasts of France, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. Even Italy cant avoid the inundation.

These flood waters will stir up all sorts of political emotions long submerged in the rest of Europe.

Across the Mediterranean, a few thousand jihadis see a vulnerable EU that cannot protect its borders or even stand together

Brexit has given the National Fronts Marine Le Pen (pictured) a massive boost

In some places, there will be little to worry about. Eurosceptic Denmark has a parliamentary tradition like our own. It is the country which invented jury trials and, not by chance, gave the EU its first bloody nose with a No vote in 1992.

The Danes patriotism coming to the surface will be similar to our Brexiteers call to restore traditional parliamentary democracy. Patriotism and liberal attitudes have long gone hand-in-hand on either side of the North Sea.

In the Netherlands, too, many of those calling for a referendum on EU membership are as liberal as anyone in Islington. They back gay rights and green energy.

Out and proud would seem to be the message of the Dutch exiters  whose murdered founder, Pim Fortuyn, was gay and anti-EU.

But there is still one unsettling cause. Anti-Muslim attitudes have proliferated in the Netherlands, where the main anti-EU leader, Geert Wilders, integrates hostility to Islam with his take back control from Brussels message.

In Britain, Brexit could never have won in Birmingham or poor Jo Coxs Kirklees without support from British Asians. But in much of Europe, alienation from the EU is tinged with anti-alien attitudes.

This is most obvious in France, where the National Fronts Marine Le Pen was already leading in the polls as next years presidential election looms.

Brexit has given her an enormous boost. Her party has campaigned futilely for decades to get France out of the EU, until now.

Nigel Farage cant stand her, but she is basking in the opportunity created by his triumph. Frances NF is deeply hostile to the countrys five million Muslims, seeing them as incapable of integration into French society.

Italy seemed to have forgotten its fascist past  but the downturn produced by the euro and being the front line in the EUs losing battle to stem mass migration has destabilised its establishment too. The bad example of Brexit could tip the balance.

Nigel Farage cant stand the National Fronts Marine Le Pen, but she is basking in the opportunity created by his triumph

Comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillos Five Star Movement  allies of Ukip  are already demanding a referendum on whether to stay in the euro.

Italy could even split in two. In the rich northern part of the country, the anti-immigrant Northern League has been gaining ground with its calls to dump the poor South.

Meanwhile, across the Mediterranean, a few thousand jihadis see a vulnerable EU that cannot protect its borders or even stand together.

If legitimate hostility to Brussels bureaucracy is mobilised by politicians wanting to push out Muslims, Islamic State will be delighted. France in particular could be a happy hunting ground for them should Le Pen win the presidency.

Remainers in Britain were wrong to stigmatise our Leavers as bigoted Little Englanders. They won because they pulled votes from people of all backgrounds  not just a self-consciously superior London elite.

But the rest of Europe divides between Outers who appeal to similar traditions of democracy and tolerance to our own, and those countries where patriotism can often be narrowly nationalist.
Tribalism has triumphed. The referendum result has split the country in many more ways than one. Indeed, how are we to define the country that the Leave campaign said that it wanted back? What will be left of it, once the consequences of this shattering vote become clear?

Scotland and Northern Ireland have made clear that they wish to remain within the European Union, and in the new mood of self-determination that could leave just England and Wales out in the cold.

How reliable a partner will Wales be? It voted Leave despite being the greatest recipient of EU money in the whole of the UK. What will happen to all the companies subsidised to move there?

Last year, both the President of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and some prominent German politicians began to make heavy hints about the idea of a Euro-Army on the grounds that it would strengthen the EUs voice over the Ukraine crisis

Gibraltar has voted Remain, but with Britain voting Leave, the Spanish hope that their flag will replace the Union Jack on the Rock.

Nothing is more revealing than all the paradoxes which have emerged or are about to emerge. Will Nigel Farage have to change his partys name when the United Kingdom ceases to exist? In this Trump-like revolt against Westminster and Brussels, the low-paid were encouraged to vote Leave, but they are going to be the ones who will suffer most. Trump himself is of course thrilled with the result.

The campaigns which led to the vote consisted mainly of competing slogans about the economy or immigration. (Nothing, by the way, was mentioned about the need to introduce ID cards if you are to control immigration.)

Yet a very dangerous world lies beyond the borders of the EU, whether in the Middle East or Africa, around the South China Sea and of course in the northern Eurasian landmass, dominated by a Russia now rejoicing in the way the vote went. I have already heard from friends in Kiev saying how shaken and alarmed Ukrainians are by the news of Britains departure.

Although the Leave campaign tried to invoke the idea of traditional British values, it completely ignored the reality of British history.

Ever since the late 17th Century, we have relied on continental coalitions to oppose the over-mighty oppressor threatening the peace of Europe. Britain alone was never strong enough in manpower to confront a major power alone on land.

Our strategy always was to weaken the enemy at sea, through blockade and battle, and only then prepare a decisive battle on land.

This was the reason why Churchill persuaded the Americans to fight first in the Mediterranean before attempting the cross-Channel invasion of Northern Europe.

. Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, only a few days before the vote, announced that he was switching sides to vote Leave because of the threat of a European Army. But that could only come about with a unanimous vote and Britain in any case had a veto. Pictured: A nuclear powered sub based in Falkirk

Ever-conscious of his ancestor, the great Duke of Marlborough, he was determined to build the Grand Alliance. And after the Second World War, Churchill famously observed that the only thing worse than fighting with allies was to fight without allies.

I have never argued that the European project of unification somehow saved the Continent from another world war. That is the EUs self-indulgent fantasy. Peace depends on good governance. Healthy democracies do not fight each other.

Both peace and unity in Europe were possible, first because the Marshall Plan rescued a destroyed continent from misery, despair and thus Communism, and then a year later Nato began to bring the countries together in a common purpose to resist the Soviet threat. The European project, which developed just after, existed in a generally amicable parallel with Nato.

Nato, also based in Belgium, had a well-constructed chain of command, so few took calls for a European Army seriously.

A symbolic Franco-German brigade was formed in 1989, but recently reduced.

Yet last year, both the President of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and some prominent German politicians began to make heavy hints about the idea of a Euro-Army on the grounds that it would strengthen the EUs voice over the Ukraine crisis. Field Marshal Lord Guthrie, only a few days before the vote, announced that he was switching sides to vote Leave because of the threat of a European Army. But that could only come about with a unanimous vote and Britain in any case had a veto.

The disastrous irony is that by having chosen to leave we will not be able to halt any attempt in that direction, which will in turn undermine Nato.

The whole situation is even more bizarre when one remembers that in Germany, which would almost certainly be the main contributor to a European Army, only 38 per cent of the population agree to the implementation of Natos Article Five to come to the aid of a member state under foreign attack. Presumably the German public would similarly object to the use of a European Army in such circumstances.

The disastrous irony is that by having chosen to leave we will not be able to halt any attempt in that direction, which will in turn undermine Nato. Pictured: A British soldier plays the enemy in wargames with the 1,500-strong EU Battle Group, reported by the MoS in May

And what will happen to the British Army, when it is no longer British? Scottish nationalists have made noises about repatriating Scottish regiments.

Whether Scotland can afford a separate military establishment is one question, but Edinburgh would still want a say in its employment and deployment, rather as different EU countries would want a say in any decision involving their forces.

Although the Leave campaign tried to invoke the idea of traditional British values, it completely ignored the reality of British history.

The SNP are also passionately opposed to Trident, so closing Faslane and constructing a new base for the nuclear submarines south of the border could use up a good portion of the great saving we are supposed to receive from leaving the EU.

No British politician will ever again dare to say that we are punching above our weight.

It is not just Britain which has been fragmented. The European Union itself is split right at the top. Jean-Claude Juncker thinks that having Britain out of the way means that the EU can fast forward to a superstate. And German leaders, alarmed to find their country in an even more dominant position as a result, thinks that this is its only option.

On the other hand, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has been arguing that naive Euro-enthusiastic visions of total integration had meant that the Commissions leaders had failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our Euro-enthusiasm.

Those from the Leave campaign who grin at the idea of EU disintegration do so at their peril. They should be careful of what they wish for, since any consequent crash of ruin across the Channel will do more than make us catch cold.

President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has been arguing that naive Euro-enthusiastic visions of total integration had meant that the Commissions leaders had failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our Euro-enthusiasm

And, as I have said before, we will be the most hated country just when we need to win friends and trade deals.

The Pandoras box of problems, so suddenly opened up, appears limitless. The European Union, doubly angry at the crisis, is in an unforgiving mood.

Brussels now demands the triggering of Article 50 even before anybody in Britain has any idea who will lead the government or the negotiations, let alone what our strategy should be.

Voltaire in Candide joked about the British executing Admiral Byng as an example  pour encourager les autres.

This time it will be the French leaders and others desperately wanting to punish Britain as an example to discourage their own and other countries from attempting to follow the same route.
The number of names on a petition for a second referendum has already climbed above three million. Doubtless it will soon reach four million, then five. Soon it will be spuriously claimed that the public is demanding a re-run.

Already Tony Blair has said that a new referendum should not be ruled out. Labour MP David Lammy has had the gall to suggest that MPs should simply ignore the result. Minister for Small Business and Remain campaigner Anna Soubry wants another referendum.

As far as many of the leaders of the Remain campaign are concerned, democracy is only to be respected if it produces what they want. Otherwise the result can, and should, be ignored.

This is what happened when the people of Ireland, Denmark and France made what the Establishment considered was the wrong choice in previous referendums. Egged on by Brussels, pro-EU politicians in their own countries told them to go back and think again, which they obediently did.

Protesters hold placards with slogans such as ' In the European Cup' outside the Houses of Parliament

My prediction is that the cry for another vote will grow and grow over the next few days and weeks. The proponents of this plan will tell us it is the only way to avoid certain economic catastrophe  even though there is no more evidence than there was this time last week that any such catastrophe is likely.

In other words, Project Fear is alive and well. If you thought that the biggest turn-out in British history  some 33.5 million votes  and a clear majority for Leave had settled the matter in the minds of some Remainers, I am afraid you were mistaken.

The sheer effrontery of those calling for another referendum is hard to credit. Has any new evidence emerged since last Thursday? No. Is there anything to suggest there was widespread electoral malpractice on either side? No.

We can also be certain that if the vote had gone the other way by the same margin, those in favour of staying in the EU would have delivered some pious words about the beneficial workings of democracy, and cheerfully accepted the result.

I also believe that in such an event almost everyone in the Leave camp would have accepted the outcome as the expression of the democratic will of the British people. If Leave had lost, there would have been no calls for a new round of voting.

Why, then, do so many in the Remain camp  and I am talking about the millions of people who have signed the petition  shamelessly propose another referendum? It seems to me that their arrogant disregard for the popular vote mirrors the lack of democracy at the very heart of the European Union.

We are now told by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blairs disagreeable former spin doctor, that he always thought the referendum was a bad idea. Meanwhile, the otherwise sensible political interviewer Jeremy Paxman argues that David Cameron made a historic miscalculation in putting the issue to the British people.

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate at the gates of Downing Street in central London after the UK voted to leave the European Union

But it wasnt a mistake. I concede that Mr Cameron probably did not call a referendum because he is devoted to the idea of open democracy. He primarily did so because he thought it was the best way of resolving a question which had bedevilled the Tory Party for a quarter of a century.

For all that, his decision was the right one, since there is an established and enlightened tradition of asking the people, not Parliament, to decide on crucial constitutional changes.

That is what happened in 1975 when the referendum on our membership of what was then called the Common Market took place, and it is what happened in 2014 when the question of independence was put to the Scottish people. That was considered by both sides a proper and valid process.

Nor do I remember any Remainers during the past few weeks challenging the legitimacy of the referendum, or suggesting that it had been a bad idea to call one in the first place. Doubtless they were happy to take part because they were quietly confident they would win.

But now that, to their astonishment and mortification, they have lost, they want to set it aside and start all over again. They dont try to offer any intelligible justification, because there is none. They simply dont like the result that democracy has produced.

I believe that beneath this attitude there lurks something close to contempt for the ordinary people who had the impudence to vote for pulling out of the EU. Leave voters are frequently demonised as being bigoted, thick and ill-informed.

Over the weekend, I experienced this first-hand when I was castigated by an Oxford University professor at a drinks party for voting Leave. If I had disclosed that I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, I could scarcely have provoked more astonishment and disgust.

He declared that I was naive and wrong-headed, and implied that I was ignorant, too, though his knowledge of the workings of the EU seemed remarkably slight.

One sees a similar condescension in the writings of fanatically pro-EU pundits. A particularly egregious example is the former Tory MP Matthew Parris. Writing in The Times at the time of the Clacton by-election in October 2014, he sneered at voters, and dismissed their concerns about immigration as baseless.

Up to 500 protesters marched from Aldgate in east London and across London Bridge, some wielding flares

Parris displayed a sense of revulsion for Clactons Brexit-leaning inhabitants that would have rightly been judged outrageous if it had been directed at immigrants or gays. This is Britain on crutches. This is tracksuit-and-trainers Britain, tattoo-parlour Britain, all-our-yesterdays Britain.

With Olympian  and surely misplaced  certainty, Parris concluded: Like Biebermania [a reference to pop star Justin Bieber], the fuss over immigration should fade over time.

Mr Parris is in many ways an admirable person, but it passes comprehension that he should be so divorced from the feelings of people whose lives have been affected by uncontrolled immigration. Presumably he thinks Labour supporters in places such as Sunderland or Sheffield who voted in such numbers for Leave are suffering from some kind of collective delusion.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Parris is rooting for another referendum on the grounds that the ballot paper last Thursday did not make it clear whether or not leaving the EU would entail leaving the single market. This is specious thinking.

Of course, I sympathise with those young people who feel something close to bereavement after the vote. I hope they will discover that no terrible rupture has taken place, that we can have a bright future, and that Great Britain has not, in fact, been towed away from the European continent.

But it would be an affront to democracy to overturn the result of a referendum which took place after a prolonged and generally well-informed debate.

And not only an affront, I believe. If politicians in large numbers do seriously embrace the proposal for a re-run, they are likely to be met with widespread public opprobrium.

Should they succeed in scaring the British people into accepting another referendum on the same issue  which I very much doubt they will  I have confidence our membership of the EU would be rejected by an even greater margin than it was last Thursday. We are not so easily bamboozled.
Pregnancy is certainly daunting, but as any parent will tell you it is also one of the most rewarding life experiences.

But for the one per cent of Australian teenagers who fall pregnant, their lives are immediately turned upside down.

The responsibility of raising a child immediately takes priority over schooling and usual teenage activities.

At just 17 years old Ashley Bews fell pregnant to then boyfriend, now husband, Dane. It was news that she admitted rocked her world.

Back to school: D.A.L.E runs a program that allows young mums to complete their schooling with their baby by their side

But after having her son at such a young age, Mrs Bews was able to get her life back on track by returning to school.

Enrolling at DALE Christian School meant she could finish her education with son Dilan by her side, a prospect that was initially very daunting.

'My son was born with a rare syndrome and so I was really scared about how people would react, what they would say,' Mrs Bews told Daily Mail Australia.

'It was quite a daunting experience to begin with in the sense that I when I was at a mainstream school I didn't have the support I needed and now with a baby I wasn't sure if it would be the same again.

'The day that I started the staff were really nice, everyone including teachers and childcare workers were really welcoming and I felt at home straight away.'

Schoolyard support: Ashley Bews returned to school after having her son Dilan at age 17 and says the move enabled her to get her life back on track

Mrs Bews admits that after falling pregnant, she did question whether she could support a young child.

However since returning to school she has gone from strength to strength and is now completing a Certificate III at TAFE as she chases her goal of becoming a legal secretary.

'I dont have the time to go to uni at the moment and I dont want the responsibility of being a lawyer, so I looked into being a legal secretary and it sparked my interest,' she said.

'I like the idea of working under a lawyer and I like contact with people.'

Life changing: Teenage mums like Ashley Bews (pictured with her son) are heading back to the classroom at DALE (Dynamic Alternative Learning Environment) Christian School alongside their young babies in an effort to get their lives back on track

Schooling success: The program at DALE (Dynamic Alternative Learning Environment) Christian School in Newcastle, New South Wales has been providing schooling for teenage mums like Mrs Bews since 1997

Teen mum: Mrs Bews fell pregnant at age 17 with her son Dilan. She and husband Dane have since had another child, Charlotte

Mrs Bews and her husband now have a second child, Charlotte, but said that without the support and routine of the teachers at DALE, she doubts they would ever have been able to have such a normal lifestyle.

'The school and other students were so supportive of me and my son when he had to have major operations while I was still studying,' Mrs Bews said.

'My experience was amazing. I not only finished years 10,11,12 but I have made really good friends, good relationships with the staff and good progress in my life.'

With campuses in Newcastle and Wyong, both in New South Wales, DALE has helped close to 500 girls to again feel valued and respected, while at the same time completing their schooling.

Pregnancy rates: In Australia, around one per cent of teenage girls will fall pregnant before they reach adolescence

Gorgeous youngster: Dilan was born with rare syndrome abnormality, making life even harder for the first-time mum

Fun in the sun: The couple's two children Charlotte (left) and Dilan (two) enjoy the water

Principal Bronwyn Thoroughgood said she was amazed at how many young mums had the drive to return to school reignited immediately after having a child.

'I admire these young people considering the background many have come from,' Ms Thoroughgood said.

'Theyve been so disengaged from education that once they have a new baby their attitude changes. Now they're doing it for someone else and its a real motivation for them to think about their family.'

While many other schools would be incapable of dealing with their needs, Mrs Thoroughgood said DALE is specifically designed to care for both mother and child.

A creche attached to both campuses allows young children to play while their parents learn in a nearby classroom.

Mother and son: 'The school and other students were so supportive of me and my son when he had to have major operations while I was still studying,' Mrs Bews said

Amazing experience: Mrs Bews (pictured third from left) said the DALE Christian School had helped her enormously since she joined in 2009. She is now studying a Certificate III in Business Administration

It's a learning method Ms Thoroughgood said had produced exemplary results.

'If you walked into the classroom you'd find big tables where groups of students sit around with teachers,' she said.

'Obviously teachers keep that professional boundary but everyone's treated equally and they admire the students and the challenges they're faced with everyday.
Ms Choo says she is more comfortable in her style since motherhood

She was born in Brisbane, and has not written off returning to Australia

Ms Choo is the creator of a covetable line of smocks and pretty mules

She lives with her extremely photogenic family, documented on Instagram

As lifestyle dreams go, the life of Bali-based, Australian-born designer, Innika Choo, is pretty great.

She is the mum of two adorable girls, and her work as a designer and stylist has seen her live all over the world.

At present, Ms Choo resides in Bali with her husband and two beautiful children.

Between working as a designer, bringing up her brood and posting creative, funny updates to her colourful Instagram account, she more than has her plate full.

However, Ms Choo firmly has her feet on the ground, and is the creator of a range of pretty, affordable smocks and suede sandals, as well as a totally down-to-earth mum.

Between dropping the girls off to school in ballgowns and growing into her style now she's a mum, FEMAIL meets the nomadic Ms Choo to talk about her life.

Scroll down for video

Nomadic life: Innika Choo (pictured) is mother to two daughters - she is a designer cum stylist originally from Brisbane, who now lives in Bali

On the move: Ms Choo has spent much of her live abroad, living in locations as far flung as London, Dubai, Singapore, Brisbane and now Bali

Business minded: She creates a pretty line of smocks and mules, and is a totally down-to-earth mum, who regularly posts from her colourful Instagram account (pictured)

'I'm so lucky to bring up two little girls in Bali,' Ms Choo tells Daily Mail Australia.

'It's such a great place for them. What I love is that my job gives me a bit more freedom than a 9 to 5, and this means I can spend time with them when they want to.

'My husband and I are pretty pushed for time. We drum out as much work as possible while the girls are at play school and in bed, but it's a challenge.

'Society doesn't give mums enough credit for the crazy amounts they fit into their days.'

Multi tasking: Ms Choo says that she and her husband (pictured) 'drum out' as much work as possible when their two little girls are in bed and at school

Too much pressure: According to Ms Choo, there is a lot of pressure on mothers to fit everything into their daily routines

Innika Choo was born in Brisbane, and confesses she has always had a love for design - something she has passed on to her children, too.

'I have been sketching dresses since I was a kid,' she says.

'My mum's major hobby was being a seamstress and she used to make all sorts of dresses for me when I was younger. Often, I'd have some crazy idea, and she'd have the patience to make it for me.

'When I got a bit older, and started shopping on eBay and chopping up various bits of clothes, there was no question for me that I wanted to work in this industry.'

Designer drive: Ms Choo has been chopping up fabrics and shopping on Instagram since she was a child and fell in love with designing - her mother was also a keen seamstress

Ms Choo's daughters are also showing signs of a love of clothing.

My daughter has got a real eye for detail, which makes my heart just sing with joy

'Edie, my eldest, is 4 and is certainly into all of it,' she says.

'Her teachers have written on her report card that she often goes up to the older girls in school and says things like: "I like the detail on your hat".

'She's got a real eye for detail, which makes my heart just sing with joy.

'Maddie, my younger daughter, is more robust and into rough and tumble, but she's still young yet. We'll see in the future.'

Happy days: Pictured, Ms Choo with her two daughters

Following in her footsteps: According to Ms Choo, her eldest daughter, Edie, is similarly into design and has got real eye for detail - she says 'it makes my heart just sing with joy'

Since her Brisbane upbringing, Innika Choo has lived all over the world. She spent three years in London at first, before working as an air hostess in Dubai, and then Singapore, where she met her now husband.

The pair moved to Bali two and a half years ago, and at present, Ms Choo has been out of Australia for 14 years.

There's no judgment in Bali - I can take the girls to school in a ballgown if I want... In fact, I did the other day!

'It does sound fairly nomadic, doesn't it?,' she agrees when I ask her where she and her family might move next.

'We're always dreaming up the next location, from LA to Byron Bay,' she says.

'But for now we're pretty happy in the Bali bubble.'

For Innika Choo, in fact, this 'Bali bubble' is what inspires her the most.

'It's such an open-thinking, free-spirited place,' she says.

'There's no judgment in Bali - I can take the girls to school in a ballgown if I want...In fact, I did the other day!,' she laughs.

Free spirit: Bali is the perfect free-spirited place for a family like Ms Choo's

No judgment: Despite having lived all over the world, Ms Choo says that what she likes about Bali most is that there is no judgment - she can wear whatever she wants (pictured) on the school run

Eccentric style: She says: 'There's no judgment in Bali - I can take the girls to school in a ballgown if I want... In fact, I did the other day!'

She says that Bali has also really helped her creatively as a designer:

'Of course, I have the Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi apps on my phone and am constantly trying to stay up to date with the major designers, but I find a lot of inspiration in hand detailing and find the posts of mine that do the best on Instagram are when I'm wearing something really simple.

'I'm really into the idea that clothes tell a story, and love that often my biggest response comes when I'm dancing around in the kitchen wearing an old dress from Buenos Aires that has a story to it.

'I have a room in my house, which I call my archive, which is just filled with all of my clothes and their tales.'

Inspiration: Ms Choo says that the posts that do best for her on Instagram are often the really simple ones - when she is just dancing around in a really old dress and looking happy

Up to date: She does, however, keep the high fashion sites on her phone and stays up to date with the major designers

While Ms Choo says that now she's a mum she has less time to dress up and mess around in clothes, she admits that: 'I'm more confident style-wise since being a mum.

'Yes, I have less time, but I've always liked eccentric stuff and have the confidence to both design and wear things inspired by the past now,' she says.

Ms Choo's beautiful smocks have been compared to work by the likes of Marais, Mansur Gavriel and Maryam Nassir Zadeh in the past, something which she is immensely flattered by.

And the good news is that she hasn't written off a return to Australia:

'Never say never,' she says.

'We're happy in Bali at the moment. It's so aesthetically brilliant and engaging, but we have talked about going back.

Comfortable in her skin: Ms Choo says that she has grown in to her skin since becoming a mother, and is more comfortable than ever dressing in her usual eccentric, beautiful way (pictured)

Not the end: She confesses that she has not written off returning to Australia one day, but says that this will be shaped by whatever her children want to do in their lives

'What I like about where I am right now, though, is that everything is beautiful. I'm looking at some rubbish in the street right this moment, which sounds horrible, but it's dancing and I could take a photo of it and it would look amazing.

'I guess it's different because I wasn't exposed to things like this in Brisbane, where it's so clean.'

Ms Choo does say that wherever she ends up, it will be shaped by her girls:

'My life revolves around my children,' she says.

'With a little bit of travel, always. The whole family is off to Europe in September, which I just can't wait for.'

Our advice? Stay tuned for the sumptuous photographs.
Prince William has found an unlikely ally in his efforts to take a stand against cyberbullying in Monica Lewinsky.

The Duke of Cambridge, 34, last week urged firms such as apple to take a stand against abusive behaviour online, saying: 'Bullying is bullying, wherever it happens.'

And Monica, 42, who has restyled herself as an activist has praised the Duke of Cambridge's stance, describing his speech to the London 2016 Founders Forum, a conference for digital entrepreneurs as 'pitch perfect'.

Scroll down for video

Prince William has found an unlikely ally in his campaign to end online harassment in Monica Lewinsky, who has found a new voice as an anti-bullying activist

The campaigner, who previously described herself as 'patient zero' for online harassment after her affair with former US President Bill Clinton emerged said she was heartened to shee the Prince has 'boldly stepped into the fray of the digital minefield'.

In an article for Vanity Fair, she described how through social media 'reputations, and sometimes life itself, can explode, leaving its victims permanently scarred and wounded'.

In April, the Duke of Cambridge announced an ambitious plan to bring together an industry-wide taskforce to tackle cyberbullying and support young people and their families affected by it.

William has asked Brent Hoberman, who founded Lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998, to chair the Royal Foundation Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying, which will be supported by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

Monica Lewisky is now an anti-bullying campaigner and is impressed by Prince William's efforts to persuade tech companies to crack down on online abuse

Over the coming year the task force will bring together industry partners and a group of advisers from the sector to develop an industry-wide response to the online bullying of young people, with a focus on 12 to 14-year-olds.

Senior executives from Google, Facebook,Twitter, Snapchat and telecommunication firms, are some of the founding members of the new body that will also support young people and their families affected by the online problem.

And the impressive line-up impressed Ms Lewinsky who believes it will be strong enough to affect real change.

The royal gave a speech to the Founder's Forum last week explaining how since becoming a parent he's been horrified to realise the scale of online abuse

'It is also a nod to Prince William's stature and unique position of global influence that he is able to bring this caliber of digital thought leaders around the table to work towards a solution,' she said.

But she warned that there are no quick fix solutions to the worldwide issue of online abuse.

'And, so, the plea in Prince William's speech last week was pitch perfect,' she added. 'The prince's mention of his children is also a humanising reminder: bullying is bullying, whomever it happens to.'

Speaking at last week's founders forum William admitted his fears for Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Monica Lewinsky was hounded by 'virtual stone throwers' after the story of her affair with former President Bill Clinton emerged

He explained: 'The particular issue that I ask for your help to tackle is bullying. From a young age, I have detested bullying in all its forms.

'As Catherine and I started our family, I was alarmed about the increasing reports of online bullying making headlines around the world.

'From the girls developing eating disorders after being subjected to a campaign of abuse on social media, to the boys who took their own lives following constant targeting  as a parent myself, I was appalled.

He added: 'What we were seeing was that social media and messaging transformed bullying from something that was not only the torment of the classroom and playground, but that followed you home as well  to the one safe haven that children should have.'

Ms Lewinsky has spoken about being 22 years old when she fell in love with Clinton, and then being two years older when the scandal broke

And the prince went on to point out: 'To school-age children today, there is no difference between their online and offline lives. Bullying is bullying  wherever it happens'.

He praised the industry's efforts to tackle online abuse and 'trolling'  but said more could be done.

And he pointed out that Apple has not yet joined his task force  although he said he was hopeful that they would at some point.

Ms Lewinsky has worked as a fashion designer and TV presenter, but more recently has restyled herself as an anti-bullying campaigner.

Last year at a TED conference, Ms Lewinsky spoke candidly of the humiliation she suffered due to a 1998 sex scandal with then US president Bill Clinton and said her reason for breaking years of silence had nothing to do with politics.

The royal has assembled a task-force of industry heavyweights from companies such as Snapchat and Facebook to tackle the problem of online harassment

'It is time to stop tip-toeing around my past,' Lewinsky said during an on-stage talk during which, at moments, she welled with emotion.

She told of being 22 years old when she fell in love with Clinton, and then being two years older when the scandal broke.

Few hands were raised when Lewinsky asked those at the prestigious gathering who among them didn't regret something they had done at that age.

She spoke of being swept up into a political, legal, and media maelstrom unlike anything seen before. Pictures and stories centered on the scandal were hot commodities online.

'This scandal was brought to you by the digital revolution,' Lewinsky said. 'This rush to judgement enabled by technology led to mobs of virtual stone throwers. I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo, and, of course, "that woman".'

She said she was motivated to campaign against cyber-bullying by the 2010 suicide of an 18-year-old New Jersey freshman who was bullied online after being secretly filmed kissing another man.

'The landscape has become much more populated with incidents like mine, and now it is for public and private people,' Lewinsky said.
While her royal relative Prince William spent the weekend playing polo, Lady Gabriella Windsor was happy to watch.

The daughter of Prince Michael of Kent, was joined by her partner Tom Kingston, at the Jerudong Trophy, held at the Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire.

Looking relaxed in a pale blue cashmere jumper with black skinny jeans, must-wear Hunter wellies, and a blue scarf over her shoulder, the 35-year-old was ready for any weather eventuality.

Scroll down for video

Lady Gabriella Windsor, the only daughter of Prince Michael of Kent and 49th in line to the throne, today enjoyed spending time at the Jerudong Trophy, held at the Cirencester Park Polo Club in Gloucestershire

Stomping the divots: Lady Gabriella takes part in the traditional halftime activity of polo - where turf kicked up by the polo ponies is trodden back into place by the match spectators. She was accompanied by Thomas Kingston, who works in asset management

Ella, as she's known by friends and at work, and her financial analyst beau joined a crowd that included members of Loose Women including Carol Voderman and Kate Thornton at the event.

While some of the onlookers were spied holding glasses of champagne, Gabriella and Tom, who is a founder of Voltan Capital Management, opted for more warming snacks and carried a tray of hot drinks and a slice of cake.

But as the pair, who were wearing matching outfits in similar colours, walked on the grass, laughing and smiling together, they got into the spirit of the polo by engaging in the time-honoured tradition of stomping the divots.

The 37-year-old Royal, whose father is a grandson of George V and Queen Mary and Princess Michael of Kent, wore Hunter wellies and a cream cashmere jumper and sky-blue scarf at the polo event

The Jerudong Trophy is billed by Cirencester Park Polo Club as 'An intimate day at Cirencester to raise funds for HRH The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry's charities'

This is where turf kicked up by the polo ponies is trodden back into place by the match spectators.

Tom and Gabriella are thought to have been together for about a year but he is no stranger to royal-related circles and is close frineds with Pippa Middleton and previously dated Natalie Hicks, a rumoured former girlfriend of Prince William.

The Jerudong Trophy is billed by Cirencester Park Polo Club as 'An intimate day at Cirencester to raise funds for HRH The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry's charities'.

The funds raised by the match will go towards Prince William's charities, CentrePoint and Walking the Wounded

Lady Gabriella has served as a representative for the preppy American brand Ralph Lauren and in 2004 graduated from Brown University in America with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Literature and Hispanic Studies

Lady Gabriella generally keeps a low profile during her work as a freelance journalist

William's wife the Duchess of Cambridge and children Prince George and Princess Charlotte were not in attendance at the match.

Prince Harry was widely expected to attend the match at Cirencester today but pulled out at the last minute for an unknown reason.

Lady Gabriella's brother Lord Freddie Windsor who is married to actress Sophie Winkleman, didn't join her at the event either.

Although she's 49th in line to the throne, Lady Gabriella, keeps a low profile working as an arts consultant and writer for Branding Latin America, which is based in London.

The pair were also seen attending Lady Annabel Goldsmith's summer party on the 21st of June

After doing her degree in comparative literature at Brown University in the US, she went on to gain an M.Phil in social anthropology at Oxford.

However Ella is also on society hostesses' guest lists attending bashes including Lady Annabel Goldsmith's summer party last week.

The mother of Zac Goldsmith and Jemima Khan throws the exclusive bash annually.

Taking place at Ormeley Lodge, the familys elegant house in Ham, south-west London, the guest list often includes royals.

Lady Gabriella wore a pair of billowing white trousers with a simple pink top, while Tom wore a smart navy blue suit to the event.
If there's one thing Prince Albert knows well it's glamorous women, from his mother Princess Grace, his sisters Caroline and Stephanie and his wife Charlene.

And now the leading Monaco royal can add his stunning niece Charlotte Casiraghi to the list.

The brunette, who is a successful equestrian in her own right, represented her family at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco two days in a row.

Charlotte Casiraghi poses in a pleated leather dress with her uncle Prince Albert at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco on June 24

Princess Caroline of Hanover stands proudly next to her daughter Charlotte Casiraghi at the equestrian event

Gucci muse Charlotte wowed in her sleeveless knee-length dress with matching high heel pumps

Charlotte pats Piergiorgio Bucci's horse as she stands next to her 58-year-old uncle at the event

Wearing a chic pleated oxblood leather dress, the brunette 29-year-old joined her uncle and mother at the competition to award prizes and pose for pictures with the winners.

Held in the principality, the contest was set against the backdrop of the Princes Palace and also attracted A-list guests including Bond girl Caterina Murino.

Caroline, 59, who is known by her married title, Princess of Hanover, looked chic in a navy midi dress with a nude panel at the neckline on her second day of attendance.

With her hair hanging loose to her shoulders the uncanny resemblance to her lookalike daughter was clear.

The resemblance between mother and daughter is striking with the duo sharing the same model features and brown hair, which also calls to mind Caroline's mother Grace Kelly

Albert II of Monaco, Charlotte and marketing boss Diane Fissore post for photos next to one of the horses at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco on June 24, 2016

Prince Albert wore a navy blazer with grey trousers and matching grey tie for the glamorous occasion

She finished her elegant look with nude strappy heels and statement earrings.

The European royal was also joined by her youngest child, daughter Alexandra of Hanover, her only child with her third husband Prince Ernst of Hanover.

The 16-year-old royal - who has an HRH title and is 405th in line to the British throne as a descendant of Queen Victoria - wore a yellow and green print dress, with her long blonde hair worn loose.

She accessorised with long gold chains, looking far more mature than her age.

During the weekend event, Charlotte - who's rumoured to be dating Italian director Lamberto Sanfelice - also donned jodhpurs and hard hat for a spot of showjumping herself on the first day of the event.

The mother-of-one, may be making a name for herself as an ambassador for Gucci and Montblanc but horses are her true passion.

European flags flutter around the showjumping course as the rider Emanuele Gaudiano, his horse and the Monagesque royals pose for pictures on June 25

Princess Caroline was flanked by her family including her youngest daughter Princess Alexandra of Hanover (left), and Tatiana Santo Domingo (centre), the heiress wife of her oldest son Andrea Casiraghi

Caroline posed for pictures with her daughter dressed in her equestrian whites and riding boots

A keen horse lover since the age of three, Charlotte now has several horses so she can keep up with the demands of competition without exhausting her steeds.

She is also an advocate for the physical advantages of the sport, telling Vogue in 2014: 'Riding is also a great workout.

'Riding uses so many different muscles. I ride two to three horses a day, and I ride almost every day when Im not working or traveling. You use your legs, your arms, your back.

'Its a very complete sport. But I dont think of it as exercise. I do it because I love it, and its a plus that it helps me stay in shape.'

Princess Caroline and Charlotte listen to the applause at the Longines Global Champions Tour

The glamorous mother and daughter made it a family day out in the principality on June 24

Charlotte's brother Andrea Casiraghi, Caroline's eldest son, also attended the equestrian event and seemed to be having a heart to heart with Albert during the competition.

He, Charlotte and their brother Pierre are children of Princess Caroline and Stefano Casiraghi, an Italian industralist and socialite who was tragically killed in a speedboat accident off the coast of Guernsey.

Philanthropist Andrea brought his wife Tatiana Santa Domingo.

The family were back in attendance again on Saturday after Charlotte herself competed

Prince Albert and his nephew Andrea Casiraghi were spotted deep in conversation at the event

Tatiana, a stunning socialite with long curly brown hair, comes from the Colombian Santo Domingo brewing dynasty.

Her uncle Alejando Santo Domingo recently hit headlines after marrying Lady Charlotte Wellesley, who can trace her ancestry back to the Duke of Wellington.
Fashionably Franglais

Camille Charriere

French-born, London-based Camille Charriere is one of a rare breed of bloggers whose fashion flair has a direct influence on what we all wear  luxury labels court her, fashionistas copy her, then high-street stores follow suit. Her collaboration with Spanish brand Uterque is in store now.

Shop where you could spend the most time and money? Celine  the only place where I lose all sense and suddenly it seems perfectly normal to drop a months rent on a piece of knitwear.

The pair of shoes you would save from a fire? Black and white python wedges. They were a gift from the team at Chloe but I dont think they went into production. They are the comfiest heels to dance in all night long.

Handbag of choice? Right now Im saving for Loewes new Hammock bag.

What do you wear when you have five minutes to get ready? A baggy tee tucked into my most-loved vintage 501s, and a black blazer.

Who do you admire most? People who care for the planet as much as they care about themselves. And if they dress well, its a home run!

Currently reading? How to be Both by Ali Smith and Requiem for a Species by Clive Hamilton, which is must-read about climate change.

In an alternative life you would have been An environmental activist. I just wish I was smart enough and ballsy enough to be one.

Tip for wannabe bloggers? Find your voice, dont copy anyone else and trust your instincts, even if it means going against the current.

The best advice anyone ever gave you? Dont settle for what others expect of you and get talked into a career because you are smart enough to do that particular job. Find what you love.

The secret to a good selfie is The Barbie doll filter on Snapchat.

If we could whisk you anywhere in the world, where would it be? Cuba  I need to go soon!

Camille Charriere x Uterque is in store and online, from 59, uterque.com

Wear Where... Absolutely Fabulous the movie

In cinemas from Friday

Anyone whos been on bridesmaid duty knows the sweat, tears and tantrums that go into finding the right dresses for everyone, whatever their size or personal style.

Maids To Measure was set up to solve all bridesmaid-related drama.

It offers dresses in tens of colourways and in sizes 8-24 and all priced 265.

Handily, a collection has just launched at John Lewis, Nottingham (and nationwide soon), which might save a group trip to its London studio.

Maidstomeasure.com.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal launches Urban Leadership Fellows programme aims to provide young leaders opportunities to work

Thousands of the best brains from top Indian and foreign educational institutes are scrambling to be part of a fellowship programme announced by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi government officials say, at a time when the citys ruling party and its convener are battling a slew of controversies.

The AAP government has invited applications for Kejriwals ambitious mission to reform governance and transform the quality of life of all residents of the Capital in the next five years.

The programme has already received over 4,100 submissions from around the globe and over 6,000 login IDs have been created, sources say.

Over 50 applications have come in from institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard Kennedy School and MIT, a senior government official told Mail Today.

The Delhi Chief Ministers Urban Leadership Fellows (CMULF) programme aims to provide young leaders opportunities to work within the state government to address some of the most pressing public challenges.

Aam Aadmi Party legislator Dinesh Mohaniya was whisked away by police in the middle of a press conference in South Delhi on Saturday for allegedly assaulting a woman, who along with others had reached his office to complain about the water scarcity and tanker nexus in his constituency.

Over 250 applications have also been received from the IITs and IIMs, said sources.

The AAP, which romped to power winning 67 of the Capitals 70 assembly seats in last years polls, has been at loggerheads with the Centre and L-G Najeeb Jung over a raft of issues.

The battle stems from Delhis unique position as a union territory doubling as the Capital where both the L-G and police report to the central home ministry and the local government has no say over several important departments.

However, the party has received support from the working class, students as well as international intelligentsia since its inception.

Some of the core members in Delhi government are students of premier institutions and those who have worked with the worlds top companies Kejriwals popularity grew after he was named among the worlds 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine in March.

He was the lone Indian politician on the list topped by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The magazine credits Kejriwal for his efforts to curb pollution in Delhi through the scheme of allowing vehicles of odd and even numbers on alternate days on the citys roads.

In 2014, he also won the TIME 100 readers poll, followed by Narendra Modi, the front runner in the Indian elections, and celebrities like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Laverne Cox.

The AAP chief was also applauded by international media in 2015, when the party buried rivals under a landslide win in the assembly polls.

Senior officials said many passionate professionals working with leading firms are eager to join the fellowship project.

The Chief ministers urban fellowship scheme receives massive minimum qualification required is graduation, but candidates with specialised degrees will be preferred.

Over 100 submissions have been received from people currently working at international organisations like the UN and World Bank along with professionals from top management consulting firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain & Company, KPMG, PWC etc, an official said.

The AAP government claims it is trying to bring remarkable change in education, health, public transport and security along with water and electricity supply in the city.

CM takes on PM Modi as AAP MLA gets arrested

By Shashank Shekhar

The arrest of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was termed as emergency like situation by senior party leaders but residents of his constituency claim that there were two more police complaints filed against him.

A 23-year-old law student, Akash Bansal, has twice submitted written complaints at Sangam Vihar police station against Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for aiding illegal supply of water tankers in Sangam Vihar constituency.

I have two mobile videos with me, which clearly show how DJB tankers are taking money from the residents to give a bucket full of water. Though water is the legal right of each resident, is openly being sold by the tanker mafia. In the video they are saying that they have to give this money to the top, said Bansal, a resident of Tuglakabad extension area.

Supporters of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya protest against his arrest outside Neb Sarai Police Station

He had first submitted the complaint in October 2015, and then in June this year.

However, Mohaiya was arrested by the Delhi Police in a dramatic way while he was holding a press conference from his office for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women, who approached him with a complaint regarding poor water supply in their locality.

An FIR was registered against him on June 23 under Sections 323, 506 and 509 of the IPC at Neb Sarai police station.

He has been sent to judicial custody till June 27.

The police added Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman), 354 A (making sexually coloured remarks), 354 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 354 C (Any man who watches, or captures the image of a woman engaging in a private act) of IPC after two of the complainants presented themselves before a magistrate on Friday and their statements were recorded under Section 164 of CrPC.

In their statements, the women alleged that Mohaniya also molested them during a tussle on June 22, as they had gone to him with a complaint on water crisis.

A video of the incident shows a group of women complaining about the water supply in the area and the nexus of tanker mafia.

DDA: AAP government is sitting on land files

Delhi's Twitter-loving Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal can often be seen tweeting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of restricting Delhis development.

But now the shoe is on the other foot.

According to sources in the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) office, the land-owning authority has written 24 letters in the past one year to Kejriwal regarding approval of land-pooling policy but the Delhi government has not paid heed to any of them.

Later, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly and DDA member Vijendra Gupta backed the charge.

Police detain AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya in New Delhi on Saturday for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women

Out of political vendetta, the Kejriwal government is sitting over land pooling policy for more than one year nowhe tweets that Modiji isnt letting him work but the truth is he is not letting the DDA work, he said.

It has been over one year since the DDA notified land pooling policy, on May 16, 2015.

After notification Delhi government had to declare 89 villages as the urban villages.

According to sources the file is stuck with Delhi State Urban Development Department and officials have failed to explain why the government is not taking any decision on it.

Also, there are 95 villages that have to be declared as part of developmental area.

Demanding immediate implementation of the policy, Vijendra Gupta said: Notifying certain number of villages as urban villages and 95 villages as developmental area and giving the approval once the maps submitted by DDA and those with the state urban department match, is not even a weeks workprovided Kejriwal wants to work.

Under the land-pooling policy -a land pool will be created by legally consolidating land parcels owned by private parties through transfer of ownership by DDA.

Later the authority will transfer parts of the land back to the developers for developing those areas.

Land-owning farmers as well as developers say it is a win-win policy for them.

Though this situation can only be realised if Kejriwal government gets a little unoccupied from Twitter, rivals say.

Meanwhile, the Goa Congress president Luizinho Faleiro on Saturday claimed that the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has turned himself into a big joke and that AAP is a creation of the RSS.

Responding to a query on Kejriwals statement that Delhi will soon have a referendum on full statehood issue, he claimed that the biggest joke that the people of Delhi are enjoying today is Arvind Kejriwal.
The British people have spoken and the business community will have to buckle down. I have long argued that Britain leaving the EU would be bad news for British business, for jobs, for the economy as a whole. While I sincerely hope this is wrong, I do not believe it is.

Perhaps we have regained powers that were lost to Europe. I suspect that in the hard reality of the world we will find they are precious few. For while it is possible for the UK to quit the EU, it is not possible for the UK to quit the European economy.

Our trade relationships with other European countries are not a thing we can opt out of with a vote. They are part of the living, breathing fabric of our business and industry. The Brexiteers often argued as much, but from a very optimistic view.

Brexit: The idea that the rest of Europe would allow us to continue to trade with them as if nothing had happened was a triumph of optimism over likelihood, says Simon Watkins

A vote to quit the EU will not damage our trade, they argued. Europe will roll over and we will keep our current level of exports with our continental neighbours, they said.

Not only must we hope they were right, but in fact Britain  including those politicians who campaigned for us to stay in  must now struggle to make their predictions come true. While the referendum battle is over, the real street-to-street fighting (or perhaps negotiation is a better word) now begins.

The idea that Britain can conjure trade deals with the rest of the world that will offset the uncertainty now unleashed was always wishful thinking. But those trade deals must now be pursued.

The idea that the rest of Europe would allow us to continue to trade with them as if nothing had happened was a triumph of optimism over likelihood.

But we must now nonetheless endeavour to make that happen, or as close to it as we can manage.

In practice, I suspect that many who voted to leave will find that what they had hoped for  a fortress Britain free to carve its own path  is a fantasy.

The only practical way forward is to negotiate our way through this mess. Agree new standards and terms for products, working conditions, trade and worker migration that make the best of the situation we are in.

We will now face a series of negotiations in which the UK makes some gains but also accepts some compromises  just the kind of thing Brexiteers said we would be free of if we voted out.

As investors (as we all are if we are part of any kind of pension fund) we are going to have to work out whether when a company board claims its poor performance is due to the Brexit decision that they are telling the truth  or hiding their own incompetence.

The Government too has just been handed a free pass on the economy. The UK recovery was always fragile and I was never convinced Osbornes mantra of deficit reduction at all costs was the right approach. The Chancellor will now be able to blame every failed target and every broken promise on the Brexit decision.

The British economy will survive and we will eventually find our new economic place in the world, but I have little doubt that the economic future will now be far tougher than it needed to be.

The Brexiteers always argued in a glib manner that Britain would be able to make its way as an economy outside the EU by showing some British grit.
I just love when a first time filmmaker makes his way into a big feature film and just nails the production, filming, and story. I particularly love it when the film is in the horror genre, because the film industry needs more original horror films that are done well. Nick Robertson is this particular newcomer to film with 'The Pack' being his first and only credit that I know of. After viewing this horror film about killer dogs, I'd say that Robertson has a long career in film, judging by this movie alone.

This first-time filmmaker has made an engaging and thrilling film that is straight to the point without any meandering along the way. The cast turns in excellent performances and he uses his camera and small budget to film the dog attacks perfectly that keeps the suspense high and scary at all times. For you gore hounds, Robertson adds a good amount of blood and gore with each death.

'The Pack' is a great first entry for Robertson and should even keep the most seasoned horror fans on the edge of their seat, even if the premise sounds ridiculous on paper. The thing is, Robertson just nails each aspect of filmmaking here to make this a satisfying piece of horror. 'The Pack' could reference a group of killer dogs or even a family who bands together to survive the night. Adam and Carla Wilson (Jack Campbell and Anna Lise Phillips) are a married couple, living on the countryside with their two kids Sophie (Katie Moore), a rebellious teen, and Henry (Hamish Phillips), a curious and quiet young boy.

Adam and Carla's relationship isn't all roses and lollipops these days, due to the bank wanting to foreclose on their house and Carla's vet business not doing well. Their relationship has definitely taken a toll on their kids and the family looks to be falling apart. That is until a pack of killer dogs starts circling the house and trying to kill them, which has the family form a close bond to survive. Nobody is safe. Not even the police or neighbors. Robertson has framed his film in a claustrophobic manner with narrow halls and tight closets to hide from the killer dogs that it's almost as scary to be trapped in a small place as it is to be ripped apart by man's best friend.

All of the performances are very believable and spot on, in which you really root and relate to them. The attacks are vicious and brief, leaving you wanting more and guessing where the next attack will be. 'The Pack' is one horror film you'll have a lot of fun with and will make you question your pet dog.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'The Pack' comes with a 25GB Blu-ray Disc from Scream Factory and is Region A Locked. There is no digital download code here, but there is a slightly different reversible cover art. The disc itself is housed in a hard, blue plastic case.
From the moment that Prime Minister David Cameron called the EU referendum back in February, the City began to brace itself for the impact that a vote to leave would have on financial markets.

Most of the experts whom Michael Gove scorned during the campaign suggested that Brexit would send sterling crashing against other currencies  and so it has. But the effect on the stock market has been less dramatic than feared.

By the time the market closed on Friday, the FTSE 100 Index was down just 3.15 per cent, while the FTSE 250 Index was down 7.2 per cent. This is because the FTSE 100 includes more companies with business activities around the world. The FTSE 250 is more focused domestically, so its decline reflects concerns about UK economic growth.

Sharp: Nathan Rothschild, who made a fortune after the Battle of Waterloo, said buy when there is blood on the streets

Some investors may be tempted to cash in their shares now, fearful that we are heading into a period of depression and economic decline. For long-term investors, however, that would almost certainly be the wrong decision.

First, it is still unclear what will happen. For the moment, the UK is still part of the European Union and prolonged negotiations are needed to work out how we will interact with the EU and other parts of the world. Shares may remain volatile, but it is certainly too soon to take a definitive view on winners and losers.

Second, immediate market reaction is often overdone. That was clear even on Friday. Stocks fell sharply when the market opened but regained some ground that day. There may be more bounce-backs in the coming days and weeks.

Third, the Brexit vote may present opportunities. Sterling weakness, as Midas said last week, can be good for export-focused firms and those paying dividends in US dollars. Hence drugs giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, global consumer goods group Unilever and computer chip-maker ARM Holdings saw their shares rise on Friday.

British American Tobacco and another tobacco producer Imperial Brands were up too, as was miner Randgold Resources.

Banks, insurers and housebuilders were among the biggest fallers but some market-watchers believe the financial stocks  such as Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aviva and Prudential  have been oversold. Adventurous investors may want to take a closer look at these.
One of the most unsavoury aspects of the four-month EU referendum campaign was the brazen abuse of statistics and data by both the Leave and Remain camps. With each side attempting to woo the electorate with facts, voters were left confused, angry and disillusioned.

But money talks. As the rhetoric became increasingly heated in the run-up to the vote on Thursday to leave the EU  a select number of board directors stuck their necks out and bought or sold shares.

In the week leading up to the referendum, 18 brave directors  including seven bosses and two finance directors  bought shares in their own companies.

Trades: Said Darwazah, left, spent 1.52million on shares last week, while John Hutson, right, sold stock

BUYING

The biggest show of confidence came from Said Darwazah, chairman and chief executive of drugs group Hikma Pharmaceuticals. Darwazah spent 1.52million on 70,000 shares in the firm that was founded by his father in Jordan in 1978.

Initially established as a Middle Eastern drugs specialist, Hikma has become a 5.4billion international business and a member of the FTSE 100 index of leading companies.

Last July, Hikma made its largest acquisition yet, buying US drug maker Roxane from pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim. The deal involved the issue of 40,000 shares to Boehringer, which now holds a 16 per cent stake in Hikma.

After issuing these new shares, Darwazahs holding in Hikma was diluted and he has been buying stock steadily in recent months to ensure he retains a significant stake. Following last weeks purchase, he has 5.5 per cent, worth almost 300million. Even when, this year, investors criticised the Roxane deal, Darwazah remained optimistic about its long-term prospects. Now it seems that brokers are coming round to his way of thinking.

The stock dropped to 1691p in March, but has since bounced and closed at 2271p last week. Darwazah bought at 2165p, so he has already made a tidy profit, but analysts suggest the shares could rise to more than 2500p in the next year. The group is also virtually immune to any fallout from the referendum, as it makes almost all its money in the US and the Middle East.

The second largest share purchase came from Vernon Hill, the ebullient chairman and founder of Metro Bank. Hill spent 594,000 on shares in the new bank on the block and now has a 5.9 per cent stake, worth just over 100 million.

The bank floated in March at 2000p, rose to 2250p by the end of May, but then fell back, largely on pre-referendum jitters. Hill bought at 2000p on June 21. On Friday, the shares fell almost 9 per cent to 1915p so he will need to be patient.

Greg Lock, chairman of IT services group Computacenter, is not part of the founding family, but he has been at the helm since 2008. He spent 203,000 on stock at 780p a share. Computacenters customers include takeaway chain Dominos Pizza, department store group John Lewis, Heathrow airport and several local authorities.

The shares fell almost 8 per cent to 774p on Brexit fears on June 16. Lock bought on June 17 and now the shares are 755p, having fallen more than 9 per cent on Friday.

Jamie Hopkins, dynamic chief executive of office rental firm Workspace Group, forked out 68,000 on shares after the group delivered strong full-year results this month. Workspace, initially recommended by Midas in November 2014 at 688p, has had a torrid time in 2016, falling 29 per cent to 713p in the first six weeks on early concerns about Brexit. Hopkins bought at 840p the day before the referendum. Today the shares are 734p.

Whitbread director Chris Kennedy also put his faith in the group, shelling out 61,000 in the Premier Inns to Costa Coffee firm, after a mixed trading update last week. Kennedy may be wishing he had waited a few days. He bought on June 22 at 4098p. On Friday, they closed at 3830p.

SELLING

Only two directors decided to sell in the run-up to the referendum, John Hutson, chief executive of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, and Peter Lynas, finance director of defence group BAE Systems.

Lynas raised 880,000 in a chunky sale, unfortunately part of a divorce settlement.

Hutsons sale, while amounting to just 2,500 shares worth 18,325, is more intriguing. Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin was a vocal supporter of Brexit. Yet Hutson sold shares at 733p two days before the vote.
Driving forward: Henry Dixon has invested heavily in Admiral, which has expanded beyond car cover

A gyrating stock market and pound in recent days may have caused the Citys pulse to ratchet up a notch or two. But it has done little to unsettle Henry Dixon of asset manager Man GLG.

Throughout the run-up to last weeks referendum, Dixon has remained phlegmatic  and largely indifferent to the outcome.

Accepting that market turmoil was inevitable short term, he has been concentrating on the long term  ensuring the 70-strong portfolio of the Man GLG UK Income fund is fit for its purpose.

He is confident the fund is set up to deliver the same kind of outperformance that he has managed to achieve since he took over the helm in November 2013.

Since then, the fund has returned 21 per cent  better than the average from rival UK equity funds (12 per cent) and superior to the 6 per cent return from the FTSE All-Share Index.

He says: Ive tried to shut out the white noise and stay loyal to the investment process that has underpinned the fund since I joined from investment manager New Star.

There are various prongs to Dixons investment approach. Key is holding shares that have fallen out of favour, but which he believes will come good again. He refers to this as the contrarian part of the fund and explains why 45 per cent is in financial groups, such as HSBC, insurer Direct Line and Standard Life. Most of these businesses are adept at generating cash, he says.

He also likes shares that are cheap relative to the rest of the market, but where there is evidence of a momentum in earnings growth. Car insurer Admiral Group fits this bill.

This is one of the funds top 10 holdings and Dixon says the shares should perform strongly on the back of the companys diversification into home insurance. As befits the funds income bent, Dixon is always on the hunt for firms that have the capacity to increase their dividends. I like strong balance sheets, companies that have little or no debt and have sizable cash flow, he adds.

Kitchen maker Howden Joinery is one. Last year, it increased its dividends by 18 per cent. The final component of the fund is a smattering of corporate bonds, where Dixon has identified attractive yields and the prospect of a future capital uplift as their maturity approaches.

Key holdings include bonds with oil explorer Tullow Oil and doorstep lender International Personal Finance. The Tullow bond is trading at just above 80p and pays interest of six per cent. It matures in 2020 at 1.

Dixon says: I see equity value in Tullow but not at a current share price of 246p. But I do see value in a bond to be repaid in four years time. Its akin to an equity-like return.

Dixon also runs Undervalued Assets, a fund launched to coincide with his arrival at Man GLG. It is run in similar style to UK Income, investing primarily in firms whose shares are out of favour, but without the need to generate an income in excess of the FTSE All-Share.

Assisted by co-manager Jack Barat and analyst Alice Owen, Dixon has earned a solid reputation. Fund analyst Trustnet says that over the long term he has outperformed his peer group more often than not and that good stock-picking has had a material positive impact on results, which have tended to be relatively better in a rising market.
Feasrs are mounting that Fridays shock referendum result will hit Britains already struggling dealmaking industries.

Professor Scott Moeller, a former Deutsche Bank corporate financier and now director of Cass Business Schools merger & acquisition research centre, said: Hedge funds and day traders might like volatility but mergers and acquisitions markets do not.

He added: The next three months, if not two years or more, will be uncertain for the UK and thus will be a challenge for anyone doing an M&A deal.

M&A: Dealmaking was already having a tough time prior to Fridays referendum outcome

His comments come amid reports that the London Stock Exchanges $20billion (15billion) merger with German rival Deutsche Borse is at risk of collapse following Fridays referendum result.

Dealmaking was already having a tough time prior to Fridays outcome with Britains share of merger & acquisition activity tumbling to a record low amid the uncertainty over the referendum.

Before the vote the volume of deals involving UK takeover targets was down almost 70 per cent this year compared with the same period in 2015, which saw Royal Dutch Shell pay $52billion for BG Group and Anheuser-Busch InBev pay $75billion for FTSE 100-listed SABMiller.

Whilst there was a perceived pent-up demand from potential buyers ahead of the referendum, it now appears unlikely that acquirers are going to rush to pull the trigger on their planned takeovers.

Richard Kleiner, chief executive of accountancy firm Gerald Edelman said: The impact [of Britains withdrawal from the European Union] on UK M&A and private equity sectors is likely to result in lower volumes of transactions over the coming months.

However, Moeller did point out that for long-term owners of British companies now could be a good time to make a purchase as potential deals are a lot cheaper given the pounds slump to its lowest level in 30 years.

Foreign buyers  American and Chinese especially  will take a very close look at UK companies with their cheaper price, said Moeller. He also said that private equity firms and turn- around firms might find bargains from the fallout of Britains move to quit the European Union.

There will be UK firms that look to do disposals in order to raise cash or because of the changing non-EU business model.
The London Stock Exchange and its would-be merger partners the Deutsche Borse in Germany are to call a special referendum committee to examine the effect of Brexit on the controversial deal.

The 20billion merger was agreed in March and last weeks shock vote will now be examined by the committee, including three directors from each stock exchange, amid growing pressure for the agreement to be changed.

A spokesperson from the Deutsche Borse said: The Referendum Committee will now examine all regulatory, legal and jurisdictional consequences for the merger arising from the vote for Brexit as well as its implications for the ongoing operations of the future Deutsche Borse-LSE combination.

Under spotlight: The 20billion merger was agreed in March and last weeks shock vote will now be examined by the committee

The deal is already coming under pressure after top German politicians said the new group can no longer be headquartered in London as previously planned.

Dr Michael Fuchs, vice chairman of Germanys ruling CDU party, said: Things have changed and the Brexit vote has consequences. The merged company cannot be based in London.

Last Friday, the London and German stock exchanges put out a joint announcement, stressing they remain committed to the merger and the agreed and binding merger terms, which would include the location for the groups HQ.

Privately however, people within the German exchange suggest that even though the London HQ has been described as non-negotiable, all bets are off after the vote.
Hopeful: Bev and David Staples have a holiday home in Spain but still voted Leave

The dream of owning a holiday home in warmer Mediterranean climes has been dashed  or at least put on ice  for many would-be expats.

In the early hours of Friday morning, as the referendum result became clear, foreign currency specialist FC Exchange received calls from clients wanting to pull out of buying abroad and asking for their deposits on overseas properties to be returned.

Many potential buyers had already changed their pounds in the expectation of putting in an offer on a home once the votes were in.

But with the Brexiteers winning, overseas property specialists expect buyers and sellers to hang back.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, chief executive of currency exchange firm FairFX, says: This reluctance to commit is likely to continue because of the uncertainty around the bureaucratic hoops buyers may need to jump through and poor exchange rates.

Consequently, those looking for retirement properties or investment properties in Europe may now look further afield or abandon the idea altogether until the impact becomes clearer.

At 1.23 to the pound, compared with 1.30 on the eve of the poll, someone planning to buy a 200,000 property would now have their property pot smashed by about 10,000.

Spain is the most popular country in Europe for British property owners, but John May, director and co-founder of Sell4LessSpain, believes that the Brexit vote will have a major impact.

He says: British property owners in Spain will now be worried about their investment and whether they will be able to sell in the short to medium term. We expect prices to fall across the board.

OUR SPANISH VILLA DIDN'T STOP OUR LEAVE VOTE Bev and David Staples own a holiday home in Spain but they still feel it made financial sense for them to vote to leave the European Union. The couple, both aged 56, who live in a four-bedroom semi-detached home in Bridgwater, Somerset, bought a three-bedroom town house in Murcia in 2007 with a euro mortgage. Bev, who works in administration for a local financial adviser, says: We have been here before  in the banking crisis of 2008 when at one stage the pound was only worth about one euro. 'Even after this latest crisis the pound is still worth more than this  and I am sure the bravery this country has shown in leaving the European Union will make us better off. If we had stayed in I fear we would eventually have been forced to join the euro. Bev and her self-employed electrician husband have two sons Ben, 22, and Ryan, 21, and plan eventually to retire to Spain. Bev says: We might end up paying extra for travel insurance  as it is likely the free European Health Insurance Card will be scrapped  but I still feel in the long term the pound will buy us more abroad in retirement. She is also not concerned about the possible threat to the State pension triple lock being unpicked  a guarantee that pension payments rise by the higher of the retail prices index measure of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent  as threatened by the Chancellor for voting for Brexit. Bev believes that the reward of sovereignty is worth this risk.

Cooling off: Price falls are expected in some areas as British buyers decide not to take the plunge

Others are more optimistic. Simon Conn, who runs a business of the same name finding mortgages for overseas properties, says: I dont see this as a long-term problem.

'Sellers need to sit tight and give it all six to nine months to settle. Existing property owners will not be kicked out of their home.

Jason Porter, director of Blevins Franks, which provides financial advice to Britons who are living overseas, is also taking the long view.

He says: The decision to leave the EU does not affect residency status, nor the current healthcare benefits on offer to expatriates living in Europe  certainly not until an exit process has been finalised.
The National Farmers Union (NFU) has called an extraordinary meeting of its council to start drawing up its demands for subsidies from the post-Brexit Government.

Britains farmers received 2.4billion last year in payments from the EU under the Common Agricultural Policy, and NFU President Meurig Raymond has already warned that many farms would fail without these handouts.

A deal to replace subsidies with direct payments from the UK taxpayer is likely to top the agenda.

Exports: Sheep farmer Dai Brute of Brecon, Wales, holding lambs

Raymond said: We have a special extraordinary meeting next Friday to talk through timetables and start talking through priorities. Then its a case of sitting down and explaining to Government how important it is we have a policy in place sooner rather than later.

Theres a lot of uncertainty and we are entering uncharted waters. I just hope that the support were getting at the moment from Europe, and the Single Market opportunities exporting into the Continent, wont change. Were trying to get clarification on that.

Raymond added: The big issue will be exporting back into Europe. If there are import tariffs on our exports into Europe, it will make life fairly difficult. Our sheep sector exports 38 per cent of its sheep to Europe. We export a lot of cereals, dairy products, beef.

The NFU supported the Remain campaign but it is thought a large number of UK farmers still voted to leave.

Analysis by the Country Land & Business Association (CLA), which represents country landowners, farmers and rural businesses in England and Wales, found rural areas voted to leave the EU in greater numbers than the national average. A total of 55.3 per cent of voters from local authorities classified as rural by the Office of National Statistics supported the leave vote.

Meanwhile, Barrie Deas, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Fishermens Organisations, said it will be complex defining an alternative to the Common Fisheries Policy, which governs where fleets can fish in the EU and sets fishing quotas.
Fears that the boom in British car manufacturing would be derailed by Brexit failed to sway voters in the UKs main production centres.

From Sunderland to Luton, Solihull in the Midlands and Bridgend in Wales, where thousands of automotive jobs are based, the electorate voted to leave the EU despite the warnings of union bosses, manufacturers and industry bodies.

Sunderland, home to Nissan  which has 8,000 staff and last year exported 80 per cent of the 475,000 vehicles it made  voted to leave by 61.3 per cent.

Production line: Nissan in Sunderland, which voted to leave

Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn said earlier this year: Our preference as a business is, of course, that the UK stays within Europe, it makes the most sense for jobs, trade and costs.

Similarly, in Vauxhalls bases of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and Luton, the vote to leave was 50.7 per cent and 56.5 respectively. In Solihull, where Jaguar Land Rover employs 6,000, 56.2 per cent voted to leave.

Rory Harvey, Vauxhalls managing director and chairman, had earlier said: We believe not to be part of the EU would be undesirable for our business and the sector.

Britain is the fourth biggest market for Vauxhalls owner General Motors, with 35,000 staff in the UK.

Its Ellesmere Port plant produces more than 180,000 Astras a year, 52,000 of which are sold in the UK. Ford, which employs 14,000 in Britain, said it will take whatever action is needed to ensure that our European business remains competitive leading to fears of job cuts at Bridgend, Dagenham in London and Halewood, near Liverpool.

Japanese firm Toyota, which makes cars in Derby, said it would closely monitor and analyse the impact on our business operations in the UK. In South Derbyshire 60.4 per cent voted to leave the EU.

Industry body The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders found in March that 77 per cent of members said a remain vote would be best for their business, with chief executive Mike Hawes saying: The message from UK automotive is clear  being in Europe is vital for the future of this industry to secure jobs, investment and growth.

On Friday Hawes told The Mail on Sunday: We all recognise that people, in making their minds up on how to vote, looked at a whole range of issues. Other social and political issues such as immigration seem to be high on peoples minds, people would have taken all those issues into consideration and reached their own conclusion. Thats democracy.

I think our position was very clear  our poll showed 77 per cent wanted to remain, and informed their staff on the business angle  but there are broader issues at stake and you dont want to dictate how individuals should vote.

Last week Len McCluskey, general secretary of Britains largest trade union Unite, warned leaving the EU would be a terrible gamble with peoples jobs, putting skills and investment in jeopardy.

Reacting to the vote on Friday, McCluskey said: This campaign has uncovered real despair in many of our communities.

Too many feel that they have been abandoned by a political class that is not interested in their concerns and has imposed upon them an endless, grotesque austerity programme.

Britains 70billion-a-year car industry has been booming with UK sales hitting a record 2.6million vehicles last year. The industry is a major contributor to Britains balance of payments, bringing in 15.5billion annually with 80 per cent of the 1.6million cars made in the UK last year destined for export. Some 588,024 cars have been built so far this year  a 10.8 per cent rise on the same period last year.
Rules on state aid for the steel industry could be scrapped as a result of the UK quitting the EU, the industrys trade body has said.

UK Steel said the Government could now act to support British steel makers who have struggled against cheap imports, mainly from China, and against high fuel bills compared with European rivals.

It is possible we will no longer be constrained by rules on state aid and we might also see some changes on energy prices, said Gareth Stace, UK Steels director.

Hope: UK Steel said the Government could now act to support British steel makers

The Government has already pledged to make hundreds of millions of pounds available to ease the sale of Tata UK and is prepared to take an equity stake of up to 25 per cent in the business.

It is also planning pensions law changes to reduce the cost of the 13billion British Steel Pension Scheme, which is running a 485million deficit.

German and French energy prices are significantly cheaper than the UKs. Germany has paid subsidies worth over 9billion (7.3billion) to its most intensive energy users since 2013. Over the same period the UK has paid just 160million.

When Tata said it wanted to pull out of the UK in March putting 15,000 jobs at risk it cited high energy costs as a key concern.

Energy costs are higher in the UK than elsewhere in Europe because of Chancellor George Osbornes decision to impose a carbon tax on industry emissions in addition to that already imposed by the EU.

It means the price heavy industry has paid for its electricity is on average nearly double the EU average.
The wife of Maine's governor has taken a job for the summer as a waitress to supplement the couple's income, as he is the lowest paid governor in the nation.

The 58-year-old wife of Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage had kept a low profile for the first few weeks of her summer job at dockside restaurant, McSeagull's, which touts double-wrapped bacon scallops and views of Boothbay Harbor.

But then her husband told a crowd at a recent town hall that his wife took a job to 'supplement' his $70,000 salary, the lowest of any U.S. governor.

The LePages live with their dog, a Jack Russell terrier mix named Veto, in the Augusta governor's mansion and bought a $215,000 Boothbay home two years ago.

Scroll down for video

All smiles: Ann LePage chats with diners after taking their order at McSeagull's restaurant on Thursday in Boothbay Harbor. The wife of America's lowest paid governor has taken on a summer waitressing job

The 58-year-old wife (above right)of the governor had kept a low profile for the first few weeks of her summer job at dockside restaurant

But then her husband (left) told a crowd at a recent town hall that his wife (right) took a job to 'supplement' his $70,000 salary, the lowest of any U.S. governor

The governor recently tried but failed to increase his successor's salary to $150,000, above the nearly $135,000 average for all 50 state governors in 2015.

Ann LePage said being a waitress is 'something I've always, always wanted to do.'

Her daughter Lauren made $28 an hour last summer at McSeagull's.

Of her new gig, she took to her Facebook and wrote on Monday: 'Having a great time. Great food, great view, and great service!'

LePage said she spent years taking care of her mother, who long suffered from scleroderma and passed away in October.

Now it's time to follow through on her interest, LePage said, adding: 'I know she'd be proud of me.'

Wearing a black McSeagull's T-shirt and sneakers with pink shoelaces, LePage greeted customers with an easy: 'Hey, how are you?'

Ann LePage said being a waitress is 'something I've always, always wanted to do.' Her daughter Lauren made $28 an hour last summer at McSeagull's (above)

Ann LePage (above) is working near her and husband's Boothbay home and she's saving up to buy a car

LePage, who's saving up for a Toyota RAV4, works three days a week, and is asking for more shifts, WGME reported.

'Because of who I am and who I'm married to, I want to work extra hard just so I can show them I can do the job,' she said.

She doesn't tell customers, or co-workers, who she is unless they ask.

But when a reporter revealed her identity Thursday, the news just confirmed a customer's inklings.

'I knew, that's why I kept staring!' exclaimed Nina Stoddard, of Bridgton, a Republican.

She later wondered: 'I mean, is she really here just making money?'

Her friend Laurie Green, of Casco, said she loved it.

'I really hate a lot of our politicians nowadays that have the wealth, the money,' said Green, an unaffiliated voter. 'They have no clue what the average person out in the world is doing.'

Ann LePage (right) said: 'Because of who I am and who I'm married to, I want to work extra hard just so I can show them I can do the job'

Of her new gig, she took to her Facebook and wrote the above message on Monday

Stoddard agreed and suggested LePage herself should run for office: 'It's the best of Maine, the best of who we are. Two feet on the ground.'

In the past, her husband has faced criticism for controversial comments he made, including suggesting that out-of-state drug dealers were coming to the state and impregnating 'white girls.'

Critics labeled that comment as racist, while he told reporters that had misspoken.

As of 2014, the highest paid governor was in Pennsylvania with a yearly salary of $187,818, according to political website Ballotpedia.
"Did we hit the little boy on 6th avenue?"

"No, no, we missed him by a good foot and a half."

Sometimes a movie doesn't have to have the best story ever written in order for it to work. Sometimes, all you need are great characters played by fantastic actors with genuine chemistry. Arthur Hiller's 1979 action comedy 'The In-Laws' may have a clever script with a fun and wildly entertaining plot, but it's the presence of two amazing comedic actors Peter Falk and Alan Arkin that makes this film what it is. When you have talent like that, giving fearless unrestrained comedic performances, you don't need the best story, you just need to sit back and let these guys do what they do best.

It's just four short days before the wedding and Dr. Sheldon Kornpett DDS (Alan Arkin) and his wife Carol (Nancy Dussault) haven't met the father of the man marrying their daughter Barbara (Penn Peyser). They've met the mother Jean (Arlene Golonka) and the soon to be son-in-law Tommy (Michael Lembeck), and they seem to be okay people. However, the patriarch of the family Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk) has remained elusive, always having to travel to far off locations or take emergency meetings. Since his own family doesn't even know exactly everything Vince is up to, Sheldon's nerves are a little on edge. But, the man says he's coming to dinner and all concerns should be buried then and there.

The dinner proves to Sheldon that Vince is up to no good. The same way Sheldon can tell when his patients lie about brushing their teeth, he knows Vince is a liar. He doesn't know what exactly his future in-law has to hide, but it can't be anything good. But, he promised his daughter he'd make the effort, so when Vince turns up at his office asking him out to an insanely early lunch, he reluctantly goes along. Little did Sheldon expect to end up being shot at, in possession of stolen $500 bill printing plates, or mixed up in an international counterfeiting conspiracy with the erratic and seemingly insane Vince claiming to be part of the CIA.

If the plot of 'The In-Laws' sounds at all familiar, it could well be because you're conjuring up some sad memories of the failed 2003 remake starring Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks. This is a case where a bad remake can do a lot of damage to the original film. There should never have been an attempt to remake 'The In-Laws.' Comedy lightning was already caught in a bottle once with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk, there was no need to try and catch it again. This isn't to say that the original 'The In-Laws' was the most award-worthy or original film to date, there are countless versions of this sort of story out there, but this film directed by Arthur Hiller and written by Andrew Bergman is quite possibly the funniest.

What makes 'The In-Laws' work so well is that there aren't really any obvious setups for jokes. There are gags, sure, but these goofball madcap moments don't feel forced or heavy-handed. They feel like a natural progression of a stressful scenario that builds to the point of hilarity. One moment you're more or less sitting on the edge of your seat as Sheldon is being chased by a bad guy with a gun down a fire escape, the next you're laughing as the pair run in circles around a cab like two children with Sheldon trying not to get shot. The whole film works this way, the comfortable and content Sheldon being tossed into one uncomfortable and stressful situation after another by Vince. When you're not outright laughing at what you're seeing, you're giving a solid delighted chuckle. The film is never boring nor does it overstay its welcome. When a gag is done, there isn't any padding to kill the joke, the film just moves on to the next compromising situation for Sheldon and Vince.

The long and the short of why 'The In-Laws' works so well is because of Peter Falk and Alan Arkin and how well the pair work off of each other. It's interesting if you really look at the film, the great actors who play their family, the colorful characters made up of hit men, an art obsessed South American dictator, a crazy cab driver, and Chinese pilots are entirely incidental. They're not really there to further the plot in any real way, they're there to find one more reason for Arkin and Falk to play off each other, and it's hilarious. There's a point in the middle of the movie where Arkin's Sheldon has essentially been kidnapped by Falk's Vince and is stuck on a flight to Honduras. Falk is playing things cool as a cucumber, as if this is an everyday occurrence for him, while Arkin looks like a man at the end of his rope, under so much stress that he's about to snap, and yet he's doing everything he can to be polite to the Chinese pilot that is pointing out a delicious recipe in an old Better Homes and Garden article. There are many more moments like that throughout the film. I desperately want to point them out and comment on how funny they are, but I know that will spoil the joke, you're just going to have to take my word that 'The In-Laws' is a hysterical comedy that takes its time to set itself up for some great laughs. You can tell these two actors loved working with each other and it's that chemistry that makes 'The In-Laws' a comedy classic.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'The In-Laws' arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection. Pressed onto a Region A BD50 disc, the disc comes housed in a standard clear Blu-ray case with a booklet containing photos as well as an essay by Stephen Winer. The disc opens directly to a static image main menu featuring traditional navigation options.
A new lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler prominently mentions Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who was killed last weekend by an SUV under recall.

The suit was filed Thursday in California federal court on behalf of four people who own cars that are among the 1.1million Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) vehicles recalled worldwide amid complaints from drivers.

Some have said they can't tell if the transmission is in park after stopping.

The lawsuit says the shifter issue potentially caused Yelchin's death Sunday, when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward and pinned him against a brick mailbox.

Scroll down for video

A new lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler prominently mentions Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin (above), who was killed last weekend by an SUV under recall

Yelchin died when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward and pinned him against a brick mailbox (above) at his home in Los Angeles, California

The lawsuit says the shifter issue in his Jeep Grand Cherokee (file above) potentially caused the actor's death. It was filed Thursday in California on behalf of four people who own cars that are among the 1.1million vehicles recalled worldwide

The lawsuit accuses the manufacturer of 'intentionally covering up fatal design flaws and deaths from the defects,' Deadline reported.

'The safety issue is real,' law firm Hagens Berman Sobel Shapiro wrote in the complaint.

'Well over 300 accidents have already been reported, causing dozens of serious injuries, and potentially the death of Anton Yelchin, a young Hollywood actor who was crushed to death when his own 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled down his drive and pinned him against his brick mailbox.'

Police are still investigating, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the death may be related.

An FCA spokesman says the company hasn't been served with the lawsuit and it would be inappropriate to comment.

The $5million lawsuit is seeking force FCA to replace the gearshift or 'install a safety override system that would automatically move the vehicle into park if the driver's door is open and the foot brake is released,' according to The Hollywood Reporter.

People who purchased or leased a 2012-14 Dodge Charger, 2012-14 Chrysler 300 or 2014-15 Jeep Grand Cherokee are proposed class members of the lawsuit.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the plaintiffs are suing for 'breach of contract, unfair competition, false advertising and unjust enrichment, among other things.'

Police are still investigating, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Yelchin's (above) death may be related. The lawsuit accuses the manufacturer of 'intentionally covering up fatal design flaws and deaths from the defects'

The 27-year-old actor (pictured far left) died of blunt traumatic asphyxia within a minute of the horrific accident

The 27-year-old actor died of blunt traumatic asphyxia within a minute of the horrific accident, according to the Los Angeles County's coroner office.

The car is currently part of a recall because the electronic gear shift made it hard to out the car in park as well as drive and reverse, Jeep has offered condolences to the family but said it was too early to lay blame.

Anton played Chekov in the Star Trek films, including the yet-to-be released Star Trek Beyond, which has already completed production and is set for release in July while Zoe played Uhura in the reboot.

The stars of Star Trek pulled out of a cast appearance due to take place on Wednesday, as a mark of respect for Anton.

Chris Pine, John Cho, Simon Pegg and Zachary Quinto were due to join the StarTrek Beyond talk at Cannes Lions, though a statement was released by Paramount Pictures on Tuesday confirming the cancellation.

It said: 'All of us are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend Anton Yelchin. Out of respect, we are withdrawing our participation in the previously announced Star Trek Beyond event at Cannes Lions this week.'
Itiyanah Spruill (pictured), 22, was arrested after her six-year-old son shot her four-year-old son

A six-year-old New Jersey boy fatally shot his four-year-old brother in the head while playing with a gun, authorities have confirmed.

The two children were playing at a halfway home their mother was staying at around 11am in East Orange, New Jersey, on Saturday when the accident occurred.

The four-year-old was rushed to University Hospital in Newark.

He died around 4.30pm.

Neither child has been identified and the shooting has been classified as an accident.

The children's mother Itiyanah Spruill, 22, was arrested following the death of her son and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation.

Her bail was set at $310,000 and she has yet to be arraigned.

Spurill allegedly did not have custody of her two children.

Instead they lived with their grandmother in Union County.

Spurill was enrolled in a mental health program and in the process of earning her GED, Pix11 reported.

Locals say Spurill had lived on the block for tens days and was due to move into her own apartment in another ten days.

The gun used in the accident belonged to the Spruill, but it is still unclear how the boy got a hold of the weapon.

The boys were playing at a halfway home (pictured) their mother was staying at in West Orange, New Jersey, on Saturday when the accident occurred

The four-year-old was rushed to University Hospital (pictured) in Newark where he died around 4.30pm from his injuries
The teachers resigned Tuesday and the school is offering counselling

Deighan said she cried at the remarks from a previously 'trusted' teacher

In another, Hudson Deighan, 16, is called a a 'f****** idiot' for her spelling

In one conversation a teacher says he hopes a 'stupid' student fails

A teacher's account was hacked, and chat logs sent to students and staff

Three teachers have resigned from a Rhode Island prep school after a leaked chat log showed them insulting children and parents, and even wishing they could hit their students.

The teachers, who have not been identified, had used the app Slack to privately mock and insult students at Blackstone Valley Prep (BVP) High School in Cumberland.

But at 9am Monday, students, staff and teachers at the school received a mass email from a teacher's account with a link to a Google document containing the damning remarks, the Providence Journal reported.

Upset: Hudson Deighan, 16, was called a 'f****** idiot' in a private chat by teachers at Blackstone Valley Prep in Rhode Island because of her spelling issues. She said she cried, and that she had previously trusted them

Angry: Her father, Dr Scout (pictured), said the teachers had created a 'toxic environment' for students. The three teachers resigned Tuesday after a hacked account led to the secret logs being shared

'Man, I wish we could hit them,' one of the teachers said in the logs.

'Move to Arizona,' replied another. 'Start your own charter and commence with the flogging.'

In other conversations they directly insulted and mocked children and parents.

One teacher, angered by a student's parent, fumed: 'I CANNOT WITH HER (sic) I HOPE HER STUPID SON FAILS ALL HIS CLASSES.'

But it is the insults directed at the children that are the most shocking.

'HE IS FAILING FIVE CLASSES,' one teacher wrote of a male student.

Another replied, 'F***** IDIOT. Let him know if he f***s up again he will be in my HR. And I will not be so pleasant.'

But a particular dislike seemed to be aimed at female student Hudson Deighan and her mom. 'Heres how Hudson spelled Ta-Nehisi Coates: Tonahese quotes,' a teacher said.

'F****** idiot,' another replied.

And on the subject of Deighan's mother, one said: 'What a loser. Truly. There is more to success than where you go to school. Clearly Columbia doesnt provide access to parenting programs, or if they do, she didnt take advantage.'

Deighan, 16, told the Journal that she was devastated to hear how the teachers talked about her - particularly the one who mocked her spelling of Coates' name.

The teen has particular trouble with spelling, and had gone to the teacher directly for help, saying he was never mean to her face, and that 'hed just say, "Oh you spelled that wrong," and wed fix it.'

'I thought I had a personal relationship with him,' she added. 'Weve had conversations about life, our families. I trusted him.'

So reading the document reduced her to tears, she said: 'When I saw my name I just started crying.

'I thought I was straightforward with him and hed be straightforward with me. But I guess he just doesnt like me, and I guess none of the teachers like me at all.'

The school said that the account that spread the chat logs had been hacked. The teachers were confronted about the logs on Tuesday, and resigned that day.

Staff: School staff (pictured here at a 2015 pre-term meeting) and children alike received the leaked chats in an email. The school is offering counselling to teachers and students affected by the incident

Deighan's father, Dr Scout - who does not use his first name - told the school in an interview: 'The hacking is not your problem. The problem is the aggressively toxic environment your teachers have created for your youth.'

Jeremy Chiappetta, executive director of the BVP network later told the Journal: 'I cannot express my sadness, my disappointment and my frustration with this entire situation.

'I am a parent of three kids [at BVP]. I tell my faculty at the beginning of every year, every one of you has to be good enough for all of our kids. We fell short.'

Teachers and students have been offered counselling, and private meetings have been set up between parents and teachers. Chiappetta has promised steps will be taken to avoid a repeat of the farrago.

But for many students - even those not mentioned in the conversations - this is little comfort.

Deighan's friend, 15, who did not wish to be named, said: 'These are just the recent messages. What did they say about me?'
Three women who went missing met the same man online, according to Arizona authorities, who said they found evidence in the man's home that made him a person of interest in the investigation.

Nancy Rae Hartz, 72, disappeared in 2015 after finding love through a dating website.

Hartz had been divorced and then widowed and had sold her home and most of her belongings were packed and ready to hit the road with the man she was planning to travel in an RV with.

When she left Kingman, Arizona, the morning of June 2, 2015, Hartz had a moment alone with her daughter.

'She said, "Don't worry, baby. We'll keep in touch,"'daughter Denise Baggs recalled

Nancy Rae Hartz (pictured) was reported missing in July 2015 after she met a man online and started online dating. Authorities now believe that she was a victim of a serial predator as two other women within a 100-mile radius went missing after meeting the same man online

Verna Clayton (left), of Dolan Springs, Arizona, Neva Jane Lindley of Las Vegas, both went missing after cashing out their financial assets and starting an online relationship. Clayton has been missing since June 2008 and Lindley has been missing since November 2011

Baggs spoke to her mother once on the phone three days later and hasn't heard from her since.

Now authorities are trying to figure out if Hartz was the victim of a serial predator.

Her disappearance is similar to that of two other women, one in Arizona and one in Nevada.

The three women lived within a 100-mile radius of one another and were around the same age.

Verna Clayton, who would be 73 now, was last seen in June 2008 in the small town of Dolan Springs, Arizona.

Neva Jane Lindley, who would be 77 now, was last seen in November 2011 in Las Vegas.

Both cashed out their financial assets just before they disappeared and both women had begun a relationship with a man they met online.

Mohave County sheriff's detectives say 69-year-old Robert Lawson Carnochan was that man.

Authorities investigating Hartz's disappearance learned the man she left with in the RV was using a stolen identity.

When they finally located him in April, he was living in Yucca, about 20 miles south of Kingman, with another woman.

In his possession were several aliases and firearms.

Mohave County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Rodney Head said fingerprints confirmed the man was Carnochan, a Canadian citizen who fled to the US illegally more than 20 years ago.

Mohave County sheriff's detectives arrested 69-year-old Robert Lawson Carnochan (pictured). Police said evidence found at his home has made him a person of interest in the disappearances of the three women

Today, Carnochan sits in a Kingman jail on unrelated charges of identity theft, forgery and weapons violations.

He told investigators that Hartz was alive when he dropped her off at a Kingman business in March.

Head declined to identify the woman Carnochan was found living with but said she was unharmed.

A search of his home turned up evidence that makes him a person of interest in the disappearances of all three women, Head said.

'Until we can come up with some more evidence, we're just going to keep doing everything we possibly can to find these women and find out any information we can about that and Mr Carnochan,' Head said.

Ting-Wei Chiang, Carnochan's public defender in the pending cases, declined to comment on his person-of-interest status.

'I will not make any comment about missing women,' Chiang said. 'So far, he has three open cases in Mohave County.'

Baggs said her mother, whose second husband died in 2001, decided to start dating again a few years ago. In June 2014, Hartz introduced her daughters to Carnochan.

Baggs said she immediately disliked him.

By March 2015, Hartz had put her home on the market and was closing her bank account. She was making plans to leave with Carnochan, who 'wanted to live out in the middle of nowhere', Baggs said.

'All of us kids kept trying to tell Mom, "Don't go,"' Baggs said. But her mother's response was that 'she was in love with him, and she was going to go'.

Baggs reported her mother missing in July 2015. She said friends and family were alarmed when they received emails that did not sound like Hartz.

They also received phone calls but the voice sounded nothing like Hartz, Baggs said.

Deputies probed further after a woman claiming to be Hartz failed to show up to a scheduled meeting with investigators.

Detective Scot Durst said in an email that calls to Hartz' phone were never answered.

Authorities continue to investigate the women's disappearance and have served search warrants and subpoenas on financial institutions and social networks.

Meanwhile, Baggs attends all of Carnochan's court appearances.
Talau was charged in Sutherland Local Court last Wednesday

Jucy Talau, 34, is accused of assaulting the teenager last weekend

He will return to refereeing this Sunday at Anzac Oval in Sydney's south

A 16-year-old referee who was allegedly bashed during an under-12s rugby league game last weekend said the incident wont stop him pursuing his dream of refereeing in the NRL.

Kurt Portsmouth will return to the same field on Sunday where he was allegedly punched by a Gymea Gorillas trainer at a junior ruby league match in Sydneys south.

I've wanted to be an NRL referee since I was 12 and nothing has changed, he told The Daily Telegraph.

Kurt Portsmouth (pictured) will return to the same field on Sunday where he was allegedly punched by a Gymea Gorillas trainer at a junior ruby league match in Sydneys south

Jucy Talau (pictured), 34, is accused of assaulting Kurt who had been refereeing the match

The alleged assault occurred after the young referee ruled that Mr Talau's son had to be subbed out of the match at Anzac Oval (pictured)

'I'm getting back out there on Sunday.'

The brother of former Canterbury Bulldogs star Willie Talau has been charged after allegedly punching the teenager.

Jucy Talau, 34, is accused of assaulting Kurt who had been refereeing the match at Anzac oval.

He appeared in Sutherland Local Court last Wednesday and was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The alleged assault occurred after the young referee ruled that Mr Talau's son had to be subbed out of the match - the junior rugby league equivalent of being sent off.

Mr Talau allegedly attacked when the young referee made the call, leaving the teenager with bruises on his face, a broken eye socket and fractured jaw, reported Channel Seven News.

The boy's father told the Daily Telegraph that he had 'never seen anything' like the incident.

Mr Talau allegedly attacked when the young referee made the call, leaving the teenager with bruises on his face, a broken eye socket and fractured

'The crowd just groaned and I ran out on to the field to be with my son,' he said.

Kurt said he didnt want the incident to deter other young referees.

Mr Talau has been banned for life by the Cronulla junior rugby league.
Dog confiscations in the town of Shahin Share are believed to have involved a number of families (stock image)

Iranian pet lovers are in uproar after dogs were confiscated in a crackdown on 'vulgar Western culture'.

One unnamed dog owner in the Isfahan province, central Iran, said officials had shown up suddenly at his house.

Officers who claimed to be from a veterinary practice took the dog away because it needed to have 'vaccinations'.

The owner told Iran's Shahrvand newspaper: 'We were shown a piece of paper indicating they were from the municipal veterinary office.

'They came in and took away our dogs under the pretext of vaccination. Ever since our dog was taken away, you only hear the sound of crying and sobbing in our house.'

The owner was told he could recover the dog after its vaccination, but when he went to the vet's office they had no record of his case.

The confiscations were the result of a crackdown launched by local prosecutor Mohsen Boosaidi, according to local reports.

Boosaidi said: 'Keeping and caring for dogs is haram (forbidden) according to religious leaders.

'If we find out that anyone is keeping and caring for dogs and so is promoting vulgar Western culture, we will deal with them firmly.'

Dog confiscations in the town of Shahin Shahr began three days later and are believed to have involved a number of families.

Javid Al-e Davood, the head of Iran's Society For Protection of Animals, said such confiscations were illegal and that the prosecutor was 'absolutely wrong about the Islamic attitude to dogs.'

'Keeping dogs has not been regarded as haram in any religious book,' he said.

'Associating keeping dogs with Western culture is distorting the history of Islamic and Iranian civilisation,' he said.

Dogs are considered unclean in Islamic customs and police often stop and fine dog walkers.

However, Iran's authorities have stated that dogs with a clear role - such as guarding property or guiding the blind - are permitted.

In a wry letter to the prosecutor published on his organisation's website, Al-e Davood said confiscating people's pets was a strange priority for the authorities.

'We are very happy that all the problems of the country have been resolved and that the presence of a few guard dogs in people's homes is the last remaining problem for the people of Shahin Shahr, which you have set out to resolve,' he wrote.
It was a normal day at work for Debbie Reid as she answered the ringing phone at her desk.

'Mrs Reid,' the voice enquired. 'It's the Foreign Office here. Are you sitting down? I'm afraid your daughter has been arrested in Peru for drug smuggling.'

At first she thought it must be a terrible mistake. Her teenage daughter, Melissa, was in Ibiza, having left home only a few weeks earlier to work on the holiday island.

But as the import of the words permeated her brain, she found herself glancing around the office and feeling suddenly alone. Her world had just turned upside down with one phone call, yet everything around her still remained the same.

Welcome: Debbie Reid, the mother of Peru Two drugs mule Melissa (pictured together), remembers in lurid detail the day that her life was turned upside down with one phone call - telling her her daughter had been arrested in Lima for drug trafficking

Relief: Melissa (pictured with her father Billy) has finally been allowed to return home after three years in jail in Peru, but even now her parents can't understand what went wrong or why she did what she did

'I've never felt as lost as I did at that moment,' recalled Mrs Reid last week. 'I was in shock at what I'd been told. I was surrounded by people yet I'd never felt lonelier. How could I tell any of them what I'd just been told on the phone?'

A hard-working, law-abiding couple, they had raised their four children to be the same.

Recalling the moment they learned of Melissa's actions, her husband, Billy, added: 'We were deeply embarrassed by the whole situation and we learned the hard way that you cannot let your guard down and assume that because you've brought your children up a certain way, that they won't get into trouble.

'Looking back, I'm still not sure why one of our four ended up doing what she did. You find yourself questioning what you could have done differently as a parent to change things. It took a while to sink in that it wasn't necessarily our fault that we had turned out to have one bad apple.'

In the days after his daughter's arrest, Mr Reid flew out to Peru to see her - still convinced of her innocence - but remembers being confronted by a 'virtual stranger' when he was reunited with her.

He said: 'It was a shock to see her. She had been partying hard and her eyes had a dead, zoned out look that was chilling. It was like I was hugging Melissa's alter ego. It was her - yet it wasn't.

'The last time we'd seen her she was going on holiday to Ibiza, deciding at the last minute to stay out there and work. She's always been very headstrong and I'd tried to talk her out of going out there without anything definite to go to. She'd held her hand up and said: 'Dad, I've made my mind up, I'm going.'

Truth: In the days after his daughter's arrest, Mr Reid flew out to Peru to see her - still convinced of her innocence - but remembers being confronted by a 'virtual stranger' when he was reunited with her

Transformation: Her release last week finally after three years in prison was like 'all our birthdays and Christmases rolled into one', said her mother last night

'Now here we were, 6,000 miles away and my 19-year-old daughter was being accused of drug smuggling. It was devastating. I can't describe the humiliation, not to mention our fears for Melissa's safety. I'd wake up in a cold sweat worrying about what was going to happen to her.'

He added: 'I wanted to believe she was innocent but the doubts kept flooding in. How could the police have got it so wrong? But at the same time, what was she doing there in the first place?'

Before long, he realised he couldn't believe a word coming out of her mouth about the circumstances of her apprehension.

He said: 'She would lie to my face, telling me the same lies that she'd told the police after her arrest. That was hard to take in the beginning but I realise now she had to stick to her story because she was scared she would be found out. As a family, it was like we'd entered some horrible nightmare without much hope that it would be over any time soon. Since then, it's been all-consuming, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.'

But he added: 'By the time Melissa appeared in court and finally started to tell me the truth, it was hard for us to believe what was fact and what was fiction. For a while, I almost couldn't believe a word that came out of her mouth.'

Future: Sitting at their home in Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, Mrs Reid said: 'We're so grateful to have her back safe and well.' Pictured, Reid on her way home to Glasgow from Peru

Warning: The parents of Melissa Reid (pictured in Peru, with her father Billy) warned other parents that if it can happen to them it can happen to anyone

Her release last week finally after three years in prison was like 'all our birthdays and Christmases rolled into one', said her mother last night.

Sitting at their home in Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, Mrs Reid said: 'We're so grateful to have her back safe and well. I don't think there are many boys and girls who could come through what Melissa did and come out the other side like she did.'

But she warned other parents to be on their guard, saying: 'There but for the grace of God goes anyone. If it could happen to a family like ours, believe me when I say it could happen to anyone's.'

Mr Reid added: 'Whether we like it or not, what's happened is now part of our family history forever. It's not something we are particularly proud of but we expect to bounce back from it and we have confidence that Melissa will make us proud again.
Tony Abbott would have been thrashed in the coming election if he had remained Prime Minister, new polling shows.

The Galaxy poll shows that Labor would have romped home with a 29-seat majority if Mr Abbott had not been rolled by Malcolm Turnbull last September.

Just 38 per cent of those surveyed said they would vote for the Liberals if Mr Abbott was still in charge, reported the Sunday Telegraph.

Scroll down for video

Tony Abbott would have lost the coming election if he had not been ousted by current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

The poll indicated that Bill Shorten would have romped home with a 29-seat majority if pitted against Tony Abbott

The poll gives weight to Mr Turnbull's decision to oust the former Prime Minister, a move that has been criticised in the past for making the party look unstable.

Voters also indicated in the poll they believe Mr Turnbull has narrowly outperformed Labor leader Bill Shorten during the present election campaign.

Under current arrangements, the poll showed the Liberals remain on track to return to power.

Forty two per cent of respondents indicated they would vote Liberal, 35 per cent indicated they would vote for Labor and 11 per cent would vote for the Greens.

Pollster David Briggs told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Had Tony Abbott been leading the Coalition into this election the result would have been very different.

'Primary support for the Coalition would be four percentage points lower.'

Malcolm Turnbull has so far resisted calls to return Tony Abbott to the front bench if the Liberals are returned to government.

Mr Abbott is currently campaigning to retain his north Sydney seat of Warringah.

He has been picked to regain a place in the Liberal's front bench if they return to power in a week's time.

Mr Turnbull has refused to speculate on whether he would promote his predecessor.

Malcolm Turnbull will visit west Sydney on Sunday for the official launch of his party's campaign

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Mr Shorten is visiting Brisbane for a second campaign launch focused on saving medicare.

Mr Turnbull is officially launching the Coalition campaign in the marginal west Sydney seat of Reid.
A 26-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint claims he is being 'treated like a paedophile predator' and can prove the teenager lied about her age.

Mustafa Kayirici chose to represent himself as he fronted Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday and claimed to have 'dirty' videos of the teenager consenting to have sex with him several times, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Police had been searching for the Sydney man since he allegedly sexually assaulted and robbed a 22-year-old woman he met through an escort agency on June 19.

On Saturday morning, Kayirici was arrested at Bondi, east of Sydney, after he crashed into a bus stop during a high-speed chase with police.

Scroll down for video

Mustafa Kayirici, 26, allegedly kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl at knifepoint, but claims the teenager lied about her age

A 26-year-old man (pictured covered in blood) has been charged over two violent sexual assaults in Sydney

Officers pointed their guns at the suspect after he crashed into a parked car on Old South Head Road

On Friday morning, the 13-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped in Parramatta and sexually assaulted at various locations around south-west Sydney.

Appearing at Parramatta Bail Court via video link on Sunday, Kayirici was refused bail.

'They're making out I'm an evil person, like I'm a paedophile rapist predator,' he claimed to court, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

'I'm all over the news and it's wrong.'

Kayirici told the court he films the women he has sex with to prove they consent and claims to have multiple videos on his phone.

Officers from Parramatta Local Area Command and the Sex Crimes Squad had been assisting to locate him following the alleged assault of the 22-year-old woman.

Following these inquiries, officers attempted to stop a silver Ford sedan on Bondi Road in Bondi, east of Sydney, shortly after 11.30am on Saturday.

When the man allegedly failed to stop, he led police through the area before crashing into a parked vehicle on Old South Head Road.

Witnesses said he then ploughed through a footpath before coming to a halt when the vehicle was wedged between a brick fence and bus stop.

'There were about four police cars behind him and police coming the other way. Without any exaggeration, there were 15 police cars here in about one minute,' the witness told Fairfax Media.

'The police were attempting to remove him from the car and he was putting up one hell of a fight against 20 police.'

Kayirici was arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station before being transported to St Vincent's Hospital under police guard.

Bail was denied in court on Sunday and he will reappear in court on June 30.

The man led police on a high-speed chase before crashing through a parked car and stopping at a bus stop
While Tory Minister Michael Gove was celebrating Britains historic decision to leave the European Union, one close family member was appalled by the result.

His brother-in-law Ben Vine, brother of Mr Goves wife Sarah Vine, told The Mail on Sunday he now feared for his future.

Mr Vine, a photographer and artist, is one of scores of British expats living on the continent who have been thrown into turmoil by Thursdays referendum result.

He said his biggest worry is he will lose his automatic right to work in Spain and be separated from his nine-year-old son if he has to return to England.

Fearful: Expat Ben Vine with his Spanish wife Nieves Duran and their nine-year-old son Oliver Vine Duran

I live in Madrid and my son was born here, said Mr Vine. I always took it for granted that I could just live and work here, but that may no longer be the case. I may be in a situation where I cant live and work in the country where my son is.

The fact that Im British means I automatically have a work permit. But I dont know if this will continue to be the case.

I married a Spanish woman, but I dont have dual nationality. So theres a remote possibility that I would have to give up my nationality to continue living and working in Spain.

Mr Vine also feared he could lose his right to free healthcare. He said: I am now an immigrant from outside Europe. Theyve suddenly changed my status.

Mr Vine said he was ineligible to vote in the referendum because he has been living abroad for so long.

But despite sharing family ties with Brexit campaign leader Gove, the 43-year-old said he was a firm supporter of staying in Europe.

Michael Gove with his wife Sarah Vine: The MP is celebrating Britain's historic decision to leave the EU

Mr Vine said he and his sister Sarah both grew up in Italy before moving to Britain, so he felt thoroughly European.

Among the many other British expats in Spain who wanted Britain to remain in the EU are Annie Armandias, 73, and Piers OConnor, 78, who moved to Estepona in the Costa del Sol two years ago.

Ms Armandias said last night: Nobody we know here voted Out and it is utter shock and bitter disappointment.

And Stephen Davies, 47, who runs an English bookshop and has lived in Estepona for 15 years, said he would have voted In but failed to qualify. He is now worried his business will be in jeopardy.
Ethan Zuckerman  formerly of Global Voices, now at the MIT Center for Civic Media  has spent his career trying to find thoughtful, effective ways to use technology as a lever to make positive social change (previously), but that means that he also spends a lot of time in the company of people making dumb, high-profile, destructive suggestions for using technology to "solve" problems in ways that make them much worse.



Recently, Contently co-founder Shane Snow published a terrible essay proposing that prisons should be refashioned as a series of solitary confinement cells with Solyent feeds and Oculus VR headsets as a way of "solving" the "problem" of prisons, which, in his mind, is prison rape.

Prison rape is a terrible problem. People who made rape jokes about Brock Turner's 6-month prison stint were effectively advocating for punitive rape, the practice of which is a stain on the American conscience and a human rights abuse that every one of us should reject.

But prison rape is not the "problem" with America and its penal system. America imprisons more people  in real numbers and as a proportion of its population  than any other country in the world's history. It confines a mounting proportion of those people to private prisons where there are virtually no counselling, retraining, addiction recovery, or continuing education services. Worse: these private prisons divert some of the profits they reap by subjecting prisoners to inhumane conditions into lobbying for longer incarceration terms for more people.

Snow's essay isn't just a bad solution to the problem of prison rape (it is, a very, very bad one), it's also attempting to solve the wrong problem..

Zuckerman's take on Snow is a really important read, a nuanced and useful look at how, when and which technology can help with deep social problems. It takes on the "solutionist" critique proposed by people like Morozov, who attributes dangerous naivete to people who see technology as an important element of social change, and proposes a methodology beyond nihilist rejection of tech as part of programs of social reform.

The problem with the solutionist critique is that it tends to remove technological innovation from the problem-solver's toolkit. In fact, technological development is often a key component in solving complex social and political problems, and new technologies can sometimes open a previously intractable problem. The rise of inexpensive solar panels may be an opportunity to move nations away from a dependency on fossil fuels and begin lowering atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, much as developments in natural gas extraction and transport technologies have lessened the use of dirtier fuels like coal. But it's rare that technology provides a robust solution to a social problem by itself. Successful technological approaches to solving social problems usually require changes in laws and norms, as well as market incentives to make change at scale. I installed solar panels on the roof of my house last fall. Rapid advances in panel technology made this a routine investment instead of a luxury, and the existence of competitive solar installers in our area meant that market pressures kept costs low. But the panels were ultimately affordable because federal and state legislation offered tax rebates for their purchase, and because Massachusetts state law rewards me with solar credits for each megawatt I produce, which I can sell to utilities through an online marketplace, because they are legally mandated to produce a percentage of their total power output via solar generation. And while there are powerful technological, market and legal forces pushing us towards solar energy, the most powerful may be the social, normative pressure of seeing our neighbors install solar panels, leaving us feeling ike we weren't doing our part. My Yale students who tried to use technology as their primary lever for reforming US prisons had a difficult time. One team offered the idea of an online social network that would help recently released prisoners connect with other ex-offenders to find support, advice and job opportunities in the outside world. Another looked at the success of Bard College's remarkable program to help inmates earn BA degrees and wondered whether online learning technologies could allow similar efforts to reach thousands more prisoners. But many of the other promising ideas that arose in our workshops had a technological component  given the ubiquity of mobile phones, why can't ex-offenders have their primary contact with their parole officers via mobile phones? Given the rise of big data techniques used for "smart policing", can we review patterns of policing, identifying and eliminating cases where officers are overfocusing on some communities?

Zuckerman's piece is so good, I can't resist also adding this (but go read the whole thing):

Disability rights activists have demanded "nothing about us without us", a slogan that demands that policies should not be developed without the participation of those intended to benefit from those policies. Design philosophies like participatory design and codesign bring this concept to the world of technology, demanding that technologies designed for a group of people be designed and built, in part, by those people. Codesign challenges many of the assumptions of engineering, requiring people who are used to working in isolation to build broad teams and to understand that those most qualified to offer a technical solution may be least qualified to identify a need or articulate a design problem. Codesign is hard and frustrating, but it's also one of the best ways to ensure that you're solving the right problem, rather than imposing your preferred solution on a situation. On the other pole from codesign is an approach to engineering we might understand as "Make things better by making better things". This school of thought argues that while mobile phones were designed for rich westerners, not for users in developing nations, they've become one of the transformative technologies for the developing world. Frustratingly, this argument is valid, too. Many of the technologies we benefit from weren't designed for their ultimate beneficiaries, but were simply designed well and adopted widely. Shane Snow's proposal is built in part on this perspective  Soylent was designed for geeks who wanted to skip meals, not for prisoners in solitary confinement, but perhaps it might be preferable to Nutraloaf or other horrors of the prison kitchen. I'm not sure how we resolve the dichotomy of "with us" versus "better things". I'd note that every engineer I've ever met believes what she's building is a better thing. As a result, strategies that depend on finding the optimum solutions often rely on choice-rich markets where users can gravitate towards the best solution. In other words, they don't work very well in an environment like prison, where prisoners are unlikely to be given a choice between Snow's isolation cells and the prison as it currently stands, and are even less likely to participate in designing a better prison.

The worst thing I read this year, and what it taught me or Can we design sociotechnical systems that don't suck?

[Ethan Zuckerman]
Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to fight any leadership challenge and would run again if Labour was to hold another contest

Pressure was mounting on Jeremy Corbyn last night after Hilary Benn was revealed to be spearheading a plot to topple him as leader.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Mr Benn, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, has asked his Shadow Cabinet colleagues to resign en masse if Mr Corbyn refuses to quit over a vote of no confidence put forward by two of his MPs.

Sources said that Mr Benn, himself seen as a potential replacement for Mr Corbyn, had decided the crisis over the Labour leaders position had to end.

The plot emerged after defiant Mr Corbyn vowed yesterday to fight off any challenges to his leadership, telling a crowd of supporters that he would run again if his opponents forced a contest.

Amid growing anger against Mr Corbyns allegedly lacklustre performance for Remain in the EU referendum, there were also claims last night that more than 150 Labour MPs may back the no confidence motion  which could be decided in a secret ballot to be held on Tuesday.

Last night, senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who proposed the no-confidence vote, said that although it would not be binding on Mr Corbyn, he should quit if it passed.

If the motion is carried, I hope he does the decent thing and resigns.

The possibility of a coup came as a Mail on Sunday poll found that 55 per cent of voters think that Mr Corbyn should step down as Labour leader, compared with 26 per cent who think he should not.

Among Labour voters, 53 per cent think he should go, while 37 per cent want him to stay.

Among potential rivals, London mayor Sadiq Khan is rated most highly in the poll, with 30 per cent of Labour voters describing him as impressive.

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham is next with 26 per cent and ex-front bencher Chuka Umunna ties with Yvette Cooper on 15 per cent in third place.

The growing rebellion comes after a furious reaction by pro-EU Labour MPs to what they saw as Mr Corbyns half-hearted referendum performance and amid fears that they must oust him soon in case a new Tory leader calls a snap General Election this autumn.

Mr Corbyn, previously a consistent opponent of the EU, was accused of privately not being bothered if the Remain camp lost and of driving many working-class Labour supporters into the Brexit camp.

Sources also revealed that, at last weeks Shadow Cabinet meeting, Ian Murray, the partys Scottish spokesman, bluntly said that Mr Corbyn needed to speak to the wider public and not just his admirers.

Rebels yesterday said they hoped to persuade the Labour leader voluntarily to step down and allow a caretaker to take the reins  with some wanting current deputy leader Tom Watson to take over.

But embattled Mr Corbyn said: Yes, there are some people in the Labour Party, and the Parliamentary Labour Party in particular, who probably want someone else to be the leader  I think theyve made that abundantly clear.

He cited a petition calling on him to stay on, saying: What Im totally amazed by is that 140,000 people have said they do not want the party to spend the next two months debating the leadership of the party.

Mr Corbyn also tried to answer Labour critics who accused him of playing down immigration worries during the referendum, saying that we cant duck the issue of immigration.

Hilary Benn, right, is said to be telling Shadow Cabinet colleagues to resign en masse if Mr Corbyn, left, stays on as leader

Around 150 MPs are thought to be prepared to back a vote of no confidence in Mr Corbyn's leadership

But at a later appearance at Londons Pride event, he was confronted by protesters over the referendum outcome.

One protester, Tom Mauchline, said: Its your fault Jeremy. I had a Polish friend in tears because you couldnt get the vote out in Wales, the North and the Midlands.

You ran on a platform of mobilising the North and working-class votes, and youve failed considerably.

Stop using the gay movement as a shield to protect your weak leadership.
The City of London is facing as many as 100,000 job losses amid fears the UKs dramatic vote to quit the EU will force banks to shift business out of London to other European financial centres.

The threat to UK operations would be a major blow to the City  dubbed by some the golden goose of the UK economy because of the taxes raised from highly paid bankers and the trade it attracts from other European countries.

But leading bankers now fear that Londons glory days are behind it.

The threat to UK operations would be a major blow to the City  dubbed by some the golden goose of the UK economy because of the taxes raised from highly paid bankers and the trade it attracts from other European countries

One top investment banker, who preferred not to be named, told The Mail on Sunday that we have seen the high watermark of London as a financial centre because major banks are considering plans to move thousands of jobs to Frankfurt and Dublin.

People in the City were monster shocked, he added.

Morgan Stanley denied a report on Friday that it was already moving 2,000 staff but sources close to the bank said there is a plan to move up to 1,000 jobs out of Britain.

JP Morgan has said Brexit could see it move up to 4,000 roles but will not quit London, while HSBC has said it could move another 1,000 and Goldman Sachs has said it will shift jobs to Frankfurt.

And in a symbolic blow to Londons status as Europes financial capital, the continent-wide financial regulator, the European Banking Authority, which employs 160 people at Canary Wharf, has said it will have to move.

One senior trader, who said he works at one of the big banks at Canary Wharf, said: An all-staff email was sent out this morning telling us that since the Brexit result the company may face some big decisions ahead but for now it would be business as usual.

One top investment banker, who preferred not to be named, told The Mail on Sunday that we have seen the high watermark of London as a financial centre

We are trying to be optimistic but I think some people are worried well be getting a call to HR on Monday morning.

And one trader at Citibank, who also did not wish to be named, said: We are still trying to understand what will happen next.

ECONOMISTS: WE'VE GOT BAD NEWS FOR BRITAIN Economists took a red pen to Britains economic forecast this weekend as the shock Brexit vote prompted many to slash growth expectations and warn of a looming recession. It came as credit ratings agency Moodys cut its outlook on the UK from stable to negative and Sir Michael Rake, chairman of BT, raised the spectre of cost-cutting across industry if the threat of a long period of uncertainty was not resolved quickly. Businesses will hold back on investment in the short-term volatility, he said. If this period of uncertainty goes on for longer and we dont get some stabilisation then we will see people cut costs. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Economics, warned that a recession could be on the way, with the economy predicted to contract by 0.2 per cent in the third and fourth quarters of the year. He said: Surveys indicate that the mere threat of Brexit brought the recovery to its knees in the second quarter, so a recession seems likely. Uncertainty will be so pervasive most firms will postpone capital expenditure, credit will become more expensive and harder to obtain, and consumer confidence will plunge. Advertisement

This is totally uncharted territory so we all have to wait and see.

There have been rumours of job losses but nothing official has been said. I guess well find out in the next few weeks.

He added: I cant speak for my organisation but this is terrible for the City.

Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange, had warned in the lead-up to the referendum that 100,000 jobs could go.

Banks would like to stay put but experts believe the EU will force them to shift key roles trading certain products priced in euros to an EU country.

Sharon Bowles, a former Liberal Democrat MEP who chaired the European Parliaments Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said: That will inevitably happen. I dont see any way out of that one. France has always wanted to get this business.

Financial services firms in London will start to plan, I am not sure they will wait, said Mike Rake, former Deputy Chairman of Barclays and a long-term pro-European.

Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, told the BBC: The focus is going to shift to other areas of economic union: Frankfurt, Paris, or what have you.

Meanwhile, thousands of jobs in Britains 6.4 billion pharmaceutical industry could also be wiped out because of the vote to leave the EU, fear industry sources.

Six hundred office jobs will be the first to go as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will have to relocate its London headquarters to the continent, they say.

But manufacturing jobs will also be at risk.

Pharmaceutical firms currently employ around 70,000 people in the UK, contributing 6.4 billion a year to the economy.
Britain's departure from the EU turned nasty yesterday as furious European leaders ordered the UK to leave as soon as possible.

One French minister even took the extraordinary step of demanding that David Cameron be replaced within days in a bid to railroad the UK into potentially punitive exit negotiations.

The Prime Minister will also be shut out of this weeks key summit on the impact of the Brexit vote, as the stark reality of Britains diminished status became clear.

As messages from the Continent hardened, Britains EU Commissioner, Lord Hill of Oareford, was forced to step down, while the future also looked bleak for the estimated 1,500 Britons working in Brussels institutions.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) said the UK should 'leave the EU quickly'; French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (centre) urged the Tories to select a new Prime Minister. Belgium's Foreign minister Didier Reynders (pictured right)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (centre left) said it would 'not be an amicable' divorce; European Council President Donald Tusk (far right) said the UK would be 'blocked' from future EU talks

Mr Cameron wants negotiations on the UKs exit to begin once he leaves Downing Street by the start of October.

But French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault yesterday appeared to have no hesitation in trying to hurry along a Conservative leadership battle, saying: A new Prime Minister must be designated, that will take a few days. We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap.

At a gathering of leaders of the EUs founding states in Germany yesterday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also warned Britain to act quickly and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty  the formal legal process by which the UK will extract itself from the bloc.

We join together in saying this process must begin as soon as possible so we dont end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and the work toward it, he added. All six ministers at the meeting added in a joint statement: We now expect the UK Government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday: It is not an amicable divorce, but it was not an intimate love affair anyway.

I do not understand why the British Government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels. Id like it immediately.

French President Francois Hollande added: It will be painful for Britain but... like in all divorces, it will be painful for those who stay behind too. Only German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that there was no rush, saying: Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight for a short time frame.

French President Francois Hollande pictured holding crunch meetings with the leaders of France's political parties over the UK's decision to leave the EU

She added the EU has no need to be particularly nasty in the negotiations, which must take place in a businesslike, good climate.

EU leaders are desperate to avoid a domino effect of other countries following Britains lead, and think they can do this by preventing the UK winning generous access to the single market when it leaves.

A secret Brexit plan drawn up by Germany says the EU should refrain from setting wrong incentives for other member states when renegotiating relations.

France, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Hungary may also want to leave, according to the report, which claims: The extent of the knock-on effect will depend on the handling of the United Kingdom.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay at the Brexit result

launched a petition for a referendum on the countrys EU membership.

However there will likely be a difficult atmosphere at the first post-referendum summit this week.

European Council President Donald Tusk will convene a meeting of the 28-state bloc on Tuesday, but Mr Cameron will be excluded from the second day of talks when the impact of Brexit will be discussed.

Despite last weeks referendum vote, next year Britain will still have to take control of the European Union at the same time as the new Government is trying to negotiate a way out of it.

The UK will hold the rotating presidency of the EU for six months between July and December 2017 under a rota agreed long before the referendum was planned.

It means Ministers in Westminster who back Brexit will have to devote time and resources to chairing meetings of the European Council and driving forward work on new legislation  the very Brussels red tape they want to escape from. The last time Britain held the presidency was in 2005.

Sources say Britain could only avoid taking on the role if there is a unanimous agreement by all 28 member states, including the UK.

Lord Hill, who was appointed Britains EU Commissioner by Mr Cameron two years ago, announced yesterday he would step down in the wake of last weeks vote.

He said while he was very disappointed by the result, what is done cannot be undone, and he planned to leave in an orderly handover.
Hillary Clinton supporters will get a chance to a see a special performance of smash hit musical Hamilton - but star Lin-Manuel Miranda won't even be in the show.

Tickets for the July 12 matinee performance of Hamilton: An American Musical with special guest Hillary Rodham Clinton start at a whopping $2,700, and go up as high as $100,000.

But Miranda, as well as his co-stars Leslie Odom Jr and Phillipa Soo, will have performed in their last show just three days before.

While the lowest price will get supporters a general seat in the audience, Clinton donors can shell out $5,000 for a preferred seat or $10,000 for the chance to attend a photo reception with Clinton.

Hillary Clinton supporters will get a chance to a see a special performance of smash hit musical Hamilton, with tickets ranging from $2,700 to a whopping $100,000

While the lowest price will get supporters a general seat in the audience, Clinton donors can shell out $5,000 for a preferred seat or $10,000 for the chance to attend a photo reception with Clinton

The $33,400 price also includes a wrap party that will be attended by Clinton and 'other special guests' and the $100,000 ticket includes an invitation to the upcoming Democratic National Convention

The $33,400 price also includes a wrap party that will be attended by Clinton and 'other special guests'.

And for those with an extra $100,000 lying around, in addition to the premium seats and party is an invitation to the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Clinton's tickets are hardly cheap, but neither are regularly scheduled shows for the Tony Award-winning musical.

Earlier this month producers pushed the top premium seat price up to $849, a record on Broadway.

Lead producer Jeffrey Seller said the bump was in attempt to cut scalpers out of the resale business.

Tickets for Hamilton on StubHub go for as high as $1,500.

Although he won't be supporting her on stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda will no doubt be throwing his weight behind the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee soon.

Miranda has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump in recent months, promising he will do whatever he can to get out the Latino vote.

'I think it's very clear that Latinos living in the United States - their interests are bound up in voting this year, and I'll leave it at that,' he said, according to the Daily Beast.

'But making sure people turn out is going to be a priority for me.'

In the past Miranda has called Trump 'Our first national f*** face'.

It's been rumored that the Clinton campaign is working to get Miranda to perform at the Democratic National Convention next month in Philadelphia.

But Miranda is currently scheduled to film the Mary Poppins sequel in London at the time of the convention and his father, Luis Miranda Jr, said there was no truth to the rumors.

Clinton's special Hamilton matinee, which is fundraising for the Hillary for America campaign, is hardly the first glamorous fundraiser with a high price tag that the presumptive Democratic nominee has thrown.

Just last week Clinton was joined by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker for another glamorous fundraising event

DiCaprio was spotted outside the Manhattan home of Harvey Weinstein and his fashion designer wife Georgia Chapman, where the event was held

Just last week Clinton was joined by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker for a fundraising event.

The event was hosted by Hollywood behemoth Harvey Weinstein and his fashion designer wife Georgina Chapman at their Manhattan home.

Also in attendance were fashion designers Vera Wang and Tory Burch, Martha Stewart, actress Candice Bergen, and Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel.

Hillary, who is now turning the focus on her fight against Donald Trump, has secured $42million for her campaign as of May 31, a report filed with the Federal Election Commission revealed.

Her super PAC Priorities USA includes an additional stash of $52million.

If Weinstein's October fundraiser for Hillary was any indication, Monday's event should only buttress the financial backing for Hillary's campaign, which will include costly television ads attacking Trump.

The Hollywood producer previously held an event co-hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, where a $2,700 donation guaranteed a photograph with the former Secretary of State.

And in April George Clooney and wife Amal opened their Los Angeles home up for a Clinton fundraiser, attracting the likes of Jane Fonda and Ellen DeGeneres.

The night cost guests $353,400 per couple and 150 guests dined on beef tenderloin and Chilean sea bass in a 'gorgeous' tent.
Shoppers must brace themselves for a painful surge in food prices in the wake of Brexit, farmers leaders warned last night.

Food producers in the UK will face a savage fall in exports to Europe as a result of leaving the single market, they say, and charges to UK consumers will go up to make up the shortfall in income.

A staggering 60 per cent of British food exports are currently sold to the EU, and without these sales the industry could face ruin.

The situation could be further worsened post-Brexit by a shortfall in labour, as workers who have enjoyed freedom of movement across the EU and come to Britain would no longer be available to pick home-grown fruit and vegetables.

Food producers in the UK will face a savage fall in exports to Europe as a result of leaving the single market, they say, and charges to UK consumers will go up to make up the shortfall in income (file image)

This could lead to the closure of many farms. Minette Batters, Deputy President of the National Farmers Union, said: Prices will have to go up to ensure farms stay in profit.

Many are already being paid below the cost of production prices and that is not sustainable.

We also have to pay the highest rates of pay in Europe for workers.

For fruit and vegetables in particular we are going to have to secure higher prices or we risk losing farms and will have to rely on imports.

Farmers are also concerned that losing hand-outs given under the EUs Common Agricultural Policy to support production will push prices even higher.

For fruit and vegetables in particular we are going to have to secure higher prices or we risk losing farms and will have to rely on imports. Minette Batters, Deputy President of the National Farmers Union

And if new trading arrangements with EU countries involve higher export tariffs, that would add further expense. Many firms, for example, buy in cheap soft fruit from Eastern Europe and Turkey for use in jams, yogurts, muesli, pies and puddings. But one of the biggest concerns to food producers after Brexit is over cheap foreign food produced to low standards flooding the UK market.

Miss Batters said: There is a big concern that the Government will do trade deals with South American countries where there is cheaper production costs and animal welfare standards are lower.

For example, they use anti-biotic growth-promoting drugs in their cattle, which we banned 20 years ago.

We dont need their beef, we need to support our beef industry not ship beef here from across the world.

Being a part of the European trading bloc we trade to a shared set of standards and the UK has been in the driving seat. We have a safe and sound food supply chain. We have food traceability and country of origin labelling.

Farmers are also concerned that losing hand-outs given under the EUs Common Agricultural Policy to support production will push prices even higher (file image)

But former Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Owen Paterson, a leading Brexit supporter, said on BBCs Farming Today yesterday that leaving the EU presented a great opportunity to boost British farming. This is tremendous for our farming industry and for our countryside, he said. This gives us the freedom to repatriate policy. Our self-sufficiency in food is down to 59 per cent, I am told. We need to grow more food.

Mr Paterson, who did not rule out now returning to the Government, called on farmers to use the summer to help Ministers draw up a new forward-looking policy to grow more food and boost the rural economy.

NFU leaders are also anxious to grasp opportunities posed by Brexit.

An emergency meeting for its ruling council is to take place in London on Friday to discuss priorities for action.

Miss Batters said: Its time again to dig for Britain and produce the raw ingredients for this seismic and cultural change in the UK.
Tory MEP Daniel Hannan (pictured) has rowed back on comments that Brexit would lead to less immigration

A leading Brexit campaigner was involved in a furious on-screen clash after appearing to row back on claims that quitting the EU would cut immigration.

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said that the leave vote would not end freedom of movement  because the UK would have to agree to it to gain access to the single market.

His remarks, to irate presenter Evan Davis on the BBCs Newsnight, came as the realities of Brexit faced increasing scrutiny  with Nigel Farage distancing himself from the claim that the 350 million a week Britain sends to Brussels could be reinvested in the NHS.

On Newsnight, Mr Hannan advocated a Norway-style relationship with the EU, which allows it continued access to the single market on condition that Norway allows free movement.

Mr Davis shot back: Weve just been through three months of agony on the issue of immigration. The public have been led to believe that what they have voted for is an end to free movement.

Mr Hannan said the Brexit campaign was about removing legal entitlements to live in other countries, to vote in other countries and to claim welfare and to have the same university tuition, not ending free movement of labour.

The presenter continued his line of attack, saying: Why didnt you say this in the campaign? Why didnt you say that you were wanting a scheme where we have free movement of labour?

Come on, thats completely at odds with what the public think they have just voted for.

Mr Hannan said the Brexit campaign had never set a target for reducing numbers coming into Britain, and had instead only promised a measure of control.

The MEP was bombarded with criticism on Twitter in the wake of his appearance, leading him to respond yesterday: Chaps, look at what I said throughout the campaign I was for more control, not for minimal immigration.

Hannan (on Newsnight) claims that Britain would have to agree to the free movement of people if it wanted to get access to the single market

Later yesterday he said he would be taking a month off Twitter.

Meanwhile, Mr Farage disowned the pledge made by Vote Leave to spend 350 million of EU cash on the NHS after Brexit.

He said: I would never have made that claim. That was one of the mistakes that I think the Leave campaign made. It wasnt one of my adverts, I can assure you.
Labour's deputy leader was set to knife Jeremy Corbyn last night after 11 members of the shadow cabinet stormed out over his disastrous leadership in the referendum campaign.

Sources believed Tom Watson would tell Mr Corbyn to quit for the sake of the party when the two men hold crisis talks today to discuss EU referendum fallout.

In an ominous statement last night, Mr Watson did not back Mr Corbyn, and hit out at his deeply disappointing decision to sack shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to battle the co-ordinated attempt to topple him launched by MPs

A defiant Mr Corbyn told his Labour critics to put up or shut up. In a statement, the Labour leader said he would not quit, despite a stream of senior Labour figures warning publicly that he is not up to the job.

Mr Benns exit in the small hours yesterday came after Mr Corbyn got wind of his efforts to canvas support for a coup. It prompted a mass walkout from the shadow cabinet, with ten other senior figures quitting  and warning that Mr Corbyn was not up to the job.

Labour MPs have been enraged by Mr Corbyns dismal leadership during the campaign, which saw voters across the partys heartlands back Brexit in defiance of the party line.

Phil Wilson, chairman of the Labour In group of MPs, accused Mr Corbyn of sabotaging the partys campaign to keep Britain in the EU. Corbyn should resign with immediate effect, he said. The responsibility of being leader of the Labour party is beyond his capabilities.

More frontbenchers are expected to quit today to make it clear to Mr Corbyn that he cannot continue to lead the party.

The Labour leader is also facing a vote of no confidence by scores of his own MPs. They meet to discuss the move tonight, with up to 200 expected to back the motion in a secret ballot that could be held as early as tomorrow.

Almost 120 MPs from the centre of the party are also threatening to break away from the party to form an 'official opposition' in the Commons because they believe Corbyn is not capable of it.

Despite the departure of 12 members of his shadow cabinet, Mr Corbyn insisted he would fight for his job and contest any leadership challenge

But under fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn vowed to battle the co-ordinated attempt to topple him launched by MPs as he insisted he will not 'betray' the trust of the party members who elected him.

TWENTY HOURS THAT ROCKED THE PARTY In a tumultuous day, 11 members of Jeremy Corbyns 30-strong shadow cabinet walked out following his sacking of Hilary Benn. This is when the shadow ministers left: 1:40am Hilary Benn, shadow foreign secretary. SACKED 8:22am Heidi Alexander, health 11:23am Gloria De Piero, young people 12:03pm Ian Murray, Scotland 1:02pm Lilian Greenwood, transport 1:27pm Kerry McCarthy, environment 1:51pm Seema Malhotra, Treasury chief 1:56pm Lucy Powell, education 5:01pm Vernon Coaker, Northern Ireland 5:54pm Lord Falconer, justice 7:04pm Karl Turner, attorney general 9:24pm Chris Bryant, Commons leader Advertisement

Mr Corbyn dug-in for trench warfare with senior Commons colleagues after 11 members of the shadow cabinet quit his top team, saying he was not up to the job.

The Labour leader said he would not 'betray the trust' of those who elected him and said he would 'reshape' the shadow cabinet over the next 24 hours and warned: 'Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.'

Shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant, warned Mr Corbyn risked going down in history as 'the man who broke the Labour Party' unless he stood aside.

In a tough talking statement Mr Corbyn insisted he would fight for his job and contest any leadership challenge.

'I was elected by hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members and supporters with an overwhelming mandate for a different kind of politics.

'I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me - or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them.

'Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate.

'Over the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labour's campaign for a fairer Britain - and to get the best deal with Europe for our people.'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to answer questions from journalists about the attempted coup as he left his London home this morning

Fury has been building in the party's top ranks about Mr Corbyn's shambolic performance during the EU referendum battle - when he repeatedly risked undermining the party's drive to maintain ties with Brussels.

One of the final straws for many appears to have been when he refused to share a pro-EU platform with David Cameron, despite pleading from campaign organisers and Gordon Brown.

Within hours of Mr Benn being fired, Heidi Alexander quit the Shadow Cabinet saying Mr Corbyn lacked the 'capability' to lead the party. She was soon followed by equalities spokeswoman Gloria de Piero, Scottish secretary Ian Murray - Labour's only MP north of the border.

WHO HAS GONE SO FAR? Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn (sacked after saying Corbyn should resign) Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander Equalities spokeswoman Gloria de Piero Scottish secretary Ian Murray Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell Shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood Shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy Shadow chief Treasury secretary Seema Malhotra Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer Shadow attorney general Karl Turner Shadow Commons leader Chris Bryant Advertisement

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell, shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood, shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy, shadow chief Treasury secretary Seema Malhotra, shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker, shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer and shadow attorney general Karl Turner have also walked out.

And this evening, Chris Bryant resigned as shadow Commons leader, saying: 'We need someone new to unite and lead Labour.'

Shadow Welsh secretary Nia Griffith is believed to have written but not yet delivered a resignation letter, MPs also expect Angela Eagle, her sister Maria, and Jon Ashworth to declare their departures.

But despite the departure of around half the senior team, close Corbyn ally and shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted he was 'going nowhere' and would replace anyone who leaves his team.

Aides to the leader said appointments would be made 'in due course' - although given Mr Corbyn's paltry support in the parliamentary party finding willing candidates could prove tricky.

Mr Watson - who spent last night dancing at the Glastonbury festival - appears to be lining himself up for the top job by pointedly refusing to criticise the resignations.

He said he was 'saddened' so many colleagues felt unable to carry on and 'deeply disappointed' at the sacking overnight of shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn which triggered the walkout.

'My single focus is to hold the Labour Party together in very turbulent times. The nation needs an effective opposition, particularly as the current leadership of the country is so lamentable,' he said.

'It's very clear to me that we are heading for an early general election and the Labour Party must be ready to form a government. There's much work to do. I will be meeting Jeremy Corbyn tomorrow morning to discuss the way forward.'

Mr Corbyn smiled but refused to comment to waiting media as he left his north London home and got into a waiting car today.

CONTROVERSIAL RULES THAT PROTECT LABOUR'S LEADER Labours rulebook makes it difficult to oust the party leader. The rules say anyone wanting to mount a formal leadership challenge needs to gather the public support of 51 Labour MPs and MEPs to trigger a contest. Any other contenders would need to gather a similar number of nominations. Once the candidates are put on a ballot paper, it is simply one member one vote. Under a controversial rule change introduced by former leader Ed Miliband, anyone can sign up to vote in the contest. The change saw tens of thousands joining the Labour Party to vote for Mr Corbyn last year, including activists from the hard Left and Greens. Many MPs fear these activists would simply re-elect Mr Corbyn if he makes it back onto the ballot paper. But the partys general secretary Iain McNicol is said to have had legal advice that this would not take place automatically. The Labour leader would have to seek nominations if he wanted to stand again and might struggle to raise them. But Unite union boss Len McCluskey said any attempt to keep Mr Corbyn off the ballot paper would split the party and almost certainly end up in court. Many Labour MPs believe they could easily gather the 51 names needed but cant unite around a single candidate. In a separate bid to oust Mr Corbyn, Margaret Hodge has tabled a no-confidence motion to be heard next week by the Parliamentary party. But even if agreed, it would have no legal force. Advertisement

He thanked a police officer for coming to protect him as he walked out his front door: 'Thanks for coming by today.'

Interviewed on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning, Mr Benn ruled out becoming the next Labour leader himself, but made clear he did not believe Mr Corbyn could continue in the role.

'He is a good and decent man but he is not a leader and that is the problem,' he said.

In a midnight telephone call, Mr Corbyn told Mr Benn he was kicking him out of the top team for plotting.

A Labour spokesman said: 'Jeremy has sacked him on the grounds that he has lost confidence in him.'

In a statement afterwards Mr Benn said: 'It has now become clear that there is widespread concern among Labour MPs and in the Shadow Cabinet about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of our Party.

'In particular, there is no confidence in our ability to win the next election, which may come much sooner than expected, if Jeremy continues as Leader.

'At this critical time for our country, following the result of the EU referendum, we need strong and effective leadership of the Labour Party that is capable of winning public support so that we can stand up for the people of Britain.

'In a phone call to Jeremy, I told him that for these reasons I had lost confidence in his ability to lead the Party and he then dismissed me from the Shadow Cabinet.

'I thanked him for having given me the opportunity to serve him and the Party as Shadow Foreign Secretary.'

Ms Alexander announced her resignation in a letter sent to Mr Corbyn early this morning, telling him he was not up to the job of tackling the 'unprecedented challenges' the country now faces following Thursday's historic vote to leave the EU.

She said she was stepping down with a 'heavy heart' in the letter, which she published on Twitter.

Hilary Benn laid into Jeremy Corbyn in an appearance on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning, insisting he was 'not a leader'. He also said he had shown 'little enthusiam' during the EU campaign

She wrote: 'Those who will be hit hardest by the economic shock associated with the vote to leave the EU need a strong opposition, as do those communities who fear rising levels of intolerance, hatred and division.

'More than ever, our country needs an effective opposition which can hold the Government to account and which can hold the Government to account and which is capable of developing a credible and inspiring alternative to an increasingly right-wing and backward looking Conservative Party.'

She concluded: 'As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next Government, a change of leadership is essential.'

Ms Alexander told ITV's Peston show later that 'a lot' of her colleagues were considering whether to resign.

Heidi Alexander, left, has quit as shadow health secretary, while equalities spokeswoman Gloria de Piero has also resigned

Ms de Piero wrote in a letter to Mr Corbyn: 'I do not believe you can deliver that victory at a general election, which may take place in a matter of months. I have been contacted by many of my members this weekend and It is clear that a good number of them share that view and have lost faith in your leadership.'

Mr Murray wrote that the country needed a 'strong opposition capable of holding the government to account, helping to secure the best possible deal for Scotland and the UK and building to win any future general election'.

'I do not believe that can be achieved under your leadership,' he said. 'Therefore it is after much thought and with regret, that I resign from the shadow cabinet.'

In her letter, Ms Powell said Mr Corbyn was 'principled and kind', but added: 'It is increasingly clear that your position is untenable and that you are unable to command the support of the shadow cabinet, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) and, most importantly, the country.'

Ms Greenwood voiced 'concern that our strong collective position in favour of remaining in Europe was not consistently communicated to Labour supporters'.

Lucy Powell confirmed on Twitter that she had resigned as shadow education secretary

'In my view a new leadership is required to bridge the widening divides in out party, both in parliament and in the country as a whole,' she wrote.

But Mr McDonnell said there was no prospect of Mr Corbyn being forced out. He also ruled out standing for leader if his fellow veteran left-winger is dethroned, amid claims allies have been ringing round seeking support.

'Jeremy's not going anywhere,' Mr McDonnell told the BBC's Sunday Politics.

'He was elected nine months ago, the biggest mandate of any political leader in our country, and he is not going anywhere.

'The people who are sovereign in our party are the members.

'It's the members who elected Jeremy and he will remain.'

Shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry said should would not be quitting.

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham - who is running to become mayor of Manchester - also said he would not be taking part in the coup.

'At an uncertain time like this for our country, I cannot see how it makes sense for the Opposition to plunge itself into a civil war,' he said. 'I have never taken part in a coup against any Leader of the Labour Party and I am not going to start now.'

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham made clear he would not be taking part in the attempted coup

But Mr Burnham's stance was not universally welcomed by correspondents on Twitter

Shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott - who is now expected to take over the key foreign brief - said: 'Some of my colleagues are labouring under the illusion that Jeremy serves as the leader of the opposition at their will and pleasure.

'If they want a new leader of the opposition, we must either have a proper leadership election  and this vote of confidence has no status in the rulebook.

'Or, they set up a new party and go to the Speaker with the names of all the MPs who are in the new party and that way they can get a new leader. But it will be a brand new party.'

CORBYN AND BENN CLASHED OVER BOMBING SYRIA BEFORE Hilary Benn gave a passionate speech in favour of extending airstrikes against Isis to Syria Jeremy Corbyn and Hilary Benn were clashed over government plans to bomb Isis in Syria before Christmas. The Labour leader was forced to offer a free vote on extending British airstrikes after a majority of his shadow cabinet signalled they supported the action. Mr Benn then delivered the most passionate speech of his career as he helped secure a parliamentary majority for David Cameron's plan. Having given his address at the Commons despatch box, Mr Corbyn was left humiliated as he had to sit and listen to Mr Benn directly contradict his views. There was widespread speculation that Mr Benn would be ejected or demoted in the leader's next reshuffle. But after pressure from other shadow ministers Mr Corbyn kept him in place. Advertisement

She added: 'There's no evidence that if Jeremy ran again as leader he wouldn't win. The reason I have confidence in Jeremy is because the party has confidence in Jeremy.

'And Hilary, it's very sad that Jeremy had to sack Hilary  we all know his father, who was a great man, a really great man. But Hilary left Jeremy with no choice.'

Unite boss Len McCluskey dismissed efforts to unseat Mr Corbyn - and threatened to help deselect any MPs who tried to remove him.

'A new leadership election is divisive and unnecessary,' he wrote in the Guardian.

'But if enough MPs want one, then bring it on. I am sure that Corbyn will secure a fresh mandate.'

Mr McCluskey - whose union is a major donor to party coffers - warned that any 'undemocratic' attempt to hold a contest without Mr Corbyn as a candidate would split Labour in two.

He added: 'Unite has hitherto opposed any plans to change the party rules governing mandatory re-selection of Labour MPs. That, too, we have looked on as a divisive distraction.

'But those MPs who have missed no opportunity to tweet and brief against the party's elected leader over the last 10 months will find that their disloyalty finds no favour with party members and will make this an increasingly difficult line to hold.'

More than 200,000 people have now signed a petition calling for Mr Corbyn to stay on as leader.

Critics moved against Mr Corbyn after he defiantly dismissed the idea of standing down, despite anger over his poor performance in the EU referendum battle.

There was also fury after he delivered a bizarre 'keynote' speech yesterday in which he admitted that high levels of immigration had been key to the campaign, but again failed to set out a clear position on the issue.

Mr Corbyn was heckled by pro-EU activists at the Pride march in London, but merely insisted he did 'all I could' before walking off.

The Labour leader is said to have refused to appear with David Cameron during the EU referendum campaign despite being 'begged' by senior staff.

Gordon Brown, the Labour prime minister whom Cameron vanquished in 2010, was also sent to plead with Corbyn to change his mind, according to Politco.

Labour also apparently refused to share its voter registration lists with Stronger In, fearing the Tories would steal the information for the next general election.

Mr Corbyn's panicky decision to dismiss Mr Benn after reports of plotting brought forward the plan for a shadow cabinet exodus.

It is not the first time Mr Benn and Mr Corbyn have clashed, with the former frontbencher having defied his leader by backing Conservative-led plans for airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

Mr Benn, who represents Leeds Central, served in the Cabinet under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He is a fourth-generation MP and his father Tony served in Parliament for 47 years, and was a Cabinet minister himself in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.

Heidi Alexander resigned as shadow health secretary saying Mr Corbyn lacked the 'capability' to lead the party to victory

Moderate MPs lined up to support Mr Benn and Ms Alexander, claiming there were 'no good reasons' to stay in the Shadow Cabinet.

Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, said on Twitter: 'Lots of good people chose to serve in Shadow Cabinet to keep the show on the road. There are no longer good reasons for good people to stay.'

Exeter Labour MP Ben Bradshaw added: 'The Labour Shadow Cabinet must now act to save the Party and for the sake of the country. Otherwise we will never be forgiven.'

Roberta Blackman-Woods, the shadow minister for housing said the sacking was 'sad news indeed' and said questioned Mr Corbyn's judgement.

Labour MP Wes Streeting appeared to support Mr Benn on Twitter, claiming there were 'no good reasons' to stay in the Shadow Cabinet

Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw tweeted the Shadow Cabinet 'must act' to save the party going forward

Roberta Blackman-Woods offered up her opinion and said this would worsen Mr Corbyn's precarious standing

Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael was annoyed that this would act as a sideshow to the Conservative infighting to replace Prime Minister David Cameron

Chris Bryant resigned as shadow Commons leader, saying: 'We need someone new to unite and lead Labour'

While Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said the Labour strife would distract from the chaos at the top of the Conservative party.

Others on social media said 'good riddance' and praised Mr Corbyn for 'showing some teeth'.

Amid growing anger against Mr Corbyn's allegedly 'lacklustre' performance for Remain in the EU referendum, there were also claims last night that up to 200 Labour MPs may back the no confidence motion  which could be decided in a secret ballot to be held on Tuesday.

Last night, senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who proposed the no-confidence vote, said that although it would not be binding on Mr Corbyn, he should quit if it passed.

'If the motion is carried, I hope he does the decent thing and resigns.'

The possibility of a coup came as a Mail on Sunday poll found that 55 per cent of voters think that Mr Corbyn should step down as Labour leader, compared with 26 per cent who think he should not.

Among Labour voters, 53 per cent think he should go, while 37 per cent want him to stay.

Mr Corbyn, pictured speaking yesterday, vowed to remain in his position and fight off any challenges

Among potential rivals, London mayor Sadiq Khan is rated most highly in the poll, with 30 per cent of Labour voters describing him as 'impressive'.

Mr Burnham was next with 26 per cent and ex-front bencher Chuka Umunna ties with Yvette Cooper on 15 per cent in third place.

Rebels yesterday said they hoped to persuade the Labour leader voluntarily to step down and allow a 'caretaker' to take the reins  with some wanting current deputy leader Mr Watson to take over.

But embattled Mr Corbyn said: 'Yes, there are some people in the Labour Party, and the Parliamentary Labour Party in particular, who probably want someone else to be the leader  I think they've made that abundantly clear.'

He cited a petition calling on him to stay on, saying: 'What I'm totally amazed by is that 140,000 people have said they do not want the party to spend the next two months debating the leadership of the party.'

Mr Corbyn also tried to answer Labour critics who accused him of playing down immigration worries during the referendum, saying that 'we can't duck the issue of immigration'.

He claimed 'I did all could' to prevent the UK voting to leave the EU.

Speaking at London's Pride festival, the embattled Labour leader told furious activists on the street that he campaigned furiously and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, went as far as saying Mr Corbyn, 67, 'worked himself to the ground' despite many on the right and left criticising him for a 'lacklustre' effort.

In an effort to get back onto the front foot as the latest crisis engulfed his leadership of the Labour party, Mr Corbyn gave a speech on Saturday addressing immigration and its decisive role with voters to vote Leave.

He blasted the 'irresponsible' debate during the campaign and demanded the Government focus more on the public's worries about how migrants impact on public services.

He said: 'We have to address the needs of people and places that have been left behind, building an economic strategy that works for all, in all parts of the country'

'And we have to move beyond the irresponsible debate that we sometimes have that makes people afraid or that accuses people of being Little Englanders or racists just for raising the issue.

'It is clear from the vote on Thursday and from the people I have spoken to across Britain  that there was a backlash against the free movement of people across the 28 nations in the European Union.'

Meanwhile Theresa May, left, is said to be consolidating her position to battle Boris Johnson, right, for leadership of the Conservative Party

Chris Bryant resigned as shadow Commons leader, saying: 'We need someone new to unite and lead Labour'

With both major parties still reeling from the shockwaves of the surprise - and narrow - victory for quitting the EU, the prospect of a snap autumn election sharply focused attitudes as leadership clashes loomed.

Home Secretary Theresa May was consolidating her position as the main potential 'Stop Boris' candidate, as Europe piled pressure on David Cameron to go before his stated departure date of October so that tough talks on the Brexit 'divorce' deal can begin in earnest.

With the race for the Tory crown expected to move up a gear this week, with the backbench 1922 committee set to outline the time table for the contest, allies of Chancellor George Osborne moved to dismiss claims he was attempting to change party rules in a bid to damage Mr Johnson's chances.

Morning after the night before: Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson realises what's been happening to his party while he's been partying at Glasto

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was partying into the early hours this morning at Glastonbury at the same time as his Jeremy Corbyn faced mass resignations after sacking Hilary Benn.

He posted a one-minute video on his Snapchat feed of him drinking a can of Thatchers cider standing in a field with the words: 'A barren wasteland of mud. This is not a metaphor.'

The clip includes pictures of Mr Watson watching the headline Adele gig at the festival last night, enjoying craft ale, singing at another gig in a tent along with the caption 'happy' and in the early hours of this morning he captured himself and friends at a silent disco.

Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was partying into the early hours this morning at Glastonbury at the same time as his Jeremy Corbyn faced mass resignations after sacking Hilary Benn

The clip includes pictures of Mr Watson watching the headline Adele gig at the festival last night, enjoying craft ale, singing at another gig in a tent along with the caption 'happy' and in the early hours of this morning he captured himself and friends at a silent disco.

Mr Watson was said to be trying to get a train back to London this morning, but struggling to get in touch with other Labour figures as his phone is running out of battery

It was remarkable given that Mr Watson will play a central role in the fate of Mr Corbyn and his approach to the crisis in the party will play a decisive role in whether the leader is forced out.

As he partied in the fields at Glastonbury, 130 miles away in London Mr Corbyn phoned Mr Benn to sack him after learning of the shadow foreign secretary's plan to oust him as leader.

Mr Watson was said to be trying to get a train back to London this morning, but struggling to get in touch with other Labour figures as his phone is running out of battery.
It was the focus for so much of the crucial debate over migration before the EU referendum.

But last night in the camp in northern France known as The Jungle  from where countless migrants have sought to make their way across the Channel  opinion was divided on the effect of the Brexit vote.

Some defiantly declared they were still determined to make the journey by whatever means they can, believing that the French police will not try so hard to stop them jumping on to lorries and Eurotunnel trains.

But others huddled around their cooking fires in the ramshackle camp feared that Britain will soon stop accepting refugees after the shock vote.

Plea: A defaced Banksy mural in The Jungle, where opinion is currently divided on the Brexit vote

A Syrian telecoms engineer called Khaled, 36, who fled the Assad regime in Damascus, said: Even if the border did move to England, I dont think it would make a difference.

Any migrants found on lorries in Dover would still be sent straight back to France. It would mean a two-hour journey back to the camp instead of the ten-minute walk if they are caught here.

Khaled, whose wife and two children are in a camp in Lebanon, said he was pinning his hopes on being allowed to move with his family to Canada, where he has a brother.

But engineering student Arshad Ali, 27, who claimed he was fleeing Taliban oppression in northern Pakistan, said: It is good that England is to be separated from Europe. People at the camp here were very happy when they heard the news.

They think it will give them the opportunity to get to England more easily. At the moment, England tells France not to allow people to cross the border. The French police stop us because they are friends with England. The English also send money for fences over here

But if England wants to be separate, then I think the French will let us go to England. It will be easier for us to get on lorries and trains.

In limbo: Sudanese migrants in The Jungle last week say they now face more uncertainty

Ali who has been in The Jungle for eight months, said he believed that the Brexit vote could also make it less likely that migrants would be sent back to mainland Europe when claiming asylum.

He said: If your fingerprints have already been taken in another country you can be sent back there  but if England and France do not talk so much, then that will be less likely.

Mohammed Asif, 29, from Afghanistan, who spent Friday night trying to board lorries, said: Some say that the French people might let us get on lorries because England is separate now. Also, if England throws out its workers from Europe, then there could be more jobs for us. But we do not know what is going to happen.

Sanitary engineer Raouf Hadi, 40, expressed his sadness when he invited The Mail on Sunday into his shack for a cup of Tetley tea, flavoured with cardamon and cloves after breaking his Ramadan fast at sundown on Friday.

Raouf, from Sudan, lived in Libya for 13 years before crossing the Mediterranean in a people-smugglers boat. He said: We want England to stay in the EU. I know people in England already dont like immigrants. I am sure it will be even harder to claim asylum when the UK is on its own.

As rats scampered around outside, he joked: It is not going to stop the Sudanese men here trying to get over to your country. After all, we are all now addicted to English tea.

Afghan citizen Amin Khan, 32, who runs a makeshift barber shop in The Jungle, said: I am sad that England is leaving the EU.

It should just be one Europe. Everyone thinks that England left Europe because they dont like refugees. Maybe they will stop accepting all refugees now.

Amin, who lived in the UK before being refused asylum and deported, insisted he had no plans to return to Britain and was happy to remain in The Jungle, running his business and sending around 300 (240) a month back to his wife and daughter in Afghanistans Khost province.

Plea: A sign in The Jungle. Some in the ramshackle camp feared that Britain will soon stop accepting refugees after the shock vote

Belgian volunteer Franky Delamilliere, who was at The Jungle helping to run a kitchen, said: A lot of migrants think it will be bad news having Britain out of Europe. They are worried that it will be even more difficult to be accepted in the UK.

Many of the estimated 4,500 migrants at the camp heard of the Brexit vote on their smartphones in the early hours of Friday while trying to board UK-bound lorries and trains. Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart has called for the immediate suspension of the Touquet agreement which allows UK staff to conduct border checks in Calais and French officials to be in Dover.

She said such a move would lead to migrant camps being moved to Britain, echoing fears expressed by David Cameron during the Remain campaign. But French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault insisted that the treaty would stay in place.

Khali Mansour, a 44-year-old actor from Sudan, who has claimed asylum in France rather than heading for the UK, said: Nobody knows what is going to happen to Britain now. It is a bad step for the UK to leave the EU for economic reasons.

I have two brothers in England. They told me there is no work and no money. It is a stupid idea to go.
The EU yesterday dealt a devastating blow to Nicola Sturgeon's new bid for independence - by ruling out any prospect of Scotland retaining its EU membership when Britain leaves.

The SNP leader yesterday said she is seeking 'immediate discussions' with Brussels to 'protect Scotland's place in the EU'.

But The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal that the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has already ruled there is no option but the whole of the UK exiting following Thursday's shock Leave vote.

After the Brexit vote, the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she was seeking immediate discussions with Brussels to protect Scotlands place in the EU

Miss Sturgeon had hoped to hold a referendum during the next two years while Brexit negotiations take place - and had wanted Scotland to simply and seamlessly remain in the EU if there was a Yes vote.

But the new ruling by Brussels dashes her hopes, by confirming that an independent Scotland would have to reapply for EU membership.

Such a move could take years and come with conditions, such as having to adopt the euro and introduce border controls with England.

The official ruling confirmed that 'part' of a member state 'cannot remain in the EU if the member state itself withdraws'.

STURGEON ADMITS SHE HASN'T SPOKEN TO BRUSSELS Nicola Sturgeon today admitted that she has not yet contacted any Brussels officials to discuss how to safeguard Scotland's membership of the EU. The First Minister also insisted that despite the revelations made by The Scottish Mail on Sunday, there are 'no rules' which would stop Scotland remaining an EU member. Asked by Andrew Marr if she had begun negotiations with EU officials, Miss Sturgeon said: 'I will be speaking to people in Brussels over the next few days, I haven't yet done that.' She also denied that it was impossible for Scotland to stay in EU while the UK leaves, as revealed by The Scottish Mail on Sunday. 'There are no rules, there is no precedent - so my job is to get in there and seek to negotiate what is in the best interests of Scotland,' Miss Sturgeon said. The First Minister refused to discuss whether or not an independent Scotland would have to adopt the euro, saying: 'On the currency, on any other issue, I am not saying that there are not questions and challenges that Scotland would have to face up to.' Miss Sturgeon was speaking after two polls suggested that a majority of Scottish voters would now support splitting up the UK in the wake of the EU referendum result. One survey in the Sunday Post said that 59 per cent of Scots backed independence, while a Sunday Times poll found 52 per cent in favour. Advertisement

Asked at the end of last week if an independent Scotland would be able to retain membership of the EU despite the rest of the UK opting to leave, the EC told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that the rules make it clear that Brexit applies across the whole of the UK.

An EC source said: 'Article 50 is the only legal mechanism to withdraw from the union - and this article refers to "member states".'

The issue of a 'partial withdrawal' of a member state was also ruled out in a briefing note sent to MEPs by the European Parliamentary Research Service.

The document, seen by The Scottish Mail on Sunday, said: 'Also discussed (by commentators) is the question of whether a "partial withdrawal" could refer to part of the territory of a member state, and therefore the member state "as a whole" does not withdraw but part of it "remains" in the EU.

'It should be noted, however, that the "part of the member state" in question would not itself be a sovereign state, and that it would never have been a formal member of the EU as a sovereign state, so it could be argued that it cannot therefore "remain" in the EU if the member state itself withdraws.'

It is a devastating blow for Miss Sturgeon, who wanted to capitalise on the massive pro-Remain vote to help boost her primary cause of ending Scotland's place in the 309-year-old Union.

Only hours after it was confirmed on Friday that Britain had voted to exit the EU, Miss Sturgeon said it was a 'democratic outrage' that Scotland - where 62 per cent of voters backed Remain - would be taken out of the EU against its will.

Yesterday, she announced that the Scottish Government would begin 'immediate discussions' with Brussels about retaining Scotland's EU membership.

She also confirmed that her Cabinet, which met on a Saturday for the first time in order to discuss the Brexit vote, had approved her plan to begin drawing up legislation for a rerun of the 2014 independence referendum.

It means a second referendum is likely to be one of the key Bills in her 'programme for government' for the next year, which will be unveiled after the summer recess.

But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that civil servants in Brussels have already ruled that the whole of the UK must exit the EU following Thursdays shock vote. Sturgeon is pictured at Bute House, Edinburgh

She announced an advisory panel will be set up to advise her on legal, financial and diplomatic matters relating to Scotland retaining EU membership. But its first task will now be to assess if there is any way to get around the EC's resistance to allowing a part of the UK to stay.

Miss Sturgeon said: 'In the last hours, the Scottish Cabinet has met.

'We have had a very full discussion about the result of the EU referendum, its implications for Scotland and steps we need to take in the days, weeks and months that lie ahead to protect Scotland's interests.

THE ROAD TO A SECOND SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM: WHAT MUST STURGEON DO? To stage a second referendum on Scottish independence Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) must secure agreement from the Westminster Government To stage a second vote on Scottish independence Nicola Sturgeon would have to secure agreement from the Westminster Government. This is because legislating for a referendum is a reserved power - not devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Without agreement from the UK Government, any vote held on Scottish independence would have no legal effect on the Union. The Scottish Government could decide to hold an 'advisory referendum on extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament' but the result could not be enforced. Lacking a majority, the SNP would need Green support to get a referendum through. But Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said a second vote would not be in Scotlands best interests. If Mrs Sturgeon went ahead with an 'advisory' vote, she could use the results as proof of the overwhelming desire for independence and demand the UK Government grant her the right to hold a legally-binding second vote on Scottish independence. In reality, despite Alex Salmond insisting the 2014 was a 'once in a lifetime' vote, Scottish voters will almost certainly be given another chance very soon in their lifetimes. The fact that all 32 authorities voted in favour of remaining in the EU means Scotland is being taken out of the EU against its will. This 'constitutional crisis' - as many have called it - is not going to go away anytime soon. Advertisement

'Cabinet expressed its pride in the vote in Scotland, the emphatic vote in Scotland, to remain in the EU. But Cabinet also shared deep disappointment in the UK-wide result, which is clearly felt by the majority of people across this country.

'As I said yesterday, a second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table and is very much on the table. To ensure that option is a deliverable one within the required timetable, steps will be taken now to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place. Cabinet this morning formally agreed that work.'

Miss Sturgeon said she will now begin preparing legislation for an independence referendum to take place during the two-year period in which the UK negotiates its exit from the EU, which is expected to begin in around three months.

But the response from Brussels reveals that an independent Scotland would not be allowed automatically to retain its membership. It means a separate Scotland would have to negotiate its entry into the EU as a new member state.

It is believed the Scottish Government had suggested it could retain membership via a 'reverse Greenland option'. In 1982, Greenland voted to leave the EU even though its residents are Danish citizens - and Denmark remains an EU member.

But one Brussels source said: 'They are talking about a reverse Greenland, but the rule is that you cannot have a part of a territory apply for membership.'

Another said: 'The atmosphere here right now is, "F*** the British". They are angry and they will never be willing to let the SNP in on the same terms as the UK had. They would extract a price from an independent Scotland for membership.'

A spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said: 'I'm aware of what Article 50 says - this is why the First Minister has taken the steps she has to explore all possible avenues to protect Scotland's EU membership status.

'We are in uncharted territory, which is why the First Minister has taken the opportunity to seek all potential avenues, routes and mechanisms to try to protect Scotland's EU future.

'Exactly what that involves remains to be seen. We will explore every avenue.

'We are trying to get a fix and come to a solution on a situation which is not of our making.'

Scottish Tory MEP Ian Duncan said: 'The prospect of a partial withdrawal is unlikely to gain traction. The two regions which would most likely seek it would be Scotland and London. It is difficult to see how the EU could accommodate this request.

'It is too soon to judge the mood of the EU institutions. The next few months will be about disentangling the whole of the UK from the EU.'
An unemployed mother-of-three has been charged with trafficking crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy after police searched her four-bedroom Brisbane home in April.

Kylie Gould, 29, from Shailer Park, faces eight separate charges including the possession of a .22 Phoenix Arms rimfire pistol, and is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

Police allegedly found the semi-automatic gun hidden in the roof of a black 4WD Landcruiser, driven by alleged Black Uhlans bikie associate Matthew Delander, the Courier Mail reported.

Brisbane mother-of-three Kylie Gould, 29, has been charged with trafficking ice and ecstasy

Ms Gould, who is facing eight separate charges, was travelling in a Landcruiser with alleged Black Uhlans bikie associate Matthew Delander when police found a gun in the car's roof

Matthew Delander, 33, was arrested at his luxury Ephraim Island home on charges of drug trafficking and the supply of firearm

Court documents seen by the Courier Mail include details of the links between Ms Gould and Mr Delander - who is allegedly at the centre of an illegal arms racket and has a bail hearing on June 29.

Police also arrested Mr Delander, 33, from his luxury Ephraim Island home on charges of drug trafficking and the supply of firearms.

Court documents show that Mr Delander was charged with selling a semi-automatic shotgun to a police informant, as well as shooting a gun from his Mercedes-Benz at a parked car and street signs alongside sales manager Cherie Mollica.

According to the Courier Mail, police allege that Mr Delander's drug trafficking helped finance an extravagant lifestyle which included stays at Palazzo Versace and Sheraton Mirage.

His bail application was set for June 17 but was adjourned to June 29.

Mr Delander was one of 17 people arrested as part of Taskforce Maxima - a 12 month operation targeting 'high-risk' criminal networks on the Gold Coast.

This is a major win for the community and police in seizing 10 illicit firearms from the hands of serious criminals including loaded hand guns and banned weapons, Taskforce Maxima Commander, Detective Superintendent Mick Niland said.on April 30, after the execution of 21 search warrants.

Mr Delander allegedly shot a gun from his Mercedes-Benz at a parked car and street signs alongside sales manager Cherie Mollica (pictured with Ms Gould)
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.

But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. 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.
A man has been hospitalised after his brother allegedly stabbed him with a pair of scissors during an argument.

Police were called to the house in Loganlea, south Brisbane, around 8pm on Saturday after the man was stabbed in the torso.

The victim, 31, was rushed to hospital with a puncture wound, Channel Nine reported.

Police were called to a house in Loganlea, south Brisbane, after a man was stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors

It has been alleged that the 31-year-old victim was stabbed by his brother during a heated dispute

The victim is believed to have been stabbed in the chest once and the injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

A 25-year-old-man was arrested at the scene.

He will appear in court next month to face charges of wounding.
People in territory said Britain voting to leave EU was a 'stab in the back'

Comes after 98% of citizens rejected that idea in a 2002 referendum

Denisa Fussiova, 25, from Slovakia, a restaurant waitress at Wagamama at Ocean village Marina

In the pubs, cafes and shops of Gibraltar, there is only one topic of conversation: Brexit. The word is almost spat from the lips of locals who are horrified that Britain is leaving the EU.

It feels like a stab in the back, said Eric Asquez, 47, born and bred on The Rock.

Perched on the southern tip of Spain, the British enclave of 32,000 people voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with 95.9 per cent opting to stay in.

Now Gibraltar is facing an uncertain future, as Spain wasted no time after the result was announced in claiming it should be given joint sovereignty  a plan rejected by more than 98 per cent of Gibraltarians in a referendum in 2002.

The Spanish government is going to start pressing us hard, said worried taxi driver Fidelio Bonfante, 55. After we leave, things are going to get very difficult at the border.

The border crossing with Spain  its only land access to the Continent  has previously been the focus of disputes over the territorys sovereignty.

In 2013, during a bitter row over disputed waters around Gibraltar, the Spanish authorities intensified border checks to create huge traffic jams that lasted for hours.

There is little doubt in the minds of ordinary Gibraltarians that they are part of the UK. Indeed, with its British High Street shops and supermarkets, and traditional red post boxes, it is easy for visitors to imagine they are strolling through an English seaside town.

At Morrisons supermarket, Carole Crute, 68, from Ashford, Kent, a retired secretary who emigrated to Gibraltar with her husband and father 12 years ago, said: Its all the uncertainty  my 94-year-old father has lung cancer and we have been going to Spain for his treatment. That sort of thing worries me most. We dont know what is going to happen now.

Jodie Julian, 21, whose grandmother has owned The Angry Friar Pub in Main Street for 23 years, warned: There is going to be hell between Gibraltar and Spain.

I worry that Gibraltar is going to suffer really badly economically. There is no-one to back us up now.

Access to the European single market has helped Gibraltars economy, built around financial services and its port, post double-digit economic growth even during the Euro crisis.

Perched on the southern tip of Spain, the British enclave of 32,000 people voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with 95.9 per cent opting to stay in

But rumours already abound that financial firms will flee if they can no longer access the EU single market. Barmaid Sue Stevens, 47, said: There are loads of betting companies here. The workers who came for breakfast on Friday said they will go back to the UK once we leave.

It is not just British workers who are affected. More than 12,000 Spanish people cross the border to work in Gibraltar each day  many in the service and hospitality industries.

Christian Mayor, 26, a chef at Wagamama restaurant in the upmarket Ocean Village Marina, travels to work from his home in Algeciras 15 miles away. I am shocked and it is painful. I feel us Spanish are like brothers with the English, he said.

When Britain does finally leave we might need to get visas to work here. It might become difficult to get jobs, to get money.
Far-right racists are feared to be taking advantage of the EU referendum result to abuse anyone they suspect of being foreign.

Police said they were investigating disturbing notes posted through letterboxes in Cambridgeshire telling Poles they were vermin.

And during a rally in support of migrants in Newcastle yesterday, supporters of the old National Front displayed a banner declaring: Stop immigration. Start repatriation.

During a rally in support of migrants in Newcastle yesterday, supporters of the old National Front displayed a banner declaring: Stop immigration. Start repatriation.

A Muslim businesswoman born in Wales was told to pack your bags after saying online that the Brexit result left her feeling alienated.

Meanwhile, social media users nationwide reported incidents on the street and public transport in which Eastern Europeans and Muslims were told to leave the country.

Former Cabinet minister Baroness Warsi led the condemnation of the hate crimes, writing on Twitter: This is not the post-Brexit Britain we want to see. Politicians from all sides need to speak out.

She added the hashtag #moreincommon, created last week as part of the tributes to Labour MP and charity campaigner Jo Cox, who was shot dead on the streets of her West Yorkshire constituency.

The wave of abuse follows fears expressed during the referendum campaign that Leave supporters were whipping up hatred against immigrants rather than focusing on Britains membership of the EU.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage unveiled a poster with the slogan Breaking point: The EU has failed us all which showed a line of desperate migrants crossing the border into Croatia last year. It was likened to Nazi propaganda and reported to police for allegedly inciting racial hatred.

In the wake of Fridays result, hate mail was reportedly posted through the doors of residents in Huntingdon, a town in Cambridgeshire where many Eastern Europeans have settled over the past decade.

The wave of abuse follows fears expressed during the referendum campaign that Leave supporters were whipping up hatred against immigrants rather than focusing on Britains membership of the EU. Pictured: The Mail's expose into the Far Right in the Brexit camp

The laminated cards read: Leave the EU. No more Polish vermin on one side. The same message was then translated into Polish on the reverse side.

Several of the cards were discovered outside primary schools in the area. The mother of one boy who saw them contacted police.

The Polish pupil told a local newspaper he felt really sad when he read the notes, adding: The teaching assistants were picking them up and throwing them away because they thought they were racist.

Another local resident said one of the cards had been left on her mothers doorstep, held down by stones so it did not blow away.

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said: We have received a report from a member of the public of hate mail thats been posted through letterboxes of Polish residents.

This would constitute a crime and we are investigating it.
George W. Bush's former treasury secretary has publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, saying that a Donald Trump presidency would be 'unthinkable'.

In a double blow to Trump, Henry Paulson's comments came as George Will, a prominent conservative columnist, announced he was quitting the Republican party in protest.

Mr Paulson, who worked in the Bush administration during the 2008 financial meltdown, has joined a growling list of establishment Republicans who will not cast a ballot for their party's presumptive nominee.

Paulson called Trump a 'populist' who was 'hijacking one of the United States' great political parties with a campaign rooted in 'ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism'.

Scroll down for video

Henry Paulson, George W. Bush's former treasury secretary, has publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, arguing that a Donald Trump presidency would be 'unthinkable'

Paulson, a Republican, called Trump a 'populist' who was 'hijacking one of the United States' great political parties with a campaign rooted in 'ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism'

'This troubles me deeply as a Republican', he wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post. 'But it troubles me even more as an American.'

'Enough is enough. It's time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.'

Paulson accused Trump, who has touted his business acumen as a real estate developer during his campaign, of taking 'imprudent risk' and then disavowing his debts when ventures fail.

'Every good businessman - or woman - carefully analyzes all the available facts before making a decision,' he wrote in the piece, published Friday.

'Trump repeatedly, blatantly and knowingly makes up or gravely distorts facts to support his positions or create populist divisions.'

Paulson also took aim at Trump's opposition to trade agreements, which Paulson said have created US jobs and fostered innovation and competitiveness.

'We need to welcome rather than shrink from trade and economic competition,' he wrote.

'Trump calls our current trade deals "disgusting, the absolute worst ever negotiated by any country in the world." This is simply false.'

Paulson cited statistics from the Peterson Institute for International Economics which show that the average American household income is now $10,000 higher because of 'postwar expansion of trade'.

Paulson, who worked with Bush (pictured together) during the 2008 financial meltdown, has joined a growling list of establishment Republicans who will not cast a ballot for the party's presumptive nominee

Paulson said he will be voting for Clinton in the hope that she can 'bring Americans together'

'Because of trade, we add jobs and foster innovation and competitiveness,' he writes.

Paulson, who helped steer a $700 billion bailout of the financial system through Congress during the financial meltdown, said Trump is a 'phony' who is unfit to be president.

'I can't help but think what would have happened if a divisive character such as Trump were president during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when leadership, compromise and careful analysis were critical,' he said.

Instead, Paulson writes, the next president needs to be able to take a 'bipartisan approach' to the nation's most difficult domestic problems.

'This requires a president who exhibits an ability to compromise and basic civility,' he continues. 'Neither of which Trump displays.'

Conservative commentator and columnist George Will revealed on Saturday he is quitting the Republican party because of Trump's rise

But Paulson does believe presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton does display those characteristics, and revealed that is the reason why he will be voting for her come November.

'I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world,' he said.

'To my Republican friends: I know Im not alone.'

Paulson's op-ed comes just two days after Brent Scowcroft, a national security adviser to two Republican presidents, publicly endorsed Clinton.

And last week Richard Armitage, a deputy secretary of state under George W Bush, threw his support behind the Democratic candidate as well.

Trump's rise has caused conservative commentator and columnist Mr Will to leave the Republican Party entirely.

Will said he is now an 'unaffiliated voter' in the state of Maryland but would not reveal if he planned to vote for Clinton or a third-party candidate when he made his announcement on Friday.

But Will said a Trump presidency backed by a Republican-led Congress would be worse than a Clinton presidency with a Republican-led Congress, he told PJ Media.

Will said his message for conservatives was to make sure Trump is defeated in November.
Authorities say he was drunk on the flight and

A Perth man who was allegedly bound, gagged and beaten after being assaulted by a group of men at Denpasar Airport in Bali was drunk and aggressive towards staff, authorities said.

Matthew Akker, 21, landed in Bali on Thursday night where he claims he was randomly detained for 12 hours for no reason by a group of men who appeared to work for the airport.

They threw me onto the ground and started kicking into me they were making jokes about how easily they could kill me and how they wouldnt get in trouble for it, he told 7 News.

Scroll down for video

Matthew Akker (pictured), 21, landed in Bali on Thursday night where he claims he was randomly detained for 12 hours for no reason by a group of men who appeared to work for the airport

The 21-year-old claims he was brutally assaulted by a group of men

A Perth man who was allegedly bound, gagged and beaten after being assaulted by a group of men at Denpasar Airport in Bali was drunk and aggressive towards staff, authorities said

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Mr Akker was drunk during the flight and was belligerent towards staff upon his arrival at Denpasar Airport (pictured)

The tattoo apprentice arrived back in Perth on Saturday greeted by his family.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Mr Akker was drunk during the flight and was belligerent towards staff upon his arrival at Denpasar Airport.

Mr Akker denied those claims.

I had a couple of drinks at the bar but not even to the level of drunk he told 7 News on Saturday.

In a Facebook post on Friday morning Mr Akker claimed the group of men began kicking him, before taping his hands behind his back as well as binding his legs together with tape.

'My hands were taped together so tightly they swelled up massively and they gagged my mouth so I couldn't yell for help,' he alleges.

In a Facebook post on Friday morning Mr Akker claimed the group of men began kicking him, before taping his hands behind his back as well as binding his legs together with tape

'After they taped my hands up I couldn't protect my face or any part of my body they just kept kicking me for what felt like forever.'

'I thought they were going to kill me.'

Mr Akker claims he was left covered in bruises after the alleged assault and that his blood covered the floor of the detaining room.
Terry Richardson is the bad boy of fashion photography: his sexually explicit, in-your-face shoots - sometimes involving real sex acts - have earned him a following that includes Lady Gaga, Marc Jacobs and Yves Saint Laurent.

He's also been accused of pressuring models into sex by Danish model Rie Rasmussen, a claim he denies. But as controversial as his own career has been, it can't hold a candle to his father's.

An amphetamine-addicted schizophrenic, Bob Richardson turned the world upside down for the fashion industry - and for young Terry, who was drawn into his disturbing world of group sex, hard drugs and violent outbursts.

Scroll down for video

Rebel: Bob Richardson (left, with film director Josh Evans) fought a speed addiction and schizophrenia to become a pioneering 1960s photographer, but lost it all after an affair with then-18-year-old Anjelica Huston

Son: Bob's son, Terry Richardson (left, with Pirelli calendar model Enriko Mihalik), has become famous for his sexually explicit works - inspired, it seems, by a youth immersed in his parents' drugs-and-sex world

The startling story was revealed by the NY Post Saturday in an excerpt from 'Focus: The Secret, Sexy, Sometimes Sordid World of Fashion Photographers' by Michael Gross.

Born in 1928 to a Catholic family in Long Island, New York, Richardson - initially a graphic designer - didn't pick up a camera until 1963, when he was 35.

But when he did, he went at the job hard, telling himself he had to become a 'legend' in the industry and injecting himself with amphetamine-laced vitamin supplements that would let him for for days at a time without sleeping.

Fractious, arrogant, brilliant and driven, Richardson was infamous in the 1960s for causing a ruckus on sets, ruining clothing, going into tremendous outbursts and infuriating his clients.

'Im told youre a genius, but I dont see it,' Charles Revson, owner of Revlon, told him one time.

'Get your eyes examined,' Richardson barked at him.

His arms bruised by needle tracks from self-administered amphetamine shots, Richardson shot glamorous models for Paris Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, bringing a gritty rock 'n' roll ethos that was revolutionary at the time.

But he pushed himself too far, working day and night in the grip of an ever-growing drug dependency.

Affair: In 1970 Richardson, then 42, left his wife for model Anjelica Huston (pictured in 1971), 18-year-old daughter of director John Huston. Their relationship ended badly, and ultimately ruined his career

Distanced: Terry Richardson - pictured center in 1962, with the Nordhoff High School newspaper staff - became estranged from his father as time went on, eventually disowning him in the mid-late 70s

His doses increased bit by bit for years, but he hit a wall hard in 1965, just after his wife Norma had given birth to Terry.

Dr Max Jacobson, the New York physician who prescribed the drug not just to Richardson but also to John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, gave him Thorazine, an anti-psychotic, that ironically sent him into a catastrophic mental spiral.

Richardson destroyed his studio and was ultimately placed in a straight-jacket in an exclusive - and expensive - mental hospital.

After being released, the photographer - suffering schizophrenia that would plague him for the rest of his life - traveled to Paris with Norma and young Terry.

There, Richardson attempted suicide by slashing his wrists and was discovered, covered in blood, by Terry, who was then around four years old. The boy would suffer flashbacks to the discovery for some time afterward.

Recovery: Terry Richardson (pictured with Paris and Nicky Hilton) is now a highly successful photographer. In the 1990s, he reconnected with his father, who had been homeless, and they started shooting as a team

The family returned to New York, living in Greenwich village, where Bob and Norma took up the swinging lifestyle that would ultimately destroy their relationship: him sleeping with models, she taking up lovers including, he said, his own assistant.

In 1970, Richardson, then 42, met 18-year-old Anjelica Huston, and started a relationship that would obliterate his career.

The young beauty would go on to star in The Witches, The Addams Family and The Royal Tenenbaums, but at this point in her life was a model with just one screen credit to her name.

Richardson left Norma for Huston - though he told the would-be star that their relationship had already ended - and moved into a hotel with her.

Norma was 'destroyed' by the betrayal, Terry Richardson would later recall, saying that she went with other men, including actor Kris Kristofferson and Jimi Hendrix ('Yeah, he was hung like this!' Terry remarked, 'Huge!'), but never got over it.

She later moved with Terry to Woodstock in New York, where she met and married musician Jackie Lomax, and indulging in the local drugs and sex scenes, while the five-year-old boy looked on.

Success: Terry (pictured shooting Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley) went on to great success, and Bob reclaimed his career, shooting for fashion magazines and teaching in universities. Bob died of natural causes in 2005

Meanwhile Richardson and Huston continued their relationship - though she was oblivious to his struggles with schizophrenia and habit of 'terrorizing' those around him.

When he destroyed her clothes and threw out her jewelry as revenge for her doing a Vogue photoshoot with famed photographer Richard Avedon, she thought she had just upset him.

In 1971, they moved to London, where they would loudly have midday sex while Terry listened.

'And at night sometimes theyd leave me alone,' he said, 'and Id be shaking and staring at shadows. I actually started s****ing my underwear.'

But the couple's tempestuous relationship came to a nasty end in 1973 when Richardson met Huston's father, director John Huston, for the first time on a fishing trip to Mexico.

He lashed out, throwing a tequila bottle at her and argued with her - in front of her mother and father - on the flight home. She dumped him at the luggage carousel and never saw him again.

As Richardson's vices moved to drink, his career began to falter. The break-up with Huston killed his career and he became increasingly unhinged - ranting naked in the streets, and slashing his wrists.

In the mid-late '70s Terry told his father he didn't want to see him any more. The man was destroyed.

He wound up a homeless drunk, sleeping on the beaches of Los Angeles.

Dad: Terry Richardson is now a father himself, having had two kids - Rex and Roman - with girlfriend Alex Bolotow (left)

Doting: Richardson frequently posts pictures of Rex and Roman, such as this one, on his Instagram page

Book: Richardson's story, along with the stories of other photographers, is told in 'Focus' by Michael Gross, to be published on July 5.

That might have been it for the man who once brought a rock 'n' roll passion to the staid pages of Parisian fashion magazines.

But after studying schizophrenia in public libraries, Richardson began to put his life on track.

He first worked delivery jobs, then moved to San Francisco before reuniting with his son in New York in the 1990s.

The pair started up a father-and-son photography team and began to get work - though nothing like the whirl of day-and-night assignments he'd seen in his heyday.

Bob Richardson ended up shooting for Italian Vogue and British GQ, among other international publications.

He also taught at the International Center for Photography and the School of Visual Arts.

Richardson died of natural causes in 2005. Terry, meanwhile, had children of his own at age 50 with girlfriend Alexandra 'Skinny' Bolotow, 33.

The doting dad now posts pictures of his kids - and Bolotow - on his Instagram page.

Bob Richardson burned most of his work before he died, but the remainder was published by Terry in a book - simply titled 'Bob Richardson' -in 2007.

Those works, with their glamour, grime and fierce spirit are Bob Richardson all over. And it's clear that he lives on not just in his son's DNA but in his work too.
It will help to integrate the Aboriginal culture with the Park's management

The Snowy Mountains community will have a say in how the park is run

The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the local Indigenous people to give them a say in the running of Kosciuszko National Park in the NSW on Saturday.

The Monaro Ngarigo people will now be part of the conversation regarding the park, through an executive committee made up of community members, two elders and representatives from National Parks.

This partnership is designed to help preserve the existing cultural and historical value of the park while giving the Aboriginal community an opportunity to reconnect to country.

It will also allow the community a clearly defined role in identifying and conserving Aboriginal cultural heritage in the southern section of the park.

They will also have a say in tourism, fire and pest management operations.

NSW National Parks and the local Aboriginal people signed a formal agreement on Saturday regarding the running of Mount Kosciuszko National Park

The agreement will give the Monaro Ngarigo people a say in things such as pest control and tourism

The Country includes important cultural sites and places of cultural significance within the landscapes and waterways

The MOU covers the area south of Tolbar Road near Lake Eucumbene to the Victorian border - country that includes important cultural sites and places of cultural significance within the landscapes and waterways.

Regional manager of the southern Snowy Ranges region Mick Pettit told Daily Mail Australia the agreement would give the Indigenous community a voice in integrating their culture with the existing management of National Parks.

'What we don't want is something that's just a tick on a paper to say yes we've got an agreement,' he said.

'What this really does is enable us to be on a journey together - obviously the community has deep respect for the land and culture, and it's an integration of that culture and land with National Parks.

'They're really excited to have a voice and to be at a table where people are talking and sharing thoughts and ideas and opinions.'

Aunty Iris White told the ABC the formal agreement had been a very long time coming.

'Those of us that are my age, we were bringing our young children up here when we started the process, and now we have children that are bringing their children up here,' she said.

'So for many of us there are actually four generations here for this signing, and that's something pretty special for all of us.'

The memorandum has been a long time in the making according to Aunty Iris White
An adorable dog was left gasping for air in a car that reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

The Sacramento Fire Department responded to a call in the parking lot of a mall on Monday to rescue the animal from the car.

In a photo tweeted by the fire department, the dog was on the car's dashboard and seemed to be panting.

An adorable dog (pictured) was left gasping for air in a car that reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees

The Sacramento Fire Department tweeted that pets should never be left in cars and the owners' actions to do so were 'unacceptable'

'UNACCEPTABLE: E19 crew removes dog from 160 F car in parking lot, owners cited. When warm, NEVER LEAVE PETS IN CARS,' the department tweeted.

The rescued dog was turned over to animal control, and police cited the dogs' owners, according to KCRA.

There have been several cases of dogs being left in hot cars in recent weeks.

A 16-week-old puppy was locked in a car outside a the stadium where the Kansas City Royals and the Detroit Tigers were playing just last week, according to The Dodo.

A family managed to get the windows down and open the car to free the puppy.

In Ohio, a dog owner facec animal cruelty charges after police said the person left a dog in a car for at least four hours with no food or water.

A window on the car had to be smashed out so that the dog could be rescued.

Several animal lovers responded to the fire department's tweet, with many saying that there should be stricter laws and punishments for those who leave their dogs in hot cars.

Approximately 22 states have statutes that either prohibit leaving an animal in confined vehicle or provide civil immunity - protection from being sued - for a person who rescues an animal from a vehicle under certain conditions, according to the Animal Legal and Historic Center.

New York and Pennsylvania have bills that are pending.
A Florida mayor was held at gunpoint by three teens Saturday, who made off with his wallet and Mercedes car.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett was standing on Chapman Avenue, a residential area, at around 2.15 am when the three youths approached him.

One shoved a gun in his mouth while the other pointed a gun at his ear, Triplett told WFTV

Triplett told WKMG: 'This is a very scary situation. I'm the father of two and I've been married for 20 years this year.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett was held at gunpoint by three teens Saturday, who made off with his wallet and Mercedes car.

Triplett gave a detailed description of the suspects to police and 18-year-old Jermine Jacques (right) Horne and 17-year-old Demarcus Paige (left) were arrested a short time later

'I'm lucky to be standing here having this conversation.'

They then stole his car keys, before stealing his wallet and then drove off in his SUV, which police say they later crashed into a ditch.

Triplett gave a detailed description of the suspects to police and 18-year-old Jermine Jacques Horne and 17-year-old Demarcus Paige were arrested a short time later.

A judge Sunday ordered that Jermine Jacques Horne remain in the Seminole County jail without bail.

Horne and Paige faces charges of armed carjacking, aggravated assault, while Horne also faces contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Paige was placed on secure detention. His arraignment is set for July 11. Jail records didn't show whether Horne had an attorney.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett was standing on Chapman Avenue, a residential area, (pictured) at around 2.15 am when the three youths approached him.

The third person has not yet been caught. It was not immediately known if either suspect had a lawyer.

Triplett said: 'Being a victim of a crime is unnerving, yet it was reassuring to witness both speed and diligence from the Sanford Police Department.

'It is disheartening when this type of crime takes place in the City of Sanford. I encourage the community, its businesses and the Police Department to continue to work together and stop this type of violence.'

He added that it was 'just a random act of violence.'
Angry customers are demanding that the Emirates airline honours bargain tickets it sold by mistake.

Tickets from Australia to Brazil were sold for just $200  ten times less than usual  after a 'technical error' on the Emirates booking website.

Customers snapped up the tickets but the next day were told by the airline they had been cancelled and would need to be re-booked, reported Adelaide Now.

Josiane De Andrade (right) bought $200 tickets flying with Emirates from Brisbane to Sao Paulo

Gold coast resident Josiane De Andrade bought tickets, just $214 each, for her and her partner's family to fly from Brisbane to Sau Paulo.

She told Adelaide Now that Emirates should cop the mistake on the chin and honour the original tickets.

She said: 'I knew it was supercheap but sometimes that happens with airline prices.

'My family had already started arranging visas.

'If airline companies can now cancel e-ticket from its clients, what guarantee do the consumers have when buying from them.'

Ms Andrande said that Emirates should honour the cheap tickets that it mistakenly sold her and her family

After angry customers posted about the mistake on Emirates' Facebook page, they were initially told that it was the booking agency's fault.

But Emirates soon admitted it was a 'technical error' in their own system that caused the price glitch.

'The issue occurred on June 16, 2016, and lasted for approximately three hours,

'Any ticket issued in error during this time will be automatically cancelled.'

After the tickets were cancelled angry customers took to social media to complain. One customer said: 'It's frustrating to plan and pay for a trip and then to have it cancelled'

Other airlines hit by similar mistakes have agreed to honour cheap tickets in the past.

Thousands of Etihad customers scored $187 tickets from Abu Dhabi to New York after a 'system filing issue'.
Donald Trump has been declared a born-again Christian by one of the country's leading evangelicals.

In an interview on an evangelical blog, Dr James C. Dobson said that Trump had come 'to accept a relationship with Christ' and that he was 'a baby Christian', The New York Times reported.

Dobson, 80, who has authored 25 spiritual self-help and advice books, met Trump on Tuesday, prior to a meeting in which the presidential hopeful asked for the support of Christian conservatives and questioned Hillary Clinton's religious beliefs.

'Born again': Donald Trump may be a newly minted evangelical Christian, if Christian author Dr James C. Dobson is correct. He says he spoke to Trump during a private meeting on June 21

Evangelical: Dobson (pictured) said that he knew the man who had 'led (Trump) to Christ' and that Trump still needed to learn about the language of evangelicals as he said 'hell' too frequently

After that meeting, Dobson gave an interview to religious blog God Factor in which he said that '(Trump) did accept a relationship with Christ, I know the person who led him to Christ, and that's fairly recent.'

Exactly what he means by 'led to Christ' isn't clear in the interview, but The New York Times suggested that this might be someone with whom Trump may have prayed for forgiveness for his sins.

Dobson declined to name that person in the interview, which was posted to God Factor on Friday.

He added that he didn't 'know when it was (that Trump converted), but it has not been long.'

'I believe he really made a commitment, but he's a baby Christian. We all need to be praying for him,' he said.

By that, Dobson meant that Trump's language and thinking doesn't quite match the expectations of evangelical groups.

'He doesn't know our language,' Dobson explained. 'He used the word "hell" four or five times.'

And he said that Trump, who was previously on record and being a Presbyterian, 'refers a lot to religion and not much to faith and belief' - a faux pas for evangelicals.

They believe that a spiritual, faith-based connection to God is key, rather than 'religion', which are the trappings built up around that faith.

But he added that evangelicals shouldn't be too quick to criticize Trump for his transgressions: 'You got to cut him some slack. He didn't grow up like we did.'

Dobson had previously supported Ted Cruz in his primary campaign.

Trump's remarks about religion prior to the meeting had been spotty.

In July 2015, at a leadership summit in Iowa, Trump said that he was a Christian, but that he'd never asked God for forgiveness..

'I am not sure I have,' he said. 'I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so.

'I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't.'

And in an appearance on Bloomberg Television's 'With All Due Respect' in August of that year, he claimed that The Bible was his favorite book, but wouldn't be drawn on details.

When asked if he had a favorite verse he declined to answer, and when asked about his favorite Testament he said he liked them both equally.

'The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics,' he warned.

In the June 21 meeting, Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton's religious leanings were unknown.

'She's been in the public eye for years and years. And yet there's no - there's nothing out there, he said. 'There's like nothing out there.

'It's going to be an extension of Obama,' he added. 'It's gonna be worse. Because with Obama you had your guard up. With Hillary, you don't and it's gonna be worse.'

Methodist: During the June 21 meeting, Trump told Dobson and other Christian conservatives that Hillary Clinton's (pictured in 2008) faith is unknown - however she has been open about being a Methodist

But Clinton, a Methodist, has spoken about her faith before.

In 2007, she told CNN: 'A lot of the talk about and advertising about faith doesn't come naturally to me. It is something that p you know, I keep thinking of the Pharisees and all of Sunday school lessons and readings that I had as a child.

'But I think your - your faith guides you every day. Certainly, mine does.'

She has also made appearances at churches - particularly African-American churches - during her presidential run.

In 1999, George W. Bush said in a primary debate that he was a born-again Christian and that God had 'changed his heart' - an announcement that won him strong support from evangelical voters.
Workers digging up a busy street in the Mexican city of Tultepec have delighted paleontologists with a mammoth find - literally!

The skeleton of the long-extinct behemoth - which experts believe grew to 16 feet tall and weighed as much as 10 tonnes - was found while workers were carrying out drainage work in the the city's suburb of San Antonio Xahuento.

Experts say the beast died on that spot 12,000-14,000 years ago, and remained there while civilization sprouted up just six-and-a-half feet above it, The Telegraph reported.

Mammoth find: The three-foot-long skull was found under the Mexican city of Tultepec, just six-and-a-half feet beneath a busy suburban road. Work to uncover and remove it has been ongoing since April

Bones about it: As well as the skull, a pelvis, leg bones and vertebrae have also been found. Experts say that the placement of the bones suggests the mammoth was cut up after it died - most likely by humans, for meat

Huge: The mammoth is believed to have died aged 20-25, around 12,000-14,000 years ago. It may have become stuck in mud due to its mass

Work began on the site in April, and the creature's three-foot-wide head (complete with ten-foot curved tusks) has now been almost completely removed from the soil, as has its pelvis.

That's not a quick process at all, as tens of thousands of years of dirt must be carefully removed from each bone to ensure that it remains as intact as possible.

Experts also found other bones, including ribs, leg bones and vertebrae, and believe that their placement reveals the beast met a grisly fate after it had already died.

Paleontologist Luis Cordoba Barradas said in a statement that 'the specimen may have been partially cut up by a human group'.

They would have then taken its meat and pelt. It was 20-25 years old when it died.

That would have occurred, experts believe, after the heavy beast became trapped in mud; animals are also thought to have taken apart the body after its death.

The creature belonged to the species Mammuthus Columbi, a North and Central American mammoth that has been found across the continent, with many examples having already been found in Mexico.

According to Luis Cordoba, an archaeologist with the National Institute of Anthropology and History, the remains of more than 50 mammoths have been found in the area around Mexico City.

Their skeletons are typically discovered near lakes and other sources of water where the creatures would have gathered, although some have been found in California's La Brea tar pits.

The last such find in the country occurred in 2013, when residents of Santa Ana Tlacotenco in Milpa Alta chances across the most complete ancient mammoth skeleton ever discovered.

Deep down: The mammoth was of the species Mammuthus Columbi, which has been found across North and Central America
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has saluted his predecessor Tony Abbott at the Coalition Party launch on Sunday, despite a slight hiccup after television comedians gatecrashed the event.

The launch was underway on Sunday after The Chasers prankster Chas Licciardello was escorted by security from the event in Sydney where he was seen wearing a high-vis orange suit and tall yellow hat.

Mr Turnbull opened his address by commending his 'distinguished' predecessors Tony Abbott and John Howard.

Scroll down for video

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has saluted his predecessor Tony Abbott at the Coalition Party launch in Sydney on Sunday

The launch encountered a hiccup after The Chasers prankster Chas Licciardello was escorted by security from the launch in Sydney where he was seen wearing a high-vis orange suit and tall yellow hat

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) opened the party launch by commending his 'distinguished' predecessors Tony Abbott (pictured centre shaking the Prime Minister's hand) and John Howard

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull greets Tony Abbott before speaking at the Liberal Party 2016 Federal Campaign Launch

(L-R) Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, his wife Janette, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, his wife Margie and NSW Premier Mike Baird attend the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney

'Tony you brought to an end the chaos and dysfunction of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years' - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commended his ousted predecessor Tony Abbott (pictured left arriving with wife Margie)

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott listens to Malcolm Turnbull deliver an address at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney on Sunday

'Tony you brought to an end the chaos and dysfunction of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years and you remain a dedicated advocate for our cause,' Mr Turnbull told the gathering in the marginal Liberal-held inner-western Sydney seat of Reid.

'John and Tony we salute you.'

As expected, Mr Turnbull played up the coalition's experienced economic leadership and its plan to deliver strong growth and more jobs.

He outlined new policies, including $192 million for mental health initiatives.

The money will go towards 12 new suicide prevention sites around the country and 10 more Headspace centres.

There is a $48 million pledge to boost the Smith Family's Learning for Life program for disadvantaged students and $31 million to encourage more women into science and maths careers.

Mr Turnbull played up the coalition's experienced economic leadership and its plan to deliver strong growth. Pictured Turnbull kisses his grandson Jack Turnbull-Brown

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) embraces his wife, Lucy, after speaking during his Liberal Party and receiving a standing ovation

The Prime Minister, second from left, warned of a potential power-sharing arrangement between Labor, the Greens and independents over industrial relations laws. Mr Turnbull's family gather on stage after his address

Mr Turnbull talked up the government's success in protecting Australian borders and getting every child out of detention in Australia

Mr Turnbull talked up the government's success in protecting Australian borders and getting every child out of detention in Australia.

He also unveiled a $64 million commitment to track and detect illegal firearms on the streets.

Calling out Labor's Medicare campaign, he accused the opposition of putting a lie at the heart of the election.

The launch was attended by deputy leader Julie Bishop (pictured) and her partner David Panton, as well as Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and his wife

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, addresses the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney on Sunday

'They boast of how many people they have deceived,' he said.

'That's not an alternative government, that's an opposition unfit to govern.'

He warned of a potential power-sharing arrangement between Labor, the Greens and independents over industrial relations laws.

Mr Turnbull also unveiled a $64 million commitment to track and detect illegal firearms on the streets

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce addresses party members at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney where he attended with his wife

'That is why I am urging Australians today and through this week very carefully to consider their vote, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate.'

The launch was attended by deputy leader Julie Bishop and her partner David Panton, as well as Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce and his wife.

NSW Premier Mike Baird and his wife were also present at the Novotel at Sydney Olympic Park, as were Mr Turnbull's children.

Local MP Craig Laundy kicked off proceedings and welcomed the congregation to the electorate of Reid, which he holds by a margin of 3.3 per cent.

Calling out Labor's Medicare campaign, Mr Turnbull accused the opposition of putting a lie at the heart of the election. Here he is pictured holding his grandson Jack Turnbull-Brown next to his wife Lucy (right)
assaulted as the groups rallied through the city's parliament precinct

Flags were set alight and a news reporter was

Advertisement

More than 400 police were needed at Melbourne's parliament precinct as the nationalist True Blue Crew organisation and opposition group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism staged opposing rallies.

Over 100 anti-racism protesters rallied outside State Parliament on Sunday shouting 'No hate, no fear, fascists are not welcome here,' ABC News reported.

An Australian flag was burned during the protest.

Scroll down for video

Anti-racism and Fascism protesters burn the Australian flag as they march against the True Blue Crew at Parliament House in Melbourne

Over 100 anti-racism protesters (pictured) rallied outside State Parliament on Sunday shouting 'No hate, no fear, fascists are not welcome here'

Far-right activists marched down Spring Street with Australian flags in Melbourne on Sunday (pictured)

Paul (pictured) joins with protesters calling themselves Patriots from the UPF and the True Blue Crew

Flags were set alight (pictured) and a news photographer was assaulted as a group dressed in black and wearing masks followed a True Blue Crew rally through Melbourne

An anti-racism and facism protester is arrested for assault after breaking a photographers flash as they marched against the True Blue Crew at Parliament House in Melbourne

There were reports of a woman being arrested.

Far-right activists marched down Spring Street with Australian flags.

Campaign Against Racism organiser Vashti Kenway said the group hoped a few hundred people would join the protest on Sunday, with the aim of outnumbering the True Blue Crew event.

'We want to send a signal that the forces in Australia against racism are larger than the forces of xenophobia and racism,' Ms Kenway said.

True Blue Crew has declared it wants to display pride in the flag and country.

About two dozen masked members of an anti-fascism splinter group clashed with police and media despite the two opposing rallies being kept apart.

Flags were set alight and a news photographer was assaulted as a group dressed in black and wearing masks followed a True Blue Crew rally through the streets of Melbourne.

Leader of the United Patriots Front Blair Cottrell (pictured right in yellow) spoke to Vietnamese Australian Steve (pictured centre) who wanted to march at the front of the protesters

After speaking to Cottrell, Steve led the march of the far right wing protesters from the UPF and the True Blue Crew

An anti-racism and fascism protester is arrested for burning the Australian flag as the group marched against the True Blue Crew at Parliament House in Melbourne on Sunday

More than 400 police were needed at Melbourne's parliament precinct as the nationalist True Blue Crew organisation and opposition group Campaign Against Racism and Fascism staged opposing rallies

The True Blue Crew has declared it wants to display pride in the Australian flag (pictured) and country

Anti-racism and fascism protesters burn the Australian flag at Melbourne's parliament precinct on Sunday

Up to 150 True Blue Crew supporters marched to the Carlton Gardens and were followed by a splinter group from an opposing Campaign Against Racism and Fascism rally.

A man who tried to stop the flag burning said those involved in the scuffles were anarchists who did not represent the no racism rally.

Sunday's scuffles, the latest violence in a series of similar rallies, broke out despite the two opposition rallies being kept apart.

Up to 150 Campaign Against Racism protesters had rallied outside Parliament House, where the True Blue Crew rally was due to meet, before staging a 'victory' march through the Melbourne CBD.

Campaign Against Racism organiser Vashti Kenway said the group hoped a few hundred people would join the protest on Sunday, with the aim of outnumbering the True Blue Crew (pictured) event

Scuffles broke out despite opposing racism rallies being kept apart in Melbourne's parliament precinct

The Australian flag was burned by anti-racism and Fascism protesters in Melbourne on Sunday

Both rallies have now ended.

This comes as Victoria Police announced harsher penalties to deal with protesters, particularly those covering their face with masks, ABC News reported.

'Victorians have had enough of seeing this sort of incitement of hatred and violence,' Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville said.

The new laws will be introduced later this year.

Police and protesters face each other through a metal barricade during a protest on Sunday. The man in the yellow t-shirt is Blair Cottrell, the leader of the nationalist United Patriot Front's Victorian branch. Next to him is a Vietnamese Australian who wanted to join in the march
Advertisement

Stunning images of landscapes throughout America, including Death Valley, America's most hostile desert, show landscapes lit up by celestial star trials.

The photographs portray Death Valley's mountainous terrain, while other photos show greenscapes, rivers and cityscapes illuminated by circular streaks of stars.

Striking images of the night sky from the Cape Cod, Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and Acadia National Park in Maine were also photographed.

Airline pilot Stuart Kaye, 60, from Gainesville, Florida, has amassed this collection of incredible star trails on his travels through America over the last few years.

Kaye also took incredible photos of starlit skies in Cedar Key, Florida.

Stunning images of celestial star trails have been captured from Death Valley, America's most hostile desert

Airline pilot Stuart Kaye, 60, from Gainesville, Florida, has amassed this collection of incredible star trails on his travels through America over the last few years

The photographs portray mountainous terrain, greenscapes, rivers and cityscapes illuminated by circular streaks of stars

This striking image was taken in Cedar Key, Florida

This particular photo showing a large body of water under a starlit sky was also taken in Cedar Key, Florida

Striking images of the night sky from the Cape Cod, Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and the Acadia National Park (pictured) in Maine were also taken by Kaye

Kaye's photos captured different sceneries, such as this greenscape, with stars illuminating the sky

Circular streaks of stars fill the blue sky in this photo

A circular pattern of stars light up the sky over a mountainous terrain

The night sky is illuminated with stars in this striking photo captured by Kaye
A Colombian designer is known for his garments that could save your life.

Miguel Caballero, who makes lightweight, bulletproof clothing for dignitaries including the King of Jordan, says he has a 'survivor's club' of 20 customers who owe their lives to wearing his garments.

His clothing varies in prices, with a bulletproof suit ranging from $6,000 to $8,000 and a blazer that could cost up to $3,500.

A Colombian designer is known for his garments that could save your life. Miguel Caballero's designs bulletproof clothing varying prices

A bulletproof suit can cost between $6,000 and $8,000 and a blazer up to $3,500

The Colombian fashion designer, who makes lightweight, bulletproof clothing for dignitaries including the King of Jordan, says he has a 'survivors club' of 20 customers who owe their lives to wearing his garments

Caballero said his 'greatest satisfaction' is saving lives. He founded the company bearing his name 21 years ago

Models strutted down the runway at a fashion show the designer held on Friday

The designer's clothing company produces clothing for numerous heads of state and VIPs.

'My greatest satisfaction is not earning business, it's saving lives,' Caballero, who founded the company bearing his name 21 years ago, told Reuters following a fashion show on Friday with models strutting down the runway as at any other.

Several models presented the Caballero collection at the Chico Museum in Bogota, Colombia, during the fashion show.

Caballero counts prime ministers and presidents in Latin America and further afield among his clients and typically makes his clothing, for both men and women, to order.

He can even offer his clients bulletproof underwear.

'It's amazing, it is discrete, it is lightweight, the innovation is beautiful, you don't even know that anyone is wearing it,' said Rasheda Walker, who sells Caballero's clothing in Nigeria and Kenya.

Caballero, who exports to 23 countries, also makes less glamorous garments, including de-mining suits and bulletproof vests for military and police forces.

Caballero counts prime ministers and presidents in Latin America and further afield among his clients and typically makes his clothing, for both men and women

Caballero, who exports to 23 countries, also makes less glamorous garments, including de-mining suits and bulletproof vests for military and police forces

A model presents a bulletproof clothing and equipment by the Miguel Caballero Factory at the Chico Museum in Bogota, Colombia

Models present creations by Colombian brand Caballero during a fashion show in Colombia

The designer's clothing company is based in Bogota and produces clothing for numerous heads of state and VIPs
A six-year-old boy was killed on Saturday afternoon in a freak accident in San Diego's South Bay community when a refrigerator fell on top of him.

His father was moving a heavy refrigerator onto a pickup truck at around 12:20pm when it slipped from their grasp and fell onto the boy. Emergency services were called, and witnesses said his mother was distraught.

'She was very emotional and even when police got her she was basically saying 'I need to be with my son. I need to be with my son,' neighbor John Quesnel told NBC San Diego.

Accident: A San Diego family suffered a tragic loss Saturday afternoon when a fridge that was being moved onto a pickup truck at their home (pictured) fell on their six-year-old son, killing him

'They said, "You need to let the paramedics in so they can take of him."'

Paramedics arrived at the home, at 773 Beyer Way, and performed CPR on the boy - who is not being identified by authorities - for around 12 minutes

He was then rushed to a nearby hospital, but he couldn't be saved.

'He was transported to Rady Childrens Hospital by ambulance Code 10, so that means he was in pretty bad shape,' Captain Joe Amador for San Diego Fire and Rescue told Fox 5 San Diego.

The boy's friend, Rafael Lopez, told NBC he was shocked by the sudden death.

'(It's) difficult cause he was a good friend of ours. It must be devastating for his parents - I mean he was just six,' Lopez said.

Both San Diego police and child services remained at the home for several hours, as per policy.

But police said that they didn't think the boy's death was suspicious and that they wouldn't be pressing charges.
The Baltimore police union is facing criticism after sending two tweets that appeared to celebrate a police officer's acquittal of charges in the death of Freddie Gray.

One of the tweets that was posted to the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police's Twitter account showed a meme of actor Leonardo DiCaprio toasting with a glass of champagne from the popular film The Great Gatsby.

'Here's to the Baltimore 6 defense team, the FOP and Detective Taylor,' the text in the meme read.

The police union posted another meme on Saturday morning with a photo of Baltimore's State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby with a caption that read, 'The Wolf That Lurks.'

The two tweets were posted after Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. was cleared of all charges in Gray's death earlier this week.

Scroll down for video

One of the tweets that was posted to the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police's Twitter account showed a meme (pictured above) of actor Leonardo DiCaprio toasting with a glass of champagne from The Great Gatsby

The police union posted another meme (pictured above) on Saturday morning with a photo of Baltimore's State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby with a caption that read, 'The Wolf That Lurks'

Both tweets have since been deleted, but not before screenshots were taken and shared around the Internet.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis and City Council President Bernard C. Young were just two of many people who condemned the tweets.

'I've been in contact with the President of FOP3 regarding messages posted on social media overnight and this morning, Davis said in a statement.

'Inappropriate, insensitive remarks or attacks that serve to detract from our necessary relationships with our community and criminal justice partners have no place in our City.'

Young said that the group need to apologize for the 'insensitive and inflammatory tweets' and said that simply deleting the tweets 'won't suffice.'

'I condemn the highly insensitive and inflammatory tweets issued Friday night by the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police lodge,' Young said in a statement.

The two tweets were posted after Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. (pictured left in his mugshot) was cleared of all charges in Freddie Gray's (pictured right) death earlier this week.

Both tweets have since been deleted, but not before screenshots were taken and shared around the Internet. Goodson (pictured above in January) was the third officer to be cleared of charges in the case.

'The tweets, in addition to making light of a tragedy that claimed the life of a young man last April, only serve to further exacerbate distrust between our brave men and women in uniform and the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve.

'I call on the leadership of the FOP to immediately apologize to the citizens of Baltimore and the members of the Baltimore City Police Department for their irresponsible and harmful postings on social media.

'Deleting derogatory postings after the fact won't suffice. The FOP's leadership needs to stand up, take responsibility and issue an apology to the citizens of Baltimore.'

The police officers' union had not issued an apology for the tweets as of Saturday.
Former Liberal staffer Peta Credlin has opened up about life outside of politics.

Ms Credlin, longtime chief of staff to Tony Abbott, spoke to Sunday Style about the crippling pressures of her old role and the joys of a looming federal election that she plays no part in.

'I've had a really good break, the first for many years. I used to take off one week a year, sometimes two. So after 16 years, I've enjoyed not having my time managed out for me,' she said.

Taking on a job as a political commentator for Sky News has allowed her to enjoy sleep-ins past 4.30am, as well as unlocking a passion for cooking, baking and painting.

'I've enjoyed not having my time managed out for me. I've had lots of people around for dinner. I love to cook. And I love to bake. And I like to paint portraits,' she told the publication.

Peta Credlin, longtime chief of staff to Tony Abbott, is now a political commentator for Sky News

She has opened up about life outside of politics, which unlocked a passion for cooking, baking and painting

Ms Credlin said allegations she had an affair with Mr Abbott were 'vicious and malicious' rumours

Ms Credlin has largely tried to avoid the spotlight since she and her former boss were kicked out of the PM's office in September last year.

The only occasion to prompt Ms Credlin into raising her head above the parapet has been to slam 'vicious and malicious' rumours that she and the ousted prime minister had an affair.

Known to be a blunt talker, Ms Credlin's response to the rumours published by The Australian earlier this year may give some clue as to what kind of pundit Sky viewers can expect.

'Having watched at close quarters the extraordinary way that Labor ripped itself apart during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, I am dismayed that my own side is heading down the same path,' Ms Credlin wrote.

'The Australian people are sick of governments that aren't focused on them, and in an election year they will ruthlessly punish infighting and paralysis.'

She maintains that her friendship with Mr Abbott, who is also close to her husband Brian, will last a very long time.

'We (Mr Abbott) keep in touch. He's a close friend of Brian [my husband] and me, and I suspect he'll be a friend to both of us forever. He was extraordinarily good to me and I hope I was to him,' she said.

I've enjoyed not having my time managed out for me. I've had lots of people around for dinner': Time off from politics has allowed Ms Credlin to chase other passions
Bullying child killer Ben Butler showed 'psychopathic' tendencies as a boy and tortured his pet dog so badly its leg had to be amputated, it has been claimed.

The stay-at-home father, who was jailed for life last week after being found guilty of murdering his six-year-old daughter, was aged eight when he attacked the Yorkshire terrier.

He is also said to have picked on his little brother Tony and was eventually thrown out of the family home by his mother because she was scared of him.

Ben Butler showed 'psychopathic' tendencies as a boy and tortured his pet dog (not pictured) so badly its leg had to be amputated, it was claimed. He is pictured with daughter Ellie, who he murdered, and the family's dog

Butler reportedly pulled on the dog's right back leg so hard that it had to be amputated, according to James Fielding at the Sunday Express.

Controlling Butler, 36, will serve at least 23 years in jail for beating his daughter Ellie to death at the family home in Sutton, south London, before concocting an elaborate plot in a bid to get away with murder.

Little Ellie was found dead on her bedroom floor in 2013 with 'catastrophic head injuries' more commonly associated with car crash victims.

Her mother, Jennie Gray, 36, was last week convicted of child cruelty, having already admitted perverting the course of justice, and was jailed for three and a half years.

A family friend, who asked not to be named, told the Express: 'He is nothing but a psychopath.

'I remember when he was eight he grabbed hold of Toffee, the familys Yorkshire terrier, and pulled his back leg with such force the limb was almost hanging by a thread. It was so badly dislocated the vet had no choice but to amputate.

'But that was Ben all over, always picking on smaller and weaker targets than himself. He was always picking on Tony, his younger half-brother.'

Butler and his partner Gray concocted a series of lies about Ellie's death and stuck to them during the trial

Ben Butler standing as he and Jennie Gray waited for sentence, Gray for child cruelty and Butler for murder

Stay-at-home father Ben Butler (left) has been found guilty of murdering his six-year-old daughter Ellie (right)

Medical experts described Ellie's death as one of the worst cases of violence in a domestic setting.

Butler had claimed his daughter sustained the horrific injuries when she hit her head as she was jumping up and down in her bedroom while watching Peppa Pig.

But prosecutors insisted Ellie's injuries were too 'extreme' and 'catastrophic' to have been caused by an accidental fall.

The back of Ellie's head was a 'boggy mass', the court heard, and a post-mortem examination attributed her death to Butler either beating her over the head with a heavy object or throwing her against the floor or wall.

A series of text messages and letters used in evidence at the trial revealed how Butler repeatedly criticised his daughter, describing her as a 'c***' when she wet herself in front of him.
The besieged city of Fallujah has been 'fully liberated' from ISIS after a bloody month-long battle with Iraqi forces beginning the task of clearing deadly booby-traps left behind by the extremists.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under ISIS control, a senior commander said.

The operation is 'done and the city is fully liberated', according to the Head of the counter-terrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi.

The besieged city of Fallujah has been 'fully liberated' from ISIS after a bloody month-long battle with Iraqi forces beginning the task of clearing deadly booby-traps left behind by the extremists

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under ISIS control, according to a senior commander

The operation is 'done and the city is fully liberated', according to the Head of the counter-terrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi

His troops are now expected to start work on removing bombs from the city's streets and buildings - as well as the network of booby-traps left by the terror group.

The Iraqi army was backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

'From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over,' he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

The announcement comes more than a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah after Iraqi forces advanced into the city centre and took control of a government complex.

While al-Abadi pledged the remaining pockets of ISIS fighters would be cleared out within hours, fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days.

The operation has fuelled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups.

Iraqi troops turn the ISIS flag upside down in Fallujah after the city was reportedly 'liberated'

Troops are now expected to start work on removing bombs from the city's streets and buildings - as well as the network of booby-traps left by the terror group

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began.

Like other aid agencies, the UNHCR warned of the dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 C and shelter is limited, calling for more funds to meet the mounting needs of the displaced.

The city, which is located in Anbar province about 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to ISIS in January 2014.

During an insurgency waged by ISIS's militant predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces.

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began

The operation has fuelled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups

In 2004, more than 100 U.S. troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

ISIS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul.

The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

In total, more than 3.3million Iraqis have fled their homes since ISIS swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, according to U.N. figures.
An ornate Maori carving used to catch birds has been sold at auction in Paris for $321,000.

The 68cm long piece which resembles a mutu kaka or parrot snare was auctioned at Christie's Art d'Afrique et d'Oceanie sale in Paris overnight on Thursday, reported the NZ Herald.

It was estimated to be worth between NZ$322,000 to NZ$483,000.

The piece is said to come from the east coast of New Zealand's North Island during the late 18th or early 19th century.

The intricate Maori carving (pictured left) was auctioned for $321,000 at Christies in Paris (right)

Dr Roger Neich, an ethnologist and anthropologist and leading expert on Maori and Pacific art who died in 2010, described the piece in 2007 as being one of the most ornate he had ever seen.

A description from Christies said although the carving closely resembles the form of a mutu kaka or parrot snare it could not have functioned to catch birds as it lacks holes for the cord which would be pulled by the hunter when a bird lands on the perch trapping the bird's legs.

Christies described the carving as a 'remarkable tour de force by a Maori master carver and almost without parallel'.

'The superb quality of the carving and the elaborate composition would seem to indicate an important ceremonial function which is now unknown,' they added.
Advertisement

Children and adults alike enjoyed the hot summer weather in Beijing, China on Sunday as they took part in a Bubble Show.

Photographs from the event show people of all ages playing in the colourful foam as they made their way along a running track for the event.

Pink, blue and white foam churned out by machines at various points in the event, engulfing participants who even used umbrellas and swimming goggles to protect themselves from the bombardment of bubbles.

Thousands of residents no doubt found relief from the scorching heat at the bubble event, as temperatures in Chinas massive capital reached 36 degrees.

Bubble runs like this are popular events for people of all ages, last year at an event in the city of Xi'an in central China, more than 4,000 people entered the 5 kilometre fun run.

A similar event called The Bubble Run originated in America and is described as 'like running through Willy Wonka's factory' according to their website.

The first Bubble Run in China was held in Shenyang City in June, 2015.

Children cover their faces during a downpour of pink foam at the Bubble Show on Sunday

A child is engulfed by pink coloured foam during the Bubble Show event in Beijing, China on Sunday

Keeping it cool in shades and a sunhat: A child takes an armful of the foam as temperatures in Chinas massive capital reached 36 degrees

The event is designed for people of all ages: A woman protects herself from a downpour of orange foam with a well placed umbrella

People with umbrellas walk through blue colored foam. Bubble runs like this are popular events for people of all ages

Beijing disappears under a blanket of white as one child walks past machines that blew out foam along the event's running track
Queensland Police is appealing for help in finding the two robbers

They pillaged the cash register and stuffed bank notes into paper bags

One brandished an axe as he entered the shop in front of terrified worker

This is the shocking moment two armed robbers held up a bottle shop by wielding knives and an axe towards a terrified 40-year-old cashier.

The men brazenly walked in to Liquor Legends in Redbank Plains near Brisbane, demanding cash from the woman as they brandished their weapons in her face.

One, who was dressed in a balaclava, held an axe in one hand while he pillaged the cash register with the other during the robbery which took place at 7.40pm on Saturday.

They were filmed on CCTV stuffing money into brown bottle bags before fleeing the scene.

Scroll down for video

An armed robber brandishing an axe (above) stormed Liquor Legends in Redbank Plains, south of Brisbane, on Saturday to steal cash from a terrified cashier

Police in Queensland are appealing for help in tracing the men after the robbery on Saturday night. They would not confirm how much money was stolen from the shop.

Footage from inside the store showed them standing over the woman as she attempted to empty the cash register.

One of the men was dressed in a dark blue hoodie, black balaclava and sweatpants. The other, who also kept his face hidden beneath his grey hoodie, was also wearing track pants.

The robbery lasted less than 20 seconds before the men fled on foot. The woman, who left cowering on a crate behind the cash register, was unharmed.

A manager at a hotel which runs the shop told Daily Mail Australia she had been left 'very upset' by the incident.

A second robber dressed in a grey hoodie followed him in to the store and held up a knife as the store worker emptied the cash register

The men stuffed cash into brown paper bottle bags before running out of the store on Saturday night

The female store worker began emptying the cash out of the register but the men stretched over her, pillaging the store before running away

The robbery lasted less than 20 seconds, with the men fleeing on foot carrying the cash in paper bags

'We're trying to make sure she's OK, that's the most important thing. It's a very upsetting situation,' said the woman who gave her name only as Anne.

Queensland Police is appealing for help in identifying the men in the video.

'Initial investigations suggest at around 7:40pm two men, one armed with an axe and the other with a knife, entered the store on Kruger Parade and demanded money from a staff member,' a spokesman said.

'The staff member complied with the mens demands before the men fled the scene on foot with a sum of cash.

'The 40 year-old female staff member was not physically injured during the incident.

'Police conducted patrols of the area but were unable to locate the two men.'
The father of an ISIS gunman who murdered 30 British tourists in Tunisia has insisted his son was not to blame for the massacre - because he had been radicalised.

A total of 38 people were killed when gunman Seifeddine Rezgui went on a rampage in the coastal resort of Port El Kantaoui near Sousse on June 26 last year.

On the first anniversary of the slaughter, the 23-year-old mass murderer's father, Hakim Rezgui, has insisted his son is 'a victim'.

It comes as tourists and locals gathered on the same beach today to remember the victims of the atrocity.

On the first anniversary of the slaughter, the father of killer Seifeddine Rezgui (right), Hakim Rezgui (left), claims his son is 'a victim'

English and Tunisian tourists lay flowers for the victims of the 2015 Sousse Beach terrorist attack at a memorial sign on the beach in front of the Imperial Marhaba hotel today

The farm labourer lives with his 49-year-old wife Radhia Manai, 100 miles from the scene of the mass killing at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel.

According to the Sunday Mirror's Dan Warburton, he said: 'Seifeddine was a victim. I know he was. My wife feels the same way. She is heartbroken.

'The people in the village are shocked. Many of them think he's guilty, but I think he's a victim.'

Some in the killer's home town of Gaafour said the ISIS fanatic 'brought shame on the town' while others say he was the victim of a radical cell in the area.

A police source told the Sunday Mirror that Seifeddine was radicalised within 12 months of going to university where he 'completely switched'.

Rezgui worked his way through the beach to the pool and lobby of the hotel, killing as he went. During the rampage he claimed the lives of three victims from one Midlands family - Joel Richards, 19, his uncle Adrian Evans, 44, and his grandfather Patrick, 78.

Days after the shooting rampage last year, Rezgui's father claimed extremists had 'ruined his son's brain'.

A total of 38 people were killed when gunman Seifeddine Rezgui (centre) went on a rampage in the coastal resort of Port El Kantaoui near Sousse on June 26 last year

Rezgui worked his way through the beach to the pool and lobby of the hotel, killing as he went. A sign is left in the sand on the first anniversary of the massacre

The father of the ISIS gunman has insisted his son was not to blame for the massacre - because he had been radicalised

He said at the time: 'These people ruined my son's brain with horrid thoughts and ideas, they broke him.

'People keep asking me for information and I don't know what to tell them, I was completely taken aback by the news of what my son had done.

'I was shocked of course, I didn't realise it was even happening. He's been going to university and doing well, and that's all I knew.

'I wish there had been no victims, no one hurt. I wish it had never happened. Because when I see the victims I think it could have been my own family. I had no idea and I am really sorry. I am upset to see those victims.

'I feel the loss of the families so strongly. I feel like I have died along with the victims. I am so ashamed for me, for his mother, for all our family.'

Rezgui was shot dead by police after carrying out the attack, for which terror group claimed responsibility.

The firs anniversary for the terror attack will be marked by families of victims today, with Government staff observing a one-minute silence on Monday.

The family of 66-year-old Lisa Burbidge, from Gateshead, who was among those killed, will hold a remembrance service for the victims at St Mary's Church, Whickham on Sunday, followed by the unveiling of a memorial bench.

Tragedy: Joel Richards (left) and his 78-year-old grandfather Patrick (right) were among the victims of the attack, 19

A third member of the family, 44-year-old Adrian Evans (pictured), was also killed by the ISIS extremist

A local tour operator parasails with an England flag over the beach in front of the Imperial Marhaba hotel today

Belgian, English and Tunisian tourists take a moment to remember the victims of the 2015 Sousse Beach terrorist attack

They released a statement describing her as 'a fantastic loyal friend and a beautiful person', adding that the past 12 months have been 'incredibly difficult for us'.

A one-minute silence will be observed in government buildings across the UK and in British embassies overseas on Monday at noon to pay respects to those who lost their lives and were affected by the attack.

The minister for North Africa, Tobias Ellwood, has travelled to Tunisia for meetings with officials from the country's government.

He said: 'As we mark the first anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack in Sousse we remember the 38 people brutally murdered, including 30 British nationals.

'A year on, we keep in our thoughts and prayers the family and friends who lost loved ones, those who were injured and others who witnessed this horrendous attack.

'We continue to work closely with Tunisia to enhance security and support economic development and reform. Tunisia will not stand alone in the face of the terrorist threat and the UK will be by its side.'

Suzanne Richards from Wednesbury, West Midlands said she was left devastated by the deaths of her son Joel Richards, mother Pat Evans and sister Adrian Evans in the attack.

'We will never come to terms with what happened,' she explained.

Since the attack, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel to Tunisia

Tunisia's tourism officials have called for Britain's travel guidance for the country to be relaxed, claiming it suggests that the perpetrators are 'on the winning side'

'We just hope the inquest process can shed some light on exactly what happened so that all the grieving families can begin to understand how their loved ones died and whether more could have been done to protect them.'

Graeme Scott, 44, from Irchester, Northamptonshire survived the attack by hiding in a hotel cellar with his mother and father.

He said his family have struggled to sleep because of what happened and he has been reluctant to visit some busy places.

'We were waking up in the middle of the night hearing gun shots and panicking,' he told the Press Association.

'It took me a long time to go to the local shopping centre because you didn't know who was in front or behind you or where the escape route was.

'It's there every day. You're always thinking about the situation.'

He said he will attend a private service and lunch with around 40 other British survivors on Sunday.

Clive Garner of law firm Irwin Mitchell, which is representing some of the people affected by the attack at inquest hearings and in civil claims, said: 'Obviously nothing can bring back those who lost their lives in Sousse, but the families who we represent rightly want to have their questions answered.

'There is much that they still want to understand, including the details of what happened before and during the incident and whether more could have been done to prevent the terrible loss of life.'

Since the attack, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel to Tunisia.

The North African country's tourism officials have called for the guidance to be relaxed, claiming it suggests that the perpetrators are 'on the winning side'.




An animal lover has claimed that an e-cigarette killed her dog after it chomped on the discarded electronic device in her home.

Devastated Miffany Haynes watched her Staffordshire Bull terrier Leonardo collapse after ingesting the dangerous toxins in the e-cigarette, used by millions of Britons to ease themselves into giving up smoking.

Leonardo was taken to the vet but after eight months of treatment he sadly passed away. Ms Hayes is now striving to raise awareness about the dangers the devices threaten to dogs.

Devastated Miffany Haynes watched her Staffordshire Bull terrier Leonardo collapse after ingesting the dangerous toxins in the e-cigarette (both pictured)

She told the Star on Sunday: 'These things should be banned.A dog would have to eat three packs of cigarettes to get the amount of toxins Leo ingested by chewing on one cartridge for a moment.

'I believe numerous dogs will have died without owners realising the reason. It's only a matter of time before it happens to a child.'

There has been an increase of cases involving animal poisoning from e-cigarettes with 17 in 2013 to 91 last year, according to figures released by The Veterinary Poisions Information Service.

Keith Sutton, 58, from Cornwall, also lost his dog after it took a bite into one of the devices.

There has been an increase of cases involving animal poisoning from e-cigarettes with 17 in 2013 to 91 last year (file photo)

Mr Sutton watched while his Staffordshire bull terrier, Ivy, foamed at the mouth and vomited before she sadly died just 12 hours later after her vital organs failed.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact Kwinana police

The 19-year-old is known to frequent the Fremantle area, police say

on June 18 and there are concerns for his welfare

A picture of a 19-year-old man, who has been missing for more than a week, has been released by police in a bid to help find him.

Callum John Dixon was last seen at his home in Orelia, a southern suburb in Perth, on the evening of June 18 and concerns are held for his safety and welfare.

Mr Dixon has not been in contact with his family since then, which is out of character for him, police say.

Callum John Dixon (pictured), 19, disappeared June 18. Police have concerns for his safety and welfare and have urged anyone with information to get in contact with Kwinana Police Department

He has been described as fair skinned, between 170 and 175 centimetres tall and of medium build.

The 19-year-old, who has been known to frequent the Fremantle area, was believed to be wearing tanned trousers a light coloured jacket and ugg boots at the time of his disappearance.
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was partying into the early hours this morning at Glastonbury at the same time as his Jeremy Corbyn faced mass resignations after sacking Hilary Benn.

As he posted a series of pictures and videos of himself on social media enjoying the festival in Somerset, his party was quickly imploding over Thursday's dramatic EU referendum result.

At 3.29am he was singing and dancing at a silent disco with a wide grin on on his face - just over an hour after Mr Corbyn phoned

but less than seven hours later he was snapped at a train station checking his phone.

This appeared to be the moment when the reality of the crisis engulfing the Labour party hit Mr Watson.

The footage emerged from a one-minute video he posted on his Snapchat feed, which started at 9pm last night with him posing with a can of Thatchers cider standing in a field with the words: 'A barren wasteland of mud. This is not a metaphor.'

Tom Watson finished hist night at Glastonbury singing and partying at a silent disco at 3.29am (left). The reality of the Labour party's crisis this morning appears to finally hit Tom Watson as he sat waiting for a train back to London this morning at 10am (right)

At midnight Tom Watson was watching Glastonbury's headline act Adele (left) and an hour later the Labour deputy leader posted a picture of him at another gig along with the caption 'happy' (right)

The clip includes pictures of Mr Watson watching the headline Adele gig at the festival last night, enjoying craft ale, singing at another gig in a tent along with the caption 'happy' and in the early hours of this morning he captured himself and friends at a silent disco.

It was remarkable given that Mr Watson will play a central role in the fate of Mr Corbyn and his approach to the crisis in the party will play a decisive role in whether the leader is forced out.

As he partied in the fields at Glastonbury, 130 miles away in London Mr Corbyn phoned Mr Benn to sack him after learning of the shadow foreign secretary's plan to oust him as leader.

In dramatic developments this morning, shadow foreign secretary Heidi Alexander announced her resignation and up to half the shadow cabinet is expected to follow her in mass resignations later today.

But a defiant Mr Corbyn insisted he was staying put. His office insisted he is 'here to stay' and will replace anyone who leaves his top team.

At 9pm last night Tom Watson posed for a picture drinking a can of Thatchers cider (pictured left) and finished the night singing and partying at a silent disco at 3.29am (right)

At 10pm Tom Watson was enjoying a Tom Robinson gig - as his colleagues were orchestrating the downfall of leader Jeremy Corbyn

Tom Watson posted pictures of himself enjoying craft ale at the Glastonbury festival yesterday afternoon

His spokesman said: 'There will be no resignation from a democratically leader with a strong mandate.

In a midnight telephone call, Mr Corbyn told Mr Benn he was kicking him out of the top team for plotting.

A Labour spokesman said: 'Jeremy has sacked him on the grounds that he has lost confidence in him.'

In a statement afterwards Mr Benn said: 'It has now become clear that there is widespread concern among Labour MPs and in the Shadow Cabinet about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of our Party.

'In particular, there is no confidence in our ability to win the next election, which may come much sooner than expected, if Jeremy continues as Leader.

'At this critical time for our country, following the result of the EU referendum, we need strong and effective leadership of the Labour Party that is capable of winning public support so that we can stand up for the people of Britain.

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning, Mr Benn ruled out becoming the next Labour leader.
Thousands of banking jobs are set to be lost from the City after the vote for Britain to leave the EU, it was claimed today.

HSBC has reportedly begun plans to move 1,000 of its employees from London to Paris because of concerns over the prospect of losing access to the European single market.

City sources have predicted that as many as 70,000 financial jobs could be moved out of Britain in the next year, after the referendum result sparked immediate market turmoil.

Moves: HSBC could transfer 1,000 employees from Canary Wharf, pictured, to Paris after the EU vote

One finance consultant told a leading careers website: 'Youre looking at 50,000 to 70,000 London finance jobs being moved overseas in the next 12 months.

'Jobs are going to be cut, and those cuts are going to start next week.'

If the UK does not strike a deal to trade freely with the remaining EU countries, HSBC will reduce its London operations and boost the size of its French office, according to the BBC.

The employees affected currently work in Canary Wharf, processing payments which are denominated in euros.

If they did move, they would join 10,000 other HSBC staff already based in Paris - around one fifth of the size of the bank's London headquarters.

HSBC has refused to comment on the reports.

Chaos: It is unclear whether or not British banks will retain access to the European financial system

Finance firms are keen to remain part of the Europe-wide 'passporting' system, which allows banks to operate anywhere on the continent as long as they have a licence from one country.

A number of other major companies, including Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and JPMorgan, have reportedly made plans to reduce their British business.

US-based banks with large London operations said they were 'rebalancing' in the wake of the result, threatening to move staff if they feel that is the only way to stay connected to the EU.

Most banks saw sharp falls in their shares on Friday morning after it emerged that 52 per cent of voters had backed Leave in the EU referendum.

David Cameron's successor is likely to seek continued access to the single market, probably by joining the EEA like Norway and Iceland.

However, EU leaders may insist that the UK must allow free movement of migrants if it wants to stay in the single market.

The vote to leave the EU is widely seen as a backlash against mass immigration to Britain, meaning that any such deal could be unacceptable to most voters.

Deal: The successor to David Cameron will have to lead the negotiations with the EU

A top European banking official said yesterday that the UK would need to keep freedom of movement, like Norway, in order to retain passporting rights.

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, governor of the Bank of France, told a radio station: 'It would be a bit paradoxical to leave the EU and apply all EU rules, but that is the solution if Britain wants to keep access to the single market.

'The City cannot keep this European passport and clearing houses cannot be located in London either.'

Jonathan Lewis of Nomura International told the Financial Times: 'I dont see how anyone can say with any certainty that passporting will continue. Switzerland doesnt have passporting, neither does the US, so we cannot assume we will.'

HSBC, which does much of its business in Asia, came close to moving its headquarters to Hong Kong earlier this year.

One of the reasons the firm opted to remain in London was apparently the city's status as the main financial centre of Europe, which some say could now be in doubt.

Chairman Douglas Flint said on Friday: 'The work to establish fresh terms of trade with our European and global partners will be complex and time consuming.
A 12-year-old schoolboy has been expelled for missing too many days of classes after his parents took him to Alaska to spend six weeks with his dying grandfather.

Josh Palfrey and his father Scott Palfrey, 52, travelled 6,000 miles from their home in Pheasey, near Birmingham, to visit grandfather Arthur on March 26 - the first day of the Easter holidays.

They returned to the UK from North America on May 21 with Arthur having died days earlier - but were then told by Barr Beacon School in Aldridge, West Midlands, that Josh had been expelled in his absence.

Josh Palfrey (left) and his father Scott Palfrey, travelled 6,000 miles from their home in Pheasey, near Birmingham, to visit grandfather Arthur (right with wife Lila) on March 26 - the first day of the Easter holidays

After returning to the UK the family was told by Barr Beacon School (pictured) in Aldridge, West Midlands, that Josh had been expelled in his absence

Retired police officer Arthur Palfrey, 83, had begged to see his grandson for the last time after doctors diagnosed him with terminal cancer.

Single father Mr Palfrey, a VW worker has accused the school of 'punishing' his son for visiting his dying grandfather.

He said: 'I feel completely disappointed and let down by the whole system. It's all percentages and figures and all about money, not about a child's welfare and education.

'In certain circumstances you should be a bit more flexible. My boss said take as long as you need, it's your dad, and that's how I expect people to be treated.

'It's punishing Josh for seeing his grandad in his dying days and I think that's totally out of order and wrong.

'If I had the choice and they said to me this is what's going to happen, I'd do it all over again - 100 per cent. I'm going to see my dad and I'm going to take my son to see him, too.

Josh (pictured in Alaska with his grandfather), who only joined the school last year and is already considered a straight-A pupil, begged to be allowed back into school

Arthur, who had lung cancer, died on May 17 after the disease spread to his lungs, liver and bones. His grandson is pictured right

'It was absolutely priceless for my son to see my dad in his final weeks of being alive.

'Sitting together on the settee, with his grandson, talking about his history in the Navy and his days as a mounted policeman.

'He wasn't there when Josh was growing up, so it was important my son knew about his life.'

'You couldn't pay for that and I've got that in my mind forever now, and Josh will always remember him.'

Josh was officially expelled on May 10 when headteacher Dame Maureen Brennan wrote to Mr Palfrey saying his son had been 'removed from the school roll.'

Schoolboy Josh Palfrey has been expelled for missing too many days of classes after his parents took him to Alaska to see his dying grandfather

Josh, who only joined the school last year and is already considered a straight-A pupil, begged to be allowed back into school.

He said: 'I just want to say to the headteacher, "Please allow me to come back to school." I only left to visit my dying grandad in Alaska.

'I had to go and see my grandad because I've only met him when I was a baby and last time I seen him was for two weeks a few years ago.

'He was quite good for the majority of the trip, just the last few weeks you could tell he wasn't quite right.

'But I loved spending time with him and I'll have those memories of my grandad forever now. He was a really funny man.'

Arthur, from Winson Green, Birmingham, moved to America in 1989 after making friends through his involvement in a barbers' shop choir.

He lived in Wasilla, Alaska, with his second wife for 16 years.

Arthur, who had lung cancer, died on May 17 after the disease spread to his lungs, liver and bones.

Mr Palfrey said: 'He was in a reclining chair. I was holding his hand when he took his last breath.

'I understand it is not ideal to take your child out of school for this amount of time, but this was an exceptional circumstance. This was hardly a quick flight to Spain or a holiday to Disney World.

'It's the other side of the world and we did not know how long my dad had left.

'This was my father's dying wish and to see my son sitting with his grandfather and learning about his life was just priceless.

'I was warned that Josh would lose his place at the school if we did not return by a certain date, but I made the decision to go anyway.

'This was an extremely emotional time for the family and I felt this was the right decision. I am just furious that it has come to this. My son is now very upset as he loves the school and has friends there.

Josh and Scott (pictured) returned to the UK from North America on May 21 with Arthur having died days earlier - but were then told by Barr Beacon School in Aldridge, West Midlands, that Josh had been expelled in his absence

Single father Mr Palfrey (pictured with Arthur), a VW worker has accused the school of 'punishing' his son for visiting his dying grandfather.

'He lives two minutes from the school, he is doing well. In my mind, he's a star pupil. Teachers have told me they wished they had more like him.'

Yesterday the school, which caters for 1,500 pupils aged 11-18 and has an 'Outstanding' Ofsted rating, stood by its decision.

A spokesperson said: 'Barr Beacon School is highly over-subscribed. There were over 1,019 preferences for our 252 places in Year 7 for September, 2016. Year 8 is over-capacity with 270 children.

'We have class sizes of 33. We are receiving requests for places on a near daily basis and as soon as a child leaves we have further requests for that place.'

This was hardly a quick flight to Spain or a holiday to Disney World Scott Palfrey

The spokesman said there were nearly 500 children on a waiting for all years at the school ' 'all lively children with caring parents who want the best for their child'.

'When a child leaves we do not re-admit them or fill their place with another child as the school is so very full. We operate a fair and transparent admissions policy which follows the very clear laws which govern schools.

'Being a large school, we regularly have parents informing us that they are visiting terminally ill family members around the world, attending funerals across the globe and travelling to weddings in various countries.

'Each one of these situations could be deemed a special, extenuating circumstance. We appreciate that every family's situation is special to them.

'As a school, we understand the pressures on parents and we send condolences on the loss of loved ones and our best wishes on their family weddings, but we cannot keep places open for children while they are out of the country for more than 20 school days.

'It is not fair on the other children whose parents want them to attend an outstanding school.
Turner Prize winner Damien Hirst is being sued by a Canadian artist who claims he 'copied her' to make his signature pill-inspired jewellery range which has sold for millions.

The Medicine Cabinet series - glass dressers filled with thousands of colourful pills - was followed by spin-off products including crockery sets and a jewellery range.

But Colleen Wolstenholme is now seeking 'punitive damages' after accusing him of copying her prescription pill-inspired charm bracelets.

Legal action: Turner Prize winner Damien Hirst (pictured) is being sued by a Canadian artist who claims he 'copied her' to make his signature pill-inspired jewellery range which has sold for millions

She has filed a complaint at a federal court in Manhattan, New York, according to Camilla Turner at the Sunday Telegraph.

In the court papers she alleges that Hirst is responsible for 'willfully and wrongfully copying, creating, manufacturing, distributing, and/or selling' works that infringe her copyright under Canadian law.

The complaint is said to describe Hirst as 'an internationally recognized artist, entrepreneur, and art collector' whose career 'has been rather notorious and he has been the subject of numerous allegations of copying fellow artists.'

In 2010, an art magazine published an article accusing Hirst, 51, of producing 15 works 'inspired by others'.

That came a decade after it was disclosed Hirst had paid an undisclosed sum to prevent legal action for breach of copyright by designers of a toy which resembled his famous bronze sculpture, Hymn.

In her claim, Wolstenholme - described as a 'prolific and well-regarded artist' by her lawyers - alleges Hirst 'copied and/or created derivative works' of her Pill Charms and Pill Charm Bracelet.

She is taking legal action against him and his e-commerce website Other Criteria. On it Hirst sells pill-inspired jewellery including one item for 25,000.

Similarities: Canadian artist Colleen Wolstenholme claims that her 'Charmed' Bracelet (pictured left) was copied by Turner Prize winner Damien Hirst. His Pill Bracelet with Diamond Skull, Yellow Gold, is pictured right

Wolstenholme says she began making sculptures based on pharmaceutical pills two decades ago and used them for bracelets, necklaces and other jewellery.

Her lawyers claim that 'Hirst knew of Wolstenholme and the Wolstenholme Works as early as March 1998, if not earlier, and had access to the Works' but went on to 'knowingly and wilfully' violate her copyright.

Hirst, now one of the worlds most successful living artists, had begun work on the Medicine Cabinets while in his second year at Goldsmiths University in London in 1988.

We refute the claim made by Colleen Wolstenholme Spokesperson for Damien Hirst's company Science Ltd

But his pill-inspired jewellery was not launched until 2004.

As well as punitive damages Wolstenholme is seeking a permanent injunction preventing Hirst from copying her charm bracelets.

She also wants a constructive trust to be set up so that she can benefit from all revenue generated by sales of her allegedly copied work.

A spokesperson for Hirst's company Science Ltd said: 'We refute the claim made by Colleen Wolstenholme.

'Damien Hirst designed his earliest pill work in 1988, long before Wolstenholme created her first jewellery. We will defend any action brought against Damien.'

In April, a Royal Society of Chemistry report reveals that the tanks containing Hirst's pickled animals leaked potentially dangerous levels of formaldehyde fumes when put on display in the Tate Modern.

The Medicine Cabinet series (a postcard example is pictured) - glass dressers filled with thousands of colourful pills - was followed by spin-off products including crockery sets and a jewellery range

The three works exhibited over five months were Away From The Flock, Sausages and the Turner prize- winning Mother And Child Divided.

Using sensors, investigators established formaldehyde (FA) leakage in the atmosphere reached levels of 5 ppm (parts per million), which is ten times above the advisory limit.

'It should be noted the maximum FA level tolerated by regulatory agencies in the air of a room should be no higher than 0.5 ppm,' the report observed.

Formaldehyde can cause cancer and trigger or aggravate asthma symptoms.

When Hirst was commissioned by art mogul Charles Saatchi in 1991, he was advised to use an alcohol-based solution for the long-term protection of his works.

But the artist, who is worth 200 million, said he chose to use formaldehyde not for its properties as a preservative, but 'because it is dangerous and it burns your skin. If you breathe it in, it chokes you.'

A spokesman for the gallery said at the time: 'Tate always puts the safety of its staff and visitors first, and we take all necessary precautions when installing and displaying our exhibitions. These works contained a very dilute formaldehyde solution that was contained within sealed tanks.'
Prisoners are to be trained as baristas by Pret a Manger staff in the hope of landing a job at the chain when they are freed.

Staff from the sandwich shops will give coffee training workshops in prisons in a bid to help rehabilitation.

Plans were in progress to install two machines and an in-house coffee shop at HMP Holloway, a 590-capacity women's jail in north London, in December last year.

But they were recently scrapped after the Government decided to close the jail, the largest women's prison in Europe - which is due to close this summer.

The scheme, however, was said to be a 'pioneering' project involving one of the most successful businesses in the UK, known for its posh sandwiches and snacks, and the Prison Service.

Prisoners are to be trained as baristas by Pret a Manger staff in the hope of landing a job at the chain when they are freed (file photo)

The Prison Service is 'very keen' on ensuring prisoners leave jail as 'assets' who will not start offending again - and getting them jobs is a key target for Michael Gove, the Justice Minister.

A Prison Service spokesman said that despite the Pret scheme falling through at HMP Holloway, it was looking to implement it in jails around the UK - especially women's jails - to help them get jobs upon their release.

The spokesman said: 'We want to make sure women prisoners serve their sentences in more humane surroundings that support their rehabilitation, maintain strong family ties and keep them out of crime.

'Prison should also help offenders get the skills and qualifications to make a success of life on the outside.

'We should see them as potential assets, people who can contribute to society and put something back.

'We have secured 1.3 billion to modernise the prison estate and we will put governors in charge.

'These reforms will ensure prisons are places of decency and improve public safety by reducing reoffending.'

Staff from the sandwich shops will give coffee training workshops in prisons in a bid to help rehabilitation

Among the gourmet coffees inmates are learning to make - using 100 per cent organic Arabica beans from Peru, Honduras, Sumatra and Ethiopia - include cappuccinos, espresso, flat whites, lattes and mochas, as well as various 'syrup shots' or caramel, hazelnut and vanilla.

Prisoners who land a job at Pret a Manger - which translates as 'ready to eat' - upon their release will get 8.50 per hour, free food during work, two 'legendary Pret parties' each year and 28 days holiday.

Other benefits include no zero hour contracts, weekly pay, 50 per cent discount on Pret food when you are not at work.

There are an estimated 19,000 coffee shops in the UK - and it is estimated that within the next 15 years the number of coffee houses could overtake the number of pubs in Britain.

There are around 48,000 pubs in Britain now - compared to 69,000 in 1980 - but they are closing at a rate of 31-a-week, that's more than 1,600 closing their doors every year.

A prison source, who asked not to be named, said: 'Most of the courses (in jail) cover the basic trades, like painting and decorating - or in women's jail hairdressing and sewing.

'This is a new one on me, although it's not a surprise I guess with the number of coffee shops around nowadays.'

A spokeswoman for Pret A Manger confirmed that the scheme at HMP Holloway has been cancelled because of the imminent closure of the jail, but said it was committed to working with prisons to help offenders get jobs through its Pret Foundation Trust.

She said the firm's Apprenticeship Scheme, set up by Pret Foundation Trust, aimed at helping ex-offenders and homeless people back to work.
Rodents move freely within the temple and often eat from huge bowls of milk and grains, placed daily by devotees

The rats are seen as holy because legend says they are the reincarnated children of revered

Advertisement

An Indian temple is infested with more than 20,000 rats and visitors flock from far and wide to worship the rodents normally perceived as the scourge of the earth.

The Karni Mata Temple in remote Deshnoke, Rajasthan is known as the 'Temple of Rats' because it is overrun by the animals which scurry though its stone halls.

The rodents, called kabbas, are revered by both tourists and locals who have gone to great lengths to protect the species by building netting and grills to keep out predators such as raptors.

Infested: An Indian temple is overrun with more than 20,000 rats and visitors flock from far and wide to worship the rodents normally perceived as the scourge of the earth

Popular: The Karni Mata Temple (pictured) in remote Deshnoke, Rajasthan is known as the 'Temple of Rats' because it is overrun by the animals which scurry though its stone halls

Shelter: The rodents, called kabbas, are worshipped by both tourists and locals who have gone to great lengths to protect the species by building netting and grills to keep out predators such as raptors

Breakfast time: The rodents move freely within the temple and can be seen eating from a huge metal bowl of milk and grains, placed there daily by devotees

The rats are seen as holy because legend claims that when the goddess Karni Mata's stepson was reincarnated by Yama, the god of death, he also allowed all of the goddess's children to be reincarnated as rats.

There are conflicting stories behind the legend, and one version alleges that when a 20,000 strong army fled to Deshnoke, a sin punishable by death, Karni Mata showed mercy and turned them into rats instead. In response, the army promised to serve Karni Mata in her temple forever.

Surender Sharma, a visitor, said: This is my first visit to this temple. There is no history of plague in this area, despite the presence of rats for many years. People come here to worship rats as god.'

The rodents move freely within the temple and can be seen eating from a huge metal bowl of milk and grains, placed there daily by devotees.

Worshipped: The rats are seen as holy because legend claims that when the goddess Karni Mata's stepson was reincarnated by Yama, the god of death, he also allowed all of the goddess's children to be reincarnated as rats

Offering: Many visitors give sweets and other candy to the vermin. The food nibbled by the rats is also considered holy and is sometimes consumed by a devotee - even if it has been half eaten by rodents

Surender Sharma, a visitor, said: This is my first visit to this temple. There is no history of plague in this area, despite the presence of rats for many years. People come here to worship rats as god'

Many visitors offer sweets and other candy to the vermin. The food nibbled by the rats is also considered holy and is sometimes consumed by a devotee - even if it has been half eaten by rodents.

Savita Sharma, another visitor, said: 'I keep visiting this temple. The first time I visited this place I was glad to see rats all around. But I did scream out loudly when a rat touched my foot.'

While black and brown rats are easily spotted in the temple courtyard, devotees believe sighting a white rat is a blessing.

One visitor named Mishra said: 'I have come to see rats and white rat is considered lucky. If someone see's a white rat then he or she gets good luck and the blessings of god. I am glad that I have seen a white rat.'

Savita Sharma, another visitor, said: 'I keep visiting this temple. The first time I visited this place I was glad to see rats all around. But I did scream out loudly when a rat touched my foot'

Everywhere: While black and brown rats are easily spotted in the temple courtyard, devotees believe sighting a white rat is a blessing

One visitor named Mishra said: 'I have come to see rats and white rat is considered lucky. If someone see's a white rat then he or she gets good luck and the blessings of god. I am glad that I have seen a white rat'

Canadian photographer Owen Lin said: 'It was kind of quiet when we got there and we weren't sure it would be worth the trip, but once you went in further and looked around the temple you saw areas of the temple that were infested with rats'

Canadian based photographer, Owen Lin, travelled to the temple to witness the peculiar sight.

He said: 'We went for the spectacle and the oddity of it. We were a little apprehensive about going, because we didn't really know what to expect.

'It was kind of quiet when we got there and we weren't sure it would be worth the trip, but once you went in further and looked around the temple you saw areas of the temple that were infested with rats.

'Personally rats don't scare me, so I wasn't too freaked out, but if you're scared of rats then it's really going to cause you some stress.

'They weren't terribly shy, they didn't seem to care about people too much and they weren't really aggressive.

'They seem to be just trying to eat mainly. Some of them were pretty healthy and some of them looked a little raggedy.'

Even though the explorer saw a few dead rats dotted about, he said the temple was well cared for and was very clean considering its rodent population.

Shoes off please: Visitors say the rats are not shy - but they don't seem to care about people too much and are not aggressive

Exploring: It is said that the rats mostly are just trying to eat. Some of them are pretty healthy but some of them look a little raggedy

Spring cleaning: Even though there are a few dead rats dotted about the temple is well cared for and is relatively clean considering its rodent population

Clean: Many tourists are concerned about having to remove their shoes, as is customary in Indian temples, but there are very few rat droppings

Currently the temple is mainly visited by worshippers, who place their offerings to the goddess in the centre of the temple - with one man offering a big bottle of alcohol for the goddess

Priests at the temple treat the furry inhabitants with serious devotion and warn visitors to walk carefully within the temple premises to avoid trampling them

According to the temple rules, stepping accidentally on rat and killing it is a sin. The perpetrator is then bound to buy a gold or silver rat statue and place it in the temple as a payment of sin

Mr Lin was momentarily concerned about having to remove his shoes, as is customary in Indian temples, but once inside he said there were very few rat droppings.

He added: 'It just sounded outrageous - someone devoting an entire temple to these rats. We were in the area and we just had to go.

'I'm not sure how many people bother going, so it was refreshing to visit a relatively untouched area.'

Currently the temple is mainly visited by worshippers, who place their offerings to the goddess in the centre of the temple - with one man offering a big bottle of alcohol for the goddess.

Priests at the temple treat the furry inhabitants with serious devotion and warn visitors to walk carefully within the temple premises to avoid trampling them.

According to the temple rules, stepping accidentally on rat and killing it is a sin.

The perpetrator is then bound to buy a gold or silver rat statue and place it in the temple as a payment of sin.

Visitor Mr Lin said: 'It just sounded outrageous - someone devoting an entire temple to these rats. We were in the area and we just had to go'

There are conflicting stories behind the legend, and one version alleges that when a 20,000 strong army fled to Deshnoke, a sin punishable by death, Karni Mata showed mercy and turned them into rats instead. Pictured: The Karni Mata Temple
Advertisement

A derelict pebble-dashed garage in the heart of trendy north London has gone on sale for a jaw-dropping 360,000.

The space, which comes complete with a lurid lime green interior and two large mounds of dirt inside, lies in the hipster heartland of Stoke Newington and has been put up for grabs by agents Courtneys.

Located off road with a gated entrance, the property has one room with a garage door entrace, but Courtneys hope prospective buyers will see its potential for expansion.

Perfect hipster hut: This derelict garage in trendy Stoke Newington, north London, has gone on sale for a jaw-dropping 360,000

Bare space: The property has a bright lime green interior but has no utilities whatsoever, including running water or heating

However, there is one slight catch - the garage still lacks planning approval to be transformed into a living space.

On an advert listing for the property on Right Move, a statement says: 'Courtneys are delighted to offer for sale this garage with planning soon to be submitted to the council, the planning application to be submitted is for a two-storey one-bedroom mews house.

'The property is situated in a very quiet yet very central small mews just off Stoke Newington Road and thus benefits from being very close to numerous bus routes and the amenities of both Stoke Newington Church Street to the north and Dalston to the south.'

While there is room for development with the property, buyers certainly are not getting much bang for their buck.

The garage has no utilities and appears to be dirty inside with considerable transformation to take place until it could be used to live in.

While many would find such a listing as shocking and infuriating, to Londoners this just another example of the city's housing crisis spiraling out of control.

Other examples of people trying to cash in on the city's lack of housing has included homeowners renting out a tent pitched in their front room, hiring out a cupboard under their stairs and a wooden shack by their dining room.

One pint-sized flat in Hendon was so cramped that it had a toilet cubicle hidden away in a wooden closet right next to studio's kitchen area and sink.

Central location: Agents Courtneys said the property was located in a 'very quiet' mews and is close to a number of stations in the area

The apartment set back prospective renters 126-per-week and was actually a living space crammed into a room in someone else's house.

While the flat is pokey, it may have some competition for London's most infuriating rented property.

In recent months many potential tenants have taken to social media to vent their fury after turning up to view rooms, apartments or houses only to be greeted by a small space at extortionate prices.

Extreme cases have even seen people offered a cupboard under the stairs or a tent in someone's living room.

Student Alex Lomax attended a flat viewing in Clapham, south west London, in September, and was shocked to find a single mattress wedged into a closet.

Surprise: Tenants at this property in Hendon, north London, will have their toilet hidden in a cupboard right next to their kitchen

Despite the lack of space, the room was still listed at 500-per-month with an extra 60 charge for bills.

Taking to Twitter she compared the conditions to those endured by Harry Potter at his aunt and uncle's house, writing: 'I have literally just been shown a bed under the stairs for 500 a month. F you London! #nothanks #privetdrive!?'

In another case, a landlord put a mattress inside a wooden shack in the corner of his living room before trying to rent it out for 530 a month.

Furious: Alex Lomax was asked to pay 500, plus bills, for this cupboard under the stairs in Clapham, south west London

Disgusted: Joe Peduzzi was shocked when he was offered this wooden shack in a man's living room in Bethnal Green, east London

Joe Peduzzi, from the Isle of Wight, said he 'couldn't believe what he was seeing' after viewing the outlandish set-up in Bethnal Green, east London, and said there was 'no chance' he would be taking the landlord up on his offer.
They pin him down before handcuffing him and bundling him into a car

car at gunpoint before forcing him out of the vehicle

Dramatic footage captured the moment Parisian police surrounded a man suspected of kidnapping three prostitutes at gun point before arresting him.

Filmed yesterday from a window in the 11th arrondissement - one of the sites of the November 2015 Paris attacks - the action-packed scene shows a group of plain-clothes officers circling a car before forcing the suspect out of the car and handcuffing him.

The alleged pimp initially fled in his car when police tried to stop him but the vehicle was quickly brought to a halt after they fired two shots at his tires.

Eight officers hold their guns outstretched as they circle the parked car. They can be heard shouting loudly as they tell the suspect to get out of the car

Eventually one forcefully opens the driver's door before hauling the man out to the ground

In the video eight officers hold their guns outstretched as they circle the parked car. They can be heard shouting loudly as they tell the suspect to get out of the car.

Eventually one forcefully opens the driver's door before hauling the man out to the ground.

An officer places his foot on the suspect's back as a policeman restrains him with handcuffs. Others train their guns on him throughout the proceedings.

They later bundle him into an unmarked police car and appear to quiz him before the footage ends.

Rue de Charonne resident, Pierre Touzet, who filmed the clip, later uploaded it to YouTube.

An officer places his foot on the suspect's back as the others restrain him with handcuffs. Others train their guns on him throughout the proceedings

The alleged pimp was arrested on suspection of kidnapping three prostitutes

They later bundle him into an unmarked police car and appear to quiz him before the footage ends. Rue de Charonne resident, Pierre Touzet, who filmed the clip, later uploaded it to YouTube

He explained that the suspect had in fact been armed himself and it's surprising nobody was hurt. 'The guy had a gun on the passenger seat (I saw the police put it in a evidence bag afterwards),' he wrote.

Another local commented on the video saying she lived opposite Touzet. She explained she'd first heard the shouts and shots fired without knowing what was happening and it was 'scary'.

'It took me back to November,' she added.
A 16-year-old boy has been rushed to hospital after being stabbed multiple times outside a community centre in horrific attack.

Police were called to Kellyville, Sydney's northwest, at about 10pm on Saturday following reports that a the boy had been stabbed three times.

New South Wales Ambulance and Paramedics treated the boy at the scene before he was taken to Westmead Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

A 16-year-old boy (pictured) stumbled 100 metres up the road from where he was stabbed three times on Saturday night to seek help from local residents in Kellyville in Sydney's northwest

After being stabbed the boy allegedly stumbled about 100 metres up the street to seek help from a local resident before emergency services arrived, reported 9News.

An investigation into the incident has started following the attack.

Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/.
The petition demanding a second referendum on Britain's EU membership is under investigation by authorities over allegations of fraud, it emerged today.

Thousands of signatures were found to have been from overseas, which is illegal for petitions posted on the Government website.

The move has been backed by more than 3.3million names - a record for petitions on the Parliament website - forcing MPs to consider the proposals for a re-run.

It also emerged today that the founder of the petition, which demands a re-count of the referendum because turnout was less than 75 per cent and the margin of victory was smaller than 20 per cent, is a Brexit supporter.

William Oliver Healey, a final year student at De Montfort University, set up the petition in case the Leave campaign lost by s slim margin but ironically it was hijacked by Remain supporters after Thursday's 4 per cent win for Brexit.

However, among the backers are people in the United States, Germany, France and even Syria.

More than 40,000 signatures come from people who said they live in Vatican City - a tiny state with just 800 residents. Civil servants are now investigating allegations of fraudulent sign-ups.

William Oliver Healey (pictured right), a final year student at De Montfort University, set up the petition (left) in case the Leave campaign lost by s slim margin but ironically it was hijacked by Remain supporters after Thursday's 4 per cent win for Brexit. The petition has attracted more than 3.3million signatures

More than 40,000 signatures come from people who said they live in Vatican City(pictured) - a tiny state with just 800 residents. Civil servants are now investigating allegations of fraudulent sign-ups

The Government's digital service has made clear that signing up to the petition from overseas or signing it more than once was not a criminal offence but it undermines the credibility of the demands.

Earlier today Tony Blair said a second referendum on EU membership should not be ruled out.

The former Labour prime minister admitted the prospect seems unlikely but suggested MPs could consider the option once a new deal had been struck with the EU within the next couple of years.

Business minister Anna Soubry promoted the petition calling on the Government to stage a second referendum despite a record 33.5million people taking part in Thursday's referendum, which delivered a 4 per cent margin in favour of cutting ties with Brussels.

One Twitter user calls for people living abroad to sign the petition regardless of whether they are British or not

Twitter users abroad revealed they had signed the petition demanding a second referendum

Authorities are investigating allegations that thousands of non-UK citizens have backed the move

Earlier today Tony Blair (pictured) said a second referendum on EU membership should not be ruled out

Although more than 3million people have signed the petition demanding second referendum, a heat map (left) reveals most of the signatures were from north London and areas with high numbers of students, such as Cambridge and Oxford. Remarkably, Labour MP David Lammy (right) went a step further yesterday as he said his colleagues should vote to overturn the 'non-binding' decision in Parliament for the sake of the economy

Remarkably, Labour MP David Lammy went a step further yesterday as he said his colleagues should vote to overturn the 'non-binding' decision in Parliament for the sake of the economy.

But - as anti-Brexit protests broke out on the streets of London and Edinburgh yesterday - Nigel Farage slammed those demanding a second EU referendum, saying 'it's not the best of three'.

Thousands flooded the streets of London yesterday to demonstrate against Thursday's Brexit result and by this evening more than 3.3million people had signed the petition asking for another vote.

Ukip leader Mr Farage, who hailed the result as 'a new dawn' for Britain on Thursday morning, said another vote was 'the last think I want to see', the Sunday Mirror reported.

He previously credited votes in Labour heartlands for the Brexit result, and again today claimed that Lammy's demands that MPs 'ignore the referendum result' would drive more of their voters to Ukip.

Yesterday demonstrators waved EU flags, held posters saying 'Yes 2 EU' and banners claiming the older population had 'stole our future'

The protests against the EU referendum result came despite a record 33.5million people taking part in the referendum - the highest in any election since 1992 - in which Leave won with 51.9 per cent, a margin of 1,269,501 votes.

Mr Blair, when asked about the possibility of another vote, told BBC's Sunday Politics programme: 'As I'm looking at it here, I can't see how we can do that. 'But, you know, the point is, why rule anything out right now?

'As I say, you are going to have a reality to test yourself against.' Mr Blair said the nation needs to 'see the consequences' of Brexit as they play out in the coming weeks and months.

'I can't see how you would go through all of the mechanics of another referendum now,' he continued. 'I just can't see it.

WE SHOULD IGNORE THE 'NON-BINDING' EU REFERENDUM RESULT SAYS LABOUR MP DAVID LAMMY The result of the EU referendum should be overturned by a Commons vote next week, a Labour MP has insisted. Former minister David Lammy said the poll, which produced a narrow, surprise, win for the Leave side, was non-binding and parliament remains sovereign. The Tottenham MP said the Commons, where a majority of members backed Remain, should 'stop the madness' of Brexit. 'Wake up. We do not have to do this. We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end through a vote in parliament. 'Our sovereign parliament needs to now vote on whether we should quit the EU. 'The referendum was an advisory, non-binding referendum. The Leave campaign's platform has already unravelled and some people wish they hadn't voted to leave. 'Parliament now needs to decide whether we should go forward with Brexit, and there should be a vote in Parliament next week. 'Let us not destroy our economy on the basis of lies and the hubris of Boris Johnson,' Mr Lammy said. Advertisement

'But on the other hand I also think there will be a lot of people in the country who will say 'well, let's have a look at this and see what we are going to do' and Parliament will want to look at it.'

Mr Blair also warned that negotiating the UK's new relationship with the EU will be an 'agonising and highly complicated process'.

He said that failure to strike a good deal with the EU would have severe consequences for the UK economy.

He said: 'If you take for example financial services, if we don't have the EU passport as it's called for our financial services what does that mean for the City of London?

'You could have thousands of jobs going, so how do you preserve it?'

However, he also urged the Government not to rush the UK's divorce with Brussels.

'It is not in the interests of Europe or of Britain to rush this,' he said.

'We are dealing with vast consequences for our economy, for our politics, for our security and we have got to take it very carefully.'

Yesterday, Mr Lammy said some 'leave' supporters now regret their votes and we should not destroy the economy 'on the basis of lies and the hubris of Boris Johnson.'

Already, more than 3.3million people have signed the petition, which the Government must now consider debating in the House of Commons, which it must do for any which gets more than 100,000 names.

But the majority of signatures are from people in London and areas with a high population of students, which predominantly voted Remain, meaning the result may not be any different.

Thousands came from north London, Cambridge and Oxford, while more than 3,000 of David Cameron's constituents also signed the petition.

Demonstrators waved EU flags, held posters saying 'Yes 2 EU' and banners claiming the older population 'stole our future'.

Because it easily passed the 100,000 target, MPs will be forced to consider the proposal in Parliament this summer.

The petition demands the Government re-stage the referendum because the winning vote for Leave was less than 60 per cent and was based on a turnout of less than 75 per cent.

The result revealed stark divisions between young and old, north and south, cities and rural areas, and university-educated people and those with fewer qualifications.

Anti-Brexit protests broke out on the streets of London after a petition for a second EU referendum attracted 2million signatures within a day

Anti-Brexit protests broke out on the streets of London after a petition for a second EU referendum attracted 2million signatures within a day

Protests were staged in Westminster, central London today as young voters called for a second referendum

Anti-Brexit protests were also held in other UK cities, including Edinburgh, where Remain won by a vast majority - a result reflected in all 32 local authorities in Scotland, triggering demands for a second Scottish independence referendum

In London a separate petition is calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the capital independent from the United Kingdom, and apply to join the EU.

Although the decision is not legally binding on MPs, it would be an act of political suicide for any group to attempt to override it and order a second referendum after months of hard-fought campaigning.

Anti-Brexit protests were also held in other UK cities, including Edinburgh, where Remain won by a vast majority - a result reflected in all 32 local authorities in Scotland, triggering demands for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Any petition that receives more than 100,000 signatures within six months must be considered for debate by MPs in Parliament.

Any petition that attracts more than 10,000 in the time period requires a response from the Government.

By lunch time today the petition had already attracted more than 1,308,147 signatures.

The protests came despite a record 33.5million people taking part in Thursday's referendum and the rate of turnout was the highest than any election since 1992

A young couple painted as EU flags protest on outside Downing Street against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum

EU supporters protested opposite Downing Street yesterday after Britain voted to cut ties with Brussels

The petition - started by William Oliver Healey this morning - states: 'We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.'

The House of Commons Petitions committee will now be forced to consider staging a debate in Parliament on the proposals for a second referendum.

Their next meeting is on Tuesday after MPs return from a mini-recess, although it might have to wait until the following week to be discussed.

The petition reflects the anger among the 16.1million voters who backed staying in the EU - particularly young voters in London and across Scotland, who overwhelmingly backed Remain.

Three in four 18-24-year-olds voted for Remain in the referendum and more than half (56 per cent) of 25-49-year-olds backing the pro-EU option, according to initial estimates of the vote breakdown by YouGov.

It was those who may have to live with the consequences the longest who seemed most disappointed with the result.

According to a YouGov poll, the youngest of the electorate voted overwhelmingly to Remain, while it was older voters who were most keen on Brexit.

One protester, Harriet Barclay, poured fake blood over herself n protest at the EU Referendum result

As Britain reacted to the shock of the EU referendum result, one man was pictured in Westminster with a union flag bag with the slogan: 'Keep calm and carry on'

Protests took place in Edinburgh (left) and central London against the referendum result - despite the vote recording the highest turnout since 1992

Protesters demanded a second referendum, claiming the margin of victory was too slim to be binding

The survey, conducted after voting closed, found 75 per cent of those aged between 18 and 24 voted to remain in the EU.

Some 56 per cent of voters aged between 25 and 49 voted for Remain, but the figure dropped to 44 per cent for 50 to 64-year-olds and just 39 per cent for the over-65s, according to the poll.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron described the result as a 'great injustice to future generations'.

'Their future has been taken away by older generations,' he said, in a speech following the result.

'What a tragedy that older voters, the people who have been able to benefit from European integration, have removed the opportunity for those coming behind them.'

But those who emerged victorious from the country's momentous decision sought to reassure those on the losing side.

In his victory speech at Vote Leave headquarters, Boris Johnson said: 'I want to speak directly to the millions of people who did not vote for this outcome, especially young people, who may feel that this decision involves somehow pulling up the drawbridge, because I think the very opposite is true.

'We cannot turn our backs on Europe, we are part of Europe, our children and our grandchildren will continue to have a wonderful future as Europeans.

'It is the essence of our case that young people in this country can look forward to a more secure and more prosperous future, if we take back the democratic control.'

A poll carried out for The Times at Glastonbury music festival found 78 per cent had voted before setting off, with 83 per cent of those surveyed saying they backed Remain and just 16 per cent supporting Brexit.

Remain supporters called for a second referendum despite Thursday's vote recording the highest turnout since 1992 (top tweet), but Labour MP Mike Gapes rejected the idea and said we must 'accept the result' (middle tweet). Meanwhile rival Brexit supporters were using the#EurogeddonCancelled hashtag on social media to highlight Thursday's Brexit vote had defied drastic warnings from the Remain camp of economic meltdown and international isolationism (bottom tweet)

Last night a crowd of Remain campaigners congregated outside the News Building to protest against the stance taken by Rupert Murdoch's titles on Brexit.

The Sun - the UK's biggest selling daily - came out in support of Brexit a week before the referendum.

Although News Corp's other flagship paper The Times was pro-remain, The Sunday Times also supported quitting the EU.

Around 400 people marched from Altab Ali Park in Whitechapel, arriving at the concourse between the Shard and the News Building just before 9pm.

They arrived with banners and a set of speakers shouting: 'The enemy is profit'.

Meanwhile rival Brexit supporters were using the#EurogeddonCancelled hashtag on social media to highlight Thursday's Brexit vote had defied drastic warnings from the Remain camp of economic meltdown and international isolationism.

The crushing defeat for Remain led David Cameron to announce he was resigning as Prime Minister yesterday to allow a fresh figure to lead Britain into what could be two-years of negotiations with the EU about our new relationship with Brussels.

Boris Johnson has emerged as the front-runner and is very likely to be elected as Tory leader by the party's autumn conference.

It means the former Mayor of London could be Prime Minister by the start of October.

#ScotLond: Remain supporters launch online campaign for Scotland and London to join together and stay in the EU after they both voted against Brexit

Depressed Londoners are using the hashtag #ScotLand as part of a campaign for the capital to join Nicola Sturgeon's battle for independence from the UK.

London and Scotland voted to stay in the EU yesterday but a huge revolt by Middle England and Wales led to today's Brexit.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon today said she could call a new independence referendum within months - because thirds of Scottish voters backed staying in the EU yesterday.

Alliance? Sadiq Khan has already spoken to Nicola Sturgeon, who said today a new independence referendum is likely and said Scotland and London share a 'common cause'

Supporters: Some have even created their own logo for the ScotLond movement - others have encouraged Sturgeon and Khan to 'keep talking'

During a speech today she also revealed she had already spoken to London Mayor Sadiq Khan because there is a 'is clear common cause between us'.

Her comments gave hope to some who started using the hashtag #ScotLond, which began trending on Twitter.

Lucy Pasha-Robinson tweeted: 'Do @NicolaSturgeon's discussions with @SadiqKhan mean #ScotLond is going to happen? Please? #EUref'.

Seyi Rhodes wrote: 'I'm so pleased to hear that @SadiqKhan has already spoken to @NicolaSturgeon about #ScotLondon'.

Dudley Cruse said: 'I know it's probably silly, but #ScotLond is the only thing giving me hope right now'.

@CaptainEllie tweeted: 'Half Scottish and my heart belongs to London, I'm all for #ScotLond'.

Workers in the Square Mile, the City of London, are bracing for months of pain as banks and financial institutions begin the process of considering whether to slash jobs or relocate to Europe in the wake of Brexit.

JP Morgan, HSBC and Goldman Sachs all said prior to the vote that thousands of jobs in the City of London could be moved to the continent in the event of Brexit.

All 32 local authorities in Scotland delivered a vote for Remain - Nicola Sturgeon this shows that her country was being pulled out against its will

False hope: Some comments were a light-hearted escape for Remain supporters after a devastating result for them

Sarah Phillips, partner at solicitors Irwin Mitchell, said the Brexit vote will have a 'big impact' on people working in Britain's financial services sector.

She added: 'Many banks, insurers and fund managers who have large businesses in continental Europe could consider relocating to Paris or Frankfurt and senior staff will either lose their roles or have to move to another country.

'Some global investment banks, such as JPMorgan, have said that Brexit would lead to a significant loss of jobs in the UK.'

HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver said in February that a vote to leave could see 5,000 London-based investment bankers move out of London to Paris. Jamie Dimon, head of JP Morgan, said earlier this month that up to 4,000 jobs could be hit.

Although banks have been cautious on Friday in making any brash statements regarding their future plans, experts are forecasting that large scale redundancies could be on the cards.

The Mayor of London's office has strong links with Europe, and even has offices on the continent to bring in business.

But he lacks the power to maintain links with EU and will not defy yesterday's vote.

A Labour source told MailOnline: 'What they were talking about was to push for Britain to stay in the single market going forward.

'But Sadiq has said he will respect the will of the people on this and that London will continue to be a success'.
Adil Khan, 51, (inset) and Qari Abdul Rauf, 52, (top) had been told they are to be deported from the UK for the public good after being part of a gang convicted in 2012 of a catalogue of serious sex offences against young girls. Judges Charlotte Welsh and Judge Siew Ling Yoke, a diversity and community relations judge, released their 31-page legal ruling today stating that Khan had shown a 'breathtaking lack of remorse' and in his and Rauf's case there was a 'very strong public interest in their removal.' A decade after they were jailed and following a legal battle involving multiple legal challenges and appeals up to the Court of Appeal, both have been told their challenge against deportation on human rights grounds has failed. In June, their appeal against deportation was heard before an Immigration Tribunal. Khan got a girl, 13, pregnant but denied he was the father, then met another girl, 15, and trafficked her to others - using violence when she complained. He was sentenced to eight years in 2012 and released on licence four years later. Rauf, a father-of-five, trafficked a 15-year-old girl for sex, driving her to secluded areas to have sex with her in his taxi and ferry her to a flat in Rochdale where he and others had sex with her. He was jailed for six years and released in November 2014 after serving two years and six months of his sentence. The Rochdale grooming gang's abuse was dramatised in a BBC programme called Three Girls (bottom).
Nicola Sturgeon (pictured this morning) said the Scottish Parliament could block Brexit taking effect in Scotland

The Scottish Parliament could block Brexit taking effect in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said this morning.

The First Minister said the overwhelming majority of support for remaining in the EU in Scotland meant she would ask MSPs to refuse to give their consent for cutting ties with Brussels.

As she revealed her defiant strategy for fighting the result of Thursday's historic decision to leave the EU, the Scotland Secretary David Mundell opened the door for a second referendum on Scottish independence.

He said today that a second vote on splitting from the UK would be held if there was evidence Scots wanted it.

'If people want another referendum on Indy there should be one,' he told BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme.

But he slapped down Ms Sturgeon's suggestion that the Scottish Parliament could block Brexit.

Earlier Ms Sturgeon, whose SNP holds 63 of Holyrood's 129 seats, told the same programme: 'The issue you are talking about is would there have to be a legislative consent motion or motions for the legislation that extricates the UK from the European Union?

'Looking at it from a logical perspective, I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't be that requirement - I suspect that the UK government will take a very different view on that and we'll have to see where that discussion ends up.'

The EU yesterday dealt a devastating blow to Nicola Sturgeon's new bid for independence - by ruling out any prospect of Scotland retaining its EU membership when Britain leaves.

The SNP leader yesterday said she is seeking 'immediate discussions' with Brussels to 'protect Scotland's place in the EU'.

But The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal that the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has already ruled there is no option but the whole of the UK exiting following Thursday's shock Leave vote.

Miss Sturgeon had hoped to hold a referendum during the next two years while Brexit negotiations take place - and had wanted Scotland to simply and seamlessly remain in the EU if there was a Yes vote.

But the new ruling by Brussels dashes her hopes, by confirming that an independent Scotland would have to reapply for EU membership.

Such a move could take years and come with conditions, such as having to adopt the euro and introduce border controls with England.

The official ruling confirmed that 'part' of a member state 'cannot remain in the EU if the member state itself withdraws'.

Scotland Secretary David Mundell (pictured right alongside International Development Secretary Justine Greening) opened the door for a second referendum on Scottish independence, saying today that a second vote on splitting from the UK would be held if there was evidence Scots wanted it. Nicola Sturgeon (pictured today, left) pushed ahead with plans to hold a second independence referendum after Thursday's vote

Asked at the end of last week if an independent Scotland would be able to retain membership of the EU despite the rest of the UK opting to leave, the EC told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that the rules make it clear that Brexit applies across the whole of the UK.

An EC source said: 'Article 50 is the only legal mechanism to withdraw from the union - and this article refers to 'member states'.'

The issue of a 'partial withdrawal' of a member state was also ruled out in a briefing note sent to MEPs by the European Parliamentary Research Service.

The document, seen by The Scottish Mail on Sunday, said: 'Also discussed (by commentators) is the question of whether a 'partial withdrawal' could refer to part of the territory of a member state, and therefore the member state 'as a whole' does not withdraw but part of it 'remains' in the EU.

'It should be noted, however, that the 'part of the member state' in question would not itself be a sovereign state, and that it would never have been a formal member of the EU as a sovereign state, so it could be argued that it cannot therefore 'remain' in the EU if the member state itself withdraws.'

STURGEON ADMITS SHE HASN'T SPOKEN TO BRUSSELS Nicola Sturgeon today admitted that she has not yet contacted any Brussels officials to discuss how to safeguard Scotland's membership of the EU. The First Minister also insisted that despite the revelations made by The Scottish Mail on Sunday, there are 'no rules' which would stop Scotland remaining an EU member. Asked by Andrew Marr if she had begun negotiations with EU officials, Miss Sturgeon said: 'I will be speaking to people in Brussels over the next few days, I haven't yet done that.' She also denied that it was impossible for Scotland to stay in EU while the UK leaves, as revealed by The Scottish Mail on Sunday. 'There are no rules, there is no precedent - so my job is to get in there and seek to negotiate what is in the best interests of Scotland,' Miss Sturgeon said. The First Minister refused to discuss whether or not an independent Scotland would have to adopt the euro, saying: 'On the currency, on any other issue, I am not saying that there are not questions and challenges that Scotland would have to face up to.' Miss Sturgeon was speaking after two polls suggested that a majority of Scottish voters would now support splitting up the UK in the wake of the EU referendum result. One survey in the Sunday Post said that 59 per cent of Scots backed independence, while a Sunday Times poll found 52 per cent in favour. Advertisement

It is a devastating blow for Miss Sturgeon, who wanted to capitalise on the massive pro-Remain vote to help boost her primary cause of ending Scotland's place in the 309-year-old Union.

Only hours after it was confirmed on Friday that Britain had voted to exit the EU, Miss Sturgeon said it was a 'democratic outrage' that Scotland - where 62 per cent of voters backed Remain - would be taken out of the EU against its will.

Yesterday, she announced that the Scottish Government would begin 'immediate discussions' with Brussels about retaining Scotland's EU membership.

She also confirmed that her Cabinet, which met on a Saturday for the first time in order to discuss the Brexit vote, had approved her plan to begin drawing up legislation for a rerun of the 2014 independence referendum.

It means a second referendum is likely to be one of the key Bills in her 'programme for government' for the next year, which will be unveiled after the summer recess.

She is due in London today to try to start talks  and is expected to use consent for Brexit as a bargaining chip for Westminster to rubber stamp another Scottish independence referendum.

Miss Sturgeon told ITVs Peston On Sunday programme that if MSPs voted for another independence referendum to protect our interests  frankly it is inconceivable that a Westminster government, who have thrust this situation upon us, would seek to block that  I would seriously caution any prime minister, present or future, against doing that.

Not all Scots voted to remain in the EU, however. Some two out of five voted for leaving, including 36 per cent of SNP supporters.

And Miss Sturgeon is expected not to risk another independence referendum until the polls consistently show 60 per cent in support of quitting the UK.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times in Scotland showed that when the dont knows are excluded, 52 per cent of those likely to vote would back Scottish independence and 48 per cent would want to stay.

An online poll by ScotPulse for the Sunday Post put support for independence higher, with 59 per cent voting Yes and 32 per cent backing No. Miss Sturgeon has demanded immediate talks with the EU to try and secure Scotlands place in the bloc.

But the European Commission gave a ruling suggesting part of a member state cannot remain in the EU if the member state itself withdraws.

Last night, justice minister Dominic Raab said the sensible thing for Scotland would be to wait and see what post-Brexit deal the EU offers Britain.

After the Brexit vote, the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she was seeking 'immediate discussions' with Brussels to 'protect Scotland's place in the EU'

But The Mail on Sunday can reveal that civil servants in Brussels have already ruled that the whole of the UK must exit the EU following Thursday's shock vote. Sturgeon is pictured at Bute House, Edinburgh

Miss Sturgeon announced an advisory panel will be set up to advise her on legal, financial and diplomatic matters relating to Scotland retaining EU membership.

But its first task will now be to assess if there is any way to get around the EC's resistance to allowing a part of the UK to stay.

Miss Sturgeon said: 'In the last hours, the Scottish Cabinet has met.

'We have had a very full discussion about the result of the EU referendum, its implications for Scotland and steps we need to take in the days, weeks and months that lie ahead to protect Scotland's interests.

THE ROAD TO A SECOND SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM: WHAT MUST STURGEON DO? To stage a second referendum on Scottish independence Nicola Sturgeon (pictured) must secure agreement from the Westminster Government To stage a second vote on Scottish independence Nicola Sturgeon would have to secure agreement from the Westminster Government. This is because legislating for a referendum is a reserved power - not devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Without agreement from the UK Government, any vote held on Scottish independence would have no legal effect on the Union. The Scottish Government could decide to hold an 'advisory referendum on extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament' but the result could not be enforced. Lacking a majority, the SNP would need Green support to get a referendum through. But Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, said a second vote would not be in Scotland's best interests. If Mrs Sturgeon went ahead with an 'advisory' vote, she could use the results as proof of the overwhelming desire for independence and demand the UK Government grant her the right to hold a legally-binding second vote on Scottish independence. In reality, despite Alex Salmond insisting the 2014 was a 'once in a lifetime' vote, Scottish voters will almost certainly be given another chance very soon in their lifetimes. The fact that all 32 authorities voted in favour of remaining in the EU means Scotland is being taken out of the EU against its will. This 'constitutional crisis' - as many have called it - is not going to go away anytime soon. Advertisement

'Cabinet expressed its pride in the vote in Scotland, the emphatic vote in Scotland, to remain in the EU. But Cabinet also shared deep disappointment in the UK-wide result, which is clearly felt by the majority of people across this country.

'As I said yesterday, a second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table and is very much on the table. To ensure that option is a deliverable one within the required timetable, steps will be taken now to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place. Cabinet this morning formally agreed that work.'

Miss Sturgeon said she will now begin preparing legislation for an independence referendum to take place during the two-year period in which the UK negotiates its exit from the EU, which is expected to begin in around three months.

But the response from Brussels reveals that an independent Scotland would not be allowed automatically to retain its membership. It means a separate Scotland would have to negotiate its entry into the EU as a new member state.

It is believed the Scottish Government had suggested it could retain membership via a 'reverse Greenland option'. In 1982, Greenland voted to leave the EU even though its residents are Danish citizens - and Denmark remains an EU member.

But one Brussels source said: 'They are talking about a reverse Greenland, but the rule is that you cannot have a part of a territory apply for membership.'

Another said: 'The atmosphere here right now is, 'F*** the British'. They are angry and they will never be willing to let the SNP in on the same terms as the UK had. They would extract a price from an independent Scotland for membership.'

A spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said: 'I'm aware of what Article 50 says - this is why the First Minister has taken the steps she has to explore all possible avenues to protect Scotland's EU membership status.

'We are in uncharted territory, which is why the First Minister has taken the opportunity to seek all potential avenues, routes and mechanisms to try to protect Scotland's EU future.

'Exactly what that involves remains to be seen. We will explore every avenue.

'We are trying to get a fix and come to a solution on a situation which is not of our making.'

Scottish Tory MEP Ian Duncan said: 'The prospect of a partial withdrawal is unlikely to gain traction. The two regions which would most likely seek it would be Scotland and London. It is difficult to see how the EU could accommodate this request.

'It is too soon to judge the mood of the EU institutions. The next few months will be about disentangling the whole of the UK from the EU.'

Last night, the Scottish Government said its charm offensive with EU institutions will begin when Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing meets EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan at the AGRIFISH Council in Luxembourg tomorrow.

SALMOND SAYS SCOTLAND WILL DEFINITELY LEAVE THE UK POST-BREXIT Alex Salmond, centre, said he believed independence was now inevitable Alex Salmond has insisted the Brexit vote means Scotland will definitely become independent. The former First Minister and SNP leader made the claim as he appeared in a special post-referendum edition of the BBC's Question Time. Asked whether he thought the decision to leave the EU would end up with the union splitting, Mr Salmond replied: 'Yes. We cannot have a country taken out of Europe against the express wishes of the majority of the Scottish people.' Business minister Anna Soubry and Labour frontbencher Diane Abbott dismissed calls for the national ballot to be re-run. Mrs Abbott also risked inflaming Labour tensions over Jeremy Corbyn's lacklustre performance in the referendum battle by insisting there were 'good progressive reasons' to come out of the EU. Advertisement

Gibraltar will be harder to protect outside the EU, admits foreign secretary Philip Hammond

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (pictured on ITV's Peston on Sunday show this morning) warned that Britain will find it harder to protect Gibraltar's interests outside of the EU

Gibraltar will be harder to protect when Britain officially leaves the European Union, foreign secretary Philip Hammond said today.

The enclave took part in Thursday's EU referendum as a British overseas territory within the EU, and delivered the most emphatic support of any area for continued membership, with 19,322 votes for Remain against just 823 for Leave.

A Spanish government call for 'co-sovereignty' in the wake of the dramatic result was firmly rejected by First Minister Fabian Picardo, who said: 'Gibraltar will never be Spanish, in whole, in part or at all.'

The Foreign Office has stated that the UK will 'continue to stand beside Gibraltar' and will never enter into sovereignty negotiations against the wishes of its people.

But Mr Hammond told ITV1's Peston on Sunday: 'We will be less able to protect Gibraltar's interests - not defend Gibraltar's territory, of course we can do that, but to protect Gibraltar's interests - if we are not inside the European Union.

'Gibraltar depends on thousands and thousands of Spanish workers crossing that border every day and any disruption to that flow will be extremely damaging to the Gibraltar economy and I think we saw that reflected in the huge vote to remain in Gibraltar.'

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht. But over past decades, Spain has made various noises about taking it back, including a 2013 dispute which saw frontier checks reintroduced - causing long delays to cross-border traffic - in a row over an artificial reef.

A referendum on joint sovereignty in 2002 saw 98.48 per cent of citizens of the territory back remaining British.

In the immediate aftermath of the referendum result Europe minister David Liddington sought to reassure residents in the Rock by saying Britain will maintain its double-lock sovereignty commitment to Gibraltar.

In a message on Friday he said: 'I want to be absolutely clear. The United Kingdom will continue to stand beside Gibraltar.'

Spain has demanded shared sovereignty over Gibraltar (pictured) where more than 95 per cent voted to remain in the EU

Acting Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo (pictured) said he hoped 'co-sovereignty' of Gibraltar and 'the Spanish flag on the Rock' were much closer to happening in the wake of the vote

'We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against your wishes.

'Furthermore, the UK will not enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.'

Minutes after the EU referendum result was declared in the early hours of Friday morning Spain demanded shared sovereignty over Gibraltar.

The British Overseas Territory, at the entrance to the Mediterranean, relies heavily on its open border with Spain for trade.

But acting Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said he hoped 'co-sovereignty' of Gibraltar and 'the Spanish flag on the Rock' were much closer to happening in the wake of the vote.

'We have been working hard on Brexit scenarios', said the Foreign Secretary, explaining that 'the instant the treaties stop applying, Gibraltar becomes a third country'.

That would lead to discussions on co-sovereignty, he said, which would be bilateral with the UK, not involving the European Union.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, who shared a platform with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in May in support of the Remain campaign, had earlier tweeted: 'We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm and for rational thinking. Together and united we will continue to prosper.'

Julie Girling, the South West England and Gibraltar Conservative MEP - who also backed Remain, said; 'I am deeply sorry that the people of the UK have chosen this leap in the dark. I believe future generations will question our wisdom.

'The EU has many faults, of course, but I remain convinced that we would be safer, stronger and better off by remaining a member.'

Worry and sadness have overwhelmed the minds and the hearts of Gibraltarians in the wake of the uncertainty produced on Gibraltar's future by the result of the EU referendum.

There is a common factor in their reactions: the management of the flow of people crossing the border to enter into Gibraltar from the Spanish side everyday, mainly commuters and tourists, as well as the general political stance of Spain regarding Gibraltar after the Spanish general elections next Sunday.

Vijay Vatvani, a Gibraltarian businessman, said: 'It's a little bit disappointing for Gibraltar since most of us wanted to remain within Europe because is better for us, it's safer, it means an easier passage into Spain, specially, and now we don't know what documents may be required to cross the border.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo (pictured) had earlier tweeted: 'We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm and for rational thinking'

'We're still in Europe, obviously, but we don't know how much human rights since we aren't in the EC are going to be respected there.

'I don't feel angry, I understand the British position totally, I understand a lot of money have been put into the system which a lot of English residents in England didn't agree with, so I understand their position but from my point as Gibraltarian I'm very disappointed.'

Shopowner Joseph Bautista added: 'For Gibraltar is a difficult situation; we thought that Britain would remain in Europe but unfortunately it has not happened.

'Spain can creates problems to Gibraltar's future. We legally will be in Europe but the situation will change to the worst.

'I'm concerned, I'm sure everybody in Gibraltar is the same. We have to wait and see haw things develop.

Even if Britain tries very hard to protect Gibraltar there are certain circumstances which make it more difficult because now, we are out of Europe, we don't know what's going to happen.'

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht. But over past decades Spain has made various noises about taking it back, including a 2013 dispute which saw border checks reintroduced - causing long delays - in a row over an artificial reef.

A referendum on joint sovereignty in 2002 saw 98.48 per cent of citizens of the territory back remaining British.

The Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce had also backed the Remain campaign, calling Brexit 'a leap in the dark'.

In a letter to members on Tuesday, the chamber's board said the open border with Spain had helped the territory's financial services industry develop.

It added: 'Each weekday half of Gibraltar's workforce crosses the border to get to work. Of the 12,000 people who cross the frontier, around 7,000 are Spanish and the remaining 5,000 are other Europeans. Without this open frontier many businesses in Gibraltar would not have a workforce.'

In May Mr Picardo told a news conference that Brexit supporters should reflect on the fact that a leave vote would see joint sovereignty 'back on the table'.
They shared 1,800 text messages and phone calls in just three months

The father-of-two also 'threw a lamp at her head and caused it to shatter'

Vang caused a 'traumatic brain injury' when he 'punched her in the head'

But prosecutors say the

A father-of-two has been charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend after prosecutors claimed his constant abuse led to her suicide.

Long Vang, 34, has been accused of 'harassing and stalking' Jessica Damian Haban, 28, to such an extent that she killed herself.

The couple from Stewartville, Minnesota, were said to have been in a turbulent relationship for 11 years.

It included long periods of alleged violence and mental turmoil that police believe led to Haban's death on December 17, 2015.

Father-of-two Long Vang, 34, (mugshot left) as been charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend Jessica Damian Haban (right) after prosecutors claimed his constant abuse led to her suicide

They shared almost 2,000 phone calls and text messages within three months after he was banned from getting in touch with her.

Vang is believed to have sent most of them.

He even threatened to take custody of their two children, Tias and Liliana, if she carried on mental health treatment.

The pair were 'culturally married' in 2010, according to her obituary. Her family members also wrote: 'She loved to dance and was the Zumba queen of fitness.

'She had such an eccentric and loving personality; her smile could light up a room.

'She really made an impact on many people's lives and was known for her caring heart, long conversations and putting others in front of her own personal needs.

'She was a beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother and genuine friend. We all love and miss her so much!'

Sgt. Kirby Long of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office told the Post Bulletin that Haban 'was subject to increasing levels of domestic abuse: physical, emotional and mental,' including a traumatic brain injury about six months before she died.

Vang reportedly poured vegetable oil 'all over' Haban because she 'had bad in her' and he was angry that she had a nightmare.

When Haban tried to take a shower, Vang kicked in the shower door, knocked it down and injured his partner.

The couple from Stewartville, Minnesota, were said to have been in a turbulent relationship for 11 years, but had two children (both pictured). It included long periods of alleged violence and mental turmoil that police believe led to Haban's death on December 17, 2015

Vang allegedly grabbed her by the hair when she tried to get out and threw her against a wall.

Prosecutors then say he threw her headfirst into a washing machine. In hospital, Haban told medical staff she fell.

A relative also told police about Vang supposedly throwing a lamp at Haban's head during her pregnancy, causing the lamp to shatter on her.

On May 11, 2015, Haban called 911 to report Vang was throwing things at her, according to the criminal complaint.

A deputy found Vang hiding behind a vehicle near the garage. Haban allegedly told officers he'd overturned a coffee table, then used it to restrain her on a couch.

When she tried to call police, Vang broke the phone.

Less than two weeks later, the couple was at a home in Austin when Vang punched her in the head.

Haban lost consciousness and woke up the next day with a headache, feeling sick to her stomach.

Vang subjected Haban (pictured) to almost 2,000 phone calls and text messages within three months after he was banned from getting in touch with her.

The couple's son told an adult at the home that day that his mother was being assaulted.

Prosecutors say that witnesses found Vang holding a knife to Haban's throat, but eventually convinced him to put it down.

A few days later after she was hit, Haban sought medical treatment. Doctors diagnosed with a probable traumatic brain injury.

In August 2015, a domestic abuse-no contact order was issued against Vang, the Post Bulletin reported.

But in November, a witness reported to law enforcement that Vang was contacting Haban. They told police they feared he would kill her.

Haban admitted to officers that Vang had been calling and texting her nearly daily

She told an officer that the abuse had taken a 'significant mental toll', court documents say.

During a meeting with a social worker December 7, Haban said she was scared and didn't know what to do.

Haban received in-patient mental health treatment in the months prior to her death; the social worker learned Vang had been 'pressuring (Haban) to leave treatment and go back to work'.

Prosecutors also said he threatened that she would lose custody of her children if she stayed in the facility.

On December 10, 2015, Haban called the social worker and asked to leave treatment. She was discharged three days later.

On December 16, she was found dead at her home.

A forensic analysis of Haban's phone revealed nearly 1,800 phone calls and messages between Vang and Haban in the three months before her death.

Vang has been charged with third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and stalking.

He is currently behind bars at the Olmstead County Jail and has not yet entered a plea.

The Olmstead County Court released a statement saying: 'Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem announced today that charges have been filed against Long Vang related to the death of his partner.

'The couple was together for nearly 11 years. During that time Mr. Vang subjected his partner to ever-increasing levels of domestic abuse.

'The abuse was verbal, emotional, mental, and physical. In May 2015, Mr. Vangs physical abuse resulted in a traumatic brain injury to his partner. Ultimately his partner took her own life to escape the relationship.

'The Olmsted County Attorneys Office is filing Third Degree Murder and Second Degree Manslaughter charges along with a Pattern of Harassing Conduct charge.'
Half a million European migrants will enter Britain before the country leaves the EU and can abandon the free movement policy, claims a former immigration minister.

The abrupt warning comes from Phil Woolas who was in charge of immigration under Gordon Brown's Labour government in 2008-10.

He said that in his experience whenever an immigration cap is announced thousands rush into the country before the deadline.

Phil Woolas, who was in charge of immigration under Gordon Brown's Labour government in 2008-10, issued the stark warning about immigration

'In the Home Office, they call it the fire sale - it's a simple idea but a very real consequence of immigration clampdowns,' Mr Woolas said (stock image)

'Would-be immigrants see that the door is about to slam so they bring forward their plans and a last-minute rush heads for the UK,' he told the Sunday People.

'In the Home Office, they call it the fire sale - it's a simple idea but a very real consequence of immigration clampdowns.'

Mr Woolas, a former Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said the issue came up in 2008 when the government wanted to tighten non-EU immigration by strengthening the points-based system.

'I announced in parliament that the numbers of non-EU unskilled workers would be restricted. What happened was that more Non-EU skilled workers applied for visas that we'd ever known. The same will happen now,' he said.

Mr Woolas' remarks coincide with reports that migrants are forcing cars to stop or crash to make lorries heading to Calais slow down so they can clamber aboard and make a break for Britain.

Holidaymakers Colin and Gillian McKee from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, told how their caravan was ambushed when they were forced to halt by branches on an unlit road near Calais.

Mr Woolas' remarks coincide with reports that migrants are forcing cars to stop or crash to make lorries heading to Calais stop. Pictured: 'The Jungle' camp at Calais

Fifteen migrants with 4ft batons started banging on their windscreen leaving the couple terrified.

'As they approached I decided to try to get through the trees and drove through the migrants as they smashed batons onto my car and battered the windscreen,' Mr McKee told the Sunday Times.

The migrants were soon distracted by a larger lorry but when the driver started sounding his horn they panicked and let the caravan through by moving the branches.

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan (pictured) has rowed back on comments that Brexit would lead to less immigration

A French police source said the number of roadblocks and late-night attacks have risen sharply.

Mr Woolas' warning also comes after Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said that the leave vote would not end freedom of movement - because the UK would have to agree to it to gain access to the single market.

His remarks, to irate presenter Evan Davis on the BBCs Newsnight, came as the realities of Brexit faced increasing scrutiny  with Nigel Farage distancing himself from the claim that the 350 million a week Britain sends to Brussels could be reinvested in the NHS.

On Newsnight, Mr Hannan advocated a Norway-style relationship with the EU, which allows it continued access to the single market on condition that Norway allows free movement.

Mr Davis shot back: Weve just been through three months of agony on the issue of immigration. The public have been led to believe that what they have voted for is an end to free movement.
Child recovery agent, Adam Whittington, is in a Lebanese prison after being involved in a botched kidnapping staged by Network Nine's 60 minutes

Child recovery agent, Adam Whittington, has accused the Australian Liberal Government of ignoring him and his family and has urged people to think twice before voting on July 2.

Mr Whittington is in a Lebanese prison after he was involved with Channel Nines 60 Minutes attempt to return Sally Faulkners children to Australia in a botched kidnapping in April.

A letter written by the former Australian soldier was posted onto Facebook and slammed Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, adding that he was embarrassed to be called an Australian.

In his letter, Mr Whittington said: Experiencing first-hand the lies and political double standards the current Federal government has shown me, I urge people to think twice before voting on the 2nd of July for the current government.

Not once during my detention has Julie bishop attempted to contact my family and Julie bishop has continued to ignore my familys desperate pleas to contact her.

Scroll down for video

A letter (pictured) written by the former Australian soldier was posted onto Facebook and slammed Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, adding that he was embarrassed to be called an Australian

You clearly need to revisit the values of how to be an Australian, which makes us such proud people, because you missed the lesson on never leaving a fellow Aussie behind.

Mr Whittington went on to accuse Ms Bishop of leaving him behind while working to free Nine Network's four-member 60 Minutes crew, including reporter Tara Brown.

He wrote: 'You blatantly neglected me and then threw me under your bus after C9's bus.

A statement from the office read: The foreign minister has been in direct contact with Mr Whittington's wife, both by phone and email.

Ms Bishop is making, and has already made, representations to her Lebanese counterpart about Mr Whittington's case, they added.

Writing from inside the Lebanese prison in Beirut Mr Whittington (pictured), has accused the Australian Liberal Government of ignoring him and his family and has urged people to think twice before voting on July 2

The letter also thanked Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tanya Plibersek, for their help during this time.

Mr Whittington's child recovery agency was hired by the network to snatch the two young children of Brisbane mum Sally Faulkner from a Beirut street in April.

Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew were arrested along with Mr Whittington and three other men in the hours after the children were taken.

But while Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes team were released after Nine reportedly paid $500,000 to the children's Lebanese father, Mr Whittington and his three colleagues remain behind bars.

The former Australian soldier was rejected bail after the father of the snatched children, Ali Elamine (pictured with his children), refused to drop charges against him and three of his associates

Mr Whittington is in a Lebanese prison after he was involved with Channel Nines 60 Minutes attempt to return Brisbane mother Sally Faulkners (pictured) children to Australia in a botched kidnapping in April

Documents show Nine paid Mr Whittington $70,000 for the failed operation.

A Facebook page in support of Mr Whittington currently has over 4,000 followers and posted a comment in response to Mr Whittingtons letter urging followers to press the issue across social media.

It read: I need all your back up on Twitter to make this happen as we are in a critical stage at the moment.

As you already know Australia is very close to their Election Day and now is the time to get their attention on social media.

Lets smash that Twitter feed #bringskippyhome.
One of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses has been arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, it has emerged.

Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, was captured in the early hours of the morning in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.

Fazzalari was one of the country's most wanted 'Ndrangheta fugitives along with 'superboss' Matteo Messina Denaro.

Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, has been arrested today after two decades on the run, fleeing a life sentence for murder, it has emerged

Fazzalari was captured in the early hours of the morning in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate (file picture of Calabria)

On the run since 1996, he was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova.

His arrest was hailed by the government as a significant victory for the state in its battle against what is now considered Italy's most powerful mafia group.

'Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia,' Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described Fazzalari as 'one of the most important fugitives and a leading underworld figure.'

He added: 'This shows that you cannot run from justice. These are the kind of victories that encourage and support us in the difficult but winnable fight against organised crime.'

Notoriously ruthless, the 'Ndrangheta has surpassed Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.

That trade is worth billions and previous police operations have indicated that the 'Ndrangheta has well-established links with Colombian producer cartels, Mexican crime gangs and mafia families in New York and other parts of North America.

The organisation is made up of numerous village and family-based clans based in Calabria, the rural, mountainous and under-developed 'toe' of Italy's boot.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote in a tweet: 'Thank you to the judges and the forces of order. Viva l'Italia'

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation's secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate.

A series of arrests in late 2014 and early 2015 confirmed that the organisation had expanded its Italian operations outside Calabria by buying up dozens of legitimate business across the wealthier north of the country, largely to launder cocaine profits.

Those arrests also providing an unprecedented glimpse into the group's shadowy culture with police secretly filming a quasi-religious initiation ceremony in which new 'wise brothers' swear an 'oath of poison' in which they vow to kill themselves rather than betray a fellow clan member.

There are dozens of 'NDrangheta fugitives still at large despite regular arrests in Italy and around the world.

One alleged don, Rocco Zito, 87, was shot dead in Canada in January, Switzerland arrested 15 convicted 'Ndrangheta fugitives in March and last month the owner of a popular pizzeria in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen was unmasked as convicted Calabrian drugs smuggler Rocco Gasperini, 73.

Two mobsters who stayed in their homeland were arrested in January 'living like animals' in a Calabrian mountain bunker with a cache of sub-machine guns, rifles and pistols.

Giuseppe Ferraro and Giuseppe Crea were hiding from gangster enemies as well as the authorities.
The husband of a Texas woman who fatally shot her two daughters in a quiet suburb outside Houston before she was killed by a police officer had begged her not to kill them, saying: Dont do this. Theyre our kids.

Christy Sheats, 42, shot her daughters Madison, 17, and Taylor Sheats, 22, after a family dispute spilled out of their home and onto the street in Fulshear on Friday evening.

Neighbors said Jason Sheats, 45, had watched in horror as his wife shot their children on his birthday.

Scroll down for video

Jason Sheats (pictured right) had pleaded with his wife Christy (left) not to shoot their daughters

The 42-year-old shot her daughters Madison (left) and Taylor Sheats (right) after a family dispute

Jason escaped unscathed, but he was taken to hospital due to his distress.

A police officer heard him pleading with his wife before she was shot dead, neighbour Fazz Zainuddin told Click2Houston.

[The officer] heard the dad say, "Dont do this. Theyre our kids",' Zainuddin said.

Officers had responded to a 911 call around 5pm on Friday. They arrived to find the two daughters lying outside the home in the 6000 block of Remson Hollow Lane.

The mother, who is originally from Decatur, Alabama, was killed by a responding police officer after she refused to drop her pistol, authorities said.

Sheriff Troy Nehls says the shooting was apparently after a family argument, but the reason for the dispute remains unclear.

Nehls says the two younger women had already been shot when a Fulshear police officer arrived and saw the mother with a gun in her hand, apparently preparing to shoot one of her daughters again.

The officer shot and killed her.

Jason Sheats (center) escaped unscathed but was taken to hospital because he was distraught

Christy Sheats (pictured) was killed by a responding police officer after she refused to drop her pistol

The cops were behind the trees and behind the cars, and they told the mom to put the gun down and obviously she did not, Zainuddin said.

He said Christy had walked towards her daughter Madisons body still holding the pistol.

I guess the cop was afraid he was going to shoot her again, he added.

Authorities have been called to the home multiple times in the past, but it remains unclear why.

One witness said he saw Jason and his daughters running out of their home, ABC13 reports.

The girls were already wounded, the witness told the station, and Taylor then collapsed in the street.

The witness added that he saw the mother come outside with her gun, before going back inside to reload her weapon.

When she returned, she shot Madison in the back, he said.

Madison (right) worked as a babysitter, while Taylor (left) was a student at Lone Star College

Madison was pronounced dead at the scene, while Taylor was airlifted to a hospital in a critical condition, where she later died.

Christy and Jason Sheats had recently reunited after being separated, another neighbor told ABC13. She said the shooting on Friday was on Jasons birthday.

Meanwhile, other neighbors in Fulshear expressed shock when they heard of the shooting.

The mother was nice, one said. You wouldnt expect if they told you this is what was going to happen.

Austin Enke, who went to high school with one of the girls, said he thought he heard fireworks at first.

'It's crazy. The neighborhood has never seen this kind of thing before. It's always quiet, he told KHOU.

This is surprising. They never showed any kind of thing that was wrong with them whatsoever,'

Christy, a business manager at a laser tattoo removal clinic, posted a photo of her two daughters on Facebook in September last year.

Christy (right with Madison left) refused to drop her pistol when authorities arrived on the scene, and a Fulshear police officer was forced to shoot her

She wrote: 'Happy Daughter's Day to my two amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls. I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know.'

It emerged that she was also an outspoken gun rights advocate.

'It would be horribly tragic if my ability to protect myself or my family were to be taken away, but that's exactly what Democrats are determined to do by banning semi-automatic handguns,' she wrote on Facebook in March.

Tributes poured in for Taylor, who went to Lone Star College, and Madison, a student at Seven Lakes High School, on Facebook on Saturday.

Taylors friend Joanna Higgins wrote on their high school alumni page: 'I'm in utter shock. She was so talented and had a heart of gold. God rest her soul and those mourning her loss.'

Madison's former teacher Whitney Mae Bruce wrote: 'My heart is broken this morning to find that my sweet Madison Sheats lost her life.

Always positive and smiling, Madison quickly became one of my favorite students four years ago while teaching for the first time in Katy.

'A wonderful student/person/babysitter will be missed enormously. Please pray for her father.'

Police arrived to find the two daughters lying outside the home in the 6000 block of Remson Hollow Lane




The Australian Federal Police have said they believe one of Australia's most senior terrorists, Neil Prakash, is still alive and is reaching out to fellow jihads.

In April, the government announced Mr Prakash, who is originally from Melbourne, had been killed by a US missile while hiding in an Islamic stronghold in Mosul, reported the Herald Sun.

But senior officials reportedly now believe that Mr Prakash is still alive and seeking extremists.

The Australian Federal Police have said they believe Australian terrorist Neil Prakash is still alive and is reaching out to fellow jihads

Mr Prakash was previously reported to have been killed by a US missile while hiding in an Islamic stronghold in Mosul in April this year

Intelligence reportedly suggests Mr Prakash has been in contact with sympathisers in the United Kingdom.

The AFP have issued a warrant for Mr Prakash's arrest on foreign incursion offences and being a member of a terrorist group, with the US and UK also believed to be seeking to extradite Mr Prakash.

Federal police believe Mr Prakash went to Syria via Malaysia in 2013, arriving in the city of Al Raqqa and later travelling between Mosul and Raqqa as part of a group of privileged foreign fighters.

Federal police believe Mr Prakash went to Syria via Malaysia in 2013, arriving in the city of Al Raqqa and later travelling between Mosul and Raqqa as part of a group of privileged foreign fighters

Operation Berdavan has tried to track his movements since he appeared in Islamic State propaganda videos in 2014 but it is not known if he remains in Iraq or has attempted to cross borders.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General George Brandis would not confirm if the minister had been updated about Mr Prakashs status.

She maintained the advice received from the US Government was that he was killed in an air strike.

'The Australian Governments capacity to confirm reports of deaths in either Syria or Iraq is extremely limited. We estimate between 54 and 61 Australians have been killed in the conflict,' she said.

'The last few months have seen several successful air strikes and ground operations.'

She also said the coalition was making strong inroads into ISIL's territory and finances, most recently Iraqi security forces progress in retaking Fallujah.
Citing the need to address the threat from Islamic State and conflicts from Libya to Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the United States, European Union and Britain must cooperate closely despite Britain's decision to leave the EU.

'There is a continuing criticality to this relationship, and one of the things that I want to emphasize in coming here today to Europe is how important the relationship of Europe, the EU, is to the United States and to the world,' Kerry said in remarks with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The comments by Kerry, who is due to visit Brussels and London on Monday, appear to underscore concerns that the political upheaval in Europe could complicate U.S. President Barack Obama's priority goal of managing an international coalition to defeat armed Islamic militants.

Secretary of State John Kerry spoke alongside Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni today in Rome, remarking on why the U.S. and the European Union must remain close

John Kerry, flanked by Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, will head to Brussels and London tomorrow - stops he added to his trip after the Brexit vote

At the same time, Kerry said he and Obama are 'absolutely convinced that we will be able to work through this in a sensible, thoughtful way that takes the best strengths of the EU, the best strengths of the marketplace, the best interests of our national security and international security, and works to keep them moving in the right direction for our countries.'

'I have no doubt about our ability to be able to do that,' he said.

Kerry, who was previously scheduled to be in Rome to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, added stops in Brussels and London after the outcome of the Brexit vote.

He will meet European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Brussels and British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond in London on Monday to assure them of continued U.S. engagement, a senior State Department official said.

Kerry reiterated that the United States will maintain 'a very close and special relationship with Great Britain.'

U.S. President Barack Obama had urged voters in Britain  long seen as Washington's closest European ally  not to approve Brexit.
The miners were ambushed by a group of

A group of miners, including three Australians and a New Zealander, have been released four days after they were kidnapped at gunpoint by armed militants in Nigeria.

Australians Peter Zoutenbier, Jack Couranz and Mark Gabbedy, along with New Zealander Jamal Khan were driving on the outskirts of the city of Calabar when their convoy was attacked by gunmen at about 5.30am on Wednesday.

The men, who work for Perth-based mining company Macmahon Holdings were among seven men released by kidnappers on Sunday night, the company said in a statement.

'Five of the men have been injured, two of them seriously, and all are currently receiving attention from a team of medical specialists,' the statement read.

Scroll down for video

Jack Couranz (left) and Peter Zoutenbier (right) have been released four days after they were kidnapped

The workers were being escorted by a security truck with four armed policemen whey they were ambushed, with the group of militants instantly shooting driver Matthew Odok dead.

The kidnappers fled with the hostages in a waiting boat hidden under the nearby Idundu Bridge, however former Australian army reserve soldier Tim Croot managed to escape at first light.

It is understood Jack Couranz is a reliability engineer, Mark Gabbedy is a project manager, Tim Croot is a heavy diesel mechanic and Peter Zoutenbier is a senior maintenance planner.

Macmahon Holdings said it has made arrangements to have the men returned to their families once doctors clear them to travel.

CEO Sy van Dyk commended the men for their courage during the traumatic ordeal.

'Our men have been through a traumatic experience, and we have mobilised medical and other support teams in Nigeria to provide immediate support,' he said on Sunday night.

One of the cars believed to be involved in the ambush on Wednesday outside the city of Calabar in the Akpabuyo district

Australian Mark Gabbedy (left) was kidnapped along with Tim Croot (right) who managed to escape with a Nigerian driver at first light

'I also thank the men's families for working so closely with the company during what has been an extremely difficult time for them as well. They too have endured an incredibly stressful experience,' he said.

He said that while everyone was glad to welcome the men back, staff were still mourning the death of the driver killed in the initial attack.

'We are deeply saddened by the loss of the local driver Matthew Odok, who was fatally injured during the initial incident.'

Mr Croot, 24, from Perth, phoned his parents on Wednesday night after his brazen escape to tell them not to worry and that he was okay, The Australian reported.

They were attacked on the outskirts of the city of Calabar at around 5.30am local time on Wednesday

It is believed the group was on their way to work when they were ambushed near a bridge crossing.

A witness told Vanguard: 'One of the expatriates hid under the vehicle and they didn't see him because it was still a bit dark,' the unnamed witness said.

'They also took one of the drivers ... then one supervisor and three white guys and it was like they had a boat by the beach already waiting for them.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs for comment.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (pictured on ITV's Peston on Sunday show this morning) warned that Britain will find it harder to protect Gibraltar's interests outside of the EU

Gibraltar will be harder to protect when Britain officially leaves the European Union, foreign secretary Philip Hammond said today.

The enclave took part in Thursday's EU referendum as a British overseas territory within the EU, and delivered the most emphatic support of any area for continued membership, with 19,322 votes for Remain against just 823 for Leave.

A Spanish government call for 'co-sovereignty' in the wake of the dramatic result was firmly rejected by First Minister Fabian Picardo, who said: 'Gibraltar will never be Spanish, in whole, in part or at all.'

The Foreign Office has stated that the UK will 'continue to stand beside Gibraltar' and will never enter into sovereignty negotiations against the wishes of its people.

But Mr Hammond told ITV1's Peston on Sunday: 'We will be less able to protect Gibraltar's interests - not defend Gibraltar's territory, of course we can do that, but to protect Gibraltar's interests - if we are not inside the European Union.

'Gibraltar depends on thousands and thousands of Spanish workers crossing that border every day and any disruption to that flow will be extremely damaging to the Gibraltar economy and I think we saw that reflected in the huge vote to remain in Gibraltar.'

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht. But over past decades, Spain has made various noises about taking it back, including a 2013 dispute which saw frontier checks reintroduced - causing long delays to cross-border traffic - in a row over an artificial reef.

A referendum on joint sovereignty in 2002 saw 98.48 per cent of citizens of the territory back remaining British.

In the immediate aftermath of the referendum result Europe minister David Liddington sought to reassure residents in the Rock by saying Britain will maintain its double-lock sovereignty commitment to Gibraltar.

In a message on Friday he said: 'I want to be absolutely clear. The United Kingdom will continue to stand beside Gibraltar.'

Spain has demanded shared sovereignty over Gibraltar (pictured) where more than 95 per cent voted to remain in the EU

Acting Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo (pictured) said he hoped 'co-sovereignty' of Gibraltar and 'the Spanish flag on the Rock' were much closer to happening in the wake of the vote

'We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against your wishes.

'Furthermore, the UK will not enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.'

Minutes after the EU referendum result was declared in the early hours of Friday morning Spain demanded shared sovereignty over Gibraltar.

The British Overseas Territory, at the entrance to the Mediterranean, relies heavily on its open border with Spain for trade.

But acting Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said he hoped 'co-sovereignty' of Gibraltar and 'the Spanish flag on the Rock' were much closer to happening in the wake of the vote.

'We have been working hard on Brexit scenarios', said the Foreign Secretary, explaining that 'the instant the treaties stop applying, Gibraltar becomes a third country'.

That would lead to discussions on co-sovereignty, he said, which would be bilateral with the UK, not involving the European Union.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo, who shared a platform with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in May in support of the Remain campaign, had earlier tweeted: 'We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm and for rational thinking. Together and united we will continue to prosper.'

Julie Girling, the South West England and Gibraltar Conservative MEP - who also backed Remain, said; 'I am deeply sorry that the people of the UK have chosen this leap in the dark. I believe future generations will question our wisdom.

'The EU has many faults, of course, but I remain convinced that we would be safer, stronger and better off by remaining a member.'

Worry and sadness have overwhelmed the minds and the hearts of Gibraltarians in the wake of the uncertainty produced on Gibraltar's future by the result of the EU referendum.

There is a common factor in their reactions: the management of the flow of people crossing the border to enter into Gibraltar from the Spanish side everyday, mainly commuters and tourists, as well as the general political stance of Spain regarding Gibraltar after the Spanish general elections next Sunday.

Vijay Vatvani, a Gibraltarian businessman, said: 'It's a little bit disappointing for Gibraltar since most of us wanted to remain within Europe because is better for us, it's safer, it means an easier passage into Spain, specially, and now we don't know what documents may be required to cross the border.

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo (pictured) had earlier tweeted: 'We have surpassed greater challenges. It is time for unity, for calm and for rational thinking'

'We're still in Europe, obviously, but we don't know how much human rights since we aren't in the EC are going to be respected there.

'I don't feel angry, I understand the British position totally, I understand a lot of money have been put into the system which a lot of English residents in England didn't agree with, so I understand their position but from my point as Gibraltarian I'm very disappointed.'

Shopowner Joseph Bautista added: 'For Gibraltar is a difficult situation; we thought that Britain would remain in Europe but unfortunately it has not happened.

'Spain can creates problems to Gibraltar's future. We legally will be in Europe but the situation will change to the worst.

'I'm concerned, I'm sure everybody in Gibraltar is the same. We have to wait and see haw things develop.

Even if Britain tries very hard to protect Gibraltar there are certain circumstances which make it more difficult because now, we are out of Europe, we don't know what's going to happen.'

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713 in the Treaty of Utrecht. But over past decades Spain has made various noises about taking it back, including a 2013 dispute which saw border checks reintroduced - causing long delays - in a row over an artificial reef.

A referendum on joint sovereignty in 2002 saw 98.48 per cent of citizens of the territory back remaining British.

The Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce had also backed the Remain campaign, calling Brexit 'a leap in the dark'.

In a letter to members on Tuesday, the chamber's board said the open border with Spain had helped the territory's financial services industry develop.

It added: 'Each weekday half of Gibraltar's workforce crosses the border to get to work. Of the 12,000 people who cross the frontier, around 7,000 are Spanish and the remaining 5,000 are other Europeans. Without this open frontier many businesses in Gibraltar would not have a workforce.'

In May Mr Picardo told a news conference that Brexit supporters should reflect on the fact that a leave vote would see joint sovereignty 'back on the table'.

He said: 'Ironically, somebody who believes they are being patriotic and supporting Gibraltar by voting to leave the European Union will be bringing about, actually, Gibraltar having to face, once again, the prospect of joint sovereignty with Spain, something which most of the friends of Gibraltar in the Brexit side of the argument fought tooth and nail against at the time it was last tabled by a Labour government in the early part of the 21st century.'

Rock's SOS: Shove Off Spanish plea of besieged Brits living on Gibraltar after Spain claims it should be given joint sovereignty

Denisa Fussiova, 25, from Slovakia, a restaurant waitress at Wagamama at Ocean village Marina

In the pubs, cafes and shops of Gibraltar, there is only one topic of conversation: Brexit. The word is almost spat from the lips of locals who are horrified that Britain is leaving the EU.

It feels like a stab in the back, said Eric Asquez, 47, born and bred on The Rock.

Perched on the southern tip of Spain, the British enclave of 32,000 people voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with 95.9 per cent opting to stay in.

Now Gibraltar is facing an uncertain future, as Spain wasted no time after the result was announced in claiming it should be given joint sovereignty  a plan rejected by more than 98 per cent of Gibraltarians in a referendum in 2002.

The Spanish government is going to start pressing us hard, said worried taxi driver Fidelio Bonfante, 55. After we leave, things are going to get very difficult at the border.

The border crossing with Spain  its only land access to the Continent  has previously been the focus of disputes over the territorys sovereignty.

In 2013, during a bitter row over disputed waters around Gibraltar, the Spanish authorities intensified border checks to create huge traffic jams that lasted for hours.

There is little doubt in the minds of ordinary Gibraltarians that they are part of the UK. Indeed, with its British High Street shops and supermarkets, and traditional red post boxes, it is easy for visitors to imagine they are strolling through an English seaside town.

At Morrisons supermarket, Carole Crute, 68, from Ashford, Kent, a retired secretary who emigrated to Gibraltar with her husband and father 12 years ago, said: Its all the uncertainty  my 94-year-old father has lung cancer and we have been going to Spain for his treatment. That sort of thing worries me most. We dont know what is going to happen now.

Jodie Julian, 21, whose grandmother has owned The Angry Friar Pub in Main Street for 23 years, warned: There is going to be hell between Gibraltar and Spain.

I worry that Gibraltar is going to suffer really badly economically. There is no-one to back us up now.

Access to the European single market has helped Gibraltars economy, built around financial services and its port, post double-digit economic growth even during the Euro crisis.

Perched on the southern tip of Spain, the British enclave of 32,000 people voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU, with 95.9 per cent opting to stay in

But rumours already abound that financial firms will flee if they can no longer access the EU single market. Barmaid Sue Stevens, 47, said: There are loads of betting companies here. The workers who came for breakfast on Friday said they will go back to the UK once we leave.

It is not just British workers who are affected. More than 12,000 Spanish people cross the border to work in Gibraltar each day  many in the service and hospitality industries.

Christian Mayor, 26, a chef at Wagamama restaurant in the upmarket Ocean Village Marina, travels to work from his home in Algeciras 15 miles away. I am shocked and it is painful. I feel us Spanish are like brothers with the English, he said.

When Britain does finally leave we might need to get visas to work here. It might become difficult to get jobs, to get money.
Broadcaster Mark Lawson (pictured) has launched a thinly-veiled swipe at the BBC's 'baffling and contradictory management' two years after he stepped down from his role amid bullying claims

Broadcaster Mark Lawson has launched a thinly-veiled swipe at the BBC's 'baffling and contradictory management' two years after he stepped down from his Radio 4 role amid bullying claims.

The former Front Row host, who announced that he was 'taking a break' for personal and medical reasons after an internal probe into the allegations, made the comments in an author's note in his new novel.

Lawson makes clear The Allegations, due to be published next month, is a work of fiction but suggests he was influenced by the way the BBC handled the bullying row.

It was triggered when 15 staff wrote to the deputy director of BBC Radio, Graham Ellis, to complain about bullying and favouritism within the radio arts unit. It led to Lawson stepping down as host of the Radio 4 programme Front Row.

According to Richard Brooks of the Sunday Times, in the author's note of his book Lawson writes: 'In regard to [one] plot-strand, it is also the case that - during a long, generally privileged and happy career - I suffered one devastating experience of institutional group-think, baffling and contradictory management, false accusation and surreally sub-legal process.

'As a result, I have personal knowledge of the damage to reputation, employability and health that can result from such an ordeal, and of its paradoxical outcome: silence or ostracism from some of those I had considered friends or close colleagues and - the poignant opposite - startling kindness and courageous support from others, including many from whom I had no reason to expect anything.'

Lawson's novel tells the story of two academics who have been accused of misconduct. One, Tim Pimm - an expert on American history - is dismissed by the University of Middle England for breaking its code of conduct on bullying, harassment and sarcasm.

The other, a history professor and colleague of Pimm named Ned Marriott, is accused of two counts of historic sex attacks and questioned by police.

The BBC has not made public its investigation into the claims of bullying. Lawson has never spoken specifically about it but friends say the probe led to him experiencing panic attacks and a mini-breakdown.

Author's note: Lawson (right) makes clear The Allegations (pictured left), due to be published next month, is a work of fiction but suggests he was influenced by the way the BBC handled the bullying row

During a two-decade long career in which he has had more than 3,000 guests on his show, Lawson was proud of what he called his sensitive questioning technique.

He was born in St Albans, where he attended a fee-paying Catholic school before studying English at university in London.
David Cameron may have sealed his own political downfall when he announced that he would not serve a third term as Prime Minister, it was claimed today.

Shortly before last year's General Election, the Tory leader said in an interview that 'three terms would be too many' and pledged to quit within five years.

He had intended to shore up his own position - but some have argued that instead he accidentally fired the starting gun on the Conservative leadership election.

And the decision of Boris Johnson to back the Leave campaign, instantly becoming its most high-profile figurehead, may have been motivated partly by his desire to take over from Mr Cameron.

Interview: David Cameron told the BBC's James Landale last year that he would not stand for a third term

The end: Mr Cameron announced his resignation in Downing Street alongside his wife Samantha on Friday

During an interview with the BBC home at his Oxfordshire home last March, the Prime Minister revealed that he did not plan to stay at Number 10 for more than a decade.

'I've said I'll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership,' he said.

'Terms are like Shredded Wheat - two are wonderful but three might just be too many.'

At the time he singled out three colleagues as possible successors - the former Mayor of London Mr Johnson, Chancellor George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May.

Rival: The decision may have emboldened Boris Johnson to back the Leave campaign

Since then, he has fallen out with Mr Johnson over the EU referendum, while Mr Osborne is widely seen as discredited after he took a lead role in the failed Remain campaign.

Even at the time, many observers were sceptical about the wisdom of Mr Cameron's unexpected announcement - the Daily Mail reported that he had 'risked undermining his prime ministerial authority'.

Some of his political opponents accused him of arrogance, while Ukip said: 'Mr Cameron's announcement will create the long-awaited civil war in the Conservative party over Europe.'

Ever since Mr Cameron led the Tories to an unexpected majority at the Election, senior members of the party have apparently been jostling to succeed him.

In particular, Mr Osborne and Mr Johnson are believed to have been gathering support for their own leadership bids over the past year.

While Mr Cameron had insisted he would continue as Prime Minister until the 2020 Election, some had speculated that he would be forced to quit earlier even if Remain won the EU referendum.

David Davis, who ran against him for the leadership in 2005, last night told The Sun: 'It's always unwise for a leader to set the date of his departure because in so doing he also sets the date of his own political funeral.

'Because he had already said he was going in this Parliament, it meant that many people saw the campaign to leave the EU, right or wrong, as a campaign to replace the Prime Minister.'

Colleagues: Mr Cameron named George Osborne and Theresa May as his possible successors

Mr Johnson's entry into the referendum row on the side of the Brexit campaign may well have swung the result for Leave, given how narrow the eventual result was.

Conservative backbencher Andrew Bridgen said of Mr Cameron: 'He has only himself to blame for the events of the past few days.'

The Prime Minister's blunder echoes Tony Blair's announcement that he would step down after three terms - which emboldened Gordon Brown to depose him just two years into his final term.
Politician greeted crowds in the Big Apple amid tightened security in the wake of the attacks at Pulse in Orlando

She was also joined by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Al Sharpton

Democratic candidate made her way through the streets with an entourage, including long-time aide Huma Abedin

Advertisement

Hillary Clinton joined thousands of people on the streets of New York to celebrate Pride, just two weeks after the attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

The Democratic candidate was joined by an entourage, including long-time aide Huma Abedin, on the Big Apple parade route.

She walked alongside New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, and activist Rev. Al Sharpton.

At one point she joined revelers near the Stonewall Inn, the site where the modern gay rights movement took root, just days after President Obama declared it a national monument.

Scroll down for video

Hillary Clinton waves to the crowds as she marches through the streets of New York City for the Pride parade. She was joined by long-time aide Huma Abedin (right) and activist Rev. Al Sharpton (back left in orange shirt)

Pulse owner Barbara Poma (left) rode atop a Stonewall Inn float in the New York Pride parade. President Barack Obama on Friday designated the site around New York City's Stonewall Inn as the first national monument to gay rights

Simoni Siqueira pretends to drink from a giant wine bottle during the San Francisco Pride parade in San Francisco, California on Sunday

A woman holds up a sign that protests violence against transgender people while participating in the San Francisco Pride parade

A drag queen waves her fan at the crowd while marching in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade in California, on Sunday

Veiled Pride participants carry photos of victims killed in the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting during the annual NYC Pride parade in New York City

Members of Gays Against Guns (GAG) stage a die-in to raise awareness during the 46th annual Gay Pride march June 26, 2016 in New York

Dozens of members of Gays Against Guns (GAG) lay down in the street to raise awareness for gun deaths among the gay community

Cheryl O'Connor cries as a group honoring the victims of the Orlando mass shooting passes by at the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade on June 26, 2016

Marchers hold up photos of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting during the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade in San Francisco, California

A man wears a hat that says 'Make America Gay Again,' a parody of Donald Trump's campaign slogan while watching the LGBT Pride Parade in San Francisco

Clinton greeted members of the crowd who lined up on the sidewalks, even though security had been tightened for the annual celebration.

More officers have been posted in places in major cities during the parades.

The executive director of Orlando's LGBT Center said the support he was feeling in New York City's pride parade is 'a little overwhelming.'

Terry DeCarlo was among the thousands marching down Fifth Avenue on Sunday in the annual parade. He said he wishes the 49 people who died in the Orlando gay nightclub shooting earlier this month were marching today with everyone.

But, he said, 'just feeling the love from New York means a lot to us.'

The politician, who is favorite to be her party's choice for the General Election, took time to shake hands with members of the crowd

The Democratic Party candidate was joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) during the celebrations that took place just two weeks after the horrific attack at Pulse nightclub in Orlando

A shirtless man reaches out to greet Hillary as she makes her way along the parade route in the Big Apple

She waves alongside Gov. Cuomo (left), Sharpton (right in orange shirt) and Mayor Bill De Blasio (back in purple shirt)

The parade started off with a moment of silence for the victims of the massacre at Pulse. Pulse owner Barbara Poma rode atop a Stonewall Inn float, leading the parade.

By early Sunday morning, the crowds had already started lining up along Fifth Avenue to get the best vantage point for the Big Apple's most famous gay pride parade.

Police were busy tightening the metal barricades to contain a crowd that is bigger than usual this year

In addition to uniformed officers, a ramped up security force included plainclothes officers mingling with observers.

Parades in San Francisco and other cities Sunday were also seeing increased security. There will also be tributes to the victims of this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida that left 49 people dead.

A man wears a sign that says 'Orlando I love you' in Spanish while marching in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade in San Francisco, California

A crowd of hundreds watch the performance during the 16th annual gay pride celebrations to mark the upcoming International Gay Pride Day

A participant in an elaborate, multi-colored costume attends the annual Gay Pride Parade in Cali, Colombia

A couple kiss during the annual Gay Pride Parade in Cali, Colombia (left) while two women embrace at the same event, right

Police kept the metal barricades running along the route tight as thousands lined the streets to show their support for the LGBT community just two weeks after the Orlando attacks

A man in a shiny outfit walks alongside others dressed up in elaborate outfits New York

A man who has written on his body the names of the victims of Orlando's gay bar shooting walks with thousands of people in the streets of Thessaloniki, northern Greece

Police officers walk along the street near the route of the New York City Pride Parade amid heightened security during the celebrations

The celebrations are taking places in cities around the country, including New York (above), just two weeks after the massacre that left 49 people dead and 50 wounded

A glamorous participant holds up peace signs while riding her bike through the streets of New York for Pride

Two men ride a motorcycle down New York's Fifth Avenue in front of thousands of fans who gathered for the procession

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio (center) holds up a rainbow flag next to his wife Chirlane. He was also joined by activist Rev Al Sharpto (far left) during the parade

Heritage of Pride marchers hold up a banner in front of arches of balloons during the procession

Another heavily-armed police officer walks down the middle of Fifth Avenue ahead of the parade

A heavily-armed officer stands at the side of the road as performers walk past in New York

Two members of the NYPD watch as the crowd cheers on those talking part in the parade

This woman showed that members of the crowd were not going to be put off by the recent terror attack

Pre-parade activities included a handful of people walking down traffic-free Fifth Avenue holding banners with photos of those who died in Orlando.

'Last year was such a celebratory time, and this year, we have this happening,' says James Fallarino, a spokesman for organizers of the New York parade, one of the nation's oldest. 'But that's also why it's so important that we are out and loud and proud.

'If we change our event - if we make everything somber - it's, in many ways, allowing those who wish to silence us to win.'

Authorities expected a larger than usual crowd. That included Chelsea Restrepo, 15, of Staten Island, who came to the march for the first time. She'd planned to come anyway, 'but what happened in Orlando made me want to come more,' said Restrepo, swathed in a multicolored scarf.

She said she brushed aside her father's concerns in showing up. 'My dad was, like, 'I'm worried after Orlando'. And I was, like, 'I'm going, to show my support.''

Sunday's parades also had a new milestone to mark: President Barack Obama on Friday designated the site around New York City's Stonewall Inn as the first national monument to gay rights. A 1969 police raid on the bar helped catalyze the gay rights movement.

Two parade participants walk down Fifth Avenue in white dresses holding hands

Gar Pride participants, wearing white veils, carry photos of victims killed in the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting during the annual NYC event

One person holds a sign which is dedicated to Jean Nives Rodriguez, who was killed in the Orlando mass shooting

Parade participants hold signs in the honor of the victims of the Orlando night club shooting as they march during the 2016 San Francisco Pride Parade

Marchers hold up a banner paying tribute to those who died in the Orlando massacre two weeks ago as they walk through Manhattan

A crowd stands on a viewing platform on a float celebrating the historic Stonewall Tavern in New York. The venue was named a national monument by President Obama last week

Parts of Midtown and Downtown New York City were awash with rainbows as the crowds held up flags to mark the Pride parade

New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and his wife Chirlane speak before joining the march

Police officers listen to a briefing before the start of the parade. Crowds started arriving along the route hours before the procession began

A heavily armed police officer stands guard next to purple stars hung on the fence around New York City's Christopher Park in honor of the victims of the shooting in Orlando

A woman in a long, fluffy red dress sits on the street as she waits for the parade to start in New York City

A vendor holds rainbow flags as he walks near Fifth Avenue before the New York City Pride Parade

A person wearing a rainbow drape runs along part of the parade route before the festivities get underway

Pedestrians walking in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan are seen behind police barricades walking past a poster in honor of the victims of the shooting in Orlando

Aaron Gatchell (left) and Christian Michaels hold hands as they hold up the names of two of the people who died in the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the St. Pete Pride Parade in St. Petersburg, Florida

Friends and family of the Pulse nightclub victims hold candles aloft before they lead the parade on Saturday

Four people hold a sign paying tribute to the 49 people who died and the 50 who were wounded during the horrific attack

The LGBT community in St. Petersburg, Florida, paid tribute to the 49 people who died and the 50 others who were wounded during the horrific massacre two weeks ago.

Men and women held signs with the names of friends and family who were slain by ISIS sympathizer Omar Mateen.

They also held up candles as they walked through the streets of the city.

The mood was somber as some who had been in the doomed venue on the night of the shooting turned up to show their support.

Alicea, 52, was sipping a vodka and cranberry at Pulse's bar and dancing with Eisele until they decided to visit another club around 11.30pm, less than three hours before the shooting began around 2am, June 12, the night of the mass killings.

She told the Tampa Bay Times: 'We had to come here just to show that we're not alone, that we can be free, that they can't win.'

Aaron Gatchell (left) and Christian Michaels, right, lead other friends and family of the Pulse nightclub victims at the St. Pete Pride Parade in St. Petersburg, Florida

Participants enjoy themselves in the St. Pete Pride Parade in St. Petersburg, Florida

Dwayne Shepherd of St. Petersburg added: 'This is about gay rights and human values. We celebrate every year. We celebrate every day.'

They were also faced with a handful of protesters who held signs .

Some of them screamed into a microphone: 'The end is near. You are not good people, you are wicked, you are evil.'

The stepped-up security surrounding San Francisco's LGBT pride celebration has caused two honorary grand marshals and a health clinic that serves sex workers to withdraw from the event's signature parade.

The executive director of the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project, Black Lives Matter and the St. James Infirmary said Friday that they are pulling out of Sunday's parade to protest the heavy police presence and metal detectors that will be present weekend.

The security measures were put in place following the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando two weeks ago.

TGI Justice Project Executive Director Janetta Johnson says the measures make LGBT people who have been mistreated by police feel less safe and are at odds with the parade's theme, which is 'For Racial and Economic Justice.'

One reveller walks around the streets of St. Petersburg in sliver knee-high boots and a blue dress

One woman holds a hoola-hoop over her head during the festivities in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the Pride celebrations
A Perth driver has claimed that he has CCTV footage that shows a parking inspector falsely chalking his car and issuing him a fine, despite having legally parked there.

Tri Pham vented his frustrations on Facebook commenting that he was extremely disappointed in the City of Perth with the way they handled his appeal against the fine.

Footage shows Mr Pham parking his van in a 30 minute loading zone at 10.06am before driving away and returning to the bay again at 10.52am.

Perth driver, Tri Pham, claims that he has CCTV footage that shows a parking inspector falsely chalking his car and issuing him a fine (pictured) on June 16. Mr Pham arrived at the spot at 10.06am, drove away and returned at 10.52am and believes he should not have been fined at all

The disgruntled motorist wrote a timeline of the events of June 16 in which he wrote that he had only been there for seven minutes when his car was first chalked.

He said that at 10.06am the parking officer chalked his tyre and at 10.13am he drove off.

At 10.22am the officer is seen coming back and seeing a truck where Mr Pham had originally parked and at 10.52am he was seen driving back into the loading zone again.

The Parking officer is then seen re-chalking Mr Phams tyre with fresh marks and taking a photo for evidence before giving him a fine.

In a bid to gather attention to the alleged oversight Mr Pham posted his disappointment on Facebook over a week later urging anyone else who empathises to share his video.

If the City of Perth wont view my footage, then I hope you guys will watch it and see how what this parking officer did.

In the post Mr Pham wrote that at 10.06am the parking officer chalked his tyre and at 10.13am he drove off from the loading zone (pictured)

At 10.22am the officer is seen coming back and seeing a truck (pictured) where Mr Pham had originally parked

If you are also disappointed with this activity, please share this video and hopefully the City of Perth will look into their procedures, take disciplinary action on this officer if the officer has done the wrong thing and stop wasting peoples time by making them go to court.

PARKING TIMELINE WRITTEN ON FACEBOOK BY MR PHAM Mr Pham received the fine on June 16 and has appealed to the City of Perth to watch the CCTV footage, he wrote: 10.06am - Parking officer chalks my tyre 10.13am - I drive off 10.22am - Officer comes back and sees a truck where I had originally parked the car 10.52am - I drive back and park for a bit 10.56am - Parking officer re-chalks my tyre with fresh marks, fines me and takes a photo for evidence Advertisement

They should just review evidence suggested to them, he added.

Mr Pham claimed that the afternoon he lodged the appeal with the City of Perth they responded without viewing the CCTV footage provided.

They allegedly said: You were chalked at 10.02 am and when the officer arrived back at 10.53 the chalk marks were clearly visible, meaning you overstayed for 20 minutes.

Puzzled by how his van received fresh marks Mr Pham reviewed the footage and said he was extremely annoyed at what he saw.

Facebook users have said they are shocked and commented that the incident was handled badly.

One user said: That is just shocking...I can't believe that actually happened! You can see him clearly rechalked the tyre and then gave you a fine...absolutely disgusting and ridiculous!

Mr Pham is then seen driving back to the spot at about 10.52am when the parking inspector comes by and takes down his number plate (pictured)

The footage shows the inspector then applying a fresh chalk mark to Mr Pham's tyre (pictured) before issuing the fine. The City of Perth has allegedly refused to watch the CCTV footage provided in the appeal

Another said: Id go in there in person and make noise until someone will see you. Or go to the papers with your story. If the officer has done that to you it's likely it's been done to others as well.

The video has garnered over 62,000 views and has been shared 927 times across social media.

A spokesperson for the City of Perth said: 'The City of Perth will rescind the fine due to the infringement being issued under the incorrect code of parking regulation.

'It must be noted the complainants claim that the parking officer re-marked his tyre before issuing an infringement is incorrect.

'At the time of infringement, the CCTV footage shows the parking officer feeling the tyre to determine its heat, which is one test used by parking officers to try to ascertain if a vehicle has moved.

'The City is about to commence the implementation of a new parking management system which will ensure that these types of mistakes do not occur in the future.'
Altercation reportedly occurred between group of men outside fanzone

Terrified fans seen running across bridge towards city centre

A chilling video shows panicked Wales fans stampeding through Cardiff as a man shouts, 'He's got a gun!'

The mobile phone footage shows screaming crowds running across a bridge near the Millenium stadium shortly after the Wales vs Northern Ireland match on Saturday in a desperate attempt to get away from the alleged disturbance.

One man can be heard clearly yelling, 'He's got a gun!'

The mobile phone footage shows screaming crowds running across a bridge near the Millenium stadium shortly after the Wales vs Northern Ireland match on Saturday in a desperate attempt to get away

One man can be heard clearly yelling, 'He's got a gun!' Police arrived in riot vans arrived after the alert was raised, but no weapons were recovered, South Wales Police said

Police arrived in riot vans arrived after the alert was raised, but no weapons were recovered, South Wales Police said.

The throng was reportedly heading for the city centre after an altercation occurred between a group of young men on the riverside

'People looked frightened, they were screaming and it was all very surreal,' witness Tom Elliott, 30, from Riverside told Wales Online.

'I felt very worried and I didn't know what was going on but I just ran in the same direction as everyone else,' he said.

Thousands of fans had gathered in a dedicated fanzone to watch the match being played in Paris yesterday afternoon.

They were reportedly heading for the city centre after an altercation occurred between a group of young men on the riverside. 'People looked frightened, they were screaming and it was all very surreal,' a witness said

Thousands of fans had gathered in a dedicated fanzone to watch the match being played in Paris yesterday afternoon. They were leaving the stadium when chaos ensued. (Pictured the bridge on Wood Street)

They were leaving the stadium when chaos ensued.

South Wales Police revealed that two men, aged 16 and 22, were arrested in relation to the incident and are being held in police custody,
A couple fighting to bring a child born in India via a surrogacy arrangement back to their home in Britain have won a High Court battle to be named the boy's legal parents.

The little boy, who is approaching his second birthday, is living with a member of his genetic father's family in India.

Home Office officials have refused to grant him a British passport or to let him enter the UK.

A couple fighting to bring a child born in India via a surrogacy arrangement back to their home in Britain have won a legal battle. A judge at the High Court in London (pictured) said they should be the boy's legal parents

But a High Court judge said evidence shows that the couple should be declared the boy's legal parents.

Detail of the saga emerged in a ruling by Mrs Justice Pauffley who analysed the issues at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

The couple want to be declared the toddler's legal parents - and the judge said there was significant evidence to show that the child's 'welfare interests' would be best served by such a move.

Mrs Justice Pauffley said the surrogate mother has consented.

Sacrifice: Mrs Justice Pauffley (pictured) was told the couple had made a 'heart-wrenching' decision to leave the boy in India and return to work in Britain to satisfy immigration criteria

She indicated that Home Office officials were reconsidering the couple's application for entry clearance.

The couple are both immigrants, the judge added.

She said the man, the boy's genetic father, has lived in the UK since 2009 and was intending to apply for British citizenship.

His wife, who has a medical condition which made it impossible for her to carry a child, was born in India but is a naturalised British citizen and has lived in the UK for a decade.

The judge was told that the couple had made a 'heart-wrenching' decision to leave the boy in India and return to work in Britain to satisfy immigration criteria.

'They had assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that (the boy) would be allowed to enter the UK and live here with them,' said Mrs Justice Pauffley.

'The couple have demonstrated that they were wholly unaware of the immigration and nationality policies as they apply to children born as a result of surrogacy.'

She added: 'There is significant evidence to show that (the boy's) welfare interests would be best served by the making of a parental order to the couple.'
He warns that timetable should not be delayed to accommodate the Tories

Martin Schulz says the negotiations should begin on Tuesday this week

Martin Schulz today said that Britain's negotiations with the EU should begin at a summit on Tuesday

One of Europe's top officials has called for David Cameron to trigger the formal Brexit process this week - despite the Prime Minister's attempt to delay it.

Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, suggested that the UK should begin negotiations to quit the EU as early as Tuesday.

His suggestion comes after multiple European politicians demanded that Britain should leave 'as soon as possible' in the wake of Thursday's referendum vote.

Mr Schulz, a German who previously headed the Parliament's centre-Left alliance, joined his voice to the chorus of EU leaders seeking to force a speedy resolution.

'Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone,' he told Bild am Sonntag today.

'That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time.'

Mr Schulz added that drawn-out uncertainty would increase unemployment by sparking turmoil in the financial markets.

Yesterday, one French minister even took the extraordinary step of demanding that David Cameron be replaced within days in a bid to railroad the UK into potentially punitive exit negotiations.

The Prime Minister will also be shut out of this weeks key summit on the impact of the Brexit vote, as the stark reality of Britains diminished status became clear.

As messages from the Continent hardened, Britains EU Commissioner, Lord Hill of Oareford, was forced to step down, while the future also looked bleak for the estimated 1,500 Britons working in Brussels institutions.

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (left) said the UK should 'leave the EU quickly'; French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault (centre) urged the Tories to select a new Prime Minister. Belgium's Foreign minister Didier Reynders (pictured right)

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (centre left) said it would 'not be an amicable' divorce; European Council President Donald Tusk (far right) said the UK would be 'blocked' from future EU talks

Mr Cameron wants negotiations on the UKs exit to begin once he leaves Downing Street by the start of October.

But French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault yesterday appeared to have no hesitation in trying to hurry along a Conservative leadership battle, saying: A new Prime Minister must be designated, that will take a few days. We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap.

At a gathering of leaders of the EUs founding states in Germany yesterday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also warned Britain to act quickly and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty  the formal legal process by which the UK will extract itself from the bloc.

We join together in saying this process must begin as soon as possible so we dont end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and the work toward it, he added. All six ministers at the meeting added in a joint statement: We now expect the UK Government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday: It is not an amicable divorce, but it was not an intimate love affair anyway.

I do not understand why the British Government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels. Id like it immediately.

French President Francois Hollande added: It will be painful for Britain but... like in all divorces, it will be painful for those who stay behind too. Only German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that there was no rush, saying: Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight for a short time frame.

French President Francois Hollande pictured holding crunch meetings with the leaders of France's political parties over the UK's decision to leave the EU

She added the EU has no need to be particularly nasty in the negotiations, which must take place in a businesslike, good climate.

EU leaders are desperate to avoid a domino effect of other countries following Britains lead, and think they can do this by preventing the UK winning generous access to the single market when it leaves.

A secret Brexit plan drawn up by Germany says the EU should refrain from setting wrong incentives for other member states when renegotiating relations.

France, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Hungary may also want to leave, according to the report, which claims: The extent of the knock-on effect will depend on the handling of the United Kingdom.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay at the Brexit result

launched a petition for a referendum on the countrys EU membership.

However there will likely be a difficult atmosphere at the first post-referendum summit this week.

European Council President Donald Tusk will convene a meeting of the 28-state bloc on Tuesday, but Mr Cameron will be excluded from the second day of talks when the impact of Brexit will be discussed.

Despite last weeks referendum vote, next year Britain will still have to take control of the European Union at the same time as the new Government is trying to negotiate a way out of it.

The UK will hold the rotating presidency of the EU for six months between July and December 2017 under a rota agreed long before the referendum was planned.

It means Ministers in Westminster who back Brexit will have to devote time and resources to chairing meetings of the European Council and driving forward work on new legislation  the very Brussels red tape they want to escape from. The last time Britain held the presidency was in 2005.

Sources say Britain could only avoid taking on the role if there is a unanimous agreement by all 28 member states, including the UK.

Lord Hill, who was appointed Britains EU Commissioner by Mr Cameron two years ago, announced yesterday he would step down in the wake of last weeks vote.

He said while he was very disappointed by the result, what is done cannot be undone, and he planned to leave in an orderly handover.
Vietnam veteran Jose Gonzales said attending services for fellow soldiers was 'healing to the soul'

Some of their remains had been cremated and left at funeral homes, while others had no next of kin

The names of the dead were read as well as their rank, branch and the war in which they serviced

About 80 people gathered in Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver

Thirty veterans whose remains went unclaimed were finally honored during a funeral ceremony Saturday at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

Some of the fallen soldiers' remains had been cremated and left at funeral homes, while others had no next of kin.

About 80 relatives and supporters turned up to pay tribute to the veterans, some of whom had served during World War II, the Denver Post reported.

'In my mind, they're almost MIA, because they just sat there,' guest speaker Major General H Michael Edwards said. 'Each of them has a story. I only wish we knew their full story.'

Thirty veterans whose remains went unclaimed were finally honored during a funeral ceremony Saturday at Denver's Fort Logan National Cemetery (file picture)

Remains sometimes go unclaimed because families forget about them or do not know they can get a military burial for their relative, Edwards added.

The names of the dead were read during the ceremony, followed by the rank, branch and war in which the soldiers served.

The veterans' past went as far back as World War II.

Service members located the veterans' urns on a table before declaring them 'present,' after which a bell would ring, the Denver Post reported.

The remains were marked with engraved marble plates.

It took more than a year to assemble the remains for the service, according to president of Chapter 1071 of the Vietnam Veterans Association Stan Paprocki.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs helped identify the remains.

Another 36 veterans will be honored at another service in two months, Paprocki said.

The ceremony was part of the Missing In America Project, a national nonprofit that works with veterans groups to inter unclaimed veterans' remains.

Jose Gonzales, a 67-year-old Vietnam veteran, said it took him a long time to heal after he returned home. After several decades, Gonzales started to go to memorial services for veterans.

'They didn't greet us, we got no greetings  nothing,' Gonzales told the Denver Post as he recounted his return from Vietnam. 'Some of us had to take our uniforms off, for fear of retaliation.'

It took Gonzales 40 years to 'break out of that shell' and attend a service to honor his fellow vets.

He added: 'It's healing to the soul, you know.'

Out of 3,072 veterans identified by the Missing In America Project at 1,987 funeral homes, 2,765 have received a funeral ceremony so far.
A dentist who became addicted to ice was struck off after colleagues found bags of the drug at his practice.

Young Hoon Sun was working at Primecos dental and cosmetic surgery practice in Sydney's George Street when he became addicted to the drug after the death of his brother in 2010.

He took two months off work at the time and became hooked on the drug while trying to cope with his grief.

Colleagues reported the 44-year-old to watchdogs after finding bags of the drug at their practice.

A dentist was struck off after becoming addicted to ice when his colleagues found bags of the drug in his practice

Sun had his registration as a dentist cancelled and will not be able to apply to work on patients again for at least three years.

A NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard how Sun became addicted to the drugs after struggling to cope with his grief after the death of his brother.

'In about March 2010 whilst the respondent was working at a number of surgeries, his older brother died in tragic circumstances and his death had a profound effect on him.

'The respondent took two months off work and whilst associating with persons whom he appears to have met at a hotel, he tried recreational drugs for the first time,' documents from the tribunal revealed.

He returned to work but continued using drugs, raising the alarm when he asked for a Valium tablet at work.

'Later, a bag containing a white powder was found in one of the surgeries which the respondent had previously used. The respondent denied any knowledge of this item.

'In August 2010, a further two bags of similar appearance were found in the clinic after the respondent had been practising there.

The 44-year-old discovered methamphetamine (file image above) while grieving over the sudden death of his brother in 2010

The man was struck off at Sydney's Civil and Administrative Tribunal (above) last week

'One was full and the other contained a residue of white powder. The packets were handed to the police because it was suspected that they contained methamphetamine.'

Sun denied ever using the drugs and stopped working with the group but refused to submit to urine testing after they shared their concerns with the Medical Council.

In a bid to evade the tests he created false boarding passes to pretend he was on holiday and even pretended to have injured his leg to get out of it.

Giving evidence Sun said he had become his family's 'golden boy' after forging a successful career in Australia since leaving their native Korea.

He claimed to have even had his success documented by a Korean programme akin to Australia's 60 Minutes.

Following the death of his brother from an undiagnosed medical condition, he struggled to return to normal life, he said.

He pleaded for rehabilitation admitting that though he is now 'clean', he feared he could relapse.
Father was banned from contact unless arranged by the girl's mother

The nine-year-old girl's background is in the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe

A father has been banned from speaking to his nine-year-old daughter after describing her as a 'coconut' (file image)

An African father has been banned from speaking to his nine-year-old daughter when he wants to after referring to her as a coconut in racially derogatory slurs.

The 45-year-old man said the child was growing up 'black on the outside and white on the inside' after her mother moved her from their native Africa to Queensland following their separation.

Court documents revealed he would insist on speaking Shona, the language of his people, when communicating with the child over phone or Skype even though she cannot understand it.

A judge banned him from having open contact with the girl who he said she was at risk of emotional harm if their current relationship continued.

Their case came before the court when the girl's mother applied to a judge to limit contact between her former husband and their daughter.

Unhappy about how she was being raised in Australia, he claimed she was losing touch with her African background and described her derogatorily as a 'coconut'.

'The father appears to have formed the view that the child, whilst a black African, is growing up white.

'The child says, and I accept notwithstanding the fathers denial, that on at least one occasion the father has called her a  coconut .

'This is apparently a highly culturally disrespectful term, denoting that someone whilst black on the outside, is white on the inside.

'The child has found that description of her as very upsetting,' remarked Judge Tree.

'He has used the words snobbish coconut  in correspondence with the mother, and I have little doubt that not only has he used that word directly to the child, but that he genuinely believes that to be the case,' he added.

The father also refused to call his daughter by her given name, instead one of the middle names he had chosen for her when they spoke.

'She refuses to respond when she is called by that name. The father refuses to communicate with the child unless and until she responds to that name.

' For instance, the father, when telephoning the child, will ask to speak with Z. Unless the child acknowledges that she is Z, the father will then hang up,' Judge Tree said.

The family's case was heard before Townsville Family Court (above) in Queensland

He added that the father insisted on speaking in Shona despite fact the child is not fluent.

'On some occasions the father insists upon communicating with the child only in Shona. He justifies this on the basis that it is the childs cultural language, and that it is part of his responsibility to teach her that language and her culture.

'However the child is not particularly fluent in Shona, and hence cannot understand much of what the father says to her.'

In a statement the girl said she dreaded going to visit her father and described him as 'nasty and horrible'.

'He is mean, horrible and nasty. I dont call him Father. I dont call him anything... I havent told my friends about him because I dont feel good about him,' she said.

Judge Tree said the father was 'engaging in a war of wills' with his daughter and was 'intent of victory'.

He banned the man from having contact with the girl unless it is arranged through her mother until he shows he has improved his attitude.
He claimed his belly made him disabled and gave him mobility problems

in York but had failed to turn up

A 34-stone fork-lift truck driver refused to turn up for a drink-driving sentencing because he is so fat he has mobility problems.

Jaroslaw Wiech, 36, argued his bulging belly counted as a disability which would spare him the trouble of answering the summons.

He was due to appear before magistrates in York after he was found slumped over his car steering wheel having downed four beers and a bottle of vodka.

Jaroslaw Wiech, 36, argued his bulging belly counted as a disability which would spare him court

When he failed to turn up for his case on June 6, a warrant was issued for his arrest and he was brought back to court under police guard.

Wiech who speaks limited English, explained to the duty solicitor he had 'mobility problems' caused by his bulk.

But when the lawyer delivered his client's jaw-dropping excuse to the bench, District Judge Adrian Lower gasped that this was 'not an acceptable excuse'.

The judge said Wiech could have covered the 15 miles by train or taxi, or both.The case was adjourned again because a Polish interpreter was needed.

Under strict orders to attend, Wiech, of Hemingbrough, North Yorkshire, wheezed his way across the road from the bus stop opposite the court house.

Wiech said he argued with his ex wife on the phone and downed a 'small' bottle of vodka (stock image)

He slowly climbed the steps and sat slumped on a bench in the corridor sweating until his case was called on.

Prosecutor Simon Ostler told the court: 'He has a mobility issue but it is accepted that was not a reasonable excuse for not attending.'

He said Wiech had been found slumped over the wheel of the car parked outside his local village shop by a passer-by. A breath test revealed 68 micrograms of alcohol. The legal limit is 35.

His car keys were found of the floor of the vehicle. Wiech said he had downed four pints of beer and a glass of whisky after finishing a night shift.

But he stopped drinking at 9am and did not drive until 2pm when he needed to visit the shop to top up his house-hold electricity credits.

Speaking through an interpreter, he added: 'I'm pretty sure if someone of my weight who had drunk four beers would not be over the limit by then.

'While parked up outside the shop, he claims he had a row with his ex wife over the phone and downed a 'small' bottle of vodka before dozing off.

The next thing he remembered was being roused from his stupor by police.

He denied drink driving but admitted a lesser charge of drunk in charge.

He also admitted failing to attend court and no insurance.

He pleaded: 'I really did not drive the vehicle under the influence of alcohol. If I lose my licence I lose everything.

'He was fined 325 plus 85 court costs and a 30 surcharge. His licence was endorsed with ten penalty points but he escaped a ban.

District Judge David Golding said: 'If you come before us again you may not get the same chance again.'
Concerns for a 13-year-old girl, who crashed a car into a cyclist while her father was in the passengers seat, have been raised by police.

Australian Capital Territory police said that the 24-year-old male cyclist was taken to hospital by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries on Saturday.

Police investigating the incident have questioned how a girl so young came to be driving while her 50-year-old father was sitting beside her.

Concerns for a 13-year-old girl, who slammed a car (stock) into a cyclist while her father was in the passengers seat, have been raised by ACT police who are investigating the circumstance of the crash

A black Holden Commodore turning right at an intersection in Canberras inner north Suburb Dickson at about 3pm collided with a cyclist travelling through the intersection in the opposite direction.

Police investigating the crash on Saturday evening discovered that the driver involved was an unlicensed underage motorist who did not have appropriate road ready training.

ACT Policings Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team attended the incident and found that the sole passenger was her 50-year-old father.

Both were uninjured in the crash.

A black Holden Commodore (stock) turning right at an intersection in Canberras inner north Suburb Dickson at about 3pm collided with a cyclist travelling through the intersection in the opposite direction

Investigating officers have questioned how a girl so young came to be driving while her 50-year-old father was sitting beside her when the crash between them and the cyclist (stock) happened

Community and Safety Superintendent Rob Wilson said police would now be investigating the circumstance surrounding the incident and take appropriate actions.

He said: Police will be investigating this incident to understand how a 13-year-old girl came to be driving a car with her father beside her.

The road rules are in place to minimise injury and death on our roads  no one is safe to drive before they have gone through the appropriate road ready training.

The responsibility of road safety is too great a burden to sit on the shoulders of a 13-year-old girl, he added.

Investigations are ongoing and police have asked anyone who saw the crash to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and quote the reference number 5977949.
A Polish community centre has been vandalised in a suspected racist attack which some have linked to the vote to quit the EU.

Workers at the Polish Social and Cultural Association in West London today found graffiti across the building's front doors saying 'F*** off.'

Police have now launched an investigation into the incident, which they are treating as a 'racially motivated crime'.

It comes amidst multiple reports of racist incidents on the streets of Britain as the country is divided in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the EU on Thursday.

Vandalism: Graffiti reading 'F*** off OPM' appeared on the outside of the Polish Social and Cultural Association in Hammersmith, West London this morning

The graffiti on the glass doors of the building in Hammersmith, which had been scrawled in yellow paint, read: 'F*** off OPM.'

It is not clear to what the letters 'OPM' are supposed to be a reference.

The organisation's chairman Joanna Mludzinska said: 'We were very disturbed and upset this morning to find really unpleasant graffiti all across the front of our building when our staff came in.

'The police are investigating it as a racially motivated crime, but we have been very moved and extremely grateful to our local councillors and MPs and our neighbours.'

Locals said that it was the first time in its 60-year history that the centre had hit by vandalism - and some linked the incident to the aftermath of the divisive referendum.

One worker, who asked not to be named, said: 'I have lived here since I was eight years old and the sad thing is it's something I expected.

'The referendum has made people living here turn against immigrants like me. Even my friends talking about it complain about immigrants taking people's jobs.

'It makes me feel unwelcome. I have worked here for years. It's not like we are claiming benefits, we are contributing to society.

'I am afraid of things getting worse because of the graffiti. What if this is just the beginning?'

Clean-up: The graffiti was scrubbed off the outside of the building soon after it was discovered today

Shock: Conservative Minister Greg Hands spoke of his horror at the news of the vandalism

Neal Swinnerton, a local resident who saw the message being removed this morning, added: 'Those guys have been there for years and years and we have had this referendum and now suddenly Polish people are being treated like pariahs.'

Local MPs from across the political spectrum joined forces to speak out against the incident.

Tory Minister Greg Hands, who represents Chelsea & Fulham, said: 'Let us all say it loud and clear that Poles are incredibly welcome in the UK and the word "Solidarity" never felt more appropriate.'

Solidarity was the name of the trade union which brought down the Communist party in Poland and ushered in the democratic era.

Labour's Andy Slaughter, the MP for Hammersmith, said: 'The Polish Centre was set up by people who fought for us in the war. These were people who had done more for Britain than most people have.

'We have a big Polish community because recent immigrants have come to join the successful community that was set up in the 1940s.

'I understand the police are treating the incident as a hate crime and we should condemn this act and take seriously any incident of this kind, but there are always going to be idiots who take advantage.'

Horror: These messages were delivered to Polish families in the Cambridge area yesterday

Campaign: Some claim that the referendum row created a divisive atmosphere across the country

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Shortly before 11am police were informed of an incident of alleged racially-motivated criminal damage to a building in King Street, W6.

'Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham borough attended and enquiries are ongoing.'

Many Poles fled to Western Europe when their country was invaded by Hitler, and stayed after the end of the Second World War because of the Soviet domination of Poland.

London was home to the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile from 1940 to 1990, until the end of Communist rule.

The UK's Polish population has soared since 2004, when Poland joined the EU and its people gained the right to settle in Britain without restrictions.

There have been reports of increased racial tensions around Britain after the Brexit referendum brought disagreements over immigration into the open.

Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi said today: 'I've spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it's time for you to leave.

'And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good.'

Sky News presenter Adam Boulton wrote on Twitter: 'This weekend I and my family have witnessed three "when are you going home?" racist incidents aimed at EU citizens here.'
ISIS fanatics have blown up two journalists after packing their cameras and laptops with explosives in the terror group's latest brutal execution video.

Footage shows one of the journalists handcuffed to metal railings, in Deir Ezzor, Syria, with a camera hanging around his neck before the device is apparently detonated.

Another media activist was executed in the same way but with a laptop while a third was tied to a metal door before being choked with an iron chain.

Scroll down for video

Footage shows one of the journalists handcuffed to metal railings, in Deir Ezzor, Syria, with a camera hanging around his neck before the device is apparently detonated

ISIS fanatics have blown up two journalists after packing their cameras and laptops with explosives in the terror group's latest brutal execution video

Another media activist was executed in the same way but with a laptop while a third was tied to a metal door before being choked with an iron chain

A fourth journalist has his throat cut by a knife-wielding executioner while a fifth is slaughtered with a 'sharp object' according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

They had reportedly been accused of 'acting against the Islamic state, communicating with outside parties and receiving funds, and other charges'.

The Britain-based Observatory said the five were abducted in October and are believed to have been killed in December over their coverage of events in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour, half of which is held by ISIS.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said news of the detention and killing of the activists was withheld because no bodies had surfaced and the families feared retribution for reporting the deaths.

In the video, an ISIS narrator says the group is facing a media war and warns against reporting to the 'crusaders' and 'enemies of God.' The narrator says journalists who report on ISIS may be targeted, even if they reside in Europe.

An ISIS narrator says the group is facing a 'media war' and warns against reporting to the 'crusaders' and 'enemies of God'

In the video, each activist explains what he did to report from the area, at times acting it out by shooting pictures or interviewing people in the city's market

The five journalists are thought to have been abducted in October and are believed to have been killed in December over their coverage of events in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour, half of which is held by ISIS

A fourth journalist has his throat cut by a knife-wielding executioner while a fifth is slaughtered with a 'sharp object' according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Abdurrahman said one of the activists, 28-year-old Sami Jawdat, has been feeding information to the Observatory since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 and continued to do so after ISIS seized half of Deir el-Zour in 2014.

He said Jawdat had been detained by ISIS on a number of previous occasions.

He said that since learning of the abduction and killing of the activists, his group has told other activists to refrain from taking photos or shooting video in ISIS-held areas.

In the video, each activist explains what he did to report from the area, at times acting it out by shooting pictures or interviewing people in the city's market.

The journalists had reportedly been accused of 'acting against the Islamic state, communicating with outside parties and receiving funds, and other charges'

The men can be seen tied to railings in the horrific videos. At least 95 journalists have been killed in Syria since 2011

Syria is the third-deadliest country in the world for journalists after Yemen and Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists

One of the activists says he reports for Al-Jazeera, another says he contributed to the New York-based Human Rights Watch. There was no immediate comment from either on Sunday.

Syria is the third-deadliest country in the world for journalists after Yemen and Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The duo would then burn equipment, destroy property and steal firearms

A father and son duo who were arrested after a murderous crime spree that spanned eight years would inexplicably snap and turn on the families who welcomed them into their homes.

Gino, 58, and Mark Stocco, 35, destroyed the livelihoods of countless farmers up and down the Australian east coast before they were arrested at a rural property in New South Wales in October.

The cunning pair traded labour for board and were quite skilled in gaining the trust of their employers before a seemingly small incident would cause them to snap and leave.

But the Stoccos would return days, weeks or even months later to burn properties to the ground, destroy major farming equipment, steal firearms or leave taunting notes to terrorise the very families who allowed them into their lives.

Scroll down for video

Gino, left, and Mark Stocco, right, destroyed the livelihoods of countless farmers up and down the Australian east coast before they were arrested at a rural property in New South Wales in October

'Just as their work was described as meticulous, a lot of their criminal damage is meticulous,' forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen told Sunday Night.

'They come back with a very clear intention to do the maximum damage that they can... it is definitely about vengeance,' he added.

The duo worked for Doug Redding at his home in Cecil Plains, in southern Queensland, for seven months before he had a mild argument with them and they exploded.

He said the Stocco's did $600,000 worth of damage to his work shed - over turning machinery, setting fire to equipment and even pouring sugar into fuel tanks rendering them useless.

The duo worked for Doug Redding (pictured) at his home in Cecil Plains, in southern Queensland, for seven months before he had a mild argument with them and they exploded

'They are die hard cowards. They come in the night, they burn people out, they thieve and not just once,' Mr Redding said.

Hungry for justice, Mr Redding printed out makeshift wanted signs and traveled up and down the coast warning trusting neighbours not to fall for the same ploy he had.

But he could not warn everyone and the Stoccos already had new victims in their sights.

In a calculated move, Gino contacted Rick Zipsin, from Glenburn, north-east of Melbourne, after the Black Saturday bush fires and offered to work on their property in exchange for a warm place to stay.

They stayed in the visitors flat and kept it in an immaculate condition, giving the Zipsin's no reason to revoke their invitation.

In a calculated move, Gino contacted Rick Zipsin, from Glenburn, north-east of Melbourne, after the Black Saturday bush fires and offered to work on their property in exchange for a warm place to stay

Mr Zipsin said they then started showing up unannounced three or four times a year for four years, slowly wearing down their welcome until he asked them to give the family some privacy (Pictured on Zipsin farm)

Mr Zipsin said they then started showing up unannounced three or four times a year for four years, slowly wearing down their welcome until he asked them to give the family some privacy.

Shortly after they woke to the house bathed in an 'orange light'. Their hay shed had been set ablaze and flames shot up 40 metres into the sky, Sunday Night reported.

The Zipsin's weren't able to save anything, but to make matters worse - the Stoccos returned to their property in the height of bush fire season and set even more property alight.

They did around $900,000 worth of damage, leaving the Zipsin's farm in turmoil.

The Stoccos set fire to the Zipsin's hay shed and returned a couple months later to target their farming equipment

They did around $900,000 worth of damage, leaving the Zipsin's farm in turmoil

'Its devastating. I just don't understand how someone could burn someone's livelihood like that,' he told Mr Zipsin

'Its devastating. I just don't understand how someone could burn someone's livelihood like that,' he told Mr Zipsin.

Ian and Shelley Durkin, from Coolatai, in northern New South Wales, also fell victim to the Stocco's ploy.

Mr Durkin said the pair were well presented when they showed up at their cattle farm asking for work.

But Gino became obsessed with maintaining the front lawn and would become infuriated when the cows trampled the grass.

He went so far as to erect an electric fence but when Mr Durkin said it was a 'pain in the neck', Gino refused and vengefully told the farmer he had a right to keep it.

The Stoccos fled, but not before leaving Mr Durkin a note slamming him for being an 'arrogant fool'.

Ian (pictured) and Shelley Durkin, from Coolatai, in northern New South Wales, also fell victim to the Stocco's ploy

The Stoccos fled, but not before leaving Mr Durkin a note slamming him for being an 'arrogant fool'

A couple of days after they left the property, the Durkin's returned home to find the Stoccos had meticulously drilled holes in nearly 100 tyres on the property

They also cut fences surrounding the property, freeing the family's cattle, and stole three guns

GINO AND MARK STOCCOS ALLEGED CRIMES AND TIMES ON THE RUN 2003 - Gino divorces his wife. Buys a yacht with his divorce settlement and sets off on a three-year trip on the southern and eastern coast with son Mark. 2004 - Mark robs his mother in a Melbourne car park. DECEMBER 21, 2006 - Gino and Mark arrested after a $2,000 burglary in Port Fairy, Vic. FEBRUARY 2007 - Gino is jailed for four months after pleading guilty to charges including burglary, theft, obtaining financial advantage by deception. Mark was jailed for two months on three charges, including the assault on his mother. 2011 - Gino and Mark Stocco working on a farm at Canowindra, in NSW central-west 2014 - Almost $200,000 of damage caused in an arson attack at the Canowindra property where the Stoccos worked in 2011. Two men matching their description seen fleeing the scene. 2014 - Gino and Mark Stocco spend 12 months working as farmhands at Coolatai in northern NSW but flee without a word in the middle of the night after a disagreement with the owner. MAY 2015 - Thousands of dollars worth of damage caused at Coolatai property, including fences cut and tyres drilled. Owner Ian Durkin told AAP he has no doubt it was Gino and Mark Stocco. JUNE 2015 - Queensland Police issue an alert for the pair, saying they are wanted for questioning over property offences. OCTOBER 16 - Gino and Mark Stocco allegedly open fire on police near Wagga Wagga, NSW, and again a short time later at nearby Mangoplah. OCTOBER 18-19 - Stoccos allegedly steal a Toyota LandCruiser with NSW plates near Holbrook. OCTOBER 20 - Pair spotted refuelling at a service station in Euroa, in Victoria's northeast. Three sets of numberplates stolen from a Tumbarumba, NSW, caravan park. OCTOBER 21 - Police set up a command post at Yea, 110km from Melbourne's CBD. Duo seen in a supermarket at Bairnsdale, Vic. OCTOBER 22 - Sighting of the pair at Castella, driving towards Yea. Vic Police make the decision not to pursue. Pair allegedly ram a police car near St James. Manhunt is escalated to include helicopters and additional checkpoints. Unconfirmed sighting at Kinglake, Vic. OCTOBER 24 - Unconfirmed sighting near Sale, Vic. Search returns to NSW after stolen LandCruiser, now with SA numberplates, spotted at a service station south of Gundagai. Pair allegedly flee without paying for $200 of petrol. OCTOBER 26 - NSW Police expected to charge both Gino and Mark Stocco with 13 offences, including attempted murder. Advertisement

A couple of days after they left the property, the Durkin's returned home to find the Stoccos had meticulously drilled holes in nearly 100 tyres on the farm and cut fences surrounding the property, freeing the family's cattle.

They also stole three guns, which Ms Durkin said caused her to live in fear that one day they would return and use them against her or her family.

But Ms Durkin was able to let out a sigh of relief when police finally arrested the pair in October 2015.

The Stoccos allegedly emerged from the building and gave up without a struggle, but not without a last minute of defiance before they were handcuffed on the ground.

They were told to raise their hands above their head when police were not sure whether the men were still armed, but Gino kept his hands in his pockets.

Police swooped in without hesitation and forced the criminal to comply with the order, handcuffing him with cable ties alongside his son.

Both men have been charged with a string of offences, including murder, and will face court in August.

Police swooped in without hesitation and forced the criminal to comply with the order, handcuffing him with cable ties alongside his son
Former Indiana University student John P. Enochs (pictured), of Downers Grove, Illinois, allegedly raped one girl in April 2015 and another in 2013, but was sentenced to a year of probation after accepting a plea deal

A frat boy accused of two rapes has had both felony charges against him dropped after he accepted a plea deal to a lesser charge.

Former Indiana University student John P. Enochs, of Downers Grove, Illinois, allegedly raped one girl in April 2015 and another in 2013.

Enochs, formerly a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, firmly denies both charges.

The 22-year-old was facing two counts of felony rape, but instead will only be convicted of a misdemeanor battery with moderate bodily injury charge.

He was sentenced to one year probation and spent only one day in jail, FOX 59 reported.

An affidavit describes the incident that allegedly occurred in April, saying a woman was at a party at Enochs' frat house, drinking with friends, when she went to find a bathroom.

She says the next thing she remembers is being in a private room with an unknown man who was having sex with her, the affidavit alleges.

The unidentified woman said when she realized what was happening she pushed the man off her, said 'no' and, after the act finished, ran to a bathroom to hide until her friends found her.

The police were called and the woman was given a rape kit test if she had been assaulted.

Security footage showed Enochs entering a room with the woman and his DNA was found on her, the affidavit says.

She later identified him in a line up, according to IndyStar.

Enochs' attorney, Katharine C. Liell vigorously denies this allegation and the one from 2013.

An affidavit describes the incident that allegedly occurred in April, saying a woman was at a party at Enochs' frat house (pictured), drinking with friends, when she went to find a bathroom. The next thing she remembers is a man having sex with her, who she did not know

'I totally believe John has been caught up in a whirlwind of emotion surrounding any allegation involving sexual assault on campus,' Liell said.

She called the incidents 'histrionics' caused by other college rape cases.

The 2013 accusation of rape came from a woman who said Enochs was seen having sex with her, although the woman herself doesn't recall the incident.

Enochs is alleged to have assaulted this woman before attending a Greek function on the college campus.

The woman was passed out during the incident, it is alleged. A friend claims she rushed upstairs to stop the rape, but the door was locked, the affidavit reads.

Twitter lit into Enochs, likening his case to that of Brock Turner, who was found guilty on three sexual assault charges for raping a woman on the campus of Stanford University and later was sentenced to only six months in jail

Initially the woman did not want to press charges until she heard of the case from 2015, and then decided to report the assault.

Following the plea deal, Twitter lit into Enochs, likening his case to that of Brock Turner, who was found guilty on three sexual assault charges for raping a woman on the campus of Stanford University and later was sentenced to only six months in jail.

One Twitter user, Kimberly Turner wrote: 'White male privilege must be nice #johnenochs #rapeculture.'
Patricio Marre Avila, 45, seriously assaulted his girlfriend, Carol Mora Alvarez (pictured)

A mother-of-two had her face cut to shreds when her 'possessive' boyfriend viciously attacked her with a broken glass bottle.

Patricio Marre Avila, 45, seriously assaulted his girlfriend, Carol Mora Alvarez, and then killed himself, because she was going to end their relationship.

Avila broke a bottle and used it to cut her face and peel off parts of her skin in the city of La Calera, in central Chile.

Afterwards he took another bottle and hit her over the head, leaving her unconscious.

Avila then put his 35-year-old girlfriend in a windowless room without ventilation and left her there.

She woke up about 45 minutes later and began screaming until neighbours came to her aid and called police.

Police investigating the attack found Avila had written a note which read: 'I am bipolar, nice angry guy.'

The family of the victim, who is the mother of two children aged three and 13, described Avila as an 'extremely possessive man' and the relationship between the two, which had lasted barely a month, as 'unhealthy.'

Carol was transferred to a hospital for treatment and police confirmed she will need major reconstructive surgery to her face.

Police launched a manhunt for her attacker but as they closed in, Avila decided to kill himself after a further social media post saying: 'I would not say I am perfect, because I know it's not true, I have defects and I get it wrong.

'But I have a strong character and a noble heart.'
A group of more than 650 migrants arrived in Italy today after being rescued on the Mediterranean Sea.

Hundreds disembarked from the Aquarius at Messina, a city on the island of Sicily, following a huge rescue operation on Friday.

Ship crews pulled more than 2,000 migrants from overcrowded boats two days ago, Italy's coastguard said, as people smugglers stepped up operations during two consecutive days of good weather.

Hundreds disembarked from the Aquarius at Messina, a city on the island of Sicily following a huge rescue operation on Frida

A group of more than 650 migrants arrived in Italy today after being rescued on the Mediterranean Sea

Ship crews pulled more than 2,000 migrants from overcrowded boats two days ago, Italy's coastguard said

More than 7,100 people have now been plucked from international waters since Thursday, many of them on the dangerous journey from Libya.

Europe's worst immigration crisis since World War Two is in its third year, and there has been little sign of any let up of the flow of people coming from North African to Italy since last year.

Ships belonging to Doctors without Borders, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, Italy's navy, the EU's border agency Frontex, and the bloc's anti-people-smuggling mission Sophia, all helped take the migrants off nine boats on Friday.

About 60,000 boat migrants have been brought to Italy so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry.

Rescue came after people smugglers stepped up operations during two consecutive days of good weather

A woman looks out of the porthole from aboard the 'Aquarius' rescue vessel after arriving in Sicily, Italy
Sarah Palin has congratulated the UK on voting to leave the European Union and has urged the United States to emulate the spirit of their transatlantic ally and leave the United Nations.

The former Governor of Alaska posted a picture of Margaret Thatcher to Facebook and quoted the former prime minister and conservative hero writing, 'liberty is fundamental'.

Praising the 'smart' British for their leap into the dark with the so-called Brexit, Palin declared voters in the UK had turned away from the 'apocalyptic One World Government'.

Palin then appeared to erroneously compare the European Union - a political and economic union of 28-nation states - to the United Nations - which is diplomatic body of 193-nations set up to promote global peace after World War Two.

She demanded the United States extricate itself from the UN, which 'dissolves a nation's self determination and sovereignty.'

Scroll down for video

Sarah Palin (pictured) took to Facebook to praise the UK for voting to leave the European Union and encouraged the U.S. to leave the United Nations

Indeed, it has been a tumultuous week in the UK, to say the least, but Sarah Palin is reassuring those who voted to leave the EU that they made the right choice.

The UK voted to leave the European Union by 51 per cent and will begin the process of separating itself from the politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe.

The decision, the first of its kind in the UK, has caused turmoil in the country and rocked the stock market nationally.

It has also caused rifts in the UK between migrants, who as members of the EU have free movement among the country, and British nationals.

With a picture of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a quote reading 'liberty is fundamental', Palin offered her thoughts on the UK's decision to leave to EU.

'Congratulations, smart Brits. Good on you for ignoring all the fear mongering from special interest globalists who tend to aim for that apocalyptic One World Government that dissolves a nations self-determination and sovereignty the EU being a One World Government mini-me,' she wrote.

Palin is alluding to the United Nations when she mentions the 'one world government'.

She believes the UN has put 'shackles' on the U.S.

In her post she encourages Americans to follow Britain's lead and 'break the shackles' the UN has put on the country.

'America can learn an encouraging lesson from this.
A 64-year-old man who lives out of two trash-filled trucks in New York's West Village insists he's not crazy compared to neighboring residents who pay sky-high rents.

Jimmy Tarangelo has lived at the corner of West Houston and Greenwich, in one of Manhattan's most expensive and sought-after neighborhoods, for the last 15 years.

Working odd-jobs in order to support himself, Tarangelo began with just one van but had to add a second after his collection of possessions grew too large.

Jimmy Tarangelo (right, pictured with friend Eugene Gilhooley) has been living rent-free inside two RVs in one of Manhattan's most expensive neighborhoods for the last 15 years

Tarangelo initially lived inside just one van, but when his collection of possessions - which includes scooters, microwaves and detergent bottles - got too big he bought himself a second one

Before ending up inside the vans, Tarangelo used to rent an apartment on a street just a few blocks away, but was kicked out for what he calls a 'clutter problem'

That haul includes scooters, tripods, microwaves, boards, fans, lamps, chairs, bags, detergent bottles, stuffed animals, cans, an umbrella and a metal building lantern, the New York Post reports.

But despite his unorthodox lifestyle, Tarangelo insists his actions are not as mad as they seem.

He said: 'Im not the cuckoo one living in the truck. Theyre cuckoo for paying to live there.'

Many who work in the area have grown fond of Tarangelo, saying he is now a fixture of the neighborhood and they often look out for him on their morning commute.

However, those who live in apartments nearby are not so keen on their neighborhood companion.

Tarangelo, who was once a building superintendent, now takes care of himself by doing odd jobs including 'minor car repairs, handyman work, a little locksmithing'

Tarangelo ran into trouble with the ASPCA two years ago when they put one of his dogs down without informing him. He now has just one animal companion left, border collie cross Pickles (pictured)

Despite his seemingly odd lifestyle choices, Tarangelo insists he isn't the crazy one and it would be madder to pay the sky-high rents in the West Village

Jake Farrell, 70, a retired accountant, said: 'We all have rights, but hes visiting himself on a neighborhood we spend thousands and millions of dollars to live in. Nobody really likes him.'

Tarangelo once lived in an apartment just a few blocks from where he now resides, according to New York Mag, but was evicted for what he referred to as a 'clutter problem'.

The magazine reports that the 'clutter' included 10 rescue cats, with a judge telling him that he needed to 'deal with his disorder'.

At the time, he was working as a building superintendent, but also dabbled in 'minor car repairs, handyman work, a little locksmithing' to make ends meet.

Tarangelo also sells items at flea markets, with some of the stuff stored in his RV serving as inventory for his stall.

While those who work in the neighborhood have grown fond of Tarangelo, and look out for him on their commutes, those who have to share the district with him are less enamored

When Tarangelo first moved in to his van, he still owned three dogs called Spot, Cinnamon, and Pickles, and one cat named Samantha, the only feline he wasn't forced to give up.

Tarangelo had a run in with animal control officers two years ago after claiming the ASPCA officials put down his dog Spot behind his back.

The animal was put down after a neighbor complained of abuse because of a large red patch on its back, though Tarangelo claimed it was cancer for which the dog was being treated.
A white volunteer cop who shot a black suspect dead after mistaking his gun for a taser says he shouldn't have signed up for the unpaid job.

Robert Bates, 74, was given a four-year prison sentence for killing Eric Harris during a sting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 2, 2015.

In an extraordinary interview with NBC News from behind bars, the millionaire said he regretted ever trying to give back to the community and said the shooting has ruined his life.

He is being held in isolation for the jail term that he has described as a death sentence.

'I'm pretty much been condemned,' he said. 'I regret the whole thing. I regret that I ever decided to try to give something back to the community.

Former volunteer cop Robert Bates, 74, who shot a black suspect dead after mistaking his gun for a taser, says he shouldn't have signed up for the unpaid job

'It was an accident. I didn't mean for it to happen. That's the one thing that has pretty much ruined my life.

'I thought I was doing good. I thought I was doing something good for the community.

'I'm probably done,' he added. 'I mean, I don't want to die in prison but I suppose it's a good possibility.'

Bates fatally shot Harris while working with Tulsa County sheriff's deputies last year during a botched illegal gun sales sting. Harris was restrained and unarmed at the time.

After the shooting, an internal 2009 sheriff's office memo surfaced that questioned Bates' qualifications.

Bates also was a close friend of then-Sheriff Stanley Glanz and had donated thousands of dollars in cash, vehicles and equipment to the sheriff's office.

Glanz was also indicted by a grand jury in September, accusing him of railing to release the 2009 memo. He resigned in November last year.

Bates, 74, was given a four-year prison sentence (left) for killing Eric Harris (right) during a sting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on April 2, 2015. In an extraordinary interview from behind bars, the millionaire said he regretted ever trying to give back to the community and said the shooting has ruined his life

He killed Harris, who was unarmed, as he was being held on the ground during the botched arrest

The shooting raised questions about training standards for volunteer deputies and favoritism in the department

Police in Tulsa have said that Bates thought he was holding his stun gun not his handgun when he fired and in police bodycam video Bates can be heard exclaiming, 'I shot him! I'm sorry' when he realized what he had done.

Bates said he would like to tell Harris' family: 'I'm so sorry that it happened.' But he doesn't think that will happen: 'It keeps me up at night. I can't sleep.'

He said he cried 'all the time' over Harris' death.

But for Harris' family, his emotions haven't fixed everything: 'Anything he says is not going to bring my dad back,' said Harris' son, Aiden Fraley, 17.

He and Harris' brother, Andre, said they have forgiven Bates. But they feel actions should have consequences.

'I thought it was pretty outlandish and pretty incredible to have a 73-year-old running around with a badge and a gun supposedly chasing bad guys,'
A mother who searched desperately for the kind of blanket she wrapped her stillborn baby in was moved to tears by the gesture of a supermarket that found it for her.

Tamzyn Rollinson, 29, picked the blanket her own mother had bought for the baby and wrapped her up in it when she was born three weeks ago.

She later tried to get hold of the blanket again but it was out of stock everywhere, although when she told staff at Tesco, they went to great lengths to get her one.

After a short conversation on the company's Facebook messenger service, the next day they arrived with a blanket, a bunch of flowers and a sympathies card.

Staff from Tesco went to great lengths to deliver a blanket to a mother whose baby girl was still born, also bringing a bunch of flowers and a card

Tamzyn Rollinson, from Hove, wrapped her baby in the blanket for the first and last time three weeks ago but had found it impossible to get a replica

Tamzyn and her partner David, who opened the door to the Tesco staff that delivered the blanket and flowers

Mrs Rollinson said: 'After I spoke to them, the next morning thy told me they had found one, but I expected just to get an email saying that one would be available for collection at my local store.

'Then my partner, David called me and there were these two lovely blokes at my door standing there with a bunch of flowers for me.

'It's not just down the road, they made a 16-mile trip, and they didn't have to do that at all - they really went out of their way for me.'

Mrs Rollinson, from Saltdean, West Sussex, said she was looking at pictures of her tiny daughter and noticed how big the hearts on the blanket looked.

She decided that she wanted a replica of the blanket for a memory box dedicated to the baby, who her daughters Frankie, 8, and Lacie, 10, never got to meet.

It would go in a box given to her at the hospital which also included a candle, a balloon with a postcard to send to Heaven, and other items.

She was so touched by the delivery, which came with a bunch of flowers and a sympathy card, that she thanked the store on social media with message and a crying emoticon.

Mrs Rollinson wrote: 'I just want to say a massive thank you to your lovely customer service team.

Staff from Tesco, Shoreham (pictured), West Sussex, decided to take on the task after Mrs Rollinson spoke to them about the blanket

'I sent them a private message last night to see if they could try and find a baby blanket for me that was currently out of stock everywhere.

'I really wanted to get hold of this certain blanket as my little girl was stillborn nearly three weeks ago and this is the same blanket I wrapped her in when she was born so I wanted one for myself to go in her memory box.

'Tescos managed to track one down for me this morning and the lovely staff at the Shoreham by sea branch went out of their way to hand deliver me, not only the beautiful blanket but a gorgeous bunch of flowers and a card too!

'It was such a kind thing for you all to do and I thank you so much.'

The heartwarming post was shared on Facebook more than 6,000 times and dozens left comments.

Linda Chambers wrote: 'Brought tears to my eyes . Such a lovely thing to do. So sorry for your loss sweetheart. May your daughter fly happy and free with the angels X X X '

Ellie Lawrie wrote: 'Never stop believing in humanity and the goodness in all of us. Bless you Tamzyn.'
Police are hunting for a suspect after three people were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting inside a Maryland home on Friday night.

Carlina Gray, 50, of District Heights, Jan Parks, 55, of Landover, and Allen Rowlett, 60, of Forestville, all died, Prince George's County police have confirmed.

They were fatally shot inside Grays home in District Heights, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Two other adults who were also shot were taken to hospitals. Police said they had both suffered life-threatening injuries.

Scroll down for video

Carlina Gray (right), Jan Parks, and Allen Rowlett (right) were shot dead inside a Maryland home on Friday

One is in critical condition and the other is stable, Fox5 reports.

All five victims were found inside the home in the 3100 block of Orleans Street at around 9.43pm, authorities said.

Prince George's County police said that they don't believe the shooting was random but they haven't detailed a motive. A suspect has not been identified.

Gray's sister Meredith Bailey described her sister as caring and generous.

My sister was the friendliest person youd ever meet, she told ABC7. Everybody always wanted to be around her.

'Her home was always opened up to anybody who needed somewhere to go.

Bailey said one of the injured in hospital was Gray's live-in boyfriend. She added: Someone in a mask ran up into the house and shot [them].

Two others were taken to hospitals with life-threatening injuries. Above, the house in District Heights

All five victims were found inside the home in the 3100 block of Orleans Street at around 9.43pm Friday

A friend of Rowlett's said he was a limo driver and loved motorcycles.

'We want to make sure everyone understands this was a well-loved person,' he told Fox5. 'He's going to be missed, he really is. I miss him already.'

Neighbors expressed shock at the news, with one saying the neighborhood is a quiet one and shootings were not the norm.

Little kids run around during the day, Norma Roeshner told WUSA9. Other than that, its pretty quiet. I hope they get them.

But others are afraid now and were unwilling to give their names with a suspect still on the run.

'I don't know whether I'm going to continue to live here or not,' one man said, while inspecting his home because his wife thought a bullet had hit their property.

He acknowledged that crime in the neighborhood was rare but said: 'It happened right next door to my house. I'm afraid for myself and my wife.'

The home in District Heights is a few miles east of the District of Columbia border.
They're normally seen as double-trouble, but China was celebrating today after Xinxin the giant panda gave birth to twins.

The nine-year-old panda lives in the Macao region of the country, and was given to the region by the Chinese government as a gift.

And on Sunday she gave birth to her two twins - one which weighed 135 grams and another which weighed 53.8 grams.

They're normally seen as double-trouble, but China was celebrating today after Xinxin the giant panda gave birth to twins - and it looked like the panda was adjusting motherhood

The nine-year-old panda pushed one of her offspring around with her nose

It looked as though Xinxin was getting to grips with being a mother as she lifted one of the tiny cubs with her mouth, while nudging another along with her nose.

When a panda cub is first born it is pink, blind and toothless, weighing only 90 to 130 grams - a mere one eight-hundredth of its mother's weight.

A month after birth, the colour pattern of the cub's fur is fully developed.

A feeder takes care of the second newly-born giant panda cub in Macao following their birth

At around 70 to 80 days it will begin to crawl and play with its mother or, in these conditions, with other pandas.

Giant panda cubs are extremely rare as female pandas are only in estrus - that is, ready to accept a male and mate - for around two to three days a year.

More problems occur when pandas are in captivity, as male pandas have been known to lose their sex drive, forcing scientists to try extreme methods including artificial insemination, giving male pandas Viagra and showing them videos of other pandas mating.
Police in Istanbul used tear gas and detain LGBT activists who were celebrating the end of Pirde week.

Several who gathered Sunday to issue a statement to mark the global LGBT rights week were injured after authorities banned their rally in the city. At least 19 activists were rounded up, organizers said.

Dozens of activists assembled on Istanbul's main pedestrian street to publicly read a statement marking the end of the gay, lesbian and transgender pride week and to denounce the ban. Several of them were detained however, before they could speak. Turkish police later used tear gas and rubber pellets to chase activists from side streets.

Two LGBT activists cover their faces as they run out of a store in Istanbul after being tear gassed by police

Participants shout slogans during Istanbul LGTB Pride Parade which was cancelled due to security concerns by the governor of Istanbul

Plainclothes police officers detain LGBT rights activists as they try to gather for a pride parade in Istanbul

People stand in the street as Turkish anti riot police officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse demonstrators gathered for a rally staged by the LGBT community

Istanbul's governor banned both last week's Trans Pride March and Sunday's broader LGBT pride parade, citing security concerns in the city, which has been hit by deadly attacks by Islamic State militants or Kurdish rebels.

Turkish Islamist and ultra-nationalist groups had also threatened counter-demonstrations to stop the gay rights rallies.

Activists believe authorities are using security as an excuse to ban the gay parades. They say the government they should be taking measures to deal with the threats instead.

Riot police use rubber pellets to disperse the LGBT rights activists

A participant calls out in shock as she is detained by plain clothes police officers

Last week, Turkish police also used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up demonstrators who gathered for the transgender parade in defiance of the ban

Two European legislators were also briefly detained Sunday, activists said. They included prominent Green Party lawmaker Volker Beck - an outspoken activist for gay rights -who was detained when he wanted to speak at the event in Istanbul.

The German news agency dpa quoted Beck as saying: 'The police tore away my passport and pushed me around.'
Advertisement

Ten people were stabbed and rushed to the hospital on Sunday when a right-wing white nationalist group holding a rally outside the California state Capitol building clashed with counter-protesters.

California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) were gathering for a rally around noon Sunday when they were met by about 400 counter-protesters and a fight broke out.

'I don't think there was any verbal exchange, just full on fight,' Granada said according to the Los Angeles Times.

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said emergency crews transported those who were stabbed, two of them with life-threatening injuries, and that many other people had cuts, scrapes and bruises.

According to KCRA, nine men and one woman, ages 19 to 58, were injured during the massive fight and taken to UC Davis Medical Center.

Scroll down for video

At least seven people have been rushed to the hospital, some in critical condition, after clashes between members of a neo-Nazi political party and counter-demonstrators in Sacramento (pictured, injured neo-Nazis)

California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party were gathering for a rally around noon Sunday when they were met by about 400 counter-protesters and a fight broke out (pictured, injured neo-Nazi)

Two of the men (above) injured in the violent clash were apart of the right-wing extremist group who was holding the rally at the Capitol

Emergency crews responded to the scene of the attacks at around 11.45am, with local stations reporting that tear gas and pepper spray were used to break up the demonstrations after people were stabbed (pictured, a victim is treated on the ground)

It is not yet known which group the wounded belong to, though one neo-Nazi member discussing the events online bragged 'they got one of our but we got six of theirs'

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said emergency crews transported at least six people who were stabbed, some critically wounded, and that many other people had cuts, scrapes and bruises (pictured, a victim being taken away by fire officials)

KCRA reporter Mike Luery (center) was attacked by members of the group called Anti-Fascism Action Sacramento as they staged a counter-protest against theTraditionalist Worker's Party and the Golden State Skinheads on Sunday

Members of the group called 'anti-fascism' group tried to light a flag on fire as they staged the counter-protest against the Traditionalist Worker's Party and the Golden State Skinheads at State Capitol on Sunday

Counter-demonstrators were pictured burning a Confederate flag seized from the neo-Nazi activists as clashes turned violent in Sacramento today

He said the Capitol remained on lockdown three hours after the large fight broke out, but that things had calmed down and only about 70 'anti-fascists' remained in the area.

The LA Times reported that California Assemblyman Jim Cooper, who is a former sheriff's captain, said that employees at the Capitol were sheltered inside the building's basement level during the incident.

Some staff and tourists were still inside the Capitol when an email was sent to legislative staffers about 3.30pm saying that the building remained on lockdown.

'They came ready to fight,' Cooper said, referencing how some of the protesters came dressed as if they planned to battle it out.

Harvey said: 'There was a large number of people carrying sticks and rushing to either get into the melee or see what was going on.'

While it is not yet known which group the wounded belonged to, one neo-Nazi broadcasting the march online bragged that 'they got one of ours but we got six of theirs'.

Emergency crews were called to the area at 11.45am and found victims strewn across the grounds outside of the Capitol building.

Around an hour later police had cordoned off parts of the area and most of the demonstrators had left, according to the LA Times.

Dozens of police tried to separate the Hitler-inspired activists and counter demonstrators, but clashes broke out in a park opposite California's state Capitol building

California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party showed up for the rally. Above anti-fascist counter-protestors parade through Sacramento

Demonstrations by the TWP had been planned for several weeks. Above Sophie (no last name given) protests after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis holding a permitted rally and counter-protestors

Police and fire crews said they were responding to a 'mass casualty' event outside the Capitol building in Sacramento this afternoon

No arrests were made at the event on Sunday. Above a police officer grabs a man antagonizing 'anti-fascist' protesters after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis holding a permitted rally and counter-protesters

At least three individuals were stabbed at the State Capitol while the others were injured in a neighboring park.

As people tried to leave the area, smaller fights broke out, Granada said. He said no arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon.

Police were forced to use tear gas and pepper spray in order to disperse the demonstrators, according to local reports.

Harvey said that the group of 'right-wing extremists' were met by a huge number of counter-protesters.

'It's unclear at this time how much of this was planned and how much of it was sort of a sudden reaction to what was going on here,' Harvey said.

Demonstrations by the TWP had been planned for several weeks, while posts on social media suggest counter-demonstrations were also well-organized.

The TWP had scheduled and received a permit to protest at noon Sunday in front of the Capitol.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has described the TWP as a group formed in 2015 as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which aims to 'indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism.'

Matthew Heimbach, chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, told the LA Times that his group and the Golden State Skinheads organized the Sunday rally.

Vice chairman Matt Parrott, who was not present at the Sacramento rally, said it was a peaceful march and blamed 'leftist radicals' for instigating the violence.

Insane video. Crowd sees any signs of "Nazis" and they run&attack. A lot of people bleeding/getting maced. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/PoFhILfZ95  Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 26, 2016

Matthew Heimbach, chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, said that in the clash, one of their marchers had been stabbed in an artery and six of the 'anti-fascists' had also been stabbed. Above an 'anti-fascist' protester (center) confronts a man antagonizing them

About 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party showed up for the rally and were met by about 400 counter-protesters before the violence erupted. Above Sacramento Police officers gather after multiple people were stabbed during the clash

Tthe Capitol remained on lockdown three hours after the large fight broke out. Above Sacramento police mounted officers prepare for crowd control after the incident near the Capitol

Heimbach said that in the clash, one of their marchers had been stabbed in an artery and six of the 'anti-fascists' had also been stabbed.

Images from the scene showed dozens of counter demonstrators lined up in front of the Capitol building, vastly outnumbering the neo-Nazis protesters gathered in the park opposite.

Video from the scene suggests the clashes took place in the park, with footage showing people being dragged, kicked and punched as violence broke out.

In one particularly disturbing piece of footage, a man with long hair can be see getting up off the grass before being hit in the head with a bat by another man wearing a mask across his face.

Of the violence, a local ABC10 reporter, Frances Wang, wrote on Twitter that there were 'blood spatters all over the ground. Police trying to control crowds.'

She recorded video of the rally showing people running towards each other from the two groups before they start attacking each other with sticks, flag poles and punches.

Above bloody bandages and protest signs lay on the lawn of the California State Capitol after multiple people were stabbed during a clash

Sacramento Police officers follow counter-protesters after the mass stabbing at the rally on Sunday

Above anti-fascist counter-protesters parade through Sacramento after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis holding a permitted rally and counter-protesters

Above Richard Becker holds a sign during the protest after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis

Some people at the rally hid their faces with masks and scarves to conceal their identity.

On it's website, the Hitler-inspired group says it 'is America's first political party created by and for working families.

'Our mission is defending faith, family, and folk against the politicians and oligarchs who are running America into the ground.

'We intend to achieve that goal by building a nationwide network of grassroots local leaders who will lead Americans toward a peaceful and prosperous future free from economic exploitation, federal tyranny, and anti-Christian degeneracy.'

A post recently uploaded to site of the Traditionalist Youth Network said TWP members planned to march in Sacramento to protest against globalization and in defense of their right to free expression. They said they expected to be outnumbered 10-to-1 by counter-protesters.

'We concluded that it was time to use this rally to make a statement about the precarious situation our race is in,' the Traditionalist Youth Network statement said.
The father charged with manslaughter after leaving his baby daughter in a hot car and then putting her in a refrigerator instead of calling the cops has defended himself, saying that he and his wife are 'heartbroken'.

Michael Thedford, 33, an unemployed high school teacher, was arrested in Collin County, outside of Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday.

He was charged with manslaughter after the death of six-month-old Fern and released on a $20,000 bond.

Scroll down for video

Michael Thedford (pictured with his wife and children, including baby Fern, right) defended himself after leaving his baby daughter in a hot car, saying that he and his wife are 'heartbroken'

Michael Thedford, 33, an unemployed high school teacher, was arrested in Collin County, outside of Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, and charged with manslaughter after leaving his daughter in a hot car

Thedford had dropped his other children, aged three and five, at daycare - but forgot about Fern, who remained strapped into her car safety seat while the temperature outside was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32C).

In a statement released through their attorney, Thedford and his wife Jennifer said they love their children, WFAA reports.

'We are heartbroken over the loss of our beautiful baby girl,' they said.

'We love our children. We love Fern, and our hearts will never heal.'

Thedford says it was a change in routine that made him forget about the baby after dropping his two other kids at daycare on Tuesday morning.

They were dropped off at 9am. Around 1.30pm, deputies were called to the family home in Melissa, around 40 miles north of Dallas.

Thedford had dropped his other children at daycare - but forgot about Fern, who remained strapped into her car safety seat in his van (above) while the temperature outside was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit

Some four hours later, he found his baby daughter in a desperate condition in the back of his vehicle. He took her out, placed her in a refrigerator 'for an undetermined amount of time,' police said

After returning home from dropping his kids off, Thedford went inside the family's home and fell asleep.

Some four hours later, he found his baby daughter in a desperate condition in the back of his vehicle.

He took her out, placed her in a refrigerator 'for an undetermined amount of time,' and called 911, the affidavit said.

He later placed the infant on the kitchen floor and attempted CPR on the baby before emergency responders arrived, it said.

Thedford said his daughter was stiff and 'hot as a brick' when he found her in the vehicle, the affidavit said.

Deputies found the child outside the vehicle but unresponsive, Capt. Jim Moody of the Collin County Sheriff's Department said.

Thedford's wife was at work at the time of the incident, according to police.

Neighbors said they witnessed Thedford re-enacting what had happened to the officers using a Mickey Mouse doll, CBS DFW reported.

Fabiola Contreras, who lives across the street, told the station: 'They used a Mickey Mouse type of doll for him to show what happened and now that I think about it, they also were measuring from the van to the door now that I remember.'

'They were asking the mother a few questions and she looked like she was crying,' he added.
Spain could face more months of political deadlock after a second election in six months failed to find a winner able to form a government.

The conservative Popular Party has ruled with a minority since December and it was hoped that the unprecedented second vote could put an end to it.

But despite receiving the most votes, it fell short of the majority of 176 seats it needs in the 350-seat Parliament to form a government on its own.

Mariano Rajoy, Spain's acting Prime Minister of the caretaker government, casts his vote for the Spanish general election today

The nation headed to the polls today for an unprecedented election after six months of political deadlock when there was no clear winner in the December ballot

However, the deadlock may continue after exit polls showed the ruling Popular Party (PP), which argued Spain needs stability in the face of Brexit, will fall not win enough seats for a majority

And with 99.9 per cent of the votes counted by late on Sunday, incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy's party had picked up 137 seats in Parliament.

Even so, Mr Rajoy declared he would make a push for power, telling a victory rally in Madrid: 'We won the election, we demand the right to govern.'

The elections came amid a climate of public anger at high unemployment, and cuts in government spending on services such as welfare and education.

The two-week campaign has also been marred by political corruption scandals.

Turnout for the election was 51.17 per cent, which is around seven percentage points lower than at the same time in December.

But there was unexpected drama during the polls when two voters collapsed and died, a 92-year-old man in Madrid and a 79-year-old man in Girona.

One of the leaders of far-left formation Unidos Podemos Alberto Garzon, who could actually take power by forming a coalition with the Socialist party

TWO DEATHS AND A BIRTH AT THE POLLING STATIONS IN SPAIN TODAY Two elderly men died and one woman gave birth at polling stations in Spain today. A 92-year-old man suffered a heart attack and collapsed just after casting his vote in the Madrid district of Tetuan. Medics tried to revive him at a local school but without success. The victim's wife, who went with him to vote, suffered an extreme anxiety attack and needed medical treatment. The second man, aged 79, had a dizzy spell in a polling station in the Girona town of Santa Coloma de Farners. Doctors said he had existing heart problems. Prolonged efforts were made to revive him but he was pronounced dead at the scene. On a lighter note, a heavily pregnant woman went in to labour seconds after making her choice in Valencia. She was rushed to hospital. Advertisement

However, there was better news in Valencia, where a heavily-pregnant woman went into labour seconds before casting her vote.

Throughout the campaign - and again on Friday after Brexit - the PP has campaigned that Spain needs stability in reference to the rise of Unidos Podemos, which rejects EU-backed austerity.

The coalition, led by charismatic, pony-tailed Pablo Iglesias, has responded with a message of calm aimed at defusing this criticism.

Unidos Podemos - the 'o' of Unidos shaped as a heart - has run an emotional campaign.

Iglesias said Spain needed a coalition government of Podemos and the Socialists as he cast his ballot at a high school in Vallecas, a working class neighbourhood in southern Madrid.

He said Podemos would 'sooner or later govern in Spain', adding that he hoped it would be now 'because the country can't wait'.

Rajoy argued that since the PP came to power in 2011, it has returned Spain to growth and overseen a drop in unemployment, but at 21 per cent, it is still the second highest in the EU after Greece.

But his rivals claim inequalities have risen, the jobs created are mainly unstable, and they point to the repeated corruption scandals to have hit the PP.

In the latest case, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz was caught on tape talking to an anti-fraud official, apparently discussing how to incriminate his political rivals - an incident Rajoy shrugged off as a 'farce'.

Election officials count ballots after polling stations closed in Spain's general election in La Fresneda, northern Spain, but exit polls show no-one will win enough votes to form a government

Rajoy has argued that since the PP came to power in 2011, it has returned Spain to growth and overseen a drop in unemployment, although it is still the second highest in Spain

The Socialist party (PSOE), meanwhile, is going through what analysts call its worst crisis in decades as Podemos gnaws away at its support base, with some voters disillusioned with what they see as a staid party that has strayed from its working-class roots.

'The PSOE isn't left-wing anymore, I want deep, general change, and Unidos Podemos is the only one that can do this,' said one such disappointed voter,' said Jonatan Mora, 31, a physiotherapist.

He added: 'We've been through some horrible years. I want all the corrupt to be chased out, social issues to be taken into account and citizens listened to.'

Whether Brexit will have any influence on Spain's election is as yet uncertain, though analysts say people may turn to established parties that represent a safe pair of hands.

Luis Fernandez, a 37-year-old community organiser, said he had voted for the Socialists in the past but would vote for Rajoy this time around.
Police have yet to make any arrests after a suspected gang-related shooting left two people dead and several injured during an unauthorized party at a hip-hop dance studio in Texas.

Jordan Larkin, 18, and Treavon Lewis, 22, were killed, the Tarrant County medical examiner's office confirmed on Sunday.

At least five others were injured in the shootings in the early hours of Saturday at Studio 74 in Fort Worth, and their conditions were unknown.

Officer Daniel Segura, of Fort Worth police, said on Sunday that detectives are working nonstop on the case but hadn't made any arrests.

Scroll down for video

Jordan Larkin (left) , 18, and Treavon Lewis (right), 22, were killed during an unauthorized party at a hip-hop dance studio in Texas in the early hours of Saturday night

Police taped off the scene of a mass shooting at a dance studio in Fort Worth, Texas, early on Saturday

A day earlier, police said arrests were imminent.

After the shooting, blood stained the outside of Studio 74, which sits on a state highway near a police station and multiple businesses and restaurants.

Broken glass from a trophy case covered the floor.

The gunfire erupted, witnesses told police, when a man ran toward the door to exit the studio.

Officers found one victim dead outside building, and several people were transported to hospitals - one of whom died from his injuries, police said.

The violence broke out about at a place that owner Laura Reyna described as a community safe haven from the streets.

Officers found one victim dead outside building, and several people were transported to hospitals - one of whom died from his injuries, police said

It's a nonprofit organization, she said. We deal in hip hop culture and we cater to our community.

It's a safe haven we dance, we compete. We try to stay away from events like this that happen.

Studio 74's website says the facility brings dance programming to underserved communities and the general public to reach audiences and participants of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds.

An employee of the facility, Jason Moore, was working at the time and said he had tried to help one of the victims.

He said he used a towel to compress the chest of one of the victims, who later died right outside the front door of the studio.

He got hit in the lungs, so there was no coming back for him, Moore said.

Moore added that several members of the group were carrying guns and that he thought he heard shots fired inside as well.

Jason Moore (above, at the studio on Saturday) was working when gunfire erupted outside. He said he used a towel to compress the chest of one of the victims, who later died right outside the front door

Reyna said the group wasn't supposed to be at the facility but Moore was unaware of that.

The studio is sometimes rented out, but Reyna told the Associated Press on Saturday there was no contract for the group to be at the studio at all on Friday night and that she considers it trespassing.

In a post on Facebook on Saturday morning, the studio told its followers that it had no involvement with the shooting.

'To all studio family, fans and supporters, first I would like to think (sic) all of you for the calls, concerns and prayers that have been sent my way,' the post said.

'I'm writing to respond to your concerns in regards to the incident that occurred in the parking lot of studio 74.

'We as dance family had no involvement with the incident that occurred last night. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Please continue to pray for them.'
The European Union must stop being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said today as the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave.

The Brexit vote to leave the EU has deepened fears among mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of eurosceptic, anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the far-right National Front is increasingly popular.

That concern has also prompted mainstream French politicians on the left and right to call for an overhaul of Europe, in a country where surveys show disillusionment with Brussels is growing.

The European Union must stop being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said today as the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave

'We must put an end to this sad and finicky Europe. Too often it is intrusive on details and desperately absent on what's essential,' Valls said.

'We must break away from the dogma of ever more Europe. Europe must act not by principle but when it is useful and pertinent.'

While a large majority of French are attached to EU membership, polls over the past few years have consistently shown a majority also want Europe to have fewer powers, said Francois Miquet-Marty, head of the Viavoice polling institute.

Only one on five voters want 'more Europe', Miquet-Marty said.

In his speech on Sunday in Normandy, Valls insisted Europe 'is not about seeing sovereign states disappear'

Long in the EU's driving seat alongside the bloc's power-house Germany, France, dogged by a poor track-record on abiding by the EU's fiscal rules, has been steadily less active on the EU scene over the past years.

In his speech on Sunday in Normandy, Valls insisted Europe 'is not about seeing sovereign states disappear.'
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pulled ahead of Labor for the first time in the election campaign, according to the latest opinion poll.

The latest Newspoll published in The Australian on Monday shows the coalition sitting on 51 per cent compared to Labor's 49 per cent on a two-party preferred basis as the campaign enters its final week.

The poll of 1713 people, taken between last Thursday night and Sunday, is the first to gauge Australian voters' reactions to the shock Brexit vote as economic stability takes centre stage ahead of Saturday's poll.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pulled ahead of Labor for the first time in the election campaign, according to the latest opinion poll on Monday

On a primary vote measure, the coalition rose two points to 43 per cent, Labor was static at 36 per cent, while support for smaller parties slipped, with the Greens slumping to a near three-year low of nine per cent.

Poll Who will you vote for in the 2016 Federal Election? Liberal Labor Other Who will you vote for in the 2016 Federal Election? Liberal 158 votes

Labor 76 votes

Other 21 votes Now share your opinion





Mr Turnbull's net satisfaction rating improved slightly to a negative 14, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's improved to a negative 15.

It comes as the Prime Minister tries to shore up seats in South Australia on Monday fresh from launching his re-election pitch in Sydney on Sunday.

The coalition is under pressure from Labor and the Nick Xenophon Team in several key electorates.

Recent Galaxy Research polling showed the marginal seat of Hindmarsh locked 50-50 two-party preferred between Labor and the Liberals.

Sitting MP Matt Williams is trying to see off the potential return of Labor's Steve Georganas, who lost in 2013. While opposition frontbencher Kate Ellis is fighting to retain Adelaide, which she holds by 3.9 per cent.

Mr Turnbull is expected to visit both seats on Monday and will be spruiking his government's defence industry plan.

He announced in April a French company had won the contract to build the country's next fleet of submarines in Adelaide.

Mr Shorten will kick off the eighth week of the campaign in Victoria where he's likely to face questions about Labor's policy costings released on Sunday.

Mr Turnbull's net satisfaction rating improved slightly to a negative 14, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's improved to a negative 15

It comes as the Prime Minister tries to shore up seats in South Australia on Monday fresh from launching his re-election pitch in Sydney on Sunday

The federal budget will be $16.5 billion worse off under a Labor government over the next four years, but have bigger surpluses in the long run.

Mr Shorten's first pit stop on Monday is to the seat of Dunkley in Melbourne's southeast.

It's held by the retiring former minister Bruce Bilson who's been the MP since 1996 and Labor thinks it could be vulnerable to fall.

Labor's candidate Peta Murphy is a barrister and has worked in Legal Aid.

The fate of Medicare is likely to be an ongoing focus for Mr Shorten's last week out on the hustings.
A 12-year-old girl is fighting for her life after she was trapped in her bedroom when a massive blaze engulfed her home, which three others were able to flee from safely.

The house fire critically injured the girl, suffering severe burns to her upper body and smoke inhalation, Queensland Ambulance said.

A woman and two other children managed to flee to safety after the blaze broke out about 3.45am on Monday in Monkland, Gympie, in Queensland.

Scroll down for video

A housefire in Monkland, Gympie, has critically injured a 12-year-old girl who was trapped in her bedroom

The 12-year-old girl was trapped in her bedroom, and firefighters bravely entered to save her life.

She was taken to Gympie Hospital and is expected to be airlifted 160 kilometres north to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital as soon as her condition stabilises, Nine Network said.

The house appears to have been gutted in the blaze.

Fire inspectors are yet to determine the cause of the fire.

A woman and two children managed to flee the housefire to safety when it broke out about 3.45am on Monday

The girl was rescued by firefighters and taken to Gympie Hospital. She is expected to be airlifted to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital when her condition stabilises
German manufacturers last night demanded that Britain be allowed to continue trading with the EU without any barriers.

The car-making industry said punishing Britain makes no sense  and it called on the German chancellor to give the UK a favourable trade deal.

Eurosceptics have repeatedly argued it is not in the EUs interests to bring in tariffs as the UK imports more from Europe than it exports, and any weakening of the British economy would also have a ripple effect on Europe.

Matthias Wissmann, of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), said: Even if many experts are competing to paint the worst possible scenario, now is the time for calmness.

Germany sells more cars to Britain than to any other country, with 810,000 exported last year (BMW plant pictured)

Every possible measure must be undertaken to enable the continued free movement of goods and services between the UK and the other EU countries. Following British departure from the EU, it will be in nobodys interest to make the international flow of goods more expensive by erecting customs barriers between Britain and the European continent.

Germany sells more cars to Britain than to any other country, with 810,000 exported last year, Mr Wissman said. And half of the 2.6million cars made in Britain last year were built by German-owned firms such as BMW, which runs Mini and Rolls-Royce.

Mr Wissman said: We should do everything we can to ensure that this success story will be continued. Now it is up to Brussels to take action.

Energy firm E.ON, which is based in Dusseldorf, is also lobbying against new customs barriers. Chief executive Johannes Teyssen said that as far as possible EU leaders should aim to retain a single market for goods and services for the British.

Office for National Statistics figures show the gap between Britains EU exports and imports widened to 23.9billion in the first three months of this year a record high. In 2000, 60 per cent of UK exports went to EU nations, but last year it was just 47 per cent.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no reason to be nasty in Britains exit negotiations. Yesterday European leaders accepted it may take months for Britain to begin the process of leaving the EU as it is facing a very significant political crisis.

E.ON's chief executive Johannes Teyssen said that as far as possible EU leaders should aim to retain a single market for goods and services for the British

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no reason to be nasty in Britains exit negotiations

Under the Lisbon Treaty, EU countries can leave through a process called Article 50, though it has never been used before. Triggering it starts a two-year clock for negotiating a formal exit.

European Parliament members had been pushing for David Cameron to trigger the exit process when he attends a Brussels summit tomorrow.

But last night diplomats from all 27 other member states agreed that it was unrealistic to formally begin exit negotiations until a new Prime Minister has been appointed.

The EU said yesterday that no negotiations could begin until the process was started formally, and officials warned that the UK would not be able to finalise a trade deal until after its exit.
British and European politicians are plotting to block the UK's exit from the EU.

On a chaotic day in which the Labour Party went into meltdown, a campaign was started to force a second referendum.

Tony Blair, Nicola Sturgeon, some pro-Remain MPs and a senior German official said a rethink was needed now the consequences of quitting the Brussels club were clear.

They were joined by Sir Richard Branson, who has called on Parliament to take a second look at the EU referendum result.

The Virgin Group founder accused Leave voters of opening 'a Pandora's Box of negative consequences' for Britain based on 'false promises' by the Boris Johnson-led Brexit campaign.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon delivered the most explicit threat  saying Scottish MSPs have to give their 'legislative consent' and she would advise them to veto it

Tony Blair was among those said a rethink was needed now the consequences of quitting the Brussels club were clear

It came as at least 21 Labour frontbenchers resigned in a bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn with a pro-EU party leader.

The plotters hope a general election can be held later this year before the start of the formal process of quitting. Last Thursday's referendum could then be reversed.

In further developments:

Theresa May prepared to take on Boris Johnson for the right to win the race to succeed David Cameron as prime minister within the new few months;

Mr Corbyn, who sacked Hilary Benn for disloyalty, claimed he was going nowhere, despite failing to even secure the backing of his own deputy, Tom Watson;

George Osborne announced he will give a statement today to 'provide reassurance about financial and economic stability';

The Chancellor, who had not been seen since the referendum result, is to stay in post to 'protect the national interest';

In a surprise move, talks have also begun for him to join a Boris Johnson leadership 'dream ticket' alongside Michael Gove;

A petition calling for a second referendum was placed under investigation after 77,000 signatures were found to be fraudulent.

Meanwhile, top figures in Brussels have questioned whether Britain will ever quit the union, with a senior diplomat saying the divorce process will probably be delayed and then ditched.

Iain Duncan Smith said the Europhiles were 'bad losers' yesterday.

Mr Duncan Smith said the bid by the political elite to frustrate the will of the people was an 'anti-democratic joke'.

'There is a lot of bad losing here from the Europhiles,' the former Tory leader told the Mail. 'This was one of the biggest turnouts since the war and there is no justification for a second referendum whatsoever.'

But Philip Hammond, who campaigned for Remain, insisted yesterday that Britain would have to sign up again to the European single market or face catastrophic consequences.

Sir Richard Branson (pictured) also called on Parliament to take a second look at the EU referendum result

Left: Peter Altmaier said that, if Britain left, it would be 'a difficult watershed with many consequences'. Right: Labour MP David Lammy called on Parliament to 'stop this madness'

Iain Duncan Smith said the Europhiles were 'bad losers' and the bid by the political elite to frustrate the will of the people was an 'anti-democratic joke'

The Foreign Secretary said this could mean having to accept continued freedom of movement.

A string of senior figures in Britain and Europe yesterday attempted to undermine the democratic will of the British people by sabotaging Brexit.

BRUSSELS DON'T BELIEVE THE UK WILL GO THROUGH WITH DIVORCE Top figures in Brussels don't believe Britain will go through with leaving the EU, with diplomats questioning whether the UK will ever trigger the formal divorce process. A country leaving the union must formally notify the European Council, setting the clock ticking on a two-year period to negotiate its split. But a senior EU diplomat said last night that he believes the UK will never actual embark on the move and will end up staying in the union. 'We want London to trigger Article 50 now, to have clarity. I expect, as we can't force them, for them to take their time,' the diplomat said. 'And I would not exclude, it's my personal belief, that they may never do it.' Advertisement

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon delivered the most explicit threat  saying Scottish MSPs have to give their 'legislative consent' and she would advise them to veto it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff said politicians should 'have the possibility to reconsider the consequences of an exit'.

Peter Altmaier said that, if Britain left, it would be 'a difficult watershed with many consequences'.

He added that Britain could apply to rejoin the EU later 'but that would take a long time'.

Tony Blair also said a second referendum on the UK's membership should not be ruled out.

He said the nation needs to 'see the consequences' of Brexit as they play out in the coming weeks.

The former prime minister said it was difficult to see a second poll at the moment, but 'there will be a lot of people in the country who will say 'let's have a look at this and see what we are going to do' and Parliament will want to look at it.'

Tory grandee and arch Europhile Lord Heseltine said he was appalled by the result of the referendum with voters 'sold a fool's promise'.

He also suggested there will need to be a general election in order for Parliament to sign off on Brexit.

Philip Hammond, who campaigned for Remain, insisted yesterday that Britain would have to sign up again to the European single market or face catastrophic consequences

'Every indication is that there is a 350 majority in the House of Commons in favour of remaining in Europe,' Lord Heseltine said.

'The only realistic prospect of persuading the House of Commons to pass amending legislation would be after a general election or another referendum.

'That is why the fight back begins today.'

Writing on his blog, Sir Richard - an active campaigner for Britain staying in the EU during the referendum campaign - urged the public to keep up the pressure on MPs to hold a second referendum on Britain's EU membership and said Parliament should consider a re-run.

He wrote: 'The decision over the UK's future was based on false promises that pushed a minority of the UK's total voting population (17 million out of 46 million) to vote the way it did.

'Two years before Brexit will even become reality, according to EU rules, it is already having massive consequences on the UK economy, and on society. Brexit has fractured the country more than any other event in recent memory.

'Based on the misrepresentation made by the Leave campaign, Parliament needs to take the petition of more than three million people to call for a new referendum seriously. The alternative is to watch a rapid decline of Britain's health and wellbeing.'

Labour MP David Lammy called on Parliament to 'stop this madness' and to vote against the decision to leave the EU.

In a statement on his Twitter feed, the former minister said: 'Wake up. We do not have to do this.'

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said his party would not 'roll over and give up' over the issue, pledging to fight the next general election on a manifesto promise to take Britain back into the EU.

Lord Heseltine (left) said he was appalled by the result of the referendum with voters 'sold a fool's promise'. Tim Farron (right), Liberal Democrat leader, said his party would not 'roll over and give up'

The hopes of some Europhiles have been raised by the fact that Mr Cameron has not triggered so-called article 50.

This is the formal mechanism which a country must use to give Brussels two years' notice of its intention to quit the EU.

During the bruising referendum campaign, the PM said he would invoke article 50 immediately in the event of a Brexit vote, but has failed to do so.

At a special Cabinet meeting today, there will be 'initial discussions about the administrative process needed to move forward'. But No 10 insiders said 'decisions around Article 50 are a decision for the next PM'.
A heart-warming video has been released showing the touching moment a Lake District hill runner rescued a stranded lamb before carrying it to safety.

Ricky Lightfoot, a professional runner from Cumbria, posted the clip two days ago and it has been viewed more than 500,000 times.

He said in a Facebook post: 'A few weeks back while out on a route on Great Gable I could hear a noise through the wind, I didn't want to ignore it as it sounded like it was stressed.'

In the footage Mr Lightfoot slowly makes his way down a cliff face to approach the bleating lamb.

He reaches the stricken sheep and strokes it to calm the creature down.

The little lamb then follows the runner up the cliff face and when it can climb no higher Mr Lightfoot gives it a helpful lift.

Social media users were quick to praise the selfless runner.

A heart-warming video has been released showing the touching moment a Lake District hill runner rescued a stranded lamb before carrying it to safety

Ricky Lightfoot, a professional runner from Cumbria, posted the clip two days ago and it has been viewed more than 500,000 times

Rebecca Westray said: 'This is the cutest thing ever! You can see how upset and distressed it was by how fast it ran to you'.

Stephen Wilson added: 'Well done... but I bet you were lost again and the lamb was giving you directions'.

In February fire crews were called to rescue a goat stranded on a cliff at Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset.

Emergency services and the RSPCA were brought in to help the frightened goat, which was carried on to an aerial platform.

People looked on as it was brought safely to the ground, checked over by an RSPCA inspector and then released.

He said in a Facebook post: 'A few weeks back while out on a route on Great Gable I could hear a noise through the wind, I didn't want to ignore it as it sounded like it was stressed'

Social media users were quick to praise the selfless runner. Rebecca Westray said: 'This is the cutest thing ever! You can see how upset and distressed it was by how fast it ran to you'
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker faced calls to resign last night as he was blamed for the Brexit vote.

Czech foreign minister Lubomir Zaoralek said the EUs chief bureaucrat was a negative symbol of the kind of federalism British voters rejected in the referendum.

In my opinion, he is not the right person for that position. We have to ask who is responsible for the result of the referendum in Britain, Mr Zaoralek told Czech television.

Mr Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg who has been dogged by rumours of ill health, has insisted he will not stand down.

Jean-Claude Juncker, pictured, president of the European Commission, has been blamed for Brexit result by some politicians on the continent

Czech foreign minister Lubomir Zaoralek, pictured, said the EUs chief bureaucrat was a negative symbol of the kind of federalism British voters rejected in the referendum

European leaders yesterday accepted it could take months for Britain to kick-start the process of leaving the EU because the country is facing a very significant political crisis.

Members of the European Parliament had been pushing for David Cameron to immediately trigger the two-year exit process when he attends a summit in Brussels tomorrow.

But last night diplomats from all 27 other member states agreed that it was unrealistic for the country to formally begin negotiations until a new prime minister had been appointed.

A senior EU official said: We as the EU27 expect a notification as soon as possible but everyone understands that right now there is quite a significant crisis in the UK. Not only of the change in the ruling party, it goes much deeper.

The official added that we are ready to start ASAP but said the other leaders understand this is a very significant political crisis ... expecting a kick-starting is not a realistic option.

While the Prime Minister will attend the EU summit tomorrow, he will be pointedly left outside the room on Wednesday as the other 27 members discuss measures including security and counter-terrorism.

Under the EUs Lisbon Treaty, which came into force in 2009, countries can leave by a process contained within Article 50  which has never before been invoked.

Once this is triggered it sets a two-year clock ticking for negotiating a formal exit arrangement.

'The EU said yesterday that no negotiations could begin with the UK until the process is started formally  and officials warned the country would not be able to finalise a trade deal until after it has left.

POLISH TARGETED IN HATE ATTACKS IN AFTERMATH OF BREXIT VOTE A string of xenophobic attacks are being investigated by police in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Laminated cards saying Leave the EU  No more Polish vermin were reportedly delivered to members of the Polish community in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. They were also found on the road near the towns St Peters School at 8.30am on Friday, with a translation on the back reading go home Polish scum. In Gloucester, a Polish man reported that a man in a supermarket queue became agitated on Friday, yelling: This is England now, foreigners have 48 hours to **** right off. Who is foreign here? And yesterday vandals struck at a Polish community centre in Hammersmith, west London, writing Go Home across the windows. Baroness Warsi, the former Cabinet minister in charge of community cohesion, warned that immigrants and their descendants were being stopped in the street and ordered to leave. She urged Brexit backers to speak out, telling Skys Murnaghan programme: I want them to say that the campaigning was divisive and was xenophobic and give a commitment that future campaigning and the way that they intend to run this country will be united, will make people from all backgrounds feel like they belong. Witold Sobkow, the Polish ambassador, called on British politicians to condemn post-referendum hate-motivated attacks on migrants. Advertisement

A senior EU official said: There will not be negotiations on the future status of the UK until the notification under Article 50 is sent to Brussels.

'You can conclude such arrangements only once the UK leaves the EU. We can do it only after the divorce procedure.

Earlier, European Parliament president Martin Schulz had demanded Mr Cameron kick-start the exit process when he arrives in Brussels for a dinner with EU leaders tomorrow.

'He accused Mr Cameron of holding the entire continent hostage by refusing.

Germany and France will today unveil a plan for EU countries to integrate further following Brexit.

Several EU officials have called for an immediate start to the UK's leaving process but have accepted it is 'unrealistic' that will begin before David Cameron, pictured, is replaced as Prime Minister

In a joint paper, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier will argue for measures including joint EU taxes.

They will say Europe needs to concentrate on ensuring the safety of its citizens as well as creating a stable and community framework for the management of migration and refugee flows.

They will also push for the convergence of our economies to achieve sustained growth.

Mr Juncker yesterday suggested Ukips MEPs should give up their seats. He told the German newspaper Bild: Members of the European Parliament are elected until the end of the parliamentary term.

They will retain their rights and obligations until the UK leaves the EU. However, I note that many British MEPs belonging to the UK Independence Party (Ukip) have used all their time in Parliament to work against the institution.
Stephen Jackson, 50, faces extradition over the disappearance of expat Lisa Brown from her Spanish home nearly eight months ago

A British yachtsman caught smuggling 17 Albanians into an exclusive marina is one of the prime suspects in the murder of a young mother.

Stephen Jackson, 50, faces extradition over the disappearance of expat Lisa Brown from her Spanish home nearly eight months ago.

Police want to question him over his links to her boyfriend Simon Corner, who was tracked down to Denmark earlier this year.

A yacht Jackson owns has been impounded in the Canary Islands amid fears it was used to dispose of Miss Browns body.

Full details of the Spanish investigation can be reported for the first time after Jackson admitted people smuggling.

During a short hearing at Lewes Crown Court last week, he pleaded guilty to sailing a boat carrying illegal immigrants into Chichester Marina in West Sussex in May.

It is believed officers hunting him over the murder were surprised to discover 17 Albanians packed inside the catamaran.

They had already tried and failed to board the boat near the Isle of Wight but were hampered by poor weather and instead tracked it by helicopter.

His lawyer, Gregory Fishwick, said he admitted facilitating illegal entry of the Albanians but was acting under partial duress at the time.

He did not give further details but said there was also a warrant out for his arrest in relation to a murder in Spain.

Wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, Jackson appeared relaxed and smiled and waved briefly at onlookers in court.

Adjourning the case until next month, Judge Guy Anthony told Jackson: You can expect a significant custodial sentence.

Police want to question Jackson over his links to Lisa Brown's (left) boyfriend Simon Corner (right), who was tracked down to Denmark earlier this year.

Before then, Jackson, who used to live in Exeter, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court where he faces extradition to Spain over the murder. Miss Brown, 32, from Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, vanished from her home in Guadiaro, near Gibraltar and the upmarket Spanish port of Sotogrande, on November 4.

Sources in the UK said she went missing after a bust-up with Corner, 33, her on/off boyfriend.

Guardia Civil investigators have said there is sufficient evidence to believe she has been murdered but her body has not been recovered.

Spanish police immediately suspected Corner and his yachting associate Jackson.

They believe Jackson, who owned several yachts, may have used one, called Daydream, to dispose of the body at sea. It was impounded in Lanzarote by Spanish officials in connection with the murder.

Miss Browns nine-year-old son Marco has been looked after by his father, Tony Tomillero, at his home in La Linea opposite Gibraltar.

Corner disappeared hours after being questioned as a witness and surfaced in the Far East before returning to Spain to address the unfounded allegations in January.

He then failed to honour an agreement to meet police and fled to Denmark via the Canary Islands and Ireland. He was arrested in Copenhagen, the Danish capital. Corner, a well-known figure in Liverpool who also goes by the name Dean Woods, had left Britain and was working on the Costa del Sol, ostensibly as a yacht dealer, though sources say he is believed to be linked to people smuggling gangs that operate out of Morocco.

A UK police source said: Corner was in a relationship with the Scottish-born expat but by all accounts it had been stormy.

Jackson was known as a facilitator on the Costa del Sol, someone people would go to to fix things.

It was suspected he and Corner were involved in some sort of people smuggling operation. Spanish police believe Jackson may have been involved in the disappearance of Miss Brown.

Lewes Crown Court was told that Jackson would have to serve his sentence for people smuggling before being extradited. He is being held at Wandsworth Prison. Nine of the Albanian men have pleaded guilty to attempted illegal entry and were jailed for up to 16 weeks.
An estimated 11 million Brits have an ancestor who fought at the Somme, according to research to mark the 100th anniversary.

The battle began on July 1, 1916 - the deadliest day in the history of the British Army - when around 20,000 British Empire soldiers lost their lives in just 24 hours.

But that was just the beginning of the infamous battle that has become forever associated with the horrors of the First World War.

An estimated 11 million Brits have an ancestor who fought at the Somme, according to research to mark the 100th anniversary.

New research, by family history website Ancestry, suggests around 11 million Brits have a family member who fought at the Battle.

But while more than three in four (77 per cent) would be proud to find an ancestor who fought in World War One, many dont know what their ancestors endured.

Researchers scoured Ancestrys UK, WWI War Diaries 1914-1920 collection, which comprehensively detail British and colonial military operations, to uncover the horrors of action on the first day of the Somme.

According to the diary of the 10th West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Waless Own), which suffered the worst battalion losses of the day, troops assaulted in four lines, but the machine guns were so deadly that the 3rd and 4th lines failed to get across no-mans-land.

The Battalion saw 27 officer casualties and 750 casualties of other ranks in just one day.

One of the most detailed diaries in the collection, belonging to the 7th Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Waless Own Regiment), tells of an unfortunate mistake by one of the commanding officers that saw many men fall victim to the German guns, when his company assaulted without the support of the battalion:

As soon as they began to climb over our parapet terrific machine gun fire was opened by the enemy and the company was about at once wiped out. The survivors lay* some 25 yards in front of our wire until dark.

Following a later feeble bombardment, the battalion assaulted and were met by a murderous machine gun and rifle fire, officers and men were literally mown down and were finally brought to a standstill about half way across to the enemy trenches. 13 Officers and over 300 men became casualties in about three minutes.

Records also reveal several famous names who fought at the Somme, including the then-Prime Minister Herbert Asquiths son Raymond, who was killed in action.

War poet Seigfried Sassoon denounced the first day of the Somme as a sunlit picture of hell but despite his obvious discontent he, like Asquith, was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal, as well as a 1914-15 Star.

Ancestry teamed up with actor and historian Sir Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick to reveal five key facts people need to know about the Somme.

The stories related by Sir Tony include that of Sidney Lewis, who lied about his age to enlist at the age of 12 and then found himself stationed in northern France aged 13, only to be sent home after his worried mother sent his birth certificate to the War Office.

Miriam Silverman, Senior UK Content Manager at Ancestry, said: The Battle of the Somme was without a doubt one of the most significant battles in British history, and with 11 million descendants of soldiers in the UK, its one that needs to be remembered.

The horrors of first day of the Battle were unprecedented and have not been matched since.

The centenary of the Battle will hopefully inspire many to remember those that fell and learn more. If you want to know if your relative was one of the millions of men who took part, you can investigate our records for yourself for free over the weekend of the Somme centenary. You never know what you might find, a death in action or even a medal recipient.
Pupils at Scottish schools skipped 641,380 days of lessons last year to go on holiday according to statistics from the Scottish government.

It's a growing trend that's increased by 55 per cent in the last 10 years.

The majority of these absences were made by children in primary school but a significant number also came from those of secondary school age.

Pupils at Scottish schools skipped 641,380 days of lessons last year to go on holiday according to statistics from the Scottish government

According to the statistics from the Scottish government, unauthorised days off during term time was 414,637 days a decade ago.

In the school year 2013 to 2014, this had increased to 628,374 days.

This means last year's 641,380 unauthorised days is a two per cent increase on the numbers for the previous school year.

For the 2014 to 2015 school year, 434,757 days were missed in primary schools, 202,019 days were taken off in secondaries and 4,603 days in schools for children with special needs.

Hiked prices of package breaks abroad, as well as some parents not being able to get annual leave from work during the school summer, are thought to behind the increasing willingness to take kids out of class for holidays.

For the 2014 to 2015 school year, 434,757 days were missed in primary schools, 202,019 days were taken off in secondaries and 4,603 days in schools for children with special needs

Sean Tipton, from ABTA, which represents travel agencies, said: 'Nobody can deny holiday prices go up during the school holidays. It's simple supply and demand, and just the same as other peak times, like Christmas and Easter.

'More people want to get away, not only from the UK but from many other countries, placing huge demand on airlines and hotels. Not surprisingly, prices therefore increase and they can be significantly higher than during term time.

'There is a solution, which we've been suggesting for nearly 10 years.... that schools do the same as the continent and stagger their holidays by region. That way not everyone is off - and trying to get away on holiday - at the same time.

'But it still hasn't happened yet.'
She's the doting mother to an adorable two-year-old daughter.

And now Tammin Sursok is approaching the next stage of motherhood as she begins to potty train her daughter Phoenix.

Taking to Instagram, the 32-year-old shared a snap of herself cuddling her toddler and asking fellow mums for tips on how to make the process as easy as possible.

Scroll down for video

Mum's advice: Tammin Sursok is approaching the next stage of motherhood as she begins to potty train her daughter Phoenix, taking to Instagram to ask fellow mums for advice on the matter

The stunning mother-of-one looks relaxed in the show, with a protection hand over her daughter's head, who wraps her arms tightly around her mother.

'We are potty training right now,' Tammin captioned the shot.

Sharing her own experience she continued: 'We have been using @bambonature diapers so far. Mamas they are non-toxic are eco friendly and natural and affordable.

'A big shout out to them who have helped us get though this stage of our lives. So grateful companies like you exist. Any potty training tips mamas?!' She concluded the post.

Proud parents: The Pretty Little Liars actress and her Hollywood producer husband Sean McEwen welcomed Phoenix in October 2013

The Pretty Little Liars actress and her Hollywood producer husband Sean McEwen welcomed Phoenix in October 2013.

Tammin, who first shot to fame playing Dani Sutherland in Home and Away, has been open with how motherhood has affected her life.

Earlier in the month, the South-African born beauty admitted she spent the bulk of being a new mother 'obsessing' about regaining her identity as an actress and not relishing enough time with Phoenix.

New chapter: Tammin, who first shot to fame playing Dani Sutherland in Home and Away, has been open with how motherhood has affected her life

Writing on her blog Bottle + Heels, she said: 'I remember going to a spin class three months after my little one was born and the teacher spoke about feeling lost and I crumbled.

'I had caked old breast milk on my activewear. It truly hit a nerve. Lost, lost, lost.

'My life had changed the day my magnificent daughter came into the world,' she added.

Changes: Earlier in the month, the South-African born beauty admitted she spent the bulk of being a new mother 'obsessing' about regaining her identity as an actress and not relishing enough time with Phoenix
She is known for dating former Bachelorette contestant Michael Turnbull in May this year.

And Isabelle Gonsalves looked to be anything but forlorn about the recent break-up when she took to Instagram with a series of sultry selfies on Saturday night.

Clad in a bright red jumpsuit that showcased her slender waist, the brunette Instagram model is seen posing in front of a correlated iron wall while pulling a sultry expression.

Scroll down for video

Red hot! Michael Turnbull's ex Isabelle Gonsalves looked to be anything but forlorn about the recent break-up when she took to Instagram with a series of sultry selfies on Saturday night

'Schools Out', she wrote in the caption, before adding: 'Girls night wearing @whitefoxboutique head to toe #whitefoxboutique #love'.

The social media enthusiast completed her outfit with a pair of racy thigh-high boots, a black leather jacket and a choker necklace.

Later, she shared a selfie, captioned with: 'My name is Belle and I like to party'

'My name is Belle and I like to party': Later, she shared a selfie in which her dramatic makeup look was on full display

In May, Isabella took to Facebook to reveal that she had called time on her and Michael Turnbull's short-lived romance.

'Australia can be a small place, especially even when I have close friends in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne', she wrote to her fans.

She also claimed the former sportsman has 'zero chill.'

Done and dusted: In March Michael confirmed he was dating Isabella Gonslaves and the two have since shared numerous loved-up photos together on social media

Private life: When contacted by Daily Mail Australia regarding the recent break up, Michael said he preferred to 'keep his personal life private'

Despite the rant, Isabella appeared nonchalant about the recent break up.

One concerned friend asked if she was OK, to which she replied: 'Oh I'm fine dude I broke up with him last week!'

She added in another comment: 'Literally no chill, it's more embarrassing for me that I dated him for so long hahaha.'

Daily Mail Australia reached out to Michael for a comment however he said that he wanted to 'keep his personal life private'.

It was only in March that Michael confirmed he was dating the brunette beauty and the two have since shared numerous loved-up photos together on social media.

'Literally no chill': Isabella ranted that Michael should've been more careful about who he spoke to over social media

Brunette beauty: The university student from Brisbane seemed nonchalant about the break up, claiming she was 'fine'
Michael Jackson's life, music, and legacy were remembered by his family on the seven year anniversary of his death this weekend.

The King Of Pop tragically passed away at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009 of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication, and his personal doctor was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served two years in prison.

On Friday, the pop star's brothers, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Jackie, joined forces to celebrate his life with a joint performance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

'My best friend in the entire universe': Michael Jackson's daughter Paris shared a touching, black-and-white photo collage to her Instagram account on Saturday, which featured two old images of herself with the pop star

Paying tribute: On Friday, the pop star's brothers, Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, and Marlon, came out in full force to celebrate his life with a joint performance at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego

The Jackson brothers sang Michael's iconic song Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', as well as The Jackson Five hit ABC, as captured in a videos shared by a spectator.

Michael's 18-year-old daughter, Paris Jackson, also paid tribute to the King Of Pop.

The teen shared a touching, black-and-white photo collage to her Instagram account on Saturday, which included two old images of herself with the pop star.

In one, Michael cradled baby Paris in his arms, and in a second the youngster cuddled up in his embrace.

A video posted by Matt InRealLife (@mattinreallife) on Jun 24, 2016 at 9:36pm PDT

Fan favourites: The brothers sang Michael's iconic song Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', as well as the Jackson Five hit ABC, as captured in a videos shared by a spectator

Live on: The brothers kept their brother's memory alive with a lively and touching concert

In Paris' moving caption, she referred to her father as her 'best friend', and thanked him for 'touching millions of hearts', including her own.

'7 years, rest in peace, my best friend in the entire universe,' she wrote. 'i love you more than anything. things may be a little sh*tty in the press right now but everyone knows it's all bull and i swear on the family name i will protect you for as long as i live.

'there's no one like you, and there never will be. thank you for touching millions of hearts, but especially my own.'

'We love you': Michael's sister La Toya Jackson paid tribute to her brother on Twitter on Saturday, sharing a touching message and photo of him performing

'We lost one of our brightest lights': Taj Jackson, who is Michael's nephew, remembered his uncle with a tweet as well

Michael's sister La Toya Jackson paid tribute to her brother on Twitter on Saturday, sharing a touching message and photo of him performing.

'To The Most Loving Caring GoodHearted Talented Person Of All Time, We Love You #WeMissYouMJ & We Always Will! #RIPMJ,' she tweeted.

Taj Jackson, who is Michael's nephew, remembered his uncle with a tweet as well.

'7 years ago we lost one of our brightest lights and it has been a darker world ever since. #MJforever,' he wrote early Saturday morning.
She made her first appearance in Eastenders in 1991.

And twenty-five years later the soap will bid its final farewell to one of its most beloved characters- Peggy Mitchell.

In scenes due to air in the coming weeks, Billy Mitchell leads the sombre procession through Albert Square, as the residents say goodbye to its matriarch.

Scroll down for video

A quarter of a century in: Twenty-five years after she first appeared in the soap, Eastenders will bid its final farewell to one of its most beloved characters- Peggy Mitchell

The episode, which is sure to be an emotional one, sees the square celebrate the life- and death- of their most famous and feisty landlady Peggy.

Dressed in a three-piece black suit, top hat and cane, Billy Mitchell leads the horse-drawn funeral hearse past The Queen Victoria- the pub Peggy was landlady in for many years.

As mourning bystanders dressed in black pay their respects, the carriage pulled by four horses adorned with matching feathers and drapes makes its way through the square.

Emotional: In scenes due to air in the coming weeks, Billy Mitchell leads the sombre procession through Albert Square, as the residents say goodbye to its matriarch

Paying their respects: Dressed in a three-piece black suit, top hat and cane, Billy Mitchell leads the horse-drawn funeral hearse past The Queen Victoria- the pub Peggy was landlady in for many years

Brightening up the coffin is a colourful display of roses, freesias, posies and carnations, with a flower tribute spelling 'mum' in the window.

The procession goes past the current family of the Queen Vic, and onto the church where friends and family say their final farewell.

Amongst those carrying the coffin into the church are Phil Mitchell, played by Steve McFadden, Billy Mitchell played by Perry Fenwich and Ben Mitchell played by Harry Reid.

Daughter Sam, played by Danniella Westbrooke, returns to say goodbye to her mum, but tells the family that Grant may not be flying home from his home in Portugal to be there.

Goodbye mum: Daughter Sam, played by Danniella Westbrooke, returns to pay her respects to her mum, but tells the family that Grant may not be flying home from his home in Portugal to be there

The boys: Amongst those carrying the coffin into the church are Phil Mitchell (top right), played by Steve McFadden, Billy Mitchell played by Perry Fenwich and Ben Mitchell played by Harry Reid

However Ross Kemp, 51, recently revealed on Twitter that he had been filming scenes for the BBC1 show.

Devastating scenes last month saw Peggy take her life after it was revealed that her cancer had spread to her brain, leaving son Phil heartbroken.

However Dame Barbara Windsor, who plays the legendary Peggy, has admitted she felt it was time to go, explaining: 'Peggy is a character close to my heart but I made the decision a while ago that I need to say goodbye to her once and for all. Otherwise she will always be there, urging me to go back. I realised it is time for me and the audience to say our final farewells to the lady I've loved for years.'

The funeral episode will broadcast on July 4th.
She seems to be spending each day of her most recent getaway in a haze of Italian bliss.

And blogger and model Natasha Oakley has shared another snippet of her seemingly endless European sojourn, with her 1.8million Instagram followers.

The 25-year-old appeared to be arriving at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello, channeling old-school glamour as she posed out the front of the stunning hotel beside a Bentley.

Scroll down for video

'Cherry on top': Blogger and model Natasha Oakley shared this photo of herself arriving at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello on Saturday

Natasha appeared happy and carefree in an elegant maxi dress, cinched at the waist and highlighting her famous curves.

The blush-coloured frock featured a plunging neckline and a dainty drawstring waistband, as well as billowing sleeves.

The loose-fitting dress fell to the blogger's ankles and she swished it around as she posed for photos.

Old-school glamour: The 25-year-old looked as stylish as ever in a billowing maxi dress and soft neutral tones

Her trademark blonde locks were styled in voluminous waves and her deep tan was positively glowing.

Keeping her colour scheme neutral, she accessorised with nude heels - a pair she has favoured throughout her trip in Italy - and a beige rattan bag which she slung over her shoulder.

She also added a large floppy wide-brimmed hat to shield her face from the Italian sun, and wore a pair of stylish cat-eye sunglasses.

Romantic getaway: The stunner has been gallivanting around Italy with her French beau Gilles Souteyrand

The blonde bombshell captioned one of her snaps: 'Arriving to Ravello in style', while the other said Ravello was the 'cherry on top' of her Italian trip.

The A Bikini A Day blogger has spent the last few weeks travelling around Italy with her French boyfriend, Gilles Souteyrand.

They have both been keeping their followers up-to-date with their glamorous trip, which has seen them travel along the picturesque Amalfi Coast.
It seems her nasty divorce from Johnny Depp is taking its toll.

Actress Amber Heard was spotted heading to a church in Los Angeles and then being comforted by friend Amanda de Cadenet, 44, after becoming emotional on Saturday.

The 30-year-old dressed down for the outing, as she no doubt wanted to keep her visit as low profile as possible.

Collecting her thoughts: Amber Heard appeared to calm down slightly before making her exit on Saturday

The actress - who has alleged Johnny, 53, was abusive and won a temporary restraining order against the star - appears to have lost weight from her already slender frame since her shock divorce filing.

Looking overcome, the actress was seen growing emotional and embracing her female companion after leaving the church.

And her friend put a comforting hand on Amber's back as she headed back to her vehicle.

Too much to handle: Eventually though, it seemed as though Amber could no longer hold back the tears, and was forced to put her hair up into a tight bun while she appeared to cry into Amanda de Cadenet's shoulder

Long way to go: Still, she looked quite disheartened as she left, walking with her head down and puffy face hidden back behind her sunglasses

On Saturday, the The Rum Diary star wore a black long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which she tucked into some high-waist jeans that showed her slim figure.

Some black and white two-tone Oxfords, large black sunglasses and a small black leather purse completed the demure ensemble.

Her dirty blonde locks were parted in the center and allowed to cascade messily down past her shoulders, while her perfect complexion seemed to only be adorned with a slick of peach lipstick.

Upsetting revelation? It seems her composure didn't last however, as she was noticeably agitated when she left the church

Leaning on friends: The actress appeared distraught as she walked arm in arm with a pal

Needs a little help from her friends: Luckily, a friend was on hand to try to comfort the Drive Angry actress, and seemed to offer some kind words as she put her arm around Johnny Depp's soon-to-be ex wife

Amber even looked quite sprightly when she arrived at the place of worship, a coffee cup in one hand and a phone in the other.

It seems her composure didn't last however, as she was noticeably agitated when she left the church.

Luckily, a friend was on hand to try to comfort the Drive Angry actress, and seemed to offer some kind words as she put her arm around Johnny Depp's soon-to-be ex wife.

Eventually though, it seemed as though Amber could no longer hold back the tears, and was forced to put her hair up into a tight bun while she appeared to cry into her friend's shoulder.

Almost incognito: The 30-year-old beauty was dressed down for the outing, as she no doubt wanted to keep her visit as low profile as possible

Cool kicks: Some black and white two-tone Oxfords, large black sunglasses and a small black leather purse completed the demure ensemble

Still, she looked quite disheartened as she left, walking with her head down and puffy face hidden back behind her sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Johnny has been laying low on his private island in the Bahamas, according to People.

The star - who has been accused of physically and verbally abusing his estranged wife - 'has no plans to return to Los Angeles' and was most recently visited by 17-year-old daughter Lily-Rose Depp according to the publication.

Still fashion-conscious: Initially, The Rum Diary star looked like her normal, stylish self in a black long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which she tucked into some high-waist jeans she cuffed above the ankle
Three people were escorted out of Calvin Harris' night performance at Omnia nightclub in Las Vegas in the early hours of Saturday.

The Scottish DJ was seen standing by as three club-goers were carried out on stretchers to a waiting ambulance at 3.15am after his Friday night gig.

It's unclear what caused the injuries nor their extent, but 32-year-old witnessed it all as he made a swift exit from the chaotic scene after performing as part of his Vegas residency.

Scroll down for video

Bad news: Calvin Harris' Friday night performance at Omnia nightclub inside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas came to an unfortunate conclusion when three different club-goers were escorted out on stretchers

Unfortunate: It's unclear what caused the injuries, nor the attendees' current health status, but the Scottish DJ witnessed it all as he made a swift exit from the chaotic scene

Three ambulances whisked away the injured individuals, who were carried out on stretchers by EMTs.

The musician waited to the side as the medical staffers did their work, before being whisked away in his waiting SUV once the ambulance departed.

Calvin was dressed in a casual dark T-shirt and trousers while being surrounded by multiple members of his entourage or security.

Medical emergency: DJ Calvin Harris, 32, watches as EMTs removed three people from Omnia nightclub after his gig in Las Vegas on Friday night

Standing by: The Scottish DJ wore an all black ensemble as he waited for medical workers around 3.15am on Saturday morning, before jetting back to Los Angeles

Calvin has been continuing his Las Vegas shows at three different nightclubs since his split from ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift earlier this month.

And he had his own medical scare when he was in a serious car crash in Los Angeles in May, which saw him rushed to hospital.

Meanwhile, Calvin's ex Taylor, 26, has quickly been getting serious with her new boyfriend Tom Hiddleston.

The country star whisked her new beau, 35, to the UK on her private jet to meet his parents on Friday, just one day after he met her folks in Nashville.

Safe and sound: Calvin, lower right, was surrounded by multiple members of his entourage

Standing by: Paramedics prepared to transport the injured club-goers to a nearby hospital

More drama: The jarring incident comes fresh off the heels of his recent split from Taylor Swift, who is currently in the UK meeting new boyfriend Tom Hiddleston's family

Rushed to hospital: Three people at the club were taken out of the venue on stretchers at Calvin's show

Patient: After the ambulance departed, Calvin was whisked away in his waiting SUV

Undoubtedly shaken up by the Las Vegas ordeal, EDM star Calvin was spotted back in Los Angeles on Saturday morning as he headed to the gym.

Calvin looked focused on putting his past troubles - both relationship drama and nightclub fiasco - behind him with the help of a grueling fitness session.

Harris donned fashion forward gym gear that included baggy grey sweatpants and a Nike T-shirt with a geometric print along its hemline.

And while he cheekily sported Yeezys at the gym last week - after Kim Kardashian accused Taylor of 'lying' over Kanye West's song Famous- on Saturday the Scot went with regular black sneakers.

Back to business: The EDM star was spotted at his gym in Los Angeles on Saturday morning after his Vegas gig
She puts in the work every day at the gym.

And Gemma Atkinson made sure to dress to impress for a night off work and her fitness regime on Saturday.

The Emmerdale star headed to Rosso's Restaurant in Manchester for dinner with her girlfriends, while wowing in a chic grey dress.

Super glam: Gemma Atkinson made sure to dress to impress for a night off work and her fitness regime on Saturday

Gemma, 31, was all dressed up for her Saturday night out, looking gorgeous in the slinky number which highlighted her trim physique.

The grey maxi may not have shown much skin but the close cut highlighted the actress' gym-honed figure perfectly.

She continued the glam vibe with a pair of gold detail sandals, while her blonde locks were styled into an elegant up do.

Chic: Gemma, 29, was all dressed up for her Saturday night out, looking gorgeous in the slinky number which highlighted her trim physique

To keep herself in top shape, the blonde stunner wakes up at 4.30am and starts her day with yoga or 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

And, although she is super-happy with her physique and appearance after honing it to the nth degree, she recently revealed that she still gets flak over her looks.

'I remember telling someone and they couldnt believe I was that weight,' she told the Mirror.

In shape: The grey maxi may not have shown much skin but the close cut highlighted the actress' gym-honed figure perfectly

'But I am 5ft 9in tall, have big thighs and Im broad  from "good stock" as my grandad would say.'

She continued: 'I am very happy now,' she said. 'I still get insecure like most girls. My legs will always be my problem area, that's where we hold weight in my family.

'I have kind of learned to love them in a way. They have been with me for 31 years carrying 11 stone around, so they are doing something right.'
She's known for her outrageous behavior and provocative outfits.

And Charlotte Dawson certainly lived up to her name as she attended her pal's wedding.

The 23-year-old Ex On The Beach star went all out to celebrate her friends Lesley Hutt and John Howard's special day at The De Vere Hotel in Blackpool on Saturday.

Scroll down for video

All eyes on me please! Charlotte Dawson went all out to celebrate her friends Lesley Hutt and John Howard's special day at The De Vere Hotel in Blackpool on Saturday

The reality star put on a very racy display in a pale pink floor length halterneck gown, slashed up to the very top of her thigh.

Showing off as much leg as she could, Charlotte ensured all eyes were on her by putting much of her cleavage on display- at one point barely avoiding a major nip slip.

Flashing the full length of her bronzed legs at every opportunity, Les Dawson's daughter showed off her silver crystal-encrusted killer heels.

Breaking the legs and cleavage rule! The 23-year-old Ex On The Beach star certainly lived up to her name as she attended her pal's wedding

Just checking: Showing off as much leg as she could, Charlotte ensured all eyes were on her by putting much of her cleavage on display- at one point barely avoiding a major nip slip

Wedgie? The starlet's outfit looked relatively modest from behind

And going for some coverage- albeit in a perhaps unnecessary place, she wore a matching pink fascinator with a lace net covering some of her carefully made-up face.

Ensuring she was Blackpool-appropriate, the preened reality star went heavy on the lashes and eye makeup, taking a leaf out of Kim Kardashian's contouring book.

Glamming up to the max, she wore her brunette hair in long tumbling waves, matching her silver clutch bag to her shoes.

Outrageous wedding guest! The reality star put on a very racy display in a pale pink floor length halterneck gown, slashed up to the very top of her thigh

Hats off to her: Going for some coverage- albeit in a perhaps unnecessary place, she wore a matching pink fascinator with a lace net covering some of her carefully made-up face

Making a boob of things! At one point, perhaps overwhelmed with happiness for her married pals, Charlotte grabbed Lesley's chest

As she posed with the hapless bride and her kilt-clad husband, Charlotte threw up her leg in excitement- much to the newlywed couple's delight.

At one point, perhaps overwhelmed with happiness for her married pals, Charlotte grabbed Lesley's chest.

Despite the circumstances, the bride appeared unfazed by the model's overzealous displays, continuing to pose for what will surely be memorable wedding photos.

Charlotte recently returned from Thailand where she has been filming the fifth series of the Ex On The Beach alongside Geordie Shore's Gaz Beadle, Jemma Lucy and Olivia Walsh.

The fifth series is due to air later this year.

Centre of attention: As she posed with the hapless bride and her kilt-clad husband, Charlotte threw up her leg in excitement- much to the newly wed couple's delight
Channing Tatum says he was incredulous to learn of former Stanford student Brock Turner's lenient six month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.

The case, which has sparked public outcry, burst into the spotlight after the victim - who chose to remain anonymous- made public a powerful letter to the judge who sentenced her attacker on June 2.

'I just couldn't believe it,' Channing, 36, told an audience during a conversation led byCosmopolitan editor-in-chief Joanna Coles in the south of France earlier this week, when asked about the case.

Speaking out: Channing Tatum, pictured in Hollywood in 2015, said he was incredulous to learn of former Stanford student Brock Turner's six month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman

'It'd be like, if you killed someone. If you got caught red handed, murdering someone, and then just because you went to a nice school, and you...were a good swimmer, you somehow get a lesser sentence then what you would have for cold blooded murder.

'That doesn't make any sense,' he said.

Channing has a three-year-old daughter Everly with 35-year-old wife Jenna Dewan Tatum.

He was asked about the case by an audience member, who wanted to know how the Magic Mike star envisioned changing the culture for his dauther and the next generation of women.

'I think the rape culture is a very real thing,' The 21 Jump Street star said.

'I think partially, is what we were talking about with the porn, a lot of the porn that I see looks like rape.'

His other half: The 36-year-old posed with his wife Jenna Dewan Tatum at the premiere of Hail, Caesar in Westwood in February 2016

Speaking about the Brock Turner case, Channing added: 'That specific situation, I really think it's a horrible, horrible idea to let someone off because of possibly what they're gonna be capable of.

'If you start doing that, where's that stop? Where's that line actually quit?,' he said.

'I don't think it's right. I think he should have been punished, personally. But I also don't know what the answer is to protect women, to keep you out of those situations.'

Turner was convicted of three felonies for sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman behind a campus dumpster last January.

Daddy's little girl: Channing and his wife Jenna are parents to three-year-old Everly, pictured in Studio City with her father in November 2014

He was sentenced to six months in jail and three years probation and must register as a sex offender for life.

DailyMail.com has learned that he is set to serve just half of his six-month sentence and will be released on September 2.

The victim's harrowing 12-page account of the January 2015 assault and its impact on her life - read in court before the sentencing - lit up the Internet within hours of being posted online, drawing a global chorus of outrage at the light sentence and prompting calls for the judge to be removed from the bench.

Brock's father also sparked outrage by writing that his son shouldn't have his life ruined over 'twenty minutes of action.'

Aww: Tatum Instagrammed a snap of himself in costume with Everly in November

Earlier this month, Stanford University's graduation ceremony was overshadowed by Turner's case and prompted a protest by students.

Students held signs that read 'Stanford protects rapists' and 'Brock Turner is not an exception' during the so-called 'Wacky Walk' processional into the university stadium.

A plane hired by a women's activist group earlier flew overhead, trailing a banner that read 'Protect survivors. Not Rapists. #PerskyMustGo.'

Women's rights group, UltraViolet, said earlier in the week that they had commissioned the plane to fly over the stadium just ahead of the university's graduation ceremonies.
She recently lit up Hollywood in the sappy romantic drama The Choice.

But now Teresa Palmer is taking on an entirely different kind of role as the lead in the new supernatural horror film, Lights Out.

The sure-to-be terrifying film was produced by James Wan, who directed The Conjuring and Insidious.

Scroll down for video

Back on the big screen! Teresa Palmer stars in the terrifying trailer for her new film Lights Out

In Lights Out, 30-year-old Teresa plays Rebecca, a woman whose younger brother is being tormented by a mysterious ghost named Diana.

However, the frightening entity only comes out in the dark, forcing Rebecca to use light to fight it off.

While Diana's origins aren't revealed in the trailer, she appears to have some kind of connection to Rebecca's mother.

'Everyone is afraid of the dark,' cries the 30-year-old in the trailer for the supernatural horror movie

The Ring? Lights Out features a frightening entity in the form of a little girl named Diana who torments Teresa's character

Lights Out will be released in the United States in July.

While Teresa is currently doing well in Hollywood, the Australian actress is preparing to return to her roots with a role in Mel Gibson's new Aussie war drama, Hacksaw Ridge.

Earlier this month, Mel told audiences at the Sydney Film Festival that his latest directorial piece has tested strongly ahead of the Oscars.

On the rise: Rising star Alexander DiPersia appears in the film as Teresa's on-screen boyfriend

Coming soon: Lights Out will be released in the United States in July

'It's a 100 per cent Aussie film,' the Mad Max and Braveheart star shared at the Australian premiere of Blood Father.

'An independent film. We screened it in the States and it went through the roof,' Mel added.

The film, which stars Andrew Garfield and Vince Vaughn, is slated for a November release in the US and Australia, just in time for the Hollywood awards season.
They developed a close friendship during their time co-hosting Australian Idol together.

And Osher Gunsberg has thrown his support behind James Mathison who is running for the independent seat of Warringah against former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in the upcoming election.

The Bachelor host told The Daily Telegraph he would like to tally the votes live and use his reality television fame to say: 'Tony, you did not receive a rose, please take a moment to say goodbye to your electorate of 22 years'.

Scroll down for video

'You did not receive a rose': Osher Gunsberg has thrown his weight behind James Mathison who is running for the independent seat of Warringah against former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in the upcoming election

In a nod to their previous role together on television, Osher added: 'I'd like them to figure out a way to cross to me so I can read out the votes for the seats of Warringah as if I was reading out Australian Idol votes.'

Combining his past and present he joked: 'And then, in a hybrid, be able to say to the losing candidates, "You did not receive a rose".'

Osher will join James on election day, the second of July, at North Curl Curl Primary School on Sydney's Northern Beaches.

Reality: The Bachelor host told The Daily Telegraph he would like to tally the votes live and use his reality television fame to say 'Tony, you did not receive a rose'

Old friends: The developed a close friendship during their time co-hosting Australian Idol together. Pictured 2005

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph about his predominantly social media-based campaign, the former Channel V presenter claimed the Liberal Party's former leader had 'broken so many promises' that it was 'hard to take him at his word.'

He said: 'When he said 'we'll fix Brookvale Oval, we'll fix public transport' something in me said 'hang on, I think you said that three years ago.

'So I looked up online and in 2001 he was saying these things and I just thought, 'who is holding him to account?' No one, because it's a safe seat.'

Political turn: The former Channel V presenter claimed the Liberal Party's former leader had 'broken so many promises'. Pictured in 2009 with Osher

As part of his campaign, James will broadcast his policies in a series of pre-recorded video messages set to attack Mr Abbott's political record.

In 2013 Mathison became the presenter of the breakfast show Wake Up and returned to live in the north shore last year last year after it was cancelled.

He lives with his blogger wife Carlie Fowler and their daughters Luca 3, and 18-month-old Celeste
While summertime for many means seeking relief from the heat, Dakota Fanning seemed to be doing just the opposite with her girlfriends on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Instagrammed a snap of herself sporting a plunging, retro-style polka dot bathing suit as she 'bronzed on a boat' with her gal pals.

Striking a pose inside the vessel, Dakota looked at ease with her blonde tresses slicked back into a no-fuss, yet slightly messy bun.

Summer fun! Dakota Fanning Instagrammed a snap of herself sporting a plunging retro-style polka dot bathing suit as she 'bronzed on a boat' with her gal pals

The I Am Sam actress also sported a pair of retro style red sunglasses and a long, dangling necklace to accessorize the look.

'Bronzed on a boat,' read Dakota's caption.

In another image shared by a gal pal, Dakota played with her blonde locks as she posed at the boat's edge.

Dakota has been doing her best to beat the heat as of late, as she was spotted sipping on a chill drink during an outing on Father's Day in Los Angeles last week.

Strike a pose: In another image shared by a gal pal, Dakota played with her blonde locks as she posed at the boat's edge

For her beverage run, the Benefactor actress sported a blue and white striped sundress.

The star's trendy yet classic off-the shoulder ensemble featured preppy ruffled sleeves.

Dakota accessorized her look further with a simple bracelet and a set of shades over her make-up free face.

Beating the heat: Fanning did her best to cool down on Father's Day, as she was spotted sipping a chilled drink

Dakota also made sure to give a shout-out to her dad Steven on Instagram in honour of Father's Day.

The sweet photo showed the former child star giggling while sitting court-side with her papa at a NY Knicks game.

'I may be on the phone and ignoring him in this photo, but my dad is truly the best. He is everything a father should be and the greatest man I will ever know. #happyfathersday,' wrote the star.

Although Dakota is proud of her father, Steven is most certainly proud of his two daughters.

Dakota has four films set for release this year: Viena And The Fantomes, Brimstone, American Pastoral and please Stand By.

In 2017, the Twilight star - whose younger sister Elle is also an actress - can be seen in the drama The Postcard Killings.
She recently touched down in Thailand after spending some time in London.

And as she enjoys her global vacation, Fiona Falkiner is making sure that she doesn't forget to stay healthy, too.

The 33-year-old uploaded a selfie on Sunday that showed her enjoying a wheatgrass shot after waking up in Phuket.

Scroll down for video

'Morning wheatgrass shot:' Fiona Falkiner enjoyed a healthy wheatgrass shot in Thailand on Sunday

'Morning wheatgrass shot,' wrote the reality star, before adding: 'Bottoms up.'

Fiona hasn't been shy about sharing her travels on social media, taking to Instagram last week to post a bikini-clad selfie while relaxing on the beach.

The blonde bombshell looked sensational in the simple black number as she soaked up the sun on the island of Kefalonia in Greece.

Life's a beach: The 33-year-old looked sensational as she took to Instagram on Thursday to share a bikini-clad selfie while relaxing on a beach in Kefalonia, Greece

She captioned the shot: 'Work hard, play hard, relax even harder!'

The Biggest Loser host appeared content and without a care in the world as she reclined on the beach in what appears to be a miss-matched two-piece, highlighting her toned figure.

Sporting an enviable holiday glow, she completed her look with a pair of stylish black shades.

Goddess in Greece: The Biggest Loser host appeared content in an earlier snap on Monday wearing what appears to be the exact same bikini

It appears the stunner is not concerned about being a repeat fashion offender as she was seen on Monday wearing what appears to be the exact same bikini.

The TV personality looked stunning in the Instagram snap that showcased her hourglass curves.

Proving her penchant for accessorising, she completed her look with a tight white skirt, pair of sunglasses and a stylish wide-brimmed hat.

She kept her beauty look simple with her blonde tresses falling effortlessly over her shoulders and a golden tan that accentuated her cleavage.

On vacation: Fiona has been enjoying the European summer, with trips to Greece, Italy and the UK

Curves ahead: The curvaceous blonde showed off her enviable physique while cooling down in the pool




Since being crowned Miss Universe Australia back in 2009, Rachael Finch has gone on to model for some of the most stylish brands across the nation.

And now the 27-year-old is proving her talents extend beyond the runway.

Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the mother-of-one and former Dancing With The stars contestant revealed she is penning her own book.

Scroll down for video

New project: Former Miss Universe Australia Rachael Finch has revealed she is releasing her own book

'For a long time now I have been working on a project that is finally coming to the pointy end,' she wrote.

'My book will be on shelves soon! I share all of my health & wellbeing principles with you as well as my experiences as a mother. Stay tuned guys (sic).'

Along with the message was a photo of the model striking a complex yoga pose.

The brunette beauty, who is married to professional dancer Michael Miziner, has been very open about her approach to health and fitness in the past.

Exciting news: Taking to Instagram on Sunday, the Australian model revealed the book will be hitting shelves soon

Fitness focus: Along with the announcement, she shared a photo of herself striking a yoga pose

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia last year, she said she believes 'lunges and body squats are the most effective workouts' when it comes to keeping her legs toned and runway ready.

'The best thing about them is you can do them anywhere,' she continued while adding she also incorporates 'side planks' because 'they are great for strengthening your core and obliques.

'My routine changes day to day, so I try to plan it out as much as I can...I have been integrating more cardio into my workout routine to prepare for race day...I love running outside on these warm spring days,' she continued.

'Food, fitness and healthy lifestyle choices impact the way I look and feel. I love preparing food which is as close to its natural state as possible and try to avoid anything processed.'

Typing away: The mother-of-one revealed that she has been writing this book 'for a long time'

Runway sensation: The beauty currently models for Myer, pictured strutting the catwalk for the fashion retailer in Sydney in August last year

Rachael gave birth to daughter Violet back in September 2013, and intends to share her experiences of motherhood in her new book.

When speaking to The Sunday Telegraph last month, the model spoke about how she keeps her and husband Michael's relationship alive, while also caring for their little treasure.

'Every weekend [Violet] goes to Mish's mum's house, and we get our weekend to ourselves. I think that's incredibly healthy for the relationship,' she told the publication.

'And on Sunday, when we pick her up, we have 100 per cent energy back.'

Loved up: Rachael is married to Michael Miziner, whom she met on Dancing With The Stars back in 2010

She also explained how family was more of a priority now and that she would love to have three children as four wouldn't fit into their schedule.

'It was very much career and travel, which still exist, but the priorities have become Violet and family, because you have this little thing thats dependent on you,' she said.

'Its like heaven in a body, just watching her grow. It changes your pace, your energy, everything.'

The beauty queen and her beau married in January, 2013, after being paired with Michael on the show Dancing With The Stars in 2010.
He's the British celebrity chef known for his revolutionary approach to dining.

But one thing Heston Blumenthal does not like is guests taking photos of their food at restaurants, and he claims it's a widespread problem in the industry.

He told The Daily Telegraph that the trend of 'Instagramming' meals detracts from the overall experience - and could even be an invasion of other diners' privacy.

Put that phone away! British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal (pictured) has complained about guests taking photos of food at restaurants, and even says it's a widespread problem in the industry

'Chefs always have this problem now, its across the board and you cant control people,' said Heston on Saturday.

'I would prefer if (diners) didnt take any photos and just enjoyed themselves at the table and certainly not take them throughout the whole meal,' added the 50-year-old.

Heston has a reputation for his creative flair and 'multi-sensory' style of cooking at The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire.

Last year, he brought the Duck to Melbourne for a six-month residency at Crown, which saw nearly 15,000 diners sample his 16-course, $525-a-head menu.

Why not just eat it? Heston told The Daily Telegraph that the trend of 'Instagramming' meals detracts from the overall experience - and could potentially be an invasion of other diners' privacy

Discretion: The London-born chef, 50, hinted that taking photos inside restaurants could catch people out if they are 'sitting there with someone they shouldn't be sitting there with'

But he complained that taking photos can 'disengage' guests from the whole dining experience, which also involves sight, touch, and smell.

Heston, who hails from London, said that camera flashes at night is 'not on' - and also claimed that photography could risk exposing other guests' private affairs.

'Who knows if somebody takes a picture, somebody on the next table is sitting there with someone they shouldn't be sitting there with, its an invasion of privacy on the person.' he said.

'Mad scientist' of gastronomy: Heston is known for his creative flair and 'multi-sensory' style of cooking at The Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, Berkshire. The restaurant had a six-month residency in Melbourne last year

Multi sensory dining: Last year, nearly 15,000 diners sampled his 16-course, $525-a-head menu at the Crown

Meanwhile, the 'mad scientist' of gastronomy has returned Down Under for 'Heston Week' on MasterChef Australia.

The final 10 contestants will be trying to impress the judges by cooking in non-traditional dining spaces in four pop up restaurants.

MasterChef Australia continues Sunday night at 7.30pm on Network Ten
She was the first ever model to be crowned Miss Universe Australia while engaged during last year's pageant.

And on Sunday, Monika Radulovic prepared to hand over the crown as she hosted the New South Wales state finals in Sydney.

At the annual event, the 25-year-old flashed her toned torso as she dressed in a stunning red gown which featured a large cut-out around her abs.

Lady in red: Monika Radulovic stunned on Sunday as she dressed in a stunning red gown at the 2016 Miss Universe Australia state finals in New South Wales' Manly

The floor-length piece featured thick over-the-shoulder straps and a sweetheart neckline, which displayed a portion of cleavage.

Monika wore her chocolate brown locks out and styled with a curl, which she later tucked behind her ears.

To keep the focus on her flowing choice of attire, she opted for a glamorous but minimal make-up do that included a brown shimmer eye-shadow and a matching coloured lipstick.

Rock hard! The 25-year-old flashed her toned torso in the garment as it featured cut-outs around her abdominal area

The details: The floor-length piece featured thick over-the-shoulder straps and a sweetheart neckline, which displayed a portion of cleavage

The pageant queen also defined her cheekbones with a deep bronzer.

As she clutched tightly onto a clipboard and microphone during the event, Monika flashed her large diamond engagement ring.

Monika recently spoke to Daily Mail Australia about her impending nuptials, admitting that her Miss Universe Australia duties have kept her too busy to plan the wedding.

'We're still thinking 2018 and that's honestly as far as we've got,' she said. 'So we've got plenty of time to hash out the details, but we're both so busy.'

Keeping it simple: Monika wore her chocolate brown locks out and styled with a curl, which she later tucked behind her ears

True beauty: To keep the focus on her flowing choice of attire, she opted for a glamorous but minimal make-up do that included a brown shimmer eye-shadow and a matching coloured lipstick

After winning the crown over the other 34 competitors last year, Monika revealed the sad truth about her childhood, when her parents fled war-torn Bosnia in search of a better life two decades ago.

'I was four-years-old [and] neither myself nor my parents spoke any English... and my mum was eight months pregnant flying to Australia,' says Monika, who is 'still fluent in her native tongue,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'When you're placed in a position of hardship, you underestimate how much you can actually survive and how strong you are, you don't know that until you're placed in that position.'
She appeared on Love Island in the hope of finding romance.

But Zara Holland was shocked to discover her former flame and winner of last year's series, Max Morley had used her time on the island to vent that she had a 'boring' personality and a sex life to match.

But after quitting the show last week, the 21-year-old former Miss Great Britain has hit back at Max's claims, telling The Sun: 'He was horrible, God knows what happened or why hes blocked me on Twitter.'

Scroll down for video

Speaking out: She appeared on Love Island in the hope of finding romance. But Zara Holland was shocked to discover her former flame and winner of last year's series, Max Morley had dubbed her 'boring'

Explaining that she thought things were going well after they went on a string of dates in December, she added: 'He was the dream I did still really fancy the pants off him.'

The starlet confessed that she wasn't sure why their relationship came to an end, but suggested he may have been struggling with commitment issues.

'I think he wasn't really ready for a relationship and it got to that point.... I don't know,' she reasoned.

Defiant: After quitting Love Island last week, the 21-year-old former Miss Great Britain hit back at Max's claims. The pair enjoyed a string of dates in December but their romance soon fizzled out

Last month, Zara's ex Max - who famously dated Charlotte Crosby - expressed his shock that she had been chosen to enter the villa, telling The Daily Star: 'If she lets herself go she could be good, maybe but if not then she is boring.'

He added: 'The sex was just on the same basis as her personality, nothing special or to write home about.'

But despite dating the starlet, it seems Max didn't know his ex too well as he went on to insist: 'She will absolutely not have sex on TV, there's not a chance.'

Shocked: Max won last years series of Love Island and was shocked to hear that Zara had been chosen as one of the contestants for the show as he explained that she had a 'boring' personality

Former flame: Max famously dated Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby after winning Love Island

Zara's time in the Love Island villa was notoriously turbulent as she lamented that she couldn't seem to couple up with the right guys for her.

After sensing a connection with new contestant Alex Bowen, the star indulged in a steamy night of passion, which resulted in her losing her title as Miss Great Britain.

Days after she was told she had her crown revoked due to her 'disappointing' behaviour, she heard that her mother had fallen ill and left the show to be at her side.

Lost: Zara was decrowned as Miss Great Britain after the star indulged in a steamy night of passion with a fellow contestant in scenes that shocked viewers watching at home

Despite the fall out that came from her night of passion, Zara recently revealed that she does not regret her actions.

Speaking exclusively to the MailOnline she explained: 'Women like to have sex. I just personally have never had a one night stand before and a lot of women have one night stands and there's nothing wrong with sex and if you wake up in the morning and it makes you feel good.

'Sex is nothing to be ashamed of. We're all women but I just don't regret my actions, I just regret doing it on TV.'
She's not shy about showing some skin when it come to fun in the sun.

And presenter and blogger Rachel McCord stayed true to form on Saturday, when she hit the beach in California in a teeny, tiny bikini.

Heading to the Marina Del Bay, Los Angeles, the 26-year-old beauty made the most of the sun and hit the beach and waves in a figure-flaunting two-piece.

Scroll down for video

Beach beauty: Presenter and blogger Rachel McCord stayed true to form on Saturday, when she hit the beach in California in a teeny, tiny bikini

Rachel - younger sister of 90210 star Anna Lynne - opted for a flesh-flashing monochrome bikini that left little to the imagination, whilst affording her the opportunity to flaunt her incredible figure.

Opting for a plunging halter-neck top, the Georgia-born star flashed more than a hint of her cleavage.

Her tiny matching bottoms, which featured drawstring detailing, also allowed the actress and blogger to showcase her taut tummy and lithe legs to the max.

Figure-flaunting: Heading to the Marina Del Bay, Los Angeles, the 26-year-old beauty made the most of the sun and hit the beach and waves in a figure-flaunting two-piece

Having enjoyed a session on a paddleboard on the gleaming waters of the Pacific Ocean, the McCord List founder head for a shower.

Untying her blonde locks from the loose ponytail she'd worn for her excursion on the waters, Rachel left her hair loose as she hit the shower following her excursion on the water.

For her outing to the beach, the two-time Hollyscoop presenter had gone make-up free, opting to showcase her naturally striking features.

Bikini body: Opting for a plunging halter-neck top, the Georgia-born star flashed more than a hint of her cleavage

Worked up a thirst? Her tiny matching bottoms, which featured drawstring detailing, also allowed the actress and blogger to showcase her taut tummy and lithe legs to the max

Ready to board? Having enjoyed a session on a paddleboard on the gleaming waters of the Pacific Ocean, the McCord List founder head for a shower

Going for a paddle: For her outing to the beach, the two-time Hollyscoop presenter had gone make-up free, opting to showcase her naturally striking feature

And while she'd stripped down to her bikini for a paddle around the marina, she'd arrived on the beach in a slightly more reserved fashion; having shrugged on a lightweight cream cardigan.

She rounded off her beach ensemble, the star made sure to team her swimsuit and cardigan with a pair of towering wedges.

She finished her beachy look with a pair of aviator style shades, whilst she also wore a two understated studs in her ears as well as a bangle.

After setting up lifestyle and influencer blog, The McCord List, Rachel has returned to acting with satire, A Mini Movie.

wrappinguP? And while she'd stripped down to her bikini for a paddle around the marina, she'd arrived on the beach in a slightly more reserved fashion; having shrugged on a lightweight cream cardigan
MasterChef Australia's final 10 reached for the stars on Sunday night as celebrity guest judge Heston Blumenthal asked them to a prepare an outer space-themed menu.

The first day of 'Heston Week' saw the home chefs take a conceptual approach as they cooked a two-course meal for diners on the Melbourne Star - dubbed the world's biggest revolving restaurant.

Meanwhile, the contestants were pushed to their limits to deliver dishes quickly as they only had a brief window of opportunity to serve the diners as their Ferris wheel pods rolled past.

Scroll down for video

Destination dining! On Sunday's MasterChef Australia, guest judge Heston Blumenthal (left) challenged the contestants to prepare a galaxy-themed menu for diners at the Melbourne Star giant wheel (right)

It was a high-pressure challenge which saw three of the pairs impress judges Matt Preston, George Calombaris, and Gary Mehigan with their galactic-inspired meals.

Matt Sinclair and Theresa Visintin, Mimi Baines and Elena Duggan, and Harry Foster and Chloe Bowles each earned praise for their appropriately 'Heston-esque' dishes.

Matt and Theresa's Black Hole dessert was described as 'spectacular' and would not have looked out of place in Heston's world-famous restaurant, The Fat Duck.

High stakes: The first day of 'Heston Week' saw the home chefs take a conceptual approach inspired by British celebrity chef. Their efforts were judged by Matt Preston (centre) and George Calombaris (right)

Race against time! The contestants were pushed to their limits to deliver dishes quickly as they only had a brief window of opportunity to serve the diners as their Ferris wheel pods rolled past

The dessert featured a mixture of hidden textures and ingredients which are sucked into a dip in the middle, allowing guests to 'discover' new flavours as they go.

Mimi and Elena's Sea Stars main course really 'connected with the brief' and conjured images of galaxies and 'stardust', according to Heston.

But it was Harry and Chloe's Big Bang dessert - a chocolate half-dome containing mousse which the guest 'smashes' onto their plate - which really inspired the judges.

Success: Mimi Baines and Elena Duggan's Sea Stars main course (pictured) really 'connected with the brief' and also conjured images of galaxies and 'stardust', according to Heston

Matt Sinclair and Theresa Visintin's Black Hole dessert (pictured) was described as 'spectacular' and would not have looked out of place in Heston's world-famous restaurant, The Fat Duck

And the winner is... But it was Harry Foster and Chloe Bowles' Big Bang dessert - a chocolate half-dome containing mousse which the guest 'smashes' onto their plate - which really inspired the judges

'I think that is so much fun': George made a show of The Big Bang by dropping the chocolate dessert on to his place, which resulted in a playfully 'deconstructed' dish

Sky high dining: Heston dubbed the Melbourne Star pop-up 'the world's biggest revolving restaurant'

'I think that is so much fun,' said Matt Preston, and Heston remarked that the balance of flavours was 'just right'.

Unfortunately, Trent Harvey and Heather Day were sent through to the eliminations after delivering an overcooked duck and 'heavy' sponge dessert.

The unlucky pair will also be sidelined from the three remaining pop-up restaurant challenges in 'Heston Week'.

MasterChef Australia continues tomorrow night at 7.30pm on Network Ten.

Losers: Trent Harvey (left) and Heather Day (right) were sent through to the eliminations after delivering an overcooked duck and 'heavy' sponge dessert. They will be sidelined in the next three 'Heston Week' tasks

The top teams: Three pairs were singled out by the judges for the excellent dishes - (left to right) Elena Duggan and Mimi Baines, Harry Foster and Chloe Bowles and Matt Sinclair and Theresa Visintin
He's the MasterChef Australia judge known for his rather eccentric turn of phrase.

But George Calombaris' latest gaffe surprised even his most die-hard fans on Sunday night's episode.

The 37-year-old chef sent Twitter into a frenzy after asking guest judge Heston Blumenthal to 'hold hands' after sampling a contestant's dish.

Scroll down for video

Excuse me? MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris (right) jokingly asked celebrity guest judge Heston Blumenthal (left) if he wanted to 'hold hands' on Sunday night's episode

The final 10 contestants were asked to prepare a galaxy-inspired menu for diners in a 'revolving restaurant' on the Melbourne Star.

But when it came to sampling Mimi and Elena's fish main course, dubbed 'Sea Stars', George got a little bit too enthusiastic.

As Heston declared that the dish conjured images of stardust and had given him 'an energy', George suggested: 'I just want to hold hands'.

Was it something I said? George's unexpected attempt at male bonding inspired a funny response on Twitter

'Heston's face when George says he just wants to hold hands': One Twitter fan noted Heston's less-than enthusiastic response to George's offer

His unexpected attempt at male bonding with the celebrity chef resulted in a hilarious response on social media.

'I didn't realise the I was watching The Bachelor', said one viewer, comparing MasterChef to the Network Ten dating show.

And another Twitter user suggested the enclosed space made the atmosphere even more awkward.

'Heston and Matt (Preston) think of ways to escape the pod of doom,' they quipped.

'George has finally lose his mind. What an airhead!' The confused response was contrasted by another Twitter user who suggested George was just saying 'bone-headed' things to 'get Twitter famous'

'I didn't realise I was watching The Bachelor': One fan suggested George's joke sounded like something from Network Ten's popular dating show

One social media fan wrote: 'Omg (Oh, my God) that made me laugh out loud for real!'

Meanwhile, another said, rather unflatteringly: 'George has finally lost his mind. What an airhead!'

And someone asked: 'Does George deliberately say bone head things cause he knows he'll get Twitter famous' (sic).

Repeat offender? This follows a similar gaffe earlier this week when Twitter fans mocked George for his 'dramatic' attempt at eating finger food

'No one eats like that George': When it came to sampling Matt Sinclar's beef tataki with soy caramel, George went to strange lengths to prove his point that the dish needed to be smaller

'Poor hand-mouth coordination': George was widely mocked on social media for his deliberately sloppy eating

This follows a similar incident earlier this week when Twitter fans mocked George for his 'dramatic' attempt at eating finger food.

He was compared to a 'drunk teenager' while trying to demonstrate to contestant Matt Sinclair that his dish needed to be smaller.

Several fans tweeted that he was 'making deliberately hard work' of the dish, with one viewer stating bluntly: 'No one eats like that George'.

MasterChef Australia continues tomorrow night at 7.30pm on Network Ten
He's spent the past few days sunning himself in the South of France while attending the Cannes Lions Film Festival.

And after making a quick pit stop through Paris, Jonathan Cheban opted for London as the next destination on his route home as he stepped out in the capital with his girlfriend Anat Popovsky.

Heading to Mayfair's Novikov on Saturday, the 42-year-old reality star seemed in good spirits as he held hands with his stunning companion.

Scroll down for video

Jet set style: After making a quick pit stop through Paris, Jonathan Cheban opted for London as the next destination on his route home as he stepped out in the capital with his girlfriend Anat Popovsky

Clad in a pair of black brocade print jeans and a grey bomber jacket, Jonathan looked effortlessly stylish as he headed out of dinner.

Anat also oozed glamour in a red and cream striped skirt co-ord that clung to her incredible figure.

Grazing her thighs as she walked, the garment offered a look at her tanned and toned pins, whilst her cropped long sleeve shirt flashed a glimpse of her toned abs.

Loved-up: Heading to Mayfair's Novikov on Saturday, the 42-year-old reality star seemed in good spirits as he held hands with his stunning companion - who turned heads in a scarlet striped skirt co-ord

Jonathan was no doubt pleased for a relaxing night out with his girlfriend as he recently admitted that it can be tough dealing with fame and the pitfalls that accompany it.

Speaking on the MailOnline yacht at Cannes Lions, Jonathan spoke out about his famous friendship with Kim Kardashian, explaining that people have been trying to tear them apart.

'It's a very competitive industry,' he said. 'We all started at the same place eight or nine years ago and people are envious of us. They want to break up our friendship.'

Cute couple: Jonathan was no doubt pleased for a relaxing night out with his girlfriend as he recently admitted that it can be tough dealing with fame and the pitfalls that accompany it

The star also spoke out about Kim's infamous crying face, that has been turned into a meme and kimoji.

At a panel discussion chaired by Katie Hopkins, he was asked 'Does she cry a lot?'

And Jonathan gave a surprising response as he revealed: 'No, no, he replied. But she has the best crying face. I think she was in tears there because she had lost an earring.'
She complained about how breakfast radio was killing her love life when she quit 2DayFM in 2014.

But as she prepares to return to the airwaves on Monday morning, Sophie Monk has enlisted the help of her new boyfriend to wake up before dawn as she fills in for breakfast on KIIS FM.

The 36-year-old posted a video to social media on Sunday showing her in bed with her new beau Derek, asking him to make sure she wakes up for her early shift.

In bed with her beau? Sophie Monk lay alongside 'new boyfriend Derek' in bed as she prepared to make her breakfast radio return on Monday morning, asking him to wake her in a video posted to social media on Sunday

'Hey darling, can you make sure I hear my alarm about 4.30am tomorrow, just in case, because i have to get up. Alright, love you,' she said, before kissing him on the cheek.

The media personality then rested her head on his shoulder and cuddled up with her arm across his chest.

'My new boyfriend Derek is AMAZING! #thefling 6-9am KIIS1065 KIIS1011 with Matty Acton,' she wrote alongside the video.

The new 'boyfriend' is, of course, actually a manikin clad in spotted light blue button-up pyjamas and sporting a thick head of black hair.

Help a girl out: 'Hey darling, can you make sure I hear my alarm about 4.30am tomorrow, just in case, because i have to get up. Alright, love you,' she said

Love you! Sophie then gave her 'boyfriend' a kiss then rested her head on his shoulder and cuddled up with her arm across his chest

Gotcha: The new 'boyfriend' is, of course, actually a manikin clad in spotted light blue button-up pyjamas and sporting a thick head of black hair

The post is a clever publicity stunt to promote her first appearance on Monday morning at 6am where she will fill in for regular hosts, such as Sydney's Kyle and Jackie O, as well as Melbourne's Matt and Meshel.

The blonde beauty will be hosting The Fling breakfast show across the Australian Radio Network (ARN)'s Sydney and Melbourne stations alongside fellow radio star Matty Acton.

It is a repeat of the pair's collaboration from December last year to January, hosting The Summer Fling on the KIIS FM stations.

Sophie's liaison with Derek comes after the British-born Australian, who has been finding her feet in the past two years since returning from Los Angeles after ten years, quit 2DayFM with Jules Lund and Merrick Watts citing gruelling hours.

They're back! Sophie Monk will be hosting The Fling breakfast show across the Australian Radio Network (ARN)'s Sydney and Melbourne stations alongside fellow radio star Matty Acton from June 27 to July 8

She shocked radio bosses by handing in her notice in October 2014 revealing it was time for pastures new.

At the time she told Daily Mail Australia: 'When I leave the show, it will give me my evenings back,' she said, adding, 'now if I want to date someone, I have to say to them "Wanna meet up for dinner and drinks at 2pm?"

'I'm looking forward to going on dates. My love life is non existent.'

It seems not much has changed since then, and the blonder stunner remains on the market, though she will likely be keen for afternoon dates before and early bed time.

In a statement last month, ARNs National Content Director Duncan Campbell said: 'After the success of The Summer Fling, were pleased to be welcoming back Sophie and Matty to continue to deliver great content on KIIS, while our breakfast shows take a well-deserved mid-year break'.

Making a return: Sophie is delighted to be preparing for her on-air return, saying 'Im super excited to be back on air waking up Sydney and Melbourne with Matty on KIIS'

Usual hosts: Kicking off on June 27, the pair will be entertaining audiences in the top breakfast time-slot while regular hosts, such as Sydney's Kyle and Jackie O (pictured), and Melbourne's Matt and Meshel, enjoy some time off

Sophie was also delighted to be preparing for her on-air return, saying: 'Im super excited to be back on-air waking up Sydney and Melbourne with Matty on KIIS.

'We had such a great time with the summer show, and I know its only going to be bigger and better for The Fling  But I still wish breakfast radio started at 10am. And the early starts gives me a real excuse for my ugg boots right?'

Back in March this year some news had emerged, hinting at her return to the airwaves.

The bubbly blonde said in a statement at the time: 'Anyone who knows me realises that Im very happy to bring the laughs - even when theyre usually all at my expense.

'Im just glad I get to keep bringing the crazy.'

She added: 'Stay tuned, its going to be quite the ride.'
They announced they were in a relationship in December, following months of speculation.

And Sarah Paulson, 41, and Holland Taylor, 73, proved why they were a perfect match as they attended the reception of the California Walk To Fight Lymphedema, on Saturday, held in Santa Monica, LA and hosted by actress Kathy Bates.

The pair looked as loved-up than ever as they cosied up on the event's red carpet in coolly coordinating outfits.

Scroll down for video

Love is in the air: Sarah Paulson, 41, (left) and Holland Taylor, 73, (right) proved they were a perfect match as they attended the reception of the California Walk To Fight Lymphedema, on Saturday in Santa Monica, LA. The event was hosted by actress Kathy Bates (centre)

Sarah looked supremely sophisticated as she embraced the negligee trend of the moment with a calf-skimming satin gown.

The plunging neckline of the black dress subtly showed off the actress's cleavage, as it skimmed her curves in an understated fashion.

And she maintained this feminine feel with pretty lace detailing along the hemline and a pair of strappy stiletto heels.

Ladylike: Sarah looked supremely sophisticated as she embraced the negligee trend of the moment with a calf-skimming satin gown

However, the American Horror Story star was keen to dress down her look as she threw on a longline grey cardigan and rolled back the sleeves for a laid back feel.

Sticking to her roots in drama, Sarah rocked some show stopping earrings which came complete with a vibrant amber stone.

She also drew attention to her enviably plump pout with a slick of scarlet lipstick that stood out against her pale complexion and barely-there makeup.

Mix and match: The pair looked more loved-up than ever as they cosied up on the event's red carpet in coolly coordinating outfits

And she kept her look chic and sleek as she swept her golden tresses away from her face in a loose quiff.

Meanwhile Sarah's girlfriend, Holland, 73, looked equally smart in a monochrome trouser suit.

The Emmy Award winning actress kept her look simple with a plain black top, which she tucked into some high-waisted trousers that were embellished with large silken circles.

Relaxed: The American Horror Story star was keen to dress down her look as she threw on a longline grey cardigan and rolled back the sleeves for a laid back feel

However, similarly to Sarah, Two And A Half Men Holland also kept her look low-key as she opted to wear some comfortable slip on trainers, with a heavy white sole.

Holland sported a complexion that a woman half her age would be proud off, as she showed off her naturally dewy complexion and accentuated her impossibly high cheekbones with a pale pink blush.

And she let her light blonde hair fall into a naturally wavy style.

The women were joined at the event by other big names, such as Cheyenne Jackson and Kathy Bates, who hosted the reception.
We're used to seeing her on screen wearing statement outfits each week on The Voice Australia.

And once again Sonia Kruger has continued to defy her 50 years in a figure-hugging and plunging number on Sunday night's episode.

The Channel Nine personality looked elegant in a floor-length emerald dress that featured a plunging neckline with a thin bridge of fabric holding her cleavage in place.

One hot mama! Once again Sonia Kruger has continued to defy her 50 years in a plunging number on Sunday night's episode of The Voice Australia

Sonia kept her blonde tresses out in loose curls around her face and added to her smouldering display with smokey eye make-up and bronzed cheeks.

She drew attention to her low neckline with a gold pendent necklace, which she accessorized with a number of gold rings.

It's not the first time the yummy mummy's flashed her cleavage in a sexy ensemble on the show, with Sonia's dress of choice last week, a strappy black dominatrix-inspired ensemble.

The plunging number featured racy criss-cross detail across the bust area, teasing the audience with a glimpse of her cleavage.

Daring! The Channel Nine personality looked elegant in a floor-length emerald dress that featured a plunging neckline with a thin bridge of fabric holding her cleavage in place

Best dressed: Sonia kept her blonde tresses out in loose curls around her face and added to her smouldering display with smokey eye make-up and bronzed cheeks

She teamed the long-sleeved item of clothing with a statement silver necklace and complementing stud earrings.

With her golden locks worn up in a high ponytail, the mother-of-one knew exactly how to take her bombshell look to the next level.

Despite her stylish outfit choices for the popular reality series, Sonia was clearly on mummy duty earlier on Sunday, taking to Instagram to share a picture of her adorable one-year-old daughter Maggie.

Saucy! In keeping with the revealing outfit theme, Sonia's dress of choice last week also flashed a hint of cleavage with a strappy black dominatrix-inspired ensemble

Keeping warm in a pair of pink leggings and a white and grey shirt, the adorable toddler sits cross-legged on the floor and looks to be intently reading the pages of the Sunday papers.

'Loves to read...the real estate section?' Sonia captioned the heart-warming snap before adding the hash-tag: 'first home buyer'.

Sonia and long-term partner, TV executive Craig McPherson, welcomed their daughter in January 2015 following successful IVF treatment after several miscarriages in the past.
She shot to fame after her role in High School Musical.

But Ashley Tisdale proved that she now has to face the more mundane and trivial parts of adult life as she partook in the laborious chore of grocery shopping on Saturday.

However, that didn't stop the 30-year-old from putting on an extremely leggy display as she pushed her trolley around the supermarket in Los Angeles.

Scroll down for video

Roll model: Ashley Tisdale put on an extremely leggy display as she pushed her trolley around the supermarket in Los Angeles

Ashley stepped out in a pair of thigh-skimming denim shorts, which perfectly showed off her endless bronzed limbs with ripped detailing across the front.

But she opted to keep the rest of her look low-key as she rocked off duty chic in a pair of flat black moccasins and an oversized grey sweater.

Ashley's jumper also had practical uses, as she pulled down its sleeves to ensure that she didn't have to touch the handle of the trolley.

Looking wheel-y good: Ashley stepped out in a pair of thigh-skimming denim shorts, which perfectly showed off her endless bronzed limbs with ripped detailing across the front

The star managed to keep her cool in the Californian heat as she scraped her trademark golden tresses into a messy chignon, which she piled on top of her head.

And she covered her face with some oversized square shades that rested neatly on her nose.

Underneath her sunglasses Ashley showed off her natural beauty as she went seemingly makeup free for the outing and, instead, sported a natural sunk-kissed glow.

Playing it cool: Ashley kept the rest of her look low-key as she rocked off duty chic in a pair of flat black moccasins and an oversized grey sweater

Making the most of it! Ashley's jumper also had practical uses, as she pulled down its sleeves to ensure that she didn't have to touch the handle of the trolley

Nevertheless, makeup is still something that is close to Ashley's heart and last month she announced that she would be launching her own beauty range.

Ashley appeared on KTLA 5 Morning News Show, where she said that creating a beauty line was a natural next step for her.

'For me, I'm just like a really creative person,' she said. 'It was so hard just being an actress and being at the whim of everyone else and just waiting for your next job, that I wasnt feeling fulfilled at the end of the day.

'So I started my make-up line and it was developed two years ago. It takes a year for lipstick to be made, which I never knew.'

Ashley, who said she has always loved 'working with amazing make-up artists', explained that her line is great for a young audience because it is 'amazing quality but its affordable'.

And speaking about how the collaboration with BH Cosmetics works, she added: 'I come with inspiration for what I want to do, I pick out exactly what colours. I just get all of it in front of me.'

Ashley also talked about the fact that it has been 10 years since the release of High School Musical - the movie which catapulted her to stardom - and the fact that a reboot is now in the works.

'It's so crazy. I can't believe it's been 10 years. It was such an exciting time for us, so I wish them luck,' she said of the youngsters who are auditioning.

'I think the magic of that movie is that we were all really good friends and we enjoyed doing what we were doing, and there was just something captured in that moment.'
They were finally reunited with one another two months ago.

Now, model Samantha Harris and fiance Luke Hunt are preparing for their first official public outing since his release from after serving two years in prison.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the 25-year-old beauty revealed the pair are set to be taking part in the Barnados Beach Bolt fundraising run next month.

Scroll down for video

Stepping up: Samantha Harris and fiance Luke Hunt are preparing for their first official public outing, two months after his release from jail

Ahead of the couple's big day, Samantha spoke highly of her beau's fitness as she poked fun at herself.

'He is super fit so I need to pick up my game,' she laughed.

'I train in general for work and to be fit in general but I think I am going to do a bit more cardio'

The fundraising event will take place in Coogee, in Sydney's east, on July 31 and will feature a one-mile run.

Getting physical: The 25-year-old beauty revealed the pair are set to be taking part in the Barnados Beach Bolt fundraising run next month

Keeping up: In her latest interview, Samantha said: 'He is super fit so I need to pick up my game. I train in general for work and to be fit in general but I think I am going to do a bit more cardio'

According to the official website, 'Barnardos has been at the forefront of child protection, finding real, permanent solutions for Australian children in desperate need'.

The news of their first event attendance comes after Samantha confirmed their wedding was still very much on, after they were forced to delay in past months.

The loved-up duo had to post-pone their big day after Luke was found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death, causing the death of a grandfather.

The 30-year-old served two years out of his sentenced four years at St Heliers Correctional Centre in New South Wales and was released in early April.

Still on: The news of their first event attendance comes after Samantha confirmed their wedding was still very much on, after they were forced to delay in past due to Luke's jail sentence

'Things are going very slowly, but surely,' she told The Daily Telegraph, adding that she's thrilled to have Luke home.

'It is great. Life has been really good.'

The pair, who met at a Gold Coast shopping centre seven years ago, appear to be going strong despite having been apart since 2014.

During that year, Luke pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, which caused the death of 78-year-old Kenneth Lay after it was revealed that he was driving at 95km/h in a 60km/h zone.

Looking ahead: The Indigenous model was separated from Luke for two years after he was jailed for dangerous driving which caused the death of 78-year-old Kenneth Lay

Happy again: She is thrilled to have her fiance home and the pair are planning their future together

Luke and the Indigenous model were travelling to the gym in Narweena, Northern Sydney at the time when the commodore they were driving in crashed into Kenneth Lay's Hyundai Lantra.

He was sentenced to four years behind bars of which he served two and in addition, he was disqualified from driving for six-and-a-half years.

The couple was recently rumoured to be scouting potential wedding venues in Byron Bay after Samantha was spotted around town.

She has since denied the reports saying, 'I was just there enjoying Byron.'

Looking around: The couple was recently rumoured to be scouting potential wedding venues in Byron Bay after Samantha was spotted around town but she later denied the reports




She made jaws drop when she stepped out onto the Cannes red carpet in a plunging ruby gown last month.

And Bella Hadid transferred her red hot look from the stage to the streets as she flaunted her fabulous figure in a coordinating scarlet two-piece, on Sunday.

The 19-year-old looked every inch the supermodel in the outfit as she teamed an on-trend bardot top with some slouchy jogging pants.

Scroll down for video

Sizzling! Bella Hadid transferred her red hot look from the stage to the streets as she flaunted her fabulous figure in a coordinating scarlet two-piece, on Sunday

Heading towards Heathrow, on her way out of London, Bella stood out from the crowd in the eye-catching number, which contrasted beautifully against her sunk-kissed skin.

Meanwhile, her sweat pants cinched in her tiny waist at its smallest point to accentuate her enviable curves.

Bella teamed her bright ensemble with a pair of heavy lace-up boots that she wore in a black patent material.

Mix and match: The 19-year-old looked every inch the supermodel in the outfit as she teamed an on-trend bardot top with some slouchy jogging pants

Golden girl: Bella stood out from the crowd in the eye-catching number, which contrasted beautifully against her sunk-kissed skin

Form-fitting: Bella's sweat pants cinched in her tiny waist at its smallest point to accentuate her enviable curves

But despite her otherwise laid-back style, the model couldn't resist adding a touch of glamour to her look with a sparkling diamond choker.

And she covered her perfectly made-up face with some round aviator-style shades.

Bella looked flawless as she walked to catch her flight as she sported a perfectly matte complexion and drew attention to her enviably plump lips with a delicate pink gloss.

However, as she prepared for the long flight ahead, Bella decided to let her hair fall into sleek natural waves that fell around her shoulders with a sophisticated centre parting.

Stepping out! Bella teamed her bright ensemble with a pair of heavy lace-up boots that she wore in a black patent material.

Shining bright! The model couldn't resist adding a touch of glamour to her look with a sparkling diamond choker

Going low-key: Bella covered her perfectly made-up face with some round aviator-style shades

Flawless! Bella sported a perfectly matte complexion and drew attention to her enviably plump lips with a delicate pink gloss

Bella has been in Europe for the week, but ensured that she squeezed in some time with her dad Mohamed before her trip, sharing a sweet snap of the pair on Instagram.

Cuddling up to her father, she captioned the shot: 'Had to have lunch with my papa before Goin backs Europe..:I love you daddy.

'Happy almost Father's Day to one of my favorite men in the world! I love love love you. [sic]'

Sleek: Bella decided to let her hair fall into natural waves that fell around her shoulders with a sophisticated centre parting

Getting the boot! Bella's boots contrasted harshly against her bright red joggers

Helping hand: A member of Bella's entourage was on hand to assist her out of the car
They welcomed their two bundles of joy into the world at the end of May.

And it was a happy day for Ronnie Wood, 69, and his third wife Sally, 38, when they brought their twin baby daughters home on Monday.

Clearly keen to get the Gracie Jones and Alice Rose back to their London homestead, the couple - who married in 2012 - made a swift exit from a car before carrying the new-borns into their house.

Scroll down for video

Welcome home! It was a happy day for Ronnie Wood, 69, and his third wife Sally, 38, when they brought their twin baby daughters home on Monday

Having just given birth to their twins on May 30, theatre director Sally looked to be in a jubilant mood as she carried the twins in their baby carriers.

Looking fresh-faced and full of energy, the dark-haired beauty rocked a casual yet chic look as she arrived back at the home she shares with her husband-of-four years.

Teaming a loose scarlet blouse with a stone suede jacket, the author subtly covered up her post-baby body.

Merry mother? Clearly keen to get the Gracie Jones and Alice Rose back to their London homestead, the couple - who married in 2012 - made a swift exit from a car before carrying the twins into their house

She rounded her relaxed yet stylish look off with a pair of black comfy trainers.

Wearing her dark chestnut lock in tumbling ringlets down to her shoulders, the first-time mother appeared to be glowing.

Opting for a minimal palette of make-up, Sally let her natural looks shine through.

And if she'd been hit by any sleepless nights, she covered up the bags with a pair of over-sized Ray Ban shades.

Back to base: Having just given birth to their twins on May 30, theatre director Sally and her Rollin Stones husband looked to be in a jubilant mood as she carried the twins in their baby carriers

Doting dad: Rolling Stones guitar-slinger Ronnie rocked his usual carefully disheveled and laid-back look.

Rolling Stones guitar-slinger Ronnie rocked his usual carefully disheveled and laid-back look.

Teaming plum coloured skinny jeans with a white tee-shirt and black padded jacket, the rock veteran cut a casual figure.

But obviously keen to get his wife and two young daughters safely into the homestead he protectively marshaled the family and their belongings inside.

Casually chic: Looking fresh-faced and full of energy, the dark-haired beauty rocked a casual yet chic look as she arrived back home in a scarlet blouse, suede jacket, jeans and trainers

A watchful eye: Teaming plum coloured skinny jeans with a white tee-shirt and black padded jacket, the rock veteran cut a casual figure

Man of the house: Obviously keen to get his wife and two young daughters safely into the homestead he protectively marshaled the family and their belongings inside

And there were a plethora of well-wishers welcoming them home, although judging from sally's Twitter not the four nannies they've allegedly hired.

Hitting back at rumours that they've hired multiple nannies to help them with their two young tots, Sally wrote: 'Just read that we've hired four nannies! We haven't, that would be bonkers!! xx'

Sally's message comes after a source close to the family told the Sunday People, Ronnie had hired four nannies to ensure he gets the rest he needs to continue with his work.

Happily ever after: Rolling Stones musician Ronnie Wood, 69, and his wife Sally, 38, welcomed their twin girls at the end of May. They have reportedly hired four nannies to help tend to their two children

The MailOnline has reached out to Ronnie's spokesperson and is awaiting comment.

'Everyone was asking how Ronnie would cope,' the source said. 'Hes obviously an incredible force, but lets be fair he is 69.'

'The nannies are the answer. Obviously thats the life you can afford to lead if youre a rock superstar.'

The twins are Ronnie's fifth and sixth children, but the first for him and Sally, who is 31 years his junior.

He already has son Jesse Wood, with his first wife and former model, Krissy Wood, daughter Leah and son Tyrone from his second marriage, to Jo, and Jamie, Jo Woods son from a previous marriage, whom Wood adopted.

'The nannies are the answer': A source told the Sunday People that Ronnie, pictured here with Sally in April, needs the assistance of nannies

Jo, who divorced Ronnie in 2009 after 26 years of marriage, has been outspoken in her opinions about him becoming a father again so late in life.

Speaking to The Mirror in March she claimed that he wouldn't remember what it is like to raise newborns.

'When he last had kids he was flying high on cocaine and booze back then, so missed all the sleepless nights and the crying,' she said.

Loved up: The twins are Ronnie's fifth and sixth children, but the first for him and Sally, who is 31 years his junior

Ronnie, who has turned over a new leaf in life, has been quick to dismiss any and all suggestions he parents from a distance.

Speaking to Hello! magazine last month he said: Im the burper, walker, nappy changer and Im still trying to work out when I can get to sleep in between all that.

I have played the guitar to them and when I get round to it I will do some drawings. At the moment Im just soaking up every moment we have.'

Wood previously said that he hoped his good friend, and Rolling Stone frontman, Sir Mick Jagger, would sing lullabies to his new daughters.

Sir Mick may well have answered the call, as he was one of the first to visit the newborns.
She's got plenty of experience in the style stakes, having shot to fame as a fashion model.

And Jaime King proved she's no stranger to sassy summer styles when she stepped out in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Heading out into Beverly Hills to run errands, the 37-year-old Sin City actress cut a striking and stylish figure in a monochrome ensemble.

Scroll down for video

Summer sass: Jaime King proved she's no stranger to sassy summer styles when she stepped out in Los Angeles on Saturday

Sashaying down the street, Jaime looked every inch the fashionista as she headed from appointment to appointment.

Opting for a clinging black top, with sheer arms and shoulders, Jaime added a flirtatious edge to her wardrobe.

Teaming her form-fitting top with a pair of cream flared trousers, the model-turned-actress subtly drew attention to her pert posterior.

Rounding off her look with a pair of black open-toed sandals, the porcelain-skinned beauty looked the epitome of summer chic.

Stylish screen siren: Heading out into Beverly Hills to run errands, the 37-year-old Sin City actress cut a striking and stylish figure in a monochrome ensemble

She accessorised her look with a pair of oval-framed sunglasses, a boxy olive handbag and a funky iPhone holder.

She wore her hair honeyed locks swept back off of her face in slick waves, whilst she highlighted her striking features with a slick of scarlet lipstick and careful contouring.

Heading to Philadelphia on hand on Thursday, Jaime showed off a more striking summery look as she attended a talk about sun safety with Neutrogena at the Long Live Skin event.

The Hart Of Dixie star looked luminous as she stylishly stepped out in an iridescent frock where she stopped by CVS Pharmacy's pop up beach hut at Dilworth Park.

Luminous beauty: Jaime stepped out in a stylish iridescent frock to talk sun safety with Neutrogena at the Long Live Skin event on Thursday in Philadelphia, PA

Jamie stunned in the shimmering summer shirt-dress which featured a fit and flare silhouette showing off her trim waistline.

The top of the button-front design displayed two front pockets on chest of the creation and was rolled up to her elbows.

While the semi-sheer hemline fell below the knees and revealed a flesh colored slip underneath.

The always fashionable mom-of-two topped the chic look off with a pair of colorful open-toe stilettos.

Iridescent look: The 37-year-old Hart Of Dixie star stunned in the shimmering summer shirt-dress which featured a fit and flare silhouette showing off her trim waistline

Flawless: The beauty wore her brunette tresses pulled back in a sleek up do while highlighting her radiant complexion with blush and a healthy dose of mascara

The beauty wore her brunette tresses pulled back in a sleek up do while highlighting her radiant complexion with blush and a healthy dose of mascara.

She appeared to be in a good mood as she showed off her pearly whites beneath her naturally pink pout.

Jaime's nails featured a fresh burgundy colored manicure and displayed her wedding ring on her left hand.

Fun day: The former fashion model appeared to be in a good mood as she showed off her pearly whites beneath her naturally pink pout. She was flanked by two CVS promotional models at the pharmacy's pop up beach hut at Dilworth Park

Chic details! The button-front design fell below the knees and revealed a fashionable pair of colorful open-toe stilettos. Jaime's nails showed off a fresh burgundy manicure and displayed her wedding ring on her left hand

The actress has been married to director Kyle Newman since 2007 and the pair have two sons together: James, 2, and Leo who will be one-year-old in July.

Jaime is finding the perfect balance between motherhood and her career while concentrating her efforts on television's future with a new show on CW Seed, the network's digital channel.

Her show, which she is also producing, is Attention Deficient Theater, a sketch comedy based on her own observations about life, love and style.

The actress has also joined Kristin Nystrom of clothing company Gardner and the Gang to create a line of gender-neutral clothing for children, The Lion's Heart.
Advertisement

Brittany Murphy's home is back on the market.

The modern-looking showpiece situated in the hills of Hollywood has been relisted for $18.4 million, according to a Sunday report from TMZ. It had previously been on the market for $1 million more.

This is where the the 8 Mile actress died at the age of 32 in December 2009. The shock death was at first thought to be due to drugs but a coroner later determined she suffered a heart attack after an illness.

At the time, she was married to Simon Monjack, who died at the same property five months later.

A gem: Brittany Murphy's home is back on the market. The modern-looking showpiece situated in the hills of Hollywood has been relisted for $18.4 million, according to a Sunday report from TMZ

Gone too soon: The beauty died in 2009 at the age of 32 in her Hollywood home; here she is seen in December at the Across The Hall premiere just days before her death

Murphy was best known for her quirky acting style. She was given acclaim for co-starring with Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder in 1999's Girl Interrupted and also starred in blockbusters such as 1995's Clueless. She later made a name for herself in romantic comedies such as Just Married with Ashton Kutcher (who she dated).

It is also where Las Vegas based pop siren Britney Spears once lived before she had children.

The stunning house seems to be a good price at $18.4m. It was originally listed for $1m more. The multi level property has been dramatically renovated since Murphy lived there with much more modern touches and a very updated minimalist look.

The home has a deep past: It is also where Las Vegas based pop siren Britney Spears once lived before she had children

Dramatic: The multi level property has been dramatically renovated since Murphy lived there with much more modern touches and a very updated minimalist look

Primo: Even the bedroom has incredible views of downtown LA and nice details like hardwood floors and hushed lighting

The house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with a home theater, massage room, wine cellar, infinity pool and an elevator to navigate the 9,400 sq. ft. property that's three stories high.

Real estate agents Ben Bacal and Ness Krief have the listing.

The spread looks like a perfect party pad for Hollywood's elite with floor to ceiling windows and breathtaking views. Even the bedroom offers a full view of downtown LA below.

Let's eat! The kitchen looks brand new with light wood cabinets and black walls. The appliances are top with a wide range and double ovens

A perfect place to party in style: The dining room has an open plan that allows easy access to the kitchen and living room

The kitchen looks brand new with light wood cabinets and black walls. The appliances are top with a wide range and double ovens.

The dining room has an open plan that allows easy access to the kitchen and living room. There is also a sweet outdoor area that can be used as another living space.

Murphy's shock death at the age of 32 was not caused by drugs, the LA coroner said.

Epic: The house has five bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with a home theater, massage room, wine cellar, infinity pool and an elevator to navigate the 9,400 sq. ft. property that's three stories high

Sad loss: Murphy's shock death at the age of 32 was not caused by drugs, the LA coroner said in 2009

Miss Murphy, who had a wild reputation and was allegedly hooked on tranquilizers, died of a heart attack.

She was found unconscious at 8am in the shower by her mother at the home she shared with her husband, the British screenwriter Monjack.

When medics arrived she was in full cardiac arrest and they continued giving her CPR until she got to Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, near Beverly Hills.

Shock: Miss Murphy, who had a wild reputation and was allegedly hooked on tranquilizers, died of a heart attack. She was found unconscious at 8am in the shower by her mother at the home she shares with her husband, the British screenwriter Monjack

Rumours: An unconfirmed report suggested she had become addicted to prescription drugs since taking painkillers after cosmetic surgery

But she was unresponsive and pronounced dead on arrival at 10.03am.

Kutcher, who split from Miss Murphy in 2003 after seven months together, said: My deepest condolences go out to Brittanys family, her husband, and her amazing mother Sharon.

He added three minutes later: 2day the world lost a little piece of sunhsine. See you on the other side kid.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton paid tribute to the star but said he had seen her death coming.

Golden opportunity: The stunning house seems to be a good price at $18.4m. It was originally listed for $1m more

He wrote: 'Absolutely devastating. Especially because this comes as no surprise! We, and those who knew Brittany personally, saw this coming.'

The Clueless, 8 Mile and Sin City star was fired from an upcoming film for being difficult on set.

Friends were also quoted as saying: 'Brittany's been living life on the edge. She definitely had a drug problem and we have begged her to seek help.'

An unconfirmed report suggested she had become addicted to prescription drugs since taking painkillers after cosmetic surgery. TMZ was reporting that a large amount of prescription drugs were found by police in the house.
Kimberley Walsh has revealed she is expecting baby number two with husband Justin Scott

The couple, who share a 21-month-old son, Bobby, revealed to Hello! magazine that the duo are set to welcome a new tot into their family.

The 34-year-old Girls Aloud starlet walked down the aisle in Barbados in February and found out about their new arrival just weeks after the wedding.

Scroll down for video

Over the moon: Kimberley Walsh has revealed she is expecting baby number two with husband Justin Scott

Kimberley revealed to the magazine: 'We knew soon after we got married that we'd be very happy for baby number two to come along. When I first met Justin 14 years ago, I told him I wanted four children. We're both over the moon.'

She went on to discuss the discovery: 'Before I had even taken a test, I knew it instinctively. I wasn't suffering from morning sickness but telltale changes in my body made me certain I was expecting.

'When I took a home test early one morning to make sure, it confirmed what I'd already sensed. I was thrilled. The first thing I did was to wake up Justin and tell him, "You're going to be a daddy again!"'

The happy couple: The 34-year-old Girls Aloud starlet walked down the aisle in Barbados in February, found out about their new arrival just weeks after the wedding

Overjoyed: The couple, who have a 21-month-old son, Bobby, revealed to Hello! magazine that the duo are set to welcome a new tot into their family

Kimberley soared to fame in 2002 when Girls Aloud formed on pioneering ITV talent show Popstars: The Rival and she remains firm friends with bandmates Nicola Roberts and Cheryl.

The blonde beauty revealed she could not contain her baby news any longer when the Fight For This Love hitmaker came to her house: 'When Cheryl came over to visit, I couldn't keep my pregnancy a secret any longer.

'She was so happy for us and thinks it's great to keep our family growing and that there will be a small age gap between Bobby and the new baby.'

Gal pals: Kimberley soared to fame in 2002 when Girls Aloud was formed on pioneering ITV talent show Popstars: The Rival and she remains firm friends with bandmates Nicola Roberts and Cheryl (left and right)

The stunning star revealed she and Justin have opted not to find out the sex of the tot following the 12 week scan.

Kimberley spoke shortly after her wedding about her desire to have more kids, saying: 'I definitely want more children. Bobby is so sociable, he loves other kids so he'd definitely enjoy it.

'For him to grow up with a sibling close in age to him would be lovely, so, yes  fingers crossed.'

Joyous: Kimberley (pictured in June 2014) was glowing when she was expecting Bobby
Over the decades, his father has enjoyed the company of Hollywood's most beautiful women.

But it was Sean Penn's son Hopper's turn to put his love in the spotlight on Saturday, stepping out with longtime girlfriend Uma Von Wittkamp for a glamorous evening in Paris.

The pair was spotted leaving their posh hotel for the exclusive Dior Homme dinner at Caviar Kaspa to celebrate the conclusion of Men's Paris Fashion Week.

Date night: Hopper Penn and girlfriend Uma Von Wittkamp were spotted leaving their Parisian hotel for the exclusive Dior Homme dinner at Caviar Kaspa to celebrate the conclusion of Men's Paris Fashion Week on Saturday

Penn, 22, looked to be the spitting image of his actor father in a sharp black suit with a simple white collared shirt.

He sported a freshly dyed platinum blonde 'do while his dark facial hair was trimmed to perfection.

The aspiring actor's beau beamed from ear to ear as she stuck close by Hopper's side in a flirty pleated skirt and silky printed blouse in hues of orange and purple.

Shine on: The aspiring actor's beau beamed from ear to ear as she stuck close by Hopper's side in a flirty pleated skirt and silky printed blouse in hues of orange and purple

She pulled the chic ensemble together with a low ponytail at the nape of her neck and stylish ankle strap heels.

Ahead of the dinner, Penn was spotted rubbing elbows with fellow Christian Dior aficionados at the luxury designer's Summer 2017 runway show in Paris.

The extremely handsome foursome, which include rapper ASAP Rocky and actors Michael B. Jordan and Robert Pattinson,wrapped their arms around each other for a photo opp.

Handsome foursome: Penn was spotted rubbing elbows with fellow Christian Dior aficionados, rapper ASAP Rocky and actors Michael B. Jordan and Robert Pattinson, at the luxury designer's Summer 2017 runway show in Paris

Hopper is currently pursuing an acting career of his own after starring in his dad's latest film The Last Face.

'I asked if I could PA for it,' he recently dished to Interview magazine of the production that starred Sean's then girlfriend Charlize Theron and Spanish actor Javier Bardem.

Hopper went on: 'He said, No, youre going to act in it. I said no, because Im very shy; I didnt know how to act. He said, Well, youll get paid. So I was like, Im onboard. After the first day, I fell in love with it.'

Penn's mom is actress Robin Wright and he has a sister Dylan, 25, an actress and model.

Chip off the old block: The 22-year-old is pursuing an acting career of his own after his dad persuaded him to go in front of the camera for his film The Last Face
She soared to fame 13 years ago with her dizzy witticisms and penchant for all things pink.

Yet Paris Hilton proved she has sartorially matured with age as she touched down in Montreal on Saturday ahead of a DJ gig at a beach club in the Canadian city.

The 35-year-old hotel heiress looked stylish and sophisticated as she slipped into an elegant tea dress with thick black tights before heading to the beach party to spin some tunes.

Scroll down for video

Is that you Paris? Paris Hilton proved she has sartorially matured with age as she touched down in Montreal on Saturday ahead of a DJ gig at a beach club in the Canadian city

Paris, who has rebranded herself from a socialite to an international DJ, looked incredibly prim and prudish black dress which boasted a high neck and a sheer panel.

The only suggestive part of the ensemble was the flirty hemline, yet the blonde beauty ensured she kept the look demure by pairing the ensemble with thick black tights.

Despite featuring a statuesque frame, the blonde beauty boosted her height with the addition of a pair of patent heels with a round toe and a delicate bow detail.

Keeping the details of the look fluid and well matched, Paris added in a black leather doctor style handbag while clutching her iPhone close.

Elegant: The 35-year-old hotel heiress looked stylish and sophisticated as she slipped into an elegant tea dress with thick black tights before heading to the beach party to spin some tunes

Her beauty regimen was similarly elegant as she wore her blonde tresses in a straight style with bouncy waves worked into the end and the top section pulled back.

She shielded her flawlessly made-up face with a pair of huge oversized sunglasses while dabbing her lips with a peachy pink lip gloss.

Paris opted to sport no accessories, instead allowing the muted look to speak for itself.

Clearly thrilled for her forthcoming trip, Paris took to Twitter to keep her 13.7million followers up to speed with her movements, writing: 'Hey #Montreal! I've arrived! So excited to play for you all today at my pool party at @LeBeachClub! See you all soon! #PartyWithParis'.

Understated... She soared to fame 13 years ago with her dizzy witticisms and penchant for all things pink

Look at her now: The pretty star's muted look was worlds away from her outrageous glamour, yet last year she revealed in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine that her style has evolved

The pretty star's muted look was worlds away from her outrageous glamour, yet last year she revealed in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine that her style has evolved.

She said: 'My taste has changed a lot. Before I was very into Barbie (which I still am!), but I was more pink and girlie and now it's more sophisticated, I'm wearing a lot of black and white  I have a more grownup style now.'

Her trip away comes shortly after the Hilton family were faced with a stint of strife.

Troubled: Her younger brother Conrad, 22, was recently sentenced to two months in prison after he admitted to using drugs during his probation

Her younger brother Conrad, 22, was recently 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.
They may not have looked terribly happy when they left a cinema with their two eldest children in Calabasas, California, on Saturday evening.

But it seems Kourtney Kardashian and her ex, Scott Disick, are getting along better.

That's according to her sister, Khloe, who dished about their relationship in a teaser for Sunday night's Keeping Up With The Kardashians, posted by momanager Kris Jenner.

Family matters: Khloe Kardashian dished about her sister Kourtney's relationship with her ex, Scott Disick, in a teaser for Sunday night's Keeping Up With The Kardashians, posted by momanager Kris Jenner

Speaking directly to E!'s camera, the 31-year-old revealed: 'I know Kourt had a ton of anxiety in regards to Scott coming on this trip (to Cuba), which I totally understand.

'But the more that we're on this trip and Scott is really proving himself I could just see that her guards are getting left down and Kourtney's now having more fun and I can see those nerves are completely leaving her.'

The clip also showed the whole family at dinner in a restaurant where Kourtney sat down next to her ex before waving to some children on the next table.

Telling it like it is: Scott rested his arm around Kourtney his ex as the 31-year-old revealed, 'I know Kourt had a ton of anxiety in regards to Scott coming on this trip (to Cuba), which I totally understand'

But wait, there's more: Khloe added, 'But the more that we're on this trip and Scott is really proving himself I could just see that her guards are getting left down and Kourtney's now having more fun'

A surprised Scott said: 'Are you insane? Now they know who you are.' But she seemed to take his ribbing well.

Ever the family promoter, Kris, 60, captioned her Instagram clip: 'It's KUWTK Sunday!!!! Don't miss a brand new episode tonight at 9pm on E! #family #KUWTK #KUWTKSunday @kuwtk.'

The couple, who split a year ago amid claims he cheated and drank too much, share three children, Mason, six, Penelope, three, and 18-month-old son Reign.

Dinner conversation: The 37-year-old clutched a glass of water as she stood behind her beau of 10 years as he chatted with another member of the family

Momanager at work: Kris, 60, posted the Instagram clip, captioned: 'It's KUWTK Sunday!!!! Don't miss a brand new episode tonight at 9pm on E! #family #KUWTK #KUWTKSunday @kuwtk.'

They took Mason and Penelope to see Pixar's Finding Dory at a movie theater in Calabasas on Saturday.

But the happy glow that surrounded them on their vacation seemed to have vanished as they were pictured leaving the cinema looking distinctly glum.

They were joined by Kim and Kanye West, who brought their daughter North, as well as matriarch Kris.

Glum mum and dad: The one-time couple looked stoney-faced as they left a movie theatre in Calabasas, California, after taking Mason, six, and three-year-old Penelope to see Pixar's Finding Dory on Saturday
Season eight of Bravo's Real Housewives Of New York has witnessed more than its fair share of explosive drama, with most of the bullets ricocheting straight towards Luann de Lesepps.

But after Bethenny Frankel accused her reality TV rival of being a hypocrite and a fraud during a traumatic two-episode battle, The Countess finally found her platform to set the record straight on what's fact and what's fiction.

Speaking to People magazine, de Lesseps said of retaliating against Frankel's tirade: 'I don't stoop to that level in having a response because what she says has no truth.'

She also added: 'Im marrying a single man and she's actually dating a married man.'

Scroll down for video

Explosive drama: Speaking to People magazine, Luann de Lesseps said of retaliating against Frankel's tirade: 'I don't stoop to that level in having a response because what she says has no truth'

The 'single man' in question is successful banker Dennis Shields, who Bethenny herself admitted on Twitter during a June 14 rant is separated from his current wife.

The 45-year-old went on to clarify: 'I'm dating a separated married man. I'm married. I went to high school w his ex wife 30 yrs ago. Any other questions?'

The feuding between the New York-based divas reached an all time high during a Christmas party in which the Skinny Girl entrepreneur slammed Luann for not being a 'girls' girl.'

Happier times: The feuding between the New York-based divas reached an all time high during a Christmas party in which the Skinny Girl entrepreneur slammed Luann for not being a 'girls' girl.'

'The problem with you is that women don't trust you, they think you have sex with married men and you cheat and you f*** younger guys and criticize other women for the exact same things you do,' an enraged Frankel said to de Lesseps.

Of the brutal retort, Luann told the magazine: 'I'm kind of used to her sharp tongue,' although adding, 'What she said to me was hurtful.'

At it again: And while Frankel accused de Lesseps of dating a married man, the 51-year-old is firing back with her own claims that Bethenny's new beau isn't single either

Setting the record straight: Despite Luann's assertion that her reality TV rival is the actual hypocrite, Bethenny isn't afraid to explain the situation to followers

Backtracking: Frankel clarified her relationship status during a June 14 rant: 'I'm dating a separated married man. I'm married.I went to high school w his ex wife 30 yrs ago. Any other questions?'

No drama here: Luann said of her engagement to Thomas D'Agostino Jr.: 'I'm in love. I'm getting married, so that's it'

When asked if she thinks Bethenny is 'jealous' of her engagement to Thomas D'Agostino Jr, Luann backtracked: 'At that moment I think she was feeling very angry. She lost her cool.'

And it turns out that despite the on-screen bickering between the housewives, at the end of the day they come together in support of each other.

Case in point: Bethenny's recent health scare, which she has since revealed to Good Morning America was a bout of 'gigantic fibroids' that required a surgical operation back in May.

Let bygones be bygones: Luann told People that when Bethenny was suffering from 'excessive bleeding,' 'We were texting back and forth and I was asking her how she was doing

Luann told People that when Bethenny was suffering from 'excessive bleeding,' 'We were texting back and forth and I was asking her how she was doing.

She likened her RHONY cast to a 'dysfunction family,' admitting: 'Even though we argue, we still care about each other.

'So of course I care about Bethenny and I don't want to see her not well.'

As for any reconciliation between the duo on forthcoming episodes, de Lesseps teased moments of 'redemption.'

All together now: Luann likened her RHONY cast to a 'dysfunction family,' admitting: 'Even though we argue, we still care about each other'
She has been keeping her Instagram followers updated with daily bikini pictures from her idyllic vacation in Italy.

And on Sunday, Natasha Oakley once again shared another image as she continued to flaunt her incredibly toned curves while soaking up the Mediterranean climes.

The 25-year-old, who boasts a social media following of 1.8 million, drew heaps of attention to her ample curves and slender frame in an off-white bralet and breezy trousers.

Scroll down for video

Bella in Italia: Natasha Oakley once again shared another image as she continued to flaunt her incredibly toned curves while soaking up the Mediterranean climes on Sunday

It's an all white kind of pool day, she wrote alongside one snap, while adding another with the words: Italian afternoons are the best afternoons.

In another shot, posted on Saturday, she appeared to be arriving at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello, channeling old-school glamour while posing in front of the stunning hotel beside a Bentley.

Natasha seemed happy and carefree in an elegant maxi dress, cinched at the waist and highlighting her famous curves.

The blush-coloured frock featured a plunging neckline and a dainty drawstring waistband, as well as billowing sleeves.

Keeping her cool: The 25-year-old, who boasts a social media following of 1.8 million, drew heaps of attention to her ample curves and slender frame in an off-white bralet and breezy trousers

The loose-fitting dress fell to the blogger's ankles and she swished it around as she posed for photos.

Her trademark blonde locks were styled in voluminous waves and her deep tan was positively glowing.

Keeping her colour scheme neutral, she accessorised with nude heels - a pair she has favoured throughout her trip in Italy - and a beige rattan bag which she slung over her shoulder.

She also added a large floppy wide-brimmed hat to shield her face from the Italian sun, and wore a pair of stylish cat-eye sunglasses.

'Cherry on top': Earlier on, the model and blogger shared this photo of herself arriving at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello

Old-school glamour: She looked as stylish as ever in a billowing maxi dress and soft neutral tones

The blonde bombshell captioned one of her snaps: 'Arriving to Ravello in style', while the other said Ravello was the 'cherry on top' of her Italian trip.

The A Bikini A Day blogger has spent the last few weeks travelling around Italy with her French boyfriend, Gilles Souteyrand.

They have both been keeping their followers up-to-date with their glamorous trip, which has seen them travel along the picturesque Amalfi Coast.

Romantic getaway: The stunner has been gallivanting around Italy with her French beau Gilles Souteyrand
Kerry flies to Rome for Netanyahu meeting

US Secretary of State John Kerry left Washington on Saturday to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the publication of an international report expected to criticize Israeli settlement building.

Kerry was flying to Rome to meet the Israeli leader on Sunday and Monday. Some reports have suggested he will use the meeting to assess the possibility of reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials have been careful not to predict any breakthroughs and the meeting is likely to touch on the imminent release of a report by the Quartet, which is seeking to foster a "two-state" solution to the conflict.

Some reports have suggested Secretary of State John Kerry, pictured here on June 20, 2016, will use the meeting to assess the possibility of reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process Yuri Gripas (AFP/File)

This diplomatic group -- the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia -- is concerned that Palestinian violence and Israel's building on occupied land is pushing the prospect of peace further away.

This week, ahead of Kerry's trip, his spokesman John Kirby said: "There are plenty of issues coming up that merit Israel and the United States's discussion."

Kirby said the Quartet's report "will include recommendations that will help inform international discussions on the best way to advance a two-state solution."

The document will "largely" reflect the Quartet's previous statement in September last year, he added.

The September report cited Israel's "ongoing settlement activity and the high rate of demolition of Palestinian structures" as "dangerously imperiling the viability" of a two-state deal.

Washington, the traditional mediator in Middle East peace efforts, has not taken the lead in recent months, concerned that the situation is not promising and that another round of failed talks would only further embitter both parties.

But France has launched a diplomatic initiative to build international pressure on both sides.

The United States gave the French move a cool reception, but Kerry attended its inaugural meeting in Paris and has called on both sides to take "affirmative steps" to calm tempers and preserve the possibility of peace.

On the ground, however, the situation remains fraught and sporadic violence since October has killed at least 210 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Most of the Palestinians were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

On Thursday, in an address to the European Parliament, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused a group of Israeli rabbis of urging their government to poison Palestinian water supplies.
Master of street fashion photography Bill Cunningham dead at 87

Legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham died Saturday, according to the paper where he worked for nearly 40 years. He was 87.

Cunningham, whose watchful eye brought images of New Yorkers -- from the well-heeled to unsuspecting trendsetters -- to the public, had been hospitalized recently after a stroke, the Times reported.

Credited with creating the genre of street fashion photography, Cunningham held a passion for capturing a subject or trend's look, whatever it may be.

Photographer Bill Cunningham, pictured at The Pierre Hotel on April 12, 2016 in New York City, was credited with creating the genre of street fashion photography Rob Kim (Getty/AFP/File)

He was, as the Times called him, an "unlikely cultural anthropologist."

Cunningham, who plied New York in his trademark blue workman's jacket with a camera slung around his neck and traveled on his bicycle, had an uncanny talent in unearthing major, even avant-garde trends on the street, on the catwalk or at glittering parties.

In a 2010 documentary about Cunningham, Anna Wintour -- the powerful editor of American Vogue and one of the photographer's muses -- marveled at his ability to "see something, on the street or on the runway, that completely missed all of us. And in six months' time, that will be a trend!"

Frank Rich, a former New York Times columnist and executive producer of the HBO series "Veep," tweeted: "Bill Cunningham was as delightful and fascinating a person and colleague as he was as artist. An independent mind, big heart, no airs."

- A 'Living Landmark' -

A 2008 recipient of France's Legion of Honor, Cunningham was also named a living landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy in 2009.

"Today we lost a Living Landmark, not that he ever stood still. Let's all be more fabulous in Bill's memory," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's office wrote on Twitter.

De Blasio added: "We will remember Bill's blue jacket and bicycle. But most of all we will remember the vivid, vivacious New York he captured in his photos."

Cunningham's "wealth of knowledge is absolutely staggering and he is self-effacing," one of the founding editors of InStyle magazine, Hal Rubenstein, told AFP in 2014.

Times publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr added: "His company was sought after by the fashion world's rich and powerful, yet he remained one of the kindest, most gentle and humble people I have ever met."

Cunningham, born in Boston in 1929, "used his camera like a note pad, keeping careful tabs on every genus, phylum and species of stylish bird," The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

Former CNN correspondent Alina Cho, an editor at large at Ballantine Bantam Dell who was often photographed by Cunningham, first met the photographer "many, many years ago" on a cold February day during New York Fashion Week.

"I didn't yet know him and he certainly didn't know me, but he did notice that I was inappropriately dressed for the blizzard-like conditions," Cho told The Hollywood Reporter.
American dream turns to nightmare for undocumented immigrants

Every weekday, year-round, Esteban Yanez rises at the crack of dawn and heads to his job as a construction worker near the largely Hispanic desert town of Perris, south of Los Angeles.

On weekends, he does odd jobs to complement his salary.

Though the 49-year-old father of four pays income tax and social security, he has no annual vacation, no health insurance and no work benefits.

The 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US are at the heart of a contentious debate that has stirred up passions and become a defining issue in the US presidential race Robyn Beck (AFP)

Yanez, who is Mexican, is among the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States at the heart of a contentious debate that has stirred up passions and become a defining issue in the presidential race.

Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman and presumptive Republican nominee, has made deporting America's entire illegal immigrant population and building a wall on the US border with Mexico a centerpiece of his campaign.

His inflamed rhetoric, constantly hammered home at campaign appearances, has resonated with a large part of the US electorate, but has also enraged many, including people like Yanez who call America home.

"I came here 16 years ago in search of the American dream and to offer my kids a better future," Yanez told AFP during a recent meeting at the end of his 12-hour workday.

"And I do the kind of backbreaking work that only immigrants are willing to do. Others don't want to get their hands dirty with this kind of job."

- 'They're here to stay' -

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, almost a quarter (2.67 million) of the nation's undocumented immigrants live in California, where they make up slightly more than six percent of the state's population of nearly 40 million.

The majority hail from Mexico and work in farming, construction, housekeeping, elderly care, landscaping or for moving and transport companies.

"We work, we pay our dues, we take no handouts and we are not hurting anyone," sighed Maria Delosangeles, 52, who arrived in the US from Mexico 18 years ago and works as a housekeeper in the Los Angeles area.

"How does it adversely affect Trump for us to be here?"

Nationwide, undocumented immigrants collectively pay almost $12 billion a year in state and local taxes, with more than $3.1 billion coming from California alone, according to The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Advocates emphasize that they reap no benefits from their contributions.

"These people are as much a part of our landscape and culture as anyone else that's here," said Harold McClarty, a farmer in central California -- a region known as "America's salad bowl" -- and head of the California Fresh Fruit Association.

"We need to recognize that they're here to stay and that it's ridiculous to say we're going to send them back because that's beyond not practical -- it's immoral," he added.

- America would go hungry -

McClarty and other immigration reform advocates emphasize that were millions of undocumented farmworkers kicked out, as Trump would have it, America would essentially go hungry.

They point, as an example, to the state of Georgia, where an immigration crackdown in 2011 backfired, leading to crops rotting in fields and the agriculture industry losing tens of millions of dollars for lack of other "legal" laborers willing to take on such work.

"The country's economy would basically collapse if we didn't have undocumented workers," said Los Angeles-based Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist-turned-activist, who came out as an undocumented immigrant several years ago.

Vargas, founder of Define America, a non-profit that tries to humanize the debate over immigration, said if anything, Trump's rhetoric had forced the issue to the forefront and could finally spur immigration reform.

"Trump has opened the conversation and, in some ways, this really is a defining moment for all of us to try and figure out whether we keep hiding, or do we show people who we are," said Vargas, 35, who was born in the Philippines and was raised by his grandparents in the United States from the age of 12.

The community suffered a setback on Thursday, however, when the Supreme Court dealt a major blow to President Barack Obama's plan to spare millions from being deported and to allow them to legally work in the country.

A tie vote by the justices left in place a lower court ruling blocking Obama's plan.

- 'Nothing to hide' -

The mounting frustration of this growing population living in the shadows was evident during interviews with several undocumented workers who willingly shared their identity and their stories, expressing anger at how their community has been demonized.

Jaime and Ana Flores, who arrived in the US from Mexico 27 years ago and now run a landscaping service in Perris, proudly pointed out that their modest success had come by the sweat of their brow.

Their 25-year-old son works in finance and their daughter, 21, hopes to be a vet. Both are American citizens, having been born in the United States.

"We left our country because we had no other choice if we wanted a future," said Jaime, 50, standing under a beating sun as he took a break from mowing a customer's lawn.

"We start work at six every day and stop 12 to 14 hours later," he added. "And every day, we know we risk being deported but we have no other choice."

His wife, Ana, 44, said the hateful speech directed at their community was a bitter pill to swallow.

"Mr Trump needs to take a hard look at himself and consider that every time he eats salad, vegetables or fruit, an immigrant picked and quality-tested that food," she said.

"This country was built by immigrants and this has become our home," she added. "We are proud of who we are and we have nothing to hide apart from the fact that we are undocumented."

Jaime Flores (L) and his wife Ana Flores (R), migrants from Mexico who came to the United Sates 27 years ago, pose for a photo while doing landscape maintenance work, in Perris, California Robyn Beck (AFP)

A US citizenship test review booklet and notes are seen during a citizenship test preparation class in Perris, California Robyn Beck (AFP)
At least 150 homes destroyed in deadly California fire

California firefighters on Sunday struggled to contain a wildfire that killed at least two people and destroyed some 150 homes as it raced over drought-parched land whipped up by strong wind.

The blaze, known as the Erskine Fire, is raging in an agricultural and oil region of south-central California.

The blaze has spread to nearly 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire) said.

Disaster Assessment Team workers from Southern California Edison assess the fire damage to entire neighborhoods in Lake Isabella, California on June 25, 2016 Frederic J. Brown (AFP)

Some 1,700 personnel have been assigned to battle the wildfire, which is just 10 percent contained, CAL Fire said on Twitter.

At least 75 other homes have fire damage, officials said.

Unusually high temperatures, bone-dry conditions that make brush and grass flammable, and powerful winds gusting up to 50 and even 60 miles per hour (80 to 100 kilometers per hour) helped spread the flames of a fire that broke out Thursday afternoon in the sparsely populated Lake Isabella area of Kern County.

Deputies from the Kern County Sheriff's office said they may have found the remains of a third person killed by the fire in the victim's mobile home in the Lake Isabella area.

"We've located what we believe are human remains," sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt told reporters on Saturday. "We are treating it like a crime scene."

Pruitt said the remains were "pretty badly burned."

The cause of the fire is still unknown, but if investigators determine that it was intentionally set then the fire deaths will be treated as homicides, Pruitt said.

Firefighters are having an especially hard time battling the blaze due to rough hills in the area.

"This is very, very steep terrain," CAL Fire Battalion Chief Mike Mohler said in video posted on Facebook, as he pointed towards the smoke.

"We're looking at increased winds ... high temperatures, low humidity in the single digits -- that makes this a very difficult firefight," Mohler said.

The National Weather Service forecast low humidity and a temperature of 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37.2 degrees Celsius) on Sunday, unusually hot for this time of the year in that region of California.

- 'Lost everything' -

Thousands of area residents affected by the fire have been evacuated to shelters run by groups like the American Red Cross.

"I've lost everything -- all I have is what I've got on," local resident Fred Coleman told CBS 5KPIX television, interviewed at an evacuation center in the town of Kernville.

California Governor Jerry Brown has issued a state of emergency for the region, allowing aid to be deployed more quickly.

Authorities have closed several highways and evacuated two schools and a retirement home in the affected area.

California is experiencing a record five-year drought and trees and brush are at risk of igniting from the smallest spark.

More than 14 large fires are currently raging in the United States, mostly in the southwest, where a record heat wave left at least five dead last Sunday.

The remains of a demolished home with vehicle out front are seen in the community of Squirrel Valley in Lake Isabella, California, on June 24, 2016 Frederic J. Brown (AFP)
Obama declares disaster as US flood death toll climbs to 24

The death toll from flooding in the US state of West Virginia rose to 24 Saturday, as President Barack Obama declared a major disaster, releasing federal aid for some of the hardest-hit areas.

The president "ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides," the White House said in a statement.

Days of heavy rain have caused massive flooding in the state, where high waters have washed away cars, trapped hundreds and cut power to large areas.

Larry Brooks walks through his trailer which was destroyed by flood waters in Elkview, West Virginia Ty Wright (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP)

More than 21,300 people were without power across the state Saturday evening according to the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Hundreds of homes had been severely damaged or destroyed and more than 60 roads remained closed, it said.

Photos on the division's Facebook page showed a muddy, swollen river in the West Virginia town of Clendenin that had spilled over its banks and inundated a nearby neighborhood with floodwater.

Obama's disaster declaration makes federal funding available to Greenbrier, Kanawha and Nicholas counties.

The latest fatality from the flooding was reported Saturday in Greenbrier County, bringing the overall tally to 24 people dead, state spokeswoman Jessica Tice told AFP.

Among the dead was an eight-year-old boy who was swept away while walking along a creek bank with his mother and sister, local news station WSAZ reported. His body was found after three hours of searching.

West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said Saturday he expected 400 National Guard members to be deployed during the day to assist local emergency responders in their relief efforts.

He said that support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that was released under the disaster declaration would "provide much needed assistance to severely impacted regions."

In five of the worst-hit counties volunteer centers were being set up, according to the West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

It said that three Red Cross shelters and a number of community-based shelters had also been established across the state.

"We have so many businesses, individuals and churches really rallying together and gathering supplies," Tice said.

The devastating flooding also forced the PGA Tour to cancel its Greenbrier Classic scheduled for July 7-10 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

The torrential rains that hit Greenbrier County especially hard caused extensive flood damage to the course beyond what could be repaired in time to stage the event, tour and resort officials said.
Frugal Ramadan for cash-strapped Damascenes

This Ramadan, a radio station in Syria's capital Damascus presented cash-strapped listeners with a challenge: plan a meal to break the fast for just $3.

Diala Hasan's cooking show on Sham FM used to feature recipes for sumptuous Ramadan feasts.

But in government-held parts of Syria, where a five-year war has devastated the currency and unemployment is rife, listeners' budgets are stretched to the limit.

Syrian Rida Saleh (R) and his family, who fled rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, break their fast in their cramped apartment in the government controlled area of the capital Damascus on June 13, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP)

"We decided to make a programme that demonstrates thrifty recipes costing 1,500 Syrian pounds ($3) to match peoples' incomes," Hasan, 26, told AFP as she prepared to record the show at a studio in Damascus.

"We're not using lamb, expensive spices, or even almonds," she said.

Throughout the holy month, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours and sit down to a feast -- known as iftar -- once the sun goes down.

But in Syria, many struggle to scrape together ingredients even for a basic meal.

Salaries in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's forces have dropped dramatically with the 92 percent devaluation of the pound since the war began.

A UN report published in April estimated 83.4 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line, compared with 28 percent before the war.

Hasan has even changed the name of her show from "Bread and Salt" -- an Arabic saying referring to friendships forged over a meal -- to "Ramadan of the poor".

- Handouts double -

Rida Saleh and his wife Umm Hassan are among those whose quality of life has plummeted since 2011.

On a recent evening they broke their fast around a little table in a cramped apartment where they settled after fleeing the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta.

They sat down to a modest meal: a few stuffed courgettes, some potatoes, a bowl of salad and a plate of beans -- normally used as appetisers but now their main course.

"There are so many dishes and drinks that have become for us just a distant memory," said Rida, 49.

"It's the first year we don't have dessert."

Umm Hassan agreed.

"Even fruits are now a dream for us. We used to be able to buy apples by the kilo -- today the whole family just shares two little apples," she said.

Living costs have risen so much that charities have nearly doubled the number of iftar meals they distribute to the needy during Ramadan.

"We distributed 130,000 meals in 2013 compared to 230,000 in 2015. But this year, we may reach as many as 500,000," said Issam Habbal, who heads the charity "Saed" (Help).

"The crisis didn't spare anyone. If even the rich have been affected, you can imagine how those that were already unfortunate have been devastated," he said.

In the shade of the famous Umayyad mosque in the Old City of Damascus, about 100 Saed volunteers cooked and distributed large pots of rice with meat.

Men and women were hard at work chopping cucumbers to add to a mix of lettuce and carrots.

"With each additional year of war, we need more volunteers because there are more poor people," said Tareq, 24.

- Every month is Ramadan -

Desserts and syrup-covered sweets are an integral part of iftars across the Middle East and are a special delicacy in the Syrian capital.

But today, they have become too expensive for many Damascenes.

In Midan, a neighbourhood in southern Damascus, Ahmad Qaysar tended his bakery, which sold a mix of Arabic sweets. But few customers were buying.

"I inherited this trade from my father and my grandfather. We've never had a season like this," the 30-year-old said.

"Our sales have dropped by half because of the rising prices for pistachios, margarine, semolina, and flour" -- indispensable ingredients for delicious oriental sweets, Ahmad said.

In another shop, Shawkat Qornfola, 67, said he won't be able to buy desserts for his grandchildren this year.

"My grandchildren adore sweets but I can't afford a kilogram of maamoul at 20,000 pounds," he said, referring to cornmeal pastries stuffed with pistachios, dates, and walnuts.

"I'll have to just stick to barazek," he said, referring to crunchy biscuits made of pistachios and sesame seeds.

The price of food also makes it hard to invite guests.

"Before the war, we used to invite everyone over each Friday, but now we don't have the means," said Riad Mahayni, who works at the national water service.

He makes 30,000 pounds, which amounted to $600 before the war but now is worth just $65.

Leaning against the wall of Damascus's citadel, Mohsen, a pistachio seller, told AFP every month is Ramadan now in Syria.

"Because of the rising prices, we fast the whole year," he said.

Syrians buy bread in Damascus' Midan neighbourhood, which is renowned for it's sweet delicacies, as people shop prior to breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Louai Beshara (AFP)
Ramadan soup kitchen offers brief respite to Gaza's hungry

In her modest home in the Gaza Strip, Sahar Sherif's family watches as she ladles out a broth of meat and vegetables for a rare heart-warming meal.

For just a month of the year, a soup kitchen in the Palestinian enclave is offering struggling families like Sherif's a welcome break from daily worries about where they will find their next meal.

During the holy month of Ramadan, the charity provides the 40-year-old divorcee and her five children -- and grandchildren -- with a square meal every day at no cost.

Palestinian men prepare food at a soup kitchen during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in Gaza City Mohammed Abed (AFP)

"When we eat food from the tekiyya, we feel better," says Sherif, using an Arabic name for the soup kitchen, an Islamic tradition said to date back to the era of the prophet Abraham.

But during the rest of the year when the kitchen is closed, "I make a pot of tea, I get two tomatoes out and that's it," she says, wearing a black nylon overcoat and complete face veil.

"When there's no food, we constantly feel dizzy."

Residents in the Islamist-ruled territory have lived under a punitive Israeli blockade for the last 10 years, and Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since 2013.

Nearly half the war-torn enclave's 1.9 million inhabitants live under the poverty line, with 80 percent surviving on humanitarian aid.

- Onions in cauldrons -

During Ramadan, Sherif can carry home a plate of rice and chicken for her family to break the daily fast after sunset -- and a broth to eat before sunrise and another 16 hours of daytime fasting.

For the rest of the year, food is one of many daunting expenses for the head of a poverty-stricken household.

"I have to pay 500 shekels (115 euros) in rent as well as water and electricity bills," says Sherif, whose two sons are unemployed.

"I receive 100 to 200 shekels in support, but I'm supposed to pay the rest on my own," she says.

The Gaza Strip has been ravaged by three wars with Israel since 2008, after the Islamist movement Hamas consolidated its rule over the Palestinian territory.

The Mediterranean enclave's unemployment rate of 45 percent is one of the highest in the world.

Inside the soup kitchen, volunteers pile marinated chicken pieces onto huge trays and stir translucent onions in cauldrons with paddles.

"In the past, families used to ask for chairs, a mattress or a fridge," says volunteer Deeb Abdul Hamid.

"But these days, they just ask for food."

The kitchen gives priority to families without breadwinners such as those headed by widows, divorcees or women whose husbands have emigrated, he says.

- Even government employees -

Today, government employees who haven't received their salaries also depend on the charity, says the 24-year-old graduate, who is unemployed.

The traditional tekiyya is helping to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Hassan al-Khatib, who manages the soup kitchen in Gaza city, says every day 150 to 200 families queue up outside for food. And more families head to another kitchen in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

"The tekiyya is an element of our culture, heritage and history," says al-Khatib, his head covered in a sparkling white scarf and his salt-and-pepper beard neatly trimmed.

Tradition has it that the first soup kitchen opened centuries ago in Hebron in the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory now occupied by Israel.

The prophet Abraham -- who is believed to have been buried in Hebron with his wife Sarah and sons -- is said to have left food there for the poor.

The Hebron kitchen -- which is said to stand on the ground where he made the first donations -- is open all year round.

But in Gaza, the end of Ramadan in early July will mean an end to these food handouts.

After the holy month ends, the soup kitchen will only open twice a week -- and only as long as private donations from abroad allow.

For just a month of the year, a soup kitchen in the Palestinian enclave is offering struggling families a welcome break from daily worries about where they will find their next meal Mohammed Abed (AFP)
Bullet scars as Uganda remembers Israel's Entebbe raid

Skimming above the choppy waves through the dark the four planes swooped in low over Lake Victoria, packed with over 200 elite Israeli commandos on a daring raid to free hijacked hostages.

Landing soon after midnight at Uganda's Entebbe airport on July 4, 1976, it took the paratroopers less than an hour to storm the base and free over 100 passengers aboard an Air France plane, an operation that has gone down in special forces legend. The plane had been hijacked a week earlier on June 27.

Four decades later, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Uganda for the anniversary not only to mark the operation and boost now-friendly ties between Uganda and Israel, but also to pay a deeply personal tribute.

(From L) Eyal Oren, Shlomo Carmel, Jaffer Amin, Amjon Peled, Alex Davidi, unidentified, and Amir Ofer, members of the former Israeli Commandos and Entebbe hostages, pose for a photo in Kampala, on June 14, 2016 Ronald Kabuubi (AFP/File)

The commando leader, the only Israeli soldier killed in the raid, was his older brother, 30-year old Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.

As an operation, it was "a difficult one", remembered Amir Ofer, then a sergeant major and now a businessman, visiting Uganda earlier this month as part of preparations to mark the anniversary.

- Bullet scars preserved -

Uganda and Israel are planning the memorial to be one of reconciliation, preserving the bullet scars in the walls of the old terminal at Entebbe, still the airport for the capital Kampala, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.

Earlier this month, some of the retired commandos who took part in the raid visited the scene of the extraordinary rescue, standing alongside Ugandan officials, including the son of their then enemy, dictator Idi Amin.

"We had short time to prepare for it," said Ofer, noting the more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) between Uganda and Israel, with a 48-hour ultimatum before the gunmen would start killing hostages. "The clock was ticking away after the terrorists gave their ultimatum."

An Air France plane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris had been hijacked by two Palestinians and two Germans in Athens, and ordered to fly to Entebbe with 250 passengers aboard.

Uganda's Amin, who had cut ties with Israel in favour of cash handouts from Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, allowed the hijacked plane to land.

On arrival, Jewish and Israeli hostages were separated and others freed, leaving about 100 hostages and crew members guarded by the hijackers.

Neither the hijackers nor Ugandan troops ever expected special forces could stage a raid from so far away, taking the airport by complete surprise.

"We fanned out without any one realising that we were an enemy force," Ofer said, describing how they rushed out of the plane after touching down in the dark. The initial force roared out of the plane in a black Mercedes that looked like Amin's personal car, but their cover was blown when they had to shoot a Ugandan guard.

"Within minutes of our arrival, we were able to arrive at the terminal, killed the terrorists and within an hour we were on our way back to Israel," Ofer added.

- All but 3 freed -

All but three of the hostages were freed in the raid while 20 Ugandan soldiers and seven hijackers were killed, along with several Ugandan citizens.

One other hostage, a 75-year-old Israeli woman who had been transferred to a hospital, was subsequently killed on Amin's orders.

Enemies in 1976, the raid today is hoped to help build ties between the two nations.

The raid "will forever remain at the heart of all those that got involved," said former Israeli sergeant-major Alex Davidi who also took part in the raid.

Bonifence Byamukama, from the Uganda Tourism Board, said they were "working on a monument in order to preserve the history" of the operation, including the bullet scars in the walls.

Netanyahu's planned trip, the first by an Israeli premier to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited Casablanca in 1994, is a culmination of years of rapprochement and is hoped will boost links with African nations, particularly on security issues.

- 'Sign of reconciliation' -

Galvanised by a growing demand for Israeli security assistance and his government's search for new allies, Netanyahu has put a fresh focus on improving ties on the continent.

Amin's son Jaffar, a 10-year old boy when the raid took place, welcomed the commandos to Uganda this month as a "sign of reconciliation", remembering the stories his father told after he was deposed and forced into exile.

Amin, whose eccentric eight-year regime helped his name become a shorthand for African dictatorship and violent misrule, said he had been "close" to the soldier who shot dead Yonatan Netanyahu.

The officer, named as Captain Rafael Osacha, reportedly died quietly in retirement in the 1990s.

Jaffar recalled what his father had said when he asked why he had not sent fighter jets to shoot down the departing Israelis.

"My father said of the Israelis, 'Son, those are the children of God, when they start to fight, they never stop,'" Jaffar said.

"To him, he felt they had come to rescue their people, they had accomplished their mission, so he let them go."

Amir Ofer, one of the former Israeli Commandos, speaks during a press conference ahead of the 40th anniversary of Entebbe airport rescue operation, on June 14, 2016 Ronald Kabuubi (AFP/File)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks out of a C-130 Hercules aircraft which was used in the 1976 raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda, during a visit to the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel, in 2009 Uriel Sinai (Pool/AFP/File)
Rocky future for Somalia's ancient cave art

Centuries have passed since Neolithic artists swirled red and white colour on the cliffs of northern Somalia, painting antelopes, cattle, giraffes and hunters carrying bows and arrows.

Today, the paintings at Laas Geel in the self-declared state of Somaliland retain their fresh brilliance, providing vivid depictions of a pastoralist history dating back some 5,000 years or more.

"These paintings are unique. This style cannot be found anywhere in Africa," said Abdisalam Shabelleh, the site manager from Somaliland's Ministry of Tourism.

Primitive rock paintings adorn the caves in the rocky hills of this arid wilderness in northern Somalia, Laas Geel, home to Africa's earliest known and most pristine rock art Tony Karumba (AFP)

Then he points to a corner, where the paint fades and peels off the rocks. "If nothing is done now, in 20 years it could all have disappeared," he added.

The site is in dire need of protection. "We don't have the knowledge, the experience or the financial resources. We need support," Shabelleh said.

The paintings, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, are considered among the oldest and best preserved rock art sites in Africa but are protected only by a few guards who ask visitors not to touch the paintings.

- Diplomatic donor legal limbo -

Applications for assistance by Somaliland's government have gone unheeded. A former British protectorate, Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia when war erupted following the overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, but it is not recognised by the international community.

The "lack of recognition" of the country blocks the cave's protection, said Xavier Gutherz, the former head of the French archaeology team that discovered the site in 2002.

Amazed by the remarkable condition of the paintings as well as their previously unknown style, the archaeologist asked for the cave's listing as a UNESCO world heritage site.

But that request was refused because Somaliland is not recognised as a separate nation. "Only state parties to the World Heritage Convention can nominate sites for World Heritage status," said a UNESCO spokeswoman.

Requests for funding from donor countries face the same legal and diplomatic headache.

Centuries of isolation and local beliefs that the site was haunted and the art the work of evil spirits may have contributed to Laas Geel's protection.

But since their discovery, the cave paintings have become one of the main attractions for visitors to Somaliland.

- 'Part of our blood' -

Around a thousand visitors each year endure long stretches of rugged terrain and travel with armed escorts to reach Laas Geel, and numbers are growing.

"The concerns of Somaliland are legitimate," said Gutherz, who has identified key areas to tackle to help protect the site.

"We have to secure the site, arrange access paths, strengthen the rocks that could collapse, divert rainwater runoff and improve the training of guards," he said.

With a major development planned for Somaliland's main port at Berbera, the number of visitors is expected to increase.

Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, who heads local environmental group Candlelight, said that dust is adding to the damage at the caves.

"The increased human activity in the area, trampling on the bare gravelly soil, does not allow the natural regeneration of plants," Awale said. "The resulting dust particles may contribute to the fading of the paintings."

Archaeologists say that Laas Geel may only be one of many treasures awaiting discovery in the vast rocky plains stretching towards the tip of the Horn of Africa.

Musa Abdi Jama, one of the guardians of the site, sees in the ancient site of Laas Geel the hope of a new nation to be, flying the flag for the cultural identity and uniqueness of Somaliland.

"Here, it was once known as the home of djinn (spirits) by the local nomadic people, who used to slaughter domestic animals for sacrifice in order to live there in peace," Jama said.

"Now it is part of our blood. Tomorrow, God willing, it will be the first place in Somaliland to be internationally recognised."

A Somali archaeologist shows a primitive rock painting, one of a galaxy of colourful animal and human sketches to adorn the caves in the rocky hills of this arid wilderness near Hargeisa, home to Africa's earliest known and most pristine rock art Mohamed Abdiwahab (AFP)
Copper price tumble hits tens of thousands of Congolese

When 2016 rang in, Divin Lwamba, a street vendor with nine mouths to feed, says he was making up to 300 dollars a day selling samosas in Lubumbashi's main market.

With meat and vegetable samosas flying off his cart almost faster than they were made, Lwamba says he could make enough cash in a single day to stock up on food for a month.

But that was before the knock-on effect of the plunge in world copper and cobalt prices hit Lubumbashi, capital of the mineral-rich province once known as Katanga where DR Congo's lucrative mines are located.

A child breaks rocks extracted from a copper mine quarry and cobalt pit in Lubumbashi, in May 2016 Junior Kannah (AFP/File)

"Since the price of copper tumbled, what I now earn each day only just covers our daily food expenses," says Lwamba, one of the tens of thousands hit by the crisis in the copperbelt of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Today, unless I dig into my savings I can't live like I used to," he says, adding that since February he has struggled to make a third of what he used to earn.

Ranked in 2014 as the world's fifth biggest producer of copper and top in cobalt, the DR Congo saw strong economic growth powered by its mining industry from 2010 to 2014.

But last year growth slowed sharply due to the global slump in commodity prices triggered by an economic slowdown in China.

The government in Kinshasa now expects growth this year to slow to 6.6 percent.

In a ripple effect, the problems currently faced by the mining companies in the vast nation's southeast region are also harming economic activity in Lubumbashi, the country's second city.

The Chamber of Mines there estimates that copper production dropped by 11.6 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with 2015, while cobalt mining fell by 16.3 percent.

Several mining firms have halted work, in some cases permanently.

And there is no sign of a rebound. While other commodities are experiencing their best start since 2008, Bloomberg reports that copper ranks as the worst of the major metals in its commodity index. Copper prices have swung over the past year from 195 to 267 dollars per pound.

- Chinese are gone -

The Chamber of Mines estimates that mining companies have cut 3,000 jobs, while subcontractors have laid off more than 10,000 workers.

But such statistics give only limited insight into the full extent of the crisis in a country where most of the population lives in severe poverty.

Analysts say one job lost in mining or linked to subcontractors affects a minimum of 10 other people.

Dieudonne Kisimba Selemani, administrator of Congo Steel Mills, meanwhile said he believed that each job in the formal mining sector provides for the needs of 20 people, because of the strong tradition of family support in DR Congo.

His company, which provides reinforced steel for mining facilities, has been forced to lay off a third of its employees in the past few months and now has a workforce of no more than 200.

Many former clients have shut up shop and "no rush took place" when Congo Steel Mills tried to drum up more business by slashing 15 percent off prices, Kisimba said.

Nowadays the industrial district of Lubumbashi is strikingly quiet, while across the street from the steel firm, the land formerly occupied by Congo Wise Mining is vacant.

"The Chinese (who ran the firm) left in February. Everybody was sacked," a watchman said.

The watchman showed AFP an open-cast quarry a few hundred metres distant, where the dismissed workers joined others scrabbling to collect loads of gravel for sale to construction firms.

At the market, Lwamba's colleagues also say business has slowed sharply.

Therese Nkolo says she has divided her prices by three since February but "rarely" sells anything and is struggling to feed her two children and pay her fares.

"At the end of the day, I now accept any price offered on condition that nothing goes unsold," admits Berthe Kalanga from behind two tubs of fresh fish.

A child and a woman break rocks extracted from a copper quarry and cobalt pit, in Lubumbashi, DR Congo Junior Kannah (AFP/File)
Student killed in attack at Papua New Guinea university

One man was killed and several buildings torched in violence at a university in Papua New Guinea, its vice-chancellor said Sunday, some two weeks after police opened fire on students in the capital.

The students have been demanding that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, who is being investigated for corruption, step aside and have been boycotting classes as part of their campaign.

The undergraduate killed at the campus in Lae, the country's second-largest city, was reportedly targeted amid clashes over the class boycotts.

Several building were torched during violent clashes at the University of Technology in Lae, Papua New Guinea Albert Schram (Albert Schram/AFP)

"We believe it is the same group (that killed the student and burnt the buildings)," said Albert Schram, vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Technology.

He said several dozen men carrying stones, sticks and bush knives mounted the attack on Saturday night, "and they moved about very fast, so it was very difficult for our security forces to follow them or arrest them".

Schram said the student, believed to be in his early 20s, was at a dormitory on campus when he was hurt in the "apparent targeted attack" and died several hours later.

O'Neill said his cabinet would consider imposing a curfew on university campuses to "maintain law and order".

"The attack on this young man was an act of brutality and an innocent life has been lost," the PNG leader said in a statement.

Schram told AFP the attack may have been retaliation for a brawl about two weeks ago between students who supported prolonging the boycott and others who wanted to call it off.

"In that brawl, there was one student that was wounded, and possibly this is a revenge attack for that victim."

Schram said the group then set fire to several academic buildings, which suffered significant damage.

They outnumbered police and campus security officers "for some time" but were finally dispersed with tear gas early Sunday, he said. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Separate clashes between security guards and students broke out at the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on Thursday, PNG's Post-Courier reported.

Students have been locked in a standoff for more than a month with authorities in the impoverished Pacific nation north of Australia, as they demand O'Neill step aside over corruption allegations which he denies.

Some 23 people were hurt including five critically when police opened fire on June 8 on students.

Students want Prime Minister Peter O'Neill (pictured), who is being investigated for corruption, to step aside Peter Parks (AFP/File)
Russian, regime raids killed 82 in IS-held east Syria: new toll

At least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said Sunday in a new toll.

"Three Russian and Syrian regime air raids on the region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city, killed 58 civilians," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that 24 other people were killed, without specifying wether they were civilians or IS fighters.

Russian warplanes, like the Sukhoi Su-24 bomber, have been carrying out an air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015 Vadim Grishankin (RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY/AFP/File)

The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, initially reported that 47 people including 31 civilians died in the raids around Al-Quriyah.

The UN children's agency UNICEF said 25 childre were reportedly among those killed in Saturday's raids on Al-Quriyah.

"Three attacks reportedly hit heavily crowded areas including a mosque during prayer time," it said. "Health workers were reported to have pulled bodies of children out from under the rubble."

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS holds around 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, the capital of the province of the same name, which is next to the jihadist-held Raqa province.
UN's Ban to push peace talks with Yemen warring sides

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to meet Sunday with Yemen's warring sides in a bid to push forward peace talks that have made no headway after two months.

Ban, who arrived in Kuwait City late on Saturday, was to meet delegates from the Iran-backed rebels and the Yemeni government in a joint session on Sunday, according to a UN spokesman.

UN-backed talks between the Shiite Huthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in Kuwait on April 21.

Yemeni children walk amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, in the UNESCO-listed old city of Sanaa Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

But the Yemeni government is insisting the rebels withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.

The rebels for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.

Despite a 15-month-old Saudi-led military intervention in support of Hadi's government, the rebels and their allies remain in control of swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.
Jewish man who stabbed Jerusalem Gay Pride marchers sentenced to life

An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man to life in prison for killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding others during a stabbing spree at a Jerusalem Gay Pride parade.

The Jerusalem District Court convicted Yishai Schlissel in April of murder and six counts of attempted murder.

The July 2015 stabbings had triggered harsh criticism of the police, with Schlissel having been released from prison only three weeks earlier after serving a 10-year sentence for a similar attack.

Ultra-Orthodox Jew Yishai Shlissel (C), who was convicted of killing a 16-year-old Israeli girl during the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade last year, is escorted into court by police on June 26, 2016 in Jerusalem Gali Tibbon (AFP)

They had also sparked an outpouring of grief for 16-year-old Shira Banki, who was stabbed in the back and died of her wounds a few days later.

Led into the courtroom on Sunday with his hands and feet shackled, Schlissel was sentenced to life plus 31 years, a court statement said.

He was also ordered to pay 2,064,000 shekels ($531,000, 478,000 euros).

Prosecutors had requested life plus 60 years.

"This guy showed no remorse," Noam Eyal, 31 and one of the victims, told AFP outside the court.

"In the last hearing before this he said that this is a religious war."

In addition to Schlissel having been released from prison only weeks before, he had also posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the "abomination" of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City.

He spoke of the need to stop it, even at the cost of one's life.

Many questioned how Schlissel, 40 when he was convicted, was allowed anywhere near the parade, which saw thousands marching through central Jerusalem.

Witnesses described terrifying scenes of Schlissel, with a long beard and dressed in the dark suit worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, storming the parade with a knife.

Six senior Israeli policemen were eventually removed from their posts over the attack.

- 'Comforts us a little' -

Schlissel, born in the Yad Binyamin community of central Israel, was married with four children, though he divorced after the first attack, Israeli media reported.

He had also lived in Modiin Illit, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

He attended religious school as a child and was described by one newspaper as being a gifted, but withdrawn student who preferred to keep to himself.

When he was charged in court in August, Schlissel lashed out at homosexuality.

"The pride parade must be stopped in order for the soul of Shira Banki to ascend to heaven," Schlissel told the court.

"With all the sorrow, it must be known that whoever marches in the Jerusalem Gay Pride march is declaring war on God. And whoever is warring against God, can't really complain," he told reporters during a remand hearing in August.

The annual Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, is far smaller than the one held in nearby Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv's parade typically attracts tens of thousands of people to what is considered one of the world's most gay-friendly cities, while Jerusalem is far less welcoming to homosexuals.

Sarah Kala, executive director of Jerusalem Open House LGBT centre, said after the sentencing that "it's another step to try and deter the terrible homophobia raging on our streets.

"They don't usually give the maximum possible sentence, but in our view to know that Yishai Schlissel will stay in prison for the rest of his days is certainly something that comforts us a little," she told public radio.

Prosecutor Oshrat Shoham said "the court gave a heavy verdict today to Yishai Schlissel."

- Police under scrutiny -

During the trial, the court said police knew of the potential threat but failed to prevent it.

"The evidence clearly shows that Israeli police were aware of the dangers the defendant, released (from prison) a short while before the march, posed," the April judgement stated.

"The unbearable ease in which the defendant managed to infiltrate the marchers and carry out his nefarious deed before being apprehended is incomprehensible."

It said that "the gloomy picture arising is that lessons that should have been learned from the 2005 march were not implemented, and intelligence and other materials in possession of the police were not used prudently."

The court also noted the "absurdity" in Schlissel being released without any supervision or having undergone rehabilitation.
Philippine leader says could be open to talks with militants

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte says he could be open to peace talks with the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf, which recently beheaded two foreign hostages and kidnapped seven more.

"The Abu Sayyaf is not my enemy. I know it is connected with the issue of Mindanao," Duterte told supporters in a speech in the central city of Cebu late Saturday, referring to the rebellion-torn south of the country.

"That is why I want to ask them: are they willing to talk or do we just fight it out?" said the firebrand politician, who campaigned on promises to get tough on crime and who takes office on June 30.

Rodrigo Duterte, addressing supporters at a campaign rally ahead of his election as Philippines president in May Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File)

The incoming leader himself hails from Mindanao, where a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

While previous administrations have opened talks with major Muslim separatist groups in the South, they have deployed troops to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a few hundred Islamic militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

Although its leaders have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, analysts say they are mainly focused on lucrative kidnappings.

Duterte said on Friday that he and his aides were responsible for successfully negotiating the release of one of the group's hostages, a Filipina who had been kidnapped along with several foreigners in September.

The Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Canadian hostages who were among that group. Thee fourth hostage, a Norwegian, is still being held.

Last week seven Indonesian seamen were abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, prompting Jakarta to ban any Indonesian-flagged vessel from sailing to the Philippines.

The Philippine military said Sunday it believes the Indonesians are being held in the remote Sulu archipelago, the main Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

Earlier this year Abu Sayyaf kidnapped four Malaysian seamen and 14 Indonesian sailors. They were freed several months later.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to consider joint measures aimed at curbing the seaborne kidnappings.
Iraq's Fallujah 'fully cleared of IS'

Elite Iraqi forces on Sunday retook the Islamic State group's last bastion in Fallujah, securing full control of the city after a month-long operation, a spokesman said.

"Today the commander of Fallujah operations Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi announced that the city of Fallujah had been cleared after counter-terrorism forces (CTS) took control of the Jolan neighbourhood," the force's spokesman, Sabah al-Noman, told AFP.

"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.

A member of the Iraqi counter-terrorism forces drives an armed vehicle flying his national flag in Fallujah Haidar Mohamed Ali (AFP/File)

"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."

A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah.

"We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... the aim is to clear the whole area," the spokesman said.
Iran says five rebels killed in Kurdish region

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said it killed five armed rebels in recent clashes along its border with Iraqi Kurdistan, state media reported.

A statement from the Guards, published late Saturday by official news agency IRNA, said "five armed rebels linked to counter-revolutionary groups" were killed the night before.

It did not give the name of the rebel group, though a number of separatist Kurdish insurgencies are known to be active in the region.

Iranian soldiers from the Revolutionary Guards march during the annual military parade in the capital Tehran, in 2015 Atta Kenare (AFP/File)

The commander the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, General Mohammad Pakpour, threatened to target Kurds across the border in northern Iraq.

"Since the main bases of these terrorists are in northern Iraq, if they don't follow through with commitments to stop these attacks, their bases will be targeted where they are," said the Iranian general.

There have been increasing reports of clashes in the northwest after a period of relative calm in the past year or more.

The Guards said on June 16 that similar clashes had led to the death of 12 "terrorists" and three Iranian soldiers in the city of Oshnavieh.
US parades celebrate Gay Pride, honor Orlando victims

Hundreds of thousands of Americans took to streets from New York to San Francisco on Sunday to celebrate gay pride, honor those who died in the Orlando massacre and promote tolerance.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, buoyed by a double digit poll lead over Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House, joined the tail end of the route in New York.

In San Francisco, the crowd cheered and electronic music blared from floats, a group carried placards with photos of the Orlando victims and men in leather bondage walked the route under bright sunshine.

People wave flags during a vigil in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in New York on June 12, 2016 Bryan R. Smith (AFP/File)

"One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Let's keep marching until they don't," tweeted Clinton, joining a slew of elected state and city Democrats who took part.

She was referring to the US Supreme Court decision a year ago to legalize gay marriage across the country.

New York, which prides itself on being one of the most diverse cities on the planet, is the birthplace of the gay rights movement.

Just days before the parade, President Barack Obama designated America's first LGBT national monument at the city's Stonewall Inn, where protests that came to be known as the Stonewall Uprising erupted in 1969 following a police crackdown.

At the same spot, once synonymous with law enforcement brutality, a uniformed police band with "Happy Pride Day" signs played "God Bless America" to cheers.

The US events, also in Chicago and Seattle, were a celebration but also a tribute to the 49 people killed at a gay nightclub on June 12 in America's single worst mass shooting, which has once again inflamed calls for gun control.

"We have extraordinary NYPD presence to make sure that this will not only be the biggest but the safest parade we've ever had," said Mayor Bill de Blasio before the first march kicked off in New York with a moment of silence.

"We will stand up to hatred. We will stand up to those who would try to undermine our values. We believe in a society for everyone. And I have to say the response has been amazing," he added.

Scouts carried 49 flags with rainbow stripes to honor the victims, a group was dressed head-to-toe in white and wore veils, with placards with the names and photographs of the Orlando dead hanging around their necks.

- Syrian shock -

Along the route, the newly created Gays Against Guns (GAG) pressure group staged a die-in to raise awareness, lying down on the hot road in a heap.

But despite somber remembrance, the parade was also a giant street party with participants dancing to thumping music, a giant arc of rainbow balloons and street vendors doing a brisk trade in all things rainbow.

Spectators donned rainbow feather boas and waved rainbow flags. Parents came with young children, tourists from overseas and exhibitionists indulged in show-stopping costumes and glittery catsuits complete with stilettos.

Police lined the route, which started in Midtown and culminated in Greenwich Village, home of the Stonewall Inn.

Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee who has addressed the UN Security Council on the plight of LGBT people in his home country, said the Orlando shooting had jolted gay immigrants' relative sense of security.

"I felt like the accident shook our sense of safety here in the States, like, profoundly, because we came here for safety," he said.

"Every parade has its own purpose but this year's purpose has been very profound, I would say, for not only New York City but all of the United States and I really believe the whole world," said retired teacher Pedro Lugo.

"Tolerance is still a number one priority," added the 56-year-old, wearing a striped rainbow shirt and draped in colored necklaces. "We are all God's children."

Davit Chirgadze, a 25-year-old restaurant manager from Tbilisi wearing Mickey Mouse shorts, said he flew all the way to New York just to attend Gay Pride and marry his Georgian husband, calling his country "very homophobic."

"You can live here and have a boyfriend, girlfriend and you can have your own way without any discrimination," he told AFP. "To my country I want to say, 'love each other.'"

People carrying images of those killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting walk as part of a vigil during the 46th annual Gay Pride march June 26, 2016 in New York Bryan R. Smith (the 46th/AFP)

Members of Gays Against Guns (GAG) march during the 46th annual Gay Pride march June 26, 2016 in New York Bryan R. Smith (the 46th/AFP)
Clinton takes lead over Trump, new polls show

Two head-to-head polls released Sunday showed a resurgent Hillary Clinton vaulting atop the US presidential race after a tumultuous month for Donald Trump, who has failed to rally confidence among voters or party leaders.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed a 12 percentage point lead for the Democrat, her largest advantage since last fall and a dramatic improvement over last month when the poll showed her statistically tied with Trump.

If the presidential election were held today, 51 percent of respondents said they would vote for Clinton, versus 39 percent for Trump.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 51 percent support for Clinton compared with just 39 percent for Donald Trump

However, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed a slimmer lead for Clinton, 46 percent to Trump's 41 percent.

They were essentially tied, 39 percent for Clinton and 38 percent for Republican opponent, when third-party candidates were included, this poll showed.

The surveys come after a difficult month for the combative Trump, a political novice who fired his campaign manager and faced criticism for poor campaign organization and a paltry war chest of $1.3 million at the end of May.

Clinton, who has repeatedly pounded Trump as being "temperamentally unfit," finished the month with $42 million.

Trump faced a widespread outcry after he accused a federal judge of bias because of his Mexican heritage. The judge is presiding over cases involving Trump's defunct online university.

And in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the brash businessman tweeted his thanks to people who congratulated him for "being right on radical Islamic terrorism."

He renewed calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and then doubled down, suggesting profiling of Muslims was not off the table.

On Saturday, Trump seemed to change course, saying immigration from "regions linked with terrorism" should be suspended.

"I think there's no question that he's made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks," Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told ABC News on Sunday.

"I think they're beginning to right the ship. It's a long time until November. And the burden, obviously, will be on him to convince people that he can handle this job."

According to the Washington Post-ABC News poll, two in three Americans say Trump is unqualified to lead the nation, are anxious about the idea of a Trump presidency and find his comments about women, minorities and Muslims to show an "unfair bias."

However, survey respondents also indicated unease with former secretary of state Clinton.

A majority disprove of the way Clinton has handled questions over her use of a personal email server during her tenure as the nation's top diplomat, and half are anxious about the idea of her in the White House.

Although Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, has yet to officially drop out of the race and endorse her, the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed 78 percent of his primary supporters backed her.

The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted Monday through Thursday of last week among 836 registered voters and had a margin of error of four percentage points.

The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted Sunday through Thursday of last week and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Speculation continued to swirl Sunday about who will be the running mates of the two presumptive nominees.

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose decades of political experience would be a counterbalance to Trump, has been repeatedly mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate but said Sunday he has not been contacted about the position.

He said he thinks Trump will make a last-minute decision even though the start of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland is just over three weeks away.

"He's probably going to start thinking about it two days before Cleveland," Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday.

"I think Donald Trump does not want to make a decision until the convention. I think that he is a very decisive person."
Iraq PM visits Fallujah, urges Iraqis to celebrate victory

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urged all Iraqis to celebrate the recapture of Fallujah Sunday by the security forces and vowed the national flag would be raised in Mosul soon.

"I call on all Iraqis wherever they are to get out and celebrate," he told Iraqiya state television, standing in front of Fallujah hospital with an Iraqi flag around his neck.

"We will raise the Iraqi flag in Mosul soon," he said, referring to Iraq's second city, which is the Islamic State group's last remaining major hub following the retaking of Fallujah.
Yemen clashes intensify as Ban pushes peace

Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels killed 41 people on several fronts Sunday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the rival factions in Kuwait to accept a peace plan.

UN sponsored talks between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in the Gulf emirate on April 21.

The Huthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have seized control of large parts of the impoverished country since 2014 and still control swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

Pro-government forces drive in armed vehicles during clashes with Shiite Huthi militants in Al-Karsh in May 2016 Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP)

UN special envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed has repeatedly urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

But the clashes raged on Sunday, with the rebels pressing ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.

The rebels and their allies captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province.

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi's government killed 11 rebels in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.

Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, said a loyalist militia source.

Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official said.

Meanwhile, nine rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes in northern Yemen, after rebels attacked loyalists in Nahm, northeast of the Sanaa, a military official said.

- Alarming humanitarian situation -

Clashes have continued despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on April 11 and paved the way for the peace talks in Kuwait.

In the Gulf emirate on Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the warring parties to accept a roadmap for peace and quickly reach a comprehensive settlement to the 15-month-old conflict.

The peace roadmap proposed by Ould Cheikh Ahmed calls for the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

"I ask both delegations to work seriously with my special envoy to agree to a roadmap of principles... and quickly reach a comprehensive agreement," Ban told a joint meeting of the negotiators.

Ban also urged "the delegations to prevent any further deterioration of the situation, and to show the responsibility and flexibility required to arrive at a comprehensive agreement ending the conflict."

The Yemeni government insists the rebels withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.

The Huthis for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.

Ban said the international community wants the conflict to end and Yemen return to the transitional process before the war.

The UN chief also warned the humanitarian situation in Yemen is alarming with scarcity of basic food and the economic conditions have deteriorated.

Ahead of the meeting, Ban held talks with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, as well as the Gulf country's prime minister and foreign minister.

Yemeni children walk amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition, in the UNESCO-listed old city of Sanaa Mohammed Huwais (AFP/File)
Orthodox chiefs warn over Middle East, science dangers

Orthodox church leaders from around the world on Sunday called for the protection of religious minorities in the war-torn Middle East at a rare global meeting that also warned against the "moral dilemmas" of rapid scientific progress.

"The Orthodox Church is particularly concerned about the situation facing Christians, and other persecuted ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East," the church leaders said in a circular concluding the first such gathering in a millennium.

"In particular, she addresses an appeal to governments in that region to protect the Christian populations  Orthodox, Ancient Eastern and other Christians  who have survived in the cradle of Christianity," they added at the close of the week-long Holy and Great Council on the Greek island of Crete.

Religious Orthodox Christians leaders pray inside a church in Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete on June 19, 2016 Costas Metaxakis (AFP/File)

The gathering, attended by nearly a dozen churches from around the world, also saw discussions on issues including wedlock, fasting, and united representation in dioceses in countries such as the United States and Australia.

However, Orthodox unity was undermined by the absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill, who represents some 130 million faithful -- half the world's Orthodox population.

Aside from Russia, the Orthodox churches of Bulgaria and Georgia were also absent. Both are considered close to Moscow.

- Political strife -

The Patriarchate of Antioch also stayed away because of a spat with Jerusalem over the appointment of clerics in Qatar.

A key topic at the council was the "negative consequences of scientific progress", with council leaders on Sunday expressing concern about "moral dilemmas" stemming from rapid advances in genetics and biotechnology.

"Man is experimenting ever more intensively with his own very nature in an extreme and dangerous way. He is in danger of being turned into a biological machine, into an impersonal social unit or into a mechanical device of controlled thought," the council leaders said.

Churches were also encouraged to work more closely and "promote a new constructive synergy" with their respective secular states.

The last such meeting was in 1054 when Christianity split between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, in the so-called "great schism" -- and working out the details of the new council required over 50 years.

The Orthodox communion has about 250 million followers worldwide and consists of 14 autonomous churches.

Shaken by the upheaval in the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East it is frequently plagued by national and political strife.

The Orthodox communion is divided up into what are basically national churches, such as Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Egypt and others.

The Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, based in Istanbul, is considered their spiritual head and "first among equals".

But on the strength of its own numbers, the Russian church has been contesting that position for some time.
Panama opens expanded canal to newer, bigger ships

Panama has declared its century-old canal open to a new generation of supersized cargo ships after years of massive expansion works aimed at profiting from burgeoning US-Asia trade.

A giant Chinese-chartered freighter, baptized COSCO Shipping Panama especially for the occasion, made its way along the 80-kilometer (50-mile) waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Its passage was to show off the third shipping lane and gargantuan locks built into the canal catering to vessels of its class, known as Neopanamax, or New Panamax, ships.

Chinese-chartered ship Cosco Shipping Panama crosses the new Agua Clara Locks during the inauguration of the expansion of the Panama Canal in Colon on June 26, 2016 Johan Ordonez (AFP)

It stopped in the locks giving access to the Pacific, where VIPs and 25,000 Panamanians had gathered to celebrate the inauguration.

The freighter's horn bellowed out triumphantly several times, triggering applause and cheers from the flag-waving crowd before they were treated to fireworks and a song-and-dance show relating the history of the canal.

President Juan Carlos Varela, who has hailed the renovated canal as "the route that unites the world," led the event alongside foreign dignitaries including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, all wearing white.

Varela, in his speech, admitted he had not initially backed the canal's expansion, before he became president.

But as leader, he said, he recognized it would deliver "a better future" for the country.

"This is the beginning of a new era," said the head of the state Panama Canal Authority, Jorge Quijano.

The United States -- builder of the original canal, which opened in 1914 and is still in operation alongside the additions -- was represented at the ceremony by Jill Biden, the wife of the US vice president.

The United States and China are the two most frequent canal users.

- Untapped market -

The expansion work was carried out since 2007 and finished two years late at a cost of at least $5.5 billion.

Labor disputes and friction between the government and the European consortium that carried out the project dogged the work. Still outstanding are consortium demands for costs overruns of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sunday's celebrations however focused on the achievement, which promises to double the volume of cargo passing through the canal and allow it to accommodate 98 percent of ships on the oceans.

Neopanamax freighters can carry up to three times the cargo of older and smaller Panamax ships. Cruise ships built to the same dimensions typically double the number of passengers of the previous iteration.

The expansion will also allow Panama to lure gargantuan liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers.

This is a lucrative segment of the shipping market untapped until now by Panama. Its importance has grown with the development of US natural gas exports, most of which head to Japan and South Korea.

Panama's plan is to triple the $1 billion in revenue it currently gets from canal shipping fees.

However, that goal might still be a decade away, according to officials from the Panama Canal Authority, the autonomous government agency that runs the waterway.

Panama might have been overly ambitious in calculating how fast it will see its investment pay off, particularly as world shipping prices that have dropped due to capacity oversupply.

"Everybody is always overly optimistic," said Peter Shaerf, deputy chairman of Seaspan Corporation, a container ship group with a fleet of 100 vessels, more than half of which are Neopanamaxes.

But, he told AFP on Saturday, the canal itself is "one of the engineering wonders of the world" and it "will have a huge impact on trade."

- Countering 'Panama Papers' damage -

For Panama, the feat is a source of national pride, symbolizing the country's enviable modernity compared to neighbors, and its consistently high economic growth.

The government hopes the glitz and historical nature of the broadened canal will help overshadow the blow the country took to its reputation this year with the "Panama Papers" scandal.

Revelations of offshore companies started by a Panama law firm, and used by the world's rich and influential to dodge taxes and stash assets, have become the first thing many people think of when the Central American nation is mentioned.

But the canal, and the work to develop it for modern trade, is "the real face of Panama," Quijano, the Panama Canal Authority chief, told AFP this week.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela has hailed the renovated canal as "the route that unites the world" Rodrigo Arangua (AFP)

The new-look Panama canal Tatiana Magrinos, Gustavo Izus (AFP)

Chinese-chartered merchant ship Cosco Shipping Panama crosses the new Agua Clara Locks during the inauguration of the expansion of the Panama Canal Rodrigo Arangua (AFP)
Tunisia commemorates victims of beach massacre

Tunisia held a minute's silence Sunday marking one year since a seaside attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 38 tourists including 30 Britons in the North African country.

Tunisia's Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik and British Foreign Office official Tobias Ellwood laid down flowers to remember the victims of the shooting in the town of Port El Kantaoui south of the capital.

A priest then called out the names of the victims under the watchful eye of security forces, who were out in high numbers for the occasion.

Britain's Foreign Office junior minister, Tobias Ellwood, lays a flower on the beach on June 26, 2016, during a ceremony in memory of those killed a year ago by a jihadist gunman in front of a hotel south of Tunis Fethi Belaid (AFP)

Hotel employees as well as diplomats from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Russia -- whose countries also lost victims in the attack -- also attended the ceremony.

Tourists fled in horror on June 26 last year, as a Tunisian gunman pulled a Kalashnikov rifle from inside a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel near the city of Sousse.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The beach bloodbath was the second of two deadly jihadist attacks that dealt heavy blows to the country's vital tourism sector last year, following four years of decline due to political instability.

The shooting came just months after 21 tourists and a policeman were killed in another attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Both were claimed by IS.

In November, a suicide bombing in the capital -- also claimed by the jihadist group -- killed 12 members of the presidential guard.
IS claims deadly suicide attack on Jordanian soldiers

The Islamic State group on Sunday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing this week that killed seven Jordanian soldiers on the Syrian border, the jihadist-linked news agency Amaq said in a statement on its website.

Tuesday's blast, which also left 13 soldiers wounded, struck near an area of no man's land where thousands of Syrian refugees are stranded and where the frontiers of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet.

Quoting an unnamed source, the Amaq statement said the attack against "the Jordanian-American base at Rukban in Jordan was carried out by an Islamic State fighter".

Jordanian mourners carry the body of intelligence corporal Omar al-Hayari, one of the five Jordanian intelligence agents killed during a gun attack at the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa, on June 6, 2016 Khalil Mazraawi (AFP/File)

According to the Jordanian army, the suicide bomber set off from the makeshift Syrian refugee camp near the Rukban crossing in Jordan's remote northeast.

He then entered Jordanian territory through an opening used for humanitarian aid deliveries and blew himself up as he reached a military post, it added.

Jordan hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and thousands more have been stranded at the frontier since January.

King Abdullah strongly condemned the attack and said that Jordanian armed forces would strike back "with an iron fist".

Soon after, the army issued a statement declaring Jordan's desert regions that stretch northeast to Syria and east to Iraq "closed military zones".

Jordan is part of the US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq and while attacks on its territory are rare, it has been targeted by jihadists before.
Three killed, 91 injured in Madagascar 'terror blast'

A toddler died in hospital Monday following a grenade attack in Madagascar's capital, bringing the death toll to three in what the president called "an act of terrorism".

The blast struck the Mahamasina municipal stadium in Antananarivo at around 1600 GMT Sunday, just as a free concert was taking place to mark the nation's 56th anniversary of independence from France.

According to the gendarmerie, the attack immediately killed two teenagers aged 16 and 18.

Wounded people sit at the University Hospital of Antananarivo (HJRA) to receive first aid after a bomb blast around 7.30 pm local time at Mahamasina Stadium during Malagasy Independence Day causing 84 wounded and 2 dead on June 26, 2016 RIJASOLO (AFP)

"There are now three dead," including the 14-month-old girl who died of her wounds, Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana said Monday, adding that 91 people were injured in the attack and an enquiry was under way.

President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who visited the wounded in hospital, blamed the attack on tensions with political opponents in the Indian Ocean island nation.

"There may be differences of opinion between us, but these acts of destabilisation are unacceptable," he said in a statement broadcast on national television, describing the attack as "not just a destabilising act but an act of terrorism".

Pleading for calm, he added: "We will not respond to violence with violence."

"I do not believe that a divergence of views pushes people to commit such an atrocity " said former prime minister Omer Beriziky, one of the voices critical of the current regime.

- 'Terrorist act' -

"The explosion was caused by a grenade," general Anthony Rakotoarison, head of security and intelligence with the national gendarmerie, told AFP by phone.

"We consider this a terrorist act," he added.

A military parade had been held at the stadium earlier Sunday.

One of those injured, 15-year-old John Joelison, said there were three security checks at the stadium.

"So I can't understand how the attacker managed to get the bomb in," he said.

However a medical source said that the security forces had rapidly been overwhelmed, letting people come and go without being searched.

The last attack to hit Madagascar was in January 2014 when a grenade blast killed a toddler and injured several other people outside the same stadium targeted on Sunday.

No arrests were ever made in connection with that attack and there was no claim of responsibility.

Madagascar, one of the world's poorest countries, is slowly getting back on its feet after a lengthy period of political instability triggered by the 2009 ouster of president Marc Ravalomanana by Antananarivo's then-mayor Andry Rajoelina.

Rajoelina led a transitional government until late 2013, when a new election that was designed to resolve complex struggles brought Rajaonarimampianina to power.

International donors, on which the country relies heavily, only recently returned to Madagascar after withdrawing over the 2009 turmoil, and the economy is starting to show the first signs of recovery.
Man driving motorcycle in dark hits black cow and dies

RUSSELL, Kan. (AP)  A 59-year-old Kansas man was killed when the motorcycle he was driving Friday night collided with a black cow on a blacktopped road.

Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Brant Birney said there were no witnesses when James Zordel hit the cow on a paved rural road about six miles south of Interstate 70 near Russell.

Zordel was driving in the roadway when the accident happened and it is not clear if he was speeding or if the cow suddenly appeared from the side of the road.

"It was dark. He was driving down a blacktop road and he hit a black cow," Birney said, adding that exactly what caused the accident may never be known.
PM urges Australians to choose stability after Brexit vote

CANBERRA, Australia (AP)  Australia's prime minister used his official campaign launch on Sunday to warn against a change of government during the economic fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

Polls project Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative coalition is widely expected to be returned next Saturday for a second three-year term with a reduced majority.

Turnbull said his government was better placed to strike vital new trade deals with the EU and Britain after the separation forced by a British referendum.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull waves after speaking during his Liberal Party election campaign launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A national election will be held July 2. Turnbull used his official campaign launch to warn against a change of government during the economic fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia had brokered free trade deals with major trade partners China, Japan and South Korea and renegotiated a pact with Singapore during the government's first term, he said.

"The shockwaves of the past 48 hours from Britain's vote to leave the European Union are a sharp reminder of the volatility in the global economy. Always expect the unexpected," Turnbull said.

"Our clear economic plan is more essential than ever as we enter this period of uncertainty in global markets following the British vote to leave the European Union," he added.

Australia's only two surviving conservative prime ministers  John Howard and Tony Abbott  had front row seats at the campaign launch.

Howard is Australia's second longest serving prime minister, lasting almost 12 years before his government was defeated at 2007 elections. Abbott lasted only two years before he was overthrown by Turnbull in an internal government showdown in September.

Turnbull became the fifth prime minister since Howard in an extraordinarily volatile period of Australian politics.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten said the government was divided between Turnbull's supporters and those who support Abbott.

"Mr. Turnbull says this is the time for stability. You cannot have stability without unity," Shorten said.

An opinion poll published in Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper found the government and the center-left Labor Party opposition running neck and neck with each supported by 50 percent of respondents. The newspaper did not publish a sample size or margin of error. But such Galaxy Research polls are usually nationwide with margins of error smaller than 3 percentage points.

While earlier polls have shown the parties are similarly close, analysis has shown that Labor is unlikely to win the 21 extra seats it needs to form government.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, second from left, holds his grandson, Jack, as his family gather on stage after his Liberal Party election campaign launch speech in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A national election will be held July 2. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks during his Liberal Party election campaign launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A national election will be held July 2. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, left, embraces his wife, Lucy, after speaking during his Liberal Party election campaign launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A national election will be held July 2. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull waves after his speech during his Liberal Party election campaign launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A national election will be held July 2. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addresses party members at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A federal election will be held in Australia on Saturday, July 2. (Lukas Coch/Pool Photo via AP)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, left, is congratulated by his wife Lucy after addressing party members at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A federal election will be held in Australia on Saturday, July 2. (Lukas Coch/Pool Photo via AP)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addresses party members at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A federal election will be held in Australia on Saturday July 2. (Lukas Coch/Pool Photo via AP)

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, left, and his wife Margie listen to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, shown on the screen in the background, addressing party members at the Coalition Campaign Launch in Sydney, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A federal election will be held in Australia on Saturday, July 2. (Lukas Coch/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese-owned mega-vessel Cosco Shipping Panama became the first to pass through the expanded canal on Sunday

The newly expanded Panama Canal opened on Sunday after a multi-billion project that got delayed by two years due to slow construction approval, strikes and leaks.

The first ship to go through the passage, the Chinese-owned Cosco Shipping Panama, passed through the Atlantic locks at Agua Clara in the early morning and in the afternoon completed the 50-mile journey to the Pacific at the Cocoli locks near the capital.

Fireworks exploded as the huge container ship made its inaugural passage in front of thousands of people, formally launching Panama's bet on a bright economic future despite tough times for global shipping.

The $5.25 billion project was initially scheduled for completion in October 2014 but was delayed by slow approvals for concrete to use in the locks, labor strikes and leaks detected late last year.

Scroll down for video

The Chinese-owned Cosco Shipping Panama passed through the Atlantic locks at Agua Clara Sunday morning and in the afternoon completed the inaugural 50-mile journey to the Pacific at the Cocoli locks (pictured)

Fireworks exploded as the huge container ship made its inaugural passage in front of thousands of people (pictured), who began gathering before dawn and lined both sides of the canal waving flags

The Cosco Shipping Panama (pictured) carried more than 9,000 containers on Sunday as it entered the newly expanded locks that will double the canal's capacity

'This is an achievement that all of us Panamanians should be proud of,' President Juan Carlos Varela said at the inaugural ceremony on the outskirts of Panama City.

'Today marks a historic moment for Panama, for our hemisphere and the world.'

The expansion includes two new sets of lock complexes, one on the Pacific coast on the outskirts of Panama City and one on the northern coast at Colon.

'This new transit route is the tip of the iceberg in making Panama once again the logistics center of the Americas,' canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano said. 'And it represents a significant opportunity for the countries of the region to improve their infrastructure, increase their exports.'

Crowds began gathering before dawn and lined both sides of the canal waving flags, partying to salsa music and watching videos on giant screens.

A LOOK AT THE PANAMA CANAL AND ITS NEW EXPANDED LOCKS The canal: Opened on August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal was constructed by the United States between 1904 and 1913 at a cost of $375 million, building on an earlier, French-led effort that fizzled. An estimated 20,000 workers died during French control of the project, many due to tropical diseases such as malaria, and 5,600 more perished during U.S. construction. The canal revolutionized global sea traffic by replacing long voyages around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. The operations: The canal was under US control until a 1977 agreement between Presidents Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos paved the way for its transfer to Panama on December 31, 1999. Canal authorities say it generated $10 billion in direct income for the Panamanian state through 2015. With related economic activity, the canal is responsible for about 40 percent of Panama's GDP. On average, 35 to 40 ships transit the waterway each day, and the canal is estimated to handle 6 percent of world maritime commerce. The new locks: The $5.25 billion project was initially scheduled for completion in October 2014, roughly coinciding with the canal's 100th anniversary, but was delayed by slow approvals for concrete to use in the locks, labor strikes and leaks detected late last year. The expansion includes two new sets of lock complexes, one on the Pacific coast on the outskirts of Panama City and one on the northern coast at Colon. The new ships: The new locks are 180 feet wide and 1,400 feet long, big enough to accommodate New Panamax-class vessels that are seen as the future of global shipping. Those ships can reach 1,200 feet long  more than three football fields  and are up to 160 feet wide. They can carry 13,000 to 14,000 cargo containers, about 2.5 to three times as many as on vessels that could fit in the previous locks. The International Monetary Fund estimates the canal expansion will reduce global maritime shipping costs by $8 billion a year. The first ship: Originally called the Andronikos, the ship making the inaugural voyage through the new locks was renamed the Cosco Shipping Panama by its Chinese owner in honor of Panama and the ceremonial passage. It's a Marshall Islands-flagged container vessel with a capacity of 9,472 shipping containers and is 158 feet wide and 984 feet long. It entered the Atlantic locks Sunday morning for an approximately eight-hour transit to the Pacific locks. Source: Associated Press Advertisement

The canal's capacity doubled with the new locks. Canal authorities hope to compete with the Suez Canal in Egypt. Pictured, fireworks light up the sky as the Cosco Shipping Panama crosses the new Cocoli locks

The 50-mile canal has generated about $10 billion in direct income for Panama since it was handed over from US control at the end of 1999. Pictured, people cheer during the inauguration Sunday

'Today marks a historic moment for Panama, for our hemisphere and the world,' President Juan Carlos Varela (pictured) said at the inaugural ceremony on the outskirts of Panama City

About 30,000 people and eight foreign heads of state were attending, authorities said.

'It's a one-time experience, a great achievement,' homemaker Felicia Penuela, from Colon province, said. 'Panama is showing the world that even though it is a small country it can do great things.'

The 158-foot-wide, 984-foot-long Cosco Shipping Panama is one of the modern mega-vessels that will now be able to use the canal and form the New Panamax class.

It carried 9,000 cargo containers during the inaugural voyage.

The canal's capacity doubled with the new locks. Canal authorities hope to compete with the Suez Canal in Egypt and tap new markets such as natural gas shipments between the United States and Asia.

'The Panama Canal, with this expansion, is an important player not only for regional maritime commerce but worldwide,' said Oscar Bazan, the Panama Canal Authority's executive vice president for planning and commercial development. 'The canal is a winning bet.'

Eighty-five percent of the 166 reserved crossings scheduled for the next three months are for container ships. Container cargo accounts for nearly 50 percent of the canal's overall income.

Panamanians at the ceremony expressed hope that the expansion will help the economy in a country where about 25 percent of the people live in poverty.

'I think the inauguration of the locks is excellent for the current generations and those to come,' mechanic Moises Gonzalez, 40, who worked on the construction of the locks for six years, said. 'Opportunities for us. We have to find a way for it to reach the people.'

The 158-foot-wide, 984-foot-long Cosco Shipping Panama (pictured on Sunday) is one of the modern mega-vessels that will now be able to use the canal and form the New Panamax class

The crowd partied to salsa music and watched videos on giant screens during the inauguration of the new canal Sunday. Pictured, men in traditional attire wait at the new Agua Clara locks

The Cosco Shipping Panama (pictured with a tugboat) has a capacity of 9,472 shipping containers and is 158 feet wide and 984 feet long. It travelled for about eight hours on Sunday

But the drop in oil prices, an economic slowdown in China - the canal's second-largest customer -and other factors have hit the waterway's traffic and income.

Authorities anticipate increasing commerce between Asia and ports on the US East Coast but doubts remain that not all those ports are ready to handle the huge New Panamax cargo ships.

Net cargo volume through the canal from the US East Coast toward Asia fell 10.2 percent in 2015, according to official statistics.

Meanwhile, Suez recently lowered tariffs by up to 65 percent on large container carriers in an attempt to keep its traffic.

'It's important to remember that the canal does not create demand. The canal opens the route. Supply and demand on a world level is what will decide whether the Panama Canal will really bring more volume or not,' said Antonio Dominguez, a general manager for global shipping leader Maersk Line, which moves about 14.2 percent of world commerce.

'What is certain is that the current canal has maxed out.'

Deputy canal administrator Manuel Benitez said officials are thinking long-term about the benefits the new locks can bring through economies of scale and saving time and costs for large ships.

'These are cyclical questions. The market will rebound again and when we are in an 'up' cycle again, shipping will generate money and the Panama Canal will generate money,' Benitez said.

The 50-mile canal has generated about $10 billion in direct income for Panama since it was handed over from US control at the end of 1999.

It is responsible for about 40 percent of Panama's GDP, factoring in related economic activity.

Thirty-five to 40 vessels transit the waterway each day, and the canal is estimated to handle about 6 percent of world maritime commerce.

Panama began the expansion nearly a decade ago. The new locks, which were meant to open in late 2014 around the waterway's centennial, can accommodate ships that carry up to three times the cargo of those previously able to use the canal.

Panamanians at the ceremony expressed hope that the expansion will help the country's economy. Pictured, spectators cheer as the Cosco Shipping Panama, begins to cross the new new Agua Clara locks

The $5.25 billion project was initially scheduled for completion in October 2014 but was delayed by two years. Pictured, the Cosco Shipping Panama heads towards the new Cocoli locks
Rainbow flags, images of shooting victims at pride parades

NEW YORK (AP)  Rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades tempered by this month's massacre at a Florida gay nightclub.

Crowds of onlookers stood a dozen deep along Fifth Avenue for New York City's parade. Some spectators held up orange "We are Orlando" signs, and indications of increased security were everywhere, with armed officers standing by. An announcer introducing state officials and guests also shouted out, "Love is love! New York is Orlando!" in memory of the 49 people killed in Florida. Elected officials turned out in force, as did presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

She walked several blocks of the march, joining New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton for a brief appearance at Stonewall Inn, the bar where a 1969 police raid helped catalyze the gay rights movement.

Thousands gather on the North Side of Chicago for the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

On Sunday, with her Twitter handle appearing in rainbow colors, Clinton wrote: "One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Let's keep marching until they don't. -H"

Authorities had expected a larger-than-usual crowd, and 15-year-old Chelsea Restrepo, of Staten Island, was among the onlookers. She had brushed aside her father's concerns about security to attend the march for the first time.

"What happened in Orlando made me want to come more," said Restrepo, swathed in a multicolored scarf. She said she wanted to show her support.

Kenny Hillman, a 39-year-old Brooklyn filmmaker, was ready to roar his Triumph Bonneville down Fifth Avenue.

The transgender New Yorker said he hadn't planned to come to the march.

"For me, I wasn't going to ride because I have 17-month-old twins at home. But then Orlando happened, and seeing so many of my friends shrink in fear made me realize that coming here was more important," said Hillman, wearing an anti-assault guns T-shirt.

New York's parade was one of several being held Sunday across the country, along with San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Louis. They came two weeks after the nation's deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

In Chicago, 49 marchers at the head of the parade each held aloft a poster-sized photograph of a different Orlando victim as the procession wound through the city. Above each photo were the words, "Never forget."

Despite the somber start, parade-goers seemed as enthusiastic as ever once marchers and floats began moving, cheering and dancing along the route. Many participants said the tributes to the dead in Orlando didn't dampen the energy and fun associated with the pride parade.

"It is another on a list of brutalities over the years (against gays)," said Joe Conklin, 74, of Chicago, as he sat on the back of a float waiting for the OK to move out. "We're aware of Orlando but not overwhelmed by it."

It was a similar feeling in San Francisco, where men in glittery white wings walked on stilts and women in leather pants rode motorcycles as the parade moved along.

Richel Desamparado, of Oakland, California, was marching and carrying a photo of Orlando victim Stanley Almodovar. She said she felt the need to remind people the fight for equality is not over. "A lot of my gay friends and relatives are still being shunned away by their families and communities," said Desamparado, 31. "People need to remember we're still fighting for equality."

Sunday's parades did have a new milestone to mark: President Barack Obama on Friday designated the site around New York City's Stonewall Inn as the first national monument to gay rights.

Security was ramped up at the events. New York police deployed roving counterterrorism units and used bomb-sniffing dogs, rooftop observation posts, police helicopters and thousands of officers to provide extra layers of security at Sunday's parade. Thousands of uniformed officers lined the route, supplemented by plainclothes officers in the crowd.

San Francisco spectators faced metal detectors for the first time, and more police than usual were keeping watch. Some participants didn't welcoming the stepped-up security: Two honorary grand marshals and a health clinic that serves sex workers withdrew Friday from the parade to protest the heavy police presence.

Chicago police put 200 more officers than usual on duty for the city's pride parade Sunday. Organizers nearly doubled their corps of private security agents, to 160.

At a gay street parade in Turkey, a prominent German lawmaker and outspoken gay rights advocate was temporarily detained Sunday when he wanted to speak publicly at the end of Pride Week. Turkish police have repeatedly in recent days prevented activists from participating in LGBT rallies.

For all the security and solemnity, some spectators at pride parades this month have made a point of making merry.

"We had fun. That is what gay people do," comedian Guy Branum wrote in a New York Times essay after attending the West Hollywood parade. "Our answer to loss and indignity, it seems, is to give a party, have a parade and celebrate bits of happiness."

___

Associated Press writer Tom Hays in New York, Michael Tarm in Chicago and Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Tina Hitscherich surprises a police officer with a kiss during the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. With a moment of silence followed by the roar of motorcycles, New York City's gay pride parade kicked off Sunday, a celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in the massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Heavily armed police officers walk along the street near the parade route of the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016, in New York City. A year after New York City's storied gay pride parade celebrated a high point with the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, the atmosphere this year couldn't be more different. Parades in New York and other major cities Sunday will feature increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

"Chicago Fire" actress Monica Raymund, the Grand Marshal for the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade, blows a kiss as the parade moves through the North Side of Chicago on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Police officers walk along the street near the parade route of the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016, in New York City. A year after New York City's storied gay pride parade celebrated a high point with the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, the atmosphere this year couldn't be more different. Parades in New York and other major cities Sunday will feature increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Cecilia Chen, at right, is consoled by a marcher as she cries during the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Police officers listen to a briefing before the start of the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Onlookers lined up early and police ramped up security Sunday to get ready for New York Citys famous gay pride parade, a march down Fifth Avenue that would be both celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Police officers stand along the route of the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Onlookers lined up early and police ramped up security Sunday to get ready for New York Citys famous gay pride parade, a march down Fifth Avenue that would be both celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Meanwhile in New York, rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades

Thousands gather on the North Side of Chicago for the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade, which kicked off at Montrose and Broadway on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Confetti falls on parade-goers at the 47th annual Chicago Pride parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016 on Belmont Avenue in Chicago. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)

The 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade kicks off at Montrose and Broadway on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Portraits of the Orlando nightclub shooting victims are carried at the beginning of the 47th Annual Chicago Pride parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016 on Halsted Street in Chicago. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)

Marisa Wohlschlaeger has her face painted in rainbow colors as she watches from the sidewalk during the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

A police officer watches the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Todd Elmer, center, and, Rachel Payne, left, march during the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Marchers walk along Market Street during the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Haley Slamon cheers as she watches during the San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 26, 2016, in San Francisco. Parades in San Francisco and other major cities Sunday featured increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Luis Sobrinho waves a pride flag as he marches in the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Lou Foglia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Participants in the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade carry pictures of the victims killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting as a tribute on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Jason Mendes-McAllister, center, gets emotional as he marches in the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade while carrying a picture of Florida's Pulse nightclub shooting victim Edward Sotomayor Jr. on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his family march in the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade, which kicked off at Montrose and Broadway on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Rachael Sytsma, 28 of Rogers Park, Ill., gets emotional during a tribute to Florida's Pulse nightclub shooting victims at the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Members of Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles march in the 47th annual Chicago Pride Parade, which kicked off at Montrose and Broadway on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

A woman blows kisses as she marches in the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. With a moment of silence followed by the roar of motorcycles, New York City's gay pride parade kicked off Sunday, a celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in the massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Louis Sanchez, left, and Kyle Hoban kiss in front of the Stonewall Inn while watching the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. With a moment of silence followed by the roar of motorcycles, New York City's gay pride parade kicked off Sunday, a celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in the massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Police officers admit a woman into the staging area for the NYC Pride Parade in New York, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Onlookers lined up early and police ramped up security Sunday to get ready for New York Citys famous gay pride parade, a march down Fifth Avenue that would be both celebration of barriers breached and a remembrance of the lives lost in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A person wearing a rainbow drape runs on Fifth Avenue before the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016, in New York City. A year after New York City's storied gay pride parade celebrated a high point with the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, the atmosphere this year couldn't be more different. Parades in New York and other major cities Sunday will feature increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

A vendor holds rainbow flags as he walks near Fifth Avenue before the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, 2016, in New York City. A year after New York City's storied gay pride parade celebrated a high point with the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, the atmosphere this year couldn't be more different. Parades in New York and other major cities Sunday will feature increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in this month's massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Britain's EU workers gripped by fear, confusion, heartache

LONDON (AP)  A tsunami of uncertainty has engulfed Anna Woydyla, a Polish restaurant worker in London, since Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Would her two teenage children, who grew up in the United Kingdom, still qualify for loans to study at British universities? Would she and her husband, after 11 years of working here, have to sell the home they just bought? Leave their jobs? Leave their new country? Try to apply for citizenship?

The 41-year-old is among hundreds of thousands of European Union workers in Britain who are fearful and confused over what happens next as their adoptive country begins the long process of unwinding its many ties to continental Europe.

In this photo taken on Friday, June 24, 2016, Gabriel Ionut, a 24-year-old Romanian who works as a traffic marshal, stands by a signal at a construction site in London. Ionut is in the minority of the hundreds of thousands of foreign European workers who welcomed the British decision to leave the European Union as the majority of them are struggling with uncertainty about their future in Britain. (AP Photo, Pawel Kuczynski)

"If it were just me, I could even return to Poland," a visibly tense Woydyla said as she stocked a bar in an Italian restaurant in London's Camden district. "But my kids are more English than Polish. They don't even want to go to Poland for their holidays anymore. They even speak to each other in English."

An entire class of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, workers, students and strivers who have made the U.K. their home since Britain opened its borders to its EU neighbors now see their futures in limbo. The immigrants changed the face of Britain, turning London's Kensington neighborhood into a suburb of Paris, changing sleepy English towns like Boston into Baltic enclaves, filling supermarket shelves across the nation with Polish lager and Wiejska sausage.

"I personally cannot tell what's going to change for me," said Andrea Cordaro, a 21-year-old Italian student who compared the shock of hearing the referendum's result to the punch-in-the-gut feeling of flunking an exam. "I'll just have to keep my head up and hope for the best."

Laurence Borel, a 36-year-old digital marketing consultant from France, isn't waiting to find out what's coming next. She asked for her British passport in May after more than 15 years living in the country.

"I'll bet a lot of people are applying," she said, explaining that she'd been mulling the idea of a passport for years but the referendum prompted her to act.

"I don't want to go back to France," she said. "My life is here."

At workplaces and schools across the country, managers have sent out emails to worried foreign staffers and students, assuring them that  for now  nothing has changed.

"The formal process for leaving the European Union will take at least two years," Oxford University said in one such statement. "Our staff and students can be assured that in the short term, we anticipate no disruption to employment or study."

Over the long term though, the lives of the estimated 3 million EU citizens living in Britain may change in ways big and small. A survey commissioned by the Financial Times found that if Britain's current immigration rules were applied to EU nationals, the overwhelming majority would lose their jobs and be forced to leave the country  catastrophic news for Spanish barristas, Romanian strawberry pickers, German investment bankers and the industries that rely on them.

The biggest impact may be on the Poles, the largest group of foreign EU workers in the U.K. An estimated 850,000 people from Poland are now in the U.K., seeking wages and opportunities far beyond what they could ever expect in their ex-communist homeland, a flow so dramatic that Polish is now England's second-most-spoken language.

The fate of the Poles in Britain is such an important domestic issue in Poland that President Andrzej Duda vowed after the British referendum that Polish leaders will "do everything to keep the rights unchanged" in upcoming negotiations with British leaders.

"I trust that the British government will appreciate the contribution the Poles are bringing into the development of the British Islands, into their social and cultural life," Duda said.

Under British law, EU immigrants who have resided in the U.K. for more than five years can apply for permanent residency. In practice, however, few EU citizens have bothered as their passports already allow them to travel freely and easily access education, health care, pensions and other services in Britain.

The Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw-based think tank, has estimated that still leaves up to 400,000 Poles who arrived in Britain after 2012. Though the path forward is still unclear, it's possible that they  along with hundreds of thousands more from elsewhere in Europe  may have to apply for work visas and, if rejected, have to leave the country.

Aware of the EU workers' anxiety, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who had backed the failed "remain" side, issued a special message Friday to the nearly one million European citizens living in London alone.

"As a city, we are grateful for the enormous contribution you make, and that will not change as a result of this referendum," he said. "You are very welcome here."

To be sure, not all European workers in Britain are panicking or fearful.

"I feel good. Leaving the EU is a good idea," said Gabriel Ionut, a 24-year-old from Bucharest, Romania, who works as a traffic marshal at a construction site in London. He has worked in the U.K. for four years and, with a residency permit, is confident about his chances of staying.

He says he fully understands native British concerns that their island has been forced to absorb too many immigrants in recent years, with too little control over who can come in due to the EU rules ensuring the free movement of people and labor.

"Now they will have more control over allowing in only the really good people," he said. "And they will also be able stop more refugees from the Middle East. I am afraid there could be terrorists with them."

Another Romanian construction worker said he was mostly confused. Iosif Achim, a 32-year-old from Satu Mare, Romania, has been in Britain for six years but never bothered to apply for a residency permit.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," said Achim. "But in my opinion this is going to be bad."

The concern was mirrored across the Channel by the estimated 1.2 million U.K. citizens living in Europe.

The referendum "shouldn't affect me too much . but it could," said Herman Martin, a British composer who has lived in Brussels for the past 24 years. Overall, he said, the British vote to leave the EU would be a disaster for both parties.

"I find it quite disturbing," he said.

Everyone with foreign ties appears shaken.

"We're all in shock and deeply saddened," said Christine Ullmann, a German who works in digital marketing in London, including on the "Hug a Brit" campaign that pleaded with the British to remain in the EU. Ullmann said she cried on the train Friday morning.

Borel, the French consultant, agreed that emotions were still raw.

"I love London. I love the English. I'm heartbroken," she said.

___

This story corrects the spelling of the Italian student's last name to Cordaro.

___

Frank Jordans and Danica Kirka in London, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed.

In this photo taken on Friday, June 24, 2016, Anna Woydyla, a 42-year-old Pole who has lived in Britain for 11 years, works at a restaurant, while expressing deep anxiety about her future in an interview, in London. Many of the hundreds of thousands of workers in Britain who hail from other EU countries are struggling with uncertainty about their future in Britain after the nation voted to leave the 28-member bloc. (AP Photo, Pawel Kuczynski)
New election fails to clarify Spain's political future

MADRID (AP)  Spain's repeat election Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, as another inconclusive ballot compelled political leaders to resume six months of negotiations on who should form a government.

The conservative Popular Party, which has ruled for the past four years, again collected the most votes in the election but still fell shy of the majority of 176 seats it needs in the 350-seat Parliament to form a government on its own.

With 99.9 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy's party had picked up 137 seats in Parliament. That is better than the 123 it won in December but still means it will need allies if it wants to govern. Its earlier efforts to find support from rival parties after December proved fruitless.

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, kisses his wife Elvira Fernandez as they celebrate the results of their party during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Even so, Rajoy declared he would make a push for power, telling a victory rally in Madrid, "We won the election, we demand the right to govern."

It is unlikely to be as simple as that, however. For the past six months, the main parties have quarreled endlessly over who should assume power. In the end, King Felipe VI had to call another election. A third one, in six months' time, is still a possibility.

Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting group, said he expected tough negotiations between the parties in coming weeks.

"It was hoped that these elections would bring clarity and that a government would be formed quickly, but I don't think that's how it's going to be," Barroso said.

Spain has never had a coalition government.

The center-left Socialist Party placed second, collecting 85 seats, according to the count by the country's Interior Ministry. That was five fewer seats than six months ago but the Socialists kept their influence by fending off a challenge from a radical leftist alliance.

"We are the foremost political power on the left," Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez told supporters in Madrid in his own bid to ensure political influence.

Unidos Podemos (United We Can)  which brings together Podemos, a two-year-old party that grew out of a grassroots anti-austerity protest movement, and the communists and the Greens  was third with 71 seats.

The alliance, headed by pony-tailed political science professor Pablo Iglesias, had hoped to overtake the Socialists and break the country's traditional two-party system. The Popular Party and the Socialists have alternated in power for decades.

"We had expected to do better," Iglesias said.

The business-friendly Ciudadanos party came in fourth with 32 seats. Other, smaller parties won the rest of the vote by Spain's roughly 36.5 million voters.

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished services such as welfare and education and unrelenting political corruption scandals shaped the two-week election campaign.

At a Madrid polling station, many voters said they wanted Sunday's election to bring a break with the past.

"I'm voting for change, so that our politicians understand that we don't agree with what they've been doing," said Maria Jesus Genovar, a 47-year-old teacher who supported Unidos Podemos.

Unidos Podemos wants to improve job security, increase the minimum wage and strengthen the welfare state and other public services.

But Maria Jose Escos, a 59-year-old government worker, said she had no appetite for the new parties.

"I'd like everything to be like it was before," the Socialists supporter said.

Iglesias, who leads Unidos Podemos, has said he wants a pact with the Socialists in order to oust Rajoy. But a major sticking point is Iglesias's insistence on letting the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia stage an independence referendum  a possibility other main parties have rejected outright.

Ciudadanos is willing to talk to both the Popular Party and the Socialists but wants no deal with Unidos Podemos.

Besides tensions over Catalonia, Spanish politics has been dominated by a national unemployment rate of more than 20 percent and an unrelenting stream of corruption scandals, mostly involving members of the Popular Party and the Socialists.

___

Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal. Alex Oller contributed from Barcelona.

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, center, waves to his supporters next to his party members as they celebrate the results of their party during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Followers of Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, celebrate the results of their party at the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's Interior Ministry says 92 percent of the votes have been officially counted in the country's repeat election and the conservative Popular Party leads with 32 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, waves to his supporters as he celebrates the results of the party during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

Spain's Podemos coalition party leader Pablo Iglesias listens to a question during a news conference following the results of the general election, in Madrid, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's Interior Ministry says 92 percent of the votes have been officially counted in the country's repeat election and the conservative Popular Party leads with 32 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A dog looks through a window as a man casts his vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards voted Sunday in an unprecedented repeat election that aimed to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Followers of Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, celebrate the results of their party at the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's Interior Ministry says 92 percent of the votes have been officially counted in the country's repeat election and the conservative Popular Party leads with 32 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Paul White)

A man casts his vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards voted Sunday in an unprecedented repeat election that aimed to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man picks a ballot paper before casting his vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man waits for the opening of a polling station before casting his vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People wait for the opening of a polling station before casting their vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People wait for the opening of a polling station before casting their vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People wait for the opening of a polling station before casting their vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People wait for the opening of a polling station before casting their vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman casts her vote for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman fills a ballot paper for the national elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. Spaniards voted Sunday in an unprecedented repeat election that aimed to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman casts her vote for the national elections in Pamplona northern, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spaniards are voting in a general election, just six months after a last unsuccessful attempt to pick a new government. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, left, celebrates with members of his party their results during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, left, celebrates with members of his party their results during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Followers of Spain's acting Primer Minister and candidate of Popular Party Mariano Rajoy, celebrate the results of their party during the national elections in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 26, 2016. Spain's Interior Ministry says 92 percent of the votes have been officially counted in the country's repeat election and the conservative Popular Party leads with 32 percent of the vote. (AP Photo/Paul White)
The Latest: Pope urges EU to find new ways to stay together

LONDON (AP)  The Latest on Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union (all times local):

9:30 p.m.

Pope Francis is calling for the European Union to come up with creative new ways to stay together following Britain's planned exit, saying it's clear "something isn't working in this unwieldy union."

Pope Francis talks to journalists during a press conference he held on board the airplane on his way back to the Vatican, at the end of three-day visit to Armenia, Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool photo via AP)

Speaking to reporters as he flew home from Armenia on Sunday, Francis said Europe must reflect on the "air of division" being sowed in Europe and beyond. He says "the European Union must rediscover the strength at its roots, a creativity and a healthy disunity, of giving more independence and more freedom to the countries of the union."

Speaking of high unemployment and economic stagnation, Francis says: "Something isn't working in this unwieldy union. But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater." The key, he said, is to rekindle the will to stay together with "creativity and new life."

The pope says he believes brotherhood and unity are always better than distance and enmity, bridges are better than walls.

___

12:50 p.m.

Former British shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander's resignation letter reads as a personal rebuke to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The letter released Sunday marks the start of an open revolt against Corbyn's leadership role following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Senior party figures are trying to pressure him to resign.

Alexander writes: "I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."

She says Britain needs an "effective opposition" at a time of unprecedented challenges.

Other members of the Labour Party's shadow cabinet have also resigned to protest Corbyn's performance as leader.

___

12:20 p.m.

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn faces a revolt from some of his party's legislators but seems to still have labor union backing.

Unite union representative Jennie Formby said Sunday that it is "nonsense" to blame Corbyn for Britain's surprising vote to leave the EU.

She sits on the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and called for lawmakers to show unity rather than challenge Corbyn's leadership.

Formby said party members have been calling her to express support for Corbyn, who became party leader in September.

"The timing of this is appalling" she says of the public challenge to Corbyn's leadership.

___

12:05 p.m.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested the Scottish Parliament could be able to keep Britain from leaving the European Union.

She told BBC Sunday that she would ask the Scottish Parliament not to give "legislative consent" to removing Britain from the EU.

Scots voted against leaving the EU in Thursday's referendum and Sturgeon is looking for ways to keep that from happening.

Her Scottish National Party doesn't have an outright majority in parliament despite the popularity of its pro-independence stance.

She said she believes the consent of the Scottish Parliament would be needed for Britain to leave but concedes the British government would probably take a "very different view" on the question.

___

11:15 a.m.

Hungary's prime minister says the European Union is "disorderly" and needs to be changed in light of Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

Viktor Orban, who has often clashed with Brussels, said Sunday the British wanted to leave the EU because they had enough of "uncertainty, paralysis ... of slowly being unable to feel at home in Europe."

Orban spoke at a swearing-in ceremony of new graduates of the National University of Public Service.

He said the EU is "quickly going to change" and that "countries which remain orderly and can guarantee security and lawfulness for their citizens will be at an advantage."

Orban last year built razor-wire fences to stem the flow of migrants passing through Hungary.

He said the British "decided that they will once again take control of their destiny" as "many European leaders do not undertake the struggle against the new people's migration and the invading, illegal and malfeasant migration flow."

___

10:50 a.m.

A senior figure of the British Labour Party says embattled party leader Jeremy Corbyn won't step down despite internal opposition.

John McDonnell told the BBC Sunday that "Jeremy's not going anywhere."

McDonnell is the party's shadow chancellor and a top adviser to Corbyn.

He says Corbyn was elected party leader nine months ago with "the biggest mandate of any political leader in our country."

He says Corbyn still enjoys wide party backing from the rank and file members who voted him in.

___

10:30 a.m.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz wants Britain to officially apply for an exit from the European Union already by Tuesday, following its vote to leave the bloc.

Schulz told weekly Bild am Sonntag Sunday that "we now expect the British government to deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right moment for this."

Top EU officials have repeatedly pressed Britain for a quick exit to avoid a period of uncertainty for the remaining 27 EU countries.

The victorious "leave" campaigners in Britain have said there's no rush to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which will begin a two-year exit process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the U.K. and the EU.

___

8:50 a.m.

Britain's shadow health secretary has resigned from the shadow cabinet amid a dispute over Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The Press Association reported Heidi Alexander announced her resignation Sunday, shortly after Corbyn fired shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.

The BBC reports that up to half of the shadow cabinet is set to resign in a bid to force Corbyn to step down.

The opposition leader has faced accusations from his own lawmakers that he led a weak campaign in Britain's EU referendum and is facing a motion of no confidence.

The Observer newspaper reported Sunday that Benn has been plotting against Corbyn.

___

8:40 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Brussels and London on Monday as the world grapples with the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

Kerry will bring messages of American support to both places Monday.

In Brussels, he will meet the 28-nation bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. In Britain, he will see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday for scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

___

8:30 a.m.

British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has fired his shadow foreign secretary amid a dispute over his leadership in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Hilary Benn told the Press Association Sunday that Corbyn dismissed him after he told him he had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party.

Benn said that "following the result of the EU referendum, we need strong and effective leadership of the Labour Party that is capable of winning public support."

The dismissal follows claims in the Observer newspaper that Benn was plotting against Corbyn.

The opposition leader has faced accusations from his own lawmakers that he led a weak campaign in Britain's EU referendum and is facing a motion of no confidence.

Pope Francis, flanked by Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, right, talks to journalists during a press conference he held on board the airplane on his way back to the Vatican, at the end of three-day visit to Armenia, Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool photo via AP)

A demonstrator wrapped in the EU flag takes part in a protest opposing Britain's exit from the European Union in Parliament Square following yesterday's EU referendum result, London, Saturday, June 25, 2016. Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Britain's opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn looks over his shoulder before delivering a speech on immigration and Britain's exit from the European Union, at the Maxwell Library in London, Saturday June 25, 2016. Longtime critic of the EU, Coryn backed "remain" in Europe but some party members accuse him of failing to rally party supporters and may mount a bid to unseat him. (Stefan Rousseau / PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES

Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn makes a speech at Savoy Place in London, Saturday, June 25, 2016. Corbyn, whose Labour Party backed a vote to stay in the bloc, says the areas that voted most strongly to leave are "communities that have effectively been abandoned" by economic change and the austerity policies of Britain's Conservative government. Many Labour lawmakers strongly backed "remain" and accuse the socialist Corbyn, a longtime critic of the EU, of failing to rally party supporters behind staying in the bloc. Several are trying to rally support behind a bid to unseat Corbyn. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES
Kerry urges Britain, EU to manage their divorce responsibly

ROME (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Britain and the European Union to manage their divorce responsibly for the sake of global markets and citizens, a day before he was to become the first senior American official to visit London and Brussels since the United Kingdom's historic referendum.

Kerry emphasized the importance of thoughtful cooperation at a time of economic uncertainty and fears about crumbling European unity. He said he would bring a message of U.S. support to both capitals. But he offered no concrete suggestions for how the two sides should make good on the decision by British voters to leave the 28-nation bloc.

"The most important thing is that all of us, as leaders, work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible," Kerry said as he met in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

A crow flies by EU flags in front of EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, June 24, 2016. Top European Union officials were hunkering down in Brussels Friday to try to work out what to do next after the shock decision by British voters to leave the 28-nation bloc. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Responsible handling of the situation, he said, will help "the marketplace understand there are ways to minimize disruption, there are ways to smartly move ahead in order to protect the values and interests that we share."

Kerry had scheduled talks in Rome with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Sunday. But confronted with the gravity of Britain's vote on Thursday, which crushed markets from the U.S. to Japan, Kerry set up a frantic, four-nation schedule for Monday.

After gathering again with Netanyahu in the morning, he planned to fly to Brussels to discuss Europe's situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Later, he was to meet British Secretary Philip Hammond in London before returning to Washington by day's end.

With the British, Kerry intended to echo last week's immediate U.S. response, which focused on the unchanged nature of the allies' "special relationship."

Even the gloomiest of predictions about the British exit from the EU do not foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britain's separation from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing U.S.-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to "leave" could put them at the back of the line for similar deals. Since the result of the referendum, however, Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasize the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

"We will continue, the United States, to have a very close and special relationship with Great Britain," Kerry said on the rooftop of a hotel overlooking the Pantheon. "We value that relationship. That does not change because of this vote."

In Brussels, Kerry planned to emphasize U.S. backing for the EU amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britain's lead.

Alongside Gentiloni, Kerry stressed the importance of political unity among 27 remaining countries that still represent a market of 450 million people, and help the U.S. provide security to unstable places in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung areas of conflict such as Afghanistan.

It's unclear what more Kerry, or the U.S., can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britain's exit negotiations could be a complicated, protracted affair, and the Americans are likely to have little say in the matter. The U.S. also has no answer for the EU's dilemma about how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.
Fallujah fully liberated from IS group, Iraqi commander says

BAGHDAD (AP)  Five weeks after a military operation began, a senior Iraqi commander declared Sunday that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from the Islamic State group, giving a major boost to the country's security and political leadership in its fight against the extremists.

Recapturing Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State group more than two years ago, means that authorities can now set their sights on militant-held Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, visiting central Fallujah with the celebrating troops, vowed that the Iraqi flag would next be raised above Mosul. But that campaign has been progressing in fits and starts, revealing the deep divisions among the different groups that make up the security forces.

Iraqi security forces celebrate as they hold the flag of the Islamic State group that they captured in Fallujah, Iraq, after defeating Islamic State militants, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A senior Iraqi commander said the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo)

Iraqi troops entered Fallujah's northwestern neighborhood of al-Julan, the last part of the city under IS control, said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation.

The operation, which began May 22, "is done, and the city is fully liberated," al-Saadi told The Associated Press.

Al-Abadi, dressed in the black fatigues of the counterterrorism forces and carrying an Iraqi flag, visited Fallujah's central hospital Sunday evening and called for residents of the city 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad to celebrate the military advance.

But tens of thousands of people from Fallujah who were forced to flee their homes during the operation are still at overcrowded camps for the displaced with limited shelter in the Anbar desert. The U.S.-led coalition said it was still conducting airstrikes in the area, and aid groups warned it was too early to say when residents could return to their homes in the city, citing the presence of makeshift bombs left behind by the militants.

The Fallujah operation was carried out by Iraq's elite counterterrorism troops, Iraqi federal police, Anbar provincial police and an umbrella group of government- sanctioned militia fighters  mostly Shiites  who are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Fallujah, a predominantly Sunni city, was a stronghold of insurgents following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. More than 100 American soldiers died and hundreds more were wounded in intense, house-by-house fighting there in 2004. Many residents of the city welcomed the Islamic State group when it overran the city in 2014, complicating the fight by government troops to retake it.

The IS militants who had held out for more than a week on the northern and western edges of Fallujah largely collapsed early Sunday under a barrage from coalition warplanes, including a single airstrike that killed 47 fighters in the Jolan neighborhood, said Brig. Haider al-Obeidi of Iraq's special forces.

"From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief ... and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV, flanked by troops.

Some of the soldiers shot their weapons into the air, sang and waved Iraqi flags.

"The coalition continues to provide support through strikes, intelligence, and advice and assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces operating in Fallujah and will continue to do so through deliberate clearing operations," said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Garver, the spokesman for the coalition.

Al-Abadi initially declared victory in Fallujah over a week ago, after Iraqi forces advanced into the city center and took control of a government complex. He pledged that remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, but fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days.

Iraq's defense minister tweeted that 90 percent of the city is "safe and inhabitable," but aid groups are advising the government to exercise more caution.

The U.N. refugee agency said more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. The UNHCR and others have warned of dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and shelter is limited. Officials have called for more funds to meet mounting needs.

"It is still too early to speak of (civilians returning to Fallujah)," said Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an international humanitarian organization that does extensive work in Anbar province. UNHCR's representative in Iraq, Bruno Geddo, also said that families are expected to remain in camps "for some time as (Fallujah) is reported to be littered with IEDs"  makeshift bombs and booby traps.

Schembri said clearing away the bombs could take anywhere from days to months.

"We need a thorough de-mining of civilian areas and safety assessments before civilians are given the option to go back," he said. "The situation in the camps is extremely dire, but we are also not in a position to ensure that people will get supplies and services inside Fallujah either."

When civilians initially returned to Ramadi after it was declared fully liberated from the militants in February, about 100 people were killed by booby-trapped explosives. The time-consuming de-mining process there is still continuing.

Besides Mosul, IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq. The group, which swept across Syria and Iraq in the summer of 2014, declared an Islamic caliphate on that territory. At the height of its power, it was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

The campaign for Mosul, which lies some 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, has been bogged down by logistics problems as Iraq's political leadership jockeys over the planning of the operation.

Those divisions in the military at times stalled the Fallujah offensive. A similar scenario is expected to play out in the Mosul campaign, because the various groups that make up Iraq's security forces  including Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga  have all vowed to participate in the complex operation.

More than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since the IS advance, according to U.N. figures. More than 40 percent are from Anbar province, where Fallujah is located.

___

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

This image made from Associated Press video shows, Iraqi soldiers carrying an Iraqi flag to hoist on buildings after a senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants, in Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, June 26, 2016. (AP Video via AP)

This image made from Associated Press video shows, Iraqi troops turn the Islamic State flag upside down in Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Video via AP)

This image made from Associated Press video shows, Iraqi troop carry an Iraqi flags on their tanks after a senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants, in Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, June 26, 2016. (AP Video via AP)

This image made from Associated Press video shows, Iraqi soldiers enter a building in Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Video via AP)

This image made from Associated Press video shows, Iraqi soldiers enter a building in Fallujah, Iraq, Sunday, June 26, 2016. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Video via AP)
India irked by China stalling its nuclear group membership

NEW DELHI (AP)  India expressed disappointment Sunday with China for raising procedural hurdles to the South Asian country joining the 48-nation group controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology.

Its membership application was not approved at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting last week in Seoul, South Korea, and External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters that from India's engagements with other members he was "certain only one country was creating the procedural hurdles."

The group is focused on restricting nuclear proliferation by controlling which countries can gain access to technology used in making atomic weapons.

FILE- In this June 25, 2016 file photo, a small group of activists belonging to 'Hindu Sena' or Hindu Army, a local organization burn China made goods and posters carrying the photograph of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a protest in New Delhi, India. The protestors were accusing China of blocking India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Hindi on placard reads, "Down with China''. India has expressed disappointment with China for raising procedural hurdles to the South Asian country becoming a member of the 48-nation group controlling access to sensitive nuclear technology.(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought China's support during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Thursday, and a top Foreign Ministry official who visited Beijing highlighted India's track record in efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.

China apparently links India's potential membership with archrival Pakistan, which applied later and has not yet been considered by the group.

Only countries that have ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons are normally eligible. India hasn't, but it has committed to some controls of its nuclear program under a nuclear cooperation pact with the United States. President Barack Obama came out in support of Indian membership when Modi visited Washington recently, and other nations, including Mexico and Switzerland, soon suggested they too were on board.

On Sunday, Swarup said India had taken up the issue with China at multiple levels.

"We are going to continue discussing this with China. This is going to be an important element of our discussion with China. We will continue to impress upon them that relationships move forward on the basis of mutual accommodation of each other's interests , concerns and priorities," he said.
Billy Joel to join Cuomo on NY breast cancer motorcycle ride

NEW YORK (AP)  New York's governor will ride alongside music icon Billy Joel in a statewide motorcycle ride to raise awareness about breast cancer before signing legislation that expands access to screenings for the disease.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will begin his ride Monday morning at Sunken Meadow Park on Long Island. From there, the Democratic governor will ride alongside his girlfriend, Food Network star and breast cancer survivor Sandra Lee, and the Piano Man himself.

The trio will join hundreds of motorcycle riders as they travel into New York City, stopping at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan before heading upstate. The ride will end Monday evening in New Paltz.

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2014, file photo, Billy Joel, the recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, stands on stage during a concert in his honor at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will ride alongside music icon Joel on Monday, June 27, 2016, in a statewide motorcycle ride to raise awareness about breast cancer (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Cuomo is also poised to sign legislation along the ride that would compel 210 hospitals to expand hours when mammograms are offered and require insurance companies to eliminate deductibles and copays for the screening and other diagnostic tests.

"Early detection is the best possible treatment for breast cancer, but far too many women face burdensome scheduling and insurance barriers that prevent them from gaining access to the diagnostic services they need and deserve," Cuomo said in a statement. "This ride is about spreading awareness and sending that message loud and clear, because when it comes to getting screened for cancer, waiting is simply not worth the risk."

Some 15,000 women across the state are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and 2,640 die from the disease.

Harley Davidson is donating a custom motorcycle for the governor to ride. It will later be auctioned off by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the governor's office said.

A second motorcycle ride is planned for next month.

___
Germany's Merkel at center stage as EU faces Brexit fallout

BERLIN (AP)  Britain's decision to leave the European Union puts German Chancellor Angela Merkel at center stage as the bloc seeks to preserve its unity and win back skeptical voters across the continent.

Merkel stressed that "Germany has a special interest and a special responsibility in European unity succeeding" as she voiced regret Friday at Britain's departure, citing Europe's 20th century history of wars. She signaled that she was taking the initiative, inviting her counterparts from France and Italy  the two other largest remaining members  to meet her Monday in Berlin as well as EU President Donald Tusk.

But, true to a methodical approach to problems tried and tested over a decade in power, she also sought to slam the brakes on any hasty decisions, arguing that the 27 remaining members must avoid drawing "quick and simple conclusions" that would only create further divisions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a statement about the referendum in Britain at the chancellery in Berlin, Friday, June 24, 2016. Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign, according to tallies of official results Friday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Germany traditionally has been reluctant to exert an overt leadership role in Europe, though it has been increasingly assertive in recent years in designing the response to the eurozone's debt troubles and, less conclusively, in seeking an EU-wide response to the influx of refugees and other migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere.

Even now, with one of the EU's heavyweights on the way out, Berlin isn't likely to seek a sole leadership role, ever conscious of the historical burden of its Nazi past.

"It will continue to lead with and through groups," said Daniela Schwarzer, an expert on EU affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States think tank in Berlin. "There's this really strong concern to always be part of something and not going it alone."

"Germany has a huge interest that the Brussels institutions have more support than they currently have," she added, and there's no sign that it "actively seeks power and a hegemonic position."

Guntram Wolff, director of the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said Britain's EU exit, or Brexit, will mean issues can no longer be addressed by shifting coalitions of France, the U.K. and Germany. Instead, it would increase the dependency between France and Germany  the traditional motor powering EU integration, but one that has sputtered somewhat over recent years amid differences on the debt crisis and other issues.

"In that couple, Germany is the stronger player, quite clearly," he said. "So in that sense it will probably increase the role of Germany in the EU."

Merkel, Germany's chancellor since 2005, isn't in quite as strong a position at home as she was in recent years, though her support remains solid.

Unease over last year's influx of asylum seekers to Germany and internal squabbling over Merkel's welcoming approach last fall have weighed on her conservative bloc's poll ratings, and other policy arguments in her "grand coalition" of right and left have sharpened as an election expected in September 2017 begins to loom on the horizon.

There is still, however, little sign of a successful left-wing challenge to her and none from within her own party. That contrasts with the fortunes of deeply unpopular French President Francois Hollande, who faces elections next spring, and many other European leaders.

German officials left open what exactly the response to the British referendum might be. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said earlier this month that "we couldn't simply call for more integration" if Britain leaves.

The remaining 27 EU members should "calmly analyze and evaluate the situation and, on this basis, together make the right decisions," Merkel said.

She acknowledged that people all over the continent increasingly have doubts about the direction of the European unification process, and added: "We must ensure that citizens can feel in concrete terms how much the European Union contributes to improving their personal situation."

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said leaders should focus on finding "common European solutions where they are missing"  for example, to the migrant crisis, and doing more to boost jobs and growth.

Steinmeier said the bloc should fall neither into hysteria nor shock, and must acknowledge that it doesn't yet have answers to all the questions raised by the British referendum result. On Saturday, he hosted his counterparts from the EU's other five founding members, and said there will need to be further discussions "in big formats and in smaller formats."

With Britain's departure, Germany will lose a traditional ally within the EU on matters such as free trade and competition. Britain was the No. 3 destination for German exports last year and was Germany's fifth-biggest trading partner overall.

"Germany on many economic issues relies more on the U.K. and Poland than it traditionally relies on France, because they have a more similar mindset on those issues," Schwarzer said.

Merkel sounded a notably conciliatory note toward Britain in responding to the referendum, signaling what appears to be "a willingness to lower the cost of Brexit for both sides," she added.

"Our aim should be to shape future relations between Great Britain and the European Union so that they are close and based on partnership," Merkel said. She said she wants an "objective, good" climate in talks on Britain's exit and there is "no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations."

Germany also will be losing a fellow major contributor to the EU budget.

The leader of the upstart nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which has risen in polls during the migrant crisis at the expense of Merkel's and other parties, raised that issue. Celebrating what she called "a signal to the Brussels politburo and its bureaucratic appendages," Frauke Petry said that the government should not simply "plug the British net contribution with German tax money."

All the same, Germany appears determined to ensure that the show goes on.

"Great Britain decided yesterday to leave the European Union. All the same, the sun rose again this morning," Parliament speaker Norbert Lammert, a member of Merkel's party, told lawmakers Friday. "As regrettable as the first is, the second is reassuring."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a statement about the referendum in Britain at the chancellery in Berlin, Friday, June 24, 2016. Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign, according to tallies of official results Friday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
New law supports first responders who treat injured pets

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Until a new law was passed this spring, it was against the law in Ohio  along with many other states  for firefighters or paramedics to provide basic first aid to dogs and cats rescued from house fires, car accidents or other crisis situations. Only licensed veterinarians could do that.

The legislation passed recently makes Ohio one of the first states to protect first responders who administer lifesaving aid to pets, companion animals or police dogs in crisis. Animal advocates say they hope the statute, which they liken to laws protecting good Samaritans who come to the aid of injured humans, removes hesitation for first responders who might have concerns about tending to injured pets.

The law will allow first responders to, without fear of liability, provide oxygen, perform mouth-to-snout resuscitation, try to stem bleeding, bandage and even administer the overdose antidote naloxone to dogs or cats that have ingested opiates. Liability has been a concern because owners of pets have sued first responders who treated animals that ended up dying.

ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 26 - FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2010, file photo, Amira Bichara, right, gasps in relief when a golden retriever rescued from a house fire begins breathing normally, as a firefighter and resident administer oxygen in Kettering, Ohio. Under a new Ohio law taking effect Aug. 31, 2016, firefighters and EMTs can provide basic first aid to dogs and cats rescued from house fires, car accidents or other crisis situations, treatment that only licensed veterinarians could legally provide under existing law. (Larry C. Price/Dayton Daily News via AP, File) LOCAL PRINT OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WKEF-TV OUT; WRGT-TV OUT; WDTN-TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

"It's another layer of protection for the good guys," said Cory Smith, director of public policy for companion animals at The Humane Society of the United States.

Ohio's law, which follows a similar action by Colorado in 2014, came about after Bob Swickard, the director of an EMS service in a small town in northeastern Ohio, contacted state Republican Rep. Tim Ginter with concerns about a recent rash of on-duty injuries to police dogs. In seeking guidance from a veterinarian on first aid for dogs, Swickard said he found "a missed loophole"  it was clearly illegal for EMTs to treat animals. He and Ginter were especially concerned that paramedics couldn't administer naloxone to police dogs that came in contact with prescription pain pills or heroin.

"There is the possibility that a dog could get a snout full of something and go down," Ginter said. "The best that they could do before this law was to call either a veterinarian to come to the scene or call for transport."

Dr. Ed Cooper, head of emergency and critical care at Ohio State University's Veterinary Medical Center, said that as a result of the law, which takes effect Aug. 31, some veterinarians are reaching out to first responders to provide basic training, and first responders are beginning to seek it out.

"The hope in having this law passed is really just to give first responders the opportunity and extend the option without the potential for recourse to assist pets as well as people in these kinds of crisis situations," Cooper said. "So (veterinarians) certainly see it as a positive thing."

What the law doesn't do is require first responders to treat animals, nor does it now make it OK for people to call 911 when their pets get injured or sick. People should still call emergency animal hospitals in these situations.

Smith noted that with two-thirds of American households having at least one pet, it stands to reason that first responders are going to encounter injured animals on the job.

"Really, it's just about building humane communities," she said. "I think when first-response agencies and local governments and especially state governments plan around the fact that animals are such a huge part of our lives, it can only lead to good things."

___

Find Mitch Stacy at http://www.twitter.com/mitchstacy.

ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 26 - FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2008, file photo, Perkins Township, Ohio, firefighters administer oxygen to a dog rescued from a house fire in Sandusky, Ohio. Under a new Ohio law taking effect Aug. 31, 2016, firefighters and EMTs can provide basic first aid to dogs and cats rescued from house fires, car accidents or other crisis situations, treatment that only licensed veterinarians could legally provide under existing law. (Susan McMillan/The Sandusky Register via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT
British expatriates fear for their future after UK vote

BENIDORM, Spain (AP)  Tad Dawson's pub in this Spanish vacation town was doing a brisk business in the summer sun. The only dark clouds he saw were coming from the bar's TV, tuned to a British news channel.

Inside the Yorkshire Pride were many British tourists watching the screen as their prime minister announced his resignation Friday after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.

Dawson, a 51-year-old Englishman who has lived in Spain since the 1990s, admits the decoupling of Britain from the EU other 27 member nations has him spooked.

Mannequin with their heads decorated with Great Britain's union flag display fashion designers clothes in a tailoring shop in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. The news of the U.K. vote to quit the European Union is leaving British expatriates who have built lives abroad worrying what the vote may mean for their property, their pensions and their medical benefits. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

His future is suddenly uncertain.

"We're very scared because I've been here 23 years. I've got my house, my kids were born here, they went to a British-Spanish school, I've got a bar, I've got a lot to lose," Dawson said at his pub, which was decked out with the red-and-white English flags featuring the St. George's Cross.

EU leaders are due soon to begin unprecedented  and knotty  negotiations on how to extricate the U.K. from the bloc. Crucially for British expatriates, EU laws stipulate that the bloc's citizens have the same rights as those nationals in any other member nation.

Nobody is saying what the rights of Britons living in the EU might be in a future outside the bloc. Dawson worries about losing his entitlements in Spain, which is part of the EU.

"We don't know how we're going to be now," he said. "We might have no pension. We might have no medical. We may have to sell our properties. We've lived here for a lot of years. We don't know how it's going to affect us anymore."

An estimated 1.2 million Britons live in other EU countries, many of them in France, Spain and Portugal, according to Britain's House of Commons library. But analysts reckon the true number could be at least double that  and maybe a lot more, because many don't bother registering with their embassies or the local authorities.

Raquel Martins, an immigration lawyer at the Lisbon, Portugal, law firm of SRS Advogados, said the United Kingdom and the EU would now enter many months of negotiations to try to secure a reciprocity agreement that establishes legal guarantees for their citizens who live abroad.

"Nothing will happen right now. Nobody is going to be sent home," she said. "What would make sense in my eyes is for there to be some kind of give-and-take and an agreement on reciprocal safeguards."

Across Europe, British expats reacted with alarm, dismay and sadness after Thursday's referendum on Britain's EU exit, also known as Brexit.

"I am in a state of shock," said Patrick Lamb, a standup comedian who has lived in Austria for 17 years. "I am also concerned by what Brexit means for the longer-term future. The world seems very unstable."

In Berlin, Dale Carr from Sheffield in northern England said she would request German nationality. She said she, her Scottish husband and her two British-passport holding children would apply for German citizenship to keep their EU entitlements.

"Otherwise, we have no rights. What am I to do with this British passport?" asked the 63-year-old who moved to Germany in 1978 and runs two British goods shops called Broken English.

Ian Tilling, the British chairman of the Casa Ioana charity for the homeless in Bucharest, said he felt an urge to "go off and burn my passport." He ticked off his pressing concerns: that Scotland would seek independence from the U.K. so it could stay in the EU; that the United States would neglect relations with the U.K. in favor of the more powerful EU; and that the EU itself might break up further.

Sheila MacDonald, a retiree from Edinburgh who lives in Portugal's southern Algarve region, said local British expats are worried about forfeiting their access to Portuguese public health services and being unable to renew documents such as residence permits.

Looming larger for MacDonald, however, is the value of the British currency. She, like many retired expats, lives on a U.K. pension that is sent in pounds. She has to exchange that income to the euro, which is used in Portugal. After the referendum result was announced, the pound fell to its lowest level since 1985 amid financial market concerns that the outcome will hurt the U.K. economy.

"I'm looking at very reduced financial resources, and I'm not the only one," MacDonald said.

She also fears becoming stranded, since she wouldn't be able to move back to Britain because property prices there are much higher than in the Algarve, where she figures her apartment is worth about 100,000 euros ($110,000).

"What would I get in England for my apartment here? It would get me a garage," she said.

On the other hand, Richard Mills, who runs British real estate agency Azul Properties in the Algarve, predicted that elderly expats who were already thinking of moving back home could speed up their plans in order to take advantage of a Portuguese law granting a capital gains tax exemption if property sales are reinvested in real estate elsewhere in the EU.

There were no currency worries among Britons in the United Arab Emirates, where they are one of the largest groups of expatriates. For those earning foreign currency, the British pound overnight became a lot cheaper to buy, though it was small comfort for some who fear broader problems.

"The one bonus, I guess, is that transferring money back to the U.K. suddenly became a whole lot easier, but that really pales in significance when you consider the wider situation," said Charlie Miller, a 24-year-old from West Berkshire who works in advertising in Dubai. "The Brexit hangover has only just begun."

___

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Jon Gambrell in Dubai, David Rising in Berlin, George Jahn in Vienna and Alison Mutler in Bucharest contributed.

Mannequin with their heads decorated with Great Britain's union flag display fashion designers clothes in a tailoring shop in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June. 25, 2016. The news of the U.K. vote to quit the European Union is leaving British expatriates who have built lives abroad worrying what the vote may mean for their property, their pensions and their medical benefits. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

FILE - In this Friday, June 24, 2016 file photo, a man uses a multi currency ATM in downtown Madrid, Spain. The news of the U.K. vote to quit the European Union is leaving British expatriates filled with fear about their future. Those who have built lives abroad worry what the vote may mean for their property, their pensions and their medical benefits. An estimated 1.2 million Britons live in other EU countries, many of them in France, Spain and Portugal, according to Britains House of Commons library. But analysts reckon the true number could be at least double that - and maybe a lot more, because many don't bother registering with their embassies or the local authorities. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
London's global financial hub wary of more isolated future

LONDON (AP)  In the streets of the City of London, the heart of Britain's global financial hub, it's difficult to find someone who voted to leave the European Union.

The financial industry has for decades grown  and grown rich  from being the gateway to the EU for banks, brokerages and fund managers from around the world. That has helped it become one of the few truly global financial centers in the world, rivalled perhaps only by New York.

Losing that access could mean thousands of jobs are moved away in coming months and, in the longer-run, a steady decline.

A journalist holds up a copy of the London Evening Standard newspaper as he takes part in a television broadcast outside the Bank of England in the City of London, Friday, June 24, 2016. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron announced Friday that he will quit as Prime Minister following a defeat in the referendum which ended with a vote for Britain to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

"Brexit will result in years of uncertainty," Jamie Dimon, chief executive of U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase, had warned before the vote, using the moniker for a British exit from the EU. The CEO of bank HSBC, Stuart Gulliver, had said as early as February that 1,000 jobs would have to move to Paris to better serve clients on the mainland. Executives like him will be meeting with their management teams and boards in the days to come to assess their businesses' options.

At the heart of the matter is a principle called "passporting," which currently allows any firm registered in one EU country to operate in any other member state without facing another layer of regulation. It's the same principle that allows exporters to ship their goods to any EU country free of tariffs. Losing that freedom is a particular concern for the many foreign firms who use London not only as a financial hub but as an entry point into the EU.

Some 60 percent of all European headquarters of non-EU firms are based in the U.K., according to TheCityUK, which lobbies on behalf of the financial industry. The U.K. hosts more headquarters of non-EU firms than Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands put together.

"I can treat a customer in France or Germany or Italy exactly the same way I can treat a customer in Birmingham. That is extremely rare," said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at the global law firm of Clifford Chance.

Meanwhile, trillions in securities denominated in euros  such as short-term funding in euros for banks as well as more complex financial products  are traded in London, even though it is not part of the euro, the EU's official currency so far adopted by 19 of the 28 members. As part of the EU, there have been no tariffs on trades and money flows from eurozone countries. That could change with Britain's exit from the EU. The European Central Bank has reportedly been interested in bringing that trading to Frankfurt, Germany, where it is based and regulates banking for the eurozone.

While the U.K. could probably negotiate a new arrangement for trade in goods, it would be much more complicated to hammer out a deal on services, Angus Armstrong, chief of macroeconomics at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has said. The situation has no precedent  no country the size of the U.K. has ever left such an integrated economic union, which with its 500 million people is the world's biggest economic bloc. So the outcome of any talks can't be predicted.

"Services are much more difficult," Armstrong said. "That's where it comes down to regulations and agreements. That's how people discriminate and protect their markets."

London has several structural advantages that would make it hard to leave.

In addition to having a trusted legal system and institutions that operate in English, the language of international finance, London is in the right time zone to access most of the Earth during its working day and has a reputation for delivering top-notch financial services. The industry is surrounded by an ecosystem of expertise  lawyers, accountants and consultants  to support it.

It also tends to have less red tape and lower taxes than countries like France, where the city of Paris has already said it would like to attract business away from London. And it is simply larger and more multinational than Frankfurt, Germany, which serves as the financial hub for Germany and hosts the eurozone's central bank.

London's financial sector has complained about a number of EU rules, such as limits on bankers' bonuses and an attempt to impose a tax on financial transactions.

Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management, says the impact on London's financial hub will depend on what new trade relationship Britain sets up with the remaining 27 EU countries.

The best case scenario would be a relationship like that of non-EU member Norway, where the country and the financial sector retain complete access to the EU market. But that is unlikely as Britain would also have to accept EU rules and allow entry to EU migrants, something the winning campaign for the "leave" vote had been adamantly against.

It's more likely, Greene says, that Britain will use the model of Turkey or Switzerland, which would limit access to the rest of the bloc.

"This means that financial services firms will probably shift their headquarters to an EU country so they have access to the EU," she said.

And anything that curtails Britain's financial industry has implications for the U.K. economy as a whole, not just the bankers who were pilloried for taking home million-pound bonuses while they fueled the global financial crisis.

TheCityUK notes that the sector supports the economy by providing financing for businesses, overseeing retirement savings, providing mortgages and making insurance payments. Related professional services include legal, accounting and management consulting firms.

The financial sector accounts for 11.8 percent of economic output and employs 2.2 million people, or 7 percent of the nation's workforce, according to TheCityUK.

The industry's importance is even more obvious in Britain's trade figures. While the country posted an overall trade deficit of 34.4 billion pounds ($50 billion) in 2014, it generated a 72 billion pound surplus from exporting financial and related services.

"I don't think people quite understand what goes on in the City," said Vicky Pryce, an economist and former joint head of the U.K. government economic service. "A strong financial sector employs a lot of people and is vital for the health of the economy."
PICTURED: Iraqi special forces share treasured possessions

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP)  Sgt. Ahmed Abdelaziz, with Iraq's special forces, has been almost continually deployed fighting the Islamic State group ever since the militants overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014. Now he's on the front lines of Fallujah, a city declared "fully liberated" on Sunday by the commander leading the fight against IS. Abdelaziz has with him what he always brings into battle: a photo of his brother.

It's not a smiling family portrait. It is a picture on his mobile phone of his brother Saad's body among hundreds killed in a massacre carried out by the jihadis after they captured the military's Camp Speicher base in 2014. At the time, IS fighters killed more than 1,000 captured soldiers at the base, outside the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

At first, Abdelaziz hadn't been sure of his brother's fate, but his worst fears were confirmed when IS released a video of the massacre and he recognized Saad in it. On his phone, he flipped through a series of stills from the video, saying the grisly images are reminders of his purpose in the fight.

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, 1st Sgt. Malik Jaber, from Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces wears green cloth from the revered Imam Abbas shrine on his body armor, at a front line position on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq. He says he credits the holy object with saving his life when the Special Forces were fighting Islamic State militants in Beiji, the central Iraqi town that is also home to a key oil refinery. This time it will keep me safe again, Jaber said, God willing. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Adding to a string of territorial victories against IS over the past year, Iraqi fighters on Sunday entered the last IS-held neighborhood of Fallujah and declared the city "fully liberated."

"The fight in Fallujah is over," the head of the counterterrorism forces leading the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said on Iraqi state TV, surrounded by flag-waving soldiers. The victory marked a new stage in a grueling, more than monthlong operation. Al-Saadi said his troops would now start clearing the bombs planted on Fallujah's streets and in houses by the retreating militants.

As the fight against IS in Iraq enters its third year, the long back-to-back deployments are wearing many units in the country's fractured military thin. The mounting casualties among Iraqi forces have made the fight increasingly personal for those who remain.

In a unit stationed nearby in southern Fallujah, Sgt. Ahmed Kamel, 26, said he also brings the memory of lost loved ones to the fight with him.

On his right arm is the name of his brother Saadi tattooed in English cursive script. Kamel's brother was killed by the Mahdi army, a Shiite militia run by powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in 2008. Kamel's right arm bears the name of a fallen comrade: Namar. He died fighting the Islamic State group.

At positions on the operation's frontlines, Iraqi troops carry a variety religious objects and good luck charms into battle.

"Most people in Iraq, they just have faith in God and they don't feel like they need things like this," said 1st Sgt. Muayd Saad, explaining why some of his friends who aren't in the military don't understand why his considers the watch his wife gave him on their anniversary to be good luck.

"In the whole fight against IS, I have never taken it off, not even to sleep," he said.

Stationed at the nearby Camp Tariq, Pvt. Mustafa Muhammed Saadoun, 21, wears a wolf's tooth on a necklace. He says the charm makes him stronger and less fearful.

First Sgt Malik Jaber keeps a strip of green fabric from the revered Imam Abbas shrine in Karbala tied to the shoulder of his body armor. He says he credits the holy object with saving his life when the Special Forces were fighting IS in Beiji, the central Iraqi town that is also home to a key oil refinery.

"I touched this cloth and I prayed and that's when the airstrike hit," Jaber says. The airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition took out the small IS unit that that had him and a dozen other Iraqi troops pinned down inside a house.

"This time it will keep me safe again," Jaber said, "God willing."

Here is a selection of photos by Middle East Regional Photo Editor Maya Alleruzzo of Iraqi special forces with their treasured possessions.

___

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mayaalleruzzo

Follow Susannah George on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sgreports

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, Sgt. Ahmed Abdelaziz, 29 of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces shows an Islamic State video of his brother's death, at a battle position on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq. Abdelaziz, has been almost continually deployed fighting the Islamic State group ever since the militants overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014. Now hes on the front lines of Fallujah, a city declared fully liberated on Sunday, June 26, 2016 by the commander leading the fight against IS. Abdelaziz has with him what he always brings into battle: a photo of his brother. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this Tuesday, June 7, 2016 photo, Cpl. Mustafa Saada, 25, of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces shows an Islamic prayer book he carries as a good luck charm at Camp Tariq outside Fallujah, Iraq. After a string of territorial victories against Islamic State militants over the past year, a senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, Sgt. Ahmed Kamel, 26, of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces, rests during the midday heat at a battle position on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq. He has three tattoos: the name of his brother, Saadi, who was killed by the Mahdi Army in 2008, the name of a comrade, Namar, who was killed fighting the Islamic State group; and the Iraqi flag. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this Tuesday, June 7, 2016 photo, Pvt. Mustafa Muhammed Saadoun, 21, of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces shows a wolf's tooth he wears as a good luck charm, after coming back from a mission during the operation to oust the Islamic State group from Fallujah, Iraq. He says the necklace makes him stronger and makes him less fearful. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, 1st Sgt. Muayd Saad wears a watch given to him by his wife as he checks his phone on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq during an operation to oust Islamic State militants from the city. Most people in Iraq, they just have faith in God and they dont feel like they need things like this, he said, explaining why some of his friends who arent in the military dont understand why he considers the watch his wife gave him on their anniversary to be good luck. In the whole fight against IS, I have never taken it off, not even to sleep, he said. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

In this Wednesday, June 8, 2016 photo, Sgt. Majid Rahim, 26, of Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces shows his dog tag and a special forces pendant at a battle position on the southern edge of Fallujah, Iraq during a military operation to oust Islamic State militants from the city. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Patches and a Shiite pin adorn the body armor belonging to a soldiers from Iraq's elite counterterrorism forces during a military operation to oust the Islamic State group from Fallujah, Iraq. A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, June 26, 2016 after a more than monthlong military operation. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Primary odd couple pushes to unite Democratic party

WASHINGTON (AP)  It seemed like a surprising party of two.

There was Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's top campaign aide, known for his calm temperament and fiercely disciplined ways, and Jeff Weaver, a combative political fighter often called Bernie Sanders' alter ego, sharing a Friday night dinner at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill in Burlington, Vermont.

But over the long months of a frequently contentious primary, the two rival Democratic campaign managers struck up an unusually friendly relationship, founded on exhaustion, goofy jokes and a shared affection for their home state of Vermont.

FILE -In this April 14, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-V.t, right, speaks as Hillary Clinton listens during the CNN Democratic Presidential Primary Debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

They talk almost daily, text frequently and email often.

Now, as Sanders lingers in the presidential race, refusing to concede the nomination to Clinton even as he says he'll vote for her on Election Day, the competing campaign managers have become a powerful political odd couple, responsible for engineering a graceful conclusion to a hard-fought Democratic contest.

"I've really come to respect him," Mook said. "There were some tense moments, but he was always honest, straightforward and very easy to work with."

Weaver is equally effusive in his praise.

"I think he's the kind of guy who is doing what he does for the right reasons," Weaver said about Mook. "He believes in the cause and he believes in making the world a better place."

After Clinton and Sanders met at Washington hotel this month, their managers stayed until almost midnight, attempting to hammer out an agreement that would give Sanders some of the changes he wants to make to the party's platform. During his Friday trip to Vermont, Mook made sure to meet with Sanders supporters.

Some of the communication hints at far closer cooperation to come.

The two camps are increasingly comparing notes on how best to attack presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. Clinton's campaign and state Democratic parties have hired some Sanders staffers, and there is chatter about joint events to come.

Both Mook and Weaver share a slightly silly sense of humor.

Mook, 35, regales his fiercely loyal band of young operatives, known as the Mook Mafia, with impressions, including spot-on impersonations of Bill Clinton and Sanders.

Weaver, 50, who owns and operated a Falls Church, Virginia, comic book and gaming store before taking the helm of Sanders' campaign, made up gag business cards at the start of the campaign describing himself as the "comic book king."

"His Bill Clinton is pretty good," Weaver said of Mook. "It's not only the voice, but it's the subject matter."

But their back-channel negotiations are nothing but serious.

While Clinton has largely unified Democratic leadership around her bid, she's struggling to win over the young and liberal voters who supported Sanders, a Vermont senator.

Sanders is pushing for ways of addressing key economic issues in the Democratic platform, including trade, providing free college tuition and expanding Medicare and Social Security.

"Right now, what we are doing is trying to say to the Clinton campaign, stand up, be bolder than you have been. And then many of those voters in fact may come on board," Sanders told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

He also wants procedural changes, such as allowing independents to participate in primaries and curtailing the role of superdelegates  the party leaders who help determine the party's nominee.

On Friday, Sanders told MSNBC that he would vote for the former secretary of state. But he shied away from offering a formal endorsement or urging his supporters to back her.

Instead, he's kicked off a new phase of his "political revolution," campaigning on behalf of like-minded Democrats who are running for Congress or local office.

To close that gap, the candidates may rely on the personal rapport between their two top aides, a relationship helped along by formative years in Vermont politics.

Weaver was raised in a rural, northern Vermont town. Mook, the son of a Dartmouth professor, grew up in Norwich, near the New Hampshire border.

As a 20-year-old Boston University student, Weaver drove Sanders around the small state during Sanders' unsuccessful campaign for governor. Mook's first campaign memory: going to the dump to get petition signatures and distribute literature.

While they knew of each other, the first time they met in person was in October, at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, a key stop for presidential candidates.

Wearing matching outfits of khakis, blue blazers and Johnston & Murphy brown shoes, they posed for photos with their legs propped up on a security barrier.

"His shoes were in better condition," joked Mook.

In New Hampshire, they were subjected to a series of interviews about each other's campaigns  while sitting kitty-corner. The experience was remarkably friendly, Weaver recalled, allowing them to commiserate over the lack of sleep and endless travel that is part of a presidential campaign.

After that, the conversation slowly expanded. Today, their relationship has grown far closer than that of their bosses.

Though Clinton and Sanders have known each other since she came to Washington as first lady in 1993, they rarely communicate, say aides.

Former President Bill Clinton, according to aides, was particularly frustrated by Sanders' ability to cast himself as above politics-as-usual while firing off what he considered to be misleading attacks on Clinton's White House legacy.

For Weaver, his focus remains on ensuring that Sanders and his supporters are represented in the party and the platform that will be voted on at the Philadelphia convention.

"It obviously is important that the secretary during the general election speaks to the aspirations of that 13 million people who voted for Bernie Sanders," Weaver said. "It's important those people be heard  not just feel like they've been heard  but be heard."

___

Follow Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/llerer and http://twitter.com/kthomasDC

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that the brand of shoes worn by the campaign managers is Johnston & Murphy, not Johnson & Murphy.
Egypt defends transfer of Red Sea islands to Saudis

CAIRO (AP)  Egypt's government on Sunday defended its decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia at an appeals court hearing after the move was struck down by a lower court last week.

The transfer of the islands, announced during an April visit by King Salman alongside billions of dollars in Saudi aid, set off the biggest street protests since President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was elected two years ago.

Critics of the maritime border agreement accuse the government of selling off sovereign territory. The government insists the islands of Tiran and Sanafir always belonged to Saudi Arabia but were placed under Egyptian protection in 1950.

"Successive Egyptian governments have acknowledged Saudi ownership (of the islands) but postponed handing them over until conditions in the region stabilized," said the chief government lawyer, Rafiq Omar. He said the final word on the agreement rests with parliament, a 596-member chamber packed with el-Sissi supporters.

"This case lies outside the jurisdiction of the court, but I still submitted to you secret documents" proving Saudi ownership, he said during the hearing.

His remarks were interrupted at one point by a man who shouted "Is he a Saudi lawyer?" He also drew heckles every time he referred to "Egypt's occupation" of the islands.

Dozens of protesters chanted anti-government slogans in the courthouse before the 35-minute hearing began.

"Whoever is comfortable selling Sanafir and Tiran will sell Shoubra and Helwan," they chanted, referring to two Cairo neighborhoods. There were also shouting matches and brief scuffles between lawyers and policemen inside the packed courtroom.
30 African migrants overcome high border fence, reach Spain

MADRID (AP)  Up to 30 migrants from Africa have reached the Spanish border town of Melilla after climbing the fence that separates the European country from neighboring Morocco in North Africa.

The ones that made it all the way to the local immigrant center on Sunday chanted "Victory!" Up to 90 other migrants were unable to get over the high fence and were returned to Morocco by Spanish authorities.

Along with Ceuta, another Spanish enclave surrounded by Morocco, Melilla is often the scene of desperate migrant arrivals from regions south of the Sahara desert.

A group of migrants eat a hot meal as they rest aboard the 'Aquarius' rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

The Spanish government reinforced its border patrols in 2016, after thousands were able to reach European soil in previous years, either by swimming along the coast to the enclaves or by climbing the border fence.

A migrant eats a hot meal as they rest aboard the 'Aquarius' rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants look out from the 'Aquarius' rescue vessel in the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants look out from aboard the 'Aquarius' rescue vessel over the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants look out from the 'Aquarius' rescue vessel over the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants look out from the 'Aquarius' rescue vessel over the Mediterranean Sea Saturday June 25, 2016, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants sit at the stern of the 'Aquarius' vessel, Saturday June 25, 2016, in the Mediterranean Sea, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Migrants look out from the stern of the 'Aquarius' vessel, Saturday June 25, 2016, on the Mediterranean Sea, as more than 600 migrants are aboard the ship rescued by SOS Mediterranee and the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The organizations cooperate during search and rescue operations for migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
Items owned by gangster 'Whitey' Bulger fetch $100K at sale

BOSTON (AP)  A rat-shaped pencil holder and a sterling silver "psycho killer" skull ring were among the belongings of gangster James "Whitey" Bulger that pulled in more than $100,000 at a court-ordered auction to raise money for his victims.

Hundreds of items belonging to Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, were up for bid at Saturday's auction in Bulger's South Boston hometown. The proceeds, totaling $109,295, will be split among the families of Bulger's victims, including 20 people killed by Bulger and his gang and several extortion victims.

Bulger's coveted rat-shaped pencil holder, a nod to the gangster's longtime status as an FBI informant, sold for $3,600, according to The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/28ZXZl6). The skull ring, one of the auction's prized items, brought in $5,200. The gangster's gold and diamond Claddagh ring, appraised at $10,000 to $15,000, fetched the highest price of the auction: $23,000.

Auctioneer Bob Sheehan reaches for a pottery mug, in the shape of a rat, which contains pens, that are among items belonging to James "Whitey" Bulger and Catherine Greig, which will be auctioned off this weekend at the Boston Convention Center, Friday, June 24, 2016, in Boston. The proceeds will be divided among the families of Bulger's victims. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Some said they came to the auction at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for the local history, while others said they wanted to support the victims and their families.

South Boston attorney Richard Lane, a close friend of Greig's twin sister, Margaret McCusker, paid $110 for framed photographs of Bulger and Greig's beloved pets. Lane said he would give the photos to McCusker to "keep them in the family."

Those items and more revealed Bulger's domestic life in hiding with Greig. Other mundane items that sold included used shoes and slippers and a reclining loveseat.

Bulger, now 86, was convicted of a host of charges, including participating in 11 murders, during a 2013 racketeering trial. He is serving a life sentence.

Greig was initially sentenced to eight years in prison, then got 21 additional months for refusing to testify about whether other people helped him while he was a fugitive.

___

Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

Auctioneer Bob Sheehan reaches for a silver skull ring, which is on display next to a diamond claddagh ring, that are among items belonging to James "Whitey" Bulger and Catherine Greig, which will be auctioned off this weekend at the Boston Convention Center, Friday, June 24, 2016, in Boston. The proceeds will be divided among the families of Bulger's victims. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Orthodox Christian leaders end historic meeting

CAIRO (AP)  The leaders of the world's Orthodox Christian churches ended a historic gathering on the Greek island of Crete on Sunday hoping to repeat the meeting within a decade, despite a boycott by the Russian church  the most populous in a religion of some 300 million people  and three other churches.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I led prayers attended by the 10 Orthodox church leaders who attended to mark the end of the weeklong Holy and Great Council  the first of its kind in more than 1,200 years.

Despite decades of preparation, Orthodox leaders failed ahead of the meeting to overcome differences on efforts to reconcile with the Vatican and some doctrinal issues.

In this Saturday, June 25, 2016 photo released by Holy and Great Council, Orthodox Bishops attend the closing session of the Holy and Great Council at Kolymvari town on the island of Crete, greece. The leaders of the world's Orthodox Christian churches have gathered on the Greek island of Crete for a landmark meeting, despite a boycott by the Russian church and three other churches. (Sean Hawkey/ Holy and Great Council via AP)

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow did not attend, arguing that preparation had been inadequate. The Georgian, Bulgarian and Syria-based Antioch patriarchates also did not take part.

"The proposal was made for the Holy and Great Council to become a regular Institution to be convened every seven or ten years," the 10 church leaders said in a joint message.

Kirill described the Crete meeting as a preparatory one and called for a new full meeting at a later date. It is unlikely he will accept a decision to make such meetings a permanent acting body. It is also highly unlikely the churches that did not attend will comply with any decisions taken at the meeting.

The issues discussed at the meeting included the mission of the Orthodox Church in the modern world, the Orthodox diaspora, the importance of fasting, marriage, and the relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world.

Unlike the centralized authority of the Vatican over Roman Catholics, Orthodox churches are independent, with Bartholomew considered the first among equals.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, based in Istanbul in predominantly Muslim Turkey, is frequently at odds with the Russian Church, which represents more than 100 million faithful.

In this Saturday, June 25, 2016 photo released by Holy and Great Council, Orthodox Bishops attend the closing session of the Holy and Great Council at Kolymvari town on the island of Crete, Greece. The leaders of the world's Orthodox Christian churches have gathered on the Greek island of Crete for a landmark meeting, despite a boycott by the Russian church and three other churches. (Holy and Great Council via AP)
No food, little water for Syrians stranded on Jordan border

AMMAN, Jordan (AP)  No food and little water have reached 64,000 Syrian refugees stuck in the desert since Jordan sealed its border last week in response to a suicide attack, aid officials said Sunday.

The World Food Programme understands Jordan's security concerns, but hopes the border will reopen soon, said Abeer Etefa, a regional spokeswoman for the U.N. agency. An extended closure "could put the lives of stranded Syrians at risk," she said.

The refugees live in tent camps along an earthen barrier, or berm, that roughly runs along the Syrian-Jordanian border. Many have camped in the area for months, depending on deliveries of food and water from Jordanian territory as they wait for admission to the kingdom.

In this Saturday, June 25, 2016 photo, Syrian refugees carry water bottles at the Ruqban border camp in northeast Jordan. Syrian refugees and international aid officials say little water and no food has reached 64,000 Syrian refugees stranded in the desert since Jordan sealed its border last week in response to a suicide attack. (AP Photo)

Since closing the area last week, Jordan has signaled that a quick lifting of the closure appears unlikely. It has said international agencies must find alternative routes for getting the aid to refugees.

"It's an international and a U.N. problem, and not a Jordanian one," government spokesman Mohammed Momani said Sunday, referring to aid deliveries to the camps. "Jordan is willing to help, but the berm is closed."

Jordan has suggested aid could be sent from Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than five years.

Close to 5 million Syrians have fled their homeland since conflict erupted there in 2011. More than 650,000 have found refuge in Jordan, but the kingdom  along with Syria's other overwhelmed neighbors has increasingly restricted entry to the displaced.

The number of those stranded at the berm has grown four-fold in just six months as Syrians continue to flee fighting.

Jordan sealed the border last Tuesday, after a suicide attack launched from the area of one of the encampments killed seven Jordanian troops and wounded 13.

Since then, only two water shipments have reached the area, providing less than half the international daily consumption standard to refugees, said an aid official who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Saturday, Jordanian forces turned back a water shipment, he said.

Etefa said no food has reached the camps since the attack.

The WFP had been distributing two weeks' worth of food at a time, including canned goods, fruits and vegetables. Another agency was handing out bread on a daily basis, she said.

Etafa said the last food distribution reached refugees a week before the closure. "With us unable to access the area, the food will probably not last a long time," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Sam McNeil contributed to this report.

In this Saturday, June 25, 2016 photo, Syrian refugees ride a donkey cart full of water bottles at the Ruqban border camp in northeast Jordan. Syrian refugees and international aid officials say little water and no food has reached 64,000 Syrian refugees stranded in the desert since Jordan sealed its border last week in response to a suicide attack.(AP Photo)
The Latest: Crews make progress against California wildfire

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on wildfires burning in the West (all times local):

8 p.m.

Firefighters are making progress battling a wildfire in central California that has killed two people and burned 200 homes.

A pickup truck passes by the remains of mobile homes devastated by a wildfire, Saturday, June 25, 2016, in South Lake, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight the fire and to clean up in the aftermath. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also authorized the use of funds for firefighting efforts. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Federal fire officials say firefighters increased containment from 10 percent to 40 percent on Sunday.

They took advantage of lighter winds Sunday to establish a perimeter around the 68-square-mile blaze.

The fire began Thursday and tore through small communities of houses and mobile homes in foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada.

___

4 p.m.

Authorities will provide more information about a fire burning near Pine Valley, Utah, during a community meeting Monday.

The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. at the Central Fire Department in Central, Utah.

The sheriff hasn't issued any mandatory evacuations yet but has asked residents to be prepared to leave.

The lightning-caused fire didn't spread very much on Sunday. The fire in the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness is a little less than 2 square miles.

___

10:42 a.m.

Fire officials say 200 homes and other buildings have now been destroyed in a deadly wildfire burning in central California.

The Kern County Fire Department reports that firefighters were making progress Sunday in establishing a perimeter around the 58-square-mile blaze. Fire officials say most of the flames are now within that perimeter.

An elderly couple was found dead after becoming overcome by smoke and authorities say the death toll may rise.

Firefighters are hoping to take advantage of lighter winds, but a dry air mass over the area will continue to bring high temperatures and low humidity.

___

9:17 a.m.

A wildfire that's been burning in New Mexico for a month has grown to nearly 66 square miles.

The fire in the San Mateo Mountains near Magdalena began May 21 and was caused by lightning. It is 69 percent contained.

It's one of two major wildfires burning in the state, including a 28-square-mile fire in the Manzano Mountains southeast of Albuquerque that's now 90 percent contained.

A little rain helped the hundreds of firefighters battling the blaze Saturday.

___

8:51 a.m.

Firefighters say a ravenous wildfire that has burned 150 homes and claimed at least two lives in central California is about 10 percent contained.

Capt. Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department said Sunday that lower winds a day before had assisted firefighters in battling the blaze.

Firefighters were working Sunday to establish a perimeter around the fire. Townsend says fire officials hope to have full containment by June 30th.

The wildfire has reduced entire blocks to rubble and threatened at least 2,500 homes.

Officials say an elderly couple was found dead after apparently becoming overcome by smoke. Authorities also found what appears to be a set of human remains in a mobile home Saturday.

About 1,700 firefighters are battling the blaze.

___

8:37 a.m.

A wildfire burning near Sundance, Wyoming, has destroyed one home and more than a dozen outbuildings.

Fire officials say the fire grew to 20 square miles Saturday, but intensive work allowed firefighters to get it 50 percent contained.

The fire is located east of the Keyhole Reservoir in northeast Wyoming, near the border with South Dakota. It started with lightning on Friday, and spread quickly.

Authorities closed Interstate 90 between Moorcroft and Sundance for a brief time Saturday to allow firefighters to build a fire line. The highway reopened Saturday evening.

Douglas Nelson, left, shows his wife, Amy, an item he found as they survey the remains of their home devastated by a wildfire, Saturday, June 25, 2016, in South Lake, Calif. The couple said they lost everything including their dog. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Evacuees gather outside an evacuation center to listen to the briefing on a wildfire, Saturday, June 25, 2016, in Kernville, Calif. The vast and voracious wildfire that has burned dozens of homes in central California killed an elderly couple as they tried to flee, authorities said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Evacuee Rene Czajka, facing camera, gets emotional as she comforts Cathy Berlin who lost her home in a wildfire as they gather for a briefing at an evacuation center, Saturday, June 25, 2016, in Kernville, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
1 dead, 1 injured in separate Tampa Bay-area shootouts

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP)  One man died and a second was hospitalized after separate shootouts with Tampa Bay, Florida-area authorities.

Sgt. Michael Lynch said in an email Sunday that two police officers dispatched Saturday night to a domestic dispute found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The officers were confronted by another man who shot at them. Both officers returned fire, striking the man, who Lynch said died at a hospital.

The wounded man found earlier was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Separately, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon said an email that a man "pulled out a semi-automatic handgun and fired multiple times" at two deputies responding to a domestic dispute early Sunday in Riverview.

McKinnon says the deputies returned fire, injuring the man.
Apparent conflicts of interest may dog Tesla-SolarCity deal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  It's a proposal that would unite two companies on shaky financial ground as they plow into relatively new markets. One makes electric cars, the other installs solar panels. There are few obvious synergies.

Perhaps even more puzzling are the motives of Elon Musk, a polarizing billionaire who is the chairman and largest shareholder of both companies.

The overlap created a glaring conflict of interest that's fueling concerns about whether Musk is milking Tesla's higher market value and better brand recognition to bail out SolarCity  a company run by his cousin, Lyndon Rive.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, file photo, Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk delivers a speech at the Paris Pantheon Sorbonne University as part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Musk, who is the chairman and largest shareholder of Tesla Motors and SolarCity, has proposed to unite the two companies. The overlap created a glaring conflict of interest that's fueling concerns about whether Musk is milking Tesla's higher market value and better brand recognition to bail out SolarCity, a company run by his cousin, Lyndon Rive. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

The second-guessing probably wouldn't be as widespread if not for the murky logic underlying the deal and Musk's history of drawing upon Tesla and another of his companies, rocket ship maker Space X, to bolster SolarCity.

Musk, 44, insists he is just showing good business sense, describing Tesla's bid of up to $2.5 billion as a "no brainer" shortly after it was announced earlier this week.

Investors, though, aren't so sure. SolarCity's shares have edged up by just 5 percent to $22.20 since the all-stock bid was made, well below the $23.56 to $25.30 currently being offered by Tesla. Meanwhile, Tesla's stock has sank by 12 percent to $193.15.

The offer "raises a number of questions around governance that may test the bond of trust," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a research note. One of Tesla's most ardent supporters, Jonas downgraded Tesla and lowered his target price on the shares by 26 percent to $245.

S&P Global Market Intelligence analyst Efraim Levy believes investor resistance eventually may prompt Tesla to withdraw its bid.

The backlash still may not be enough to deter the outspoken Musk, who has cultivated the image of a maverick since he made his initial fortune as co-founder of online payment service, PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.5 billion in 2002.

Musk is hailed as a visionary by admirers who applaud him for shaking up the auto industry with Tesla's sleek, electric vehicles and drawing up plans to send people to Mars on Space X's rockets. His detractors ridicule him as an unpredictable control freak, an image that Tesla's bid for SolarCity may reinforce.

So far, no one has paid a bigger price for Tesla's baffling bid than Musk. The value of his combined holdings in the two companies fell by nearly $1 billion in three days to pare his fortune to $11.4 billion, based on Forbes' latest estimates. Musk owns a 26 percent stake in Tesla and a 22.5 percent stake in SolarCity.

The bid has focused more attention on the shaky financial position of both companies as they rapidly burn through cash. Tesla has lost $1.2 billion in the past two years alone while SolarCity has suffered losses exceeding $1.1 billion during the same span. Analysts surveyed by FactSet are predicted Tesla will post a $416 million loss this year while SolarCity will lose $851 million.

And now both companies may have trouble raising additional money from wary investors, if they need it.

The SolarCity bid isn't the first time that Musk has interwoven his companies' interests.

Musk has secured $486 million in personal loans to buy either stock or bonds issued by Tesla and SolarCity, according to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk secured the loans with 9.4 million shares of Tesla stock currently worth $1.85 billion and 4 million shares of SolarCity stock worth nearly $9 million.

If Tesla's stock craters, Musk could be forced to put up more shares as collateral or sell some to repay the lenders, according to the company. If that were to happen, Tesla's stock would fall even further at the expense of Musk having helped support SolarCity.

In addition, Space X has bought $255 million of SolarCity's bonds since the end of 2014, including $90 million of a $105 million offering in March, according to SEC documents.

Tesla had hoped to quickly resolve the conflict-of-interest questions triggered by the SolarCity offer. The Palo Alto, California, company pledged to leave the fate of the deal up to a majority vote of "disinterested" shareholders at both Tesla and SolarCity, meaning Musk wouldn't have a say.

Musk's argument for combining Tesla and SolarCity primarily revolves around a battery system that stores solar energy in homes and businesses trying to minimize their dependence on the power grids run by utilities.

Tesla introduced the battery, called "Powerwall," 14 months ago, providing the first inkling that it planned to be more than just an auto maker. Musk believes both Tesla and SolarCity will be better off if their products are united under one roof and a common brand. SolarCity already is selling the power-storing batteries as part of an agreement that Tesla expects to generate $44 million in revenue this year, according to SEC documents.

If the deal goes through, SolarCity will adopt Tesla's name and sell its solar panels alongside power-storing batteries under Musk's plan. He reasons many of the people who want to drive electric vehicles will have an inherent interest in setting up cleaner energy systems in their homes and offices. Although he said he didn't know for certain, Musk estimated about only about one-fourth of Tesla owners currently have solar energy panels.

___
Henrik Stenson wins BMW Open by 3 shots on long day

PULHEIM, Germany (AP)  Henrik Stenson overcame four bogeys in the final round to earn his 10th European Tour title with a three-shot victory at the BMW International Open on Sunday.

Stenson ended with 17 under to take his second title at the event after 2006, having finished as runner-up for the past two seasons. All the leaders had to play 36 holes on Sunday after rain washed out play the day before.

Darren Fichardt of South Africa and Thorbjoern Olesen of Denmark tied for second at 14 under.

Stenson carded a 5 under in the morning's third round for a one-shot lead. Fichardt caught up on the 13th but Stenson had two more birdies.
Israel has reached a reconciliation deal with Turkey to end a bitter six-year rift between the Middle East powers.

Relations between the former close allies imploded in 2010 after an Israeli naval raid that killed nine Turkish activists, including a dual American citizen, who were on a ship trying to breach Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Following the incident, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and greatly scaled back military and economy ties. But relations were never broken completely.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce details on the reconciliation deal

Turkey's move toward rapprochement with Israel comes amid its deepening isolation in the region following a breakdown of ties with Russia and Egypt as well as the turmoil in neighboring Syria.

The Israeli official confirmed the details of the agreement on Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on an official visit to Rome, is expected to announce details on Monday, and the two sides plan to sign the agreement on Tuesday.

Turkey's new prime minister, Binali Yildirim, was also scheduled to make an announcement in Ankara.

Netanyahu also called Vice President Joe Biden to thank him for encouraging the normalisation talks with Turkey, according to a statement released by Biden's office.

It said Biden congratulated Netanyahu 'for progress toward reconciliation with Turkey, noting the significant positive security and economic benefits for both countries and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region.'

Turkey's new prime minister, Binali Yildirim (left with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan), was also scheduled to make an announcement in Ankara

The Israeli official said the impending deal would include $20 million in Israeli compensation for families of those killed in the raid, an end to all Turkish claims against Israeli military personnel and the state of Israel over the raid, and the mutual restoration of ambassadors.

A senior Turkish official said that under the agreement, Turkey would deliver 'humanitarian aid and other non-military products' to Gaza and engage in infrastructure investments, including the construction of residential buildings and the completion of a 200-bed hospital.

Turkey would also be involved in projects addressing energy and water shortages in Gaza, the official said, adding that 'the amount of electricity and drinking water to Gaza residents will increase and new power plants will be constructed.'

The official, who cannot be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the deal, said the agreement did not make any reference to Turkey's ties to Hamas, saying 'Turkey will continue supporting the Palestinian state and the people of Palestine.'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem yesterday

The militant Islamic group Hamas controls Gaza.

The Israeli official said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to a separate document instructing all relevant Turkish agencies to help resolve the issue of Israel's missing citizens, apparently referring to the remains of two Israeli soldiers killed in the 2014 Gaza war which are believed to be held by Hamas.

An Israeli of Ethiopian descent and a Bedouin from Israel's Arab minority are also believed to be held in Gaza.

Families of the soldiers had urged the government to hold off on any reconciliation deal until their plight is addressed.
Officials say 7 mine workers kidnapped in Nigeria freed

WARRI, Nigeria (AP)  Three Australians, two Nigerians, a New Zealander and a South African were in a "safe location" on Monday a day after they were freed from kidnappers who ambushed a police convoy last week in southeastern Nigeria and killed a driver, officials said.

Five of the men had been injured during the kidnapping and two of them remained in a serious but stable condition, their Australian employer Macmahon Holdings said Monday.

Macmahon chief executive Sy van Dyk said all the mine workers were in "a safe location" but did not say where. The injured were receiving special medical attention as arrangements were being made to send them home, he said.

Macmahon has not identified who was injured.

"We look forward to seeing our men return to their families once they are fit to travel," van Dyk told reporters at the company headquarters in Perth, Western Australia state.

"Overnight, all our men had the opportunity to speak to their families which has been a great relief to everyone," he said.

Details remain sketchy about how the men were freed.

Cross Rover state Police Assistant Superintendent Irene Ugho described the release as a "rescue exercise" involving security agencies but provided no further detail.

She said no ransom was paid. Macmahon declined to comment on the question of ransom and the Australian government said it never paid ransom.

"Last night's outcome has been the result of a great team effort," van Dyk said. "In particular, I would like to thank the Nigerian authorities, at both the local and federal level, who have provided us with professional support every step of the way and assisted us with the safe recovery of our men."

Van Dyk also thanked Australian, New Zealand and South African authorities and "a team of specialist international security advisers who have worked with us to help secure this outcome."

Police had identified the kidnapped foreigners as Australians Jack Countentz, Mark Gabberdy and Peter Zoutenbier; New Zealander Jamal Khan, and South African Wayne Smith.

They were snatched at gunpoint along with two Nigerians on Wednesday and forced from their vehicles, which were in a convoy escorted by police near Calabar, the state capital.

It is not known if the perpetrators of the latest kidnapping made a ransom demand.

Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria but generally involves no fatalities. Hostages are returned unharmed once money exchanges hands, though a German construction worker was killed in southwestern Nigeria late last year by gunmen who kidnapped a second German. He was later released.

______
Guyana airport review its security after planes flown away

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  Guyanese authorities say Cessna six-seater aircrafts apparently have been removed from a municipal airport and flown out of the country without authorization.

A spokesman for the Eugene F. Correia Airport says the two planes were removed from their parking slots around 4 a.m. Saturday. Spokesman Christopher Nascimento said Sunday that the airport was unaware there had been a court order prohibiting owner Oxford Aviation company from flying them out of Guyana.

Nascimento says the planes were later detected in Anguilla, in the northern Caribbean, after they were flown through Trinidad airspace undetected by radar, then in Grenada. He added that one of the pilots owns Oxford Aviation.
The Latest: Slain Texas teen was recent high school graduate

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  The Latest on the fatal shootings at a Texas dance studio (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

One of the two men fatally shot at an unauthorized party at a hip-hop dance studio in Fort Worth had graduated last month from high school.

Police respond to the scene of a shooting at a Fort Worth, Texas dance studio early Saturday, June 25, 2016. Fort Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said homicide detectives were investigating at the studio, which sits on a state highway near a police station and multiple businesses and restaurants. (AP Photo/Emily Schmall)

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (http://bit.ly/296HOjH ) reports that 18-year-old Jordan Larkin graduated in May from North Crowley High School in Fort Worth.

Rex Russell, whose wife, Jeanene Young Russell, was one of Larkin's high school teachers, tells the newspaper that the teen was a "great kid."

Rex Russell says Larkin spent a lot of time with him and his wife, including spending last Christmas with them. He says Larkin came from a "pretty rough background" but "had his life going in the right direction."

He says the teen had hoped to join the military.

___

1:45 p.m.

Authorities have identified the two men fatally shot at an unauthorized party at a hip-hop dance studio in Fort Worth.

The Tarrant County medical examiner's office has identified those killed early Saturday as 18-year-old Jordan Larkin and 22-year-old Treavon Lewis.

Police officer Daniel Segura said Sunday that there have not been any arrests.

Blood stained the outside of Studio 74 hip-hop dance studio and broken glass from a trophy case covered the floor after the suspected gang-related shooting that also injured five people. The studio's owner says the group had trespassed on the property.

An unknown number of people exchanged gunfire from Studio 74's parking lot and across the street.

Police rope off the scene of a shooting at a Fort Worth, Texas dance studio early Saturday, June 25, 2016. Fort Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said homicide detectives were investigating at the studio, which sits on a state highway near a police station and multiple businesses and restaurants. (AP Photo/Emily Schmall)
Argentina's 'stolen babies' seek truth, face ghosts

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  Pedro Sandoval stopped celebrating Mother's Day, Father's Day and even his own birthday after he found out the truth: The mom and dad he knew growing up had stolen him from his biological parents, who were kidnapped, tortured and never heard from again during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

"I'm still jealous of friends who can hug or get into arguments with their parents," said Sandoval, 38, alluding to the biological parents he never met. "But I'm also thankful that I could at least hug my grandfather and grandmother."

Four decades after the ruling military junta launched a systematic plan to steal babies born to political prisoners, Argentina's search for truth is increasingly focused on the 500 or so newborns whisked away and raised by surrogate families. Several hundred have yet to be accounted for.

In this May 11, 2016 photo, Pedro Sandoval, who was stolen as a baby, poses holding a framed image of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo group, that include both of his biological grandmothers, who helped him recover his true identity, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sandoval stopped celebrating Mother's Day, Father's Day and even his own birthday after he found out the truth: The mom and dad he knew growing up had stolen him from his biological parents, who were kidnapped, tortured and never heard from again during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

This spring a visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced, on the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought the junta to power, that Washington would open up a trove of U.S. intelligence files from Argentina's Dirty War era, when an estimated 30,000 people were killed or forcibly "disappeared" by the regime. It may take a few years for the documents to be released, but the news gave families hope for word on the fate of other stolen babies.

For the children who have already been found, coming to grips with the past is a painful process.

Sandoval, known then as Alejandro Rei, never suspected anything was amiss growing up in a middle-class household on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. But in 2004, Victor Rei, a former border patrol officer and the man that Sandoval called his father, became the target of an investigation and his life turned upside down.

Sandoval said he felt both fury and crushing guilt after a childhood he describes as full of wonderful memories. And yet like others, he was torn over where his loyalties lay: At one point during the investigation Sandoval tried unsuccessfully to protect Rei by tainting DNA samples used to identify the older man.

"I made some mistakes," he said. "It was part of a defense mechanism."

Ultimately DNA matched Sandoval to Pedro Sandoval and Liliana Fontana, who were kidnapped by security forces in July 1977 when Liliana was two months pregnant. She gave birth to Pedro in captivity, and four months later he was taken away. His birth parents were never seen again.

"It's still tough and bizarre," Sandoval said. "But I found it beautiful that at least for four months I was in her arms."

He has since severed ties with the people who raised him and has become close to relatives of his biological parents. His wife is expecting their first baby.

To date, 119 cases of stolen children have been resolved. Each discovery makes for banner headlines and prompts both personal and national soul-searching.

"These cases are moving because they are unique, painful and about suffering and trauma that doesn't stop," said Claudia Salatino, a psychologist who has treated some of the victims.

Guillermo Perez Roisinblit, 38, was Guillermo Gomez for decades before he was contacted by his biological sister and the Grandmothers of the Playa de Mayo, a human rights group that formed in 1977 to search for the disappeared. They showed him a family picture; Perez was shocked by his resemblance to the man who would later be confirmed as his real father.

"It took me 21 years to find my grandson and 15 years to win his love," said Rosa de Roisinblit, 96, who is vice president of the Grandmothers.

"It was such a difficult process," Perez said, sitting next to her.

Today both are plaintiffs in a trial that began last month against the former head of Argentina's air force for the 1978 abduction and disappearance of activists Patricia Roisinblit and Jose Manuel Perez Rojo. Patricia gave birth to Perez at the Naval Mechanics School, where thousands of leftist dissidents were jailed and tortured during the Dirty War.

Francisco Gomez, the man who raised Perez, served time for stealing Perez when he was an infant and is now accused in the same trial involving the ex-air force chief, who is charged in the kidnapping of Perez's parents.

Perez said he visited Gomez in prison in 2003, and Gomez angrily blamed him for his confinement.

"When I get out," Perez recalled Gomez saying, "I'm going to put a bullet in your forehead, in your two grandmothers and in your sister."

During the dictatorship, the Grandmothers marched weekly at Buenos Aires' main square to demand the return of their loved ones. Since Argentina's return to democracy, they have lobbied the government to create a DNA database and dedicate judicial resources to the search.

"They're the closest to real heroes," Perez said. "They fought against a dictatorship risking their own lives. ... And that's how I see my grandmother, as a hero."

___

AP video journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report from Buenos Aires.

This June 6, 2016 photo shows a poster displaying stolen babies as part of a systematic state-sponsored plan during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship, and pictures of youth recovered, on a wall at the headquarters of the human rights group, Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 1977, the group of women has courageously fought to recover their stolen grandchildren. After Argentina's return to democracy, they lobbied the government to create a DNA database and dedicate judicial resources to the effort. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this May 11, 2016 picture, Guillermo Perez Roisinblit, 38, and his 96-year-old grandmother Rosa de Roisinblit, smile at each as they pose for a photo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Perez was Guillermo Gomez for decades before he was contacted by his biological sister and the Grandmothers of the Playa de Mayo, a human rights group that formed in 1977 to search for the disappeared of which his grandmother is vice president. They showed him a family picture; Perez was shocked by his resemblance to the man who would later be confirmed as his real father. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

This June 6, 2016 photo shows a booklet created by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights group, opened to a page displaying mugshots of Patricia Roisinblit and Jose Manuel Perez Rojo, who were forcibly disappeared during Argentina's military dictatorship, next to an empty grey box to represent their stolen baby, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Guillermo Perez Roisinblit, now 38, was Guillermo Gomez for decades before he was contacted by his biological sister and the Grandmothers. They showed him a family picture; Perez was shocked by his resemblance to the man who would later be confirmed as his real father, Jose Manuel Perez Rojo. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this May 16, 2016 photo, Rosa de Roisinblit, the vice president of the human rights group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, waits for the start of a trial against the former head of Argentina's air force, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. De Roisinblit is one of the plaintiffs in the trial that began last month against the ex-air force chief for the 1978 abduction and disappearance of her daughter and son-in-law, Patricia Roisinblit and Jose Manuel Perez Rojo. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this May 16, 2016 photo, Francisco Gomez, right, the man who raised Guillermo Perez Roisinblit and served time for stealing Perez when he was an infant, talks to his lawyer during a trial against Gomez and the former head of Argentina's air force for the forced disappearance of Perez' biological parents during the country's dictatorship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time Gomez was a civilian worker who has been described as being part of the intelligence personnel because he was working at the Buenos Aires Regional Intelligence building under air force control. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this June 6, 2016 photo, Estela de Carlotto, head of the human rights group Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, works at her desk in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 1977, the group of women has courageously fought to recover their stolen grandchildren. In the dictatorship years, they marched every week in front of the main square in Buenos Aires at great risks to their lives. After Argentinas return to democracy, they lobbied the government to create a DNA database and dedicate judicial resources to the effort. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In this June 6, 2016 photo, Estela de Carlotto, head of the human rights organization Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, poses for a photo holding a framed image of her and her grandson Ignacio, who was stolen as a baby, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2014, in early August, Carlotto located her then 36-year-old grandson Ignacio, born to her daughter Laura in captivity during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976-1983. Laura was kidnapped and killed by the military in August 1978. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

This Oct 2, 2015 photo shows letters formed to ask in Spanish; "How was it possible that children were born in this place?" in a holding room at the former Argentine Navy School of Mechanics, known as ESMA, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ESMA was where the dictatorship held and tortured thousands of leftist dissidents. To date, 119 cases of stolen children taken from the captured dissidents have been resolved. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

This June 6, 2016 photo shows a postcard created by the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo human rights group, that reads in Spanish; Who am I?", slipped under a glass desktop at the group's headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The postcard seeks to encourage young people with doubts about their identities to come forward and get DNA tests. Forty years after the launch of a systematic plan to steal babies born to political prisoners, Argentina's ever-present search for truth is increasingly focused on the more than 500 babies who were stolen. About 390 remain unaccounted for. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
10 stabbed, beaten at white nationalist rally in California

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Ten people suffered stab wounds and other injuries on Sunday after members of a white nationalist group that planned to rally outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento clashed with a larger group of counter protesters, authorities said.

The fight broke out when about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party gathering to rally around noon Sunday were met by about 400 counter-protesters, California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said.

As people tried to leave the area, smaller fights broke out, Granada said.

A victim is attended after he was stabbed during a rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Sunday, June 26, 2016. Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey says a rally by KKK and other right-wing extremists groups turned violent Sunday when they were met by counterprotesters. (Rene C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT

Of the injured, two were taken to the hospital with critical stab wounds, but they were expected to survive, officials said.

Police were investigating two assaults that happened outside the Capitol grounds, but no arrests have been made, the Sacramento Police Department said in a statement.

The Capitol was on lockdown until protesters cleared the area.

Videos from the melee posted on social media showed mounted police officers dispersing a group of mostly young people, some with their faces covered, while some throw stones toward a man holding a stick and being shielded by police officers in riot gear.

A KCRA-TV reporter and his cameraman were caught in an altercation with protesters who shouted "no cameras" as they tried to grab their equipment and shove them away from the crowd.

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said nine men and one woman, ranging from 19 to 58 years old, were treated for stab wounds, cuts, scrapes and bruises.

"There was a large number of people carrying sticks and rushing to either get into the melee or see what was going on," Harvey said.

The victims were all present while the protest took place, said Sacramento Police spokesman Matt McPhail but he said it was still unclear whether and how they were involved.

The Traditionalist Workers Party had scheduled and received a permit to protest for two hours in front of the Capitol. Law enforcement was aware of the counter-protest effort and police deployed more than 100 officers to the Capitol, McPhail said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has described TWP as a group formed in 2015 as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which aims to "indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism."

Matthew Heimbach, chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, told the Los Angeles Times that his group and the Golden State Skinheads organized the Sunday rally. Heimbach said that in the clash, one of their marchers had been stabbed in an artery and six of the counter-protesters had also been stabbed.

Vice chairman Matt Parrott, who was not present at the Sacramento rally, blamed "leftist radicals" for instigating the violence.

A message left at a phone number for the Traditionalist Worker Party was not immediately returned to The Associated Press.

A post recently uploaded to site of the Traditionalist Youth Network said TWP members planned to march in Sacramento to protest against globalization and in defense of their right to free expression. They said they expected to be outnumbered 10-to-1 by counter-protesters.

"We concluded that it was time to use this rally to make a statement about the precarious situation our race is in," the Traditionalist Youth Network statement said. "With our folk on the brink of becoming a disarmed, disengaged, and disenfranchised minority, the time to do something was yesterday!"

The clash Sunday follows a confrontation in March between Ku Klux Klan members and counter-protesters in Anaheim, California in which three people were stabbed.

Sean Moore, 23, of Sacramento waits for medics with a friends after being stabbed by protesters at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Sunday, June 26, 2016. Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey says a rally by KKK and other right-wing extremists groups turned violent Sunday when they were met by counterprotesters. (Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP) MAGS OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT (KCRA3, KXTV10, KOVR13, KUVS19, KMAZ31, KTXL40); MANDATORY CREDIT

Sacramento police mounted officers prepare for crowd control after a scuffle broke out at a protest near the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Sunday, June 26, 2016. Officials said several were stabbed when members of right-wing extremists groups holding a rally clashed with counter-protesters. (Jerry H. Yamashita via AP)

Paramedics rush a stabbing victim away on a gurney Sunday, June 26, 2016, after members of right-wing extremists groups holding a rally outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento clashed with counter-protesters, authorities said. Sacramento Police spokesman Matt McPhail said the Traditionalist Workers Party had scheduled and received a permit to protest at noon Sunday in front of the Capitol. McPhail said a group showed up to demonstrate against them. (AP Photo/Steven Styles)

Police escort wounded man away from in front of the Cpitol in Scramento, Sunday, June 26, 2016, after members of right-wing extremists groups holding a rally outside the California state Capitol building clashed with counter-protesters, authorities said. Sacramento Police spokesman Matt McPhail said the Traditionalist Workers Party had scheduled and received a permit to protest at noon Sunday in front of the Capitol. McPhail said a group showed up to demonstrate against them. (AP Photo/Steven Styles)

A wounded man stands by another wounded man sitting on the steps of the California state Capitol after members of right-wing extremists groups holding a rally outside the state Capitol building clashed with counter-protesters in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday, June 26, 2016. Several people were stabbed Sunday when counter-protesters clashed with members of right-wing extremists groups that planned to hold a rally outside the Capitol building, authorities said. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

KCRA television reporter Mike Luery runs away from members of the group called ANTIFA Sacramento (Anti-Fascism Action), who are staging a counter-protest against the Traditionalist Worker Party and the Golden State Skinheads, at the California state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday, June 26, 2016. Several people were stabbed Sunday when counter-protesters clashed with members of right-wing extremists groups that planned to hold a rally outside the Capitol building, authorities said. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Peru drugs mule Melissa Reid agreed trip as she 'wanted to boast about it'

Drugs mule Melissa Reid was caught smuggling 1.5 million of cocaine out of Peru after wanting a story to boast about to friends on the Ibiza party scene.

The 22-year-old from Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, was caught trying to smuggle 24lb (11kg) of cocaine with 23-year-old Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, in August 2013.

The pair - nicknamed the "Peru Two" - were jailed for six years and eight months after admitting the offence.

Melissa Reid and her father William before boarding their flight in Lima to return to the UK (AP)

Reid admitted she had lied to police after her arrest that she had been coerced at gunpoint to carry the drugs in a bid to lessen her punishment.

She returned to Scotland on Wednesday after spending nearly three years in a string of hellish Peruvian prisons.

Reid told the Scottish Mail on Sunday how in summer 2013, aged 19, she had flown to Ibiza with a friend to spend the summer on the Spanish island.

But the holiday turned into a spiral of taking hard drugs and clubbing that led her to a British woman acting as a recruitment agent for drug smuggling gangsters.

She was offered 5,000 euro (4,100) to fly to Argentina, spend a few days sightseeing and return to Europe with a package in her luggage.

"I thought it sounded like a challenge and was blase about it," she told the newspaper.

"I was offered 5,000 euro but it wasn't just about the money. I had saved up before I left Scotland so I had cash for rent.

"I didn't owe any money or anything. I just wanted to be able to boast about it."

Reid said that she "wasn't in the right state of mind" and living a " ridiculous life".

"[I] wanted to show I could manage it. I now realise that I put myself at risk and no one would have known where I was if anything had happened to me, but I didn't care at the time."

Reid flew first to Majorca where she met McCollum for the first time.

After two nights in a house with a group of armed gangsters she moved on to Madrid, where she was told she would be going to Peru instead.

"I just went along with it. The guys had guns but I was never threatened," she said.

Reid was arrested as she tried to pass security at Lima airport on her return with the cocaine packed in her suitcase.

Her mother, Debbie Reid, described the moment she found out in a telephone call: "[They said] 'Mrs Reid? It's the Foreign Office here. Are you sitting down? I'm afraid your daughter has been arrested in Peru for drug-smuggling."

In an attempt to reduce her culpability Reid followed instructions the gang had given her before her departure - that she had been forced to smuggle the drugs against her will.

"We thought we would be believed and it would all go away, but we were wrong," she said.

McCollum and Reid faced the prospect of a maximum 15-year prison term but struck a behind-closed-doors plea bargain to secure the shorter sentence.

Reid, who was deported from Peru under an early release scheme, said she had been an "easy target" for the gang who she fears will seek her to recoup their losses.

"My life will never be the same," she said, adding that she wants to raise awareness and warn other young people not to get involved in drugs.
'Racist' abuse scrawled on Polish cultural centre

Police are investigating suspected racist graffiti scrawled on a Polish community building in London.

Officers are probing the criminal damage, thought to be racially-motivated, at the Polish Social and Cultural Association (POSK), in Hammersmith.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Shortly before 11am police were informed of an incident of alleged racially-motivated criminal damage to a building in King Street, W6.

Met Police are investigating the vandalism.

"Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham borough attended and enquiries are ongoing."

A POSK spokeswoman said graffiti had been found on the front entrance after 6am on Sunday and it had since been washed off b ut would not confirm what it said.

She said: "There will be an investigation - we have reported it to police. I cannot say any more."

It comes as Cambridgeshire Police investigate suspected post-referendum racism after hateful notes were allegedly posted through letterboxes of Polish residents in the county.

Laminated cards reading "Leave the EU - no more Polish vermin" were reportedly delivered to members of the Polish community in Huntingdon, north west of Cambridge, on Saturday.

Inspector Nick Percival said the police were "aware" of the incident and were investigating

Joanna Mludzinska, chairwoman of POSK, said she had been "very moved and are extremely grateful" for the support from the local community after the attack.

She added: "We were very disturbed and upset this morning to find really unpleasant graffiti all over the building when the staff came in."

Andy Slaughter, the Labour MP for Hammersmith, said on Twitter: "This is an outrageous act that disgusts not only me and the Polish community but everyone in Hammersmith & Fulham.

"We are proud in west London to be the centre for the Polish community in the UK and the home of posklondon.

"Posklondon was founded by the generation who fought with Britain against Nazism and who helped build our inclusivity and prosperity."
American Airlines plane evacuated at Heathrow

Passengers escaped from an American Airlines plane down an emergency slide at Heathrow Airport following a "technical issue".

Footage showed passengers, including children, disembarking via a slide towards the runway at the rear of the aircraft at Terminal 3.

Airport fire crews were dispatched to the aircraft, but no-one appeared to be injured during the alert on Sunday morning, according to an eye-witness.

Airport fire crews were dispatched to the aircraft, but no-one appeared to be injured, according to an eye-witness

Ross Hiscock, 28, was on a flight which had arrived at Heathrow from Helsinki when he saw smoke coming from the tail-end of the plane next to his.

He said: "I saw a lot of smoke come out from the tail-end of the aircraft. I wondered if it was normal, whether it was just exhaust fumes.

"Then the door opened on the right side of the aircraft and crews deployed slides from the rear and the middle of the plane.

"Next we wondered whether it was a drill, but then we saw they were real passengers. I saw at least one carrying a child.

"It all happened in a matter of seconds. Everyone seemed to be okay."
Frankfurt sets out to woo bankers after Brexit

FRANKFURT, June 24 (Reuters) - "You cry twice when you get sent to Frankfurt - once when you arrive and once when you leave."

That is the rallying cry of Germany's financial capital as it tries to shake off its image as one of Europe's most boring cities and woo bankers to move there following Britain's decision to quit the European Union.

Though it is decried as a soulless city, with few cultural offerings and lacking appealing architecture, Frankfurt's official marketing office did not wait long before kicking off an image campaign following the referendum result.

Aiming to court banks and financial institutions considering relocating staff from London, Frankfurt Main Finance set up a direct hotline for interested firms and has scheduled road shows in London and other British cities.

"We want to send the message loud and clear: "Welcome to Frankfurt. How can we help you?'" said the head of Frankfurt Main Finance, Hubertus Vaeth.

"The welcome banner is hung and Frankfurt's doors are wide open."

Britain's relationship with the EU following the leave vote is unclear but EU officials have said UK-based banks and financial firms would lose automatic access to sell services across Europe if Britain does not apply vital EU principles.

Frankfurt, the birthplace of German poet Goethe, has only about 710,000 residents. Despite its glimmering skyscrapers, it appears like a sleepy village compared to the British capital, with travel times to its international airport from the city centre only 15 minutes.

The city's marketing office expects 10,000 bankers to relocate from London over the next five years, a roughly 2-percent share of all financial workers in the British capital.

Frankfurt ranked seventh in global consultancy Mercer's 2016 quality of living report, well above London at place 39.

Others agree that Frankfurt could turn out to be an attractive continental European alternative, mainly due to its established financial infrastructure and its role as headquarters of the European Central Bank.

But with at least two years of talks ahead to negotiate British exit terms, experts have dampened hopes for any quick influx.

"The next two years will be marked by a lot of changes and uncertainties and banks will wait for things to settle down before making any major moves," said Jan Pieter Krahnen, professor of finance at Frankfurt's Goethe University.
Catalonia government head says Brexit shows split from Spain possible

MADRID, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain's decision to leave the European Union strengthens the case for Catalonia to be allowed to seek independence from Spain, the head of the region's government said on Friday.

Joining other leaders of nationalist movements in Europe in welcoming the result of Thursday's Brexit referendum, Carles Puigdemont said Britain's ability to leave the EU without the approval of its member states suggested Catalonia could claim independence without Madrid's consent.

"It demonstrates that it is perfectly possible to take a decision about sovereignty as all other countries do," Puigdemont said in a statement.

Sworn in as leader in January, Puigdemont has mapped out an 18-month transition towards independence that would see Catalan authorities approve a constitution and begin building the institutions needed for an independent state, such as an army and a central bank.

The region's secession campaign gained momentum in 2014 from an independence referendum in Scotland, where voters eventually opted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Puigdemont sent a message of support to Scotland, whose first minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday a second Scottish independence referendum was "highly likely."

In Thursday's plebiscite, a majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Brexit demonstrated the risks of referendums and the divisions they gave rise to.

Rajoy, who faces a national election on Sunday, repeated he would never allow an independence referendum in a Spanish region. He has steadfastly opposed Catalan independence and refused to allow a referendum there in 2014, arguing it would contravene the constitution.

Beyond Catalonia, the historic British vote has fired up populist eurosceptic parties across the continent. Right-wing and anti-immigrant parties in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and France have said they too should be allowed to hold referendums to decide national issues.
Russian court orders Kirov governor be kept in custody

MOSCOW, June 25 (Reuters) - A Russian court ordered on Saturday that Nikita Belykh, the governor of the Kirov region, should be taken into custody for two months, after investigators said they had caught him accepting a bribe in a restaurant.

Belykh has been critical of the Kremlin and was formerly leader of the Union of Rightist Forces party. Investigators denied there was any political reason for his detention.

The court denied the defence's appeal for house arrest or bail and ordered that Belykh be held until Aug. 24, a Reuters correspondent reported from the court. It was not clear when the court would next meet to look at the case.

"We consider this decision absolutely unlawful. We will appeal against this measure to the Moscow city court," Belykh's lawyer Sergei Teterin said.

"As to his innocence, I am confident that this will be the question at the future hearing, and he has every chance to prove it," Teterin said.
Death toll in Islamist attack in Somalia rises to 15 - police

MOGADISHU, June 25 (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday rose to at least 15, a police officer said.

Major Ali Mohamed said the death toll included guards, civilians and militants. "The operation has now ended but we are still combing the building for any possible militants who are hiding," he told Reuters.
Ecuador says Brexit 'spoils' scheduled bond issue

QUITO, June 25 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday that Britain's vote to leave the European Union has "spoiled" a bond issue that had been planned for next week to help shore up the cash-strapped oil-exporter's finances.

Thursday's "Brexit" vote spooked global markets and spurred a plunge in stock and commodities prices as investors flocked toward safer investments and steered away from riskier securities such as emerging market bonds.

"We were going to launch an issue next week, an issue which was meant to finance the budget," Correa said during his weekly talkshow. "All this was spoiled by the Eurosceptics' victory in the referendum in Britain, but we will move forward," he said, without specifying the amount in question or whether the issue would be rescheduled.

The finance ministry declined to comment.

Authorities have said they planned to issue some $1 billion in bonds this year.

Ecuador, OPEC's smallest member, is suffering from the effects of low oil prices and a devastating earthquake in April, causing delays in the payment of debts to suppliers and forcing it to slash state spending and investment.

This year, Ecuador expects to sign a trade agreement with the European Union to expand its traditional non-oil products such as bananas, cocoa and flowers into European markets.
By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain need not send a formal letter to the European Union to trigger a two-year countdown to its exit from the bloc, EU officials said, implying British Prime Minister David Cameron could start the process when he speaks at a summit on Tuesday.

"'Triggering' ... could either be a letter to the president of the European Council or an official statement at a meeting of the European Council duly noted in the official records of the meeting," a spokesman for the council of EU leaders said.

A second EU official, asked about mounting frustration among leaders with the British prime minister's delay in delivering the formal notification required to launch divorce proceedings, said: "It doesn't have to be written. He can just say it."

Cameron will brief the other 27 national leaders over dinner at a European Council summit in Brussels on Tuesday on the outcome of Thursday's referendum at which Britons voted to leave the EU, prompting him to announce he will resign.

On Friday, he said he would leave it to his successor as Conservative party leader and premier to trigger Article 50 of the EU treaty, which sets out a two-year process to quit the bloc. That appeared to be a reversal of a pledge to launch the process immediately after the vote. It has angered EU leaders who want a quick settlement to limit uncertainty.

Some European leaders still expect Cameron himself to start the process in the coming days or weeks, officials said on Saturday. British officials were not immediately available.

Some Brexit campaigners have long said that Britain should aim to negotiate a comprehensive new relationship with the EU, seeking access to markets without submitting to EU rules or open migration, before binding itself into the two-year timetable that would be fixed for talks if Article 50 is triggered.

Such talk worries EU officials and leaders who fear that a prolonged haggling with London will further increase the risk of a domino effect of nationalist-led demands for exit from other states. They do not see a legal way to force Britain to start the process but have piled political pressure on Cameron to honour his pledge to launch Article 50 negotiations and respect the popular vote.

MUST BE EXPLICIT

The Council spokesman made clear that leaders cannot simply choose to interpret something Cameron says as the trigger without the prime minister saying clearly he means it to be.

"The notification of Article 50 is a formal act and has to be done by the British government to the European Council," the spokesman said. "It has to be done in an unequivocal manner with the explicit intent to trigger Article 50.

"Negotiations of leaving and the future relationship can only begin after such a formal notification. If it is indeed the intention of the British government to leave the EU, it is therefore in its interest to notify as soon as possible."

Since the shock vote on Thursday, won 52-48 percent by the Leave camp in defiance of polls and the bulk of the British establishment, there have been calls in Britain for the result to be reviewed or for parliament to ignore the referendum.

The second EU official, asked whether Britain could launch the process and then ask to stay, said that was not foreseen by the treaty: "Once you trigger it, you cannot take it back."
Expanded Panama Canal: Bigger ships, bigger paydays for beans, coal, gas

By Keith Wallis

SINGAPORE, June 26 (Reuters) - Bigger ships could mean bigger paydays for commodity producers when the expanded Panama Canal opens this weekend as they can utilise larger vessels more frequently to tap into fast growing Asia-Pacific consumer markets.

The Panama Canal Authority estimates that the enlarged waterway will cut sailing times between Atlantic Ocean ports and Asia by up to 16 days for ships that previously could not fit through.

Soybean farmers, natural gas producers, container shippers, and coal miners hope to be among the winners when the expanded Panama Canal is inaugurated on Sunday at a cost of $5.2 billion and after a two-year delay. Crude oil and iron ore exporters will see less benefit as they still depend on vessels too big for the waterway.

The U.S. Soy Transportation Coalition, which represents soybean farmers, said moving to ships carrying up to 100,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt) of beans on the canal from the current 76,000 tonne limit would add up to $8 million in value per vessel.

"A customer of U.S. soybeans in Asia could save 35 cents per bushel simply due to greater transportation efficiency," said Mike Steenhoek, the Coalition executive director.

The United States is the second-largest exporter of soybeans to China, accounting for 30 percent of China's 81.5 million tonnes of imports last year, according to China customs figures. Brazil accounted for 54 percent.

Shipping volumes through the Canal stalled in the mid-2000s, after rising earlier in the decade on increased Chinese trade, as vessels became too large to traverse the waterway.

Post-expansion, the Canal Authority hopes that tonnage volumes will rise by an average of 3 percent per year, from almost 341 million tonnes in 2015.

GAS & COAL

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sellers from the U.S. Gulf and Caribbean, as well as Colombian coal suppliers should benefit from the expansion.

The U.S. is ramping up LNG and LPG exports after the shale extraction boom and will compete with Middle East LPG sellers and Australian LNG exporters.

"It will create competition for all the producers in the Arabian Gulf by getting products from the U.S. almost as quickly as from the Arabian Gulf," said a senior executive at a tanker shipping company who declined to be named.

Colombian shippers hope the bigger canal will open up trade to Asia as rising natural gas and renewable energy usage has cut coal consumption in its traditional North American and European markets.

Colombian miners have already started shipping coal to Japan and South Korea but the voyages around South America and Africa can take up to two months.

Container shippers, carrying everything from fresh food to electronics, can sail ships of up to 13,000 teu (20-foot equivalent units) through the bigger Canal from the current limit of 5,000 teu.

SLOW CHANGE

Crude oil traders will be less affected because the supertankers they use remain too big for the canal at 300,000 dwt.

Water depth and lock restrictions still mean the enlarged canal will not be able to handle the biggest 180,000 to 200,000 tonne dry cargo ships, which mostly carry Brazilian iron ore.

Shippers also say the expansion will not make an immediate impact as ports need upgrading.

"Trading patterns will not change so quickly because of loading and discharge port limitations," said Ong Choo Kiat, president and director at U-Ming Marine Transport Corporation , Taiwan's largest dry-bulk and tanker ship owner.

One group with generally negative views of the expansion are shippers, already battling an eight-year downturn, as shorter routes mean less charter income.

"Not only will charter hire revenues decrease in view of shorter duration, but with shorter trips the total sea days will be less and thus weigh extra on the already heavily oversupplied market," said Jean Yves Brion, commercial manager at Belgian dry shipper Boconti Shipping.
UK opposition leader sacks foreign policy chief, deepens divisions

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn sacked his foreign policy chief on Sunday, a spokesman said, plunging the party into open conflict after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

The EU referendum, which saw 52 percent of Britons voting to leave the EU, has begun to transform Britain's political landscape, triggering leadership battles in both the ruling Conservative Party and opposition Labour.

Corbyn sacked foreign spokesman Hilary Benn overnight because "he has lost confidence in him", a spokesman said. His dismissal was followed on Sunday by the resignation of Labour's shadow health minister, Heidi Alexander, whose statement demanded a change in the party's leadership.

A growing number of Labour lawmakers have called on Corbyn to resign in the aftermath of the vote to leave the EU. Some party members say he failed to assuage concern among the party's traditional supporters over the EU; others that he should have campaigned more in favour of EU membership.

Two Labour politicians have submitted a motion of no confidence in Corbyn, which will be debated later this week.

Corbyn's spokesman gave no details on Benn's dismissal, but Benn said he had told Corbyn there was widespread concern in the Labour Party about his leadership, after which Corbyn had dismissed him.

The Observer newspaper had reported that Benn, who publicly disagreed with Corbyn in September over air strikes on Syria, was gauging support for a move to oust Corbyn.

"In particular, there is no confidence in our ability to win the next election, which may come much sooner than expected if Jeremy continues as leader," Benn said in a statement.

As things stand, Britain is due to elect a new parliament in 2020. A new Conservative leader will automatically become Britain's new prime minister, but may seek to call an early election to obtain a personal mandate to govern.

Some Labour lawmakers called on the other members of the shadow cabinet - top policy chiefs who hold portfolios mirroring those of the government - to resign from their positions.

"Lots of good people chose to serve in Shadow Cabinet to keep the show on the road. There are no longer good reasons for good people to stay," Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting said on Twitter.

Colleague Ben Bradshaw called on the shadow cabinet to "act to save the party and for the sake of the country".

On Saturday, Corbyn rejected the calls for him to resign.
Cambodia opposition leader, speaking at refuge, says PM is scared

By Prak Chan Thul

PHNOM PENH, June 26 (Reuters) - After a month living in an office at his party's headquarters to avoid arrest, Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha remains defiant and said Prime Minister Hun Sen is scared of losing the 2018 election.

Kem Sokha called for "national reconciliation" talks to end a crisis that both he and the self-styled strongman, Hun Sen, have warned could nudge the Southeast Asian nation into political conflict.

Tension has risen as Sokha and other opposition members face legal charges they say are trumped up by a judiciary in thrall to Hun Sen. The prime minister was intimidating the opposition in an attempt to avoid a rerun of a 2013 election that nearly cost him the premiership, Sokha said.

"What he is scared of most is defeat in the election," Sokha told Reuters in his first interview since he holed up at the party headquarters on May 26. "His strategy is to remove the opposition party leadership, so now he is targeting me."

Sokha became the acting head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) when the party's leader, Sam Rainsy, was forced into exile late last year, also to avoid arrest.

Sokha is wanted for failing to appear in court for questioning over a sex scandal investigation. He faces an accusation of procuring a prostitute.

He said the CNRP would win in 2018, even though the vote would not be free or fair, because people want change after 30 years under Hun Sen and his Cambodian People Party (CPP).

Sokha sits in his office, the corner where he sleeps curtained off. His family sits in part of it, and the diplomats and other visitors that come meet in a glass room.

Hundreds of his supporters have joined him at the CNRP headquarters, cooking and mingling to pass the time.

The opposition, critics, and the European Union say Hun Sen is using the judiciary to weaken the opposition. The EU has threatened to review nearly half a billion dollars in aid to Cambodia if Hun Sen continues harassing the opposition.

Hun Sen has denied wrongdoing and defended his tactics.

"If the judiciary isn't used, it's only guns, " he told foreign diplomats last week. "And if guns are used, it would be chaos."

Sokha said Cambodia was returning to something akin to the one party rule of the 1980s, with Hun Sen in control of the judiciary, the police and the parliament.
China touts new bank's greater understanding of developing world

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, June 26 (Reuters) - The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be different from institutions like the World Bank because it has a greater understanding of the developing world's needs, officials said on Sunday at its first annual meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the bank two years ago and it began operations in January, with 57 founding member countries and $100 billion in committed capital, which it plans to invest in projects across the region.

The AIIB, which intends to invest $1.2 billion this year, has said it is aiming to meet international standards of governance, though some members say there is still work to be done.

Speaking on the final day of the bank's inaugural annual meeting, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the AIIB needed to establish its niche.

"The AIIB needs to establish its comparative advantage relative to existing multilateral development banks like the World Bank," Lou said.

"...Compared with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other multilateral development banks, the AIIB's advantage lies in its keener understanding of the successful experience and lessons of developing countries' years of development."

The AIIB's board approved its first four deals worth $509 million on Friday, with three projects co-financed with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The co-financed projects are a slum renovation in Indonesia and highway construction in Pakistan and Tajikistan. A power grid upgrade project in Bangladesh will be solely AIIB financed.

AIIB President Jin Liqun said it was the focus on infrastructure that specifically marked out the bank as different and that they were committed to the concept of international best practice.

"The question is, how do you define international best practice? I will not agree to anything which could be considered international best practice unless this kind best practice incorporates the development experience of China and many countries in Asia and elsewhere over the last three or four decades," Jin said.

"So our bank would like to have the development experience, the so-called international best practice, reflecting the experience of China, India (and) so many countries in Asia. So we should have a different model of development."
Kenya aims to cut size of Somali refugee camp by about half by end-2016

NAIROBI, June 26 (Reuters) - Kenya aims to reduce by almost half the population of Dadaab refugee camp which is home to about 326,000 mostly Somali refugees by the end of the year, a committee that groups Kenya, Somalia and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.

Kenya has said it wants to close the camp, which was once home to more than half a million refugees, citing security threats. Nairobi says the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab has used the camp as a recruiting ground to launch attacks on Kenya.

But Kenya has been urged by the United States, the United Nations and others to ensure no one is forced to return to Somalia, which is still struggling to rebuild after decades of conflict and continues to face an Islamist insurgency.

After a meeting on Saturday, the so-called Tripartite Commission said Dadaab had 326,000 refugees at the end of May, already 100,000 fewer than five years earlier, many of whom it said were believed to have returned to Somalia.

"The parties noted the prospect of the reduction of the population in the Dadaab camps by 150,000 individuals by the end of 2016," the joint communique said, referring to string of sites that make up the Dadaab camp complex.

It said the number would be reduced due to "voluntary returns to Somalia, relocation of non-Somali refugees, the de-registration of Kenyan citizens who registered as refugees, and a population verification exercise."

The U.N. had said earlier this year it planned to reduce the number of people in Dadaab by 50,000 by the end of 2016, but had said that could be a challenge given continued security concerns in Somalia and lack of schools and other public services there.

A U.N. official said on Sunday that the new target of reducing the Dadaab population by 150,000 was a prospective figure and it was not guaranteed to be achieved.

The Tripartite Commission also said it had agreed to meet again in October 2016 to review progress made "on the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees from Kenya."
British cabinet to remain in post after Brexit vote - foreign minister

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Sunday Britain's cabinet, which was split over whether the country should vote to leave the European Union, would remain in place until a new prime minister was in office.

"Obviously a new prime minister will select his own cabinet and all of us will remain in office until that point and then the new prime minister will make his decision," Hammond told ITV television in response to a question about whether finance minister George Osborne would remain in post.

Asked about what would happen to Gibraltar, a British enclave in southern Spain which Madrid said it would seek to jointly govern with London after the Brexit vote, Hammond said:

"We will be less able to protect Gibraltar's interests, not to defend Gibraltar's territory, of course we can do that, but to protect Gibraltar's interests if we are not in the European Union."
Islamic State militants launch new attacks in eastern Afghanistan

By Rafiq Sherzad and Mirwais Harooni

KABUL, June 26 (Reuters) - Heavy fighting between Islamic State militants and government security forces has claimed dozens of lives in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.

In recent months insurgents claiming allegiance to Islamic State had largely appeared to be bottled up in a mountainous area along the border with Pakistan under threat of U.S. air strikes.

The latest attacks indicate the group remains a potent threat to a government already battling an insurgency dominated by the rival Taliban.

At least a dozen Afghan security forces and civilians had been killed, with another 18 wounded, Nangarhar province governor Saleem Khan Kunduzi said in a statement.

Local officials claimed more than 100 Islamic State fighters had been killed in fighting in Nangarhar over the past three days, although exact figures varied and could not be independently verified.

"There is no doubt that Daesh do not respect anyone," Kunduzi said, using a common term for Islamic State. "They kill people, regardless of whether they're a child or a woman. They burn down madrasas, mosques and schools."

As many as 25 homes had been burned down in Kowt district, and five civilians were reported kidnapped, Nangarhar officials said.

Hundreds of police and soldiers are engaged in the area with reinforcements on the way, provincial police chief Zarawar Zahid said.

At a small event on Sunday in Kabul, the head of Afghanistan's civil society federation, Sediq Ansari, blamed local leaders for being negligent in the face of Islamic State threats and called on them to be suspended.

"They should be accountable for every drop of blood that has been shed in Nangarhar so it becomes a lesson to other officials," he told gathered reporters.

Militants linked to Islamic State have not made as much progress in Afghanistan as in Syria and Iraq, where the group seized major cities and wide swaths of territory and attracted thousands of recruits.

In Afghanistan, the group is thought to consist mostly of disaffected members of other insurgent movements, including the Taliban, who have often battled Islamic State for control of areas in Nangarhar.

In January, U.S. President Barack Obama gave U.S. forces in Afghanistan more freedom to attack Islamic State targets, leading to a spike in air strikes and other operations, especially in Nangarhar.
Labour must hold together - British opposition finance spokesman

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Britain's main opposition Labour Party should "calm down" and hold together, John McDonnell, the party's finance spokesman, said on Sunday, after a sacking and resignation plunged the party into open warfare.

"I know how disappointed people are about the loss of the European referendum, but now is the time we hold together," McDonnell told BBC television, referring to Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
Spanish vote delivers more uncertainty for Europe after Brexit

By Julien Toyer and Sonya Dowsett

MADRID, June 26 (Reuters) - Spanish elections delivered a hung parliament for the second time in six months on Sunday, adding to political uncertainty in Europe after last week's shock Brexit vote and piling intense pressure on Spain's warring politicians to form a government.

Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's centre-right People's Party (PP) again emerged with the single biggest bloc of seats but fell short of a majority, leaving the euro zone's fourth-largest economy at risk of another lengthy political stalemate or even of a third general election.

The PP was the only major party to increase its share of seats from December's inconclusive poll, sapping the power of a wave of new parties which had fed on years of deep recession and public anger over corruption scandals within the major parties.

"We have won the elections," Rajoy told hundreds of cheering supporters outside PP headquarters in Madrid late on Sunday.

"We claim our right to govern."

The PP won 137 seats, up from 123 in December but short of the 176 needed for an outright majority.

Spain now enters another round of backroom talks to see which parties can form a governing coalition, a task that eluded them despite months of negotiations following the December vote.

It was unclear whether Britain's vote to leave the EU, which hit financial markets in indebted Spain particularly hard, led more people to vote for the conservative PP. However, the uncertainty and confusion sweeping Europe in the wake of Brexit will pressure politicians to reach a deal quickly.

Among the hundreds of people cheering Rajoy and other party leaders on Sunday, waving blue party flags and red and yellow Spanish flags, there were some more cautious PP supporters.

"Whether we have a government or not will depend on what the left wants. Without a majority it's hard to do anything," said Raul Quintana, a 42-year-old concierge from Toledo.

Options to form a government include a centre-right pact between the PP and liberal newcomer Ciudadanos, a German-style grand coalition between the PP and the Socialists, or even a minority PP administration.

COMPLEX NEGOTIATIONS

Upstart liberal party Ciudadanos, which saw its support fall on Sunday, said it was ready to immediately open talks with the PP to explore the formation of a government.

The two combined would fall just seven seats short of a majority, putting pressure on the Socialists to drop their opposition to a PP-led government.

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez said he would put his party "at the service of the general interest" but an agreement with the PP might not be easily reached.

"We are heading for more rounds of complex negotiations, whose least bad outcome could be a weak government," said Vincenzo Scarpetta, political analyst at Open Europe in London.

"The pressure on the Socialists to let Rajoy at least form a minority government and get on with business will be enormous."

The main surprise was the disappointing result for anti-austerity Unidos Podemos ("Together We Can"), a grouping of several leftist parties led by anti-austerity movement Podemos.

Podemos had been forecast to increase its vote and play a central role in forming government but it ended up with 71 seats, unchanged from December.

"Tonight's results have not been satisfactory for us, we expected more," Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed academic who leads Podemos, told a sombre crowd of supporters.

Polls ahead of the vote had forecast his party would surge in support and overtake the 137-year-old Socialist party as the main left-wing force. The Socialists won 85 seats, down from the 90 they had in the December election.

Spain's biggest-selling newspaper, El Pais, on Sunday also urged politicians to put aside their differences and form a government quickly given increased global uncertainty in the wake of Britain's referendum vote.
Niger Delta Avengers urge Nigeria's Buhari to visit southern oil hub

YENAGOA, Nigeria June 26 (Reuters) - The Niger Delta Avengers, a Nigerian militant group which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil facilities in the country's southern energy hub, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to visit the region.

The militant group says it wants a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. Crude sales make up about 70 percent of Nigeria's national income and most of that oil comes from the southern swampland.

Last week, Petroleum Ministry officials said the government had agreed a one-month ceasefire with the militants, but the group later denied that.

"President Buhari should visit Niger Delta," the Avengers said on their Twitter feed on Saturday.

Last month Buhari, a 73-year-old former military ruler, cancelled a trip to the region at the last minute, days before flying to London to receive treatment for an ear infection. It would have been his first visit to the area since taking office in May 2015.

"Mr. President come and see for yourself what the host communities are going through in the hands of Nigeria government and the multinationals," the group said in a message on its website, adding that he should go to various export terminals.

On Twitter the group, which has previously called for the Niger Delta to break away, also urged Buhari to hold a referendum "just like what David Cameron of Great Britain did" to enable people to "decide if they want to stay as Nigerians".

Nigeria, an OPEC member, was Africa's top oil producer until the spate of attacks in the last few months pushed it behind Angola. Production has fallen from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year to around 1.6 million barrels.
Vatican hits back at Turkey for calling pope "crusader"

By Philip Pullella and Margarita Antidze

YEREVAN, June 26 (Reuters) - The Vatican hit back on Sunday at Turkey's depiction of Pope Francis as having a "Crusader mentality" after he used the word genocide to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago.

"The pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organise wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges," spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters. "He has not said a word against the Turkish people."

Addressing Armenia's president, the government and diplomats on Friday, Francis departed from his prepared text to use the word "genocide", a description that infuriated Turkey when he first used it a year ago.

Turkey's deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli said on Saturday it was "very unfortunate" the pope had used the word, adding: "It is unfortunately possible to see all the reflections and traces of Crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy and the pope."

Francis, who returns to Rome on Sunday after visiting a monastery near the border with Turkey, first used the word last year in a ceremony at the Vatican. An infuriated Turkey responded by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and keeping him away for 10 months.

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide. It also says many Muslim Turks perished at that time.

On Sunday morning, at the last main event of his three-day trip to Armenia, Francis again made reference to the massacre, paying homage to "the many victims of hatred who suffered and gave their lives for the faith".

Unusually for the pope, he was a guest in a Christian liturgy where someone else called "His Holiness" presided.

The "divine liturgy" was presided over by Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which split from Rome over a theological dispute in the fifth century and is part of the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Francis sat to one side as Karekin led an elaborate service filled with chanting in the compound at Holy Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian Church near Yerevan.

The pope, who delighted his hosts by referring several times to the slaughters and visiting Yerevan's genocide memorial, has urged Armenia and Turkey to seek reconciliation and to shun "the illusory power of vengeance".
Nigerian army says it freed over 5,000 people held by Boko Haram

LAGOS, June 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria's army on Sunday said it had freed more than 5,000 people held by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram during an operation over the weekend in the northeast of the country.

Nigeria's army has over the last year, sometimes aided by troops from neighbouring countries, recaptured most of the territory that was lost to the group, which has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state in the remote northeast.

The army said troops, supported by members of a grassroots security force, conducted raids in 15 villages on Sunday, during which they "killed six Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others".

"The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists," it said in an emailed statement. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the freeing of the hostages, in part due to the remoteness of the area in which the military operation took place.

More than 15,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon during Boko Haram's insurgency.
Seven members of UK opposition Labour withdraw support for leader Corbyn

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Seven members of Britain's opposition Labour party said on Sunday they had withdrawn support for the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, plunging the party into crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Corbyn sacked Hilary Benn as Labour's foreign policy chief early on Sunday after he said had lost confidence in the leadership. Gloria de Piero, Heidi Alexander, Lucy Powell and Ian Murray all announced they were withdrawing support and stepping down from Corbyn's 'shadow cabinet'.

Sky News television reported that Lilian Greenwood and Kerry Mccarthy had also resigned.

Several said in statements that they doubted Corbyn's ability to lead the party to victory in the country's next parliamentary election.
Britain to become "new Norway" after Brexit - Finland's Stubb

By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain will get a Norway-type deal to keep close economic ties with the European Union but will have no say on decision-making in the bloc after "Brexit" materialises, Finland's former prime minister Alexander Stubb said on Sunday.

The shock British referendum result has put into question Europe's post-war order, sent stocks tumbling around the world and left the EU pondering how to handle the divorce.

Stubb, who served as Finland's prime minister in 2014-15, said the EU should not push Britain into quickly launching a formal exit procedure.

"This will be an extremely complicated set of negotiations, there will be hundreds and thousands of legal, political and economic implications. After the initial shock, we should now take it easy and be patient, one step at a time," Stubb said.

"It's going painful and long," he told Reuters in a phone interview, adding that putting a firm deadline on the process would be "unwise".

Many European politicians - with the notable exception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel - have put pressure on Britain to trigger the exit procedure as soon as possible after Britain's outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said the move was unlikely before October.

"We should not be childish in thinking about punishing the UK. It's not in the interest of Europe to cut relations with the United Kingdom and it's not in the interest of the UK to be cut off from the continent immediately either," he said.

Stubb, who held several EU jobs and was most recently Finland's finance minister until his party sacked him earlier this month, said the new deal between Britain and the bloc should keep maximum economic integration possible and pointed to non-EU member Norway as the example.

"We should try to keep Britain as close as possible but they will not have the possibility to influence decision-making. The UK will become a new Norway," he said.

"They will pay for membership, have less influence on decision-making and laws but at the end of the day have similar benefits they have today."

As a member of the European Economic Area, Norway gets access to EU's single market in exchange for contributing about 400 million euros a year to the EU budget. But it must accept EU's rules on the single market and free movement of people without a vote.

Stubb dismissed as unrealistic the Brexit campaign promise to curb immigration into Britain.
Scotland would do what it takes to stay in EU, may try to block Brexit - Sturgeon

By Estelle Shirbon

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking the legal process behind Britain's exit from the bloc, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 percent in favour of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit.

Sturgeon has said a new Scottish referendum on independence from the rest of the UK is "highly likely" if that is the best option to keep Scotland in the bloc.

"There are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences of the process of trying to extricate the UK from the EU. I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told BBC television.

Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as a key reason to stick with the UK.

Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post published a poll by research firm ScotPulse, taken on Friday, that suggested support for independence had surged to 59 percent since the Brexit vote.

Sturgeon said she would seek a way of negotiating directly with the EU on the best way to achieve Scotland's aim of staying in the bloc.

She said it would be "completely unacceptable" for whoever succeeds David Cameron as British prime minister to try and stop Scotland from holding a second independence referendum on the basis that the issue had been settled in 2014.

Under the UK's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU may have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments.

Asked whether she would consider asking the Scottish parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: "Of course."

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest -- of course that's going to be on the table."

However, a spokesman for Sturgeon later said that there was legal debate over whether a lack of Scottish consent would be enough to hold up the withdrawal, and that the Scottish government expected their London counterparts to say it was not needed.

GAME CHANGER

Sturgeon said the Brexit vote was a game-changer that made it legitimate for Scotland to revisit the issue of independence.

"The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically. The UK that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 doesn't exist anymore," she said.

A vote for independence would end the 300-year-old union between Scotland and England, its far more populous southern neighbour, dealing a body blow to the UK at a time when it is likely to still be dealing with the fallout from Brexit.

That could lead to border controls being set up between the two countries.

"I certainly don't want to see in any circumstances a border between Scotland and England," Sturgeon said. "Whatever happens here England is our nearest neighbour and will always I hope be our best friend but these are circumstances in which Scotland hasn't chosen to be."

Sturgeon's pro-independence Scottish National Party holds 56 of the 59 seats representing Scotland in the national parliament in London, while in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh it has 63 seats out of 129.

Asked if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said:
French PM: Europe must stop being finicky and intrusive

PARIS, June 26 (Reuters) - The European Union must stop being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday as the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave.

The Brexit vote to leave the EU has deepened fears among mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of eurosceptic, anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the far-right National Front is increasingly popular.

That concern has also prompted mainstream French politicians on the left and right to call for an overhaul of Europe, in a country where surveys show disillusionment with Brussels is growing.

"We must put an end to this sad and finicky Europe. Too often it is intrusive on details and desperately absent on what's essential," Valls said. "We must break away from the dogma of ever more Europe. Europe must act not by principle but when it is useful and pertinent."

While a large majority of French are attached to EU membership, polls over the past few years have consistently shown a majority also want Europe to have fewer powers, said Francois Miquet-Marty, head of the Viavoice polling institute.

Only one on five voters want "more Europe", Miquet-Marty said.

Long in the EU's driving seat alongside the bloc's power-house Germany, France, dogged by a poor track-record on abiding by the EU's fiscal rules, has been steadily less active on the EU scene over the past years.

In his speech on Sunday in Normandy, Valls insisted Europe "is not about seeing sovereign states disappear."
Switzerland set to ask EU for limited migration curbs - president

VIENNA, June 26 (Reuters) - Switzerland will propose in talks with Brussels that it should be allowed to protect economic sectors in specific regions against immigration from the European Union, its president told a Sunday newspaper.

Switzerland only has until February to implement a binding 2014 referendum demanding limits on the influx of foreigners to a country whose population is already a quarter foreign.

But a blanket curb on immigration would torpedo a set of interlinked bilateral economic accords under which Switzerland agreed to allow free movement of people.

"Not much can be obtained with a bare figure," Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper in an interview.

He said the aim instead would be to set limits only to protect at-risk sectors in specific regions:

"Let's imagine that in (the Italian-speaking canton) Ticino an above-average number of immigrant taxi drivers is recorded while at the same time many taxi drivers are unemployed."

The EU insists it cannot brook any impediments to the free movement of people enshrined in bilateral accords. Negotiations with Switzerland had been on hold until Britain's referendum last week, in which it voted to leave the bloc.

With Brussels now preoccupied with Britain's departure, Swiss officials fear the chances are fading for a quick deal.
Panama opens canal extension, only a dozen heads of state attend

By Enrique Pretel and Elida Moreno

PANAMA CITY, June 26 (Reuters) - Panama opened the long-delayed expansion of its shipping canal on Sunday with just a dozen of the 70 heads of state invited to see the debut of the third set of locks attending the ceremony.

Analysts said the rank of those leading the delegations was affected by the Panama Papers scandal, in which millions of documents were leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how some of the world's richest people use offshore companies to avoid tax and launder money.

Panama's foreign ministry said the event was a diplomatic success, with representatives from nearly all the invited countries in attendance, including from China, Japan, Peru, South Korea, Colombia and Mexico, as well as executives from top shipping firms and thousands of Panamanians.

But Panamanian trade analyst Ernest Bazan said that Panama's reputation has "unfortunately been affected (by the Panama Papers) and that undoubtedly affects the business climate, including the Panama Canal".

At 7.50 a.m. (1250 GMT), the Chinese container ship "Cosco Shipping Panama" entered the Agua Clara lock on the Atlantic to begin the first crossing of the roughly 50-mile-long waterway and was due to emerge on the Pacific side by 5.00 p.m.

The consortium led by Spain's Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impreglio led the $5.4 billion project that will triple capacity so that the canal can now host 98 percent of the world's shipping.
Gunmen release expatriate contractors kidnapped in Niger Delta -police

YENAGOA, Nigeria, June 26 (Reuters) - As many as seven contractors, including three Australians and a South African, have been released unharmed four days after they were kidnapped by gunmen in southern Nigeria, local police and a state security adviser said on Sunday.

Police had given conflicting accounts of how many had been seized and what their nationalities were but they all worked for cement company Lafarge and were taken on the outskirts of Calabar, capital of Cross River State, in the Niger Delta.

Cross River State Commissioner Jimoh Ozi-Obeh said they were released "unhurt" on Sunday but gave no further details.

The state governor's security adviser, Jude Ngajim said five expatriates and two Nigerians had been released.

"They are safe and sound," he said, noting that a doctor had made medicals checks and pronounced them "fit and sound".

Kidnappings of foreigners are common in the region, which holds most of the OPEC member's crude oil and contributes about 70 percent of national income. Nigeria was Africa's top oil producer until a recent spate of attacks on oil facilities.
Egypt's supply ministry rejects wheat fraud allegations

CAIRO, June 26 (Reuters) - Egypt's Ministry of Supplies on Sunday dismissed allegations that its wheat procurement figures were inflated and promised penalties for domestic suppliers that misreport stocks.

The ministry announced a government-led inspection of wheat silos this month after an unusually high procurement figure prompted widespread fraud allegations from top industry officials, traders and parliamentarians.

The world's biggest importer of the grain said it had ended its local procurement this month with nearly 5 million tonnes of wheat from its farmers, markedly higher than the 3 million to 3.5 million tonnes a year delivered over the past decade.

If the numbers were misrepresented, Egypt may have to buy more foreign wheat to meet domestic demand while contending with a dollar shortage that has already sapped the country's import capability.

Wheat industry officials and parliamentarians have appeared on television and in local newspapers in recent days saying that private suppliers have misreported stocks to boost government payments on highly subsidised local wheat.

The ministry, however, denies that any wheat is missing from silos around the country.

"We do not believe the state has lost money or that funds have been wasted," the ministry said, adding that suppliers would be fined if found to be misreporting their stocks.

"There is a 25 percent penalty on quantities not supplied in addition to the price of the wheat itself."

A lawyer representing a group of wheat industry officials who are demanding an independent inspection of silos challenged the ministry's claims.

"Why doesn't the ministry want a neutral committee formed to count some of these storage areas to clarify the truth of the matter?" the lawyer, Mohamed Heikal, said in a statement to Reuters.

But the ministry said on Sunday that -- independently assessed or otherwise -- it is not possible to verify quantities held in each storage site until the wheat is fully discharged.

"There is no one able to estimate the quantity of wheat in a silo except by actually discharging the wheat inside of it, and that has not happened yet," the ministry said.

The ministry typically issues payment for wheat during the collection period and before it is discharged and delivered to government mills.

Millers and traders told Reuters that tools do exist to count wheat in storage and that discharging the wheat before counting it will allow suppliers to mix cheaper imported grains into their stocks to cover gaps.
Firefighters begin to get deadly California blaze under control

June 26 (Reuters) - Firefighters have begun to contain a wildfire in central California, which has killed at least two people and destroyed 150 homes, state fire officials said on Sunday, as six other blazes rage in the state in an already intense wildfire season.

The fire known as Erskine, now about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles, melted steel, exploded structures and reduced homes to ash, Kern County Sheriff's public information officer, Ray Pruitt, told NBC affiliate KCRA news in Sacramento.

Erskine has ripped through 36,810 acres - or nearly 60 square miles - and is 10 percent contained, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) public information officer, Daniel Berlant, tweeted.

More than 1,700 firefighters are working on the Erskine fire at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada range and hundreds of people from more than 10 communities have had to evacuate their homes, the California Bureau of Land Management said. As well as the homes that were destroyed, another 75 were damaged.

A total of 4,900 firefighters are in action, Cal Fire said.

By late on Saturday, Erskine had shown no signs of being contained at all as crews worked in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames fueled by hot, rainless weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by a five-year drought. Helicopters and air tankers were also in action.

"Stunning and shocking; the adjectives are difficult to find to describe the disaster that has befallen us," Kern County Supervisor Mick Gleason told a community meeting on Saturday, that was transmitted live on the Internet. "We are full bore on this thing and we're not going to stop until it's done."

California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Kern County.

Dozens of people, anxious to know whether their homes had survived and concerned about potential looting, met with fire and emergency officials at the community meeting on Saturday.

Fire officials said they hoped to let people back to fire-hit areas by noon on Sunday, but warned people not to return until emergency workers screened areas for toxic materials.

The two people who died in the fire have not been identified, while their families are informed. Officials said they were investigating a third set of remains found in one badly burned structure to see whether they were human or animal.
Seven people killed in Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen -residents

DUBAI, June 26 (Reuters) - Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict.

Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iranian-allied Houthis from overthrowing the government.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa.

Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.

In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports.

Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a message to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war.

"I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he wrote.

The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized.
10 ways to leave EU lover; scenarios for Brexit

By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - Stalemate between Britain and the European Union over what happens next following Britons' referendum vote to leave has opened up a host of possible scenarios.

Here are some that are (in some cases, barely) conceivable:

1. BY THE BOOK

Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he will resign after losing his gamble to end British ambivalence about staying in, agrees with the EU establishment that the only legal way to leave is to use Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to negotiate a withdrawal.

He wants to leave triggering the process to his successor, who may not be chosen by the Conservative party until October. EU leaders want him to do it now, or at least as soon as possible, but they lack the legal power to force him.

In the most amicable divorce scenario, Britain would trigger Article 50, possibly (though unlikely now) as early as Tuesday when Cameron meets the other 27 EU leaders at a Brussels summit, or via a formal letter later from Cameron or his successor.

That sets a two-year time limit on negotiating an amicable withdrawal. Ideally, it would divide up assets and liabilities in the shared EU budget and other priority business, such as perhaps the status of British and other EU citizens who find themselves living on the wrong side of a hard new UK-EU border.

In an even more ideal world, it would set out a new, close economic relationship between Britain and the EU, possibly in a separate, parallel treaty taking effect from the exit date. The withdrawal treaty can be enacted by just 20 of the 27 other states representing 65 percent of the remaining population. A full new relationship would probably need unanimous support.

Two years is very tight but the negotiations can be extended if all 28 countries agree. If there is no deal, then Britain is simply out of the EU two years after Article 50 was triggered -- an outcome written in to the treaty to limit uncertainties.

REALLY? TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. THE EU IS NEVER THIS EASY

2. SORRY, WE DIDN'T MEAN IT

Britain is in political meltdown, with both main parties in civil war and pro-EU Scotland threatening to either block Brexit legally (unclear how) or break away. The referendum result is not constitutionally binding and government and parliament, maybe after a new election, could just ignore it. If so, the EU would carry on as before but a special membership deal it gave Cameron in February has been killed by the referendum result.

REALLY? PUSHES DEMOCRATIC CREDIBILITY BEYOND BREAKING POINT

3. WE MEAN IT, BUT NOT YET

Brexit campaigners have long been suspicious of the two-year limit in Article 50 and some have explicitly said it should only formally be triggered AFTER they have agreed a comprehensive free trade deal that relieves Britain of EU rules such as open EU immigration. Five years or more is the norm globally for such big trade deals. Britain would be a full EU member until then.

That is a nightmare scenario for EU leaders, plunging the bloc into open-ended negotiations with its second biggest power that would inspire eurosceptics across the bloc to emulate it and distract governments from other pressing European issues.

They rule out opening any negotiation until Britain binds itself to the timetable set out in Article 50. And they insist Britain cannot have its cake on market access and still eat it by ending EU budget payments and free movement of workers.

In theory, there could be an endless standoff, with Britain the sulky teenager at the table, poisoning the atmosphere next year as France and Germany run elections and the EU starts confrontational talks on a new 7-year budget. Something would have to give and some compromise would start to be worked out.

REALLY? COMPROMISE IS THE EU WAY; DON'T RULE THIS OUT

4. WE MEAN IT -- OR MAYBE WE DIDN'T

Article 50 suggests a one-way exit, rather than a revolving door. EU officials insist that once triggered, a state cannot back out and stay. It is not entirely clear, however. Could a future British government conclude that the best settlement to divorce proceedings is just to stay married, if others agree?

REALLY? SEE SCENARIO 2, BUT WITH ADDED FADING OF MEMORIES

5. CAN WE JUST TWEAK THIS QUICKLY?

Some Brexit campaigners have suggested that the Leave vote simply serve as leverage to renegotiate better, semi-detached terms for Britain inside the EU which could be put to another referendum. EU leaders have ruled that out on the same grounds as above that "cherry picking" will spread and wreck the Union. Cameron's deal, to protect the City of London from the euro zone and curb EU immigration, has been killed by a clause that linked it to last week's referendum result. So any talks would start from a lower base and EU leaders would have to eat their words. But some kind of "associate membership" or "special partnership" has been around as an idea in Europe for a time.

REALLY? SEE 4, BUT NEVER SAY NEVER IN EURO-COMPROMISE LAND

6. LET'S JUST SLIP INTO SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE

Britain could try to join the European Economic Area or European Free Trade Association, joining the likes of Norway, Switzerland or Iceland in close partnerships with the EU. That could fly with the EU but British leaders would have to persuade Brexit voters to agree to the EU budget contributions and migrants that are accepted by some of those countries. It also would lack the kind of EU market access for services trade which is so important to Britain's big financial sector. A more tailor-made deal would bring things back to earlier scenarios.

REALLY? DOESN'T SEEM TO BE WHAT BRITONS WANT, AT LEAST NOW

7. WHY DON'T WE START AGAIN?

One extreme view is that the fallout from Brexit in the EU might be so cataclysmic that Europeans would go back to the drawing board and effectively create a new kind of Union that could include Britain. Marshalling disparate national ambitions into a new structure would be a colossal task, not least in the wake of the bitterness that the current crisis has engendered.

REALLY? A DEFINITE LONG SHOT, NOT ONE FOR THE NEAR FUTURE

8. SECOND TIME LUCKY?

Some people who voted to Leave have said that if it doesn't work outside, Britain could always join the EU again. That is true, though it would get no favours. It would face a years-long accession process and require unanimous acceptance by existing members and have to accept a host of conditions that Britain has opted out of during its past 43 years -- notably adopting the euro and a virtually 50-percent rebate on EU membership fees.

REALLY? ONE FOR THE (VERY LONG-LIVED) BIRDS

9. ROOM FOR A LITTLE ONE?

Some Scots hope to avoid Brexit by breaking from England. An idea that an independent Scotland could somehow simply sit in the vacant UK chair in Brussels is dismissed by EU officials.

At the time of the 2014 independence referendum, the EU said Scotland could apply for membership but would go to the "back of the queue", behind the likes of Serbia, and that its hope of keeping the pound rather than the euro was a non-starter. There is some sympathy for Scots losing their place in the EU but also deep suspicion of secession, especially in Spain, Belgium and Italy, which have their own separatist problems. And a veto.

REALLY? NOT SOON, BUT SCOTLAND COULD JOIN THE EU ONE DAY

10. SLAMMING THE DOOR

A new British government simply walks out. It could launch Article 50 and leave legally in 2019 without any negotiation. It could also ignore the two-year notice period and tear up its treaty obligations and quit right away, though that would undermine its credibility as a party to international law. There is, however, nothing the EU can do to prevent that.

It could retaliate on trade or against Britons living in the EU, however much that would create a painful tit-for-tat that would badly hurt Europe's economy and citizens. Nonetheless, EU leaders fear that letting Brexit Britain walk all over them will only inspire other European nationalists to destroy the Union.

REALLY? THREAT OF MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION THEN DETENTE?
Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen kill at least seven - residents

DUBAI, June 26 (Reuters) - Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict.

Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa.

Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.

In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations.

Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war.

"The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise," Ban said, according to a text received from the world body.

"I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he added.

The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized.
Lithuanian village crowns prettiest goat in annual pageant

RAMYGALA, Lithuania, June 26 (Reuters) - The Lithuanian village of Ramygala held its annual beauty pageant on Sunday, the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte, or "Little Spot".

Around 500 people braved the summer heat to attend the parade in honour of the goat, a traditional symbol of the northern village. The pageant also included a marching band, dancers in fancy costumes and a "king" and "queen" presiding over ceremonies.

It was the first time Demyte's owner, 74-year-old retired veterinarian Ferdinandas Petkevicius, had won the competition after six years of trying.

"The only thing we didn't do to prepare the goat for the pageant is we didn't polish its nails - because we thought of it too late," said Petkevicius, holding the leash of the winning white goat with black spots, who was decorated with two roses on its head.

Six goats decorated with flowers were paraded on a red carpet before a jury comprising the local member of parliament, the head of the local school and a cucumber farmer. Several contestants stubbornly refused to walk and were instead carried by their owners.
Israel and Turkey agree to normalise ties - officials

By Ori Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL, June 26 (Reuters) - Israel and Turkey on Sunday reached agreement to normalise ties, senior officials from both countries said, to end a rift over the Israeli navy's killing of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists who tried to sail to the blockaded Gaza Strip in 2010.

A formal announcement on the restoration of ties and the details of the agreement were expected on Monday at 1000 GMT by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Rome, and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara.

"We reached an agreement with Israel to normalise bilateral relations on Sunday in Rome," a senior Turkish official said, describing the agreement as a "diplomatic victory" for Turkey, although Israel has not accepted to lift the Gaza blockade, one of Ankara's three conditions for an agreement.

The once-firm allies had been quietly mending fences in trade and tourism since their leaders held a conciliatory telephone call in 2013 and negotiations have intensified over the past six months to pave the way for a mutual return of ambassadors.

Netanyahu travelled to Rome on Sunday to meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli and Turkish officials were also in the Italian capital to finalise the deal.

Israel, which had already offered its apologies - one of Ankara's three conditions for a deal - for its lethal raid on the Mavi Marmara activist ship, agreed to pay out $20 million to the bereaved and injured, the Israeli official said in a briefing to Israeli reporters travelling with Netanyahu.

Under the deal, Turkey will deliver humanitarian aid and other non-military products to Gaza and carry out infrastructure projects including residential buildings and a hospital in the area, the senior Turkish official said. Concrete steps will be taken to address the water and power crisis in the city.

A senior Israeli official said senior foreign ministry diplomats from both countries would separately sign parallel agreements on Tuesday.

The deal, politically touchy for both countries, could pave the way for lucrative Mediterranean gas deals and a diplomatic reprieve from Turkish troubles with next-door Syria and Europe.

The rare rapprochement in the Middle East, bitterly divided over Syria's civil war, has been largely driven by increasing security risks with the rise of Islamic State and as both countries seek new alliances amid a polarised region.

Israel demanded that its military officers and government officials be indemnified against prosecution on war crimes allegations. The Israeli official said the money would be paid after Turkey's parliament passed legislation on the issue.

Turkey's Islamist-rooted President Tayyip Erdogan had cast himself as guardian of Palestinian interests and engaged Hamas, the faction that controls Gaza and is on the terrorist blacklists of Israel and Western powers.

A 2011 report commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon upheld the legality of the Gaza blockade, which Israel says is needed to stem Hamas arms smuggling. The U.N. inquiry also faulted Israel for its marines' use of lethal force as they stormed the Mavi Marmara and brawled with activists on the deck.
Islamic State claims deadly Jordan border attack on Tuesday - statement

BEIRUT, June 26 (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed a suicide bomb attack launched from inside Syria on Tuesday that killed seven Jordanian border guards, its news agency Amaq said on Sunday.

The attack was carried out by "a fighter of Islamic State," Amaq said in a statement.

It gave no further details.

The suicide bomber on Tuesday drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a military post.

The explosives-laden vehicle blew up a few hundred meters (yards) from a camp for Syrian refugees in a remote area where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet, a Jordanian army statement said at the time.

It was the first such assault targeting Jordan from Syria since Syria's descent into conflict in 2011 and followed an attack on June 6 on a security office near the Jordanian capital Amman in which five people, including three Jordanian intelligence officers, were killed.
Leading Brexit campaigner Johnson says UK will retain access to the EU single market

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain will continue to have access to the European Union's single market, Boris Johnson, leader of the successful Brexit campaign and favourite to become the country's next prime minister, said in a newspaper article published on Sunday.

"There will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market," Johnson wrote in a regular column for the Telegraph newspaper, adding that there was "no great rush" for Britain to extricate itself from the EU.
The government and the tamed media are involved in a massive cover-up of the true extent of the fiasco of the NSG membership application.

It was rejected at the Seoul meeting last week unanimously. All 48 members opposed India's admittance.

China had made known its opposition well ahead.

Narendra Modi with Xi Jinping in Tashkent. (PTI)

But what we are not being told is that India's candidature was opposed by countries like Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, Australia and Mexico. All countries to which the PM made well publicised visits.

The government staked huge resources to give the Modi government a feather in its cap and turned a membership of no material consequence to India into a major tamasha. Only to end up showing how isolated India now is.

Narendra Modi and his chosen team of Ajit Doval and S Jaishankar are mainly responsible for disgracing the nation. Now they are busy distracting the nation with the connivance of a few so-called foreign correspondents from the tamed media.

Thankfully for them Brexit and Rexit serve to hide the magnitude of this diplomatic misadventure. Who will take the fall for this?

Sushma Swaraj who was trotted out at the tail-end of the campaign? She was put in her place by Arun Jaitely who exposed her Lalit Modi links.

Now they will ask her to defend this huge failure in Parliament.
The death of eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans is yet another sad reminder that the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is so far from normal that we see normalcy as a situation of a few deaths every now and then.

It's time for some serious introspection. New Delhi seems to have internalised the make believe construct that the terrorism and violence, an everyday feature of life in Jammu and Kashmir is entirely a consequence of Pakistan's war by other means. If that were entirely true it would have been quite easy to sort out. We have enough power with some to spare to settle the problem posed by Pakistan once and for all.

The situation in the troubled state is mostly a result of the widespread disenchantment with the idea of India there. Our short-sighted policies have mostly made this one of Hindu-Muslim dynamics.

We cannot live with the notion that the situation does not have widespread support among the people of the state.

The problem has been further aggravated by the cynical policies of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo which has made minority-bashing the centrepiece of their political ambitions.

The situation in the troubled state is mostly a result of the widespread disenchantment with the idea of India there.

To think and act as if their overtly sectarian endeavours will not further aggravate the terrible situation in Jammu and Kashmir is not only naive but downright unpatriotic.

We need to implement policies that will strengthen the state government and give it a free hand on dealing with the discontent and violence.

Central forces cannot behave like an occupation army but must be an instrument of the state government's efforts to fight insurgency. Remember, the law says that Central forces can only be brought in to aid local authorities and act under their authority.

Prime Minister Modi and Union home minister Rajnath Singh must act decisively to improve the state government's position and power to tackle the insurgency.

First of all, we must get rid of the doddering old durbari who is still the governor there. We must have a person with deeper knowledge of the local situation and someone who can convincingly advise the state government. There are many such people.

I consider Lt Gen(retd) Ata Hasnain, who was the Corps Commander of the 25 corps headquartered at Badami Bagh, as probably the best person to take over as the Jammu and Kashmir governor now. He has had a very successful tenure and enjoys a lot of goodwill in the state. He has the stature to rein in the Central forces and influence their operations.

I would also restore the Unified Command headed by the chief minister to take charge of the efforts to quell militancy.

New Delhi must get out of its day-to-day micromanagement and constant undermining of a constitutionally and popularly elected state government.
Some Culpeper residents across the county are still waiting for high-speed internet access to quickly communicate and exchange information with the rest of the world.

But two essential questions remain: How many residents want it and is broadband the answer?

In April, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors approved an $86,250 contract with Blacksburg-based Design Nine  a company that provides broadband architecture, engineering services and technology advice  for the study being primarily funded by a $75,000 state grant through the Virginia Telecommunication Planning Initiative.

The county kicked in the remaining funds.

According to Laura Loveday, Culpeper County comprehensive planner, a steering committee has met monthly with the consultants and representatives from local government, schools, health care and business communities as well as current service providers, electricity providers and others with telecommunications and broadband industry knowledge to gather more information about whats needed to better serve Culpeper County.

I had the opportunity to take the consultants on an extensive tour of Culpeper in early June. We spoke with downtown business owners, farmers, residents with home occupations, telecommuters, airpark industries, chamber of commerce members, arts organizations, educators, the library and local officials. The availability of the internet affects us all. We found the community is more than willing to help us prepare our plan and has been extremely willing to give feedback, said Loveday.

The consultants have told us that of all the localities they have worked with, Culpeper has the highest return rate on the surveys developed for this process," Loveday continued. "We are hoping to provide the consultant with as much Culpeper specific data as possible and encourage every resident and business to respond. This is an important project and I sincerely appreciate everyone that has taken the time to participate.

Loveday expects the Culpeper plan to be complete by early September and available for the public to review.

But community input is necessary.

Two surveys  one for residents and another for businesses  are available on the culpepercounty.gov website under the planning and zoning link.

Questions on the residential broadband survey include: how important is internet access to you or your household; if you are still using dial-up, why; what equipment do you use to connect to the internet; who is your internet provider; and do you work from home?

The business questionnaire includes inquiries about number of employees; type of organizational activities conducted at the facility where you work; does your organization use an internet connection; if so, what type; internet speed; and would you be willing to pay more for faster, higher quality internet access?

Loveday said the deadline to participate in this online survey is July 20.

The strategic visionary expectation of this service is to enhance broadband services in the community with a particular focus on strategies that will support economic development, education, public safety, healthcare and the overall quality of life of the citizens of Culpeper County, according to a county staff report.

Asked how folks without high speed internet access the World Wide Web, Loveday said some people use their cell phones as a hotspot.

But then they have data caps and when they exceed them, it can be very expensive, said Loveday. And we still do have people using dial-up.

Loveday said residents living in larger subdivisions such as Lakeview and Rillhurst have cable providers that offer high speed internet, but that service isnt available for the entire county.

So theres coverage here, but theres no competition, explained Loveday.

In April 2013, Linda Bradshaw wrote a letter to the editor printed in the Star-Exponent pleading for high speed internet service in the Jefferson District located in the northern part of the county.

Many high school and college students in the Jefferson District of Culpeper County do not have local access to high speed internet services. This is largely due to the sparsely population and rural geographic location of the Jefferson District. Internet providers, such as Comcast do not find it cost-effective to run cable down many of the long, rural roads where houses are few and spread far apart. Other providers are too slow and/or have too low of a download maximum threshold to be usable for their needs, Bradshaw wrote. Currently there are no foreseeable plans that will change that situation, and students who find themselves needing high speed internet in order to complete homework assignments, research colleges, and apply for grants and scholarships are unable to do that. This puts these students at a disadvantage when it comes to furthering their education.

This latest study will not expand broadband services in Culpeper, but examine ways to do so by providing an analysis of existing infrastructure in the town and county in conjunction with broadband-friendly policies and development of a plan for expansion, according to the staff report.

Although we refer to this as a broadband plan, the study is on all ways by which internet services are provided or may be provided in the future, explained Loveday.

The countys 2015 comprehensive plans goals and objectives included a need for a broadband plan.

As demand for wireless service increases, additional broadband infrastructure will be needed to provide 100 percent coverage throughout the county. Wired technology coverage infrastructure throughout the county is currently limited to the more densely populated areas, approximately 70 percent. Additional wired service is encouraged throughout underserved areas within Culpeper County, the 2015 Culpeper County Comprehensive Plan reads.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, in rural areas across the country, nearly one-fourth of the population  14.5 million people  lack access to high-speed internet access.

For more information about the survey visit web.culpepercounty.gov/Government/County-Departments/Departments-P-V/Planning-and-Zoning.
Significant for its vintage architecture, extensive agricultural roots and deep ties to African American history, Belle Plaine in southeastern Madison County was recently named to the Virginia Landmarks Register. The main house is an evolved late 18th or early 19th century Federal Style house built around an earlier, simpler colonial-era dwelling as part of a larger complex that includes various outbuildings.

Current Belle Plaine owner William Billy Hill, a local realtor, inherited the sprawling property  still used for agriculture  more than 40 years ago from his great aunt. Its been in his family since 1885 when Hills great-grandfather, Edwin, a farmer, bought it for his betrothed, Fannie.

They got married in the front yard, said Billy Hill, noting that his family has long lived in the Locust Dale area of Madison. We run a fairly extensive cattle operation, he added of his total 600 acres on two farms, including Belle Plaine and another adjoining Woodberry Forest School off of U.S. 15.

Friends and neighbors encouraged Hill to see about having the property listed on the state and national historic registers, and he agreed.

I wasnt interested in the money or tax credits, Hill said. Its got a lot of history so this is a way to protect it down the road  one more layer that some government agency has to go through in case they try to do something to it.

The farm has hosted many weddings through the years, and various relatives have died there as well, he said, noting all the ghosts are friendly.

Its a peaceful place, Hill said.

Edwin and Fannie had 10 children, likely accounting for some of the expansions made to the main house, which at its core dates possibly to the 1760s. According to local history, the main house at Belle Plaine started as a one-room log cabin with a lean-to in the back during colonial times.

Hand-hewn, pine-log framing still existing in the ceiling, wall and floors bolsters the pre-Revolutionary War history adding to the estates significance as one of only a few known examples of late 18th century log frame architecture in Madison County.

Hill said he was surprised but excited to learn that the Board of Historic Resources recently unanimously voted to place Belle Plaine on the state register along with 13 other properties around Virginia. A final determination of the Madison County farmstead also being listed on the National Register of Historic Places could take a month or so, according to Sean Maroney, senior historian with the Dovetail Cultural Resources Group in Fredericksburg. He prepared the application.

I think its wonderful that the Belle Plaine property and its unique history, as well as the owners efforts to preserve that history, are being recognized, Maroney said. Its an important piece of Madison Countys past and its listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register not only validates that, but also helps raise public awareness about the areas rich cultural heritage.

Part of the significant cultural heritage at the property is African-American.

Like other areas of Virginia, prior to emancipation and the cessation of the Civil War, enslaved African Americans played a key role in driving Madison Countys agricultural economy, according to the National Register application. This is particularly true in the case of Belle Plaine, where slave labor was employed steadily and in increasing numbers from the late 18th century through the Civil War.

The property was originally part of a 400-acre tract purchased in 1777 by Nicholas Porter when the main house was the log cabin. He had six slaves.

The property sold in 1788 to Hugh Walker, Sr., a former merchant, ship owner and tavern proprietor from Williamsburg. He lived there with his wife and children and had at least seven slaves, according to the National Register nomination.

Prominent Madison County landowner Nathaniel Welch purchased the property  which he named Belle Plaine  in 1811. He operated a sawmill on the tract along Great Run and managed a profitable farm.

At Belle Plaine, slave labor played a key role in Nathaniel Welchs agricultural activities, according to the nomination application.

The 1820 Census listed 16 African-American people among his holdings and by 1840 the number of slaves had increased to 57.

If the jump in the number is any indication, it would appear that Welch was actively, and apparently successfully, expanding his enterprise, and enslaved African-Americans were playing a pivotal role, according to the nomination application.

At the height of his agricultural success, Welch had 687 acres on which he raised cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, wheat, Indian corn, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes and hay. In 1860, two years before he died, Welch owned 25 slaves ranging in age from 9 to 71.

Little remains on the current landscape to tell us where or how they might have lived on the tract, save for a small collection of unmarked gravestones set in a field near the southeast corner of the property. Oral history associates this little cemetery with some of Belle Plaines former African American inhabitants, the application said.

Previously unrecorded, the slave burial site is situated in a copse of trees in the middle of farm fields, containing about 20 to 30 unmarked headstones. Also discovered on the Belle Plaine property was a Welch family cemetery as well as a potential Confederate encampment located on high ground near the main house.

When Hills ancestors purchased the house and its many outbuildings 131 years ago, farming was also their way of life. Edwin Hill died in 1927 and sometime later, it passed to his daughter, Frances Powell Hill, who was living and working as a real estate agent in Washington, D.C. at the time. She is said to be the first woman in the district to receive a brokers license, according to the nomination.

Frances Hill used the home mostly as a summer house until her death in 1972, when the storied place passed to Billy Hill, whos been its steward ever since.

When I go, it will go to my daughter, he said Friday.

Belle Plaine deserves to be on the National Register of Historic Places, Maroney said.

The property embodies and helps tell the story of Madison Countys larger cultural and agricultural development over the last 250 years, he said.
We dont know whether Hillary Clinton reads The Roanoke Times (although we do have a very nice e-mail edition and we know she has e-mail).

So we dont know whether the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee will be reading this editorial or not.

However, we know her staff is vetting prospective running mates and part of that vetting includes reviewing all available public information on the candidates  not to mention the more private research on tax returns and other personal information that the finalists are routinely asked to submit.

So lets assume that part of vetting Sen. Tim Kaine  said to be one of at least three candidates on the proverbial short list  includes reading The Roanoke Times to see what weve said about him over the years. Hes surely beyond our help now, but well gladly make the case for one of our U.S. senators from Virginia, anyway.

To: Hillary Clinton

Re: Your running mate

You have three options, but they are not three different candidates. They are three different ways to view the selection. You can try to excite your base, you can try to make history, or you can aim for a landslide that might sweep in Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House.

Once you decide that overarching framework, that will help narrow your options. Lets review each one.

Excite the base. In theory, a presidential nominee shouldnt have to worry about this. But you do. You are seen as being closer to the political center than most Democrats these days. A recent Bloomberg poll found that nearly half of Bernie Sanders supporters arent ready to vote for you yet. Thats a lot. Even worse, 22 percent of Sanders supporters say theyd vote for Donald Trump (no, thats not a typo) and 18 percent say theyd back Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. Only 55 percent said they were ready for Hillary.

Trump has the potential to upend the usual political dynamics, particularly in the Rust Belt states. You simply cant compete if you dont have every Democrat behind you. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would excite the Democratic base in a way no one else would. Yes, Wall Street will freak out. Yes, we know shes been critical of your policies in the past and that youre not particularly close. You need to set all that aside. If you think this is going to be a close election  and the last four presidential elections have been  you need to excite the base. You need Elizabeth Warren.

Make history. Yes, youre already making history as the first woman nominated for president by a major party. But thats not enough. Deep down, this is an election about demographics. Trump is strongest among white voters, especially white men. You are strongest among minorities. This is a choice between the past and the future. Dont airbrush that; emphasize that. Double down on the history. A ticket of two women  Clinton-Warren  would be doubly historic.

So, too, would be picking a Hispanic running mate, such as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. With everything Trump has said about immigration, how can you pass up the opportunity to draw that contrast even more sharply? Plus, picking Castro should further increase Hispanic turnout  which could help shore up some swing states, such as Florida and Nevada, and might even help pluck Arizona out of the Republican column.

Aim for a landslide. We havent used the L-word a lot in presidential elections; were too polarized for that. But you have a unique chance to pull one off, if things break the right way. Trump could completely implode in a way no other presidential candidate has. One of the main things propping up his numbers right now is Republican fear of, well, you. If you can reassure enough moderate voters, and maybe even a few Republican defectors, you have a possibility of really running up the score. A close win may or may not bring you a Democratic Senate, but it certainly wont give you a Democratic House. Youd be president, but with four years of gridlock. A blow-out win, though, could pull in a governing majority in both houses. Go for it!

How can you reassure those swing voters? One way is to pick a running mate who is seen as eminently qualified  but also isnt polarizing. Fortunately, we have just the man for you  and yes, he is a man. Sorry, youll have to make your own history. But Tim Kaine could help you make it.

Some on the left think hes too collegial, too interested in bipartisanship, not enough of an attack dog. Thats exactly the point, though. If the prospect of a Trump presidency isnt enough to excite the Democratic base, no vice presidential pick is going to do it, either. But a Clinton-Kaine ticket offers the hope that you might not be as polarizing a president as you seem  and that, in turn, offers the possibility of winning over swing voters. The more of them you have, the better chance you have of pulling in down-ticket candidates. Picking Kaine may seem a safe choice, but its actually a bold selection, strategically speaking.

Kaine helps you make the argument that Trump is too dangerous to be trusted with his finger on the button. Heres a guy who has served on both the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, so youd actually be doubling down on that national security point. Kaines also a guy whos had his own version of the proverbial 3 a.m. phone call. As governor, his calm handling of the Virginia Tech shooting  until Orlando, the nations worst ever  was superb. Another sharp contrast with Trump.

Kaine can also speak fluent Spanish. Thats not as exciting as picking a Hispanic running mate, but it is something. Let him talk some about being a missionary in Central America. He may not be exciting  but he could be interesting  and interesting in the kind of way that brings in moderate voters who are terrified of Trump but are hesitant about you. Kaine helps you make the case that Democrats are the safe alternative.

That may not set Democratic hearts racing now  but it will when you win big enough to pull in Democratic majorities with you.

By the way, Kaine does have one colorful attribute. He plays harmonica and often jams with musicians. If you read The Roanoke Times, youd know that already.

The Roanoke Times
GLASGOW - Scotland - In another supremely vindictive threat to the UK, SNP leader is now threatening to use MSPs to veto the EU referendum vote in Holyrood which could ultimately scupper the democratically voted Brexit.

The SNP leader said she would order her MSPs to refuse legislative consent if and when when the Scottish Parliament was required to ratify the UKs withdrawal from the bloc.

Speaking to the BBC she said: If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of whats right for Scotland then the option of saying look were not to vote for something thats against Scotlands interest, of course thats got to be on the table.

The further threats and nasty rhetoric from Sturgeon comes after threatening to hold another vote of Independence from England and Wales on Friday.

These Scottish threats are bitter convulsions and vindictive undemocratic rejections of democratic freedom for the United Kingdom.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has already ruled there is no option but the whole of the UK exiting following Thursdays Leave vote, putting Sturgeons threats to ground.

Vote Leaves Theresa Villiers has rejected the ludicrous claims from Sturgeon and revealed that parliament has the last say on the matter.

Question. Why on earth would anyone vote for independence to gain their supposed freedom only to join an undemocratic EU? It makes no logical sense. The only explanation is a deep seated racist hatred of the English fuelling this odd behaviour.

Fan dabby dozy..
New Delhi: JSW Steel has received the environmental clearance for setting up an integrated steel unit and captive power plant in Jharkhand with an investment of Rs 35,000 crore. The project would create up to 30,000 additional indirect jobs.

As per the proposal, the company will set up a 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity integrated steel unit and a 900 mw captive power plant as well as a township spread across over 3,800 acres in seven villages near Sonahatu block in Ranchi district.

"Early this month, we gave environment clearance to JSW Jharkhand Steel's proposal to install an integrated steel plant along with a captive power plant in Ranchi district," a senior Environment Ministry official told PTI.

The green clearance has been given subject to some conditions based on the recommendations of the government's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), the official said. JSW has signed a pact with Jharkhand government for the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 35,000 crore and generate additional 20,000-30,000 indirect jobs, the official added.

During the first phase, the proposed plant would have a capacity of about 5 MTPA of liquid steel. Among specific conditions, the company has been asked to earmark 2.5 per cent of the total cost of the project towards Enterprise Social Commitment based on public hearing issues and prepare a detailed corporate responsibility plan for next five years for the existing-cum-expansion project.

The company has been asked to cover all permanent workers under Employees' State Insurance Scheme and provide housing for construction labour within the site with all necessary infrastructure.

Besides, it has been asked to develop green belt in 33 per cent of the project area within the plant premises with 20-30 meters wide green belt on all sides along the periphery of the project area. The company has proposed to invest Rs 1,750 crore on pollution control, treatment and monitoring systems including Rs 14 crore for greenbelt development.

The proposed project is in line with the government's National Steel Policy that has set a target to produce 110 million tonnes (MT) of steel by 2020 from the current level of 72 MT. At present, JSW has steel plants in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra with a combined installed capacity of 18 MTPA.
The government thereafter appointed a one-man committee under A P Shah to decide on compensation to be paid to ONGC.

New Delhi: Reliance Industries knew way back in 2003 that its Dhirubhai gas fields in Bay of Bengal block KG-D6 will drain out natural gas from adjacent block of ONGC, regulatory filings by its partner Niko Resources indicate.

Canada's Niko had on April 6, 2004 filed with Toronto Stock Exchange an "Appraisal Report as of March 31, 2003 on Block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6)" natural gas reserves it had commissioned from DeGolyer and MacNaughton (M&M).

In the report, D&M stated: "Development of the KG-DWN- 98/3 block will be capable of depleting the OFIP (Original Gas In-Place) on the KG-OS-IG block."

KG-OS-IG block lies adjacent to KG-D6 and belongs to state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) which had taken RIL to Delhi High Court in May 2014 alleging its gas had been produced by the private firm.

Under court directions, RIL and ONGC appointed D&M to study if the gas fields in their blocks are inter-connected. The US-based consultant in its final report submitted in December 2015 stated that as much as 11.122 billion cubic meters of ONGC gas has migrated to Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 & D3) field located in the KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) Block of RIL.

The government thereafter appointed a one-man committee under A P Shah to decide on compensation to be paid to ONGC. The panel is to submit its report by next month end. Niko, which holds 10 per cent stake in KG-D6 block, had in 2003 commissioned D&M report to understand viability of the gas discoveries made in the KG-D6 block in 2002.

"The OGIP and associated reserves that are located off the KG-DWN-98/3 block have been included as possible reserves attributable to development of the KG-DWN-98/3 block," D&M had said in the 2003 report.

"The reserves associated with that portion of the OGIP would require a separate stand-alone development by the owner of the block (KG-OS-IG) which could prove cost prohibitive."

When contacted, RIL said, "We have already made our detailed submission to the Shah Committee regarding the filing made by Niko. It would be inappropriate to comment on the submission itself in deference to Justice Shah's instructions to the parties to maintain strict confidentiality."

Sources said while ONGC in its submissions to the Shah panel has pointed to the Niko filing to buttress its case, RIL told the panel that comments made in the Appraisal Report "suggest that there was a possibility of connectivity, but only that and is not firm evidence of it."

According to RIL, it was not until D&M undertook its detailed 14-month study and analysis (at a cost of over USD 2 million) and furnished the 2015 Report that reservoir connectivity was indicated. It further stated that the Appraisal Report was in public domain since 2003 and ONGC "could have raised with RIL or (upstream regulator) DGH any issues that it felt required attention or discussion, that than 10 years later, as it did."

To the AP Shah Committee, RIL cited the D&M's comments that independent development of resources in ONGC's block would be 'cost prohibitive' to state that they were "not commercially viable" on a standalone basis.

This implied that to produce them, they had to be necessary produced with neighbouring fields. RIL in its submission stated that the 2003 appraisal report provided "very little from a technical perspective and nothing that is helpful in any joint development consideration" of the adjacent blocks.

"The Appraisal Report comprised of a simplistic consideration of seismic data and very limited well data confined to discover wells in Block KG-DWN-98/3, with no modelling but rather with a reliance on D&M's general experience in geology," it said. It went on to state that seismic data may suggest continuity of channels across block boundaries, but is entirely insufficient in conclusively establishing presence of reservoir and reservoir connectivity.

"Well data from the ONGC blocks was only available to RIL in late 2013 and post-production pressure values from ONGC blocks were obtained by ONGC in the early 2015 through MDT survey in three of their wells," it said.

The 2003 Appraisal Report, RIL said, "relates to wells A1, B1, B2, and C1 of D1-D3 reservoir; it does not give consideration to wells A5, A9, A13 or B8 i.e., the wells which ONGC (wrongfully) claim have caused the alleged drainage and which it made specific complaint of in its Writ Petition (in the Delhi High) that lead to the Terms of Reference (of the AP Shah Committee)."

The company went on to add that it at all times confined its Petroleum Operations to its Contract Area and its exploration and development activities were approved by the Management Committee headed by DGH.
Beijing: Infrastructure development is key to halt the global economic slowdown, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on June 26 as he made a strong case for global investments in India to fill the huge infrastructure gap which requires over USD 1.5 trillion in the next 10 years.

"We have been able to sustain growth in the face of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge," Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, said.

"Over the next decade, we require over USD 1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us," he said, adding that the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan.

Jaitley underlined that infrastructure development is key to halt the global economic slowdown.

"Infrastructure is where inequalities exist and the requirement of large number of economies world over is to fill up this infrastructure gap," he said.

Jaitley was addressing a seminar on "Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth" organised by China-sponsored AIIB along with finance ministers of many countries.

"Over the next decade the world needs trillions of dollars to fill up this gap. I think it is extremely important if the world is to be pulled out from the present slowdown phase, infrastructure development holds the key," he said.

He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India's current infrastructure programme.

"In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation," he said.

Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs. The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said.

"These are all the emphasis areas we have undertaken," he said.

About arranging funding for the massive development, he said, "We realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins with a lot of private funds".

At the same time, there are large number of developmental institutions like the World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long-term returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said.
Even if India signs a deal with Mozambique, tur dal cannot be supplied immediately as the latter's rabi tur crop is expected to arrive only by September-October.

New Delhi: Under pressure to control pulses prices, the Centre is hopeful of clinching a long-term deal with Mozambique for assured supply of lentils after the two countries had positive talks last week.

Indian delegations last week visited pulses growing nations, Mozambique and Myanmar, to explore government-to- government arrangement for assured supply of lentils, especially tur, on a long term basis.

"The delegation is back with long term solution in sight. The final draft is awaiting response of Mozambique government. The Government of India is expecting positive response as soon as possible," Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande told PTI.

Pande, who led the delegation to the African nation, said the talks were "positive" and definitely the country's pulses supply would improve once the long-term arrangement is signed.

"One thing is sure, we want long-term arrangement of assured supply with both Mozambique and Myanmar. The road map has to be in line with the arrangement between two sovereign governments and not private traders," he said.

"The work is in progress. They are looking at prices and other logistic issues like port. Let's see," he added.

Asked if India will talk to other African nations, Pande said, "If Mozambique model works, it might work for other pulses growing countries like Malawi and Tanzania."

Mozambique grows around 70,000 tonnes pulses, mainly tur dal and some urad. The entire quantity is exported to India and to meet NRI demand in other parts of world. Same is with Myanmar which produces about 50,000 tonnes of tur.

Even if India signs a deal with Mozambique, tur dal cannot be supplied immediately as the latter's rabi tur crop is expected to arrive only by September-October. In domestic market, retail pulses prices have risen unabated for more than a year and at present ruling close to Rs 200/kg in view of seven million tonnes shortfall in domestic output following two drought years.

To tame price rise, the government is creating buffer stock of pulses up to 8 lakh tonnes from domestic procurement and imports. It has imposed stock holding limits on pulses to check hoarding, banned chana futures and also selling tur and urad at subsidised rates to give relief to consumers.

India's pulses output is estimated to be 17.06 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), marginally lower than the previous year's production of 17.15 million tonnes. But the output is lower than the overall demand of 23.5 million tonnes.
The two additions has led to the service tax rate rising to 15 per cent. (Representational Image)

New Delhi: In a bid to end confusion over retrospective applicability of new Krishi Kalyan Cess, the government has stated that the 0.5 per cent tax will not apply on services whose invoice had been issued on or before May 31.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had in his Budget for 2016-17 fiscal introduced the 0.5 per cent Krishi Kalyan Cess on all taxable services. Proceeds of the cess are to be used for improvement of agriculture sector and farmer welfare.

While the new cess was to come into effect from June 1, 2016, questions had been raised about its applicability on services like telephony services that are rendered in May but billed in June.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in a notification said services for which invoice has been raised on or before May 31, 2016 will not attract the new cess.

"The Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts taxable services with respect to which the invoice for the service has been issued on or before the May 31, 2016, from the whole of Krishi Kalyan Cess leviable thereon," the notification said.

The new cess will apply on all taxable services including restaurant bills, travel, phone bills, In the previous Budget, Jaitley had brought in a 0.5 per cent Swacch Bharat Cess.

The two additions has led to the service tax rate rising to 15 per cent. Although charged along with service tax, KKC is to be listed separately by service providers on the invoice, as a distinct line-item and paid using a unique accounting code notified by the government.

Jaitley had pegged service tax receipts at Rs 2,16,000 crore, of which KKC will give Rs 5,000 crore. In a separate notification, CBEC said the tax will not apply on service rendered in transportation of goods to India for which invoice has been raised on or before May 31.

"The Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts the taxable services by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from outside India up to the customs station in India with respect to which the invoice for the service has been issued on or before the May 31, 2016, from the whole of service tax leviable thereon," it said.

This would be subject to the condition that the import manifest or import report required to be delivered under section 30 of the the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) has been delivered on or before May 31, 2016 and the service provider or recipient produces Customs certified copy of such import manifest or import report.
In the quest to find inner peace and 'spiritual enlightenment', former Bigg Boss contestant turned nun, Gaia Mother Sofia aka Sofia Hayat, has traveled to the Kailash temple in Aurangabad. The former model has set out on the pilgrimage to find peace and also to learn more about the gods.

Sofia uploaded several photos and videos of her various spiritual encounters on her Instagram account. Going by her long notes, it sure looks like the former actress has had an enlightening experience there.

A photo posted by Gaia Mother Sofia (@sofiahayat) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:45am PDT

However, one statement in her long notes had made a few followers raise an eyebrow. Writing about her experience while meditating in front of a Shivling, Sofia says, Today I know I gave birth to Shiva. Today he came back to me and is inside me.

A video posted by Gaia Mother Sofia (@sofiahayat) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:27am PDT

Kailash temple in Aurangabad is so so powerful. I couldn't breathe. I felt a massive magnetic energy draw my head to the Shiv Lingh. I was shaking for 1hr. I could not lift my head from the Shiv Lingh it was stuck like a magnetic. Something so powerful is happening. Om namah shivaya. My body is changing. Today I know I gave birth to Shiva. Today he came back to me and is inside me. I felt scared for such a big powerful change in my body. I am changing back to who I am. The Gods are coming back. The power in me is so great. Shiva is here inside me. It is so powerful I am shaking in my very soul. The time is here. Sacred children it is here. - Gaia Mother Sofia

She also encouraged several devotees to visit the temple and seek Lord Shivas blessings. Sofia had also visited the holy city of Varanaci, where she traveled around the city and befriended a cow, a street vendor and sought blessings from a sadhu.

A photo posted by Gaia Mother Sofia (@sofiahayat) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:09am PDT

A photo posted by Gaia Mother Sofia (@sofiahayat) on Jun 22, 2016 at 7:06am PDT

A photo posted by Gaia Mother Sofia (@sofiahayat) on Jun 22, 2016 at 6:49am PDT
It is not the budget that determines whether a film is successful or not. The film Moondru Mudichu, which starred Rajinikanth, Kamal and Sridevi was made at a cost of `10 lakhs and was a blockbuster hit, stated ace director K.S. Ravikumar during the audio launch of Chandikuthirai. The film has Chinnathirai actor Rajkamal in the lead.

Manasa debuts as the heroine with this film. Anbumathi, a short story writer, who has directed and scripted many TV serials wields the megaphone. It is a comedy thriller which talks about the darker side of the selfie crazewhether the advent of technology is a boon or bane. Varasri composes the music.

Rajkamal is a popular television star, who wanted to make a mark in tinsel town. Apparently, the actor has turned down several TV soaps for film opportunities. With his debut movie Mael Naattu Marumagan is gearing up for release, the actor has bagged his second movie Chandikuthirai.

Comedian Ganja Karuppuu will be back to Ktown after a gap. Vaarashri, a well-known name in devotional circuit for his lyrics, has been roped in for music. Finally, my hard work has paid off! Chandikuthirai is an interesting subject and I have given my hundred percent, Rajkamal says.
For the past few days, Priyadarshan has been busy with the editing works of his upcoming film Oppam at his studio in Chennai. Oppam has him teaming up with his best buddy Mohanlal after a small gap. Completing the days work by 8 pm on June 25, the director managed to find a few minutes to open up about his new flick, which will mark the 30th year of the first Priyan-Lal megahit - Thalavattom.

Yes it has been 30 years since Thalavattom was released. More than that, June 25 was the 20th anniversary of Kalapani, he says. He has penned the screenplay for Oppam after a long gap, Though I used to write screenplays during the initial days of my career, after I became busy in Bollywood, I did not get enough time to dedicate for scripting. I guess, Chandralekha was the last Mohanlal-starrer for which I penned the script, he says.

Kilukkam is turning 25 this year and Minnaram was shot around 22 years ago. And all these movies  Thalavattom, Kilukkam, Minnaram, Chitram and Mithunam  were shot in Ooty, our lucky location. All those movies were super hits too. Once again we shot in Ooty with Lal for Oppam, he said hopefully. Priyan shares an incident on the sets of Oppam for which his son Siddharth was assisting him during his vacation.

Amidst the shoot, we reached a place named School Manth, where we had shot the song Ponveene in Thalavattom. To cherish our memory, we played the song on YouTube. When Sidharth saw this, he said, Amma looks likes a young girl. Suddenly, we thought of making such a shot for Oppam with same lens and track in front of the same tree. The only difference was that instead of Lissy, it was Baby Meenakshi who shared the screen with Lal. In fact, Lal was the one who wanted to shoot it.

During the shoot in Ooty, Priyadarshan and Lal couldnt help missing their dearest Jagathy Sreekumar sets. In all our films shot in Ooty, Jagathy had essayed pivotal roles. It is for the first time we were shooting here without Jagathy chettan, he remembers.

Oppam poster

When it comes to Oppam, he says, no one can accuse this film of being a remake or a copy. I have tried almost all genres with my 92 to 93 films in last 35 years. That includes romantic, comedy and period films. But Oppam will be my first crime-thriller. Though it is a thriller, you can see quite a few humorous scenes too. This script is written from a single-line story I heard from a young writer Govindan. The screenplay is its backbone. Oppam is the most challenging screenplay that I have written till date. I have applied the entire lessons I learnt from my career for this screenplay. More than that, you need good skills to give a visual form to that screenplay. Oppam is a fresh piece of creativity. I can bravely say that you have not seen this type of film earlier and I can proudly say that budding film makers can use this as a reference material, he says.

The director doesnt hide his irritation over the negative comments on social media. When we released the first look poster of Oppam with a still of Lals character as a visually-challenged person with white cane, many pointed out that he wore a watch, claiming that a blind man never wears a wrist watch. There are many who doesnt know that there is a special watch for the blind, says the director, who had deactivated his Facebook profile for around five-six months.

I have seen many people misusing Facebook profiles. The main reason which prompted me to keep aloof from Facebook was that I came to notice some negative comments against our former president Abdul Kalam when he left us. It was really hurtful for me, says Priyadarshan, adding that the same people are out there in the cyber world to peep into the life of others.

Many rumours are doing the rounds in connection with me and Lissy. Those articles were published without consulting with either of us. A few days back, Lissy had come up with a clarification. It was after reading these articles that I came to realise that there are many people who are more interested in our lives than we are, he sums up.
Nine years ago, Basheer John moved to Hyderabad from Khammam. His love for theatre brought him to the city of Nawabs where he went on to pursue an MA in theatre.

Today, after a Nandi Award and several award-winning shows across the world, Basheer is adding yet another feather to his hat by showcasing a play in South Koreas International Theatre Exchange Workshop and Festival. The play will also be presented at the prestigious PUM Theatre Festival.

The excitement is pretty evident in the voice of John, who is just back from Sweden after a talk at the Stockholm University and will shortly be heading to South Korea. My work with an NGO for kids, Bhumika, got me this chance to perform in South Korea. I will be representing India, he explains, adding, We are deciding between a traditional play and one that deals with modern day India.

For John, theatre has always been a way of life. Back in Khammam, we would do a lot of street theatre. After moving to Hyderabad, I picked up other nuances of the artform, he says. Always interested in writing and directing plays, John went on to direct a play for children that eventually won the Nandi Award in 2010. The play Katta Katta Desham was about a foolish king which had a contemporary setting. We won the Nandi Award for best music and production, he says.

However, it was after his Masters degree that he developed a keen interest to work with children. We always talk about theatre disappearing. So to revive it, we need to start from the very beginning and that happens to be from the kids, he says.

John primarily works in Telugu, Hindi and English. The director, whose play Katta Katta Desham has had 40 shows till date says, I have done 17 plays, but then I thought why limit myself to a particular language, why not write something with no language at all.

It was then that he wrote Whistle that has now completed 25 shows. The actors speak gibberish and communicate in funny noises. The play is about how whistles control children at schools. We had our first show in 2014 and till date, my team has been travelling across the country with the show. The kids love it and the team is currently travelling to Kerala to take part in a competition, he explains.

A pioneer in childrens theatre, John has worked with kids from impoverished backgrounds. One of his earliest plays was performed by kids from a slum in Kavadiguda. Eventually, I moved from working with children to working for children, he says. It was through this work that John got in touch with NGO Bhumika that put him through the theatre festival in South Korea.
Washington: If you rely on a fertility app to track your cycle, bad news: Most of them miscalculate the fertile window, according to a recent study.

The study included the top 20 fertility websites found using a Google search, and the 33 most popular fertility apps in the Google Play store and the Apple App Store.

Usually, a woman with a standard 28-day menstrual cycle will ovulate around day 15, which would also be the last day of a six-day fertile window. While most reliably predicted the day of ovulation, the research found that only four provided the correct fertile window.

This suggests thousands of women are being wrongly informed about when they are most likely to conceive.

Dr Robert Setton, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York Presbyterian Hospital, said that before using any website or app, women need to understand that the actual fertile window consists of the day of ovulation plus the preceding five cycle days.

The findings suggest that women should be cautious about relying only on websites and apps to predict the best days each month to try to conceive, the authors concluded.

The study appears in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The module for this scheme has already been prepared by the ministry.

New Delhi: Amid the Modi government's push for yoga, AYUSH Ministry has decided to certify institutes imparting training in the ancient discipline for physical and mental well-being to ensure quality control and check mushrooming of centres which do not meet even the basic standards.

The ministry has asked yoga institutes across the country to apply for government certification by the end of this year.

The module for this scheme has already been prepared by the ministry.

"The scheme provides a mechanism to ensure the credibility and authenticity of the services provided," AYUSH Minister Sripad Yesso Naik said.

Secretary, department of AYUSH, Ajit M Sharan said, the Ministry is likely to issue guidelines in this regard soon.

The scheme applies to both wellness centres and institutes that offer training and diploma/degree courses in yoga. The various criteria for certification will include

infrastructure of a given institute, number of instructors employed, the period it has been in existence and the kind of courses it offers.

An institute seeking accreditation will have to apply online with Quality Control of India (QCI). "We will put a detailed accreditation form on our website. There is a

guidelines book that will be published and will be freely available to all institutions. Institutes can then apply following which our assessors will visit them and decide whether they qualify to be certified by the Ministry of AYUSH," QCI secretary general R P Singh said.

Secretary, AYUSH, Ajit M Sharan said the exercise has been necessitated because of mushrooming of yoga institutes which do not meet even the basic standards.

"Rishikesh has 300 yoga institutes. There have been instances when people have come from abroad and felt these institutes hardly have anything to offer. So there are instances of litigation and police complaints.

Hence, there is a need to certify or give accreditation to these centres so that they carry certain credibility. We are not regulating them but we are saying that these are the minimum required standards, if you meet them then we will certify you," he said.

The Ministry had last year announced voluntary certification of yoga professionals in collaboration with QCI in order to certify the competence level of trainers. Around 10,500 yoga professionals have since registered with QCI and

300 of them have received the certification. QCI secretary general Singh said,"We intend to homogenise the whole chain through which professionals and institutes are accredited so that there is a uniformity in the entire yoga curriculum."

He went on to add that eventually yoga centres, including those abroad, will get certified by QCI and AYUSH Ministry.

The council has roped in prominent yoga exponents like ISHA Foundation's Jaggi Vasudev, Art of Living's Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ramdev, H R Nagendra and O P Tiwari, among others, who have helped design the module of the scheme.
The alligator gar, so called because of its distinctive snout.

Hyderabad: Exotic pet trade is a serious area of concern when it comes to the issue of invasive alien species.

Many times, traders and owners release their exotic pets in the open when they feel that they cannot take care of the animals.

Example are the alligator fish, alligator gar, which is being found in rivers and ponds in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and piranha found in the Godavari river in AP.

Recently an exotic turtle species belonging to Malaysia was found by a wildlife enthusiast from Hyderabad at the Hussainsagar. With no natural predator, they adjust to the new ecosystem and breed with impunity, putting local species under threat.

According to a wildlife enthusiast, Hyderabad has many breeders of many exotic animals, reptiles, birds and fish which include even the Llama of South America, macaques from Africa and reptiles like iguana and sugar glider.

Controlling the breeders is a difficult job as the exotic animals do not come under Wildlife Protection Act.

A case can be booked only if it is proven that the exotic animal owned by someone was smuggled from another country.
Hyderabad: Fish at the Ameenpur lake near the city, recently declared a biodiversity heritage site by the Telangana state government, are under threat from an alien invasive fish species named Tilapia, a native of Africa.

Nine fish species have been recorded from the lake. Officials of the Telangana State Biodiversity Board say that all these species are under threat from Tilapia, introduced in India many years ago for commercial benefit because they breed agressively.Unlike other local fish, Tilapia breed more than once in a year. Of the nine species in the Ameenpur lake, only 4-5 were easily spotted and their population was very less.

A senior official of the board said, While Tilapia is considered herbivorous, there are research papers which consider them omnivorous. If there is a decline in quantity of herbivore food they might start eating the local fish.

The Ameenpur lake is not the only water body facing a problem from Tilapia; it is common to rivers and tanks in the state where aquaculture is practised.

A study conducted by the fisheries department of Telangana that analysed fish catch over two years from 15 sampling stations on the Krishna river found that a large percentage was of a variety of Tilapia called as Nile Tilapia, which is known to adapt easily and suppress the native species.

The study found that 36-49 per cent of the catch was of the Nile Tilapia variety. African catfish, another invasive alien species, turned up in nearly 5 per cent of the catch.

Other alien species like silver carp, grass carp and common carp which were introduced for boosting fisheries are also posing a danger. Gambusia, introduced for killing mosquito larvae, has been found to be invasive in some water bodies.
Special teams of government railway police comprising two DSPs and five inspectors are hunting for the killer, identified from surveillance cameras clips.

Chennai: In a special drive against rowdyism, following a rise in number of murders in public places and the city turning unsafe for women, cops have rounded up over 161 history-sheeters during the last two days.

A day after the murder of woman techie S. Swathi, 24, at Nungambakkam railway station, the railway police are yet to make a breakthrough in the case.

Special teams of government railway police comprising two DSPs and five inspectors are hunting for the killer, identified from surveillance cameras clips.

We are yet to make any breakthrough. But working on various angles said a senior railway cop. Police sources indicated that a youth, among others believed to be a friend of the killer, has been picked up for questioning. Police had already questioned scores of people, including victims friends, family members and witnesses. Police have not ruled out the possibility of the suspect being a hired killer.
"As per Banjara, when his wife did not return despite all his prayers, he broke the Lord Hanuman's idol in anger last night," the SP said. (Photo: Representational Image)

Indore: A 37-year-old man was arrested on Sunday after he allegedly damaged an idol of Lord Hanuman at a temple in Palda area in Indore, police said.

Manoj Banjara (37) was arrested for damaging the idol at the ancient Khedapati Hanuman temple in Indore, City Superintendent of Police Shashikant Kankane said.

"Banjara is not in the right frame of mind. His wife had gone to her parents' home following a tiff about four months back. According to Banjara, when he did not succeed in bringing his wife back despite all efforts, he then prayed to Lord Hanuman seeking some miracle that she may come back.

"As per Banjara, when his wife did not return despite all his prayers, he broke the Lord Hanuman's idol in anger last night," the SP said.

Manoj has been arrested and booked, he said, adding that further investigation in the matter is on.

Meanwhile, RSS's Dharm Jagran Vibhag local unit convenor Vinod Mishra expressed dissatisfaction over police action and demanded a high-level probe into the incident.

He alleged that that police arrested Manoj in order to save their skin.

The idol damage incident sparked tension in Palda area, in view of which police force was deployed there.

Members of some right wing organisations flocked the temple this morning demanding strict police action in the case immediately.
New Delhi: On the 41st anniversary of imposition of Emergency, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday took swipes at Congress and blamed it for delaying economic reforms by two decades, transforming India into a 'dynastic democracy' and bringing in corruption.

Besides Emergency, operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple was another blot on its record, he said, throwing a challenge at the present Congress leadership and asking if it had any views on these issues.

"If one looks back at the history of the Congress Party after independence, the blots on it are economic reforms being delayed by over two decades, transformation of India in to a dynastic democracy, the imposition of Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption.

"I wonder whether the current leadership of the Congress Party has a view on this subject. Will the Congress Party have an internal debate on these issues?" the minister said in his Facebook post - 'Constitutional dictatorship imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi forty-one years ago'.

On June 26, 1975, Indira Gandhi imposed an internal emergency in the country, he said, adding "the phoney reason she gave was that there was a breakdown of public order in as much as Jai Prakash Narain had asked the police and the army not to follow illegal orders."

The actual reason, however, was that her continuation as the Prime Minister was threatened since the Allahabad High Court had unseated her as Member of Parliament for adopting corrupt practices during her election, he said.

"The impact of the Emergency was to inflict a dictatorship on the country. All political opponents were detained. The authority of the Courts to hear a challenge against the detentions was suspended. The Supreme Court caved in before the dictator.

"The Press was subjected to pre-censorship. The Press became a spokesperson of the dictator. No public protest was allowed.

"The Parliament was without an opposition. By projecting her son Sanjay as her successor, the dictator converted India into a dynastic regime. Inner party democracy was throttled," Jaitley said.

Recalling the days of Emergency, Jaitley said Parliament without an opposition amended the Constitution in order to legitimise a Constitutional dictatorship and only political workers offered some resistance by courting arrest and going to jail.

He outlined as "most significant" the collapse of the media and the Supreme Court before the dictatorship. "Politicians were the only institution that fought the emergency since they were the only accountable section of society.

"The standards of accountability of the political class are high," he said, adding that the "even the dictator had to face an electorate when faced with International and National opinion pressures."
Due to barbed wire fencing and alertness of the BSF, they could not enter India, SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said. (Photo: File)

Agartala: BSF thwarted an attempt of about 300 Bangladeshi nationals to enter Indian territory at Champahaor area of Tripura's Khowai district and later they were taken back by the neighbouring country, police said on Sunday.

"Around 300 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday tried to enter through Champahaor but they were stopped by the BSF. They returned last night following a flag meeting between BSF and BGB," SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said.

He said they were tribals and "evicted" by the forest guards of Bangladesh from Chunarughat area of Habiganj district of the neighbouring country.

BSF and district administration of Khowai provided them food and drinking water during their stay along the border, he said.

Bhowmick said due to barbed wire fencing and alertness of the BSF, they could not enter India.
Kumari's appointment is apparently aimed at avoiding any controversy ahead of the Assembly polls in Punjab next year. (Photo: Facebook)

New Delhi: Congress on Sunday appointed party secretary Asha Kumari as the AICC in-charge of Punjab in place of Kamal Nath, who had resigned following an uproar by BJP, SAD and AAP over his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Kumari, who is an MLA from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh, has served in various capacities in the party. She is a relatively a lesser known face compared to Nath who was a cabinet minister in the previous UPA government.

Her appointment is apparently aimed at avoiding any controversy ahead of the Assembly polls in Punjab next year.

Read: Kamal Nath resigns as Punjab Congress in-charge

The lawmaker from Himachal Pradesh had been convicted in a land grab case in February and is currently out on bail.

A former state education minister, Asha Kumari had been accused of illegally transferring 60 bighas of forest land belonging to the government in the name of her husband, Brijender Singh, 18 years ago. Singh belonged to the royal family of Chamba.

Party sources had earlier said that in Punjab the leadership could make a temporary appointment of an existing general secretary till a decision is taken on induction of new leaders in the AICC secretariat.

Nath had relinquished on June 15 the charge of Punjab after BJP, SAD and AAP stepped up their attack on the party over the appointment.

He has refuted the allegations against him. Nath has said that he was "hurt" by the developments wherein an "unnecessary controversy" has been created around the "tragic" 1984 riots.

The riots had followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Chennai: A city court has ordered issuance of arrest warrant against Hindi film producer Firoz A Nadiadwala in connection with a cheque bounce case.

The XVII Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet, ordered issuance of warrant, directing the inspector of police, Juhu police station in Mumbai to arrest Nadiadwala and produce him before the court on June 27. If Nadiadwala furnishes one surety before the court, he may be released, the magistrate added.

According to the complainant Nirmal Kumar Maheswari, a city based film financier, in 2011 Nadiadwala had borrowed Rs 2 crore from him for producing a film titled Power. However, the film was never made and released. Therefore, they entered into an agreement in September 2013 that Nadiadwala would pay Rs 5.4 crore towards principal and interest to Maheswari, before the release of his next film Welcome Back, starring John Abraham. However, in July 2015 a public notice was issued in the media announcing that all copy rights, title and other rights were to be sold to another company and that people having objections could lodge the same. Accordingly, he lodged his protest.

However, before release of the movie, Nadiadwala approached him and issued another letter stating that Eros International would pay Rs 2.5 crore and he would pay Rs 50 lakh before September 2015 and the remaining would be paid before the release of his next film titled Hera Pheri-3. Since Eros International did not pay Rs 2.5 crore and the cheques issued by Nadiadwala for Rs 2.5 crore were returned for want of sufficient funds, he filed the present complaint, Maheswari added.
Patna: The fake Class 12 'topper' Ruby Rai, who was arrested in Patna for bribing officials to get highest marks has leaded innocence in her statement to the police, and claimed that she only wanted to pass the test.

I am just a village girl. I do not know how I topped the sate, the Hindustan Times reported Rai as saying.

Rai a student of Vishnu Rai College, was arrested on Saturday after she wrote only one sentence in a re-test of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), and was sent to a 14-days judicial custody.

In the subsequent questioning by the police, Rai acknowledged that the principal of VR college, Bachcha Rai was a distant relative of hers, and though she did not have any contact with him, did not rule out the possibility of her father intervening.

In the re-test, Ruby Rai reportedly wrote only one line Tulsidasji, Pranam (salutations Tulsidasji) when asked to write an essay on the Hindi saint poet, claiming that she forgot what she studied.

Ruby was among the toppers whose results were scrapped. Her comments during a TV interview after she was declared the topper in Humanities stream this year had led to the lid being taken off from the toppers scam in the state.

She had pronounced Political Science which was one of her subjects as "Prodikal science" which according to her taught cooking.

After skipping two summons to appear before a team of subject experts for reassessment of her exam performance, Ruby, enrolled from the controversial Vishun Roy college in Vaishali, arrived at BSEB office on Saturday to face a written re-test as well as interview.

Meanwhile, during questioning the private assistant (PA) of former BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Singh revealed that Rs 15 lakh was charged for declaring toppers through dubious means.

The PA, Vikash Chandra, further revealed that a sum of Rs 10 lakh was charged from a failed student to give them pass certificates, he said.

Singh, his former JD(U) MLA wife Usha Sinha, Vishun Roy college secretary-cum principal Bachha Rai and nearly a dozen others have been arrested in the degree racket case.
The FDI inflow into the country has increased at USD 55.46 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 36.04 billion during 2013-14. (Photo: PTI)

Bhubaneswar : Union Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday welcomed the decision to notify changes in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the defence sector and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government has taken this step to make India an export hub.

Read: 100 per cent FDI in defence need of the hour: M Venkaiah Naidu

"The government has taken a big step in defence sector by increasing FDI. This has been done so that India becomes 'export hub' over the years," Parrikar said.

"When our government came to power, import was 70 percent. Now, import has come down to below 60 percent. I can assure that by the time this government ends its first term, we will be able to bring down our imports to 40 percent," he added.

Last week, it was announced that 100 percent FDI would be permitted under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce in respect of food products manufactured or produced in India .

The key changes include allowing 100 percent FDI under government approval route for trading, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured or produced in India and permitting up to 100 per cent FDI in defence sector.

Read: Will oppose FDI in defence in Parliament, says Congress

The other sectors that have benefitted include the broadcasting, pharmaceuticals, civil aviation, single brand retail among others.

The ruling BJP-led NDA Government has brought major FDI policy reforms in a number of sectors like defence, construction development, insurance, pension sector, broadcasting sector, tea, coffee, rubber, among others in last two years.

The FDI inflow into the country has increased at USD 55.46 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 36.04 billion during 2013-14.

This is the highest ever FDI inflow for a particular financial year.
Rijiju said the only method to make it happen is that the state governments must deliver. (Photo: GN Jha)

Hyderabad: Asserting that no government at the Centre has been as clean as the BJP-led NDA regime, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said the non-BJP ruled states must ensure that people reap benefits of the schemes launched by the Union Government.

"In the last two years we have seen that no Central government has been as clean as this government."

"It is completely clean because our leadership is clean and the government is clean, and we are very categorical that we are a government in a democratic set up and we must be transparent and we must be accountable for every penny we spend for the people of this country," Rijiju, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, told reporters in Hyderabad.

He said in a country of 1.2 billion people, each ministry runs so many multiple programmes which are always prone to corruption and some kind of dereliction of duty.

"Two years ago, the corridors of power were full of brokers and middlemen. Today, you will not find a single broker or middleman loitering around or moving in corridors of South Block and North Block," he said.

"We have delivered in last two years to the people of India and in the next three years, the remaining period of our government, we will transform the art of governance," he added.

BJP is the only political party today which has spread the message of good governance across the country, he said.

"Our government, in last two years has achieved the feat (of doing so many things) in a short span of time. But, unfortunately, in non-BJP ruled states the benefits are not reaching directly to the people," Rijiju claimed.

The Union Minister said the Prime Minister is round-the-clock churning out programmes and policies for the benefit of people and the down-trodden and is continuously monitoring developmental programmes and works across the country.

"When we visit various locations in different states, we realise that all those states which are ruled by BJP are quick in receiving the funds and executing the projects and reaching the benefit for the people."

"But, in non-BJP ruled states, they are not quick enough in making the people get the benefit of the great people-oriented programmes launched by the Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Rijiju said.

"We would like to appeal to the people of Telangana that we believe in democracy and good governance. Every penny we send from the Centre must reach to the people and if the government of the day is unable to spend money for the people, then people must raise their voice," he said.

Further adding that various schemes launched by the Centre must reach the people, Rijiju said the only method to make it happen is that the state governments must deliver.

"The Constitutional provisions speak about federal structure of this country and we believe in cooperative federalism. We do not want to encroach upon the rights of the state government and we will not encroach on the jurisdiction of the state government. We would like to appeal that the good (works) done by the Centre must reach to the people," he said.

Talking about the the 41st anniversary of the Emergency, Rijiju said, "Emergency is one such occasion we cannot forget.

We are opposed to any kind of personality cult or dynastic politics. We are opposed to concentration of power to one individual because that leads to dictatorship. That is what happened 41 years ago."

"The then Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) became dictator of this great nation and everything was suspended.

All freedom and all fundamental rights were suspended. We need to remind our younger generation also about this," he added.
The mob took to vandalism on not being allowed to meet the MLA, they also burnt a bus.

Ludhiana: In an untoward incident, a mob on Saturday broke into Punjab legislator Farzana Nissara Khatoons house and took to vandalism. Being vexed by someone tearing pages of the Quran, the mob tried to approach the MLA, but in vain. They damaged the property after they were not allowed to meet her.

According to The Indian Express, bystanders came across a Quran whose pages were torn near Jarg Chowk in Malerkotla. Enraged by the turn of event, a mob decided to approach Khatoon, who stays on Ludhiana-Malerkotla Road. The situation took an ugly turn when the mob was not allowed to enter Khatoons residence.

Not giving in to the security guards orders, the mob forcefully entered Khatoons compound. Taking to violence, they attacked the guards and security personnel; some of them even trespassed the boundary walls and damaged vehicles of the MLA. Besides, private buses were torched by the protesters.

Additional forces were rushed to the spot immediately after the incident. Over 250 people have been booked under charges of murder, however, no arrests have been made yet.

Three FIR have been lodged in connection with the case. Desecration of Quran, attack on police personnel and damage of property are some of the alleged complaint filed with the police. Two persons have been injured, said the police.

On being enquired about the incident, the MLA said, It is political mischief by rival parties and the police need to answer this query at the earliest.

A probe into the matter has been conducted, said the police.
Fatehgarh/Srinagar: In the wake of attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India even as he said lapses, if any, in Sunday's incident would be looked into and status of infiltration ascertained.

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest one on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

The team will look into the possible increase of cross border infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased eight CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."

After the attack, CRPF has moved about half-a-dozen heavy-armoured mine protected vehicles (MPVs), which were earlier used for anti-Naxal operations, to Kashmir Valley to effectively secure its troops deployed there.

"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

"We won't fire first but if Pakistan does, we won't keep an account of our bullets," Rajnath said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace "but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness".

He said the attack is "fallout of frustration" as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from Pakistani side.

"I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry," he said.

Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to send a team to Pampore "to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents."

The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.

"We should greet and welcome the bravery of our security people and the way they are working with such valour and courage... India cannot forget those security men who got martyred. They are not with us now and we pay our tributes to

them," the Home Minister said.

Mehbooba, who laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the CRPF personnel in Srinagar, said targeting security forces personnel who were only doing their duty was "condemnable".

"This is a fasting month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins. This is the time when we should be making sure not to hurt others. This kind of attack where you are affecting families by snatching their bread earner is condemnable.

"Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a setback to the religion we practice," the Chief Minister said.

Emphasising that militants were also giving a setback to tourism of Kashmir, she told reporters that "People from many countries have started arriving but this would send a wrong signal about the situation here."

She said such attacks also deprived Jammu and Kashmir from its share of development witnessed in the rest of India.

"Today there is atmosphere of development. India is attracting lot of investments in infrastructure development and healthcare but when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the investors shy away because of these incidents. The worst sufferers of these attacks are people of Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar said, "It is a desperate act by the terrorists. You must have seen over the past few days the attacks at Anantnag, Bijbehara or Pampore, these are desperate acts. Over the past six months, many terrorists and their leadership have been eliminated."

He downplayed suggestions that the CRPF casualties could have been avoided if there had been better intelligence.

"The CRPF personnel were returning after doing their duty and in such cases they become sitting ducks. In earlier attacks, the militants managed to escape but yesterday, our jawans were alert, there were intelligence reports which led to neutralising of terrorists. They could not escape," Kumar said.

Asked if there was any militant involved in Saturday's attack on the loose, the DGP said, "We are investigating the case. We are looking at all possible angles and links and we will get them, we will get the perpetrators to the book."

On the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 2, Kumar said, "We will take all steps necessary for safe and secure environment for smooth conduct of the yatra."

On infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control, the DGP said while "some infiltration has taken place, JK police and security forces are all prepared and geared up to handle any sort of situation".

Paying homage to legendary Sikh warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the Union Home Minister said that historians had not done justice to him despite his "unprecedented sacrifice".

Lauding the contribution of 'Khalsa Panth' to the country, he said it has served as an armour (Surakhya Kavach) to safeguard the Indian culture and civilization.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal called upon the people to follow the teachings of Banda Singh Bahadur and overcome forces of tyranny, oppression and injustice.

The Chief Minister said Banda Singh Bahadur's sacrifice in the annals of Indian History laid the foundation of Indian Freedom movement with establishing of the first 'Sikh Raj' in 1709.

He was a true champion of oppressed sections of the society especially the farmers upon whom he bestowed the ownership rights thereby abolishing the Zamindari system, Badal said.

Seeking inspiration from Bahadur's great philosophy, Badal said, "Our government has also taken several pro-poor and farmer friendly initiatives to improve upon their lot in its own humble way."

The Chief Minister lamented that the Sikhs failed to preserve their rich cultural heritage, adding it was an established fact that the nations which tend to forget their history eventually perish.

Appreciating efforts of BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the Chief Minister thanked Singh for constituting SIT to reopen the cases of 1984 riots, besides enhancing the compensation to its victims from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs five lakh.

Badal said with these initiatives, these hapless victims had last seen a "light at the end of the tunnel" after a period of 32 years thereby assuaging the tormented psyche of Sikhs.

He attacked the Congress, alleging that it has shielded the guilty.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the state government is fully aware of its responsibility to make theyounger generation to comprehend the glorious cultural and heritage of the state.

Keeping in view, Punjab is contemplating to launch a scheme so that the youth from villages across the state could witness the historical monuments in the buses on the lines of'Tirath Yatra Scheme'.

Throwing light on the initiatives of the state government, he said the Chief Minister is paying special attention to the preservation of heritage of state.

Lashing out at those who were "trying to defame the state by branding its entire youth as drug addicts", he said "anti-Punjab and anti-Panthic people have evil designs" ontheir mind as such unscrupulous elements want to disturb hard earned peace of the state.

He said the state government would not allow the nefarious plans of such forces to succeed.

Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, Cabinet Minister Daljit Singh Cheema, Bikram Singh Majithia, BJP MLA and minister Madan Mohan Mittal.
China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent to support India's bid. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims.

In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, India's application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that was the ground used to thwart India's bid.

Read: 'Path forward' for India to become NSG member by year-end: US

However, diplomatic sources said on Sunday that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources said that Mexico's suggestion was also opposed by China but it found support from a large number of countries including the US.

Read: BJP leader Yashwant Sinha flays Modi govt over NSG issue

A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossi's appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a "path forward" for India's acceptance as a member.

Read: China lives up to form, scuttles India's NSG bid in Seoul

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official told PTI in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.
Hyderabad: Telangana state judges on Sunday decided to submit resignations to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in protest against the decision of options being given to judges of Andhra Pradesh origin. After assembling at the Gun Park, they moved towards Raj Bhavan to submit their resignations to the Governor.

When they reached the Khairatabad junction, police stopped them stating they had no permission for the rally. Speaking to the media, the judges said that the appointment of AP origin judges in Telangana was against sections 77 and 80 of the AP Reorganisation Act.

Later, the police allowed five judges under the leadership of Mr Ravinder Reddy to meet the Governor. They explained to the Governor how Telangana advocates and judges had lost opportunities due to the options. They said injustice was done to the Telangana origin judges in the preliminary allotment of judges.

The judges told the media that they would attend duties on Monday as decided earlier. But, if they do not get a positive response from the government, all the judges would go on two days leave.

On June 29, we shall meet again and will go for 15 days mass leave if we do not get any response from government, they said, adding that a decision to press for the resignations will be taken after that.

Two-day strike by judicial staff

The judicial employees general body meeting at Nalgonda unanimously decided to go on strike from July 1. Advocates JAC co-convener T. Sriranga Rao said that a dharna would be held on July 1 at Dharna Chowk in which judicial employees would take part.

Political leaders cutting across party lines will support our agitation, he said. He said that the boycott would end on July 2 after which the JAC would announce its plans.
Lucknow: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday called for the inclusion of a chapter on the Emergency in textbooks, as there was a need to tell people about the atrocities committed during the period.

Around 75 per cent of India is unaware why and how emergency was imposed in the country. Like independence struggle there is a need to tell the people about atrocities committed at that time, Naqvi told reporters here.

He was here to felicitate Loktantra Senanis (fighters for democracy during Emergency) at a function organised by partys city unit on 41st anniversary of its imposition. Naqvi said he would take up the matter with the concerned ministry. They should realise how deep-rooted our democracy is. At that time people showed that they will not tolerate feudal mindset, arrogance and autocracy, he said.

The minister said even after that Congress failed to learn a lesson and break free of the shackles of their feudal mindset. That was the day when foundation of Congress-free India was laid. When we talk about Congress-free India, we mean that we want to rid India from the feudal mindset, he said.
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday stressed the need for maintaining cordial ties with China despite opposition by the neighbouring country to Indias entry into Nuclear Supply Group (NSG).

It is in the interest of both the countries to maintain cordial ties despite the NSG setback. They (China) are keen to forge ties with India, Mr Chouhan who returned here after a week-long tour of China told reporters.

Replying to a question, he said, It is not a question whether I am disappointed at Chinas opposition to Indias entry into NSG, but what I witnessed in China was that they are keen to forge ties with India. Both the countries are keeping in mind what is favourable for them.

He said the PM tried his best to get India NSG membership. He said the government has enhanced engagement with China. The PM met his Chinese counterpart and the Union finance minister also paid a visit to China, he said, adding, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.Chandrabau Naidu is also making a trip to China.

Mr Chouhan visited Beijing, Guanzhou and Shenzhen to seek Chinese investment in MP. He also dropped hints that he would soon effect a reshuffle in his cabinet.

Meanwhile, in its first entry into any multilateral export control regime, India is all set to join the Missile Technology Control Regime on Monday as a full member, three days after it failed to get NSG membership due to stiff opposition from China and a few other countries.
After 118 judges of AP origin were appointed on May 3 to TS courts, advocates began protests opposing the decision and launched an agitation on June 11. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Telangana state judges working in various courts on Sunday decided to submit mass resignations to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in protest against the decision of options given to judges of Andhra Pradesh origin.

After 118 judges of AP origin were appointed on May 3 to TS courts, advocates began protests opposing the decision and launched an agitation on June 11. Supporting their agitation, for the first time in the Telugu states, judges have launched a protest and took the decision to resign.

The judges gathered at Gun Park, paid tributes to martyrs of the Telangana movement and submitted their resignation to Judges Federation president, K. Ravinder Reddy.

Judges to go on mass protest leave

Telangana state judges on Sunday decided to submit resignations to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in protest against the decision of options being given to judges of Andhra Pradesh origin. After assembling at the Gun Park, they moved towards Raj Bhavan to submit their resignations to the Governor.

When they reached the Khairatabad junction, police stopped them stating they had no permission for the rally. Speaking to the media, the judges said that the appointment of AP origin judges in Telangana was against sections 77 and 80 of the AP Reorganisation Act.

Later, the police allowed five judges under the leadership of Mr Ravinder Reddy to meet the Governor. They explained to the Governor how Telangana advocates and judges had lost opportunities due to the options. They said injustice was done to the Telangana origin judges in the preliminary allotment of judges.

The judges told the media that they would attend duties on Monday as decided earlier. But, if they do not get a positive response from the government, all the judges would go on two days leave.

On June 29, we shall meet again and will go for 15 days mass leave if we do not get any response from government, they said, adding that a decision to press for the resignations will be taken after that.
New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 52 Aam Aadmi Party legislators were detained by police today while they were on their way to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence here to protest the arrest of a party MLA.

The MLAs were detained for violating prohibitory orders around 7 Race Course Road.

The protest march comes a day after AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was arrested on charges of molestation and sexual harassment amidst high drama when he was addressing a press conference.

Mohaniya, who is also vice chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was picked up by a police team while addressing a press conference at his office in Khanpur. He was booked for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women who approached him with a complaint regarding water crisis in their locality.

Sisodia said although they were detained and taken to the Parliament Police Station, he and his partymen were ready to go to Tihar Jail.

"Modiji, you have arrested us and kept us in Parliament Street Police Station. We are ready to go to Tihar Jail. But do not stop the work of Delhi," he tweeted.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier tweeted, "Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM," he said.

Sisodia had yesterday tweeted, "Modiji, your enmity is with us. Arrest us. But do not stop the work of Delhi. We all are coming to surrender before you".

The Deputy CM had yesterday said when he went for a surprise inspection at Gazipur Mandi, some people who were running illegal business, registered a complaint alleging that he had threatened them.

"I am sure that Modiji will tomorrow, will convert this complaint into accusations like violence, eve teasing a girl and extortion and get me arrested," he had stated.

Referring to yesterday's incident, Special CP Law and Order North S B K Singh said the president of Gazipur Aadhti Association had given a letter at Gazipur Police Station stating that Sisodia adopted a "dictatorial attitude" on hearing their grievances during his visit to Gazipur Mandi. "He was worried that Sisodia could get something wrong organised due to his position. No police action is made out in the matter," he said.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 52 Aam Aadmi Party legislators were detained by police today while they were on their way to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence here to protest the arrest of a party MLA. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: As many as 52 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, who were detained along with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia en-route Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) here, have been released by the Delhi Police.

Sisodia earlier in the day accused the ruling dispensation at the Centre of interfering in the AAP Government's good work and offered to surrender before Prime Minister Modi.

"We want to tell the Prime Minister that do not stop the work in Delhi. Why are you taking revenge on Delhi? You have enmity with me so arrest me. All the MLAs are going there," he said.

Asserting that no one is above the law, the Delhi Police earlier on Sunday said that they take strong action against anybody violating the law, adding that the AAP leaders would be released only under assurance that they would not again march towards the Prime Minister's residence in protest.

Read: AAP vs Centre: 52 AAP legislators, Sisodia detained during protest march

"52 MLAs have been detained. We will see the situation and take the decision accordingly. Whenever any such kind of thing happens or somebody wants to violate the law, we take decision accordingly. There are chances that they may go again," Joint Commissioner of Police MK Meena told the media.

Meena stated that they have some information that the AAP MLAs might again try to go to 7, RCR and so they have been kept under detention.

"They have been kept in the Parliament Street Police Station after detention as information is coming in that they can again go to 7, RCR. Unless and until we will be satisfied that they won't go there, they will be kept under detention. The further course of action will take place according to the law," he added.

Taking cognizance of the situation, Joint Commissioner (Crime) Taj Hasan said that they had received a complaint from Surender Goswami, the chief of Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association, but there was no cognizable offence in that and so no legal probe was warranted.

"The complaint against Dinesh Mohaniya was a clear cognizable offence. That's why we had filed an FIR in that regard. We arrested him because in spite of repeated request, he was not joining the investigation. We do legal scrutiny of all the complaints," he added.

Hasan stated that as there was no base of the complaint, there was no question of any legal action against Sisodia.

In his latest outburst against Prime Minister Modi following the arrest of Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya a day earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier tweeted, "Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR later in the day to surrender himself before PM."

Minutes after his detention, Sisodia too took on the Prime Minister. "Modi ji, you have got us arrested and keeping us in Parliament (Street) police station. We are ready to go to Tihar but don't stop us from working for people of Delhi," he tweeted.

Mohaniya was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly misbehaving with a group of women, who had gone to him to complain about a water crisis.

Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was picked up by a police team while he was addressing a press conference yesterday at his office in Khanpur.

A Delhi Court yesterday rejected his bail petition and sent him to judicial custody till Monday.
Chennai: PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Saturday alleged that incidents of murder through hired gangs had increased in the state and said measures including quality education and employment for youths, besides eradicating liquor, monitoring their activities and police reformation would free the state from such gangs.

In a statement here, Ramadoss said the statement of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa that murders arising from previous enmity, family disputes and love affairs could not be prevented by police could be partially accepted. But, totally ignoring such murders could be dangerous, he said.

Anti-social elements are misguiding youth and using them as hired gangs, he said and measures should be taken to guide the youth in the proper way by giving them education and employment, besides eradicating liquor.

CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan too said Chennai is becoming a murder city and the activities of hired murder gangs had increased.
Lucknow: Hours after UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said at a function on Saturday that he did not want people like Mukhtar Ansari in the Samajwadi Party, the Samajwadi Party parliamentary board cancelled the merger with the Qaumi Ekta Dal.

The parliamentary board meeting, chaired by SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, however, said that Mr Balram Yadav, the senior minister who had been sacked for facilitating the merger with Qaumi Ekta Dal should be taken back into the ministry.

The cancellation of the QED merger into the Samajwadi Party brings the curtain down on a week-long drama over the issue and also indicates that chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, for the first time, managed to prevail over his father Mulayam Singh who had earlier approved the merger.

Earlier in the day, Mr Akhilesh Yadav categorically stated that he did not want people like Mukhtar Ansari in the party. This is the first time that the chief minister spoke on the issue and made his stand clear.
Bengaluru: The first set of sops for rebel legislators are out as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah put in place a strategy to decrease their number and to contain the damage likely to be wrought to the partys support base in their respective districts.

As part of this first strategy, Mr Siddaramaiah announced the appointment of two rebel legislators- Byrathy Basavaraj and S. T. Somashekhar  as members of the Board of Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), a move which would help wean them away from around Dalit leader of Old Mysuru region and former revenue minister V. Srinivas Prasad as well as actor-politician M. H. Ambareesh. Their appointment has served another purpose that Mr Siddaramaiah plans to build his own coterie.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader disclosed that Mr Siddaramaiah told his senior cabinet colleagues on Friday that they should not waste their time and instead start touring their respective districts in order to contain the impact of dissident activity. "On one hand, ministers must play a catalytic role between the party and the government. Already, the government's performance is not up to the mark. Therefore, newly appointed ministers need to work hard," the leader explained.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here, Mr Siddaramaiah dropped enough hints that he would leave no stone unturned to quell the rebellion within the party. "There is provision in existing laws to appoint two Board members for BDA and using this discretionary power, I have appointed them (Mr Somashekhar and Mr Byrathy Basavaraj)." he disclosed.

On the other hand, rebel leaders like former minister Qamarul Islam warned that Congress leaders need to clarify why he was dropped from ministry, and if they to give a proper explanation, then he wound not mind even from resigning from primary membership of the party. In Kalaburagi, a shut-down called by his supporters on Saturday to protest the decision to drop Mr Islam from the cabinet was peaceful except for an attempt at self-immolation by one of his supporters.

Later in the day, Mr Srinivas Prasad too reiterated his demand that the party should replace Mr Siddaramaiah with another leader.

The rebelsthose who are upset about being axed during Sundays reshuffle and unsuccessful aspirantsare likely to meet here on Sunday to draw up their future plans including airing a demand for change of leadership.
Hyderabad/ New Delhi: Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on Sunday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of indulging in dramebaaz and said the Centre had no time to respond to each and every allegation levelled by him.

Mr Rijiju, who addressed a press coference at TS-BJP office in Hyderabad said, The people of Delhi have given them an opportunity with a huge mandate to serve the public but they are losing the opportunity and doing drama."

His remarks come a day after Mr Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of declaring emergency in Delhi after AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was arrested on charges of molestation. Its better not to react much on Kejriwals statements. We are so busy running such a big country and people have given us an opportunity to serve it, he said.

Meanwhile in Delhi, with a complaint being lodged against Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, 52 MLAs of the ruling AAP on Sunday created much chaos in Delhi as they marched to PM Narendra Modis residence to surrender.

But they ended up getting detained more than a kilometre away from the PMs residence. The MLAs, including six ministers, were detained for violating strict prohibitory orders around 7 Race Course Road residence of the Prime Minister, a high security area. Delhi police, who asserted that they would take action against anybody violating the law, detained them outside Race Course Metro station and took them to the Parliament Street police station. They were released after some time. Aam Aadmi Party has 67 MLAs in the House of 70.
Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju speaks to the media as BJP state president Dr K. Laxman watches, at the party office in Hyderabad. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: The TS BJP has taken a decision against having any truck with the TRS in an attempt to emerge as the political alternative in the state, with the fortunes of the Congress and the TD dwindling.

Any move to get closer to the TRS could indirectly result in reviving the Congress, This explanation of the state BJP has resonated with the top brass in New Delhi which has given state party president Dr K. Laxman a free hand.

The BJP national leadership does not want to give any chance to the Congress which it sees as the only party that could oppose it at the national level in 2019.

I am touring the districts after assuming charge. Our main objective is to strengthen the party from the grass root level. Come 2019, the anti-incumbency factor will be crucial and we want to gain the confidence of the public by that time. Also, with the graph of the Congress and TD dipping rapidly, people are looking to the BJP, he said.

Congress and and TD leaders too were looking to the BJP to further their careers. The BJP will witness a joining spree by the time of the elections, he said. The BJP will be appointing incharges for all Assembly seats three years before the elections. The intention is to give the leaders time to cover the constituency and develop contacts.

The party is also learnt to have directed all state leaders to visit the districts regularly instead of confining themselves to the city.

Rijiju: Funds not reaching people

Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said that in non-BJP ruled states like Telangana, the benefits extended by the Centre were not reaching the people.

The minister appealed to the people to raise their voice if the state government failed to deliver or was unable to spend the funds granted by the Centre. He took a dig at the TRS for its family rule and said the BJP would emerge as the alternative force in the state in the 2019 general elections.

He said that non-BJP ruled states must ensure that people reap benefits of the schemes launched by the Centre. Mr Rijiju participated in a programme organised by the TS BJP unit to observe the 41th anniversary of Emergency that was imposed on June 25, 1975.

He said the Congress was still suffering from an Emergency mindset even though 41 years had passed since the imposition of Emergency in India by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He said that June 26 must be observed as Anti-Emergency Day every year, adding that the BJP was opposed to any concentration of power as that led to dictatorship.

Constitutional provisions speak about a federal structure and we believe in cooperative federalism. We do not want to encroach upon the rights of the state government and we will not encroach on the jurisdiction of the state government. We would like to appeal that the good work done by the Centre reaches the people, the minister said.
Dont knock a man when he is down is an excellent maxim, and that must be the only reason that the knives are not out for Britains Prime Minister, David Cameron. That, plus the fact that he forestalled trouble by announcing his resignation. But in the cold light of day after the country voted to get out of the European Union, you cannot overlook the fact that Britain, EU and the world have been thrown into turmoil because of one mans monumental blunder. To recap, Mr Cameron and his Conservative Party won a landmark election only last year that gave his party a decisive majority without a coalition for the first time in 23 years.

It is true that one of his election promises was that he would hold a referendum about EU, but was that the only reason he was elected? Was he going to fulfil all his election promises just a year after coming into office? So what was the need to hold the referendum when he could have run the government for another four years? What, indeed, was the need for a referendum at all? Are we not allowed to be cynical and say that electoral promises are made only to be broken? There was quite a strong anti-EU feeling in the country (proven in the referendum), and the Right-wing of Mr Camerons own party, including a number of MPs, were for Brexit, but these were not pressing compulsions: There was no real revolt in the party  how could there be when the party had won an election by itself after so many years?

As for the concern of the general populace, was EU really bothering people, or was it the supposed consequences  mainly immigration, housing, unemployment and deterioration in health services? These alleged consequences were used to the hilt by Brexit supporters, but the shortcomings were really failures of government policies rather than a fall-out of EU membership. For example, the reduction in the quality of health services was a result of the governments crackdown on the number of doctors and nurses coming from India and elsewhere. Which means that severe immigration policies (which is what Brexit supporters want), did more harm than good! As for unemployment, did EU immigrants really take jobs away from locals? Or did they take jobs which the local population did not want?

The narrow margin of the Brexit vote (52 per cent Leave versus 48 per cent Remain) has meant that Britain has been divided into two diametrically opposed groups of almost equal numbers. What will be the effect of this division? Will we have millions of sullen people, who will feel resentful and angry with their neighbours? The vote, of course, hasnt divided the country equally. Even a cursory analysis shows that most of the big cities voted for Remain. This was particularly so of London, which is not just the capital of the country but its financial centre, the seat of government and the cultural and intellectual capital of Britain. The analysis also shows that a majority of young people voted to stay in EU. It was the perpetually depressed north east of England and its industrial centres which voted for Leave, as did a majority of older people. (That has led to the cruel barb that the old voted to Leave because they will all be dead before the effects of Brexit are felt in the country).

Even if this feeling of resentment and anger does not cause a permanent rift in the population, it will certainly have serious consequences in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which voted overwhelmingly to Remain (Scotland 62 to 38, N. Ireland 56 to 44). Will the United Kingdom now remain united? There will, undoubtedly, be unimaginable repercussions in Scotland. Actually, unimaginable is the wrong word, because Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands First Minister has already proclaimed that a second Scottish independence referendum is likely.

The first one narrowly came out on the side of staying in the UK, but a second one will certainly result is Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom. These seismic shifts will also rock Europe. Already the far-Right elements in some countries, like Marine Le Pens party in France as well as parties in Austria and the Netherlands, have begun to see the Brexit victory as their own. (Geert Wilders, the Right-wing, rabidly anti-immigrant, Dutch politician gleefully tweeted, Hurrah for the British! Now it is our turn! Time for a Dutch referendum!) No one, whatever their expertise or their confident assertions, really knows the consequences of the British action.

The pound sterling fell to its lowest level since 1985, and all international bourses saw spectacular falls. These, of course, may be aberrations and may correct themselves, but a whole host of issues will now raise their thorny heads. For example, there are nearly three million Europeans living in the UK. Will they now need visas and work permits? If they dont get these  as surely many may not  will they find employment in their own country? What about UK citizens working in Europe? Does a similar bleak future stare them in the face? When the UK finally exits after the two-year process of EU secession, it will no longer benefit from the tariff-free movement of goods and capital across Europe. What effect will that have? The word disastrous comes to mind. What happens to the many Indian companies (Tata is a prime example but there are 800 others) which use England as a base for the European market? Will they re-locate, or will they have to set up multiple bases?

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: Mr Cameron and his government have destroyed a unique idea with no parallels  a union of culturally different, economically independent countries, many of which had fought two World Wars and nearly destroyed each other. For them to have come together and set up a structure which allowed people, goods and services to move freely across borders was an audacious idea. But it had worked so well, that international borders had become meaningless. Now many of these lines will be redrawn and become, once again, stern barriers.
Was it complacency? Or did so many of us just not imagine this could possibly happen? For Londoners Brexit bore specially bad tidings, as they had voted to Remain. And now they live in a country which is split right down the middle because a very slim majority actually want to Leave. And in fact, unless there is something we have missed, UK has left the EU. This has effectively cast a web of uncertainty, because Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned and no one knows who the next occupant of No. 10 is going to be. Will it be Boris Johnson? He was a popular mayor, but there are many who wonder if he only opposed the Remain campaign in order to become the next PM. In his disarming way he had joked that there were as many chances of him becoming the PM as of him being re-born as an olive. Now it seems both are possible!

And at a time when symbolic gestures are all being avidly devoured  how about getting the monarchy back? At least that will unite everyone! Let George be announced King, with William as caretaker. And honestly, nothing else matters any more. Until last Thursday night, Londoners were carrying on with their lives. Just a week before, we got the shocking result of the brutal murder of Labour MP Jo Cox. She was shot in her constituency in West Yorkshire while about to do her weekly surgery for her constituents. She was just 41, a wife and a mother of two small children. People gathered in Parliament square, not far from the statue of another assassinated leader, Mahatma Gandhi, to pay tributes to her.

The horrible news gave everyone a pause. The hard, bitter campaign for In or Out was suspended for 48 hours. The campaign resumed with tabloids arguing for Out and some of the serious newspapers supporting Remain. The Sun even got the Queen into the argument by reporting that she had asked her dinner guests why UK should stay. No one can confirm this. Jo Coxs death had swung the vote in favour of Remain. Thursday was a typical British summer day with heavy rain in London. In many voting booths, you had to wade through water to get your ballot paper. Some voting booths had to be closed.

But the earthquake came early Friday as results came. Just the day before there was near certainty that UK will remain. London would vote 60 per cent to 40 per cent in favour of Remain. It was a false hope. That could have also contributed to some in the Remain campaign perhaps staying at home. They were not as angry as the Leave campaigners. The great British public has decided to leave the EU. Brexiters celebrated as if the UK was independent after years of slavery. June 23 will be declared Independence Day if Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, has his way.

Early morning, Mr Cameron came out of 10 Downing Street. He was almost tearful as was his wife Samantha. But you have to admire the no excuses tradition in British politics. When you have lost, you resign. The one person who has gained much prominence is Priti Patel. Many of her supporters had been surprised that she went for Brexit against Mr Cameron and Osborne  her boss at the treasury. Ms Patel has been the face of the Brexit campaign and no doubt she brought in a lot of Asian votes. It is early days but one should not be surprised if she becomes a highly placed Cabinet minister in a Boris Johnson government.

The campaign showed the importance attached to the Indian vote in Britain. You saw the leaders visiting gurudwaras donning the saffron turban and the Swaminarayan temple in London. The issue may have been immigration but Indian communities are no longer regarded as immigrants. They are part of the local population. Their votes were divided just about as much as for the rest of the British.
India had sent a letter of request to the US government showing interest in buying the guns which will be deployed in high altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. (Photo: AFP/ Representational Image)

Indias purchase of 145 ultra-light howitzers for Rs 5,000 crore from the United States is a win-win move for India. The deal is strategically significant because it adds a new dimension to Indias military preparedness in an important sector like the China border, for which a special mountain corps was created three years ago but which needed to be properly armed for it to be effective. The decisiveness with which India has moved on in defence procurement for the military, specifically in heavy artillery, may have cured once and for all the Bofors hangover of some 27 years.

The bribery and middleman contours to procurement have been dealt with after decades of procrastination in which the politics around graft in defence deals trumped the need for strategic preparedness and deterrence capabilities. Things got to such a point a couple of years ago that a defence minister, known for his honesty in politics, made such a virtue of his integrity that it seemed to not matter if the armed forces suffered from not taking decisions.

The strategic rationale for beefing up the China border carries an important message. The geopolitics of India, China and Pakistan has changed considerably since Chinas filibustering of the Seoul meeting of the 48-member NSG last week. Its reasoning  that Indias nuclear capability will destablise Pakistan while its own capability will enhance global stability  is specious. Although the howitzer deal has been in the air for close to 10 years, inking the deal now suggests India is ready to move along a path that would best suit its defence and strategic requirements. The US plays a very vital role in this and India is prepared to put China in its place when it comes to taking decisions to suit its priorities.

In military logistics terms, too, the deal is significant. Since 1989, the Indian Army has not inducted any type of artillery gun. To move from there to the sophisticated technology of BAE Systems modern howitzer, which is light enough to ferried by a helicopter , is a decisive leap that will do a lot for military morale.

After the first 25 guns are delivered in flyaway condition, the Make in India factor will kick in with an Indian company involved in assembling the guns on delivery in the country. A strong push for bulk production of 18 indigenously-made Dhanush artillery guns, besides various other schemes for the Air Force and the Navy, totalling $4.1 billion, being cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council should do wonders for the psyche of the armed forces. With modern missile systems, upgraded Mirage jets, the Navys latest naval establishment in INS Sardar Patel and the likelihood of the IAF flying Rafale jets soon, a positive thrust has been lent to equip and modernise the armed forces, displaying a resolute push sorely needed in these matters.
An awkward Iftar

It was an awkward moment for the BJP when Union home minister Rajnath Singh, on a visit to Lucknow, his constituency, accepted an invitation to be the chief guest at an iftar party hosted by a local leader. BJP leaders, who have been pushing for an aggressive Hindutva card for the Assembly elections, obviously felt that the event was not in sync with the party line.

Even before the party workers could digest Mr Singhs iftar look  with a skullcap and scarf  there was another awkward moment. Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadavs younger daughter-in-law, Aparna Yadav, was seated right next to Mr Singh, and Ms Yadav, who is contesting the upcoming Assembly elections, bent to touch the Union ministers feet.

A visibly embarrassed Mr Singh could do little except bless her and look away. But the shutterbugs had their moment and the photographs of Mr Singh, wearing the cap and keffiyah (scarf), and Ms Yadav found their way to the front pages of all local dailies, making BJP leaders squirm with discomfort. In any case, Mr Singh looks more like a SP leader than a BJP leader, quipped a veteran BJP worker.

Naveens stars hide in Darkness

Naveen Patnaik, Orissa Chief Minister and BJD president, now finds himself in a catch-22 situation. While one BJD Lok Sabha MP is currently in jail for a chit fund scam, a sitting MLA and an ex-MLA of the party had been previously arrested in the same case. A few more BJD leaders, including two sitting MPs  Sidhant Mohapatra and Anubhav Mohanty  and sitting MLA Akash Dasnayak have come into the firing line of the Opposition Congress and BJP for their alleged links with the Ponzi firm Oscar Group.

Mr Mohapatra, Mr Mohanty and Mr Dasnayak are leading Oriya movie actors who, along with comedy actor Papu Pom Pom, were the BJDs star campaigners in the 2014 elections. Often criticised for their uninspiring participation in parliamentary and legislative business, these actors-turned-politicians have withdrawn into their cocoons since television channels showed video clips of them with the incarcerated Oscar Group chief Pravas Rout.

Mr Patnaik has observed a golden silence for a week now after the media expose. Realising that its time to strike hard, Congress stalwart and Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra sarcastically said on Thursday, Why is the CM, who claims himself clean and transparent, afraid of taking action against persons whom he made star campaigners? What are the stars giving him now  light or the thick cover of darkness?

Like father, like son?

Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is an avid shooter who had brought India laurels by winning several international medals, including an Olympic silver. Ever since his appointment to the Narendra Modi Council of Ministers, the minister has been busy with the functioning of the information and broadcasting ministry. With the ministry and politics taking up most of his time, Mr Rathore still finds time to keep up with the budding career of his son Manavaditya.

Following in the footsteps of his illustrious father, Manavaditya, too, has taken up shooting and has won several medals at junior-level events around the world. The minister, while unable to accompany his son to most of his foreign and national shooting tournaments, still makes it a point to keep track of every development in his sons career.

After-party raid?

Punjab is famous for its Patiala peg. Most of the liquor vends in the state remain open almost 24x7. Though the Punjab excise policy says liquor vends can remain open only between 9 am and 11 pm, the blinking lights on these vends are an ubiquitous sight. However, recently, there was criticism of the excise department for giving a long leash to liquor vends because they violate rules and stay open late into the night, allowing tipplers to gather and inconvenience the general public.

The excise department cracked down and constituted various teams to raid liquor vends. The teams raided 410 vends and found 83 violators. However, to the surprise of everyone, the teams conducted raids early in the morning, between 6 am and 9 am, when most of the tipplers are asleep and many liquor vends are shut after doing brisk business in the night. The joke doing the rounds in the media is that the raiding teams may have partied late into the nig-ht and the early morning raid was an after-party idea.

The decimated left!

In 2011, riding the paribartan bandwagon, Mamata Banerjee had dislodged the CPM-led Left Front and come to power, becoming the first woman chief minister of West Bengal. Aaye Buddha dekhe jaa, Mamatar khamata (Come Buddha and see Mamatas power) was the slogan with which Trinamul workers had celebrated Didis triumph over Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee five years ago. Ms Banerjee was lionised as the feisty leader who brought an end to three decades of communist rule.

On the other hand, Bhattacharjee, who led the Left Front to ignominious defeat, was ridiculed and reviled. Even Left Front partners and a large section of CPM satraps had blamed Bhattacharjees overzealous industrial drive and his decision to acquire land from unwilling farmers in Singur and Nandigram as the main causes of the Lefts electoral drubbing.

Being branded as a villain by the Left constituents and his own party leaders shattered Bhattacharjee. He stopped attending politburo and central committee meetings. The ostensible reason given was his indisposition. He virtually stopped addressing public rallies. Although he regularly attended party office, Bhattacharjee appeared a pale shadow of his former self.

If in 2011 the Left Front was defeated, in 2016 it was decimated. No wonder a pall of gloom has hung over CPM headquarters at Alimuddin Street since May 19 when Didi returned to power. Surjya Kanta Mishra is facing flak both inside the CPM and from the smaller front partners. His experiment of an alliance with the Congress has boomeranged and he is being pilloried for this. Buddha babu must be thanking his stars that he is not in the firing line this time. On May 19, a middle-aged jubilant Trinamul woman supporter shouted: Aaye Buddha dekhe jaa. But before she could complete the slogan, a newly-elected MLA corrected her, Aaye Surjya dekhe ja bolun (Come and see Surjya).

Jogis new political venture

The long-awaited Jogi Express finally chugged into power politics when former chief minister Ajit Jogi floated his new party, Chhattisgarh Janata Congress, in his home constituency of Marwahi, Bilaspur, last month, ending his three-decade-long association with the Congress. The bureaucrat-turned-politician, who found himself at a crossroads in a career marked by many unsavoury controversies after apparently falling from grace in the eyes of the high command in recent times, had perhaps long considered it prudent to keep all his options open.

Mr Jogi had also earlier given a call to Congressmen in Chhattisgarh to join his bandwagon, which he christened the Jogi Express, while literally challenging the leadership of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) president Bhupesh Baghel a couple of years ago. It is Jogi Express that alone will run in Chhattisgarh. You should board the train before it is too late, Mr Jogi had then exhorted Congress workers and leaders of the state.

He foresaw the end of the road for him in the Congress when the high command denied him a Rajya Sabha nomination recently. Mr Jogi has, however, yet to woo leaders of prominence to his new party to create a ripple in the Congress. The delay in naming his new party after it was floated with much fanfare has also been read as a fallout of his unsuccessful bid to rope in mass-based leaders from the Congress, bringing cheer to the PCC camp.

Even Mr Jogis wife Renu Jogi, Congress MLA, did not show up at the meet where he (Mr Jogi) launched his new party, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Charan Das Mahant quipped. Only some phool-chap wala (BJP-leaning) Congress workers have joined Mr Jogis new party, he added.

No comments!

While ministers in the NDA government are supposed to be tech-savvy and have Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to be hands-on with the common man, it seems many of them dont seem comfortable interacting live with the press.

A couple of weeks back, when the aviation policy was unveiled, civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and his junior minister, Mahesh Sharma, were present at the media conference to address all queries related to important decisions.

However, last week, when the new textile package was cleared by the Cabinet, only textiles secretary Rashmi Verma was present at the subsequent press conference, along with finance minister Arun Jaitley and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, to give details of the important decisions. There was no sign of textiles minister Santosh Gangwar though the package offers one crore jobs to workers in the sector in the next three years.

The minister neither gave any official reaction on the textile package being cleared by the Cabinet nor did he tweet. His Facebook and Twitter profiles only had links to official advertisements released by the government on the package. Prime Minister Narendra Modis reactions were retweeted by Mr Gangwar. Links to the aforementioned press briefing, which appeared the next day in the media, were seen posted on his Facebook and Twitter profiles. Somebody surely knows how to maintain a low profile.
On a day that Britain decided to divorce the European Union another important development was playing itself out in faraway Seoul, South Korea, where the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was meeting to decide on Indias admittance to this exclusive club as its member. Before coming to the outcome of the Seoul meeting it would be worthwhile to recount what exactly this club is all about. On its website this 48-nation assembly describes itself as follows: The NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.

The NSG guidelines also contain the so-called Non-Proliferation Principle, adopted in 1994, whereby a supplier, notwithstanding other provisions in the NSG guidelines, authorises a transfer only when satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The Non-Proliferation Principle seeks to cover the rare but important cases where adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or to a nuclear-weapon-free zone treaty may not by itself be a guarantee that a state will consistently share the objectives of the treaty or that it will remain in compliance with its treaty obligations.

Founded in response to the Indian nuclear test in May 1974, the NSG first met in November 1975. Nations already signatories to the NPT saw the need to further limit the export of nuclear equipments, materials or technology. Colloquially referred to as the London Club due to a series of meetings in London from 1975 to 1978, the confabulations resulted in agreements on the guidelines for export; these were published as the Zangger List and the Trigger List by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Listed items could only be exported to non-nuclear states if certain IAEA safeguards were agreed to or if exceptional circumstances relating to safety existed.

The Trigger List remained unchanged until 1991, although the Zangger List was regularly updated. The non-revelations about the Iraqi weapons programme following the first Gulf War led to a tightening of the export of so-called dual-use equipment. At the first meeting since 1978, held at The Hague in March 1991, the participating governments agreed to changes, which were published as the Dual-use List in 1992. Since then a regular series of plenary meetings take place and the lists are periodically updated.

In the wake of the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement, the NSG gave a clean waiver to India on September 6, 2008 that allowed the US and other NSG countries to export nuclear materials to India essentially for civilian and peaceful purposes. That effectively paved the way for operationalising the agreement. The waiver came about primarily because India has an impeccable record of non-proliferation. It was considered to be a responsible emerging power. At that point in time, too, there were naysayers and recalcitrants, but the then US President, George Bush, did the heavy lifting, including calling up the Chinese President to ensure that no one stood in the way of consensus.

What has changed between then and now is that a number of NSG members have expressed reservations about giving India membership. China, of course, has been most vocal and vociferous in leading the pack. The argument being put forth is that there is a distinction between a waiver and membership and therefore a criterion needs to be formulated. How to deal with non-signatories to the NPT may be a cogent reason, but, as is the case with international politics, most such rationalisation is filtered through the prism of national self-interest of the member states.

It is here that Indias failure becomes starker. After creating all that hype and hoopla over the past one month, including visits to Switzerland and Mexico by the Prime Minister and personal entreaties to Chinese President Xi Jingping, the entire effort has all but come to zilch. Contrast this with 2008 when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not stir out of New Delhi to lobby for the waiver but used his acute understanding of international affairs to dismantle the entire architecture of nuclear apartheid that had been put in place after Smiling Buddha, as the 1974 peaceful nuclear explosion (PNE) by India was codenamed.

A system created three decades ago as an angry reaction to Indias assertion of strategic autonomy was skillfully demolished by taking on both belligerents outside and inside, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which had moved a no-confidence motion in Parliament accusing the then United Progressive Alliance government of selling out Indias national interest. All that the current Prime Minister and his foreign policy team had to do was to take that process forward, but they faltered.

The reason is not very difficult to discern  the National Democratic Alliance government has failed to finesse the delicate trapeze act that is required to manage the relationship between the big powers, particularly United States qua China and independently with Russia. China has been going through a strange metamor-phosis because of its declining economic numbers. The legitimacy of the Communist Party from 1980 onwards rested on a very simple premise: We will be able to make the quality of your life better than that of the preceding generation. With growth declining, assertive nationalism has become a way of managing internal discontent. Given that India is also an emerging power, it suits China, both domestically and interna-tionally, to ring-fence India into South Asia.

The NDA government also neglected to gauge the larger ramifications of the proposed $46 billion investment by China in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Not only does it broaden the strategic and military relationship between the two countries but also creates an automatic Chinese buy-in into Pakistani foreign policy objectives in South Asia. The manner in which the NSG discourse has been structured with regard to the evolution of principles to deal with non-NPT countries has once again hyphenated India with Pakistan, a paradigm that the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement and the clean waiver had surmounted.

Moreover, even the response of Russia has been ambiguous  while they have been historically supportive they do not seem to be willing to walk that extra mile any longer. Even President Barack Obama did not go that extra stretch that his predecessor did despite Americas public pronouncements of support for Indias inclusion in the NSG. Given that there was a domestic consensus on the NSG issue, unlike in 2008 when there were raucous allegations of a sell-out, it may just be worth Prime Minister Narendra Modis while to seriously reflect upon how they have got their long view of foreign relations from New Delhi all wrong.
The aim of Lamsys-2016 is to make a platform for exchanging the innovative ideas for the national development. (Representational image)

Nellore: The two-day national conference (Lamsys-2016) jointly organised by the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) and ISSE, Sriharikota, Chennai Chapter, concluded on Saturday. The Student Special Symposium with the participation of 21 colleges of the region (Chennai to Vijayawada) was a grand success. Four students with one faculty from each college attended the conference.

The aim of Lamsys-2016 is to make a platform for exchanging the innovative ideas for the national development. The present students, who are the future planners and executors of multi-disciplinary systems, actively participated in the seminar on the topics of innovative ideas, space exploration and the space applications for the development of the common man of the society.

The selected best three papers will be awarded in valedictory function. V. Ranganathan, chairman, organising committee and president of ISSE Sriharikota -Chennai Chapter and P. Kunhikrishnan, director, SDSC, SHAR and the national president of ISSE said that 300 technical papers were received for the conference and voluminous proceedings have been printed and will be kept in the libraries of ISRO and also for academics as further reference and knowledge base.

Eminent personalities V.K. Saraswat, Ajay Mathur, Kota Harinarayana, R.K. Bhandari, Dr. P.S. Goel, Dr. B.N. Suresh and others participated in the conference and shared their valuable experiences with young generation. More than 80 industries from all industrial sectors participated in this mega event and exhibited their products. Young engineers and students were very much attracted by this exhibition. More than 700 delegates from government departments, public and private sectors, industries and academics enthusiastically participated in the conference. Prof. Anil K. Gupta, Dr. B.N. Suresh, Dr. Kota Harinarayana delivered eminent lectures in the Student Special Symposium.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Bengaluru: The Principal Scientific Advisor to the Union Government, R Chidambaram, has exhorted the scientists to work towards development of India and called for greater cooperation between industry and academia.

While delivering the convocation address at J.N. Tata Auditorium at IISc campus on Saturday he said, I have always admired the role of IISc in advancement of science and technology in India. With the global IISc alumni link getting stronger, I want India to be at the top of the pyramid in the near future. India should not just be a developed economy, but also be a knowledge country. Also it is my privilege to give convocation address at an institute where I pursued my career in BSc and later Phd.

Chidambaram said that India needs an excellent environment with good students, high quality faculty, sound infrastructure, strong academia and international collaborations with best emerging technology to be successful. This plan is followed by MIT and other prestigious institutions, including IISc, and the students have to make use of their learning for the development of the country. Even if you go abroad for higher education, come back to India to serve the country. Young generation like you all should always look on the important problems pertaining to science and society, he said.

He pointed out that in developed countries the industries wait for new knowledge to come out from institutions and the same should happen in India. Currently we are at the top in some areas, but should maintain the equilibrium. Interaction between academia and industries should continue to happen. I am extremely happy that IISc now ranks 18th in the world in terms of number of research works produced, he added.

Anurag Kumar, Director of IISc said that it's hard to get into IISc and hardest to get out as more and more students are taking up their Phd after their masters degree. Prof T.N. Guru Row, Dean Faculty of Science told the graduating students to main simplicity like R. Chidambaram and achieve great heights.

As many as 593 students were awarded PhD, ME, MTech, MS, MDes and Management degrees, while additional 120 students were awarded with Bachelors of Science degree. As many as 56 students, five from undergraduate and 51 from masters and Phd, received medals for their outstanding performance.

Umashankar Das, a graduate in Masters in Atmospheric Science at IISc told Deccan Chronicle, For my masters degree, I worked on a research project pertaining to a area where the sea surface temperature is much lower than the surroundings at Bay of Bengal and its impact on Indian Monsoon. After my research got approved, I got a job offer from the Indian Meteorological Department, I will heading to Pune to take it up.

Kapil Sachan, a graduate in Masters in Aerospace Engineering said he was interested in pursuing PhD at IISc and he has successfully got admission to the course he was interested in. His classmate Debashish got a job in a private aerospace company.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Analysing data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover that identifies minerals, scientists detected significant amounts of a silica mineral called tridymite. (Photo: NASA)

NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample on Mars, a finding that suggests the red planet hosted explosive volcanoes during its evolution.

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale Crater since landing in August 2012.

In July last year, on Sol 1060 (the number of Martian days since landing), the rover collected powder drilled from rock at a location named Buckskin.

Analysing data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover that identifies minerals, scientists detected significant amounts of a silica mineral called tridymite. Tridymite is generally associated with silicic volcanism, which is known on Earth but was not thought to be important or even present on Mars, researchers said.

The discovery of tridymite might induce scientists to rethink the volcanic history of Mars, suggesting that the planet once had explosive volcanoes that led to the presence of the mineral.

On Earth, tridymite is formed at high temperatures in an explosive process called silicic volcanism. Mount St Helens, the active volcano in Washington State, and the Satsuma-Iwojima volcano in Japan are examples of such volcanoes, said Richard Morris, NASA planetary scientist at Johnson.

The combination of high silica content and extremely high temperatures in the volcanoes creates tridymite, said Morris. The tridymite was incorporated into 'Lake Gale' mudstone at Buckskin as sediment from erosion of silicic volcanic rocks, he added.

The findings will also stimulate scientists to re-examine the way tridymite forms. Researchers examined terrestrial evidence that tridymite could form at low temperatures from geologically reasonable processes and not imply silicic volcanism. They found none. They will need to look for ways that it could form at lower temperatures.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
There have been incidents where people were put behind bars for sharing content liberally on the WhatsApp.

With over one billion users on its ship, Facebook-owned WhatApp is the most used direct messaging apps worldwide. On a daily basis, billions of calls and messages are circulated on the app but users, especially in India, should be extremely careful regarding the content they send on the app.

Over the years, the app has gained immense popularity for being the most convenient and protected (end-to-end encryption) way to be in touch with family members, friends, and acquaintances at any time, from any part of the world.

However, chatting on the app freely is equivalent to lurking on dangerous grounds, as there have been myriad cases where people have faced hazardous penalties for posting something as trivial as a picture on the app.

In this article, we list down some of the events that have landed people in jail in the past, with an aim to give you a fair idea about what is safe to be distributed on the app.

Offensive texts on prominent personalities, religion

Defamation, an ambiguous notion, has landed a large number of people in India in jail for posting content on social media, especially WhatsApp and Facebook.

Although the draconian Section 66A of the IT ACT 200 under the IPC was taken down by the Supreme Court last year in March, arrests have still taken place for posting content that the government or police found objectionable, and unfortunately, things have not yet loosened up, as expected after the elimination of this law.

While the numbers of arrests have reduced since the subjugation of the law, there have been recent episodes where people were put behind bars for sharing content liberally on the platform.

According to an article on Business Standard, an incident that took place yesterday led to the booking of a CRPF jawan (soldier) and journalist for posting objectionable content on the platform.

The journalist Alok Pathak had initially created a group on WhatsApp and the CRPF jawan had posted content that was not well expected by a certain community.

Although Pathak had not sent anything, group administrators are liable for everything that is circulated in a group and hence the arrest. If you are a group admin, make sure you regulate objectionable texts, videos and images to stay on the safer side of the boat.

In another incident, a leader from the Samajwadi Party Sahil Mehra was arrested last year in connection to some objectionable images of politicians including Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati.

Not only prominent members but posting something related to religion can also land you in deep trouble, and have, in fact, got people arrested in the past.

In 2015, cops from Mahrashtra arrested a UP teen for posting something that led to a communal riot. For one VHP leader, things got out of proportion after he posted an offensive comment related to Prophet Muhammad; he was immediately arrested after a few Muslim groups complained to the police about the message, as per a report on the Indian Express.

Other than that, there have been incidents where people have been arrested for posting something as insignificant as a picture or video, which was found to be religiously offensive by some people.

In view of all these events, users should be extremely careful regarding the content they share on WhatsApp.

Posts on pornography, abuse

Another way users can land up in trouble is by circulating porn or violence in videos, especially related to the youth.

The platform has been abused heavily by sex offenders who have gone to the extent of sharing vulgar MMS clips on groups. Also, people who normally share NSFW content on groups friends might also bump into trouble in case of a complaint.

Read: Techie posts child porn in WhatsApp group, held

A mere complaint can get you arrested as was the case with two men from Delhi, who were booked for sharing pornographic content and vulgar jokes after a complaint was filed by a woman advocate.

In one funny incident, two men got arrested last year as they posted porn on an unfamiliar group with SSP of Mathura as a member. A probe was ordered and a subsequent complaint was filed against the duo, which landed them in jail.

Although it is not advised to share NSFW content on social media sites, if you really want to show something to your friend, make sure you use a more secure channel and not any unknown group.

Paper leaks and online cheating

As you all know, there are numerous cases of cheating and fraud going on in the country, especially related to the field of education.

In April 2016, three examinees were caught cheating via WhatsApp in Bihar Combined Entrance Competitive Examination in Begusarai district. Even papers are being circulated at a large scale on the instant messaging platform, which is due to the increasing number of children with smartphones.

In fact, more children are now using it as a medium to cheat but parents should take extra care to keep a tab on their children. Not only does it harm the education system of the country but is enough to end someones career as well. These kinds of activities on WhatsApp are really dangerous and should be avoided.

While some of the arrests and criminal procedures are justified, others which are related to free speech still haunt the nations populace.

Unfortunately, posting an opinion or any funny image on Whatsapp still remains perilous, as you have no idea how recipients will perceive and propagate it.

So next time when you are posting anything controversial on the platform, do think twice before you hit the send button.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Washington: The US desires to see India's application for NSG membership be considered seriously even as its bid to enter the 48-nation grouping has hit a roadblock reportedly due to Chinese opposition.

"We have made clear our desire to see India's application be seriously considered," State Department Spokesman Kohn Kirby told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.

NSG members are scheduled to continue their meeting in Seoul on Friday wherein countries supporting India's application are expected to raise it again.

The US, Kirby said, has consistently supported and raised India's membership to the NSG before its other 47 member countries.

"We have made very clear our support of their application, and I have no reason to suspect that it was not discussed at this meeting. But what was discussed in the room and where they came down, I just do not know.

"I will see what we can do to find out for you, but I do not know how complete an answer I am going to be able to give you," Kirby added.

China "belligerently" led opposition to India's membership of NSG at a three-hour post-dinner meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group here last night which ended in a deadlock.

Preceding the two-day plenary of the 48-member NSG, which began yesterday, China had repeatedly said that India's membership was not on the agenda and is said to have made every effort to prevent any discussion on India's bid.

Indian official sources said that China was joined by Austria, Ireland and Brazil among other countries which questioned as to how a country like India which had not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) can be admitted to the grouping.
"I want terrorists out. I want people that have bad thoughts out. I would limit specific terrorist countries and we know who those terrorist countries are," he said. (Photo: AP)

Balmedie, Scotland: Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has changed his stance on the proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States citing that he only wants to ban those from countries with heavy terrorism.

Though his former stance has been the central issue of his campaign, but he has described his position on the ban differently since the mass shooting in Orlando on June 12 where a gunman killed 49 people and injured 53 others.

In an interview to CNN, Trump's spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the New York billionaire supports barring only Muslims from "terror states", not all Muslims.

Even Trump yesterday indicated the ban is not ironclad and that he would consider allowing the Muslims from states with heavy terrorist activity to enter the US, as long as they are vetted strongly, suggesting that the US would more closely scrutinize all individuals seeking to enter the country.

"People coming from the terror states -- and you know who I'm talking about when I talk about the terror states -- we are going to be so vigilant you wouldn't believe it and frankly a lot will be banned," CNN quoted him as saying.

Later in an interview with Bloomberg Politics, he also focused on the need to ban individuals from "terrorist countries".

"I want terrorists out. I want people that have bad thoughts out. I would limit specific terrorist countries and we know who those terrorist countries are," he said.
The 'Make America White Again' sign was posted by Rick Tyler, an independent candidate in the race for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann. (Photo: Twitter)

Chicago: A US congressional candidate has sparked outrage by plastering white supremacist billboards in Tennessee including one saying, 'Make America White Again' -- a racist spin on Donald Trump's election campaign slogan.

The 'Make America White Again' sign was posted by Rick Tyler, an independent candidate in the race for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann.

Another billboard depicted the White House ringed with Confederate flags, with the statement, "I Have a Dream", a takeoff from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. speech, WRCB-TV reported.

Tyler's billboard saying, 'Make America White Again', is an overtly white supremacist spin on Trump's slogan 'Make America Great Again'.

His views on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, seem conflicting. In blog posts on his website, Tyler calls Trump "latest stalking horse entity to be foisted upon the American electorate" -- but also an inspiration.

"His (Trump's) advocacy of a 'temporary ban' on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about ... namely, the urgent and vital subject of race," Tyler wrote.

He, however, was quoted as saying that he has no hatred in his heart for "people of colour". Tyler said he put up the billboard to make a point that "the 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'Mayberry' America of old was vastly superior to what we are experiencing today."

In a Facebook post, Tyler wrote: "It was an America where doors were left unlocked, violent crime was a mere fraction of today's rate of occurrence, there were no car jackings, home invasions, Islamic Mosques or radical Jihadist sleeper cells."

By Thursday the offending billboards located near Benton, Tennessee, were taken down after outraged residents complained, NBC News reported.

Asked if he feared for his safety or backlash from the campaign signs, Tyler was quoted as saying, "I don't fear it. I welcome it, and I will respond with the application of truth." He said he had been receiving death threats.

Tyler wants the signs to be put back up and said he paid for the signs to be there until after the November election. "If I could I'd have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District," he said.

Congressman Fleischmann also released a statement condemning the billboards.

Voters will head to the polls for Tennessee's primary elections on August 4. The general election will be held November 8.
Washington: The United States has said there is "a path forward" for India to become a full member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which will come by the end of this year. The statement came hours after the group's plenary meeting ended in Seoul with no decision on India's membership in face of strong China-led opposition.

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year," a top Obama administration official said on Friday. "It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the official told on condition of anonymity.

Read: US desires to see India's NSG application be considered seriously

Refusing to divulge the discussions and opposition to India's membership within the 48-member grouping, the official said details of the internal deliberations are confidential. "But the US strongly believes in India's membership in the NSG and the Obama administration has worked closely with New Delhi and other countries on this issue," the official said.

Read: India fails to get NSG membership, criticises China

Without going into details of deliberations, the official referred to a similar discussion within the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) to which India was inducted early this month after months of discussions within its member countries.

Like NSG, decisions within MTCR is taken with consensus. "We expected a discussion on the role that India will play and where it has been," said the official.

"We were able to end discussion this week and we have a clear path forward for India to become a full member by the end of the year," the official asserted.

Read: India remains upbeat despite NSG block, calls for 'early decision'

"That's our expectation," the senior administration official reiterated when asked if US expects that India's NSG membership could be achieved by the end of this year. "Our expectations is that this would be finished by the end of this year," the official said.

Read: NSG members declare full support for NPT, no exception in case of India

The NSG ended its plenary meeting in Seoul with no decision on India's membership. China succeeded in scuttling India's bid despite a significant majority backing the Indian case. Thirty-eight countries supported India, according to Indian officials.
A family spat started inside the married couple's Houston-area home and spiraled into gun violence that spilled out onto their street. (Photo: Facebook)

Houston: An outspoken gun advocate in Texas shot and killed her two teenage daughters before a responding police officer shot and killed her, authorities said on Sunday.

The 42-year-old mother, identified as Christy Sheats, shot her daughters on Friday in the Westheimer Lakes-North neighborhood near the Houston suburbs of Fulshear and Katy, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.

Christy shot and killed her two young daughters, Taylor, 22, and Madison Sheats, 17, on what neighbours said was their father's birthday, according to local reports. A family spat started inside the married couple's Houston-area home and spiraled into gun violence that spilled out onto their street.

"It was a family argument that turned into a shooting, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls said.

"But we're still trying to put the pieces together," Nehls was quoted as saying by the Houston Chronicle.

The woman's husband Jason Sheats was taken away by paramedics, but was not injured, CNN affiliate KTRK reported.

Jason and Christy recently reunited after separating, a neighbour told the TV station. An eyewitness saw Taylor, Madison and Jason running out of their home.

According to the eyewitness, the young women were already wounded. The neighbour said Taylor collapsed on the street and he saw Christy come outside with a gun and then go back inside to reload. When she emerged again, she shot Madison in the back, according to the eyewitness.

Sheriff Nehls said deputies had gone to the family's home in the past, but he declined to provide additional details.

"It would be too premature to give you a motive as to why something like this took place," Nehls said.

"The best we can do is pray for the father and husband so he can work through this," the Sheriff added.
Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought on Saturday to temper pressure from Paris, Brussels and her own government to force Britain into negotiating a quick divorce from the EU, despite warnings that hesitation will let populism take hold.

Eurosceptics in other member states applauded Britons' decision to leave the European Union in a referendum that sent shockwaves around the world, with far-right demands for a similar vote in Slovakia underlining the risk of a domino effect.

With the referendum decision finally made on Thursday and Prime Minister David Cameron having announced his resignation, European politicians and institutions felt free to shower demands on Britain over its future outside the world's largest trading bloc.

The European Central Bank said Britain's financial industry, which employs 2.2 million people, would lose the right to serve clients in the EU unless the country signed up to its single market - anathema to "leave" campaigners who are set to lead the next government in London.

Almost alone in continental Europe, Merkel tried to slow the rush to get Britain out of the EU door. Europe's most powerful leader made clear she would not press Cameron after he indicated Britain would not seek formal exit negotiations until October at least.

"Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame," Merkel told a news conference.

"The negotiations must take place in a businesslike, good climate," she said. "Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically."

Britain's decision to leave the EU is the biggest blow since World War Two to the European project of forging greater unity. But Merkel appeared more conciliatory than others within her coalition government and elsewhere in Europe.

The chief executive of Britain's "Vote Leave" campaign called for informal talks before London notifies the EU it wants to leave under the Lisbon Treaty, which provides for two years of divorce proceedings.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of Merkel's Social Democrat coalition partners, showed a greater sense of urgency on getting talks going.

"This process should get underway as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe," he said after hosting a meeting of his colleagues from the six founding members of the EU - Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned of the dangers of delay. "We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap," he said.

They followed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said on Friday it didn't make any sense to wait until October to negotiate the terms of a "Brexit".

Britain's representative on the EU executive, Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill, resigned on Saturday after campaigning against a British exit.

EUROPEAN 'TITANIC'

In Britain itself, divisions widened after the relatively close vote.

Almost 1.9 million Britons have signed a petition on parliament's website calling for a second EU referendum because Thursday's 52-48 percent result in favour of "Brexit" was not decisive enough.

The petition will have to be discussed by lawmakers, but it has no legal force and its backers compare with the 17.4 million Britons who voted "leave".

Tens of thousands are also set to pack into Trafalgar Square in the British capital on Tuesday to show "London stands with Europe", the Evening Standard newspaper reported.

In contrast to Cameron, Scotland's pro-EU first minister said she wanted to open negotiations directly with Brussels. The option of a second referendum on independence from the United Kingdom - after Scots rejected the idea two years ago - should be "on the table", she said.

South of the border in England, eurosceptic newspapers rejoiced but others pondered an uncertain future. "So what the hell happens now?" asked the Daily Mirror.

Cameron announced on Friday he would resign after the referendum that sent global stock markets plunging, and inflicted the biggest one day drop on sterling in history.
The 49-year-old became Britains youngest Prime Minister in nearly 200 years in 2010, and last year was re-elected with a Conservative majority. (Photo: AP)

London: Prime Minister David Camerons decision to resign after he lost the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union triggered a leadership contest in his Conservative party, the winner of which will replace him in Downing Street.

He had already said he would step down before the next election in 2020, and a number of Conservative lawmakers have positioned themselves as potential successors.

Britains next prime minister will have the task of negotiating the countrys exit from the 28-nation bloc.

Here are the key steps following his resignation:

Cameron Out

Cameron had called the referendum and campaigned hard for a Remain vote on Thursdays poll, so his departure was inevitable, but is a humiliating end to his career.

The 49-year-old became Britains youngest Prime Minister in nearly 200 years in 2010, and last year was re-elected with a Conservative majority.

Cameron will hand over the leadership and the keys to Downing Street latest by October at the Tory party conference.

He leaves behind a party that is deeply divided, with six of his ministers and 128 of 330 Conservative lawmakers having backed a Brexit.

Who can succeed Cameron?

A committee of senior Conservative lawmakers will meet on Monday to formally start the leadership process.

Here are some potential candidates:

Boris Johnson:

Instantly recognisable with his mop of golden hair, Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson can claim much of the credit for propelling the Leave side to victory.

Boris Johnson poses with 'Leave' supporters after the historic Brexit vote. (Photo: AP)

The 52-year-old former London mayor has the popular touch, and his relentless campaigning for a Brexit has endeared him to many eurosceptic Conservative voters.

It has also boosted his national profile, although he has critics among Conservative MPs and some accuse him of only backing the Leave camp out of political self-interest.

Michael Gove:

The justice minister was a close friend of Camerons and his decision to defy him and campaign for a Brexit was a blow to the Prime Minister.

UK's Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove. (Photo: AP)

The 48-year-old former journalist presented the more sober, cerebral face of the Leave campaign.

His low point was comparing economic experts warning about the effects of a Brexit to the Nazis who smeared Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

He later apologised.

Theresa May:

Interior minister Theresa May avoided the in-fighting that has dominated the campaign, giving her a unique position among those likely to want to succeed Cameron.

British interior minister Theresa May avoided the in-fighting that has dominated the campaign, giving her a unique position among those likely to want to succeed PM David Cameron. (Photo: AFP)

May declared herself officially in favour of Britain staying in the EU, despite being a long-standing eurosceptic and hardliner on immigration.

But the 59-year-old kept a low profile, treading a fine line between remaining loyal to Cameron and appeasing Tory core supporters with a call for reform to the rules that allow EU citizens to move to Britain.

George Osborne:

Finance minister George Osborne, Camerons close ally, has long been mentioned as a possible successor but his strong support for a Remain vote angered many Tory members.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. (Photo: AP)

He fronted a raft of official warnings over the economic risks of a Brexit that rivals dubbed Project Fear, and accused his rivals of being economically illiterate.

His final warning that he may have to raise taxes and slash spending on schools and hospitals if Britain voted to leave saw him dubbed the kamikaze chancellor.

Most commentators agree that his leadership ambitions are now all but dead.

- Other possibilities include two pro-European cabinet ministers: Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, and Stephen Crabb, the work and pensions secretary.

Naming a New PM

In Britain, voters elect parties and not prime ministers, so a change of the leadership at the top of the governing party does not require a new election to be called.

Those hoping to succeed Cameron must first submit to a vote by Conservative MPs. The two most popular candidates will then be put to a vote by the partys 150,000 members.

Mission: Leaving The EU

Cameron said the new prime minister will have to launch a procedure to leave the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which defines the conditions for a voluntary and unilateral exit.

There would then be a period of negotiation leading up to the exit, since Britain and the EU need to define their new bilateral relations.

The premier will also have the task of uniting a country profoundly divided by the EU vote, and dealing with the potential secession of Scotland.
The trip began Sunday in Rome, where Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo: AFP)

Rome: US Secretary of State John Kerry will rush to Brussels and London on Monday to meet the top British and European Union diplomats, as the world grapples with the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

Kerry will bring messages of support. Less likely: Answers or even suggestions for how to deal with a crisis that has spooked economists and forced countries in Europe and beyond to contemplate the possibility of unity across the continent crumbling.

The trip began Sunday in Rome, where Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also meet Italian government officials.

But confronted with the gravity of Britain's June 23 decision, which crushed markets from the US to Japan, Kerry has set up a frantic, four-nation schedule Monday.

After gathering with Netanyahu in the morning, he will fly to Brussels to discuss Europe's situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. He will go from there to London to meet British Secretary Philip Hammond, before returning to Washington before the day's end.

With the Brits, Kerry will echo last week's immediate response from Washington focusing on the unchanged nature of the "special relationship" between the US and the United Kingdom.

Even the gloomiest of predictions about the British exit from the EU, or Brexit, don't foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britain's divorce from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing US-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to "leave" could put them at the back of the line for similar deals.

Since the result of the referendum, however, Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasize the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

In Brussels, Kerry will emphasize US backing for the European project amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britain's lead.

The Obama administration sees a strong EU as key to stability in Europe and as a critical partner in bringing security to nearby flashpoints in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung places of conflict like sub-Afghanistan. It also has counted on the EU to enforce sanctions on Russia since its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014.

But it's unclear what more Kerry, or the US, can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britain's exit negotiations are likely to be a complicated, protracted affair, and there is no guarantee of a smooth breakup. The Americans are likely to have little say in the matter.

And the US has no answer for Brussels' dilemma over how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media outside Bute House, following an emergency Scottish cabinet meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo: AP)

London: Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday vowed to protect Scotland against the "devastating" fallout of Brexit, outlining her negotiating position for her country to remain in the European Union.

Sturgeon said the United Kingdom that Scotland voted to remain a part of in a 2014 independence referendum "does not exist any more" following Thursday's national referendum to leave the EU.

Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU but Scotland voted strongly for Britain to remain -- by 62 percent to 38 percent.

"What's going to happen with the UK is that there are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences... I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Within hours of the result on Friday, Sturgeon said a new independence referendum within two years was now "highly likely" and on Saturday she said Scotland was seeking "immediate discussions" with European leaders.

Two new polls taken after Thursday's vote showed a majority of Scots would now support independence.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 percent of respondents now wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 percent were opposed.

In a poll for Scotland's Sunday Post, ScotPulse found that 59 percent would vote for independence.

'Scotland staying' in EU

Sturgeon, who is head of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, on Sunday warned that the consequences of dragging Scotland out of the European Union "against her will" would be "devastating".

Asked what Scotland's negotiating position with Brussels could be and whether it would have to join the EU as a new member state, she said: "This would not be a decision about Scotland leaving... this would actually be a decision about Scotland staying."

"Our argument is that we don't want to leave. It's not that we want to leave and get back in," she said.

She also cautioned any future British prime minister against vetoing a new Scottish independence vote.

"I think people in Scotland would find that completely unacceptable," she said.

Andrew Scott, a professor of European Union studies at the University of Edinburgh, said one way in which Scotland could remain in the EU would be to vote for independence before Britain's departure is finalised.

It could then define itself as a "successor state" and effectively inherit Britain's EU membership, including the budget rebate, he argued.

A second option would be for an independent Scotland to leave the EU and then re-apply while in the meantime joining the European Economic Area.

"I think the European Union would have no reason to reject Scotland's participation or continuing membership of the EU," Scott said.

EU officials have cautioned in recent days that Scotland may have to apply like other new member states, which are required to adopt the euro.

"I think the circumstances surrounding a second move for Scotland towards independent membership would be quite different from the circumstances that surrounded the debate in 2014," Scott said.

'I feel more European'

In the streets of Edinburgh, many people agreed.

Chris Dougray, a financial advisor, said he was concerned about the impact on investment in Scotland if it is forced out of the European Union.

"If it meant that we stay in the European Union, I would vote for independence, yes," he said.

Zoe Cuthbert, a 23-year-old student of international law, said: "I feel more European than I do British.

"We've clearly made our voice heard that we look more to Europe than we do to the rest of the UK."

But Evelyn Hutchen, a 68-year-old Glaswegian, said she had voted to leave the European Union.

"Britain isn't ours any more because of the EU," she said, adding: "Sometimes I feel they're stripping the British away from us."
London: In a first, an Islamic State terror suspect in custody over suspicions of his role in Paris and Brussels terror attacks has turned into an informer for UK police intelligence services against the terror outfit.

Mohamed Abrini, who became known as the "man in the hat" after he was spotted on CCTV footage following the Brussels airport attacks in March has become the first "ISIS supergrass" to assist British investigators, 'The Sunday Times' reported.

Following secret talks between Britain and Belgium, officers in Brussels asked Abrini questions provided by the UK authorities.

Abrini, who is facing terrorism charges in Belgium after being filmed at Brussels airport with two suicide bombers responsible for the attacks, has been helping British officers gather intelligence on suspected terrorist plots and jihadist sympathisers in the UK.

The 31-year-old, who was also caught on CCTV travelling by car to Paris two days before the attacks in the French capital last November, is the first ISIS terrorist suspect confirmed to have been "turned" and to be assisting authorities in the UK, the newspaper reports.

A "supergrass" is an informant or suspect who helps the authorities in return for immunity from prosecution, a more lenient sentence or a new identity.

However, the evidence they provide may not always be reliable.

Abrini appeared in court in Belgium last week where a judge rejected his bid to avoid extradition to France, where he is suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks that killed 130.

Prosecutors said Abrini would not be sent to France immediately because they are still investigating him over the Brussels attacks that claimed a total of 32 lives.
Madrid: Spaniards were heading to the polls Sunday for an unprecedented repeat election that aims to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government.

Opinion polls in recent weeks have unanimously predicted the new ballot will also fail to deliver enough votes for any one party to take power alone.

That would likely consign Spain to another period of protracted political negotiations - and, possibly, another election if there is no breakthrough.

Polls are prohibited in the last week of campaigning, but the most recent ones suggested the conservative Popular Party would win most votes but would again fall short of the parliamentary majority it had from 2011 to 2015. Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy is hoping to be re-elected as prime minister.

According to the Spanish Constitution, a government must win a vote of confidence in Parliament with more than 50 percent of the possible 350 votes before taking office. If it misses that target, in a second vote 48 hours later it must get 50 percent of only the votes that are cast - a lower bar which allows parties to abstain from the vote and let a party into power in return for concessions.

A new round of political negotiations could be complicated by support for a new far-left alliance called Unidos Podemos (United We Can). That group, which includes radical leftist party Podemos and the Communist Party, is expected to finish second. That would push the moderate, center-left Socialist Party, which has traditionally alternated in power with the Popular Party, into third place and the business-friendly Ciudadanos (Citizens) into fourth.

The election in Spain comes four days after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consultancy, said it is "unlikely" that decision would have much of an influence on the Spanish election.

"Nevertheless, the ongoing market turmoil fits well with the campaign message of ... Rajoy, who has framed the election as a choice between economic stability and a radical left-wing government potentially led by Podemos and its allies," Barroso wrote in an analysis Friday.

Polls opened at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and were to close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) for the country's roughly 36.5 million voters. Exit polls with projections of the result are expected within minutes of polls closing, and most votes are expected to be counted by 11 p.m. (2100 GMT).

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished public services such as welfare and education, and unrelenting political corruption scandals have shaped the two-week election campaign.

After the December election, Rajoy couldn't get enough support from rival parties to form either a minority government or a coalition.

The negotiations between parties dragged on for months as Pedro Sanchez, leader of the second-placed Socialists, also failed to clinch a deal that would let him govern.

Spain has never had a coalition government.

Pablo Iglesias, the radical college professor leader of Unidos Podemos, has repeatedly said he wants a pact with the Socialists in order to oust Rajoy. But a major sticking point for such a deal is Iglesias's insistence on letting the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia stage an independence referendum - a possibility rejected outright by all the other main parties.

Ciudadanos is willing to talk to both the PP and the Socialists but want no deals with Unidos Podemos.

Besides tension over Catalonia, Spanish political debate has been dominated by an unemployment rate that has stood at more than 20 percent for nearly seven years and is the second highest in the EU after Greece, and an unrelenting stream of corruption scandals, mostly involving the Popular Party and the Socialists.
Other members of Corbyn's shadow cabinet are also expected to follow suit as many of the Labour MPs have been critical of Corbyn's handling of Britain's EU referendum.(Photo: AP)

London: Britain's Opposition Labour party was on Sunday thrown into turmoil after Jeremy Corbyn sacked his foreign secretary Hilary Ben while other members of the shadow cabinet are set to step down as divisions within the party emerged over the veteran socialist leader's handling of the EU referendum.

Ben was sacked after he said he no longer had confidence in Corbyn's leadership. Soon after, his colleague, shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander announced her resignation on Twitter.

Other members of Corbyn's shadow cabinet are also expected to follow suit as many of the Labour MPs have been critical of Corbyn's handling of Britain's EU referendum.

The shocking decision by the country to vote to leave the 28-member European Union was against the wishes of most Labour lawmakers.

"There is no confidence to win the next election if Jeremy continues as leader. In a phone call to Jeremy I told him I had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party and he dismissed me," Ben said.

After Benn was sacked, other Labour MPs came out in his support.

67-year-old Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence over claims he was "lacklustre" and "half-hearted" during the EU referendum campaigning.

Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey had submitted a motion of no confidence against Corbyn to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chairman John Cryer soon after the results of the EU referendum in favour of Brexit.

The motion has no formal constitutional force but calls for a discussion at the PLP's next meeting tomorrow.

The chairman will decide whether it is debated. If accepted, a secret ballot of Labour MPs could be held on Tuesday.

The Labour party campaigned for Remain during the referendum but it was widely felt that the party leader did not do enough to convince Labour voters after a 52-48 per cent result in favour of Leave.

In her resignation letter, Alexander said "Our country needs an effective opposition which can hold the government to account. As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."

A spokesperson for the Labour leader, however, said, "Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so."

In a speech yesterday, Corbyn said: "I did all I could? Two-thirds of Labour voters voted for Remain in response to our party's call for that. There are some people in the

Parliamentary Labour Party who would probably want somebody else being the leader of this party, they have made that abundantly clear in the past few days."

Asked if he would stand again if there was a challenge to his leadership, he said: "Yes, I'm here, thank you." This is the greatest threat Corbyn has faced to his leadership since he was elected leader of the Labour party just under a year ago.
Madrid: Just days after a shock Brexit, Spaniards voted in repeat elections on Sunday to decide if they too want a radical shift as promised by a far-left coalition led by Podemos. The election pits those hungry for change in a country with high unemployment against those who fear it would torpedo Spains slow economic recovery.

Britains shock vote to leave the European Union has further exacerbated this division. The outgoing conservative Popular Party is insisting on the need for stability in the face of populism  a thinly-veiled dig at the Unidos Podemos coalition. Voters have the choice between four major political groupings after the emergence of Podemos and centre-right upstart Ciudadanos last year uprooted the countrys two-party dominance.

The failure to agree on a coalition last December prompted Sundays repeat vote. Pre-Brexit opinion polls suggested the results on Sunday would also be fractured, with the PP coming first without a majority.
Tehran: Dog lovers in central Iran are in uproar after authorities began confiscating their pets in an apparent crackdown on the "vulgar Western culture" of canine ownership, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

One unnamed dog owner in Shahin Shahr in Isfahan province told Iran's Shahrvand newspaper that officials had shown up suddenly at his house last week. "We were shown a piece of paper indicating they were from the municipal veterinary office. They came in and took away our dogs under the pretext of vaccination," he said.

The owner was told he could recover the dog after its vaccination, but when he went to the vet's office they had no record of his case. Instead, the newspaper said the confiscations were the result of a crackdown launched by local prosecutor Mohsen Boosaidi.

"Keeping and caring for dogs is haram (forbidden) according to religious leaders," Boosaidi told the Fars news agency on June 19. "If we find out that anyone is keeping and caring for dogs and so is promoting vulgar Western culture, we will deal with them firmly."

Dog confiscations in the town began three days later, according to reports. It did not give precise numbers, but said a number of families had lost their pets. "Ever since our dog was taken away, you only hear the sound of crying and sobbing in our house," the Shahin Shahr owner said.

Javid Al-e Davood, the head of Iran's Society For Protection of Animals, said such confiscations were illegal and that the prosecutor was "absolutely wrong" about the Islamic attitude to dogs. "Keeping dogs has not been regarded as haram in any religious book. Associating keeping dogs with Western culture is distorting the history of Islamic and Iranian civilisation," he said.

Dogs are considered najes (unclean) in Islam and police often stop and fine dog walkers. However, Iran's authorities have stated that dogs with a clear role -- such as guarding property or guiding the blind -- are permitted.

In a wry letter to the prosecutor published on his organisation's website, Al-e Davood said confiscating people's pets was a strange priority for the authorities. "We are very happy that all the problems of the country have been resolved and that the presence of a few guard dogs in people's homes is the last remaining problem for the people of Shahin Shahr, which you have set out to resolve," he wrote.
Smoke billows on the horizon as Iraqi military forces prepare for an offensive into Fallujah to retake the city from Islamic State militants in Iraq. (Photo: AP)

Baghdad: A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighborhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under IS control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated." The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

"From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 2014.

Fallujah, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to IS in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by IS group's militant predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 U.S. troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.
Thousands of Sunnis and Shiites from across the country take part in a mass funeral procession for 27 people killed in a suicide bombing, by a sympathizer of the Islamic State group, that targeted the Shiite Imam Sadiq Mosque a day earlier, at the Grand Mosque in Kuwait City, Kuwait. (Photo: AP)

Kuwait City: The wood paneling bearing Quranic verses gleams inside the Imam Sadiq Mosque and the carpeting is soft underfoot for worshippers who come to pray in what is one of Kuwait's oldest Shiite mosques - and the site of the country's worst militant attack in modern history.

It's been a year since an Islamic State suicide attacker, his explosives' vest hidden under traditional male white robes, interrupted prayers to shout "God is Great" in Arabic before blowing himself up.

He killed at least 27 people and wounded 227 in a day of violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a day that also saw shootings on a Tunisian beach resort and an attack on a U.S.-owned factory in France. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the Kuwait bombing, along with the attack in Tunisia.

Since that day of carnage, Kuwait has rebuilt the mosque and flooded billboards and social media with calls for unity in this small nation of 3 million people. But regional tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims still ripple through Kuwait, as fears about possible further attacks by IS linger.

A wounded man is helped moments after a deadly explosion claimed by the Islamic State group during Friday prayers at the Imam Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait City. (Photo: AP)

"Kuwait is certainly not immune to the sectarian tension in the area," Kuwait University political science professor Shafeeq Ghabra said. "Sectarianism is one symptom of so many issues."

The Imam Sadiq Mosque, named after a historically revered Shiite figure, is tucked into the capital's al-Sawabir neighborhood on a street of boutique restaurants popular with the oil-rich emirate's chic socialites. It survived Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the expulsion of Saddam Hussein's troops by U.S.-led forces the following year.

All that changed with the June 26, 2015, suicide bombing that struck as worshippers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in group prayer. The powerful explosion tore into the mosque's ceiling, spread blood across its floors and sent debris flying.

Minutes after the attack, Kuwait's elderly ruler Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah stood at the site, surrounded by the crowds and ignoring the advice of his security forces to leave.

"Those are my sons," he said, speaking of the victims, local media reported at the time.

Sheikh Sabah's comments and presence carried much power in Kuwait, a predominantly Sunni Arab nation where at least at third of the population is believed to be Shiite - mostly descendants of Persian merchants, sea-farers and craftsmen who moved to the Gulf emirate before its establishment. Shiites now also hold key positions in Kuwait's government and freely elected parliament.

Men react after a deadly blast claimed by the Islamic State group that struck worshippers attending Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City. (Photo: AP)

Kholoud al-Feeli, who lost her uncle in the attack, said the Sunni ruler's reaction showed that he views everyone as an equal.

"Kuwaitis have always been open toward other beliefs and differences," she said. "We are a melting-pot nation, with many people of Levantine, Persian, Egyptian and even Indian ties, if not by blood then by marriage."

Sheikh Sabah paid for nearly all the renovations needed at the mosque, which reopened this month after a remembrance ceremony for those lost.

"The one-year remembrance service held at the mosque is a great example of how Kuwait's unity and solidarity is unquestionable in times of crises," said Abdulnabi al-Attar, a supervisor at the mosque and member of its board.

"Many leading Sunni figures attended the service, headed by the emir of Kuwait himself," he added.

But in the year since the bombing, that sense of unity may have weakened amid Kuwait's failure to diversify its oil-dependent economy and address the growing disillusionment of its youth in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

In the weeks after the bombing, police arrested what they described as a Hezbollah cell with a massive underground ammunition cache. Two of the defendants have been sentenced to death and have appealed their sentence.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State group continues its campaign of violence in the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria, as well as calling for lone-wolf attacks across the globe.

Kuwait undoubtedly remains a target, though al-Feeli and others hope the country will hold onto its unity.

"We as a nation have proved our resilience before, in the 1980s with Saddam's war against Iran, in the Gulf War, and as close as last year's ISIS attack," she said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. "I hope that we can come out of this more united."
New Delhi: With Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives being responsible for the death of as many as eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Saturday shrugged off the question on the attack, asking to rather focus on the Iftaar Party that was going on in the Pakistan High Commission.

"It's the month of Ramzaan, let's focus on this Iftaar party. The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed issue between India and Pakistan. It's an issue which needs to be solved. We hope we will sit and discuss on the issue and find a solution. Let's have the iftaar party and enjoy ourselves," Basit said in New Delhi.

#WATCH: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Pampore (Jammu & Kashmir) terrorist attack.https://t.co/jkzSn90gXs  ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2016

Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier on Saturday offered his condolences to the kin of the martyred.

My heart goes out to the families of the CRPF men who lost their lives in Pampore. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 25, 2016

Deeply anguished to learn of the death of CRPF personnel in an ambush at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir today  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 25, 2016

"Deeply anguished to learn of the death of CRPF personnel in an ambush at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir today. My heart goes out to the families of the CRPF men who lost their lives in Pampore. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," Rajnath said in a series of tweets.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also expressed her solidarity with the bereaved families of the slain CRPF personnel.

"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the Government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," the Chief Minister said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CRPF DG K Durga Prasad has briefed Rajnath on the incident and will be visiting Pampore on Sunday to take stock of the situation. The CRPF on Saturday asserted that the two terrorists, who have been neutralised in the encounter, appeared to be Pakistanis and were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

"According to the first hand info, both killed terrorists appeared to be Pakistanis and definitely from Lashkar and in all likelihood fidayeen," IG, CRPF operation Nalin Parbhat said.

In the fierce gun-battle that took place on Saturday evening, 24 CRPF jawans were also injured. The security personnel recovered arms and ammunition including 2 AK 47 Rifles, 11 hand grenades from the killed terrorists.
The US military estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly comprised of disaffected Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek Islamists and locals. (Representational Image)

Jalalabad, Afghanistan: Heavy fighting between Afghan forces and Islamic State fighters has killed dozens of people, officials said on Sunday, raising fears the militant group is staging a comeback months after Kabul said they had been defeated.

The fighting began late on Friday in the Kot area of the Rodat district in eastern Nangarhar province after a contingent of IS fighters attacked police check posts, provincial governor Salim Khan Kunduzi said.

The interior ministry in a statement said at least 18 fighters had been killed and more than 40 others wounded so far, though Kunduzi placed the number of IS fighters killed as high as 36 and said at least a dozen security forces personnel and civilians had also died.

Scores of people have been forced out of their homes, according to local officials.

IS fighters began making inroads into Afghanistan in late 2014, winning over sympathisers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf, primarily in the country's east.

But in March, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that the Islamists had been defeated following a months-long military operation.

The US military estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly comprised of disaffected Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek Islamists and locals.

Earlier this month the US President Barack Obama ordered the US military tackle the resurgent Taliban more directly -- in tandem with Afghan allies, ratcheting up a 15-year conflict he had vowed to end.

On Saturday the US military carried out its first air strikes against Taliban targets under the newly approved rules, which mean US troops can now work more closely with local fighters in striking the Taliban.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the strikes occurred in southern Afghanistan, but he did not provide additional details.
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday hosted an iftar reception, on a day when suspected LeT militants killed eight CRPF personnel in Kashmirs Pulwama district.





The reception, however, was a low-key affair compared to previous years. Basit spoke for better ties with India and a speedy resolution of Kashmir dispute but refused to condemn the killings on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.



"I have already said what I think about the relationship between India and Pakistan. Today we are celebrating iftar. Let's have iftar party and enjoy ourselves. Basit tweeted photographs of the guests at the reception. But, for the first time in over 17 years, there were no pictures of prominent Kashmiri separatist leaders like Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
A 47-year Delhi Police constable committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence at Metro apartments in Northwest Delhis Jahangirpuri area on Saturday.



The deceased has been identified as Kamal Kumar. Kumar was part of the Delhi Police Band, and was posted at the Police Training College at Jharoda Kalan.



According to the police, the incident was reported at around 12 noon when Kamal was found hanging in his room by his family members.



His family informed the police after which Kamals body was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.



Suicide note

No suicide note has been recovered from Kamals possession as yet, the police said. Kamal was posted at the Police Training College at Jharoda Kalan. He was also a part of the Delhi Police band, said a police officer.



An inquiry under Section174 of CrPC of Inquest proceedings has been initiated into the matter.



Preliminary investigation suggests that he was sick for past few days. The police have not ruled out family problems as one of the reasons behind the suicide.



We are still investigating into the matter, we cannot say if family reasons were behind his suicide, we are currently questioning the family members after which the matter will be clear, added the officer. Kamal is survived by his wife, two sons and one daughter.






I was telling him the difficulties lot of traders were facing in repaying the loan when suddenly he started yelling at me, said Goswami.



I tried to reason out with him but he accused me of talking a lot. Then he threatened me that he will see me later and will cancel my license also, Goswami added.



Goswami further said that Sisodia also asked his personal security officer to click photos of the association president, following which the traders started protesting against the deputy CM.



Scared by the whole episode, Goswami went to the Ghazipur police station and registered a complaint against the deputy CM.



Being the deputy CM of Delhi, he is in a position of power. After todays (Saturday) incident I am feeling concerned about what he might do to me. I request the police to please take note of the situation and take an action to resolve the issue, Goswami wrote in his complaint.







The president of east Delhis Ghazipur vegetable market association has registered a complaint against Delhis Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia of intimidat-ing him with words and gestures during the deputy CMs official visit in the market on Saturday.The complaint has been registered in the Ghazipur police station and the police are looking into it.Surender Goswami, president of the association also wrote in his complaint that Sisodias behaviour was dictatorial towards him and other traders.The incident happened between 8 and 9 am at the Ghazipur fruit and vegetable market when during an official visit Sisodia was interacting with the market traders.According to Goswami, Sisodia lost his cool when Goswami raised the matter of a loan which the market traders had taken up from banks and started arguing with him.
Amid the debate on ways to check rising pendency in courts, new data say out of the over 2.20 crore cases awaiting disposal across the country, the next date of hearing has not been fixed for over 14 per cent of them.



This means that the courts have not yet decided on when these 31,45,059 cases will be taken up for the next hearing.



According to the data available on the National Judicial Data Grid, as on June 24 this year 2,20,75,329 cases are pending in various courts.



Out of these, 31,45,059 (or 14.25 per cent of the total pending cases) have been categorised as 'undated cases'.



Any case for which the next date of hearing has not been assigned is called an undated case.



The data say that of the over 31 lakh undated cases, 21,75,750 are criminal cases, while 9,69,309 are civil in nature.



Gujarat, according to the data available on the Grid, leads with 20.46 per cent undated cases, followed by West Bengal with 14.96 per cent cases. Madhya Pradesh has 13.13 per cent undated cases and Delhi 3.22 per cent.



At a recent meeting of the Supreme Court eCommittee, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had suggested introduction of "some sort of incentive" for reducing the number of undated cases.



The eCommittee of the Supreme Court was set up in 2004 to assist the Chief Justice of India in formulating a national policy on computerisation of Indian judiciary and advise on technological, communication and management-related changes.



Of the over two crore cases pending, more than 10 per cent have remained unsettled for over 10 years.



Out of the total pendency, 83,00,462 or 41.38 per cent cases are pending for less than two years, while 21,72,411 or 10.83 per cent cases are pending for over 10 years.


Acknowledging that the impression in New Delhi is that India is not getting access to the kind of technology it needs from the US, the official said it is a constant source of discussion.



"(In reality), less than one per cent of all exports (requests) are denied (to India). They are not denied because of India. They are denied because of global US licensing policies. We do not share certain technologies with anybody in the world," the official asserted.



The perception in India that the denial of such technologies is reflective of India-US relationship is far from the truth, the official said.



According to the official, India being recognised as a "major defence partner puts it on par with our treaty allies".



Inside the American bureaucratic system, such a recognition removes a number of major export control hurdles for India.



The category of 'Major Defence Partner' was created specifically for India, observed Ashley Tellis, of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top American think-tank.



"It was meant to recognise that although India will not be an alliance partner of the United States, the administration seeks to treat it as such for purposes of giving it access to advanced technologies of the kind that are reserved for close US allies," Tellis told PTI.



"The US expects that bilateral defence ties will only grow in the years ahead, that India and the United States will continue to work together especially regarding maritime security, that India will eventually be admitted to global nonproliferation regimes, and that it will sign the foundational agreements," he said in response to a question.



"As these developments materialise, India's access to US technology will also increase, and the "major defence partner" moniker is intended to signal to both the outside world and to the US bureaucracy that oversees licensing that India is viewed as a unique collaborator and will be treated as such where access to advanced technologies are concerned," Tellis said.



Calling India a "Major Defence Partner" is "more a term of art than a technical designation", noted Richard M Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, another top American think-tank.



"It certainly captures what is emerging as a unique relationship, exhibited by programs such as the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) and the establishment of a dedicated 'India Rapid Reaction Cell' inside the Pentagon. Neither exists for a country other than India," he said.



"But the term 'Major Defence Partner' does not automatically trigger a specific process or program in the US system. Our two countries are feeling their way around the contours of our defence relationship," Rossow told PTI.



"India desires advanced US technology today, while the US would like more clarity on the specific operations India may be willing to undertake in the future to contribute to regional security. It is a process that has seen great progress, which we hope will carry over into the next US administration," Rossow said in response to a question.



Over the last one decade the defence trade between India and the US has increased from being almost non-existent to more than USD 14 billion. This is expected to increase manifold as India embarks on a major defense modernisation drive.



India will be the only country outside US' formal treaty allies that will gain access to almost 99 per cent of latest America's defence technologies after being recognised as a 'Major Defence Partner', a senior Obama administration official has said."India (now) enjoys access to (defence) technologies that is on par with our treaty allies. That is a very unique status. India is the only other country that enjoys that status outside our formal treaty allies," the official told PTI explaining what 'Major Defence Partner' status means for India.Early this month, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, the US, in a joint statement, recognised India as a 'Major Defence Partner'."We were looking for something unique. This language you would not find in any arms transfer legislation or any of our existing policies. This is new guidance and new language that is intended to reflect the unique things that we have done with India under our defence partnership," the senior administration official said."This is intended to solidify the India-specific forward leaning policies for approval that the (US) President and (Defense) Secretary (Ashton) Carter...and our export control system have implemented in the last eight years," the official said.Under this recognition India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that New Delhi has committed to take to advance its export control objectives.


"There are desperate attempts to create problems for the country...these are desperate attempts...but, we are committed and necessary action and response will be taken up...let the officers come back from the spot after they review the entire situation," he said.



"There may be claims by groups (taking responsibility for the attack), but we have to make complete official assessment of the situation. Our DG CRPF has been asked to go there and other senior officers have rushed to Srinagar," he said.



On reports about statement given by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on the incident, Rijiju said, "He has a habit of giving such statements and the whole world is watching. I don't want to make political statements...I think the Ministry of External Affairs and PMO may react to it."



Reacting to another query, the minister said, "The efforts to infiltrate along the LoC in the western side has come down. The attempts have increased but the level of success has drastically come down and that is why this kind of desperate attempts are being made, and they may try to increase the level, but infiltration itself has come down."



On the Pathankot incident, he said, "We are waiting for the date which Pakistan has to give and as and when the date comes our people -- NIA team is ready."

Describing the killing of eight CRPF troopers by terrorists in Srinagar as "desperate attempts to create problems for the country", Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju today said the government is committed to ensuring peace and security and necessary action will be taken.In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were yesterday killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore near Srinagar, in what appeared to be a Fidayeen attack carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba."The incident is very unfortunate... We condemn such ghastly attack by terrorists and we pay homage to the departed martyrs and send our condolences to the bereaved family members," Rijiju told reporters here."The CRPF team, they were returning from the firing range to the headquarters when they were attacked near Jhelum river. It was a tragic incident where eight of our jawans lost their lives," he said."The situation is challenging...people who believe in extremism, they are very desperate because we have got a very dynamic Prime Minister and India is progressing very well and so they are doing everything to scuttle the efforts of the government to taking India to new level of prosperity," the Union minister said.




The Chief Minister laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the eight CRPF personnel killed in the militant attack on their convoy at Pampore on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway yesterday.





She said targeting security forces personnel who were only doing their duty was "condemnable".





"This is a fasting month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins. This is the time when we should be making sure not to hurt others.

This kind of attack where you are affecting families by snatching their bread earner is condemnable.





"Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a set back to the religion we practice," Mehbooba told reporters.





She said the militants were also giving a set back to tourism of Kashmir. "People from many countries have started arriving but this would send a wrong signal about the situation here," she said.





The Chief Minister said such attacks also deprived Jammu and Kashmir from its share of development witnessed in the rest of India.





"Today there is atmosphere of development. India is attracting lot of investments in infrastructure development and healthcare but when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the investors shy away because of these incidents. The worst sufferers of these attacks are people of Jammu and Kashmir," she said.





Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar downplayed suggestions that the CRPF casualties could have been avoided in view of prior intelligence inputs and said the attackers were neutralised due to alertness of the jawans and intelligence inputs.





"It is a desperate act by the terrorists. You must have seen over the past few days the attacks at Anantnag, Bijbehara or Pampore, these are desperate acts. Over the past six months, many terrorists and their leadership have been eliminated," he said.





"The CRPF personnel were returning after doing their duty and in such cases they become sitting ducks. In earlier attacks, the militants managed to escape but yesterday, our jawans were alert, there were intelligence reports which led to neutralising of terrorists. They could not escape," Kumar said.



Asked if there was any militant involved in yesterday's attack on the loose, the DGP said, "We are investigating the case. We are looking at all possible angles and links and we will get them, we will get the perpetrators to the book."



On the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 2, Kumar said, "We will take all steps necessary for safe and secure environment for smooth conduct of the yatra."



On infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control, the DGP said while "some infiltration has taken place, JK police and security forces are all prepared and geared up to handle any sort of situation".

Paying tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the Pampore attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said such incidents are only "defaming" Kashmir while keeping potential investors and tourists away from the state.
A US congressional candidate has sparked outrage by plastering white supremacist billboards in Tennessee including one saying, 'Make America White Again' -- a racist spin on Donald Trump's election campaign slogan.





The 'Make America White Again' sign was posted by Rick Tyler, an independent candidate in the race for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann.



Another billboard depicted the White House ringed with Confederate flags, with the statement, "I Have a Dream", a takeoff from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. speech, WRCB-TV reported.



Tyler's billboard saying, 'Make America White Again', is an overtly white supremacist spin on Trump's slogan 'Make America Great Again'.



His views on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, seem conflicting. In blog posts on his website, Tyler calls Trump "latest stalking horse entity to be foisted upon the American electorate" -- but also an inspiration.



"His (Trump's) advocacy of a 'temporary ban' on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about ... namely, the urgent and vital subject of race," Tyler wrote.



He, however, was quoted as saying that he has no hatred in his heart for "people of colour".



Tyler said he put up the billboard to make a point that "the 'Leave It to Beaver,' 'Ozzie and Harriet,' 'Mayberry' America of old was vastly superior to what we are experiencing today."



In a Facebook post, Tyler wrote: "It was an America where doors were left unlocked, violent crime was a mere fraction of today's rate of occurrence, there were no car jackings, home invasions, Islamic Mosques or radical Jihadist sleeper cells."



By Thursday the offending billboards located near Benton, Tennessee, were taken down after outraged residents complained, NBC News reported.



Asked if he feared for his safety or backlash from the campaign signs, Tyler was quoted as saying, "I don't fear it. I welcome it, and I will respond with the application of truth." He said he had been receiving death threats.



Tyler wants the signs to be put back up and said he paid for the signs to be there until after the November election.



"If I could I'd have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District," he said.



Congressman Fleischmann also released a statement condemning the billboards.Voters will head to the polls for Tennessee's primary elections on August 4. The general election will be held November 8.




Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group's last positions in the city of Fallujah today, establishing full control over one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.





Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.



The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.



"The Iraqi security forces now control the whole city of Fallujah," said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) that has been leading the fight.



CTS fighters today eased into Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of Fallujah where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.



"Jolan was Daesh's last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.



"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."



A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah and that the overall operation could not be considered over yet.



"We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... the aim is to clear the whole area," he said.



The offensive began on May 22-23 with an initial phase of staging operations aimed at tightening a months-old siege on Fallujah and led by the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias.



Qassem Suleimani, the powerful head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards' overseas operations arm, was more visible than ever before in Iraq during the early days of the operation.



The US-led coalition offered some aerial support but was less involved than six months ago during the operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.



The US had favoured focusing the battle on Mosul, the country's second city, where IS proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria two years ago almost to the day.



While some pockets of IS fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah remain to be flushed out, the jihadist organisation does not appear in a position to contest the area any longer.



The loss of Fallujah, which looms large in jihadist mythology and in 2004 saw US forces suffer some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, is a blow to IS.




Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace "but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness".



He said the attack is a "fallout of frustration" as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from Pakistani side.



While suspecting that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) might not have been followed by the CRPF contingent yesterday, he said,"I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry."



Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to send a team to Pampore "to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents."



The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.



After the attack, CRPF has moved about half-a-dozen heavy-armoured mine protected vehicles (MPVs), which were earlier used for anti-Naxal operations, to Kashmir Valley to effectively secure its troops deployed there.



Home Minister Rajnath Singh today clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India, a day after militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Kashmir killing 8 personnel, and said a central team will look into possible lapses which may have led to the incident.He also said security forces have "standing orders" not to fire the first bullet, but "not count bullets while retaliating".A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.The team will look into the possible increase of cross border Infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."Strongly condemning the militants, Mehbooba said,"They not only defame the state but I think they also bring discredit to the religion behind which they take shelter to perpetrate such acts.""An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it."I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.Later addressing a function in Ranchi, Singh said India will win against terrorism."We will win against terrorism," he said addressing a BJP event where he voiced deep pain over yesterday's incident.He recalled an order he had given after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers a-year-and-half ago. "I told them we will not fire the first bullet, but when we come under attack don't count bullets while retaliating ....that standing order remains in force," he said.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today expressed doubt if the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was followed properly by the bus-borne CRPF personnel at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir who were attacked by terrorists leading to eight jawans being killed.





He said he "doubted if the SOP was followed properly" while noting that the clear picture will emerge after the inquiry.



"We will only get to know the exact reason after the inquiry," Parrikar told reporters here.



The minister termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of "frustration" on part of Pakistani terrorists several of whom were killed by Indian forces in past one year.



"In last one year, we have eliminated over 25 terrorist from Pakistan who had infiltrated into our country. It was an act of frustration," he said.



Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 21 others wounded when terrorists rained bullets on the bus carrying them in Pulwama district yesterday.
A decade ago, then US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said, We are not going to live with a nuclear North Korea. We are not going to accept it. Only a few days after he made this statement, North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006. Ten years later, it has tested them three more times and carried out scores of missile test launches.





Year 2016 has been particularly an active one. In fact, North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un ensured it literally started with a bang for everyone, when the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) greeted the world with its fourth nuclear test on Jan 6, 2016. The country claimed that it had detonated its first hydrogen bomb, which was a complete success.



A rocket launch was undertaken in February and on March 9, the country claimed that it had mastered miniaturisation capability and could launch 1,000 kg payload on Unha 3 missile to reach Alaska. On April 15, Pyongyang announced the conduct of another land-based missile of over 3,000 km range.



Even as this reportedly failed, another missile test was undertaken a week later, this time from a submarine. It travelled a mere 30 km. But, it was a success over an earlier similar test in December 2015 that had fail-ed at ignition. Literally inching towards better capabilities, on June 22, Pyongyang announced another two launches of its 3,000-4,000 km intermediate range missile. While one failed, the other was a success as it flew 400 km over the Sea of Japan.



Such claims, notwithstanding the failures, rattle the world, especially the US, Japan and South Korea. Missile defence deployments continue in these nations and in recent years, an incipient internal debate in Tokyo and Seoul on having nuclear deterrents of their own has also been heard. Meanwhile, the international community normally responds to DPRK provocations with the usual criticism and rounds of most stringent sanctions.



The last time North Korea undertook such an act, the UN Security Council imposed heavier sanctions that included inspection of all cargo in and out of the country, ban on all weapons trade and an expansion of the list of prohibited individuals. Obviously, little is working as the North Korean regime remains immune to both the impact of the sanctions as well as the hardships faced by its people.



Goodies for the leaders continue to roll in from China, which remains North Korea's largest trading partner accounting for more than 74% of its trade. Meanwhile, American reports suggest that Pakistan continues to sell nuclear materials which itself has procured from Chinese entities to DPRK.



What exactly is the message that Pyongyang is seeking to convey through the monthly missile launches? Why does it seemingly remain undeterred by test failures? The first message, of course, is that even the failures are helping make technology gains, pushing North Korea bit by bit towards what Kim calls a pre-emptive nuclear attack capability to be able to hit Japan and Guam, at the least.



No direct talks



A second missive of the missiles, especially for the US, is Engage with us. While Washington has remained rigid on not talking directly to Pyongyang in recent times, the fact remains that there is little chance that a political solution could be found unless the two negotiate bilaterally. This is a major lesson from Iranian nuclear deal too.



The moment Washington and Tehran began direct talks, a resolution looked possible. So, while the Six Party talks could provide a platform, Washington and Pyongyang will have to engage each other. For now, North Korea remains low on American foreign policy priorities even as Kim Jong-un hankers for attention. But, ironically, the more he provokes, the more he alienates himself.



Outsourcing the resolution of the DPRK problem to China cannot yield desired results. China can hardly be desirous of reining in a problem that keeps US on the tenterhooks. Why should it be interested in finding a way to disarm North Korea and have its allies sitting at its own borders? And as a North Korean leader had said soon after the conduct of nuclear test A new puppy knows no fear. Ten years older, the young nuclear country remains as fearless and ready to play its nuclear-missile games.



Proactive American diplomacy, however distasteful it may appear to the US, can be the only way of finding a solution to this problem. Bitter bilateral hostility and lack of effective American leadership in the run up to the elections do not yet offer a promise of this kind.



Meanwhile, one can well predict more missile tests by Kim Jong-un closer to the end of the year as he would try to catch the attention of the new American president. It remains to be seen who that would be and whether he/she would like to earn his/her foreign policy credits by decoding the missile missives flying out of Pyongyang.



But the earlier it happens, the better since DPRK continues to sharpen its nuclear teeth  a development that could result in serious consequences for international security.



(The writer is Senior Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi)
As the existing tertiary care government hospitals continue to suffer due to shortage of manpower, the Centre plans to set up 18 more on the lines of AIIMS.



While the first batch of six new AIIMS is almost ready, bulk of the positions  both teaching and non-teaching  in these institutes are vacant, adversely affecting the delivery of healthcare services in Patna, Raipur, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jodhpur and Rishikesh, where they are located. The premier institute in Delhi too is seriously understaffed.



Mooted by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government almost 15 years ago, the six new AIIMS are now partially functioning from rented space as civil and electrical works for their own buildings are about to be completed. But, manpower remains a big concern.



Each of these six new AIIMS have 305 sanctioned posts for the faculty and 3,776 posts for the non-faculty jobs. On an average, about 250 faculty posts are vacant in each of these new AIIMS.



Less than 500 non-faculty posts were filled up in Patna and Raipur whereas in other four, the numbers are even less.



In AIIMS Delhi, as many as 232 faculty posts were vacant as on April 14, 2016, out of which, 66 positions were for professors, 10 for additional professors, 23 for associate professors and 131 for assistant professors.



But in the last two years, 14 doctors resigned from AIIMS due to lack of office space and logistical problems.



The space crunch has become such a serious issue, the faculty association of AIIMS wrote to the director, requesting him not to go ahead with the recruitment process for 118 posts of assistant professors, till new work and housing space is created. The interview is scheduled in August.



Notwithstanding the faculty crunch, the Health Ministry plans creation of 12 more AIIMS in Mangalgiri (Andhra Pradesh), Guwahati, a second AIIMS in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh (home state of health minister J P Nadda); two in Jammu and Kashmir, Nagpur, Bhatinda, Tamil Nadu, two in Uttar Pradesh (Rae Bareli and Poorvanchal) and Kalyani (West Bengal) over the next 10 years.



As early works commenced on all these projects, Health Ministry sources pointed out there was no clear roadmap on how the faculty shortage could be addressed without compromising on the quality of AIIMS.



It is a matter of serious concern. All the six AIIMS are facing shortage in faculty and non-faculty posts, compounded by the inertia and indifference of the health department in filling up the posts, suggests a panel of lawmakers, who reviewed these projects. For instance, the interviews for faculty positions at AIIMS, Patna, concluded on February 11, 2016, but the selections are yet to be ratified by the general body of the institute though the Health Ministry was to complete the process by March 2016.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had helped the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao split Janata Dal in the 1990s, according to a new book.



Titled 'Half Lion: How P V Narasimha Rao Transformed India', it speaks about how Swamy, a former Union minister, had worked hard to engineer defections in Janata Dal, following which Ajit Singh and other MPs came to the forefront. The book by journalist-turned-academician Vinay Sitapati will be released on Monday. Swamy, then with Janata Party and now a staunch Congress critic, was called by Rao after he won the confidence motion on July 15, 1991, and told him that he did not like the minority government tag.



"You (Swamy) have to help me get a majority. You did it for Rajiv Gandhi, You broke the V P Singh government," Rao said. Swamy, according to the book, replied, "Janata Dal is rudderless. VP is a failed leader. You can break it. But it will cost you." Rao said it would not be a problem.



By August 1992, 20 MPs had defected from Janata Dal, reducing its strength to 39.



According to the book, Rao had a meeting with Swamy on July 26, 1992, two days before he faced a no-confidence motion.
The resistance to the proposed labour law reforms has intensified with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an RSS affiliate, deciding to go on an agitation against the government.



The trade union, which has been supporting the government for quite some time now, has given a call for dharna and demonstrations across the country on July 8.



The BMS will also decide on a national strike on August 14. All central trade unions except the BMS have already given a call for a strike on September 2. The RSS trade union, however, will not participate in it.



The BMS had stayed away from last years nationwide strike in September and since then, it has not participated from joint protests done by central trade unions including CITU, AITCU, INTUC, HMS and AICCTU. The change in BMSs stand has come during the two-day convention in Nagpur. Expressing its dissatisfaction over governments callout and lethargic attitude on the welfare of workers, the BMS has said that inspite of its detailed resolution submitted to the government on stopping anti-labour reforms, the government showed least respect towards the promises it had given to workers.



The BMS also launched a scathing attack on FDI, banking reforms and privatisation of PSUs. Besides going on nationwide agitation on July 8, the BMS will educate MPs on the issue of anti-worker reforms.



The government, on the other hand, is adamant on amending labour laws for ease of doing business.



In an unprecedented move, the government even took a tough stand at the International Labour Conference in Geneva which ended on June 10. Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya emphatically said that India would go ahead with the reforms.



The reforms would make hire and fire easy.



It would be difficult to register trade unions and factories with up to 300 workers need not require government permission for closing, laying off or retrenchment.



Small factories with up to 40 workers would be exempted from 14 labour laws and have the option to opt for PF and health schemes available.
Due to adverse weather conditions in Mangaluru, a flight was on Sunday recalled to Bengaluru. Two others were diverted to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).





The Jet Airways 815 Bengaluru-Mangaluru flight, scheduled for 3 pm, departed from the KIA at 3.27 pm. According to airport sources, the flight had almost reached its destination, but was recalled as it was unable to land. The flight returned to Bengaluru at 4.56 pm and took off again at 6.25 pm.



Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader and actor Upendra were onboard the flight.

We were told the flight had to be recalled to Bengaluru. As I was asleep, I did not realise what was happening till the other passengers began to panic. We were told that before landing the pilot hovered around the airport for 20 minutes, Khader told Deccan Herald.



The minister was on his way to Mangaluru to address a media gathering, and later for an Iftar at his constituency, Ullal. He recalled that the air conditioner in the aircraft had also stopped functioning, triggering panic among the passengers.



Mangaluru International Airport director J T Radhakrishna said Jet Airways 431 Mumbai-Mangaluru flight and Air India Doha-Mangaluru flight were diverted to KIA due to poor visibility. All three flights landed in Mangaluru by evening, he said.



The Meteorological department said though Mangaluru did not receive rain on Sunday, the region remained cloudy and visibility was poor through the day.




Health and Family Welfare Minister K R Ramesh Kumar paid a surprise visit to K C General Hospital.





Speaking to mediapersons after inspecting the hospital, Kumar said he is aware of the scams in the Health Department with respect to procurement of drugs. He said he knows about several irregularities in the bills provided for Yeshaswini scheme. "I will confront anyone in this regard. I am not scared," he added.



The minister said he would resign from his post, if he is unable to set the system right in the department.



Kumar said that there is a shortage of ventilators and dialysis equipment in government hospitals. We will make use of the funds available with the department and ensure that these needs are met, he added.



Hospitals Medical Superintendent Dr Manjunath said the minister went on a round to ICU, operation theatre, labour room and all the wards of the hospital. He interacted with patients for nearly an hour. He was happy that the hospital was kept clean. He has directed us make a list of the additional facilities that we want and send it to him.



The minister also directed that the hospital authorities make better efforts to increase the bed occupancy rate in the hospital.
An unidentified man and a woman were found murdered near the Metro track near V V Puram College on Sunday.





According to the police, the victims are aged around 30 and 25 years respectively.

The victims, believed to be ragpickers, used to stay beneath the Metro track, where they were found murdered.



A few locals noticed the bodies covered in a bedsheet and informed the police.

The two have been bludgeoned to death and we are trying to ascertain their identity and the cause for murder, police said.



The bodies have been shifted to the Victoria Hospital for post mortem.



A case has been registered at the central police station in this connection and further investigation is on.



3 hurt in cylinder blast



Three persons were injured and a couple of houses were damaged in an LPG cylinder explosion at Cottonpet on Sunday morning.



The injured have been identified as Rahim Unnisa, (72), her son Akbar Pasha, (42) and daughter in-law Sadiya, (40), all residents of Siddarthnagar in Cottenpet.



The victims were rushed to the Victoria Hospital for treatment. They are said to be out of danger, said the police. A few adjacent houses have also developed cracks in the explosion.



Rahim Unnisa had not turned off the valve of the gas cylinder, resulting in a leakage. The cylinder exploded when Unnisa went inside the kitchen and lit the gas to prepare food. Akbar and Sadiya who were also present, were injured.


Santosh Lohar, the vice-chancellor and Chief Operating Officer of the fake Bio-Chemic Education Grant Commission (BEGC), had hired a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, according to police.



The IAS officer was appointed around a month ago but the moment he realised that Lohar locked the office and went missing, he quit, a senior police officer said.

Police are yet to identify the retired IAS officer.



They are also verifying a report that Shyamal Dutta, the commissions Chief Executive Officer, was arrested by the CBI in West Bengal.



Representatives of various colleges and universities have approached the police to lodge a complaint. Krishnamurthy, principal of a nursing college in Sagar, Shivamogga, wants to lodge a complaint, the officer said. Lohar is an MBA graduate and had worked for some well-known companies in Bengaluru. He started the fake commission to make a quick buck, the officer added.



The nursing college principal said, Lohar posed as vice-chancellor and people accompanying him claimed to be IAS officers. They approached us, offering help in starting paramedical and biochemic courses. They came by a government car and inspected our campus and issued the permission letter a few days later. They even invited me to meet the senior officers in Delhi. Their planning was meticulous, there was no room for doubt.



Krishnamurthy said he realised being cheated when he tried to contact Lohar but he was unavailable.



After learning about his arrest, we have come to the JP Nagar police station to decide on the future course of action, he said.
The CCB sleuths on Sunday arrested M Naresh Shenoy (39), the prime accused in the murder of RTI activist Vinayak P Baliga.





Baliga was murdered near his house in Kodialbail (Mangaluru) on March 21, 2016 and Shenoy had been on the run since that day. He was arrested at Hejamady near Udupi and will be produced before the court on Monday, City Police Commissioner M Chandra Sekhar said at a press meet here on Sunday.



Shenoy is the founder of Mangaluru unit of Namo Brigade, which was later renamed as Yuva Brigade. He was also running the business of supplying ayurvedic medicines.



The police have already arrested six persons - Vinith Poojary (26), Nishith Devadiga (23), Shivaprasad alias Shiva alias Shiva Prasanna (28), Shailesh alias Shailu (40), Manjunath Shenoy alias Manju (39) and Srikanth (42) - in connection with the murder. A 770-page charge sheet had been filed before the III JMFC court, Mangaluru.



The commissioner said that a supplementary charge sheet would be filed after interrogating Shenoy. Police are on the lookout for Vignesh who helped Shenoy abscond. He was hiding in Jammu and Kashmir, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and areas bordering Nepal.



To a query on the motive for the murder, the commissioner said that Baliga had raised several issues including the suspected misappropriation of money at Venkataramana Temple on Car Street in Manglauru. Interrogation of Shenoy will throw more light on the reason for the crime, he said. The commissioner ruled out involvement of any underworld element in the murder.



Anyone wishing to give more details about the murder could approach the police and their identity would be kept confidential, he added.




Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday was taken aback for a while when a young woman smilingly placed a peck on his cheek at a public event in Bengaluru.





Siddaramaiah, though tried not to glance at her on the dais, was seen a bit embarrassed. With a smile on his face, he was seen wiping his right cheek where the charming lady had left a quick kiss. This happened at a programme held at Palace Grounds to felicitate newly-elected zilla and taluk panchayat members belonging to the Kuruba community, to which Siddaramaiah also belongs to.



Girija Srinivas (32), who could not conceal her happiness when she saw Siddaramaiah from close quarters on the dais, is a member of Tarikere taluk panchayat in Chikkamgalur district.

Girija, dressed in a bright blue saree and jasmine adorning her plait, and a few others posed for a group photo with Siddaramaiah. After the photo session, Girija looked at Siddaramaiah, pulled his head gently towards her and kissed him. And, the chief minister was seen holding her head. The incident left the audience speechless. Later, she swiftly left the dais with a big smile on her face.



Girija, represents Amruthapura seat in the Tarikere taluk panchayat. A mother of two, she is married to Srinivas, a civil contractor. She hails from Varuna, the Assembly constituency of Siddaramaiah.



What made Girija gush the way she did? For this, she happily said: It was my long time dream to meet Siddaramaiah. He is like Appaji (father) to me. I used to see him waiving at public during election campaigns. I kissed him to ward off evil effect of eyes on him. Let Male Mahadeshwara protect him. Reacting to it, Siddaramaiah said She is like my daughter.



Srinivas said: Common man cant meet the chief minister. But she got a chance to meet him today because she is now a taluk panchayat member. Media should not make her panic. I am happy for her.



A video clip of the incident was aired immediately by various television channels and even shared on the social media. There were comments on WhatsApp whether Kiss Bhagya for the CM was the result of kaage (crow) sitting on his official SUV. Some jocularly commented whether such incidents amount to breach of security.






The JP Nagar police recently arrested a man who posed as the vice-chancellor of a fictitious university and created a grant commission, cheating nearly 70 colleges and universities.



The accused, Santosh Lohar (35), is a native of Nadia district in West Bengal.



Based on a complaint by T C Arivalagan, chairman of a private educational trust in Chennai, police arrested Lohar from his residence in Hulimavu. The police seized Rs 8.96 lakh, credit cards, cheque books and several documents belonging to various universities from Lohar.



The police said Lohar, who owned an office at JP Nagar 5th phase, was going around in a red beacon car bearing a fake Government of India logo. His bank account containing Rs 27 lakh was frozen. Efforts are on to trace his associates Shivakumar, Babu, Mahesh, Chandrashekar, Subroto Das and Rajesh, who are absconding.



Modus Operandi



Lohar had created a fake Bio Chemic Education Grant Commission (BCEGC) and opened a website to update gazetted notifications. He and his associates used to get contact numbers and email addresses of chancellors and directors of various universities and colleges across India. He used to send out emails, enquiring if they required permission to start Bio-Chemic, Bio-Medical and paramedical colleges, and 144 other courses. If the university replied, he used to meet them, posing as the chief operating officer-cum-vice-chancellor of BCEGC, the police.



He met Arivalagan and told him that he can start BioChemic, Bio-Medical and paramedical colleges in Attappadi in Kerala, Vadalur in Tamil Nadu and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. Lohar produced permit certificates issued by the BCEGC and asked Arivalagan to go ahead with the construction of the colleges. Lohar also inspected the spot along with his associates, who posed as officers from BCEGC.



The complainant said he paid Rs 78.40 lakh to Lohar and went ahead with the work.



A few days later, Arivalagan came across a report published on April 24, 2016, in a national daily in West Bengal that said BCEGC is a fake university, and not affiliated to the Central government. He questioned Lohar about it, but was told the report was false. Lohar convinced Arivalagan to go ahead with the construction, the police said.



On May 6, the complainant got information that Shymal Dutta, CEO of BCEGC, was arrested in West Bengal by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Arivalagan went to Lohars office and found it locked. His phone was not reachable. He lodged a complaint with the JP Nagar police. Lohar was arrested after investigation.


India is set to become a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on Monday.The MTCR is an elite group of nations that controls export of missile technology.





Further, India is likely to get another shot at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), with members agreeing to a special session later this year to consider India's case for a membership.



We applied for membership to MTCR last year and all procedural formalities have been completed. On Monday, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will sign the document of accession into MTCR in the presence of the ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Sunday.



Established in 1987, the 34-member MTCR exercises control on the export of missile technology, which may contribute to the development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as long distance unmanned aerial vehicles.



Earlier this month, MTCR agreed on making India a member, responding to an application filed in June 2015.



The MTCR membership is likely to aid space programmes, besides assisting New Delhi in its efforts to get Predator drones from the US. However, it may not have any impact on the export of the BrahMos cruise missile as its reported range of 290 km is just under the MTCR threshold of 300 km, unless the missile's range is extended.



On the NSG front



Interestingly, China, which successfully blocked India's NSG bid in Seoul with support from a few nations, is not an MTCR member, though the communist country applied for the membership in 2004.



However, all is not lost on the NSG front. The special session later this year will specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the 48-nation grouping that controls global nuclear commerce.



The session was initiated at Mexicos behest. Though it was opposed by China, it found support from other countries, including the US, sources said.



A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.



The Seoul session ended with a 'path forward' for India's acceptance as a member.



With China insisting on signing the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the criterion for NSG membership, Swarup on Sunday said India implemented all NPT provisions and the global community could never equate India with Pakistan on the non-proliferation issue.



India is not a signatory to the NPT, but enjoys a special NSG waiver granted in 2008 with Chinas support. We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to take forward bilateral ties, Swarup told PTI.



His comments assume significance in the backdrop of the Chinese foreign ministrys assertion that Beijings opposition at NSG, which is a multi-lateral platform, will not impact the India-China ties adversely.



Swarup also said that though India did not get expected results at the Seoul meeting, the country will continue to make determined efforts to get into NSG.



There are some processes which take longer, I would evaluate the NSG membership process in that category, he said India is also trying to become a member of two other export control regimes  Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement.
Trump to return to Ohio one final time before November election

Trump will speak at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia on Nov. 7, his second trip to Ohio in as many months.
How Narasimha Rao used IB to track reform opponents

Back in late 1991, the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had asked for a telling report from the Intelligence Bureau (IB). He wanted to know which of his Congress MPs were against which specific economic reform.

The IB replied with a detailed note listing the four major kinds of economic reforms that the Rao government had unveiled: ''i. Liberalization of trade and commerce, decontrol of industry; ii. liberal entry of multinationals, foreign investment; iii. privatisation / dilution of public sector; iv. reduction of fertilizer subsidy and agricultural policy.''

It then lists the names of all Congress MPs - in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha - who were against each of these measures:

There were 55 MPs against the liberalisation of trade policies, including seven ministers such as Balram Jakhar and Madhavrao Scindia.

Six Congress MPs opposed the entry of multinationals, including K K Birla.

Privatisation of public sector firms faced opposition from 18 MPs.

20 MPs resisted the reduction of fertiliser subsidy.

22 MPs were against a Congress-BJP understanding on reforms, including Arjun Singh and Digvijaya Singh.

The IB report shows just how committed Rao was in pushing through reforms. He wanted to gauge the temperature of his own party - the biggest opponent to liberalisation - and act accordingly.

These and other revelations, culled from exclusive access to cartons of Rao's private papers as well as interviews with over a 100 people, form part of the forthcoming book, Half-Lion: How P V Narasimha Rao Transformed India (Penguin Random House India)

Rao's ability to outmanoeuvre opponents of liberalisation was central to his reinvention of India. Apart from IB surveillance, Rao deployed several other tricks in dealing with the Congress. He repeatedly claimed that liberalisation was just an extension of Nehruvian socialism.

During Congress Working Committee meetings, when Congressmen protested against economic reform, Rao hid behind the technocratic image of the incorruptible Manmohan Singh, pouting silently while the finance minister was the target of attack. Most skilfully, both Rao and Manmohan referred to economic reforms as a fulfilment of Rajiv's vision. They were successful, says an Indian Express report.

Sonia herself said during the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Congress: ''Rajivji did not stay with us to see his dreams being realised, but we can see reflections of his thoughts in the party manifesto for the 1991 elections. That became the basis for economic policies for the next five years.''

Half-truth

Nothing could be further from the truth. The 1991 manifesto of the Congress makes no mention of genuine liberalisation; instead, its carefully worded sentences only promise to make the licence-raj more efficient.

The book chronicles in detail how the blueprints for reform were available to four prime ministers before Rao, including Rajiv. These leaders were unable to navigate the politics of reform and lost the opportunity. As one of the draftsmen of the new industrial policy, Rakesh Mohan, says, ''I would give credit to Rao for his unwavering political backing''.

Along with having to outmanoeuvre the Congress, Rao had to deal with obdurate Opposition parties. As the BJP today embarks on next-generation reforms, it is important to note that the party was against many aspects of liberalisation in the 1990s. For example, after the 1 July 1991 rupee devaluation - something that Manmohan Singh pushed for - A B Vajpayee called it a ''drastic step'' while party spokesman K R Malkani said it would ''compound the already critical economic situation''.

Narasimha Rao, half-lion, went out of the way to meet and charm Opposition leaders. He would routinely send his bureaucrats to brief them. The book shows how he craftily ensured that the Opposition National Front and BJP seldom united against him.

The other adversaries of reform Rao had to handle were business groups fearful of foreign competition. In Rao's archives, lies a light brown folder. Though no name is given, on the cover, in Rao's neat handwriting, is the word ''Dhirubhai''.

The document inside makes a case for solving India's financial crisis, not through liberalisation, but by selling off public sector companies to local businessmen. This idea would be tried out in Russia a few years later. The privatisation of state assets there would descend into crony capitalism.

Perhaps aware of this concern, Rao refused to undertake much PSU disinvestment in his five years as prime minister. He also refused to give in to pressure and prevent foreign competition. Instead, Rao chose to assuage the short-term concerns of industrialists.

For example, soon after the 1991 budget, Rao's appointment diary shows he met Dhirubhai Ambani twice, on July 26 and again on August 16. His emissaries to corporate India - Amar Nath Varma and P V R K Prasad - were deployed to soothen the nerves of corporates, all without ever altering long-term policy.

What is astonishing was the extent to which Narasimha Rao micro-managed economic reforms. Though he had never held an economic ministry before becoming prime minister, he was a quick learner. His archives, for example, contain booklet-size drafts of the new industrial policy, with copious notes by the curious prime minister. While Manmohan Singh and principal secretary Amar Nath Varma proved loyal lieutenants, there is no doubt who was leading the charge.

The most consequential example of Rao's micro-management was his role in the mobile phone revolution. By 1994, the government of India was actively considering a telecom policy to deal with the emerging cell-phone technology. Narasimha Rao - who collected electronic gadgets and in his spare time fixed computers - took a personal interest.

He underlined each policy draft with comments on the side. The key debate was whether foreign and private players should be allowed. Rao's telecom minister Sukh Ram seemed to oppose this, but Rao was unwavering. When a note on the telecom policy was sent to him stating, ''We are going to put a condition that they should go to rural areas also'', Rao replied with understated wit in the margins of the note, ''Who goes to rural areas? The phones or foreign operation personnel?''

In July 1995, when the first mobile phone call was ready to be made, Narasimha Rao could have so easily taken credit. Instead, he receded into the background while cleverly co-opting his political rivals. He let Sukh Ram revel in the glory of India's first mobile phone call. On the other line was Rao's implacable opponent, the CPI (M)'s Jyoti Basu.

(Also see: Narasimha used IB to keep tabs on Sonia: book)
A Houston County judge ordered a Pansey man to serve 25 consecutive weekends in jail for the failure to perform services promised as part of an area dog training business.

Circuit Court Judge Michael Conaway gave David Andrew Bynum, 26, of Pansey, a five-year term of probation for his multiple felony charges. H e also ordered Bynum to serve 25 consecutive weekends in the Houston County Jail as a condition of his probation.

Assistant Houston County District Attorney Gary Maxwell has said the charges involved seven different owners of dogs who attempted to get their dog trained with Bynum through a website and business he ran. He said in one case a dog died while it was away for training, which led to animal cruelty charges.

He had a website set up, Wiregrass K-9, and on that website he listed these agencies that hed trained dogs for, and people would see that and contact him about training their dogs, Maxwell said. One person he told them hed trained dogs for the White House and the Navy S EAL s, and all of it was not true. He was taking the money and not properly feeding and housing the dogs and not training them. The deception was that he never intended to train these dogs.

Assistant Houston County District Attorney Patrick Amason said the court ordered Bynum to pay approximately $12,700 in restitution to the victims of the crimes.

Before the hearing started , Conaway took several minutes to review the victim impact statements turned in to the court.

It seems to me the dogs that survived all have issues, Conaway said. This is a serious offense in my opinion. I want these animals cared for, for their life.

Conaway ordered any future veterinary bills connected to the criminal charges to be submitted to the court for the rest of each of the surviving dogs lives. Conaway said that order included an annual assessment by a veterinarian to determine if the dogs continue to suffer from their treatment during the offenses.

These victim impact statements are traumatic, Conaway said. The inhumane treatment of these animals, its a tragedy.

Bynum pleaded guilty earlier this year to seven felony counts of second-degree theft of property by deception and three misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals. He received a 46-month sentence for all the charges. Bynum also received six month sentences for each of the three animal cruelty charges, all ordered to be served concurrently with each other.

Conaway also questioned Bynums defense lawyers about why he should give their client probation.

Attorney Stephen Etheredge, who represented Bynum, told the court his client ha s a job as an electricians apprentice, which will help him pay off the restitution.

Alabama Probation and Parole Officer Willie Dorriety made a recommendation of split probation, which included serving weekends in the county jail. Dorriety said weekends in jail could serve as punishment while also allowing the defendant to work during the week to pay off the restitution. He said their report showed Bynum will earn $16 an hour at his current job.

Dorriety proposed serving 10 to 20 weekends in the county jail.

Etheredge told the court such an order might make it tough for his client to keep his job because he travels out of town to Panama City, Fla., and Montgomery.

I dont want to interfere with his employment because I want the restitution paid back, Conaway said. But the severity of this situation concerns me.

Conaway also set Bynums cases up for a six-month review to check and see if restitution is being paid on time.

He better pay every payment on time or I will reconsider these sentences, Conaway said. Do not undertake any employment around animals. You have not demonstrated any humanity in your behavior. Its one of the worst cases Ive ever seen.

Houston County Sheriffs deputies took Bynum into custody at the conclusion of the hearing as they served a felony warrant against him , charging him with third-degree burglary. The indictment for th at charge stemmed from a 2008 offense.

Bynum was taken to the Houston County Jail and held on $10,000 bail for the burglary charge.
If the future of Alabama is dependent upon its youth, Alabamas future is very bright.

As a member of the Headland Lions Club, I was privileged to volunteer at the recent Alabama Lions High School Leadership Forum held at Troy University in Troy, where more than 200 Alabama high school students gathered for a weekend of basic leadership training supported by over 60 Lions clubs throughout Alabama. These students came from all parts of the state  from Mobile, Dothan, Huntsville, Florence and many towns and cities in between -- representing more than 100 high schools.

Our youth of today are portrayed with so much negative news of poor education standards with associated discipline issues along with drug and alcohol abuse, social media issues together with poor social skills. After my experience this weekend, I can tell you our Alabama kids are getting a bad rap.

I have never, in my more than 70 years, encountered a more intelligent, polite, engaging, helpful, cooperative, well mannered, attentive, and open to new ideas group of youth. They were timely to all scheduled events and arrived prepared to actively participate in each learning opportunity.

My only wish is for another 20 years to see these young leaders become the future leaders of Alabama.

If you know of a high school student that might like to be a delegate at next years Forum, visit ALHSLF.org.

Andy Marshall

Headland
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.
It has been announced that Dundalk based charity Redeemer Family Resource Centre is to benefit from Aldis new national partnership with FoodCloud.

The new partnership will see Aldi stores nationwide donate over 500,000 meals to 172 charity partners this year helping combat food poverty and food waste in Ireland.

Surplus food from 71 Aldi stores across the country, including three Aldi stores in Louth, will be redistributed to charities and community groups by FoodCloud, which was set up by social entrepreneurs Iseult Ward and Aoibheann OBrien.

The announcement was made as a new survey commissioned by Aldi and carried out by Ignite Research, showed just 13% of all adults state that they never dispose of unused food.

The average shopper estimated their annual food waste to be valued at 400  almost the equivalent of a months worth of grocery shopping for an average family at Aldi or a significant contribution to health insurance, car insurance or a family holiday.

Consumers said they were most likely to throw away unused fresh fruit and vegetables (44%), followed by bread / baked goods (28%), dairy (15%) and fresh meat (14%).

FoodCloud is a not-for-profit social enterprise set up to ensure that no good food goes to waste. FoodCloud connects businesses with surplus food with charities in their local community that need food donations through an innovative technology platform. Using the platform Aldi staff can upload details of their surplus food and local charities are notified (via text) of the available food for collection. The charity then collects the food donation and redistributes the food to people who need it.

Commenting, Finbar McCarthy, Aldis Group Buying Director said, Helping combat food poverty and waste in the areas our stores serve is a central pillar of our community programme. Even across an efficient retail operation such as Aldi, there will unavoidably be some unsold, surplus food each day.
Graduates are unable to find jobs that make use of their qualifications but employers are struggling to find the right talent. Solutions to this mismatch, including a shift away from the disciplinary silo mindset, were discussed at a recent panel event hosted by Indeed, the worlds largest job site.

The panel, Tapping into Australias high potential workforce, was held at Sydneys Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, earlier this month, as part of Vivid Ideas 2016.

It featured speakers from UTS, Google, Atlassian, Salesforce and Red Garage Ventures  all of whom discussed the challenges Australia is facing when it comes to attracting and retaining a high potential workforce.

A two-pronged problem

Tara Sinclair, Chief Economist at Indeed, told attendees that while education rates are higher than ever before, job seekers and employers are each facing substantial challenges.

Graduate employment is at the lowest rate since the recession in the early 1990s with many highly-qualified graduates struggling to find jobs related to their qualifications, she said.

Simultaneously, employers are reporting an undersupply of applicants for a range of technical roles, such as computer science, accounting, and engineering, well as in the fast-growing healthcare sector.

a knowledge-based economy

Sinclair also addressed the seismic shifts facing Australias job market, noting that while millions of jobs are disappearing, millions more are emerging. She said Australia needs to learn to adapt to these changes for the success of the economy.

Continuing on from this point, Roy Green, Dean of UTS Business School said that Australia needs to shift away from resources to a knowledge- based economy.

We are at the end of the resources boom and are adjusting to the non-mining economy, he said.

We dont know what this looks like and at the moment, were not very well prepared. This doesnt mean it is too late  we can still make the transition. It means shifting to an economy thats competitive advantage is based on a knowledge-based market and recognising that a lot of the products we are focusing on today wont be around in ten years.

Disciplinary silos

Sally-Ann Williams, Engineering Community & Outreach Manager at Google said a major challenge facing Australia is that people and organisations still think in terms of disciplinary silos.

We have an incredibly high number of graduates but theres a translation exercise between the degree they study and an understanding of the jobs that are then open to them. We need to change the way we market to students with careers and outcomes. Weve always talked about a linear perspective on careers, however we need to focus more on skill-sets needed and experience beyond the degree.

Celebrate success

Robert Wickham, Regional VP, Innovation & Digital Transformation at Salesforce encouraged attendees to be louder and celebrate the successes that Australia already has.

From a business perspective, no one has been recognised as Australian of the year for the past two decades. Once we start celebrating our successful people and businesses we will create role models for our future talent to look up to.

Talent beacons

Caitriona Staunton, Head of Recruitment Atlassian said 50% of jobs in the next ten years will be in the tech industry and, as a result, Australia needs to do more future-gazing.

We need to make sure were working tech into plans to safeguard our quality of life and our kids quality of life, she said.

Australia needs to work on its brand and showcase the great business and tech culture.

Staunton claimed there was not enough tech talent in Australia to fill the roles required at Atlassian and Jason Hosking, Co-Founder of Red Garage Ventures agreed that bringing international talent to Australia was a necessity.

We need to reconsider the countrys visa situation  my co-founder is from Iceland with a PHD and we still havent been able to gain his PR, he said.

Our companys international talent are beacons to attract local graduates and train them and how we compete as a start-up.

Tech destination

Concluding the event, the panellists agreed that it was imperative for Australia to start marketing itself as a tech destination and showcasing local talent and business success stories to the world.

Tara Sinclair, Chief Economist at Indeed, said Australia is well positioned to lead and come up with solutions to address the job and talent shortage.

The changes in the job market dont look to be slowing down. Luckily, history has shown that there is not a limited number of jobs out there. New kinds of jobs are emerging every day. Rather than try to protect the jobs of the past, lets train and prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future.
Hairy times for mens facial skincare

With the fashion for facial hair still going strong, new research from Mintel reveals that the nations love of the beard is hampering sales of mens facial skincare. Sales of mens facial skincare products increased just 1.3% to reach 104 million in 2015, following a market increase of 13% in 2013 and 8% in 2014.

Mintel research indicates that a savvy shopping mentality has impacted sales of mass market beauty and personal care products, resulting in a decline of -0.3% in 2015 and a market value of 65.7 million. Indeed, today as many as 42% of men say they take advantage of a discount when shopping for beauty and personal care products.

But it isnt just savvy shopping which is hampering growth, as reluctant older male skincare users have had a negative impact on sales. Indeed, while as many as 60% of 16-24 year old males use moisturiser, this declines to 41% of 45-64 year olds and just 29% of males aged over 65.

Whats more, although moisturiser (49%) is the second most commonly used male facial skincare product after soap (84%) the trend for facial hair has resulted in fewer experiences of dry skin caused by shaving. Indeed, moisturiser sales continue to be challenged by the fact that men have less visible skin to moisturise and are shaving less often, with post-shave being a key usage opportunity.

Overall, when looking at usage across the facial skincare category, one third (35%) of British men use lip balm, while slightly fewer (33%) use a facial cleanser. Meanwhile, three in ten (29%) use a facial exfoliator or scrub and one quarter (26%) use face wipes.

Charlotte Libby, Senior Beauty Analyst at Mintel, said: The male facial skincare market was considered buoyant in 2013, following a host of product innovations and men moving towards a more elaborate grooming routine. However, two years on, the market shows signs of stalling. Sales growth is being hampered by discount retailers and price promotions, as well as simplistic skincare and the fashion for beards. While British men are open to using moisturiser, they show limited interest in expanding routines to encompass a wider range of products, and as moisturiser is most frequently applied after shaving, the fashion for men to have facial hair is further dampening sales.

In an effort to revive skincare sales amongst men with beards, the market has witnessed innovation in beard care products. One fifth (18%) of all men use a beard product, for example a wash or an oil, rising to 28% of 16-24 year old men. As these products become more mainstream, sales growth is expected to lift in 2016.

Regionally, those living in London are passionate about keeping their beard in tip-top condition, with as many as one third (34%) of all Londoners using a beard product, compared to one in 10 (9%) males in Yorkshire and Humberside, according to Mintel research.

Men are no longer assumed to fall into two categories  bearded or clean shaven  and male facial skincare brands are beginning to offer tailored products for a variety of facial hair lengths. The trend towards beard care products is expected to continue throughout 2016. While product innovation in the beard care segment can go some way to returning sales growth for the overall category, this must be matched with marketing to convince men of the need to use specifically designed facial care products. Expanding the range of products by length of beard or stubble, as well as those to minimise hair growth or prevent ingrowing hairs, can bring further sales to the beard sector. Charlotte continues.

It seems that spots are males greatest skincare issue. Overall, half (46%) of men feel self conscious if they have a spot on their face, rising to 63% of men aged 16-24. Meanwhile, wrinkles are far less of a concern for British males as just 22% of men worry about their facial lines. Furthermore, while improving the appearance or health of skin is the number one driver in prompting use of facial skincare products (30%), one fifth (21%) of users say they started using male skincare products to treat specific concerns, for example spots or dry skin. Just over one in 10 (12%) users say they first started using these products to prevent the ageing of their skin.

Mintel research reveals that 56% of men do not think they need facial skincare products, while one quarter (26%) say are not that interested in how their skin looks. Around one in seven (14%) say using facial skincare products is not a very masculine thing to do and one in 10 (9%) admit they dont know the benefits of using facial skincare.

Male facial skincare ranges could do well to encourage men to take a proactive approach to skincare, instead of reacting to specific problems. Educating men that products, such as the commonly used moisturiser, are more effective when applied to clean, smooth skin, can pique interest in expanding routines with cleansers and facial exfoliators. Charlotte concludes.

*Includes moisturisers/treatments, cleansers, including scrubs, washes, wipes, masks and specialised products such as lip balms, eye care.
Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)
(Photo: World Council of Churches)Armenian genocide monument

The catastrophe of the annihilation of more than one million people in the Armenian genocide as the first such act of systematic killing in the 20th century is a lesson for all humanity, Pope Francis has said.

The Pope spoke on the genocide on the first day of his visit to Armenia after arriving at Yerevan's Presidential Palace June 24 speaking before President Serzh Sargsyan and other political and civil leaders.

He recalled the president attending St. Peter's Basilica last year along with Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church in a visit seen as part of the Catholic Church's deepening gestures to deepen ties with Orthodox churches, Catholic News Agency reports.

"The occasion was the commemoration of the centenary of the Metz Yeghern, the 'Great Evil' that struck your people and caused the death of a vast multitude of persons," Francis said on his three-day trip.

"Sadly, that tragedy, that genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples."

Francis said, "Having seen the pernicious effects to which hatred, prejudice and the untrammeled desire for dominion led in the last century, I express my lively hope that humanity will learn from those tragic experiences the need to act with responsibility and wisdom to avoid the danger of a return to such horrors."

Pope Francis had previously spoken of the Armenian genocide during an April 12, 2015 Mass at the Vatican ahead of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

The mass killings of 1915-1916 have been deemed a genocide by most scholars and a number of nations when the Ottoman Empire systematically exterminated its minority Armenian population, who were predominantly Christian.

About 1.5 million Armenians - men, women and children - lost their lives in ways ranging from meticulous torture to executions alongside mass graves.

Turkey concedes that many Armenians died in clashes, but repudiates that the death of 1.5 million people was an act of genocide.

Turkey says that the number of deaths was much smaller and came as a result of conflict surrounding the Frist World War.

After Pope Francis' comments last year, Turkish leaders recalled their ambassador to the Holy See.

Turkish deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli on June 25 called Francis' comments "greatly unfortunate" and said they bore the hallmarks of the "mentality of the Crusades."

He called the comments "greatly unfortunate" and said they bore the hallmarks of the "mentality of the Crusades."

Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to have adopted Christianity as a State religion, which it did in the year 301. About 93 percent of its population belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox Church.

Sargsyan acknowledged this history in his welcoming remarks, telling the Pope, "Welcome to the first Christian nation."

In his remarks, Pope Francis said, "I pay homage to the Armenian people who, illuminated by the light of the Gospel, even at the most tragic moments of their history, have always found in the Cross and Resurrection of Christ the strength to rise again and take up their journey anew with dignity."

Reflecting on the state of the world, he said some present-day Christians may suffer persecution "even more than the first martyrs."

"At the same time, all too many conflicts in various parts of the world remain unresolved, causing grief, destruction and forced migrations of entire peoples," he added.

The Pope encouraged an end to conflict, the fostering of peacemaking, and the creation of a "culture of trust" that would help achieve lasting agreements.

He pledged the Catholic Church's cooperation with those who prize the future of civilization, the rights of the human person, and the prevalence of spiritual values.

Those who "befoul their meaning and beauty" will be exposed, he said. "In this regard, it is vitally important that all those who declare their faith in God join forces to isolate those who use religion to promote war, oppression and violent persecution, exploiting and manipulating the holy name of God."

Referring to the 25th anniversary of Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union, Francis said Armenia has "suffered greatly" but has shown itself "capable of constantly being reborn."

"The history of your country runs parallel to its Christian identity preserved over the centuries," he noted.

"That identity, far from impeding a healthy secularity of the state, instead requires and nourishes it, favoring the full participation of all in the life of society, freedom of religion and respect for minorities."

He said the Armenian people have known persecution and have preserved not only the memory of past harms, but also "the spirit that has enabled them always to start over again."
Considered to be the Ten Best UFO Photos Ever Taken I am sure that we could add more pictures to this list but these are considered ten o...
Panama City, Jun 26 (EFE).- The Chinese-flagged Cosco Shipping Panama entered the Panama Canal on Sunday and began the inaugural voyage through the newly-expanded Agua Clara locks on the Atlantic side of the international waterway.

The Neopanamax vessel 300 meters (984 feet) long with the capacity to transport 9,400 containers, entered the lock at about 7:30 a.m. with huge lines attached to it to keep it under control while the lock was filled with millions of gallons of water to raise the ship the nine meters (29.5 feet) needed to allow it to continue through the waterway.

The ship will arrive at the Cocoli locks on the Pacific side on Sunday afternoon after a journey of about 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Meanwhile, Canal administrator Jorge Quijano said that the waterway's expansion is an opportunity for the countries of the Americas to boost their infrastructures and exports.

"This transit route is the tip of the iceberg of an ambitious plan designed to transform Panama into the logistical center of the Americas," he said, adding that the Canal "has been, is and will be a great trade facilitator and protector (of the environment)."

The main project within the expansion was the construction of the third set of locks, a contract worth $3.12 billion that was awarded to the international GUPC consortium led by Spain's Sacyr and including Salini Impregilo of Italy, Jan de Nul of Belgium and Panama's CUSA, and which has racked up close to $3.5 billion in cost overruns.
It looks like Jamie Dornan fans have something to look forward to for their next "Nextflix and Chill" session. And no, it's not exactly what you're thinking, either. The 50 Shades Darker actor's latest movie is being added to the popular in-demand app, which will no doubt see new subscriptions soar in massive numbers in the next several weeks (because who isn't a Dornan fan these days, right?).

According to Belfast Live on Friday, Dornan's film, Siege of Jadotville will be available on Netflix by the end of next month. It will first make its official premiere at the Galway Film Festival in western Ireland in July.

Dornan plays Commander Patrick Quinlan in the film, which is based on the true story of a siege on a small UN battalion by 3000 Congolese troops in 1961. The film is written by Kevin Brodbin with director Richie Smyth at the helm. Dornan spent several months in South Africa filming the movie last summer.

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said: "The story of how Pat Quinlan led his troops against an overwhelming force without losing a single man is one of the great stories of the 20th century, and we are proud to be working with such a talented and committed team to bring it to life."

He added, "This film will be an amazing addition to our global original films initiative. As filmmakers, we are constantly looking for new ways to bring a movie to the largest possible audience. Netflix has already reinvented the TV market and is now moving front and center into the film business."
Written by ACM

*Strasbourg/Viewpoint/Angelo Marcopolo/- The Greatest Paradox in Europe's History seems to be the Result of Yesterday's British Referendum to Leave the EU.



Not because there would be Nothing Important to Criticize in anyone of Brussel's main Choices during the last 20 Years or more... Everybody knows that this is simply Not True. But it's also False to Claim that EU would have done almost Everything Wrong, to a point of Non Return.



The Real Paradox is Elsewhere : A Clear Majority of British People, (most of them notoriously standing far away from the Establishment), was, in Fact, Motivated mainly by certain Topical Issues which could be those of Real, and profoundly convinced, Europeans !



Surprisingly, f.ex., even the Biggest Economic and/or Financial Claims or Threats, even Unemployment and Jobs, etc., apparently left, most among those Strange "BREXIT" Voters, almost Indifferent. Or, at least, they obviously considered all that as being, Comparatively, of a Secondary Importance, vis a vis some Other, Different Issues.



Relevant Facts are Hard, but Crystal-clear :



F.ex., Nigel Farage's UKIP Won, for the 1st Time, a Greater Number of MEPs, (even More than the Governing then Socialist Party of "Labour", i.e. becoming the 2nd Party of the UK), on the 2009 European Elections for EU Parliament, just after he decided to Start using a Call -"Against Turkey's Accession to the EU !" as the No 1 Headline Moto for his Campaign then.



Also, Back on 2015, in the run up to the UK's Latest National (and Local) Elections, Many People had already Expressed their Will to Skip their Votes towards the UKIP, (Making it Jump from almost 1% to More than 12%, i.e. Bypassing even the Liberal-Democrats, and becoming, for the First Time in History, the 3rd Party in the UK, at a National Vote), just Because they were Fed up with a Sudden, U-Turn of the Conservative Party on the BioEthical Issue of Controversial and UnPopular "Same Sex Marriages", including so-called "Adoptions" of Children by Homosexuals, etc).



None of these 2 "Hot" Issues, (Widely Discussed recently also in France, the USA, etc), had ever been included inside the 2010 and 2015 Projects of David Cameron's "Conservative" Party, when he was Elected by the British People for the first and even second Time.



On the Contrary, it's Sudddenly, after his 1st Visit to USA's Socialist President, the Now Outgoing Barack Hussein Obama, Back on 2010, that Cameron Started, for the First Time, to Speak in Favor of the also Controversial and UnPopular Issue of Turkey's EU Bid.



Similarly, there was Nothing in his Pre-Electoral Manifesto of 2015 in favor of the so-called "Same Sex Marriages" nor even "Adoptions" of Children by Homosexuals, while even his Predecessor, Duncan Smith, was reportedly against.



On the Contrary, several Fans of "Remain", even in the Conservative Governing Majority, have recently admitted that they were practicing "Same Sex" Partnerships among Homosexuals, most of them in Scotland, which Voted "In", (as, f.ex. Secretary for Scotland, David Mundell, Scottish Conservatives' Head Rurh Davidson, etc), but also International Development Secretary Justine Greening, etc, with a Lot More coming, naturaly, from the Socialist "Labour" Party , including House of Commons' Shadow Leader, Chris Bryant, and Shadow Business Secretary, Angela Eagle, etc., as well as Controversial Peter (later "Lord") Mandelson, a close ally of UnPopular former PM Blair, former Northern Ireland Secretary and EU Trade Commissioner in Brussels, etc., who has been already obliged to Resign 2 Times in the Past for alleged Corruption Scandals, suspected to have Boosted an Anti-EU Vote in the 2007 Referendum in Ireland by conceding European Farmers' Rights to Global Trade Interests, and a reportedly frequent Contact to Convicted Child Prostitution RingLeader Epstein (USA), etc., who has just Accused, Now, Labour Leader Corbyn to have Insufficiently Backed the "In".



Again, Now, on 2016, the Notoriously No 1 "Fuel" for Most British People who Voted for BREXIT, was that Unprecedented Massive "Tsunami" of more than 1,5 Million of Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants, which Suddenly emerged through Turkey, mainly between August 2015 and March 2016, Intruding inside EU's (and Shengen, even uroZone's) External Borders via Greece, whose New Leftist Government had just Stopped Pushing Back Turkish Smugglers' makeshift Boats at the Aegean Sea Frontline.



+ Moreover, when, Recently, a Controversial EU - Turkey Deal Added a Threat to Give "VISA-FREE" status to 80 Millions of Turks to Enten Inside the EU, Starting from this Summer 2016, Nigel Farage clearly stressed, during relevant EU Parliament's Debates in Strasbourg, that, Even if it wasn't but only for this, it would be Enough in order to Motivate that UK Leaves that EU...



++ In Addition, UKIP's Leader had Warned that the Scandal of Brutal Mob Attacks for Sexual Abuse and Thefts against defenseless European Young Girls and Women, by Many among those Recent Migrants who came through (and, as it was Revealed in EU Circles in Brussels, at least partly Selected by) Turkey, could become a kind of "Nuclear Bomb" for British People's Feelings in that Referendum.



When, more Recently, it was Revealed that such Violent Mob Attacks for Sexual Abuse had even Targeted Minors, as Girls Aged Only 14, (f.ex. by suspected Mass Aggressors from Pakistan, in Darsmstadt at nearby Germany, and from Syria, at UK's Newcastle, etc), things became more Nasty.



Among Other - closely Related but Not 100% Identical - Issues Hotly Debated by potential Supporters of BREXIT, include Access to UK's "National Health Plan" basic services (which were Traditionaly Open immediatelly also for any Individual legally staying in the UK), School Education quality (Heavily Segregated during the Last Decades, as UK Senior Officials even recently Denounced at the CoE in Strasbourg), Socio-Cultural Cohesion in the British Society, partly Unemployment and Migrants' Competition mainly in Low Qualification Jobs, etc. I.e., obviously Issues which may Affect especialy Poor People, living in some Segregated Suburbs and/or devastated former Industrial sites (as f.ex. in England's Midlands), etc.



Security against recently Growing Violent Terrorist Attacks by Extremist Islamic Terrorists of ISIL's atrocious BeHeaders, even of Innocent Civilian People, particularly after the latest Deadly Aggressions even at the Heart of the EU, as, f.ex. in Paris, Brussels, Kopenhagen, Graz, Magnanville, etc., were added to British People's concerns, particularly after it was found that several among them had infiltrated inside the EU by coming Hidden among that Unprecedented Massive Influx of 1,5 Million Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants through Turkey, and via EU (+Schengen) Member Greece.



Interestingly, however, when some Asked or Threatened the British People about merely Financial or Economic matters, (including, f.ex. alleged Pound's DownFall, and/or London City's Capital outflows, etc), most Reactions among "BREXIT" Supporters, surprisingly were, in Substance, that, in Fact, they Didn't Care so much about Money alone, but much More about their Everyday Life, mainly related to Health, Education, Culture, Social Cohestion and Security issues...



Last, but not least, several British People, apparently didn't like at all an attempt by Out-going US President Barack Hussein Obama, to Interfere so Openly in their Internal Affairs by launching Public Calls for them to Vote "Remain", during his Latest Official Visit to Europe :



"Leave" alternative, last-minute co-Leader, former Popular London's Mayor, Boris Johnson, (a former Collegue Journalist in Brussels), as well as Farage, etc., notoriously Denounced this Obama's move in the Strongest Terms, (Followed, later-on, even by US Republican Party's presumptive Candidate for the Forthcoming US Presidential Elections, Donald Trump). And this was also Reflected to many Polls at the UK, which suddenly Started to find that the "Remain" was Falling Down, while "BREXIT" Intentions were Growing...



---------------------------------------------

(1215 "Magna Carta" -Bill of Rights- UK Gift to the CoE, Strasbourg)





Now, considering all those Facts, everybody can Legitimately Wonder :



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to Want for EU's External Borders to be Efficiently Protected ?



- Is it, perhaps "Anti-European" to Support the Natural Family, between a Man and a Woman, according to the Judeo-Christian Historic Traditions of Europe, a clear Majority of European Countries and throughout the entire World, and even of Art. 12 of the PanEuropean Convention on Human Rights, (re-Confirmed by a Recent Judgement of Strasbourg's EuroCourt), instead of the so-called, Controversial "Same Sex Marriage", including even UnPopular and Dangerous "Adoption" of Children by Homosexual couples, (against which, Many People recently Struggled, f.ex. in France, Russia and the USA) ?



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to Refuse Turkey's Controversial and UnPopular EU Bid ?



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to Resist to Recent Controversial and UnPopular (even among a Majority of MEPs in EU Parliament !) Attempts to Give a Total "VISA-FREE" status to 80 Millions of Turks, in order to Start Entering in EU Countries, already from This Year (2016) ?



Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to express Serious Concerns (as also a clear Majority f.ex. in Germany, and elsewhere) vis a vis Various possible Negative Consequences from that Sudden, Unprecedented in History, Massive Influx of 1,5 Million of Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants through (and, as it was recently revealed, also Selected by) Turkey, All Non-Europeans, Almost All Muslims (since Christians, Jews, Yazidi and/or Various Others were reportedly Dissuaded to even Cross the Turkish Camps, allegedly Controlled by some Groups with "Heavy Islamic Agenda", and, therefore, Obliged to Flee in Lebanon, or at Syrian-Kurdish Areas, Jordany, or even .. Armenia), More of 2/3 of whom curiously were Single Males (i.e. with Only a Small Minority of Families), and among whom had been already Found Hidden several Islamic Extremist Terrorists of ISIL's Deadly Aggressors in Paris, Brussels, etc. ?



Even Socialist ("Labour") Leader Corbyn has just acknowledged the Fact that Speaking about Immigration "is Not Racist", and asked for a Debate on that issue.



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to Feel Shocked by the (still mostly UnPunished) Massive Brutal Mob Attacks for Sexual Abuse against defenseless European Young Girls/Women, reportedly Committed mainly by Numerous Recent Immigrants who came through Turkey, at Cologne and Many Other Cities in Germany, as also in Several Other EU Countries, (such as + Sweden, Denmarl, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, etc, including recently inside the UK itself), particularly when the Victims are Even Underage Minors, as Girls aged Only 14 years old (Comp. Facts citted Supre) ?



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for mainly Poor/Low Income EU Citizens to strive to Safeguard their Access to basic Health Care and/or an elementary quality Education for all their Children ?



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens (and EU Politicians, as f.ex. Boris Johnson, etc) to Find Inappropriate and Displaced for a USA out-going Chief of State to Dictate to European People what they Must Do on Internal European Affairs ?



- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to be Worried for their Security after all those Deadly Terrorist Attacks, by Extremist Islamic Terrorists of ISIL's atrocious Be-Headers even of Innocent Civilian People, Recently Committed throughout Continental Europe, even at its Heartland, f.ex. in Paris, Brussels, Kopenhagen, Graz, Magnanville, etc., (in parallel with San Bernandino and Orlando even iside Obama's USA, Russia's Dagestan and Civil Airplane over Egypt, etc), considering also the Fact that at least Several among those Deadly Terrorists had recently Infiltrated inside the EU Hidden at Irregular Migrants' Massive Influx through Turkey and via EU Member Greece ?



-- Is it, perhaps, "Anti-European", for EU Citizens to Feel Concerned by Segregation in Ghettos, Communautarism, Massive (and mainly .. Turkey - "Selected") Big Population Transferts, and other various Risks against European Culture and Civilisation, Historic Traditions, and/or Social Cohesion inside the EU (Comp. Supra) ?



(+Etc).



-------------------------------------

Real Europeans' concerns "Hi-Jacked"

by a Misleading "In" or "Out" of the EU, False Dillema ?

----------------------------------------------------------------

(PHOTO: UK Flag at French SuperMarket in Strasbourg, the Day After BREXIT Referendum) ---

---

>>> Or, Rather, many Real Europeans, among all that Majority of British People who Voted for "BREXIT" (with an Historic Record-High Participation of 72,2%) May have been "Hi-Jacked", in Practice, and Diverted Away from the Main, Burning Issues, by a False Debate about Staying or Leaving the EU, at the very Moment that an Obvious Urgency is, on the Contrary, to Protect it, Awake its Conscience, and Change it for Better ?



=> Even UKIP's Leader Nigel Farage, at a Crucial Moment of his Career, at the Beginning of Last Summer 2015, when his Party had Managed, for the 1st Time in History, to Grow from Only 1% up to More than 12% in National Elections in Great Britain, (i.e. Bypassing even the mainstream Liberal-Democrats, and Becoming the 3rd Party in UK Politcs), had, significantly, Realized the Fact, that, from Now on, his Party should Not be Limited just in the "Out of the EU" initial Call, but, on the Contrary, should Develop Policies also on Various Other "Burning" Issues of Great Topical Interest for Citizens, which "Could Help People get Better Lives", (as he had reportedly Declared to the Press at his Native Area of Kent - the Nearest to Continental Europe ! - during a Press-point at Broadstairs, where he had been Candidate).



And, (Abstraction naturally made of All Other Aspects !), his Anti-Bureaucracy, Anti-Financial Waste, Anti-Establisment and Pro-Citizen, Pro-Democracy stance, which is also Pro-Peace throughout All De Gaulle's "Greater Europe", (and made possible his Alliance with succesfull Italian Political Leader Bepe Grillo's "5 Stars" Popular Movement, inside EU Parliament), obviously are, Today, among those Qualites badly Needed INside the EU, by all Real Europeans !



"Eurofora"s co-Founder, who had been in the UK when Edward Heath had Succesfully worked for London's entry into the EU, Back in the 1960/1970ies, but also when Heath Died : close to the 2005 Deadly London Bombings, (when Unknown Individuals, All among those Dead, were Accused for the Killings of mainly Poor People an Early Morning at the Subway, notoriously Exploited by the former Socialist PM Bliar's Government, which Chaired the EU then, in order to Impose an UnPopular and Dangerous Mass Spying on all EU Citizens' Emails, Mobile Phones, and Internet Connections, later Invalidated by EU's Court of Justice on 2014, for "DisProportional" Infringment on Human Rights, while, in Parallel, a Bliar v. Chirac Duel over EU's Financial Perspectives for the Next Decade, was Upseting Both European Agricultural Production and Scientists or Technocrats, etc, only a Few Years after the Controversial Iraq Invasion, under notoriously Fallacious Pretexts pushed mainly by Downing Street 10 then, provoked a big Divide on 2003), had. also, Unexpectedly met with UKIP's Head Farage, as Early as already Back on 2009 at EU Parliament in Strasbourg.



While Nigel Farage anounced us his Intention for the UKIP to become "the Only Party in the UK which Opposes Turkey's Accession into the EU", (as he Succesfully did in the Following Weeks/Months, Winning an Unprecedented Number of MEPs on May 2009 EU Elections), we spontaneously replied by simply observing the Fact that, If, in Future, he became a Pro-European Politician, instead of staying just an Euro-Sceptic, then, his obvious Qualities and Other Policies, as an Anti-Bureaucracy, Anti-Establishment, Anti-Corruption, and Pro-Citizens, Pro-Transparency, Popular and Pro-Democracy Speaker, could become Very Useful for Europe... (After an initial Clumsy Row with former EU Council President Van Rompuy, a recent Friendly "Peace Treaty" with New EU Commission President Juncker -known for his Flegm and Sense of Humour-changed ambiance, and all could Hear also Farage's "Hot" Remarks at Necessary Public EU Debates).



- Simply because they are Necessary not only in order to Keep 27 or 28 EU member States still attracted by the EU, but, also (and particularly) in order to have a Chance to Succesfully Launch a much needed Advanced Integration Move inside the EU, for a Higher Level of Cohesion, Coordination, and Joint Decision-Making, at least by Core EU Member Countries, but Open to Accession by any other Member Country, whenever it could and wished to join.



In fact, the European Integration project has Lost Too Much Time, particularly since 1999/2000, by Diverting and OverLoading EU Agenda with Other, Irrelevant or even Opposed zig-zag Moves, such as Turkey's Controversial and UnPopular EU bid, Loss of a real Consciousness of European Identity, (that InFamous former Barroso Committee, Headed by ... Joshka Fischer and Socialist former PM Gonzalez, managed by an Administrator Hired at ...Istanbul University, which Wasted Money and Time just in order to Undermine any Real Idea of EU Identity, was an Awful Mess !) , Delay into Completing the Creation of uroZone by the Establishment also of an Economic and Social Governance, Sacrificing BioEthical Values, Ukraine Conflict with a sterile and Dangerous Quarel with Russia, but No Protection of EU's External Borders, not even vis a vis 1,5 Million Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants comming throughTurkey, Cought UnPrepared and initialy Too "Soft" vis a vis Islamism Extremism and Deadly Terrorism, Lack of Ideologic/Cultural Stimulus with a set of Ideas able to stir Enthousiasm among many People for a "European Dream", (etc).



The 3 "No" to the Draft EU Constitution on Euro-Referenda in France and the Netherlands Back on 2005, and in Ireland on 2007, as well as the "BREXIT" Referendum in the UK Now (2016), have resulted, during a Decade, in a Big Loss of precious Historic Time, which must be Urgently Reversed.



So that, Now, while Negotiating a "Modus Vivendi" with the UK, (likewise around the Common Market, in exchange of some EU Citizens' Rights, and a few Policies of Common Interest, as well as Security against Extremist Islamic Terrorism, etc, Strasbourg's PanEuropean CoE remaining, for the rest, an Anchor for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law common Values, etc), EU's Core, i.e. mainly the Franco-German Couple, has to Start, (Together with Other Key EU Nations, such as Italy, Spain, Poland, but also the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Greece, Romania, etc), Moving Fast enough towards a Necessary, Landmark Further Integration, in Economic-Social Governance, European Identity and Feeling of Common Belonging, EU's External Borders' Protection and Security vis a vis Islamic Extremism's Deadly Terrorism, Education/Scientific Research and Technologic Innovation, as well as throwing the Bases for an Autonomous European Defence, (etc).



The Historic former General and long-time French President De Gaulle had Twice Refused UK's initial Attempts to Enter in the EU, (Back on 1963 and 1967), and several subequent Events had abudantly shown that some US and/or other Global Networks were often Attempting to Block or Delay EU Integration mostly through British an open or cover British EuroScepticism.



So that, Now that the Franco-German Couple will be Free from any, eventual, UK Diversion, it Must Move Fast and Decisively in order to Catch up with Time, and Create at least the Basic, Necessary Conditions for certain Strategic European Integration Targets.



But this Implies also much More Real Democracy, a ReNovated Parliament with a much more Democratic Functioning and Closer to EU Citizens, Less Bureaucracy and Petty Technocrats or Abusive Officials, and more Transparency, Real Public Debates open to interested People's active participation EU-wide, and the ReNaissance of a Vibrant Ideas-creating European Culture plenty of Popular Dicussions on Flagship Projects on main Topical Issues affecting European People's Lives.



Without whom, Nothing really Important can be done. But, With whom, much Needed Great Achievements can become Anew Possible.



As for the British People, (an Historic Integral Part of European History and Culture), a ReNovated and Stronger EU will certainly become anew a Focal point of Attraction, while manifold External, Hard Challenges will incite Union, instead of Division.



So that, in Fact, there is No Doubt that : - "We Shall Meet Again", be it "in Thunder, Lightning or Rain", as it's realistically written even in "Macbeth Tragedy" by Shakespeare...





***
According to what Thrax said, there are some offences that simply aren't in the UK system - as happens in Canada. So how can the UK police say there is something on file when their files don't have anything?



If you think about it logically, if someone has a criminal offence of stealing a pen 40 years ago, versus someone who has a criminal offence of armed robbery 40 years ago, there is a difference as to how that will affect your future. So I think, yes, it depends on the offence as to how immigration handles you.



But your question is really simple: Does any criminal offence conviction affect your application for a visa? I don't know, and from the lack of response here I don't think others do either. As I said before, I think you can get a simple answer from one of the Consulates of Spain by contacting them through an email or telephone. Have you tried that? If you find out, it would be great if you could post the answer here for others to know in the future. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you! :fingerscrossed:
I am currently a LAME working in Australia and just wondering if anyone knows how the Thai system works and if an Australian CASA Cert 4/B licence can be transferred to their regulatory system and what steps need to be taken to do so?
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Now that weve officially entered veep-selection season, its important to remember that running mates have minimal impact on national elections.

No matter how much Dan Quayle came on like an over-eager, under-informed frat boy, he didnt prevent his 1988 ticket mate, George H.W. Bush, from clobbering Michael Dukakis. Regardless of 1968 Democratic ads featuring the sound of a voter laughing hysterically at the thought of Spiro Agnew on a national ticket, Richard Nixon did not pay at the ballot box for selecting Agnew.

On the flip side, Geraldine Ferraros history-making turn as the first woman on a national ticket did nothing to help Walter Mondale, whose 1984 opponent, Ronald Reagan, received 57 percent of the female vote.

Metrics guru Nate Silver analyzed American presidential elections over the past century, and determined that the electoral impact of running mates, on average, amounts to no more than a two-percent bump in their home states.

Having said all that, among the VP candidates reportedly being considered by presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Julian Castro is the one who would have the biggest positive impact.

I realize that this is a counter-intuitive theory.

Since real-estate mogul Donald Trump locked up the GOP nomination, the conventional wisdom has been that Castro  the former San Antonio mayor and current secretary of Housing and Urban Development  lost his usefulness to Clinton, because Trumps bigoted attacks on Mexican-Americans guarantee that Clinton will run away with the Latino vote. This theory states that Clinton should instead focus on shoring up her standing with blue-collar white men, possibly by picking Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine or Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Its a logical premise, but I would make the opposite argument.

In 2012, Barack Obama carried 71 percent of the Latino vote, and polls have suggested that Clinton could push that number north of 75 percent in her matchup with Trump. If you know that three out of every four voters in a particular demographic group are likely to vote for you, wouldnt you want to do everything you could to drive that groups turnout numbers through the roof?

About 3.2 million Latinos have reached voting age since 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. As the first Latino on a national ticket, and as a 41-year-old with millennial appeal, Castro could bump up Clintons turnout numbers in battleground states such as Nevada, Colorado, Florida and New Mexico.

Castro has also shown himself to be effective at party building and fundraising, two critical aspects of the VP gig. While he probably wouldnt put his home state in play this year, he could energize long-suffering Lone Star Democrats and lay the building blocks for a Texas turnaround. And we all know that if the GOPs Texas firewall crumbles, Republican hopes for the presidency will crumble with it.

Unlike other possible Latino candidates, such as Thomas Perez, Obamas highly impressive Labor secretary, Castro would enter the race with a discernible national following. A Bloomberg poll released last week found Castro to be the third most popular veep choice among Clinton supporters, with 12 percent support, behind only Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (35 percent) and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker (17 percent).

Based on historical precedent, either Warren or Booker would make more sense for Clinton than Castro. Democratic nominees love to pick senators for their running mates. In fact, the last time that a Democrat went outside the Senate for a VP choice was 1940, when Franklin Roosevelt dumped his two-term vice president, John Nance Garner, and replaced him with Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace.

But Warren and Booker (and Brown, for that matter) come with complications, because they would force the Democratic Party to give up a Senate seat and entrust a Republican governor with appointing an interim replacement. Castro would carry no such complications.

The argument has been made that Castro lacks experience, that his five years as S.A. mayor and two years in Obamas cabinet render him too green to be a heartbeat away from the nuclear button. Obama and John F. Kennedy faced the same argument during their presidential runs, and their resumes were longer than Castros.

What Clintons ticket needs, however is balance. In 2008, Obama balanced out his experience deficit by picking Senate elder statesman Joe Biden. To balance out her ticket, Clinton needs to go in the opposite direction, with youth and energy and fresh ideas. No one on her list fits the bill better than Castro.

ggarcia@express-news.net

Twitter: @gilgamesh470
News that almost 50 percent of Scotlands iconic beef herd is likely to be enrolled into the ground-breaking Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES) for its first year has been welcomed by NFU Scotland.

A last minute surge in applications has seen 179,000 beef cows from 2000 farmers included in the new five-year 45 million Rural Development scheme which looks to improve efficiency, sustainability and quality of the beef herd.

The scheme will help producers increase the genetic value of their stock and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

With applications still to be processed, NFUS expects the final figure for cows in the scheme to be close to 50 percent of eligible animals.

To be eligible, a beef cow must have had a calf registered on the ScotEID database in 2015.

Building on the initial success, the Union will press for a second round of applications to the scheme to be considered along with a call to increase the funding for the scheme, so that payments can be extended from three years to the full five-year term.

Furthermore, the Union is keen to attract more small herds to participate and is seeking rule changes that allow the scheme to recognise expanding and new herds.

Premier league position of Scotch beef

Speaking on the opening day of the Royal Highland Show, taking place at Edinburgh, President Allan Bowie said: "From a standing start, the Beef Efficiency Scheme will encompass around half of the eligible beef herd in Year One.

"That is an important step towards maintaining the premier league position of Scotch beef.

"But with half of the eligible herd yet to sign up, we are keen for the Scottish Government to make positive changes to the scheme, making it more attractive to all cattle farmers.

"We want to see more herds enrolled, the scope to bring in new farmers to the sector and the need for those who are expanding to be properly supported.

"To make the scheme more accessible to as many producers as possible, changes to the tagging options for those selling weaned calves should also be considered.

"There remains a job to do for all parties committed to making BES a success, including Scottish Government, in explaining all aspects of the scheme to existing and potential applicants. That said, this is a positive start.

"Scotch beef is the cornerstone of our red meat sector but we cannot be complacent. The measures looking at efficiency and genetic improvement are already on the radar of some of our major competitors, including the Irish.

"It is refreshing that so many Scottish beef producers have embraced BES, sending out a positive signal that our iconic beef sector is looking firmly to the future."
"They are aware of the implications of not responding to seasonal impacts and they know they have to do something about it and this makes them feel more in control."
What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you

news
I love a good music documentary and Gary Numan: Android In La La Land is one that you cannot afford to miss if you are a fan of this genre of film.

Gary Numan: Android In La La Land

Directed by Steve Read & Rob Alexander, the movie explores the life and career of Gary Numan in a film that's about music, madness, love, loss, and second chances.

Gary Numan: Android In La La Land isn't released until the end of August but the brand new trailer for the film has been released. Take a look:

Leafy Waldron, England... Somewhere between Eastbourne and Royal Tunbridge Wells. Inside a 1920s six-bedroom house painted fuchsia pink and pillar-box red, the unmistakable silhouette of a singular and quite peculiar British rock star and music-making pioneer is bent double in black denim, painstakingly packing away synthesizers and flying suits -- souvenirs of more than 30 years in the music business. Everything goes into a large aluminium flight case.

On its side, a label boldly reads: 'G.A.R.Y. N.U.M.A.N.' The Godfather of electronic pop music is moving home -- lock, stock, and apparel -- to embark on a one-way trip to crack America, break into Hollywood and return to the studio for the first time in nearly a decade.

With him go wife Gemma, daughters Raven, Persia and Echo, and filmmakers Rob Alexander and Steve Read. Numan took the sound of early electro and fused it with the strong images of his onstage alter-egos to invent something unique. Seemingly coming from nowhere and topping the charts with songs about the merits of being an android and the solitude of car interiors, he took the planet by storm.

He went on to perform in front of adoring fans worldwide, sell millions of records and carve out an impressive career. What's even more impressive is that he achieved all this with Asperger's syndrome - only recently diagnosed. It's hardly synonymous with the pop star's perceived need for unparalleled self-belief and ability to perform to and interact with others.

In fact, life for Numan has been far from easy. At a time when the general public knew or cared little about the Asperger's, the media world wasn't kind. He was labelled a freak, one paper going as far as to declare that his parents should have been prevented from giving birth.

Depression, anxiety and near bankruptcy followed, while his die-hard followers never deserted him a long period in the wilderness followed. Then he fell in love with his biggest fan, and married her...

Since meeting Gemma, there has been a resurgence in Numan's career. A Numan fan herself from childhood she convinced him to get back into the studio and back on the stage. Critically acclaimed albums, a new-found love for touring and an ever younger growing fanbase has developed as a result, and is documented as filming has progressed.

Gary Numan: Android In La La Land us released 26th August.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

find me on and follow me on
Much like the famous Ghanta Awards and Golden Kela Awards in Bollywood, the Rotten Coconut Awards for the worst movies have gone on to become famous.

Famous Vlogeer Lakshmi Menon has come up with the latest version of Rotten Coconut Awards which look into the worst movies of 2015.

Take a look at some of the interesting award winners..

In fact, the video which has been uploaded in Youtube has gone viral. This is the third version of Rotten Coconut Awards which was started by Lakshmi Menon in the year 2014.

The video has gained much appreciation, especially praising the presentation skills of Lakshmi Menon. Vieweres have also gone on to praise the selection made by the Vlogger.

Apart from categories like worst movie and worst actors, there are some interesting categories like Bheekara Debut, Simple Script etc which have been mentioned to categorize worst debuts and most complicated scripts respectively.

Lakshmi Menon is a Dubai-based Keralite and she shot to fame with her video logs. Most of her logs have gone on to become big successes.

Lakshmi Menon did make her acting debut in films with Salt Mango Tree which starred Biju Menon in the lead role. She did a cameo appearance in the movie.

Lakshmi Menon is the wife of renowned Radio Jockey and anchor-cum-actor Mithun Ramesh.
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - July 14, 2016) - The President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran will attend the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland from Monday, July 18 through Thursday, July 21, 2016. Throughout the week, Mayor Cornett will be attending a variety of events to discuss USCM's Compact for a Better America: A Call to Action, which calls on the Presidential candidates to recognize the critical role cities play in shaping America's future and to focus on policy issues that are important to people living in cities and their metropolitan areas.

While at the Convention, Mayor Cornett will join prominent artists and top elected officials for the national non-partisan policy forum ARTS SPEAK on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 4 pm at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The forum will focus on the transformative power of the arts to impact 21 st century learning and the economy, as well as healing and wellness, especially for wounded military veterans and their families. ARTS SPEAK is presented in partnership by Americans for the Arts, the Arts Action Fund, The United States Conference of Mayors, and The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).

Note: Media interested in interviewing Mayor Cornett during the Convention should contact Sara Durr at sara@durrcommunications.com or 202/215.1811.

WHO:

Oklahoma City Mayor and USCM President Mick Cornett

Americans for the Arts CEO Robert Lynch

NAMM CEO Joe Lamond

Former presidential candidate Governor Mike Huckabee

Iowa Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds

Cleveland Clinic Art & Medicine Director Maria Jukic

Cleveland MetroHealth CEO Akram Boutros

Musical artist Ben Folds

Musical artist Ben Vereen

WHAT:

ARTS SPEAK @ RNC

WHEN:

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Policy Forum: 4 - 5:30 pm

Reception: 5:30 - 7 pm

WHERE:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Foster Theatre (1100 E 9th St, Cleveland, OH 44114)

About The United States Conference of Mayors -- The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usmayors.

Contact:

Elena Temple-Webb

etemple@usmayors.org

202-286-1100



Sara Durr

sara@durrcommunications.com

202-215-1811
Among other areas, the exit of the UK from the EU will impact the venture capital and private equity industry as well.

An exaggerated pessimism? Maybebut, please, remember the name of the leading financial institution in the European risk capital market.

We are speaking about the European Investment Fund. Owned by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union (represented by the European Commission), and a wide range of public and private banks and financial institutions, the fund plays, since 1994, a crucial role in the creation and development of high-growth and innovative SMEs by acting as a fund of funds investing in venture capital and private equity firms across the continent.

Be more precise? Figures (at 31/12/2015) from the same institution highlights that, since 1996, which was the first year of activity in the country, EIF has 144 supported UK private equity funds and over 27,700 SMEs, covering the full range of the equity spectrum, from technology transfer to mezzanine and lower/mid market private equity funding. In recent years, the EIB subsidiary has also invested into a number of venture capital funds to support the commercialization of research.

In 2015, EIFs equity participations in the UK amounted to 655.8m, expected to mobilize 2.87 billion in capital. The fund invested into two co-investments and in 16 funds, out of which 11 are multi-country funds also investing outside the UK.

Among the range of resources managed by EIF on behalf of third parties is the UK Future Technologies Fund (UK FTF), a technology focused fund-of-funds launched by EIF together with the UK Government in 2010. UK FTF invests into venture capital funds targeting ICT, life sciences and advanced manufacturing

sectors, and is fully invested.

Although, especially in the latest months, we noticed an increased capacity of London to attract funds from outside EU, the experience and figures clearly say that the UK venture capital industry was created and has been growing with the support of European Union, like other member countries.

Following the result of the UK referendum on EU membership, EIF issued an immediate statement (read it here) pointing out that it will engage with the EIB and other European institutions to define its activity in the country as part of the discussions to determine the relationship of the UK with Europe and European bodies.

FinSMEs

26/06/2016
Washington: India will be the only country outside US' formal treaty allies that will gain access to almost 99 percent of latest America's defence technologies after being recognised as a 'Major Defence Partner', a senior Obama administration official has said.

"India (now) enjoys access to (defence) technologies that is on par with our treaty allies. That is a very unique status. India is the only other country that enjoys that status outside our formal treaty allies," the official told PTI explaining what 'Major Defence Partner' status means for India.

Early this month, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, the US, in a joint statement, recognised India as a 'Major Defence Partner'.

"We were looking for something unique. This language you would not find in any arms transfer legislation or any of our existing policies. This is new guidance and new language that is intended to reflect the unique things that we have done with India under our defence partnership," the senior administration official said.

"This is intended to solidify the India-specific forward leaning policies for approval that the (US) President and (Defense) Secretary (Ashton) Carter...and our export control system have implemented in the last eight years," the official said.

Under this recognition India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that New Delhi has committed to take to advance its export control objectives. Acknowledging that the impression in New Delhi is that India is not getting access to the kind of technology it needs from the US, the official said it is a constant source of discussion.

"(In reality), less than one per cent of all exports (requests) are denied (to India). They are not denied because of India. They are denied because of global US licensing policies. We do not share certain technologies with anybody in the world," the official asserted.

The perception in India that the denial of such technologies is reflective of India-US relationship is far from the truth, the official said. According to the official, India being recognised as a "major defence partner puts it on par with our treaty allies".

Inside the American bureaucratic system, such a recognition removes a number of major export control hurdles for India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday talked about the "dark days" of the Emergency declared in 1975 when he addressed the nation through his radio programme Mann Ki Baat.

"Sometimes, people make fun of Mann Ki Baat. But this is possible only because of democracy," said Modi.

"26 June, 1975 was a dark day for democracy in India. The country was turned into a jailkhana," the Prime Minister said. "The rights of citizens were taken away. Many political leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were put behind bars," he said.

"We must not forget that our power is democracy. Our power lies in every citizen's strength," Modi said. "We should keep reminding the people about their power in a democracy. We should unite the people," he added.

"There was a day when the voice of people was trampled over but now, that voice is given encouragement and people of India express their views on how the government is performing," the PM said.

"There was a time when the taxes used to be so overwhelming that tax evasion had become a natural behaviour," he said.

Tax evasion

This brought PM Modi to the topic of tax evasion. "We lose our peace by violating rules. Why not give correct information about income and assets to the government?" he said.

He then said that people with undisclosed incomes and assets had "an opportunity to declare their assets before 30 September."

"There are only 1.5 lakh people in the country whose taxable income is over Rs 50 lakh...Get free of your earlier dues once and for all by giving correct information about your income and property to the government," Modi said.

He also gave an example of a retired government employee called Chandrakant Kulkarni who donated almost a third of his pension for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. "Chandrakant, who gets Rs 16,000 as pension, wrote to me and pledged to donate Rs 5,000 every month for Swachhta Abhiyan," he said.

"Today, it is not difficult to connect tax payers with the government. Yet old habits die hard," he said. "Those who do not disclose undisclosed income by September 30 will face difficulties," he added.

Isro and Indian scientists

PM Modi also congratulated Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) scientists for launching 20 satellites in one go. "It is a matter of great pride that Isro scientists launched 20 satellites in one go...Isro has got a special place in the world. That is why the world is looking towards India when it comes to space research," he said.

Saying that the scientists had predicted a good amount of rainfall for India this year, Modi added, "Our scientists are constantly contributing to the nation. I wish more of our youth become scientists."

"Yesterday, I was in Pune where I met students who made one of the satellites that was launched along with others. This satellite signifies the skills and aspirations of the youth of India," he said.

First batch of women fighter pilots

Modi also praised the first batch of India's women fighter pilots. "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao has touched so many lives. The results of the various examinations show how women are excelling," he said. "The three women fighter pilots  Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh  have made us all very proud," he added.

Yoga

The Prime Minister also talked about yoga and International Yoga Day. "When the world connects with us through yoga, it feels that the world is connecting with our past, present and future," he said. "Twitter used the yoga emoji for this year's International Yoga Day. Yoga has the power to unite the world," he added. He also talked about how the image of a yoga posture projected onto the United Nations headquarters filled him with pride.

Modi then called for a programme to battle diabetes with yoga. "Can't we run a successful abhiyan to fight diabetes with yoga?" he said. "Please use #YogaFightsDiabetes to share your own experiences about yoga against diabetes," he said.
Hyderabad: Accusing Arvind Kejriwal of frittering away the huge mandate given to him by the people of Delhi and indulging in "drama", Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said the Centre cannot stoop to his level and answer all the allegations levelled by the chief minister.

"If we also start doing similar things, who will take care of the government? The Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is a very busy man who always thinks of welfare of people and works for them and only thinks of the country. Who has got time to reply to every statement of Kejriwalji," he said.

The Minister of State for Home said people of Delhi gave mandate to Kejriwal so that his government would serve them "but they are indulging in drama instead".

If central ministers too comment on everything Kejriwal says, then who would serve the people of the country, he told reporters here.

"We are so busy running such a big country and people have given us an opportunity to serve it.

"The people of Delhi have given them an opportunity with a huge mandate to serve the public but they are losing the opportunity and doing drama," he alleged.

Rijiju also criticised Kejriwal for "abusing the Prime Minister all the time".

"We may have ideological differences or political differences but that does not mean one must abuse the Prime Minister all the time," he said.

His comments came a day after Kejriwal accused Modi of "declaring Emergency in Delhi" following Aam Aadmi Party MLA Dinesh Mohaniya's arrest over the charges of molestation and sexual harassment of women.

Reacting sharply to Mohaniya's arrest, Kejriwal said in a tweet, "Modi declares emergency in Delhi. Arresting, raiding, terrorising, filing false cases against all those whom Delhi elected (sic)."

In another tweet, the Delhi CM said, "Dinesh Mohaniya arrested from his press conference in front of all TV cameras. What msg does Modi want to give to everyone?"

The Delhi Chief Minister has blamed Modi on many occasions in the past for allegedly not allowing him to run the city government properly.

Modi was blamed by Kejriwal over Delhi's anti corruption branch registering an FIR against him and a few others in an alleged water tanker scam, President not giving assent to a bill which wants to protect 21 AAP MLAs, who were appointed parliamentary Secretaries, from office of profit and return of Delhi government's 14 bills by the Home Ministry for technical reasons besides others.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said unless the common thread of terrorism, smuggling and drug activities was broken, it would be very difficult to fight all three.

Alcoholism and substance abuse have caused havoc in the social life of India and across the world, the president said while presenting National Awards for outstanding service on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

He told the award winners not to remain complacent and to continue with their efforts to eradicate the twin menace.

Mukherjee complimented the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for its initiatives vis-a-vis the problem and stressed the need for civil society and NGOs to work closely with the government in eradicating the menace.

Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot and many others were present on the occasion.
Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the Jewish community in India

Last week the Maharashtra state government bestowed minority status on a minuscule and ancient community  the Indian Jews. This official recognition by Maharashtra, the second state to do so after West Bengal, is imperative to the very survival of its Jewish community. Maharashtra (part of erstwhile Bombay State) has always been home to a majority of Indian Jews, it today has 2466 Jews out of the all-India total of 4,650 Jews.

Community numbers in the post independence era have always hovered precariously around 5000 because of large scale immigration in the 1950s and 1960s to Israel. Hence being classified as a minority will help the Indian Jewish community preserve its religious and cultural traditions, educational and community institutions, and its unique heritage on the Indian subcontinent. This present recognition has raised the communitys hopes of being recognised as a minority by the central government.

Indian Jews hold the distinction of being the only community of Jews in the world who throughout their two millennia long history on the Indian subcontinent have never faced any form of racial persecution. This is in spite of the fact that it is not one homogenous community but made up of three traditional communities (five altogether, if one counts the Manipur Jews, Bnei Menashe, and the recently discovered Telugu Jews of Andhra Pradesh) who settled on the West, South, and East coasts of India.

Moreover, even within these three settlements there are distinct communities of Jews co-existing, with very different narratives of displacement from their original homeland, settlement in India and migration to Israel and the West. What holds these kaleidoscopic histories together is the fact that most of these communities reached the subcontinent by sea or originally visited as maritime traders who eventually settled here.

It is in the constant ebb and flow of the ancient Indian Ocean trading world that the stories of Indias three traditional Jewish communities  the Bene Israel (children of Israel), the Baghdadi Jews, and the Cochini Jews  needs to be contextualised.

A history written in porcelain blue and white ceramic tiles: the Paradesi Jews

Indias Jewish heritage is known internationally largely due to the Paradesi (foreign) Jewish community of Kochi (erstwhile Cochin) and their beautiful 500 year old synagogue at Mattancherry. The Paradesi Synagogue has been eulogised by author Salman Rushdie in his novel The Moor's Last Sigh, particularly in his description of its Chinese blue and white floor tiles, a reminder of the spice trade that this community of mercantile Jews had with China.

Rushdie writes that no two tiles are identical and each has their own tale to tell...

Legends had begun to stick to them. Some said that if you explored long enough/ Youd find your own story...because pictures on the tiles could change, were changing, /Generation by generation, to tell the story of the Cochin Jews.

Interestingly, the Paradesis have throughout their history never exceeded 200 individuals (today they are just six in Jew Town) making them not just the smallest group among the Cochini Jews but also the most recent arrivals.

The Paradesis being fair-skinned and light-eyed came to the Malabar Coast in waves, some fleeing persecution from the Spanish Inquisition and others as traders, mostly settling in the domain of the rajah of Cochin during the 14th and 15th centuries. There were Jews from Baghdad, Yemen, Kurdistan, Spain, Germany and Portugal, mostly from trading families engaged in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trading world.

It is the survival of this community of Jews that is most precarious, particularly the preservation of community properties in the vicinity of Jew Town in Mattancherry, like its heritage Jewish homes, the cemetery, and the daily conduct of prayers in the Paradesi Synagogue. Jew Town is today overrun by shops selling tourist souvenirs, books and antiques, an outcome of the fact that the synagogue and the adjoining royal temple and Dutch Palace are prime tourist attractions.

The proximity of these two heritage sites, they share a common compound wall, indicates the privileged position of the Paradesis in the eyes of the rajahs of Cochin.

The golden era for this community of merchants was during the rule of the Dutch East India Company (1663-1773), particularly when Ezekial Rahabi II (b. 1694-d. 1771) was appointed Joode Koopman (chief merchant) to the Company and the chief diplomat through whom the Dutch negotiated with the rajah of Cochin as also with other pepper growing kingdoms like Calicut, Travancore and Kollatiri.

The Jewish kingdom of Anjuvannum and the Jewish copper plates

Probably the oldest Jewish community in India are the Malabari Jews of Kochi, who today number just a little over 20 individuals. They arrived on the subcontinent sometime around 68 CE, about the same time that the Bene-Israel Jews of Maharashtras Konkan Coast were shipwrecked at Navgaon (south of Mumbai).

This ancient community of Jews, unlike their brethren the Marathi-speaking Bene-Israel, possess epigraphical evidence of their history on the Malabar Coast. The sasanam (grant) inscribed on the Jewish copper plates gives the principality of Anjuvvanam (present day Kodungallur), with its 70 villages and its revenue, to Joseph Rabban and his family in perpetuity.

Though the community believes the copper plates date to the 4th century or early Chera period, translation of the plates have yielded evidence that they date to the late Chera period or the 10th century.

It is this principality of Anjuvannam, close to the ancient entreport of Muziris (where there is an ongoing Archaeological Survey of India excavation), which is the legendary medieval Indian Jewish kingdom of Shingly. That this kingdom existed is reiterated by a body of Hebrew songs composed during the period Anjuvannam existed, after its abandonment, and almost till the 17th century, known as the Shingly tunes.

This joyous legacy of the Malabar Jews is kept alive by both Cochini Jewish communities by singing the Shingly tunes on religious and community occasions.

The theme of royalty is also consciously played out by the Cochin Jews in the observance of festivals like Simchat Torah, or rejoicing in the Torah (the five books of the Pentateuch or Jewish scriptures), where in addition to the traditional carrying of the torah scrolls in seven circuits within the synagogue, which Jews the world over observe, there is also a royal procession in the compound of the synagogue.

Also combined with the theme of celebrating the memory of a Jewish kingdom on the subcontinent, is the ritual of mourning its destruction by Arab and Portuguese armies, which is observed by Cochins Jews on the ninth of the Jewish month of Av.

This is also a day of mourning for Jews the world over, as on this very day it is believed that the First and the Second Jewish temple in Jerusalem were destroyed.

The Jews of Cochin

The melding of the distinct histories of the Malabar and Paradesi Jews is epitomised in the Paradesi (Mattancherry) Synagogue, where the foundation stone of the first synagogue in Cochin built by the Malabar Jews  Kochanggadi (built in 1344)  is embedded in the wall of this synagogue.

Migrations from the Malabar Jewish community to Cochin is believed to have begun sometime in 1341, and combined with the steady decline of Anjuvannam (Shingly), settlements were established in the vicinity of Cochin at Ernakulam, Parur, Mala, Chendamangalam, and Mattancherry. The last named though associated with the Paradesis was originally founded by settlers from Anjuvannam  Samuel Castiel, Joseph Levi, David Belila, and Ephraim Sala.

Just like their co-religionists, the Paradesis, the Malabar Jews were also loyal to the Perumal royal family of Cochin because of their religious tolerance and protection of Jews. Members of this community were mostly small traders, oil-pressers and stevedores, suppliers of foodstuffs to ships that anchored off Cochin.

A turning point arrived in the history of the Malabar Jews with the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. A strong Zionist fervour to return to their Biblical homeland gripped the imagination of this orthodox community. Entire village communities, like the Jews of Mala, uprooted themselves to settle in agricultural settlements across Israel, a marked contrast to their urban lifestyle on the Malabar Coast.

The Paradesi Jews too immigrated to Israel, settling in the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. What is interesting is that this once mercantile community now largely consists of professionals, like doctors and engineers.

It would not be out of order for the Kerala state government to recognise its Jewish community as a minority, in order to protect their synagogues, community institutions and properties, and preserve a Jewish legacy redolent with memories of the medieval and colonial spice trade, of an Indian Jewish kingdom, and a community that retained its distinct religious identity on the subcontinent for close to 2,000 years.

Read about the Bene-Israel and Baghdadi Jews in part 2 of this series, on July 3

Sifra Lentin is adjunct fellow, Mumbai History, Gateway House
Brexit, it seems, is in vogue in Delhi these days. Whatever be the implications of the referendum on Britain and consequently Europe, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is determined to hold a referendum of his own  to seek full statehood for Delhi.

If Kejriwal is to be believed, a poll on the lines of the recent referendum in the UK, to decide Britain's exit from the European Union, would take place in the capital  to count peoples opinion on granting statehood to Delhi  and that it would, once and for all, clinch the issue. But a pertinent question remains  will this be constitutionally tenable?

Unlike the Brexit referendum, which will now have a definite outcome  once Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon is invoked by PM David Cameron's successor  there is no legitimate provision in the Indian constitution of guiding policy through public opinion.

In parliamentary form of the Government in India, peoples opinion is expressed through periodic polls that elect their representatives. Of course, any attempt to guide state policies through public opinion would ultimately subvert the constitution. Kejriwal is not naive to be ignorant about it. Yet, his insistence on the referendum for Delhis statehood is rather Machiavellian.

https://twitter.com/ArvindKejriwal/status/746257913849745408

Kejriwals fascination for the referendum can be traced back to the Anna movement  which started at the fag-end of the UPA-2 government  to fight against corruption. The most articulate proponent of running the government through referenda back then was Kejriwals friend-turned-foe Prashant Bhushan. The idea, of holding frequent referenda on governments policies, found resonance even in the Anna movement.

This was the precise reason why Kejriwal, in his first term as chief minister of Delhi, tried to take populism to extremes by holding peoples court, which quickly became unmanageable. His subsequent decision to come up with a budget by seeking peoples opinion effectively turned into a gimmick that hardly altered anything about the budget-making process. Of course, policies in the Delhi government cannot run counter to the constitution.

But, Kejriwal has been driving at something different  something potentially damaging to the image of the Modi government, as a strong and stable one. For instance, he would tend to hold a referendum on every issue where he is in conflict with the Centre. As of now, there have been as many as 14-odd bills passed by the Delhi assembly that were turned down and returned by the Centre.

The Delhi government routinely fights with the home ministry over the appointment and posting of officials, and the control over Delhi Police  one of the main reasons why the Kejriwal government is seeking statehood for Delhi. These are some of the major issues that could be a part of Kejriwal's referendum, thereby giving a clear impression of the constant tussle between the Centre and the Delhi government.

Although the chances of the referendum leading to official action are next to none, there could still be serious implications across the country if it gains traction among people.

In a diverse nation like India, a clear fault line exists between the developed and the under-developed states. The Hindi heartland and Eastern states have been falling way behind the development curve as compared with some of the states in the southern and western parts of the country.

According to data obtained from the planning commision of India, there exists a wide chasm in the consumption expenditures (Rupees per month per person in 2004-5) among various states. For example, an average urban resident in Gujarat has a consumption expenditure of Rs 1206.80, as compared with Rs 729.50 for someone living in urban Bihar; while a rural resident of Delhi earns more than twice (Rs 1056.40) of someone living in rural Orisha (Rs 422.10). A similar divide exists between the North East and the rest of the country, where except for outlier states like Tripura, the region is left far behind in terms of economic prosperity.

Of late, there has been a tendency among the rich-states, and their political elites, to regard underperforming states as a drag on them. Though not openly, it finds muted expression  like in attacks on Hindi-speaking immigrants in Mumbai.

Such feelings, existing at subterranean levels in southern states, can easily find expression in a perverse form and may get articulation by seeking peoples opinion through referendum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself belongs to one of the most developed states in the country, Gujarat, though he politically represents Varanasi, a constituency from Uttar Pradesh  the most populous but underdeveloped state in India.

In this context, the subversive tendencies of Brexit  if it finds resonance in the Indian political class  can hardly be undermined. Even within Britain, the referendum is seen as limiting to the role of Parliament  though Brexit was endorsed by the British Parliament. In fact, the manner in which the British Parliament has tied itself in knots on the issue of exiting from the EU is frowned upon by a strong section of the intelligentsia in the West.

In sharp contrast to Britain, India has a written constitution where in its basic structure is inviolable. Its constitutional framework has been clearly defined and the roles of the legislative, judiciary and executive are demarcated in clear terms. The statecraft is not steered by measuring peoples opinion on an issue-to-issue basis, instead, it is guided by established institutions.

In his book, 'Revolution from Above', noted sociologist Dipankar Gupta referred to social reforms as pushed from above, much against the popular will. Drawing from that analogy, in all likelihood, an Indian 'Brexit' would only be used as a tool to create turbulence in order to score political points in Delhi.
The project to make a European Union is the oldest in the world. The British exit from the union is the latest episode in this project which goes back to ancient history.

The Greeks did not think much of their northern and western European neighbours. They called them Barbarians because they thought their languages sounded like 'bar-bar'. Alexander the Great of Macedonia had no interest in Europe either. He came south to first conquer Greece. Then he swung east and came towards Asia. After a short detour in Egypt, he conquered Persia, much of Central Asia and Afghanistan before fighting his hardest battle in Punjab and being forced to turn around, dying in Iran at 33.

Three centuries after him, Julius Caesar was the first individual to make significant progress in bringing Europe under one authority. A few decades before the birth of Christ, Caesar led the Italian army into France and Germany, and he tamed many of their wild tribes. He also brought the Italians to England and the cosmopolitan city London (which voted against Brexit) goes back to that time. Europe in this period was ruled from Rome.

Caesar's successor Augustus halted Roman expansion northward after a huge defeat in the German forest of Teutuborg in 9 AD. The urban and civilised population of Europe was in this period entirely in the southern part of the continent. The north, today, the most economically advanced in the world, was then a wild area not worth fighting over. Rome's armies from now on would march east, towards Jerusalem and Syria. They established a new capital for the empire, today called Istanbul.

In the west, German tribals, who had no script and were mostly illiterate, overwhelmed Rome by the fifth century AD. This brought in the period called the dark ages. Writing and reading declined in Europe. This happened partly because the Muslim conquest of Egypt stopped the export of the only paper available at the time, called papyrus, and books stopped being written and copied easily.

A new purpose for unifying Europe now emerged: Christianity. The Arab conquest of Spain in the same period provided the fear (similar to today's phobia over Syrian immigrants) to hasten this development. The pope in Rome crowned a German tribal chief called Charles as the first Holy Roman Emperor. His historical name, Charlemagne, means Charles the Great.

In the centuries that followed came the development of feudalism in Europe and then the rise of large monarchical states. Powerful kings, particularly in France and England, divided and ruled Europe. Charlemagne's great grandson Charles the Fat was the last man to rule a unified Europe in this era.

The period after this saw the rise of the church in Rome as a military and political power. It was able to influence Europe's kings to leave their kingdoms to battle for the reconquest of Jerusalem, a failed war called the Crusades. Protestantism in Germany, and then in England, divided the thin religious ties of Europe and the church declined as Muslim power grew in the east.

The scientific revolution in Europe brought the continent back to the dominance it enjoyed during the time of Rome. Military technology helped Napoleon conquer and unify Europe briefly, for the first time in 1,000 years.

In the early 1940s, Hitler again unified Europe militarily when in a matter of months, his armies conquered the entire continent. The parts he did not occupy (like Italy) were either occupied later or allied with him. Only the British isles were outside his control.

The end of the Second World War and the rise of Russia also unified Europe militarily. This happened with the formation of NATO which is located in Brussels but wih the real power lying in America. This cooperation extended to the European Union, also located in Brussels (in a building named after Charlemagne). After the reunification of Germany 25 years ago, the real centre of power of the EU is Berlin.

The project of a united Europe, from Charlemagne to the EU, has constantly been made and remade and the causes have been varied: military expansion, religion and trade. The national borders have changed many, many times and so have the languages. Britain's exit is only the latest episode in this long history.

We'll end on an interesting note. The word France comes from a German tribe, the Franks, who conquered and populated the area and are mingled among today's 'Frenchmen'. The same tribe gave its name to the German city of Frankfurt. The word England means land of the Angles, a north Germanic tribe that conquered that area centuries ago. Northern Italy is called Lombardy after another German tribe.

In that sense, the Germans have already permanently unified Europe with their genes.
Berlin: The European Parliament's chief called on Sunday for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week.

Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone," he said.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time." The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".

They added that "no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been completed".

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave negotiations on the so-called "Brexit" to his successor.

To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.

The first step is to inform the European Council of member states which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.

The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.

Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding states meeting in Berlin yesterday urged Britain to begin the exit process "as soon as possible".
Baghdad: A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than month-long military operation.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighborhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under IS control, the head of the counter-terrorism forces in the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, told AP.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated." The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

"From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 2014.

Fallujah, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by Islamic State group's militant predecessor, Al-Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

Islamic State extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.
FALLUJA, Iraq Iraqi forces recaptured the last district held by Islamic State militants in the city of Falluja on Sunday and the general commanding the operation declared the battle over after nearly five weeks of fighting.

Iraqi forces reached the centre of Falluja last week but militants remained holed up in some parts of the city west of Baghdad, including in its Golan district, which Iraqi forces retook on Sunday.

The assault is part of a wider offensive by Iraqi forces against Islamic State militants who seized swathes of territory in 2014 but are now being driven back by an array of forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition.

The success of the Falluja operation launched on May 23 gives fresh momentum to Iraqi forces in the campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city anywhere in the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria.

As we promised you, today this flag is flying high in Falluja and, God willing, it will soon fly in Mosul, said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, standing in front of Falluja's main hospital waving the Iraqi flag.

The swift entry of Iraqi forces into central Falluja last week surprised many who expected a drawn-out battle with Islamic State for the bastion of Sunni insurgency, where some of the toughest fighting of the U.S. occupation took place after 2003.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, who was in charge of the operation, told state TV on Sunday that at least 1,800 Islamic State fighters had been killed in the operation to retake Falluja and the rest had fled. Some militants were still holding out in buildings, he said.

Iraqi forces are now dismantling bombs and booby-trapped houses, whilst pursuing militants who slipped out of the city from the northwest, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism forces that spearheaded the offensive, told Reuters.

The insurgents had put up limited resistance in Falluja and folded after some of their commanders abandoned the fight.

Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said on Twitter around 90 percent of Falluja remained "safe and habitable", comparing that favourably with the cities of Ramadi and Sinjar, which were recaptured from Islamic State but badly damaged in the process.

Fighting to recapture the Iraqi city has forced more than 85,000 residents to flee to overwhelmed government-run camps. The United Nations says it has received allegations of abuse of civilians fleeing the city, including by members of Shi'ite armed groups supporting the offensive.

The militants seized Falluja in January 2014, six months before they declared a "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq.

The mayor of Falluja told Reuters that displaced families could return to the city within two months if the government and intentional aid agencies provided assistance.

"The city doesn't just require a rebuilding of its infrastructure but also serious rehabilitation of its society," said Esa al-Esawi.

"Daesh (Islamic State) worked to brainwash people and we need serious programmes by the international community to help people get rid of Daesh's deviant ideologies and restore their normal life."

(Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Erbil; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Stephen Powell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Damascus: The Islamic State (IS) terror group has killed five media activists in Syria's Deir al-Zour province, officials said on Sunday.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the IS released an execution video of the five activistswho had been held captive for nine monthswhich showed them being killed in five different ways, EFE news reported.

One of the victims was identified as Sami Jawddat al-Rabbah, an activist who worked at SOHR.

The IS jihadis killed al-Rabbah by detonating his laptop, to which he was tied.

The group said the five victims were accused of acting against IS and releasing information in exchange for money, among other things.
Jerusalem: A Jerusalem court on Sunday sentenced a radical ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jew who fatally stabbed a teenage girl at a gay pride parade last year to life in prison plus 31 years.

Jerusalem's District Court had already convicted Yishai Schlissel for the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki and the attempted murder of seven others.

Schlissel had been freed from prison just weeks before the 30 July parade, after serving a sentence for stabbing several people at the city's pride parade in 2005.

In their rulings, the judges noted that Schlissel had shown no remorse for his actions.

"We have before us a man who doesn't see a fellow human before his eyes. A cruel, dangerous and heartless man," they wrote. "This dangerous man cannot be allowed to walk any longer on the streets of Jerusalem, or anywhere else."

Jerusalem, known for its rich religious history and tradition, holds a modest gay pride parade annually in contrast to the large parade in the nearby liberal city of Tel Aviv, which this year drew more than 200,000 people and held a minute of silence to honor Banki.

After his release from prison for serving out his term for the 2005 attack, Schlissel had angrily spoken out against the parade.

The 2015 parade was underway as planned, with party music, Israeli flags and rainbow-clad marchers wending their way through central Jerusalem, when the attacker lunged into the march, stabbing eight people with a long-bladed knife before being apprehended by police.

A majority of Jerusalem's residents are observant Jews, Muslims or Christians, conservative communities whose members mostly frown on homosexuality. But violent attacks on gay people are rare.

Previous parades in the holy city have drawn opposition and threats.
BERLIN/HERMANNSWERDER, Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Saturday for clear-headed negotiations with "close partner" Britain over its departure from the European Union.

Foreign ministers of the EU's six founding members had earlier said Britain should leave the bloc as soon as possible after Britons voted on Thursday to quit the 28-member bloc.

However, Merkel struck a more conciliatory tone.

"The negotiations must take place in a businesslike, good climate," Merkel said after a meeting of her conservative party in Hermannswerder, outside Potsdam, to the west of Berlin.

"Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically," she said, adding that there was no hurry for Britain to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty - the first step it must take to set in motion the exit process.

"It should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame," Merkel said, in contrast with the more urgent call by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, who were meeting to the north of the German capital.

They pressed for Britain to trigger the process for exiting the bloc after Britons voted by 52-48 percent to exit the EU, which it joined more than 40 years ago.

"We now expect the UK government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible," they said in a joint statement.

The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, also piled pressure on Britain, calling for it to trigger the Leave process at a summit of EU leaders next Tuesday.

"We expect the British government to deliver now," Schulz told Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "The summit on Tuesday is the appropriate moment to do so."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who met with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Saturday, called for "pragmatic negotiations" once Article 50 is invoked.

"My message is clear: when we work together we are stronger. I hope the British people will be able to overcome the challenges that await them," France's Journal du Dimanche quoted Ban as saying in an interview.

EU officials said there was no real problem if it took a few months to begin the process for Britain to leave, though waiting until the end of the year could get in the way of the next round of EU budget talks and European election campaigning.

The officials said they were worried that British Prime Minister David Cameron, who resigned on Friday, could hand over to someone with a strategy to drag out the country's departure.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, said Britain should begin informal negotiations on a full settlement governing its post-Brexit relationship with the EU before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

FRENCH PRESSURE

France also pressed for a swift start to the exit process, with Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault saying negotiations must move quickly and that the remaining EU member states also needed to give fresh impetus to the European project.

"We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap," he said, adding that the EU could not wait for Cameron to depart in October before the exit process begins.

Ayrault said other EU leaders would put "a lot of pressure" on Cameron at Tuesday's summit to act quickly.

A spokesman for the European Council, which runs meetings of EU members' leaders, said that Britain could trigger Article 50, setting a two-year deadline for a deal, by making a formal declaration to such a meeting rather than by sending a diplomatic letter to its chairman.

Hollande said the separation "will be painful for Britain but ... as in all divorces, it will be painful for those who stay behind, too".

France and Germany have drafted a 10-page paper mapping out three areas of immediate concern for the remaining EU members: security, migration and refugees, and jobs and growth which diplomatic sources say they want to use as a basis to shore up the EU, while building a more flexible union.

Global stock markets plunged on Friday, and sterling saw its biggest one-day drop in more than 30 years, while ratings agency Moody's downgraded Britain's credit outlook.

The six foreign ministers said the EU was losing "not just a member state but history, tradition and experience".

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Reuters: "I believe you can destroy the European Union with referenda. We have to communicate better what the EU has done, and we have to work harder on issues such as migration where we have failed."

Both Ayrault and Asselborn warned Britain not to play games by drawing out the exit process.

"It's in Britain's interest and in the interest of Europeans not to have a period of uncertainty that would have financial consequences, and that could have economic and political consequences," he told a news conference after the meeting.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin, Ingrid Melander and Jean-Baptiste Vey and Richard Lough in Paris, Gilbert Reilhac in Colmar and Robert-Jan Bartunek and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Jane Merriman, Kevin Liffey and Bill Rigby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
LONDON Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking the legal process behind Britain's exit from the bloc, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 percent in favour of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit.

Sturgeon has said a new Scottish referendum on independence from the rest of the UK is "highly likely" if that is the best option to keep Scotland in the bloc.

"There are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences of the process of trying to extricate the UK from the EU. I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told BBC television.

Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as a key reason to stick with the UK.

Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post published a poll by research firm ScotPulse, taken on Friday, that suggested support for independence had surged to 59 percent since the Brexit vote.

Sturgeon said she would seek a way of negotiating directly with the EU on the best way to achieve Scotland's aim of staying in the bloc.

She said it would be "completely unacceptable" for whoever succeeds David Cameron as British prime minister to try and stop Scotland from holding a second independence referendum on the basis that the issue had been settled in 2014.

Under the UK's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU may have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments.

Asked whether she would consider asking the Scottish parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: "Of course."

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest -- of course that's going to be on the table."

However, a spokesman for Sturgeon later said that there was legal debate over whether a lack of Scottish consent would be enough to hold up the withdrawal, and that the Scottish government expected their London counterparts to say it was not needed.

GAME CHANGER

Sturgeon said the Brexit vote was a game-changer that made it legitimate for Scotland to revisit the issue of independence.

"The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically. The UK that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 doesn't exist anymore," she said.

A vote for independence would end the 300-year-old union between Scotland and England, its far more populous southern neighbour, dealing a body blow to the UK at a time when it is likely to still be dealing with the fallout from Brexit.

That could lead to border controls being set up between the two countries.

"I certainly don't want to see in any circumstances a border between Scotland and England," Sturgeon said. "Whatever happens here England is our nearest neighbour and will always I hope be our best friend but these are circumstances in which Scotland hasn't chosen to be."

Sturgeon's pro-independence Scottish National Party holds 56 of the 59 seats representing Scotland in the national parliament in London, while in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh it has 63 seats out of 129.

Asked if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said:

"I can, but it's perhaps similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will."

(Additional reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary in Edinburgh; Editing by Anna Willard and Stephen Powell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
London: Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday said Scotland's Parliament could attempt to block the UK's exit from the European Union.

Sturgeon said "of course" she would ask lawmakers sitting in the parliament to decline to give their "legislative consent" to Brexit, blocking any attempt by the British government in London to proceed with a split from Europe, Efe news reported.

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying look we're not to vote for something that's against Scotland's interest, of course that's got to be on the table," the first minister said.

Sturgeon also said she suspected that "the UK government will take a very different view on that and we'll have to see where that discussion ends up".

Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party has 63 of the 129 seats in Holyrood -- or the Scottish parliament, has already said a second referendum on Scotland's independence from the UK was back on the table.

The opposite is true for the leader of the British opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who is under increasing pressure to step down because of the referendum result.

The Labour Party advocated remaining in the EU but many party insiders say Corbyn's lackluster campaigning did little to promote the party's cause.

Thus far, the pressure on Corbyn comes from his "shadow cabinet," a British institution in which the main opposition party designates senior figures to advisory positions, such as "shadow chancellor" or "shadow health secretary."

Its members advise the leader on what policies Labour should embrace.
2000 - 2022   24 .-   .       focus-news.net,                 () .                  24 .                 24      .       .       24 .
We know some visitors come to the website because a domain name leads them to here. If you are interested in buying 
Saudi Arabia made headlines last year with a blockbuster contract to buy nearly 22,000 bombs, plus a whole host of sophisticated guidance and fuze systems, for use in its war against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Collectively, the 8,020 BLU-111/MK-82 500 lb. "general purpose" bombs, 4,020 GBU-12 Paveway II Laser Guided Bombs, 1,500 BLU-109 2,000 lb. Penetrator Warheads, and other weapons comprising the contract would generate $1.3 billion in revenue for the companies providing the munitions.

Now, Boeing (BA -8.77%) has scored a contract win that makes the Saudi Arabian blockbuster look like a firecracker.

Bombs for you, and bombs for U.S.

Late last month, in an announcement that appeared on the Defense Department's daily digest of contract awards, it was confirmed that the U.S. Air Force has placed an order for $3.2 billion worth of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits -- the same kits that Saudi Arabia is using to convert its "dumb bomb" purchases into "smart bombs."

Technically a contract "definitization," the award takes an October contract initially valued at $1.75 billion in value, and tops it up with an additional $1.46 billion in bomb purchases -- resulting in a total of $3.2 billion worth of bomb sales for Boeing.

So what does this mean for Boeing shareholders?

You win some (bomb contracts), you lose some (fighter contracts)

We're all aware of the struggles that Boeing's defense business has endured these past few years, as its vaunted F-15 and F/A-18 fighter lines have suffered loss after contract loss in international sales competitions to rivals ranging from Lockheed Martin's (LMT 0.52%) F-35 stealth fighter to Sweden's Gripen. Slowly but surely, Boeing is getting pushed out of the warplanes business, as Lockheed locks up the fighter jets market, and Northrop Grumman (NOC 0.80%) secures its hold on the business of building bombers.

But if Boeing has been having problems with selling fighter jets, it's had no trouble at all selling the bombs that turn those fighter jets into killing machines. And that's not necessarily a disaster for the stock.

Boeing Stock Market capitalization $84.1 billion Revenue $96.6 billion Net profit $5.1 billion

Consider this: Despite the name, Boeing's "Military Aircraft" division is also responsible for building Boeing weapons systems such as the JDAM. Within that division, Boeing earns pre-tax profits of 9.8% on its revenues -- margins that, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, are superior to the company's overall 7.4% pre-tax profit margin.

It doesn't make much difference to Boeing -- and it shouldn't make much difference to Boeing shareholders -- whether it's earning those 9.8% profit margins selling $3.2 billion worth of F/A-18s, or $3.2 billion worth of bombs to load onto them. Either way, it works out to $314 million in profit, or about $0.49 per share.

Should you buy Boeing stock?

Within the big bucket of $5.1 billion that is Boeing's annual profit ($7.40 per share), an extra $314 million won't make much of a splash. Big as it is, this contract is not in and of itself a reason to buy Boeing. First, you need to take a look at the valuation of Boeing stock as a whole.

Boeing Stock Price-to-earnings ratio 17.8 Price-to-free cash flow 10.6 Price-to-sales 0.9 Projected 5-year growth rate 15% Dividend yield 3.3%

Valued on its price-to-earnings (P/E) divided by growth, Boeing boasts a PEG ratio of 1.2. Factor in the 3.3% dividend yield, and the stock sells for a total-return ratio of less than 1.0. Either way, that suggests the stock is priced pretty fairly today.

Valued on its free cash flow, on the other hand -- the actual cash profit Boeing collects in a year -- Boeing stock looks downright cheap. Its price-to-free-cash-flow growth ratio works out to just 0.7. A modified total-return ratio, substituting FCF for net income, shows the stock to be even cheaper.

Long story short? Boeing's big-bomb contract isn't a reason in and of itself to buy Boeing stock, but it doesn't hurt. And with the stock selling this cheaply today, there's really no reason not to buy Boeing.
Image source: Anadarko Petroleum.

The tumbling of oil prices over the past two years sapped much of the cash flow oil producers need to invest in new wells. That forced the entire sector to cut spending, with capital expenditures budgets falling for two straight years -- the first time that happened since the late 1980s. According to one estimate, oil and gas spending in the U.S. was projected to fall by more than 25% this year, after slumping 36.1% last year. However, with oil prices bouncing sharply off the bottom, producers are starting to increase their spending plans, signaling that they think the worst could be in the rearview mirror.

Baby steps

Descending oil prices over the past couple of years forced Canadian Natural Resources tofrequentlyreevaluate its spending plans. These reviews resulted in the company reducing its capex budget five times last year, bringing it all the way down to C$5.44 billion, which was C$3.2 billion less than where it started 2015. After initially budgeting to spend C$4.5 billion to C$5 billion in 2016, it cut the range down to C$3.5 billion to C$3.9 billion after the crude crash accelerated to start the year. Canadian Natural Resources made the cuts to avoid impairing its financial position by spending too far above cash flow. Furthermore, with the oil market oversupplied with crude, the company preferred not to spend money it didn't necessarily have to bring on incremental supplies that the market didn't need.

However, with oil prices rebounding sharply over the past few months, Canadian Natural Resources has started adding cash back to its capex budget. While the company is only expecting to invest C$50 million more than initially planned, this is a step forward for a change. The capital will enable the company to drill 123 heavy oil wells, five light oil wells, and 11 thermal oil wells in the second half of this year. Canadian Natural Resources said that it could deploy even more capital this year if oil prices continue to rebound. However, it will likely wait until 2017 before resetting the budget much higher.

Image source: Apache Corporation.

First a trickle and then the gusher?

Canadian Natural Resources is one of a small handful of producers which are adding cash to their 2016 capex budgets. Among other notables in this group are Devon Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources . Devon Energy recently injected an extra $200 million into its capex budget, bringing its spending range up to $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion. That injection came after the company completed a bevy of non-core asset sales. With at least one more deal yet to come, Devon Energy would have the cash to add $1 billion to its capex budget once it is confident oil has stabilized.

Meanwhile, Pioneer Natural Resources boosted its budget by $100 million after acquiring additional acreage from none other than Devon Energy. It needed that incremental capital so it could get right to work developing its newly acquired land. That money is expected to accelerate the company's production growth heading into 2017.

Others, however, are taking a much more cautious approach. For example, Anadarko Petroleum CEO Al Walker was candid with investors about the company's plans for the balance of the year. On the company's first-quarter conference call, he said:

Apache CEO John Christmann, on the other hand, said that the "recent improvements in oil prices are encouraging" -- so encouraging that the company is starting to feel more confident about its ability to increase its capital program. In fact, Apache's CEO noted that "the potential timing and magnitude of this increase is the topic of significant planning and discussion right now at Apache and with our board." While that does not mean Apache will boost spending this year, it seems to be much closer to doing so than Anadarko, which appears content to wait until 2017 before increasingspending.

Investor takeaway

Oil companies are tentatively starting to increase capex spending now that oil prices have improved. While additional spending increases could be on the horizon, it seems apparent that producers don't want to get out ahead of the market by boosting spending too quickly. Instead, most appear content to keep spending increases minor this year, with the intention of ratcheting up investments in 2017.

The article 1 Tentative Sign That Oil Companies Think the Worst Just Might Be Over originally appeared on Fool.com.

Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Devon Energy. 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.
There aren't very many things that can be bought for less than $5 anymore. Even a fast-food meal will usually set you back more than that. But there are a few stocks with share prices below $5 that are actually worth a look.

Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX), PDL Biopharma (NASDAQ: PDLI), and Senseonics Holdings (NYSEMKT: SENS) all currently trade for less than $5 per share. Each of these stocks has the potential to generate solid returns over the long run. Here's what you need to know about these three healthcare companies.

1. Novavax

Novavax's share price was below $1 just 12 months ago. Since then, though, the biotech stock has soared 68%. And the gains were even higher, but Novavax conducted a stock offering in April to raise additional cash. This caused its share price to pull back from the high levels reached earlier this year.

There are two reasons behind investors' excitement over Novavax. One is the company's lead pipeline candidate, a vaccine for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Novavax is evaluating the vaccine in a phase 3 clinical study for maternal immunization of infants. Interim results from this study are expected in the first quarter of 2019. If all goes well, the company could submit the RSV vaccine for regulatory approval in the U.S. and in Europe by early 2020.

The second reason for Novavax's great stock performance is its nanoparticle-based influenza vaccine NanoFlu. Novavax announced highly encouraging results from a phase 1 study of the vaccine on Feb. 28, 2018. The company expects to advance NanoFlu to phase 2 testing in the third quarter of this year.

Novavax's opportunities are big if the company achieves success with either of these vaccines. RSV is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children worldwide and is the top cause of hospitalization of infants. But there's no approved vaccine at this point. The annual market for flu vaccines in the U.S., Japan, and leading European countries is projected to reach $5.3 billion by 2025 -- a 65% jump over a 10-year period.

2. PDL Biopharma

PDL Biopharma stock is up 18% over the last 12 months, a performance that beats the S&P 500 index of large-cap stocks. Like Novavax, though, PDL was up a lot more at one point. An attempt to buy Neos Therapeutics that was later abandoned contributed primarily to the stock pullback.

It wasn't long ago that PDL Biopharma claimed one of the biggest healthcare dividend yields on the market, with the company receiving royalties from blockbuster drugs including Avastin and Herceptin. However, the company's patents expired, its royalties dwindled, and PDL was forced to eliminate its dividend and try to reinvent itself.

That reinvention effort resulted in PDL Biopharma investing in income-generating opportunities. In 2016, the company bought Noden Pharma, picking up blood pressure drug Tekturna with the deal. PDL's long-term success hinges on its ability to make more strategic deals that generate solid returns.

PDL Biopharma claims one distinction that few companies can: Its cash stockpile is roughly the same as its market cap. The company reported cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling $405 million at the end of the first quarter. At the time of this writing, PDL's market cap is $407 million.

3. Senseonics Holdings

Senseonics Holdings is the best performer of the three, with its stock price skyrocketing more than 130% over the last 12 months. The big news for Senseonics came in March when an FDA advisory committee unanimously recommended approval for the company's Eversense implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system.

The potential for Eversense has made Senseonics quite popular on Wall Street. Analysts have picked it as one of the fastest-growing diabetes stocks of 2018 -- and, so far, they've been right on the money.

Eversense includes a small sensor inserted completely under the skin. This sensor communicates with a smart transmitter worn over it. Blood glucose levels are automatically sent every five minutes to a mobile app on the user's smartphone. Eversense's implantable sensors last up to 90 days, with the Eversense XL system allowing sensors to last for up to 180 days, which makes using the system much more convenient for diabetic patients.

Senseonics expects to launch Eversense in the U.S. later this year. The company also hopes to introduce the Eversense XL system in Europe in 2018 and begin a pivotal clinical trial of the system in the U.S.

Not for the faint-hearted

Now that you've heard the reasons to like these top stocks under $5, it's only fair that you know the rest of the story. All of these stocks could be volatile and risky.

Novavax isn't assured of success for either of its two promising vaccines. PDL Biopharma might not be able to find attractive investment opportunities. Even if Eversense wins a green light from regulators, Senseonics will compete in a crowded market against rivals with deep pockets. There's also the potential for dilution, especially with Novavax and Senseonics.

These risks explain why the three stocks trade below $5 per share. Novavax, PDL Biopharma, and Senseonics could be big winners over the long run. However, there's a real possibility that they won't be. I think the stocks are worth considering for investors who aren't afraid of risk -- but they're not for the faint-hearted.

10 stocks we like better than PDL BioPharmaWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and PDL BioPharma wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

Click here to learn about these picks!

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 8, 2018

Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

Social Security, the program designed to provide a financial foundation for retired workers, survivors of deceased workers, and the disabled, is probably far more important than you realize.

According to the Social Security Fact Sheet released in June 2015, Social Security benefits represent about 39% of the average senior's income. Furthermore, 53% of elderly married couples and 74% of elderly unmarried persons count on Social Security benefits to provide at least half of their monthly income. This data makes it easy to understand why nine in 10 retirees told Gallup in Oct. 2015 that they rely on Social Security to help them meet their month-to-month expenses.

But the long-term health of this vital program is in jeopardy. The mass retirement of baby boomers, who are starting to become Social Security recipients themselves, is beginning to strain the program. There aren't enough younger American workers paying into the system to make up for the growing number of beneficiaries: The worker-to-beneficiary ratio is expected to fall to 2.1-to-1 by 2035 from 2.8-to-1 in 2015. We're also living longer, which is a great thing for retirees, but a bad thing for a program that will have to pay those retirees decades' worth of checks.

According to the Social Security Board of Trustees, the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Trust is on pace to burn through its excess cash reserves by 2034. Should Congress fail to enact new laws that boost tax revenue or reduce benefits, the board has suggested that benefit cuts of up to 21% may be needed to extend benefit payments for another 55 years.

Image source: Getty Images.

The three "W's" to a higher Social Security benefit

This means seniors, pre-retirees, and workers need to understand what it takes to get the most out of their monthly Social Security benefit. Thankfully, there are three "W's" that can guide us to a higher Social Security payment: wages, work history, and waiting.

Wages

The easiest way to net a bigger Social Security payment is to make more money throughout your lifetime. The Social Security Administration uses your average earnings over a 35-year period to calculate your monthly benefit at full retirement age, which for today's pre-retirees ranges between 66 and 67 years.

How do you earn more? Two of the most effective ways are to focus on a career path that's expected to see strong demand over the coming years and to earn at least a bachelor's degree. The latter path is often preferable, as it should give you more opportunity for socioeconomic advancement.

In 2014, Pew Research Center put out a study showing that millennials aged 25 to 32 with only a high school diploma earned a median of $28,000 per year (based on 2012 dollars). However, millennials of the same age with a bachelor's degree or more were taking home a median of $45,500 per year. A college degree can go a long way toward boosting your average annual income -- and thereby lifting your Social Security benefit in retirement.

Work history

Image source: Flickr user Scott Lewis.

As noted above, what you earn plays an important role in calculating your Social Security benefit. However, the other component concerns how long you work. The SSA averages your 35 highest-earning years to derive an average annual income that will be used to determine your monthly payment.

But what if you don't work at least 35 years? According to the SSA, for each year of zero earned income on your work history, a $0 will be factored into your income average, thus reducing your expected Social Security benefit during retirement.

It's also worth mentioning here that you need 40 lifetime work credits to qualify for Social Security benefits, and a maximum of four work credits can be earned per year. Each "work credit" equates to $1,260 in earned income in 2016, meaning that if you even worked part-time for 10 years, you'd likely qualify.

What this means is that you should work for at least 35 years in order to avoid getting any zeroes averaged into your benefit payment. Additionally, you might consider working into your mid to late 60s if you have the potential to earn a good wage. Replacing a lower-wage year with a higher-wage year would (modestly) boost your Social Security benefit.

Waiting

Image source: Pixabay.

The last "W" stands for waiting. Seniors have the option of filing for Social Security benefits as soon as age 62 -- and about 45% of eligible beneficiaries choose to do so. However, for each year that you hold off on claiming benefits, your eventual payment grows by about 8%, with age 70 being the point where your benefit maxes out.

It's worth noting that your eventual benefit check is a direct reflection of your full retirement age (FRA), or the age at which you're entitled to receive 100% of your benefit. If you file for benefits prior to your FRA, your monthly payment will be some figure ranging between 75% and 99% of FRA if you're born between 1943 and 1954. However, if you wait until after your FRA, your benefit can grow to as much as 132% of your FRA by age 70. So if you want the biggest benefit available to you, then waiting to file until age 70 is the answer.

Bear in mind, however, that Social Security is designed to pay you roughly the same total lifetime benefits no matter when you file. If you file early, you'll get smaller checks, but you'll get more of them. If you delay benefits, you'll get fewer checks over your lifetime, but they'll be larger. So you should carefully consider which option makes the most sense for you based on your finances, your longevity, and your plans for your retirement income.

The article The 3 "W's" to a Higher Social Security Benefit originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

It's not every day a revolution begins, but we may have seen the start of one this past Monday. That's when FCC chairman and industry lightning rod Tom Wheeler delivered a speech that should jump-start the 5G revolution.

Wheeler's opening salvo is likely to initiate fresh competition among U.S. telecoms AT&T , Verizon Communications , T-Mobile , and Sprint , though the first punch in this battle is probably years away.

Dawn of the 5G era

In a speech at the National Press Club, Wheeler made the case for the U.S. to take the lead in the transition from 4G to 5G mobile connectivity. "[I]f the United States is going to continue to be a world leader in wireless, we need to speed the deployment of 5G, here, on our shores," he said.

Wheeler used the speech to describe a number of potential technologies that will require 5G wireless connectivity to reach their full potential, including virtual reality, the Internet of Things, and self-driving cars. To initiate this process, Wheeler said he will petition the rest of the FCC's members, proposing new rules to help "identify and open up vast amounts of spectrum for 5G applications."

On July 14, the FCC will hold a vote on Wheeler's proposal in regard to high-band spectrum, whose responsiveness makes it ideal for 5G deployment. A passing vote would make the U.S. the first country to earmark high-band spectrum for 5G uses.

Wheeler envisions the U.S. following a similar path as it did in its shift toward 4G connectivity, allowing the country to "lead the world in spectrum availability, encourage and protect innovation-driving companies, and stay out of the way of technological development."

This all sounds fantastic, but what does it mean for investors in the big four American telecom companies -- AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint?

Just the beginning

Wheeler's comments are only the first step in what will be a multiyear process, assuming the July 14 vote is successful. Although the nation's largest wireless carriers are already preparing for a 5G future, the new standard isn't expected to reach the mass market until 2020. In the meantime, the big carriers will continue fighting for wireless subscribers on their 4G networks.

Both AT&T and Verizon will conduct various 5G tests this year, a point Wheeler lauded during his speech. T-Mobile also announced plans earlier this year to conduct 5G tests. Joining its rivals, fourth-place U.S. carrier Sprint recently embarked on a promotional tour touting its own 5G deployment capabilities. Sprint hopes its unconventional 4G deployment approach will translate well to 5G standards.

When it does arrive, 5G will offer roughly a tenfold performance improvement over 4G, and the standard should help usher in a new era of mobile productivity and innovation. But while Wheeler's speech should be an important catalyst toward the new standard, it will be some time before the market feels any big-ticket effect.

The article The 5G Wireless Revolution Just Started With This Move originally appeared on Fool.com.

Andrew Tonner has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.

Emerging markets have been going through significant turmoil lately. Volatile commodity prices and economic instability in China are major reasons for concern, and it's hard to tell how the situation will evolve in the coming months. On the other hand, uncertainty usually creates opportunities for bargain-hunting investors, and emerging-market stocks are trading at spectacularly cheap valuation levels.

With this in mind, let's compare the two leading emerging-markets ETFs, Vanguard Emerging Markets and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets , in order to find out which one is the best choice for investors looking to position their portfolio in conveniently cheap emerging-market stocks.

The trade of a decade?

Emerging-market stocks are generally more volatile than those tied to companies in developed countries. However, investment risk is not just about stand-alone volatility; you need to consider how a particular asset affects your overall portfolio. If your investments are heavily tilted toward the U.S. and other developed countries, adding a healthy dose of emerging markets exposure can do wonders in terms of diversification.

Not only that, there are strong reasons to believe that emerging-market stocks could be offering an amazing opportunity at current prices. Emerging markets have materially underperformed developed countries in the last three years, and they are now trading at a considerable discount when looking at valuation ratios such as price to earnings, price to cash flows, price to sales, and price to book value.

According to Christopher Brightman, chief investment officer at Research Affiliates, weak past performance in emerging-markets stocks bodes well for investors in these markets going forward. In his own words:

The best emerging-market ETF

Vanguard Emerging Markets and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets are the most popular ETFs to invest in large companies in emerging markets. The two instruments offer fairly similar portfolios, although there are some relevant differences to consider.

Vanguard Emerging Markets is in the process of adding Chinese A-shares to the portfolio during 2016, while iShares MSCI Emerging Markets will continue to exclude those companies. A-shares are the local shares of Chinese companies trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Foreign investors face serious regulatory limitations in terms of their ability to buy Chinese A-shares directly, so gaining some exposure to these companies via ETFs could be a smart way to circumvent those regulations.

On the other hand, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets includes Chinese companies listed in the U.S., such as Baidu, Sina, and Alibaba, while those names are excluded from the Vanguard vehicle. Similarly, iShares MSCI Emerging Markets considers South Korea an emerging market, but that's not the case when it comes to Vanguard Emerging Markets, since FTSE indexes classify South Korea as a developed country.

Nevertheless, the difference in overall portfolio construction is not too big, and both ETFs have delivered almost identical returns over the last five years. Investors would be hard-pressed to pick one fund over the other based on their portfolio methodologies and track records.

VWO Total Return Price data by YCharts.

On the other hand, the Vanguard product has a considerable advantage over the iShares ETF in terms of cost. Vanguard Emerging Markets charges a conveniently low annual expense ratio of 0.15% -- that's 90% lower than the average expense ratio of funds with similar holdings, according to Vanguard. By comparison iShares MSCI Emerging Markets has a much higher annual expense ratio of 0.7%.

Returns accumulate over time. While a 0.55-percentage-point spread in annual costs can sound like an irrelevant difference over the short term, it can have a considerable impact on investment returns through the years and decades. Because of this major cost advantage, Vanguard Emerging Markets looks like the best ETF for investors looking to capitalize on the opportunity to invest in emerging-market stocks at attractively cheap valuation levels.

The article The Best Emerging-Market ETF to Buy in 2016 originally appeared on Fool.com.

Andrs Cardenal owns shares of Alibaba. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Baidu. The Motley Fool recommends Sina. 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: Getty Images.

There's no question that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies have sparked plenty of attention from investors. But that attention hasn't been shared equally among the different companies working on CAR drugs.Bellicum Pharmaceuticals and Juno Therapeutics prove that point.

Both biotechs claim a lead CAR candidate in phase 2. Bellicum, though, has a market cap of just over $330 million. Juno's market cap is around $4.5 billion. Over the last three months, Bellicum's average trading volume was less than one-third of Juno's volume. But does greater investor attention mean that Juno is the better buy? Or could Bellicum be a great biotech pick that's simply under the radar for now?

The case for Bellicum

For both of these biotechs, it's all about the pipelines. For Bellicum, that puts BPX-501 at the forefront. The CAR therapy is in four phase 1/2 clinical studies.

The BPX-501 clinical study gaining the most interest is study BP-004, which focuses on children with leukemias, lymphomas, and genetic blood diseases undergoing T-depleted, haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Interim results from this study have been impressive.

Bellicum reported in April that there have been no transplant-related deaths in17 high-risk pediatric patients receiving BPX-501. In addition, 16 of the 17 patients with acute leukemia have been disease-free. The 24 children with non-malignant genetic diseases participating in the study have also all remained disease-free with no treatment-related deaths.

What's next for BPX-501? The BP-004 clinical study is still in progress. Bellicum will provide more updates along the way, with final data collection for the primary outcome measure expected to be completed by November. The company plans to meet with U.S. and European regulatory agencies to define the path for submission and approval of BPX-501.

Bellicum's pipeline activity should soon pick up even more. Two other CAR therapies and a T cell receptor (TCR) therapy should advance to phase 1 clinical testing this year.

The big drawing card for Bellicum is its proprietaryChemical Induction of Dimerization (CID) technology. This CID technology uses molecular switches that lead to programmed cell death (to kill the bad cells) and activation (or proliferation) of immune cells. If testing continues to prove that Bellicum is right about CID, the approach could lead to safer and more effective CAR and TCR therapies.

The case for Juno

Juno's lead candidate is CAR therapy JCAR015, which is in a phase 2 clinical study targeting treatment of relapsed/refractoryacute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Juno hopes to win regulatory approval for JCAR015 in 2017.

Based on results announced from the phase 1 study, JCAR015 appears to be effective. Of the 30 patients with morphologic disease in the study, 77%experienced complete remission, and 90% of the 20 patients with minimal disease experienced complete remission.

The potential for JCAR015 and two other candidates in Juno's pipeline that target B-lymphocyte antigen CD19 caught the eye of a much bigger biotech:Celgene . Juno and Celgene struck a $1 billion deal last yearthat gave Celgene options to market Juno's CD19 therapies outside of the U.S. and China. Celgene exercised its CD19 option in April, a sign that Juno could be on to something big with JCAR015 and its siblings.

Juno also has another CAR candidate in JCAR018. The therapy is in a phase 1 study focusing on B cell malignancies. JCAR018 targets another B-lymphocyte antigen known as CCD22, which is present in ALL and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

While the financial statements of clinical-stage biotechs usually don't look too great, there's at least one attractive financial metric for Juno. The company reported an exceptionally strong cash position of $1.13 billion at the end of the first quarter. Juno expects cash burn in 2016 between $220 million and $250 million, so the biotech won't be running out of money any time soon.

Better buy

Which of these two biotech stocks is the better buy? It's a tough call.

Bellicum has definitely been beaten down more than Juno has. I expect Bellicum to report good news from the BP-004 study, which could help shares to rebound nicely. An overture from another drugmaker in the future would not surprise me in the least.

On the other hand, the confidence that Celgene has demonstrated in Juno's pipeline should bolster investors' confidence, too. Juno also has more candidates in its pipeline than Bellicum does.

I think both of these stocks should do well over the next few years. But if I had to pick only one as the better buy, I'd give the nod to Bellicum for one primary reason: safety. Juno's phase 1 results for JCAR015 found that 27% of patients experienced severe cytokine release syndrome with grade 3 or higher neurotoxicity observed in 29% of patients. Bellicum's phase 1 results for BPX-501 found no transplant-related complications.

Granted, we're not looking at apples-to-apples comparisons here -- for one, Bellicum's study included fewer patients. And I'm not predicting that Juno will run into problems gaining approval. However, my hunch is that Bellicum's CID technology could wind up being increasingly attractive to investors (and perhaps bigger biotechs) as further studies are conducted.

Juno deserves the market attention that it has received so far. It deserved Celgene's attention. I think, though, that Bellicum isn't too far away from getting more attention of its own.

The article Better Buy: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. vs. Juno Therapeutics, Inc. originally appeared on Fool.com.

Keith Speights owns shares of Celgene. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool has the following options: short October 2016 $95 puts on Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Juno Therapeutics. 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.
An Aerovironment drone is launched in Alaska. Image source: Aerovironment.

The FAA released its first operating rules for commercial drones on Tuesday and it could open an $82 billion opportunity for the industry over the next 10 years. Rules create a path for commercial operators to get a license to fly a drone and may create a plethora of new business models.

There's a lot going on in the world of drones outside of hobby drones like the DJIPhantom, which won't be a focus of this new regulations, and it's a step toward a future with far more drones in the sky.

What we learned from the FAA this week

The FAA released a long list of rules in Part 107 of the small unmanned aircraft rules. Here are a few of the key requirements from the full ruling:

Must weigh less than 55 lbs.

Drones must be within the operator's visual line of sight.

Drones can't be flown over people not involved in the drone operation.

Daylight only operations.

Maximum ground speed of 100 mph and max altitude of 400 feet.

A camera may be used on the drone but can't satisfy "see-and-avoid" requirements.

This won't allow Amazon to unleash its drone delivery idea, but it could open up business models for drones in other areas of the industry.

Where we'll see drones first

If you look at where drones are being tested now, you'll see a lot of applications like surveying oil & gas fields or monitoring crops for a farmer. And these are the kind of places where we'll likely see drones first.

Qube is a search and rescue drone for law enforcement. Image source: Aerovironment.

Aerovironment and Boeing have been testing small drones for gathering data for oil & gas companies and in agriculture as well. With wider approval to allow these flights, which were formerly limited, they could open up a business model to sell these services to new customers.A company called Measure is also testing using drones as a service to gather data for customers for a variety of different uses.

Two more areas that could open up with these new regulations are realtor drone photography and search & rescue. At the least, both will be allowed to operate legally under this framework.

A path to future growth

There's been a lot of hope for drone companies for years, but regulations have held the industry back so far. The latest FAA rules will at least give a path for businesses to start building infrastructure and business models that use drones to accomplish new tasks in industry.

We still don't know what the financial impact might be for drone makers, but the estimate of an $82 billion market in the next decade shows that there's high hopes. And with more regulations that open drones up further to businesses and consumers on the horizon, I think this is a market with a very bright future.

The article Drones Take a Big Step Toward the Mainstream originally appeared on Fool.com.

Travis Hoium owns shares of AeroVironment. The Motley Fool recommends AeroVironment. 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: Getty Images.

The rapid expansion of gaming in Asia and a consolidation of suppliers in the gaming market were supposed to lead to explosive growth for Scientific Games and International Game Technology . After the two acquired most of the other big players in the industry, they're the companies left standing.

But revenue declines in Macau, the world's most lucrative gambling hub, and a slowdown in regional gaming in the U.S. have hurt these suppliers, and new markets like online gaming have been slower to develop than they might have expected. The result for investors is a pair of stocks that are underperforming the market.

SGMS data by YCharts

The casino game loses its cachet

There are a number of broad trends working against slot machine and table game companies right now. Macau's decline has dragged on the industry's growth, and the Macau government has stuck to a slow and steady expansion in the number of table game tables allowed, squashing demand.

Domestically, the boom in regional gaming that occurred after the recession, when states across the country were looking for new revenue sources, has slowed, which has translated to a smaller need for new equipment. In Las Vegas, the gaming floor peaked in 2007 and has been in a slow decline ever since, as non-gaming revenue sources in the city grow.

The overall result is a global market that needs fewer new slot machines and gaming tables. And the acquisitions both Scientific Games and IGT made in the past few years can't make up for lost demand.

Interactive and online games that never were

When gaming suppliers began to consolidate, one of the main reasons was the high potential they perceived for interactive or online gaming. At the time, it appeared legal online poker was on the horizon and that game suppliers would provide the backbone of the system, regulated by the states. But the legalization of online and interactive gambling has been moving slowly, and progress appears to be stalled.

This has taken away a major growth avenue for gaming companies, one that may never materialize. While online gambling games like poker may have had momentum a few years ago, they no longer do, and the gambles made by acquirers that expected a different result have ended up as losing bets.

Little reason to bet on game suppliers

The challenges I've outlined above have led to a rapid decline in profitability for Scientific Games and IGT over the past two years, and an explosion of debt.

SGMS Net Income (TTM) data by YCharts

Given the weak operating environment and the limited catalysts for future growth, I don't see any reason to jump into game makers today. The growth opportunities that made them look attractive a few years ago are gone, and consolidation has left them with bloated balance sheets. Scientific Games and IGT aren't stocks I would bet on today, and unless they can turn operations around, they could be in trouble long term.

The article How Casino Suppliers Lost Their Bets on Gaming's Future originally appeared on Fool.com.

Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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.
Image source: Getty Images.

Marijuana has supporters and investors seeing green, and the industry could be on the precipice of expanding by leaps and bounds in 2016.

Since California became the first state to approve compassionate use of medical marijuana in 1996, two-dozen states have followed suit. Two states in 2016, Pennsylvania and Ohio, passed medical-marijuana laws through their respective state legislatures. With these two states now on board, half the country has, or will very shortly have, access to medical marijuana with a prescription from a primary-care physician.

Beyond just medical marijuana, four states have approved the sale of recreational marijuana to adults 21 and up since 2012. In Colorado, for instance, legal marijuana sales of recreational and medical marijuana have totaled more than $1 billion on a trailing 12-month basis. Last year alone, the state wound up raising about $135 million in taxes and licensing fees, much of which is being disbursed to the state's education department, law enforcement, and drug-abuse programs.

The elections coming up this November offer another opportunity for the cannabis industry to leap forward. As of now, five states have marijuana initiatives on the ballot, and another roughly half-dozen are being considered, or supporters are still collecting signatures.

The King Kong of these votes will come from California, the largest economy in the U.S., and one of the largest economies in the world. Recreational approval in California would represent a major financial and psychological victory for the cannabis industry.

Image source: Office of Public Affairs via Flickr.

Capitol Hill continues to stand in the way

Despite this momentum, lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain steadfast in their wait-and-see stance on marijuana. Most lawmakers are of the opinion that a full safety profile on marijuana has yet to be established, and many would like to see how the "experiment" works out in states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska before considering a move to reschedule cannabis. Currently, it's considered a Schedule 1 drug, implying it has no medical benefits and is illicit.

This scheduling by the federal government has kept a lid on marijuana's potential. Without federal support, financial institutions have mostly avoided what looks to be a burgeoning industry that ArcView Market Research anticipates can grow by 30% per year through 2020. In total, only around 200 of the 6,700 financial institutions in this country are working with businesses in the cannabis industry. This means dealing solely in cash on many levels, which is both a growth constraint and a security concern.

Federal inaction has also led marijuana businesses to pay much higher tax rates than "normal" businesses. Internal Revenue Service tax code 280E establishes that any business that sells a substance defined as illicit by the federal government is not entitled to normal business deductions. Not being able to take deductions on their taxes means cannabis-based businesses are paying tax on gross profits rather than net profits.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Image source: Microsoft.

Say hello to the newest marijuana player, Microsoft

Capitol Hill's stance against marijuana has essentially kept corporate America away from the cannabis industry up to this point. With the exception of one or two publicly traded cannabinoid-based drug developers, you simply couldn't find a household name working with the cannabis industry... until now.

As announced last week, tech giant Microsoft is partnering up with Los Angeles-based start-up Kind to build and promote what's known as "seed to sale" cloud software that can help states, counties, and cities fully track and regulate the production of marijuana from the grow farm to retailers. It should be noted that this software is strictly being targeted at the 25 states that have chosen to legalize and regulate medical marijuana up to this point.

To be clear, Microsoft is still walking on eggshells by partnering with Kind, the company that developed the software that Microsoft will now assist in further developing and marketing. Microsoft is still keeping a healthy distance from individual cannabis businesses, and it isn't stepping within a stone's throw of funding marijuana businesses. Microsoft will solely be focused on working with Kind's government-solutions segment.

However, because this is the first instance of a large corporate entity making its presence known in the marijuana industry, it's a big deal. It clearly shows that the public opinion of marijuana is rapidly improving. Gallup's October poll showed that 58% of respondents favored full legalization -- and that the growth opportunity within marijuana, which could potentially grow into a nearly $22 billion industry by 2020 per ArcView, may be too tempting to pass up.

Microsoft's Azure cloud platform is a key component to its growth beyond just its dominant Windows operating system. If it can establish itself as a dominant cloud player in the cannabis industry early on, it could have a new avenue for growth in the coming years and decades.

Image source: Getty Images.

Microsoft's entrance reminds investors of this key point

In the grand scheme of things, Microsoft's marijuana venture is only going to work out to an extremely small percentage of total revenue in the near term, at best. However, Microsoft's entrance into the marijuana business serves as a great reminder to investors that there's ample opportunity beyond the simplistic buy-and-sell nature of retailers.

The marijuana business is sprouting growth opportunities in dozens of different areas, including tourism, software, marketing, banking/lending, security, logistics, regulatory, and consulting jobs. This is on top of the standard growing, processing, and selling that most investors think about when discussing the cannabis industry. Microsoft's venture into marijuana serves as a teaching tool that the most attractive opportunity for investors who want to take advantage of marijuana's growth rate is probably going to be in one of these ancillary industries, as opposed to the growers, processors, and retailers of the plant.

Of course, there are two things worth considering here. First, it's probably going to take more state-level approvals to coax more recognizable corporate names into the fray. Businesses are only going to feel comfortable when there's certainty that the federal government isn't going to step in. And additional state approvals could move the needle closer to federal action in terms of medical and/or recreational legalization.

Secondly, we should still remember that most marijuana companies are losing money, and as such, are probably not suitable for long-term investors. Most marijuana businesses still trade on the over-the-counter exchanges or are penny stocks, which makes them incredibly risky, and makes getting accurate and up-to-date information a challenge.

Ultimately, we could see marijuana grow into a solid investment if the federal government changes its stance. But until such time as the federal government changes its tune, I'd suggest that investors keep their money safely invested elsewhere.

The article This Nearly $400-Billion Tech Giant Is Now in the Marijuana Business originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Intel's latest Broadwell-EP server chips. Image source: Intel.

Back in April, well-known stock market commentator Jim Cramer floated the idea that microprocessor giant Intel should split into two. The idea, according to Cramer, would be to split the fast-growth businesses (data center group, Internet of Things, and non-volatile memory) into one company and the relatively slow-growing PC business as another.

Here's why this idea doesn't make any sense.

Useless replication of R&D spending

The fundamental problem with Intel splitting its businesses in this fashion is that these so-called "high growth" segments of Intel's business depend on technologies developed for the company's PC business. In some cases, Intel will literally take products that were developed as PC processors and rebadge them as Xeon processors to address certain server workloads.

In most cases, though, what happens is that the fundamental technologies that Intel builds to address the roughly $30 billion and nearly 300 million-unit PC market, such as CPU cores, will be used as the fundamental building blocks for the company's server chips.

The chips that Intel sells under its Internet of Things group are mostly processors developed for the personal computer market, though it sells some server-grade chips as well.

If Intel were to split into two, these development expenses would have to be duplicated -- a destruction of shareholder value for both "fast growth" Intel and "slow growth" Intel.

What about wafer scale?

It is generally thought that the fact that Intel manufactures its own chips is a competitive advantage. However, in order for it to make sense for a company to continue to manufacture its own chips, it needs to bring a lot of volume to the table in order to keep those factories utilized.

In terms of total raw unit and wafer scale, Intel's PC business dwarves its data center business. In fact, it's unlikely that Intel's data center and Internet of Things businesses combined could even keep a single leading-edge factory fully utilized today.

So, if Intel were to split into two, the slower-growing part would likely inherit the manufacturing plants and would have to fund the research and development associated with actually making viable process recipes to build the chips.

Would the "fast growing" Intel be contractually obliged to use "slow growing" Intel's manufacturing plants exclusively in some sort of exclusive wafer supply agreement? Or would it have the freedom to use multiple contract manufacturers?

Perhaps in the case of a split, both Intel parts would just ditch its manufacturing capabilities altogether and rely on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.and/or Samsung for their manufacturing needs.

It's just a bad suggestion

The bottom line is that splitting Intel up into multiple parts would be an extremely bad idea. Both "parts" of the "new" Intel would suffer as they lose operating expense leverage and manufacturing scale. In this case, I am confident that the sum of the profits of both companies would be lower than the current profit levels of the one Intel.

The article Why Intel Corporation Shouldn't Split Itself in Two originally appeared on Fool.com.

Ashraf Eassa owns shares of Intel. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. 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.
After a boom in orders as fuel prices skyrocketed a few years ago, demand for the twin-aisle aircraft that typically ply long-haul international routes has subsided recently. For Boeing and Airbus , many of these widebody models are key cash flow and profit drivers.

Since the beginning of 2015, widebody aircraft orders haven't kept pace with deliveries. This has some analysts predicting that Boeing and Airbus will need to cut widebody production in the coming years -- or at least cancel planned output increases.

Widebody orders fall below deliveries

In 2015, widebody aircraft orders trailed delivery totals at both Airbus and Boeing. For Airbus, the gap was fairly modest. It delivered 144 widebodies: 103 A330s, 14 A350s, and 27 A380s. Meanwhile, it received orders (net of cancellations) for 135 widebodies, nearly all A330s.

The A330 family accounted for nearly all of Airbus' widebody orders in 2015. Image source: Airbus.

At Boeing, the gap between widebody orders and production was even greater. Boeing received 180 widebody orders last year, with strong contributions from the 767, 777, and 787 families. However, while Boeing's widebody order total exceeded that of Airbus, it still fell well short of output. Boeing delivered 267 widebodies in 2015-- mainly 777s and 787s.

Thus far in 2016, widebody orders have slowed even further. Through the end of May, Airbus had booked 56 firm orders for widebodies, putting it slightly behind last year's pace. However, deliveries have lagged even further, due to lower A330 production and component shortages for the A350. Airbus delivered only 42 widebodies to customers in the first five months of 2016.

By contrast, widebody output has remained robust at Boeing, with 98 delivered through the end of May. Yet as of June 21, Boeing had secured just 36 net firm orders for widebodies this year.

Airbus and Boeing plan for production growth

In spite of the falling order totals, Airbus plans to ramp up A350 output to 10 per month by the end of 2018. For comparison, it only delivered 14 A350s in all of 2015. Airbus did cut A330 production this year, but it plans to start raising output again in 2017.

As for Boeing, it recently increased 787 production from 10 per month to 12 per month and hopes to produce 14 a month by the end of the decade. On the flip side, Boeing will reduce 777 production from 8.3 per month to 7 per month next year, but it probably hopes to return to producing 8.3 a month after the 777X enters service in 2020. (The 767 and 747 are lower-volume models.)

Boeing hopes to increase 787 production again in the next few years. Image source: Boeing.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg has been vocal about his belief that production increases are justified by rising air travel across the globe. Yet even he has admitted that widebody demand is lackluster right now. Not surprisingly, many analysts are worried that the planned production increases at Boeing (and to a lesser extent, Airbus) are unrealistic.

It's not as bad as it seems

There are a few main reasons why airlines are not ordering as many widebodies now as they did a few years ago. First, airlines already have huge order backlogs with Boeing and Airbus due to the jet-buying spree of a few years ago. Second, the sharp drop in jet fuel prices over the past two years makes it sensible to keep older, less fuel-efficient jets a little longer. Third, economic weakness in countries like Brazil and Russia is hurting travel demand there.

Nevertheless, widebody demand isn't nearly as bad as it appears from the raw 2016 order totals. First, some orders have been announced but not yet finalized. Iran Air is working to finalize orders for a total of 107 widebodies: 73 from Airbus and 34 from Boeing. These orders still face significant political and financing hurdles, but at least some are likely to go through.

Additionally, several airlines are known to be in the final stages of deciding between ordering the 787 and A350. This includes Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, and Oman Air. A handful of other Middle Eastern airlines have also expressed interest in ordering more widebodies this year.

Boeing and Airbus are likely to announce some major orders next month during the Farnborough Air Show, the largest air show of 2016. The two manufacturers also typically firm up a host of orders during the last month or so of the year.

Longer-term, airlines that are keeping older widebodies flying right now will eventually need to order replacements. The top three U.S. airlines alone will need to order hundreds of 787s or A350s in the next decade or so.

With widebody orders slowing, it's a good idea for investors to keep an eye on order trends at Boeing and Airbus. But both aircraft manufacturers have long backlogs for their signature models (the 787 and A350) that insulate them from demand fluctuations. Furthermore, demand isn't as weak as the low year-to-date firm order total might suggest. Analysts' doom-and-gloom prognostications appear to be a big overreaction to a moderate slowdown in demand.

The article Widebody Orders Slow. Are Boeing and Airbus Doomed? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Boeing. 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.
Syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor George Will has left the Republican Party due to Donald Trump's presumptive nomination for president.

Will, whose column is published by The Washington Post, told that paper Saturday that he changed his Maryland voter registration from Republican to "unaffiliated" earlier this month after House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would vote for the real estate mogul.

The website PJ Media reported that Will discussed his decision during an event Friday for the conservative group the Federalist Society.

"This is not my party," Will said in a speech.

Will has been a persistent critic of Trump and recently wrote a column urging Republican donors to "save their party by not aiding its nominee."

PJ Media reported that Will acknowledged Friday that it was a "little too late" to draft an alternative candidate to Trump, but told GOP voters to "make sure [Trump] loses. Grit [your] teeth for four years and win the White House."

Will told the Post he did not know who he would support for president, saying "I just know who I won't be voting for."

Will will be part of the panel on this week's edition of "Fox News Sunday".

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two new polls released Sunday show Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton widening her lead over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump -- with one national survey giving her a comfortable double-digit cushion.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll puts Clinton 12 percentage points ahead with a 51-39 lead over Trump. The same survey had both candidates in a statistical tie last month.

According to those polled, there was sweeping unease with Trump.

Two out of three Americans polled said they think Trump is unqualified to lead the nation, are anxious about the idea of him as president and disapprove of his comments on women, Muslims and his repeated attacks on a federal judge because of his heritage.

Trump slammed Judge Gonzalo Curiels character and said the judge could not fairly preside over the ongoing Trump University cases because of his Mexican heritage.

Im building a wall, its an inherent conflict of interest, Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

Curiel, whose parents are Mexican immigrants, grew up in Indiana.

The fallout from the Curiel comments has been swift and has led to some top Republicans like George Will breaking with their party.

Will, a conservative columnist and prominent Republican commentator for more than 40 years, said hes grown disillusioned and frustrated with the GOP.

After Trump went after the Mexican judge from northern Indiana, then (House Speaker) Paul Ryan endorsed him and I decided that, in fact, that this is not my party anymore. I changed my registration to unaffiliated 23 days ago, Will said on Fox News Sunday.

A second Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows a much closer race between the presumptive nominees, giving Clinton a five percentage point lead over Trump. However, if third-party candidates are factored in, then Clintons edge is virtually erased.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters showed Clinton leading 46 percent to 41 percent in a head-to-head matchup with Trump in November, but when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are included in the count, Clintons lead drops to 1 percentage point

Though Clinton is leading, its notable that Trumps numbers have dropped by only 2 points since May.

The poll was conducted June 19-23  during arguably one of most tumultuous periods of Trumps presidential campaign. Over the past week, the New York real estate mogul fired his campaign manager and faced criticism over his weak fundraising numbers and lack of organization.

Donald Trump has had the worst month one can imagine, but Clintons negatives are so high the net impact on the ballot is almost invisible, Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Fred Yang, said.
Conservative columnist and prominent Republican commentator George Will said Sunday he has left the Republican Party for the same reason he joined it and that he felt let down by the party and the message its top leaders are sending.

Will, speaking on Fox News Sunday, said he started doubting the party after Trump became the presumptive nominee and had a summit meeting where House Speaker Paul Ryan stressed their common principles and said their vast shared ground was much more important than their differences.

That was puzzling doubly so because Paul Ryan still didnt endorse him, Will said. After Trump went after the Mexican judge from northern Indiana, then Paul Ryan endorsed him and I decided that, in fact, that this is not my party anymore. I changed my registration to unaffiliated 23 days ago.

Trump tweeted his reaction to the news Sunday, writing, George Will, one of the most overrated political pundits (who lost his way long ago), has left the Republican Party. Hes made many bad calls.

Will responded, He (Trump) has an advantage on me because he can say everything he knows about any subject in 140 characters and I cant.

Will has been a persistent critic of Trump and recently wrote a column urging Republican donors to save their party by not aiding its nominee.

Events already have called his bluff about funding himself and thereby being uniquely his own man, Will wrote in his Washington Post column on Wednesday. His wealth is insufficient. Only he knows what he is hiding by being the first presidential nominee in two generations not to release his tax returns. It is reasonable to assume that the returns would refute many of his assertions about his net worth, his charitableness and his supposed business wizardry.

Trump fired back, denouncing Will in a Twitter tirade -- just as he had in the past.

You know he looks smart because he wears those little glasses, Trump said at a November rally. If you take those glasses away from him, hes a dummy.
Utah Rep. Mia Love, a rising star in the Republican Party, says shes planning to skip next months Republican National Convention.

Love adds her name to other prominent Republicans -- like former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- who say they wont attend the Cleveland convention where Donald Trump is expected to officially become the Republican presidential nominee.

I dont see any upside to it, Love told The Salt Lake Tribune. I dont see how this benefits the state.

The first-term congresswoman hasnt said whether shell vote for Trump in November, but has strongly denied supporting Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Being thoughtful and taking my time and not blindly following is representing my district well," Love said.

At the 2012 convention, Love gave a prime-time speech about her background as a black Republican born to immigrants from Haiti. The success of that speech catapulted her to become a strong national figure within the GOP.

As of now, Love is the only member of Utahs 40-person delegation to back out of the convention, though the Tribune reports others are considering it.

Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, however, has said hes on the fence about going.

I have not been supportive of Mr. Trump, and Im not really excited to go back to a convention thats centered around him. Theres a chance I dont go.
A new generation of Bernie Sanders-inspired political candidates is committing to run for state and local office, the campaign claims, a development some analysts say could shape liberal politics for decades to come  as the senator makes moves to exit the 2016 stage.

While not suspending his presidential campaign yet, the Vermont senator has spent the last two weeks encouraging like-minded Americans to run, be it for school board, city council, state legislature or higher.

A day after he first made that call in a June 16 online address, his campaign said 6,700 supporters expressed interest in running; the number was nearly 11,000 counting those interested in volunteering. A week later at a New York City rally, Sanders said the number of those prepared to run or volunteer had risen to 20,000.

We are just getting started, Sanders declared Thursday.

The campaign has not shared the identities of those signing up on the Sanders website, and its unclear how many of them truly would make the leap from Sanders supporter to political candidate.

Democratic strategists, though, claim the Sanders revolution is far from over, even as Hillary Clinton prepares to claim the nomination at next months convention.

'Remember the Bern' will be a chant that will echo through decades in American politics, said Ryan Clayton, executive director of Wolf-PAC  a progressive group pushing a constitutional amendment to overhaul campaign finance, one of Sanders primary goals.

Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist and CEO of Bannon Communications Research, told FoxNews.com the enthusiasm Sanders has generated suggests a movement with staying power. He pointed to the activism that kicked up after Richard Nixons 1972 re-election.

If you look at those working in progressive politics now, the older ones came in after [Democratic nominee] George McGoverns campaign in 72, Bannon said. McGovern lost, but he galvanized a whole generation of Democratic and progressive activists who are still involved in politics even now. I think youll see the same with Bernie Sanders.

He cast doubt on the idea that Sanders would remain a key figure, however, noting McGovern also faded shortly after his failed bid for the White House.

Sanders has predicted as much, telling supporters on Thursday the revolution is not about him.

It is about millions of people getting involved in the political process in a way that we have never seen in the modern history of this country, Sanders said, again urging people to run for state and local office. His campaign estimates roughly 900 state legislative seats were lost to Republicans since 2009, and is pinning hopes on supporters to win them back.

We need to get people involved in running for office at every level, Sanders told C-SPAN.

Republicans are determined to hold the ground theyve gained, however.

Earlier this month, the Republican State Leadership Committee and other conservative groups issued a study on millennial voters in a bid to figure out how to better connect with them, claiming they remain supportive of conservative solutions communicated in the right way.

And despite party concerns about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trumps impact on down-ballot races, Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt predicted this past week that Trump could actually help state Republican legislative candidates.

Sanders has attracted millions of those millennial voters with his message railing against a rigged system that leaves too many behind. But his proposals  for free college, a $15 federal minimum wage, a single-payer health care system and more  remain controversial, in large part because of the sheer cost of implementing some of these programs at a time when the national debt approaches $20 trillion.

Whether like-minded candidates could win broad support at the local level remains to be seen.

James Haslam, of the Vermont-based Rights and Democracy, said hes already seeing Sanders supporters running for local offices down the ballot in his state, and hopes that will increase in the next cycle.

Bannon cautioned the impact may not be felt at the national level right away. But he predicted Sanders-ites will work their way up.

Some will run for local office, then in a few years theyll run for the state legislature, then eventually Congress, Bannon said. If you go ahead 10-15 years and look at the people on the Democratic and progressive side running the show, Ill bet you a lot of money a lot of them will be Sanders supporters  and it will have a crucial impact on American politics.
The Supreme Court on Monday is poised to once again enter the fray on the abortion issue, an already divisive subject complicated by election-year politics and a split bench that may lack the votes to rule definitively.



The high court will wrap up its work for the summer by issuing a judgment on how far Texas can go to regulate abortion clinics in the state, and whether those provisions have the effect of limiting first-trimester abortions guaranteed by the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Texas reproductive clinics are asking the justices to keep their facilities open in the face of the state restriction.



Activists on both sides of the issue are expected to rally outside the court when the ruling is announced.



A 4-4 tie would sustain the lower court's ruling, meaning a default victory for Texas, and likely for similar laws in other nearby states, including Louisiana and Mississippi. But no legal precedent would be established, leaving continued uncertainty nationwide. The Supreme Court could later hear new arguments in the case, when a ninth justice has been sworn in to replace the late Antonin Scalia.



Tied rulings are becoming common for the post-Scalia court. The justices last week ruled 4-4 on a closely watched immigration case, dealing a setback to President Obama's executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.



Scalia, who died in February, was perhaps the most outspoken of the current justices in regards to the abortion issue. A year ago, he, along with three other conservative members of the court, opposed issuing an order delaying enforcement of the Texas law while the case was being appealed.

The four liberal justices -- along with swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy -- gave a temporary victory to the clinics in that case, allowing them to remain fully operational. It suggests there may now be five votes to ultimately strike down the Texas restrictions.

The oral arguments from March were especially tense, though. Kennedy asked tough questions of both sides and did not tip his hand on how he would ultimately vote.

If upheld, all clinics performing the abortion procedure in the state must operate as certified "ambulatory surgical centers" regulated under the same standards as hospitals. Another challenged provision would force doctors performing abortions to first obtain admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.



Lawmakers in the state's Republican-majority legislature have said the regulations contained in the 2013 law -- known as H.B. 2 -- would improve patient care and safety.



Abortion rights groups counter that the law is designed to make it nearly impossible to operate an abortion clinic in Texas. Only nine or 10 such health centers would qualify to stay open, and large areas west and south of San Antonio would have no full-time abortion providers.



The Center for Reproductive Rights had sued Texas, on behalf of a coalition of abortion clinics.



A federal judge initially concluded the "ambulatory surgical centers" requirement was unconstitutional and imposed an injunction. But a federal appeal court ruled largely in favor of Texas. The clinics then asked the justices to finally decide the matter.



"There was a lot of talk at arguments about what impact this has on clinics," said Thomas Dupree, a former top Justice Department officials in the George W. Bush administration, now a private appellate attorney. "So it could be the court is working behind the scenes to fashion some sort of compromise resolution where they basically punt, at least for the time being on the constitutional issue, and send the case back for more evidence gathering" by the lower courts.



But some court watchers on the progressive side worry what a tie vote would mean in the short term.



"It will definitely be a dramatic example of the problems of having a mere eight-justice court," said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center. "And if the court splits 4-4 they will leave in place a difference of opinion, in the circuits [courts] below. That means women would enjoy their fundamental rights differently based on the state in which they live and this is not how our Constitution works."



A Fox News poll from August revealed an even public split on the abortion issue, which has inevitably become enmeshed in presidential election-year politics.

Among registered voters, 47 percent surveyed favor abortion rights or consider themselves "pro-choice" while 46 percent oppose the procedure or are "pro-life."



The number of abortions is at the lowest level since the Roe v. Wade decision, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute. The number remained steady at about 1.1 million reported procedures in the year 2011, down about 25 percent since the all-time high in 1990. Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, about 53 million legal induced abortions were performed through 2011.

What the Supreme Court decides Monday could ripple across other states and in Washington. The court has not ruled substantively on the abortion issue since 1992, when the justices said any such law could not place an "undue burden" on women's access to abortions. The swing vote, as in previous cases, came from Kennedy. It appears inevitable his vote will again prove crucial in the Texas dispute.

This appeal could effectively be set aside as a political and legal issue in 2016 if the high court is unable to muster a binding majority. By next spring, a new president, and possibly a new member of the high court would then reset the abortion debate in a post-Scalia era.
A boat that may have been hit by a wave capsized off the backside of Santa Catalina Island on Saturday, killing three men, authorities said.

Four survivors were rescued after the 15-foot skiff overturned off of Salta Verde Point, Los Angeles County Sheriff's officials said.

Two men were in hospitalized in critical condition, and two other men were listed in fair condition.

The Pacific Quest, a chartered fishing boat, reported the capsizing at around 9:30 a.m., and pulled four people from the water, but two seemed unresponsive, Sondra-Kay Kneen of the U.S. Coast Guard said

A Coast Guard helicopter pulled another person from some rocks, lifeguards pulled one from the water and another was found on a beach, Kneen said.

"The waves in the area were reported to be between 4 and 6 feet, and that could have overturned the skiff," she said.

The captain of the Pacific Quest said a passenger on an overnight fishing trip on his boat first saw the skiff flip. The passengers watched the frantic search and rescue effort as members of his crew helped get some of the people out of the water.

"It was pretty horrific. It's not every day that you see people up floating, trying to swim and then they go under in despair," Greg Obymako told KCAL-TV.

"It's not pretty to see dead bodies on the back of boats. It's not something you wish on anybody," he said.
The July 4 holiday is a divisive time for one New Jersey community.

But not for any political reasons; instead, the neighbors living in the Beechcrest section of Florham Park have been arguing about decorations.

Thats for sure  decoration drama definitely, Aneta Mascaro told CBS Local.

Beechcrests mulch-filled welcome island used to be adorned with flags and signs to celebrate holidays  Halloween, Easter, Hanukkah, Christmas. A Memorial Day display featured American flags and signs for each branch of the service.

But some neighbors complained about the look, and now there may be no display for Independence Day. Borough leaders are set to discuss the issue at their next meeting.

It was just too much, Julie Carter told CBS. It just screamed a yard sale, garage sale.

The scream description was common among neighbors who disapproved of the decorations.

I pulled in one time, and Im like Oh my gosh, its screaming, Barri Larsen said. I dont know. Too much. Its a distraction.

Others, like Mascaro, whos lived on Elmwood Drive for 10 years, found the displays brightened her day.

Its nice and colorful, she said.

Now the decoration decision rests in the hands of local leaders, who must decide if the adornments are colorful or kooky.
Ten people were wounded  two of them with life-threatening injuries  on Sunday when counter-protesters clashed with members of neo-Nazi groups that planned to rally outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party were gathering for a rally around noon Sunday when they were met by about 400 counter-protesters and a fight broke out.

As people tried to leave the area, smaller fights broke out, Granada said.

Authorities were investigating what happened, but no arrests have been made.

The injuries were the result of what the Sacramento Fire Department described as a mass casualty event.

"It was quite a bit of a melee," SFD public information officer Chris Harvey told The LA Times.

UPDATE: 5 patients transported to area hospitals from Capitol incident, some with critical trauma stab wounds. pic.twitter.com/wO1yqlvfOA  SacFire PIO (@SacFirePIO) June 26, 2016

The original, permitted neo-Nazi rally was officially cancelled, ABC10 reported. That rally was to include factions from the Traditionalist Workers Party, Golden State Skinheads, Blood & Honor, National Socialist Movement and Ku Klux Klan, CBS reported.

The neo-Nazi group had planned a demonstration for several weeks, The LA Times reported, and counter protesters were evidently well organized and prepared for the event. Many carried signs or banners with slogans such as "Many colors one working class! Smash patriarchy and racism." Several protesters had their faces covered with black cloth.

The clashes occurred near the State Capitol.

Video shot by an ABC10 reporter of several fights showed the two groups bashing each other with sticks and throwing objects in a violent, chaotic fracas. Blood stains were visible on the ground and several of those involved were bleeding following the fights, including two neo-Nazis visibly bleeding from their heads.

Police officers witnessed a Klan member stab someone with a knife, an officer told CBS. A counter protester was also found stabbed inside a vehicle, CBS reported.

California Highway Patrol officers managed to break up the fights, but some members of both groups remained in the area for a time.

The Southern Poverty Law Center described TWP as a group formed in 2015 as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which aims to "indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism."

Vice Chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party Matt Parrott, who was not present at the Sacramento rally, said it was a peaceful march and blamed "leftist radicals" for instigating violence. Heimbach said that in the clash, one of their marchers had been stabbed in an artery and six of the "anti-fascists" had also been stabbed.

A post recently uploaded to the site of the Traditionalist Youth Network says TWP members planned to march in Sacramento to protest against globalization and in defense of the right to free expression. They said they expected to be outnumbered 10-to-1 by counter protesters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
He lost this one by a whisker.



A beloved cat living in a Texas public library for nearly six years has to find a new home after the City Council ordered his eviction in a 2-to-1 vote the mayor attributed to City Hall pettiness.

Now Browser has 30 days to vacate the public library in White Settlement, despite childrens petitions and voters protests, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

White Settlement Mayor Ron White told the paper that he blames the gray cats eviction on pettiness at City Hall because a city employee wasnt allowed to bring a puppy to work.

Weve had that cat five years, and theres never been a question, White said.

Lawmakers took up the cats fate at a June 14 City Council meeting under an agenda item listed only as consider relocation of Library Facility cat Browser.

City Hall and City businesses are no place for animals, Council member Elzie Clements said at the meeting, according to a weekly in White Settlement called the Grizzly Detail.

The paper said Clements and another lawmaker voted in favor of evicting Browser. Before the vote, eight people from the audience spoke in support of keeping the cat in the library.

Browser became the librarys mascot after being adopted from an animal shelter.

The library's web page says the cats favorite activities include lounging on top of computer keyboards as library patrons try to type on them and attending GED classes.

This cat has been loved by people of all ages for six years, Lillian Blackburn, president of the Friends of the White Settlement Public Library, told the Star-Telegram. I dont have any animals but this cat is so gentle and so lovable and he brings so much comfort to so many people, it seems a shame to take him away.

White is hoping the council will reconsider its action at a July 12 meeting, two days before Browers eviction date, according to the paper.
Army Capt. Paul Buddy Bucha faked out the enemy while leading a motley crew in Vietnam.

The Medal of Honor recipient was hailed as a hero after he made North Vietnamese fighters believe his 187th Infantry Regiment was much bigger than it really was. The combination of bravery and cunning helped him earn the nation's highest military honor, an award bestowed upon him by the president.

In 1967, Bucha  who graduated from West Point and earned an MBA at Stanford  arrived in Vietnam and was given a squad filled with the rejects of all the other units, including writers, intellectuals and men who had served time in military prison, he said.

We were called the 'clerks and the jerks,'" he recalled. "We were a few smart guys and a lot of badasses  considered the losers of all losers.

But as a company commander new to Vietnam, "I, too, was a loser, Bucha recalled fondly years later. So we were sort of meant for each other.

"They ended up being a very disciplined, proud, and frightening force," he said.

On March 16, 1968, soon after the Tet Offensive, Bucha's 89-man company took part in a counterattack designed to push the North Vietnamese away from Saigon.

A helicopter dropped his team into an enemy stronghold, and for two days they destroyed camps and fortifications.

On March 18, after they found a clearing and resupplied, Bucha directed his troops to push into the jungle, where it was getting dark.

A soldier spotted a group of Vietnamese water carriers and women, which usually indicated an established enemy location. Bucha gave him permission to fire a few rounds to test what was out there.

"The entire mountain returned fire. I said, 'Oh, my God,'" Bucha recalled.

An entire North Vietnamese Army battalion hit Bucha's unit with heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and claymore mines, pinning down the lead group of 12 Americans.

The Viet Cong had a machine gunner at ground level and a fighter with an automatic weapon up in a tree, and "I figured the easiest thing to do was to just blow the tree up, Bucha said.

"I just  started throwing hand grenades," he said. "When the weapons stopped, I looked around and no one was firing at me. There was a calm, and Im not sure if the calm was in my mind or if it was actual calm."

Bucha ordered his troops to withdraw to a more defensible position, and for the next several hours they were in a fierce firefight. He feared his group would be overrun, and a dark thought crept into his mind: "What a hellhole to die in."

He decided to give every soldier a number, and when he called out a number over the radio, the soldier whod been assigned that number would throw grenades from his position, giving the illusion of a much bigger force.

An Australian pilot came over the radio and offered to drop two 750-pound bombs, and Bucha asked him to level a couple of nearby hills. He did, and the bombs rocked the soldiers.

"We bounced  and when I turned around, my men were all laughing, and I started laughing, and we realized we're not in this alone," he said. "[I thought] we might make it."

A U.S. helicopter finally arrived, and Bucha directed the evacuation of the wounded. When the enemy withdrew the next morning, he learned that his team had killed more than 150 North Vietnamese.

But 10 Americans in his platoon had also died.

When he learned he would receive the Medal of Honor, Bucha told a sergeant, "I don't deserve it."

But the sergeant convinced him he would wear the medal on behalf of his men, and on May 14, 1970, Bucha accepted the award from President Richard Nixon.

Still, Bucha said, "Every day of my life, I think back to what I could have done better that night  to bring those 10 [Americans] home."

Today, Bucha makes speeches to military groups, including at his alma mater, West Point.

"I try to go somewhere one day a week, 52 times a year, to where troops are. When I see them and listen to them, I come away grateful  for the privilege to be among them," he said.

American Legends  Stories of soldiers who responded to a difficult conflict situation, and did everything they could to defeat the enemy and get their brothers home.
Healthy and happy employees are a companys best resource. June, Employee Well-being Month, is a great opportunity for companies to help employees meet their personal goals, provide ways to feel better at work, combat stress and more. Employee health and well-being leads to a stronger company culture.

Related: Watch What Happens When You Invest in Employee Wellness

Work often takes so much time and energy that it leaves employees too stressed and exhausted to take care of themselves. So, what are some unique wellness perks employers can offer for happier and healthier employees?

1. Pets in the office

Employees say pet-friendly offices improve morale and sense of well-being, according to a March survey of more than 1,000 employees from Banfield Pet Hospital. In fact, seven in 10 employees surveyed said pets at work make a positive impact on office dynamics and workplace morale. Pet-friendly offices give employees a better sense of well-being and work-life balance. They also relieve stress and contribute to improved work relationships.

Further, pet-friendly offices are a great way to hook potential job candidates, as 65 percent of job candidates ask about pet-friendly policies, according to the survey. Additionally, nearly 80 percent of human resources managers surveyed said they discuss their pet-friendly workplace policies when recruiting employees.

2. Financial wellness services

In a 2015 study of more than 3,000 adults by the American Psychological Association, 72 percent of respondents said they felt stressed about money at least some of the time, and 22 percent had experienced extreme financial stress. An additional study published by Rand in 2015 found that lack of sleep, financial concerns and care of family members were negatively associated with productivity.

For a more productive, less stressed workforce, try offering methods for relieving financial burdens. For example, companies are starting to offer partial or full repayments of student loans for employees. Companies like Peanut Butter, which we use here at Come Recommended, make it easy for employers to offer student loan repayment as a financial wellness perk.

Whether its student loans, or some other financial benefits package, relieving financial burdens of employees can greatly improve the well-being of a workforce.

3. Shortened work weeks

While the concept might seem crazy to traditional companies, a February study from the Melbourne Institute found that work weeks longer than 25 hours have a negative impact on cognition.

Although a 25-hour workweek may not be possible, there are many companies beginning to offer alternatives to the 40-hour standard. For example, World Wildlife Fund closes every other Friday to meet goals of conservation and work-life balance. Employees are able to use the extra day however they choose, a practice that lends itself to a healthier workforce.

4. Paid days off for volunteering

The freedom to volunteer on office time is great for employee health and well-being. According to a 2014 study by the UnitedHealth Group and partners, there is a clear link between volunteering and better physical, mental and emotional health. In fact, 94 percent of those surveyed said volunteering helped to improve their moods, 78 percent said it helped lower their stress levels and more than 75 percent said it helped them with their time management skills.

Some options for volunteer-related perks include matching employees charitable contributions or allowing employees to take paid days off for volunteering. For example, Salesforce lets employees take six paid days off a year to volunteer. After they've completed the six days, the company will then make a $1,000 grant to any nonprofit an employee chooses.

Related: Related: Are the Famous Valley Perks Undermining Employee Health?

5. Fitness competitions

Many companies are using wearable technologies to introduce wellness competitions, to keep employees motivated to stay fit.

For example, IBM gave out Fitbits to 40,000 employees over two years. During that time, 96 percent of employees routinely logged their health data, including eating habits. Employees also reached an average of 8,800 steps per day -- more than double the average of people who dont wear pedometers. Finally, 63 percent of IBM employees continued to wear their Fitbit months after the challenge wrapped up.

Of course, it's not a requirement to hand out pedometers to employees to run similar challenges. Most smartphones already have step trackers embedded in their hardware, so anyone carrying a phone can participate.

Related: Using Wearable Devices to Help Promote Employee Wellness

But, no matter what the size or culture of your company, there are lots of ways you can help improve the well-being of your employees. What ideas do you have?
At least 10 people -- including eight children -- were injured when a roller-coaster derailed at a Scottish amusement park on Sunday.

Emergency doctors sent to scene of rollercoaster derailment at M&D's - Scottish Ambulancehttps://t.co/bZ8PwFumR9 pic.twitter.com/WFFIS0UstV  BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 26, 2016

Emergency responders poured into M&Ds in Motherwell to tend to those hurt when the Tsunami ride came off its track and plunged about 65 feet at 3:40 p.m., SkyNews reported.

You heard shrieks from other customers at the theme park, witness James Millerick told SkyNews. Millerick said when he reached the thrill ride, it had landed upside-down on the concrete path.

Six ambulance crews and a special operations team were at the scene, a Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said.

Fire and police workers were also assisting in the rescue operation. The park was evacuated after the incident, the BBC reported.

Kids and adults are still on it upside-down, Katie Burns wrote in a Facebook post. Burns said she was one of the final Tsunami riders before the accident occurred.

Its like something out of a horror film, she wrote. Children crying and everything.

The Tsunami is billed as Scotlands only inverted roller-coaster, according to the M&D website. The ride speeds along at 40 mph through corkscrew twists, turns and loops.
next Image 1 of 3

prev next Image 2 of 3

prev Image 3 of 3

Sgt. Ahmed Abdelaziz, with Iraq's special forces, has been almost continually deployed fighting the Islamic State group ever since the militants overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014. Now he's on the front lines of Fallujah, a city declared "fully liberated" on Sunday by the commander leading the fight against IS. Abdelaziz has with him what he always brings into battle: a photo of his brother.

It's not a smiling family portrait. It is a picture on his mobile phone of his brother Saad's body among hundreds killed in a massacre carried out by the jihadis after they captured the military's Camp Speicher base in 2014. At the time, IS fighters killed more than 1,000 captured soldiers at the base, outside the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

At first, Abdelaziz hadn't been sure of his brother's fate, but his worst fears were confirmed when IS released a video of the massacre and he recognized Saad in it. On his phone, he flipped through a series of stills from the video, saying the grisly images are reminders of his purpose in the fight.

Adding to a string of territorial victories against IS over the past year, Iraqi fighters on Sunday entered the last IS-held neighborhood of Fallujah and declared the city "fully liberated."

"The fight in Fallujah is over," the head of the counterterrorism forces leading the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said on Iraqi state TV, surrounded by flag-waving soldiers. The victory marked a new stage in a grueling, more than monthlong operation. Al-Saadi said his troops would now start clearing the bombs planted on Fallujah's streets and in houses by the retreating militants.

As the fight against IS in Iraq enters its third year, the long back-to-back deployments are wearing many units in the country's fractured military thin. The mounting casualties among Iraqi forces have made the fight increasingly personal for those who remain.

In a unit stationed nearby in southern Fallujah, Sgt. Ahmed Kamel, 26, said he also brings the memory of lost loved ones to the fight with him.

On his right arm is the name of his brother Saadi tattooed in English cursive script. Kamel's brother was killed by the Mahdi army, a Shiite militia run by powerful cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in 2008. Kamel's right arm bears the name of a fallen comrade: Namar. He died fighting the Islamic State group.

At positions on the operation's frontlines, Iraqi troops carry a variety religious objects and good luck charms into battle.

"Most people in Iraq, they just have faith in God and they don't feel like they need things like this," said 1st Sgt. Muayd Saad, explaining why some of his friends who aren't in the military don't understand why his considers the watch his wife gave him on their anniversary to be good luck.

"In the whole fight against IS, I have never taken it off, not even to sleep," he said.

Stationed at the nearby Camp Tariq, Pvt. Mustafa Muhammed Saadoun, 21, wears a wolf's tooth on a necklace. He says the charm makes him stronger and less fearful.

First Sgt Malik Jaber keeps a strip of green fabric from the revered Imam Abbas shrine in Karbala tied to the shoulder of his body armor. He says he credits the holy object with saving his life when the Special Forces were fighting IS in Beiji, the central Iraqi town that is also home to a key oil refinery.

"I touched this cloth and I prayed and that's when the airstrike hit," Jaber says. The airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition took out the small IS unit that that had him and a dozen other Iraqi troops pinned down inside a house.

"This time it will keep me safe again," Jaber said, "God willing."

Here is a selection of photos by Middle East Regional Photo Editor Maya Alleruzzo of Iraqi special forces with their treasured possessions.

___

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mayaalleruzzo

Follow Susannah George on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sgreports
The aftershocks of Thursday's referendum on British membership in the European Union continued to reverberate Saturday with one lawmaker saying Parliament should overturn the result.

Voters in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar opted to leave the 28-nation bloc by the relatively narrow margin of 1.2 million votes out of more than 33 million cast. The result revealed deep regional and generational divides in the United Kingdom, with young voters, London and Scotland overwhelmingly voting "Remain." By contrast, older voters, the rest of England and Wales voted "Leave" by similary large margins.

It initially appeared that many voters quickly developed buyer's remorse after the vote, with more than 2 million people apparently signing an online petition calling for a second referendum to be held. But it was revealed Sunday that many of those signatures were faked, with hackers from Anonymous and the online community 4 Chan likely responsible, Heat Street reported.

About 77,000 signatures had already been removed from the petition on Sunday, The Telegraph reported, and the House of Commons announced Sunday afternoon that an investigation would be launched into the allegations of fraud.

"We take fraud in the petitions system very seriously, because it undermines the process of parliamentary democracy," a House of Commons statement said.

Among the petition irregularities cited by The Telegraph: Nearly 24,000 people signed from North Korea, a nation infamous for its lack of Internet access; More than 39,000 signatures came from Vatican City, which only has a population of 800 people.

The petition, which had 2,374,547 signatures shortly before 9:30 p.m. U.K. time, proposed a rule that stating that if the "remain" or "leave" camps won less than 60 percent of the vote with less than a 75 percent turnout "there should be another referendum."

"Leave" won Thursday's vote with 52 percent on a turnout of 72 percent, the highest turnout for a national vote since 1992.

Technically, the referendum result is not legally binding because of Britain's sovereign Parliament. David Lammy MP, a member of the left-wing Labor Party, called Saturday for a legislative vote on whether to remain in the EU.

"We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end," Lammy said. "Let us not destroy our economy on the basis of lies and the hubris of ('Leave' leader) Boris Johnson."

However, neither the petition nor Lammy's appeal for a vote were likely to have any effect on the vote to leave the EU after 43 years of British membership.

Alan Renwick, deputy director of University College London's Constitution Unit, told the Associated Press that a parliamentary vote to overturn the referendum result was possible "in legal theory ... In practice, that is absolutely not possible."

Discussing the petition, pollster John Curtice told the Daily Telegraph, "How many people voted in favor of Leave? Seventeen million. One million is chicken feed by comparison.

"It's no good people signing the petition now, they should have done it before. Even then, these petitions don't always mean a great deal.

"It has passed the 100,000 mark for it to be debated in Parliament. All that means is that some MPs will say, 'It's a terrible shame', others will say, 'Hallelujah'. Then that's the end of it."

Meanwhile, senior EU politicians demanded Saturday that Britain cut its ties quickly with the bloc. The U.K. must, at some point, unambiguously notify the bloc of its intentions and set a two-year clock ticking for negotiating its departure. Until then, Britain remains an EU member.

In contrast to the clamoring of EU officials, the leaders of Britain's "leave" campaign, who had reassured voters that the EU would offer Britain good terms for a new relationship, were largely silent Saturday.

England's 300-year-old union with Scotland could be another casualty of the referendum, since most people in Scotland voted to remain in the EU but were outvoted by a majority in much-larger England.

Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Saturday that her semi-autonomous administration would seek immediate talks with EU nations and institutions to ensure that Scotland could remain in the bloc.

"(We will) explore possible options to protect Scotland's place in the EU," she said after meeting with her Cabinet in Edinburgh, adding that a new referendum on Scottish independence is "very much on the table."

Scotland voted in 2014 to remain a part of the U.K., but that decision was seen as being conditional on the U.K. staying in the EU.

The victorious "leave" campaigners have said there's no rush to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which will begin a two-year exit process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the U.K. and what will become a 27-nation bloc.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday and said his successor, to be chosen by October, should be the one to navigate the tricky process of withdrawing from the bloc.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Saturday the British had voted to leave and "it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try and negotiate the terms of their departure."

"I would like to get started immediately."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police say security forces have rescued three foreigners and a Nigerian who were among seven construction workers kidnapped in an ambush on a police convoy in southeastern Nigeria that killed a driver.

Assistant Superintendent Irene Ugho, spokeswoman for southeastern Cross River state police, said no ransom was paid.

She said an Australian, a New Zealander and a South African were freed early Sunday but did not identify them by name.

Police had identified those kidnapped as Australians Jack Countentz, Mark Gabberdy and Peter Zoutenbier; New Zealander Jamal Khan, and South African Wayne Smith. They were snatched at gunpoint along with two Nigerians on Wednesday and forced from their vehicles, which were in a convoy escorted by police near Calabar, the state capital. All of those kidnapped and the driver killed worked for Australian contractor MacMahon Holdings.
A Somali Cabinet minister is among the 15 killed in an Islamic extremist attack on a hotel in the capital, police say.

Four attackers also died in the assault which was claimed by al-Shabab, Somalia's militant rebels who are allied to al-Qaida.

State Minister for the Environment, Buri Hamza, was among those killed, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior Somali police officer. Hamza died when his hotel room collapsed Saturday because of the powerful car bomb which extremists used to blast their way into the Nasa-Hablod Hotel.

At least 34 people were injured, according to police and hospital sources.

It's the second attack on a hotel since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in early June. Both attacks have been claimed by al-Shabab.

The attacks have raised concerns about the security of hotels in the seaside capital which has seen numerous attacks by al-Shabab in recent years.

"The trend and lethality of such attacks suggest how vulnerable the security of hotels and the city in general are now," said Mohamed Sheikh Abdi, a Somali political analyst.

"Many residents now shun going to hotels that provide some of the few sources of entertainment available in Mogadishu," he said. At hotels, patrons smoke shisha (tobacco) in water pipes, enjoy dance music and play games such as dominoes and dice.

Mogadishu resident Ahmed Ali said that he has stopped going to hotels as they are seen as "death traps because they are favorite targets for al-Shabab ... Having fun at hotels is good but my safety comes first."

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud condemned the attacks in a statement Sunday.
CSULB alum wins gold at the 38th Long Beach Marathon  which was his first
Triple Crown hike

The story: Former Corvallis resident Jeff Garmire, a 25-year-old Oregon State University grad, is attempting to complete the Triple Crown of American hiking  the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide trails  in a single calendar year. Altogether, he hopes to walk nearly 8,000 miles in the span of nine months.

The latest: Garmire finished the 2,180-mile Appalachian Trail on April 29, then flew to California, where he began the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail. On June 17, after 43 days on the PCT, he crossed the halfway mark near Chester, California. As of Thursday, according to his blog, Garmire was trekking through the Castle Crags country near Mount Shasta but fighting exhaustion after a string of 40-mile days. To give himself a break, he knocked off early for the day after covering just 27 miles. You can follow Garmires journey on Facebook at http://bit.ly/28XAOaw, on Twitter @TheFreeOutside or on Instagram @jgar15.

Bennett Hall

Sylvia development

The story: Legend Homes is working on developing a 37-house subdivision called Sylvia on land between Southwest West Hills Road and Philomath Boulevard. Legends plans for the 7.4-acre site were approved in March of 2015.

The latest: In recent weeks, site work has included scraping dirt for use in building up the areas where the lots will be and using a track hoe to dig the main sanitary sewer line down the middle of the property. Legend Homes officials said they hope to begin construction of a model home in August. The sales start date and pricing information have yet to be determined.

James Day

Land use

The story: At its May 18 meeting the Corvallis Planning Commission recommended approval of a plan to change the comprehensive plan designation for 50-plus acres of land on Highway 99W south of downtown that developers hope to use to build houses. At the same meeting commissioners held a public hearing on plans by developers to partition its 202 acres in the Timberhill area into one 5-acre lot and one 197-acre parcel and also establish a road layout for the 5-acre site. Commissioners rejected the application during deliberations at their June 1 meeting, with developers vowing to appeal.

The latest: The Corvallis City Council will hold public hearings on both cases at its Tuesday, July 5 meeting. Councilors must sign off on the Willamette Busines Park comp plan change and also will hear the appeal in the Timberhill case.

James Day

Financial reporting

The story: Year in and year out the city of Corvallis ranks high among its peers in the quality of its financial reporting. In May of 2015 longtime Corvallis Finance Director Nancy Brewer received an honorary lifetime membership in the Oregon Government Finance Officers Association for her efforts on PERS and PERS reform issues plus her teaching and mentoring efforts.

The latest: The city has received an achievement of excellence certificate from the national Government Finance Officers Association for the 31st consecutive year. Only six Oregon cities  Eugene (41), Portland (39), Beaverton (37), Gresham (36), Grants Pass (33) and Albany (32)  have longer streaks. Julian Contreras, financial services manager, called the award the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting. The continual hard work of the finance staff as well as (other) departments makes it possible for the city to received the award.

James Day
U.S., UK to Maintain Close Ties; Counter-ISIL Efforts Continue

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2016  Defense Secretary Ash Carter told his United Kingdom counterpart State Secretary for Defense Michael Fallon in a phone call today that the two nations will always enjoy a special relationship reflected in close defense ties -- a bedrock of U.S. security and foreign policy, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters here today.

"The secretary reaffirmed that those bonds endure after yesterday's vote by the United Kingdom to exit the European Union," Cook told reporters.

Cook also updated reporters on counter-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant efforts in Syria and Iraq.

Cook added that Carter emphasized the United States' "unshakeable commitment to NATO, of which the United Kingdom is a vital member, and to the vision we share with our allies, the United Kingdom, and other European nations."

Carter welcomed Fallon's commitment to continuing the United Kingdom's active and enduring role in global security issues, Cook said, and its work within NATO and efforts to accelerate the lasting defeat of ISIL, in particular.

"The two leaders committed to work together to strengthen international partnerships that have helped ensure security for the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and the world," Cook said. "We will see that close work together continues in next month's NATO summit in Warsaw, and it's on display every day in the fight against ISIL."

Condemning North Korea's Provocations

In a teleconference today, Defense Department officials and counterparts from South Korea and Japan discussed North Korea's recent missile launches, Cook told reporters.

"These and other North Korean missile launches are violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit North Korea's use of ballistic missile technology," he said of the North Korean missile launches, the latest of which occurred June 21.

"All three countries reiterated their strong condemnation of these launches and urged North Korea to refrain from provocative actions that undermine peace and security and instead focus on fulfilling its international obligations and commitments," Cook said, adding the three nations noted that North Korea's provocations would only strengthen the resolve of the international community.

Cook added the United States reaffirms its "ironclad alliance" commitments to defend South Korea and Japan.

Arab-led Forces Push Into Manbij

Turning to the fight to defeat ISIL, Cook said despite continued enemy resistance in the Syrian city of Manbij, Arab-led forces have begun pushing into the city, which they've surrounded on all sides while conducting clearing operations of ISIL forces on the city's outskirts.

Over the past 24 hours near Manbij, Cook said, eight coalition airstrikes against ISIL assets have struck seven of its tactical units, destroying six fighting positions and two vehicles. Since the ground operation to assault Manbij began four weeks ago, coalition forces have conducted 246 strikes in support of local ground forces, he added.

"Cutting off ISIL's access through Manbij means taking away [one of its] major foreign fighter hubs. It's also an important step in our coalition's push toward ultimately targeting ISIL's self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa," Cook said.

More Than 70 Percent of Fallujah Cleared

And in Fallujah, Iraq, government forces have cleared more than 70 percent of the city, Cook said. And in five weeks since ground operations began to retake the city from ISIL control, he added, coalition forces have conducted 100 airstrikes in support of Iraqi ground forces.

"The loss of Fallujah will further deny [ISIL] access to a province critically important to its overall goals. It will also reduce their ability to threaten civilians in Baghdad," Cook told reporters. "And, of course, all of these operations are being enabled by a global coalition of nations united in the fight against ISIL -- the U.K. [being] among the integral members of that coalition and a stalwart ally of the United States."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






UK's position in NATO remains unchanged: NATO chief

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 21:11, June 24, 2016

BRUSSELS, June 24 -- In his response to Britons voting to withdraw from the European Union(EU) on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said the United Kingdom would retain its position in NATO despite the change in the EU's political landscape.

"The British people have decided to leave the European Union," he said in a statement. "As it defines the next chapter in its relationship with the EU, I know that the UK's position in NATO will remain unchanged."

He stressed the UK would still be a strong and committed NATO ally, and would continue to play its leading role in the alliance.

"Today, as we face more instability and uncertainty, NATO is more important than ever as a platform for cooperation among European allies, and between Europe and North America," said Stoltenberg.

He added NATO was committed to closer cooperation with the European Union.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Coalition Strikes Target ISIL in Iraq, Syria

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 25, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 12 strikes in Syria:

-- Near Raqqah, two strikes struck two ISIL logistical routes and an ISIL administration facility.

-- Near Manbij, eight strikes struck six separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 11 ISIL fighting positions and an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Mara, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 20 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed three ISIL vehicle bomb factories, an ISIL vehicle bomb, an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL bunker and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Beiji, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, three ISIL vehicles, an ISIL rocket rail and an ISIL front-end loader.

-- Near Fallujah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL boat and two ISIL light machine guns.

-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Mosul, six strikes struck four separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL vehicle bomb factory and destroyed four ISIL vehicles and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Qayyarah, four strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed an ISIL boat and four ISIL assembly areas; suppressed two separate ISIL tactical units and three separate ISIL mortar positions; and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed 10 ISIL boats, an ISIL staging area and an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL mortar system.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Daesh-linked terrorists abduct 30 in Afghanistan's Nangarhar

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:19PM

Terrorists affiliated with the Daesh Takfiri group have kidnapped at least 30 people, including women, during an attack in Afghanistan's troubled eastern province of Nangarhar.

Afghanistan's Khaama news service on Saturday quoted Attaullah Khogyani, the spokesman for Nangarhar, as saying that the terrorists launched coordinated attacks against local police checkpoints in the restive Kott district during the early hours of Friday.

He added that the terrorists also set fire to a number of houses in the district and killed at least three civilians, including a child, and wounded 12 others.

"They shot civilians and killed children with knives and took women with them," said one resident.

The Afghan Local Police (ALP), however, managed to repel the attack, killing at least 30 terrorists and wounding 32 others in the clashes that ensued.

Back in June 11, Daesh militants also attacked the police headquarters in Dih Bala, another district in the province, and killed the district police chief along with four other officers. The government forces also managed to kill 13 terrorists during the fighting. Six other officers were also wounded and 13 militants were killed during the fighting.

Nangarhar has been witnessing a rise in the number of Daesh terrorists in some of its districts in recent months. The terror group's stronghold is currently in the province, which borders Pakistan. It reportedly plans to establish a base of operations within the province's mountainous terrain.

According to a mid-March report by the Afghan Defense Ministry, the terror group has killed more than 600 civilians in the country over the previous six months. It added that most of the victims were young people who had refused to join the ranks of the terror group mainly operating in eastern Afghanistan.

Daesh atrocities have also rendered 20,000 families internally displaced over the past year, it added.

Daesh, mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has been using a sophisticated social media campaign to woo the local militants who defect from the main Taliban militant group.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






15 people die in Mogadishu hotel bombing

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 2:23PM

Fifteen people were killed in a bombing targeting a major hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Saturday, police said.

The sound of the explosion was heard at about 4:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT).

Major Ali Mohamed said, "The operation has now ended but we are still combing the building for any possible militants who are hiding."

Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social networks.

Guards, civilians and militants were among the dead.

Residents said they heard a massive explosion targeting Nasahablood Hotel.

"There is heavy fire going on inside the hotel, it started after the massive explosion but we cannot know what is going on," Abdihafid Mudey, who lives near the hotel, earlier said.

Shabaab has carried out regular attacks on civilians and security forces in Somalia and neighboring Kenya in a bid to topple the government in Mogadishu.

Shabaab has a history of intensified attacks during Ramadan, a holy month when Muslims frequent mosques and other places for performing religious rituals.

The attack on Saturday came three weeks after a car bombing claimed by Shabaab targeting Ambassador Hotel in the capital. Ten people, including two lawmakers, were killed in the assault outside the six-storey building.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Former US Envoys Urge Obama to Delay Troop Cuts in Afghanistan

by Masood Farivar June 25, 2016

Three former U.S. envoys to Afghanistan called on the Obama administration this week not to cut U.S. troop levels in that country next year, even as the White House indicated that it remains committed to doing just that.

Dan Feldman, James Dobbins and Marc Grossman all served as U.S. special representatives to Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2011 and 2015 and remain influential voices in Washington foreign policy circles. Along with 10 other former senior diplomats and military commanders who served in Afghanistan, they sent an open letter to President Barack Obama this month, urging him to drop plans to halve the number of American troops in Afghanistan.

Currently there are 9,800 American troops serving on Afghanistan, but their number is due to be reduced to 5,500 in 2017.

"I think it's an important signal  for the Afghan people, the Afghan government and its international partners  that the U.S. will continue to keep its commitment to this number of troops (9,800) through the end of this administration," Feldman said. This would allow whoever takes over from Obama in January "to make a decision very soon," he added.

The White House has given no indication that the president intends to change his mind on the troop drawdown schedule, but has said he remains open to possible "adjustments" recommended by military commanders and his advisers.

Feldman, now a partner in a Washington law firm, and others say the president should make clear now that the U.S. force reduction schedule will be set aside, so American troops can bolster Afghan security forces struggling against a reinvigorated Taliban insurgency.

Grossman, a former undersecretary of state, said Afghans would see reduced U.S. troop levels as a sign of diminishing support from Washington, and that would send the "wrong signal" to Pakistan and the broader region.

"We felt that in all of those cases  the broader Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan  leaving troop levels as they were was the best course," said Grossman, now a vice chairman at a Washington consulting and lobbying firm.

Dobbins, a former diplomat who was instrumental in creating the post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, said the current force level is the "minimum necessary to continue to support and assist and sustain the Afghan national security forces and to hold the Taliban at bay."

The post of U.S. special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as SRAP, was established in 2009, in the early days of Obama's first term, to coordinate U.S. strategy in the region while American forces were driving a military and civilian surge against the Taliban.

In identical, nearly simultaneous statements this week, two senior U.S. officials  Richard Olson, the current SRAP, and the deputy U.S. envoy to the United Nations, Michele Sison  repeated the administration's commitment to the drawdown timetable announced in October. Feldman said those messages, delivered to the Atlantic Council and the U.N. Security Council, suggest the administration is sticking to its plans.

The White House has said just as much, but there has been no talk of possible "adjustments" it might make following a security assessment completed this month by General John Nicholson, three months after he took over as the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan.

Despite his famously fraught relationship with the military, President Obama has shown greater openness to proposals by his top generals in Afghanistan in recent years, as defeating an increasingly dogged Taliban insurgency has proved elusive.

The troop drawdown plan of October 2015, in fact, was a reversal of another, earlier plan to reduce the level of U.S. forces even more sharply. Acting on a request by Nicholson's predecessor, General John Campbell, Obama said the U.S. would keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of this year. And just this month, the president gave Nicholson authorization to order airstrikes against Taliban targets and to allow American troops to accompany patrols by Afghan security forces  moves welcomed by the embattled Kabul government.

Briefing reporters on June 10, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that authorization to Nicholson "does not limit in any way our ability to follow through with the plan to draw down troops [to] the level of 5,500."

Few details of Nicholson's report have been revealed. If there are further recommendations about troop reductions in Nicholson's security assessment, a U.S. defense official who asked not to be identified said the military is "seeing how the new authorizations go first.

Feldman, who noted it would be highly unusual for a commander involved in an increasingly bloody, still active conflict to suggest troop cuts, said any further decision altering the timing and size of the U.S. drawdown would take at least weeks, if not months.

A bipartisan group of 10 members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee asked Obama in May to clarify his position on troop levels ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw in July. They asked that he give Nicholson's recommendations "extraordinary weight."

"I think that as long as the struggle with the Taliban continues to be as challenging as it is, and the potential threat from [the Islamic State group] expanding into Afghanistan, it is important for the U.S. to continue to have a presence in Afghanistan," Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in an interview.

"I think we could be up or down a little bit on that number, but they're there ... on the ground," Shaheen said of U.S. troops. "It's important not to reduce it any further, unless circumstances change."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






8 Killed in Rebel Attack on Police Convoy in Kashmir

by VOA News June 25, 2016

Eight police officers were killed Saturday during a militant ambush in Kashmir, India.

The attack, which targeted a security convoy of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on a highway near Pampore, left 20 officers injured. Pampore is 15 kilometers from the state capital, Srinagar.

Police killed two of the attackers. The wounded police officers were taken to a hospital in Srinagar.

"Firsthand information after looking at the bodies is, both appear to be Pakistanis, definitely from Lashkar, and in all likelihood, they were fidayeen. Two AK-47 rifles have been recovered from them," said CRPG Inspector General Nalin Prabhat.

"I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter.

For decades, rebel groups have fought for Kashmir's independence from India, often attacking government officials.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the killings.

"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people," she said in a statement.

Indian Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said the attack was a matter of grave concern.

"Tomorrow, the CRPF director general of police and other senior officials will go to Srinagar to carry out investigations because it is a matter of grave concern for us that so many security personnel have been martyred," Rijiju said.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents fighting for Kashmir's independence from India and its merger with Pakistan. Islamabad denies the charge.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Report on Abuses in Eritrea Draws Demonstrators, Heated Emotions

by Salem Solomon June 25, 2016

This week, thousands of Eritreans gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, to both support and protest a new U.N. report alleging that the leaders of the Eritrean government have committed crimes against humanity.

Elsewhere, hundreds of Eritrean refugees gathered outside African Union headquarters in neighboring Ethiopia to protest the alleged crimes back home.

The report comes from a commission of inquiry set up more than two years ago to investigate human rights in Eritrea.

The commission gathered testimony from 833 people in 13 countries including Australia, Canada and the United States, but was not allowed to travel inside Eritrea to conduct its investigation.

Its report outlined arbitrary arrests, torture, rape, enslavement, murder and reprisals against family members of dissidents inside the country.

During an interactive dialogue at the U.N. Human Rights Council with the commission and other organizations and stakeholders on Monday, Eritrea's head of political affairs and presidential adviser said that the commission not only failed to prove the accusations but was overstepping its mandate.

"The Commission has made the incredible judgment that the human rights situation in Eritrea constitutes a threat to international peace and security, as a fig leaf to try to send yet another African country to the International Criminal Court ((ICC))," Yemane Gebreab told the attendees.

Testimonies

In the audience were children of jailed journalists, political prisoners in the country and other Eritrean activists who also gave their testimonies.

Outside the official proceedings, demonstrators waved Eritrean flags and signs denouncing the ruling party  the People's Front for Democracy and Justice  as criminals.

"Geneva was literally flooded by people who are requesting that enough is enough," said Daniel Rezene Mekonnen, an Eritrean human rights lawyer, who traveled to Geneva to participate in the dialogue. "There must be an end to the situation of crimes against humanity in Eritrea and people were shouting telling the world that they support the findings of the commission of inquiry."

Mekonnen said the most heartbreaking aspect of the events was to hear supporters of the Eritrean government deny the seriousness of crimes being committed inside the country.

"When they deny the realities of the human rights violations in Eritrea, they are insulting the victims, and this is inhuman," he said.

"These people who are suffering in the dungeons of the regime in all of the formal and informal prison systems in Eritrea, what we call the Eritrean network of gulags, they are innocent people," Mekonnen said. "They don't deserve that. Or if the government believes that they have committed something else, they should be brought to a court of justice."

Others believe just as strongly that Eritrea is being wrongly maligned by the international community.

Simon Tesfamariam is the founder and director of Red Sea Institute, a nonprofit doing research in Eritrea, and a supporter of the government.

"There's nothing wrong with looking at the human rights situation of the nation at all," Tesfamariam said. "Those who are investigating the human rights situation are not impartial, not independent, not objective and not neutral."

Impartiality questioned

He questioned the impartiality of the U.N.'s special rapporteur, Sheila B. Keetharuth, who previously worked for Amnesty International and who, he said, has called for Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki to be tried at the ICC. He also criticized the lack of evidence like video or audio to substantiate the allegations.

"You have anonymized allegations. You don't have any hard evidence, any tangible evidence to make us feel comfortable with the fact that these allegations may, in fact, be true," he said. "I mean just think of it in the court of law. Who would take seriously 100 percent anonymized allegations? Who would take seriously that those that are not anonymized are not coming from those who have clearly checkered relations with whom they are making allegations against?"

The report outlines numerous abuses including the use of national service, which began as a development program but now continues for years and is equated to enslavement in the report. Government officials say it is necessary to stay on a war footing with Ethiopia as recent clashes on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border attest.

The report now goes to the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which will decide whether to adopt a resolution on the issue.

"This issue should be passed to the Security Council because only the Security Council has the power to make referrals to the International Criminal Court," commission chairman Mike Smith told VOA.

"So, yes, these are individual crimes, and yes, we have found that there are a number of people that we have reason to believe are responsible for those crimes," Smith said.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Belgian police detain 2 in fresh anti-terror raids

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 2:49PM

Belgium has charged two people with participation in the activities of a terrorist group, as the country remains on high alert following the deadly attacks in the capital, Brussels, in March.

Police arrested the two during anti-terror raids.

"Two persons... were taken for questioning and arrested by the investigating judge," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement Saturday.

"They are charged, as perpetrator or co-perpetrator, for participation (in) the activities of a terrorist group."

Belgium still grapples with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Brussels' busy airport and metro system, which killed 32 people. Daesh, a Takfiri terrorist group based in Iraq and Syria, claimed the attacks, which police said were linked to shootings and explosions in the French capital, Paris, in November 2015. Those attacks in Paris claimed 130 lives.

However, a local website said Saturday that the man arrested by anti-terror police in Verviers was planning an attack on fans watching Belgium's next Euro 2016 game against Hungary on Sunday. Three men were arrested and charged last week with police saying they attempted "terrorist murder."

Police also detained 40 people in the June 17-18 raids in Brussels and across the country. No arms or explosives were found in those raids but officials said they were carried out due to the need for "an immediate intervention."

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has promised "additional and updated security measures" during the time the country remains in a state of emergency.

"We want to continue living normally," Michel said after the raids in mid-June.

The tightened security in Belgium comes as its neighbor France, which is hosting the Euro 2016 games, is on maximum alert.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






15 Killed in Terrorist Siege of Mogadishu Hotel

by Harun Maruf June 25, 2016

The terrorist siege of a Mogadishu hotel has ended, police in Somalia said Saturday, but not before at least 15 people were killed.

"I can assure you that the hotel siege is over and that the attackers were killed by our security forces," said Somali Security Minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed. He said a clearing operation was underway and that details of the damage done by the siege would be released soon.

The militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the hotel has been frequented by what it called "apostate government members."

Police said the terrorists set off a car bomb outside the Hotel Naso-Hablod on Saturday afternoon before gunmen burst into the building, firing their weapons at random and seizing hostages.

Police stormed the hotel and engaged the gunmen in a firefight, cornering them on the top floor.

Witnesses said dead bodies were on the ground outside the hotel entrance, and others could be seen trapped inside a burning car.

A State Department official said the U.S. "strongly condemns the attack and expresses our deep condolences to their victims, their families and the Somali people. We remain committed to Somalia's security and stability and are proud to stand side by side with Somalia in the fight against terrorism."

The attack, the latest in a series against hotels and restaurants, came just three weeks after gunmen from the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group stormed the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu. The militants besieged the hotel for more than 12 hours.

Somali officials said 24 people were killed in that attack, including the three gunmen, and 57 people were rescued after being held overnight by the gunmen.

Saturday's attack came while Muslims are observing Ramadan. In previous years, militants have increased attacks during the holy month, just before dawn or just after dusk, when people are gathering to break their daily fast.

Al-Shabab has killed thousands since it began its campaign of terrorism 10 years ago in an effort to turn Somalia into a conservative Islamic state.

Somali and African Union forces have pushed the militants out of large cities and into rural areas, but, as Saturday's attack proves, al-Shabab is still a lethal force.

Earlier this month, Matt Bryden, a leading regional analyst and director of the Nairobi, Kenya-based Sahan Research organization, said al-Shabab has employed "the same tactics, techniques and procedures" in its attacks year after year.

"I think that is where we see much more needs to be done in developing the capacity and the professionalism of the Somali security forces," Bryden told VOA.

VOA Somali service's Harun Maruf and Mohamed Olad contributed to this report.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Long March 7 carrier rocket facility prepares for launch

People's Daily Online

By Zhao Lei (China Daily) 09:37, June 25, 2016

The Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, China's newest space facility, will soon carry out its first mission to send the country's next generation Long March 7 carrier rocket skyward.

Yi Ziqian, deputy director at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center who also heads the Wenchang center, said on Friday that the Wenchang facility had completed all preparations for the maiden flight of Long March 7 and was ready to fuel the rocket.

Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, in the southern island province of Hainan, is administered by the Xichang center.

The China Manned Space Program announced on Wednesday that the first use of the Long March 7 will take place between Saturday and Wednesday, depending on conditions. The rocket was moved in a vertical position to its launchpad on Wednesday morning, waiting for its public debut.

Before the end of the year, the Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket will also make its first flight from the center.

The Wenchang Satellite Launch Center is China's latest launch facility, following the Xichang center in Sichuan, Taiyuan center in Shanxi and Jiuquan center in Inner Mongolia.

Covering about 12 square kilometers, it will be used to lift heavyweight satellites, deep-space probes, cargo spacecraft and the country's future space station that is planned to be built around 2022, according to Wang Zemin, a senior engineer who oversees the center's launch operations.

Construction of the center was approved by the State Council and the Central Military Commission in 2007 and began in 2009. Work on the facility was completed in 2014 and the center conducted tests with prototypes of the Long March 7 and Long March 5 last year.

"The biggest advantage of the Wenchang center is its low latitudeonly 19 degrees north of the equator, which will enable rockets to save a lot of fuel and to carry heavier payloads, compared with launches from the other three centers in China," Wang said.

Its location also helps to improve the nation's space launch network, thus strengthening China's overall launch capability. Moreover, the center's proximity to the sea allows rockets to be transported there by ship, he added.

Other launch centers have to transport rockets using the country's railways, which are too narrow to carry China's next-generation, large rockets such as the Long March 5 that has a 5-meter diameter core booster.

These advantages enable the Wenchang facility to launch a wide range of satellites and spacecraft, which means it will be competitive in the international commercial launch market, according to Yi.



NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






N Korea rejects UNSC rebuke of missile tests, blames US for peninsula tensions

Iran Press TV

Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:18PM

North Korea has strongly rejected a UN Security Council rebuke of Pyongyang's recent missile tests, saying the US is pushing the Korean Peninsula towards an "uncontrollable extreme phase."

In a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Saturday, the country's Foreign Ministry also referred to the world body's criticism as "a product of high-handedness wantonly violating the sovereignty of an independent state." It went on to say that the move by Security Council was "an unreasonable deed of turning black into white."

Pyongyang's response came two days after the 15-member council slammed the missile tests, saying they were in "grave violation" of the country's international obligations under five separate resolutions dating back to 2006, which ban all ballistic missile activity by North Korea.

"The members of the Security Council further regretted that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is diverting resources to the pursuit of ballistic missiles while Democratic People's Republic of Korea citizens have great unmet needs," said the council on Thursday.

The UNSC's closed-door meeting was held late on Wednesday night at the request of the United States and Japan after both countries expressed alarm following back-to-back missile tests by North Korea.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pyongyang test-fired two Musudan mid-range ballistic missiles, which are reported to have a theoretical range of between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometers, making them capable of reaching any part of South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Hours after the launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said the newly-tested missiles could hit the US military bases in the Pacific.

"We have the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theater," said Kim on Wednesday, after claiming that the testing of two Musudan missiles had been successful.

He further hailed the tests as a "great event" which significantly boosted the North's pre-emptive nuclear attack capabilities.

Earlier, US and South Korean military sources confirmed that the test launches had been carried out but cast doubt on their success.

According to South Korean and American officials, the test was Pyongyang's sixth launch of that weapon system.

The launches have been slammed by the international community, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon referring to them as a "brazen and irresponsible act."

Tensions have been flaring in the region since January, when North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, and vowed to ratchet up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the US and its regional allies.

Pyongyang has been under numerous UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and missile activities. It was recently placed under the toughest UN sanctions in two decades.

The country, however, has pledged not to relinquish its nuclear power unless the US ends its hostile policy and dissolves the US-led military command in South Korea.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






DPRK NDC Policy Department Blasts U.S., S. Korea for Turning Southwestern Waters in West Sea into Hottest Spot Waters

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

Pyongyang, June 25 (KCNA) -- The Policy Department of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK in a detailed report on Saturday disclosed and denounced the thrice-cursed crimes committed by the sworn enemy given the prevailing situation in the hot spot waters in the West Sea which can be called the epitome of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and the south Korean puppet forces' policy for confrontation with the DPRK.

The report disclosed the sinister nature of the gangster-like U.S. which turned the West Sea of Korea into the hottest spot waters.

The military tension in these waters that does not subside despite the passage of time is the extension of the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and its direct product, the report said, and went on:

Back in 1953 when the June 25 war ended in truce, the U.S. moved desperately to create a starting point for a new war.

On many occasions such as the 346th meeting of the Military Armistice Committee in December 1973, the DPRK-U.S. general-level talks in Panmunjom in August and September 1999, the U.S. categorically ignored the efforts made by the DPRK side to set the maritime military demarcation line in the West Sea and prevent the military conflict there.

The U.S. has been without exception behind the vicious moves of the puppet forces of south Korea to escalate the military tension in the hot spot waters in the West Sea into the estuary of the River Han.

Lots of artillery live-shell firing drills in the said waters and the ceaseless intrusion into the territorial waters and air of the DPRK after the fabrication of the "northern limit line" in the West Sea of Korea clearly prove that the U.S. is the arch criminal ratcheting military tension and the danger of conflict in these waters.

The report also disclosed the moves of the south Korean puppet forces, a group of hideous warmongers who turned the sea common to the nation into the hot spot waters of confrontation and conflict. It continued:

The puppet Command for the Defense of Northwestern Islands of south Korea which regards the hot spot waters in the West Sea as its operational theatre held a "memorial service" for those who met deaths while running riot in the forefront areas for confrontation with the fellow countrymen and also has been hell-bent on another round of provocation while crying out for "punishment".

This was timed to coincide with the farce for taking a posture for putting an end to the "north's provocation" within 24 hours by task forces of the puppet navy and marine corps commissioned in May.

From 16th to 18th, dozens of large combat warships of the puppet navy and coastal police staged marine mobile drills with fighters with different missions involved. They also staged air defence drill, exercises for defending the area they are stationed and exercises for countering underwater infiltration while crying out for turning the hot spot waters into the "grave" of someone and escalating military stand-off for the purpose.

In fact, the military situation in the hot spot waters in the West Sea has gone beyond the phase of control.

A clear proof of it was the reckless military actions committed by the puppet military gangsters on May 27.

The provocative marine infiltration is without exception supported by the puppet air force and ground artillery pieces with the involvement of the fully-armed marine groups made up of puppet warships.

The sinister aim sought by the south Korean puppet forces is to deliberately invade the inviolable territorial waters of the DPRK and make a preemptive strike and thus compel the Korean People's Army to take counteraction for self-defence and then paint the DPRK as the chieftain of "provocation" and "threat" by setting in motion reptile reactionary media and push the situation in the hot spot waters in the West Sea to the brink of war.

The most urgent task for ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula at present is to put the situation in the hot spot waters in the West Sea under control, the report said, and noted:

The increasing military tension has to be deescalated and the daily mounting danger of military conflict has to be defused at an early date.

Traitor Park Geun Hye and her group finding themselves at risk in the face of the worst "administrative" crisis are pushing the situation in the sensitive hot spot waters in the West Sea to the point of explosion at the zealous instigation of their American master.

The hot spot waters in the West Sea made us keenly realize in practice the truth that talking would never help achieve peace and only matchlessly powerful arms will ensure genuine peace.

Steadfast is the will of the army and people of the DPRK to prevent the danger of conflict in the hot spot waters in the West Sea, improve the north-south relations and defuse tension on the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces should admit their criminal responsibility for turning the southwestern waters into the world's hottest spot waters and immediately stop their reckless military provocations. -0-

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






North Korea not to surrender nuclear might under US threats: Official

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:56AM

North Korea says it has strengthened its nuclear might due to Washington's pressure and threats, stressing that Pyongyang cannot give up on its nuclear and missile tests with the 'US gun on its head.'

Han Song-ryol, the director-general of the department of US affairs at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, made the comments after the UN Security Council sharply criticized Pyongyang for its recent test of a mid-range missile.

The North Korean official said his country is now a major nuclear power, and that Washington can expect more nuclear tests and missile launches as long as it attempts to force Pyongyang's collapse through a policy of pressure and punishment, AP reported on Friday.

"It's the United States that caused this issue," said Song-ryol.

"They have to stop their military threats, sanctions and economic pressure. Without doing so, it's like they are telling us to reconcile while they are putting a gun to our forehead."

Last week, Pyongyang test-fired two Musudan mid-range ballistic missiles, which are reported to have a theoretical range of between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometers, making them capable of reaching any part of South Korea, Japan and the US territory of Guam in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

On Friday, the Security Council slammed the missile tests, saying they were in "grave violation" of the country's international obligations under five separate resolutions dating back to 2006, which ban all ballistic missile activity by North Korea.

However, the North Korean Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism, saying the US is pushing the Korean Peninsula toward an "uncontrollable extreme phase."

"This is an unreasonable deed of turning black into white," said a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman in a statement cited by state news agency KCNA on Friday.

The statement further blamed the United States for driving tensions between the neighbors by deploying weapons to rival South Korea.

Pyongyang's new tests showed significant technological progress in the North's missile capabilities, with a US think thank saying the tests could facilitate the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland by 2020.

They were swiftly censured by Washington, Tokyo and Seoul as a "provocation" and a violation of the UN resolutions.

The 15-member council called for the sanctions to be redoubled after holding an emergency meeting over the tests.

Pyongyang has been under numerous UN sanctions over its nuclear tests and missile activities. It was recently placed under the toughest UN sanctions in two decades.

North Korea has pledged not to relinquish its nuclear power unless the United States ends its hostile policy and dissolves the US-led military command in South Korea.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






North Korea is 'Proud' US Feels Threatened By Its Nuclear Weapons

Sputnik News

06:36 25.06.2016

A top Pyongyang official has claimed to US media that North Korea is a nuclear power the West cannot ignore.

The director-general of the department of US affairs at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, Han Song Ryol, announced on Wednesday that, as long as the US continues its intimidating sanctions policy, Washington should prepare for more nuclear tests and missile launches by North Korea.

"It's the United States that caused this issue. They have to stop their military threats, sanctions and economic pressure. Without doing so, it's like they are telling us to reconcile while they are putting a gun to our forehead," Han Song said, in his first interview with Associated Press since he took office in 2013.

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul earlier condemned the launching of two ballistic medium-range missiles by Pyongyang on June 22, observing that the tests violated United Nations resolutions. North Korea, however, considers the missile tests proof-positive of technological successes.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said that provocative moves by Pyongyang embolden the determination of the international community to counter North Korea's actions, including through sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council.

"We intend to raise our concerns at the UN to bolster the international resolve in holding the DPRK accountable for these provocative actions." John Kirby said in a statement.

Han argued that North Korea had no choice but to enhance its military deterrent, asserting that the instigator of the conflict, in this case, is America.

"The real provocation is coming from the United States How can my country stand by and do nothing?" he said, noting that the US recently deployed attack submarines and strategic bombers in South Korea capable of dropping nuclear weapons on the DPRK. The two states conducted joint drills in the beginning of the year training for precision air strikes on strategic locations in North Korea.

"My country is a nuclear state. In the past, my country has been threatened by the United States with its nuclear weapons, but I can now say proudly that the United States is being threatened by my country's nuclear weapons," Han said.

The DPRK foreign ministry head stated that dialogue with the US is possible, but depends solely on the US renouncing what he suggested was its hostile policy, and withdrawing troops from South Korea.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






North Korea Nuclear, Missile Programs Meant to Hold US 'Hostage'

Sputnik News

00:57 25.06.2016

The likely intent of North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile tests is to alter possible US military designs against Pyongyang, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Thomas Countryman said on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, the US Strategic Command confirmed two North Korean missile launches over the Sea of Japan. The most recent tests follow a series of missile launches by Pyongyang, as well as a March nuclear test.

"The purpose of their missile and nuclear development is to be able to directly hold the United States hostage and to prevent the United States from taking military action against North Korea without calculating the risk of a North Korean strike on the United States," Countryman said at the Institute for Korean-American Studies summer conference.

Countryman noted that the position is "not an official US viewpoint," but could explain the behavior of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

On Friday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Pyongyang carried out the tests as a result of US military threats, sanctions as well as economic pressures.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Indian Army Objects Development Along Border with China

Sputnik News

19:38 24.06.2016

The Indian Army is opposing development projects in the country's northeast, warning that border roads could facilitate possible infiltration.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  India's northeastern region bordering China has been a breeding ground for resentment towards Central India owing to the slow pace of development in comparison to the rest of the country. The region lacks road connectivity and other basic infrastructure like airports, railway and continuous supply of electricity, among others.

In an attempt to bridge this gap, the central government had announced a 1,800 kilometer frontier highway project with an estimated cost of USD 6.5 million in 2014 proposed to be built between Tawang and Vijaynagar in the restive state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The project was to be monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, two years down the line, the plan remains in cold storage, triggering strong resentment by locals. According to official sources, the main reason behind the delay in starting the project is the Indian Army's skepticism.

The Directorate General of Military Organization (DGMO) has warned that border roads could become a liability in the event of a war with China. According to sources, the DGMO has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs saying "the proposal entails construction of roads and tunnels along a fresh alignment in close proximity 15-40 Kilometer of Line of Actual Control, which is not desirable."

This has prompted a series of communication between the elected representatives of Arunachal Pradesh and the federal administration. Pasang Dorjee Sona, Member of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh, says, "The Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed the frontier highway. However, now, I believe the DGMO is not much agreeing to a lot of locations. DGMO is saying that you cannot build roads on that side. When such proposals are coming, they (locals) are more than happy to support because local people staying there have the equal right to access basic facilities. It's been ages, they are still striving for basic necessities. If they don't see much happening, obviously the mood of the people will not be very good."

Physical work on the project was proposed to be initiated by 2018. But the rigid stance of the Army is holding back any progress in documentation and formalities. The Indian Army continues to believe that underdevelopment of border areas would minimize the damage and prevent easy access to the Chinese Army in Indian territory.

Disagreeing with the objection raised by the Army, Dorjee Sona says, "We can't leave the border area undeveloped because it will create a lot of problems. Because people need to be happy and to make people happy we need to give them basic facilities and infrastructure."

India recently operationalized an upgraded Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) for the armed forces in Mechuka of Arunachal Pradesh last month but local administration is not happy with the idea that they will not be allowed to use the facility.

Dorjee Sona says, "Armed forces do not keep any kind of transparency with the local administration, the state government and the local representatives because they are doing everything hush-hush in their own way. A facility has been built in our land, but we are barred from using that facility. Those are the resentments to quote a few; there are a lot of other problems otherwise."

Dorjee says, "How government sees the border area from the defense-strategic way, we don't know. But, as people from the border area, we feel we also have equal rights to have access to basic facilities. Many representatives from the state met Minister of State for Home Affairs (Kiren Rijuju) and discussed the issues. Even he had the same opinion that the problems are there because the DGMO has some reservations regarding some of the strategic points (of the proposed highway)."

India and China fought a month long war in 1962. The war stopped after a ceasefire was declared. But, the border dispute continues to linger. China has developed high level infrastructure in border areas in Tibet to facilitate operations of its armed forces, but India has adopted the opposite tactic of leaving the area devoid of basic infrastructure as a deterrent to possible infiltration for Chinese forces.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Kashmir Militants Kill Eight, Injure 20 Indian Police Officers in Ambush

Sputnik News

19:02 25.06.2016

Eight Indian security personnel were killed and 20 more injured in a gunfight with militants in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  At least eight Indian security personnel were killed and 20 more injured in a militant ambush in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, local media said Saturday.

A gunfight erupted following an ambush by unidentified militants on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy traveling from Jammu to Srinagar in the contested region, with at least two militants killed by police in the fighting, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

"Firing exchanges are still going on at the attack site as two militants are still reported to be firing at the security forces," a police official was quoted as saying by the publication.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the area, while traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway came to a halt, according to the newspaper.

The Jammu and Kashmir region has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Following several armed conflicts, the two countries agreed to a ceasefire in 2003. Since then, both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce.

New Delhi suspects Islamabad of providing support to armed secessionist groups in the predominantly Muslim region, Pakistan denies the allegations.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






India to Buy 145 M777 Howitzers From US - Defense Ministry

Sputnik News

16:18 25.06.2016

The India's Defense Acquisition Council approved purchase of 145 M777 howitzers from the United States, according to an official statement.

NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  India will buy 145 M777 howitzers from the United States, the Indian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

The Defense Acquisition Council headed by Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar held a meeting at the Defense Ministry earlier in the day.

The council also approved projects on naval dockyards modernization worth 3.86 billion rupees ($56.75 million), bulk production of 155mm Dhanush howitzers, as well as cleared six next generation missile vessels.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






India Carries Out Flight of Su-30 Equipped With BrahMos Missiles

Sputnik News

12:21 25.06.2016(updated 12:32 25.06.2016)

The Indian Air Forces conducted on Saturday a demonstration flight of Su-30 fighter equipped with Russian-Indian supersonic BrahMos cruise missiles, BrahMos Aerospace said in a statement.

NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  According to the statement obtained by RIA Novosti, BrahMos Aerospace successfully demonstrated the missile's compatibility with the multirole fighter jets.

Several countries, interested in buying the weapon to equip their Su-30 aircraft, have been observing the test, the manufacturer said.

Using BrahMos allows to engage targets from beyond the effective range of enemy weapons and attack enemy objectives protected by air defense, according to the statement.

BrahMos is a short-range supersonic missile, which has been in use by the Indian Navy since 2005. The missile has a range of 180 miles and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 660 pounds.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Terrorists gunned down around Mahabad city by IRGC

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 25, IRNA -- Public Relations Department of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that its forces gunned down a number of terrorists in shootout around Mahabad city.

The clashes occurred at Sarve Abad border region in Mahabad, said the report.

A number of terrorists were killed during the clashes with the Iranian forces, it said.

Iranian forces are currently involved in cleanup operation in the region.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Friday evening that itas forces clashed with several terrorists of the counterrevolutionary group.

Clashes broke out near the village of Bengovin on suburbs of Mahabad.

1430**1416

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Terrorists killed in western Iran

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sat / 25 June 2016 / 15:46

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Forces of Iranian Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada Base killed a number of terrorists linked to anti-revolution groups in Sarvabad country in Kurdistan Province and Mahabad city in West Azerbaijan Province.

The base belongs to Ground Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, (IRGC) and the forces had clashes with the terrorist elements Friday night, the IRGC Ground Force said in a statement.

The statement noted that the forces are still continuing the operation to kill all of the terrorist elements.

End Item

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






IRGC engages militants in northwest Iran

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:9AM

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces have clashed with Kurdish militants who had infiltrated a northwestern village to stage terrorist and propagandist operations.

The confrontation took place in a village in the Mahabad County of West Azerbaijan Province.

An IRGC member, who asked not to be named, said the forces engaged the terrorists around Bengovin Village, and said the clashes continue. "The Corps' forces are still in the area and are trying to clear it [of militants]."

The militants had last week clashed with the IRGC in the Oshnavieh County, also in West Azerbaijan Province.

The IRGC is, meanwhile, watchful of terrorist movements throughout the country.

On Thursday, Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGC's Ground Forces, said the forces had captured two members of a terrorist group in the southwest, saying the detainees had admitted to US and Saudi support. The group had been dismantled in the city of Khash in Iran's Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province last week.

Additionally, after thwarting a Takfiri-Wahhabi plot to stage attacks in Iran's major cites including Tehran, the country's Intelligence Ministry released a video on Wednesday showing the security forces raiding the hideout of the terrorists in the capital.

A day earlier, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi had briefed reporters on the recent swoop, saying that as many as 10 terrorists had been apprehended from June 14 to 20 in Tehran and three border and central provinces.

It was also reported recently that Iranian security forces killed five members of a terrorist group in the Khash region.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Car bombing near hospital kills 4, injures 14 in Libya's Benghazi

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:29AM

A car bomb attack near a hospital in Libya's coastal city of Benghazi has left four civilians dead and 14 more wounded, medical officials say.

The explosives-laden car went off Friday night in front of the entrance of Benghazi's al-Jalaa hospital, one of the two largest in the war-torn city and where government-linked troops receive treatment for injuries.

"A car bomb exploded in front of the entrance of the hospital, killing four civilians and wounding 14 others," said the hospital's media department director, Fadia Berghathi.

Military sources in the eastern city said the blast "was caused by a sticky bomb planted under a car parked in front of the hospital."

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing.

Benghazi has witnessed fierce battles in the past two years between pro-government troops led by General Khalifa Haftar and armed militias, including Takfiri groups such as Daesh and the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia.

The hospital targeted in the Friday attack treats Haftar's forces and is reportedly often visited by his commanders.

The development came as pro-government forces thwarted a counterattack by Daesh terrorists who attempted to recapture their former stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte, 450 kilometers east of the capital, Tripoli.

The pro-government troops and allied militia forces launched an offensive on May 20 to liberate Sirte from the Daesh terror group.

Libya has been struggling to contain the Takfiri terrorists, who have been expanding their presence in the country since the overthrow and death of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Taking advantage of the political chaos in the country, Daesh took control of Sirte in June 2015, nearly four months after it declared presence in the city, making it the first city to be ruled by the group outside of Iraq and Syria.

Libya has had two rival governments since 2014, when politician Khalifa Ghweil and his self-proclaimed government seized control of the capital, Tripoli, with the support of militia groups, forcing the internationally-recognized government to move to the country's remote eastern city of Tobruk.

However, they achieved a consensus on forming a unity government, the GNA, last December after months of UN-brokered talks in Tunisia and Morocco, in a bid to restore order in the oil-rich nation.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






After 'Brexit' Vote, Fears Of EU Losing Influential Voice On Russia

June 24, 2016

by Carl Schreck

For several years now, the Kremlin and its allies have courted Euroskeptic political movements in what has been widely seen as an effort to undermine unity in the European Union's Russia policy -- including sanctions for Moscow's intervention in Ukraine.

Now, following the stunning result of June 23 "Brexit" referendum, the EU is set to lose one of its strongest proponents of a hard line on Russia, a development that some European officials say threatens the bloc's resolve in its dealings with Moscow.

"Nobody can imagine that our voice in the European Union will carry weight as of today," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC on June 24. He said the result of the referendum likely pleased Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I suspect this morning [Putin] is feeling a little less pressure and he'll be feeling a bit more upbeat about his prospects of eventually getting these European Union sanctions watered down," Hammond added.

Any impact of the Brexit vote on the EU's policy toward Russia is unlikely to be immediate, experts say. The process of Britain leaving is expected to take two years or more, during which time it will remain an EU member.

EU diplomats, meanwhile, agreed earlier this week to prolong Ukraine-related sanctions targeting Russia by another six months.

But Petras Austrevicius, a liberal member of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee from Lithuania, said that Britain "has always been a staunch and a very stable partner in terms of shaping the EU's policy toward Russia" and that "any diminishing" of its role in the bloc would negatively impact this policy.

"I believe it was very much in the Russian interest to see Brexit happen. Now we see a reality which is absolutely unfortunate, and this is a great sense of joy in the Kremlin," Austrevicius says. "In general terms, Brexit will in fact make the EU policy toward Russia less effective."

Polish politician Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, a member of European Parliament with the center-right European People's Party faction, says that the EU is more likely to waver on its Russian sanctions with Britain on its way out.

Poland, like Lithuania, is on Russia's western flank and was under Moscow's domain during Soviet times. Both countries are among the most vocal critics of the Kremlin in the EU and NATO.

Saryusz-Wolski says Poland will have "to compensate for the loss of Britain" in advocating for a tougher line on Moscow.

"So [it will be] an even bigger challenge ahead of Poland, an even more difficult task. But we have no choice. We have to live with it," he says.

Some members of the Russian political elite, including Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, have also suggested that Britain's exit from the EU will soften the bloc's stance on Russia sanctions.

Putin, however, said on June 24 that he does not believe Brexit will influence EU sanctions policy.

'A Balancing Role'

Relations between London and Moscow remain tense over issues such as Russia's forcible annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory and the war between Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The 2006 poisoning death of former KGB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko in London, a killing Britain has blamed on a sitting member of the Russian parliament, has also troubled bilateral ties.

The Russian Embassy in London calls the political dialogue between the two countries at the moment "non-existent" and accuses the British government of engaging "in hostile rhetoric" toward Moscow.

Rosa Balfour, a policy analyst from the German Marshall Fund, told RFE/RL that she does not expect significant changes in EU policy toward Russia in the short term, but that Britain's departure would leave the bloc without London's "nice balancing role" in the bloc's relations with Moscow.

"It has been firm [on] and critical of Russia but does not have the same existential anxiety that the central European states and the Baltic states have," Balfour said. "And so it will be felt if that element becomes absent."

Sam Greene, director of the Russian Institute at King's College in London, called suggestions by some Russian officials that Brexit would weaken sanctions against Moscow "wishful thinking."

"The reality is, (sanctions) didn't become something that Britain had really strong feelings aboutuntil it was absolutely sure that Germany had strong feelings about it," Greene told RFE/RL. "And the crux of the sanctions regime is the relationship between Washington and Berlin."

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have spearheaded the Western effort to punish Moscow for its actions in Ukraine.

Experts, however, see fissures emerging in Berlin's Russian policy. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier earlier this week called for greater dialogue with Moscow. His fellow Social Democrat, Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel, is reportedly set to meet Putin in Moscow next week.

"Germany is getting wobbly," Judy Dempsey, a policy analyst with Carnegie Europe, told RFE/RL. "The chancellor has so much stuff on her plate now that the last thing she wants is another problem building up over in Russia."

The Berlin-based Russian political analyst Leonid Bershidsky said on June 24 that "both the immediate matter of sanctions and the long-term state of the EU" -- and the bloc's relations with Washington -- have depended much more on continental powers like Germany than on Britain.

"If the EU becomes more cohesive without the U.K., which often pulled in the other direction, and if the U.S. plays a role, Brexit may end up being a setback for Putin's foreign policy goals," Bershidsky wrote.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, dpa, and DW.com

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/brexit-russia-eu- britain-influence-sanctions-policy/27819247.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






Putin's Pivot East Meets Tepid Chinese Enthusiasm

June 25, 2016

by Charles Recknagel

Vladimir Putin has invested a lot of energy trying to pivot eastward to China to counterbalance Western economic sanctions over Ukraine.

But when the Russian president visits Beijing on June 25, he is likely to find little enthusiasm on the Chinese side, partly due to China 's diminishing appetite for Russian natural gas amid its own economic slowdown.

Putin 's talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be the latest in a string of meetings that have seen the two leaders confer directly or on the sidelines of summits as often as five times a year recently. The frequency has fueled an impression that they are forging ever-closer relations based upon a mutual interest in energy, trade, and a desire to counter perceived U.S. global domination.

Yet that image, which seemed particularly convincing last year when Putin privileged Xi with a seat next to him as most Western leaders boycotted Russia 's annual Victory Day Parade due to Moscow 's interference in Ukraine, appears to be fading. The two leaders, it seems, are encountering the long-standing difficulty of converting talk of Russian-Chinese cooperation into reality.

The biggest item on Putin 's agenda as he visits Beijing illustrates the problem. Putin wants to push ahead with a landmark 30-year deal struck in 2014 under which Russia is to sell China natural gas worth $400 billion. But the actual process of building pipelines to deliver the gas has bogged down in squabbles over prices and, more fundamentally, apparent second thoughts in Beijing about how quickly it needs the gas.

One of the pipelines, dubbed Power of Siberia, is intended to bring gas from eastern Siberia into eastern China. The other, the Altai Pipeline, is to bring gas from western Siberia to China's northwest.

"I think [Putin] will get a message from the Chinese, which will be something like 'our gas market has changed, our outlook has changed, let's do Power of Siberia, see how that works, and then let's not sign anything new until we have that project [behind us],'" says Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies in Britain. "That's not a message that he will want to hear but my guess is that is roughly the message he will get from the Chinese side."

The contract for the Power of Siberia pipeline has already been signed and some construction is under way. But the enthusiasm that once saw both sides calling for it be completed by 2019 has now given way to aiming for 2021. A contract for the Altai Pipeline has yet to be signed and its future has grown cloudier as China 's need for gas weakens.

"Their gas demand has dramatically reduced in terms of its rate of increase," Stern says. "In the first half of 2010, their gas demand was increasing in double digits of 10 to 15 percent a year. But in 2015, and this year, we think it will be perhaps a 3 to 5 percent increase."

China 's economic growth, which ran around 10 percent a year in 2011, has plummeted in recent years as the country struggles with industrial overcapacity and other problems. Chinese officials are hoping for a 6.5 percent growth rate this year.

All that is bad news for Russia when it hopes to build trade with China to offset the slump of its own economy under the double burden of low oil prices and Western trade and financial sanctions slapped on Moscow in 2014 for its seizure of Crimea and backing of separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine. Most of Russia 's trade with China -- two-thirds -- is energy related, making energy the center of Moscow 's hopes for any significantly expanded trade.

Arms Sales

With prospects for fast progress on energy exports dimming, Putin may have better luck in China with Russia 's other big export item: military technology. In recent years, Moscow has sought to strike large deals with Beijing and has met with some success.

"Russian arms sales had, about a decade ago, plummeted to a very small amount but have subsequently come up quite significantly," says Jeffrey Mankoff of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

In April last year China and Russia finalized a long-awaited deal for a long-range S-400 air-defense missile system. The deal, reportedly worth $3 billion, was the largest Sino-Russian arms deal in over a decade.

But while big-ticket arms sales can be lucrative, they suffer from two limitations. One is that China remains a regional military rival for Russia, giving reasons for Moscow to be reluctant to transfer its most sophisticated technologies to its eastern neighbor. Another problem is that China is adept at copying arms that it buys, so that in the future sales dry up as China manufactures its own versions.

Beyond trade, Putin could have additional reasons to go to China, including bolstering his argument to the Russian public that Moscow still has powerful friends despite its confrontation with the West. He has underlined that point recently by showing solidarity with China in its territorial dispute with Japan over the East China Sea. Earlier this month both Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailed into the disputed waters in an exhibition of mutual support, though the two countries do not have a formal military alliance.

But many observers say that Russia 's attempted pivot to the east has limited prospects of going much beyond where it is now because ultimately it is not in China's interest to do what Moscow wants in return, a reciprocal pivot toward Russia. The reason is Beijing's main economic interests lie in its trade partnerships with the West.

"Chinese financial institutions have a lot more at stake in their relationship with the United States, and with the West more broadly, that they have proven understandably reluctant to jeopardize for the sake of the Russian market," Stern notes.

Total trade between the United States and China totaled about $600 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is roughly 10 times the value Chinese officials give for trade between Russia and China the same year: $60 billion.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-china-putin- pivot-east-meets-tepid-enthusiasm/27819833.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






Russia Hands Egypt Keys to Brand-New Corvette Warship

Sputnik News

17:36 25.06.2016(updated 17:38 25.06.2016)

Russian Navy spokesman Viktor Kochemazov has confirmed that Russia delivered a R-32 missile corvette to the Egyptian Navy.

The Russian Project 1241 class R-32 missile corvette has been handed to Egypt, RIA Novosti quoted Russian Navy spokesman Viktor Kochemazov as confirming on Saturday.

The warship will help Cairo counter terrorism not only on land but also at sea, Kochemazov said, without elaborating on when the vessel was delivered to Egyptian Navy.

In August 2015, it was reported that the Egyptian Defense Ministry said that they received the R-32, equipped with the Moskit missile system.The Ministry said at the time that a group of Egyptian sailors and engineers will be sent to Russia, where they will be trained ahead of being stationed aboard the R-32.

The Project 1241 ships are a class of Soviet missile corvettes which have the NATO reporting name Tarantul.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Russia, China Agree to Jointly Build Heavy Helicopter, Long-Range Plane

Sputnik News

14:25 25.06.2016(updated 19:41 25.06.2016)

According to reports, Russia and China signed deals to cooperate on the construction of a wide-fuselage long-range plane and a civil heavy-lift helicopter.

Russian and Chinese governments signed deals on Saturday to cooperate on the construction of a wide-fuselage long-range plane and a civil heavy-lift helicopter.

The two nations signed a memorandum on building a 250-300-seat plane to rival Airbus and Boeing during President Vladimir Putin's trip to Beijing in 2014.

A similar agreement between Russian Helicopters and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) was signed in May.

Sergei Popov, chief designer of the heavy helicopters department at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, told Sputnik that this joint venture involves the creation of a brand new helicopter instead of merely upgrading an already existing Russian design.

"This is going to be a brand new helicopter specifically tailored for the Chinese market and designed to perform in a variety of roles  transportation, evacuation, firefighting The helicopter's take-off weight may vary from 38.4 tonnes to 40.9 tonnes depending on the nature of the assignment. Its payload is estimated at 10 to 15 tonnes. The maximum range of the new helicopter will be about 630 kilometers; maximum speed  300 kilometers per hour; service ceiling  5,700 meters. The helicopter will be able to operate both during the day and at night and in any weather conditions," Popov said.

He also added that the project is 100 percent funded by the Chinese side, while their Russian colleagues will develop the helicopter's design according to the Chinese contractor's specifications.

The new helicopter is expected to make its first flight in 2020, and by 2024 it is supposed to be fully certified. The helicopter will likely be manufactured at an aircraft factory in Tianjin; the demand for it is currently being estimated at about 200 units.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Lebanon's Hezbollah Vows to Send More Fighters to Syria

by VOA News June 24, 2016

The leader of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah movement said Friday that the group would send more fighters to Syria to support the Damascus government.

Hassan Nasrallah declared in a speech that he was sending reinforcements to Aleppo province, where he said the "greatest" battle of the civil war was taking place.

"We will increase our presence in Aleppo," Nasrallah said. "Retreat is not permissible."

In a rare admission of casualties, Nasrallah also said 26 Hezbollah fighters who had arrived in Aleppo earlier were killed this month.

Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops. Last month, a top militant commander, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Syria.

More clashes near Manbij

In another development Friday, continued fierce fighting was reported around the Syrian city of Manbij, a key stronghold of Islamic State militants.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights, a monitoring group, said Syrian rebels backed by the United States had gained control of a wheat silo complex on the outskirts of Manbij, from which they could overlook much of the town.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a rebel coalition of Kurdish and Arab forces backed by aerial support from the U.S.-led coalition, has spent weeks slowly encircling Manbij, capturing villages on the outskirts of the city.

The head of the Syrian observatory, Rami Abdulrahman, told VOA on Thursday that clashes had begun for the first time on the southern side of the city.

"Two things are preventing the SDF from taking full control of the city: civilians who are being used by Daesh [as human shields] and booby traps that the group has planted all over the city," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Manbij had been one of the major supply lines for IS militants through areas of northern Syria they control. Local activists say loss of the town would be a significant setback for the terror group.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Syrian Kurds flee Daesh-held areas amid abductions

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 6:5PM

Daesh Takfiri terrorists have reportedly killed and injured several Kurdish people fleeing militant-held villages in northern Syria.

Opposition activists and a Kurdish official said Saturday that hundreds of Kurds were fleeing as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, and Turkmen fighters, backed by the People's Protection Units (YPG), engaged in clashes with Daesh militants inside Manbij city, a key stronghold of the terrorist group.

Sherfan Darwish, an SDF spokesman, said a 10-year-old girl was killed by Daesh sniper fire. One family who fled was also struck by a mine that killed two family members and wounded the other three, he added.

"Civilians are defying death in order to leave areas controlled by Daesh," Darwish said.

According to the head of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, many of those fleeing are heading to areas that were recently captured by the SDF south of the Daesh-held town of Mare.

Rami Abdel Rahman said terrorists had opened fire on those fleeing, killing several of them, including children.

According to Abdel Rahman, some 120 more Kurds have been abducted since Friday.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an activist-run monitoring group, also said Daesh terrorists opened fire at people trying to flee Manbij, and killed 10 of them, including children.

The Syria Democratic Council, the political wing of SDF, called on the international community and aid groups to supply those fleeing with whatever they need, saying many of them are in open areas.

The council said the world should help the SDF "prevent the occurrence of a catastrophe or a massacre," saying there were "indications" one might happen.

Manbij lies along the only Daesh supply line between the Syrian-Turkish border to the north and the extremist group's main stronghold, Raqqah, which lies to the southeast.

If Manbij is captured, it will be the biggest strategic defeat for Daesh in Syria since July 2015, when the terrorist group lost the strategically important town of Tal Abyad on Syria's border with Turkey.

The exodus of people from villages in northern Syria began after Daesh kidnapped about 900 Kurdish civilians in Aleppo province over the past three weeks.

Some of the abducted Kurds have been reportedly forced to build fortifications for Daesh while others are being used as human shields.

Syria has been gripped by a foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The Syrian army has vowed to press ahead with its counter-terror operations and drive terrorists out of their major positions.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Al-Nusra Front Shells Five Districts in Aleppo With Mortars

Sputnik News

23:34 25.06.2016(updated 00:02 26.06.2016)

The Al-Nusra Front terrorist organization, banned in Russia, continues to hamper truce in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry stated Saturday.

The Al-Nusra Front terrorist group has carried out attacks using multiple rocket launchers and mortars in five districts of Aleppo an in a number of locations in the Damascus and Aleppo provinces, according to the statement.

Al-Nusra Front is an affiliate of al-Qaeda and a rival of Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Al-Nusra Front is regarded as the second most powerful group after Daesh. Julani has been commander of the terrorist group since 2012.

The Russia-US brokered ceasefire regime in Syria came into force on February 27.

The Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeimim airbase registered a total of four violations of the ceasefire regime in Syria in the last 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The cessation of hostilities in Syria has been respected in most of Syrian provinces. However, a total of four violations of the ceasefire regime have been registered in Damascus province," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website.

The number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire regime in Syria has increased to 163, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Within the last 24 hours, a truce agreement has been reached with representatives of a settlement in the Aleppo province, bringing the total number of settlements that have joined ceasefire to 163," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






DPP caucus accuses China of 'blackmailing, coercing' Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

2016/06/25 19:15:27

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) The legislative caucus of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reacted angrily Sunday to China's suspension of official communications with Taiwan, saying that forcing Taiwanese to accept its version of the "1992 Consensus" is tantamount to "blackmailing and coercing."

Wu Ping-jui (), secretary-general of the DPP caucus at the Legislative Yuan, was commenting on China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan's rejection a day earlier of Taiwan's protest over the handover of Taiwanese fraud suspects caught overseas to the Chinese authorities.

An, while stating the reason for China ignoring Taiwan's protest, said for the first time that the cross-Taiwan Strait communication mechanism "has been suspended" since the new government was sworn in in Taipei last month, because the new government refuses to recognize the "1992 Consensus," which he said is the political foundation for cross-strait relations that embodies the one-China principle.

Previous Kuomintag (KMT) governments have accepted the consensus, which espouses the "one China" principle, with each side free to interpret what it means.

President Tsai Ing-wen (), in her inauguration address May 20, declared that she will work hard to maintain the existing mechanisms for dialogue and seek cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, without overtly stating her position on the "1992 Consensus."

The mechanisms to which Tsai referred include the Constitution of the Republic of China and the historical facts of 1992 that include "various joint acknowledgements and understandings" between the two sides of the strait through negotiation.

"It is based on such existing realities and political foundations that the stable and peaceful development of the cross-strait relationship must be continuously promoted," she said.

For Beijing, the only "political foundation" for continued cross-strait dialogue is its version of the "1992 Consensus," with little leeway for Taiwan to assert its version of "one China."

Wu said Taiwanese voters have chosen not to accept the "1992 Consensus" by rejecting the KMT and electing a DPP government, and yet China has persistently demanded that the Tsai administration accept it -- an move that he said will simply "toughen up Taiwanese determination."

If China adamantly pushes Taiwanese to accept the "1992 Consensus," "do they mean to decide for us what to choose?" Wu said. "This is not done in any democratic country."

He cited what the British have done in their EU membership referendum, in which each and every British citizen was able to show his or her will, he said.

No one will accept China's "blackmail and coercion," he said.

Johnny Chiang (), deputy secretary-general of the KMT legislative caucus, said that even if the Tsai government does not accept the "1992 Consensus," it should come up with a set of measures to continue cross-strait interaction and exchanges and to solve problems arising from the current deadlock.

Tsai has claimed that her government is one that "solves problems," Chiang said. "Now we're waiting to see how she solves (cross-strait) problems."

Her "political foundations" have four key elements.

The first is the fact of the 1992 talks between the semi-official Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, when there was joint acknowledgement of setting aside differences to seek common ground, she said in her inauguration address.

The second element is the existing ROC constitutional order, while the third element pertains to the outcomes of over 20 years of negotiations and interactions across the strait.

The fourth element "relates to the democratic principle and prevalent will of the people of Taiwan," said the president.

Her attitude toward cross-strait affairs, she said, will be based on the ROC Constitution, the Act Governing Relations between the People of Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and other relevant legislation.

(By Liu Kuan-ting and S.C. Chang)

ENDITEM/J

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Cross-strait communication suspended after May 20: Chinese official

ROC Central News Agency

2016/06/25 11:20:25

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) China on Saturday rejected Taiwan's protest over the handover of Taiwanese fraud suspects caught overseas to Chinese authorities, saying for the first time that the cross-Taiwan Strait communications mechanism "has been suspended" since a new government was sworn in in Taipei last month.

An Fengshan, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, was answering reporters' questions about Taipei's protest over Cambodia's decision to accept Beijing's demand and send Taiwanese telecommunications fraud suspects to China for prosecution.

The mechanism for contact and communication between China and Taiwan "has been suspended" since the Taiwan side, after May 20, has not recognized the 1992 Consensus, which he said is the political foundation for cross-strait relations that embodies the one-China principle.

Beijing has said repeatedly that Taiwan's new government under President Tsai Ing-wen () must accept the 1992 Consensus for the relatively warm bilateral ties over the last eight years to continue. Under the consensus, which was reached after cross-strait talks in 1992, the two sides agree there is only one China but each side is free to interpret its meaning.

Efforts to fight telecom fraud according to law and to protect the rights of victims have won the support of the people in both China and Taiwan, An added.

He said that there were 25 Taiwanese in the group of 39 suspects sent to China Friday but earlier reports indicated that the group sent to Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province included 18 Taiwan nationals.

An's comments came after Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council issued a press release Friday voicing regrets and protest over China's failure to respect the appeal by Taiwan that no more Taiwanese suspects should be sent to China until the two sides can work out a set of principles on how to handle such issues.

Taiwan's government has come under some domestic pressure and has tried to prevent Taiwan nationals arrested overseas from being deported to China although that pressure has eased somewhat after revelations that tens of thousands of Taiwanese, many of whom operate overseas to avoid detection, may be engaging in fraud activities that target Chinese as well as Taiwanese citizens.

Dozens of Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects were sent from Kenya and Malaysia to China earlier this year, triggering some angry response and prominent media coverage at the time.

In contrast, reports on the latest deportation were buried in the newspapers Saturday by coverage on the day-long strike by China Airlines flight attendants and Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

(By Yin Chun-chieh and Jay Chen)

ENDITEM

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Beijing cuts contact with Taiwan over Tsai pro-indep. stance

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:45AM

China has cut off contact with the main Taiwan liaison body as a result of the refusal of the self-ruled island nation's new president to recognize the so-called One China concept.

In a statement posted on the website of China's Taiwan Affairs Office on Saturday, spokesman An Fengshan said communication had been stopped since May 20, when Tsai Ing-wen took office.

"Because the Taiwan side has been unable to confirm the '92 consensus that embodies the common political foundation of the One-China principle, the mechanism for contact and communication between the two sides has already been suspended," An added.

The consensus refers to an agreement reached in 1992 between Beijing and Taipei, under which both sides acknowledged the existence of a single Chinese nation comprising both Taiwan and the mainland.

Tsai of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in as Taiwan's first female leader, after winning a landslide victory in January.

Since then, Beijing has insisted that the Taiwanese chief executive must recognize the so-called One China concept, but Tsai has neither endorsed nor repudiated the notion.

Saturday's announcement came one day after Cambodia deported to China 25 Taiwanese nationals wanted on fraud charges; in a move which irked Taipei.

China and Taiwan are physically separated by the Taiwan Strait in the west Pacific Ocean.

They split politically following the 1927-1950 Chinese Civil War and there have been no formal cross-strait diplomatic relations ever since.

China regards Taiwan as part of its territory, but the island considers Beijing as a threat, an attitude which has been invigorated since the DPP's victory.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Mainland China Suspends Cross-Strait Communication With Taiwan

Sputnik News

10:38 25.06.2016(updated 10:46 25.06.2016)

Mainland China has suspended the the cross-Taiwan Strait communication mechanism after Taiwan refused to recognize the 1992 Consensus, An Fengshan, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Saturday.

BEIJING (Sputnik)  In 1992, representatives of mainland China and Taiwan, reached consensus that they recognized both sides as "one China". The consensus, however, remains unrecognized by many political forces in Taiwan.

The communication mechanism between China and Taiwan "has been suspended", following May 20, when Taiwan failed to recognize the 1992 Consensus, An was quoted as saying by Focus Taiwan news channel.

In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government was defeated by the Communists and had to flee from continental China to Taiwan, where it formed a separate government and declared itself to be the Republic of China.

Since then, relations between China and Taiwan have been strained, as China refuses to recognize Taiwan as a separate and independent political and diplomatic entity.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Turkey detains 28 over alleged links to exiled cleric Gulen

Iran Press TV

Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:16PM

Turkey has reportedly arrested more than two dozen people for allegedly funding the movement of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen whom the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regards as an opponent.

Turkey's Dogan news agency said on Saturday that some 28 people were detained during police raids across the country as part of a probe into their alleged links to Gulen, a cleric based in the United States.

It said that the investigation included the head of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), adding that the police were searching for 23 other people in Istanbul and southern provinces of Konya, Kayseri and Mugla.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of running a "parallel state" aimed at usurping him, while the judiciary has officially called the cleric the leader of Fethullahaci Terror Organization/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY), which seeks to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities.

Gulen was once regarded as a major ally for Erdogan, but relations broke in 2013 when police and prosecutors seen as close to Gulen opened a corruption probe into the inner circle of Erdogan, who was then the prime minister.

Numerous police operations have been carried out since the summer of 2014 to round up allies of Gulen with thousands, including police officers, prosecutors and judges, sacked or reassigned over links to Gulen.

Additionally, several media outlets with ties to Gulen have been seized or shut down.

The opposition figure has been based in the United States since 1999, when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities. Ankara's request for the cleric's extradition has been met with cold response from Washington.

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Turkish Parliament Grants Immunity to Military for Anti-Kurdish Campaigns

Sputnik News

01:07 25.06.2016(updated 06:37 25.06.2016)

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey voted Thursday to not prosecute soldiers engaged in a crackdown on Kurdish separatist groups.

New legislation, which will require military or parliamentary permission to indict soldiers, will be retroactively applied, to cover all operations coordinated over the previous year. Military court jurisdiction has been expanded as well.

The parliament granted immunity to security, military personnel and civil servants who conducted "counterterrorism" campaigns against the Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) in Syria, northern Iraq and southeast Turkey.

Human rights organizations are concerned that the new law could make investigating violations more burdensome. The United Nations has been unsettled by military operations in the last year in densely populated areas with a Kurdish majority.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that almost 500 soldiers and police officers been killed and 7,500 PKK militants have been "neutralized." The military claimed that six Turkish soldiers were killed in two attacks on Friday. Four soldiers were killed near the Iraqi border when an improvised explosive device detonated in Hakkari Province. This was in response to two soldiers being shot and killed by militants in the town of Derik, in Mardin Province.

Over the past few months, Ankara has been locked in a large-scale conflict with the PKK in northern Iraq and Syria, and at Turkey's southern border. This campaign began in response to a July 2015 bombing that killed more than 30 people in the southern Turkish town of Suruc.

 Sputnik

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






EU Ministers Call On Britain To Quickly Start Exit Process

June 25, 2016

by RFE/RL

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the European Union's six founding states want Britain to begin leaving the union "as soon as possible" in order to keep the bloc from being stranded in political "limbo."

Steinmeier made the remark after hosting crisis talks on June 25 with the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

The talks came as more than 2 million Britons signed an online petition urging the government to hold a second referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, signaling the extraordinary divisiveness of the vote to leave the 28-nation bloc.

Steinmeier said the six original states of the European Union "join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible so we don't end up in an extended limbo period, but rather, can focus on the future of Europe and the work toward it."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the June 25 crisis talks that it "shouldn't take forever" for exit negotiations with Britain to begin, but she said the decision is a matter that is up to Britain.

European Council President Donald Tusk, meanwhile, appointed a Belgian diplomat to coordinate negotiations with Britain on its exit from the EU.

Didier Seeuws was chief of staff to Herman Van Rompuy, Tusk's Belgian predecessor as chairman of EU summits, until 2014. He was a spokesman for Guy Verhofstadt when the liberal leader in the European Parliament, a strong advocate of deeper EU integration, was Belgian prime minister in 1999-2008.

To begin the process, Britain must give formal notice of its intention to leave the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

But under Britain's constitution, that move would require an act of Parliament that goes through both chambers of the legislatures and all of its committee stages.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on June 24 that he would resign from office before October, but would continue at his post for the next three months to guide the country.

Cameron also suggested that he would not invoke Article 50, but instead, would leave that formal notification process to Britain's next government.

Other European leaders want to ensure the transition is economically, politically, and socially as painless as possible.

They've stressed the importance of a quick transition that reduces uncertainties on financial markets, which were pummeled on June 24 by news of the results from the so-called Brexit referendum.

But although 52 percent of voters in Britain's June 23 referendum sided with leaving the EU, compared to 48 percent who voted to remain in the bloc, the referendum is not legally binding.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on June 25 called for Cameron to resign within the coming days and for Britain to quickly begin negotiations on its exit from the EU.

Ayrault also said pressure would be "very strong" on Cameron to speed up the process on June 28 when he is scheduled to attend an EU summit.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said after the emergency crisis talks near Berlin on June 25 that the ministers don't want a political vacuum after the Brexit vote.

He said the days and weeks ahead would not be business as usual.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said after the June 25 talks that Britain should not "play a game of cat-and-mouse" by delaying the start of the exit negotiations.

The talks came amid a petition to parliament that called on the government to "implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 percent, based a turnout less than 75 percent, there should be another referendum."

Parliament is obliged to "consider for a debate" all petitions attracting more than 100,000 signatures.

Cameron has previously said that holding a second referendum would not be possible.

More than 130,000 people signed another petition urging London Mayor Sadiq Khan to "Declare London independent from the U.K. and apply to join the EU."

Scottish Vote 'Highly Likely'

Meanwhile, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on June 25 that Scotland would launch immediate talks with the EU and was determined to remain in the bloc if the rest of Britain leaves.

On June 24, Sturgeon said it was "highly likely" that Scotland will conduct its own referendum on independence from the United Kingdom if Britain begins the process of leaving the EU on the basis of the nonbinding referendum.

Scotland voted to remain as an EU member in the June 23 referendum.

A 2014 referendum on Scottish independence was defeated, with many voters saying the wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom in order to remain a part of the EU.

In comments published in German newspapers on June 25, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed concern that anti-EU "populists" in other countries, emboldened by Britain's vote, could push for similar referendums on leaving the EU.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/eu-brexit-crisis-talks/27819800.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






Britain Wakes Up to Reality of Going It Alone

by Luis Ramirez June 25, 2016

For some Britons, waking up Saturday felt like a hangover, facing the reality of the financial and political earthquake that followed the decision by the country's voters to leave the European Union.

Public opinion polls showed the "Remain" camp  those who wanted to keep Britain in the EU  was favored heading into Thursday's referendum. So the victory by those who wanted to leave the EU surprised most Britons  even those who favored the British exit, or Brexit, from the European alliance.

The "Leave" campaign's margin of victory was narrow but decisive, confirmed before dawn Friday.

Ever since, social media have been buzzing with postings reflecting both anger and concern, as expected, from those who voted to remain. Twitter hashtags like #whathavewedone abound. One post featured a cartoon showing the British isles alone on a globe, with the captions "Free at last" and "Who are we going to blame for our problems now?"

Some media, using the newly coined phrase "Regrexit," quoted voters who had cast Leave ballots as saying the immediate impact of what they had achieved made them regret their actions.

Anger and other emotions stirred by immigration, sovereignty and economic issues animated many of those who voted to leave. And since pre-referendum opinion surveys indicated they were likely to lose the referendum, even some fervent supporters of Brexit did not believe they would win.

"Personally, I didn't think we would vote 'out,' even though I voted 'out' myself," London resident Kiran Sagoo told VOA.

Quick reaction

The sobering effects of the decision came down quickly. Within the first 24 hours, markets plummeted, the British pound dropped to its lowest level in three decades, the country's credit rating was downgraded to negative, and new threats of the disintegration of Britain itself emerged.

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon held a Cabinet meeting to discuss her government's position. Sturgeon said it was "unacceptable" for Scotland to be forced out of the EU when a solid majority of Scottish voters chose to remain. She predicted a renewed attempt to win a referendum declaring Scotland independent of the rest of the United Kingdom.

After her Cabinet meeting Saturday, Sturgeon told reporters her team would meet with EU officials to discuss their options "to protect Scotland's place in the EU."

Irish border issues

Brexit also is stoking separatist sentiment in Northern Ireland, the only part of Britain that has a land border with an EU member  Ireland.

Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness renewed his calls for a referendum that would allow Northern Ireland to separate from Britain and reunify with the Republic of Ireland. "If there is a vote in Britain to leave the EU, there is a democratic imperative to provide [the people of Northern Ireland] with the right to vote in a border poll to end partition and retain a role in the EU," McGuinness said.

The prospect of Britain's departure from the EU, which could take years, already has triggered a rise in the number of people in Northern Ireland applying to obtain Republic of Ireland passports, according to postal officials in the British province. Google reported that the number of online searches for Irish passport applications doubled after the referendum outcome was confirmed.

Economists appeared to be the only ones who were not surprised or dazed by Brexit's immediate aftermath.

Four days before the vote, HSBC chief economist Simon Wells sent a note to clients forecasting a 15 percent drop in the value of the pound and a plunge in the FTSE 100.

Economic upheaval to continue?

The index of the London Stock Exchange's 100 largest companies plunged steeply early Friday but recovered later to close down 3.15 percent.

"We were expecting some short-term economic pain. There might be a few people who journalists might have gotten hold of who say they didn't realize what they were voting for. That's the case in any election," said Keith Boyfield, a London economist.

"I always expected there to be a lot of noise and a lot of commotion following the actual results, and I suspect this will continue for several days," he added.

Some economists felt the British pound was overvalued when it rose to $1.49 against the U.S. currency just before the bulk of the votes came in, a time when polls were suggesting a Remain victory and investors were confident.

Leave supporters are pinning their hopes on the possibility that a lower pound may increase British exports, rebalance the currency and fuel an export-based economy.

How to leave the EU

Despite some reasons for confidence, uncertainty loomed large as questions arose in Britain of how the divorce would be carried out. The process of disengaging from the EU has neither precedent nor playbook.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the defeated Remain movement, has said he does not intend to invoke Article 50 of the European Treaty, the formal action triggering negotiations for a member state's departure. Cameron, who resigned Friday, effective October 1, said that would up to his successor.

European Union members on Saturday urged a departure as soon as possible.

The British government, not the EU, must initiate the process of disengagement; the treaty calls for up to two years of negotiations, and some analysts estimated the complicated process would take much longer.

British and EU officials will have to negotiate the terms of departure and untangle both sides' financial regulations and tariffs, and the rights of citizens of both entities to freedom of movement.

Some blame US

All of these complications were spelled out in advance to voters, in leaflets, social media, public announcements, billboards and news interviews. But the information by itself was not what influenced many voters who chose the exit option.

Some of those who cited sovereignty as their main reason for voting to leave said U.S. President Barack Obama helped them make the decision when he visited Britain in April. He warned Britons their country would "go to the back of the queue" on trade deals if it left the European Union, and some found that advice hard to take.

"We wanted our democracy back. We wanted to take control control of our country," said London voter Trevor Bayley. "I think your president unwittingly had a part to play in that. He tried to shore up the establishment vote, and people didn't like to be told what to do."

For members of London's large community of EU expatriates  citizens of other European nations living in Britain  the concern was palpable Saturday.

"I don't know what's going to happen. I could be illegal in a few months," said Ana, a Portuguese nurse who spoke to VOA in London's Marylebone borough.

"I'm not going anywhere now," said Camille, a resident of Fulham, a West London neighborhood that is home to a sizable French expatriate community. "My husband and I work here. Our children are here. We have been here for seven years, but we'll see. We will leave if it becomes unlivable."

NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address






Why does a city with a violent crime problem spend $2 million per year to save $2 million per year?

Danville Adult Detentions inmates  men convicted of non-violent offenses  cut grass in the summer, shovel snow and ice in the winter and do just about anything else the city government needs.

It costs the taxpayers about $2 million to operate Danville Adult Detention, and its estimated it saves the city government about $2 million per year, according to Director Frank Mardavich.

Danville is the only Virginia city that still has its own freestanding city farm  a relic of a bygone era thats alive and well on South Boston Road. Virginias other remaining adult detention centers  in Martinsville and Southampton County  operate as extensions of the local sheriffs department.

The entire community, over the past 75 years, has bought into this idea and everyday accepts it, Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot told us in February.

Broadfoot is correct the community has bought into the idea. But other Virginia cities and counties somehow manage to get the grass cut and the snow and ice shoveled. Danville locks people up for non-violent offenses and then pays them $2 per day to do that work.

Is this something Danville needs in 2016?

Its ridiculous to think Danville Adult Detention is some sort of job-training program, as Broadfoot and Mardavich told our reporter.

Prison and jail inmates have substantial reasons to cooperate with their guards. Just because a jail inmate pushes a lawnmower when hes told to does not mean hes learning valuable job skills that will turn his life around once hes released.

If that were true, there would be adult detention facilities all over the country.

So why does Danville spend $2 million to save $2 million?

The reason Danville Adult Detention chugs on is no one on Danville City Council asks the tough questions about how much this municipal prison really costs our community. Beyond the obvious question  why dont all Virginia cities and counties have their own adult detention centers  here are questions that deserve answers:

 How does operating a municipal prison help Danville solve its violent crime problem or expand its overcrowded city jail?;

 How much would it cost to hire private contractors to do the work done by city farm inmates?;

 How many other workforce development programs already exist in the Dan River Region?;

 If the argument is the city is teaching skills to the inmates by having them cut grass, whats the recidivism rate for Danville Adult Detention inmates?; and

 Why isnt the city teaching inmates to take the GED? Why not offer a full schedule of anti-drug, healthy lifestyle courses?

Danville has a lot of serious problems. At this point, how does Danville Adult Detention help to solve them? The answer is, it doesnt. And in fact, it may be creating them.
In the face of a burgeoning dating app culture, are punters swiping left on traditional bar hookups?

The commentators on New York Magazine's popular Sex Lifes podcast think so, likening an rendezvous with a fellow barfly to "hiring someone without seeing their resume".

Apps like Tinder have destroyed nightlife in New York, they recently said, labelling the good old bar embrace as "weird and rare".

Time to face up: Does Tinder really work for women? Photo: Simon Schluter

"If you flirt with someone, it's like complete insanity, you're not supposed to do that," writer and comedian Phoebe Robinson said. "If they don't have someone to talk to, they call someone in [via an app]."

In July last year, it was estimated that 15 per cent of Aussies use Tinder, verifying that the once-sleazy platform has turned mainstream. Now we have Happn (based on proximity), Bumble (the girl has to talk first) and Hinge (based on your social networks), among others.

Before the digital dating revolution, hitting a bar was the pathway to passion for most singles, fuelled by the social lubricants of alcohol and supportive mates.

Ramblin' Rascal Tavern bartender Charlie Lehmann believes old-fashioned two-drinks-in romance is alive and well. Photo: Daniel Munoz

Can we still fall in lust, without knowing if the potential philanderer is inclined to the odd gym selfie, or prefers cats to dogs? And, more importantly, are bars still the same good-time venues without the promise of swipe-free affection?

Orlan Erin Raleigh, co-owner of Jangling Jacks in Sydney's Potts Point, thinks that it all comes down to the actual venue, but overall, dating apps have been a positive thing for small bars in particular.

"Tinder forces people to go out and try new things, try new bars, and maybe suggest to the other person that they just give somewhere new a go," Raleigh said.

Advertisement

"You can 100 per cent tell when people are on a first date; there is usually one person waiting and other walks in, looks around nervously and goes 'hi, are you so-and-so?'. There's a booth at the front we call the 'kissing booth' because there's often a good make-out session there."

In the pick-up stakes, there's one kind of bar that has a major advantage: those with limited reception.

"We get no reception. It means that no phones ring in the bar, and people are usually looking around, interacting and listening to the music."

That means at Jangling Jacks, and Sydney's slew of underground bars, such as the city's The Baxter Inn and Darlinghurst's Shady Pines, patrons who haven't scored a match before going out are forced to pick up at the old-fashioned way.

Back above ground, not all hope is lost. At Ramblin' Rascal, in Sydney's CBD, old-fashioned two-drinks-in romance is alive and well, according to bartender Charlie Lehmann.

"It's a small space so you have to interact with the people around you. There's nowhere to run and hide. I was talking to two girls in here the other night, and group of guys came over and approached them," Lehmann said.

"Australians tend to be more outgoing and welcoming that people in the states; what we do in hospitality is very different to London, New York or Tokyo. It's a very Australian thing to sit and talk to someone that you've never met before."

Myffy Rigby, national Good Food Guides editor and creative director of Good Food Month, reckons that digital dating platforms can also create a fresh spate of IRL awkwardness far worse than the usual by-the-bar rejection.

"I was at the bar with some pals and a guy came up to me and said, 'I swiped right on you on Tinder', to which I said, 'Oh, that's nice, I'm flattered. I'm going over here with my friends now'."

The wannabe Tinderella then quietly followed her to another bar, surprising her with a tap on the shoulder and a propensity to hover.

"I wasn't sure what he expected to get out of it  it's a little bit creepy, like a double attack. But then I recognised a guy from a dating app in real life, but I got too shy to approach him, which I never normally would.

"There's a double whammy of creepiness, and then a double whammy of real rejection as well."

As far as bar atmosphere goes, Rigby said that our reliance on phones is more damaging than the actual apps.

"It's the addiction to being distracted that's ruining bars. I think dating apps like Tinder, Bumble or Happn are just distractions  how often do you actually people up with the people? It's just a game; it even says, 'Do you want to keep playing?'," she said.

"Rather than talking to the person next to you, you're trying to order the McDonalds of people, looking for that elusive Big Mac, when it could be sitting right next to you. People aren't talking as much and that ruins the atmosphere of the bar."
America has a serious love affair with food. Huge, delicious, steaming portions of almost everything imaginable that seem to ooze a certain tastiness that's seldom found anywhere else in the world.

It doesn't even have to be your stock-standard 'American' fare, either. From Korean to Mexican, German to Japanese - the US of A has mastered the culinary scene with such aplomb that it makes any trip to the 'land of the free' a constant war on weight.

But banish the scales for now because you're going to want to savour every last bit of the delectable buffet on offer. Your only problem should be that with so many options available, how can you be sure to choose the right one? Or the best one? Or the newest one? Or the quirkiest one?

Los Angeles is a veritable smorgasbord of digestible delights. Photo: iStock

That's where local knowledge comes into play. We stayed in an Airbnb smack in the middle of Hollywood and looked to our host, Michael, to guide us through the veritable smorgasbord that is Los Angeles. Here are some of his top local tips.

Junk right in

Nowhere on the planet does junk food like the US. On almost every street corner in the City of Angels you can find some form of quick, calorific goodness - be it McDonald's or Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, Carl's Jr or Chick-fil-A. But none invoke the kind of fast-food fervour quite like In-N-Out Burger.

A firm favourite of our Angeleno host, In-N-Out dishes up the kind of burgers you're likely to dream about. Plump, fluffy buns hold together delicious, handmade meat patties that are so tender and moist you'll be eyeing the counter for round two before you've finished your first sitting.

Downtown's Wurstkuche serves up wacky delights like Rattlesnake and Rabbit sausages. Photo: Supplied

Add to the mix their 'Not So Secret' menu and suddenly you can transform an 'ordinary' cheeseburger into a 'four by four' 'animal style' beast (which roughly translates to: four mustard cooked beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, In-N-Out's secret spread, four slices of American cheese, onions, all stacked high on a freshly baked bun).

Rattle and snake

Truth be told, if you've just demolished the monster above you're not going to be hungry for a week. But this is LA - so loosen the belt buckle and head Downtown to seek out Wurstkuche (800 E 3rd St). This place is an exotic bar and grill that specialises in serving wacky sausage sandwiches with Belgian fries. Grab hold of a Rattlesnake and Rabbit sausage topped with jalapeno peppers - and wash the fiery (but delicious) creation down with one of their 24 imported tap beers.

Speaking of sausage, Pink's Hot Dogs in Hollywood (709 N La Brea Ave) is a Los Angeles institution that shouldn't be missed. Serving the city for 76 years, lines of hungry locals lead the way to what's been rated as one of the best hot dog purveyors in America. Don't be surprised to see stars like Brad Pitt or Bruce Willis waiting patiently in line until it's their turn to order a famous chili dog (rumour has it Orson Welles once ate 18 in one sitting).

Advertisement

Mr C is in the house

LA isn't just about fast-food and takeaway. In a city flush with money, fine dining certainly stakes an important place at the table. And while it would be criminal to eschew the incredible meat and martini offerings from STK or BOA, Mr C's Restaurant in Beverly Hills (1224 Beverwil Dr) is one place well worth a splurge.

As the only Cipriani restaurant on the west coast, Mr C has all the signature dishes of its more famous New York (and Italian) cousins. To start, sample a signature bellini beside a plate of decadent beef carpaccio. Then move onto the drool-inducing baked white tagliolini with ham, and add a baby artichoke avocado salad as the accompaniment. If there's any room for dessert, have a quick glance up to the bar to see what might take your fancy or just dive right in and order the Vanilla Meringue Cake. Exquisite.

Au Fudge

In a town full of celebrities, it's only fitting that a celebrity run establishment is making some serious foodie waves - and West Hollywood's Au Fudge (9010 Melrose Ave) is doing just that. Actress Jessica Biel is a part-owner of this hot, new family-centric spot that churns out fun and satisfying dishes and cocktails.

Au Fudge in Hollywood serves up fun and tasty treats for the whole family. Photo: Supplied

The 'deviled egg-lets' are sensational, the vegan caesar salad (of quinoa, avocado, golden raisins and pepitas) is a luscious homage to healthy living and the house burger drips with deliciousness. Pair it with a Jessica Rabbit's Rabbit cocktail (which involves tequila, mezcal, agave, jalapeno and black volcanic salt) and you won't be leaving anytime soon.

The best bit? Not the stairs to the secret children's cubbyhouse hidden behind a bookcase but the fact that they stock Australia's Vittoria coffee, a big tick for serious coffee aficionados.

G'day LA

For other little slices of home in LA - Aussie Amanda Archer runs the newly renovated Cannon Club in Beverly Hills (340 N Canon Dr), Downtown gives you the superb Bronzed Aussie pie shop (714a S Los Angeles St) and Goldie's in West Hollywood dishes up antipodean goodness (8422 W 3rd St).

El Matador, one of LA's legendary taco trucks. Photo: Michael (Airbnb host)

A couple of other notable additions from our local in the know are Tatsu Ramen in West Hollywood, the tomato soup from the Bourgeois Pig, and the El Matador Taco Truck on Western Blvd. Or for the biggest burrito you're likely to ever lay your eyes upon - head out east to El Tepeyac.

Happy eating!

The writer stayed in Los Angeles as a guest of Airbnb
Volatility in the oil and gas industry has created many problems within the industry for the past three decades. Prices have risen and fallen at least five times since 1986.

Back in 1984 when the first bust was beginning, the Texas Railroad Commission came to the industry with a new problem that involved a lot of oil and gas producers going out of business and leaving the state with orphaned wells that needed to be plugged. Orphaned wells are those that do not have an owner and they have not been plugged.

The RRC did not have the funds budgeted from the Legislature to plug the wells, so the commissioners asked the industry to fund the pluggings with the creation of the Well Plugging Fund. The first year it raised a little over $1.1 million and 177 wells were plugged.

Financial conditions in the industry deteriorated from 1984 to 1991. Even though the fund raised $16 million and 4,078 wells were plugged, the RRC could not keep up with the increase in orphaned wells. It needed more money. The commissioners went to the Texas Legislature and the Oil Field Cleanup Fund was created, and the industry was assessed a series of fees in 1991 that were capped at $10 million annually.

The Legislature increased the cap to $20 million in 2001, and in 2013 it changed the name to the Oil and Gas Regulation and Cleanup Fund.

Overall, the RRC has plugged 35,378 wells with $256 million since 1984.

Additionally, the RRC has cleaned 5,720 sites at a cost of $70 million since 1992.

The fund does not replace the liability of each owner of oil and gas wells from their plugging liability, according to the RRC's annual report for fiscal year 2015.

The Legislature also implemented in 2001 a financial assurance program that requires a blanket bond, letter of credit, or cash deposit by every operator based on the number of wells in the company.

"The commission's regulatory goals are to eliminate the threat of pollution posed by orphaned unplugged wells and to minimize the number of orphan wells requiring plugging with Oil and Gas Regulation and Cleanup funds," the report stated.

Not all of the orphaned wells are immediate threats to the environment. The RRC has implemented a comprehensive evaluation system to determine which wells need to be plugged first.

In 2015, 413 wells were plugged out of a total of 5,644 wells removed from inventory. The largest number (4,262) were reinstated when the operator's permit was renewed. Some of the orphaned wells (701) were sold to other operators, or returned to active status (177).

While some critics claim that the future liability to the state is $165 million to plug all of the orphaned wells, supporters point out that not all of the wells must be plugged. Most will be reworked and put back into production. Others will be sold. Less than 10 percent will be plugged by the RRC.

If the RRC plugs a well with money from the fund, the Attorney General may initiate legal action against the responsible operator for collection of the plugging cost and civil penalties may be assessed.

The Legislature, the RRC and the industry realize that not all orphaned wells are a liability and need to be plugged immediately. The program protects the environment, while allowing industry to take ownership and put them back into production.

Even though the dramatic rise and fall in oil and natural gas prices has an impact on a company's profitability, the state has devised a process during bad times where uneconomic wells can be maintained until prices rebound.

The inactive well program has been so successful that other states have modeled their program after the program developed by the RRC.

Alex Mills is President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. The opinions expressed are solely of the author.
SHARE This undated photo provided by Osborne and Little shows wallpaper created by Londoner Nina Campbell. Campbell's new Fontibre collection for Osborne & Little is inspired by the travels of her great uncle, who was an accomplished watercolorist. Campbell's Fontibre pattern, shown here, is named after the source of the River Ebro in the Iberian Peninsula and features an arrangement of stylized painted foliage. (Simon Brown/Osborne and Little via AP) This undated image provided by Elli Popp shows wallpaper created by artist Katje Behre. Behre creates ethereal wallpaper designs for her Elli Popp studio that take one on a fantastic journey to imaginative, faraway places. She's inspired by the stories of Jules Verne as well the countryside, space and vintage photography. (Elli Popp via AP) This undated image provided by Elli Popp shows wallpaper created by artist Katje Behre. Behre creates ethereal wallpaper designs for her Elli Popp studio that take one on a fantastic journey to imaginative, faraway places. She's inspired by the stories of Jules Verne as well the countryside, space and vintage photography. (Elli Popp via AP)

By KIM COOK, Associated Press

Wallpaper goes in and out of fashion. Right now, it's enjoying an "in" moment.

There are wildly creative designs coming out of studios all over the world. Some of the best take us on a journey to far-flung places both real and imagined.

Londoner Nina Campbell's new Fontibre collection for Osborne & Little is inspired by the travels of of her great uncle, watercolorist Robert Hello Hutchinson Keightley. Her design Keightley's Folio is a gallery of his small landscape paintings, punctuated by little rosettes. Barbary Toile depicts a troupe of mischievous monkeys gamboling around the Rock of Gibraltar. (www.osborneandlittle.com )

Matthew Williamson, also of London, found inspiration for his new collections in pre-revolutionary Cuba and the Amazon. Tropical motifs meet lush colors in wallpapers that are vibrant and evocative.

Flamingo Club has a retro feel, with pale pink flamingos strutting among orchids and ferns against a turquoise background. A summer trip to Costa Rica led to the creation of Williamson's Arici paper, on which playful parrots perch and swoop, their brightly hued wings brushed with gold. Slinky big cats prowl through a forest of peacock feathers on Leopardo, a print with a '70s vibe.

"I usually reference leopards when I'm looking to create a print that feels powerful, dynamic and full of energy," Williamson says. "The print is a little bit wild  just like the animal itself." (www.matthewwilliamson.com )

Beastie Boy band member Mike Diamond and designer Vincent Ficarra of the company Revolver New York collaborated on a design for Flavor Paper called Brooklyn Toile. It incorporates Diamond's favorite memories of Brooklyn, featuring vignettes of Coney Island, the elevated subway, stroller moms and rap artist Notorious B.I.G. (www.flavorpaper.com )

The Australian company Milton and King's Funky collection of wallpapers depicts city life around the world, in far from conventional ways. Cheeky, colorful illustrations give us a sky-top view of giant robots battling between Tokyo's skyscrapers; discos and firemen's cookouts light up the streets of New York City; imps ride the London Eye. (www.miltonandking.com )

German designer Katja Behre, based in London, takes us in a different direction: a dream-like journey into surreal worlds. In a color palette that blends moody blues and grays with bronze and starlight, the wallpapers are playful and evocative.

In Les Voyages Fantastiques and La Terre a La Lune, characters in vintage photographs find themselves on faraway worlds, leaping from rocky promontories or boating on celestial seas.

Behre says she and her design team were captivated by Jules Verne's stories.

"Tales of journeys through space, or deep into the center of the earth. We're inspired by turn-of-the-century scientific discoveries and travels, as well as other worlds and the cosmos," she says. (www.ellipopp.co.uk )

Finally, at Anthropologie, Louisianan artist Rebecca Rebouche brings us into her Enchanted Forest. It's a whimsical wood where butterflies are the same size as hot air balloons, trees don party hats, and seahorses have tea on a sunken sailing ship. Wonderland's Alice would love it on her wall. (www.anthropologie.com )
SHARE Contributed photo Whereas ducks have webbing that adjoins adjacent toes, coots have lobes on each toe. Both anatomical conditions seem to serve swimming behavior well.

By Terry Maxwell

Every bird that floats on the water is not a duck.

The American coot (Fulica americana) is a duck-sized black bird with a white bill that floats on water. It's often given the nickname mudhen. In winter, it's common at San Angelo. A few persist into the summer months but their breeding has never been documented here.

Although ducks and coots both paddle around on the water, they are genetically quite distant from each other. For example, whereas ducks have webbing that adjoins adjacent toes, coots have lobes on each toe. Both anatomical conditions seem to serve swimming behavior well.

Coots belong in the bird family of rails. Rails basically are marsh birds, but coots are the most aquatic of the rails. The expected habitat of rails is marsh vegetation (cattail and bulrush for examples). They live secretively deep within the marsh and reveal their presence with loud sounds, "Eeeeek, eeeeek." Coots spend much more time clearly visible in open water. Whether hidden in the marsh or exposed in the open, coots also are highly vocal, uttering a selection of loud grunts, croaks, and squawks.

They are predominantly herbivores  plant eaters. So are most ducks. Coots feed on products of emergent aquatic plants, submerge the head to feed on plants just below the surface, or dive for deeper plants. They also come ashore to graze like cattle on land. In one study of coot stomach contents, plant products totaled 89 percent of ingested food, with the remaining 11 percent being animal matter. The animals consumed were small  larval insects, mollusks, crustaceans, spiders and a few tiny vertebrates such as fish.

Coots occur throughout most of North, Central and South America. Most coots in the Concho Valley arrive in fall in migratory flights following cold fronts. They migrate at night when the air is more stable and cooler. Little is known about their flight altitudes, but what little information we have suggests flights at around 5,000 feet or more. One struck an airplane at 4,500 feet. Most of them leave in a spring migration in April with the bulk of them gone by late May.

Sometimes coots aggregate in near unbelievable numbers. In 1974, heavy rains in Reagan County filled the big lake south of Big Lake. The bird spectacle there that fall and winter was astounding. The first official state records of red-necked grebe and Heermann's gull were on that lake. There were loons and unusual ducks (scoters for instance), and there were coots, coots and more coots. You cannot imagine what 10,000 coots looked like on that lake. I still do not understand what was feeding that many coots.

Another issue about that phenomenon is the question of how coots found that body of water in the first place. I do not know the frequency of the lake filling from heavy rainfall runoff, but it isn't very often (less than once every 20 to 30 years by some estimates). Presumably some coot migratory flights as a matter of normal occurrence pass over terrain with little water, so there they take advantage of rare water events when they happen. It must be something like that.

I would be remiss to omit one last observation. Watching them, you would think them poor fliers. The spectacle of coots taking to the air from a start on the water is misleading. Becoming airborne requires splattering on the water surface. Splattering is running on the water surface with feet sending up water spray. All that splattering says nothing about how well they can fly. Just remember, a coot that nested in Alberta, Canada, can spend the winter on Lake Nasworthy in the Concho Valley and return to Alberta in the same year. Nothing about that involves poor flying.

Terry Maxwell, Ph.D., is a retired professor of biology at Angelo State University. He can be reached at terry.maxwell@angelo.edu.
SHARE

Major gets Officer of Year for intel work

By Matthew Waller

Amid the rocky crags of places such as Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers need all the information they can muster to draw the enemy out of hiding or to survive attacks.

That's where Air Force Maj. David Quinene comes in. As an instructor at Goodfellow Air Force Base, he has been teaching young airmen about such intelligence operations using his experience in the Middle East.

Now his experience has been recognized on a national level as an honoree in the Air Force's Gen. John P. Jumper Awards for Excellence in Warfighting Integration.

"It's a huge honor and a privilege," Quinene said.

He was named Outstanding Warfighting Integration Officer of the Year.

Far from claiming any particular bravado in getting the award, Quinene gave credit to those who helped him over the years.

"There are a lot of people involved," he said.

Quinene said the award comes from putting together different forms of intelligence to help those in a tight spot.

He said that in an ambush situation with troops of different nationalities, for example, he could use air and land intelligence to advise the troops on where the enemy is or what it might do.

"It's the new intelligence," Quinene said. "It's more than just gathering intelligence. ... We were successful in fusing a lot of intel, ground and air."

He said intelligence operations that can turn information into critical strategies are needed now more than ever.

He said he used to have a class come through every month. Now that has doubled, with a class coming through every two weeks.

"Coalition forces are attacked on the spot," Quinene said. "It's hard to predict what's going on. ... We're constantly providing as much support as we can to the theater."

The major, who has been with the Air Force 10 years, said he was deployed for several months last year to Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, he prepares military personnel to do the job he has been performing.

"I love molding and helping make a brand new intelligence officers," Quinene said.

Quinene said the challenge he faces in teaching is inspiring students to have "gumption and moxie" so that they can boldly tell military personnel what they need.

Besides preparing future generations for intelligence use, Quinene said he enjoys intel-driven warfare itself.

"I really do enjoy predicting what the enemy will do," Quinene said.

The award Quinene received is one of three top awards given by the Air Force. Nearly 400 people were nominated for the awards, according to an Air Force news release.

An awards ceremony is planned May 13 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

"The culmination of their efforts to contribute to and support vital Air Force missions and operations led to their selection as the very best of an outstanding group of officers, enlisted, and civilians," Lt. Gen. William T. Lord said in the release.

Originally from Killeen, Quinene said he was stationed at Fort Mead in Maryland before going to Goodfellow.

He said his father's Army career inspired him to join the armed forces.

"I always wanted to do the military route," Quinene said. "It's the best way to give back to the country."
Shashank Bengali/Los Angeles Times/TNS A tiger named Arrowhead in Ranthambore National Park, India.

SHARE Shashank Bengali/Los Angeles Times/TNS Dharmendra Khandal (right) head of Tiger Watch in Ranthambore National Park, reviews photos captured by two village wildlife trackers.

Villagers collect records of the big cats

By Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

RANTHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK, India  In a gravelly riverbed blooming with dry desert brush, conservationist Dharmendra Khandal pointed to the spot where villagers once set a deadly trap for two young male tigers.

A few years ago, a tiger had wandered into a field at the edge of Ranthambore, a famed wildlife reserve, and mauled two goats belonging to a farmer. In retaliation, he injected pesticide into the goat carcasses, a common method of killing tigers who return to feed on their slaughter.

Two goatherds walked alongside Khandal, nodding in understanding. Their community had long viewed tigers as a threat. But instead of opposing the great predator, they have become unlikely players in a decadelong battle to save it.

Armed with special cameras, 30 villagers have collected the most detailed records ever of the movements of the big cats along the edges of one of Indias main tiger sanctuaries. Their work has offered new information about the pathways tigers use to move in and out of the reserve, giving officials a chance to protect the endangered species habitat in the ever shrinking forests of central India.

The innovative project comes as Indias tiger population  the largest in the world  experiences a remarkable comeback.

In 2006, a national census found that as few as 1,165 tigers remained from an estimated population of 45,000 a century ago. Poaching, shrinking habitats, disappearing prey and conflicts with humans posed such a threat that conservationists worried that the 10-foot cat would someday become extinct.

By 2014, however, Indias official tally of tigers had almost doubled. That drove the worldwide population of wild tigers up to at least 3,890 this year  the first recorded global increase after decades of decline.

Indian authorities had acquired more accurate counting methods, but conservationists agreed the recovery was also due to improvements in Indias forest service and greater local efforts to combat poaching and other human threats.

At the center of the battle in Ranthambore is Khandal, a tall, thick-mustached scientist who runs an organization called Tiger Watch out of a prefab office outside the national park in the northwestern state of Rajasthan.

Khandal, 42, has watched the tiger population of the park  a former hunting ground for Rajasthani royals  swell from 18 in 2005 to as many as 60 adults and cubs today. About 10 tigers are born every year now in and around Ranthambore, offering tourists hardy enough to withstand 115-degree summer heat among the best chances anywhere to see the animals in the wild.

On a scorching morning recently, a cluster of jeeps and open-top buses gathered below a rocky hillside to observe the tigress Mala, or necklace, named for the broken stripes along her side that resemble a string of beads. After a long, lazy stretch, Mala suddenly stood up. Instantly, she darted across a bed of rocks and into a clutch of golden brush where she had spotted a large sambar deer.

Mala clawed at the giant prey, then climbed on top and smothered the fallen deer. Tourists stared slack-jawed as Mala lay there for several minutes before dragging the fleshy body up the hillside under the shade of a tree.

Its much easier to see the tigers than before, said a rail-thin guide with thick black hair who goes by Ved, who has worked here for two decades. But the disturbances to the park and the animals are more and more.

More than 150 villages are within a little more than a mile of Ranthambores boundaries, a thick human density that would challenge any wildlife sanctuary but particularly one that houses tigers  the ultimate solitary beast.

As the tigers range farther afield to find space and prey, it has put them in increasingly direct conflict with farmers and herders.

Last year, a 10-year-old male popularly known as Ustad (meaning master) was confined to captivity after he mauled a park ranger, his fourth human victim in five years. This March, a tigress known as T-35 who left the park years earlier was found dead of a suspected poisoning in a forest 70 miles from Ranthambore.

T-35s journey underscored that Ranthambore is part of a network of tiger habitats stretching across hundreds of miles. To ensure that the population continues to thrive, forest officials are trying to map and protect the corridors tigers use to move in the wild.

The challenge now isnt that the tiger population is declining  its that its growing, Khandal said. Inside the park is the forest departments job. But it was becoming clear that you also had to look at was going on outside.

He found allies in the Gujjars, a tribal community that raises sheep and goats in the scrubland ringing the park.

In early 2013, Khandal met Hanuman Singh Gujjar, a goatherd who was working with the state forest department. For about $25 a month, Gujjar would send forest officials information about tigers he spotted near the windswept fields outside the park where he lived.

When the forest department stopped paying Gujjar, saying they couldnt afford to hire him full time, Khandal stepped in with funding from Tiger Watch. A young male tiger was on the move from Ranthambore. Khandal gave Gujjar a camera trap  a camera fitted with an infrared motion sensor, used to capture images of animals in the wild  and the goatherd set off on an old motorcycle.

Over the next six weeks, Gujjar followed the tiger through the bush for nearly 150 tire-blistering miles, tracking its pugmarks, capturing photos and marking GPS positions on a cellphone.

We realized how much time they take, how far they travel, the routes they use to cross rivers and canals, Khandal said. It fine-tuned our knowledge.

With forest department support, Khandal now employs about 30 villagers as wildlife trackers, paying each about $40 a month.

On a recent afternoon, his cellphone buzzed every few minutes with photographs from the trackers cameras. Hidden behind tree branches or near the carcasses of prey, the cameras have obtained images of elusive predators such as tigers, leopards and even the caracal, a pointy-eared cat that is a rare sight in Ranthambore.

The information has helped forest officials chart three corridors tigers use to move between Ranthambore and the nearby Kailadevi sanctuary. Last month, authorities finalized a proposal to relocate five villages and compensate residents to reduce pressure on the pathways.

These villagers have done some extraordinary work so far, said Y.K. Sahu, field director at Ranthambore. What we have discovered is we cant work in seclusion. We need help from the local population.

Khandal, who holds a doctorate in wetland ecology, does not consider himself a tiger expert. Smaller animals have long been his passion. His cellphone ringtones are birdcalls, and he devoted his early career to discovering new spider species in Indian forests.

When he was hired by Tiger Watch in 2003, poaching was the gravest threat to the predators, mainly because of demand in China for tiger parts that are used in traditional medicines, worn as charms or eaten as delicacies.

Khandal went after the killers with brio, leading raids on suspects homes that helped authorities capture more than 70 people, 40 weapons and dozens of skins.

Yet poaching and seizures of tiger parts are rising. The Wildlife Protection Society of India says at least 30 tigers have been lost to illegal killings in the first half of 2016, the most in any six-month period since the group began tracking the crimes eight years ago.

India may be doing well in terms of numbers of tigers, but the poaching problem and demand from China is getting worse, said Belinda Wright, the societys executive director.

The wildlife trackers in Ranthambore have gathered dozens of tips on poaching networks and passed them on to authorities. They have found and defused crude bombs used to kill small animals  made of gunpowder packed into balls of dough  that deprive predators of their prey and have sometimes injured humans.

Last month, a camera trap captured an image of two men on a motorcycle with a high-powered flashlight and guns slung over their shoulders. Police tracked down the bike, but the suspected poachers remain at large.

People here want to protect the tigers; we just want to make sure that we, too, are protected, said Naresh Gujjar Sawta, 28, who has worked with Tiger Watch since 2014. We all live in this forest so it makes sense that we look out for them.
SHARE

AMARILLO

Wheat board OKs research funds

The Texas Wheat Producers Board recently approved the allocation of $291,000 for research initiatives for the 2016-2017 fiscal year during its May board of directors meeting.

The record-breaking research budget, which will fund 15 research projects over the next year, surpasses last year's budget by $21,000. Some of the research projects approved for the upcoming year include the wheat breeding program, the statewide Uniform Variety Trials, and a study designed to develop improved nitrogen recommendations across multiple growing regions.

"Research is a major focus for the board," said Jody Bellah, chairman of the TWPB Research Committee. "Investing checkoff dollars into research enhances the economic potential of growing wheat, and it provides farmers across the state better resources and wheat varieties to make good management decisions on their farms."

The Texas Wheat Producers Board is a statewide board funded by a voluntary 2 cents per bushel checkoff program. Checkoff funds are used for research, market development and education to further the wheat industry in Texas and support the profitability of wheat producers. For more information visit texaswheat.org.

BROWNWOOD

Program to address brush concerns

A range and brush management program beginning at 4 p.m. July 7 will be at the Brown County Fairgrounds, 4206 U.S. Highway 377 South in Brownwood.

"We have had a really wet spring, so most pastures are covered in weeds, many of which are toxic to livestock," said Scott Anderson, Brown County agricultural agent.

"Unwanted brush species continue to encroach and take over good grazing land. Some of the leading experts in the state will be making presentations to address these and other problems," Anderson said.

Individual registration is $30 payable upon arrival for those who RSVP by July 1 and $40 thereafter. Fees include a catered meal.

For more information or to RSVP, call Anderson at 325-646-0366.

SAN ANGELO

FSA committee nominations sought

Nomination are being sought for elections for the Farm Service Agency's 2016 county committees.

"FSA county committees are a vital and direct link between our farm community and the U.S. Department of Agriculture," said Michael P. Sturm, county executive director for Tom Green-Coke/Sterling FSA.

"I encourage all eligible farmers and ranchers, especially women, minorities and beginning farmers, to get involved by making a nomination and voting in this year's county committee elections," Sturm said. "This is a great podium for your concerns and opinions to be heard."

The nomination period started June 15 and runs through Aug. 1. Forms must be postmarked by close of business Aug. 1.

See nomination forms and other information at fsa.usda.gov/elections or call Sturm at 325-653-1246.

 Compiled by Jerry Lackey
SHARE

By Ray Vigil

Ramadan, which began on June 6 this year, is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran. This is only one of many different religious celebrations that will take place in America, as we are one of the most diverse countries on the Earth. This is what makes us special  this is what makes us strong.

Social Security embraces diversity. We provide benefits for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference. You can see that by reading our blog. Social Security Matters covers issues concerning many different religious and ethnic communities. Our articles and guest posts are tagged by topic at blog.socialsecurity.gov.

We also strive to provide everyone with superior service, something that people of all backgrounds can appreciate. Social Security rolled out a new service that allows some of our customers to request a replacement Social Security card online using a secure "my Social Security" account from the comfort of home. You can create or log into your personal "my Social Security" account at socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.

When you open a "my Social Security" account, we protect your information by using strict identity verification and security features. The application process has built-in features to detect fraud and confirm your identity.

In certain cases, security experts at Social Security will contact you to ensure it is a legitimate application. We only issue a replacement card if there's no suspicion of fraud and only mail it to a verified address.

To take advantage of this new service option, you must:

Have or create a "my Social Security" account;

Have a valid driver's license in a participating state or the District of Columbia. (or a state-issued identification card in some states);

Be age 18 or older and a United States citizen with a domestic U.S. mailing address (this includes APO, FPO, and DPO addresses); and

Not be requesting a name change or any other changes to your card.

We plan to add more states, so we encourage you to check with us later in the year.

Before you request a replacement card online, you may want to consider whether you need to get a replacement card at all. Most times, knowing your number is what's important. You'll rarely need the card itself, perhaps only when you get a new job and have to show it to your employer.

If you decide that you do need a replacement card, log into your personal "my Social Security" account and select "Request a Replacement Card." Next, answer the screening questions to confirm eligibility, complete personal identification data, and you're done.

Making Social Security accessible for everyone is part of the inclusion we strive for. For more information about our online services that help millions of people each year, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov.

Ray Vigil is the Social Security public affairs specialist in El Paso.
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates at Leave.Eu party as results come through on June 24, 2016 in Westminster. (Andrew Parsons/i-Images/Zuma Press/TNS)
June 26, 1952

The Supreme Court declared yesterday that the recitation of a nonsectarian prayer, instigated by the state, in the New Hyde Park, N.Y., schools violated the First Amendment prohibition against the establishment of any religion by the government. Twenty attorneys general from other states told the court that the 22-word New York prayer did not violate the Constitution. However, the New York Civil Liberties Union, which sponsored the case brought by five Long Island parents, called the decision a milestone in the development of the guarantee of separation of church and state.
BETHESDA, Md.  The PGA Tour canceled the Greenbrier Classic, scheduled for July 7-10, on Saturday because of devastating flooding in West Virginia.

The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs has been was inundated with floodwater after heavy storms rolled into the state Thursday. Tour officials say the Old White TPC, the host course, suffered extensive damage and "is beyond reasonable repair to conduct the tournament."

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said officials were heartbroken by the devastation in West Virginia and offered their thoughts and prayers.

"Canceling the Greenbrier Classic is certainly the most prudent course of action as our foremost concern is the well-being of those who are having to live through this tragic situation," Finchem said.

Greenbrier County had 15 of the 23 deaths attributed to the flooding.

This is the first time a PGA Tour event has been washed out since the Viking Classic in Madison, Mississippi, in 2009. Unplayable conditions also led to the cancellation of the 1996 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

More than 150 players had committed to playing the Greenbrier, which was set to follow the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational. The PGA Tour is at Congressional this weekend for Tiger Woods' Quicken Loans National, where the West Virginia floods are a topic of much conversation.

"I was saying on the range, and a lot of players (were saying) we're not really worried about the golf tournament," Erik Compton said. "We're more worried about the community. First-most, you've got to get the community back. There's plenty of time for golf."

Harold Varner III was set to be in the field at the Greenbrier but said the cancellation paled in comparison what's going on to the people of West Virginia.

"People are dying there," Varner said. "When people start losing their lives, golf's kind of thrown on the backburner."

The Greenbrier was supposed to be the final chance to qualify for the British Open at Royal Troon on July 14-17, with one spot available to the highest finisher who was not already eligible. Andy Pazder, the tour's chief of operations, said the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which runs the British Open, was deciding what to do with that spot.

One possibility is to award it to the Barracuda Championship, to be played next week opposite the WGC-Bridgestone.

At the Greenbrier, owner Jim Justice said the focus is on helping the people of West Virginia.

"So many have lost loved ones, their homes, and have no place to go," Justice said. "All of us are united with only one common goal: to help the people through this terrible time."

The Greenbrier Classic began in 2010. The PGA Tour is committed to holding the event through 2021.

"We know we will have the opportunity to return again next year, and we look forward to that time," Finchem said. "But for now, that is of secondary concern. The priority is safety of the residents and their recovery from this disaster."
Charlotte Rogan, of Westport, was 58 in 2012, when she saw her first novel, Lifeboat, published with about as much success as any writer could hope fo r, regardless of their age.

Lifeboat was nominated for several top international literary prizes, translated into 26 languages and has been optioned for a movie starring Anne Hathaway, a fan of the novel. So too were celebrated authors like Hilary Mantel and J.M. Coetzee, who honored it with blurbs.

Now Rogan is back with a second novel, Now and Again, that is astonishingly different in style.

Lifeboat has one main character, the 22-year-old Grace Winter, who is also the narrator, and one very constricted setting, a dangerously overloaded lifeboat wallowing in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Now and Again has two principle characters, who never quite meet, and 10 supporting ones. The time is this century, not 100 years ago, and the action of its twinned stories takes place in Oklahoma and Arizona for one set of characters, and mainly in industrial New Jersey and the Iraq war zone for the other.

Some authors might have chosen to cater to their newly won audience with a sequel. But in an interview back home midway through a national book tour, Rogan said she wasnt tempted, even when Lifeboat readers asked for one.

I thought, hell no. Its gone. Its totally closed to me. I couldnt go back there, if I wanted to. For me there has to be a bigger project besides the story, she says.

For Now and Again that bigger project grew to embrace a host of current political issues, from the alienation of Gulf War veterans to mass incarceration to mass document leaks, a la Edward Snowden, and to explore how they intersect with more abiding concerns like the imperatives and risks of doing good.

The novel was bleeding out into the world, exceeding its own boundaries. It became far more ambitious. It was a bigger canvas, she says. Events were coming through me and going into the book.

Rogan wrote the bulk of Now and Again in her dining room, with notes spread out over the table, after seeing Lifeboat through its final editing, and also seeing her triplet children graduate from college.

They are part of what makes Rogans own story as a writer so extraordinary. Originally from Mount Kisco, N.Y., she majored in architecture at Princeton, worked, married, had the triplets and then, as she says in her website bio, spent 25 years as a closet writer, mostly in Dallas. (Her husbands transfer to New York brought them to Westport in 2010.)

During those closeted years, where she had little contact with other writers, Rogan wrote and put aside several novels, Lifeboat among them, and started on what became Now and Again. As different as they are, both had similar origins.

For Lifeboat, it was an article in one of her husbands law books about shipwreck survivors charged with crimes. For Now and Again, it was a blog posting by an Oklahoma man who quit his job at a munitions factory in protest of the Iraq War.

I dont know what the story is when I start. Its by writing that I find the story, Rogan says of her method. With Lifeboat, Grace came to me defending herself against something that happened in a lifeboat. I didnt know what that was. I just knew I had a woman who had done something really terrible.

In Now and Again, the man who quit in protest became a woman living in a small Oklahoma city with a husband and teenage son. Naming her Maggie Rayburn, Rogan intended the novel to be about how the Iraq War was experienced domestically. Maggie is compelled to quit her job after seeing a secret report about health hazards at the munitions plant. But Rogan couldnt keep herself at home.

I didnt think I was going to go to Iraq, she says. I didnt want to write about soldiers. I didnt think I was qualified. But the soldiers came to me. (The main one is a guilt-ridden officer named Penn Sinclair.) I kept getting new characters and  if I was going to say no to the characters that come to me, I would say no to the writing altogether. Because thats how it works for me.

Rogan says her real writing begins when characters more or less start to talk to her. Theyll pop into my head and have something to say. So Ill start writing about that character. Ill have chapters that maybe arent in logical order. So at some point I have to make it coherent.

Coherence is achieved by doing outlines of chapters as they grow, so she can see how or whether they fit together. Like many novelists, she also is a researcher, filling many file boxes with notes and references. For Now and Again, to get the battleground details right, she interviewed soldiers and had them read sections of the manuscript. For Lifeboat, she worked from a diagram that told her where each of the 39 initial survivors was sitting.

Like Lifeboat, Now and Again also is a philosophical novel in the sense that it asks questions about knowledge and morality. In Now and Again almost every character is put in a situation where they must decide the right course of action.

The interview with Rogan took place shortly before she gave a book talk at the Westport Library. She cited some of her readings on altruism and said she had to ask herself whether writing fiction was the best use of her time.

Fiction at least encourages the use of imagination, she said. And it takes imagination to know how hard it is to do the right thing. And how hard it is to know what the right thing is.

Joel Lang is an award-winning Connecticut journalist.
Shutterstock

Amidst international upheaval in the wake of the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union, President Barack Obama spent the day at Stanford University praising the entrepreneurial community at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit alongside Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"The world needs your creativity and your energy and your vision," he said in his opening remarks. "You're going to be what helps this process of global integration work in a way that works for everyone and not just some. I believe we are better off in a world where we are trading and networking and communicating and sharing ideas. That also means that cultures are colliding and sometimes that's disruptive and people get worried. You're the bridge. You're the glue."
The next BlackBerry smartphone will be unveiled next month, according to the company's CEO. He's also previously said to expect two cheaper offerings this year compared to the high-end Priv - one with a physical keyboard and one without.

That all-touchscreen model could be the one seeing the light of day in July, as it turns out. And TCL, the Chinese company best known elsewhere for making alcatel-branded phones, might be the one manufacturing it.

There's not a lot of evidence for this yet, however, and what we do have is mostly circumstantial, as they'd say. But bear with us. A TCL device with the product name DTEK 50 has been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is odd because DTEK is the name of the privacy suite that ships on the BlackBerry Priv. But wait, there's more! The model number for TCL's device is listed as STH100-2, which strangely manages to fully adhere to BlackBerry's way of using model numbers for its products (case in point - the Priv is STV100-1).

This is all corroborated, let's say, by an older rumor that claimed BlackBerry and TCL signed some kind of cooperation agreement a while back. That mumbling went on to say that the first result of this new partnership would be the smartphone we've known from past leaks as the BlackBerry Hamburg, which would apparently be based on the alcatel Idol 4.

The Hamburg will come with a 5.2-inch 1080p touchscreen and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 chipset, as revealed by a benchmark run. The Idol 4 has the exact same screen size and resolution, but uses the Snapdragon 617 instead. That said, all of the other specs of the Hamburg that were leaked through that benchmark result are identical to the Idol 4's.

So it could be the case that this new BlackBerry will be nothing but a rebranded alcatel Idol 4 with a different SoC. On the other hand, it might look different but be based on the same innards as the Idol 4. Or it could be a different phone altogether and the specs matching is just a coincidence. We'll know for sure next month.

Source 1  Source 2




Haiti - FLASH : An American student shot in Port-au-Prince





Thursday in Port-au-Prince, a woman medical student at the Tulane University (Louisiana), accompanied by another student was victim at 6:45 p.m. of a violent armed robbery. During the assault, the student was injured by bullets in the hand and chest, according to officials from the American University.



The student whose condition was stabilized was transported from a Haitian hospital to a Miami hospital for treatment of his injuries. She and 8 other students were in Haiti as part of a School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine maternal and child health program operating in Petion-ville.



Following this incident, all students of the program have left Haiti.



In a note, "Tulane University is reaching out to the victim of this terrible crime as well as all students involved in this program in order to ensure their safety and emotional well-being."



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Students attacked the UEH Research House





Friday several dozen students supported by teachers, oming from a street demonstration nearby, broke into a building at 31 of the Babiole street which houses the "Research House" (Maison de la Recherche) of the State University of Haiti (UEH). Note that this structure of the UEH, sharing the room with a banquet and conference center, which were in operation at the time of the incident. In addition, the room is a private residence where the owner also lives with his family.



sing a heavy metal part, the attackers smashed the rear window of a car parked in the yard, and then the bay window that serves as the entrance to the Research House.



A patrol of the National Police of Haiti, quickly arrived at the scene, was able to avoid the worst by preventing the demonstrators to force their way into the building, shouting threats against the institution's leaders, including Fritz Deshommes the Rector of the UEH, whom they accuse of being a member of the Group of 184 (anti Aristide).



In a note "The Rector strongly condemns this aggression against the University and the private establishment. It asks the police and judicial authorities to identify and prosecute the perpetrators, co-perpetrators and sponsors of this savage act."



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : Two Dominican soldiers attacked by illegal Haitians





Saturday around 4:00 am, a Captain and a Sergeant of the Dominican army on patrol in the Los Palos Blancos community (Dajabon sector) have surprised a large group of illegal Haitian migrants who were trying to reach other cities and villages of the country by this clandestine border crossing point. Haitian armed with knives and machetes brutally assaulted them before escaping with the military weapons.



Because of his severe injury (fracture of the base of skull and various other head trauma, facial and nasal) Captain Berto Ramirez Tejada was rushed to the Matias Ramon Mella Hospital in Dajabon as well as the Sergeant Santo Pena Plata who suffered head injuries. The two men later were transferred to a major hospital center in Santiago because of the severity of their injuries.



According to General of the Fourth Brigade Ramon E. Jimenez Pena, Captain Berto Ramirez Tejada is in critical condition. Moreover he stated that 4 Haitian nationals had been arrested Saturday on suspicion of involvement in the attack against the two Dominican soldiers. The others undocumented migrants who have fled are actively sought. The stolen gun has not been found yet.



SL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/06/26 | Source

Korea's current account surplus from trade with China and the U.S. dropped almost 20 percent last year.

Advertisement

The decline is partly due to sluggish economies in China and the U.S., but Korea's overall current account surplus actually rose around 25 percent in 2015 to US$105.9 billion thanks to low global oil prices.

According to preliminary figures for 2015 announced by the Bank of Korea on Friday, the surplus from trade with China fell 19 percent to $45.1 billion, down for the second year after peaking at $56.7 billion in 2013.

The BOK said exports of display panels and chemical products dropped, depleting the goods surplus account surplus, while the service account surplus also dwindled.

The surplus from trade with the U.S. also plunged more than 17 percent over the same period to $33.9 billion.

The main reason is a widening deficit in tourism, intellectual property and other service sectors. The service account deficit with the U.S. soared to a record $14.4 billion last year.

But Korea's deficit in trade with the Middle East fell around $45.6 billion to $34.4 billion due to low oil prices.

The average price of Dubai crude last year stood at $51.10 a barrel, down $45.30 compared to 2014, resulting in less money spent on importing crude oil.

Korea's account deficit with the EU also shrank more than 30 percent as imports of petroleum products dropped markedly.

But the perennial deficit in trade with Japan widened from $16.2 billion in 2014 to $19.7 billion as fewer Japanese tourists came to Korea and more Koreans went to Japan.

Declining exports also reduced the surplus in trade with Southeast Asia and Latin America by 16 percent and 19 percent.

Global exports fell around 13 percent last year, but Korea's dropped only around eight percent.
Published on 2016/06/26 | Source

An Instagram boom among young Koreans has caught the beady eye of marketers, who noticed how many are using the instant photo site to share information on fashion, restaurants and holiday spots.

Advertisement

Instagram hashtags direct users to collections of photos with links to popular businesses, and many feel it is more honest than the privileged searches of Google and other engines.

Joo Su-ji (29), a housewife, said, "I was fooled many times by search results that were actually marketing gimmicks and ended up going to lousy restaurants or cafes. But social media information comes from people who actually went there and tends to be more credible".

But marketers are already on to the trend. Instagram now has over 6 million monthly active users in Korea, significantly boosting advertising appeal.

"We're using Instagram as a key brand campaign channel to reach out to young customers who are drawn more to images than words", said Park Sung-young, a PR manager at LG Electronics

But the risk is that advertisers pay off users with a large following to plug their wares, which in turn merely reduces their credibility and creates another worthless advertising platform.

Instagram was bought by Facebook in April 2014 and reached over 400 million subscribers last September, just nine months after hitting the 300-million mark.
Published on 2016/06/26 | Source

Makgeolli or traditional rice wine is bouncing back after domestic sales and exports went downhill in 2011.

Advertisement

A wide range of new makgeolli products has captivated consumers in Korea, while diversified markets have led to a rise in exports.

Makgeolli sales at Lotte Mart plunged 13.3 percent in 2013 but grew 22.2 percent so far this year. In April, carbonated and fruit-flavored makgeolli were popular, driving up overall sales.

Exports are also growing as shipments, which had been mostly going to Japan, are now headed to other markets.

In 2011, when makgeolli exports peaked, nearly 90 percent of foreign sales were to Japan. But then bilateral relations chilled and the popularity of Korean TV soaps and movies waned, so exports to Japan plummeted.

Kooksoondang began exporting its fruit-flavored makgeolli to 16 countries in 2013 and saw exports rebound in 2014. Now it sells them to 25 countries and sales grew 16.2 percent last year.

Small brewers are also introducing new products, such as makgeolli brewed with tangerines from Jeju Island or containing ginseng.

Makgeolli exports to China rose 70 percent from 1,306 tons in 2011 to 2,230 tons last year. Over the same period, exports to Hong Kong rose 11-fold, to Singapore threefold and to Cambodia rose 10-fold.
Published on 2016/06/26 | Source

A senior engineer with France's Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie briefs reporters on a feasibility study for a new airport at the government complex in Sejong, South Chungcheong Province on Tuesday.

Advertisement

The government on Tuesday scrapped plans for a sprawling new gateway airport in southeastern Korea. Officials decided that it would be more cost-effective to expand Gimhae International Airport instead.

The new airport was to have been built either on Gadeok Island near the port city of Busan or in the inland town of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.

France's Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie had been conducting a feasibility study and concluded that the most cost-effective option would be expanding Gimhae airport.

A government official said Gimhae will get another runway and a new terminal. The makeover will begin in 2021 and be completed by 2026.

A view of Gimhae International Airport /Yonhap

ADP Ingenierie said in its feasibility report that it reviewed 35 locations in southeastern Korea and Gimhae was the best option. It estimated the cost of expanding Gimhae at W4.17 trillion, while other locations would cost between W4.5 and W10.2 trillion (US$1=W1,154).

ADP Ingenierie predicted that an expanded Gimhae airport could handle 28 million international and 12 million domestic fliers a year.
Published on 2016/06/26 | Source

Samsung, LG and Pantech are rolling out several low- to mid-priced smartphones later this month.

Advertisement

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy On7, and LG will launch its latest X Series phone. Pantech, once among Korea's top three smartphone makers, is also set to unveil a new cheaper smartphone.

Their prime targets are teenagers and young adults as they begin summer vacation.

Samsung will release a modified version of the Galaxy On7 exclusively through SK Telecom in Korea. It was launched in India in late 2015. It has a 5.5-inch screen and upgraded memory and other functions. It will also be given a new name.

The Galaxy On7 was priced at 10,190 rupees in India (around W180,000) and is expected to cost between W200,000 and W300,000 in Korea.

LG is releasing four or five models in the X Series that debuted in March this year.

The X Cam will be the first to hit stores and features a 5.2-inch screen and dual camera just like the premium G5. The X Power, X Mach, X Style and X Max are to follow.

Pantech will unveil the newest Sky smartphone at its headquarters on Wednesday. The IM-100 has wireless recharging capacity and apparently features the latest Google OS. It is expected to cost between W300,000 and W400,000.

The model celebrates Pantech's last-minute rescue, because when read in Korean the name sounds like "I'm back".

A Pantech staffer said, "We plan to offer a wireless recharger and extra equipment enabling external speakers".

The target customers are students and young adults who are eyeing new smartphones for the summer. Major smartphone makers usually roll out new premium models in the autumn, so the summer offers a niche for cheaper models.

"As technological differences become slimmer between premium smartphones, it's becoming increasingly important to promote products effectively to the right segment", said Lee Byung-tae at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
By Paul T. Choate

Oct. 11, 2012. The old Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital, located just outside downtown Banner Elk, has been sitting vacant since 1999 when Cannon merged with Crossnore Memorial Hospital and moved to the new facility in Linville. Now, having been abandoned for over a decade, the building has badly deteriorated and has been subject to frequent vandalism.

In 1962, the Charles A. Cannon, Jr. Memorial Hospital replaced Grace Hospital III, which was opened in 1932. For almost 40 years the facility provided medical care for Banner Elk and the surrounding communities.

In a North Carolina general warranty deed dated Sept. 10, 2001, a 52.84-acre tract of land that included the hospital was sold to Shaunco, Inc., a corporation based in Hazlehurst, Ga. run by Olin Wooten, for $1.1 million. According to Banner Elk Town Manager Rick Owen, since that time, Wooten sold off most of the parcels of land around the hospital but still owns the 9.21-acre tract of land where the buildings are located at 805 Shawneehaw Ave.

According to Owen, there have been numerous attempts to find a buyer on the property, but to no avail. Owen said that to his knowledge, Wooten is actively trying to move the property.

In my opinion, he has had some on-again off-again interest in it, Owen said.  The county was working with he and a potential purchaser maybe six months ago and we all hoped something would come out of that and it didnt play out.

Owen said at one point an offer was put forth to nearby Lees-McRae College to purchase the property, but they did not feel that the repairs on the building would be financially feasible and said they were not interested.

The closest Wooten came to getting the property off his hands and out of the Town of Banner Elks hair came back in 2007 when the Suchman Retail Group of Miami showed interest in purchasing and developing the property. They even went as far as to have design development drawings made to reflect plans for their development and went to the town to have the property rezoned to MU-Mixed Use (grocery store, retail, ski lodge, restaurants, office complex, multi-family or retirement facility). The plans, designed by Brockhouse Associates of Coral Gables, Fla., and dated Jan. 15, 2007, included three two-story retail stores, four two-story townhouses and a hotel with four-story and five-story towers and an indoor spa.

Ultimately, the plans fell through. Owen said he was not sure why things did not work out, given the lengths to which the retail group had gone to plan everything out, but speculated that perhaps it might have been a money issue.

Most recently, Wooten held an online auction for the property over the summer. Owen said there were several people bidding on the property but no one was aware that Wooten had a reserve price set on the auction. Ultimately, according to Owen, the highest bid never even got about $300,000 and Wootens reserve price was over $900,000.

On Wootens property listings website, he is currently asking $2.2 million for the property. Above that asking price are struck values of $2.3 million, $2.4 million and $2.6 million. The property has a current tax value of $1,009,300.

The buildings current condition may make the property a hard sell.

There are some obvious issues with the age of the building and the deterioration of the building from it sitting empty for so long  due to vandalism  so there is some question as to if the structure is even usable as is, Owen said.

There is nothing that the town would like more than to have that eyesore cleaned up and utilized. Its unfortunate that it sat there empty for as long as it has, but it is even more unfortunate the vandalism that has taken place. There needs to be some higher use of that property than a vacant building.

To view the property listing on Wootens website, click here.

To view the property record, visit webtax.averycountync.gov/RealEstate.aspx and search Shaunco where it says Owner Last Name.

Additional images



Share this: Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Reddit

Pocket


Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Hancock-area couple sentenced in huge animal cruelty case

A Hancock-area couple was sentenced Wednesday in an animal cruelty case that led to massive animal rescue operation in Western Maryland in June 2021.
Julet Michelet, the famous French historian of the 19th century, began his lectures on British history by saying Britain is an island. Commonplace though this may sound, the line is illuminating. There is a lot in Britain being an island. It is not unusual to find in learned articles references such as exports to Europe and the UK.

It may be ironical, or appropriate, that the people of the United Kingdom chose to opt out of the European Union in the 400th year of William Shakespeares death. In the play Richard II, Shakespeare described England as this fortress built by Nature for herself; against infection and the hand of war ... this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. If by infection Shakespeare meant the impurities of the Continent, its his view. But if he had thought his fortress was insulated from war he knew he was wrong. The plays protagonist, Richard II, had himself taken part in the Hundred Years War with France though the wars were mostly fought on French soil.

Read: Angry Europe demands quick divorce as sparks fly over Brexit vote

How much of English is English? England had been ruled by foreigners throughout history. First the Romans conquered it and ruled the land as a colonial power. Towards the end of the first millennium, England had a Danish ruling dynasty, followed by the French in the first century of the second millennium. For centuries the language of the court was French. When the Stuarts became unpopular in the 17th century, they had to be replaced by a Dutchman. George I, the first ruler of the Hanover (a city in Germany) dynasty, did not know English. Queen Victoria evidently owed much of her personality to the Germans, else why would she call her dynasty Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the place her mother belonged to?

Unlike the US, which had pursued a policy of isolation through the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, England did not keep itself out of continental affairs. In fact it embroiled itself in the War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years, taking sides with one power and switching to another. It was part of the alliance to counteract Napoleon. When the First World War broke out in the Continent, and it was essentially a Continental war, British foreign secretary Edward Grey remarked: The lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit in our lifetime.

Read: Brexit: Media divided over Britains historic vote to leave the European Union

The Brits were aware of this, and so being a Brit was at one time being a liberal even for the Tories. The Jews were treated in a tolerant manner by Oliver Cromwell. Nineteenth Britain had a Jew prime minister. The Jew Karl Marx finally found a home in England.

Yet insularity in the British way of looking at the world there was, and the pettiness that results from it. It is most evident in the English language, which has derogatory words for the Scots (Jock), the Irish (Mick) and the Welsh (Taffy). To say one has welshed is to mean one has not returned the money one borrowed. If someone has levanted, someone has run away with money. We, Indians, were fortunate in that probably we did not even deserve that honour.

Read: Thousands sign Londependence petition for London to join EU independently

All that is in the past now. So when they now say they have won independence what is that they are looking for? To regain their British-ness? It does not exist anymore. They do not re-live their history or inheritance. The current angst, by all accounts, is just a matter of house-keeping.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Chinas opposition to Indias entry to the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will not affect the bilateral ties between the two countries, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday.

Every country has its own national interest in its respective stand but this will not affect the visits of the leaders which started after an initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chouhan told journalists after his return from China at the end of a six-day trip. Chinas stand on NSG notwithstanding Beijing is keen on improving ties with New Delhi.

The chief ministers tour was a part of an exchange programme between the Ministry of External Affairs and the International Department Central Committee (IDCC) of Communist Party of China.

Chouhan said he took the opportunity to explore the possibility of Chinese investment for Madhya Pradesh. The investors response was very encouraging, he added.

Discussions were held with chambers of commerce of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. About 175 companies took part in the seminar. An agreement was signed in Hong Kong by Indian Chamber of Commerce for promoting Hong Kong as a partner of Global Investors Summit-2016, he said.

After Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh is also being recognised as one of the destinations for investment. Mutual understanding between India and China will increase and it will cement the ties further.

A major company manufacturing semiconductor fab and electronic goods was impressed with industrial scenario of the state and evinced interest in investment in semiconductor fab manufacturing, he said.

Chinas leading heavy machinery manufacturing company Sany Group will invest $1 billion in wind energy sector and industrial infrastructure building in Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan added.
Katrina Kaif has been shooting for two films simultaneously for the past three months. Without taking a break, the actor will leave for a world tour in August, with film-maker Karan Johar, and actors Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sidharth Malhotra.

Read: Never give up on your dreams: Katrina Kaif

A source close to the actor says, Katrina has been busy since April. She was first shooting for her film with Sidharth in Thailand, and returned to Mumbai in early June. Since then, she has been working on director Anurag Basus next with ex-beau Ranbir Kapoor. Simultaneously, she is rehearsing for her tour as well.

The source adds that despite such a packed schedule, Katrina is looking forward to the tour. (Hindustan Times)

The source adds that despite such a packed schedule, Katrina is looking forward to the tour. She has been rehearsing post her shoot, and this has led to her working 18 to 20 hours a day. She is a workaholic, and enjoys this pace. She is excited about the tour, which will include six cities in the US and Canada. Each show will be three hours long.

Read: I never get compliments, says Katrina Kaif

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Deepika Padukone recently spent a couple of months in the US and Canada, while shooting her first international film, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel.

Many were asking if weve lost the Piku actress to Hollywood, as it has been a while since she signed a Hindi film.

Putting all such rumours to rest, Deepika told us, I start my next Hindi film in September, but dont ask me about the details, as I cant reveal anything right now.

Read: Hope more Indian A-listers take chances in Hollywood, says Deepika Padukone

The actress also spoke about the NGO she started to create awareness about mental illnesses in India.

We have begun a school campaign to create awareness about kids, parents and teacher suffering from mental illnesses, and are also training doctors who can help detect such an illness.

The Bajirao Mastani actor will make her Hollywood debut with the third instalment of xXx, titled xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, which also stars Diesel, Nina Dobrev, Samuel L. Jackson, Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa.

The film is set to release on January 17, next year.
Actor Hrithik Roshan has been in a legal battle with actress Kangana Ranaut for a few months now but has stayed away from commenting on the situation. However, he has finally broken his long silence.

HT asked him at the IIFA Awards, being hosted in Madrid, Spain currently, if he has put the controversy behind him and moved forward. The actor said It is not behind me, it is in front of me and it will be in front of everyone soon. Perhaps he was pointing towards a nearing judgment on the case or some new scoop that he has got his hands on.

Read: Hrithik Roshan and his women- Kangana Ranaut wasnt the only one

Moving to the lighter side of his life, the actor who also performed at the awards show, said he was rather stressed as his kids were going to be at the show watch him perform. He said, I have never been this nervous in my life while performing on stage. I dont know what is going to happen. I dont know if I should be seeing their faces or not. I dont know how they will react.

Read: IIFA Diary- Exes Shahid, Priyanka share a hug and more that happened

The actor, who is revisiting Spain after about five years (last time was to shoot for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in 2011), revealed I specially wanted to get my kids to Spain. They have been learning a bit of Spanish. We went to the zoo and ate some interesting food. Thanks to Zoya, the film gave me some amazing experiences. It taught me things like people should travel and meet strangers and be spontaneous. It helps you grow.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The best of 2015 were awarded for their hard work and creativity at the IIFA Awards, hosted in Madrid on Saturday. The biggest winner turned out to be Bajirao Mastani, pocketing a dozen awards in popular and technical categories with Ranveer Singh and Sanjay Leela Bhansali winning top honours. Dum Laga Ke Haisha came second with four awards.

Read: Deepika, Ranveer and all the big winners at IIFA 2016

The event also saw Bollywoods biggest names entertaining the audience of Madrid. Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar played the best hosts, Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha and Priyanka Chopra gave scintillating performances whereas the male brigade with Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff set the stage on fire with their energy.

Thank u team #shaimakdavar and his amazing dance troupe. Team #iifa and @mikey_mccleary for the amazing composition to my songs and Madrid for being such a wonderful audience for my debut vocal performance . Much love A photo posted by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:35pm PDT

As Priyanka won the Women of the Year award, she insisted her mother to join her on stage. However, Madhu Chopra wanted Priyanka to enjoy the moment by herself. Anil Kapoor, who won the award for best supporting actor for Dil Dhadkhne Do, said, I would like to thank three people for this award and they are Zoya, Zoya and Zoya.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, after winning the Best Director award said, I dont want to thank god or my actors or my technicians and thank you is a very small word for what they have done for me.

Congratulations Sanjay sir for best director. No one deserves it more than you. #bajiraomastani all the way... Love always #iifa2016 A photo posted by Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra) on Jun 25, 2016 at 7:23pm PDT

A special mention is in order for Ranveer Singh. He kept the place in splits as he screamed like a fan girl when he spotting Fawad Khan and wished Arjun Kapoor who celebrated his birthday last night. He scared Karan Johar that he will kiss him (remember AIB roast?) and danced with Sonakshi Sinha while shooting a video.

Ranveer made sure everyone had fun at the green-carpet event.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Be it taking some time off from their busy schedules, celebrating their birthday or spending time with family, many Bollywood actors are off to exotic locations.

Actor Akshay Kumar and his wife Twinkle Khanna met friends Vikas and Gayatri Oberoi during their Euro trip. (Instagram/twinklerkhanna)

Actor Akshay Kumar recently took off for a family holiday along with his wife Twinkle Khanna and kids Aarav and Nitara. The family is visiting some places in Europe like Italy, Switzerland and even visited the Alps. They will also travel to New York, Honolulu and Dubai. In fact, they have also been catching up with friends.They had lunch with Vikas and Gayatri Oberoi and even met Asin and her husband Rahul, who were also on a holiday.

Read: Whatever they get, they have to earn it: Akshay Kumars parenting mantra

Actor Asin flew a sea plane during her holiday in Italy. (Instagram/Asin Thottumkal)

Actor Asin is holidaying with her husband Rahul Sharma in Italy. The actor has been posting pictures from her adventures on Instagram. She posted multiple pictures of her flying a sea plane and captioned it as, This happened!! I got to fly this beauty here! #cooldoesntevenbegintodescribeit #aeroclub #seaplane #como #Italy #summer2016 (sic). She even shared a breathtaking view of Italy as well as one of her being on a speedboat along with other touristy pictures from her vacation.

Read: Post wedding, I have stopped taking any new films: Asin

Actor Alia Bhatt is off to London with her best friend. (Instagram/aliaabhatt)

Actor Alia Bhatt is off on a vacation to London with her best friend for two weeks. The actor says that she was exhausted after her last film Udta Punjab and was looking forward to the break. I was left completely drained. I need a break, she was quoted as saying. My best friend Akanksha will be with me. She and I have been friends from the time we were kids...We girls will be having a lot of fun for the next two weeks, she said.

Read: Alia Bhatt isnt content with Bollywood, hopes to make it to Hollywood next

Actor Priyanka Chopra visited the Eiffel Tower recently. (Instagram/Priyankachopra)

Although she is busy attending an award function in Madrid currently, actor Priyanka Chopra also posted pictures from her work as well as fun trip in London and Paris recently. The actor was travelling with her mother Madhu Chopra and posted pictures of London and the food she ate there. She then travelled to Paris. The actor posted a picture at the Eiffel Tower and captioned it as, Eiffel at my finger tips..#PCInParis #QuanticoInFrance congrats#turkey (sic).

Read: Signing movie doesnt make you Hollywood star. Wait for release: Priyanka

Actor Jacqueline Fernandez visited Disneyland with her friends recently. (Instagram/Jacquelinefernandez)

Although she is back to work now, actor Jacqueline Fernandez was in Disneyland along with her nephew Ethan and friends. She posted cute pictures of her trip. The actor was shooting for her upcoming film with actor Sidharth Malhotra in Miami and headed to Disneyland right after. She even captioned one of the pictures as, Look who joined us for dinner!! #piglet #winniethepooh @waltdisneyworld (sic).

Read: Havent even met anyone from Don team: Jacqueline Fernandez on Don 3 rumours

Actor Abhishek Bachchan is off to New York along with his wife actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya for two weeks. (WireImage)

Actor Abhishek Bachchan is off to New York along with wife actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya. Aishwaryas parents Brinda and Krishnaraj Rai and her brother Aditya, his wife Shrima and son Vihaan, are also accompanying them. They are there for about two weeks, says a source, close to the family. Aaradhya loves NYC. Last year, the three had brought in Christmas together in the city as they holidayed there, just the three of them, for a week, the source said.

Read:Ranbir Kapoor is adorable, he has amazing sense of humour: Aishwarya

Actor Karisma Kapoor rang in her birthday at the Alps this year.

Although we havent seen her on screen for a while, actor Karisma Kapoor recently shared a picture of her chilling in the Alps on Instagram, where she spent her birthday. She captioned the picture as, In the Alps#beautiful#eurotrail#summervibes (sic). The actor has been in Europe for a while now and even attended the Coldplay concert there.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
Authorities are hosting a big bash Sunday to inaugurate newly expanded locks that will double the Panama Canals capacity in a multibillion-dollar bet on a bright economic future despite tough times for international shipping.

Nearly two years late due to construction delays and labor strife, the $5.25 billion project formally launches with the transit of a 158-foot-wide (48.2 meters), 984-foot-long (300 meters), Chinese-owned container ship, one of the modern class of mega-vessels that will now be able to use the canal.

With 30,000 people and eight foreign heads of state expected to attend the festivities, officials are bullish.

There is evidence that the Panama Canal, with this expansion, is an important player not only for regional maritime commerce but worldwide, said Oscar Bazan, the Panama Canal Authoritys executive vice president for planning and commercial development. The canal is a winning bet. (Clients) will benefit from saving not only time but also money, because the canal is a route that shortens distance.

However, the party comes amid a lull in global shipping due to the drop in oil prices, an economic slowdown in China, which is the canals second-largest customer, and other factors that have hit the waterways traffic and income.

While authorities anticipate increasing commerce between Asia and ports on the U.S. East Coast, doubts remain that not all those ports are ready to handle the huge New Panamex-class cargo ships. Net cargo volume through the canal from the U.S. East Coast toward Asia fell 10.2 percent in 2015, according to official statistics. Meanwhile the Suez Canal in Egypt recently lowered tariffs by up to 65 percent on large container carriers in an attempt to keep its traffic.

Its important to remember that the canal does not create demand. The canal opens the route. Supply and demand on a world level is what will decide whether the Panama Canal will really bring more volume or not, said Antonio Dominguez, a general manager for global shipping leader Maersk Line, which moves about 14.2 percent of world commerce. What is certain is that the current canal has maxed out.

Maersk was among shipping companies that have reduced passages through the Panama Canal, although Dominguez said the company is considering a return.

Since the canal was handed over from U.S. control at the end of 1999, the waterway has generated about $10 billion in direct income for the Central American nation and is responsible for about 40 percent of its GDP, factoring in related economic activity. Some 35 to 40 vessels transit the waterway each day, and the canal is estimated to handle about 6 percent of world maritime commerce.

Panama began the expansion nearly a decade ago. Originally planned to open in late 2014 around the waterways centennial, the new locks can accommodate ships that carry up to three times the cargo of those previously able to use the canal.

Grupo Unidos por el Canal, the Italian- and Spanish-led consortium that spearheaded construction, handed the project over Friday, although a series of claims are still pending for presumed cost overruns of more than $3 billion.

Paul Bingham, a shipping economist at Boston-based EDR Group, predicted the canal expansions global impact will be small.

The proportion of world trade that could plausibly use the Panama Canal is constrained by the geography of the worlds population, resource endowments and production regions, Bingham said. There is very little a larger canal can influence at the margin to induce shifts in the geography of world trade, even through potential reductions in costs of shipping a variety of commodities to, from and within the Americas.
Left with only one patient a month back, Punjabs first drug rehabilitation centre is finally on the road to revival. It has started getting new patients.

The Rs 5-crore facility that was inaugurated by finance minister Arun Jaitley in July 2015 had failed to pull patients, while private facilities were witnessing heavy footfall. However, with the coordinated efforts of a new team and district administration, the rehab centre has finally admitted 26 patients. The capacity of the centre is 100 beds.

The centre now has a team of three counsellors, one medical officer, and psychiatrists from Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. It is being supervised by treatment incharge Dr PD Garg.

The centre is on a revival mode and has also organised an event on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Sunday. Health and family welfare minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani, principal secretary Vini Mahajan and other officials of the health department will attend the event to interact with patients.

Around 400 people will attend the event and Harbir Singh, a patient, will share his experience of drug use and his struggle with addiction. Harbir, 34, has almost recovered and has become a role model for others. He said, I was an addict for 15 years, having taken all sorts of drugs such as heroine, opium, smack, but I eventually realised the ill effects and went in for treatment five years back. Presently, I am helping a team of counsellors and Dr PD Garg by offering voluntary services to convince young addicts to come to the rehab centre. I request authorities to give me a government job so that I can earn a decent livelihood.

Dr Garg has been successful in convincing patients from Swami Vivekanada Drug De-addiction Centre (SVDDC) of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital to come to the rehab centre and has promised to help increase the number of patients.

Medical officer on duty Charanjit Kaur also said they had added various other facilities such as yoga, gym, library and music therapy, among others. She said they were trying to provide a safe and happy environment for patients.

A few patients, on condition of anonymity, said skill development courses were missing and the district administration was failing to engage them in courses that could help them earn a livelihood. The centre also lacks motivational activities. Seminars and counselling sessions were getting monotonous for them, they added.

Harbir said despite all the efforts already being made by the team, other steps need to be taken that would create awareness among masses on the basis of skill development courses.

Dr Garg said, The number goes up during summer and most of them have been detoxified of heroin (50%), opium, and alcohol, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah appealed to the people of Uttarakhand on Saturday to remove the corrupt Harish Rawat-led Congress government in favour of the party, sounding election bugle in the mountain state that goes to polls in 2017.

We promise you a corruption-free government that will also push for develop if you vote our party to power in the next assembly polls, Shah said, addressing a Shankhnaad rally gathering here at Rishikul Maidan (ground).

There will be an unhindered development because you will then have the BJP government both in the state and at the Centre.

The BJP chief accused the chief minister of being personally involved in corruption as well as horse trading.

That he is involved in corruption first became evident when a sting video showed his former secretary (Mohammad Shahid) of negotiating a deal with a liquor mafia, Shah said, adding then one more sting video surfaced.

This time the video showed Rawat himself brokering a horse trading deal to buy over the nine rebel Congress legislators who have now joined our party, he said.

The total amount that he promised to pay all the 30 Congress legislators comes to nearly Rs 150 crore, he said. But, none of them accepted the bribe money, Shah said.

Had they accepted the bribe money they would not be here with the BJP.

Shah also criticised Rawat for blaming the BJP for engineering a split in the ruling party. Your (Congress) legislators left your party because of your fault.

The BJP chief took a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his remark that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government did nothing substantive during its two years in power.

Rahul baba accused our government (at the Centre) of non-achievement, he said. He wouldnt question the Rawat government that has nothing to show in terms of achievement except horse trading and graft.

Shah, however, disputed the Gandhi claim while rattling off a number of pro-people schemes initiated by the Modi government.

Besides, we gave a prime minister (Modi) who doesnt keep silent and can speak and whose achievements are being recognised by global community, Shah said, taking a dig at former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

When he (Singh) used to speak only the Shahabjada and his mother could hear his voice, he said, referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Congress vice president (Rahul).

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: Twnety-one pickpockets were apprehended and fined Rs 4,200 on Saturday as part of a special crackdown by CISF security personnel in the Delhi Metro.

The operation was carried out in the Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli-Huda City Centre) of the Metro by the plainclothes wearing intelligence wing personnel of Central Industrial Security Force, officials said.

These pickpockets were fined a total of ` 4,200 as per Delhi Metro rules and were later sent out of the Metro. Such drives will be undertaken in other lines of the rail system in coming days, a senior official said.

An average of 26 lakh people take the Delhi Metro everyday to reach their destinations in the national capital region of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police  in the face of severe criticism by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for its eagerness to arrest party MLA Dinesh Mohaniya  said the AAP legislator had failed to respond to two summon notices.

The police said they were forced to take such an action as Mohaniya had refused to join the probe.

Joint commissioner of police, southeast, RP Upadhyay claimed that if a person ignored summons to join the probe in cases of serious offence, the police were empowered to take such an action.

Mohaniya was picked up while he was addressing a press conference at his office in Khanpur in south Delhi. According to the AAP, he was scheduled to go to the police station after addressing the media at noon.

We had served a notice to Dinesh Mohaniya based on a complaint that was filed by a group of women on Wednesday night, who alleged that the MLA had abused and manhandled them when they approached him with a complaint on water crisis in their locality. We immediately registered a case in the matter and asked him to join the investigation on Thursday, which he ignored. We again summoned him on Friday and sent notices, but he again chose not to respond, Upadhyay said.

He added: As the law enforcement agency, we are bound to arrest a person who is not cooperating with us.

Mohaniya was taken to Neb Sarai police station where he was questioned for over three hours. We arrested him after questioning him on the sequence of events of that day. We also accessed some video recordings that have been sent for examination. He has been sent to two days judicial custody, a senior police officer said.

Mohaniya, who is also the vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board, was booked on June 23 after locals of Sangam Vihar alleged that the MLA and his supporters had roughed them up and misbehaved with women in his office when they went to complain about irregular water supply. Another case was registered against Mohaniya on Friday for allegedly slapping a 60-year-old man in Tughlaqabad area.

Upadhyay said that since the allegations against Mohaniya were grave, police had to take strict action. The women alleged that Mohaniya assaulted and abused them physically, following which a case was registered under Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 354 C (voyeurism). A case with such serious sections needs to be death with strictly. Hence, we decided to arrest him, he said.
LONDON: There was more regret and despondency than joy as Britain struggled to make sense of Fridays vote to leave the European Union (EU), sparking a series of developments in London, Brussels and Edinburgh, including moves to hold another referendum in Scotland.

A petition on a parliament website calling for another EU referendum was quickly signed by more than a million people, making it eligible for a debate. Another sought a referendum on independence for London, which overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU. Scotland moved closer to holding another referendum on its independence from Britain after a cabinet meeting on Saturday in Edinburgh, while EU leaders in Berlin and Brussels took a tough line, asking Britain to expedite the process of leaving the 28-member union.

Credit rating agency Moodys downgraded Britain to a negative rating. Even the Brexiters do not realise the momentous nature of the vote. What have they got us into? No one quite knows how it will all pan out and how this country will look like in six months, one year or five years, Remain supporter and researcher Roger Salter told HT.

Some polls suggested that students and most people below the age of 30 voted to remain, prompting anger at the Leave vote.

Late on Friday, Google said questions such as what is the EU and what happens if we leave the EU? were the top searches from the UK, suggesting that some may have not known the consequence of their choice when they voted.

However, most Leave supporters insisted that the vote enabled Britons to take back the country from Brussels, which is seen by many as a super state taking over ever more powers from Britain and other member-states. But some regretted voting Leave and said if another referendum were held, they would vote to Remain. Life continued as normal in Southall and Hounslow, which have large communities of Indian origin. The EU vote did not figure much in conversations  construction worker Satinder Pal remarked: Sannu kee? (how does it concern me?).

The Sikh Council UK said the community was disappointed at the Leave vote and expressed concern about Sikhs experiencing religious discrimination. Gurinder Singh Josan, head of political engagement for Sikh Council UK, said: Whilst the exercise in democracy is to be applauded, we are concerned at the tone of the debate particularly in relation to some of the hateful rhetoric towards immigrants and immigration. As a visibly identifiable minority community in the UK, Sikhs often suffer the brunt of racism and racist attacks. Any rhetoric that exacerbates this or enables these views to become mainstream political commentary is to be condemned.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has rescued a minor girl, working as a domestic help here, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her employer.

According to the commission, it received a call two days ago on its womens helpline number 181 and was informed that the victim, who hails from Assam, was being physically abused at a home in Burari.

A team of DCW visited the place and enquired about the girl following which they came to know that she has been subjected to physical torture.

Police was informed and in a joint operation by DCW and Delhi Police, the girl was rescued. The Swaroop Nagar police station is in the process of registration of FIR in this regard, a DCW statement said.

The girl was brought here by the landlord, it said, adding the victim was being sexually harassed by her employer.

When the girl spoke about it with the landlords wife, she beat her up. The girl doesnt know Hindi and never stepped out of the house.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Friday arrested an employee of an export firm based in New Friends Colony for allegedly staging a robbery of Rs 30 lakh and making away with the cash.

The incident was reported at Tilak Marg police station in New Delhi.

Amit Sharma told his employers that he was robbed of Rs 30 lakh near Sagar Apartments by masked men, who came in a Swift car.

He concocted the entire story of the robbery. He told the police that he had collected the money from his employer, Pradeep Modi, from Sagar apartments and had kept it in his bag. He said that the moment he took a U-turn from Bhagwan Das Road crossing and reached near Patiala House Court, a Maruti Swift car which was already waiting there waylaid him, DCP, New Delhi, Jatin Narwal said.

One person got down from the car and forcibly snatched his bag, Narwal said.

During investigation Sharma was questioned and his call records analysed. The footage from CCTV cameras installed in the area was also accessed.

Since Sharma was changing his statement and the CCTV footage accessed from the area captured no such incident, we were convinced that he was making up the story of a robbery. He was subjected to long sessions of interrogation and was confronted with evidence, following which he broke down and confessed, Narwal said.

He added, On his instance the cash was recovered.

During questioning he said he wanted to earn quick money, a senior police officer said.
NEW DELHI: The government plans to bring in a law to stop rampant plagiarism in academia, with punishment ranging from a warning to deregistration in the case of students and dismissal from service for teachers.

Higher education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) is finalising a draft law  the first of its kind  that is likely to be sent to the human resource development ministry for further action by June-end. Official sources said the government intends to seek parliamentary approval for the law this year itself.

In the absence of a law, educational institutions deal with cases of plagiarism individually. Last year, the UGC made it mandatory for all universities to use anti-plagiarism software to check PhD theses.

There has been a raft of plagiarism charges against central university vice-chancellors and teachers in recent years. Pondicherry University V-C Chandra Krishnamurthy quit last month after a prolonged standoff with the HRD ministry, which had kept her on compulsory wait following allegations that she had plagiarised large parts of a book mentioned in her CV.

The ministry recently sought Hyderabad Central University V-C Appa Rao Podiles comments on allegations of plagiarism in research papers co-authored by him. There have been similar charges against eminent scientists such as CNR Rao and RA Mashelkar in the past.

A regulation is being prepared for prevention of plagiarism in higher educational institutions that will focus on all categories, including students pursuing Masters, MPhil and PhD, and teachers at different levels, said a senior UGC official.

Students will be let off with a warning if it is a minor case of plagiarism. But as the gravity of the charge increases, they may be barred from submitting a revised manuscript of their thesis or research paper for six months or even have their registration cancelled, said sources privy to the draft law.

We want to ensure intellectual honesty and academic integrity. There are different levels of punishment depending on seriousness. It could be an advisory, a letter of displeasure, censure (of teachers), et al. In some cases, we are including a provision that such teachers or researchers will not be allowed to publish for a certain period, said a UGC source.

Former Delhi University V-C Deepak Pental  who faced plagiarism charges that he challenged in court  welcomed the move but said the UGC should not do it in isolation and instead consult the Indian National Science Academy and Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore. UGC should form a committee to formulate what is plagiarism. Put academic work through plagiarism software. Cut and paste has become very prominent. Sometimes, people do it inadvertently, too. We need to work hard against plagiarism and focus on preventive rather than punitive action. If someone still does it, the punishment should come from the universities though legal recourse should be open too, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday said that the detention of its 52 MLAs, including deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, was uncalled for as they were not violating any law.

How can the efforts of elected representatives to meet the Prime Minister, another elected representative, cause a law and order problem? The MLAs just wanted to go and surrender in front of him, nothing more, said AAPs Delhi convener, Dilip Pandey.

AAP leaders said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was blocking Delhis progress by not clearing crucial bills that had gone to the Centre for approval.

The Centre this week returned all the bills the Delhi Assembly had sent to it. The Aam Aadmi Party appeals to the Prime Minister to arrest all its party MLAs, ministers and leaders, if he so wishes, but not to take revenge from the people of Delhi for the BJPs 2015 electoral defeat in the state. The PM should allow Delhis elected government to function The people of Delhi are suffering because of the Centres petty, partisan and vendetta politics. This is not the governance that the people have voted him in for, a statement issued by the party said.

Read more: Surrender to PM: Sisodia, 51 AAP legislators detained, released

On Sunday, after the detention of 52 MLAs, a number of AAP leaders reached the Parliament Street police station to wait for their colleagues release. All the detained MLAs were released after three hours.

The AAP leaders alleged that Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya was illegally arrested on Saturday under frivolous and motivated charges, and that a complaint was registered against Sisodia for merely doing his duty. Party leaders said that the police must act on complaints but not when they are politically motivated.

The party also lamented the Centres interference.

The Arvind Kejriwal government was given a massive mandate by the people of Delhi in 2015. The Delhi government has been trying to perform its duties, working round the clock for the people of Delhi. However, the Centres constant interference in the working of the government and their attempt at creating obstacles along the way shows the Prime Ministers vindictive attitude towards his opponents, a party statement said.

Senior leader, Sanjay Singh said rejection of Delhis bills had benefitted only anti-people agents. What purpose has this served? Private school mafias, corrupt officers and crony capitalists are the only gainers. Are you openly supporting anti-people agents of society? he asked

AAP leaders also asked why no action had been taken against four BJP councilors who were caught on camera allegedly assaulting a AAP councillor during a joint session of the municipal corporations.
The fashion societies of Delhi University are the perfect portal for students to put their fashion acumen to productive use. These societies train its members in having a nuanced understanding of qualities such as poise, panache and vivacity, which dominate the world of fashion.

From creating the garments, to choreographing the moves of models on the ramp, to walking the ramp and owning it, the members of the society are edified to perfect all aspects of fashion modelling.

Read: For the love of dramatics: 7 top drama societies of Delhi University

For all those who cringe at the thought of leaving their homes without putting enough effort into their outfits, the fashion societies of DU are the place to be. Exploring the vistas to the world of glamour provided by DU, HT City gives you a low down on some of the most popular fashion societies in the varsity.

1) GLITZ, Kamala Nehru College

Always putting its most fashionable foot forward, GLITZ is constituted by 10 to 12 members every year. The audition process of the society is designed to scrutinize the fashion sense of the applicants through psychedelic, abstract and circus based themes.

Having bagged an impressive number of awards in the previous academic year, GLITZ prides itself in thinking out of the box. GLITZ is put together by hard core fashion lovers, who take every aspect of fashion very seriously. We always walk for a social cause, says Tashi Sharma, the president of the society.

Members of Stylus.INC during a performance.

2) Stylus.INC, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce

Making its presence felt in DU for the past 18 years, Stylus.INC is a team of 16 models. Students who wish to be a member of the society have to clear three rounds of auditions, which assess the confidence level, ramp presence, and fashion sense of the applicants.

Read: All you outstation fuchchas, home-cooked meal is just a dabba away

In the previous academic session,the charismatic members of the society secured a total of ten best model titles.Regarding the fashion war that wages between the North and South Campus, Pulkit Sharma, a member of the society tells us, The North Campus students are known to sport an out- of-the-bed look, with slippers and pyjamas dictating their style statement, while the students of South Campus prefer to be more glamorous and in-sync with fashion trends. However, whoever carries himself with more confidence wins the battle.

Members of Galomorratti , the fashion society of Dyal Singh College.

3) Glamorratti, Dyal Singh College

With a long list of achievements to its name, Glamorratti has risen to be one of the top societies in the DU fashion circuit. The four rounds of auditions which screen applicants who wish to be a part of the society, gauge not just the fashion quotient of the applicants, but also test their team spirit.

Fashion is the mirror to peoples personalities. DU students are known for their individualism, which makes even the simplest of clothes look brilliant, says Sanya Sood, the president of the society.

Members of Gallore, the fashion society of Maitreyi College.

4) Gallore, Maitreyi College

The drastic difference between school and college is the increased awareness of fashion in the life of students, says Surbhi Sareen, the president of Gallore. Lauded as one of the best fashion societies in Delhi University, Gallore is a close-knit team of 13 members. Applicants are screened through three rounds of audition, which test confidence, coordination and presence of mind. Our fashion shows are themed around messages of social relevance. We mesmerise the audiences through our aesthetic appeal, and force them to think at the same time, adds Sareen.

Members of Poise, the fashion society of Institute of Home Economics. (Ayush Sharma )

5) Poise, Institute of Home Economics

Fashion rules the minds and hearts of DU students, who create their own style with the tides of time, says Jasneet Kaur, the president of the Poise. A workshop training the applicants about the society precedes the audition rounds, in order to secure a spot in Poise. The confidence and expression of the applicants is placed on a higher pedestal as opposed to their appearance. Fashion for us is more than just walking on the ramp. We add dramatic elements such as choreography and props to improve the appeal of our performances, adds Kaur.
The Delhi Police on Sunday clarified that no action had been taken against deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as the complaint filed against him by the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association did not attract any cognizable offence.

The clarification came soon after the city police learnt that a group of AAP leaders and supporters, led by Sisodia, were marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modis 7 RCR residence.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi Police chief spokesperson Taj Hassan said: Delhi Police gets complaints from many people. On Saturday, we received a complaint at the Ghazipur police station. The complaint received by us doesnt involve any cognizable offence, hence no action can be taken against the deputy CM.

According to Hassan, the complaint against Sisodia was non-cognizable unlike the complaint filed against Samgam Vihar MLA, Dinesh Mohaniya, who was accused of molesting, threatening and physically assaulting women.

Read more: Arrest our leaders but clear Delhis crucial bills: AAP

Apart from Hassan, three special CPs  SBK Singh, P Kamaraj and Mukesh Kumar Meena  joint CP (southeastern range), RP Upadhyay, and DCPs (south and southeast), Ishwar Singh and Mandeep Singh Randhawa attended the press conference.

Fifty-two AAP MLAs along with some other AAP supporters were detained from near Race Course Metro station around 10.30 am while they were marching towards Prime Minister, Narendra Modis residence. The AAP leaders were detained for close to three hours.

Delhi Police said the AAP leaders had not sought permission to hold their protest march.

Our team had met AAP leaders at chief minister Kejriwals residence and apprised them about prohibitory orders imposed under section 144 of CrPC around the PMs residence. They were also requested to shift their protest to Jantar Mantar. But they refused to listen to us and we had to detain them, said Singh.
A week after the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) put out a document on its website titled National Forest policy, 2016 (Draft): Empowered Communities, Healthy Ecosystems, Happy Nation, a senior ministry official last week said the document is only a study done by Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, and not a draft policy. The preface to the document, however, said it had been prepared based on village-level focus group discussions, regional and national level consultations, inputs from various stakeholders and analysis of primary and secondary data sets carried out during the years 2015 and 2016. In fact, nowhere in the document has it been mentioned that the document should be treated as an input for a new forest policy.

Read | Draft National Forest Policy

What made the ministry suddenly change its stand on the document? Several civil society organisations have been extremely critical of the draft mainly because it proposed to dilute the Forests Rights Act (FRA), do away with requirement of having two-third geographical area of mountainous and hill regions under forests, and for allowing industry to have commercial plantations on the forest land. Not only civil society, media reports suggested that even the Union tribal affairs ministry is unhappy with the proposed dilution of the FRA. The criticisms are not entirely misplaced: If a critical policy like the forest policy ignores FRA, combined with the Centres other steps  funneling huge amounts of money through Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority to forest officials, bypassing consent for diversion of forest land, instituting forest rules to undercut community management, it shows that the aim is to increase the power of the forest bureaucracy and keep local communities out of the decision-making process.

Read | Govt says national forest policy document only a study

While devising a new policy, the ministry must not only focus on increasing the forest area and bettering the quality of the forests but also ensure that the connection between forest-dependent communities and forests is not lost. The crux of the problem in Indias existing forest policy  the Forest Policy of 1988  has been that it made the forest department the manager of the forests and the people lost their rights over it. But as the Uttarakhand forest fires showed recently, a few hundred forest officials and a few thousand employees of the department can do nothing when a calamity strikes. They need community support in such emergencies.
Discovering a new planet or having an extra-terrestrial object like an asteroid named after them perhaps tops the wishlist of many astronomy enthusiasts, including school students.

Over the past 6 years, several amateur astronomers and students from across the country have made discoveries facilitated by city-based organisation SPACE under its educational outreach programme, the All India Asteroid Search Campaign (AIASC).

Asteroids are large numbers of small rocky bodies orbiting the sun that range enormously in size and can be typically found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers vie with one another to be the first to spot them.

Now, under its AIASC for 2016, SPACE, in collaboration with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), conducted by Patrick Miller from Hardin Simmons University in the US is offering students from India a chance to add to NASAs database of asteroids hurtling in space.

90 teams, of 2 participants each per team, from across the country have been selected for the programme that begins on June 27 and is spread out over two phases till August 23 this year.

The overall purpose of the Asteroid Grand Challenge (AGC), a large-scale effort under NASA, is to encourage students and citizen scientists to identify and document asteroids in earths environment in order to assess their threat to the planet and also study them.

The experience was great and I got to learn a lot, says Amanjot Singh, who was the first to discover an object from Asia in 2010, as a student in class XI. Singh says he was enthused by the experience and has now joined SPACE as an instructor.

Under AIASC programme students and amateur astronomers get an opportunity to explore and study astronomy in a hands-on and detailed approach. The campaign gives the participants access to astronomy images, as well as opportunities to interact with international scientists.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati revoked the expulsion of two rebels and inducted the lone Trinamool Congress legislator shortly after senior leader Swami Prasad Mauryas revolt at a legislature party meeting.

There is hardly any precedent in the BSP of re-opening doors to its expelled MLAs or leaders, said a senior BSP leader.

The development came after Maurya claimed that only 55 of the 80 MLAs turned up for a legislature party meeting called by the four-time former chief minister. In addition, the scheduled time of the meeting had to be extended twice to call up the legislators  only 35 MLAs had shown up initially.

Read: BSPs Dinkar elected Leader of Opposition

The expulsion orders of Pallia (Lakhimpur Kheri) MLA Harvinder Kumar Sahani aka Romi Sahani and Bilgram Mallava (Hardoi) legislator Brijesh Kumar Verma were withdrawn.

The partys national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui had last week said that Sahni and Verma were expelled for indulging in anti-party activities, but later announced that the two MLAs had been re-inducted in the party.

SHOW OF STRENGTH

To send a message to the party cadre that Mauryas revolt had not dented her support base, Mayawati announced the induction of the lone Trinamool Congress MLA, Shyam Shunder Sharma, into the BSP.

Being party leader of state, the seven-time MLA from Mant assembly constituency in Mathura claimed it was a merger of his party with the BSP and that a letter to this effect had been forwarded to Speaker of legislative assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey, on Saturday.

I have submitted a formal letter of merger of TMC in Bahujan Samaj Party after permission attained from BSP leader Mayawati, said Sharma, adding that it was only the BSP that could fight against communal forces and weed out goonda raj.

Mayawatis official residence at 13 Mall Avenue was humming with activity since early morning on Saturday as top party leaders marked the attendance of MLAs who had arrived to participate in the legislature party meeting.

Read: Setback for Maya in run-up to polls as deputy quits

SENIOR LEADERS ON TENTERHOOKS

Fearing that more MLAs might revolt, senior leaders kept a check on their activities and instructed them to reach the state unit office before the start of the meeting.

SC Mishra and Siddiqui updated Mayawati about the arrival of the MLAs in the party office. Anxiety was clear on the faces of the BSP leaders when out of 80 MLAs merely 35 MLAs turned up by 10 am. The meeting was scheduled for 10:30 am.

The BSP leaders swung into action and phoned the missing MLAs to know their whereabouts. And the zonal coordinators were mobilised to contact the MLAs of their respective zones.

The time of the meeting was extended to 11 am to ensure greater attendance. The time was revised a second time to noon, and the zonal coordinators were seen escorting the MLAs to the meeting hall. Siddiqui claimed that all the MLAs, except those expelled from the party, were present.

But rebel BSP leader Maurya countered the claim, stating that only 55 MLAs turned up for the meeting. My rebellion has forced Mayawati to bow before the rebel MLAs, he said. A majority of the rebel MLAs are in touch with me.
Al-Qaedas South Asian wing AQIS (Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent) trains its recruits not only to carry out terror attacks but also to radicalise vulnerable Muslim youth in the name of jihad, Delhi police sources said.

Mohammad Asif, 41, the suspected Indian incharge of AQIS who was arrested by Delhi Polices special cell in December last year, had informed investigators about these training modules in his testimony.

Asifs revelation is part of the chargesheet filed on June 10 by the special cell in Delhis Patiala House court against 17 accused, 12 of whom are absconding. They have been charged with allegedly conspiring and recruiting Indian youth and seeking to establish a base of AQIS in the country.

Askari and Deeni are major training provided to new members of the outfit by AQIS handlers based in Pakistan, the sources said.

Askari is over month-long rigorous training in weapons and battle modes to carry out terror strikes while Deeni is 45-day religious training provided to AQIS members to motivate and radicalise youth, said an official on the condition of anonymity.

AQIS was established by Al Qaeda in 2014 to spread its wings in South Asia.

Read: AQIS operative Mohammed Abdur Rehman admits link with Kandahar hijackers

The chargesheet reveals that Asif, a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, took religious training in Waziristan in Pakistan in 2014. However, due to his old age, he was not sent for rigorous Askari training. It also states that Asif stayed near the training camp where chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsood, was killed in a US drone attack.

The chargesheet states that Asif was made in-charge of AQIS in India after completion of training in Waziristan by an AQIS member Sayed Akhtar, who also hails from Sambhal and is learnt to be staying near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

It states that Asif, who reached Pakistan in June 2013, managed to return to India in October 2014. He was arrested in Delhi on Dec 14, 2015, following a tip-off.

Asif informed police that he along with Serjil, another resident of Sambhal, stayed in Miranshah in Pakistan where Akhtar delivered lectures for them on jihad.

Read: Why Pakistan is proving to be a slippery target for Islamic State

Akhtar told Asif and others about formation of Tanzeem AQIS for carrying out terrorist activities in India.

The chargesheet states that Asif was among a group of 10 people who were provided Deeni training on the instruction of AQISs Amir Maulana Asim Umar alias Sanaul Haq-- who was appointed to the position by AQISs overall chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2014.

Investigators said that Serjil, Rehan and five other boys were selected for Askari. One Pakistan national Ustad Sohail taught these new recruits about handling of explosives and IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), they said.

Another suspected terrorist Jafar Masood, who was arrested by special cell of Delhi Police in December 2015, told the interrogators that he along with other youth was trained in using assault weapons including guns and grenades during Askari training.
Paying tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the Pampore attack, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday aid such incidents are only defaming Kashmir while keeping potential investors and tourists away from the state.

The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the governments efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir, Mufti said in a statement on the day of the encounter.

A wreath-laying ceremony, with full state honours, was held in Srinagar for the eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore on Saturday.

Deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh were present at the ceremony.

Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a set back to the religion we practice, Mehbooba told reporters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered his condolences in a series of tweets: I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon.

Describing the attack as desperate attempts to create problems for the country, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said the government was committed to ensuring peace and security, and that necessary action will be taken.

The incident is very unfortunate... We condemn such ghastly attack by terrorists and we pay homage to the departed martyrs and send our condolences to the bereaved family members, Rijiju said.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were killed and 22 others critically injured the militants ambushed a Srinagar-bound three-vehicle CRPF convoy near Frestbal in Pampore town at around 5:50 pm on Saturday. The militants fired intensely at one bus, leading to the high number of causalities.

In a statement to a local news agency, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taibas spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi said two members of its suicide squad carried out the attack.

There may be claims by groups [taking responsibility for the attack], but we have to make complete official assessment of the situation. Our DG CRPF has been asked to go there and other senior officers have rushed to Srinagar, Rijiju said.

The situation is challenging...people who believe in extremism, they are very desperate because we have got a very dynamic Prime Minister and India is progressing very well and so they are doing everything to scuttle the efforts of the government to taking India to new level of prosperity, the Union minister added.

Senior officials of the home ministry and the director general of the CRPF will be arriving in Srinagar on Sunday to take stock of the situation in Pampore.
Bihar board topper Ruby Rais arrest wasnt correct and the Nitish Kumar-led government should be blamed for the large-scale irregularities in the state Class 12 examinations, Union minister Upendra Kushwaha said on Sunday.

Rai grabbed national headlines last month by claiming she was taught cooking in her political science classes and managed to only write a single sentence in her re-test that was ordered after the board cancelled the results of several toppers.

Kushwaha  the minister of state for human resource development  said the real culprits in the cheating and education corruption cases were the parents and officials who ran the racket.

Read: Tulsidas ji, pranam: Bihar board topper in essay before arrest

The students named in the merit list scam are innocent and no punitive action should be taken against them, he said.

The minister also alleged that the scam in the merit list and the illegal affiliations given to colleges were a result of political patronage.

The government should make public the names of bigwigs who had patronised the accused in the scam, he said.

The comments came a day after Rai astonished examiners and the general public after she only wrote a single line  Tulsidas ji, pranam  when asked to write an essay on the poet in her re-test. She claimed she had forgotten what she studied.

The lid was blown off the merit list scam last month after television interviews of several toppers revealed they had little knowledge of the subjects they had supposedly aced. Authorities also cancelled the affiliation of VR College where Rai studied.

The controversy is a major embarrassment for the Bihar government and puts the spotlight on Bihars failing education system riddled with spurious colleges and examination rackets. Activists say colleges fix exam and evaluation centres and even hand out tailor-made answer books that ensure high scores.

Read: Why Ruby Rais arrest will not stop the rot in Indias education system

So far, police have arrested several persons including the former Bihar State Education Board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, his wife and former MLA, Usha Sinha, and Bachcha Roy, the principal of VR College (Vaishali), the alleged epicentre of the scam.

Arrests warrants have been issued against several BSEB employees found involved in the scam.

In the last few days, the opposition BJP has upped the ante against the state government with senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi saying Bihars education system had fallen into disrepute due to the scam and meritorious students were facing humiliation outside Bihar.

Such a scam would not have occurred had the CM shown a zero tolerance policy on the poor quality of education in the state, he said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley liked Osama bin Ladens theory of having several women in ones life but found Pakistani women to be cumbersome than those from Arab countries, says a new book.

Ladens father, Mohammed bin Laden, had at least 54 children from 22 different wives. So while Laden was attending college, he and a friend decided they would each also take several wives and have large families.

Laden had over 20 children from six wives. Laden later developed a theory on the advantages of having several women in ones life. Four was the optimal number, prescribed by the Prophet Muhammad himself, according to bin Laden, writes investigative journalist Kaare Sorensen in his new book The Mind of a Terrorist.

One is okay, like walking. Two is like riding a bicycle: its fast but a little unstable. Three is a tricycle, stable but slow. And when we come to four, ah! This is the ideal. Now you can pass everyone! he says, quoting Laden.

According to the author, Headley was, as usual, very excited about Ladens thoughts, including those on women.

Headley himself loved women. And he had many of them. He bragged to a group of friends that he had been with more black women than his entire class at the military academy combined. That was about one hundred students, the book, published by Penguin Random House India, says.

It contains Headleys personal emails, revealing the psyche of the terrorist.

But he (Headley) found Pakistani women to be cumbersome. Theyd all seen too many Bollywood movies with big, dramatic romance scenes, and they didnt want to live their lives as the third or fourth wife in a complicated marriage, argues Sorensen.

Arab women are much more understanding and open to it. They only ask that you be fair, Headley wrote to his friends, he says.

However, the author says Headleys many women were also his Achilles heel.

He could manage the American narcotics authorities; connections to the drug trade; heroin smugglers in Pakistan; major Iqbal from the intelligence service; and Pasha, Sajid Mir and the others in Lashkar, and he could juggle all his roles and opportunities at once - without everything coming crashing down to the ground.

But when it came to women - wives, girlfriends, friends and his own mother - everything went wrong, he says.

Headley revealed too much and there was always one who talked; her name was Faiza Outalha, the author says.

She was originally from Morocco, but she was studying medicine at a university in Lahore, and its not difficult to see why Headley fell for her. In late February 2007, the two got married in Pakistan...Near the end of 2007, less than a year after they got married, his relationship with Faiza was on the verge of collapse, the book says.

In December 2007, Faiza talked her way into the American embassy in Pakistan. She was angry and loudly let the agents from the department of states security agency know that her husband, an American citizen, was a terrorist. He had stayed in Lashkar-e-Taiba training camps and sometimes spoke about suicide missions, she said. And he might be involved in some activities in Mumbai.

A few months before the Mumbai attack, Faiza went directly to Lashkar leader Hafiz Saeed and asked for help in saving their troubled marriage. Saeed then paid a visit to Headley, who downplayed the matter and explained that he had been busy with his Lashkar duties and hadnt had much time to take care of wife number two, the book says.

Faiza and Headley, however, got back together, and watched the terrorist attack in Mumbai together on Headleys TV in their house in Lahore, Sorensen writes.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday asked Indian Army soldiers to not hold themselves back while firing in retaliation at the Indo-Pakistan border, even if the object of provocation happens to be a single bullet shot from the other side.

The first bullet shouldnt be fired from our end. But even if there is a single incident of firing from the other side of the border, our men should not count their bullets while retaliating, said Singh, who visited the Jharkhand capital to inaugurate a mass sapling plantation drive by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The party aims to plant at least 1 crore saplings across the state through this project.

Speaking in the backdrop of a militant ambush on a para-military convoy in Pulwama district, the Union minister said Pakistan lacks the willingness to tackle terrorism. I am pained whenever our jawans die at the border. Two terrorists killed eight of our jawans in Jammu & Kashmir, but both of them were shot dead by our men. I condole the death of our jawans and assure that terrorism in any form will not be tolerated, said Singh.

Eight CRPF jawans were killed and 20 others injured when militants ambushed their convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Saturday. The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack.

Singh also plans to monitor the steps being taken to combat Left Wing Extremism in four states  Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal. Home department sources said he will attend the eastern zonal council meeting in Ranchi on Monday to discuss the initiatives being launched to minimise Maoist influence over these areas.

Nearly 21 of Jharkhands 24 districts are infested by Left wing extremists. Besides Maoists, Jharkhand has at least 17 splinter outfits that indulge in child trafficking, extortion and fear-mongering.

Singh also used the occasion to denounce the Emergency imposed by former prime minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975. People were arrested simply for raising slogans against the Congress. Even I had to spend months in jail democracy was murdered for political benefits and dynastic politics during that period, he said.

Chief minister Raghubar Das, state urban development minister CP Singh and minister of state Sudarshan Bhagat were among the BJP legislators and parliamentarians present at the event.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar expressed doubt on Sunday if the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was followed properly by the bus-borne CRPF personnel who were attacked by militants at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir.

Parrikar said he doubted if the SOP was followed properly while noting that the clear picture will emerge after the inquiry.

We will only get to know the exact reason after the inquiry, Parrikar told reporters in Bhubaneswar.

The minister termed the killing of eight CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of frustration on part of Pakistani terrorists several of whom were killed by Indian forces in past one year.

In last one year, we have eliminated over 25 terrorist from Pakistan who had infiltrated into our country. It was an act of frustration, he said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 21 others wounded when terrorists rained bullets on the bus carrying them in Pulwama district on Saturday.

Read | 8 CRPF men killed in Kashmir highway ambush, 2 militants shot dead
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Sunday said India would be the loser even if it was now accepted into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Would like to say strongly that India must not accept NSG membership, there is no need to go there as an applicant, he said. If today we get the NSG membership, we will be the loser. It will be a loss for us, no benefit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been relentlessly pursuing a seat on the 48-nation group, marshalling support across the world, including from the US. However, China, an NSG member, scuttled Indias chances by demanding raising concerns over the induction of non-nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signees.

Sinha said the government was being regularly misguided by some people on the importance of an entry into the NSG.

The former finance minister also decried Indias Pakistan policy a day after eight soldiers were killed in an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

Read: Hope Modi talks about failing miserably at NSG during Mann ki Baat: Kejriwal

Twenty-two others were injured in the attack, and two militants carrying AK-47s and hand grenades were shot dead in retaliatory firing. In a statement to a local news agency, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taibas spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi said two members of its suicide squad carried out the attack.

If it is true that the two terrorists killed [on Saturday] were Pakistanis then its clear that its a war-like situation between India and Pakistan, Sinha told ANI. With great sadness I would like to say that our governments Pakistan policy has completely failed.

Read: NSG membership push ill-advised, unwarranted, says Srinivasan

An official said the militants attacked the Srinagar-bound three-vehicle CRPF convoy near Frestbal in Pampore town at around 5:50 pm, choosing a sharp bend on the Jammu-Srinagar highway to ambush the convoy. The militants fired intensely at one bus, leading to the high number of causalities.

Jitna hum iss neeti par chalna chorengey, utna Bharat ke liye achcha hoga (The more we move away from this policy, the better it would be for India), Sinha said about the governments allegedly lenient policy towards Pakistan.
Domestic airlines can now import aircraft that are up to 18 years old into the country with the government amending more than two-decade rules in this regard.

The move is expected to provide a fillip for the governments ambitious efforts to boost regional air connectivity as it gives more leeway for operators in expanding their fleet.

Till now, aircraft that are more than 15 years old were not allowed to be imported.

As part of larger efforts to improve the ease of doing business in the domestic aviation sector, which has huge growth potential, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made changes to rules that had come into effect way back in July 1993.

With the revised norms, pressurised aircraft that are not over 18 years old or those which have not completed 50 per cent of design economic pressurisation cycle can be imported.

A pressurised aircraft is one which is equipped to handle cabin pressure at an altitude of above 10,000 feet.

Such planes should not have completed 15 years of age or 75 per cent of design economic life or 45,000 pressurisation cycle.

The regulations would be applicable for entities having scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operations.

Considering that modern commercial air transport jet aircraft are significant economic assets that can have an effective economic useful life of decades, the restriction imposed on import of aged aircraft is cautiously revised, the latest CAR signed by DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy said.

In this regard, changes have been made in the relevant norms or Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) effective from June 17.

Aircraft intended to be imported for air cargo operations shall not have completed 25 years in age or 75 per cent of its design economic cycles or 45,000 landing cycles, it noted.

The regulator also said that studies were conducted by international aviation community on the correlation between fatal accidents and age of the aircraft. Such studies have not clearly established that there is a correlation between accident rate and aircraft age up till 18 years, it added.
Over two months after retired encounter specialist DG Vanzara returned to Gujarat to a heros welcome, the controversial ex-IPS officer continues to receive rousing receptions across the state.

About 60 members of the little known Abinav Bharat Rashtravadi Hindu Sangathan  led by 33-year-old Amit Koladiya  are now preparing to hold a motorcycle rally in Amreli district on Sunday, at the conclusion of which they plan to facilitate the former police officer.

A key accused in the Ishrat Jahan and Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter cases, which resulted in the killing of seven people, 61-year-old Vanzara is nothing short of a hero for this two-year-old group. Koladiya and his friends, who call themselves Godsevadi, plan to put Vanzara on weighing scales  balancing out 85 kg of his weight with coins amounting to anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. The money would then be donated to a gaushala (cow shelter).

This is the third felicitation function held for Vanzara in as many weeks, ever since he returned to Gujarat after spending eight years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007. At these events, usually held by little-known Hindu nationalist groups, he narrates his side of the encounter stories  much to the thrill of his doting audience.

The officer, who is known as a supercop among his admirers for leading six encounters as the head of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, tells HT, Our release has vindicated those who always had faith in the Gujarat police. I go to remote places and inform people of the truth behind the encounters, telling them how we have become victims of politics.

All the six police officers accused in the encounter cases have been granted bail over the last one and a half years.

As Vanzara cannot make overnight journeys on weekdays, when he is required to present himself at the Gandhinagar CBI office, the longer tours are reserved for Sundays. When asked if he intends to join politics in the near future, the officer said he was only trying to take the truth to the people.

Meanwhile, Vanzara  who stays in Gandhinagar  continues to court controversies through word and deed. At a recent function in Surat, he placed a garland of toy guns and pens on a Sardar Patel statue. Later, at a felicitation function attended by nearly 2,000 people on June 23, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not have been alive if the Gujarat police hadnt carried out encounters.

While moderates balked at his views, Vanzaras followers couldnt agree more. We are followers of Godse, not Gandhi. If slapped, we will not offer the other cheek. We will slap them back. What Vanzara did was completely justified, said Koladiya.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the investigative agency for white collar crimes, has sought loan details from lenders to the Vijay Mallya-owned defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Banks have been asked to provide all the details of the loans given to the Kingfisher Airlines. The agency wants to know whether all the procedures were followed by the lenders while giving loans to the airlines, a banking source said, adding the details have been furnished.

As a multi-disciplinary organisation, the SFIO probes cases of financial frauds that are referred to it by the corporate affairs ministry.

According to a banker, by asking these details, the SFIO is probably trying to ascertain whether or not there were any lapses on part of the lenders in the entire Kingfisher Airlines loan saga.

Last month, corporate affairs minister Arun Jaitley, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, had said the SFIO was investigating the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines for alleged financial irregularities.

The SFIO is currently investigating Kingfisher Airlines. Since the probe is in progress, no comments are offered at this stage, Jaitley had informed Parliament in a written reply.

Beleaguered liquor baron Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owe over Rs 9,000 crore, including interest, to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank.

Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank, United Bank of India and Dena Bank, among others.

On June 14, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai had declared Mallya a proclaimed offender in a loan default case.

The court issued the order on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been asking Mallya to join investigations in person in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud involving IDBI Bank.

On June 11, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and UB Ltd in connection with its money laundering probe in the IDBI Bank loan default case.

The assets brought under the provisional attachment order include bank balance of Rs 34 crore, a flat each in Bengaluru and Mumbai (2,291 sqft and 1,300 sqft respectively), an industrial plot in Chennai (4.5 acres), a coffee plantation in Coorg (28.75 acres) and residential and commercial areas in UB City and the Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru (84,0279 sq ft).

Mallya had left the country to Britain on March 2 using his diplomatic passport and London has turned down New Delhis request to deport him.
The Allahabad high court has declined to entertain a PIL seeking a direction to restrain the electronic and print media from alleged glorification of the Kairana incident which may disturb communal harmony.

However, the court left it open to the authorities concerned to take appropriate action or the aggrieved person to approach the appropriate forum, if any such action was required be taken under the law.

A division bench of justices Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Shamsher Bahadur Singh passed this order on June 23 on a PIL filed by a journalist impleading major political parties and news channels as well as the Press Council of India (PCI).

Read: Only 3 Kairana families shifted, that too over crime, reports DM

We have considered the submissions raised and we find that in absence of statutory obligations, the nature of the advisory or administrative direction as sought may not be possible at this stage on the material placed on record but in the event any such publication of views, ideas or news either by electronic or print media is likely to cause communal disharmony, then it would be appropriate for respective central and the state governments through their authorities as well as the PCI to issue such necessary instructions that may be required for the purpose of containing any such situation that is being apprehended, the court said.

Read: Doubts over the communal angle in Kairana exodus

The petition had alleged that the entire atmosphere which had been created in connection to a particular incident at Kairana amounts to a clear violation of ethical principles pronounced by PCI and also leads to a situation, which may precipitate communal tensions.

The allegations were about the alleged exodus of certain members of a particular community from Kairana that were being glorified and were being politically utilised to the detriment of the public at large in order to disturb communal harmony.
India cautioned China on Sunday over its resistance to New Delhis bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), saying the neighbouring countrys defiant stand could reflect on the bilateral dialogue process.

The warning came on a day when diplomatic sources indicated that the 48-member group might meet again in December to consider the entry of nations such as India, which have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties, foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

The December special session that Mexico suggested was opposed by China, which has been upholding the signing of the NPT arms control pact sacrosanct for new nations to enter the NSG that controls global nuclear trade and technology. Normally, the NSG would have met next year.

Read: Seoul plenary ends: No decision on Indias NSG entry as China remains adamant

New Delhi launched a spirited campaign but failed to make the cut at the NSG plenary that concluded in Seoul on Friday in the face of stiff opposition from China and a few other countries.

There are some processes which take longer, Id evaluate the NSG membership process in that category, Swarup said.

India is not a signatory to the NPT, which it says is biased. The NPT recognises only the US, Russia, the UK, France and China as nuclear weapon states.

Read: Even if accepted in NSG, India will be the loser: Yashwant Sinha

President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico had assured support for Indias efforts to join the NSG when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Latin American country on June 9.

A panel for informal consultations on Indias membership has been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Read: Indias NSG attempt was well worth the risk

Grossis appointment came even as a top US official said the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a path forward for Indias acceptance as a member.

China was unrelenting in blocking Indias bid. Modi even sought the support of Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that coincided with the two-day NSG meeting.

China also clubbed Indias entry with that of its all-weather friend Pakistan, which, too, is a non-NPT country. Pakistan submitted its NSG application within days of India sending its request.

India hopes that the NSG membership will allow it access to latest nuclear technology and global markets. Energy-starved India has set for itself an ambitious goal of sourcing 40% of its power from non-fossil sources and is relying heavily on nuclear energy to meet the target.

(With inputs from agencies)
Indian men are less likely to use toilets than women, even if they have access to one, a five-state study by market research firm IMRB and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has found, in what could be bad news for the governments flagship Swachh Bharat mission.

The study, commissioned by the urban development ministry, looked at the toilet habits of 4,400 urban poor households in 30 districts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu between August and October 2015.

It found that though 68% of these households had access to toilets  not necessarily built under Swachh Bharat  either at home or in the community, 45% of men used them inconsistently and 10% not at all. Comparative figures for women were 25% and 4%, respectively.

Rajasthan had the highest percentage (54%) of men who were inconsistent in using toilets while Odisha led in terms of men (24%) who avoided the facilities altogether.

In India, masculinity can override ordinary conceptions of shame. Men are more relaxed when it comes to the application of rules to themselves. Though basic gender disparity is there in every society, it is glaring in India, said noted sociologist Andre Beteille.

Read: Swachh Bharat urban toilet plan is 76 percent behind schedule

Another explanation for Indias poor toilet habits may lie in its obsession with purity and pollution, he said. In our obsession for ritual purity, we make compromises with physical cleanliness.

Respondents listed dirty and smelly toilets, lack of water and broken facilities as some of the reasons they avoided using toilets.

Houses with non-functional loos were a common element. In Andhra, a quarter of households with toilets reported that the facilities werent in working condition. In Tamil Nadu, one-fifth of the loos were defunct.

Four per cent of households across the five states used toilets as storage space.

The study also found that bad habits die hard. More men used toilets when they were new  within the first six months of construction but usage dropped drastically as the toilets got older.

Behaviour regression  forming a good habit (using a toilet in this case) but going back on it after a while  was another problem. The study said men tended to use toilets more in the rainy season than they did in the dry months. Womens behavior, on the other hand, was independent of seasonal variations.

Read: Swachh Bharat mission needs a peoples push

Men tend to think the toilet is constructed for women at home, they see it as a space for women. This adds to issues related to maintenance of the toilet, which results in such behaviour, said Surya AV, senior vice-president at IMRB.

Of the 38% households in the five states that did not have their own toilets, the main reason cited was financial constraints, followed by lack of space and a habit of defecating in the open.

The Narendra Modi government has made it its mission to rid India of open defecation by 2019, setting itself a target of building toilets in 104 lakh households by then. But the Swachh Bharat campaign, launched in 2014, is stuttering with only 11% of toilets completed till March 31 this year.

The studys findings, government officials said, highlight the need to target men in government communication, which is presently women-centric. We are re-strategising our communication based on the study, said a ministry official.

Read: No toilets for 7,000 girls in Haryana schools: Survey

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed on Sunday his governments efforts to check black money, asking tax evaders to come clean and declare their undisclosed income or face strong penal action.

We lose our peace by violating rules. Why not give correct information about our income and assets to the government? Modi said in his monthly radio address, Mann ki Baat.

He delivered a strict warning that the government will come down hard on those who hide assets and dodge authorities.

It is not difficult for taxpayers to comply with the governments tax system. But old habits (tax evasion) die hard. A generation still thinks that it is better to stay away from the government. I want to urge you all that. Dont forgo your mental peace by running away from the rules. Anyone can harass you, Modi said.

His remarks coincide with efforts this June when Modi persuaded Switzerland to work with Indian authorities to tackle tax dodgers stashing money in Swiss banks and government advertisements asking offenders to come clean.

Read: Dissatisfied with Modi govt on black money issue: Ramdev

The government has opened a special window  Income Declaration Scheme, 2016that gives tax evaders four months to declare their undisclosed income or face strong punitive action.

The scheme, announced in this years budget, will remain in force from June 1 to September 30.

Those who had under-reported their income or assets for the previous assessment years have the option to come clean by paying tax, interest and penalty totalling to 45% of the undisclosed income.

The Prime Minister said there were a strong mismatch between Indias tax and wealth statistics, a marker that many peoples spending exceeds their ability to pay based on disclosed incomes.

You may not believe that out of a population of 125 crore only 1.5 lakh have a taxable income of more than Rs 50 lakh. This cannot be digested by anybody. One can see lakhs of people with taxable income of more than Rs 50 lakh in big cities, Modi said.

We see people with houses worth Rs 1-2 crore but their declared income will be lesser. This needs to be changed before September 30, he said.

Successive governments have struggled with under-reporting of taxes, seen as a major hurdle in expanding state revenues, as well as with growing undisclosed incomes, or what is known as black money, to avoid taxation.

A 2015 Credit Suisse survey said India had 185,000 dollar-millionaires but officially only about 150,000 people are known to have an annual income of above Rs 50 lakh.

Tax officials have been told to knock on the doors of people whose income statements do not reflect the size or grandeur of their property but they must do so in a gentle and friendly manner.

Such cold calls by taxmen were part of several suggestions Modi is learnt to have made at a recent conference of revenue officials, where he set a target of doubling the countrys taxpayer base to 100 million.

On Sunday, Modi invoked the example of Chandrakant Damodar Kulkarni, a retired government employee from Pune, who has pledged to donate one third of his pension to the Swachh Bharat Kosh, and urged people with undisclosed incomes to draw inspiration from him.
Prime minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley criticised Congress on Sunday  the anniversary of the proclamation of Emergency in 1975. Modi in his radio programme Mann ki Baat described June 25, 1975 as a black night.

Jaitley said that Congress was responsible for delaying the economic reforms and wondered if the party will ever have an internal debate on its failures.

The blots on it are economic reforms being delayed by over two decades, transformation of India into a dynastic democracy, the Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption. I wonder whether the current leadership of the Congress has a view on this subject. Will the Congress have an internal debate on these issues? Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, referring to his governments initiative to conduct a public survey on the performance of the NDA government, Modi said, Years ago, peoples voice was muzzled on June 26 and now on this day, people can decide if the government is working well or not. This is the power of democracy.

Both the PM and Jaitley talked about Jai Prakash Narayan and how the leaders were detained and the press pre-censored.

Jaitley said the real reason for Emergency was the legal threat to Indira Gandhis prime ministership.

In his article Constitutional dictatorship imposed by Mrs Indira Gandhi forty one years ago Jaitley wrote, The phoney reason she gave was that there was a breakdown of public order in as much as Jai Prakash Narain had asked the police and the army not to follow illegal orders. The actual reason was that her continuation as the PM was threatened since the Allahabad high court had unseated her as the MP for adopting corrupt practices during her election.

Hitting back at PM, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan said, This is an undeclared Emergency. I am also reminding you when Advani ji had talked about the proviso of Emergency that exists, he was clearly hinting at the fact that this dispensation is capable of declaring Emergency.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and 51 AAP legislators were detained Sunday morning on way to the Prime Ministers residence to protest the arrest of a party lawmaker and alleged targeting of Delhi government by the Centre.

The MLAs were detained for violating prohibitory orders that were clamped around 7 RCR, the official residence of the Prime Minister, where they were planning to surrender to Narendra Modi.

All the MLAs including Sisodia have been detained and taken to the Tughlaq Road police station, deputy commissioner of police Jatin Narwal said, setting the stage for another round of confrontation between the AAP and the BJP-ruled Centre.

The AAP leaders were taken to the Parliament Street police station from Tughlaq Road, which is close to Race Course Road.

They were released around four hours later.

Read: AAP questions haste in arrest, police say MLA was not cooperating

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had in the morning announced the latest offensive against Modi, who he had a day earlier accused of unleashing emergency following the dramatic arrest of Mohaniya.

Sisodia would surrender to PM after some vegetable vendors lodged a complaint against the deputy CM, accusing him of intimidation. Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM, the Delhi CM said.

Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM pic.twitter.com/M6hbzksWDO  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 26, 2016

Sisodia, too, took on the PM. Modi ji, you have got us arrested and keeping us in Parliament (Street) police station. We are ready to go to Tihar but dont stop us from working for people of Delhi, he tweeted minutes after detention.

The Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP-ruled Centre have been at loggerheads over issues ranging from policing, transfers and appointments and law-making ever since AAP swept to power in Delhi in February 2015. The party has 67 lawmakers in the 70-member house.

All MLAs of AAP & Dy CM Manish Sisodia have been detained.



Now Modi ji please dont punish Delhi. #ArrestMeModi pic.twitter.com/2TBw0ToMKJ  AAP Delhi Official (@aapdelhincr) June 26, 2016

Some traders operating illegally had threatened to lodge a complaint against him when he conducted a surprise check at Ghazipur market, Sisodia said on Saturday. He was sure that Modi would arrange for his arrest by getting the complaint changed to that of extortion, violence and sexual harassment, Sisodia tweeted.

The Ghazipur fruit and vegetable traders association president in a letter said Sisodia adopted a dictatorial attitude and he was worried that he might act against him, said SBK Singh special commissioner of police (law and order). No police action is made out in the matter, he said.

Mohaniya was picked up from the middle of press conference on Saturday on charges of intimidation and sexual harassment after a group of women from his constituency lodged a complaint against him.

The women claimed they had gone to Mohaniya, who is also the vice-president of the Delhi Jal Board, to complain about poor water supply in Neb Sarai area but were assaulted.

Ordered in jail till Monday by the Saket court, Mohaniya is the eighth AAP MLA to be arrested since February 2015.

AAP said the arrest was an attempt to divert attention from the murder of a civic body legal adviser. The party has alleged the involvement of senior BJP leaders and also pointed fingers at lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung in the shooting death of MM Khan.

Kejriwal has been pushing for complete statehood for the national capital that would give the local government the control of police and more decision-making powers. After UK referendum, Delhi will soon have a referendum on full statehood, he said Friday.

(with agency inputs)
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was detained by police on Sunday when he was on his way to the prime ministers residence.

Sisodia, along with some other AAP leaders, was going to 7, RCR, to surrender, when he was first stopped and then detained by the police near Tughlaq Road, according to ANI.

All MLAs of AAP & Dy CM Manish Sisodia have been detained.



Now Modi ji please dont punish Delhi. #ArrestMeModi pic.twitter.com/2TBw0ToMKJ  AAP Delhi Official (@aapdelhincr) June 26, 2016

Earlier on Sunday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said Manish Sisodia would surrender to PM after some vegetable vendors complained against the deputy CM, his latest offensive against Narendra Modi following the arrest of a party MLA a day earlier.

Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM, the Delhi CM tweeted, a day after he accused Modi of unleashing emergency following the dramatic arrest of Sangam Vihar MLA Dinesh Mohaniya.

The PMs official residence is in the heart of the city at 7, Race Course Road.

Read | AAP questions haste in arrest, police say MLA was not cooperating

Kejriwal also posted a copy of a complaint of the Ghazipur fruit and vegetable traders association that sought action against Sisodia for intimidation.

Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM pic.twitter.com/M6hbzksWDO  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 26, 2016

SBK Singh, special commissioners (law&order) said on Sunday that a letter was given by the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association at the local police station on Saturday but no police action had been initiated so far on the complaint.

No police action has been initiated yet regarding this complaint: SBK Singh, Special Commissioners (Law & Order)  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

The deputy chief minister tweeted Saturday evening that some traders operating illegally had threatened to lodge a complaint against him when he conducted a surprise check at Ghazipur market.

He was sure that Modi would arrange for his arrest by getting the complaint changed to that of extortion, violence and sexual harassment, Sisodia said.

He tweeted again on Sunday morning saying that he will surrender before the PM.

 !    ,                    https://t.co/Fp7mDi4y7V  Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) June 26, 2016

Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party reacted angrily after the Delhi Police on Saturday arrested Mohaniya from middle of a press conference for allegedly assaulting a group of women in Neb Sarai, a locality in his constituency. Ordered in jail till Monday by the Saket court, Mohaniya has also been accused of intimidation and sexual harassment.

Modi declares emergency in Delhi. Arresting, raiding, terrorizing, filing false cases against all those whom Delhi elected, Kejriwal tweeted on Saturday.

AAP said the arrest was an attempt to divert attention from the murder of a civic body legal adviser. The party has alleged the involvement of senior BJP leaders and also pointed fingers at lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung in the shooting death of MM Khan.

The BJP hit out at Kejriwal for protecting Mohaniya and said circus of jokers wont go on for long.

Mohaniya is the eighth AAP MLA to be arrested after the party swept to power in Delhi in February 2015.

The Saturdays confrontation is the latest in a series of events that have pitted the AAP and the BJP-led union government against each other.

Kejriwal and his party have accused the Centre of targeting their government and MLAs through Delhi Police. Kejriwal has been pushing for complete statehood for the national capital that would give the local government the control of police and more decision-making powers. After UK referendum, Delhi will soon have a referendum on full statehood, he tweeted Friday.
A district-level Samajwadi Party leader was chased and shot dead by three unknown assailants in Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

At around 3pm, when 30-year-old Gyan Singh alias Bechan Singh, was returning home from a market on his two-wheeler, three unknown men started chasing him on a black Pulsar motorcycle with a blank number plate.

Singh tried to speed away but they continued to chase him for a kilometre and fired at him in front of former Samajwadi Party district president Ram Shakal Yadavs house.

Following which, Singh ditched his vehicle and took off on foot behind a row of houses, but was soon surrounded by the assailants, who fired several rounds at him and killed him on the spot.

The assailants also fired at a woman who tried to raise an alarm but missed their target.

Later they fled the scene after firing several warning shots to terrorise locals.

Following the incident, locals thrashed Yadav alleging that he plotted Singhs murder. Yadav denied involvement.

Superintendent of police Ajay Kumar Singh, with the help of residents, rushed Singh to the district hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Nawab Shafath Ali Khan has always been known to be an ace shooter ever since he bagged a gold medal at the 12th National Games representing Mysore in 1968. He was just 12.

But the descendant of the Hyderabad Nizam family has perhaps never been as trigger-happy as he is in recent days. Beginning June 3, Khan has forayed deep into the countryside of Bihar to take aim and shoot dead 300 of the 30,000 nilgais that roam in herds and wreck havoc to farmland spread over 31 of the states 38 districts.

Sporting green fatigues alongside a cap and hunting boots, Khan is carrying out the states order to cull nilgais declared vermin by the Bihar government. The order to cull nilgais in Bihar, monkeys in Himachal Pradesh, peacocks in Goa and wild boar in Uttarakhand triggered howls of protest from animal lovers and wildlife enthusiasts, including union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi. The dispute reached the Supreme Court which last month refused to stop the culling, but failed to silence the critics who still insist the shoot-to-kill order to be inhuman.

This is the only option, says Khan without a hint of remorse. Other options like driving the nilgais into the forests have largely failed. For that matter, Bihar has little forest cover with only about 7 percent of its total geographical area classified as forest.

Weighing 200 kg when full grown, the nilgais breed fast and their burgeoning population has been too much of a burden for the locals who see Khan more as a messiah than just a hunter. They egg on Khan each time he opens fire and cheer after an antelope is felled. Im not a trigger-happy hunter...in fact, I hate killing animals. Im a conservationist doing this as a last resort, explains Khan.

As Khan looks for his kill armed with .315 and .306 rifles neatly kept aside in his Mahindra Thar jeep, locals share his sentiments. Some 80 percent of Mokamas 1.6 lakh hectares of farmland are routinely raided by the nilgais, feasting on wheat, maize, pumpkin and other vegetables.

For Amit Singh of Shiwnar village, the culling should have been ordered much earlier. I got my land fenced, but they (nilgais) broke it and damaged almost half my crop, he says. As he patrols his land on a horse, he demands more extensive culling of the antelopes.

Anand Murari is also a farmer and another strong advocate of the culling. We are happy. In early 1970s, one or two nilgais were seen. But now they come in herds of 40-50, he says. Dheeraj Paswan from Sahari village says he has stopped cultivating maize altogether because of the nilgai menace.

In village after village of Mokama, people spend sleepless nights to keep vigil against the raiding nilgais and protect their crops. Nahi jagenge to khana kaha se milega (If I dont remain awake, how will I get food), says Munni Singh, another farmer. And when the dawn breaks, womenfolk of the villages light incense sticks and sprinkle vermilion in their fields to propitiate the Gods for keeping the nilgais away.

They feel their prayers have finally been answered in the shape of Khan, Bihars only culling officer. Requests to Khan for culling are pouring in from other districts and on June 24, he received no less than 22 such pleas from various parts of the state.

Though found in abundance, Khan insists culling is an arduous task. Its a 15-16 hours daily assignment. He has also run out of cartridges and gone back to Hyderabad to get fresh ammunition. Mokama, meanwhile is waiting for his return and the culling to restart.
Now people can work normally despite having back pain with the help of the Jaipur Belt, a lightweight, protective and therapeutic device that supports the backbone.

Ganesh Ram Jangir, an engineer, who developed the Jaipur Belt, says that he got the idea while working with his parents in the agricultural field owned by his family in Rajasthans Nagaur.

By evening I used to have a back pain and when I asked my parents and they told that back pain was common when you work in fields throughout the day, he says.

I spoke to other farmers and found that they have been living with back pain for years. I felt I should do something for them and while studying engineering I started working on the device.

I developed the belt and kept upgrading it and then I met Dr Anil Jain of Santokba Durlabhji Hospital in Jaipur, who further modified the device by reducing the weight and replacing metal parts with low-weight thermoplastics and soft material cover that was cosmetically more acceptable by patients, he says.

Jain, who heads the Dr PK Sethi Rehabilitation Centre at the hospital, says the improved version of the Jaipur Belt with a spinal brace is ready for extensive clinical trials.

Based on the results of the clinical trials, the belt will be further modified, manufactured commercially and marketed in India and abroad.

The modified Jaipur Belt, weighing between 1.5 and 1.7kg will be available for Rs 2300-2500, while the premium version being made for people in the US will be available for Rs 5000-6000, he says.

Jangir, who has patented the Jaipur Belt, says the modified and improved device will help people who work in the manufacturing, construction and other labour-intensive industrial and agricultural sectors.

The initial trial has proved it works well for the people who have to bend down, pick heavy items frequently or having spinal pain or problems. It will also be useful for people who have prolonged sitting or standing jobs, he says.

Jagir further says that the idea and concept of the Jaipur Belt has been supported by the National Innovation Foundation, Ahmadabad, and selected by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, for the fellowship award.

The union department of science and technology has provided fund for the upgradation of the concept and product in association with Dr PK Sethi Rehabilitation Centre, Jaipur.

The device was further technically upgraded and selected by the US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund.
Dadars famous Ambedkar Bhavan was demolished overnight on Friday, sparking outrage among the leaders followers.

The Bhoiwada police registered a first-information report against members of the Peoples Improvement Trust after Dr Ambedkars grandson, Anandraj Ambedkar, lodged a complaint.

By Saturday evening, a crowd had gathered outside the demolished building and blocked the main road, halting traffic from Hindmata Chowk towards Dadar station.

We did not provide any protection at the time of demolition. We were not even made aware of it, said N Ambika, deputy commissioner of police, zone IV. The police, however, refused to specify the charges under which the trustees were booked.

The building, situated a stones throw from Dadar railway station, was initially used by Dr Ambedkar as library and a press to print and disseminate literature opposing the caste system. Later, it was also used as a meeting hall, hosting public and private events by Ambedkar followers.

Some supporters who gathered outside the building were students from nearby colleges.

We condemn this move by the trustees. We refuse to believe that the police had no idea about the demolition. We take this as a direct attack on Dr Ambedkar and his beliefs and request the government to take a stand. The trustees have ruined a place of historical importance, said one of the students, who did not wish to be named.

In a statement to the media late on Saturday evening, the BMC clarified that it had played no role in the demolition and that the building was situated on private property.

The People Improvement Trust requested the BMC to redevelop their property, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhavan. The building proposal department processed their application and issued an intimation of disapproval according to BMC norms. The trust is in the process of redeveloping the structure and its demolition is in progress. However, the BMC did not carry out the demolition, the statement read.
Four people drowned in open nullahs in the eastern suburbs  three in Mulund and one in Bhandup  as moderate to heavy rains continued to lash the city for a second straight day.

The police said Arbaaz Hasaan Ansari, 12, and Altaf Irfan Sayyad, 15, from Amar Nagar in Mulund (West) drowned playing in the rain in the early hours of Saturday. An officer from Mulund police station said, The two boys slipped and fell into a nullah. Ansari was lucky as he got tangled in a telephone wire. He was rescued, but Sayyad drowned.

Read: Heavy rains delay flights at Mumbai airport

Elsewhere in Mulund, Akhil Ismaeel Shaikh, 30, died after falling into a nullah near Rallyphone Company on Saturday afternoon. He was shepherding his goats and failed to spot the drain. He was taken to Mulund hospital, where he was declared dead at 2.25pm.

(Praful Gangurde/HT photo)

In Bhandup, a 70-year-old woman died after falling into an open nullah, but the police are yet to find her body. The incident took place at Pratap Nagar, when the woman had gone to pay her electricity bills on Saturday afternoon. An officer from Bhandup police station said the woman has been identified as Vasant Balerno, a resident of Jagdale chawl in Hanuman Nagar, Bhandup.

Local trains were also delayed by the rain on Saturday. Western Railway trains ran up to 15 minutes late while those on the Central Railway were 30 to 40 minutes behind schedule. A track facture was reported near Sion but it did not disrupt train schedules. Eight collapsed walls and 30 fallen trees were also reported through the day.

Local train on water logged railway track in Thane on Saturday. (PTI)

The rains also caused flooding across the city, and the BMC evacuated people from 36 hutments in Dahisar, Ghatkopar and Kurla. One complaint about flooding was lodged in south Mumbai, five were registered in the western suburbs and four in the eastern suburbs.

As the Indian Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rainfall in Greater Mumbai in the next 48 hours, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta ordered all civic officials  whether on leave or not  to report to work on Sunday.

And while the city has already received enough rainfall to cause flooding and delay trains, catchment area of the seven lakes that provide water to the city are yet to receive heavy rainfall. This means the 20% water cut, in force since last August, will continue for some time.

The water levels in the seven lakes are still lower than they were last year. The catchment areas need at least seven days of rainfall for the water levels to rise, said deputy municipal commissioner Sudhir Nayak. The water amount of water in all seven lakes is 9,430.4 crore litres, more than 20,000 crore litres less than this time last year.
SRINAGAR: Eight CRPF jawans were killed and 20 others injured on Saturday in a militant ambush on a convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district, the highest single-incident casualty in three years in the militancy-hit state.

Two militants were also killed in retaliatory firing by security personnel, police said giving details of the second major attack on a security convoy this month in the Kashmir valley.

The Pakistan-based Lashkar-eTaiba claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement to a local news agency, LeT spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi said that two members of its fidayeen (suicide) squad carried out the attack.

Kashmir police chief Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gilani attributed the rise in attacks on security forces to high infiltration of militants through the Line on Control (LoC).

An official said the militants attacked the Srinagar-bound three-vehicle CRPF convoy near Frestbal in Pampore town at around 5.50 pm, choosing a sharp bend on the Jammu-Srinagar highway to ambush the convoy.

Security agencies suspect a reconnaissance might have preceded the assault.

The militants fired intensely at one bus, leading to the high number of causalities.

Eight of our men have been martyred including a sub-inspector, CRPF DIG KK Sharma said.

The condition of five out of 20 injured security personnel, being treated at the Armys 92 base hospital, is said to be critical.

According some accounts, two more militants were involved in the attack but there was no official confirmation.

The area was sealed and an alert issued about the possibility of two terrorists having fled the spot in a car towards Srinagar.

Traffic on the busy highway came to halt after the attack, while tension gripped nearby Pampore town.

Asked whether the slain terrorists were from across the border, Jammu and Kashmir director general of police K Rajendra said: In all probability, they seem to be from Pakistan.

Home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted after the attack, My heart goes out to the families of the CRPF men who lost their lives in Pampore. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.

On June 3, three Border Security Force personnel were killed and five others were injured after militants ambushed their convoy on the same highway in Anantnag district.
NEW DELHI: The ministry of defence on Saturday cleared Indias biggest artillery gun purchase since the Bofors deal three decades ago. It will import 145 ultra-light howitzer artillery guns from BAE Systems at an approximate cost of $750 million (Rs 5,100 crore) for the newly-raised Mountain Strike Corps.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which met after a gap of three months and discussed 19 proposals, among them new schemes worth 28,000 crore, a top source in the DAC said.

The proposals cleared by the DAC are a balancing act between fast-tracking delayed procurement of defence equipment and the governments flagship programme Make In India that aims at giving a fillip to indigenous production.

The first batch of 25 guns will be delivered by the US-based BAE Systems in ready-to-use condition within six months of signing a contract. The remaining 125 will come in a knock-down condition for which a facility for assembly, integration and testing has been set up in India, a ministry official said.

At the same time, the Dhanush, an indigenous replacement for the 155 mm Bofors artillery gun, will go into production soon after three guns are handed over for testing sometime next week. Three guns will be handed over by June 30 for user exploitation and three more by the end of September, a senior ministry official said. He added the government has given bulk production clearance (BPC) for producing 18 more Dhanush guns. The Ordnance Factories Board will decide on where these will be produced, based on trials. The DAC noted that the Dhanush had made satisfactory progress, he said.

Former Army chief Gen VP Malik (retd) said the decision to procure ultra-light guns and start producing the Dhanush will fill a major deficiency in the artillery arsenal. These are important steps. They have taken a long time. Lets hope there are no further delays, he told HT from Panchkula.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of unleashing an emergency in Delhi, escalating his war on the Centre after the dramatic arrest of an AAP legislator in the midst of a press conference.

Police said Dinesh Mohaniya, the MLA from Sangam Vihar, was arrested for alleged assault on a group of women in Neb Sarai, a locality in his constituency.

Modi declares emergency in Delhi. Arresting, raiding, terrorising, filing false cases against all those whom Delhi elected What msg does Modi want to give to everyone (sic)? Kejriwal tweeted after police in plainclothes took away Mohaniya halfway through a press briefing at his office in South Delhis Khanpur area around noon.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the manner in which the MLA was picked up made him look like a dreaded terrorist.

Modiji has lost his mind, Sisodia added.

An AAP spokesperson also termed the arrest a result of an undeclared emergency, a reference to a 21-month period between 1975-77 when the then Congress government had cited internal disturbance to curb fundamental rights and arrest opposition leaders, keeping them in jail without trial. Saturday was the 41st anniversary of the Emergency.

The BJP hit out at Kejriwal for trying to protect Mohaniya with the emergency-like shield and said the circus of jokers wont go on for long.

This wont go for long as the people of Delhi have now recognised the circus and Kejriwal ji will get its answer in the next election, Union minister Mahesh Sharma told ANI.

The arrest gave Kejriwal fresh ammunition to attack the BJP-led central government which he accuses of using Delhi police to target his ministers and officials.

Mohaniya is the eighth AAP MLA to be arrested by Delhi police since the party came to power for the second time in Delhi in February last year.

Kejriwal has been demanding control over Delhi police, which reports to the home ministry.

A home ministry official refused to comment on the developments.

Police said that Mohaniya has two cases of assaulting women and senior citizen, registered against him.

Joint Commissioner of Police (South East) RP Upadhyay said the MLA was arrested on several charges including intimidation, sexual harassment and voyeurism.

Mohaniya was produced at the Saket court which sent him to jail till Monday.

AAP leaders called it an attempt to divert attention from the murder of a civic body official in which AAP had alleged involvement of BJP leaders.

In the murder of NDMC official, role of three persons - BJP MP Maheish Girri, BJP leader Karan Singh Tanwar and L-G Naje eb Jung, is doubtful. The B JP-led central government is trying to save them by undeclared emergency in Delhi, said a party spokesperson.

MM Khan, a legal adviser in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), was shot dead in Jamia Nagar on May 16, a day before he was slated to pass the final order on a hotels operation from a property leased out by the civic body.
NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his failure in getting India membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Gandhi took to Twitter to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party(B JP )- led National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) government on the issue.

NSG: How to lose a negotiation by Narendra Modi, he posted on the social networking site with the hashtag failed Modi diplomacy.

Gandhis criticism came a day after his party attacked the government for the embarrassment in Seoul over Indias failed bid to clinch the membership of the 48-member club.

India, which had been lobbying for months to join the nuclear group, was left disappointed on Friday when China successfully managed to block the bid.

Arguing on technicality, China led the opposition, rallying others among the 48-nation group.

The NSG  which works on consensus and thus requires all members to agree to a new entrant  is significant as it gives countries access to nuclear technology and facilitates trade.

As member nations debated on Indias bid and left the matter undecided during the NSGs pl enary s ession in Seoul, the main opposition here at home used the opportunity to attack Modi.

We do not know why India showed its desperation and allowed the country to be equated with Pakistan on the issue of NSG membership, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Friday.

Its high time that Prime Minister Narendra Modi realises that diplomacy requires gravitas, depth and seriousness. PM Modi needs to realise diplomacy needs depth not public tamasha, he said.

The world saw the prime Minister make a spectacle of himself and India. Now, India faces embarrassment unnecessarily, he said.
District Congress committee (rural) president Gurjit Singh Aujla, on Saturday, demanded a judicial probe into the distribution of rations under the Atta-Dal scheme, suspecting a scam worth millions.

Revealing figures at a press conference at the party office, Aujla said the pulses and wheat allocated for the underprivileged by the government, had not been delivered to beneficiaries of the district.

We have met blue card holders across the district. In a survey conducted, we have found that not a single person has got ration, especially in the Ajanala sub-division, he said.

Aujla alleged that officials in the public distribution system were hand-in-glove with the ruling party, and had duped the poor of 14,645 quintals of foodgrain.

This quantity amounts to Rs 8-10 crore and is allocated for distribution among blue card holders and those below the poverty line, he added.

He further alleged that officials involved in this racket may have diverted trucks towards Jammu and Kashmir to be sold in the open market. Aujla said an independent committee under the high court should investigate the matter.
Twelve years ago, world came crashing down on this 34-year-old entrepreneur from Ludhiana when her father died of brain haemorrhage. Creditors had started hounding her to clear debt of Rs 10 crore taken by her fathers company, Akal Springs Limited, and there was no hope in sight for her.

Featuring this week on the Facebook page launched by city administration  Inspiring Daughters of Ludhiana  is the story of Sandeep Riat alias Minnie who, with her sheer grit and determination, emerged as a winner against all odds.

She remembers the day her father died in 2004. The bank official had told her Take 15 days to mourn and then clear your debt, when 22-year-old Sandeep was sobbing near her fathers body.

Second among four siblings, Sandeep had just completed her graduation in business management, when she had to take over her fathers sick unit as managing director. It took her four years to clear the debt after which she started working on the unit.

But those years were very tough for her, as she faced the daunting task of dealing with umpteen court cases, bank recovery agents, and over 250 employees, who would ask for their salaries almost every day.

She managed to transform the sick unit, which manufactured truck suspensions, into a profit making venture, and today, her company receives orders from major vehicle manufacturers, including Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra, in Jamshedpur, Lucknow for spare parts of trucks, and is also into exporting auto parts.

Recalling everything, she says, There were more than 45 court cases against us, including many cheque bounce cases. I used to come to the plant and there used to be about 20 people waiting for me, asking for their money. One day there was a court case at Delhi, another at Chandigarh and the third at Ludhiana court and I was wondering which one to attend.

People used to advise me to run away, saying nothing is going to happen. Many a times, banks requested the DC to send police to our plant for taking it into possession. My mother had undergone a heart surgery and we were completely shattered. But, I told myself that I am not going to run away from all of this, she says.

Picking up the pieces, Sandeep took one thing at a time and what followed was ardent hard work.

I requested the staff comprising a large number of migrant workers to have faith and continue for some time without wages. They agreed. Then I took a major decision and sold off four-acre land of the plant and shifted entire machinery to the remaining two acres, that helped in getting rid of some debt, she added.

For starting the work again, she needed money but seven nationalised banks refused to give her loan at that time.

Nobody trusted us, banks used to say I am a woman, and how will I run an industrial unit? Only one bank showed faith and finally we managed to some loan and started the work all over again, she said.

Using business tactics and opening another entity helped developed her business again.

From a period of 2006 to 2008, I worked day and night and do not remember how these years flew by. I dont even remember celebrating my birthday during these years, she said.

The unit, managed single-handedly by Sandeep, is now raking in huge profits today.

Sandeep was awarded with Parman Patra award by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal in 2011. All contented with the company reaching new heights, Sandeeps brother and sister have also joined the business. Recently, she married off her younger sister.

I wish my father was alive to see this day, she signs off, with moist eyes.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Police have concluded that the car used by gangster Goru Bachcha to flee after firing at friend-turned-foe Johny Lamba had a fake number plate.

Witnesses had jotted down the cars registration number and gave it to police. When police verified the number from the district transport office, it turned out to be fake.

Read more: Gangster Goru Bachcha, aides open fire at rival in Ludhiana

Division 5 station house officer (SHO) Beant Juneja said, The number of the car belongs to a motorcycle. Police have got some vital clues and several teams have been formed to arrest the accused.

Johnys condition has started to improve. Police have been waiting to record his statement to know the reason behind the attack, the SHO said.

He said, During the preliminary investigation, police came to know that Johny and Goru Bachcha were close friends once. Johny had bailed him out when he was arrested earlier. After killing three-wheeler driver Vikrant Kumar, Goru Bachcha was on the run.

Must read | Gangs of Ludhiana: Cops fail to curb violence

He had contacted Johny for money, but Johny did not arrange it for him. Police suspect that it was the reason behind the attack. Besides, Bachcha had also been suspecting that Johny was passing on information about his movements to the police.

Meanwhile, cops were interrogating Student Organisation of India district chief Jeevan Sekha, who was arrested on Friday for sheltering Goru Bachcha.
The woeful saga of desperate farmers continues as two more debt ridden farmers have committed suicide here on Thursday night. Just last month, two farmers from Ralla village had committed suicide after they failed to get compensation for their wheat crops which got gutted in fire.

Mohinder Singh (49) of Dyalpura village had a debt of about Rs 4 lakh, which he had taken about a year ago for his treatment at PGI Chandigarh. He and his two brothers shared about one acre of land. On Thursday night, he consumed pesticide and slept on his field. The family found him dead the next morning.

He was under extreme stress as he had to repay the loan which he had taken from a local money lender. He got another shock recently when 11 of his goats died due to some disease, said his relative. He was the youngest of the four brothers and was mostly dependent on cattle farming.

Another farmer Lal Singh (62) of Kishangarh village in Bareta ended his life after jumping into the canal on Thursday night. According to his family, Lal Singh had a debt of about Rs 5 lakh.

My father owned about 2.5 acres of land, but he remained under stress due to the bank loans which were to be cleared. Though there was no such intimation from banks, nor we had ever been blacklisted for the same, said his elder son Jagtar Singh.

Miffed over an argument with his wife, Lal Singh got drunk and left for the fields on Thursday evening. It was only after a few hours that both his sons started searching him and found his turban and slippers near the canal.

The police have registered cases in both the incidents.

In the wake of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, Bhartiya Kisan Union members had been protesting in Bathinda for over 34 days. Among their many demands, they want waiver of debt-ridden farmers and farm labourers, survey of farm suicides from 1990 onwards and Rs 5 lakh each to families of suicide victims.

According to BKU leaders, in Mansa over 100 cases of farmer suicides have been reported since April 2013.
Antoine Griezmann scored twice in four minutes as Euro 2016 hosts France came from behind to claim a 2-1 win over ten-man Republic of Ireland on Sunday.

Victory in the last 16 clash in Lyon means France face either England or Iceland in the Stade de France quarter-final next Sunday.

Paul Pogba brought Shane Long down within seconds of kickoff and Robbie Brady, who netted the Republics winner against Italy, converted a penalty with just two minutes gone to give the Irish a shock lead.

For full coverage: Euro 2016: Griezmann scores twice as France defeat Republic of Ireland 2-1

But Griezmann underlined a superb performance as the main strike threat with two knockout goals in the second-half as the hosts floored the Irish.

At this stage of the tournament you dont have the right not to qualify, French coach Didier Deschamps said, expressing relief at the fightback as French fans celebrated.

Irelands problems were compounded by playing the last 25 minutes with ten men.

Centre-back Shane Duffy was sent off on 66 minutes for bringing down Griezmann, who was through on goal.

Frances win came at a cost as both midfielder NGolo Kante and defender Adil Rami are suspended for the quarter-final after picking up bookings.

Defeat means more heartache for the Irish in their first meeting with France since a controversial World Cup play-off in November 2009.

France's coach Didier Deschamps celebrates his team's win after the Euro 2016 round of 16. (AFP Photo)

Thierry Henrys infamous handball, dubbed Le Hand of God, helped seal a 2-1 aggregate victory to send France to South Africa 2010 at Irelands expense.

The Irish came flying out of the traps in Lyon.

A long ball caused the French all manner of problems and when Southampton striker Long tried to turn and shoot, Pogba made contact.

With just 70 seconds played, referee Nicola Rizzoli pointed straight to the spot.

Brady was again the darling of the travelling Green Army as the Norwich City winger put the Irish ahead with a shot that rebounded off a post.

It was the fastest goal at a Euro finals since Russias Dimitri Kirichenko scored after 67 seconds against Greece in 2004.

Celebrations erupted amongst the small band lucky enough to get one of the paltry 4,500 tickets allocated to Irish fans at the 59,000-capacity stadium.

The hosts responded by laying seige to the Irish goal.

Griezmann, twice, and Olivier Giroud both tested Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph, as did Pogba with a long-range free-kick.

Ireland's Robbie Brady, number 19, celebrates after scoring on a penalty kick during the Euro 2016. (AP Photo)

No quarter was asked or given as things got heated on the pitch with four yellow cards dished out in the first-half.

France coach Didier Deschamps injected some pace after the break by bringing on fleet-footed winger Kingsley Coman for NGolo Kante.

The French played at a much higher tempo and Randolph was thoroughly tested by Blaise Matuidis shot from just outside the box on 55 minutes.

France drew level when Griezmann rose highest to meet Sagnas pin-point cross on 58 minutes.

Randolph got a glove on the bullet header, but it was destined only for the back of the net.

Griezmann struck again three minutes later when Giroud headed down into the Atletico Madrid wingers path to slam his shot past Randolph.

With France in top gear, Duffys desperate lunge clipped Griezmanns ankle on the edge of the area and Rizzoli had to show the Irishman the red card on 66 minutes.

Only Irish determination, and a lack of a final touch, prevented Griezmann finishing with a hat-trick.
Despite overwhelming support in favour of Indias joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, China chose to cast its veto against even a discussion about Indian entry at the Seoul plenary on Friday. One question is whether Beijing was motivated by a desire to placate its closest ally, Pakistan, or a desire to contain Indias global standing.

Most analysts believe China was willing to ignore its diplomatic isolation and damage relations with India as, ultimately, it does not want to share major global podiums with New Delhi.

Jayadev Ranade, director of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy in New Delhi, believes the larger picture is China wants to keep us out so that they remain the dominant player in Asia. If we get into the NSG, this strengthens Indias candidature for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

The argument is that with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and concerns about Islamist terrorism, while Pakistan is even more crucial to Chinas strategic interests than before, Islamabad can hardly afford to severe its ties with Beijing.

I am more inclined to believe Chinas main goal is to keep India out without appearing to do so, says Pakistan expert Dan Markey of the Council for Foreign Relations.

Pakistan is more than just a fig-leaf, but China would also have found a way to manage Pakistans discontent if thats all there was to the story.

In his view, Chinas willingness to openly block Indias entry into the NSG has proven that Beijings main driver was keeping India in its place.

If China had folded  and let India in  and worked hard to placate Pakistan, then we have known that the main issue for Beijing was trying to keep Pakistan happy.

As it was China put up a stiff fight and made demands that ensured neither India nor Pakistan could get in. Then we know Beijings main goal is to keep India out.

But not everyone rules out a Pakistan First motivation.

Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund and author of The China-Pakistan Axis, in a blog written before the NSG plenary that Pakistan has been the surprising pace-setter in Xi Jinpings Belt and Road initiative, and over the last year Chinese intellectuals have taken to describing the country as Chinas one real ally, with the relationship a model to followStanding up for Pakistan now is not only about the bilateral relationship but also about Chinas reliability as a partner.

Ultimately, keeping New Delhi down and holding Islamabad up are two sides of the same coin in Beijings strategic calculus. China wants to keep India out; it also wants to make Pakistan happy, says Teresita Schaffer of the Brookings Institute. Two for the price of one.
At least 35 people were killed and 11 injured when a bus crashed on a highway in central China Sunday and burst into flames, state media reported.

Huge clouds of thick black smoke billowed from the vehicle after the bus slammed into a roadside concrete barrier in Hunan province, video footage showed. One person was seen being dragged to safety.

Some passengers limped out of the bus covered in blood, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

It quoted a survivor surnamed Huang as saying the driver told he could not open the bus door, before escaping from the window beside his seat.

Huang saved himself by smashing another window with a fire extinguisher.

Two children were among those killed, while four of the 11 people taken to hospital were seriously injured, Xinhua said, adding that the bus driver had been detained.

Images recorded after the fire in Yizhang county was extinguished showed the charred bus totally destroyed and sitting atop a pile of ash.

A total of 55 people were on the vehicle, Xinhua cited local officials as saying.

Local officials believe that an oil leak caused by the crash may have sparked the huge blaze, it said.

Traffic accidents are common in China, with more than 250,000 people dying each year on the countrys roads, according to the World Health Organisation.

Public security minister Guo Shengkun has ordered intensive efforts to save the injured, establish the cause of the accident and take measures to prevent a recurrence, Xinhua said.

It said a team headed by vice public security minister Huang Ming was heading to the scene.

Long-distance buses are a popular cheap mode of travel between cities and competition between transport firms can be fierce.

China has seen repeated bus fires in recent years which have caused multiple fatalities.

A total of 38 people were killed in 2014 when a van carrying flammable liquid hit a bus on a highway in Hunan province.

In 2010 a shuttle bus carrying steel factory workers in eastern China burst into flames, killing 24 passengers.

Several such incidents were deliberate arson attacks, according to officials.

An arsonist who injured more than 30 people by setting fire to a bus in the city of Hangzhou was executed last year.

In 2013 a suicidal man started a fire on a vehicle in Xiamen that killed 47 people including himself.

There were no indications that the fire on Sunday was deliberate. Xinhua said rescuers were searching the charred frame for clues.
UK Prime Minister David Camerons decision to resign after he lost the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union triggered a leadership contest in his Conservative party, the winner of which will replace him in Downing Street.

He had already said he would step down before the next election in 2020, and a number of Conservative lawmakers have positioned themselves as potential successors.

Britains next prime minister will have the task of negotiating the countrys exit from the 28-nation bloc.

Here are the key steps following his resignation:

CAMERON OUT

Cameron had called the referendum and campaigned hard for a Remain vote on Thursdays poll, so his departure was inevitable, but is a humiliating end to his career.

The 49-year-old became Britains youngest prime minister in nearly 200 years in 2010, and last year was re-elected with a Conservative majority.

Cameron will hand over the leadership and the keys to Downing Street latest by October at the Tory party conference.

He leaves behind a party that is deeply divided, with six of his ministers and 128 of 330 Conservative lawmakers having backed a Brexit.

WHO CAN SUCCEED CAMERON?

A committee of senior Conservative lawmakers will meet on Monday to formally start the leadership process.

Here are some potential candidates:

Instantly recognisable with his mop of golden hair, Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson can claim much of the credit for propelling the Leave side to victory. (Getty Images)

- Boris Johnson:

Instantly recognisable with his mop of golden hair, Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson can claim much of the credit for propelling the Leave side to victory.

The 52-year-old former London mayor has the popular touch, and his relentless campaigning for a Brexit has endeared him to many eurosceptic Conservative voters.

It has also boosted his national profile, although he has critics among Conservative MPs and some accuse him of only backing the Leave camp out of political self-interest.

Britain's secretary of state for justice Michael Gove presented the more sober, cerebral face of the Leave campaign. (Reuters)

- Michael Gove:

The justice minister was a close friend of Camerons and his decision to defy him and campaign for a Brexit was a blow to the prime minister.

The 48-year-old former journalist presented the more sober, cerebral face of the Leave campaign.

His low point was comparing economic experts warning about the effects of a Brexit to the Nazis who smeared Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

He later apologised.

British interior minister Theresa May avoided the in-fighting that has dominated the campaign, giving her a unique position among those likely to want to succeed PM David Cameron. (AFP)

- Theresa May:

Interior minister Theresa May avoided the in-fighting that has dominated the campaign, giving her a unique position among those likely to want to succeed Cameron.

May declared herself officially in favour of Britain staying in the EU, despite being a long-standing eurosceptic and hardliner on immigration.

But the 59-year-old kept a low profile, treading a fine line between remaining loyal to Cameron and appeasing Tory core supporters with a call for reform to the rules that allow EU citizens to move to Britain.

Finance minister George Osborne has long been mentioned as a possible successor to Cameron but his strong support for a Remain vote angered many Tory members. (Reuters)

- George Osborne:

Finance minister George Osborne, Camerons close ally, has long been mentioned as a possible successor but his strong support for a Remain vote angered many Tory members.

He fronted a raft of official warnings over the economic risks of a Brexit that rivals dubbed Project Fear, and accused his rivals of being economically illiterate.

His final warning that he may have to raise taxes and slash spending on schools and hospitals if Britain voted to leave saw him dubbed the kamikaze chancellor.

Most commentators agree that his leadership ambitions are now all but dead.

- Other possibilities include two pro-European cabinet ministers: Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, and Stephen Crabb, the work and pensions secretary.

NAMING A NEW PM

In Britain, voters elect parties and not prime ministers, so a change of the leadership at the top of the governing party does not require a new election to be called.

Those hoping to succeed Cameron must first submit to a vote by Conservative MPs. The two most popular candidates will then be put to a vote by the partys 150,000 members.

MISSION: LEAVING THE EU

Cameron said the new prime minister will have to launch a procedure to leave the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which defines the conditions for a voluntary and unilateral exit.

There would then be a period of negotiation leading up to the exit, since Britain and the EU need to define their new bilateral relations.

The premier will also have the task of uniting a country profoundly divided by the EU vote, and dealing with the potential secession of Scotland.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Saturday for clear-headed negotiations with close partner Britain over its departure from the European Union.

Foreign ministers of the EUs six founding members had earlier said Britain should leave the bloc as soon as possible after Britons voted on Thursday to quit the 28-member bloc.

However, Merkel struck a more conciliatory tone.

The negotiations must take place in a businesslike, good climate, Merkel said after a meeting of her conservative party in Hermannswerder, outside Potsdam, to the west of Berlin.

Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically, she said, adding that there was no hurry for Britain to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty - the first step it must take to set in motion the exit process.

Read: Writing on the wall: Brexit a sign of anti-elite revolt

It should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame, Merkel said, in contrast with the more urgent call by the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, who were meeting to the north of the German capital.

They pressed for Britain to trigger the process for exiting the bloc after Britons voted by 52-48 percent to exit the EU, which it joined more than 40 years ago.

We now expect the UK government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible, they said in a joint statement.

The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, also piled pressure on Britain, calling for it to trigger the Leave process at a summit of EU leaders next Tuesday.

We expect the British government to deliver now, Schulz told Germanys Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The summit on Tuesday is the appropriate moment to do so.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, who met with French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Saturday, called for pragmatic negotiations once Article 50 is invoked.

Read: Priti Patel among likely candidates for post of PM in new government

My message is clear: when we work together we are stronger. I hope the British people will be able to overcome the challenges that await them, Frances Journal du Dimanche quoted Ban as saying in an interview.

EU officials said there was no real problem if it took a few months to begin the process for Britain to leave, though waiting until the end of the year could get in the way of the next round of EU budget talks and European election campaigning.

The officials said they were worried that British Prime Minister David Cameron, who resigned on Friday, could hand over to someone with a strategy to drag out the countrys departure.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, said Britain should begin informal negotiations on a full settlement governing its post-Brexit relationship with the EU before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Iraqi forces took the Islamic States last positions in the city of Fallujah on Sunday, establishing full control over one of the jihadists most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.

The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.

The Iraqi security forces now control the whole city of Fallujah, said Sabah al-Noman, spokesperson for the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) that has been leading the fight.

CTS fighters on Sunday eased into Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of Fallujah where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.

Jolan was Daeshs last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists, he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.

It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet, Noman said. This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there.

This image made from Associated Press video shows Iraqi troops turn the Islamic State flag upside down in Fallujah. (AP)

A spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah and that the overall operation could not be considered over yet.

We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... the aim is to clear the whole area, he said.

The offensive began on May 22-23 with an initial phase of staging operations aimed at tightening a months-old siege on Fallujah and led by the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

Qassem Suleimani, the powerful head of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards overseas operations arm, was more visible than ever before in Iraq during the early days of the operation.

The US-led coalition offered some aerial support but was less involved than six months ago during the operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.

The US had favoured focusing the battle on Mosul, the countrys second city, where IS proclaimed a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria two years ago almost to the day.

While some pockets of IS fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah remain to be flushed out, the jihadist organisation does not appear in a position to contest the area any longer.

The loss of Fallujah, which looms large in jihadist mythology and in 2004 saw US forces suffer some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, is a blow to IS.
Myanmar police on Sunday torched drugs with a street value of nearly $60 million, as authorities struggle to tackle the scourge of poppy cultivation and shut down pill laboratories in lawless border zones.

The impoverished nation remains the worlds second biggest producer of opium from which heroin is made, according to the United Nations.

Decades of corrupt military rule and continuing civil wars with ethnic rebels are blamed for fuelling the drugs trade.

To mark the UNs annual anti-drugs day, seized drugs and precursor chemicals were burnt in three places across Myanmar.

Over half a ton of opium and 80 kilogrammes (176 pounds) of heroin were torched, along with 768 kg of methamphetamines and 10 million other stimulant pills, a police official told AFP, adding the haul was worth around $57 million.

At a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw, Vice-President Myint Swe conceded the battle to stem drug production was far from being won.

People in very remote rural areas are trafficking drugs and cultivating poppies for a living, he said, urging greater development for the poor and conflict-hit border areas.

Once we have development and success in the local peace process, our drugs control process will strengthen.

The government led by Aung San Suu Kyis pro-democracy party has a massive popular mandate following elections in November.

She has promised efforts to end several simmering insurgencies.

But the governments writ currently does not extend to many border areas where drug production is rampant.

Both rebels and the Myanmar army are accused of buying weapons with drugs produced in the so-called Golden Triangle, a zone around the intersection of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.

While the heroin trade is worth billions of dollars to cross-border narcotics syndicates, opium farmers scratch a living at the bottom of the drug chain.

A report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said farmers in Myanmars poppy-growing villages make less money than other rural communities.

The struggle by villagers to make ends meet rather than greed was prompting the illicit cultivation, it added.

According to the UN, global opium production plunged almost 40% last year but the drug remains easily accessible due to a supply glut.

Asia remains the worlds largest market for opiates, accounting for an estimated two-thirds of all users, with Myanmar producing 14% of the worlds opium.
Russia and China sealed a raft of energy deals during President Vladimir Putins visit to Beijing on Saturday, strengthening economic ties while pledging to preserve the strategic balance of power among nations.

The deals involve the sale of stakes in a number of Russian projects to Chinese firms, an oil supply contract and joint investments in petrochemical projects in Russia.

Rosneft, Russias top oil producer, agreed with China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) that ChemChina would take a 40% stake in Rosnefts planned petrochemical complex VNHK in Russias Far East.

The deal would help Rosneft finance the project and get access to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian firm said in a statement.

They also signed a new one-year contract under which Rosneft could supply up to 2.4 million tonnes of crude oil to ChemChina between August 1 and July 31, 2017.

Rosneft and Beijing Enterprises Group Company Limited agreed the key terms of a potential sale of a 20% stake in Rosnefts oil producing subsidiary, Verkhnechonskneftegaz, to a unit of Beijing Gas Group.

The Russian firm also signed a framework agreement with Sinopec regarding the construction of a gas processing and petrochemical plant in East Siberia, aiming to set up a joint venture in 2017 focused on the Russian and Chinese markets.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said his company did not plan to reduce its crude supplies to China and would defend its market position amid competition with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Iran.

We will stick to the volumes we have agreed on. Its around 40 million tonnes (per year), TASS news agency quoted Sechin as saying.

Read: Ahead of NSG talks, Modi to meet Xi, Putin at Tashkent today

Russia was Chinas largest crude oil supplier in May for a third month in a row, having surpassed imports from Saudi Arabia.

Although economic cooperation was the focus at Putins talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders also agreed to strengthen global strategic stability.

A statement on the Kremlin website from the two governments called on nations to strictly abide by the norms of international law, keep military capabilities at the minimum level required for national security and refrain from steps aimed at expanding existing military-political alliances.

The statement criticised the deployment of anti-missile systems in Europe and Asia, saying those who deploy them often acted under false pretences.

It did not mention specific countries, but it comes at a time that Russia and Nato are at loggerheads over the western alliances build up of capabilities in eastern Europe, including missile defence. Nato says its actions are a necessary response to Russias intervention in Ukraine.

On North Korea, both countries agreed that the stalled six-party talks process remained the best way to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and that all sides should create conditions for talks to resume.
The Scottish parliament will try to stop Britain from dragging it out of the European Union, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday, as the five-million-strong country inched closer to breaking away from the United Kingdom.

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU while England and Wales voted to leave the 28-nation bloc in a historic referendum last week, rattling global financial markets and forcing prime minister David Cameron to resign.

Experts are unclear if an agreement between all four UK nations --- Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales  was mandatory before London sends a letter to Brussels under Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, which stipulates a two-year period for any member-state to leave the EU.

Read: Brexit: UKs Labour party in turmoil as key member sacked, others to quit

But Sturgeon said she will of course ask Scottish Parliament members to refuse to give their legislative consent to Britain leaving the EU.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks during an emergency cabinet meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Reuters)

If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of whats right for Scotland then the option of saying look were not to vote for something thats against Scotlands interest, of course thats got to be on the table, she said.

Scotland voted to remain in the UK two years ago but hours after the Brexit results, Sturgeon indicated a new referendum was likely. Experts said the 2014 referendum had hinged on the benefits Scotlands young economy would gain from Britains EU membership.

The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically. The UK that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 doesnt exist anymore, she told television channels.

Read: British bracing for world economy to punish UK for Brexit

Sturgeon is keen that Scotland  that voted 62% in favour of EU -- remain in the international bloc and is seeking talks with Brussels to protect its interests that include unfettered access to European markets and investment from the continent.

The 45-year-old leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, which has 63 out of 129 seats in the Scottish parliament, as well as 54 out of 650 seats in House of Commons.

The prospect of re-drawing UKs borders comes amid mounting desperation and regret among British residents after Fridays referendum voted 52%-48% to leave the EU after a bitter campaign that saw bitter campaigning over immigration, jobs and a sentiment of taking Britain back.

Read: Brexit: More than 2 million sign UK petition for new EU referendum

But hours after Brexit results delivered the most telling blow to European consolidation since World War II, regret appeared to grip the island as markets dived and the British currency was pounded to a three-decade low.

Many leave supporters indicated they hadnt taken into account the seismic economic and political fallout of ending the UKs 40-year membership in the EU. Discontent also grew in Northern Ireland and Scotland with two polls showing a majority of Scots supporting independence.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
BEIRUT: Air strikes carried out by Syrian or Russian warplanes killed dozens of people in eastern Syria on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported. The strikes hit the village of al-Quria in the Deir al-Zor province and killed 47 people there, including 31 civilians, it said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
MOGADISHU: Gunmen who stormed a hotel in Somalias capital have taken a number of hotel guests hostage, police said on Saturday, as the attackers set up snipers on the rooftop and were throwing grenades. A suicide bomber reportedly detonated an explosives-laden vehicle after which gunmen fought their way inside, and began shooting randomly at guests, police said.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
BEIJING : China said on Saturday that communications with Taiwan had been suspended after the islands new government failed to acknowledge the concept that there is only one China.

Relations between the two sides have grown increasingly frosty since President Tsai Ingwen won Taiwans leadership by a landslide in January and took office in May, ending eight years of rapprochement.

Beijing and Taipei have held regular, official communications since 2014, but that has now stopped, according to Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office.

The bilateral communication mechanism has been suspended, TAO spokesman An Fengshan said on its website.

Although Taiwan, whose official name is the Republic of China, is self-ruling after splitting with the mainland in 1949 following a civil war, it has never formally declared independence and Beijing still sees it as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Beijing is highly suspicious of Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which replaced the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang(KMT) party in government, is traditionally pro-independence and has warned her against any attempt at a breakaway.

Beijing said it had cut contact because Taiwan had refused to acknowledge the 1992 consensus -- a tacit agreement made between Chinese officials and the KMT that there is only one China but each side is allowed its own interpretation.

Tsais presidential predecessor Ma Ying-jeou recognised the consensus and oversaw an unprecedented thawing of ties from 2008 to when he left office in May. But, while Tsai has said she wants to maintain peaceful relations with China, she has not backed the consensus or theone China concept.

Her presidential victory tapped into voter fears that Beijing was eroding Taiwan s sovereignty through closer ties, and that trade agreements with China were being made secretly, benefiting big business, rather than ordinary residents.

Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council, the official body for communications with Beijing, would not confirm contact with China was now on ice.

The government will continue to keep the door open for cross-strait communication and make every effort to safeguard the existing mechanism, it said.
BEIJING: China issued new regulations on Saturday demanding search engines to clearly identify paid search results, months after a terminally-ill cancer patient complained that he was misled by search engine Baidu. Wei Zexi, who died in April after suffering from a rare cancer, had written a post on how he was led to a hospital for treatment which turned out to be ineffective and expensive.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
WASHINGTON: Donald Trumps campaign on Friday sought to link Hillary Clintons vote, as Senator in 2008, for the India-US nuclear deal to donations to the Clinton Foundation by Samajwadi Party politician Amar Singh.

These donations, from $1 million to $5 million, and the potential for appearances of conflict were first reported by The New York Times in 2008 shortly after the deal was approved by the US Congress. A framework for the India-US civil nuclear agreement was signed by then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush in 2005, but the deal was concluded in 2008 after Senate ratification.

Clinton, who had co-founded the Senate India caucus, backed the deal, which passed by a 86-13 vote. In a 35-page note, Top 50 Facts About Hillary Clinton, the Trump campaign reproduced portions of the NYT report.

The potential for appearances of conflict was illustrated by Amar Singh, a politician in India who gave $1 million to $5 million. Mr. Singh visited the US in September to lobby for a deal allowing India to obtain civilian nuclear technology even though it never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He met with Mrs. Clinton, who he said assured him that Democrats would not block the deal. Congress approved it weeks later.
BERLIN/LONDON: German-Chancellor Angela Merkel sought on Saturday to temper pressure from Paris, Brussels and her own government to force Britain into negotiating a quick divorce from the EU, despite warnings that hesitation will let populism take hold.

Eurosceptics in other member states applauded Britons decision to leave the European-Union in a referendum that sent shockwaves around the world, with far-right demands for a similar vote in Slovakia underlining the risk of a domino effect.

With the referendum decision finally made and Prime Minister David Cameron having announced his resignation, European politicians and institutions felt free to shower demands on Britain over its future outside the worlds largest trading bloc.

The European Central Bank said Britains financial industry, which employs 2.2 million people, would lose the right to serve clients in the EU unless the country signed up to its single market - anathema to leave campaigners who are set to lead the next government in London.

Almost alone in continental Europe, Merkel tried to slow the rush to get Britain out of the EU door. Europes most powerful leader made clear she would not press Cameron after he indicated Britain would not seek formal exit negotiations until October at least.

Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame, Merkel said.

The negotiations must take place in a businesslike, good climate, she told a news conference. Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically.

Merkel appeared more conciliatory than others within her coalition government and elsewhere in Europe. But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier showed a greater sense of urgency on getting talks going. This process should get underway as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe, he said after hosting a meeting of his colleagues from the six founding members of the EU - Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned of the dangers of delay.

We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap, he said.
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon plans to announce the repeal of its ban on openly serving transgender service members next month, US defence officials said.

The repeal would come five years after a 2011 decision to end the US militarys ban on gays and lesbians serving openly, despite fears  which proved unfounded  that such a move would be too great a burden in wartime and would undermine readiness.

The disclosure came the same week the US army formally welcomed its new secretary, Eric Fanning, who is the first openly gay leader of a military service branch in US history.

A US official said parts of the repeal would come into effect immediately. But the plan would also direct each branch of the armed services to implement new policies, affecting everything from recruiting to housing for transgender troops, the official said.

Republican representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said defence secretary Ash Carter had not answered questions the panel had asked, including about readiness challenges for transgender service members. If reports are correct, I believe secretary Carter has put the political agenda of a departing administration ahead of the militarys readiness crisis, Thornberry said in a statement.

Supporters of transgender rights cheered the news. Ashley Broadway-Mack, president of the American Military Partner Association, said in a statement: Our transgender service members and their families are breathing a huge sigh of relief.
PARIS: It was Britains poorer and less-educated citizens, angry at not having shared in the economic benefits of a new world order, who pushed it out of the European Union, in a vote that threatens elites, analysts say.

They are those who suffered the worst hang over from the economic crisis, and whose precarious economic position makes them most fearful of rising immigration, to the benefit of far right groups in the EU and Donald Trump in the United States.

I see the same pattern everywhere I look, said William Galston, a senior fellow at the US-based Brookings Institution.

The demographic splits within the UK are exactly the same category for category as the demographic splits within the American electorate in this presidential election.

Rural areas with high numbers of migrant workers, former industrial hubs and poor areas around cities, those without a university education and older voters were all among the 53.4 percent who voted Brexit.

Galston said this was the same demographic backing controversial Republican candidate Trump in the US, as well as eurosceptic and far-right parties enjoying a rise in support across Europe.

They mistrust political elites because up until now they havent seen any political parties who appear to recognise their discontent and respond to it.

Galston said while he did not expect these forces to prevail in the United States as they did in the Brexit vote, they were a major warning signal to established parties throughout Europe.

Fears are high of a domino effect, with eurosceptic, leftist and far-right parties from France to the Netherlands crying victory after the shock Brexit result was announced and calling for similar votes in their own countries.

Political scientist Melanie Sully of Vienna-based Go-Governance Institute warned Europe was facing a crisis of democracy that could be exploited by xenophobic, far right parties. If you dont have any trust in politics, its exactly the sort of black hole populists can march into and capture the mood and build on it, to perpetuate their own falsehoods, she told AFP.

At the root of this surge in anti-establishment sentiment is a feeling of fear, loss of control, and traditions and identity lost among those who are struggling economically, analysts say.

Before we talk about populism, the anti-establishment, we have to talk about the social position of these people. What do they earn? How do they see their everyday lives? said Tetiana Havlin, a sociologist at the University of Siegen in Germany.

In everyday life nobody thinks about anti-globalisation, anti-establishment. They just see their challenges, she said.

This of course gives fertile ground for populism... but in the end this is about what people feel.

Observers point to two main drivers of the surge in scorn for the elite: the hangover from the 2008/2009 economic crisis and the refugee crisis.
EDITH, NOT ELLEN

In How the Airmail Got Off the Ground, from your August issue, President Woodrow Wilsons wife is referred to as Ellen. In fact, Ellen Axson Wilson died in 1914, and the following year the president married Edith Bolling Galt. It was Edith who accompanied him to the airmail festivities in 1918.

Esley Hamilton

University City, Missouri

THIS DISGRACEFUL AFFAIR

I read The Washington Tragedy (October 98) with interest. In 1859, my paternal great-great-great-grandfather, W.H. Joyner, was working in some government capacity in Washington, D.C., where he wrote 43 letters to his wife who was tending the family farm in Franklinton, North Carolina. All of the original letters survive and were donated by his granddaughter in 1953 to the University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill. The following excerpt describes his feelings regarding the Sickles fiasco in Washington at that time.

. . . Hon. Danl Sickles of New York, a member of Congress, shot P. Barton Key, United States Dist. Attorney, last Sunday about 2 oclock p.m. for seducing his wife. Key died soon after being shot. Sickles is in jail awaiting his trial which will commence next Monday.Sickles is visited in jail by hosts of persons in high position. The President of the U. States has written him a letter of condolence. Mr. Sickles is said to be very penitent, confesses guilt and will never do so again.It disgusts me to read the reports in the morning papers of the conduct of the parties in this affair. Now Sickles is expressed as being in an agony of mind in prison, and his wife is expressed as being in like condition and extremely penitent. Mrs. Sickles is doubtless exceedingly sorry, not on account of the act but because she was caught.I send you two papers & have marked with red ink the account of this disgraceful affair.

W.H. Joyner resigned his position in 1860, returned home, enlisted in the Confederate Army, and died of disease in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on February 2, 1862.

Joseph O. Green, III

Louisburg, North Carolina
In the cold, clear predawn of September 19, 1863, the last of some 1,500 men of the Regular brigade filed into position near the Kelly farm in northwest Georgia, 13 miles south of Chattanooga in the valley of West Chickamauga Creek.

Comprising five infantry battalions and a battery, the brigade was the largest body of U.S. Regulars west of the Appalachian Mountains. Although some of the officers and sergeants were veterans of the prewar army, most of the troops had no previous military experience. The soldiers accepted the stern ways of the Regulars because their state regiments had no vacancies or were slow to be mustered into state service. The battalions themselves were New Army outfits formed in the 1861 expansion of the standing army.

The Regulars comprised the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, XIV Corps, of the 57,000-man Army of the Cumberland. The army had been fighting in the Western theater of the Civil War since 1861 to prevent the Southern occupation of Kentucky and to dislodge the Confederates from Tennessee. During June and July 1863, army commander Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans had maneuvered the Confederates out of central Tennessee in the brilliant and nearly bloodless Tullahoma campaign. In August 1863, the Cumberlanders advanced to give battle over the prize city of Chattanooga, a rail hub linking Virginia to Georgia and situated at a gap in the Appalachian Mountains that was the gateway to the lower South. Possession of the city would deprive the Confederacy of a vital conduit for foodstuffs and military stores and give the Federals access to central Georgia.

The Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by the bilious General Braxton Bragg, opposed Rosecrans army. Braggs combination of physical debilities and personal deficiencies, plus the touchiness and insubordination of his subordinate commanders, threatened to fracture the chain of command. His army had already been driven out of Kentucky and Tennessee. This dearth of success, plus Braggs harsh views on discipline, hardly endeared him to his 71,000 soldiers.

On August 16, Rosecrans moved south from Tullahoma. To confuse Bragg, Rosecrans divided his four army corps, moving the XXI Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Thomas Crittenden, north of Chattanooga to threaten Braggs right flank, while the XIV and XX corps traveled in an arc south of the city through northeastern Alabama and into Georgia. A reserve corps under Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger followed to reinforce the army. By September 8, Rosecrans had forced Bragg to evacuate Chattanooga.

Seeking to further damage the Confederate army, Rosecrans began a risky pursuit, during which he failed to keep his corps in supporting distance of one another. Twice the Confederates missed a chance to destroy the widely separated Union columns, and reports of the Rebels proximity made Rosecrans realize that Bragg had ceased to retreat and had concentrated his army to give battle. At that point, Crittendens XXI Corps was in contact with Confederate forces on the banks of West Chickamauga Creek, near Lee and Gordons Mill. Major General George Thomas XIV Corps was six miles southwest at Pond Springs, and Maj. Gen. Alexander McCooks XX Corps was 10 miles away, on south Missionary Ridge. During the next six days both armies began to concentrate in the area north of La Fayette, Ga.

Brigadier General John Kings Regular brigade, under the divisional command of Brig. Gen. Absalom Baird, was among the many brigades that left their bivouacs early on the morning of September 18 and plodded northeastward as the army consolidated. Both Thomas and McCook were moving toward Crittenden to ward off what Rosecrans correctly perceived as a threat to his left flank and main supply route through Chattanooga.

Bragg had determined to fight to protect his supply train and artillery park. He hoped to cut off the Union army from Chattanooga and drive the Northerners back across the Tennessee River.

The Regulars and the rest of the Union army had no idea what the terrain was like on the battlefield. From their new position in the Kelly farm field on the La Fayette Road, Kings men could see little ahead of them, and their officers had no chance to perform reconnaissance.

The terrain was thickly wooded all the way to Chickamauga Creek. In fact, Thomas described it in his official report as original forest timber, interspersed with undergrowth and in many places so dense it was difficult to see 50 paces ahead. Visibility would be worse during the battle, with gun smoke hanging at ground level in opaque clouds. Unit commanders were unable to see both ends of their line of battle, and the artillery had a difficult time functioning. While the trees provided concealment, when hit by shellfire their wood and bark burst into hundreds of lethal fragments. Sparks from rifles and cannons would also ignite the underbrush, causing fires that immolated the wounded.

Small farms dotted the area, and their namesKelly, Poe, Brotherton and Snodgrasscame to be associated with some of the bloodiest fighting in America. Chickamauga Creek flowed along the east side of the battlefield. Studded with fords, it was easy to cross, but the few poor roads that traversed the battlefield made the massing of troops difficult and their movement slow.

The battlefield was bisected by the La Fayette Road, which provided good north and south movement. The road was not only connected to the fords on the Chickamauga, but was also the principal artery running to Chattanooga via the Rossville Gap, about eight miles from the battlefield. If the Rebels cut that road, the Union army would be cut off from Chattanooga.

The western boundary of the battlefield was Missionary Ridge, a huge mass of rock running 30 miles southwest from the Tennessee River. Only two gaps in the ridge, McFarlands and Rossville, allowed passage from the battlefield to Chattanooga. If they were captured, the Army of the Cumberland would be pinned against the ridge and crushed.

While Rosecrans consolidated his army, Bragg planned a holding attack around Lee and Gordons Mill by one of his army corps. Three others would cross the Chickamauga north of the mill via Thedfords Ford, Alexanders Bridge and Reeds Bridge, sweeping west and south to seize the La Fayette Road and cut the Yankees off from Rossville Gap.

While the armies moved, Union cavalry stood watch on Chickamauga Creek around Reeds Bridge, and a small clash occurred in the vicinity on September 18. The next day, Saturday, September 19, Colonel Daniel McCook engaged some troops of Confederate Maj. Gen. Bushrod Johnsons division. McCook believed a Rebel brigade was alone west of the stream. Burning to attack, he noticed dust clouds rising off the La Fayette Road around 6 a.m. The troops raising the dust were at the head of Bairds division, moving into position at the Kelly farm. McCook rode to find Thomas and informed him of his estimate of the situation. Thomas could not resist the temptation to capture the Confederate brigade; he agreed to supply infantry for the operation.

As Bairds division moved into line of battle, the third of Thomas divisions, commanded by Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan, moved past their rear and fell in north of Baird. Kings Regulars, on the left of Bairds line, were soon ordered to move east in search of the enemy. About three-quarters of a mile into the dense forest, Brannans men initially found Rebel cavalry, swiftly reinforced by the infantry brigades of Colonel Claudius C. Wilson and Brig. Gen. Matthew D. Ector.

The sounds of battle soon alerted Thomas to the fighting, and he ordered Baird to move forward and reinforce Brannan. Bairds three brigades plunged into the dense forest, Kings brigade on the left, the brigade of Colonel Benjamin F. Scribner on the right and the brigade of Brig. Gen. John Starkweather trailing, also on the right.

As the Regulars moved forward, each battalion detached a company of skirmishers who formed a line 375 yards wide, about 250 yards ahead of the main body. Left to right, the first in line was the 1st Battalion, 19th U.S. Infantry, commanded by Major S.K. Dawson. Next was the 1st Battalion, 16th U.S. Infantry, its 308 men led by one of the few West Pointers of the brigade, Major Sidney Coolidge. On the right was the 300-man 1st Battalion, 18th U.S. Infantry, Captain G.W. Smith commanding.

This two-rank line of battle was followed by the 130 men of Lieutenant H.M. Burnhams Battery H, 5th U.S. Artillery. One hundred fifty yards to the rear, moving in column to provide support, was the brigades second line. Captain Albert B. Dod formed his 276-man 1st Battalion, 15th U.S. Infantry, on the left. To his right was the 2nd Battalion, 18th U.S. Infantry, 287 men strong, commanded by Captain Henry Haymond. King and his staff rode in the formation, ready to direct the actions of his five battalions.

The advancing Federals met the Confederates several hundred yards northwest of Jays Mill. King later recalled admiringly that as his Regulars moved through Brannans position and attacked the Rebels, they began pushing everything to the front, my first line driving the enemy three quarters of a mile. As Wilsons Georgians and Louisianans fell back, so did Ectors brigade on Wilsons right flank. Major Dawson ordered his men to open fire, and the 9th Texas, passing in front of the Regulars, fell apart, most running away but some joining the 200 prisoners bagged by the Union that morning.

Disordered by moving through the heavily wooded terrain, the Regulars began torturously advancing their right flank to the south to seal off their portion of the Union right. Battery H was unlimbered and the 16th Infantry was in position to support it when Scribners brigade suddenly poured through the woods, closely followed by the pursuing Confederates of Colonel Daniel C. Govan and Brig. Gen. Edward C. Walthall.

The 16th Infantry was first to feel the weight of the Confederate counterattack. Lying in front of the guns, the battalion was confronted by five regiments of screaming Mississippians who burst from the trees like wildfire. Ordered to support the battery, the 16th met the onslaught and was overwhelmed. Nearly 200 Regulars were captured. King stoically reported, I lost the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry.

King ordered Burnhams gunners to limber up, but it was impossible. The Rebels were immediately in the midst of the guns. Musketry killed or wounded 31 cannoneers, including all three officers, and 65 of 117 horses. Another 13 men were captured as they vainly struggled to save the guns.

Walthalls attack lost impetus as the Southerners sought to haul off the Union guns and loot the prisoners. The commanders of the four remaining Regular battalions felt the lessening Rebel pressure and disengaged. Through the chaos of Bairds dissolving division, gun smoke, flying bullets and wood splinters, the Regular brigade retired 400 yards to a hill behind the right flank of Brannans division. Eventually, the Confederate attack was repulsed.

The attack also cost the Confederates heavy losses. The commander of the 29th Mississippi reported severe casualties, and the 34th Mississippi lost seven killed and 54 wounded. In captivity, the men of the Regular brigade continued to deceive their captors. Walthall and his division commander, Brig. Gen. St. John Liddell, recalled capturing prisoners who claimed to be in six Regular regiments that were not even on the field.

Following the repulse of the Confederate avalanche, Bairds division was ordered to the Reeds Bridge Road, southeast of the McDonald farm. This positionthe extreme left flank of the armythey were ordered to hold to the last extremity. The Regular brigade consolidated and reorganized after its battering earlier in the day. Only 62 men of the 16th Infantry remained with the brigade, and King consolidated the survivors within the 19th Infantry. Second Lieutenant Robert Ayres reported losses totaling 67 men, including Major Dawson. The other battalions had suffered similarly, and their battery was out of the fight. But here the training and discipline of the Regulars paid off. They had stuck together before through rough times at Shiloh and Stones River. Although chagrined at the outcome of the present fight, they were not discouraged.

Fortunately for the Regulars, the battle moved well to their right. About 1 oclock, the Confederates made six separate attempts to pierce the Union line from the Reeds Bridge Road to the Viniard farm. The Army of the Cumberland, however, was determined to hold the La Fayette Road. In one or two places, the Rebels actually crossed the road, but were driven back. When darkness fell the road was still secure.

In the desperate fighting along the La Fayette Road, Rosecrans was able to feed brigades into the fight where they were most needed. Although these tactics allowed him to hold the road, his battle line was disrupted. Corps commanders were stripped of their brigades for emergencies in another part of the line, and they were reinforced in turn by other commands when the firestorm of Rebel attacks reached their fronts. It became increasingly difficult for divisional commanders to know where their forces were at any one time, and almost impossible to efficiently transmit orders.

As the fighting sputtered out around 7 p.m., both sides began planning for the next days fight. Rosecrans primary concern was the safety of the army and the possession of Chattanooga. To protect the vital roads, he ordered Thomas to maintain his position on high ground east of the La Fayette Road. McCooks corps would stretch from Poes field southwest to the Widow Glenn cabin. Crittendens corps would station itself on higher ground northwest of the cabin and be prepared to move to the assistance of either Thomas or Crittenden. The Reserve Corps, from its position well to the north, was guarding Rossville Gap.

Braggs plan was to attack the Union line in the north around Reeds Bridge Road, turning Rosecrans left flank. The attack was designed to push the Union troops south into McLemores Cove and seize the La Fayette Road and Rossville Gap. As the Federals gave way, the impetus of the attack would be kept up by a series of attacks running the length of the Union line. Bragg divided his army, placing one wing consisting of two corps under Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk. He would attack at daylight and be followed by the right wing under the newly arrived Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, who would command his own corps and one other.

The initial Confederate attacks were to fall on Thomas, who took the position delegated him by Rosecrans to help hold the gap. The attacking Confederates would be moving uphill from the West Chickamauga Creek valley. Thomas was responsible for a 2,200-yard front manned by five divisions. On his extreme left was the Regular brigade. King had been ordered to extend his line as far as McDonalds, but because he was down to 1,000 men, his line fell one-half mile short.

In order to accomplish his mission, King organized his brigade in four lines. The 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry, was in front, behind breastworks of logs two feet high. Next was the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry, with orders to support the front line. The third and fourth lines were made up of the 15th and 19th infantries, respectively, with orders to support the front line or to wheel to the left to protect the open flank. The 18th sent skirmishers to the front, while members of the 19th Infantry took up position about 400 yards off the left flank.

Breastworks were constructed to fortify the Union position. Confederate Lt. Gen. Daniel H. Hill reported that the ringing of axes could be heard in our front all night. The labor made the cold night more bearable for the healthy, but for the wounded there was no respite. Unattended on the field, they could find no relief from the chill night air or their relentless thirst.

The only sources of water were at Lee and Gordons Mill and the Widow Glenn homestead. So many wounded crawled to the pond at the widows homestead that their blood stained the waterit was thereafter called Bloody Pond.

The Confederate chain of command, already attenuated by jealousy and faction, was further weakened by the casualties of the 19th and finally snapped under the strain of Braggs reorganization. His generals failed to get their troops ready on time, and the dawn attack was delayed almost two hours while the Federals worked vigorously to improve their positions.

Second Lieutenant Ayres reported that action commenced on the picket line about 7 a.m., as the Confederates moved into attack position in front of the Union lines. Polk had organized his wing into two massive lines of battle. The first line, extending north from opposite the Poe house to Reeds Bridge Road, was composed of the divisions of Maj. Gens. Patrick Cleburne and John C. Breckinridge. Breckinridges three brigades were commanded by Brig. Gens. Ben Hardin Helm, Daniel W. Adams and Marcellus A. Stovall. Their line extended well beyond the Union left, with Helms brigade opposite the Regulars.

From their attack position about 700 yards from King, Rebel skirmishers moved out to probe the Union line and quickly engaged the skirmishers of the 18th Infantry. Helm was compelled to reinforce his line with the 4th Kentucky, a move that cost him time in launching his assault.

About 9 a.m., the enemy drove in my skirmishers and advancing in force attacked my front and flank, reported King. The two battalions of the 18th met the assault and were warmly engaged, while the 15th and 19th wheeled to the left to ward off a flank attack. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. John Beatty had moved away toward the McDonald farm, leaving a large gap between his brigade and the Regulars. They had no choice but to refuse their left flank.

The Regulars began their methodical destruction of the Confederate attack as Helms brigade cleared the trees and surmounted the high ground about 120 yards to their front. Crouched behind their breastworks, the Regulars poured a galling fire into the hapless Confederates. Since Cleburnes division had not yet attacked on Breckinridges left flank, Scribners brigade on the Regulars right was able to enfilade the Rebel line, trapping them in a murderous fire. The assault was repelled, but the Confederates came on again, only to be repulsed once more. A third time they advanced into the terrible fire, which finally destroyed their assault and killed General Helm (President Abraham Lincolns brother-in-law). As the Rebels retreated, King shuffled his battalions. The 15th moved forward and relieved the 18th, which moved to the left to protect the flank.

The Confederates advanced through the woods about 400 yards, the La Fayette Road forming a boundary between them and acting as an arrow pointing to the heart of the Union rear. Colonel Joseph B. Dodges brigade gave way under the attack and added to the welter of retreating Federals on the north side of Kellys field. The 18th U.S. Infantry moved back as well to a second line of defense.

The 47th Georgia entered Kellys field but was driven back by a Union counterattack. During the Confederate attack, the consolidated 1st and 3rd Florida, commanded by Colonel W.S. Dilworth, became separated from their brigade by a rivulet. Captain G.W. Smith of the 18th Regulars laconically reported, I charged the enemys line advancing about 600 yards. King noted: This charge was the most gallant act of the day. The enemy was again repulsed and my brigade retained its original position.

While the Confederate generals bickered over their roles in the battle, the Union generals strengthened their lines. Dodges brigade was moved to Kings left, and the Regulars contracted their own line, concentrating their firepower. The luckless 24th North Carolina was inauspiciously sited to receive the Regulars volleys, and one-third of the command was either killed or wounded. The mangled Confederate brigade fell back, and the door to Rossville Gap remained barred to Braxton Bragg. Still, as Baird recorded, Immediately after this attack on my left ceased, the sound of a tremendous conflict reached us from the southwest.

The sound was the unraveling of the right wing of the Union army and the military career of William Starke Rosecrans. Misled by the quiet on this front and Thomas requests for reinforcements, Rosecrans had issued orders for much of his army to close on and support the hard-pressed army commander. Rosecranswho was having a difficult time keeping track of his fluid brigades and believed a gap existed in his line where none actually didordered Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Wood to move out and plug the phantom opening, inadvertently creating a real gap in the Union line.

Longstreet chose that moment to launch a five-division attack aimed precisely at the gap. Across the Brotherton farm, Lytle Hill and the Dyer field rolled the Confederate assaults. From 11 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., they destroyed or brushed aside Northern units in their path, curving northward toward Rossville. Finally, the attack slowed at Snodgrass Hill, where Thomas had coalesced his line.

Thomas had no idea what had befallen the rest of the army, but he knew that he had to hold out on Snodgrass Hill to ensure a safe passage for the retreating troops. Around 4 p.m., Thomas received orders from Rosecrans, now in Chattanooga, to assume a threatening attitude at Rossville. Given positive orders to withdraw and form a defensive line, Thomas decided to withdraw the Kelly field line first, starting with Reynolds division. Last to go would be Baird.

The struggle at Snodgrass Hill did not mean quiet on the Kelly field line. Heavy skirmishing continued along my entire front during the entire afternoon, until about half past four oclock, King reported. The enemy again made an attack on my front and flank, my command being exposed to a terrific fire of musketry and canister. Once again Regular discipline prevailed, and their fusillades pinned down the attacking Confederates.

Just before the final Confederate assault, Baird received Thomas orders to withdraw and sent out aides to deliver the order to his brigade commanders. As they held their position, Bairds men were passed by the divisions of Maj. Gen. John M. Palmer and General Johnson. It was now time for the Regulars to go. As they pulled out, the Confederate brigades of Brig. Gens. George Maney, Marcus J. Wright and Colonel Randall L. Gibson charged with a deafening hurrah and rapid shock and tore into the retreating Regulars.

Gunfire, surging lines of soldiers and shouted commands made the fighting so confused that Lieutenant A.B. Carpenter of the 19th Infantry could locate only six men of his company. In the 15th, one company pulled out of line heading for rear and 1st Sgt. John Mars tried to steady the men. Captain Dod headed them off and ordered them back. Mars saluted and reported that his company was out of ammunition. Dod ordered, Go back and fix bayonets. Mars, a Shiloh veteran, obediently headed back but was killed almost immediately. Both battalions of the 18th pulled out and marched over a cornfield, then faced about, fired and moved to the rear. The 19th did not receive the order to retire, and they continued to fight until all were killed or captured.

For about two hours, fighting continued on Snodgrass Hill as the six remaining Union brigades held the attackers at bay. At dusk, Thomas ordered them to retreat, and they followed the rest of the army to Chattanooga. By 10 p.m., the Battle of Chickamauga was over.

Soldiers in the Army of the Cumberland were stunned. Never before had they been compelled to leave a battlefield and abandon their dead and wounded. The army had suffered a staggering 16,000 casualties. A defensive line was formed at Rossville, and the army moved back to Chattanooga to lick its wounds and reorganize. General Rosecrans lost his job over the debacle. He was relieved of the command of the Army of the Cumberland in October and replaced by Thomas. In November, Thomas helped plan and lead the operation that broke the Federals out of Chattanooga.

The Army of Tennessee was also stunned after Chickamauga. The Confederates found themselves unexpectedly in possession of the battlefield, but the armys squabbling chain of command failed to organize a timely pursuit. More than 18,000 Confederate casualties lay on the field, intermingled with dead and wounded Northerners, and precious days would go by before the army was ready to move.

For the Regular brigade, the battle had been disastrous. Casualties ranged from 20 percent in Battery H to 42 percent in the 19th Infantry. One-third of the officers in the brigade were lost. Ayres found himself in command of a battalion totaling three officers and 51 men. Although the numbers of those killed and wounded were low in the 16th Infantry, 58 percent had been captured on the morning of the 19th. In all, 497 Regulars had been captured during the battle. Only 36 officers and 573 men remained with the colors.

Never again would Kings Regulars fight as a separate brigade. Reinforced with volunteers, however, they would continue fighting from Missionary Ridge to Atlanta, and they would play a major role in crushing Confederate Lt. Gen. John B. Hood at Jonesborough, Ga., in October 1864. That fall, they would be withdrawn from combat along with other Regular regiments to ensure there would be a standing army to occupy the South and reoccupy the West after the war was over.

The Regular army regiments went on to fight their way across Europe and Asia during the nations ensuing wars. Mementos of all their campaigns are displayed on their coats of arms, but most prominent are those commemorating their Civil War service. Both the modern 15th and 19th infantry prominently display The Rock of Chickamauga on their crests. Also emblazoned on the 19ths emblem is the shoulder strap of an infantry 2nd lieutenant, a symbol of Ayres gallant stewardship of the regiment and the courage and tenacity displayed by the U.S. Regular Army in helping to preserve the Union.

This article was written by Retired U.S. Army Major James B. Ronan II and originally appeared in the July 1999 issue of Americas Civil War.

For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today!
Its one of the best-known stories of the Civil War: Confederate General Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson is accidentally shot by his own men during the Battle of Chancellorsville and then dies a few days later. His death, perhaps, alters the course of the war itself.

Today, visitors to the Chancellorsville battlefield can walk the ground where Jacksons story unfoldedbut appearances can be deceiving. The land has changed. The environment has changed. The ambience has changed. The ground does not tell the story as clearly as it once did, and even Jacksons own legacy has added to the difficulty of appreciating the extent to which darkness and confusion reigned on the night of May 2, 1863and what an unlikely accident Jacksons wounding really was.

After fighting on May 1, Union Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker had placed his Army of the Potomac in a defensive position around the crossroads of Chancellorsville, Va. Hooker anchored his armys left flank on the Rappahannock River, 2.5 miles northeast of the crossroads; to the west of Chancellorsville, however, the armys right flank hung in the air along the Plank Road, also known as the Orange Plank Road. The Federal right flank was nearly two miles from Hookers headquarters at the Chancellor House.

For his part, General Robert E. Lee realized he faced far superior numbersHooker still had about 70,000 troopsso he sent scouts to look for a weak point in the Union line. The scouts soon discovered the unprotected Union right flank.

That night, seated on a pair of cracker boxes by a campfire, Lee and Jackson hatched a plan. Lee, with 14,000 men, would hold Hookers attention. At the same time Jackson, with more than 28,000 men, would slip around the front of the Union army and hit its vulnerable right flank.

The resulting march lasted nearly all of May 2. By 5 p.m., only two of Jacksons three divisions were in position. Jackson couldnt afford to wait for Maj. Gen. A.P. Hills division, still coming up. He had only a few hours of daylight to make his assault.

Jacksons battle line centered on the Plank Road and stretched past each side of the road for half a mile. When the line swept forward, it caught the Union armys XI Corps, under the command of Maj. Gen. Oliver Otis Howard, completely by surprise. While some Federal units stubbornly resisted the attack, the Confederate advance inexorably rolled forward some 1.5 miles.

So complete was the success of the whole maneuver, and such surprise of the enemy, that scarcely any organized resistance was met with after the first volley fired, Brig. Gen. Robert Rodes recalled. They fled in the wildest confusion.

Union battery commander Hubert Dilger did his best to slow the Confederate advance, as did XI Corps brigade commander Colonel Adolphus Buschbeck, who threw up a west-facing line of infantry and artillery near the Wilderness Church to meet the Confederate threat. But it was the terrain more than anything that slowed the Confederates. This area was known as the Wilderness70 square miles of dense, tangled forest. Iron furnaces had been processing the areas rich iron ore reserves since the mid-1700s. To fire the furnace boilers, owners had clear-cut the surrounding forests and used the timber for fuel. By the 1860s, though, a thriving second-growth forest of pucker brush, thick bushes, thorn-covered vines and plenty of scrub had sprung up. The trees, on average, were 30 feet high. Union soldiers said sunlight would not penetrate to the forest floor, even at the brightest point of the day.

This forest absorbed much of the sound of the Confederate advance. While many Union soldiers heard the Rebel Yell that accompanied the initial attack, not one mentioned hearing the bugle calls that signaled it. Likewise, Union commanders farther down the line didnt hear the attack on the XI Corps and didnt know about it until Howards soldiers began retreating past them, nearly a half hour after the assaults began.

If noise couldnt penetrate the dense vegetation, humans didnt fare much better. Trying to stay in battle formation was nearly impossible. Some units advanced faster than others as soldiers got caught in the tangles and tripped on the vines. The uneven terrain compounded the difficulties. Hills and gullies, knolls and swales, all hidden by the brush, further impeded their progress.

We could see absolutely nothing of the enemy, nor of any other part of our own lines, recalled Confederate Major Robert Stiles; indeed the entire region was a gloomy thicket and our infantry line so stretched and attenuated that the men were scarcely in sight of each other.

We could not see what was going on around us for the brush, wrote Private David Holt of the 16th Mississippi. [T]he fighting was hot and close because of the thick underbrush.

In an attempt to rally the men of the broken XI Corps, the 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry rode into the fraywest along the Plank Road and running headlong into Jacksons men. The 8th was thrown into disarray, losing three officers, 30 men and 80 horses before cutting their way out. The presence of those horsemen on the battlefield would have indirect but nonetheless important repercussions later in the evening.

By 8 p.m., the last traces of sunlight vanished. Although a full moon soon rose in the clear sky, the Wilderness, with its thick foliage, was a place of shadows. The one exception was the Plank Road, which came west from Fredericksburg as the main thoroughfare and along which the Union line had originally been formed. Part of the road was macadamized with crushed gravel, which shone white in the moonlight.

The Confederate advance had, by this point, reached the Plank Roads intersection with a country lane called the Bullock Road. Here, the 18th and 28th North Carolina regiments, supported by the 50th Virginia, extended the Confederate line northeast, with the right flank of the 18th North Carolina resting on the Plank Road itself. On the south side and a few hundred feet to the right rear, the 37th and 7th North Carolina regiments extended the Confederate line south. The 33rd North Carolina, thrown out in a wide arc in front of the entire formation, served as skirmishers.

Jacksons keen eyes saw an opportunity in the midst of the tangled forest. He could continue pressing the attack forward along the Plank Road, or he could veer to the northeast along the path of the Bullock Road, allowing him to cut off the Federals escape back to U.S. and Elys fords. With the Union army then trapped between Jackson and Lee, Jacksons men could serve as the hammer to crush the Federals against the anvil of Lees forces. Regardless of which option he chose, Jackson knew he had to maintain the initiative. If he halted his attack until dawn, Union infantry could dig in overnight. Jackson did not want to attack fortified positions in the morning.

As he weighed his options, Jackson decided to get a first-hand look at the situation. But the impenetrable darkness of the Wilderness presented a challenge. The Plank Road offered the only clear path for travel.

Jackson soon learned of an alternative, however. His guide, Private David Joseph Kyle of the 9th Virginia Cavalry, told him of a road that ran sorter parallel with the plank road and came out on it about a half a mile below. The Mountain Road was an old logging road less than two miles long. It didnt show up on maps, but Kyle knew the road well; he and his family lived on the Oscar Bullock Farm, which sat at the far end of Bullock Road.

Jackson, Kyle and seven others rode forward on the Mountain Road, passing through the line of the 18th North Carolina. Jacksons party rode about 200 yards forward, not quite reaching the 33rd North Carolinians in their skirmish line. Jackson could hear the Federals, not far to the east, digging in. It was all he needed to know.

As Jackson turned back toward his line, several important things were happening almost simultaneously. Not far away, Hill was doing some reconnaissance of his own. He did not have a local guide, however, and did not know about the Mountain Road, so he and his nine-

member party took the more exposed route along the Plank Road, almost parallel with Jackson.

Farther down the Confederate line toward the south, a lost Federal unit, the 128th Pennsylvania Infantry, wandered into the no-mans land between the skirmishers of the 33rd North Carolina and the main Confederate line. The Pennsylvanians were quickly captured, but their presence, which had been undetected by the skirmishers, left the Confederates on edge.

Soon a Federal horseman showed up, sparking a firefight. Spooked, the far right of the Confederate line opened up, firing mostly at nothingand like a contagion, more and more Confederates joined in the shooting. The wave of musket fire rolled north along the Confederate line.

The rolling thunder first caught Hills party, exposed in the moonlight out on the Plank Road. Only Hill himself was unscathed; everyone else in his party was killed, wounded or carried toward enemy lines on the back of a bolting horse.

The fire also ripped across Jacksons front.

Cease firing! You are firing into your own men! yelled Lieutenant Joseph G. Morrison, Jacksons brother-in-law and staff member, whose horse was shot in the initial volley.

The North Carolinians were veterans whod seen every trickand besides, hadnt Federal cavalry been caught behind the lines just hours before? There were dead horses and horsemen near the road and in the woods. And werent these horsemen coming from the direction of the Union lines? Its a lie, the North Carolinians responded. Another volley erupted.

Jackson was around 90 yards from the front line. At that range, a smoothbore musket has about a 1-in-16 chance of hitting its targetand thats if the shooter has a clear range of fire. Jacksons party was riding through a thick forest, in the dark. Jackson would have cut an especially dark figure because he was wearing a long, black India-rubber raincoat. The roadbed had, over the years, cut into the earth so that it ran a few yards below the level of the surrounding terrain; that road embankment essentially served as additional protection. [T]he thickness of the woods afforded some shield, too, one of Jacksons staffers later said.

Still, one staffer was killed and another wounded; the others escaped untouchedexcept, of course, for Jackson.

The circumstances had been ripe for disaster: a corps commander scouting in front of his lines; soldiers deploying in the forest, in the dark, in a pitched battle; lost infantrymen and horsemen wandering through the woods; the threat of a Union counterattack at any moment.

Still, the chances of Jackson getting shot were incredibly small. So how and why did it happen?

Those questions have been debated and discussed for 150 years. The story has been recounted and analyzed in letters, books and scholarly articlessome of them more reliable than others.

But fewer things can shed light on the story like walking the ground.

Years later, as the legend of Stonewall Jackson grew, people wanted to track down the exact location where Jackson was wounded. But there was considerable disagreement and uncertainty. Eyewitness and second-hand accounts varied. To some of Jacksons admirers, marking the exact spot wasnt as important as marking the general area. Sometime between 1876 and 1883, those admirers placed a granite boulderthe Jackson Rockalong the Plank Road, not the Mountain Road, so it would be visible to tourists and travelers.

In June 1888, admirers erected a more formal monument just 20 feet away. James Power Smith, one of Jacksons former staff officers, helped choose the spot. When we were selecting a location for the monument, he wrote, the present site was selected, as being on the [Plank] roadsomewhat elevatedand as being a fair compromise. It is only a few rods from the exact spot wherever that was.

Today, a large hedge blocks a travelers view of all but the very top the monument. But its presence behind the Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Centerand the original granite bolder 20 feet away, placed after the war to mark the vicinity of Jacksons woundingcan serve as a source of confusion to uninformed visitors.

Eventually, the Mountain Road vanished. At least one account from 1903only 40 years after the battlesuggests the ever-encroaching forest had swallowed the road by then.

Traces of the road were further obscured when the visitor center was built in 1963. The National Park Services philosophy then was to put visitor centers as close as possible to the most pivotal portion of the battlefield. The Chancellorsville Battlefield Visitor Center sits astride the original path of the Mountain Road, and only by luck did the building not obscure the spot where Jackson was woundedalthough for years, Park Service historians were convinced Jackson had been shot in the corner of the visitor centers auditorium.

As recently as the mid-1990s, historians differed on the exact place where Jackson was shot. The issue was finally put to rest when a team of historians, led by Robert K. Krick and armed with dozens of pieces of documentary evidence, mapped and measured the entire area. They found, nearly lost among the trees, the old roadbed of the Mountain Road, and they were able to pinpoint Jacksons locationsome 15 yards off the northeast corner of the visitor center. Today, a newly installed wayside sign stands across the road from the spot.

The Mountain Road underwent restoration in 2007, making it more visible to visitors who can now walk part of its length. At the far end, another wayside marks the farthest point of Jacksons reconnaissance trip. Another 50 yards through the woods beyond that, about where the visitor centers driveway comes into the parking lot from Virginia Route 3, is where the skirmish line of the 33rd North Carolina had been positioned.

Battlefield visitors can retrace Jacksons last ridefrom that farthest point of his reconnaissance, then back along the Mountain Road toward where the visitor center now stands. And when visitors emerge from the canopy of trees that arches over the road, they will stand on the spot where Jackson was mortally wounded.

Even so, what they see provides an incomplete picture of what really happened. First of all, modern visitors cannot truly appreciate the nature of the Wilderness. Recent development has cleared away most of the forest, creating the impression of far more open space than actually existed in 1863. Housing developments, gas stations and shopping centersnot to mention the widened Route 3belie the once-wild nature of the area and obscure some of the key areas on the battlefield. The site of the 8th Pennsylvania cavalry charge, for instance, is now a private resort just down the road from the parks visitor center.

What forest remains has had 150 years to mature. The trees are much taller, and the high canopy casts heavy shadows, choking out all but the most shade-loving plants. There are fewer ground-level plants than in 1863, so the brush is far less dense.

Trees and brush have been thinned in the area around the battlefield visitor center so that theres considerable open space. In some places, theres even well-trimmed lawn punctuated by a few tall maples. Standing at the spot where Jackson was wounded, one might think he was exposed and vulnerable. Bullock Roadthe location of the Confederate lineis clearly visible fewer than 100 yards away, and aside from the visitor center itself, theres not much in between.

From the Bullock Road, it would seem Jackson and his party were emerging from a tunnel of trees into an open area. In the moonlight, the horsemen would still be little more than silhouetteseasily mistaken for Federal cavalry. But in May 1863, the line of sight from Bullock Road to Jackson was impenetrable. The only open view was directly down the Mountain Road itself. That means six to eight men at mostthe men standing at the intersection of the Mountain Road and the Bullock Roadhad a clear shot at the approaching horsemen. The other 290 or so men of the regiment wouldve been shooting through dense thickets.

The ground around the visitor center muddles the story of Jacksons wounding in another important way. The building itself sits on a hillock, which may suggest to some visitors that Jackson had a degree of cover or, conversely, that he sprang up from behind the hill as he crested it.

Mountain Road did rise slightly as it neared the Bullock Road from the spot where Jackson was wounded, but postwar photographs indicate that, overall, the ground was fairly level. That means the North Carolinians would have been looking slightly downhill into the cut of Mountain Road with no intervening mound of dirt.

But Mountain Road itself poses the greatest challenge to trying to imagine the events of that night. It is nearly impossible to get a clear sense of road conditions when Jackson was woundedfor starters, the battlefield closes at dusk and hiking after dark is prohibited. The high canopy of the modern forest does blot out most of the light from even a full moon, but the openness underneath belies the claustrophobic thickness that pressed in on Jackson and his men from the roadsides.

Given the four lanes of traffic on Virginia Route 3, theres never a shortage of noise on the battlefield, which, again, affects our ability to understand the environment of 1863. The traffic makes it impossible to appreciate the acoustical shadowsthe places where the sounds of battle couldnt carrythat plagued the Union army. As the Confederate wave advanced and battle raged nearby, areas of the battlefield remained silent. Such silence is impossible to find today.

With any battle, walking the ground can help to better understand what happened and whyand Chancellorsville offers many such opportunities. But Jacksons story has been confounded by changes to the site. Those changes have allowed visitors easier access to one of the wars most famous spotsand if the landscape isnt exactly what witnesses saw in May 1863, at least the story is still there. It just needs to be coaxed out.

Kristopher D. White, former Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park staff historian, is an instructor at the Community College of Allegheny County, Pa. Dr. Chris Mackowski, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University, is author of Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire. They are co-founders of Emerging Civil War, a website for the next generation of Civil War historians, and co-authors of several books.
A misplaced pocketbook jeopardizes the escape of three Rebel prisoners struggling to reach Canada.

BY ROGER LONG

Editors Note: In our last issue, we followed four Confederate officers on their daring escape from Johnsons Island Prison, on Ohios Sandusky Bay. Going over the wall on New Years Day 1864, Thomas H. Davis, N.W. McConnell, Charles C. Robinson, and John R. Winston struggled north through blizzards and bitter cold toward Canada and freedom. McConnell was recaptured in a few days. The same fate appeared imminent for the other three when Robinson accidentally left his pocketbook, containing papers that identified him as a prisoner of war, at a French Canadian mans home in Monroe, Michigan. Would the Canadian open the pocketbook, learn the truth, and lead Union authorities to the fugitives?

There was no other choiceMajor Winston would have to go back and recover the pocketbook Captain Robinson had lost. It was a tense moment for the three men; after all they had endured, this one critical lapse of judgment could foil their escape.

While Robinson waited with Captain Davis just out of sight of the house, Winston tramped slowly through the snow toward the French Canadians door and knocked. The door opened, and, without hesitation, the man handed the pocketbook to Winston. The French Canadian knew that his visitors from the night before had forgotten it and assumed they would return for it. Out of courtesy, he had not opened it; at least that was what he said. Winston thanked the man and, after he rejoined his comrades, the three Confederates fled as quickly as their exhausted legs would allow.

They headed north toward Detroit, about 35 miles away, but that was not where Winston had wanted to go. At the border crossing there, Federal officials were sure to be checking identifications, and by now word of the escape must have reached the city. Winston had laid his plans carefully, and he refused to slip up now. He and his comrades would have to cross into Canada elsewhere, somewhere more remote.

Hungry and tired, the men stopped at a house for food about noon on January 5. A woman with what one of the escapees described as the sweetest expression we had almost ever seen cordially invited them in. The kind woman carried on a polite conversation with her visitors. They never learned her name, but she offered them bread and a brief respite from the bitter cold. Again Winston was reminded of that quiet, peaceful world he had once known as a teacher, when his most dangerous concern was disciplining mischievous boys.

Time was passing. The fugitives hesitated to leave the warmth of the womans home, but knew they had to go, so they left the house and continued north. Some two miles south of Trenton, on the Detroit River, they made one final stop in the United States. There, they visited another house, this time to ask an 80-year-old man for directionsand to get warm. Subzero cold, after all, can wreak havoc on exhausted men. With what one of the Southerners called a New England nasal twang, the old gentleman told them that he had never seen such a cold snap, and the escapees agreed. Hearing the Confederates talk, the Yankee asked if they were from the South, but Davis, thinking quickly, named a town in the East as their home and removed any suspicions the old man might have been developing.

Soon, the men were on the move again, heading toward the Detroit Riverthe last barrier between them and Canada. They passed on into Trenton, cold again and hungry still. It was well into the afternoon, and there were signs that children had recently taken this route on their way home from school. The three hungry men made a meal out of a piece of biscuit thrown away by one of the pupils. Then, searching along the street, the escapees dug out more food from the snow bank until they had accumulated what they considered quite a little snack.

Darkness soon fell, and most of the citys residents were already snug in their warm homes, sitting down to good suppers. The Confederates kept walking until they reached the frozen river. Even with the old mans directions, Winston was still unsure of his exact location. He looked out across the icy Detroit. Grosse Ile sat in the middle of the river, opposite Trenton. Winston incorrectly believed he and his comrades were looking at Fighting Island, a considerably smaller piece of land just north of Grosse Ile but out of the fugitives view. Because both islands belonged to the United States, however, the miscalculation was unimportant. In either case, safety lay on the other side of the river, and the darkness offered the ideal cover for their crossing.

The men edged slowly toward the rivers frozen surface. This western channel of the river was narrow and slow moving. As a result, the ice was thick enough to sustain their weight, so the men began to move quickly over it. In his haste to cross, Robinson fell headfirst to the ice almost immediately. He was stunned, and he would not completely recover his faculties for the rest of the night, but he and his comrades continued their crossing and reached Grosse Ile easily. Still, Winston knew the real test would come in the eastern channel, the shipping channel.

Back on land again, the three men picked their way through two miles of briars and near-frozen marshes toward the far side of the island. Lamps from a few dwellings on the distant shore were all they saw of civilization in the blackness of the night. No matter how cold and hungry they were, none of them was tempted to stop and rest.

Soon they reached water again. This part of the icy Detroit was wider and rougher than the channel they had already crossed, and getting over it, the prisoners realized, was going to be exceedingly troublesome. Storms over the past month had pushed broken cakes of ice against the island and had blown [them] about in waves. The Confederates clambered over the great blocks, slipping and sliding. To make matters worse, they could feel the frozen wedges move beneath their feet.

Surprisingly, the ice remained stable enough to carry them most of the way across. Finally, they reached open waterthe shipping lane, a wide expanse of water near the Canadian shore. The ice shifted beneath the Confederates numb feet, forcing them to leap from one floe to another, each time hoping the new footing would be firmer. Still dazed from his fall, Robinson stepped onto a block that began to move quickly. He tried to step back, but it was too late. Both his legs plunged into the frigid water. He threw himself forward, clutching at the floating ice in front of him. Davis and Winston dropped to their knees to pull him up before the swift current could wash him away. They yanked him from the river onto an ice floe; almost instantly his trousers froze stiff and crackled whenever he moved.

All three men took slow and steady breaths. They had come too far to turn back now; retreating to Grosse Ile would be even more perilous than continuing. So they pressed on. It was easy to avoid open water, which appeared as dark patches. The trick was to find ice stable enough to sustain a mans weight long enough for him to move on to the next floe. Davis placed himself about 10 feet in front of his partners. Robinson, by this time thoroughly worn out, leaned on Winstons shoulder. Clouds shut out all the stars, and only the dim lamps on the shore lit the night. If we ever get there, Davis called back to the others, Ill kiss the ground.

They began to walk, unsteadily at first but more quickly with each passing step. Then, near the shore, they came upon a terrible sight: a large expanse of open water that threatened to keep them from reaching the Canadian bank. The three men worked their way north, then south, trying to find some route over the water, some firm wedge of ice to support them. The ice they finally found was a frail bridge, at best. Each floe seemed to give way when any weight was placed on it. But there was no other option; these bobbing chunks of ice were the only way to safety now.

The men began to panic. If one of them fell in, rescue there in the swift-moving shipping channel was unlikely. They had no choice but to make a run for it, one at a time, and trust to God.

Davis went first. The ice cracked and wobbled as his weight came down ever so briefly and passed forward. He reached the shore with a final leap and with the shivering Robinson right behind him. Moments later, Winston leaped onto the firm soil of Ontario. We were safe! he wrote some 20 years later.

Exultant but still cold and hungry, the trio walked to the door of a nearby house. A half-French, half-Indian woman who went by the name Mrs. Warrior answered. She offered them pies and a soft pallet in front of a warm stove. It was 10 p.m. on January 5, four days after they had scaled the fence on Johnsons Island. In that time, Winston estimated, they had had perhaps six hours of sleep. They had traveled 125 miles, much of it in subzero cold, and had eaten only two meals and three snacks. Winstons limbs ached from the exertion; his body, after all, had spent six months rusting (as he put it) since he was captured on Culps Hill at Gettysburg. But now he and his compatriots were safe, even if only momentarily, under a British flag.

The night passed quietly, and Winston felt refreshed in the morning. After a hearty breakfast, he walked back to the river bank with Davis and Mrs. Warrior while Robinson recovered from his ordeal. That was a bad-looking place for people to cross, Davis said, as he stared across the mass of moving ice toward the distant island. Mrs. Warrior shook her head incredulously. People never cross there, she said.

Winston shuddered as he gazed at what he termed the tangled ice and shuddered. In later years, he would claim that of the many tests he had endured in the war, crossing this river was the severest of my experience. Even combat paled in comparison. In the pitched battle we are generally in action; there is an enthusiasm and sometimes exhilaration, he recalled. But on the bobbing ice that desperate night, the warmth of our very nature was chilled. No sight or sound cheered us, dark clouds obscured the stars, and all was death-like stillness, save the whisking of the freezing winds among the sharply broken ice.

After resting at Mrs. Warriors home, the three men borrowed a sleigh and rode 13 miles north to Windsor, a Canadian city just across the river from Detroit. There, the owner of a hotel, hearing their escape story, offered the fugitives free rooms. A guest at the hotel, Clement L. Vallandigham, a former U.S. congressman whose antiwar activities had prompted authorities to arrest him for treason and exile him from the United States the previous May, was equally impressed by their story. Winston considered Vallandigham a pleasant companion, even though the Northerner declined to toast Southern victory. No, no, Vallandigham said. In that event the Union is gone forever.

The three Confederates were still far from home, and they were anxious to resume their journey. Winston contacted a friend of his in New York who sent the former prisoners $200. A few days after arriving in Windsor they were on their way again. Over the next few days they traveled more than 550 miles east to Montreal. There, Winston sent a letter to Captain Waller M. Boyd, his former roommate back at Johnsons Island, to report that he, Davis, and Robinson had made it to Canada. After all, he believed, it was Boyds unsuccessful escape that had inspired his own attempt. The letter was probably coded to pass Federal censors, who certainly would not have allowed a prisoner of war to receive a letter signed openly by a successful escapee. Whatever the case, the prisoners back in Block 10 received the news with satisfaction.

The Southern escapees became minor celebrities in Montreal, being invited to tea every day and receiving many visitors. Several so-called Confederates Winston met in Canada were shirkers, men who had come north to avoid the war. The escapees had little time to waste on them. Others, however, were escaped prisoners themselves, members of Brigadier General John Hunt Morgans command who were bound for Richmond. All things considered, it was a most pleasant stay, certainly better than a night on a frozen riveror six months on a frozen island.

But at last it was time to move on. After 10 days in Montreal, the Confederates traveled by rail along the St. Lawrence River, through New Brunswick, and finally to the seaport of Halifax, Nova Scotia, carefully skirting U.S. territory. The distance was about 500 miles, the last leg of it covered by sleigh. In Halifax, the trio boarded the mail steamer Alpha, bound for St. George, Bermuda. As the ship left port, the Confederates looked back at the Canadian land white with snow. Just a few days later, they stepped ashore in a place where the only ice to be found was floating in drinks. Here, early spring greeted us in all her loveliness, children were picnicking on the green sward, and lambs and calves nibbled about on the grassy hills, Winston recalled. Nevertheless, Bermuda was not home, and duty beckoned.

Two days later, the Advance, a blockade-runner flying the colors of the South, entered the harbor. When she sailed again, the three escapees were aboardmore rested and certainly much warmer. One last trial lay between them and the Confederacy: the Unions naval blockade of Southern ports. The Advance steamed toward Wilmington, North Carolina, slipping easily past the Unions blockaders. The voyage was uneventful until the Advance stopped suddenly within range of the Federal warships. The pilot, miscalculating the tides, had driven the vessel onto a sand bar. Hung up and unarmed, she would be little more than target practice for the Union ships. The captain of the Advance signaled distress to nearby Fort Fisher, and lifeboats were lowered to carry passengers ashore. Before help could arrive, however, the vessel floated free from the bar and continued toward the fort. Now we were safe! Winston wrote.

Winston, Davis, and Robinson were home at last, but the war was far from over. It would not end for another year, and an eventful year it would be for everyone associated with the prison break. Lieutenant Colonel William S. Pierson was soon replaced as commandant at Johnsons Island, partly as a result of the escape. Later, after receiving brevets as colonel and brigadier general, Pierson returned to his native Connecticut, taking with him the prison account booksand, according to a friend, a great deal of cash. Pierson died a few years later during a business trip in New York. Captain John E. Stakes remained at Johnsons Islandoften in great pain from his frostbitefor much of the next year before he was finally sent home to northern Virginia. After his capture on a train in Ohio, Captain McConnell was returned to Johnsons Island, where he remained for the rest of the war. His brief absence was not even noted in the prison roll books.

The three Confederates who escaped all returned to battle. Robinson went back to his cavalry regiment, but his subsequent fate is unknown. Davis returned to the 1st Virginia and remained in service until the final days of the war. During the retreat from Petersburg, Virginia, in April 1865, he was captured again at the Battle of Saylers Creek. Taken first to Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C., Davis was transferred to Johnsons Island. When he arrived on April 19, a clerk penciled the word back over his name on the prison ledger. Davis remained there until he took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States on June 19. Then, the 29-year-old lawyer went west. He was killed two years later in San Antonio, Texas.

Meanwhile, Winston, who throughout his escape thought he was a major, returned to his home state of North Carolina to find he had been promoted to colonel during his absence. He led his regiment from the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia in May 1864 until the end of the war, suffering several wounds. During the summer and fall of 1864, Winston served under Lieutenant General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley, accompanying Early on his raid to the outskirts of Washington in July. Transferred back to Petersburg for the winter, Winston fought all the way to Appomattox Court House and surrendered there with a mere fragment of his 45th North Carolina.

Winston returned home, married, fathered several children, resumed his teaching duties, and died in 1888, a faithful citizen of a united country. Later, his descendants published his recollections of his escape and his remarkable journey back to North Carolina. Only a few copies of the rare pamphlet survive.

Roger Long is a writer from Port Clinton, Ohio.
Andy Thomas has a way of making history come alive on canvas, particularly history in his own back yard. One of his recent paintings involves the Osage Indians, who once lived along the Osage River in western Missouri. The painting shows a Missouri hill in the early 1800s and a party of tall Osage Indians-in full war makeup, their heads shaved except for roach clips, some brandishing muskets they have traded for with the Frenchwho appear ready to fight another band of Indians.

The 24-by-36 oil-on-canvas is untitled-Ive got to get a real poetic title for this one, the artist says but does what Carthage, Mo., painter Andy Thomas does so well: Capture a moment in Western history. They were unusual, Thomas says of the Osage. They averaged more than 6-feet tall, some of the Indians were described as being 6-foot-7, 6-foot-5, and one image always struck me was, How would a 6-foot-5 Indian look riding on an Indian pony, which was probably 13 hands? I always wanted to paint that, but when I go to paint it, it looks so comical, I think, This cant be right. But I do try to paint ponies as small as I can bring my conscience to paint them.

Thomas, 49, grew up with an interest in art, pursuing a career after high school by working in advertising as a commercial artist and attending night school at Missouri Southern State University. He stayed in advertising for 16 years, working his way up to department manager, but by the time he was 33, he got the itch.

I had always wanted to just paint, he says. I said Id better try it now while I still had some energy and if it failed, I would go back to work. Sixteen years later, hes still at it. Ive been extremely lucky, he says. I had worked in the corporate world, putting in 50-60 hours a week, so I had good work habits. When I woke up that first day, I clocked in and sat right down and painted. Probably that first year, I painted an average of 12 hours a day. I know a lot of people who try to be artists, and they work just a few hours a day, and I think that at some point you have to kinda count your wages.

Thomas paints various subjects, including portraits, nudes and still life, but his one constant has been historical subjects. I think almost every man likes history to some degree, he says. The marriage of art and history is too tempting not to delve into it.

Those historical moments include Wild Bill Hickok facing Dave Tutt in Springfield, Missouri, in 1865; artist Frederic Remington with the 10th Cavalry; action at the Little Bighorn in 1876; and plenty of Civil War scenes. That first year I left work, I got a commission to paint a Civil War mural, and that started me painting quite a lot of Civil War, he says. Its tapered off some, but I still do a lot. None of the (trans-Mississippi) battles had been painted, so inherently there was a great value in just documenting battles west of the Mississippi. Now Im doing more Westerns than Civil War paintings.

One of his favorite subjects is Abraham Lincoln. They always talk about how sad his face was, Thomas says, and how he aged a lot in office, and thats all true, but he also laughed a lot. The reason he doesnt smile in those pictures is because the exposure was a very long time. Nobody smiled, and he had those droopy hound-dog eyes. But I wanted to draw him like hed just told me an off-color joke or something.

His favorite subject, though, is Kit Carson. A portrait of Carson served as the Wild West cover in April 2007. I was moved to paint his portrait as a guy youd not want to tangle with, Thomas says. He doesnt look mean, but I believe thats not a guy I want to bump when Im in a bar.

Any dream projects? Really, he says, I wake up and I get to pick and choose the subjects I want to paint. I have that luxury. Its really a great life. Its not really work, I guess.

A shorter version of this story appears in Art of the West in the October 2007 issue of Wild West Magazine. Also please visit www.andythomas.com.
Toronto was hardly a blip on the hip-hop map before Drake came along. In fact, the citys presence in pop culture  and even in sports, too  has greatly increased since he decided to put the 6 on his back. The 6 God loves his city, and it loves him back, but just how well Toronto fared under the focused diplomacy of one of the worlds biggest pop stars? Well, the Toronto Star has deduced that Drake has effectively gifted his city with a level of exposure thats worth an estimated $3 billion.

Drakes latest album, VIEWS, which is currently sitting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the seventh week in a row, has arguably been the most effective promotional tool hes given to the Ontario capital. The album cover, one of the years top meme generators, shows a mini-Drake sitting on top of his citys most famous landmark, the CN Tower; its basically a tourism poster that has been seen by more eyes than the local government can ever dream of reaching. The article also suggests that Drakes global ambassadorship for the Toronto Raptors  an official position  has greatly boosted the exposure of the team and, hence, the city itself.

Though theres not an exact breakdown of all the numbers incorporated into the study, the Star did enlist a research team at ZenithOptimedia, a Toronto-based media buying agency, to develop a formula that would lead to a reliable estimate on exactly how much Drake, at his current status, is worth to the city. Some of the factors that were studied include his cumulative YouTube views, his social media followers, and his appearances in conventional media, such as when he hosted SNL last month.

ZenithOptimedia calculated the total number of impressions that Drake has access to in instances when he mentions Toronto, and the company reported that it would cost roughly $300 million for an advertiser to have a chance of attaining a similar level of global reach.

Kristine Lyrette, the president of the agency, however, doesnt equate Drakes efforts to put on for his city as an obvious form of self-promotion  even though that may be the result. She claims that Drake, for now, has a priceless cool factor, and that hes been able to grant Toronto so much buzz because his hometown dedication comes from a real place. Genuine and sincere intention is half the battle in gaining trust with the public, she says.

Another reason for Torontos increasing visibility is that its a young city without an established reputation. Thus, Drake, as the citys most famous public figure, has a powerful role in shaping Torontos image in the eyes of the world. So what Drake is doing is awesome really, because he is creating that identity for us on the global stage, said Gabor Forgacs, associate professor at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

The article comes to the conclusion that Drake is easily one of Torontos most powerful assets in boosting its desirability and, thus, its income  right now, that is. His value could dramatically fall once his cool factor begins to wear off, if that ever happens. But its important to keep perspective, says Lyrette. Maybe if his last album flopped, we wouldnt be having this conversation at all.

Drake
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

NEW YORK - Some small-business owners already working to make their companies more welcoming to LGBT employees say the massacre at a gay dance club in Orlando, Fla., gives them an impetus to make more changes.

"I've committed to myself and within our executive team to redouble our efforts to create a safer, kinder, more accepting workplace," says Frank Maylett, CEO of RizePoint, a company that makes software to help restaurant owners, hotel operators and retailers manage multiple locations.

RizePoint had already taken steps like providing health and other benefits to employees' domestic partners and removing gender references in its handbook so that "paternity" and "maternity" leaves are now "parental" leave. And when an employee last year planned to have sex reassignment surgery, managers including the then-CEO met with the staffer and offered support.

Since the attacks, Salt Lake City-based RizePoint has reviewed its handbook and policies.

"We've had numerous executive, company and personal opportunities to discuss and reinforce our company standards," Maylett says.

At the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on June 12, a man with a semiautomatic weapon went on a bloody rampage. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, with 49 people killed and more than 50 wounded. Officials have said a goal of the investigation is determining why the gunman, an American who identified himself as an Islamic soldier, targeted the gay community.

The attack has increased Tim Andrews' awareness of the need to provide acceptance and safety for all employees.

"Everyone's thinking about it. People want to be in an environment where they really want to work," says Andrews, CEO of the Advertising Specialty Institute, which runs a trade group for companies in the promotional products industry. The Trevose, Pa.-based company recently wrote a statement of its values that includes the fact that it embraces employees' diverse sexual orientations.

"We just had hired a number of new people, and asked, 'How do we make sure that everyone who's working here knows what we define as the right thing?'" Andrews says.

Many business owners who want their companies to be inclusive for employees and customers of any nationality, race, religion or gender have become more mindful in recent years about explicitly being more welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and to those whose gender isn't male or female.

Changes to laws and policies are part of that; for example, the end to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" standard and the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage that led to last year's Supreme Court ruling that gay people have the right to marry. The current debate over laws requiring people to use public restrooms that correspond to their sex at birth have provided more food for thought.

The LGBT community has also made companies more aware, says Rob Wilson, CEO of Westmont, Ill.-based human resources provider Employco.

"People are being more open about their sexuality," Wilson says. "Ten years ago, they might not have been."

Companies also want LGBT job candidates to know they're welcome, says Midge Seltzer, president of Engage PEO, a human resources provider based in Hollywood, Florida.

"Everyone's competing for the top talent. By adopting these policies, you're going to look like a more progressive company," Seltzer says. Inclusiveness also contributes to a more productive work atmosphere, she says.

At the Chicago-based human resources software company Jellyvision, employees created a banner with messages of support for Orlando. The company's policy of acceptance made them feel it was OK to collaborate on the project, says Mary Beth Wynn, head of human resources.

Jellyvision managers began thinking about inclusivity last year when they hired a transgender employee. They realized the frequently asked questions for prospective employees on the company's website didn't indicate that managers would be responsive to issues such as the fact that some people don't use pronouns like "he" or "she," and instead use "they" or other wording.

"It wasn't signaling how open and welcoming we are," Wynn says of the website. The site was changed to include information addressing possible concerns of transgender job candidates.

Another question was how or whether to communicate to Jellyvision staffers the way their new colleague wanted to be addressed. The company decided managers should ask new employees how they want it handled.

Inguard, an insurance broker and adviser in Wabash, Ind., is again looking at its policies following the Orlando shooting, owner Parker Beauchamp says.

"We've got to be constantly thinking about how we can evolve and be more inclusive," Beauchamp says.

Inguard revises its anti-discrimination policy each year and asks employees to sign a form stating they have read and understood its contents, Beauchamp says. He has also made changes at the company's building. Communal restrooms for males and females were made unisex during renovations two years ago. There are also private unisex restrooms.

"People should be allowed to have a choice," Beauchamp says.
From the human-size talking bugs of "James and the Giant Peach," to the underground labyrinth occupied by the humanlike Fox family of "Fantastic Mr. Fox," to everything about Willy Wonka's chocolate factory: The wild, magical creations of Roald Dahl have served as springboards for Hollywood films for decades.

But beyond the fantastical worlds, there's another quality that has helped these stories become parts of the children's literature canon: his trust in children, both on the page and in real life.

"It's so powerful, the trust and respect he gave his children" characters, says Eileen Kreit, president and publisher of Puffin Books, a children's imprint of Penguin Books and the publisher of Dahl's library. "They're not one-dimensional. They all are capable and competent."

Dahl would have turned 100 years old in September, and the anniversary has been celebrated anywhere a kid may stumble upon one of his books in a school library or where an adult might reminisce about childhood dreams of getting a golden ticket.

Oxford will be releasing a "Roald Dahl Dictionary" this year, with definitions of words such as "trogglehumper" and "squacking," and libraries and schools around the world have scheduled events and remembrances throughout 2016. And Friday a new adaptation of "The BFG" (for Big Friendly Giant), this time directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Oscar winner Mark Rylance, opens in movie theaters.

Hollywood keeps coming back to the British author, who died in 1990, in part because of those imaginative landscapes, creatures and universes. Some of the film industry's most visually creative filmmakers have tackled Dahl's words.

Wes Anderson was behind the 2009 adaptation of "Fantastic Mr. Fox," turning the world of a hungry fox family into a stop-motion spectacle; and director Henry Selick ("Coraline," "The Nightmare Before Christmas") took "James and the Giant Peach" from page to screen. Even Tim Burton couldn't resist, with his take on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Each year, a new crop of children discovers, as Willy Wonka once sang, "a world of pure imagination." Being able to make sense of these creations, of Oompa-Loompas and flying peaches and telekinetic kindergartners, may not seem easy. But as wild as Dahl's stories may have gotten, they always remained grounded in a belief that kids have a greater capacity for understanding than adults may give them credit for.

"He doesn't talk down to kids," says Karey Kirkpatrick, who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1996 version of "James and the Giant Peach." "In fact, he talks up to them - he trusted the intelligence and creativity of children."

Dahl himself had a tough childhood. His father died when Dahl was only 3, and the young Roald spent much of his formative years at boarding school, feeling isolated. He later would serve in the Royal Air Force during World War II, before publishing his first children's book, "The Gremlins" (no direct relation to the 1980s film).

He spent nearly 20 years writing short stories in between "The Gremlins" and his next book aimed at kids. The wait was worth it: "James and the Giant Peach" was released in 1961, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" came just three years later.

The difficulties of life weren't done with Dahl yet, though: His daughter Olivia died of measles encephalitis in 1962, and his wife, the Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal, had an aneurysm while pregnant with their fifth child. Neal would later recover, with Dahl's almost boot camplike help; his biographer, Donald Sturrock, would describe Dahl's nursing style as "no self-pity, no indulgence toward the illness, just a determination to beat all the disabilities."

That ethos of self-determination would translate to the page. His protagonists tended to fit a profile: smart children, often lonely and missing parent figures in their life, but fiercely intelligent and possessed with the spirit to find the positive in situations and other people.

"A factory filled with candy is a wonderful-sounding thing, but that's not why kids keep coming back to it year after year," Kreit says. "He brought out the champions of good in that story, in Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe. How he gave them the ability to do it for themselves."

That power that Dahl gives his young protagonists has given generations of new readers relatable figures with which to connect. And it's that connection that inspires everyone from children's librarians to Hollywood producers to keep Dahl's works alive.

"We gets tons and tons of mail for Roald Dahl every year," Kreit says. "Thousands and thousands - without exaggeration - of letters from all around the country. It's a tremendous testament to the power of his stories."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

At his private clinic near Greenway Plaza, Steve Cochran practices one of the most promising therapies you've likely never heard of.

He specializes in neurofeedback, a technique designed to make a person calmer and more focused. Clients, who fly in from as far as California, come to the Neurotherapy Center of Houston with anxiety, depression, attention disorders and more.

Cochran and other practitioners in Houston and around the world report dramatic benefits from the decades-old treatment, but neurofeedback has remained under the radar.

It hasn't achieved wider acceptance for a variety of reasons. Insurers typically don't cover it, and the medical community generally ignores the field or is skeptical.

Another challenge is that it is hard to explain how neurofeedback works. It may sound weird when first described - as a way to treat a malady by non-consciously guiding your brain in a desired direction using electrodes and computer software.

In the first session, a client receives an EEG "brain map," or electroencephalogram, which identifies the location of errant brainwave activity.

In subsequent sessions, electrodes are placed on the person's scalp near the part of the brain that needs regulating. The client then watches a video on computer software that can read brainwave activity.

The video stops and starts. By non-consciously regulating his or her brain activity in the desired direction, the client is rewarded by being able to watch the movie with no interruption, Cochran said.

"When you are getting feedback from the brain, you can modify it, even if you don't have conscious awareness" of what is taking place, said Cincinnati psychologist Kirk Little, president of the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research in McLean, Va.

Not everyone benefits from neurofeedback, Cochran said, and people who want to get better are the ones more likely to improve.

Cochran's client, Katy resident Caroline Howell, said neurofeedback "did wonders," enabling her to overcome severe depression, but when she tells her friends about it, they say, "If it's so great, why haven't I heard of it?"

Along with a number of psychological conditions, neurofeedback can treat drug and alcohol addiction, brain trauma, impairments from stroke, migraines and epilepsy. It's also used by artists and athletes to enhance performance.

Other therapists in Houston offer neurofeedback, but Cochran's 8-year-old clinic is among the few focused almost exclusively on it.

Neurofeedback is typically not a person's first choice, Cochran said. In many cases "their doctor first prescribed medications that didn't work."

Clients may come in skeptical, he said. "They find it hard to believe you can train parts of the brain just as you can strengthen a muscle."

Neurofeedback is "a word of mouth thing," said Kurt Othmer, president of EEG Info, a neurofeedback clinic in Woodland Hills, Calif. "Someone you trust tried it and got good results." But it also has numerous advocates in the medical community.

In his book on neurofeedback, "A Symphony in the Brain," science writer Jim Robbins writes that neurofeedback "has vast untapped potential for millions of people," and is "safer than most prescription medicines," but in need of more research to be better understood.

Riding the waves

Neurofeedback operates on the principle that the brain can be trained to modify its own settings.

During a neurofeedback session, clients focus on a particular brainwave bandwidth, each of which has a separate function. The lowest brainwave bandwidth, delta, is dominant during deep sleep; the theta range is active during the fuzzy state between sleeping and waking.

Alpha waves are dominant in a state of well-being and calm, which can be achieved through meditation or neurofeedback, said Bob Dickson, the former executive director of the Southwest Health Technology Foundation.

The beta range is dominant when a person is alert, executing a task and in a thinking mode, Cochran said. High beta, however, signals an anxious state in which neurofeedback can be useful, he said. The goal of neurofeedback in the high beta state is to reduce brain wave activity.

The principle is nothing new. One of the earliest milestones in neurofeedback research came in 1958, when University of Chicago psychologist Joe Kamiya trained graduate students to enter the alpha state with electrodes and verbal prompts, as Robbins wrote.

In the 1970s, people used neurofeedback - also called biofeedback - to reach blissful alpha states, and the field suffered from the reputation that it was something to do to get high, Cochran said.

It still isn't widely endorsed by the medical community. Among the skeptics is Russell Barkley, clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, who has treated ADHD for 40 years and published hundreds of articles on the subject.

"Claims about biofeedback have far outstripped the supporting evidence," he said. Positive results from neurofeedback can be attributed to the placebo effect, he maintained, and it doesn't hold up when subjected to the most rigorous testing - a double-blind or control group study in which a person doesn't know if he is doing an actual or sham neurofeedback session.

Neurofeedback doesn't need double-blind studies to demonstrate its effectiveness - other less-expensive types of studies are valid, Little argues.

Just in the past three years, more than 500 peer-reviewed neurofeedback research studies have been published, he said. And the clients who've seen benefits from neurofeedback don't doubt that the technique really works.

Patient feedback

Cochran has a quiet presence and a calm, gentle voice. The son of Houston psychiatrists, the clinical social worker received neurofeeback training from psychologist Eugenia Bodenhamer-Davis at the University of North Texas. He first began practicing neurofeedback in 2007.

Natalie Delgadillo first came to Cochran's clinic reluctantly, thinking, "This is some stupid hippie mumbo-jumbo." Her mother made her go.

She was 18, and her attention disorder was causing severe anxiety. She chain-smoked, rarely slept and was "kind of all over the place." A drug she took for ADHD made her "like a caged animal," her mother, Elizabeth Soto, recalled.

Cochran weaned her off the drug, and after five or six sessions of neurofeedback, "I could see a calmness come over her," her mother said.

Neurofeedback at Cochran's clinic generally requires 30 to 40 visits; he charges $100 per visit.

Delgadillo, who first went to the clinic four years ago, is now a 23-year-old University of Houston student and off all medication. After stopping neurofeedback in 2013, she remained a much calmer person, she said, but recent issues in her personal life caused anxiety to return, and she is doing neurofeeback again and feels more relaxed.

Another of Cochran's clients, Chris Jolly, who graduated from Texas A&M University a year ago, once thought he had an inherent problem retaining information. He was actually impaired by multiple concussions suffered while playing sports, he said.

After finishing neurofeedback training at the Neurotherapy Center of Houston about two years ago, his grades shot up. He could better understand, focus on, and retain what he studied, he said.

Other clinicians, including Dr. Nancy White, a psychologist and one of Houston's first neurofeedback practitioners, celebrate similar success stories. When she started, 27 years ago, "people thought I was weird  far out," she said.

Her practice was initially focused on marriage and family counseling, and she still offers that, but her Galleria-area clinic, Unique Mindcare, now has a strong emphasis on brain-related treatments including neurofeedback and Nexalin, a non-invasive brain stimulation which, she says, works to balance brain chemistry when treating depression, anxiety and sleeplessness. (The neurofeedback society does not promote specific products, including Nexalin.)

One of her clients, a 16-year-old boy, had been diagnosed with a neurological autoimmune illness at age 10. Medicine improved his condition, but he had been left with residual symptoms, including ADD, OCD, anxiety and "brain fog" which, he said, made it hard to think clearly. After a year's worth intensive neurofeedback and Nexalin, his ADD, anxiety and brain fog were eliminated by about 99 percent, he said.

"It's made a remarkable difference in my life," said the teen, who asked to remain anonymous. He currently goes in for treatment when needed, about once every six months.

Tipping point

Little is optimistic that neurofeedback is on the verge of gaining wide acceptance; he believes it's reached its "tipping point," partly because funding for neurofeedback research has increased significantly in recent years and computer technology has become more affordable for practitioners.

In October, Little's group, the International Society for Neurofeedback and Research, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will team up to make a presentation to the American Medical Association, requesting that neurofeedback be formally recognized as a legitimate and valid procedure.

If that happens, he said, insurers will be more likely to cover the treatment.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For two decades, state Sen. Rodney Ellis has been a dogged Democrat in a state Senate controlled by Republicans, a frequent and vocal advocate of party values like criminal justice reform.

Now Ellis will be fighting for those causes at the local level after winning the Democratic party nomination for Harris County commissioner from Precinct 1, a seat held for three decades by El Franco Lee until his death in January.

Ellis defeated Gene Locke, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of Lee's term, by capturing the votes of 78 of the 117 Democratic party chairs who convened Saturday morning at a downtown union hall. Locke received 36 votes and precinct chair and party organizer Nathaniel West Sr. got 2. Ellis faces no Democratic party opponent in the fall in the heavily Democratic precinct. If elected in November, he would take office in January.

Although Ellis will be giving up 26 years of seniority in Austin, he will wield significant clout as Precinct 1 commissioner, where he will represent some 1.2 million people, control a budget of more than $200 million and help govern the nation's third-largest county.

He vowed Saturday to openly and aggressively fight for issues like access to health care and livable wages on the five-member commissioners court, whose other four members are Republicans.

"I plan on opening the doors of county government," Ellis said. "For far too long, there has been a closed shop."

Locke, a former Houston city attorney who had run unsuccessfully for Houston mayor, said Saturday that he respected the choice of the precinct chairs.

"I will continue to serve the remainder of the year with the same energy and effort that I started with," Locke said after the vote Saturday.

Ellis, 62, who was born and raised in Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood, served three terms on the Houston City Council and as chief of staff to the late U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland before he was elected to the Texas Senate in 1990. He holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Southern University and master's and law degrees from the University of Texas. He and his wife Licia Green-Ellis have four children.

Saturday's highly anticipated vote ended an unusual months-long race that began after Lee, who represented Precinct 1 for more than 30 years, died in January. His name remained on the March 1 Democratic primary ballot, so it fell to Democratic party chairs to nominate a candidate - and essentially pick the next commissioner.

Ellis was among the first to announce his candidacy, campaigning on his record and accomplishments in the state Senate, where he helped pass more than 600 bills. After his appointment to Lee's seat by County Judge Ed Emmett, a Republican, Locke decided to seek election as well.

During five months as a commissioner, Locke invested millions of dollars in street repairs, sidewalks and debris removal.

Meeting moves quickly

Saturday's meeting lasted for a little more than two hours. Although some precinct chairs publicly questioned and criticized the voting process and technicalities in state and party rules, the meeting moved quickly.

To count the final votes of the precinct chairs, the 117 chairs gathered in different corners to signal their support while third-party volunteers counted each gathering.

As the crowds swarmed around their respective candidates, it became clear Ellis had a commanding victory, setting off a series of cheers and whoops. The vote was over within minutes, after which supporters took pictures and shook hands with the candidates.

Precinct chairs nominated Ellis, Locke and Houston Councilmember Dwight Boykins. West nominated himself.

"Sen. Ellis was the obvious favorite and I think the outcome should have come as no surprise," Texas Southern University political scientist Michael Adams said.

He said Ellis' decision to define the commissioner job as more than administrative, and instead tie it to broad policies that he had advocated for during a three-decade-long career, helped Ellis win.

University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus said Ellis' long tenure in the state legislature helped him establish relationships with the precinct chairs.

"They've been through battles together, fought many fights together," Rottinghaus said.

Rhonda Bett Rhea, a precinct chair in Sunnyside, said she voted for Ellis because she believed he would be the strongest advocate for the party on the local level. She said Ellis, Locke and Boykins all would have been good choices.

"I like all of them, each one in their own right," she said.

Rhea was a new precinct chair and thought the process for selecting the nominee was well-outlined and -executed.

Not all pleased

Not so, said R.C. Jones, a precinct chair of more than 40 years who represents the Northside neighborhood. Jones, who backed Locke, questioned leaving such an important choice in the hands of several dozen party chairs,

"I wasn't that pleased with the outcome," he said.

Precinct 1 curls north from the southeastern tip of Harris County - through neighborhoods such as Sunnyside, downtown, Montrose and the Bush Intercontinental Airport area - before dipping back down through the east side. About 40 percent of the precinct's residents are black, 37 percent are Hispanic and 18 percent are white. Like Lee and Locke, Ellis will be the sole African American on the commissioners court.

Ellis said Saturday he will continue Lee's legacy in the precinct, which likely will include a strong emphasis on senior and youth programs and fighting to reform the embattled criminal justice system.

He said he would be spending the coming months winding down his work in the state Senate and learning the ins and outs of county government, meeting with Lee's widow Kaye Lee (who endorsed him) to get a better grasp of Lee's priorities and how he can continue them.

During the campaign, Ellis showed flashes of what commissioners court might look like with him as a member. He publicly tangled with a sitting commissioner over a statement Ellis made about jail incarceration rates, and made an appearance at commissioners court to push the county toward reforming the bail bond system, which he said keeps too many people, sometimes unfairly, in jail.

"I've always been an activist in whichever position I've been in," Ellis said.

Rottinghaus said he expects Ellis to be effective at the local level even on a Republican-dominated court.

"I would say that he has been around for long enough to know how to handle his position in a government environment where you're outnumbered," he said.Republicans gained control of the state Senate in the 1996 election, and the state House six years later.

Domino effect

The nomination sets in motion a domino effect because Ellis will have to withdraw his name from the ballot for his Senate seat, said Gerry Birnberg, a former chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party, who has been advising the party on the rules and law surrounding the unusual commissioner's election.

Precinct chairs from Senate District 13, which Ellis represents, will in the coming weeks tap a candidate to run in Ellis' place on that ballot. Several state representatives are interested. If Senate District 13 precinct chairs nominate a state representative for the position, that lawmaker will have to withdraw his or her name from the November ballot, triggering yet another meeting of precinct chairs to pick that representative's replacement on the ballot.

Birnberg said all of this must be finished by sometime in August.

Said Birnberg: "It's going to be a busy summer."
The Supreme Court's split decision today in U.S. v. Texas effectively blocks President Obama's executive orders that provided temporary work permits to immigrants in the country without documents, and providing them temporary relief from deportation.

Reactions to the decision are sharply divided.



Texas Governor Greg Abbott: "The action taken by the president was an unauthorized abuse of presidential power that trampled the Constitution, and the Supreme Court rightly denied the President the ability to grant amnesty contrary to immigration laws. As the president himself said, he is not a king who can unilaterally change and write immigration laws. Today's ruling is also a victory for all law-abiding Americansincluding the millions of immigrants who came to America following the rule of law."

Activist Cristina Jimenez, director of United We Dream: "Attacks on our community are nothing new. We need to rise up not only to protect DAPA [Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents] and DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals], but to end deportations. We are outraged that conservative Justices on the Supreme Court would allow a continued delay initiated by hateful Republican politicians and judges who have played with the lives of 5 million undocumented people who qualify for relief....We're calling on registered voters to take to the polls in November and vote for candidates who will support DAPA and DACA while this case is ongoing, because a new president could either protect and build on these programs, or take them away completely."

Michael Olivas, interim president of the University of HoustonDowntown: "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has been a transformative and crucial lifeline for nearly three-quarters of a million students. It is now time for Congress to act, and to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The states who brought this mean-spirited and nativist challenge to authority held by all presidents since the INA was passed in 1952 can now run out the clock and thwart these programs and drag their heels. While DACA is largely intact, it is very disappointing that DAPA's injunction will push parents deeper into the shadows, and stall their own incorporation into our society. In our system, immigration is a federal responsibility, not one left to the states. Similar constitutional authority also exists for efforts to relate refugees, whom these states would also fence out, without legal or moral authority. The Supreme Court missed an opportunity to clarify and uphold prosecutorial authority, and we are all worse for this failure. Now everyone must focus attention on the real malefactors here: the House and Senate, who have failed to enact genuine immigration reform. Until this occurs, all else is makeshift and patchwork."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: "Today's decision keeps in place what we have maintained from the very start: one person, even a president, cannot unilaterally change the law. This is a major setback to President Obama's attempts to expand executive power, and a victory for those who believe in the separation of powers and the rule of law."

Maria Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino: "Time and time again, Latinos and immigrants have showed resilience as a community, and now more than ever, it is important that we continue to show our resilience and power at the ballot box. These executive actions were deeply rooted in the same values that all Americans hold true  family and unity. Though today's outcome does not mirror these values, we know that the future of immigration reform will no longer be decided by politics or by the courts. Instead, it will be decided by the more than 1.6 million Latino voters directly impacted by today's decision."

Elsa Caballero, president of Service Employees International Union Texas: "This is an injustice for Texas families, but the end is far from over. We have shown over and over again that the immigrant community and its allies will not back down. We will continue to fight for all immigrants and their families. Despite the Supreme Court's split decision, we vow to fight tooth and nail for a resolution to our broken immigration system. We will take our fight to the polls on Election Day and beyond 2016. This all about politics for our opponents, but for the millions of immigrant families in Texas, it's personal. From Trump to extremist Republicans who continue to spout anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, we will deliver our response at the ballot box come November."

Michelle Tremillo, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project: "Today, we are heartbroken for the families who have fought for legal status for so many years, and who are waking up still in the shadows, still marginalized. While we are grieving, our drive to win immigration reform remains intact. Even before the decision was handed down, our members had resolved that no matter what the Supreme Court decided, we were going to continue fighting. And that is what we will do.... And make no mistake about it, we will hold Republican leaders who supported this meritless lawsuit to account in November. We will never forget what they did to tear immigrant families apart and demean our communities."

Latino Victory Fund and Priorities USA announced a campaign to hold "Republican politicians accountable for bringing on this politically motivated lawsuit, and refusing to do their constitutional duty and consider the President's nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia." The campaign includes the following video:
Affirmative action in college admissions is alive and well, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas.

But no matter how strictly scrutinized UT's policy is, it seems to be only plodding toward the greater goal: significantly increasing racial and ethnic diversity on campus. The enrollment at UT and the state's other flagship, Texas A&M, is nowhere near reflecting the state's demographics.

At UT, blacks represented 4.9 percent of undergraduates in fall 2015, even though they're 12 percent of Texas' population. Hispanics made up 23 percent, though they're 38 percent of the population.

At Texas A&M, blacks made up 3.6 percent of undergraduate enrollment, Hispanics 22 percent.

A recent Texas Tribune article focused on the great strides A&M has made on diversity. Since 2003, the school has more than doubled its share of black and Hispanic students at its College Station campus, a major accomplishment considering A&M's dismal track record.

What's particularly notable is that A&M achieved the gains without racial and ethnic preferences.

That might lead some to claim UT doesn't need affirmative action, either. But Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, made clear that wasn't the case.

UT had submitted "extensive evidence" of how it had bolstered outreach to black and Hispanic students, he wrote. Those included three new scholarship programs, opening regional admissions centers, increasing the recruitment budget by half a million dollars and organizing over 1,000 recruiting events.

"None of these efforts succeeded," Kennedy wrote.

For A&M, intensive recruiting did make a difference, along with fully embracing the state's Top 10 Percent Rule, which grants automatic admission to high school seniors who rank at the top of their classes.

In the Tribune piece, an A&M official seemed to suggest UT was sending the wrong message to minority students by capping the number of so-called Top 10 students at 7 or 8 percent. But a UT official pointed out that without caps, nearly all of its incoming freshmen would be chosen automatically, a problem A&M doesn't have because it gets fewer applicants.

Kennedy called the Top 10 rule a "blunt instrument that may well compromise the University's own definition of the diversity it seeks."

A&M's successes

So Texas' two flagship universities have unique challenges. But it's hard to believe that the solution is either/or. Race or recruiting. It should be both.

If history is a guide, many of this state's future leaders will be nurtured at these universities.

We have a moral imperative to be inclusive, and here's the other thing - diversity is smart business. Ask anyone who runs a successful company.

A&M deserves praise for its approach. The school has opened brick-and-mortar recruiting offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Laredo, McAllen and Corpus Christi and hired recruiting staff in Austin and El Paso, the Tribune reported. A&M has increased financial aid benefiting black and Hispanic students and now makes scholarship offers months earlier to give poor students time to plan.

UT's outreach efforts

Carolyn Connerat, associate vice provost for student success initiatives at UT, told me its outreach centers are in Austin, Dallas, Houston and the Valley. Meanwhile, the university is planning to move some of its operations based in high schools to the outreach offices.

Connerat also pointed out the Texas Advance program, which encourages high-performing students at historically underrepresented high schools to apply at UT. Scholarships in the program total $5,000 for four years. UT has partnered with more than 100 Title One high schools across the state, Connerat said, and in the past two years, the number of applications from those schools has jumped by 42 percent. It has increased admissions offers by 47 percent.

"They wouldn't have applied," she said. "They just didn't know they had a chance to go to UT-Austin."

But she emphasized that intensive recruiting can't solve the biggest challenge - students not having the financial resources to attend UT.

"We're losing some really great students, no matter what their ethnicity is, to Harvard and MIT and Stanford and Rice, with full-ride scholarships that we can't compete with," she said.

More work to do

Through the years, the Legislature has famously scaled back funding of the state's universities. Some Austin leaders are now talking of yanking back a safety net lawmakers put in place to help families cope with rising tuition after it was deregulated in 2003. That won't help spread the opportunity of higher education.

The Fisher ruling preserving UT's admissions policies is worthy of celebration. It's clear that diversity at UT dodged a major bullet. But it's not enough. A&M's notable gains aren't enough, either.

"We're out of the woods in the short term," Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, told me Friday. "They (flagships) both have considerable room for improvement, and I think they know that."

Our universities and our Legislature should pull out all the stops, learn from other schools and other states, and make diversity a priority in higher ed. The future of Texas depends on it.
SAN ANTONIOThe Daughters of the Republic of Texas have settled a lawsuit over some 38,000 library items at the Alamo and will soon move them out, with hopes of housing them in a local university facility.

A settlement announced Friday in the lawsuit filed last year against the Texas General Land Office by the DRT closes a final chapter in the Daughters' departure from the state shrine, where since 1905 the group had maintained a presence. The Land Office announced last month that it would not claim ownership of books, family papers and other items stored in the Alamo Research Center, formerly known at the DRT Library.

"The Daughters held fast, and our prayers were answered," Dr. Betty Edwards, DRT president general, said in a news release.

The Land Office agreed to pay $200,000 to the DRT to cover attorney fees. Lamont Jefferson, the lawyer representing the Daughters in the case, said the DRT is funding the cost of the collection's relocation, which must occur by July 11, under the agreement. He said the lawsuit, which also named Land Commissioner George P. Bush as a defendant, sought to resist "the overreach of the state."

"The end result is that the Daughters are giving up nothing to the state," Jefferson said.

The DRT is negotiating with Texas A&M University-San Antonio to staff and maintain the collection at an A&M facility that is off the main campus on the South Side.

"We are working on some final details but have every expectation when an agreement is reached in the near future that we will be able to display the collection and continue to make it available for research before the end of the year," the university said.

Jefferson said the archives will likely be moved to an undisclosed temporary location in the weeks ahead but may be available for use by researchers. The library had closed June 1 in preparation for the move.

In the settlement agreement, the Land Office and DRT agreed that the state will retain some items at the Alamo, including architectural blueprints, preservation records and several items donated by rock musician Phil Collins. Most of Collins' artifacts that were donated to the Alamo were moved a year ago to the Land Office vault in Austin.

The Land Office said it will now focus on development of a long-range master plan for the state-owned Alamo complex and surrounding area. The agency is working with the city and the nonprofit Alamo Endowment to craft the plan, with a draft version expected in November, that could include a vision for a modern visitor center, improved pedestrian access, public art and other design elements.

"We are all pleased to resolve this issue in a manner that allows the DRT to continue to manage this important collection of historic books, photographs, documents and artifacts," Mark Havens, Land Office general counsel, said in a news release.

He added that the agency will concentrate "on our primary goal of conserving this treasured historic site and enhancing the visitor experience at the Alamo, the cradle of Texas liberty."

Last year, using much of $25 million allocated by the Legislature for projects resulting from the master plan, the Land Office purchased three historic buildings on the west side of Alamo Plaza for $14.4 million. The buildings are in the geographic footprint of the 1700s Mission San Antonio de Valero and 1836 Alamo compound, site of a famed siege and battle for Texas independence.

The master plan will examine whether the buildings should be razed, relocated or left in place as part of a larger, more defined Alamo complex.

The DRT, Alamo custodians from 1905 to 2011, began accumulating the library collection in 1945. The building that housed it opened in 1950. That structure's future use has not been determined. The building is slated for renovations, including replacement of its roof, later this year.

The DRT, meanwhile, will "refocus on our mission to ensure the next generation of Texans understand and appreciate our unique history as a sovereign republic," Edwards said.

"We may just be a nonprofit organization of women, but we are Texas women," she said.
A pedestrian died early Sunday in a hit-and-run incident in northeast Houston, police said.

The man was struck at about 3:45 a.m. by a black car in the 9200 block of Wallisville, near where the road intersects with the westbound service road of Interstate 610. The driver failed to stop and left the scene without aiding the pedestrian, said John Cannon, a Houston Police Department spokesman.
FORT WORTH - Two people were killed and five more wounded after an altercation at an unauthorized party led to gunfire outside a nonprofit dance studio east of downtown Fort Worth, according to police and the club's owner.

Officers found one victim dead outside Studio 74, and several people were transported to hospitals - one of whom died from his injuries, Fort Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said in a statement.

The two killed were identified as Treavon Lewis, 22, and Jordan Larkin, 18, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's website.

Larkin, who graduated in May from North Crowley High School, was described as a "great kid" by Rex Russell, whose wife, Jeanene Young Russell, was one of Larkin's high school teachers.

"He was like a son to us," said Russell, explaining that Larkin spent a lot of time with him and his wife. "He spent last Christmas with us ... we enjoyed having him around."

Larkin came from a "pretty rough background" but "had his life going in the right direction," Russell said.

Russell said Larkin had been active in ROTC at North Crowley and had hoped to join the military.

"He really was a great kid. He would literally give the shirt off of his back to you," Russell said.

Russell and his wife had more than a dozen of Larkin's friends at their house Saturday night. He said Larkin was "hanging out" with other kids at the party when the gunfire erupted.

The shooting occurred just after midnight Friday at the studio, located at 2466 E. Lancaster Ave., near a police station and multiple businesses and restaurants.

One of Studio 74's employees - Jason Moore, who lives in quarters at the back of the building - said he heard 15 to 18 gunshots in rapid succession.

"I was upset," Moore said. "It was like - not here. Not here."

Gang-related?

Studio 74's website describes it at as a place that brings "dance programming to under-served communities and the general public to reach audiences and participants of all ages, abilities, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds."

Laura Reyna, who has owned the building for four years and the studio nonprofit for seven years, was emotional as she looked around the large dance floor, littered in places with broken glass, red solo cups and other debris.

Reyna said she and Moore were deceived by a mutual acquaintance who told Moore he had Reyna's permission to open the doors to for the party, which started about 11 p.m.

Police said an argument occurred at the party and as one person attempted to run out of the warehouse, shots were fired.

"An unknown number of people with firearms began shooting at each other outside of the warehouse and from across the street," police said in a news release.

Homicide detectives were being assisted by the Gang Unit to determine if gang members were involved, the news release said.

The studio focuses mostly on children for daytime lessons in hip-hop, ballet, jazz and modern dance, Reyna said, although she does rent the space for events. But there was no contract for the group to be at the studio on Friday night. The presence of alcohol or illegal drugs would have been expressly prohibited, she said.

Kids will be 'crushed'

Reyna started Studio 74 as a nomadic business, teaching dance lessons at city recreation centers. After a few years, she bought the building, with her parents' help, from a man who liked the idea of it being used for kids.

"The saddest thing is that my kids that will walk in will be more crushed than anything," Reyna said, fighting back tears. "Because they built his place, local artists here have built this place ... for somebody to come in and take advantage on my kindness, it's a really sad thing."
ST. LOUIS - A draft of the Democratic Party's policy positions reflects the influence of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign: endorsing steps to break up large Wall Street banks, advocating a $15 hourly wage, urging an end to the death penalty.

Hillary Clinton's supporters turned back efforts by Sanders' allies to promote a Medicare-for-all single-payer health care system and a carbon tax to address climate change, and freeze hydraulic fracking.

While the platform does not bind the Democratic nominee to the stated positions, it serves as a guidepost for the party moving forward. Party officials approved the draft early Saturday.

'Moves forward'

The Democratic National Convention's full Platform Committee will discuss the draft at a meeting next month in Orlando with a vote at the convention in Philadelphia in late July.

Sanders said Friday he would vote for Clinton, the presumptive nominee, in the fall election, but so far has stopped short of fully endorsing the former secretary of state or encouraging his millions of voters to back her candidacy.

The Vermont senator has said he wants the platform to reflect his goals - and those representing him at a St. Louis hotel said they had made progress.

"We lost some but we won some," said James Zogby, a Sanders supporter on the committee. "We got some great stuff in the platform that has never been in there before." Added Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a Sanders ally: "We've made some substantial moves forward."

Deliberating late into Friday, the group considered language on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, an issue that has divided Democrats. The committee defeated an amendment led by Zogby that would have called for providing Palestinians with "an end to occupation and illegal settlements" and urged an international effort to rebuild Gaza.

'Starvation wage'

The draft reflects Clinton's views and advocates working toward a "two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict" that guarantees Israel's security with recognized borders "and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity."

In many cases, Clinton's side gave ground to Sanders. The document calls for the expansion of Social Security and says Americans should earn at least $15 an hour, referring to the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour as a "starvation wage," a term often used by Sanders.

Sanders has pushed for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Clinton has supported efforts to raise the minimum wage to that level but has said states and cities should raise the bar as high as possible.

The committee also adopted language that said it supports ways to prevent banks from gambling with taxpayers' bank deposits, "including an updated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall."

Sanders wants to reinstate the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited commercial banks from engaging in investment banking activities. Clinton does not, but says her proposed financial changes would cast a wider net by regulating the banking system.
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump finally has acknowledged that to best compete against Hillary Clinton he needs more than the bare-bones campaign team that led him to primary success. But many of the most experienced Republican political advisers aren't willing to work for him.

From Texas to New Hampshire, well-respected members of the Republican Party's professional class say they cannot look past their deep personal and professional reservations about the presumptive presidential nominee.

While there are exceptions, many strategists who best understand the mechanics of presidential politics fear that taking a Trump paycheck might stain their resumes, spook other clients and even cause problems at home.

They also are reluctant to devote months to a divisive candidate whose campaign has been plagued by infighting and disorganization.

Even unemployed resist

More Information Evangelical: Trump 'a baby Christian' Has Donald Trump become a born-again Christian? That is the suggestion of James C. Dobson, one of America's leading evangelicals, who said Trump had recently come "to accept a relationship with Christ" and was now "a baby Christian." Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and one of the country's most prominent social conservatives, gave his account at a meeting Trump had in New York on Tuesday with hundreds of Christian conservatives. In an interview recorded at the event by a Pennsylvania pastor, the Rev. Michael Anthony, Dobson said he knew the person who had led Trump to Christ, although he did not name him. "I don't know when it was, but it has not been long," Dobson said. "I believe he really made a commitment, but he's a baby Christian." For evangelicals, "accepting Christ" is at the heart of becoming a genuine Christian and refers to acknowledging sin and declaring the need for Jesus Christ as savior. New York Times See More Collapse

"Right now I feel no obligation to lift a finger to help Donald Trump," said Brent Swander, an Ohio-based operative who has coordinated nationwide logistics for Republican presidential campaigns dating to George W. Bush.

"Everything that we're taught as children - not to bully, not to demean, to treat others with respect - everything we're taught as children is the exact opposite of what the Republican nominee is doing. How do you work for somebody like that? What would I tell my family?" Swander said.

Trump leapt into presidential politics with a small group of aides, some drafted directly from his real estate business, with no experience running a White House campaign.

An unquestioned success in the GOP primaries, they have struggled to respond to the increased demands of a general election.

As in years past, the primary season created a pool of battle-tested staffers who worked for other candidates, from which Trump would be expected to draw.

But hundreds of such aides have so far declined invitations to work for him.

They include several communications aides to Chris Christie, as well as the New Jersey governor's senior political adviser, Michael DuHaime, who has rejected direct and indirect inquiries to sign on with the billionaire.

Chris Wilson, a senior aide to Ted Cruz, said the Texas senator's entire paid staff of more than 150 ignored encouragement from Trump's team to apply for positions after Cruz quit the presidential race.

Wilson said that even now, many unemployed Cruz aides are refusing to work for the man who called their former boss "Lyin' Ted."

'My wife would kill me'

That's the case for Scott Smith, a Texas-based operative who traveled the country planning events for Cruz, and earlier worked on presidential bids for Bush and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

"It's very clear that none of us are going to work for Trump," Smith said.

"Even if I wanted to work for Trump, my wife would kill me."

Smith, like many experienced strategists interviewed for this story, noted the intense personal sacrifice required of presidential campaigns.

Many advisers do not see their families for long stretches, work brutal hours on little sleep and enjoy no job security.

With Trump, Smith said, "I would feel like a mercenary. I can't be away from my young children if it's just for money."

Trump's need for additional staff is acute. His paltry fundraising network brought in less than $2 million last month.

He has just one paid staffer to handle hundreds of daily media requests and only a few operatives in battleground states devoted to his White House bid.
TOLIARA, Madagascar - When Julien Andrianiana started selling charcoal 14 years ago, he was just one of a few dealers around. Most households in Toliara, a coastal city still used firewood for cooking.

As the city's population doubled, business became so brisk that he managed to send two of his children to college, "thanks to charcoal." It quickly became the product of choice in kitchens not only in Toliara, but also in other fast-growing cities across Africa.

Charcoal - cleaner and easier to use than firewood, cheaper and more readily available than gas or electricity - has become both one of the biggest engines of Africa's informal economy. But it also has become one of the greatest threats to its environment.

In Madagascar, an island nation off the eastern African coast and one of the world's richest nations in biodiversity, the booming charcoal business is contributing to deforestation. It is expected to exacerbate the effects of climate change, which has disrupted farming, fueled a migration to cities and pushed many rural residents into the one thriving business left: charcoal.

Sellers now appear on street corners throughout Toliara, hawking charcoal made from trees from the surrounding forests, an ecologically rich and fragile area with plants and animals found nowhere else. Throughout the day, their supplies are replenished by pickup trucks and convoys of ox-drawn carts.

But acquiring high-quality charcoal made from hardwood trees has become increasingly difficult for dealers like Andrianiana, 44, as a third straight year of drought has pushed ever more people into the charcoal trade.

He now wakes up at 3 a.m. and rides his bicycle an hour north to try to strike deals with charcoal producers before his competitors do.

"Most of the trees have been cut down," he said recently, hours after securing only 60 bags of charcoal, below his daily average of 80.

"Within five years, all the trees will be gone."
Say you live in an apartment with thin walls, and you think you hear a child being abused. It's a judgment call as to whether you notify Child Protective Services on the first night or wait to be sure. Now say, you are an elected or appointed official in Austin with responsibility for the foster care system and you get a trusted report that outlines problems in the system and resultant harm to children. Is it reasonable to take a year to fix the problem? Two? Three?

The state has been on notice of major problems in its foster care system for two decades. Meanwhile, every day and every week, when poverty, mental illness and/or addiction spin out of control, and the wheels fall off of a family's bus, children are taken into state custody. If circumstances don't improve in a year, the state assumes permanent control of children's lives through a program widely considered to be institutionalized child abuse.

Two decades of lack of effective action is too long in terms of an issue like energy inefficiency. But two decades is inexcusable when the issue is Texas children's future. One night is forever in the life of an abused child.

Against this background, nine children filed a lawsuit in 2011 on behalf of all children in permanent child care in Texas, alleging that our state violates their constitutional right to be reasonably safe from harm while in government custody.

In December, a federal judge agreed, finding that rape, psychotropic medication, instability and abuse were the norm - let us repeat, the norm - in Texas permanent foster care. In her scathing opinion, Judge Janis Graham Jack of the Southern District of Texas describes a system where child-on-child physical and sexual abuse is typical, common and widespread. She notes that "the already staggering number of abuse and neglect incidents (around 2,000 a year)is likely much higher because foster children either do not know who to contact, do not feel that anything will be done, or fear retaliation." This for a system that is supposed to be a safe haven for children?"

Jack's opinion goes on for more than 250 pages, and while some changes have been made, abuse undoubtedly is still going on. Enough's enough!

However instead of cooperating with the judge to put an end to pervasive child abuse, Texas has fought the judge every step of the way. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the judge's original ruling, and now is appealing the judge's decision to appoint masters to help her hash out remedial orders in the suit.

Moreover, the recent Texas appeal relies in part on a state's rights defense. We were slack-jawed when we read in the Dallas Morning News that Paxton deems good care of maltreated children "a solemn responsibility" of the state but is choosing not to cooperate with the judge in order to defend an important principle about federalism, according to spokesman Marc Rylander.

The proud state of Texas wants the right to abuse children if it sees fit? Really? Paxton's attempt to hide behind state's rights when children are being harmed is cowardly and wrong. We get it that state officials sitting in their offices hear the crackle of paper and not the cries of children being abused. But our elected officials should be able to put themselves in the shoes of the powerless.

Abused children are more likely to experience teen pregnancy, experiment with drugs, engage in criminal behavior and be homeless. Adults who were abused as children are at high risk of suffering from at least one psychological disorder. And, guess what? The cycle of abuse continues. Abused and neglected children often abuse their own children.

So what do we get from Texas lawmakers? A study, of course. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus have directed their minions to study how to improve child care. That's nice, and CPS workers caseloads have improved slightly. But gradual change is not enough.

Consider this: "Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today.'" That quote from Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral comes from another Texas study, one in 1996, when George W. Bush lived in the Governor's Mansion.

We don't need more studies. And House Speaker Straus has vowed to make this a top priority next session. Until then, Texas should drop its frivolous appeals and become part of the solution - today.
Who pays?

Regarding "Pension Tension" (Page A18, Thursday), the editorial quotes state Sen. Joan Huffman, who pleads "We're all here begging you to come up with a solution." Huffman, who is chair of the Senate Committee on Pensions, is saying state legislators want the city of Houston to come up with a solution to the city's pension problem. Likewise, state Rep. Dan Flynn, chairman of the House Committee on Pensions, who was presiding at the hearing on pensions at City Hall, repeatedly encouraged the city to come up with a solution to its municipal-employee pension problem.

Because the pension benefits that the city provides to its employees are now embodied in state law, the city is not able to solve its own pension problems without interference from the state Legislature. Not only is the Legislature not financially accountable for the pension benefits included in state law, it is also unduly influenced by a small group of self-interested pension plan beneficiaries seeking maximum reward for themselves while shifting maximum financial risk to the city's taxpayers.

If these legislators really want Houston to solve its own pension problems, they should stop the political posturing and enact legislation to remove the pension benefits from state law in order to actually give the city the authority to solve its own pension issues without interference from the Legislature. This would be consistent with all other elements of the city's compensation program where the city deals directly with its employees without any third-party interference, and would also align the entity with the authority to make pension benefit decisions with the same entity financially responsible for those decisions - i.e. the city. The state law should be limited to addressing benefit security, not benefit amounts.

Craig Mason, former pension consultant to city of Houston The Woodlands

Good on the Brits

Regarding "Britain votes to leave the EU" (Page A1, Friday), reasonable people everywhere can appreciate what the British have done; small-government types like myself can savor it. The European Union is and always has been an over-reaching underachiever that has only ever served the bureaucrats that run it. The British have shown us all the way. Is there perhaps a "Texit" in our future?

Pete Smith, Cypress
Before Thursday's Supreme Court decision affirming the University of Texas at Austin's limited use of race in admissions decisions, I had steeled myself for bad news: The fact that the nation's highest court decided to hear the case for a second time, that Justice Elena Kegan had recused herself from the case; and the likely swing vote would be Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has been skeptical of race-conscious admissions, did not bode well.

I've argued from the start that Fisher v. UT-Austin was a curious case. Abigail Fisher, who brought the suit against the university, experienced what many students face when they apply to college - not getting in to her college of first choice. I've witnessed this a number of times. Three years later, these students are brimming with pride for their school: Their friends, the faculty and shared experiences shape their impressions of college. They might occasionally wonder, "What if?" But more often, they're focused on graduation, graduate school or a job. As a graduate of Louisiana State University, Ms. Fisher hadn't suffered harm; rather, it was a common experience where one's plans, in the words of Robert Burns, "gang aft agley," or, "go often askew."

Second, I have personally witnessed the attacks on diversity in higher education for some time. I matriculated to UT-Austin in 1990, the recipient of an affirmative action scholarship. I was instantly drawn into discussions about my worth - did I in fact belong at the university, being asked my SAT scores, the whole gamut. But I found mentors among the students, staff and faculty who noted that many students of all races also suffered from "imposter syndrome." For students of color, however, our skin was an invitation to question if we were in fact "qualified." (White students, regardless of their standing, are rarely asked such questions. The default assumption is that an unqualified student of color "took their spot," rather than a slightly more qualified white student - which is precisely what the data showed happened in Fisher's case.) The questioning and scrutiny actually served as motivation to achieve to my best ability, and those mentors pushed me further than I imagined I would ever go.

From teaching at E.O. Smith Educational Center in the Houston Independent School District in the 1990s, to earning a doctorate at Harvard University, to presently serving as an associate professor and assistant vice president at UT-Austin, I hope to serve as an example of the possibilities that education can provide to young people. Before the first Fisher case, I saw students of color and their allies conduct teach-ins to share experiences of racial discrimination. Even those from affluent backgrounds could point to experiences of being racially profiled and being asked to speak as a representative of their race - what social scientists term "microaggressions."

In some instances, they shared experiences of racial violence, ranging from name-calling to assault. As UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves stated Thursday in his message to the UT community, "Race continues to matter in American life. It affects individuals and communities." Simply wishing that this is not the case is not enough to eradicate barriers that limit the potential of underrepresented students of color.

The Supreme Court's decision affirms UT-Austin's commitment to educate the citizens of Texas and the nation. Equity and inclusion are pillars of excellence, and we can only meet our public mission via a racially and ethnically diverse student community. There is a compendium of social science research that illustrates the educational benefits of diversity for all students. Indeed, interaction and friendships are critical in dismantling stereotypes and discriminatory beliefs: This is impossible if campuses fail to reflect the spectrum of experiences in the fabric of American life.

While demographic changes have been reflected in the composition of the student body at UT - the first-year class has been predominantly students of color since 2010 - these gains have not been uniform across all communities. In the 1986 to 2010 interval, the Latino population has more than doubled (11.1 percent to 23.1 percent) and the Asian American population has almost tripled (6.3 percent to 17.3 percent.) But the African-American population has only increased incrementally (4.2 percent to 5.1 percent). (I wish to make it clear that there are still significant challenges for Latino and Asian American students, such as completion rates, retention and campus climate concerns.)

For years, students of color have articulated the need for upholding UT's efforts to bring diversity to the university community; theirs has been an invisible, stressful labor. This was exemplified when the late Justice Antonin Scalia stated in December that perhaps black students at UT should be in "lower-track schools." It was an affront to the hard-working students on the Dean's List, in honors programs and double majors who go on to great graduate schools and jobs. Black students, and their allies of every background "clapped back" via social media, demonstrating that they in fact had excelled at UT-Austin and other predominantly white institutions across the nation.

Thursday's news only reinforces the significant work we need to do to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for underrepresented students. But it is gratifying to know that the research and testimony of people like the family of Heman Sweatt, the Houston civil servant who took UT-Austin to the Supreme Court in 1950 after being denied admission because he was African-American, made an impact on the court.

Inclusivity and excellence needs to permeate all aspects of society. The Fisher decision highlights the central role higher education plays in these efforts.

Reddick is an associate professor in Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as assistant vice president of Research and Policy in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, and also as assistant director of the Plan II Honors Program.
As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.
The outpouring of grief and anger at Britain's decision to leave the European Union dominating my Facebook news feed, is indicative of the underlying problem that has torn our country apart.

Bremainers blame Brexiters for being isolationist, yet it is clear we ourselves are all living on our own little islands. Those who voted overwhelmingly to stay - in cities like London, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh - are in the prosperous pockets of society. We have had the privilege to directly benefit from European grants, exchanges, and work opportunities. In the lead up to this ill-fated referendum, we frantically shared Guardian articles amongst each other and congratulated ourselves for being so well informed.

But we failed to connect to the 52% of the population that has now carried us into what we fear will be an economic disaster. Many of whom are now facing severe buyers remorse, as the pound nosedives, billions in EU funding is set to vanish, and the Vote Leave campaign revokes its promise to redirect EU spending to the NHS.

Advertisement

This 52% is rightfully angry at the status quo in the UK. I was moved to listen to a lady being interviewed on the BBC, whose voice broke as she explained her choice to leave. She had a family member who needed care from the NHS for the rest of their life, and she felt leaving the EU would free up funds for our health service, which "can't be any worse than it is".

Devastatingly, voters like this lady have been led to believe that the European Union, or the immigrants its Freedom of Movement Act has enabled to move to the UK, are to blame for the lack of jobs, homes and hospital beds in their hometowns. But the Left should have been arguing much more loudly and clearly throughout this campaign, that this is in fact down to the austerity agenda of the Tory elite that a vote to leave would hand even more power to.

Dismissing Brexiters as bigots will only cause a deeper division within our society, which now more than ever needs to unite. We must recognise that although we are heartbroken with the way they have expressed their discontent, their concerns are real and cannot be ignored. As we face the prospect of Scotland and even Northern Ireland seeking independence - we must take those passionate pleas to believe in what unites us and not divides us and apply it to our own country.

So my challenge to you is this. You all know a leave voter. Maybe they live on your street. Maybe they live in the hometown you left many years ago. Go and talk to them. Not to attack them or patronise them, but to find out what they hoped their vote to leave would bring to this country. Sure - there will be some people who just hate foreigners and are nostalgic for a country that never existed - but I bet most want the same things Bremainers do. More money for the NHS to protect the ill and elderly. Investment in job creation. Affordable housing. Functioning state schools, with enough places for all our children.

Advertisement

Better still, let's buddy up constituencies that voted in opposing directions, and set them the task of understanding each other. If we've lost the cultural exchanges we could have had in Europe, we are going to need to start fostering some unity and solidarity within our own nations.

This is not the inward looking outcome I hoped we would see. But as Bremainers, we need to keep the passion alive that we feel for this issue. Yes, we lost, by a ludicrously slim margin, but our only (likely) choice is to move forward. Perhaps we needed to experience the gut-punch of having something we believe in and rely so heavily taken away from us, to understand how those in the forgotten corners of our country felt when they voted us out.

We cannot let hatred and resentment take over now. Instead, we need to channel our energy into fighting the social injustice that led to this sad situation. This cannot be done under a Conservative government - the Left now urgently needs to mobilise and show it can navigate us through this torrid time. This will hinge on the Labour party getting its act together and support their leader that won a landslide majority from both party and the people just months ago. It will rely on their ability to bring back voters who were pushed into the arms of Ukip because they felt no one else was representing them. Brexit was an ugly wake up call, but we are in desperate need of change that we must now fight for.

In his column for the Guardian last week, Timothy Garton Ash invoked the words of Poland's interwar independence hero Jozef Pisudski that I think should guide all Bremainers as we move ahead:
I'm tired.

I'm tired of picking up a newspaper and without a doubt there will be some terrible story of a woman who was brutally gang raped in India. A 14-year-old girl forced to marry her landlord to pay her families rent in the Middle East. A young refugee mother in Haiti who was gang raped in front of her children and threatened to be killed if she goes to the police. Not that it matters, I know, because for women in refugee camps in Haiti, the police aren't going to do anything. I'm tired of the complacency, all the people that just don't care. I try my best to raise interest in the subject of violence and discrimination against women, but most people just shrug their shoulders and say, 'you can't change it.' They say that its culture, so therefore that's how it must be. They say be quiet Johanna, we're having a beer, we don't want to talk about this. I go into a dark corner in these moments, images flash across my mind, the little girl who I met with the dead eyes in the Philippines, because she had been raped so many times. I see the women, the faces of the endless women who I have met in my years of travel around the world, the sadness and despondency because of the violence they have been forced to endure. I see the men smirking and leering at me as I walk down the street. I see their eyes, narrowed and threatening, a sneer across their face as they make disgusting comments. I see this in the streets of Africa, of Latin America, the Middle East, of Asia and the Pacific. I see this everywhere. And then I see all the people looking at me shaking their heads, it's your fault they tell me.

Advertisement

I'm tired.

I'm tired of the ignorance. I'm tired of people not understanding that those leering, smirking guys are leering and smirking because they have grown up in an environment where there is a severe disrespect for women. A place where women are 'nothing' as I have been told by men in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. They have told me this to my face, with no shame or embarrassment. Women are just sexual objects. These men come from 'cultures' that privilege men as being the 'owners' of women. In some countries, they may have as many of them as they like, 1, 4 'as long as they can afford it', I've been told so many times. Throughout the world women are like a commodity to be bought and sold, to be used when needed and disregarded when not, to be slaves. Women I met in Zimbabwe referred to themselves as 'donkeys' of men. A woman is to be controlled, especially her sexuality. Only a man is allowed to go onto the street and look, or leer at other women. A woman is a 'slut' if she shows sexual interest in men. In many countries women cannot go out to bars and are limited from where they can go in public. Like in northern Iraq where I was told women must stay at home, inside, behind doors where she can cook and serve the husband, as a servant. Should a woman attempt to step out of this boundary, into the public sphere, then she is a bad woman. She is not under the control of a man, she is a slut, a whore, a prostitute, to be disrespected. I have come across these attitudes throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Throughout the world in varying degrees. I have been told on my travels abroad in the Middle East and India that all western women are considered 'prostitutes'. We're easy, we're not told what to wear by men, we're not confined to our homes, we're allowed to make our own money, have our own lives and choose which man we want to be with, we are therefore prostitutes. There is no respect for our culture or for our way of life that includes women having rights. So when I step out onto the street and face this incessant harassment, it is not because of what I'm wearing, or because of my hair. It is because these men think that I have no value, because they don't respect my culture or my right to have rights. They think can treat me however they want, with complete disrespect. And yet these ignorant people continue to blame me. They don't know what harm they are doing.

I'm tired.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

The future of our jobs and prosperity for young people is now at risk.

Growing up as a young person in Britain is not easy. We are often referred to as the apathetic generation and in most cases, the generation that is not worth engaging with because we are less likely to vote.

Last week's high turnout among young people in the European Union (EU) referendum proved the contrary, which is that we have always been and are interested in issue-based politics, but not necessarily party politics.

Advertisement

However, as young people we are disenfranchised even when we vote.

An overwhelming 75% of young people voted to REMAIN in the EU but yet again our voices were not the determining factor. Our elders have once again decided what is best for our future. This has been the common theme over the past decades, which have seen some of the most unrepresentative and disproportionately hard-hitting policies affecting young people most.

The increase in tuition fees, scrapping of the EMA and the introduction of austerity measures have all limited the chances of young people obtaining a good level of education, getting a good quality job and buying their dream home.

If you thought that the above policies wasn't bad enough and not representative of your views, our ELDERS have now also told us that leaving the EU would also be better for our future even though it will affect us more.

A week before the EU referendum, Nick Clegg told MLMS that "if anything only young people aged between 16 - 24 should be allowed to vote because the consequences will be on their shoulders not the other age groups".

Advertisement

We have just lost the right to live, study, train and volunteer in Europe that are fully funded by the EU. So, in case you had any hope of developing your linguistic, work and life skills - it is now gone down the drain!

Oh wait, I got an idea. Maybe, they can use the 350million we send to the EU every week to help us? Don't hold your hope for that either. Nigel Farage confirmed on Good Morning Britain that it was a 'mistake' to promise extra funding to the NHS within an hour or so of the results being declared.

My generation has never known not to be without the EU. We enjoy living in an era whereby we share many common values and interests' of those across Europe. The horrific terrorist attacks that took place in Paris and Brussels were not exclusively towards France and Belgium, but an attempt to destroy our values and divide us by turning us against each other. And, I fear that we have played right into their hands.
It was our first international trip together, and Andrew noticed that I was getting stared at something serious. I'd forgotten about the international Stare-At-Ama game, and it was a rude awakening.

"Is it because we're together, bae?" I asked him. The widespread gawking at being an interracial couple in today's American South was familiar territory now, like a second skin.

"Nope," he replied. "Here, I'm just another white man. They don't even notice me."

And he was right. They never did, because to them, he was just another pale backpacker.

A post shared by Danielle Ama McKinley (@youarethetruth) on May 17, 2016 at 11:27am PDT

Advertisement

GreenGo's hostel, stationed at a 10 minute walk from the entrance of Semuc Champey, was decorated like an in-process Dr. Seuss book crawling out of the jungle. It gave me a headache (if you go to Semuc, stay at Retiro/Mirador instead!).

Their restaurant was staffed with local Mayan women in colorful, handwoven skirts and lace tops. They too stared at me, eyes twinkling, mouths admitting only whispers and giggles as they washed and cut fruit.

I was annoyed at this point, my inner pimp hand quivering in anticipation of a smackdown.

Drew and I walked into the entrance of Semuc on our first evening, and were greeted by a cloud of local little girls. After they saw we weren't going to buy a thing, one of them approached me and pointed an accusing little finger - "Garifuna!" She was so excited, you'd think that she'd discovered me.

I giggled, and told her that I was not Garifuna - the African descendants settled on the Caribbean coasts of Belize & Guatemala - but American. After some chatting, I asked my inquisitive little friends to weigh in on the Staring Game.

Advertisement

"Why are they doing this?" To which they replied -

"It's probably your hair...can we touch it?!"

I. AM. A. SUCKER. FOR. KIDS. So I bent over at the waist for them, and explained that the hair wasn't exactly mine, but that it was pelo majico (because children everywhere love magic).

On our final morning at GreenGo's, I stopped the restaurant cashier for a final clue into the big mystery of "Why TF is Guatemala Staring at Me".

"Es tu pelo," she said simply.

My hair, y'all. My damn hair. Senegalese twists. The little girls were right.

"The women love it!" She went on. "We have never seen this before. They like it...I like it."

"So it's NOT because I'm Black?"

"Oh no! There are plenty of Black people, but none have ever had hair like this. We love your hair."'

Note to self: I'd become expectant of the story of racial sideshow-ism, when here in this new place it was never an issue. Thus, I postulate that back in America, predisposition to assume sideshow-ism isn't always accurate, nor is it healthy. I already know this to be true, but reminders are always good.

Advertisement

Back to Semuc Champey we went, and after hours of climbing and looking and talking and descending, we were exhausted before even touching the water.

We walked towards a group of smiling and awestruck Mayan women looking straight at us. Drew and I looked at each other and he whispered "Give'm a show!" before peeling off to the bathroom. So I sat on the edge of the walkway near them, and began flipping the shit out of my hair as I waited. Shakes and braids and twists and buns and flips...I would have made Willow Smith so proud.

And the women promptly approached me, like a moth to a flame - "Can we touch your hair?!"

They played. They asked questions. They giggled, and so did I. Only one of them spoke Spanish, so she translated every word into their native tongue of Quextal.

In the midst of the exchange, three effeminate Latin young men with rainbow bracelets asked me for a picture. There was swinging hair that just wasn't there, more giggling, and air pesos. I felt like Beyonce.



But now, my twists were sticking to my sweaty shoulders. My lazy buns wouldn't cooperate. The women giggled again, and one seized the opportunity to jump up and slice away loose plastic strands that dangled from a nearby tree.

Advertisement

"Are these for me to braid your hair?!" I asked her. And she responded "No, these are for you!" And she placed them over my crown in a crude and gentle attempt to wrangle in my wayward locs.

And we laughed at the hilarity of it all. And the laughter translated well. I took the plastic strands and asked for a volunteer to be my client. The winner was Angelina, who blushed the entire time that I braided those yellow strands into a wisp of her bang.

At this point, Drew had returned to find me laughing among the Mayan women, executing a new side hustle. Their laughter was contagious.

Before saying goodbye, I volunteered to take the plastic out of her hair, but she refused. Further down the walkway, a little boy who had been with the women came running behind me." Come back, she wants you to take it out!" So I turned on my heel to free her from a job that I'd never accept back home.

But there had been a misunderstanding - she did want to keep her braid. Instead, another woman, a mother, had seen the remnants of my work and swiftly snatched the pigtails from her toddler's hair.

The mother wanted 4 cornrows for her daughter's little head. I looked at this baby's head, the insufficient brush, the lack of a rat-tail comb, and the fact that I can flat twist all day (never cornrow), and told her No at least four times.

Advertisement

But the overachiever I am, I sat down to try any ways. Nope. Baby wasn't having it. She started wailing, cries echoing to the ancient high topped trees above. I apologized over and over to the wee girl, who was losing it as her mother tried to sling her by the arm into place.

Po' baby. I'm so sorry...

"Nawl. If the baby doesn't want it, I won't do it." (Yes, Self - make this a decision of infantile compassion, not tools or confidence or desire. Just blame it on the baby.)

I rejoined my Love, poolside of the blue green collection of lagoons that is Semuc Champey. Before we left, we gave Oshun a papaya. We offered our gratitude and our prayers, for ourselves and our unit. And, I thanked Oshun that my own corner of self-adornment could bring joy and novelty to a culture of women, opening up a chest full of laughter as gifts for people I never knew existed.

PS - If you see all of the Guatemalan women wearing twists in 5 years, please blame it on me.

A version of this post originally appeared on You Are The Truth.
The Blog Sunday Roundup

This week, as Britain broke with the EU, some in the U.S. media broke with reality by continuing to normalize the unreal candidacy of Donald Trump. After a speech on Wednesday focusing on economics and attacks on Hillary Clinton, many pundits gave Trump the gift of analyzing the speech as if it had been delivered by someone other than the most dangerous and unstable nominee in modern history. "That's called the pivot," said Joe Scarborough, while Mark Halperin allowed that "the themes Trump chose... were well chosen," the speech "decently written," and that Trump is "better on prompter." In other words, focusing on weeds in a forest of demonstrable lies: the U.S., for example, is not "the highest taxed nation in the world." As noted by Politifact, which has debunked this claim three times, the U.S. is "nowhere near the top." Meanwhile, Democrats broke with House rules and staged a sit-in on the House floor to demand votes on gun control legislation. The effort was labeled a "publicity stunt," by Paul Ryan -- a break from irony from a man who endorsed Donald Trump.
Image: Brexit. Stock Photo. Pixabay.com

British voters' decision to leave the European Union has reduced the chance that three countries in the former Soviet Union will be able to get out from under Russia's thumb.

Without the support of Britain, which was the most vocal EU opponent of the Kremlin's aggression against countries on Russia's borders, Ukraine and Georgia will find it more difficult to realize their dream of becoming part of the EU and NATO.

And Armenia, much of whose population wanted to join the EU before Russia bullied Yerevan into joining the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, will have to continue swallowing Russian dominance of its affairs.

Advertisement

European and American leaders said even before the Brexit vote that Ukrainian and Georgian membership in the EU and NATO was a long way off.

One reason for this assessment applied to both Ukraine and Georgia. The other reason was Ukraine-specific.

The first reason was fear of Russia's reaction to either Ukraine, Georgia -- or both -- becoming part of the main political, economic and military force that is arrayed against Moscow in Europe.

A specific worry was that Russia would try to destabilize -- or even send hybrid-war forces into -- the Baltics in retaliation.

Advertisement

The other reason why Western leaders have said that Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO is a long way off is Kiev's sandbagging on two goals the West has deemed important.

The first goal is for Ukraine to eliminate corruption. The second goal is for Kiev to make the Minsk peace process work by passing legislation that gives a lot of autonomy to the separatist strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in eastern Ukraine. That legislation includes how voting for leaders of the two provinces would occur.

The Minsk process is an ongoing attempt involving Ukraine, the separatists, Russia, the EU, the United States and others to forge a peace agreement in the east.

A number of political analysts have noted that Britain's departure from the European Union will make Ukraine and Georgia's membership in the EU and NATO even more of a long shot.

That departure is likely to lead to years of post-Britain adjustment in the EU.

The last thing the European Union needs during this tumult is to add countries whose membership would be fraught with geopolitical risk.

Advertisement

Although a country doesn't have to be an EU member to be a NATO member, the military alliance would be as reluctant as the EU to add Ukraine or Georgia out of fear of provoking the Russians.

In addition, both Ukraine and Geogia would have to have stronger militaries to be considered for membership.

Although Armenia committed to joining the Eurasian Economic Union in the fall of 2013, it did so under duress -- an ultimatum from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.

Until then, Yerevan had signaled its intention to be in the EU.

In fact, Armenia was on the verge of signing a partnership agreement with the European Union when Putin summoned Sargsyan to Moscow to demand that Yerevan do a 180 and join the Eurasian Economic Union.

That kind of demand is hard to walk away from when Russia is your main military protector in the region, has two bases in your country, supplies you with most of your gas, and owns your main electricity company.

Advertisement

Even after Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union, many Armenians clung to the dream that their country would join the EU some day, believing the future lay with the West.

Underscoring that hope was the fact that, even as a Eurasian Economic Union member, Armenia struck economic and trade deals with the EU.

British voters' decision to leave the European Union dealt a crushing blow to the many Armenians who had dreamed of their country loosening Moscow's grip and embracing the freedom the West represents.

Whether they want Armenia to look east toward Moscow or west toward Brussels, Armenians know the EU will be weaker with Britain gone.

That means it will be harder for the EU to stand up to Moscow regionally and internationally.

The bottom line is that, overnight, the British vote has prompted many pro-EU Armenians to conclude that there is a lot less reason now for their country to cast its fate with Europe.

Advertisement

A depressing thought, yes -- but, unfortunately, a realistic one.
Light bulb crumpled paper on blackboard. Idea concept background.

People often think that creativity is something you're born with or you're not. "My sister is the creative one in the family; she goes to art school," you might hear an accountant say. Advertising agencies even label their departments as such: project managers deal directly with clients, while "creatives" are given the space to write and direct campaigns.

It turns out that narrative is flawed. A new book, Building Your Creativity: Tools For Having Ideas And Bringing Them To Be, argues that creativity is hardly a fixed trait. Rather, like any other skill, creativity is something you can train yourself to cultivate with the right kind of practice. In fact, it's more of a science than an art.

Advertisement

I talked to one of the book's authors, Esteban Gast, to find out what that kind of training looks like. Gast teaches a course on creativity at an unexpected place: the University of Illinois' College of Engineering. "Creativity and engineering have been separated culturally, but at their core, they're both systematic disciplines," he says. "People are shocked to find that there are multiple studies that show creativity can be enhanced. You can teach yourself to be creative just as you can teach yourself any skill, be that piano or long division."

According to Gast, this process requires more than just "believing in yourself" -- a common refrain in many of the creativity self-help guides out there. His team's approach involves tangible techniques and specific action plans, which his book brings to life for readers through a series of hands-on exercises.

Gast is quick to point out that, like piano and long division, building creativity requires patience and hours of practice. So reading all the way to the end of this blog post won't make you instantly more creative. But it will give you seven things you can start doing now, whether you're an accountant or an art student, to bring more creativity into your life.

Push past your first ideas. Experts define the act of creativity as coming up with an original idea, something nobody else has thought of before. Our brains, however, are wired to focus on concepts we already know. "If someone tells me to design a car, my mind will first go to something that already exists, like Tesla," Gast explains. But this pattern can be broken with what his book calls provocations: simple, unexpected prompts or word associations that force our brains to connect seemingly unrelated concepts. "If that same person who told me to design a car then threw out the word 'nature," Gast adds, "I might instead think of something entirely new. Tires that can plant seeds, for example."

Advertisement

Don't self-edit (especially at the beginning). One of the biggest obstacles to coming up with creative ideas is our tendency to edit them along the way. Any creative act, whether brainstorming or writing or solving a problem, will be more effective if you give yourself the freedom to go in all sorts of directions and then evaluate your ideas afterwards. Gast calls this the "diverge and converge" method: first let your ideas flow freely, then look at them more critically.Give yourself time, and then even more time. Researchers say time is one of the most important indicators of creativity. "People are usually really excited during the beginning of a brainstorming session," Gast says. "Then there's almost always a dip in energy after the initial burst of ideas. And then you're likely to be reinvigorated again. But most people give up before reaching that third phase." Being patient enough to sit within the discomfort of feeling like you've run out of ideas -- knowing that it's simply a matter of time before your brain starts making breakthroughs again -- will help you reach new creative edges.

Take a break. Our best ideas often happen during what scientists call the creative pause. "Our students echo what most people say: they come up with great ideas in the shower, driving their car, or on a walk," Gast says. That seemingly idle time gives your subconscious the space and freedom to make connections. Working on something creative, taking a break to do an easy task while those thoughts marinate, and then deliberately coming back to whatever you were working on is an extremely effective strategy.

Personalize your space. What can you do to be inspired by your surroundings? Gast suggests setting up your personal space in a way that is conducive to your most creative self, whether that means natural light, candles, your favorite art pieces, or ensuring you always have access to notebooks and pens. "Research even shows that the way schools are designed can impact creativity," Gast says. "Your work, mental state, happiness and creativity are a reflection of your environment more than you realize."

Go outside. Studies have shown that spending time in nature can have a number of positive psychological effects, from stress reduction to improvement in memory. This extends to creativity. Immersing yourself in the natural environment, away from digital devices and the other distractions of a bustling 21st-century life, can give your mind the space it requires to be open and imaginative. Take a hike without your iPhone, go on a day trip to the ocean or lake, or simply sit under a tree with nothing but a journal.Make it a habit. Like mastering any skill, becoming more creative takes practice. It's important to engage in regular habits that both directly and indirectly allow you to cultivate creativity. Activities that help prime the brain for creative thinking, such as meditation, yoga, reading fiction and surrounding yourself with people who inspire you, are just as important as creativity exercises themselves, be them prototyping or problem-solving. "Infuse creativity into every part of your life," Gast says. "If you do your best to build a lifestyle that encourages creativity, your creative ideas will be unlimited."
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, speaks during a Senate Banking Committee hearing with Janet Yellen, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, not pictured, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, June 21, 2016. Yellen offered a subtle change to her outlook from less than a week ago, saying she and her colleagues were on watch for whether, rather than when, the U.S. economy would show clear signs of improvement. Photographer: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is Hillary's best bet for VP. Why? Despite the relentless lampooning, ridiculing and name-calling of Trump, and the smug writing of his political obituary, the election will be a close run up. The big GOP donors and handlers, the hate driven passion to beat Hillary, Trump's skilled fear mongering and pander to bigotry, the never-ending media fawn over him, and GOP dominance in the majority of the state's legislatures and state houses will insure that.

The fatal mistake is to assume that simply painting and then writing off Trump as a kook will be enough to scare millions to storm the polls to defeat him. Clinton's campaign is a political textbook study in business like organization, precision, and professionalism. But it's not a campaign of passion.

Advertisement

Its passion that pushes people, especially young people, and minorities, out the door and to the polls on Election Day. These voters made the White House a wrap for Obama in 2008 and 2012. But Clinton is not Obama, and in the handful of swing states that will decide the election, the numbers and turnout will mean everything.

Warren provides the passion needed to get younger voters out the door Election Day. This was evident the moment that she fired up the imagination of millions by hammering on the corruption, gaming, and greed of Wall Street, and lashing the tepid, faint hearted effort by Washington to rein it in. Wall Street quickly warned that Warren was toxic for the Democrats, and reminded that a lot of its campaign money has gone to Obama and other Democrats, and that includes Hillary. The Wall Street saber-rattle about Warren cinched it.

Progressives had long last found their champion and hero, and screamed for her to toss her hat in the presidential rink. Warren said no, and Sanders stepped into the breech. Though millions eagerly and fervently rallied to his bandwagon, Warren's name was still on the lips of many. With the Democrat's tight party rules on voting in primaries, and core Democrat and super-delegate allegiance firmly in place for Clinton, Sanders never really had much chance to outduel her for the party's presidential nomination.

However, the brutal reality is legions of Sanders' backers tar Clinton as a war monger, Wall Street and corporate shill, party hack, and untrustworthy. A significant number of them vow that they will not vote for her, write in Sanders' name, vote Green Party, or stay home. That's OK if they are all in California, New York, or Massachusetts, lock down Democratic states, but if more than a few of them are in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Florida that could spell real trouble for Clinton. The potential ice breaker with them is someone on the Clinton ticket who is totally acceptable to Sanders and just as acceptable to Sander's Clinton wary supporters. That obvious someone is Warren.

Advertisement

Clinton is mindful of the loathing that legions of Sanders' Democrats have for her Wall Street connection. So early on at a Democratic gubernatorial campaign rally in Massachusetts last year she was effusive in her praise of Warren and in the process took a big shot at Wall Street and the corporations minimizing their role in job creation. Later she walked it back claiming she had "short-handed" her comments. In the general election she will be continually challenged to tell which Clinton Sanders backers are to believe; the Wall Street or the populist Clinton.

Warren will compel Clinton to spell out her position on the issues and tell how a Clinton administration will differ from Obama's and husband Bill's. She will also have to spend time making assurances that she is not the unreconstructed hawk on foreign policy issues that progressive Democratic critics lambaste her as. She'll have to talk even more boldly about tough financial regulations and reforms, and putting real meaning into her oft stated embrace of the label "progressive."

A slew of unnamed Wall Street insiders recently loudly warned Clinton that if she picked Warren as your VP, she could kiss our cash good-bye. But this is just so much hot air. Policy as always will be made by the president, not the vice-president, and if they didn't give their campaign cash to Clinton, who would they give it to, Trump, with his digs at Wall Street, doubtful. But even more, Wall Street also likes a winner, and it will not dare risk being cut out of the Washington loop by folding up its financial tent on Clinton, solely because of VP Warren.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-wall-street-vice-president-224489

Core Democrats and the party establishment are solidly behind Clinton. That's the good news. The bad news is that this masks the weak enthusiasm or outright opposition that many Democrats and independents who backed Sanders have to a Clinton presidential bid. Warren will do much to dispel that. Again, that makes Warren Clinton's best bet for VP.

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.


Sometimes a movie, no matter how good or bad, strikes a chord that enables it to transcend traditional critical and esthetic judgments. Such is the case with Rawson Marshall Thurber's Central Intelligence. The subject of the movie is bullying and for all intents and purposes it falls into line with a whole bunch of recent silly comedies (The Boss, The Nice Guys) that gain traction by crossing the line with respect to political correctness or taste while at the same time dealing with shall we say "developmental issues." The idea is that a bullied high school student (Dwayne Johnson), who is the subject of a cruel prank, grows up to be the equivalent of Superman. He becomes a C.I.A. agent of extraordinary talents with a physique to match. Both sides of the movie's protagonist (the before and after) are cartoons. The comedy is a little like Popeye's biceps which are always ready to explode. But the subliminal effect of all the hyperbole is to detoxify trauma while giving it full imaginative play. Central Intelligence manages to be both antiseptic (to the extent that the bullying that's presented is so exaggerated as to defy realistic concerns) and at the same curiously psychological. The subject of the bullying comments that he's pushed the incidents that occurred years before far down. They run him, but he's at the same time rarely, if ever, cognizant of them--despite the fact that the central line of plot has him glomming on to the class valedictorian and star athlete (Kevin Hart), the one person who ever treated him with respect. Melissa McCarthy makes a cameo appearance as another damaged soul--she's cross-eyed--who's reunited with her the weirdo on whom she'd had a crush. In the end, everyone marches into the sunset or rather into the CIA, an agency which, despite the clandestine neuronal like connectivity with which it's portrayed, is not to be confused with the central nervous system.
It's no surprise, when speaking with Joe Hill, that the conversation--whether it's about social media, writing, or apocalypse--returns frequently to his love of reading. Each sentence in Hill's work is crafted with care and a wicked wit; his language is never lazy. In The Fireman, a horrific plague called the Dragonscale has swept the world, causing people to explode in flames. The body count is high--there's a lot of fire in this book. Yet Hill is careful not to let us grow bored with fire. The descriptions are clever, beautiful, or horrifying (or all three) as needed--not repetitive. It's an achievement that requires more than the use of a thesaurus, a different word deployed here or there. It's where poetry meets horror, and I'd read more of it.

I spoke with Joe Hill in the lead-up to his book tour. As it turns out, Hill is as much an entertainer in conversation as in prose.

"I wanted to explore the sunny side of the apocalypse," Hill said of The Fireman, and was not deterred by my incredulous laugh; I had just finished reading the book and felt a bit traumatized. He said, "I don't think there's been enough fiction to look at the warmer, happier aspects of the end of the world."

Advertisement

The protagonist of The Fireman is certainly sunny: Harper Willowes, a cheerful, pregnant nurse with a Mary Poppins obsession and nerves of steel. Not an action heroine, and made physically vulnerable by her pregnancy, Harper is a different kind of protagonist than is often seen in dystopian fiction. Her greatest strengths lie in her integrity and warmth, and the people who gravitate to her are likewise those who show an ability to retain their humanity when horror strikes.

Hill's impulse to explore the sunny side of the apocalypse was a response to limitations within the genre, as seen for example on The Walking Dead or in Cormac McCarthy's The Road. "There is tragedy in [The Fireman], but you can only have tragedy when you also recognize things that are good. When you see something wonderful that can't be protected--that's what stirs tragic feelings," he explained. In most dystopias, according to Hill, humanity is shown to be so contemptible that there is no longer any sense of tragedy. The flaw in that approach, he concludes, is, "If that's how we are, who cares if the species survives? Let the cockroaches have their term."

The Fireman takes a microscope to humanity: While there are good people, they are vastly outnumbered--which makes their actions all the more risky and therefore, heroic. In large part, the novel is about the dangers of conformity and the violence of the pack. In the story, people discover that oxytocin released by communal bonding protects them from the effects of the plague. But soon communal commitment becomes fanatical--and the consequences are fatal.

Having followed Hill on Twitter for years and seen his commentary on the downsides of the platform, I asked if his exploration of the tyranny of groupthink in The Fireman had anything to do with social media.

Advertisement

Hill acknowledges that experiences of Twitter might have informed aspects of the novel. "One of the things I wanted to write about is how powerful social connection can be," he said. "I think we see this across all sides of social media as an enticing possibility." But this power has a dark side. Hill cites phenomena like rape threats against women, GamerGate, and the Sad/Rabid Puppies as elements that induced him to take a step back from social media.

Additionally, he doesn't like public shaming, even when the target is deserving of censure. "It's not about whether or not they deserve [to be shamed]--I don't like the way it makes me feel. It strikes me as one of those things you see in the history of Puritan villages, where disgraced people are locked in the stocks so kids can throw horseshit at them." He is less concerned about the targets than about the net effect on our psyches. "There's so much to be outraged about, and on social media everyone is always outraged about something. You have to ask yourself how much time you want to spend feeling angry and outraged. It hasn't spoiled social media for me, but has made me recoil a little bit. All of that is sort of in the book. My positive feelings about the possibility of connection, and also my unease about getting carried along with passions of the crowd."

Harper Willowes, who both refuses to conform to social pressure and whose personality doesn't conform to genre archetypes, is an apt heroine for such a story. She is also Hill's favorite protagonist to date. While Vic McQueen, the heroine of NOS4A2, was a fully realized and complex character, Hill concedes that she was something of a genre type--the badass action heroine. "I wanted to show a different kind of strength with Harper. Her superpower is her basic funny optimism," said Hill. "She's the kind of person who no matter how bad things are, if a song she loves comes on the radio, she will start singing along."

Another departure from genre pitfalls is Hill's endeavor to crack "the one woman problem" that he sees as an issue, in particular in Marvel superhero movies. "The one woman, Black Widow, has to be everyone's girlfriend," said Hill of the Avengers movies. "When one woman has to represent every female in the audience, that's a lot to ask of a single character."

Advertisement

As an antidote, The Fireman surrounds Harper with complex women and female friends. Hill explained, "I wanted to have host of female characters instead of being trapped in situation in which there's one woman in the whole story, and we expect that character to be everything to everyone."

With its examination of the dangers of conformity, I posited to Hill that The Fireman has the most social commentary of all his books. "You never know what you're gonna get," he admitted. "One of my key bad guys -- if I could have gotten one more thing in the book, I would have put him in a Make America Great Hat." Here he was referring to the Marlboro Man, a misogynistic horror of a man whose radio show is like Rush Limbaugh on speed.



But it goes deeper than a caricature of a certain presidential candidate. Hill said, "It's a complicated chain of thought. There's been a lot of apocalypse stories. A recurring theme is what we see in The Walking Dead--who are the bad guys? The infected--the people who are ill. Those are the people you don't want to have near you, to touch you, the people you want to put down to make the world a better place. I'd rather be on the side of the contaminated--I want to root for the people who are sick. I don't want the infected to be defined as the Great Evil. There's a real reactionary streak in the country right now, and that's the impulse that has people saying, 'Let's not let any Muslims come to this country, let's build a wall.' That kind of thinking is a thin costume for cruelty and brutality, for real ugliness. I didn't want to be on the side that's telling folks, 'Let's build more walls.'"



This metaphor plays out in the way the plague takes effect. "The thing about Dragonscale is, you get this stuff on you and it has no cure," Hill said. "But it will only kill you if you can't control your stress and anxiety. Throughout the book, fear is the enemy. It's what will kill you if you're contaminated, and it's what drives the people who are looking to hunt down the sick."

In the event of apocalypse, Hill's strategy is simple. He knows he's no action hero, so his expectation of actual survival is not high. "I'd read as much as I could," he said. Hill's recent favorites include the books of David Mitchell and Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You. He concluded, "With only a few weeks left to go, I'd hunker down and try to read some of the books I've wanted to get to."

Joe Hill is the author of the New York Times bestsellers NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box, and the prize-winning story collection 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award-winning writer of a six-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. He lives in New Hampshire.

Advertisement
With the goal of harnessing the untapped potential of Iranian-Americans, and to build the capacity of the Iranian diaspora in effecting positive change in the U.S. and around the world, the West Asia Council has launched a series of interviews that explore the personal and professional backgrounds of prominent Iranian-Americans who have made seminal contributions to their fields of endeavour. We examine lives and journeys that have led to significant achievements in the worlds of science, technology, finance, medicine, law, the arts and numerous other endeavors. Our latest interviewee is Houra Merrikh.

Houra Merrikh is an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of the Merrikh Lab. Dr. Merrikh is the recipient of the 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. She received her Ph.D. from Brandeis University in 2009 and was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until 2011. Dr. Merrikh is one of the recipients of the 2013 NIH Director's New Innovator Awards, which was granted to support her ongoing investigations on the impact of replication-transcription conflicts on bacterial evolution. She also received a University of Washington Innovation Award in 2015 for her ongoing work on the impact of replication-transcription conflicts on antibiotic resistance development. For more details, please click (here).

Tell our readers where you grew up and walk us through your background. How did your family and surroundings influence you in your formative years?

I was born in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war in the early 1980s, in a country that was convulsed by revolution. By immigrating to the US, my parents hoped to provide us with brighter futures and more opportunities. Initially, we made a temporary move to Turkey to obtain our green cards from the American embassy. My uncle in the US had applied for Green Cards for my mother's family and my parents were then told that this process would take about 6 months. Instead of six months, it took 13 years.

We spent the next four years in Turkey, while my parents gradually ran out of money. They did not have Turkish work permits so they could not get jobs. Hence, my father had to move back to Iran for work. Meanwhile, my mother, brother and I moved to North Cyprus, where my brother had been accepted to college. We spent the next seven years in Cyprus. It was a beautiful island, but a tough time. My mother became very ill, so my father had to join us in Cyprus, and ended up with a very low paying job. The separations, uncertainty about the future, financial hardship, my mother's illness, and the lack of opportunities tore my family apart. After my graduation from high school, I was left with no place to go. Interestingly, the Green Cards happened to come through right at that moment. Unfortunately, circumstances had changed so drastically that only my mother and I qualified for the Green Card at this point: My brother was now over 21 and therefore no longer considered as part of my mother's family. Also, my parents had divorced so my father didn't qualify either. Though my mother still qualified, she was too ill, and couldn't make the move. So, I moved to the US alone, with the help of a few Iranian-American strangers I happened to meet in Turkey while my Green Card application was being processed.

Advertisement

The sacrifices my parents made over these years taught me that education is extremely important and worth suffering for. This is one of their major life philosophies --and I agree. Ultimately, despite the hard times, my brother ended up with two PhDs. I kept education as my number one goal. Today, you can see the result of that philosophy. Despite the difficulties my family and I faced, I ultimately attained the knowledge and opportunities to be able to make an impact on the world.

When you came to the Unites States as a 16-year-old immigrant, did you face difficult circumstances and hardship? Could you please share some of your initial experiences and how you overcame those challenges?

It was a scary time. I had little support: no family or friends to depend on, and no money. I had to rely on strangers to help and house me during my first few months in the US. And I was OK. I was lucky and met some nice people. But in the end, the support one receives from strangers is somewhat superficial and, at best, only brings temporary comfort. But the bottom line is that it does not take one's loneliness away as it unpredictable. It was up to me to stay strong and keep focused. I had to quickly adapt to a completely new environment. This was not trivial --I had just moved across the world. I had to learn to speak a language that I had only learned from textbooks (and American music!). I had to learn about the American lifestyle. For example, I was unaccustomed to life without public transportation and the mandate to own a car to get anywhere at all. This was extra tough given that I had never driven before. How do you drive to a driving school that you can't even afford? I didn't even know how to navigate a giant supermarket - the standard grocery stores in America. I grew up in a small island town where the grocery stores were less than 1000 square feet, and I was used to buying fruit and vegetables from farmers' stands. Then there was work. The low paying jobs were no walk in the park. I remember working at Braum's (the ice cream/fast food restaurant) starting at 5 a.m. each morning and dicing onions and tomatoes for hours. Once the store opened, I had to wash dishes, clean toilets and perform other prep work in the back. This was partially because I was too afraid to speak English, even though I understood most of what people said. So working in the front that involved customer service was not an option. Like so many other immigrants, every step of the way was difficult and there were many obstacles to overcome.

You are a recipient of the 2016 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. What are your most significant accomplishments that brought you to this point?

The insight our work has provided with regards to the mechanistic and evolutionary consequences of replication-transcription conflicts is probably our most significant accomplishment. I think the significance is based partially on the universality of this phenomenon, and also the connection we made between different fields of biology. The fields of DNA repair, replication as well as evolutionary biology are intimately connected yet historically they have not been studied together in a significant way. The consequences of erroneous DNA replication or repair and the requirements for evolution are one and the same: mutagenesis. Our work is helping to pave the road towards more inter-disciplinary and collaborative science in this realm.

Your fields of interest include DNA replication-transcription collisions, mutagenesis, and evolution of bacteria. Can you share some highlights of your work in these areas?

Our research program explores the consequences of basic biological phenomena all the way from the molecular dynamics in a single cell to the macroscopic evolution of species. We are exploring the two extremes of the spectrum and everything in between using biophysics, molecular biology, genetic, biochemical, genome analysis and bioinformatics approaches. Our research program is focused on understanding the impact of replication-transcription conflicts on a variety of processes in a cell. However, it is the diversity of our approaches and the ability to connect these extremes that gives us an edge in the field. This work requires different types of expertise which a single research group often doesn't possess. Thus, our collaborations with experts in other fields are critical to our progress.

What are the evolutionary consequences of replication-transcription conflicts?

The organization of bacterial (and possibly human) genomes is highly biased with respect to the strand of DNA on which genes are coded. This is largely due to replication-transcription conflicts.. Head-on collisions between the replication and transcription machineries are much more severe (this occurs in genes encoded on the lagging strand of the replication fork). So, the genomes have evolved to minimize head-on conflicts by co-orienting the majority of their genes (by encoding them on the leading strand). Therefore, conflicts are a major influence on the evolution and organization of genomes.

Advertisement

Conflicts also impact mutagenesis rates. We found that head-on genes mutate at a faster rate due to conflicts, thereby leading to the accelerated evolution of specifically these genes. Whether this mechanism provides an adaptive advantage is subject to debate, but the impact of conflicts on evolution at the genetic diversity level is clear from the existing data.

Can you share with us your proposal to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on tackling serious global health problems?

We are taking a novel approach to solving the antibiotic resistance problem. If our models are correct, the results of our work should allow us to greatly reduce the incidence of antibiotic resistance development in the future. The Gates Foundation is very supportive of our work and has created opportunities that will help facilitate this vision.

What are the research avenues you are exploring for the next few years?

We plan on continuing our work on replication-transcription conflicts. This field is in its infancy. In the past few years, new research groups have started studying conflicts in eukaryotic organisms, and their findings indicate that conflicts likely contribute to human disease. Though we work on bacteria, conflicts are a universal problem, and the processes that resolve them are conserved in a variety of different species. For these reasons our work is very much relevant to our understanding of human genetic disease. The relatively simple bacterial model systems allow us to collect detailed information about this process very quickly.

Interestingly, we are also finding that some of the processes we are studying contribute significantly to the ability of bacteria to develop resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, so we are now pursuing new avenues of research in our lab that focuses on the evolution of antibiotic resistance development and the role of conflicts in this process.

Advertisement

What does it mean to be Iranian-American to you?

It's an incredible privilege to be exposed to more than one culture. I feel it gives people additional depth and a multi-dimensional way of thinking. I have been lucky to have three cultures and languages (Iranian, Turkish, and American) in my life.

Iranian culture puts a lot of emphasis on intellectual growth and education, especially when it comes to women. It is also a very warm culture that teaches us to build trust, close friendships, and to be hospitable. These are some of the attributes ingrained in me by my Iranian background. Turkish culture is in many ways very close to Iranian culture and reinforced similar values in me over the years.

What I have learned from American culture is also invaluable. I have learned the value of equality and opportunity for people of all backgrounds. I have seen the importance of freedom to think differently and then to be able to implement new ideas. And importantly, by providing the necessary opportunities, the American system facilitates growth and creativity.
Any tour of Ancient Puebloan ruins in the Four Corners has to include a stop at the Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec, New Mexico.

The site was inhabited from roughly the 1000s to the abandonment, likely from catastrophic drought, around 1300 AD, with Mesa Verdans being the last inhabitants.

With 50,000 annual visitors, Aztec Ruins is more visited than Chaco Canyon to the south, but far quieter than Colorado's Mesa Verde to the north, with its 500,000 visitors per year.

Advertisement

Tucked under big shady cottonwood trees a mile from Aztec's main strip, the Ruins site was first discovered in 1859, and named by people who believed, incorrectly, that the structures must have been built as part of Mexico's Aztec civilization. Preservation of the site began in 1916, with the arrival of Earl Morris, backed by the American Natural History Museum. The site was declared a National Monument in 1923, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Along with the Salmon Ruins, down the road in Bloomfield, the Aztec Ruins are considered an interconnected outlier of Chaco Canyon. Aztec Ruins are included in Chaco's UNESCO World Heritage site designation.

Sitting on 27 acres, the main West ruins are a compact and easy to visit site boasting over 450 rooms and a unique hands-on experience with trails leading through the ruins themselves, ultimately leading in to the largest fully restored Kiva in the southwest.

Even actor Tommy Lee Jones was impressed enough to mention a visit in the September 2012 issue of Esquire:

Advertisement

"I was on my way to the Navajo Dam on the San Juan River to go fishing. I stopped at a place called the Aztec Ruins, where they have the world's only completely restored Puebloan kiva -- big round gathering house. There was no one there. I walked inside and a rather beautiful girl in a park ranger's uniform with a Smokey the Bear hat came in while I was looking around at this astonishing architecture. And she pushed a button on the wall and a recording of these people singing came on. It was loud and harmonious and overwhelming. It knocked me down. I had to stagger back and sit on the side."

The site has recently added a completely revamped museum. The old museum was a dated gem, like walking in to a film strip from the 1950s, but now almost all traces of that are gone, and you will find thoroughly modern displays in its place.

If you visit:

Aztec Ruins National Monument

725 Ruins Road

Aztec, NM 87410

(505) 334-6174

8:00am-5:00pm Labor Day-Memorial Day

8:00am-6:00pm Memorial Day-Labor Day
Wilburn: Typical procedure in these situations is to fire the person or request they resign, let the dust settle & smoke clear and then, having added another body to the scrap heap, move on. And what have we really accomplished?

Is Ms. Sorenson "a racist?" I don't know her but I tend to doubt it. But can a person who is not a racist be guilty of saying or doing something racially insensitive or offensive? Absolutely.

This time rather than demanding a head, how about we say, "This has been going on for too long, let's use this as an opportunity to teach, edify, grow."

We can get her canned, everyone's happy, we move on. But then what's really changed? What have we affected? Then the next time someone does something similar get rid of them too. As concerned as I am with what happened last week, I'm more concerned with next. And the one after that, and after that... How do we affect those??

Outside of the understandable hurt and justifiable anger -which I do feel, I don't like the President's POLICIES but he nor any black man should EVER be compared to a chimp-perhaps we have an opportunity here. We can send one (who may be deserving) to the gallows, or we can use this as an opportunity for advancement. I vote for the latter.


The University of Chicago will be laying off more workers following a building spree, according to Crain's Chicago Business. (http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160601/NEWS13/160609982/u-of-c-braces-for-more-layoffs-budget-cuts) Steeped in tradition, the school is rightfully proud of its rich and long history and the role it has played as a learning landmark in the surrounding community.

For University of Chicago staff and students, this news must be difficult to hear. Still many of us who are in higher education are not surprised given the state of colleges and universities in America. Inevitably, other institutions will surely follow suit until we, as a nation, change our attitude and approach to higher education. This is not a budgetary crisis, but a failure to adapt - and not just by the schools, but society as a whole.

As long as colleges continue to look toward the same sources of funding, and conduct business as usual, any state budgetary shortfalls are going to result in a cascade of failures in their colleges and universities. Private schools will not fare much better as the price of delivering an education continues to climb in order to meet the rising cost of underutilized buildings and rapidly transforming technology. At the same time colleges and universities focus on aggressive discounting to attract a declining traditional aged population resulting in less revenue to meet obligations while deferring critical investment.

Advertisement

The University of Chicago fallout will not only affect state lawmakers and college staff, but students and the business community as well. This failure to address an antiquated approach to education is costing our nation, and all of us should care, not just those being laid off, as this affects our future and our ability to compete in the global marketplace. This is not a higher education crisis, but an industry problem, and a national concern.

Sadly, this is the predicted outcome for many schools that subscribe to the old model of higher education which has been in play for as long as the University of Chicago has been around. We may very well be seeing this story repeated as other learning institutions resist change while adhering to a historical approach of educating our nation's workers.

For the past century, schools focused on increasing enrollment by creating grand campuses to cater to the traditional student who would walk through their doors, sit in a classroom, listen to lectures by professors and demonstrate what they had learned by repeating it in essays and exams. Upon completion, these students would earn a degree, be hired into a career that would carry them through to retirement and a gold watch. They would buy homes, raise families and educate their own children based on a model that was the same for their parents and even their grandparents. Under this highly successful system, it made sense to budget more dollars to school infrastructure. Buildings are permanent structures and have long been viewed as a solid and sound investment. What if in the information age the physical structure is actually a disadvantage and possibly limiting to the educational experience?

Advertisement

During this same period, colleges were seen as the authority on learning and the business community was able to draw upon a pool of qualified graduates, so there was little challenge from employers to transform the school's approach to meet the the community's staffing needs. Learning institutions dictated the curriculum, and businesses relied on colleges to keep pace with a slowly evolving marketplace. This model was so effective for so many years, that it became the deeply entrenched paradigm for higher education.

By the 1980s and 1990s, college budget priorities did not change despite the explosion of technology taking place in society all around them. The workplace was being transformed, and schools remained pretty much the same. The business community also began clamoring for better-trained workers who had the skill sets to navigate this new way of doing business. Some employers resorted to hiring workers from abroad, a move which weakened the American job market and at the same time, hastened the arrival of a global marketplace.

Schools and universities continued to function from a position of reacting to an emerging technological world, instead of being leaders by anticipating these changes and creating programs to foster learning for this new environment. Like non-traditional students, technology and the needs of business have been slowly, and almost reluctantly embraced by higher education.

While facilities are important, schools need to be focused on a curriculum and delivery method that accommodates the new economy - and that includes older workers, international students, those seeking certification as well as traditional learners. The days of having a degree take you from graduation to retirement are over, and while students and businesses seem to understand this, higher education has been slow to accept this new reality.

Technology has not only transformed how we deliver an education, but it has become an integral part of society, and much of a worker's career will be dependent on their ability to use and understand these advancements. And as technology evolves, so must workers' skills, which will require a lifetime of learning. It is at this point where higher education is falling down as it clings to the idea that what has worked in the past, is what will always be effective in the future. The needs of the employer, along with technology and delivery methods should replace facilities as the budgetary priority for higher education.

Advertisement

American industry can no longer expect a pool of highly trained, well-educated workers to hire from without investing in their education as a continuous learning model. Students can no longer expect that four years of schooling will allow them to advance in their careers. Society can no longer expect that an education using technology many times more sophisticated and complex than that which launched man into outer space to be limited to a specific building or time zone. Universities must be at the forefront of reimagining how education is delivered and expanding the opportunity/access across all life stages.
Brexit is not exactly "new" news. Economists and media pundits have complained about the brokenness of the E.U. for the better part of the last decade. There are many challenges that have existed surrounding the European Union experiment since day one:

1.Monetary union without a fiscal union,

2.No teeth to the E.U. budget rules,

3.Rich countries bailing out poorer countries,

4.Benefits of liberalized trade realized unevenly throughout member nations,

5.Re-Balancing current account deficits and trade surpluses

A quick Google search spits out hundreds of articles and thousands of hours of audio and video about these very issues, as well as hundreds of hits highlighting today's media-dominating concerns about the Brexit. I refuse to take sides. I'm not at all certain that the E.U. should be dumped. Nor do I believe that the E.U. should be held together at all costs. But clearly the EU hasn't been all roses, chocolate, and champagne for everyone. It has been a very challenging endeavor, and anything so challenging is destined to go through huge changes.

Advertisement

Our own U.S. history teaches us that Brexit isn't a finality. It is a new chapter in the incredibly long discussion about the E.U.-Britain relationship. Indeed, the E.U. is just a very brief chapter in the centuries' long discussion about the relationships among the many different E.U. countries. The discussions will continue for as long as there are nations on the continent of Europe.

Today's overwrought headlines ignore the fundamental fact that the wheels of government grind painfully slowly. The vote happened, but it is a long road to actual British Exit. Once parliament weighs in, the whole process of unwinding British participation in the E.U. has to be re-negotiated. It means having new treaties in place with European trading partners, and lots and lots of red tape and decision making. Some negotiations will go quickly, others will take a lot of time.

What should investors do today amidst all the panic and chatter?

Nothing. There will be pundits and politicians aplenty who offer dire scenarios. There will be panic and lots of "what's next" talk. While NO ONE WILL KNOW, too many will predict.



Don't ever forget that there are two sides to every transaction. For every seller there will be a buyer. If you panic and sell your shares, there will probably be someone with a calm cool head that is buying them from you.

Brexit and the current market turmoil will prove to be a threat for some and an opportunity for others. History suggests that when one side of a trade is calm and rational and the other side of the trade is excited and driven by the passions of fear or greed, the patient and rational decision often proves the better one.

Advertisement
(photo courtesy of BTovey)

There is an alternative event in Ohio next month that showcases healthy competition and camaraderie to look forward to instead of....well, just instead of. The 2016 Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) and Festival will convene July 24-August 7, with thirty five pianists from 15 countries will competing for a top prize of $50,000, a career launch recital in Carnegie Hall and a recording on the Steinway and Sons label. For the first time, CIPC will be live-streamed on internet platforms around the world because of growing importance of this competition. .

The 35 finalists made the cut from a pool of 320 applicants. Yuanfan Yang, who won the 2015 CIPC Young Artists Competition, is the youngest contestant at age 19. Thirty-year-old Shen Lu and Ronaldo Rolim are the oldest. There are five women and 30 men, representing a total of 15 countries, including Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

(Click on this link for photo gallery and bios of the 35 pianists) - https://www.clevelandpiano.org/competitions/2016-cleveland-international-piano-competition-and-festival/2016-contestants/

Advertisement

Renowned Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musical-director Bramwell Tovey will be on the podium with the Cleveland Orchestra conducting. In a recent phone interview from his home in Vancouver, the always busy Tovey spoke about the what it's like to tackle the technical demands of performing piano concertos in an international competition.

"The ideal setting is for a conductor is to have worked with the soloist and build that artistic connection, but of course I'm meeting these young pianists for the first time for a competition, so I see my job as empowering their vision of the piece...because it is their interpretation which is going to be assessed by the judges."

Maestro Tovey has conducted other classical competitions, notably for many years at the London Symphony "and there was always a concerto element in the final round. And the various instrumentalists would play orchestra excerpts. The first one I did was one by Evelyn Glenny, now Dame Evelyn Glenny, a percussionist who is deaf. And she was absolutely spectacular that night, almost fully mature as a professional musician, but some in competition sometimes have a way to go. Even if they are accomplished enough to be in competition. My job is to get everyone to stay fully focus....and relaxed."

"We will have a bit of time before the rehearsals and performances, but not much," Tovey assured, "and my approach is that of (conductor) Sir Adrian Bolt's view that a conductor has to remember that for every hour they have spent on the concerto the soloist has spent a thousand hours, so my job is to support the soloist's interpretation.

Advertisement

On top of his artistic prowess as a conductor and pianist, Tovey is known for his warmth and wit on the podium which has garnered him legions of fans all over the world. He is regular guest conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra and many other orchestras including New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal, Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies.

"I think sometimes in classical music, people get so wound up in their own importance. The music might be about life and death, but it's not life and death itself. And some audiences are inhibited when they come to concerts."

"All of this rubbish you see sometimes in headlines about classical music disappearing. There is no crisis in classical music, there may be economic pressures, but there is in everything right now. It is fabrication. I heard someone say recently about opera disappearing and I just thought, our audiences in Vancouver, as an example are very healthy; we play to thousands of schoolchildren every year. We have hefty audiences all year in a 2,800 seat hall and I know it's the same elsewhere. In my 40 year career I have never seen it as healthy as it is right now."

Tovey says that he won't be telling jokes or stories, as he is wont to do in his concert appearances. "I won't be saying anything from the stage in the competition of course, but I will give my best to bring that at-ease atmosphere to the soloists competing," he admits though that the players will undoubtedly " going to be in the zone, feeling unbelievable pressure too, with the live broadcast will crank that intensity up."
Frank and I are not the typical guests found inside the Burj Al Arab luxury hotel. Branded as the only hotel in the world to have a 7 star rating, the Burj Al Arab caters on royalty, celebrities, and the world's most elite clientele. However, for one morning, Frank and I, two American undergraduates studying abroad in Dubai got a glimpse inside the most luxurious hotel in the world.

Upon arriving in Dubai, the Burj Al Arab is an instantly recognizable part of the skyline. Shaped like an Arabian dhow boat sail, the hotel is nestled on it's own private, man-made island in the Persian gulf. From the moment I saw the hotel illuminated in colorful lights on the late night taxi ride from the airport to my dorm, I put going inside at the top of my "Dubai Bucket List". Frank Musuruca, a fellow classmate, shared my desire to peak into the exclusive hotel and we began to plan our visit.

Unfortunately, Frank and I quickly found out that checking out the lobby, unlike most American hotels, is not as simple as walking inside. To get on to the private island, one must either be staying at the hotel or have a reservation at one of the resort's restaurants. With the cheapest room costing over $1,000 a night and most meals priced at a minimum of $250 a person, the Burj Al Arab was out of my "I am a college student and eat ramen noodles for most meals" budget.

Advertisement

Determined to get inside, we schemed several possibilities that did not involve us spending the entirety of what we had budgeted for the summer abroad. As a last ditch effort, we emailed the PR office of the hotel asking for a tour in exchange for a blog post. Not expecting a response, we were beyond ecstatic when we received an email the following day from the Marketing Communications Executive of the Burj Al Arab granting our tour request.

On the morning of the tour, we woke up early (a large feat for a college student) and got ready in our mold infested dorm rooms. Dressed in the nicest clothes we brought on the trip, we walked in the 105 degree heat to the bus stop and paid our $1 fare. We excitedly discussed our expectations for the tour as we took the Dubai Public Bus to the fanciest hotel in the world.

From the bus stop, we walked in sweltering heat to the private island's entrance. As we approached, a guard stepped out of his post and asked us if we had a reservation for the hotel - he was likely confused as to why two kids were walking up (not even in a taxi) to the opulent hotel. We gave our names. I think all three of us were surprised when our names were on the list and we were granted access onto the property.

Frank and I attempted to remain calm and hide our amusement as we walked on the pathway approaching the hotel. However, the thrill of the situation won out. Staying true to our millennial status, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to Snapchat the experience and take selfies in front of the hotel and the Rolls-Royce fleet parked out front.

Advertisement

Entering the grand lobby, we immediately understood the hype. As we waited for our tour, our eyes bounced from the fountain garnered in Ramadan decorations to the aquarium wall to the colorful floors in the atrium above us. We tried our best to maintain our professionalism.

Nina, the marketing executive, did not treat us differently when she discovered that she was tasked with giving two American college students a tour. Most people in Dubai became disinterested in catering to us when they determined we did not have a large pocketbook.

Many portions of the hotel were under renovation but Nina took us on a complete tour. She took us to the top floor where we were able to look down at the 202 suites. Each floor had it's own personal butler whose sole job was to acquiesce the every whim of guests. Guests also receive a 24 karat iPad upon check in and pillow menu with 17 different options.

The highlight of the tour was when Frank and I were casually informed that we would be touring the Royal Suite - the most luxurious and most expensive suite in the hotel. In the United States, we know the Presidential Suite to be the top room in a hotel. In the Burj Al Arab, the Royal Suite is a step above the Presidential room.

We pretended to remain calm as we approached the Royal Suite's imposing double doors on the top floor. Our jaws dropped as we entered the foyer. Costing over $25,000 a night, the suite is over 8,000 square feet featuring two floors, a private movie theater, and dining room.

Advertisement

While in the suite, it impossible to look in any direction without seeing gold. From the Hermes products in the bathroom to the private elevator, the suite oozed luxury. When we saw the four poster canopy bed rotating, we didn't even try to hide the fact that we were Snapchatting.

Frank and I were also treated to a visit to the Skyview Bar. Located on the 27th floor, we were clearly able to see both the Palm and the World Islands through the floor to ceiling panoramic windows. After completing the tour, we were graciously walked to the lobby.
"Time to Choose", Director/Writer Charles Ferguson and Writer Chad Beck's new environmental documentary narrated by actor Oscar Isaac may very well be the best film of 2016, as well as the most important one to be viewed.

For a warning of impending disaster, Ferguson has given us a beautiful film that has optimism woven through its fabric. Sure it discusses the largest drivers of climate change in horrific detail. But repeatedly Ferguson and Beck assure us that we have the technology at our disposal to stop climate change. Not only is the climate changing, but the science, attitude and fortitude necessary to stop this catastrophe are dramatically evolving.

We inherited a beautiful home, the film makers show us. Their tone is far from fire and brimstone. We have done great things. But many of the changes that we've made are imperiling our future.

Experts like Nobel Prize Winner and Former Secretary of Energy Steven Chu tell us how small alterations make for huge differences in life on earth. Larger changes, like the melting of Himalayan glaciers and Pacific coral reefs, are undermining support for life as we know it. Dr. James Hansen, from Columbia University's Earth Institute, graphically shows how rapid increases in sea level due to the melting of Greenland's ice sheets will submerge large cities, destroying homes of 600 million people and triggering runaway climate change.

Advertisement

Two thirds of global warming is caused by burning fossil fuels. The use of these fuels chokes the planets long range future as it kills it's population on a daily basis. Toxicologist Lynn Crosby points to the rise in asthma and cancer in the U.S. One million acres of mountain top removal blasted off 500 mountains, not only scars the once beautiful Appalachian mountains, but pollutes the downstream watershed with heavy toxins. Jennifer Hall-Massey describes how this contact killed her brother and poisoned 6 neighbors within ten houses. Toxic sludge ponds dot the landscape and coal dust hangs heavy in the air. Soot alone kills over ten thousand Americans every year.

But that is nowhere near the lethal impact felt by the world's largest coal country. Beijing and Shanghai, beautiful at night, but shrouded during the day, burn as much coal as the entire rest of the world. The danger to their residents is often long term. Ten million Chinese have Black Lung. Over one third of their lakes and half of their rivers are polluted.

Death comes quicker to those mining the coal. 200,000 coal miners have died in Chinese mines. As this film was being shot, a worker commenting on conditions is killed live on film.

But help is on the way! Costs of alternative renewable energy sources are rapidly going down. Renewables are now competitive with coal. And the fuel - the sun and wind - are free! As Amory Lovins, Chairman/Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, has chronicled, costs per kilowatt hour are now less than any other source. And, as Professor Wu Cheng, from the University of Taiwan drolly observes, no one has died of wind pollution!

Advertisement

But danger lurks not only in the fossil fuels, but with those pedaling their use. Sierra Club's chief Michael Brune warns that vested interests - like Exxon, Chevron and Peabody Coal - will fight change. In 2013, $650 billion was invested in exploration to find new fossil fuel reserves. The large energy corporations are waging an offensive against transition to alternative fuels. They fund groups like CORE News to attack environmentalists and appeal to the right wing low information voters. Before he was convicted of conspiring to violate mine safety and health standards, Don Blankenship, head of Massey Energy, sixth largest coal company in the U.S., claimed against all contrary evidence that the planet was actually cooling!

Not to be outdone, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Head of the U.S. Senate Committee of Environmental and Public Works, called climate change the greatest hoax. Inhofe said that it was arrogant to think that man could change what God had done . . . and that God would protect us! (James Inhofe, "The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future," WND Books, Washington, D.C.)
Unremarked upon in Ken Burns terrific documentary about the Civil War, a group of Confederate soldiers, after surrendering at Vicksburg, were paroled, over the objections of William Tecumseh Sherman, by U.S. Grant. Grant's opinion was that they were so sick and disheartened by their experiences that they'd just go home.

A group of them from Mississippi did, and led by one Newton Knight, eventually rebelled against the Confederacy. Allying themselves with other disaffected Southerners, and runaway slaves; they declared 'The Free State of Jones.' Victoria Bynum, after stumbling across their decendants, still living in Jones Country, Mississippi, wrote a fascinating book about it all, that I'd highly recommend: 'The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War.'

One would have imagined that it would be hard to make such compelling American history into an uninteresting and tedious movie, despite its robust endorsement of the Second Amendment. But, indeed, that's exactly what the director and scriptwriters have done. Other than Matthew McConaughey, and one other actor's actual Southern accents, they populate the movie with Northerners using 'fingers on a blackboard' quality drawls to pretend as if they're not from Burbank, Boise, or Brooklyn. They subvert the compelling story of Newton Knight to bludgeon the audience with today's racial narratives and Hollywood's favorite recent movie genre: slave porn. Layering onto a curious true story about race, honor, courage and individualism all the familiar racially charged images of Django, Twelve Years and Hateful 8.

Advertisement

And, pushing the story of Newton Knight, his followers, and family into the Reconstruction Era, the KKK, lynchings, castrations, voter suppression, literacy tests, and violence against voter registration volunteers.

Few movies could endure in the face of such heavy handedness. Free State, which should have been a highly interesting, eye opening, glimpse at an historically accurate racial history that proved that actual history isn't always black and white, is tedious, uncomfortable, distasteful, and trite. Oh, and long, very long: its two hours and nineteen minutes seem longer than a double root canal.

McConaughey is, as always, great. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, as Rachel, the slave who marries and has children with Matthew's Confederate soldier character, could have been the most compelling and interesting woman of color in any recent movie. Alas, she isn't asked for much by the script, lots of long admiring looks at Matthew, but does as well as she can with so little to work with.

Advertisement

The rest of the cast play stock Southern/Civil War caricatures going through the motions: mostly, like Rachel, venerating Matthew's Newton Knight, nodding and smiling like those carefully selected supporters posed behind political candidates these days, nodding and smiling earnestly during all his (many) speeches. Or, bizarrely, as if it is 2016, not 1863, hugging it out when things get too tough.

It's quite fun thought to see, though admittedly a bit long in the tooth for their roles, very pleased Civil War reenactors in the background of many scenes getting a payday.

Even with America twice electing its first African American President, or because America's first African American President turned out to be one with an eager desire to pour gasoline on most things racial, it is jarring that movie after movie these days revels in violent, imagined images of master/slave brutality, rape, and inhumanity. Free State of Jones doubles down on all of this, but inserts Newton Knight as a somewhat saintly white savior channeling Kipling, to give meaning to black folks' lives. In a perverse way, these movies are eerily similar to the stock anti-Semitic Nazi movies of the thirties, designed, with purpose, to incite ethnic division, hatred, and violence.

It's really too bad. Newton Knight was a real person. He fought in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier. He led a rebellion against the Confederacy during the War. He married a slave from his grandfather's plantation while still married to his white wife. He lived with both of them after the war, in the same house. He had numerous children with both wives. They all lived together in the same farmhouse in Jones County, Mississippi from 1864 well into the 20th Century.

Those children intermarried within the family and had their own, racially mixed children. Some of them are still there, in Jones County to this day. Living with the echoes of the Free State of Jones as they go about their lives.

Advertisement

Exactly as William Faulkner, a Mississippian, wrote: "The past is never dead, it's not even past."

There's a great article available from The Smithsonian Magazine about Newt and the Free State. It's well worth reading whether you see the movie or not.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-free-state-jones-180958111/#YrsZRUwXBh4EPkLX.01
"The lamps are going out all over Europe, and I doubt we will see them lit again in our lifetimes"

-Sir Edward Grey, 1914

The vote last week in Britain to withdraw from the EU (Brexit) was a victory for ISIS.

It was a victory for Al Qaeda.

It was a victory for terrorism.

At the Hague Congress in 1948, the nations of Western Europe, reeling from the destruction of the Second World War made a decision to change their history. They agreed to find a way to work together. This would culminate in the founding of the EU in 1957 and Britain's decision to join in 1973.

This was a remarkably brave move, a decision to break with more than 1500 years of history and regional warfare. It was a noble experiment.

Advertisement

What drove the creation of the EU, more than anything else, was the shattering trauma of two World Wars that between 1914 and 1945 had killed more than 100 million Europeans and left almost all of its major cities in smoldering ruins.

Nothing in American history like this has ever happened. Nothing in anyone's history like it had ever happened before. The combination of 'total war' and machinery of mass destruction effectively destroyed Europe. The devastation was catastrophic enough to change what had been 1500 years of a history of European nation going to war with other European nations: Britain against France, France against Germany, Britain against Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands.. on and on, year after year, century after century.

Finally, after 1914-1945 the Europeans collectively said, 'never again'; from now on, we are all Europeans first and foremost.

Now, Britain has walked away from that idea.

The execution of that idea may have been flawed (what is not?), it may have had its problems (what does not?), but they pale in comparison what what European history and been for 1500 years prior to it.

Advertisement

Generals and politicians have always made the mistake of fighting the last war. Brexit is no exception.

It has been and remains the goal of fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda to destroy the west.

They don't have the weapons of the manpower to do it. What they have is fear, and they are exceptionally good a using it. Call it terror. This is what real terrorism is. The goal of terrorism is not to cut off a few heads or torture a few people or shoot up a few public spaces, frightening thought that is. The goal of terrorism is to terrorize a people or a nation into destroying themselves. It is asymmetrical warfare at its best. It doesn't need armies. Like judo, it turns a people into their own worst enemy.

The vote for Brexit, the vote to walk away from, and start the process of destroying a unified Europe is terrorism at its best.

The ill advised Bush invasion of Iraq precipitated both ISIS and Al Qaeda. ISIS and Al Qaeda precipitated, by their own actions, the exodus of nearly a million refugees headed for Europe, a bastion of security and liberalism, in the best sense of the word.

Advertisement

It was the very fear of those refugees, of the foreign, of a 'Muslim invasion' that more than anything else drove the surprising Brexit vote in Britain and now has set in motion a chain of events that may well lead to the fractionalization of all of Europe and the end of the great European experiment itself. It wasn't about 'bendy bananas'.

Well done ISIS. Well done Al Qaeda. Brilliant move.

What Al Qaeda and ISIS could never have accomplished from their relatively small bases in Iraq and Syria they may very well have now started to achieve, not through 'operatives' infiltrated into Britain, but rather though the British themselves, and ironically, the people who though they were most opposed to terrorism. The irony is painful.

The departure of Britain from the EU will certainly have economic consequences; Scotland may now leave the UK; the UK may in fact be shattered; France, Italy, the Netherlands and others may now begin thinking about leaving the EU as well. Nationalism and localism and fear begin to reign supreme. Donald Trump looks more and more like a possibility in the US. The influence of Putin and China have been expanded exponentially.

The terror is real and it is among us.

"You have nothing to fear but fear itself", FDR told the nation in 1932.
Authors: Nake M Kamrany, Lauren Deife, and Dimitri Beshkov

President Obama's legacy is being tarnished for having been engaged in seven foreign wars in third world countries during two terms presidency including the U.S. - Afghanistan war which is now in its 15th year. President Obama delivered a profound speech on May 27, 2016 at the site of Hiroshima in Japan articulating the futility and horror of atomic war that took place 71 years ago and killed tens of thousands and destroyed two Japanese cities - Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, it is perplexing that he concurrently ordered extension of U.S./NATO military presence in Afghanistan for five additional years which contradicts his disdain for wars. In Afghanistan many of the villages have already been destroyed into rubbles after 15 years (2001 - 2016) of incessant bombing.



No other U.S. presidents have been engaged in seven wars for such a long duration. During the campaign of 2008, many voting citizens believed that Obama will be a peace president in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush who invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama inherited the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He withdrew from Iraq war although the foot soldiers are back in Iraq now due to ISIS insurgency.

Obama said that the Afghanistan war was the right war without explaining why. Initially he increased the level of troops by 30,000 foot soldiers in Afghanistan which caused higher U.S. casualties. Then the number of troops was retrenched to approximately 11,000 and promises of complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan were made to the American public, but to no avail. Currently U.S. war in Afghanistan is in its 15th year, the longest American war in its history. And on May 20, 2016 the U.S. along with NATO members agreed to extend military occupation for five additional years which will extend the occupation to 20 Years. In the meantime the U.S. has already sustained enormous damages in blood and wealth in Afghanistan war.

Advertisement

Ostensibly, trends have not been favorable for U.S. occupation. It has lost 2400 soldiers, sustained approximately 30,000 wounded and disabled veterans, and has spent more funds in Afghanistan war than the total budget of the U.S. Marshall Plan that was expended for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Moreover, abject poverty and high unemployment has increased in Afghanistan over the last 15 years of U.S. occupation. The Taliban's control of population and territory in Afghanistan has widened and stability has detreated.



Moreover, incessant bombing, destroying thousands of villages and killing millions have turned the population against the U.S./NATO occupation. The NATO strategy has produced many Afghan refugees who have emigrated out of Afghanistan. It has radicalized many Afghans including governmental soldiers who are on U.S. payroll. Afghan soldiers have frequently shot and killed NATO soldiers. Recently, one such soldier who killed two NATO soldiers went ON TV with no regrets and said that over the last 15 years U.S./NATO has done nothing but kill, torture and destroy. These killing are not isolated, at least hundreds of NATO soldiers over the last years have been shot by Afghan government soldiers who are supposed to fight alongside the U.S. forces. They are radicalized as they find U.S./NATO military operations unfair and forbidding.

Our policies have contributed to radicalization and a sense of opposition that arguably justifies and legitimizes radical responses and provoking such behaviors as suicide bombing. IDE explosions, and explosions on the part of peaceful citizens who are willing to sacrifice their own lives in response to our military attacks. In the final analysis indigenous groups take pain when their countrymen, women, relatives, other villagers and children are being killed by foreign powers.

Advertisement

Given the free flow of people, information, internet and communication internationally plus incitement and reinforcement by insurgents or in retaliation to incessant U.S. drone and air attacks even average citizens decide to retaliate at their own risk. Our military offensives contribute to radicalization, anger and revenge by individuals who turn "lone wolves." However, such probability could be checked -minimized or eliminated - by a shift in U.S. policy to withdraw its soldiers from the war zones and reach peace. A policy of rapprochement with these groups via diplomacy is the optimal solution..
The following is one in a series of adapted excerpts from "America's Other Army: The U.S. Foreign Service and 21st-Century Diplomacy."

Michael Hammer was nine years into his Foreign Service career in 1997, when he did advance work on President Bill Clinton's visit to Vancouver, Canada, for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Once the president's party arrived, Glyn Davies, a fellow Foreign Service officer who was the executive secretary of the National Security Council (NSC) at the time, approached Hammer with a special task. Clinton wanted to go out to dinner with a group of friends, and Davies wondered if Hammer, who had been in the city for about 10 days, could help.

Advertisement

Even though Hammer was a mid-level political officer, he had no problem making a dinner reservation. "I had in essence a 30-minute bus ride to make arrangements, but I did manage to find a restaurant close by, and everybody ended up having a good evening out," he recalled.

About a year later, when it was time to bid on available positions for his next assignment, Hammer was interested in a job in the NSC's Europe office and sent his resume to Davies. "Glyn came back and said, 'I don't necessarily see a match for the Europe job, but there is a vacancy in our press shop at the NSC.' I was pretty stunned," Hammer said.

That job changed his career. It got him started in press work, and eventually led to his appointment as the first NSC spokesman in the Obama White House, and later as assistant secretary of state for public affairs. From there, he became ambassador to Chile in 2014. He said he doesn't believe any of that would have happened had he not arranged that dinner for Clinton in Vancouver.

"If someone comes to you, and you are able to do little things right, you might be given bigger opportunities," he said. "People don't necessarily focus on whether you are the best note-taker or cable-writer, but if you have a good head on your shoulders, and you can solve problems, then perhaps you'll be given other opportunities."

Advertisement

Personal connections and corridor reputation play a significant role in selecting candidates from the Foreign Service bid lists for rotating positions at embassies, consulates and multilateral missions, as well as in Washington -- perhaps more significant than some diplomats deem appropriate. Still, few managers will hire someone just because they know him or her, without proper qualifications, several officers said. Since joining the service in 1988, Hammer has also served in Bolivia, Norway, Iceland and Denmark.



Few professions have changed as much as diplomacy has as a result of the 9/11 attacks. The shift has been so big that diplomats have had to acquire skills and perform duties that were never expected of them before, and were not even associated with diplomacy, including working in active war zones. "That challenged our identity," Hammer said. "We knew what we came in to do, but all of a sudden we were asked to do something different."



The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, were "a shock to the system," he said. "We hadn't worked in war zones and done things like infrastructure and local governance, which we hadn't come in trained and expected to do. You have to go back to the Vietnam generation to find people who did things like that, and it wasn't quite the same. But now, if we have to do nation-building again or pass certain skills on to foreign governments, we know how to do it."

The public caught an unprecedented glimpse of the behind-the-scenes workings of U.S. diplomacy through an unauthorized release of more than 250,000 State Department cables -- some of them secret -- by the website WikiLeaks in 2010. The documents, written by American diplomats posted across the world, provided information and analysis on developments in other countries, foreign officials and U.S. embassy activities.



"Such reckless sharing of classified information jeopardizes our relationships and puts sources, such as human rights activists, in harm's way," Hammer said. "There is always an expectation that they talk to us in confidence. Diplomacy does need that space behind closed doors to take effect and produce results. People will be more willing to talk to you and do things for you if they are allowed that breathing space."

At the same time, the cables made a surprising revelation to the public. "People suddenly realized three things," Hammer said. "First, that we are pretty good writers and provide sound and interesting analysis. Second, that we are passionate and determined to advance the U.S. national interest. Third, that we do what we say, and there isn't much variance between what we say in private and in public."

Advertisement

Serving their country is by far the most cited reason for joining the Foreign Service by American diplomats, though a desire to travel and see the world, as well as financial security, are often mentioned as well. "First and foremost, we are patriots," Hammer said. "We come in because we want to serve the country. We want to advance American interests. What we don't necessarily know when we come in is how we are going to do that."



In spite of all the publicly available information on the State Department website, existing literature and the many blogs of serving diplomats that have appeared in recent years, new Foreign Service officers don't know exactly what to expect. What they do depends on their specific future assignments in a highly unpredictable career path.

Despite recent improvements in training, following decades of neglect, many new officers still arrive at their first post without sufficient knowledge about the specifics of what an embassy and its various sections do, several senior officers said. The State Department culture still doesn't value training and professional development at different levels as highly as it should, and relies too heavily on diplomats' ability to figure things out on the job, they added.

Hammer said the ever-increasing demands of modern diplomacy, along with the new skill sets required to achieve the Foreign Service's ambitious mission, make high-quality training more urgent than ever.

"Diplomacy in the 21st century has so many dimensions that you can't just learn it on your own or through osmosis," he said.
Figures released on World Refugee Day this week showed there are currently an estimated 65 million displaced people in the world - more than at any time in history.

As the head of an international agricultural development organisation working in Africa, I am often asked why we don't work to address the current migrant crisis from Africa that has overwhelmed Europe.

The question directed to me is usually a sincere one, not borne of xenophobia or racism, but rather from a deep frustration that in our advanced and sophisticated 21st century society we should not be witnessing such scenes, night after night on our television screens.

Advertisement

My answer to such questions is a short one. We are.

For it is only by improving the economic circumstances of rural poor people in Africa that we will ultimately provide them with an acceptable alternative to the hugely risky, life-threatening and demeaning choices currently being taken by millions, as they uproot from their communities and take their lives into their own hands in search of 'a better life' somewhere else.

Noone who has ever visited a refugee camp, which I have done many times during a 30-years career that included many years in humanitarian relief, would ever describe these places as anything other than a stopgap. As the name itself suggests it is a place of refuge from something terrible that is occurring elsewhere. It is not the 'better life' that millions are taking huge risks to seek out.



A new EU plan, announced this month, sets out a framework that the Union believe can tackle some of the root causes of migration from Africa.

While the 'carrot and stick' approach in these proposals - which include a combination of aid and trade incentives - has been criticized by some African countries, and by aid organisations, it should be viewed as a step towards addressing the underlying cause of much of the current crisis, poverty.

Only by boosting growth in economies, creating jobs, and ensuring that countries can provide a future for their populations will the current flood of migration be resolved.

Advertisement

Building walls, Brexit opt-out campaigns or any number of breaches by Euro states of the Schengen freedom of movement charter are reactions, rather than solutions, to a problem that has been with us for generations.



For too long we have failed to properly solve the problem of extreme poverty that continues to cast an enormous shadow across developing countries of the world. That there are almost 800 million people worldwide living in extreme poverty - that's one in nine of our global population - is proof enough that we are continuing to fail the poorest, and the most vulnerable.

In the current clamour over immigration to Europe it is often overlooked that such mass movement of people is placing a huge burden on the fabric of society across Africa, as well.

Figures released in 2015 showed that the top six destinations for African refugees and migrants were within the continent of Africa itself. The figures were: Ethiopia (659,524), Kenya (551,352), Chad (452,897), Uganda (385,513), Cameroon (264,126) and South Sudan (248,152), who collectively were accommodating 2,561,564 people of foreign origin in camps within their countries.

Interviews that have been given by refugees themselves - whether in Kenya or in Calais - tell us that if given the choice, the vast majority of those who make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe would not do so, if their futures at home were not so bleak.



Advertisement

People aren't only moving across international borders in search of a better life either. There is also an accelerating pattern of rural to urban migration taking place in sub-Saharan Africa that is placing a huge burden on national services.

Africa will become the most rapidly urbanized region on the planet in the coming 25 years, as the number of people living in its cities is projected to soar to 56% of the population, according to UN estimates. That means that many more shantytowns like Kiberi, an urban slum of one million people outside Nairobi, Kenya, will spring up across Africa in the years to come.

At Self Help Africa our focus is on supporting rural poor communities to support their populations through an innovative mix of agricultural and enterprise development activities.

By supporting rural poor households to grow more, and access profitable markets for their produce, Africa's small-scale farming families can realise the better future that they desire for themselves and their communities.

There is no quick fix to the problems of extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, just as there is no quick fix to the current migrant crisis in Europe. But there are many steps that can be taken to move us in the right direction.

Advertisement

Self Help Africa believes that by contributing to the creation of an economically vibrant African agricultural sector, we can play our part in tackling this challenge.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 13:Franklin Graham, religious leader and son of Billy Graham, during our interview on November, 13, 2012 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Reverend Franklin Graham,

Can we talk? You seem to have confused the horrific actions of some who claim to practice Islam, with the actual teachings of the faith. In regards to the massacre of 49 people at a gay bar in Orlando you recently posted on your Facebook page, "What Omar Mattan did was following the teaching of the Koran." That's just not true. The Quran prohibits such heinous actions, as Islamic organizations and scholars have consistently proclaimed.

I grew up Catholic but left the church for a variety of reasons. When I started my family, I studied a lot and chose to follow Islam. The things you are saying about Islam do not match what I've learned.

Advertisement

You've said "They (Muslims) hate the God of the Bible, and they hate those who follow Him". But the Quran refers to Jews and Christians as "People of the Book"; they are those who have received revelation from God; the same God that sent revelation to Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. (Peace be upon them all). The Quran says "Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve" 2:62

You've said "If you're an American, they hate you whether you're a liberal or conservative." However, there are over 3 million American Muslims; we are part of the fabric of this country. American values are in keeping with Islamic values; such as the idea that all men are created equal and freedom and justice for all. There are people around the world who are angered by America's foreign policies, but that doesn't mean they hate what our country was founded on.

You've said "They want you to be subject to Sharia law and the god they worship." There are absolutely no instances of Muslims trying to institute Sharia law in America. The Quran says "There is no compulsion in religion". (2:256)

You've said "Women of the world, Islam wants to put you behind a veil of horror." And "Honor killings are a practice of Islam". Although it is true there are women in majority Muslim countries that are treated appallingly, it is in spite of Islam, not because of it. People take things out of context in order to justify following their pre-Islamic barbaric customs. Islam actually granted women rights hundreds of years before they were granted in the West: such as the right to own property, to an education, to participate in public discourse, to choose their spouse, to get a divorce, and many others.

Advertisement

You've said "The god of Islam requires followers to die for him." And "The Koran teaches followers of Islam to kill and destroy nonbelievers." That is not an accurate interpretation of what the Quran teaches. Yes, there are people who take Islamic teachings out of context to justify committing heinous acts for their own geo/political gains, but they don't represent Islam any more than the KKK represents the teachings of Christianity.

What you are saying about Islam is dangerous for Muslims, America and the world. Your words fuel hate towards the other and become recruiting tools for terrorist organizations.

We live in a country of diverse people with different ideologies and religions, yet we are founded on the principal of uniting for the common good, "E Pluribus Unum". We can't do that if we look at people who are different than we are with hate. I pray you will agree to meet with me so we can listen to each other. I think we can both agree that God is love and love conquers hate, let's use that as a starting point.

This post originally appeared in the Charlotte Observer June 15, 2016.
You're going to laugh - Le Tour de France - does not always only tours France!



This year, the 103rd edition of the cycle race will start in the French departement (region) of Manche, for the first time in its history. The starting stage of the race will be at the magnificent Mont-Saint-Michel, the super popular island of Normandy (no, not Brittany). And along the way at almost half way, the race will have a day of rest in Andorra.

So, see? This is not really France. The Principality of Andorra, its official name, is a sovereign state, albeit micro, in the eastern Pyrenees mountain range separating France from Spain. Created in the year 988, the little space is de facto, a monarchy - without a king - but with two princes, Spaniard Bishop of Urgell, and ...... the President of France in exercise. Weird, right?

Andorra is not a member of the European Union (the one Britain just snubbed), but the euro is the official currency of the country - go figure. This European thing can be quite confusing at times. The Tour will also make two stop in Switzerland - now that is definitely not in France, nor in the European Union, and they do not use the Euro as their currency.

Advertisement

Someone just wants to pick up chocolates.



A Very European Affair.

The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), with 20 stages featured for this year. Le Tour de France is also known as La Grande Boucle (the big loop). By the way, France is also refer to as L'Hexagone (the hexagon.)

In 2014, the Tour departed from England - now, that is really far-fetched, that country does not even touch France! and is now no longer part of The European Union either! In 2015, the race galloped through Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Tour in the past visited Italy, Ireland, and Germany.

In 2008, Quebec applied to be part of the race, but organizers declined, citing jet lag and long airplane flights as disturbing elements for the health of all involved.

Twenty two teams (198 riders) of highly trained cyclists will take part in the race this year, from July 2nd to July 24th. Chantilly to Paris will be the last stage. Yes, that Chantilly, where they invented the fluffy cream we put on our strawberries.

Advertisement

Created in 1903 by a struggling French newspaper to try to sell more copies, the Tour de France is a race within a race. The overall final winner gets to wear the famed yellow jersey (le maillot jaune). But racers also fight for the daily stage victories, intermediate sprints for the green points jersey, plus the mountain points for the stand-out red polka-dot climber's jersey.

The white jersey is awarded to the best rider under 25, while the last placed rider overall becomes the winner of the lanterne rouge, the red light at the rear of the peloton.

The arrival of the Tour on the Champs-Elysees in Paris is always a massive cheering event gathering thousands on an usually sunny Sunday.

Some of The heroes of The Tour.

Legendary Belgium Eddy Merckx won the Tour five times; French Jacques Anquetil (who allegedly sipped Champagne from his water bottle during one Tour) won five times as well; American Greg LeMond won three times.

Spaniard Miguel Indurain, five consecutive times winner of the Tour, had a skinny imposing size (six-two, 176 pounds), possessed a super-human lung capacity, and a resting heart rate of 28 beats per minutes that would qualify most humans as dead.

Advertisement

Another American, Lance Armstrong, is the winner of seven consecutive Tours, but since he was stripped of his titles for doping, I guess that does not count, or he would have been the most winning rider in the Tour history.

A British citizen born in Kenya, Chris Froome won the race twice. His performance in climbing the Mont Ventoux, a very difficult stage of the race, has become the stuff of legends. He was the winner of the Tour in 2015.

Sometimes braving heat waves weather, spectators have taken the habit of hosing down the riders passing them by. The stages include three categories: flat stages, medium mountain stages, and mountain stages. The 2016 race will be 174.7 km (109 miles) longer than last year's, with the same number of rest days.

During the entire race, some 4,500 persons are involved in the fantastic event, from bikers to journalists, and everybody in-between. The French postal service has even set up a mail delivery for those away from home from the weeks during the race, and two specially-assigned mail persons make sure every fan letter - or bills- gets to its intended destination.

To honor the Tour departing from the Mont-Saint-Michel this year, local shepherds have died their flock with the riders' jersey colors. But, no worries, it does not hurt them, they will be shaved.

Advertisement

For the 2016 race, the difficult stage of endurance and climbing that is the Mont Ventoux is returning; the naked windy mountain in Provence is famous for its harsh limestone environment and its grueling steep ascent, which takes over one hour at best to accomplish.

Froome, the defending champion said, when the 2016 route was announced, that he expected the course to suit him better this year.

"I think it's going to take a complete cyclist - but the stage that certainly stands out for me is Mont Ventoux."

We'll be watching! Good luck to all!

More info here.
Last week saw the federal conviction of a man who diverted $12.7 million from a federally funded Health Care for the Homeless program in Birmingham, Alabama (Birmingham Health Care, BHC) to his own private businesses. Over 500,000 Americans are homeless each night. Studies show that people experiencing homelessness are increasingly older, sicker, and more likely to die than others their age. Today, 297 Health Care for the Homeless programs operate, many doing excellent work.

Whether all 297 programs consistently serve their vulnerable target population, however, is a different question. A decade of observation and the outcome of the Birmingham trial reveal that federal safeguards to protect this mission are insufficient.

As shown at trial, Mr. Jonathan Dunning set up an array of private companies beginning in 2006, during his time as BHC's CEO, and in the years that followed when, employees attest, he retained operational authority.

Advertisement

Through a series of real estate and service contracts, many of which were sweetheart deals, his companies extracted $12.7 million while the health center was progressively crippled, unable to pay its bills or purchase basic supplies, facts accepted by his counsel at trial. A year ago, the health center's former Chief Financial Officer pled guilty to assisting in these financial shenanigans. Last week, a federal jury found him guilty on 98 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

The most painful question raised by this story, however, is not how to prevent criminality, but how to assure that crucial medical services reach the most vulnerable in society, because legal attention came far too late.

That this health center was failing to advance optimally its Congressionally mandated objective of serving the homeless had been obvious for a decade before Mr. Dunning's trial. As a part-time doctor there (2002-2008), I saw systemic failures that often left patients without care. After unsuccessfully seeking remediation by management, I published two papers showing just how bad the problems had become.



The first, a survey of Birmingham's homeless, showed that the percentage reporting inability to obtain health care rose from 32% to 54% between 1995 and 2005, even though the local homeless population had not grown. A second study found that 15% of homeless persons seeking care at BHC could not get it there. Accordingly, the local newspaper described BHC as the least accessible place for homeless persons in town, precisely the opposite of what Congress intended when it established the Health Care for the Homeless Program in 1987.

Advertisement

In surveys, homeless persons seeking care at BHC described burdensome demands for payment that they could not afford, written referrals that they could not produce, and long waits in a basement for eligibility evaluations that they could not endure. Our third (as-yet unpublished) survey from 2013 showed the situation had worsened. Having found local program leadership to be unresponsive, I had hoped that my reports and editorials would compel public action, and they were conveyed to appropriate officials.



No federal attention came, however, until someone knowledgeable (I don't know who) dropped a dime about Mr. Dunning's business deals, many of which emerged in the local press, and at trial.



How is it that a federally funded homeless health program could become progressively less available to the very population it was directed to serve, with no response for nearly a decade? Should we hope that the prosecution of a few malefactors will prevent similar failures?



Sadly, the answer is no. A piece of legislative history, dating to 1996, helps to explain the Birmingham mishap and why the risk for repeated failures is national in scope. The Health Centers Consolidation Act of 1996 combined four separate community health center programs, each of which had unique traditions (some formalized in regulation, some not) for their respective populations.



One of those programs was the Health Care for the Homeless Program, descendant of a 1985 private initiative where caregivers took to streets and shelters to deliver care for the newly-prominent homeless population.

The 1996 Act applied generic requirements to all health centers, regardless of population served. It had no requirements specific to homelessness, save that there be "substance abuse services." In simple terms, Health Care for the Homeless programs have to document a number of "contacts" with patients who get in the door. Whether they take any steps to optimize accessibility for their target population remains entirely optional.



The insuffiicency of federal safeguards in Birmingham doesn't necessarily imply widespread failure of this national program. I know many providers who show extraordinary commitment, and who go the extra mile for a stigmatized and disabled population. Research (including my own) has helped to show how homeless health programs can design their services to be maximally effective. A 4-year old initiative of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (where I work) established 60 homeless primary care clinics emphasizing easy access, specialized staff, resources for clothing and food, and integration with social services. These efforts embody a major federal push to deliver population-focused care addressing both health and the social conditions that drive bad health.



Now is the time for federal funders to require the accountability to homeless patients that the best programs already achieve. The Birmingham story, combining disservice to patients with venal financial behavior, remains, to my knowledge, unique. But experts in homeless health care privately tell me they have seen more than a few recipients of homeless health care grants offer little for homeless clients, while keeping their federal funds.



The end of this trial will not correct the failures that left homeless persons without reliable care in Birmingham. Federal funders, however, have the regulatory authority to demand that any agency funded for homeless health care demonstrate that they are offering the kinds of services that good programs insist on providing: outreach, assistance with social needs, tangible efforts to minimize stigmatization, and openness to walk-in care. Regulators should use that authority and, if necessary, demand support for enforcement from Congress. Taking these long-neglected actions could put a legendary program back on the path to excellence and begin to heal a public wound that hurt so many people in Birmingham for so long.



Stefan Kertesz is a primary care physician and homeless health researcher at Birmingham VA Medical Center and University of Alabama at Birmingham. Follow him on Twitter @StefanKertesz. Views expressed are his own, and do not represent positions of the State of Alabama or the United States Federal Government.
Gun control is out of control. Filibusters and sit-ins have roiled the Congress for the last few weeks. Orlando, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook ... bullets fly, people die, Congress boils and nothing happens. The statistics astound: There are nearly 15,000 deaths and 28,000 injuries every year from guns -- an Orlando every day. There are more guns in America than people, a fact that will continue in perpetuity, since people will die and the guns that kill them will live on. Gun deaths are on track to exceed automobile fatalities. What an exceptional nation we are!

The gun lobby, most notably the NRA and its fans, resists any and every proposed measure. Republican legislators will not pass a measure to keep those on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. They refuse to expand background checks. They won't restrict a possible terrorist who can't board an airplane from buying a semi-automatic weapon designed to kill dozens, scores, or hundreds of humans.

The NRA and its conservative lapdogs in Congress cite the same arguments every time mass slaughter temporarily diverts Americans' attention from Donald Trump and Facebook to bloody corpses: The Second Amendment means what it says. Every American has a right to bear arms. The answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The Kenyan Muslim Barack Obama and his lily-livered lefty allies want to confiscate all the guns.

Advertisement

On the other side, gun control advocates fall all over themselves to assure the electorate that they too love the Second Amendment, that they love to hunt, that they too have guns at home to protect their families from whatever imagined threats lurk in the American psyche. From this crouching posture they beg for minimalist, largely symbolic legislation. Can't we at least stop a known terrorism suspect from getting his hands on an automatic weapon? Can't we close the loopholes that make current laws a Swiss cheese joke? Nope, say the zealots -- those things are a slippery slope to confiscation and fascist tyranny. And so it goes, over and over again.

Infuriating, but utterly beside the point. What our leaders and we are afraid to acknowledge is that the NRA, the GOP and zealous gun advocates around America are absolutely right. The proposed laws will not stop slaughters like Orlando or San Bernardino. According to a 2014 Slate article, there are about 3,750,000 military style assault weapons in the United States. An angry, delusional, madman like Omar Mateen doesn't have to queue up at a gun store and pass a background check to get his twitching fingers on an assault weapon. We're so awash in guns that locking the barn door is an absurd, albeit well meaning, gesture.

These sensational and tragic incidents are not the primary problem and should not be the central focus of the debate. Gun violence is a public health problem and a national psychological disorder. The vast majority of deaths are the result of gun violence in the streets, domestic disputes, the daily tragedies of suicide and the accidental deaths of thousands of children. Keeping assault weapons out of the hands of crazy people may be necessary, but is grossly insufficient. It is a bloody red herring.

If there is ever to be meaningful change in our violent nation, the debate has to start from a different position. Gun control advocates have conceded so much before the debate starts that nothing of real meaning will happen, even if the GOP is shamed into taking some small step. It's like a divorce where one partner takes the house, the car, the retirement account, custody of the children and then agrees to enter mediation to decide who gets the silverware.

Advertisement

Here are a few real suggestions. Call it Uncommon Sense Gun Control.

1. Repeal the Second Amendment. It is anachronistic, dangerous and unnecessary. There is no threat to domestic tranquility that should justify anyone's unfettered right to possess a deadly weapon.

2. Require thorough background checks, registration, training and licensing for the ownership of any gun.

3. Have an absolute ban on possession of any automatic or semi-automatic weapon by any citizen. Impose heavy criminal penalties on anyone who defies the law.

4. Require that every gun purchased in America employ the emerging smart gun technology that prevents anyone but the licensed, registered owner from discharging the weapon.

5. Confiscate any and all weapons that don't meet the above criteria.

6. Hold criminally liable for negligence, any person whose weapon is used in a crime or a suicide.

7. Institute a buy back program, like that successfully employed in Australia, to immediately reduce the American arsenal.

Advertisement

8. Make it illegal to publicly carry, concealed or open, any loaded weapon.

Not a single one of these things would inhibit the use of appropriate arms for hunting or to protect one's home from intruders.
With its vote to leave the European Union, Britain has cut a gaping hole in European commercial and political solidarity. While mainline politicians in England, Europe and the U.S. argued against the Brexit vote, it has been cheered by Donald Trump as an example of people taking their country back from the elites. Trump has also expressed the view that NATO may be "obsolete" and that, in any case, the U.S. should rethink its financial commitment to that mutual defense pact.

Trump's "America First" approach explains both his willingness to pull back from international agreements - not just in Europe but in the Pacific as well - and his applause for those in other countries who take a similar view about the value of going it alone.

In Scotland at the time of the Brexit vote, Trump told reporters that the foreign policy experts usually get it wrong. In a foreign policy speech in Washington, DC the week before, he expressed his disdain for those "who have perfect resumes but very little to brag about except responsibility for a long history of failed policies and continued losses at war." He added that "[T]he nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony" and that "I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down."

Advertisement

Given these views, it may be helpful to recall a time when international unions did not tie us up and the United States did focus on "American First." That would be 1914. There were military alliances then, but no union among European states. The military alliances divided Europe and, in honoring them, Europeans slaughtered each other for the next four years. The United States thought it could stay out of that war, only to learn it could not, and so rescued western civilization for the first time. The peace that ended World War I continued to divide Europe, by carving it up in the interests of the victors. The League of Nations, a poorly constructed yet hoped for antidote to another world war, failed - in part because American refused to join it. World War II was the next instance where America thought it could avoid an international union, only to learn - at great cost again - that it must in order to save western civilization a second time.

In 1947, with Europe in shambles two years after the end of the war, foreign policy experts in the United States made a strategic decision, fully supported by President Truman, that American isolationism should not be tried again. The result was the Marshall Plan, which sparked the recovery of Europe and its ability to stem the rush to communism as the alternative to market capitalism. George Marshall. in launching that effort, required that the "program should be a joint one, agreed to by a number, if not all, European nations." Europe, he insisted, must act together since each nation, acting in its own self-interest, had produced two world wars. The Marshall Plan was the forerunner to the European Union, which now seems on the verge of breaking apart.

In 1949, European nations, the United States, and the United Kingdom formed NATO, an international agreement to come to their mutual defense if any member state was attacked by an external party. Designed chiefly at the time as a mutual defense pact against the threat of the Soviet Union, NATO played a critical part in the containment of communism, enabling Europe to get on its feet both economically and militarily.

Advertisement

These international unions, which Donald Trump so disdains, have led to 71 years without global war. While economic prosperity has waxed and waned, as it has for hundreds of years, there is little doubt that most Europeans are better off economically, more independent politically, and safer militarily as a result of working together, with American leadership and support.

Nor is there much doubt that the United States also profited from European economic and military integration. Our economic prosperity depends on a Europe able to buy our goods and services, and our security depends on European nations acting in concert. American greatness, we should remember, has come not from isolationism and the avoidance of productive international alliances but from those that are carefully constructed and faithfully maintained and strengthened.
A review of Philippe Le Corre and Alain Sepulchre's new book China's Offensive in Europe

By David Wemer

Philippe Le Corre and Alain Sepulchre's brief analysis of China's growing economic footprint in Europe naturally focuses on how and why Chinese businesses have gained entrance into the European market. Although this book is clearly intended for those focused on Chinese economic and business policy, Le Corre and Sepulchre's work paints a dire picture of the European economy, now a target for Chinese intervention. The dramatic reversal of fortunes for the once dominant European continent should be the major take away, despite its being downplayed in the text.

The authors outline numerous cases of Chinese companies, often buoyed by dominance in the Chinese domestic market and saturated with cash from Chinese banks, swooping into Europe to make big-money acquisitions or large-scale investments in infrastructure. There is little for readers to learn from these cases, as they mirror other Chinese advances in both the Middle East and Africa over the last decade. The authors present Chinese intrusion into the European market as a unique phenomenon resulting from China's growing economic power, but they largely ignore a much more dramatic storyline: how Europe became such an easy target.

At first glance, it should be expected that most European policymakers would vigorously oppose Chinese business intervention on the scale outlined by Le Corre and Sepulchre. Chinese companies often struggle to incorporate European workers into their companies, especially when mixed with Chinese managers. Cultural misunderstandings and tensions often lead European employees to leave firms after Chinese takeovers, only to be replaced by Chinese counterparts. Furthermore, the often-explicit relationship between Chinese companies and Beijing should give European governments pause, especially when these companies are dealing with sensitive technology or infrastructure projects. As the authors point out, tech giant Huawei, the largest European venture for China, still has an open relationship with the People's Liberation Army, which should raise alarm bells throughout Europe.

Advertisement

It is the overcoming of these obstacles that make China's economic success in Europe so surprising, not the relatively trivial causes outlined by the authors, such as financial support from Chinese banks and growing ranks of foreign-educated Chinese managers; China's economic success is a result not of a coordinated offensive, but of European acquiescence. The devastating effect of the global financial crisis and the following half-decade of Euro-malaise has left European policymakers desperate to find outside sources of funding for infrastructure projects and new sources of employment for static labor markets. Chinese investors have proven an attractive option for cash-starved European companies and governments in need of investment, not just in the struggling southern European states and the still-developing East, but also in the economic giants of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

In their desire to paint an accurate picture of developing Chinese business practices, the authors largely miss the key drama of this story. After centuries of dominance in the global economy, where its companies could move into countries at will and completely dominate markets, Europe has found itself now a target for foreign investors. China, once the most visible examples of Western economic interference during the late nineteenth century, is now exploiting weak European domestic markets. Once endowed with almost unlimited economic power, Europe must now make sacrifices to make deals necessary for economic growth. In return for Chinese investment, control of former European industry stalwarts, for example Lenovo, Volvo, and Putzmeister, has been ceded to Chinese companies and management teams.

Advertisement

China is not the first economic force to hit Europe, as it has witnessed the dominance of the United States and the booms of Japan and South Korea before. But now the tide is not raising all boats. Rather than facing competitors with the strength of growing economies, Europe is facing China as the weaker party. Europe and China are heading in opposite economic directions, and investment deals are beginning to reflect that fact.

That is not to say that China's offensive is destined to succeed. The controversy surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States has shown that Europeans remain skeptical of globalization and the benefits of multinational investment. Public opinion of China's economic exploits will only further sour should Chinese companies attempt to skirt around labor and environmental standards. More importantly, as Le Corre and Sepulchre consistently point out throughout, the ability of Chinese investors to target Europe is dependent on their success in the Chinese domestic market and could easily be reversed if China's economy slows its rapid growth rate.

Le Corre and Sepulchre's book provides detailed descriptions of China's growing economic presence in Europe and its root causes in Chinese domestic economic policy. The authors fail, however, to adequately attribute the role of European economic weakness in this story and ignore the glaring historical context that makes this phenomenon so different from similar stories of Chinese intervention in other global markets. The authors dive deep into analyses of China's strength and weaknesses, but choose to ignore the European elephant in the room. Le Corre and Sepulchre provide many of the facts, but come up short in conveying the whole story of China's latest economic offensive.

David Wemer received an MA in European Union Politics from the London School of Economics and is the Washington D.C. Program Coordinator for the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College. David is also a Europe Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.

Advertisement
traveler1116 via Getty Images A Power Plant With Cooling Tanks From Gujarat, India

Despite China's strong opposition, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) has decided to meet again later this year to discuss the process of inclusion of countries like India, who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NSG had met in Seoul earlier this week.

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official told PTI.

Advertisement

According to NDTV, the suggestion for another meeting came from Mexico and was opposed by China. But those objections were set aside later.

Unnamed sources told NDTV that the meeting is likely to take place by the end of the year.

A panel headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi will hold informal consultations on India's membership, reported The Times of India.

As far as India is concerned we have already implemented all NPT provisions: Vikas Swarup, MEA pic.twitter.com/EYSWOHErwJ  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup told ANI that while India didn't get the desired result from the Seoul meet last week, the NSG membership process would 'take some time' to fructify.

Advertisement

"India is an important member of the nuclear comer club. We are building 38 reactors within the country. Every year more than 150 plus export licenses on nuclear-related items are issues by India. This itself tells the need of India to be inside the NSG. Our credentials on non proliferation speak for itself," Swarup said.

"India is building 38 nuclear reactors, and we issue over 150 export licenses for related items. This itself says that India needs to be in the NSG."

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite PM Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India had later accused 'one country'  a clear reference to China  of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.

(With agency inputs)

Also On HuffPost:
Vijay Mathur / Reuters The President of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajnath Singh speaks to his supporters after an interview with Reuters in New Delhi March 30, 2009. REUTERS/Vijay Mathur (INDIA POLITICS ELECTIONS IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India, a day after militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Kashmir killing 8 personnel, and said a central team will look into possible lapses which may have led to the incident.

He also said security forces have "standing orders" not to fire the first bullet, but "not count bullets while retaliating".

Advertisement

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

The team will look into the possible increase of cross border Infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."

Advertisement

Strongly condemning the militants, Mehbooba said,"They not only defame the state but I think they also bring discredit to the religion behind which they take shelter to perpetrate such acts."

"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Later addressing a function in Ranchi, Singh said India will win against terrorism.

"We will win against terrorism," he said addressing a BJP event where he voiced deep pain over yesterday's incident.

He recalled an order he had given after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers a-year-and-half ago.

Advertisement

"I told them we will not fire the first bullet, but when we come under attack don't count bullets while retaliating ....that standing order remains in force," he said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace "but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness".

He said the attack is a "fallout of frustration" as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from Pakistani side.

While suspecting that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) might not have been followed by the CRPF contingent yesterday, he said,"I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry."

Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to send a team to Pampore "to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents."

Advertisement

The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.
K-State opens competition for kicker

Kansas State coach Chris Klieman isn't giving up on kicker Chris Tennant, but he isn't giving him a free pass, either.
Imperial Valley News Center

NASA Brings Journey to Mars and Beyond to ESSENCE Festival

New Orleans, Louisiana - Visitors to the 2016 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans will have a chance to explore the universe through a range of activities, including first-ever festival stage presentations, during NASA Week, a celebration of space exploration to be held June 29-July 3, in conjunction with ESSENCE Festival, which begins June 30.

NASA activities include stage presentations by agency Administrator Charles Bolden and astronaut Victor Glover. Presentations at the Morial Convention Center, the main festival venue, include:

July 1 at 2:10 p.m. CDT: On the Shoulders of Giants  African American Pioneers in Our Nations Space Program. A three-person panel will discuss the historic role African Americans have played in the nations space exploration program on the Money and Power Stage.

July 2 at 2:10 p.m.: Reaching New Heights  A Conversation with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and NASA Astronaut Victor Glover. Bolden and Glover will discuss their careers and NASAs ongoing mission on the Money and Power Stage. Following the 20-minute panel discussion, Bolden will be available at the NASA booth from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. to greet visitors and sign autographs.

July 3 at 2:10 p.m.: Join the Mars Generation  Meet NASAs Rock Stars on the Journey to Mars and Beyond. Glover will join two NASA engineers on the Money and Power Stage for a discussion about NASAs progress on its Journey to Mars.

Visitors to the NASA booth in the Morial Convention Center can learn about NASAs Journey to Mars, the International Space Station, the economic significance of NASA, Earth science, the solar system and NASA-sponsored education initiatives. All NASA exhibits and presentations at the convention center are free to the public.

Glover will be available at the NASA booth to sign autographs from 1 to 3 p.m. July 1, 3 to 5 p.m. July 2, and 11 a.m. to noon July 3. On July 2, Glover also will sign autographs from 11 a.m. to noon at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, where NASA will host a variety of hands-on activities throughout the festival. Located on the second floor of the aquarium facility, the family-friendly activities are included in the price of admission to the aquarium.
Imperial Valley News Center

Drones Could Be Cheaper Alternative To Delivering Vaccines in Developing World

Baltimore, Maryland - Using unmanned drones to deliver vaccines in low- and middle-income countries may save money and improve vaccination rates, new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center suggests.

The cost savings would come from drones being able to deliver vaccines more quickly and cheaply than land-based methods limited by road conditions and the need for costly fuel and maintenance, the researchers note in their study, published June 20 in the journal Vaccine.

Many low- and middle-income countries are struggling to get lifesaving vaccines to people to keep them from getting sick or dying from preventable diseases, says senior author Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, an associate professor at the Bloomberg School and director of operations research at its International Vaccine Access Center. You make all these vaccines but theyre of no value if we dont get them to the people who need them. So there is an urgent need to find new, cost-effective ways to do this.

In low- and middle-income countries, there are many challenges faced by immunization programs, which provide childhood vaccines such as hepatitis B, tetanus, measles and rotavirus, and will be utilized in the future as vaccines for dengue, malaria and Zika are developed and brought to market. After entering a country, vaccine vials typically travel by road through two to four storage locations before arriving at clinics where health workers administer doses to patients. Most vaccines need to remain refrigerated until they are used or they will spoil. Non-vaccine costs of routine immunizations are expected to rise by 80 percent between 2010 and 2020, with more than one-third of costs attributable to supply chain logistics. Supply chain inefficiencies can mean that many vaccines dont even reach the people who need them.

Meanwhile, unmanned drones have proliferated in recent years because they can traverse difficult terrain, reduce labor costs and replace fleets of vehicles. They have been used for surveillance and in humanitarian aid delivery and are now being developed to transport medical samples and supplies, though previously little has been known whether this is a cost-effective use of the new technology.

For their study, Lee and his colleagues created a HERMES computer model to simulate a traditional land-based transportation system  a combination of trucks, motorbikes and public transit  and compared it with an unmanned drone system for delivering vaccines as part of an immunization program. Seattle-based non-governmental organization VillageReach helped provide data for the model. They varied characteristics such as geography, population, road conditions and vaccine schedule in order to assess which conditions would most contribute to drones offering the biggest cost savings.

They found that using drones to get vaccines to the last stop on their journey  vaccination locations  could slightly improve vaccine availability  potentially immunizing 96 percent of the target population as compared to 94 percent using land-based transport  while producing significant savings: eight cents for every dose administered (roughly a 20 percent savings). To save money, the drones would need to carry at least .4 liters of vaccines and the researchers say that the drones could carry at least 1.5 liters. If there were no flight delays for scheduled drone deliveries and the drones carried 1.5 liters, the researchers noted, each flight could cost up to $8.93 and annual infrastructure and overhead costs could cost up to $60,000 and still produce savings. As a comparison, the researchers studied the traditional land-based immunization system in Mozambique, which has achieved 94 percent vaccine coverage, but they note that many countries currently cover fewer than 60 percent of the population using land-based approaches.

Currently, in many locations, vehicles that transport vaccines arent always available or reliable, Lee says. Assuming that drones are reliable, are capable of making the necessary trips and have properly trained operators, they could be a less expensive means of transporting vaccines, especially in remote areas. They could be particularly valuable when there is more demand for certain vaccines than anticipated and immunization locations must place urgent orders.

While the computer models are good at theoretically analyzing the cost effectiveness of drone technology, the researchers say that real-world testing must be done to make certain that drones are a viable way to transport vaccines. And many obstacles may exist. Regulatory issues could limit the ability of drones to deliver goods and commodities. Maintaining and operating the equipment would require specialized tools and skills that may be difficult to access in these developing countries. Since no person would accompany a shipment, greater coordination would be needed between those shipping and those receiving the vaccines. Appropriate packing to maintain vaccine quality would need to be developed.

Drones are currently being tested for medical supply deliveries in rural Virginia, Bhutan and Papua New Guinea. UNICEF is testing the feasibility of using them to transport lab samples in Malawi. And in Tanzania, there are efforts afoot to transport blood and essential medications.

The Economic and Operational Value of Using Drones to Transport Vaccines was written by Leila A. Haidari, MPH; Shawn T. Brown, PhD; Marie Ferguson, MSPH; Emily Bancroft, MPH; Marie Spiker, MSPH; Allen Wilcox, JD; Ramya Ambikapathi, MHS; Vidya Sampath, MSPH; Diana L. Connor, MPH and Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA.

The research was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (RO1HS023317) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (UO1HD086861 and U54HD070725).
Outbreak Identified in Southern California, Vaccines Urged for At-Risk Adult Gay and Bisexual Men, and all People with HIV

Sacramento, California - California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith today issued a health advisory related to an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease occurring in Southern California, primarily among adult gay and bisexual men. Meningococcal disease is caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis and can cause meningitis and bloodstream infections (sepsis). Although rare, meningococcal disease is serious and potentially fatal.

Since the beginning of May, nine meningococcal disease cases have been identified in men living in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, most of whom were gay or bisexual men. One patient has died as a result of the infection. Six of the cases are known to be caused by a particular strain (serogroup C) of meningococcal bacteria and one other case is awaiting serogroup confirmation.



We are concerned that gay and bisexual men in Southern California may be at increased risk for meningococcal disease, said Dr. Smith. We encourage men who partner with other men to be aware of the risk of meningococcal disease and consider getting vaccinated.



Several outbreaks and clusters of serogroup C meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men have been reported in New York City, Los Angeles County, and Chicago since 2014. Similar outbreaks have also been reported recently in Europe. Many of the men affected by these outbreaks were infected with HIV.



HIV-infected people are at increased risk of contracting meningococcal disease. Because of this increased risk, the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommend this week that all HIV-infected persons aged 2 months and older be routinely vaccinated with the meningococcal vaccine that protects against serogroups A, C, W and Y disease (MenACWY).



Meningococcal bacteria are transmitted through close personal contact and can be spread from person to person by small droplets of respiratory secretions from the nose and throat. Gay and bisexual men may be at increased risk of meningococcal disease if they have close or intimate contact with multiple partners, regularly visit crowded venues such as bars and parties, or smoke cigarettes, marijuana or illegal drugs. State health officials urge all HIV-infected persons and gay and bisexual men who may be at increased risk for meningococcal disease to consider receiving MenACWY.



All HIV-infected adults should receive two doses of MenACWY. Gay and bisexual men who are at increased risk for meningococcal disease and are not HIV-infected should receive one dose of MenACWY vaccine. Those who have not been tested for HIV within the last year should be offered an HIV test along with vaccination. Adults may locate meningococcal vaccines in their area by using CDCs Adult Vaccine Finder.



Symptoms of meningococcal disease may include fever, vomiting, severe headache, stiff neck, confusion, rash and generalized muscle pains. The time from exposure to the start of symptoms is typically just a few days. People who experience these symptoms should seek medical care immediately.
Testosterone therapy: Potential benefits and risks as you age

Scottsdale, Arizona - The promise of testosterone therapy may seem enticing, but there are a lot of misconceptions about what the treatment can and can't do for you. As you get older, testosterone therapy may sound like the ultimate anti-aging formula.

Yet the health benefits of testosterone therapy for age-related decline in testosterone aren't as clear as they may seem. Find out what's known - and not known - about testosterone therapy for normal aging.

What is testosterone?

Testosterone is a hormone produced primarily in the testicles. Testosterone helps maintain men's:

Bone density

Fat distribution

Muscle strength and mass

Facial and body hair

Red blood cell production

Sex drive

Sperm production

What happens to testosterone levels with age?

Testosterone levels generally peak during adolescence and early adulthood. As you get older, your testosterone level gradually declines  typically about 1 percent a year after age 30 or 40. It is important to determine in older men if a low testosterone level is simply due to the decline of normal aging or if it is due to a disease (hypogonadism).

Hypogonadism is a disease in which the body is unable to produce normal amounts of testosterone due to a problem with the testicles or with the pituitary gland that controls the testicles. Testosterone replacement therapy can improve the signs and symptoms of low testosterone in these men. Doctors may prescribe testosterone as injections, pellets, patches or gels.

Does a naturally declining testosterone level cause the signs and symptoms of aging?

Not necessarily. Men can experience many signs and symptoms as they age. Some may occur as a result of lower testosterone levels and can include:

Changes in sexual function. This may include reduced sexual desire, fewer spontaneous erections  such as during sleep  and infertility.

Changes in sleep patterns. Sometimes low testosterone causes insomnia or other sleep disturbances.

Physical changes. Various physical changes are possible, including increased body fat, reduced muscle bulk and strength, and decreased bone density. Swollen or tender breasts (gynecomastia) and body hair loss are possible. You may have less energy than you used to.

Emotional changes. Low testosterone may contribute to a decrease in motivation or self-confidence. You may feel sad or depressed, or have trouble concentrating or remembering things.

Some of these signs and symptoms can be caused by various underlying factors, including medication side effects, obstructive sleep apnea, thyroid problems, diabetes and depression. It's also possible that these conditions may be the cause of low testosterone levels, and treatment of these problems may cause testosterone levels to rise. A blood test is the only way to diagnose a low testosterone level.

Can testosterone therapy promote youth and vitality?

Testosterone therapy can help reverse the effects of hypogonadism, but it's unclear whether testosterone therapy would have any benefit for older men who are otherwise healthy.

Although some men believe that taking testosterone medications may help them feel younger and more vigorous as they age, few rigorous studies have examined testosterone therapy in men who have healthy testosterone levels. And some small studies have revealed mixed results. For example, in one study healthy men who took testosterone medications increased muscle mass but didn't gain strength.

What are the risks of testosterone therapy for normal aging?

Testosterone therapy has various risks. For example, testosterone therapy may:

Contribute to sleep apnea  a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts

Cause acne or other skin reactions

Stimulate noncancerous growth of the prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) and growth of existing prostate cancer

Enlarge breasts

Limit sperm production or cause testicle shrinkage

Increase the risk of a blood clot forming in a deep vein (deep vein thrombosis), which could break loose, travel through your bloodstream and lodge in your lungs, blocking blood flow (pulmonary embolism)

In addition, testosterone therapy may impact your risk of heart disease. Research has had conflicting results, so the exact risk isn't clear yet.

Should you talk to your doctor about testosterone therapy?

If you wonder whether testosterone therapy might be right for you, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits. Your doctor will likely measure your testosterone levels at least twice before discussing whether testosterone therapy is an option for you.

A medical condition that leads to an unusual decline in testosterone may be a reason to take supplemental testosterone. However, treating normal aging with testosterone therapy is not currently advisable.

Your doctor will also likely suggest natural ways to boost testosterone, such as losing weight and increasing muscle mass through resistance exercise.
Mayo Clinic Introduces Precision Medicine in Psychiatry

Rochester, Minnesota - Mayo Clinic is highlighting the potential merits of using precision medicine in prescribing antidepressants. Details appear in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Eleven percent of Americans 12 years and older have been prescribed antidepressant medication, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 20052008. These medications are regularly prescribed in psychiatric, pediatric, adolescent, family and general medicine clinics nationwide.

Mark A. Frye, M.D., department chair of Psychiatry and Psychology at Mayo Clinic, recognizes there is increasing interest in individualizing treatment selection for more than 20 treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for major depressive disorder. By doing so, physicians may be able to provide greater precision to pharmacotherapy recommendations for individual patients beyond the large-scale, clinical trials evidence base.

The medical community continues to recognize that genetic variation may contribute to disparate patient reactions to drugs, Dr. Frye says. For example, some may experience adverse side effects, while others respond positively to the same drug. He says the different responses to pharmacotherapy provide a unique opportunity to develop pharmacogenetic guidelines for psychiatry.

These comments are reflected in an evidence review of other studies published in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. This review focuses on two major genetic tests that screen for pharmacokinetic metabolizing genes CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 - enzymes that metabolize selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).

Dr. Frye explains that using the electronic health record along with genetic testing results has the potential to further enable prescribers the ability to individualize treatment for their patients taking antidepressants.

Other authors of this study, all of Mayo Clinic, include:
El Centro Sector Border Patrol Arrests Man Convicted of Sexual Battery

Calexico, California - U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico station arrested a previously deported sex offender 18 miles east of the Calexico Port of Entry.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., agents observed a man walking north from the International Border fence. Upon making contact with the man, agents determined that he was illegally present in the United States. The man was placed under arrest and transported to the Calexico station for further processing.

Border Patrol agents conducted records checks which revealed the man, a 28-year-old Mexican national, was convicted of sexual battery and sentenced to one year confinement and 24 months probation in the State of Utah. The man was previously removed from the United States on Sept. 13, 2006.

I am proud of the great work Border Patrol agents demonstrated in stopping this previously deported convicted sex offender from further entry into the United States, said Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott. Their actions have kept our communities safe.

The man will be criminally prosecuted for Re-Entry After Removal as a convicted sex offender and is being held at the Imperial County Jail.

In fiscal year 2016, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents have arrested nine convicted sex offenders attempting to re-enter the United States after removal.

The El Centro Sectors Community Awareness Campaign is a simple and effective program to raise public awareness on the indicators of crime and other threats. We encourage public and private sector employees to remain vigilant and play a key role in keeping our country safe. Please report any suspicious activity to the Border Community Threat Hotline at 1-800-901-2003.
U.S. Cado Holdings, Inc. Recalls Imported Siluriformes Fish Products

Washington, DC - U.S. Cado Holdings, Inc., a Santa Anna, California establishment, is recalling approximately 2,235 pounds of imported, frozen Swai fillets products that were distributed into U.S. commerce without meeting federal importation requirements, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced.

The skinless and boneless Deltas Best Basa Swai Fillet items were produced and packed on March 1, 9, and 16, 2016, in Vietnam by Golden Quality Seafood Corporation. The following products are subject to recall:

15-lb. boxes containing individually wrapped pieces of Skinless and Boneless Swai Fillets with the label DELTAS BEST BASA BRAND and the lot number 023015 and 023021, and best by dates of 03-01-2018, 03-09-2018, and 03-16-2018.

The products subject to recall bear no plant number on the box, but do bear the lot number 023015 and 023021, and best by dates of 03-01-2018, 03-09-2018, and 03-16-2018. These items were shipped to retail locations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

The problem was discovered when U.S. Cado Holdings, Inc. notified FSIS personnel of Swai products entering U.S. commerce without meeting FSIS regulatory requirements for imported Siluriformes. The products were imported from Vietnam and failed to comply with FSIS requirements concerning residue sampling and testing prior to entry into United States commerce. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about a reaction should contact a healthcare provider.

Details of the first recall are: June 20, 2016  U.S. Cado Holdings, Inc., a Santa Anna, Calif. establishment, is recalling approximately 25,760 pounds of imported, frozen Swai fillets products that were distributed into U.S. commerce without meeting federal requirements, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced.

The skinless and boneless Sea Queen brand Swai Fillet items were produced and packed on March 30, 2016, in Vietnam by Golden Quality Seafood Corporation. The following products are subject to recall:

2-lb. (32-oz.) packages containing individually wrapped pieces of Skinless and Boneless Swai Fillets.

The products subject to recall bear plant number FN1158, lot number SW1601-02-16090, and have a best by date of March 30, 2018. These items were shipped to Aldi distribution centers in Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

The problem was discovered when the customer and import establishment notified FSIS personnel of Swai products entering U.S. commerce without meeting FSIS regulatory requirements for imported Siluriformes. The products were imported from Vietnam and failed to comply with FSIS requirements concerning residue sampling and testing prior to entry into United States commerce. There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about a reaction should contact a healthcare provider.

Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. Consumers and Media with questions about the recall can contact Paul Nguyen, U.S. Cado Holdings Inc., Manager, at (714) 973-2272.
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 }}

Oh my Gawd! Adele exclaims four songs into her Saturday night Pyramid Stage headline slot. This is the best moment of my whole f****** life! Biggest star in the country, meet the worlds biggest festival. Yet despite having won Oscars, Brit Awards, Grammys and being one of the very few artists whose records people actually pay for (remember that?), Adele admits she was too scared to previously take the plunge. Quite why is difficult to fathom: perhaps the nature of her multi-million selling material - emotive ballads and upbeat(ish) soul that is the equivalent of a drunken 3am text to your ex is, admittedly, hardly hands-in-the-air festival euphoric - but when she describes her songs as miserable onstage she underestimates their communal nature.

That is proved within seconds of opener Hello, whose soaring chorus is bellowed back in unison by a heaving field. Audience immediately onside, she disproves the old adage that the best Glastonbury headline sets tend to contain the element of spectacle: by contrast to Muses ostentatiousness last night, Adele is austere, with black and white visuals. It means the set relies predominantly on the very things that have propelled her to superstardom: her songs and that voice. When the latter takes flight, it is truly something to behold. Commanding yet never overdone in that flashy post-Mariah Carey way so beloved of TV talent show contestants, she is note perfect, always pitched right. The songs tread a similar path, and there are times when a break from the tried and tested formula would be welcome, an injection of Adeles personality - within minutes shes pulling young girls out of the crowd to chat and swearing like a trooper, flagrantly disregarding the BBCs warning about her potty mouth (I bet Muse didnt get that). But the likes of Skyfall and Rolling in the Deep show exactly why shes attained her status. Adele seized her big moment.

The 1975 are so big their second album knocked Adele off the top of the charts, yet its hard to think of a more divisive band at present: too pop for the indie kids, arguments over authenticity, that most sacred of rock n roll notions, still abound. But the indie boyband tag seems irrelevant when, as they prove on The Other Stage, they possess pop tunes that are not only sugar sweet, but tackle deceptively gritty subjects (drug abuse, adultery, working class Macclesfield life). The 80s gloss and jolty guitar lines occasionally give way to electronic fuzzes of noise but tunes like Shes American lodge in the brain. In frontman Matthew Healy, all good looks, hair and white suit, they have a star: his impassioned anti-Brexit address strikes a chord.

The sunny early evening Pyramid stage is the setting for Last Shadow Puppets, the work of Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys frontman and one of this generations most important rock stars, and Miles Kane, friend of Alex Turner. As ever with Turner, there are stunning moments, especially the ones that take Scott Walkers early work as a reference point. Yet enjoyment depends largely on how much you buy into Turners behaviour - he gyrates, gesticulates and puckers affectedly like the ghost of Elvis past - or how unedifying it seems that two men singing about male lust and sexual exploits have been called out for inappropriate behaviour (as Kane was by a female journalist). Not that Turner cares: his Give a Damn t-shirt says all about his current mindset.

Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Festival-goers arrive for the Glastonbury festival at the Worthy Farm site PA Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Festival-goers wearing matching tie die t-shirts do a star jump in front of the Glastonbury sign Rex Features Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Festival-goers relax and walk at the top of the hill over looking the tipi village, the Ribbon Tower and the Park Stage Rex Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Participants arrive for the Glastonbury Festival at the Worthy Farm site, Somerset, where heavy rain over a prolonged period has caused isolated flooding and muddy fields PA Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Members of the Shakti Sings National Choir sing during a procession from the Stone Circle to the Headling Field. The choir was formed to honour the earth through song Rex Features Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures A reveller carries her belongings after arriving at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival REUTERS Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Revellers set up their tent after arriving at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival REUTERS Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Participants arrive for the Glastonbury Festival at the Worthy Farm site PA Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Festival-goers arrive for the Glastonbury festival at the Worthy Farm site PA Glastonbury 2016 - in pictures Festival-goers arrive for the Glastonbury Festival at the Worthy Farm site PA

Wolf Alice frontwoman Ellie Rowsell admits halfway through the London four-pieces set that they once failed an audition for a Glastonbury Emerging Talent contest. What a difference five years makes: making their Pyramid Stage debut, the Mercury Prize nominated act ratchet up their dual 90s influences - grunge and shoegaze - in an explosive performance that veers between poise and power.

Up at The Park Cats Eyes - aka Faris Badwan of The Horrors and Canadian/Italian composer Rachel Zeffira - ease people from their hangovers with a midday take on 60s girl groups in a ramshackle but endearing set that concludes with a charmingly sweet cover of Cyndi Laupers Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
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 }}

Tim Minchin has hit back at the heavy criticism he received for weighing into the EU referendum debate.

The 40-year-old Australian comedian, who is best known for composing Matilda the Musical, has taken an anti-Brexit stance throughout the EU referendum. He has also been vocal about his opinions since it emerged that Britain had voted to leave the European Union.

But Twitter users rebuked him for joining in with the debate, arguing that he is not entitled to have an opinion because he is Australian.

Minchin was born in Northampton in England to Australian parents but was brought up in Perth in Western Australia. He studied at University in Australia but has also done a good deal of work in the UK, having appeared on TV in Australia, Britain and the US.

Hi Tim, I totally respect you as an individual and as a comedian. Are you not an Australian national though? #mindyourown, wrote one Twitter user.

EU referendum - in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 EU referendum - in pictures EU referendum - in pictures A woman in a wheelchair with British and European Union flags shows her support for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union on the day of the EU Referendum in Gibraltar Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures A polling station being used in the EU referendum at Batley Town Hall in the constituency Labour MP Jo Cox PA EU referendum - in pictures People arrive to vote in the EU Referendum at the Library where British MP Jo Cox was shot and fatally wounded last week in Birstall EPA EU referendum - in pictures A man arrives to vote at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London REUTERS EU referendum - in pictures Voters queue to enter a polling station at Trinity Church in Golders Green in London Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron leave after voting in the EU Referendum at Central Methodist Hall, Westminster Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn cast his vote at a polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Islington Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures Chelsea pensioners arrive at a polling station near to the Royal Chelsea Hospital PA EU referendum - in pictures A woman wearing an "I'm In" t-shirt, promoting the official "Remain" campaign, leaves a polling station in London AFP/Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures People queuing outside a polling station on Amott Road in London PA EU referendum - in pictures Scotland's First Minister and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell, react as leave after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall in east Glasgow AFP/Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures A man wearing a European themed cycling jersey leaves after voting at a polling station for the Referendum on the European Union in north London REUTERS EU referendum - in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage arrives to cast his vote at Cudham Church of England Primary School in Biggin Hill, Kent PA EU referendum - in pictures Justice Secretary and prominent 'Vote Leave' campaigner Michael Gove poses with his wife Sarah Vine after voting in the European Union referendum at their local polling station in Kensington Getty EU referendum - in pictures Nuns leave a polling station after voting in the EU Referendum in London EPA EU referendum - in pictures People arrive to cast their ballots in the EU Referendum in Gibraltar. The United Kingdom and its dependant territories are going to the polls to decide whether or not the the United Kingdom will remain in the European Union Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures A man driving a van covered in stickers urging people to vote for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union drives outside a polling station on the day of the EU Referendum in Gibraltar Getty Images EU referendum - in pictures A sign on a gable wall in Belfast's, Loyalist Tigers Bay urging voters to leave the EU using scripture from Revelation 18:4, as voters head to the polls across the UK in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave PA

While another said, nothing to do with you, cobber. The word cobber is an Australian colloquialism meaning friend or mate.

Minchin has now responded to criticism, explaining that he pays British tax and contributes a great deal to the British economy.

For the d***heads: I am a UK born UK citizen, pay huge UK tax, my work helps employ hundreds of Brits & pumps millions into your economy, he wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

I was responding to people saying none of your business Australian c*** etc, he added.

Born Northhampton. Minchins from Minchinhampton approx 700AD. I contribute to your culture & economy. Suck my english balls, Minchin also said on Friday.
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 recently published recording reveals that Michael Jackson reportedly felt animosity towards Prince and predicted his premature death.

In the newly unearthed tapes, Jackson reportedly said Prince had been mean and nasty to his family.

Jackson and Prince competed for supremacy in the pop charts during the 1980s, fuelling their unspoken secret feud.

The tapes obtained by The Mirror were recorded three decades ago for Princes 1988 autobiography Moonwalker.

I dont like to be compared to Prince at all. I have proven myself since I was real little. Its not fair, Jackson said.

Prince - A Life in Pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince Rogers Nelson, known by his mononym Prince, who has died at the age of 57 at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota PA Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince performs in concert at Riverfront Coliseum during his Purple Rain Tour in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 22nd, 1985 AP Prince - A Life in Pictures US singer and musician Prince performing on stage at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris on June 30th 2011 AFP / Getty Prince - A Life in Pictures US musician Prince performing on the Stravinski Hall stage during the 47th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland on 21 April, 2013 EPA Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince performs during the 'Pepsi Halftime Show' at Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007 2007 Getty Images Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince plays during a press conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center, February 1st, 2007 AP Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince performs during the second day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California on April 26th 2008 AP Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince performs before a sold-out audience, in Houston on January 11th 1985 AP Prince - A Life in Pictures Musician Prince gestures on stage during the Apollo Theatre's 75th anniversary gala in New York, June 8, 2009 Reuters Prince - A Life in Pictures Prince Rogers Nelson, known by his mononym Prince, who has died at the age of 57 at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota PA

He feels like Im his opponent. I hope he changes because boy, hes gonna get hurt. Hes the type that might commit suicide or something.

Recommended Read more Prince found dead at recording studio

Prince was found dead in his Minnesota home in April at the age of 57. At the beginning of June it was announced he had died of an opoid overdose, something which many had suspected.

He was so rude, one of rudest people I have ever met," Jackson also said in the recordings.

"Prince is very competitive. He has been very mean and nasty to my family.

Jackson mocked Prince for falling into the crowd after mistaking a papier mache stage lamppost for a real one at a James Brown tribute show in 1983 in Los Angeles.

He made a fool of himself. He was a joke. People were running and screaming. I was so embarrassed. It was all on video.

Jackson was mourned by his family on Saturday (25 June), seven years after he died at the age of 50. Jackson went into cardiac arrest after overdosing on sedatives.
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 who travelled 100 miles to rape a 12-year-old girl after blackmailing her online has been jailed for six years.

Mark Greenall, 26, bombarded his victim with a relentless tsunami of requests for her to send indecent images of herself after they met in an online chatroom and exchanged numbers.

He initially encouraged her to send him some indecent photographs after he offered to send her presents but his demands became more and more extreme.

When she refused to send him pictures of herself in her underwear or topless he threatened to print out the images she had already sent and give them to her classmates.

Greenall then began to pressure her into having sex with him. When she tried to refuse he posted a topless picture of her on a website - sending her a screengrab to show he was serious.

He also threatened to kill himself unless she gave in - falsely claiming to have taken an overdose because of her.

When she eventually agreed, he travelled from his home in Liverpool to Nuneaton in Warwickshire to rape the girl in a hotel room.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA

Prosecutor Delroy Henry told Warwick Crown Court there were over 2,000 pages of texts between Greenall and his victim.

Around 80 pages containing messages of a sexual nature which were "very graphic and very detailed".

Mr Henry said: "She had told her mother she was staying at a friend's house, a lie he had encouraged her to tell, and they checked into room 418 where they spent the night together.

"He undressed her and raped her both orally and vaginally and the next morning he asked her for sex again, and they embarked on intercourse before showering together and getting dressed and leaving the hotel room."

Greenall was eventually caught after the girls mother saw a Facebook message saying the victim was no longer a virgin because she slept with her boyfriend in a hotel, Mirror Online reports.

He was identified from CCTV footage at the hotel and a credit card he had used to pay for the room. He pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one of oral rape.

His defence barrister, Charles Crinnion, said his client had begun using the internet to find relationships with young girls because he had been mistreated by women his own age.
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 butcher has begun selling meat using the imperial system, following the UKs decision to leave the European Union.

It was because of an EU law that the UK formally adopted the metric system.

But Grattons Butchers in Barnstable, Devon, is now giving customers the choice of pounds and ounces or grams and kilograms.

Recommended Read more Only two days since Brexit vote and the broken promises are mounting

"It seems like in North Devon everyone's for it, Darren Gratton told The Sun. I think it will be better for local farmers.

Mr Gratton said he could work with both systems.

The move has been popular among his customers who voted for Brexit: All the customers wanted it back in pounds, Mr Gratton said.

The next step is to speak to North Devon Council and if they say we can go back to pounds and ounces then we will do.

The decision was praised beyond the town. On Facebook, Chrissie Sheldon said: You guys (and girls) are my absolute heros. I have been banging on for weeks about how our traditions changed against our wishes just so that we could go into the common market. It all ends here! I wish I lived in Barnstaple, I'd come and give you a big hug!

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

However, there was also some criticism. I have one question for you, wrote Gareth Scanlan. Will you change your system when all these pensioners who voted out pass away? SHAME ON YOU!

Despite the reported local popularity, full conversion to imperial across the UK is unlikely to catch on as the EU-enforced law stipulating the metric system for all commercial came into effect in 1995.

That means there are many young people born after this legislation was enacted who had no need to learn the imperial system and have now left school.

The UK Metric Association, a campaign group formed to educate the public on the benefits of the metric system, has said the main reasons for using the modern system are because it is easy to use, powerful and wide ranging, a world standard and a proper system.
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 }}

More than a hundred incidents of racial abuse and hate crime have been reported since the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Many of the alleged perpetrators cited the decision to leave the EU explicitly.

One video, purportedly filmed in Hackney on the morning after the referendum, shows a man arguing with someone in a car before yelling: Go back to your country.

A Facebook album entitled "Worrying Signs" has been created to document alleged incidents in which people have been targeted with xenophobic comments.

One Twitter post by Kirsty Allan reports one Italian person being assaulted simply for asking someone how they voted in the EU referendum.

Abuse has been documented against those from within the EU - but also those from outside the union and those born in the UK.

Agata Brzezniak came to the UK on a scholarship from Poland when she was 17. She is now studying for a PhD in chemistry.

She has lived in the UK for eight years and told The Independent: "I have made the UK my home, it is where I have felt safe and appreciated

 5 things we learned from a night that shook Europe

"[Like] many Polish people in the country I feared the EU referendum result would cause an increase in intolerance, discrimination and racism, but I didnt think it would become so aggressive and be so immediate."

A few hours after the announcement of the referendum, she says she was approached by a woman who asked her if she was Polish. When she said she was, she said the woman told her to be "scared" and that she must get a visa if she wanted to stay in "her" country.

"The vicious smile and the way she looked at me brought me to tears," said Ms Brzezniak.

In Huntington, Cambridgeshire, there have been reports of signs saying Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin posted through the letter boxes of Polish families on the day of the referendum result.

Local media reported the cards were also distributed outside primary schools. One Polish student said he felt really sad when he discovered the sign carrying the xenophobic message.

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

The cards were distributed in both English and Polish.

Cambridgeshire Police urged people to come forward if they know anything about the source of the notices.

In west London, the Polish and Social Cultural Association was vandalised with suspected racist graffiti on Sunday morning.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating what it has called "racially motivated criminal damage".

The alleged hate crimes occur just as Conservative Party chairwoman, Baroness Warsi, comes out against the "divisive and xenophobic" Brexit campaign.

Ms Warsi, who stopped backing Leave in favour of Remain because of the "lies and hate" spread the Brexit movement, said the campaign had left behind hostility and intolerance.

"I've spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it's time for you to leave.

"And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good."

Labour MP Jess Phillips said she would put forward a question to Parliament to find out how many incidents of racial hatred have been reported over the weekend compared to before the referendum.

Sarah Childs is one of the creators of the Facebook page documenting alleged incidents.

She told The Independent: "We have a lot of people asking us to just move on from the referendum result, but the people affected by these incidents can't move on while this is happening."
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 gay police officer got down on one knee in the middle of the London Pride parade and proposed to his partner.

A policeman kisses his fiance after proposing to him during the Pride in London parade, as it makes its way through the streets of central London. (PA)

The Met Police LGBT network  launched this week ahead of the Pride march  tweeted a photo of the poignant moment alongside the caption he said yes.

Just minutes after posting the first photo, the LGBT Network posted a second, showing one male police officer proposing to another, captioned he said yes too.

Around 80 met officers marched in the London Pride parade today, as a show of support to LGBT communities.

The Met Police LGBT Network was set up to embrace workplace difference, helping to demonstrate the diversity of the Met and its officers and staff.

This [the Network] is a culmination of two years work, which started with a conversation over coffee in Berlin at the European Gay Police Association conference in 2014, said PC Anton Brown, chair of the Network.

"The new staff association will represent LGBT matters in the Met, promoting recruitment and delivering training to LGBT liaison officers.

It will also provide access to local and national events, promote reporting and provide support to members who have suffered LGBT crimes or bullying.
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 }}

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a London Stays rally in Trafalgar Square to protest the EU referendum result.

More than 35,000 have signed up to attend the event on Tuesday 28 June.

The UK voted 51.9 per cent in favour of leaving the European Union.

The capital, however, voted strongly for staying in the EU, with 28 boroughs backing Remain and only five boroughs supporting Brexit.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he believes Britain "can survive and prosper outside the European Union", as he called for calm after the vote.

"I want to send a clear message to the British people and to businesses and investors around the world this morning: there is no need to panic," he said in a statement.

 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you

Organisers have called on attendees to bring native flags, national dress, music and "anything else that promotes connectness".

The group wrote on their Facebook page:"London comes together to stay connected, and the European love affair continues.

"London Stays is our mark of showing that, regardless of the EU referendum result, we stand alongside the people of Europe to show we are inclusive, open and patient to understanding how we can make the Leave decision into a positive one for all. We stay with Europe!

"If youre outside of London wed love for you to join us in your own towns and cities  heres to Manchester Stays, Fort William Stays, Berlin Stays, and further afield."

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

Following 43 years in the EU, the British electorate chose Brexit after a turnout of 71.8 per cent.

With more than 30 million voting, this is the highest turnout at nationwide vote since 1992.

England and Wales voted strongly for Brexit while Scotland and Northern Ireland supported Remain.

In Scotland, 62 per cent voted to remain with 55.8 per cent voting that way in Northern Ireland.

England voted 53.4 per cent to leave the EU with 52.5 per cent in Wales also voting for Brexit.
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 }}

Conservative in-fighting has continued as Small Business Minister Anna Soubry took a public swipe at Boris Johnson following the outcome of the EU referendum.

Ms Soubry, a Remain campaigner, accused Mr Johnson of historically supporting British EU membership and said he backed Brexit because of his ambition to to be prime minister.

"My anger with Boris is that I don't honestly believe that he believed what he was saying to people," she told Channel Four News.

Recommended Read more Boris Johnson launches pitch to be PM that leads Britain out of Europe

The minister, who attends Cabinet, added: "Because, you know in all the newspaper columns that he has ever written, he has never said 'l'm for Out', and he positively told people - people like Nicholas Soames - 'I'm no Outer', and when I confronted him with all of this, all he'll ever say to me is 'It'll be all right, it will all be all right'.

"And do you know what I think? I think he didn't think that they would win. That's why it was all going to be all right, but for his own interests - wanting to be prime minister - he went for Leave, because it would serve him in his leadership ambitions.

"And I am cross about that because this issue was bigger than any one person. It was about my children, our children's future, and our grandchildren's future, and now they are seeing the consequences, as we warned them, as we said, come to reality."

Ms Soubry also accused Justice Secretary Michael Gove of not putting the national interest, or loyalty to David Cameron, ahead of his concerns on sovereignty, as other Cabinet members did.

The MP for Broxtowe has expressed dismay at the xenophobic feelings aroused during the referendum. In a different interview, she said she was worried that the referendum has unleashed something and the overlying tolerance has been removed from Britain.

She told the BBC:"I am an East Midlands girl through and through and I have seen stuff, I have heard stuff that I have not heard since I was a student in Dalston back in the late 1970s."

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

"I have seen people thinking that it's acceptable not only to shout traitor at you, but to stand and say I am voting Out because I want these immigrants out."

However, she was also criticised locally for blaming white working class voters who had probably never even seen a migrant.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The next Prime Minister must be a backer of Brexit, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has said, as a number of leading Conservatives geared up to be the Stop Boris candidate in the leadership election triggered by David Camerons bombshell resignation.

Theresa May, Stephen Crabb, Nicky Morgan and Jeremy Hunt were all reported to be considering leadership challenges. Boris Johnson, who is expected to announce his candidacy later this week, is seen as the favourite, but could face a further challenge from fellow Leave supporters.

Follow the latest live updates after the EU referendum

Ex-Defence Secretary Liam Fox, an ardent Brexit campaigner, became the first to publicly say he was considering a leadership bid and there is also speculation that Michael Gove could challenge for the top job.

But there were also calls for the Conservatives not to have a leadership contest at all. International Development Secretary Justine Greening said that Boris Johnson and Theresa May were the obvious frontrunners and should unite in the national interest, with a joint leadership under one or the other.

But in an apparent warning to pro-Remain colleagues thinking of running for the leadership, Mr Duncan Smith, the former Work and Pensions Secretary, said that after voting for Brexit, the public would be unlikely to accept a new Prime Minister who had wanted Britain to stay in the EU.

Home Secretary Theresa May backed Remain but kept a low profile during the campaign. Meanwhile, George Osborne, who until Thursday was considered a leading contender for the Tory leadership, may still run, but would face an uphill struggle to convince MPs and party members, because of his central role in arguing against Brexit.

"Whoever takes up that job... it would be very, very difficult for the public who have voted for leaving the European Union to find that they then had a prime minister who actually was opposed to leaving the European Union, Mr Duncan Smith told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"There was a clear decision, and what has to happen is delivery on that, and somebody who has been involved in that clearly has to be the case, because the Government itself had a view... which was to Remain, so now we need to change that position and actually deliver on this very clear mandate form the British people."

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

His comments were at odds with Ms Greenings call for a May-Johnson unity leadership. In an article for ConservativeHome she said: A leadership contest now is not in the interests of our country. It will mean our party focuses inward  at the very time our country most needs us to focus outward.

Instead of a leadership contest which could take weeks and months, Boris and Theresa should agree to forge a deal which means they are a united leadership, under one or the other: a united leadership that for the sake of unity I hope the rest of our party could support.

Despite their victory Mr Johnson and Mr Gove have made no public statements since their initial response to the referendum result on Friday.

 Who will replace David Cameron?

With the government under pressure from European leaders to trigger Article 50 immediately  placing the UK formally into the two-year process of withdrawing from the EU  the leaders of the Brexit campaign faced calls to take responsibility and lead Britains negotiations with Brussels.

Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, who lamented the Brexit vote, saying the country had been sold a fools promise, said that Mr Johnson, Mr Gove and UKIP leader Nigel Farage must be in charge of negotiations, so that they would have no-one else to blame in the event of an adverse economic outcome for Britain.

"It is essential that the negotiations are conducted by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage, the architects of this policy, he said. "Any other negotiating team will produce claims that those three would have achieved a better result and during the negotiations they will excuse any deterioration in Britain's position as a failure of the negotiators.

"They must be in charge and seen to be in charge.

He warned that the situation for industry and commerce was "deteriorating day by day" with investment decisions being postponed because of uncertainty about what kind of settlement Britain will get from the EU.

The foreign ministers of the six founding EU member states have said Britain must activate Article 50 urgently to avoid prolonged uncertainty and instability, and to allow the EU to move on with a process of reform. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry will come to London for talks with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, and will also visit Brussels. Mr Kerry has urged both sides to handle the negotiations responsibly to minimise the impact on the markets.

Mr Hammond said that UK should not bow to pressure to begin formal talks with Brussels right away. But he said that any settlement that included a loss of access to European single market would be catastrophic and said that the government would have to be willing to sacrifice some control over immigration in order to retain access.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The Government does not need to send a formal letter to European Union leaders in order to begin the UKs withdrawal from the bloc, EU officials have said.

EU leaders are anxious that the Brexit process should start rapidly following the UKs referendum, which resulted in a vote to leave the union and the subsequent resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, who had led the remain campaign.

Follow the latest live updates

Mr Camerons decision to delay the process and let his successor handle the ramifications of a Brexit has generated frustration among EU leaders, who are now determined to push the UK for a swift termination of Britains membership.

EU officials now say triggering Britains exit may be done simply by Mr Cameron confirming the will of the British people at the European Council, which he is due to attend next week.

'Triggering' ... could either be a letter to the president of the European Council or an official statement at a meeting of the European Council duly noted in the official records of the meeting, a spokesman for the council of EU leaders told Reuters.

It doesn't have to be written. He can just say it, another said.

 5 things we learned from a night that shook Europe

In his resignation statement following the vote to leave the EU, Mr Cameron said: A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and I think it is right that this new Prime Minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.

Mr Cameron will attend the European Council in Brussels on Tuesday to inform the other 27 national leaders of the outcome of the referendum.

However, a council spokesman said Mr Cameron must be explicit that he is triggering Britains exit, if he wishes to formally begin proceedings.

He said: The notification of Article 50 is a formal act and has to be done by the British government to the European Council.

It has to be done in an unequivocal manner with the explicit intent to trigger Article 50."

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

He added: Negotiations of leaving and the future relationship can only begin after such a formal notification. If it is indeed the intention of the British government to leave the EU, it is therefore in its interest to notify as soon as possible.
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 }}

Promises on NHS spending will not be met, EU immigration may not be controlled and leaving the EU could take several years are among a series of claims made by leading Brexit campaigners in the hours following the nations shock decision to leave the EU.

A lot of things were said in advance of this referendum that we might want to think about again, said the Conservative former Defence Minister Liam Fox.

He has suggested Article 50, the provision by which a country leaves the European Union, should not be triggered straight away. From the moment that occurs, the UK would have two years to leave the EU. I think it doesnt make any sense to trigger Article 50 without having a period of reflection first, for the cabinet to determine exactly what it is were going to be seeking and in what timescale.

 Iain Duncan Smiths breaks 350 million NHS promise after Brexit

The Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan told Newsnight that EU immigration would continue if the UK wanted to retain membership of the single market, a course of action he himself advocates. Frankly, if people watching think they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the EU, they are going to be disappointed, he said. All we are asking for is some control over roughly who comes in and roughly in what numbers.

Last Friday morning, Nigel Farage also told Good Morning Britain that the claim written on the side of the Vote Leave Battle Bus  that leaving the EU would release 350m a week that could be spent on the NHS  was "a mistake". "It wasnt one of my adverts," he said.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The blame game for losing the EU referendum has begun as senior figures in the Remain campaign accused Downing Street of arrogance and timidity, while David Camerons allies pointed the finger at Jeremy Corbyn's failure to convince many traditional Labour supporters to vote In.

An inquest into the Remain camps catastrophic defeat is underway amid bitter recriminations. Insiders in the cross-party Britain Stronger in Europe (BSE) campaign have told The Independent that Number 10 made a series of disastrous mistakes, and that Jeremy Corbyns office neutered their efforts by preventing Labour playing a full part.

The shock of defeat for the Remain camp was all the greater because on the morning of Thursdays referendum it believed it would win by between five and eight points. That was the forecast made by its pollster Andrew Cooper and Jim Messina, the American former strategist to Barack Obama who helped Cameron win his general election victory last year.

It was extraordinary that they failed to pick up the depth of anti-EU sentiment, said one Remain source. We knew we had problems in the North East, Yorkshire and Wales, but we had no idea of the scale of it. With hindsight, the warning signs were there, but we didnt act on them. The failure of intelligence led to a reluctance to speak about immigration, which became a crucial vote-winner for the rival Leave camp. Remains internal polling showed that Camerons plan to delay EU migrants full access to benefits for four years was popular  but that most voters did not know about it.

Early in the battle, Camerons operation considered running its own campaign. Will Straw, BSEs director, worked hard to head off the threat in order to maintain a cross-party effort. But the price was that Downing Street often called the shots.

Remain sources claimed that Cameron and George Osborne were scared off by the hostile reaction to the Chancellors warning that Brexit would every household losing 4,300 a year. Remain was ordered not to repeat it -- in a sharp contrast with the Leave camp, which stuck rigidly to its equally controversial claim that Brexit would save taxpayers 350m a week.

 Brexit - Some Leave voters are regretting their vote

Number 10 was guilty of timidity and arrogance, said one Remain source. It wanted to repeat the campaign on the economy in the [2014] Scottish referendum and the general election. Its simple message worked then but the EU referendum was more complicated and needed a more nuanced one.

Remain leaders believe they made a big mistake by not explaining to voters the benefits of the EU single market, which should have been integral to a campaign based on the economy. They say that the public's vague sense that the EU was good for the economy was trumped by their anxiety about immigration.

Number 10 also stopped Remain from launching hard-hitting attacks on Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the leaders of the Leave effort, another insider claimed. Instead, it orchestrated its own criticism through Sir John Major, the former Prime Minister.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

Remain leaders claim that Camerons team was reluctant to allow Labour voices to take centre stage. Although a Labour week was earmarked two weeks before the referendum and there were speeches by Gordon Brown and Corbyn, on day three Osborne presented his much-criticised Brexit Budget and the following day Cameron was the main player.

However, In campaigners are equally critical of the Labour leadership. They claimed Corbyns office refused to allow Labour Party Headquarters to work closely with Remain; banned Labour politicians using material and pro-EU arguments drawn up by the campaign and stopped Labour figures appearing at events organised by Remain platform even though they would have secured prominent media coverage. When Remain allocated Corbyn space in its day-to-day battle plan, he did not deliver  for example, by not making a speech as planned and instead issuing a bland written statement that secured little media attention.

Team Corbyn took the view that we [at Remain] were all Tories, said a Labour figure involved in Remain. It was clear that Corbyns heart wasnt in it. In my view, he wont be upset at the referendum result. Corbyn aides deny that he made only a half-hearted effort and insist that he wanted Britain to remain in the EU.

Cameron allies dismissed the charge of timidity and arrogance. One said: Remain was very much a cross-party effort involving Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat people who worked well together. It was based on the research we had, not Number 10's view. Our economic message was right but it did not cut through because most newspapers filtered it out. It wasnt timid; we were pilloried for running Project Fear. Its true that we didnt want personal attacks because that would have just fuelled headlines about Tory wars.

He added: A lot of Labour people in BSE and Labour In for Britain worked very hard but struggled against a leadership that was not interested. We knew with four weeks to go that Labour voters were flooding to Leave. The key people who could have stopped that were Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.
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 }}

Known locally as the precinct, Salford Shopping Centre has, for many years, been at the centre of a close-knit community. Home to a particularly depressing concentration of pawnshops and payday lenders, the immediate area is dotted with dozens of high-rise flats and cars decorated in the St Georges flag. A large majority of residents in this area voted to leave the European Union on Friday in a historic referendum that stunned the nations political class.

Carol, a 70-year-old cleaner at the precinct, takes a short break from pushing her trolley to explain that she voted to leave the union because of immigration.

Theres too many of them, she added. Well have to wait and see what happens now  see what Nigel [Farage] does.

Recommended Read more EU threats to make an example of Britain are counterproductive

Like many of the post-industrial urban cities Salford voted by a large majority for Brexit with the Leave campaign securing a comfortable victory of 62,385 votes to Remains 47,430. Over 63 per cent of the residents here turned out to vote. In this Labour heartland it is the first time in decades many of the voters felt their ballot papers actually held any significant political clout.

In the immediate area Tameside, Rochdale, Oldham, Wigan, Bolton and Bury all voted to Leave while just Manchester, Stockport and Trafford placed faith in the EU.

Threats of a recession and economic Armageddon from Downing Street appeared to have little, if any, resonance with the discontented working-class here. For the people who have nothing  who have bore the brunt of the government's austerity drive over the last six years  they are more than willing to take a leap in the dark for a chance of a better life.

I would like to say on behalf of Leave we all know that there may be tough times ahead, said one woman who works as sales assistant at Marks & Spencers. In my 53 years Ive had my fair share of them and they are not nice. Tough times make you unable to sleep, cry yourself to sleep, panic about everything  horrible.

But tough times also mean coming out on the other side  which we will  feeling stronger and able to deal with whatever life throws at us. We are a nation of strong hardworking and proud people. Do not call us morons or idiots. As a person who has nearly hit rock bottom but pulled myself up again Im prepared to do it again for a better society.

For others, it was the chance to give those in Westminster a bloody nose. Steve Walsh, a 49-year-old unemployed Salford resident who voted Leave, said: As for the parties themselves  at the end of the day, they are all for themselves. No matter who you have in theyll want to do things their way.

A couple of residents added that Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, had failed to convince them. One woman who works in catering at the Langworth community centre said that she wasnt supporting Labour at the moment because of Jeremy Corbyn.

He wasnt strong enough, he wasnt passionate. One of the reasons that swayed me was we had the likes of Bob Geldof and Eddie Izard all being crackers. It was a democratic vote, Im sorry.

55-year-old David Lloyd, who works for the local council, voted to Remain said he was stunned when the results flashed up on his television set when he woke up on the Friday morning. It was probably down to the immigrant thing they kept banging on about, he added.

Asked whether the Labour leader had any influence, he responded: Well, obviously not. I mean, I know he did a good speech about protecting workers rights but it wasnt enough obviously.

Propaganda from Leave campaigners  especially a map highlighting how the EU will share a border with Syria if Turkey gains membership  also appeared to have had some impact. One 25-year-old man simply said he voted out to stop Turkey joining the EU. Its next to Syria and Iraqwhere the terrorists mainly come from.

On a cigarette break, a store manager who voted to Remain seemed convinced many of those who voted to Leave did so because they were convinced of Turkeys future accession to the EU. Turkey was important, obviously, as it borders with Syria, he added.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

But among the myriad of reasons residents voted to Leave the EU, immigration appears to have been the most prevalent issue on voters minds when they headed to the polling stations on 23 June. An issue exploited by the various Leave campaigns in divisive rhetoric and Nigel Farages Breaking Point poster showing a vast queue of refugees on the Slovenian border stretching into the distance.

Take a look at this area, said a 54-year-old woman pointing at a primary school less than 100 yards from her house in Seedley. My grandkids cant get in that school. I wait four weeks at the doctors for an appointment and its just the same all over. I think its immigration  Im not racist.

Echoing her sentiment, a retired 66-year-old resident, added: Particularly in this area, there are a lot of immigrants. Our children are having problems getting places in schools. Another shopper added: I believe things will get better again. We need our borders closing, with higher security. I am sick of being dictated to by Brussels  we need to make our own laws in our own country as we see fit.
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 }}

Just a few days before the EU referendum  on June 19 and 20  we carried out an internet survey of the electorate in Britain and asked more than 2,100 people how they were planning to vote.

Some 49% of respondents planned to vote to stay in the EU, with 51% to leave (the result was 49% remain and 52% leave among likely voters). Given that 48% opted to remain and 52% to leave in the actual referendum vote, the survey provided a fairly accurate picture of what happened.

Follow the latest live updates

One of the biggest questions since the vote has been why older people were more inclined to vote to leave than younger generations. We found a similar pattern in our survey and may be able to offer some insight into this matter.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

It has been argued that attitudes towards the EU are driven by calculations that people make about the costs and benefits of membership, both for themselves and the country as a whole. Their sense of identity plays a role in all of this, as does who they listen to when making a decision.

Who do you think you are?

National identity is a powerful force in all this  and it comes into play when thinking about why older people seemed more inclined to vote to leave the EU.

When asked a question about whether they feel British, English, Scottish, Welsh or something else, respondents in our survey north of the border were likely to say they were Scottish rather than British. But a change is also occurring south of the border as well. Many people said they were English rather than British.

The majority of people who identified as British opted for remaining, while the people who identified as English were strong supporters of Brexit.

Importantly, no less than 44% of over 65s think of themselves as English but only 21% of the under 26s think this way. Perceptions of being English increase with age, and this is one of the reasons why older people supported Brexit. In the survey 21% of people below the age of 26 voted for Brexit compared with 69% of people over the age of 65.

 5 things we learned from a night that shook Europe

Another aspect of identity politics relates to the immigration issue, which played a really important role in the referendum. Some 52% of all respondents thought immigration would be better controlled outside the EU and only 3% thought it would be worse.

The immigration issue is primarily about threats to identity and culture resulting from people coming into the country without any apparent controls. Most people saw Brexit as a way of tackling that  which trumped economic concerns.

National or global?

When it comes to the costs and benefits of the EU, perceptions vary according to whether or not you are someone who wins or loses in the global system. Our survey showed 64% of graduates were planning to vote to remain compared with only 25% of people with no formal qualifications at all.

Some 58% of people in professional and higher management jobs wanted to remain compared with only 27% of people in unskilled jobs. Not surprisingly, high-status individuals with marketable skills favour UK membership of the EU, whereas people who lack these skills and are vulnerable in the labour market are opposed.

The same applies across the regions of the country. People in relatively prosperous regions such as London supported remain, whereas people in poorer areas such as the North-East of England opted to leave. The evidence is pretty clear that reducing tariff barriers and harmonising regulations across countries stimulates trade and creates jobs and prosperity. But if most of the gains from this go to the affluent and skilled and many of the rest are left behind, then the losers in the globalisation process will challenge the whole idea.

PA

By analysing the referendums that took place in Europe during the 1990s to decided whether Europe should integrate more closely, we can see similar themes at play. These votes on the Maastricht Treaty were best interpreted as public reactions to short-term, national and domestic issues rather to long-term considerations about the future of the European Union.

Voters mix up domestic politics with those of the European Union. The relative unpopularity of national governments led to the rejection of the Maastricht Treaty in Denmark and the near-rejection of it in France. This contrasted with the vote in Ireland, which had a much more popular government at the time, and where the referendum passed easily.

It seems attitudes to EU integration are closely tied to domestic issues. So the austerity pursued by the British government after the 2010 general election has implications for the referendum vote.

Since 2010 the government has systematically reduced funding for deprived areas of Britain. It is a safe bet that when the government started cutting the budgets for deprived communities in the North of England, it did not realise the decision would come back to bite them in the form of a large vote to leave the European Union.

Who do you hear?

The final factor relates to who people listen to when making up their minds. Much of the comment during the campaign focused on David Camerons failure to persuade Conservative voters and Jeremy Corbyns failure to persuade Labour voters to vote for Remain.

However, the evidence suggests that this was a much bigger problem for the prime minister than for the Labour leader. Some 62% of respondents in our study who think of themselves as Conservative supporters said they would vote to leave, compared with only 27% of Labour party supporters.

We also found that 36% of Scots who identified as SNP supporters were in favour of Brexit  even though party leader Nicola Sturgeon is staunchly for remaining  and plans to push for Scotland to continue to be part of the EU. So its far from true that Scottish Nationalists uniformly supported the SNP line. If Sturgeons aim is to leave Britain in order to join the European Union, it may not be a walk on the park.

Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex and Harold D Clarke, Ashbel Smith Professor, University of Texas at Dallas

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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 }}

Jeremy Corbyn now faces the fight of his life to hold to his job as Labour leader, only nine months after winning an overwhelming mandate from party members with almost 60 per cent of the vote.

Fewer than 20 of Labours 230 MPs backed him, and so it was only a matter of time before the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) tried to remove him. His critics were split between those, like Hilary Benn and Heidi Alexander, who agreed to serve in the Shadow Cabinet and other refuseniks like the defeated leadership candidate Yvette Cooper, who went to the backbenches.

Jeremy Corbyn's leadership was backed by fewer than 20 of Labours 230 MPs (Getty Images) (Getty)

Follow the latest live updates

A mass resignation from the Shadow Cabinet was always a powerful weapon in the locker of Corbyns critics. They almost deployed it during last autumns debate over whether to extend air strikes against Isis to Syria, but Corbyn headed off a walkout by conceding a free vote.

Benn and Alexander, who impressed as shadow Health Secretary, have quit amid the turmoil engulfing both main parties following last weeks EU referendum. Other resignations from Corbyns top team will follow soon.

Sacking Benn for allegedly plotting against him will have been a painful moment for Corbyn. Tony Benn, Hilarys late father, was Corbyns mentor and hero and he still thinks about him all the time. Hilary was always a Benn, not a Bennite but he and Corbyn have a shared history going back a long way to political discussions in the Benn family home in London.

For months, the anti-Corbyn forces have agonised over when to mount their inevitable coup. The May local elections came and went. Although Labour secured only mixed results, the losses were not as bad as experts had predicted and so Corbyn survived.

 Hilary Benn sacked after raising Corbyn leadership concerns

The EU referendum was immediately erected as his next hurdle. Two factors tipped the balance in favour of the attempt to remove Corbyn going ahead now. Firstly, his half-hearted campaign for a Remain vote during the referendum, is being widely blamed for the result because many working class natural Labour supporters voted to Leave. Some In campaigners are convinced that Corbyn, a long-standing opponent of EU membership until recently, secretly wanted a Leave vote  a charge his aides emphatically deny.

Secondly, David Camerons resignation means that the new Tory leader to be installed by October is likely to call an early general election to secure his or her own mandate. If Corbyn were still Labour leader, the temptation for the Tories to call a snap poll would be even greater, as they regard him as weak and very beatable.

So Corbyns Labour enemies are gambling that the party members who overwhelmingly backed Corbyn last year will take fright at the prospect of a general election and turn against him. His critics argue that his performance in the referendum campaign was poor and he was unable to get over a strong message to Labour voters. They claim he would be even worse at a general election, when Labour would have to reach out beyond its core vote to gain seats held by the Conservatives.

There is no guarantee that the coup will succeed. Opinion polls taken just before the referendum showed that Corbyn is still just as popular among Labour members.

In effect, his critics are trying to kill him with a thousand blows. The Shadow Cabinet resignations and the motion of no confidence in Corbyn tabled for tomorrows meeting of the PLP, are designed to put so much pressure on Corbyn that he decides to fall on his own sword. Critic claim he does not really want to be prime minister and so he could stand down. But there is no sign of that happening.

Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Show all 12 1 /12 Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn's reshuffle Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn and the Syria bombing vote Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn asks questions from the public at PMQs, meanwhile backbenchers plot to oust him Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn is unavailable to attend the Privy Council Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Conference rejects Corbyns call to debate Trident Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn At Labour conference Corbyn and McDonnell press for a Robin Hood tax Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyns hopes for a new politics look optimistic in the face of a media barrage Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn enters Labour leadership race

The plotters have another big problem: they do not have an alternative leadership candidate  yet. Potential runners include Chuka Umunna, the former shadow Business Secretary; Dan Jarvis, a former soldier; Tom Watson, the deputy leader; Angela Eagle, the current shadow Business Secretary and Cooper. The coup would have a much better chance of success if the rebels rallied behind a single candidate.

They could then trigger a formal leadership contest, which under Labours rules requires the backing of only 51 of the partys MPs and MEPs. But there would still be no guarantee of removing Corbyn because the partys members have the final say.

There is another scenario: despite Corbyns defiant stance, he decides that he is not the right man to lead the party into the now imminent election. But that, too, would not necessarily mean victory for the anti-Corbyn forces. They might persuade enough members to defect to a soft left candidate like Eagle, if they decided that avoiding a general election defeat was more important than ideological purity.

But equally, Labour members might well decide to replace Corbyn with another left-winger. John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor and Corbyns closest ally, is waiting in the wings. So the plotters would be back to square 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 }}

Leadership challengers to Boris Johnson and their backers have been working over the weekend to manoeuvre into position.

The Conservative Party is currently undergoing a crisis following the vote to leave the European Union and Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to stand down as leader.

Just over half of the partys MPs supported a Brexit while others, including Mr Cameron, campaigned vigorously against it.

Recommended Read more Boris Johnson launches pitch to be PM that leads Britain out of Europe

Many former Cameron supporters are said to be likely to back Home Secretary Theresa May in the imminent leadership contest.

There is a special place in hell reserved for Boris, a source close to Mr Cameron told The Sunday Times. He and [Michael] Gove have basically engineered a right-wing coup.

The source added: We need to get behind Theresa. Shes the grown up.

However Mr Gove, the Justice Secretary and a prominent Leave campaigner, has privately voiced his support for his campaign-mate, Mr Johnson, the newspaper reported.

However, other potential challengers have also emerged.

Education Secrtary Ncky Morgan  who in 2015 admitted considering running for the leadership following the departure of Mr Cameron - also attacked the tone of the Leave campaign and said the party should be wary about drifting into an ideological comfort zone.

Stephen Crabb, successor to Iain Duncan Smith as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, is also rumoured to be a contender for the top job.

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

He launched a passionate defence of One Nation conservatism on Saturday, which could be interpreted as a leadership pitch.

Mr Crabb wrote in The Telegraph: In 2016 we should be living in a golden age of social mobility. The truth is, we are not.

Compared to competitor nations we have persistently low levels of social mobility. And the challenge is not just to get a few more comprehensive school kids into elite grade universities or professions. Its more fundamental than that: re-creating a positive cycle of aspiration, opportunity and outcomes in the poorest communities.

He praised Mr Camerons espousal of compassionate conservatism and added: For too long One Nation was almost code for a wetter, weaker kind of Conservative politics.

For this generation of Conservative politicians it should be the watchword for a muscular defence of British values and a fierce commitment to break down barriers to opportunity.

During his resignation speech, Mr Cameron said he hoped the new leader would be in place before the Conservative Party conference in October.
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 }}

Two years behind schedule and amid an ominous slow-down in international shipping, the newly expanded Panama Canal has finally opened for business, though celebrations were muted.

Only eight heads of government were on hand even though dozens had been invited for the inauguration, while other countries sent less senior representatives, possibly in part because of the recent tarnishing of the countrys reputation by the leaking of the so-called Panama Papers.

The United States, which finished cutting the canal through the isthmus in 1914 and only handed over control of it to the Panamanian government in 1999, was represented by Jill Biden, the wife of vice-president Joe Biden. The US is the canals biggest customer ahead of China.

This is the route that unites the world, Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela declared proudly. The expansion, completed by a consortium led by Spain's Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impregilo, cost the tiny country $5.4bn. Before the expansion it was generating about $10bn a year, representing two fifths of the national GDP.

Thousands looked on early on Sunday morning as a giant container ship from China, the Cosco Shipping Panama, nosed into the first set of new locks on the Atlantic end of the canal under lowering skies, with a small band playing assorted patriotic tunes. The vessel was expected to emerge at the Pacific end later in the day after making the roughly 50-mile canal journey.

The new locks enable the canal to accommodate mega-ships carrying three times as many containers as was possible before. Roughly 98 per cent of all vessels of the world will now be able to navigate it. The Chinese ship that made the inaugural trip on Sunday was 158ft across and almost 1,000ft long.

There is evidence that the Panama Canal, with this expansion, is an important player not only for regional maritime commerce but worldwide, said Oscar Bazan, a vice-president of the Panama Canal Authority. The canal is a winning bet. [Clients] will benefit from saving not only time but also money, because the canal is a route that shortens distance.

Originally set for completion in 2014, the expanded canal has now opened at a time when the outlook for shipping has been dimming, notably because of the fall in oil prices and the slowdown in Chinas economic expansion and consumption of commodities.

For example, cargo volume from ports in the eastern US to Asia, most of it transiting the canal, fell by 10 per cent last year alone. Meanwhile the the Suez Canal in Egypt has been forced to lower its tariffs by as much as 65 per cent on large container vessels to try to maintain traffic.

It's important to remember that the canal does not create demand. The canal opens the route. Supply and demand on a world level is what will decide whether the Panama Canal will really bring more volume or not, Antonio Dominguez, a general manager for the Maersk Line, told the Associated Press. What is certain is that the current canal has maxed out.

There is also concern that many of the US ports that could benefit from the impact of the new canal are for the moment unable to handle some of the largest ships that can now pass through it.

Meanwhile, Panama is still contending with the hangover created by the "Panama Papers" scandal set off by the leaking of internal documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, revealing how it helped some of the world's richest people use offshore shell companies to avoid tax and launder money.

Another cloud was the apparent determination of Nicaragua to cut its own canal to compete with Panama. A joint agreement was struck between President Daniel Ortega and the Chinese telecoms billionaire, Wang Jing, for its construction.

The first major excavation work on the Nicaragua canal was delayed and is now meant to begin at the end of this year, but the Nicaraguan government has been notably coy about the status of the project and some wonder if it will ever happen. It has meanwhile stirred fierce opposition from environmental groups as well as residents and farmers who face being displaced by it.
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 }}

Violent clashes in Sacramento between a group of neo-Nazis and others protesting their presence outside the California state capitol has turned violent with multiple stabbing victims, officials with the citys fire department reported.

Trouble apparently erupted after protestors engaged with a group of neo-Nazi sympathisers who had gathered for a Sunday morning rally that had been planned for several weeks.

The Sacramento Fire Department confirmed there had been a mass casualty event in the capital city of California. Meanwhile a spokesperson said via Twitter that at least five people had been rushed to nearby hospitals, some with critical injuries.

Social media postings on Twitter and elsewhere showed police taping off an area of the Capitol park where the clashes took place and evidence of splatters of blood on the paving.

Officer Matt McPhail with the Sacramento Police Department says none of the injuries of those being treated in hospital are believed to be life-threatening.

A fire department spokesman, Chris Harvey, said several different groups had descended on the area when the fighting began, including some who had come to protest the neo-Nazi sympathisers. "It was quite a bit of a melee," he confirmed. There was no clarity on whether the victims were neo-Nazi activists or were instead from those who had come to disrupt the rally.

The melee came on the same day that many cities across the US, including San Francisco and New York, were holding their annual gay pride events where the focus was on offering tributes to the victims of the mass shooting in an Orlando gay bar earlier this month.

There were no reports of the police having made any arrests.

The rally was organized by an affiliate group of the Traditionalist Worker Party, The Los Angeles Times reported

The group describes itself this way on its website: The Traditionalist Worker Party is Americas first political party created by and for working families. Our mission is defending faith, family, and folk against the politicians and oligarchs who are running America into the ground. We intend to achieve that goal by building a nationwide network of grassroots local leaders who will lead Americans toward a peaceful and prosperous future free from economic exploitation, federal tyranny, and anti-Christian degeneracy.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has described TWP as a group formed in 2015 as the political wing of the Traditionalist Youth Network, which aims to indoctrinate high school and college students into white nationalism.
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 }}

At least 35 people have died and 20 injured after a bus crashed and caught fire in central China.

55 people were travelling on the long-distance bus when it crashed into a barrier along a highway in the Hunan province at around 10:20am on Sunday.

The vehicle caught fire following the collision, causing the deaths of almost two-thirds of passengers, according to Chinese state media.

No other vehicles appear to have been involved in the incident, and the cause of the crash remains unclear.

The Hunan provincial highway police bureau said that the driver, Liu Dahui, 41, was being held for questioning.

Images posted online by CCTVNews show thick black smoke coming out of the bus windows, and fire servicemen attending to the scene.
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 }}

Vladimir Putin has contested David Camerons claim that he supports the UKs exit from the EU - saying the Prime Minister's statements were a ploy to influence the public vote.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum prior to the referendum, Mr Cameron said friends of the UK would like the country to stay in the EU, but suggested the Russian President - along with Isis - would be happy if Britain voted to leave.

It is worth asking the question: who would be happy if we left? Putin might be happy. I suspect [Isis leader] al-Baghdadi would be happy," the PM said.

But our friends around the world are giving us a very clear message: its all up to you, it is your sovereign choice  but wed like you to stay. We think its good for us and its good for you.

 Cameron's ISIS Brexit warning

But Mr Putin dismissed the claims, saying: "Statements by the UK Prime Minister, Mr Cameron before this plebiscite where he stated Russia's position, have no basis and never did.

I believe that this is nothing more than a flawed attempt to influence the public opinion in his own country.

As we can see, even this did not bring the right result for those who did it  after the vote, no one has the right to make statements about some position of Russia.

This is nothing more than a demonstration of the low-level of political culture.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to Uzbekistan, Mr Putin also said the outcome of the EU referendum reflected Britains concerns over migration and security, as well as a dissatisfaction with EU bureaucracy.

The week before the vote, the Russian president said that Mr Cameron had initiated the referendum in order to blackmail the rest of Europe, or as a scare tactic.

Speaking in St Petersberg, he said: "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 to scare someone, what was the goal if he was against [Brexit]?"

He added that Brexit was "none of our business", and that he did not have his own opinion on the matter.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Spaniards have headed to the polls for an unprecedented repeat election that aims to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government.

Opinion polls in recent weeks have unanimously predicted the new ballot will also fail to deliver enough votes for any one party to take power alone.

That would likely consign Spain to another period of protracted political negotiations  and, possibly, another election if there is no breakthrough.

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

Polls are prohibited in the last week of campaigning, but the most recent ones suggested the conservative Popular Party would win most votes but would again fall short of the parliamentary majority it had from 2011 to 2015. Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy is hoping to be re-elected as prime minister.

According to the Spanish Constitution, a government must win a vote of confidence in Parliament with more than 50 percent of the possible 350 votes before taking office. If it misses that target, in a second vote 48 hours later it must get 50 percent of only the votes that are cast  a lower bar which allows parties to abstain from the vote and let a party into power in return for concessions.

A new round of political negotiations could be complicated by support for a new far-left alliance called Unidos Podemos (United We Can). That group, which includes radical leftist party Podemos along with communists and greens, is expected to finish second. That would push the moderate, center-left Socialist Party, which has traditionally alternated in power with the Popular Party, into third place and the business-friendly Ciudadanos (Citizens) into fourth.

Recommended Read more Brexit could influence Spanish election amid surge in support for Left

The election in Spain comes four days after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consultancy, said it is "unlikely" that decision would have much of an influence on the Spanish election.

"Nevertheless, the ongoing market turmoil fits well with the campaign message of ... Rajoy, who has framed the election as a choice between economic stability and a radical left-wing government potentially led by Podemos and its allies," Barroso wrote in an analysis on Friday.

Polls opened at 9am and were to close at 8pm for the country's roughly 36.5 million voters. Exit polls with projections of the result are expected within minutes of polls closing, and most votes are expected to be counted before midnight local time.

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished public services such as welfare and education, and unrelenting political corruption scandals have shaped the two-week election campaign.

Mariano Rajoy is hoping to be re-elected as prime minister (Reuters)

Outside a polling station on a sunny day in Madrid, many voters said they wanted the election to bring a break with the recent past.

"I'm voting for change, so that our politicians understand that we don't agree with what they've been doing," said Maria Jesus Genovar, a 47-year-old teacher who was supporting Unidos Podemos.

Among other aims, Unidos Podemos wants to improve job security, increase the minimum wage and strengthen the welfare state and other public services.

But Maria Jose Escos, a 59-year-old government worker, said she had no appetite for the new parties and the possibility of radical political change.

"I'd like everything to be like it was before," she said, adding she would keep supporting the Socialists.

Recommended Read more Spain to press for joint sovereignty of Gibraltar following Brexit vot

After the December election, Rajoy couldn't get enough support from rival parties to form either a minority government or a coalition.

The negotiations between parties dragged on for months as Pedro Sanchez, leader of the second-placed Socialists, also failed to clinch a deal that would let him govern.

Spain has never had a coalition government.

Pablo Iglesias, the radical college professor leader of Unidos Podemos, has repeatedly said he wants a pact with the Socialists in order to oust Rajoy. But a major sticking point for such a deal is Iglesias's insistence on letting the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia stage an independence referendum  a possibility rejected outright by all the other main parties.

Ciudadanos is willing to talk to both the PP and the Socialists but want no deals with Unidos Podemos.

Besides tension over Catalonia, Spanish political debate has been dominated by an unemployment rate that has stood at more than 20 percent for nearly seven years and is the second highest in the EU after Greece, and an unrelenting stream of corruption scandals, mostly involving the Popular Party and the Socialists.
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 }}

Spain's repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Union's fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last December's ballot, which brought six months of stalemate.

The conservative Popular Party, which ruled for the past four years, again collected most votes in the election but still fell short of the majority of 176 seats it needs in the 350-seat Parliament to form a government on its own.

With 97 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy's party earned 137 seats in Parliament. That is better than the 123 it won in December but still means it will need allies if it wants to govern. Its earlier efforts to find support from rival parties after December proved fruitless.

Recommended Read more Brexit could influence Spanish election amid surge in support for Left

The center-left Socialist Party placed second, collecting 22.75 percent of the vote and 85 seats, according to the count by the country's Interior Ministry. That was five fewer seats than six months ago but the Socialists kept their influence by fending off a challenge from a radical leftist alliance.

Unidos Podemos (United We Can)  which brings together Podemos, a two-year-old party that grew out of a grassroots protest movement, and the communists and the Greens  was third with 71 seats.

The alliance, headed by pony-tailed political science professor Pablo Iglesias, had hoped to overtake the Socialists and break the country's traditional two-party system. The Popular Party and the Socialists have alternated in power for decades.

The business-friendly Ciudadanos party came in fourth with 32 seats. Other, smaller parties won the rest of the vote by Spain's roughly 36.5 million voters.

With no party getting enough votes to form a government alone, politicians will now have to return to the negotiating table. That may again prove difficult, for Spain has never had a coalition government.

Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting group, said he expected tough negotiations between the parties in coming weeks.

"It was hoped that these elections would bring clarity and that a government would be formed quickly, but I don't think that's how it's going to be," Barroso said.

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

He said a third election was even a possibility, though politicians would be under huge pressure to avoid that.

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished services such as welfare and education and unrelenting political corruption scandals shaped the two-week election campaign.

Outside a Madrid polling station, many voters said they wanted Sunday's election to bring a break with the past.

"I'm voting for change, so that our politicians understand that we don't agree with what they've been doing," said Maria Jesus Genovar, a 47-year-old teacher who supported Unidos Podemos.

Unidos Podemos wants to improve job security, increase the minimum wage and strengthen the welfare state and other public services.

But Maria Jose Escos, a 59-year-old government worker, said she had no appetite for the new parties.

"I'd like everything to be like it was before," the Socialists supporter said.

Iglesias, who leads Unidos Podemos, has said he wants a pact with the Socialists in order to oust Rajoy. But a major sticking point is Iglesias's insistence on letting the powerful northeastern region of Catalonia stage an independence referendum  a possibility other main parties have rejected outright.

Ciudadanos is willing to talk to both the Popular Party and the Socialists but want no deal with Unidos Podemos.

Besides tensions over Catalonia, Spanish politics has been dominated by a national unemployment rate of more than 20 percent and an unrelenting stream of corruption scandals, mostly involving the Popular Party and the Socialists.
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 }}

Fallujah has been declared "fully liberated" from Isis by the Iraqi army commander leading the operation against the jihadis.

The head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lt Gen Abdul-Wahad al-Saadi, said on Sunday that his troops had entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood - which was the final area of the city under Isis control.

Lt Gen al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated".

He told Iraqi state TV: "From the centre of al-Julan neighbourhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over".

During his appearance he was flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some soldiers were shooting into the air, chanting and waving the Irai flag in celebration.

Fallujah, just 30 miles west of Baghdad, has been under Isis control since January 2014. It was the first major city to fall to the group.

More than 82,000 people are believed to have fled the fighting in recent weeks as the Norwegian Refugee Council described conditions at the nearby Amriyat al-Fallujah refugee camp as a "humanitarian disaster".

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the organisation, told The Telegraph: The conditions we are seeing in the camps are miserable, the scenes apocalyptic.

They fled the nightmare of Fallujah, now they wait for tents, sleep in warehouses or out in the open. Iraq's civilians deserve much better.

In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Smoke rises after airstrikes by US-led coalition planes as Iraqi security forces advance against Islamic State extremists in Fallujah, June 15, 2016 AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Iraqi security forces advance during heavy fighting against Isis militants in Fallujah, Iraq, on 14 June AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia militia say that moving resources from Fallujah towards the area near Mosul was a 'betrayal' of the battle for the city GETTY In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Hospital sources said 18 bodies were recovered from the river over the weekend AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Up to 60,000 civilians were feared trapped in Fallujah at the start of the Iraqi operation AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters hold an Isis flag in an operation east of Fallujah  the terror group has lost ground in both Syria and Iraq AFP/Getty In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters hold their weapons as they gather near Falluja, Iraq, June 4, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Pro-government forces bid to take back ground from Isis in Fallujah MOADH AL-DULAIMI/AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Smoke billows on the horizon as Iraqi military forces prepare for an offensive to retake the city AP In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah A member of the Iraqi security forces fires artillery during clashes with Isis militants near Fallujah, Iraq, 29 May, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Iraqi government forces fire a rocket near al-Sejar village, north-east of Fallujah, on May 26, 2016, as they take part in a major assault to retake the city from the Islamic State group AFP/Getty In pictures: Iraq battles to drive Isis out of Fallujah Shia fighters and Iraqi security forces advance towards Fallujah Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters

During the insurgency following the Iraqi War, conflict with the al-Qaeda led insurgency meant Fallujah was the centre of one of the most bloody urban combat with American forces.

In 2004 alone, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

Isis still control significant areas of northern and western Iraq including its second city Mosul but has been dramatically pushed back from its original positions.

At its height, it is estimated that Isis controlled a third of Iraq and Syria.

Additional reporting by 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 }}

An endangered turtle is receiving treatment after being beaten and stood on by people taking selfies on a beach in Lebanon.

The male loggerhead sea turtle was dragged out of the surf at Havana beach, just south of Beirut, according to the charity group Animals Lebanon. People then posed for photographs standing on the animal before hitting it with sticks.

The charity said it was now assisting the Ministry of Agriculture and Civil Defense to make sure the turtle does not die from this unnecessary, avoidable, and illegal cruelty.

In a statement on the groups website, the charity said: The damage is visible and evident - the blows and trauma he suffered have broken through the top of his head, and water from the sea has reached his sinus cavities.

Hopefully the x-rays can rule out further damage and the blows did not affected deeper into the skull.

The charity's executive director, Jason Mier, told The Independent: "Tomorrow morning we are going to give him another dose of antibiotics.

"He is in the pool and recovering, he is eating well when fed but not yet actively going to get food."

Where not to visit if you love animals Show all 9 1 /9 Where not to visit if you love animals Where not to visit if you love animals Monkey shows Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Marine parks Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Tiger shows Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them safe for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Donkey rides Sunning on the beach is great for humans  we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Swimming with dolphins Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Canned hunting Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Running of the Bulls Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Horse-drawn carriages City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Zoos The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further. EPA

He said they were meeting with the Animal Resources Directorate in Beirut to get the animal moved to a specialised facility in Greece.

This is not the first time people have been accused of dragging an animal out of the water to take selfies.

In February, a crowd on a beach in Buenos Aires, Argentina was accused of casual cruelty when footage emerged appearing to show them removing a baby dolphin from the water, causing it to overheat and die.

But the tourist who took the video, Hernan Coria, insisted the animal was already dead when people began to pass it around to take selfies.
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 }}

Turkish police have fired tear gas at a banned gay pride march in Istanbul.

Amnesty International Turkey human rights worker Begum Basdas captured the moment police opened fire in a video posted to social media. LGBT activists can be seen singing and chanting in a public street in the footage, before police advance and open fire, firing tear gas into the crowd.

Local authorities had banned the pride march, citing security concerns and arguing the state could not guarantee public order if the marches went ahead.

A far-right group known as 'Alerperen Hearths' issued a warning that it would not tolerate any marches taking place. In a statement they issued, they said: To our state officials- do not make a deal with us. Either do what is needed or we will do it. We will take any risks, we will directly prevent the march.

Last week, police broke up a trans pride march in the city. Officers surrounded trans activists and blocked them from marching down their intended route as part of the parade.

However, despite the crackdown, local activists said they still intended to go ahead with today's march as an act of defiance.

Although LGBT communities are not criminalised in Turkey, many say discrimination continues to affect their lives in the majority Muslim country where homophobia prevails among some sections of society.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

Last year, police forcibly prevented LGBT marches from taking place, using water cannon to disperse the crowds.

The state argued that the march coincided with the holy month of Ramadan and was therefore inappropriate, as it also falls this year.
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 }}

As a lack of resilience at Britains busiest airport led to another day of delays and cancellations, proponents of a third runway at Heathrow raised the prospect of a snap decision on aviation capacity - dubbed a Heathrexit strategy for David Cameron and George Osborne.

Several days of poor weather caused Saturdays scheduled operations at Heathrow to spill over to Sunday, with planes landing well after midnight - including a British Airways flight from Rome that touched down 10 hours late. Another 30 BA flights to and from Heathrow were cancelled on Sunday.

Follow the latest live updates following Brexit

Sir Howard Daviess Airports Commission was set up to address the shortage of aviation capacity in South-East England. The commission spent three years - and 20m - evaluating the new runway options. It shortlisted a second runway at Gatwick, along with two alternatives at Heathrow: a third runway, or an extended northern runway known as Heathrow Hub.

Just before the commission reported last summer, Boris Johnson - then Mayor of London - said: The Airports Commission must realise that, if it is mad enough to recommend a third runway at Heathrow, the backlash from Londoners will ensure it is never built.

6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Show all 6 1 /6 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you More expensive foreign holidays The first practical effect of a vote to Leave is that the pound will be worth less abroad, meaning foreign holidays will cost us more nito100 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you No immediate change in immigration status The Prime Minister will have to address other immediate concerns. He is likely to reassure nationals of other EU countries living in the UK that their status is unchanged. That is what the Leave campaign has said, so, even after the Brexit negotiations are complete, those who are already in the UK would be allowed to stay Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Higher inflation A lower pound means that imports would become more expensive. This is likely to mean the return of inflation  a phenomenon with which many of us are unfamiliar because prices have been stable for so long, rising at no more than about 2 per cent a year. The effect may probably not be particularly noticeable in the first few months. At first price rises would be confined to imported goods  food and clothes being the most obvious  but inflation has a tendency to spread and to gain its own momentum AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Interest rates might rise The trouble with inflation is that the Bank of England has a legal obligation to keep it as close to 2 per cent a year as possible. If a fall in the pound threatens to push prices up faster than this, the Bank will raise interest rates. This acts against inflation in three ways. First, it makes the pound more attractive, because deposits in pounds will earn higher interest. Second, it reduces demand by putting up the cost of borrowing, and especially by taking larger mortgage payments out of the economy. Third, it makes it more expensive for businesses to borrow to expand output Getty 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you Did somebody say recession? Mr Carney, the Treasury and a range of international economists have warned about this. Many Leave voters appear not to have believed them, or to think that they are exaggerating small, long-term effects. But there is no doubt that the Leave vote is a negative shock to the economy. This is because it changes expectations about the economys future performance. Even though Britain is not actually be leaving the EU for at least two years, companies and investors will start to move money out of Britain, or to scale back plans for expansion, because they are less confident about what would happen after 2018 AFP/Getty Images 6 ways Britain leaving the EU will affect you And we wouldnt even get our money back All this will be happening while the Prime Minister, whoever he or she is, is negotiating the terms of our future access to the EU single market. In the meantime, our trade with the EU would be unaffected, except that companies elsewhere in the EU may be less interested in buying from us or selling to us, expecting tariff barriers to go up in two years time. Whoever the Chancellor is, he or she may feel the need to bring in a new Budget Getty Images

But on 1 July 2015, the Davies Commission unanimously recommended a third runway at Heathrow. Yet at the end of last year the government insisted on further research, particularly focusing on air quality and noise. It conveniently deferred any decision until after the London mayoral election in May 2016; the Tory candidate, Zac Goldsmith opposed expansion at Heathrow.

The Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, promised a decision in July before the summer recess, though he later hinted that the EU referendum might lead to another postponement.

When the Leave verdict triggered the Prime Ministers resignation on Friday morning, the Gatwick camp was jubilant - confident that Boris Johnson, the leading candidate for No 10, would award the runway to the Sussex airport.

But amid the political turmoil at the heart of Government, it has emerged that David Cameron and the Chancellor, George Osborne, see the runway choice as theirs to take. They may announce a decision within the next few weeks, ahead of the Tory leadership contest. This so-called Heathrexit strategy would counter the image of post-referendum political paralysis, and provide both men with a tangible legacy before they are replaced.

Mr Johnson is MP for Uxbridge, adjoining Heathrow, and told his constituents that he would be a bulldozer blocker rather than allow work on a third runway.

While Mayor of London he spent millions on lobbying for a Thames Estuary airport, which became known as Boris Island, and closing down Heathrow. His position was mocked at the time by Sir Howard Davies, who said: Weve had the advantage of talking to real people as well as the Mayor.

Theresa May, Boris Johnsons likely rival for the premiership, is MP for nearby Maidenhead. Her stated position is against expansion. Even David Cameron promised, in 2009, that there would be no new runway at Heathrow - No ifs, no buts. But the outgoing Prime Minister could claim that the Heathrow solution is a fundamentally different proposition from previous proposals.

The thinking in Downing Street is that a Brexit cabinet, facing the prospect of recession, could not risk overturning a 18bn construction project that is entirely privately funded.

Heathrows chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said: "At an uncertain time for the British economy, MPs recognise that Heathrow is a private-sector infrastructure project that will spread growth across Britain from the moment that we get a green light.

Now more than ever, people across Britain are counting on the Government to take bold decisions that show we are a confident outward looking trading nation.

 Boris on Heathrow expansion

Opponents, though, will question whether any expansion is needed in the wake of the referendum. UK airline shares fell sharply on Friday as the markets priced in the likelihood of a downturn in aviation. IAG, holding company of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, lost one-fifth of its value after the Leave vote.

The day before the referendum, IAGs chief executive, Willie Walsh, warned that existing passengers should not be expected to pay for a third runway at Heathrow. He told a travel conference in London: Customers have been ripped off by Heathrow for years and leopards dont change their spots.

Mr Walsh also warned that IAG might abandon Gatwick if the Sussex airport is awarded a new runway: We struggle to see any business case for the expansion of Gatwick and will consider our position at the airport if the Government backs expansion there, principally because the cost of that expansion when translated into airport charges would likely wipe out the profit we make.

A leading campaigner against expansion at Heathrow, John Stewart of HACAN, said: It would surprising if a lame-duck Prime Minister risked further splits within the Conservative Party by making such a controversial decision just weeks before he leaves office.

The present London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, favoured a third runway at Heathrow while Labour was in power, but reversed his position ahead of the mayoral election in May this year.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel 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

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Q It seems that British Airways is overcharging UK passengers while giving non-UK passengers tickets at a lower price. Im looking to get to Sydney in a few weeks, flying in business class on BA. Ive found that if I begin my journey in Malta, rather than Heathrow, I can save in the region of 1,000.

My question on this is twofold. What happens if I ignore the first leg from Malta and check in at Heathrow? And if the rules do not allow option this option, then I should book an Air Malta from Heathrow to Malta to comply with BA rules?

Steve T, Twickenham

A Youre right about the fare discrepancy. The BA Club World fare for early August flying on BAs daily one-stop link from Heathrow to Sydney is 3,987 return. Book from Malta, and that falls by 1,100 - a cut of 28 per cent - even though an extra flight from and to Malta is added.

It is certainly the case that BA is giving non-UK passengers tickets at a lower price but I dont agree that BA is overcharging UK passengers.

The airline is selling two different products that share a common component: a comfortable flight covering 10,600 miles between Heathrow and Sydney. But the total trip from Malta is significantly different to that from London, which is a smooth, direct service on a premium airline. From Malta, the deal involves a complicated journey, including transferring from Gatwick to Heathrow at your own expense.

Whats going on here? Well, in BAs perfect world the airline would sell out its Club World cabin every day to passengers who are starting or ending their journey at Heathrow and are prepared to pay handsomely for the privilege. But, like other network airlines, it knows the market will not sustain this optimum outcome.

So BA sells off some seats to Sydney that would otherwise go empty by cutting the price to travellers from many European airports who are prepared to tolerate inconvenience.

From Malta, BA is in competition with Emirates, which offers a smooth one-stop connection to Sydney via Dubai. The business-class fare is 4,000-plus, much higher than BA's 2,880.

The same technique is employed by many other carriers. If you care to check the price of an Air France Paris-New York trip, I bet that adding on a Heathrow-Paris leg at the start and end of the journey will cut the fare.

So what happens if you buy the Malta-Sydney ticket? Well, if you then ignore the first leg from Malta and check in at Heathrow, you wont be allowed on board. In accordance with BA terms, if you fail to show up for one leg, the rest of the trip is cancelled.

You could certainly book a separate Air Malta trip out to the island, and if you want to spend some time in this fascinating destinations then that seems an excellent plan. But to fly out from Heathrow to Malta simply in order to come back to Gatwick and endure an expensive bus trip around the M25 looks like going to extreme lengths for the pleasure of flying on British Airways to Sydney. Even for avid collectors of Avios - BAs frequent-flyer currency - might baulk at the prospect.

You might prefer to go for business class on a simple one-stop from Heathrow on a less-recognised airline, such as Air China, Philippine Airlines or Vietnam Airlines. Depending on the exact dates, you could find something for as little as 2,000 - barely half the BA price.

Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a readers question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel 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

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

On a sunny beach in Tunisia on 26 June last year, 30 British holidaymakers were among those killed by a lone gunman from so-called Islamic State.

One year on from Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubis murderous attack at the resort of Sousse, the Foreign Office insists: A further terrorist attack is highly likely. It has rejected repeated pleas from the government in Tunis to ease its advice against travel.

In the wake of the attack at the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel, the Foreign Office warned against all but essential travel to the North African nation. It ordered UK holiday companies to organise an airlift to get British holidaymakers out.

Recommended Read more Tunisia is urging Britain to tell people it is safe to go back there

Since then, Tunisia has been a no-go zone for UK tourists, with profound effects on the tourism economy. Hundreds of thousands of Tunisians depend on tourism for their livelihood.

The massacre on the beach was the second terrorist attack aimed at tourists in three months. In March, 21 people  mainly cruise passengers on an excursion  died at the hands of gunmen at the Bardo Museum in the capital.

The Foreign Office believes that Tunisias long, leaky border with Libya increases the risk of attack. It says: On balance, we do not believe the mitigation measures in place provide adequate protection for British tourists in Tunisia at the present time.

A mourner lays flowers at the site of the terror attack in Sousse

Tarek Aouadi, UK director of the Tunisian National Tourist Office, said: The FCO knows what it is doing. Human lives have been lost and security must come first. But we didnt expect it to be this long. Banning a destination gives a sign to the terrorists they are winning.

 Sousse beach nearly deserted, month after attack

All mainstream holiday companies are governed by Foreign Office advice, and anyone travelling to an area on the no-go list will find their travel insurance invalidated.

Flights continue to operate between Heathrow and Tunis on Tunisair.

In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The coffin of Denis Thwaites is carried from an RAF C-17, which repatriated the bodies of eight British nationals killed in the Tunisia terror attack, at RAF Brize Norton near Oxford in Britain In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The coffin of John Stollery is carried from an RAF C-17, which repatriated the bodies of eight British nationals killed in the Tunisia terror attack, at RAF Brize Norton near Oxford in Britain In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The coffin of Elaine Thwaites, one of the victims of the terrorist attack, is taken from the RAF C-17 aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in Tunisia In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Hearses carrying the victim's of last Friday's terrorist attack arrive at Tunis Airport Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia An RAF C17 transport aircraft arrives at RAF Brize Norton Airport in Oxfordshire carrying the bodies of 8 British people killed in the Tunisia gun attack Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Ambulances carrying the victim's of the terrorist attack arrive at Tunis Airport Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Armed police continue to patrol Marhaba beach in Sousse Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia National guard members patrol at the beach near the Imperiale Marhaba hotel, which was attacked by a gunman in Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Military personnel attending to injured British nationals on board an RAF C-17 aircraft en route back to the United Kingdom, in Tunisia In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Military personnel attending to injured British nationals on board an RAF C-17 aircraft en route back to the United Kingdom, in Tunisia In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Holidaymakers lay flowers on Marhaba beach Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Tourists pay tribute to the victims of the Sousse attack at a makeshift memorial on the beach at the Imperial Marhaba resort Reuters In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The Home Secretary Theresa May pays her respects with her counterparts, Frances Bernard Cazeneuve, left, Germanys Thomas de Maiziere, second left, and Tunisias Najem Gharsalli, in Sousse Reuters In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Two tourists pay respects to victims of IS attack on beach in Sousse, Tunisia Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Many people remain unaccounted for and many of their relatives have taken to social media in the hope of obtaining information about those who are still missing (Getty) Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A boy holds a Tunisian flag at the spot on the beach where the attack took place Reuters In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A man kisses a Tunisian flag at the site of a shooting attack on the beach in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, on the outskirts of Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The front of the Marhaba hotel Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Tunisian Ennahdha party member and former minister Houcine Jazir speaks with Belgium survivor couple Corman (R) and Claude Pesser after a mass shooting in the resort town of Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The bloodstained belongings of a tourist are seen on the sand in the resort town of Sousse AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A broken glass window of the Imperiale Marhaba hotel is seen after a gunman opened fire at the beachside hotel in Sousse Reuters In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Blood stains cover the ground at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse, Tunisia after mass shooting Fethi Belais/AFP/Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Policemen patrolling the beach in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse where tributes have been laid to the dead AFP/Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia People stand in silence next to flowers during a gathering at the scene of the attack in Sousse, Tunisia Getty In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Messages and flowers are left on Marhaba beach where 38 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Souuse Getty Images In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Police officers control the crowd while surrounding a man suspected to be involved in opening fire on a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Medics help an injured man in Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A body lies on a street in Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia Members of the Tunisian security forces in an armoured vehicle patrol a street in Sousse In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia The beach where the massacre took place Lionel Tunisiano/Twitter In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A general view of the deserted pool and deck chairs at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel EPA In pictures: Tunisia hotel attack Tunisia A woman looks toward a glass door shattered by a bullet at Imperial Marhaba Hotel EPA

Other nationalities are travelling to Tunisia in much greater numbers  notably the French, the Italians and the Germans. The US State Department travel advice is much milder than the Foreign Offices, warning against travel to southeastern Tunisia along the Libyan border as well as the mountainous areas in the countrys west. Washington urges caution in other areas, especially those heavily frequented by tourists.
Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel 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

Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Cookham, Berkshire

A lovely spot for a day out from London, the pretty Berkshire village of Cookham would be just another well-heeled Thames-side backwater if it hadn't also been the home and often the inspiration for one of the great twentieth-century British painters: Stanley Spencer. Born here in 1891, Spencer was so besotted with this 'village in Heaven' that 'Cookham' became his nickname, and many of his paintings depict his neighbours, often in dramatic poses and various states of undress. Around a hundred of his works are displayed in the gallery devoted to him here that alone makes the village worth visiting. They have declared the 13 months from April 2016 to May 2017 the Year of Stanley Spencer, with not only events at the Cookham gallery but also major exhibitions at the Hepworth in Wakefield and the reopening of the muralled Sandham Memorial Chapel in Hampshire.

Once youre done with Stanley, Cookham has a handsome, all-embracing gastropub, the Kings Arms, for lunch, and some enticing independent shops and restaurants as well as a lovely setting on a bend in the river that makes it a great base for walks  Wind in the Willows author Kenneth Grahame also grew up nearby. Head east along the towpath for a three-mile stroll to Maidenhead, and loop back across Cookham Moor and Widbrook Common on the Green Way path for a satisfying two-hour round-trip. The train station at Cookham Rise, half a mile from the village high street, connects to London Paddington.

Cool Places is a website from the creators of Rough Guides and Cool Camping, suggesting the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop in Britain (coolplaces.co.uk).
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 }}

Its disconcerting to live in the Middle East at a time when Arabs die in their thousands to reach the EU and Britain commits monetary suicide to leave it. The continent of plenty  and safety  for millions of Muslims seeking refuge from dictators, torturers and wars, has been rejected by a nation which fought for almost six years to destroy dictators, torturers and future wars.

No wonder the Arabs dont know what to make of Brexit  or breekseet as it appears in Arabic transcription  and fall back on history to explain the justice of the EU crisis. Having decided in 1916 to break up the Ottoman Empire into Arab statelets to be occupied by Anglo-French forces, Sir Mark Sykes descendants would now face the music or, in the words of a Saudi tweeter, Britain which divided up the Arab countries 100 years ago into incompatible parts will soon taste the bitterness of division and be broken up. Well, up to a point

Gulf governments to whom Britain and especially David Cameron have traditionally grovelled took a predictably rosy view of Britains potential catastrophe. One Saudi businessman noted that the kingdoms imports would be cheaper; so would purchases in Londons property market, the super-wealthy Arab bolt-hole for immensely rich Gulfies  which was not quite what Boris, Mike and Nigel had in mind as Brexit benefits. Bahrain, which has just crushed its majority Shia opposition party and deprived its most prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassem, of his nationality, praised Britains brave and historic decision to leave, a reaction, no doubt, to the EUs complaints that tiny Bahrain and its equally miniature king have not exactly lived up to the finest democratic ideals these past few years.

Recommended Read more 10 reasons to feel positive after Brexit

A few Saudis were more cynically level-headed. Jamal Kashoggi, one of the countrys best-known journalists  and the man, incidentally, who first introduced me to Osama bin Laden in Sudan  said that Vladimir Putin was happy to have succeeded in breaking up the European Union with the refugee crisis created in Syria. Syrian-Druze journalist Faisal al-Kassim noted with equal cynicism on Qatars al-Jazeera channel that in Britain, when people said no, Cameron left immediately. In Syria, when people said no, it was the people who left and al-Assad who stayed. An interesting point  slightly marred by the fact that David Cameron is not leaving immediately, and by the number of UK citizens seeking Irish passports.

But the underlying problem for almost all Arabs, only partially hinted at since Brexit, is that Arab elections are so preposterous, their results so fantastical, their majorities so mythical, that the UK referendum is itself a dream of democracy, however awful, unfair and divisive its results. Im not talking about the total crackpots  Saddams 100 per cent victory in the 2002 Iraqi elections, for instance  but about poor old Egypt which has voted in chains for many years. Just look at that 98.1 per cent for a 2014 constitution which allowed Field Marshal Abdul-Fattah Sisi to stand for president after he had overthrown the elected government of Mohamed Morsi. And then we had Sisis own 2014 presidential election victory of 96.1 per cent  now that, surely would have Boris and Mike and Nigel slavering with joy if only we Brits had the same patriotic unity as the Egyptian people.

Brexit, tweeted one Egyptian, reminds me of the situation here in Egypt: the old deciding the future of the young. Ahmed Salem was equally droll. So, just for one day, Egypt wont be the worlds laughingstock. Now, said another tweet, Minoufia is demanding a referendum to join the EU in place of the UK. The province of Minoufia  a fact which Twitter doesnt allow enough space to explain  was the birthplace of dictators Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, both referred to during their reigns, of course, as leaders of moderate, pro-western regimes.

 Leave MP Nigel Evans says Brexit can't promise immigration will drop

Perhaps the most moving and extraordinary personal exchange to have been provoked by Brexit in the Middle East, however, was that between Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and the 92-year old Israeli philosopher, left-wing activist and ex-soldier in the Israeli army (in Israels 1948 war of independence  the Palestinians Nakba or catastrophe), Uri Avnery. Jumblatt is the worlds biggest nihilist, as Ive often told him, and Avnery, who left Nazi Germany in 1933, is now one of Israels beacons of enlightenment and foremost advocates of Palestinian freedom within a Palestinian state - which is why he has endured such calumny from his fellow citizens. The two men have formed an enduring friendship.

Jumblatt recalled the Sykes-Picot and Balfour agreements of the First World War and the 1948 declaration of the state of Israel which caused such suffering to the Arabs, and he continued: The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be separated from modern European history and its implications during the 20th century Knowing that you are in a way a memory of most of the last century, of the Jewish people of that century and the terrible ordeal they went through, I reached this conclusion after [the] vote in Britain: a hundred years after the First World War, it is as if Europe is headed again towards tremendous turmoils, that start with the economy but develop later on [into] national issues, the Europeanidentity being too weak to confront the devils of nationalism.

A century after the 1914-18 Great War, Jumblatt concluded, the right-wing parties and the xenophobic ones all over Europe are on the rise, today against foreign immigration  mainly Arabs and Muslims  tomorrow [against] Jews as history tells usWhat a pity to have livedso many events and to be obliged to witness what is left of life, this sad end of history. Somebody said history repeats itself. The Druze leader signed himself off with a sentiment of deep regards to Avneri.

The Israeli intellectual replied within hours: Dear Walid, History repeats itself, but it also changes all the time. The Brexit is a large step backwards, but I hope Europe will march forwards nonetheless. Lets continue to hope! Salamaat, Uri. Salamaat is greetings in Arabic (or good health).

I guess there are not many Brits on the Leave or Remain side saying that to each other today.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The referendum decision to leave the EU opens a new chapter in the UKs trade relations with the single European market. The Leave vote also introduces a new phase in the political life of the UK, as many of the powers that had previously been transferred to Brussels will now be brought back to Westminster  including, most importantly, the trade and investment policies that determine our relations with all other countries around the world.

Since the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda in 2000, the EU has committed itself to the most extreme programme of neoliberal capitalism in its trade agreements with other countries, relentlessly promoting the interests of big business at the expense of labour, society and the environment.

Nowhere has this agenda been more apparent than in the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently under negotiation between the EU and USA. The fact that unelected EU bureaucrats have pursued TTIP in open defiance of public opposition was a standard complaint in every one of the referendum debates that I took part in, and in many serious comment pieces written on both sides.

Yet the TTIP agenda of permanent austerity, deregulation and free market fundamentalism is not an aberration on the part of Brussels. It is now the EUs standard programme for all peoples, within and outside Europe. Breaking with this model became a determining issue of the referendum for many on the left.

The Leave vote means that the British people have escaped being party to any future TTIP agreement as an EU member state. It is also highly doubtful that the TTIP project will be able to survive the UKs withdrawal on top of all the other shocks that have hit the EU-US negotiations over the past few months. Brexit may well be the last straw that broke the TTIP camels back.

At the same time, it has always been clear that leaving the EU would bring us face-to-face with a UK political elite that has consistently championed the most extreme neoliberal positions on the European spectrum. As many have correctly pointed out, a new UK government could still attempt to sign us up to the principles of TTIP at a future date.

And this is the most important point for those of us who have devoted years of our lives to the cause of trade justice. We must now ensure that the British peoples decision to reject the EU and its neoliberal programme cannot be twisted into a mandate to pursue the same agenda unilaterally in the UK.

The Leave vote is a rejection of the political caste in this country, as most commentators already agree. The fact that voters in many traditional Labour strongholds came out for Brexit must be seen as a call for a new kind of politics based on decisions that benefit the many, not the few. A mere changing of the guard in Downing Street will never be enough to satisfy that demand.

EU leaders must themselves take stock of why the British electorate defied expectations and swung behind a Brexit vote. The European elites contempt for the people of Europe has manifested itself with brutal clarity in their imposition of austerity on the populations of Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Latvia, Ireland and Portugal, as well as their drive to conclude the TTIP negotiations in the face of such widespread public opposition.

Rumours coming out of Brussels suggest that EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom intends to deny national parliaments their promised vote on the EU-Canada trade deal, CETA. This is just the latest in a series of anti-democratic decisions that EU leaders need to reconsider urgently if they do not wish to be responsible for the further disintegration of the EU.

The fight is on to secure justice, rights and democracy inside and outside the EU, to reject the appalling scapegoating of migrants that we have seen during the Brexit debate and to stand up for social justice for all peoples. Now is the time to put aside the divisions caused by the referendum and unite behind this common vision of a better world.

John Hilary is Executive Director of War on Want
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Theres a truism long held in the Arab world: when the bad guys proclaim victory, theyre probably telling the truth. When the good guys proclaim victory, theres usually just a little bit more fighting to be done before the promise is fulfilled; meaning another few days fighting, another week, another month So when the Iraqi commander tells the people of Iraq that Fallujah has been liberated  for the fourth time in a decade, by my count  its time to use the critical faculties that politicians and armies so often lack.

Fallujah, you may remember, was the "city of mosques" whose Sunni people liberated themselves from Saddams rule a few days before their American liberators turned up in 2003 to tell the world they had themselves freed Fallujah from the evil Saddam. Then the city decided it didnt want the American version of liberation and its resistance forces began attacking US troops who found themselves fighting  you guessed it  terrorists in Fallujah.

In two street protests in 2003, the American 82nd Airborne managed to kill 19 Iraqi civilians. They claimed  like the British 1st Parachute Regiment in Derry in 1972  that they had been fired on by the protestors, but human rights groups said they could find no evidence of this. Nor could journalists who visited the scene. Come early 2004, and four armed American mercenaries in Fallujah, betrayed by a local Fallujah cop, were hauled from their vehicles and murdered. The Americans decided that the city should be liberated again  and the Marines, in the preposterously named Operation Vigilant Resolve, laid siege to the city in March. They then handed it over to local Iraqi army troops formally loyal to Saddam  who promptly handed it back to the resistance (or terrorists). In November, therefore, it was time for the even more ridiculously named Operation Phantom Fury in which hundreds of terrorists were supposedly killed, along with dozens of US Marines.

The Americans denied using white phosphorous in the battle  then admitted they had indeed used phosphorous. And when Iraqi mothers in the city subsequently suffered a small a plague of stillborn and grossly deformed babies, their families blamed this on the use of American phosphorous shells. But in 2004, the Americans claimed they had discovered evidence of torture chambers in Fallujah and freed at least two hostages, one of them the chauffeur of a French journalist. There was no reason for surprise.

Fallujah had become "resistance city" for the army of rebels  Saddam veterans, foreign fighters and a growing al-Qaeda force in Iraq  over many months. In early 2004, I bought a series of videotapes on sale outside one of Fallujahs largest mosques; they showed the beheading of Russian troops in Chechenya by bearded Islamists, each soldier led into a bare room where his throat was cut open in camera close-ups. They were training tapes; the Isis-to-be rebels of Fallujah were being taught the skills of a butcher -- how to decapitate prisoners.

The lessons were put to swift use. The mortuaries of Baghdad filled each morning with headless corpses  one arrived with a dogs head sewn onto the torso  and Fallujah became a no-go city. Fallujah was not a beheading centre, but it was an untamable city. In 2012, I visited the families of the malformed but still living children born after "Phantom Fury"  all bravely saying that they would care for their sons and daughters until they died because they were a gift from God  but my journeys around the city were guarded by black-uniformed Iraqi cops. One of their colleagues had just been murdered in an al-Qaeda ambush; al-Qaeda used another policemans radio to claim responsibility for the killing.

Recommended Read more The relationship between Israel and Lebanon is deteriorating again

So when Isis overran Mosul three years later, Tikrit, Fallujah and the neighbouring city of Ramadi were bound to return to Sunni rebel rule, although many of the armed groups were tribesmen rather than Isis members. Tikrit was recaptured last year by a deeply pessimistic (and wounded) Iraqi Shiite lieutenant general called Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi who feared that Shiite militias had murdered several prisoners and complained that his country would be divided if his men were not better trained and armed.

A month ago, the Shia Iraqi government, supported by both the US and Iran as well as local Shia militias from southern Iraq, announced an even more ill-informed Operation Breaking Terror and laid siege to Fallujah all over again, sending thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives and taking away for interrogation at least 60 Sunni civilians, who are now suspected of being murdered by Shia militias. As usual when Fallujah is being liberated US air strikes were called in to smash many terrorist buildings to rubble. A week ago, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, claimed that Fallujah had been liberated after city hall, a brown concrete block at the very entrance to Fallujah, had been captured. Then the shooting went on.

Until a few hours ago when the very same Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi of Tikrit fame announced that his men had fully [sic] liberated Fallujah. No much of the city left, unfortunately  its been rebuilt twice already  but then yet further shooting was heard. What was that truism again? When the good guys proclaim victory
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

The campaign for a Labour government has a plan. Now it has a candidate. As with the Conservatives who want Anybody But Boris, the ABC crowd (Anybody But Corbyn  But Not McDonnell Either) had a problem: you cant beat somebody with nobody.

In my Sunday article I said that the first stage of the plan was a secret ballot on a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn, to be held after Labour MPs meet tomorrow, but that the next stage required a candidate. I pointed out that Dan Jarvis, Hilary Benn, Tom Watson and Lisa Nandy were on the bookmakers lists.

Now, by telling Corbyn directly in a phone conversation that he has no confidence in his leadership and getting himself sacked, Benn has put himself at the top of the list. Presumably, what happened was that Seumas Milne, Corbyns press officer, read the Observer story, that Benn was intending to lead a mass resignation of shadow ministers in an attempt to oust Corbyn. Corbyn phoned Benn to ask him what was going on, and Benn, to his credit, told him. In a phone call to Jeremy I told him I had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party and he dismissed me.

I will not be hard to find 50 Labour MPs and MEPs to nominate Benn as a candidate to challenge Corbyn at Labour Party conference in September. As I read the party rules, if at least one candidate has the necessary nominations, a leadership election automatically follows. The trouble is that the rules have been rewritten so many times that they dont make sense.

They say that when the party is in opposition, a leadership election shall take place at each annual session of party conference. Given that an election involves a ballot of party members, it is not clear when that takes place. It is possible that it has to be held before the party conference, with the result announced then, but with the National Executive in control of the procedure, it is not at all clear what will happen. Corbyn has an uncertain majority on the National Executive, so prepare for procedural shenanigans.

If a leadership election is engineered before an early general election, the hard part would be for Benn to win it. Some Labour members who voted for Corbyn last year may be losing confidence in him too, but will they vote for the man who advocated British airstrikes against Isis in Syria so forcefully? With the Chilcot report coming on 6 July, Benn's support for the Iraq war is not going to endear him to the new members.

Given that one of the main engines of Corbyn support is opposition to warmonger Blairism, it is possible that Lisa Nandy, who voted against airstrikes, would stand a better chance.

Noon update: Hilary Benn has ruled himself out this morning as a candidate, which puts Lisa Nandy at the front of the queue. Also this morning Heidi Alexander, Gloria De Piero and Ian Murray have resigned from the shadow cabinet. Nandy was rumoured to be another possible resigner, along with Angela Eagle, but they would both be in a stronger position if they stayed. They would have clean hands and have more appeal to the Corbynista membership, especially those of them who are beginning to realise that Corbyn himself, admirable though he is to them, is not up to the job of national leadership.
Gardai are investigating the incident, which occurred in Dame Lame, central Dublin

A man is seriously ill after suffering head injuries in an assault.

The victim, aged in his late 30s, was found unconscious on Dame Lame in central Dublin close to the entrance to a pub at 11.30pm on Saturday.

Gardai said the alarm was raised by a member of the public.

The injured man was rushed to St James's Hospital but was later transferred to Beaumont, which has specialist units for severe head injuries.

Gardai appealed for witnesses to the assault, which occurred in an area very busy with revellers every Saturday night.

Crowds were also in the city on Saturday for the Pride festival.

Detectives urged anyone who was in the Dame Lane area between 11pm and midnight to contact them at Pearse Street Garda Station.
A plinth at the site of Veronica Guerin's murder

One of Ireland's senior churchmen has said Veronica Guerin's life remains an example for today.

At a special mass on the 20th anniversary of the journalist's murder, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin called on people to follow in her footsteps.

"We remember Veronica Guerin 20 years after her murder," the Archbishop said.

"We remember her not as a news story of the past, but as an example for today.

"We have uncompromisingly to expose and condemn the horrible violence and corruption of those who are involved in the traffic of death and disregard for life which is the drugs trade."

Guerin was a leading crime journalist at the time of her death.

She was shot six times as she sat in her car on the Naas dual carriageway on June 26 1996 when two men drew alongside her on a motorbike.

Brian Meehan from Crumlin is serving a life sentence for her murder.

John Gilligan was acquitted of her murder.

He survived an assassination attempt shortly after being released from prison in 2014 for multimillion euro cannabis trafficking.

Archbishop Martin has spoken out in recent months at the escalation in gangland murders in the feud involving the Kinahan and Hutch families.

He used his homily at the anniversary mass to call on people to support the work of gardai against drug dealers.

"Those who are involved in this disgusting and despicable industry will still attempt to silence anyone who has the courage to call evil evil. We must not let them overcome," he said.

Archbishop Martin said Guerin remains someone who showed integrity and courage and has has been an inspiration.

He spoke of the need for a united society against drugs, criminality and gangsterism.

"The democracy which we cherish requires honesty and integrity and not just individual integrity," he said.

"The corrupt flourish in a society where complacency and turning a blind eye flourish.

"We vilify democracy when we lack the courage and perseverance to call evil evil.

"We vilify the men and women of integrity when we fail to remember and support what they stood for. We honour the men and women of integrity when we show our own mettle.

"I have said on many occasions in the face of the current bout of violence in Dublin that the men and women of violence have two weapons in their armoury: their guns and our silence."

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) also paid tribute to Guerin this week, calling her an inspiration to reporters worldwide.
The Sunday Timess Irish edition ran a lengthy editorial last weekend, calling for Britain to leave the EU. Stock photo: PA

Britain's divorce from the EU has the potential to derail our economic recovery, but many of the UK newspaper titles that publish Irish editions were unashamedly in favour of Brexit.

The Sunday Times's Irish edition ran a lengthy editorial last weekend, calling for Britain to leave the EU.

Though Britain leaving the EU may have a profound impact on trade, currency, travel, health and even the peace process, the newspaper made no reference to the knock-on effects of Brexit on this island.

"This Thursday, Britain should vote to leave. Yes, it must be prepared for a bumpy ride, but this vote may be the only opportunity to call a halt to the onward march of the centralising Europe project. Such a state would be neither in Britain's interests, nor Europe's," the editorial said.

The newspaper is owned by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch's tabloid title, the Sun, also campaigned heavily for a Brexit, with a front-page lead article headlined "BeLEAVE in Britain".

The newspaper dismissed economic forecasts as "nonsense", urging Britain to avoid being engulfed by a "relentlessly expanding German-dominated federal state".

It was also forced to issue a correction for a story headlined "Queen backs Brexit."

The Eurosceptic British press, many of whose titles also publish somewhat adapted Irish editions, were firmly pushing their readers towards Leave.

In fact, research by Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Communication and Culture suggested that eight out of 10 articles in the mainstream British press were pro-Brexit in the run up to Thursday's landmark vote by the British people.

The Daily Mail and Daily Express were both virulently in favour of a Brexit, but the Daily Telegraph also weighed in heavily in the final week of the campaign.

However, the Daily Mirror, Guardian and Financial Times backed Britain staying in the European Union.

The Times, the daily paper that is also owned by Mr Murdoch, ultimately did support the EU status, saying on the front page: "Why remain is best for Britain."

Yesterday the Financial Times editorial, headlined "Britain cuts itself adrift" summed up the newspaper's position, opening: "The British electorate has rejected the advice of its own government, most economic experts and international allies and backed the Brexit campaign 'to take back control.'

"The sovereign wish of the people must be respected.

"Britain is now scrambling to reconstruct a government that can exit the European Union in a way that best preserves the country's stability and prosperity."
We have had a couple of days to think about the implications of last week's Brexit vote. Unfortunately, the prognosis doesn't look any better for Ireland.

The most rapid measure of the turmoil came in the stock markets on Friday morning. Share prices tanked immediately. But they may well claw back some of those losses as things settle down in the coming weeks. Traders need to buy or sell on a story. If the story is viewed as bad, they start dumping shares: Sell now, think about it later.

The bigger concern for the Irish economy is in the currency markets. Sterling fell like a stone on Friday morning because currency values are underpinned by real economy fundamentals of trade, supply and demand. The British pound is likely to stay low for quite some time.

It will stay low during the protracted period of negotiation between London and Brussels about the UK exit. That could go on for two years. Trade negotiations with other countries (the UK has around 60 different trade deals that may need to be re-negotiated) could take even longer.

Then there is the longer-term picture of where the currency will sit after Brexit has taken hold, given that the Leave camp failed to come up with a credible economic growth story. The Leave campaign rebuffed the Remain side predictions of an economic apocalypse - but never really said how the UK would grow outside the EU.

As long as Sterling stays low, Irish exporters will suffer. They will lose their competitive advantage exporting into the UK while also probably seeing a contraction in the British economy itself.

This is all bad news for Irish firms. The only reprieve would be if sentiment towards the future stability of the Eurozone drags the euro down in value with it - although it isn't much of a reprieve if bad news is tempered by even worse news.

Of course, in theory, what we lose in indigenous company exports could be replaced by new foreign direct investment (FDI) into Ireland.

The UK hoovers up around 40pc of all inward investment into Europe. We should have a reasonable chance of snagging a slice of that. But even if we do, those FDI investments will be mainly in Dublin or Cork and will never be as embedded in the Irish economy as the profits and employment of indigenous firms dotted around the country.

They are ultimately more transient than indigenous firms and lack impact in many of the regions around the country.

The UK may account for 16pc of Irish exports, but it is the destination for more than 40pc of indigenous company exports.

The currency will also hit Irish tourism. British visitor numbers to Ireland have grown as a strong Sterling made us a cheaper destination. This has helped small and large tourism businesses in most corners of the country.

That tap could be turned off pretty quickly, with the consequent impact on jobs here.

So yes, in theory, everything is the same today as it was last Thursday. The UK is still in the EU until it negotiates its way out. That process will only begin in October and will go on for a long time. But this is such a seismic event, it has already negatively impacted on Irish businesses.

Mr China wants to stay ahead of the curve

It IS not every day that a major Irish company says it is going to let go more than half its total staff through voluntary redundancies - and yet such an announcement made last week attracted relatively modest attention. But Liam Casey's PCH has never courted too much publicity, no matter how it has been doing.

His announcement that 1,500 jobs were to go, mainly from its operations in China, reflected a shift that the supply chain management firm is making in its own business model.

Casey has built up a very successful company by being the 'go-to' guy for major global technology companies, such as Apple, that want to get something made in China.

But the Chinese economy is shifting and the Corkman, christened 'Mr China', is changing with it. PCH referred to tight margins in its statement, something that has become a growing problem for those feeding into the manufacturing sector in the second-largest economy in the world.

Casey has spent a lot of time refocusing the business away from providing services to Western firms that want to mass produce a consumer product, and instead moving it towards helping with the concept, design, engineering and delivery of hardware technology.

He recently talked about an exciting new product his firm was working on for a client in the US and raised the possibility of the end product being made in the US.

PCH is becoming more embedded in San Francisco with high-potential start-ups and helping them move beyond the concept stage for their product ideas.

As the Chinese economy is trying to move further up the value chain into higher margin businesses, so too is PCH.

Chinese wages have risen sharply in the last 10 years and, according to an economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, hourly wages in Mexico, in dollar terms, are 40pc lower than in China.

Much of this is due to the value of the Mexican peso, but even the Chinese finance minister recently commented that labour laws designed to protect workers' pay and conditions have damaged the economy.

Much of China's past success has been about cheaper manufacturing on the back of low wages. But as wages rise and working conditions improve in the midst of efforts to shift the economy away from cheap manufacturing, its competitive advantage has been eroded.

The chairman of one Chinese car-maker recently said "the profits of manufacturers' are thinner than a blade."

It is difficult to assess how the shifts in the Chinese economy have affected PCH. Its revenues in 2014 were reported at $1.1bn. However, its Irish group company has unlimited liability and is owned by two companies registered in the Cayman Islands - so there are no publicly available accounts.

Back in 2011, before it went unlimited liability, it reported an operating profit margin of just 2.3pc on $710m of revenues. Clearly PCH has grown a lot since then, and the changes in its business mix may have lifted that margin.

PCH made a number of strategic acquisitions, including the acquisition of the website Fab.com, as if were preparing the ground for the refocusing of its business model. Nevertheless, when PCH announced 250 job losses in February of this year, Casey ruled out any further job cuts. PCH employs 1,900 staff in Shenzhen and has 200 engineers in China working on product design, Casey said earlier this year.

Liam Casey has built a very successful empire by getting in first and staying ahead of the curve when it comes to China. He now wants to stay ahead of the curve again.

If Hacketts can't hack it any more, then who can?

Boylesports has been tipped as a possible buyer of some of the 18 Hackett betting shops closed through liquidation.

Paddy Power has already had the pick of the Hackett empire, buying 15 shops after Hackett closed a further 26 in a restructuring not that long ago. The remaining 18 shops were the last throw of the dice.

The demise of Hacketts shows the pressure independent bookmakers are under, not only from changes in technology but also from what is on offer in a bookies.

Betting shops don't look like what they used to and punters who frequent them want maximum choice on where they can bet. Plus, if they are going to lose money in a bookies, they want to do it while being as comfortable as possible in what looks more like an executive lounge than a place to stick a fiver on a horse.

If Hacketts couldn't hack it with its long track record and a chain of 56 shops, then what future is there for smaller operators? In just a few years' time we may see the Irish betting shop market carved up between just three or maybe even two players.
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (R) and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams (L) give their reaction to the EU Referendum vote at a press conference outside Stormont Castle in Belfast. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Sinn Fein's call for a border poll on Irish unity in the wake of the Brexit result has been dismissed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin.

Mr Kenny said there is "no evidence" that the conditions exist for such a poll and said there are "more serious issues" to deal first.

Meanwhile, Mr Martin branded Gerry Adams's demand for a vote as a "distraction".

Sinn Fein's call came as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon indicated a second independence referendum is on the cards there. Scotland - like Northern Ireland - voted to remain in Europe and Ms Sturgeon said it's a "democratic outrage" that her country would have to leave the EU.

Mr Adams made his remarks outside Stormont Castle, flanked by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

He warned of the possible re-introduction of border controls and said the UK leaving the EU will have a "likely detrimental impact on the Good Friday Agreement".

Mr Adams said the people in the North voted to remain in the EU and argued the British government now has no mandate to represent them in Europe.

"There is now a democratic imperative for a border poll. The Irish government should support this," he said.

Mr McGuinness believes such a vote can be "conducted in a civilised atmosphere" citing the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

In Dublin, the party's deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, called the referendum result "a game changer" and said the case for a vote on Irish unity is "unanswerable".

The Taoiseach said under the Good Friday Agreement, a border poll can take place if the British Northern Secretary believes a majority wants to join the Republic.

"There is no such evidence," Mr Kenny said, adding: "There are much more serious issue to deal with in the immediate term and that's where our focus is."

Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers - who had campaigned for 'Leave' - ruled out holding a reunification poll.

She said no opinion surveys indicate that a majority in the North support a united Ireland.

"Again and again, they demonstrate that a significant majority of people in Northern Ireland are content with the political settlement established under the Belfast Agreement and Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom," she said, adding that "with common sense", the two jurisdictions can ensure an open border is maintained.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fail's "fundamental view" is that Irish unity is the best way forward.

He said: "The Sinn Fein call is a distraction given that we have such instability and uncertainty." He said the focus should be on ensuring "we get the best deal possible that protects Ireland's vital economic interests" in the EU Brexit negotiations.
Jeremy Corbyn is facing the biggest threat yet to his political leadership, with many members of the shadow cabinet resigning in the space of just a few hours, plunging the Labour Party into turmoil.

Here is a list of the shadow ministers who have resigned and why they went.

1. Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn is sacked by Mr Corbyn after telling the Labour leader he had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party. Mr Benn is the son of the late Labour politician and famous left winger Tony Benn - one of Mr Corbyn's old mentors.

He has publicly opposed Mr Corbyn before, most notably when he spoke eloquently in the House of Commons in favour of extending air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, moving some MPs to tears and prompting many to break with tradition and give him a round of applause.

His sacking prompts around half the shadow cabinet to resign, plunging Mr Corbyn's leadership into crisis.

2. Shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander became the first of the Mr Corbyn's front bench to hand her resignation in.

She was elected MP for Lewisham East in 2010 having served as a local councillor in the borough for several years. She supported Andy Burnham for Labour leader but agreed to serve in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet despite reportedly telling her activists that he is unelectable as prime minister.

In her resignation letter, she said it was "with a heavy heart" that she decided to stand down but she does not think Mr Corbyn can lead Labour during Brexit negotiations.

She added: "As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."

3. Shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray is the only Labour MP left in Scotland after the SNP's sweeping victories north of the border in the 2015 general election.

He was first elected to Westminster for Edinburgh South in 2010 having previously been a councillor. He has been critical of some of the language used by Mr Corbyn's shadow chancellor and close ally John McDonnell, who he has accused of "ramping up rhetoric" against some centrist Labour MPs.

In resigning, he said there is a "grave risk" Scotland could go for independence and the UK could break up in the wake of the Brexit vote and he feels Mr Corbyn does not have the skills to lead the party during this tumultuous time.

In his resignation letter, he said: "With the result of the referendum on the European Union, the country faces a deeply challenging time ahead.

"That demands a strong opposition capable of holding the Government to account, helping to secure the best possible deal for Scotland and the UK and building to win any future general election. I do not believe that can be achieved under your leadership."

4. Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell has been the MP for Manchester Central since 2012. She was a key ally of Ed Miliband, helping to run his ill-fated general election campaign.

Resigning, she said the Labour Party faces an "existential threat" and warned that it has lost the support of many of its traditional voters.

She said: "Given the big challenges faced by our country and our party over the coming months, and the possibility of an imminent general election, I do not have the confidence that you can bring the party together, lead us to a general election and be an effective opposition."

5. Shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood, MP for Nottingham South since 2010, was first promoted to the Labour front bench by Ed Miliband and kept on by Mr Corbyn.

She echoed the concerns of many of her former front bench colleagues that Brexit will cause economic hardship and be accompanied by growing intolerance.

She said: "Faced with such challenges, it is essential that we have a strong and united opposition. You are a kind, decent and principled colleague, but in my view a new leadership is required to bridge the widening divides in our party, both in Parliament and in the country as a whole."

6. Shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy was elected MP for Bristol East in 2005 having been selected as candidate in the first Labour all-women shortlist.

She has sparked several controversies on Twitter during her time as an MP. She apologised and received a police caution after revealing a sample of postal votes on Twitter during the run-up to the 2010 election. And in 2012 she branded a train passenger a "lager drinking oaf" and suggested he should have "been killed before he could breed" in an outburst on Twitter.

She told Mr Corbyn: "The referendum result was a huge disappointment, and we now face the challenge of negotiating our future relationship with the rest of Europe. Vital protections won through our EU membership must not be jettisoned.

"This requires strong leadership from the Labour Party, and an alternative vision for government, which is seen as credible by the wider electorate. Although I do not doubt your personal commitment to your long-held principles, I believe that a new leader is needed to take on the challenges ahead."

7. Shadow minister for young people Gloria De Piero is a former journalist who became the MP for Ashfield in 2010.

According to The Guardian, she told Mr Corbyn in her resignation letter: "I do not believe you can deliver that victory at a general election, which may take place in a matter of months.

"I have been contacted by many of my members this weekend and it is clear that a good number of them share that view and have lost faith in your leadership."

8. Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra is far closer to the Labour leader than the other rebels.

She was last seen with him on Saturday when she enthusiastically helped to introduce the Labour leader as he made his first public speech following the EU referendum vote.

But the MP for Feltham and Heston has joined a growing number of her Labour front bench colleagues in resigning.

In her resignation letter she warns that Labour is "hugely divided and those divisions are growing", adding: "I have come to the view that under your leadership we will not be able to build bridges across the party, be the strong official opposition that the country needs or reach out to voters and build confidence in Labour."

She finishes by writing: "I believe that we need to recognise that we do not currently look like a Government in waiting."

9. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker was one of the most experienced politicians in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet having been elected to the Nottinghamshire constituency of Gedling in 1997.

Announcing his decision to go, Mr Coaker, who served as minister for schools under Gordon Brown, said in a statement to The Huffington Post: "The decision to leave Europe leaves the whole of the UK facing massive uncertainty and Labour now needs a strong and clear direction to serve as an effective opposition as we move forward, particularly if we face a general election in the next 12 months.

"I believe it is now time for the party to unite behind a new leader to ensure our MPs can serve the whole of the electorate as that effective opposition. It is with deep regret that I am therefore tendering my resignation from the shadow cabinet."

10. Shadow justice secretary Lord Falconer was one of the very few big beasts in Mr Corbyn's shadow cabinet. The Labour peer and barrister served as lord chancellor and justice secretary under under his old friend and former flat mate Tony Blair.

He spent some years out of frontbench politics when Gordon Brown was leader, but was appointed shadow justice secretary in 2015 by then acting Labour Leader Harriet Harman and kept in the job when Mr Corbyn was elected.
I've spent nearly 30 years in the coffee industry. I've seen it grow in Ireland from a boring tea alternative with major health concerns in the Eighties to the most-talked-about and trendy specialist drinks sector on the planet, worth 30bn.

Throughout Ireland, a string of corporate coffee houses are engaged in one of the most intense retail fights to secure the dominant position for their coffee brands. A never-ending stream of capital is flowing in from investors looking to claim their own piece of a sector that continues to grow, fuelled by innovation, passion and love.

The phenomenal growth of just about every sector in the coffee industry has had insane commercial benefits for us all - with one exception: the small coffee farmer.

The farmers, their families and workers are the forgotten slaves in this industry. Some 25 million small coffee growers produce 73pc of the coffee we drink - and they are being exploited.

Describing a small patch of one or two hectares of lush jungle as a farm stretches the imagination. About 90pc of the coffee world's 25 million small farmers and pickers work on such farms. If they're lucky they may own a mixed field where coffee is grown alongside other vegetables and fruits as a cash crop.

I've visited coffee-producing countries numerous times and each time I've witnessed families doing everything they can to get their children off the farm and into full-time education, which would offer them a chance to secure a decent living standard. However, most families don't have the means to pay for higher education - and when coffee prices are low they simply cannot afford to stop growing coffee, let alone pay for education.

The truth is, the coffee growers of today are not much better off than the thousands of slaves forced to develop this huge commodity by the colonial powers of the 17th and 18th centuries. The historical crimes of our predecessors are not just an issue of the past. The highly unethical treatment of coffee growers continues today.

It costs the small farmer between $1.80 and $2 to produce a pound of coffee. Larger, privately owned plantations can produce the same amount of coffee by cutting costs through cheap labour.

The coffee 'C' contract is the benchmark price for Arabica coffee. Today it hovers around $1.25 per pound. The 'C' contract, based in New York, has controlled the commodity - and farmers' lives - for more than 100 years.

Java Republic's own humble beginnings back in September 1999 consisted of buying coffee at about $0.50 per pound - completely screwing any and all farmers, their kids' dreams and workers along the way.

While the extra margin ensured Java's success and helped us survive the shocking odds of our going bust, I often wonder how many families we exploited in those few years. Why would any farmer ask or expect their children to stay in this horrendous, never-ending poverty cycle?

The few hundred dollars the family made from this cash crop was their only opportunity to invest in education and basic foods, often with little left over to invest in the following year's crops.

The younger generation naturally wants to escape the poverty cycle that has ensnared their family. However, there is very little opportunity for education or life outside the farms. Their future appears to be determined by a past that holds strong.

Gender, of course, is another pertinent issue. Being female often means a case of double colonisation. Ethiopia was particularly distressing, the patriarchal structure being very quick to employ the "it's our custom" claptrap to excuse its enslavement of women workers. On the other hand, Nicaragua demonstrated progressive ideas around gender, with very young women being trusted to run impressive farmer co-operatives.

The Haitian coffee growers demonstrated an impressive dedication to raise funds so their children could emigrate to the USA. They didn't trust us or care for us when we visited - and I admired their shrewdness. The coffee giants have exploited native farmers for generations, and they saw through our big smiles and impossible promises. Unfortunately their coffee yield must have been half of any other origin I have visited.

It is ironic that the Dutch, once the cruellest colonial power, should have created the Fairtrade label. Some 30pc of Java's coffee is Fairtrade, including one of our best coffees, BlueEarth, sourced from certified Fairtrade farms in Mexico and Peru. Fairtrade ensures that farmers are paid 20c more per pound than the 'C' contract.

Certainly, the Fairtrade initiative has accomplished a great deal. However, if it is to retain its role as the 'grand disruptor' in the coffee industry, it needs to move to the next stage quickly. Coffee-producing countries are seeing record-breaking crops and this is causing the already low price to collapse.

Certain ethical labels have become a corporate flag for large coffee companies to hide behind and suggest some minor commitment to ethical trading, while continuing to exploit other farmers. Fairtrade is large and bold enough to counteract this deceptive practice and bring to the forefront the actual real-life conditions of the global coffee-farmers.

Right now, we need Fairtrade to do everything in its power to convince the roasters and retailers to take responsibility for their actions, re-evaluate their commitment to ethical practices and be accountable for the price per lb of coffee that they pay.

Since 2002, after returning from a trip to East Java, we have always declared the price of our green beans on our website. We have endeavoured to always be completely transparent with regard to how Java operates and how it engages with the producers.

We will never directly or indirectly raise money for water projects or schools, because we do not know what we are doing. We will be cautious sponsoring any other local projects as a marketing tool.

We will begin again by declaring our historic net prices per pound, as should any roaster worth trading with. I recognise that paying the highest price per lb does not guarantee any better cup quality, but we need to be kept accountable for the price we pay farmers.

Consumers should be given the option to buy totally ethical coffee, and know that they have chosen to purchase coffee produced by a farmer who was treated fairly and with respect. Fairtrade will remain an important part of our business - but so will direct trade with farmers visited at the origin.

Java Republic is committed to doing its part to expose and put a stop to the modern-day slavery that drives the global coffee industry.

Last week, I visited Bogota, Colombia, with several colleagues in search of AAA, AA, A and micro-lot speciality coffees. Though the profile of speciality coffee has grown in Ireland over the last few years, it still represents less than 0.1pc of all coffee imported into Ireland, due to its price.

As mentioned above, the New York 'C' contract controls the price of coffee around the world. And while it may cost the farmer between $1.60 and $1.80 to grow a pound of coffee, the 'C' contract has fixed the price at around $1.30 per pound.

However, speciality coffees are purchased with a premium of between $1.10 and $2.50 per pound on top of the current $1.30 price. Speciality coffee offers the farmer an opportunity to profit from their toil.

The processes for harvesting great quality, ripe cherries and then allowing for their fermentation and drying is so advanced in Columbia that I only wish it was the same for farmers in Ethiopia and Haiti.

The most rewarding part of our week in Columbia was developing a direct relationship with the farmers, and I would hope others in the industry will endeavour to do likewise.

The onus is on us - the roasters and retailers, the powerbrokers in the coffee industry - to ensure the coffee grower is treated as an equal shareholder in the industry. We must expose and end the modern-day slavery that underpins our coffee world. We are responsible for stopping it, standing up and saying we will not tolerate or be complicit in exploitation and slavery. There is no ethics in coffee right now - but we can change that. We must change that.

David McKernan is founder and CEO of Java Republic
Brexit is coming. New barriers to doing business will go up between the economies of Ireland and the UK. The only question is how high they will be. Nobody will be more concerned than Irish-owned exporting businesses. No market comes close to the UK when it comes to their foreign sales, unlike the much bigger foreign-owned exporting sector, which is far more focused on the continental and US markets.

The nightmare of Brexit will require businesses to expend time and money for years to come. I discuss the Brexit issue in depth in my column in the main section of the paper, but amid the gloom, let's give two cheers for last week's little-reported news that Irish businesses are getting better at exporting.

That's two cheers, not three cheers, because the news is not as good as suggested in the press release from Enterprise Ireland (EI) - the agency tasked with helping companies internationalise.

Let's start with some context that needs saying: Ireland would be one of the weakest exporting nations in Europe if the multinationals all left and the only people to sell goods and services to foreign markets were indigenous companies. Foreign-owned companies account for 90pc of all exports of goods and services from this economy.

Although no comparative figures exist, I would bet a lot of money that no peer economy has an export profile even remotely similar to Ireland's.

Last week's announcement by EI that the firms it supports had grown their export revenues by 10pc last year is good. But it is important to note that total exports grew by more than twice that rate during 2015. Just as relevant is that, while Irish-owned companies doubled export receipts over the decade, their share of total exports actually fell back slightly.

When Ireland joined the then EEC more than four decades ago, it was hoped that access to new markets would result in stronger export growth. That certainly happened - but it was mostly attributable to foreign companies.

Half of indigenous companies' exports went to the UK back then. Diversification has happened, but the UK market is still by far the most important.

Last week also saw the publication of another Government survey on the role of foreign and indigenous sectors in Ireland using a range of metrics. The Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) is one of the very few sources of detailed data on how companies assisted by State agencies of various kinds are doing collectively.

Let's start with figures for overall export performance. Somewhat confusingly, the figures differ from the EI numbers. That is because EI also assists some foreign companies, most notably in the food sector, while ABSEI gives numbers for exclusively Irish-owned companies that are assisted by State agencies.

As a result, EI export figures are higher than those in the ABSEI survey. ABSEI figures are also less timely, covering only up to 2014. A further point that needs clarification is that the ABSEI survey data on the value of total exports is far below the total export figures compiled by the Central Statistics Office. The gap - of some 65bn in 2014 - is because many exporters, most notably financial institutions in Dublin's IFSC, are not client companies of any State agency. The ABSEI survey is huge, containing vast amounts of data, so the following analysis is limited to three sectors - food, pharma and IT services.

Food

Your columnist was surprised to learn that half of the total food exports by all agency-assisted companies, amounting to 14bn in 2014, was accounted for by foreign firms. Moreover, exports accounted for almost 90pc of foreign firms' sales compared with half in Irish ones.

Despite this, food is by far the biggest export of Irish-owned businesses, accounting for almost as much as all other exports combined. If market diversification has been limited by geography, it has been even less so by sector.

Productivity differs a lot depending on ownership, and the gap is widening. Total sales per employee (which combines both sales into the home market and exports) was three times higher in foreign-owned companies than in home-grown ones in 2014. Because sales per employee has been rising more rapidly in foreign companies, the gap has been widening steadily since the first ABSEI survey in 2000.

Pharmachem

The presence of most of the big global players in the pharmaceutical industry is a major success story, with the cluster of such firms in Cork being a world-beater.

As the second chart shows, sales per employee in foreign pharma companies was a staggering 1.6m in 2014. That was more than any other manufacturing sector and eight times that of the average Irish widget-maker. To what extent this is inflated by "transfer pricing" remains uncertain, but the practice of booking more profits in the Irish link in multinationals' value chains is very likely to explain at least some of that extraordinary figure.

It is worth noting that despite total pharma sales by all agency-assisted companies having doubled between 2000 and 2014, the numbers employed by those companies have fallen over the same period by close to one tenth. It stood at just under 22,600 in 2014. That's the miracle of productivity growth at work.

IT services

The other great success story in the foreign direct investment space is computer-related services. They have exceeded the pharma sector in foreign sales in recent years as so many US tech companies headquarter their European operations here. In 2014, the exports of the four sub-categories of computer-related services hit a combined 70bn.

The ABSEI figures show that in the same four sectors the numbers employed exceeded 54,000 in 2014, an increase of 12,000 on 2008. As the second figure shows, sales per employee are similar to the pharma sector, and as such it is not surprising that there are regular accusations of transfer pricing-type activity by tech companies.

If the foreign-owned sector is surging, interesting things are happening in its indigenously owned counterpart. Since 2008, the numbers employed have risen by 50pc in the four tech sub-categories - to reach 15,000. While that is good news, the degree of internationalisation of the sector is less stellar. The four sub-sectors earned 1.2bn in export revenues last year. Although that represents strong and consistent growth, it pales into insignificance compared with the 70bn that foreign tech companies earn from exports.

All told, there are plenty of nuggets of positivity about Irish business in the reams of data from last week's ABSEI, but the main takeaway is that we would be a trading backwater if it were not for the multinationals. If Brexit triggers a disintegration of the EU single market that those companies are in Ireland to service, we will once again become a backwater.
Debenhams Retail Holdings (Ireland) Limited (DRIL), which is fighting for survival after placing 11 of its stores into examinership, wants to repudiate at least three of its rental leases.

Last Thursday the High Court received an early ex parte (one-sided) application to repudiate several leases.

The company applied for court protection last month after its UK parent, Debenhams plc, to whom it owes 46m, withdrew financial support.

Some 2,265 jobs, including 500 concession staff, are at risk unless a survival scheme is approved.

Last Wednesday High Court judge Mr Justice Brian McGovern extended time for examiner Kieran Wallace to finalise his report. He continued court protection to July 20.

However, on Thursday the High Court received the one-sided motion to repudiate the leases and the court will now sit again on Tuesday to hear the repudiation motion.

The rents are a core issue in the planned survival scheme, as Debenhams' UK parent guaranteed them.

In court papers, Debenhams Ireland cited its annual 36m payroll costs and 25m upward-only rent roll as the key reasons why the company is no longer viable. It said that attempts to reduce rents that "substantially exceed" market rates have been unsuccessful due to the upward-only rent review clauses in the relevant leases, most of which have another 15 years to run before they expire.

Failing a successful renegotiation of rents during the course of the examinership, the High Court has the power to repudiate Debenhams' leases.

The guarantees by the parent company cannot be repudiated.

However, following a major decision of the High Court in 2012, if the guarantor agrees to enter into a new lease, the rent can be reviewed upwards or downwards (or stay the same).

Debenhams sought court protection in May arising from consistent losses sustained since the recession in 2007 and after withdrawal of support of its UK parent company.

Kieran Wallace, of KPMG, was appointed examiner after the court was told an independent expert believed the company had a reasonable prospect of survival if certain conditions were met, including securing court protection and approval of a survival scheme with the company's creditors.

Dooroy Ltd, landlords of DRIL's stores in Henry Street, Dublin, and Patrick Street, Cork, previously told the court it believed the withdrawal of support by DRIL's parent was the cause of DRIL's "collapse" and the parent was the entity "calling the shots" in negotiations.
The financial regulator in Mauritius has written to Ireland's Central Bank as part of a global investigation into controversial offshore hedge funds linked to the captain of the Irish international polo team Richard Fagan and David Cosgrove, an Irish-born businessman.

Fagan's commodity fund Kijani Resources, which went into liquidation last year, and Mr Cosgrove's Belvedere Management Group have been at the centre of an international storm for months amid allegations that both form part of an elaborate $16bn Ponzi scheme.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors, rather than from profits earned through legitimate sources.

Both men robustly deny the allegations, and insist they have not been charged with any wrongdoing. But a number of high-value managed funds linked to the duo have been seized by financial regulators and put into administration to protect investor funds in recent months.

The Financial Services Commission in Mauritius has suspended two of Belvedere's local fund vehicles, one of which housed Fagan's Kijani fund, over investors' concerns.

Financial regulators in Guernsey have also successfully applied to have fund vehicles with ties to Belvedere Management placed under administration, on the grounds of investor protection.

Fagan's $130m Kijani fund was seized by Cayman Islands regulators last summer in order to protect investors, less than a year after Kijani moved from its original domicile of Mauritius.

Concern is growing that investors may be exposed as Belvedere Management is reported to have had $16bn of assets under administration at one time.

Belvedere was set up in 2008 as an umbrella group for more than 100 investment funds marketed to wealthy individual investors. It is now under investigation by regulators in several jurisdictions, with the trail stretching from the Indian Ocean to South Africa, and from Guernsey to Ireland.

According to documents seen by the Sunday Independent, the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (MFSC) has been engaged in a two-year investigation of Belvedere that "has been working with various counterparts on the matter, including regulators from Guernsey, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, South Africa, England and Ireland".

"Some 125 correspondences have been exchanged since June 2014 with regulators from these countries to ensure the veracity of documents and to construct the flow of funds given that the companies under the management of Belvedere have been advancing loans to entities in various jurisdictions," the documents reveal.

An affidavit filed by the Guernsey financial services regulator in a successful court bid to have administrators appointed to Belvedere-linked hedge funds criticised Cosgrove's governance of hundreds of millions of euros' worth of managed funds. "Mr Cosgrove in his actions does not appear to have displayed all of the attributes required of a director of a licensee to be fit and proper," it states. The document also raises concerns that Cosgrove's "conduct has or may extend to the managed funds".

In a statement to worried investors, Cosgrove said: "All of our companies go through an annual audit by an approved independent auditor and all assets can be accounted for."

The defiant Belvedere boss added: "These are regulated funds with regulated investment advisors. The underlying strategies are not correlated to traditional markets and naturally tend to follow an upward path. They are not Ponzi schemes."

However, despite seeing the demise of his Kijani fund - which promised investors an annual return of 25pc - it's not all bad news for polo-playing Richard Fagan. As well as being a patron of the Irish polo team, he reportedly owns a 116-foot superyacht named Ratio, which boasts four staterooms and sleeps about 15 people.

Neither Cosgrove nor Fagan had responded to a number of emailed questions at the time of going to press.
The parent company of poultry-giant Moy Park, Brazilian firm JBS, has been busy setting up Dublin-based shell companies as it prepares to relocate its global headquarters to Ireland.

JBS announced a major restructuring plan last month which will see it spin off its international business, and move its headquarters here ahead of a planned listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

However, rather than choosing the North, where Moy Park's HQ and factory is located in Armagh, it appears JBS bosses decided in December 2015 that the Republic was the preferred location.

The more favourable corporation tax rate - until 2018, at least - and the ability to offer a financial shelter from the effects of a Brexit probably tipped the balance.

Five shell companies linked to JBS were incorporated just before Christmas last year, less than three months after the Brazilian food giant acquired Moy Park as part of their strategic plan to expand into Europe. Another company, JBS Foods International Designated Activity Company, was registered just last month. Its directors include Marcus O'Sullivan - managing director of JBS Global, the UK arm of the food giant - who was appointed to the new company just 10 days ago.

According to company filings, the names of the following entities - JBS Investments Dublin, JBS Investments Waterford, JBS Cork, JBS Asia Pacific Investments, and JBS Asia Pacific Holdings DAC - have all registered addresses listed at A&L Goodbody's Spencer Dock headquarters in Dublin.

The directors of the five companies are listed as Khalil Kaddissi, the legal director at JBS, and Francisco de Assis e Silva, executive director of institutional relations at the company.

In one of the few financial filings made by any of the Irish-registered JBS companies, JBS Asia Pacific Holding DAC, which was incorporated on December 18, 2015, states that a sum of $223m was paid to a Luxembourg affiliate, JBS Ansembourg, "by way of return of capital".

In an interview with the Sunday Independent in recent days, Moy Park managing director Janet McCollum denied that any decision had yet been made on where JBS is locating its Irish HQ.

"I understand there has been no decision on where that company would be based, although I know it has been stated that Ireland is an option," she said.

McCollum also denied that the decision to move the JBS global headquarters to Ireland was about tax avoidance.
A former director of the Central Bank has called for Irish financial services firms to demonstrate "greater vigilance" when it comes to enforcing anti-money laundering legislation.

Peter Oakes, a former director of enforcement at the financial regulator, said his comments were sparked by a Sunday Independent story that revealed how a Dublin-based bank was used to funnel cash in an alleged $114m global-bribes scandal.

Following allegations that stg7m was transferred to an Isle of Man account to pay 'fixers' involved in Nama's Project Eagle loan-book sale, Oakes said that Ireland is facing global "reputational risk" as a result of the ongoing bad publicity.

Citing concerns over "inadequate procedures in place for investigating and reporting suspicious transactions", Oakes, a regulatory lawyer and founder of Fintech Ireland, said "there is much room for immediate improvement and ratcheting up of board-level deliberation on this important area of financial-crime governance".

Oakes' concerns echo those contained in a Central Bank report published late last year.

In that report, which examined anti-money laundering and compliance in the Irish financial sector, bank chiefs admitted that firms here needed to do more to "effectively manage" their money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks.

Domhnall Cullinan, head of anti-money laundering at the Central Bank, said any business with a large variety and amount of customers, high values and volumes of transactions, and a cross-border nature was "attractive" for money laundering or terrorist-financing purposes.

"More work is required by firms in Ireland to effectively manage money-laundering/terrorist-financing risk," he said.

The Central Bank also looks after enforcement in the funds sector. Irish domiciled funds have a net asset value of almost 1.8 trillion, making them a key part of the financial services sector.

"The Central Bank expects all funds and fund-service providers to carefully consider the issues raised in the report, and to use the report to inform the development of their AML, counter-terrorism financing and financial sanctions frameworks," said Cullinan.

As at September last year, there were 1,188 funds (or 6,080 funds including sub-funds) authorised by the Central Bank.

The Central Bank also noted a reliance on third parties to conduct elements of customer due diligence, and insufficient evidence of "effective ongoing monitoring of investor transactions".
'Many of this country's largest indigenous businesses said the UK's decision would have little effect on their operations.' Photo: Bloomberg

A number of Ireland's biggest companies are defiant about the impact of Brexit on their businesses, despite the ISEQ having its worst day since the height of the financial crisis on Friday.

The shock vote to leave the European Union (EU) caused market chaos - after a broad expectation that the UK would vote to stay. The decision forces Irish companies to grapple with the prospect of extended volatility.

But many of this country's largest indigenous businesses said the UK's decision would have little effect on their operations.

Paper and packaging company Smurfit Kappa, whose share price dropped 11.4pc in Dublin on Friday, said it did not expect "any material impact on our day-to-day business".

It said it operates an integrated business in the UK with local sourcing of raw materials, and that the impact would be determined by European growth levels and exchange rates, given that it reports results in euro. "The UK is a relatively small part of the business accounting for approx. 7pc-9pc of Group turnover," it added.

A spokesman for Kerry Group said the result would be "relatively immaterial" for the food giant, saying the effects of currency volatility would be largely balanced, with the company having relatively small export businesses in both the UK and Ireland. Kerry lost just over half of one percent on Friday.

Glanbia, which lost 2.4pc on Friday, said the UK "is not a major market for our wholly-owned business, accounting for around 3pc of revenues last year." It said there would be no material impact on earnings.

Ryanair, which vigorously campaigned for 'Remain', took a light-hearted view. "It's a good job we're better at running an airline than political campaigns. Britons are booking our 9.99 seats in record numbers in what will be the last big seat sale of its kind, as they look to flee a country which will be run by Boris, Gove and Farage," a spokesman said. Its shares lost almost 10pc in Dublin on Friday.

Greencore boss Patrick Coveney said London-listed Greencore manufactures food in the UK for the UK market, with relatively little exposure to currency volatility because of that.

He said the company is focused on trends unrelated to the EU, such as the move towards snacking and convenience food. "I think our business will be fine but it would have been better if Britain had stayed in the EU".

Irish Continental Group (ICG) boss Eamonn Rothwell declined to comment, but has previously said that Brexit was a matter for politicians to deal with, adding that it was impossible to anticipate what the final settlement between the UK and the EU would be. ICG shares dropped almost 11.5pc on Friday.

Aryzta declined to comment, but this newspaper understands that insiders believe its main issue to be the translation of UK profits into its reporting currency. Dalata, which operates a number of hotels in the UK, declined to comment for this story, but chief executive Pat McCann told the Irish Independent that the company would "run our business and will look at where we can take advantage.

"In business, there are certain things you can control and certain things you can't. This is one of those things you can't," he added.

FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon said the result "introduces significant business and trading uncertainty for all indigenous Irish businesses." FBD lost 7.57pc on Friday.

"I do not believe FBD will be materially affected in the near term by currency exposures or trade flows. The risks are more pronounced for farmers and the agricultural industry, which trades widely with the UK... as this is a key customer base of ours we will be doing our utmost to work with them through those difficulties".

Kingspan, a market leader in the UK, which lost the most on the ISEQ on Friday at 21.1pc, declined to comment. Fyffes, Grafton, DCC, Paddy Power Betfair, CRH and Origin Enterprises did not comment.
The total value of the Irish waste sector runs well into the hundreds, and probably billions of euro. Photo: Collins

With pay-by-weight bin charges rapidly becoming the new water charges, Housing, Planning and Local Government Minister Simon Coveney had no choice but to move fast to defuse the crisis.

Last week Coveney hammered out a deal with the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), which represents most (but not all) of the major industry players - a deal that will see the introduction of pay-by-weight postponed for a year and bin charges frozen for the same period.

Will the new deal succeed in doing the trick? So far the signals are mixed. Two of the biggest players in the industry, Greyhound and City Bin, are not IWMA members. There have already been rumblings of a possible legal challenge to last week's price freeze deal.

However, even if last week's deal sticks, the bin controversy has focused attention on the hitherto low-profile waste management sector.

The waste management industry has its origins in the efforts of the country's local authorities to introduce household bin charges in the 1980s. Faced with fierce local political opposition, often from the same people who later opposed the introduction of water charges, the local authorities found it extremely difficult to collect bin charges from households.

With unpaid bills mounting, one by one the local authorities contracted out refuse collection to private companies. In 2011, the Dublin local authorities finally bowed to the inevitable and privatised their refuse collection services.

Companies collecting household waste must hold a permit from the National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO). There are currently 72 permit holders (Greyhound, one of the largest players in the Dublin waste collection market, holds two permits).

In practice the market is dominated by fewer than 10 large companies. Greyhound, Panda and Oxigen operate mainly in the Dublin market, Greenstar in Dublin and the south-east, Thorntons in Meath and Wicklow, Country Clean in Cork and Waterford, Mr Binman in Limerick and the City Bin Company in Dublin and Galway.

Trying to get precise figures on the size of the market and the relative size of the different players is extremely difficult. Panda claims to collect refuse from 150,000 households and 15,000 businesses. Thorntons claims to have 60,000 customers, Greenstar to have 85,000, while Mr Binman claims to have 37,000 household and 3,500 business customers.

After that, concrete information starts to get very thin on the ground.

Of the seven main players, no fewer than five - Greyhound, Panda, Oxigen, Mr Binman and the City Bin Company - are registered as private unlimited companies at the Companies Registration Office (CRO). By registering as unlimited companies, the waste collection firms are able to, perfectly legally, avoid filing their financial accounts with the CRO. This lack of transparency is, to say the least, unfortunate.

At the time the local authorities privatised their refuse collection services, the market was opened up to competition between different private operators. This was supposed to allow householders to shop around for the best price for their bin collection.

Unfortunately, the reality hasn't matched the expectation, with little variation in prices between companies operating in each area.

While allegations by Independents 4 Change TD Joan Collins that "waste disposal is a cartel in which there is no competition" remain just that - unproven allegations - it would surely do the waste management companies' cause no harm if they were all to lodge their financial accounts with the CRO.

Will the mooted legal challenge to the price freeze by some of the companies result in greater disclosure?

Following the conclusion of the agreement with Coveney, IWMA secretary Conor Walsh was quoted as saying: "It will be a lot of pain on our members the companies will lose a lot of money on this."

How can such claims be verified when most of his members weren't filing their financial accounts with the CRO?

Unfortunately, Walsh hadn't returned our calls by the time this article went to press.

We also tried to contact Coveney for his opinion on the appropriateness of companies licensed to provide a vital public service using unlimited company status to avoid disclosing their accounts. He hadn't got back to us by the time we went to press.

So what can we learn from the accounts of the two major players (Greenstar and Thorntons) who did file their accounts with the CRO?

Greenstar's parent company Starrus Eco Holdings had total sales of 98.9m for the 13 months to the end of March 2015. More than 90pc of Greenstar's sales - 94.5m - came from waste management services.

That works out at annualised waste management sales of about 87m.

According to its most recent accounts, Greenstar is loss-making, recording a loss of 7.2m before exceptional items. However, this figure was arrived at after a 3.4m depreciation charge and a further 1.7m charge for the amortisation of intangible assets.

The picture was further clouded by a major corporate restructuring - which saw Greenstar being acquired by US investment fund Cerberus - and an acquisition. Clearly Cerberus (which also bought Nama's 5.6bn Northern Ireland loan portfolio for just 1.6bn in extremely controversial circumstances) reckons that it can turn a handy buck from the Irish waste management business.

The Thorntons accounts were less clouded by such once-off factors. They show a gross profit of 8.8m and an operating (pre-interest) profit of 1.9m in calendar 2014. As in the case of Greenstar, Thorntons had a hefty depreciation charge, almost 3.5m.

As they say in Yorkshire: "Where there's muck, there's brass."

Even on the basis of the limited information in the public domain, Greenstar and Thorntons' combined 140m turnover indicates that the total value of the waste management sector certainly runs well into the hundreds of millions of euro - and probably into the billions.

Will this change following last week's deal?

Apart from the need to get a permit from the NWCPO, the sector has been very lightly regulated, with little disclosure required.

This 'light touch' regulation was in spite of the furore generated by the botched introduction of water charges. Apart from some fly-tipping, most of us continued to pay our bin charges even as the water charges controversy threatened to rip the previous government apart.

The low profile of the waste management companies has clearly been good for business, but can it survive the pay-by-weight controversy?

For the first time, the waste management companies have been thrust into the spotlight. Now that they have drawn such public and political attention upon themselves, they may find it hard to retreat back into the shadows to which they have been accustomed.

Various groups, scenting blood following their success in campaigning against water charges, already have the waste management companies and bin charges in their sights.

Are we about to witness a revival of the anti-bin charge campaigns of the 1980s and 1990s?

Maybe, maybe not.

Unlike water, the privatisation of household waste collection is a fait accompli. No government will want to return bin collection - and all of the hassle that goes with it - to the local authorities.

A renewed anti-bin charge campaign would also find waste management companies a much tougher nut to crack than Irish Water. Unlike Irish Water, which folded as soon as its political masters lost their nerve, the waste management companies are owned and managed by hard men, and some hard women too, who have succeeded in a hard business.

Seconds out!
'Advertisers will pay more to appear in search results for "online betting" than almost anything else' File photo: Depositphotos

"Online betting" is the most expensive catchphrase for Irish advertisers to be associated with on Google, according to research prepared for the Sunday Independent.

Woflgang Digital, a digital-marketing agency which handles 2pc of all of Ireland's e-commerce business, says that advertisers will pay more to appear in search results for "online betting" than almost anything else - some 40.69 per click.

The average cost per click in Ireland is 0.38, it said.

The analysis applies to Google's AdWords system, which generates the vast majority of revenue collected by Google, the largest company in the world.

AdWords takes 14pc of all global spending on advertising.

A high cost per click indicates advertisers are confident that they will earn a lot of money for each click that becomes a customer - which generally is only around 1pc.

"Online stock broker" was found to be the second-most expensive Google search phrase for Irish advertisers to be associated with, at 32.21 per click.

"Personal injury claim" came in at 22.44, while "life insurance quotes" clocked in at 11.74 and "mortgage deals" costs 11.32 per click.

"Google's AdWords system is relatively complicated to explain but, in a nutshell, advertisers decide what keywords they want to advertise on and they bid how much they are prepared to pay for a click from somebody searching for that word.

"It's pay-per-click advertising, so the advertiser only accrues a cost if a potential customers clicks on the ad and visits their website," said Wolfgang Digital Chief Executive Alan Coleman.

"The more valuable a product is, the more advertisers will pay for clicks. A rough rule of thumb is that 1pc of website traffic becomes a customer.

"So the cost of 100 clicks needs to leave room for the transaction to be profitable. Take a retailer selling designer sunglasses for 200, of which 50 is profit.

"The cost per click for 'designer sunglasses' searches is 0.20. So at a 1pc conversion rate, the cost of winning the sale is 20, leaving 30 profit.

"It's important to note that Google rewards effective and creative advertising by increasing its ranking and lowering its 'cost per click'. Having a strong quality score means a smart advertiser can rank higher and pay less than their competition."

A Google spokesperson added that the value of catchphrases changes regularly based on seasonality or what is in demand at a specific time.
'But for globally-minded tech firms such as Apple, Google and Airbnb, Ireland might become a far more important place to be seen and heard.'

In Ireland, most of us would have preferred if Britain had voted to stay in the European Union. But it's not all bad news.

The walk-out leaves Ireland with a historic opportunity to corner the European market in digital-technology investment.

If we have the ambition and the resolve, we really can clean up in the next 24 months.

And it's more than just us being the only English-speaking, overtly pro-American country left in the EU, or our position as a low-tax base.

Here are three specific reasons why we have a seminal chance to take Ireland to the next industrial level in tech.

1. Make-or-break data laws

Utter the phrase 'data protection' and some business analysts' eyes will glaze over. With respect, those people are not paying attention. Because when it comes to big business, international data protection movements are tier-one issues.

Whether it's the demise of 'Safe Harbour', the struggle of 'Privacy Shield' or the increasingly powerful decisions from the European Court Of Justice, few big decisions are now made by cloud giants without considering the area.

In this context, Ireland has a huge new advantage over the UK.

By walking out on the EU, Britain will now have to pass severe tests on whether we should be allowed transfer data there. In particular, it will face scrutiny as to whether its security agencies routinely engage in mass surveillance of communications. We know they do this through GCHQ. So now Britain faces the prospect of either scaling back its security services (how likely that post-Brexit?) or facing restrictions from the EU on transferring data.

Bye bye, Facebook. Bye bye, Google. Bye bye, UK cloud-computing industry. It's a recipe for legal and technical pandemonium in the next five years.

Indeed, this is currently the exact position we are in with the US. It's why the collapse of 'Safe Harbour' is such a big deal. And it's why everyone's freaking out about the potential failure of Safe Harbour's makeshift successor EU-US agreement, 'Privacy Shield'.

But guess what? Eventually, we'll make it work with the US. Because the US is a lot bigger and a lot more important than the UK.

So digital companies unlucky enough to be caught with a UK base could be in for a very, very tricky time now.

In contrast, having a base in Ireland gives a company hassle-free data flows in a market of more than 400 million people and within an emerging legal infrastructure with the US.

2. Access to high-level staff in an English-speaking EU country

When the sales software multinational Hubspot looked at where to locate its European headquarters, it came down to a choice between Dublin and London.

"But EU membership opens things up so enough people from Europe can come in to fill in the gaps," Hubspot-founder Brian Halligan told me recently. "Now that the recruitment market is getting really competitive, we can get talented people from other countries coming in here. This is really good for Ireland."

Halligan, like other tech CEOs, isn't crazy about the idea of setting up its headquarters in a country outside the EU.

But for Britain there may now be no more easy fluidity with hot developers or product managers from Stockholm, Berlin or Paris. Because if there's one issue that victorious anti-EU Conservative Party campaigners have seized on, it's immigration control. Even if the Brits make special exceptions for highly-skilled workers, there's no guarantee that the EU will reciprocate.

Ireland could win in a big way here.

"If Ireland can keep going the way it is, it really can be like Silicon Valley," Hubspot's Halligan said.

His point is well taken. You can put a call centre almost anywhere. Or a generic factory. But if you're trying to develop a facility with engineers and designers - the 'value-added' category Ireland and Britain are competing for - then you need a steady stream of skilled staff.

That's one reason why Irish policy-makers have been so grateful to Google: once it established a big base in Dublin, others (such as Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Airbnb and more) flocked to Dublin to pick off Google's well-trained staff for their own operations.

3. A new tier of European political influence

There are some huge decisions, critical to tech firms, on the legislative horizon in the EU. These really matter. From privacy, ecommerce and copyright law to the threat of standardised taxes for tech-centric industries, Europe could make or break the prospects of some tech companies.

So these companies really want to have a voice when decisions are being made. But one of their biggest, most powerful allies has now cut itself off from the decision-making process in the European Council. (Indeed, if the UK suggests a moderating measure over the next two years, some countries might go out of their way to oppose it.)

That leaves Ireland in a much more powerful position as an instrument of influence with policy-setters in the world's second-most important market.

For start-ups, it won't matter. But for globally-minded tech firms such as Apple, Google and Airbnb, Ireland might become a far more important place to be seen and heard.

We know that these firms have lobbied the Irish Government in recent years on certain issues, but it has largely been a sporadic, piecemeal process.

That will surely be stepped up now in a post-Brexit environment.
Ben (5) is 'facing a battle no five-year-old should have to face' - mum Valerie

During many of his 19 chemotherapy treatments, five-year-old Ben Farrell jumped up onto the bed "like Spiderman" and sang his way through the process.

Do you know what youre doing? Ben asked a consultant at Crumlin Hospital who didnt stick to his regular routine of first sleepy medication and then anti-sickness tablets.

Ben is facing a battle no five-year-old should ever have to face and he does it while remaining happy and singing and cracking up the nurses," his proud mum Valerie told Independent.ie.

He is full of life and full of character. Hes a really happy little boy and we want to do everything we can to keep him that way."

Ben was diagnosed with a rare form of Wilms tumour on Christmas Eve 2015. He had a stage IV tumour.

We are in the devastating position where our options are limited and all but run out in Ireland. His treatment in Ireland is not working and we need to raise a lot of money in a short time for a clinical trial in America, said Valerie.

Ben has a rare form of cancer where cells in his body are making his tumour hard to treat.

None of the consultants in Ireland have seen these cells before. Theyve contacted America and Europe for treatments but nothing so far has been proven to work, said Valerie.

There are clinical trials for Bens cancer in the US that have shown promising results in the labs. Theyll do testing on Bens tumour and theyll see whats unusual about it and see if a particular treatment will work.

Its a trial so the results havent been proven but weve few options left.

The treatment in the Childrens Hospital in Washington is an estimated 260,000 and the family have launched a Go Fund Me page to help raise the life-saving funds.

Well have extra expenses too to get to Washington but if we can fund the treatment well find a way to cover the other costs, said Valerie.

The family's struggle began at Christmas time last year when Ben began complaining of a sore tummy.

We thought he just had a bug or it was an excuse for him to sleep in our bed. His pain wasnt excruciating and it would come and go.

Valerie brought Ben to a doctor who told her he had acid reflux.

Being a mother I knew it wasnt acid reflux. My mammy instincts kicked in and I brought him straight to the hospital.

The day before Christmas Eve, Valerie was told a parents nightmare. Ben had a tumour and it was likely to be cancerous.

Never in a million years could I have imagined they would say that. It was the most devastating news.

We were in shock. It couldnt be real. It didnt make sense.

The next day on Christmas Eve we met our consultant and he told us there was a spot free in the theatre if we wanted to operate on Ben to confirm his tumour was cancerous or we could go home and enjoy Christmas and come back afterwards.

I asked the consultant was he a father and when he said he was I asked what he would do if he was in our situation. He told us he would hit the ground running and so we did and Ben went into surgery and started chemotherapy on Christmas day.

There was no Christmas in our house that year. Were blessed that Bens two-year-old brother Jack is so young so he doesnt understand whats happening but he cries every time Ben leaves to go to the hospital.

On March 4 2016 a lump was removed from Bens kidney. It was the largest cancerous lump in his body but the cancer has spread to other places.

After 19 rounds of chemotherapy our consultant looked at us and said he didnt think he could cure Ben.

Valerie said that her family will fight as hard as they can for Ben and will try every option available.

Going over to the US, I knew the costs were going to be through the roof but we know what we need to do.

We need to go as soon as possible because the trial will close. It mightnt stay open much longer.

The Childrens Hospital need to have the money upfront before Ben can start treatment.

Faced with many uncertainties one thing is clear to us. We must fight. We must give Ben every chance no matter how far or what the cost. We know treatment in America runs into hundreds of thousands and we need help to give us more options.

Valerie praised Bens school, St. Margarets National School in Dublin and his teacher Ms Keegan for being so encouraging, inclusive and for making him feel so special on the days hes well enough to attend school.

The whole community have come out in force. I never realised the support and kindness people are capable of giving. Ive been overwhelmed by their support. People have even brought over food and these small gestures have blown me away.

Valerie said that Ben is annoyed hes missing Ireland play France today in the Euros 2016 as he has chemotherapy treatment in Crumlin.

Were hoping to get him home in time to watch the end of it. He gets so excited at the National Anthem and at the shouting when people score. He loves the Ireland team.

You can donate money to help Bens treatment in the US at https://www.gofundme.com/batmanben
American millionaires are snapping up luxury properties in Ireland amid mounting fears of increased shootings and terror attacks in the US if Donald Trump is elected president.

The "Donald Effect" has resulted in a series of sales of country homes and estates to wealthy Americans.

Auctioneers and selling agents have said a growing number of America's super- rich are making "contingency plans" by buying properties in Ireland.

They are concerned that Mr Trump's inflammatory language will provoke retaliatory violence on American soil.

Roseanne De Vere Hunt, head of country homes, farms and estates at Sherry FitzGerald, said: "Ireland can certainly provide what these buyers are looking for. They're also winning on the exchange rate."

The minimum amount being spent is around 2m, while the uber-rich are forking out up to 30m.

Glin Castle in Co Limerick, on the market for 6.5m, has attracted the attention of Americans. Other properties in Cork, Limerick and Mayo are also on their radar.

Irish-American billionaire businessman John Malone, the biggest land owner in the US, is perhaps the most high-profile American buyer in recent times.

He bought Humewood Castle in Co Wicklow for 8m in 2012. He also bought the 840-acre Ballylinch Stud in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. In addition, he owns Castlemartin and its 750-acre estate in Co Kildare.

Ms De Vere Hunt said the majority of prospective buyers are looking for period houses in "exquisite condition".

Celia Lamb, head of country homes, estates and farms at Ganly Walters, said: "Prospective buyers see the UK as enormously expensive, and we're an obvious English-speaking option.

"The fact that firms like Google and LinkedIn and vulture funds have bought here has given high-end business people a lot of confidence in Ireland."
The former boss of the suicide charity, Console, has been asked to account for expenditure such as supermarket groceries, clothes and flowers by internal auditors for the Health Service Executive, according to sources.

Paul Kelly, who resigned as chief executive of the charity on Thursday, has been questioned by the HSE over a range of purchases billed to the charity's credit cards, and about a trip he and a family member made to New Zealand and Australia to attend conferences, according to informed sources.

The HSE is also questioning whether two cars, a Mercedes and an Audi, acquired by the charity were being properly used for the benefit of the charity.

Concerns about the spending are among the issues raised in an internal audit of Console Suicide Bereavement Counselling Ltd by its biggest State funder, the HSE. The HSE has declined to comment on the audit, but the amounts under scrutiny are thought to be between 250,000 and 500,000, according to informed sources.

The latest scandal to hit the charity sector unfolded on Thursday when an RTE Investigates documentary programme revealed serious governance concerns at the charity. Paul Kelly resigned in advance of the programme. Mr Kelly's wife and sister also resigned their positions on the board.

The Charities Regulator, John Farrelly, has summoned Console's directors to a meeting tomorrow. The Public Accounts Committee is expected to ask the HSE to explain its oversight of the public funds paid to the charity.

Sources said the internal audit was the "biggest" and "most challenging" undertaken by the HSE. Its report runs to 229 pages and comes up with 89 recommendations. A copy of the report was sent to Paul Kelly for his comments, and it is understood that he responded late last week. Gardai are also examining Console's use of funds.

The charity has received more than 12m from the State, public fundraising and donations in a nine-year period to 2014, including 3.4m from the HSE. According to the 2014 accounts, the charity received 817,000 in HSE grants that year and over 1m from fundraising and donations. Mr Kelly received "consultancy fees" of 81,528 in 2014 and 90,066 in 2013.

The accounts also reveal that the charity took out a 507,390 mortgage with Bank of Scotland, secured against a house on the Navan Road in Dublin, that it uses for counselling. The company had net liabilities of just over 109,000 at the end of the year.

Mr Kelly and his wife are directors of a second company, Console Counselling, which was set up in 2014 - but accounts have not been filed yet. They are also directors of a company called Alexandra College of Higher Education, set up in 2011, which has never traded.

Mr Kelly could not be contacted by the Sunday Independent but he denied any wrongdoing to RTE last week.

Console runs a 24-hour suicide prevention helpline and counselling centres across the country. The HSE is reviewing its funding but wants the services it provides to continue.

The alleged breaches of governance revealed by RTE have come as a shock to the charity sector, as Paul Kelly is one of its most high-profile figures. He was the recipient of a People of the Year award in 2014 and has secured the support of various celebrities and politicians, including President Michael D Higgins, who is a patron.

Mr Kelly was a keynote speaker at a conference in Auckland, New Zealand, in September 2012, sharing the stage with academics and clinicians.

Last week's Prime Time programme, however, revealed a "history of deception", including a bizarre attempt by Mr Kelly to pass himself off as a doctor in the casualty ward of the Royal City Hospital on Baggot Street in 1983. He was prosecuted in the District Court but was given the benefit of the Probation Act by the judge.

According to a newspaper report of the case, Kelly - then aged 25 and unemployed - applied to an advertisement for the locum post in a Sunday newspaper. He told the doctor who interviewed him that he was educated at Trinity College, and was asked to turn up for work the following Monday.

He said he was approached for his qualifications after he had started working there but used the registration number and medical defence number of another doctor he knew of the same name. He was rumbled after three weeks.

A porter told the newspaper that Mr Kelly was "very religious and never came up for tea during his break, and stayed away from the other doctors". A spokesman for his family said he had been warned to stay away from hospitals for good.

Kelly went on to found a counselling organisation called Christian Development Services in 1989, and wrongly claimed that Bertie Ahern, the former Taoiseach, was one of its trustees. Ahern, who was then Minister for Labour, had no connection with the organisation.

The RTE programme also revealed how Mr Kelly often signed himself off as Father or Brother Paul Kelly, of the Order of San Damiano, and the Rev Paul Kelly, Servants of the Poor.

Mr Kelly told RTE he was "ordained" in 1988 and was founding a new religious congregation at that time that was to be known as the Order of San Damiano, and then the Servants of the Poor. He said was "entitled" to refer to himself as a Brother and Reverend.

Christian Development Services was dissolved in 1993 and Mr Kelly is believed to have spent some time in Australia before returning to Ireland, where he founded Console in 2002 to provide bereavement counselling for those affected by suicide, following the death of his sister.

Charities must adhere to strict rules laid down by the Revenue Commissioners to avail of tax exemptions, including keeping an independent and unpaid board of directors.

The RTE programme alleged that, at one stage, the board of Console was made up exclusively of family members, until new directors were appointed in 2014.

It alleged that 215,000 was paid to Paul Kelly as a director over three years but, when applying for grants, the accounts sent to State funders were altered to omit these payments. Console also listed as directors people who were not even on the board in some of its applications for State funds. They included Senator Jillian van Turnhout, who said she was "stunned" as she had no connection with Console.

Mr Kelly told RTE the accounts provided to funders were "draft accounts" and denied "any assertion of intentional wrongdoing on the part of Console, the CEO and/or directors". He also said those listed as board members were "potential" directors.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it will conduct an audit of the 130,000 in funding it provided to Console's UK office, where Mr Kelly, his wife and his son, Tim, are listed as directors. The UK Charities Commission is "assessing" the situation.

Kelly is originally from Ballyfermot but his current address is Clane, Co Kildare, according to company accounts. Tommy Morris, a former parliamentary assistant to Fine Gael TDs Gay Mitchell and the TD, Derek Keating, said he has highlighted concerns about Mr Kelly's fundraising over the years.

He said he first met Paul Kelly in a religious youth group in Ballyfermot, and later when he was a 'priest' with San Damiano offering counselling services in Inchicore.

"I met him on Grafton Street in 1991 and he was dressed in an Aer Lingus pilot's uniform," said Morris, who now teaches at Inchicore College of Further Education. "There are many good charities out there feeling the pain... but people should continue to trust charities."

The board of Console appointed a forensic accountant, Tom Murray, and David Hall, businessman and founder of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, to review the charity's operations.

David Hall said he cannot comment until his review is complete.
Gangster John Gilligan was acquitted of organising the murder of Veronica Guerin after he ensured that two key state witnesses were too terrified to testify against him.

Carol Rooney, the drug traffickers teenage mistress at the time of the murder, and Dutch criminal Martin Baltus, who supplied Gilligan with drugs and guns for almost three years, were both silenced by fear.

Tony Hickey, the garda officer who led the murder investigation which ultimately smashed Gilligans evil empires, said that the mobster would be serving life behind bars along with his lieutenant Brian Meehan if that evidence had been produced in court.

I have no doubt that if Carol Rooney and Martin Baltus had come to court and given their evidence, Gilligan would have been convicted of murder, the retired assistant commissioner told the

"Their testimony would have corroborated the evidence of state witness Russell Warren, part of which was discredited by the court," he said.

"On the day of the murder, Warren was sent to Naas to watch Veronica and alert the killers, Brian Meehan and Patrick Holland, that she was on her way.

Expand Close Tony Hickey: Retired Garda Assistant Commissioner. Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Tony Hickey: Retired Garda Assistant Commissioner. Photo: Tony Gavin

"Warren was being directed by Gilligan by phone and these conversations were witnessed by Carol Rooney, while Baltus had been dealing directly with him and supplied the .357 magnum pistol Holland used in the murder.

"It was a great pity that the witnesses didn't give their evidence, but in the circumstances, they were both too terrified to come to court," added Hickey, who was one of the most respected crime investigators in the force.

Read more: Remembering Veronica: Terror of the night I was shot

Carol Rooney, who had been Gilligan's 19-year-old mistress for over a year when the murder took place - he was 25 years her senior - was present in a hotel room in Amsterdam as the diminutive thug was issuing orders to his murder team back in Dublin.

Expand Close The Veronica Guerin Memorial at Dublin Castle. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp The Veronica Guerin Memorial at Dublin Castle.

She told gardai how he had laughed and joked on the phone with Veronica's killers, Brian Meehan and Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland, 30 minutes after the outrage. The young woman recalled hearing Gilligan joking to Meehan: "I hear you put a smile on her face I wonder what criminals she will be investigating now she is in heaven?"

Rooney, however, never gave her crucial evidence after Gilligan sent her to live in Australia. She was arrested by Hickey's officers a year later when she came home to visit her parents and gave them a lengthy statement.

But Gilligan ensured her silence when he organised a campaign of intimidation against her family from behind bars while on remand for the murder and drugs charges.

When Gilligan's trial commenced in the Special Criminal Court in December 2000, prosecutor Peter Charleton said that Martin Baltus, who was being protected by Dutch police, would testify to working directly with Gilligan.

Expand Close Journalist Veronica Guerin / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Journalist Veronica Guerin

Baltus had packed at least 20,000 kilos of hash, a large arsenal of handguns and machine guns, and also laundered huge amounts of the gang's cash.

During the Christmas recess, Gilligan, who was then being held in Portlaoise Prison, instructed his henchmen to kidnap the criminal's daughter in Holland.

Read more: 'Veronica Guerin was an ordinary person who achieved the extraordinary'

In January 2001, the Dutch police contacted the Lucan investigation team to say that Baltus had changed his mind.

It later transpired that during the Christmas adjournment, Baltus's daughter was abducted and held overnight until the drug supplier had a change of heart.

The testimony of Carol Rooney would have been devastating for Gilligan because she had been with him from the time he viciously assaulted Veronica in September 1995 when she attempted to ask him where he got his money.

He was facing a jail sentence for the assault, which would have interrupted his burgeoning drug business and he began plotting to have the journalist murdered.

Rooney was working in a betting shop when she first met Gilligan, who placed huge wagers as a means of laundering his drug money.

The impressionable teenager was charmed by the gangster as he lavished her with expensive gifts, cash and first-class travel around Europe.

She fell out with her parents when they discovered that she had become Gilligan's 'moll' and moved into a rented house in Leixlip on his instructions.

The love nest was also a venue for regular gang meetings where drug supplies were discussed, cash was counted and even guns were stored. Gilligan had admitted to his young lover that he made his money from "hash and guns".

In her statement, Rooney described how Gilligan had become completely obsessed with Veronica, and her murder was openly discussed by all the gang members, including John Traynor, who, at the time, was one of the journalist's underworld sources.

"He was always saying that Veronica Guerin was ruining his wife's equestrian business in Jessbrook and that she was not going to get away with it," Rooney said.

Gilligan and Rooney travelled separately to Holland on June 25, 1996 - the day before the murder was to take place.

She later recalled how that night, Gilligan told her: "After tomorrow, all my problems will be over."

On the day of the assassination, Rooney described how Gilligan was extremely tense and was pacing the hotel room. He was constantly on the phone to his henchmen in Dublin. Rooney heard him calling Russell Warren, one of the gang's gofers and bagmen, demanding to know what was happening.

"Are they gone? Did they get away?"

Warren, who was in shock, replied that the pair on the motorbike had just shot someone.

"Are they dead?" Gilligan demanded to know and Warren said the person in the car had been shot five times.

"The same thing will happen to you and your mate if you do anything about it," he warned before hanging up.

Gilligan got another call as a voice told him to look at the teletext on the TV: it confirmed that a woman had been shot in Dublin and Gilligan began to smile, Rooney recalled.

Then the phone began ringing again as Meehan and Holland phoned to gloat about what they had done.

"I hear you put a smile on her face," Gilligan laughed in a call to Brian Meehan, adding: "I wonder what criminals she will be investigating now she is in heaven?"

"I knew he was involved (but) I could not imagine that he was actually so evil," Rooney later told detectives.

Gilligan told Rooney that Veronica was "going to die anyway because she had cancer", but the journalist had been perfectly healthy.

Then she heard him denying any involvement in the murder on the phone to his wife Geraldine, who immediately suspected that the murder was his doing.

Following the murder, Rooney spent a number of weeks with Gilligan in a safe house in Belgium. But the evil mobster was concerned that Rooney was appalled by his crime.

In August 1996, she agreed to go to Australia to stay with a relation at Gilligan's behest until the heat died down. The night before she left, Rooney met Gilligan and Dutchy Holland in London. Gilligan gave her 8,000 in cash and warned her of what would happen if she ever talked.

Then Holland took her aside and advised her: "Get yourself a new boyfriend, forget about John and everything you've seen and heard and everyone will be alright."

Rooney later told gardai that she took these words as a thinly disguised threat against her and her family.

She remained in Australia until 2002 when she moved back to live in the UK with her boyfriend.
The chairman of Irish Water had to absent himself from a board meeting after advising his colleagues of a conflict of interest.

Board minutes released by the utility show that Michael McNicholas, group chief executive of Ervia, Irish Water's parent company, excused himself from a directors' meeting in December because of his shareholding in a company that has contracts with the utility.

Mr McNicholas's conflict of interest was first reported two years ago, when he said he would sell the shares and give the money to charity.

A spokesperson for Ervia said Mr McNicholas was not in a legal position to sell his restricted share holding until this year. She said he is now in the process of disposing of the shares and will donate the proceeds to the homeless charity, Focus Ireland.

Mr McNicholas owned an estimated 400,000 shares in NTR, where he served as chief executive until 2013 before taking up his post at Ervia. NTR has shares in Celtic Anglian Water which has contracts with Irish Water to install water meters and operates the Ringsend waste water treatment plant.

The minutes show that Mr McNicholas declared a "conflict" and "absented" himself when the contract and budget approval for upgrading the Ringsend plant came up at the board meeting on December 4, which continued in his absence.

The Ervia spokesperson said: "Mr McNicholas is fully compliant with all the requirements of the code of conduct of Ervia in that on his appointment as CEO he declared that he had shares in NTR and that NTR has an interest in Celtic Anglian Water (CAW) which is an operating company which has contracts formerly with local authorities and now with Irish Water.

"He has excused himself from any commercial or contractual dealings with anything to do with CAW in the company."

The board minutes, released under the Freedom of Information Act, also show that Irish Water has started moving against polluters.

Directors resolved to authorise the prosecution of a "list of persons" for water pollution. The list of suspected offenders was circulated to the board, but was not among the documents released under Freedom of Information.

Over the course of three board meetings between December and March, the directors also signed off extensions of credit facilities of 250m with BNP, Danske Bank and AIB. The debt facilities were on top of a 100m loan arrangement with Ulster Bank which it extended last year.

Irish Water's website had said minutes of its board meetings would be published in the interests of transparency. The board minutes never appeared on its website and Irish Water later said that its intention had been to post public board decisions rather than minutes and changed its website accordingly.
'From deluxe, all-inclusive, river and sea cruises, to lavish stays in some of Europe's leading hotels, the boom-time Irish clientele have returned.' Stock photo

Luxury holidays are back, as tens of thousands jet out for their first five-star vacation since the economic crash, travel experts say.

From deluxe, all-inclusive, river and sea cruises, to lavish stays in some of Europe's leading hotels, the boom-time Irish clientele have returned.

And it's not just well-heeled tourists that are willing to splash the cash for an idyllic getaway.

Over the next two weeks, more than 15,000 Leaving Cert students will arrive in the club land heavens of Magaluf, Ibiza, Santa Ponsa and the Greek islands to shake off post-exam stress.

The majority booked their trips up to 10 months in advance. Although parents are mostly left to foot the bill, the holiday has become an incentive to encourage their children to study hard and achieve high marks.

Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), says the Leaving Cert holiday surge suggests that fears around spending have finally been assuaged.

Expand Close Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA)

"The surge this year is certainly an indication that certain sections of the public have extra money to spend. Leaving Cert holidays, ski holidays and trips to Lapland in particular took a big knock during the recession. Now, luxury holidays are back to where they were pre-bust," he said.

He says almost 40,000 Irish will be cruising the Mediterranean with their families this summer, with stops-offs in Rome, Malaga and Greece.

"Up until recent years, it was always the senior generation that went on cruises but now an awful lot are going with their families because it's all-inclusive. You buy a package including all your food and board, so they are a hugely attractive option," he said.

Five-star deluxe river cruises, worth up to 3,000, are also on the rise.

Expand Close Lapland experience / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Lapland experience

"People are prepared to pay big money for a good product, but it must be top notch. For the first time in years they are willing to pay out for an extra star to get the quality," Mr Dawson told the Sunday Independent.

According to the ITAA, the days of staying in cheap apartments or standard hotels is over. However, people are being sensible about budgeting by going back to the old-fashioned way of booking very early with a travel agent.

Despite the deadly terror attacks in France and Belgium and the ongoing threat of Isil, the Irish have not been deterred. But Mr Dawson says the Irish are avoiding the most at-risk destinations.

"There is at least a 40pc cutback in flights to Turkey. There is no demand for flights to Tunisia and no demand for Egypt. It's the same all around Europe. The Germans, Norwegians, are shying away from those areas too and they are competing with us for accommodation in Spain, Portugal and France. Four million Germans would have usually summered in Turkey," he said.

Expand Close Alpine ski strips / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Alpine ski strips

But high demand for these countries is affecting price. Tourism experts believe the negative spin-offs will hit in the coming winter months.

"It will have a knock on affect, particularly when people start chasing winter sun in the Canary Islands. We expect prices to be up 10-15pc," he said.

According to the latest CSO figures, the number of trips made by Irish residents overseas increased by 13pc between the last quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of this year - almost 800,000 booked holidays between January and March.

Sarah Slattery, travel expert, says it's been the biggest year recorded by travel agents since 2007. However, she offers a word of advice to all exam students jetting off.

"No matter what time you get in, even if it's 6am, just send a quick text to mammy to say 'I'm home safe'. That way, no one will be worrying," she said.
GARDAI are investigating an alleged assault in Dublin late last night.

A man was found unconscious on Dame Lane in Dublin 2 at around 11.30pm by a passerby.

The man, in his late 30s, was discovered with serious head injuries close to the entrance of a pub.

An ambulance was called and the man was rushed to James' Hospital before being later transferred to Beaumont.

He remains in a serious condition.

Gardai are appealing for anyone who was in the Dame Lane area between 11pm and 12 midnight on 25th June, to contact them at Pearse Street Garda Station on 01 666 9000.
A new law to recognise pre-nuptial agreements for marrying couples has been quietly ditched by the Government, the Sunday Independent has learned.

The revelation comes as latest figures show the divorce rate continues to rise.

Farming organisations in particular have been calling for full legal recognition of "pre-nup" arrangements.

They fear the growing rate of marriage breakdown in rural Ireland is risking the break-up of traditional family farms - making them economically unviable.

Last year, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald carried out a "policy analysis", investigating pre-nuptial agreements.

Such a measure is regularly a precursor towards drawing up relevant legislation.

However, it has now emerged that any shake-up of the divorce laws has been put on the long finger.

Introducing new legislation would raise "legal, public policy" and possibly "constitutional" problems, according to a Department of Justice spokeswoman.

And while she said an examination of the matter is "ongoing", sources suggest it is not a primary issue for the new minority-led coalition.

A pre-nup sets out arrangements for what will happen to a couple's assets and earnings if they divorce. However, there is currently no legislation for their legal enforcement.

But it can be used as a guide in the division of land and other assets in separation cases.

They have also been favoured by a number of celebrities anxious to protect multimillion euro fortunes.

But a growing number of Irish couples have been making inquiries as to their legal viability in the context of Irish law. Rural families, in particular, are fearful of a divorce settlement, which would make the family-holding no longer financially viable.

Experts say the lack of legal standing for a pre-nup arrangement means many farmers are reluctant to transfer a farm to a son or daughter, fearing it might be "up for grabs" in the event of a marriage collapse.

Annette Sheehan, a family law solicitor in Cork, says putting pre-nuptial agreements on a legislative footing could help take some of the acrimony out of marital breakdown.

"Some farmers may require the certainty this arrangement offers by way of protecting the family farm," she said.

She suggested, in some instances, this has resulted in some couples living together rather than getting married.

"A court may uphold the terms of a pre-nuptial agreement - if it is considered to be fair to the parties involved - and which in the circumstances provides for proper provision. However, this is not always the case, and legislation would give greater certainty to the efficacy of prenuptial agreements."

Church leaders, however, warn that encouraging couples to plan for divorce before they wed could harm the Christian concept of marriage.

Catholic Communications Office spokesman Martin Long said for those of faith, marriage is a "sacrament".

"It's a life-long commitment for a man and woman who choose each other as husband and wife for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health," he said.

The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has been pressing for legislative change, and farm business chairman Martin Stapleton said the uncertainty surrounding the legal recognition of pre-nuptial agreements remains a "real issue". This is impacting negatively on the "timely lifetime transfer" of the family farm, he warned.

"We are supportive of measures that can remove barriers to family farm transfer, and allaying the fears of parents involved is most important. This is in line with other key policy measures required to address issues such as income security in the agricultural sector."

He says recommendations made by the Study Group on Pre-Nuptial Agreements in 2007 should be implemented by the Government.

The group proposed that pre-nuptial agreements be legalised through amendments to the Family Law Act 1995 and the Family Law (Divorce) Acts 1996.

John Comer, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), said in circumstances where the party "leaving" has to be "bought out" of their share of the farm, it can mean that the remaining person and farm is saddled with "massive debt".

Meanwhile, new figures obtained by the Sunday Independent show that while we still have the lowest divorce rate in Europe, the marriage breakdown rate continues to rise.

Latest data from the Courts Service of Ireland shows 2,815 divorce orders were granted in 2011. By 2015, this figure had soared to 3,291.

Over the past 20 years, the number of couples calling time on their relationship reached its peak in 2007, when 3,684 divorce orders were issued by courts.

However, corresponding figures for the number of judicial separation orders fell over the same period.

Some 1,029 judicial separations were granted in 2011.

This compares with 832 in 2015.
Tribute: At the Veronica Guerin Anniversary in the Chester Beatty Library last week, were INM Chairman Leslie Buckley, journalist Fergal Keane and INM Group Editor-in-Chief Stephen Rae David Conachy.

President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to Sunday Independent journalist Veronica Guerin on the 20th anniversary of her murder.

In a special message delivered at an Independent News & Media (INM) memorial event at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin last week, President Higgins said: "She worked tirelessly, and with extreme courage, to expose a drugs trade that wrought so much misery on families and communities around the country."

He added: "Veronica sacrificed her life in order that some of this country's most powerful criminals would eventually be brought to justice, and as a society, we owe her an enormous debt of gratitude."

Veronica was in her car at a set of traffic lights on the Naas Road in Dublin on June 26, 1996, when two men on a motorcycle pulled up beside her and one of them opened fire. The shooting followed her outstanding investigative journalism in the Sunday Independent, exposing the workings of the Irish criminal underworld.

But 20 years after her callous murder, Ireland remains under threat from "enemies of the Republic", the memorial event attended by members of Veronica's family was told.

BBC reporter and Sunday Independent columnist Fergal Keane said that "drug lords are still killing" and threats against journalists continue.

Expand Close Brendan OConnor, Cormac Bourke, Tanister Frances Fitzgerald TD and Willy Kealy. Photo: David Conachy. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Brendan OConnor, Cormac Bourke, Tanister Frances Fitzgerald TD and Willy Kealy. Photo: David Conachy.

"A society which watches hardened criminals create private armies is not a safe society. It is not a society that has paid heed to the memory of Veronica Guerin," he said.

Read more: Remembering Veronica: Terror of the night I was shot

The event was told by Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald that the targeting of journalists would not be tolerated.

"In Ireland, we regard an attack on journalists as an attack on the State itself, and any attack will be met with the full wrath of the State, as happened in the aftermath of Veronica's death," she said.

Expand Close Former Taoiseach Bertie Aherne with Jimmy and Louann Guerin. Photo: David Conachy / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Former Taoiseach Bertie Aherne with Jimmy and Louann Guerin. Photo: David Conachy

Ms Fitzgerald said all resources would be given to the gardai to combat the recent spate of gangland murders.

However, she added that action must be taken to combat the far greater numbers who die every week of the year from drug abuse.

The chairman of INM, Leslie Buckley, board members Len O'Hagan, Triona Mullane and Allan Marshall, and chief executive Robert Pitt were present to honour and remember Veronica.

Mr Buckley said that while Veronica had wanted to pursue crime lords profiting from the misery of others, "she has left us with a lasting legacy at INM, which is the encouragement to be brave in the pursuit of the truth".

Expand Close INM CEO Robert Pitt / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp INM CEO Robert Pitt

"We will make sure that legacy continues," Mr Buckley added, as he announced that a new bursary for young investigative journalists will be established.

Read more: 'Veronica Guerin was an ordinary person who achieved the extraordinary'

The event was jointly hosted by Stephen Rae, editor-in-chief of INM, and Cormac Bourke, editor of the Sunday Independent.

RTE's Miriam O'Callaghan was MC for the event, which was also attended by Papal Nuncio, His Excellency The Most Rev Charles John Brown, and Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan.

The leader of Fianna Fail, Micheal Martin, as well as former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin and former Justice Minister Nora Owen, also attended the event, which featured music, video tributes and a specially commissioned poem on her legacy, entitled The Things Never Said (for Veronica Guerin), written by Joseph O'Connor

Expand Close Piper Sean Potts / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Piper Sean Potts

Sean Potts played a haunting lament on the uilleann pipes, while a song written for Veronica by Christy Moore was sung by Brian Kennedy.

The event was attended by Irish Independent editor Fionnan Sheahan, Irish Times editor Kevin O'Sullivan, Irish Examiner editor Tim Vaughan and Irish Mail on Sunday Editor Conor O'Donnell.

INM group editor-in-chief Stephen Rae said Veronica Guerin did not want to be a hero, but was an ordinary person who achieved the extraordinary through remarkable courage and determination.

Mr Rae pointed out that journalists from the group are still operating at the front line, exposing the activities of the gangs. Earlier this year, two INM journalists received threats to their safety.

Mr Rae said: "We cannot be put off by threats."
Bob Paine, who has died aged 83, was a marine ecologist who coined the term "keystone species" to describe animals and plants whose loss can wreak havoc on an ecosystem.

The keystone concept took the field by storm in the late 1960s, when Paine described removing dozens of Pisaster ochraceus starfish from the rocky intertidal zone of Makah Bay in Washington state. The starfish was the main predator of the mussel Mystilus californianus, which took advantage of its absence to invade, occupy and dominate, resulting in the total number of species living on the rocks halving.

Paine described this "trophic cascade" in a 1966 paper in American Naturalist entitled "Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity". In 1969 he defined a keystone species as one that determines "the integrity of the community and its unaltered persistence through time".

Scientists soon described other keystone species, such as the sea otter. In the early 1970s it was found that after Aleut islanders hunted the otters or drove them away from certain Aleutian islands off the coast of Alaska, sea urchins - a favourite otter food - began to proliferate, destroying swathes of Pacific giant kelp forests and the fish living in them, resulting in fish-free "urchin deserts".

Robert Treat Paine was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was fascinated by nature from a young age. After taking a degree at Harvard, he moved to the University of Michigan to do graduate research on fossils, but switched to studying living animals after attending a lecture on freshwater invertebrates.

From 1970, much of his research was carried out on Tatoosh Island, an uninhabited rocky island off the Washington coast.

There he repeated his starfish-removal experiment on a bigger scale.

Paine was never happier than when scampering over barnacled rocks, accompanied by students, many of whom went on to become leading ecologists.

He continued to teach beyond his official retirement in 1998. In 1995 he had finally allowed starfish to return to the Tatoosh shore after 25 years of exile.

"I thought, I'm not going to live for ever, so let's see what happens if I let the starfish back," he said. He was delighted when their numbers rebounded.

Paine's marriage to Alice Coleman was dissolved. He is survived by three daughters.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Speaking of which, city slickers often go to the country to enjoy its wildlife, but sometimes you have to go to the city in order to look after it. Photo: Brian Lynch

Making the last 16 of Euro 2016 seems a fitting accomplishment for this centenary of the birth of our republic. There is no divide between city and country in celebrations.

Speaking of which, city slickers often go to the country to enjoy its wildlife, but sometimes you have to go to the city in order to look after it. That was the case last week when I protested on that patch of path meant for the hoi polloi outside Dail Eireann.

Maureen O'Sullivan won the first chance in more than 20 years, thanks to the lottery system, to ban hare coursing, thereby finally bringing our Republic into line with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On that note, "to go to the country" also means to have an election - something desperately needed when it comes to animal welfare issues, given that 80pc of us, according to the last independent survey, want to see hare coursing banned.

Doing so would surely be a timely tribute this centenary year, especially when one considers a letter written in 1967 by Padraig and Willie Pearse's sister, Senator Margaret Pearse, in which she states: "I am certain that were they alive today, they would both be foremost in condemning coursing for the sadistic spectacle that it is."

It's not only hares that are harmed, she wrote, adding that "the practice of bloodsports tends to make the participants indifferent to human suffering".

Yet all our major political parties intend to vote against the ban next Thursday.

Sinn Fein's support for a bloodsport inherited from the UK is particularly incredible. But then, hare coursing in this country is rife with contradiction, such as the fact that our unique and endangered little hare is supposed to be protected under the Wildlife Act.

Laughably, our Minister for Arts and Heritage continues to issue licences allowing a mean-spirited minority to snatch thousands of hares from their habitat to hold them captive for weeks before they are 'trained' to run for their lives in wire-enclosed fields.

Where's the skill in that? Any surprise there are no parades bursting with pride at being Irish?

Those who have their wicked way with our wildlife know full well the power of the big lie, hence their claim that far from harming hares they are actually "helping" them.

While muzzled greyhounds can't bite - not a fact the terrified hare is aware of - they can certainly bash and batter, often to the point where the hares "require assistance".

This ironic little euphemism refers to hares being struck and mauled, sometimes resulting in them needing to be put down. Reports show that even those hares that are released back into the wild often die later from trauma or injuries.

It's time we muzzled this misery, because the coursing clique don't own the Irish hare. Nor do they own this country. Isn't it time we honoured the fathers of its foundation by putting an end to the persecution of its wildlife?
Congrats to Peter Carroll and his team at A2 Architects who have just been awarded the prestigious RIAI award for Best House Build for their Folding House in Cork, a 180 sqm house, pictured, built on a deep and narrow plot.

So the UK has voted to leave the UK. First reactions included the biggest fall in sterling since 1985, while values in shares of two of the largest residential agencies in the UK fell by 20pc on Friday morning.

UK investors who have been very active in the Irish property market over the last three years are now looking at a 10pc increase in the cost of buying in Ireland. What next? Well, it's anyone's guess. We're in uncharted waters, but it is likely to create volatility in property prices both here and in the UK in the short term - and it will be sometime before the dust settles.

Expand Close Its been a good year so far for A2  in April they were appointed architects on the Dun Laoghaire Public Baths Complex with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council architects department. McCullough Mulvin Architects, no stranger to a gong or two themselves, won the Best House Extension award for their Hidden Garden. Photographs by Marie Louise Halpenny / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Its been a good year so far for A2  in April they were appointed architects on the Dun Laoghaire Public Baths Complex with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council architects department. McCullough Mulvin Architects, no stranger to a gong or two themselves, won the Best House Extension award for their Hidden Garden. Photographs by Marie Louise Halpenny

End of term report

The customary wind-down for the holiday season is fast approaching, While the market is less seasonal today than it has been in the past, it still tends to cool off from mid-July to the end of August. Traditionally the 'builders' holidays' were the catalyst for this and they continue right through to the last week in August. So how is the market looking? All those involved in the housing market are collating information for Q2 to the end of June. The lack of supply of both rental and sale properties has been well documented. There seems to be a consensus from agents around the countries that shortage of supply is a continuing issue. Realistically priced properties are selling whether by private treaty or auction. The second quarter has been less active in Dublin and more active in the regions, than the first quarter. One common theme among all agents is the continued difficulty of bringing properties from sale agreed to sale complete, primarily because of difficulty in drawing down finance due to the onerous requirements imposed by lenders. According to Liam Hargaden of Jordan Auctioneers in Co Kildare, one first-time buyer had pre-loan approval agreed to purchase a property with him recently. They informed their mortgage provider who then confirmed that they were only prepared to provide 90pc of the initially agreed amount. Hargaden sees a shortage of supply in three-bed starter homes with more and more buyers moving out from the capital. Mick O'Donoghue of REA O'Donoghue Clarke, based in Cork city, maintains that "lack of supply and the onerous lending restrictions continue to be the primary issues. There is a very strong demand for typical three- and four-bed semi-detached homes with good access to Cork city." Both agents agree that the second half of 2016 will experience the same challenges and it will be some time yet before the supply side sees definite improvement.

Remember that old cliche that the three most important property features are 'location location, location'? It is clear now that the three most important requirements to solve the housing crisis are 'build, build, build'.

Where there's a will there's a way

How often have you thought about putting a will in place, just in case. Even so, it's natural to hold off preparing a will in early to middle adulthood as you think, "Sure, there is plenty of time for that!" If you're the legal owner of a property asset, however, the importance of having a will in place can't be underestimated especially where there are children involved.

If someone with a husband/wife and children dies without a will, two-thirds of the estate automatically goes to the spouse and one-third to the children. But if the children are under 18, the property is then tied up and untangling it can become very complicated. In the unlikely event that both parents die, it is vital that a will has been made with a provision inserted for the appointment of a trustee to look after the estate until such time as the children are in a position to do so themselves. It's also important when making a will that provision is made for an 'enduring power of attorney'. This means someone is appointed to look after your affairs if you, through illness such as stroke, dementia or some similar condition, aren't able to look after your own affairs. The process requires certification from a doctor and solicitor to ensure the individual seeking it is of sound mind when initiating it.

Unfortunately, there is ample case law available to illustrate the importance of having a plan in place as to where or to whom you wish to see your assets go - and how crucial it is not to postpone it.

View from the ground up from SVP

Leading charity and stalwart of the social housing sector St Vincent de Paul expressed real reservations about the Government's current housing strategy in their pre-budget submission published recently.

The Government's Social Housing 2020 strategy proposes meeting 70pc of social housing needs through supports in the private rented sector through the likes of Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) with the remaining 30pc through the provision of social housing units through local authorities and housing bodies.

SVP wants to see this strategy reversed with local authorities and approved housing bodies providing the 70pc and the balance through the private rented sector. There is real merit in what they are proposing. As private rents continue to increase, people are being priced out of the market with homeless families being housed in totally inappropriate emergency accommodation for extended periods of time.

According to the charity, housing is the key concern for its members who are working with families daily who are worried about losing their rented accommodation as well as families who have already lost their rental homes as a result of sharp increases in rent recently.

Let's hope their views, which are gleaned from on-the-ground experiences, are given due consideration before the announcement of the new housing strategy.

Philip Farrell is a property expert and market commentator
BE PREPARED: Driving abroad is not just for the brave.

With just days to go before primary schools shut their doors for the summer holidays, more and more families will be packing up their cars and driving to Europe in search of sun and family fun. We have some tips for safe and happy driving.

1) Before you leave home, notify your insurance company that you are taking your car abroad. Although you should be covered automatically for third-party liability, it may be a condition of your policy that you inform them before going .

2) If you break down abroad it could prove very expensive, so before you go invest in breakdown assistance. If your policy does not extend to leaving the country, you can either extend your policy at an additional cost or you can buy a separate policy.

Whichever you choose the important aspects to look for are multilingual 24-hour helpline, car hire and accommodation costs.

3) When you arrive, remember not to drive on the left hand side of the road. This may sound obvious, but it is very easy to forget and revert to your normal driving pattern.

4) Ensure that you have your driving licence and insurance documentation easily to hand.

5) Stay on busy roads for the first few days as you get used to turning left, right and overtaking. It is much easier to drift back to the wrong side of a deserted back road. Also be particularly careful when approaching roundabouts or when merging lanes.

6) Ensure your car is roadworthy to minimise the risk of breakdowns or accidents and check your tyres carefully - including the spare.

7) Familiarise yourself with the rules of the road for any country you plan on driving in. The European Commission has a handy 'Going Abroad' phone app that can be downloaded from the transport section of its website.

8) A first-aid kit is useful to have in the car and is a legal requirement in some countries, so it's a good idea to include visibility vests, replacement bulbs and a warning triangle in case of breakdown.

9) 112 is the European emergency call number you can dial anywhere in the European Union in case of accident, assault or in any other distress situation.

Some of the more unusual rules around Europe:

If you need to wear glasses while driving you must keep a spare pair in the car with you by law when driving in Spain, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

In Scandinavia, the alcohol limit is so low that effectively you cannot drink for 24 hours before you drive.

In France, drivers are required to carry an unused breathalyser kit but the offence carries no penalty or endorsement.

Germany is one of the few places in the world where drivers, on certain stretches of the Autobahn, are allowed to decide for themselves how fast to drive, limited only by the car they are driving.

Dipped headlights are required by law at all times on all vehicles in Scandinavia. Beam converters for headlights are also necessary when driving in France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

In many countries, there are strict laws about using the horn unnecessarily, especially in built-up areas so it's best to resist the urge.

In Germany, when traffic is congested, normal right-of-way rules give way to the "zipper rule". It means vehicles from each lane must give way one at a time.

In Turkey, you must carry two warning triangles in your car.
Talk therapy may be on the rise in Ireland, but clients still aren't asking their therapists about their qualifications and accreditations.

While Irish people may euphemistically concede that they are "talking to someone", they often don't know who exactly that person is, or what the letters after their name mean.

There is a bewildering choice of therapists and therapies available in Ireland, coupled with a woeful lack of consumer information. Furthermore, psychotherapists and counsellors are not currently regulated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005.

"The persistent lack of regulation in psychotherapy is profoundly concerning," says cognitive scientist and philosopher of medicine Dr Charlotte Blease.

"There is still no statutory regulation for therapists in Ireland (though there are moves in this direction with CORU). And unlike medicine, it is not possible to become a licensed psychotherapist.

"Anyone can stick a plaque on their door, set up an internet site, dub themselves a 'therapist' and start charging by the hour. I also imagine that many of these people are falsely calling themselves 'Dr' or even 'Professor'," she adds.

Counselling and psychotherapy are self-regulated industries in Ireland. Just as psychology is accredited by associations such as the Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI), counselling and psychotherapy are accredited by bodies such as the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP); the Irish Association of Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP); and the Association of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI).

These bodies have stringent standards of excellence and therapists are required to partake in a mandatory number of client contact-work hours (450 hours for prospective IACP members) after successful completion of core work.

"Psychotherapists who are members of bodies such as the IACP, and similar organisations, must adhere to strict ethical codes of conduct to respect patient autonomy, client confidentiality, and to conduct themselves in a professional manner," says Dr Blease.

Non-membership doesn't disqualify therapists from practicing though, as psychotherapist and Love Rewired author David Kavanagh explains.

"People can do a course that is accredited to a proper organisation but then not necessarily go off and get the proper registration hours that they need. If they don't get the registration hours that they need, then they are not officially registered."

Kavanagh's clients often ask him to explain the difference between a counsellor and a psychotherapist.

"I always answer 'about seven years' training'. I have a degree, a diploma, three years post-grad and then two years to get registration. It was a nine-year educational process for me to become a psychotherapist with the Family Therapy Association of Ireland.

"Yet I could become a counsellor in six months after doing my Leaving Cert. Or I could do a six- week course in counselling online, get a certificate from America, put myself forward and nobody is legislating against me."

Dublin-based psychotherapist Liam Plant, who is accredited with three bodies, both here and in the UK, believes that therapists are ethically obliged to tell clients if they are still in the process of becoming accredited. He also offers a list of 'questions to ask your therapist' on his website.

"There was a proliferation in the noughties of private colleges offering courses that maybe didn't pay sufficient attention to the highest standards of practice," says Plant. "I personally think the minimum level of education should be a Masters."

Thankfully, the Irish industry is slowly moving in this direction. The IACP is increasing the minimum educational requirement for Counselling & Psychotherapy (for the purpose of accreditation) to Degree Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications from September 2018.

This will significantly up the ante of an already challenging programme, says copywriter Laura-Kelly Walsh, who is currently studying part-time for an IACP-recognised diploma in psychotherapy over two years. Her studies include 450 hours of training, 50 hours of personal therapy and 150 hours of supervised practice.

"I realised how important it is to do an IACP or IAHIP accredited course after researching the courses available in Ireland," she explains. "Also, given the nature of the profession, an online course was out of the question."

Psychotherapist Barbara Foley became IACP-accredited a year ago. She originally trained as a nurse before working in clinical research for 12 years. She started a degree in psychotherapy six years ago, practiced for two years before becoming fully accredited and is currently studying for a two-year post-grad in adolescent psychotherapy.

"My concern is the rise of online courses in things like CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], NLP [Neuro-linguistic programming] and mindfulness," she says. "I'm not aware of the accreditation around them and I just wonder how vigilant people are about researching the regulatory process."

Dr Blease has similar reservations.

"A friend of mine suggested going to 'mindfulness classes'. I went along with her twice, purely out of curiosity for the standard of care. I was appalled. I have no idea what kind of training he received and I witnessed this 'therapist' tell one patient (who had made it known that he was grieving) that, 'cancer is caused by the food that we eat'."

"The problem with Ireland is that people don't ask enough," adds Kavanagh. "They don't say 'tell me about your qualifications and expertise'. They don't ask 'where did you train, who did you register with, are you insured?'"

Foley agrees. She says that while GPs will only refer patients to registered psychotherapists, clients are considerably less attentive about looking for accreditations. One way to navigate this is to find a reputable centre. MyMind, a not-for-profit provider of mental health care services, requires all therapists to be practicing under a recognised accreditation body and to be undergoing regular supervision.

"Finding a therapist in your area can be done through consulting the directories of professional bodies," explains MyMind communications officer Carmel Bryce. "It can also be helpful to have a recommendation from a trusted source, such as a GP or friend."

Patients should also be educated about the therapeutic process and the possible risks, says Dr Blease.

"They deserve to be made known about evidence which shows that some versions of therapy will be more suitable for their problems than other kinds of therapy.

"They also deserve to be told that therapy may carry risks: around 10pc of patients experience worsening of symptoms as a result of long-term therapy. Honest and competent therapists - therapists who are working within the sphere of evidence-based practice - will make patients aware of these facts.

"Just because psychotherapy involves talking does not mean it is harmless."
Premium

Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis

Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term  the next six months or a year; the medium-term  the next four or five years; and the long-term  the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts.
Premium

Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
Premium

New hospital for a tenner may come at too high a price

The Taoiseach is under a lot of pressure  the kind of pressure that leads to costly mistakes. It perhaps explains why he has been saying things that are not quite true. Micheal Martin is in a tight political corner. From all sides hes being told he has to get the contract signed for the new National Maternity Hospital.
British border controls with the Republic will probably consist of increased port and airport security as it is "impossible" to secure the 500km land border, senior garda sources say.

Policing on both sides of the Border has reduced to well under half the levels there were during the 1971-1997 Provisional IRA terrorist campaign, when there was also a substantial British military presence at fortified checkpoints. The Irish Army also maintained a presence at the Border.

The four garda border divisions - Donegal, Sligo-Leitrim, Cavan-Monaghan and Louth - have a combined strength of 1,280 officers.

Although extra resources were promised in the Louth division, which has had two gardai - Det Garda Adrian Donohoe and Garda Tony Golden - murdered while on duty, garda numbers have continued to fall. In 2008, there were 296 gardai in the Louth division compared with 287 this year, according to Department of Justice figures.

The Cavan-Monaghan division has seen an even bigger reduction from 488 in 2008 to 387, a nearly 20pc reduction.

The number of active customs inspectors in the Republic is understood to be under 200, although the Revenue Commissioners insists the figure is higher. Customs sources say the service has been "whittled down" since the opening of EU borders.

Read More

A senior garda source said the most likely outcome of Brexit will be a major upswing in smugglings. And transport industry sources said yesterday the belief among the smugglers is that a bonanza is on their way as EU-UK price fluctuations begin to occur.

The South Armagh-centred Provos' main income for the past year has been from buying clear or "white" diesel in the Republic and selling it in the North at a profit of around 30c (24p) per litre. They were hit by yesterday's drop in sterling, and any further weakening against the euro could reduce the estimated 5,000 profit on a tanker load of smuggled fuel, according to transport industry sources.

The main Provo smugglers held a conference at a border hotel last month for an open-forum discussion on the potential effects of Brexit. According to reliable sources, while little of what was said is known, the meeting was unanimously in favour of Britain leaving the EU.

A very close associate of the jailed South Armagh boss, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, is said to have chaired the discussion.

Their pro-exit stance places them, idealistically at least, at variance with Sinn Fein, the party to which the smugglers have traditionally aligned themselves.

A "hard" Border may be a blow to Sinn Fein's former promise to supporters of a united Ireland by 2016, but it would be unlikely to offer any threat to the smugglers who were able to operate through the Troubles, smuggling cattle and pigs across the Border when the British Army had fortified checkpoints on all the main crossings.

Local sources say the Border smugglers, like everyone else, are uncertain about what the UK exit will bring, but believe it will inevitably lead to major opportunities. The loss of EU farm subsidies in the North could open the way for a return to livestock smuggling, which was their main income source from the 1970s until the subsidies north and south were aligned in the early 1990s.

Up to the start of last year, the main Provo income was from buying cheap agricultural diesel or "green" in the Republic and "washing" out the dye by using acids and detergents for resale in the North. The addition of an isotope marker by the Revenue at the start of last year has more or less stopped the "washing" process, which produced thousands of tons of toxic waste, which was dumped in the border area.

People in the border area say Provisional IRA punishment attacks, threats and intimidation have escalated around the Border and other parts of the North since last month's Assembly elections.

Read More

One man and woman were badly injured and more than a dozen other incidents of threats and intimidation were made in the past month against people who, the sources say, include some who have spoken out against IRA criminality.

While Sinn Fein maintains that the IRA no longer exists, a source in one republican stronghold said that in one violent incident, a victim was told that he was being attacked on behalf of "the Army", a term which is generally taken to refer to the Provisional IRA.

The intimidation is said to be most concentrated in Armagh and Belfast where Sinn Fein faced organised political opposition among Catholic voters, losing a seat in West Belfast as the local People before Profit Alliance candidate, Gerry Carroll, topped the poll.

Local people say that in the months prior to the May 5th election, there was a noticeable downturn in IRA activity, but immediately afterwards, violence and threats began to reoccur. The Sunday Independent approached one man known to have received threats from the IRA, but he declined to comment.

Sinn Fein has issued statements criticising punishment attacks and intimidation and continues to deny the IRA exists or is involved in organised criminality.

However, the Sunday Independent understands that one man currently under investigation for a recent "punishment" attack has a conviction for voter impersonation and is a well-known Sinn Fein election worker.

Read More

The party is not blamed per se for the attacks, but people in nationalist areas who have spoken out against the IRA's involvement in intimidation and criminality are said to be fearful that the "blind eye policy" to IRA crime, as they term it, is being allowed to continue.

This is a reference to what is believed to have stemmed from secret agreements around the time of the IRA ceasefires and 1998 Good Friday Agreement, allowing the IRA to continue its criminal activities so long as it stopped carrying out bomb and gun attacks on British security and commercial targets.

In the years since the ending of the Troubles, many IRA figures along the Border have become millionaires through smuggling. Documents produced in court in Spain last year contain British Intelligence Service estimates that 25pc of the smugglers' earnings from tobacco and fuel still go to a central "Provisional" republican fund.
The bookies were convinced the United Kingdom would vote to remain in the European Union. And as the results came in on Thursday night, it looked like they were right. London, Scotland and Northern Ireland were voting 'Remain' and Nigel Farage was on television conceding defeat. But then it all changed - borough after borough across England and Wales was voting to 'Leave'.

By early Friday morning, it was clear the bookies had, in fact, called it wrong, and the UK's 41-year membership of the EU was coming to an end.

Thursday's UK vote to leave the EU is a damning indictment of the disconnect between the European project and its citizens. A disconnect seen in the EU's vindictive response to Ireland's banking woes, and in the snippy responses of some senior European figures to Brexit.

Thursday's vote should also sound a warning on the dangers of inequality and of disempowering citizens. The Leave vote was higher in boroughs with lower education, lower earnings and lower tendency to travel abroad.

In absolute terms, globalisation may be working for these people (in fact, the Leave vote was stronger in areas that exported more to the EU). But in a world where 65 people now own over half of all global wealth, it certainly isn't working in relative terms. The EU is a symbol of globalisation, and it was rejected.

Brexit should serve as a wake-up call for the European project, but it also presents very real political and economic risks to Ireland.

Let's start with the political. About 400,000 people born in the Republic now live in the UK - more than the populations of Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford cities combined. Any new geo-political gap between our two nations is bad news for these people. Hopefully, it'll amount to no more than short-term uncertainty. It could, however, become a real nuisance if barriers are created to free travel.

It's also not impossible that we'll see restrictions on work, social protections or access to public services. The Irish and British people enjoy a special relationship, but it's exactly these sort of restrictions that many who voted Leave want to create.

Brexit poses a myriad of other political risks: the potential for a reappearance of a 'hard' border between the North and South - something that could not but set back integration efforts on the island; and the risk to EU-funding for all sorts of projects between the UK and Ireland, from transport links to cultural programmes to scientific research.

And then there's the economy. With a billion euro of goods and services moving between the countries each week, the UK is our biggest trading partner. It accounts for a whopping 40pc of our food exports. Brexit means a weaker sterling, which fell precipitously on Thursday morning. As sterling falls, the cost of Irish goods and services to UK consumers goes up - so they buy less.

The same principle applies to tourism. Nearly a quarter of all money spent by tourists in Ireland last year was by UK visitors. As sterling weakens, we become a more expensive place for them to visit - so they visit less.

Irish businesses selling into the UK market took a hammering during the banking collapse, with sterling falling by about 25pc between 2007 and 2009. Then, from 2009 to 2015, sterling strengthened, getting back almost back to pre-crash levels. This has increased competitiveness, driving exports of goods and services, imports of UK tourists, general economic activity and job creation.

This year, however, sterling has been weakening again, with a sizeable drop on news of Brexit. Just as it gained steadily against the euro for six years, it could now begin to steadily weaken - hurting our businesses, our exchequer returns and job creation.

Other risks to Irish businesses from Brexit include increased bureaucracy and bigger gaps in regulatory regimes, which increases costs. The ESRI has estimated that Brexit has the potential to reduce Irish-UK trade by 20pc.

These risks have already been adjusted for by the markets. The UK stock market fell on Friday, as one would expect, with the FTSE falling nearly 4pc. However, the Irish stock market fell by more than twice that amount. By Friday evening, the ISEQ had fallen nearly 8pc, with the ISEQ Financial falling by over 20pc. About 10bn was wiped off the value of listed Irish companies in a matter of hours.

It's imperative that Ireland reacts quickly and decisively to Brexit. To the Government's credit, a pretty comprehensive list of priorities was released on Friday afternoon, with proposed actions for the various organs of the State laid out. Enterprise Ireland would be providing support to affected Irish companies, the IDA would be reassuring its client base, Bord Bia would be out and about in the UK, our embassies would be working the phones, our diplomats pressing the flesh.

We are served in Ireland by pretty robust state institutions: they responded well, on average, during the economic crisis, and need to do so again now. The government release contains a lot of well-meaning proposals, but what really matters is that our companies, and our expats, are supported in ways that matter to them.

New bilateral agreements need to be hammered out quickly with the UK. In particular, we need to secure ongoing free movement of people, trade and capital. We need to find ways to help Irish businesses deal with sterling fluctuations. We need to ensure that relationships between the North and South, and all efforts to support integration, continue.

We also need to seize the opportunities presented by Brexit. It should be possible to secure a greater share of foreign direct investment, for example, as we're about to become the only English-speaking country in the EU.

There are financial services operations in the UK that are likely to move in order to stay in the EU, and we're one obvious location for them. If we get our trade agreements right, it might even be possible to strengthen our trade with the UK, by ensuring that our agreements are better, and in place sooner, than those with other countries.

With the UK pulling back from the EU, it's likely they'll look to North America for closer ties - an economic relationship we're uniquely positioned to contribute to, and benefit from.

We need to take stock of the European project. But while we're at it, we also need to act quickly to mitigate the very real political and economic risks Brexit poses to Ireland. If we're smart, and we use our ability to build relationships, we should also be able to work with the UK to seize the very real opportunities.
Border areas are no strangers to fear. In the past, when violence was a daily threat, those fears were well founded. Today, that fear is of the unknown, with Brexit posing the very real prospect of border controls once again.

On the Derry-Donegal border, where I live with my family, the UK's decision to vote to leave the EU was greeted with complete incredulity. What does it mean, was all anyone could ask?

There is good reason why the people of Derry and its hinterland across the Border in Inishowen, Co Donegal are worried. The fortunes of the two areas are inextricably linked.

It's not just about geography and being beside one another on a map. While the Border dictates that Inishowen and Derry are still two separate states, the links between the two are so strong that they seem to belong to one another.

In the early 1920s, when the lines on the map were being laid down to decide where exactly the Border should be drawn, strong appeals were made - largely on economic grounds - for the incorporation of Derry city within the Free State. Of course, this didn't happen and the rest is history.

For people who haven't grown up on a border, they might think it's a black and white issue. The reality is that it's fluid, complex and ever-changing. The ties that bind Inishowen people and Derry people are marital, familial, social, recreational and, of course, economic.

When Derry people want to bring their kids for a day out, they head to the beaches of Inishowen.

When Inishowen people want to go to the movies, they head into the city.

Our surnames are the same, our accents sound similar. Donegal and Derry people have a relationship that's a bit like that of siblings. We give out about one another sometimes but deep down we care deeply for the other and would stand by the other through thick and thin, which we have always done.

Each day, the roads of Inishowen buzz with cars from early morning, with workers travelling across the Border to work. At the weekends, the traffic goes the other way, with Derry day trippers venturing out to the peninsula's Atlantic beaches right on their doorstep. Many Derry people move out to holiday caravans in Inishowen for the summer.

Every fabric of our lives is intertwined with one another and we do all these interactions using two currencies; sterling and the euro.

Some of us who grew up on the Border in the 1970s and 1980s remember all too well the checkpoints, both British army and Customs. That Brexit could throw up the spectre of border crossings once again is unthinkable. While they obviously would not be militaristic, like during the Troubles, anything that could jeopardise the freedom we have come to enjoy is unwelcome, to say the least.

There are days I still cross the Border where the old checkpoints used to be and I marvel at the freedom we now have. I remember plenty of Christmas Eves coming out of Derry after doing some Christmas shopping and sitting for ages at the Border, trying to get home.

Children growing up in Inishowen and Derry now have no idea what 'border' means. Their minds are not bound by it and that's a great thing as borders do that; they change how you see the world. They box you in and they define you as "them" and "us". Any return to a border - even a "soft" one - will feel like a symbolic step back into the past. It will feel like a giant leap backwards to a place we were glad to leave.

While borders tend to place psychological barriers, they also create economic ones. The reality of Brexit is that sterling has fallen like a stone.

For the Northern Ireland economy and a city like Derry, this is obviously bad news. Local hotels, shops and businesses in Inishowen are likely to be hit, with less Northerners spending their sterling across the Border. Inishowen people who work in Derry and are paid in sterling will find that their buying power at home in the eurozone is weakened.

More than anything, people are afraid that a landscape that we have got used to will change yet again. While negotiations between London and Brussels will take some time, only time will tell whether the dealmakers are listening to the voices of the people of Derry, who voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU. The daily lives of Inishowen and Derry people will be greatly affected by the way this exit deal is hammered out.

For these peripheral areas on the periphery of Europe, Brexit just doesn't make sense.
It's important to name things for what they are - and not to confuse one thing with another.

The threat to shoot me came in a phone call to my home from some eejit trying to sound like a character from The Godfather. This was back in the late 1980s, when I was working for the Sunday Tribune. It was chilling - for about 30 seconds. Then, common sense kicked in.

The people I wrote about were not gangsters or paramilitaries. Their hatred was real; and so was their wish to be able to swat anyone who disputed their exalted view of themselves. But, their threat wasn't real.

A threat is just words - to be a real threat, it has to have weight behind it. If it doesn't, it's just a pathetic grunt.

There were too many practical impediments between the grunter and his ability to swat a media irritant. Yes, these people wish they could kill those they dislike. They wish they could sleep with Beyonce. One is as likely as the other.

It's important to name things for what they are - and not to confuse one thing with another. That call wasn't a death threat, it was a nuisance call from an eejit.

If you have any kind of presence in the public arena, you may attract the attention of the odd eejit. You cannot take every antagonistic burp as an existential threat.

After the murders of Veronica Guerin and Martin O'Hagan, journalists were less casual about such things - but it really only affected those whose work brought them into direct contact with criminal gangs and paramilitaries.

The Haughey-era was fun. Some FF types specialised in scrawled notes telling me they knew all my family secrets, my drinking habits and my sexual perversions, all of which would be exposed if I wrote one more disrespectful word.

In the Bertie and Enda years, there have been fewer of those, but just as bitter. Every now and then, the empty words, "Death is coming" is sometimes accompanied by religious leaflets.

Those eejits had to find paper and pen (or at least a crayon), scrawl the abuse, find an envelope, go to the post office and buy a stamp, look up the newspaper's address and post the thing. These days, though, anyone with a keyboard can insult you instantly. In complete anonymity, they can abuse half a dozen people before breakfast and throw in the odd death threat.

Anonymity is a more powerful intoxicant than anything that comes out of a bottle. The ease and the anonymity ensure that online abuse is now a fact of life for anyone even remotely involved in the public arena.

There's a sub-category: misogyny. Women who become prominent and have an online presence are targets.

There's a type of male whose frustration and arrogance erupts in gushes of hate. This is apparently born of a feeling that too many women these days fail to observe a properly feminine level of meekness.

The internet is also used by the young to bully the young. Sometimes to the point of depression or suicide.

All of these are problems - the last, the abuse of the young and vulnerable, is most urgent because it can limit or even destroy life.

The abuse of women drives some away from social media. It's a deliberate suppression of the right to be heard.

Waves of abuse can intimidate anyone, male or female, and drive them away from the screen on which the abuse appears.

My instinct, whether the abuse is delivered by post or online, is to ignore that stuff. However, that's easy to say when you don't suffer the attentions of disturbed individuals who feed their own helplessness by obsessively dreaming up rape fantasies.

There's no doubt the corporations that make millions from online outlets dodge their responsibilities.

I have no solutions to offer. That isn't what this is about.

Again: it's important to name things for what they are - and not to confuse one thing with another.

In the wake of the murder of Jo Cox MP, everything was conflated. The grunting eejit, the woman haters with screaming psyches, the cynics, the sceptical, the defiant. Any form of aggression - no matter how justified - was declared to be mere steps away from gun violence. We were urged to hug our politicians.

Those who use anonymity to viciously abuse others were lumped in with those who put their names to their words. Those who react against political actions that have damaged them were grouped with those who wish to demonise anyone who questions the actions of the powerful.

And anyone whose political activism exceeds casting a vote every five years, is now deemed to be a few keystrokes away from the act of killing.

Jo Cox was a pro-emigrant politician. She was aware that we live in an era of global upheaval, where policies ordained by Western politicians have effects half a world away.

Those policies lead to death and disruption. They lead to flight from danger, from poverty, from starvation. Jo Cox believed we have responsibilities in these matters.

Her murder was a political assassination, by forces on the far right.

Across Europe, fascist parties are thriving on fear and austerity and dislike of change.

In the UK, those forces were being exploited by right-wing and centre-right politicians, squabbling over the leadership of the Tory party, and exercising their own petty nationalism.

It is dangerous to conflate such realities with the tender sensibilities of insulted politicians.

We are selective about our outrage.

When Minister Charlie Flanagan used what we coyly call "the C word" about other politicians, Fine Gael and the media thought that was fine. He suffered no consequences. When online racists cheered the deaths of children, there was no fuss.

Flanagan used the word about Sinn Fein politicians; the dead children were Travellers.

On the other hand, there was uproar about the "bullying" of a young Fianna Fail TD, Jack Chambers. Apparently, some people made jokes about Jack's hair. How awful for him.

Here's a sample of what passes for bullying these days. In a wave of Jack Chambers "jokes", stuff such as this was posted online: "Jack Chambers puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge". And, "Jack Chambers looks like he came from 1980s Reeling in the Years".

Now, I can't see how anyone would be truly offended by that. And I can't see why anyone would bother to think such empty thoughts, let alone post them online.

In a comment on a fundraising effort after the murder of Jo Cox, a Tory politician posted: "I've just donated the steam off my piss!"

Offensive, yes. Let his constituents do as they think right.

When insults escalate to swastikas and threats, there has to be sober consideration of whether this is substantial or mere bitter froth.

In 2014, Minister Alan Kelly made great political hay of a "death threat". Minister Aodhan O Riordain did likewise. The "threat" was immediately linked to the Irish Water protests.

Water protesters as a whole were smeared as violent people. Protesters were urged, via RTE, to "take a step back".

It turned out there was no death threat.

What happened was that a woman despaired of living in what a court noted were "sub-human conditions". She spent her nights in a sleeping bag on the ground floor of her home. She made a series of nuisance calls to politicians, including President Higgins. The calls seem to have been a howl of rage from a person in desperate circumstances.

Who was abusive? The water protesters or those who smeared them as the source of "death threats" on the basis of an anonymous phone call?

Abuse is offensive, it can be damaging, and politicians are as entitled as anyone else to protection from substantial threats. But every grunt of an eejit need not be a cause of alarm.

Anyway, a recent anonymous note cheered me greatly. The note began, "Hello Bastard", and ended with, "Kerrigan, would you now kindly fuck off?"

I will, indeed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced regret about the Brexit vote, but is to meet her French and Italian counterparts on Monday to discuss the future of the EU (AP)

Britain's decision to leave the European Union puts German Chancellor Angela Merkel at centre stage as the bloc seeks to preserve its unity and win back sceptical voters across the continent.

Ms Merkel stressed that "Germany has a special interest and a special responsibility in European unity succeeding", as she voiced regret on Friday at the Brexit vote, citing Europe's 20th century history of wars.

She signalled that she is taking the initiative, inviting her counterparts from France and Italy - the two other largest remaining members - to meet her on Monday in Berlin as well as EU President Donald Tusk.

But, true to a methodical approach to problems tried and tested over a decade in power, she also sought to slam the brakes on any hasty decisions, arguing that the 27 remaining members must avoid drawing "quick and simple conclusions" that would only create further divisions.

Germany has traditionally been reluctant to exert an overt leadership role in Europe, though it has been increasingly assertive in recent years in designing the response to the eurozone's debt troubles and, less conclusively, in seeking an EU-wide response to the influx of refugees and other migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere.

Even now, with one of the EU's heavyweights on the way out, Berlin is not likely to seek a sole leadership role, ever conscious of the historical burden of its Nazi past.

"It will continue to lead with and through groups," said Daniela Schwarzer, an expert on EU affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States think-tank in Berlin.

"There's this really strong concern to always be part of something and not going it alone.

"Germany has a huge interest that the Brussels institutions have more support than they currently have," she added, and there is no sign that it "actively seeks power and a hegemonic position".

Guntram Wolff, director of the Bruegel think-tank in Brussels, said Brexit will mean issues can no longer be addressed by shifting coalitions of France, the UK and Germany.

Instead, it would increase the dependency between France and Germany - the traditional motor powering EU integration, but one that has sputtered somewhat over recent years amid differences on the debt crisis and other issues.

"In that couple, Germany is the stronger player, quite clearly," he said. "So in that sense it will probably increase the role of Germany in the EU."

German officials left open what exactly the response to the British referendum might be. Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said earlier this month that "we couldn't simply call for more integration" if Britain leaves.

The remaining 27 EU members should "calmly analyse and evaluate the situation and, on this basis, together make the right decisions," Ms Merkel has said.

She acknowledged that people all over the continent increasingly have doubts about the direction of the European unification process, and added: "We must ensure that citizens can feel in concrete terms how much the European Union contributes to improving their personal situation."

Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said leaders should focus on finding "common European solutions where they are missing" - for example, to the migrant crisis, and doing more to boost jobs and growth.

Mr Steinmeier said the bloc should fall neither into hysteria nor shock, and must acknowledge that it does not yet have answers to all the questions raised by the British referendum result. On Saturday, he hosted his counterparts from the EU's other five founding members and said there will need to be further discussions "in big formats and in smaller formats".

With Britain's departure, Germany will lose a traditional ally within the EU on matters such as free trade and competition. Britain was the number three destination for German exports last year and was Germany's fifth-biggest trading partner overall.

"Germany on many economic issues relies more on the UK and Poland than it traditionally relies on France, because they have a more similar mindset on those issues," Ms Schwarzer said.

Ms Merkel sounded a notably conciliatory note towards Britain in responding to the referendum, signalling what appears to be "a willingness to lower the cost of Brexit for both sides", she added.

"Our aim should be to shape future relations between Great Britain and the European Union so that they are close and based on partnership," Ms Merkel said. She said she wants an "objective, good" climate in talks on Britain's exit and there is "no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations".

Germany will also be losing a fellow major contributor to the EU budget.

The leader of the upstart nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which has risen in polls during the migrant crisis at the expense of Ms Merkel's and other parties, raised that issue. Celebrating what she called "a signal to the Brussels politburo and its bureaucratic appendages", Frauke Petry said the government should not simply "plug the British net contribution with German tax money".

AP
Fallujah has been under the control of IS since January 2014

A senior Iraqi commander has declared that the city of Fallujah is "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants, after a more than month-long military operation.

Iraqi troops have entered the north-western al-Julan neighborhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under IS control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, said.

Lt Gen al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated." The Iraqi army was backed by US-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

"From the centre of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief... and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

He added that troops will start working on removing bombs from the city's streets and buildings.

The announcement comes more than a week after Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah after Iraqi forces advanced into the city centre and took control of a government complex. While Mr al-Abadi pledged the remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days.

The operation has fuelled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. Like other aid agencies, the UNHCR warned of the dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40C and shelter is limited, calling for more funds to meet the mounting needs of the displaced.

Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 2014.

Fallujah, which is located in Anbar province about 40 miles west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to IS in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by IS group's militant predecessor, al Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 US troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

In total, more than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since IS swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, according to UN figures. More than 40% of the displaced are from Anbar province.

AP
US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Brussels and London to meet top diplomats after the Brexit vote

US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Britain and the European Union to manage their divorce responsibly for the sake of global markets and citizens, a day before he was to become the first senior American official to visit London and Brussels since the UK's historic referendum.

Mr Kerry emphasised the importance of thoughtful cooperation at a time of economic uncertainty and fears about crumbling European unity. He said he would bring a message of US support to both capitals. But he offered no concrete suggestions for how the two sides should make good on the decision by British voters to leave the 28-nation bloc.

"The most important thing is that all of us, as leaders, work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible," Mr Kerry said as he met in Rome with Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Responsible handling of the situation, he said, will help "the marketplace understand there are ways to minimise disruption, there are ways to smartly move ahead in order to protect the values and interests that we share."

Mr Kerry had scheduled talks in Rome with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Sunday. But confronted with the gravity of Britain's vote on Thursday, which crushed markets from the US to Japan, Mr Kerry set up a frantic, four-nation schedule for Monday.

After gathering again with Mr Netanyahu in the morning, he planned to fly to Brussels to discuss Europe's situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Later, he was to meet Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in London before returning to Washington by the day's end.

In London, Mr Kerry intended to echo last week's immediate US response, which focused on the unchanged nature of the allies' "special relationship".

Even the gloomiest of predictions about the British exit from the EU do not foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britain's separation from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing US-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to "leave" could put them at the back of the line for similar deals. Since the result of the referendum, however, Mr Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasise the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

"We will continue, the United States, to have a very close and special relationship with Great Britain," Mr Kerry said on the rooftop of a hotel overlooking the Pantheon. "We value that relationship. That does not change because of this vote."

In Brussels, Mr Kerry planned to emphasise US backing for the EU amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britain's lead.

Alongside Mr Gentiloni, Mr Kerry stressed the importance of political unity among 27 remaining countries that still represent a market of 450 million people, and help the US provide security to unstable places in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung areas of conflict such as Afghanistan.

It is unclear what more Mr Kerry, or the US, can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britain's exit negotiations could be a complicated, protracted affair, and the Americans are likely to have little say in the matter. The US also has no answer for the EU's dilemma about how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.

"There are steps Europe needs to take to respond to the expression of voters and the concerns of people in other countries," Mr Kerry said, without entering the European debate over a quick or a slow break-up with Britain. He described the US-EU partnership as critical for Europe, America and the world.
Pipe down: A bagpipe player in full dress stands next to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as he arrives at Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland last week to officially reopen his golf resort. Photo: Getty

Donald Trump has finally conceded that to best compete against Hillary Clinton he needs more than the bare-bones campaign team that led him to primary success. But many of the most experienced Republican political advisers aren't willing to work for him.

From Texas to New Hampshire, well-respected members of the Republican Party's professional class say they cannot look past their deep personal and professional reservations about the presumptive presidential nominee.

While there are exceptions, many strategists who best understand the mechanics of presidential politics fear that taking a Trump pay cheque might stain their CVs, spook clients and cause problems at home. They also are reluctant to devote months to a divisive candidate whose campaign has been plagued by infighting and disorganisation.

"Right now I feel no obligation to lift a finger to help Donald Trump," said Brent Swander, an Ohio-based operative who has coordinated nationwide logistics for Republican campaigns dating back to George Bush.

"Everything that we're taught as children - not to bully, not to demean, to treat others with respect - everything we're taught as children is the exact opposite of what the Republican nominee is doing. How do you work for somebody like that? What would I tell my family?"

Trump leapt into presidential politics with a small group of aides, some drafted directly from his real-estate business, with no experience running a White House campaign. An unquestioned success in the GOP primaries, they have struggled to respond to the increased demands of a presidential election.

As in years past, the primary season created a pool of battle-tested staffers who worked for other candidates, from which Trump would be expected to draw. But hundreds of such aides have so far declined invitations to work for him.

They include several communications aides to Chris Christie, as well as the New Jersey governor's senior political adviser, Michael DuHaime, who said he rejected direct and indirect enquiries to sign on with the billionaire.

Chris Wilson, a senior aide to Ted Cruz, said the Texas senator's entire paid staff of more than 150 ignored encouragement from Trump's team to apply for positions after Cruz quit the presidential race. Wilson said that even now, many unemployed Cruz aides are refusing to work for the man who called their former boss "Lyin' Ted".

That's the case for Scott Smith, a Texas-based operative who travelled the country planning events for Cruz, and earlier worked on presidential bids for Bush and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

"It's very clear that none of us are going to work for Trump," Smith said. "Even if I wanted to work for Trump, my wife would kill me."

Smith, like many experienced strategists interviewed for this story, noted the intense personal sacrifice required of presidential campaigns. Many advisers do not see their families for long stretches, work brutal hours on little sleep and enjoy no job security.

With Trump, Smith said: "I would feel like a mercenary. I can't be away from my young children if it's just for money."

Trump's need for additional staff is acute. His paltry fundraising network brought in less than $2m last month. He has just one paid staffer to handle hundreds of daily media requests and only a few operatives in battleground states devoted to his White House bid.

Last month, Trump fired Rick Wiley, who was the campaign manager for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a former 2016 candidate, and was brought in to run Trump's nationwide get-out-the-vote effort. Last Monday, Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who acknowledged he lacked the experience needed to expand Trump's operation.

"This campaign needs to grow rapidly," Lewandowski said. "That's a hard job and candidly I've never grown something that big."

Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the campaign's hiring. A former adviser, Barry Bennett, played down any staffing challenges, suggesting the campaign should be able to double its contingent by the party's national convention next month.

Trump announced four new hires last week to supplement a staff of about 70. That's compared with Clinton's paid presence of roughly 700, many of them well-versed in modern political strategy.

Trump's senior team, including campaign chief Paul Manafort and newly hired political director Jim Murphy, largely represent an older generation of political hands more active in the 1980s and 1990s. The campaign's new Ohio director, Bob Paduchik, led state efforts for Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

A new generation of top talent active in more recent years has shown little interest in Trump. In Iowa, experienced operative Sara Craig says she will not work for Trump or even support him. "I am more interested in working on down-ballot races," said Craig, who helped elect Joni Ernst to the Senate from Iowa and directed a pro-Bush super political action committee.

Ryan Williams, who worked on Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns, said he's happy working for a consulting firm, where he's involved with various other elections across the country, as well as with corporate clients. "When you sign up for a campaign, you're putting your name on the effort. Some of the things that Trump has said publicly are very hard for people to get behind."

But Paduchik offered the kind of positive perspective expected of a campaign on the move. "It's been great, the response I've gotten. Republicans in every corner of Ohio are excited about Mr Trump's campaign."

Meanwhile on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator who ignited the race for the Democratic nomination, has effectively admitted defeat by saying he will vote for Hillary Clinton.

Mr Sanders also disclosed that he was negotiating for a possible position in a future Clinton administration. He stopped short of officially endorsing his opponent and did not suspend his campaign, but did speak about it in the past tense.

The 74-year-old senator said: "My vote will in all likelihood go to Hillary Clinton. We are working as we speak with the Clinton campaign to see what kind of agreements we can work out."

Asked if that included discussion of a future job, he said: "That's what we're doing too, so don't tell anybody."

Mrs Clinton declared herself the presumptive Democratic nominee more than two weeks ago but Mr Sanders has refused to drop out of the race.

Mr Sanders said he now recognised his opponent was in a winning position, having secured more delegates during the months-long state by state primary race.

He said: "I'm pretty good at arithmetic. I don't have the votes to become the Democratic nominee, I know that."

His campaign will continue into the party's convention next month where Mr Sanders will push Mrs Clinton to adopt some of his left-wing policies.

He said: "My job as a candidate right now is to fight for the strongest, most progressive possible platform at the Democratic convention.

"There is enormous support for making college tuition free. I would like to hear Mrs Clinton say yes. I would like to hear her say that we should guarantee healthcare as a right, that we should raise the minimum wage to $15, that we need new trade policies."

The campaign between Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders became increasingly bitter, with some of his supporters declaring they would never vote for the former first lady.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has made a series of advances to Sanders supporters urging them to vote for him, claiming they share his anger at the political establishment.

Asked if he himself could ever vote for the billionaire businessman, Mr Sanders said: "Oh God, please. I will do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump. In so many ways he'd be a disaster for this country. We do not need a president who has bigotry as the cornerstone of his campaign.

"I think, everything being equal, Mrs Clinton should be able to beat him because he is a very poor candidate."

Mr Sanders said he regarded his campaign as a success: "At the end of the day we did a lot better and went a lot further than people thought."
Pope Francis speaks at a meeting in the Republic Square in Yereven, Armenia, during his three-day visit (AP)

Pope Francis wrapped up his trip to Armenia on Sunday with an open-air liturgy and a visit to the Orthodox country's closed border with Turkey amid new tensions with Ankara over his recognition of the 1915 "genocide".

Turkey issued a harsh rebuttal late on Saturday to Francis's declaration that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago was planned genocide. Turkish deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli called the comments "greatly unfortunate" and said they bore the hallmarks of the "mentality of the Crusades".

Turkey rejects the term genocide, saying the 1.5 million deaths cited by historians is an inflated figure and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid the First World War. When Francis first used it last year, Turkey withdrew its ambassador for 10 months and accused the pope of spreading lies.

On Sunday, Francis turned his attention to more religious affairs, participating in an open-air liturgy at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Etchmiadzin, the seat of the nation's Oriental Orthodox church. The landlocked nation of three million was the first in the world to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301.

Amid haunting chants, Francis processed down the central walkway of the Etchmiadzin complex alongside the patriarch, Catholicos Karekin II, both walking under a gilded canopy as incense furled around them.

Security was as tight as it has been for Francis's visit, but Armenians nevertheless came out in droves under a strong sun for the service.

"I hope the Pope will bring peace and tranquility to Armenia," said Garun Kocharyan, a resident of Nakhichevan who attended the liturgy. "Peace for my country, it is the most important thing for me."

The Armenian Apostolic church and a few other Oriental Orthodox churches split from the Catholic church in a theological dispute over the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ. The division arose from the fifth-century Council of Chalcedon, before the Great Schism that divided the rest of Orthodoxy from the Catholic Church.

While still divided over the primacy of the Pope, the two have friendly relations and Francis's visit has been a visible testimony to their close ties: He and the papal delegation stayed at the Etchmiadzin cathedral complex as guests of Karekin.

That said, there have been tensions: Francis and Karekin were supposed to have signed a joint declaration on their improved ties at the end of the visit, but it was scrapped at the last minute. Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi has said only that the time simply was not right to finalise the text.

The two men also showed clear political differences during a prayer meeting on Saturday night: While Francis spoke of the need for Armenians to move on to reconcile with Turkey, Karekin insisted in a fiery speech on the need for Turkey to acknowledge its past and for Armenians to find justice for past wrongs.

"Our people are grateful to your Holiness and to all who advocate for and protect justice, and anticipate that Turkey... will demonstrate enough bravery to face its history to end the illegal blockade of Armenia and to cease from supporting Azerbaijan's militaristic provocations targeted against the right of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to live in freedom and peace," Karekin said.

After the liturgy, Francis will head west towards Armenia's border with Turkey.

Turkey closed the frontier in support for its ally and ethnic kin, Azerbaijan, after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into a full-scale war in 1992. The blockade has worsened Armenia's economic problems.

Nagorno-Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan, but since a separatist war ended in 1994 it has been under the control of forces that claim to be local ethnic Armenians but that Azerbaijan claims include regular Armenian military.

An outbreak of fighting in April killed about 75 soldiers from both sides.

Francis has said he would love to see the border reopened, given his longstanding call for countries to build bridges, not walls, at their frontiers.

Francis is due to release a dove of peace near the border at the Khor Virap monastery. The monastery is one of the most sacred sites in Armenia and lies in the shadow of Mount Ararat where, according to legend, Noah landed his Ark after the great floods.

On Saturday, Francis paid his respects at Armenia's imposing genocide memorial and greeted descendants of survivors of the 1915 massacres.

"A blessing has come down on the land of Mt Ararat," said Andzhela Adzhemyan, a 35-year old refugee from Syria who was a guest at the memorial.

"He has given us the strength and confidence to keep our Christian faith no matter what."

AP
A final campaign event of the Popular Party in Madrid ahead of the new election (AP)

Some 92% of the votes have been officially counted in Spain's country's repeat election and the conservative Popular Party leads with 32% of the vote, the Interior Ministry said.

That means the Popular Party has at least 136 seats in the 350-seat Parliament, but not a majority of 176 seats it needs to form a government on its own.

The ministry said the centre-left Socialist Party is in second place with 23% of the vote and 86 seats.

The Popular Party, led by incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoy, governed from 2011 to 2015 and is trying to be re-elected.

An election last December did not give any single party a majority. Six months of negotiations between the parties failed to produce a government, forcing Sunday's new election.

AP
Poll: Vote for the Week 9 AIM football athlete of the week

Vote here for the Week 9 Anderson-Independent Mail high school football athlete of the week.
By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail

Science-fiction enthusiasts of all ages were packed into the Anderson County Museum on Saturday for Doctor Who Day, an annual celebration of the long-running British television series.

Several would-be doctors dressed in character and performed improvisational theater, leaving many in the crowd laughing and looking over their shoulders to see who might appear. About 150 people had come through the door in the first hour.

"Welcome to the circus," said Glenn Brill, Anderson County's director of parks, recreation and tourism.

Brill tried to focus on snapping photos without getting caught up in a skit.

This is the second year that the museum has celebrated "Doctor Who," whose title character is an alien that travels through time and space.

"With events like these, our goal is always to introduce the museum to people who may not otherwise come here," curator Dustin Norris said. "And there is a historical aspect to 'Doctor Who,' so it fits with the museum."

Sybil Todd, who specializes in cosplay and makeup artistry, came dressed as Missy, complete with a signature cameo on her blouse.

"We want to do what we can to inject fun into the event," she said.

Todd's 8-year-old daughter, Dakota, was a tiny Weeping Angel, a predator from the series.

"She's been so good at staying quiet and being in character that I may have her try it a little more often," her mom teased.

Susanna Ashton drove from Clemson to bring her three children: Claire, Henry and Jane Laurence. The Laurence children enjoyed a scavenger hunt around the museum, looking for items related to the series.

"We are total 'Doctor Who' fans," said Jane, who is 9.

Henry, who is 7, confided that he found the Weeping Angels to be "terrifying," but still fun to see.

Claire, who is 6, said she "liked all the fezzes best."

Ashton said she was glad to have a fun, educational event nearby.

"It's a great way to spend an afternoon," she said.

Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo
By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail

Voters in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties will pick winners in seven Republican runoffs when they head back to the polls Tuesday.

The runoff races include the top prosecutor in Anderson and Oconee counties, two seats in the South Carolina General Assembly, one county council seat in Anderson County and three county council seats in Pickens County.

The winner of each of the runoffs is not expected to face any opposition in the November general election.

Election officials expect fewer voters will cast ballots in the runoffs than in the June 14 primaries. Voter turnout for the primaries ranged from about 10 percent in Oconee County to slightly more than 20 percent in Anderson and Pickens counties.

Katy Smith, who oversees elections in Anderson County, is predicting a voter turnout of 10 percent or less Tuesday.

Voters in Anderson and Oconee counties will choose between Rame Campbell and David Wagner to replace 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams, who is not seeking re-election because of health reasons.

Wagner, the deputy solicitor who runs the office in Oconee County, came within about 100 votes of winning the primary two weeks ago, collecting 49.5 percent of the 27,163 ballots cast. Campbell, who was overseeing the solicitor's Anderson County office until he resigned a few weeks ago, finished second with 33 percent.

Campbell has the backing of Wilson Burr, a former public defender who finished third in the primary. Since the primary, Campbell has repeatedly called for an audit of the solicitor's office.

Adams said in an interview last week that she managed her office's financial affairs properly. She described Campbell's tactics as a "blatant political move at the last minute."

In Anderson County, Belton City Councilman Jay West and Honea Path businessman Blake Parker are competing in a runoff for the South Carolina House of Representatives District 7 seat. West received 46 percent of the votes in the primary while Parker collected 41 percent.

West has been endorsed by Dennis Ted Grindstaff, who finished third in the primary, as well as the South Carolina Business Industry Political Education Committee, the South Carolina Education Association and former U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett.

The other runoff in Anderson County involves the race for the county council District 3 seat. Ray Graham collected 58 more votes than former Councilman Eddie Moore in the closely contested primary. Incumbent Councilman J. Mitchell Cole, who finished third in the primary after defeating Moore two years ago, said he will vote for Graham and is urging his supporters to do the same.

In Pickens County, state Sen. Larry Martin will face former state Rep. Rex Rice in a runoff. Martin, who is seeking a seventh term, received 45 percent of the votes in the primary while Rice collected 33 percent.

Gov. Nikki Haley campaigned for Martin this week when she visited Easley to sign to two ethics reform bills. Martin, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, played a key role in passing both measures.

"He is my No. 1 ally in the Senate, and I will tell you that I need him to come back," Haley said.

Rice said he doesn't know if the governor's endorsement will help or hurt Martin in Pickens County. He has received the endorsements of Don Joslyn and Allan Quinn, who finished third and fourth respectively in the primary.

In the three runoffs for county council seats in Pickens County, Alex Saitta will face Wes Hendricks in District 3; Roy Costner and G. Neil Smith are competing in District 4; and Chris Bowers and Jeff Willis are on the ballot in District 5.

Martin said he was involved in one previous runoff, which he won when he first ran for a state House seat in 1978.

"It can be both the longest two weeks of your life and the shortest two weeks of your life," he said.

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM

Where to vote Anderson County polling places Precinct number, name, location and address

009 Appleton-Equinox Taylor Memorial Church Gymnasium

711 Glenn St, Anderson SC 29625

010 Barkers Creek-McAdams Barkers Creek Baptist Church

3207 Hwy 252, Honea Path SC 29654

011 Belton First Baptist Church

105 Brown Ave, Belton SC 29627

012 Broadview Johnson-Broadview Community Center

114 Melody Trail, Anderson SC 29621

013 Bishops Branch Refuge Baptist Church

219 Refuge Church Rd, Central SC 29630

015 Bowling Green Whitefield Fire Station

4000 Hwy 29 N, Belton SC 29627

016 Broadway Blue Ridge Baptist Church

1340 Blue Ridge Ave, Belton SC 29627

017 Brushy Creek Wren Middle School

1010 Wren School Rd, Piedmont SC 29673

018 Cedar Grove Cedar Grove Elementary School

107 Melvin Ln, Williamston SC 29697

019 Centerville Station A Centerville Elementary School

1529 Whitehall Rd, Anderson SC 29625

020 Chiquola Mill Honea Path Elementary School

806 E Greer St, Honea Path SC 29654

021 Concrete Concrete Primary School

535 Powdersville Main, Easley SC 29642

023 Craytonville Craytonville Fire Station

1118 Trail Rd, Belton SC 29627

024 Denver-Sandy Springs Sandy Springs Fire Station

740 Blackman Rd, Pendleton SC 29670

025 Edgewood Station A The Carpenters Church

1610 Pearman Dairy Rd, Anderson SC 29625

027 Five Forks Lebanon Baptist Ch Activity Building

5150 Gentry Rd, Anderson SC 29621

028 Flat Rock Flat Rock Presbyterian Ch Education Bldg

909 Flat Rock Rd, Anderson SC 29624

029 Fork No. 1 Oakdale Baptist Church

6724 Hwy 24, Townville SC 29689

030 Fork No. 2 Double Springs Fire Station

2601 Old Dobbins Bridge Rd, Townville SC 29689

031 Friendship Friendship Fire Station

1938 Abercrombie Rd, Honea Path SC 29654

032 Gluck Mill Wellington Pentecostal Holiness Church

4011 Calvert St., Anderson SC 29624

033 Green Pond Station A New Prospect Bpt. Ch. Fellowship Hall

2503 Whitehall Rd, Anderson SC 29625

034 Grove School Grove Fire Department

1012 Brown Rd, Iva SC 29655

035 Hall Flat Rock-Bowen Fire Department

3115 Airline Rd, Anderson SC 29624

036 Hammond School Midway Elementary School

1221 Harriett Cir, Anderson SC 29621

037 High Point Belton-Honea Path High School

11000 BHP Hwy, Honea Path SC 29654

038 Homeland Park Homeland Park Elementary School

3519 Wilmont St, Anderson SC 29624

039 Honea Path Honea Path Middle School

107 Brock Ave, Honea Path SC 29654

040 Hopewell T.L. Hanna High School

2600 Hwy 81 N, Anderson SC 29621

041 Iva Iva Fire Department

9711 Hwy 81 S, Iva SC 29655

042 Jackson Mill Iva Civic Center

206 W Church St, Iva SC 29655

043 LaFrance LaFrance Elementary School

550 Williams St, Pendleton SC 29670

045 Melton Mount Able Baptist Church

130 Mt. Able Church Rd, Pendleton SC 29670

046 Mount Tabor Zion United Methodist Church

5708 Hwy 187, Anderson SC 29625

047 Mountain Creek Gethsemane Baptist Temple

6116 Hwy 81 S, Starr SC 29684

049 Neals Creek Welfare Baptist Church

2106 Bolt Dr, Belton SC 29627

050 North Pointe North Pointe Elementary School

3325 Highway 81 N, Anderson SC 29621

051 Pelzer Pelzer Community Center

25 Pelzer Park St, Pelzer SC 29669

053 Pendleton Pendleton Elementary School

902 E. Queen St, Pendleton SC 29670

054 Piedmont Piedmont Presbyterian Church

4 Academy St, Piedmont SC 29673

055 Piercetown Piercetown Fire Station

5150 Hwy 81 N, Williamston SC 29697

057 Rock Mill Williford Fire Station

3738 Hwy 187 S, Anderson SC 29626

058 Rock Spring Rock Spring Fire Station

135 Hwy 413, Belton SC 29627

061 Shirleys Store Ebenezer Fire Station

1416 Due West Hwy, Anderson SC 29621

062 Simpsonville Shiloh United Methodist Church

135 Reid Bagwell Ln, Piedmont SC 29673

063 Starr Starr Fire Station

7715 Hwy 81 S, Starr SC 29684

064 Three & Twenty Three & Twenty Fire Station

1301 Three & Twenty Rd, Easley SC 29642

065 Toney Creek Shady Grove Baptist Church Social Hall

1201 Shady Grove Rd, Belton SC 29627

066 Townville Townville Baptist Church

8816 Hwy 24, Townville SC 29689

067 Town Creek Montessori School of Anderson

280 Sam McGee Rd, Anderson SC 29621

068 West Pelzer West Pelzer Primary School

10 W Stewart St, W Pelzer SC 29669

069 West Savannah Ruhamah United Methodist Church

116 Ruhamah Church Rd, Starr SC 29684

070 White Plains White Plains Community Center

7431 Midway Rd, Pelzer SC 29669

071 Williamston Palmetto Middle School

803 N Hamilton St, Williamston SC 29697

072 Williamston Mill Calvary Baptist Church

10 S. Academy St., Williamston SC 29697

073 Wrights School Wright Elementary School

1136 Wright School Rd, Belton SC 29627

074 Anderson 1/1 Whitehall Elementary School

702 Whitehall Rd, Anderson SC 29625

075 Anderson 1/2 Concord Elementary School

2701 Calrossie Rd, Anderson SC 29621

076 Anderson 2/1 Central Presbyterian Church

1404 North Boulevard, Anderson SC 29621

077 Anderson 2/2 McCants Middle School

2123 Marchbanks Ave, Anderson SC 29621

078 Anderson 3/1 Anderson University Athletic Campus

431 Williamston Rd, Anderson SC 29621

079 Anderson 3/2 Nevitt Forest Community School of Innovation

1401 Bolt Dr, Anderson SC 29621

080 Anderson 4/1 First Baptist Church Family Life Center

307 S Manning St, Anderson SC 29624

081 Anderson 4/2 Anderson V Career Campus

1225 S McDuffie St, Anderson SC 29624

082 Anderson 5/A Southwood Academy of the Arts

1110 Southwood St, Anderson SC 29624

083 Anderson 5/B Southwood Academy of the Arts

1110 Southwood St, Anderson SC 29624

084 Anderson 6/1 Trinity United Methodist Church

1809 N Main St, Anderson SC 29621

085 Anderson 6/2 Anderson Recreation Center

1107 N Murray Ave, Anderson SC 29625

086 Varennes Varennes Academy of Communications and Technology

1820 Hwy 29 S, Anderson SC 29624

087 Lakeside Lakeside Middle School

115 Pearman Dairy Rd, Anderson SC 29625

091 Centerville Station B Centerville Elementary School

1529 Whitehall Rd, Anderson SC 29625

092 Edgewood Station B Anderson Christian Sch / Hope Fellowship

213 Brown Rd, Anderson SC 29621

093 Coxs Creek Abiding Savior Lutheran Church

1905 E. Greenville St., Anderson SC 29621

094 Mt. Airy Mt. Airy Baptist Church

210 Mt. Airy Church Rd, Easley SC 29642

111 Belton Annex Belton Elementary School

202 Watkins St, Belton SC 29627

121 Powdersville Powdersville Middle School

135 Hood Rd, Greenville SC 29611

132 Glenview Glenview Middle School

2575 Old Williamston Rd, Anderson SC 29621

136 Hammond Annex Anderson Area YMCA

201 East Reed Rd, Anderson SC 29621

157 Center Rock McLees Academy of Leadership

4900 Dobbins Bridge Rd, Anderson SC 29626

164 Hunt Meadows Hunt Meadows Elementary School 420 Hunt Rd., Easley SC 29642



Oconee County polling places Precinct number, name, location and address

001 Newry Corinth Lydia Baptist Church-Newry

526 Broadway St., Seneca SC 29672

002 Earles Grove Community Center

398 Cedar Lane Road, Westminster SC 29672

003 Ravenel Corinth-Shiloh fire station

940 Old Clemson Hwy, Seneca SC 2943

004 Fair Play Fair Play Elementary School

150 School Road, Fair Play SC 29643

005 Friendship Friendship fire station

1307 Friendship Road, Seneca SC 29678

006 Holly Springs Community Center

1258 Reese Cobb Road, Westminster SC 29693

007 Keowee Keowee-Ebenezer fire station

7031 Keowee School Road, Seneca SC

008 Long Creek Community Center

12351 Long Creek Hwy, Westminster SC 29693

009 Mountain Rest Community Center

120 Verner Mill Road, Mountain Rest SC 29664

010 Madison Cleveland fire station

684 Cleveland Pike Road, Wesminster SC 29693

011 Bountyland Hamilton Career Center

100 Vocational Drive, Seneca SC 29672

012 Oakway Oakway Fire Department

171 School House Road, Wesminster SC 29693

014 Return Baptist Church fellowship hall

733 Return Church Road, Seneca SC 29678

015 Richland Rock Springs Methodist Church

895 Poplar Spring Road, Westminster SC 29693

016 Salem Community Center

5 Park Ave., Salem SC 29676

017 Stamp Creek Keowee Key Property Owners Association

1392 Stamp Creek Road, Salem SC 29676

018 New Hope New Hope Baptist Church

4010 Keowee School Road, Seneca SC 29672

019 Shiloh Oconee Airport

365 Airport Road, Seneca SC 29678

020 South Union fire station

111 Fire Station Road, Westminster, SC 29693

021 Tamassee Camp Oak fire station

7660 N. Highway 11, Walhalla, SC 29691

022 Tokeena Providence Crossroads Baptist Church

215 Cross Roads Drive, Seneca SC 29678

023 Utica Tri City Rescue Squad

233 Goddard Ave., Seneca SC 29678

024 Walhalla No. 1 Walhalla fire station

207 E. N. Broad St., Walhalla SC 29691

025 Walhalla No. 2 Walhalla fire station

207 E. N. Borad St., Walhalla SC 29691

026 Westminster 1 fire station

216 Emergency Lane, Westminster SC 29693

027 Westminster 2 fire station

216 Emergency Lane, Westminster SC 29693

028 West Union West Union fire station

220 N. Highway 11, West Union SC 29696

029 Seneca No. 1 Shaver recreation gymnasium

698 W. South 4th St., Seneca SC 29678

030 Seneca No. 2 Shaver recreation gymnasium

698 W. South 4th St., Seneca SC 29678

031 Seneca No. 3 Shaver recreation gymnasium

698 W. South 4th St., Seneca SC 29678

032 Seneca No. 4 Shaver recreation gymnasium

698 W. South 4th St., Seneca SC 29678

999 Barrier free Voter Registration Office

415 S. Pine St., Walhalla SC 29691




Clemson police officer Patrick Bikas wears a body cam on Friday, June 24, 2016 in Clemson

SHARE

By Mike Ellis of the Independent Mail

Fifteen law enforcement agencies in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties will soon get a piece of millions of dollars in state funding for police body cameras, maintenance and video storage.

Many law enforcement officers in the state will be required to wear body cameras by the end of the year, making it the first state to require such rules, which are tied to "full funding" of body camera programs.

The state's Public Safety Coordinating Council is distributing the $5.8 million throughout the 168 agencies that applied for funding. That includes four solicitors' offices, Ports Authority police, and public safety at four airports and 16 colleges alongside sheriff's offices and police departments.

In all, the agencies requested $13.8 million; 31 applications were fully funded by the council's votes last week, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli.

The council isn't yet announcing how much each agency will get. Notifications will be sent with the money after the fiscal year starts next month, Iacobelli said.

But Sen. Greg Hembree, a council member and North Myrtle Beach Republican, said Thursday the smallest agencies will receive 100 percent of their request, mid-size agencies roughly 75 percent and the largest agencies about half.

The goal was to spread the limited money as fairly as possible, focusing on tiny departments that likely can't buy cameras otherwise, he said.

"We wanted to try to get as many in the field as we could," said Hembree, a former solicitor. "I feel confident we can get everybody at 100 percent in the not-too-distant future."

The Pendleton Police Department could get funding for the five cameras it had requested.

"Getting this would be a great benefit to the smaller departments, especially where our resources are limited because we can reallocate the money we'd spend on cameras and do something else," said Pendleton Police Chief Doyle Burdette.

Burdette said getting the funding would let him spend money on other things as his department gets ready to relaunch in Pendleton later this year after years of the city being patrolled by Anderson County Sheriff's Office deputies.

Body camera reimbursement could mean up to $5,738 to Williamston, said Capt. Kevin Marsee of the department.

He said the department was able to get a big savings by working with a camera manufacturer to test the equipment in exchange for about $30,000 in cameras and support gear.

"We'd have asked for a lot more if it wasn't for that," Marsee said. The town's grant request would reimburse the department for money spent on an extra computer server and other equipment that was needed to connect the cameras to the department's existing hardware.

Williamston has 20 cameras for its 17 officers and additional reserve officers, Marsee said.

The grants could mean thousands of dollars coming back to the Clemson Police Department, said Capt. Matt Culbreath of the department.

The department uses about 30 cameras for all of its road officers and most of its other officers, Culbreath said.

"Being reimbursed would certainly help us," he said.

The law passed last June, which sets up the grant process, allows agencies to be reimbursed.

Hembree said that was meant to encourage agencies not to wait on state money to equip officers, since legislators knew funding would be a multiyear process.

North Charleston Police sought $115,048 in its application as reimbursement for about 230 of the 275 cameras it has bought so far. The city is buying an additional 100 cameras in the coming fiscal year, which will equip all of its certified officers, said spokesman Spencer Pryor.

How much it will cost to outfit officers statewide is still unknown. There are roughly 300 law enforcement agencies in South Carolina.

Hembree said legislators will need to figure out how to fund the cameras. As more agencies outfit officers and track the cameras' use, "it will make for an easier sell at the General Assembly," he said.

Last year's law required all state and local law enforcement agencies to adopt policies on body cameras  including which officers should wear them and when. But it specifies they don't have to follow the policies until the agencies receive "full funding."

Under guidelines issued by the state Law Enforcement Training Council in December, that would mean enough money to equip all of an agency's uniformed officers whose primary duty is to respond to calls and "interact with the public."

Agencies with council-approved policies had until April 29 to apply for some of the $5.8 million legislators designated for body camera expenses  $3.4 million in this year's budget and $2.4 million in the budget that takes effect July 1.

The law provides no penalty for an agency that ignores its requirements.

Legislators passed it two months after a bystander's video showed a white North Charleston police officer shooting a fleeing, unarmed black man to death. The officer was swiftly fired and charged with murder. Michael Slager is set to go on trial Oct. 31 for the April 2015 death of Walter Scott.

Follow Mike Ellis and Seanna Adcox on Twitter @MikeEllis_AIM and @SeannaAdcox_AP
Piramal Pharma to invest Rs1,200 in UK over the next 12 to 18 months Through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions in the sectors of contract development & manufacturing services (CDMO) and complicated generics, Piramal Pharma stated that it would... October 25, 2022 | 25-10-2022 3:02 pm

Markets trade lower amid volatility; Nifty below 17,700 Domestic benchmark indices trading in the red after a gap-up opening on Tuesday. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks are marginally lower in the afternoon market session. Moreover, with strong... October 25, 2022 | 25-10-2022 2:00 pm

SBI hits new 52-week high ahead of earnings release for Q2FY23 In Tuesday's intra-day trade, shares of State Bank of India (SBI) climbed nearly 2% to a record high of Rs580 a piece on the BSE in anticipation of excellent earnings in the September... October 25, 2022 | 25-10-2022 1:43 pm

Insolation Energy receives order worth Rs1.38 crore; Stock dives 10% Insolation Energy Limited stock plunges 10% on Tuesday's trading session despite receiving major construction order. As per the filing, the company has received a Letter of Award (LO... October 25, 2022 | 25-10-2022 1:35 pm

Embassy REIT to invest Rs 3,200 crore over the next 4 years According to Vikaash Khdloya, CEO of Embassy REIT, who talked to ET, about Rs 3,200 crore will be invested in the development of 7.1 million square feet over the next three to four years. ... October 25, 2022 | 25-10-2022 12:57 pm
people

There's no doubt about the fact that Priyanka Chopra is going places, especially now that she has bagged her Hollywood debut, Baywatch, alongside Dwayne Johnson.

At the recently held IIFA awards, Priyanka received two awards- Best Supporting Actress and Woman Of The Year. During her acceptance speech, Priyanka spoke about how Indian actors deserve a lot more than what they get from the world. She said when an actor from India goes to work in the west, he or she often suffers at the hands of stereotyping.

indianexpress

"It is difficult to go to another country and do things. I want to thank all my fans for being so supportive. We get just one percent of what Indian actors deserve from the world. We shouldn't be boxed in a certain kind of role," Priyanka said.

Priyanka said she is extremely proud of being a part of the Hindi film industry and thanked all her directors for mentoring her so well that today she can stand her ground internationally.
instagram

In her bid to find inner peace, Sofia Hayat, who now calls herself Gaia Mother Sofia, traveled to the Kailash temple in Aurangabad. The ex-Bigg Boss contestant, who recently shocked everyone when she turned a nun, has set out on the pilgrimage to find peace and also to learn more about the gods. She even took to her Instagram account to share pictures and videos of her religious trip. By now, you'd say, ok, nothing on in that. We thought so too. But one of the videos she shared on her account, she wrote that she had given birth to lord Shiva! Yes!

She wrote, "Today I know I gave birth to Shiva. Today he came back to me and is inside me.

Here's the post.

instagram

Here's what all she wrote.

"Kailash temple in Aurangabad is so so powerful. I couldn't breathe. I felt a massive magnetic energy draw my head to the Shiv Lingh. I was shaking for 1hr. I could not lift my head from the Shiv Lingh it was stuck like a magnetic. Something so powerful is happening. Om namah shivaya. My body is changing. Today I know I gave birth to Shiva. Today he came back to me and is inside me. I felt scared for such a big powerful change in my body. I am changing back to who I am. The Gods are coming back. The power in me is so great. Shiva is here inside me. It is so powerful I am shaking in my very soul. The time is here. Sacred children it is here. - Gaia Mother Sofia"

We wonder how many people she has offended with this single statement.
After a wait of almost 69 years, residents of the remote village of Silpata in Chamoli district welcomed the first bus to their village. A 21-km road connecting the village with the tehsil headquarters at Adi Badri was built recently under the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana.

uttarakhandtourist

For many villagers, it is a dream come true. Some old residents said that they had spent their whole lives trekking many kilometres to reach the nearest market for their daily necessities. "We had been hoping that a road would be built to our village ever since the country became independent. I am happy that it has at least happened in our lifetimes. Now, the future generations will not have to face the difficulties that we had to endure," said Kalam Singh Bisht, a resident of the village.

uttarakhandtourist

They celebrated the arrival of a bus operated by the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation by holding a welcome ceremony in which the local women performed traditional dances. They also thanked Congress MLA from Karanprayag, Anusuya Prasad Maikhuri, for making the road possible.

uknews

Some villagers, however, said that the road could have become a reality two years ago if the project had not been unnecessarily delayed. "Most of the remote villages in our area had been linked with motorable roads two years back, but we kept waiting for a road for several years. We had to resort to repeated hunger strikes and protest marches before our project was taken up on priority," said a villager.

BS Rawat, executive engineer who undertook the project, denied that the road was unnecessarily delayed. "It was difficult to build the road in this terrain, but we managed to complete it within eighteen months," he said.





TOI
Eight jawans were killed after terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu & Kashmir Frestbal near Pampore in the outskirts of Srinagar on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

The attack

times now

At around 4.50 PM, militants ambushed CRPF convoy of 161 Battalion, firing indiscriminately at the CRPF bus, deflating its tyres.The Road Opening Party (ROP) of the CRPF fought back, killing 2. Three CRPF men died on the spot, and 5 succumbed to injuries in the hospital. CRPF commandant Rajesh Yadav confirmed that 20 CRPF personnel were injured, and they were shifted to Armys 92 Base Hospital of Army at Badami Bagh.

The search for the killers



According to sources, attackers then boarded a car accompanied by 2 militants and escaped. CRPF and Army immediately launches searches for the militant in the area, and in nearby Pantha Chowk and Lasjan areas, but without any success.

The militants may have been fidayeen terrorists who reportedly infiltrated into Kashmir. Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that 2 militants escaped in an alto car. Police, CRPF and Army are planning to track them down through checkpoints. 2 AK 47 Rifles and 11 hand grenades were among the arms and ammo recovered from the killed terrorists.

Who killed our men?

times now

According to some reports Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesperson Abdullah Gaznaw claimed responsibility for the attack. The target of the attack was a CRPF convoy which was returning from a firing range practice. They came under attack in Pathan Chowk, close to the Army cantonment area in Srinagar, on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

Biggest attack on Kashmir this year

This is the third terrorist attack on security personnel this month in Kashmir valley, but the biggest in terms of military casualty. According to a media report, these are the eight paramilitary CRPF personnel who were killed in combat.

G Jaichandaran

Sanjay Kumar Singh

Vir Singh

Jagtar Singh (Driver)

Santosh Sahu

Satish Chand

K K Yadav

Rajesh Kumar (Cook)

I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2016

My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2016

The Pakistan High Commissioner to India was recorded on video asking for permission to enjoy the Iftaar party, even as preliminary reports reveal that these were Pakistani militants whod triggered the biggest attack on J&K this year

#WATCH: Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Pampore (Jammu & Kashmir) terrorist attack.https://t.co/jkzSn90gXs  ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2016

Delhi: Iftar party organised at Pak High Commission, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit also present pic.twitter.com/D5qwrghc1H  ANI (@ANI_news) June 25, 2016

The attack comes months after another convoy attack in February by 4 armed Kashmir militants armed on a Indian army parliamentary convoy which killed two soldiers and a civilian.

Hours after the attack, Hafiz Saeed, Laskhar leader has claimed that India will not be able to lay claim over Kashmir again
The Defence Ministry on Saturday paved the way for purchase of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers, worth about $750 million, from the US and also approved bulk production of 18 Dhanush artillery guns, the first acquisition of such weapon systems by the Army in three decades since the Bofors scandal.

PTI

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar , took up 18 proposals including new schemes worth Rs 28,000 crore for discussion.

Another key project that got an Acceptance of Necessity (AON), which will now allow the Navy to issue tenders, was the proposal to build six next generation missile vessels under 'Buy Indian' category for Rs 13,600 crore.

Mohammed Asad/TOI

"DAC has approved progressing of ongoing case of procurement of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route from the US. DAC directed independent progressing of offset. The delivery of these guns will be in India which will help in substantial saving of transportation cost," a senior defence ministry official said.

The DAC has also shortened the supply period of the guns, with a strike range of 25km, sources said though the exact period could not be known.

Explaining the process, the officer said that India had sent a letter of request to the US government showing interest in buying the guns which will be deployed in high altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, bordering China.

The US had responded with a Letter of Acceptance and today's DAC looked into the terms and conditions and approved it.

This letter will now be sent back to the US and the process for the payment of first instalment will begin.

The offsets, under which BAE Systems, manufacturer of the gun, will invest about $200 million, will be pursued independently.

While 25 guns will come to India in a fly away condition, the rest will be assembled at the proposed assembly Integration and test facility for the weapon system in India in partnership with Mahindra.

PTI

The DAC also noted the "satisfactory progress" in manufacture of indigenous Dhanush guns, also known as Desi Bofors.

"While three guns would be delivered for user exploitation by June 30, three more will be handed over by September end. DAC also cleared bulk production of 18 guns to enable better exploitation and setting up of indigenous production," the officer said.

The gun, a towed howitzer with a strike range of 38-km, has been developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Kolkata, after going through the design and voluminous documents running into more than 12,000 pages which were delivered to India under the first phase of Transfer of Technology as part of the Bofors gun deal in late 80s.
Every year, thousands throng the picturesque Parvati valley in KULLU craving for a "high". What draws them here is a drug from the village of Malana that goes by the curious name of 'Malana cream'.

vuniquetravellers

The high quality charas is worth lakhs, but youngsters may be smoking their brains out on a cheap substitute. What's being clandestinely served to customers and tourists across the valley as the premium drug from Malana may actually be a third rate mixed cannabis product smuggled from Punjab, UP or Nepal. Recent seizures by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and police indicate that a substantial quantity of drugs around the valley is being passed off as Malana cream by syndicates through couriers.

icmag

The modus operandi used to supply consignments keeps getting more and more innovative. The contraband is stashed in condoms inside empty coconuts, religious books, fruit boxes and even pickle jars to throw sniffer dogs off the trail. Recently, Kullu police recovered a consignment of 3 kg charas from Jari near Kasol in Parvati valley. It was to be sold to consumers as pure Malana cream. Police arrested three labourers from Nepal who brought the consignment from across the border.

jyllands-posten.dk

In another instance, police recovered about 6 kg charas from Kasol and arrested two migrant labourers. According to the police, Kasol and areas around Parvati valley have emerged as favoured destinations among youngsters who come here for drugs and rave parties. Demand is at its peak in the months of June and July  the height of the tourist season.

vuniquetravellers

Besides, charas bought from Nepal and other states is of poor quality. When it is sold as premium Malana cream, the profit margin goes up considerably as Malana cream is almost 15 times costlier. "The cost of charas from Nepal is between Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per kg, whereas charas grown in Malana is sold for anything between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh a kg. There is a huge margin of profit for suppliers and youngsters going to the valley for the cream can hardly make out the difference in quality," said NCB zonal director Kaustubh Sharma, who is based in Chandigarh.

During lean season in orchards, migrant labourers are used as conduits. "In the course of raids conducted in the valley, we have found that the drug mafia is using migrant labourers from Bihar and Nepal as couriers. They are more active when there is no work in the orchards," said Kullu SP Padam Chand. This year, he said, police seized 30 kg more charas than the amount seized till July 15 last year.

divyahimachal

Last year, the NCB seized a consignment of 70 kg charas from the UP-Nepal border. It was meant to be delivered to contacts in Kasol and Tosh in Parvati. Of late, the NCB and Kullu police have managed to break the drug mafia network in the valley, which has been thriving through rave parties. "With the help of the local police, we destroyed more than 400 acres of fields around Parvati valley last year," said Sharma.

divyahimachal

Meanwhile, those associated with such drives emphasize the need for a sustained effort against the drug mafia. "We need a holistic approach. It's strange only Punjab is in the limelight. Almost 40 per cent to 50 per cent of youths in other states are also hooked on to drugs," said OP Sharma, an ex-SP with the NCB who conducted a major crackdown in Malana.
When a Kargil War veteran speaks his heart out, you must take out time to listen.

In an elaborate Facebook post, India's first Blade Runner, Major D.P. Singh hails the good samaritans who helped save his mother's life. His story applauds the efforts of strangers who know only one language - that of humanity.

At a time when a girl gets hacked to death while people play silent spectators, Major D.P. Singh reminds us the power of help. A simple gesture can go a long way, one that can even save a life.

The Blade Runner shares a story of positives which,

"By doing so I wish not to just share the positive side of life around us but also lets you begin your Sunday with a motivating thought that things are not that bad as we perceive."

He narrates the incident where his mother, 60, was out on a ride on her Honda Activa - because she could as an independent lady - when the accident occurred,

"Scooter toppled and she was on the road taking 3 summersaults. As impact was on her right shoulder and it worked wrong. She broke her shoulder blade, collar bone and 4th and 5th ribs. There was internal bleeding in her liver, kidney and head. Skull at right top of ear took the impact (no idea how did helmet act) and a big bruise appeared at that spot. Not to count the bruises all over her body and shoulder, elbow and knee turning blue."

Facebook

The Major then talks about how the kind strangers rushed to the spot to help his unconscious mother,

"Faizan was on his bike behind her and Manish, who works with ILFS ( Rapid metro) was watching the whole scene. Both ran towards my mom, as anyone could run towards their own mom (my eyes are wet as I am writing this statement. I don't know how I can ever thank these souls)."

Facebook

Seeing the criticality of the situation, the two men acted fast and was soon joined by another kind human, Ashu,

"There joined Ashu, who was passing by. She gave a sip of water to mom (though let me share here that in such conditions giving water to injured is our first reactions, this also is teaching of Bollywood, but it is not always favourable) and willingly agreed to team up with Manish and Faizan."

Facebook

Even though it took the Major and his brother hours to reach the hospital, the men had his mother admitted and made sure that the hospital administered first aid,

"It was Almighty who stage everything in our lives and so was this incident. HE planned it in such a way that we 2 brothers and a sister were replaced by Manish, Faizan and Ashu. They came as angels in our life and enabled us to celebrate my mom's bday yesterday (her actual bday is 21st June)."

Facebook

His mother is now recuperating at home, with her mobility slowly returning as her body regains its strength,

"I pray for good health and happiness of Manish, Faizan and Ashu and all their loved ones."

Read the Major's full post here.
In a no holds barred take on the startup ecosystem in India, K Vaitheeswaran - commonly dubbed the first e-commerce founder in India - spoke about his 14-year entrepreneurial experience running Indiaplaza at the maiden edition of the SAP Startup Social event in Bangalore.

The online retail pioneer, who proved to be years ahead of his time with the opening of his company back in 1999, donned the hat of a startup mentor as he launched into an animated discourse on the key lessons he drew from his own experiences. Here is a 10-point guide to starting up, offered by the 'father of e-commerce in India' himself:

N Narasimha Murthy/ET. Bangalore

1. Ideas are overrated

"Too much value is given to ideas these days," says Vaitheeswaran. "Focus needs to be on ways to solve problems that will ultimately excite customers. Most 'ideas' have already been thought of and even if it is not, it may not necessarily be a game-changer," he says. He is also quick to add that even while solving a problem, consideration for a reasonably large number of people needs to be taken into account for a potential business to be churned out of it.

2. Better, faster & cheaper

amazon

Elaborating on how to tackle problem-solving when starting up, Vaitheeswaran says, "It is always advisable to do this through a process that ensures continuity rather than with a single product. Most improvements revolve around processes and this will help businesses be better, faster and cheaper," he adds. He illustrates this with the example of Uber, which essentially gave the call-driven cab service of yore a modern twist by making developments in the process itself, thereby making better, faster and cheaper.

3. Are you smarter than me?

This is Vaitheeswaran's thumb rule when it comes to hiring in startups, which is admittedly one of the most challenging tasks when starting a business. "Compromising on hiring standards especially at an early stage is like personally writing an obituary for your startup," says Vaitheeswaran. "If the first 10 employees in a company is not selected carefully, the burden will solely rest on the co-founders, which may not end well," he adds. This could take months or even a year, but the veteran entrepreneur swears by a good team to insure against failure.

4. Check your spends

Spending on what customers see and experience is crucial to any financial decision undertaken by the startup. "Your startup deserves every single rupee you can possibly shell out for it," feels Vaitheeswaran. "Too many people spend on things that do not impact customers, which is bad practice - lose the singing fountain in the toilet unless customers are writing you cheques holed up there. It may give you some attention, but ultimately that is not enough to drive profits," he quips.

5. Make a business plan for the startup - not for investors

Startup founders cannot procrastinate on this one thing since they are the only people who know the plan well enough. However, Vaitheeswaran firmly emphasizes on preparing it for the business itself and not as a guide to pitch to investors - which comes several steps later. "Business plans are not made for investors," he says. "It will still be wrong even in the initial stage since two key things cannot be precisely accounted for - customers and competition," he adds. According to Vaitheeswaran, a business plan needs to go through multiple iterations before it can be made robust.

6. Making money versus raising money

Call the business whatever you may - a hobby, a passion or a dream - but it is important not to lose sight of the purpose behind the venture, which is to make money. "You cannot call it a business unless it is making money," declares Vaitheeswaran. "This could take time, but profitability needs to come in at some point. To make money you may end up raising some, but it is important to remember here that endless supply of capital does not exist," he adds.

7. Pivoting not an option

A lot of entrepreneurs may swear by the fail-fast-formula, but Vaitheeswaran is not one of them. "I completely disagree with that line of thought," he says. "Take time to think and research well before you start up and persevere through challenges posed subsequently. Be ready to give your mind, body, heart and soul to your startup as failing is not a step to successfully start up," he adds.

8. Brave & stupid? Welcome aboard!

You may be passionate and driven, but unless you are 'brave and stupid', there is little progress you can make in the startup world. Elaborates Vaitheeswaran: "Starting a business is like going into battle - you may have thousands of armed people on the other side. With these kinds of odds, you fundamentally need to be brave and stupid at the same time. Logic plays little role here," he adds.

9. A little bit of luck

N Narasimha Murthy/ET. Bangalore

Vaitheeswaran concludes with the most elusive of all - luck. "Success in business is a matter of luck too - you need to be at the right place at the right time and this is not always in your control," he says.

10. Entrepreneurs never fail, businesses do

And last comes the soothing balm over the bruises of all the whipping. "Entrepreneurs never fail, businesses do irrespective of the outcome of your venture. I firmly believe that and that's why despite all odds, I'm still here chugging on," he concludes.
After S.Swathi's horrific murder at Nungambakkam railway station on Friday, her father K. Santhanagopalakrishnan has asked to stop unnecessarily speculating the motive which led to his daughter's murder.

While speaking to The Hindu, he said, "When no one can bring back the departed soul, why tarnish her image and indulge in character assassination."

Deccan Chronicle

The family is fully cooperating with the police in their investigation and has seriously urged everyone to not believe every rumour that is doing the round. Many believe that it was a relationship issue that led to this horrific crime.

S.Swathi, the 24-year-old Infosys employee was hacked to death in Chennai on Friday when she waiting to board her train to work. She was assaulted and beaten to death by an unidentified man.

Deccan Chronicle

The police released the following CCTV footage on Saturday that in all probability points towards the suspect. The police believe him to be known to Swathi as she was stalked by a man near her office for months.

Infosys released a statement, offering their condolences to their late employee:

"We are saddened by the unfortunate incident that has led to the demise of our employee in Chennai. We are working with the local authorities as they investigate the matter and will continue to provide our co-operation and support. Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with the family of the deceased. Infosys will provide all the necessary support to the family in their hour of grief."

Swathi's murder has come as a shock to not only her family and coworkers but also to the general public as well.

Letter to all parents from someone who saw that Infosys girl - The New Indian Express https://t.co/06YTReg2Uq pic.twitter.com/qwpysyKshP  Anant Bhan (@AnantBhan) June 24, 2016

Messages are pouring in. Wishes are being whispered. But everyone is asking the same question - what is the government doing to make our nation a safe place for women?
Selfies are lethal.

If it isn't people dying year after year from selfie-related accidents, It is a series of selfie related attempts at killing animals.

animals lebanon

Spotted at Beiruts Havana Beach in Lebanon, an endangered female loggerhead sea turtle was pulled out of the water, and thrown on the sand.

Then, amid selfies with the animal, a child stood on it and locals snapped photos

animals lebanon

For no logical reason, it was beaten with sticks, NatGeo reported.

Two kind souls saved the animal, and contacted the environmental organisation GreenArea International to pick up the animal and have it moved to a rehab facility.

The turtle suffered cracked bones on its head, and was rescued and rehabilitated by charity group charity group Animals Lebanon

animals lebanon

Jason Mier, executive director of Animals Lebanon, told The Dodo: 'The turtle has a very evident spot on his skull, the very top of his head, where he has been hit. There is a noticeable depression in the head where the bone has been damaged and sea water is able to enter the bone.

That group is now working with the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Civil Defense to "make sure this sea turtle does not die from this unnecessary, avoidable, and illegal cruelty.

The turtle is being treated with antibiotics and has received x-rays at the Animals Lebanon facility

animals lebanon

"The damage is visible and evidentthe blows and trauma she suffered have broken through the top of her head, and water from the sea has reached her sinus cavities.
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.
The Spanish Government on Friday deported 11 Nigerians alleged to have committed various crimes in the country. This came less than 48 hours after the United States deported 41 Nigerians for similar reasons.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees, comprising 10 males and one female, arrived at the Hajj Camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 7:10pm and were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Lagos Airport Police Command.

Spokesperson of the command, DSP Joseph Alabi, who confirmed the deportation to NAN said the Nigerians were deported for allegedly committing immigration-related offences and other criminal acts in their host country.
The Nigerian Army on Saturday said about 5,000 people were rescued from the Boko Haram sect by soldiers and members of the vigilante, Civilian JTF.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, however, said a member of the Civilian JTF was killed on Saturday during the battles with the Boko Haram.

Mr. Usman, a Colonel, who made these known in a statement, also said weapons, ammunition and transport equipment like motorcycles were recovered from the raided camps around Mafa, a local government headquarter about 40km from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

He further said a mobile policeman, a soldier and member of the Civilian JTF who sustained injuries during the battle, have been moved to Maiduguri where they are responding to treatment while the body of the dead vigilante has also been moved to a hospital in the state capital.

The full statement below:

Troops of 21 Brigade and Civilian JTF today conducted a fighting patrol to Zangebe, Maiwa, Algaiti and Mainari villages in which they killed 6 Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others. The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists and recovered 5 motorcycles and similar number of bicycles.

Similarly, troops of 7 Division Garrison Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) II, in conjunction with some of elements of Mobile Police Force and Civilian JTF today also conducted Boko Haram terrorists clearance operations at Masu Yiwa, Ladin Buta, Bazaka, Kesa Gala, Tabla, Fahinde, Shirori, Gizina, Maska Aribe, Maska and Maska Lawanti villages, all in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State.

During the clearance operations, the troops encountered Boko Haram terrorists at Maska Lawanti in which they killed 2 terrorists and recovered 2 motorcycles.

Unfortunately, we lost 1 Civilian JTF, while a soldier and 1 Mobile Policeman were wounded in action. The body of the heroic Civilian JTF and the wounded soldier and his police counterpart have since been evacuated to Maiduguri. While we commiserate with the families of the departed Civilian JTF, we wish to state that the wounded are in stable condition and responding to treatment.

In a related development, troops of 192 Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade and some vigilantes also embarked on fighting patrol along Kusarha-Zalidava general area today. The patrol team encountered some elements of Boko Haram around Zalidava-Weige villages in which they killed 2 Boko Haram terrorists and recovered 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with registration number FN 132125, a belt of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition containing 42 rounds. Sadly, one of the vigilantes sustained an injury on his eye. However, he is getting better.
The Archbishop, Catholic Arch Diocese of Kaduna, Most Rev. Mathew Man-Oso Ndagoso, has called on those who alleged looted the nations treasury and stashed it in America and elsewhere to return their share of the loot as a sign of restitution.

The Archbishop lamented that Nigeria is almost like a begging nation now and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently address the sufferings of the people.

Speaking with journalists in Kaduna to mark World Year of Mercy Celebration on Sunday, Archbishop Ndagoso noted that one does not need a soothsayer to know that Nigerians are suffering, blaming the current situation in the country on recklessness and lack of concern for others.

According to the cleric, If the stolen funds are returned, they should be properly used to make a life worth living for Nigerians.

He, however, warned that recovering looted funds only to be re-looted again would be dangerous.

Archbishop Ndagoso stressed, Our nation is almost like a begging nation now, because workers cannot be paid, pensioners are dying everybody is suffering and people are asking again what do we do with these people? Well again we are people of hope, for those who have stolen our wealth; I know mercy and justice go together. God is merciful and just God.

Those who have stolen our money if they can bring it back, restitute it is a sign you are repentant and therefore those who stole our money and kept in America, whether they have built houses in Abuja or Kaduna or anywhere I think they should return it and if it is returned it should be properly used to make a life worth living for Nigerians and warned of the danger of recovering looted funds only to be re-looted again.

For us Christians look at what happened to good thief on the cross at the very last minute that he made paradise. So the point simply is that you can never say it is over until somebody breaths his last.

We all know what is happening in the country, even myself as Archbishop I am feeling the pinch, there are very clear signs that people are suffering in the land, Archbishop Ndagoso added.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has described as a bad mistake, his decision to summon then senators-elect on the platform of the party to a meeting on the day the 8th National Assembly was inaugurated.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, who had his leadership capabilities called to question following the consequence of that move, regretted heeding the advice of some unnamed persons to summon the meeting, which proved costly for the APC.

On the morning of June 9, 2015 when the 8th National Assembly was to be inaugurated sequel to a written proclamation from President Muhammadu Buhari to that effect, 51 senators of the APC converged on the International Conference Centre, ICC, waiting for a truce meeting reportedly called by the party leadership and Buhari.

Unknown to the group of senators under the aegis of Unity Forum, while they waited for the purported meeting with the party leadership and the president, Bukola Saraki and 10 other APC senators, who shunned the truce parley, were busy holding a sitting with all the 47 senators of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in attendance.

The former Kwara State governor was elected unopposed as President of the Senate and Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP, elected as his deputy to the chagrin of the 51 other APC senators and the leadership of the governing party.

The ripple effect of that election is still being felt in Nigerias political landscape over a year later with Messrs. Saraki and Ekweremadu scheduled to appear before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Monday alongside the Clerk to the National Assembly at the time, Salisu Maikasuwa and the Senate Clerk, Ben Efeturi, on two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery of the Senate Standing Rules.

Opening up in an interview by Daily Trust published on Sunday, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun revealed that calling the meeting that deprived the 51 APC senators from participating in the June 9, 2015 election for principal officers of the National Assembly was one decision that he regrets.

Responding to the question if he had another opportunity to change one decision he took in the past, the APC chair said: There are lots of decisions, not just one, some of which are private. If you want to limit it to the recent past, I would say the decision to call the meeting that took place on the day the National Assembly was inaugurated. That was a bad mistake.

I was persuaded and I agreed to call that meeting. Had it been it did not take place, we probably wont have a PDP person there today as the deputy Senate president. The anger within the leadership of the party may not have turned out as strong as it became, Odigie-Oyegun stated.
The ghost of the June 18, 2016 governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State has refused to go away with the Appeal Committee hinting that the election may be annulled if allegations of irregularities and possible manipulation of the process are found to be true.

Two aggrieved aspirants  Kenneth The Rice Man Imasuagbon and former Minister of State for Works, Chris Ogiemwonyi  had appealed the conduct of the primary which returned Godwin Obaseki, chairman of the Edo Governments Economic Management Team as the winner, alleging some irregularities and manipulation of the electoral process by the Governor Aminu Masari-led primary election committee in favour of Obaseki.

The duo, who addressed a joint press conference in Benin City, the Edo capital last week, specifically claimed that ballot papers used by the delegates for the election was manipulated.

Speaking weekend in Abuja on the weighty allegations made by Messrs. Imasuagbon and Ogiemwonyi, Chairman of the Appeal Committee, Opeyemi Bamidele, said manual inspection and forensic analysis of the ballot papers used for the election would be carried out to give room for justice.

He noted that the integrity Edo APC governorship primary was at stake because of the weighty and sensitive issues raised by the two petitioners, adding that the party leadership had agreed to extend the date for the submission of its report, which ought to have been submitted on Friday, to this coming week.

Mr. Bamidele, who was the Labour Party candidate in the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State, said the Masari led-Election Committee would hand over the ballot papers for manual inspection and forensic analysis in the presence of the petitioners and newsmen.

The former House of Representatives member stressed that the party must do a thorough job to serve as a good reference point for the forthcoming primary election in Ondo state and the subsequent ones.

I want to assure all of you that cancelling the primary election is not something we will blink an eye if it becomes so necessary based on our findings hinged on expertise that has been placed at the disposal of our committee. We are inviting those who are experts in forensic analysis to also look into some of these issues because it is either it is not true or it is true.

If it is true that the integrity of the ballot papers has been compromised, then definitely, there is no way the result of such primary election can stand. I dont think it is an issue we will lose any sleep on, he said.

However, Bamidele said the appeal committee will only act on compelling evidence after inspection and analysis of the ballot papers.

According to him, If we are going to say that this must be done, we have to know on what basis we are saying that. If we are going to say no, the integrity is not compromised, we must also know on what basis we are saying that. We just need to be scientific which ever conclusion we draw.

The former lawmaker recalled that Edo Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, led the APC team that conducted the governorship primary election in Bayelsa State and when he was not personally convinced on the outcome, he put down his foot down until another round of primaries was conducted in Bayelsa.

So, he himself set a precedent in that respect. It is not about individual. It is about the integrity of the party and that of the electoral process, Mr. Bamidele added.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode was attacked in detention by an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Mr. Fani-Kayode, who served as director of media and publicity during the campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan, is facing a 17-count charge bordering on unlawful retention, use, and payment of money in the tune of about N4.9 billion.

The PDP chieftain was arraigned alongside a former Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman; Danuma Yusuf and a company, Joint Trust Dimension Nig. Ltd. by the EFCC over a week ago before a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The ex-minister, who is in the custody of the EFCC, was reportedly attacked on Saturday by an operative of the anti-graft agency whose name was given as Kabiru Suleiman.

It was learnt that Fani-Kayode was allegedly attacked alongside several other detainees by the said EFCC operative for engaging in prayers.

Matters came to a head on Saturday when, without any provocation, Suleiman Kabiru, a Muslim from Kebbi state charged at Fani-Kayode injuring him in the process, a source said.

The source disclosed that other officials of the EFCC had to wade in to prevent Suleiman from inflicting further harm on Mr. Fani-Kayode, who is a high-profile detainee.

As at the time of publishing this report, the EFCC is yet to react to the alleged physical assault on Mr. Fani-Kayode and other detainees by its operative but the PDPs Director of New Media, Deji Adeyanju, confirmed the development.

Yes I have verified, Egbon @realFFK was attacked today by 1 idiot who thinks Buhari will rule forever. Hes (sic) name is Sulaiman from Kebbi State, he said via his twitter handle @adeyanjudeji.
Ashraf Sanusi, son of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II graduated today with a degree in Architecture from St. Lawrence College, London. The monarch sent a congratulatory message to him via Instagram:

Now you achieved your goals and will have a bright, promising career as an (Architecture). In my message I just cant tell you how proud I am of you today! Congratulations and Best Wishes! he said.
Suspected Fulani herdsmen have attacked the village of Koh, few kilometers from Yola the Adamawa State, capital.

According to eyewitness report, the herdsmen stormed the village on Sunday morning killing a farmer and injuring five members of the community. Five herdsmen were also killed in the attack.

The attack is the second one suffered by Koh community by herdsmen in the space of about two months.

Attacks by herdsmen have continued in different parts of the country. The suspected herdsmen have reportedly killed more than the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists in 2016.
The Ijaw Youth Council worldwide has hailed the move by President Muhammadu Buhari to personally meet with governors, elders and other stakeholders from the Niger Delta as part of his efforts to seek lasting peace in the region.

The oil-rich Niger Delta has in recent months witnessed the resurgence of militancy occasioned by the bombing of oil and gas installations.

The activities of one of the militant groups known as the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, has seen oil production in the country now hovering around 1.8million barrels per day from 2.5mbp.

President of the IYC, Udengs Eradiri, who commended the president for heeding the councils advice to use dialogue in resolving the crisis in the region, did not say when the meeting might take place.

He said: We want to commend the President because I heard from the grapevine, from one of our foremost governors and leader of Ijaw land this morning (yesterday) when he said they had been invited by the President for an engagement with respect to the Niger Delta crises.

So, I want to commend the President for hearing our cries and for taking the right approach because there is no other approach than what the President has decided to do.

Mr. President is a very meticulous man who keeps a lot of things to his chest and Nigerian and people who are always around take advantage of his silence and misinterpret the body language of Mr. President in various ways.

That body language that has been misinterpreted has created a lot of confusion that has further worsened the situation in Niger Delta.

Therefore we thank God Mr. President will be coming out boldly to address the issues and body language will no longer be misrepresented.

We want to thank the president for that bold step and look forward to the right leaders going to sit down with the President to properly articulate the position of Niger Delta.

He, however, said Ijaw would continue to advocate for true federalism and restructuring as the permanent solutions to issues affecting different parts of the country.

According to Eradiri, restructuring would solve the problems of Fulani herdsmen, constant attacks on pipelines, agitation for Biafria and other matters arising from the lopsidedness of the Nigerian state.

He said: We are of the opinion that Nigeria needs to be restructured so that we can solve problems of tomato price, dollar prices, insecurity, herdsmen crises and insecurity in the middle belt, armed robbery cases and others.

The only solution to Nigerias problems not just Niger Delta problem is that we restructure this country to the point where people sit down and agree that we should go forward as a nation.

It is only in that spirit that we will solve Avengers (Niger Delta Avengers) problems once and for all.

We want a holistic approach to the problem so that tomorrow an avenger will not arise or a destroyer will not arise or another pseudo group will not come and be destabilising the region.

We have said this because the same issue the Willinks Commission talked about was the same issue Isaac Boro came out to declare the Niger Delta Republic and eventually fought for Nigeria and died for it; the same issue Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed for.

It is the same issue that led to the formation of IYC to non-violently address issues of underdevelopment and marginalisation in the Nigeria state and the same issues that led to MEND and the same issue that led to avengers.

So, if we want to move forward its only common sense that we address those issues and we think that those issues are holistically embedded in a restructured Nigeria.
At least 120 suspected drugs traffickers and addicts have been arrested by the NDLEA in Kaduna State from January to date.

The agency arrested 74 suspected drug traffickers, seized 15.342 tons of illicit drugs, secured 10 convictions and rehabilitated 68 drugs addicts from January to March, State Commander, Mr Samuel Azige, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Sunday.

While 44 suspects were arrested, 155 kilogrammes of drugs seized and 10 convictions secured from April to date, he said.

However, he noted that there has been a slight decrease in illegal drugs related offences in the state in the second quarter when compared with the first quarter of the year.

He attributed the success recorded by the agency as a collaborative effort with other security agencies in the state.
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), yesterday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to call for a referendum for Nigerians to decide if they want to stay as one country or not, just like Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), David Cameron did over the UK membership of the European Union.

The group made the call while reacting to last Fridays appeal by Buhari to Niger Delta militants to cease the bombing of oil and gas installations in the region.

He (Buhari) should call for a referendum to enable every Nigerian to vote if they want to stay as Nigerians or not just like what David Cameron of Great Britain did, the group told the Vanguard newspaper.

NDA had over a month and a half ago vowed to display our currency, flag, passport, our ruling council and our territory to the world by October 16.

Commenting on the presidents plea, National President of the Ijaw People Development Initiative, IPDI, Comrade Austin Ozobo said: Our worry is that since Buhari returned from his short vacation last Sunday, he has started dancing different tones. We learnt that there are preparations ongoing to smash and crush innocent people of Niger Delta under the guise of fighting militants.

Buhari is pretending and not serious with his plea. He has a hidden agenda; he is just doing this for record purpose so that when he will smash and crush on the grounds of failed dialogue, the blame will not shift to him.
Vanguard

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and President of Dangote Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote, have expressed confidence in the speedy recovery of Nigerias ailing economy if current efforts directed at revamping the economy are sustained.

Thisday

The Controller General of Prisons Service (CGP), Mr. Jaafaru Ahmed, on Saturday confirmed that only two prison inmates at the Kuje Medium Prison escaped from their cell during a minor jail break, which occurred between 7pm and 8pm on Friday night.The Sun

Daily Times

The economy is biting hard and there are other things of concern as well.Militants are running riot down south and their activities further undermine the economy.

Daily Trust

Two ex-governorship aspirants in Adamawa State have asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to direct Governor Umar Jibrilla Bindow to immediately vacate the office of the governor of the state.

Leadership

Six chairmanship aspirants for Ogbadibo Local Government Council on the platform of the All Progressives Congress from zone B have rejected the zoning arrangement announced by the state chairman of the party, Mr. Abah Yaro.

Tribune

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, on Friday, accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of organising a parallel voters registration exercise.

The Nation

The Army yesterday rose in defence of its Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai over his acquisition of two properties in Dubai.

New Telegraph

The duo of the former Minister of Information and National Orientation and the Chancellor of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State and General Overseer of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Prof. Jerry Gana and Dr. David Oyedepo respectively, have advised President Muhammadu Buhari to consider fixing the education sector if truly he is committed to rewriting the nations history for good.

Daily Independent

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide has told President Muhammadu Buhari to personally lead the dialogue with the Niger Delta people towards finding a lasting solution to the recurring militancy in the region.
The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has called on the security agencies to keep a close watch on the sacked national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

The caretaker committee said the recent actions and antecedents of Mr. Sheriff were capable of precipitating crises in any part of the country, hence, should be called to order.

The caretaker committee was reacting to the purported suspension of the Edo State Executive Committee of the PDP by the dissolved National Working Committee of the party led by Sheriff.

It asked the Edo state chapter of the party to ignore the suspension order as former Borno State governor and members of his NWC were sacked during the national convention of the party last month.

A statement by spokesman for the committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye said: Procedures for taking such far reaching decisions are prescribed in the constitution of the party, so its the organ so empowered to take it.

It is no longer news that the Ali Modu Sheriff led National Working Committee and indeed all national officers were removed by the partys convention, which is the highest decision making organ of the party.

Continuing, he said: This purported suspension is clearly part of the desperation of Senator Sheriff and his paymasters to orchestrate confusion that would lead to the failure of the party in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State; an election that the party is otherwise very well placed to win.

The Caretaker Committee recognises and would continue to relate with the leadership of the party in Edo State that was validly elected at the recent congresses, even as it calls on the members and teeming supporters of the party in the state to remain steadfast and vigilant in the face of the mischief being perpetrated by Sheriff in order to destroy the party.

The Caretaker Committee also appeals to the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services and indeed all security agencies to call Sheriff to order as well as keep more than an eye on him so that he doesnt precipitate crisis in any part of the country for which he is well known, since we, as Nigerians already have enough on our hands to contend with.
The Commissioner of Police in Niger State, Abubakar Marafa, has explained why applicants for the ongoing police recruitment who have tattoos were rejected during screening.

He said the decision to screen such applicants was to avoid hiring cultists into the Force.

Speaking at an inspection of the recruitment process in Minna, the state capital by the Federal Character Commission (FCC) yesterday, Marafa said it is public knowledge that tattoos are associated with cult membership and the Police Force will not want to be seen as condoning the societal vice by recruiting people with body tattoos.

The commissioner of police disclosed that the recruitment exercise has been successful in the state as measures had been put in place to ensure that the applicants hired had even spread across the state.

In a related development, the coordinator of the military recruitment for the sub-zone of Kogi, Kwara and Niger States holding in Minna, Brigadier General Gabriel Ochigbano, told the visiting FCC officials that the applicants had been pruned down to 150 per state from the 350 per state on the average that showed up for the recruitment.

We are expected to take about 105 from Kogi, Kwara and Niger states, he said.

In his remarks, the Executive Chairman of the FCC, Shettima Bukar Abba, tasked police and the military to ensure that in addition to federal character, the local government areas in the states are reflected in the list of applicants recruited.

Mr. Abba pointed out that the list of the successful candidates would be sent to his commission to ensure that federal character had been adhered to.

They will not release the results until we give them the certificate of compliance, he said.
The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Nigeria, Mr Ibrahim Idris has withdrawn the services of mobile police officers attached to individuals as security aides.

Speaking at the passing out parade of 59 Squadron Commanders Combat Operation Course at the Police Mobile Force Training School in Ila Orangun, Osun State on Saturday, the Acting IGP said the police mobile force was the striking arm of the police and should not be used as a security aide for individuals.

Mr Idris admonished policemen and officers especially those in the Mobile Unit to rise up to end Nigerias security challenges.

Governor of Osun State Rauf Aregbesola, who was also at the ceremony, called for improved police-public relations to gain the confidence of the people.
Wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, has urged women to use the Holy month of Ramadan to pray for peace and security of the nation.

Mrs. Buhari made the call in a Ramadan message issued on Sunday and sent to women in Oyo State.

The wife of the president said As women, we have to pray for the peace and security of the nation in this holy period.

Mrs. Buhari, who also sent foodstuff to the women, called on Nigerians, irrespective of religion or ethnicity, to embrace peace and selflessness.

Distributing the food items, wife of the Oyo State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, urged Muslims to emulate Mrs. Buharis gesture during the Ramadan.

She commended the presidents wife for her benevolence, noting this was the first time the state had received such gesture from the federal stratum.

According to Mrs. Ajimobi, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Atinuke Osunkoya, the importance of giving to the needy during Ramadan has a lot of blessings attached to it and also reaching out to the less privileged in society.

Some of the recipients of the food items thanked Mrs. Buhari for giving generously to women in the state and prayed that God will bless her endeavours.

The foodstuff distributed included bags of rice, vegetable oil, custard and garri among others.

(NAN)
Yesterday, Nigerian gay rights campaigner, Bisi Alimi, met and had a chat with Caitlyn Jenner at the Aspen Ideas conference in Colorado, USA.

Bisi Alimi who is Nigerias first openly confessed homosexual took to Instagram and shared the photo. According to him, they talked about Global Trans Alliance and the way forward for LGBT people.

Recall, the Mushin born Unilag graduate announced that he and his soon-to-be husband, Anthony, will be tying the knots soon.
It was definitely an amazing week for our STARS. From wedding dresses to red carpet gowns, here are the top 10 best dressed personalities of the week.

We start with Rita Dominics stunning look to the premiere of Blessing Egbes One Room.

The 40-year-old actress rocked a stunning helda metallic print custom made piece by Lanre Da-silva Ajayi to the movie premiere. We love!

Another celebrity that caught our eyes at the One Room premiere was actor Ramsey Nouah. The thespian looked a perfect gentleman in this all black native attire with a touch of red.

Next up, the woman of the hour, Juliet Ibrahim. The Ghanaian actress was in Port-Harcourt this week to host the 2016 Miss Nigeria Queen Beauty Pageant. Juliet looked stunning in this YHC all-white dress we cant get enough of. Incase youre wondering, the creative mind behind this look is multiple award winning stylist, Swanky Jerry.

Guess I wont be wrong saying Chioma Okpalugo has got great sense of style.

The gorgeous Beauty was the host at a wedding this week. We love her Toju Foyeh designer piece and the head gear gave it that twist that made her stand out. So cute!

Its been an amazing week for Mercy Aigbe. From being the cover QUEEN on the latest edition of Exquisite Magazine to recording one million Instagram followers, the mother of three was a stunning hostess at the TNT Fashion show in Maryland, U.S.

Are the Ghanaians taking over? Actress Zynnell Zuh is the second Ghanaian on our list this week. The prolific film maker looked stunning in this House of Paon dress she wore to the EMY Awards. We Love!

While attending her Johnny costume display at the Grammy museum in Los Angeles, Yemi Alade looked HOT in this shredded Mademoiselle Aglaia piece.

Next, Delphine Onyii Okoronkwo. The stunning beauty rocked this ultra fitted green dress that highlighted her curves to a wedding this weekend.

We cant end the list without celebrating Nollywood hottie, Chris Okagbue. The talented actor was a year older this week. To celebrate, the model shared some stunning images on his Instagram page. We have to say, our fav from him was this dapper look.

Last but never least, the wife of the Ooni of Ife, Olori Wuraola Ogunwusi. She looked ever-so-regal in these portraits taken recently at the Emerging Womens Forum in Maryland, USA.
The dissolved National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has suspended the state executive committee of the party in Edo State.

The Chief Dan Orbih-led executive committee of the Edo PDP was purportedly suspended by Mr. Sheriff sequel to various petitions deriving from allegations of irregularities arising from the last state congresses that sought to elect State Executive Committee for the chapter.

In a swift response, the Edo PDP said Mr. Sheriff lacked the power to sack its executive committee.

Sheriff and the National Secretary of his faction of PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the suspension of the Edo PDP exco was part of the decision taken at the NWC meeting of June 21, 2016.

They said the suspension would enable the PDP NWC investigate the allegations contained in the petitions and come out with a fair and just decision.

Sheriff proceeded to appoint an eight-member caretaker committee to run the affairs of the state chapter for a period of three months.

The members are: Chief Ebenezer Alabi (chairman); Barr. Zealiwe Edmund (secretary); EhimekpenOkharedia, Mrs. Melody EkunneOsagie, Blessing Agbabaku, Negerese Berry, Hon Daniel OhioleAsekhame and Mr. Dan Omozokpai as members.

In a statement by Mr. Orbih yesterday, the state chapter said the embattled factional chairmans action has shown that he was not a true member of the PDP.

By his pronouncements and his actions, he has shown the whole world that he is not a true member of PDP. He is on a mission designed by the party in government that is being executed by him, he said.

Orbih also said Mr. Sheriff was never elected as the chairman of the PDP, rather, he was appointed by the National Executive Committee, therefore, should stop arrogating powers that he doesnt possess to himself.

Hundred Sheriffs cannot dissolve the Edo exco as he is no longer the acting chairman of the party.

The only body that is constitutionally empowered by the party to carry out the functions of the national executives of the party today is that of the Makarfi-led national executive which by law is the national executive that is in place, he said.

According to Mr. Orbih, the NEC approved the appointment of Mr. Sheriff as acting chairman for a period of three months, which he said had elapsed after the national convention of the party which held on May 21, 2016 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

So, the convention with its overwhelming power, dissolved the executive national organ of the party and appointed a caretaker committee that will oversee the affairs of the party pending when we hold the next national convention to elect the officials.

So, Sheriff is merely exercising his foul mouth to make illegal pronouncements that can never be obeyed by any person in our party.

I advise him to steer clear from Edo PDP and face his political integration in Borno where since he left office as governor has been a hotbed of political crisis, he said.
Three children of a pastor were on Thursday, June 23 attacked by suspected cultists near Benue State University second campus in Makurdi.

The victims, who are children of NKST Church pastor, Reverend Akpen Leva reportedly confronted a group of suspected cult boys who had earlier snatched the phone of the youngest sibling and the cultists attacked them with machetes.

The siblings sustained various degrees of injury and were rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital were they are currently receiving treatment.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, who paid a visit at the hospital condemned the attacks and assured that the culprits will be immediately arrested and charged.

Source: Benue News
On this day in 2013;A ritualists den was uncovered at Ogolonto area of Ikorodu Lagos, with at least eight victims, said to have been kidnapped from different parts of the country, rescued.



On this day in 2015;Contrary to denial by the Presidency that operatives of the Department of State Services were not ordered out of the villa, ADC, to the President formally informed the DSS that its personnel would no longer provide close body protection for the President as they are being replaced with men of the Nigerian Army and Police personnel who were trained as Presidential Bodyguards.

Also on this day in 2014; 123 people were killed in the continued onslaught on some villages in Sanga Local Goverment Area of Kaduna State, by Fulani gunmen.

And on this day in 2014;Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, at the Lagos State Police Command, arrested two herbalists and two Islamic clerics (aka Alfas), who specialised in buying and selling of human body parts.
Oltre 26 milioni di americani hanno gia votato anticipatamente per le elezioni presidenziali che vedono in gara, in un testa-a-testa Donald Trump e Hillary Clinton. Si tratta di circa il doppio di quanti usarono learly voting (voto anticipato) una settimana prima delle presidenziali del 2012. A molti lentourage di Trump ha chiesto di rivotare in considerazione delle ultime rivelazioni sullex First Lady

Grazia di Clinton a Rich, file Fbi su web

LFbi ha infatti pubblicato via Twitter i documenti dellinchiesta sulla grazia concessa dallallora presidente Clinton (nellultimo giorno del suo mandato, il 20/1/2001) al finanziere Usa, Marc Rich, morto in Svizzera nel 2013, accusato di 60 reati, tra cui frode, evasione di 48 mln di tasse e traffico di petrolio con lIran. Rischiava 300 anni di carcere. I file sono stati diffusi a 7 giorni dalle elezioni e dopo la bufera scatenata dallannuncio dellFbi sullapertura di una nuova indagine sulle email della candidata Hillary Clinton.

Fbi: carte grazia Clinton note per legge

LFbi ha pero difeso la propria decisione di pubblicare a una settimana dalle presidenziali le carte di una inchiesta  archiviata  sulla controversa grazia concessa da Bill Clinton nel 2001 a un finanziere amico, Marc Rich, scappato in Svizzera per sfuggire alle accuse di evasione fiscale. Per procedura standard  spiega lFbi  questi materiali diventano disponibili per la diffusione e sono postati automaticamente ed elettronicamente nella sala di lettura pubblica dellFbi nel rispetto della legge e delle procedure

Evocato limpeachment per Hillary

Evocato anche lo spettro di una messa in stato di accusa per Hillary se fosse eletta alla Casa Bianca. Lo ha fatto il senatore repubblicano Ron Johnson, presidente della Commissione per la Sicurezza nazionale e per gli Affari governativi. Johnson ha detto al Beloit Daily News che Hillary ha deliberatamente aggirato la legge usando un server privato per trattare affari pubblici quando era Segretario di Stato. Il senatore ha accusato la candidata dem di aver intenzionalmente nascosto e distrutto materiale riguardante la difesa nazionale.

Hacker, NYT: nessun legame Trump-Putin

E Trump oggi ha piu di un motivo per sorridere. Non solo le nuove accuse alla rivale, non solo i sondaggi lo vedono in crescita, ma lFbi non ha trovato finora alcun legame diretto tra il candidato repubblicano alla Casa Bianca Trump e il governo russo.

Secondo i servizi Usa, gli attacchi di hacker contro i democratici sono volti a minare le elezioni presidenziali piu che a favorire Trump. Lo scrive il NYT, citando fonti investigative. Queste rivelazioni, se confermate, sconfesserebbero le convinzioni dei democratici sui legami Trump-Putin.
Japans largest bank is hopping onto the cryptocurrency bandwagon.

According to reports, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MTU) is planning to release its own coin by March 2018. The MUFG coin will have parity with the Japanese yen and will be rolled out to employees of the financial services group first. It will enable standard transactions, such as shopping or transfer of money between individuals (for example, splitting of a bill after a meal or drinks), at much lower costs as compared to credit cards.

Users will have to create wallets in order to use the cryptocurrency, and MUFG will handle processing of the transactions internally. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial conducted tests to roll out the coin in 2016 and tied up with cryptocurrency exchange GDAX, run by Coinbase, last year.

Banks, which were reluctant to embrace cryptocurrencies, have increasingly moved towards developing their own coins or adopting the underlying technology to streamline operations. For example, six banks, including MUFG, joined UBS Banks Utility Settlement Coin (USC) consortium last year. The coin is interchangeable at parity with a basket of currencies and is expected to be released in a limited manner by the end of 2018.

MUFGs move is an expected development of the Japanese governments push to introduce cryptocurrencies, which were legalized in 2017, into mainstream society. (See also: Bitcoin Gets Boost From Japan.) According to reports last year, Mizuho Financial Group is leading a consortium of banks to develop a cryptocurrency, known as J-coin, in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Japanese investors and exchanges have played a major role in pushing cryptocurrency valuations to new highs. Along with South Korea, Japan accounts for a majority of trading volumes in prominent cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ethereum.

Banking consortiums from the two countries are also collaborating to test money transfer using blockchain technology from Ripple.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date this article was written, the author owns small amounts of bitcoin.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of the potential foreign military sale of AC-208 sustainment, logistics and spares support to Iraq.

Under the estimated $181m sale, Iraq seeks to receive a five-year sustainment package that encompasses services, such as operational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance for its AC/RC-208 fleet.

The services that will be sold include spare parts, component repair, publication updates, maintenance training and logistics. In addition, the sale will cover contract logistics services (CLS), training services, and contract engineering services.

The proposed sale of support services will allow the Iraqi Air Force (IqAF) to continue to operate its fleet of eight C-208 light attack and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft beyond the end of its existing CLS contract in June.

The IqAF aims to become self-sufficient in the areas of aircraft maintenance and logistics training. Orbital ATK and Flight Safety International will serve as the principal contractors for the sale.

Developed by US-based aerospace and Defense Company Alliant Techsystems, AC-208 Combat Caravan is a light attack combat aircraft armed with Hellfire missiles.

The AC-208 Combat Caravan is a counter insurgency (COIN) aircraft converted from a cargo / ISR plane. It was developed under the US Combat Caravan program as part of the government's effort to rebuild the Iraq Forces.



| Soruce: Airforce Technology | By S.Seal
President Joe Biden may not be visiting Ireland in his first trip abroad but his destination, Cornwall in the southwest of England , for a G7 summit is actually a Celtic territory in Britain that has its own independence movement.

The small county of Cornwall, in England, has for many years identified as a minority group in the United Kingdom with arguments for self-government and efforts ongoing for the revival of their Cornish language.

Despite being technically just another county in England, the Cornish have always been a race apart, speaking their own language, which is strongly linked to Welsh, using their own naming customs, style of dress, agricultural practices and games and customs.

In fact, many writers throughout the 16th and 17th centuries referred to Cornwall as a separate province of Britain along with England, Wales, and Scotland.

John Le Bretton, vice-chairman of the Cornish National Party said a a right to home rule for the Cornish people had ben established.

He stated: "The CNP supports the retention of Cornwall Council as a Cornwall-wide authority running Cornish affairs and we call for the British government in Westminster to devolve powers to the council so that decisions affecting Cornwall can be made in Cornwall".

So even today, Cornish nationalists seek their own assembly and argue that Cornwall has a Celtic cultural identity different from that of English people;

Many Cornish were forced to flee to America too because of religious persecution, and our Celtic counterparts have been just as successful as we Irish. Famous Americans with Cornish roots include Mark Twain and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Cornwall is the most southwestern county in Britain and almost completely isolated from the rest of the island because of a river running across the land pretty much from one sea to another. Those who live there are believed to be descendants of the British tribes, often referred to as the Celts, residing in England before the Saxon invasion. They were driven west and took the county of Cornwall for their own, finally being subdued by the invaders in 838 AD.

Read more: Where the Celts come from and have lived for 3,000 years

As the centuries passed the Cornish population slowly became integrated into English culture and abandoned their language for English, which was regarded as being more refined.

By 1700 there were only 5,000 Cornish speakers left and Cornwall's claim to be a separate entity had all but been forgotten outside of the county itself.

This was how it remained until Irelands battle for self-rule resulted in a reemergence of the ethnic pride among the Cornish people, who began once again to fight for identification as a separate state to the English.

The battle for recognition of Cornish distinction made slow, but steady progress during the 20th century. During the 2001 census, 34,000 people living in Cornwall and 3,500 people elsewhere in the UK described themselves as ethnic Cornish under the label Other.

It wasnt until 2014 that the UK government officially recognized the Cornish as a national minority under the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, giving the Cornish the same status as the Welsh, Scots and Irish within the UK.

In terms of emigration to the US, there are believed to be 2 million people of Cornish descent currently in the US, four times the current population of the county. Miners by trade, the Cornish people began to move to the US during the decline in mining in Britain during the 18th century. It is estimated that a fifth of the entire male Cornish population emigrated every decade from the 1860s until the 1900s. Cornwall lost around a quarter of a million people.

The influence of the Cornish immigration to the US may not be as immediately noticeable as the strong Irish connections that many people celebrate, but they have appeared in pop culture down through the years none the less. In fact, the Finch family in To Kill a Mockingbird are Cornish and their ancestor, Simon Finch, who is mentioned on the first page of the book, was the first Finch in the US, traveling from Cornwall across the Atlantic because of persecution of Methodists.

Read more: Some tales of the "Celts" exposed by the science of DNA

Cornish immigrant miners were also portrayed in the HBO show "Deadwood," although when they were shown as speaking their own language the show had them speaking Irish instead of Cornish.

Just like the Irish, their descendants have also scaled the ladder and achieved some pretty remarkable things. Here are just a few of the accomplished and famous Americans who share Cornish roots:

1. Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, more commonly known by his pen name Mark Twain, was the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). He is believed to have ancestors of Scots-Irish, English, and Cornish extraction.

2. Michael J. Fox

It is known that the Back to the Future star is of Irish, English and Scottish descent, but it is believed that this may also include Cornish.

3. Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden was the business name of Florence Nightingale Graham, the woman who founded the cosmetics empire Elizabeth Arden. Arden was born in Canada, her parents had emigrated from Cornwall in the 1870s. Her mother had arranged for a wealthy aunt in Cornwall to pay for her childrens education, but Graham later dropped out of nursing school.

4. Harry S. Truman

The 33rd US President may also have Cornish links.

5. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Could FDR have been one of the most successful Cornish people? The Democrat was President from 1933 until 1945.

Read more: Who are the Celts? 1930s Harvard trip sought answers

H/T: BBC

* Originally published in June 2016.
Spaniards are voting in an unprecedented repeat election that aims to break six months of political deadlock after a December ballot left the country without an elected government.

But opinion polls in recent weeks have unanimously predicted the new ballot will also fail to deliver enough votes for any one party to take power alone.

That would likely consign Spain to another period of protracted political negotiations - and, possibly, another election if there is no breakthrough.

Polls are prohibited in the last week of campaigning, but the most recent ones suggested the conservative Popular Party would win most votes but would again fall short of the parliamentary majority it had from 2011 to 2015. Popular Party leader Mariano Rajoy is hoping to be re-elected as prime minister.

According to the Spanish Constitution, a government must win a vote of confidence in Parliament with more than 50% of the possible 350 votes before taking office. If it misses that target, in a second vote 48 hours later it must get 50% of only the votes that are cast - a lower bar which allows parties to abstain from the vote and let a party into power in return for concessions.

A new round of political negotiations could be complicated by support for a new far-left alliance called Unidos Podemos (United We Can). That group, which includes radical leftist party Podemos along with communists and greens, is expected to finish second. That would push the moderate, centre-left Socialist Party, which has traditionally alternated in power with the Popular Party, into third place and the business-friendly Ciudadanos (Citizens) into fourth.

The election in Spain comes four days after the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consultancy, said it is "unlikely" that decision would have much of an influence on the Spanish election.

"Nevertheless, the ongoing market turmoil fits well with the campaign message of... Rajoy, who has framed the election as a choice between economic stability and a radical left-wing government potentially led by Podemos and its allies," Mr Barroso wrote in an analysis Friday.

Polls opened at 9am local time and were to close at 8pm for the country's roughly 36.5 million voters. Exit polls with projections of the result are expected within minutes of polls closing, and most votes are expected to be counted by 11pm.

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished public services such as welfare and education, and unrelenting political corruption scandals have shaped the two-week election campaign.

Outside a polling station on a sunny day in Madrid, many voters said they wanted the election to bring a break with the recent past.

"I'm voting for change, so that our politicians understand that we don't agree with what they've been doing," said Maria Jesus Genovar, a 47-year-old teacher who was supporting Unidos Podemos.

Among other aims, Unidos Podemos wants to improve job security, increase the minimum wage and strengthen the welfare state and other public services.

But Maria Jose Escos, a 59-year-old government worker, said she had no appetite for the new parties and the possibility of radical political change.

"I'd like everything to be like it was before," she said, adding she would keep supporting the Socialists.

After the December election, Mr Rajoy could not get enough support from rival parties to form either a minority government or a coalition.

The negotiations between parties dragged on for months as Pedro Sanchez, leader of the second-placed Socialists, also failed to clinch a deal that would let him govern.

Spain has never had a coalition government.

Pablo Iglesias, the radical college professor leader of Unidos Podemos, has repeatedly said he wants a pact with the Socialists in order to oust Mr Rajoy. But a major sticking point for such a deal is Mr Iglesias's insistence on letting the powerful north-eastern region of Catalonia stage an independence referendum - a possibility rejected outright by all the other main parties.

Ciudadanos is willing to talk to both the PP and the Socialists but want no deals with Unidos Podemos.

Besides tension over Catalonia, Spanish political debate has been dominated by an unemployment rate that has stood at more than 20% for nearly seven years and is the second highest in the EU after Greece, and an unrelenting stream of corruption scandals, mostly involving the Popular Party and the Socialists.
The bikini, like lots of other great innovations came about as a result of rivalry between two Parisian clothing designers.

In the summer of 1946, Jaques Heim debuted the Atome  the worlds smallest swimsuit.

Boasting ruffly knickers and a good dose of abdomen, this risque fashion statement immediately had the fashion world in its grips.

That is, until three weeks later, when rival Louis Reard introduced an even smaller swimsuit, naming it the Bikini after Bikini Atoll, the Pacific Ocean site of the first atomic bomb test.

Bragging that a true bikini should be small enough to be pulled through a wedding ring, it was clear that the bikini was here to stay.

The stars of the day were quick to cotton onto the attraction of the bikini. Brigitte Bardot almost caused riots across the south of France as she minced through its beaches in the most revealing bikinis of the time.

Jane Mansfield glamorised it, posing for portraits in bikinis and high heels, and fellow stars Esther Williams and Marilyn Monroe were quick to follow suit. Modern Girl Magazine slammed the swimsuit, writing, It is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would wear such a thing.

From its first shocking incarnation, the bikini has navigated the line between scandalous and sexy, at once celebrating a womans physique and her sexual prowess.

It is a mark of body confidence that we celebrate today, and from young stars like Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid to the timeless elegance of Helen Mirren and Cindy Crawford, the bikini is a symbol of star power.

It has re-launched many a career  the scene where Demi Moore struts out of the water in Charlies Angels: Full Throttle has been credited with reviving her sagging career.

So how has the bikini adapted to suit the needs of women over the years? Roslyn Ellis, the Group Buyer of Lingerie, Swimwear and Hosiery at Brown Thomas says that the swimwear has undergone a transformation, but stays true to its roots when it comes to style.

A lot of designers still take inspiration from the retro archives when it comes to swimwear shapes but they now put a modern twist on it using different fabrications, such as stretch denim or luxury neoprene fabric, she explains.

These fabrics are perfect for both adding curves or supporting them. Past Modern was a huge trend this year, which demonstrated how classic shapes can be used, but simplified using modern techniques such as laser cut and bonded layers to frame the body.

As a fashion buyer, Roslyn has access to the top swimwear designers, seasons ahead of what we see on the shelves.

She believes that the enduring appeal of the bikini is in its celebration of the female form.

The key to a successful swimwear, she says, is in the finish and materials used.

I truly adore brands that use the best fabrics and are specialists in the art of swimwear, she says.

These brands will always have the best cuts and finishing, and when you see how these swim pieces work effortlessly with the body, it is hard not to be excited. While cuts and finishes are essential to a great look, the real success comes from within, according to Ellis.

I am a big believer in feeling confident in your own body, and not comparing yourself to others. Typically I will always look for brands that are exceptional quality and have detailing to help work with many different shapes.

The swim designers we carry all have a passion for the beach lifestyle, so know how to design the very best swimwear that is functional, comfortable and effortlessly glamorous.

Stylist Courtney Smith agrees, encouraging women to find out what suits them and stick to it, rather than trying to emulate celebrities and their impossibly high standards.

It is a great idea to read magazine articles and trend-led newspaper features about swimwear styles for inspiration, she explains.

Try to avoid looking at too many celebrity images, and instead embrace the colours and styles that you love. The boho crotchet styles and summer sporty brights are big swim trends this year.

Perhaps surprisingly, Courtney herself opts for a simple approach when choosing her own swimwear.

I tend to avoid overly fussy swimwear with ribbons and cut out details for tanning purposes and usually opt for more simple styles and colours that I can throw fabulous kaftans and kimonos over. 

There is no doubt that swimwear has become much more than just the bikini.

to Roslyn Ellis, it is a capsule collection in its own right.

I love how swimwear shopping has now evolved to shopping for the holiday wardrobe, she exclaims.

Now its not just your pool-side bikini but also the sun hat and kaftan to wear to a leisurely lunch or for the evening out where you want to look and feel glamorous but in a relaxed way.

Swimwear styles have come full circle, says Ellis, with lots of brands embracing the one piece suit this year.

The one piece swim suit is certainly growing in momentum, she explains.

A one-piece suit can be worn to make a serious statement, to be super slimming or have a relaxed and sporty feel. Australian brands like Jets and Seafolly are experts in beach lifestyle so think of every detail such as a clip on the back to ensure no strap marks when tanning but equally for those who are not interested in tanning, Rash vests are also gaining in popularity.

Choosing the correct swimwear to suit your shape allows women to transcend the terrifying question of how old is too old?

According to both Ellis and Smith, you are never too old to wear a bikini.

The key is to invest in good quality so the bikini flatters you, is comfortable and nothing shows through when wet, reassures Roslyn Ellis.

Brands like Lazul, Seafolly and Jets cater for all sizes including DD+ cups. Bikini tops with slider detailing mean you can adjust the level of coverage at any time, but are still designed to be neat and not add bulk.

Bottoms too can be tie side or have slider or folding detail for the same principle. Halter neck tops give great support for larger busts. Equally there are styles with push up detail, or ruching to add curves. The options are endless.

Knowing what suits you will inform your decision with confidence says Courtney Smith.

There is such a variety of styles out there and not every single one is going to suit you. Big-busted girls can rarely pull off the strapless bandeau for example, and if you are conscious of your tummy area a string brief will only accentuate any lumps you would prefer to disguise. Also think of colours if you are naturally pale then those soft sorbet tones will only look good after you get your tan.

As the woman who defines what Irish women will be wearing on the beaches each season, Roslyn Ellis must have a golden rule when it comes to choosing swimwear?

There are lots of tips to make certain styles of swimwear suit your shape, she says.

To be honest, I truly believe it should be down to personal preference and taste. Make it easy for yourself - consult the expert and get fitted for swimwear as you would lingerie.

She will work with you - not just your body shape, but also for your lifestyle and personal taste. You will leave feeling comfortable with your purchase and confident in your own shape.
The number of users of openSUSE, the community GNU/Linux distribution supported by the Germany SUSE Linux company, has grown, with an average of 400,000 DVD images being downloaded each month.

openSUSE sees 1600 new installations and 500.000 package installations per months, according to Alberto Planas, a member of the openSUSE development since 2012 and an employee of SUSE.

He mentioned the figures during a presentation at the annual openSUSE conference held in Nuremberg from 22 June to 26 June.

openSUSE has three streams of development: Tumbleweed is a rolling distribution that has all the latest stable versions of software.

The main development codebase is known as Factory, which is bleeding edge stuff not guaranteed to be fully stable and not intended to be used by humans. The core system packages receive automated testing via openQA.

Alberto Planas giving his presentation at the openSUSE conference in Nuremberg.

And then there is Leap, which uses the source from the SUSE's enterprise distribution and is rock-solid as far as stability.

Some other interesting facts from Planas' presentation:
It is widely known that about 90% of e-waste ends up in a landfill. That is ecologically dangerous, irresponsible and wasteful.

Dutch company, Ynvolve (pronounced Involve), one of the major global "end of life/lease" (EOL) IT specialists, has established a joint venture (JV) in Australia to bring its best practice here  reuse, repurpose and recycle  to show that there is still value in superseded computing, networking, and communications hardware.

Dean Michael is the local partner and manager of the JV that offers the majority of Ynvolves services here. His business partner is Dutchman Martijn Niessen, chief executive of Ynvolve and the Infinite Group who said that after 10 years of European customer satisfaction it is time to expand into the Asia-Pacific region.

Michael, a South African by birth, is also establishing a presence in in his home country.

The remainder of the interview is given below as a Q and A.

There are many companies offering EOL services  whats different about Ynvolve?

We have a 360 view of a customers needs  not just the disposal of EOL computing. Our main motivators are to help customers comply with the European Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive and the 1998 Data Protection Act  or their Aussie equivalents.

For starters, we do not just buy back EOL equipment. Many other companies offer that service, so we have to be different. Where we are better is that we have access to many more markets for refurbished and repurposed equipment  Europe, US, BRIC countries, South Africa, and now Australia. Because of that, a lot less is going to end up in the waste stream. A lot more is reused, and thats good for everyone.

While the economy of scale is in handling multiple units we will also look at smaller quantities  anything to keep it out of eBay or auction houses.

Surely the challenge is to put a fair price on the equipment  that must be risky?

The general "industry" rule is that EOL  say a three-year-old lease expiry  is worth around the same as the payout residual, say 10%. Then you have decommissioning costs, data migration, data erasure, packing, and shipping  all before it reaches us. The buy-back price helps the client cover those "hidden" disposal costs and often very much more.

For the moment most of the major inventory pricing is done by a Netherlands-based team of specialists with an incredibly relevant depth of experience  thats great, as I can send over a list at the end of the day and it's ready and costed by the next morning.

Optionally you can ask us to handle it on consignment that may bring in even higher values if we can find a new buyer.

Because we have access to larger global markets we may have buyers for say, old UC systems, or to those who want used workstations to cost-effectively extend the life of an installation  we often can offer more than straight "second-hand merchants".

Isnt labour your biggest cost?

Yes, the cost of testing, data erasure, reinstallation and ensuring tech stuff works before resale is costly. But that is our responsibility  not the client who has sold it. We have to warrant goods  usually for a year - as fit for purpose, so it is our risk if warranty return rates increase (we target for less than 5%) or we simply get stuck with unsaleable lemons. And there are issues of software licences where a used PC is worth less than the cost of an operating system or the productivity software installed on it.

You seem focused on refurbishment as a way to avoid e-waste?

Its a tragedy that EOL cycles so heavily influence equipment replacement. A three-to-five-year-old PC or notebook has a lot of life left in it especially if you add more memory or upgrade hard disk space. Some businesses cant afford new and would rather pay a few hundred dollars for a great used commercial grade machine than use cheap white box clones.

Then there is a demand from larger companies wanting to maintain existing equipment  IT Lifecycle extension.

We are finding that there is a burgeoning market in spares  just like an automotive wrecker. Tried buying DDR 2 ram lately, or a smaller hard disk that works with an older BIOS, or want to match an older UC handset?

All this is better than shipping it off to an auction house or landfill - refurb/re-use/repurpose creates the maximum value for all.

When we have to scrap things it is done 100% to the ISO process, and best practice means all metals and plastics are recycled  there is little e-waste.

What about Ynvolves other services?

Its a case of gently, gently at first. We have about 15 staff here and ten times that globally, mostly based in the Netherlands. We need to build partnerships with local technicians, freight, logistics and more to expand services. I am happy to hear from others that share our environmental concerns  you will find us very open and honest.

At present clients are calling us to see what we can do  not giving us a fixed brief to buy their old stuff. Ynvolves 360 customer philosophy means we are able to consult offering free or paid services including whether they should dispose of, or repurpose the equipment, data migration to the cloud or new devices, Mil Spec data erasure (critical for protection of private information as well as corporate secrets  imagine all those price lists or company IP on old server and workstation) and more. Our offer depends on what a client needs!

Where are your clients coming from  this is a young business?

Global referral from Ynvolve is a start. Burning shoe leather works also. But its amazing how quickly we have cemented our reputation here and are getting more calls from finance providers, major ASX companies, government, and education. Even small business is catered for.

So ends an interview with a what could be best described as a human dynamo  this Millennial is tech savvy, totally focused, highly efficient, and will succeed.

Ynvolves Sydney office is at 608 Harris Street, Ultimo, email apac.sales@ynvolve.com

My take is that this company, its international backing and systems, and its local manager have long-term legs.
Australian and New Zealand shoppers still like the "human touch" when doing their online shopping, despite a newly released study showing that chatbots and automation are taking over customer service in the name of efficiency.

The study of 1000 Australians and their New Zealand counterparts, commissioned by LogMeIn, reveals that mobile is quickly emerging as a vital component for eCommerce, but that 93% of ANZ online shoppers believe there should always be a way to contact a real person during a mobile experience.

And, 74% said they are open to an offer of help via a proactive chat invitation on a mobile website.

Globally, the research  conducted by Vanson Bourne for LogMeIn - showed that on average only 52% of respondents reported that they were satisfied with their last mobile engagement with a business, with 91% of respondents unlikely to do business with a company following a bad mobile experience. LogMeIn says these results are incredibly problematic.

{loadpositrion peter}Among the key findings for Australia and New Zealand, was that mobile is a critical part of the shopping experience for both purchase and product research engagements.

A total of 42% of ANZ respondents reported that they regularly use their mobile device to research products or services before buying, while 62% will actually purchase these products or services on their mobile device.

Other key findings for ANZ include:

 Speed is key

Mobile is all about ease of use and finding information fast. A total of 38% of consumers report having left a website in the last four weeks due to difficulties in finding support contact information. When looking for product or service information, 45% report giving up within a minute of their search.

 Mobile commerce puts pressure on support

Customers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of support available through a mobile website or app. Easy to find contact information for support ranked highest (44%) among the factors to ensure a good mobile experience. And 69% report that they have abandoned a mobile experience because it was too difficult to initiate contact. More respondents (63%) report that they use a search engine to get answers to their questions over a companys website or app. When customers abandon the website or app, they are exposed to competing offers, potentially losing the company a sale.

 Human interaction is imperative; use of chat is growing

About 93%of respondents believe there should always be a way to contact a real person during a mobile experience; and a majority of respondents  71%  report that they would be open to an offer of help via a chat invitation while on a mobile website.

 Security and other issues are hindering mobile spending

A total of 63% of consumers reported that they would spend more money via their mobile device if one or more concerns were addressed. And 29% believe it should be easier to compare products on the mobile device while 23% cited lack of confidence in security of eCommerce sites and apps as a significant issue.

There are more ways than ever for companies to engage with customers and mobile is a vital part of a companys eCommerce success, said Dave Campbell, vice-president of product marketing for customer engagement and support at LogMeIn.

Customers expect a seamless experience and access to information across all of the channels and devices they use. While not meeting these demands can come with an enormous price tag, a good mobile experience can create a competitive differentiator, drive revenue, and turn prospects into loyal customers.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
The latest Paris Jackson 2016 news revealed that the actress is fuming over child porn allegations against her father, Michael Jackon, which resurfaced recently. The 18-year-old daughter of the King of Pop defended her dad on social media.

USA Today reported that online tabloid Radar has published material found by the police during the search of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County last 2003. These were the same evidence used at the King of Pop's trial for child molestation charges in 2005.

He was acquitted on 14 felony and misdemeanor charges. However, it still wasn't enough for some. Paris Jackson took to Twitter to defend her father.

"Unfortunately negativity will always sell," she wrote. "I urge you all to ignore the trash & the parasites who make a career trying to slander my father."

In Radar's report, Jackson's twisted porn collection that included "filthy photos of men, women, boys and girls in perverted positions" as well as "drugs to treat sex addiction, with multiple prescriptions written by a variety of physicians for people close to the star" were found by the police.

"The documents collected by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department paint a dark and frightening picture of Jackson," an investigator told the publication. "The documents exposed Jackson as a manipulative, drug-and-sex-crazed predator who used blood, gore, sexually explicit images of animal sacrifice and perverse adult sex acts to bend children to his will."

A source added that "Michael Jackson had truly perverse sexual appetites." These materials were said to be relevant to the issues of the pop star's intent and method.

Tavis Smiley, the author of a new biography for Michael Jackson, shared his thoughts on the allegations. He described it as a "smear campaign."

"The fans think someone is attempting to retry him once again in the court of public opinion," he said. "My conclusion: Michael didn't live in peace, he didn't die in peace and apparently they're not going to let him rest in peace."
ELON  Elon University will use a million-dollar grant to expand its popular literacy program that helps Alamance County children.

The five-year grant from the Oak Foundation is for $1,015,100. The grant, announced Friday, is the largest received by Elons It Takes a Village project.

The university said it will use the money to support a recent expansion of the after-school tutoring program to five schools in the Alamance-Burlington school system.

With the grant, we will continue to build strong community partnerships and serve even more students, said Jean Rattigan-Rohr, the founder and director of the Village Project. I cant wait to see how the Village continues to deepen and broaden its services with this support.

Elon began the Village Project in 2008 to do two things: help local children learn to read and give its education majors some real-world experience working with children. The program opened with 16 children, who came to the Elon campus once a week after school to work on their reading.

What made this program different was that the childrens parents and family members came along, too. During the tutoring sessions they worked with their children alongside the Elon tutors.

As demand for the free program grew, the Village Project moved off campus to a downtown Burlington library. This spring, the program began offering after-school services at Andrews, Eastlawn, Haw River and Newlin elementary schools and Graham Middle.

The ranks of tutors have grown to include Elon professors, staff members and students who arent education majors. This spring, the Village Project served more than 200 students and their families.

The project has grown beyond tutoring in reading. It now offers instruction in science and music and holds a free two-week summer camp on the Elon campus. The Village Project approach has been recreated in Jamaica and in three U.S. colleges.

This is the Oak Foundations third grant to the Village Project. Based in Geneva, the foundation deals with global social and environmental issues, especially ones that significantly affect disadvantaged people. The foundations U.S. office is in Chapel Hill.
Attorney General Brad Schimel says combating human trafficking is one of the hardest fights facing Wisconsin. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

By of the

The effort to combat human trafficking is one of the hardest fights facing Wisconsin, the state's top law enforcement official says.

"We do have a serious problem," state Attorney General Brad Schimel said Friday in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And this is going to be one of our toughest social services and criminal justice challenges."

He said part of the problem is that traffickers do such extensive emotional manipulation of their victims.

"Our biggest challenge is just getting victims to agree to be rescued," Schimel said.

His comments come as City of Milwaukee officials are calling for more help addressing Milwaukee's human trafficking problems, and yet another case is winding through the courts showing the brutal violence linked to the crime.

In that case, Jamal Lawrence Russ of Milwaukee is accused of trafficking, threatening and causing bodily harm, and witness intimidation.

"This issue cannot be ignored," Ald. Bob Donovan said at a public safety meeting last week. "It just continues to escalate and deteriorate neighborhoods, impacting lives in terrible ways."

Milwaukee has developed a reputation as a hub for sex trafficking, stemming from high-profile prosecutions of traffickers and other law enforcement actions.

In 2013, a nationwide FBI sting on human trafficking recovered 10 children in Milwaukee  the second highest number in the country.

Many of the victims  children and adults  are treated like "indentured servants," Schimel said.

Prosecuting pimps

Indeed, as the recent case against Russ shows, traffickers often start out by romancing women and gaining their trust before coercing them to engage in prostitution and turn over all their earnings. Often the situation escalates to physical assaults.

The case against Russ began in January, when a severely beaten woman showed up at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Joseph hospital.

According to court records:

The woman told police that Russ, whom she identified as her pimp, punched her and whipped her with a belt because he was angry she had the flu and left a knife with jelly in a peanut butter jar.

She said she first met Russ in December 2011 and he quickly began setting up online prostitution ads with her and another woman. He threatened to beat her and other women if they didn't give him the money from the prostitution "dates."

Russ tattooed her lower back with his nickname. He also paid for two other tattoos: one of the word "Loyalty" across her chest and another of his face, inked on her neck.

In November 2015, the woman said, another girl who had just turned 18 moved into Russ' house in the 8600 block of W. Melvina St. The girl quickly became involved in the trafficking ring, the woman said.

In April, Russ was charged with another count of human trafficking. The victim in that case told police Russ took advantage of the fact that she was in love with him.

Russ promised the woman if she "worked" for him by prostituting herself, they could get a house and have a family together. When the woman told him she wanted to leave a couple months later, Russ beat her. After that, the woman stayed with him out of fear.

Last week, Russ was charged with intimidating the two women from jail, either through a direct call or three-way phone calls. Prosecutors have filed a motion to rescind his phone, visitation and mail privileges while in jail.

Russ is a registered sex offender stemming from a second-degree sexual assault conviction of raping a 14-year-old girl in 2006 with another man. Last month, he pleaded guilty to violating the state's sex offender registry and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, or time served. By then, the two other trafficking cases had been charged, and he has remained in jail since.

New task force

Much of the law enforcement focus is trying to make sure traffickers and those who pay for sex are punished, rather than the victims, Schimel said.

"This is being driven by demand," he said.

Donovan and Ald. Jose Perez pushed for more efforts to crack down on both traffickers, also known as pimps, and those who pay for sex, who are frequently called "johns," at a public safety committee meeting last Monday with representatives of the state Department of Justice. Schimel did not attend the meeting.

"I'm all for holding these johns accountable, and addressing the demand side," Donovan said. "I realize many of these individuals who are involved in prostitution are addicted, are victims themselves."

More than two years ago, Donovan and Perez touted a new initiative to target "johns" and book them into county jail facilities so their mug shots would be posted online. At the committee meeting, Perez said he wanted more information about the traffickers, too.

"I'm curious how many we  the state, the county  have actually prosecuted," Perez said. "They're responsible for this trafficking. I'm wondering what we're doing about them."

The state Department of Justice is gathering that data from county prosecutors, Schimel said.

The state's child sex trafficking task force, which was formed last year, also is training law enforcement to work with victims and collect better data on the crime, he said.

The task force has the broad goal of developing a comprehensive response to combat trafficking, free victims, and help them get whatever assistance they need.

"The need is to develop greater sensitivity to the victims, really making sure that we have helped them get back to being safe and healthy members of society," Schimel said.
Geneva Loveless, a client at the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care, reads to 2-year-old Caleb Jackson and other children during a story time. The center regularly plans activities that pair adult clients with children. Credit: Michael Sears

By of the

On a recent morning, a group of 2-year-olds joined hands and waddled, flock-like, from the Meerkat room on the east side of the St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care to the reading room on the far west side of the building.

Waiting for them there were a couple adults on the other end of the intergenerational spectrum. It took a minute, but soon everyone settled in for some stories.

Paulette Smith, a volunteer, read "Frog Cops." Spoiler alert. The last line in the book is: "The frog cops lock up the frog with spots."

Then it was time for Geneva Loveless  age somewhere north of 70, she allowed  to read. And the fairy tale she read pretty much summed up what St. Ann's is all about.

A grateful fairy rewards a helpful young girl by whispering into her ear the secret to happiness. And so the girl lives all her life in a state of joy. Not until she is very old and still very happy does she share the fairy's secret:

"She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, no matter how old or young, rich or poor, had need of me."



That was the very secret that revealed itself to the center's founder and president, Sister Edna Lonergan, in the early 1980s.

Lonergan was then the director of rehabilitation for her order, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, at its health center in St. Francis.

She got the idea to open an adult day care in the basement of the center. It proved to be very popular.

"We had to hire more people," she said. "They were mostly moms, single moms. So when the schools were closed, I lost all my staff. They had to be home taking care of the children. So I said, 'Well, bring them in.'"

What happened next was as unexpected as it was perhaps inevitable.

"We took our babies over to our sisters who were the most frail  the most frail  and we put the babies in their arms. A couple of them started to cry. Not the babies. The adults. They looked at that baby in their arms and said, 'I used to be a really good teacher.' Or, 'Can I really hold this baby? Can I rock this baby?'"

The babies had a gift  themselves  and a need to give it.

The adults had a gift  themselves  and a need to give it.

Each gave meaning to the other. They gave each other purpose.

"If I stress nothing else," Lonergan said, "everybody needs a sense of purpose. Everybody. It doesn't matter what degree of dementia they have. It doesn't matter what age they are. What disability they have. Everyone needs a sense of purpose. Everybody."



In 1999, the St. Ann Center opened its Stein Campus on Milwaukee's south side. Last year, it opened its Bucyrus Campus, a $21 million facility on what Lonergan said was "two blocks of contaminated soil."

The 2-year-olds from the Meerkat room are among 100 children, and fairy tale teller Geneva Loveless is among the 90 adults receiving day care services at the Bucyrus campus, which is still under construction.

A dental clinic specifically for people with disabilities will open this summer. Plans also include a state-of-the-art Alzheimer's care program, an overnight respite care unit and a 500 seat band shell.

Lonergan figures it will take another $3.5 million to finish the place. Then, she says, perhaps she'll build another.

"I'm a believer that if you put an idea out there, and God wants it to happen, it will hang together."

Like when she was 3. She remembers standing on the steps of her church, south of Boston, in Braintree, Mass.

She doesn't remember much else, except the steps and a seemingly very tall nun, dressed as nuns did in those days in a black habit.

"I was in awe," she said.

"I thought, 'That's what I'm going to be when I grow up.' I didn't know what she did or anything. But I was in awe, and I knew that's what I would do."
The Lincoln Hills School for Boys and its sister institution the Copper Lake School for Girls have been under investigation by federal and state authorities regarding allegations of prisoner abuse, child neglect, excessive use of pepper spray, destruction of records and misconduct in office. Credit: Journal Sentinel files

An angry public sent a clear message several times last year on government records: Those records belong to the public and should be easily available except in the rarest of circumstances. Both on the July 4 weekend attempt to gut the state's open records law and on later efforts by the Public Records Board to curb access to certain messages, the public reacted strongly and clearly: It has no interest in being shut out of its own government.

Smart politicians who understand that they serve at the pleasure of the public will take that message to heart.

The jury is still out on whether Gov. Scott Walker gets it. Or rather maybe he gets it, but only in part. His directive to state agencies this spring was a welcome sign. Aimed at speeding up state responses to public records requests, tracking them better and giving clearer guidelines on how much they should cost and how long they should take to fulfill, the directive could go a long way toward increasing government transparency.

And he's all for transparency when it comes to certain other politicians: "Hillary should release records on Clinton Foundation  as promised," he tweeted this week. And he's right: Hillary Clinton should. Just as she should release her Wall Street speeches and should have been quicker and more transparent on her State Department emails. Not all of those are standard public records, but the public still deserves to have all the information it can on a person who wants to be president. (And yes, the same applies to Donald Trump.)

But like the Obama administration (witness the initial refusal to disclose the 911 tapes in the Orlando shooting), Clinton talks a much better game on transparency than she delivers.

But so does Walker. His office was one of the driving forces (along with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos) in last summer's attempt to gut the open records law. And his office was very quick to use the Public Records Board's redefinition of certain records to bar access to records it did not want to release.

And it continues: The Journal Sentinel reported this week that the administration is keeping "a trove of prison documents and videos to itself, preventing the public from examining information about alleged assaults, attempted suicides and the death of an inmate who allegedly overdosed on heroin."

In other instances, the Journal Sentinel reported, the Department of Corrections is releasing documents only after months of delay  a practice that in one instance was described as outrageous by Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.

The department's practice of denying and delaying the release of records has become clear in the six months since an investigation into the state's two youth prisons spilled into the public, the Journal Sentinel reported.

The public has every right to know what's been happening in its name at those institutions. If Walker is truly interested in government transparency, he can demonstrate it by lighting a fire under DOC and other officials to release the records now.

And finally, there's Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., who continues to fight an effort to turn over uncensored immigration hold requests sought by Voces de la Frontera. Two courts have so far ruled that the hold requests are public records, but Clarke has taken the matter to the state Supreme Court, which this week said it would hear the case.

Clarke's legal fight raises questions about his commitment to government transparency (not to mention his lack of concern for taxpayer dollars), and, as I said in April, he's wrong on the essential issue. This is not a fight over immigration policy. This is a simple question about what is a public record.

When they do take up the case, the justices on the Supreme Court should use the opportunity to remind officials just how important open records are to government transparency, and to the people. It's a reminder that officials such as Clarke, Walker and Clinton could all use.

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen is the Journal Sentinel's associate editorial page editor. Email: efranzen@jrn.com; Twitter: @efranzen1
SHARE

By ,

Whether Wisconsin's unique nonpartisan elections board was a failed experiment or was so successful that it became a political target, this much is true: It goes away this week.

Targeted for elimination by Gov. Scott Walker and fellow Republicans who control the Legislature, the Government Accountability Board officially disbands as of Thursday. It was the only nonpartisan elections and oversight board in the country.

In its place are two new commissions made up of partisan appointees that will regulate Wisconsin's elections, ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws.

Those new commissions look a lot like the partisan panels that were widely disparaged as ineffective before they were replaced by the GAB eight years ago.

The push to dismantle the board came after it approved an investigation into Walker and conservative groups that the Wisconsin Supreme Court eventually deemed to be unconstitutional.

Critics of the GAB argued that the board was unfair and overzealous, pointing to the Walker probe as evidence.

"I think people want a fresh start," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who voted for creating the GAB but became one of its loudest critics.

Part of that fresh start includes replacing the GAB's executive director. At the same time the board of former judges is dissolved, executive director Kevin Kennedy is retiring. He has been working on Wisconsin elections for 37 years and has been in charge of them since 1983.

As to what spelled the downfall of the board, Kennedy puts it this way: "The people in power did not like being held to account."

The board's record should be celebrated, not disparaged, Kennedy said in an interview.

"To me I think that the GAB left a mark of what can be a very positive way," Kennedy said. "I say that by looking at what the agency accomplished in eight short years and its ability to navigate in some tumultuous times."

The board was created with broad bipartisan support in response to the so-called caucus scandal in the Capitol that resulted in five former legislators being convicted of campaigning illegally.

Fitzgerald now says its creation was a "knee-jerk" response to the scandal, even though a bipartisan group of lawmakers discussed the idea with nonpartisan government watchdog groups for months.

"I think many of us who supported it, including myself who voted for it, thought that it would be certainly an agency that would be more independent and probably just do a better job than what was going on at the old elections and ethics board," Fitzgerald said. "But I think we could clearly see that didn't work out."

During its eight years, the board oversaw recall elections in 2011 and 2012 targeting Walker and members of the state Senate, implemented a voter registration system and campaign finance database and is now easing the transition into the state's new photo identification requirement for voting.

The old board was comprised of nonpartisan former judges. Members of the new commissions are appointed by legislative leaders and the governor, subject to approval by the state Senate.

Showing the partisan nature of the new commissions, members of the panel overseeing ethics include former Democratic Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and former Republican Assembly Majority Leader Pat Strachota.

Kennedy said the new ethics and elections commissions should aspire to be like the board they are replacing. And his advice for the new commissions is brief: "Follow the law. Put aside partisan interests."



Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sbauerAP and find more of his work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-bauer
SHARE

By of the

Several people were injured in a traffic crash that involved four cars and a Milwaukee County Transit bus early Sunday morning at Fond du Lac Ave., and 35th St.

A vehicle rear-ended a car that was stopped at the intersection. The car set off a chain reaction in which two more cars collided with each other. One of the vehicles crashed into a Milwaukee County Transit bus, police said in a news release.

Several people were injured, including three people on the bus. Two people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries, and others were treated on scene.

The driver of the vehicle that caused the crash was detained at the scene, police said, but it wasn't clear what charges, if any, the driver might face.
French President Francois Hollande (from left), Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault chat with UDI party members Arnaud Richard, Jean Arthuis and Jean-Christophe Lagarde. Credit: Getty Images

SHARE

By

London  The European Union wants a quickie divorce, but Britain wants time to think things over.

Senior EU politicians demanded Saturday that the U.K. quickly cut its ties with the 28-nation bloc  a process Britain says won't begin for several months  as the political and economic shockwaves from the U.K.'s vote to leave reverberated around the world.

"There is a certain urgency ... so that we don't have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at a meeting in Berlin of the EU's six founding nations.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the split was "not an amicable divorce" but noted it was never "a tight love affair anyway."

Britons voted 52% to 48% Thursday in favor of ending their country's 43-year membership in the 28-nation bloc.

But no country has ever left the EU before, so no one knows exactly how the process will play out. Britain must, at some point, unambiguously notify the bloc of its intentions and set a two-year clock ticking for negotiating its departure. Until then, Britain remains an EU member.

In contrast to the clamoring of EU officials, the leaders of Britain's "leave" campaign, who had reassured voters that the EU would offer Britain good terms for a new relationship, were largely silent Saturday.

England's 300-year-old union with Scotland could be another casualty of the referendum, since most people in Scotland voted to remain in the EU but were outvoted by a majority in much-larger England.

Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Saturday that her semi-autonomous administration would seek immediate talks with EU nations and institutions to ensure that Scotland could remain in the bloc.

"(We will) explore possible options to protect Scotland's place in the EU," she said after meeting with her cabinet in Edinburgh, adding that a new referendum on Scottish independence is "very much on the table."

Scotland voted in 2014 to remain a part of the U.K., but that decision was seen as being conditional on the U.K. staying in the EU.

The victorious "leave" campaigners have said there's no rush to trigger Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which will begin a two-year exit process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the U.K. and what will become a 27-nation bloc.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday and said his successor, to be chosen by October, should be the one to navigate the tricky process of withdrawing from the bloc.

The favorite to succeed him, former London Mayor Boris Johnson, has said there's "no need for haste"  but EU leaders are saying the opposite, in insistent tones.

Juncker said Saturday the British had voted to leave and "it doesn't make any sense to wait until October to try and negotiate the terms of their departure."

"I would like to get started immediately," he said.

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron expressed the frustrations that many EU politicians feel, accusing Britain of taking the EU "hostage" with a referendum called to solve a domestic political problem: challenges to Cameron from right-wing euro-skeptics.

"The failure of the British government" has opened up "the possibility of the crumbling of Europe," Macron said at a debate in Paris.

Top diplomats from the European Union's six founding nations  France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg  met in Berlin for hastily arranged talks and stressed that the exit process should be speedy.

"There must be clarity," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters. "The people have spoken and we need to implement this decision."

France's Ayrault suggested Britain could name a new prime minister within "several days"  but that is likely instead to take several months. The process calls for Conservative lawmakers to winnow candidates down to two choices who will then be voted on in a postal ballot of party members.

Legally, there is little the EU can do to force Britain's hand, since Article 50 must be triggered by the country that is leaving. But political pressure and economic instability may force British politicians to act more quickly than they had hoped.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a conciliatory note, saying it "shouldn't take forever" for Britain to deliver its formal notification of leaving.

"There is no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations. They must be conducted properly," Merkel said at a news conference in Potsdam, outside Berlin.
Brooks trial: DA, victims' families hail verdict, seek 'much healing ahead'

Jurors around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday reported they had reached a verdict. Court will reconvene at 10:45 for the reading of the verdict.
Steve Conto cleans a grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee on Saturday. Conto, of Menasha, has created a database of Wisconsinites, or those with connections to Wisconsin, who died in Vietnam. He is tracking down all 1,248 graves. Credit: Calvin Mattheis

Dropping to one knee, Steve Conto patted the grave marker of Richard J. Leonard and quietly said, "I won't forget you, buddy. Welcome home."

Then I followed him across Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee to Wilfredo L. Gonzalez's final resting place, where he spoke similar words.

These are not guys that Conto ever knew. In the past 14 years, Conto has visited, pampered and carefully plotted the graves of more than 1,000 Wisconsin service members killed in Vietnam.

In total, he has identified 1,248 of these heroes, including those who lived in Wisconsin, those who worked here, those who married someone from here, and those who lived elsewhere but are buried here. He plans to get to every grave, and that includes those in 30 other states, including Arlington National Cemetery, and one each in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

He travels with a clipboard, weed trimmer and a bucket of cleaning supplies.

"I clean the marker and I trim around the marker. I sweep it, wash it, clean it, dry it and put a flag by it if I'm allowed, depending on the regulations of the cemetery. Then I take a picture. I'll render honors (salute) and I'll say something to the individual, welcome home or something like that, a quick greeting," Conto said.

And then he does perhaps the most important step of his process. He records the exact location of the grave. Richard Leonard, who died in 1970 at age 24, is at Block 14, eight rows from the section's west edge and eight columns from the south edge. Wilfredo Gonzalez, who died in 1968 at age 19, is six rows from the fence in Block 54, even with the intersection of 76th and Townsend streets.

Let me illustrate the need for Conto's efforts. I checked the cemetery's online records and also called Holy Cross and had difficulty finding Gonzalez's grave. Why? Because they list him as Willfredo Gonzales, a different spelling for both his first and last name, making him essentially lost. The cemetery blamed it on the funeral home.

Conto lives in Menasha and works as a safety specialist at Oneida Casino in Green Bay. He is 58, which means he is too young to have served in Vietnam. He enlisted in the Navy in 1976 on active duty and retired in 1998. His older stepbrother was wounded in Vietnam, and Conto calls all the guys who served there his big brothers.

He calls what he does for Wisconsin's KIAs the Final Bridge, and said he got the idea in 2002 after seeing the film, "We Were Soldiers."

"I wanted to create a bridge between their names on the (Vietnam Veterans Memorial) wall and their final resting places ... so that families, comrades and friends can easily find them," is the way he describes his purpose. He also has his own plywood memorial wall that he sets up in his yard certain times of the year.

He was surprised to find the state and individual counties did not have complete burial records.

"At one time I had over 100 that I didn't know where they were at," Conto said. "I did all the research of calling families, calling cemeteries, you name it, brothers, sisters, mothers that I could contact throughout the country. And I was able to find them all."

He posts his information at VVMF.org, which is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and you can look up service members by name on the site. He also shares it with county veterans service officers, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project at Highground in Neillsville, Wis., where you can seek grave information by calling (715) 743-4224 or emailing highgrnd@tds.net.

June Berg, the learning center coordinator at Highground, has known Conto for three or four years. "He is very passionate about what he does," she said. "He's been out there trying to locate all the Wisconsin KIA's graves. He has a detailed record of where they are located, right down to left of the mayberry bush."

Holy Cross Cemetery has 41 of those graves, second only to Wood National Cemetery with 43, Conto said. He has been to cemeteries in a dozen other states on his list, and vows to visit the rest. All the research and travel costs come out of his pocket. Sometimes his wife, Cindy, or buddy Mike Weaver, who was a medic in Vietnam, go along with him in all kinds of weather.

Conto, wearing an Iwo Jima T-shirt and Navy cap, got to 19 of the 41 graves at Holy Cross last weekend, so he'll be back.

"It's just as hallowed ground as the wall in D.C. and should be kept as such," he said.

"This war was supposed to be just a temporary interruption in their lives, not a permanent one," Conto has written about his quest. "I do not want for them to be forgotten. They never got the chance to have a full life. So this is my stewardship to these guys."

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@jrn.com. Connect with my public page at Facebook.com/Journalist.Jim.Stingl
Reddit Email 0 Shares

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Jordans Arabic daily al-Dustour [Constitution] is reporting on what it calls the Great Battle for Aleppo.

Such a battle isnt, ideally, supposed to be taking place, by the terms of the cessation of hostilities reached in late November. The rebels in East Aleppo (pop. 300,000) and surrounding areas should have ceased attacks, and the regime in West Aleppo (pop. 2 mn.) should have ceased artillery fire. Both should have prepared for new elections in which they could choose members of parliament to their liking.

The cessation of hostilities never included the radical al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front or Support Front. It kept attacking regime-held areas south of Aleppo, trying to cut supply lines to West Aleppo. Unfortunately, some of the US-backed Free Syrian Army remnants allied with al-Qaeda in these offensives. Russia used air power to hit back hard, sometimes striking not al-Qaeda but US-backed rebels. Those attacks led US Sec. of State John Kerry to warn a couple of weeks ago that the US was losing patience with Russian and Syrian regime attacks on Free Syrian Army units. But Russia complains that Kerry, despite his promises, has been unable to separate the FSA fighters from their al-Qaeda allies, so it is inevitable that some of the former would get hit in Russian airstrikes on the latter. Last week the Russians said it is they who are losing patience, with the failure of the US-backed vetted groups to dissociate themselves from al-Qaeda and its offensives, which break the cease-fire.

These squabbles over details cannot hide a very big elephant in the room, which is that Russia and the Damascus regime of Bashar al-Assad want to take East Aleppo.

This move is not justified in any defensive way. Al-Qaeda isnt big in East Aleppo, though some of the FSA units have gone pretty far in the fundamentalist direction and are considered terrorists by Moscow. This offensive is a naked power grab, and if it succeeds it could translate into more years of survival for al-Assad and his Baath government.

Al-Dustour says that Russian and Syrian fighter jets (apparently in tandem) have for the past few days been subjecting East Aleppo and the area immediately to its north to intensive aerial bombardment, in support of Syrian Arab Army troops of the regime who are attempting to surround the opposition brigades in the east of the city. The SAA is being helped by Lebanons Shiite Hizbullah militia, which has vowed to send more fighters to Aleppo.

The aerial bombardment of East Aleppo did not stop Saturday night at all and continued into Sunday morning. The Syrian observatory alleged that the Russian strikes have been aimed at a road in the north of the city which constitutes the last supply route into the east. The Syrian air force has been bombing East Aleppo itself. Some three dozen have been killed by this bombing, including civilians.



Related video added by Juan Cole:

AFP from a couple of days ago:  Syrian regime airstrikes kill at least four in Aleppo
In this years US presidential election, Europe is sticking to its guns once again favoring a Democrat over a Republican. But, this time, the reasons are quite different.

Europes tradition of backing Democrats



In this years US presidential elections, Europe is sticking to its guns once again favoring a Democrat, Hillary Clinton, over the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Donald Trump. A YouGov poll showed that Ms. Clinton would win 46 per cent of voters support to just six per cent for Trump, if Europeans were the electorate for the 2016 presidential elections in the United States.

Historically, Europeans, especially those residing west of the former Iron Curtain, feel closer to the center-left of American politics and the Democratic Party. While Obamacare, contested by Republicans, struggles to survive, universal health care, free education, unemployment benefits, retirement pensions and myriad other welfare programs stand as a source of national pride to many European nations.

Europeans have often found themselves rallying behind Democrats, throwing their full support to anyone from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama and now Hillary Clinton. We remember that back in 2008, a Gallup poll had European citizens preferring Barack Obama to John McCain by nearly 3-to-1, with only the Baltic countries rooting for the Republican candidate and his purported stronger stance against Russia.

Fear of Trump

If ideology and a particular set of policies were what drove Europe into backing Democrats over Republicans in years gone by, the motives this time might be different. When asked how they feel about Donald Trump becoming president, the most common response amongst Europeans is fear (46%). The most common response to Clinton becoming president is relief (40%).

Throughout the campaign, Ms. Clinton has indeed painstakingly branded herself as the safe option who can prevent handing the presidency to the GOP (Republican Party) and prevent a political fiasco. With that in mind, its becoming clearer that the new American story will be born out of fear, not hope. At this point, in this two-horse race, Europeans are more concerned with keeping Trump out of the White House than with finding a kindred spirit in Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton, Europes pick, has the highest unfavorable rating of any Democratic candidate in the past 30 years, according to the same YouGov poll. Shes a far cry from the glitz and heartfelt enthusiasm that Europeans universally felt for Barack Obama. None of the enthusiasm, hope for change or the frenzy that once turned Europe into Obamaland accompany the current presidential campaign.

The two Americans

Leadership in the United States is deep in the doldrums. The political offer is scant with candidates on both sides of the aisle turning against each other, wooing voters and swaying in the undecided. Whatever arguments Hillary Clinton strives to bring into the debate, Donald Trump quickly drowns out in a spate of populist messages and tacky remarks.

In a year of insurgency, battling a hysterical Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate. She is predictable, moderate, and an adherent of political correctness. With her at the helm, continuity is paramount and the Old America, with its principles, policies and promises, will keep the status quo intact. Presiding over a perceived slow decline of American power in the world and a lackluster American dream, Hillary Clintons term in office would be, first of all, business as usual.

Hillary, the reactionary candidate?

Thus, the Democratic candidate is no longer the symbol of American renewal. For many Europeans, Hillary Clinton is closer to John McCain than to Barack Obama. Fairly or unfairly, her way of doing politics is seen as old, tired and unexciting; she is no longer able to transform the United States and the world. Assuming that she gets elected, Hillary must address the fact that the old liberal-progressive story advertised by Democrats is loosely sutured and coming apart.

On the other hand, we have an erratic, brash, assertive and unabashed Republican candidate, who, so far, has ridden the crest of an immensely successful bid to become president of the United States. No one could have imagined Donald Trump clinching the Republican nomination and having a real shot of becoming the 45th American president. Trump is the anti-establishment candidate, the embodiment of an intolerant, aggressive America obsessed with its exceptionalism, looking to close in on itself, determined to become great again. It is this very confusion, frustration and discontent that Mr. Trump takes advantage of, promising Americans a better deal if they put him in the White House.

As for the European Union, the best deal it can hope for is a victory of the establishment camp. A win by Hillary Clinton, albeit a tepid one, would ensure that the United States stays on course and keeps populist tendencies at bay. A Donald Trump presidency, on the other hand, with his disdain for the European Union and NATO, while currying favor with Vladimir Putin and picking fights with the mayor of London, will seriously hurt the relationship between the EU and US and endanger Europes security, according to officials in the EU institutions.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO The Chuck Semancik Memorial Foundation announced its 2016 award winners from the graduating class at Bremerton High School. Each will receive $2,000 for their college education. The honorees are (from left) Christina Foresha, who will attend Mars Hill University in North Carolina; Cameron Dubos, George Fox University, Newberg, Oregon; Rima Miochy, Washington State University, receiving the Al Colvin memorial scholarship; and Tucker Alexander (not pictured), University of Arizona. Established in 2000 in honor of legendary football coach Chuck Semancik, the foundation has awarded $84,500 in scholarships to 67 Bremerton High graduates.

SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Chugach Federal Solutions delivered 1,570 pounds of peanut butter and jelly to the Kitsap County Food Bank Coalition. The coalition will be dispersing the PB&J to eight food banks throughout Kitsap County and Mason County, aiming to help families struggling to feed their children now that school is out. Chugach Federal Solutions is the prime contractor for Naval Base Kitsap. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Phil Shaffer of Bremerton won money and a trip to the Bahamas during his appearance on Wheel of Fortune May 30. Shaffer is a nuclear machinist for the Navy and is stationed on USS Nimitz. When he heard the Wheelmobile would be rolling into Everett, he jumped at the chance to audition to be a contestant. He won $54,350 in cash and prizes, including a trip to the Bahamas.

UNIVERSITY HONORS

Earning degrees

Kitsap County natives earned degrees during Linfield College commencement exercises on May 29.

Graduates from Bainbridge Island were Jeff W. Laws, B.A., Political Science; Alexandra R. McCarrel, B.S., Environtmental Studies-Science (magna cum laude); Mikhale McCarrel, B.S., Health Education; Emma L. Vukic, B.S., Mathematics

From Bremerton is graduate Jessica Dawn Sumsky, Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

SCHOOL HONORS

Math teacher honored

Kari Freiboth, a math teacher at South Kitsap's John Sedgwick Junior High, was awarded the regional Excellence in Mathematics Education award.

Freiboth, the math department chairwoman, has been a teacher in South Kitsap School District for 18 years, six at Mullenix Ridge Elementary and 12 at Sedgwick.

As the department chairwoman, she leads the other math teachers in a PLC (Professional Learning Community) model, meeting weekly with her team to share curriculum and assessment ideas and look at student work. She stays up-to-date on the latest learning trends and mathematics strategies.

The Excellence in Mathematics Education award was presented to her by the Washington State Mathematics Council and the Olympic Education Service District.

SK students earn scholarships

Soroptimist International Port Orchard has awarded 15 scholarships totaling $17,500 to students in the Port Orchard area.

To qualify for the scholarship, women must be at least a high school senior and in pursuit of post-secondary education of any kind, including professional, vocational, and academic studies not limited to colleges and universities.

The SI Port Orchard Education Scholarship was created through the generosity of our Kitsap County supporters. This scholarship was established because Soroptimist believes the most effective way to empower women and girls is by providing them with access to education. Educated women and girls are far more likely to realize their potential. Soroptimist means "best for women" and that's what we strive to be  an organization of women at their best helping other women to be their best. Soroptimist is a global organization who care about making our community and the world a better place for women and girls.

Scholarship recipients are:

*Sarah Bell, sophomore, Linfield College (OR)

*Alyssa Bruce, South Kitsap High School, Western Washington University

*Analise Burko, South Kitsap High School, University of Washington

*Emma Folkerts, Explorer Academy/Running Start (Olympic Community College), Montana State University Honors College

*Natalie Kathan, junior, Washington State University

*Kaitlynn Lawrence, Discovery High School, Olympic Community College

*Chloe Meyers, South Kitsap High School, Washington State University Honors Program

*Tabitha Nunley, South Kitsap High School, Eastern Washington University

*Monica Ohman, South Kitsap High School, Washington State University

*Noelle Peterson, Evergreen Lutheran High School, Concordia University-Portland

*Lauren Phelps, Discovery High School, Running Start (Olympic Community College), Olympic Community College

*Emily Richardson, sophomore, Washington State University

*Hayley Romo, sophomore, University of Redlands (CA)

*Bianca Salazar, South Kitsap High School, University of Portland

*Emma York, South Kitsap High School, University of Washington

IN THE SERVICE

Sailor of the year recognized

The Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific 2015 Sailor of the Year was recognized by the Navy League of the United States Bremerton/Olympic Peninsula Council during a recent luncheon.

SOY Missile Technician First Class Kenneth Louk, of Walkersville, West Virginia, was presented a soaring eagle statuette.

SWFPAC provides assembly, storage, check-out, on-load, and off-load of Trident D-5 strategic missiles; ensures custody, accountability and control of strategic weapons and material; publishes and maintains Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) procedures and conducts START inspections; and provides technical engineering services for guidance, missile, and launcher support equipment.

Louk is the Operations Department Leading Petty Officer, overseeing about 25 sailors.

COMMUNITY

Help for nonprofit serving families

Multiple foundations and service organizations stepped forward with funding assistance to launch EBC-West Sound, a branch of Issaquah-based Eastside Baby Corner. EBC-West Sound's goal is to reduce the impact of poverty on young children in Kitsap and North Pierce Counties by helping bridge the gap between what infants and little kids need and what families can afford.

EBC-West Sound is grateful to the following supporting organizations for their early support of the nonprofit's goal: A.Y. Petter Family-Advised Fund (Seattle Foundation), CHI Franciscan Foundation, Group Health Foundation, Bremerton Central Lions Club, Silverdale Rotary Club, Kitsap Commission on Children and Youth, Suquamish Foundation Appendix X, Soroptimist International of Port Orchard, National Diaper Bank Network and Kitsap Community Foundation Great Give Donors.

More than 100 local leaders and residents turned out for the recent grand opening and VIP events for EBC-West Sound. EBC-West Sound accepts donations of gently used, baby clean clothing, toys, books, and other items at 1463 NE Dawn Road, Bremerton on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and Saturdays from 9 to noon. A list of accepted items can be found at www.babycorner.org/donate-goods. Learn more at www.babycorner.org/ebc-west-sound or email westsoundinfo@babycorner.org.

Allstate donates to local programs

Kevin Bradley, Allstate Insurance agent in Silverdale, has helped secure $6,000 from The Allstate Foundation as part of the Helping Hands in the Community program.

The Allstate Foundation has awarded $2,000 each to the American Cancer Society, Thriller Track and Field Club and The Coffee Oasis, where Bradley volunteers.

The Allstate Foundation awards more than $2 million every year to nonprofit organizations across the country in honor of dedicated insurance agency owners who give back to their communities through outstanding volunteerism. To be eligible for nomination, Allstate Independent Agency owners must volunteer, mentor or lead a nonprofit of their choice.

Fiesta Ilocandia held

The Pacific Northwest Ilocandia Association, a non-profit multicultural organization, celebrated its 29th anniversary with the annual Fiesta Ilocandia on June 11.

The Fiesta was held at the multicultural center in Port Orchard. President Rudy Nartea opened the ceremonies and introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Oscar Bautista Hilman, who is one of only six Filipino-Americans who made the rank of general in the U.S. Armed Forces. General Hilman was then followed by the evening's special guest speaker, Lisa Rodrigues, public relations and media coordinator for the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort. Rodrigues presented Nartea with a sponsorship check of $1,000 to aid in the nonprofit's activities.

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer presented Nartea with a Congressional Record of Recognition, which recognizes PNIA's contributions to the community and Kitsap County.

LETTER OF THANKS

Community support for skate event

South Kitsap Skate Park Association would like to thank our community for attending our fourth anniversary SK Bowl Jam. We would also like to thank the local businesses that attended: The Loft from Poulsbo, Port Orchard Lighthouse, Starbucks on Lund and Papa John's. All the businesses were very generous. We would also like to thank South Kitsap Fire and Rescue for spending the day with our event. Thank you all.

Leslie Reynolds-Taylor

South Kitsap Skate Park Association
SHARE

By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD  Preserving Kitsap's pastoral settings may come down to what the county commissioners believe is "reasonable."

As Kitsap's three commissioners close in on finalizing a road map for governing growth the next 20 years, known as the county's comprehensive plan, they're also considering some so-called "reasonable measures" that might be taken to preserve Kitsap's rural character by focusing development away from rural areas. Among the most potentially controversial of the six measures considered: whether rural landowners lose status that grandfathers in the ability to develop at a certain density.

"I think we all have the same goal, that (future) population goes to urban areas where it can support it, but at the same time it's hard to roll back the clock of what's already happened," said Kitsap County Commissioner Rob Gelder.

What has already occurred is that landowners in the rural parts of Kitsap bought land and, in some cases, hoped to someday develop it or sell for residences to be built. Under the state's Growth Management Act, the county and Kitsap's cities develop and periodically revise "comprehensive plans" aimed at steering growth and density into more urban areas while keeping greenbelts green, which can affect plans landowners may have made years prior. All cities in the state go through the same process, though cities in Kitsap don't have the rural question to deal with in the same way the county must.

"They're educated best guesses not only of where you've been but where you want to go," Mike Eliason with the Kitsap Association of Realtors said of comprehensive plans. "While in a general sense we all agree we love our natural environment, and want to support the local economy, conflicts do come about."

The reasonable measure being considered that draws the most attention is the idea that a rural property would lose "nonconforming" or "grandfathered" status that allows a certain density, in an effort to curb rural development and direct the population toward urban areas. For example: You bought a 5-acre parcel to build one home on, when zoning allowed that density. But current zoning regulations for that rural lot say a parcel must be 10 acres per house. The reasonable measures being considered would have the ability, based on a "buildable lands report" that's regularly updated, to take away the grandfathered status, and you'd have to accumulate 10 acres before building, most likely by buying an adjacent property.

"We consider that unreasonable," Eliason said.

It's not a done deal. Gelder said he's uncertain how he'll vote on the package of reasonable measures, and his colleagues Charlotte Garrido and Ed Wolfe will weigh in as well. For now, the county commissioners are focused on first passing the updated comprehensive plan, and then may deliberate on the specifics of reasonable measures. Others include changes to the transfer of development rights, changes to allowable urban lot sizes, and permitting for second dwellings on rural lots.

The county's comprehensive plan itself is an ambitious planning document that among other thing calls for further density, in urban areas like Silverdale particularly. Some cities in Kitsap, including Bremerton, have passed their plans. Others, like Bainbridge, have not. All have to be completed and approved by the state as well as the Puget Sound Regional Coordinating Council, which steers hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation funding their way each year  money that is contingent on passage of the comprehensive plans.

The county commissioners deliberated over the comprehensive plan at three separate hearings, held June 6, 13 and 22, and several meetings for public comment have been held. On Monday night at 5:30 p.m., they'll vote to adopt the final plan, following one more deliberation at 2 p.m. in the county's administration building.

Gelder said the challenge over more than a year has been to create a pragmatic plan that's "doable and actionable." He looks at his constituents in Kingston as a place he wants the plan to help develop a community where people can "live, work and play." Outside of the Kingston urban growth area should be about preservation.

"It's wonderful to have aspirational documents, but when push comes to shove we need to translate that vision into a plan we can afford to do," he said.
Author Sherman Alexie and a group of youngsters try to portray lightning with body movements while reading from Alexie's book "Thunder Boy Jr." at the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish on Saturday. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)

SHARE Author Sherman Alexie talk to the crowd before reading his book "Thunder Boy Jr." at the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish on Saturday. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN) Author Sherman Alexie chats with Alicia Willams and daughter Chloe, 11, before autographing a copy of "Thunder Boy Jr." for the family at the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish on Saturday. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)

By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun

LITTLE BOSTON  Fathers and sons and how their names can link and distance them, the theme of novelist Sherman Alexie's children's book "Thunder Boy Jr.," hits close to home for Anthony Jones.

Jones, a member of the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe who lives on the reservation in North Kitsap, was with his son, Anthony Jr., at Alexie's reading Saturday morning at the tribe's House of Knowledge Longhouse.

Beside being a role model for Native Americans, and a faithful chronicler of modern life on reservations, Jones said he could relate to Alexie's take on the names shared by fathers and sons.

"It's an experience tribal children can relate to," Jones said, who noted that his brother and father share a name.

Alexie, 49, who has a Spokane Coeur d'Alene heritage, may be known for his novels and short stories for young adults and adults, blending humor with realities about poverty, racism and alcoholism, but his latest work is for kids.

"It's much more fun to write for kids," Alexie said.

"To see these little brown kids reacting and laughing," Alexie said of promoting his book on reservations. "This is who I'm writing for, and this book especially."

Alexie also held a reading later Saturday afternoon at the House of Awakened Culture in Suquamish for tribal members there.

The book is the story of Thunder Jr., who is named after his father but has been stuck with the diminutive moniker Little Thunder.

"That nickname makes me sound like a burp or a fart," the younger Thunder says, while sharing a secret with the reader: "I hate my name."

He longs to be recognized for his own achievements and interests, although the book subtly points out that many of his achievements come with the help of his father.

The elder Thunder, understanding his son, gives him another name that puts him on complementary ground, but readers will have to finish the book themselves to learn that name.

"My dad and I will light up the sky," the youngster says in the end.

Alexie told the audience that the idea for the book came as he watched his late father's casket being lowered into the ground during his burial on the Spokane Indian Reservation. As it descended, Alexie's father's gravestone came into view, and  as Alexie is a junior named after his father  he watched his own name appear.

"Talk about an existential moment, a tombstone with my name on it on my reservation," Alexie said, and then, as an aside: "If you are going to name your kids after yourself, reconsider."

In response to a question from the audience, Alexie said his own children have "nice Native American Jewish Catholic names," like Joseph and David.

Alexie kept the crowd laughing, and brought up a squad of kids to help him with a second reading of the book, including fart noises and jumping to signify lighting strikes.

"It wasn't your normal book reading," said Tribal Chairman Jeromy Sullivan, who presented Alexie with a necklace that had been given to him by children form the tribe.

Sullivan called Alexie his favorite artist, and part of the reason was how Alexie's writing could transport him into the books, as well as relate to life on the reservation. It was not the first time Alexie has held a reading at the reservation. He spoke there in 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Sullivan wanted to honor his own son by naming after his father, Melvin, a name that was more popular in times past and one his father didn't use outside of family, but ended up using his father's nickname as his son's middle name.

"My dad said, 'You cannot call him Melvin," Sullivan said.

The session's conclusion emphasized that it wasn't a typical literary gathering. As Lexie took questions from the audience, a youngster found an interesting fire alarm lever and pulled it.

"OK, so we're done," Alexie joked over the peals of the fire alarm, and moved the gathering outside.
Bremerton's earliest street clock stands on First Street near Pacific sometime before 1920. The clock, made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomaston, Connecticut was originally installed in downtown Seattle in 1890. Jeweler Frank Knapp brought the clock to Bremerton in 1913 and installed it at this location. In 1920 he moved it to Pacific Avenue. The souvenir spoons mentioned on the sign refer to sterling silver spoons which were popular collectors' items at the time. Well known jeweler and clock maker Joseph Mayer was a manufacturer of these spoons, engraving some of them with Bremerton scenes. Jorgen Nelson and George Moeller installed Joseph Mayer clocks outside their Bremerton businesses in 1928, and this Seth Thomas clock seems to have disappeared about the same time. To see more photos from the Kitsap County Historical Society Museum archives, visitwww.facebook.com/kitsaphistory, Twitter KitsapMuseum, or stop by the museum at 280 Fourth St. in Bremerton. Call 360-479-6226 for information.

SHARE

In 1941 (75 years ago)

 Bremerton, despite its growth from a small town to the distinction of a city, still has wild animals roaming about within the city limits.

This is no reference to circus elephants, either.

Police Patrolman Ted Ingram, receiving a report that four deer were running loose in a wooded section at 15th Street and Ohio Avenue, searched the area shortly before noon today.

Residents said that a deer family comprising a buck, a doe and two fawns, was becoming a nuisance, scaring children and chasing dogs.

 Bremerton's automobile and pedestrian traffic survey, the most comprehensive thing of its nature ever undertaken here, will get underway next week with 40 young men and women collecting data.

The youthful workers, hired from funds provided by the federal government-aided National Youth Administration, will be assembled next Tuesday morning in the police courtroom at City Hall to be given instructions on collection of traffic data.

Results of the survey look toward elimination of traffic bottlenecks and possible rerouting of automobile traffic in order to obtain a smoother flow and eliminate hazards.

In 1966 (50 years ago)

It really did rain last night.

It was a real "roof-thumper," which poured 3.6 inches of rain by the time the weather observers at Capitol Hill Fire Station read the gauge at 6:30 this morning.

That chunk of rainfall in one massive downpour transformed June from a very dry month to one that was more than average precipitation.

It also gave the local greenery a refreshing drink and helped cut down the forest fire danger to the point where the state Department of National Resources personnel might be able to get a day off.

In 1992 (25 years ago)

Olympic College trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to begin condemnation proceedings to obtain Roosevelt Field after their attorney told them a small citizens' group can prevent the city from carrying out an agreement to swap the field for waterfront property the college owns.

Tuesday's decision apparently nullifies a contract signed last month by city and college officials to trade the field for a former Bremerton lumber site. Any future deal will be decided in court or as part of the condemnation action, officials said.

Bremerton Mayor Louis Mentor said he hopes the commendation action speeds up the agreement process, but he said he has some concerns it may just end up costing taxpayers more money.

In 2006 (10 years ago)

South Kitsap schools mailed results of this year's 10th-grade WASL to students on Friday. By the following Monday, phone messages and emails had piled up at the administrative office.

"My desk was filled with notes from parents about the WASL," said Dan Whitford, director of instructional services for South Kitsap School District. "It's obviously a big deal for a lot of people. It's a big deal for us, actually."

But since this is the first time the high school Washington Assessment of Student Learning has counted toward graduation, tension has been high in both living rooms and classrooms.

 Compiled from Kitsap Sun archives by Ann Horn
The impact of taxes on income inequality

Income inequality in the United States is one of our most-divisive political and economic issues. While conservatives argue that income inequality is a natural byproduct of a vibrant economy, liberals argue that inequality shows that the economic system is "rigged" in favor of the wealthy.

The Congressional Budget Office released a report earlier this month that examines both the trends in income inequality over time and across different income brackets as well as the impact of taxes and government transfers on income equality.

The report divided households reporting income in 2013 into quintiles based on pre-tax household income. While household income increased for all quintiles during the 1979-2013 report period, the differences in the rate of growth between quintiles was striking.

Average household income in the three-lowest quintiles' increased by 18 percent while the highest quintile increased by 63 percent. Most striking was the 188 percent increase in average income among the top 1 percent.

Much of the income growth disparity can be explained by the economic impact of technology and, to a lesser extent, globalization. While some blame our decline in well-paid manufacturing jobs on China, replacing labor with technology was the biggest factor. As the cost of technology and doing business abroad fell, the middle- and lower-income groups paid the largest price in lower or stagnant wages. The benefits accrued almost exclusively to capital owners.

Economists measure income inequality by examining the variance of income distributions within countries. The Pew Center looked at pre-tax income for the OECD countries and found the U.S. had the 10th highest level of income disparity behind France, England, and Spain among others.

When the same analysis was performed on after-tax income, including government transfers (e.g., Social Security, unemployment compensation, etc.), the U.S. ranked second in income disparity behind only Chile. In other words, compared with other countries, our progressive income tax system actually made the U.S.'s after-tax income distribution relatively less equal.

Despite criticism from those arguing that the wealthy don't pay their fair share, the CBO found the average tax rate on households was 3 percent for the lowest quintile, 13 percent for the middle quintile, and 26 percent on the highest quintile.

While the highest quintile reported about half of all pre-tax income, they paid about two-thirds of all taxes. The top 1 percent reported 17 percent of all pre-tax income and paid 22 percent of all taxes. Comparing the distribution of pre- and after-tax income across the five quintiles, the bottom four quintiles increased their percentage share of after-tax income, while the top quintile's share fell 4 percent.

That U.S. income disparity has been increasing over time is not a surprise. It may come as a surprise to some, however, that U.S. tax policy reduced after-tax income disparity by about 9 percent. While some candidates call for raising taxes on the "rich" to reduce income inequality, in fact, the biggest culprit driving income inequality is not insufficient tax progressivity, but stagnant growth in middle- and working-class incomes.
On Thursday, voters in the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union, passing the so-called Brexit (Britain exit) referendum. It was a major defeat for Britain's political and business elite, providing a massive victory for the anti-establishment, populist Brexit supporters.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will resign and the U.K. will begin a several-year process of extricating itself from the EU, a 28-member, quasi-sovereign, hybrid continental government, complete with its own army and central bank.

The EU provides for free movement of capital, consumer goods and people among most of the member states, alleviating the need for each country to negotiate individual trade deals with the others. The member countries pay a tax to the EU, which the officials in Brussels then distribute among the 28 countries based on their assessment of economic need among the states.

In 2015, the U.K. paid $18.8 billion to the EU, two-thirds of which was redistributed among net recipient countries, such as Greece, Spain and Portugal. There is a massive productivity and wealth gap ("wage inequality," to use the popular term here in the colonies) among the EU's members. GDP per capita ranges from U.S. $9,000 annually (Moldova) to $115,000 (Luxembourg).

Brexit support was, in large part, about immigration. Brexit opponents warned that leaving the EU would destroy Britain's economy.

Unless you're David Cameron, the immediate practical changes, however, will be minimal. Britain never adopted the euro as its currency. It never joined the EU passport-free Schengen zone, so the effect on immigration will be more symbolic than practical. The EU's open borders are already falling apart  some checkpoints have been reinstated.

Britain will go to Brussels to negotiate 100 treaties with the very people at whom it just snubbed its sovereign nose. But Brussels needs Britain more than Britain needs the EU.

Despite weeks of market volatility attributed to changing expectations about the vote, Brexit will cause little of lasting macroeconomic importance. European demand for diapers, beer, business computer services and most other consumer products won't change. Currency valuations will bounce around, but they always do.

Writing in Barron's, Randall Forsyth compared Brexit fears to the Y2K panic. Yet on the morning of Jan. 1, 2000, computers did not crash, planes did not fall from the sky, and the sun peeked out above the eastern horizon, just like it had, at least, since the Y1K panic.

In the U.S., Brexit is more of a warning to the political class than it is a threat to the economy. Support for leaving the EU was driven by a lower- and middle-class sense of nationalism  an anti-establishment, "make Britain great again" mentality.

Sound familiar?
Have a plan for the family real estate

A few weeks ago, we took a family vacation to Panama City Beach, Fla. The ocean was wondrous. Like many wide-eyed tourists, we picked up real estate magazines and day-dreamed about owning a second home near the beach.

In spectacular East Tennessee, it is not uncommon to know a family who has a cabin in the Smokies or on one of our many lakes, rivers or streams.

My in-laws live on 10 acres with fruit trees, blackberry patches, and a fishing pond. My father-in-law helped build the home with his own hands. Larger farms are often home to multiple family members.

In these unique types of situations, one or more family members probably want to keep a special property in the family.

What happens to real estate after both mother and father have passed away? If their children are equal beneficiaries, they will likely inherit the property as "tenants-in-common" of equal divided interests. Then, after a sibling's death, her ownership interest might pass to her spouse and/or children. As the property's ownership structure gets more convoluted over time it is possible that nothing will ever get done without agreement. Taxes could become in arrears and the grass might reach knee height.

So it is a good idea to create a succession plan for your property. A detailed plan might prevent financial duress or reduce bitter family conflicts. It might start with finding out who is or isn't interested in inheriting the property. An heir who lives far away or who has minimal financial resources may not be interested in inheriting a family property.

Next, you should consider the form of continuing ownership. What will best serve the family: A limited liability company or a trust or a partnership or a combination of structures? There is a need for leadership either in the form of a managing trustee and/or a family management committee. There needs to be an operating agreement that spells out how often each family member gets to use the property, such as an annual lottery.

The ownership and operating structure would also give the family a system for keeping the property maintained. In some cases, the parents might create an endowment, funded by savings or investments, to help pay maintenance expenses, taxes, etc.

What if someone wants to be bought out, now or later? What is the process? How will the property's value be determined? The operating agreement would need to address as many contingencies as possible.

As one family law attorney was recently quoted, "People have to manage their family as much as, if not more so, than they manage their money." This requires some difficult conversations about family relationships and it is wise for a parent not to wait until mental or physical deterioration necessitates planning.

It is also wise to consult an attorney and an accountant, and anticipate some messiness. From Grandmother's pie plate to the family farm, passions may run deep and emotions can run high. A property plan is more than a way to preserve a piece of property; it can be a plan to keep a family together.
Hoyt Canady, retired News Sentinel Editorial Page editor, browses thorugh the books on tape for sale at a previous Friends of the Knox County Library Annual Used Book Sale. J. MILES CARY/NEWS SENTINEL

SHARE

FREE MUSIC

The Knoxville Community Band will give a free concert at 3 p.m. today at the Clayton Center at Maryville College. The concert will include marches, highlights from Broadway musicals, a bit of Irish music and even a ragtime number.

USED BOOK SALE

The Friends of the Knox County Public Library's annual used book sale this year is at the Jacob Building at Chilhowee Park. The public sale is today through Tuesday, June 28.

A members-only day is today. Memberships are sold or renewed at the door.

The sale of the used books, compact discs, DVDs, music and magazines raises funds for the public library system. More than 75,000 books will be offered for sale; most for $2 or less.

Sales hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily except 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 28. June 28 is the $5 bag sale of books; bags are provided.

DINOS ON FILM

The public is invited to the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, at 2 p.m. today for a free film about fact and fiction in dinosaur films.

In "Dinosaurs in the Movies: Fact or Fiction," Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, UT vertebrate paleontologist, will critique famous film dinosaurs. The presentation, designed for ages 12 through adult, aims to separate the science from the fiction.

The program is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.

The screening is part of museum's current special exhibition, "Dino Discoveries," which explores how new discoveries and technologies reveal how dinosaurs lived, moved and behaved.

The McClung Museum is at 1327 Circle Park Drive. Museum admission is free, and the museum's hours are 9 a.m.5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 15 p.m. Sundays.

COUNTRY BREAKFAST

The Greater Knoxville Sertoma Club will partner with The Manor at Northgate Terrace to present "A Mid-Day Country Breakfast," from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, at 4301 Whittle Springs Road. Guests can choose from one of three breakfast casserole entrees or a sausage gravy and biscuit entree. Cost is $10 per person or $90 for an order that feeds 10-12. Call 865-225-6799 for tickets or group orders or email themanor@kcdc.org.
SHARE

By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE  Police are searching for a man who stole a woman's car at a Pilot gas station on Saturday afternoon.

Knoxville Police Department officers responded to a report of a wreck with injury at 4800 N. Broadway at 2:38 p.m. Upon arrival, officers found a woman who said a man jumped behind the wheel of her car when she left it running to go inside the store, according to a KPD news release.

The woman tried to stop the man from driving off with her car but fell, according to the release. She was taken to the hospital with injuries that police said didn't appear to be life-threatening.

Police described the car as a blue 2008 Kia Optima with a "Baby on Board" sticker on the back. The Tennessee license plate number on the car is V8762U.

Authorities ask that anyone with information in the case call 865-215-7212.

More details as they develop online and in Sunday's News Sentinel.
SHARE David Rausch, Knoxville Police Department chief. (KNOXVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT)

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch said last week he's pleased that 21 percent of the 273 applicants who passed the first hurdle to becoming a police officer  a written exam are minority candidates.

But he still wants progress on the number of women (12 percent)  especially minority women (2.5 percent)  who apply to join the department's ranks.

"It's really good that the African-American and Hispanic male numbers are up way higher than we've seen in the past," Rausch said. "In the area of females, it's still the same as we normally see.

"That's an area still, in general in law enforcement, we have to work on to appeal to the female population and especially female minorities."

Rausch and others with the police force have been visiting predominantly black churches, traveling to nearby military bases and attending minority-focused job fairs to recruit a more diverse pool of candidates for the department's first police academy in three years.

Cultivating a force that looks more like the community it polices has been a top priority for Rausch and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero. The push comes as the department's highest-ranking minority officer and first black deputy chief, Nate Allen, left to become the top cop in Decatur, Ala., in May.

The department has 389 officers on the force, and as of March, 81 percent were white men. The department also employed 45 white women, 21 black men, two black women and six men of other races.

Numbers last week provided by the city's civil service department show 462 people applied for a job as a police officer. Of those, 273 passed the written exam.

The candidates moving forward include 33 women, 26 of whom are white. That number also includes 23 black men, 16 Hispanic men and 12 who identified as a different race or as biracial.

While largely pleased by the diversity numbers, Rausch pointed to another early statistic that concerns him: 30 percent of people who applied for the job did not show up to take the written test.

"That really has me baffled because that's much higher than we've seen in the past," he said. "You take the time to put an application in. I'm going to figure out how to follow up and have our recruiter reach people who put an application in."

The pass rate for the test, which gauges basic education and evaluates an applicant's memory, remained about the same: 84 percent.

In a few weeks, the department will begin interviews. Candidates will undergo physical exams, background checks, psychological evaluations, drug testing, polygraph testing and medical exams  a process that takes six to eight months. Rausch said he hopes to begin an academy class by the beginning of next year with about 38 recruits and seven more who recently aged out of the department's cadet program.

The force has 27 vacant officer positions and another 18 officers who are already on the city's deferred retirement program, most of whom will retire this year, Rausch said. With a large number of officers heading to retirement age, the chief said he expects to have annual police academies over the next several years.

That means the push to recruit women and minorities must continue.

"What we did this time, we have to replicate it in areas and we have to improve and continue to push for that," Rausch said.
SHARE Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, file)

By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  Citizens for Home Rule PAC, created last year to help candidates favoring restrictions on city government annexation, is supporting four incumbent Republican legislators in the August primary election, along with one challenger and a candidate in the state Senate seat being vacated by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

The PAC sent a news release to media last week announcing its endorsement of Scott Williams of Maryville, who is opposing Sen. Doug Overbey's bid for re-election to a new term in the state's 2nd Senate District, which includes Blount and Sevier counties.

In response to an email inquiry, PAC Treasurer John Avery Emison said Williams is getting a $3,500 check and further disclosed other donations that will be reported next month. The group had already reported a couple of donations previously.

The biggest donation is $7,600  the maximum allowed by a PAC to a state House candidate  going to Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, who sponsored legislation requiring voter approval in the impacted area of a city annexation, approved two years ago, and unsuccessfully pushed this year a bill to allow deannexation, wherein voters could decide to take themselves out of a city's incorporated area.

The PAC's parent organization, Citizens For Home Rule, strongly supported both efforts. The PAC reported receipt of $50,000 from the parent organization in its initial financial disclosure and still had $54,822 cash on hand at last report after previously reported donations, including $3,000 to Bud Armstrong, who was re-elected as Knox County law director in March; and $1,000 gifts to Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, and Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden.

Yet-to-be-disclosed donations, according to Emison, include $3,000 to former state Rep. Tony Shipley, R-Kingsport, who is running for Ramsey's Senate seat against Rep. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, and others; and $5,000 to Rep. Jeremy Faison, who is opposed in the Republican primary by Michael A. McCarter of Newport.

"There will probably be others to come," Emison said.

The next filing deadline for disclosures is July 11.

"Scott Williams believes, as we believe, that the rights of private property owners are one of the cornerstones of the foundation of our state and nation, and must be protected. Unfortunately, the longtime incumbent in the race has proven time and time again that he is hostile to private property owners rights," said Emison in the news release. "The election of Scott Williams will help the fight to restore private property owners rights to the citizens when the Tennessee General Assembly convenes next January."

Williams, a business consultant, has not yet filed his first financial disclosure. Overbey in April reported a cash balance in his re-election account of $274,823.

Animal friendly

Tennessee Voters for Animal Protection PAC last week endorsed 19 legislative candidates in both Democratic and Republican primaries, though that may not count for much on the funding front.

Perhaps the most notable endorsement is that for embattled Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, currently under investigation for alleged sexual harassment and campaign finance violations and facing two primary challengers. In a news release, TVAP says its endorsements are based "solely" on animal protection issues  an example in the 109th General Assembly being enactment of higher penalties for cockfighting.

The animal protection PAC, says it is "dedicated to electing animal-friendly candidates and unifying voters by creating a powerful voting bloc, ensuring animals have a voice in Tennessee." The group's disclosures show it gave no money to endorsed candidates in 2014  expenditures going to newsletters, a website and the like to publicize its position on legislation and candidates  and had a cash-on-hand balance of $751 at last report.

The only endorsed challenger to an incumbent on the list is McCarter in his 11th House District challenge to Faison.

In other East Tennessee races, TVAP backs Lundberg over Shipley in the race for Ramsey's Senate seat while Overbey is backed over Williams.
SHARE

By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  Campaign signs have come in for some controversy in at least two ongoing legislative campaigns at opposite ends of the state.

Cynthia Bundren Jackson, opposing Rep. Gary Hicks of Rogersville in the 9th House District Republican primary, is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for vandalizing her campaign signs and strewing them along the road and into a stream near Surgoinsville in Hawkins County, according to the Rogersville Review. Jackson said she would pay a similar reward for anyone convicted of destroying signs put up by Hicks. The district includes Hawkins and Hancock counties.

Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, was photographed collecting yard signs promoting Mark Lovell, one of his opponents in the 95th House District primary and loading them into his pickup truck, according to the Tennessee Journal. The photographer was Diane George, another of Todd's GOP primary opponents.

Todd said he was removing the signs with permission of the property owner, the Journal reported. The district is part of Shelby County.

Double-dipper?

Hicks, a former Hawkins County commissioner who was appointed to the 9th House District seat following the resignation in December of former Rep. Mike Harrison, is facing criticism for "double dipping," according to Tennessee Watchdog, because he continued to draw his salary as a public school system technology director during the legislative session.

The online publication quotes Rogersville resident Tish Kozlowski to that effect while Rebecca Isaacs, the school system director, says she's heard no other complaints and defends Hicks, a former county commissioner who she says is able to handle both jobs well. Hicks says the same thing and says the leading critic is a Jackson supporter with political motives.
SHARE State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson

By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson has become the latest state legislator to set up his own political action committee, naming the new entity BowPAC and declaring it will help provide the "fuel of funding" for future Republican political successes in Tennessee.

About 30 of Tennessee's 132 legislators  most of them Republicans  now have their own PACs, kept separate from their re-election campaign accounts, in accord with a trend that has slowly grown since Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey set up RAAMPAC in 2003.

The Legislature's senior member, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, finally joined the PAC trend late last year by creating McPAC. In an April disclosure McPAC reported a cash-on-hand balance of $36,356 after initial fundraising efforts  most of the money coming in contributions from 26 special interest PACs.

Watson chipped in $500 to McPAC through a personal check, Registry of Election Finance records show. He gave $1,000 to RAAMPAC last year. Now that he has set up BowPAC, of course, he can have the PAC make such donations instead of himself. The PAC name, by the way, ties into both Foy "Bo" Watson's nickname and the Hixson lawmaker's penchant for wearing bow neckties.

"As an elected body, the Tennessee Senate has proved its leadership in effective policy for our state that has honored the trust of Tennesseans," Watson said in announcing the PAC's formation Friday. "Elections require the fuel of funding and BowPAC will be part of our successes ahead.  Electing leaders who remain focused and committed to our overall goal of effectively serving Tennesseans through a limited, accountable government framework is our task at hand."

Ramsey, who is retiring from the Senate with McNally as the only announced candidate to succeed him as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor, still has a balance of $414,169 in his PAC at last report and has announced no plan for what he will do with the money. One option would be distribute funds to fellow Republican senators' leadership PACs and, if so, there are plenty of potential recipients beyond McPAC and BowPAC.

Senators having registered leadership PACs  with PAC name and last reported cash-on-hand balance in parenthesis  include:

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, (MPAC, $224,749); Commerce Committee Chairman Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, (Jack PAC, $1,319); Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, (Red State PAC, $2,862); Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, (Quest PAC, $44,675); Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, (The Overbey PAC, $3,046); Sen. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, (Green PAC, $13,800); Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, (JT Leadership PAC, $0).

Norris, Johnson and Watson support McNally's bid to succeed Ramsey as Senate speaker but have also indicated an interest in succeeding McNally, should he decided to step down after one two-year term in the position  a possibility that McNally has raised. Should a competition develop in the future, the men could use their PACs for donations to other Republican senators. Those senators will, or course, then decide on the next Senate speaker.

Kelsey is one of 13 Republicans seeking the party nomination to the 8th Congressional District seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher. Red State PAC has donated $1,000 to his congressional campaign, records show, and several of his Republican Senate colleagues have also contributed  either through PACs or otherwise, including a $1,000 check from Watson.

Green and Norris have indicated a potential interest in running for governor in 2018. So has House Speaker Beth Harwell, who has more in her leadership PAC than any other state legislator  $659,733 at last report.
SHARE

Hillary Clinton is a seasoned liberal politician, but one with few core beliefs. Her positions on subjects such as gay marriage, free-trade agreements, the Keystone XL pipeline, the Iraq War, the Assad regime in Syria and the use of the term "radical Islam" all seem to hinge on what she perceives 51 percent of the public to believe on any given day.

Such politicians believe truth is a relative construct. Things are deemed false by politicians only if they cannot convince the public that they are true  and vice versa. When the majority of Americans no longer believe Clinton's yarns about her private email server to the point of not wanting to vote for her, then she will change her narrative and create new, convenient truths to reflect the new consensus.

Donald Trump is an amateur politician but a politician nevertheless. He is ostensibly conservative, but he likewise seems to change his positions on a number of issues  from abortion to the Iraq War  depending on what he feels has become the majority position. And as with Clinton, Trump's idea of truth is defined as what works, while falsity is simply any narrative that proved unusable.

Politicians glad-hand, pander and kiss babies as they seek to become megaphones for majority opinions. But ideologues are different. They often brood and lecture that their utopian dreams are not shared by the supposedly less informed public.

To gain power, of course, ideologues can temporarily become political animals. Barack Obama ran in 2008 on popular positions such as reducing the national debt and opposing gay marriage and immigration amnesties, only to flip after he was re-elected and no longer needed to pander to perceived majority opinions.

But otherwise, Obama the ideologue seems to believe that big redistributive government is always necessary to achieve a mandated equality of result  regardless of whether it ever works or should work in reality. He opposes a reduction in capital gains tax rates even though he concedes that such cuts might bring in more revenue.

The administration has deemed the Affordable Care Act successful even though Obama's assurances that it would lower deductibles and premiums, give patients greater choices and ensure continuity in medical providers and plans have all proven to be untrue.

No matter: Obamacare fulfills the president's preconceived notion that state-mandated health care is superior to what the private sector can provide.

Abroad, Obama starts from the premise that an overweening U.S. is not to be congratulated for saving the world in World War II, winning the Cold War and ushering in globalization. Instead, its inherent unfairness to indigenous peoples, its opposition to revolutionary regimes and its supposed interventionist bullying disqualify it from being a moral and muscular leader of the world.

As a consequence of all this, facts often must be created to match pre-existing ideology.

A homophobic, radical Islamic terrorist in Orlando shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he mowed down the innocent in a gay nightclub. He called 911 to make sure the world knew that his killing spree was in service to the Islamic State. And in the midst of his murdering, he even called a local TV news station to brag on his jihadist martyrdom.

No matter. To Obama, who asserts that radical Islamic terrorism, which he refuses to identify in such terms, poses little threat, the Orlando shooting was instead a symptom of a lack of gun control or endemic homophobia  anything other than what the killer himself said it was.

Bipartisan analyses agree that the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq in December 2011 threw away the victory obtained by the American surge of 2007, eroded the foundation of the nascent Iraqi democracy, and helped to birth and empower the Islamic State.

But to an ideologue like Obama, the withdrawal simply reflected a universal truth that the U.S. must get out and leave the Middle East to its rightful owners  even if the president has been forced to send nearly 5,000 troops back into Iraq.

In general, politicians are rank opportunists, but at least most of them are malleable and attuned to public opinion. But ideologues are far more anti-empirical  and thus dangerous.

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He may be reached at author@victorhanson.com.
FILE -- House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, center, announces she is creating a task force to propose ways to improve access to health care in Tennessee, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Harwell said she began conversations with health policy experts at Vanderbilt University's medical school after lawmakers rejected the Insure Tennessee proposal last year by Gov. Bill Haslam, right. (Samuel M. Simpkins/The Tennessean)

The political weather has become uncomfortably hot and humid for House Speaker Beth Harwell this summer with criticism of her acrobatic performances on the Insure Tennessee issue and the Rep. Jeremy Durham affair.

The heat comes from both ends of the political spectrum. You can currently find some folks speculating that Harwell's balancing acts in these two awkward situations not only jeopardize her tentative plans to run for governor in 2018, but could also threaten her re-election as speaker in January and maybe even re-election to her House seat this fall.

Minority Democrats have uniformly bashed Harwell's stance on Insure Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam's failed attempt to expand Medicaid coverage in Tennessee  first for dodging an embrace of the plan and, more recently, for setting up a task force, christened the "3-Star Healthy Project," to find some less comprehensive alternative that Obamacare-hating Republicans could support in the 2017 session.

Derisive Democrats have heaped scorn upon the effort, using labels such as "political cover," "fig leaf" or, at best, "tinkering around the edges." There are even skeptical Republicans, some of whom suggest the move is motivated by Harwell's need to shore up her own re-election to a Nashville House district that, while designed to tilt Republican, does have a significant contingent of Democrats. She actually has a couple of Democrats competing for the nomination to oppose her in November and they're making Insure Tennessee a campaign issue.

Majority Republicans, meanwhile, have seemingly become somewhat split on Harwell's efforts to deal with Durham by setting up an ad hoc committee to investigate allegations that the Franklin Republican engaged in sexual harassment activities. The committee's objective is to determine whether the facts warrant his expulsion from the House, a move that, under the state constitution, can be achieved only by a House floor vote.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery III was tasked by the committee with handling the investigation and his staff's preliminary report suggests, rather strongly, there is fire beneath the sexual harassment smoke. The investigators also looked at Durham's campaign finance disclosures (as suggested by a former Durham employee) and decided they raised a possibility he had diverted campaign money to personal business use. The Registry of Election Finance is now investigating that potential of violating state law, too.

At the same time, however, the Harwell-appointed committee's doings have also come under attack, perhaps most notably from Rep. Billy Spivey, R-Lewisburg, himself a member of the committee, who now thinks it should be disbanded. In a conversation last week, Spivey objected, reasonably, to recent commentary in this column that characterized his criticism of the committee as a defense of Durham.

No, Spivey said, he wasn't defending Durham at all; he only meant that, in hindsight, the process "doesn't pass the smell test" and has opened the door to a precedent-setting "Pandora's box" of potential abuse of power. Spivey questions the legal authority of the panel and the apparent open-ended nature of the probe conducted in secrecy, though potentially branching off into violating the privacy of individuals other than Durham.

Spivey, who in contrast to Harwell and Durham is not seeking re-election, declined to criticize the speaker. "I'm not saying there has been an abuse of power or that there will be," he said, only that the Durham panel raises the potential.

Harwell is dealing with perhaps the biggest leadership challenges she has faced. She has sought to strike some middle ground of action as opposed to inaction, and to defend decisions she would probably have preferred not to make.

If things work out according to plan, she will preside over enactment of a compromise Medicaid expansion in 2017 while Durham fades away  especially if he loses his re-election bid. That could be presented as a credible starting point for a gubernatorial campaign. If things don't work out according to the Harwell vision, it could be the stopping point for a gifted woman long viewed as a rising Tennessee political star.
Samsung Electronics of South Korea has been named one of the top-three "dynamic" companies, along with Google and Amazon, a U.S. marketing firm's survey showed Sunday.

IPG Mediabrands, the media holding arm of the New York-based Interpublic Group, has created a new brand measure, called a "dynamic score," in cooperation with Jonah Berger, an associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They released the "D100" list of the most dynamic firms worldwide.

Samsung ranked third in the poll following Google and Amazon. Nike and Intel were picked fourth and fifth, respectively. Other brands in the top ten were NASA, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lenovo.

The dynamic score is based on four areas: agility, responsiveness, innovation and sociability, according to IPG Mediabrands.

For the D100 list, more than 10,000 consumers were surveyed across four global regions in the five major markets of the United States, Britain, Germany, China and India, it added.

"In partnership with IPG Mediabrands, we applied a rigorous and comprehensive methodology that showcases which brands are driving the future," Berger said. "Ultimately, it is not just about being relevant today; it's about being transformative tomorrow." (Yonhap)
The country's prosecutors will probe what they think is a key figure in the on-going investigation of accounting fraud at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), officials close to the ongoing investigation said Sunday.

The special investigation team of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Nam Sang-tae, a former CEO who headed the embattled shipyard from 2006-2012, will appear at the prosecutor's office around 9:30 a.m. Monday to answer questions over his alleged role in the company's fraudulent accounting and mismanagement.

Nam is suspected of giving business favors to a contractor owned by a friend of his from college, in return for receiving shares of the firm and dividends.

According to the investigators, they secured evidence that showed Nam misused the company's money to buy up shares of Busan International Distribution Center (BIDC). His friend holds a majority stake in BIDC.

He is also accused of deliberately turning a blind eye to the massive accounting fraud at the company and engaging in illicit lobbying activities to government officials and political heavyweights.

Separately, the prosecutors found that accounting fraud amounting to 5.4 trillion won ($4.6 billion) over three years from 2012 to 2014, when DSME was under the leadership of former CEO Koh Jae-ho.

"We believe the fraudulent accounting happened so that management could secure bank loans, sell company bonds, invest in the stock market, or receive a bonus," said a prosecutor familiar with the matter.

"It is a grave and serious problem that indicates systematic accounting fraud at Daewoo Shipbuilding, which is practically a government-backed company," he said.

The official said Koh is expected to be summoned to answer questions. (Yonhap)
Mercedes-Benz Korea CEO Dimitris Psillakis introduces the German automaker's new E-Class sedan at a media preview event at Wangsan Marina, last month.

/ Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz



By Jhoo Dong-chan

Mercedes Benz Korea officially launched the all-new E-Class, fully redesigned after seven years with a distinct style, enhanced efficiency and technological innovations.

The model has set the standard for the mid-size premium business sedan market for many years, but the 10th-generation premium vehicle offers another direction in the market not only with its characteristic design but also with its innovative autonomous safety technology.

Exterior

One of the main attractions behind the E-Class' great success has been its design. And the new E-Class' design appears to be rather evolutionary than revolutionary.

Inherited from its predecessor, the E-Class does not betray its legacy in exterior design, maintaining resemblance to other generations in a side by side comparison.

It features a slick-designed hood and a curved coupe-styled roofline that leads to muscle-looking shoulders. The new E-Class has become 45 millimeters longer in its length while the wheelbase is extended as well by 65 millimeters. The extension is reflected inside when it comes to rear passenger legroom.

The new model comes with two different front face designs  the Avantgarde and Exclusive.

The Avantgarde model places Mercedes Benz's signature three-point star emblem into its head grille, creating a sporty impression in the front, while the Exclusive model erects the emblem over the hood to suggest luxury and a classic impression.

Distinctive grille designs based on the model's two front face designs, V-shaped long hood line and large-size air intakes along with Multi-beam LED headlamps and chrome twin-tail pipe under full-LED taillights continue the German luxury automaker's 70-year design philosophy.

Interior and Tech

One noticeable feature a driver would find in the new E-Class is not one but the option of two 12.3-inch touchable screens  one in the center dashboard and the other behind the steering wheel.

A set of display screens, also called "Wide-Screen Cockpit Display," which is placed in the center dashboard, offers almost every type of information a driver would want to see while behind the wheel.

The infotainment system can easily connect to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay for smart phone integration.

The E-Class also offers an optional massage function, called "Active Multicontour Seat," in the front seat, helping passengers remain comfortable even after long hours of driving.

Mercedes Benz's technological innovation is also evident in various driving assistant options.

The new model's so called "Driving Assistance Package Plus" option suggests various technology that includes "Drive Pilot" and "Parking Pilot" system along with safety features.

Drive Pilot technology introduces a new level of adaptive cruise control that allows the driver to follow another vehicle at a pre-selected distance at speeds as fast as 210 kilometers per hour and steer itself around turns without the driver's intervention.

The E-Class' ability to change lanes by itself is a joyful technology especially for inexperienced drivers. When the driver turns on the lane change signal, the intelligent E-Class will automatically calculate its distance to an upcoming car and help the driver change lanes safely.

The E-Class also offers brake assist and a self-parking system, called "Parking Pilot," which can park the car in both parallel and perpendicular orientations. The function received great reviews from media on press day for the model's introduction last month.

The E-Class has added safety features such as "Evasive Steering Assist," which adds steering torque when a driver performs an evasive maneuver. Another safety technology applied in the model is "PRE-SAFE impulse side" that uses the front seat side bolsters to move the driver or front seat passenger three inches closer to the center of the car to lessen the impact of a crash.

Engine

The new E-Class gasoline models mount an in-line 4-cylinder direct spray engine that can produce a maximum of 245 horsepower. The low-end torque engine emphasizes silence and fuel efficiency as well as minimizing carbon emissions.

The E220d model mounts the next-generation V4 diesel engine that produces 194 horsepower, up 24 horsepower from the previous generation.

All models of the E-Class feature the 9G-Tronic transmission that delivers more efficient driving dynamics while reducing its weight by 1 kilogram. The Eco Start/Stop is also included.

The E-Class offers an "Air Body Control" option that enables a user to choose a drive mode among five suspension modes  Eco, Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual.

Perspectives

The E-Class has been regarded as one of the most important models in Mercedes-Benz's lineup because of its sales volume of more than 10 million cars worldwide since its introduction in 1993.

Despite the new model's conservative changes in design, the all-new E-Class would be the most progressive generation in its history because the German automaker has really outdone itself by infusing autonomous-driving, safety, as well as infotainment features in the vehicle.

The price range is also considered to be reasonable as it starts at 65.6 million won. The BMW 5 Series, the E-Class' history-long rival, was sold at 63 million to 119.2 million won last year in Korea.
Poster for "Right Now, Wrong Then"



By Kim Da-hee

Director Hong Sang-soo's "Right Now, Wrong Then" (2015) has been well received since its release in the U.S. on Friday, media reports say.

The film, which won the Golden Leopard at the 68th Locarno Film Festival last year, opened in the U.S. on Friday.

Critics in the U.S. favorably reviewed the film, which follows a male director (Jung Jae-yeong) who meets a female painter (Kim Min-hee) by chance in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.

The Los Angeles Times reviewer on Thursday called the film an incisive tale of romantic possibility.

"The prolific South Korean director Hong is often accused of making the same movie over and over again," the review said. "'Right Now, Wrong Then,' his finest film in years, suggests that practice makes nearly perfect."

The New York Times also favorably reviewed the film, saying: "There's no need to choose, because Mr. Hong and his highly skilled, heroically patient actors have already done the necessary work."

The romantic film, which was released here last September, has been in the spotlight in Korea again because of an alleged love affair between Hong and Kim.

According to media reports on Tuesday, the married director, 56, and unmarried actress, 34, started their affair while filming, last year.

The two have not commented about the allegation.
Denis Sungho, right, of Crossover band "La Baie" / Courtesy of the artist



By Park Jin-hai

Classical guitarist Denis Sungho Janssens, who received much attention here for his musical talent as well as his personal background as a Korean adoptee to Belgium, has formed the unique crossover band La Baie.

The trio of producer and guitarist Janssens, jazz vocalist Kim Hye-mi and pianist Park Jin-woo recently released their first project album "La Baie," the French word for a bay, named after the band.

Like a bay, a body of water connected to an ocean, Janssens says Chopin's melody is connected to the electropop his band plays.

"La Baie is in a totally different musical genre from the mainstream and I coined the phrase chic and pop' for it," said Janssens during a recent interview with The Korea Times. "We decided to go into a market that is very different from the mass market. It's new classical. In Europe, this kind of music is very famous, but in Asia it is not well known. We are pioneers in this kind of music."

Janssens, who won Belgium's national "Young Talent" competition when he was 14, has held recitals in prestigious halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York. Ever since visiting Korea for the first time in 2006, he has returned numerous times for concerts and collaborated with diva Sumi Jo for her 2014 Korean tour.

Borrowing the famous melodies of Chopin, the band arranges them smartly as electronic music pieces. Co-produced by Gioacchino Maurici, who wrote for Celine Dion, the band members carry rhythms and musical colors closer to pop and electronic, but keep their roots near classical music.

Janssens says Chopin is very international and his melodies are very easy and deep. "Everybody knows Chopin's melody. Even when you go to the bathroom, there's Chopin sometimes. In order to make our album a commercial success, people need to recognize the melody but nobody should know it has come from Chopin," he said. "It's not like, say, Beethoven, dramatic, or Mahler, very romantic. Chopin is more nostalgic."

All seven tracks have either partly mixed or wholly rearranged the melody of the classic artist. Kim's vocal sounds are unique and mysterious, both in Korean and English, and Janssens adds French narration.

"A lot of people these days try to sing in English. But it's not a good solution, because the American market wants American English. To succeed there, you need to be different," he said.

In Europe, he says Korea is regarded as something new and trendy as much as Japan was in the 1980s. Citing that Korean-letter tattoos are considered hip among his European friends, Janssens says that Korea is super trendy.

"What is famous in Europe is K-pop, but they are waiting for something different. I put Korean language in the songs because I love the sound. It is beautiful _ very rhythmical, very noisy and melodic. For me, French doesn't have any melody and is very flat. But Korean is like a song to me."

Riding on the popularity of hallyu, or Korean wave, the band is targeting Asian and European markets. The band is scheduled to launch Japan and China tours next year. Saying that the China tour was arranged before the band began recording, the band has high hopes for the Chinese market.

"Chinese organizers showed great interest in us, even when we only had the concept for the album, because it is a Korean-French project, both of which are regarded as super trendy in China," he said. "But, first we need to make noise here in Korea. That could bring us to France. It will take time. It's a long term plan."

The band will perform tracks from "La Baie" at Olympus Hall in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, on June 30 and July 1. Tickets cost 44,000 won. For more information, visit Olympus Hall's website at www.olympushall.co.kr or call (02) 6255-3270.
By Chung Hyun-chae



A couple who ran the Centennial Christian School International (CCSI) in Yongsan, central Seoul, will be tried on charges of operating illegally and embezzling school funds.



The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Sunday that it has indicted the operator, Park, 57, and his wife Kim, 58, the school's accountant, without detention for violating the elementary and secondary education law and embezzling 2.8 billion won over four years.



According to the prosecution, they took over the management of the CCSI from its founder, surnamed Song, in 2012 and have run it since.



Suffering from financial problems, however, they accepted about 130 unqualified Korean students, citing a "special admission" criterion which was illegal.



Under the law, Korean students who have lived abroad for at least three years can be admitted to foreign schools, but those students did not meet the qualification.



Park had those students take classes together with qualified students and charged them the same tuition, more than 20 million won per year.



The couple allegedly cheated the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) by claiming that the unqualified students were attending CCSI-affiliated lifelong education centers.



But the office noticed it and issued the corrective order in June 2013, shutting down the centers.



Then the couple set up a church within the school compound and established an international school without a license.



In March, the office ordered the school to shut down by the end of June, saying that it failed to follow numerous corrective orders.



This was the first time a foreign school has been ordered to close for operating illegally.



The prosecutors said that the number of foreign students was less than 10 out of 350.



They also found that the couple used school funds to pay off their personal debts and buy real estate.



"We assume that there will be many similar cases across the nation in which foreign schools are illegally operated as a means of moneymaking," a prosecutor said.

"Related authorities need to change laws and strengthen crackdowns."




The King Sejong Institute Foundation plans to improve its facilities in 10 countries. /Courtesy of King Sejong Institute



By Lee Jin-a

A state-run Korean language education institute will upgrade its schools in 10 countries so students there can learn about Korea in a more comfortable environment, the institute said Sunday.

Thirteen centers in 10 countries _ Germany, Russia, Lithuania, Mexico, Mongolia, Vietnam, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the Philippines _ will be upgraded, starting next month.

King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF) will modernize facilities and hold more exhibitions so foreigners can more fully experience Korean culture.

"International organizations such as the British Council and Germany's Goethe Institute use facilities designed to make the most of promoting their language and culture," said foundation president Song Hyang-keun. "We want more foreign students to learn Korean culture through our improved facilities."

The KSIF was founded in 2012 to support the King Sejong Institute (KSI), an overseas education institute to promote Korea's language and culture. KSI had 140 branches in 54 countries as of last year.
The families of Sewol ferry disaster victims and civic group members denounce the government during a protest at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Saturday, over its decision to disband a special investigation committee of the accident later this month. / Yonhap



Families of ferry disaster victims begin sit-in protest

By Jung Min-ho

The families of Sewol ferry disaster victims started a sit-in protest in front of the Government Complex in central Seoul, Saturday, calling on the government not to disband a special committee investigating the 2014 accident.

The protest followed the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' announcement that June 30 is the final day of the committee's investigation. The ministry said it will reduce the number of committee members to 72 from the current 92 in July, and they will only be allowed to make reports on their activities for the next three months.

The decision, the ministry insisted, is legitimate because the committee is allowed to probe only for 18 months, according to the Sewol Special Act that took effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

Protesters disagree, saying the committee was nothing but just a name until August when the necessary manpower and budget were finalized and it finally became capable of doing its job. Thus, they claimed, the committee should have eight additional months to investigate.

"We are not asking for an extension of the investigation period. What we want is to correctly enforce the law, which is supposed to guarantee the committee's 18-month investigation," said Yoo Kyung-keun, who represents the families of Sewol victims.

The ministry has rejected their idea, saying their request makes no sense in legal terms.

"The budget issue is just part of administrative work," a ministry official said. "The starting day of the committee's investigation should be determined by the law, and it officially took effect on Jan. 1."

The ministry also said it will give the committee three additional months once the salvage of the sunken ferry is completed in August. However, the committee says it will need more time to examine the ship, the only and most critical evidence of the mysterious accident.

According to Lee Seok-tae, head of the investigation committee, the investigation is so far only about 30 percent complete due to uncooperative government agencies. The committee said government agencies refused to submit some of the documents it requested for the probe in an apparent attempt to hinder its job.

Thursday was the 800th day after the ferry sinking, which killed 304 people  mostly Danwon High School students on a field trip. To mark the day, about 2,500 people, including lawmakers, civic group members and the victims' families, marched through the streets of central Seoul on Saturday. The march ended peacefully.
South Korea and Japan reached the landmark agreement on the "comfort women" issue of wartime sexual slavery out of their own "self-interest" amid a need for cooperation to cope with North Korean threats, former U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said.

Sherman made the case in a recent article contributed to CNN, as she called for U.S. President Barack Obama to visit Hiroshima for the first time as a sitting American president since the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb in the Japanese city.

She also said that Germany's path of post-war reconciliation with neighbors was "one of self-interest," adding that West Germany's first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, established common cause with former-enemy France as the two countries joined arms to face the Soviet threat.

"Recently, we have seen self-interest at work in Japan as well. Concerned with increased provocations and rising tensions in their backyards -- particularly from North Korea -- Japan and South Korea have finally come to a resolution of the 'comfort women' issue, a painful chapter of World War II," Sherman said.

In late December, Seoul and Tokyo reached the deal that centers on Japan's admission of responsibility for the wartime crime and plans to pay reparations to the victims. South Korea promised to end the dispute once and for all if Japan fulfills its responsibilities.












South Korea's prime minister is set to leave for China on Sunday to discuss North Korean issues with the Chinese leadership and touch on other bilateral matters, his office said.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will fly to Tianjin to participate in the Summer Davos Forum 2016, where he plans to introduce South Korea's flagship creative economy policy, which aims to generate new business opportunities through merging different industries and fostering startups.

During his two-day stay in the industrial city, he will meet with South Korean businessmen operating in the city.

The top policymaker then plans to move to Beijing and meet with China's President Xi Jinping and his counterpart, Premier Li Keqiang, to discuss the North's recent firing of its Musudan missile and its impact on peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The launch has caused Beijing to call on all sides to exercise restraint so as not to further escalate tensions.

During talks with the Chinese leadership, the prime minister is, moreover, expected to convey Seoul's growing concerns over illegal fishing activities by Chinese boats that have routinely entered the tense inter-Korean sea border region.












By Yi Whan-woo

The South Korean government has cut spending on some projects related to Japan's wartime sex slavery, drawing criticism from the surviving victims as well as civic activists.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family stopped funding a civic campaign aimed at submitting documentary records on victims of sex slavery worldwide to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

It also plans to cut its spending by 31 percent next year on supporting the former comfort women and their advocates, officials here said.

The budget cut appears to be in line with an agreement with Tokyo last year to "finally and irrevocably" resolve disputes on the issue.

Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the budget cut has nothing to do with the Seoul-Tokyo agreement, but there are many signs showing that the Korean government is trying to keep the issue at arm's length.

The gender ministry admitted that it decided to pull its annual funding of the Women's Human Rights Commission, which has been working with international groups to gain UNESCO heritage status for the records on sex slavery.

The ministry insisted that the decision was made after consulting officials at the Cultural Heritage Administration and other experts in October 2015.

Fourteen civic organizations from nine countries, including China, Taiwan and the Netherlands are now working together for UNESCO recognition of over 2,700 documents on comfort women. Some 600 pieces, such as written testimonies, photos and drawings, are from Korea.
Hwang Kyo-ahn



By Yi Whan-woo

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will meet with Chinese leaders in Beijing this week to discuss issues related to North Korea, officials said Sunday.

Hwang embarked on a five-day trip to China, Sunday. He will arrive in the Chinese capital, Monday, after attending the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin.

In Beijing, he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang separately.

During the meetings, Hwang is expected to discuss possible countermeasures against North Korea's provocations in the wake of its test-firing of a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on June 22.

The test has fueled speculation that the Kim Jong-un regime is closer to developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can strike the U.S. territory of Guam.

On Saturday, Hwang vowed to "strengthen international cooperation against North Korea's military threats."

Hwang is also expected to voice concerns about Chinese fishing boats that illegally work near the inter-Korean maritime border in the West Sea.












By Rachel Lee



Korea and Poland are about to get closer.



Polish airline Lot will launch three-times-a-week direct flights between the capitals Seoul and Warsaw on Oct. 18. For Korea, Poland is the fifth-largest investment market in Europe. For Poland, Korea is its second-biggest trade partner in Asia.



"Korean companies have invested over $1.7 billion in Poland and they have invested much more in the whole of Central and Eastern Europe," said Lot chief executive Rafal Milczarski.



"Now, Lot guarantees the most comfortable travel between Seoul and our part of Europe, without the need of shifting back or tiresome transfers in the large and crowded airports of Western Europe. Our offer saves time and guarantees comfort and the highest quality of service. We are certain that this will be appreciated, especially by passengers on business travel."



The new connection is expected to save time. And with Poland as a stopover destination, travelers will be able to get to other European cities, including Wroclaw, Krakow, Zagreb, Dusseldorf, Zurich and Stockholm.



"Opening direct flights always releases tourism sector potential," Milczarski said. "We are certain that now many Poles will decide to visit Korea, although they had no such plans before. I heartily encourage them to do so, since Seoul deservedly is called a city that never sleeps."



According Lot, about 30,000 Poles visit Korea a year. And the number is expected to grow by 8 percent annually.



"We also count on the visits of the inhabitants of Korea who do not know Poland well and who will decide to visit and meet us thanks to our offer," Milczarski said. "We are a safe country that has a lot to offer Korean tourists. I am certain that their positive experience related to Poland will start on board our planes. It is worth mentioning that flights from Seoul will be performed exclusively by Dreamliners and the menu will include both Polish and Korean specialties."



The Seoul-Warsaw flight will take about 12 hours, the company said.




High quality U.S. counterfeit notes are circulating in North Korea, raising speculation that the reclusive country may be manufacturing them and handing them off to unsuspecting visitors, sources in Hong Kong said Sunday.

Sources who are familiar with the North said a Hong Kong businessmen who visited Pyongyang recently tried to deposit a $100 note with a local bank but was told that it was a counterfeit bill.

The entrepreneur, who was not identified, claimed he got the bill just as he was checking out of the hotel he stayed in while in the North Korean capital.

The Hong Kong bank reported the counterfeit to authorities saying the note had a serial number starting with DE.

Related to the latest discovery, authorities in the former British colony said some businessmen who were in the North Korean capital in late May to take part in a product fair came back home with fake $100 notes. These same people received fake $50 notes at a market in the North.

"The notes were so well-made that they were not detected by mobile counterfeit note detection sensors carried by the businessmen," said an insider, familiar with the incident.












By Rachel Lee



North Korea will ratchet up tensions further by conducting a nuclear or missile test soon, following the "successful" test of an intermediate-range ballistic (IRBM) missile last week, analysts said Sunday.

The country's young leader Kim Jong-un will bet on further provocations to confront a series of sanctions by the international community against the nation, they said.

Chang Yong-seok, a researcher at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said that the North is unlikely to seek talks with the international community.

"It may instead focus on strengthening its power to deal directly with the pressures placed on it and make the international community drop sanctions against it," Chang said.

"It is highly possible that North Korea could conduct tests of nuclear warheads and a solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missile. And a fifth nuclear test could be a possibility."

Pyongyang claimed last week that the IRBM test was successful and that it has secured the capability to launch a nuclear attack on U.S. forces in the Pacific. The IRBMs, better known as the Musudan, are believed to have the range to strike any target in Japan and reach Guam, home to U.S. naval and air bases.












/ Courtesy of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital



Opinion leaders are losing ground in the era of evidence-based medicine'

By Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chul

There was a time when some big-name doctors had enormous influence in medical circles in Korea. However, as the nation's medicine moves toward an evidence-based era, they are increasingly losing ground, a renowned neurosurgeon said.

"The emergence of evidence-based medicine means that the time of heroic tales of a few great doctors is over," Oh Chang-wan, director of the Clinical Neuroscience Center at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH), said in an interview.

"The opinions of so-called star doctors' used to matter much when Korea had no one else to rely on, but today, doctors are using evidence from clinical research to make the best possible medical decisions for patients. What matters now is only the facts."

Evidence-based medicine is an approach that emphasizes the use of research data rather than experience. For example, clinical data collected from stroke patients help a surgeon decide how to treat a patient with a certain disease pattern. In other words, the approach uses proven methods rather than a doctor's personal experience or insight to determine how to treat patients.

Thanks to the clinical data that have accumulated over the past few decades, as well as the Internet, which gives doctors in Korea access to the latest information on best treatment methods, a paradigm shift is occurring in the country's medical industry, Oh noted.

"So much knowledge is required to understand each medical field today and there is a limit to how much knowledge one doctor can create or even grasp," he said. "Thus, cooperation among doctors and systematic support for creating and accumulating knowledge are becoming ever more important in the medical world."

For example, the number of patients with cerebral artery diseases in Korea has increased to about 20,000 from 4,000 over the past 20 years. "This is too much for one doctor to experience. Without cooperation, it would be very difficult to conduct meaningful research," he said.

When evidence-based medicine started gaining ground in the United States 30 years ago, Oh was just beginning his career as a neurosurgeon. As the new concept started to spread to other academic fields and to other countries such as Japan, he pondered about his role in Korea in the new era.

Which research issues should be addressed, how evidence should be collected and how results should be incorporated into clinical practice? Issues like these, he thought, would be critical in the future.

So the opening of SNUBH in 2003 was a great opportunity for Oh. At that time, hospitals in Korea were regarded as nothing more than medical care providers, but SNUBH, the nation's first paperless hospital, was built to serve also as a center for medical research.

The hospital's management of clinical data became much convenient, thanks to its adoption of an all-digital system, which other major hospitals in Korea later adopted.

In his field of cerebrovascular disorders, his most urgent task was to establish objective clinical practice guidelines for stroke treatment. It was necessary not only to educate neurosurgeons across the country but also to convert their clinical practices into useful data instead of not utilizing them.

Oh contributed to the establishment of Korea's first clinical guidelines for stroke treatment in 2006, which were finished more than eight years later. The renowned stroke expert has also held workshops about surgical techniques for other doctors in the country and others in Asia, including Indonesia, China and the Philippines.





In cooperation with other experts, Oh Chang-wan established Korea's first clinical guidelines for stroke treatment. Starting in 2006, the process took more than eight years. / Courtesy of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital



From imitation to innovation

Over the past few decades, Korea's medical industry has greatly improved. Oh said now the country is clearly world-class level when it comes to clinical techniques.

"The nation's fast development was possible because learning techniques requires only the ability to imitate," he said. "Today, Korea is on the highest level of imitation and now needs to grow into an innovator."

To do so, the country should be able to design and conduct original, prospective cohort studies on its own people," Oh said. "Until then, Korea will remain as a follower."

Over the past few decades, Korea has established a foundation of medical knowledge, but using data collected from other countries. In addition, most studies conducted in the country are retrospective, that is, they look at medical events from the past to the present in order to find how they occurred and developed.

However, Oh noted, significant scientific value are created by prospective studies, which follows over time a group of individuals who are similar but who differ with respect to certain factors in order to determine how these factors affect rates of a certain outcome. Global medical powerhouses such as the United States and Japan lead innovation in the industry with their prospective studies using original data.

Original data help people in different countries create a clearer picture of their health. Over the years, scientists have found that people in different regions show different disease patterns because of genetic and environmental reasons. For example, he said, the rate of problems associated with the extracranial arteries is higher among stroke patients in the United States than those in Korea.

"The problem is that prospective studies are expensive, but Korea has certainly reached the stage of needing such an investment if it is serious about growing beyond being a follower," he said.

"The investment won't bear fruit immediately; perhaps 10 years from now, but it certainly will."

Stroke: the second biggest killer of Koreans

Stroke is the second leading cause of death among Koreans only after cancer, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The disease, also called a "brain attack," occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain is cut off, which leads to brain cell death. A brain aneurysm, or a blood vessel rupture or leak (hemorrhagic), and a blood clot blockage (ischemic) are the two main types of stroke.

The most common symptom of the disease is sudden weakness or numbness of the face and limbs. A serious stroke can cause paralysis in one or both sides of the body or even death.

When Oh began his medical career 30 years ago, stroke was regarded largely as untreatable in Korea, especially when it was associated with cerebral arteries.

After becoming a professor at Seoul National University Hospital in 1995, Oh trained at the Stroke Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, where he learned surgical techniques and research from 1998 to 2000.

His focus has been educating neurosurgeons in Korea. Thanks to his efforts, cerebral microanastomosis, a surgical technique that connects blood vessels of the brain, is now commonly used for stroke patients in most Korean hospitals. He also played a vital role in setting up clinical and research systems at SNUBH's then newly opened center for stroke treatment, the country's first such center.
By Andrew Wolman

June 20 is World Refugee Day, a day set aside by the U.N. General Assembly to remember some of the least fortunate among us, those men and women who have been forced to leave their home country to escape persecution, war, famine and other miseries.



Of course, in much of the world there is no need for a reminder. The past few years have seen massive refugee flows as people flee war and atrocities in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, violence and persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma and Nigeria, and grinding poverty and oppression elsewhere. Oftentimes, refugees are only faced with more hardships after they leave home, and this suffering has unfortunately become a constant feature of contemporary life, in the camps of Kenya, the back alleys of Turkey, and the flimsy dinghies that traverse the Mediterranean.

Korea, however, has so far remained reluctant to play a leading role in the protection of refugees. From the time that it first started receiving refugee applicants in 1994 until March 2016, Korea has only recognized 588 refugees, while receiving 16,979 applications during the same period, a very low rate by global standards. Korea also granted humanitarian visas to 927 applicants during this same period, allowing the applicants to stay in the country on an annually renewable basis, albeit with lesser rights than recognized refugees. While there was some hope that the entry into force of a new Refugee Act in 2013 would increase the country's refugee recognition rate, so far that does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, although the number of refugee applicants has gone up each year, the refugee recognition rate has decreased significantly. Even the procedural safeguards of the new act seem to be flouted by the government's decision to detain dozens of asylum seekers in overcrowded rooms at Incheon Airport, sometimes for a period of several months at a time.

While Korea has not been willing to accept significant numbers of refugees to date, there are glimmers of a more welcoming attitude. For the first time, Korea resettled refugees from outside the country in December 2015, accepting 22 Burmese refugees from a camp in Thailand. This was a milestone, and one of the first examples of an Asian country accepting resettled refugees. Of course, 22 individuals is just a drop in the bucket, considering global resettlement needs, which are estimated by UNHCR to exceed 1.19 million persons in 2017.

How, then, can Korea's refugee record be improved over the next year? Let me suggest four reasonable ways. First, the government should ensure that no asylum seeker stays more than 24 hours at the airport before being allowed into the country to apply for asylum while living in humane conditions. Long-term airport detention violates human rights norms and has been repudiated as an immigration control device throughout the developed world. There is no excuse for its use in Korea.

Second, Korea's resettlement program should be ramped up to welcome a far greater number of people. Now that the legal and institutional infrastructure is in place, Korea can play a far greater role in helping those in need, and in turn the Korean economy can benefit from the skills of those it brings in. Refugees should be considered for resettlement from the camps surrounding Syria, where the needs are greatest, rather than focusing solely on refugees in Thailand.

Third, the government should improve the rights and treatment of humanitarian status holders. While current regulations tend to focus on Korea's treatment of refugees, the fact is that most deserving individuals are given humanitarian rather than refugee status. This includes almost all Syrian asylum seekers. Yet humanitarian status holders have weaker rights to housing, health care and welfare, and find it more difficult to access the labor market. Given that many humanitarian visa holders actually are refugees, they should be treated equally to refugees by the Korean government.

And fourth, the Korean government and judiciary must change their perspectives when evaluating cases. Rather than seeking any possible excuse to keep people out of the country, they should acknowledge a duty to provide refugee status whenever there is a reasonable chance that the applicant would face persecution in his or her home country. Refugees seldom arrive with precise documentary evidence attesting to their persecution, but that does not lessen the duty to provide protection.

Some would argue that Korea has no duty to take refugees. This would be wrong, both legally and ethically. Korea is a party to the Refugee Convention, and all countries should welcome those in need. Korea's government should heed the words of Ban Ki-Moon, who stated that "on this World Refugee Day, let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity and open our hearts to refugees everywhere."

Andrew Wolman is an associate professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, where he teaches international migration law and international human rights law. Write to amw247@yahoo.com.
By Matthew Brinton Tildesley

Matthew Brinton Tildesley

Contrary to some news reports, the U.K. has not left the EU. Not yet. The referendum was a consultation only, and only 17 million of the U.K.'s 61 million people have said that they would like to leave.

According to British political law, in order for the U.K. to leave Europe, Parliament has to vote in favor of leaving, and then activate article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would then be the point of no return. Prime Minister David Cameron (yes, he is still there too; just) has said that he is unwilling to do this and that it will be done by his successor, after he leaves in October.



This is a singularly interesting position to take, as other EU states are right now breathing down his neck for a swift exit. He has quite deliberately left open a window of opportunity before the final decision is made. Therefore, the U.K. has 3 months to organize a rebuttal of last week's referendum, which could take one of two forms.



Firstly, almost a million people per day are signing a petition asking parliament to debate the issue of a second referendum with a larger majority (the signatures stand at 2,757,400 as I type). The Quebec referendum on leaving Canada happened twice, and Scotland has already proposed a second referendum on leaving the U.K., so there is international precedence for this.



Indeed, a second consultation is only right if one considers the global importance of such a step this is. In addition it has been reported that the most common search on Google U.K. in the last 48 hours is "What is the EU?"

Quite clearly, the decision made on the 24th was an uninformed one, and an uninformed choice is no choice at all. Quite pontedly, before the referendum took place, UKIP leader Nigel Farage declared that a vote with such a slender margin as 52:48 in favor of Remaining in the EU should trigger a second referendum. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. A second referendum is well within the bounds of acceptability.

The second option opens to the U.K., but undoubtedly more contentious, would be for MPs to simply vote against the will of those 17million people. They can do this quite legally. As stated above, the June 24th referendum was a consultation only, and not a binding legal or political move. Naturally there will be cries that such a move is "undemocratic," but recent political history is awash with governments acting in such a way -- Britain's involvement in the Iraq war for instance.



Furthermore, some things are quite simply more important than democracy, and a great many Britons believe that the entire issue of EU membership is a matter for Parliament alone, and never should have been put to a referendum in the first place.



It certainly does appear that the will of parliament is to stay in Europe, and we must encourage MPs to vote for what they believe in. Unfortunately, Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn has missed a trick by stating that he is willing to accept the will of the people. He could have been the voice of reason. Somebody needs to step up and protect our nation, while we still have time.

To my mind, 52 percent of 71 percent of the electorate is simply not a mandate to leave the EU, which will undoubtedly lead to the breakup of the U.K., re-ignite war in Northern Ireland, and wreak havoc upon the rest of the EU, not to mention global economics.



E. M. Forster said (well, almost) that the "Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who strive," and strive we must. I am certain that there will come a time when British people will ask themselves, "Wasn't there some point where we could have stopped all this from happening." There is. That time is now.



The author is an assistant professor of English Literature at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul.
By Doug Bandow



The U.S. Congress is filled with political cowards. The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the legislative branch.



In recent decades, however, members of Congress have preferred to leave the hard decisions to the president. This constitutional abdication has allowed unilateral war-making.



Even President Barack Obama, who tossed the issue of Syria's use of chemical weapons to Congress, has relied on the outdated authorization passed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to validate multiple military operations today.



Congress could make a bad situation worse. Representatives Scott Perry (R-PA), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) have introduced H.J. Res. 84,"Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Islamist Extremism." It would create a long list of target "organizations that support Islamist extremism," many of which have done nothing against America.



It is strikingly foolish legislation.



First, a country normally declares war against entities, not philosophies. What matters is not whether a nation or group is Islamist but whether it endangers America.



Second, the threat to the U.S. and other nations is violent extremism, not extremism. It doesn't particularly matter if people have seemingly kooky ideas on how to live if they do not kill and otherwise harm others.



Third, war should be reserved for responding to threats to America. In World War II Washington declared war on specific countries, most notably Japan and Germany, not on fascism.



Yet Representatives Perry, Salmon, and Lummis came up with numerous new enemies, along with the kitchen sink: "the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al Shabab, Boko Haram, Al-Nusrah Front, the Haqqani-Network, the Taliban, Houthi's, Korasan Group, Hamas, Hezbollah, and any substantial supporters, associated forces, or closely related successor entities to any of such organizations."



Why stop there? Why not Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines? They've kidnapped Americans.



China assures the world that the Muslim Uighurs are terrorists, so why not add them? What about the Pakistani Taliban? Russia's Chechens have committed atrocities against civilians.



The proposed choice of enemies well illustrates the problem of U.S. foreign policy. The Islamic State did not turn to terrorism against America or Europe until Washington and its allies took over the fight against the putative caliphate. Had Washington left the battle to those in the region threatened by the Islamic Stateessentially everyonethe group likely would be devoting its terrorist energies elsewhere.



Al-Qaeda remains an enemy, but not much of one after nearly 15 years. Moreover, by supporting Saudi Arabia's brutal campaign in Yemen, Washington actually has weakened the forces against al-Qaeda and opened space for the Islamic State.



Al-Shabab is essentially a criminal gang operating in Somalia. It is made up of nasty folks, but they have little to do with America.



So, too, Boko Haram, the vicious Islamic insurgency in Nigeria. Not every evil doer on earth is America's problem.



The al-Nusra Front and Khorasan Group are seemingly associated with al-Qaeda but focused on the Syrian civil war. Ironically, they are on America's "side" in that conflict. The best military policy in Syria is to stay out.



The Haqqani Network and Taliban are America's opponents in Afghanistan. However, Washington long ago fulfilled its primary objectives theredispersing al-Qaeda and punishing the Taliban for hosting anti-American terrorists. The U.S. should drop its forlorn attempt at nation-building in Central Asia.



Far from being Islamic extremists, the Houthis were known for religious moderation and are a Shia variant close to Sunnis. The group has never targeted Americans. It is Saudi Arabiaa totalitarian state which allows no religious libertywhich has turned the conflict into a sectarian struggle.



Hamas is a malign organization, but has no global ambitions and does not threaten America. Israel is well able to confront its far weaker adversary.



Hezbollah also is no friend of Israel, but is not a military enemy of America. Although blamed for the 1983 attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks, exact responsibility is unclear. The organization was only emerging at the time and was not fully formed until 1985.



In any case, in 1983 the U.S. had become a combatant in Lebanon's multi-sided civil war and bombed Islamic forces. Washington could not then claim immunity from attack. Targeting Hezbollah today also would put America at odds with the Lebanese governmentand the nation's substantial Christian population.



The U.S. Congress should approve military action only when Washington has no alternative course to protect America. That is not the case in the Mideast today.



Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. A graduate of Stanford Law School, he is the author of "Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire."




South Korea has come under growing pressure to take more aggressive budgetary and monetary measures after Britain's decision to leave the European Union, officials and experts here said Sunday.



The unexpected move has added to global market uncertainties and is fueling financial sector turbulence that is adversely impacting Asia's fourth-largest economy.



On Friday, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 3.1 percent to 1,925.24 points, the biggest daily loss in over four years.



Even before the Brexit shock, many expected South Korea's economy to face harsher challenges in the second half of the year.



"Indices on production and domestic spending have improved since March," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said. "But economic conditions are expected to face challenges in the latter half."



He cited the government's plan to end consumption tax benefits, the introduction of tough anticorruption law and the full implementation of corporate restructuring measures as areas of concern.



"We need an active policy response," the policymaker added.



The restructuring drive has already begun to take a toll on the local job market.



The unemployment rate in the South Gyeongsang Province rose 1.2 percentage points to 3.7 percent in May from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The southeastern province is home to South Korea's largest shipyards -- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries.



The jobless rates in other major industrial areas, such as Daegu, have risen as well, deepening worries about less domestic spending.



South Korea's exports are also expected to feel the pinch from the Brexit move that could hurt the real economy of Britain and the eurozone as a whole for the time being.



The Korea Customs Service said the nation's exports plunged 12.8 percent on-year to $25.6 billion in the first 20 days of June. South Korea has suffered continued declines in its exports since January last year in the longest-ever losing streak since related data were first compiled in 1970.



"The impact from Brexit is different from past financial crises in terms of characteristics. It is regarded as political and economic risks that could affect our economy in the mid- to long-term," said Shin Hwan-jong, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities.



Market watchers will closely monitor the government's economic policy direction for the second half of the year, which will be released Tuesday.



The government also plans to update its 2016 growth forecast for the South Korean economy, currently standing at 2.8 percent. Chances are slim that it will revise up the figure.



In particular, the finance minister is expected to clarify the government's position on the issue of allocating supplementary budgets.



The timing and size of extra budgets is at issue. In a policy coordination meeting with the ruling Saenuri Party last week, Yoo emphasized the need for a speedy action.



Some demand "supersized" extra budgets of at least 20 trillion won ($17 billion) in order to help revitalize the economy.



On the monetary front, there is a growing call for the Bank of Korea (BOK) to cut its policy rate once again. The central bank slashed the key rate to a record low of 1.25 percent in early June.



BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol voiced worries about the nation's economy during the remainder of the year.



"Downside risks have grown further than expected," he said after the June 9 rate-setting session. (Yonhap)




LG Uplus engineers test a solar-powered long-term evolution (LTE) base station at the Sky Ranch in Daegwallyeong, Gangwon Province, Thursday. The telecom company said the energy self-sufficient base station will help it reduce radio shadow zones, while minimizing the environmental damage of cable construction. / Courtesy of LG Uplus



By Yoon Sung-won

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province  LG Uplus has introduced its energy self-sufficient long-term evolution (LTE) network base stations for mountainous and remote island areas where power and network cables cannot reach.

The telecom company said this base station system, which integrates LG Electronics' solar panels and LG Chem's energy storage system (ESS) batteries, will not only improve network conditions in remote radio shadow zones but also minimize environmental damage.

"With this base station system, we can now connect LTE networks even in remote areas where cable-based networks are practically impossible to build," LG Uplus Network Strategy Unit Vice President Heo Vitus said to reporters during a demo session of the solar-powered LTE base station established at the Sky Ranch in Daegwallyeong, Gangwon Province, Friday. "This will boost both cost-efficiency and eco-friendliness in expanding LTE networks in radio shadow zones."

In terms of population, Korea's telecom operators have a combined 99.9 percent coverage rate. But regarding the coverage rate in terms of land area rather than population, the number goes down to around 80 percent due to 4,440 mountains and 3,677 islands nationwide, LG Uplus said. It said the energy self-sufficient base stations will boost connectivity in radio shadow zones and can be used for emergency situations such as rescue operations in natural disasters and accidents.

The executive said the company expects the eco-friendly base station technology to help it obtain government permission to build such facilities in environmental protection zones such as national parks.

"Despite the establishment of nationwide mobile networks, there still are radio shadow zones in remote areas because we could not get government approval for cable wiring in national parks because it will harm the environment," Heo said. "But this energy self-sufficient system does not cause such massive damage to the environment. We hope that this will improve recognition with the government and help us secure permission."

The demo facility in Daegwallyeong is LG Uplus's fourth solar-powered LTE base station in Korea. It established and began testing the same systems at Mount Gyeryong and Mount Oseo in South Chungcheong Province last year.

The solar-powered LTE base station is outfitted with solar panels to produce electricity and ESS batteries to store the energy, allowing it to operate for between 24 and 48 hours even on cloudy days. The six LG Electronics solar panels, which have 19.2 percent efficiency, can produce over 300 watts in an hour and LG Chem's ESS batteries last up to 15 years.

The telecom company pledged to develop technologies that further boost the energy efficiency of the solar power system to make it more sustainable and introduce wireless backhaul bridge repeaters, which wirelessly connect cable-based LTE networks and smaller base stations.

"Our task will be developing base stations that consume less energy," Heo said. "We plan to develop systems with only one-third the normal energy requirements and expand the application of this eco-friendly system to more than 20 areas including Cheongsan Island in South Jeolla Province."
By Kim Yoo-chul



Tesla Motors confirmed that it plans to build superchargers in Korea, a move seen by many as a concrete measure to expand its profile in the market here.



"We are seeking an experienced implementation manager to oversee the deployment, installation and servicing of Tesla's network of Supercharger and Destination Chargers in Korea," Tesla said on its official website.



It added, "The job is to contract construction partners, oversee construction, commission upon completion, service, troubleshoot and maintain existing sites as needed," the U.S.-based automotive company said.



Tesla said its charging network includes a supercharger, which relies on sophisticated electromechanical systems designed to supply large amounts of power to Tesla vehicles.



The job posting came after Tesla earlier confirmed its plan to establish authorized dealer shops. Tesla's budget electric vehicle (EV)  Model 3  will be available in Korea by next year at the earliest.



The job posting, however, didn't specify the timing of the completion of its superchargers and locations.













According to Tesla, its superchargers are capable of delivering up to half a charge in as little as 20 minutes. Also, superchargers are used for long-distance travel, conveniently located along the most popular routes in Asia.



As of April this year, about 612 supercharging stations have been installed in the United States.



Officials say Tesla's latest plan to build superchargers in the Korean market will further challenge Hyundai Motor on their home turf.



The Korean auto market, which has long been dominated by Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors, is one of Tesla's growing markets in which the U.S. EV manufacturer is well-positioned to sell its new Model 3.



EVs still account for less than 1 percent of the 21 million cars in Korea, according to market research firms.



But Hyundai and Kia plan on having no fewer than 28 environmentally friendly models in their lineups by the end of 2020 including pure EVs and hybrids.



Hyundai Motor has been selling their updated Ioniq-dubbed compact EVs since January with a type of gasoline-electric hybrid system, although Korea's top automotive firm plans to release a new plug-in version by the end of this year in a preemptive measure to fight back against the Model 3.



"Tesla's Model 3 should be a game changer. For the first time, an EV with sufficient range that is faster, cleaner, more convenient, more communicative and  we expect cooler  than competing gasoline-powered cars, will be at an affordable price point for the masses. This is enabled predominantly by Tesla's superior battery technology that just got pushed forwards further and faster than even we expected," Bernstein Research's senior analyst Mark C. Newman said in the latest report to clients.
Kim Hee-yeon, marketing team head at Nanobrick, introduces the Korean company's "M-Tag" product certification technology during the Consultative Meeting on Food Security in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Jun. 20.

/ Courtesy of Nanobrick



By Lee Min-hyung

Nanobrick, a Seoul-based company producing anti-counterfeiting nanomaterials, is moving to raise its global profile in combating forgery and piracy.

The company said Sunday it joined the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), in recognition for its technological accomplishment in developing a nanomaterial technology to stop counterfeiting issues from spreading across the world.

This will allow Nanobrick to access a wide range of IACC networks coming from its member companies  including such luxury products makers as Chanel and Hermes  and global anti-counterfeiting organizations, according to the company.

This is the first time that a Korean anti-counterfeiting industry player has joined the organization. Expectations are that Nanobrick will expand its profile in the global market and diversify its revenue streams by continuing to promote its products at the world's leading security-related tradeshows.

In particular, the company's key technology, called "M-Tag," was named as the official product certification tool to guarantee safety for all foods, drinks and daily necessities for heads of 53 participating countries at the upcoming 2016 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in July.

An organizing committee for this year's ASEM previously said it plans to use a system, dubbed "ASEM-Tag," to verify all food and drink products provided by 150 companies at the global event. M-Tag was at the center of developing the ASEM-Tag, according to Nanobrick.

"The IACC is a venue where a group of international experts are joining hands to generate tangible results against fake products," said a Nanobrick spokesman. "The fact that we became an IACC member shows that our anti-counterfeiting technology has been recognized by the international community."

The company said it will keep searching for new growth areas in Europe where only a few highly recognized companies can expand their presence, as the continent is known for relatively high entry barriers for any new anti-counterfeiting and security solutions providers.

Last month, the IACC removed China's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba, from its membershipa month after it joined the organization in April, amid growing concerns from global luxury brands over Alibaba's commiment to putting an end to counterfeiting.



The global anti-counterfeiting business market will be worth around $142 billion in 2020, from $57.2 billion in 2008, according to the U.K.-based market researcher Smithers Pira.

The anti-forgery industry has grown in some limited countries including Europe and North America which take up 80 percent of the market share.

But Asia is moving to become a new growth area for the anti-counterfeiting market, as the Chinese government is toughening measures against fake products and intellectual property breaches.

Meanwhile, traditional anti-counterfeiting technologies, including Quick Response (QR) codes, have encountered some setbacks, as they were vulnerable to replications, according to Nanobrick.

The company stressed, however, its nanomaterial-based M-Tag is under little threat of replication, due to its technological complexity.

On top of that, the M-Tag takes advantage of magnetic fields, so the public can easily access it with a magnet, according to the firm. This is the biggest difference from traditional anti-counterfeiting solutions which require expensive equipment such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, said the company.

For more information, visit www.nanobrick.co.kr
LG Chem ESS product planning division chief Shin Young-joon with executives at the InterSolar exhibition in Munich, Germany last week, after LG's latest energy storage technology won honors there. / Courtesy of LG Chem



By Kim Yoo-chul



LG Chem, the world's top battery supplier, said Sunday its latest energy saving technology for use in households received an award in a technology fair, Munich, Germany, last week.



"LG's New RESU-branded energy storage system (ESS) received an award in the InterSolar 2016 technology fair held in the German city of Munich, last year. LG Chem is the first Korean company to win a prize in the ESS segment in an international tech exhibition," LG Chem said in a release.



C. S. Song, head of LG Chem's public relations office, said the award was thanks to the RESU ESS's improvements in enhancing energy density, reducing costs and cutting weight.



The New RESU applied an inverter-connection technology, helping consumers save time during installation.



For greater compatibility, LG Chem teamed up with SolarEdge Technologies to benefit from compatibility of SolarEdge's StorEdge solutions with LG Chem's new high-voltage RESU lithium-ion batteries, which will be beneficial both in extending their offering of cost-effective and integrated energy generation, storage and consumption.



The home ESS product will be available for five models from 3.3 kilowatt hour (kWh) energy capacity to 9.8 kWh. As the latest RESU is expandable using different models, its energy capacity will be enlarged up to 19.6 kWh, said the company.



Another updated feature is that the new RESU's battery management system will be easily upgraded via an SD card, making them efficient in management.



Song said the achievement will help LG Chem expand its share in the ESS market in its target markets such as Germany and Australia.



Navigant Research, a market research firm, expects the demand for the household ESS market to grow 12 trillion won by 2024 from this year's estimated 730 billion won, with average annual growth reaching over 44 percent during the period.
By Park Si-soo



China has cut its official communications with Taiwan in a renewed conflict between the two countries triggered by Taiwan's new leader who has refused to acknowledge the concept that there is only "one China."



Relations between the two sides have grown increasingly frosty since President Tsai Ing-wen won Taiwan's leadership by a landslide in January and took office in May, ending eight years of rapprochement.



Beijing and Taipei have held regular, official communications since 2014, but that has now stopped, according to China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).



"The bilateral communication mechanism has been suspended," TAO spokesman An Fengshan said on its website on Saturday.



Taiwan, whose official name is the Republic of China, is self-ruling after splitting with the mainland in 1949 following a civil war. But it has never formally declared independence and Beijing still sees it as part of its territory.



China is highly suspicious of Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which replaced the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party in government, is traditionally pro-independence and has warned her against any attempt at a breakaway.



Beijing said it had cut contact because Taiwan had refused to acknowledge the "1992 consensus" -- a tacit agreement made between Chinese officials and the KMT that there is only "one China" but each side is allowed its own interpretation.



Tsai's presidential predecessor Ma Ying-jeou recognised the consensus and oversaw an unprecedented thawing of ties from 2008 to when he left office in May.



But, while Tsai has said she wants to maintain peaceful relations with China, she has not backed the consensus or the "one China" concept.



Her presidential victory tapped into voter fears that Beijing was eroding Taiwan's sovereignty through closer ties, and that trade agreements with China were being made secretly, benefiting big business, rather than ordinary residents.



Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the official body for communications with Beijing, would not confirm contact with China was now on ice.



"The government will continue to keep the door open for cross-strait communication and make every effort to safeguard the existing mechanism," it said.




Bill Cunningham is the New York Times fashion and social photographer who was featured in a 2010 documentary, Bill Cunningham New York, and whose pages of street fashion have been running in the Times for decades. Even in his 80s, Cunningham was riding his bicycle through the streets of Manhattan to capture the looks worn by New Yorkers on their way to work or lunch, then taking his film into the NYT, editing the images and recording audio slide shows for the website. Cunningham died Saturday after recently suffering a stroke. He was 87.

The New York Times obituary says that Cunningham's photo essays for the paper "memorialized trends ranging from fanny packs to Birkin bags, gingham shirts and fluorescent biker shorts."

In his nearly 40 years working for The Times, Mr. Cunningham operated both as a dedicated chronicler of fashion and as an unlikely cultural anthropologist, one who used the changing dress habits of the people he photographed to chart the broader shift away from formality and toward something more diffuse and individualistic.

At the Pierre hotel on the East Side of Manhattan, he pointed his camera at tweed-wearing blue-blood New Yorkers with names like Rockefeller and Vanderbilt. Downtown, by the piers, he clicked away at crop-top wearing Voguers. Up in Harlem, he jumped off his bicycle  he rode more than 30 over the years, replacing one after another as they were wrecked or stolen  for B-boys in low-slung jeans. In the process, he turned into something of a celebrity himself. In 2008, Mr. Cunningham went to Paris, where the French government bestowed him with the Legion dHonneur. Back in New York, he was celebrated at Bergdorf Goodman, where a life-size mannequin of him, as slight and bony-thin as ever, was installed in the window. In 2009, he was named a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy and profiled in The New Yorker, which described his columns On the Street and Evening Hours as the citys unofficial yearbook, an exuberant, sometimes retroactively embarrassing chronicle of the way we looked. In 2010, a documentary film, Bill Cunningham New York, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art to glowing reviews.



And there's more. Cunningham was single and lived until 2010 in a studio in Carnegie Hall crammed full of file cabinets holding his negatives. He slept on a cot, showered in a shared bathroom, and did not own a TV. His typical work attire was a blue French workers jacket, khaki pants and black sneakers. I wonder if he was the last New York Times photographer to use film.

In the documentary, he explains why he wears the French smocks and how he obtains them. Here's the trailer.



Here's the lede of the 2009 New Yorker profile by Lauren Collins:

A few summers ago, on upper Fifth Avenue, Bill Cunningham spied a remarkable creature: a woman, in her seventies, with a corona of blue hairnot the muzzy pastel hue associated with bad dye jobs but the irradiant one of Slurpees and laundry detergent. The woman gave Cunningham an idea. Every day for a month, whenever he saw something cerulean (a batik shawl) or aqua (a Hawaiian-print sarong) or azure (a Japanese parasol) coming down the sidewalk, he snapped a picture of it. One morning, he spotted a worker balancing, on his shoulder, a stuffed blue marlin. I thought, Thats it, kid! he recently recalled. The following Sunday, On the Street, the street-fashion column that Cunningham has maintained in the Times for more than a decade, was populated entirely with New Yorkers dressed in various shades of the colora parade of human paint chips. Mediterranean shades of blue are not yet the new pink, but they are a favorite this summer, he wrote. The cooling watery tones, worn as an accent with white and browns, appear in turquoise-color jewelry and blue hair, but it is rare to see a man crossing the Avenue of the Americas with a trophy sailfish.

Cunninghams job is not so different from a fishermans: it requires a keen knowledge, honed over years, of the local ecosystem and infinite patience in all manner of weather conditions.



Vogue today commented on Cunningham's death in a piece by Hamish Bowles that refers to him as a national treasure. It begins:

It was the whimsical, fantastical world of hats and headdresses that first brought William J. Cunningham into the world of fashion that would revere him for decades to come. As a boy I could never concentrate on Sunday church services, he explained, because Id be concentrating on womens hats.

Having dropped out of Harvard, Bill, as he was known to all, established a millinery salon in mid-century Manhattan. He named it William J., so as not to embarrass his conservative Bostonian family with the use of his surname. His hats were the grand opera of all time, remembered the illustrator Joe Eula, citing a broad-brim, ostrich feathercrested beach hat with fringe from brim to floor, behind which the wearer was supposed to be able to change at the beach. His clients included Mrs. Astor and Marilyn Monroe and he would create some of the headdresses for Truman Capotes famed 1966 Black and White Ball (ostensibly given for the Washington Posts Katharine Graham)the cafe society event of the decade. [skip] His scrupulous editorial standards of both content and comportment were old world. He would only document social events that were fundraisers for charitable and philanthropic causes, and every evening he bicycled valiantly from venue to venue to do so, clad in his trademark French workmans smock. When I cohosted an event for the New York City Opera in a magnificent Stanford White building on the Columbia campus one year, Bill politely explained that it would be too far for him to cycle, and so regrettably he would not be able to cover the evening for The Times. Try as one might there was absolutely no question that his unimpeachable editorial integrity could be sullied by accepting our offer of a car to collect him. (If you dont take money, he once explained, they cant tell you what to do, kid.)



Judy Graeme admitted for LA Observed in 2011 that she cannot enjoy the weekend without checking out checking out Cunningham's latest street fashion report. She wrote:

If I miss his latest pictures for some reason, I feel like something's off, like I've misplaced some piece of vital information that is my fashion touchstone for the week.

I'm especially addicted to his "On the Street" audio slideshows. When I press play and the cool, man-about-town theme music reaches my ears, I'm transported to the streets of New York. His distinctive voice makes me happy. Former Los Angeles Times photographer Iris Schneider, who met Cunningham when she was freelancing in NYC, says you can almost hear the twinkle in his eye. "I'd say he sounds like an upper-crust leprechaun," she says. "There is an upper-crust polish straight out of Sutton Place, but he's got an infectious lilt that is totally his own."



Also today from Vanity Fair:

He worked as a kind of fashion anthropologist, who was as passionate about chronicling trends as he was about recognizing spectacular individuality. We all get dressed for Bill, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, a regular fixture in Cunninghams columns, remarked in ]the 2010] film.
Dear Liz: With all the investment options offered in 401(k) plans, how as a contributor do I know where to place my money?

Answer: Too many investment options can confuse contributors and lower participation rates, according to a study by social psychologist Sheena Iyengar of Columbia University in cooperation with the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research. The more options, the more likely participants are to simply divide their money evenly among the choices, according to another study published in the Journal of Marketing Research. Thats a pretty random method of asset allocation and one that may not get people to their retirement goals.

As a participant, you want a low-cost, properly diversified portfolio of investments. For most people, that means a heavy weighting toward stock funds, including at least a dab of international stocks. Your human resources department or the investment company running the plan may be able to help with asset allocation.

Some plans offer free access to sophisticated software from Financial Engines or Morningstar that can help you pick among your available options. Once you have your target asset allocation, youll need to rebalance your portfolio, or return it to its original allocation, at least once a year. A good year for stocks could mean your portfolio is too heavily weighted with them, while a bad year means you need to stock up.

If that feels like too much work, you may have simpler options. Many plans provide a balanced fund, typically invested 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds, that provides automatic reallocation. The same is true for target-date funds, which are an increasingly popular choice. Pick the one with the date closest to your expected retirement year. If youre 35, for example, you might opt for the Retirement 2045 fund.

Its important, though, that you minimize costs because funds with high fees can leave you with significantly less money at retirement. The average target-date fund charged 0.73% last year. If youre paying much more than that, and have access in your plan to lower-cost stock and bond funds, choose those instead.

No wedding, no Social Security benefits

Dear Liz: Im a female who has been with her male partner for 20 years. We are not married. In the event one of us dies, is the other entitled to the partners Social Security benefits? Or do we have to be legally married to qualify for benefits?

Answer: Your genders dont matter. Your marital status does. To get Social Security benefits based on the other persons work record, you need to make it legal.

Marriage offers hundreds of legal, financial and estate-planning advantages, and Social Security is certainly one of those. With married couples, lower-earning partners may qualify for bigger benefit spousal benefits than the retirement benefits they would receive on their own work records. After a death, the surviving spouse gets the larger of the couples two benefits. Social Security makes up more than half of most elderly peoples income, so this is no small deal.

Fiduciaries can help with estate trusts

Dear Liz: I enjoyed your recent column about spendthrift trusts. Youre right that when parents assign the job of trustee to one sibling for the benefit of another sibling, it creates a hazardous situation that often results in a court battle. The appointed professional trustee should be a neutral party. You recommended a bank or trust company to fill the bill.

However, there is a third and often better option: a licensed professional fiduciary. There are about 600 in California. We are independent fiduciaries licensed by the state to manage clients assets in trusts and estates.

Professional fiduciaries will take the smaller trusts and estates, since banks and trust companies usually require a minimum of $1 million to $2 million under management before accepting a trust or remainder estate. Banks and trust companies also typically charge fees based on the amount of money under management, whereas California Licensed Professional Fiduciaries normally charge on a time-incurred basis.

Fiduciaries also give the beneficiary an annual accounting. A case I have now came to me when the sibling trustee failed to account for money spent for nine years.

Answer: Thanks for highlighting this option. Licensed professional fiduciaries arent available everywhere, but certified public accountants also can serve this function. The attorney who drafts the trust may have recommendations.

Liz Weston is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the "Contact" form at asklizweston.com. Distributed by No More Red Inc.
Theres a revolution going on in corporate human resources departments, and the much-hated annual performance review is in the crossfire.

Over the past few years, a fast-growing number of high-profile companies have been blowing up this annual rite of corporate life, replacing the traditional yearly review with something more frequent, less formal and, they hope, less reviled.

According to a March survey of more than 250 companies by research and consulting firm Brandon Hall Group, about 16% said they recently had eliminated the use of a rating scale.

Advertisement

The rebellion is taking different forms. Some, such as Accenture and Microsoft, have ditched forced rankings that use a bell curve to distribute employee performance, among other things.

Others, such as Adobe and General Electric, have either dumped the rating scale that labels employees performance with, say, a 3 or meets expectations, or are testing the idea with groups of employees. Big banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley also have made changes to the way they rate and review workers in recent weeks.

As the uprising gains steam, a big question remains: How good are the systems replacing them?

New survey data shared with the Washington Post by the advisory firm CEB reveals that one of the big changes employees have cheered may not remain so popular over time. It finds that companies that eliminate ratings altogether could be in for some complaints.

CEB surveyed more than 9,000 managers and employees across 18 countries and found that those who worked for organizations that had scrapped ratings from the review process actually scored the performance conversations they had with their managers 14% lower.

Employees who had gotten a top score under the old ratings system missed them most, with satisfaction scores dropping even further. And among the group that had no ratings, the number of employees who believe their organization differentiates pay by performance dropped 8%, the survey found.

For organizations that have abandoned some sort of categorical rating-type feedback, what we actually find is that experience is pretty negative, said Brian Kropp, CEBs human resources practice leader. Without a rating to focus on in the conversation, Kropp said, managers may feel its harder for them to deliver a clear message.

Finally, employees appear to have a harder time seeing the link between pay raises and performance. When there wasnt as clear of a link between a score they got on their performance review and the size of the merit increase they received, employees perceptions of pay differentiation fell, Kropp said.

Still, some companies that have dropped the ratings appear encouraged by the results. Microsofts director of global performance programs, for instance, told the Wall Street Journal in October that the lack of rating, we have heard back from our people, mitigates the threat, distraction and internal competition.

So what does seem to work? Kropp said their research shows that revamped reviews that get more input from employees peers, focus on the future rather than the past and give more frequent feedback  at least quarterly, if not monthly  seem to help the most. The speed of work now just dramatically outpaces the speed of HR processes, he said. The idea of an annual performance review or a six-month performance review just doesnt make sense anymore.

Jena McGregor writes for the Washington Post.
Hello! Im Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

As further proof that there are more good movies out there than we know what to do with  both as counter-programming to the blockbuster blues and any cockamamie ideas that movies dont matter anymore  this week were featuring four new releases. Which also means that were making room up top for an older title.

An L.A. screening of the recent restoration of Ousmane Sembenes first feature, Black Girl, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is a reason for excitement. (And also a good reason to leave the house.) A.O. Scott recently called the film at once powerfully of its moment and permanently contemporary.

Advertisement

This week well have a screening of the upcoming movie Captain Fantastic on June 29 followed by a Q&A with writer-director Matt Ross. The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and has since picked up awards at festivals in Cannes and Seattle.

Check events.latimes.com for more info.

Nonstop movies. Movies nonstop.

Bella Heathcote, left, Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone, director Nicolas Winding Refn and Elle Fanning of The Neon Demon. (Christina House / For The Times )

The Neon Demon

Following his moody explorations of wounded masculinity in films such as Drive and Bronson, filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn turns his eye to women with The Neon Demon, a story of young models in L.A. starring Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote and Abbey Lee.

I dont really want to know how its going to turn out, Refn said to me last year when I spent some time on set. I caught up again with Refn and his cast more recently when the film premiered here in Los Angeles.

With its provocative, stylish and bloody look at the world of beauty, the movie has generated some of the most divergent responses of the year. In The Times, Justin Chang wrote: If that sounds like a paradox, its closer to perfection: a Helmut Newton fever dream crossed with a Dario Argento splatter flick. To dismiss this movie as style over substance is to miss the point.

In the New York Times, Glenn Kenny called it ridiculous and purile and said of Refn, his work looks like that of a technically adept, emotionally stunted adolescent whos not nearly as bright as he thinks he is.

At MTV, Amy Nicholson said the film is like a pin-up in horn-rimmed glasses: they look smart, and were content with the illusion  The Neon Demon wants to have its cheesecake and condemn it too.

Filmmaker Todd Solondz has a new film, Weiner-Dog. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times )

Wiener-Dog

Todd Solondz looks like someone who would get beaten up in a Refn film. And that has always been one of his strengths, his ability to face down expectations. His latest, Wiener-Dog is another startling, surprising film, a series of stories connected by the presence of a dachshund.

I recently spoke to Solondz about the film and his choice of animal. He said, its hard sometimes to look at a dog as a dog, when so much of what a dog does is refracted through the way humans read things and project onto a dog. And so much of what a human projects onto a dog is reflective less of the dog than the human.

In his review for The Times, Justin Chang wrote that Solondz never lets those charms distract him from the dogs chief purpose, which is to bear witness to a rich and appalling spectrum of human idiocy, misery and self-absorption. She is both mans best friend and a stark reminder that mankind is its own worst enemy.

In the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote that audiences dont expect documentary-style naturalism from Wes Anderson, bittersweet romance from Quentin Tarantino or violent action from Whit Stillman. And we dont turn to Mr. Solondz for warm affirmations of human decency.

In LA Weekly, April Wolfe wrote that the film has the look of cheesy, innocuous after-school drama, but his dialogue is set to search and destroy hypocrisy. Wiener-Dog has some sharp teeth and stands on its own awkward little legs.

Swiss Army Man

Among the more confounding films of the year is Swiss Army Man, better known to many as the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie, the debut from the directing team known as the Daniels. I caught up with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert recently in Highland Park, and as Scheinert explained, Take it to where farts arent funny and corpses arent gross  an existential fart drama.

In his review for The Times, Robert Abele said the movie certainly expels a lot in trying to convince you its bruised-emo wilderness yarn is whimsically imaginative  While the movie focuses on one end of the body, you might be left sighing from the other.

At RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz wrote, The film is elastic, transmogrifying from a psychological drama into a literally excremental comedy and then a hard-edged survival picture  theres ultimately no point trying to deal with Swiss Army Man on any terms but its own.

In the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis said of the film, impossible to categorize, this stunningly original mix of the macabre and the magical combines comedy, tragedy, fantasy and love story into an utterly singular package.

Rhys Darby, left, Taika Waititi, Julian Dennison, Sam Neill from Hunt for the Wilderpeople. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times )

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

With films such as Boy and What We Do in the Shadows, New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi has been among the most quietly inventive in the world for the past few years. The idea that he is taking on the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok may be among the most radical things to happen amid the Marvel cinematic universe. But before that comes the gentle comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which has become the top-grossing New Zealand film of all time.

Jen Yamato at the Daily Beast did a fun, informative interview with Waititi, who said of his homegrown triumphs, There was never any consideration that you could be a filmmaker or even an actor, or even work on a film set  That wasnt even a world that existed when I was growing up, and now its thriving and we get opportunities to let indigenous youth be part of these worlds  and that, to me, is at least some sort of success.

Reviewing the film for The Times, Kenneth Turan wrote, Every once in a while, a small, unheralded film comes along, so smart and funny, such a pleasure to experience, you cant believe your luck. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is such a film.

In the New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote, Mr. Waititis expansive sense of human beings in Hunt for the Wilderpeople allows his characters to endure loss and hardship without forcing them to be wholly limited by their suffering, as marginalized people too often are in fiction.

Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus.
When Lil Wayne finally came onstage to close the BET Experiences Saturday night showcase at Staples Center, he wore a bright pink sweatshirt and shorts emblazoned with a simple message: Know Yourself.

That was apt advice for a rapper who many fans briefly feared was on deaths door just a few days ago. Twice earlier this month, Wayne suffered debilitating seizures bad enough that a private plane he was in had to land so he could get emergency treatment.

On Saturday, he looked much better, a dervish with no signs of the ravages of his old favorite drug, lean  codeine cough syrup mixed with soda and candy.

Advertisement

But at this celebration of hip-hop and the ways it informs popular culture, Wayne simply seemed grateful to be there. Make some noise for yourselves just for being alive, he said to the crowd. He may as well have been talking to himself.

He also might have been stirring up some solidarity at the BET Experience, an event thats now a contemporary survey of black music culture, yet a bit unsure about what to do with that status.

Saturdays show brought together a huge swath of radio-friendly rap acts, from Wayne and his Collegrove collaborator 2 Chainz, the Trap Queen MC Fetty Wap, L.A.s genre-bender Ty Dolla Sign, New Yorker ASAP Ferg and Toronto crooner Tory Lanez, among others.

In an era with so much political volatility and racial and civic tensions, Saturdays show was often a reprieve from all that. But the world still couldnt help intruding a bit.

Ty Dolla Sign took the escapist mantle most literally, transforming his stage into a fake beach replete with bikini-clad female dancers tossing inflatable toys on lounge chairs. Hits like Blase toe a line between traps oceanic bass and R&Bs icy reserve, and Ty walked it well (its no wonder he can show up on scores of underground mixtapes and lend a verse to the excellent pop girl group Fifth Harmony).

The same goes for Lanez, who draped himself with rap attitude on Say It yet had total vocal confidence when he covered Ginuwines Pony. Lanez wore a shirt that read The New Toronto, and he joins city-mates Drake, the Weeknd, Partynextdoor and DVSN as artists figuring out contemporary ways to navigate multiple genres.

Saturdays hip-hop showcase at the BET Experience was headlined by 2 Chainz, left, and Lil Wayne. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

He traded stage time with ASAP Ferg, a rapper with no such crooner ambitions but a mountain of old-fashioned mic presence. His hits like the dance-hall-riffing Shabba and a new song with Migos, Back Hurt, had camaraderie and gravelly confidence, enough so that he tried to stir the crowd into rushing up to the front of the stage to dance.

This is BET, he said. We all cousins and [stuff]. Many joined in, but the reverie was brief after a sizable fight broke out in the center aisle of the crowd.

Fetty Wap, the New Jersey radio star, was even more congenial, bringing about 10 pals onstage to dance, mug for cameras and repeat the name of his 1738 crew several hundred times. Waps perhaps the most crossed-over act of todays sing-rapping crowd, and hits like 679 and My Way are some of the most recognizable on radio.

He let his DJ play solo for about 30 minutes too long after he left the stage, but its hard to argue with the merits of an almost a capella Trap Queen, a rendition that left Staples Center shaking.

Wayne and Chainz closed out the night with a set split between their solo hits and their collaborative Collegrove project (the LP is billed to 2 Chainz alone due to label issues, but hes described as a tribute to Waynes influence).

The two Southern MCs have crossed paths for a decade, and Waynes loopy free associations make a natural fit with Chainzs rowdy sloganeering. They made for quite a buddy-rap duo (Chainz, wearing a sweater crocheted with two pistols, was at least a foot taller than Wayne), and singles like Gotta Lotta and Bounce honed their dueling charismas into a formidable party-starting machine.

Is Wayne lucky to be alive? His well-being wasnt in question Saturday, and hopefully he can take all this new self-knowledge he touted and stay healthy. Even at such a wide-ranging BET Experience, hes one of a kind.

ALSO:

Kanye Wests Famous premiere is only skin-deep

Tonight is for my OGs: Usher brings a veterans skills to the BET Experience

Destinys next children? How Beyonce helped propel Chloe x Halle to the BET Experience
The event had the look of feel-good cultural diplomacy. Rida Hamida, a Muslim of Palestinian descent, led about 30 Latinos on a tour of Anaheims Little Arabia.

They cracked jokes, sipped Arabic coffee from tiny cups, asked about hookah bars, and broke bread  or sangak  over their cultural similarities and differences.

But the gathering organized by Hamida in late spring had a more practical purpose: It was an effort by local Muslims to make inroads with another, much larger group that often finds itself in the political crosshairs.

As Donald Trump has risen to become the presumptive Republican candidate for president, Muslims and Mexicans have been a constant subject of his speeches as he talks about barring refugees and immigrants from Muslim countries and building a wall along the Mexico border.

Advertisement

At a San Diego rally last month, Trump accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a class-action lawsuit filed against his real estate investing program, Trump University, of being biased because hes of Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana. Shortly after, Trump suggested a Muslim judge would probably also be biased toward him.

These are dark days for our community, Hamida said. Trump is rising while were being demonized. Muslims are told they cant enter the country. Latinos are accused of being criminals. But if we come together for a movement, we can stay strong.

In Orange County, immigrants who trace their roots to the Middle East and other predominantly Muslim countries number about 25,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But Latinos make up more than 1 million of the countys roughly 3 million residents.

And over the years, Latinos have built up a much wider network than Muslims, Asian Americans and other minority groups  not including the black community  for flexing political muscle.

We are natural allies. Our numbers are going to matter together, says Ada Briceno, interim director of Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD). More than ever, its necessary to join forces because this kind of election rhetoric is disgusting.

Jose Moreno, a longtime Anaheim resident who heads Los Amigos, a countywide alliance focusing on politics and civil rights, said the Latino community in Orange County knows what it means to be targeted with hate, particularly in the past, when it was much smaller. But even though most Latinos in the country were born in the U.S., were still treated like newcomers.

In past years, Latino activists reached out to Arab Americans after suing the city of Anaheim to allow district-based elections, in which council members must live in the area they represent. Officials promised to put a measure on the ballot allowing both communities to collaborate, drawing district maps, and promoting Little Arabia. It passed last year.

Moreno, Hamida and other Muslims and Latino residents showed up at an Anaheim council meeting in May where leaders debated a resolution to condemn Trumps rhetoric.

Lou DeSipio, a political science professor at UC Irvine specializing in ethnic politics, said different ethnic and racial groups have long banded together at times when they feel discriminated against by the government, society or both.

In the 1920s, Polish, Italian, Greek and Eastern European Jewish immigrants made alliances, he said.

And Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans joined blacks in the 1960s in the run up to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

This is something that goes back decades for people who feel excluded or who realize that shared interests can create something more meaningful, DeSipio said. Would they have been as successful working individually? Probably not.

Hussam Ayloush, director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations  whose office is based in Little Arabia  said we must create synergy since we have the same battles for equality and for justice.

But he said its not just about political power. Were also in the business of promoting personal relationships. It could start with a meal or going to a wedding. You have to leave your comfort zone.

Little Arabia is centered along Brookhurst Street, near Interstate 5, where clusters of halal butcher shops, beauty salons, travel agencies and restaurants pop up block to block, run by Syrian, Egyptian and Palestinian immigrants.

Hamida collected donations so the tour would be free. She recruited Ben Vazquez, a teacher friend from Santa Ana, as co-organizer for the tour. He in turn asked friends from Santa Ana to help lead the exploration of Little Arabia.

Rida and I are good friends, but I would not even venture here if she didnt push me, Vazquez said.

Unconsciously, we already crisscross cultures with Latinos. We do commerce together - why not more? asked Hamida, president of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce. During the tour she rattled off a few of the thousands of Arabic words that have influenced the Spanish language.

Carlos Perea, a sociology major at Cal State Long Beach from Santa Ana, said he was glad to take part in the tour, calling it not just symbolic. Its timely.

Perea said many Latinos can empathize with Muslims who feel judged by the actions of a relative few.

We can sympathize with what theyre going through because weve been through it, he said. The big takeaway is we both are marginalized groups  facing a backlash in this election.

anh.do@latimes.com

Twitter: @newsterrier

ALSO

Billionaire Tom Steyer is spending millions on behalf of Democrats. What will he get out of it?

The Vietnam warrior who wrote Born on the Fourth of July recounts another fight

While no one was looking, East L.A. got transplanted to Brazil  lowriders, taco trucks and all
A 6-year-old boy was killed when a refrigerator fell onto him from a pickup in Otay Mesa on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

The death appeared to be accidental, but detectives from the San Diego Police Departments child abuse unit were investigating, Officer Frank Cali said.

Police and paramedics were called about 12:20 p.m. to a residence on Beyer Way, south of Palm Avenue.

Advertisement

The boys father was moving the refrigerator either onto or off a pickup when it slipped and fell from the truck. It landed on the child, knocking him unconscious, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Capt. Joe Amador said.

He said the boy was in his mothers arms when firefighters arrived. Paramedics began CPR on the boy and immediately headed to a hospital, but he could not be revived.

Friends of the family told Fox 5 that the boy was a first-grader. His name was not released.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com

Repard writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

ALSO

One killed, two injured in shooting at Riverside gas station

110 Freeway reopened after closure due to police activity

3 killed when boat capsizes off Catalina Island

UPDATES:

10:47 a.m.: This story was updated with friends describing boy.
For Harriet and Jeremy Fain, going to a gay parade for the first time Saturday was the right thing to do.

The Orange County event was cool, cozy and absolutely important for those of us who are allies to be visible  especially after Orlando, Harriet Fain said.

She said the Florida mass shooting earlier this month at a gay nightclub that left 49 dead convinced the mother and son from Tustin of the need to demonstrate their support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

Advertisement

Theres no moment like now to show public support, said Fain, 50. Orange County is not always so open and receptive to LGBT residents and though Ive been a supporter of gay rights since I was 15, its now that I finally step up. We who accept others as they are need to live our beliefs.

Under a rainbow umbrella, she and Jeremy, 22, who will study sociology this fall at Irvine Valley College, cheered as parade marchers on a downtown Santa Ana route threw fistfuls of confetti into the enthusiastic crowd.

It was the first-ever parade organized by Orange County LGBT Pride, and included a daylong series of activities that drew more than 15,000. Security was heavy. Other gay pride parades and events being held around the country this weekend have also included an increased police presence.

Orlando has been a tragedy that humanized us  and in a way, it accelerated things  allowing people to be bolder ...  Aryndel Lamb-Marsh

Steve Romero, the groups parade director whos been planning the gathering since January, said he worked closely with Santa Ana police to make sure everyone could relax and just have fun. We have a message  a message of diversity  and were so happy to work to echo that.

Charlie Rosenberg and his partner, Aryndel Lamb-Marsh, drove from San Diego to attend the event. The pair lounged in the shade near a corner where police on horse patrol watched over the celebration.

Orlando has made us more aware, for sure. But I feel pretty hopeful that theres more understanding, said Rosenberg, a software technician. Two or three years ago, if we saw a commercial with a gay couple on YouTube, its like, wow. Now, every brand has taken us under their wings, and soon, people will get so used to seeing gays, theyre not going to fight us anymore.

Rosenberg said he will host a bar mixer at San Diego Pride for Hillcrest Social, a mobile app he developed that is named after a local neighborhood popular with gays. He said organizers of that event plan to install metal detectors for safety, adding that hes glad that Orange Countys celebrations dont require such measures.

Orlando has been a tragedy that humanized us  and in a way, it accelerated things  allowing people to be bolder in sharing their support or pushing for that support, Lamb-Marsh said.

Many parade participants said there is a more welcoming attitude, citing rainbow flags now flying at city halls in Anaheim and Santa Ana that were unfurled during June, known nationally as Pride Month.

Us being here today symbolizes openness and love, says Crystal Shaber, a glass blower from Tustin.

Shabers mother, Lois Millage of Long Beach, added: Im not interested in a political statement. Just to be here with those that have the same feelings as I do is my personal statement.

Cindy Voll, a nurse from Irvine, said shes thankful that Santa Ana embraces this whole celebration  that its out in the open and theres not any trouble. Someday, I would like to see an environment where we can walk down the street just as we are. And where I could hang my pride flag outside my house and not have to worry about graffiti spray-painted on my door.

Next to her, the Fains cheered loudly, as revelers whistled at the gleaming bodies of young men rocking to the beat atop a Viet Rainbow of Orange County float.

Earlier, Men Alive, a popular gay choir, drew loud applause along with the LGBT Center Orange County and PFLAG South Orange County, two groups that provide education and peer support.

Despite the crowds, Jeremy Fain said he enjoyed Orange Countys small, intimate ambiance, where neighbors fist-bump neighbors and where parking isnt a huge hassle.

L.A. Pride can be insane, Fain said. For an event thats never been held before, this is off to a nice start.

anh.do@latimes.com

Twitter: @newsterrier

ALSO

Accused man freed after 11 years: How the case unraveled

Kern County residents struggle with devastation wrought by massive wildfire

Whats it like to ride a glass slide 1,000 feet above L.A.? We tried it out
State officials have ordered the closure of a campground in the Angeles National Forest above Altadena as they try to trap a bear after the animal injured a man in his tent early Saturday, officials said.

The man, who was looking at his iPad when his tent fell down on him around 2 a.m. Saturday, did not realize he was injured until he felt blood dripping on his face, officials said.

See the most-read stories in Local News this hour >>

Advertisement

The bear appears to have scratched the man on his forehead, causing a wound that required eighteen stitches, according to Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies. The camper was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Two other campers saw the bear running away from the area that night. More bear sightings were reported on Sunday.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have ordered Millard Campground closed for three days as they try to trap what officials characterized as a small bear, estimated to weigh about 120 pounds.

MORE LOCAL NEWS

Fire in San Gabriel Mountains 62% contained; officials complain of drones

Drones force firefighters to temporarily halt air assault on wildfire

Boy, 6, killed when refrigerator falls on him

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter at @LATimesEmily
Another unseasonable heat wave was expected to hit Southern California early this week, complicating efforts to contain the massive wildfire raging in Kern County, forecasters said.

Temperatures were expected to start rising across the region on Sunday, caused by a high pressure system coming in from the east, and remain above normal through Wednesday, said Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

This weeks heat wave was expected to be about 5 to 10 degrees milder than last weeks record-shattering one, with temperatures mostly in the 90s and topping 100 in valley areas.

Advertisement

Kern County, where the 36,000-acre Erskine fire is threatening thousands of homes, was also expected to see above-normal temperatures with highs around 100 degrees into Tuesday. Areas surrounding Lake Isabella, which is at a higher altitude, should see highs in the mid-90s, said Carlos Molina, a NWS meteorologist in Hanford.

With those temperatures, theres not a lot of humidity to work with, Molina said. Conditions up there are dry right now. Its favorable for the fire to continue growing at this rate.

Molina said the conditions would likely persist throughout the week.

Further complicating matters, Molina said, if moisture from a monsoon currently in Arizona reaches to Kern County, it could potentially cause thunderstorms and lightning that may spark additional fires.

Munroe said the moisture may cause the heat across the region to feel even warmer.

Forecasters said the heat was expected to let up after Wednesday, dropping about 10 degrees by the holiday weekend.
A wildfire that has scorched more than 5,200 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains above Duarte and Azusa was 62% contained as of early Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The San Gabriel Complex fire is actually two fires that started on Monday  the Reservoir fire and the Fish fire  that forced hundreds of residents to evacuate over the last week as high temperatures baked Southern California.

By Saturday, firefighters appeared to be gaining the upper hand. Evacuation orders were lifted and an American Red Cross evacuation center was closed. The forest service also reopened the Chantry Flats Recreation Area.

Advertisement

Fire officials complained, however, that several drones had been spotted over the fire this weekend, forcing them to temporarily halt air operations. Some firefighters have been airlifted by helicopter to remote stretches of the fire.

The U.S. Forest Service warned Sunday that flight restrictions were in effect and that operators of private aircraft or drone could face serious criminal charges if found in violation of those regulations. When drones interfere with firefighting efforts, a wildfire has the potential to grow larger and cause more damage, the agency stated in an incident report.

More than 900 firefighters were battling the wildfire as of Sunday morning.

MORE LOCAL NEWS

Fire in San Gabriel Mountains 62% contained; officials complain of drones

3 dead, 2 seriously injured in fiery 4-car Woodland Hills crash

Post Orlando, O.C. gay parade draws huge support and shares message of unity

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter at @LATimesEmily
Nearly three years after San Diego struggled to remove embattled Mayor Bob Filner from office, officials will ask voters in November to help expand the citys options for ousting wayward officials.

Under the proposed ballot measure, officials would be suspended if theyve been criminally charged in a case, not simply when they are convicted. The City Council also would be allowed to put a removal vote on the ballot by unanimously declaring no confidence in the mayor or city attorney.

An official also could be removed for being convicted or pleading guilty in a felony case, for the same in a misdemeanor case involving moral turpitude or after being found civilly liable for misconduct related to that persons job.

Advertisement

The conditions, which the council is scheduled to debate July 11 and eventually place on the November ballot, also include removal for dereliction of duty, unlawful non-criminal conduct such as racial discrimination or being declared mentally or physically incompetent by a judge.

The list would dramatically expand the opportunities for removing elected officials in San Diegos City Charter. Currently, removal is limited to a persons death, resignation or through a recall election.

The charter lists six types of misconduct that could lead to removal, but they are narrowly focused situations related to city contracts and fraud.

City Atty. Jan Goldsmith has called the new list, which the citys Charter Review and Rules committees began debating this spring, a much-needed set of safety valves that could help if theres a situation similar to the 2013 Filner sexual harassment scandal.

Because the charter provides so few options for removing officials from office, Goldsmith had to employ unusual tactics like threats and bluffs in his effort to get the former mayor to resign. And the deal Goldsmith finally forged included the citys agreeing to cover Filners legal defense against multiple harassment lawsuits.

To reduce the chances that political divisiveness will play a role, the more aggressive methods of removal would require either a three-fourths council vote or a unanimous council vote to put the question of removal on a ballot. Once on the ballot, the question of removal would need support from a simple majority of city voters to be approved.

Read the latest Essential California newsletter 

All of the new removal methods would apply to all elected officials except the no confidence vote, which would apply only to the mayor and city attorney.

The proposed changes include a new charter section called Removal for Cause, which would allow the council, with a three-fourths vote, to place a removal vote on the ballot for a variety of misdemeanor transgressions described as crimes of moral turpitude. They include such things as embezzlement, child abuse, arson and possession of heroin for sale.

The council has nine members, so a three-fourths vote would require support from seven of them.

This new section is similar to removal procedures in many other cities, but the charter update proposal would go significantly further by allowing the council to put a removal vote on the ballot without a specified reason if it unanimously declares no confidence in the mayor or city attorney.

Goldsmith said this is a legally untested approach that no other cities in California use. Supporters, however, contend that a unanimous vote would be highly unlikely unless the mayor or city attorney has done something significantly troublesome.

Another unusual element of the proposed changes is allowing the council, with a three-fourths vote, to suspend an elected official who has been criminally charged  but not convicted  with a misdemeanor crime of moral turpitude or any felony. The council also would be given the latitude to appoint a temporary replacement while the official is removed from his or her duties by the suspension.

The goal would be preventing a wayward official from remaining in office during the course of a lengthy trial.

This week, Councilwoman Marti Emerald said that goal must be weighed against concerns about due process.

Its easy to make allegations against a person in the public eye, but its another thing to actually see that person convicted by a jury of their peers, Emerald said.

Council President Sherri Lightner stressed that a suspension would require the filing of criminal charges for a significant crime and a subsequent three-fourths vote by the council.

Emerald, however, said during a June 20 Rules Committee meeting that council members could feel political pressure not to stand up for the due process rights of an accused politician.

Those votes are often taken politically, not necessarily based on the legal theory that a person is innocent until proven guilty, she said. People go along to get along.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @UTDavidGarrick

ALSO

San Diego County unveils new plan to provide shelter for mentally ill homeless

San Diego County public safety agencies often rehire retirees for their expertise

San Diego places rocks under freeway to move out homeless ahead of baseballs All Star Game
Six wildfires were burning across California on Saturday, consuming nearly 60,000 acres.

More than 4,500 firefighters were battling the fires, which stretched from the Klammath National Forest in Northern California to the Mexican border in San Diego County, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The largest and most destructive of the blazes is the Erskine fire in Kern County, which had burned 35,711 acres as of Saturday afternoon, destroying more than 150 homes and killing at least two people. Authorities have found what they believe are the remains of a third victim.

Advertisement

The Kern County fire is about 5% contained.

In Southern California, the 7,609-acre Border fire in San Diego County, which has destroyed five homes and damaged another, was 70% contained, officials said Saturday. The 5,285-acre San Gabriel Complex fire in Los Angeles Countys mountains was nearly half contained, and evacuation orders had been lifted as of Saturday.

Read the latest Essential California newsletter >>

The 7,474-acre Sherpa fire, which threatened homes and destroyed one structure in Santa Barbara County, was almost entirely contained Saturday.

Farther north, the Marina fire in Mono County, which broke out north of Lee Vining on Friday, had burned 819 acres as of Saturday and was 5% contained.

In the Klamath National Forest, the lightning-sparked Pony fire had burned 2,858 acres and was 60% contained.

Red-flag fire warnings were in effect across much of southern and central California, including in the mountains of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern counties and in the Sacramento Valley from Redding to Sacramento, because of gusty winds and low humidity.

abby.sewell@latimes.com

Twitter: @sewella

ALSO

Kern County residents struggle with devastation wrought by massive wildfire

Border fire in San Diego County is 70% contained, and evacuations are lifted

San Gabriel Complex fire is nearly half-contained; Chantry Flats recreation area reopens
Michael Herr, the author and Oscar-nominated screenwriter who viscerally documented the ravages of the Vietnam War through his classic nonfiction novel Dispatches and through such films as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, died after a long illness. He was 76.

His death Thursday in an upstate New York hospital was confirmed by publisher Alfred A. Knopf, which released Dispatches in 1977, two years after the U.S. left Vietnam.

With a knack for eavesdropping and a reverence for Ernest Hemingway, Herr was part of the New Journalism wave that included Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote and Norman Mailer and advocated applying literary style and techniques to traditional reporting. Dispatches is often ranked with Tim OBriens novel The Things They Carried, Neil Sheehans A Bright Shining Lie and Stanley Karnows Vietnam: A History as essential reading about the war.

Advertisement

If you think you dont want to read any more about Vietnam, you are wrong, critic John Leonard of The New York Times wrote when Dispatches came out.

Dispatches is beyond politics, beyond rhetoric, beyond pacification and body counts and the psychotic vaudeville of Saigon press briefings. Its materials are fear and death, hallucination and the burning of souls. It is as if Dante had gone to hell with a cassette recording of Jimi Hendrix and a pocketful of pills: our first rock-and-roll war, stoned murder.

Herr was born April 30, 1940, in Lexington, Ky., and grew up in Syracuse, N.Y. He spent much of his 20s traveling and working for magazines before persuading Esquire magazine editor Harold Hayes in 1967 to let him travel to Vietnam and write a monthly column. He ended up staying more than a year, producing few columns at the time, but gathering the material for what became Dispatches, profane, impassioned and knowing reports that helped capture a generations sense of outrage and disillusionment.

I keep thinking about all the kids who got wiped out by 17 years of war movies before coming to Vietnam and getting wiped out for good, he wrote in a chapter prefaced with lyrics from a Bob Dylan song.

You dont know what a media freak is until youve seen the way a few of these grunts would run around during a fight when they knew there was a television crew nearby; they were actually making war movies in their heads, doing little guys and glory Leatherneck tap dances under fire, getting their pimples shot for the networks.

Although he loved writing and storytelling, and as an undergraduate at Syracuse University contributed to a magazine edited by Joyce Carol Oates, Herr only published a handful of books. He struggled with depression before Dispatches and found the fame from his acclaimed Vietnam work disorienting.

He moved to London and for years traveled little and gave few interviews.

The reception [for Dispatches] couldnt have been better, frankly  it couldnt have been more wonderful, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1990, around the time he released Walter Winchell, a novel about the famous gossip columnist. It totally changed my life. But it also blew my cover.

Admirers of Dispatches included some prominent filmmakers, and Herr began a career in movies. He helped write the voiceover narration for Francis Ford Coppolas Apocalypse Now and co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Stanley Kubricks Full Metal Jacket. Herr became friends with the reclusive Kubrick.

Stanley wanted to meet me because hed liked Dispatches, my book about Vietnam, Herr wrote in Vanity Fair in 2010. It was the first thing he said to me when we met. The second thing he said to me was that he didnt want to make a movie of it. He meant this as a compliment, sort of, but he also wanted to make sure I wasnt getting any ideas.

Herr is survived by his wife, Valerie; daughters Catherine and Claudia; and siblings Steven Herr and Judy Bleyer.

ALSO

Bill Cunningham dies at 87; New York Times fashion photographer

Ruben Aguirre, who played Profesor Jirafales in an iconic Spanish-language series, dies at 82

Jim McMillian, former Laker on historic 1972 team, dies at 68
When 79-year-old Delilah Zipse slipped and fell in her trailer home, she didnt call anyone.

Splayed on her bathroom floor, she couldnt reach the phone. But even after more than an hour passed and she managed to prop herself up against the toilet, she decided not to bother any of her neighbors.

They had their own problems. Jim had also taken some falls. Reba was going blind. Dick recently developed asthma.

Advertisement

Were left out in no-mans land, said Zipse, who eventually dragged her badly bruised body back to her favorite chair and turned on the television. Theres nobody here and nobody coming.

Were left out in no-mans land. Theres nobody here and nobody coming.  Delilah Zipse, resident of La Paz County, Ariz.

When it comes to being old and poor in Arizona, there are few places with less to offer than La Paz County.

We cannot offer them what they would get elsewhere because we just dont have the money, said the county administrator, Dan Field.

Senior citizens have long flocked here for the warm weather and now make up more than a third of the countys roughly 20,000 year-round residents. Only four U.S. counties have a higher percentage of people 65 and older.

Just under 7% of La Pazs seniors  484 people, according to the U.S. census  live below the federal poverty line, each earning less than $11,770 a year.

In other Arizona counties, they would enjoy services including subsidized housing, food deliveries, rides to medical appointments and basic nursing care not covered by Medicare.

But in La Paz, they are largely left to fend for themselves. They live in nearly abandoned communities accessible only by dirt roads, places with names like Bouse, Utting and Hope that on some maps are labeled as ghost towns.

The reasons for the neglect start with the history of the county, formed in 1983 when the rural north of Yuma County seceded from the urban south and named itself La Paz, with the hope of better serving its citizens. But without a major city or much of a tax base, the county struggled from the beginning to provide basic services.

County officials say the greatest burden comes from the tens of thousands of people who spend only winters in La Paz  at times more than quintupling the population  and dont count in the official population statistics but cost the county more than they contribute.

Officials were unable to back up that assertion with data, saying that they do not distinguish between part-time and full-time residents when providing services.

Most visitors live in RV parks on federal land and pay no property taxes, the major source of revenue for Arizona counties. Sales taxes alone cannot pay for their burden, Field said.

Because most of the part-timers are elderly, the county can get stuck with expensive bills for their healthcare. In 2014, a Canadian arrived with tuberculosis and left the county with a $120,000 bill for treatment. In all, the county spends about $830,000 a year  or 7% of its budget  caring for its elderly residents and visitors.

La Pazs financial situation has been especially bad since the Great Recession started in 2007 and the state began cutting subsidies to poor counties.

The whole county is hurting, said Carol Brown, a Bouse resident who wrote a history of the community. Each community has to make do for themselves.

In each of those places, a handful of retirees who are too poor to leave form a hardy fraternity of desert lifers who withstand 120-degree afternoons by shuttering themselves inside their trailers until the sun sets.

Their main support comes from the Parker Senior Center, which began as a bingo hall but gradually saw its mission evolve to include food delivery, arranging rides home from the hospital and housekeeping.

The state calls us rural. I call us frontier, said Dara Tilley, who runs the organization on modest city funding, minimal county contributions and charity.

Dara Tilley, who runs the Parker Senior Center, checks on Delilah Zipse in a remote part of La Paz County, Ariz. (Nigel Duara / Los Angeles Times )

Its enough to provide at least some care.

Polly Thorpe, 81, is one of the beneficiaries. She keeps her air conditioning at 83 degrees and uses a machine to roll her own cigarettes. There is usually one smoldering in an overflowing ashtray, sending wisps of smoke through her trailer.

In a typical week, the only person she sees is Janine Acton, her caregiver sent from the senior center to check the dates on her prescription drugs, make sure she has enough frozen dinners on hand and take care of anything else Thorpe needs.

Thorpe used to be one of Actons most cheerful clients. Now Thorpe says she doesnt want company or neighbors. She explained in one word why she has chosen this lonely outpost as her home: Cheap.

Has she spoken to any of her four children this year?

Nah.

Acton tried to get her talking. It wasnt working.

If God wants to save me, hell save me, Thorpe said. If not, he knows where to put me.

See more of our top stories on Facebook 

The world can feel dizzying to some of Actons clients.

On her most recent visit to 83-year-old Clifton Compton, he was confused about a bill from the local medical clinic. It was a co-pay not covered by Medicare.

His hand trembled with Parkinsons disease as he held it out for Acton to examine. With a practiced eye, she read it upside-down.

Acton called the hospital and demanded to speak with the billing department, then grilled an employee about the charges.

Go in there and offer to pay cash, Acton finally told Compton. Theyll almost always lower the bill for that.

Compton nodded and smiled. Acton checked his freezer to ensure he had food until the next visit, which could be seven days later, then let his screen door slam behind her on the way out as she headed to see her next client.

nigel.duara@latimes.com

Sandra Poindexter of The Times data team contributed to this report.

ALSO

President Trump? Among U.S. allies, Japan may be one of the most anxious about that idea

Billionaire Tom Steyer is spending millions on behalf of Democrats. What will he get out of it?

The Vietnam warrior who wrote Born on the Fourth of July recounts another fight
In the two weeks since the massacre at Pulse nightclub, more than $15 million in donations have poured into nearly 450 charitable campaigns related to the tragedy, many of them individual efforts that have been hastily created and with little to no accountability.

Even the largest fund  OneOrlando, established by the city of Orlando and now run by Orlando Magic Chief Executive Alex Martins  has not yet appointed a board of directors, nor has it begun to figure out how the money will be spent.

Despite that, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has promised that disbursements from that $9.5-million account would begin within about two months.

Advertisement

We have not been able to formulate the criteria [for distributing the money] because our event is different than Boston, it is different than New York, so its not a cookie-cutter that we can go pick off the shelf and say, OK, this is exactly how were going to do it, Dyer said.

The city stumbled early, at first saying that none of the money would go directly to victims but rather to programs that would benefit them and address underlying causes of the violence. But after a damning statement by victims of attacks in other states, leaders changed course, announcing all the money would go to victims.

The discord isnt unusual. In the aftermath of modern tragedies, from Sept. 11 to Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook, big money always seems to bring trouble along with relief. Nearly a year and a half after the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which killed 20 children and six adults, almost half of the $28 million raised sat unused.

This has happened for about 20 years now after these mass killings  where victims are basically on their knees in grief and theyre told: This money isnt for you, said Anita Busch, whose 23-year-old cousin was killed in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting four years ago. Even the best-intentioned people really have no idea how to handle this.

But patience, some say, has many virtues  not the least of which is to help protect against fraud.

Everyone wants the money to go out tomorrow, but historically thats when the mistakes have been make, said Sandra Miniutti, chief financial officer for the national watchdog group Charity Navigator. A lot of what were seeing in Orlando is sadly what weve seen in Connecticut and Boston and Colorado, where, because the technology to create fundraising campaigns is so accessible, you get this large number of funds.

In Orlando, the bulk of the campaigns after the shooting have sprouted on the online fundraising platform GoFundMe.com. In fact, by 11 a.m. on June 12, just hours after the massacre, Equality Florida had set up its Support Victims of Pulse fund there, hoping to raise $100,000. It has now collected more than $6 million from 114,000 donors in 120 countries.

GoFundMe was built so there would be a platform for a campaign that could be set up quickly and spread around the world. And thats what happened, said GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne. Just a few hours after the shooting, Equality Florida had launched the account, which was then shared by the Human Rights Campaign.

See more of our top stories on Facebook 

Its now the largest and fastest-growing campaign in the platforms six-year history  and its also one of the most transparent. Equality Florida, the states largest LGBT civil rights group, has released updates every few days, detailing whats happening and why. It has also pushed to expedite payments to victims, saying checks will go out in another six weeks instead of the usual six months.

But GoFundMe also hosts hundreds of smaller campaigns tied to the shootings, created to help individual victims, including those in the hospital, to pay immediate expenses of rent, utilities and medical bills. Some are for families of the dead to cover funeral arrangements.

Whithorne said his company is working around the clock to vet all the campaigns to weed out fraud. So far, it has suspended two funds.

While expenses can continue for years, many victims need money now. To help them, the city established a Family Assistance Center that brought in companies and charities providing rent and utility aid and gift cards for food. Meanwhile, Catholic Charities of Central Florida had set up a temporary office just to address the immediate need of Pulse victims and their families.

And already, the state of Floridas Victim Compensation Fund has paid out more than $70,000 in shooting-related claims.

Santich writes for the Orlando Sentinel.

ALSO

Boy, 6, killed when refrigerator falls on him

3 killed when boat capsizes off Catalina Island

150 homes destroyed in deadly Kern County wildfire, with tough weekend ahead
As the largest international gathering of coral reef experts comes to a close, scientists have sent a letter to Australian officials calling for action to save the worlds reefs, which are being rapidly damaged.

The letter was sent Saturday to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull imploring his government to do more to conserve the nations reefs and curb fossil fuel consumption.

The letter, signed by past and present presidents of the International Society for Reef Studies on behalf of the 2,000 attendees of the International Coral Reef Symposium that was held in Honolulu this week, urged the Australian government to prioritize its Great Barrier Reef.

Advertisement

See more of our top stories on Facebook 

This year has seen the worst mass bleaching in history, threatening many coral reefs around the world including the whole of the northern Great Barrier Reef, the biggest and best-known of all reefs, the letter said. The damage to this Australian icon has already been devastating. damage from greenhouse gasses, port dredging and shipping of fossil fuels across the Great Barrier Reef contravene Australias responsibilities for stewardship of the Reef under the World Heritage Convention.

Leaders from the scientific community at the convention in Honolulu said Friday that the unprecedented letter was critical to the conservation of the fragile reef habitat.

Theres nowhere to hide from climate change.  Terry Hughes, James Cook University, Australia

The heads of state from Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands attended the conference and will provide a plan to help save their ailing coral reefs, which are major contributors to their local economies and the daily sustenance of their people.

Bleaching is a process in which corals, stressed by hot ocean waters and other environmental changes, lose their color as the symbiotic algae that live within them are released. Severe or concurrent years of bleaching can kill coral reefs, as has been documented over the last two years in oceans around the world. Scientists expect a third year of bleaching to last through the end of 2016.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj 

In the northern third of the Great Barrier Reef, close to half of the corals have died in the last three months, said Terry Hughes of James Cook University in Australia, who focuses his research there. The area of the reef that suffered most is extremely remote, he said, with no pollution, very little fishing pressure and no coastal development.

Thats an absolute catastrophe, Hughes said. Theres nowhere to hide from climate change.

But the panels scientists emphasized the progress they have made over the last 30 years and stressed that good research and management programs for coral reefs are available. The scientists said they just need the proper funding and political will to enact them.

In the United States, the budget for the federal coral reef conservation program is set at about $27 million a year, said Bob Richmond, director of the University of Hawaiis Kewalo Marine Laboratory and convener of this years International Coral Reef Symposium.

In Hawaii, he said, the reefs are valued at $34 billion, and the return to the states economy is about $360 million annually  meaning the entire nations budget for coral reef conservation is less than 10 percent of the annual return in that one state alone.

Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands also have ailing reefs under the budget.

ALSO

British scientists are freaking out about Brexit too

Kern County residents struggle with devastation wrought by massive wildfire

Whats it like to ride a glass slide 1,000 feet above L.A.? We tried it out
On Thursday, the Supreme Court surprised a lot of observers when it upheld, 4-3, the race-based affirmative action plan employed by the University of Texas in its undergraduate admissions.

Just three years ago, the court had avoided ruling definitively in the same case, Fisher vs. University of Texas, sending it back to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration using reasoning and language that seemed skeptical of the Texas plan. So when the court agreed to hear the case anew last year many analysts thought a majority of justices would be inhospitable to any admissions plan that overtly took into account the race of individual applicants.

But the courts current swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in Fisher, joined with the more liberal justices to produce a result that has encouraged proponents of affirmative action and disappointed abolitionists.

Advertisement

Fisher is far-reaching in many ways. The last time the court conclusively ruled on the validity of a university affirmative action plan was back in 2003 when, by a 5-4 vote it upheld the University of Michigan Law Schools race-based admissions program in Grutter vs. Bollinger. Fisher is also the first substantive assessment of an affirmative action scheme since Justice Samuel A. Alito replaced Sandra Day OConnor, the author of Grutter in 2005. In other words, this case shows how the court has evolved on affirmative action in nearly a decade and a half.

Or more precisely, it shows how Justice Kennedy has evolved on the issue. In 2003, he objected vigorously to the Grutter decision, writing his own dissent and also joining one that called Michigans admissions program a naked effort to achieve racial balancing. But on Thursday in upholding a plan similar in essence to Michigans, he quoted extensively from the Grutter majority opinion, signaling that he had either changed his mind, or simply accepted Grutter as precedent.

One way or another, though, Kennedy has come to terms with the three-part teaching in the Michigan case: Race-based admissions programs are consistent with the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment as long as a public university can plausibly explain why diversity is important to its educational objectives, can show that considering each applicants race is required to accomplish a helpful level of diversity, and can convince the court that it isnt formally using racial quotas.

In 1996 California voters adopted Proposition 209... Since then, some [UC] campuses have struggled to achieve the level of diversity they desire.

Given the well-known affirmative action views of the rest of the court, Kennedys approval of the Texas plan means that no matter who fills the vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalias passing  and therefore, no matter who is elected president in November or what happens to the GOP majority in the Senate  the window for race-based affirmative action under the federal Constitution will remain open for the foreseeable future.

That opening has significant implications for California. In 1996 California voters adopted Proposition 209, a state constitutional ban on any use of race in admissions to its public universities. Since then, some University of California campuses have struggled to achieve the level of diversity they desire, especially when it comes to black and Latino students.

In a friend of the court brief submitted in the Fisher case, California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris asked the Supreme Court to reaffirm its decision that public colleges and universities may consider race as one factor in admissions decisions. She made it clear that California wanted the option to revisit Proposition 209. There is indeed a move to repeal the measure and Fisher vs. Texas will likely add fuel to that effort.

Of course, not every admissions plan using race would satisfy Kennedy and the terms of Fisher. UC officials would have to say why a racially diverse student body helps its educational mission (the Fisher majority gave the University of Texas a lot of deference on this issue) and why race-neutral approaches, such as those UC is now using, dont produce enough diversity. The university would have to show that its program did not take the form of a racial quota system and that admissions officials took seriously other kinds of diversity beyond the racial variety. Its not hard to imagine that UC (and Cal State too) could meet those requirements in much the same way that the University of Texas did.

First, however, California voters would need to agree to remove Proposition 209 from the state constitution. Some Asian American groups might object  the admission rates for Asian Americans have increased at UC post-Proposition 209. But the larger question relates to the nature of the states electorate. Justice Kennedy evidently changed his mind about whether to tolerate race-based admissions policies. Have California voters changed enough in the last two decades to do the same?

Vikram Amar is dean and a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. He is the former dean of academic affairs at the UC Davis Law School.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Modern campaigning can seem hopelessly technical. A life of public service now appears to require a postdoc in Snapchat, Pinterest and Bitcoin  the Finnegans Wake of currency.

But politics can also be downright primitive, a game the loudest voice wins. It might be that the most significant technology of this rally-heavy 2016 election is the one first prototyped in 600 BC: the microphone.

With the microphone, amplifying a message like Make America Great Again does not depend on retweets, but on ancient materials such as copper, magnets and sintered bronze. All this mined stuff expands the soundwaves made with good old flesh and capillaries, larynxes and lungs, so that those waves land resoundingly on sensitive eardrums, willing or not. This is not software. This is power exerted, mouth to ear, human body to human body, by way of metals and minerals.

Advertisement

From the weird Hannibal Lecter mouth-masks that bullhorned domineering voices through the amphitheaters of ancient Athens; to Edisons carbon microphones, which debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910; to the coveted Neumann u47 microphones used by Audible, The Beatles and Hitler, microphones have been the key to holding a room in awe. Or a stadium. Or Nuremberg.

In fact, monopolizing the microphone may be a key to political success. We typically attend to politicians words  the message  but merely having the mic gives any message a shot. And the bulk of mic-monopolizing may be simply claiming a microphone to begin with  and fending off anyone else who comes for it.

One year ago, Hillary Clinton faced a crowd in New York with a bum mic; after much fumbling a new one was handed herby her husband. The passing of the mic. And although Clinton professes to prefer small unamplified gatherings to rallies, shes managed to stay discreetly loud by choosing wireless and lavalier micophones that let her move closer to interlocutors, talkshow-style, without forfeiting her volume edge. Even as these encounters look more egalitarian than a rally, Clintons clucks of sympathy are still the loudest sounds in the room.

The volume monopoly at political gatherings is crucial  and to challenge that monopoly is destabilizing. The most disruptive protesters at rallies this year have not been would-be assassins but would-be microphone-seizers. In Seattle last summer, Bernie Sanders was cast into abjection and silence when protesters Marissa Johnson and Mara Jacqueline Willaford gained control of his podium and his mic. In March, Thomas Dimassimo, a protester at a Donald Trump rally, planned to take Trumps microphone and say Donald Trump is a racist. He was arrested before he got anywhere.

I dont like this mic, he said abruptly. Whoever the hell bought this mic system  dont pay the son of a bitch that put it in.

Trump is fiercely committed to his mic monopoly. At the podium, with a powerful multidirectional microphone squarely at chin level, he bellows while the crowd falls silent, their cheers reduced in the sound mix from a roar or incantation to a kind of hahhhh. Some politicians (President Obama, for one) like to listen, wait and grinningly bask in enthusiastic sounds from a crowdoh, go onbut Trump cant conceal his impatience to make his volume great again, even if that means hushing his supporters.

At a rally in Florida in January, Trump showed what hed do to anyone who came for his mic. Interrupting his speech on the countrys plight, Trump turned to a problem closer at hand: I dont like this mic, he said abruptly. Whoever the hell bought this mic system  dont pay the son of a bitch that put it in.

He couldnt stop: Stupid mic keeps popping. Do you hear that, George? Dont pay em. Dont pay em. You know, I believe in paying, but when somebody does a bad job  like this stupid mic  you shouldnt pay the bastard.

Loudness, and his absolute entitlement to it, is even a staple of Trumps rants to the press. When asked by the Washington Post about his treatment of protesters at rallies, Trump dilated on a single demonstratorone who had the temerity to try to be heard above Trumps wall of sound.

Weve had some very bad people come in. We had one guy  and I said it  he had the voice  and this was what I was referring to  and I said, Boy, Id like to smash him. You know, I said that. Id like to punch him. This guy was unbelievably loud. He had a voice like Pavarotti.

Shouting battles sound petty  but theyre also elemental, politics at their simplest and rawest. After all, deafening vocal attacks on incompetent or immoral individuals are where politics started.

In the marketplace of ancient Athens, Plato raised his voice to harangue rich Greek mall-rats and compulsive shoppers. Did they have any idea what lifes even about? Sickos! That full-throated name-calling  as Plato did it  became whats known as Western philosophy. And politics. The B.C. youth of Platos day gathered around to see those moneybags ponces dressed down, as later A.D. youth would cheer to hear Bernie Sanders rail against entitled bankers.

The candidate who manages to grab the Big Mic in November will, of course, have to take it from its current owner. Other U.S. presidents have been reluctant to give up their volume advantage, but in May Obama hinted he knew he couldnt hold on forever. Saying goodbye at the White House Correspondents Dinner, he said he had just two words: Obama out. And with that, he dropped the mic.

Virginia Heffernan is filling in for Doyle McManus. Her new book is Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
Great Britain has never really gotten over its loss of empire. The day President Obama removed Winston Churchills bust from the Oval Office, a minor diplomatic crisis ensued. Many British people considered this to be nothing less than an act of treachery. One of the fiercest reactions came from former mayor of London and  in his wildest dreams  a prime minister in waiting, Boris Johnson. As the Brexit debate heated up, he later claimed that part-Kenyan President Obama may have an ancestral dislike of the British Empire. A racist slip of the tongue that was nevertheless very revealing of how Britains establishment figures still mourn their imperial past.

The vote Thursday that took Britain out of the European Union represents, in a rather feeble way, an attempt to regain perceived past glories. The core message of the Leave campaign was vote leave, to take back control. It will not work, but that is not the concern of the rest of Europe. We have other things on our mind. First, we have to make sure the United Kingdom actually leaves the European Union. We have to make a clean cut and do it fast. This might sound ridiculously obvious to Americans, but in the European Union of 2016, the leaders of the member states tend to lose their ability to take decisions when they congregate.

The biggest risk that the EU currently faces is that Brexit negotiations will now drag on for years and will be added to the long list of its never ending crises: the Greek crisis, the migration crisis, an unresolved economic crisis and constant terrorist threats. Every couple of months, the EUs 28 national leaders gather around the negotiating table, look each other in the eye and decide not to decide.

Advertisement

The secession of the United Kingdom, however, demands more. For the first time in its 60-year history, the EU is faced with a country that has decided to quit the alliance  and not its smallest member. I was on the European Council for nine years, I know how tempting it will be for the leadership to delay. After all, Britain and Europe remain major trading partners. There are goods and services to be sold on both sides of the English Channel. But if were soft now with Britain, giving it too much wiggle room to extract favors and deals, we will only feed anti-European parties elsewhere in Europe and strengthen the belief of nationalists and populists that the European Union is a walkover.

That is why it is vital to make a clear cut as soon as possible. What our exact relationship with Britain will be is a concern to be dealt with later. The first priority, for the rest of the Union should be a thorough reform of our out-dated institutions and policies. The British people were right to question the ability of the current European Union to meet the challenges European countries face.

The Brexit is a wake-up call for the remaining 27 EU members. We are now dependent on each other to make the best of it.

Not only have we failed to clean up our banks  nine years after the outbreak of the financial crisis  and neglected to come up with decent plan to reboot our economy, the EU is paralyzed by a deep cultural unrest. After the cold war, Europeans believed it was the end of history, and we were in the role of victors. Today, we know this was a mirage. Europe is shaken, insecure. We dont have the beginning of a strategy in Syria, let alone a consistent battle plan against Islamic State at home or abroad. We dont have a clue how to react to the dangerous whims of Russias President Vladimir Putin either. For all these mighty challenges, we look to America for solutions.

But the United States is running out of patience: Europe has become a troublemaker, unable to act and more likely to get in the way when things get serious than to make any meaningful contribution. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who took the lead in shaping Ukraines transition government, was the clearest in her rejection of Europes non-existing foreign policy. She dismissed our inefficiencies with a heartfelt expletive. But it was the president himself who dealt Europe the hardest blow by calling us free riders, a statement that goes to the core of the problem and well beyond the symbolic removal of a bust of a dead prime minister.

The humanitarian disaster in Syria, the dictatorship of Abdel Fattah Sisi in Egypt, Putins invasion in Ukraine and his annexation of Crimea. These are hot issues and conflicts in our European neighborhood. Its high time we assume responsibility for them.

As a result of Brexit, the European Union loses its largest military power, currently outspending number two, France, by more than $10 billion. We lose our most valued foreign service and our strongest voice in the world. But being defeatist will not move things forward. The Brexit is a wake-up call for the remaining 27 EU members. We are now dependent on each other to make the best of it. That means, for once, avoiding the European reflex to be overly cautious when it comes to reform.

We should to not be held back by the past and we must start building a strong European defense force and a united foreign policy. One that the United States can rely on instead of one that needs a chaperone. It does not lie in our European nature to see opportunities in a crisis, but that is exactly what we should be doing now.

Guy Verhofstadt was prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008 and the leader of the liberals in the European Parliament. His latest book, Europes Last Chance, will be published in the U.S. in January. @GuyVerhofstadt

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Clinton continues to lead Trump in two new polls

(Chuck Burton / AP)

Two new polls continue to show Hillary Clinton leading the presidential race against Donald Trump, although the surveys differ on the size of her margin.

Clinton holds a 12 point lead, 51%-39%, in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, which shows roughly two in three Americans saying the wealthy businessman is not qualified to be president. That includes roughly one-third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in the survey.

An NBC/Wall St. Journal survey, also released Sunday, showed a close contest. That poll showed virtually the same level of support for Trump as the Washington Post/ABC survey, but a lower level of support for Clinton. It showed the former secretary of State leading 46%-41%.

An average of all recent polls shows Clinton leading 46%-39%.

The Post/ABC poll found the public in a somewhat contradictory mood about President Obama. On the one hand, it found Obamas job approval at 56%, continuing a trend of increasing approval that many surveys have found this spring. On the other hand, it also found that after nearly eight years of Obamas presidency, an identical 56% would like to see the country head in a new direction.

Trump wins about two-thirds of those who want to see a different direction, the Post/ABC poll found. That level of desire for change, however, is almost identical to what the same poll found in 1988 and 2004, both years in which the incumbent party won.

Trump has made an effort to capitalize on the desire for change by reaching for voters who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. Both surveys showed little sign of that strategy working. Only a small slice of Sanders supporters, 8% in the Post/ABC survey and 10% in the NBC/WSJ one, said they planned to back Trump.

Both surveys also showed Trump doing poorly among non-white voters. The Post/ABC survey found more than two-thirds of voters saying that Trump made racist comments about federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a fraud lawsuit against Trump University.

Trump leads among white voters, but with a sharp division along educational lines. Among whites with a college degree, Clinton led 50%-42%, according to the Post/ABC poll. If that holds up, she would be the first Democrat to capture a majority of college-educated white voters since modern polling began collecting such data in 1952.

Both surveys were conducted by telephone, including landlines and cell phones, through June 23. Each questioned roughly 1,000 people -- all registered voters in the case of the NBC/WSJ survey, adults aged 18 and older for the Post/ABC poll. Each has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points in either direction for the full sample.
This seems an inauspicious time for someone to try to break one of the longest streaks in California politics: the unsuccessful run of extremely rich men and women trying to vault themselves into high office.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have ridden the bloody feud between elites and non-elites to multiple victories this year. Britain upended the entire world economy by voting Thursday to break away from the European Union, a move driven, at least in part, by that same populist divide.

Still, dont be surprised if one of the candidates for governor in two years is a billionaire: Tom Steyer, who would seem an unlikely victor given the winds of anger circulating now. He seems both unconcerned and highly aware of Californias long-standing record of repudiating wealthy candidates.

Advertisement

See the most-read stories this hour >> 

By 1998, when Democrat Al Checchi was trying to parlay his millions into the governors office, something like 19 similar top-of-the-ticket candidacies had ended in loss. I mentioned this to Steyer the other day during an interview in Long Beach, where he was spending a sunny Saturday shaking hands with Democrats gathered for a party meeting at a beachside hotel.

By now, I added, it must be up to  what, 30?

Thirty-one, Steyer said, with the kind of mathematical precision that probably drove his success as a hedge fund manager.

You counted? I asked.

I think thats the number that someone told me, he said, smiling. I didnt count. Someone told me that.

That someone could be one of the handful of political consultants now working for Steyer, or one of those working on 208 college campuses as part of his $25-million national effort to register millennial voters this year. Or one of the Steyer staff in seven swing states where the presidential contest and control of the Senate will be decided in part by the labor voters hes also trying to turn out.

Or it could be one of those working with him to push climate-change measures, for which he has become a national leader, or working with him on what he hopes will be a landmark study of ways to lessen income inequality in California.

Steyer poured $74 million into races on behalf of Democrats in 2014, which made him the biggest individual donor in the country  even if he was largely unsuccessful. He wont pin a figure on his spending this year, but he expects to spend a lot, in part because of the presence of Donald Trump, whom Steyer considers the antithesis  of the values that we hold dear.

But much of his attention will be focused on California, despite its meaningless status in November. Steyer, who is 58 and based in San Francisco, spent about $700,000 to help register Democrats before the June primary. He also aired two ads encouraging Californians to register and vote.

One featured Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz casting climate change as a hoax.

We need leaders who get it, Steyer said in the ad.

In the second, Trump is seen on video calling immigrants rapists and promising that a deportation force would be rounding them up.

Thats not America, said Steyer, surrounded by young adults. Were all Californians.

His presence in the ads explains why the possibility of a 2018 run for governor is assumed to be high on his list of desires, even if he will not announce his plans until after the November election.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is the only extremely wealthy candidate to win office as a governor or senator, and hes under an asterisk because he won in the recall election, thus avoiding the internal battles that foiled everyone else. Few rich Democrats have run, in part because Democratic voters cant seem to abide them.

In a 2012 Pew Research survey, Democrats were far less inclined than Republicans to think well of the wealthy, to the point that only 8% thought they were more honest than the average American, and 65% thought they were more greedy.

But Steyer has worked to craft an identity beyond hedge fund billionaire, with his work on climate change and income inequality. Will that be enough? Or will voters look at him and see just another rich guy?

I have no idea, he said. I would say this: One of the things I believe is who you spend your time with is unbelievably important. Because its one thing to read a story; its one thing to see a statistic. Its one thing to meet people and spend time with them and understand what life looks like from their point of view.

That he has accomplished, he suggested, with his political activities. And he also noted that his spending stands to benefit Democratic causes, regardless of whether he ends up running.

The renewable-energy measure signed last fall by Gov. Jerry Brown was limited in its reach when oil companies opposed part of it and some Democrats sided with them, he noted. The landmark climate-change legislation signed by Schwarzenegger in 2006 will need updating in 2020.

His spending here, Steyer said, is intended to ensure that environmental and economic measures win more support.

From our point of view, the way we are going to get better decisions, we think, that much more reflect the issues of the people you are talking about  normal, working people of the state of California and working families  is broader democracy.

We live in California. We think of California as an historic leader, but also a necessary leader.

As to whether he will try to lead it, check back in November.

For more on politics 

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Twitter: @cathleendecker

ALSO:

Donald Trump crafts a potent message but proves a weak messenger

Bernie Sanders lists his demands for Hillary Clintonbut how much leverage does he have left?

Kamala Harris strong, Loretta Sanchez weakened as general election begins, poll finds

Updates on California politics

Live coverage from the campaign trail
Despite some unforeseen challenges, the revitalization project at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank is about 80% complete, a public official said.

Construction began April 15 and is on schedule to be done in mid-February, City Engineer Sean Corrigan said at the last City Council meeting.

Public Works will turn over the revitalized park in the spring to Parks and Recreation, he said.

However, projected construction costs rose 18%, or nearly $500,000, so crews could resolve a beetle infestation affecting sycamore trees, implement late changes required by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and perform work to prevent post-storm erosion of the creek channels soft bottom.

Roughly half of that added cost was budgeted in a contingency fund, but the council voted 5-0 to approve an additional $255,000 for the remainder.

In a separate unanimous vote, the council approved an additional $29,000 and $32,000, respectively, in additional architectural and project management services.

We couldnt foresee these things happening, Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy said of the cost overruns.

In January, the City Council awarded a construction contract to GMZ Engineering Inc., which bid it at roughly $2.7 million, or 22.6% below the landscape architects estimate of nearly $3.5 million.

Once the project is completed, the city will be reimbursed nearly $2.2 million through grants, according to a January city staff report.

Corrigan said crews were installing sprinkler systems last week, after which the park would be graded and prepared for trees, plants and a mixture of sprayed grass seed and mulch.

A total of 154 new trees will be planted. The first shipment arrived earlier this month.

Play equipment and furniture for the park is on order, Corrigan said. Finally, after all the planting has been completed, the decomposed granite pathways will be installed.

Creek-spanning pedestrian bridges, one of which had to be lengthened by 15 feet in anticipation of a water tunnel that Los Angeles is expected to add, are already in place.

The new soft bottom creek bed, which replaced a several-decades-old concrete bed, is absorbing runoff before it gets more than a third of the way down the channel.

Additional work needed to redesign the creek bed after rains in mid-September revealed excessive erosion in some places.

Rubble, or armoring rock, was added to the design to help the creek better handle heavy storm water in preparation for El Nino, Corrigan said.

We were lucky to be able to observe the stream bed in a flooding condition [because] then we could make adjustments, Gabel-Luddy said.

Corrigan said he hopes to implement parts of the project that need to be reworked before El Nino arrives in force.

We really need to get going before the rains begin in earnest, Corrigan told the council.

--

Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland
City leaders on Tuesday may loosen the spigot for Newport Beach water customers, but officials warn that the drought isnt over and conservation is still necessary.

The City Council will consider moving the city to level two of its water conservation plan, which would restrict outdoor watering to before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. but allow ratepayers to irrigate their lawns three days per week from April through October. Outdoor watering from November through March would also be restricted to one day per week.

If the council approves the change, the city will assign residents specific watering days. Hoses still need to have nozzles and water leaks must be fixed within 48 hours, according to a city staff report.

For the last year the city has operated at level three of its water conservation plan, which restricted outdoor watering from April through October to two days per week. It also mandated households and businesses to fix water leaks within 25 hours and reduce their overall use by 25% based on the same billing period in 2013.

Newports proposal comes on the heels of the State Water Resources Control Boards May vote that  assuming three more dry years occur  mandates urban water providers to have a three-year supply of water available. Agencies that would face a shortage under this scenario would be required to meet a conservation standard equal to the amount of the shortage.

Previously, in the wake of Californias persisting drought, the state had set conservation standards for local water agencies.

Drought conditions are far from over, but have improved enough that we can step back from our unprecedented top-down target setting, state water board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus said in a statement.

Newport Beach, like many other Orange County water providers, would have enough water under state standards to set its conservation level at zero, said the citys municipal operations director, George Murdoch.

Because an emergency situation could deplete water reservoirs, the Municipal Water District of Orange County has asked all suppliers to set a minimum 10% conservation rate.

Murdoch is proposing that Newport conserves 15% of its water use compared with 2013.

The right way to run a system is to leave some water in reserves, he said. The drought is still here. We think the prudent thing to do is to continue to conserve until theres a change in the conditions.

The city of Newport Beach, which serves 66,219 water customers, had struggled month after month to reduce its water use to meet its original 28% conservation target. However the state agreed to lower Newports mandate to 21% earlier this year.

The citys overall water usage in May was 27.3% lower when compared to the same month in 2013, putting its cumulative reduction at 22%, data show.

If the council approves the change, the city is expected to cut back on citations for those who use more water than their allotted amount.

We will be contacting people who are off the chart, but the majority of the community has done well, Murdoch said. There could still be citations, but its not as likely.

The City Council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.
For decades after his death in the Vietnam War, Allan Altieris resting place lay bare with no grave marker.

But on Friday, exactly half a century after he was killed, his family, friends and several fellow soldiers gathered at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery to commemorate the installation of a new bronze headstone.

An Army private first class, Altieri was a local resident who had graduated from Glendale High School.

His family was so distraught after his death that they moved to the East Coast and intentionally left his grave unmarked, said childhood friend and classmate David Persson.

1 / 14 A plaque has been installed at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 2 / 14 Family friends Heather McCarthy, left, her mother Charlynn McCarthy, second from left, Barbara Neff and her son Joey Bulgarino arrive for unveiling of plaque at the unmarked grave site for Neffs brother and Glendale resident US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 3 / 14 Patriot Guard riders stand next to covered plaque that was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 4 / 14 Family friends Heather McCarthy, left, her mother Charlynn McCarthy, second from left, Barbara Neff and her son Joey Bulgarino, right, arrive for unveiling of plaque at the unmarked grave site for Neffs brother and Glendale resident US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 5 / 14 Barbara Neff reflects during ceremony to unveil a plaque at the unmarked grave site for her brother and Glendale resident US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 6 / 14 Marine Corps League Detachment #597 color guard does a 21-gun salute after plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 7 / 14 Marine Corps League Detachment #597 color guard bugler plays taps after plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 8 / 14 Barbara Neff receives an American Flag from event organizer and family friend David Persson during ceremony to unveil a plaque at the unmarked grave site for her brother and Glendale resident US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 9 / 14 Friend and event organizer David Persson after plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. Persson visited the unmarked grave site often until last year when he asked Altieris sister if she wanted to place a plaque at the site. She agreed and he decided to unveil it 50 years to the day of Altieris death to honor him. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 10 / 14 Patriot Guard Riders SoCal ride captain Scotty Wiles presents a commemorative plaque to family members after a grave site plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 11 / 14 Barbara Neff reflects during ceremony to unveil a plaque at the unmarked grave site for her brother and Glendale resident US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 12 / 14 Glendale High School choir members, back row, left director Grace Sheldon-Williams, Brian Sahcnez and Kian Sidi, and from row left to right, Franz Valerio, Allela Ortin and Isabella Caballero sing the National Anthem before plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 13 / 14 Marine Corps League Detachment #597 color guard place flags at the spot where a plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer) 14 / 14 Patriot Guard riders and guests at ceremony where plaque was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. PFC Altieri, a graduate of Glendale High School, died at age 19 during a battle in Vietnam. His family moved to the East Coast after Altieri died because, according to a friend, his parents couldnt take the loss. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

It wasnt until last year that Persson found out there was no marker and told Altieris sister, who lives in North Carolina. She gave him her blessings to order one, courtesy of the Veterans Administration.

Persson said the effort wasnt about closure, but rather survivors guilt.

Its the duty of all of us who return to remember our fallen heroes who served their country so valiantly and gave the ultimate sacrifice, he said Friday. He was surrounded by other veterans, including those of the 35th Infantry Regiment, Altieris outfit.

Altieri was given many honors after his death, including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for valor, both of which are noted on his marker.

Persson remembered Altieri as a good friend with a sense of humor who wrote him twice during the war.

Hes getting what he died for -- his honors.  Barbara Neff, sister of Allan Altieri

Back in Glendale, Altieris family owned the since-closed Roxy Cinema, where Persson got his first job.

Richard Hunter, a combat veteran who served with Altieri, remembered the day he died.

He said Altieri was part of a battle in Pleiku Province, where his party was greatly outnumbered, but continued to fight.

When his body was found, Altieris finger was still on the trigger of his machine gun, Hunter said.

Hunter spoke of how young he and many other men were at the time.

Allan and I were the same age, he said. I graduated high school in 1964; I was 19 years old when this happened. We were children. I dont wish that upon anybody.

Patriot Guard riders stand next to covered plaque that was unveiled at the unmarked grave site for Glendale resident and US Army PFC Allan J. Altieri 50 years to the day after he was killed in Vietnam, at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills on Friday, June 24, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Barbara Neff, Altieris sister, was presented with an American flag from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol.

For Neff, Fridays ceremony was almost deja vu because it reminded her of her brothers funeral. But she pointed out a key difference.

Its as though we buried him 50 years ago, but without the military here to honor him. That wasnt thought of at the time, it was just family friends, Neff said.

Having fellow veterans at Altieris freshly placed marker and saluting him was a long time coming, she said.

I never expected all of this, hes getting what he died for  his honors, Neff said.

--

Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com

Twitter: @ArinMikailian
A Glendale homeowner won $4,999 in small claims court after suing the Americana at Brand for allegedly inflating the advertised square footage of his condominium, court records show.

Paul Abramson, who bought a condo from Americana Housing in 2011 for $567,000, found out two months later that his unit was 78 square feet less than the advertised 1,338 square feet, according to Los Angeles Superior Court records.

Since he paid cash for the unit, he never had the unit appraised. But his neighbor did, and told Abramson he was having trouble closing escrow due to the discrepancy.

Thats when Abramson pulled records the developer filed with the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor, which reportedly indicated the condominiums actual square footage was 1,260.

According to the court ruling, this evidence suggests the developer made a material misrepresentation to Abramson about the propertys square footage.

A representative for the developer, which is part of Americana builder Caruso Affiliated, could not immediately be reached Friday.

According to court documents, the developer argued that Abramsons claim should be treated as fraud, in which case the statute of limitations would have expired.

Follow us on Facebook >>

Americana Housing also cited a disclaimer in a disclosure statement given to Abramson that noted that the square footages in sales materials are approximate.

The court didnt buy this argument, and ordered the developer to pay Abramson $4,999 in damages.

Abramson calculated that he overpaid more than $30,000 for the unit, but he chose to file the lawsuit last year in small claims court, where he could seek up to $10,000 in damages. He mistakenly thought the maximum was $5,000, however, and when he was advised of the mistake, chose not to amend his complaint, records show.

Its more of a moral victory, and at least makes this developer aware they cant do the same thing to other consumers out there, because its out there now, Abramson said.

Americana Housing appealed the decision, but the appeal was recently denied.

Im happy that justice was served, Abramson said.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek
A night of partying took a deadly turn in Glendale early Saturday morning when a 25-year-old man was fatally shot over insults directed at an 18-year-old woman hed met hours earlier, police said.

Police believe the woman, identified as Napa resident Dezerea Lyons, orchestrated the attack through phone calls and text messages to her two friends, men who later showed up with guns.

Less than 24 hours after the shooting, Glendale police arrested Lyons, as well as the suspected gunmen  Suisun City resident Laquan Parker, 24, and Stockton resident Brandon Perkins, 26  on suspicion of murder, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William.

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

On Friday night, the victim, identified as Phillip Niles Jr., was out with friends in Los Angeles, where he met Lyons and her friend. Eventually, the group moved the party to a Glendale apartment on the 1700 block of North Verdugo Road, where Lyons felt insulted by comments made by Niles, a recent Los Angeles transplant from Daytona Beach, Fla. Exactly what he said was not clear.

You dont know me, she told him, according to police. You dont know what Im capable of.

After firing off some text messages and phone calls, the two men arrived, so she grabbed her friend and left the apartment. Niles walked them out, though investigators dont know why.

Outside, the two gunmen were waiting.

Lyons and her friend  who investigators say was not involved in the attack  climbed into the car, while Perkins and Parker reportedly confronted Niles.

Just before 4 a.m., neighbors heard the gunfire.

Investigators are working to determine if one or both of the gunmen pulled the trigger.

With multiple gunshot wounds, Niles ran a short distance before collapsing on the front lawn of an elderly couples home on the 1600 block of The Midway Street, William said.

When police arrived, he was dead.

His friends, meanwhile, thought hed gone home.

Investigators spent hours canvassing the neighborhood, going door-to-door searching for leads.

They went from not knowing the victim, to a complete whodunit case, to seriously putting some good work into it, William said.

Detectives discovered that the two men jumped in the car and fled to a Comfort Inn in Monrovia, where they had rented a room. Lyons friend had reportedly asked Parker and Perkins to let her go, but they held her against her will, so police also arrested the men on suspicion of false imprisonment. The friend eventually made it home.

The trio was arrested Saturday after investigators spotted them walking out of the Monrovia hotel. In the getaway car, police reportedly recovered two handguns. Each suspect being held in lieu of $2 million bail.

--

Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

MORE CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

Local detectives seize weapons, make arrests during gang-enforcement effort

Police say pair of 20-year-olds are suspected of a number of recent Glendale home burglaries

Parolee arrested after chase, helicopter search in Glendale
Ive had enough. How long are we to keep going from mass shooting to mass shooting without something changing?

I thought that the movie theater mass killing in Aurora, Colo., would shock the nations conscience. Twelve were killed and more than 50 injured in only seven minutes during a showing of The Dark Knight. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting since Columbine, also in Colorado. But nothing changed after Aurora.

And then I was convinced that the turning point would have to be the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., when 20 young children and six adult staff members were gunned down in a school. Five minutes was all it took to murder 26 and wound another three.

Again, I was wrong. Again, Congress declared a moment of silence, and did nothing.

Just this month, 49 were murdered and another 53 wounded at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando. This will go down, for now, as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. It follows close on the heels of another mass shooting not far from our community, in San Bernardino, Calif.

When I woke up on the morning of the Orlando attack, reports of the massacre left me numb. Yet another mass shooting, this time by someone who had pledged allegiance to terror groups abroad. His motivations are still not completely clear  it will take time to unravel the degree to which he was radicalized by foreign terrorist organizations or acted on his hatred of LGBT people. Plainly, as the president said, this was an act of terror and also an act of hate.

Now I realize that many people view mass shootings motivated by terror as something fundamentally different than mass shootings that arise from mental illness. And there is no question that a broad range of efforts must be made to attack terrorism, from defeating ISIS on the battlefield, to combating its ideology online and ferreting out homegrown radicals. But regardless of what drove the Orlando killer, one thing is clear in all these mass shootings, whether conducted for ISIS, out of hatred, from mental illness or all of the above: the easy access to weapons intended for killing lots of people as quickly as possible makes these attacks ruthlessly efficient.

We know that no single remedy can eliminate gun violence and stem the tide of mass shootings with their diverse causes. But the fact that we cant stop all of these tragedies is no excuse for failing to take action that could stop many, and make others less deadly.

Heres what we can do in Congress, if we have the courage to stand up to the extreme positions of the National Rifle Assn. and its allies.

First, Congress should pass legislation to require universal background checks and close the gun show loophole, a step which is supported by almost 90% of the American people. This would help prevent guns from being easily trafficked from states with lax gun laws into those with strong laws, such as California. Second, Congress should quickly enact No Fly, No Buy legislation so that those who are on terror watch lists cannot easily purchase weapons. Finally, we should reinstate the assault weapons ban which expired in 1994 and hasnt been reauthorized. Assault weapons, like the guns used in Orlando, San Bernardino and Newtown, are weapons of war, and they have no place on our streets.

Just this Monday, the Senate failed to pass measures that would have blocked people on the terrorism watch list from buying weapons  both guns and explosives  and another measure that would close background check loopholes. These amendments were the lowest common denominator  things we already agree on in principle and the American people support by wide majorities. But many senators and representatives are so scared of the political power of the NRA that they refuse to back these common sense measures.

Despite this terrible setback, we are not powerless to move forward. President Obama shouldnt simply wait for Congress to come to its senses.

I recently wrote to the president to ask that he consider instructing the Department of Justice to enable the FBI to place a flag in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System on those that have been previously investigated for terrorism. This flag would notify the FBI if such an individual sought to buy a gun, and potentially trigger a 72-hour waiting period prior to the sale and allow the FBI to investigate further. We will never know if such a system would have disrupted the Orlando plot, but it could save lives in the future.

For too long, Congress has cowered in fear of the NRAs power, but I believe the tide is turning. Instead, we should fear the continued costs of inaction and the rising death toll in our country. I stand with the American people who demand an end to moments of silence until they are accompanied by moments of action.

--

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Burbank) represents the 28th District.
La Canadas trash haulers will have at least one more year to conduct business as usual, after the City Council voted Tuesday to extend their contracts with the city until June 30, 2017.

La Canada Flintridge is the only city in Los Angeles County that still employs a non-exclusive, multiple hauler waste collection system. Proponents believe an open-market strategy ensures competitive rates, but those opposed claim the practice is inefficient and causes excess truck noise and exhaust on residential streets.

Since May 2014, a council subcommittee has investigated the potential benefits of switching to a single, exclusive contract and surveyed the public on the matter. Respondents said they liked their individual haulers, so the matter was momentarily tabled.

The subcommittee has requested a study session with the council to discuss issuing a Request For Proposals to see what individual haulers might offer in an exclusive contract with the city. To accommodate a discussion, the council voted Tuesday to extend all contracts expiring on June 30 by one more year.

The matter will come before the council in a future meeting, City Manager Mark Alexander said Tuesday.

--

Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
PHOTOGRAPHY

Workshop

Experts will offer tips on getting the best out of your GoPro camera.

When, where: 7 p.m. Wednesday at REI stores in Arcadia, 214 N. Santa Anita Ave., and Huntington Beach, 7777 Edinger Ave.

Admission, info: Free. (626) 447-1062 for Arcadia; (714) 379-1938

TRAVEL

Presentation

Writer-mountaineer Brendan Leonard will discuss his new book, Sixty Minutes to Anywhere.

Advertisement

When, where: 6.30 p.m. Thursday at the Adventure 16 store, 11161 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles

Admission, info: Free. (310) 473-4574.

Please email announcements at least three weeks before the event to travel@latimes.com.
Put down that heavy history book or travel guide; heres an app that locates points of interest across the country  or in your neighborhood.

Name: History Here

What it does: Provides easy-to-digest nuggets of history about thousands of locations across the United States, including famous homes, battlefields, museums, cemeteries, hotels and more. It can be used to prepare for a trip or to discover whats around you on a current trip. You can keep your own to-see list in My Places.

Available: In the App Store, requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. In Google Play requires 4.0 and up.

Advertisement

Cost: Free

Whats hot: The four-option menu bar is terrific. Many apps try to give you more features, but here simplicity is key. Choose Explore to search for historic locations; Tour for curated collections of locations with a connected theme; Surprise Me, a tool that takes you to a random location in the U.S.; and My Places, a tool for bookmarking your list. My favorite pin from Surprise Me was Maxwells, a Hoboken, N.J., club and restaurant that has been around since 1978 and was the location for some of Bruce Springsteens Glory Days music video.

Whats not: Theres little to complain about, but I did want to see more photos for each location. That said, there often were more photos for the curated historic tours. Also, why was Palm Springs neglected? Its a treasure trove worthy of a spot in the Tour section. If you find a historic location missing, click on the Suggest a Place button in the lower right corner of the map screen.
Is Japan gaga for Donald Trump? That was the impression created by a spellbinding YouTube video that went viral last week.

Featuring a blue-haired woman in a babydoll dress cooing over posters of the Republican presidential candidate, Japan Supports Donald Trump for World President 2016 is set to an infectious synth-pop track and puts Trumps disembodied head into a cutesy cartoon world of cherry blossoms and rainbows. Then it turns him into a giant robot that builds a wall topped with razor wire, flies into space and destroys the earth with a mega-laser blast.

As it turns out, the video  which has been viewed over 4 million times on YouTube and shared 15 million times on Facebook  was a parody created by L.A.-based special effects artist Mike Dahlquist. While the sendup has won aesthetic admirers even in Tokyo, perhaps no U.S. ally is as anxious and befuddled about the prospect of a President Trump as Japan.

Advertisement

The democracy of 127 million depends on American forces for its defense (it hosts some 54,000 U.S. troops), relies on America as the top buyer of its exports and sends more of its outbound foreign investment to the U.S. than any other country.

With China increasingly asserting itself economically and militarily, and North Korea testing nuclear devices and missiles with growing frequency, leaders in Washington and Tokyo have pushed for even closer cooperation.

Theyve ramped up defense coordination and spent the last few years hammering out terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal that would unite the U.S. and Japanese economies (#1 and #3 in the world) with 10 other nations  but notably exclude China (#2).

Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the long-assumed pillars of the U.S.-Japan relationship.

Hes called on Tokyo to pick up all the expense of basing U.S. troops in Japan, even though Tokyo already pays about $1.7 billion a year and American forces here are tasked not only with defending Japan but have been deployed on missions as far afield as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hes suggested that Japan might need to develop its own nuclear weapons, a notion antithetical to the pacifist constitution imposed by the U.S. after World War II. And hes blasted TPP as a horrible deal that will send Americas remaining auto jobs to Japan.

There is an unspoken but unanimous consensus among serious Japanese people in business, bureaucracy and politics that Trump is a disaster, said Tsuyoshi Sunohara, a well-connected writer and secretary-general of the U.S.-Japan Project at the Japan Center for Economic Research. Including Prime Minister Abe  though hes never said it publicly, officially, hes very much concerned.

Toshihiro Nakayama, a high-profile political commentator and scholar of American politics at Keio University in Tokyo, agreed.

People are worried, very interested, and as a result of the noise we are hearing from the U.S., I think the public image of the U.S. is being very damaged, said Nakayama, who said he is frequently stopped on the street by people asking him to explain Trump.

President Obama turned the U.S. image to a positive direction. His visit to Hiroshima was welcomed by 98% of the Japanese public, added Nakayama. Its very ironic that the same America is in the process of maybe choosing the most outrageous [candidate].

For Japan, the uncertainty about Americas reliability adds to a pile of worries about its future place in a rapidly changing Asia.

With a low birthrate and little immigration, Japan is expected to lose 30 million people in the next 40 years. Its economic clout is all but certain to decrease. Meanwhile, Chinas Communist leaders are using their nations financial might to forge deeper relationships in Southeast and Central Asia with initiatives such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The most important question for Japanese diplomacy is how to cope with China, so Japan can survive in the region, said Hitoshi Tanaka, a former deputy foreign minister and chairman of the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan Research Institute, a think tank.

Of particular concern, said Tanaka, is Trumps suggestion that the U.S. nuclear umbrella could be retracted, leaving Japan exposed.

We cannot defend ourselves alone. We see the United States as an ally. But Im not entirely sure, he said. If Mr. Trump became president of United states, the whole political situation would change.

While China might welcome less cozy relations between Tokyo and Washington, any decision by Japan  or South Korea  to deploy nuclear weapons would make Beijing deeply uncomfortable, said Rumi Aoyama, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Waseda University. That security environment wouldnt be good for China, she said.

Although Japan has dealt with economic stagnation for decades and has occasionally embraced entertainers as politicians  former Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is one such figure  the country has never produced a national-level maverick of Trumps magnitude.

Still, a few Japanese on the far left and far right have welcomed the prospect of a President Trump.

Die-hard conservatives who want to see Japan ditch its pacifist constitution and re-arm itself have called the presumptive Republican nominee a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cut Japans apron strings with Washington and make Japan an independent country.

Those on the far left, meanwhile, say if America pulls back from Japan, the nation could finally rid itself of the hypocrisy of being a pacifist nation that hides behind the Pentagons nuclear arsenal.

But a huge swath of people in the middle  particularly backers of Abes Liberal Democratic Party  are heavily invested in seeing Hillary Clinton prevail in November.

Only Hillary Clinton can be our hope and continue the very important role of the U.S. being a key player for peace and development in this region, said Keizo Takemi, a member of Abes party and a longtime member of parliaments upper house.

Abe has forged ties with Clinton in the last several years, reaching out to her for support for his womenomics initiative to bring more women into the workforce, Sunohara noted.

After she responded positively, and even recorded a video message for the World Assembly of Women conference in Japan in 2014, Abe used Clintons commitment to invigorate his popularity  especially among women, said Sunohara. From that point, I think Abe asked his people to  make preparations for an emerging Hillary administration in 2017.

Even if Clinton prevails in November, though, Abe may find the campaign has shifted the landscape in uncomfortable ways.

The Japanese prime minister has expended significant political capital to push TPP despite opposition from farmers and fishermen. He has signaled that his party might bring it for a vote this fall; his administration says it could eventually add 800,000 jobs and boost GDP by 2.6%.

Although Clinton supported the trade pact while it was being negotiated, last year, as both Trump and Bernie Sanders voiced strident opposition, she reversed course.

If the U.S. fails to ratify TPP, it will hurt American credibility  because it was sold not just as an economic framework, but also as the U.S. and Japan building a very high-quality regional order, said Nakayama. If the U.S. fails to do that, it sort of symbolizes U.S. retreat.

It all adds up to a lot of unease.

The U.S. was supposed to be the constant, the rock, said Nakayama. But that rock is shaking. Its no longer a rock; its become a bubble. Its become a major geopolitical uncertainty.

julie.makinen@latimes.com

ALSO:

Donald Trump crafts a potent message but proves a weak messenger

Bernie Sanders lists his demands for Hillary Clintonbut how much leverage does he have left?

Kamala Harris strong, Loretta Sanchez weakened as general election begins, poll finds

Updates on California politics

Live coverage from the campaign trail
When Amjad Sabri, one of Pakistans best known performers of Sufi devotional music, was gunned down in Karachi, the countrys private news channels ran continuous coverage of his killing for 24 hours.

People across the country grieved and staged protests. Thousands congregated in Karachi to offer funeral prayers.

He used [a] message of God to unite people, said Pakistans federal information minister, Pervaiz Rashid, who called Sabri an ambassador of peace. His killers are enemies of humanity and God.

Advertisement

See the most-read stories in World News this hour >>

Police described Sabris slaying last week by gunmen on motorcycles as a targeted killing, but said a motive was not immediately known.

The Pakistani Taliban militant group took responsibility, with a spokesman saying Sabri was killed for blasphemy.

In 2014, a blasphemy case was filed against Sabri by the Islamabad High Court after he mentioned members of the prophet Muhammads family in a song.

Sabri, 45, came from a prominent family of qawwals, performers of a form of Sufi devotional music.

Amjad Sabri performs in 2015 during the Lux Style Awards in Karachi, Pakistan. (Umair Rao / AFP/Getty Images )

His father, Ghulam Farid Sabri, and uncle, Maqbool Sabri, were leaders in Sufi music and influenced Amjad Sabri, who started singing at an early age.

He is loved more because of the legacy which he was carrying, said Sarwat Ali, a music critic and writer who teaches music at National College of Arts, Lahore. His father and uncle were far more superior musically, but he was more popular among the young people of Pakistan. Its a huge loss.

Farooq Faisal Khan, an Islamabad-based journalist and a fan of the Sabri family, said Amjad Sabri was a darling of the media and easily approachable.

He kept on living in a humble house built by his late father in an old neighborhood of Karachi despite achieving phenomenal success worldwide, Khan said.

Ali Raj, a friend of Sabris, wrote in the Express Tribune, a leading Pakistani English newspaper:

In a society like ours where sectarian lines and groupings are so clearly defined, Amjad Sabri lived life on his own terms. He was as much of a Shia as he was a Sunni, passionate about where he was coming from and what he believed in.

Sahi is a special correspondent.

MORE WORLD NEWS

President Trump? Among U.S. allies, Japan may be one of the most anxious about that idea

Heat wave aggravates chronic water problems in occupied West Bank

Pope prays at Armenia memorial after denouncing genocide
MEXICO CITY  He admitted being a salaried killer for a drug cartel, the kind of assassin who preferred slashing his victims throats.

On Tuesday, after serving three years behind bars, he was released from a Mexican detention center and was on his way to the United States  where he would soon live as a free man.

Or, rather, a free boy.

The killer, Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known to Mexican crime reporters as El Ponchis, is 17 years old. He was 11 when he killed his first victim, and he was 14 when he was arrested, in December 2010, at the Cuernavaca airport, along with luggage containing two handguns and packets of cocaine.

Advertisement

Back then, Jimenezs tender age transformed him into a media phenomenon, one that shocked Mexico, and the world, into recognizing the extent to which the countrys brutal drug war was consuming its young. And now it is one of the reasons why Jimenez  who claims to have killed four people at an age before most kids get their learners permit to drive  will soon be mingling with the residents of San Antonio.

Under the laws at the time in the Mexican state of Morelos, where he was prosecuted, Jimenez could be sentenced to a maximum of only three years of incarceration because he was a minor. A judge ordered him released Tuesday, a few days before his three years were up.

And because he is a U.S. citizen, born in San Diego, he has every right to return to his home country.

Apparently hes paid his debt for whatever crimes he was convicted of [in Mexico], and Im not aware of any charges the U.S., federal or state, has against him, Michelle Lee, an FBI special agent based in San Antonio, said Tuesday. The situation with him is really no different than any other U.S. national who commits a crime, completes their sentence and is released.

Jimenez, who had lived, and killed, in Jiutepec, a town near the popular resort city of Cuernavaca, was on a plane headed to San Antonio, where he has family, Jorge Vicente Messeguer Guillen, the Morelos government secretary, said in a TV interview.

Once in San Antonio, Messeguer said, Jimenez would be sent to what he referred to as a support center but would not be locked up.

Graco Ramirez, the Morelos governor, said in a separate TV interview that Jimenezs rehabilitation in the Mexican penal system had been notable. He also said that Jimenez had to leave Mexico because his life might be in danger.

U.S. State Department officials would not elaborate on what Jimenezs living arrangements would be when he arrived in Texas. Nor did they clarify what Messeguer meant by a support center.

We are aware of Edgar Lugos upcoming release by the Mexican authorities following completion of his sentence, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said in a statement Tuesday. We are closely coordinating with our Mexican counterparts and appropriate authorities in the United States regarding Edgar Lugos release.

Due to privacy considerations, we do not publicly discuss details of matters involving U.S. citizens, he said.

Jimenezs case is far from unique. In February, a 13-year-old boy was arrested in the state of Zacatecas along with a group of gunmen. The boy, identified as Armando, confessed to participating in at least 10 slayings. He was freed because the state criminal code does not prosecute minors younger than 14. A month later, the boy and his mother were found slain along with four other people.

In 2011, a 15-year-old who went by the name Erick was arrested and said he worked for the same group that Jimenez did, participating with other teenagers in kidnappings and drug dealing. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

Similar cases have come to light in the states of Jalisco, Tabasco and Veracruz, but probably represent only a small fraction of the total: Studies by the National Autonomous University of Mexico have estimated that a million youths are at risk of being recruited by the cartels.

Jimenezs release is likely to rekindle the debate about the justice systems treatment of minors who commit serious crimes. In 2005, the Mexican Constitution mandated the creation of separate justice systems at the state and federal levels for offenders younger than 18.

More recently, there has been a push to take a harsher stance, exacerbated in part by the drug cartels habit of drawing from the countrys vast pool of poverty-stricken, poorly educated children to form their ranks.

In March, Morelos lawmakers increased the maximum sanction for children who commit serious crimes so that a suspect like Jimenez would serve five years, not three, behind bars, a change that came about as a result of his case. In July, the state of Veracruz went further, raising the maximum penalty for 14- to 16-year-olds from four years to 10 years of incarceration, with 16- to 18-year-olds now facing the possibility of 15 years.

Such changes have concerned some childrens rights groups, but the clamor is not likely to die down. Javier Lozano, a senator with the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, sent a series of Twitter messages on Tuesday asking Mexicans to consider lowering the minimum age for trying children as adults.

The liberation of Ponchis speaks of a perverse system in which under the pretext of being a minor, one can be an assassin, but not a criminal, he wrote.

After his arrest, Jimenez claimed that he had killed at the behest of a man who was a suspected cartel enforcer who threatened to kill the boy if he did not follow orders. He said that his employer, the Beltran Leyva cartel, paid him $200 a week, and that he was stoned on marijuana when he committed the crimes.

He was, in many ways, a perfect drug-war recruit: destitute and from a broken family. In the 1990s, child welfare officials removed Jimenez and five siblings from their parents custody in San Diego. In a 2010 interview with The Times, Edgars father, David Jimenez, said that he and his wife had been known to fight violently.

Edgars grandmother was appointed legal guardian and brought the children to Mexico. But she died in 2004, and Edgar dropped out of school in the third grade.

Im not defending him, Messeguer said. But  his circumstances caused him to be a victim as well.

richard.fausset@latimes.com

Fausset is a Times staff writer. Sanchez is a news assistant in The Times Mexico City bureau. Times staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston contributed to this report.
Pope Francis says gays  and all the other people the church has marginalized, such as the poor and the exploited  deserve an apology.

Francis was asked Sunday en route home from Armenia if he agreed with one of his top advisors, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who told a conference in Dublin in the days after the deadly Orlando gay club attack that the church owes an apology to gays for having marginalized them.

Francis responded with a variation of his famous Who am I to judge? comment and a repetition of church teaching that gays must not be discriminated against but treated with respect.

Advertisement

He said some politicized behaviors of the homosexual community can be condemned for being a bit offensive for others. But he said: Someone who has this condition, who has good will and is searching for God, who are we to judge?

See the most-read stories in National News this hour >>

We must accompany them, Francis said.

I think the church must not only apologize to a gay person it offended, but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor, apologize for having blessed so many weapons and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems.

Francis uttered his Who am I to judge? comment during his first airborne news conference in 2013, signaling a new era of acceptance and welcome for gays in the church. Francis followed up by meeting with gay and transgender faithful, and most significantly, by responding to claims that he met with anti-gay marriage campaigner Kim Davis during his U.S. visit. He said the only personal meeting he held in Washington was with his gay former student and his partner.

Despite such overtures, however, many gay Catholics are still waiting for progress after a two-year consultation of the church on family issues failed to chart concrete, new pastoral avenues for them.

MORE NATIONAL NEWS

Donald Trump praises Britons for taking their country back, but only after he promotes his golf resort

FBI investigators say they have found no evidence that Orlando shooter had gay lovers

Old and poor: An especially bad combination in this Arizona county
Beer lovers, unite! WDIY 88.1 FM held its first Homebrew Fest on Saturday, celebrating the homebrewers of the Lehigh Valley.

The Charles A. Brown Ice House in Bethlehem hosted the afternoon fest, with tastings from more than 25 of the best homebrewers from the area.

Besides beer, festival-goers heard plenty of live performances throughout the day by The Barrel House Brothers.

Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @SaedHindash. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook.
A dispute among co-workers from a moving company led to a stabbing in Wilson Borough, police said.

Derress Lane, 35, of Philadelphia, around 5 p.m. Sunday allegedly began fighting with Damon Glover, 38, of Norristown, as the pair were helping someone move into a home in the 1500 block of Spruce Street.

Lane then stabbed Glover in the cheek area with a knife, Police Chief Steven Parkansky said. It's unclear what led to the argument.

Glover was taken to Easton Hospital for treatment of injuries, which aren't life threatening, according to Parkansky.

Lane allegedly admitted to the crime and police arrested him.

Lane was awaiting arraignment Sunday night on charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and possession of a small amount of marijuana.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A 65-year-old man has been convicted of indeceny after being caught vigorously masturbating behind schoolgirls in a public library.

A 65-year-old man has been convicted of indeceny after being caught vigorously masturbating behind schoolgirls in a public library.

Sean Fitzpatrick, 2 Woodlawn Villas, Portlaoise, committed the offence at Portlaoise Library, Lyster Square, Portlaoise, on January 7 this year. At last weeks court, defence for Fitzpatrick, Mr Declan Breen admitted that the only mitigation he could offer for his client was that the girls were unaware what was going on behind their backs.

The court heard from Inspector Martin Harrington that gardai were called after receiving a report of a male acting suspiciously around teenaged girls who were studying in the library. The girls had their backs to Fitzpatrick, who was sitting extremely close to them. A staff member saw Fitzpatricks arm moving vigorously, the inspector said, and he was suspected of masturbating.

When the staff member confronted him, he stood up and there was a stain on his trousers, Insp Harrington said.

Fitzpatrick was subsequently arrested and made admissions at the garda station.

The only thing that can be said in mitigation is that the girls were unaware it was going on, said defence solicitor, Mr Declan Breen.

Although his client has no previous convictions, Mr Breen admitted that this has happened before. The court heard that Fitzpatrick has possible cerebral damage from a road traffic accident and also suffers from a learning difficulty. Mr Breen said Fitzpatrick has been referred to the psychiatric services and is currently awaiting treatment.

He now sees it is imperative he takes up help, he has a cognitive understanding of what hes done, Mr Breen said.

Judge Catherine Staines said the main concern of the court is that this does not happen again.

Teenaged girls shouldnt have to witness this, she said.

The judge put the matter back to October 18, for a probation and psychiatric report and she warned Fitzpatrick to follow whatever advice he is given by his doctors.
The closure of McCormacks service station in Leitrim Village has greatly affected daily life according to a local business person.

Although Leitrim Village has been the worst hit by the closure in terms of services, Drumshanbo and Manorhamilton are also feeling the impact of the enforced shut down of Mc Cormack/ Excol Oils last Monday, June 13.

Eileen Gibbons in Leitrim Village said the closure of McCormacks has greatly affected daily life in Leitrim Village and the community are worried about the impact on their Summer tourism.

Eileen told the paper, A lot of people pass through Leitrim on the boats, they are not going to stay if there is no local shop. She also pointed out that the various local accommodation options in the village relied on the services from McCormacks.

Eileen and Seamus Gibbons run Electric Bikes and they give out complimentary water to their customers, but she said people like to pick up a few bits for their cycle in the shop, that option is now gone.

Locals cant get a pint of milk, she declared. Most people from the village would stop in McCormacks daily, whether for groceries, deli, petrol or diesel, according to Eileen. She pointed out that the service station had an ATM which allowed cash flow through the village.

Eileen stated they would love to see the filling station and shop open during Summer as the village gets so many visitors during these months.

She also noted their disappointment at the lack of national coverage for over 200 job losses in the North West.

Eileen recalled there was always a queue in the shop and hopes the pressure remains on the receivers to sell or manage the filling stations.

They believe Leitrim Village has been the worst hit from the closures as they lost their only local shop as well as their filling station.

Drumshanbo businessman Enda McGloin said the closure of McCormack's filling station will pull people out of Drumshanbo.

Enda said with An Tostal opening this weekend and the Joe Mooney Summer School just weeks away, the town is concerned about the closure of the service station on their visitors.

He said people who leave the town to get petrol will more than likely have lunch and spend money out of town, taking much needed and relied on economy out of Drumshanbo.

Enda said having no petrol or diesel in the town is a real inconvenience and hits people practically.

He added there is huge sympathy for employees who lost their jobs and he noted a local loyalty to the McCormack family. He said the McCormacks always supported local festivals, fundraisers and helped with events and activities within the community.

There is confusion for the future, but we hope a resolution can be found soon, McGloin commented.

He said the McCormack family worked their way up from humble beginnings and he commented that the hope locally is that they can get some of the businesses back.

Manorhamilton Councillor and businessman Felim Gurn said the closure of McCormacks filling station after ten years in the town was a deep shock for the community.

He said although Manorhamilton have two other filling stations, the loss has been felt in the community. He stated it is sad to see a situation where a 30 year old business which has expanded and employed over 200 people can just be shut down.

Cllr Gurn said he felt the McCormack filling station and Mace store was one of the most successful in the group as it is in a great location on the N16 with thousands of cars passing by daily.

He made a point that entrepreneurs and self employed people are punished and get no help. He hopes the McCormack family can do a deal and return to business.

Three days after the enforced shut down of McCormack stores across the region, the businesses were advertised for sale in a national newspaper.

Receivers Grant Thornton were appointed to the McCormack umbrella group last Monday, June 13 and closed ten filling stations, two fuel distribution businesses and one car dealership located in Leitrim, Cavan, Sligo and Meath.

The closures were enforced immediately, with the doors closed, assets seized and employees given letters of redundancy.

On Thursday last week an advert appeared in the Irish Independent declaring the sale of the Excol Oil/ McCormack Group. The receivers Aengus Burns and Michael McAteer asked for expressions of interest to be received by yesterday, June 20.
Independent Cllr Felim Gurn said the issues with ATMs in Manorhamilton recently has left it known as a town with no cash.

Cllr Gurn outlined that for the past two bank holidays along with a week last Christmas the only 24 hour ATM in the town was broken, draining the whole town of commerce.

He said the town serves a larger population of 10,000 with a traffic of 5,000 over a weekend.

Cllr Gurn said he has, with the backing of TDs and other councillors, called on Bank of Ireland to ensure any malfunctions are rectified quickly and they have requested AIB to install an alternative ATM facility.

Cllr Gurn said the cash issues are killing me and other businesses.

He has put pressure on AIB who told him the town is serviced with two smaller ATMS (one in Supervalu and one in Mace, which is now closed). Cllr Gurn is adamant that the lack of cash is stopping people coming into town.

The North Leitrim councillors supported his motion to call on the banks to sort out the problem, some said the issue arose before and fell on deaf ears. Cllr Mary Bohan said the banks are providing a poor service to the area.

Cllr Gurn said this is a serious issue which he hopes will be resolved.
Like many people, both in our party and out of it, I felt a sense of numb devastation following the result on June 23, a date etched into our countrys storied history.

The resulting euphoria of the Leave campaign, pouring salt into the wound, has little consolation in that the Remain euphoria would have been as high. It doesnt surprise many of us, however, that a Conservative election for a new leader has started (dont be so sure that Boris is loved by everyone in that party).

What did come as a surprise to me, is how quickly the Leave team have started rowing back.

Controlled immigration at a lower level? No, they say no.

350million a week to the EU? Oh, I never believed that, some say.

Youre now giving all that to the NHS? We arent the government; we cant make spending commitments they now admit.

Ive been keen to say the Leave team  implying the leaders of the Leave campaign. Please remember, there are liberals who did want to leave in our party. The ones I know personally, are not anti-LGBT, anti-NHS or any other badges we could give to the likes of Boris or Farage so please, be careful when directing your anger to the right places.

So, what next? I truly believe this is the battleground weve been heading towards. The Labour party are in the throes of further dismantling themselves (MP defections? Id not be surprised) and the Conservatives are still reeling from decades of EU-mistrust. So we need to carry on being the true opposition, and build our base further.

We need to use the sovereignty argument to shout louder about our consistent call for a change to the UK voting system. We need to step up our commitments to education. To mental health, drug reform and health overall. To further our support for business. To continue our fight to tackle climate change. To further rights for inclusion, diversity and civil rights. To ensure young people have a voice.

Some of us still feeling hurt right now  however being willed along by approaching 5,000 more members to help secure a liberal Britain (WELCOME!)  a Britain I already believe exists, but like anything we care about, it needs to be nurtured and cared for, healing wounds along the way.

So, of course, there is a chance our country will regress, and not have a space for liberals. To that end, I will renew my passport to prepare for moving to Massachusetts or Toronto. Until that time comes, I hope we can dust ourselves down and get back on with the fightback.

I saw a glimmer of hope in the campaign  that members of many parties joined together to fight for something. Norman Lamb has consistently called for a cross-party commission on the NHS. Perhaps we can start there. Electoral reform also a key area we share with other parties, as well as 16/17 year-olds getting the right to vote, as they deserve.

Whatever the case, please finish your grieving and dont let people tell you to just get on with it. The type of grieving and the time it will take to recover is yours, and yours alone.

When youve been able to stop grieving, youll be welcomed back, and then we all can fight on. I was going to quote Jo Grimond in full, but thought it too crass following the tragedy of Jo Coxs murder.

What I will use from Jo, with both of their spirits in mind, is to finish by saying never has our time been in more doubt, and our march been more needed.

For those feeling hurt  when you feel ready, lets saddle up with our new friends and make the #libdemfightback a force to be reckoned with!

* Lee has long campaigned on mental health in and out of the Lib Dems, he is the PPC for Birmingham Ladywood and speaks for the Party on Health, in the West Midlands.
It seems a lot of people think that there is such a petition, have signed it and have asked me to support it. They refer me to a petition on the Government site with the headline EU Referendum Rules triggering a 2nd EU Referendum.

When you read the text of the petition, you will see that it is not asking for another referendum at all. What it was asking  ahead of the vote  was for a change in the rules that governed the European Referendum, to bring it in line with (I believe) the protocol in Ireland. It says:

We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.

The petition was created some weeks ago, crucially before June 23rd, but has only started gaining traction since then. By last week it had not achieved the 100,000 signature threshold that would have precipitated a debate in Parliament in time to have an effect on the conduct of the Referendum.

Clearly legislation cannot act retrospectively, so it is now too late to bring in any change in the rules, even if Parliament wished it.

Over three million people have signed this petition, believing that they are calling for a re-run of the EU Referendum. Now whether or not you think that is a good idea, it simply cannot be achieved by signing this petition, so dont do it.

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
SOLIDARITY, togetherness, and community have been the watchwords of the annual novena, as thousands continue to attend the nine-day celebrations, to reunite with friends, family and the faith.

With just a few days remaining, a delighted Fr Seamus Enright, Redemptorist Church rector, has called the holy festivities a tremendous success, with people from all over the Mid-West coming to honour the Lady of Perpetual Help.

Since the kick-off last Friday morning, there have been 10 sessions of prayer a day, and Fr Enright is there to open the Mount St Alphonsus church doors at 6.30am and shut them at midnight. In between Mass times, he has been conversing with the church-goers, volunteers and emergency services on the ground.

He told the Limerick Leader this week that he has noticed a significant influx of new, young families attending the Mass. He said that this boils down to the community element of the celebration.

There is something in the Irish temperament that likes gathering. People like coming together, people like celebration. That is one of the big reasons why people come here; the sense of being a community here.

The popularity of the Novena, he said, also links back to the late Fr Vincent Kavanagh who revolutionised its structure in the 1970s. He said that Fr Kavanaghs tradition of advertising and marketing still works to this day.

He added, that is why the local Redemptorists use live streaming and social media to promote the modernisation of the summer event.

Moments before the Boherbuoy Band serenaded the public with a powerful brass and wind arrangement at the church, on Tuesday evening, Fr Enright said that people are already starting to feel refreshed, uplifted and boosted.

The warm atmosphere was felt much earlier than Tuesday evening. During the 11.30am Mass on Friday, Moyross resident, and head of security Joe Collopy said that he has been coming to the Novena for 41 years.

There are a lot of people who dont usually go to Mass who are coming this year. And I think, when there was a recession, people returned to the faith. That is what we are hearing every year. People are being hammered by the banks and they have no one to talk to. Thats why people come here. You have someone to talk to.

One woman, who did not wish to be named, travelled to the Mass to thank Our Lady for helping her daughter through surgery.

The thanksgiving prayers are a strong element of the Novena, Fr Enright said. People from Limerick and beyond write personal petitions to Our Lady, to pray for loved ones and those suffering around the world.

He said that the petitions this year deal mainly with family issues; family breakdowns, people falling out, and parents praying for their young ones doing State exams.

He said that the usual petitions touch off sickness, job worries and financial problems. However, he said that concerns over drug addictions have been a recurring item.

Some of it is actually heartbreaking. There are ones that you would be sad about, and angry, maybe. Things like homelessness, employment - things that are maybe in the control of society. But there is a sadness that is totally out of your control. There are some very sad prayers for children who are sick. That is, of course, devastating for families.

Through the heartfelt prayers, people have drawn comfort from each other. That is a great part of it. There is a great sense of solidarity, community and togetherness, and that comes true in the praying. There is a lot of empathy.

This togetherness was evident on Friday afternoon, as old friends, couples and families gathered outside the church to chat.

South Circular Road woman, Helen McCormack bumped into her her old friend Patrick Sheahan, from Askeaton. They hadnt seen each other more than 50 years.

Your family had one of the best pubs in Ireland, he reminisced. Whenever Kerry won the All-Ireland, they would stop by Collins pub and have a pint. And your father was the greatest fishermen in Limerick, too!

Phyllis Pearse, Thomondgate, and Eileen Culbert, Fr Russell Road, looked back on their working days in Cleeves factory in the 1960s. Eileen told the Leader that she tries her best to come to the Novena for the family.

There is always someone out there who needs a prayer.

Mass times are 7am, 8am, 10am, 11.30am, 1.10pm, 4.30pm, 6pm, 7.30pm, 9pm and 10.30pm. On Saturday, June 25, Mass commences at 9.30am, instead of 10am.
THE president of the Law Society of Ireland has welcomed the ongoing construction of a new criminal courts complex in Limerick city.

Simon Murphy says the purpose-built courthouse at Mulgrave Street, which is due to open late next year, will be of major benefit to solicitors and other court users.

Located next to Limerick Prison, the multi-million euro complex will be home to six courtrooms.

Mr Murphy  a Cork-based solicitor - made his comments at a learning and networking event which was attended by more than 250 solicitors from across the Mid-West region.

Hosted at the Strand Hotel by the Limerick and Clare Bar Associations, the day-long seminar was part of a series of cluster events which have been organised by the Law Society of Ireland in conjunction with Skillnets  which supports and works with businesses to address their current and future skills needs.

Mr Murphy said events like the one held in Limerick are important as they tick a number of boxes.

There is a demand for the Law Society to bring good meaningful continuing professional development to the profession but at a very reduced rate so the Law Society hooked up with Skillnets and that partnership has proved hugely successful and beneficial, he said adding that the chance for solicitors to meet with colleagues is also beneficial.

During the event, a number of experts provided updates on a range of legal issues - including employment law, the Legal Services Regulation Act, conveyancing and probate.

It is important for the Law Society to reach out to our members around the country. These cluster events allow us to tailor our seminars around the particular needs of local solicitors and the local communities they serve, said Teri Kelly, director of member services at the Law Society.

Limerick-based solicitor Darach McCarthy, chair of the Law Societys Criminal Law Committee, says having learning and networking events in the regions is hugely important.

He says the health of the local economy can often be measured by taking a look at the business coming into solicitors offices.

In the case of Limerick, solicitors are seeing an increase in conveyancing business. Increased house-buying would tend to indicate an upturn in the overall economy of the area, said Mr McCarthy whose practice is located at Pery Square.
AS medical technology company Cook Ireland marks its 20th anniversary in Plassey, its chief executive Bill Doherty revealed this week that he expects further growth for the Limerick company.

In its two decades here  and its 30 years previously at its other locations  he says the company has had continual growth and profit.

Set up in Limerick in 1996 with only a handful of employees, Cook Medicals Irish base has become a vital cog in the firms global machine, employing 880 staff and manufacturing 200 different products tackling common and not-so-common conditions.

Primarily, the firm manufactures devices to provide minimally invasive procedures, a need which has become more important than ever, with Irish hospitals at breaking point with high waiting lists, and the publics busy daily lives.

We are continuing to add jobs. We have done that very slowly, very methodically over the years. We have 880 here at the minute. We think that will grow. But there are a lot of constraints in the economy, so we have to be careful. But wed be hopeful, Mr Doherty said.

One project which will lead to an increase in staff at Cook Medical is the building of an office on green space opposite its main headquarters.

As a result of this, Cook Medical staff in rented accommodation at Hamilton House will move into the new building, while some administration and finance staff currently in the main building will move across. And it will leave Cook Medicals main building as a hub for high-tech manufacturing.

Cook Medical was founded more than 50 years ago in Bloomington, Indiana by William A Cook, and his wife Gayle.

Born in Rosbrien, Mr Doherty  who was headhunted in 1993 to set up Cook Ireland, and describes himself as the leader of the orchestra here  said: It was a real mom and pop firm developing interventional radiology products.

We are an understated company sometimes. Our corporate headquarters is not in Chicago, it is in Bloomington, a small town around the same size of Limerick. We didn't see any need to be in London or Dublin, he said.

Cook Irelands growth was initially slow, with an early projected staff of just 144 people.

Three things projected our growth upwards. In 2004, Cook completely restructured its business in Europe. Out of that emerged our shared services centre, which employs 200 people here. So we act as the business driver and a business enabler for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea). The second thing was the decision to manufacture a drug eluding stent [Zilver]. Finally, the decision in 2013 to open an innovation centre here which looks at the future of Cook, Mr Doherty explains.

Many of the products Cook manufactures here will help in everyday conditions.

One of the firms earliest developments here is the Bakri Balloon, which can treat the haemorrhaging of blood following childbirth, and can prevent women having to go through a hysterectomy.

It is a very simple balloon, inserted into the cervix and the womb, and it takes the shape of the womb internally, and it presses against the wall. In most cases it has been very effective. I'm sure there are ladies walking around Limerick thanks to it.

Cook supplies this device to the third world, one of many supports it has given to people in need.

Mr Doherty says: There are products we make that are not going to make us a lot of money, or any money at all. The fact is when you are a family company, and are thinking of society in general, you have a responsibility to do things like this.

While Mr Doherty admits the need for strong regulation of such a sensitive sector is important, he is concerned about the barriers getting too high, especially with regard to developing devices for rarer conditions, and helping the third world.

We need regulation, but on the other hand, if you make the barriers too high, doing something like this becomes a real problem.

With Cook Medical in growth mode, Mr Doherty says it is natural to assume the firm will require graduates in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics  and this remains the case.

No college in the country is producing product management graduates. We are always looking for accounting and HR graduates. With the scope of our activities, we are looking for graduates across the board.As for the future of medical technology, Bill believes in 50 years time, devices will be unrecognisable to how they are today.

Treatments are going to become individualised. A classic example is cancer. We are looking at pinpoint accuracy. We want to get a drug to a specific tumour or part of the body, or stimilate the cells themselves to grow. The future is very exciting.
FLASH: A Democratic presidential contender rolls out a package of veterans medical marijuana bills, the Alabama Senate has approved a restrictive medical marijuana bill, edibles are coming to Maryland, and more.

National

Democratic Presidential Candidate Seth Moulton Files Three Veterans Medical Marijuana Bills. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who recently announced he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, filed three House bills concerning medical marijuana for military veterans on Friday. The bills are identical to ones he has filed in the past. One would direct the VA to survey marijuana use by vets, a second would require the VA to train doctors and other primary care providers in the therapeutic use of marijuana, while the third would direct the VA to create a medical marijuana policy.

Alabama

Alabama Senate Approves Medical Marijuana Bill. The Senate on Thursday approved a restrictive medical marijuana bill, SB 236. The bill allows for medical marijuana use for specified conditions if other treatments are not working. At least two physicians must sign off on the recommendation, and patients must submit to random drug testing. The bill now goes to the House.

Louisiana

Louisiana House Passes Bill Allowing for Vaped Marijuana. The House on Tuesday voted 73-3 to approve a bill that would allow medical marijuana patients to inhale their medicine via a vape or atomizer, but not smoke it. The bill now heads to the Senate.

Maryland

Maryland Governor Signs Bills Allowing Edibles. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Monday signed into law a bill legalizing edible medical marijuana products. That should lead to increased sales in the states dispensaries.

Nebraska

Nebraska Medical Marijuana Bill Advances. A bill that would allow medical marijuana to be recommended for a list of qualifying conditions has advanced out of the Judiciary Committee on a 5-1 vote. The bill, LB 110, now heads for a floor vote in the unicameral legislature. The measure doesnt allow for smoked marijuana or for home cultivation, and patients must have a physical exam and be assessed for alcohol and substance abuse and for a personal or family history of psychotic disorders.

New Jersey

New Jersey to Expand Medical Marijuana Program. Starting next week, the Health Department has new legal authority to expand the supply and demand for medical marijuana in the state. The department will be able to create a permit-granting system that splits the industry between growers, manufacturers, and retailers. That should open the door to smaller players, help the industry grow, and generate more medicine. Also, the health commissioner will be empowered to add qualifying medical conditions. This does away with the cumbersome Marijuana Review Panel.

By Phillip Smith

Paul Ebeling, Editor

This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.orgs 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.

For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.

Permission to Reprint: This article is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license.

Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? Youve found it!
Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city.

Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea
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.
Miner Issues, a comedy pilot written by Newtownforbes native Daniel Keenan was among the major success stories from this years Hoboken International Film Festival, which took place earlier this month.

Daniel, the son of Michael and Patricia Keenan, collaborated with friend and Director Ryan McDowell to create an hilarious, mockumentary style programme which shot in the Sierra Nevada mountains last September.

The show is about Quentin Burrows, an enthusiastic and dim-witted LA native, who moves up to the Sierra Nevada mountains to start his own personal gold rush, but instead discovers a strange town full of characters who are not on board with his little scheme, Daniel told the Leader. His plan is pretty outlandish, he added, before pointing to his own native Parishs gold find earlier this year; although my mother just discovered a pile of golden chalices in a ditch in Newtownforbes, so maybe Quentin could actually succeed.

It was a festival first for Miner Issues, which was chosen to join less than 150 projects on the bill, a number that had been whittled down from over 1,600 entries from all around the world. Though already delighted with the positive reaction that the screening had received and the connections they made with people within the industry, Daniel admitted that nominations for two festival awards were the icing on the cake.

They didnt tell us who was nominated beforehand, so we got pretty raucous when they announced we were nominated for Best TV Pilot, he continued. We had just about settled down when they announced we were also nominated for the Best of the Festival Audience Award. We didnt win, but Ive never been happier to be a two time loser!

The aim now for Daniel, who is based in San Jose, California, is to drum up some interest in the programme; to pitch it to producers and raise the necessary funding or sell the idea.

Once we finish the film festival circuit, were going to release it online too, Daniel revealed. Were very hopeful on getting into another festival, or five.

Unfortunately Ireland doesnt have any TV Pilot competitions, which is a missed opportunity for a lot of festivals in my opinion. But who knows, maybe I can convince the Longford Omniplex or the Clonguish complex to screen it!

For more information or to see the excellent trailer for Miner Issues, visit www.facebook.com/minerissuestv
Fresh calls for a more rigid approach to tackle so called 'phoenix companies' that secure commercial rates write-offs and then set up a new business under a different name ended in political uproar last week.

Head of Finance and IT John McKeon told last weeks meeting of Longford County Council that despite arrears being inherited from the former Longford Town Council which was abolished in 2014, the County's rates collection was in satisfying health.

Referring to report published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC), he said 80 per cent of monies owed had been obtained in 2013.

That figure dropped to 70 per cent when deficits from the now defunct Town Council were taken into consideration.

In 2014, over 1.5m was 'written off' from 8.7m owed to the local authority in 2014.

Cllr Mae Sexton questioned the number of rates write-offs, saying that one way of ensuring greater transparency was to compile a list of all the write downs afforded to companies over the past 18 months.

We owe it to the rate-payers who are doing their best because there are companies out there that are taking full advantage of it, she claimed.

If anything, we (Council) should be clamping down on these phoenix companies that come back and are allowed to sail off into the sunset again.

Fianna Fail's Martin Mulleady expressed deep reservations about the compilation of such a list.

Companies do go into liquidation for valid reasons, he said. You just want to be very careful. By putting that into the public domain you could be opening a can of worms.

Cllr Peggy Nolan told the meeting that a similar list had been compiled for Longford Town Council in the past.

As a former member of the Town Council, there was never a breach of confidentiality and I do take offence to that, she snapped.

You take offence every time I speak, he shouted across to Cllr Nolan. There are 18 members that are part of this council Peggy. Cop on to yourself.

There was never a breach of confidentiality with those lists, Cllr Nolan replied.

Cllr John Duffy entered the debate saying that he had no great desire to examine a list of commercial rates waivers especially when a previously assembled register had been brought into the public arena.

I take great exception to that, interjected Cllr Sexton, as Cllr Duffy replied: Take it whatever way you like.

Growing more and more incensed by the second, Cllr Sexton called on Cllr Duffy to either clarify or withdraw his remarks.

You have made an allegation, she stormed before adding, You are a disgrace.

Cllr Duffy said he believed that any earlier leaks of commercial rate write offs had been unintentional.

It's of no personal interest to me but I don't think the person did realise they breached any data protection, he said.

Cllr John Browne added fuel to those flames moments later by claiming he saw an individual putting a previously produced list into their pocket before walking out of the meeting.

An infuriated Cllr Sexton said she was not in any way comfortable with insinuations that her name might be linked to the issue.

If it helps, the person wasn't a lady, Cllr Browne speedily responded.

That, consequently drew the line under the stormy exchange as Cllr Sexton stated: I am quite satisfied.
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
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Eighteenth death anniversary of Nikhil Chakravartty

June 27 this year marks the eighteenth death anniversary of Mainstreams founder Nikhil Chakravartty, known to readers of this journal as N.C. On this occasion while remembering him we are reproducing tributes to N.C. by three stalwarts of Indian journalismInder Malhotra (who breathed his last only this month on June 11, 2016), Chanchal Sarkar and Prabhash Joshi (both of whom predeceased Inder Malhotra). Thereafter we are reproducing a few of N.C.s writings.

Memories of a Many-splendoured Man

Inder Malhotra

It was with some trepidation that I first met Nikhil. I was then just past 21 and working for the tottering United Press of India (UPI) on whose ashes is built todays UNI. But within a few minutes in his company I realised that I neednt have worried. Unlike other very senior members of the profession, some of whom had dismissed me summarily, in one case without even looking at me, he was all attention and surprisingly generous with his time. He listened to me patiently and gave me the advice I had sought with great precision and manifest sympathy that had not the slightest trace of condescension. As time and good fortune brought me close to him for more than four-and-a-half-decades, I was to learn that, contrary to whatever notions I might have had, I was not being singled out for special treatment. To offer help, support and sage counsel to one and all, young or old, high or low, struggling or successful, was one of his many qualities. The number of those who have benefited from it is legion.

Another facet of Nikhils personality that made its impress on me early enough was that though he was a great journalistwho took his work, not himself, very seriouslyour troubled trade was not the be-all and end-all for him. His concerns were wider, his interests wide and his ability to enjoy life, as it came, heart-warming. He was also a man of great learning and deep knowledge, a nationalist in the highest sense of the term and a humanist.

As is well known, he was a member of the Communist Party of India from his student days up to Indira Gandhis Emergency. Appalled by the partys crass support to this assault on Indian democracy (a support that, incidentally, turned pathetic when Sanjay Gandhi, arguably the most powerful person during the Emergency regime, gave a resoundingly anti-communist interview), Nikhil simply did not renew his membership of the CPI. However, as Sharada Prasad said the other day, he never ceased to be a Leftist, committed to both national independence and social justice. In choosing communism during his student days in England, Nikhil did what the best and the brightest of his contemporaries, many of them his personal friends, belonging to the generation of the pink thirties, were doing. But it is worth recalling that he was sent to Britain by his family to compete for the then cherished ICS which he resolutely refused to do even though, at Oxford, he had won marks so high that they had been obtained only once earlier, by Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, in the early years of this century.

The main point about Nikhils membership for long years of the CPI and his life-long commit-ment to the Left is that no matter what his politics at any given time, he enjoyed high respect and total trust of leaders, bureaucrats, technocrats, soldiers and other news sources across the entire political spectrum. It was this, combined with his prodigious diligence (even towards the end he worked thrice as hard as colleagues half his age) and his professional integrity, that made him better informed than any of his contemporaries. The files of Mainstream, to say nothing of his profuse writings for major newspapers, bear testimony to his unequalled qualities as a reporter, commentator and editor. Even after Sumit took over as the magazines editor, Nikhils contribution to Mainstream remained massive.

It was the prestige enjoyed by Mainstream and love for Nikhil that persuaded a wide variety of busy people to find time to write for it with-out any thought of remuneration. Editors of most nationaland even internationalnewspapers were happy to let Nikhil reproduce their articles in Mainstream, again without any consideration of payment. Only once did he have some disappointment on this score: one foreign publication demanded  100 for reproducing a piece, which Mainstream was in no position to afford.

Travelling with Nikhil was always a joy. His scintillating conversation was usually spiced with humour, and after the end of the days work he was ready for good food. In China in 1992, it was he who told us not to waste our money on fancy and well-known restaurants. Instead, with the willing help of a Chinese-speaking Indian embassy official, he found for us each day a Chinese version of a dhaba serving superb cuisines.

On my first visit to Dhaka I had a list of about a dozen people to meet. To my delight I found that Nikhil was already in the Bangladesh capital, staying at the same hotel. We stayed in the coffee shop most of the day because most of the Bangladeshi mediamen and politicians on my list were trooping in, one after the other, to meet Nikhil.

Above all, it was Nikhils capacity to keep confidences that enabled him to be the best informed journalist of his times. Bragging about what one knows but cannot publish is a common failing of the practitioners of the craft of journalism. But this unprepossessing weakness hadnt touched Nikhil even remotely. Some of the confidential information he had, he sometimes shared with only those he knew would not betray his trust. I was lucky enough to be so honoured.

A small part of the information he vouchsafed to me I did make use ofwith his kind permission. The rest I must carry with me whenever I go to join him. However, I see no harm, at this late stage, in sharing with the reader one delightful incident which encapsu-lates what I have been trying to say.

Krishna Menon, at a time when he was at the height of his power, if not glory, as the Defence Minister, told Nikhil something which was highly sensitive. Having imparted the infor-mation, he apparently got worried. And, as was his wont, wagging his index finger said: Nikhil, this is not to be whispered. Not to the leaders of your party, nor even to Renu.

On Nikhils face appeared the captivating, dimpled smile all of us are bound to remember, and he retorted: Krishna, your difficulty is that you have never been a Communist. Nor have you ever married. So you do not know how we Communists function. Nor do you have any idea of the husband-wife relationship.

(Mainstream, July 11, 1998)

o o o

Nikhilda

by Chanchal Sarkar

When I first came to work in Delhi the most respected journalistic figure here was Sir Usha Nath Sen, one of the founders of the Associated Press of India which eventually became the PTI (Press Trust of India). Sir U.N. once told me of his guru K.C. Roy, the real founder of the API, that in any matter concerning the Government of India, in Delhi or Simla, K.C. Roy could figure out exactly with whom the matter rested and who would take the decision.

Delhi has grown exponentially since K.C. Roys time and is not just a government city any more but a much bigger jungle. There are political parties, lobbies, business interests, diplomatic establishments, any number of what the British call Quangos (Quasi non-government organi-sations) but I feel Nikhilda could have been called K.C. Roys successorknew where the buck stopped and who to call for an answer. And he would call. As for Sir U.N. Sen himself, a young Deputy Minister of External Affairs in Panditjis Council of Ministers whose name I forget (I recall that he was from the Nizam of Hyderabads family) told me that when he first came to Delhi the only person who could ring the Viceroy up direct was Sir U.N. Sen because of the confidence and respect he commanded, again a similarity to Nikhilda who could ring the President or Prime Minister without having to boast about it.

Like Sir U.N. Nikhilda could do this because he never revealed confidences, because everyone, from the highest in the land to the woman in front of the Janakpuri Post Office, knew that they could speak fully and frankly. That was the secret of his limitless list of contacts. But of course the contacts would not have spilled out what they knew unless the person they spoke to was empathic, a very good listener whose interests were wide and deep and who could, more and anyone else in the Delhi Press corps, put two and two together to make 22. For this you need what a British philosopher Roger Collingood called a speculum mentia map of the mind. Maybe that was the heritage of a lapsed Communista frame of mind able to assess developments and people and to surmise, speculate and predict. This is what made Nikhilda the commentator he was. He had a speculum menti which was no longer the immediate product of his Communist training but had widened well beyond it.

Presidency College, Calcutta was, in his time, a gem of an institution and in the galaxy of teachers there Prof Kuruville Zachariah was one of the brightest stars. In History Nikhilda was one of his most favourite pupils. Oxford, Cambridge and London of that time were the confluence where young Indians in the thirties got the first whiff of what the Soviet Revolution was doing to Russia and the hope it held out for egalitarianism in the world and, particularly, India. Some of the people in Oxbridge and London at that time became well known in the subcon-tinents radicalist public life. Mohan Kumara-mangalam, Pieter Kueneman (of Ceylon), Bhupesh Gupta, Jyoti Basu and Renu Chakra-vartty were among them.

What was significant about Nikhilda is that even if his thinking differed and ways parted, he never made a messy breakthe old friendships, affections and lines of communi-cation remained. So it was all his life. As a journalist he had easy access to people of all callings and views. He was warmly welcomed and entrusted with confidence. With his trained mind, wide reading and analytical capacity he could interpret and explain.

Though he began as a full-time political workerwith a short spell as university teacher beforejournalism to which he eventually came fitted him like a glove. But, thanks be that he wasnt a quota journalist, turning out an amazing number of analytical pieces and seeing an astonishing number of people every week. He was also a delightful conversationalist and travel companion, interested in a myriad things, his well-stocked mind usually able to cap any story and draw forth a reminiscence or an anecdote. In journalism 50 years and in political work years before, he had seen passing before him the caravan of modern Indian politics. As for people he had seen many Shelleys plain and could describe them. Believe it or not, for the journalist gossip is often the building block of truth. Nikhilda loved a bit of gossip and usually had a saucy bit up his sleeve.

Mainstream was an inspired idea because there was nothing like a forum-type journal of opinion. It could never, in India, hope to touch a high circulation but it gave much satisfaction to its faithful readers. That it had held on for so long is a monument to great dedication and tenacity. May it have many more years with Sumit. Though Mainstream remained his flagship Nikhildas influence enlarged after the Emergency and as his writings began to be widely syndicated.

He had infinite patience in dealing with meetings and people, even the most obstreperous and foolish, and was never fazed. Maybe it had something to do with what he told me once after Renudis death. When misfortunes and setbacks occurred, he said, they produced no immediate reactions on him. These came a few days later and showed up in blood pressure and other symptoms.

Patience, good humour and affection for young colleagues produced in him an ability to persuade people, often very different sorts of people, to work together. His handling of them was sometimes gently firm but never suppressive. The Editors Guild, for instance, and Namedia worked smoothly and well. Most journalists that I know, not excepting the well-known ones, are interested primarily in their careers and their own papers; interest in the profession and its problems came well down the list. Not so Nikhildahe could always be counted to stand up, stick his neck out, advise and act in a professional challenge.

Whether in an evenings lubricated dinner or a get-together in Karachi, Lahore, Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu or Geneva, he filled space quietly and with non-boisterous conviviality. And it is that space which we will find empty.

(Mainstream, July 4, 1998)

o o o

A Saint Editor

by Prabhash Joshi

Nikhilda had turned eightyfour. Some people live for hundred years and stay perfectly agile, alert and healthy. Though he had an ageing physique, Nikhilda was not a person who would live by obeying the regulations of keeping fit.

Four years ago, he took a taxi and went out in the hills. Alone. He was to meet me at the institutes in Mussoorie/Nainital. He reached there on time, attended the workshops, but again went out in the hills. I returned to Delhi and then left for Calcutta where I went to meet Renudi. Jansatta wanted to organise a function to mark Nikhildas fifty years in journalism in the city from where he began as a reporter.

Renudi was to be persuaded for an interview. She agreed. She came out to see me off and as I was getting inside the car, she asked: Where is your Dada? I told her that he was roaming around in the hillsalone. She chidingly remarked: Why dont you people tell him that he has crossed several years? He has grown old. He should stop loitering around uselessly. After returning to Delhi, I told Nikhilda what Renudi was saying. Giving a shy smile, he said: She talks like that.

People of his age live with their wives/families so that their care can be taken. Dada had gout and he did not have a very robust heart as well. Still Renudi stayed in Calcutta and did her work while Dada lived in Delhi. His son Sumit lives in Delhi with his wife and son. But Dada did not stay with them. It was not that Dada had any misunderstanding with his son or daughter-in-law. They would frequent his Kakanagar flat and Dada also used to visit his sons place quite often. After all, Dada had made Sumit quit his job and handed over Mainstream to him. Yet, despite the misinformation campaign in the media circles as to why did Dada stay in a government flat even when he had his own house in Gulmohar Park, Dada did not live with Sumit. He used to say that he had sold off that house to take care of the financial difficulties faced by Mainstream, and Sumit had bought one floor of the house.

When he came to know that he had a tumour in his brain which could be malignant, Dada went to live with Sumit. Until then, he lived in Kakanagar. Alone. But he never accepted that he was alone. Three boys and four dogs lived with him. Any guest would get a warm welcome. Staying in Kakanagar, Dada never believed that he was dependent on anyone or missed being looked after by his family or felt lonely in his old age. When it came to performing worldly duties, Dada would behave like an elder.

He never gave up travelling due to minor health problems. Only when left with no option would he cancel a programme or meeting. He was not careless about his health but, unlike most others, he never wanted to lead a resigned life depending wholly on his family. Such a life was unacceptable to him. He accepted the chairmanship of Prasar Bharati Board at the age of eightyfour. And everyone knows he was not a ceremonial Chairman. He also used to write three to four articles every week. Dada would say that he needed fifteen thousand rupees per month to run his house. If I dont write how would I do that? Dada would borrow money for Mainstream and pay back in instalments. By nature he was a worker whose last hope was on the fruits of his labour. He never liked comforts, care and goods of life. Naturally, he loved standing alone, on his own feet, in his own esteem, with all his humility.

Such a person developed a tumour in his brain. Death always chooses a unique way of taking away every person. It chose this excuse for Nikhilda. During an operation to remove the tumour, a knot developed in the nerve of his brain. Even that was operated upon. During these surgeries, he slipped into coma. Good for him that even while being medically alive, Dada never felt the pain and he passed away as soon as he regained consciousness. Dada lived a complete life. He lived a fulfilling life. His going was like a release from the chains of maya. By his going, many people have been orphanedlike one becomes on the death of his father or grandfather. And, Indian journalism has lost Nikhildas fatherly presence.

One day this had to happen. Remarkably, even when Renudi was no longer an MP (though Calcutta remained her constituency), Dada let her go there. This despite the fact that he had come to Delhi with Renudi after she was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952. Dada stayed in Delhi while Renudi went back to Calcutta. She was so engrossed in her work that she could not attend the function marking Dadas fifty years in journalism. That day, she was scheduled to address a meeting in Malda. Renudi passed away in Calcutta after a year or so. She was the niece of the Bengal stalwart and Chief Minister, B.C. Roy. She was a Leftist, and Bengal has a Left Front Government for over two decades now. Yet she lived as alone in Calcutta as Dada did in Delhi. This was not due to any discord in their married lifewhich was happy and satisfying. Even while studying in Oxford when they met and got married, both the Leftists were busy performing their respective duties.

They never had any problems with Sumit or Tanya. Dada always had love and a soft spot for Sumit. Though Sumit also came to journalism, Dada never tried to promote him. Someome once told me that the Leftist Nikhil Chakravartty could get hold of only his son to run his paper. But if you know the financial state of Mainstream, you will realise that Dada has put his son into paying his debts. And Dada was no Yashpal Kapoor who would use his political connections to erect a sound base for Mainstream. He used to take out a journal of opinions and felt that taking favours in the guise of advertisements amounted to corruption. Sumit too never used his fathers political conne-ctions and gladly accepted the responsibility of running Mainstream. But Nikhilda did not stay with such a son.

Dada had as much respect for his own independence as for that of otherseven when it came to his wife or son. Such a pursuit is expected of sages and saints, but Dada led a wordly life. Yet, he never used his political connections for meeting his requirements or those of his family. And he did all this without ever boasting of his principles and sacrifices. Nikhilda did that naturally, unlike most others. Everyone knows the attitude of most people with journalistic/political connectionat least during the past fifty years.

Dada was born in a renowned Brahmo family. His father was a Professor of English in Calcutta. Dada, too, was a brilliant student and did his BA with Honours in History in the First Class from Presidency College. Then he went to Oxford where he became a Leftist, married B.C. Roys niece, and developed close friendship with P.N. Haksar, Jyoti Basu, Indrajit Gupta, Bhupesh Gupta and Mohan Kumaramangalam. On returning to India, he started teaching in a Calcutta college. Then he left everything and became a reporter for the CPIs mouthpiece, Peoples War. During this period, Dada reported on the infamous Bengal famine. He even became a CPI card-holder. But when the realities of Stalins excesses and the Russian occupation of Hungary began to unfold, Dada not only quit the CPI but started Mainstream to air his views. Soon, the journal became so critical of the CPI that the party had to publish a clarification in its mouthpiece that it had nothing to do with Mainstream!

Many others who had become disillusioned with the CPI joined the Congress. After the division of the Congress, the CPI not only became supportive of Indira Gandhi but even helped the Congress run its minority government. But unlike his friends, Nikhilda did not change sides. After leaving the CPI, he never became the member of any party. A person as fiercely independent as Nikhilda could not have belonged to any political party. This was so because a freedom-loving intellectual like him could never have liked the kind of falsehood and unprincipled alliances in which parties and their leaders indulge for grabbing power. It was not possible for Dada to accept the entire range of compromises made by the Communists. Yet, in his heart and thinking Dada remained a Marxistof whichever hue. He had begun to believe in Gandhi as well.

From the times of Nehru till the Gujral regime was in office, the Leftists and Dadas friends had a strong influence in the running of the government and in public sphere. Yet, Dada did not accept any office of power or profit. In 1990, he returned the Padma Bhushan, saying that it was imperative for journalistic objectivity and commitment that one should never be identifed with the establishment or even appear to be so.

The then President was also Dadas friend and the government of the day was being propped up by the Leftists. Yet, Dada refused his own people. Such a nature is essential for living upto ones beliefs, commitments and values, and for staving off greed and fear. Unless you keep journalism and its practice above political power, money and popular pride and do your work keeping this principle in mind, you cannot develop the fearlessness, commit-ment and independence of Nikhilda.

Nikhil Chakravartty lived the kind of life that a journalist faithful to his vocation should lead. He was a saint who believed in Marx. He lived like a lion surrounded by rats craving for crumbs. To mourn his going is to insult him; to live like him is to keep him alive.

(Courtesy: Jansatta)

(Mainstream Independence Day Special Number, August 15, 1998)

(Translated from Hindi by Ashish Sinha)
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Idea of India: A New Agenda for Reclaiming Secular Democracy

The following is the speech delivered by the CPI-M General Secretary at the EMS Smrithi, Thrissur, (Kerala) on June 13, 2016.

I am, indeed, very happy to be back at the EMS Smrithi. I am honoured to inaugurate this 2016 discussions on the Idea of India: A New Agenda for Reclaiming Secular Democracy.

Idea of India  The Backdrop

The emergence of Nation-States was integral to the long process of transition of human civilisation from the stage of feudalism to capitalism. This period also threw up in Europe, the struggle for the separation of the State from the Church. The triumph of capitalism over feudalism, at the same time, signified the separation of the political authority from the myth of a divine sanction to rule invoked by Kings and Emperors across the civilisations during the high time of feudalism. The agreements of Westphalia finally signed in 1648 laid the principles of sovereignty of the Nation- State and the consequent international laws and is widely believed to establish an international system on the basis of the principle of sovereignty of States; principle of equality between States; and the principle of non-intervention of one State in the internal affairs of another State usually referred to as the Westphalian system. Westphalian Peace was negotiated between 1644-48 between the major European powers. These treaties laid the basis for a host of international laws many of which remain in force today.

During the course of the defeat of fascism in World War II and the consequent dynamics of decolonisation, the peoples struggles for freedom from colonialism threw up many constructs regarding the character of these independent countries. For sure, such constructs arose out of a long struggle in individual countries against colonialism, including India, during this period.

Idea of India  Evolution

The concept of the Idea of India emerged during the epic peoples struggle for Indias freedom from British colonialism. What is this Idea of India? To put it in simple terms, though conscious of its complex multiple dimensions, this concept represents the idea that India as a country moves towards transcending its immense diversities in favour of a substantially inclusive unity of its people.

Prof Akeel Bilgrami, in his introduction to a volume of essays containing revised versions of lectures on the relations between politics and political economy in India given at a seminar in 2010 at the Heymen Centre for Humanities at Columbia University, New York (a Centre that he chaired then), says about my observations on the Idea of India, then, the following:

(This) might be viewed as an ideal of a nation that rejects the entire trajectory in Europe that emerged after the Westphalian peace. What emerged then (and there) was a compulsion to seek legitimacy for a new kind of state, one that could no longer appeal to older notions of the divine right of states personified in their monarchs. It sought this legitimacy in a new form of political psychology of a new kind of subject, the citizen, a psychology based on a feeling for a new form of entity that had emerged, the nation. This feeling, which came to be called nationalism, had to be generated in the populace of citizens, and the standard process that was adopted in Europe for generating it was to find an external enemy within, the outsider, the other in ones midst (the Irish, the Jews, to name just two), to be despised and subjugated. In a somewhat later time, with the addition of a more numerical and statistical form of discourse, these came to be called minorities and the method by which this feeling for the nation was created came to be called majoritarianism. (Social Scientist, January-February 2011)

The RSS/BJP objective of replacing the secular democratic modern Indian Republic with their concept of a Hindu Rashtra is, in a sense, a throw back to the Westphalian model where the Hindu majority subjugates other religious minorities (mainly Muslim: the external enemy within) to foster Hindu Nationalism as against Indian Nationhood. This, in fact, represents a throw back to notions of nationalism that dominated the intellectual discourse prior to the sweep of the Indian peoples struggle for freedom. Such a State, based on Majoritarianismtheir version of a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindu Rashtranegates the core, around which emerged the consciousness of Indian Nationhood contained in the Idea of India as a reflection of the emergence of a political psychology of a new kind.

The RSS/BJP ideologues dismiss the Idea of India as a mere ideaa metaphysical concept. They reassert as a given reality Indian (Hindu) nationalism, negating the epic freedom struggle of the Indian people. From this struggle emerged the concept of Indian Nationhood rising above the Westphalian concept of nationalism. The RSS/BJP today are spearheading the most reactionary throwback to Indian (Hindu) nationalism as against the Indian Nationhood (the Idea of India) consciousness that emerged from the epic peoples struggle for freedom from the British colonial rule. Akeel Bilgrami asserts to this: The prodigious and sustained mobilisation of its masses that India witnessed over the last three crucial decades of the freedom struggle could not have been possible without an alternative and inclusionary ideal of this kind to inspire it. (Social Scientist, Volume 39, Number 1-2, 2011)

Indias diversitylinguistic, religious, ethnic, cultural etc.is incomparably vaster than in any other country that the world knows of. Officially, it has been recorded that there are at least 1618 languages in India; 6400 castes, six major religionsfour of them originated in these lands; six anthropologically defined ethnic groups; all this put together being politically administered as one country. A measure of this diversity is that India celebrates 29 major religio-cultural festivals and probably has the largest number of religious holidays amongst all countries of the world.

Those who argue that it was the British that united this vast diversity ignore the fact that it was the British which engineered the partition of the subcontinent leading to over a million deaths and a communal transmigration of a colossal order. British colonialism has the ignomous history of leaving behind legacies that continue to fester wounds through the partition of countries they had colonised Palestine, Cyprus, in Africa etc. apart from the Indian subcontinent. It is the Pan-Indian peoples struggle for freedom that united this diversity and integrated more than 660 feudal princely states into modern India giving shape to a Pan-Indian consciousness.

Role of the Left

The Indian Left played an important role in this process of the evolution of this Idea of India. Indeed, for this very reason, given the Lefts visionary commitments to the long struggle for freedom, the Lefts role is absolutely central to the realisation of the Idea of India in todays conditions.

Let me illustrate this with reference to three issues that continue to constitute the core of the Idea of India. The struggles on the land question unleashed by the Communists in various parts of the country last centuryPunnapara Vayalar in Kerala, the Tebagha movement in Bengal, the Surma Valley struggle in Assam, the Worli uprising in Maharashtra etc.the highlight of which was the armed struggle in Telengana brought the issue of land reforms to centre-stage. The consequent abolition of the zamindari system and landed estates drew the vast mass of Indias peasantry into the project of building the Idea of India. In fact, such struggles contributed the most in liberating crores of people from feudal bondage. This also contributed substantially in creating the Indian middle class.

In todays conditions, the issue of forcible land acquisition has acquired a very dangerous dimension. Subverting the Parliament legis-lation, many BJP-led State governments are implementing schemes which permit the indiscriminate acquisition of agricultural land forcibly dispossessing lakhs of farmers, aggra-vating the agrarian distress even further. The question of land, hence, remains a crucial issue for the Left, the most important political force that is today focusing on developing the agrarian struggles against the mounting distress and the neo-liberal policies that are intensifying the process of primitive accumulation of capital.

Secondly, the Indian Left spearheaded the massive popular struggles for the linguistic reorganisation of the States in independent India. It, thus, is chiefly responsible for creating the political map of todays India on reasonably scientific and democratic lines. The struggles for Vishalandhra, Aikya Kerala and Samyukta Maharashtra were led, amongst others, by people who later emerged as Communist stalwarts in the country. This paved the way for the integration of many linguistic natio-nalities that inhabit India, on the basis of equality, into the process of realising the Idea of India.

Even after the linguistic reorganisation of States, today, many problems and demands for smaller States reflect the lack of equality amongst the various ethnic identities that exist in the country, particularly in the North-East. These can only be resolved by ensuring that all the linguistic groups and ethnic national identities are treated equally with concrete plans backed by finances to tackle the economic backwardness of these areas; and having equal access to all opportunities. It is only the Left that sincerely champions this cause to strengthen the unity and integrity of India.

Thirdly, the Lefts steadfast commitment to secularism was based on the recognition of Indias reality. The unity of India with its immense diversity can be maintained only by strengthening the bonds of commonality in this diversity and not by imposing any uniformity upon this diversity like what the communal forces seek currently to do. While this is true for all the attributes of Indias social life, it is of critical importance in relation to religion. Following the partition of India and the horrendous communal aftermath, secularism became an inseparable element for the realisation of the Idea of India. The Indian ruling classes, however, went only half-way in meeting the Lefts objective of defining secularism as the separation of religion from politics. This means that while the State protects the individuals choice of faith, it shall not profess or prefer any one religion. In practice, the Indian ruling classes have reduced this to define secularism as equality of all religions. Inherent in this is the in-built bias towards the religious faith of the majority. This, in fact, contributes to providing sustenance to the communal and fundamentalist forces today.

On this score as well, in todays conditions, it is the Left that remains the most consistent upholder of secularism, spearheading the efforts to forge the broadest peoples unity against communalism and the steadfast fighter to defend the religious minorities; to ensure their security and equality as citizens of our country.

These are illustrative of some constituents of the Idea of India. The drawing in of the exploited majority of rural India; the drawing in of the socially oppressed people, especially those who continue to be subjected to obnoxious caste- based oppression and atrocities; the drawing in of the numerous linguistic nationalities; and the drawing in of the multi-religious Indian population, above all, the drawing in of all Indians in an inclusive path of economic and social justice, constituting the core of the inclusionary Idea of India, remains an unful-filled agenda. The struggles for realising these incomplete tasks constitute the essential agenda of the CPI-M and Indian Left.

Battle of Visions

The emergence of the conception of the Idea of India was a product of the Indian peoples struggle. It arose from a continuous battle between three visions that emerged during the course of Indias struggle for freedom in the 1920s over the conception of the character of independent India. The mainstream Congress vision had articulated that independent India should be a secular democratic Republic. The Left, while agreeing with this objective went further to envision that the political freedom of the country must be extended to achieve the socio-economic freedom of every individual, possible only under socialism.

Antagonistic to both these was the third vision which argued that the character of independent India should be determined by the religious affiliations of its people. This vision had a twin expressionthe Muslim League championing an Islamic State and the RSS championing a Hindu Rashtra. The former succeeded in the unfortunate partition of the country, admirably engineered, aided and abetted by the British colonial rulers, with all its consequences that continue to fester tensions till date. The latter, having failed to achieve their objective at the time of independence, continue with their efforts to transform modern India into their project of a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindu Rashtra. In a sense the ideological battles and the political conflicts in contemporary India are a continuation of the battle between these three visions. Needless to add, the contours of this battle will continue to define the direction and content of the process of the realisation of the Idea of India.

Further, the Indian Left argued then and maintains today that the mainstream Congress vision of consolidating the secular, democratic foundations of our Republic can never be sustainable unless independent India frees itself from its bondage with imperialism and breaks the stranglehold of feudal vestiges. The Congress partys inability to take the freedom struggle to this logical culmination became clear by its serving the interests of the post-independence ruling classes  bourgeoisie in alliance with the landlords, led by the big bourgeoisie. This, by itself, weakens the foundations of a secular democratic Republic. First, it relegates the anti-imperialist social consciousness that forged the unity of the people during the freedom struggle to the background, thus permitting and buttre-ssing a social consciousness dominated by caste and communal passions. Secondly, instead of strengthening an inclusive India, it progressively excludes the growing majority of the exploited classes. This is resoundingly vindicated by our experience during these six decades of independence. This provides the grist to the mill of the communal forces, or the third vision, to strengthen itself exploiting the growing popular discontent against the policies pursued by the ruling classes.

A mere declaration of the creation of a secular democratic Republic and its reassertion by the Congress today, by definition, remains limited in its ability to realise this inclusive Idea of India.

There is another equally important factor that prevents the realisation of the Idea of India. The path of capitalist development being pursued by the ruling classes is one where there is an increasing collaboration with international finance capital and in compromise with feudal landlords. The Indian capitalist path of development, hence, is not along the classic lines of capitalism rising from the ruins of feudalism but in compromise with it.

The inability to eliminate the vestiges of feudalism means, at the level of the super-structure, the perpetuation of the social conscio-usness associated with feudalism and other pre-capitalist formations. The domination of religion and caste, integral to the social consciousness of pre-capitalist formations, continue to remain powerful in todays social order. The efforts at super-imposing capitalism only create a situation where the backwardness of consciousness associated with feudal vestiges is combined with the degenerative consumerism of todays globalised capitalist consciousness.

The Caste Factor: The process of class formation in India, as a consequence of such circumscribed capitalist development is, thus, taking place within the parameters of historically inherited structures of a caste divided society. It is taking place not by overthrowing the pre-capitalist social relations but in compromise with it. This results in the overlapping commonality between the exploited classes and oppressed castes in contemporary India. Class struggles in India, therefore, can advance only through simultaneous struggles against both, economic exploitation and social oppression.

Thus, at the level of the superstructure, feudal decadence is combined with capitalist degene-ration to produce a situation where growing criminalisation of the society, coexists and grows in the company of such social consciousness dominated by caste and communal feelings. Instead of overcoming such consciousness for the realisation of the Idea of India, precisely these elements that are sustained and exploited by the ruling classes for their political-electoral benefits.

Such a reality provides the fertile ground which engenders the current Rightward shift in Indian politics buttressing the efforts for the negation of the Idea of India and the erection of a Hindu Rashtra in its place.

Fascism? Does all this mean the emergence of fascism in India? The most authoritative and to date scientific analysis of the nature and emergence of European fascism was made by Georgi Dimitrov in his penetrating address to the Seventh Communist International in 1935. He defined fascism as the open terroristic dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialistic elements of finance capital. The capturing of state power by fascism is not an ordinary succession of one bourgeois government by another but the substitution of one form of the ruling class state by anotherbourgeois parliamentary democracy by an open terroristic dictatorship.

This came as a response, in Europe, of the ruling classes to the actual crisis that threatened its class domination. This was the case with the German monopoly capital, as a part of the global capitalist crisis of the Great Depression that began in 1929, in the period preceding Hitlerite fascism. This threat emerged as a response to the crisis generated by the ruling classes own rule both from within its own camp as well as, and often simultaneously, with the challenge to its class rule by the toiling sections of the working peoplethe proletariat.

The situation obtaining in our country today is not similar to the period leading to the emergence of fascism in Germany. The threat of the immediate seizure of power by the proletariat is not yet on the agenda. Further, the crisis of the bourgeois-landlord class rule, notwithstanding the sharply increasing authoritarian tendencies, recently seen in the Uttarakhand developments and the undermining of institutions of parliamentary democracy, has not reached a stage where the jettisoning of parliamentary democracy by the ruling classes is on the immediate agenda.

Hence, the assumption of power by the RSS-led BJP does not mean the establishment of fascism in its classical sense. Undoubtedly, the RSS vision of its Hindu Rashtra is a fascistic vision. However, if the RSS does succeed, then it is a qualitatively different situation. That, however, is the situation that the revolutionary forces must work to render as unrealisable. The present situation, therefore, can be more appropriately described by the fact that the crisis of the bourgeois landlord class rule has reached a stage where one section of the ruling classes, the most reactionary section, represented by the RSS/BJP and the Saffron Brigade, has succeeded in capturing state power, at the moment. And, they are vigorously using this to advance their vision of establishing a fascistic Hindu Rashtra.

However, there are striking similarities in the propaganda methods employed by European fascism and the RSS. The RSS/BJP today adopt fascistic methods of appropriation of popular symbols, create a false consciousness of deprivation amongst the majority community and appeal to extreme jingoism as their methods to advance. Dimitrov had said: Fascism acts in the interests of extreme imperialists but presents itself to the masses in the guise of a wronged nation and appeals to outraged national sentiments. In order to present the RSS as such a champion, a false consciousness is created that the Hindus had been and continue to be deprived, while, at the same time, generating hate against the Muslims (taking the cue from Hitlers rabid anti-Semitism) to the effect that they are responsible for such a deprivation of the Hindus. To achieve its goal of a Hindu Rashtra it has perfected the Goebbelsian technique of telling big enough lies frequently enough to make them appear as the truth.

Georgi Dimitrov says: It is in the interests of the most reactionary circles of the bourgeoisie that fascism intercepts the disappointed masses who desert the old bourgeois parties. But it impresses these masses by the vehemence of its attacks on the bourgeois governments and its irreconcilable attitude to the old bourgeois parties.

Further, Dimitrov notes: Fascism puts the people at the mercy of the most corrupt and venal elements but comes before them with the demand for an honest and incorruptible government speculating on the profound disillusionment of the masses...fascism adapts its demagogy to the peculiarities of each country. And the mass of petty bourgeois and even a section of the workers, reduced to despair by want, unemployment and insecurity of their existence fall victim to the social and chauvinist demagogy of fascism. (Dimitrov, Georgi, Selected Works, Volume 2, Sofia Press, 1972, page 12)

Dimitrov could well be talking about the RSS/BJPs current campaigns and the peoples experiences with its control of the State since the 2014 general elections. This shows a chilling convergence with fascist methodology. Impor-tantly, this strengthens the grip of the ruling class hegemony, which requires to be urgently confronted.

Unless confronted, the very conception of the Idea of India that we are discussing will be rendered redundant. At the same time, it is clear that the unity and integrity of our country and the unity of the social fabric of our immensely diverse society cannot be maintained unless the Idea of India is fully realised. Such a realisation is only possible when the revolutionary forces in our country advance in order to beat back the current communal offensive that negates the Idea of India. This is the only manner in which the process of the unfolding of the Idea of India can advance.

The Agenda

But then how can this be achieved? What constitutes the various elements of the agenda that must engage us in todays conditions?

First, communalism divides the Indian people on the basis of their religious identity. This is not only detrimental to the security and livelihood of the religious minorities, but also undermines the unity and integrity of our country and people. By doing so, communalism disrupts the very unity of the most exploited classes in our society on whose strength alone the revolutionary movement can advance. The communal forces today, therefore, represent a lethal counter-revolutionary force in our country. This has to be vigorously combated and defeated by forging the broadest peoples unity.

The agenda that we are discussing today for reclaiming secular democracy requires, first and foremost, the strengthening of class and peoples struggles. The objective of such popular upsurges must be the strengthening of the Left and democratic forces in our country, which has to be based, in turn, on the basis of an alternative policy framework to the existing bourgeois-landlord class rule.

Secondly, there is a need to recognise the class-caste overlap that exists in our country today. Class struggle in India has essentially two elementseconomic exploitation and social oppression. Class struggle in India, therefore, stands on these two legs. Unless both these aspects are simultaneously taken up by the revolutionary forces with equal emphasis, the class struggle cannot begin its walk forward, leave alone running ahead. Issues of social oppression centring around the obnoxious caste oppression will have to be a part of the new agenda as much as the issues against economic exploitation have traditionally been. This inte-gration of both these aspects is an important element of this new agenda.

Thirdly, the Idea of India can never blossom unless the constitutional guarantee of equality irrespective of caste, creed and sex is scrupulously respected and implemented. Unless this is done, the confidence of the minorities in the Indian State cannot be strengthened. It is precisely playing upon this element of targeting religious minorities that the communal forces seek to consolidate their grip over State power. Championing the interest of the minorities is, hence, an important element of our agenda.

Fourthly, there are various popular and social movements that champion various important issues that need to be integrated in this struggle. Issues like environmental concerns are assuming a very serious dimension threatening the future existence of life on our planet. There are many others like the movements on the issues of childrens rights; for a universal public health system; for a security net to be guaranteed by the State for the old and disabled people; the movements against gender oppression and for gender equality etc. etc. A common ground must be found to integrate such popular social movements with the larger revolutionary and democratic movement. This is again an important element of this agenda.

In addition to this, there are many other aspects that would legitimately be part of this agenda whose final objective would be to consolidate the unity of our diverse people into a single force for creating a better India for our people and for our country by permitting the unfettered unfolding of the Idea of India.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Patel and Bose: The two had nothing in common

by Praveen Davar

No two leaders in the freedom struggle were closer to each other ideologically, and personally, than Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. Nehru and Bose had much in common when it came to their views about the social and economic reconstruction of India. Both believed in variants of socialism and were deeply committed to secularism and Hindu-Muslim unity. It was only in 1939, less than two years before Subhash escaped to Germany, that the duo fell out. No two leaders of the Congress differed more with each other in their political views than the Rightest Sardar Patel and the Leftist Bose. This article attempts to explain the circumstances which led Bose to resign from the Gandhi led, and Patel controlled, Congress and chart out his own destiny.

Following Jawaharlal Nehrus two conse-cutive terms in 1936 and 1937, Subhas Bose was elected President of the Congress in 1938, with Gandhijis goodwill. But he and his group of Leftists were not in tune with Gandhijis principles and policies without being clear themselves about what was to be done under the prevailing circumstances. However, in selecting members of the Working Committee Subhas did not deviate from the old pattern when important decisions were taken by the Working Committee as a body. The President was only the first among equals. As the year 1938 was coming to a close, the question as to who should be the next President had to be decided.

Subhas wanted a second term but Gandhiji had made it clear to him that he would not support him. Subhas was determined to stand again. His name had been proposed. The question of the next President was discussed by the Working Committee held in Bardoli. Subhas did not attend this meeting. Four candidates, whose names had been proposed by different provinces for the election of the next President, were Subhas, Maulana Azad, Vallabhbhai and Pattabhi. The Maulana wanted to withdraw his nomination but Gandhiji and others induced him not to do so. He acquiesced. Vallabhbhai thereupon withdrew his name. From Bardoli the Maulana went to Bombay and four days later he sent a letter of withdrawal from the contest. He gave no reason for changing his mind.

Vallabhbhai having withdrawn from the contest, there remained only Subhas and Pattabhi in the field and the time for the nominations was past. Rabindranath Tagore wrote to Gandhi and Nehru urging them to select Bose. As Tagore saw it, there were only two modernists among the Congrerss leaders: Nehru and Bose. As Nehru was already the serving Chairman, National Planning Committee, Tagore wanted to see Bose once more as the Congress President. Gandhi was unimpressed by the poets foray into politics and chose to ignore his recommendation. Bose prefered a Leftist like Acharya Narendra Dev. But with no one unanimously acceptable, he decided to contest himself. He justified this on the ground that he held strong views in favour of reviving civil disobedience on a mass scale, for with a war on the horizon this was an opportune time to do so. He also urged that his re-election would enable him to check the tendency of the Working Committee to compromise on the scheme of a federal structure at the Centre.

This was a direct attack on the Working Committee and Sardar took up cudgels on behalf of it. He regretted that Subhas Bose was trying to split the Congress over the election of the President, a post which as a symbol of the unity of the people had been normally filled without contest. Why did he want to defy Gandhiji and his own Working Committee ? Because he felt he was big enough to challenge them and was confident that he alone could lead the Congress to victory. Sardar declared that Subhas Boses bid for re-election raised grave issues. The statement issued by him clearly showed that he had an inflated idea of the role of President. He should know that he was not the leader of the Congress but only a presiding officer. Actually, he was one among equals. On many occasions in the past, the President had had to carry out the decisions of the Working Committee, though they were contrary to his personal views.

Sardar was amazed that Subhas Bose had also attacked members of the Working Committee below the belt by accusing them of the intention to betray the Congress. The decision to reject the federal scheme had already been taken by the Congress, and there was no question of the Working Committees going back on this. Bose was, therefore, misleading the electorate by posing as the saviour of the Congress. He was aware of this, and was using his office to further his ambition to secure mastery over the Congress. Gandhiji and Jawa-harlal Nehru appealed to Subhas Bose to withdraw his candidature in favour of Pattabhi Sitaramayya, who had been nominated by the Working Committee. But Subhas Bose was filled with the zeal of a crusader and insisted that the people should be given freedom to make their own choice.

This created a delicate and unique situation in the Congress. Since the time Gandhiji assumed leadership of the freedom struggle, the Congress President had been unanimously elected with his goodwill. Now, the organisation was divided into two groups. Intense canvassing went on either side. Subhas, who was a very able organiser, had during the term of his office quietly been working for his re-election. He won the election. On his re-election, those members of the Working Committee who had backed Pattabhi thought it proper to submit their resignations. They sent a joint letter of resignation to Subhas. Jawaharlal submitted his resignation in a separate letter. He did not want to be identified with the members of the old Working Committee.

A meeting of the AICC was called at Calcutta to take stock of the situation created by the resolution which was passed at Tripuri and to find a way out of the impasse. The members who had resigned from the Working Committee could not possibly join the new executive. Apart from the fact that they had resigned from the Working Committee as soon as it was announced that Subhas was re-elected President, they were also unable to join as they found that they differed from Subhas in certain vital matters. Letters and telegrams were exchanged between Subhas and Gandhiji about the formation of the Working Committee. In his last letter addressed to Subhas from Sodepore, Gandhiji wrote: Knowing your own views and knowing how you and most of the members differ in fundamentals it seems to me that if I gave you names it would be an imposition on you. After receiving this letter which confirmed the position taken by the old members of the Working Committee, Subhas thought it best to resign. The pity of it was that most of the socialists and radicals who had supported his re-election were no more with him.

But Subhas Bose continued his flank attack on the Congress by openly deriding the Congress Ministries in the provinces. The Working Committee warned him to desist from such activities. But Bose was a stubborn fighter. The Working Committee took up the challenge and disqualified him from holding any elected post in the Congress for three years. Bose resigned from the Congress and formed a new party, the Forward Bloc. According to a biography of Sardar Patel: Vallabhbhai heaved a sigh of relief at the exit of a would-be dictator from the fold of the Congress  wherein he had functioned as a breaker rather than as a maker. Sardar had skilfully undone the mischief of the election of Bose. He had re-established Gandhijs supremacy over the Congress.

Along with a sense of conviction in their lifes missions, both Gandhi and Bose were tempera-mentally very strong-willed and admant about their judgement of priorities. In vain did Nehru try to mediate between the two headstrong men, during the Tripuri crises over the re-election of Subhas as the Congress President. The election drama brought into the open the differences in approaches, priorities, methods and mindsets of the three leaders. As Jawaharlal put it, behind the political issues there were psychological issues and these were much more difficult to resolve. In this crisis, both Gandhi and Subhas had acted from their convictions and were driven by their inner compulsions although they were at cross-purposes. Subhas had been asked by Gandhi to cheerfully submit to party discipline, and when he declined, he was edged out. However, his determination to chart out an alternative course to the Gandhian line led him to form his own party, the Forward Bloc, which despite its loud rhetoric, could never provide a viable alternative to Gandhi. The reaction of Jawharlal to this crisis demons-trated a totally different philosophical mindset and a contrasting response.

From the beginning, although Nehru had supported Subhas in his youthful challenge of the conservative Gandhian Congress, he would never encourage any divisive move that could break its unity. He, therefore, pleaded with Subhas not to contest the elections and tried to demystify the position of the Congress President, having held it several times himself. At the same time, his democratic temperament was unhappy with the Congress resolution with its insistence on a homogeneous Working Committee and asking the current members to resign. He pointed out that it had been a Congress tradition to allow several points of view to be represented in the apex body, and that although some homogeneity was needed, it should not be narrowly interpreted. Therefore, he did not resign with the others but acted as if he had. This was Nehrus quandary: intellectually, he resented the pressure tactics of Gandhi to make Subhas buckle under and yet he could not go along with Subhas in his defiant and rebellious path. Instead, he tried to play the role of the mediator. He prevailed upon Subhas to meet Gandhi and mend fences while he persuaded Gandhi to be more charitable towards Subhas. He succeeded with neither.

With the German attack on Poland in September 1939 marking the start of World War II, the focus now changed. Congress Ministries were asked to resign. In the discussions on the war situation which Viceroy Linlithgow had with the Congress, Subhas Bose was also invited to participate. Subhas did not sympathise with the fate of Britain, reiterating instead his earlier views about utilising the war situation to Indias advantage. Without anyone to share his views, Subhas now turned back to Bengal where he stole some of the limelight by beginning an agitation for the removal of the Holwell Monument in the summer of 1940. The monument, which had been built in mid-eighteenth-century Calcutta as a memorial to the victims of the so-called Black Hole tragedy, was an eyesore for both communities of Indians, Hindus and Muslims. Arrested along with others, Subhas was, however, not released even after the government decided to do away with the monument and his co-prisoners were set free.

Sensing that the British Government was planning to keep him in detention for the period of the war and realising that his political options within the country were limited, Subhas now hatched his sensational plan of escape, first from the British prison and then from the country. Commencing a fast unto death in protest against his unjust imprisonment, he frightened the jail authorities into letting him out in a few days as his indifferent health posed hazards. From under house arrest he wrote to Gandhi about the need for a mass movement. Gandhi replied that their paths had to be different for they were sailing in different boats. On January 16, 1941, Subhas escaped house arrest and subsequently left India, taking the British authorities and his countrymen by total surprise. He will never return and, despite the veracity of his aircrash, will never be allowed to die.

The author, an ex-Army officer, is a member of the National Commission for Minorities. The views expressed by him here are personal.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Two Years of Hindutva Rule

According to a report in The Hindu newspaper of June 12, 2016, Sanatan Sanstha spokesperson Abhay Vartak said that he is sad to see that Hindu organisations [are] being targeted in spite of a Hindu government being in power. He forgot that the law has no religion and that the law is above the government in power. A man who kills another human being is a murderer, plain and simple, and he is liable to the same punishment regardless of his religion. Most important, the Constitution of India requires the Government of India to have no religion.

It is of course characteristic that Hindutva people should expect to be above the law when their people run the government. They have neither principles nor morals, after all, and they derive their strength from hamare log in the government and the administration, not least the police forces. The painstakingly built up structure of Indian democracythe Constitution, various institutions, the body of lawsmeans nothing to them. All of these things can be bent to their will by those in power. Voh toh hai thanedar ka sala is the guiding principle.

As we have seen in the two years since Hindutva came to power, its people are above the law. Their most horrific actions are not punished and are, in fact, given the seal of approval by the Prime Ministers silence. He was silent even about the barbaric killing of Akhlaq at Dadri. And of course he does not bat an eye-lid when people of his family honour criminals from among themselves and hold mahapanchayats to plan mayhem.

Sangeet Som, who criminally helped to instigate the Muzaffarnagar violence with a fake video and inflammatory speeches, and his fellow MLA Suresh Rana, were first felicitated by the BJP in Agra at a rally for Modi, the then prime ministerial candidate, in November 2013. Modi said nothing about the two in his speech. For a man who lavishly ridicules and abuses his opponents, silence about the foul behaviour and the crimes of people of his own family can only be seen as approval.

That was before Modi became the Prime Minister. After he came to power, those who committed crimes before 2014 have retroactively been declared innocent. This has been done systematically, and many now hold that the system of justice itself has been subverted and corrupted.

Gujarat, Modis fief, has predictably seen the worst of this. Maya Kodnani, sentenced to 28 years imprisonment for her role in the Naroda Patiya massacre, was granted bail by the Gujarat High Courton July 30, 2014on grounds of ill health. D.G. Vanzara, the encounter specialist who spent over seven years locked up in the Tulsiram Prajapati case, is out on bail and making grand public appearances. Amit Shah, the then Home Minister of Gujarat, arrested in 2010 in the same case and described as kingpin and prime accused, is not only out on bail and free to go to Gujarat, from which he had been externed, but is also the Party Boss in Delhi. His standing in the Sangh Parivar may even be higher because of the charges against him.

In these days of Hindutva, reality is of no consequence while the rulers image is all-important. When Party Boss Shah speaks to his party workers, he never asks them to do what they promised in their manifestos. His entire focus is on what they should make the people believe. The grand spectacle of Modis coronation and the staged photos of him and other leaders with brooms are image building and only that. So is the plastering of his and Shahs faces all over the newspapers and, indeed, wherever one cares to look.

All this is of course only to be expected, for in the general elections of 2014 Modis image was played up while the reality was concoctedor disguised and suppressed. Modi is an achiever only for those who have manufactured his image: his achievements are imaginary.

These two years of Hindutva have seen no improvement in the lives of the common people. There has, in fact, been a decline, looking at many indicatorsand this is when the effects of handing over the country to rapacious big capital have yet to fully manifest themselves.

All we have of the promised Good Days is an endless flow of loud but empty slogans. These slogans are too many to count, and I shall speak only of the strident and incessant calls for patriotism. How do we explain them? India is at war with no one; and India has no enemies. Pakistan, the enemy according to Hindutva, has been put in that role precisely so that patriotism may be invoked. We then see that the calls for patriotism are not aimed at making Indians love India. They are a device for labelling anti-national those people whom the Hindu Right fears. These are chiefly Muslims, tribals and those of the Left  or, as a friend said the other day, all who can think for themselves and who can see through the giant web of lies which Hindutva has fashioned.

There is one pair of slogans which gives hope. Students, who have felt the fist of a malign State and of Hindutva toadies planted in high positions above them, can be heard shouting both Jai Bheem! and Lal Salaam! I am one of those who believe that this new alignment will not remain confined to academia but will burst forth upon all of India.

The author is a writer, editor and photographer.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Common Civil Code

There is a good deal of misunderstanding about the subject itself, which is aggravated by the language of Article 44 of the Constitution. Most people believe that we do not have common civil laws in this country. The reality is, all civil laws are common, except one law, namely, the personal law which varies with the religious groups. The personal law relates to marriage, divorce, succession and inheritance, main-tenance, custody of children and adoption. By tradition, the personal law is treated as religious, though religion has nothing to do with it. It is interesting to note that the Hindus, who are clamouring for the common civil law, had themselves, led by the iconic leaders like B. G. Tilak, claimed that the Hindu personal law was a religious law and had warned the then British regime not to interfere with it, when the minimum marriageable age of the female was sought to be raised from 12 to 14 years by a bill tabled by Mr Vithalbhai Patel in the then Imperial Council. No wonder, therefore, that when a small section of Hindusand of Hindus aloneis insisting today on a common civil code. that is, common personal law, the minorities, and particularly the Muslims, are raising the bogey of interference in their religious affairs.

It is therefore first necessary to correct or to read correctly, the language of Article 44, to mean that the direction is to secure a uniform personal law. Secondly, it must be borne in mind that Chapter IV of the Constitution, which contains Article 44, is a chapter on Directive Principles of the Constitution. There are other more vitally important and crucial Directive Principles contained in the Chapter which need to be implemented in the interests of all sections of the people and of the nation as a whole. But the Hindu fundamentalists do not even take cognisance of them.

The insistence of the Hindu bigots on uniform personal law is not borne out of any principles or values. This is not to deny the desirability of a uniform personal law consistent with human rights and the principles of equality, fairness and justice. In fact, these norms have to be observed in all human transactions in any civilised society. The question is of the appropriate method to be adopted for enacting the law. The subject being sensitive and almost certain to give opportunity to the religious diehards to raise communal controversies and create clashes, is it the proper time to secure such a law? What is the urgency of the law? Which national interests are in danger for want of the a law? Which aspect of progress or development is threatened, obstructed or impaired but for the law? Whose welfare is to be secured by the law?

Those clamouring for the law, are not concerned with the welfare of the minorities or any section of them. Their only concern is the permission given to Muslim men to marry four women by their personal law as practised in this country. They fear that on that account, the Muslim population in the country may soon outstrip the majority community. If therefore only that licence given to the Muslims is withdrawn, they will have no longer any interest in agitating for a common personal law. It is also on this account that they have started preaching that their Hindu brethren should have as many children as they cana preaching which is contrary to the norm of two children laid down by the family planning programme of the national and State governments, from the inception. That also bares their hypocritical tears shed for the plight of Muslim women. In fact, one of their icons, Shri V. D. Savarkar, had advocated killing of Muslim women rather than men, since they give birth to Muslims. According to him, the killing of one Muslim woman was equivalent to the killing of ten Muslim men.

We may ponder the reality in this respect. First, the bugbear of more Muslim population on account of the licence to marry four women. The all-India statistics show that the percentage of Muslims marrying more than one woman is sharply dwindling throughout the country on account of various factors including poverty, spread of education both among men and women, increasing exposure to modern life-style, desire for improved standard of living, decreasing means of livelihood, unemployment etc. Secondly, the ratio of females to males born is the same for all communities in the country, and the said ratio shows 986 females to 1000 males. The Muslim females are not surplus that Muslim males may marry more than one woman. The Muslim females further have not remained as dumb as they might have been in the past. The Prophet had permitted men to marry more than one woman (but not more than four women) at that time, because on account of the constant internecine wars, the population of men had dwindled frightfully, and the number of widows and unmarried girls had risen abnormally. That later, even when the normalcy was restored, the selfish men continued to use the permission as a right is another thing. But even then who could afford the luxury of marrying more than one woman and which women would enter the wedlock knowing fully well that they had to contend with the co-wife or wives? The justification for permission to marry more women was that the unmarried girls and the widows should not be left to their fate. But do the Hindu bigots know or they conveniently forget that till the year 1955, the Hindus had a right to marry and many of them married, unlimited number of women, and not only four? The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which for the first time restricted the Hindu to marrying only one women, has even now, in some parts of the country not prevented polygamous marriages. Let us also remember that the illegitimate progeny of men, whichever the religion they may belong to, has been thriving all the same, and proportionately, of the Hindus more than of the others. The child marriages, the deserted and divorced women and the fatherless and abandoned children in all religious communities, and the prohibition of widow remarriage in vast sections of the Hindus even today, is the awesome baggage of human hardship that this country has to carry to date. What is the burden each religious community shares of this human misery? Does not the majority community share it more in proportion to its numbers?

The Hindu bigots logic in this respect is self-defeating. Assuming that all or some Muslims marry four, or more than one woman. If they were not to marry more than one woman, in any case the other women would be married to some other men. Would that prevent increase in the Muslim population? On the other hand, the increase would be more. More than one woman sharing the intimacy of one man, would certainly lead to less births than when each woman has a separate spouse. Does not the Muslim law therefore act in its own way as a measure of controlling the population? Not that the law intended to control the population as such or that it should be commended on that account. The question is posed only to expose the hollowness of the fear raised by the Hindu supermacist.

Coming now to the triple-talaq practised by the Muslims. There is no doubt that it is not consistent with either morality, rationality or human rights, and needs to be done away with as early as possible. It is also not sanctioned by the Quran. Many Muslim countries have modified the provisions of the personal law prohibiting bigamy and divorce by voice-talaq. No doubt the Muslim women also have a similar right which is known as khula. But it is accompanied by many restrictions, and in the patriarchal system, it is as good as ineffective. It is however not the plight of Muslim women, resultant on the exercise by men of their so-called right to triple-talaq, that pains the Hindu extremists agitating for the common personal law. They are least concerned with their misery. On the other hand, following the teachings of their mentor, they are their first target, since they give birth to Muslims. They are using the triple-talaq only as a ruse in support of their demand.

It further appears that they are under an impression that the uniform personal law means the Hindu personal law for all religious communities. There is no doubt that all personal laws have to be just and equitable to both men and women and hence the good from all personal laws has to be accepted and the bad to be discarded. Hence the uniform code, if and when enacted, will have to be a different one from the personal laws of all religious communities. It will have to be framed by consensus among all the religious groups and will have to conform to the norms of modern values of freedom, equality, rationality, justice and humanism, for both men and women. A deeper reading of all personal laws will reveal that each of them contains some good and equitable provisions, which are worth incorporating in an ideal code.

It is true that if a rational common personal law is enacted, it will help eradicate many evil, unjust and irrational practices prevalent across the communities, and will also strengthen the unity and integrity of the country. However, it is wrong to assume that the process of integration is thwarted for want of such a law. Such simplistic assumptions may be a good propaganda material in the hands of the fascist religious forces, but is a harmful method of achieving unity. Apart from being counter-productive, it may divert our attention from the crucial socio-economic and political causes which need to be attended to, to achieve the integration of the communities.

Justice Sawant, a former judge of the Supreme Court and an erstwhile Chairman of the Press Council of India, is currently based in Pune.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Receding Shadow of Emergency

Some harshest mistakes have been mollified by straight repentance by the perpetrators. The post-War Germany apologised for the atrocities committed by Hitler and even paid the reparations. Not that the sins committed were forgiven but people generally felt that the children and grandchildren of their parents and grandparents have tried to make amends.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went to the Golden Temple at Amritsar to say sorry for Operation Bluestar when the Indian Army stormed the temple to kill the militants, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The state could not allow another state to come up in the country.

But the Emergency, which was no less a crime, till date remains the darkest phase and not even a word of sorry has come from the Congress party, particularly the dynasty. The non-Congress parties off and on issue statements or hold protests. But the Congress party, which was ruling then, remains conspicuous by its silence.

After all, what provoked the Emergency? It was the Allahabad High Court judgment which unseated the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, for a poll offence. Instead of following the Courts verdict, she abolished even the rights of the judiciary to question such orders by suspending the very Constitution which authorise the courts to assess the rights and wrongs.

Had Indira Gandhi resignedher initial decision was to step down which was strongly opposed by Jagjivan Ramand gone to the public to seek forgiveness, she could have returned with a thumping majority. People were angry by the excesses she committed during the Emergency and the way in which she had become an autocrat.

Although her son, Sanjay Gandhi, and his alter ego, Bansi Lal, ran the state as their personal fiefdom and brooked no criticism, she was generally seen as someone who was innocent and oblivious to what was happening. In fact, things had come to such a pass that blank warrants had been issued to the police who used the warrants to settle even their personal scores.

As a result, more than 100,000 people were detained without trials, houses and business premises of opponents, including political leaders, were raided and even an innocuous film, Aandhi, which portrayed an autocrat ruler, was banned because it had some resemblance to Indira Gandhis role.

If I were to explain the Emergency to todays generation, I would repeat the adage that eternal vigilance is required to defend press freedom, which is as much true today as it was when India won freedom some 69 years ago. Never did anyone expect that a Prime Minister, after the High Courts indictment, would suspend the Constitution when she should have stepped down voluntarily.

Former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri would often advise his colleagues: Sit light, not tight. That is the reason why he resigned as the Railway Minister after a big accident at Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu. He took moral responsibility for what had happened.

It is difficult to imagine anybody following that precedent today. Yet, India is still looked upon by the world as a country where the value system exists. Parochialism or posh living is not the answer. The country has to go back to what Mahatma Gandhi told the nation: Disparities drove people to desperation.

There is no point in harking back on the days of independence struggle. All had joined hands to oust the British. I wish the same spirit could be revived to oust poverty. Otherwise, the independence comes to mean a better life only for the haves.

If there was a one-person rule of Indira Gandhi a few decades ago, today it is that of Narendra Modi. Most newspapers and television channels have adapted themselves to his way of working, if not thinking, as they had done during Mrs Gandhis period.

The one-man rule of Narendra Modi becomes ominous in the sense that no Cabinet Minister counts in the BJP Government and the joint consultation by the Cabinet is only on paper. All political parties should put their heads together to stall any Emergency-like rule before it actually comes to exist. But even a person like Arun Jaitley, who knows rigours of the Emergencyhe too was jailedwould not fall in line because his way of thinking doesnt seem to be dictated by the RSS.

I do not think that the Emergency will be re-imposed because the amendments incorporated in the Constitution by the Janata Government make it impossible. Yet, conditions can be created which will suggest the Emergency without a legal sanction. However, public opinion has become so strong that such a step is not possible. Even the people may come out on the streets to protest against any rule which is autocratic and resembles the Emergency.

Basically, what counts is the strength of the institutions. Even though they have not regained the health which they enjoyed before the Emergency, the institutions are still strong enough to resist any move which even remotely restricts their freedom. There are recent examples which evoke that kind of optimism.

Take the case of Uttarakhand. The House was dissolved one day before the floor test of the members. The Supreme Court held the Governors order ultra vires and revived the Assembly. Even a State High Court like the one in Maharashtra has admonished the Censor Board not to act like a grandmother but to stick to its job of certification rather than imposing cuts. Only one cut was allowed by the Court as against as many as 90 suggested by the Censor Board.

This example should give heart to the critics that conditions are improving and may soon get the same vigour which they enjoyed before the Emergency. No ruler would dare to repeat what Indira Gandhi had done but uphold the Consti-tution in letter and spirit. The lessons learnt from the Emergency would not have been lost and there would be the same old confidence in the public that their freedom was not fettered and their right to differ in any way curtailed.

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
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > ISROs Monumental Feat

EDITORIAL

The last few days have seen several major developments on the domestic front.

The government went out of its way to widen the doors to ensure more Foreign Direct Investment last Monday (June 20). This was termed as radical liberalisation of the FDI regime with the easing of norms for entry of such investment in a host of major sectors like defence, civil aviation and pharma-ceuticalsin fact these have been opened up for total foreign ownership.

The more significant step than these FDI reforms was the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C34) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) lifting off from the Second Launch Pad in the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota this morning and lobbing 20 satellites into orbit in one go. These included a Cartosat-2 series satellite, two student satellites from universities in Pune and Chennai, and 17 satellites of four foreign countries (the US, Canada, Germany and Indonesia).

This has been described by the PM as a monumental accomplishment by the ISRO. He also said on Twitter: 20 satellites in a go! @isro continues to break new barriers. Hearty congratulations to our scientists... One does not frequently find oneself on the same wavelength as Narendra Modi but this is one of the rare occasions when his statement needs to be endorsed without any equivocation whatsoever.

The 725.5 kg Cartosat-2 would be used for earth observation. According to the ISRO, the imagery sent by satellite will be useful for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation and utility management like road networking.

Apart from putting 20 satellites into orbit, the PSLV-C34 performed two tricky experiments of the same nature.

Eight years ago in April 2008 the ISRO had launched 10 satellites in a single rocket. And two years back in 2014 Russia had launched 37 satellites in a single mission, an unparalleled record.

According to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre Director P. Kunnhikrishnan, todays achievement was indeed a major milestone for the ISRO.

The present dispensation running the country should be made to understand and appreciate that the technological development carried out over the years since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru, the genuine architect of modern India, has helped the nation to register this outstanding feat. So it is pointless to repeat ad nauseam, as our PM has been doing, that practically nothing was achieved during the Congress rule under Jawaharlal Nehru and that the nations real development began after the advent of Modi as the PM in May 2014.

Sixteen years ago when India had successfully test-fired Agni, the intermediate range missile, the founder of this journal had in these columns highlighted the unique national pride at our scientists having attained a degree of self-reliance in sophisticated technology. It is this sense of national pridealso being witnessed nowthat needs to be harnessed today for building a new, inclusive, united and self-reliant India braving all the heavy odds that beset our path of advance.

June 22 S.C.
Kollam: Actor turned politician Mukesh came up with a tit-for-tat reply to the Youth Congress after they filed a police complaint that the Kollam MLA had gone missing. Mukesh said that he had gone to take a membership in the 'Rahul Club', referring congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

Taking a jibe at Rahul, he added that they rejected him by saying that one should stay at least four months away from home for the membership. Last day, a Youth Congress leader had lodged a complaint in the Kollam West Police station that the MLA had gone missing. Meanwhile, Mukesh said that he took the police complaint nothing but as a joke.
Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government has given permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute Salim Raj, former gunman of Oommen Chandy, in the Kadakampally land grab case.

Additional Chief Secretary Nalini Netto had allowed CBI's request to prosecute Salim. As per the reports, the Kadakampally land grab case is among the one of the cases against him, and by interrogation, more case were expected to reveal.

Earlier the Kerala High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the alleged land grabbing case. The case involved the land grab around 44 acres of land in Kadakampally village by creating fake thandaperu (Title deeds).
Grant Twiggy Baker (ZAF) claimed victory today at the Puerto Escondido Challenge, besting a field of 24 of the worlds best big wave surfers in towering 20-to-35 foot surf off the coast of Mainland Mexicos Puerto Escondido.



The first event of the 2016/17 World Surf League (WSL) Big Wave Tour (BWT), the Puerto Escondido Challenge, tested the top big wave chargers with enormous and difficult beachbreak conditions. A solid swell from the South Pacific delivered massive surf over two days for the inaugural BWT event at the exceptionally powerful beachbreak known as The Mexican Pipeline.



Baker, 2013/14 BWT Champion, put on a stunning performance in Mexico, storming to victory in the Semifinals before his impressive showing in the Final.



Yesterday was pretty difficult out there so I didnt have a great heat but I made it through, said Baker. This morning when I woke up and saw it was my favorite size for Puerto and I was so happy.



The South African showcased technical and precise surfing throughout the Final. Baker captured early control over the field and continued to solidify his lead with incredible rides. Baker locked in multiple excellent-range scores, but it was the perfect 10.00 awarded for escaping a massive tube that cemented his victory. Bakers final combined score was an impressive 27.50 out of a possible 30.



Ive been coming here for 20 years and I love it, continued Baker. The waves are amazing and I want to thank all the locals for being so hospitable and making us feel so welcome. To my wife and baby at home, this ones for you.



Baker came into the event as an injury wildcard and his winning performance will kick off his 2016/17 BWT Title campaign with 12,500 points and first place on the BWT rankings.



Bakers fellow finalists represented elite competitors of the big wave community, including Greg Long (USA), Pedro Calado (BRA), Carlos Burle (BRA), Will Skudin (USA) and Makuakai Rothman (HAW).



Greg Long (USA), two-time BWT Champion, captured second place at the event. Longs chances were in doubt during the Semifinals when he had yet to catch a wave with five minutes left in the hour-long heat, but his experience at Puerto Escondido let him catch a single excellent-range wave at the last minute which was enough to put him through to the Final over other competitors with two lesser rides. Longs runner up finish in the Final puts him in 2nd on the leaderboard and in position to defend his existing WSL Big Wave Title.



I am happy with my result here in Puerto Escondido, Long said. I had a couple of really fun waves. I had to work hard for them, but it was worth it. I have a special place in my heart for Puerto Escondido. I came down here for the first time when I was 17-years-old and I am 33 now and I have literally not missed a big swell. This event was pretty spectacular by all accounts and one of the top days Ive ever surfed.



Pedro Calado (BRA) charged throughout the contest to capture the third place position. The young Brazilian cemented his reputation as the best teenage big wave surfer in the world, demonstrating commitment and fearlessness as he charged through heavy barrels and dispatched top-seeded competitors.



2009/10 BWT Champion Carlos Burle (BRA) rode three waves in the Final for a 16.87 heat total and fourth place.



Will Skudin (USA) finished in fifth place with a 12.97 heat total in the Final. Skudin, a native of Long Beach, New York, carries the torch for Americas East Coast onto the top ranks of the Big Wave Tour in 5th place on the leaderboard.



Last years BWT runner-up and 2014/15 BWT Champion, Makuakai Rothman (HAW), suffered an injury twenty minutes into the Final and was not able to come back to the competition. Rothman charged through a deep, heavy barrel, but was wiped out by a powerful wall of water. Rothman was in fine form in Mexico for this event, winning both his Round 1 and Semifinal heats. Rothman will walk away with a 6th place finish and takes 6th on the BWT rankings.



I just want to apologize for not being able to put on a show for all the folks at home, Rothman said. I did my best and I was trying to represent Hawaii. I just went up and over the falls, and my ten-foot-board hit me in the ribs. Thank you to the WSL, this was a great call. Thank you to all the fans out there who make this possible for us and make it possible for us to live our dreams.



Local wildcards Jimel Corzo and Rogercin Ramirez (MEX) suffered Semifinal eliminations today after a strong performances yesterday. Corzo put up a hard fight until the dying minutes of the heat, but could not close the 2.44 point gap required to advance. Ramirez caught two massive rides in the opening Semifinal heat, but his effort was not enough to make it through to the Final.



Jamie Mitchell (AUS), who gained entry into the 2016/17 BWT as a WSL Big Wave Awards Performer of the Year nominee, suffered a Semifinal elimination today after a stunning Round 1 performance. Mitchell, who posted the best heat score of the event in Round 1 Heat 4, a near-perfect 29.03, but was eliminated in his Semifinal against Rothman, Calado and Burle.



Two events, the Quiksilver Punta de Lobos Challenge in Chile and the Billabong Pico Alto Challenge Peru remain in the Southern Hemisphere window with potential to run, conditions permitting, before the August 31st close of the window.



Highlights from the Puerto Escondido Challenge are available at WorldSurfLeague.com.



Puerto Escondido Challenge Final Results:



1 - Grant Baker (ZAF) 27.50



2 - Greg Long (USA) 25.03



3 - Pedro Calado (BRA) 24.77



4 - Carlos Burle (BRA) 16.87



5 - Will Skudin (USA) 12.97



6 - Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 7.66



Puerto Escondido Challenge Semifinal Results:



Semifinal 1: Grant Baker (ZAF) 26.34, Will Skudin (USA) 16.07, Greg Long (USA) 16.00, Kai Lenny (HAW) 14.74, Albee Layer (HAW) 13.41, Rogercin Ramirez (MEX) 10.83



Semifinal 2: Makuakai Rothman (HAW) 22.33, Pedro Calado (BRA) 21.01, Carlos Burle (BRA) 13.63, Jimel Corzo (MEX) 14.83, Jamie Mitchell (AUS) 13.74, Rusty Long (USA) 11.46



The 2016/17 BWT season is divided into Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere components hosting three possible events within each. The Southern Hemisphere window runs from April 27 to August 31, 2016 with event options in Mexico, Chile and Peru. The Northern Hemisphere window runs from October 15, 2016 to February 27, 2017 with event options in Portugal, Hawaii and Mexico.



2016/2017 WSL Big Wave Tour Schedule:



Southern Hemisphere: April 27 - August 31, 2016



Puerto Escondido Challenge: Puerto Escondido, Mexico



Quiksilver Punta de Lobos Challenge: Punta de Lobos, Chile



Billabong Pico Alto Challenge: Pico Alto, Peru



Northern Hemisphere: October 15, 2016 - February 28, 2017



Nazare Challenge: Nazare, Portugal



Pe'ahi Challenge: Haiku, Hawaii



Todos Santos Challenge: Todos Santos, Mexico


Navy nuclear submarine HMS Ambush yesterday steamed to Gibraltar  in a massive show of force against Spain.

The Spanish  emboldened by Britains Brexit vote  demanded joint sovereignty over The Rock on the same day the shock results were announced.

But the official reason given by military sources was that it was 'part of her scheduled operational tasking.

Earlier this week , it was announced that the UK's submarine parachute assistance group would be in Gibraltar next week as part of ongoing mandatory training.

HMS Ambush is described by the Royal Navy as its newest and most advanced submarine, fitted with the most up-to-date technology and providing a formidable tool at the cutting edge of the UKs military capability.

Sources said its arrival sent a clear signal affirming the UKs position never to negotiate sovereignty on Gibraltar.
Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) showcased Dubai's global maritime leadership in the presence of a high-level delegation from City of Glasgow College who commended the manner in which the outstanding experiences of the UAE maritime sector has transformed it into an internationally renowned maritime community.

This was done during a visit by an academic delegation from the UK College to the DMCA head office in Dubai to promote collaboration in the vital fields of maritime training, research and studies.

Amer Ali, Executive Director of the DMCA, accompanied the guests on a tour of Drydocks World which has been instrumental in achieving the ambitious aspiration of developing Dubai into one of the global Top Ten in terms of maritime efficiency, attractiveness, and competitiveness.

Amer Ali expressed his pleasure in hosting the official visit of high-level representatives from City of Glasgow College, explaining that it reflects the DMCA's exceptional success in enriching knowledge and promoting the exchange of experiences related to maritime training.

He confirmed the importance of the event in enhancing communications with international maritime and academic entities which is vital to capitalizing on Dubai's experiences as a leading maritime and logistics centre in the Middle East and the world.

The British delegates listened to a detailed presentation about the Dubai Maritime Training Centre's role in supporting efforts to establish a renewable and safe local maritime sector through an integrated portfolio of comprehensive workshops and world-class global training sessions.

The visitors commended the DMCA's efforts to develop new maritime training standards essential to promoting the competitiveness of global maritime communities.

Amer Ali, Executive Director of DMCA, said: "This visit is an ideal opportunity for us to share in detail our major successes within the maritime sector of Dubai and the whole UAE. Our country is taking advanced steps to become one of the world's most important maritime capitals, supported by robust legal and legislative frameworks, sophisticated infrastructure, exceptional investment facilities and maritime services, world-class logistics services, advanced ports, an integrated system for maritime safety, and qualified human capital according to high standards of professionalism and excellence."
United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary- General Ki Tack Lim pushed for the increased involvement of women in the seafaring industry saying they are the key to the growth of the industry.

Shipping has historically been a male-dominated industry and that tradition runs long and deep. The maritime industry needs more women, particularly in leadership roles.

The Standard quoted Ki Tack Lim saying women power as untapped sector. He said that the seafaring industry should work towards attracting more women since they have proven to be as equally competent as their male counterparts.

The importance of women as a huge source of safer sea voyage human resources cannot be overstressed. The shipping world cannot afford to ignore such rich and still largely untapped source of quality recruit, Lim said.

The Philippines is the worlds capital source of seafarers with some 367,000 Filipino seafarers deployed all over the world but women make up only 2 percent of the worlds maritime workforce of 1.3 million.

Lim urged Filipino women to join the industry since they have proven to be as equally competent as their male counterparts.
Royal Caribbean christened their third Quantum class cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, to huge fanfare in a ceremony in Tianjin, China.

The event marked the first time a Royal Caribbean ship has been named in China, and actress Fan Bingbing became the companys first ever Chinese godmother.

The celebrations culminated with the maritime tradition of breaking a Champagne bottle on the hull of the ship, wishing good fortune on the ship and all passengers who sail on her.

We are excited to bring our newest and most technologically advanced ship to China, said Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbeans president & CEO. Chinese consumers have grown to expect the best the world has to offer, and this ship meets that standard like no other  this is a cruise from the future.

The vessel is one of the largest cruise ships ever built, accommodating 4,180 guests at double occupancy and 1,500 international crew members.

Built by Meyer Werft, Ovation of the Seas features energy-efficient systems including optimized hydrodynamics, heat recovery and a hybrid scrubber as well as energy-saving LED lighting systems.
The Indonesian Government has banned vessels flying Indonesias flag from sailing to the Philippines following the latest hostage incident.

According to a report in AP, Indonesia said, a halt on coal shipments to the Philippines will remain in place until Manila can secure its waters after seven Indonesian sailors were kidnapped, the latest in a string of abductions.

The ruling was issued after the government confirmed the Indonesian sailors were kidnapped at gunpoint earlier this week, and were being held hostage.

The growing frequency of maritime attacks by Islamist militants is for the first time affecting coal trade between the Southeast Asian neighbours.

Director General Sea Transportation Transportation Ministrys, A Tonny Budiono said the seaport masters have been strictly ordered not to issue permits for the Philippines-bound vessels without any exception.

"Hijacking is a serious crime that cannot be tolerated. Therefore, I ask every district navigation head to instruct every coastal operational radio station (SROP) to monitor and relay as early as possible if there is any indication of danger," Boediono stated.

To prevent any commercial vessels from breaching the ban, Indonesia will also ramp up marine patrols in its waters bordering the southern Philippines, Budiono added.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi had condemned the hostage-taking incident happeing once again. In the latest incident, two armed groups in south Philippines took hostage crew members of Indonesian vessels on June 20, 2016.
Suez Canal traffic data revealed that 210 ships transited the canal, with a total load of 12.8m tonnes, from 19 to 23 June.

An average of 42 ships transited the canal per day during that period, with an average load of 2.56m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 61,000 tonnes.

In comparision over the last week, from 11-16 June, 279 ships passed through the Suez Canal carrying a total of 16.5m tonnes of cargo.

The average number of ships transiting the canal per day is 46.5, with an average of 2.75m total tonnes of cargo.

Compared to July 2015, before the inauguration of the new Suez Canal, the average daily number of transiting vessels totaled 47 vessels, with an average load of 2.758m tonnes per day.

The major container ships of Maren Maersk passed through the canal carrying 200,360 tonnes.
First the UK, then Scotland ... then Texas?

Ryan W. McMaken writes: That didn't take long. Only hours after the final results came in for a British exit from the EU, political leaders in Scotland are talking about renewing their drive to secede from the United Kingdom.

Pointing to the fact that a large majority of Scots voted to remain in the EU, Scottish advocates for independence are now claiming (convincingly) that Scotland is leaving the EU against its will.

Many of us who advocated for Scottish secession in 2014 were, of course fine with Scottish secession at the time. And we're still fine with it now. Scotland should be free to say good bye and got its own way.

Some opponents of Scottish exit, however, have claimed that Scotland is too small "to go it alone." Defenders of Scottish independence call this the "too wee, too poor, too stupid" argument.

Even the most rudimentary analysis, however, shows that size is not an issue for Scotland. With an official GDP of approximately 245 billion, Scotland is not too much different from Ireland, Finland, and Denmark. It's economy is much larger than that of Iceland (16.7 bln) and New Zealand (172 bln).

With a population of 5.3 million, this puts Scotland either similar to or larger than Denmark, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, and Ireland.

With a population this size, Scotland's GDP per capita comes out to around $45,000 which naturally is similar to the UK overall today, and also similar to Canada, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, and a number of other European states, both large and small.

Some will argue that Scots cannot go it alone because they rely too much on English taxpayers for transfer payments such as pensions. This is no doubt partially true, although the UK government also extracts tax dollars from Scots, regulates Scottish trade with the EU and everyone else, and perhaps the Scottish simply want independence even if it means a temporary disruption in living standards.

Overall, though, there's no denying that Scotland even by itself is well within the realm of ordinary wealthy nation states, in terms of population, and the size of its economy. Scotland is in no way an outlier.

The claim that it is "too small" was repeated today, however, in this article by Roger Bootle at The Telegraph in which he writes:

Believe it or not, there is an extensive economic literature on the subject of the optimum size of a country, or more accurately, political association. From the economic point of view, as the size of political entities gets larger, there is scope for economies of scale in government and the provision of public goods such as defence. Equally, within a single political entity there are no restrictions on trade, such as tariffs or quotas so, other things being equal, the gains from trade are maximised as political entities grow larger. Yet there are limits to the desirable size of political entities, such that, as things stand anyway, a single world government would not be optimal. The larger, and certainly the more heterogeneous, a political entity is, the more resources are taken up with arguing about distribution, that is to say who should benefit from various sorts of public expenditure, and who should pay for it. The quality of government tends to deteriorate.

Bootle is correct that there are certainly advantages of size when it comes to national defense. Obviously, it's much harder for a foreign invader to overrun Russia than Poland. What Bootle misses, however, is that these issues can be addressed through confederation rather than through political unification. The original purpose of the United States, of course, was to act as a confederation for purposes of national defense. Member, states, however, remained autonomous within their own borders. Similar structures have existed throughout history, from NATO to the Hanseatic league of northern Europe. Scotland need not be part of the UK to enter into a defense agreement with the British. The rest of Bootle's argument appears even more specious. It is not a given, for example, that larger states facilitate trade. As the UK experience has shown, membership in the EU has granted access to some markets, but it has cut off access and flexibility with other markets. (Norway and Switzerland have access to these same markets, by the way, without EU membership.) This was also an enormous issue and source of conflict in the United States, in regards to southern states. Yes, membership in the United States facilitated trade among states, but trade between Southern states and foreign markets was hampered by US tariff policy. To claim that gains from trade are "maximised" by larger states is rather overstating it, to say the least. In fact, there are many reasons to believe that the "optimal" size of state is considerably smaller than what Bootle suggests it is. (The subtext of Bootle's article, of course, is that Scotland is below the optimal size.) As Peter St. Onge wrote in 2014 about the Scottish referendum at the time: So small is possible. But is it a good idea? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is resoundingly Yes! Statistically speaking, at least. Why? Because according to numbers from the World Bank Development Indicators, among the 45 sovereign countries in Europe, small countries are nearly twice as wealthy as large countries. The gap between biggest-10 and smallest-10 ranges between 84 percent (for all of Europe) to 79 percent (for only Western Europe). This is a huge difference: To put it in perspective, even a 79 percent change in wealth is about the gap between Russia and Denmark. Thats massive considering the historical and cultural similarities especially within Western Europe. Even among linguistic siblings the differences are stark: Germany is poorer than the small German-speaking states (Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein), France is poorer than the small French-speaking states (Belgium, Andorra, Luxembourg, and Switzerland again and, of course, Monaco). Even Ireland, for centuries ravaged by the warmongering English, is today richer than their former masters in the United Kingdom, a country fifteen times larger. Why would this be? There are two reasons. First, smaller countries are often more responsive to their people. The smaller the country the stronger the policy feedback loop. Meaning truly awful ideas tend to get corrected earlier. Had Mao Tse Tung been working with an apartment complex instead of a country of nearly a billion-people, his wacky ideas wouldnt have killed millions. Second, small countries just dont have the money to engage in truly crazy ideas. Like Wars on Terror or world-wide daisy-chains of military bases. An independent Scotland, or Vermont, is unlikely to invade Iraq. It takes a big country to do truly insane things. A Lesson for American States When Americans indulge in thought experiments about the possible secession of American states, it is often assumed that most US states are too small "to go it alone." Indeed, most Americans greatly underestimate the size of many American states in relation to numerous independent and prosperous existing nation-states. Were Scotland a US state, for example, it would be only a medium-sized state, with a GDP smaller than the gross state products of both Missouri and Connecticut, making it about the 25th largest state in terms of GDP. Population-wise, Scotland is about equal to Minnesota and Colorado (I have removed China and the US combined economy from this graph to improve scale): In this map, I've compared American states to foreign countries of similar GDP: For more similar maps, see here. Moreover, few Americans appreciate how enormous some American states are, especially the largest four states: California, Texas, New York, and Florida. [RELATED: Which States Rely Most on Federal Spending] In terms of both population and GDP, California is about equal to Canada  and with much better weather. Texas is equal in economy and population size to Australia. Pennsylvania's economy is similar in size to Switzerland. While secession of American states is often dismissed as absurd, there are few reasons to believe that a state like Texas  to name just one example could not immediately transition from state to nation-state. With a large economy, port cities, oil, and easy access to European, Latin American, and even Asian economies by sea, economics arguments against such a separation fall flat. And of course, the success of smaller states like Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland illustrate that bigness is truly unnecessary. Naturally, many other states even beyond the biggest states  such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and others  could do the same. These states would all be among the largest economies on earth were they to leave the US. "But what about national defense!" some may argue. "Wouldn't Texas be constantly at war with the United States?" Experience suggests that Texas would be at war with the United States about as frequently as Canada has been at war with the United States: zero times since 1815. International wars rarely erupt between countries with common languages, common histories, and common economic interests. Should Scotland secede, the UK won't be sending in the tanks, and Scotland could easily join the realm of independent nation states, just as many American states could do the same. Ryan W. McMaken is the editor of Mises Daily and The Free MarketSend him mail. See Ryan McMaken's article archives. You can subscribe to future articles by Ryan McMaken via this RSS feed. http://mises.org  2016 Copyright Ryan McMaken - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Brexit Contagion?

Euroskepticism isnt confined to Britain. According to a Pew Research (PR) study conducted in April and May, its on the rise in other European countries.





The British are not the only ones with doubts about the European Union, said PRs Bruce Stokes. The EU is again experiencing a sharp dip in public support in a number of its largest member states.





French and Greek anti-EU sentiment is greater than in Britain. Significant numbers of Germans, Spaniards, Swedes, Dutch citizens, Italians and others across Europe lost faith in a system harming their economic well-being, along with how Brussels is handling the refugee crisis.

Majorities in Britain and Greece, along with significant minorities in other key (EU) nations, want some powers returned from Brussels to national governments, said PR.





Sentiment is evenly split. A slight 51% majority of respondents view the EU favorably. A median 42% in these 10 (largest) nations want more power returned to the their national capitals





Only 19% favor giving Brussels more power. A fourth of respondents prefer the status quo. Over two-thirds call Brexit a bad thing.





Anti-EU sentiment grew as economic conditions deteriorated, exacerbated by neoliberal harshness, paying bankers first, and disapproval over Brussels handling of the refugee issue.





The 1957 Treaty of Rome founding EU document obligates its initial six member states and subsequent ones to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe.





Early this year, UK Prime Minister David Cameron got Brussels to exempt Britain from the Rome Treatys references to ever closer union among member states.





Disagreement over centralized governance v. devolution prevails across Europe. According to PR, majorities in six of its 10 surveyed countries support greater independence.





(L)ittle enthusiasm exists for empowering Brussels more than already - 6% in Britain, 8% in Greece, 34% in France, the strongest backing registered, two-thirds in the country expressing opposition.





In the wake of Thursdays vote, EU leaders fear Brexit may spark contagion, referendums if held in other member states going the same way as Britain.





Protracted hard times exacerbated by force-fed austerity sparked growing public discontent, especially in France. Street rage since March against anti-worker legislation, enacted by decree, shows no signs of ending.





Thursdays UK vote was the beginning of a protracted process, to be intentionally drawn out to counter Brexit sentiment, continuing for many months, market turbulence and other disruptions along the way.





Headlines hyping Britain leaving the EU belie reality. The same goes for EU leaders telling Cameron to get on with it - issuing a statement, saying give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be.





Chances for Brexit are virtually nil because powerful US and European interests reject it.





In the end, expect EU unity to be preserved, Britain remaining a member state, perhaps granted some insignificant cosmetic changes, creating the illusion of what Brexit supporters want.

By Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.



Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Like most people, I consider myself a safe driver. I have a friend who hates riding with me because I never speed and I seldom make lane changes, and I dont like riding with her because I get tired of watching my life flash before my eyes.

I will always encourage people to drive safely and stick to the speed limit. These days, I drive a Jeep Wrangler, so even if I wanted to speed, it would require several minutes of planning, a downhill grade and a strong tailwind.

However, there is one exception in my 15-year career of boring driving, and it happened while I was in college. It is a story of recklessness and stupidity, and it is also the only time I have ever felt like Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit.

When I was in college, I owned a 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible. This was a hideous car. It was electric blue, and when you put the top down, it had a giant roll bar that made it look like you were driving a womans strap shoe down the highway. This car was a monument to every bad design decision to come out of General Motors in the 1990s. It was ridiculous looking.

In fact, I recently saw a car insurance commercial featuring a guy driving that exact car down the road while blasting Foghat. The joke of the commercial was how stupid the guy looked. The guy looked a whole lot like me, and I also enjoy Foghat. It kind of stung.

Dumb as it looked, I loved the Olds, and it had an ace up its neon sleeve: It had a 3.4 liter Twin Dual Cam V6 under the hood that put out 215 horses. Thats not so impressive by todays standards, but it was probably the fastest car Ive ever owned and it was a lot of fun to drive.

One day, I was driving back home from Roanoke College, heading south along 220 just outside of Rocky Mount. I was in the middle of a pack of cars, all of us matching our speed to each other, and I wasnt paying a whole lot of attention to my speedometer.

As our pack headed down a hill, I saw a state trooper heading the opposite direction in the northbound lanes. I glanced down at my speedometer.

I was doing 75 miles per hour.

The state troopers blue lights spun to life, and he floored it, looking for a spot where he could cross the median strip and start pulling people over.

Immediately, most of the other cars around me began pulling over onto the shoulder to await justice. Nowadays, I would do the exact same thing.

But back then, I was in my early 20s, and as science has since proven, the male brain is essentially a wad of chewing gum with bad ideas stuck in it until the age of about 25.

Besides, I had an idea.

The guy next to me  who was driving a green late-90s Buick Park Avenue  had the same idea. We both gunned it.

Both of us knew that right around the bend, there was a place called Midpoint Chevrolet Buick GMC. Back then, they also sold Oldsmobiles.

We whipped into the parking lot and parked side-by-side in the middle of a long line of used Buicks and Oldsmobiles. And then we waited.

Within seconds, we watched the state trooper blur past the parking lot, blue lights flashing.

I looked over to the guy in the Buick, and he looked at me. We solemnly nodded to each other.

In that moment, I was not a college kid in an ugly Oldsmobile, and he was not a middle-aged guy with a comb-over and a Park Avenue. We were Bo and Luke Duke, and we had just outwitted Boss Hogg.

I have since renounced all criminal activity, and I do not advocate that anyone attempt to emulate my youthful shenanigans.

However, if I ever have the opportunity to jump a creek, Im not sure Ill be able to resist.
Ray Bourque

In this July 29, 2015, file photo, former Boston Bruins star Ray Bourque walks on the field during an event at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Bourque has been arrested on a drunken driving charge in Andover, Mass.

(AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

ANDOVER, Mass. -- Former Boston Bruins star Ray Bourque has been arrested on a drunken driving charge.

Bourque, 55, was arrested about 11:30 p.m. Friday after his Mercedes-Benz rear-ended a minivan in a construction zone in Andover, city Police Chief Patrick Keefe said. No injuries were reported.

Bourque, of Boxford, was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and following too closely. He posted bail and was released. He is to be arraigned in Lawrence District Court. Police didn't provide a date.

, Bourque currently owns Tresca, a restaurant on Boston's North End.
Vermont State Police.jpg

SOMERSET, VT - Three Connecticut bicyclists are recovering from injuries after a 19-year-old ran into them with his truck Saturday morning.

The driver, Lukas Wallace, of Halifax, Vermont, struck the three bicycles and hit a second truck at about 8:45 a.m. on Somerset Road, Vermont State Police officials said.

Cyclist Timothy Ahern, 53, of Essex, Connecticut, suffered head injuries and compound fractures in his left leg; John Beihn, 33, of Madison, Connecticut, suffered internal injuries and also hurt his ankle and wrist and Graeme Street, 40, of Essex, Connecticut, injured his knee and hand, police said.

The cyclists were taken to Southwestern Medical Center by ambulance. Ahern and Beihn were transferred to Albany Medical Center where they are both in stable condition. Street was treated and released, police said.

The driver of the other truck, Cameron Johnson, 19, of Jacksonville, Vermont, was not injured in the accident.



The Wilmington Police and Fire departments and the Deerfield Valley Rescue assisted at the scene.

The crash is under investigation and State Police are looking for help and asking anyone with information about the accident to call them at 802-254-2382. People can also send an anonymous tip to the Vermont State Police website at vsp.vermont.gov.
SPRINGFIELD - City residents were captivated this week by the news that Dizzy the Monkey had escaped from his enclosure in Forest Park Zoo and was swinging from tree top to tree top.

The 12-pound Guenon monkey escaped from his enclosure when an employee, who was cleaning the area, was temporarily distracted when a guest asked a question. Dizzy saw his opportunity and twisted the handle of the unlocked door and let himself out.

For days zoo employees tried to entice Dizzy back home by leaving his favorite apricots out and ensuring he could see his mate Mitzy, who was left behind. They worried that crowds of people fascinated with his escape and the media was frightening Dizzy from returning.

He was almost captured on Tuesday but was scared away by a child who threw a hat. Forest Park officials closed the zoo and then the nearby playground in the hopes that the quiet would make Dizzy more likely to return home.

While on his "great adventure" as zoo officials dubbed it, Dizzy created three Twitter accounts. Many others also were Tweeting about the monkey.

Finally on Thursday Dizzy was spotted when he climbed down from the trees. John Lewis, the head zookeeper, was able to hit him with a tranquilizer dart and returned him to his enclosure.

While zoo officials were concerned about the freed monkey, plenty found some watercooler humor about the primate's escape, which was a welcome escape from politics and crime.

Here are some of the things people were Tweeting about Dizzy.
BOSTON -- A man threatening people with two large butcher knives while wearing a bulletproof vest in Boston's North End Sunday morning was arrested by police.

Officers were called to the area of 17 Cooper St. around 3 a.m. after receiving reports of a man armed with a knife in the area, according to Boston Police.

The suspect, identified as Steven Lacolla, 26, of Boston was spotted by police when they arrived. Police said he was yelling and threatening a group of people gathered in the street.

"The suspect was armed with two large butcher knives and wearing a bulletproof vest," police said. "When the suspect saw the officers approaching, he turned away from the crowd and began to walk towards them, still armed with both knives."

Officers kept their distance as they ordered Lacolla to drop the weapons.

"After several tense moments, the suspect placed the butcher knives on the ground and was taken into custody without further incident," police said.

Lacolla will be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on charges of assault by means of a dangerous weapon and wearing a bulletproof vest in the commission of a felony.
BOSTON - Massachusetts State Police continue to investigate an accident that injured a state police trooper and four other people on Route 93 Saturday morning.

"Once we complete our investigation, we will file whatever charges are appropriate against the driver responsible for causing this crash," Col. Richard D. McKeon, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said in a written statement released on Sunday.

The 37-year-old trooper was sitting in his cruiser on the side of the highway at about 2:45 a.m. with his blue lights flashing when a speeding Honda Accord carrying four people struck his cruiser, Massachusetts State Police said.

The impact pushed the cruiser into the road, and it struck another car before spinning around and coming to a rest on the left side of the road facing the opposite direction from where it had been parked, according to CBS Boston.

"We are especially grateful that the injuries to the trooper hit this morning were not far, far worse. That they were not, is a reminder of the critical importance for any motorist to wear a seatbelt. We are hopeful for a full recovery for him, and we also wish recoveries for the other victims," McKeon said.

The trooper was wearing a seatbelt even though he was not moving. He was treated at the hospital and released. His car was totaled, police said.

The four people in the Honda, whose names were not released, were not wearing seatbelts. They were also transported to hospitals, some suffered serious injuries, CBS Boston said.

The trooper had been responding to another accident when he was struck, police said.



A tow truck was also on scene when the trooper was struck, but was not hit, police said.

"This ... affirms, once again, that there is no such thing as a routine incident for state troopers and any first responders, highway workers and tow truck operators," McKeon said.

The name of the trooper was not immediately released.
SPRINGFIELD  The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership  the public-private organization overseeing the turnaround of nine of the city's failing middle schools  has made good progress in instituting reforms during its first year, but School Superintendent Daniel Warwick and education reformer and Empowerment Zone Board Chairman Christopher Gabrieli say the process of improving student performance is still a work in progress.

"Principals and teachers are hitting their stride," Gabrieli said following Thursday's meeting of the Empowerment Zone Partnership at Chestnut Middle School.

"We've set up operating conditions that allow teachers and school principals to take full ownership of what needs to happen to help children succeed," Gabrieli said.

Warwick gave a "thumbs up" to the progress made during the first year of the zone, adding that "there's work to be done." Only time and data will tell whether the interventions put in place under the auspices of the Empowerment Zone are working.

The Empowerment Zone was created to pull up student scores and outcomes at city middle schools, which have been categorized as Level 4 on a five-point scale based on scores and student growth data. Level 1 is the highest and Level 5 is the lowest.

While the schools have yet to receive the latest results of student performance on standardized tests, Warwick said other assessments used by the schools are showing student growth improvements.

Test results for the new PARCC (Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career) are due in the fall.

"We have a framework to build on that is very positive," Warwick said.

"We're moving forward," he added. "We're excited to be a part of it and we're very appreciative of Chris Gabrieli's efforts on behalf of our schools."

Gabrieli praised the city and the middle school principals and staff for the work they have done so far.

The Empowerment Zone  a collaboration of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Springfield public schools, the Springfield teachers union and Empower Schools Inc., a nonprofit co-founded by Gabrieli 

is unique in the state.

The creation of the zone was an alternative to a state takeover of underperforming schools, which has happened in the city of Holyoke. The goal is to boost the student growth percentile to 50 in English and math.

Under the umbrella of the zone, principals and their school leadership give teams a lot of autonomy in determining what needs to be done to move the needle for student performance. Principals are charged with hiring and retaining teachers who they deem as exceptional  and letting go of teachers who are not up to the job.

Colleen O'Connor, principal of Chestnut Talented and Gifted Middle School, and Daisy Roman-Davis, principal of Van Sickle International Baccalaureate Middle School, offered their perspectives on year one to board members during presentations.

O'Connor said her school's dual focus on teachers and students allowed both groups to set goals. Teachers set goals through collaborative professional development sessions. Students set goals as well in writing, she said. "Students are taught to push themselves from where they are" instead of an arbitrary standard, she said.

"We want to empower the students as well as the teachers," O'Connor said.

The TAG (talented and gifted) program also tightened standards for inclusion on the honor roll and held events to recognize the achievements of those who made the list, she said.

Roman-Davis said the team at Van Sickle International Baccalaureate is working to reduce suspensions by creating a positive culture. Teachers are working to create positive relationships with students outside of class. For example, they sit with children during school breakfast, she said.

Roman-Davis said part of that culture shift means involving parents in the school. "We have developed a framework for involving parents that we plan to build on next year," she said.

During the meeting the board approved a 2016-2017 budget of $53.5 million.

In other action, the board approved the appointment of Colleen Beaudoin, a former urban school principal and education consultant in Boston, as director of school improvement and student success. In that role, she will work with Empowerment Zone principals and staff on curriculum.

In addition to the nine middle schools under the zone umbrella, the zone will separate out two sixth grades in the zone for intensive interventions under a program called RISE. That will bring to 11 the number of school programs under zone supervision and support.

The nine middle schools are: Chestnut South, Chestnut North and Chestnut Talented and Gifted (all operating under the same roof on Plainfield Street), Van Sickle Academy and Van Sickle International Baccalaureate (both operating separately in the Page Boulevard building), Forest Park, UP Academy at Kennedy, Duggan and Kiley.

Some Empowerment Zone highlights 2015-2016:

Recruitment

Some 77 out of 89 vacancies have been filled in the Empowerment Zone (87 percent).

More than 20 percent of new hires are candidates of color.

Teach Western Massachusetts, a talent partnership, was launched to attract, select, develop and retain exceptional educators across the region.

Interventions
MANCHESTER,Conn. A Springfield man faces multiple charges in connection with a May burglary of a Manchester home.

Manchester police said Luis Ramos is being charged with third-degree burglary, sixth-degree larceny and second-degree criminal mischief, the Journal Inquirer reported.

Ramos, 26, was arrested in Chicopee on Friday and was immediately extradited to Connecticut to face charges in a Manchester court.

He was released on $65,000 bond following his arraignment.
An update to this story was posted Sunday at 9:39 p.m.

___________________

HOLYOKE - Police are continuing to interview witnesses and examine evidence connected to a late night shooting in the Beaudoin Village complex.

The victim, who was shot in the torso, remains in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield following surgery, Police Lt. James Albert said.

The woman was shot at about 11:30 p.m. outside 6 Barrett Ave. When police arrived they found the victim lying on the ground outside the apartment and administered first aid until ambulance personnel arrived.

Albert declined to disclose many details in the crime because police continue to actively investigate the shooting Sunday afternoon.

Immediately after the shooting, uniformed officers and a detective searched the area of the shooting to collect evidence. Evidence cones marked materials found in a side yard, in front of the apartment building and in the parking lot.

A red vehicle with a spoiler on the rear deck appeared to have had its rear passenger side window smashed, and officers inspected the roof of the car closely.

Witnesses at the scene said they either did not hear gunfire or heard just one shot fired.
The trooper shot by Jorge Zambrano, the man authorities said fatally shot Auburn Police Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. last month, will speak publicly Monday afternoon about his ongoing recovery, the Massachusetts State Police said.

Zambrano shot the trooper, an 18-year-veteran of the State Police and former Navy SEAL, in the left shoulder as Tactical Operations Team members closed in on the suspect inside an Oxford home on May 22. The trooper's name has not be released.

Tarentino was killed on May 22 after he pulled over a vehicle driven by Zambrano on Rochdale Street. Authorities said Zambrano shot Tarentino in the back. The 42-year-old officer died after he was rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center--Unversity Campus in Worcester.

State Police STOP Team members tracked Zambrano to a Watch Street duplex in Oxford. The 35-year-old was hiding in a closet and shot at the officers when they entered the room, State Police said. State Police shot and killed Zambrano.

The State Police said they will not discuss any tactical details about their response to the Oxford duplex and will not release any information related to the investigation.

The injured trooper will be joined by Colonel Richard McKeon, the superintendent of the State Police; Eric Dickson, M.D., President and CEO of UMass Memorial Health Care and an emergency medicine physician who previously participated on the EMS team and accompanied the STOP Team on numerous missions; and Major Richard Prior, commander of the State Police Special Operations Section who was the officer-in-charge at the scene of the Oxford incident.

The speakers plan to discuss the work done by the EMS medics from the hospital. They provided emergency services to the trooper after he was shot.
Red Socks Rangers Baseball

Boston Red Sox's Clay Buchholz throws during the first inning against the Texas Rangers, Sunday, June 26, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Red Sox starters David Price and Steven Wright combined to throw just seven innings in the first two games of this series vs. the Rangers.

And so Red Sox manager John Farrell stressed Saturday night, "We know where we are in the bullpen with not a whole lot of length there, so we need Clay to go deep."

Clay Buchholz didn't look like he was going to make it out of the first inning here Sunday at Globe Life Park. He failed to record an out through his first 20 pitches while allowing five hits, one walk and three runs.

But with the bases loaded and no outs, Buchholz got Elvis Andrus to ground into a 5-2-3 double play, then escaped the first without an further damage.

Still, it was another poor start for the Red Sox righty. He went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits (one homer) and five walks while striking out three.

The Red Sox fell 6-2 to the Texas Rangers.

Buchholz has given up five or more runs in seven of his 12 starts this year. His ERA increased from 5.83 to 5.90. He also has surrendered 15 homers in his 12 starts.

The Red Sox lost the three-game series to fall four games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles. Boston, which has spent 28 days in first place, hasn't been that far behind since April 12.

TERRIBLE STARTING PITCHING

In this three-game series, the Red Sox starters (Price, Wright and Buchholz) allowed 19 runs, 13 earned, in 12 1/3 innings (9.49 ERA).

Buchholz faced the minimum number of batters in the second, third and fifth. He didn't allow another hit until the sixth.

That hit was a costly one.

The Red Sox had cut the deficit to 3-1 when Bryce Brentz homered during the top of the sixth. But then Xander Bogaerts made an error to begin the bottom of the sixth and Prince Fielder belted a line-drive homer to right field off Buchholz to make it 5-1 Rangers.

BRYCE BRENTZ HITS FIRST BIG LEAGUE HOMER

Bryce Brentz blasted his first career major league home run into the left field bleachers during the sixth inning to cut the Red Sox's deficit to 3-1.

Brentz hit 95 homers in seven minor league seasons (580 games).
Le gouvernement a donne son feu vert pour la signature dune accord de principe entre ses deux institutions dans le domaine pharmaceutique et la biotechnologie.

Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology Ltd and the Department for International Trade of the United Kingdom on cooperation in the fields of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The Memorandum of Understanding would, inter alia, cover the following areas of cooperation:

(a) promotion, development and acceleration of manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines and other drugs;

(b) facilitation of business opportunities for bilateral investment including joint commercial ventures and partnerships;

(c) negotiations for securing licensing agreements with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; and

(d) training and human resource development, as well as technology transfer and innovative practices.

Partager et informez vous aussi......

0 shares Share

Tweet

LinkedIn

Articles similaires
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 26, 2016

The most celebrated anti-marketing marketing campaign of the year outdoor apparel and equipment company REIs #optoutside from Venables Bell and SMG Chicagowon the Titanium Grand Prix at the final awards ceremony at Cannes Lions 2016 on Saturday night.

A slew of other awards were also issued during the evening including Agency Network of the Year, which went to Ogilvy & Mather; Holding Company of the Year (WPP) and Independent Agency of the Year (Droga5). As announced earlier, Samsung took home Marketer of the Year honors and AlmapBBDO Partner Marcello Serpa was awarded the Lion of St. Mark for his career long contributions to the industry.

The REI effort, which also won the Grand Prix in the Promo and Activation category earlier in the week, focused on the retailers decision to close its doors on Black Fridaythe kick off to the holiday shopping seasonand encourage people to get outdoors instead of shopping.

advertisement advertisement

Titanium Grand Prix Jury President John Hegarty, Co-Founder of agency BBH, said, what we loved about this idea was how profound it was as a thought and how daring of the client to follow this through. Hegarty added that the craft in pursuing the idea and getting there we thought was absolutely fantastic.

The Integrated Grand Prix was awarded to a Netflix campaign from BBH New York for the debut of House of Cards called F.U. 2016 (the F and U standing for Frank Underwood, the character played by Kevin Spacey in the series). The effort featured a spot resembling a political ad that ran in a Republican debate last December on CNN. The ad became a top-trending topic on Twitter during the debate.

Hegarty, also jury president for the Integrated Grand Prix said, we wanted something that leveraged the world around us, that was using culture and that is of today. He added that craft was a big factor in the selection. Weve seen a devaluation of craft in our industry and we were looking to see that we could put craft back in. The jury, he said, felt this idea ticked all those boxes and did it brilliantly and gained huge attention.

The Film Grand Prix went to a campaign for UK retailer Harvey Nichols from Adam&EveDDB called Shoplifters that promoted the stores rewards app. The ad was shot to make it seem that viewers were looking at security footage of shoplifters (with animated heads) stealing items and then being chased and apprehended and brought back to the store to suffer the consequences of their actions. The spot ends with, Love Freebies? Get Them Legally, and urges shoppers to download the Harvey Nichols rewards app.

Film Jury President Joe Alexander, Chief Creative Officer at The Martin Agency, said of the choice that it was the easiest decision we could ever have. He added that Whats funny about it is its a really ugly [as in raw] film but it brought an idea to life in a way you never thought possible.

More on the 2016 Cannes Lions winners can be seen here.
Parents or caregivers of young children will know only too well the struggle of encouraging them to share toys and take turns during play. But according to a new study, children are unlikely to learn the value of turn-taking until the age of 5 years.

Share on Pinterest Younger children might engage in turn-taking, but they fail to understand the value of it until the age of 5, say researchers.

Study co-author Dr. Alicia Melis, assistant professor of behavioral science at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, and colleagues recently published their findings in the journal Psychological Science.

Turn-taking is a social skill that humans learn from a young age and apply to everyday scenarios throughout life  such as taking turns to take out the trash or collect the children from school.

In essence, turn-taking is a collaborative behavior; it requires a mutual understanding between two or more individuals that each turn-taking cycle will not always be self-beneficial, but that, overall, it can resolve a conflict of interests.

For their study, Dr. Melis and colleagues set out to investigate the age at which humans grasp the value of turn-taking.

To reach their findings, the researchers developed a turn-taking experiment, which they tested on 96 children  aged 3  or 5 years old  and 12 chimpanzees.

For the experiment, subjects were placed in pairs. They had to take turns to pull trays in order to receive rewards that were placed upon them; when one subject pulled a tray to obtain a reward, the reward on the other tray was lost.

Each pair of children took part in 24 turn-taking experiments. Each chimpanzee took part in 48 turn-taking experiments with one partner, and a further 48 with another partner.


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

The findings highlight the need for Latin American women to have access to safe and legal reproductive options, especially as Zika continues to spread, the researchers said."Zika will inevitably spread to other countries where safe abortion is restricted," said co-author James Trussell, the Charles and Marie Robertson Professor of Public and International Affairs, Emeritus, at Princeton''s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs."Therefore, we must ensure that all reproductive choices are safe, legal and accessible," Trussell said. "To do otherwise would be irresponsible public health practice and unjust policy.""A countrywide policy that is impossible to follow if you are pregnant or cannot avoid pregnancy is an unusual and important public issue," said lead author Abigail Aiken, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton's Office of Population Research, which is based at the Woodrow Wilson School.As Zika began to emerge as an epidemic in Latin America, research and media attention quickly focused on the possible effects of Zika on reproduction. Yet, little attention was paid to how the virus would impact women specifically.In November 2015, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiological alert highlighting the risks of Zika. As more governments and health organizations began to respond, the researchers - which also included co-authors James Scott from the University of Texas at Austin, Rebecca Gomperts and Marc Worrell from Women on Web, and Catherine Aiken from the University of Cambridge - became interested in investigating the effects these health alerts had on women.The researchers organized the data by self-reported country of origin and then divided the women into three groups. The researchers defined Latin America as South and Central America and the Caribbean.Group A comprised women who had received the advisory and were living in countries with Zika, but with legally restricted access to abortion. Group B was made up of women in countries where Zika cases hadn't yet been reported and no advisories had been distributed, but that have legal restrictions on abortion in place. Group C contained women in countries with Zika outbreaks and legally restricted access to abortion, but with governments that had not issued public health alerts.Finally, the researchers studied a control group of countries where a rise in abortion requests was unexpected: Chile, Poland and Uruguay. This group allowed them to ensure that the requests were actually related to the Zika virus and not just a global rise in demand for Women on Web services. All women in Latin America were asked specifically if they were seeking an abortion because of the virus."These groupings allowed us to examine the effects of government responses to Zika and requests for abortion as well as whether abortion requests occurred even in countries with no active transmission," Aiken said. "It's entirely possible, for example, that women in these countries might still have been worried about the possibility of Zika even though no active transmission had yet been confirmed."Using data from five years before the PAHO announcement, the researchers modeled trends for abortion requests for each country. They then used the model to forecast the expected number of requests after the PAHO announcement was issued. The researchers examined their data using a regression discontinuity design, a test used by scientists to produce clear before-and-after effects. In this case, the researchers could effectively examine requests for abortion before the PAHO alert was issued and afterward.An increase in abortion requests was pronounced for Group A. Among the eight countries in this group, all except Jamaica were associated with increases in requests for abortion. The highest figures were found in Brazil, where abortion requests were 108% higher than expected, and Ecuador, where they were 107% higher than expected."Brazil was 'ground zero' for Zika in Latin America, which may explain the significant increase," Aiken said. "Cases of microcephaly had already been identified there at the time of this study, and so women had been concerned about the risks and had been exposed to a lot of media coverage."For Group B, only small increases in requests for abortion were found in Argentina and Peru. In Peru, officials had sparked concern about Zika by asking local governments to declare a state of emergency, the researchers said. No statistical increases were found for Group C."We cannot definitely attribute the rapid acceleration in requests in the first group to worries about Zika, but many women reported Zika as their reason for seeking abortions, so there is definitely a strong correlation," Aiken said. "Our study provides a window on how Zika has affected the lives of pregnant women in Latin America."The paper, 'Requests for Abortion in Latin America Related to Concern about Zika Virus Exposure', was first published online in theSource: Newswise
It is a great pleasure and honor to be here with you today, at the opening of the Byzantium through the Centuries exhibit, which is here within the framework of the Year of Greece in Russia and Russia in Greece 2016.



What the two countries are pursuing through Greece-Russia 2016 is a renewal of our timeless historical ties and a further broadening of the horizons of our cooperation in sectors such as education, science, tourism and economy.



The main vehicle of this endeavor we have undertaken is culture. In this direction, with over 100 events in Greece and Russia during 2016, we are promoting, underscoring and, ultimately, renewing our age-old relationship with Russia. The response of day-to-day citizens and agencies of the two countries to Greece-Russia 2016 clearly demonstrates this.



We are aware that Greek culture is already quite well known in Russia, as Russian culture is in Greece. What we want to do is strengthen our common cultural tradition even further and pass it on to our countries younger generations.



To this end, the Foreign Ministry is supporting the JASON programme of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, which for 22 years now has been promoting Greek studies at Universities in Black Sea countries, having granted hundreds of scholarships, organized research visits and concluded inter-university agreements.



We are also considering a number of actions that will consolidate the cooperation between Greek and Russian Universities, because the will to produce scientific work was expressed by both sides on the occasion of the Russian universities exhibition in Thessaloniki last March.



Ladies and Gentlemen,



Today, at the Hermitage Museum  an historic museum for global cultural heritage  a very important exhibit is being inaugurated.



The purpose of the exhibit is to present to the Russian public exceptional works of the Byzantine age (4th-15th centuries AD), including very important icons from the early Cretan School, and this is also why the exhibit also includes some 120 works from Greek museums and collections: portable icons, sculptures, portions of mosaic floors and wall paintings, handwritten codes, and lavish gold jewelry.



The exhibit considers issues such as the transition from late antiquity to early Byzantium and the idea of Byzantine ecumenicity, while sides of intellectual life and Christian worship are presented.



Also highlighted are aspects of the luxurious life of the Byzantines, as well as their relations with neighbouring peoples to the East and West.



The epilogue presents an exceptional painting by DomenikosTheotokopoulos, better known as El Greco. This is an endeavor to link Byzantium and the Renaissance, pointing up the tremendous legacy of the Byzantine intellectual and artistic tradition in global art and culture.



The Byzantine panorama at the Hermitage Museum is a watershed for the further tightening of Greek-Russian relations, as it reminds us of the two peoples common cultural and religious origins. I am certain that the Russian public will find a reflection of their identity in the Byzantine exhibits.



I would like to underscore the exceptional cooperation and the particular contribution of the Hermitage Museum and its Director, Professor Piotrovsky, to the Greek-Russian Year joint initiative. And as you know, the unique Kore of the Acropolis has been hosted here since April, while visitors to the Acropolis Museum are admiring golden Scythian treasures. We are also now awaiting the exhibit being prepared by your museum in Athens, early this coming November.



I am convinced that both the Greek and Russian programmes for Greece-Russia 2016 will deepen the cooperation between our two countries and the relationship between our peoples.



It is my heartfelt hope that the Byzantium through the Centuries exhibit will be yet another watershed on our joint path towards closer cultural relations between our peoples.



Thank you.
Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias will travel to Warsaw tomorrow, 27 June, to participate in a working luncheon of EU Foreign Ministers, which is being held on the initiative of the Foreign Minister of Poland, WitoldWaszczykowski.



The main subject of tomorrows discussion will be the future of the European Union following the result of the British referendum.


The disaster began when the poverty-stricken city of nearly 100,000 residents left Detroit's water system and started using improperly treated Flint River water in April 2014 while under state management.

The newly released materials  including 9,000 pages of executive office records  include many duplicates from previous releases but also new ones. Snyder says they were made public to increase transparency and in response to public records requests, lawsuits and criminal investigations.

Here are some details:

___

'HOLDING THE BAG'

It was already known that Snyder's lawyers called for a return to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water nearly six months after the switch due to concerns about E. coli, a carcinogenic disinfectant byproduct and rusting parts at a General Motors plant, but that state officials warned it would raise residential rates too much. The new emails show that by February 2015, top Snyder aides were still worried about not rejoining Detroit's network while awaiting the completion of a Flint-area pipeline that will draw water from Lake Huron. Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore wrote: "This train is leaving and we'll be holding the bag if we don't work out a deal on DWSD for Flint." A state Treasury Department official warned of a 30 percent rate hike. Michigan was forced to help Flint return to Detroit water eight months later, after elevated lead levels were confirmed in children.

___

'RIGHT CHOICE TO LEAVE'

In March 2015, Flint's then-emergency manager, Jerry Ambrose, sent to a deputy state treasurer a news story that said the county where Flint is located could see water bills rise as much as 16 percent after the Detroit system approved rate increases. "We made the tight (sic) choice to leave ... and not go back!" Ambrose said in the email that was forwarded to top Snyder aides and others. "I never disagreed with that. I'm just worried about the interim," Muchmore said, apparently referring to the city's continued use of the river during construction of the Karegnondi Water Authority pipeline.

___

NEW WATER SOURCE?

The Flint River was always intended to be a temporary source of water. But officials misjudged how quickly the Karegnondi water would be ready. In October 2014, Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley reminded the Snyder administration that Flint was scheduled to convert to KWA water "well within" 18 months. It is still unknown when Flint will start receiving water from the KWA. In the wake of the crisis, federal regulators have required that a 3-mile testing pipeline first be built before the KWA can send water to Flint.

___

'NOT RESPONSIVE'

At times, entire emails or portions of emails are redacted as "not responsive." Some are protected by attorney-client privilege. Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said other emails  even those responding to Flint-related emails  are not related to the crisis and were redacted since the governor's office is exempt from the Michigan Freedom of Information of Act.

___

MEMO IN THE MONOTONY

The latest emails include about 270 pages of a form letter just over one page long sent by Snyder's constituent relations division from Dec. 21 to Dec. 28 to recipients whose names are redacted for privacy reasons. Staff emails said the letter was ready to be sent in anticipation of "getting slammed" after a report on Flint by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Near the end of the monotonous string of pages is one lone internal staff email. The half-page email is innocuous, though parts are redacted, but it underscores how easily something could be overlooked in such a massive and repetitive document dump. Some recipients recognized the response as a form letter and did not take kindly to it. "I can see from the two fonts in your reply that it is a form obviously sent in reply to any Flint water inquiries ... and far more important, you failed to mention many key facts," one replied on Dec. 22. "So do not bother with another reply as I now understand your words to be politic garbage and most insincere."

___

LINGERING QUESTION

The emails are a reminder of how the administration failed to get a handle on the crisis over the course of a year. Snyder has insisted that some specific warnings or red flags, such as a possible link between the water and a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak, were never given directly to him until later. But he has acknowledged "kicking myself every day" for failing to "connect the dots." Criminal charges have been filed against two state environmental regulators, but will the probe ensnare the governor's office?

___

COST OF TRANSPARENCY

So far, outside attorneys have been paid more than $670,000 to search, process and produce the executive office emails and documents, Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said. State agencies have spent an unspecified amount on software or other services to help process FOIA and legal discovery requests.
Would her two teenage children, who grew up in the United Kingdom, still qualify for loans to study at British universities? Would she and her husband, after 11 years of working here, have to sell the home they just bought? Leave their jobs? Leave their new country? Try to apply for citizenship?

The 41-year-old is among hundreds of thousands for European Union workers in Britain who are fearful and confused over what happens next as their adoptive country begins the long process of unwinding its many ties to continental Europe.

"If it were just me, I could even return to Poland," a visibly tense Woydyla said as she stocked a bar in an Italian restaurant in London's Camden district. "But my kids are more English than Polish. They don't even want to go to Poland for their holidays anymore. They even speak to each other in English."

An entire class of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, workers, students and strivers who have made the U.K. their home since Britain opened its borders to its EU neighbors now see their futures in limbo. The immigrants changed the face of Britain, turning London's Kensington neighborhood into a suburb of Paris, changing sleepy English towns like Boston into Baltic enclaves, filling supermarket shelves across the nation with Polish lager and Wiejska sausage.

"I personally cannot tell what's going to change for me," said Andrea Cardaro, a 21-year-old Italian student who compared the shock of hearing the referendum's result to the punch-in-the-gut feeling of flunking an exam. "I'll just have to keep my head up and hope for the best."

Laurence Borel, a 36-year-old digital marketing consultant from France, isn't waiting to find out what's coming next. She asked for her British passport in May after more than 15 years living in the country.

"I'll bet a lot of people are applying," she said, explaining that she'd been mulling the idea of a passport for years but the referendum prompted her to act.

"I don't want to go back to France," she said. "My life is here."

At workplaces and schools across the country, managers have sent out emails to worried foreign staffers and students, assuring them that  for now  nothing has changed.

"The formal process for leaving the European Union will take at least two years," Oxford University said in one such statement. "Our staff and students can be assured that in the short term, we anticipate no disruption to employment or study."

Over the long term though, the lives of the estimated 3 million EU citizens living in Britain may change in ways big and small. A survey commissioned by the Financial Times found that if Britain's current immigration rules were applied to EU nationals, the overwhelming majority would lose their jobs and be forced to leave the country  catastrophic news for Spanish barristas, Romanian strawberry pickers, German investment bankers and the industries that rely on them.

The biggest impact may be on the Poles, the largest group of foreign EU workers in the U.K. An estimated 850,000 people have left Poland for the U.K. to seek wages and opportunities far beyond what they could ever expect in their ex-communist homeland, a flow so dramatic that Polish is now England's second-most-spoken language.

The fate of the Poles in Britain is such an important domestic issue in Poland that President Andrzej Duda vowed after the British referendum that Polish leaders will "do everything to keep the rights unchanged" in upcoming negotiations with British leaders.

"I trust that the British government will appreciate the contribution the Poles are bringing into the development of the British Islands, into their social and cultural life," Duda said.

Under British law, EU immigrants who have resided in the U.K. for more than five years can apply for permanent residency. In practice, however, few EU citizens have bothered as their passports already allow them to travel freely and easily access education, health care, pensions and other services in Britain.

The Polish Institute of International Affairs, a Warsaw-based think tank, has estimated that still leaves up to 400,000 Poles who arrived in Britain after 2012. Though the path forward is still unclear, it's possible that they  along with hundreds of thousands more from elsewhere in Europe  may have to apply for work visas and, if rejected, have to leave the country.

Aware of the EU workers' anxiety, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who had backed the failed "remain" side, issued a special message Friday to the nearly one million European citizens living in London alone.

"As a city, we are grateful for the enormous contribution you make, and that will not change as a result of this referendum," he said. "You are very welcome here."

To be sure, not all European workers in Britain are panicking or fearful.

"I feel good. Leaving the EU is a good idea," said Gabriel Ionut, a 24-year-old from Bucharest, Romania, who works as a traffic marshal at a construction site in London. He has worked in the U.K. for four years and, with a residency permit, is confident about his chances of staying.

He says he fully understands native British concerns that their island has been forced to absorb too many immigrants in recent years, with too little control over who can come in due to the EU rules ensuring the free movement of people and labor.

"Now they will have more control over allowing in only the really good people," he said. "And they will also be able stop more refugees from the Middle East. I am afraid there could be terrorists with them."

Another Romanian construction worker said he was mostly confused. Iosif Achim, a 32-year-old from Satu Mare, Romania, has been in Britain for six years but never bothered to apply for a residency permit.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," said Achim. "But in my opinion this is going to be bad."

The concern was mirrored across the Channel by the estimated 1.2 million U.K. citizens living in Europe.

The referendum "shouldn't affect me too much . but it could," said Herman Martin, a British composer who has lived in Brussels for the past 24 years. Overall, he said, the British vote to leave the EU would be a disaster for both parties.

"I find it quite disturbing," he said.

Everyone with foreign ties appears shaken.

"We're all in shock and deeply saddened," said Christine Ullmann, a German who works in digital marketing in London, including on the "Hug a Brit" campaign that pleaded with the British to remain in the EU. Ullmann said she cried on the train Friday morning.

Borel, the French consultant, agreed that emotions were still raw.

"I love London. I love the English. I'm heartbroken," she said.
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.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - The deadline to file as a school board candidate in Washtenaw County is one month away, and 31 seats are up for grabs in November.

To get your name on the ballot, prospective candidates must fill out some paperwork with the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office, 200 N. Main St., Ann Arbor, and submit a nominating signature petition or pay a $100 fee in lieu of the petition.

School board candidates and community college trustee candidates must file by 4 p.m. July 26 to be included on the ballot for the November general election. For more information, contact the Washtenaw County Clerk's Office at 734-222-6730.

Listed below are the number of open seats on each school board in Washtenaw County as well as information on who has already filed as a candidate and who says they intend to run.

Ann Arbor Public Schools

Open seats: three

The terms of President Deb Mexicotte, Secretary Andy Thomas and Parliamentarian Simone Lightfoot are expiring in 2016. Thomas does not plan to run for re-election, Lightfoot has already filed for the November election, and Mexicotte said she is undecided at this point.

"We have to have some sustainability. I think we have righted the ship of the district, and I think it's important we have folks on the board who have experience with the rough times as we move forward," Lightfoot said, noting she brings a good understanding of the legislative process and policy to the board. Lighfoot has been on the board since 2010.

She would like to see AAPS continue to focus on being fiscally responsible and managing the district's growth in terms of keeping up facilities and maintaining good relationships with local leaders and other area school districts.

AAPS board members are hosting an information session for members of the public who may be interested in running for a school board seat. The session will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 28 at the Balas Administration Building, 2555 S. State St., Ann Arbor.

Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP to Amy Osinski at osinski@a2schools.org or 734-994-2232 by Monday.

Chelsea School District

Open seats: three

The terms of President Steve Olsen, Vice President Laurel McDevitt and Laura Bush are expiring in 2016. Olsen has filed for re-election, and McDevitt could not be reached for comment.

Olsen has been a board member since 2004, and he wants to help new Superintendent Julie Helber transition to her new leadership role. Olsen also has been appointed to the State Tenure Commission through 2019, and he must be a school board member to retain that position.

"I think the top priority for Chelsea Schools moving forward is to continue our unwavering focus on our students, their health, safety, maturation and academic growth," he said.

Dexter Community Schools

Open seats: three

The terms of Vice President Julie Schumaker, Treasurer Richard Lundy and Daryl Kipke expire in 2016. Schumaker has filed for re-election. Kipke could not be reached for comment, Lundy said it's unlikely he will run again, and no one else has filed as a candidate yet.

Schumaker has served on the Dexter board for 13 years, and she has a background as an educational researcher. She is looking forward to Dexter launching a pilot program in the fall to personalize curriculum for middle school students.

"I am very excited about the potential to target instruction to meet each individual student's learning needs," Schumaker said. "This has been a long-term need articulated by our families and teachers and could dramatically boost the engagement and achievement of our students."

Lincoln Consolidated Schools

Open seats: two

The terms of President Kimberly Samuelson and David McMahon expire in 2016. No one has filed as a candidate yet, and Samuelson and McMahon could not be reached for comment.



Manchester Community Schools

Open seats: four

The terms of President Chris Fegan, Treasurer Lyndon Uphaus, Ron Ellison and Secretary Sheryl Purol expire in 2016. Superintendent Cherie Vannatter said Uphaus, Ellison and Purol do not intent to run for re-election, and Fegan hopes to maintain her seat on the board.

The only person who has filed as a candidate so far is Karen Rothfuss, whose two children are MCS graduates.

"I want to stay involved in the schools," she said. "I know there's going to be a lot of tough decisions many schools boards will have to make coming up in the future with less money and less students. ... I'm looking forward to being a part of it and trying to make it all work."



Milan Area Schools

Open seats: three

The terms of President Janice Kiger, Treasurer Ann Landingham and Eric Peacock expire in 2016.

No one has filed as a candidate yet, but Landingham, Peacock and Kiger said they intend to run for re-election.

Saline Area Schools

Open seats: three

The terms of Craig Hoeft, Dennis Valenti and Alan Brilliant expire in 2016. Valenti and Brilliant said they intend to run for re-election, and Hoeft will not.

Scott Hummel and Michael McVey have already filed as candidates for the Saline school board.

McVey was inspired to run for a seat on the board by his late father's community service. He has a total of 37 years of experience in education as a high school English and special education teacher as well as a professor of educational technology and teacher education.

"Saline schools are in the midst of a transition with three new building administrators coming on and a packed schedule of bond money construction," McVey said, adding that he also is interested in how teachers and students are using technology in the classroom. "It is a very exciting time and requires a stable and thoughtful board to provide both oversight and assistance. I believe I can help there."



Hummel could not be reached for comment.

Whitmore Lake Public Schools

Open seats: four

The terms of Secretary Rita LaForest, Shelli Kritzman, Laura Schwennesen and Lynn Slagle expire in 2016. LaForest and Slagle do not intend to run for re-election.

Kritzman and Schwennesen have already filed as board candidates. Neither could be reached for comment.

Ypsilanti Community Schools

Open seats: two

The terms of Secretary Sharon Lee and Treasurer Meredith Schindler expire in 2016. Lee has filed for re-election, and Schindler says she intends to.

Northville Public Schools

Northville Public Schools are located in the metro Detroit area, but part of the school district is in Washtenaw County so voters in that area will have a say in who is elected to the school board.

Open seats: four

The terms of President Adam Phelps, Vice President Cynthia Jankowski, Treasurer Matthew Wilk and Sarah Prescott expire in 2016.

Prescott and Jankowski have filed for re-election, and Scott Frush has filed as a school board candidate. Wilk said he intends to run to maintain his seat on the board.

This post was updated to include another open seat for Chelsea School District board of education.



Lauren Slagter covers K-12 education for The Ann Arbor News. Contact her at 734-255-1419, lslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter @LaurenSlagter.
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI -- Two Washtenaw County teens are headed to top U.S. military academies soon. The pair will attend the academies for four years and committed to five years of service after graduation.

David Mazza of Ann Arbor and Sam Fox of Saline are scheduled to attend to the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Naval academies, respectively, in the fall 2016 semester. The Air Force Academy is located north of Colorado Springs, in El Paso County, Colorado. The Naval Academy is in Annapolis, Maryland.

Mazza, 19, is a student at Oakland University, but attended high school at Washtenaw Technical Middle College. Fox, 18, is a recent graduate of Saline High School.

Both said being able to serve their country is a high honor.

"Finding out was definitely a joyful moment," Mazza said. "I found out first thing in the morning, dropped everything I was doing and drove straight home to surprise my parents."

Mazza applied once before while he was a senior at WTMC, a high school-to-college program offered at Washtenaw Community College. He was denied at first, but Mazza took steps to be better candidate this year.

"It was pretty discouraging at first," he said. "They were really looking for physical fitness on my application, so I took some time to get into better shape."

At Oakland, Mazza also refocused on leadership skills training. He tightened up his required essays, and reapplied -- this time with much better results. Mazza's goal is to be accepted into medical school after attending the academy. If accepted, he wants to be a doctor either on base or on the battlefield.

Candidates are chosen for U.S. military academies almost exclusively through a congressional appointment. In this case, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) accepted the students after they passed a panel of community and military leaders.

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)

This panel looks at applications, an interview, various levels of fitness and academic excellence before deciding on appointees. Interested students must be U.S. citizens and between the ages of 18 to 23 by July 1 of the year they plan to attend.

Even with a congressional appointment, some students may be denied based on space limitations.

For Fox, the appointment gives her a chance to live out her dream of becoming a pilot in the U.S. Navy. It also fulfills a family legacy -- both of her grandparents served in the Navy, which spurred her interest even further.

Both she and Mazza attended their academies of choice at summer programs. The visits introduced them to the military academy lifestyle and gave them an edge against other candidates.

"That's what made me finally want to fill out the application," Fox said. "I really loved the people there. We all have the same goal in mind."

Fox was accepted upon her first time applying. She participated in a number of extra-curricular activities and swam on Saline High School's varsity team. The sacrifice cost her a coveted teenage social life, but was worth it in the end, she said.

She will join the military in a time of massive change for women looking to serve in expanded roles, including special forces and combat positions.

"I think I can do pretty much everything the guys can do, so I hope it won't be a big deal (by the time I graduate)," Fox said.

The thought of being shipped to a large scale war weighs heavy on both Mazza and Fox's minds. It's an inevitability all military men and women must face while on active duty.

"It's definitely something I've had to mentally prepare myself for," Mazza said. "If there was ever a need for a lot of doctors overseas, it's something I'd be willing to myself through."

For more information on admissions to United States military academies, visit the academy appointments page on Peters' website.

Ben Solis is an intern with MLive & The Ann Arbor News. Email him at bsolis@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter @bensolis1.
Best-Friends-Eye.jpg

"Best Friends Eye"

(Courtesy)

PINCONNING, MI -- Dedrianna Goretcki toured Capitol Hill recently to celebrate her achievement as the winner of the Congressional Art Competition for Michigan's Fifth District. The Pinconning Area High School senior's winning piece is a pencil drawing entitled "Best Friends Eye."

As the winner, Goretcki was flown to Washington, D.C., with the other winning student artists, courtesy of Southwest Airlines. She attended a reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Capitol Hill hosted by the Congressional Art Caucus and Congressman Dan Kildee, D-Flint. Goretcki's artwork is on display in the Cannon Tunnel to the U.S. Capitol alongside winners from other congressional districts across the country.

Last month, Kildee hosted the districtCongressional Art Competition at the Saginaw Art Museum. At the event, five local artists chose Goretcki as the first-place winner.

Lilianna Zarko, a senior at Arthur Hill High School, had her piece, "Self-Portrait," selected as runner-up. High school senior Hanna Louise Boettcher came in third place with her piece entitled "Ernest Hemingway."

The Congressional Art Competition recognizes the artistic talents of high school students from each congressional district around the nation. The annual event is sponsored by the members of the U.S. House of Representative's Congressional Art Caucus.
The Happy Ranger general cargo vessel unloads wind turbine blades on May 6, 2016, at Port Fisher in Bay City.

BAY CITY, MI -- When the 450-foot Happy Ranger freighter made its way into the Saginaw River on May 6, it marked the ninth vessel passage for this year's shipping season.

But the freighter's voyage that day was more than just a number. It marked the first time in a couple of years that cargo -- wind turbine blades from the Netherlands slated for installation in the Thumb in the coming month -- was shipped on the river. A majority of the river's shipping traffic has traditionally been dominated by the delivery of domestic construction and housing industry bulk materials.

"It's very rare to see that on our river," said Todd Shorkey, a reporter for BoatNerd.com, which tracks Great Lakes shipping traffic. "It's a very good sign for the future."

As the Saginaw River shipping industry looks to rebound from a decade of decline, ports are making a push to diversify cargo and build the region into a more attractive hub for industry.

The wind turbine blades spotted on the river last month and the turbine components hauled in by rail might just be the beginning.

"It's the start of lots of good things to come," said Paul Strpko, facility manager for Bay Aggregate and Port Fisher in Bay City. "As the river and this area starts to get more exposure, I see this type of business increasing for the Saginaw River."

River traffic

For now, delivery of materials such as limestone -- a key component for concrete -- continues to be the main reason drawbridges are lifting in Bay City for the lakers.

As of Monday, June 20, there have been 32 passages on the Saginaw River, according to data from BoatNerd. That number is down slightly during the same time period a year ago, when 37 freighters made their way up and down the river.

In 2014, Saginaw River shipping traffic hit a 10-year low with 110 passages. In 2005, there were 347. Traffic improved in 2015 with 132 passages -- 22 more than in 2014, according to BoatNerd data.

"The 2016 season will hopefully be a safe and profitable one for everyone involved," Shorkey wrote on BoatNerd.

Wind turbine components came in by rail to Port Fisher in Bay City.

Diversifying cargo

Increasing freighter passages and diversifying the product chugging down the river requires a stronger economy, but it really starts with more emphasis on dredging, said Doug Wirt, president and owner of Wirt Stone Dock.

"We need more draft to take the river to the next level," Wirt said. "And we need the economics to get there."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing a study to evaluate what the impact on the shipping industry would be if the Saginaw River was dredged to ocean draft, or about 28-feet.

"There is so much grain and farm products here that we could export if we had ocean draft," Wirt said. "Exporting is always a possibility -- fuel is a driving factor, of course -- but we have the talent and expertise along the river to ship overseas."

In the 1980s, Wirt shipped out sugar beet pellets to Japan for Michigan Sugar Co. In 2006, Onego Merchant unloaded totes of cane sugar at the Sargent Dock in Zilwaukee. And in 2009, OXL Lotus, loaded too deep to enter the Saginaw River, anchored out in the Saginaw Bay and offloaded her cargo onto a barge pushed by the tug Gregory J. Busch. The tug and barge made seven trips between the Consumers Energy dock and the OXL Lotus to deliver air-quality equipment, according to Shorkey.

"So, this idea isn't new, it's not re-inventing the wheel," Wirt said. "We just need the opportunities to present themselves again."

Stacks of wind turbine blades at Port Fisher on the Saginaw River in Bay City.

Wind business

Since buying former Dow Chemical Co. property on the Saginaw River in 2011, owners of Port Fisher have worked to develop the 100 acres. Combined with Bay Aggregates, owned by the same parent company, Fisher Companies, the site is about 200 acres.

During the past few years, the port has received construction material and stones, in addition to liquid fertilizers.

An opportunity to score a contract with some energy companies for Fisher came last year. Since February 2015, wind turbine components have been trucked, railed and shipped in. The most recent shipment came last May when 45 wind turbine blades, each weighing about 9,000 pounds apiece, were unloaded at the port.

Developers in Huron County this year plan to build nearly 150 wind turbines, boosting the county's total to about 475 turbines. Energy companies RES Americas, of Colorado, and Canada-based Algonquin Power and Utilities are the main companies behind the wind project.

Danish manufacturer Vestas shipped the wind turbine blades across the Atlantic Ocean to the St. Lawrence Seaway before the product made its way to the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River and then Lake Huron. The freighter then heads north, wrapping around the Thumb before entering the Saginaw River.

Workers at Port Fisher on Thursday, June 23, were staging wind turbine blades for a Friday delivery to the Thumb.

Beginning Monday, June 27, Bay City is going to be blocking off a road path for about 10 minutes beginning at 5:30 a.m. for specialized semi-trailer trucks to haul the 160-foot and 200-foot blades out to the village of Kinde, said Bill Bohlen, the city's public works director. The trucks are going to come over Independence Bridge, then head south on North Trumbull Street to M-15.

Two sets of turbines, which include six blades and two turbines, are scheduled to be delivered each day for about the next month, said Strpko.

More to come?

Strpko feels confident about the wind industry, especially after key federal tax breaks were approved last year.

John Nugent, a Huron County commissioner, said there are still plenty of turbines set to go up for the next few years.

"There are several hundred here today and several hundred more coming over the coming years," he said. "It's a mixed blessing, because some people are angry about them, some like them. It's all about finding a balance."

Across the entire shipping industry, the East Coast, West Coast and New Orleans tend to be the main ports of origin, Strpko said, but he hopes to change that thinking.

"We kind of now tag Michigan as being the new coast, by being able to use the St. Lawrence Seaway," he said.

The advantage to Michigan? Cost. It's "absolutely more affordable," he said, "especially for cargo."

But the challenge is draft. In New York, freighters are working with 40- to 50-foot water depth. The Saginaw River is anywhere between 22 and 27 feet today. The river would have to be at least 28 feet deep in the entire shipping channel to be considered ocean draft.

"Dredging is the key," Wirt said. "I'm hoping the Army Corps is favorable with their study."

As for Port Fisher, once the stock of wind turbine components is delivered, Strpko expects more to arrive.

"And if we keep talking with all of the right people, hopefully even more products make their way here," he said.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- The Macomb County-based 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard joined forces with Latvian soldiers this month to renovate a school in Silmalia, Latvia.

The 127th Wing is based in Harrison Township at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

"Nearly 300 members of the Michigan National Guard are in Latvia as part of Saber Strike 2016 and other partnership activities," a Selfridge spokesperson said in a news release.

"The Michigan National Guard and the Armed Forces of Latvia have worked together for more than 20 years as part of the State Partnership for Peace program."

The project provides training for U.S. and Latvian soldiers while the servicemen engage in aid projects for the local community.

View photos of 127th Wing helping to renovate the school in the gallery above.
Riverfront Park drowning.jpg

Emergency workers were called to the 3:18 p.m. June 25, Newaygo's RiverFront Park.

(Google.com)

NEWAYGO, MI - A 34-year-old Grand Rapids man died Saturday after apparently drowning in the Muskegon River at the city of Newaygo's Riverfront Park.

Emergency workers were called to the park 3:18 p.m. June 25, according to a news release from the Newaygo Police Department. The man was reported to have been fishing off the bank in the "Phase 2" section of the park and had entered the water.

An extensive search was conducted. The Newaygo Police Department was assisted by other members of the Muskegon River Task Force and a rental company, Wisner Rents Canoes. Newaygo County Dive team members were directed to the location the man was last seen.

The man was located shortly after the dive team deployed, but he did not survive. Police did not immediately identify him.

"Newaygo Police Department greatly appreciated the assistance of these Departments and the seamless cooperation was evident," according to a press release. "Though fast in our response a better outcome was not attained."

Newaygo County Sheriff Pat Hedlund wrote about the incident in a public Facebook post.

"Our Divers did an outstanding job and located the victim in minutes after they [Divers] entered the water. Unfortunately, the young man did not survive," Hedlund said. "With our Muskegon River Task Force officers already in boats and on the river, we had adequate resources in the scene very quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save this young man."
A Michigan man who was captured in Costa Rica almost a year after he escaped Upper Peninsula police is headed back to the United States, a move that follows a two-day manhunt for him when he broke out of jail through a vent, the Tico Times reports.

John Wesley Saatio's first run from police came after he broke loose following a June 19, 2015, court appearance on charges of home invasion and malicious destruction of police property.

He was caught in Costa Rica earlier this month, but detention there apparently didn't suit his plan either. Saatio broke out of a temporary immigration detention center in Hatillo, San Jose, the Times reported.

He was found two days later in Los Guido, south of San Jose, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The Times reported Saatio escaped during dinner through a ventilation duct at the detention center, where he had been held for nearly three weeks.

Immigration spokeswoman Seidy Munoz told The Tico Times that Saatio had applied for refugee status through Costa Rica's immigration courts, which extended his stay in the detention center.

Authorities there told the Times that Saatio was to be extradited Saturday on a commercial flight, and would be accompanied by U.S. Marshals.
Wexford County Fatal.jpg

The accident occurred near the intersection of North 31 Road and East 16 Road in Wexford County's Colfax Township, north of Cadillac.

(Google.com)

UPDATE: Police identify man killed in tractor accident

COLFAX TOWNSHIP, MI - A 67-year-old man died Saturday, June 25, in an accident as he worked to clear trails.

The man's family found him pinned underneath his tractor about 2 p.m. Saturday, according to a news release from the Wexford County Sherriff. Deputies, rescue workers from North Flight EMS, and firefighters from departments in Colfax and Cedar Creek townships responded the area.

The accident occurred near the intersection of North 31 Road and East 16 Road in Wexford County's Colfax Township, north of Cadillac.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. His name was not immediately released as authorities worked to notify other family members.

An initial investigation indicated the deceased man was using a tractor and a brush hog to mow trails through the property, according to the release. The deceased victim was not wearing a seatbelt, and fell off the driver's seat to the ground, where the tractor ran him over.

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the accident. The accident remains under investigation by the sheriff's office.
plawecki1.JPG

Rep. Julie Plawecki, D-Dearborn Heights (left) speaks in support of more fracking regulation at a House Democratic press conference on Feb. 11, 2016.

(Emily Lawler | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- First-term state Representative Julie Plawecki, D-Dearborn Heights, is dead at age 54.

Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights, shared the news on Facebook late Saturday night.

"It is with a heavy heart and overwhelming sadness that I share the news of the passing of Representative Julie Plawecki," Knezek said.

"... Representative Plawecki was an absolutely outstanding public servant, beloved by all, and a fighter for her constituents," he said.

She died at 54, according to capitol news service Gongwer, but a cause of death is not immediately clear.

Plawecki served the state's 11th House District. Before becoming a representative she was a medical technologist and taught math, science and religion according to information posted on her official biography.

In the House she sponsored bills on environmental protection, health insurance, school funding and campaign finance.

She leaves behind husband Mark Plawecki -- a judge in Michigan's 20th District Court who recently suspended a campaign for Michigan Supreme Court justice -- and three daughters.

Julie Plawecki was running for reelection this fall. According to information from the Secretary of State's office, she was the only Democrat running for the 11th House District seat.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
The Center New Location.jpg

The Center, an inclusive non-profit community organization, will vacate its North Muskegon office and head to a new location on the top floor of 851 W. Laketon Ave. on June 30. (Malachi Barrett | MLive)

UPDATED June 28: Rev. Robert Teszlewicz was notified of numerous City of Muskegon code violations at the property on West Laketon Avenue that that were previously unknown. The Center will move its property into storage while looking for another place to rent.

MUSKEGON, MI -- For the third time in its first year of operation, an inclusive West Michigan support center will change its headquarters.

The Center is an inclusive non-profit community organization that offers resources, support and education to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. It will vacate its North Muskegon offices on 402 Center St. and head to a new location on the top floor of 851 W. Laketon Ave. on June 30.

"The third time is the charm," said Rev. Robert Teszlewicz, founder of The Center. "We learned a lot going on our little journey."

The Center started in Muskegon Heights on June 1, 2015. Muskegon Heights quickly proved to be a poor fit for the organization. Some people, he said, were hesitant to volunteer or demonstrate outside because of where the space is located.

"It's an odd thing, I suppose there are all sorts of cultural differences wherever you go," Teszlewicz said. "In Muskegon Heights, the people in town were very friendly but because of violence in city people wouldn't want to go down there. We sat there month after month with few programs going on; it was discouraging. It was time to go when there was a shooting 30 feet from our front door."

A move to North Muskegon on Dec. 1, lasted for another six months, however its focus on LGBTQ issues made for somewhat strained relationship with the community, Teszlewicz said.

"North Muskegon is wonderful, you can't beat the location and there are lots of really friendly people here but there is an undertow (of residents) not wanting to deal with anything," Teszlewicz said. "There is alcoholism and drug abuse and there are gay students that are struggling."

The organization also struggled to find donors and active participants.

Regardless of their past relationship, Teszlewicz said The Center is leaving on a positive note with no regrets.

"We just couldn't sell our services to the town," he said. "I don't look at a person with disdain or distrust I look at them as what can we do to make their life better. There are more ways that we are similar than we are different. We need to help one another on that journey."

The new location will allow the organization to be more involved on the neighborhood level than we could in North Muskegon, Teszlewicz said.

His work experience includes a stint at Michigan Youth Correctional Facility and several years solving child custody and visitation matters for Muskegon County. In the 1980s, during the onset of the AIDs epidemic, the outspoken priest ran an adult foster care for people affected by the disease.

"There's a good portion of people who think (being LGBTQ) is a sin and abomination," Teszlewicz said. "We've had some really supportive pastors at churches here and built strong relationships."

The Center has moved three times, first residing in Muskegon Heights, then North Muskegon and finally settling in Muskegon on West Laketon Avenue. (CartoDB)

The suicide of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender girl from Warren County, Ohio, called Teszlewicz to action. Alcorn, who was assigned a boy at birth, was not accepted by her conservative Christian parents and walked into traffic on I-71 in December 2014.

After hearing her story, Teszlewicz said he was driven to help individuals who are isolated and discriminated against in the LGBT community.

"LGBTQ kids are struggling to get accepted and find their way," he said. "So many are living a double life, we have to do something about that. We've got to change that perception that these kids need to stay in the closet. They need to come out and have love and acceptance. The alternative is pretty frightening."

The organization will resume programming after a week transition period.

For more information about LGBT Support Services email revrobert@lbgtsupportservices.org or call 231-747-8329.

Malachi Barrett covers community news for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at mbarret1@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter @PolarBarrett or on Facebook.
CARO, MI -- Caro residents have the opportunity to get to know law enforcement personnel during the Caro Citizens Academy starting Thursday, July 28.

MLive | File Photo

The eight-week academy will be offered each Thursday until Sept. 15, when it will end with a graduation ceremony. It is offered by the Michigan State Police Caro post.

Participants will become familiar with the operations of the state police and with trooper procedures, as well as law enforcement's role in the community. They will also get to know staff at the Caro post.

The academy meets at the Tuscola County Medical Care Facility Business Annex at 1231 Cleaver Road from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. If you are interested, contact Trooper Mark Swales at (989) 673-2156 or swalesm@michigan.gov.

Participants must be 18 or older.
Business / Companies

by Staff reporter

A number of foreign investors have warmed up to Zimbabwe following President Mugabe's clarification of the indigenisation policy, with the Zimbabwe Investment Authority approving investments worth US$300 million over the past few months, a Cabinet minister has said.South Africa, China, Mauritius and the United Kingdom top that investment list with interests in energy, manufacturing, construction, mining, tourism and agriculture.In April 2016, President Mugabe gave the strongest indication that Harare was open for business, clarifying the indigenisation policy and its implementation matrix.This followed apprehension from domestic businesses and investors mainly fuelled by a row over policy interpretation between Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao and his finance counterpart, Minister Patrick Chinamasa.President Mugabe said, "I wish to start by pointing out that the implementation of the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy distinguishes three economic sectors, namely: the Natural Resources Sector, Non-Resources Sector and the Reserved Sector."These sectors are to be approached differently in terms of implementation of and compliance with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy."Macro-Economic and Investment Promotion Minister Dr Obert Mpofu told The Sunday Mail that investors he has met since that clarification have not been edgy over indigenisation.A delegation will leave for South Africa and Europe soon to scout for more investment, Minister Mpofu added. "Investors have been coming, but after the President's clarification, we are receiving record numbers of people who want to invest in our country, and there are no usual questions on indigenisation because the President has spoken."We are compiling figures of who has come and what exactly they want. We are intensifying efforts to attract investment, especially from our countrymen abroad, and we are happy because as we speak, Cabinet has finalised the National Diaspora Policy."Latest data shows the Zimbabwe Investment Authority has approved foreign investment worth US$287 million in the first half of 2016.South Africa takes pole position at US$100 million-plus followed by China (US$87 million), Mauritius (US$29 million) and the United Kingdom (US$19 million).Over US$100 million has gone into the energy sector, US$47 million (mining), US$36 million (manufacturing), US$70 million (services) and US$20 million (construction). In 2015, ZIA approved 170 projects worth US$3,1 billion, up from 2014's US$1,1 billion.Economic analyst Mr Witness Chinyama said: "It's about confidence-building; it was important that the President cleared the confusion (around indigenisation implementation). It also shows political will from the highest office."In the natural resources sector, the President explained in his April statement, Government or its designated entities will hold 50 percent stake and the partnering investor 49 percent.Businesses into non-natural resources should meet "socially and economically" strategic objectives like beneficiation, technology transfer, employment creation, ownership and/or employee ownership schemes and linkage programmes.
The first edition of the Exclusive Men of the Year (EMY) Awards came off at the State Banquet Hall last Saturday. The night also saw Sarkodie, Bola Ray, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom grabbing awards whilst making fashion statements.

It was a night to celebrate men of excellence but our female stars were there in their numbers too. Nadia Buari and Zynnell Zuh attended the maiden edition of the Exclusive Men of the Year (EMY) Awards at the State Banquet Hall last Saturday and made their own fashion statements. But Selorm Galley, alias Selly was lurking in the shadows looking stunning in a figure-hugging white gown  in the arms of her husband, Cartel Big J.

Check out the men and womens fashion below.


Scene of a car bomb attack claimed by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants on the Naasa Hablood hotel in Mogadishu on June 25, 2016 which killed at least 11 people. By Mohamed Abdiwahab (AFP)

26.06.2016 LISTEN

Mogadishu (AFP) - A junior minister was among 11 people killed in an attack by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants on a hotel in the Somali capital, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

The body of Buri Mohamed Hamza, minister of state in the prime minister's office for the environment, has been retrieved from the collapsed building of the Naasa Hablood hotel, the ministry added.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the relatives of the minister who was killed in Mogadishu yesterday," a ministry statement read.

Saturday's assault, the latest in a series by the Islamist group targeting hotels and restaurants, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the building.

Gunmen then stormed the Naasa Hablood hotel in an assault lasting for several hours. Special security forces ended the siege after killing three attackers inside the hotel.

Two of the 11 dead were doctors, a security ministry spokesman said, while medical sources said some 20 civilians were wounded.

The Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack through a statement on the Telegram smartphone app, saying their fighters had forced their way into the hotel.

The assault came three weeks after another attack quickly claimed the Shabaab group on the city's Ambassador hotel left 10 dead including two lawmakers when a huge car bomb ripped the front off the six-storey building.

In November last year, the Islamists carried out a similar attack on the Sahafi hotel in central Mogadishu, leaving at least 12 dead.

In recent months they have also claimed attacks on bases of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The Shabaab lost their foothold in the capital in 2011 but continue their battle to overthrow the Somali government and launch regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets like hotels and restaurants in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
26.06.2016 LISTEN

Dear Friends of Brexit,

I bring you greetings from Ghana. Its been days after Brexit and I know many of you are still devastated at the outcome. Particularly, at a time that you are washed to believe that you have on the average 69 years to live with the future which they say the older generation has unleashed on you. It is human to be afraid of what you dont know. Even Demi who voted out and should now be jubilating is rather nurturing fears simply because she is haunted.

But is it all that gloomy, younger UK?

Your prime minister or more perhaps defeated prime minister, David Cameron says he has long supported EU membership, as long as the bloc reformed. He also claims to have negotiated for a special status for you in the EU. So I ask, was it a vote for a reformed EU or an EU with a special status for UK or perhaps both?

Economic history is clear on how you became a super house; from engaging with Low Countries to protecting your economy.

Today you have an opportunity to make the Commonwealth of Nations thicker and stronger. I believe you younger people have been presented with an opportunity to build a new UK; a UK that reflects your thinking, aspirations, and future; and a UK that will have the traces of your sweat and hard work.

Lest you forget one generation worked to make your nation what it is today. Dont forget one generation transformed England from a Country relying heavily on raw wool export to the Low Countries into the most formidable wool-manufacturing nation in the world.

Now its your turn. What are you afraid of? Dont make me believe you are too scared and lazy to work out your own miracle. We cannot always be walking around the world with the impression of a free-born generation. Build your own future. Carry your nation to its new destination. Leave something for the next generation.

Yes there will be challenges and it has already begun. This morning I read that 45 billion has been wiped off FTSE 100 in a day of chaos after Brexit. Do not panic, not at all. This is just an oligarchic conspiracy to prove you wrong, make you regret and blame another generation for your woes.

Be proud to be living in a mistaken nation and be proud to be part in correcting it. That is only if the former even holds. Forget the hardships. If you we are surviving in Africa then you too can. Like Demi wrote you only left the EU and not Europe.

If you are looking for motivation then look to Africa. We will be there to give you a shoulder and share our survival experiences. We have survived it all: from exploitative conspiracy to trade imbalances; corruption to selfish leadership; slavery to colonialism; sanctions to wrong policy prescriptions, wars to insurgencies. You are even fortunate to have leaders who are committed to go through these times with you.

Just be proud of your outcome even it if was stamped on you by a generation other than yours. You are the cheetah generation. Nations do fail and many have. The world needs motivation and you cannot disappoint.

America did it when they rejected Adam Smiths analysis in favour of common sense and the instinct of what was necessary for the nation.

Just cheer up and embrace today. Its all you got to make a difference. Dont forget you are all sons and daughters of the queen.

Yours in the Commonwealth,

Bernard Kwofie.
26.06.2016 LISTEN

A Bribe Is A Bribe Irrespective Of Where It Ends Up.

It is difficult at times to critique a public figure you admire. But when he appears to be falling of the standard he represents, we believe it does a world of good to criticise this individual constructively.

Wintson Churchill once admitted, "Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

You are being accused of carving a pattern of INDIRECTLY establishing a competition between TWO of the finest INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS Ghana is blessed with. This is in the persons of MR. ANAS and MR. MANNASEH AZURE ... Our democracy needs these two to be collaborating and not competing. Our democracy needs such fine young journalists to hold your views in high esteem ...

Observers are picking the clear signals that you seem to be engineering a competition between them if you are not aware Sir. If it is not the case, then what you stand you in the last few years, has suffered the 'GHANA FIRST' consistency when it comes to issues smelling corruption. I will not want to go into the archives of such inconsistency. I will concentrate on the most recent one.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE JUDGES, (YOU virtually 'SWORN' ON NEWSFILE, TO CAMPAIGN FOR THEIR REMOVAL) who were tempted to TAKE GOATS,SHEEP,YAM and THE PRESIDENT WHO WILLINGLY TOOK A $100,000 FORD EXPEDITION?

Did Mr. Azure tempt the president to take a 'gifted-bribe' of a vehicle worth $100,000?

Your attempt to downplay this issue and justify the president's lack of judgement is very unfortunate to say the least. Simple because your source from the flagstaff house seems to confirm to you the said vehicle is in the pool of automobiles at the flagstaff house, does not make the gift right. It is still a bribe for favour.

When is a bribe a serious issue then? Is a bribe according to you now justified depending on what is done with the bribe? I am sure, you have heard of the old adage:

"There's no such thing as a free lunch," or even a free parker pen. The have spoken strongly about the lack of ethics adherence around the conduct of public servants. So it surprises most folks who admire you as a seasoned journalist the manner you seem to downplay the idea that ethical politicians should recognise taking any gift from someone with business before him or her is intended to exert an influence.

Correct us if we are wrong, but would it have been okay for you if the judges whose verdicts in court were alleged to have been influenced by "gifts" they took, could prove that they donated their 'gifted-bribes' of goats, sheep, yam, etc etc, to OSU CHILDREN'S HOME?

DID YOU BOTHER TO FIND OUT WHAT THE JUDGES DID WITH THEIR BRIBES? Maybe they donated the bribes of yam and goat to an orphanages ... so that justifies the bribe taken, right?

Mr. Baako, you have admirable personality crafted in the image of your fine common sense analysis most of the time. Most of us applaud you for that. But this kind of terrible analysis you try to validate it somehow lacks common sense application. Do not allowing this to tarnish your credibility of fairness ... it is being suggested that if it were Mr. Anas who conducted this fine investigative journalism by Mr. Azure to exposed the president of taking a bribe which is exactly what the president did, you would be singing a different tune of praises and applauding Mr. Anas.

Senior Man Baako, once again it is becoming one too many. These are the two most prolific young celebrity investigative journalists our country is blessed with ... don't use your personality and public profile to play one against the other. They are friends and not even adversaries let alone enemies.

IT IS NOT FAIR AND NOT COOL Mr. Baako.

This is meant to be a constructive criticism and we hope you will see it that way.

CPAG DESK
Entebbe (Uganda) (AFP) - Skimming above the choppy waves through the dark the four planes swooped in low over Lake Victoria, packed with over 200 elite Israeli commandos on a daring raid to free hijacked hostages.

Landing soon after midnight at Uganda's Entebbe airport on July 4, 1976, it took the paratroopers less than an hour to storm the base and free over 100 passengers aboard an Air France plane, an operation that has gone down in special forces legend. The plane had been hijacked a week earlier on June 27.

Four decades later, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Uganda for the anniversary not only to mark the operation and boost now-friendly ties between Uganda and Israel, but also to pay a deeply personal tribute.

The commando leader, the only Israeli soldier killed in the raid, was his older brother, 30-year old Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.

As an operation, it was "a difficult one", remembered Amir Ofer, then a sergeant major and now a businessman, visiting Uganda earlier this month as part of preparations to mark the anniversary.

- Bullet scars preserved -

Uganda and Israel are planning the memorial to be one of reconciliation, preserving the bullet scars in the walls of the old terminal at Entebbe, still the airport for the capital Kampala, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.

Earlier this month, some of the retired commandos who took part in the raid visited the scene of the extraordinary rescue, standing alongside Ugandan officials, including the son of their then enemy, dictator Idi Amin.

"We had short time to prepare for it," said Ofer, noting the more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) between Uganda and Israel, with a 48-hour ultimatum before the gunmen would start killing hostages. "The clock was ticking away after the terrorists gave their ultimatum."

An Air France plane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris had been hijacked by two Palestinians and two Germans in Athens, and ordered to fly to Entebbe with 250 passengers aboard.

Uganda's Amin, who had cut ties with Israel in favour of cash handouts from Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, allowed the hijacked plane to land.

On arrival, Jewish and Israeli hostages were separated and others freed, leaving about 100 hostages and crew members guarded by the hijackers.

Neither the hijackers nor Ugandan troops ever expected special forces could stage a raid from so far away, taking the airport by complete surprise.

"We fanned out without any one realising that we were an enemy force," Ofer said, describing how they rushed out of the plane after touching down in the dark. The initial force roared out of the plane in a black Mercedes that looked like Amin's personal car, but their cover was blown when they had to shoot a Ugandan guard.

"Within minutes of our arrival, we were able to arrive at the terminal, killed the terrorists and within an hour we were on our way back to Israel," Ofer added.

- All but 3 freed -

All but three of the hostages were freed in the raid while 20 Ugandan soldiers and seven hijackers were killed, along with several Ugandan citizens.

One other hostage, a 75-year-old Israeli woman who had been transferred to a hospital, was subsequently killed on Amin's orders.

Enemies in 1976, the raid today is hoped to help build ties between the two nations.

The raid "will forever remain at the heart of all those that got involved," said former Israeli sergeant-major Alex Davidi who also took part in the raid.

Bonifence Byamukama, from the Uganda Tourism Board, said they were "working on a monument in order to preserve the history" of the operation, including the bullet scars in the walls.

Netanyahu's planned trip, the first by an Israeli premier to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited Casablanca in 1994, is a culmination of years of rapprochement and is hoped will boost links with African nations, particularly on security issues.

- 'Sign of reconciliation' -

Galvanised by a growing demand for Israeli security assistance and his government's search for new allies, Netanyahu has put a fresh focus on improving ties on the continent.

Amin's son Jaffar, a 10-year old boy when the raid took place, welcomed the commandos to Uganda this month as a "sign of reconciliation", remembering the stories his father told after he was deposed and forced into exile.

Amin, whose eccentric eight-year regime helped his name become a shorthand for African dictatorship and violent misrule, said he had been "close" to the soldier who shot dead Yonatan Netanyahu.

The officer, named as Captain Rafael Osacha, reportedly died quietly in retirement in the 1990s.

Jaffar recalled what his father had said when he asked why he had not sent fighter jets to shoot down the departing Israelis.

"My father said of the Israelis, 'Son, those are the children of God, when they start to fight, they never stop,'" Jaffar said.

"To him, he felt they had come to rescue their people, they had accomplished their mission, so he let them go."
Laas Geel (Somalia) (AFP) - Centuries have passed since Neolithic artists swirled red and white colour on the cliffs of northern Somalia, painting antelopes, cattle, giraffes and hunters carrying bows and arrows.

Today, the paintings at Laas Geel in the self-declared state of Somaliland retain their fresh brilliance, providing vivid depictions of a pastoralist history dating back some 5,000 years or more.

"These paintings are unique. This style cannot be found anywhere in Africa," said Abdisalam Shabelleh, the site manager from Somaliland's Ministry of Tourism.

Then he points to a corner, where the paint fades and peels off the rocks. "If nothing is done now, in 20 years it could all have disappeared," he added.

The site is in dire need of protection. "We don't have the knowledge, the experience or the financial resources. We need support," Shabelleh said.

The paintings, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, are considered among the oldest and best preserved rock art sites in Africa but are protected only by a few guards who ask visitors not to touch the paintings.

- Diplomatic donor legal limbo -

Applications for assistance by Somaliland's government have gone unheeded. A former British protectorate, Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia when war erupted following the overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, but it is not recognised by the international community.

The "lack of recognition" of the country blocks the cave's protection, said Xavier Gutherz, the former head of the French archaeology team that discovered the site in 2002.

Amazed by the remarkable condition of the paintings as well as their previously unknown style, the archaeologist asked for the cave's listing as a UNESCO world heritage site.

But that request was refused because Somaliland is not recognised as a separate nation. "Only state parties to the World Heritage Convention can nominate sites for World Heritage status," said a UNESCO spokeswoman.

Requests for funding from donor countries face the same legal and diplomatic headache.

Centuries of isolation and local beliefs that the site was haunted and the art the work of evil spirits may have contributed to Laas Geel's protection.

But since their discovery, the cave paintings have become one of the main attractions for visitors to Somaliland.

- 'Part of our blood' -

Around a thousand visitors each year endure long stretches of rugged terrain and travel with armed escorts to reach Laas Geel, and numbers are growing.

"The concerns of Somaliland are legitimate," said Gutherz, who has identified key areas to tackle to help protect the site.

"We have to secure the site, arrange access paths, strengthen the rocks that could collapse, divert rainwater runoff and improve the training of guards," he said.

With a major development planned for Somaliland's main port at Berbera, the number of visitors is expected to increase.

Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, who heads local environmental group Candlelight, said that dust is adding to the damage at the caves.

"The increased human activity in the area, trampling on the bare gravelly soil, does not allow the natural regeneration of plants," Awale said. "The resulting dust particles may contribute to the fading of the paintings."

Archaeologists say that Laas Geel may only be one of many treasures awaiting discovery in the vast rocky plains stretching towards the tip of the Horn of Africa.

Musa Abdi Jama, one of the guardians of the site, sees in the ancient site of Laas Geel the hope of a new nation to be, flying the flag for the cultural identity and uniqueness of Somaliland.

"Here, it was once known as the home of djinn (spirits) by the local nomadic people, who used to slaughter domestic animals for sacrifice in order to live there in peace," Jama said.

"Now it is part of our blood. Tomorrow, God willing, it will be the first place in Somaliland to be internationally recognised."
Folks, I love the EC's Mrs. Charlotte Osei for standing her ground and making it clear that the EC is more focused on ensuring peaceful general elections to move our democracy forward than succumbing to just any kind of pressure being mounted on it to serve narrow interests and purposes.

She has proved beyond all reasonable doubts that she knows what it takes to use general elections to unite a country and not to tear it apart.

Here is what she stands for: There are no victors in chaos, only victims. The outcome of a peaceful election process ensures that we all, along with our nation, emerge together as victors. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Elections-2016-There-is-no-victor-in-chaos-EC-boss-warns-450630).

Folks, this woman has thrown a huge challenge to Ghanaians, making it clear that keeping the country together on the basis of general elections demands that everyone contributes his/her quota to support the EC instead of targeting it as a match-maker to be destroyed for not bowing to pressure to do as its detractors wish.

And many acts of detraction have occurred and will occur as it becomes clear that the EC won't allow its independence to be tampered with. We have already begun seeing the forces threatening that independence.

As Mrs. Osei put it, We owe our nation Ghana, and the children of Ghana the duty to jointly ensure peace and stability in Ghana. Performing that duty demands more than what has happened so far from the camp of those isolating the EC for their kind of vengeance!!

Other salient issues raised by Mrs. Osei include the following:

1. The EC is committed to ensuring an electoral process that guarantees people the right to cast their ballots without intimidation or violence; a process that ensures that every vote counts equally; an inclusive and transparent collation and declaration process; in accordance with the principles of electoral justice and the laws of Ghana.

2. "State institutions and political actors must make it a point to respect the rule of law before, during and after the elections because that is a critical aspect of ensuring a peaceful and credible electoral process.

3. The right to vote is a sacred right in our Constitution that must not be violated in yielding to the loudest voices or at will. We owe a duty to each other to insist that state institutions and political parties involved in the electoral process respect the law, respect the processes enshrined in the law and respect the rights of others, particularly the vulnerable in our society whose voices are not always heard.

4. The Electoral Commission is resolute in its conviction to do its part. It is now the duty of every Ghanaian to demonstrate his or her commitment to ensuring a peaceful electoral outcome.

Folks, these are clear opinions that those seeking the well-being of Ghana should appreciate. The EC needs support to do its work and not the kind of confrontational posturing that those seeking their narrow political interests are putting up. After all, what will become of their ambitions if they make it difficult for the EC to conduct the elections? Declare themselves winners of elections not conducted?

I like it that the EC Chair is coming out this way at this time. Growing our democracy demands that we support the EC and all state institutions vested with the power to oversee the electoral process. They need our support, not our venom. Way to go, Mrs. Osei!!

I shall return
The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, Malik Kweku Baako prays the Supreme Court will instruct the Electoral Commission to throw away the existing voters register.

He is convinced the need for a new register has long been overdue as he accuses the Electoral Commission and the Attorney General of being economical with the truth in their appearances in court.I am beginning to think that perhaps if we had opted for a new register, two years ago, we would have cured this mischief, we may have cured it, he said.

The Supreme Court on its May 5 judgment declined to grant the request for a new register. But its take on persons who registered with the NHIS cards has generated varied interpretations, compelling the plaintiff to go back to court for clarity.

Based on that, the Supreme Court on Thursday issued a six-day ultimatum to the EC to submit the list of persons who registered with the NHIS identity cards to the court as well as indicate in writing, the modalities it intends to use in removing the names of those persons from the countrys voters register which has generated hue and cry in the last months.

But Mr. Baako told Joy FMs Newsfile Saturday it would not have come to this point if the court had simply asked the EC to compile a new voters register. That is why I said then perhaps a new register would have cured the mischief, or this validation thing the court rejected, we may have to look at it again, he stated.

I wish it happened [court asking for a new voters register], that would be my wish. We may walk a tight rope but who tells you we cant have a new register in three months, who says we cant?

This means that perhaps we may have to review the November 7 and go back to December 7. Mr. Baako has one other wish he wants the Supreme Court to consider when the parties return to court next week. I think the EC has become part of the problem, when they return to the court on the 30th, and they bring the list, the list ought to be subjected to strict scrutiny in terms of its authenticity, credibility and integrity.
Business / Companies

by Tinomuda Chakanyuka

MOBILE telephone operators are headed for a clash with the Government after they failed to heed a December directive which had set June as the deadline to scrap the use of airtime scratch cards as part of reducing litter pollution.In December last year, the Government announced that mobile phone operators should have scrapped the use of scratch cards and introduce environmental friendly methods of airtime recharge.Although the deadline expired two week ago, all the major mobile telephone operators are still selling airtime through the scratch cards. Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said the Government will not hesitate to clamp down on the operators for failing to adhere to the directive.She said her ministry has scheduled a meeting with mobile phone operators this week to discuss the issue, of which failure by the companies to come with an acceptable position will result in the Government descending heavily on them."We are sticking to our position and we are not moving. We have set up a meeting with them next week (this week) to hear what they have to put in place in compliance with our directive. We discussed that last week and they are supposed to answer and tell us their plans before we take action. We are very serious on this matter and we will move in without hesitation if they fail to comply," she said.Muchinguri-Kashiri said her ministry has noted with concern that mobile phone operators had ignored the extended producer responsibility leaving the burden of cleaning used scratched juice cards on local authorities. She said airtime scratch cards were a major source of litter hence the decision to ban their use and encourage environment friendly airtime top up options."They have tried to appeal but we are saying no. We are even looking at a strong levy on importation as a way of discouraging their continued use. The polluter must pay the cost of destroying the environment, that's the principle," she said.Thousands of airtime vendors who had found employment in airtime recharge cards selling business risk being rendered jobless if the Government goes ahead and clamp on their use. Mobile telephone companies have been indicating that they have introduced paperless top up methods but still the new ways have not yet been fully embraced by the public.The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) had expressed confidence that the mobile phone companies would comply with the ban after they submitted "environmental friendly action plans" to deal with the matter.The Government's ban on airtime scratch cards comes as part of a raft of new regulations that also outlawed the use of kaylite packaging for food and diapers. However, most companies, even some listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, are still openly defying the directive on kaylite.The Government has said fines for littering range from $20 to $5 000 as the Government is also working on ways to introduce mandatory community service for litterbugs.
The Ghana Highway Authority is putting efforts in place to ensure a successful closure of part of the Ayi-Mensah-Peduase road.

The Southbound Carriageway of the road will be closed to traffic from tomorrow, [Monday], June 27, the Ghana Highway Authority has announced.

According to them, the closure is to allow for the slope repair works on the rockface.

An earlier statement had announced that the stretch would be closed for five months from last Wednesday, June 22 to November 19, 2016.

The Ghana Highway Authority announces for the information of motorists that the south-bound lane i.e the lane from the Peduase Lodge to Ayi Mensah on the Accra-Aburi Road would be closed to vehicular traffic for five months.

However, the date for the closure was pushed back and will now take effect from Monday.

The Highway Authority has said that measures are being put in place to ensure the safety of road users as work on the stretch commences.

Temporary traffic control measures, public information and transportation operation (as well as enforcement) strategies are being deployed to ensure safe passage of traffic on project road during daylight hours and nighttime.

The Ayi-Mensah- Peduase road

The road which runs along the Aburi hills, connects Accra to the Eastern Region.

However, recent motor accidents on the stretch, many of them associated with falling rocks from the hills have become a major concern.

Observers have even suggested that the hill may give way soon if immediate steps are not taken to address the problem.

The contractor tasked to work on the project is expected to stabilise the slope and halt the fall of rocks, which now pose a danger to the travelling public, particularly vehicles on the Aburi-Accra section of the road.

The Deputy Chief Executive of the GHA in charge of Development, Mr Fred Joe Peseo, had earlier said the Greater Accra Regional Office of the GHA was monitoring the situation, so that it could move in to clear debris of rocks that might fall on the main carriageway.

Ayi Mensah-Peduase road

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana
26.06.2016 LISTEN

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA

Cape Coast, June 26, GNA - Professor Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey, a renowned Ghanaian Mathematical Physicist has reiterated the call on African Governments to put in place deliberate policies to adequately finance mathematics, Science and Technology education.

This, he said, is the best means to solve the many problems that confront societies in Africa and the fastest route to technological and sustainable socio-economic development on the continent.

Prof Allotey who was speaking at the 4th graduation ceremony of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS Ghana) said nations such as the UK, US and Germany have become economic giants because they purposefully pumped huge capital into mathematical science and technology.

A total of 48 students made up of 18 females and 30 males drawn from 16 African countries graduated with master's degrees in Mathematical Science in Cape Coast, with 10 receiving Professor Allotey Meritorious award.

He said mathematics and scientific knowledge systems, including information and communication technology, have become the pillars in the accelerated development of industrialised countries and would continue to be the dominant factor in this age.

He said although African Universities are graduating larger number of students annually, a substantial number of them lack high level training in mathematical, scientific and technical fields.

He said science and technology are the new international currency on which fortunes of nations could rise and fall.

He said the widening gap between the developed and the poor countries are manifestations of science and technology gap.

Prof Allotey who is the President of AIMS-Ghana stated that the body has trained 154 talented men and women from 19 countries in Africa for careers in academia and industry since its inception in August 2012.

He said through it public engagement programme, AIMS Ghana through the sponsorship of the government had trained 370 mathematics and science teachers from Eastern, Upper West and Central Regions.

He was of the conviction that the establishment of AIMS Ghana Research Centre would enhance excellence in mathematical science and its application and offer opportunity for Ghana to bring Africa to the forefront of science and innovation.

He expressed appreciation to Ghana and Canada for the continual support and called on others to come to aid the academic institution to admit more mathematical science students.

Prof Aba Bentil Andam, the first Ghanaian female Physicist who gave the keynote address said lack of scientific manpower has contributed to the slow progress of development in Africa.

She called for commitment to raise the level of development literacy to break the cycle of poverty.

She noted that women are often marginalised in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education in Africa and called on policy makers, teachers and parents to take practical action to raise the interest of females in science.

She said globalisation has made scientific and technological literacy indispensable, therefore, leaving it in the hands of men and a few women cannot get the continent the desired scientific and technological-led economic growth.

She advised the graduates to aspire to higher heights and use the skills and knowledge acquired at AIMS-Ghana to champion the growth and development of the African continent and the world at large.

GNA
Port el Kantaoui (Tunisia) (AFP) - Tunisia held a minute's silence Sunday marking one year since a seaside attack claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 38 tourists including 30 Britons in the North African country.

Tunisia's Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik and British Foreign Office official Tobias Ellwood laid down flowers to remember the victims of the shooting in the town of Port El Kantaoui south of the capital.

A priest then called out the names of the victims under the watchful eye of security forces, who were out in high numbers for the occasion.

Hotel employees as well as diplomats from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Russia -- whose countries also lost victims in the attack -- also attended the ceremony.

Tourists fled in horror on June 26 last year, as a Tunisian gunman pulled a Kalashnikov rifle from inside a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel near the city of Sousse.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The beach bloodbath was the second of two deadly jihadist attacks that dealt heavy blows to the country's vital tourism sector last year, following four years of decline due to political instability.

The shooting came just months after 21 tourists and a policeman were killed in another attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Both were claimed by IS.

In November, a suicide bombing in the capital -- also claimed by the jihadist group -- killed 12 members of the presidential guard.

The authorities implemented a state of emergency, which remains in place after it was extended for the fourth time on Monday.
26.06.2016 LISTEN

Adentan (GAR) June 26, GNA - The Accra Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women drawn from the Madina and Tema-Battor Dearies on Saturday, organised a talk on Human Trafficking at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Adenta, in the Greater Accra Region.

The President of the Archdiocesan, Mrs Margaret Yeboah, said human trafficking and modern slavery present danger to women and children.

She urged the various women in the society to come together to end the practice.

Mr Kwamina Addo Mensah, a resource person from the Department of Human Development of the National Catholic Secretariat Accra, said the body is collaborating with the Ghana Police Service and the Gender Ministry to fight human trafficking.

Mr Mensah noted that most often the victims are lured with good prospects when they travel and therefore appealed to the public to be aware of the modus operandi.

He said the victims end up undertaking jobs such as domestic servants and prostitution.

Mr Mensah observed that about 40,000 children have been engaged in human trafficking and modern slavery in the past.

He said the root cause of the human trafficking is due to poverty and sometimes the outcome of wars.

He said the Secretariat goes round and pick the children victims and shelter them and also facilitate the punishment of parents who are culpable with the help of the Police at the courts.

Chief Superintendent of Police Patience Quaye of the Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery Unit of the Police, said almost every day about 100 young women leave the country to Kuwait, Qatar looking for greener pastures.

She said human trafficking is illegal and therefore the perpetrators use different means of luring their victims.

Chief Superintendent Quaye said poverty, unemployment, war and the usage of the internet are some of the causes of human trafficking.

She warned parents to refrain from releasing their children for domestic work in places they do not know, since their young girls would be sent into prostitution.

She also noted that the victims are often maltreated and hardly escape from their masters.

Chief Superintendent Quaye said 27 million people are trafficked globally and it is regarded as the second largest criminal industry in the world.

She human trafficking reaps more than 12 billion Dollars annually.

Chief Superintendent Quaye said the education on human trafficking is to empower women to know what is happening.

She said any person found culpable would be imprisoned for five years for contravening the Human Trafficking Act 694 of 2005.

Mrs Abena Amobea Asare, Assistant Director from the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection said the Ministry is working in collaboration with the Police to withdraw all children under human trafficking and help resettle them.

She said only children above the age of 15 are entitled to work.

She said some professionals like soldiers, police and nurses are lured by connection men into various foreign countries.

These persons are often given free air-tickets, free passport acquisition among others and immediately these person land in the foreign land it becomes difficult for them to return and most often undergo excruciating pains forever until they are extricated from their bondage.

She reminded parents that if they do not send their children to school it becomes an offence liable for prosecution.

She urged the Catholic Women to take care of their children and live up to expectation.

GNA
News / Africa

by Staff reporter

The Zimbabwe Government is closely monitoring attacks by Renamo bandits in Mozambique and is sharing information with authorities there to thwart any threats to the country.The bandits, led by Mozambique opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama, have been fighting President Filipe Nyusi's forces after scuttling a power-sharing agreement citing "an unfair governance system".Renamo (the Mozambican National Resistance) has been targeting vehicles and villages in Tete and Manica, both provinces close to the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border.Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi told The Sunday Mail that the security sector would continue to protect citizens and Harare's economic interests, including access to the Indian Ocean."We have been having talks with our counterparts in Mozambique from time to time, and remain alert to what is happening there. If there is any need to protect our interests and our citizens, we will take the necessary action."Our position is that if there is any threat to our access to the sea through the Mozambique border, we will take the necessary measures to protect our interests. We are monitoring the situation and will remain in contact with authorities in Mozambique. However, there is no need for that at the moment," said Dr Sekeramayi.State Security Minister Kembo Mohadi weighed in, "Security-wise, there is no big threat at the moment. We will, however, keep monitoring the situation."Renamo was created by the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation shortly after Mozambique's independence in 1975 to destabilise President Samora Machel's Frelimo government which strongly supported Zimbabwe and South Africa's independence struggles.Renamo blew up key infrastructure and killed villagers, leading to a fully-fledged civil war (1977-1992) that ended with a power-sharing agreement. At the peak of the war, many Zimbabweans were killed, and when the country gained independence in 1980, Renamo aligned with South Africa's apartheid regime.In 2014, Dhlakama refused to accept Frelimo's electoral victory, once again resorting to arms. This was after Mozambique's then President, Armando Guebuza, signed a deal with Dhlakama which included integrating Renamo forces into the army and tweaking the electoral commission.United Nations agencies report that thousands of Mozambicans have fled to Malawi, with more likely to migrate to other countries, including Zimbabwe, because of the Renamo threat.
June 26, 2016 Zika Virus Does Not Cause Birth Defects - Fighting It Probably Does The media said that the mosquito borne Zika virus is likely causing microcephaly as well as dozens of other illnesses. They also claimed that insecticides were not related to the development disorder. They seem to have been wrong on both cases. Since December 2015 U.S. media ran a panic campaign round the Zika virus. That virus was said to cause many bad things including microcephaly, a development distortion of the head of unborn babies, if the mother was infected with Zika during pregnancy. After looking into the issue and the available data I concluded that: The Zika Virus Is Harmless: The virus is long known, harmless and the main current scare, that the virus damages unborn children, is based on uncorroborated and likely false information.

...

There is absolutely no sane reason for the scary headlines and the panic they cause. The virus is harmless. It is possible, but seems for now very unlikely, that it affects some unborn children. There is absolutely no reason to be concerned about it. As this is all well known or easy to find out why do the media create this sensation? By March the media attributed all known human ills to Zika though every headline doing so included a telltale caveat may. I mocked these in Reading About Zika May Hurt Your Brain [E]ven while Zika is known to be less harmful than an average flue, one headline after the other tries to create the impression that it is some really awful, new bug that may be responsible for about any ailment. That it may spread like wildfire and may have other terrible consequences. May, as in 'the sky may fall', is indeed the most operative word here. There followed a collection of 35 recent "Zika may cause ..." headlines. Meanwhile doctors in the Zika affected areas in Brazil pointed out that the real cause of somewhat increased microcephaly in the region was probably the insecticide pyriproxyfen, used to kill mosquito larvae in drinking water: The Brazilian doctors noted that the areas of northeast Brazil that had witnessed the greatest number of microcephaly cases match with areas where pyriproxyfen is added to drinking water in an effort to combat Zika-carrying mosquitoes. Pyriproxyfen is reported to cause malformations in mosquito larvae, and has been added to drinking water in the region for the past 18 months. Pyriproxyfen is produced by a Sumitomo Chemical - an important Japanese poison giant. It was therefore unsurprising that the New York Times and others called the doctors report a "conspiracy theory" and trotted out some "experts" to debunk it. But facts are facts and as these come to the fore the embarrassed media will now likely stay silent. The New England Complex Systems Institute in Cambridge just published a new study that falsifies the assumed link between Zika and microcephaly. Science Daily reports: In Brazil, the microcephaly rate soared with more than 1,500 confirmed cases. But in Colombia, a recent study of nearly 12,000 pregnant women infected with Zika found zero microcephaly cases. If Zika is to blame for microcephaly, where are the missing cases? Perhaps there is another reason for the epidemic in Brazil. Whocouldhaveknown? Well, maybe those doctors on the ground in Brazil knew what they were talking about. The scientist at the New England Complex Systems Institute also researched the pyriproxyfen thesis. They found: Pyriproxifen is an analog of juvenile hormone, which corresponds in mammals to regulatory molecules including retinoic acid, a vitamin A metabolite, with which it has cross-reactivity and whose application during development causes microcephaly.

...

[T]ests of pyriproxyfen by the manufacturer, Sumitomo, widely quoted as giving no evidence for developmental toxicity, actually found some evidence for such an effect, including low brain mass and arhinencephalyincomplete formation of the anterior cerebral hemispheresin rat pups. Finally, the pyriproxyfen use in Brazil is unprecedentedit has never before been applied to a water supply on such a scale.

...

Given this combination of information we strongly recommend that the use of pyriproxyfen in Brazil be suspended pending further investigation. Sumitomo sold a poison in Brazil which was supposed to prevent the spread of mosquito borne Zika virus by hindering the development of mosquito larvae. Suddenly cases of the human development disorder microcephaly occurred. The company knew that their insecticide could cause birth defects in mammals. But they continued to blame the Zika virus which then increased demand for their poison to "prevent" the further spread of that false Zika cause. Some enterprising lawyers might find enough material in this case to hold the company responsible for the suffering it probably caused for many families in Brazil. But the media should also be held responsible. First for spreading a false panic and for attributing all kinds of nonsense to a harmless flue virus. They should also be held responsible for not diligently investigating the possibly human-effected cause of the development disorder. The one that now seems to turn out to be the real culprit. Posted by b on June 26, 2016 at 9:23 UTC | Permalink Comments
News / National

by Mandulo Pasichigare

Stendrick Zvorwadza, who on Friday 24th June, 2016 led a peaceful demonstration by human rights activists under the banners of ROHR Zimbabwe, NAVUZ and TAJAMUKA at the Rainbow Towers, the Harare 5 star hotel, where one of Zimbabwe's two Vice Presidents, Phelekezela Mphoko has stayed since December 2014 again visited the same venue today, demanding that Mphoko should leave the hotel accommodation.Stendrick Zvorwadza persisted with his demands until he was arrested by officers of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and taken away to Harare Central Police Station where he continues to be detained since morning.He is being charged with threatening to burn down Rainbow Towers if Vice President Mphoko remains in that hotel, utterances he never made, going by eyewitness accounts and a video recorded at the scene, today.The Zimbabwe Republic Police is notorious for being partisan and for using violence and torture when dealing with demonstrators. It is also notorious for laying trumped up charges against dissenting citizens as a deterrent and to justify the detention of such individuals, usually for protracted periods of time, only to drop the charges before they evolve into a trial in the law courts.Phelekezela Mphoko's continued stay at the Rainbow Towers has cost the Zimbabwean Taxpayers in excess of $250 000.00 as at today. This has riled the Zimbabwean people and has been condemned by civic society and opposition politicians. Phelekezela Mphoko has so far spurned three offers to be accommodated in high value properties sponsored by the Zimbabwean Government.One of the houses Phelekezela Mphoko refused to move into is the one left by the late vice president Joseph Msika in Harare's leafy suburb of Mandara. The second one is a mansion worth $3m in Ballantyne Park, an affluent suburb of Harare. The third one is a $3.5m acquired in December last year by the Government of Zimbabwe in The Grange, another leafy suburb of Harare.In all the three known instances where the Mphokos have rejected the offers of accommodation, Mphoko's wife, Laurinda, is said to have condemned the properties as substandard relative to the Vice President's stature.More to follow...
With development comes traffic, and Midlands fast-growing west side is often jammed with vehicles at peak hours.

The Permian Basin Metropolitan Planning Organization put the area of Loop 250 between Wadley Avenue and Thomason Drive in its sights in its Vision 2040: Lets Get Moving metropolitan transportation plan (MTP) last year as one of its top priorities.

On Monday, the city of Midland gave the MPO, its public policy board and TxDOT attendees something to look at.

Midland traffic engineer Michael Pacelli presented the citys concepts for additions and redesigns to the intersection at Loop 250 and State Highway 191, which routinely sees congestion and safety issues in several freeway-to-freeway traffic scenarios.

The first is traffic on the southbound Loop 250 service road turning right to head west onto SH 191. The second is traffic heading eastbound on SH 191 using the exit to either turn right into H-E-B or turning left to travel northbound on the loop at the traffic-signaled box diamond intersection.

Pacelli said the service road and exit congestion hamper traffic flow and pose safety issues because the intersection setup now doesnt allow for the free flow of traffic. Working with engineering consultants Dunaway Associates, the city has ideas of how to resolve these traffic issues in phases as funding becomes available.

WILL IT FLY?

The issue at the northwest corner of the intersection is that vehicles at the traffic light often block the free right turn onto SH 191.

Pacelli told the Reporter-Telegram in an interview Tuesday that the northwest corner has always been busy, even before H-E-B opened its new store. What has changed, however, is that vehicles traveling southbound used to use the left lane when they came to that signal. Now that H-E-B and other development is there, drivers use the right lane, blocking free westbound turn onto SH 191.

It only takes a few vehicles to block the free right turn, which is why traffic backs up. Some frustrated drivers cut through nearby Grassland Estates to get to the highway.

One solution is to construct a service road lane dedicated to turning traffic. Another more cost-intensive solution is to build a flyover ramp. Vehicles would exit directly from Loop 250 down onto the highway, allowing them to bypass the service road altogether.

A second flyover also could alleviate traffic at the southwest corner by taking drivers up from the SH 191 service road to the northbound lanes of Loop 250. An alternative would be to build a steep-grade cloverleaf in the southeast corner to get traffic up to the loop, but Pacelli said thats not the preferred option.

From an engineering standpoint, we would prefer the flyovers, he said. The cloverleaf has some constraints. The tightness of the curves as the ramp loops around is going to require significant speed reduction. Thats not typically something youd want to build into your freeway system.

He also said the cloverleaf will require right-of-way acquisition outside the footprint of whats already at the intersection. It does, however, have one distinct benefit.

The advantage of it, and the reason weve thrown it out there for consideration, is that the structure is a lot less intense, he said. Theres a lot less bridge, theres a lot less retaining wall, and so the cost overall is less.

In his presentation, the citys rough cost estimate to build the cloverleaf is $6.279 million, including $2.129 million for right-of-way acquisition. An eastbound SH 191 to northbound Loop 250 flyover would cost $12.441 million. Similarly, a westbound Loop 250 to southbound SH 191 flyover, which would built side-by-side with the other exit, is estimated to cost $10.722 million, for a total of $23.163 million.

With the financial constraints of road funding in West Texas, choosing a project comes down to tradeoffs.

If we cant afford the flyovers at all but we can afford the cloverleaf, is the cloverleaf better than just leaving everyone on the service roads going through a signalized interchange for five years or 10 years or whatever it is? Pacelli asked. Theres got to be some balancing there, and thats still off in the future there. We dont have any answers on that yet.

MPO policy board member Robin Donnelly, who is also a Midland County commissioner, told the Reporter-Telegram that he likes the cloverleaf because its seems more doable at this point.

The (flyover) looks great to me, but if you look at TxDOT and the way it does its budgeting, West Texas will be fiscally constrained for the foreseeable future, he said. If you look at the MPO, when we have to take to years worth of allocations in our Category 2 money to do (one) project, thats pretty strangling as far as real progress.

The MPO is spending its 2016 and 2017 Proposition 1 funding to build the Loop 250 overpass at Fairgrounds Road. At a slated cost of $13.646 million, TxDOT will contribute $1.7 million from the Odessa Districts Category 11 Discretionary Fund. The MPO will cover the rest.

Despite fiscal constraints that leave many traffic projects delayed or unrealized, Donnelly said he applauds the city for taking the initiative to present TxDOT and the MPO with ideas of whats possible.

I think the ideas are really neat. I like the thought process that the city is going through, he said. They spent a lot of time developing those ideas and trying to find alternatives that can be done.

MORE IDEAS

The service road, flyovers and cloverleaf arent the only ideas the city has for the intersection. Pacelli said the weaving traffic at the eastbound SH 191 exit ramp could be fixed with a braided ramp.

A ramp reversal  which is when a ramp is moved  would get highway traffic onto the service road by relocating the exit further west and allowing vehicles to go over a new on-ramp from the service road to the highway via bridge. The city proposed this because the exit ramp is close to the traffic signal and because there are a few driveways.

Theres a lot of activity happening in a short stretch, and theres a lot of weaving that has to happen, Pacelli said. If someone comes off of the ramp and wants to move south on the loop, they have to move right a couple of lanes. If someone is coming out of those driveways and wants to go north on the Loop, they have to cross lanes to get in the proper lane at the traffic signal.

The benefit of the braided ramp is that it gives drivers a lot more time to sort out what lane they want to be in.

Also proposed was the construction of a bridge that would move eastbound traffic on SH 191 to the westbound lanes via U-turn in order to access Grassland and other northern developments that can be reached directly from the highway. Donnelly liked the idea.

I think thats terrific because that takes a lot more pressure off that intersection because the folks that live north of there, that leaves a lot easier passage to the north into Grassland and County Road 60 or Briarwood (Avenue) north. In the end, if our development continues in that direction, its going to be a great reliever in that intersection.

The braided ramp had a cost estimate of $6.959 million, while the U-turn was expected to cost $1.532 million.

TRAFFIC IS TRICKY

Pacelli said that figuring out traffic projects is a particularly unique branch of engineering.

In a lot of forms of engineering, there are established ways of calculating something. You calculate it, and you either get it right or you get it wrong  the answer is the answer. In traffic, so much of it is about human behavior than it is about physics that theres a lot more subjectivity to it.

For example, compared to engineers that work on drainage, traffic engineers dont have the same predictability of flow, Pacelli said. Water tends to go downhill, but in traffic, our flows go uphill and downhill, but they dont always follow the most predictable path.

(Traffic) flows go where they want to go, he said. We just hopefully foresee it and guide them well enough to make it work as smoothly as it can. In the end, we dont control where the drivers go. They do that for themselves. That makes it interesting and challenging.

The least challenging of the concepts the city presented Monday might be the right-turn lane onto SH 191. At a projected cost of $287,000, its significantly cheaper than the other options. Any project would have to be implemented by TxDOT because it would happen on their roads.

TxDOT Odessa District public relations officer Gene Powell has told the Reporter-Telegram in the past that municipalities sometimes pay the agency to do the work without TxDOT money.

Pacelli said the citys capital projects fund is limited; however, If City Council decided that $287,000  or a little more or a little less  of the citys money was best spent on that right-turn lane, then we probably could do a funding agreement with TxDOT and move that project ahead.

Donnelly said the project could come out of TxDOTs maintenance budget, and Powell confirmed this possibility.

We can do safety projects like this with maintenance money, Powell said. We also have other categories of money in our budget that could address it. It just comes down to what the MPO wants to do and how they want to prioritize it.

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes.
Eric Gay/AP

HOUSTON - Crude prices have climbed high enough that drillers could soon tap into the big backlog of dormant wells left behind in the darkest days of the energy bust, energy experts say.

The shale industry could bring some 800 dormant wells into production by the end of the year, producing enough crude to stabilize the nations falling production by the end of the year, according to Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy.
For many relationships, there are two kinds of date nights  at least that is what Becca Haberman has noticed. There is movie and a dinner or, well, dinner and a movie. Haberman and her husband, John, want to change that.

As the founders of Event Boss, a new Midland events promoter, their focus is on offering inclusive events for couples. The Habermans wanted to fill the niche of an adults night out beyond food and films.

Midland does have a lot to offer, and so were creating some fun and exciting events that are different and can give focus to the couple, Haberman 37, said.

These events are different, indeed. The Habermans will kick off Event Boss on July 9 with the Amazing Race Around Midland Group Date.

Such events encourage participants to interact and engage with one another and to create memories.

Love is what drove the Habermans to create Event Boss.

I love love, she said. I think the events can help people learn more about the other and maybe remember the reason they fell in love.

The couple hosted similar events in Abilene, where they lived with their three children. Haberman received good feedback for her Queen B Royal Events and events often were sold out.

Her husband worked in Midland and commuted daily for five years. After their oldest son graduated from high school in May, the family moved to Midland.

Upon relocating, Haberman hit the ground running.

I learned fast that there was a need for couples to have something engaging and different, she said. Midland really is an amazing place to be and growing at a fast rate, but then the activities are struggling to keep up.

Other couples events on the schedule include Not So Newlywed Game and Hollywood Murder Mystery.

The Habermans are a prime example of a strong couple. They function as a team while still bringing smiles to each other.

Im lucky I married my best friend, Becca Haberman said.

While she handles the inventive side, John Haberman, 40, works on the logistics of each event.

She gets her ideas, and I tell her to run with them, he said. My role is the supportive husband, and shes definitely the creative mind.

The Habermans also are working to change the landscape of what going out looks like in Midland. Dinner and a movie is easy, but a unique fun time out in the Tall City is quite attainable. Additionally, Event Boss has begun relationships with others here.

To me, its a very exciting time when I see other creative people come to town and express an interest in collaboration, said Joy Maraio, founder of DarkHorse Events. Thats how weve been working together.

Event Boss is for couples of all ages to celebrate togetherness. Although most couples range in from 20s to 40s, Becca Haberman said in Abilene there were couples in their 60s.

Having a good time is certainly the goal, but building a network of friends is a big plus for participants.

I love getting people together, Haberman said. We both work a lot as other people do. So we get to meet new people, as well as other couples.

The Habermans also find their efforts have some importance in smaller cities such as Midland or Abilene.

Theres always something to do in a city like Dallas or Houston. Theres major theater, major events, but here, movies, dinners get monotonous, John Haberman said. Everyone wants a little bit of adventure and sometimes that can rekindle the spark if it needs.

As the Habermans are making their life in Midland, they are discovering what can be done in the future. Event Boss isnt limited to couples nights.

There are husbands who dont want to do anything, Becca Haberman said with a laugh. So Ive expanded into best-friend nights.

Theyve also done zombie corporate training and princess parties.

But for now, love is love and the Habermans are looking to perpetuate that throughout Midland.

I hope people can come to our events and spend quality time together and find those moments, she said. Dating couples can have fun and for those committed couples, maybe theyll realize again why they fell in love.
Having worked at Midland College since 1990, of course, I had heard the name David Smith. Davids coordination with helping to ensure that the Midland Legacy Scholarship be funded through Abell-Hanger Foundation, Helen Greathouse Charitable Trust, the Chaparral Foundation and the Scharbauer Foundation is standard knowledge for all MC employees. However, in 1999, after being named director of the MC Advanced Technology Center, I came to know exactly how much people admired and respected David.

Abell-Hanger Foundation was a major capital donor in the development of the Advanced Technology Center, and David was a member of the ATCs first Advisory Committee. One of the major items that the Advisory Committee addressed was the need to maintain the building as state-of-the-art and ensure that building technology and equipment be continuously updated. David was instrumental in establishing a permanent fund for ATC technology upgrade, something which is maintained to this day.

After the ATC was fully functional, the building served as a host site for the annual Students in Philanthropy Conference. Each year early on Saturday morning, David came to the conference to address the students and lead a conference session. He definitely walks the walk and talks the talk, as he clearly demonstrated a passion for non-profit work and informing students of the importance of charitable giving.

Rebecca C. Bell

Dean, Community Relations

Midland College

---

To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun? - Katherine Graham

David Smith, Executive Director of the Abell-Hanger Foundation in Midland, Texas has posted this quote at the bottom of his email messages in recent years. Now as he retires from his position after 35 years, it is a statement that embodies his entire career!

David began employment in the Trust Department of First National Bank in Midland where the Abells were one of his clients. His professionalism soon developed into passion for the opportunity to work solely with their foundation. Over the years, David successfully developed and transitioned the foundation through three generations of board members while also managing the ever-growing grant-making portfolio with great integrity and skill.

Ive had the opportunity to work with David, both as a nonprofit executive seeking funding and now as one on the other side. David is always gracious and genuine, honest and forthright and truly models exemplary diligence as a professional. Those of us in Midland (and others across the state) know the depth and commitment of Davids influence in the community, and we cant say enough good things about the work he has done.

We know that David has been very intentional in planning succession for the foundation and we wish him well in retirement, recognizing that his influence and mentorship will be greatly missed!

Congratulations, David, and thank you for the exceptional leadership you have provided representing the philanthropy of George and Gladys Abell over the years!

Lael Cordes-Pitts

Executive Director

The Henry Foundation

---

The Abell-Hanger Foundation, under the leadership of David Smith, has had a relationship with the Midland Childrens Rehabilitation Center for the 15-plus years of my tenure as executive director and for many years before that. The Foundations ongoing financial support of MCRC has allowed us to serve children with disabilities and their families and provide the therapy each child needs despite the familys ability to pay. In addition to financial guidance, David has brought so much more.

David has been an encourager and a critic, a challenger and a cheerleader within the grant application process. He has been a good friend to me, an able advisor and always an advocate for the well-being of the city of Midland and the residents of our city including the clients we serve at MCRC.

David has always been excited to hear about our successes, thoughtful as he has listened to our problems and probing as we have sought solutions to those problems. Certainly our discussions are accompanied by his ready smile, his wry sense of humor, as well as his willingness to voice an opinion on issues that he thinks are positive ... and the ones he thinks are just plain bad!

Each year, usually in the fall, I have called David and made an appointment for our state of the non-profit world talk. Our conversations tended to focus on the non-profit world in general and Midland, Texas, and the Permian Basin in particular. I learned A LOT through these conversations!

I have learned that if there is a need in the community; if your agencys services meet that need and you provide the service in an ethical, impartial and fiscally responsible manner, the board of trustees of Abell-Hanger will consider funding your program or project. David has always encouraged me to look at the bigger picture and the role we play as an agency, as individuals and as members of the Midland Community.

Thanks, David. Your leadership has been momentous. I cant wait to see what you will do next!

Brooke Mueller, PT, Med

Executive Director

Midland, Childrens Rehabilitation Center

---

David Smith and the Abell-Hanger Foundation have been instrumental in High Sky Childrens Ranches Mission of Healing child abuse and promoting family wholeness. The Abell-Hanger Home houses infants to 8 years old who have suffered abused and neglect. For the first time in their lives, these children have found safety, consistency and nurturing. Over the years, the years, the Abell-Hanger home has helped over 500 children find life-changing hope while believing that their past does not define their future.

When High Sky had a vision of expanding services and building capacity for children and families to have multiple resources targeted to their specific needs, David Smith was the first to step up and believe in brighter futures for people who found themselves in a cycle they were struggling to escape. With a generous donation we launched our capitol campaign and began a two-year project. In October 2015, The High Sky Community of Hope Administration Building opened the doors to foster families, children and biological parents who were searching for a place where they could build a bridge from abusive cycles to healing opportunities. The addition of our new building paved the way for additional therapists, parenting instructor, and family support services so that the transformations made at High Sky would continue far into the future and even into future generations. High Sky is extremely grateful for the generous donations of Abell-Hanger and the encouragement of David Smith. Each month one of our children writes a prayer for the board meeting. Here is a prayer demonstrating the gratitude that our children have for those things our donors provide.

Dear God,

Please bless this day that we are still alive. Thank you that we are safe. Thank you for this house (Abell-Hanger) and the food on the table and the clothes on our back. Lord I thank you for all these Godly people trying to help us make it.

Michael age 7

JaLynn Hogan, High Sky

----

David Smith has improved lives in Midland like very few others have been able to achieve. His experience, vision, ingenuity and compassion have combined to benefit our community in more ways than we can know. He may be retiring, but we in Midland will not allow him stop helping us.

Grant Billingsley

Scharbauer Foundation
A pair of rockets designed by Alamo Heights High School students and unveiled Tuesday morning have the potential to travel 100,000 feet or higher  but their range as educational tools seemed higher still.

Every year I learn from this program, and the places I learn the most are from the students, said Colin Lang, who has been leading the rocket-building class at Alamo Heights for nine years.

The craft, 12 feet and 18 feet tall, were built in conjunction with the SystemsGo program, each with a different goal once launched. Both rockets will be tested at the U.S. Army missile range in White Sands, New Mexico, (this) week.

Students who constructed the shorter rocket want it to fly as high as possible; those behind the taller one designed it for a payload  a metal canister containing rocks  authorized by NASA to help the space organization test the containers ability to deliver material gathered from other planets.

The payloads extra weight is expected to limit the altitude the rocket can reach, but no one knows how high that will be.

If we get the perfect flight, the rocket will reach 40,000 feet when the payload will be ejected, said Graham Douglas, who worked on it as a senior and graduated this year.

The program at Alamo Heights has been around long enough for a track record to emerge. Lang said about 90 percent of the students in the program go on to study engineering after high school. The first year the rocket training class was offered, it had 17 students. This year there were 150 spread over four classes.

Were one of the five high schools that does this but were one of only three that has successfully launched (a rocket of this size), Lang said. Weve had three successful launches in four years. Each one seems to get a little better.

Though he originally planned on going into journalism, Douglas said three years in the rocket training class steered him toward Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he will study aerospace engineering starting this fall.

When she counts giving up lunch periods and coming to school during vacations, Tamara Bayegan estimates she put about 400 hours into working on the payload rocket. Also a graduating senior, she said she is ecstatic to go to White Sands and hopes to see it get off the launchpad.

There are a bunch of situations where it could go wrong, Bayegan said. We just want it to go at least a few thousand feet.

The rocket training class is competitive, she said. If grades arent maintained to a high standard, students are not allowed to work on the rocket or can even be kicked out of the class, she said.

When we test the payload for NASA, the idea is that we can bring back rocks and samples from other planets, Douglas said. We have tried to do it in years prior but we never actually completed it. This will be the first year weve tried a payload.

The rockets will be tracked with a radar system once they launch.

One of Langs favorite parts about teaching the class, he said, is seeing the success his students achieve after high school.

Erick Castillon said he contemplated dropping out of Alamo Heights his junior year but stayed in school after taking two years of rocket training classes. He went on to be the youngest intern at NASA when he was 19 and is attending the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Lang estimated the cost of creating both rockets at $8,000 to $10,000.

They are working with industrial-standard equipment, Lang said. Its dangerous and most teachers think Im crazy. Its a risk to do this, but its so worth it.
COLLEGE STATION  In the minds of many Texans, the Lone Star States two flagship universities are polar opposites: The University of Texas at Austin is perceived as diverse, urban and liberal. Texas A&M University is viewed as white, rural and conservative.

On the surface, the two universities admissions policies reflect that view. UT-Austin proudly practices affirmative action to bolster its minority student ranks and has spent years defending the policy in federal court. A&M eschews giving minority applicants any kind of advantage. If you get into A&M, its administrators say, you are doing it solely on your merits.

But a surprising shift has occurred at A&M over the last decade. Despite its reluctance to formally consider the race of its applicants, the university has worked hard to convince black and Hispanic students to apply and enroll. Since 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the legality of affirmative action in college admissions, A&M has continued not using it, yet the share of black and Hispanic students has more than doubled at its College Station campus  from 10.8 percent to 23.1 percent.

That 114 percent growth can't simply be attributed to statewide demographic shifts. At UT-Austin, black and Hispanic enrollment has grown by 45 percent over the same time. Last fall, black and Hispanic students made up about the same share of the student body at A&M as UT-Austin.

A&M officials give credit to their embrace of the state's controversial Top 10 Percent Rule, an evolution of how the school views itself and a university-wide commitment to making A&M a more welcoming place for minorities.

This is an effort that has got everybodys attention, said Joseph Pettibon, associate vice president for academic services.

The shift is especially relevant this month, since any day now the U.S. Supreme Court will likely rule on whether UT-Austins use of affirmative action is constitutional. A narrow ruling against UT-Austin in the case known as Fisher v. the University of Texas could end affirmative action in the state. A broad ruling could end it nationwide.

Many universities have thrown their support behind UT-Austin, saying they need affirmative action to attract diverse student bodies that broaden their students' horizons and provide educational opportunity to everyone. But A&M officials say they arent too worried about the case. The courts decision likely wont affect their admissions policy either way. And they say their story proves that universities can diversify their student bodies without giving certain races an admissions advantage.

Embracing the Top 10 Percent Rule

The decision for A&M to avoid considering race was made in 2003 after the Supreme Court ruled that the University of Michigan could use affirmative action in its law school admissions. Before that, Texas universities were bound by a 1996 ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that affirmative action was unconstitutional.

The 1996 ruling led to Texas' Top 10 Percent Rule, which promises automatic admission into public Texas universities for students who rank near the top of their high schools graduating class. The rule ignores the SAT and other factors, which on average benefit white and Asian students, and was meant to ensure that a certain number of students from the states poorer, lower-performing schools can also get into a top public college.

With the rule in place, then-President Robert Gates figured A&M could achieve more diversity without changing other admissions policies.

Every student who is at A&M must know ... that he or she and all students here have been admitted on personal merit, Gates said at the time.

Gates left the university in 2006 to become U.S. secretary of defense, but the school's embrace of the rule continues. In the past few years, UT-Austin officials have railed against the policy, saying it overwhelms them with automatically admitted students and restricts the Austin universitys ability to build its study body to its liking. A&M has always received fewer automatic admittees, but the number is growing. School officials say they are fine with that.

If you are really critical of the 10 Percent Rule, what you are saying is that we dont want the kids from the [less competitive schools], said A&M President Michael Young.

Fighting the rule, Young said, sends the message to those schools that we would prefer to have an admissions process that doesnt require us to admit you.

I dont know that I would leap to join a school that communicated that to me, Young said. But I do think you are going to succeed here [at A&M]. The data show that.

Promising admission to students doesn't guarantee that they will attend, however. A&M officials say they have also worked to make sure that those students know that A&M wants them. The decision not to use affirmative action caused major backlash, with minority leaders noting that four decades earlier, A&M still wasnt allowing women or black students.

In the years after the 2003 ruling, the university opened brick-and-mortar recruiting offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Laredo, McAllen and Corpus Christi and hired recruiting staff in Austin and El Paso.

We were going to bring people from A&M into their community, and we were going to bring not just people who could talk about admissions but who could talk about financial aid, Pettibon said.

Officials said they didnt try to dismiss their mixed past in regard to race relations. And they acknowledge that sometimes issues do spring up. This spring, a group of students visiting the A&M campus from a predominantly black school reported being harassed with racial slurs and a demand to "go back where you came from."

The incident brought a swift apology from A&M administrators. Young and other top administrators met personally with the group and later visited their school. One of the A&M students involved in the incident later left school, the university said.

A&M doesn't promise a conflict-free four years on campus, administrators said. But they have tried to hire socially and culturally competent recruiters who can share their experiences as A&M students and help put worries at ease.

When you are recruiting first-generation students, and in particular blacks and Hispanics, you are also recruiting their families, said Christine Stanley, A&Ms vice president for diversity.

A&M has also stepped up its financial aid. It created a new scholarship for low-income, first generation students. It now offers additional aid to National Hispanic Scholars and recipients of the National Achievement Scholarships, which are awarded to black students. And it expanded its Century Scholars Program, which was created in 1996 to recruit students from 40 specific minority-majority schools in Dallas and Houston. Now, the program has been expanded to more than 100 schools and has increased its annual recipients from fewer than 50 students per year to about 400.

After surveying students who were accepted to A&M but decided not to attend, the university also changed when it sent students scholarships offers from April to the first week of February, giving poor students more time to plan for how to pay for college.

Ultimately, the change in strategy was also a change in philosophy. A&M, a proud school with fiercely loyal alumni, long believed that it didnt need to recruit students to fill its campus. But to grow its diversity numbers, that needed to change.

We realized that we needed to recruit not from a raw numbers standpoint, but with the population of the state of Texas not being reflected in who we were bringing into A&M, we needed to do something about that, Pettibon said.

Building relationships

At high schools in south and east Dallas, which are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, A&Ms efforts have gained notice. Recruiters there are assigned to particular schools and are expected to build relationships with students, teachers and counselors.

Word of mouth is pretty powerful, Young said. And what the environment is like for students really gets out there very very quickly.

Recruiters were regular visitors at W.W. Samuell High School in South Dallas. Students there were impressed when an admissions officer personally invited them on a trip to College Station. Thats a big deal for students at Samuell, which is almost entirely black and Hispanic. Ninety percent of students are on some kind of public assistance there and often cant afford to visit colleges outside of Dallas.

Thelma Gonzalez, the schools college adviser, said this fall everyone wanted to attend A&M. It really is the little things that get these students more excited to attend A&M, she said  like face-to-face conversations about how to apply for financial aid.

Several students have decided to attend this fall, including one of Samuell's top-performing students, Jose Lopez. During the first semester of his senior year, Lopez said, "I probably saw [the A&M representative] about 10 times in, like, three months. He even gave us his number and everything."

"Whenever we would email him, he would respond within 24 hours. It shows how much they really do care," Lopez said.

Lopez originally planned to attend UT-Austin, where his sister is a student. But that school's admissions representative was rarely seen at Samuell, according to Gonzalez and Lopez. Only one student from the school plans to go to UT-Austin next year; had there been more recruiting, Gonzalez estimates that more would have chosen the school.

Every year is different, however. Last year, W.W. Samuell sent four students to A&M and two students to UT-Austin  not a very big discrepancy.

Work to do

University leaders admit they still have a long way to go. Last year, more than half of Texas school children were Hispanic. And A&Ms student body is still far whiter than Texas overall. (A&M is 59 percent white, compared to UT-Austin, which is 45 percent white. The difference is largely due to UT-Austins Asian population, which makes up 17 percent of the student body compared to 6 percent at A&M.)

One of the biggest roadblocks to becoming truly representative, school officials say, is the inequity in the statewide K-12 school system. Black and Hispanic students are much more likely to attend underperforming schools near the border or in inner cities. White students are more likely to go to competitive suburban schools.

Proponents of affirmative action say that systemic failure is what makes affirmative action useful. A&M has been able to attract more minority students who, on paper, are qualified to get into a top public university. But those students would in theory be able to get into other schools, too. The university hasnt necessarily increased the number of minority students who are able to go to a top college.

If affirmative action is banned, competition for those qualified students will likely become fiercer, making it harder for A&M to build on its recent success, school officials say.

But right now, A&M officials say they are finding students who might otherwise not be willing or able to attend a college outside their community. Those students are worried that they dont have the money, dont want to leave home or dont think they belong. Changing their minds can be a huge benefit  for the school and its students, officials say.

We are not where we want to be, and I think that as the state of Texas continues to change, so will where we want to be, said Pettibon. But we recognize that we have to evolve while the state evolves.
In 1979, when she was just 13-years-old, Marlena Kam along with her five younger sisters and three brothers arrived in Midland with their mother. They were fleeing the Killing Fields of Cambodia, where more than a million Cambodians were murdered in an act of genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime during the late 1970s.

More than 50 Cambodians arrived in Midland that year, fleeing horrific violence. Most had just the clothes on their back and the memory of loved ones lost to the violence in their home country. Marlena lost her father, one sister and two brothers before she got out.

More than 35 years later, in early June, Eric Brandon Kam, Marlenas son, stood in front of his fellow Midland High School graduates and delivered a valedictorian speech. He will attend Stanford University in the fall.

Brandon credits the strength and support of his family and the help from local Midland churches, particularly his Uncle Stan Jacobs of Christ Church, as shaping who he is today.

My parents did a good job of not involving me in the trauma, but I still knew what happened and that helped me to have that solid background of where I came from and what my mom, her sisters and brothers and my grandparents, went through, Brandon said. It just motivated me to do my best in what I was doing, in school and all my endeavors.

Much has changed for this family since 1979. Brandon marks the newest addition to the legacy of MHS graduates in his family. Five of the siblings and their mother still live and work in Midland. The other five live and work in Texas as registered nurses, radiation therapists and occupational therapists.

Jacobs remembers when Marlena and her siblings first arrived -- not speaking a word of English and with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Many people donated food, clothes when they first came over, but they gave everything back, Jacobs said. When youd go over (to their house), the first thing that would happen is theyd say, please sit down, would you like some Tang? I remember them always serving Tang to us and serving those fantastic egg rolls-anything (their mother) was cooking, the best food that youve ever eaten, or at least the best Asian food. And every night after the kids got home from school they would help their mother get ready for dinner, then after that they did homework until bedtime.

Yes and then we went to bed and did it all over again, Marlena added with a laugh.

That discipline and desire to make his parents proud has been passed on to Brandon, who remembers doing the same things growing up.

I remember doing that in elementary school -- wed (he and his older sister, Pauline) sit on moms bed after dinner and do homework or read books together, whatever we were doing, Brandon said. I really looked up to mom and she made me who I am today. I always tried to do my best. Everyone wants to make their family look good and succeed in what theyre doingI always listened to moms advice.

And there was always really good food, Brandon added with a laugh. But I call it just food, not Asian food!

Brandon has had many great role models in his family. Despite the traumas of their past, each of the children has gone on to be successful and make their mother proud. Now, many of them have children of their own who in turn are making them proud.

We all worked hard, Marlena said. We tried not to disappoint my mom. God walked me through each day. I asked God to help me every day. He blessed me with two wonderful kids. They are amazing, one of a kind. They are a masterpiece.

Brandon plans to major in mechanical engineering and business at Stanford. He hopes to one day have a good job and a family of his own. No matter where he goes, though, he will always keep his family and his family history close.

Mom always was there for me, always spending time with me, Brandon said. All my aunts, my mom, they are competitive I think. They always try to do good things, be the best they can for the community. They have a good sense of giving back and that makes me also want to be a good person. Mom always taught us to do your best in everything you do, to trust in God and just be yourself. Just do things the right way and youll be good.
We are going to have to let you go.

The factory is closing.

Over the past year and a half, many Midlanders have heard these words or similar as they received notice they were no longer employed.

Many didnt see it coming. Lydia Urias, who worked for a fracturing company for three years, was laid off in February and had about an hours warning.

I was on my day off, and the other person that worked with me, she said, They just laid me off, Urias said. They called me an hour after. They told me, Could you come to the yard? so I did and theyre like, Its over. I was in shock.

Of the five people interviewed about their unemployment experiences in Midland, all, including Urias, shook off the dust from an old tool in their belt: education.

Urias set her eyes on acquiring a commercial drivers license class A through Casa de Amigos Take Two program that helps adults pay for certifications and licenses at Midland College. The license would mean higher pay and more opportunities, which was imperative for Urias who has five children.

It gives me a lot more opportunity to get a job because you have your CDL. Your endorsements count, Urias said. Its good money for me to provide for my kids and pay bills at the same time. .. My oldest ones are 15 and 14 years old, and they worried a lot, and I told them itll be fine. Im doing my search. Its going to get better. I always try to keep their hopes up. I dont want them stressing over money.

It wasnt yet a smooth journey; many CDL job postings required years of experience. However, the certificate provided some peace to Urias in the job search.

Im looking to oil jobs since I think theres a lot more hours you can put into it. You can put a lot more overtime, Urias said. Im positive. I know its going to pick up and theres going to be a lot more jobs again. Im positive.

Jesus Garcia, who worked as a welder for seven years, was laid off on March 31 after his factory closed without any warning.

They never cut our hours or nothing. They just said, Were going to close, Garcia said. I went home to my wife and we felt sad, but that next day I went and applied to the city of Midland because I worked before. And they said they didnt have any openings. Ive been applying everywhere, but theyre not hiring.

Garcia took a path similar to Urias: he turned to education. He completed a keyboarding course at Midland Colleges Cogdell Learning Center, and was acquiring the handbooks and driving test certificates needed to begin a CDL class in July.

I want to find a job, Garcia said. I dont like to be under unemployment. ... To me, its better if Im working. But theres no work.

Garcias wife works and he can still collect unemployment. Garcia said his education at Midland College will be paid for with a scholarship.

Former co-workers and work associates recommended getting the CDL. Current drivers who delivered to Garcias company said that places were hiring because current drivers worked so many hours, Garcia said.

So many places are hiring, and they pay good, Garcia said. They work 4 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. and they pay... like $20 an hour. I said, Man, I want that CDL.

Midlander Stephen Barton had a similar experience of abrupt unemployment beginning in December. While he knew a layoff was coming, as other positions were cut, his boss had told him for weeks that his job was secure.

After being similarly assured one morning, he had a second meeting that afternoon with his boss and an HR representative.

We were all worried about losing our jobs, Barton. I hadnt thought I would be that soon.

Barton searched for three months believing God would get us through, and after three months of unsuccessful job searches, it became clear those doors were shut. Barton decided to return to school for the first time in more than 20 years to become a nurse. He will begin courses this summer at MC.

An in-law working at Midland Memorial Hospital told Barton that several nursing jobs would be open next year, which encouraged Barton to try nursing.

Bartons unemployment benefits currently pay the bills. Both his wife and his son have health issues, which meant he needed a job that not only paid well but also had good health insurance.

Whatever it takes for me to provide for my family, Ill do it, Barton said. It might be hard but Im going to push through it. It was hard thinking about losing our home, which by the grace of God, we havent.

Barton said so far that unemployment, while not as much as a paycheck, has helped to pay bills and their church also helped. While the summer session of classes will be paid for via loan, financial aid should kick in for fall and spring classes.

The hardest part right now is the starting line, said Barton, having just completed his first week of summer courses. I had to fight anxiety I guess, but Im trying to stick with it. After this ... it should be easier.

Silvia Pena, a native Californian who moved to Midland two years ago, likewise had an idea she would be let go from her freight company job, but not as soon as she did. Losing her job, meant she now could focus on being a full-time student.

I figured, Ill just take advantage of the time I have right now to finish school while my brother and my family help me out, Pena said. Im just doing my general studies at Midland College. Im two classes away from finishing. Then Im going to UTPB.

The decision to get a business degree came from her eight years in the freighting business.

I figured Id get a degree in (business) so then I can get a better position in the company, Pena said.

Similar to Barton, Pena hadnt been in school for several years and so it took some developmental courses that didnt count as credit to get her on track.

It was really hard at the beginning because I had forgotten everything, Pena said. But now, Im catching up. I think of how frustrating it is not to be able to do or buy the things I always used to, but at the same time its kind of rewarding knowing I have my family, and my friends. Thats important to me.

Anahi Rochas husband had an idea he would be unemployed when his position changed and his hours were cut at an oil company. It was stressful when the call came. The couple moved from El Paso a few years ago and bought a house in Midland two years ago, where they reside with their young daughter.

We of course were all stressing and going crazy because we didnt know what to do, Rocha said. We dont have any family down here so it was hard on us.

Still, her husband qualified for unemployment. He took a job working in Wyoming, but moved back after the finances were not evening out. Now he is being interviewed for a deputy job with Ector County Sheriffs Office.

Rocha prepares and sells food once a week to help pay the bills, but plans to return to school.

She already has her basics as well as a resume involving receptionist and clerical work in the medical field. She will begin a certified nursing assistant course in August just to get something on paper and intends to finish the year and a half or so remaining to get her bachelors degree.

I have the experience, I just need a paper saying (that I do), Rocha said. Without a degree, youre not worth more than $10 or $12 an hour. So I told my husband, I just need to get something fast so I can get a job, a good-paying job, and at least start from there.

Rocha said she knows its typical for Midlanders to turn to education during an oil downturn; her professors have said likewise. But, after acquiring her degree and her husband interviewing for jobs, Rocha said she doesnt see the oil patch in their future.

We came down here and, yes, it paid good, but everybody has to prepare for that bust, Rocha said. We didnt know what it was like for the boom and the bust and now were experiencing it, so its been hard. Somehow one way or another weve managed to pay at least our bills. ... My husband was talking about maybe going back, since oil is on the rise, and I said, No, youre not. I think its better with a more stable job (out of oil) than just having to prepare for that bust.

Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51
News / National

by Tinomuda Chakanyuka

THE Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha) has described as bogus traditional healers who claim to offer male organ enlargement medicine as a survey has shown that of more than 50 000 healers who were called to come forward with the natural medicine by a United Kingdom company for a fee, no one did.Zinatha president Mr George Kandiero told Sunday News last week that research by his organisation has also established that no such traditional medicine exists.Mr Kandiero warned of possible serious health ramifications if members of the public use the male organ enlargement medicine prescribed by the bogus traditional healers.He challenged anyone who has had their male sexual organs enlarged to come out in the open and give testimony."In all my 24 years as a traditional healer I have never come across such medicine. Some two years ago, as Zinatha we were tasked by a UK-based Consultancy Company to come up with a natural substance that can enlarge male organs."We put adverts in the media, approached all our 50 000 or so members asking anyone who had such a remedy to come forward but no one did. The money was good but no one could provide us with the medicine."We have also done researches through our committee on research and documentation and no such medicine was found. If there is anyone who had their organ enlarged let them come out in the open," he said.Mr Kandiero said the traditional healers and herbalists who were selling "male enlargement" medicines were blatant crooks bent on hoodwinking desperate Zimbabweans.He urged people to consult registered and licenced traditional healers and not gamble with their health by engaging bogus practitioners."If you hear anyone making such a claim that they can enlarge male sexual organs that person is an outright crook. These people are simply taking advantage of desperate people."Something needs to be done to protect people from falling prey to such bogus traditional healers," he said.Meanwhile, Zinatha has embarked on a nationwide outreach programme to re-register traditional healers in the country to update its database which was last updated five years ago.Mr Kandiero said registration of traditional healers will help protect members of the public from falling victim to unlicenced practitioners whose practice is not regulated and monitored by the State.So far outreaches have been held in Harare, Bulawayo and Manicaland, with Mr Kandiero saying the exercise has been received with mixed feelings."There are a lot of people who are operating without licences and this is an opportunity for them to come and regularise their practice with the authorities. By registering traditional healers we are not only updating our database but it is also a mechanism to protect members of the public from bogus traditional healers," he said. Mr Kandiero also urged members of the public to always ask for a practitioner's licence when they visit traditional healers for help, pointing out that it was criminal for anyone to practice without a licence."It is illegal for one to operate without a licence from Traditional Medical Practitioners Council (TMPC) under the Ministry of Health and Child Care. For one to get that licence they have to be registered with Zinatha first," he said."We have an ethics committee which is responsible for screening. If one claims to be a traditional healer they have to undergo interviews to ascertain if indeed they are genuine," he said.Added Mr Kandiero, "Members of the public should always make it a point that they ask for a practitioner's licence before they are treated.The country has over the years been witnessing an increase in "foreign" traditional healers and herbalists who offer to help people find lost lovers, heal incurable diseases and turn economic fortunes for the poor."Most of these traditional healers advertise in the local Press, claiming to be foreign yet investigations have shown that they are locals."
I had never shot a gun until a few days ago.

Its not that I was scared of guns, it was just that guns had never really been something that interested me. Nevertheless, I love new experiences, so when I was given the chance to go to a gun range for the first time, I took it.

To be honest, I did not really know what to expect. Would I hate it? Would I like it? Would liking it be a bad thing? I really had no idea what to expect.

And, of course, I was familiar with all of the controversy surrounding guns, the ownership of guns, and the misuse of guns. After the Orlando shooting, the newsfeed on my social media accounts had been oversaturated with articles about gun control, the lack of gun control, the horrors of the mass shootings and much more. Being surrounded with all of this information, it was hard not to have an opinion on the matter. Nonetheless, I promised myself that I would go to the gun range with an open mind.

The first bullet that I ever shot was relatively anticlimactic. I didnt feel anything. Then again, was I supposed to? A second, a third, and a fourth shot fired out of the gun. I still felt nothing. As I moved on bigger and more powerful guns, I could definitely feel the difference in power, but somehow I felt numb. I felt almost bad at how easy it was to shoot such a powerful weapon, yet still be able to feel disconnected from the bullets leaving the gun.

The feeling is difficult to describe, but I almost felt disconnected from reality. I had only ever watched people shoot guns, so to finally be the one shooting the gun did not feel real.

Immediately after I left the gun range, a strange feeling of guilt came over me, and my brain was flooded with questions. By shooting the gun, or even being at the range to begin with, was I somehow condoning or overlooking gun violence? Was that even a logical question to ask?

Regardless of how I felt at that shooting range, I still believe that a new experience is something worth experiencing. Therefore, while I might not have enjoyed shooting a gun as much as others do, I am still happy and grateful to have experienced it.
We have independently selected these offers and products because we love them and we think you might like them at these prices. E! has affiliate relationships, so we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links. Items are
Speaker is totally wrong in his ...
News / Press Release

by Vince Musewe

PDP Response to VP Mhpoko continued stay at the Rainbow Towers Group Hotel

It was Mark Twain who once said- "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."This clearly applies to VP Mphoko's response to his unjustified stay at Rainbow Towers Group hotel for more than 553 days at a huge cost to a country whose economy is on the brink of a man-made fantastic collapse and where millions are facing hunger because of the leadership failure.In our view, VP Mphoko response is not only despicable, dishonourable, crass, selfish, untimely, uncouth, thoughtless but downright cheeky and unforgivable. His attitude reflects the very essence of the value system which we are all fighting against. A value system of lack of leadership accountability and unnecessary profligacy in the midst of poverty simply because one happens to be in a leadership position.Our message to VP Mphoko as PDP is that thank you very much for sacrificing your time to briefly join the armed struggle before you absconded to Mozambique. We appreciate your sacrifice and that of many others who are unfortunately still living in poverty to this day, despite their selfless contribution to the first chapter of our fight for total freedom and emancipation.However that does not entitle you to anything else except our appreciation. That does not entitle you to waste our resources and claim that you alone are special. Many others contributed much more than you did and participated for the entire duration of the struggle and yet they are claiming nothing because they did it for the country and not for selfish ambition.Clearly there is something very wrong with regard to who qualifies to lead us. If a whole VP can justify that he must squander resources as payback for his suffering and even has the audacity to threaten to stay longer, then imagine how much is owed to the thousands who have not claimed anything for their participation in or contribution to the liberation struggle.Our country continues to be plundered and bankrupted by ZANU (PF) and its appendages at the expense of the majority. As PDP we are calling for substantive political and economic reforms now in order to quickly arrest this race to the bottom. Zimbabweans today are worse off than they were during colonial rule simply because of bad leaders and nothing else.It is indeed true that the character of a man is exposed by his responses to circumstances and we at PDP have no respect whatsoever for leaders like VP Mhpoko who have this warped sense of entitlement regardless of the cost to the country. That unfortunately has become a common trait especially within ZANU (PF).This is why we are where we are. We have incompetent, selfish and hardly respectable leaders and we should not expect much from them. We have a President who has lost us and cost us billions due to incompetence and has mismanaged the affairs of the country but still insists on staying in power and wants to die in office. In VP Mphoko, we have a VP who has added no value whatsoever to the country but insists on a lavish lifestyle funded by the sweat of the poor. That is unforgivable.Based in the public outcry to this unnecessary extravagance, we expect that Zimbabweans are certainly going to respond more directly to this insult and we at PDP cannot blame them. Enough is enough.Another Zimbabwe is possible!Jacob Mafume and Vince MusewePDP Spokesperson and PDP Secretary for Finance and Economic Affairs respectively
Marina Fire Near Lake Isabella View Photos

Firefighters across the state are stretched thin as several large fires are burning.

Governor Jerry Brown has issued a State of Emergency Declaration due to the Erskine Fire near Lake Isabella in Kern County. It has burned 36,810 acres and is 10% contained. At least 150 homes have been destroyed and an additional 75 have been damaged. Several nearby homes are evacuated. 1,712 firefighters are assigned to the incident.

The Marina Fire is situated off Highway 395 north of Lee Vining. It has burned 819 acres and is 30% contained. There are 350 firefighters on scene, and it is also being battled from both the air and ground. Lee Vining and Mono City are under an evacuation advisory.

The Border Fire in San Diego County is 7,600 acres and 80% contained and the Sherpa Fire in Santa Barbara County is 7,400 acres and 93% contained.

Also of note, last night in Tuolumne County there was a one acre fire that ignited in an area off Highway 108 near Sugar Pine. Air and ground resources responded. No homes were threatened.
One woman is dead and two other people are injured after a lightning bolt touched down outside the Hyatt Place in Daytona Beach Friday afternoon.

Lifeguards pulled two injured out of the water after strike

Rescue crews cleared the water 10 minutes before strike

1st lightning strike fatality in Daytona Beach this year

Tammy Holmes and her friend, Anna Nikorak, were walking along the Daytona Beach shore when literally out of the blue, lightning touched down.



Our backs were to the storm and everything this direction was bright blue, and behind us it wasnt much more cloudy than it is today, said Holmes, recounting the moments right before the lightning touched down.



The boom that hit was so loud that it busted one of my ear drums. Water was pouring out of my ear, and it picked us up off our feet and threw us on to the sand, said Holmes.



She then looked up to find her friend and two others injured.



Annas knees were bloody, she was quite upset and crying," said Holmes, "and I turned to my left and saw another young couple face down in the water.



Lifeguards then pulled Janika Gardner, 33, and her boyfriend, Russell Scott, 41, from the water.



The couple had only been standing in ankle deep water when they were struck by the bolt. Gardner succumbed to her injuries and died at the hospital Friday night.



Officials say ocean rescue crews had issued Red Light Conditions and cleared the water 10 minutes before the lightning struck.



It did start to look like it was getting nicer out again," said Daytona Beach Lifeguard Captain Tammy Marris, "but then the lightning just kind of came out of nowhere.



Nikorak has been released from the hospital after being treated for minor injuries. Scott is expected to make a full recovery.



According to Daytona Beach Lifeguards, this was the first lightning strike fatality for the area so far this year. They urge people to stay away from the water when red light conditions are put in place.



Despite the experience, Holmes says this wont stop her and her friend from coming back to the beach in the future.



"[Nikorak] has already called me and said 'let's come back down here for the walk again and get right back on the horse,'" said Holmes. "Because otherwise youd be too afraid to come back to the beach again, it was that strong.


Sanford Police are investigating an armed robbery in which the victim was the city's mayor, Jeff Triplett.

Triplett robbed outside residence on Chapman Avenue

Sanford Police apprehend 2 of 3 suspects

3rd suspect still at large

Officials say at 2:14 a.m., Sanford Police responded to a residence on the 100 block of Chapman Avenue in reference to an armed robbery. Officers made contact with the victim, Triplett, at the scene, where he reported being robbed at gunpoint by three unknown suspects.

Triplett was robbed of his car keys, wallet containing $300, his City of Sanford mayor's badge and his car, a Mercedes-Benz.

Based on the description Triplett provided, investigators were able to apprehend two suspects -- Jermaine Jacques Horne, 18, and a 17-year-old male juvenile whose name we are withholding in accordance to our Crime Guidelines. Both suspects face several charges, including carjacking with a firearm and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police say Horne faces an additional charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Horne was denied bail and remains in custody.



Sanford Police are asking the public's help in identifying and apprehending the third suspect. Anyone having additional information is asked to contact Crimeline at 800 423-TIPS (8477) or visit www.crimeline.org.

Triplett issued a statement regarding the incident:

Being a victim of a crime is unnerving, yet it was reassuring to witness both speed and diligence from the Sanford Police Department. It is disheartening when this type of crime takes place in the City of Sanford. I encourage the community, its businesses, and the Police Department to continue to work together and stop this type of violence.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will rush to Brussels and London on Monday to meet the top British and European Union diplomats, as the world grapples with the implications of Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union.

John Kerry will visit Brussels and London Monday to meet with top European officials

The trip comes after the UK voted to leave the European Union

The decision has caused unease across the world with markets falling

Kerry will bring messages of support. Less likely: Answers or even suggestions for how to deal with a crisis that has spooked economists and forced countries in Europe and beyond to contemplate the possibility of unity across the continent crumbling.

The trip began Sunday in Rome, where Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also meet Italian government officials.

But confronted with the gravity of Britain's June 23 decision, which crushed markets from the U.S. to Japan, Kerry has set up a frantic, four-nation schedule Monday.

After gathering with Netanyahu in the morning, he will fly to Brussels to discuss Europe's situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. He will go from there to London to meet British Secretary Philip Hammond, before returning to Washington before the day's end.

With the Brits, Kerry will echo last week's immediate response from Washington focusing on the unchanged nature of the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Even the gloomiest of predictions about the British exit from the EU, or Brexit, don't foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britain's divorce from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing U.S.-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to "leave" could put them at the back of the line for similar deals.

Since the result of the referendum, however, Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasize the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

In Brussels, Kerry will emphasize U.S. backing for the European project amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britain's lead.

The Obama administration sees a strong EU as key to stability in Europe and as a critical partner in bringing security to nearby flashpoints in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung places of conflict like sub-Afghanistan. It also has counted on the EU to enforce sanctions on Russia since its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014.

But it's unclear what more Kerry, or the U.S., can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britain's exit negotiations are likely to be a complicated, protracted affair, and there is no guarantee of a smooth breakup. The Americans are likely to have little say in the matter.

And the U.S. has no answer for Brussels' dilemma over how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.
More than three million people in the U.K. have signed a petition demanding a second referendum on Britains decision to leave the European Union, also known as Brexit.

As of Sunday morning, 3,265,669 people had signed the petition on the official UK Parliament website. The website crashed temporarily Saturday due to the high volume of traffic from people rushing to sign the petition.



As of Sunday morning, more than three million Britons and U.K. residents had signed a petition calling for a second referendum on Britain's decision to leave the European Union.

That number far surpasses the 100,000 signatures needed to force a debate on the issue by members of Parliament.

However, the petition is being investigated after allegations of fraud. According to the The Petitions Committee, about 77, 000 signatures were removed when officials discovered they were added fraudulently. A number people on social media pointed out that some people who signed the petition were from outside the U.K. Only British citizens or U.K. residents are allowed to sign the petition.



The Petitions Committee will consider the petition at its next meeting Tuesday.

The petition, created by William Oliver Healey, states: We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based [on] a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.

The Leave campaign won the vote Thursday with 52 percent to the Remain campaigns 48 percent.

In the wake of vote results, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday. Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, has said there will be no second vote.
PANAMA CITY  Amid exploding fireworks and waving flags, a Chinese ship carrying more than 9,000 containers on Sunday entered the newly expanded locks that will double the Panama Canals capacity in a multibillion-dollar bet on a bright economic future despite tough times for international shipping.



Several tug boats pulled Cosco Shipping Panama into the new locks at Agua Clara under a cloudy sky in Colon province, about 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) north of the capital.



This is the route that unites the world, said Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela.



This new transit route is the tip of the iceberg in making Panama once again the logistic center of the Americas, canal administrator Jorge Luis Quijano said as the ship headed for the Pacific Ocean. And it represents a significant opportunity for the countries of the region to improve their infrastructure, increase their exports.



Thousands of Panamanians who began gathering before dawn to witness the inauguration of the canals expansion waved the national flag as the band struck up a song.



Its a one-time experience, a great achievement, said Felicia Penuela, a housewife from Colon province. Panama is showing the world that even though it is a small country it can do great things.



Nearly two years late due to construction delays and labor strife, the $5.25 billion project formally launched with the transit of the 158-foot-wide (48.2 meters), 984-foot-long (300 meters), Chinese-owned container ship. Its one of the modern class of mega-vessels that will now be able to use the canal.



With 30,000 people and eight foreign heads of state expected to attend the daylong festivities, officials are bullish.



There is evidence that the Panama Canal, with this expansion, is an important player not only for regional maritime commerce but worldwide, said Oscar Bazan, the Panama Canal Authoritys executive vice president for planning and commercial development. The canal is a winning bet. (Clients) will benefit from saving not only time but also money, because the canal is a route that shortens distance.



However, the party comes amid a lull in global shipping due to the drop in oil prices, an economic slowdown in China, which is the canals second-largest customer, and other factors that have hit the waterways traffic and income.



While authorities anticipate increasing commerce between Asia and ports on the U.S. East Coast, doubts remain that not all those ports are ready to handle the huge New Panamex-class cargo ships. Net cargo volume through the canal from the U.S. East Coast toward Asia fell 10.2 percent in 2015, according to official statistics. Meanwhile the Suez Canal in Egypt recently lowered tariffs by up to 65 percent on large container carriers in an attempt to keep its traffic.



Its important to remember that the canal does not create demand. The canal opens the route. Supply and demand on a world level is what will decide whether the Panama Canal will really bring more volume or not, said Antonio Dominguez, a general manager for global shipping leader Maersk Line, which moves about 14.2 percent of world commerce. What is certain is that the current canal has maxed out.



Maersk was among shipping companies that have reduced passages through the Panama Canal, although Dominguez said the company is considering a return.



Since the canal was handed over from U.S. control at the end of 1999, the waterway has generated about $10 billion in direct income for the Central American nation and is responsible for about 40 percent of its GDP, factoring in related economic activity. Some 35 to 40 vessels transit the waterway each day, and the canal is estimated to handle about 6 percent of world maritime commerce.



Panama began the expansion nearly a decade ago. Originally planned to open in late 2014 around the waterways centennial, the new locks can accommodate ships that carry up to three times the cargo of those previously able to use the canal.



Grupo Unidos por el Canal, the Italian- and Spanish-led consortium that spearheaded construction, handed the project over Friday, although a series of claims are still pending for presumed cost overruns of more than $3 billion.



Paul Bingham, a shipping economist at Boston-based EDR Group, predicted the canal expansions global impact will be small.



The proportion of world trade that could plausibly use the Panama Canal is constrained by the geography of the worlds population, resource endowments and production regions, Bingham said. There is very little a larger canal can influence at the margin to induce shifts in the geography of world trade, even through potential reductions in costs of shipping a variety of commodities to, from and within the Americas.







Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report.






News / Regional

by Thupeyo Muleya

THE four omalayitsha from Bulawayo who were arrested at the Beitbridge Border Post on Thursday morning for trying to smuggle bullets worth R42 855 from South Africa were yesterday dragged to court charged with smuggling and illegal possession of ammunition.It is suspected the ammunition belonged to a Mr Clive Connelly of Tongogara Street in Bulawayo.Njabulo Nxumalo (31) of Mpopoma, Nkosana Bhekinkosi Makuyana (30), Mthabisi Ncube (23) and Francis Ncube (32) all of Pumula in Bulawayo were arrested by the Ferret Squad while travelling in a South African registered (CF52LRGP) Toyota Quantum as they were about to leave the border post.The squad is made up of Department of Immigration, the police, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Ministry of Transport and other security agents manning the border.The four were not asked to plead to the charges when they appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Mr Innocent Bepura who remanded them in custody to 5 July in the interim.Charges as read by Mr Lloyd Mupfungidza for the State were that on 23 June the four arrived in the country from South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post using the Toyota Quantum (SA Reg CF52LRGP).The vehicle which was being driven by Nxumalo towing a trailer (registration FH05PYGP) was loaded with an assortment of goods.While at the border post, they went through immigration formalities and later declared to Zimra that they were carrying bicycles spares.They managed to hoodwink the Zimra officials who let them pass the red route search bay.They ran out of luck when alert security officials stopped them as they made their way out of the border post area.A search of the vehicle was then conducted leading to the discovery of several boxes of an assortment of bullet cartridges weighing 130 kilogrammes which were concealed under other goods.The contraband had a cumulative value of R42 855 and the State stood to lose $1 437,74 in revenue.The gang was subsequently arrested.The smuggling of firearms from South Africa into the country has of late become rampant.Recently a 48-year-old businessman from Ruwa was fined $2 000 for smuggling 2 417 bullets from South Africa into the country through Beitbridge border post.Bensen Zindere of 6543 Zimre Park in Ruwa who is the owner of Nechit Enterprises was intercepted by an alert police detective while about to leave the border area carrying his stuff in a small satchel.He was carrying an assortment of ammunition (bullets) in a small satchel.A few months after, a retired army captain, Godfrey Mutasa of Harare was also fined $800 by a Beitbridge magistrate for smuggling an ammunition progressive loading machine worth R30 0000 which reloads bullets with gun powder.Mutasa who was intercepted while driving a Mazda BT50 single cab had declared to Zimra that he was importing vehicles spare parts worth R1 200.
Campaign organizers for Donald Trump are waiting for a reorganization of efforts in Connecticut after national campaign manager Cory Lewandowski was fired earlier this week.



Joe Visconti, a former Republican town councilor from West Hartford, has been speaking on behalf of the Trump presidential campaign since it closed its statewide headquarters on the Berlin Turnpike. Visconti heads Team Visconti for Trump America.



He and other Trump backers are waiting to see what happens after Trump fired Lewandowski on Monday, Visconti said. In the days since, the campaign has signaled it will increase hiring, fundraising and campaigning.



Were waiting for them to roll out the next moves in Connecticut, Visconti said. Theyre going to be reorganizing. A lot of us are waiting for those changes. Through Facebook and activist groups were all connected. The minute they get the structure, the army is ready to go.



Visconti said Trump is surrounded by a small staff circle that communicates with about 2,000 or so supporters in various regions. Visconti counts himself as one of those supporters. In fact, he said, he secured the headquarters in the Worthington Plaza in Berlin and expects it may reopen.



Both Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton closed their state campaign offices after the April primary signaling a lull until the general election campaigns heat up this fall.



Unlike Clinton, who has the backing of the Connecticut Democratic party, Trump has had to rely on volunteers rather than party officials for campaign support.



But her campaign has also scaled back its efforts since the primary, Democratic Party officials said. Clinton opened five headquarters throughout the state during the primary, and all but the Hartford office, which belongs to the state party, have closed, said state director Michael Mandell.



Volunteers continue to host phone bank sessions and will be grassroots campaigning throughout the summer for both Clinton and Democratic under ticket candidates, Mandell said.



The Clinton campaign will have a significant presence this fall, Mandell said. It will have a strong world-class coordinated campaign. Dems win with grassroots forces going out with face-to-face conversations.



Supporters for both candidates say the campaigning and the candidates will be more visible statewide after the party conventions in July.



mgodin@record-journal.com (203) 317-2255 Twitter: @Cconnbiz










Luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac arent just expensive to buy. Theyre also costly to maintain.

An analysis done by data site Priceonomics (using a data set from the car maintenance site YourMechanic) showed how much a pricey car can cost you even after youve driven it of the lot. Americans spend approximately 5 percent of their income on buying a car. Another five percent goes towards vehicle maintenance and insurance costs, Priceonomics wrote. (See their full analysis here).

But some cost more than others. And its not necessarily the cheapest vehicles that tend to breakdown over the years. The analysis looked at the which major brands cost the most to maintain over the first 10 years of a cars life. BMW, by far, proved the most costly with maintenance fees totaling an average of $17,800.

READ MORE: Kelly Blue Book names the 10 coolest cars under $18K

Vehicles from Japanese automaker Toyota had the fewest hiccups post-purchase, costing only $5,550 on average over a decade. Not a bad deal for a car that also would cost much less than a luxury German import like a BMW or Mercedes-Benz. Toyotas luxury brand Lexus performed well too ($7,000 a year). Domestic brands like Ford ($9,100) and Chevrolet ($8,800) appeared right in the middle.

The analysis groups together all models of all years for each brand. But the site did look at which models came with the steepest maintenance costs: Chrysler Sebring ($17,100) and BMW 238i ($15,600) led the way. The Sebring was discontinued as was another faulty, high-priced car on the list: the Hummer H3.

Four of the six vehicles with the cheapest maintenance costs were Toyotas: The Prius, Camry, Tacoma and Corolla. All cost less than $6,000 to maintain (as did the Kia Soul, Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris).

See the gallery above for a look at the cars that break down the most often (and which ones dont).
A crowd of curators, art handlers, other museum staff and couriers (special drivers) crowded a loading dock at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this morning for the delivery of two of the Art Deco vehicles that will star in the show "Sculpted in Steel."

First off the truck was Edsel Ford's personal Model 40 Special Speedster, custom-designed by Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie and made by the Ford Aircraft Division. (It does look like it could fly, although this morning a low tire made it hard for the driver to get it off the semi.)
News / Regional

by Dumisani Sibanda

THE Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) Bulawayo Province yesterday appointed a five-member committee which will press for the holding of a meeting of all ex-Zipra combatants who contributed to the purchase of several properties under Nitram which they want to reclaim.A Bulawayo-based committee member of the organisation's national executive, Japhet Phuthi, will head the team which also has Cdes Dumisani Sibanda, Lot Siziba, Vasco Moyo and Max Khumalo. The committee was chosen during a war veterans meeting held in Bulawayo yesterday.The affected properties include three in Bulawayo, Nest Eggs, Castle Arms and Black Cat Removals Building and two farms in Umguza, Woodlands and Ascot as well as Hamlington Farm in Gweru. In an interview after the setting up of the committee, Phuthi said the properties had caveats placed on their title deeds at the height of post-independence disturbances in the 80s following the gazetting of a Statutory Instrument that paved way for the move."What needs to happen is for Parliament to change that law, so that the properties can be reclaimed by the ex-Zipra combatants who bought them while at assembly points soon after the liberation war," said Phuthi. "But people were resettled under the land reform programme at Hamlington Farm in Gweru and Government promised to give us a hunting concession in exchange, which has not happened and Ascot Farm was sold but I can't understand how that was done when there was a caveat on it. As for Black Cats Removals it still has title deeds with names of the old directors even if it was bought by us Zipra comrades. We did not change the title deeds deliberately because the company was used to move arms for Umkhonto WeSizwe, the ANC military wing as it was fighting apartheid in South Africa then."Earlier, ZNLWVA Bulawayo provincial chairman Cephas Ncube had told the meeting that the issue of the properties was raised during the 7 April meeting which the former freedom fighters had with President Mugabe, their Patron in Harare.Ncube was reporting back on the resolutions of the meeting with President Mugabe. He said there were a lot of issues that were agreed on like the issue of school fees for children of war veterans that had not been fully addressed. Ncube said war veterans should press for the implementation of these resolutions to do with their welfare including decisions that have been outstanding for too long.He said they had been promised more in terms of gratuities."People are quiet about this," said Ncube. "We are not asking for it yet the President agreed on it but said at the time the Government could not afford to pay the whole amount and paid Z$50 000 per person. The outstanding amount is Z$250 000 per person and if converted it amounted to US$18 000, per person."He said war veterans who received military training but did not go to the front to fight and have not been vetted should come forward for the vetting process to enable them to receive benefits."However, for those who returned home without being trained, a law has to be enacted for them to benefit. The same situation applies to war collaborators, a law has to be in place to enable them to benefit."He said some members from the province took part in an outreach programme throughout the country in which they clarified to ex-combatants that Christopher Mutsvangwa was still the chairman of ZNLWA."Mutsvangwa was dropped from Cabinet as Minister of War Veterans and also removed from the Politburo but he remains the chairman of our association," said Ncube.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

For 200 music fans from Mexico, neither politics, nor travel risks, nor cost would keep them away from the 2016 Vans Warped Tour in San Antonio on Saturday.

Featuring such bands as Yellowcard, We The Kings and New Found Glory at the AT&T Center, the all-day affair was worth the trouble just to see their favorite bands and make some memories.

Marcelo Garza and Estefania Caceres, both 22, of Get Rock Tours were part of the team responsible for overseeing the hundreds of fans who came from all parts of Mexico to San Antonio.

Garza is the senior manager and Caceres is one of the staff members who help run the trip. Although both live in Monterrey, they have developed a fondness for American music.

I have been falling in love with festivals and that kind of stuff, Caceres said. So (Garza) invited me to come to the Vans Warped Tour and then I fell in love with that kind of music.

Their first venture began in 2005, when a small group of fans traveled to San Antonio from Mexico for the first time in a single bus, Garza said. Since then, the demand for the tours has exploded.

From 2010 to present, weve been bringing more than three buses, he said. This year, we have four buses.

Ticket prices this year were as much as $50 at the gates. When they started collaborating, Get Rock organized a deal with the tour to get reduced ticket prices of $20 to make the trip more affordable. Thats allowed the size of the groups to increase significantly.

Julie Grant, the operations manager for the Warped Tour, said 200 people traveled with the group this year. She said its the only officially coordinated international group that the tour works with and they only come to San Antonio.

She said its important to help these fans come because the tour wants to give them a chance to experience the music live.

Theyre so excited about the Warped Tour; they love it. So we want to give them that opportunity because we obviously dont go to Mexico, so they dont have that opportunity, she said

Warped founder Kevin Lyman, who has been organizing the tour for 22 straight years, said he was impressed the group would make an attempt to come to a show he produced despite the possible risks of traveling through Mexico.

They had to go through a little peril to go to a show, potentially, he said.

Since the group has to pay for the buses along with security to travel with them, Lyman expressed a desire to help them.

If someones willing to go through those extremes to come to your show, it made me feel like, OK, you know what? I may not be able to bring the show to them, but if they want to make the effort, we (can) make the tickets more affordable for that group of kids to come up so they can afford the transportation and the security to come to the border.

Fortunately, the group has never experienced an incident on their journey to San Antonio. Still, international travel doesnt come without complications.

When they try to cross the border, Garza said it can take five to six hours just to get through the checkpoints.

Every summer we go and have the same documents in order and all this stuff and (border security) are like, Yeah, we know you, but we need to make sure everything is OK and we need to check (everyone) one by one.  Checking one by one takes a long time.

Garza said they have been working on this trip since January. They start by spreading word through emails and social media to let people know the details. Once everyone is organized, they leave from Monterrey and make the trek to the Alamo City, arriving the day of the tours stop. Fans paid about 1,550 pesos each this year.

The group, whose age ranges from 16 to 28, operates on a tight schedule. Garza said once the shows are finished, they grab a quick bite to eat, get back on the bus and arrive back in Mexico the next day.

Even though the group has grown so much already, Garza plans to expand it even more in coming years to meet the Mexican fans demands for American music. In the meantime, he became another jubilant participant of the rain-soaked horde of Warped fans who rocked out to their favorite bands.

I love the logistics of this festival. Everybody is cool, is happy  Ive been to a lot of festivals in the world and I think this is my favorite. Everyone can agree (to) everything you say and everyone helps each other. Its cool.

For Caceres, seeing the months of work to get everyone from Mexico to San Antonio is what makes the Warped Tour special.

I like to see all the effort and people being really happy and see  it wasnt useless, it was really for something and we can reach it. Its great to see it.

ebustillos@express-news.net
Six or seven fire companies and at least 40 firefighters battled a massive blaze at a Watervliet warehouse on Saturday, which broke out at an unspecified time but had spread through the building by 10 p.m.

"I'm not clear on the initial alarm time. They did have a lot of fire when they got here, and shortly after, the rest of the building was pretty much lit up," said Watervliet Fire Chief Rob Conlen. No one was injured.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Right-wing marchers and hundreds of counterprotesters turned the grounds of the state Capitol into a bloody melee Sunday, injuring 10 people  including two in critical condition with stab wounds  in a violent clash that erupted despite a heavy law enforcement presence, CHP and fire officials said.

The fight broke out between members of a group calling itself the Traditionalist Worker Party and the counterprotesters, some of whom were members of the Black Lives Matter movement, said Chris Harvey, the Sacramento Fire Departments public information officer.

My understanding is we had Black Lives Matter, KKK and some other right-wing groups, he said. There was a wide range of individuals here today.

It all started on the south steps of the Capitol with smaller skirmishes spreading throughout the entire grounds  an area six blocks long and three blocks wide, added Harvey.

At around 9 a.m., the counterprotestors began amassing.

Their numbers swelled to 400-plus, said George Granada, a California Highway Patrol public information officer with the Capitol Protection Division.

They were staged, basically, around the Capitol, out on the city street. On the south side, west side, north side of the Capitol looking to be: Hey, where are these guys going to try to enter from? Granada said.

At 11:45 a.m., roughly 30 Traditionalist Worker Party members arrived.

And then, that word spread quickly through the antiprotester (group) from whatever location that they were at, they started running to that south side of the Capitol, Granada said. I dont think there was any kind of verbal anything. I think it was an immediate brawl that took place.

No arrests were made, and at least 100 law officers were present during the clash, Granada added. The Fire Department treated nine men and one woman, ages 19 to 58, for injuries that included cuts, scrapes, bruises and lacerations, Harvey said. Nine were taken to area hospitals, while one person declined further treatment.

The Traditionalist Worker Party is a white nationalist, political group that formed early last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Headquartered in Bloomington, Ind., the group has roughly 500 members across a dozen chapters in about half a dozen states, said Matt Parrott, the groups press coordinator, who works as a truck driver.

The Traditionalist Worker Party apparently came expecting a fight, previewing the days events as its own version of the movie 300, according to a Web page advertising a live stream of the march.

After carefully weighing the pros and cons, we have decided that this would be our Thermopylae, wrote Matthew Heimbach, the chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, referencing the ancient Greek battle that inspired the Hollywood film. No matter what it costs or what it takes the march will go on!

Of the 30 men who showed up, at least one was stabbed in the arm, and it ended up nicking up one of his arteries, Heimbach, a landscaper, told The Chronicle by phone. They had to use a belt to slow down the bleeding, but he lost a lot of blood before he had to go to the hospital.

He said the person is expected to recover.

Heimbach cut the call short, saying he was receiving a call from a comrade in Moscow.

Neither Parrott nor Heimbach was at the rally, Parrott added. Both live in Indiana.

Parrott said the march was organized roughly two months ago and promoted over Facebook and Twitter.

Meanwhile, a group called Anti-Fascist Action Sacramento, which also calls itself Antifa Sacramento, planned the counterdemonstration.

In a call to action first posted May 19, Antifa Sacramento asked counterdemonstrators to show up on the Capitols west steps by 9 a.m. Sunday to confront those bigots, deny them a platform to promote hate and to make sure they know they are not welcome on our streets or in our communities, according to a flyer posted on the groups Web page and promoted on Facebook.

The group said Nazis, skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan were planning to demonstrate at the Capitol.

Anti-Fascist Action Sacramento does not believe in allowing hate to have a platform, and we are calling upon the community to shut down their rally, the group said. Fighting fascism is a moral duty, not a political one.

Ben Briskin, an Antifa Sacramento organizer, said about 300 counterdemonstrators came from as far as Oregon and Washington.

Briskin said the melee started when several of the Traditionalist Worker Party members tried to sneak into the Capitol building through a different entrance than originally planned.

A bunch of us rushed over to try and block their path, Briskin said in a telephone interview. Some of them split off from the main group and started attacking the people we had.

Briskin said he saw two counterprotesters, both men, stabbed in the stomach or below the rib cage, and added that his organization counted a total of five who were stabbed.

At that point, all hell broke loose, Briskin said. The counterprotesters began fighting back, eventually chasing the demonstrators away from the Capitol, he said.

We went after them with fists, sticks, whatever we had, anything that would get them out of there, he said.

Briskin said his group, which represents a wide range of antifascist and antiracist organizations, anticipated violence at the rally based on the worker partys history and other fascist rallies in general. More than two weeks ago, Antifa Sacramento started a crowdfunding campaign on Rally.org to raise money for bail and medical expenses.

Sean Sposito and Benny Evangelista are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: ssposito@sfchronicle.com, bevangelista@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@ChronicleBenny, @SeanSposito
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Hundreds of thousands of people, some rainbow-clad celebrants and some slack-jawed tourists, took up their positions on Market Street as the Pride Parade set off on its annual westward trek.

Along with the joyous celebrants, married couples of all gender combinations, and folks clad in leather, spandex, high heels and balloons were more cops than in past years. Security was increased all along the route, in light of the Orlando tragedy.

Make America Gay Again, read the words on more than one T-shirt, along with others that read, I Cant Even Think Straight.

Hundreds of women on motorcycles, the celebrated Dykes on Bikes who traditionally lead the parade, revved up their noisy contraptions near the Ferry Building and got things started.

One rider had a large Orlando flag waving behind her. Others affixed We are Orlando stickers to the front of their bikes.

After them came the floats. They were decked out in ribbons, balloons, flags and any other permutation of rainbow decor.

Among the nonmotorized parade vehicles were a half-dozen rickshaws pulled by people dressed up as ponies. Aboard the rickshaws were the leather marshals for the parade. The ponies were members of Stampede, which calls itself a San Francisco animal play group.

In the pony space

One of the ponies, who identified herself as Spring Pony and was wearing a leather pony mask, leather ears, leather blinders and a pair of wings, said she was excited to be pulling a rickshaw for nearly a mile through San Francisco, but would have to decline saying anything more.

Im in the pony space at the moment, Spring Pony explained through her mask.

One of the leather marshals, Ray Tilton, said he had a heavy heart and a lot of emotion mixed with a little bit of fear after the Orlando shootings.

But were not going to let that stop us from marching, Tilton said.

Also rolling down Market Street were Donald Bird, 71, and his husband, David Young, 78. They were wearing gold blazers and riding in a gold Cadillac convertible to mark their golden anniversary as a couple. A sign on the Caddie read: Together 50 years and still counting.

Young said it feels like it was just yesterday that we met and pledged to return for their 75th anniversary at the Pride Parade in the year 2041.

Well do this again, Young said.

Kimberly Hogg and her wife, Lynette Kelly, of Berkeley marched to celebrate three years of marriage.

I remember when I was younger and it wasnt OK to be gay, Hogg said. You had to be careful about who you talked to, what you said. But to see hundreds of thousands of people waiting for us for hours  it sounds hokey, but you just feel proud to be gay.

Another contingent was the Soul of Pride, a group focused on racial and economic justice. Javarre Wilson, who is black, said black gays are still trying to find their place in the mainstream LGBT community.

We have a shared experience, but we also have a lot of division, Wilson said. White privilege is real in American society, but its also present in the LGBT community.

Politicos on parade

Rolling down the street and waving at the overstuffed sidewalks on either side were any number of officeholders and those seeking to be. Among them were dueling U.S. Senate candidates Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez and dueling state Senate candidates Scott Wiener and Jane Kim. Also smiling at 5 mph were U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who was wearing an orange cape and urged paradegoers to throw their hands in the air if you care about justice.

Harris, the state attorney general, said Pride isnt just a day, its a way of life (and) the best antidote to fear.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, its important to keep fighting for reasonable gun safety laws, Harris said. We have to reject the faulty premise that reasonable gun safety is against the Second Amendment.

At Civic Center Plaza, state Sen. Mark Leno took the stage sporting a pair of leather pants and told the crowd that the Orlando massacre didnt happen in a vacuum. It happened in a social and political context.

He blamed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for wanting to take us backward and create a context for violence, and urged the crowd to support Hillary Clinton who, he said, fully embraces marriage equality, equity, respect, dignity and validation of every human life.

The San Francisco celebration was similar in size and exuberance to other parades Sunday in New York and Chicago. Among those parading in New York was presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who walked for four blocks of the route while surrounded by Secret Service agents and police. It was reported to be the first appearance in a Pride Parade of a presumptive major party presidential candidate.

Crowds lighter on route

Along San Franciscos parade route, crowds seemed lighter than in previous years. Blaine Andrews, 52, and husband Mark Gehrke, 59, came from their home in Hayward with their two dogs but were surprised to find they didnt need to arrive as early as they did.

Usually this area is 15 people deep, Andrews said, standing at the front of parade barricades near Turk and Market streets with no one behind him.

Friends of his who heard about the added security decided it wasnt worth it, he said. But Andrews said this years parade was better than ever.

In the 30-plus years Ive been coming here, Ive never seen stuff like this, Andrews said. Just absolutely crazy things. Straight families with their kids waving flags. Its a new world! Its never been more inclusive.

Patrick Brown, 41, from Oakland, who was marching in a contingent of meditation practitioners, said it was a tough decision to show up amid all the extra security.

I understand theyre here for our safety, but for my community they make me feel less secure, Brown said. The increased police presence makes you feel youre in a police state.

Ads, ads and more ads

Nearby, veteran Pride Parade watcher Carol Jean Wisnieski said the parade was inspiring despite its increased commercialization. In this years parade were contingents representing banks, airlines, social media companies, ride-hailing companies, restaurants, health care providers, a utility and an Indian casino.

Wisnieski, who has been attending the parade for decades, said in the past it wasnt all about the advertising.

Around Civic Center Plaza, where the parade disbanded, metal detectors screened arriving celebrants and security guards peeked into backpacks and bags.

San Francisco resident Todd Porter, 48, who has been to every Pride event since coming out 25 years ago, said he was grateful for the extra security.

The amount of police is a deterrent for anyone that wants to do anything bad, he said. I think it was a great idea.

On streets leading to the parade route, traffic was tied up tighter than a thong. Muni rerouted no fewer than 22 of its transit lines, including the F-Market streetcar, which, if it had attempted to negotiate Market Street, would quickly have found itself in bondage.

Steve Rubenstein, Evan Sernoffsky, Joaquin Palomino and Kimberly Veklerov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com, jpalomino@sfchronicle.com, kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF, @EvanSernoffsky, @JoaquinPalomino, @KVeklerov
Opinion / Columnist

In decent and civilized countries, VP Mnangagwa would have left his office of the Presidency long back. This labelling of "other" as cockroaches is an act of verbal diarreah, unfortunately a wording that led to the shedding of blood of three quarters of a million Rwandese in Rwanda in the 1990s. As VP and an aspiring President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, this casual and loose labelling of "other" using hate speeches is a sign that he remains above all and every law in the land. This is scary indeed; the Minister of Justice Mnangagwa has on several occasions quoted as having indulged on hate speeches more often without being reprimanded by the law because Mnangagwa, according to him is the law himself; Minister of Justice and Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. Why do the citizens of Zimbabwe respond to these hate speeches with silence?Hate speech is defined as an expression which abusive, insulting, intimidating, harassing, a hate speech that incites to violence, hatred and discrimination. Hate speech is a violent expression of absolute hate and therefore very dangerous. Does our Minister of Justice know this? Does the constitution of Zimbabwe have a clause regarding hate speech? When VP Mnangagwa utters such abomination not even three weeks ago, and in the presence of his master: President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, "he will deal with cockroaches," he said, what does that tell us about the calibre of Emerson Mnangagwa as future President of Zimbabwe? Does that not confirm to us the architects of genocide of yesteryear are still contemplating bloodshed tomorrow but of greater magnitude? Are these utterances not warning signs that something greater than anger is looming?When Mr Emerson Mnangagwa says he is going to crush cockroaches, which are these cockroaches meant in this instance? It is Jonathan Moyo? Is it Kasukuwere? Is it Dr. Grace Mugabe or any of the so-called G40 group? My second guess will be that he meant Jonathan Nathaniel Moyo, of Ndebele ethnic group, who, according to VP's definition of cockroaches: are the people of Mathebeleland and Midlands whom he claimed in 1983 harboured dissidents. Zapu members too, even if they were of Shona origin, belonged in this category of cockroaches. It can never be the wife of the President, the wife of the man he was body guarding during the Bush war.Mnangagwa was a body guard for President Mugabe, who watched over him outside in the cold, while Mugabe slept in his bed comfort; he said.My second guessing may be wrong again, not long ago our President was telling his war veterans that he is going to do it again, the return of Gugurahundi will now deal with dissident war veterans. War veterans constitute all ethnic groups in Zimbabwe, are now threatened to be crushed in the manner in which the people of Mathebeleland and Midlands were dealt with. To understand President Mugabe's today's hate speech towards the war veterans and the hate speech coming from the VP Mnangagwa, it is necessary to understand the social and political climate in which it occurs. The two succession groups: the so-called G40 and the Lacoste have filled the Zimbabwean air with hate speeches in their bitter fightings. You need to go to the social media to be shocked by the magnitude of hate speeches done on them.If there was an article that has a tribal element in it, the rude language spirals out of control in its raw form: its Shona against Ndebele fighting it out on internet, writing hate speeches, mostly insults from both tribes, one cannot even attempt to quote them on this article. We all know where all these hate speeches come from, from the top brass, civil servants, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, his Vice President, some of his Ministers. The ousted Mai Mujuru is not exonerated from hate speeches, when she was Vice President she spoke carelessly about "zvipfukuto" weevils, then Minister Mutasa suggested the use of "gamatox" to kill the weevils. To complete her apologies, Mai Mujuru needed to extend her "sorry" on hate speeches she uttered during her tenure as holder of several portfolios in Mugabe's regime.We cannot build a multi-cultural Zimbabwe if we are not mature politically. The people of Zimbabwe should refrain from hate speeches on internet, on Zimbabwe social media houses. The comments made on our social media, however petty, are indeed galling; the battleground for tribalism in the social media is galling to say the least. We cannot say those comments are done by uneducated people, is Justice Minister uneducated? Is he not answerable on matters of legal affairs in parliament? We cannot say its political immaturity either, President Mugabe and his henchmen have got away with murder and genocide since independence; they are now above the law. As for VP Mnangagwa, he is besmirching the cause he is aspiring to achieve: to become the future President of Zimbabwe. He is deliberately given vent to deliberately make provocative statement that are very long on insults and short on courtesy directed especially to the people of Mathebeleland.India is a country with broad ethnic diversities. They realised the need to legally deal with hate speeches by formulating laws that forbids the use of hate speech by anybody including the politicians in the highest offices. The laws seek the punishment of persons who show disrespect of "other" citizens. Section 153 A of the constitution says: "whoever by words either spoken or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise promotes or attempts to promote on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste, or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feeling of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, languages or religious groups or caste or communities and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine or both."Zimbabwe clearly does not have such a law, if at all it had, our Minister of Justice would be found wanting together with the President of Zimbabwe and several other Ministers in his cabinet. VP Mnangagwa's routine harassment of his opponents and discriminating statement that espouse doctrines of tribal hatred; this undermines and destroys the fabric of Ubuntu. There should be vigorous condemnation of hate speeches backed by legislative laws combined with the power of educating the younger generation about the ills of tribalism. The legislation should clearly outline hate speeches and words daubed with tribal hatred which invites hate speeches.- To say Gugurahundi did not take place should be made criminal expression of hate- To label people as cockroaches is a violent act of hate expression and therefore criminal- To say to a Shona person amaswina should be made a criminal expression of hate- To say to a Ndebele person madviti should be made a criminal expression of hate- To say to white population Rhodies should be made a criminal expression of hate- To say to Shona people izinja zabobaba should be made a criminal expression of hate- To say Ndebele and Shona people cannot mix because they are like oil and water is an act of hate expression, may not be criminal? But it is distasteful!These are just a few printable issues that need to be criminalised so that there are limits and boundaries to freedom of expression. There are numerous of them we did not need to write them all but summarize them in the way the Indian legislative laws were formulated; all summarized in a legal language to mean a combination of hate speeches done by most Zimbabwean consciously and sometimes taken as a joke. There is no joke that allows a section of people to degrade "other" people, to vent fun by insults, is certainly not civil.I wish myself a multi-cultural Zimbabwe full of tolerance and inclusivity of different and diverse communities. It is stupid to consider yourself as "cool" if you constantly and deliberately discriminate, insult, harass and abuse the White communities, incite violence to occupy their farms, it does not give bread and butter in our tables, but left us without any food securities in our silos, worse off than we were during the colonial times. Today millions in Zimbabwe do not know where the next meal will come from. The government tempered with our social capital: our white farmers.There is need for legal experts to re-do our constitution, we need a clearly defined laws regarding hate speeches. Hate speech laws should prohibit any of the type of hate speech, group label, harassment and incitement; we want zero tolerance to inflammatory political speeches coming from the First Lady of Zimbabwe equally: Dr. Grace Mugabe. In the mean time we shall look after her grandson: Simbanashe Chikore.
One person is dead after a truck, a bus and an SUV appear to have been in a wreck on Northeast Loop 410.

San Antonio Police said the driver of a white pickup died after an accident at 9:20 p.m. in the westbound lane of Loop 410 near Starcrest Drive.
Ask parents if they would throw themselves in front of a speeding car to save their child, without hesitation they will say yes. As the father of a young child, I know I would.

For Olivia Saenz, this was not a hypothetical question. It was a choice she made.

In February 2013, Mrs. Saenz was helping her 9-year-old son board his school bus on U.S. 181 near Max Road. The bus was stopped with its lights flashing and stop-arm extended, but the driver of the car barreling down the highway decided to pass the bus anyway. At the last moment, Mrs. Saenz was able to push her son out of the way. She ended up with a broken arm and broken leg, but her son was safe.

When a car illegally passes a stopped school bus, it is called a stop-arm violation. I think that name is misleading. Stop-arm violation sounds so innocent and harmless, but the results of this action could be tragic.

I wish I could tell you that stop-arm violations are rare, but that is not the case. A 2008 statewide study of Texas school districts conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety found that North East ISD ranked among the highest for stop-arm violations. The study found 1.3 stop-arm violations per bus in that district. Other statewide studies have shown that stop-arm violations occur an average 1.1 times per bus per day. That means that a car illegally passes a stopped school bus while children are loading or unloading nearly 3 million times a year in Texas.

If a police officer witnesses one of these violations, the officer can write a criminal citation that might cost the driver up to $1,200. However, police do not have the resources to follow school buses all day. One Texas DPS report showed that the entire state averages just 1,400 successful convictions a year for illegally passing a school bus. In the past three years, the San Antonio Police Department has written only 418 tickets.

Fortunately, there is another tool available to help protect our children. Cameras anchored to the side of school buses can record the events that occur when these drivers illegally pass school buses.

Dallas, Austin, San Marcos and many other districts have already implemented similar programs, and many of the school districts in and around San Antonio have conducted pilot programs to determine if there is a problem in their district and if this technology could be beneficial.

Some of these school districts are ready to implement this program by the start of school in August. They are just waiting on the San Antonio City Council to enact the local ordinance that will allow for a civil citation to be issued. That is why my colleague Ray Lopez joined me in co-authoring a City Council request that was supported by council members Rey Saldana, Shirley Gonzales and Mike Gallagher.

The school bus camera safety program has many benefits. Implementation of the program will spawn greater public education on the issue. School district transportation directors will receive violation reports that will better enable them to change routes to make them safer for students. If repeat violation locations are found, police can be notified to increase their enforcement efforts. Of course, the civil violations received in the mail also change behavior. We know this child-safety program works because there are fewer stop-arm violations in the communities that use bus cameras. Dallas, for example, has seen a 23 percent drop in violations.

By acting now, City Council can make certain that local school districts have these systems up and running when our kids go back to school this fall. The safety of our children cannot wait. The City Council should not wait. This initiative literally could be a matter of life or death.

Alan Warrick represents City Council District 2.
It has been more than three months since President Barack Obama nominated federal Judge Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia the month before. And the GOP-controlled Senate, playing pure politics, has refused to act on the nomination until after the November election.

On Thursday, a 4-4 Supreme Court failed to reach an opinion on a case that tested the administrations authority to use the discretion it has always had to prioritize the deportation of those most in need of removal. The presidents executive action would have allowed millions of undocumented immigrants  the parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents  to avoid deportation and obtain work permits.

The deadlock means a Texas federal judges injunction on the program, affirmed by an appeals court, remains in place. Deferral for undocumented immigrants brought here as children remains in place, though an expansion of it is also stalled.

The absence of an opinion throws back into limbo  and back into the shadows where they can be exploited  people without criminal backgrounds who simply want to work.

Imagine scenarios in which the families of children who are U.S. citizens are torn apart when parents are deported.

The deadlock brings into stark relief the result when the Senate shirks its constitutional obligation to deny or confirm a nominee for the high court. It has refused to give Garland a hearing.

Senate Republicans might be just fine with the outcome in this particular case. But they werent so happy when the high court in March deadlocked on a labor case that favored public employee unions. And they are likely unhappy with another court deadlock Thursday that leaves intact tribal courts ability  in a civil case  to hold Dollar General Corp. and one of its nontribal-member employees liable for a child molestation.

There is a lot of injury to go around here.

There are, of course, families living in fear because of this ruling and because of congressional failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. This lack of reform is what prompted the president to launch his deferral programs.

But there is also the injury caused simply because the Supreme Court cannot do its job without a tie-breaking vote. Laws and actions go uninterpreted, and this lack of clarity disrupts lives.

The Senate must do its job. Give Garland a hearing.
Is it really too much to ask the state of Texas to track spills of oil and toxic chemicals?

Apparently so.

The El Paso Times has reported that neither the Texas Railroad Commission nor the states Commission on Environmental Quality appears to have a handle on such data. In the case of the Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, the issue is incomplete record keeping. A recent Sunset Advisory Commission review slammed the Railroad Commission for its poor record keeping, noting it does not track the total number of major violations as cited by field inspectors.

From the review: The Railroad Commission tracks the number of major violations referred to the Enforcement Section, but does not track the total number of major violations cited by field inspectors. In fiscal year 2015, inspectors referred 842 major violations to the Enforcement Section, but more than 37,000 citations could have potentially qualified as major violations under the Railroad Commissions definition.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which coordinates the environmental response to spills, could not tell the El Paso Times if it has any records of oil slicks that have emerged after recent flooding  even though aerial photos captured a number of spills.

This long-standing Texas issue has been magnified by the growth of oil production, followed by the bottoming of the market, which was followed by extreme flooding in 2015 and 2016.

Tracking the location of oil spills and associated cleanup progress, and then posting that information in an easy-to-understand way online, strikes us as a necessary public service  one that the Railroad Commission and TCEQ could easily partner on given the environmental and health concerns of such spills.
Ordinary Time. Cycle C.

Author: Order of Carmlites | Source: www.ocarm.org

The difficult process of forming the disciples.

How to be born again.

Luke 9:51-62



1. Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection.

Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.



2. Gospel Reading

a) A key to the reading: The literary context

In the context of Lukes Gospel, the text for this Sunday is at the beginning of the new phase of Jesus activity. The frequent conflicts with the people and the religious authorities (Lk 4:28; 5:21.30; 6:2.7; 7:19.23.33-34.39) confirmed Jesus as being the Servant Messiah as foreseen in Isaiah (Is 50: 4-9; 53:12) and as assumed by Jesus himself from the beginning of his apostolic activities (Lk 4:18). From now on, Jesus begins to proclaim his passion and death (Lk 9:22.43-44) and decides to go the Jerusalem (Lk 9:51). This change in the course of events created a crisis among the disciples (Mk 8:31-33). They cannot understand and are afraid (Lk 9:45), because they still hold on to the old way of thinking of a glorious Messiah. Luke describes various episodes touching on the old mentality of the disciples: the desire to be the greatest (Lk 9:46-48); the will to control the use of the name of Jesus (Lk 9:49-50); the violent reaction of James and John at the refusal of the Samaritans to welcome Jesus (Lk 9:51-55). Luke also points out how hard Jesus tries to get his disciples to understand the new concept concerning his mission. This Sundays text (Lk 9: 51-62) gives some examples of the way Jesus tried to form his disciples.

b) A division of the text to help with the reading:

Luke 9:51-52: Jesus decides to go to Jerusalem

Luke 9:52b53: A village in Samaria does not welcome him

Luke 9:54: The reaction of John and James at the Samaritans refusal

Luke 9:55-56: Jesus reaction to the violence of James and John

Luke 9:57-58: Jesus first condition for following him

Luke 9:59-60: Jesus second condition for following him

Luke 9:61-62: Jesus third condition for following him

c) The text:

51 When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; 53 but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.

57 As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." 59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 60 But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61 Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." 62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."



3. A moment of prayerful silence

so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.

4. Some questions

to help us in our personal reflection.

a) Which part of the text pleased you most and which touched you most?

b) What defects and limitations of the disciples can we discover in the text?

c) What teaching method does Jesus use to correct these defects?

d) What facts from the Old Testament are recalled in this text?

e) With which of these three vocations (vv. 57-62) do you identify yourself? Why?

f) Which of the defects of Jesus disciples is most prevalent in us, his disciples of today?



5. A key to the reading

that may help us to go deeper into the theme.

a) The historical context of our text:

The historical context of Lukes Gospel always contains the following two aspects; the context of the time of Jesus in the 30s in Palestine, and the context of the Christian communities of the 80s in Greece for whom Luke is writing his Gospel.

At the time of Jesus in Palestine. It was not easy for Jesus to form his disciples. It is not simply the fact of following Jesus and living in community that makes a person holy and perfect. The greatest difficulty comes from the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod (Mk 8:15), that is, from the times dominant ideology, promoted by the official religion (the Pharisees) and by the government (the Herodians). Fighting against the leaven was part of the formation he gave his disciples; especially that the manner of thinking of the great had taken deep root and always raised its head again in the minds of the little ones, the disciples. The text of our meditation this Sunday gives us an insight into the way Jesus faced this problem.

In Lukes time, within the Greek communities. For Luke, it was important to help the Christians and not leave them prey to the leaven of the Roman empire and pagan religion. The same applies today. The leaven of the neo-liberal system, spread by the media, propagates a consumeristic mentality, contrary to Gospel values. It is not easy for people to realise that they are being duped: What I have in my hand is nothing but a lie! (Is 44:20).

b) A commentary on the text:

Luke 9:51-52a: Jesus decides to go to Jerusalem

Now as the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven. This statement shows that Luke reads Jesus life in the light of the prophets. He wants to make it quite clear to his readers that Jesus is the Messiah in whom is accomplished that which the prophets foretold. The same manner of speaking is in Johns Gospel: Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass form this world to the Father, ... (Jn 13,1). Jesus is obedient to the Father, he decisively set out towards Jerusalem.

Luke 9:52b53: A village in Samaria does not welcome him

Hospitality was one of the pillars of community life. It was difficult for anyone to let someone spend the night outside without welcoming him (Jn 18:1-5; 19:1-3; Gs 19;,15-21). But in Jesus time, the rivalry between Jews and Samaritans urged the people of Samaria not to welcome Jews who were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and this led the Jews from Galilee not to pass through Samaria when they went to Jerusalem. They preferred to go through the valley of the Jordan. Jesus is contrary to this discrimination and, therefore, goes through Samaria. Consequently he suffers discrimination and is not made welcome.

Luke 9:54: The violent reaction of John and James at the refusal of the Samaritans

Inspired by the example of the prophet Elijah, James and John want to call down fire from heaven to exterminate that village! (2 Kings 1:10.12; 1Kings 18:38). They think that by the simple fact that they are with Jesus, everyone should welcome them. They still cling to the old mentality, that of privileged persons. They think that they can keep God on their side to defend them.

Luke 9:55-56: Jesus reaction to the violence of James and John

Jesus turned and rebuked them. Some versions of the Bible, basing their translation on some old manuscripts wrote: You know not what spirit dwells in you. The son of man did not come to take the life of men, but to save it. The fact that someone is with Jesus does not give that person the right to think that he or she is superior to others or that others owe them honour. The Spirit of Jesus demands the opposite: to forgive seventy times seven (Mt 18:22). Jesus chose to forgive the criminal who prayed to him on the cross (Lk 23:43).

Luke 9:57-58: The first condition for following Jesus

One says: I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus reply is very clear and without any hidden meaning. He leaves no room for doubt: the disciple who wishes to follow Jesus must impress this on his or her mind and heart: Jesus has nothing, not even a stone to lay his head on. The foxes and the birds are better off because they at least have holes and nests.

Luke 9:59-60: The second condition for following Jesus

Jesus says to one: Follow me! These were the words addressed to the first disciples: Follow me (Mk 1:17.20; 2:14). The reaction of the one called is positive. The person is ready to follow Jesus. He only asks that he may be allowed to bury his father. Jesus reply is hard: Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God. This is probably a popular proverb used for saying that one has to be radical in ones decision making. The one who is ready to follow Jesus must leave everything behind. It is as though one were dead to all ones possessions resurrected to another life.

Luca 9,61-62: The third condition for following Jesus

A third one says: I will follow you, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home. Again the reply of Jesus is hard and radical: Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Jesus is more demanding than the prophet Elijah when Elijah called Elisha to be his disciple (1 Kings 19:19-21). The New Testament is greater than the Old Testament in its demands on the practice of love.

c) A further deepening: Jesus the formator

The process of the formation of the disciples is demanding, slow and painful, because it is not easy to give birth to a new experience of God in them, a new vision of life and of the neighbour. It is like being born again! (Jn 3:5-9). The old mindset keeps creeping back in the life of people, of families and communities. Jesus spares no effort in forming his disciples. He gave much time to this, not always successfully. Judas betrayed him, Peter denied him and, in the moment of trial, all abandoned him. Only the women and John stayed close to him, near the cross. But the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent to us after his resurrection, completed the work Jesus began (Jn 14:26; 16,13). Apart from what we have said concerning the text of this Sunday (Lk 9:51-62), Luke speaks of many other examples to show how Jesus went about forming his disciples and helping them to overcome the misleading mentality of the time:

In Luke 9:46-48 the disciples argue among themselves as to who is the greatest among them. The competitive mindset here is that of fighting for power, characteristic of the society of the Roman Empire, and it had already infiltrated the just-beginning and small community of Jesus! Jesus tells them to hold to the opposite way of thinking. He takes a child to his side and identifies himself with the child: Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me! The disciples were arguing as to who was the greatest, and Jesus tells them to look at and welcome the smallest! This is the point most stressed by Jesus and the one to which he witnessed: [I] did not come to be served, but to serve (Mk 10:45).

In Luke 9:49-50, someone who was not part of the group of the disciples was using the name of Jesus to drive out devils. John saw him and stopped him: Let us stop him because we do not know him. In the name of the community, John stops a good action! He thought he owned Jesus and wanted to stop anyone from using the name of Jesus to do good. He wanted a closed community. This was the old mentality of the Chosen people, a separate people! Jesus replies: Do not forbid him, because anyone who is not against you is for you. The aim of formation cannot lead to a feeling of privilege and ownership, but must lead to an attitude of service. What is important for Jesus is not whether someone is part of the group or not, but whether the person is doing the good that should be done by the community.

Here are some more examples of the way Jesus educated his disciples. It was a way of giving human form to the experience he had of God the Father. You can complete the list:

* he involves them in his mission and on their return he goes over what happened with them (Mk 6:7; Lk 9:1-2; 10:1-12, 17-20)

* he corrects them when they go wrong (Lk 9:46-48; Mk 10:13-15)

* he helps them discern (Mk 9:28-29)

* he questions them when they are slow (Mk 4:13; 8:14-21)

* he prepares them for the conflict (Mt 10:17ff)

* he reflects with them concerning present problems (Lk 13:1-5)

* he sends them to look at reality (Mk 8:27-29; Jn 4:35; Mt 16:1-3)

* he confronts them with the needs of the people (Jn 6:5)

* he teaches them that the needs of the people are above ritual prescriptions (Mt 12,7.12)

* he defends them when they are criticised by their adversaries (Mk 2:19; 7:5-13)

* he thinks of their rest and nourishment (Mk 6:31; Jn 21:9)

* he spends time alone with them to teach them (Mk 4:34; 7:17; 9:30-31; 10:10; 13,3)

* he insists on vigilance and teaches them to pray (Lk 11:1-13; Mt 6:5-15).



6. Psalm 19 (18), 8-14

The law of God source of formation

The precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever;

the ordinances of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover by them is thy servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

But who can discern his errors?

Clear thou me from hidden faults.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,

my rock and my redeemer.



7. Final Prayer

Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practise the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Re: Iconic signs bother group: Gods Country draws fire, front page, Tuesday:

The story about the welcome signs in Hondo is but another example of common sense gone out the window in favor of political correctness.

The saddest thing is that your paper would dignify such drivel by giving it breath, and on Page 1, no less. Who cares about some screwball group and its alleged sensitivities? This whole PC thing has gotten so out of hand that I doubt we can ever get back to normal, whatever that might be!

Jim Kenney

Voter ID reasonable

Re: Intent of law on voter ID well known, Editorial, June 15:

The Express-News Editorial Board went out on a rotten limb with this editorial. While acknowledging that voter fraud exists, the board wants such fraud to be accepted rather than the voter ID law. Since voter fraud is a stealth crime, rarely discovered or reported when committed, no one knows how often it occurs, unlike crimes such as burglary, bank robbery or assault.

Texas has gone to considerable lengths to mitigate expenses associated with getting an ID, yet the board insists there is a conspiratorial attempt to disenfranchise voters with a poll tax, calling the 5th Circuit Court wrong to disagree.

And since the board is against voting expenses of any kind, calling them a poll tax, what about the gas that everyone buys to go to the polls?

The fact is that ID for voting is reasonable, just as it is standard operating procedure in other aspects of our lives. At most, Texas could be required to reimburse ID-seekers one time for reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining an ID. Personal and private responsibility must then take over.

Editorial board, please get a life.

George Woelfel Jr.

Hang onto wallet

I heard Hillary Clinton say today that she was worried about Donald Trumps finger on the button. I am much more worried about her hand on my wallet.

Jeff Dreier

A new election low

I usually vote Republican, but this years arrogant, thin-skinned, loose-cannon, bully candidate mocked a special-needs reporter and dissed veterans who became POWs.

I will not vote for the Democrat who has a history of dishonesty, incompetence, 100 percent pro-abortion voting record, and enabling a serial-philanderer spouse.

In my opinion, both fit the description of a nasty piece of work. I will not stay away from the voting booth, but if I have to write in my choice to live with my conscience, I will.

America has hit a new low, of that I have no doubt.

Linda Zedler Talley

Vote, regardless

A letter writer recently said he would not vote for either candidate. I urge you to please vote for one or the other since not voting is exactly what the candidates want you to do; the fewer voters, the better chance for either a Democrat or Republican to win the election, so again I ask you to please go to the polls and vote.

George Twist, Cibolo

Scarier than Trump

Re: Attracted by racism? Your Turn, June 16:

Your reader wonders whether people will vote for Donald Trump despite his racism or because of it.

His perceived racism has nothing to do with it. Rest assured, the vast majority of Trump supporters will vote for him because they despise Hillary Clinton, a vile, soulless individual whose presidency will only perpetuate and accelerate the countrys downward spiral.

Clinton has shown nothing but contempt for America and the rule of law through her involvement in Whitewater, the Clinton Foundation and Benghazi. Furthermore, her immoral character as revealed by her brazen lies, deception, fraud and lack of cooperation in connection with her use of a private email server is far scarier than anything ever proposed by Trump.

Rand Dennis

Rodents with guns

I am tired of these terrorists being referred to as lone wolfs. If you Google the term, it is somewhat complimentary. We should refer to them as lone rats. Who wants to be remembered as a lone rat?

Jackie Schlatter

Domestic products

We dont have to worry about terrorists sneaking in with the Syrian refugees. They are already here, and they are American-born!

Doris D. Kinsey

Nauseating rhetoric

Isnt it time that elected officials in Texas, from the governor on down, especially the lieutenant governor, decide whether they are elected officials representing all citizens equally or evangelistic preachers?

Their narrow-minded, self-serving rhetoric is sickening. It makes me ashamed of my state and the Republican Party I have always supported.

Herbert Vordenbaum

Dinner revelation

I just read your front page headline in the June 12 edition of your newspaper: Diners with Abbott also donors.

I am shocked! Shocked!

Timothy P. Swainhart, Windcrest

The roads not taken

Re: Cibolo advances plans for toll road to I-10, Metro, June 16:

I use the toll roads in Houston and elsewhere, and love the time saving and reduced traffic. Some people in San Antonio seem to be against toll roads. Why? You can choose not to use them.

Gene Smith, Fair Oaks Ranch

A worse sin?

Why do people who consider members of the LGBT community sinners for their sexual preference seem to consider them bigger sinners than the rest of us? Some even think massacring them a good thing.

Maybe all convicted sinners should be killed on the spot instead of sending them to jail; then we should just line up those already in jail and wipe them out. In the meantime, the rest of us nonconvicted sinners and nonmembers of the LGBT community can continue sinning because God loves us?

Frank Bent, Schertz
The House of Commons is officially on its summer recess. With the conclusion of a busy session, it seems appropriate to reflect on the major issues that Parliament dealt with during this time.

I and my fellow Conservative colleagues worked hard to hold the Liberal government accountable to Canadians.There were a variety of issues that were before parliament that I will touch on, but probably none more important than the issue of physician assisted suicide.

I sit as the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the Committee that was tasked with studying and examining Bill C-14. In the beginning I was hopeful that the Liberal Government would listen to well-reasoned fact based presentations on improvements to the bill. We presented many amendments, including protections for individuals and institutions that do not want to participate in physician assisted suicide for reasons of conscience. We also sought to ensure that no one would be forced to provide or refer for assisted suicide. Unfortunately we were continually met with excuses, and in the end, the Liberal Government made no significant changes. I remain very concerned over the impact this law will have on our country.

Also during this session of Parliament, Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal Government unilaterally decided that Canada is in need of electoral reform and proposed to change the way we elect our government. This would forever change democracy in Canada, with the Liberal Party benefiting greatly from the changes. To make matters worse, the Prime Minister, to this day, continues to refuse to consult with Canadians in the form of a national referendum. If our entire electoral system is changed, the people of Canada must have a say!

The 2016 federal budget was also a large focus of debate during this session. As you know, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to limit the deficit to $10 billion, but only a few months later we learned that Canadian families would be on the hook for a deficit at least three times that, leaving our children and grandchildren with the burden of an increased debt load. Unfortunately the bad news doesnt end there as, according to their own projections, they will not be able to balance the budget for many years to come.

This spring I was also extremely busy with my Private Members Bill  The Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act (Bill C-239). This bill would have allowed registered charities to provide their donors with the same generous donation receipts that politicians can now issue. The bill would have greatly strengthened charities and helped foster a culture of generosity in Canada. Unfortunately most Liberal and New Democrat Members of Parliament voted in their own self-interest to keep their preferential tax treatment. Apparently many still believe that feeding politicians is more important than feeding the hungry.

Earlier this spring, interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose made a stop in Provencher where she toured WS Steels state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Steinbach. There she witnessed the incredible entrepreneurial spirit that is such a key part of our economic success in SE Manitoba. The Conservative Party will continue to press the current government to respect the private sector as the engine of the Canadian economy, and create the conditions for Manitoba businesses to thrive and create jobs.

These are just a few of the highlights from the past few months. The work continues this summer as my Conservative colleagues and I will be traveling throughout our ridings listening to our constituents, many of whom are feeling increasingly distant from Justin Trudeaus Liberals. I look forward to meeting you at the numerous community events across Provencher.
Posted on 06/26/2016, 3:00 pm, by mySteinbach

The Wildfire Program of Manitoba Sustainable Development advises the evacuation of Easterville and the Chemawawin First Nation, 450 kilometres north of Winnipeg, continues although most residents have now left the community.

The size of the fire is estimated at 350 hectares and crews have held it to the edge of the community with two water bombers, four bulldozers and seven ground crews. There are no reports of losses to buildings or infrastructure at this time.

Evacuees from Easterville have been directed to The Pas, while residents of the Chemawawin First Nation are headed to Winnipeg. Co-ordination of the First Nations evacuation is being handled by the Canadian Red Cross.

In Manitoba, 19 new wildfires, all caused by lightning, were reported in the following areas:

Leaf Rapids (nine);

Lynn Lake (four);

Wabowden (two);

Gillam (three); and

Oxford House (one).

A total of 119 wildfires have been recorded to date. The average for this date is 236.

For further general information on the fire status, maps, travel restrictions, burning permit cancellations or other restrictions go to www.gov.mb.ca/wildfire. To report a wildfire, call 911 or the T.I.P. line (toll-free) at 1-800-782-0076. The T.I.P. line is dedicated for reporting fires.
Money Talks

SHARE

By William F. Hague

As wonderful as life here in paradise is and always will be, often the small details of owning a piece of paradise are lost on the many who increasingly find themselves on the outside looking in as far as homeownership is concerned. We are continually amazed at the real estate industry here as it certainly represents the cornerstone of our paradise economy. Small details such as the costs of property insurance combined with property taxes can have a significant impact on the decision making process. Yes, the details matter.

Speaking of details, when we look closer at our financial lives, all too often the inability to successfully grow, and more importantly, maintain our life savings comes to the forefront. We hear the stories of advisers collecting their fees while the investors have languished over performance  or lack thereof. Retired investors share their tales of the inability to capitalize on the markets historic run and yet an even more frustrating version from those who have taken the process into their own hands.

The details of investing are perhaps the greatest obstacles confronting the current retired investing generation. Many fall victim to the broad brush statements regarding owning anything other than the same old tired stocks and mutual funds. Yes, the Wall Street bias has become perhaps the most critical dynamic working against the investing public. When we step back and look at the details we can see a pattern of misperception and downright misinformation when to comes to anything other than stocks. By the way, speaking of details, it should be incumbent upon all Dart Throwers to have the capacity to show investors their real rates of return in dollars and cents versus the most recent quarterly ratings which may have negative returns, yet not quite as negative as the market in general. Yes, the details can be both powerful and misleading.

So, the "  never mind the man behind the green curtain" Wall Street spin machine has railed against anything that does not include paying for the privilege of owning stocks. There is a gulf of misinformation when it comes to various details in strategies such as the insured index which allows investors to capture a percentage of the markets growth while avoiding losses along the way. Yes, the details of certain aspects, such as the mythical "income for life" aspect which is not only misunderstood by many Dart Throwers, but enjoys the "mythical" moniker as it is simply misrepresented.

The details here are quite simple; an "income for life" addition to an insured index portfolio does exactly what it promises; provides a lifetime stream of income. No, it is not smoke and mirrors such as the vast majority of Wall Street strategies which are capable of, and successful at, keeping investors completely in the dark. These portfolios simply have an annual guaranteed minimum growth rate until the investor decides to activate a "pension like " stream of income which they can never outlive, even if their portfolios go down to zero, which is only possible if the stock market was also down for the entire period of perhaps 15 or 20 years.

While we are on the subject of details, an important detail that is often lost is when the Dart Throwers try to discredit this strategy all in the name of continued confusion so as to keep the average retired investor standing in line to pay for the privilege of stock ownership. Another little detail that is just as critical to the income for life strategy is that after the income has started, the portfolio will continue to enjoy the same safe growth strategies while the income is paying out. So investors can and will enjoy continued market based growth while enjoying the income.

Yes, the detail here is simply that the money continues to grow while the income flows for the investor's lifetime. Speaking of details, lost is the fact that the average stock and bond portfolio which has allocated 20% into managed futures has enjoyed roughly 50 percent greater returns over the last twenty five years. Yes, knowing the details can allow for 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.
SHARE

By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  A federal agency that investigates workplace discrimination claims has decided to continue its probe into Florida's controversial teacher salary bonus program, and a state administrative judge ruled earlier this month that a Sarasota County school pathologist should receive money from the program.

The developments could be two blows to the Florida Department of Education Best and Brightest Scholarship program, which was created by one Miami lawmaker in 2005.

The program was designed to reward teachers with one-time $8,200 bonuses, but its previous definition of a schoolteacher was brought into question through federal and state administrative complaints.

The Legislature since revised the program during this year's legislative session to mirror the definition of schoolteacher used by the DOE.

The continued interest by the EEOC comes two weeks after Florida Division of Administrative Hearings Judge Bruce Culpepper ruled that Sarasota County speech pathologist Cordelia Brown fit the terms of schoolteacher written by Rep. Erik Fresen.

Brown's petition with the state administrative court was one of three submitted by Sarasota County schoolteachers in December, but the other two were dismissed in March.

A judge ruled occupational therapist Diane Andrew did not qualify as a teacher and that teacher David Onness was ineligible because his test scores did not meet the 80th percentile at the national level. Those two petitions will not face an appeal, Tallahassee attorney Ronald G. Meyer said.

Brown still needs to get approval from the Sarasota County School Board before she is paid $8,200.

A union that represents schoolteachers across Florida filed a claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Dec. 21 that the state's Best and Brightest Scholarship excluded teachers who took the ACT and SAT tests before 1973.

The federal agency had six months to respond to the claim, and that time period lapsed last week.

The claim was filed by Tallahassee attorney John Davis on behalf of the Florida Education Association, who said the EEOC was still investigating it. The probe could last another six months before the EEOC comes to a decision. Davis thought in December the EEOC may pass on the claim.

"I wanted the EEOC to investigate it, and I've talked to them," Davis said. "I'm not sure if they will ever come to a decision on behalf of the teachers, but I am sure they are investigating it."

EEOC spokesman Joseph J. Olivares said his agency is prohibited by federal law from speaking about any claims it receives.

Generally, the EEOC tries to mediate claims, and once those efforts are exhausted, it will either determine if the claim was valid or if it should lead to a lawsuit.

The EEOC rarely files legal challenges on its own, and if the claim is deemed valid, it will issue a letter allowing the party that brought the claim to file a lawsuit.

"And at this point they're still investigating it," Davis said. "That's what we wanted."

Davis also argued the bonus program discriminates against black and Hispanic educators because case law shows the college entrance exams used as eligibility benchmarks are racially and culturally biased.

Meanwhile, the Best and Brightest Scholarship will continue with $49 million included in this year's $82 billion state budget, which takes effect Friday.

Contact Daily News reporter Arek Sarkissian at 850-559-7620.
SHARE

Alexis Maestre-Saborit, Fort Myers

Congressional action

I'm writing in response to coverage of Congress' work on tax legislation.

When Congress passed a tax deal right before the holidays, most headlines did not focus on the inclusion of a critical lifeline for millions of working families across America, finally making key provisions of pro-work tax credits permanent.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit are some of this country's most effective policies, helping millions of working Americans make ends meet every year. If Congress had again neglected critical provisions of these credits  otherwise set to expire  16 million Americans, including 8 million children, would have fallen into or deeper into poverty.

I'm glad to see Congress saved these key EITC and Child Tax Credits provisions by making them permanent before adjourning. We need to make sure this major step forward for more than 50 million Americans doesn't get overlooked.

President Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan both support bipartisan efforts to expand the EITC for low-income workers without children. Let's build on last year's tax package by taking the next step to fix this gap in tax policy in 2016.
SHARE

Helen Yates, Naples

Learn from history

The rise of Donald Trump as the presumptive Republican candidate for president of the United States reminds me of the saying: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Throughout his candidacy, Trump has continually spread false information and defamed both our Republican and Democratic leaders.

In addition, Trump appears to selectively target non-white immigrants, and all persons of the Muslim faith. Most recently, Trump announced he is banning specific members of the free press from his campaign events, because he does not like what they print about him.

If we could all step back in time to Germany in the 1930s, we would witness the rise of a political candidate who discredited leaders, spewed religious and ethnic hatred, and spread political propaganda by eliminating the free press.

We Americans are a strong and learned people. We rose up through the centuries to be the most powerful country in the world. Our ancestors fought and died to ensure our freedoms based on democratic values. We must learn from history, and not elect a president of the United States who does not support our freedoms.
DANDRIDGE, Tenn.---The search for a missing Douglas Lake boater enters its fifth day following a swimming incident.

Around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, John King, 74 of Englewood Fla. who also has a home on Scenic Shores Drive in Dandridge, was on board a pontoon boat near Henderson Island on Douglas Lake about one mile downstream of Dandridge.

According to witnesses, three children were swimming near the boat when the wind began to separate the boat from them. This prompted Mr. King to exit the boat by way of the ladder and swim to assist the children who were all fortunately wearing life jackets. Upon reaching the children, Mr. King began to struggle. One of the children made an attempt to help him but unfortunately he went under and never resurfaced.

Rescue squads from Jefferson County, Cocke County, Blount County, Sevier County, Union County, Grainger County, Morristown, Greeneville, Bean Station, as well as the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency, Blount County Sheriffs Office, and TWRA, have all assisted in the search for Mr. King.

TWRA lead investigating Officer Marvin Reeves said he is very appreciative of the tireless work of all involved and offers his personal gratitude to anyone who has assisted. TWRAs thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and those close to Mr. King.
SHARE

Henry Holzkamper, Bonita Springs

The cultural war

Letter-writer Joseph Doyle was right in that large parts of the U.S. are at war with biblical teachings that were fundamental in the formation of our Constitution.

Most people know the basic teaching of the Bible. The Ten Commandments and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

What do most know about Islam? Basically nothing.

Oh, "it is the religion of peace." Is it?

If you are a true Muslim, you believe every word of the Quran, and live accordingly. Consider a few direct passages from the Quran:

Quran 5:33  "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and his messenger is execution by beheading, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides."

Quran 8:12  "... I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Smite ye above their necks and smite all, and smite all their fingertips off."

Quran 47:4  "Therefore, when you meet the unbelievers strike off their heads ..."

"Islam does not mean peace. ... Islam means submission."  Anjem Choudary, 2012.

Islam poses the greatest threat to our civilization we have ever seen.

One political party ignores it, and will not use the words "Islamic terrorism." The other party wants to save America.
Ralph Maccarone: Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award finalist Meet Ralph Maccarone and his cause, Who We Play For. Ralph is one of four finalists chosen for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian award for his dedication to helping children.
Hamilton County Commissioners Geno Shipley and Chip Baker, thank you so much. I am so grateful to yall for restoring Mowbray Mountain back to the city of Soddy Daisy and Sale Creek District 1. The recent redistricting stripped Mowbray Mountain from District 1, and moved us to District 2. I never thought in a million years it would be possible to restore Mowbray Mountain and ... (click for more)

My gas and diesel are up, it's going up again. Saudi Arabia cut 2 million barrels a day after Biden asked them to produce more. They said they did it for economic reasons. They did. The dollars they receive are worth less because of Biden and his lockstep Dems in congress printing trillions of extra dollars chasing the same amount of goods. The Saudis understand inflation and ... (click for more)
Photos: Chicago's 20th Annual Dyke March Was Queer AF, And It Was Glorious

By Rachel Cromidas in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 26, 2016 4:02PM

It's been a painful month for the LGBTQ world, as we collectively mourn one of the largest mass shootings in the U.S. and turn outward, donning our Pride Month rainbow-best and asking how we can prevent something so horrific from happening again.

Chicago's Dyke March knows the struggle. The annual parade and party, now proudly in its 20th year, has long been preoccupied with how to make queer communities safer, more inclusive and in touch with their activist roots. It's organized by queer people of color, non-binary folks, Black Lives Matter organizers, prison-abolitionists, Humboldt Park residents and, of course, dykes (dyke is commonly known as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many lesbians to celebrate their identities).

The Dyke March's attendees are not predominantly cis or white, and that feels like a significant departure from the annual Pride Parade. Sunday's Parade serves as an inspiring symbol of the progress of the LGBTQ-rights movement, but also faces criticism for catering to corporate pinkwashing and devolving into a rainbow-striped St. Patrick's Day, its history as a transgressive political act lost on many of the one million revelers who will crowd Lakeview Sunday afternoon.

The sense that the Dyke March was a haven apart from traditional Pride Parade festivities was evident to many attendees Saturday afternoon, as they gathered on Division Street and made a short march into Humboldt Park for an evening-long celebration with music, food and dancing. References to the Orlando shooting, including photos of the predominantly Latinx people who were killed, and signs that said "rest in pride" were as prolific as rainbow flags. A booth sold shirts that said "post gender."

We're excited to join the thousands of rainbow-emblazoned partiers all over Chicago for Pride Sunday, but we're also so grateful to Dyke March for giving us the community, solidarity and space to grieve we needed this weekend.


China is once again hosting a key meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum, also known as the Summer Davos. The meeting will be held from June 26-28 in Tianjin. The theme of the 10th annual meeting is "The Fourth Industrial Revolution and its Transformational Impact." It will be an important international event featuring discussions on innovation, entrepreneurship and technology.

The annual meeting of the New Champions was established in 2007 by the World Economic Forum, a Swiss non-profit foundation that is known around the world for its yearly economic meetings in the city of Davos. The annual meeting of New Champions is identified with China, as the event is held alternatively in the northern coastal city of Tianjin and the northeastern city of Dalian.

Its participants mostly come from international companies in rapidly growing and emerging economies like China, India, Mexico and Brazil. However, participation is not limited and a number of individuals come from developed countries, as the forum provides an opportunity for meeting the next generation of global economic leaders. It is an ideal occasion for an exchange of experiences from business people and experts from fast-growing regions, competitive cities and technology pioneers.

If the expected number of the participants is used as indicator for success, then it can be safely assumed that the Summer Davos in Tianjin was a tremendous achievement. Initially it was hoped that about 1,500 participants with different political, commercial, academic and cultural backgrounds from 90 countries would attend. But more than 1,700 aspirants have already registered.

The three-day gathering will consist of about 150 sessions of discussion on a variety of issues, such as changes faced by the economy, the need for innovations, social trends, cultural aspects and environmental issues. The discussions will focus on the main thematic areas of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

China attaches great importance to the meeting and it was announced by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying that Premier Li Keqiang will attend the opening ceremony of the forum and make a speech. Li will also meet with official government representatives, key participants and business leaders.

Tianjin hosted the event for the first time in 2008 and this is the fifth time that the city has been given the honor to act as host. The meeting is also an occasion for the city to showcase its best features, including fine arts, environment and development in order to attract investment from international companies.

According to reports, the organizers of Summer Davos have completed all the preparations, including furnishing the Meijiang Convention Center, the main venue of the forum. Apart from elaborate arrangements for the security of the participants, the city has also taken measures to address any health emergencies.

The world has come long way since the start of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The issues like cost and convenience, triggered by advances in material sciences and information technology, are the key features of modern industry. Let us hope that the New Champions will also focus on how they can help to cut costs and make things more easily available for the people.

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

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Saturday that its forces have killed five armed insurgents in the fresh clashes in the Kurd-populated region of Iran's northwestern province of West Azarbaijan.

"In the clashes on Friday night between IRGC's Hamzeh Seyed al-Shohada forces and the counter-revolutionary armed insurgents in the border point of Sarvabad as well as Mahabad region, five mercenaries of global arrogance, including two of their commanders Arash Menbari and Shouresh Menbari, were killed," said the statement issued by the public relations of IRGC's ground forces.

In the operations, sizable number of arms and facilities were seized from them, it said.

There were no casualties on the Iranian security forces, it added.

On June 16, IRGC said that its forces had smashed two terrorist cells in northwestern country and had killed twelve terrorists.

Three members of the IRGC also died in the clashes with "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," it said.

Reports said that the "terrorists" belonged to the members of outlawed "counter-revolutionary terrorist groups," including the Kurdish Democrat Party, who had crossed the northwestern borders into the country.
Combinations of chemicals can affect breakdown time

Millions of gallons of toxic wastewater dumped

(NaturalNews) Another study has emerged showing just how enduring the negative impact caused by fracking on the environment actually is. The disturbing results show that toxic fracking chemicals remain in the environment for a very long time, compromising people's food and water for many years to come.In the process of fracking, a mixture of water and chemicals is injected into the ground while drilling into formations of shale and rock to extract oil. The chemicals involved might be surfactants, corrosion inhibitors, toxic biocides, or slicking agents.A group of researchers from Colorado State University (CSU) recently carried out a study to uncover where these chemicals end up after being accidentally spilled in the process of being transported to fracking sites or during gas and oil operations. The scientists are particularly concerned because many of these spills occur on agricultural lands or in their vicinity, where they can make their way into the food and water supply.The researchers simulated spills with a reactor and studied the various chemical reactions involved as well as the breakdown of three of the fracking chemicals : the biocide that impedes pipe corrosion known as glutaraldehyde, the common surfactant polyethylene glycol (PEG), and the slicking agent polyacrylamide, which is used to help fracking fluid penetrate shale. The researchers eventually plan to test out these conclusions at real spill sites.They looked at 838 hydraulic fracturing fluid spills in the state of Colorado during the year 2014, all of which entailed more than five barrels of fluid for well pad spills and more than one barrel for non-well pad spills. Their findings were published in thejournal.The researchers discovered that certain chemical combinations resulted in a slower breakdown. On its own, the PEG biodegrades completely in about 70 days, but it sticks around much longer when combined with glutaraldehyde. Even worse, a combination involving glutaraldehyde and the commonly used polyethylene glycol (PEG) did not break down at all in the presence of typical salt concentrations. The team is calling for further research to uncover various reactions between spilled chemicals and the environment.Professor Thomas Borch of the College of Agricultural Sciences' Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, who was part of the team, stated: "Our motivation for doing this is because the chemicals often come up as mixtures. While you may see biodegradation of a surfactant under normal circumstances, if you spill that together with a biocide that kills bacteria, maybe you don't break that surfactant down as quickly. And that's exactly what we see. If chemicals don't degrade as quickly, it gives them more time to be transported to groundwater or sensitive surface water."A recent peer-reviewed study published in the same journal,, showed how thousands of fracking wastewater spills in North Dakota left rivers and streams heavily contaminated with radioactive materials, corrosive salts, and heavy metals.Estimates show that more than 21,000 spills occurred during the years from 2009 to 2014, and the amount of toxic wastewater dumped in these incidents exceeds 180 million gallons! That's not even taking into account the spills that don't get reported, such as those that occur on tribal lands.The spills can be partly attributed to the lack of monitoring by local and federal authorities as well as lax and outdated regulations.In this study, one particular site that was examined still showed elevated concentrations of a number of different toxic substances four years after the spill took place. The sites that are contaminated with radium will be radioactive for thousands of years, according to the researchers.People who live near fracking sites can send samples of their water to EPAWatch.org for free testing to find out how their water has been affected by this harmful practice.If fracking practices continue unabated at their current pace, the widespread water and food pollution caused could become a significant public health issue.
A San Francisco man was sentenced on Tuesday in federal court to 210 months in prison for producing and possessing child pornography, according to prosecutors.

Lesley McNeal, 53, pleaded guilty in March to producing child pornography, as well as possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.

McNeal admitted that between March 26, 2011 and Sept. 28, 2013, he made 14 videos depicting a girl under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to prosecutors.

Additionally, McNeal said he then installed a computer program that allowed other users to access and download the videos.

McNeal also admitted to possessing electronic devices that contained up to 26,000 images and 700 videos of child pornography, prosecutors said.

In addition to his prison sentence, McNeal must also pay restitution and was ordered to a 10-year period of supervised release, according to prosecutors.
As part of an effort to help inmates become more prepared for life outside prison walls, a joint venture program will now be paying inmates at San Quentin for their technical work.

Turn 2 U, a non-profit organization designed to teach inmates coding and entrepreneurship skills, is partnering with the California Prison Industry Authority to help inmates gain employable skills and an income before they are released, according to a news release.

The organization has created partnerships with about eight companies that have agreed to outsource their coding jobs to the inmates of San Quentin. Turn 2 Us design is based on the idea that the training courses will give prisoners experience that will help them re-enter a tech-dominant job market.

Chris Redlitz says he founded The Last Mile, the parent organization of Turn 2 U, in 2010 with a mission to help curb recidivism. According to Redlitz, keeping former inmates employed keeps them from re-offending, and could also cut the increasing cost of incarceration.

"I have never seen a greater amount of commitment, dedication and passion," Redlitz said of the seven inmates he currently works with at San Quentin. "Theyre so focused on getting a fresh start."

Redlitz worked with Chuck Pattillo, General Manager of the California Prison Industry Authority, for this partnership. In his post, Pattillo has also stressed the importance of curbing recidivism among prison populations. Programs that work could save the state thousands.

Pattillo believes that this program is another success among the slew of other business programs in San Quentin, a training prison.

"The centers are pretty proud of what theyre doing, as they should be," Pattillo said.

The inmates that will start to earn a wage off of their work went through a year of training in the 7370 program, which specialized in vocational engineering training. If they completed the program successfully, they then earned a spot in RebootSQ, which eventually connected them to tech jobs.

The program is still growing, Redlitz said, and he is hoping that even more inmates and tech companies collaborate with the non-profit in the future. The Last Mile and Turn 2 U are currently expanding across the state, with plans to open at least three new locations in northern and southern California this year.

"When we see guys gain the confidence to become part of a business company and realize that they can do it, its pretty amazing," Redlitz said. "These are people who were previously thought of as having no impact on society, and now theyre becoming companies best employees."
It has been one month since 15-year-old Pearl Pinson disappeared and her family is still desperate to find her. They organized a public vigil on Saturday evening, hoping that the gathering would remind the community that Pearl still needs to be found.

"I need her home no matter what," said Annie Pinson, Pearl's mother. "I want her to know I love her and I need her home. I need to see her."

Police say Pearl was kidnapped as she walked to catch a bus to school near her Vallejo home four weeks ago. But while her alleged abductor, Fernando Castro, was killed during a shootout with police in Santa Barbara County, investigators have found no trace of Pinson.

"His family knows where he's at. They have peace," father James Pinson said. "We don't know where our daughter's at, whether she's alive or dead. We just want to bring her home so we can put this all behind us."

Solano County Sheriff's investigators say while their tip line has slowed down, the case is still their highest priority. Investigators say the search has had an emotional impact on the entire department.

Billboards have gone up across the Bay Area aimed at finding Pearl.

Pearl is 5 feet 3 inches tall, 130 pounds with brown hair dyed green and green eyes. She has a metal piercing below her lower lip and was last seen wearing a gray sweater and black leggings.

The sheriff's office's tip line is 707-784-1963, and anyone with urgent information should call 707-421-7090 or 911.
More than 1 million people are expected to turn out at Sunday's Pride Parade in Boystown, but for the first time, a new pride event was held at Navy Pier Saturday, as Chicago came together to celebrate and remember.

"Now more than ever, we need to remind everybody that this is the people's pier," said Navy Pier director of special events Jen Kramer. "And that means all people, especially those friends of ours in the LGBT community who have always been welcome at Navy Pier."

Saturday marked the first annual Navy Pier Pride Celebration, which organizers touted as the largest Pride event in Chicago outside of Lake View. The family-friendly event had a parade, musical performances, and a large group wedding.

"It's particularly important that we celebrate and raise the profile and stand in solidarity with the LGBT community, in light of the tragedy in Orlando," said Gov. Bruce Rauner, who attended Saturday's event. "We stand in solidarity."

Earlier, at Montrose Beach, runners hit the pavement for the Proud to Run event.

"Thanks for running today, I'm proud of you," U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley told the crowd. "I'm honored to be here, let's keep working together."

Saturday's events came just one day before the 47th annual Pride Parade in Boystown. Preparations were well underway for the parade, which will take place rain or shine.

"We want it to be a great day, we want it to be a safe day and we welcome people that come out," said Pride Parade organizer Richard Pfeiffer

Cooling buses will be stationed along the parade route and misters will be set up as well. Organizers have hired 160 off-duty police officers.

The Chicago Police Department will also increase its presence, with help from the FBI, State Police and the Cook County Sheriff's offic, to make it a safe event for everyone involved.

"I want to emphasize right now: There is absolutely no threat to the city of Chicago and absolutely no threat to the Pride Parade, but we'd rather err on the side of caution," First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said.

Safety and remembrance are at the forefront of everyone's mind in the wake of the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando just two weeks ago.

On Saturday night, Navy Pier planned to light the Ferris Wheel in the colors of the rainbow, and hold a moment of silence for the victims of the Orlando shooting before the fireworks show.
You are here: Home

 Flash

At least seven people were killed in a car crash in Kenya's coastal region of Kwale on Saturday, officials have said.

Kwale County commissioner, Kutswa Olaka, said four pupils who were on a field trip were among those killed.

The accident took place as a car rammed into a minibus in the early morning.

Preliminary reports indicate the driver of the minibus was on the wrong side of the road. Olaka blamed the driver for careless driving.

Police have launched an investigation.

"We are likely to charge the driver with reckless driving," Olaka said.

According to the National Transport Safety Authority, the number of road fatalities between January and March this year in Kenya stood at 708, up 19 percent on the same period last year.
7 people were killed and at least 45 people, including a pregnant woman, were wounded in a violent summer weekend across Chicago, according to police. The weekends shootings are as follows:

FRIDAY

The first shooting of the weekend was fatal. Around 4:30 p.m., officers responded to a call of a person shot in the 5000 block of S Elizabeth in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. They found a 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities confirmed.

A 26-year-old man was in an alley in the 9100 block of S Emerald in the Brainerd neighborhood around 6:50 p.m. when an unknown offender approached on foot and fired shots before fleeing in a dark-colored sedan, police said. The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition, according to police.

The second fatal shooting of the weekend occurred in the Humboldt Park neighborhood around 9 p.m., police confirmed. Officers responded to a call of a person shot in the 1000 block of N Harding, and found a 23-year-old man lying on the ground with gunshot wounds to the back and shoulder. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said, where he was pronounced dead.

Also around 9 p.m., a 25-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the 4900 block of W Kamerling in the North Austin neighborhood when a male approached and opened fire before fleeing, police said. The victim sustained a gunshot wound to both legs and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said.

Around 9:39 p.m., a 25-year-old man was standing on the street in the 2600 block of W Potomac in West Town when an occupant in a white SUV fired shots, according to police. The man was shot in the head, and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, police said.

In the Englewood neighborhood, a 20-year-old man was standing in the street in the 6500 block of S Laflin around 9:40 p.m. when he heard shots and felt pain, according to police. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, officials confirmed.

A 26-year-old man was shot to death in the 7700 block of S Sangamon in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood around 11 p.m., according to police. Reginald Turner, of the 7700 block of S Peoria, was walking in the street when a man shot him in the head, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiners office. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Around 10 p.m., an 18-year-old man was standing on the street in the 100 block of N Laporte in the South Austin neighborhood, according to police, when he saw an unknown man in a black vehicle traveling northbound on Laporte. He then heard shots and felt pain, officials said, sustained gunshot wounds to the left buttocks and hand. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition, police confirmed.

SATURDAY

At 12:37 a.m., a 25-year-old man was walking down the street in the 8100 block of S Green in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He sustained a gunshot wound to the left foot and was taken to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center in stable condition, police said.

A 16-year-old boy and a 22-year-old woman were shot around 12:40 a.m. in the 700 block of S Spaulding in East Garfield Park, according to police. The two were outside when someone in a passing gray SUV opened fire, police said. The woman was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition with gunshot wounds to her leg and buttocks, according to police. The teenager took himself to Mount Sinai Hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said, and was listed in critical condition.

Two people were shot around 1:02 a.m. in the 6800 block of N Ridge in the citys Rogers Park neighborhood, according to police. A 26-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman were sitting in a vehicle at a stoplight when they heard shots and felt pain, police said. The woman was shot twice in the left shoulder and twice in the left thigh, and the man sustained a gunshot wound to the cheek, police said. They were both taken to Presence Saint Francis Hospital in stable condition, authorities confirmed.

Around 2 a.m., a 30-year-old man was getting out of a vehicle in the 5900 block of S Albany in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood when another car pulled up and someone opened fire, police said. He sustained a gunshot wound to the leg, and two graze wounds to the shoulder and chest, authorities confirmed. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition, police said.

A 25-year-old man walked into Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to the shoulder at 3:53 a.m., police confirmed. He was listed in stable condition, but authorities said he was being uncooperative, and further details about the shooting were not available.

Around 4:47 a.m., a witness discovered a 26-year-old man with multiple gunshot wounds, sitting in a vehicle in the 4700 block of W Monroe in Austin, according to police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition, police said.

At 8:06 a.m., a 19-year-old man was standing outside in the 3600 block of W Lexington in East Garfield Park when a white, four-door car pulled up and someone inside the car opened fire, police confirmed. He was shot in the leg and taken in stable condition to Stroger Hospital, police said.

Around 11:30 a.m., a 25-year-old man was in the 5900 block of S Troy in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood when he was shot in the left hand and left thigh, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

Four people were injured, including a pregnant woman, in a shooting in the Morgan Park neighborhood at 11:43 a.m., police said. The victims were outside in the 1400 block of W 114th Place when someone walked out of a gangway and opened fire before fleeing in a vehicle, according to police. The pregnant woman, 19, sustained gunshot wounds to the leg and the back, and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, police said. A 20-year-old woman was also shot in the leg and back, and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition, police said. A 23-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, and a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, officials confirmed.

Two men, ages 21 and 23, were walking in the 3000 block of W Fulton in East Garfield Park around 3:15 p.m. when a light-colored vehicle drove up and an occupant opened fire, according to police. The 23-year-old man sustained a graze wound to the ankle and the 21-year-old man was shot in the left thigh, pelvis, and hand. Both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition, police said.

Three people were shot at around 6:45 p.m. in the 700 block of W 66th St in Englewood, police confirmed. They were congregated in a group on the corner when an unknown male emerged from the west alley and fired several shots, police said. A 50-year-old man sustained two gunshot wounds to the buttocks and a 67-year-old man was shot in the back, officials confirmed. A 30-year-old man was shot in the hand and took himself to St. Bernard Hospital in good condition, according to police.

A 20-year-old man was fatally shot while washing his car in the Gage Park neighborhood Saturday evening. Trayvon Wilson was in an alley near his home, according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner, when he was approached by an unknown offender who opened fire. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was taken in critical condition to Stroger Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

A 42-year-old man was shot, then crashed a vehicle in an attempt to flee Saturday night in the Edgewater neighborhood, police confirmed. Around 9 p.m. in the 5300 block of N Kenmore, the victim was sitting in a vehicle with the offender, who produced a weapon and fired shots, according to police. The victim was shot in the abdomen, at which point he entered a separate vehicle and attempted to flee, crashing the car in the 900 block of W Foster. He was then taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in stable condition, according to police, who believe the shooting was drug-related.

Around 9 p.m., a 39-year-old man was driving northbound on S. Cottage Grove near 106th St in Roseland when a green van pulled alongside his vehicle and someone inside opened fire, according to police. He was hit in the right arm, police said, and taken by a friend to Roseland Community Hospital in stable condition.

A 39-year-old man was entering a residence in the 8600 block of S Marquette in South Chicago around 9:45 p.m., police said, when he heard gunfire and realized he had been shot. He was hit in the left leg, police said, and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition, police said.

Two men, ages 32 and 24, were standing outside in the Humboldt Park neighborhood around 11 p.m. when they were shot, according to police. Authorities said they were in the 2500 block of W Division St when shots were fired. The 32-year-old man was shot in the right leg, and the 24-year-old man was shot in the stomach, police said, and both were taken to Stroger Hospital in stable condition.

Around 11:10 p.m., a 25-year-old woman was standing on the street in the 3400 block of W Ogden in Lawndale when someone from a passing vehicle opened fire, police said. She sustained a gunshot wound to the right leg and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in stable condition, police said.

An 18-year-old man was standing on the front porch of a home in the 9000 block of S Bishop in the Brainerd neighborhood at around 11:30 p.m. when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was hit in the left leg and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, according to police.

SUNDAY
The Midwest is front and center for Hillary Clinton's campaign over the next two days.

Clinton is speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis Sunday afternoon, her first visit to Indiana since losing the Hoosier state primary in May to Senator Bernie Sanders.

Sunday evening, Clinton will head to all-important battleground state Ohio. She will attend a fundraiser at the home of Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.

Before Clinton travels to Chicago to deliver the keynote speech at the Operation PUSH convention on Monday, she and Sen. Elizabeth Warren will campaign together in Ohio.

The two will hold their first rally together at the Cincinnati Museum Center on Monday morning, further fueling speculation of a possible Clinton-Warren ticket in November.

Regardless, Warren's more public role in the 2016 race is a sign that the Democratic Party is uniting behind Clinton.
What to Know A 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his young brother with his mother's gun.

The 4-year-old victim died hours after the shooting.

His mother is charged with a weapons violation and endangering the welfare of a child.

A 5-year-old boy playing with a gun accidentally shot and killed his 4-year-old brother in their New Jersey home Saturday morning, authorities said.

The child's mother, Itiyanah Spruill, 22, was charged later in the day with a weapons violation and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said. She was being held at Essex County Jail in lieu of $310,000 bail.

The shooting occurred around 11:15 a.m. at a Norman Street residence in East Orange, a city spokesperson said.

The child underwent surgery for a head wound at University Hospital in Newark, but died about three hours later, authorities said.

The city spokesperson said the gun belonged to the boy's mother. It was not immediately known how the child got the gun. The mother was home at the time of the shooting, the spokesperson said.

There was no information on whether Spruill had obtained a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
Crews in Middlefield battled a brush fire at Black Pond Saturday.

Middlefield fire says they were called around 4:30 p.m. to the mountain by Black Pond. The location of the fire made it difficult to fight.

Around 8:30 p.m. firefighters told NBC Connecticut they were going to have to pull back once it got completely dark because the area was too dangerous to work in. Crews will return at first light to assess the damage and put out any hotspots.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
State police have arrested a New Milford man who is accused of shooting at a police officer during a standoff in New Milford on Sunday afternoon.

Officers responded to the condo complex at 30 Candlewood Lake Road South around 2:30 p.m. after an apparently suicidal man called 911.

The resident, Kevin Mohan, 47, initially refused to come out of the house, made threats and fired a gun six times inside the residence, police said.

When Monahan did go outside, he fired at Officer Charles Cochran and hit his left ankle, according to police and the mayor.

Police used a stun gun to subdue Monahan and didn't fire any gunshots, according to police.

Officer Cochran, a two-year veteran of the New Milford police department and a former Hartford Police Officer, was taken to New Milford Hospital, where he was treated and then released.

Monahan was also brought to the hospital for evaluation and was held on $500,000 bond after being released.

He has been charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm and breach of peace.

During the incident, surrounding residents received an automated phone call from authorities to shelter in place and some homes were evacuated as a precaution. They were later allowed to return to their homes.

Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad and Emergency Services Unit  Bomb Squad were called in to assist, but state police said no explosives were found and the bomb squad cleared the area.

At the request of the New Milford Chief of Police and the Danbury States Attorneys Office, Western District Major Crimes has taken over the investigation.
Fort Worth police are looking for a man who robbed and killed an innocent convenience store clerk even after the clerk followed all of the suspect's demands.

At around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, police found Jimmy Khela, the victim of the fatal armed robbery, laying on the ground with a gunshot wound at 800 East Long Avenue, the Pronto Food Convenience store.

Police said Khela was cooperative to the suspect throughout the whole process, but out of nowhere the suspect shot the victim.

The suspect is described as a white or Hispanic male between 25 and 30 years old, likely around five-foot-8 to five-foot-10. He was wearing a baseball cap, maroon bandana, a long-sleeved dark shirt, gray pants, and brown work boots.

Fort Worth police need the publics help to identify the violent suspect, who they consider armed and dangerous.

Police say anyone who has information should call:

 9-1-1

 Crime Stoppers at 817 469 TIPS (8477)

 Fort Worth Homicide Unit 817-392-4330, or please visit

 www.469tips.com
In Fort Worth on Sunday, dozens of LGBT activists and North Texas residents took to Jacksboro Highway to protest the controversial comments of a pastor of a small church.

Sansom Park Police, Fort Worth Police, Tarrant County Sheriff's deputies, and even MedStar Ambulance service were present, in case the protest or any counter protest turned ugly or if anyone was overwhelmed by the heat.

Armed with signs, songs, and chants, the group expressed their displeasure with the hateful speech of a Stedfast Baptist Church Pastor Donnie Romero. The church is located in tiny Sansom Park, but the group gathered and marched from inside Fort Worth city limits.

"Our main goal is to make a peaceful response to a hateful statement," said Karen McCrocklin, an organizer with the group I Am Done.

"And when this kind of hate speech happens we're going to take a stand against it," said LGBT activist and Dallas resident Steve Atkinson.

The hate speech in question came from a sermon delivered by Pastor Romero in the wake of the Orlando shooting, where 49 people were gunned down inside a gay night club. Romero's sermon is posted to the church's YouTube Channel.

Stedfast Baptist Church is affiliated with Faithful World Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona, according to Faithful World Baptist's website.

The website also links the two churchs to Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, where Pastor Roger Jimenez praised the shooting for killing members of the LGBT community.

"I agree 100-percent with Pastor Roger Jimenez," Romero says in his sermon posted to YouTube. "These 50 sodomites are all perverts and pedophiles, they're the scum of the Earth and the Earth is a better place now and I'll take it a step further."

Romero uses several gay slurs and then talks about those injured in the nightclub shooting. "I'll pray to God like I did this morning, and I will again tonight, that God will finish the job that that man started," Romero said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the church an anti-LGBT hate group. The Faithful World Baptist Church is considered a general hate group, per the SPLC's website.

Such comments might have been ignored in the past, but those attending the protest say things changed that night in Central Florida.

"After what's happened in Orlando, we are done with not responding, and not providing some kind of peaceful and loving response to hate," McCrocklin said.

McCrocklin is a local organizer of "I Am Done", a group that formed after Orlando to stand up to hate with love.

"And spend a couple hours outside, to making sure that Pastor Romero is aware that we are done with his hateful statements," McCrocklin said.

The church did not answer our calls for comment and a representative asked NBC 5 to leave the property when we sought comment for this story.

Despite the increased police presence there were no incidents during the protest, which lasted a little more than an hour.

In Fort Worth on Sunday, dozens of LGBT activists and North Texas residents took to Jacksboro Highway to protest the anti-gay comments of a pastor of a small church.
The mayor of a Florida city was carjacked at gunpoint early Saturday outside his house, police said.

At around 2:15 a.m. Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett was approached by three men, one of whom was armed with a gun and stole his Mercedes and wallet, police told NBC affiliate WESH in Winter Park.

Two people, an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old, were later arrested but a third suspect remains loose, WESH reported. During the robbery, one of the three men pointed a gun at Triplett before stealing his keys.

The small Florida community of Sanford, about 20 miles north of Orlando, was propelled into the spotlight in 2012 when George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed teenage Trayvon Martin in a gated community in the town.
People inside Chula Vista bank experienced frightening moments Friday when a man wielding a hammer and a flare gun tried to rob the business, using rope to tie the doors shut from inside.

The Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) said suspect Clinton Thinn, 29, walked into a Bank of America located at 295 E St. just before 6 p.m. holding a claw hammer and a flare gun. Thinn demanded money from a teller and when that teller refused him, he confronted a bank security guard and fired a round from his flare gun toward the guard.

CVPD investigators said employees inside the bank ran for cover, locking themselves inside a room behind security glass to escape from Thinn.

While in hiding, the scared group called 911 and reported the robbery in progress. As they waited for officers to arrive, Thinn allegedly used his hammer to attempt to force entry into the secure area. When he couldnt smash his way through, Thinn demanded money again from the employees through the glass and threatened to harm them, witnesses told police.

At this point, CVPD officers descended on the bank and realized Thinn had used rope to tie the entrance doors shut from the inside.

Officers were able to open the doors. Thinn was arrested on the spot without further incident, the CVPD said.

None of the employees inside the bank were hurt.

Thinn, the lone suspect in this attempted bank heist, was booked into San Diego Central Jail on several felony charges including using a person as a shield, second-degree burglary, possession of an explosive device and false imprisonment.

Thinns bail was set at $100,000. Hes scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

The incident remains under investigation and anyone with information can call the CVPD at (619) 691-5151.
A new voice has emerged in the debate to recall the Santa Clara judge who issued a lenient sentence to disgraced Stanford Swimmer Brock Turner.

Stanford professor Barbara Babock, who was the first female faculty member to join Stanfords Law School, has waded into the nationwide debate over the recall of Santa Clara Federal Judge Aaron Persky. The judge gained national attention following the six-month county jail sentence he handed down to Turner, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman near a dumpster outside a campus fraternity party.

A searing 12-page letter the victim wrote and read aloud in court went viral following the sentencing.

A highly-regarded legal expert, Babcock opposes recalling Persky  a perhaps surprising move that puts her views at odds with those of many of her colleagues, including prominant Stanford professor Michele Dauber.

"We believe that Judge Persky, himself a Stanford athlete, abused his discretion in granting an overly-lenient sentence and that his decision reflects bias in favor of a privileged defendant," Dauber wrote in an email to NBC Bay Area. "Judge Persky's sentence failed to take account of the serious harms of sexual assault. This is not the first ruling in which Judge Persky did so -- he also made highly questionable evidentiary rulings in the civil litigation over an alleged gang rape of a 17 year old unconscious girl by members of the De Anza baseball team."

Babcock, who describes herself as a lifelong dedicated feminist, penned a letter obtained by NBC Bay Area that details the reasons she thinks the recall attempts are misguided.

In making tough sentencing decisions, judges should not be responsive to public opinion, or fear fear of being removed from office, she wrote, also noting that a parole board recommended a 6-month county jail sentence. Even elected judges should be free from outside influences of any kind. That is the essence of unbiased judging.

She went on to write that she didnt know Persky personally, but the two had mutual friends who said he is considered fair and responsible.

Persky has remained mum following his controversial sentence, despite petitions calling for his removal garnering more than 1 million signatures, a plane flying a remove Persky banner over Stanfords graduation and a giant billboard decrying his tenure on the bench. Running unopposed, he slid into a new 6-year term on June 7.

Numerous local papers have called for his removal, and members of congress have also called for his resignation.

"We need judges, particularly those with jurisdiction over Stanford, who understand sexual assault and sexual violence and who will consider the grave harm to victims when imposing sentence," Dauber wrote.
You are here: Home

 Flash

Nine people are feared dead after a boat capsized in Lake Victoria near Bondo, western Kenya on Saturday, police say.

Regional police commander, Willy Lugusa, said eight of the 17 people, who were on board the boat, were rescued after the incident took place at 9:00 a.m. local time.

"The bodies of the other nine are yet to be recovered. We believe they are dead," said Lugusa.

He said the police were waiting for the bodies to float.

The 17 people on board are the members of a local band called Boyieta Wuod Awasi. The missing people include two women and seven men.

Lugusa said the boat capsized en route to the Ndenda Island in Siaya County from Lihunda beach in Bondo.

It is not clear what caused the accident.

The band was expected to perform on Saturday evening at a concert in Ndenda.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pour into San Francisco for the Pride Parade this weekend.

But in the wake of the deadly shootings in Orlando, this year's festival is taking a different tone with improving security a priority.

Signs of support following the Orlando shootings can be seen along with an increased police presence in San Francisco's Castro District.

"I trust that the community that voted for me trusts me well enough to know and respect my leadership, and would respect my decision that I made not to participate in Sunday's event," said Janetta Johnson, an executive director of the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project. "And a part of that is the large police presence.

The festivities kicked off Friday with the Trans March and the transgender community celebrating the unveiling of Gene Compton's Cafeteria Way, which honors the place where trans people rioted over police harassment in 1966.

"I think that the world is ready to see us as people because that's who we are," said Grand Marshall Nya Cruz.

The march drew hundreds of participants, but the crowd turned sour when city and state leaders took the mic at Dolores Park to talk about legislative support for the community. Senator Mark Leno was booed off the stage and security personnel hurried Mayor Ed Lee to his car.

"This is our time, not a time for politicians," one reveler said.

However, politicians like Leno have been fighting for trans rights for years. Meanwhile, Lee just appointed Theresa Sparks as his Gender Equity Advisor.

"It's the first time [the position has] ever been created anywhere in the country," Sparks said.

As the city revved up for Pride, though, the San Francisco Department of Public Health advised people Friday to get vaccinated after the State Department of Health announced an outbreak of meningococcal disease.

Black Lives Matter Bay Area organizers on Friday also said they were withdrawing as Grand Marshals for the Pride Parade in response to the increased police presence and security measures.

San Francisco Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Redmond said plain-clothes officers will be out throughout venues and all Pride-related events.

There will also be several security check points set up around Civic Center Plaza, police said. New this year will be banning large bags or purses at the event and everyone will have to walk through a metal detector to enter the festival.

The city said there are no known threats to Pride Week. Officials are asking eveyrone who will be in the city this weekend to sign up for emergency alerts by texting "alertsf" to 888-777.

For more information on the Pride Parade and street closures, visit SFPride.org.

NBC Bay Area's Michelle Roberts and Bay City News contributed to this report.
In the wake of the recent Orlando shootings, a Pink Triangle, brightening up the Twin Peaks in clear view of the Castro district and downtown San Francisco, took on a special meaning Saturday.

More than 300 volunteers  a record turnout, organizers said  helped set up the one-acre installation, which reminds people of what can happen when hatred and bigotry are allowed to become law. Although the Pink Triangle honors homosexuals who were persecuted in Nazi Germany, the 49 people killed and 53 injured at a gay nightclub, Pulse, on June 12 shared the spotlight Saturday.

The Pink Triangle represents a very sad part of gay history, said Patrick Carney, the events founder.

We try to remember the hatred of the past, but we also try to illustrate that we are not out of the woods yet as Orlando so vividly illustrates, he said.

Although San Francisco Pride begins with a somber note Saturday, the bloodshed in Orlando shows that people have to be more vigilant than ever, Carney said.

He continued: We have been awarded many rights in the last couple of years, but, still, some states are trying to take away those rights. You can be married on a Saturday  and then fired on a Monday when you go to work.

Carney stressed that the Pink Triangle is a way to raise awareness about discrimination meted out not only to homosexuals, but also Latinos and other minority communities.

Senator Mark Leno, Assemblymen Phil Ting and David Chiu, and supervisors Scott Wiener and David Campos were among those who attended the 10 a.m. ceremony, which included a performance of John Lennons Imagine.

According to Leno, Omar Mateens actions in Orlando forced people to introspect and engendered greater support from unlikely corner for our community.

Although mournful for everyone who died and prayerful for everyone who survived and are recovering, Leno encouraged attendees, Lets not make this more than one sick, crazy person.

Pride festivities kicked off Friday with the Trans March, which attracted a large crowd. The tone turned sour, however, when city and state leaders took the mic at Dolores Park to talk about legislative support for the community. Leno was booed off the stage and security personnel hurried Mayor Ed Lee to his car.

With hundreds of thousands of people pouring into San Francisco for Pride festivities, the San Francisco Department of Public Health advised people Friday to get vaccinated after the State Department of Health announced an outbreak of meningococcal disease.

Security has been beefed up for the weekend and San Francisco Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Redmond said plain-clothes officers will be stationed at all venues and Pride-related events.

Black Lives Matter Bay Area organizers on Friday said they were withdrawing as Grand Marshals for Sunday's Pride Parade in response to the increased police presence and security measures.

Several security check points have been set up around Civic Center Plaza, police said. Large bags and purses are banned and everyone will have to walk through a metal detector to enter the festival.

The city said there are no known threats to Pride weekend. Officials are asking eveyrone who will be in the city this weekend to sign up for emergency alerts by texting "alertsf" to 888-777.

The Dyke March starts at 6 p.m. Saturday 18th and Dolores streets.

For more information on the Pride Parade and street closures, visit SFPride.org.

NBC Bay Area's Michelle Roberts and Bay City News contributed to this report.
Two female Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office correctional deputies on Friday were placed on leave for alleged jail guard abuse, sources tell NBC Bay Area.

Sources said the correctional deputies allegedly beat up a female inmate last summer at Elmwood Jail. Sources also said that when another correctional deputy approached the scene, the two guards told her to go away.

The sheriff's office is conducting an investigation.

The allegations come as the jail system tries to recover from other abuse allegations against inmates, including the death of Michael Tyree last August. Three inmates face homicide charges in Tyree's case.
A senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants on Sunday, after a more than monthlong military operation.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighborhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under IS control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, told The Associated Press.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, "is done and the city is fully liberated." The Iraqi army was backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

"From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over," he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

He added that troops will start working on removing bombs from the city's streets and buildings.

The announcement comes more than a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah after Iraqi forces advanced into the city center and took control of a government complex. While al-Abadi pledged the remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, fierce clashes on the city's northern and western edges persisted for days.

The operation has fueled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups.

According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. Like other aid agencies, the UNHCR warned of the dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit) and shelter is limited, calling for more funds to meet the mounting needs of the displaced.

Fallujah has been under the control of Islamic State militants since January 2014.

Fallujah, which is located in Anbar province about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to IS in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by IS group's militant predecessor, al-Qaida in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 U.S. troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

In total, more than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since IS swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, according to U.N. figures. More than 40 percent of the displaced are from Anbar province.
A group of Cuban migrants who appeared to be armed with machetes reached the shore Florida's Hollywood Beach on Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

According to Hollywood police, 11 Cuban migrants landed on Hollywood Beach near the 6000 block of North Ocean Drive around 6:20 p.m.

One of the migrants, Yoandy Alonoso Figueredo, said the trip lasted eight days and the group went without food and water for four. He said the sight of the coastline brought them hope.

Coast Guard officials tried to divert the migrants' boat before it reached Hollywood Beach. Officials said the migrants appeared to be armed with machetes and large knives and were threatening to harm themselves if their boat was stopped.

When they reached the shore, the migrants ran from the boat toward an approaching crowd of around 200 people, police said.

Border Patrol officials said some migrants were shot with Tasers while trying to escape.

"I saw this guy come out of the boat. He just ran and then the police officers were chasing him with a Taser," said a man who recorded the migrants' arrival on his cellphone.

Two were detained and one was taken to the hospital.

The Cuban migrant who was hospitalized hurt himself with a machete when police confronted him, officials said. Hes recovering from his injuries at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

All the migrants were taken to a hospital and transferred to federal custody.

Since October, at least 4,643 Cubans have attempted to illegally migrate to the U.S. by boat compared to 4,473 in 2015.
New York's governor will ride alongside music icon Billy Joel in a statewide motorcycle ride to raise awareness about breast cancer before signing legislation that expands access to screenings for the disease.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo will begin his ride Monday morning at Sunken Meadow Park on Long Island. From there, the Democratic governor will ride alongside his girlfriend, Food Network star and breast cancer survivor Sandra Lee, and the Piano Man himself.

The trio will join hundreds of motorcycle riders as they travel into New York City, stopping at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan before heading upstate. The ride will end Monday evening in New Paltz.

Cuomo is also poised to sign legislation along the ride that would compel 210 hospitals to expand hours when mammograms are offered and require insurance companies to eliminate deductibles and copays for the screening and other diagnostic tests.

"Early detection is the best possible treatment for breast cancer, but far too many women face burdensome scheduling and insurance barriers that prevent them from gaining access to the diagnostic services they need and deserve," Cuomo said in a statement. "This ride is about spreading awareness and sending that message loud and clear, because when it comes to getting screened for cancer, waiting is simply not worth the risk."

Some 15,000 women across the state are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and 2,640 die from the disease.

Harley Davidson is donating a custom motorcycle for the governor to ride. It will later be auctioned off by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the governor's office said.

A second motorcycle ride is planned for next month.
A New York City monument will be erected in honor of the victims of the Orlando massacre, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Sunday morning.

Speaking at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan ahead of the city's gay pride parade, Cuomo said a commission of 10 people will pick an artist to design the monument, which will go up in Christopher Park, Hudson Park or Battery Park.

Cuomo said the state is pledging up to $1 million to create the monument.

The committee, to be overseen by Cuomo's General Counsel Alphonso David, is expected to deliver recommendations by the end of 2016, according to a news release.

"This monument will stand as a reminder to both our allies and the LGBT community that our struggle against violence is far from over, but we will be carried to success by the spirits of those we lost to senseless violence," Kelsey Louie, chief executive of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, said in a statement.

Cuomo also announced that the site around the Stonewall Inn will be designated as a state historic site. On Friday, President Obama made Stonewall a national monument, the first for gay rights.
Rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades tempered by this month's massacre at a Florida gay nightclub.

"Last year was such a celebratory time, and this year, we have this happening," says James Fallarino, a spokesman for organizers of the New York parade, one of the nation's oldest. "But that's also why it's so important that we are out and loud and proud.

"If we change our event  if we make everything somber  it's, in many ways, allowing those who wish to silence us to win."

Sunday's parades in New York, San Francisco and other cities were unfolding two weeks after an Orlando gay nightclub became the site of the nation's deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Celebrations around such themes as supporting transgender people and pressing for economic justice quickly took on new meanings. Paradegoers saw increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in Orlando.

Crowds of onlookers stood a dozen deep along Fifth Avenue for New York City's parade. Some spectators held up orange "We are Orlando" signs, and indications of increased security were everywhere, with armed officers standing by.

Elected officials turned out in force, as did presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She walked several blocks of the march, joining New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton for a brief appearance at Stonewall Inn, the bar where a 1969 police raid helped catalyze the gay rights movement.

Authorities expected a larger than usual crowd. Chelsea Restrepo, 15, of Staten Island, came to the march for the first time. She'd planned to come anyway, "but what happened in Orlando made me want to come more," said Restrepo, swathed in a multicolored scarf.

She said she brushed aside her father's concerns in showing up. "My dad was, like, I'm worried after Orlando. And I was, like, I'm going, to show my support."

Sunday's parades also have a new milestone to mark: President Barack Obama on Friday designated the site around New York City's Stonewall Inn as the first national monument to gay rights. A 1969 police raid on the bar helped catalyze the gay rights movement.

And just before the start of the parade, Cuomo announced that the Stonewall Inn would be designated as a state historic site. He also said New York would erect a monument in honor of all victims of hate and intolerance, including those killed in Orlando.

The lead float in New York's parade was dedicated to the Orlando victims. Marchers carried 49 orange flags  the color of choice for campaigns against gun violence  through the route. A "We Are Orlando" solidarity group was added to the lineup. And gun-control, anti-gun-violence groups joined them because the shooting forged new bonds between them and gay-rights activists.

"As the mom of a gay teen, Orlando terrified me," says Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

It's "such an important way for these two communities to come together," said Watts, whose group also has members joining other parades.

At San Francisco's parade, a "We're Orlando" group of about 300 people will be fourth in the lineup. Victims will be honored with a moment of silence when the march reaches the grandstand. A memorial with their photos will be set up inside City Hall.

"It's been an interesting experience to build the parade with kind of a heavier message" after the optimistic sentiment last year, Stephanie Mufson said.

San Francisco spectators will face metal detectors for the first time, and more police than usual will keep watch. Some participants aren't welcoming the stepped-up security: Two honorary grand marshals and a health clinic that serves sex workers withdrew Friday from the parade to protest the heavy police presence.

Chicago police put 200 more officers than usual on duty for the city's pride parade Sunday. Organizers nearly doubled their corps of private security agents, to 160.

In Chicago, 49 marchers at the head of the parade each held aloft a poster-sized photograph of a different Orlando victim as the procession wound through the city. Above each photo were the words, "Never forget."

Despite the somber start, parade-goers seemed as enthusiastic as ever once marchers and floats began moving, cheering and dancing along the route. Many participants said the tributes to the dead in Orlando didn't dampen the energy and fun associated with the pride parade.

"It is another on a list of brutalities over the years (against gays)," said Joe Conklin, 74, of Chicago, as he sat on the back of a float waiting for the OK to move out. "We're aware of Orlando but not overwhelmed by it."

It was a similar feeling in San Francisco, where men in glittery white wings walked on stilts and women in leather pants rode motorcycles as the parade moved along.

Richel Desamparado, of Oakland, California, was marching and carrying a photo of Orlando victim Stanley Almodovar. She said she felt the need to remind people the fight for equality is not over.

"A lot of my gay friends and relatives are still being shunned away by their families and communities," said Desamparado, 31. "People need to remember we're still fighting for equality."
Police are asking for the public's help to identify individuals involved in the slashing of a 22-year-old man in the Bronx.

Investigators on Saturday released photos and a surveillance video of the assault, which occurred at about 12:30 p.m. Friday in front of the Upsace Hair Design and Baber Salon on White Plains Road.

The victim was surrounded by four men was slashed with a knife in the left arm, police said.

The four men then left the area in a black Mercedes sedan.

The victim was treated for the wound at Montefiore Medical Center North and released.

Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
With gun policy taking center stage on Capitol Hill following the June 12 mass shooting at an Orlando gay club, Americans still remain lukewarm to sweeping gun control measures compared to the mid-1990s, when public opinion swept a 10-year assault weapons ban into law.

Fifty percent of voters say they are concerned the government will go too far in restricting the rights of citizens to own guns, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, while 47 percent said they were more concerned authorities would not do enough to regulate access to firearms.

The margin is relatively unchanged since December 2015, after the terror attack in San Bernardino, California. At that time, 52 percent of respondents worried about government overreach on gun reform, compared to 44 percent who expressed concern that gun policy would be too lax.

Meanwhile, a ban on the sale of the semi-automatic firearms, referred to as assault weapons, remains relatively popular, with 51 percent of voters supporting such a ban while 31 percent oppose it.
Did country music star Kenny Chesney accidentally pronounce wounded Folcroft police Officer Chris Dorman dead while performing Saturday night in Philadelphia?

Well, that's awkward.

@kennychesney just said that officer Dorman passed away...THAT IS FALSE. HE IS ALIVE AND WELL!!  FolcroftPolice (@FolcroftPD) June 26, 2016

The mistaken shoutout by Chesney came after a day of pleading for the musician to give a hello to Dorman, who was shot seven times during an alleged drug bust in his Delaware County borough Friday morning.

Even Dorman appeared in a short video posted to Twitter to tell Chesney, "Don't forget me."

Chesney performed Saturday night at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia.

Dorman, according to reports, was supposed to attend the concert Saturday. He remains at Penn Presbyterian Hospital recovering from surgery. He was shot in the face, neck and arm. A bulletproof vest prevented four othe bullets from striking him in the chest, police said.

Some of his fellow Folcroft police officers apparently went to the Chesney concert, thanks to Philadelphia electricians' union IBEW Local 98. The department thanked the union, which is headed by power labor leader John Dougherty, in a tweet.
Hours after mistakenly telling his Philly concert crowd an officer shot seven times Friday had died, country music star Kenny Chesney called the wounded officer at the hospital and did more than apologize.

Chesney told Folcroft Police Officer Chris Dorman he'd like grab a few beers with and watch an Eagles game together.

.@FolcroftPD He's doing great. Told him we'd watch an Eagles game & have beers one day. Here's to a speedy recovery! #dormanthedelcolegend  Kenny Chesney (@kennychesney) June 26, 2016

Saturday night's faux pas came after a day of pleading for the musician to give a shoutout to Dorman, who would have been at the concert had he not been shot Friday during an alleged drug bust in Folcroft.

Kenny Chesney mistakingly told the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field that Delaware County Officer Chris Dorman was dead after family members and friends asked the popular country singer to mention Dorman, a long-time fan who was supposed to be at the concert. Dorman, who was shot seven times in the head, neck, and shoulder, is in fact alive, and recovering...

During his concert, Chesney told fans, "Before we get going with the rest of the show, last night, a Philadelphia police officer was shot seven times. In the hospital on his bed... he passed away, but before he passed away he made a video that he wanted to come tonight so bad, and he said, 'Kenny, please don't forget me.'"

@kennychesney just said that officer Dorman passed away...THAT IS FALSE. HE IS ALIVE AND WELL!!  FolcroftPolice (@FolcroftPD) June 26, 2016

Dorman was struck in the face, neck and arm. The 25-year-old officer is recovering at Penn Presbyterian Hospital and has been in good spirits, according to Folcroft Fire chief Tom Weber, who has known the young officer for a decade.

Dorman is expected to make a full recovery and will be released from the hospital Monday.

Philadelphia's electrians' union, IBEW Local 98, apparently paid for several other Folcroft officers to attend Chesney's concert at Lincoln Financial Field.[[384413181,C]]
A Philadelphia man was arrested after he allegedly sold drugs to a woman that led to her fatal overdose.

Harold Burton, 36, was arrested and charged with drug delivery resulting in death. Police say Burton received drug-related text messages from Renee Winslow of Pottstown back on January 28. Burton then allegedly told her he would deliver four bags of heroin to her apartment on High Street.

Surveillance video showed Burton entering and leaving Winslows apartment, officials said. Winslow was found dead inside her apartment the next morning.

The Montgomery County Coroners Office determined Winslow died from a fentanyl overdose. Investigators say drug baggies recovered near Winslows body all contained the synthetic opioid, which officials describe as 40 to 50 times more deadly than street-level heroin.

Fentanyl is killing people, said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele. Addicts do not know that what they are injecting is the much more powerful fentanyl since it looks practically identical to heroin. But when it hits their system, the fentanyl shuts down their body, and they die."

"If we continue at this pace, were going to have one of the deadliest years for overdose deaths. We have to get the word out about fentanyl. This stuff is deadly for addicts, could be deadly for law enforcement and deadly for their K-9 partners. This is poison.

In addition to drug delivery resulting in death, Burton is also charged with manufacture, delivery or possession of controlled substances and criminal use of communications.

Renee Winslows death was not attributable to a violent crime, Steele said. This death is attributable to someone poisoning her, poisoning her with this very deadly drug fentanyl. Drug dealers beware  you give a drug to someone and they die, you are on the hook for Drug Delivery Resulting in Death.

Burton was arraigned Tuesday with bail set at $1 million. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 6.

NBC10 explored the tragic world of heroin and opioid addiction earlier this year in a special investigation, Generation Addicted. The in-depth project highlighted people suffering to break free from the drug's strong and deadly grip as well as explore efforts by public health officials and law enforcement to address the growing epidemic.




No food and little water have reached 64,000 Syrian refugees stuck in the desert since Jordan sealed its border last week in response to a suicide attack, aid officials said Sunday.

The World Food Programme understands Jordan's security concerns, but hopes the border will reopen soon, said Abeer Etefa, a regional spokeswoman for the U.N. agency. An extended closure "could put the lives of stranded Syrians at risk," she said.

The refugees live in tent camps along an earthen barrier, or berm, that roughly runs along the Syrian-Jordanian border. Many have camped in the area for months, depending on deliveries of food and water from Jordanian territory as they wait for admission to the kingdom.

Since closing the area last week, Jordan has signaled that a quick lifting of the closure appears unlikely. It has said international agencies must find alternative routes for getting the aid to refugees.

"It's an international and a U.N. problem, and not a Jordanian one," government spokesman Mohammed Momani said Sunday, referring to aid deliveries to the camps. "Jordan is willing to help, but the berm is closed."

Jordan has suggested aid could be sent from Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than five years.

Close to 5 million Syrians have fled their homeland since conflict erupted there in 2011. More than 650,000 have found refuge in Jordan, but the kingdom  along with Syria's other overwhelmed neighbors  has increasingly restricted entry to the displaced.

The number of those stranded at the berm has grown four-fold in just six months as Syrians continue to flee fighting.

Jordan sealed the border last Tuesday, after a suicide attack launched from the area of one of the encampments killed seven Jordanian troops and wounded 13.

Since then, only two water shipments have reached the area, providing less than half the international daily consumption standard to refugees, said an aid official who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Saturday, Jordanian forces turned back a water shipment, he said.

Etefa said no food has reached the camps since the attack.

The WFP had been distributing two weeks' worth of food at a time, including canned goods, fruits and vegetables. Another agency was handing out bread on a daily basis, she said.

Etafa said the last food distribution reached refugees a week before the closure. "With us unable to access the area, the food will probably not last a long time," she said.

Associated Press writer Sam McNeil contributed to this report.
Almost every Friday night (barring an occasional substitution), trumpet master Gilbert Castellanos holds court at the tiny Plaza Bar at the Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego, leading a revolving trio that explores the jazz tradition's most salient tenets.

Surprise is one of those key tenets. Saxophone icon Wayne Shorter famously opined, To me, jazz means I dare you. All through Friday night, Castellanos, with pianist Joshua White and bass legend Marshall Hawkins, cradled surprise like loving fathers.

The trumpet man began It Could Happen To You, with tentative pulsing, making his case with a golden tone in languid tempo, frequently pausing in the middle of a phrase to gently squeeze a single note -- building the excitement incrementally. White took up the cause with powerful melodic sequences, classical flourishes and streams of gorgeously realized thematic logic.

An oddly grooving cowboy rhythm dominated On the Trail, beginning as a duet between Castellanos and the redoubtable Hawkins, each man knitting strands of melody more complex and organic than the one that came before. Once White asserted himself, Hawkins and Castellanos just stood back and marvelled at the directions to which the pianist committed. Then it came down to Hawkins alone, who began with the musical equivalent of whispering -- causing everyone to lean forward. Hawkins improvising aesthetic is sui generis, nothing seems the result of licks or preplanned patterns. Like White, you can hear him singing along with the lines he creates in the moment.

Swing isnt just an idea with these cats; its more like an inherent practice that cannot be subsumed, so when they locked into Taking A Chance on Love, the lack of drums seemed completely incidental, because the sense of shared pulse was unshakable. White hit the gates running, combining joyous single lines toggled against dense block chords, while Hawkins provided maximum groove with minimal wasted motion and Castellanos provided a master class in repetition as a tension-creating device -- literally worrying one phrase into a tizzy before launching into the next.

Speaking of the masterclass idea -- if you havent seen Mr. Castellanos deliver his ever evolving dissertation on the creative use of the common plunger mute -- fix that now! After hastily deciding on which tune to play (Five Spot Blues was the winner after a conference around the piano where White sang the melody), Castellanos lit up the night with burbles, growls and piercing jabs. White went for the blank canvas idea, creating an on-the-spot blues etude that developed into a full-blown novel that blended baroque ideas with more visceral logistics. Suddenly, the group as a whole transformed into a beautiful synapsis of the late Daniel Jacksons Wisdom, with a hushed reverie that permeated the room.

Hawkins began his feature, I Should Care, alone, using his bow and the sound of his voice in tandem to layer a dark, regal sonority that White caressed with pensive harmonies. Hawkins' solo once again seemed to be operating as a tachyon transmission -- there didnt seem to be any latency between thought and reality.

An aggressive, angular romp on Monks Rhythm-A-Ning closed out the set, with White carrying most of the load, rocketing through pointillistic refraction to ragtime and barrel-chested swing, constructing and deconstructing each element along the way.

This is the way its supposed to sound.

Robert Bush is a freelance jazz writer who has been exploring the San Diego improvised music scene for more than 30 years. Follow him on Twitter @robertbushjazz. Visit The World According to Rob.
San Diego is packed with street fairs throughout most of the year, but nothing truly says summer in this city like the OB Street Fair & Chili Cookoff, if for nothing more than the cross sections of locals who intermingle throughout the streets of Ocean Beach and the mix of bands that are chosen to represent our beer drinkin', sun-bleached hair havin', flip flop wearin' masses. Do yourself a favor and park along the river trail in Mission Valley and ride your bike in. When your day is done, you'll be adjacent to Valley View Casino Center for Magic 92.5's every-band-on-the-roller-rink-playlist Summer Jam, or perhaps you scored tickets to the very sold out Pierce the Veil show at the Observatory. My pick for the night, however, is Good Old War at the Casbah. I'm not sure how the band pulls off their songs acoustically now that they're down a member, but I've loved these guys for a long time and I'm sure they've got it dialed in. Besides all of this, we have to give a special shoutout to the Big Love for Candye Kane celebration. She rocked this town for decades, and friends, family and the music community will join together to celebrate her life and legacy at the Belly Up starting at noon.

Saturday, June 25:

OB Street Fair & Chili Cookoff with Vokab Kompany, the Routine, Bang Pow, Bassics, City Side, Bad Science Fiction, Mango Habanero and more @ Newport & OB Pier Parking Lot

Magic 92.5 Summer Jam with Vanilla Ice, Salt N Pepa, Rob Base, Color Me Badd, Candyman, Tone Loc, the Jets, Young MC, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five @ Valley View Casino Center

Good Old War, Empty Houses @ Casbah

Pierce the Veil, I the Mighty @ Observatory North Park (sold out)

Special Duties, Potato Pirates, Revolt-Chix, the Hathcocks @ Soda Bar

Rio Peligroso, Fictitious Dishes @ Bar Pink

Birdy Bardot, Dani Bell & the Tarantist, David J @ Leucadia Roadside Park

Big Love for Candye Kane: A Musical Celebration @ Belly Up (12 p.m.)

Red Not Chili Peppers, Fooz Fighters, Nirvanish @ Belly Up (8 p.m.)

The Rockademy @ Music Box (10 a.m.)

Big Mountain @ Music Box (9 p.m.)

Unwind Yourself @ Whistle Stop (5 p.m.)

Booty Bassment with Dmitri & Rob @ Whistle Stop

Sculpins, Dhatura, Fadrait, Mandoshanks @ Ken Club

Which One's Pink @ House of Blues

Venom Inc, Necrophagia, Dark Measure, Morphesia @ Brick by Brick

Buck-O-Nine, the Penetrators, Oceanside Sound System @ The Hideout

Uprising, Velour, Reason to Rebel @ The Bancroft

John Hollenbeck Claudia Quintet @ La Jolla Athenaeum

Lucid Season @ Shaper Studios

California Guitar Trio @ AMSD, Sweetwater Union High School

Nebula Drag, Beira @ Tower Bar

OB Street Fair @ Winston's

M Machine @ Bassmnt

Big D's Birthday Rock Party @ The Black Cat

Chachi @ Brick by Brick

Gregory Page Bon Voyage Show @ Lestat's

Zero to Billy @ Java Joe's

Forgotten Gods, Cryptic Languages, Garth Algar, No Trust @ The Merrow

Saved by the '90s @ 710 Beach Club

Full Strength Funk Band @ Tio Leo's

Butts Ta Nuts with Jason Waterfalls, Abjo, Julz @ El Dorado

Jayceeoh @ Omnia

Joe Maz @ Parq

Funk Diego @ Kava Lounge

Davy Knowles, Mother Grundy @ Ramona Mainstage

Rosemary Bystrak is the publicist for the Casbah, the content manager for DoSD, and writes about the San Diego music scene, events and general musings about life in San Diego on San Diego: Dialed In. Follow her updates on Twitter or contact her directly.
A young San Diego teenager who faced an extremely rare cancer diagnosis has something enormous to celebrate.

"I'm officially cancer free now!" Lauren Mullins recently told NBC7.

NBC7 first featured Lauren when she was selected to have her bedroom remodeled, thanks to a new charity in San Diego called Savvy Giving By Design. The organization hopes to provide a beautiful sanctuary where children with life-threatening illnesses can recover.

"During treatment you need a place where you can go to be alone because you're always with other people," Lauren, who was diagnosed with colon cancer, said. "To go to your dream space and be alone makes you happy and you forget you have cancer."

And Lauren now has her dream space as she recovers.

"I knew my room would be nice, but I was surprised at how nice," she said.

Interior designer Susan Wintersteen, who founded the charity, remade Lauren's room in a "Modern Country" style. Lauren loves horseback riding.

Both Wintersteen and Lauren said their favorite parts of the new room are the barn door window treatments and the custom vanity.

"We custom built a vanity with a quartz top, used knotty alder barn doors as curtains on the windows and shiplap for more texture on the walls," Wintersteen said, "There is a place for everything, it was one of the things she mentioned in our first meetings."

"I like that my room is unique. No one else has custom barn doors for window treatments," Lauren said.

Wintersteen also believes it's important to to remodel siblings' rooms as part of a project. Lauren's brother Ty has a remodeled room as well.

Wintersteen said there are many more children who she hopes to help with room makeovers though Savvy Giving By Design.

She plans to take on 3 new spaces this summer and is now trying to raise money on the Savvy Giving by Design website.

"Its a BIG ask, but all three are struggling and I wanted to try and make their summer a bit more tolerable," she told NBC7.

She is also planning a fundraiser for September to try to raise money for the cause.
A 7,609-acre wildfire burning for nearly two weeks in a rugged border community in southeast San Diego County is now 100 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said Thursday.

The blaze, dubbed the Border Fire, sparked on June 19 around 11 a.m. near the border city of Potrero, which is located approximately 42 miles southeast of downtown San Diego.

Fueled by relentless heat and dry conditions, the fire prompted evacuations of 700 residents and closed many roads in the area for several days.

#BorderFire [update] 7,609 acres & 70% contained; 5 homes destroyed & 11 outbuildings; 1,771 firefighters assigned. pic.twitter.com/VXYFLFGcez  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) June 25, 2016

In its path, five homes in Potrero were destroyed and a sixth sustained fire damage. Cal Fire said 11 other structures in the area, classified as outbuildings, were also destroyed.

For days, evacuees were left to wonder if their homes had been spared. Los Coches Creek Middle School on Dunbar Lane in unincorporated El Cajon became the gathering ground for Potrero residents, serving as an emergency shelter amid evacuations.

By 6 p.m. on June 23, Cal Fire officials said all evacuation orders had been lifted and residents were allowed to slowly and cautiously begin returning to their homes. As Potrero was repopulated, San Diego Gas & Electric continued to make repairs to many downed power lines and poles in the community.

As firefighters ganed the upper-hand, Cal Fire said fire activity had decreased daily while the containment line continued to hold and increase.

The Border Fire proved especially challenging due to the steep, rugged terrain which is difficult to access, and extremely dry vegetation in the area created by years of drought in California. Cal Fire described the conditions as fueling erratic fire behavior.

Cal Fire said firefighters had been able to construct additional control lines along the perimeter of the Border Fire, which helped keep the acreage increase at a minimum.

By June 26, as tireless fire crews continued to work, Cal Fire reported there were no structures threatened by the Border Fire. At its peak, more than 1,900 fire personnel battled the blaze as it initially threatened 200 structures in the community.

#BorderFire Fire activity decreases and containment line continues to hold & increase. pic.twitter.com/YAoFOVkoyP  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) June 25, 2016

On June 29, officials confirmed the bodies of two Potrero residents had been discovered in the path of the Border Fire.
A 6-year-old boy was killed Saturday in a horrifying accident in San Diegos South Bay community after a refrigerator fell and crushed him, police confirmed.

The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said residents of a home in the 700 block of Beyer Way in Otay Mesa were in the process of moving a heavy refrigerator from a pickup truck into the home when the kitchen appliance slipped and toppled onto the young child.

Neighbors said the boy's parents were screaming for help as they held their child.

She was very emotional and even when police got here she was basically saying I need to be with my son. I need to be with my son, neighbor John Quesnel said. They said you need to let the paramedics in so they can take of him.'

The SDPD said the child was rushed to a local hospital but soon died.

Neighbor Rafael Lopez said he would ride bicycles with the 6-year-old boy and can't believe his friend is gone.

"[It's] difficult cause he was a good friend of ours. It must be devastating for his parents I mean he was just six," Lopez said.

Per standard operating procedure, the SDPD said Child Abuse detectives remained at the home for several hours investigating the deadly incident.

At this point, police have found nothing suspicious and believe this was a tragic accident.

No further details were released. The boy's name has not been released yet.
The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a family that disappeared off of the Florida coast, Capt. Gregory Case announced Saturday.

Ace Kimberly, 45, and his three teenage children  Rebecca Kimberly, 17, Donald Kimberly, 15, and Roger Kimberly, 13  disappeared Sunday afternoon after departing Sarasota for Fort Myers in a 29-foot sailboat. They were last seen in the Guld of Mexico, the Associate Press reported.

The Coast Guard, alongside partner agencies, conducted more than 100 searches covering 33,830 square miles for more than 250 hours in search for the missing family.

Two bodied recovered from the waters off southwest Florida have been identified as Ace Kimberly and his daughter Rebecca, Case said at a news conference Saturday. Kimberly's two teenage sons remain missing.

"I made the very difficult decision to suspend the active search operations for the Kimberly family," said Case, St. Petersburg Commander. "It is with a heavy heart and sincere condolences to the family and friends that I do this. This is probably the most difficult decision I ever have to make in this position."
A Virginia brewing company wants to salute law enforcement officers by releasing a special beer in honor of a fallen Prince William County, Virginia, officer.

The Tin Cannon Brewing Co, based in Gainesville, Virginia, will release a new amber ale called Heart of the Lion, brewed in honor of Officer Ashley Guindon, 28. She was killed on her first day of duty while responding to a domestic disturbance call in Woodbridge, Virginia.

The brewery will also honor injured Prince William County Officer David McKeown and Officer Jesse Hempen during an event at their location at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26. Tickets are still available for the family friendly event.

Tin Cannon said they are hoping to have the event become an annual gathering to pay tribute to and honor law enforcement personnel from all over the area.
Police are hoping to identify a person of interest in back-to-back bank robberies in northeast Washington.

District of Columbia police said in a news release that a man handed a note demanding money to a teller at the Industrial Bank of Washington on 45th Street, Northeast, on Thursday morning. The man ran away with some money and got into a car with two other people.

Police say about 15 minutes later, two men walked into a Citibank nearby. One of them grabbed a teller by the neck and demanded money. The men left with the money and got into a car driven by another man.

Police have released surveillance images of one of the men believed to have taken part of the robberies.

The suspect is described as a black male, about 45 to 50 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall with a slim build. He was described as wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and black skull hat.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099 or text 50411.
State Environmental Conservation police are investigating after two bears were found shot dead in Canton.

The first bear was found last week in the area of Canton Road near the Barkhamsted/Canton town line in a wooded area behind a house, according to State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials. It was initially believed the bear was struck by a car, but a necropsy revealed the bear was shot.

Officials say EnCon police responded to the second incident Friday, when a bear carcass was reported in a heavily wooded area off Barbourtown Road Friday evening. A necropsy revealed that that animal was also shot.

Anyone with information should contact State EnCon police at (860) 424-3333. It is unknown if the incidents are related.

In an unrelated incident, a Canton homeowner reported she was nipped by a bear while gardening Friday.
Police in Massachusetts are asking residents to reflect on the death of a 2-year-old girl who was dubbed Baby Doe after her body washed up on a Boston Harbor island a year ago.

State troopers are making the request as Saturday marks the anniversary of the discovery of Bella Bond. The girl was known for months as Baby Doe after her body was found in a trash bag by a dog walker and detectives sought her identity.

A composite image of the girl was shared by millions on social media before she was identified in September.

Police say the case has touched the agency.

Bella's mother's boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, is charged with her murder. Her mother, Rachelle Bond, is charged with being an accessory. Both have pleaded not guilty.
A young boy found alone, barefoot in a Boston playground, remains in state custody after his parents were located.

Boston Police were seeking the public's help identifying the child, who told police his first name is "Adriel" after he was found Saturday evening at Ryan Playground at 310 River St. in Mattapan.

The department initially told necn around 4:45 p.m. that the boy and his parents had been reunited; however, around 6:30 p.m., it clarified that it was not known whether they had met Sunday.

Police confirmed that the child's parents have been identified.

The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families is caring for Adriel.

"The child remains in DCF custody while the department is investigating," spokesperson Andrea Grossman said.

No one had reported the child missing, according to police.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the DCF at (617) 640-1825.
Brigham and Women's Hospital reached a deal Sunday with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, averting a strike.

According to Brigham and Women's Hospital, after 23 negotiation sessions, the hospital and the MNA reached a tentative agreement on a nursing contract early Sunday morning.

"We are extremely pleased that we have reached a tentative agreement with the MNA and that the strike notice has been rescinded," said the president of the Brigham and Women's Health Care, Betsy Nabel, M.D.

The final agreement allows the hospital to remain within the financial objectives it established and to achieve a 3-year agreement. The contract will now be taken back to the nurses for a vote before being finalized.

"This is a huge victory for Brigham patients and the practice of nursing," said Trish Powers, RN OR, a staff nurse and the chair of the MNA BWH bargaining unit. "The ultimate credit for this settlement goes to the 3,300 MNA nurses of Brigham & Women's Hospital. Brigham nurses stood together and were ready to hold a historic one-day strike for their patients, for our community and for the Brigham way of excellent and safe patient care."

Powers further added that security was the nurses' priority upon entering the negotiations.

"We are especially proud to have significantly improved security at the hospital for everyone," she said.

The Nurses Association says their members will likely vote on the tentative contract within the news two weeks.

Dr. Nabel thanked her negotiation team and the entire Brigham family for their commitment and dedication, saying, "the last few weeks have been difficult for everyone involved, and this news enables us to mvoe forward together as a community and continue to provide superb care to our patients tha the Brigham is known for. We will work with out clinical and administrative leaders to resume normal operations immediately."
The 5-alarm fire that began on Saturday at a warehouse in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood is finally extinguished.

Two Boston firefighters were injured battling the blaze but they are expected to be fine.

The fire broke out at Hyde Park Masonry & Landscape Supplies, at the interesection of Hyde Park Avenue and Grantley Street. Firefighters responded around 5:40 p.m.

Boston Fire announced after 8 p.m. that companies were expected to be on the scene through the night.

The department noted that there are various hazardous tanks of gases at the scene. There was a partial roof collapse.
Rev Nigel Fox, who has served as a Methodist Minister for 15 years in Norwich, shares an open invitation to pray for the nation at a crucial moment.

Rev Nigel Fox, who has served as a Methodist Minister for 15 years in Norwich, shares an open invitation to pray for the nation at a crucial moment.

Norwich church seeks musicians Kingdom Ambassadors International Church is appealing for instrumentlists, keyboardists and guitarists to be part of their worship experience. Read more

Please keep Rishi in your prayers Andy Bryant urges us to pray for our political leaders, especially the new Prime Minister, and avoid unhelpful judgementalism. Read more

Dereham churches help people to help themselves A group of churches in Dereham have launched an ambitious project which aims to meet needs in the town, including the provision of food and skills training. Read more

Emilys art boosts growing Yarmouth foodbank A pupil at a primary school in Bradwell has been selling her pictures in order to raise money for the Yarmouth and Magdalen Foodbank, which is expanding its capacity and is seeking more volunteers. Read more

Patrick Regan helps Norwich to bounce forwards On Saturday St Stephens in Norwich hosted Bouncing Forwards as part of a national tour by the mental health charity Kintsugi Hope. Read more

Painting and biblical feasting in Overstrand There will be opportunities to improve your painting skills and indulge in some biblical feasting next month at the Pleasaunce in Overstrand in North Norfolk. Read more

Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more

National award for Dereham Christian bookshop The Green Pastures Christian bookshop in Dereham has won a national award for providing boxes of Christian books to 21 local schools. Read more

Norma's care home jigsaw challenge complete A resident at Norwich-based care home Corton House has completed an incredible 70 jigsaw puzzles in celebration of the homes 70th anniversary this year. Read more

Norwich charity's appeal to support Palestinian students A Norwich educational charity, set up in memory of a Norwich Anglican priest, to support students from a Palestinian refugee camp, is inviting people to support its Christmas appeal  to be launched on November 29. Read more

Norfolk drug and alcohol charity pays tribute to its founder Andy Sexton, CEO of the Matthew Project, introduces a series of tributes from the charity to its founder, Peter Farley. Read more

Cliff look alike at Cromer Church breakfast Cliff Richard tribute performer Will Chandler will be the speaker at a special Mens Breakfast at Cromer Parish Hall next month, and all men are welcome to come along. Read more

Heartsease Lane Methodist church to close As part of a reorganisation of the Norwich Methodist Circuit, Heartsease Lane Methodist Church will be closing towards the end of the year. Read more

Free Julian of Norwich reflection and prayer day The Friends of Julian of Norwich present a free Quiet Half-Day with Robert Fruehwirth, author and former Priest Director of the Julian Centre, on Saturday November 12, 10.30am-2pm. Read more

What it means for us to repent Nigel Fox believes that now is the time for a tide of repentance, and shares his thoughts about what that actually means for our society. Read more

Christmas card shop opens in Norwich church Thousands of Christmas cards from around 30 local Norfolk charities have gone on sale today (October 19) at the Original Norwich Charity Christmas Card Shop inside St Peter Mancroft church in Norwich city centre. Read more

Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe Revelation in Norwich is a Christian resource centre, offering a bookshop, a meeting place and a welcoming refuge for refreshment open to visitors of any faith or none. Read more
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons emails, those sent from her private home serverusing Clintonemail.comwere being caught in the spam filter, so the State Department turned the filters off.

Bob Gourley, former CTO for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), told Fox News, You're putting not just the Clinton server at risk but the entire Department of State emails at risk. When you turn off your defensive mechanisms and you're connected to the internet, you're almost laying out the welcome mat for anyone to intrude and attack and steal your secrets.

Judicial Watch used a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain Clintons emails (pdf) that had been referenced and criticized in an Inspector Generals 2016 report (pdf), but that had not been released to the public.

In one of the email exchanges (pdf), Clintons deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, wrote, We should talk about putting you on State email or releasing your email address to the department so you are not going to spam.

But Clinton responded, Let's get [a] separate address or device but I don't want any risk of the personal [email] being accessible.

Another email exchange shows (pdf) that Trend Micros ScanMail Exchange 8 (SMEX 8) flagged some of Clintons emails as spam, quarantining but not delivering some, while bouncing others. The State Departments IT team turned off spam and antivirus filters on two email relay servers, but it didnt seem too happy about doing so, since the filters had blocked malicious content in the recent past.

The States IT team had been in contact with Trend Micro about the Clinton-marked-as-spam problem, but it doubted the issue would be fixed, since SMEX 8 was two revisions behind the then-current SMEX 10. The team didnt exude too much confidence that migrating to SMEX 10 would stop Clintons emails from being marked as spam and rejected.

The issue could have easily been resolved had Clinton simply used a government-issued email account instead of using Clintonemail.com and her non-government issued BlackBerry for personal comfort reasons. One exchange (pdf) showed that a government email account had been set up for Clinton, but it warned her to be aware that any email using that address could be subject to FOIA searches. Clinton never used the government-issued account.

The emails were not part of the approximately 55,000 pages previously provided by Clinton, State Department spokesman John Kirby told Associated Press, but Abedin did provide the emails. AP said the newly released emails make it unclear what other work-related emails may have been deleted by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Supposedly she and Abedin retained different copies of emails.

As Judicial Watch pointed out:

On January 9, 2011, the non-Departmental advisor to President Clinton who provided technical support to the Clinton email system notified (pdf) the Secretarys Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations that he had to shut down the server because he believed someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i didnt [sic] want to let them have the chance to. Later that day, the advisor again wrote to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, We were attacked again so I shut [the server] down for a few min. On January 10, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations emailed the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff for Planning and instructed them not to email the Secretary anything sensitive and stated that she could explain more in person.

The FBI has been investigating if classified material sent or received via Clintons private server imperiled government secrets. AP added, As part of the probe, Clinton turned over the hard drive from her email server to the FBI. It had been wiped clean, and Clinton has said she did not keep copies of the emails she chose to withhold.

National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Bill Binney, whoway back in 2012warned Americans that the NSA had dossiers on nearly every U.S. citizen, told Fox News, that Clinton had over 2,100 emails containing classified information on her personal insecure server. Her files were vulnerable [to] attack [from] all people in the worldhackers, governments, everybody.

The State Departments unclassified email system has been repeatedly breached, and Guccifer allegedly pwned Clintons server with ease. WikiLeaks has a searchable Clinton email archive, and Julian Assange said WikiLeaks intends to release more emails to prove her system was compromised. Assange claimed the unreleased emails would provide enough evidence to bring an indictment against Clinton but that its unlikely such an indictment will happen.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
The Chennai police has released the CCTV footage of the suspect who stabbed an Infosys employee to death on Friday morning.



CNN-News 18 has accessed the new CCTV visuals released by the Chennai Police.



In the clip, the alleged killer wearing a check shirt is seen walking with a backpack outside the railway station.







Chennai police have launched a manhunt to arrest the man - but without much success so far.



Speaking to CNN-News18, Swathi's uncle Govindrajan requested people who were present at the scene to come forward and provide leads.



"I request to media, anybody who might have seen antyhing between 6:30 to 6:40 AM, someone might have seen the incident, please provide the evidence to the nearest police station. We want justice", he added.





Police suspect the assailant to be Swathi's close acquaintance and are questioning the victim's relatives and friends to get to him.




Chennai: The Chennai Police have failed to make any headway in the murder case of a 24-year-old woman employee of Infosys who was brutally hacked to death at Nungambakkam railway station on June 24.



Around 6 am Swathi's (victim) father dropped her at the railway station and left. Soon after a man approached her and they were heard arguing over some unknown issue.



The man in a fit of rage suddenly pulled out a chopper from his travel bag and hacked her to death in front of other commuters and walked away unchallenged.



With no arrest in last 48-hours, the incident drew severe criticism from the opposition parties including DMK leaders who questioned the functioning of the AAIDMK government in dealing with the rising crime incidents in the state.



Daily commuters and students at Nungambakkam railway station also expressed their fear over lack of security measures.



On Saturday, the Chennai police released the CCTV footage of the suspect and a special probe team was formed to arrest the accused at the earliest.



Police claimed to have all the leads to nail the killer.







As per records, 5 incidents of killing took place in last one month in Chennai. On June 22, an advocate identified as T Ravi was hacked to death in broad day light at Satyamoorthy Nagarin Chennai by a four assailants. On June 4, another advocate hacked to death in Kodambakkam area.



Earlier, on May 2, travel agent Babu Singh was shot dead on Erulappan Street in Sowcarpet area in Chennai.



Similar incident took place on June 7 when an RTI activist Parasmal Javantraj was killed on Bakers Street.












New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's desperate attempt to get the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership was unwarranted and India should not have knocked NSG's door like an applicant, said former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday



"I would like to say strongly that India must not accept NSG membership, there is no need to go there as an applicant," Sinha, who is also a member of BJP's Margdarshak Mandal, said.



"If we get the NSG membership, we will be the loser. It will be a loss for us, no benefit. Whatever we had to get, we have got it. We have already received a one-time waiver from the NSG," he added.



"Indian government is being regularly misguided by some people sitting in power," he said on the context of Centre's over enthusiasm for NGG.



Meanwhile, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hinted that India is ready to double its efforts on getting the NSG membership. MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop said China was the only country which opposed our membership in Seoul and India will continue to engage with China.







"There was only one country which persistently raised procedural hurdles as a result of which decision was not taken at Seoul many of our friends supported us Russia, Japan, Australia, Canada, France but not a single country apart from that one country opposed the membership," he said.



"There are some processes which take longer, and I would like to evaluate the NSG membership process in that category," he added.
Srinagar: While the Army is battling infiltrators in three areas of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, it has thrown open a village for farming after seven decades on the other side of Pir Panjal mountains in Rajouri, near the Line of Control.



The Army handed back the village Mohra Kampla to the locals after demining it for several months.



"Things were looking peaceful in the area and we decided to demine the village. We are using best technology to take out the mines that were there since 1947. This is the second village we have handed back to the population," Colonel Harvinder Singh Billing said.



Villages near the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch have borne the brunt of Indo-Pak hostilities for several decades now. The lands in these areas have become used to shelling every other day from both sides of the border.



The Indian Army has been laying mines over vast chunks of land in these areas to counter any kind infiltration from the other side of the border.







But with Army now deciding on demining these areas, it is the villagers who are celebrating over reclamation of life along with their lands.



"I lost my leg when I was 10 as I accidentally walked over a landmine. I could have easily joined Army like my friends but could not," a villager said.



"I lost my hand upon hitting a mine in my field. We are very poor and live on the monthly pension of Rs 500. Now that our fields are given back, we will be better off by farming," another villager added.



As the Army needs to secure borders, most of the villages close to LoC are heavily and strategically mined to keep the enemy in check. But in the process, it is the local population which became the first casualty. That has started to change now.



Wherever Army feels a village is safe, they will dig out the mines and provide succour to the locals.
Nashik: A probe has been ordered by the Maharashtra government after lawyer Pallavi Purkhayasta's killer Sajjad Ahmed Mogul jumps parole.



DIG (Prisons) Rajendra Dhamane was asked to submit a report within three days after a thorough enquiry against Sajjad who has been missing for the last three months.



Sajjad was serving a life sentence at Nashik Central Jail in the sensational Pallavi Purkayastha murder case of Mumbai.



Police have lodged an offence against Mughal under Section 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the IPC on April 28 as he did not return to jail after completion of his parole, said Nashik Central Jail Superintendent Ramesh Kamble.



Sajjad, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, had sought parole citing ill health of his mother in February, which was granted as per due procedure. He had then sought an extension of two months, Kamble added.



The jail authorities informed Nashik Road Police that Sajjad did not return after completion of his parole, following which a complaint was lodged against him on April 28, Nashik Road Police Station in-charge Sanjay Deshmukh said.



"Local police then contacted Jammu and Kashmir police to check if Sajjad had visited his ailing mother or his family. He was declared 'absconding' on Wednesday," the officer said.



On August 9, 2012, corporate lawyer Pallavi Purkayasta (25) was murdered by Sajjad at her apartment in Mumbai after she spurned his advances.



Sajjad was employed as a watchman in the building. He had managed to get duplicate key of the main door of Pallavi's house where she lived with her fiance Avik Sengupta.



Avik had found her body lying in blood when returned home on the fateful day. A little over a year after, he also died of a brain disorder.



In July 2014, a local court had sentenced Sajjad to life imprisonment.



(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Life for the Africans at the crammed village of Rajpur Khurd in south Delhi's Chhatarpur is crawling back to normalcy, a month after a group of persons from African nations were allegedly attacked by locals.



As the sun breaks, the tapering lanes of Rajpur Khurd wakes up to life and several Africans can be seen pulling up shutters - their occupations range from teachers, chefs and hairdressers to laundry service providers.



In the past six years, close to a thousand men and women from African nations, mostly from Nigeria, Uganda, Congo, South Africa and Cameroon, have settled in Rajpur Khurd.



In May, around a week after a Congolese youth was beaten to death in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, groups of Africans were allegedly attacked at the twin villages of Rajpur Khurd and Maidan Garhi in Chhatarpur in four separate incidents.



The surname 'Rathi' on most of the name plates outside the twin villages draws its significance from the fact that the villages were set up by one Raj Singh Rathi, a Jat farmer who came to Chhatarpur over 900 years ago, said Rathi's descendant Bhim Sain Rathi.



Almost all natives of the twin villages belong to the Rathi clan, he said.



He further said, the Africans started settling at Rajpur Khurd since 2008, when government started acquiring lands from the Rathis. So to protect the vacant tracts, the Rathis started building houses and renting them out.



"The best catch were the Africans who paid more than the others. We could make them shell out anything between Rs 10,000 - Rs 15,000, which wouldn't be possible in case of locals," said Rathi, who himself owns three buildings.



With the passage of time, a strong resentment apparently started to take shape, based largely on the differences in lifestyles.



"The resentment is natural. They are always loitering around. For them, life is all about clubs, late night parties and alcohol," said another local Himayat Singh.



However, no violence was reported after the May 26 incident and things are getting back to normal, Singh added.



The resentment crawled its way to the African community too, following which they started distancing themselves from the locals.



The process led to several rifts which started taking place every now and then over a range of issues which ranged from negotiating fares with the autowallahs and landlords over rents.



"The autowallas charge us more. The landlords think that they can loot us as we are foreigners. But they never try to feel our pain, that even we come here away from our families looking for work or better education," says Dacey, a Nigerian-national.



Another African woman, Sonia, said, "We feel that there is a very strong racist approach against us which makes us feel all the more unsafe. The way we live and dress up is always scrutinised and talked about by the local people, which is highly uncomfortable."



The Africans who own shops in the area and work there also do not feel very optimistic about the way locals treat them. They say that the locals lack sensitivity.



"They don't consider us friends. I understand this is not a posh area, this is a village where people are conservative but they can at least respect our emotions. Sometimes I want to have meaningful talk with them, but nobody appreciates that," said Mickey, who owns an eatery in Rajpur Khurd.



After the series of incidents, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had ensured safety and security of African people in the country, following which Delhi Police launched a series of sensitisation meetings to address the issue.
In the past one year, we have eliminated over 25 terrorists from Pakistan who had infiltrated into our country. It was an act of frustration, [name]Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar[/name].

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday termed the killing of CRPF personnel in Pampore as an act of "frustration" on part of Pakistani terrorists several of whom were killed by Indian forces in past one year.Parrikar made it clear that India will retaliate when the time is right. He said the jawans have all the freedom to do whatsoever to stop terrorists and no sense of courtesy is required.Home Minister Rajnath Singh also accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India. He also said a three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack.The team will look into the possible increase of cross-border infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased eight CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 22 others wounded when terrorists rained bullets on the bus carrying them in Pulwama district on Saturday.
Pune: Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said Shiv Sena may break off its ruling alliance with BJP in Maharashtra before next year's civic polls in Mumbai and other cities of the state.



"The coalition of BJP and Shiv Sena is full of contradictions and the kind of spat the two parties are having is evidence of the same," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister told reporters here.



"As a politician, it is my reading that before the civic body polls in Mumbai and other parts of the state, Shiv Sena may withdraw their support and pull out from the (state) government," Chavan, a former Union Minister, said.



"Once, Shiv Sena withdraws the support, the government will automatically go into a minority and further political developments will take place," he added.



Recently, the ruling alliance partners had locked horns with each other over an article in BJP's fortnightly magazine 'Manogat'. The article had dared the Sena to take "divorce" while enumerating the sacrifices the saffron party has made in the past to keep the alliance intact.
Srinagar: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) reportedly ignored a specific intelligence input from the Jammu and Kashmir Police that terrorists were preparing for an ambush along the Avantipur and Srinagar Highway where 8 CRPF personnel were killed and 24 others injured on Saturday.



Sources in the state police department said that they have alerted the CRPF about an imminent terror attack around 7 am but no security measures were taken, which caused heavy casualties.



The intelligence report cited an informant as saying that terrorists may attack the CRPF bus and therefore an elaborate security preparation is required.



The incident once again has raised serious questions over the lack of co-ordination between the state police and the paramilitary forces.



"We have alerted them (CRPF) about the possible terror attack but why did the CRPF bus was traveling without an escort is still not clear to us. It is an unfortunate incident," police sources said.

It is believed that two terrorists managed to flee and a massive combing operation is underway to hunt down the perpetrators.



On Saturday, 8 CRPF personnel were killed and 24 others injured when terrorists ambushed their bus in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.



The two terrorists were also killed in retaliatory firing by the security personnel. The attack took place at Frestbal in Pampore, 14 km from Srinagar. Both terrorists appeared to be from Pakistan.



Later, Lashkar-e-Toiba claimed responsibility for the attack when the bus carrying CRPF jawans was returning to Jammu after a training session in Srinagar.







This is the second attack on a bus carrying security personnel within three weeks.



On June 3, terrorists had fired at a bus carrying BSF personnel in Bijbehara, killing two personnel.
New Delhi: Planning to capture a panoramic view of London in your camera or to take a selfie in front of Big Ben? Then it is the right time to visit. Though the global financial markets went into a tizzy after Brexit, the fall in the pound would make travel to Britain cheaper, feel industry stakeholders.



Brexit has resulted in a big drop in the value of the pound and if this trend remains then we could see a surge in leisure tourism to Britain, as it will become significantly cheaper, said Sharat Dhall, President of travel portal Yatra.com.



Britain's decision to opt out of the European Union (Brexit) made its currency, pound, weaker.



Dhall added that the drop in the pound's value might result in an increase in students from India choosing Britain as a destination looking at cheaper education facilities.



According to the data available at visitbritain.org, in 2015, the number of visitors to Britain from India were 422,409, who spent around 9.22 million nights and average length of the stay was 21.84 nights. Average spend per visit was around 1,025 pounds.



The pound has depreciated against the rupee. This would mean that travel to the UK will be cheaper for Indian travellers. This will aid our outbound business for the remainder of the year, said Anil Khandelwal, Chief Financial Officer, Cox & Kings.



The development is new and is still to unfold and thus it wouldnt be ideal to speculate on this right now, a spokesperson of MakeMyTrip said.



With the pound dropping, there is a possibility that we will see an increased number of travellers from India to Britain. The long term impact on business travel and trade relations remains to be seen, he added.



However, the International Air Transport Association said going by the preliminary estimates, the number of UK air passengers could be three-five per cent lower by 2020, driven by the expected downturn in economic activity and the fall in the sterling exchange rate.



At present, travellers need separate visas for Britain and Europe, which is unlikely to change anytime in the near future.



Currently travellers need separate visas for the United Kingdom and Europe and this is unlikely to change anytime in the foreseeable future, said Madhavan Menon, Chairman and Managing Director, Thomas Cook (India).


Speaking to media at the green carpet of recently concluded IIFA awards 2016, actor Hrithik Roshan said that he has not put his legal battle with Kangana Ranaut behind him yet.



The actor slapped a legal case on actress Kangana Ranaut in April 2016 for stalking him. The actress had sent a counter notice to Hrithik. The two stars have been ever since embroiled in a very bitter, public fight, with each stars team blaming the other.



So far the actor had maintained a stoic silence on the matter but on Saturday night, when a reporter asked him if the legal case was behind him, Hrithik said, " It is not behind me , it is in front of me and it will be in front of you soon."



Roshan attended the awards gala with his two sons and even performed to hit numbers.
 !    ,                    https://t.co/Fp7mDi4y7V  Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) 26 June 2016

Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM pic.twitter.com/M6hbzksWDO  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) 26 June 2016

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 51 AAP MLAs were released on Sunday after a four-hour detention at parliament street police station while they were on their way "to surrender" before Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7 RCR.The MLAs had decided to march to the PM's residence in protest against a complaint that was filed by Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association against Sisodia.Joint Commissioner of Police MK Meena had said that the MLAs were detained as a preventive measure as they might make another attempt to go to 7 RCR.Earlier, Section 144 was imposed at 7 RCR and the Race Course Metro station was completely shut after the deputy CM Sisodia took to Twitter and declared that he would surrender in front of PM Modi.Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too announced on Twitter that Sisodia would surrender before the PM.Reportedly, Sisodia was on Saturday accused of dictatorial behaviour by the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association during his visit to the area to address the grievances of the vendors.Following his visit a complaint was filed at Ghazipur police station over Sisodia's alleged misbehaviour.Sisodia however defended himself and said that he had only scolded some people and said that their licenses would be revoked as they were "indulging in illegal practises".Taking a direct swipe at PM Modi, Sisodia said that he was going to surrender before PM as he wanted to convey to him not to be a hindrance to the state government and its work and arrest him instead.Reacting to the incident Kiren Rijiju, MoS (Home) said that if the Centre continues to react to everything that Kejriwal and his MLAs were upto then who will run the government."The people of Delhi gave a mandate to Arvind Kejriwal so that his Govt would serve them, but they are indulging in drama instead", Rijiju added.
New Delhi: Latching on to the terrorist attack in Pampore that killed eight CRPF personnel, former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on Sunday lashed out at the Narendra Modi government, saying "nothing" has come out, or will, of the Centre's Pakistan policy.



In an apparent swipe at Modi, the 83-year old Sinha said he comes under the "category of brain dead" but is still giving his advice.



"I come under the category of brain dead. My class is that I do not have the status of giving any suggestion. I am saying this openly that I cannot even give suggestions. But I have publicly opposed the policy of my own government which they are following with Pakistan.



"I have stressed that if I have even some experience of (issues involving) Pakistan and about foreign policy, then nothing will come out of this (present policy). In two years, nothing has come out till now," he said.



In the deadliest attack on security forces in three years, eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them in South Kashmir's Pulwama district yesterday.



The suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists sprayed a bus carrying the personnel of 161 battalion of CRPF with bullets at Frestbal, 14 km from Srinagar, officials said.



CRPF's road opening party engaged the terrorists and killed two of them.



Sinha, who was External Affairs minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, had earlier spoken out against various aspects of the Modi government's foreign policy, especially its handling of Pakistan.
Pune: BJP's ally Shiv Sena and other political parties here today boycotted the event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his government's flagship 'Smart City mission' in 20 cities.



Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap attended the program for the sake of protocol, but his party, NCP, alongwith Sena, MNS and Congress, boycotted it.



Shiv Sena is a ruling alliance partner of BJP in Maharashtra and a part of the NDA. However, the relations between the two allies are strained, especially in the last few days when state-level leaders of both parties traded barbs at each other.



On Saturday, leaders of NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena and MNS in accused BJP of hijacking the PM's programme and slammed the Centre for not following protocol as the invitation cards did not have the name of the Mayor.



Jagtap, however, later agreed to attend after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to him over phone.



Local NCP leaders stayed away from the event, saying that the PM had not even once visited Maharashtra when it was reeling under drought, and that he came only when civic elections were round the corner.
Thiruvananthapuram: Mounting a scathing attack on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy on Saturday alleged that she wanted to declare a state of emergency in the country by "cooking up Hindu terror business" in the period 2011-12.



Inaugurating a meeting to mark the 41st anniversary of the Emergency, Swamy said no more emergency could be declared in the country because of the significant constitutional amendment passed by the Janata government which had come into power after the Emergency had been withdrawn in 1975.



"In 2011-12, Sonia Gandhi was planning to declare a state of emergency in the country and she had cooked up this Hindu terror business," he said.



Swamy said he would soon release further details in this regard.



BJP state president Kummanom Rajasekaran and other party leaders were present during the programme held at Gandhi Park in Thiruvananthapuram.


Lucknow: The Executive Committee of BJP's UP unit will meet in Moradabad for a two-day session on July 16-17 where it would strategize for the state assembly polls due early 2017.



"An important meeting of senior leaders was held here today in which it has been decided to hold state executive meeting on July 16 and 17 in Moradabad," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.



The meeting was chaired by state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and was attended by several Union ministers besides party's state-in-charge Om Prakash Mathur.



Mahesh Sharma, Ramshankar Katheria, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sajeev Balyan were among Union ministers who attended the meeting along with former presidents of BJP's state unit.



Pathak said the meeting decided to hold training camps for party workers at district level between July 20 and 30. Assembly segment-wise conferences will also be held in August, he said.
Microsoft is trying really hard to make Google loyalists give Edge browser a chance that comes as a default browser with the newest Windows 10 operating system.Microsoft conducted a series of tests to measure the power consumption by browsers and pitted Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and the Opera browser against its own Edge browser.The experiment found that Chrome drains more battery of a device - a fact which is already acknowledged by Google but measures to fix the issue don't seem to be of much help.One of the tests measured typical browsing behaviour on popular sites in a lab-controlled environment while the second experiment found out how long streaming HD video lasts.It was found that Chrome lasts just 4 hours and 19 minutes on the streaming video test compared to 7 hours and 22 minutes by Microsoft's Edge browser, The Verge notes.The tests further revealed that Chrome, Opera, and Firefox all used more battery than Edge during an automated cycle of opening sites, scrolling articles, watching videos, and opening new tabs.Despite having performance issues, Google's Chrome is more popular over Edge because Microsoft's new browser lacks some features that are already available on rival platforms like browser extensions.However, the company plans to launch it alongside the Anniversary Update to Windows 10.Other features expected to arrive include more power-saving enhancements, less memory consumption, and controls on background activity and Flash ads.
London: In a first, an Islamic State terror suspect in custody over suspicions of his role in Paris and Brussels terror attacks has turned into an informer for UK police intelligence services against the terror outfit.



Mohamed Abrini, who became known as the "man in the hat" after he was spotted on CCTV footage following the Brussels airport attacks in March has become the first "ISIS supergrass" to assist British investigators, 'The Sunday Times' reported.



Following secret talks between Britain and Belgium, officers in Brussels asked Mohamed Abrini questions provided by the UK authorities.



Abrini, who is facing terrorism charges in Belgium after being filmed at Brussels airport with two suicide bombers responsible for the attacks, has been helping British officers gather intelligence on suspected terrorist plots and jihadist sympathisers in the UK.



The 31-year-old, who was also caught on CCTV travelling by car to Paris two days before the attacks in the French capital last November, is the first ISIS terrorist suspect confirmed to have been "turned" and to be assisting authorities in the UK, the newspaper reports.



A "supergrass" is an informant or suspect who helps the authorities in return for immunity from prosecution, a more lenient sentence or a new identity. However, the evidence they provide may not always be reliable.



Abrini appeared in court in Belgium last week where a judge rejected his bid to avoid extradition to France, where he is suspected of involvement in the Paris attacks that killed 130.



Prosecutors said Abrini would not be sent to France immediately because they are still investigating him over the Brussels attacks that claimed a total of 32 lives.
After UK's Prime Minister David Cameron offered to step down, the ministers in the EU want to fasten the process of Brexit. Meanwhile the Indian diaspora has reacted positively to the UK referendum and called it the immigrant's voice for change. Watch
Integration Through Art unites male artists

Integration Through Art opened at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago (ASTT) on June 22 and continues until the 28. Moore told the Sunday Newsday that this will be an annual exhibit. Throughout the year, Moore and his co-organisers Stefan Rampersad and Neshan Singh hope to host workshops and do community outreach.

As the year progresses were here as a support system for the artists especially young and up and coming artists, said Moore.

These programmes began with an artists talk on June 25 featuring artists Christipher Cozier, Troy Hadeed and Brian MacFarlane. Also featured at the artist talk was brand strategist Michelle Eng Leang. Eng Leang was chosen as a speaker because Integration Through Art has a specific focus on helping young artists understand marketing and practicing art in a digital age. To reach people in this modern age you need to meet them where they are, so I know theyre going be on their phones, theyre going be on their computers and we need to reach them there. Social media is a tool and were using it to brand ourselves said Rampersad.

Helping artists navigate the digital age is one reason why Singh was such an important co-organiser.

As the founder of the online art gallery, Gallery TT, Singh will be helping artists sell their work internationally by hosting the exhibit online. Singh said this online space was especially important to up and coming artists who sometimes get overlooked by traditional galleries.

So far, the exhibit has provided an amazing experience and quite a few firsts for some young artists.

For Brian Ashing, Integration Through Art was his first exhibit and he was delighted to participate.

I love the premise of bringing everyone together and fostering creativity within the young artists and encouraging everyone to pursue art as a career, said Ashing, who will begin a degree programme at The University of the West Indies later this year.

For Guyanese artise Raimung Rausch, it was his first time exhibiting regionally. Rausch expressed gratitude for the opportunity and was impressed by the local art scene. I think Trinidad has a wider range of appreciation for art so mixing and blending and sharing thoughts and ideas with other artists gave me a boost. In Guyana its not the same and I hope we reach to this level sometime soon, said Rausch.

Rausch was one of two Guyanese artists featured in the work and his inclusion signifies the integration in the exhibit title. According to Rampersad, the diversity came not only through including regional artists, but also the style of work.

We have 15 Trinidadians, two Guyanese and one American in the show. They all have their own style and technique and were all different ethnicities and you get see that integration. He added: We have people who are self-taught, who are trained, established and theres also a wide age range. For Moore, the most important aspect was the unifying factor of the exhibit. We have all these cultures and personalities coming together through one love, which is the arts. For more information, visit the exhibit Facebook page: Integration Through Art.
Thanks to FDA, Women Will

Be Told of Their Breast Density
(Newser)  The Brexit continues to reverberate: As a wave of British MPs stepped down Sunday over the vote to leave the European Union, Scotland's First Minister says Britain could be leaving by itselfand Nicola Sturgeon is putting her money where her mouth is, saying "of course" she's ready to block approval of the move in her parliament. "If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest, of course that's going to be on the table," Sturgeon says.

As Reuters reports, Scotland voted against the Brexit 62% to 38%, as opposed to the 52% to 48% margin that carried it in the whole UK. When Scotland voted against independence two years ago, a main argument for staying was to remain a part of the EU; with that argument now gone, Sturgeon says that a new referendum on Scottish independence is "highly likely." Meanwhile, John Kerry is headed for London and Brussels on Monday, reports the AP. He's urging leaders to "work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible" as the divorce goes through. (Read more Scotland stories.)
(Newser)  After a month plagued with what the Washington Post is calling "self-inflicted controversies," Donald Trump has taken a beating in that paper's latest poll, "foreshadowing that the November election could be a referendum on Trump more than anything else." Hillary Clintonwho in May's poll was trailing Trump 46% to 44%now holds a commanding 51% to 39% lead over her rival. Other findings in the poll reflect voters' reservations about Trump. Some highlights:

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said Trump is unqualified for the job

Fifty-six percent say Trump doesn't stand for their beliefs

About one-third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say Trump is "flatly unqualified"

One bright spot for Trump: Among those who want the country to take a different direction, 64% favor Trump, while 26% favor Clinton.

(Read more Donald Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Italy's second most sought-after fugitive, a convicted, ruthless 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate boss, was captured Sunday as he slept in his bed in a hideout in the rugged Calabrian mountains, reports the AP. Ernesto Fazzalari "went from his sleep to the handcuffs of the Carabinieri" paramilitary police after 20 years on the run, Col. Lorenzo Falferi told reporters. Reggio Calabria Prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho described Fazzalari as "a merciless killer" and a protagonist of the 1991-1992 turf feud between 'Ndrangheta clans that bloodied the Taurianova town area of Calabria in the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. In one macabre episode, a victim's head was tossed into the air and shot at as a target. Falferi called Fazzalari, 46, one of Italy's most dangerous fugitives from the 'Ndrangheta, one of the world's most powerful crime syndicates.

Hanging over Fazzalari's head is a life sentence. He has been convicted of two murders, attempted murder, extortion, and being a member of a Mafia-like organization. Authorities said Fazzalari was sleeping alongside his companion, a 41-year-old woman. The woman was arrested for investigation of weapons possession. The No. 1 wanted fugitive in Italy is Matteo Messina Denaro, a Sicilian Cosa Nostra chieftain whose power base is in western Sicily. Fazzalari's two decades spent eluding capture was aided by a combination of a widely-followed code of silence known as "omerta" and complicity from local citizens, authorities said. He and his 'Ndrangheta allies "controlled every clod of dirt," Prosecutor Cafiero De Raho said. "He was feeling protected in his territory, by his people." (Read more 'Ndrangheta stories.)
(Newser)  People watched in horror Sunday as a roller coaster car flew off the rails and plummeted 30 feet to the ground at a Scottish theme park, injuring two adults and up to nine children. Eyewitnesses say the car from the Tsunami roller coaster landed upside-down on another ride at M&Ds theme park near Glasgow and left around 10 people trapped insidemost of whom were just kids, the Scotsman reports. "A lot of people in the park ran over and tried to help and there was loads of people just running about trying to tell people to call ambulances and call emergency services," an eyewitness tells the BBC. "Everybody was shocked and upset and a lot of them were crying with shock."

A chef working at the park managed to free a girl using alan keys, and a doctor tended to a boy whose injuries "looked really bad," a witness tells the Herald Scotland. "[Soon] the fire crews arrived and the ambulances so we just took a step back at the stage. But it was brutal. One guy who'd been on the ride was about 20 meters away from it." The Tsunami roller coaster, which winds through turns and loops at up to 40 mph, doesn't allow children under 10 and only lets on under-14s when accompanied by a paying adult. A rep from M&D's says the park is "closed until further notice." (Read more roller coasters stories.)
(Newser)  Does Sen. Mitch McConnell consider Donald Trump qualified to be president? Well, it's a good questionand it's still a question, Politico reports. "You know, he won the Republican [nomination] fair and square," he said Sunday on ABC's This Week when asked whether Trump is qualified. "He got more votes than anybody else against a whole lot of well-qualified candidates. And so our primary voters have made their decision as to who they want to be the nominee. The American people will be able to make that decision in the fall." The Senate majority leader conceded that Trump "made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks," but says "it's a long time until November."

With a new poll giving Hillary Clinton a double-digit lead, McConnell did praise Trump for taking "a good step in the right direction" in his campaign. "He's beginning to use a prepared script more often, which I think is absolutely appropriate for any candidate," says the GOP senator from Kentucky, per CNN. But he says the Trump campaign's $1.3 million balancea pittance beside Clinton's $42.5 millionwill need a serious boost. "Where the money comes from, whether it comes out of his own pocket or from others, it doesn't really make all that much difference," says McConnell. (George Will says he quit the GOP over Trump.)
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 9F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 9F. Winds light and variable.
New Delhi:

India needs over USD 1.5 trillion in investment in the next 10 years to bridge infrastructure gap as the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.



We have been able to sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge, Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of AIIB, said.



Over the next decade, we require over USD 1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us.



In investing large public finance into infrastructure, for instance, we have seventeen hundred thousand villages in India. We intend to connect each of them by 2019, he said while addressing a seminar on Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth organised by China sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with Finance Ministers of many countries.



He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of Indias current infrastructure programme.In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation, he said.



Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs.



The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said.



These are all the emphasis areas we have under taken, he said.About arranging funding for the massive development, he said we realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins a lot of private funds.



At the same time there are large number of developmental institutions like World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long time returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Brussels:

Britain's European Commissioner Jonathan Hill announced today that he will stand down following his country's decision to leave the EU, saying he was "very disappointed" but "what is done cannot be undone."



"As we move to a new phase, I don't believe it is right that I should carry on as the British Commissioner as though nothing had happened," said a statement by Hill, who is commissioner for financial services.



"In line with what I discussed with the President of the Commission some weeks ago, I have therefore told him that I shall stand down," he said, referring to EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.



Hill -- a former member of the House of Lords who was named by outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron as a member of Juncker's European Commission in 2014 -- called for an "orderly handover" to his successor.



"Like many people here and in the UK, I am obviously very disappointed about the result of the referendum. I wanted it to end differently... but the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works," he said.



Hill said he had come to Brussels despite being "sceptical about Europe" but had become convinced that "despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy."



"But what is done cannot be undone and now we have to get on with making our new relationship with Europe work as well as possible," he added.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

Attacking his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton over donations to her family foundation, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has alleged that she received funds from Indian political leaders and institutions to vote for the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.



Released by the Trump campaign in form of a 35-page booklet, none of these allegations are new and have been known in the public domain for past several years.



Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, had refuted these allegations several times in the past.



In a statement, the Trump campaign said the information provided in the booklet is in-depth summary of the top 50 facts about Clintons record that were detailed by Trump in a major speech early this week in New York.



Citing a New York Times report, the Trump campaign alleged that as early as 2008, Indian politician Amar Singh had donated between USD 1,000,001 and USD 5,000,000 to the Clinton Foundation.



Singh visited the US in September 2008 to lobby or a deal allowing India to obtain civilian nuclear technology; then-Senator Clinton assured him democrats would not block the deal, the Trump campaign alleged.



It said in 2008 the Confederation of Indian Industry gave USD 500,000 to USD 1 million to the Clinton Foundation.



It also alleged that Indian-American Raj Fernando was appointed to the State Departments International Security Advisory Board by Clintons chief of staff Cheryl Mills at her insistence.



Fernando, he alleged, has donated between USD 1 million and USD 5 million to the Clinton Foundation.



Trump alleged Clintons foreign policy has cost America thousands of lives and trillions of dollars and unleashed ISIS across the world.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the nation in 21st edition of Mann Ki Baat programme. He spoke about several things including monsoon, smart cities and satellite launch by ISRO. On 41st anniversary of 'Emergency', PM Modi framed 25-26th night as the darkest night of Indian democracy.



People were asked to share their thoughts and views over the topics PM must mention in his show via toll free number 1XXX-XX-7800 (repeat 1XXX-XX-7800).



In his last editions he had mentioned about key issues related to water conservation, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, promotion of khadi, skill development, scholarship for disabled children, infrastructure for educational institutions, menace of drugs and farmers' problems.



Here are live excerpts from his latest edition:

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia along with AAP MLAs were detained by Delhi Police at Tuglaq Road on Sunday, as they were enroute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence at 7 Race Course Road in protest. A few hours later, they were released.



Team AAP was going there as a sign of protest and to surrender themselves.



Here are the live updates from the incident site:

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today held a protest march to 7RCR along with AAP MLAs to surrender himself before PM. This was in the wake of a complaint filed by the president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association against accusing him of intimidating the businessmen during his official visit there.



Section 144 has been imposed at 7RCR by Delhi police to avoid any untoward incident. Meanwhile Sisodia and the MLAs were detained by police at Tughlaq road on their way to 7RCR.



Sisodia requested police to convey his message to PM after being stopped near Tughlaq Road. He said, We want to tell the Prime Minister that don't stop the work in Delhi. Why are you taking revenge on Delhi? You have enmity with me so arrest me. All the MLAs are going there.



Besides, after the complaint was filed yesterday, Sisodia, quickly turned to twitter and stated that the Prime Minister may turn the complaint into a case of extortion, violence and molestation and use it as an excuse to arrest him. He also alleged that the people who filed the complaint were indulging in illegal activities in the market, where he had gone for a surprise inspection.

According to reports, the police said earlier that they have received a complaint from the president Surender Goswami, but no FIR would be registered as no cognizable offence was committed by Sisodia.













For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Srinagar:

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Sunday attended the wreath laying ceremony of eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, who lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir.



On Saturday, Mufti had strongly condemned the militant attack on the CRPF convoy saying the assault was aimed at "subverting peace" and development initiatives launched by the state government.



"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," she said.



Mehbooba said the elements inimical to interests of Jammu and Kashmir have always tried to derail the peace efforts and the latest militant strike in Pampore was again aimed at "subverting the peace and development initiatives launched by the government".



While expressing solidarity with the bereaved families of the security forces personnel, she prayed for early recovery of the injured.



"I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in today's dastardly militant attack," she said, adding, violence has not served any purpose in the past, nor is it going to do anything in future, except shedding precious human blood.



Governor N N Vohra too conveyed his grief on the killing of the CRPF personnel in the attack, an official spokesman said.



He said the Governor conveyed his sympathy to the families of those killed and wished early recovery to the injured personnel.



(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

In his radio programme, 'Mann ki Baat', Prime Minister Narendra Modi today firmly urged people to come clean by September 30 and declare their assets. People with undisclosed assets have an opportunity to declare their assets before 30th September, PM said.



Modi also used the platform to mount an attack on the Congress to mark the 41st anniversary of the declaration of Emergency. Addressing the audience, PM Modi said, "In our big cities, when we see some of the houses that are worth crores, there seems to be some discord. Some people make well over 50 lakh rupees a year, but don't declare it. They do this to avoid paying their taxes. I am calling on all of them to come forward and declare their true incomes and pay their taxes by September 30.



He added, "There will be no leniency after that. Besides, PM also spoke about criticism that his radio programme has been facing, saying such criticism was possible only in a democracy. He then attacked the Congress over the Emergency, calling its declaration the darkest moment for India's democracy. "All the rights of citizens were taken away. The country was turned into a prison. Many political leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were thrown in jail," he said.



He then said democracy was India's biggest strength and called for it to be strengthened.



Moreover, PM also expressed pride over the first batch of three women fighter pilots. He expressed pride over the fact that none of them were from the metro cities, or even the capitals of their respective states.



PM Modi also congratulated ISRO for its achievement of launching 20 satellites in a single stroke, and expressed pride over the SATYABAMASAT and SWAYAM, the microsatellites built by the students of Chennai's Satyabama University and Pune's College of Engineering respectively.



He also praised the country's scientific community for its efforts in working towards a better India.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today flayed the Narendra Modi government over its vigorous push to get NSG membership, saying there was no need for it and India should not have gone to the elite grouping as an applicant.



The BJP veteran, who has often been critical of the Modi government after being sidelined in the party, said India should not accept NSG membership as it has already got what it needs.



India which has shown so much keenness in getting NSG membership, it is not required at all. I say this very strongly that India should not accept the NSG membership. We should not go there as an applicant. Whatever we had to get, we have got it, 83-year-old Sinha said.



His comments come after Indias push for becoming at member of the NSG came a cropper at the plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group recently as divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members with China leading the opposition to it.



Ahead of the meeting, India had pushed its case with a number of countries, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge and also meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent urging him to take a decision on Indias membership on merit while seeking Beijings support.



Sinha, who was External Affairs minister in the previous NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has spoken out against various aspects of Modi governments foriegn policy especially its handling of Pakistan.



Terming the developments at the NSG meet in Seoul as an embarrassment to India, Congress too had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he needs to realise that diplomacy needs depth and seriousness and not public tamasha.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Berlin :

The European Parliaments chief called today for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week. Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs.

Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone, he said.

That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time.

The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germanys Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union.

They added that no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britains) exit accord has been completed.

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave negotiations on the so-called Brexit to his successor.

To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EUs Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.

The first step is to inform the European Council of member states which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.

The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.

Foreign ministers from the EUs six founding states meeting in Berlin yesterday urged Britain to begin the exit process as soon as possible.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A new study has found that people born with a low birth weight due to genetic factors may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers created a genetic risk score (GRS) based on five low birth weight-related genetic variations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Their analysis showed that for each one point increase in GRS (with the score ranging from 1-10), the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increased by six per cent.

Researchers from Tulane University in the US conducted the study on 3,627 type 2 diabetes cases and 12,974 controls of European ancestry. Further evidence found that low birth-weight was actually causing the excess risk in type 2 diabetes.

Evidence from both population and experimental studies has suggested that restricted early life development has long-term structural and functional influence on individuals' predisposition to an increased risk of metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, researchers said.

As low-birth weight represents restricted foetal growth. In the research it was found that a genetically lowered birth weight was associated with increased susceptibility to type 2 diabetes.
New Delhi:

Bihars controversial topper Ruby Rai has been sent to judicial custody till July 8. Rai was arrested on Saturday by Special Investigation Team (SIT) after she emerged from a re-test of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB).

Non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against the four toppers who were found to be incompetent in the exam racket.

Raby on TV had pronounced Political Science as Prodikal science which according to her was a subject about cooking.

Baccha Rai, chairman of VCR College has already been arrested by Bihar police. Former BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and wife Usha Sinha have been already been arrested by the SIT.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Ranchi:

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said India would win against terrorism and no power could prevent it from achieving the success. We will win against terrorism, Singh said addressing Haryali Sapath Samaraho and Loktantra Bachao programme oraganised by BJPs Mahanagar unit.

Expressing pain at the ambush of eight CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday, Singh said the brave security personnel gunned down the two terrorists.

Stating that the approach of the neighbouring country was not like what it should be, Singh recalled he gave standing orders to the Director General after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers on the borders one-and-a-half years ago.

Singh elaborated when the DG had told him that there was no response from Pakistan even after the Indian side showed white flag for dialogue, he had given standing orders that while no bullet should be fired first, but if any bullet was fired from that side (then) forget the count of the bullets fired by us.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Aden:

Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels killed 41 people on several fronts today, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the rival factions in Kuwait to accept a peace plan.

UN sponsored talks between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in the Gulf emirate on April 21.

The Huthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have seized control of large parts of the impoverished country since 2014 and still control swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

UN special envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed has repeatedly urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

But the clashes raged today, with the rebels pressing ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.

The rebels and their allies captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province. Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadis government killed 11 rebels in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.

Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, said a loyalist militia source.

Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official said.

Meanwhile, nine rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes in northern Yemen, after rebels attacked loyalists in Nahm, northeast of the Sanaa, a military official said.

Clashes have continued despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on April 11 and paved the way for the peace talks in Kuwait.

In the Gulf emirate today, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the warring parties to accept a roadmap for peace and quickly reach a comprehensive settlement to the 15-month-old conflict.

The peace roadmap proposed by Ould Cheikh Ahmed calls for the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Lucknow:

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today called for inclusion of a chapter on the Emergency in textbooks, as there was a need to tell people about the atrocities committed during the period. Around 75 per cent of the population is unaware why and how emergency was imposed in the country. Like independence struggle there is a need to tell the people about atrocities committed at that time, Naqvi told reporters.

He was here to felicitate Loktantra Senanis (fighters for democracy during Emergency) at a function organised by partys city unit on 41st anniversary of its imposition.

Naqvi said he would take up the matter with the concerned ministry.

They should realise how deep-rooted our democracy is. At that time people showed that they will not tolerate feudal mindset, arrogance and autocracy, he said.

The minister said even after that Congress failed to learn a lesson and break free of the shackles of their feudal mindset.

That was the day when foundation of Congress-free India was laid. When we talk about Congress-free India, we mean that we want to rid the country from the feudal mindset, arrogance and autocracy. This is the reason that the Congress is shrinking from political map of the country, he said.

Naqvi said Congress could not digest the progress being made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.

Therefore efforts are made to create hurdles. The first thing which Modi government did after coming to power was to remove power brokers, he said.

He said at time when the PM was discussing the nations growth with other countries, the yuvraj was visiting a university where alleged anti-India slogans were raisedan apparent reference to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and JNU.

Taking a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Naqvi said the CM is trying to prove that only he is honest while the rest of the world is corrupt.

But when he gets exposed, Kejriwal becomes irritated and indulges in drama, he said.

Naqvi claimed BJP would form the next government in Uttar Pradesh with a thumping majority.

The cycle of SP and BSP regime is over. As per the surveys and reports there is clear inclination of the people towards BJP and they want us in power, he said.

Asked that why BJP failed to make much impact in 2012 Assembly elections, he said situation was different at that time.

SP presented an alternative to BSP, but this time the situation is positive and there is a strong current in favour of BJP, he said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Kolkata:

CPI(M)s West Bengal unit today cautioned party MLA Tanmoy Bhattacharya, who yesterday defied the its official stand and took part in a Congress rally.

It was decided that the Left Front Legislature Party will not join the Congress rally. For defying the decision, we publicly criticise Tanmoy Bhattacharya and hope in the future he will be more cautious, CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra said in a statement.

Defying the official stand, CPI(M) legislator Tanmoy Bhattacharya yesterday took part in a Congress rally on price rise issue and had said, nobody has the right to disrespect peoples mandate towards the alliance.

I didnt come here on behalf of my party. I came here as an individual and as a common man of this state as I support the issue on which Congress is conducting a rally here, Bhattacharya had said yesterday.

On whether his joining the rally would be treated as an act of defiance, he had said, Nobody has the right to disrespect peoples opinion or mandate. Two months back we had fought as an alliance and got 2.15 crore votes. No one can differentiate between the votes of Congress and CPI(M).

I dont have the audacity to disrespect the opinion of the people and I think nobody else should have that audacity, he had said.

Congress had invited CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra to join the rally. But, after CPI(M)s Bengal brigadedrew flak from the partys central leadership last week over the alliance flouting the partys official line, CPI(M) state leadership and Left Legislature Party had decided not to attend it.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

DANBURY  Last June, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury decided to fly a rainbow flag outside of its site to show everyone is welcome.

Since then, the flag has been burned twice and stolen a few weeks ago. But instead of deterring the congregation from hanging another in its place, an outpouring of donated flags came in from individuals and faith communities.

On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty presented the congregation with a new pride flag to replace the one stolen in May.

However many flags it takes, well just keep putting them up and however many hours it takes on the floor, well do it, Esty told the congregation during Sundays service.

Esty has been trying to present the new flag for several months. When she learned it was the Rev. Barbara Fasts last Sunday with the congregation, she pushed the trip to the top of her list.

When I read about what was happening here and the desecrating of this flag of hope and love and peace, I wanted to be here, Esty said.

Fast, who has been with the congregation since 2010 and is now leaving for personal reasons, said the Unitarian Universalists have advocated and helped the LGBTQ community for decades.

The rainbow flag is symbolic of that welcome," Fast said. She said she gives the donated flags to other centers of faith to help spread the message. One of the flags even flew above Danbury City Hall last Tuesday, during a multi-faith and multi-culutral vigil in honor of those killed in Orlando.

She said it was very meaningful to receive the flag from Esty, which she plans to hang at the congregations site, along with the framed certificates and a history of how the flag was donated.

It was a wonderful affirmation and encouraging to us to know that other people, particularly people in government, support the inclusion of LGBTQ persons as full human beings with equal rights," Fast said.

Fast said she and the congregation were honored and humbled to receive the flag, but said so much more needs to be done. She said actions, such as hanging the pride flag and the sit-in the Democratic representatives held in the House last week inspired hope that something can be done to reduce gun violence and spread love.

It gives me hope that Connecticut is leading the effort to reduce gun violence in the U.S.," Fast said.

She said every human has worth and should be showed love. She encouraged everyone to show this on a daily basis because the worlds future depends on it.

While Sundays service focused on love and hope, both Esty and fast acknowledged previous tragedies, including the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the church in Charleston last year and at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Fast wore a Sandy Hook Promise pin and Esty wore a blazer of Sandy Hook green, the same color as the middle strip on the flag.

You are a beacon of life and love in this country, Esty told the congregation.

Esty urged the community to stand up to hate and violence with love and a desire to learn about and understand their fellow man. This ideology was exemplified at an educational dinner she attended at a mosque in Meridan Saturday night. Among the guests was a man who had fired at the mosque in November in the wake of the Paris shootings. He was there with friends to learn more about his Muslim neighbors, Esty said.

We need your voices and we need your love and we need your power," Esty said.

Esty has advocated for equality in the LGBTQ community for years. She gave her first gay-rights speech when she was 15 in 1974, four years before her brother came out.

She said the support she sees across the country has given her hope that Congress might be able to pass legislation to reduce gun violence. She said the recent sit-in was a show of strength and a message that the gridlock in Congress wasnt acceptable. She added she hoped it bolstered Americans to show they can stand up to the gun lobby and demand action. She viewed the congregation displaying the pride flag also as a strong message against hate and violence.

You can respond with love and resoluteness and I think thats what youre seeing here," Esty said after the service
Almost a year ago my very critical article about Connecticut government spending appeared in the Connecticut Hearst newspapers  this was prior to G.E.s breakaway to Boston, but even then some ill winds were blowing. My premise was that spending beyond our means begot new taxes, which inhibited business, which slowed revenues, which required new taxes, and the whole thing has spiraled down.

It is not necessary to repeat the charges made in my article. It was well documented and it is available in the public record. Rather, one of the purposes here is to emphasize the strengths and opportunities that we have as a state and particularly in Fairfield County. A simplistic characterization of southwest Fairfield County is that of a wealthy and well-located suburb of world class NYC along with its own set of assets. Northern Fairfield County (our region of Danbury and nine surrounding towns) could be explained as having the lowest unemployment in the state and possessing a vibrant and balanced economy. The combined region could be called the Economic Oasis of Connecticut.

The problem is that economic malfeasance on the state level threatens to suck our region into the whirlpool unless some hard decisions are made. This recent state legislative session to cut the budget that had just passed is a grim indicator of the unrealistic assumptions on revenue that had been made at budget time. The thinking seemed to be: Sure we can still overspend because the strong revenue stream that we have enjoyed in the past will continue well into the future.

Business does not work that way  an annual budget is prepared with realistic assumptions because the profit motive demands it. If assumptions are unrealistic, it might result in a loss and financial trouble. Government does not have to worry about losses, which by definition means that it is less efficient.

It used to be that people went into government service for security and generous benefits, including a guaranteed pension. Salaries were far below private industry. That has changed. Government salaries in many cases now exceed private industry, and while private employers have substituted 401ks for pensions, and have reduced other benefits, government has not seemed to miss a beat!

It was curious that during the legislative session the state unions were asked to help out, but their response was an emphatic no with the suggestion that the rich people in the state should instead pay more. We are already seeing a brain and wealth drain from the state because of business unfriendliness and unfair estate taxation. How will that benefit the unions future employment and income? Our biggest liability is the underfunding of future pensions, which adds to high fixed costs, which means there is much less flexibility come budget time.

My daughter is a teacher. She has a Masters and a big school loan to pay off with a salary that is fair to middling for someone with that much education. So there is sympathy there. On the other hand, I am in commercial real estate and have to deal with well-staffed, bureaucratic regulatory agencies that seem to take an inordinate amount of time to make decisions, thereby slowing development that can provide economic benefit.

Our state has a high level of education, good productivity, a superior quality of life, access to capital, a great location in the crossroads of world class cities, good diversification, historic wealth, and so on. We should be performing much better than we are. Except for a small increase in Fairfield County, the state is losing population, which is not a good thing for economic development. As a state we have not even reached 80 percent of employment prior to the recession, even though nationally that goal has been far exceeded.

It will take time to turn our fortunes around, and it will take strong commitment to steer a better course of fundamental change. It has to start with the Governor and Legislators on a concerted and bi-partisan basis.

Even though improved economic metrics will take some time to register, the effort will be noticed by business, the press, and the currently disaffected citizenry.

Harold Hal Kurfehs is vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial, Scalzo Group; chairman of the Western Connecticut Economic Development Alliance and chairman of the Brookfield Economic Development Commission.
Bassmaster leader.jpg

Alabama angler Jordan Lee, 24, leads going into Sunday's final of the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament on Cayuga Lake.

(Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.)

UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. -- A young Alabama angler leads the field going into the final day of the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament on Cayuga Lake.

Jordan Lee, 24, of Grant, Ala., turned in a 5-fish bag today of all largemouth bass weighing 17 pounds, 10 ounces to keep the lead that he gained after Friday's outing in the four-day tournament that concludes today, If he holds on, it will be his first Elite Series win,

The tournament, which will award $100,000 to the winner, began Thursday with 107 anglers. The field was reduced to the top 50 after Friday for today's competition. The top 12 anglers will fish against each other Sunday.

The following summary of today's competition was reported by bassmaster.com:

Lee's three-day total of 58 pound, 2 ounces gave him a narrow lead over Arizona angler Brett Hite (57 pounds, 3 ounces) and Kevin VanDam (56 pounds, 6 ouncesa a Michigan superstar who fished his first event with B.A.S.S. in 1987, four years before Lee was born.

"I'm honestly just a little bit disappointed in the way things went today," said Lee. "I was hoping to catch a couple of more big ones. I fished clean and probably caught about 25 fish, but I just never had any big bites today."

Lee hasn't been "sight fishing" by the typical definition of the term because he hasn't actually been seeing most of the fish he's casting to.

But Cayuga is a clear glacier lake with massive flats that have grass growing up from the lake bottom. When Lee finds holes in that grass in about 9 feet of water, he knows they are more than likely home to bedding fish, according to bassmaster.com.

"The holes that I've been catching most of my fish from have actually been pretty deep," Lee said. "I went up shallower for a little while today and caught some there, too. I think they're just all over.

"The fish are spawning right now, doing the same thing they do on Guntersville during the spawn. You can catch them on the same baits."

Lee has been using a drop shot rig a something that was suggested to him by his brother and fellow Elite Series angler, Matt Lee.

Though this is only his second year on the Elite Series, Lee understands the level of competition he's facing as he vies for his first win.

A four-time qualifier for the GEICO Bassmaster Classic and winner of an Elite Series event on Georgia's Lake Seminole in 2014, Hite has been catching fish at an amazing rate this week. The fishing got so good at one point Friday that he took a break to eat barbecued chicken pizza on the front of his boat.

On Saturday, he hit the fish a little harder and brought 20-6 to the scales to move from 12th place into second with 57-3. He described seeing things on Cayuga that many fishermen have likely never experienced.

"When you reel in a bass on the spot I'm fishing, there are times when the whole school comes with it," Hite said. "Today, I probably saw it six or seven times.

"You reel in one bass, and there will be 20 more following it. You reel in a pike, and there will be 10 bass with it."

Hite has been using the two techniques he's most known for a a drop shot and a bladed jig called the Evergreen Jackhammer.

"The place I'm fishing really just has all of the stereotypical elements that you would expect from a perfect spot on a northern lake for postspawn bass," Hite said. "It's just one of those spots you always hope to find in a tournament."

VanDam has used three separate unnamed techniques to build his third-place weight of 56-6. But he said only two of them worked Saturday, as he brought 17-7 a his lowest weight of the week a to the scales.

"With the slick calm conditions, I just couldn't make one of them really work," said VanDam, who recorded his 21st career victory with B.A.S.S. early this year on Louisiana's Toledo Bend Reservoir. "I spent about two and a half hours doing it and only upgraded once by a few ounces.

"It's just so hard to get bit fishing fast when there's no wind like this."

The take-off for Sunday's final will be at 6:15 a.m. from Frontenac Park, with the weigh-in back at the park at 3:15 p.m.
By Olivier Ferret 26 June 2016 - 09:07





After a tough weekend in Baku, Jolyon looks forward to the challenges of the high-speed Red Bull Ring.

How would you review Baku, one week on?

Actually I feel very positive about the overall Baku weekend, even though I dont have a lot to show for it! The yellow flags in qualifying cost us a lot and then I made some mistakes in the race. The crux of my problems came in turn one: I got a good start, but then locked up and flat spotted the tyres under braking for the corner. This meant I had to do another pit stop, without which I think we could have been a bit higher up and ahead of both Haas cars. But on the whole the car was OK and we are making progress.

Austria: climb every mountain, ford every stream?

Yes, Im looking forward to getting back into the European heartland. Unfortunately we were not that competitive in Baku but we should be more on it in Austria, which is a faster circuit and should suit our car a lot better.

Do you enjoy racing on the track?

The Red Bull Ring is quite a simple track, with just seven corners. Putting a good lap together is very important as the lap times are very close and any mistake can really hurt. I like that though, as the driver can make more of a difference. There are some bumpy zones and some overtaking possibilities, such as turn one and turn two. There are some fast corners as well, including the second-last corner that is pretty quick. Then the last corner has a bit of camber and you need to carry the speed through. I raced there in 2014 in GP2 and I drove in FP1 last year. Its a lot more fun in an F1 car as there are more straightlines and the tyre deg is very low so we can be flat out the whole race.
Ahead of the planned arraignment of the Senate President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of Senat...

Ahead of the planned arraignment of the Senate President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, over alleged forgery of Senate Standing Rules, a traditional ruler in Enugu State, His Royal Highness, Igwe Dr. Hafford Agana, has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of chasing shadows.The monarch said instead of concentrating on the various problems facing the country, the President was engaging in witch-hunt.He said the murder attempt on the life of Ekweremadu on November 17, 2015, and the silence of the presidency over the matter lent further credence to the fact that there was a grand plot to remove the Senator at all costs.Igwe Agana, who addressed journalists in Enugu on Sunday, equally said by Buharis recent actions, Nigerias democracy was under serious threat.According to him, since the present administration assumed office, it has been from one crisis to the other.The promises upon which Nigerians voted Buhari into power are yet to be realized; the cost of food items has gone beyond the reach of the average Nigerian. The power outages have become the worst in Nigerias history. The level of unemployment, insurgency in the North-East, the Niger Delta militancy, Biafra resurgence, the harsh economy and more, are issues that should occupy the time of the President instead of pursuing those that did not vote for him during the 2015 general election.I, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to refrain from actions capable of derailing the hard-earned Nigerian democracy.I call on the patriotic lovers of equity, Justice and democracy in Nigeria to rise in their numbers and be counted.The international community is hereby alerted that the largest democracy in Africa is under a serious threat by one man.I also call on all the Igbos at home and in the Diaspora to rise in condemnation of the witch-hunt of our illustrious son, Senator Dr. Ike Ekweremadu.The monarch, while maintaining that Ekweremadu was innocent of the allegations stressed that I will never support evil, injustice or any form of illegality, and because of this, I have made time to find out the fact and the truth of the matter.I discovered that over 30 persons were invited by the police to make statement on the forgery matter. Nobody mentioned Senator Ekweremadu in the statements made to the police. The executive chose to smuggle in the name of Ekweremadu into the charge shhet, far well after the fact.The witch-hunt on Ekweremadu is based on the mindset of President Buhari that his government will adopt a policy of patronage and reciprocity to those who voted for him on one hand and derivation and punishment to those who were opposed to him.He has a deep seated hatred against Ndigbo and this passion was reflected in the appointments into his cabinet and the lopsided 2016 budget.President Buhari has lived all his life with a military reflex and as such has not acquired the necessary sportsmanship that is expected in a democracy.The Nigerian democracy will crash if the Buhari unforgiving spirit is allowed unchecked, he further stated.
President Muhammadu Buhari is keen on actively encouraging private sector initiatives that can build the Nigerian economy, Vice Presiden...

President Muhammadu Buhari is keen on actively encouraging private sector initiatives that can build the Nigerian economy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.Asserting that if fully utilized the private sector in the country has the wherewithal to move the Nigerian economy forward, Prof Osinbajo noted that the sector needs to be appreciated for what it has to offer at this critical period, when diversification is the focus of government.The Vice President spoke over the weekend in Lagos where he had gone with the Lagos State Governor Akin Ambode and a number of federal ministers to visit the ongoing construction of the multi billion naira Dangote Refinery. The ministers were Power, Works & Housing Minister Raji Fashola, Industry, Trade & Investment Minister Okey Enelamah, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and Solid Minerals Development Minister Dr. Kayode FayemiWe can talk about how the private sector contributes to the economy of a nation and how easily we understand that it is the private sector that is the engine of growth for any economy. But unless you actually see it in action, you will not fully appreciate what that means.Continuing he said "this particular visit is a very important one for us because it demonstrates very clearly what it means by the private sector being the engine room of growth in our economy, he stated after he, th governor, and the ministers where briefed on the progress of the construction of a 650,000 barrels per day refinery by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and his executives.The Vice President said the refinery being constructed by the Dangote Group would contribute to the development of Nigeria, and besides boosting oil production and the economy as a whole, it will also create employment for many citizens of the country.Professor Osinbajo extended the President's encouragement to Alhaji Dangote and his group, adding that: I think that just looking at what has been done and looking at the projections for what would be done here, it is very clear that this is a part of growth for the nation and that is why supporting what you are doing here is not a favor that would be done to the Dangote Group but its an important part of our own building the Nigerian economy.He further said what is being built in the site is not just about building a refinery, it is actually about developing an industrial hub, a modern industrial hub and enormous undertaking."Besides the refinery, a huge fertilizer plant expected to be the biggest in the world is also being constructed on the site at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos.Describing the project as strategic, the VP noted "looking at just the subsea pipeline alone, it is a strategic asset for the nation, it is not just commercial, it is a strategic asset.Vice President Osinbajo expressed his excitement about the project, as he pledged more commitment and support from government, while appreciating the opportunity to look round and see the progress made so far by the private company in executing the projects.
The Nigerian Army has denied media reports that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, and his two wives acquired a property i...

The Nigerian Army has denied media reports that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, and his two wives acquired a property in Dubai and paid for it in a single transaction.The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Saturday that while it was true that the Buratai family had two properties in Dubai, they were bought with personal savings in 2013.Usman said the army chief had consistently declared the properties along others in his assets declaration form as Commander, Multinational Joint Task Force and the Chief of Army Staff.He described the report as a smear campaign which was designed to malign the image of the chief of army staff.He said that similar moves to smear the image of the COAS in March 2016 could not fly because the allegation by the Concerned Soldiers and Officers from the North-East  were untrue.He said, Concerned Soldiers and Officers from the North-East who raised the allegation in a petition obtained by an online news agency was obviously nonexistent.Usman also described as untrue the claim that the huge lodgements were made into an account owned by the COAS at Skye Bank as Buratai had no account with the bank and had not been involved in any shady transaction and contract scam.He said, It is a fact that the Buratai family has two properties in Dubai that were paid for on instalment basis through personal savings three years ago.This, along with other personal assets, has consistently been declared by General Buratai in his Assets Declaration Form as Commander Multinational Joint Task Force Commander and as Chief of Army Staff.In addition, General Buratai was never near either the Defence Headquarters or Army Headquarters in 2013. It is pertinent to also note that he was never a director of procurement in the Army Headquarters as alleged. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian Army never had a Directorate of Procurement till when he established one last year when he became Chief of Army Staff.
Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose's special adviser, on Public Communications & New Media Lere Olayinka on Sunday evening taunted P...

Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose's special adviser, on Public Communications & New Mediaon Sunday evening taunted President Buhari's government by advising the president to appoint the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai as the new CBN Governor and Minister of Finance.Lere Olayinka was apparently reacting the the current controversy surrounding Buratai's purchase of a luxury Dubai N120 Million apartment, which the military claimed was bought with Buratai's personal savings.Lere Olayinka reacted via his Facebook page, see below...
One of the six suspects of three different One-Chance gangs arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State ...

Arrested: The "ONE CHANCE" robbers

One of the six suspects of three different One-Chance gangs arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command on Sunday confessed that the prevailing economic situation in the country has greatly affected robbers.The suspect, Adeleke Rasaq, 24, was arrested along with his gang member, Lucky John, 22, at Abule Egba, Agbado Oke Local Council Development Area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.Adeleke, who resigned as a factory worker to join one-chance robbery gang confessed: We dont make much money like before. The present economic condition in the country has greatly affected one chance business. We are not making much money again, everywhere is dry.The suspect added that: Frankly, we have not made much money since Monday. We have been sharing N20,000; N30,000 and N40,000. Unlike before, when I operate alone, I can make close to N150,000 daily. Now, business is so difficult.I teamed up with Lucky because pick-pocketing is not easy in Lagos these days. When you toil alone, you might not make much. It has not been easy working independently lately. So, we have to team up to make more money to survive. Both of us live in Badagry. Every day, we come to Abule Egba, Agege, Fagba, Egbeda to operate. As soon as we have made enough money, we would retire for the day.Explaining how he joined the robbery gang, he revealed that he resigned from the company he worked for when he noticed that a lot of his friends in Ajegunle, who were doing one chance business were living better than many chief executives.Every guy does this in Ajegunle. We dont see it as a crime, it is called hustling. I started following them out. It was in the process that I mastered the act. It has been up to six years that I have been in this trade, he said.Members of the second gang, comprising Ubuke Michael, 26 and Obinna Okoro, 24, were arrested in Gbagada after their operational bus with the registration number, FST 890 XM, had picked two passengers going to Alaba International Market and Ladipo Spare Part Market to buy goods.Ubuke, the leader of the gang, had invited a bus driver and a conductor to join his group in one-chance operation.I invited a friend of mine who has a commercial bus. He and his conductor are familiar with the operation. I have so many commercial buses that I can call for operation. I call them to join me at a particular location. The driver and conductor do their normal work while we collect belongings of the passengers, drop them off and pass them to the driver to hold. The two passengers in the bus were our victims.One of them came out of the bank before boarding our bus while another has bulky pockets. We were about to collect their belongings when we were arrested. We dont normally carry more than two passengers during operations. Whatever we make, we share with the driver and the conductor but our share is normally more than theirs. It is so unfortunate the driver and conductor of our operational danfo bus escaped, he said.One of their victims, Boniface Anusionwu, whose phone was found with the gang stated. I came out of a bank where I went to withdraw some money for trading and for my rent. I never knew they were robbers.Other gang members, Steven Raphael, 25 and Samali Onafuwa, 27 were arrested at Fagba and Station Bus Stop, Ishaga.Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, said that there would be no hiding place for criminals in Lagos State, adding that the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigation.The six suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, for further investigation.
A 33-year-old female church worker with a popular Pentecostal church with its headquarters in Lagos, Adefunke Afolayan, has been charged b...

A 33-year-old female church worker with a popular Pentecostal church with its headquarters in Lagos, Adefunke Afolayan, has been charged before a Yaba Chief Magistrates Court sitting in the state, for allegedly stealing the sum of $5,000, belonging to the General Overseer of the church.The accused, who was docked on a two-count charge of conspiracy and stealing, according to the police prosecutor, Godwin Oriabure, connived with others who are still at large, to steal the sum in December, 2015.Oriabure told the court that Afolayan used her privilege as a worker in the church, to gain access to where the money was kept in the tithe box, and stole it.However, when the charges were read to the accused, pleaded not guilty and her lawyer, Anthony Makolo, urged the court to grant his client bail in the most liberal terms.The Magistrate, E.A Johnson, granted her bail in the sum of N300,000 with one surety in like sum and adjourned the case till July 1 for mention.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has dismissed allegations by the national assembly leadership that...

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has dismissed allegations by the national assembly leadership that the Presidency was behind its many travails. The Senate during its plenary last Tuesday June 21st, accused the presidency of using the judiciary to fight & intimidate the legislature.Lawmakers made the allegation in the wake of the fresh charges of forgery of senate orders leveled against Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, for which they would be arraigned before an Abuja high court tomorrow June 27th.In this fresh interview with Independent correspondent in Aso Villa, Innocent Oweh, Femi Adesina, dismissed the claim, stating that President Buhari understands the separation of power in a democratic system"They are independent arms, the judiciary is independent, the legislature is independent of the executive, so if they are independent, how can one be behind the travails of another. It doesnt add up. If you know this President you will know that he plays by the rules strictly. So, he will not have anything to do with undermining any other independent arm of government. Not this President. They can source their troubles to somewhere else, if they have any troubles, but not this President. They are purely independent bodies, they just relate within the ambit of the law and constitution and I have no cause to believe that there is anything wrong with the relationship"he saidI read the explanation from the finance ministry that what they are agitating for had been stopped by the previous government, that explains it. If there would be further explanations, I think its the ministry of finance that would do it, but I think what they have said satisfies me, it suffices for nowIt is that Nigerians need to look inward, all the luxuries that we cant afford have to be cut off and that is simply what this government wants to do. There are 41 items under forex ban now, that already shows you the direction this administration is going. Whatever we cannot afford and we can do without lets cut it off. Why do we expend scarce foreign exchange on rice, cement, toothpick or tomato puree; on things that we can produce locally, so that already shows the direction the government wants to take the economy.Not only do you have fuel prices coming down, it shows you that by the time the thing is in full stream, there is going to be competition in terms of prices and people will buy where they like and that very process itself would force down prices.Optimism is part of life, optimism keeps us going. By the time we lose optimism, we have lost everything. So, I expect that we continue to be optimistic. As clear as day follows the night, things will get better in Nigeria.The difference is clear. Government is a continuum; we know where the last administration stopped. This government continued from there and we all know where we are now, where we are today is very far to where we were this time last year. In fact, there is almost no comparison between where we are now on the issue of terrorism and where we were this time last year.You know the President himself is a retired General, so he knows what to do. He changed the leadership of the military, he arranged for retraining, arranged for re-equipping, he arranged moral booster for them and everything working together for good has led us to where we are now.You know that there are groups and agencies working with the Federal Government on that. There is also the Danjuma Committee set up to ensure that their plight is attended to. There are international organisations working in concert with the Federal Government on that, all I want you to know is yes, the issues of IDPs are being tackled. It is a major issue that is being attended to.We came back from China with potential investments in excess of about $6billion dollars and it is work in progress now because its a process, we have signed the Memorandum of Understandings and we must come up with counterpart funding, which was what the Jonathan administration did not do; they signed most of the MoUs but they didnt do their own part of funding. This government, despite the paucity of funds, will do its part.Yes, the Ministry of Transport is in a better position to tell you but I am aware because I have heard the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi saying that it will come on stream soon, so its a good development. Nigeria is making progress. That shows you the benefits of continuing with the policies and projects of the previous government because that was a project inherited and it was taken forward. A petty government could have come and discontinued it, no it was taken forward and we are in the verge of launching it. It shows you that government must always be large-hearted, broad minded enough to continue the good things it inherited.Fulfilling. I came to do this work in the first place because it is the President, the person of the President brought me. I am not a person that wanted to work in government but the person of the President was the attraction for me and I am happy doing it. I will serve him anyday.
Two notorious kidnappers who abducted and killed a society lady, Mrs. Edith Chinedu Aliyu, have escaped from the Medium Prisons, Kuje, Abu...

Two notorious kidnappers who abducted and killed a society lady, Mrs. Edith Chinedu Aliyu, have escaped from the Medium Prisons, Kuje, Abuja, in a daring jailbreak on Friday evening.It was gathered that the two Kuje inmates, Maxwell Ajukwu and Solomon Amodu, used a plank to scale the high wall of the prisons while Muslim inmates were breaking their Ramadan fast at 7pm.Punch correspondent gathered that the two escapees were part of a gang who abducted the lady and killed her after raping her.The daring escape set off reports that the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Charles Okah, had escaped from the Kuje Prisons, but the Prisons Public Relations Officer, Francis Enobore, described these as untrue.It was gathered that one of the escaped inmates, Ajukwu, converted to Islam some weeks ago, apparently to exploit the lax security system in the prisons during the ongoing Ramadan fast.A security source said, The two kidnapping suspects escaped and left their colleague behind. What happened was that one of them, from the South-East, converted to Islam some weeks ago while in prison when he observed that the prison officers allowed Muslim inmates to stay late against standard prisons rules.Normally, the inmates are locked up in their cells by 5pm every day, but the prison authorities decided to extend the time till 8pm to enable the inmates break their fast and pray.Preliminary findings show that the two inmates escaped at a point near the chapel in the prisons, which was usually guarded by a prison officer, but he (the officer) did not come to work on Friday and nobody was posted to secure the place.Meanwhile, another source, a top prison official, who spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said the Kuje inmates exploited a weakness in the prison system.He said, Normally, inmates are not supposed to be outside beyond 6pm to 6.30pm daily. But the officer in charge of that prison, who takes money from the inmates, allows them stay till 9pm or 10pm.What happened was that some of the inmates, who had studied the lapses, decided to use them to plot their escape when it was dark. After they finished breaking their fast on Friday, they put up a ladder on the wall and jumped out. They had fled before the management noticed.It was learnt that the Federal Capital Territory Controller of Prisons, Daniel Ehindero, had ordered the detention of the two officers in Kuje prisons.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has opened up on the worst mistake he made in the re...

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has opened up on the worst mistake he made in the recent past as the APC chairman, which if given a second chance he will undo.He disclosed this bad mistake to newsmen that his decision to call a meeting of the federal lawmakers elected on the platform of his party on the day the eight National Assembly was inaugurated was a terrible mistake, stressing that if he had not listened to the advice of those who persuaded him to do so, the Peoples Democratic Party wouldnt have produced the deputy Senate President.According to Oyegun, There are lots of decisions, not just one, some of which are private. If you want to limit it to the recent past, I would say the decision to call the meeting that took place on the day the National Assembly was inaugurated. That was a bad mistake.I was persuaded and I agreed to call that meeting. Had it been it did not take place, we probably wont have a PDP person there today as the deputy Senate president. The anger within the leadership of the party may not have turned out as strong as it became.It would be recalled that following the inability of the federal lawmakers to choose a consensus candidate to lead them at the inauguration of the National Assembly, the ruling party leadership had reportedly scheduled a meeting with the lawmakers for 9am same day of inauguration.However, before APC Senators, who are in the majority, could return from the meeting which took place at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, their PDP colleagues helped to install Saraki as the Senate President, electing one of their own, Ike Ekweremadu as his Deputy.
Here is the full text of IPOB message to British Prim Minister David Cameron and their call for a referendum.

Here is the full text of IPOB message to British Prim Minister David Cameron and their call for a referendum.THERE MUST BE BIAFREXIT IN LINE WITH THE JUST CONCLUDED BREXIT'.The British Government, which is the closest ally of the Nigerian Government must, as a mark of exemplary leadership, guide Muhammadu Buhari and his colleagues to organize a BIAFREXIT akin to the recently organized BREXIT.The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) congratulates the Government and people of Britain for organizing the BREXIT vote and applaud the British Government for respecting the wishes of her citizens.However, it smacks of hypocrisy that the same David Cameron that initiated the BREXIT vote has been propping up the Buharis Government in their murderous acts of suppressing the quest by Biafrans to exit from Nigeria. This leaves Biafrans to ask if David Camerons hypocrisy is because Biafrans are blacks and if black Africans are inferior to white British people?Why does David Cameron think that what is good for the white British people is not good for the black people of Africa especially Biafrans? Mr. David Cameron, in organizing BREXIT is taking advantage of the rights of people to make their choice.But in denying Biafrans the right to choose their own nation, David Cameron is telling Biafrans that they are inferior because of the colour of their skin. David Cameron is directly telling Biafrans that because they come from an inferior race, they do not deserve to exist as a nation of their own choice.There are indications that Scotland will restart their agitation for separation from Britain and both David Cameron and his would-be successor will not stop them nor will they roll out tanks and other lethal weapons to mow down the Scots like the British-supported Nigeria has been doing to Biafrans.We have to re-emphasize here that self-determination is a right that must be exercised by all free people. Even Donald Trump, the presidential candidate of the Republican Party in the USA tweeted on the 24th of June, 2016 that Self-determination is the sacred right of all free peoples.By blocking the self-determination efforts of Biafrans through overt and covert supports to Muhammadu Buhari, is David Cameron telling the world that Biafrans are still in slavery despite the abolition of slavery in 1833?IPOB has also observed with keen interest the consistent British Governments official policy of not supporting any Christian nation that needs support for independence or that is going through any form of internal/external aggression.On the other hand, the British Government has always supported a Muslim nation against a Christian nation in any conflict just as they supported the Muslim-dominated Nigeria to carry out genocide against a Christian Biafran nation between 1967 and 1970.While IPOB is not against the religious inclinations of any nation, we do note with concern the British Governments penchant for supporting Muslim nation against a Christian nation.We also note the faulty argument by David Cameron and the British Government that they do not want to alter the pre-independence territorial integrity of Nigeria. But this same territorial integrity of Nigeria was tampered with by the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun. We recall that in 1982 Britain went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands but this same Britain never supported Nigeria to prevent the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun and this distortion of the pre-independence territorial integrity of Nigeria is the same excuse used by Britain to continue to keep Biafra under Nigeria.From the success of BREXIT, we call upon the incoming Prime Minister to work with Buhari to speedily organize BIAFREXIT.In addition, we warn the incoming Prime Minister that failure to probe the criminality of Buhari against the Biafrans will make Britain culpable in the re-enacted 21st century Biafran genocide.It is unfair and hypocritical that the British Government will allow free expression of the wishes of her citizens, while on the other hand supporting Buhari in his brutal mass-murder of Biafrans who are exercising their God-given freedom to determine their nationality.We believe that the days of slavery are gone and the black race should not be treated as an inferior and expendable race.The time has come for BIAFREXIT and Britain must support it.
Popular Northern politician, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has asked President Muhamadu Buhari to treat the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, as terro...

Mohammed, who was a member of the last National Conference, told newsmen on Sunday that it was wrong for the Buhari administration to try to appease the Niger Delta militants while still confronting a similar terrorist group in another part of the country. The Kano politician and former adviser to President Shehu Shagari, warned that any attempt by Buhari to negotiate with the avengers instead of crushing them to serve as a deterrent to would be terrorists, could lead to another civil war in Nigeria.Why is Buhari tackling Boko Haram with the military might and going behind to negotiate with Niger Delta militants? he asked. If Buhari is not careful with the NDA he will plunge the country into another civil war because he does not have the mandate of the law to negotiate with terrorists. No forward-looking nation negotiates with terrorists.And I should say that if he does not have the political will to deal with the militants, he should step aside. Governance does not have room for destroyers.
There was a riot at the female prison in Kirikiri, Lagos, just a day after the jail break at Kuje prison in Abuja..





There was a riot at the female prison in Kirikiri, Lagos, just a day after the jail break at Kuje prison in Abuja..A source told repoters that a senior prison official had brought in alcohol for some of the inmates on Friday.He said trouble started when the drink did not go round, which led to a protest as the other inmates insisted on having their share.He said, Last night (Friday), a female officer of the rank of Prison Assistant 2 brought in alcohol for the inmates. Unfortunately, it didnt go round and the others started demanding their share. The warders tried to settle the case but it went out of hand, as the inmates resorted to rioting. They sang protest songs, shouted and threw stones.They insisted on seeing the officer in charge, who had not been around for the past two months. The deputy OC was also not around to settle the case. They said they wanted alcohol legalised. There has been serious tension in the prison, even as I speak to you.
No fewer than 120 suspected drugs traffickers and addicts have been arrested by the NDLEA in Kaduna State from January to date. The Stat...

No fewer than 120 suspected drugs traffickers and addicts have been arrested by the NDLEA in Kaduna State from January to date. The States Commander, Mr Samuel Azige, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Sunday in an interview that 20 convictions were recorded in the period under review. Azige, who spoke on the sideline of road walk to mark the 2016 International Day against Drug Abuse and illicit Drug Trafficking, added that 15.599 tons of drugs were also recovered from the suspects.The agency arrested 74 suspected drug traffickers, seized 15.342 tons of illicit drugs, secured 10 convictions and rehabilitated 68 drugs addicts from January to March. While 44 suspects were arrested, 155 kilogrammes of drugs seized and 10 convictions secured from April to date, he said. He however noted that there has been a slight decrease in illegal drugs related offences in the state in the second quarter when compared with the first quarter of the year, he said.He attributed the success recorded by the agency as a collaborative effort with other security agencies in the state. NAN reports that 26 of every year have been set aside by the UNODC to enlighten the public on the ills of drug abuse. The day helps government agencies and stakeholders to review successes in the fight against drug abuse and determine whether the trend is increasing or decreasing in our various communities.Azige blamed the level of drug abuse in the society on joblessness, access to education, lack of parental care and peer group influence, among others. At Murtala Square, the terminal point of the road walk, stakeholders rallied support for NDLEA in ridding the country of the menace of drug abuse.Yohanna Buru, a pastor of Christ Evangelical and Intercessory Fellowship Kaduna, said the church and the Christian community would continue to support the ongoing war against drug abuse. Buru said that the church would continue to caution members against taking illicit drugs. Also speaking, the Head of Voter Education, Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, Mr John Bulus attributed some electoral violence to illicit drugs, particularly by the youths.Bulus called on all stakeholders to support the NDLEA to succeed in the war to ensure peaceful elections for the sustenance of the nations democracy. Similarly, the official of the National Orientation Agency, Malam Lawal Fatika commended NDLEA for the efforts and urged parents to pay attention to their children and ensure they imbibed good moral behaviour.The road walk was organised by NDLEA in collaboration with Nigas Rehabilitation and Skills Acquisition Centre, Kaduna. Some of the stakeholders who joined the walk include, National Orientation Agency, religious leaders and Red Cross Society among others, in company of security agencies.
Nigerians have taken to social media to press for a probe of the N120 Million Dubai apartment acquired by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. G...

While the Nigerian Army yesterday denied media reports that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, acquired the Dubai and paid for it in a single transaction, and suggested that he bought them with his personal savings in 2013, Nigerians are beginning to question the ability of the Army chief to acquire such luxurious property with savings from his salary.Others have suggested that Buratai should equally be questioned by the EFCC if President Buhari's anti-corruption war is fair and just.Read Tweets below....
Pictures of the wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, trying to shake hands with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, which the mo...

Pictures of the wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, trying to shake hands with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, which the monarch snubbed is already making rounds on the internet with different reactions pouring in .The photos formed major discourse on social mediaThe photos, which were posted on the monarchs Facebook page, showed Mrs. Buhari trying to shake the hand of the king at an occasion in Borno State.Oba Adeyemi is the Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri.Since the photos went viral, they have elicited various reactions from social media users, some of whom felt the monarch snubbed the wife of the president, while others thought her shaking hands with the monarch was disrespectful.Abdussalam Deeburnian, on the monarchs Facebook page said, Iku baba yeye (Alaafin) fears a womans handshake.But Abayomi Oloyede and others did not see the photos as being funny. Oloyede accused Buharis wife of bad manners in trying to give the monarch a handshake.He said, No manners because she is the Presidents wife. Yoruba people respect the culture. Can she do that to Emir of Kano or the Emir of Katsina?On theBabatunde Alexander Michael said 'It is totally against the tradition and culture of Yoruba land to have handshake with kings.Even high prominent like OBJ prostrates before young Ooni of Ile-Ife'Bekere Becky Afaka stated 'She knows culture even more ,women in the north don't raise hands for a handshake,she was just being arrogant! Can she shake d emir of kano? Alafin even tried, he politely held both of her hands in correction,mild correction.Where in Nigeria and even London,does a woman make the first move to shake a king? She got it all wrong!!!!!!'Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayoses media aide, Lere Olayinka, commenting on the photos, said on Twitter, Can Aisha Buhari greet the Emir of Daura with a handshake as she is doing here to the Iku Baba Yeye, Alaafin of Oyo?Eze Eziokwu, @Tomyboiz, said, Aisha Buhari is very disrespectful. How can she extend a hand to the great Alaafin of Oyo?Sega Leveilleur, @segalink, said it was a Sacrilege; how uncouth can you be, trying to shake the Alaafin? Do you shake your Emirs?
Former US Congressman Frank Wolf (Republican, Virginia) has warned that if Nigeria breaks, the resulting humanitarian crisis would dwarf...

Former US Congressman Frank Wolf (Republican, Virginia) has warned that if Nigeria breaks, the resulting humanitarian crisis would dwarf the ongoing refugee crisis in Syria.After a recent trip to Nigeria where he met with government officials and victims of the Boko Haram terror, Wolf said Nigeria had the largest increase of terrorist (caused) deaths than any other country of the world.Theres 180 million people in Nigeria. Theres 3 million in Syria. If Nigeria unravels, imagine the impact on Europe and the world. It would be unbelievable, Wolf, who is now a senior fellow at the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, said during in his first public address following the groups June 9 release of the official report of their trip at an event sponsored by the Ronald Reagan Lecture Series.The institute is asking the Obama administration to appoint a special envoy for Nigeria and neighboring countries under assault from the terror group.According to the 2015 Global Terror Index, more than 51 percent of all global deaths attributed to terrorists were committed by Boko Haram, Wolf said.Boko Haram, as you may very well know, has signed an agreement, pledged its allegiance to ISIS, Wolf said.Nigeria has had the largest increase of terrorist (caused) deaths than any other country of the world. Nine of the top 20 of the most fatal attacks in 2014 occurred in Nigeria.(Of) the deadliest terror organisations in the world, number one is Boko Haram. Number two is ISIS.Keep in mind theyve pledged their allegiance to ISIS and theres a connection there with ISIS.Number three is al-Shabaab, which is in Somalia, and number four is a group that Id only heard a little bit about and thats the Fulani militant herdsmen.In essence, theyre the fourth most dangerous terrorist group in the world.So Nigeria, a country of 180 million has the first has pledged allegiance to the second and they have the fourth deadliest terrorist groups in the world, Wolf pointed out.In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped over 200 teenaged girls from The Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State and married them to the groups jihadis.Despite worldwide media coverage of the kidnapping, only two of the kidnapped girls have been found.
Gudu, the only local government area in Nigeria without a senior secondary school, is about to get rid of that unwanted record.

Gudu, the only local government area in Nigeria without a senior secondary school, is about to get rid of that unwanted record.The LGA, in Sokoto state, boasts of one of the most unenviable statistics in the world of education: a 2013 survey showed that out of 1890 students in junior secondary schools in the council, only one of them is a female.The Sokoto state executive council has finally given approval for the establishment of a model boarding secondary school in Balle, the councils headquarters.Abdulkadir Jeli Abubakar, the commissioner for information, said N1 billion has been earmarked for the project and 30% mobilisation fee has been approved for construction work to begin.At the May 29 Democracy Day celebration, Aminu Tambuwal, the state governor, Tambuwal had announced that a new boarding secondary school would be established in Balle.Government is determined to establish a new secondary school in Balle, an initiative which is considered laudable by all stakeholders, in view of the poor state of education in Gudu local government. The fact is that despite concerted efforts by successive governments, the level of educational development in Gudu has consistently remained lowest in the State, he said.So the establishment of Boarding School in the area will invariably improve enrolment, retention and transition of pupils from Primary to Secondary Schools in the local government and its neighbours, such as Tangaza and Illela.The project is expected to be completed in six months.Abubakar also said N241 million has been approved by the cabinet for the total renovation of GSS Tureta, while renovation of GGSS Illela, whose approval was also given, would cost approximately N167 million.Similarly, the council has approved the sum of over N304 million for the complete renovation of Gamji Girls College Rabah and rehabilitation of Sabon Birni Bridge at the cost of over N194 million, he said.
Charles Okah, the man who was rumoured on Saturday to have escaped from Kuje prison on Friday evening, says he was receiving treatment iso...

Charles Okah, the man who was rumoured on Saturday to have escaped from Kuje prison on Friday evening, says he was receiving treatment isolation for suspected Lassa fever infection at the time of his alleged escape.Speaking through his lawyers, First Law Solicitors, Okah, who is standing trial for allegedly masterminding the 2010 independence Day bombings, said would never be involved in any prison break, as he is confident of triumphantly walking out of the Kuje Prison gates as a free and vindicated man.We are Solicitors to CHARLES TONBRA OKAH (whom we shall hereinafter, refer to as our client), read the statement, signed by Timipa jenkins Okponipere.Our client has instructed us to notify the general public that he was not involved in any manner whatsoever in the prison break, which occurred at about 7.00pm on Friday June 24, 2016 at the Kuje Maximum Security Prison in Abuja, TheCable reports.It is our clients brief that he was quarantined in an isolation room within the Kuje Prison Clinic for a suspected Lassa Fever infection when news of the incident broke.On account of his popularity amongst the inmates, word quickly spread that our client was among the two inmates who escaped by scaling the 25 feet-high Kuje Prison fence. It took almost 24 hours for the inmates and Prison Authority to realise that our client had not escaped from the Prison.Our client has further instructed us to notify all Nigerians and the international community that, God willing, and without prejudiceto his ongoing trial, he shall triumphantly walk out of the Kuje Prison gates as a free and vindicated man. He has already set hissights, upon his release, on working assiduously with the current administration to bring stability to the Niger Delta region.He is however, using this opportunity to appeal to the Judiciary, particularly, Hon. Justice Gabriel Kolawole, to speedily determine hiscase; which has dragged on for nearly 7 years.Our client has further and better instructed us to notify his kith and kin in the Niger Delta region to give maximum support to the AARON TEAM 2; a peace initiative of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which is aimed at dialogue with the Federal Government on the immediate, medium and long-term future of the region.Okah also appealed to militant groups in the region to stop the attacks on oil installations and desist from being used by disgruntled, corrupt and selfish politicians.
The House of Representatives has frowned at the flagrant abuse of expatriate quota system by foreign companies. It asked the Minister of...

The House of Representatives has frowned at the flagrant abuse of expatriate quota system by foreign companies.It asked the Minister of Interior, Gen Abdulrahman Dambazzau (retd), to apply the maximum limit in the deportation order of three workers of Hyundai Heavy Industry Ltd (HHI).The affected expatriates are Een Soon Moon, Lee Byung Woo and Lee Yoo Jong.The Emmanuel Okon-led Committee on Local Content also said it will invite officials of the Department of State Services (DSS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) to further investigate the activities and finances of HHI since its inception in Nigeria.If found wanting after the investigation, the House said it will recommend to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other appropriate authorities that HHI and its subsidiaries are not fit to operate in the nations oil industry.The development followed the discovery of gross violation of the provisions of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development Act, 2010 by HHI with particular reference to the requirements for the expatriate quota approval.Committee Chairman Okon, on Friday during a meeting with officials of NIS and HHI, recalled that at its April 26, 2016 meeting with officials of HHI, it was discovered that Jong Lee, who represented the Managing Director was working in Nigeria on expired Temporary Working Permit (TWP).He said: He was handed over to the NIS with a request to investigate the HHI and the expatriate quota status of all the expatriates in the company.Upon carrying the investigation, Lee was eventually repatriated from Nigeria only to have secretly re-entered Nigeria with Subject to Registration Visa (STR) and back working in the companys Lagos office.Further investigation by the Committee also yielded the fact that almost all the expatriates in the company have defective or expired visas.Findings of NIS confirmed that Messrs Moon Soo and Lee Jong work for two different companies even though the two are subsidiaries of South Korea-based parent company HHI.Okon said the decision of the Committee was not difficult to arrive at because officials of HHI had very little or no regard for the nations extant laws by continuing with their operations and flagrant disregard for the rules despite observations by appropriate authorities.If the situation is not properly addressed, it will send a bad signal to the rest of the industry and beyond because the misuse and abuse of expatriate quota is a common occurrence with companies who bring in foreigners nationals.The Federal Ministry of Interior and the NIS must step up in the regulation of the quota system, Okon added.
Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari are both famous men in Nigeria. They seemingly don't have much in common as one is from the So...

Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari are both famous men in Nigeria. They seemingly don't have much in common as one is from the South West and the other is from the North Western part of the country. However both men have several important similarities.1. Theyve both served in the militaryBuhari joined the Nigerian Army by enrolling in the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) in 1961 and rose to the rank of Major General over the years. Hes held several leadership positions in the military as well.At the age of 21, Obasanjo enlisted in the Nigerian Army, in 1958. He became a General later on.2. Theyve both ruled Nigeria. TWICEGeneral Olusegun Obasanjo was appointed as head of state by the Supreme Military Council on the 13th of February 1976.He was elected Nigerias President under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 1999. He was re-elected in 2003 as well.Maj-General Muhammadu Buhari was one of the leaders of the military coup of December 1983 that overthrew the democratically elected government of President Shehu Shagari. He became head of state afterwards.In 2015, he was elected President of Nigeria under the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC.3. They were both incarcerated after their military rulePresident Muhammadu Buhari was overthrown in a military coup by General Ibrahim Babangida and other members of the ruling Supreme Military Council in August 1985. He was then detained in Benin City until 1988. The BBC said he was in prison for 40 months.Obasanjo on the other hand spoke against the human rights abuses of the Sani Abacha dictatorship rule (19931998). He was imprisoned for alleged participation in an aborted coup based on testimony obtained via torture. He was released only after Abacha's sudden death on 8 June 1998.4. As civilian presidents, both men appointed themselves Nigerias Minister of Petroleum ResourcesOlusegun Obasanjo during his civilian tenure from 1999 to 2007 appointed himself Minister of Petroleum.Muhammadu Buhari did the same in 2015.5. Both men profess to wage a strong war against corruption in Nigeria
NEWARK -- Two Newark residents were shot, one fatally, early Sunday on South 6th Street, authorities said.

A man and a woman were shot at about 1:30 a.m. outside a home on South 6th Street, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said in a press release.

The man, Eric Bryant, 44 was taken to University Hospital and pronounced dead at 2:01 a.m., Thomas S. Fennelly, chief assistant prosecutor for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said. The woman, 45, was hospitalized in stable condition.

The prosecutor's office Major Crimes Task Force is investigating the shooting. Anyone with information should call the prosecutor's office tip line at (877) 847-7432.

Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
EAST ORANGE -- A 6-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his 4-year-old brother at an East Orange home Saturday, and the mother of the children faces charges in the ongoing investigation, officials said.

The younger child died around 4:25 p.m. at University Hospital in Newark, according to hospital spokeswoman Stacie Newton.

The 6-year-old was playing with his mother's gun when he accidentally shot his younger brother in the head around 11 a.m. at the Norman Street residence, city spokeswoman Connie Jackson told NJ Advance Media. The mother was home when the shooting occurred, the spokeswoman added.

Late Saturday, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and East Orange Public Safety Director Sheilah Coley announced the mother, Itiyanah Spruill, 22, was arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation in connection with the death. Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly, of the Homicide Unit, said the shooting appeared accidental.

Spruill, of East Orange, was ordered held at the county jail in lieu of $310,000 bail ahead of an arraignment, according to Fennelly. Detectives with the prosecutor's office arrested Spruill on Saturday afternoon. The prosecutor's office did not release any information about the older brother or comment on his alleged role in the shooting.

"This is a terribly unfortunate incident," East Orange Mayor Lester E. Taylor III said in an earlier statement.

Two women who gathered outside the Norman Street home on Saturday afternoon said the boy was in the custody of his grandmother and the children did not usually live at the house in East Orange.

Donna Jackson, a community activist who said she often arrives to help at scenes of violence, called the shooting "unspeakable."

"The question now is: How do we handle that [older] baby? He has no idea what he has done," she said. "How do you prepare [funeral] services for a 4-year-old?"

"The message here is we need to be very, very concerned about who can get their hands on guns," Jackson added.

Another woman on the block, who identified herself only as SeeAsia, a 40-year-old East Orange resident, said she was a friend of the homeowner and acted as a mentor to Spruill.

"She's just devastated," the woman said in an interview outside the house. She described arriving to find the boy's mother shaking after discovering her child wounded.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Task Force, which includes East Orange police detectives, was handling the ongoing probe. Officials at the state division of Child Protection and Permanency could not be reached for comment.

Staff writer Luke Nozicka contributed reporting

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
WOOLWICH TWP. -- An 18-year-old Delaware resident has been indicted by a grand jury for his role in a March crash that left a Gloucester County teen dead, according to news reports.

John Kirsch, who attended Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware, was charged with second-degree vehicular homicide, delawareonline reports. He was also charged with being under the age of 21 and operating a vehicle after consuming alcohol as well as possession/consumption of alcohol by a minor.

Tyler Brown, a Woolwich Township resident who was 17 at the time of his death, was a senior at Salesianum.

He was seated in the front passenger seat of a pickup truck driven by Kirsch that collided with a tractor trailer around 11:30 p.m. on March 11 along U.S. 301. Kelly Muschiatti, a senior at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Delaware, was seated in the back seat of the 2005 Dodge Dakota during the accident.

According to previous reports, the tractor trailer driven by a New Jersey man overturned as a result of the collision.

Brown planned to attend Syracuse University to study architectural design. He played rugby, lacrosse, wrestled and was a member of the Model United Nations at Salesianum.

Kirsch will be arraigned on July 8, according to the report.

Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
fulton

A 20-year-old man was shot early Sunday morning on Fulton Avenue.

(Caitlin Mota | The Jersey Journal )

JERSEY CITY -- A 20-year-old man was shot in the back on Fulton Street early this morning, and a man carrying a gun was arrested following the shooting, officials said.

The victim, a Dwight Street resident, was struck at about 4 a.m. between Garfield and Ocean avenues, city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said.

Police arrested 31-year-old Marquis Cenord, of Martin Luther King Drive, a short time later near Fulton and Ocean Avenues with a Glock 22 handgun and an extended magazine, Morrill said.

This morning, glass from a shattered car window covered the street. Officials have not said if the broken glass is related to the incident.

Multiple shootings have been reported within a five block radius of this morning's shooting, including three within hours apart last weekend. Earlier in the month, a 27-year-old man was shot in the shoulder on the same block.

Shattered glass covers a parking space on Fulton Avenue.

In April, 17-year-old Rondell Rush was fatally shot in broad daylight on Fulton Avenue near Martin Luther King Drive, about three blocks away.

Cenord was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, and certain person not to possess a weapon.

The victim's condition was not immediately available.

In a separate incident, a 20-year-old man was treated at Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg, Morrill said.

The incident occurred on Myrtle Avenue near Martin Luther King Drive at about 1 a.m. When asked if the man had intentions on using the weapon on someone else or if any charges were filed, Morrill said the shooting remains under investigation.
On a nearly perfect summer afternoon near the Grove Street Path Station in Jersey City, music lovers could be heard talking about obscure bands like Pretty Boy Floyd or combing through boxes of records for unexpected treasures.

During today's Record Riot, all this and more was going on throughout the afternoon.

Steve Gritzan, the owner of Iris Records on Brunswick Street in Jersey City, said he organizes similar shows like this in seven cities including Philadelphia and Brooklyn. He said he added Jersey City because it's "becoming more of a vinyl place."

Record Riots are held in Jersey City four times a year, he said.

His own store is celebrating its 20th anniversary this September, and celebrations are already in the works. He said his store has sold vinyl since it opened, even before this latest resurgence of the format.

"I was here when there was nothing going on," said Gritzan, who has lived in Jersey City for 22 years.

He said people in their 20s and 30s are now buying records for the first time, starting their collections with classic bands like The Beatles, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. His store carries everything from new releases to CDs to vintage 45s to dollar records.

Just as his store caters to local customers, today's Record Riot included a new local DJ every hour to spin for the record shoppers. Vin Berrini of Jersey City was one such DJ, who played eclectic tunes including songs off of Ringo Starr's 1970 album "Beaucoup of Blues."

Vendor Mark Carfi said he does record shows and flea markets in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.

"It's a nice venue, a nice place to have a show," Carfi said, adding he's been selling records since 1997 - "before the latest vinyl craze."

He says classic rock records were selling well, as well as psychedelic group, hardcore punk from the 1970s.

Carrie Jordan of Brooklyn stumbled across the event when she came into Jersey City to visit a friend. Her record collection started when she was only 12.

"I like how much fun it is to see things you already have, and see how much it's worth," she said. "You never know what you're going to come across."

Tom Pezza of Hawthorne was selling records from his online store, Bash and Pop Records. He said the people and the area bring him to Record Riot.

"The people are fantastic," Pezza said. "The buyers know what they're looking for. It's a collectors party. It's fun and festive. Everybody's really knowledgeable down here. Steve (the organizer) makes it really easy."

Vendor Eric Fusco of Jersey City attended the last Record Riot in the city. He said he's a longtime record collector who saw this as a great opportunity to sell off some of his own collection.

"It's a great community event," he said. "Like-minded individuals come out and swap stories about rock and roll and shows they may have seen."

He said the more off-beat comedy records from his collection were selling well today, including a record of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy singing.
By Katie Greifeld

Hard cider is making a resurgence in the United States, and Melick's Town Farm in Oldwick is keeping up with the times. Melick's introduced their new line of hard cider in January, and is heading into its first summer at full production.

The idea took root when John Melick, a 10th generation farmer, met cider maker Scott Wyant two years ago. Culinary Institute of America-educated Wyant learned the craft of cider making while living in Switzerland with his family. When the family moved back to New Jersey, a friend introduced Wyant to Melick.

"It was just absolutely perfect. The Melicks are the largest apple growers in New Jersey, over 25,000 trees and 40 acres of peaches - it was just perfect," described Wyant.

Wyant and Melick have spent the time since that initial meeting refining the idea, creating recipes, and going through the arduous process of obtaining the necessary licenses to produce alcohol. Prior to meeting Wyant, Melick had been toying with the idea of venturing into hard cider, but lacked the resources to do so.

"The idea was there, but I wasn't going to be able to do it myself or dedicate the time," explained Melick. "It's a whole new business. So he came on board as a fulltime employee."

After toiling with state and federal regulators, Melick's Town Farm is now the holder of a farm winery license, which allows them to produce up to 50,000 gallons per year.

Current facilities are at the Cider Mill orchard on King Street in Oldwick, where Melick's hosts apple picking in the fall. Melick's Town Farm, where the farm's fruits, vegetables, and baked goods are sold, is half a mile away on Oldwick Road. Though they already tend to 25,000 apple trees, the Melicks planted four additional acres worth of trees in the spring at the King Street orchard.

"We planted four acres this spring of traditional hard cider varieties that have some of those old world qualities that people look for," said Melick, referring to the higher levels of sugar and tannins. "They'd be a terrible apple and I couldn't sell them for fresh, but we're growing them exclusively for hard cider."

Cider is pressed from apples that Melick calls "seconds" - apples that have been bruised or otherwise damaged. Melick's uses a blend of its own seconds and others that were purchased from a farm in New York State. The apple from the new trees, however, will be handpicked "number ones."

"For the most part we're using our own apples, it's not 100 percent, but it could be if we really wanted it to," said Melick. "I'm more interested in getting the proper blend right."

This year, the farm will produce roughly 6,000 gallons - and while Melick hopes to more than double that number next year, he does not foresee needing to upgrade his license anytime soon.

"We'll take baby steps. I don't want to dump too much money into it before we've made a nickel," said Melick. "You know, we'll test the water, and quickly scale it up if everything goes according to plan."

The cider has yet to turn a profit, but given that sales began less than six months ago, Melick isn't concerned. He predicts that the farm will see a positive cash flow at around 18 months, when cider sales have had a chance to catch up to the money spent on retrofitting existing buildings for production and buying cider-making equipment.

Given that Melick is first and foremost a farmer, his experience with crops and fruit trees gives him a unique perspective.

"Growing fruit trees, you don't see fruit for a couple of years and they don't start making money until the fourth or fifth year," said Melick. "So this is just another one of those things. You constantly reinvest and you get your dividends down the road. We're not looking to meet a certain number within a certain time frame."

Melick says they have had a lot of interest from distributors, but for the time being, the farm plans to keep it local. The license allows them to sell liquor at 15 of their own establishments, in addition to anywhere with a liquor license. Currently, the cider is stocked at three restaurants in the area, as well as 14 local retail outlets.

One of those outlets is Tewksbury Fine Wines and Spirits, which is across Oldwick Road from Melick's. Andrea Maranca, the owner, says that the ciders have been selling well.

"We've been selling a lot of it. It's a great idea, ciders are very hot right now," said Maranca.

Though Maranca objects to the size of the bottle - she believes a less-expensive 12 ounce bottle might sell better - she thinks that Melick and Wyant certainly got their recipe right in terms of the sugar content, compared to many popular mass-produced hard ciders.

"You've got that dreck - Angry Orchard - I mean, it's just sugar. People love that stuff," said Maranca.

Wyant agrees.

"In Switzerland we were right on the border of France, and it was the dry, effervescent cider that I loved and that Americans have a hard time putting down," said Wyant. "And then I came back here and people were drinking Woodchuck."

With Melick's cider, Wyant said that they've carefully tried to balance their recipe to be more 'dry' than mainstream hard ciders without tasting bitter.

"We try to fall in the middle of slightly undrinkable on both ends - overly sweet and overly dry, said Wyant. "And I'd rather fall on the side of being drier and less sweet."

One 12 ounce bottle of Angry Orchard Crisp Apple cider carries 24 grams of sugar, while Woodchuck Draft Cider comes in at 21 grams. How much sugar does 16 ounces of Melick's cider have? Wyant isn't quite sure.

"Definitely less than Angry Orchard," said Wyant.

Heading into the cider's first summer, farm goers can expect to see a sweeter summer lemon shandy arrive in early June. Flavors such as blueberry, peach, and cherry are currently being tested as well, and Melick says that they plan to roll out seasonal releases in the future.

Currently, the cider is only available in 16 ounce bottles, but Wyant says that releasing 16 ounce cans is also a priority for the farm. Not only will the cans be cheaper, but the cider can then be packaged as a four-pack and more easily transported to parties and picnics. The farm bought three new tanks specifically for canning in early May, so Wyant predicts that the cans will be on shelves soon.
Hundreds of mosquitoes swarmed a pile of discarded tires behind a Mercer County auto repair shop last week as Mark Baker donned a backpack that resembled something out of the Ghostbusters prop department.

His target, however, was not the bugs buzzing in the air. It was their thousands of offspring currently in the larvae stage in the stagnant water pooled inside the tires.

An Aedes albopictus mosquito feeding. (Photo by James Gathany/ Centers for Disease Control)

After collecting samples of the murky water for testing, Baker, an employee of the Mercer County Mosquito Control commission, pumped larvicide from his backpack to kill the would-be mosquitoes before they could take flight.

Baker is among those on the front lines in New Jersey's efforts to thwart the spreading threat of Zika, a virus carried by mosquitoes that can cause a severe birth defect called microcephaly. The neurological condition is associated with an abnormally small head and lifelong disabilities.

New Jersey already has 28 confirmed cases of Zika, all travel related so far. On May 31, a baby born with Zika was born at Hackensack University Medical Center after the mother contracted the virus in her native country of Honduras.

There is no vaccine or cure for Zika.

The prime season for mosquitoes in New Jersey just getting started and could last until the first frosts of October.

Every county in the state has a local agency tasked with annual mosquito control efforts to help prevent longstanding threats from blood-borne pathogens and more recent concerns over new viruses like Zika and West Nile.

The mosquito control strategy involving insecticides and larvicides remains largely unchanged despite potential for Zika to spread, the county experts said.

Residents and business owners, however, can make a difference by eliminating the small pockets of stagnant water where mosquito breeding occurs, the experts said.

"Our best weapon against all mosquito-borne illnesses is cooperation from our public," Burlington County spokesman Eric Arpert said. "We need to make people aware of what kind of environments mosquitoes thrive in. People need to empty buckets and other containers after rain."

Common breeding grounds include planters, toys, kiddie pools, birdbaths, flowerpots, storage bins and trash containers, which should be regularly cleared of collecting rain water, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In Middlesex County, two towns launched a public information campaign about the danger of water in untended backyard pools of homes still vacant from the housing crisis.

Mosquito control agencies are also constantly collecting samples to track the potential threat.

This is the most important defense against mosquito-born illnesses.

"We do an awful lot of mosquito surveillance," said Jennifer Gruener, superintendent of the Warren County Mosquito Commission. "There are 63 different mosquitoes in NJ. The first thing we do is sample water for larvae and bring larvae back to the lab."

So far, the mosquito most associated with the spread of Zika has not been found in New Jersey, said Michael Romanowski, superintendent of Ocean County Mosquito Extermination Commission said.

Of greater concern is the Asian tiger mosquito, which is prevalent in New Jersey, but none have tested positive for Zika to date, Romanowski said.

"Each year we send thousands of mosquitoes to the state health department to test for viruses," Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said. "If Zika-virus-positive mosquitoes are found, Mercer County's mosquito control would immediately launch intensive control operations in that area to kill adult mosquitoes."

Cape May County's mosquito control agency has the only county-based lab that can test mosquitoes for Zika. Other counties may ship samples to the lab for testing, for a fee, said Peter Bosak, superintendent of the Cape May County Department of Mosquito Control.

"We can collect our own mosquitoes, sort them, put them into a database, pick out the ones that we are concerned with regarding the different viruses that we're interested in," Bosak said. Then a microbiologist runs test for various viruses.

"We have a plan in the works to address any Zika," Bozak said. "We actually have traps around the county."

Thomas Regan may be reached at tregan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Thomas_P_Regan. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close
GOP doesnt support LGBT community

Is the GOP really supporting the LGBT community? This statement is taken from the Iowa Republican Party platform. We encourage the repeal of any laws allowing any marriage that is not between one natural man and one natural woman.

The GOP does not support our LGBT friends and family being able to marry whom they love. They would repeal all laws allowing those marriages.

Remember that when voting in November.

Dolores Bristol,

Council Bluffs

Mike Gronstal a champion for Iowa, human rights

This election, there are many issues that candidates on both sides of the aisle are talking about. But one is less prominent than in years past: marriage equality.

I moved to Council Bluffs in 2002. Little did I know that my partner and I would be paving the way for marriage equality in the State of Iowa. Little did I know one of our greatest allies would be Mike Gronstal.

Since 2002, one of the most important lessons I learned was how lucky our community is to have Senator Gronstal fighting for us. I regularly attend the legislative coffees. Every time I leave I know I am wiser for hearing Mike speak on topics from workers rights, to protecting the solvency of Iowa, to civil rights.

Mike stood before the Iowa Senate and fought for families across the state and that is why I stand with him. Mike didnt stand up for marriage equality because he had a personal interest or to get votes  he did it because Iowa is not a place for discrimination.

This Pride Month, its important to remember who helped us get to this age of equality. Here in Iowa, the LGBT community had a fighter who never gave up on them, even when the politics were against him: Mike Gronstal. After the Iowa Supreme Court confirmed that marriage equality is a constitutional right in 2009, it was Mike who stood up and stopped efforts by Republicans to revoke that right.

Remember: 2009 was not 2016. Marriage equality was not as popular then, and definitely a risky thing for Gronstal to put his neck out for.

But he recognized the importance of treating people equally, and he acted. Whenever I think of Mike speaking boldly on behalf of marriage equality I always think of MLK Jrs words  The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at the times of challenge and controversy.

But marriage equality is not the end. We have more fights to come, as witnessed in Orlando this month. There is still hate in this world, and people who will act upon it. There are still Republicans who are dead-set on preventing me from having rights equal to those of my straight friends and family. Make no mistake, we still need a fighter. We still need Mike Gronstal.

Ingird Olson, Council Bluffs,

co-plaintiff in original Iowa Supreme Court case

that legalized same-sex marriage

Steve King works to protect Iowans, all citizens

Your opinion of June 23rd reads: King wrong, again. According to the Nonpareil, Congressman King has been an embarrassment to the great state of Iowa since the day he took office with inflammatory comments about immigrants, LBGT community and his role in the President Barack Obama birther movement.

I believe this opinion of yours (The Daily Nonpareil) has more to do with the fact that our only local newspaper is now under the ownership of the great, liberal and politically correct Warren Buffet empire. It is obvious that in their politically correct opinion, anything coming from the mouth of Congressman King is not only controversial but extremely politically incorrect and contrary to their liberal mindset.

Rep. King has always worked and continues to work to protect the rights of all Iowans, which is why the man continues to be re-elected to office. King is to be commended for his work in Congress and his efforts to protect the rights and liberties of all Iowans.

Our government was designed to be a complicated system of checks and balances that acts as a buffer between we the people and the power of our elected officials. This balance of power, as envisioned by our founders, has served to protect the rights of the people against a tyrannical form of government.

We have all witnessed this shift in the balance of power as President Obama has attempted to usurp the power of Congress and legislate from his place in the Oval Office. Congressman King has always been someone who has worked to protect the rights of citizens from an out-of-control government.

Why should we spend millions of dollars to redesign and print new currency especially at a time when our out of control debt has gone up by an additional $9 trillion under the Obama administration? This is debt which will be placed on the backs of our children and grandchildren for many years to come.

So in my opinion and in the opinion of many Iowans, Congressman King continues to do his job by seeking to enforce our system of checks and balances and maintain our rights from a government which only seeks to restrict our rights and divide us along the lines of class, race and political correctness.

Steve Meidlinger,

Council Bluffs
Grahame Moran, Royce Simmons, Greg Alexander and Craig Gower have been revealed as the inaugural inductees to the Panthers Hall of Fame.

The selection of the four Panthers greats was announced at the club's 50th Season Gala Dinner in Penrith on Saturday night.

The showpiece event was attended by dozens of former Panthers players, including members of the club's 1991 and 2003 Premiership sides, along with the current NRL squad, staff and sponsors.

Phil Gould AM was master of ceremonies for the evening and was joined by rugby league historian David Middleton to reflect on the club's humble beginnings, greatest achievements and the people who made it all possible.

Panthers members and fans were able to watch the Gala Dinner live on the Panthers website, thanks to an exclusive livestream hosted by Tim Gilbert and powered by ABL Tile & Bathroom Centre.
We are fortunate in Northwest Indiana to have a wide array of pathways for career and academic success beyond high school.

Through our work under Ready NWI with employer and economic development partners, we project 60 percent or more of high-quality jobs will require credentials beyond high school during the next decade. Many of these jobs will not require a traditional four-year college degree.

The good news is that a high-quality credential valued by our Regions employers can be obtained in two years or less and often while earning income at a job at the same time. The further good news is that most of these credentials can be counted toward attainment of four-year degrees, providing very affordable routes to such degrees at a time when student debt levels continue to increase.

A recent study by the National School Boards Association (The Path Least Taken III, June 2016) shows that students possessing high-quality credentials out-perform four-year college graduates in several key indicators, including levels of full-time employment, access to health care benefits and job satisfaction. And the average wage level for credential holders is only slightly less than four-year college grads.

A good example of technical certifications leading to high-paying jobs in Northwest Indiana is the high-tech manufacturing sector. Success stories from the Porter County Career and Technical Education Center include Connor Gustafson, from Kouts High School; Cody Jaskulski, from Hobart High School; and Matt Wright, from Boone Grove High School. All of those students are finishing the second year of our Precision Machining program. All will have nine college credits earned, and all are already employed by Urschel Laboratories.

Gustafson, Jaskulski and Wright are planning to attend Vincennes University in the fall with tuition paid for by the Next Generation Scholarship that they earned from their hard work at the career and tech center this year. Jena Hammonds, from Washington Township High School, already works as a machinist at Task Force Tips and will be attending Vincennes University next year as the first recipient of the Women in STEM Careers Scholarship. Brett Ford, from Portage High School, is one of the top students at his school and will be attending Purdue University this fall, where he will be studying electronic or computer engineering.

There also are many opportunities beyond manufacturing. Colton Flanigan, a Kouts High School senior, already is employed at Anderson Chevrolet as an apprentice. His employer plans to send him to Ivy Tech Indianapolis and cover his tuition in exchange for good grades.

Flanigan already has workplace certifications in brakes and vehicle suspension.

Health certifications also are in high demand. More than 80 students are earning a certified nurse assistant (CNA) license this year. Many have gone directly to work using the license. Brooke Jabo, a Boone Grove senior, already has been hired at Valparaiso Care and Rehab, and she plans to attend Trine University next year to major in physical therapy while continuing to work.

These examples are but a few of the numerous success stories made possible by starting a career pathway at the Porter County Career and Technical Education Center. Other successes throughout the region were recently honored at the 21 Under 21 awards celebration last month. Every student can find his or her own unique route to success at the career center.
Reminger Co., LPA has welcomed attorney Scott Friedman to its Crown Point office. Friedman focuses on medical malpractice, general tort liability, trucking litigation, and professional liability. Friedman previously served as a military prosecutor in Fort Hood, Texas, and as a civil litigator in the Armys Environmental Law Division in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Additionally, in 2011, Scott deployed to Iraq where he worked to ensure that insurgents captured by U.S. forces were prosecuted in Iraqi courts.

Physician Louis Miceli has joined the staff of Porter Physician Group Primary Care, at 3125 Willowcreek Road, in Portage. He is a board-certified physician and Fellow of the American College of Oseteopathic Pediatricians, who received his medical degree from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. While he specializes in pediatrics, Dr. Miceli sees patients of all ages.

Sue Reed, president and CEO of the Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce, has graduated from the Institute for Organization Management, the professional development program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Graduation signifies she has completed 96 hours of course instruction in nonprofit management. In addition, participants can earn credit hours toward the Certified Chamber Executive (CCE) or Certified Association Executive (CAE) certifications.

The Ross Group has hired Ashley Pritchard as an administrative assistant with the company's accounting and project management venture groups. Jeff Beal has been hired as the companys new structural steel ironworker general foreman, with responsibilities such as steel erection, renovation and repair. The Ross Group is a design-build service firm that specializes in industrial, commercial, and institutional markets throughout Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland.
Valparaiso Events is hosting a regional art competition from July 7 to 17 where the audience determines the winner. Over the course of 11 days, Valparaiso will become an artistic playground where anyone can find a form of art that inspires or spurs conversations about what art is and why it matters.

Each day the community will be engaged with displays of both the visual and performing arts. Artwork from around the Region will pop-up in neighborhood businesses for visitors to enjoy.

Whether you stop by for a day or all 11, there will be dynamic events available for all ages. Voting stations will be set up at select venues and online. A creative and diverse schedule will keep visitors anticipating whats next.

Visit the map to find exhibiting artists and venues. 219/464-8332 or www.valparaisoevents.com

Lighthouse Jazz Festival

Live Music Matters presents the inaugural Lighthouse Jazz Festival on July 9 in Michigan Citys lakefront Guy Foreman Amphitheatre, located inside historic Washington Park.

The one-day festival features live music by top jazz artists, craft beers and wine, local cuisine, interactive activities for children and more. The Lighthouse Jazz Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. and runs until 10 p.m.

Michigan City is on the upswing of change and everyone, including me, wants to be a part of something big, said Lighthouse Jazz Festival Artistic Director John Moultrie. His regionally based firm is producing the music festival. Michigan City reminds me of many of the neighborhoods in Chicago where I grew up. The culture and diversity makes me feel right at home."

Moultrie is inspired by Michigan Citys new slogan, Create. Play. Repeat.

When the city went through the new branding session, I saw how music and events could attract more people to the downtown businesses, as well as entertain a diverse population. Lighthouse Jazz Festival attendees will be treated to diverse musical sounds from the Big Band Era, traditional jazz, chamber music, soul, funk and smooth jazz. 773/450-2319 or www.lighhousejazzfestival.com

'We are such stuff as dreams are made on'

For its fifth annual edition of Shakespeare in the Park, Chicago Street Theatre brings audiences the magic of Shakespeares The Tempest.

In this production Prospera, the Duchess of Milan, has been usurped and exiled by her own sister to a remote island with only her daughter Miranda, her spirit servant Ariel, and the monstrous Caliban. Upon learning to summon the enchanted places magic, the banished duchess brings her plans for revenge to fruition by creating a storm to lure her sisters ship to the island. Filled with spectacle, it is Shakespeares late masterpiece of forgiveness, generosity and enlightenment.

Enjoy The Tempest outdoors in Valpos Central Park Plaza on July 8 and 9, or if you prefer the comfort of an indoor setting, catch it at Chicago Street Theatre from July 15 to 23. 219/464-1636 or www.chicagostreet.org
GARY  The Office of Charter Schools at Ball State University has removed 21st Century Charter School in Gary from probation.

The university, which authorizes the Gary charter school, placed it on probation following an Indiana Department of Education investigation into the charter schools special education program in April 2015.

IDOE began investigating 21st Century Charter School after a former teacher filed a complaint with IDOE and Ball State, charging the school was not following Individual Education Plans, called IEPs, for students in special education. The teacher also alleged unqualified teachers and nonlicensed teachers were employed at the school then.

The charter school, established 12 years ago, is operated by the Indianapolis-based GEO Foundation. Kevin Teasley, president and CEO of GEO Foundation, also acts as school superintendent.

Students in special education in Indiana are covered under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, called IDEA, and Article 7, Indianas state law addressing special education.

IDOEs investigation examined several issues, including:

whether the school was following the IEP as written,

whether one-to-one paraprofessionals were being used with students as required by the IEP,

whether personnel contracted to provide special education and related services were appropriately licensed and certified,

whether the school provided instructional materials and supplies comparable to those provided to nondisabled students, and

whether the school reviewed and revised IEPs without convening a case conference with parents and appropriate staff.

The letter, removing the school from probation and dated June 8, said, in part, it appears the school has addressed and corrected those issues as outlined in IDOEs report, as well as employed additional special education staff and engaged in more special-education-focused training.

Bob Marra, executive director of the Office of Charter Schools, said Teasley requested the charter school be removed from probation.

We have been visiting them regularly and monitoring their progress, Marra said. We have a specific person on board, Katie Briles, who monitors special education. She used to be with the Department of Education and was an attorney in the special education division. She now works for Ball State full time as the special education compliance coordinator. We wanted to make sure they were implementing the changes the new policies and procedures correctly.

Teasley said he is pleased to receive notice from Ball State that the charter schools special education program is compliant.

The charter school also has a new principal in Anthony Cherry who became principal when Chris Evans was let go in October.
HAMMOND  The Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District will be offering county residents the opportunity to have their well water tested. The SWCD is sponsoring a biennial residential well testing program through Purdue Calumet Water Institute.

The Lake County SWCD and Lake County Farm Bureau Inc. will cover the cost of $25 for the Nitrate-Nitrite, Nitrogen & Turbidity-testing package.

Four other tests are available:

Pesticide testing to determine 29 chlorinated pesticides, three herbicides and four organochlorides will cost $120;

Volatile Organic Chemicals: including fuels, industrial and household cleaning solvents, dry cleaning agents, paint thinners, paint strippers, dyes, perfumes, air deodorizers, moth balls, and industrial solvents used in the manufacture of pesticides, paints, coolants and plastics for $90;

Metals testing will cost $85 to test for antimony, arsenic, barium, boron, calcium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, nickel, potassium, silicon, sodium, strontium, and zinc;

Inorganic Anions tests for bromide, chloride, sulfate, fluoride will cost $60. Checks are to be made payable to the Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Water test packages can to be picked up at the district office at 880 E. 99th Court, Suite A, Crown Point, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. now through June 29. All test kits must be returned to the Lake County SWCD office on Wednesday with water fresh from the well.

All tests results are confidential and returned directly to the homeowner. A full-description brochure is available by contacting the Lake County SWCD office at (219) 663-7042.
GRIFFITH  Word could come any day from the Department of Local Government Finance on Griffiths claim it can begin seceding from Calumet Township.

We are still waiting for final certification from the DLGF, Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, said.

He said the towns legal representatives are working hard in Indianapolis to get the certification as soon as possible.

We have worked for the last eight years trying to free Griffith from the extraordinary tax burden put on our citizens by Calumet Township, Ryfa said. Now that the numbers and the law are finally on our side, we will remain diligent to see this through and hope the DLGF responds promptly.

Ryfa said the council hopes for good news in time to pass out a petition to Griffith residents in Central Park during the towns festivities on Saturday and July 3.

If the DLGF agrees that the townships spending has exceeded 12 times the average of other Indiana townships, the petition can go forward, Ryfa said.

It will ask Griffith residents: Shall the territory of the town of Griffith be transferred from Calumet Township to an adjacent township?

If the petition yields enough signatures, Griffith will ask the Lake County Elections Board to grant a referendum for the towns residents to vote yes or no on whether to leave the township.

In other business, Ryfa said the upcoming Broad Street Blues and BBQ Festival has become one of the best blues festivals in the country.

The event Saturday and July 3 in Central Park will feature a dozen blues artists from around the world, along with various area BBQ vendors and alcoholic beverages.

Additional parking will be available at Griffith High School and St. Mary Church, Ryfa said. The town thanks both for their generosity in helping support this event.
Munster High School competed at the 2016 National Speech & Debate Association national tournament earlier this month in Salt Lake City, Utah. Munster High was named a School of Excellence, an award given to the top 20 speech and debate schools in nation. It is one of four schools in the country to win a school of excellence award for the fifth consecutive year.
VALPARAISO  Beth Wilson paused Saturday during a marijuana legalization rally outside the Porter County Courthouse, suddenly able to feel the electric pulses generating from a pacemaker-like device beneath her skin.

The device goes off every five minutes, helping control the 53-year-old Hobart residents epileptic seizures.

I hate this thing. Theyve got me on all kinds of medications, said Wilson, adding she also self-medicates with cannabis use.

Moments later, the pulses subsided and Wilson rejoined the nearly two dozen others yelling out Legalize marijuana! on the corner or Washington Street and Indiana Avenue in downtown Valparaiso.

As songs like Bob Marleys One Love played from the groups stereo speaker on the sidewalk, many cars honked. Others gave thumbs up in support. At one point, an officer in a police cruiser even threw the crowd a peace sign.

Saturdays rally was hosted by The Higher Fellowship, a Beech Grove-based civic organization that advocates for marijuana legalization for medical, industrial and agricultural uses.

Group co-founders David Phipps and Bobbie Young said the organization is in the midst of a 92-county, statewide tour in light of recent litigation thats garnering attention.

The Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Tippecanoe County on behalf of The Higher Fellowship after county officials denied the groups request to host a rally on courthouse grounds.

The lawsuit challenges the countys closed forum rule that allows officials to pick and choose who gets to hold public forums, rallies or events on courthouse grounds, Phipps said.

If they let one in, they have to let in others, Phipps said.

Phipps said he is amazed how quickly the group has grown since officially incorporating in May. The groups Facebook page has slightly more than 1,400 likes.

The ACLU lawsuit has certainly raised the organizations profile, he said, but its going to take Hoosiers from all across the state to rally and lobby the Indiana Legislature.

Young agreed, acknowledging there remains fierce opposition from GOP leaders and Gov. Mike Pence.

Indiana Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, has largely led past efforts to pass medical marijuana legislation, but those efforts have failed to persuade a Republican-controlled Senate.

Right now, were pushing for medical cannabis use, Young said. We obviously want them to legalize it for recreational use, too, but first we need to give veterans, cancer patients and people who suffer from epileptic seizures the freedom to choose.

Members of The Higher Fellowship were joined Saturday by the Northwest Indiana chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), a group with a similar mission of promoting legalization.

Nick Dovellos, 27, of Valparaiso, is a member of NORML. He said lawmakers should consider the added tax revenue that comes along with legalization.

He said he also believes decriminalization would allow police to dedicate more resources to catching criminals for violent, more serious crimes.

The group marched with signs and a loudspeaker through the streets of downtown Valparaiso, handing out business cards to curious passers-by.

Were out here today encouraging Hoosiers to get involved, Phipps said. Its going to take the community. People need to write and call their legislators.
MUNSTER  Public safety has come a long way during the last 109 years, from the days of a town marshal with a minuscule budget and no firearm to a modern police department equipped to fight crime and protect residents now and into the future.

Those attending the fifth NWI Next community conversation recently at Munster Town Hall saw evidence of those changes in displays and presentations by Police Chief Steve Scheckel and John Lohrentz, the departments new forensic analyst.

Throughout Indianas Bicentennial year, The Times Media Co., museums and historical societies around the Region continue these NWI/Next conversations about the areas history and its future, said Doug Ross, Times politics and history editor.

Problems with poultry being taken from a farm led the new Town Board to appoint August Richter as the first Munster town marshal in 1907, Scheckel said.

His budget was $60. A year later, he was authorized to purchase a revolver, the police chief said during his PowerPoint presentation.

By 1916, Marshal Garrett Jansens home served as the first Munster police and fire headquarters as well as the towns first jail. A phone was installed at the residence of Jansen, who also was Munsters first treasurer.

It was not uncommon for the marshals wife to feed those arrested because the jail was in the house, Scheckel said. Jansen took law and order seriously.

From 1925 to 1932, Henry DeVries served as Munster town marshal. At first, he patrolled the town on his official motorcycle, but was allowed to purchase the first squad car.

DeVries was also the town water meter inspector, Scheckel said.

Edward Bennett succeeded DeVries in 1932. A native of Crawfordsville, Bennett was a former state trooper and one-time Highland town marshal.

He was the unofficial mayor of Munster, Scheckel said, adding that Bennett also held the posts of water works superintendent, street commissioner and meter inspector. He also enlarged the marshals office in 1944 with the appointment of Forrest Hill as assistant marshal and assigned Hill the night shift.

It was like Green Acres, the police chief chuckled. You ask for the marshal a man puts on that hat. You ask for the mayor and the same person puts on a different hat.

A heart attack felled Bennett in 1946, and Charles Chapman was named marshal.

He was progressive for the time, Scheckel said. He started a training program for his 17 volunteer deputies. Lectures on law enforcement were given at Town Hall on Monday evenings.

Chapman died in 1947 when a state trooper accidentally shot him at Town Hall, at Ridge Road and Calumet Avenue.

A Town Council meeting was going on at the time and they heard the shot. It was reported that the state trooper said I shot my best friend, Scheckel said. But apparently they were clowning around and doing quick draws.

Deputy Clarence Siefken became Munsters next marshal, but only stayed eight months. In late 1947, Siefken was replaced by Deputy William C. Retzloff. However, Scheckel said, the town marshal wasnt paid much, $3,000 a year, and Retzloff resigned less than a year later.

Adam Funk, who was appointed town marshal in 1948 and served until 1953, did a lot of work with juveniles, Scheckel said.

The last town marshal was Harold Pritchard, appointed in 1953. He also was Munsters first police chief, when the town marshal evolved into a Metropolitan Police Department in 1956, Scheckel said.

In a political dispute, Pritchard was demoted to the rank of sergeant at a Town Council meeting.

Citizens came to Town Hall to demand he be reinstated, but he said he didnt want to get in the middle of a political situation and retired as a sergeant, Scheckel said.

In the intervening years, the Munster Police Department has grown to 41 sworn officers with an annual budget of $4.3 million. There are also five support or civilian positions, including that of Lohrentz, who talked with those gathered about cyber security.
Northwest Indiana health officials are warning residents to protect against mosquitoes amid an outbreak of the Zika virus in the southern part of the Americas, though the types of the insect that carry the disease have yet to be identified here.

Gary Health Commissioner Roland Walker said the citys health department sprays regularly for mosquitoes while keeping some of the chemicals in reserve in case of an outbreak.

Theres no way you can stop the spread of the mosquito, he said. You can try to mitigate the risk.

The Zika virus initially was confirmed in Brazil last year and has continued to spread north. The most serious consequence of the disease is a birth defect called microcephaly, where babies are born with smaller-than-normal heads.

While there havent been any locally acquired cases in the United States, there have been in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Indiana has so far had 10 travel-related cases.

The aedes albopictus mosquito that is one of two mosquitoes that transmit Zika has been found in the southern two-thirds of the state, said Ken Severson, a spokesman for the Indiana State Department of Health.

Its not likely they could become established in northern Indiana because of the weather.

If people return to Indiana from countries where the Zika virus is present, such as Brazil and Mexico, and they are symptomatic or pregnant, its recommended they get tested, said Jennifer Harkel, communicable disease supervisor for the Porter County Health Department. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes.

Fortunately, we dont have these mosquitoes in Northwest Indiana, Harkel said. They havent been living here.

The Lake County Health Department did not return requests for comment about its strategy for dealing with or level of worry about the Zika virus.
VALPARAISO  The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation gave a grant valued at $29,682 to the Valparaiso Fire Department to purchase a Lucas Chest Compression System designed to help improve outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest victims and improve operations for medical responders.

Were very grateful to Firehouse Subs for their generous gift. Weve recently begun using the chest compression system and its already helped us to save a couple of lives, said Valparaiso Fire Chief Chad Dutz. While wed like to prevent tragedies, were working to make Valparaiso a place where more people survive sudden cardiac arrests, he said.

The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation was established in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with the mission of providing funding, lifesaving equipment, and educational opportunities to first responder and public safety organizations. Since 2005, the foundation has contributed more than $18 million to hometown heroes in 45 states and Puerto Rico, including more than $402,547 in Indiana.

Firehouse Subs has more than 900 restaurants throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Jeff and Robyn Walsworth own both the Valparaiso and Portage locations. Jeff Walsworth was a firefighter for more than 24 years, retiring from the Valparaiso Fire Department in 2015. Im so pleased to be able to give back, Walsworth said at a recent celebration uniting the Valparaiso Fire Department, crew members at Firehouse Subs, and Mayor Jon Costas.

Each Firehouse Subs restaurant collects donations for the nonprofit Public Safety Foundation through donation canisters and a Round Up program, where guests may round up their bill to the nearest dollar.
The official word from Gov. Mike Pences embattled reelection campaign whenever Donald Trump says something outrageous  like accepting congrats in the wake of the Orlando massacre or suggesting that President Obama has committed treason  is to say he is laser focused on the Indiana economy and job creation, where he is having considerable success.

But this laser focus was briefly obscured at the Indiana Republican Convention when in his booming voice just a few seconds after starting, Pence urged delegates to ensure Indiana becomes the first state on the board to make Donald Trump the president of the United States.

It was an emphatic endorsement.

He spoke these words after conservative House Speaker Paul Ryan cited Trump's textbook racism on the Judge Gonzalo Curiel controversy. It came after conservative Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump doesnt know a lot about the issues and had not displayed the requisite 'seriousness of purpose' to be president."

The 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, warned Republicans that a President Trump could normalize racism, misogyny and bigotry in the national conscience.

Why would Gov. Pence attach his dingy to what appears to be the political equivalent to the RMS Titanic?

He sees Trump's 53 percent Indiana primary victory last month that came despite Pence's own endorsement of Ted Cruz. Pence needs the Trump voter. Having said that, its five months from the election, and Pence is still working to secure his Republican base.

Any incumbent whose reelect is 36 percent, whose job approval is in the low 40th percentile and is still seeking to keep the base in place is in a world of hurt.

Pences predicament is that he already has that angry white male vote. What he needs to defeat Democrat John Gregg are Lugar Republicans, suburban women and independents. These voters view Trump like a rat in a baby crib.

What we learned this past week is instructive. If youre a Hoosier Republican, it is unclear which factoid is most alarming. It could be Hillary Clintons $42 million to $1.3 million cash-on-hand advantage over Trump. There are a number of Indiana congressional campaigns with more money than Trump.

It could be that Clinton has out-raised Trump in Indiana $1 million to $58,221. It could be her 100 percent dominance in swing state TV advertising. It could be the distinct dive in the polls giving Clinton a 44-38 percent lead over Trump before she has fully coalesced the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.

Perhaps it is her 700 to 69 staffing advantage or that Trump has not only canned his campaign manager but also has no communications director. Though he did bring on the credible Kevin Shaw Kellems of Indiana to begin surrogate management.

Perhaps its University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabatos new Crystal Ball Electoral College map that gives Clinton a 347-191 advantage.

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, a resolute conservative who is a former aide to U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and Rep. Mark Souder, observed, Beneath Trumps historically low approval ratings  29 percent in a recent Post/ABC News survey  is an even more disturbing development. After securing the nomination, Trumps support among Republicans rose, in many polls, to the mid-80s; not spectacularly good but an indication that the GOP was rallying. In recent polls, Trumps Republican support has dropped to between 70 and 80 percent.

NBC Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd mined down into what could be Trumpian ballot drag. In that ABC/Post poll, 65 percent of Republicans view Trump favorably and 34 percent unfavorably (Clinton stands at 75/25 percent with Democrats as she works to bring in the Sanders wing).

Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who polled for me in 2012, cites Trumps Achilles heel is political arithmetic.

One of my favorite pollster stats is Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama by the same proportion among whites that George Bush defeated Michael Dukakis by in 1988. Bush won the popular vote by eight points. Romney lost the popular vote by four points, Yang explained. The college-educated white woman is a symptom of the broader point. Its really hard for a Republican to win white voters by more than what Romney and Bush won white voters by, 20 points, 59-39 percent. The voting-age population in 2016 will be 31 percent minority. Its hard for me to see how the math works for Trump if he doesnt win whites by 30 points, which would be really hard, or make inroads into that minority population.

The wall Trump wants to build, and the one he is really building with more than 70 percent of Latinos aligned against him, is a wall between himself and victory.

Gerson points to the irony of all of this.

He ran attacking the Republican establishment at every turn, Gerson said. Now, since he has neglected to construct his own national campaign, he is completely dependent on the establishment to provide his political ground game.
Mark your calendar for Northwest Indianas premiere Volunteer event.

Lake Area United Way will be hosting its 4th Annual PackaPalooza event from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 12 at The Radisson, located on U.S. 30 in Merrillville.

Were back for another year of meal-packing frenzy.

Join the PackaPalooza party and help put nutritious meals on the table for our hungry neighbors. At PackaPalooza, youll help us package meals that will be delivered to food pantries throughout Lake County. Last year, we packed more than 115,000 macaroni and cheese meals, and we need you to do it again this year.

Almost 80,000 people are going hungry in Lake County. 29 percent of those going hungry dont qualify for any government assistance. They are struggling working families on the edge of survival. Lake County ranks second in the state with almost 46,000 kids on free and reduced lunch.

United Way organizations all over the world encourage individuals to give, advocate and volunteer to improve conditions in the areas in which they live, work and raise their families. For many people, of the three ways to participate, volunteering is perhaps the easiest and most rewarding.

PackaPalooza is just one of many volunteer opportunities available to you on Aug. 12, which is your local United Ways Day of Caring. Day of Caring mobilizes groups of individuals from local businesses, municipalities, churches and civic organizations to complete needed projects and provide a boost to local nonprofits across Lake and Porter counties.

PackaPalooza is a really fun and meaningful volunteer experience in which everyone should participate, said Lisa Daugherty, president and CEO of Lake Area United Way. Companies see so many collateral benefits to sending their employees, which include building teamwork and pride in ones employer for giving back to the community. Its a great day starting with a breakfast pep rally, and then music and a lot of competitive team spirit throughout the day.

To register a team for PackaPalooza, or for more information about volunteering in Lake County, contact Megan Sikes at msikes@lauw.org or (219) 923-2302, ext. 311.

For more information about volunteering in Porter County, visit www.nwivolunteer.org.
For more than a decade, the chancellors and presidents of Northwest Indiana's higher education institutions have worked collaboratively to offer monthly editorials on topics of importance to the Region. Sharing a common commitment to building a more sustainable Region for the next generation and for generations to come, these institutions work to assure Northwest Indiana has a healthy environment, a healthy economy and an unequaled quality-of-life. Each month we share our campus efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate students in our Region's colleges and universities.

June 30 marks my final day as chancellor of Purdue University North Central. On July 1, I will begin a yearlong sabbatical and in fall 2017, I will return to my roots to teach at the Krannert School of Management in West Lafayette.

While the future holds many exciting opportunities, I know I will very much miss PNC and all the friends and colleagues I had the pleasure of working with during the past 16 years.

These past few months it seems almost everyone I run into asks me the same questions  first, what accomplishments at PNC am I most proud of and second, what will I do next?

From my very first day as chancellor, I have been laser-focused on doing what is best for students. That is why I am so proud of increasing the number of undergraduate degrees offered at Purdue North Central from six to 24. I am also very pleased with the concurrent enrollment offerings we have developed in our local high schools that not only allow talented students to earn college credits at reduced costs but also enable them to enter college with a number of college credits to get a nice head start. To me, it is really all about access and success for our students.

While I could list many others accomplishments and events of note that took place during the past years, probably of most importance and excitement is the recent construction of our new Student Services and Activities Complex. Of course, I was so honored when the trustees of Purdue University chose to name the building after me. But far more important than the naming is that our PNW students will now have wonderful opportunities to enjoy club activities, intramural sports, exercise equipment, intercollegiate sporting events and many special events in our Great Hall, such as our very own Sinai Forum lectures.

We recently hosted our graduation exercises in our new building  on the PNC campus  for the first time since 1971. It was so exciting to be able to bring graduation home to our campus. Our graduates and their families were thrilled and honored to be part of this momentous event in our new building.

My future plans include some travel and relaxation. I look forward to continuing to serve on boards and to work as a labor arbitrator. My second childrens picture book, The Dog and the Jet Ski, should be published later this summer by Archway Publishing Co. It will be fun to share this book with youngsters.

While I will no longer be chancellor, I will continue to be an avid supporter of Purdue University and Purdue Northwest.

July 1, 2016, the first day after I step down as chancellor, also will be the very first official day that the PNC and Purdue Calumet campuses will be Purdue University Northwest.

It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to have been able to serve as chancellor of PNC for the last 16  years. I look forward to watching PNW emerge as a strong and vibrant university for this region and the state of Indiana.
Far too often, Northwest Indiana local government officials balk and stonewall when faced with basic requests for public information.

So a recent Indiana Court of Appeals ruling, which took Cedar Lake to task for an affront to open records laws, was a welcome revelation.

The ruling centered on a case involving the town's firing of former administrative assistant and special events coordinator Nicole Hoekstra.

The reasoning behind Cedar Lake's termination of Hoekstra's employment should be enough to boil the blood of any citizen who believes taxpayer-funded records maintained by government should be freely available to the public.

Court records indicate Hoekstra received an informal request from Eric Wolverton, an engineer working on a municipal project, for minutes from a town meeting he was unable to attend.

Minutes recorded by government workers during public meetings are clearly open records under Indiana's public access laws. Truly open cities and towns post such minutes on municipal websites, making them available without need for access requests. This practice costs nothing and provides a public service.

Hoekstra, knowing Wolverton's request was for public records, emailed him a copy of the requested minutes. In other words, she complied with the law.

But Cedar Lake officials fired Hoekstra, claiming she should have required Wolverton to fill out a town form formally requesting the information.

The appeals court ruled against the town for doing so, ordering that unemployment benefits be paid to Hoekstra.

We couldn't agree more with a judicial decision that really shouldn't have taken any time at all to sort out.

This ruling should serve as a warning to other Region municipal leaders with a penchant for thumbing their noses at state and federal open records and meetings laws.

The spirit of public records laws doesn't require that residents fill out special forms in requesting public documents. Under the law, public officials also have no right to ask why members of the public want such information, or what they intend to use it for.

If tax dollars funded the activity and process for keeping the records, then the records are generally public. Period.

In the end, none of these records belongs to the public officials who seek to create hurdles to access or punish employees who comply with the law. The information belongs to the public at-large -- and must be provided upon request.

An untenable reality remains, in spite of the appeals court ruling. Civil lawsuits filed by citizens often are the only recourse of residents who seek clearly public information that is denied by Hoosier public officials.

Complaints can be made to the Indiana Public Access Counselor, but that counselor only can issue non-binding legal opinions.

It's time for the Indiana Legislature to consider fines and other penalties for public officials and agencies that stonewall citizens who seek information and documents to which theyre clearly entitled under the law.

A watchdog effect arises from the free flow of public information  one that keeps citizens in the know and government officials honest.

Now we need some teeth in the law to discourage cases like this from ever getting to the point where employees are fired for providing information, or citizens are sent away empty-handed.
PORTAGE  The gay pride flag was flying over the Metropolitan Community Church-Illiana Saturday, as all were welcomed to attend the churchs third annual Pride Picnic.

The Rev. Michael Cooper, MCC-Illiana pastor, said the event was a chance for the LGBT community to come together and celebrate on Pride weekend when many cities and towns honor the LGBT community with parades and festivals.

About 25 of the congregation gathered Saturday to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, while each person brought a dish to share.

We celebrate the accomplishments our community has made, as in equal marriage, and we continue to fight for full equality in all areas, Cooper said.

Although when it was established in Los Angeles in 1968, MCC focused on the gay and lesbian community, many others have joined us as well, Cooper said.

We are an open church ... we accept anybody, Cooper said. We try to break the barriers around sexual orientation and race. But lots of straight people attend here.

Cooper said the LGBT community in Northwest Indiana is very different than in larger metropolitan areas because there are few places to gather socially.

A lot of the community have moved online, said Cooper.

Tammy Hnatiuk, who is straight, started attending the church when her mother-in-law, Sheila Wood, came out to her in 2010 and invited her.

I told her, Im dating girls now, said Wood, of Portage.

That was one way to be told, joked Hnatiuk, also of Portage. It was good news because I wanted her to be happy. Thats all I want for anyone  to be happy with themselves.

Hnatiuk said people have told her her mother-in-law doesnt look gay.

How are they supposed to look? asked Hnatiuk. Theyre all normal-looking. Why do they think its only drag queens and transgenders? People have that image, but they are moms and dads and grandmothers and grandfathers.

Cooper and Wood both said that with the recent shootings in Orlando times are scary.

Theres always that element here, Wood said. But I choose not to live in fear.

Matt Handzlik, who grew up in Chesterton with a mom who was Baptist and a dad who was a non-practicing Catholic, starting attending the church just two months ago. He went to a variety of churches over the years since he came out at age 22, but has never felt as included as he does at MCC.

I passed this place a million times and saw the pride flag but never came in, said Handzlik, of Portage. I finally did one day and Ive been coming here ever since.

Handzlik, who turns 50 in July, said the congregation is superfriendly.

Here, its family, said Handzlik. I dont know how else to describe it. Its homey  I like it here.
PORTER  Colorful summer flowers and vines decorated the 15-foot maypole at Saturdays 20th annual Midsummer Celebration at Chellberg Farm at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Marilyn Arvidson, a coordinator of the annual festival, said the event marks the longest day of the year and has been observed in Scandinavia for centuries.

An event highlight is the maypole procession, where visitors sing Swedish songs while carrying the maypole and hefting it into a hole in the ground.

Arvidson and others dressed in traditional Swedish clothing led the grand march with Scandinavian singing, and volunteers demonstrated traditional wood carving, chip carving, cross-stitch and embroidery. Children played old-fashioned games, while families brought picnic fare to share.

Don Johannesen, a member of Skandiana Wood Carvers, said after he and his wife made a trip to Norway at least 20 years ago, he took up the traditional craft of carving figures out of basswood.

Its very uniform in grain, said Johannesen, of South Bend.

Darlene Henderson, president of the local Sons of Norway, is an expert chip carver, but gives most of her creations away as gifts.

Or you find a spot on the wall to hang it on, said Henderson, of Michigan City.

A local childrens dance group, Nordikids, helped with singing The Star Spangled Banner and the Swedish national anthem. Musicians from two musical groups  Lingonberry Jam and Skandilocity  played traditional music under the shade of the trees at the old farm established by Swedish immigrants Anders and Johanna Chellberg, who traveled to the United States in 1863.

Arvidson welcomed the crowd and thanked the immigrants who made America a wonderful new land, but encouraged all to not forget the motherland by exploring their roots.

She said that as far back as 1901, people came to the area from Chicago to celebrate midsummer on the longest day of the year.

Twenty years ago, national park officials asked her to recreate the tradition of the Midsummer celebration at the park for the public, and is happy it has gone on all this time.

Enjoy this day as you meet old friends and make new ones, said Arvidson. Savor the celebration of the summer solstice  the longest day of the year.
LAPORTE  It is a story of forgiveness, friendship, and reconciliation  a war story about two enemies who became close friends.

At a special program Friday evening at Community Aviation Day at the LaPorte Municipal Airport, Brig. Gen. E. Daniel Cherry recounted an April 1972 dogfight during the Vietnam War in which he shot down a North Vietnamese fighter pilot  and 36 years later befriended the man he could have killed.

After Cherry, flying a F4 Phantom, shot down the Russian-made MiG-21 Blue Bandit and watched  from only 500 feet away  the pilot float down to the earth in his parachute, he said he didnt know anything about him or his family.

Celebrating the event that evening in the officers club, Cherry started to think about that MiG pilot and his identity.

But you dont have time to think about anything like that, Cherry, the author of My Enemy, My Friend, said.

In June 2004, after Cherry had completed an illustrious Air Force career and retired in 1988, he and a group of friends discovered a broken down F4 Phantom at a VFW hall in Eden, Ohio  the very plane he flew in Vietnam.

There she was, all lonely, very neglected, and very dirty with grass growing up around her, said Cherry. I was delighted she was still in one piece because she took such good care of me.

The group brought the plane back to Cherrys hometown of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and with it, they established Aviation Heritage Park to educate younger generations.

Restoring the plane to its former glory, Cherry became curious about the fate of the pilot he shot down, and through a series of events, he traveled back to Vietnam to meet Nguyen Hong My  the man he had last seen floating through the clouds, hanging from a parachute.

The two met in Ho Chi Minh City on a Vietnamese television program, The Separation Never Seems to Have Existed, which reunites people who have lost touch.

When Cherry first saw Hong My, with a shaved head and burly physique, he was exactly as he expected an old fighter pilot to look.

Hong Mys first words to him were, Welcome to my country. Im glad to see youre in good health. I hope we can be good friends.

As they recounted their stories on the television program and shared photos of their families, both men became emotional imagining what could have been.

Here we were, a couple of old grizzled fighter pilots, crying their eyes out on television, Cherry said.

After spending the next few days with Hong My and his family in Hanoi  a hospitable, warm experience  Cherry invited his new friend to the United States. In April 2009, Hong My and his son came to Bowling Green to spend two weeks with Cherry and his family.

Cherry learned Hong My had broken both arms when he was shot down. He eventually resigned from the military, attended college, and became an insurance executive before he retired.

During Hong Mys visit, they traveled to Washington, D.C., and saw the sights  including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

It was an amazing experience for him. Hong My said It makes me so sad to see the 58,000 names on the wall, but it makes me sadder for the families left behind, Cherry said.

Community Aviation Night was a first-time event, said Diane Schwarz, the airports manager of planning and operations. The evening capped a week of aviation camp for kids in sixth through 12th grade, where they learned about all types of aircraft and talked to guest speakers including pilots from the military, commercial airlines and the Civil Air Patrol, and took a 15-20 minute flight with local pilots.

Schwarz had heard Cherrys story and felt it was important to share with the community.

What a great way to tie this in, Schwarz said. Kids ought to hear the story he has to tell.
LONDON  Britains shocking decision to remove itself from the European Union brought more political turmoil Sunday as Scotlands leader threatened to block the move.

The sense of unease spread as European leaders stepped up the pressure on Britain to begin its complex extrication from the 28-nation EU immediately, rather than wait several months as British Prime Minister David Cameron prefers.

With Londons jittery stock market set to reopen Monday, the leaders of the successful campaign to leave the EU stayed largely out of the public eye, offering few signals about their plans.

If they were silent, Scotland was not. Popular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would consider advising the Scottish Parliament to try to use its power to prevent Britain from actually leaving the EU. She said Scottish lawmakers might be able to derail the move by withholding legislative consent for a British exit, or Brexit.

If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of whats right for Scotland, then the option of saying Were not going to vote for something that is against Scotlands interests, of course, that is on the table, she said of the possibility of withholding consent.

Sturgeon said she believes Scotlands approval is required for the move but conceded the British government would likely take a very different view.

Thursdays U.K.-wide vote to leave the EU was very unpopular in Scotland, where 62 percent cast ballots to stay, and Sturgeon says she is studying ways to keep Scotland part of the EU bloc.

The Scottish question looms large because Sturgeon also has said another referendum on Scottish independence from Britain is highly likely as a result of Britains EU vote. A Scottish referendum in 2014 ended with voters deciding to remain in Britain, but analysts believe Britains withdrawal from the EU may strengthen the independence movement.

In Northern Ireland, which also is part of the U.K., Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said his priority is forging special arrangements to enable Northern Ireland to maintain its EU ties. Some Brexit opponents have also talked of trying to use Northern Irelands Assembly to try to block Britains departure.

Northern Ireland voters also expressed a preference for keeping Britain in the EU. The unhappiness with the results in both Scotland and Northern Ireland is adding to the sense that the Brexit vote may over time lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, Camerons lead official in Belfast, played down the suggestion that the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly had the standing to prevent a British departure from the EU.

She said decision-making power resides solely in the British Parliament, which is expected to abide by the results of the referendum, which showed 52 percent of British voters wanted out.

In the weeks and months ahead, we will be working with both the Scottish government and the Northern Ireland executive on all these matters, she told BBC. But ultimately it is (the British) Parliaments decision.

Adam Tomkins, a law professor and member of the Scottish Parliament, agreed with this assessment. The Conservative Party legislator tweeted that it was nonsense to suggest the Scottish party could block a British departure simply by withholding consent.

The vote is already cutting short Camerons career. He said after the results that he will resign as prime minister when the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will be charged with implementing the separation from the EU.

The new party leader, who will become prime minister, is expected to be in place by October. At that point, he or she may choose to call a quick election to solidify a mandate  and the prospect of an election in the near future may have spurred a revolt Sunday against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that has been simmering for months.

Corbyn, criticized by many for doing a weak job presenting the partys position favoring EU membership, for the first time faces an open rebellion from senior members of his shadow cabinet  senior figures who advise the party leader on various policy issues.

At least eight members resigned Sunday after Corbyn fired shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn overnight for reportedly plotting a rebellion against him. The dissidents want Corbyn, who represents the far-left wing of the party, ousted before the next general election because many believe he cannot win.

In her resignation letter, shadow Heath Secretary Heidi Alexander bluntly told Corbyn he had to go.

I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential, she wrote.

Corbyn did not respond publicly to the coordinated assault on his leadership, but senior allies said he still has strong support among the partys rank-and-file members and will not step down.

Concerns about last weeks EU referendum ranged far beyond U.K. politics.

In Rome, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Britain and the EU to manage their divorce responsibly for the sake of global markets and citizens. On Monday, he will be the first senior U.S. official to visit London and Brussels since the referendum, and he said he would bring a message of U.S. support to both capitals.

Anguish over the vote affected many of the 1.2 million British expatriates living in Europe.

Tad Dawson, a 51-year-old pub owner who has lived in Spain since the 1990s, says his future is suddenly very uncertain.

Were very scared because Ive been here 23 years. Ive got my house. My kids were born here, they went to a British-Spanish school. Ive got a bar. Ive got a lot to lose, Dawson said at his pub in Benidorm, on the Mediterranean coast.

We dont know how were going to be now, he said. We might have no pension. We might have no medical. We may have to sell our properties.

___

Associated Press writer Diego Torres in Benidorm, Spain, contributed
Season 2, Episode 12: The Hail Mary

At what point does loyalty become a liability?

Claires misguided desire to protect Franks future has led to disastrous consequences. Her marriage to Jamie weakened when she forced him to give up his quest for vengeance against Black Jack Randall. She interfered in the relationship between Mary and Alex. And so on.

Underneath Claires maneuverings is her belief that history can be changed. But the Battle of Culloden, which is now guaranteed, calls that into question. Claires loyalty feels partly fueled by guilt over her decision to stay with Jamie. Her regular efforts to protect Franks future at all costs doesnt feel altruistic considering how many people she has hurt in the process. At this point her loyalty isnt only a liability, its dangerous. How else can this impulse be described when it leads to her working for Randall?

After running into Mary, she goes to care for Alex. Its here that she faces Randall for the first time since Paris. She cant cure Alex but she can make him more comfortable in what proves to be his last days. For a price. She wants information from Randall about the location of particular troops.

You would barter over an innocent mans suffering? Madame Fraser, you impress me, he says. Randalls compliment should make Claire question her own motives. Instead she says, the woman I am isnt the woman I once was.
On Saturday afternoon, the legendary fashion photographer Bill Cunningham died in Manhattan at age 87. Shielded from the elements by a simple blue coat and with a camera always in his hand, Mr. Cunningham was a fixture on the streets of New York City and in the front rows of fashions most prestigious shows. Many took to Twitter to mourn the loss of Mr. Cunningham and to honor the man for whom everybody dressed  even Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of Vogue.
He is a son of Kathleen A. Savit and Robert S. Savit of Ann Arbor, Mich.

The couple met in July 2012 at a friends birthday party in Washington shortly before Ms. Rice was to begin a clerkship with Judge Tatel and while Mr. Savit was working an extra month for the judge after completing his clerkship.

We were spellbound by each other, Mr. Savit said. She asked for advice and tips on the clerkship and then they moved on to other topics. I couldnt stop thinking about how gorgeous she was and how much chemistry we had.

After the party, they went to a bar and he walked her home. Their romance blossomed at the courthouse in the weeks that followed, where they began making any excuse to visit each others office.

But they wanted to keep their relationship a secret from their colleagues in the judges chambers, going as far as to wear thinly-veiled disguises  stick-on mustaches and hats  on a date to the National Zoo in Washington.

Despite all their efforts, I suspect that they knew, Mr. Savit said.

A year later, in January 2014, after they moved in together, they both landed clerkships at the Supreme Court  she with Justice Kagan and he with Justice Ginsburg and retired Justice Sandra Day OConnor.
Howard Michael Bard, the son of Ileen F. Bard and Alvin L. Bard of Baltimore, was married June 25 to Christopher Speron, a son of the late Maria G. Speron and the late Socrates J. Speron, formerly of Lake Grove, N.Y. The Rev. George B. Walker Jr., a minister of the United Church of Christ, officiated at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Rabbi Laurie Green led the signing of the Jewish marriage contract.

The couple met in 1987 at George Washington University, from which they graduated and where Mr. Bard received a law degree and Mr. Speron received a masters degree in public administration.

Mr. Bard (left), 52, is a vice president for taxes and retirement security for the American Council of Life Insurers, a trade association for the life insurance industry in Washington, where he guides policy on retirement-related regulations and legislation.

Mr. Speron, 46, is the vice president for development at the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based L.G.B.T. advocacy group, where he is responsible for fund-raising.
Karen Rosenberg and Michael David Saarinen were married June 25 at the Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, N.Y. Cantor Ronald Broden officiated.

The bride, 38, is a freelance arts writer. Until May, she was the deputy editor of Artspace Magazine and now contributes to it as a columnist. From 2007 to 2015, she was also a regular contributor to arts pages of The New York Times. She graduated from Yale and received a masters degree in modern art and critical studies from Columbia.

She is the daughter of Helen K. Rosenberg and Eric M. Rosenberg of Mamaroneck, N.Y. The brides father was a first vice president and assistant general counsel for Merrill Lynch in New York and is now a consultant advising executives on how to protect their businesses from litigation. Her mother, now retired, was the counsel to Westhab, a social service and housing agency in Elmsford, N.Y.

The groom, also 38, works in New York as a counsel in the private-investment-funds practice at the law firm Goodwin Procter. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia and received his law degree cum laude from Harvard.
Though Mr. Sembos said he felt the same attraction, he was seeing someone else at the time, so they initially settled on becoming friends.

Over the next two years, she would often run into him around town, or playfully connect with him online, where they would engage in some intense games of Scrabble or chat about music or photography. No matter where their paths crossed, she did her best to see if his social status had changed.

Id be like, O.K., heres my phone number and email address and you could always get me on Facebook, but I would never really hear from him as far as going out was concerned, she said.

In May 2012, her text came in. He invited her to a concert in Norfolk, Conn., and she accepted. They began seeing each other but were not yet dating. Mr. Sembos introduced Ms. Jensen  a longtime fan of gin  to the joys of a dirty martini, and to the Beatles catalog. She taught him how to drive a stick shift.

In August 2012, Ms. Jensen went on a 10-day California vacation with her best friend, during which Mr. Sembos realized he was ready for a deeper commitment. I couldnt ignore it any longer, he said.
Kristen Elizabeth Loveland and Stephen Alexander Wertheim were married June 25. Annabel L. Resnisky, a justice of the peace, officiated at Branford House, an event space in Groton, Conn.

In May, Ms. Loveland, who is 32 and will keep her name, received a law degree from N.Y.U. She is now a candidate for a doctoral degree in history, specializing in European debates on gender and reproduction, at Harvard, from which she also has a masters degree in history. She graduated from Columbia and received a masters in modern European history from Cambridge.

She is a daughter of R. Scott Loveland and Mary-Jo Gwizd Loveland of Farmington, Conn. The brides father is the vice president for sales and marketing at Lightstat, a manufacturer of lighting and climate-control systems in Barkhamsted, Conn.

Mr. Wertheim, 31, is a junior research fellow, studying international history, at Cambridges Kings College, and is also a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and received a Master of Philosophy in history, a masters degree in history and a doctoral degree in history from Columbia.
Nancy Thompson Godfrey and A. Lee Lundy Jr. were married June 25 at the Peru Congregational Church in Peru, Vt. The Rev. Margaret Dawedeit, the churchs pastor, performed the ceremony.

The bride, 72, operates her own corporate communications company in Scottsdale, Ariz. She graduated from Smith College, and is a daughter of Marian Thompson Rigney of Manchester, Vt., and the late Kenneth R. Thompson, and a stepdaughter of the late Dr. Thomas G. Rigney.

The groom, 73, is a senior partner in the Tydings & Rosenberg law firm in Baltimore. He graduated from Yale, received a law degree magna cum laude from Columbia and a masters degree in law from the University of Baltimore. He is a son of the late Blanche Lundy and the late Audie L. Lundy, who lived in Marks, Miss.

After the January 2015 death of Peter Godfrey, her spouse of almost 50 years, Ms. Godfrey decided to put most of her efforts into something she truly cared about  her alma mater. She agreed to be co-editor of Smiths reunion book for the class of 1966, and as part of her duties, began calling spouses of deceased classmates to organize memorial essays. Her first call was Mr. Lundy, who had lost his wife Ann the year before.
NEW YORK

A picture caption last Sunday with an article about letters by and about President Obamas father, using information from officials in the 2008 presidential campaign, misstated the decade in which a picture of father and son was taken. It was the 1970s, not the 1960s.

METROPOLITAN

An article in some editions last Sunday about efforts to improve diversity in the Westchester Philharmonic included an incorrect figure from the League of American Orchestras for the percentage of Latinos in American orchestras. It is 2.5 percent, not 1.2 percent.



A film listing in the Westchester Calendar in some copies last Sunday misstated part of the name of a movie showing at Time & Space Limited in Hudson, N.Y., through July 3. It is Bayou Maharajah not Bayou Maharaj.

OBITUARIES

An obituary last Sunday about the author Lois Duncan misidentified, in some copies, the city in Florida where she died. It is Bradenton, not Sarasota. The obituary also misstated, in some copies, the surname of one of her daughters, who survives her. She is Robin Burkin, not Robin Arquette.
As a widow, you find you were so dependent on your husband, and when you make a mistake because of predatory businesses, its embarrassing, Ms. Lankford said. Were an easy target.

Easy target might describe the audience for several enterprises stamped with the Trump brand that have been accused of preying upon desperation, inexperience or vanity. Some are well known. Trump University has most recently gained notice because of Mr. Trumps attacks on the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing a fraud lawsuit brought by former students. There was also a multilevel vitamin-selling enterprise, the Trump Network, that Mr. Trump had said would give hope to people looking to opt out of the recession.

But intersecting with these was another, largely unexamined, business venture, Cambridge Whos Who, which generated hundreds of complaints that it deceptively peddled the promise of recognition in a registry, as well as branding and networking services of questionable value. Dozens of people who paid Trump-endorsed businesses were also sold products by Cambridge, which benefited from its partnership with Donald Trump Jr. through leveraging relationships built by the Trump empire, according to Cambridge.

Cambridge was not a Trump company; it was operated by Randy Narod, a Long Island, N.Y., nightclub and bagel store owner barred from the securities industry for having had an impostor take his licensing exam. However, Cambridge gained the Trump imprimatur when the younger Mr. Trump came on board in 2010 and began promoting its services as a way for people to distinguish themselves in a tough economic climate.

He worked in plugs for Cambridge during interviews on the Fox Business Network and TheStreet.com, did a promotional video and appeared in photos with Mr. Narod. Among them was one with another Trump executive at Trump Tower in New York, where, according to a news release, the three men discussed strategies to expand the personal branding and professional networking services offered by Cambridge Whos Who. Mr. Narods company said on its website that it had embarked on a global expansion with the Trump Organization.
ROME  Pope Francis on Saturday said that the world should never forget the suffering of the more than one million Armenians who were massacred a century ago during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, lest it fall back into the maelstrom of similar horrors.

But the pope counseled the thousands of people gathered to hear him in Armenias capital, Yerevan, to use the healing power of love to transform old wounds into a wellspring of forgiveness and peace, and to seek reconciliation with neighboring Turkey.

Francis spoke during a prayer service with the leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church at the end of the second day of a trip during which he called attention to the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1923. On Friday, the pope departed from a prepared text and referred to the massacre as a genocide, a term that Turkey rejects. Historians have called it the first genocide of the 20th century.

On Saturday, Turkeys response to the popes use of the word was relatively restrained, with Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli calling the remarks very unfortunate, according to The Associated Press.
One of the thrills of Hamilton is in watching the flexibility of its performers as they effortlessly bounce between musical styles  its a testament to the versatility of the talents they brought in the door with them. Musical theater has its own native grammar, but this show and its stars hammer away at it with every song, rebuilding it in their own image.

Thats even more clear when listening to them outside of the confines of Hamilton. Two of the shows Tony-winning stars have recently released albums: Daveed Diggss noise-rap group, clipping., has a new EP, Wriggle. And Leslie Odom Jr. has just updated and rereleased his self-titled solo debut.

They serve as a reminder of life after Hamilton, but also of life before it. For Mr. Diggs, his music career began years ago, and, one suspects, will continue long after Hamilton fades. For Mr. Odom, who announced hell be leaving Hamilton next month, the show has served as a catalyst for the next phase of his career, one in which he gets to sing with no one else onstage.
Image Bruce Stewart-Brown, senior vice president for food safety, quality and live operations at Perdue Farms. Credit... T.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

The move may also have a sweeping impact on the industry, forcing competitors to adopt similar practices. When Perdue announced that it intended to use no antibiotics, many of its competitors followed suit at the demand of their big customers.

It will change the way we do business in so many ways, Mr. Perdue said.

Numerous surveys conducted by the dairy and meat industries suggest that people care and want to know about animal welfare. For that reason, Mr. Perdue said, the company plans to issue annual reports on its progress on the new standards.

We want to be held accountable, he said. If we mess up, we have to be prepared to say we messed up.

In late 2014, Compassion in World Farming, an animal rights group, released video taken at a barn under contract to Perdue that showed birds with raw, red chests from sitting too long on litter laden with ammonia and feces. A few months earlier, Perdue agreed to stop using the phrase humanely raised on packages of its Harvestland brand of chicken to settle a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of the United States.

Still, in an interview a year ago, Mr. Perdue was unapologetic, emphasizing that the Department of Agriculture had signed off on Perdues animal welfare standards.

So Leah Garces, director of Compassions American arm, was surprised this winter when Perdue invited her to talk about animal welfare with Bruce Stewart-Brown, its senior vice president for food safety, quality and live operations.
A laborer was packing up his van in Manhattan, done for the day last August, when he saw a man approach the nearby bus stop.

You just missed the bus, the laborer called out to him.

That simple greeting was all the man at the bus stop seems to have needed. Something about the laborer, or the greeting, may have suggested opportunity.

They chatted. The man at the bus stop volunteered that he worked in immigration law. The laborer perked up at this. He was an illegal immigrant, living in the Bronx with his wife and their three children, and wanted to live here legally.

The laborer invited the man at the bus stop to his home, and they left together in the van. The man said his name was Saul Roberto. I can get you an extended visa, he told the family, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Bronx. Im a sponsor. Im an attorney at law, and Im a film producer.
Ever since grave robbers haunted American cemeteries and medical students paid for fresh corpses, New York State law has appropriated unclaimed bodies on behalf of medical schools that teach anatomical dissection.

But on the last day of the legislative session this month, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to end that 162-year-old system by requiring written consent from a spouse or next of kin before city officials can release an unclaimed body to a school, unless the deceased is already registered as a body donor.

Though the new measure applies only to New York City and still needs the governors signature to become law, its passage in both houses on June 16 showed a significant shift in public attitudes toward human remains and the dead the city considers unclaimed.

The vote  61 to 1 in the State Senate, 107 to 32 in the Assembly  came a month after a New York Times investigation highlighted provisions in the current law that give families as little as 48 hours to claim a relatives body before the city must make it available for dissection or embalming practice. The city has offered at least 4,000 bodies to medical or mortuary programs in the past decade, records show, and among these, more than 1,877 were selected for use before burial in the citys mass graves on Hart Island.
Their names read like a whos who of the past half-centurys downtown performance scene. Among them: the playwright Sam Shepard, the composer Meredith Monk and the transgender actress and Warhol superstar Candy Darling. Early works by these artists and dozens more are coming to light Monday when La MaMa, the East Village performance space synonymous with the downtown avant-garde, releases an expanded version of its digital collections website.

Image Sam Shepard at La MaMa in 1971, during a run of his Melodrama Play. Credit... Jens Heilmeyer, via The La MaMa Archives/Ellen Stewart Collection

Expect to see photographs of Harvey Fierstein in the early stages of creating his Torch Song Trilogy; a program from an overlooked Philip Glass opera; and ephemera from Warhols Factory. The website, catalog.lamama.org, will be in its most complete form yet as part of La MaMas 55th anniversary season.

Newly digitized offerings from the collection also include posters and videos, many from the earliest years of La MaMa, which was founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart. (The website has hundreds of documents related to her.)
Their moves are intended to buttress Mr. Trump as he confronts a faction of Republicans who, emboldened by his recent missteps, say their efforts to stage a convention coup are gaining more support. In the last week, prominent Republicans like House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin have breathed new life into these efforts by saying that delegates should be free to follow their consciences instead of being committed to back a candidate.

Stopping the presumptive nominee at the convention  one who won 37 states and has an indisputable majority of delegates  would be an extraordinary affront and seems improbable at this point. But even if the anti-Trump forces fall short, the scene that threatens to unfold on national television would be an unwelcome one for Mr. Trump and the Republican Party: a band of angry, rebelling delegates trying to seize control of the convention and wrest away the nomination.

Mr. Trump insisted in an interview last week that his opponents would fail to derail his nomination. You mean to tell me were going to get the largest vote in the history of the Republican primaries, he said, and now the same people that either didnt run or got beaten in a landslide are going to try and back-end?

My supporters are tremendously loyal to me, he added. They would not stand for it.

Such a hard-line approach would seem to create grim prospects for any kind of reconciliation with Mr. Cruz, who will command more than 500 delegates when the convention begins in three weeks. And to deny Mr. Cruz a speech  or for that matter Mr. Kasich, the governor of the state that is hosting the convention  would be a rare rebuke. Speeches by the runners-up are usually a prime-time draw at any convention, and usually a foregone conclusion for an event that is supposed to convey party unity and good will.

But the speaking arrangements may not be entirely up to Mr. Trump. Because Mr. Cruz won a majority of delegates in at least eight states, he would probably be able to have his name entered into nomination, guaranteeing him a speech under party rules.
NOCHIXTLAN, Mexico  The battle over education here has suddenly turned literal.

Violent protests have claimed the lives of at least nine people in little more than a week, littered the roads with the charred remains of cargo trucks, and tapped a deep vein of anger and mistrust toward the government.

Thousands of students here in the southern state of Oaxaca have been without school for months as their teachers have taken to the streets, rejecting national efforts to improve the enormous, abysmal education system.

But after government forces clashed with demonstrators here in the town of Nochixtlan last week, leaving at least nine dead and dozens wounded, the protest movement appears to have gained steam, plunging President Enrique Pena Nietos signature education changes deeper into controversy.

In recent days, thousands of students in Oaxaca have joined their teachers in the streets for the first time to rail against the government, and many adults once ambivalent about the teachers cries of injustice have also taken up the cause.
BEIJING  A longtime political activist and artist who has been detained for more than a year in China after visiting the grave site of a victim of the violent Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 is expected to stand trial on Thursday, according to his lawyer.

The activist, Chen Yunfei, 48, uses performance art to criticize the Communist Party and is a close friend of other Chinese intellectuals, including the author Liao Yiwu, who lives in Germany and is also from Mr. Chens home province, Sichuan. Mr. Liao has written about Mr. Chens detention.

The authorities have charged Mr. Chen with picking quarrels and provoking trouble. The police in China have been using the charge in many prominent cases against dissidents. The police also wanted the court to try Mr. Chen on a charge of inciting subversion of the state, but that charge has been dropped.

In 2013, the top legal bodies expanded the definition of the picking quarrels charge to include online writing, and the security forces have wielded it as a legal weapon against liberal voices on the internet and people carrying out protests or other acts judged to be overly critical of the party or the state.
Democratic governments have shown over and over that they have no answer for this anxiety, even as the stakes, in Europe and globally, continue mounting.

Facts Cannot Compete With Feelings

The economist Michael Clemens has called immigration a trillion-dollar bill lying on the sidewalk: a tremendous increase in wealth waiting to be seized by any country that is attractive to immigrants and willing to welcome them. Loosening restrictions on global labor flows, he argues, would offer a bigger boost to global economies than would dropping all restrictions on trade and capital.

But evidence does not vote  people do. And it turns out that the gains of immigration often feel elusive, whereas the costs can be perceived as heavier than they really are.

A poll released June 20 by Ipsos/MORI showed that 47 percent of voters planning to support Brexit said immigration had been bad for Britains economy. Never mind that a study by Britains National Institute of Economic and Social Research found that immigration had increased the countrys gross domestic product and had lowered the cost of government services like health care and pensions, which in turn helped reduce taxes.

To be sure, just because immigration is a net positive for the country as a whole does not mean that it benefits all of its people. The geographic breakdown of Thursdays vote showed that the regions where the Leave campaign fared the best were areas that tend to have few immigrants but also lower wages, according to analysis conducted by Torsten Bell, the director of the Resolution Foundation, a British think tank.

This suggests that economic anxiety might be expressed as anti-immigration sentiment even by Britons who have not lost jobs to foreigners.

You tend to see anti-immigrant sentiment in areas hit by changing economic circumstances or global crises, said Alexandra Cirone, a fellow at the London School of Economics. Framing this globalization problem as immigration can also tug on the heartstrings of potential voters, regardless of the actual facts.
As Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Francois Hollande of France and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy meet on Monday in Berlin, and again with the heads of all 28 European Union members in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will have to decide whether to continue pressing for immediate negotiations on the terms of Britains withdrawal or to let passions cool in the hopes that some kind of deal might be worked out to keep Britain in the bloc.

They will have to decide whether the lesson to draw from the British vote is that the growing populist and nationalist backlash against the bloc needs to be acknowledged through fundamental changes or whether it requires a show of resolve by pushing ahead with plans for deeper integration.

And they will confront the potential for a change in the power dynamic among the blocs biggest members, with Italy and to a degree France challenging the dominance of Germany and Germanys insistence on austerity economics as the cornerstone of European policy.

In an op-ed published Sunday in Italys leading business newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr. Renzi described the British vote as an interesting opportunity to relaunch the European project. He suggested that it was time for the bloc to focus on economic growth and job creation rather than debt reduction.

It needs to take back its identity, Mr. Renzi wrote of the European Union. Austerity policies have transformed the future into a threat, he said, adding, They spurred fear.
LONDON  Freed from the shackles of the European Union, Britains economy would prosper and its security would increase. Britain would take back control of immigration, reducing the number of arrivals. And it would be able to spend about 350 million pounds, or about $470 million, a week more on health care instead of sending the money to Brussels.

Before Thursdays referendum on the countrys membership in the 28-nation bloc, campaigners for British withdrawal, known as Brexit, tossed out promises of a better future while dismissing concerns raised by a host of scholars and experts as Project Fear.

But that was before they won.

With financial markets in turmoil, a big drop in the pound and the prospect of further chaos, some supporters of Brexit are backpedaling on bold pronouncements they made just a few days earlier. A lot of things were said in advance of this referendum that we might want to think about again, Liam Fox, a former cabinet minister, told the BBC, including when and how Article 50  the formal process for leaving the European Union  should be invoked.

Perhaps no promise was more audacious  and mendacious, critics say  than the 350-million-a-week claim. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London who was the frontman of the Brexit campaign, toured Britain in a bus emblazoned with the slogan: We send the E.U. 350 million a week, lets fund our N.H.S. instead, a reference to the countrys widely revered National Health Service.
LONDON  Britains political crisis intensified on Sunday after its decision to leave the European Union, with the opposition Labour Party splitting into warring camps, Scotlands leader suggesting that its local Parliament might try to block the departure and many Britons wondering if there was a plausible way for the nation to reconsider its drastic choice.

The hostilities in the Labour Party broke out as the battle lines became clearer among the governing Conservatives, left in turmoil by the vote on the European Union and the subsequent announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron that he would resign once his party chose a successor.

Michael Gove, the justice minister and one of the leaders of the Leave campaign, threw his support to the former London mayor Boris Johnson, the most prominent figure in the anti-Europe movement. Aides to Theresa May, the home secretary, who backed the Remain side in the referendum on Thursday, were calling legislators to seek their support to take on Mr. Johnson.

The British news media reported that close allies of Mr. Cameron were also working to stop Mr. Johnson, reflecting the sense of betrayal on Downing Street over Mr. Johnsons decision to tie his political ambitions to the movement to leave Europe. Other cabinet ministers were considering whether to run, including Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, and Liam Fox, a former defense secretary.
AMMAN, Jordan  Weapons shipped into Jordan by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia intended for Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, according to American and Jordanian officials.

Some of the stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November that killed two Americans and three others at a police training facility in Amman, F.B.I. officials believe after months of investigating the attack, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The existence of the weapons theft, which ended only months ago after complaints by the American and Saudi governments, is being reported for the first time after a joint investigation by The New York Times and Al Jazeera. The theft, involving millions of dollars of weapons, highlights the messy, unplanned consequences of programs to arm and train rebels  the kind of program the C.I.A. and Pentagon have conducted for decades  even after the Obama administration had hoped to keep the training program in Jordan under tight control.

The Jordanian officers who were part of the scheme reaped a windfall from the weapons sales, using the money to buy expensive SUVs, iPhones and other luxury items, Jordanian officials said.
During my morning stroll in San Clemente, I had the occasion to stop into the ladies restroom near the pier. After spending a quarter of a million dollars on its renovation a couple of years ago, I somehow expected something nice. Yes, very pretty from the outside. Inside, however, there was still the same old uneven concrete floor from decades ago. The odor of urine was distressing, and the number of flies was horrible.

Can we not do better than this for our guests to the beach and for the folks who live here? Perhaps the floor cleaning can be stepped up to include a thorough hosing. It is just gross as it is now.

Laura Isambert

San Clemente

Dear Mallard lovers

Re: Please keep Mallard Fillmore [Letters, June 22]: I have never been accused of being a tyrannical liberal and potential shredder of the Bill of Rights. I am a U.S. Army veteran married to an Army veteran, a daughter and granddaughter of Navy veterans and the niece of a Coast Guard aviator who lost his life on a mission. I know the sacrifices that have been made and continue to be made for our country. I truly believe that America is still a shining city on a hill. My family and I fully embrace the life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness we are so blessed with.

How lucky we are that we have freedom of the press and can write letters to the editor. That said, I still dont like Mallard and wish that like Mallard #13 he would fly off into the sunset. Rejoice? There appears to be more Mallard lovers than not, so Mallard stays. Isnt democracy great?

Lynn Fues

Ladera Ranch

Boeing Boeing

Re: Boeing says it signs historic sales agreement with Iran Air [News, June 21]: Sure is quiet out there. Not a single Republican is stirring. Just three months ago, every Republican was criticizing the president for talking to Iran. Just talking. Oh, the Republicans called the president a traitor and un-American and worse. The president had the nerve to talk to our enemy. The Republicans considered talking to the enemy to be treason. They said the president needed to be impeached. And through all of this, the president was able to secure a treaty to limit nuclear weapons.

Now, according to the Register, Boeing is selling $25 billion worth of airplanes to Iran. I havent heard a peep from the Republicans. If the Republicans couldnt stand to see the president talking to Iran, what must the Republicans think of Boeing selling a fleet of Boeing airliners? I havent heard any accusation of treason by Boeing.

Nobody is calling Boeing un-American. Seems to me the Republicans have no credibility, especially when they put their party ahead of the country.

Rob Macfarlane

Newport Beach

Great article on beach cleanup

I just want to start out by saying how content I am with your article Beach cleanups hit a milestone: 5 years = 10,000 pounds of trash [News, June 14]: I am glad you shed some light on beach pollution. Pollution has become a big problem in the world we live in. Look at all these natural disasters that have been going on around us. It is vital we teach the people on this earth to take care of the planet. What will become of us if we no longer take care of the planet?

Without those amazing 340 volunteers, we wouldnt be one step closer to bettering our planet. If those 340 volunteers were able to clean up a little over 10,000 pounds of trash in five years, imagine how much more we can collect. If we just all did our part and picked up the waste we left behind, once we left the beach, it could make a big improvement to our environment.

I recently visited Newport Beach, and I was appalled at how much waste was left behind. So many plastic cups and bottles. It made me so mad to see so much waste left behind near the ocean. Seeing all that waste made a big impact on me, so I started to pick up all the waste left behind while I continued my walk down the beach.

Sneddon and his wife Deseret were right to teach their daughter Gwen at a young age to look after the planet. If the younger generation doesnt look after the planet, then who will? It is vital that we show the younger generation how much of an impact pollution can have on us. If people encounter the problem right in front of their eyes, they will more likely be motivated to do their part to help improve the planet. People need to realize pollution is a big problem that can affect us in a negative way in the near future.

Alondra Carrillo

Tustin
Surely this is no time for a blase and cavalier attitude toward the profoundly uncertain territory the world is careening into. But its a mark of how culturally destitute weve become  unable to confidently conceive of a future and execute on it  that those with steely nerves and level heads are being accused of recklessness and irresponsibility.

To be sure, the media has accustomed us to viewing cantankerous, arrogant analysts with suspicion (whenever they disagree with us). But if one unreserved advantage of Brexit is that now we might just be shaken out of the failing ideological frameworks that keep us locked into both false certainty and false fear.

Exhibit A: New York Times columnist  and monument to intellectual self-regard  Paul Krugman. A naked partisan who believes he speaks directly for the liberal conscience, Krugman has also become one of the leading center-left figures to lead the anti-panic charge around Brexit.

Im finding myself less horrified by Brexit than one might have expected, he mused. In fact, less than I myself expected. The economic consequences will be bad, but not, Id argue, as bad as many are claiming. The political consequences might be much more dire; but many of the bad things I fear would probably have happened even if Remain had won.

Thats because, however much some Brexit enthusiasts stooped to race-baiting and fear-mongering, its the European Union that truly blew it. EU officials were simply unable to fulfill the organizations fundamental promises: a viable currency, a stable economy, and  most of all, although this pledge remained always implicit  a source of unity grand enough to keep Europe moving on a permanent path of progress toward fuller integration.

The big mistakes were the adoption of the euro without careful thought about how a single currency would work without a unified government; the disastrous framing of the euro crisis as a morality play brought on by irresponsible southerners; the establishment of free labor mobility among culturally diverse countries with very different income levels, without careful thought about how that would work, Krugman correctly observed. Brexit is mainly a symptom of those problems, and the loss of official credibility that came with them.

Translation: economics utterly failed as a foundation for social unity  despite (and perhaps because) Europes best and brightest became forced by their own ideology to prove that it was, indeed, the only such foundation possible. Remarkably, Krugmans calm and collected logic leads us to conclude that Europe and Britains reactionary populists are not to blame for Brexit or for the unhinged and unreliable environment that surrounds it. Rather, the EU crowd is to blame  even for their strange hope that an empire of social justice could be built on fiscal and monetary stilts, but for their unwillingness to exercise basic political virtues like patience and prudence in taking on such an ambitious, uncanny task. It is the reasonable people who turned out to be the least reasonable when it counted most, and the crazies who have charted a measured course (full Brexit will take several years) out of the soup.

But any smug sense of just deserts will have to be put on hold. The Wests deluded reasonables have not yet begun to break character. Where an ounce of humility could help them in their reckoning with reality, many instead have doubled down on apocalyptic claims. Despite the fact of Britains strong structural fundamentals on the world markets, many reasonables, especially among the cognitive and cultural elite, really do feel betrayed, and they are out for revenge. Some of the same kind of people who have contemptuously wondered aloud if conservatives arent really hoping for another 9/11 now seem almost to want economic catastrophe: See, you awful nationalists, what your little rebellion against progress has done?

Even in these times of unparalleled uncertainty  which they, after all, have wrought  the reasonables cannot abide a world in which their worst fears are proven baseless. For if the populists, the nationalists and reactionary knuckle-draggers are not our mortal enemies and our existential threats, then who are?

Surely intelligent, confident liberals  like Paul Krugman on a good day  will find common cause with well-adjusted conservatives in finding a decent answer. Both groups agree that the reactionaries are largely wrong, even if their upset over the Wests failed elites is justified.

But on both sides of the Atlantic, instinctive progressives  raised to believe by osmosis that todays secular pieties of diversity and inclusion are so universal and virtuous that they must always be officially and completely embraced  are in for a rude awakening, not to mention a rendezvous with something even deeper than fear: true human freedom, in all its incommensurable choices.

This is the real trumpet blast of Brexit. Actual diversity means distinctions that carry actual differences  not the token performative signifiers that decorate the otherwise sterile and barren uniformity of todays enlightened public and private bureaucracies. The first step to reformulating a future with this fact in mind is presence of mind, a dedication to privileging the art of muddling through modestly over that of spinning abstract ideals into grand institutions. Perhaps now we Westerners can begin to stage an exit of our own  in personal life no less than political  from our fear of cathartic collapse and the hope of a new age with which its perversely commingled.
LONDON  The political fallout from Britains stunning decision to leave the European Union sharply escalated Sunday, with debate growing inside the governing Conservative Party over choosing a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron and a coup attempt emerging against the leader of the opposition Labour Party.

The day was marked by a succession of fast-moving events against the backdrop of a leadership crisis in the aftermath of Thursdays Brexit vote. The political maneuvering came as Britain and other nations prepared for more potential financial shocks when markets open on Monday after Fridays worldwide selloff.

The turmoil underscored the degree to which the decision to break with Europe  an action seen widely in the United Kingdom as the most significant event in the postwar history of Britain  has left the country politically divided, deeply unsettled and in uncharted territory on multiple fronts.

The complex process of negotiating the terms of the separation from the European Union has suddenly collided with a leadership crisis triggered by a voter revolt against the nations political establishment.

The decision by Cameron to hand off to his successor the issue of how to exit the EU and the absence so far of any concrete plans advanced by the government or by leaders of the Leave campaign who could inherit that responsibility have heightened the uncertainty and increased tensions across the political spectrum.

Sunday opened with news that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had fired one of the most senior members of his leadership team, Hilary Benn, after Benn had told the leader he had lost confidence in him.

The sacking of Benn led to a succession of resignations by other members of the Labour cabinet. By late in the day, nine others had quit their positions in what amounted to a rolling repudiation of Corbyns leadership by his elected colleagues.

The Labour revolt reflected fears that the party could suffer what Benn called a catastrophic defeat if, as expected, there is a general election called later this year after the Conservative Party chooses a new leader to succeed Cameron.

Hes a good and decent man, but he is not a leader, Benn said of Corbyn during an interview with the BBCs Andrew Marr. Thats the problem.

Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence among his parliamentary peers this week. The two Labour members of Parliament who offered the motion, Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey, sent a letter to their colleagues expressing pessimism about the partys future under Corbyn.

If a general election is called later this year . we believe that under Jeremys leadership we could be looking at political oblivion, they said.

Corbyn has vowed to stand firm against efforts to oust him and began to rally a counter movement to fend off the coup attempt. As the resignations came one after another Sunday, his allies rushed to his defense, with more shows of support planned for early in the week.

Corbyn was elected just a year ago with overwhelming support from rank-and-file members of the party. That base still appears to be strong, despite the defections among elected leaders, setting up the possibility of a disastrous civil war between the partys progressive grassroots and many elected leaders who come from Labours centrist wing and others.

The fate of Corbyn, however, is currently seen as secondary to the question of who will lead the Conservatives, as that person will immediately become prime minister upon Camerons official resignation. Cameron said Friday he wants to see a successor in place by early October.

Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and the leading voice in the campaign to exit the EU, is considered the favorite to take over from Cameron. But the flamboyant Johnson is a magnet for controversy. Newspapers Sunday were filled with reports of gathering efforts by other Conservatives to deny him the post he has long been maneuvering to claim.

Despite Johnsons position as the Conservative frontrunner, the leadership contest could end up with a number of candidates seeking to block his path. One potentially strong challenger is Theresa May, currently the home secretary and a quiet campaigner in favor of Britain remaining in the EU. But some Tory leaders say the next prime minister should come from the partys pro-Brexit wing.

Cameron has been largely invisible since he emerged Friday morning to announce his intention to resign. So too has his ally George Osborne, the British finance minister. He is the architect of the governments economic policies and is regarded as a key player in dealing with the economic and budgetary fallout from Brexit. But his hopes of becoming prime minister have taken a beating because of the Brexit decision.

The most visible leader in Britain in the days since the vote has been Nicola Sturgeon, the head of the Scottish National Party. On Sunday, she continued to press for a new independence referendum, a move that could lead to the dismantlement of the United Kingdom.

Scotlands voters rejected a similar referendum in 2014 but Sturgeon said Sunday on the BBC Scotland, The U.K. that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 isnt there anymore.

On the Brexit referendum, Scotland voted strongly to remain in the EU. Since then, Sturgeon has said she would seek negotiations directly with European leaders in Brussels in an effort to keep Scotland in the EU as a way to protect the regions economic interests.

A query to the EU offices about the possibility of Scotland negotiating separate standing produced a text reply from spokesman Daniel Rosario: Scotland is part of the U.K., he said. The respective constitutional arrangements apply. We will not speculate further.

Sturgeon on Sunday also raised the possibility of the Scottish Parliament blocking Britain from leaving the EU, but other officials said they doubted that was within the powers of the Scottish body, saying that withholding consent would not amount to a veto.

Since Thursdays vote, European leaders have pushed back against Camerons desire to delay triggering the formal process of withdrawing from the EU under the blocs Article 50. On Saturday, foreign ministers from the six original members of the EU spoke as one in calling on Britain to get moving as soon as possible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, offered a softer tone, suggesting more patience over the timing of the start of the divorce proceedings.

Amid the public pressure from Europe for Britain to quickly trigger Article 50, there were also suggestions that the continental leaders believed all hope was not yet lost.

In an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newspaper published Sunday, Merkels chief of staff Peter Altmaier said politicians in London should be given an opportunity to re-evaluate the consequences of exiting the bloc, suggesting the Germans believed there might still be a chance to keep Britain in the fold.

The posture of the European leaders could become clearer this week during a series of scheduled meetings. On Monday, Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi plan to huddle in Berlin to coordinate their demands for Britain ahead of a Tuesday summit of all 28 EU leaders in Brussels.

Cameron will be present for that Tuesday meeting and will no doubt be asked to explain himself over what could be a foul-spirited dinner. On Wednesday, the leaders will kick Cameron out of the room and discuss how to handle what will likely be years of torturous divorce negotiations.

President Barack Obama spoke with Cameron on Friday and in the subsequent days there have been multiple conversations between administration officials and their European and Asian counterparts about the economic and security implications of the Brexit vote.

The United States has taken no position on the dispute over how quickly the divorce proceedings should begin.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to visit Brussels and London on Monday. Speaking in Rome on Sunday, he said the United States respected the will of the voters in Britain and that he and Obama, who had urged a vote to remain, were confident that we will be able to work through this in a sensible way.
LONDON  A tsunami of uncertainty has engulfed Anna Woydyla, a Polish restaurant worker in London, since Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Would her two teenage children, who grew up in the United Kingdom, still qualify for loans to study at British universities? Would she and her husband, after 11 years of working here, have to sell the home they just bought? Leave their jobs? Leave their new country? Try to apply for citizenship?

The 41-year-old is among hundreds of thousands of European Union workers in Britain who are fearful and confused over what happens next as their adoptive country begins the long process of unwinding its many ties to continental Europe.

If it were just me, I could even return to Poland, Woydyla said as she stocked a bar in an Italian restaurant in Londons Camden district. But my kids are more English than Polish. They dont even want to go to Poland for their holidays anymore. They even speak to each other in English.

An entire class of cosmopolitan entrepreneurs, workers and students who have made the U.K. their home since Britain opened its borders to its EU neighbors now see their futures in limbo. The immigrants changed the face of Britain, turning Londons Kensington neighborhood into a suburb of Paris, changing sleepy English towns such as Boston into Baltic enclaves, filling supermarket shelves with Polish lager and Wiejska sausage.

I personally cannot tell whats going to change for me, said Andrea Cordaro, a 21-year-old Italian student. Ill just have to keep my head up and hope for the best.

Laurence Borel, a 36-year-old digital marketing consultant from France, isnt waiting to find out whats coming next. She asked for her British passport in May after more than 15 years living in the country.

Ill bet a lot of people are applying, she said, explaining that shed been mulling the idea of a passport for years but the referendum prompted her to act. I dont want to go back to France, she said. My life is here.

At workplaces and schools across the country, managers have sent out emails to worried foreign staffers and students, assuring them that  for now  nothing has changed.

The formal process for leaving the European Union will take at least two years, Oxford University said in one such statement. Our staff and students can be assured that in the short term, we anticipate no disruption to employment or study.

Over the long term though, the lives of the estimated 3 million EU citizens living in Britain may change in ways big and small. A survey commissioned by the Financial Times found that if Britains current immigration rules were applied to EU nationals, the overwhelming majority would lose their jobs and be forced to leave the country.

Poles are the largest group of foreign EU workers in the U.K. An estimated 850,000 people from Poland are now in the U.K., seeking wages and opportunities far beyond what they could ever expect in their ex-communist homeland; Polish is now Englands second-most-spoken language.

The fate of the Poles in Britain is such an important domestic issue in Poland that President Andrzej Duda vowed after the British referendum that Polish leaders will do everything to keep the rights unchanged in upcoming negotiations with British leaders.

I trust that the British government will appreciate the contribution the Poles are bringing into the development of the British Islands, into their social and cultural life, Duda said.
TUSTIN  Employees and customers were evacuated Saturday morning from a Costco after hazardous gas leaked from a refrigerator line, an Orange County Fire Authority official said.

The OCFA received a call at 11:15 a.m. after a smoke alarm went off at the Costco on El Camino Real, Capt. Steve Concialdi said. When firefighters arrived, they saw a mist and Costco employees evacuating customers.

A broken refrigerator line was emitting Freon and a haz-mat team responded, Concialdi said. Costco employees were also evacuated because the gas could be toxic, he added.

Firefighters kept all of the doors and skylights open and exhaust fans turned on until the air was safe to breathe, Concialdi said.

A technician fixed the line, and at around 1 p.m. employees were allowed to go back into the store, Concialdi said.

The Costco re-opened at 2 p.m.

Contact the writer: 949-445-6397 or tshimura@ocregister.com
Budget crunch time for the Orange County government this year brings a cloud of uncertainty over a possible shortfall of up to $20 million for public safety. The problem stems from Proposition 172, a half-cent sales tax dedicated to public safety. At their meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors will be grappling with that problem as they finalize the county budget for fiscal year 2016-17, which begins on July 1.

Although we opposed it when voters approved it in 1993, Prop. 172 was intended to give certainty to the funding of public safety, with 80 percent allocated to city and county police and 20 percent to the district attorneys office. Yet uncertainty is what now prevails.

A big problem is that the Board of Equalization, whose audit uncovered the shortfall, has yet to give Orange and other counties across the state exact numbers of what could be lost. The data arent expected until next March. The Board of Equalization is taking their sweet time trying to see if they over-allocated the funds in the past, meaning future shortfalls, Supervisor Todd Spitzer told us. He believes the amount of the shortfall wont be up to $20 million, which would be a break for the county. But the number well could be that high.

Mr. Spitzer said the spirit of Prop. 172 ought to be followed to make sure public safety is fully funded, if necessary by cutting other funds, in particular because crime has increased. As the Register reported, 2015 saw the greatest single-year jump in at least a decade  with the steepest increases coming in stolen vehicles, aggravated assaults, theft and burglaries, according to law enforcement records compiled by the Orange County Register.

Mr. Spitzer blamed Proposition 47, the 2014 initiative, and other measures that have reduced penalties for many felonies, releasing thousands of prisoners. Yet we believe more data are needed to confirm that contention because crime is up across America, not just in California. Another problem not foreseen by voters back in 1993 when Prop. 172 was passed is the pension-spiking that later occurred for police and sheriffs, increasing costs to taxpayers and devouring much of the Prop. 172 revenue.

Then theres the donor county problem, with Orange County receiving back from the state just 6 percent of property tax revenues, compared to the 17 percent average for the 15 largest counties. That means our own people get short changed and have to make up the difference by paying for public safety and other services.

As to the problem at hand, Mr. Spitzer said, Will we cut public safety? The answer is no. That seems reasonable to us.
ARCADIA  Veteran trainer David Hofmans knows a thing or two about saddling longshot Breeders Cup winners. He conditioned Alphabet Soup to win the 1996 Breeders Cup Classic at 19-1 and oversaw Adoration, who won the 2003 Distaff as a 40-1 bomb.

Thats all I do. Nobody trusts me, a smiling Hofmans said Saturday in the winners circle after he showed he can also fare quite well with favorites, saddling Melatonin, the 9-5 betting choice, for a 11/2-length victory in the $501,035 Grade I Gold Cup at Santa Anita.

If all goes well, Melatonin will run in the Breeders Cup Classic on Nov. 5, and hell most likely be a longshot if he does. He was listed at 15-1 in some Breeders Cup future books before Saturday.

Hofmans is fine with that. He knows his horse, a 5-year-old gelded son of Kodiak Kowboy, still has much to prove even after the Gold Cup victory, which came on the heels of his 16-1 upset win in the Santa Anita Handicap and a strong second-place showing behind Effinex in the Oaklawn Handicap on April 16.

These were good horses in here, Hofmans said. There are Grade I horses in here, but what hes got to face in the future are Grade I-plus horses. Its going to get tougher from here on out. Ive been around too long to kid myself.

Those Grade I-plus horses include the likes of California Chrome and Beholder, who Melatonin could face if his connections choose to run in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 20.

Will Hofmans try to avoid the big two until the Breeders Cup?

Absolutely, he said.

But that doesnt mean the Pacific Classic is out of the question.

Ill look at it, sure, he said. Ill get ready for it, and well see.

Melatonin has turned into a monster since trying two turns for the first time on Feb. 5, winning a 11/16-mile optional claimer by 33/4 lengths at Santa Anita. He followed that up with a gate-to-wire score by 4 1/4 lengths in the Big Cap and then came up a length short of Effinex at Oaklawn Park.

Hofmans says its Melatonins intelligence that enables him to outrun a pedigree that suggests hes a miler at best. But jockey Joe Talamo offered another explanation.

His trainer, right there, he said, nodding toward Hofmans. Hes conditioned this horse so well. He keeps him fresh.

Fresh enough that when 24-1 longshot Win the Space came alongside him in the stretch of the 11/4-mile Gold Cup, Talamo had enough in reserve to stave off the upset bid.

What impressed me the most was, inside the eighth pole, when Win the Space came to him, he just would not let him by and fought on real nice, Talamo said.

But Talamo also did not discount the intelligence factor.

Hes smarter than me, thats for sure, he cracked.

Much like Hofmans and Talamo thought before the race, Melatonin was able to sit second, right behind pacesetter Lieutenant Colonel, through moderate fractions of 23.83, 47.70 and 1:11.48. When it came time to pounce, Talamo had the horse to do it.

Hes a jockeys dream, he said. He can go to the front, he can lay second or third. What else can you ask from a horse?

Melatonin was knocked by some because of his slow Big Cap clocking of 2:02.01  the fourth slowest in the past 40 years. But he ran the same distance in 1:59.79 Saturday, not that it mattered one bit to Talamo.

I think Jack Van Berg had the greatest saying of all  time only counts when youre in prison, he said. I never did really care about his time in the Big Cap. It still impressed me.

The victory, coming in a Breeders Cup Win and Youre In race, assured Melatonins owner, Tarabilla Farms, of a fees-paid trip to the Classic.

And we have our track, Hofmans said of Santa Anita, which will host the Breeders Cup this year for a record ninth time.

Last years Gold Cup winner, Hard Aces, finished third, followed by Hoppertunity, Imperative, Lieutenant Colonel, Second Summer and Bal a Bali.
Hi, its me, Marla Jo, your columnist and deals maven. If you know a great deal, let me know at mfisher@ocregister.com. You can also find me at Deals Diva on Facebook and Twitter. And dont forget to read my humor columns on Wednesdays in the Register.

FREE PREVIEWS

Got Dish Network? Then youve got free previews until July 5 of the following channels: Cooking Channel 113, Pop 117, Great American Country 165, Halllmark Movies & Mysteries 187, UP 188, Oprah Winfrey Network 189. I like to use these free previews to record shows to watch later. I find these deals on FreePreview.TV, and you can sign up for their updates.

FREE MUSEUMS

If you have a credit or debit card from Bank of America or Merrill Lynch, you can get in free this coming weekend, July 2-3 to the Discovery Cube OC or the Orange County Museum of Art, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Museum of Latin American Art and more. This is part of the Museums On Us program, thats good the first weekend of every month. Sorry to say, only one admission per card. Show a photo ID and a valid card. To see participating museums and upcoming dates, visit Museums.bankofamerica.com.

QUEEN DEAL

Want to stay overnight at the historic Queen Mary Hotel? For stays from Sunday through Thursday, you can book their Family Fun Package starting at $199, and get a $100 ship credit to use at any restaurant, store or tour on board. Thats a good deal. Its not good Fourth of July week. They charge you an additional fee of $14.95 per night, and parking isnt included. Use Promo Code FAMILYSUMMER to book. The last date to use this I could find on the availability calendar was Sept. 8. Learn more: QueenMary.com

FREE APP OF THE WEEK

Are you planning to visit any national parks this summer? If so, check out the free smartphone apps you can download from Chimani, which has now developed detailed apps for 59 iconic U.S. National parks, from Acadia to Zion. And, whats really cool is you dont need cell service or Wi-Fi inside the park to use them. Maps, trails, features, stuff you want to know, its all there. Go to your app store or Chimani.com.

GET BOOKISH

Make new friends at the San Clemente Adult Book Club this coming week, which meets 10-11:30 a.m. on the last Wednesday of the month. This months selection: One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. Location: San Clemente library, 242 Avenida del Mar. Contact: 949-492-3493

TAKE THE TRAIN

Like riding the rails? Buy a $10 weekend day pass that will allow you to ride Metrolink trains anywhere in its regional system either all day Saturday or Sunday. It also includes free transfers to many rail and bus lines, for example, take Metrolink to L.A.s Union Station, then hop on the Red Line subway for free up to Hollywood Boulevard. Or ride to the San Clemente Pier. **Note this is only good for Metrolink commuter rail, not Amtrak trains. So you cant ride it to San Diego or Santa Barbara, because those destinations are only served by Amtrak. But there are still a lot of fun places you can visit. Make sure there are weekend trains. Buy at the station. Check out the list of stations on the Metrolink website at metrolinktrains.com.

FREE TROLLEY

Many people know about the cute free trolleys that ply the PCH and canyon in Laguna Beach each summer, but did you know that Dana Point has joined the club? The citys new free summertime trolleys started running June 17, and make stops at Capistrano County Beach, Strand Beach, Doheny State Beach, the Ritz Carlton and Monarch Beach and more. They also connect with the Laguna trolleys on the north end. Learn more: DPtrolley.com.

FREE LOVE

The Irvine Animal Care Center has a great program in which adults age 62 and older can adopt a senior pet at no charge. Older pets owners couldnt care for them anymore, but they still have a lot of love to give. Since theyre already housebroken and beyond their naughty puppy habits like digging, fence-jumping and chewing, they make great companions for older adults. Look for the green senior stamp on the kennel cards to identify adoptable seniors. Location: 6443 Oak Canyon. Call 949-724-7740 or online at Cityofirvine.org/animal-care-center and click on Seniors helping seniors.

FREE TRAMWAY

Any military in your family? The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is offering a free ride to all active duty or retired military during the entire month of July. You must be active military or retired with an ID card to be eligible for this deal, a $24.95 value. And up to six guests also get 25 percent off their fares. Its nice and cool on top, there are hiking trails and a restaurant, cafe and lounge. Check out the free guided walks on weekends. Learn more: 760-325-1449 or Pstramway.com

Contact the writer: mfisher@ocregister.com or 714-796-7994
SANTA ANA  Carrying a rainbow-colored photo display of a victim in the Orlando massacre, David Cordona choked up as he walked along the gay pride parade route on Main Street.

The 41-year-old Santa Ana resident was one of 49 people holding photos of each victim of the mass shooting, a stark reminder, he said, that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer communities still have a long way to go before being fully accepted by society.

I feel like what happened in Orlando was so horrible but it has brought us all together, said a teary-eyed Cordona, who was carrying a photo of Jean Carlos Perez. Were pissed off. Ive been attending vigil, after vigil, after vigil and will continue to go wherever else I can.

Its given me a sense of purpose to fight for our rights.

As of mid-day Saturday, more than 15,000 people were on hand to celebrate the first large scale Orange County gay pride event in more than a decade, hosted by Orange County LGBT Pride. There have been gay pride marches, festivals and picnics throughout the 1980s and recent years, but from what organizers recall, Saturdays OC Pride Parade may have been the largest gathering.

Just a few weeks removed from the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, when a gunman killed 49 people dead and wounded 53 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., security was heightened at the Santa Ana event. Police officers and black and white cruisers could be seen on every block along the nearly one-mile parade route.

Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said Saturday additional uniformed officers and motor officers were tapped for the event; he declined to release further details.

The parade featured a memorial of the Orlando victims, a truck with a large Live Your Life! theme and walkers cheering and waving rainbow-colored flags. Longtime local LGBT activist Porfi Alanis serving as grand marshal. Afterwards, the crowd converged at the Yost Theater and the downtowns east end, filled with music, vendors and the smell of food.

Wearing an I Love My Gay Son t-shirt, Michael Richardson, 61, of Laguna Niguel, and his wife, Lisa, came to support their 24-year-old son, Taylor, and to raise awareness for PFLAG, an organization of parents that support the LGBTQ community.

Weve come a long, long way, but weve still got a long, long way to go, said Michael Richardson, referring to the LGBTQ movement. But the consciousness is shifting. Unfortunately, when change happens theres a backlash.

Linda Dileo of Yorba Linda waved a Born This Way flag as the parade moved down Main Street. Dileo, 57, cried when she saw the photos of the Orlando victims and cheered as the parade procession went by. Shes glad the pride festival is back in Orange County and hopes it becomes an annual event.

Im here to support my people, she said.

Karla Bland, 49, held a photo of Akyra Murray, the youngest victim of the Orlando shooting. Bland said the Orlando tragedy awakened the LGBTQ community to the need for gun reform.

Never forget, she said. Never ever forget these faces.

Staff Writer Tomoya Shimura contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2443 or jpimentel@ocregister.com or follow on Twitter @OCDisney
No! My stance has not changed on the issue of pot legalization. To allow people in society to use mind-altering drugs is dangerous and stupid. How many thousands of people are killed each year by people under the influence? It doesnt matter if it is alcohol or drugs. And the progressives of this state want to increase those deaths and injuries? Ludicrous.

Many scientific studies were done in the 60s and 70s showing devastating effects of smoking pot to the brain. Where is the mention of these in any news story about pot?

Colorado legalized pot. The effect? Traffic collisions and arrests spiked so high the state was forced to hire hundreds of additional police to handle the workload.

The war on drugs has always been a joke. I see underage kids with booze and drugs almost every day. When the police are called, the response is, Dont bother us, we wont do anything anyway.

The push to legalize pot is strictly a money grab by politicians. If it is legal, they can tax it. And they will. More money for politicians to waste. Its all about the money. Unfortunately, common sense has been abandoned for political correctness and the almighty dollar.

Richard Frutschy

Anaheim

  

Legalizing any restricted behavior will increase its frequency. No debate there. Therefore, get ready for the following: Increased marijuana-related DUI fatalities and injuries, increased second-hand hallucinogenic smoke wafting into peoples homes, increased public drunkenness problems, increased domestic violence and increased user health problems (lung, mental, cardio-vascular, etc.).

Bruce R. Rogers

Lake Forest

  

Every Saturday and Sunday morning, I walk with my dog. Every weekend, I find one, two or three empty medical marijuana vials thrown into the vegetation along the roads. If anyone thinks those are thrown by legitimate users needing medical marijuana, they dont have a very good idea of what their kids are doing.

Medical marijuana is a benefit to some, but it is just a high to most. Lawmakers really have no concept of the reality surrounding who uses medical marijuana. I was formerly ambivalent about it, but now recognize that it is just another thing about which we dont have the courage to just say no.

Carl LaPlante

Yorba Linda

  

Your article on marijuana legalization appeared at the right time for me. I have wanted to tell my story for quite some time.

Having had cancer of the soft palate three years ago, treatment required chemotherapy and weeks of radiation every day. When my final day arrived, I beamed with joy!

However, radiation killed 50 percent of my salivary glands, to where Im in constant discomfort. Many foods are no longer edible for me. My doctors have tried everything.

So Im on medication for nerve damage to my tongue, and Im popping strong acetaminophen. Surely there is an alternative.

My adult son has been extremely conscientious and loving in that he gives me many different foods to try, hoping one  or all  will work. Only recently did he obtain a medical marijuana card for me and has generously brought me chocolate, fruit gummies and tea. The tea steeps for hours and then is refrigerated. I sip it in small increments. It not only helps the pain, it also gives me an appetite. I also sleep through the night, instead of going to the bathroom four to five times.

I have no desire to smoke cannabis. However, Im open to suggestions from associates who are educated in the various kinds of edibles that contain THC. For that, Id like an open establishment in which to shop.

So to answer your question: Yes I am not only happy with the trends of various cities, but actually pray that legalization will pass this November. Its not cheap: about $5 for one tea bag. If juveniles can afford to pay those prices, steal it or do whatever, that will happen, no matter what gets legalized.

But my story is tame compared to so many unfortunate people with maladies that prescription medicines cannot help. If, at age 73, I can go forth and take advantage of an alternative to popping pills, I am 100 percent on board.

Jean M. Adams

Lake Forest

  

Yes, I reluctantly agree it should be legalized and taxed, same as alcohol. As it was in prohibition against alcohol, it only made bootleggers and criminals rich, and so it is with outlawed marijuana. I dont like it, but tell an American he cant have something, and he will exert any means to have it. If it is legalized it will take money out of the likes of the Mexican mafia and put it into the state treasury for the benefit of the people.

Sam Foreman

Yorba Linda
Is marijuana an addictive gateway drug that lowers IQs, triggers psychotic episodes and makes roads less safe?

Or is it a miracle plant that can ease pain or provide a pleasant buzz with health risks on par with forgetting to floss?

Clashing portrayals of cannabis have endured through decades of research and a gradual easing of public resistance to the drugs use.

Twenty years after California legalized medical marijuana  and as the state appears poised to vote on allowing recreational consumption of weed  sorting fact from fiction, anecdotal evidence from rigorous research and Reefer Madness-type scare tactics from legitimate health concerns still isnt easy.

Scientists have been limited in their ability to assess long-term effects of marijuana. Thats largely because the federal government classifies cannabis alongside heroin as a top-tier illegal substance, which among other things means researchers must comply with an ultra-strict set of requirements that they say can prove insurmountable.

Also, as with most drug studies, researchers are forced to rely heavily on self-reported data that are often muddied and can skew results, such as gauging health effects among cannabis consumers who also smoke cigarettes.

We do need more research, said Madeline Meier, a psychologist at Arizona State University whos authored several widely cited studies on marijuana. Really, in the big scheme of things, this is a new area, an emerging area where we dont have strong conclusions yet.

California voters may not have years to wait for science to catch up with public policy choices.

In just four months, voters likely will decide whether to legalize recreational pot use in the state. Thursday is the deadline for election officials to finish validating signatures on an initiative aimed at the Nov. 8 ballot. And if the measure reaches the ballot and is approved in November, all residents 21 and over will be free to legally partake.

Big players in the medical community are split on the issue.

The California Medical Association, which represents more than 41,000 physicians, was an early supporter of the legalization initiative. The group stresses it isnt encouraging marijuana use. But, it adds, the most effective way to protect the public health is to tightly control, track and regulate marijuana and to comprehensively research and educate the public on its health impacts, not through ineffective prohibition.

However, the California Hospital Association, which represents hundreds of hospitals and health care systems, has joined law enforcement groups in opposing legalization. In May testimony before a legislative committee, the hospital groups Connie Delgado expressed concern that emergency room visits and infant exposure to marijuana might increase as they reportedly did in Colorado following legalization.

So how do adults make an informed decision with the science largely unsettled?

Theres a cost-benefit analysis that voters have to make, said Dr. Igor Grant, a psychiatrist who oversees the Center for Medical Cannabis Research at UC San Diego.

One the one hand, Grant said, there are costs tied to prohibition. They include lost opportunities to collect tax revenue and spending on law enforcement. He also pointed to studies showing criminal enforcement efforts have disproportionately penalized minority populations.

On the other hand, research suggests marijuana use poses some potential risks  particularly for vulnerable populations, such as teens and those prone to mental illness.

Theres no safe about it, Meier said.

At the same time, theres growing evidence that the health effects arent as severe as many people have believed. And, if precautions are taken  such as limiting access for minors  advocates say many remaining risks are modest and manageable.

In research released this month, Meier used data from a New Zealand study that tracked more than 1,000 people for 20 years to compare the health of cannabis users and nonusers.

In general, she said, people who use marijuana did not show poor physical health by midlife with one exception: They are more likely to have gum disease.

With the November campaign already gearing up, surveys and studies on marijuana that might otherwise only draw attention from the scientific community are being endorsed and critiqued, lauded and torn apart by the population at large.

Against that backdrop, the Register is beginning an occasional series that will survey current research and interview experts on common questions about marijuana use: the potential health risks, issues of government regulation and the experience of states where recreational use of cannabis is legal.

Q. Is marijuana addictive?

A. For some consumers, yes  but less so than with alcohol.

About 9 percent of people who use marijuana become dependent on it, according to research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study found the dependence rate is about 15 percent for people who drink alcohol, 17 percent for cocaine users and 32 percent for tobacco users.

Some people can drink normally. Some people can smoke weed normally. But some people cant, said Corey Richman, an admissions coordinator at Hope by the Sea drug addiction treatment center in San Juan Capistrano.

Roughly 2 percent of patients at Hope by the Sea are there for marijuana abuse, said Richman, a former addict himself. Theyre almost always teenagers brought in by concerned parents, he said.

The earlier young people start using marijuana, the more likely they are to get hooked, with the National Institute on Drug Abuse reporting dependence jumps to 17 percent for teen users.

Stopping heavy marijuana use is often more of a mental struggle than a physical one, said Kevin Alexander, clinical manager at Hoag Hospitals ASPIRE program in Newport Beach. It can trigger mild withdrawal symptoms similar to quitting tobacco, including irritability and sleep issues. In rare cases, he said, patients experience psychosis.

At the same time, doctors are tapping marijuanas painkilling benefits to help patients avoid riskier substances such as opioids. A study published in 2014 by the American Medical Association found lower rates of opioid overdoses in states where medical marijuana is legal.

Waiting until at least 18 to start using marijuana lessens the chances of becoming dependent, as does avoiding heavy use of potent pot products, experts say. And people with a family or personal history of addiction might consider avoiding marijuana altogether.

Q. Does marijuana cause brain damage?

A. More studies are needed to answer this complex question. But while a growing body of research indicates even heavy marijuana use seems to have few long-term health effects for adults, it may negatively affect developing teen brains.

People who started using cannabis as teenagers lost about eight IQ points by the time they were 38, according to a 2012 study by Meier.

Overwhelmingly, studies by Staci Gruber, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery team at Bostons McLean Hospital, show that chronic marijuana smokers who start using before age 16 perform more poorly on cognitive tests. They show reduced impulse control and issues with staying focused on a task, she said.

Even the brain structure itself can be altered in young smokers, she said, decreasing the amount of white matter, which affects how we learn.

Its not as if these people appear to have brain injuries, she said. In all actuality, these people are able to function the same as people who dont smoke.

Other studies contradict such results, and some researchers question whether family environment and other factors account for some of the cognitive decline. And even if IQ declines are correlated to marijuana use, its tough to know whether the drug changed the brain or subjects simply werent paying attention in school because they were high.

I think its fair to say, as far as heavy adolescent use, we have an open question here, said UC San Diegos Grant.

Most researchers agree such unanswered questions justify regulations  akin to those in the proposed California legalization measure  that are aimed at keeping marijuana away from young people. So, where should the age line on legal use be drawn?

In her study, Meier said negative impacts on IQ disappeared for people who started using at age 18, which is the age limit for California medical marijuana patients.

However, four states that have legalized recreational use set 21 as the age limit  the same being proposed for California.

Gruber said brain development continues until around age 25, making it tough to say that marijuana users are out of the woods at 21.

Q. Can you overdose on marijuana?

A. Unlike with alcohol and most other drugs, researchers say theres been no recorded death attributed to using too much cannabis. But experts say overdoing it can cause highly unpleasant and, rarely, dangerous experiences.

Consuming large amounts of potent pot can temporarily trigger rapid heartbeats, nausea and hallucinations.

Its not that youll die from it, Gruber said. But you might be so sick that youll wish you could die.

Bad trips typically happen when inexperienced consumers try a cannabis-infused food, dont feel anything after 30 minutes and eat more. Since the effects of cannabis edibles can take up to two hours to be felt, its easy to overindulge.

Most adverse symptoms wear off within a couple of hours, so medical experts suggest users relax and have a sober friend watch over them. They stress driving while impaired can be dangerous, as can the actions of someone who slips into a severe state of psychosis.

A lawsuit pending in Denver against an edibles company claims a man ate large quantities of cannabis-infused candy, started hallucinating, then killed his wife. And in the last two years, officials or family members have attributed two Colorado suicides to high doses of cannabis edibles.

Colorado now requires edibles to be sold in serving sizes of 10 milligrams, which it considers one dose. Theres also a push for stricter packaging and labeling requirements to help consumers dose more wisely.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.com
ORLANDO, Fla.  After media reports suggested that the man who carried out the massacre at a gay nightclub here might himself have been gay, the company that bills itself as the worlds largest gay hookup site put out what amounted to a distress call, asking members who may have had contact with the gunman, Omar Mateen, to come forward.

In an attempt to find an account connected to the killer, the site, Adam4Adam combed through the profile photos of every one of its 300,000 Florida members and researched 20 email addresses used by Mateen over the years that the company said had been provided by the FBI.

Adam4Adam came up with nothing.

I think it was a hoax, David Lesage, a spokesman for the Montreal-based company, said about the reports that Mateen had used Adam4Adam and other dating sites and apps for gay men.

Two weeks after Mateen barged into the Pulse nightclub June 12 and opened fire on the crowd, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded, investigators are still trying to determine the underlying motive for the slaughter. Although federal officials have said Mateen had become radicalized to some extent online, at least half a dozen men have come forward with claims that hint at another potential motive, reporting that they had seen Mateen at gay clubs, encountered him online or had romantic encounters with him.

The claims have prompted investigators to look into whether Mateen, who had called 911 pledging allegiance to Islamic State, was also a closeted gay man consumed by feelings of self-loathing and revenge.

FBI investigators, who have conducted more than 500 interviews in the case, are continuing to contact men who claim to have had sexual relations with Mateen or think they saw him at gay bars.

But so far, they have not found any independent corroboration  through his web searches, emails or other electronic data  to establish that he was gay, officials said.

The question of sexual orientation is part of a broader effort by the FBI to establish Mateens criminal profile. Beyond being a critical piece of information that could help the agency reconstruct the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, it could aid in creating a broader analysis of criminal and terrorist behavior.
New vehicles, a modern new headquarters and diesel engines are whats ahead for the automaker that brought Americans the Zoom Zoom slogan and a convertible adored by car enthusiasts.

Mazda North American Operations, with its base in Irvine, is in for a big change in early 2017 as it moves from its 30-year-old headquarters at 7755 Irvine Center Drive about a mile down the road to 200 Spectrum Center Drive.

The automaker has seen a decline in local sales, with 1,823 vehicles sold in Orange County by the end of April, a nearly 11 percent decrease from a year ago. The brand makes up almost 3 percent of Orange Countys auto sales. Mazdas national sales for May were down 4.3 percent.

The divisions newly installed chief executive, Masahiro Moro, said Mazda expects an increase in sales moving forward as new vehicles debut.

Joe Lu, an analyst at Kelley Blue Book, said the brand, known for its iconic and diminutive Miata convertible, has changed in recent years to focus on its vehicles instead of simply a fun image.

The brand is in a state of maturing. Their tagline used to be Zoom Zoom. Now its Driving Matters. Its focusing on performance. Theyve toned it down a little bit, Lu said.

Lu said the brand is trying to make a connection with its customers, while remaining fun, particularly by being one of the few companies to offer compact SUVs with manual transmissions.

The companys top executive at Mazda North America, Jim OSullivan, retired Jan. 1 after 40 years in the industry. OSullivan was replaced by Moro, who previously worked from the automakers home base in Hiroshima, Japan.

Moro discussed the divisions move and Mazdas future. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Q. You recently became Mazda North Americas chief executive. How does your management style differ from previous company CEO?

A. Jim had a lot of trust from dealers. I want to take over those good relationships with dealers. Im a strong believer in brand- value management and teamwork. I try to bring my North American team and the Japanese team close together. Our heritage is rich  we have been here 96 years, so I want people to understand our brand and engage in the brand.

Q. The auto industry seems to have recovered from the recession, posting record sales in 2015. Most brands did well. Does this put any pressure on Mazda?

A. Some welcomed pressure. The U.S. has a good, healthy market. In the last five years we have changed our brand a lot. Our customer base has changed. The average income of our customer is much higher than five years ago. And we have a branded customer that comes to buy Mazda. Five years ago, Mazda 3 used to be 45 percent of our total sales in the United States; now the CX-5 is more than 30 percent, and we have just launched a new CX-9.

Q. May and year-to-date sales were down. What does Mazda plan to do to turn this around?

A. By the end of the year I believe numbers will be back up. We have been transitioning our product portfolio. We decided to discontinue the Mazda 2 and the Mazda 5, and the CX-9 has been sold out in the last several months, so we didnt have a full portfolio.

Now the CX-9 is coming back. And the new MX-5 Miata started sales last fall. We have almost completed the product change. So, the last quarter and the current quarter were modest, but the second half of the year will have some growth. Well do well with fleet sales as well.

Q. How is Mazda dealing with the Takata airbag recall?

A. Its a huge scale. Not only Mazda, but in the industry worldwide. Weve been working with Mazda headquarters (in Japan) to understand whats going on and procure inflators so that we can repair the affected vehicles.

Mazda has never experienced an accident from this worldwide, but it doesnt stop us from accelerating our repairs. We also just launched the Mazda courtesy loner program which provides new Mazda cars to drive until we can repair the car.

Q. How much has the Volkswagen diesel scandal affected Mazdas plans to bring diesel to the U.S.?

A. We have improved our combustion efficiency. We are very proud of our Skyactiv Technology where we focus on improving real world fuel economy. Volkswagens emissions scandal drew the attention of the EPA.

They put more strict testing measurements into place, which requires some design changes. We have worked to comply with that, which is why were taking more time than previously announced, but we are on track to bring these engines to the U.S.

Q. Are there any pushes to target millennial buyers?

A. Mazda has a specific customer that really appreciates Mazdas brand value.

We dont have a strategy to attract younger generations, but digital is becoming more important to us. Social media has evolved very quickly, and that has changed the industry dynamics and what people expect. We are changing our approach and how we interact with customers through our digital platform and digital marketing.

Q. Gas prices are low now, leading to high sales across all brands of bigger vehicles. Has this held true for Mazda?

A. Weve seen a shift from sedan vehicles to crossovers or SUVs or pickup trucks. This benefits us with the CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9. We see great opportunity for growth with those three lines.

Q. Why are you moving your headquarters?

A. A great opportunity came up with the Irvine Company (which owns the building at 200 Spectrum). I want to use this opportunity to innovate and change the work style and the culture of the company. Our current office layout is old-fashioned.

People want to work together and have more flexibility. There will be better communication, more collaboration, more flexibility to come up with good, smart ideas.

We want to embrace that new culture and move forward.

Q. Will there be any staffing changes during the move?

A. Not a lot as we move from here to there. But before we do, we are working on some changes to embrace a better management philosophy. There will be some changes in functionality so we can work more efficiently and effectively. We want to make these changes before we move.

There wont be downsizing, but there will be deployment of resources to feed our innovation and to streamline what works. Divisions will continue to change, and sometimes we need people to move to regional offices. (The company has five regional offices: Bridgewater, N.J.; Houston; Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.; Jacksonville, Fla; and Irvine.)

Q. Are there any other major changes planned for the company?

A. My biggest focus is how we manage the organizational culture and focus on customer experience. How we move from a car company to an experience company. That is the focus now. I want Mazda to be a meaningful brand for our customer.

Mazda is a small company, but I want it to be a meaningful brand for our customers who believe driving matters.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
In the wake of another terrorist attack on our homeland, American hearts ache for the 49 lives lost and many others terribly wounded due to the brutal, terrorist violence that was perpetrated two weeks ago in Orlando. We mourn for the souls who were so suddenly and cruelly taken without mercy. We mourn for their families, friends and the LGBT community.

Above all, we share a deep concern for our nation, which is under attack not only by those who use violence to strike fear into our hearts, but also by those who repudiate our most deeply held values through fear-mongering, divisive politics and the rhetoric of hate.

Just in the last few weeks, our nation came together to celebrate the life of Muhammad Ali, who left a legacy that emphasized hard work, and the pursuit of peace and justice  a legacy that has inspired millions of people across the globe. He was one of many Muslim American leaders and role models who were a product of American society, who struggled for justice, and who also came to fundamentally reshape it for the better.

Muslim Americans are a vital and treasured part of American society. As citizens, they belong to this nation and contribute to our history, success and heritage as do Americans of many creeds.

Our diversity is our strength, and that diversity is compromised when we allow people to play on popular prejudices and ignorance to exclude or stereotype entire groups of Americans based on color, religion, sexual orientation or national origin.

Here is the reality: terrorism is a threat that has touched every corner of the globe and will challenge us for years to come. Even the names of our beloved cities  New York, Washington, D.C., San Bernardino, Orlando and Boston  are now uttered in a new context.

Not only does terrorism threaten the lives of our citizens, but the fear that comes in its wake can also threaten the very soul of our democracy. We must remain vigilant against the fear of terrorism and against our impulse to take drastic measures that undermine our cherished civil liberties that set us apart from the world.

Another reality is that while terrorists have often claimed to commit their brutal crimes in the name of Islam, most victims of terrorism are Muslims. In fact, our own National Terrorism Center estimates that between 82 and 97 percent of the victims of terrorism worldwide are Muslim. We must never allow the crimes of the few to blind us to the goodness of the many.

Just as Muslims are often the first to be victimized by terrorism, they are also our best allies in fighting it. The best early warning of suspicious activity isnt government surveillance  it is vigilant citizens, including the Muslim community. We must never judge people based on their religion, but on their individual commitment to a just, lawful and peaceful society.

At this very moment, the overwhelming majority of those who are putting their lives on the line to fight extremist groups like ISIS in Iraq and Syria are Muslim soldiers. Muslims are also valued members of Congress and our intelligence, military and law enforcement communities.

I am proud to represent one of the most vibrant Muslim American communities in the United States, and I am proud to have Muslim Americans as part of my staff.

I agree with President Obama that alienating our Muslim American community and attempting to use a broad brush to paint Islam as the enemy is strategically unwise, morally reprehensible and contrary to American values. It is as counterproductive as it is dangerous, not only because we risk inciting terrorism and alienating potential allies, but also because we risk compromising our national values of freedom of religion, equality and justice.

Terrorists want us to hate. If we give in to hate, then they win. But Americans are strong, and Americans are united and I fervently believe that American values are human values and will ultimately prevail.

Loretta Sanchez represents the 46th Congressional District and is a candidate for U.S. Senate.
SANTA ANA  Homicide detectives are investigating the death of a man shot multiple times early Sunday, said Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bretagna.

Santa Ana Police were called to the 1300 block of West Gertrude Place at 2:30 a.m., after residents reported hearing gunshots and a car speeding away.

When police arrived they found a man lying on the ground. He had been shot multiple times in his upper torso, Bretagna said.

He was taken to a lcoal hospital where he died, said Santa Ana police Sgt. Mel Sarabia.

Sarabia and Bretagna said detectives are still on scene and have not identified the man yet.

We have not ruled out gang involvement, Bretagna said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter:@lagunaini
Driving by the site a couple days ago, I was happy to see work progressing to re-open the school buildings at 721 Utica Ave. just west of Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach. Its going to be a new charter school  Kinetic Academy  with a special emphasis on financial education for the children. What a great idea for these times of economic turmoil.

Its on the site of what last year was an offshoot of the Santa Clarita-based Albert Einstein Academy. But problems with the charter forced it to close. Charters are public schools that operate outside most of the red tape of the state education code, allowing a wide variety of experimentation and adapting curricula to students needs.

Years ago, I attended an event there when it was Carden Academy, a private school, and saw none other than one of my favorite actresses, Sandra Bullock, whose son was enrolled.

Begun with a statewide reform in 1992, charters have grown to 1,230 California schools today, with 570,000 children, Jed Wallace, president of the California Charter Schools Association, recently told a meeting of the Register Editorial Board. Numbers have doubled from seven years ago and could double again in the next seven years.

About 30 state charters a year close the way the Einstein Academy did. We see that as healthy, Wallace said. The closures strengthen the academic performance of charters overall, so we grow the best ones.

When the Einstein Academy closed, we got a group of parents together to independently open a new charter, Jeffrey K. Ball told me  a founding Kinetic Academy board member and parent, hes the president and CEO of Friendly Hills Bank, with offices in Whittier and Santa Fe Springs, and hes a Huntington Beach resident. Unlike Einstein and some other charters, Kinetic has no affiliation with a larger organization.

Surf Citys new school will begin with grades K-5, then add years up to grade 8. It will open in September, Ball said, with 250 students, then add more as the grades increase.

In addition to financial schooling, Kinetic emphasizes STEAM: science, technology, engineering, arts and math. According to its school materials, it will apply these principles in real life scenarios. A foreign language teacher will instruct all grades. Class sizes will be capped at 25.

Kinetic is fortunate because it was approved by the local district, Huntington Beach City School District. Unfortunately, as charters have become more popular, many have been turned down for flimsy reasons by local districts, forcing parents and other supporters to turn for approval to the Orange County Board of Education. That happened, for example, with two charters opening this fall: Unity Middle College High School in Orange and Ednovates USC College Prep in Santa Ana.

The delays have meant Orange County has lagged behind surrounding counties, especially Los Angeles County, in launching charters. But O.C. is catching up, with 27 now authorized, according to the website of the Orange County Department of Education. Of those, 14 have been authorized by local school boards, one by the state Board of Education and the other 12 by the county board.

Charters were a major policy issue in the recent races for three posts on the county board, with all the candidates the Register Editorial Board interviewed, even those with teacher union backing, insisting on the importance of charters.

If Kinetic is the beginning of a trend, local O.C. school boards are starting to recognize that charters are not the enemy, but a tool to help students learn at their peak.

Kinetics emphasis on financial education is a great example of how schools can be tailored to student needs. By partnering with Junior Achievement Orange County, we will bring established programs for building financial literacy and entrepreneurship to the elementary and junior high school level, the school materials promise.

Pre-enrollment is available on kineticacademy.org, the schools website. Parent information nights are July 13 and 19 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Ill be checking it out in the fall to see how things are going.
As our boat whizzed down the coastline, my first thought was about sharks.

With no one else in the water for miles, would curious creatures be intrigued by our legs  my legs  dangling in the water?

Or what if I got slammed by one of the days big sets and needed help? The surf spot we were about to explore is desolate. Nobody would be around.

Then I thought this: What if the military started bombing exercises?

All of this was going through my mind as our small, lucky group headed to one of the most isolated, rarely touched surf spots in the country, a spot that happens to be minutes from Orange County  the beaches off Camp Pendleton Marine base.

The concept was epic. No crowds. Just me and a couple of other surfers sharing wide-open waves.

What could possibly go wrong?

NOT THE FIRST

As surfers in Orange County, we tend to get trapped in routine. Most of us have a primary local break, a place we surf regularly. Most of us also have a second spot, a place well hit if the swell is just right, and even then only once in a rare while.

Adventure comes when we go on long road trips or book a flight.

So when I learned that Nomads Hotel, which opened last year in San Clemente, was taking people on boat trips to surf off Camp Pendleton, my reporter side and my surfer side were both intrigued.

How many surfers driving south on I-5 have nearly crashed as they stared at the waves  nearly empty waves  near the county line?

I had heard stories of surfers who would sneak onto the base to surf the area, especially Trestles, before it was leased back to the public in the 1970s.

Corky Carroll, the old-school surfer and Register columnist, once wrote about the extremes he and friends would go to in order to sneak onto San Onofre State Beach in the 50s and 60s, when even that stretch of sand was under government lock and key.

On a lucky day, you had no problems. But on others, you could get chased by the Marines and even arrested. It is amazing how few surfers got caught when you consider that these were dumb surfers against the premier fighting force on the planet, Carroll wrote.

Many times, the Marines would pull up on the beach and wait for surfers to lose their boards and grab them. If you swam in to get your board, they would arrest you. I can remember being in the water and having them actually open fire on us, shooting live rounds over our heads. This was normally the time to start paddling north to get out of there.

In the early 70s, President Richard Nixon (a San Clemente resident at the time) decreed that the Navy would lease a stretch of Camp Pendleton shoreline to the public, a 50-year lease that ends in 2021. So, for now at least, a portion of the military land is surfable.

These days, while San Onofre State Beach, along with the crowded Trestles, are open and popular with surfers, theres still the area south of San Onofre that has pristine waves but is off-limits  at least by land  for non-military personnel.

That hasnt stopped some of the more determined surfers.

Seal Beach surfer Marc Moore, 49, remembers parking at a rest stop along I-5 decades ago and ducking through the thick brush, surfboard under his arm, to get to military-controlled sand.

We were tired of surfing crowded Huntington Beach, and there was a swell, so we thought, Hey, that sounds like a good idea, he recalled recently.

And once they got there, the break and the beach were as pristine as he imagined.

Its just fun because nobody is there, you can ride any wave you want. Looking back at the beach, theres no buildings. Its just beautiful, like old California.

But, Moore added, Quiet can be spooky.

SURF TRAVEL ARRIVES

The opportunity to surf something different, to provide a true surf adventure, is why Nomads Hotel owners Sean Rowland and Jeff Gourley decided to start taking people to surf Camp Pendleton.

Rowland and Gourley have spent their lives traveling to remote beaches, Rowland as a professional photographer for the World Surf League and Gourley as a world-class diver.

They modeled their Nomads Hotel after retreats theyve visited in places like El Salvador, Australia and Indonesia  places that offer surf-centric hospitality. They figured it was a smart niche; here in California, where waves are plenty, they knew of no place that caters specifically to the surf traveler.

The American way, Gourley said, is to simply let travelers fend for themselves: find their hotel, give them a map and send them on their way.

They want to change that.

On the day I hung out with the Nomads crew, two surfers staying there  Jorge Bezold and Pedro Pacheco  seem to be the kind of travelers they hope to cater to.

Bezold, a 56-year-old born in Peru but living in Florida, has always dreamed of surfing Trestles, but he figured it would be hard to find the wave on his first trip to California.

Hes been on surf trips around the world, where most places have the type of service Nomads offers  an all-inclusive surf package that comes with three meals a day. In that situation, he said, a visitor doesnt worry about anything but catching waves.

You dont have to think about nothing, Bezold said. Its worry free, thats the idea. Thats what sold me.

For Pacheco, 25, a Brazilian whose English is limited, staying at Nomads was an easy way to travel on his first international trip.

After a few days surfing the world-famous Trestles, both men were ready for something different.

The hotel owners conducted recon missions to Camp Pendletons waves long before they started their venture. Gourley has been diving and fishing in the area since the 1980s. And, in recent years, both have taken surf trips to the area.

We were trying to figure out where to go  like a surf mission, Rowland said. We went out and looked around, and we found this place called Canyon.

We named it, he added. Its right in front of a canyon.

WIDE OPEN

As our 28-foot panga headed south from Dana Point, buzzing past popular breaks, surfers in the lineup stared at us.

We slowed near a rock off San Clemente to check out some lounging sea lions.

After that, we passed San Onofres cliffs and infamous Trail 6, a beach that until recently was a gathering spot for unrepentant nudists.

We kept going, and Rowland pointed at a wire fence on the shore. This, he said, is what keeps the public from walking south to military property.

Here in the open ocean there are no such restrictions.

On the rare occasion that Gourley has encountered Marines, usually engaged in offshore training exercises, or when hes been stopped by the military with a request to not travel farther, he obliges and goes elsewhere.

Technically, he said, the rule is that youre not supposed to touch the sand. So if you lose your board, you better get to it quick.

The only other rules: Be safe and, if anything happens, get on the radio with the Coast Guard.

A request to Camp Pendleton to find out exactly what the rules are  and any potential fines if the rules are broken  went unanswered.

Finally, we arrived. After jumping into the water, the few of us sat for a second to soak in our surroundings. Our new world was spare: undeveloped cliffs on one side, the boat we arrived in on the other, and open ocean everywhere else.

As the groups only longboarder, equipped with my 9-foot Ohana Kemp, I worried that the waves wouldnt suit my surfing style. Fortunately, they were soft enough for me to cruise along.

The sets that day were big.

Bezold took to calling me Houdini as I scratched toward the horizon and disappeared over the sets as they crashed toward shore.

After nearly two hours in the water, our arms were noodles.

We paddled slowly back to our boat, high-fiving one another as we settled back onto the panga, shivering as the wind hit our chilly, wet bodies.

And just a few hours after that, I was back at my desk, still salty from an actual surf adventure practically in my backyard.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
BEIJING  In a sign of growing friction between China and Taiwan, mainland diplomats said Saturday that they had suspended contact with their Taiwanese counterparts because the islands new leader would not endorse the idea of a single Chinese nation.

Beijing said it had cut off communication because President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan failed to endorse the idea that Taiwan and the mainland are part of one China, a concept known as the 1992 Consensus.

The move was the latest effort by the Chinese government, led by President Xi Jinping, to increase pressure on Tsai, who took office last month and has unsettled Beijing with her reluctance to disavow calls for Taiwanese independence.

The cross-strait communication mechanism has been suspended because Taiwan did not recognize the 1992 Consensus, the political basis for the One China principle, An Fengshan, a spokesman for Beijings Taiwan Affairs Office, said in a statement posted on its website.

Taiwanese officials said Saturday that they would continue to try to communicate with their mainland counterparts. We hope Taiwan and the mainland can continue to have benign interaction, which is good for both sides, said Tung Chen-yuan, a government spokesman in Taipei.

Patrick Cronin, a senior adviser at the Center for a New American Security, called the decision by Beijing to halt talks a warning shot across the bow. He said mainland officials were growing increasingly nervous about an independence movement in Taiwan and were seeking to hinder Tsais domestic agenda, including her promise to revive a slowing economy.

China will deny carrots and signal red lines for President Tsai as she grapples with her fundamental challenge, which is righting the economy, Cronin said.

Taiwan and China have been estranged since the Communist revolution of 1949. Under Tsais immediate predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, the two sides forged closer economic and political ties.

Tsai has taken a more cautious approach, openly criticizing Chinese officials and warmly embracing Chinas historic rivals like Japan. Her party, the Democratic Progressives, has traditionally advocated Taiwanese independence, a move the mainland has threatened to counter with military force.

Tsai has said she wants to maintain the status quo in cross-strait relations, but she has stopped short of offering an unequivocal endorsement of the One China policy.

Since 1992, Taiwan and the mainland have agreed to consider themselves part of a single Chinese nation, but each side embraces a different interpretation of what that means.

Mainland officials treat the consensus as a prerequisite for normal relations, and threatened to suspend contact if Tsai did not endorse the principle. The state media published a series of scathing editorials, including one in which a Peoples Liberation Army general suggested that Tsai, Taiwans first female president, held extremist views because she was unmarried.

On Saturday, the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing revealed that talks with the Mainland Affairs Council in Taipei had been suspended since May, soon after Tsais inauguration. The two entities represent one of the primary channels of communication between China and Taiwan, overseeing discussions related to trade, law, education and culture.

Tensions between the two sides increased in recent weeks, after Cambodia, an ally of Beijing, decided to deport to mainland China 25 Taiwanese citizens accused of participating in an internet scheme. It was the third instance in recent months of Chinas seeking to prosecute citizens of Taiwan on its soil.

On Saturday, Chinese officials defended their handling of the case, saying efforts to crack down on internet schemes were legitimate and supported by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Analysts said the decision to suspend talks was probably the beginning of a campaign by Beijing to increase pressure on Taiwan.

China has several methods by which it could further constrain Tsai. It could seek to lure away Taiwans few remaining diplomatic allies with promises of lucrative infrastructure investments. It could also place restrictions on Chinese tourism to the island, which has increased significantly in recent years, becoming a bright spot for the otherwise struggling Taiwanese economy.

The big unknown is the business community, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. China will be reaching out to all the segments that are going to be dissatisfied with Tsais policies.

The timing of Beijings announcement, just as Tsai departed for Latin America on her first overseas trip as president, seemed aimed at undermining her leadership, analysts said.

By refusing to communicate, Beijing is making it more difficult for the Taiwanese government to fulfill its obligations to its citizens and as a member of international society, said Jonathan Sullivan, the director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in England.

He added, Beijing is saying, We dont care about inconvenience and are prepared to inhibit the management of cross-strait interactions if we dont get what we want.
Great Britains vote Thursday to leave the European Union sent shockwaves through global financial markets and political bodies. Brexit, meaning British Exit from the EU, was a jolting reminder that when voters are frustrated with their governments, populism becomes a powerful political force.

In the case of Brexit, many factors played a role. Terrorism, immigration and, some would argue, xenophobia  not to mention concerns over sclerotic economic growth  contributed to the decision by the majority of British voters to re-establish their national independence.

The heart of the Brexit vote, though, was a rejection of centralized, bureaucratic government and a call for a more accountable, accessible and localized government structure.

Leave voters disliked the behemoth EU bureaucracy in Brussels, Belgium. As Conservative energy minister and Member of Parliament Andrea Leadsom explained during a debate over the referendum, The truth is, 60 percent of our rules and regulations come from the European Union. As city minister and now as energy minister, all day long Im told you cant do that, you cant do this, because of the EU.  There are five presidents of the EU. Now, can anyone name them? And did anyone vote for them? No  and you cant kick them out, either.

Even still, the British political establishment supported the Remain position, as did President Obama. But, as the Financial Times reported, To millions of voters up and down the country, the referendum campaign has brought home just how little faith they have in Britains politicians and parties, business lobbies and trade unions, think-tanks and investment banks.

By voting for Brexit, Britons will remove a huge bureaucratic overload. But warnings of economic calamity for the U.K. are plentiful.

British leadership must proceed with extreme caution ensuring that their exit from the EU is not abandoning Europe. In fact, the U.K.s leadership ought to look to the example of Switzerland, which has never been an EU member but instead has treaties with it.

This is also a time of reflection for American voters who are now grappling with similar issues. Some of the campaign slogans, issues and rhetoric used in the Brexit electoral battle are eerily similar to the arguments being made in our own election.

Candidates in the U.S. should take note of the populist winds instead of dismissing or deriding them. Voters are frustrated because our government has become so big and polarized, and their political leaders are out of touch, out of reach and out of sync with their constituencies.

Brexits greatest lesson may be that voters desire a government close and accountable directly to them.
The people of California were told that a $15 minimum wage was not just a boost for employees  it was good for taxpayers, too. Its a promise that the Fight for $15 has carried across the country. David Rolf, one of the architects of the campaign, said explicitly in his book of the same name that a $15 minimum wage would substantially reduce dependence on government welfare programs.

With the ink barely dry on Californias groundbreaking law, the credibility of this talking point is already crumbling.

The popular labor argument goes something like this: Employers who fail to pay higher starting wages force their employees to rely on public assistance. An increase in the minimum wage will move poor citizens off the state benefits rolls, thereby decreasing state expenditures on social support programs. A $15 minimum wage would allow millions of American workers to reduce or eliminate their use of public assistance programs, Rolf argued. It would also save billions of federal dollars per year.

This argument works better in theory than in practice. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2014 that a higher minimum wage would have little net impact  positive or negative  on the federal budget. (When minimum wage increases reduce job opportunities, it leaves some people more reliant on public assistance than they were before.) Last year, San Diego State University economists examined 35 years of data and found that minimum wage increases cause no net reduction in participation in (or spending on) social welfare programs.

Of course, even if a $15 wage were to reduce employees need for public benefits, it requires the policys proponents to operate in good faith and to allow employees to lose those benefits. Subsequent developments suggest state Democrats may not intend to make good on this promise.

In a recent Budget Committee hearing, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, offered this rationale for a proposed increase in eligibility for a state social program: Some people with the minimum wage increase, theyre not rich by any means, but they [now] make a little too much to become eligible for our state preschool program, so we adjust the eligibility for the first time in many years.

Assemblyman McCartys proposal remains a preview of things to come, but the increased cost to the state is now a reality. The governors May budget revision reported that raising the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost taxpayers an additional $3.4 billion in increased salaries and reimbursements for state-subsidized programs, including $39 million in 2016-17.

Labor unions are also preparing to make use of the new bargaining floor. When the law is phased in, my organization, the Employment Policies Institute, estimates that California union members will receive a collective $883 million annually in higher pay. That estimate could also increase as labor unions begin to use $15 as a floor for collective bargaining. J.J. Jelincic, a former state labor union president and current California Public Employees Retirement System board member, explained: My experience is that when you raise the floor, it creates tremendous pressure for raises at least a few rungs up.

Labors broken promise to taxpayers should come as no surprise to Californians familiar with the unintended consequences of unions other favored policies. From paid sick leave mandates to restrictions on employee scheduling, the evidence suggests that positive outcomes dont follow from good intentions and rosy promises. Its time for California to realize that unions promises arent worth the poster-board signs theyre written on.

Mike Saltsman is research director at the Employment Policies Institute.
The Orange County Register has debuted a new branding campaign that connects the dots between important aspects of Orange County and the newspapers commitment to covering them as the countys most trusted source of local information.

Using OC as its visual and textual foundation, the campaign provides references to local landmarks such as the The Wedge in Newport Beach. Each iteration includes a did you know question and a fact about the particular topic, accompanied by a declaration of the Registers continued commitment to covering the topic by people who live and work in the communities they serve.

The campaign celebrates the many places and landscapes within Orange County that define its unique identity, said Southern California News Group vice president of Marketing Bill VanLaningham. We also want to reiterate that the Registers coverage is a reflection of the countys interests, and we have a team of journalists who are committed to covering these essential elements with more depth and clarity than anyone else.

The first round of ads focus on beaches, education and diversity of OC cities as themes (with Our Coast, Our Communities and Our Colleges as headlines). All campaign messages include a Nobody Beats Our Coverage tagline, highlighting the O and the C letters of the tagline in color, with the ocregister.com/subscribe website below it.

The Wedge ad makes its debut in todays edition of The Orange County Register, and will include a presence outside of its own media brands within digital websites, local broadcast stations, and promotional materials from community partnerships.
OMAHA, Neb.  Ella Eastin returns to the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials on Sunday mentally and physically prepared to contend for a spot in Rio.

The 19-year-old, former Crean Lutheran standout is wiser and ready to have fun, something she didnt experience four years ago at Trials.

I was not ready in any way, shape or form to be there in a position to do anything crazy at that point, Eastin said in a recent phone interview from Stanford before departing for Omaha.

It was just a very, very difficult meet. I had come off of being a youngster and not really ever having any problems in my swimming career. Thats kind of the first time that I had to take a step back and realize that I wasnt 12 year olds any more and it wasnt about breaking NAGs (National Age-Group records) or it wasnt about just beating the kids my age.

It was a bigger deal and I had all these people who were 10-plus years older than me and knew what they were doing. I was scared  I put way too much pressure on myself.

But Eastin is now strengthened by a new outlook. The SOCAL club product enjoyed a stellar freshman season at Stanford. She captured two individual NCAA Division 1 titles, including the 200-yard individual medley in an American record of 1 minute, 51.65 seconds.

She followed her collegiate season by posting the fastest time by American woman this year in the 200-meter individual medley with a winning touch of 2:10.54 in Atlanta in May.

But just as important as her performances was her growth in confidence.

Im feeling confident. Thats the biggest thing, said Eastin, who races the 400-meter individual medley in Sundays noon prelims (Pacific time) on Day 1 of the Trials.

I think being surrounded by such good swimmers on a daily basis (in college), I want to say, humanized them a little bit in the sense that I know theyre struggling with things just like I am.  (And) after a couple months of training, I was able to keep up a little better with Maya (DiRado of Stanford) and I was able to swim at NCAAs and go faster.

Eastin is seeded eighth in a 400 IM and fourth in the 200 IM.

There was speculation that freestyle star Katie Ledecky would race the 400 IM but she scratched, according to the heat sheets released Saturday night. Eastin will race in the fourth heat of 400 IM prelims next to Elizabeth Beisel, 23, the defending Trials champion and silver medalist from the London Games.

STANFORD SMART

DiRado, 23, is seeded first in the 400 individual medley and owns the fastest time by an American this year in the 200 backstroke. But after this summer, the management science and engineering major from Stanford will stop swimming and start working at a management consulting firm in Atlanta.

She said with a smile Saturday that swimming has been boring to her at times.

But I try to read a lot and Rob, my husband, is a software engineer, so he will give me coding exercises to do and thats fun, she said.
Nine Offaly personnel are serving with the 108 IRISHFINN (Irish-Finnish) Battalion in UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) are part of the Irish force of 330 personnel deployed in Lebanon.

Nine Offaly personnel are serving with the 108 IRISHFINN (Irish-Finnish) Battalion in UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) are part of the Irish force of 330 personnel deployed in Lebanon.

Amongst the nine is Lieutenant Aidan OReilly from Clara whos brother Rory was a member of the 107 Battalion and returned to Clara in May following a 10 day overlap in Camp Shamrock.

The Irish Defence Forces have extensive experience of the culture, geography and people of South Lebanon. This is the third term of deployment of Irish troops to Lebanon

The Defence Forces first deployed to UNIFIL from 1978 to 2001 (23 years continuous service). UNIFIL II saw the deployment of Defence Forces to Lebanon again from 2006 to 2007.

The Defence Forces deployed for the third time in May 2011.

Forty-seven Defence Forces personnel have paid the ultimate price in the cause of peace while on active service in Lebanon. The Defence Forces has 55 years of continuous experience on peacekeeping operations in some of the most hostile countries of the world.

The 108th Irish Finnish Battalion consisting of 332 Irish and 176 Finnish personnel will deploy to the At Tiri area in South Lebanon with the following assets: one Mechanised Infantry Company, one Reconnaissance Company, one Battalion Support Group and one Battalion Headquarters.

Operations will be conducted on a high visibility, low profile basis. The capabilities of the 108th Infantry Battalion include: Civilian Military Co-operation (CIMIC), Humanitarian Assistance, Armoured Patrolling, Crowd Riot Control (CRC) in public order scenarios, Fire Support and Counter  Improvised Explosive Device Detection (C-IEDD), extraction and recovery capabilities.

The 108 Infantry Battalion operate out of three locations. The main body of troops are located in the vicinity of At Tiri in the new Headquarters at UN position 2-45, with Platoon size posts located South of Tibnin along the Blue Line, at UN Position 6-52 and UN position 6-50.

Although 76 members of the battalion are on their first overseas trip there are over 880 tours of duty completed by the remaining personnel in almost every mission the Irish Defence Forces have been involved in.

A number of those present including Company Sergeant Patrick Ryan who has completed 20 trips overseas and was a member of the 43 Infantry Battalion which was the first Irish Defence Forces Battalion deployed to Lebanon in 1978.
You could say I was a pretty paranoid pregnant lady. Every time I had a sonogram, I didn't tear up over the miracle of life. Instead, I got out the magnifying glass because I was sure my baby had three hands. But what I was most terrified about was that my child would be switched at birth like in H.M.S Pinafore.

"Get a really good look at her," I kept saying to my husband when we arrived at Sibley Memorial Hospital, a well-regarded Washington D.C. hospital. "Take a selfie with her as soon as she's out." My rational husband rolled his eyes, especially when we took a tour of the birthing suite and saw that if the baby was healthy, she was not going to leave the room.

Finally, our daughter was born, fat and happy. Reassured, we let her be taken to the nursery, and the next morning, though we expected to have her back at 6 a.m. to breastfeed, she returned at 8 a.m. The lovely nurse said, "Your baby will get her jaundice test again today, and she was given to the wrong mother this morning." It was said in the tone of, "Here is some Starbucks. You're welcome."

She explained that another nurse had brought our daughter from the nursery to the wrong room but that she quickly realized her mistake and retrieved her before the other mother touched her. Not wanting to be those over-reactive new parents, we said, "Oookayyy," and let it go.

But that evening I started to panic. "What if the other mother has Ebola? How does the nurse know what happened in the other room when she wasn't there? What if the mother fed her?"

"Do you want to speak to someone more senior?" was my husband's reply, to which I gave a tearful yes.

Another nurse came late that night  but only because we requested her to  and her story was very different. The other mother, who had a son, had held our daughter and fed her formula before the panicked nurse came in and took her away. The hospital then contacted their lawyers, the nurse explained, which is all well and good, but why had they barely contacted me? And changed their story?

In the maternity ward of Sibley, each new mother is given a bracelet with a 10-digit number on it, and when the baby is brought back to her, the mother and nurse confirm that the number matches the baby's bands. I was told that my bracelet and the other mother's bracelet were only one number off from each other and that the mother who had my daughter confirmed the number, even though it was wrong, hence the mix-up. So according to the hospital it was mostly her fault.

I asked the second nurse about the feeding and she assured me that my baby only drank formula, not breast milk, which seemed like a stroke of luck as that could have elevated my terror to a code red, but the fact that my baby had formula was another kind of disappointment. I was committed to only breastfeeding and had lactation consultants working with me around the clock to get the colostrum going. So despite my wishes and efforts, my baby had gulped down formula.

Distraught at this point, I was unable to enjoy anything about being a new mom, so my husband decided to launch his own investigation. "I'll just find this woman and we can talk to her," he said.

By walking the hospital halls, and glimpsing a piece of paper with two room numbers written on it, one of them ours, he was able to find the mother and ask her to speak to me. She very kindly came to my room and explained that no, it was not her who read the bracelet number wrong, it was the nurse, and she had in fact held my baby and given her formula. Newborn babies, we agreed, can look very similar, especially in the same outfit, and when you have only seen them for a few hours. She offered to show us her medical records and expressed her panic over where her baby was when she had mine. We then compared hospital bracelets and our numbers were quite different, not one number off as the first nurse had stated.

I was calmer after I spoke to this kind, Ebola-free mother, but why did my husband have to find her on a covert ops? I understand that there are privacy laws under HIPAA and the hospital could not have simply wheeled her in and said talk amongst yourselves, but there must have been something they could have done to appease me rather than repeat, "Our lawyers are taking this very seriously." Because to me that just meant, "We're making sure we're covered in case you're a litigious snake," instead of, "We are doing everything we can so you don't leave this hospital traumatized."

All my panic and tears aside, my biggest question looking back is about the kind of security measures used in the maternity ward. Why are sleep deprived new mothers expected to confirm a 10-digit number every time they see their child? There must be an easier way.

For starters, it seems like a no-brainer to ask a mother to verify her last name and her child's gender. And how about using some sort of bracelet scanning device, like they use for dispensing medicine, instead of relying on the exhausted mother's ability to recite numbers. I'm surprised they didn't throw in some long division to really challenge us.

At the end of our hospital stay, my husband asked that the switched-at-birth debacle be entered into our daughter's medical records and that we receive a copy of the incident report. Three months later, neither has happened. Instead, we received one phone call after we returned home, where we again stated the above. They promised to follow up and never did.

My experience at Sibley led me to question what other hospitals do for security in the maternity ward and Sibley's procedure seems to be pretty standard. A spokeswoman for George Washington University Hospital in Washington commented that there, "All infants receive two identification bands at the time of delivery that are placed on their wrist and ankle. The mother and a designated support person will wear matching bands. The mother will need to wear these bands until she and her baby are discharged. Each infant also has a 'safe place' security band applied in Labor and Delivery that will set off an alarm if the infant is taken out of our locked Women's Center area." Sibley does not use alarmed bands, but it would not have made a difference in my case if they did.

When I reached out to Northside Hospital in Atlanta, which delivers more babies than any other community hospital in the nation, a spokesman emphasized their rigorous security protocols but chose not to go into details, expressing concern that making them public might make them easier to crack.

I followed up with Sibley for comment on this article and, not surprisingly, they were very apologetic and helpful. They offered for us to come in to speak to a neonatologist and an infection control specialist, which I do appreciate, but I should have been offered that opportunity when the incident occurred, along with a straight story. Now, the hospital is sending us my daughter's updated records, but they said they will not release the incident report. They also issued a kind apology to me, and I'm thankful for it, I just wish I hadn't had to say the words, "I'm writing an article about..." to get it.

Gary Stephenson, director of public relations at the hospital wrote, in part, "We want to apologize personally to you and explain that we took the error in the feeding process of your baby very, very seriously and we understand that your questions about the process to be followed were not resolved with clear explanation of how mothers and babies are identified regularly for the feeding sessions and how this process needs to be improved to rely on not just the mother but also the staff member delivering the baby. We have taken action to learn from this error and added one more step to assure we avoid another incident like the one you unfortunately had experienced."

The hospital also offered to show me their patient safety initiatives first-hand, including their Innovation Hub, which is "Fully staffed with human factors engineers and clinicians" and " focuses on the design thinking process to solve a clinical problem." And their Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP), which "provides all staff, the tools and support needed to address problems such as hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, and communication breakdowns."

Let's hope that these safety measures, along with Sibley's added level of security in their maternity ward, keeps the old baby switcheroo from ever happening again, for while I was at the hospital, one nurse said an incident like ours had not occurred since 1983 and another said the same thing happened three years ago. Conclusion: It happens. But seems so preventable. Because I'm pretty sure we have the right baby, but when she screams bloody murder at 2 a.m., I do still wonder.
DENVER (AP)  Cameras are everywhere in a pot shop, from the parking lot to the front door to the warehouses where the plant is packaged.

But the security requirements in states that allow medical or recreational pot stores have one thing in common: They were written to keep weed off the black market, not to protect those handling it.

A fatal attack on a security guard at a suburban Denver dispensary last weekend has the industry wondering whether state security requirements are enough. Some industry analysts have compared a marijuana shop to a jewelry store full of untraceable diamonds, often uninsured and protected by people making not much more than minimum wage.

Its a recipe for danger.

Former Marine Travis Mason, 24, was fatally shot in Aurora at the Green Heart dispensary he was hired to guard. No arrests have been made.

The slaying was the first known on-the-job death at a licensed marijuana business in Colorado. It highlighted how little is known about how safe pot shops are.

Its unclear whether dispensaries or pot-growing operations are more likely to be robbed than any other place of business. Crime records arent compiled by type of business, and the marijuana industry is hesitant to publicize crimes.

No state with legal weed businesses keeps a count of how often they or their employees are robbed.

Youre just as likely to get an armed robbery at a bank or a convenience store or anywhere else where there is cash, said Michael Jerome, spokesman for Blue Line Protection Group, a security company that serves marijuana businesses in several states, including Colorado.

But in this industry, there is a natural tendency to resist uniformed security that looks like a police officer.

The security requirements in states with regulated pot shops look fairly similar. Businesses have to film entries and exits, with cameras good enough to identify people.

Theyre really just to watch plants and keep people from selling to 12-year-olds. They dont provide real security, said Noah Stakes, CEO of CannaGuard, a Portland, Oregon, company that has installed security systems in more than 250 marijuana businesses in several states.

Colorados Department of Public Safety tried earlier this year to count crimes at marijuana businesses. They found it impossible. But they did note that Denver, which has tried to count crimes related to marijuana businesses, found no uptick in robberies near pot shops.

There has been concern that  robbery would be prevalent, but this has not proven to be the case in Denver, the public safety report said.

Still, the Aurora shooting has people who work with cannabis anxious. The industry has difficulty accessing banking services, forcing many businesses to require cash payments.

Weve been saying for a long time that if we dont fix the banking issue, somebodys going to get killed. Unfortunately that appears to have happened, said Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.

A bill pending in Congress aims to help alleviate marijuana-industry concerns about problems finding banking services. The bill bars the use of federal money to penalize a financial institution doing business with a marijuana business that complies with state laws.

Back in Aurora, Colin Patrick, general manager at Euflora Recreational Meds, put up $3,000 to match federal and city rewards for information on the Green Heart killers.

For now, employee safety is largely left up to individual shop owners, not the state.

Theyre a lot more worried about the product than us, thats for sure, Patrick said of the marijuana regulators.
A teenager killed in a car collision Friday night was an aspiring singer with a knack for making people laugh, a friend said Sunday.

Janis Brown, 16, died after the car she was in was struck from behind on Sorensen Parkway just west of Wenninghoff Road about 10:45 p.m., the Douglas County Sheriffs Office has said.

The man accused of causing the collision was booked Sunday into the Douglas County Jail. Tyvinn Smith, 28, of Omaha was booked on suspicion of felony motor vehicle homicide, willful reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

Brown would have been a senior at Benson High School this fall.

At school she would love to talk to anyone. She was just so friendly, said Griselda Martha-Gallardo, a classmate and close friend of Browns.

Brown sang in choir at Benson and posted videos of herself singing on social media. She also sold Jack Links beef sticks for fundraisers, said Martha-Gallardo, who will be a senior this fall.

Brown brightened peoples days with jokes and was a support system for many friends, Martha-Gallardo said.

Before Smith was taken to jail Sunday he had been in a hospital with minor injuries from the collision.

Authorities said he was drunk and speeding without his headlights on when he slammed into the car, driven by 20-year-old Jesseca Reed. Brown was a passenger.

Reed, of Omaha, was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center along with a 4-year-old boy who was in the back seat. Reed was released from the hospital Sunday. The Sheriffs Office has declined to release the name of the boy but said he suffered injuries that werent life-threatening.

Minutes before that crash, Smith had driven a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu from another collision, at 72nd Street and Sorensen Parkway, the Sheriffs Office said.

A 2005 Mercury stopped at a red light in a westbound lane of Sorensen Parkway was hit from the rear by Smiths car, according to an Omaha Police incident report. The driver of the Mercury got out of his car and confronted Smith, who appeared to be totally out of it, an officer wrote in the report.

Smith then drove forward, pushing the Mercury into the intersection and fled at a high rate of speed, the officer wrote.

A passenger in the Mercury was taken to a hospital to be treated for back pain.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1216, hailey.konnath@owh.com
State Sen. Carol Blood is working to do something no Democrat has done in Nebraska in more than 20 years: win a gubernatorial election. Blood says she has the experience needed to lead the state.
COUNCIL BLUFFS  Smiles and laughter. A kiss here or there. Hugs. And no trouble.

There was increased security at the annual Heartland Pride Parade on Saturday in Council Bluffs, as the event came just weeks after a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. On this day, the Council Bluffs Police Department said, there were no problems.

A pair of peaceful protesters were the only challenge to a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

This was the best turnout weve had so far in Council Bluffs, said Helen Broadway-Savage with Heartland Pride, who organized the parade. The Council Bluffs woman said there were 66 parade entries.

After the Council Bluffs event, many revelers headed to the Heartland Pride Festival at Stinson Park in Omaha.

At that event in Aksarben Village, which included dozens of booths, live music and a drag show, more than 5,000 were expected to file through the gates, said Christina Arellano, president of Heartland Pride.

Down the main concourse of booths, 49 rainbow flags were posted above the tents. It wasnt planned to honor the Orlando dead. There were supposed to be 65 flags, Arellano said, but when organizers unpacked everything to set up, 16 were missing.

Its a party and its fun, but it brings us back to reality, Arellano said of the unplanned memorial.

Event organizers put a paper butterfly below each flag with the name and age of a victim.

Bob Baye was at the parade in Council Bluffs, holding a gay pride flag while husband Anthony Armstrong held an American flag.

We wanted to show our support, Baye said. We wanted to show our support, especially after Orlando. We want to send a message that were not going to be walked on. Were a part of society, whether people like it or not.

Armstrong added that solidarity was a reason for attending.

Russell and Shawn Finch of Omaha brought their daughter, Amanda, and her friends to the parade, along with 7-year-old chocolate Labrador Joy and 1-year-old Chihuahua-West Highland terrier mix Luna  with rainbow colors in her hair.

Our oldest daughter is gay. She cant drive yet, so we brought them out. We like that they let us come out with them, its fun, Shawn Finch said. Its great to stand with everyone and support them.

Broadway-Savage said the event was more important this year, because of Orlando. We had more people here than weve had before in Council Bluffs. It was great.

World-Herald staff writer Reece Ristau contributed to this report.
When gay marriage became the law of the land last summer, Lin Quenzer and Barbara Baier were one of numerous gay couples in Nebraska eager to wed.

However, after 27 years together, a wedding cake and a marriage certificate werent their top priority. It was their son. They needed to wed to ensure their teenager would be legally bound to both parents for a lifetime and beyond  from every form that required a parental signature to each womans last will and testament.

After their summer wedding, the couples attorney immediately began drawing up adoption papers. A little over three months later, Robert Quenzer-Baier, then 15, was legally recognized as Quenzers son.

He cried, we cried. We took pictures. It just meant the world to him. ... He said Nothing can take us apart now,  recalled Quenzer, who is the Lincoln city ombudsman.

It was exactly a year ago today that the U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic same-sex marriage ruling, known as Obergefell v. Hodges. The ruling ended decades of debate and one of the biggest culture wars in America. It gave every gay couple in all 50 states the right to walk down the aisle.

But, as Quenzers adoption proceeding showed, the ruling had implications far beyond marriage. One of its greatest impacts was on the children of same-sex couples, many of whom were legally tied to only one parent because states such as Nebraska prohibited unmarried couples from adopting a child together.

Nebraska was one of the 13 states that did not allow gay marriage when the high court ruling came down. It had been legalized in the nations other states through a patchwork of court or legislative actions. In neighboring Iowa, for example, gay marriage had been legal since 2009 because of an Iowa Supreme Court decision.

On the day of the ruling, some Nebraska couples rushed to their local county clerks offices to secure marriage licenses. For a few days, gay marriage ceremonies were a novelty on the wedding circuit.

Some people continue to oppose such unions. But for many people  especially among the nations younger generation  same-sex marriages have become an accepted fact of life.

It is hard to know exactly how many same-sex couples married in the wake of the court ruling. States like Nebraska do not keep statistics for gay or straight marriages.

In Douglas County, workers in the County Clerks Office kept track of the number of same-sex unions for about the first six months. After that, they stopped.

Its kind of amazing that, once it happened, its really just like any other couple, said County Clerk Dan Esch. No one in his office even bats an eye these days.

However, Esch and his staff did go back and come up with a tally in anticipation of todays anniversary. Over the past year, through June 13, the county had issued 173 same-sex marriage licenses  just a fraction of the nearly 4,000 marriage licenses issued overall in Douglas County during that time period.

Nationwide it is estimated there have been 123,000 same-sex marriages since the ruling, according to a Gallup survey.

Last years court decision hasnt ended the nations culture wars, of course. But todays battles are more about whats happening in bathrooms and bakeries than in bedrooms and courthouses.

Laws have been introduced over the past year that would, among other things, compel transgender people to use the bathroom that conforms with their gender at birth or protect bakers from having to make a cake for a same-sex union.

The fight to preserve religious liberty is the first critical battle of the post-Obergefell era, according to a report filed this past week by the Family Leader, an Iowa organization that opposes same-sex marriage.

The gay community sees the baker and bathroom debates as manufactured fights so that anti-gay groups can remain relevant, now that the high court has settled the marriage debate. Its the last gasp of the dying beast. Theyre grabbing for things, said Donna Red Wing, executive director of One Iowa, an LGBT rights advocacy organization in Iowa.

As with same-sex marriage statistics, it is hard to know exactly how many children have been adopted by same-sex couples since the ruling. Adoptions are done by individual courts, which do not keep track.

However, several lawyers in Nebraska said they have worked with same-sex couples eager to adopt their son or daughter in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Ive personally worked on eight to 10 step-parent adoptions, where the same-sex spouse has been able to adopt children who for all intents and purposes was that persons child, said Susan Sapp, a Lincoln attorney. They were very relieved. Whether you agree or disagree with the marriage decision, there were existing families where children didnt have legal stability.

In states such as Nebraska, these families that were created with the help of sperm donors, single-parent adoption or other procreation routes were in legal limbo. The state did not allow non-married couples to adopt children. Given the states ban on same-sex marriages, that policy was essentially a ban on gay adoptions as well.

That meant that children of these unions did not have all the same protections afforded to other children. In the event of a parents death, the child was not legally viewed as an heir to the non-legal parent. And the non-legal parent had no inherent right to the child. In the event of a separation, one parent could deny  or attempt to deny  visitation to the other. Or one of the two parents could walk away without being responsible for child support.

There were few legal guarantees afforded to such families.

It was a fragile (legal) existence they were living every day that no one else had to live, said Philip Katz, an Omaha attorney with the Koenig Dunne Law Firm.

In fact, protecting the children of same-sex unions was a key reason cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in legalizing same-sex marriages.

Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers, children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majoritys opinion. The marriage laws at issue thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples.

Besides allowing longtime gay couples to adopt their children, last years ruling means that couples will find it easier going forward to adopt foster children or babies from private adoption agencies or to have their own children born into a legal union.

In fact, research has shown that since gay marriage was legalized in New York in 2011, gay couples have become more willing to consider having children. Marriage was the foundation block that they needed to feel as secure as any other parent, said Ellen Kahn, director of the Children, Youth & Families program with the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group.

Gay parents will no longer have to decide which of the two is going to be the legally recognized parent and which parent is going to be left in legal limbo.

That was a grueling process for many same-sex couples, Kahn said.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com

* * *

How many gay marriages?

123,000

Estimated same-sex marriages that have taken place across the U.S. in the year since the Supreme Court ruling that legalized such unions nationwide.

49%

Percentage of gay and lesbian cohabiting couples who are married during the year.

491,000

Estimated number of same-sex marriages in the U.S., up from roughly 368,000 a year ago.

3.9%

Percentage of U.S. adults who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Of these adults, 9.6% report being married to a same-sex spouse, up from 7.9%

10.5%

Men who reported being part of a same-sex marriage; for women, 8.8%

13%

Rate that same-sex marriage rose in the 13 states whose bans were struck down by the ruling. The rate increased by 10% in states where same-sex marriage had been allowed.

10.1%

LGBT Americans living with a same-sex domestic partner, a decline from 12.8% over the past year, reflecting couples who got married and those who ended their partnerships.

50%

LGBT Americans who continue to identify as single or never married.

Source: the Associated Press, Gallup survey
A funny thing happened when Betty Stukenholtz announced that she was going to hold a first-ever conference about one-room schools in Nebraska.

People began calling. And calling.

Stukenholtz now has received more than 180 names for a bronze plaque commemorating former country school teachers in Nebraska, and has more than 70 people signed up to attend her conference, scheduled July 8-9 at Peru State College.

Its outstanding, she said of the response. The country school was the foundation of the building of this state. If we dont record their stories, theyre going to be lost.

Stukenholtz, a 78-year-old former University of Nebraska-Lincoln office worker, will use the stories shes received about country schools for a new book. Stories about walking to school on muddy roads, finding nests of mice in the school piano, holding box socials and playing games of red rover.

My favorite: Jerry McCauley, now 79 and living in St. Paul, Minnesota, said he used to shoot rabbits en route to teaching at a one-room school, District 29 near Osmond, Nebraska. He said that some months he made more money from the bounty paid for rabbits than he did teaching. His salary was $200 a month.

The country school conference will include a visit to Harmony School, District 53, south of Nebraska City. Stukenholtz, who attended that school, bought it and has faithfully preserved it.

***

Sixty years ago, Darrel Parker was sent to prison for a murder he didnt commit.

But recently Parker  now 84, and with poor hearing  made a visit to Lincoln, the scene of the murder and 14 years of imprisonment. He said he bore no bitterness for his wrongful conviction.

I felt in my heart that it was going to get straightened out. It took longer than I hoped, he said.

Parker, then working as a forester for the City of Lincoln, confessed under duress to murdering his wife, who was found raped, bound and strangled inside the home they shared in Lincolns Antelope Park.

Parker was released from prison after a federal court ruled that his confession  given after seven hours of accusatory and confrontational interrogation  was coerced and involuntary.

Years after that, the real killer, Wesley Peery, told his lawyers privately that hed killed Parkers wife. Peery had been questioned and released by Lincoln authorities following the murder, then ended up on Nebraskas death row for a similar murder. But his confession wasnt made public until after his death in prison in 1988.

Parker, now retired after working decades as a parks director in Moline, Illinois, said he came to Lincoln for some unfinished business.

He drove past the State Penitentiary, where he had been incarcerated, and he stopped at the house where his wife was murdered, commenting that it looks pretty nice today. But the main purpose, he said, was to thank the newspaper reporters who publicized his case and whose stories led to a final apology in 2012 from then-Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, who reviewed the case.

I always told Parker that most of the thanks should go to David Strauss, a native Nebraskan whose father-in-law was one of Parkers attorneys. Strauss published a book in 2010, Barbarous Souls, that rekindled interest in the case and Parkers desire for a complete exoneration from what one national expert on wrongful convictions called one of the nations worst cases of false confession.

If it hadnt been for his book, I doubt we would be having this conversation, Parker said over the phone. He got people stirred up. We got some good press. Then Bruning decided maybe we should take a second look.

***

Nebraska might see a research plot of industrial hemp yet.

Ismail Dweikat, an agronomy professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been trying for two years to do research on industrial hemp, as allowed by a bill passed by the Legislature in 2014.

One problem: He has no hemp seed.

Dweikat has been frustrated at every turn in navigating the tangle of regulations required to import seed certified to not contain the hallucinogenic properties of hemps cousin, marijuana.

Last year plantings were held up because state regulations were not yet approved. A month ago Dweikat received the federal OK to plant a 2-acre research plot, then discovered he needed another permit to import the seeds.

A check last week with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found no record of the application he thought hed sent.

Things looked pretty dim to meet a July 1 deadline to plant a crop with enough growing season remaining.

Then, DEA officials from St. Louis, after being called by The World-Herald, pledged to help Dweikat get the import permit. Now hes hoping to receive it by early this week, then get his seed shipped from Canada, and possibly Italy, pronto.

You gotta feel for Dweikat. He thinks Nebraska could be a leading state for growing industrial hemp, given that it grows wild in just about every ditch and abandoned farmyard. (During World War II, farmers were urged to grow hemp because fibers to make rope were in short supply. The tall, leafy plant stuck around.)

Nebraska would not only be an ideal place to grow it, but also to provide seed to others, he said.

We have the most diverse collection of wild hemp in the United States. Everyone wants seed from Nebraska, Dweikat said. We should be able to take advantage of that.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
PERCIVAL, Iowa  Jim Bohlen decided to raise his house 6 feet after the historic flooding of 2011.

He stripped out the flooring and the walls to clean out the mold, and went to work to make the house newer and nicer than it was before.

Then a year ago, he stopped. Today, he lives on what is now the ground floor, and can be found there sometimes watching television, surrounded by boxes full of belongings. The upstairs, the main floor of his house, remains stripped. It has wooden beams and piles of insulation, but no interior walls.

I just kind of got burned out on working on it, Bohlen, 55, said last week. Eventually, Ill get at it, when I get tired of living down there.

In communities like Percival, whose residents were forced to evacuate for months during the summer of 2011, people say they have come a long way since their homes and fields filled with water, sand and mold.

But in many cases, they are exhausted, financially drained and burned out  from countless arguments with insurers, state and federal officials, and from doing a lot of the hard work of cleanup themselves.

Percival is in the Missouri River valley, along Interstate 29 in Fremont County, roughly 40 miles south of Omaha. Communities, neighborhoods and farms up and down the Missouri had to evacuate in 2011, but Percival, and its neighbor Bartlett about 10 miles to the north, were among the hardest hit.

Motorists sometimes use the main drag through Percival as a shortcut to Nebraska City. They zip right by Bohlens home, noticeably raised past eye level with a poured concrete base.

Like many Percival residents, he didnt have flood insurance. His home wasnt in a flood plain because it was protected by a levee, but on June 30 the levee broke. Percival and almost the entire Missouri River valley in Fremont County was filled with water.

That summer, nearly 250 percent of normal runoff flushed through the Missouri River reservoir system, the most in 114 years of record-keeping. The historic flooding disrupted lives along the entire length and both sides of the river. It caused more than $1 billion in damage and at least one death.

Bohlen borrowed $50,000 from the Small Business Administration, using more than half to raise the house where he has lived since 1990 and raised two sons.

Standing on what is now the barren second floor, he can point to where the kitchen used to be, the dining area, the bedrooms. Thinking of what is still left to do is overwhelming for Bohlen, who works a full-time job in Nebraska City.

What a mess, he said. Where do you begin? Where will it end?

But he does not want to leave Percival, where he has lived most of his life.

I have no plans of going anywhere, he said. Its quiet.  Im not a big town person.

The 2010 census counted 87 people in Percival. Locals estimate maybe 50 now live there. In some ways, it looks better than before. Some of the most dilapidated structures have been demolished. And recent additions, such as a playground at a city park, may lure some interested in small-town life.

A lot of people doubt people would want to build new in this town, but you never know, said Charlie Bohlen, owner of Bohlens Farm Service in Percival and a distant cousin of Jim Bohlen.

Just west of town, near the Missouri River, farmer Pat Sheldon had to build a new home. Today, he and his wife live in a 1 story brick and slate-gray house they moved into in the last days of 2015.

The cleanup is still not over. A layer of 6 to 18 inches of hardened sand fills a granary that could once hold 12,000 bushels of soybeans. Sheldon simply hasnt had the time to clean it out yet.

Tired, Sheldon said, when asked to describe his current state. Tired of working all the time for recovery. Were shot, mentally, physically.

Sheldon farms 800 acres along the river. Among the issues he still deals with is a section of riverbank that collapsed in 2011. He has been trying to get the Army Corps of Engineers to fix it, he said. The Corps says it is not allowed to do so.

Its important to him because it makes roughly 200 acres of what would be highly productive farmland unprofitable, because it fills with water even when the river is not at flood stage.

Its just been one hell of a process, Sheldon, 54, said about the recovery. I think were getting close.  We feel a lot better than we did even a year ago.

Bartlett, like Percival, filled with water in 2011 after the levee broke.

In 2010, the census put Bartletts population at 50. Maybe half that number lives there now.

There were some folks that just gave up, said Dean Doty, 55, of Bartlett. They just couldnt take the pressure or the stress.

Doty and wife Carol have had their share of both. Two rental houses they owned had to be demolished. They declared bankruptcy. They worried they may not be able to stay.

But they purchased another house in town and refurbished it. Today, they feel they have come out of the flood OK  but worn out.

Weve worked very hard over the last five years and we are just getting tired, Carol Doty said. There is always something to do.

Dean Doty has gotten involved with the Iowa Hometown Pride initiative, which helps small towns improve their appearance. Doty hopes it will lead to some new trees being planted to replace those killed by the flood.

And the Trail of Treasures on July 29 and 30, an antique and yard-sale event in several Fremont County communities, may expose more outsiders to the joys of Iowa small-town life.

Were trying to (burnish) that small town atmosphere, and hopefully get some young families back in here, Dean Doty said.
Like everybody else in London, I woke up Friday morning, after not much sleep, to graphic depictions of the pound crashing, the stock exchange collapsing and markets all over the world in turmoil.

I have no doubt that soon, the story will be different. Traders will take a step back and notice that nothing, actually, has happened yet. There will be cheap assets to pick up. Markets will stabilize.

The true impact, on Britain and on Europe, of the U.K. voting to leave the European Union will not be visible for many years. In a certain sense, it will not be visible at all, for the real damage will be done by the things that will now not happen.

The slow agony of the divorce proceedings will take up precious political time and energy in London and other European capitals, so Europes leaders will not unite to cope with other crises. The U.K. will turn further in on itself, so British energy and talent will not be dedicated to pushing back against the Islamic State, resettling migrants, resisting Russia.

The situation of the U.K. will be unstable and uncertain for a long time to come, so investments will not take place. Money will not be spent. Opportunities will not be created.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of decisions to be made in the U.K., on legal issues, on joint foreign policy, security and diplomacy and, if Britain leaves the European single market altogether, on tariffs and trade.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in Europe, and so the question of Scottish independence necessarily returns. Northern Ireland voted to stay in Europe, and so the unification of northern and southern Ireland becomes a live issue again. Minutes after the referendum result was announced, Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, declared that This British Government has forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests of people in Northern Ireland, and so it has. It can only be a matter of time before a movement calling for a northern Irish referendum takes off.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump said there is a parallel between the U.K.s vote to leave the European Union and his bid for the presidency to date.

Other European countries may now face political instability as well. The British vote has, in just a few hours, energized the supporters of anti-European  and in some cases anti-democratic  parties elsewhere in Europe. Not just in the smaller European nations but in big countries  France, the Netherlands, Italy and possibly even Germany  the political scene may shift dramatically, particularly given the likelihood of slower economic growth.

Once again, much of the damage will be invisible, taking the form of things that will not happen. The Dutch prime minister, the German chancellor or the French president, consumed with fighting off new political challenges at home, will not have time to think creatively about their own economies or Europes institutional structures, let alone the outside world.

Finally, I do realize that its facile to talk about the impact on a U.S. election that is still many months away, that its too simple to say first Brexit, then Trump. But there is a way in which this election has to be seen, at the very least, as a possible harbinger of the future.

This referendum campaign was not fought on the issues that are normally central to British elections. Identity politics trumped economics; arguments about independence and sovereignty defeated arguments about British influence and importance. The advice of once-trusted institutions was ignored. Elected leaders were swept aside.

If that kind of transformation can take place in the U.K., then it can happen in the United States, too. We have been warned.
Outside experts just handed Nebraska prison officials a blueprint for improving how the state helps inmates become law-abiding citizens.

Now its time to build.

The states prisons already offer strong programs to help criminals prepare for life after prison.

But the programs fall short because of long waiting lists for classes, counseling and job training. Too few prisoners get help, and a third dont receive required services by their parole eligibility date, often delaying their release.

State prison officials anticipated what Council of State Governments researchers would find in their study, requested by prisons director Scott Frakes:

 Nebraska needs to do a better, quicker job of deciding which prisoners need programs to treat criminal behavior, violence and substance abuse.

 The state needs to deliver services earlier for short-stay inmates and deliver more hours and types of services to those with longer sentences.

The key for me is that there really are good programs in place, and there are people who cant access them, Bree Derrick, the councils research project manager, told The World-Herald.

The study provides strong direction for state lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts in plotting the next steps in prison reform.

It concluded the state can reduce prison costs in the long run by reducing the number of former inmates who return to prison after committing new crimes.

Researchers suggested several ways to cut the states 31 percent recidivism rate. They advised expanding and improving access to programs and delivering them more consistently.

The state already has been developing a new prisoner evaluation tool, which it plans to deploy in July. Individual inmates risk to re-offend will be assessed when they first arrive, so staff can better plan and tailor programming.

The study also called for using the courts pre-sentence investigations to help steer prison programming, a smart idea.

Earlier evaluation has long been urged by the Legislatures special committee on prisons.

Other long-term solutions will require commitments of time, effort and tax dollars.

The payoff is public safety.

Targeting treatment to higher-risk inmates reduces return trips to prison. Earlier treatment also could help keep the peace at Nebraskas crowded prisons, which house about 2,000 more people than they were designed to hold.

Assaults on corrections officers have tripled in recent months, and hiring enough staff remains a challenge.

Derrick says she is encouraged that Nebraska is taking some needed steps, but lasting change takes years. And it costs money.

While that is rarely popular, its essential to the long-term goal of rehabilitation, which leads to fewer prisoners and safer communities.
What happened after Emergency was imposed

Feature

oi-Shubham Ghosh

The Emergency was a highly effective political strategy. Power supply was deliberately stopped on the night of June 25 to ensure that most newspapers could not be published the next day while sudden arrests of political opponents, both from the Congress itself and the Opposition, gave Indira Gandhi an advantage.

[Read: The day Indian democracy crumbled: 41 years since Emergency]

[Read: Why Mrs Gandhi decided to call elections in 1977]

Complete restriction imposed

Presidential ordinances, which were later converted into law, empowered the government to arrest and jail people without any trial. Meetings of more than five persons without permission were not allowed while casual groups gathering on streets were dispersed.

As against this, rallies in support of the leader herself increased fast and it became important to display her posters and support her Twenty-Point Programme, a set of economic reforms, which Gandhi had announced on July 1, 1975.

Defame the 'fascist' Opposition

Efforts were also made to defame the RSS by claiming weapons were found in its office while documentaries were used to demonise the Opposition parties, including JP. The establishment also accused the press of backing the Opposition in its 'sinister' designs. JP, who was also imprisoned during this time, had written to the PM from jail about the latter's action of subverting the democracy, but he did not get a reply.

Constitutional amendments

The Emergency was backed by three constitutional amendments and parliamentary act. While the 38th Amendment held that the Emergency could not be questioned by the judiciary, the 39th Amendment made any dispute over elections of the prime minister, President, Vice-President and Speaker non-justiciable. It basically turned the Allahabad High Court's decisive call on Gandhi ineffective.

The supreme leader also got a backing of the Supreme Court on this matter in November 1975. The proposed 40th Amendment gave the PM, President, Vice-President and Speaker complete immunity from any criminal offence, past or future. Besides, an act held publication of any matter that criticised the PM, President, Vice-President, Speaker and the council of ministers to be constituting a penal offence.

Muzzling the press

A series of measures were also taken to clip the wings of the press. Many newspapers were shut, a code of conduct was implemented for journalists, government nominees were placed in boards of newspaper houses while the country's four news agencies were merged to ensure that the press was completely muzzled. The Press Council to ensure freedom of the press was dissolved in December 1975.

Stifling the Opposition



Regarding the Opposition, whether the adversaries could exist depended on the rulers' will since the amended Constitution in 1976 empowered the Parliament to pass laws overriding the fundamental rights, the basic tenets of the laws of the land. Gandhi applied full force to effect strong centralism by trying to bring the two Opposition-ruled states, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, under her government's control. Both the states challenged Gandhi's intention strongly.

Rise of Sanjay Gandhi

The Emergency had also seen the rise of Sanjay Gandhi to prominence although he never exhibited the qualification or experience to emerge as a natural successor to Indira Gandhi, his mother. The infamous sterilization campaign was started under his leadership. The undefined powers of the leader were given definitive shape by the Congress loyalists.

Indira Gandhi has remarked in August 1975 that force was not used at all during the Emergency days but the reality showed how police atrocity on dissenters became a regular occurrence from the time before the imposition of Emergency.

Brutality became the order of the day and torture on adversaries and protesters became the common political currency. Deaths of prisoners in lock-up were not a surprise. The government had increased its budget for the police besides expanding the police force. The inexplicable torture that the police had conducted on one of the brothers of one of the opposition leaders George Fernandes is still fresh in the memory of many who had followed those times closely.

While arbitrary arrests created a fear in the minds of people, the censorship deprived them of knowledge about events that went against the state. It was a perfect scenario to carry on with the state atrocity.



Some good effects of Emergency

Since it was an Emergency, naturally there was a urgency in the running of everyday affairs. Ministers made surprise visits to their departments to see how things were working out. The timing of the employees reporting at work was closely monitored. Trains ran on time. Officials who didn't have a reputation at work were asked to retire at 50 while authorities put into effect punitive measures against economic offenders. The price of vegetable oil and food grain was low but that more because of a good monsoon and high yields.

Indira Gandhi's decade

In January 1976, a book was released on Mrs Gandhi's decade-long rule (from 1966-75) and Vidya Charan Shukla (the man who died recently after being gravely injured in Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh), in a typical display of sycophancy, said more work had been accomplished during that decade than that done in the last 1,000 years!

But in all, the Emergency did not bring any marked improvement in the lives of the commoners, irrespective of the government's tall claims. Whether it was a natural disaster, a mine accident or economic development, the authorities remained indifferent towards the welfare of the people. Workers were laid off in lakhs while the labour movement was brought under strong monitoring. The class distinction was exposed vividly during this time even as Mrs Gandhi spoke in favour of a just society.

(With inputs from Indira Gandhi - Tryst With Power by Nayantara Sahgal)

OneIndia News
Congress scraps Iftar, RSS organises it: How the script of our politics is changing

Feature

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's decision to not host an Iftar party this year to mark Ramadan has surprised quite a few quarters. Taking a sharp departure from the norm which has been followed over the years, the Congress leadership's decision to instead cater to the needy on the occasion has raised a pertinent question: Is this the beginning of the end of the 'secular' brand of politics in India?

The Congress chief's Iftar feast used to be the occasion for the 'secular-minded' parties to test their bonding. The grand-old party of India used to play the central role on these occasion with like-minded regional parties gathering around it to showcase the strength against the majoritarian camp.

Congress has lost states and not many are enthusiastic to back it today



In 2016, the situation isn't what it used to be even a year ago and the Congress top brass knows it very well. One of the main invitees of these Iftar parties in the past---the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has not been much different from the Congress when it comes to appeasing the minorities, has decided to move away from the Congress's arrangement in the wake of the West Bengal Assembly election earlier this year where Sonia's party joined hands with the CPI(M)-led Left against TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

A top TMC leaders even said recently that the Congress is turning increasingly irrelevant in national politics.

The Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party were also unlikely to join the Congress president's Iftaar feast ahead of next year's UP election. The two parties did not send their top leaders last year as well.

It will not be an overstatement to say that the two regional parties are not interested to send wrong signals ahead of a very crucial election in their home state where the BJP handed them a heavy humiliation in the last general election (the SP, BSP and Congress had won just seven seats together out of 80 in that election while the rest went to the NDA).

Nitish Kumar, the other 'secular' leader, is being seen as one of the potential faces of the future anti-Modi platform instead of say, a Rahul Gandhi. He is also certainly not going to play a second-fiddle role to the Congress in days to come.

Is Congress now giving up appeasing minorities for majorities to remain in race with Modi?

There is also another angle to the story. According to observers, the Congress of late is trying to tilt more towards the majority in order to change its image among the Hindu voters so that the Narendra Modi Blitzkrieg, which is blowing it away in almost every election nowadays, can be reduced.

Recently, the Congress leaders even observed the Hindu festival of 'Nirjal Gyaras' outside the Congress headquarters in Delhi. The party is perhaps now in a mood to address the finding by the AK Antony committee that Muslim appeasement was one of the causes of its heavy defeat in the Lok Sabha election of 2014.

Following that, party president Sonia and her deputy Rahul Gandhi have been found celebrating Holi festival, greeting people on Diwali and paying visits to temples---something which observers believe is a conscious effort to course correction. The cancellation of the Iftaar this year is also a part of that process, they feel.

While Congress cancels the 'secular' politics, the RSS embraces it

The Congress's decision to scrap the Iftar party this year and the hosting of the same by the RSS's Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) on July 2 to correct its own anti-minority image point to the changing realities of Indian politics. Envoys of as many as 140 countries, including Pakistani High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit (though it was later withdrawn), have been invited to the occasion.

Though the MRM leadership has appealed not to see this initiative from a political angle but the fact that the RSS has started hosting Iftaar party of international stature after Modi's taking over suggests that like the Congress, the saffron camp is also eager to bag the minorities' support to emerge as a real substitute for the 130-year-old Congress today.

In both course-correction projects, the RSS seems to be ahead of Congress

In both the projects of course correction, however, the RSS seems to be ahead of the Congress because of the BJP has a better political position at the moment.

The Congress has lost all big states in the country except Karnataka where also it could lose the plot in two years from now and with a poor presence in the Lok Sabha, it doesn't excite the regional parties anymore. Moreover, the way it let down the TMC supremo by allying with her arch-enemies and attacking her during the Bengal polls, it wasn't any short of a hara-kiri two years ahead of the next general election.

This also gives Modi the opportunity to get closer to the minorities and bury whatever ill-reputation he has over the Gujarat riots of 2002.
Partial Solar Eclipse updates: See stunning photos of Surya Grahan from Chennai, Bengaluru, Patna and more

India and UK ally for Solar and Nano Material Research

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan led the Indian delegation at the 5th Indo-UK Science and Innovation Council Meeting (SIC) held at London earlier last week. It was co-chaired by Mr. Jo Johnson, Minister of State for Universities and Science, UK.

India&UK work as R&D partners in SolarAlliance,SmartCities,Ocean studies,Water quality,Data Science & advance manuf. pic.twitter.com/nyTen4pzwi  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 15, 2016

After the event, Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated that India and UK have agreed to work together in two major initiatives in the fields of Solar Energy and Nano Material Research, inter alia.

Co Chaired the Indo UK Science & Innovation council meeting in London with Minis-ter Johnson, agreed to step up R& D. pic.twitter.com/1aCji3D77e  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 15, 2016

Solar alliance:

Dr. Harsh Vardhan informed that as a part of the commitment to the Solar Alliance, the India-UK networked Centre on Solar Energy would be established. It would be linked to India's renewable en-ergy mission and UK's Supergens Programme.

The research projects will focus on systems level design and development covering Solar energy generation, storage systems and grid integration particularly for micro-grid systems. India would be investing Rs.50 crores over a period of five years with matching contribution from Research Coun-cil UK (RCUK) under the Newton-Bhabha Programme.

The Minister also noted that the Ministry of Earth Sciences of Government of India and Natural En-vironment Research Council (NERC), UK are working on large observational campaign involving UK aircraft, Indian ships accompanied by surface observations primarily to address role of small scale processes to address variability of Indian monsoon leading to improved prediction of monsoon from short range to seasonal time scale.

The SIC:

The SIC is the apex body which oversees the entire gamut of the India-UK science, technology and innovation cooperation and meets once in two years. The last meeting of the SIC was held in New Delhi in November 2014 during which both countries had launched the Newton-Bhabha Programme to support the bilateral Science & Technology cooperation.

Currently, the value of investment in Indo-UK research and development cooperation from multiple Indian and UK agencies exceeds 200 million pounds of co-funding. UK stands amongst the top three collaborating countries in science and technology with India.

As a result of this strengthening of the Indo-UK Science & Technology cooperation, the SIC an-nounced access to Indian researchers to the Neutron Scattering facility of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxford. This unique facility, based on the use of neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy, is a world class facility at Oxford to carry out fundamental research on understanding a wide range of matter at the fundamental level.

This will help to enhance Indian capability to fabricate structures at Nano scale level for creating interesting and technologically important materials through research in fundamental science. As a part of the Nano mission program, the Department of Science & Technology would be investing Rs.26.5 crores.

Shared the achieve-ments of Modi Government in Science and Technology with UK Minister for Universities and Sci-ence. pic.twitter.com/TiXvJJd5WS  Dr. Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) June 15, 2016

Both nations have also agreed to address a gamut of societal challenges in the fields of food, en-ergy and water security; health and well-being; smart cities and rapid urbanisation with increasing access and sharing of expertise, resources and facilities. The cooperation is aimed to yield high quality and high impact research outputs having industrial relevance, targeted towards addressing societal needs.

Life and health science:

In the area of life and health sciences, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India and the Bio-technology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK have agreed to provide continued support to the virtual joint centers on Agricultural Nitrogen.

The two agencies are also supporting research collaboration under Global Research Partnership in Aquaculture. In the area of health sciences, the focus is to address health needs of women and children.

Water quality research:

In the field of Water Quality Research, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and NERC-UK will initiate a collaborative research program to improve water quality in India.

The program would address the problem of natural, geogenic contaminants such as arsenic and fluoride as well as man-made pollutants like pharmaceutical and personal care products increasingly being found in ground water.

This program is being developed to support implementation of the goals of the National Mission for Clean Ganga.

Energy efficiency:

Under the Newton-Bhabha Programme, the two sides have also agreed on a collaborative program on Energy Efficiency in Built Environment as a part of the Smart Cities mission.

Both the countries have agreed on common research agenda focused on energy-efficient building envelop, low energy cooling and thermal comfort as well as energy efficient technologies for city and community level.

Besides the Newton-Bhabha Programme, the two countries have also been involved in promoting partnerships through the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI).

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, June 26, 2016, 16:13 [IST]
International Conference on Yoga for Body Concludes

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

The two day 'International Conference on Yoga for Body and Beyond' came to a successful close in New Delhi. The conference was organised by the Ministry of AYUSH as a part of International Day of Yoga celebrations.

The International Conference was held to deliberate upon the benefits of yoga to the individual, community, the society and the world at large. It was attended by Yoga experts from India and more than 80 international delegates from 35 countries.

The countries that participated in the Conference included Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Malaysia, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Australia, Belgium, China, Egypt, Iceland, Japan, Kuwait, Korea, Kenya, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, UAE among others.

Sumitra Mahajan at valedictory session:

Lok Sabha Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan spoke at the valedictory session and said that India has always believed in conquering the hearts of people, not by invasion, but by its culture and traditions. India has won the hearts of the world by giving it something extra ordinary like Yoga, she explained.

She said that it is a great achievement that by Celebrating the International Day of Yoga, the people have decided to create a healthy world. She said that the whole theory of Yoga is to go beyond the mind.

She also said that Yoga has several aspects, while some people look it as a part of medical science others consider it as a form of meditation and for yet others, it's a source of peace and joy.

The Lok Sabha Speaker further that today the humanity is faced with several challenges like terrorism, extremism, consumerism and climate change. These challenges can be met if we adopt Yoga in our lives since Yoga teaches us to live in harmony with nature and to lead a balanced life.

"It is our great achievement that with the Declaration of International Day of Yoga by the United Nations, we have been successful in popularising yoga all over the world, the usefulness of yoga is universal and the whole world has accepted it eagerly", she added.

Shripad Yesso Naik at the valedictory session:

Addressing the valedictory session, the Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik expressed his happiness that the level of participation in the International Conference has remarkably increased from India and abroad this year.

"The way the world is accepting Yoga, I am sure in the days to come the world will further recognise Yoga as a vital contribution of India to rid the mankind of disease and promote peace and tranquility amongst the various nationalities and a healthy world" the Minister said.

He explained that the focus of yoga is basically to change the lifestyle so that the lifestyle related disorders are easily prevented and managed. Yoga is a suitable way to overcome the problem of non-communicable diseases which is becoming more problematic than epidemic outbursts of earlier times.

The AYUSH Minister explained that several efforts have been made by the Government to promote Yoga including efforts to include Yoga training in the Military and Para-Military forces and developing a separate central sector scheme for Yoga Training for Police personnel.

He further elaborated that the new recruits of Civil Services will now do Yoga as a part of their training programme. The primary theme of 2nd International Day of Yoga is to connect with the Youth and to inculcate the habit of Yoga at a young age.

So, NCERT has prepared syllabi on Yoga for the class sixth to eighth and ninth to tenth standards and circulated to all the State Governments and School Boards, the AYUSH Minister added.

He also highlighted some of the other major steps taken by the Government. "One of the commendable steps in this direction is that Ministry of AYUSH has set up an effective mechanism in place by launching the Schemes for Certification and Accreditation of Yoga Professionals and Yoga Schools with the help of Quality Council of India (QCI). It's more heartening to know that the Schemes are getting international recognition."

Certificates presented:

During the valedictory session, Sumitra Mahajan also presented Certificates to representatives of the First certified Yoga School in India, First Personnel Certification Body and certified Yoga Professionals from Japan under the Scheme launched by Ministry of AYUSH and managed by Quality Council of India for Yoga Professionals and Yoga Schools.

A film 'Yoga at Antarctica' produced by DRDO was also screened at the valedictory session. There were 8 technical sessions on Yoga and Physical Wellbeing, three sessions on Insights from Yoga Scholars, Integration of Yoga in Healthcare Delivery System, Yoga for Mental Health, Yoga for Body and Beyond and a Panel Discussion on the subject. There was also a session on open-ended experience sharing by foreign delegates.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, June 26, 2016, 17:26 [IST]
Arrest warrant issued against Hindi film producer Nadiadwala

India

oi-PTI

Chennai, Jun 26: A court here has issued an arrest warrant against Hindi film producer Firoz A Nadiadwala in connection with a cheque bounce case.

The XVII Metropolitan Magistrate Saidapet issued the warrant, directing the Juhu Police in Mumbai to arrest Nadiadwala and produce him before the court at 10.30 am on June 27.

Providing for his immediate release on bail the same day if he appears in court, the magistrate further said if Nadiadwala furnishes one surety before the court, he may be released.

The order was passed on a petition by city-based film financier Nirmal Kumar Maheswari who submitted that Nadiadwala had borrowed Rs 2 crore from him in 2011 for a Hindi film titled 'Power', which was never released.

They then entered into another agreement in September 2013 when Nadiadwala undertook to pay Rs 5.4 crore towards principal and interest to Maheswari before the release of his next film 'Welcome Back' starring John Abraham, he said.

Complaint filed against Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez

But he failed to honour his committment then and also later in 2015 and cheque issued by the producer for Rs 2.5 crore was returned for want of sufficient funds, following which the petitioner moved the court.

The petitioner submitted that Nadiadwala had issued the cheques despite being aware of the fact that there was no sufficient funds in his account, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act.

PTI

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, June 26, 2016, 9:39 [IST]
Here is why a newborn baby must have skin contact with dads and non-birthing parents

How to Manage Things While Being a New Mommy, Advice by Noor Vishu Sehgal

Baby girl raped by neighbour in UP

India

oi-PTI

Sitapur (UP), Jun 26: A 14-month-old baby girl was allegedly raped by her 50-year-old neighbour in Kotwali area, leaving her in a critical state. The accused took the girl to his house late last night and raped her, Station officer Deepak Shukla said today.

Later, when family went to took the girl, she was found in a critical condition, while the accused fled from the spot, he said. The victim was rushed to the district hospital from where she was referred to Trauma Centre in Lucknow in critical condition, Shukla said.

A case was yesterday registered in the matter, the SO said, adding the accused was also arrested.

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'

BJP to hold UP executive meet on July 16

India

oi-PTI

Lucknow, Jun 26: The Executive Committee of BJP's UP unit will meet in Moradabad for a two-day session on July 16-17 where it would strategize for the state assembly polls due early next year.

"An important meeting of senior leaders was held here today in which it has been decided to hold state executive meeting on July 16 and 17 in Moradabad," BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

The meeting was chaired by state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and was attended by several Union ministers besides party's state-in-charge Om Prakash Mathur. Mahesh Sharma, Ramshankar Katheria, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sajeev Balyan were among Union ministers who attended the meeting along with former presidents of BJP's state unit.

Pathak said the meeting decided to hold training camps for party workers at district level between July 20 and 30. Assembly segment-wise conferences will also be held in August, he said.

PTI
Situation in J&K has improved after Modi became PM: Amit Shah in Jammu

Burqa clad woman who hurled bomb at CRPF camp is member of rabid Asiya Andrabi headed Dukhtaran-e-Milat

X, Y, Z, Z+ and SPG: The whys and hows of security categories in India

CRPF jawan injured in encounter with Naxals in Maharashtra

India

oi-PTI

Nagpur, June 26: A CRPF jawan was on Sunday,June 26 injured during an encounter with Naxals in a forest under Etapalli taluka of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district.

The jawan, identified as Moolchand Tondre (28), sustained bullet injury near his cheeks but did not give up and continued firing on the Naxals in the Hadri forest area, the CRPF control room in Gadchiroli said.

The exchange of fire between the CRPF patrol party and the rebels lasted for some time, but the Naxals managed to escape from the scene.

Tondre was airlifted by a chopper and shifted to a city hospital for treatment, the CRPF said, adding some Naxals were also suspected to have been injured in the firing.

PTI
Old bridge razed through controlled explosion in Pune

BRO Recruitment 2022: Check details for 328 vacancies, last date and salary details here

COVID: India reports first case of a highly infectious Omicron sub-variant in Pune

Mann Ki Baat: Who is Chandrakant Kulkarni?

India

oi-Preeti Panwar

Pune/ New Delhi, June 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, June 26, addressed the nation through his popular radio programme Mann Ki Baat, in its 21st edition.

Among a number of issues, PM Modi highlighted the need of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India Campaign) and water conservation programme, during which he named a person Chandrakant Kulkarni and heaped showers of praises upon him. PM Modi called him a "real hero" and also saluted his spirit.

On Saturday, June 25, PM Modi met Kulkarni at his residence in Pune and personally thanked him for his endeavours to make India a clean country.

Kulkarni served as a government official, who retired in June 2015. Post retirement, he decided to get associated with Modi government's ambitious project of Swacch Bharat and hence he decided to give almost a third of his pension from June 2015 to Sept 2019 to Swachh Bharat Kosh. His monthly pension is Rs 16,000.

To make sure that he contributes in future too, he has already put his signature on 52 Post-Dated Cheques (PDCs)! The total amount of all these cheques is said to be Rs 2 lakh 60 thousand.

"Retired government employee Chandrakant Kulkarni gave me 52 post-cheques as donation for 'Swachh Bharat', he has set an example for us", PM Modi said.

Here are some Twitter reactions on Chandrakant Kulkarni:

Meeting Chandrakant Kulkarni was an absolute delight. People like him are true heroes of our nation. pic.twitter.com/nTmD8IL7aH  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2016

Spotlight on Chandrakant Kulkarni in #MannKiBaat for his magnanimous contribution to Swachh Bharat @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/mtwyNJjf2p  Sriram (@srirambjp) June 26, 2016

@ashishbadshah @narendramodi



Lets create movement so that Sh Chandrakant Kulkarni is awarded wiith Padma award.  Vikas Pande (@Pande1654Pande) June 26, 2016

#MannKiBaat PM shares with gr8 pride story of Chandrakant Kulkarni. Inspirational story of pensioner who conrtibutes to #swachhataabhiyaan  ALL INDIA RADIO (@AkashvaniAIR) June 26, 2016

Salute Mr. Chandrakant Kulkarni https://t.co/ZpuDRDyvIe  Vijay Pari (@vijaypari7) June 25, 2016

OneIndia News
Mehbooba Mufti pays homage to 8 martyred jawans in Pampore

India

oi-Shalini

Srinagar,June 26: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister paid homage during wreath laying ceremony to 8 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Jawans who were matyred on Saturday, June 26 in an attack by militants in Pampore.

Mehbooba strongly condemned the militant attack on the CRPF convoy in Pampore in which 8 jawans were killed. She said "the attack was aimed at subverting peace and development initiatives launched by the state government.

According to recent reports, 2 terrorists have been killed in an ongoing encounter in Uri Sector of J&K's Baramulla district. "The only purpose of such blood-spattered act of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," Mehbooba expressed.

The militants have always tried to derail the peace process and security of the state. While expressing solidarity with the bereaved families of the security forces personnel, she prayed for early recovery of the injured. "The inhuman attack is to mislead the government exercise of bringing peace in the state and this act will no longer be tolerated," CM said.

J&K: 2 terrorists killed in an ongoing encounter in Uri Sector of J&K's Baramulla district (visuals deferred) pic.twitter.com/hQiIv8LbIG  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Srinagar: Wreath laying ceremony of CRPF jawans who lost their lives in yesterday's terror attack in Pampore (J&K) pic.twitter.com/vVaLyIAKdB  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

Srinagar: J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti pays homage to CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Pampore terror attack yesterday pic.twitter.com/QOjuM43HxH  ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

OneIndia News
Nursing student ragging case: Kerala Congress leader discusses issue with Siddaramaiah

India

oi-PTI

Kozhikode, Jun 26: Opposition leader in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday said he had taken up the issue of ragging of a nursing student from the state with the government in party-ruled Karnataka, urging it to ensure safety of thousands of students from his state studying there.

Chennithala said he had spoken to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on this issue and he had ensured he would look into the matter. [Karnataka: 3 arrested for ragging nursing student]

"I spoke to Karnataka CM Siddharamaiah requesting that he ensure the safety of thousands of Keralite students studying in his state and he assured me he would look into the matter," he told reporters at a meet the press programme at the press club here.

[Karnataka: Nursing student forced to drink toilet cleaner during ragging, condition serious]

He was speaking after visiting the 19-year-old student at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital here. Steps should be taken to enable the student continue her studies in Kerala itself, he added.

Nineteen-year-old Aswathi was allegedly force-fed toilet cleaner by her seniors at the hostel of Al Qamal College of Nursing in Kalaburigi on May 9, seriously damaging her internal organs. She is now battling for life at Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

On the liquor policy, he alleged that the Kerala government was deliberately trying to make the state a "liquor hub" by reopening closed bars, which was apparent from the Governor's address yesterday.

On the Mullaperiyar dam issue, over which Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads for long, he said the state wants a new dam to be constructed and not fresh studies.

"We are not in confrontation with the Tamil Nadu government. At the same time, we have to ensure safety of our people in five districts," the Congress leader said.

In this context, he referred to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's meeting with Prime Minister Modi last week, seeking help to raise the water level to 152 feet.

"But the present government's stand here is not to protect the interest of the state," he alleged.

On May 7, 2014, the Supreme Court had held that the 120- year-old dam is safe and allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completing strengthening measures on the dam, located in Idukki district of Kerala.

The dam is under the administrative control of Tamil Nadu as per a 999-year lease agreement and caters to irrigation needs in southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

While Kerala had been pressing for a new reservoir on the ground that the present one is dilapidated, Tamil Nadu is opposed to it, saying the structure was safe.

PTI
Over 31 lakh cases await next date of hearing in Indian courts

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 26: Amid the debate on ways to check rising pendency in courts, new data say out of the over 2.20 crore cases awaiting disposal across the country, the next date of hearing has not been fixed for over 14 per cent of them.

This means that the courts have not yet decided on when these 31,45,059 cases will be taken up for the next hearing. According to the data available on the National Judicial Data Grid, as on June 24 this year 2,20,75,329 cases are pending in various courts.

Out of these, 31,45,059 (or 14.25 per cent of the total pending cases) have been categorised as 'undated cases'. Any case for which the next date of hearing has not been assigned is called an undated case.

The data say that of the over 31 lakh undated cases, 21,75,750 are criminal cases, while 9,69,309 are civil in nature. Gujarat, according to the data available on the Grid, leads with 20.46 per cent undated cases, followed by West Bengal with 14.96 per cent cases.

Madhya Pradesh has 13.13 per cent undated cases and Delhi 3.22 per cent. At a recent meeting of the Supreme Court eCommittee, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had suggested introduction of "some sort of incentive" for reducing the number of undated cases.

Concern in RS over backlog of cases, appointment of judges

The eCommittee of the Supreme Court was set up in 2004 to assist the Chief Justice of India in formulating a national policy on computerisation of Indian judiciary and advise on technological, communication and management-related changes.

Of the over two crore cases pending, more than 10 per cent have remained unsettled for over 10 years. Out of the total pendency, 83,00,462 or 41.38 per cent cases are pending for less than two years, while 21,72,411 or 10.83 per cent cases are pending for over 10 years.

PTI
Plea to PM to declare Kalpana Chawla birthday as Daughters' Day

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 26: Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare July 1 as Daughters' Day in memory of Indo-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) has launched a campaign #shakti4beti.

Kalpana, who had an illustrious career as a US astronaut, died along with six crew members of the Space Shuttle Columbia which disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, just 16 minutes before landing. July 1 is Kalpana's official birthday. Even after her tragic death, Kalpana continues to be a shining example and icon for many girls around the world.

PRCI -- the pan-India premier body of PR, Media, Advertising, HR professionals and mass communication academicians -- embarked on a social media campaign to focus on communicating on the importance of girl security, culminating with Daughter's Day events on Friday next (July 1).

PRCI has petitioned the Prime Minister and tweeted to the HRD, Defence and Railway ministers urging for their help and support for #shakti4beti and declaring July 1 as Daughters' Day.

Explaining the significance of the theme, B.N. Kumar, national president of PRCI, said: "Beti Suraksha (girls' security) falls in line with the Union government's campaign Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. We as communication professionals firmly believe that it is absolutely important to communicate to the society at large on the issue that bothers all -- the security of the girl child".

Modi pays homage to Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawala

"The memory of Kalpana Chawla, whose glory grew sky high, remains as an inspiration and we as communicators are keen to ensure that the GenX remembers with a sense of pride," said M.B. Jayaram, Chairman Emeritus and Chief Mentor of PRCI. "We at PRCI observe July 1 as Daughters' Day each year and now we have urged the Prime Minister to declare it as a National Daughters' Day," he added.

PRCI has also launched a Twitter and Facebook campaign to focus on communication about girl safety and security, and proposed to schools and colleges to initiate self defence programmes for girls.

"We are happy that KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR) at Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai, has agreed to actively participate in the campaign. Students will be mobilised to communicate on the issue. A Navi Mumbai-based developer, Prajapati Constructions, has also given its consent to launch the drive at a school in Uran, near Mumbai," said Kumar.

PRCI chapters across the country have also planned campaigns. The Bengaluru chapter planned a Beti Padhao programme.

--IANS
Secularism of Congress, Left euphemism for hating Hindutva: Murali Manohar Joshi

India

oi-PTI

Bengaluru, Jun 26: Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi on Sunday alleged that secularism as practiced by Congress and Left parties was "nothing but an euphemism for hating Hindutva".

"Secularism being practiced by Congress and Leftists is nothing but an euphemism for hating Hindutva. People of India have seen through this devious game of Congress as well as the Leftists and realised they were taken for a ride," he said.

The people had rightly dumped them "at the dustbin of history", he said addressing a public meeting organised by the party unit of the Bangalore Urban district here.

The meeting was held in remembrance of the 63rd martyrdom of Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. Joshi, who was a minister in Vajpayee government, stressed the need for a thorough debate on issues of nationalism and secularism.

He said that pseudo-secularism has thrived at the cost of genuine, positive secularism for the last several decades. He alleged that the concept and definition of nationalism had also been twisted and distorted  as secularism  to suit the needs of pseudo-secular and communal forces.

Joshi said the Jan Sangh founder's martyrdom was on the issue of what constitutes nationalism and what represents secularism.

"This needs to be further debated to bring in clarity and settle the issue of secularism once and for all," he said.

PTI
Explained: Why did the ECI freeze the symbol of the Shiv Sena

Not just future of Sena but democracy at stake, says Uddhav

Sena may pull out of Maha govt before civic polls: Prithviraj Chavan

India

oi-PTI

Pune, June 26: Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday,June 26 said Shiv Sena may break off its ruling alliance with BJP in Maharashtra before next year's civic polls in Mumbai and other cities of the state.

"The coalition of BJP and Shiv Sena is full of contradictions and the kind of spat the two parties are having is evidence of the same," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister told reporters here.

"As a politician, it is my reading that before the civic body polls in Mumbai and other parts of the state, Shiv Sena may withdraw their support and pull out from the (state) government," Chavan, a former Union Minister, said.

"Once, Shiv Sena withdraws the support, the government will automatically go into a minority and further political developments will take place," he added.

Recently, the ruling alliance partners had locked horns with each other over an article in BJP's fortnightly magazine 'Manogat'.

The article had dared the Sena to take "divorce" while enumerating the sacrifices the saffron party has made in the past to keep the alliance intact.

PTI
Here is how much salary hike you can expect this year

Salaries of Air India employees to be restored in phases from April

New Wage Code 2022: Your in-hand salary, PF to leaves, here's what will come into effect from July 1

Salaries in India likely to increase by 10.4%: Here is why

Seventh Pay Commission: Panel recommends Performance Related Pay

India

oi-Jagriti

New Delhi, June 26: The Performance Related Pay (PRP) for all categories of central government employees has been recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission, media reported.

The panel has also suggested not to award annual increment to those employees who fail to meet performance criterion. For this, it has sought upgradation of performance benchmark to "very good" from "good" level, reported the Indian Express.

According to other reports, implementation of the 7th CPC could be delayed for 2-3 months in the wake of volatility in the markets following after Britain's decision to pull out the European Union.

Seventh Pay Commission: Brexit fallout may force Modi govt to delay 'salary increment'

Nearly 48 lakh central government employees and 55 lakh pensioners will be befitted by the pay commission.

A number of paramilitary chiefs recently held meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the issues related to Seventh Pay Commission.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, June 26, 2016, 10:57 [IST]
Shiv Sena, other parties boycott PM's program in Pune

India

oi-PTI

Pune, Jun 26: BJP's ally Shiv Sena and other political parties on Saturday boycotted the event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his government's flagship 'Smart City mission' in 20 cities.

Pune Mayor Prashant Jagtap attended the program for the sake of protocol, but his party, NCP, alongwith Sena, MNS and Congress, boycotted it.

Shiv Sena is a ruling alliance partner of BJP in Maharashtra and a part of the NDA. However, the relations between the two allies are strained, especially in the last few days when state-level leaders of both parties traded barbs at each other.

Yesterday, leaders of NCP, Congress, Shiv Sena and MNS in accused BJP of hijacking the PM's programme and slammed the Centre for not following protocol as the invitation cards did not have the name of the Mayor.

Jagtap, however, later agreed to attend after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to him over phone.

Local NCP leaders stayed away from the event, saying that the PM had not even once visited Maharashtra when it was reeling under drought, and that he came only when civic elections were round the corner.

PTI
We cannot wait longer now: SC to hear Vijay Mallyas contempt case in January for final disposal

Vijay Mallya saga: SFIO seeks loan details from banks

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, June 26: The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the investigative agency for white collar crimes, has sought loan details from lenders to the Vijay Mallya-owned defunct Kingfisher Airlines. "Banks have been asked to provide all the details of the loans given to the Kingfisher Airlines.

The agency wants to know whether all the procedures were followed by the lenders while giving loans to the airlines," a banking source said, adding the details have been furnished.

As a multi-disciplinary organisation, the SFIO probes cases of financial frauds that are referred to it by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

According to a banker, by asking these details, the SFIO is probably trying to ascertain whether or not there were any lapses on part of the lenders in the entire Kingfisher Airlines loan saga. Last month, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, had said the SFIO was investigating the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines for alleged financial irregularities.

"The SFIO is currently investigating Kingfisher Airlines. Since the probe is in progress, no comments are offered at this stage," Jaitley had informed Parliament in a written reply. Beleaguered liquor baron Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owe over Rs 9,000 crore, including interest, to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank.

Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Federal Bank, Uco Bank, United Bank of India and Dena Bank, among others.

On June 14, a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai had declared Mallya a proclaimed offender in a loan default case. The court issued the order on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been asking Mallya to join investigations "in person" in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud involving IDBI Bank.

On June 11, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and UB Ltd in connection with its money laundering probe in the IDBI Bank loan default case.

The assets brought under the "provisional attachment" order include bank balance of Rs 34 crore, a flat each in Bengaluru and Mumbai (2,291 sqft and 1,300 sqft respectively), an industrial plot in Chennai (4.5 acres), a coffee plantation in Coorg (28.75 acres) and residential and commercial areas in UB City and the Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru (84,0279 sq ft).

Mallya had left the country to Brtiain on March 2 using his diplomatic passport and London has turned down New Delhi's request to deport him.

PTI
EU asks UK to exit fast while anti-Brexit camp protests; demand emerges for fresh referendum

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

London, June 26: The European Union (EU) has stepped up pressure on the UK to exit the club first after a historic referendum held on June 23 saw 52 per cent of the people of the country voting to go out of the union. However, things were far from settled in the UK where a demand to conduct a fresh referendum has gained voice. [EU's founding members meet in Berlin over UK vote to leave]

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said that since the UK is wanting to go out of the EU, it should finish off the procedure fast. He also said the divorce would not be "amicable". [Change or risk collapse: Italy to EU]

That puts the ball clearly in the court of British Prime Minister David Cameron who said after the Brexit that he would stay in office till October to make way for a successor who would manage the transition phase. [Hours after voting to leave EU, Britons googled "What is EU?"]

But the EU leaders are reluctant to wait that long. They feel the UK's own problems could not be allowed to paralyse an entire continental system and would see if the separation could be quickened under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which says how an EU member-state could voluntarily exit from the union.

Meanwhile in the UK, unrest was witnessed since supporters of the anti-exit camp went out on the streets to protest the decision to quit the EU. The demand for a fresh referendum also came up and an online petition seeking it received over 27 lakh signatures at the time of writing this report. Any issue receiving a lakh signatures would be taken up in Parliament and observers predicted that a second referendum could also be a topic of intense discussion in Parliament. [Will Brexit see a Domino effect in Europe?]

Pro-Brexit leader Boris Johnson, who many are seeing as Cameron's successor at the 10 Downing, said the UK is the first sovereign country to have decided to leave the EU and hence, the settlement should be given enough time.

Oneindia News
Pak pitches for speedy resolution of Kashmir dispute

International

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 26: Pakistan pitched for better ties with India and a speedy resolution of Kashmir dispute, on a day suspected LeT terrorists killed eight CRPF personnel and injured 21 others in Pulwama district.

Pakistani envoy to India Abdul Basit made the comments at an Iftar party organised at the Pakistan High Commission premises here.

"Our policy is to establish peace and harmony across the world and this is our policy towards India as well. It has the same essence and spirit.

We want improved relations with India, on that of same standing and that we live in peace together. "We solve the issues and challenges with peace. We want the most important issue of Jammu and Kashmir to be solved as soon as possible so that we can give our future generations a peaceful South Asia," he said.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 critically wounded when terrorists attacked a bus carrying them at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir, in what appeared to be a suicide attack carried out by terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Fake currency from Pakistan passes 3 nations before landing in India

Surprisingly, the top Hurriyat leadership from both the hardline and moderate factions was absent at the function hosted by the Pakistan High Commission. Pro-Pakistan Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani sent his closest aides, including his son-in-law Altaf Ahmed Shah alias 'Fantoosh', spokesperson Ayaz Akbar and others for the event.

Moderate Hurriyat Conference of Mirwaiz Umer Farooq was represented by Maulana Masroor Abbas Ansari.

PTI

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Sunday, June 26, 2016, 8:59 [IST]
'UK that Scotland voted to stay in does not exist any more'

International

oi-PTI

London, Jun 26: The Britain that Scotland voted to stay a part of in a 2014 referendum "does not exist any more", Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said today following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

"The UK that Scotland voted to stay in in 2014 does not exist any more," Sturgeon told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show after saying a second independence referendum was now "highly likely".

"This is not going to be a re-run of the 2014 referendum. The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically," she said. Scots voted by 55 pe rcent to 45 per cent to stay in the United Kingdom in the 2014 vote.

But a Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 per cent of respondents now wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 per cent were opposed. This comes after Thursday's historic EU referendum in which Britain as a whole voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave -- but 62 per cent of Scots voted to stay.

Within hours of that result, Sturgeon said that a new independence referendum to be held within two years was "highly likely" and said she wanted a role in Britain's upcoming negotiations with Brussels.

Rock stars and celebrities react with dismay to Brexit

"What's going to happen with the UK is that there are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences... I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), said today.

Asked what Scotland's negotiating position with Brussels could be and whether it would have to join as a new member state, Sturgeon said: "This would not be a decision about Scotland leaving... this would actually be a decision about Scotland staying."

"Our argument is that we don't want to leave. It's not that we want to leave and get back in," she said. She also cautioned any future British prime minister against vetoing a new Scottish independence vote. "I think people in Scotland would find that completely unacceptable," she said.

AFP
Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival

Its NSG bid might have failed, but India may join MTCR on June 27

New Delhi

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, June 26: India may become the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on Monday (June 27) when Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will be presented with the formal credentials of the country's membership.

The MTCR will be the first multilateral export control group to open its doors to India. It will be a positive story for India's diplomatic circles after China and some other nations objected to India's entry in the Nuclear Suppliers Group over procedural issues that, blocking its attempt to obtain membership at the plenary meeting in Seoul, South Korea, on June 23-24. [Why NSG membership is important for India]

New Delhi had failed to clear the initial roadblock to enter the MTCR. After adhering to the MTCR guidelines in September 2008 as part of its commitment under 2005 talks that heralded the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation, it made the first move by applying for its membership in June last year.

Italy had blocked India's MTCR bid

But it faced a wall as Italy blocked India's entry at the MTCR plenary meeting chaired by the Netherlands and Luxembourg in October 2015. It did so presumably to pressurise India to take a soft stand on the stay of the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen in Italy during their trial at the Arbitral Tribunal.

Rome cited New Delhi's lack of signing the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty which it said did not fit with the MTCR's goal of honouring all treaties pertaining to weapons of mass destruction.

Oneindia news
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.
 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd.

All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
Wales Online 26 Aug 2022

Legal issues and a planning backlog have affected what could be a significant new development in Kidwelly
The Sentinel Stoke 28 Mar 2022

Katie Moss says her first Christmas away from her 'adult kids' was ruined by the state of the Norbreck Castle Hotel
KTXL 19 Oct 2021

The nations first coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren drew crowds of parents and students to the California State..
By Alexander Brotman



As the Ukraine conflict has now passed the six-month mark, fears of a brutal war of attrition..

Eurasia Review 19 Sep 2022
What Could be the Consequences for the iGaming Industry in the Wake of the Brexit?

Published June 26, 2016 by Florin P

The iGaming industry could be the collateral victim of the Brexit vote.

When David Cameron came up with the idea of holding a referendum on whether Britain should remain or exit the European Union, he didnt expect this outcome. The financial markets were in turmoil in anticipation of the Brexit vote and the polls fluctuated widely over the last couple of weeks. Even though the numbers were indicating the fact that Britain will choose not to leave the European Union, the opposite happened.

The country voted by a substantial margin to pursue a future alone and ventured into uncharted waters. Now that the wheels are set in motion and the Prime Minister has announced his resignation, politicians and pundits try to come up with answers for sensitive questions. The impact of the Brexit vote will be, for better or worse, significant and there is a great degree of uncertainty. Most industries will be affected, some more than the others and people on both sides of the English Channel are rightfully concerned.

Testing Times for the iGaming Industry

Right now very few people are concerned about the impact of the Brexit vote on the gambling industry. There are obviously more pressing matters to solve, but online casinos, poker rooms and bookmakers could have good reasons to be worried. The UK serves as headquarters to six distinct jurisdictions, all of them regulating the online gambling industry. The UKGC, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man carry more weight, as some of the biggest gambling operators are located here.

At a first glance, UK residents dont have much to worry about, since the UK has always been a model of success when it came to the regulatory regime. The thing is that while the same laws will be applicable to British people, some of the casinos, bookmakers and poker rooms might move out.

An Exodus of UK Headquartered Online Gambling Operators

Bet365 is one of the gambling operators who chose to keep its corporate headquarters in England. With many of their customers residing in the European Union, they contemplate the possibility of moving their base of operations. One of the consequences of the Brexit vote is that Britain will leave the European Union and probably the European Economic Area. EU online gambling regulations require online casinos to be members of one of these two entities to serve European customers.

Many casinos have already left United Kingdom to avoid the high taxes and the Exodus is expected to pick up speed. PokerStars is one of the industry giants that have at least a division licensed in the Isle of Man. If they lose access to the EU markets it is very likely that the relatively low taxes they pay here wont be enough to offset the shortcomings. The company might choose to relocate to Malta where they can enjoy the best of both worlds.

In the end, these are all just very early forecasts and only time will tell how the Brexit will impact iGaming; here's hoping that the results will be positive and not the other way around.
Reprinted from The Nation

Her agenda is fundamentally different from the one Hillary Clinton will pursue.





Speculation about whether Hillary Clinton will ask Elizabeth Warren to be the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president reached a fever pitch over the past week. There are good arguments for and against the party's presumptive presidential candidate making such a choice. Elevating one of the country's leading progressives to such a prominent profile would be an impressive gesture by Clinton and could help to win over reluctant supporters of Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign. But the more important question for Warren's admirers on the left is whether she should accept an offer to become Clinton's running mate.

I never expected to be arguing that Elizabeth Warren should stay in her place. But remaining in the Senate would provide the best platform for her to advance a progressive agenda during a Clinton administration. The inalterable reality is that her agenda is fundamentally different from the agenda Clinton will want to pursue, and no president is going to give their vice president a blank check to sabotage their agenda.

Warren's main focus in the Senate and her prior work has been on reining in the financial sector. She recently laid out the major planks of her agenda, alongside unions and other allies, in the "Take On Wall Street Campaign." This platform calls for breaking up the nation's biggest banks and restoring Glass-Steagall-type separations between institutions that hold government-insured deposits and those that make risky market investments. It also calls for establishing a postal banking system as a low-cost competitor for the existing banking system.

Perhaps most importantly, the agenda calls for a financial-transaction tax (FTT). A robust financial-transaction tax, like the one put forward by Representative Keith Ellison or the one being developed by the European Union, would take more than $100 billion annually out of the pockets of Wall Street by reducing the volume of transactions. This is a great policy -- it makes the financial sector more efficient -- but is disastrous for Wall Street types who would see their millions and billions slipping away. These people would love to prevent a real FTT from being put into place. Without Warren in the Senate, that task would be made immeasurably easier.

Warren has also pushed for serious prosecutions of Wall Street criminals. We put kids in jail for passing bad checks or stealing an old car. How can it not be a comparable crime for bankers to steal hundreds of millions or even billions by defrauding the public?

That seems implausible. More likely, in Clinton's vision Wall Street in 2025 looks pretty much the same as it does today. There may be better consumer and prudential regulation, but no one will have any problem finding JPMorgan. Warren's agenda is not Clinton's agenda. Does anyone think that Hillary Clinton expects Wall Street to look fundamentally different at the end of a Clinton administration? Does she think that JPMorgan Chase should be downsized and broken up so that its current structure will not be recognizable in 2025? Does Clinton expect Wall Street to be doing half the trading volume in 2025 that it does today, so that the high-rollers will have to look to the productive economy to make big bucks? Does she think that some of her campaign's biggest contributors will be in the jail cell next to Bernie Madoff?

In the Senate, Warren could force Clinton to alter her vision. Warren's agenda has enormous power and popular appeal, as demonstrated by the success of the Sanders campaign and by Warren's own success in pushing for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other reforms. In fact, the popularity of a FTT even led Clinton to endorse a sham FTT that would apply only to high-frequency trading and would likely be avoided by almost everyone.

Senator Warren has done a huge amount to move the debate and advance policy on financial reform. Vice presidents attend state funerals. We need Elizabeth Warren's voice in the Senate.
A group of U.S. intelligence veterans urges President Obama to resist the "reckless" call for a wider Syrian war from 51 State Department officials in a recent "dissent memo."

MEMORANDUM FOR: Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Subject: Beware Foggy Bottom Dissent

Dissent and disagreement within the foreign policy and national security bureaucracy only comes to the public's attention when there are deep and fundamental differences of opinion about the execution and objectives of a U.S. policy. Instances of dissent emerged during the war in Vietnam and have reappeared periodically, e.g., during the Contra War in Central America in the 1980s and the Cold War with the Soviets. We can now add Syria to this list.

The latest media buzz came with the leak that 51 "State Department Diplomats" signed a dissent letter advocating direct U.S. bombing as a tool to force Syria into submission to our government's dictates. U.S. Foreign Service Officers are a unique collection of highly educated people, who take great pride in having passed the Foreign Service Exam. Yet even among such "bright people," some succumb to the forces of careerism and the pressures to politicize intelligence.

Unfortunately the dissent signers are calling for America to threaten, and if our bluff is called, commit acts of overt, aggressive war against the forces of a sovereign nation on its own territory. One whose supporters include Russia, the world's other big nuclear power.

The line of thought -- that it is America's right and duty to employ large-scale death to enforce its leaders' will on other peoples -- adheres to the noxious notion that the U.S.A. enjoys uniquely privileged standing as the "sole indispensable country in the world." If this was ever an arguably legitimate position, that time is long gone -- and today demonstrably blinds its adherents to common sense.

Such thinking is not new. Theodore Roosevelt popularized it as we went to war to annex Spanish territories in the Philippines and Caribbean -- at the cost of over half a million indigenous lives -- more than a century ago. We saw it, in spades, with the "Best and the Brightest" -- those responsible for destroying Vietnam. Three million Vietnamese people died in that war (according to former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara), and another two million or so in its Indochina spin-offs. After this slaughter and the deaths of scores of thousands of its own troops, the U.S. endured a complete and humiliating defeat, one affecting its foreign policy and domestic politics to this day. Their bright successors supported the attack on Iraq in 2003, the catalyst for an outbreak of violence that has brought death reaching into the millions -- again -- in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and other neighboring locales we'll eventually read about. This aggression has created millions more traumatized refugees.

The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times(and Wall Street Journal), presumably by one of the State Department employees who authored it, claims American policy has been "overwhelmed" by the unrelenting violence in Syria and 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." Furthermore, per the NYT:

"In the memo, the State Department officials wrote that the Assad government's continuing violations of the partial cease-fire, officially known as a cessation of hostilities, will doom efforts to broker a political settlement because Mr. Assad will feel no pressure to negotiate with the moderate opposition or other factions fighting him. The government's barrel bombing of civilians, it said, is the 'root cause of the instability that continues to grip Syria and the broader region.'

"The memo acknowledged that military action would have risks, not the least of which would be increased tension with Russia, which intervened in the war on Mr. Assad's behalf last fall. Russia subsequently helped negotiate the cease-fire. Those tensions increased on Thursday when, according to a senior Pentagon official, Russia conducted airstrikes in southern Syria against American-backed forces fighting the Islamic State."



President Barack Obama meets with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the sidelines of the G20 Summit at Regnum Carya Resort in Antalya, Turkey, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015. National Security Advisior Susan E. Rice listens at left.

(Image by (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)) Details DMCA



The dissenters were smart enough to insist 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 Mr. Assad in line." Easier said than done! The 51 are silent on this point of major importance.

The foundational premise of their dissent is that Assad's "barrel bombing" (followed by chemical attacks) on civilians provoked civil war in Syria. It's true that the initial phase of the Syrian Spring seems to have been largely spontaneous. Facts show, however, that outside interveners-- primarily the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia -- cooperated in lighting the match that brought the inferno of civil war. Covert funding and provision of weapons and other material support to opposition groups for strikes against the Syrian Government provoked a military reaction by Assad -- which created a pretext for our enlarged support to the rebel groups.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Reprinted from Jonathan Cook Website

The UK's exit from the EU is further evidence of the unraveling of an old order from which Israel has long prospered





Brexit Panic

(Image by frankieleon) Details DMCA







The outcome, which surprised many observers, attests to the deeply flawed nature of the referendum campaign. That, in turn, reflected a key failing of modern politics, not only in Britain but in most of the developed world: the re-emergence of an unaccountable political class.

The most distinctive feature of the campaign was the lack of an identifiable ideological battlefield. This was not about a clash of worldviews, values or even arguments. Rather, it was a contest in who could fearmonger most effectively.

The Brexit leadership adopted the familiar "Little Englander" pose: the EU's weak border controls, the influx into the UK of East Europeans driving down wages, and the threat of millions of refugees fleeing crisis-zones like Syria were creating a toxic brew that emptied of all meaning the UK's status as a sceptred isle.

The heads of the Remain camp traded in a different kind of fear. Brexit would lead to the flight from the UK of capital and its associated economic elite. Sterling's collapse would bankrupt the country and leave pensions worthless. Britain would stop being a player in the modern global economy.

Those favoring the EU had another card up their sleeve. They accused Brexit's supporters of being racists and xenophobes who preferred to blame immigrants than admit their own failings for their economic misfortune.

Pandora's box

Set out like this -- and it is hard to over-estimate how simplistically confrontational the arguments on both sides were -- it is easier to understand why the Brexit camp won.

The EU referendum opened up a Pandora's box of division rooted in class that many hoped had been closed in the post-war period with the temporary advance of the welfare state and social democratic policies.

However inadvertently, the Remain leaders championed the cause of a wealthy elite that included the bankers and hedge fund managers who had until recently been publicly vilified for their role in the financial crash of 2008. That was a slap in the face both to the working class and to much of the middle class who paid the price for the economic elite's reckless and self-serving profligacy and its subsequent demands for gargantuan bail-outs.

Those favoring the EU -- who typically suffered least from the 2008 crash -- only added insult to injury by labeling its victims as "racists" for demanding reassurances that politicians would again serve them, not an economic elite.

Economic pillage

There is an argument to be made that the EU is not chiefly responsible for the economic problems faced by British workers. Since the rise of Margaret Thatcher in the late 1970s, British figures from across the political spectrum have grown deeply in thrall to a neoliberal agenda that has clawed back hard-won workers' rights.

It is revealing that some of the super-rich -- including media moguls -- lobbied for an exit. They clearly believe that, outside the EU, they will be able to rape and pillage the British economy at even greater speed, not constrained by EU regulations. Nonetheless, the EU has become the fall guy for popular resentment at the neoliberal consensus -- and not without good cause.

It is seen, correctly, as one of the key transnational institutions facilitating the enrichment of a global elite. And it has become a massive obstacle to member states reforming their economies along lines that do not entail austerity, as the Greeks painfully discovered.

This is the deeper cause of the alienation experienced by ordinary Brexiters. Unfortunately, however, no one in the leadership of either the Leave or Remain camps seriously articulated that frustration and anger or offered solutions that addressed such concerns.

The Remainers dismissively rejected the other side's fears as manifestations of racism. This played straight into the hands of the Brexit leadership, led by far-right figures in the Conservative party like Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, as well as Nigel Farage of the Ukip party, Britain's unwholesome version of Sarah Palin.

This millionaires' club, of course, was not interested in the troubles of Britain's new precariat -- a working class permanently stuck in precarious economic straits. They only wanted their votes. Stoking fears about migrants was the easiest way to get them -- and deflect attention from the fact that the millionaires were the real culprits behind ordinary people's immiseration.

No love for EU Support for Brexit was further strengthened by the lackluster performance of the heads of the Remain camp. The truth is that the two main party leaders, who were invested with the task of defending the EU, were barely persuaded of the merits of their own cause. Prime minister David Cameron is a long-time Euro-sceptic who privately shares much of the distrust of the EU espoused by Johnson and Gove.

And the recently elected leader of the Labour opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, is no lover of the EU either, though for reasons very different from the right's. Corbyn is part of Labour's old guard -- relics of a democratic socialist wing of the post-war Labour party that was mostly purged under Tony Blair's leadership. Labour under Blair became a lite version of the Conservative party.

And here we reach the crux of the problem with the referendum campaign. There was a strong and responsible left-wing case for Brexit, based on social democratic and internationalist principles, that Corbyn was too afraid to espouse in public, fearing that it would tear apart his party. That opened the field to the right-wing Brexit leadership and their ugly fearmongering.

Left's case for Brexit

The left's case against the EU was frequently articulated by Tony Benn, a Labour minister in the 1960s and 1970s. At an Oxford Union debate in 2013, a year before he died, Benn observed: "The way that Europe has developed is that the bankers and multi-national corporations have got very powerful positions and, if you come in on their terms, they will tell you what you can and can't do -- and that is unacceptable.

"My view about the European Union has always been, not that I am hostile to foreigners but that I'm in favor of democracy. " I think they are building an empire there."

Nearly 40 years earlier, in 1975, during a similar referendum on leaving what was then called the EEC, Benn pointed out that what was at stake was Britain's parliamentary democracy. It alone "offered us the prospect of peaceful change; reduced the risk of civil strife; and bound us together by creating a national framework of consent for all the laws under which we were governed."

His warning about "civil strife" now sounds eerily prophetic: the referendum campaign descended into the ugliest public political feuding in living memory. For Bennites and the progressive left, internationalism is a vital component of the collective struggle for the rights of workers and the poor. The stronger workers are everywhere, they less easily can be exploited by the rich through divide-and-rule policies.

Globalization, on the other hand, is premised on a different and very narrow kind of internationalism: one that protects the rights of the super-rich to drive down wages and workers' rights by demanding the free movement of labor, while giving this economic elite the freedom to hide away their own profits in remote tax-havens.

Globalization, in other words, switched the battlefield of the class struggle from the nation state to the whole globe. It allowed the trans-national economic elite to stride the world taking advantage of every loophole they could find in the weakest nations' laws and forcing other nations to follow suit. Meanwhile, the working and middle classes found themselves defenseless, largely trapped in their national and regional ghettos, and turned against each other in a global free market.

Corbyn played safe

Corbyn could not say any of this because the Labour parliamentary party is still stuffed with Blairites who fervently support the EU and are desperate to oust him. Had he come out for Brexit, they would have had the perfect excuse to launch a coup. (Now, paradoxically, the Blairites have found a pretext to stab him in the back over the Remain camp's failure.) Instead Corbyn headed for what he thought would be the safe, middle ground: the UK must stay in the EU but try to reform it from within.

That was a doubly tragic mistake. First, it meant there was no prominent figure making a progressive case for Brexit. Many ordinary voters know deep in their hearts that there is something profoundly wrong with the neoliberal consensus and global economic order, but it has been left to the far-right to offer them a lens through which to interpret their lived experience.

By stepping aside, Corbyn and the real left allowed Johnson and Farage to forge the little Englander case for Brexit unchallenged. Second, voters are ever more distrustful of politicians. Cameron and Corbyn's failure to be candid about their views on Europe only underscored the reasons to assume the worst about the political class.

In a choice between the uncomfortable and perfunctory posturing of the Remain leaders and the passionate conviction of Johnson and Farage, people preferred fervor.

Compromised politics

This is a much wider phenomenon. Corbyn's appeasement of the Blairites is another example of the deeply tainted, lesser-evilism politics that requires Bernie Sanders to tell his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton, warmonger-in-chief to the military-industrial complex, to stop a loud-mouth billionaire thug, Donald Trump.

Increasingly, people are sick of these endless compromises that perpetuate and intensify, rather than end, inequality and injustice. They simply don't know what levers are left to them to change the ugly reality in front of them. The result is an increasingly febrile and polarized politics. Outcomes are much less certain, whether it is Corbyn becoming Labour leader, Sanders chasing Clinton all the way to the Democratic convention, or Trump being on the cusp of becoming US president.

The old order is breaking down because it is so thoroughly discredited, and those who run it -- a political and economic elite -- are distrusted and despised like never before. The EU is very much part of the old order. There is a genuine question whether, outside the EU, the UK can be repaired. Its first-past-the-post electoral system is so unrepresentative, it is unclear whether, even if a majority of the public voted for a new kind of politics, it could actually secure a majority of MPs.

But what is clear to most voters is that inside the EU it will be even harder to fix the UK. The union simply adds another layer of unaccountable bureaucrats and lobbyists in thrall to faceless billionaires, further distancing ordinary people from the centers of power.

Disturbing trend for Israel

Finally, it is worth noting that the trends underpinning the Brexit vote should disturb Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just as they already are troubling the political class in Europe and the US. Like the EU, Israel too is a vital pillar of the old global order.

A "Jewish homeland" emerged under British protection while Britain still ran an empire and saw the Middle East as its playground. After the European colonial powers went into abeyance following the Second World War, the role of patron shifted to the new global hegemon in Washington.

The US has endlessly indulged Israel, guarded its back at the United Nations, and heavily subsidized Israel's powerful military industries. Whereas the US has propped up Israel diplomatically and militarily, the EU has underwritten Israel's economic success. It has violated its own constitution to give Israel special trading status and thereby turned Europe into Israel's largest export market.

It has taken decades for Europe to even acknowledge -- let alone remedy -- the problem that it is also trading with illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. If the EU starts to unravel, and US neoliberal hegemony weakens, Israel will be in trouble. It will be in desperate need of a new guarantor, one prepared to support a country that polls repeatedly show is mistrusted around the world.

But more immediately, Israel ought to fear the new climate of polarized, unpredictable politics that is becoming the norm. In the US, in particular, a cross-party consensus about Israel is gradually breaking down. Concerns about local national interests -- of the kind that exercised the Brexiters -- are gaining traction in the US too, as illustrated last year by the fallout over Israel's stand-off with the White House over its Iran agreement. Distrust of the political class is growing by the day, and Israel is an issue on which US politicians are supremely vulnerable.

It is increasingly hard to defend Congress' historic rock-solid support for Israel as truly in American interests. In a world of diminishing resources, where the middle class is forever being required to belt-tighten, questions about why the US is planning to dramatically increase its aid to Israel -- one of the few economies that has done well since the 2008 crash -- are likely to prove ever-more discomfiting.

In the long term, none of this bodes well for Israel. Brexit is simply the warning siren.
Reprinted from Palestine Chronicle

Entire communities in the West Bank either have no access to water or have had their water supply reduced almost by half.

This alarming development has been taking place for weeks, since Israel's national water company, "Mekorot," decided to cut off -- or significantly reduce -- its water supply to Jenin, Salfit and many villages around Nablus, among other regions.

Israel has been "waging a water war" against Palestinians, according to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah. The irony is that the water provided by "Mekorot" is actually Palestinian water, usurped from West Bank aquifers. While Israelis, including illegal West Bank settlements, use the vast majority of it, Palestinians are sold their own water back at high prices.

By shutting down the water supply at a time that Israeli officials are planning to export essentially Palestinian water, Israel is once more utilizing water as a form of collective punishment.

This is hardly new. I still remember the trepidation in my parents' voices whenever they feared that the water supply was reaching a dangerously low level. It was almost a daily discussion at home.

Whenever clashes erupted between stone-throwing children and Israeli occupation forces on the outskirts of the refugee camp, we always, instinctively, rushed to fill up the few water buckets and bottles we had scattered around the house.

This was the case during the First Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, which erupted in 1987 throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Whenever clashes erupted, one of the initial actions carried out by the Israeli Civil Administration -- a less ominous title for the offices of the Israeli occupation army -- was to collectively punish the whole population of whichever refugee camp rose up in rebellion.

The steps the Israeli army took became redundant, although grew more vengeful with time: a strict military curfew (the shutting down of the entire area and the confinement of all residents to their homes under the threat of death); or cutting off electricity and shutting off the water supply.

Of course, these steps were taken only in the first stage of the collective punishment, which lasted for days or weeks, sometimes even months, pushing some refugee camps to the point of starvation.

Since there was little the refugees could do to challenge the authority of a well-equipped army, they invested whatever meager resources or time that they had to plot their survival.

Thus, the obsession over water, because once the water supply ran out, there was nothing to be done -- except, of course, that of Salat Al-Istisqa or the "Prayer for Rain" that devout Muslims invoke during times of drought. The elders in the camp insist that it actually works, and reference miraculous stories from the past where this special prayer even yielded results during summer time, when rain was least expected.

In fact, more Palestinians have been conducting their prayer for rain since 1967 than at any other time. In that year, almost exactly 49 years ago, Israel occupied the two remaining regions of historic Palestine: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. And throughout those years, Israel has resorted to a protracted policy of collective punishment: limiting all kinds of freedom, and using the denial of water as a weapon.

Indeed, water was used as a weapon to subdue rebelling Palestinians during many stages of their struggle. In fact, this history goes back to the war of 1948, when Zionist militias cut off the water supply to scores of Palestinian villages around Jerusalem to facilitate the ethnic cleansing of that region.

During the Nakba (or Catastrophe) of 1948, whenever a village or a town was conquered, the militias would immediately demolish its wells to prevent the inhabitants from returning. Illegal Jewish settlers still utilize this tactic to this day.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"The world is seemingly full of disconnected crises, but Rob Kall begs to differ. An exceptional pattern thinker, he connects a range of contemporary challenges through a framework of bottom-up solutions in a world dominated by top-down thinking. Mining extensive interviews with thought leaders and exploring an eclectic mix of leading-edge ideas, Bottom-Up describes a variety of latent and emergent characteristics of an evolutionary paradigm shift that's changing the world. Whether your focus is in business, leadership, activism, or organizations, Kall offers a practical conceptual map and toolset to engage the planetary evolution taking place all around us. If you want to make a difference and need inspiration for how to participate in this global transformation, there is plenty in this book to draw from."



Antonio Lopez, author of The Media Ecosystem
It's too soon to draw definitive conclusions from the British people's vote to abandon the sinking ship that is the European Union, as hundreds of thousands from troubled lands try desperately to gain access to it.

Beyond the chutzpa of the American president telling the Brits to stay in the Union - coming close to admitting that they constitute the US's Trojan Horse - beyond Donald Trump's applause, partly motivated by his own bottom line, or Hillary's holier-than-thou assurance that she would prevent the Brexit from adversely affecting American 'families', the first really significant reaction came from Germany, which, as expected, announced that the world's financial capital would move from 'The City' to Frankfurt.

The only things that Frankfurt-am-Main and London-on-Thames have in common is that they are both dreary places where misfortune is cleverly generated for the many. But we can expect that once Frankfurt becomes the world financial center, money will feel freer to move Eastward, and Europe with it.

That the Brits should turn out to be the first member to actually ditch the European Union is historically unsurprising. For centuries, though separated only by a five-mile wide Channel, Great Britain has kept itself more aloof from 'the continent' than has the United States, an ocean away. The popular French saying 'perfidious Albion' is said to date back to the thirteenth century, meaning that it has had continuous meaning for Europeans over seven centuries.

From beyond the White Cliffs of Dover, England and its appendages, Wales, Scotland and the ever-troubled Ireland, have looked 'over' at the 'continentals' mainly with disdain, often with irritation at their 'bloody ways'. Great Britain -- a large island whose monarchs still occupy Windsor Palace -- reached beyond Europe to take over North America, India and Australia, creating an improbable but nonetheless powerful Empire, while 'petty Europe' was too enmeshed in rivalries to turn parts of the Third World into an extension of itself. France came closest, with large areas of Africa, a few Caribbean and Pacific islands, and Vietnam.

France will undoubtedly be the European country most affected by Britain's retreat, as increasing numbers of desperate young men from Africa and the Middle East stake out pup tents under the Paris metro and along the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, determined somehow to make it to Britain. Nor will Brexit make it easier for Britain to avoid receiving them: volunteers keep watch along the Channel, but either by swimming or bribing fishermen, some will get across, as the two countries are unlikely to better coordinate their policies than they have been as part of one entity.

Britain's historical aloofness from the continent did not subside with her joining the European project almost twenty years after the historical rapprochement between France and Germany in 1955. On the contrary, and most famously under the eleven year (1979-1990) premiership of Margaret Thatcher, it constantly demanded, and obtained, special conditions from its European partners, paying less in and taking more out of the arrangement than others. It is therefore no surprise that as turmoil in Africa and the Middle East continues to build, Britain should take her marbles and go home, to search for a better way of dealing with the fall-out from a world it once owned.

The retreat of Washington's Trojan Horse will leave Europe free of American oversight for the first time since 1945. France and Germany will be the undisputed leaders of a Europe free at last to disentangle itself from an over-weaning military and economic alliance and its fallout.
Reprinted from Dispatches From The Edge

In the end, the Brexit -- the vote on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union (EU) or be the first in the 29-member trade group to bail out -- was a close fought matter, but for all the sturm und drang about a pivotal moment for the EU, the June 23 referendum that saw the Brexit pass was a very British affair.

While the European Union is clearly in a crisis -- countries weighed down with unpayable debt, economies virtually dead in the water, double digit unemployment, and a rising chorus of opposition to the austerity policies of the EU authorities in Brussels -- those were not the issues that brought the British people to the polls.

Indeed, the whole affair started as an entirely homegrown matter, an internal split in the ruling Conservative Party. Back in 2013, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron cut a deal with the euro skeptic part of his party that if they would close ranks until after the 2015 general election, he would hold a referendum on the EU.

At the time, Cameron was also looking over his shoulder at the rise of the extreme right wing, racist United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which had begun using anti-immigrant issues to poach Conservatives. It is likely that Cameron never really intended to follow through on the 2013 pledge, but once he let slip the dogs of war he had little control over the havoc that followed.

When the Conservatives defeated the Labour Party last year, the "out" faction demanded their due, and what emerged was a deeply disturbing campaign that focused on race, religion and "sovereignty," the latter a code-word for a particularly nasty brand of nationalism that is on the rise all over Europe.

Brexiters conjured up hordes of Turks pouring into Britain, even though Turkey is not a EU member -- or likely to become one. In any case, the UK is not part of the Schengen countries, those members of the EU that allow visa less travel.

"Vote Leave" ran posters depicting crowds of Syrians and endless ads on Turkish birthrates. "None of this needs decoding," wrote Philip Stephens of the Financial Times, "The dog whistle has made way for the Klaxon. EU membership talks with Turkey, we are to understand, will soon see Britain overrun by millions of (Muslim) Turks -- most of them thugs or welfare scroungers."

Last year Britain did process some 330,000 immigrants, but the overwhelming majority of them hailed from Spain, Poland, the Baltic countries, and Greece. The UK has accepted very few Syrian refugees and Turks, certainly not enough to "overrun" the place.
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.
The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is a charity event. But putting it on doesn't come cheap.

"When we had (Buddy Guy) last year, he cost at least 50 percent more than he had previously," artistic director Peter Dammann said of the four-day 4th of July weekend event. "And that's kind of across the board with big touring acts."

With financial pressures rising and a heat-driven dip in 2015 attendance in mind, the Blues Festival will charge a firm entry fee this year for the first time. Its previous request of a $10 suggested donation will be replaced by a flat $10 daily ticket, though four-day fans can save money with a $35 weekend pass or spring for more comfortable VIP options.

It's all part of an effort to shore up the Waterfront Blues Festival's future as both a popular community event and the Oregon Food Bank's biggest fundraiser of the year.

"It's the most visible thing we do in the community," Tara Taylor, the Oregon Food Bank's associate director of community engagement, said. "What we're trying to do is more directly connect the Oregon Food Bank with the Blues Festival. It's our largest event, we plan for it all year long."

Last year, in a summer of record-breaking Portland temperatures, the festival estimated its attendance at 80,000, short of its usual six-digit number. When just about half of those entrants paid to get in, that put the Food Bank's margins in a difficult position.

"We are able to take a chunk and put it toward our charity efforts but that chunk is declining," Taylor said. "And so, frankly, that's what we look at... It's like, well, how can we make it a little healthier?"

The Food Bank, which operates regional food banks and works with partners across the state to reach thousands of Oregonians, continues to face steady demand. Taylor said the nonprofit often serves the working poor, who need its help to make ends meet.

"We have as many folks to feed as we did at the peak of the recession," she said. "As many folks still need food assistance, that's not changing."

Though the festival has local sponsors and the support of hundreds of volunteers, Dammann said the festival, the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi, doesn't get any booking breaks from touring bands for its good cause. To grab top artists such as Tedeschi Trucks Band and Dr. John, it's competing for Portland bookings against venues such as the Oregon Zoo and the Edgefield--and every national festival hoping to score the big names for the 4th of July weekend.

"You can't fault Buddy Guy for getting whatever he can get in this world, but it's made it a lot more expensive for us," Dammann said. "We have to kind of step up and go, we want you here, we're going to come up with your fee."

At its usual 100,000-person weekend attendance, the Blues Festival is also the biggest music event in Portland. That means security, lighting, infrastructure and other costs that keep rising, like hotel fees for artists or flights into Portland. To put the $10 price into perspective, Washington's four-day Sasquatch! Festival charges $350 a person: that's before the camping passes. MusicfestNW presents Project Pabst, the Waterfront Park rock festival coming in August, is charging $55 a day or $90 for the weekend. And neither comes with 4th of July fireworks.

"If there's one message I want to get across, we're doing this to keep the festival strong," Taylor said. "It's the best value hands-down that you can find anywhere."

Waterfront Blues Festival, July 1-4, Waterfront Park. Visit Waterfrontbluesfestival.com for full ticketing and price information, including after-hours shows and blues cruise tickets.

-- David Greenwald

dgreenwald@oregonian.com

503-294-7625; @davidegreenwald

Instagram: Oregonianmusic


Oregon Minimum Wage

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown celebrates before signing Senate Bill 1532, increasing Oregon's minimum wage according to a tiered system, at the State Capitol in Salem on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. Portland's minimum will rise to $14.75 by 2022, suburban areas to $13.50 and rural areas to $12.50. The tiered approach is based on economic factors. (Anna Reed/Statesman-Journal via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

(Anna Reed)

More than 100,000 low-wage workers across Oregon will start to see a small bump in take-home pay on Friday when the state's new minimum wage takes effect.

Oregon's current $9.25-an-hour minimum wage, already one of the highest in the nation, will start looking radically different each July depending on where residents live and work.

A refresher: Governor Kate Brown signed the state's new minimum wage into law in March. The wages will be phased in over the next six years, and different parts of the state will have different wages each year. By July, 2022, metro low-wage workers will earn $14.75-an-hour.

Here's what you need to know:

WAGES CHANGE STARTING JULY 1

Oregon will no longer have a standard minimum wage across counties. Instead, there will be three wage areas: Metro, Standard and Nonurban. In the Portland metro area, defined as the land within Metro's Urban Growth Boundary, the minimum wage rises to $9.75-an-hour Friday. For the Standard area, places such as Eugene-Springfield, Medford, Corvallis, the Northern Coast and Bend, the rate will also rise to $9.75-an-hour. But in the rest of the state, some 18 counties defined as Nonurban and which includes all of of Eastern Oregon, the minimum will increase to $9.50-an-hour.

I LIVE IN SANDY BUT WORK FULL-TIME IN GRESHAM. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME?

If more than half of your work hours are based in Metro's Urban Growth Boundary, you will be paid the new rate of $9.75-an-hour on July 1. That rate still applies if your work consists of delivery outside of the metro area. The metro area is broadly defined as Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, but not all sections of the counties are in the UGB. Use Metro's map to verify your location.

I'M A FARMER AND HAVE HISTORICALLY NOT PAID MINIMUM WAGE AND RELIED ON PIECE-RATE AGREEMENTS WITH WORKERS. DOES ANYTHING CHANGE FOR ME OR OTHER EMPLOYEES THAT ARE EXCLUDED ACCORDING TO STATE LAW?

No.

MY BOSS PLANS TO CUT MY HOURS BECAUSE OF THE CHANGE. DO I HAVE ANY RECOURSE?

No. Charlie Burr, a state spokesman in the Bureau of Labor and Industries, notes that Oregon is an at-will state. "So an employer is free to make decisions about hours and schedules as they like," Burr said in an email. Those decisions apply so long as employees aren't "unlawfully discriminating against a worker because of race, sex, sexual orientation or other protected class," Burr said, or retaliating against a worker due to whistleblowing.

WHAT HAPPENS IN JULY, 2017?

Low-wage workers in the metro area will see the largest wage jump of any year in the six-year cycle. Metro workers will be paid $11.25-an-hour started July 1, 2017, a 13 percent increase. Rural workers will be paid $10-an-hour, and workers in Eugene and elsewhere will see $10.25-an-hour wages.

WHAT HAPPENS IN JULY 2023?

The Standard wage will be adjusted annually if there's an increase in the Consumer-Price Index. If so, the wages will rise in the metro area $1.25 above the Standard rate, and rural Oregon's minimum wage will remain $1 less than the Standard rate.

Here's how Oregon's minimum wage would escalate through the years.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
1barrasso.JPG

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), left, listens as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), (C), speaks to reporters after their weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, June 21, 2016 in Washington, DC. Also pictured are Sen. John Thune (R-SD), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By Ruth Marcus

WASHINGTON -- How do you write a platform for a party whose candidate's positions span the unfortunate gamut from nonexistent to offensive to flatly at odds with those of the party?

Such is the thankless task consigned this year to Sen. John Barrasso. The Wyoming Republican is a Yale-trained orthopedist with a voracious appetite for history (he's currently immersed in a Ulysses S. Grant biography) and a political junkie's love of game and country (Barrasso hasn't missed an inauguration since his father, a Pennsylvania cement finisher, took him to John F. Kennedy's).

Barrasso exhibits a wonk's inclination for policy specifics (he just hosted surgeon and writer Atul Gawande to speak to fellow senators on health care) that puts him more in the "sweat the details" spirit of Hillary Clinton than the details-shmetails approach of Donald Trump.

Barrasso is, in short, the anti-Trump. Not in the sense of being opposed to the nominee -- he isn't, although, like most of his GOP Senate colleagues, he scarcely exudes enthusiasm for Trump.

But where Trump has dispensed campaign cash to both parties, veers from stance to stance, and displays a hummingbird's attention to specifics, Barrasso is resolutely conservative and serious about the enterprise.

And in a conversation with The Washington Post editorial board the other day, Barrasso presented the platform-writing exercise -- it will take place in Cleveland the week before next month's convention -- as a mechanism both for defining a party reeling from the Trump phenomenon and for educating its nominee.

So, I asked, does the platform matter in the age of Trump?

"It does to me. It does to the party," he replied. "It really is who we are, what we believe in, what our values are. That's why I think it matters now more than ever."

Specifically, Barrasso continued, "it matters in terms of being instructive to our nominee for president. I've talked to him and asked him to embrace it and I believe that he will."

How interesting to understand the platform as an instructional document ... for the top of the ticket. One illustration of that needed instruction came as we pressed Barrasso on the question of whether, as he sees it, Trump -- and his calls for a wall on the Mexican border, deporting illegal immigrants, and barring and profiling Muslims -- represents Republican values.

"To me, tone matters," Barrasso said. "I'm from Wyoming. We tend to be respectful, positive, inclusive, and that's what I would like to see in the platform."

Yes, but. When speaking with Republican politicians and elected officials, it is always, yes, but. They talk tone and respect, yet they have to deal with the reality of a nominee of unparalleled vulgarity and offensiveness.

"I have concerns with a number of things our nominee has said," Barrasso allowed. "It's not the way I would say them." On one level, this is an infuriatingly mild rebuke to Trump's provocations.

On another, I confess some sympathy for Barrasso et al. It's easy for folks like me to demand that they renounce Trump. It's much harder when you've got an election coming -- not just for president -- and a party to hold together.

And so, the platform, an exercise that features quadrennial hurdles. On the Republican side, these include language on abortion and gay rights, the latter particularly interesting because this will be the first platform written since the Supreme Court's ruling on same-sex marriage.

But the Trump phenomenon heightens the challenge for the 112 delegates chosen to assemble the document.

First, whether and how to incorporate -- respectfully, no less -- Trump's trademark positions. Will the platform mention the wall? Call for mass deportations? Envision an immigration ban, however temporary?

Second, even assuming those issues can be elided through artful drafting, how to reconcile Trumpian stances -- against free trade, against entitlement reform -- with long-standing, and conflicting, GOP doctrine?

The 2012 platform lauded free trade agreements for having "facilitated the creation of nearly 10 million jobs" and lamented the Obama administration's "deplorable ... slowness" in completing pacts -- including the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump now denounces. It emphasized the need to "restructure" entitlements, including raising the Medicare eligibility age. Trump has vowed to "save Social Security and Medicare without cuts."

How to harmonize these positions? The platform, Barrasso said, quoting his Wyoming colleague, Sen. Mike Enzi, an accountant, should be seen as "a sales brochure, not an audit." Even without having to meet generally accepted accounting principles, that is one hard job in this year of Trump.

Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Portland Police Chief Larry O'Dea has decided to retire, ending a nearly 30-year career amid criminal and internal investigations for an off-duty shooting of a friend during an eastern Oregon camping trip, his attorney confirmed Sunday.

Mayor Charlie Hales, who serves as police commissioner, is expected to make the announcement Monday morning.

Hales will appoint a captain - someone other than the four assistant chiefs under an administrative investigation themselves -- to serve as interim chief until a successor is determined, likely after Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler takes office in January, multiple sources told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

O'Dea's lawyer, Derek Ashton, said O'Dea "did not knowingly discharge a firearm in the direction of his lifelong friend.'' O'Dea also contends he was not intoxicated or impaired by alcohol at the time of the shooting, and is confident the criminal investigation by the state police and Oregon Department of Justice will not result in charges and clear up "gross misstatements of facts contained in early reports,'' his lawyer said.

"His thoughts and prayers have been with his friend from the moment the accident occurred. Larry has always placed the security, health and well-being of others above himself while focusing on the greater good for the citizens he served and the Portland Police Bureau,'' Ashton said Sunday. "With those priorities in mind, he has decided to retire.''

The mayor's spokeswoman Sara Hottman alerted media on Saturday that Hales will be holding a press conference at City Hall at 10 a.m. Monday. She declined to discuss the subject. Hales, who was out of town attending a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Indianapolis, could not be reached.

O'Dea, 54, and the mayor kept the April 21 shooting out of the public eye for nearly a month, until reporters questioned the bureau about it in late May. On May 20, the chief acknowledged that he had a "negligent discharge" of his .22-caliber rifle and shot his friend. The friend, Robert Dempsey, wounded in the lower left back, was airlifted to a trauma hospital in Boise, Idaho, where he was treated and released.

But when a Harney County deputy responded to a 911 call after the shooting, O'Dea suggested the shooting had been self-inflicted, according to the sheriff and sheriff's reports.

O'Dea told the Harney County deputy that his friend may have accidentally shot himself while putting his pistol in his shoulder holster while they were shooting ground squirrels, sheriff's reports show.

The deputy reported smelling alcohol on O'Dea's breath, his report said. O'Dea had told the deputy he didn't have his rifle in his hand at the time, but was reaching for a drink out of a cooler and heard his friend scream. But O'Dea sometime later called Dempsey to apologize for shooting him. After his release from the hospital, Dempsey was interviewed by the deputy and said that O'Dea had been having trouble with his rifle all day, that it was jamming and misfiring. Dempsey also told the deputy that O'Dea said he went back to his chair and when he picked up his rifle, it accidentally went off.

O'Dea never told Harney County sheriff's office that he was responsible for the shooting, Sheriff Dave Ward has said.

Dempsey informed Harney County Sheriff's Office that O'Dea was Portland's police chief. Harney County Sheriff's Office called in Oregon State Police to take over the criminal investigation.

Statement by Larry O'Dea's lawyer, Derek Ashton

"Larry O'Dea did not have alcohol on his breath nor was he impaired or intoxicated. He did not purposely point his gun at any person and did not knowingly discharge a firearm in the direction of his lifelong friend. His thoughts and prayers have been with his friend from the moment the accident occurred. Larry has always placed the security, health and well-being of others above himself while focusing on the greater good for the citizens he served and the Portland Police Bureau. With those priorities in mind, he has decided to retire. Looking forward, he is confident that the Oregon State Police and State Department of Justice will very soon conclude a professional and competent investigation of this camping accident that will clear up gross misstatements of facts contained in early reports."

State police, assisted by the state Department of Justice, are continuing the criminal inquiry, which is expected to be completed soon.

The city's Independent Police Review Division in late May also initiated a separate administrative review into why O'Dea, the bureau's four assistant police chiefs and the internal affairs captain didn't call for an internal investigation themselves. O'Dea told all five colleagues about the shooting.

He also told Hales four days after the shooting, but the mayor kept it under wraps and didn't put O'Dea on paid administrative leave until May 24, a day after details emerged that the chief initially had described the shooting as a self-inflicted accident to a Harney County deputy.

O'Dea has never publicly commented on the circumstances.

The retirement would add to the controversy surrounding O'Dea. If he were treated like other officers under criminal investigation, he should resign, not retire and not be allowed to get a retirement badge, some rank-and-file officers say.

If O'Dea faces criminal charges in the April 21 shooting or an internal inquiry finds he lied about its circumstances, he could still lose his police certification even after retiring.

Police Capt. Mike Marshman is the likely candidate to temporarily replace O'Dea, sources said.

Marshman is the police liaison with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the settlement agreement reached with the city after a 2012 federal investigation found Portland officers used excessive force against people with mental illness. Marshman's title in the bureau currently is DOJ compliance coordinator. He previously served as a public spokesman and as executive assistant to former Police Chief Mike Reese.

O'Dea served as chief for a year and a half after rising steadily through the ranks. Hales appointed him to lead the bureau starting in January 2015 after Reese retired. O'Dea joined the Portland force on Sept. 4, 1986.

O'Dea made $192,504 a year in the top job. His annual pension would be about 82 percent of that, or about $160,000, depending on the percentage he chooses for survivor benefits.

It's not clear if the mayor or the city has made any other severance agreement with O'Dea.

Under a contract with the city, he would receive severance of one-year's pay if he was fired without cause. His salary and benefits would end if he was fired with cause, but he'd still collect his pension. Typically, such firings involve serious misconduct, a violation of city rules regarding ethics or a conviction for any crime that could bring discredit to the city.

When he was sworn in as chief, O'Dea cited four goals: building trusting relationships with people in all parts of the city, increasing diversity within the bureau and its leadership, increasing police collaboration and communication, both within the bureau and with the community, and making sure the bureau was fiscally responsible.

His departure comes as the beleaguered bureau is struggling with a serious staffing shortage and considering eliminating several specialty divisions, including the neighborhood response teams and street crimes units, to send officers back to patrol to fill about 65 vacancies.

The state of community police oversight groups also are at a low point - two leaders of the new advisory board created to oversee police reforms under the federal settlement have resigned and meetings of the city's Police and Community Relations Committee that had been addressing racial profiling concerns have been canceled for at least two months.

Assistant Chief Donna Henderson, who led the investigations branch under O'Dea, is currently acting as chief. The mayor named her acting chief on the day he placed O'Dea on administrative leave in late May.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
intel_krzanich_agm_ap.JPG

"The best way to get morale and confidence up is when our business growth really starts to take off," Brian Krzanich told employees.

(AP photo)

Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich held a candid meeting with employees earlier this month, pledging to regain their confidence after a painful round of layoffs and buyouts that strained morale.

In the "open forum" at corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California, streamed to Intel employees around the world, Krzanich said the layoffs and buyouts announced in April are meeting Intel's targets. So while the company still plans to eliminate 12,000 jobs by the middle of 2017, Krzanich said he doesn't expect another round of mass layoffs between now and then.

"Rebuilding trust and employee engagement starts today," Krzanich told employees in early June, according to a written summary of his remarks provided to Intel employees and obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive . He conceded that implementation of the job cuts was too "harsh and quick" while defending Intel's employment policies and its ongoing restructuring.

"The best way to get morale and confidence up is when our business growth really starts to take off," Krzanich said.

Overall, Intel is reducing its global work force by 11 percent. The company laid off 784 Oregon workers in April, the first step in a process that also will reduce employment through buyouts, site closures and project cancellations. If it applies cuts evenly across the company, Intel will eliminate more than 2,000 Oregon jobs by the middle of next year.

Intel is Oregon's largest private employer, and had 19,500 workers in Washington County before job cuts began last spring. It plays a singular role in Oregon's economy, employing an army of researchers, administrators and factory workers at its campuses in Hillsboro and Aloha.

Oregon underwrites Intel's operations in the state through property tax breaks worth more than $100 million last year. The company has grown increasingly secretive about its local operations since a round of layoffs last year, however, and did not respond this past week to an inquiry about the size of its remaining Oregon workforce.

In this month's talk with employees, Krzanich acknowledged the ongoing restructuring "has been hard on those impacted... and hard on the overall organization."

Intel is remaking the company in the face of prolonged decline in its core business, the microprocessors that run PCs and laptops. The world's largest chipmaker hopes chips for data centers, memory technology, programmable chips and the "Internet of Things" - connected appliances and wearable computers - will help compensate for the lost PC business.

Employees submitted questions to Krzanich and voted on which ones he should address. Much of the conversation focused on how Intel evaluates employees through its annual "Focal" performance review. Workers have been unhappy since last year with changes in how Intel decides which employees to lay off, which some workers complain made strong performers subject to losing their jobs.

Those concerns intensified with this year's layoffs, and Krzanich's talk addressed fears of a "Hunger Games" mentality within the company that pits employees against one another instead of encouraging collaboration.

"That's a risk," Krzanich said. "Any time you push more performance management, it drives individual accountability."

Intel is in the process of reworking its Focal process, according to Krzanich, and hopes to announce changes this summer. He said it's too soon to know when those changes might take effect.

When Intel laid off employees last year it gave them the option of working for a few more weeks before leaving. This year, however, it escorted laid-off workers out of their buildings immediately. It paid them for an additional month of work, but summarily ended careers that in some cases had lasted decades.

That was too "harsh and quick," Krzanich acknowledged, saying that the company was seeking to improve upon last year's drawn-out process.

"It was done with the best intentions," he said, "but there are always things to improve upon."

Intel offered buyouts and early-retirement packages to thousands of employees and gave most of them a June deadline to decide. In May, top managers sent stern warnings to employees notifying them the company would lay off more workers if the number of people taking buyouts didn't meet Intel's targets.

That threat has passed, according to Krzanich, who said overall reductions are on track so there is "no need for a second, enterprise-wide round" of layoffs. Cuts will continue into next year, though, as Intel cancels projects and closes some sites. Intel does not appear to plan any site closures in Oregon.

Much of Krzanich's talk with employees focused on career trajectories and workers' concern that even a modest misstep in moving to a new group or a new manager could subject them to layoffs. Krzanich said employees should think carefully about making changes, but he said he still wants people to take risks in their jobs.

While Intel's business is evolving, he said employees who adapt can thrive.

"As long as you're learning and growing," Krzanich said, "you can build a great career here that spans 30, 40, 50 years."

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway
20647587-mmmain.jpg

Parker Kennedy won the 2016 Class 5A boys title in the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet, 0 inches. (Nick Daschel | For The Oregonian/OregonLive)

(Nick Daschel/ For The Oregonian)

The Oregon teenager who suffered a freak javelin accident Friday at a track meet is in fair condition and "showing signs of progress," according to his family.

Parker Kennedy, an 18-year-old who just graduated from Hood River Valley High School, was attempting to pick up a javelin during warmups when he stubbed his toe and fell face first into the back end of the javelin.

His parents, Barry and Carrie, declined interview requests but issued a statement Sunday saying Parker was talking and moving.

"He is able to see out of his injured eye," they said, "But his vision is still slightly blurry."

Kennedy is headed to the University of Washington this fall and is expected to compete in the pole vault. He won the state title in that event in the Class 5A division this year.

After stubbing his toe, Kennedy went face first into the javelin, where it entered his right eye socket and narrowly missed the center of his eyeball, according to Oregon track association executive director Jerry Westfall.

In their statement, the family thanked "the many people" who helped Parker following the accident.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Past and present-day staff and board members met with each other and members of the public under a beautiful blue sky Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chippewa Nature Center, part of a daylong celebration at the sprawling site along the Chippewa River.

The center staff treated guests to hamburgers and hot dogs before Executive Director Dick Touvel kicked off the celebration with a tribute to Howard Garrett, one of the founding members of center, who was in attendance, as well as the rest of the first board of the CNC.

Only one other person in attendance, Vern Fauver, has been a member of CNC for the full 50 years.

But there was a lot of experience walking in and out of the doors of Visitors Center Saturday, and many CNC veterans praised the board and staff throughout for staying true to the original vision - which is to encourage community interest in nature and conservation, promote education, teaching and training of persons in the field of nature and conservation, and provide facilities for these purposes.

Phil Stephens, who was a naturalist for more than 30 years at CNC, called it an amazing facility considering the size of the community that it is in. It has a huge amount to offer - field trips all over the place, now they have the preschool here, they have exhibits, they have lectures, all the trails out here. Many larger urban areas have smaller nature centers, so that is what impressed me when I first came here.

Stephens and his wife, Susan, moved here from Michigan Tech where he was grad student.

We have had many, many good experiences at Chippewa Nature Center, he said.

He said that although the center has maintained true to the vision of the first board, he has seen changes.

Huge changes, he said. The staff has grown, the facility itself, obviously the preschool, the acquisition of land. From my background as a land management/biologist type of person, it was so cool that it had so much acreage that you could really begin to do something with it.

For many, like Stephens, the celebration was a trip down memory lane.

Bonnie Pochert, a friend of Garrett, has been coming to the center since she was a child. She said she has been impressed with the changes to the dioramas in the Environment exhibit gallery and she called the viewing area over the Chippewa River always good.

It so much reminds me of being a kid, she said.

Gary Skory, who is now executive director of the Midland County Historical Society, said his six years working at the center was the six strongest years of my life. And, he said, he learned how to make maple syrup, so a part of the CNC goes with me wherever I go.

CNC gives you the opportunity to learn a lot about a lot of things if you want to come out here, he said.

Rob Maxwell has been a board member for the past four years, but he has been active with the CNC for a lifetime.

If what they say is true that idle hands are the devils workshop, CNC has kept my hands clean for 40 years, he said. I can honestly say that my heart and soul are at the nature center even when Im not. The things that I hold most sacred and cherished are here.

Many others participated in the open microphone time at the ceremony, remembering times past or praising members, staff and directors.

As part of the celebration, youth connected with the center were to plant three trees, Touvel said, which will connect us to the future.

Sam and Maddie Pilaske were to plant a Burr oak, Gavin Hockstra was to plant a white pine and Maddie Frisbee and Tate Kirts were to plant a sugar maple.

But you know what? Touvel asked. There are people in place right now to take us through the next 50 years. The same dedication of board members, the same creativity of our staff. I appreciate you coming.

He also felt good about all that has occurred at the center, and how the people attending the celebration described their memories.

I felt satisfied that the nature center had such an impact on so many people, little kids, elder people, boards of directors and all our users, he said. It feels really good that you had that kind of impact. These are lifetime memories.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 David Guralnick Show More Show Less 3 of 3





DETROIT (AP)  A 64-year-old man has been charged with assault with intent to murder in connection with a road rage incident and shooting on a Detroit freeway.

Prosecutors say Friday that Michael Ziccarelli of Southfield also was arraigned on other assault and gun charges.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Its been one year since the Supreme Courts landmark 5-4 decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry nationwide.

That day, Friday, June 26, 2015, rainbows were displayed all over social media, flags flew and colored lights illuminated the White House.

This week, the Associated Press reported a Gallup survey that estimated 123,00 same-sex marriages have taken place across the country in the first year. By Gallups estimates, there are now about 491,000 same-sex marriages in the U.S., up from roughly 368,000 a year ago. Gallup estimates 3.9 percent of U.S. adults are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Eleven same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses in Midland in the first year since the Supreme Court decision, according to County Clerk Ann Manary. Seven were female couples and four were male.

Which makes Manary, who started in the clerks office 26 years ago as a high school intern, the first clerk to issue certificates and assist in performing wedding ceremonies in Midlands district court for same-sex couples.

I think it is definitely a noteworthy situation, Manary said.

There havent been many noticeable changes in conducting business at the office, and the Supreme Court decision has not created more work, she said, other than modifying applications and licenses from reading male on one side, female on the other, to simply applicant  a state mandate. Office staff also learned to address applicants not using gender-specific questions, instead asking what the fiancee or fiances name is, Manary said.

Clearly the law changed and people of the same sex were allowed to get married, Manary said. I wouldnt change a thing about the way I or my office handled the process.

On a personal note, I think its great, she said of the court ruling. People who love each other can now get married. Thats wonderful.

At least three Midland same-sex couples feel the same.

Donice Hannegan, 55, and spouse, Lisa, 48, moved to Midland in 2009, and lived in the city from 1983 to 1997. Theyve been a couple for over 30 years and were married on Valentines Day this year.

We didnt think wed see it in our lifetimes, Donice Hannegan said of legalized same-sex marriage. Just being recognized in society as a couple, its been a feeling thats been hard to put into words.

Employed by The Dow Chemical Co. for the past 30 years, Donice Hannegan said she is a founding member of GLAD, the companys gay and lesbian employee resource network.

They do not discriminate against someone who is LGBT; a lot of folks arent that fortunate to have such an employer, she said.

But, before June 26, 2015, same-sex couples like Donice and Lisa Hannegan werent as fortunate as heterosexual couples entitled to the benefits that come with marriage.

(Now), Lisa has the full right to be in the hospital with me, should I need it, Donice Hannegan said. That I think is a huge relief.

For her, its comforting to know they are truly legally married and recognized as such, she said.

Weve always been proud of who we are, and we love each other. Thats what this is all about, inclusivity for everyone, she said. We have nothing to be ashamed of.

Donice Hannegan said most of their friends are non-LGBT. She said the couple isnt trying to change thoughts or opinions held by others, specifically one that same-sex marriages take away from the sanctity of marriage.

Our marriage is not hurting anyone else, she said. You know, its always painful to feel like youre less than. It feels like a slap in the face to know your relationship doesnt add up to a marriage.

Joan Brausch is a board member of Perceptions Saginaw Valley, a Midland nonprofit whose website states it strives to foster a positive image for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and our allies.

Ive definitely seen an increase, Brausch said of same-sex marriages in Midland and the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Which brings a lot of joy, she said.

  The joy that Ive seen in the couples that Im friends with that theyre able to do this, to be able to get freely married  in their own home area, and do it legally like everybody else does, thats just been a phenomenal, joyful thing, Brausch said.

For the LGBT community, the Supreme Court decision was overdue, she says.

This is something that people in love do; they make a commitment to live together the rest of their lives, Brausch said.

Megan, 30, and Carol Mattox, 51, made that commitment March 14, 2014, when they were married in Brooklyn. Megan, a stay-at-home mom of Midland, and Carol, a native of Jay, Florida, who works in sales, have been together three years.

For them, seeing both same-sex parent names  both moms  on the birth certificates of their foster kids was the biggest and most important change. They adopted four children in April: 2-year-old twin girls, a 7-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl.

To have to pick whose name goes on the birth certificates seemed pointless, Megan Mattox said. We were both going to parent the children.

The birth certificates now read parent and parent rather than mother and father, she said.

Megan Mattox on Friday shuttled the kids to Vacation Bible School. A local church embraces the family, she said. But at school, her daughter gets judgment from her peers, she said. And socially, I dont know that peoples minds have changed.

Acceptance from others isnt key for her.

Im more passionate about adoption than trying to make people accept our family, she said. Lets work on some other social issues. Weve still got kids in our local area that are hungry, and many in the state need adoption.

As a teenager 15 years ago, Megan Mattox said she had always thought shed have to work around marriage.

Now at 30, I can think, We got a lot done, she said. Im blessed to be a part of this time in history.

Its also a time when First Congregational Church, at 403 S. Jefferson Ave. in Saginaw, plans to host what it calls the first all-inclusive wedding expo in the Great Lakes Bay Region. The church says the event will feature tours and mock weddings, and that one couple will win a wedding ceremony package. The event is set for 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. Its free and open to the public.

The Supreme Courts ruling was, and still is, a divisive one.

In 2004, over 58 percent of Michigan voters approved the Marriage Protection Amendment, which stated a legal marriage is between a man and a woman. Years later, some polls would show the majority shift in favor of allowing same-sex marriage.

Brausch, at Perceptions, says shes seen acceptance in the community, though there are still generational differences in the way in which some people regard the LGBT marriage issue.

Midland natives Brad Bidwell, 30, an attorney, and Kyle Gordon, 26, a nursing student at Saginaw Valley State University and home health aide, were officially married in Canada on Nov. 21, 2014. They met at Wayne State University in 2008 at an LGBT group and started talking online.

Like Megan and Carol Mattox and Donice and Lisa Hannegan, Bidwell and Gordon say family and friends have been very supportive.

(But) the marriage decision is not the end of the struggles LGBT people face, Bidwell said. One thing LGBT couples risk just by talking to the newspaper and being involved in a story like this is being fired from their job. They could walk into their job Monday and be fired because thats legal in the state of Michigan.

Bidwell, who works at The Dow Chemical Co., says the company has policies that protect him from employers firing an employee because he or she is LGBT, or firing even if the employer suspects the employee may be.

Even so, Bidwell says it was tough to move back to Midland from the Detroit area, where the community was more diverse and accepting.

Without Dow having the policies they have, I would have never come back, he said.

Gordon says hes thankful that same-sex couples have the right to marry.

As a country, weve made amazing strides, he said. Each victory helps, but there is still more to go. LGBT people are still not treated the same. There is still discrimination.

Debates now taking the limelight focus on the T in LGBT  transgender rights.

Theres so many issues around transgender people; being able to use the bathrooms they choose to use, being bullied in schools, the acceptance of what it means to be transgender, Brausch said. LGBT couples being able to adopt, thats been an issue that needs to be addressed.

Brausch echoed the notion shared by all couples the Daily News interviewed  that the ability to marry secures one right, and others are within reach.

Were not done yet, she said.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP)  A 29-year-old polar bear from the Indianapolis Zoo is expected to arrive this weekend at the Detroit Zoo.

The Indianapolis Zoo recently announced that it is permanently closing its polar bear exhibit, which opened in 1988, and the bear named Tundra will be relocated to the Detroit Zoo in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.
As more and more bloodshed happens at the hands of Islamic terrorists throughout the globe, Americans are subjected once again to talking points that really dont pinpoint the main problem.

Were told that more gun legislation is needed.

Its suggested that right-wing Christians and conservatives stir the pot of hatred and intolerance, which leads to violent acts.

We hear that America  ultimately  is at fault in all this, because we do so many things that anger other countries, particularly in the Muslim world.

Take a look at news stories and political commentaries in recent weeks and youll likely find those story-lines, and several more that take us on rabbit trails, away from the true source of the problem, which boils down to this: Islamic terrorists are zealots who have a passion to kill. They shoot people, stab people, blow people up, cut peoples heads off, and throw homosexuals off buildings for being gay. They are religiously motivated, and fully committed to carrying out their jihad through bloodshed and intimidation.

They have used airplanes, bombs, guns, knives and their own blood-stained hands to commit murder. They burn victims alive. They drown them. They mutilate and rape.

They, not Americans, are the bad guys. They are evil and unrelenting, and they live amongst us in the United States.

Why is it so hard to agree on that, and say that is at the heart of it all?

Their hatred toward Americans should be what stirs us to defend ourselves and win this war. That should be our single-minded focus. Islamic militants certainly have no problem expressing their willingness to cause us great harm in the name of their god.

ISIS leaders are urging followers throughout the world  including radical Muslims here in the United States  to take action and kill. So what do they do? They kill, just like what recently happened in Orlando, and before that in December in San Bernardino, California, and before that in Paris, and in Brussels and in Boston .... and what has happened on a daily basis in Syria, Iraq, Sudan, etc., over the years.

Where does it end?

We will kill you everywhere O disbeliever, someone affiliated with ISIS expressed on Twitter shortly after the Orlando massacre.

In a speech in May, an ISIS spokesperson, Muhammad, declared that Ramadan has come near, and it is the month of raids and jihad, the month of conquest. He added that these raids and jihad should focus on innocent civilians. It should be noted that the Orlando attack occurred during Ramadan (from early June to early July).

That is the terrorists mind-set that were up against  complete depravity. An organization called Jihad Watch reported that Islamic militants have committed more than 27,000 deadly terrorist attacks since 9/11/2001. That translates to approximately 2,000 a year, or five a day.

But if you watch the news, many Americans think that more gun control will stymie these killers. Some believe that Christians, the National Rifle Association and conservatives are in some ways complicit in domestic terrorism, and need to tone down the rhetoric or compromise on their positions on certain issues.

Those opinions not only miss the mark, but they seemingly try to avoid dealing with who and what is truly at the heart of this war  religiously-motivated, hateful, zealous radical Islamic terrorists who will stop at nothing to kill Americans by any means necessary.

Thats something that you wont hear coming from the White House. And thats something a number of people just dont want to admit.

Whats truly disturbing is this: If, or when, these terrorists get their hands on a nuclear device, all this talk about more gun control, blaming the NRA, toning down rhetoric, etc., will seem so completely and utterly foolish.

Chris Stevens writes columns for the Editorial page. Email him at stevens@mdn.net.
EDITORS NOTE  OWI means operating while intoxicated. DWLS means driving while license suspended. (MC) is for Judge Michael D. Carpenter. (L) is for Magistrate Gerald Ladwig. Sentences may vary based on previous offenses committed by the defendant. Some sentencings include other fees imposed by the state.

Bay City

Katie Marie Fortenberry, 30, OWI on Jan. 18, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $975 fines and costs, nine months probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Coleman

Robert Leroy Babcock, 74, second-offense domestic violence on May 3, one year in jail with all but seven days held in abeyance and credit for two days, $975 fines and costs, one year probation, attend Anger Management, not to be involved in any assaultive, threatening, intimidating, violent, aggressive, disorderly or abusive behavior toward any person, no contact with the victim, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Freeland

Emmett Saenz Oflynn, 48, impaired driving on Jan. 3, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $775 fines and costs, six months probation, attend Impact Weekend, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Gladwin

Brenna Kristin-Liesma Kind, 34, third-degree retail fraud on Jan. 23, 93 days in jail suspended with credit for one day, $400 fines and costs, $75.09 restitution, one year probation, attend substance abuse program and mental health counseling, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars with the exception of employment, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Brandon James Robinette, 21, improper plate on Dec. 15, 25 days in jail with credit for two days, $100 fine (MC).

Hemlock

Brittany Nichole Miller, 29, domestic violence on Jan. 8, 93 days in jail with all but 30 days suspended and credit for two days, $700 fines and costs, one year probation, not to be involved in any assaultive, threatening, intimidating, violent, aggressive, disorderly or abusive behavior toward any person, no contact with the victim, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Hope

Carah Marie Hillier, 21, impaired driving on March 10, 93 days in jail with all but three days held in abeyance and credit for one day, $500 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program and Impact Weekend, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Vicki Lynn Zunich, 47, impaired driving on Aug. 9, $775 fines and costs, attend substance abuse program (MC).

Midland

Robin Wesley Bliss, 21, Hedgewood Drive, impaired driving on Feb. 19, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $675 fines and costs, six months probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Joseph Alan Burl, 21, East Ginter Road, OWI on Feb. 7, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $875 fines and costs, six months probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Jesse Ray Caldwell, 34, Artcrest Drive, impaired driving on Jan. 25, 93 days in jail with all but two weekends suspended and credit for one day, $400 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Ernest Levi Douglass, 56, Swede Road, OWI on Dec. 11, 93 days in jail with all but one weekend held in abeyance and credit for two days, $975 fines and costs, one year probation, attend Impact Weekend, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Cynthia Lynn Kemp, 59, Eastlawn Drive, second-degree retail fraud on April 15, 60 days in jail with credit for 26 days (MC).

Adam Brent Lamblin, 36, North Meridian Road, marijuana possession on Jan. 1, 45 days in jail with credit for 35 days, driver license suspended for six months (MC).

Brandon Lee Maier, 22, East Cunningham Drive, OWI on Jan. 28, 93 days in jail held in abeyance, $975 fines and costs, nine months probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Christopher John Owens, 41, East Nicki Drive, domestic violence on April 11, seven days in jail with credit for two days, $600 fines and costs, 80 hours community service in lieu of fines and costs (MC).

Rachel Ann Owens, 31, South Patterson Road, second-offense OWI on Jan. 16, one year in jail with all but two weekends held in abeyance and credit for one day, $600 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program and mental health counseling, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Nathaniel David Pratt, 38, East Ashman Street, impaired driving on March 2, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $775 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Darrel Patrick Pritchard, 52, West Iris Street, domestic violence on Feb. 28, 93 days in jail with all but 30 days held in abeyance and credit for two days, $875 fines and costs, two years probation, not to be involved in any assaultive, threatening, intimidating, violent, aggressive, disorderly or abusive behavior toward any person, no contact with the victim, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed, to be monitored for 90 days by an alcohol tether, complete Alternative to Violence program (MC).

Krista Lynn Reisig, 34, Greenfield Court, malicious destruction of personal property on April 15, one year in jail held in abeyance with credit for 11 days, $675 fines and costs, one year probation, 25 hours community service, attend mental health counseling, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Paul Timothy Rhead, 45, Foxcroft Drive, OWI on Feb. 13, one day in jail with credit for time served, $975 fines and costs (MC).

Nathan Daniel Seward, 28, South 11 Mile Road, illegal plate on April 22, $200 fines and costs (L).

Cody Gene Sizemore, 25, Eastman Avenue, impaired driving on Jan. 9, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $775 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program and Impact Weekend, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Bryan Alan Smith, 35, Walter Court, third-degree retail fraud on March 10, assault and battery on March 13, and marijuana use on March 29, 60 days in jail with credit for time served, $9.99 restitution, driver license suspended for one year (MC).

Nicole Lynn Sova, 33, West Collins Street, impaired driving on March 5, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for two days, $775 fines and costs, nine months probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars except for employment, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Jason Thomas Traver, 44, Carpenter Street, OWI on April 7, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for nine days, $800 fines and costs, one year probation, complete community service in lieu of fines and costs, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Bob Vanderkooij, 22, Bellmont Street, impaired driving on Feb. 24, one day in jail with credit for time served, $600 fines and costs (MC).

Donald Eugene Warner Jr., 29, North Homer Road, second-offense DWLS on Oct. 24, 21 days in jail with credit for three days (MC).

Saginaw

Daleone Lamonte Amos, 29, DWLS on April 30, $500 fines and costs (MC).

Tyler James Pagel, 20, no license on person on April 9, $200 fines and costs (MC).

Tellis Lamont Sears, 38, DWLS on Feb. 17, 93 days in jail to be served on house arrest with credit for one day (MC).

Joshua Alan Wrona, 33, allowing DWLS on March 11, 45 days in jail with credit for time served (MC).

Sanford

Terry Joseph Babosh, 20, attempted third-degree retail fraud on Jan. 31, 30 days in jail with credit for one day (MC).

Ashley Bess Marble, 27, marijuana use on Feb. 13, 45 days in jail with credit for time served, driver license suspended (MC).

Kerry Sue Noble, 36, allowing DWLS on April 21, $250 fines and costs (MC).

Brandon Michael Rusmisel, 27, trespassing and attempted resisting and obstructing police on April 1, 30 days in jail for the first count and one year in jail for the second count with each term held in abeyance and credit for 19 days each, $1,025 fines and costs, one year probation, not to be involved in any assaultive, threatening, intimidating, violent, aggressive, disorderly or abusive behavior toward any person, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Gerald David Schlosser, 50, reckless use of firearms on Jan. 9, 90 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $875 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

St. Louis

Fred Allen Galehouse, 46, impaired driving on March 5, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for two days, $775 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Weidman

Jonathon William Ovaitt, 23, no proof of insurance and expired plate on May 16, $360 fines (MC).

Elsewhere

Barry Lee Bidwell, 69, Virginia, second-offense impaired driving on Feb. 6, one year in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $1,225 fines and costs, four months probation, vehicle immobilized, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Tiffany Danielle Carodine, 44, Flint, DWLS and false identification on April 3, two days in jail with credit for time served, $300 fines and costs (MC).

Nichole Lynn Fitzgerald, 23, Vestaburg, third-degree retail fraud on Sept. 21, 36 days in jail with credit for time served, $100 fine (MC).

Ryan Allen Pittenger, 35, Flint, drug possession on April 3, one year in jail held in abeyance with credit for two days, $975 fines and costs, one year probation, driver license suspended six months, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars, attend counseling as directed (MC).

Damarious Marquon Triplett, 21, Flint, allowing DWLS on April 2, $250 fines and costs (MC).

Michael Wallace Wiegand, 52, Bridgeport, OWI on Dec. 12, 93 days in jail held in abeyance with credit for one day, $975 fines and costs, one year probation, attend substance abuse program, may not use or possess drugs or alcohol, subject to random drug and alcohol screening, may not enter bars (MC).
BLOOMINGTON  James Wallace enjoys his daily interaction with customers who come from all over Central Illinois, many with childhood memories of their hometown lumber yards.

Everybody has an Alexander Lumber memory from their childhood, said Wallace, manager of Bloomington's Alexander Lumber, 1707 E. Hamilton Road. They remember the old hometown lumberyards where they had the dirt floor and they went there with their parents or grandparents.

Alexander Lumber Co. was founded by John Alexander, a Scottish immigrant, in November 1891 in Aurora. The Bloomington-Normal location opened in 1929.

On Tuesday, the Bloomington store will have a 125th anniversary celebration that will include food, drawings, and a Katz Roadshow, a hands-on training clinic for professionals and do-it-yourselfers.

We will have about 20 vendors on hand and will be giving away some nail guns, iPads and gift cards, he said.

Bloomington-Normal always has been important to Alexander Lumber, Wallace said. In fact, Walter Alexander (the founder's grandson) moved to Normal in 1963 to become the district manager before returning to the company headquarters in Aurora the following year to learn the day-to-day operations as president.

Current employees, such as outside sales support staffer Michael McNiff, say they are looking forward to the celebration.

My dad started as a district manager so I have been around Alexander Lumber my entire life, he said. I started 34 years ago stocking shelves, then moved out to the yard and onto delivery and the counter. Its always been a great, family-owned company and I really have enjoyed working with the other employees and our customers.

In 2011, Hundman Lumber announced plans to merge with Alexander Lumber. The acquisition was completed in 2012. Hundman Lumber was founded by Richard Hundman in 1950.

George Orr, now a salesman with Alexander Lumber Co., started his career with Hundman 38 years ago and enjoyed working with both companies.

Its been fantastic, he said. Alexander Lumber has been great to work for. They treat us well and they treat the customers well.

He has seen a lot of changes over the years.

Technology for sure, he said. The whole nature of the beast has changed since I started. Products have changed immensely. With the internet and everything, sometimes people think they can do a project themselves and, sometimes, that just creates a problem. But part of the great thing about this job is being able to help people and help them accomplish something.

During Tuesdays celebration, the staff will show off the newly renovated showroom.

We gutted about 24,000 square feet and started over, Wallace said. We have new signage, new lights and a new look. To me, it just shows the kind of commitment that Alexander Lumber has to Bloomington-Normal and they want our customers to know that we all really believe in Bloomington-Normal and its future.

The cost of the overall renovation is hard to pinpoint, Wallace said, because the project was completed with Alexander Lumber materials, labor and assistance from vendors. But well over $400,000 was invested in the renovation project, he said.
EUREKA  The suggestion by a Woodford County prosecutor that an alleged rape victim cover her tattoo before testifying at her suspected assailant's trial has raised questions about how much weight jurors give to a person's appearance.

State's Attorney Greg Minger said his advice to Alicia Dickerson that she consider covering the tattoo on her arm before she appears at the July 11 trial of Jay Miller was based on his experience with juries and the importance of a first impressions.

In few places do first impressions count more than in a courtroom, said Minger.

"When you're on a witness stand, you're selling your credibility. A lot of cases come down to one person's word against another," he said.

Dickerson, who agreed to allow The Pantagraph to use her name for this story, said the tattoo of a guitar on her arm won't be showing on the witness stand, but she won't cover the purple tinges in her hair, another suggestion she received from the prosecutor.

"What happened to me has nothing to do with how I look," said the 25-year-old woman, formerly of Eureka, who now lives in Bloomington.

The 36-year-old suspect is charged with criminal sexual assault and domestic battery in connection with a March incident at Dickerson's home. The two had been dating, but ended the relationship that Dickerson said was marked with physical and emotional abuse toward her by Miller.

According to Dickerson, Miller was intoxicated when he came to her home at her invitation to watch a movie. She said he sexually assaulted her before leaving.

Dickerson said she had no plans to report the incident to the police because "I was so embarrassed about what happened to me."

Police learned of an altercation between the two from Miller during a traffic stop after he left. Dickerson told police about the alleged rape when they came to check on her well-being, she said.

"I'm very glad I reported it. I've heard so many stories about women who are afraid to say anything," said Dickerson.

It's not uncommon for lawyers on both sides to give advice to defendants and potential witnesses on how to dress in the courtroom  turtleneck sweaters and long sleeves keep many tattoos from the view of jurors, for example.

"It's not right, but there are people out there who may have an opinion about someone with a tattoo," said Minger, adding he routinely advises victims during trial preparation that their credibility may be judged.

The treatment of rape victims during criminal proceedings is a growing concern for advocates who worry that the focus sometimes shifts from the actions of the alleged perpetrator to the credibility of the victim and whether serious harm was committed.

The recent nationwide furor over a six-month jail sentence for a convicted rapist in southern California has resulted in calls for removal of the judge.

McLean County Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Alferink said the outrage expressed over the California sentence has brought many issues related to sexual assault to the national stage.

"It's good that everybody is talking about this. It shows people are understanding the 'cannot consent' element of sexual assault," said Alferink, referring to part of the law that prohibits sexual contact with a person who is unconscious or unable to consent to sex.

Alferink, who handles many of the sex crimes filed in the county, said most victims ask her what they should wear to court, sparing her what can be an uncomfortable exchange.

"I tell them the courtroom is a business environment so business casual is appropriate. This is a serious process and we should dress appropriately," she said.

Defense lawyers also counsel their clients on what to wear.

"I give advice on attire not only because first impressions are important, but because the attire of people nowadays is so much more casual and sloppy than it was even just 10 years ago," said Bloomington defense lawyer Stephanie Wong.

Rape victims also receive help with trial preparation from counselors with YWCA Stepping Stones, a local rape crisis center.

"Unfortunately, juries judge people on appearance. We spend a lot of time with our clients in prepapration for their day in court. Among other things, we advise them to be themselves and genuine, and to remain poised to the best of their ability," said Hilary Pacha, senior director of prevention and empowerment services with the YWCA program.

"Unfortunately, until the stigma of sexual assault and the rape culture we live in changes, there will be jury members who judge someone on their appearance."
NORMAL  By her eighth mile around the track at Normal Community High School, Kristen Zimmer was starting to get blisters.

Between 10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, she walked 16 miles as part of the 22nd annual Relay For Life which took place Friday and Saturday at NCHS.

What I take away each year is how sore my feet get and how much my body aches by the time I get done walking, said Zimmer, of Bloomington, a member of the group Katie's Kids. Its nothing compared to how much cancer hurts.

Attendees at the 18-hour event walked and took part in activities through the night. Paper lanterns lined the track, each with names of those who have battled cancer. As she walked the track in the middle of the night, Zimmer said she couldnt help but get emotional looking at each glowing lantern.

I have several family members and friends with cancer. We started relaying six years ago and we wont stop, she said.

Zimmer was not alone in her passion to end cancer.

About 1,200 people attended the event, with 505 people forming 79 teams to raise money for cancer research and programs.

It has been fabulous, said event leader Catina Struble. A big difference this year was the engagement from the teams and the amount of public coming in. We had a fleet of food trucks on Friday that attracted a crowd. Next year we hope to have a car show.

Teams set up tents, some selling products to raise money for the $307,000 goal. As of 3 p.m. Saturday, organizers said nearly $270,000 was raised from participants. Donations will continue to be accepted through Aug. 31 at Relayforlife.org/donate.

Due to the mild overnight weather, a few attendees camped out in tents along the south side of the track.

Mike Fitzgerald and Stephanie Moore of Bloomington set up a tent, blankets and chairs for their family group called Moorefitz Strong.

Fitzgerald and Moore met in a Grief Share group through Eastview Christian Church after they each lost their spouse to cancer in 2014. They married in April and combined families.

This is our first year doing the relay, said Fitzgerald. We will continue to be a part of this year after year.

We will be more involved every time, said Moore. It was an amazing experience.

At a nearby tent was the group Hope Reigns, with coworkers Jackie Mathias of Bloomington and Tori Bevias of Clinton.

We have all had family members with cancer, said Mathias. My mom was a member of the group and she died three years ago. My sisters also had cancer and so did Toris dad.

Bevias said the event is very personal for all of the team members and that cancer is devastating for so many people.

Im hoping one day we wont have to do this event because there will be a cure, she said.
SPRINGFIELD  The interminable budget impasse at the Capitol has crippled public universities, cut off mental health and social services to people in need, and even left Illinois unable to pay its water and power bills for prisons and other state facilities.

As the state nears the start of its second fiscal year without a full budget in place, many voters looking to assign blame for the gridlock are quick to point the finger at Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly.

But they may need to look in the mirror.

Thats the message of a recent report from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. Reviewing data from public opinion polls taken since 2008, the report, titled The Climate of Opinion in Illinois 2008-2016: The Roots of Gridlock, concludes "that the voters themselves bear significant responsibility for the current debt crisis and gridlocked government.

"Not only did they elect the leaders responsible for this state of affairs, but their steadfast insistence on the untenable high-service/low-tax status quo gave the politicians permission to drive the vehicle of state to the edge of the cliff, where it teeters today on the brink.

However, John Jackson, a political science professor at the Simon Institute and the reports lead author, said this doesn't excuse elected leaders from blame.

The leadership class bears major responsibility for misleading the voters, particularly at campaign time, he said.

This was especially true during the 2014 gubernatorial and legislative elections when the temporary state income tax increase instituted in 2011 was a key issue, Jackson said.

Lawmakers who voted in favor of raising the personal income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent and supported postponing the rollback that began in January 2015 failed to make a strong case, he said, and opponents  most notably then-candidate Rauner  werent honest with voters about the help the additional revenue provided in catching up on the states backlog of unpaid bills, or what its loss would mean for the state budget.

When Rauner took office, the personal income tax rate was allowed to roll back from 5 percent to 3.75 percent, blowing a $5 billion hole in the budget.

At the heart of the problem, according to the report, is voters adamant insistence, in effect, of having our cake and eating it too.

The institutes polling shows the largest share of voters  57 percent in 2009 and 47 percent in 2016  think the best way to balance the budget is by cuts alone. But there isnt a major area of state spending that a majority of voters would support cutting. (The largest share, 49 percent, supported cuts to spending on state employee pensions in the 2016 poll.)

The report says this apparent contradiction results from the bedrock belief that waste and fraud are widespread and consume major proportions of the total state budget.

As long as a majority, or near-majority, think the solution is easy and generally painless and that it only requires sacrifice from someone else, then it is going to be very difficult to have a rational public dialogue about the realities of budgeting in this state, states the report.

Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, said this, too, comes from politicians lack of candor with the people they represent.

It is a failure on the part of legislators, governors, legislative leaders to really educate the public and be honest with the public, Redfield said.

Despite the general lack of appetite for raising revenue through new or expanded taxes, there are some proposals that a majority of voters would support, according to the Simon Institutes polling.

In this years poll, 54 percent said they would support taxing retirement income of more than $50,000, 66 percent supported a tax system that would charge higher rates for people with higher incomes, and 75 percent supported an additional tax on income of more than $1 million.

The latter two ideas would require amending the Illinois Constitution, and efforts to put the proposals to voters in November failed to win legislative approval this spring.

After reviewing the data, Jackson said one silver lining is the small increase in the share of voters who favor some combination of spending cuts and revenue increases to balance the budget. That group was up to 33 percent this year, from 27 percent in 2009.

Rauner has said he favors this strategy, coupled with approval for portions of his pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda, but he has yet to publicly endorse any concrete proposal on taxes.

I wont negotiate new revenues without major reforms to protect our taxpayers and grow our economy, he said last week at the annual meeting of the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois.
Good news for superhero movie fans because "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" filming has already wrapped up. One villain might not be as evil as before in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" - and we're talking about Nebula. She might join her sister, Gamora.

Marvel recently released the "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" synopsis that may keep us thinking. It says that the Guardians will fight together as a new family along while also knowing Peter Quill's true percentage. There's a clear mention of 'old enemies becoming allies' and to top it all off, favorite characters from the classic comics will be seen coming to their aid, Ecumenical News reports.

The release of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2" synopsis is definitely keeping us in wonder since Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Drax (Dave Bautista) have picked up numerous enemies from the last movie, despite having saved the galaxy. However, there's a big possibility of Gamora's sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan), turning up and being on the side of the good guys, she was last seen escaping from danger after Ronan's defeat. (We might also be seeing her with some hair.)

Nebula is our best bet to be switching sides in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. She has no more love for her "father" Thanos than Gamora does but the tension between the two sisters will remain while they work together to take him down. Last year, Karen Gillan has actually given us a hint about this possibility saying she's excited to see Gamora and Nebula in a "sisterly relationship."

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and lead star Chris Pratt along with some of the cast will be at the San Diego Comic-Con, estimated to be between July 7 and 10, where more details about the movie are expected to be revealed and which other foes will switch sides, as per The Christian Times.

There's still no knowing whether baby Groot has finally grown, but we'll keep you updated. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" will be in cinemas May 5, 2017.
New study says that a certain gene in the body is responsible for a person's capability to handle a good relationship with other people. This research has been making rounds online on June 22 and those who wonder what gene is this now has an answer.

In an article published by TDN.com, scientists revealed that the gene OXT is the one to blame why a person might be able to manage a healthy relationship. It is the gene behind the production of oxytocin, which is known as the hormone responsible for a person to feel love.

Scientists at the University of Georgia sampled over 120 people for their study taking records of the structure of their brain and how it functions. They also gave their subject some test questions linked to their genetic history and social skills. Results showed that if the OXT gene is low, chances are that a person might not be able to have a functioning healthy relationship with another individual.

A photo posted by LCT Productions (@lct_productions) on Jun 25, 2016 at 12:41pm PDT

It is because these people who have lower OXT are having a hard time dealing with their emotions and even on the expressions on their faces. Anxiety is also an issue for them, which even add up to their problem when it comes to managing their relationship with the people they love. The study also said that when a person has low OXT, they are more likely to also find it difficult in the area of face recognition and even social thinking.

Tech Times also reported this study stating that researchers used the saliva of their participants in order to conduct the said experiment and eventually formulate a conclusion. As for the solution to increase OXT, scientists are yet to find out and publish experiments regarding it.

Share this information with your loved ones to keep them aware of what could be going on with their relationships as well. We want to know your opinion regarding this subject too, so feel free to use the comments section below.
State health officials have issued warnings about a new meningococcal disease outbreak in Southern California. The California Department of Public Health, or CDPH, said gay and bisexual men will likely be more affected by the disease.

Nine people have been affected by the meningococcal outbreak in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, SFGate reported. One individual has died from the infection.

People Advised To Take Precautions

Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy health officer for San Francisco, advised people to take the meningococcal ACWY vaccine as precaution. San Francisco is currently celebrating the LGBT Pride week and numerous visitors from the state, the country and the world are expected to take part in the festivities.

Four of the nine meningococcal disease patients involved gay or bisexual men, with three of the cases occurring in the past six weeks, WEHOville.com reported from the Associated Press. People who have HIV have higher risks of acquiring meningococcal disease, SFGate noted.

The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices advised this week that all HIV-infected people two months and older should get two doses of MenACWY vaccine. Gay and bisexual men who have high risks of acquiring meningococcal disease and don't have HIV should be administered with one dose of the MenACWY vaccine, while those who have tested HIV positive within the last year should get the vaccine alongside an HIV test.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, urged public health officials to ramp up the vaccine supply and to collaborate with community health organizations to raise awareness about the meningococcal outbreak, the Los Angeles Times wrote. Since 2014, numerous outbreaks and clusters of serogroup C meningococcal disease have occurred in Chicago, Los Angeles county and in New York City among gay and bisexual men. Similar outbreaks have been reported in Europe as well, WEHOville.com noted.

What To Know About Meningococcal Disease

Meningococcal disease is rare but is a serious and potentially fatal disease. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meningococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis and infects the lining of the brain, spinal cord and the bloodstream.

Meningococcal disease is contagious. It spreads when bacteria are exchanged through nose and throat secretions (saliva or spit) during lengthy or close contacts like kissing, coughing and sharing smoking devices. Symptoms of the disease include abrupt onset of fever, stiff neck, headache, nausea, vomiting, rash, muscle pain, confusion and heightened sensitivity to light.
I had a nice Pagan post queued up for today and another outlined for Tuesday. Then I woke up Friday morning, turned on the TV, and saw Donald Trump in Scotland praising the UKs vote to leave the European Union. I heard some of his usual nativist rhetoric about taking back the border and choosing who you let come into your country. And I knew I had to write something else for today.

As an American who occasionally travels to Europe, I was hoping Britain would stay in the EU. Britain never adopted the Euro, but intra-EU flights work like domestic flights. Crossing from Ireland into Northern Ireland was like crossing from Texas into Louisiana. Thats nice, but its something I dont have to deal with on a daily basis. But Im remembering the bus driver on our Dublin to Belfast trip, who talked about how his father lives in the Republic but does most of his shopping in the North. That will change, though how remains to be seen.

Some UK citizens I respect voted to leave  they had valid reasons. The EU bureaucracy is bloated and their regulations can be absurd, even to a liberal like me who thinks most government regulations are necessary, if occasionally annoying. The EU is almost entirely unaccountable to the electorate. Their bullying of Greece was and is immoral. Many ordinary people feel like their government doesnt respect them or address their concerns and this was a chance to strike back.

But what I heard most loudly coming from the UK was immigration is out of control. And by immigration they didnt mean white Americans and Australians who want to move back to the old country. They meant brown and black people from Asia and Africa, many of whom are Muslims and/or refugees.

Never mind that immigrants add more to a country than they receive, in the UK and in the US. Never mind the fact that immigrants not only fill many low-level jobs, they also fill a shortage of medical and technical experts. Never mind the fact that some of these immigrants are fleeing war and oppression and have no place to go.

The economy is bad and theres no indication its going to get well any time soon, if ever. But rather than putting the blame where it belongs  on greedy executives, corrupt bankers, and idiot politicians  many people prefer to blame it on them  people who dont look and sound and worship like everyone else. For centuries that meant Jews, but after the Holocaust a lot of people started thinking maybe they shouldnt blame everything on the Jews (though it hasnt stopped some). In the US, they moved on to Mexicans and Muslims.

Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the border with Mexico and ban Muslims from immigrating to the US. A lot of people think thats a good idea, and theyll be voting in November.

We humans are tribal creatures. We have millions of years of evolution telling us to trust and support the people we know will trust and support us, and to be suspicious of everyone else. That worked fine when we were organized into small bands of hunter-gatherers where everybody knew everybody. As civilization (living in cities) began, we had to learn to trust and support more people than we could know. And so we instinctively looked for markers of commonality: appearance, accent, and religious behaviors.

As the world has become more connected and as we have continued the migratory practices we began even before we became human, these markers have become less and less useful. But getting to know someone and finding out what kind of a person they are is a lot harder than saying all Muslims are dangerous. Understanding the global economy and who really benefits from it is a lot harder than saying Mexicans are taking our jobs.

As an aside, we need to develop strong tribes to help us get through the coming bad times. But those tribes need not be based on ethnicity and must not become distrustful and hateful of other tribes.

Ordinary people are angry and frustrated and rightly so. But too many are blaming their problems on an amorphous them and too many politicians are more than willing to exploit that anger and frustration for their own benefit. Right wing parties are getting more and more votes throughout Europe and the US, and theres a desire for a strongman to put them in their place. And theres no shortage of would-be strongmen.

I have consistently underestimated Donald Trump. I thought he would fade once the primaries started  I was wrong. I thought the Republican elites would unify around an establishment candidate  I was wrong. I thought a drop-in candidate would orchestrate a floor revolt at the convention. The Republican National Convention is still three weeks away, but Bloomberg and Romney have both said they wont, and theres no indication anyone else will. Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee for President because hes validating peoples frustrations, both legitimate and not. Im not going to underestimate him again  theres a good chance he could win.

We dont have much of an alternative. Hillary Clinton is the epitome of an establishment candidate. She would nominate good judges and I wouldnt worry about her starting a war because someone made her mad, but she might very well start a war for the usual reasons. And she will continue to support the Wall Street establishment that is largely responsible for our current economic difficulties.

Libertarian Gary Johnson has a chance to be a spoiler (though for who remains to be seen), or perhaps even a viable candidate. He was a Republican governor, and hell look attractive to GOP types who cant stomach Trump. No third party candidate has won a single electoral vote since George Wallace ran on a segregationist platform in 1968. This year may be different or not.

As much as Im fond of Green Party positions, Jill Stein is not prepared to be President and has no chance of making a meaningful impact on the election. If you support the Green Party, run for office at the local level and build the party from the ground up. The same is true for the other minor party candidates.

Regardless of who is elected in 2016, if we as a society dont address the legitimate concerns of Trump voters, the 2020 Republican candidate could be even worse.

Britain will eventually figure out how to handle life post-EU though their economy will be hurt, and the United Kingdom may soon be united no more. A Donald Trump presidency, on the other hand, would be disastrous for the US and for the world. It would empower and embolden the nativists who want to blame all our problems on them and further distract us from the real problems in our country. It would bring Supreme Court justices who will overturn the rulings that brought us marriage equality, the decriminalization of same sex relations, and the right to an abortion. And it would be a non-stop international embarrassment that would make the days of George W. Bush look bright and cheery.

Dont think it can happen? Neither did the Brits who thought there was no way leave could win, including some who wanted to remain but voted leave just to send a message. Today we have Brexit, in November we could have Donald Trump as President of the United States.

I still dont know who Im voting for, but I am sure of one thing:

#NeverTrump
Patna: The arrest of Janata Dal - U legislator Anant Singh in connection with the abduction of builder Raju Singh last November continues to snowball for the Mokama don after a court in Patna on Thursday sent him to two weeks judicial custody in a murder case going back to 2008.

Bharat Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate, ordered Anant Singh to remain in judicial custody until July 15 in a case relating to the murder of one Sanjay Singh in 2008.

The notorious criminal-turned-politician was brought from the Beur Jail to the civil court near Gandhi Maidan at around 11:00 am under heavy security arrangement. He was accompanied by his lawyer along with a crowd of supporters who jostled with each other in an attempt to touch the feet of their mentor.

After the hearing the CJM ordered Singh to be taken into judicial custody until July 15.

Talking to the reporters outside the court, Singh blamed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad Yadav for hatching an elaborate conspiracy against him.

"This is all being done at the behest of Lalu Prasad Yadav who was losing political ground to Pappu Yadav. The RJD chief fought tooth and nail to ensure I was arrested so he could win back the Yadav votes," Anant Singh, still sporting his trademark dark glasses and gold jewelries, said.

It may be recalled that the JD-U leader was arrested from his official bungalow in Patna on June 24 in connection with the kidnapping and murder of one Putus Yadav on June 17.
Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched his pre-election door-to-door campaign dubbed as 'Har Ghar Dastak' by first stopping at the Badi Patan Devi temple and the tomb of Sayed Shah Khwaza Ruknuddin Ahmed to seek divine blessings before knocking at the doors of homes in Patna City.

The brainchild of election strategist Prashant Kishore, the man credited for the success of Narendra Modi's Prime Ministerial bid, is expected to put Kumar back in touch with the ordinary folks many of whom feel that the Chief Minister, in his ambition for a bigger role in the Indian politics, had abandoned them after coming into power nearly ten years ago.

After visiting the temple and the tomb, Kumar knocked on several doors near Pashchim Darwaza, Belwarganj, and Shivchak Mall areas of Patna City where residents welcomed him and his entourage into their adobes to express their gratitude for picking their homes out of several thousands.

{gallery}newsimages2015/july/070215{/gallery}Kumar's followers chanted 'Nitish Kumar Zindabad' slogan and sang the official campaign song 'Bihar mein bahar ho, Phir se ek bar ho, Nitish Kumar ho' to inject some zest in the politically-charged atmosphere.

Talking to the media, the Chief Minister said that more than 10 lakh party workers have been asked to knock the doors in different parts of Bihar to seek feedback from them and to drum up support for his candidacy in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Party leaders said that the goal was to reach at least one crore homes in the next ten days after which the party would review the feedback and change the strategy as needed.

However, not everyone was impressed by the Chief Minister's latest outreach attempt.

Calling it a 'political nautanki' to fool the voters of Bihar, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the leader of the opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said it was a little too late for such action.

"For the last ten years, Nitish Kumar ignored those who put him in power in the first place. He was too busy to do anything. Where was he when 23 children died after consuming poisoned mid-day meal in Chhapra? Where was he when six Adivasis were gunned down in Bagaha in police firing? Where was he when bomb blasts took the lives of six people during Narendra Modi's Hunkar Rally in Gandhi Maidan? Where was he when the dead bodies of army jawans killed at the Indo-Pak border arrived at their villages in Bihar? He was too busy to make personal visits to the family of these victims. Even today, he was just few yards away from the home of Pappu Mahto whose wife Babita Devi died during the Dussehra stampede at the Gandhi Maidan, the Chief Minister did not meet with him to express his sorrow for his personal loss," Yadav said adding this 'Har Ghar Dastak' was nothing more than yet another attempt, like Adhikar Yatra and Swabhiman Yatra, to deceive the voters.
Patna: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday hosted the annual Iftar party at his official residence at 1 Anne Marg that included nearly the entire who's who of the Grand Alliance including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife and two sons, and other senior RJD, Congress, and JD-U leaders.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Arun Kumar Sinha and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) legislator Sudhanshu Shekhar were also present on the occasion.

More than a thousand Muslims who had come from various parts of the state broke their fast with dates and water offered by the Chief Minister who also offered Namaaz with other leaders in a tent specifically raised to accommodate the guests.

The event was followed by a sumptuous feast that included delicacies like mutton, kebob, chicken, naan, saffron pulao, and an assortment of sweets.

"This is a very auspicious occasion that gives us an opportunity to shed our political differences and share goodwill with everyone regardless of one's political allegiance. I pray for the communal harmony and development of Bihar," Kumar said.
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
Iranian Labor Rights Activist in Critical Condition After 50-Day Hunger Strike

06/25/16

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

Prominent leftist scholar Noam Chomsky has called for Jafar Azimzadehs release



Jafar Azimzadeh



Labor rights activist Jafar Azimzadeh is in critical condition in Evin Prison after enduring a wet hunger strike for more than 50 days, his wife, Akram Rahimpour, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Im worried about him. His vision and hearing have become impaired and he cant recognize the voices of his close friends on the phone. He cant keep his balance when he walks. He has problems urinating. Theres bleeding in his intestines. He has bladder and kidney pains. He feels dizzy more often than before, she said. Last week he lost consciousness several times. On Monday (June 20, 2016) his body was very cold and he said the left side of his body was going numb.

Azimzadeh, the president of the Free Workers Union of Iran, began his hunger strike on April 29, 2016 to protest being sentenced to prison on national security grounds even though he has only participated in peaceful campaigns for improved workers rights.

Remove the charge of assembly and collusion against national security and other security charges from my case and those of other labor activists and teachers, said Azimzadeh, who is being held in Evin Prisons Ward 8, in an open letter to Deputy Labor Minister Hassan Hefdahtan on June 17, 2016.

In the three-year lifespan of the [Hassan] Rouhani administration, the majority of the most effective independent labor activists and teachers have been prosecuted under national security laws and given long prison sentences, added Azimzadeh. Most of these individuals were arrested by the Intelligence Ministry under the current government and all of them were charged with assembly and collusion against national security and faced maximum penalties in the Revolutionary Court.

Rahimpour said the authorities had so far refused to look into her husbands demands but had pledged to release him for a few days on furlough (temporary leave) if he ended his hunger strike.

Azimzadeh was arrested for helping coordinate the collection of 30,000 signatures from workers in support of a list of demands including the formation of the Free Workers Union of Iran and the Union of Expelled and Unemployed Workers, as well as for organizing labor protests and speaking to foreign media outlets.

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.

International Support

On June 15, 2016 the prominent leftist American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky signed a letter along with more than 20 scholars, labor leaders and journalists from around the world calling for Azimzadehs immediate release.

We are deeply concerned about the health and wellbeing of Jafar Azimzadeh and other jailed workers in Iran and call for their immediate and unconditional freedom, said the letter. The Iranian government is responsible for the life of Jafar Azimzadeh and other political prisoners. At the same time, we are sincerely urging Jafar Azimzadeh to end his hunger strike; the struggle for workers right is strengthened when the labor movements activists are alive and well.

On May 30, 2016-the 32nd day of Azimzadehs hunger strike-a group of his friends, supporters and relatives gathered in front of Irans Parliament in Baharestan Square in Tehran to demand his release.

Rahimpour told the Campaign her husbands hunger strike is adversely affecting their 10 and 12-year-old sons, who are deeply worried for their fathers safety.

Azimzadeh was arrested on April 30, 2014-a day before International Labor day, which is usually commemorated by labor rights activists and supporters with protests and demonstrations in Iran. He was freed on bail after being interrogated and held in solitary confinement for 46 days.

On March 1, 2015 Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Azimzadeh to six years in prison for assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda against the state. The Appeals Court upheld the sentence and the labor activist surrendered himself to Evin Prison on November 8, 2015.
Two Iranian Rangers Killed By Poachers

06/25/16

Source: Tehran Times

Two rangers were killed while chasing poachers in Geno biosphere reserve in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan on Thursday, the Department of Environment's website reported. While patrolling the area, the two rangers, Mohammad Dehqani and Parviz Hormozi, were shot in the head and the heart and passed away, Hormozgan province department of environment director general said.



Read the

According Shahrvand, a father and son have been arrested for the murder of the rangers.



Read the related report by Shahrvand daily



Majid Vafadar explained that the poachers ran away from the scene and the searches to find the murderers are still ongoing.

Dehqani, 35, and Hormozi, 54, had experiences of 12 and 23 years under their belts, Vafadar said.







artwork by Hadi Heidari, SHAHARVAND_URL daily





As the area is almost impassable, the two rangers' bodies must be brought back by helicopter. However, due to the darkness, that was not possible either, Vafadar noted.

"So the rangers' co-workers climbed up the mountain to bring back the dead bodies," he added.

Masoumeh Ebtekar, chief of the Department of Environment, has also extended her condolences and urged the police to catch the criminals in no time.


The intensity of the knocking told Eileen Brodbar something was wrong.

It was just after 6 p.m. one recent, sweltering afternoon at Brodbars Norco home. Her neighbor quickly described the situation: Brodbars 19-year-old horse had fallen and was pinned against a fence, its legs tangled in the chains of an old trailer.

The animal would need help from humans to right itself. But helping a distressed racehorse half the size of a compact car can be dangerous. A punt from the powerful hind legs can lift full-grown people off their feet, causing serious injuries or worse.

Brodbars first call went to her longtime veterinarian. No answer. She tried the fire department and animal shelter. Again, no luck.

Brodbar spoke soothing words to her horse while enticing it to drink water, but she began to worry. The afternoon heat was stifling, nearly 100 degrees.

Eventually, she dialed 911. Within 20 minutes, four members of the Norco Animal Response Team were on hand to move the 1,200-pound beast with help from a veterinarian who tranquilized it.

It was amazing. They knew exactly what to do and how to do it, said Brodbar, a horse owner for 40-plus years. I didnt know what to do. I was at a loss.

The all-volunteer animal response team has assisted in thousands of rescue operations since its official recognition by the city in 2004. Members recalled digging through the mud on a rainy night to free a trapped horse, rounding up all types of quadrupeds during wildfires and hiking into dangerous canyons to free trapped animals.

Norco City Councilman Berwin Hanna, a team founder, said the group began decades ago as a grass-roots organization out of necessity for local wildlife. Hanna is a farrier by trade, and his work brings him in contact with the thousands of horses that got Norco the nickname Horsetown USA. By some accounts, horses outnumber its 27,000 residents.

Asked about his most memorable rescue, Hanna cracked a smile.

Everybody always waits until its dark, the two-time mayor began in his slow Southern drawl.

About six years ago, Hanna and the rest of the team were called to assist three horses stuck in quicksand at the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area, north of town. It was getting dark when they arrived, and one horse was almost entirely engulfed  just a foot of its back showed above the mud. Eventually, Hanna and the rest of the team hooked several straps to the horse and hauled it out of the muck.

In 2004, a year after the team helped relocate animals during a set of deadly fires in Southern California, the relatively anonymous group became a recognized affiliate of the Norco Fire Department. When Cal Fire took over operations in 2012, the rescue team became part of the new department.

Though the most recent partnership required about 10 hours of online and hands-on training for the crew, the union also provided much-needed gear for rescue operations.

Corinne Holder, one of four team leaders, walked through one of the teams equipment trailers used to transport gear to rescues. Supplies include a $2,000 horse-lifting strap, a $7,000 aerial sling used to evacuate horses by helicopter, moving sleds, come-along ratchets and ropes.

The equipment trailer and a horse trailer, already owned by Cal Fire, were re-purposed to serve the team, Batallion Chief Scott Lane said. All of the teams gear is housed at a fire station near Fifth Street and Corydon Avenue.

The teams 25 volunteers train once a month using two fake horses: one is rigid and light, and the other is 800 pounds of rubber and flexible joints. The combination allows crews to get experience on a standing and reclined horse.

Lane and his colleagues oversee the training but often find themselves learning tips from resourceful horse lovers along the way.

NART is a phenomenal resource. These people have expertise that firefighters dont, Lane said. These are people that work with animals every day. They know them. In the same way were there for the rider, theyre there for the animal.

Not all volunteers own horses. They have jobs as mechanics, truck drivers, city council members (Councilman Ted Hoffman is a team leader as well), firefighters and commercial pilots. Holder said all are horse lovers.

The group has traveled to San Diego and Orange counties to assist. Several years ago, members climbed 400 feet into a canyon near Murrieta to remove an injured horse via helicopter. The animal survived. Holder said of the Tenaja Canyon rescue: That was a really cool moment, to have done all that training and to see it work out so well.

The teams most common calls are for animals that are pinned, lost or immobile.

Requests for help often originate from the Corydon Avenue staging area in Norco, the gateway to miles of horse trails that weave through dense vegetation along the Santa Ana riverbed. Standing on a gravel hill overlooking the lush green habitat, Holder recalled searching hours for a lost horse. And the time she and her colleagues had to pull a dead horse from the brush using a specialized sled.

Holder and Hanna say theyve assisted on at least 1,000 rescues in the past 12 years alone  and many more before that. Sometimes there wont be any calls for months; other days, the team gets three emergencies at once that are dozens of miles apart.

Weve been around a long time and we have a good reputation as being professional and dependable, Holder said. We want to keep it that way.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9644, poneill@pressenterprise.com, @PE_PatrickO
When Linda Truong lived in Phoenix, she could rent a four-bedroom house in a safe neighborhood for less than $1,000.

Now in Duarte and looking for an apartment  even just a room  in Los Angeles, the Inland area or Orange County, shes in shock.

Southern California rents are steep. The search for an affordable spot often requires a relentless effort. It can seem like a second job  one with no foreseeable payoff.

Truong, 35, does marketing and design for Vegan Printer and SoCal Veg Fest in Fountain Valley. The 76-mile, round-trip commute from Duarte, near Pasadena, in her Honda Fit is treacherous, she said, but she can work from home half the week.

RELATED: HOUSING: Why budgets are crunched in Southern California

So far, trying to find something she can afford  up to $800 a month  in either Los Angeles or Orange counties has led only to dead ends.

The numbers appear to be against her. Asking rents for Orange County apartments averaged $1,753 a month during the first quarter of 2016, according to Reis Inc., a New York-based real estate and economic data firm. That was up $63 a month from the same period in 2015. In Los Angeles County, asking rents hit $1,630 a month in the first quarter, up $85 from the prior year.

At one point, Truongs search took her to Irvine, where a man who told her he does lot of traveling offered to rent her his bedroom; hed just move into the living room, he said.

Im not comfortable with that, she said.

A studio in the Los Angeles area  she recalled it was in the vicinity of Arcadia or El Monte  had some potential until she saw it.

It was about 200 square feet.

It was cramped, she said. The kitchenette was disappointing, too. It was just, like, a little burner.

On her wish list: A guest house or mother-in-law flat, or a private room in a home, with a separate entrance. A safe community is a must. Odors of cooking meat would be a deal breaker.

RELATED: INLAND HOUSING: Price, availability are concerns

Truong put up a Craigslist ad, but it generated only leads above what she could pay, or living arrangements that sounded too crowded (like a Ladera Ranch woman with a house and five children). Or offers that had nothing to do with renting.

Further complicating her finances: Shes paying off student loans. That amounts to nearly $1,000 a month.

Truong misses her dogs, a German Shepherd and Inuit, left with her sister back in Phoenix. They wont be moving to Southern California anytime soon.

Looking ahead, she has to wonder: If Im spending every dollar I have on rent, how am I saving up to eventually own?

***

Mind-blowing.

Thats how Jessie Craycroft describes her search for an apartment.

I cant find a one-bedroom in a decent area for less than $1,400, said Craycroft, 26, a credit union worker who has lived with her grandmother in Santa Ana for about four years.

The problem: Craycroft and her boyfriend, an aerospace technician also in his 20s, cant go higher than $1,200.

(With) our income combined, if we we were to rent an apartment for what theyre going for right now, we would have zero extra money at all, she said.

That would mean no way to pay for emergencies, like car repairs. And forget about having any fun.

If someones birthday comes, I want to buy a gift, she said.

Craycrofts hope for homeownership have been dashed, too.

She went through a program at NeighborWorks, a nonprofit organization that helps first-time buyers prepare for homeownership and get financial assistance. She dutifully attended a class and became a disciplined saver, paying down credit card debt and putting away the amount of money each month that she would have to pay on a mortgage.

But when it was time to seek a home loan, she learned she could only qualify for about $60,000.

It was pretty much nothing, she said.

In the meantime, she and her boyfriend, who also lives at home with his family, continue to look for a rental.

We cannot find any apartments that are within our range at all, she said. Its just kind of mind-blowing.

She knows that in a few more years, theyll earn more money. But she figures real estate prices will go up, too.

Well be in the same position were in right now, she said.

Craycroft has friends who spend hours commuting to work from places like Apple Valley and Temecula. She doesnt want to go that route.

She and her boyfriend have visited Oregon. Theyre considering a move.

Trulia, a real estate website, reported recently that millennials  18- to 34-year-olds  in Orange County made up 20.6 percent of households, but also 46 percent of those moving away. In Los Angeles County, the respective slices for millennials were 24.4 percent of the population and 48.8 percent of those leaving the area.

Our whole family is here. Everyone is here, Craycroft said. The idea of leaving our family to go start a family is kinda sad.

But, she added, To be perfectly honest, our goal is probably to leave California. We dont see a future here for us.

Contact the writer: mkalfus@ocregister.com
A man who authorities say was intoxicated was run over and killed by his own vehicle Friday evening in what Ontario police say was likely an accident.

A good Samaritan, trying to move the victims vehicle off a curb, was at the wheel when it happened, said Ontario police Lt. Kevin Devey.

The victim was reported driving recklessly in a parking lot at 2655 S. Archibald Ave. about 6:10 p.m. when he got his car stuck on a curb, Devey said. Two good Samaritans stopped and one offered to try to drive the car off the curb after the victim was unable to do so on his own.

The good Samaritan replaced the victim behind the wheel but apparently didnt see the victim move in front of the car, Devey said. The good Samaritan then accelerated the car and ran over the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police were still investigating the incident Saturday afternoon, but Devey said it appears to have been an accident.
The United States government has reiterated its pledge to support trade and investment in the country.



The American government has over the years contributed to the development of Ghanas economy through trade agreements.



It would be recalled that in December last year, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Bureau, Linda Thomas Greenfield, revealed that the US government had reviewed the 15-year-old law that will allow Made-in-Ghana goods access to duty- free tariff in the United States.



According to her, the United States was ever ready to trade with Ghana and other African countries as sourcing and investment destinations for international buyers of apparel, textile, leather, and home decor.



The embassy in Accra on Saturday, June 25, 2016, reiterated the American governments commitment by indicating that the department of commerce had expanded operations in Ghana.



The embassy tweeted: "U.S. government is committed to promoting trade, investment in GH.Our Department of Commerce has expanded operations in Ghana."

Source: classfmonline.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
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jon Benjamin, has said that although the outcome of the British referendum to leave the European Union (EU) has implications for Britains relations with other countries around the world, including Ghana, it is too early to measure what those implications may be.



But, he said, I dont see any reason for Ghanaians to fear.



Its really far too early to go into details like that. This is a new situation that has come out of a huge democratic exercise, the results of which we learnt a few hours ago. Many things flow from it, including the nature of the United Kingdoms future relations with so many countries around the world, including Ghana, he added.



No forecast



He said for now he could not predict what those future relations would look like in detail but that they would be addressed in the coming months and years.



Mr Benjamin, who said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, said British had voted to leave the EU and that it was an instruction to the government which would be respected and delivered.



It was for that reason, he said, that the British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, had decided to step down, adding that there will be a new Prime Minister and many things will flow from that.



Mr Benjamin said naturally there would be questions on the minds of people, but those questions would have to wait for the right time for them to be addressed.



Background



A referendum was held on Thursday to decide whether Britain should leave or remain in the EU.



Leave won by 52 per cent to 48 per cent and the referendum turnout was 71.8 per cent, with more than 33 million people voting.



It was the highest turnout in a UK election since 1992.



Cannot comment on Camerons decision to step down



On the decision by Mr Cameron to resign, Mr Benjamin said he would not be able to say whether it was right or wrong.



He said he could not interpret the Prime Ministers words because they were pretty much explanatory.



He, however, added that Mr Cameron had said his decision to step down was because of non-conformity of his ideals with the outcome of the referendum and that he could not head an administration that would go ahead to negotiate the countrys new relations with the EU contrary to his stance.



More so, he said, Mr Camerons stepping down was a follow-up to a manifesto promise he had made to the people that when voted into power, he would hold a referendum on the nagging issue of the countrys membership of the EU.



The decision by the Prime Minister to step down, he said, had no implication for him or any other ambassador, in view of the fact that as civil servants, they were politically neutral and, therefore, did not have their fortunes tied to that of politicians.



Fact File



Prime Minister Cameron promised to hold a referendum on whether Britain should leave or remain in the EU if he won the 2015 general election, in response to growing calls from his own Conservative MPs and the UK Independence Party (UKIP), who argued that Britain had not had a say since 1975 when it voted in a referendum to stay in the EU.



The EU has changed a lot since then, gaining more control over our daily lives, they argued.



Mr Cameron said: "It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics."



The minimum period after a vote to leave will be two years. During that time, Britain will continue to abide by EU treaties and laws but not take part in any decision-making, as it negotiates a withdrawal agreement and the terms of its relationship with the now 27-nation bloc.



In practice, it may take longer than two years, depending on how the negotiations go.



Mr Cameron said he would step down as prime minister by October.



He said he would leave it to his successor to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which kicks off the two-year process of negotiating a new trade relationship with the UK's former partners.



Effect on Ghana



The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said the impact of Britain leaving the EU would not be felt immediately.



They will now begin the process of negotiating their exit from the EU. What we have to do now is watch how the rest of the EU reacts to this, because we dont know whether or not this is going to trigger similar calls for other EU countries, which will have even more significant implications than just the Brexit vote, she was quoted as saying on Citifmonline.



She, however, said the decision by the UK to leave the EU would affect Ghanas trade with that country.



Ghana will have to renegotiate trading and bilateral agreements with the UK, she said.



Ghana and the UK bilateral trade is reported to be around 1.3 billion, with Ghana currently being the UKs fifth largest trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa.



Ms Tetteh also said the country would have to pay attention to the UK and EU negotiations, so that we will know what kind of processes they will continue to have and how that should influence whatever subsequent negotiations we will have with them.



Until Britain formally exits the EU, the trade arrangement will continue to apply, but we have to consider the negotiation of bilateral trade arrangement with the UK, she said.



EU leadership reacts



Meanwhile, the EU has described the decision by the UK as regrettable, adding, however, that it would be respected by the union.



In a free and democratic process, the British people have expressed their wish to leave the European Union, it said in a statement.



The statement was jointly issued by the President of the European Council, Mr Donald Tusk; the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz; the holder of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, Mark Rutte, and the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.



The exit process



In what seems to be a rallying call to the remaining 27 members of the union, it said: The Union is the framework of our common political future. We are bound together by history, geography and common interests and will develop our cooperation on this basis. Together, we will address our common challenge to generate growth, increase prosperity and ensure a safe and secure environment for our citizens. The institutions will play their full role in this endeavour.



In the coming years, the UK will trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which sets out the procedure to be followed if a member state decides to leave the EU.



In that regard, the EU leadership said it was ready to launch negotiations swiftly with the UK regarding the terms and conditions of its withdrawal from the union.



It, however, wanted the UK to enforce the decision as soon as possible.



Until this process of negotiations is over, the UK remains a member of the EU, with all the rights and obligations that derive from this. According to the treaties which the UK has ratified, EU law continues to apply to the full and in the UK until it is no longer a member, it said.

Source: Daily Graphic









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
Authorities of the Effia Nkwanta hospital in the Western Region have said no casualties were recorded on Friday when the facilitys surgical theatre caved in.



There were reports that doctors at the hospital were conducting a surgical operation on a pregnant woman when the ceiling came down on the floor. The report also claimed that the woman died few minutes after the incident.



But, administrator of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Mr. FKK Boakye confirmed the development to Citi News but said the patient is alive. The patient was transferred to a different theatre and is currently alive and well.



She is not a pregnant woman too as people are alleging, he added.



Hospital blames collapsed ceiling on old facility



Management also admitted that the fallout was because the facility had become old.



Explaining how the ceiling caved in, the administrator said it happened on Friday when one of the doctors called to inform me. We did what we had to do to get lives saved. Everything is under control now. That portion is being rehabilitated as we speak.



But this is no news, he added. Mr. Boakye also said our facility is old and so portions of it keep falling apart occasionally.



Even my office sometimes leak whenever it rains. My bungalow also leaks and portions do occasionally fall apart.



But we are managing with the little resources available to us. New facility needed When asked about the way forward, Mr. Boakye admitted that, the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital; which is serving a total population of 2.63 million people in the region needs to be renovated immediately or rebuilt.



It will be recalled that the Male Ward C of the facility also caught fire in October 2014. The facility until recently had been battling to restore its broken elevators.



It was also first to implement charging patient additional monies over the power crisis.

Source: Citifmonline.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
As a candidate running for office, there are a few things I understand:

1. If elected, I represent the constituents in my district

2. If elected, I represent the constituents in my district

3. If elected, I represent the constituents in my district

And

4. If elected, I represent the constituents in my district

Being an elected official is a privilege, it is an honor. It is not something that should be taken for granted because the people that voted for you, and those that didnt, are looking to you to be their voice. They are looking for you to be the agent of change and a problem solver. This is what I understand an elected official is to be and I take that to heart.

But what I see in Washington is something totally different. When asked, Americans overwhelmingly believe we need greater and more extensive background checks before one is allowed to purchase a weapon. Gun owners believe there should be greater background checks. Even some NRA members believe there should be greater background checks. So why arent the elected officials in Congress not acting in concert with the will of the people?

Funny, when the debate was over gay marriage, the leaders of Congress had no problem evoking the lineThe American people want

When the debate was about defunding Planned Parenthood, the leaders of Congress had no problem evoking the line The American people want

When the debate was over the Affordable Care Act, the leaders in Congress had no problem evoking the line The American people want

Havent heard that line in reference to background checks yethave you?

Now, after numerous mass shootings at movie theaters, night clubs and even elementary schools, the cry is loud and clear; it is time to address our gun laws and protect the people of this nation. Im not hearing people talk about restricting gun rights to responsible gun owners nor do I hear a cry to revoke the 2nd Amendment. What I hear is do a background check on the person trying to purchase a weapon as an added layer of protection for the society as a whole. At over 85% in polls, this is the request.

Oh and who needs a military grade assault weapon that can kill mass amounts of people in a limited amount of time?

What say you elected leaders of this nation?

They knew what the job description was when they ran for office. They knew their job would be to represent the will of the people. So why arent members of Congress listening to what the American people want? Why arent they representing the people that elected them to office? At over 85%?

Better question

Why do we as voters allow these elected officials a pass on not doing the job they signed up to do? As Abraham Lincoln said, Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth. Looks like we have some work to do if we dont want our great nation to perish, because some of our elected officials in Congress have forgotten who they represent.

Peacock Panache readers:

Dana is a lifelong resident of Indianapolis and has been an out Lesbian since 1990. She received her B.S. Information Systems from Indiana Wesleyan University and MBA with an Information Technology focus from Southern New Hampshire University. She has been a volunteer for the Minority Engineers Programs of Indianapolis since 2007. This programs is designed to help minority students prepare for post-secondary education in the STEM programs. After the introduction of HJR-3 and recent RFRA legislation, Dana realized change was needed in Indiana and is now a candidate for the Indiana House of Representatives; District 88. www.indianasown.com/

Like this: Like Loading...

Related

We hope you enjoyed reading this article! If you would like to support our ongoing work, please consider buying us a cup of coffee. It's not much, but we don't do this for the money. We do, however, need caffeine to keep going some days!If you do donate, send us a message through our Contact Us page or via social media so we can thank you!
Pope Francis is not a regular pope, hes a cool pope.

He acknowledges and wants to take action on climate change, he speaks out about feminist issues like the gender pay gap and abortion, and he chill AF with the LGBTQIA community.

In fact, he likes the community a lot, and feels bad about what they been through. So he has now said that Christians should apologise.

WE KNOW! This is wont end badly at all.

In an hour-long convo with reporters on a plane, he said that the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness directly from gay people.

Wow! This queer writer is super excited to be stopped every three seconds by people who previously (and perhaps still) see me as an inferior, because they want me and my almighty, over-ruling gay voice to expunge all their homophobic sins.

HUNTY, PLS  I HAVE A JOB AND A BOTTLE OF WINE TO GET HOME TO, I DO NOT HAVE TIME OR ENERGY TO ABSOLVE YOUR DAMN HOMOPHOBIC ASSES ALL DAY LONG.

Heres the exact quote from Pope Francis:

I think that the Church not only should apologise  to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologise to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by (being forced to) work. It must apologise for having blessed so many weapons.

Man, that is a shitload of people. Them Christians gonna have to get up *very* early in the morning.

Source: The Guardian.

Photo: Franco Origlia / Getty.
Last weekend saw the tragic death of 27-year-old Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who was killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled as he was standing behind it, pinning him to a brick pillar.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, on Thursday of last week, three plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the manufacturer of Jeep, in a California federal court.

The complaint alleges that a dangerously defective gear shifter mechanism is to blame for Yelchin death, as well as hundreds of other incidents involving Jeeps, and that Fiat Chrysler have taken an unreasonable delay in fixing the defect.

The text, which you can read in full here, says:

One of the most basic safety features in every car is the gear shifter that causes a stationary car to remain stationary, unless and until an operator wants the car to move  Though complaints and accident reports have been ongoing since at least early 2015, FCA has only recently initiated a voluntary recall of the over 811,000 Defective Shifter Vehicles in the United States; but to date it has only sent a letter to owners describing the design defect of the ZF Shifter, even though it knows exactly how to fix the problem by looking at what its competitors have done. FCAs unreasonable delay in fixing the defect and its warning letter was obviously too little, too late for Mr. Yelchin, and nearly a million Defective Shifter Vehicles remain in unsuspecting owners driveways and garages.

The plaintiffs are asking Fiat Chrysler to replace every shifter or install a safety override system in every potentially defective vehicle.

Per the New York Times they are also seeking punitive damages for fraud, compensation to owners for the loss of the vehicles alue, and a temporary replacement vehicle for owners.

It is estimated at this point that damages will be greater than $US5 million.

Source: New York Times.

Photo: Michael Tran / Getty.
A Lancaster County man is facing charges after police say he inappropriately touched a teenage girl while giving her a ride.

Manuel Hernandez-Ibarra, 33, of Ronks, was charged by the Pennsylvania State Police at Lancaster with indecent assault and corruption of minors.

Police say around 10:30 p.m. June 17, he gave a 17-year-old girl a ride in Strasburg Township, and while she was in his vehicle, he touched her stomach and breast and attempted to put his hand down her pants.

The girl told police and Hernandez-Ibarra admitted to his actions, troopers say.
Following an arrest in the death of Steve Esworthy, family and neighbors are pleased with the quick response by Harrisburg police.

Harrisburg police announced a suspect in the killing was arrested Saturday -- almost a week after Esworthy's death.

"While the Esworthy family continues to mourn the tragic death of Steve Esworthy, the capture of the suspect brings some relief to the family," the Esworthy family said in a statement. "We are comforted to know Harrisburg is safer with the suspect no longer at large. We thank the Harrisburg Bureau of Police for their extraordinary efforts resulting in a quick arrest. The support from our friends, family, and community during this difficult time has been amazing. We look forward to working with the community to keep Harrisburg safe."

Esworthy was killed after he was clubbed in the head while walking to his midtown home from his brother's wedding, where Esworthy had been best man hours before.

Witnesses saw a man rummaging through Esworthy's pockets, and police believe he was targeted for robbery. He was described as a black man, tall, possibly 6 feet tall and thin, wearing light-colored or faded jeans with a white tank-top around his neck.

Police have not released the name of the suspect. On Friday, police said they did not believe a man who was arrested for attacking a woman with a hammer committed the Esworthy homicide.

Greg O'Loughlin, a member of Friends of Midtown, said it was great to see police move quickly and make an arrest.

"We hope that the person they apprehended is the person that committed this crime and is off the streets," O'Loughlin said.

Friends of Midtown holds a weekly neighborhood walk, and O'Loughlin said he hopes more and more neighbors come out to help try to keep the neighborhood safe.

"What's happened is really enforcing the need to keep doing what we're doing," he said.
WELLSBORO - A closed Tioga County wild animal park that is the subject of a federal lawsuit continues to be listed as a tourist attraction on the state's visitpa.com website.

Owners of Animaland Zoological Park, along Route 660, nine miles outside Wellsboro near the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, have been accused of running an unaccredited roadside menagerie in which "animals are suffering immensely" due to inhumane conditions and unsafe captivity.

The allegations are contained in a suit that six individuals filed in U.S. Middle District court in March claiming violations of the Endangered Species Act, Animal Welfare Act and state Game Commission regulations.

Park owners James P. Melko Jr. and Kathleen H. Melko have not retained a lawyer or filed a formal response to the complaint. Judge Yvette Kane has scheduled a status conference call on the case for Thursday.

The plaintiffs state in court filings that since the suit was filed, eight animals including a Siberian tiger have been sent to T&D's Cats of the World near Penns Creek in Snyder County.

Arrangements were being made, according to a filing, to send a gray wolf, which like the tiger falls under the Endangered Species Act, to the Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania near Lititz.

The lawsuit alleges animals were kept in small, dirty enclosures with - in most cases - concrete floors, devoid of companionship and unable to engage in their natural behaviors.

Dr. Mary Denver, former head veterinarian of the Maryland Zoo, speculated the animals are suffering psychologically due to unacceptable low levels of activity, lack of access to fresh water, exposure to unsanitary conditions and other problems, the court complaint states.

The plaintiffs charge Animaland is unfit to properly care for its animals that also includes two black bears, three capuchin monkeys, two bobcats, two bison, 27 deer, two alpacas, seven goats, 25 sheep, macaque, Arctic fix and a raccoon.

The suit claims Animaland has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to meet minimum care requirements of the Animal Welfare Act.

Those who brought the suit are Shannon Prizniak, Ayla Skinner, Amanda Gallagher, Christa Denunzio, Angela Santmier and Matthew Gulczynski. All are Pennsylvania residents except Denunzio, who lives in New York State.

Detailed accounts of what the six observed at Animaland are contained in the court complaint.

All but Skinner say they have visited other zoos. Skinner, a Penn State student, said she visited Animaland and wrote a report on her observations as part of an animal psychology class.
The Amish vote

The sect's total current population is about 308,000 and has grown about 18 percent over the past five years, according to an ongoing population survey by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

(PennLive.com/file)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The Amish branched out last year with new settlements in Bolivia, Argentina and Canada as their numbers continued to grow and a high percentage of young people opted to remain within the religious community, which eschews many modern conveniences.

The sect's total current population is about 308,000 and has grown about 18 percent over the past five years, according to an ongoing population survey by the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.

The two small South American settlements were both founded last fall after longstanding Mennonite communities in those countries reached out to North American Amish to explore affiliation, said Steven Nolt, a senior scholar at the center who helped coordinate the population survey.

Those Old Colony Mennonites, culturally conservative and with roots in a group that emigrated from the old Russian empire to Canada in the 1800s, left Canada in the 1920s over a dispute about teaching their children in English and landed in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, Nolt said.

In recent years, their members in Bolivia and Argentina have faced financial problems and isolation, so they wrote to an Amish publisher in Canada and eventually got in touch with a New Order Amish group in Ohio that permits its members, under certain circumstances, to make airplane trips.

After ministers with the Ohio Amish visited South America, they sent two families to settle there to create communities the existing Mennonites can join. North American Amish generally do not proselytize or do mission work. They also have sent teams to help with building projects. The Bolivian community, known as Colonia Naranjita, is about 75 miles southwest of Santa Cruz, while the settlement in rural northwestern Argentina is located east of Catamarca.

"This is kind of a new and different thing and illustrates (an) unusually -- even among the New Order Amish -- Amish approach to taking in new members," Nolt said. He said Mennonite men in those areas have begun to grow Amish-type beards, and an Ohio Amish woman has made bonnet head coverings for the women.

Nearly two-thirds of all Amish live in three U.S. states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana -- although there are currently settlements in 31 states and three Canadian provinces. Two new settlements with a total of about 30 people were established this year in Prince Edward Island, Canada, a first for that province.

The largest settlements are in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Holmes County, Ohio, both with more than 34,000 people and more than 200 congregations, or districts, as they are known.

The total Amish population was only 124,000 in 1992.

The population study includes horse-and-buggy Amish, but not car-driving groups such as Beachy Amish and Amish Mennonites.

The center says Amish typically strike out and establish new communities to find quality and affordable farmland in isolated areas near other Amish, to live where there is work in specialized occupations and to resolve disputes about church leadership.

The Amish are Christian followers known for using horses and buggies for transportation, wearing traditional dress, worshipping in homes not church buildings, and speaking a German dialect. Their ranks are composed of dozens of distinct groups with different practices they allow and prohibit.
Carly Fiorina campaigns for Ted Cruz in Camp Hill

Kathy Natale, of Wormleysburg, left, and Victoria Zeiss, of Camp Hill, at far right, talk with Carly Fiorina. Former GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina campaigns for Ted Cruz at his headquarters in Lemoyne, April 19, 2016. Dan Gleiter, PennLive.com

By Charlie Gerow

Remember Richard Mentor Johnson, Thomas A. Hendricks, Levi P. Morton or Garret Hobart? Don't feel too bad -- most people don't remember them either.

They all served as vice president of the United States, an office once described by one of its holders as "not worth a bucket of warm spit." His quote was cleaned up for the history books.

Republican strategist Charlie Gerow (PennLive file)

The vice presidency, although "a heartbeat away" from the most powerful office in the world, has few powers directly set forth in the Constitution. Many of its 47 occupants spent their years in relative obscurity.

In the early days of the Republic, the vice presidency was largely a legislative office with the vice president exercising the constitutional duty of presiding over the U.S. Senate. Presidential succession was largely a contingent role in those days.

Only nine vice presidents have succeeded the president through death or resignation. Only two sitting vice presidents have been elected president under the modern system.

Richard Nixon helped transform the office, spending most of his time in the executive branch, not the legislative. He moved into the Old Executive Office Building and created a model followed by his successors.

Vice President Walter Mondale took that model to a higher level, moving into the West Wing and even closer proximity to the president.

With the increased visibility and role of the vice president there's now more focus on the selection process. The media hypes the political parlor game of "who might it be?" Washington insiders are abuzz with speculation of who Trump or Hillary might pick.

Whether or not it really matters is a subject of academic debate. For years presidential nominees didn't even get to select their running mates. The political conventions did it for them.

Today it's rare that vice presidential picks make a significant difference in the outcome of the election.

That hasn't stopped rampant speculation about the selection possibilities.

Since I've been asked to join that fray, I'll suggest a few picks that Donald Trump might make.

These are not predictions - that would only add to my woeful record this presidential season. They're mere possibilities.

Because Donald Trump has a "gender gap" problem more serious than other recent GOP nominees, it would serve him well to select a woman running mate.

There are half a dozen highly qualified Republican women each of whom would add tremendous benefit to the Trump campaign:

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley: She's a popular two-term governor of Indian descent. However, she has no experience in foreign policy or inside the Washington Beltway, two areas where Trump needs to strengthen himself.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin: A former member of Congress she's served as governor since 2010. She's well liked by Trump but doesn't add a lot to the electoral mix.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez: She hails from a swing state and is one of the highest-ranking Hispanics in the nation, a constituency with which Trump needs a lot of help. There's no love lost between her and Trump, but that's one reason he could use her on the ticket.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst: The first female veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate, she's very popular with Trump's base. She's an outsider within Washington and she hails from a key state. But she's new and her folksy charm hasn't been tested under the national spotlight.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: Having served with great distinction prior to Hillary Clinton, that contrast would be a defining element of the campaign. With her national security experience and speaking skills she'd be an ideal running mate. The main problem is that she doesn't seem all that interested in "warm spit."

Carly Fiorina: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention her. Her skills and abilities were showcased throughout the primary season and many folks are clamoring for her to go toe-to-toe with Hillary. Given that she was already a vice presidential selection this year, it's not going to happen again.

There are also several men who would be solid choices for Trump. Among them are Govs. Chris Christie, John Kasich and Rick Scott, and U.S. Sens. Jeff Sessions, John Thune, Bob Corker and Tim Scott.

The most mentioned possible running mate is Pennsylvania native Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House.

Gingrich has the ability to get things done in Washington and brings a world of policy initiatives, each of which would score big points for Trump. He's also media savvy and connects with voters as well as anyone.

The selection of a running mate may not matter that much in the long run, for Donald Trump it has heightened significance.

It will be the first real look into how he makes important decisions. The media and voters will scrutinize his selection as the first major decision he's had to make.

How long that look will last is another story. Voters ultimately look to the top of the ticket not to the second spot. That's the way it's always been.

As former Vice President Alben Barkley observed, "I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit among the mighty." He then dropped dead.
statute of limitations

The Senate Judiciary Committee is working to amend the state's child sex crime laws, allowing victims a wider window in which to bring predators to justice.

(Associated Press)

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has recused himself from House Bill 1947.

The bill, if passed, would change the statute of limitations for reporting child sex abuse crimes, among other reforms..

Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R.-Montgomery/Bucks, says he is stepping away from the bill because of a possible conflict of interest involving his law firm and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The bill has pitted the Catholic Church against parishioners and victims, as parishes were sent letters to encourage their flocks to persuade lawmakers to vote against the bill.

Greenleaf said he made the voluntary decision after learning that an attorney at the firm where he is a partner, Elliott Greenleaf, was currently being paid by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to represent a priest who is a witness in civil suits regarding sexual abuse. The archdiocese is among the most vocal foes of the abuse bill before Greenleaf's committee, having urged parishioners in recent weeks to press lawmakers across southeastern Pennsylvania to oppose it.

The disclosure by Greenleaf followed reports earlier this month in the Inquirer that in recent years his firm also fought on behalf of a Catholic religious order to prove, unsuccessfully, that a Delaware law expanding child sex-abuse victims' rights was unconstitutional.

There were fears that Greenleaf would have stripped the bill of the provision that abuse as far back as the 1970s could be open to lawsuits.

On June 13, Solicitor General Bruce Castor testified that if passed, the bill would violate the remedies clause in the state constitution.

As of Wednesday, no action had been taken on the bill. Greenleaf said that negotiations with "regards to the legislation that give victims the ability to sue such as fraudulent concealment" were still underway.
Pedestrians cross a newly painted rainbow cross walk at Pandosy and Lawrence Avenue in Kelowna. The crosswalk represents diversity. A similar crosswalk will be painted next week in the Pen-Hi parking lot upon the request of senior students.
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form
ISSUES....

Inside, confidential and off the record

Venezuela's oil, for best and worst





Oil made Venezuela rich, and now it's making it poor

Venezuela, New York Times reporter Nicholas Casey wrote this week , is convulsing from hunger. Grocery stores are out of food ; hospitals are out of medicine ; gangs are fighting in the streets over meager supplies .

Venezuela's collapse has many causes: excessive borrowing , political corruption , an official exchange rate that defies economic realities . But the country's poverty today is due in large part to the same thing that made Venezuela rich just a few years ago: oil.

Venezuela, a charter member of the OPEC cartel, has the world's largest oil reserves and is a major oil exporter. (The U.S. is its biggest customer.) Most of Venezuela's oil is of a thick, gooey variety that is expensive to refine and transport. But none of that mattered when oil prices surged in the late 2000s  at $100 a barrel, even the costliest oil was hugely profitable.

Because most of Venezuela's oil is produced by the state-owned oil company PDVSA, those windfall profits were controlled by the government, then headed by President Hugo Chavez. Chavez, who died in 2013, used that money to spend heavily on social programs , and spent even more by borrowing billions of dollars overseas. Many of his efforts worked, at least in the short-term: Under Chavez, Venezuela expanded access to education and health care , boosted employment and reduced poverty by more than half .

But all that spending  and borrowing  left Venezuela dependent on ever-rising oil prices. Instead, prices plunged , dropping from over $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to under $30 a barrel earlier this year. (It has rebounded to about $50 in recent weeks.) The unexpected price slump was bad news for oil-based economies from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Williston, North Dakota . But nowhere was hit as hard as Venezuela, which was left with huge debts and no other meaningful exports to help repay them.

Making matters worse, Chavez's spending on social programs left little remaining to invest in PDVSA . Old fields were allowed to decline, while new drilling opportunities weren't adequately explored. As a result, Venezuelan oil production isn't rising and exports are falling due to rising domestic consumption. Meanwhile, production is falling in Venezuela's most profitable fields, those that produce a lighter type of oil. That leaves the country more reliant than ever on overseas sales of its gooey, heavy crude  oil that isn't in much demand when there's so much better oil to be had amida global glut. Venezuela has been forced to import lighter oil from other countries, including the U.S. , to mix with its oil so it can sell the blend.

It didn't have to be this way. For evidence of another path, look no further than the U.S., where private oil companies responded to rising prices by boosting investment in research and exploration. The shale-oil boom that resulted from that investment ultimately led to the near doubling of U.S. oil production in less than a decade. U.S. companies are struggling with low prices , too, but the investments they made during the boom are helping them survive the bust.

Many progressives, of course, would have liked to have seen the U.S. take a somewhat more Chavez-like approach to the oil boom via higher taxes on oil companies' profits . And there is certainly room for debate over the best way to divide revenues among investors, landowners and the public at large. But it is clear that by failing to think about the future during the boom, Venezuela made the present bust far worse.
Chevron venture at Vaca Muerta shale drop costs 20%



Venture with YPF sees costs fall to $11.2 million per well. Oil companies seeking to reproduce Chevron's success: Moshiri

BUENOS AIRES

Petroleumworld.com 06 27 2016

The cost to drill wells at Argentina's Vaca Muerta, site of the world's second-biggest shale reserves, has dropped 20 percent this year, putting Chevron Corp. and its partners closer to meeting spending goals.

Drilling costs at the Loma Campana field in Vaca Muerta have declined to $11.2 million per well from $14 million in the last three months of 2015, Ali Moshiri, president for Latin America and Africa, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Buenos Aires on Thursday. That's putting the joint venture with YPF SA closer to its goal of drilling wells at less than $10 million, he said.

There are a lot of companies watching Chevron and YPF in Argentina, Moshiri said. The performance of those wells is coming very close, very competitive to the United States.

Oil companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. are rushing to tap Argentina's shale reserves, the largest after the U.S., as low oil prices put pressure on American producers. Output in the U.S. has dropped this year as prices plunged, while producers in Argentina have maintained production levels because of government subsidies to stimulate extraction.

Joint Venture

Chevron signed an agreement with state-owned YPF in 2013 to initially invest $1.6 billion in a pilot program to drill at Vaca Muerta in the Neuquen province. As the pilot was successful, the companies agreed to extend the venture for 35-years in 2014. The joint venture has drilled about 400 wells, Moshiri said.

Close all those tabs. Open this email. Get Bloomberg's daily newsletter. Sign Up The government of former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner raised the price of oil produced domestically to $75 a barrel from $45, gave drillers tax exemptions and capped royalties at 15 percent since 2012, creating a boom in the oil industry domestically as it struggled globally because of falling prices. President Mauricio Macri has set the subsidized price of the local oil at around $68 a barrel.

We are a long-term business; we don't try to do anything for just a few years, Moshiri said. A few years ago no one knew about Chevron in Argentina. Now we are the largest investor in the oil industry.

Moshiri said on Friday he'll visit Vaca Muerta, where Chevron also has licenses to explore and drill in the El Trapial and Narambuena prospects in addition to the joint venture with YPF.






With its 38.55 sq.km. land area, Manila is part of the National Capital Region (NCR) in Luzon, sharing it with 15 other cities that make up the greater metropolitan region such as Quezon City, the former capital, and Makati, the nations financial center. As a whole, these cities are known as Metro Manila.

Manila's reputation on the global stage is generally not viewed positively as it typically makes world news headlines for crime, corruption, or calamities. In the book, author Dan Brown refers to Manila as the " Gates of Hell ."





WHAT TO EAT





Manila has a lot of food options from street food to the priciest restaurants serving local and international cuisines. Many consider eating the national sport of the Philippines. In the actual city, most Manila restaurants can be found in Chinatown, Ermita, Malate, and Quiapo, especially inside the Manila shopping malls. If you're looking for something more upscale or international, Quezon City, Bonifacio Global City, and Makati are home to countless hot spots.





Do you need to tip? Some restaurants may automatically charge 10% to your bill, while others leave the decision up to you. Others are less discreet and leave a box for you to put your tip or indicate that there is no service charge on your bill.





If you want to eat as locals do, here are some examples of typical Filipino cuisine:





WHERE TO STAY





The metropolis is home to countless Manila hotels that can suit any need or any budget. There is a limited presence of international hotel brands in the Philippines . However, that is quickly changing as many international chains see an opportunity to invest in the country.





Image Source: Trip Advisor / Hotel H2O

Foreign travellers should exercise caution when selecting accommodation in Manila as quality and customer service may leave much to be desired, particularly when hotels are not accountable to the standards of a global brand. It is strongly advised to study independent review sites such as Trip Advisor or Agoda and look at photographs taken by actual travellers, especially when considering cheap hotels in Manila.





If you're travelling on a budget, Manila is home to two Philippine budget hotel brands: Go Hotels and Red Planet Hotels . Both chains offer simple accommodations in Manila and small rooms, but with modern comforts such as white sheeting, flat screen televisions, free internet, air conditioning, and rain showers. For those looking for a different experience, here are some other recommendations:





Manila Airport Hotels

Manila Budget Hotels

Manila Luxury Hotels

Manila Boutique Hotels





WHERE TO PLAY











Binondo (Chinatown) : Binondo is believed to be the oldest Chinatown in the world. It is where the Binondo Church built in the 16th century is located to serve the Chinese converts to Catholicism. Chinese Cemetery : It is the second oldest cemetery in the country and was established in the 1850s because the Spanish rulers back then disallowed the burial of the Chinese in Spanish cemeteries. Air-conditioned mausoleums that are bigger than most apartments can be found there. Escolta : Before Makati (the nations business district), Escolta was the address for business and social status. It is now a shadow of its former self although some of the old buildings built pre-World Wars can still be seen.





Image Source: Wikimedia





SHOPPING IN MANILA





Manila offers a range of shopping experiences from one of the largest shopping malls in Asia to quaint street markets.







GETTING AROUND MANILA



For foreign travellers arriving in the Philippines, the initial sight of Manila traffic may lead to shock and horror. For foreign travellers arriving in the Philippines, the initial sight of Manila traffic may lead to shock and horror. Getting around Manila might seem like an even more daunting feat.





However, Metro Manila actually offers much choice for traveling around the city with some options more familiar to foreign travelers than others. Transportation in Manila includes the Jeepney, FX, MRT/LRT, taxi, bus, tricycle, and pedicab. Our Guide to Metro Manila Transportation explains the various modes of transport.





Although the horrendous traffic has the potential to consume your entire vacation and the city has its fair share of undesirables, Manila can still delight the open-minded adventurer with an experience that is unique to the Philippines.
tooltip

Keep reading by creating a free account or signing in.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Henry Paulson, a Republican who was U.S. Treasury secretary during the 2008 financial meltdown, on Friday called a Donald Trump presidency unthinkable and said he will vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Paulson joins a growing list of establishment Republicans who say they will not cast a ballot in the Nov. 8 election for Trump, the partys presumptive nominee and a political neophyte whose populist rhetoric runs counter to many long-held Republican principles.

When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump, Paulson, who was chief executive of Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury chief under Republican President George W. Bush, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

Ill be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world, he said.

Paulson accused Trump, who has touted his business acumen as a real estate developer during his campaign, of taking imprudent risk and then disavowing his debts when ventures fail.

He also took aim at Trumps opposition to trade agreements, which Paulson said have created U.S. jobs and fostered innovation and competitiveness.

Simply put, a Trump presidency is unthinkable, Paulson said.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brent Scowcroft, a national security adviser to two Republican presidents, endorsed Clinton on Wednesday, and Richard Armitage, a deputy secretary of state under George W. Bush, said last week he would support her.

Paulson, who helped steer a $700 billion bailout of the financial system through Congress during the financial meltdown, said Trump is a phony who is unfit to be president.

I cant help but think what would have happened if a divisive character such as Trump were president during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when leadership, compromise and careful analysis were critical, he said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech)
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

As the Republican Party nears a state of Trump led collapse, President Obamas approval rating has reached its highest level since 2011.

The Washington Post reported on President Obamas new approval rating high via the ABC News/Washington Post Poll:

The poll, conducted in the immediate aftermath of a massacre in Orlando that was perpetrated by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, showed Obamas approval rating at 56 percent  its highest level in Post polling since May 2011, after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Obama is more popular now than Republicans George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush in the waning months of their presidencies. Although Obamas approval rating has not reached the level of former Democratic president Bill Clintons in 2000, his standing suggests that he could be a relatively effective surrogate for Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

After the Orlando terror attacks, President Obamas approval ratings went up while Donald Trumps poll numbers dropped. The voters are paying attention, and they are appreciating the job that Obama is doing for the country more by the day.

Republicans had already given away the qualifications argument to Hillary Clinton by nominating Donald Trump, but they are also watching the change argument quickly evaporate as voters are showing no signs of Obama fatigue. If Republicans cant argue that they have the more qualified candidate, and the change argument falls on deaf ears, what exactly are Republicans planning on running on this fall?

The best guess is that Republicans will try to run against Obama, but running against a president who is getting more popular as his time in office winds down will be the ultimate fools errand. With poll numbers like these, President Obama is going to be a powerful surrogate for Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

Democrats are going to have an advantage that they havent enjoyed before. The Democratic Party is going to have a popular outgoing two-term president on the campaign trail making the case for why his party should keep the White House. Al Gore kept Bill Clinton mostly on the bench in 2000, but Hillary Clinton wont make that mistake in 2016.

Obama is beloved, fired up, and ready to help Democrats elect the first woman President Of The United States.
Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Email

Print

Members of a neo-Nazi group whose founder supports Donald Trump have stabbed five people outside of a protest in Sacramento, CA.

The Sacramento Fire Department reported a mass stabbing at a neo-Nazi protest in Sacramento:

Mass casualty incident, multiple stabbing victims at State Capitol during rally. SFD crews triaging patients now. pic.twitter.com/0jGU3hpMXs  SacFire PIO (@SacFirePIO) June 26, 2016

Journalist Frances Wang of ABC10 captured the violence that led to the protest by the neo-Nazi The Traditionalist Working Party being canceled:

Insane video. Crowd sees any signs of "Nazis" and they run&attack. A lot of people bleeding/getting maced. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/PoFhILfZ95  Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 26, 2016

Here is a pic from Wang of blood spatter on the ground:

HorrifyingBlood spatters all over the ground. Police trying to control crowds. @ABC10 pic.twitter.com/aPtjTAO6pj  Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) June 26, 2016

The Traditional Workers Party was founded by a man who has been dubbed THE LITTLE FUHRER by the Southern Poverty Law Center, who in the last few years has moved into neo-Nazism. The Little Fuhrer is a Donald Trump supporter, who has bragged about shoving a black woman at a Trump rally.

The violence in Sacramento represents what Trump is emboldening and encouraging. Trump has openly touted racism and bigotry, and white supremacists have flocked to his candidacy in droves. For those who think Trump is just a lying blowhard who should not be taken seriously, I encourage you to watch some of the videos above.

Donald Trump and his rhetoric are bringing the racists back above ground. Whether he wins or loses, Trumps words have already damaged the country. What happened in Sacramento was just a taste of what Donald Trumps America could look like.
Heres the measured response of a British leftist, Laurie Penny, to the Brexit:

So, heres the thing. This was never a referendum on the EU. It was a referendum on the modern world, and yesterday the frightened, parochial lizard-brain of Britain voted out, out, out, and today weve all woken up still strapped onto this ghost-train as it hurtles off the tracks.

Voting against the modern world! Why, thats almost as bad as being on the wrong side of history  the ultimate question-begging insult favored by President Obama.

Reihan Salam, one of our favorite analysts, has a different take on what, primarily, the British voted against. They voted, he says, against mass immigration to Britain by Europeans.

Salam explains that recent years have seen Britain become a highly sought-after destination for less-skilled European immigrants. This is due to the structure of the U.K.s economy  its lightly regulated labor markets tend not to price less-skilled workers out of jobs  and its public policies  unlike some EU countries, immigrants to Britain can begin drawing benefits fairly quickly regardless of their contribution.

Many Brits resent the mass influx of non-Brit Europeans who compete for jobs and gobble up welfare benefits. Surely, this is understandable.

And it isnt racist, an epithet that arrogant, clueless leftists like Laurie Penny hurl with abandon. The immigrants in question are white. As Salam suggests, when the less-skilled immigrants at the heart of the immigration debate are Poles and Bulgarians rather than blacks and South Asians, it becomes clear that anti-immigration sentiment is driven by concerns about the fiscal and environmental impacts of immigration, not racial animus.

How do we know that immigration by Europeans is at the heart of the immigration debate raised by Brexit? Because EU membership does not preclude Britain from limiting immigration from South Asian and Caribbean nations. It does, however, preclude restricting immigration from member countries. A core principle of the EU holds that EU citizens have the right to live and work in any EU member state.

This means the only way Britain can curb European immigration is to make itself less attractive to European immigrants. But under EU rules, newcomers from EU member states are just as entitled to benefits as Brits. So the only way to make Britain less attractive to European immigrants is to impose labor market regulations and welfare reforms that would apply to everyone, including less-skilled British workers  options that are unappealing to many.

Prime Minister Cameron tried to persuade other member states to allow Britain to escape this straitjacket by changing the rules. But, says Salam, he met with implacable resistance from the leaders of newer member states in Central and Eastern Europe, who resented the suggestion that their citizens be treated any differently than Britons.

Under these circumstances, the leave sentiment is easily explained without reference to racism or lizard brains.

There is, of course, more to the Brexit than the desire to curb immigration by low-skilled Europeans. Many Brits wanted to wrest control of Britains destiny from EU bureaucrats. In other words, they wanted much more say than the EU will allow them in determining what the modern world will hold in store.

They shall have it. No wonder leftists like Penny are incensed.
Weve already had plenty of coverage here about the elite lefts unhinged whingeing about the Brexit vote, and I predict the Brexit vote will become for Europolitans what the sainted Citizens United decision is for lefties here in the U.Sa source of perpetual rage and blame for everything that bothers them about human existence in the 21st century.

I had thought that the scare campaign would succeed, and indeed between the late polls and the rally in the financial markets in the days before the vote it certainly looked that way. But then in the back of my mind I wondered if this would play out like Proposition 13 in California back in 1978. The scare campaign about how Prop. 13 would ruin California was turned up way past 11. I recall one legendary story of a local government official who said that when he told audiences that Prop. 13 would cripple local government, he saw nothing but smiles in the audience. Thats when he switched sides. And I think Ive told the story here before of asking my dad, then serving on the local school board in a district heavily dependent on residential property taxes, what he thought of Prop. 13 and how it would affect the school district. Its a meat-ax approach to the problem that will wreak havoc on our finances. I dont know how were going to manage if it passes. So, dad, are you gong to vote for it? Answer: Damn right I am.

In the case of Prop. 13, there was a multi-billion dollar state surplus (thank you, Gov. Reagan) that Gov. Methuselah, I mean, Jerry Brown, denied existed until the day after Prop. 13s landslide election, at which point he said, Ohlook: a $4.5 billion surplus! I guess well be able to survive Prop. 13 after all. There are still lefties that say Prop. 13 did ruin California, but this thesis sits uneasily with their current thesis that progressivism has saved the state and made it into a model. And despite Prop. 13, California is among the highest-taxed states in the country, revealing that what really bothers liberals is any time the people say No! to them. I recall Tom Wickers New York Times column about Prop. 13 at the time, called How To Spit in Your Own Face. (Yes, I know, anyone who drooled as much as Wicker shouldnt use that imagery, but self-awareness is something many liberals seem to lack.)

Likewise I think Britain will survive just fine or likely prosper (just as California boomed immediately after Prop. 13), and the EU might even consider laying off some of the 1,750 linguists, 600 full-time interpreters and 3,000 freelancers it uses to facilitate its meetings in Brussels and Strasbourg (because what good is a European parliament if you cant have multiple locations), or even eliminating some of the many mid-level Eurocrats who have salaries higher than Prime Minister Cameron.

The final delicious irony is the way the Europolitans are pointing to the sour market reaction in Friday as evidence that Brexit is a mistake. It recalls to mind Winston Churchills comment in 1925, shortly after be became Chancellor of the Exchequer, that I would rather see finance less proud and industry more content. That was an odd thing for a Conservative Party leader to say at the time. Interesting today that it now finds an entirely congenial home amongst conservatives. Odd, isnt it, that liberals suddenly care more about Wall Street than they do about the workers in the union halls?
As Brexit reverberates around the Western world, it is fun to observe the almost universal myopia of liberal commentators. This is from Sweden: Brexit, a sign of anti-elite revolt: analysts. So the analysts are starting to catch on. But they still have a ways to go:

It was Britains poorer and less-educated citizens  angry at not having shared in the economic benefits of a new world order  who pushed it out of the European Union, in a vote that threatens elites, analysts say.

Worldwide, liberals are convinced that conservatives are poor and uneducated. Here in the U.S., any survey will tell you that on average, Republicans are better educated and have higher incomes than Democrats, and can answer more questions about public policy issues correctly. It doesnt matter: ask a liberal, and he will tell you that conservatives are poor and uneducated.

They are those who suffered the worst hangover from the economic crisis, and whose precarious economic position makes them most fearful of rising immigration  to the benefit of far right groups in the E.U. and Donald Trump in the United States.

In Europe, anyone with reservations about mass immigration is far right. This attempt to rule debate about immigration out of bounds has been a serious mistake. Note, too, that liberals will never admit that conservatives have arguments against unrestricted mass immigration. It is always a matter of fear.

I see the same pattern everywhere I look, said William Galston, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Brookings Institution. The demographic splits within the U.K. are exactly the same category for category as the demographic splits within the American electorate in this presidential election. Rural areas with high numbers of migrant workers, former industrial hubs and poor areas around cities, those without a university education and older voters were all among the 53.4 percent who voted Brexit. Mr. Galston said this was the same demographic backing controversial Republican candidate Mr. Trump in the U.S., as well as eurosceptic and far-right parties enjoying a rise in support across Europe.

There is an obvious parallel, as we and everyone else have pointed out, between the enough-immigration movement in Europe and Trumpism in the U.S.

Mr. Galston said while he did not expect these forces to prevail in the United States as they did in the Brexit vote, they were a major warning signal to established parties throughout Europe.

It cant happen here!

Fears are high of a domino effect, with eurosceptic, leftist and far right parties from France to the Netherlands crying victory after the shock Brexit result was announced and calling for similar votes in their own countries.

Eurosceptic, leftist and far right partiesan interesting alliance, again, much like what we see in the U.S., with considerable overlap between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump supporters.

At the root of this surge in anti-establishment sentiment is a feeling of fear, loss of control, and traditions and identity lost among those who are struggling economically, analysts say.  You have a lot of people who took a big hit. These are people who feel economically vulnerable, and when you put demographic fears on top of economic vulnerability this is what you get, said Mr. Galston.  Now older, these voters reeling from austerity and a sense of growing threats at Europes borders, feel threatened and insecure.

Its all about fear, according to liberals. People who are not on board with a borderless world are threatened, insecure, fearful, uneducated, elderly and poor. What never occurs to liberal analysts is that they might be right. Until liberals start dealing with immigration issues intelligently and on the merits, they will continue to lose the argument.
In the course of campaigning in New Hampshire in January 1992 George Bush told an Exeter townhall meeting: Message: I care. We all heard about it endlessly at the time. As I recall, the media took it as an illustration of Bushs supposed cluelessness.

Jonah Goldberg classed this episode among his biggest peeves with Republicans: They read their stage directions, they explain their motives. And it drives me crazy. He declared Bush the poster boy for this malady.

In the video below we have Madam Hillary doing roughly the same thing. Responding last week to Donald Trumps comments on her faith, Clinton actually read the direction Sigh off her teleprompter from the text of her speech. Does Jonah know about this?
Ordinarily you wouldnt expect much accuracy or sense in an article about guns and gun control from the New York Review of Books, but there it is, in David Coles review of three new gun books in the current edition. In particular, this:

Congress has not passed a gun control law since it sought to ban assault weapons in 1994, and that law proved largely ineffectual. It is remarkably difficult to define an assault weapon. They are semiautomatic, which means they fire a new bullet with each trigger pull, while automatically reloading. But most guns made today are semiautomatic, so the ban on assault weapons focused on the cosmetic military appearance of certain guns, and was easily evaded by alterations in design. Moreover, while gun rights proponents are hard-pressed to offer a legitimate reason for civilians to own assault weapons, they are used in a very small proportion of gun crimes. Most crimes involve ordinary handguns. So the assault weapon ban did little if anything to advance gun safety and Congress let it lapse in 2004.

Cole is skeptical of some of the improvisations of gun grabbers, such as Firmin DeBrabanders tortured theoretical argument that gun possession is anti-democratic:

These assertions, notwithstanding the obligatory references to John Locke, Machiavelli, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault, are frankly difficult to square with political reality. The NRA may advocate for an individual right, but its influence derives precisely from collective democratic action. Far from threatening democracy, it expertly deploys the techniques of majoritarian politics. The NRA has achieved its victories not by threats of insurrection but through the classic methods of democracy: debate, dialogue, lobbying, and electioneering. Its source of strength lies not in the weapons its members own or carry, but in the votes they cast and the arguments they make.

Surely by this point NYRB readers on the Upper West Side will be getting the vapors. It gets better. Cole implicitly throws cold water on the proposal that Democrats sat in for this week of banning anyone on the terror watch list from buying a gun:

Others have proposed adding suspected terrorists to the list of those ineligible to purchase guns at licensed gun stores, a sensible suggestion so long as Congress adopts fair procedures and clear standards for so designating individuals. (At the moment, terror watchlists are notoriously overinclusive, adopted in secret, and virtually impossible to get off of, so significant reform would be necessary.)

It is precisely the reform of a prospective terror watch list gun buying ban that Republicans proposed but which Democrats opposed for purely political grandstanding reasons.
About 5,000 people were rescued from the Boko Haram by soldiers and members of the vigilante, Civilian JTF, the Nigerian Army has said.

The Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, also said a member of the Civilian JTF was killed on Saturday during the battles with the Boko Haram.

Mr. Usman, a Colonel, in his statement also said weapons, ammunition and transport equipment like motorcycles were recovered from the raided camps around Mafa, a local government headquarter about 40km from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

He said a policeman, a soldier and member of the Civilian JTF who sustained injuries during the battle have been moved to the Maiduguri hospital. The body of the dead vigilante has also been moved to the Maiduguri hospital, he said.

The Army has in the past year retaken most of the territory initially occupied by the insurgents whose activities have caused the death of over 20,000 people since 2009.

Read Mr. Usmans full statement below.

Troops of 21 Brigade and Civilian JTF today conducted a fighting patrol to Zangebe, Maiwa, Algaiti and Mainari villages in which they killed 6 Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others. The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists and recovered 5 motorcycles and similar number of bicycles.

Similarly, troops of 7 Division Garrison Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) II, in conjunction with some of elements of Mobile Police Force and Civilian JTF today also conducted Boko Haram terrorists clearance operations at Masu Yiwa, Ladin Buta, Bazaka, Kesa Gala, Tabla, Fahinde, Shirori, Gizina, Maska Aribe, Maska and Maska Lawanti villages, all in Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State.

During the clearance operations, the troops encountered Boko Haram terrorists at Maska Lawanti in which they killed 2 terrorists and recovered 2 motorcycles.

Unfortunately, we lost 1 Civilian JTF, while a soldier and 1 Mobile Policeman were wounded in action. The body of the heroic Civilian JTF and the wounded soldier and his police counterpart have since been evacuated to Maiduguri. While we commiserate with the families of the departed Civilian JTF, we wish to state that the wounded are in stable condition and responding to treatment.

In a related development, troops of 192 Battalion, 26 Task Force Brigade and some vigilantes also embarked on fighting patrol along Kusarha-Zalidava general area today. The patrol team encountered some elements of Boko Haram around Zalidava-Weige villages in which they killed 2 Boko Haram terrorists and recovered 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with registration number FN 132125, a belt of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition containing 42 rounds. Sadly, one of the vigilantes sustained an injury on his eye. However, he is getting better.
A day after they were sealed by Nigerian officials for loan default, some subsidiaries of Silverbird Group reopened for business on Friday afternoon, with apologies to their viewers, listeners and online subscribers.

The Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, on Thursday effected a court order to take possession of Silverbird Galleria Limited, Silverbird Promotions Limited, and Silverbird Showtime Limited which are part of the media group owned by businessman and politician, Ben Murray-Bruce, and his family.

The takeover was necessitated by an alleged failure of the three companies to repay about N11 billion credit they obtained from Union Bank of Nigeria.

AMCON, a federal government-backed agency established to manage delinquent loans of big firms and individuals, said it had purchased all the debts as part of a bailout deal it reached with Union Bank when it was in distress.

The three businesses, with offices in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt, were emblazoned with red caveats that informed the general public that they had been taken over by the government.

In his reaction to the takeover, Mr. Murray-Bruce said his businesses are going through tough times. He sued for calm, saying, The situation is being resolved and things will be back to normal.

That much came to pass on Friday, at least in operational context, when Silverbird Television and Rhythm FM, two of the many subsidiaries of the group, announced their return to air.

The Management of Silverbird Communications Ltd., owners of Rhythm FM and Silverbird TV sincerely apologise (sic) to its numerous viewers, listeners and online subscribers over the disruption of our operations across television, radio and online media.

This was due to a situation beyond our control. However, we are pleased to inform you that we are back on air on radio, television and on our online platform, Rhythm 93.7 FM, based in Lagos, said in a statement posted on its Facebook page Friday afternoon.

We thank you for your patience and understanding at this time.

PREMIUM TIMES also confirmed that the stations were back on air in and around Lagos on Friday evening.

But Mr. Murray-Bruce and his brothers would not be in charge of running the businesses, said Kunle Adegoke, an attorney working with Muiz Banire, the debt recovery manager overseeing the takeover.

Mr. Adegoke told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday evening that the reopening of the businesses should not come as a surprise to Nigerians. He said they were only repossessed by the authorities but not liquidated.

The lawyer said AMCON would continue to superintend the affairs of the businesses in order to make them more effective and profitable, but added that Mr. Murray-Bruce and his brothers would be carried along in the day-to-day running of the businesses.

That is true. The purpose of receivership is to ensure the businesses are run consistently and to recover the loan that is outstanding against the three companies, Mr. Adegoke said. So, it is to that effect that we directed this afternoon that they should reopen the businesses.

That the receiver has taken over the finances of the organisation together with the administrative office. The purpose being that if the essence is to recover the money that is outstanding against these companies, then also the receivables that would come from the businesses should be the fundamental target pursuant to the order of the court.

So we have directed that the television should go back on air and the radio.

The essence is not to kill the business but to make it profitable. So that is the situation right now. What we have decided as the receivers is to ensure that the existing management would have to work with us to ensure that things are perfectly run, Mr. Adegoke said.

Mr. Murray-Bruces businesses are only a few of many companies that AMCON has taken over or is in the process of taken over because they defaulted on their loan obligations.

The Bayelsa Senator, however, said he did no wrong in defaulting on his loans.

There is no shame in taking loan, he said in a Twitter session.If I didnt take loans, I wouldnt be able to employ 1000 Nigerians.
The Comptroller of Customs in Ogun, Waindu Multafu, has described details of how customs officials are attacked and in some cases killed by smugglers.

Mr. Multafu, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, said the agency makes seizures every day, from smugglers

Once in a while, if it happens that we are on the defensive, we have to use our guns, he said on Sunday.

He described the Idiroko border with Seme in Benin Republic as the most notorious of border posts in West Africa.

I cannot say how many of our officers were killed right from Seme up to Idiroko and Imeko, he said.

The lands are accessible to any would-be smuggler, The terrain is another obstacle to smooth operation because everywhere is road.

Mr. Multafu said that there was no constrain in terms of crossing the border, adding that there were three major entrances  Idiroko, Ohunbe and Imeko.

He said the commands also had out-stations like Ijoun, Ifoyintedo and Ijofin to curtail any smuggling on foot, machines or through the waterways.

According to the Comptroller, Ohunbe, Oke Odan and Ilase are some of the notorious places located along the road to Ajilete.

Mr. Multafu said that when he resumed at Ogun Command on January 2016, he called for a stakeholders meeting, thinking that both parties could not continue to be at war always.

After some days, they (smugglers) over-ran two of my officers with motorcycle; one is in a private place of healing and another in an hospital in Kano.

One time, we made seizures at Ajilete. They barricaded the road, matcheted our officers and took away two of our rifles.

I constrained my officers from not shooting.

The official also described an attack where the customs recorded some casualty.

The last time, in the process of bringing the seizures from Ajilete, the miscreants blocked the road, he said.

Our officers secured the seizures and in the process, there was a shoot-out and we recorded some casualties.

We have intercepted a lot of motorcycles being used in smuggling. They use a kind of vehicle that can carry 80 bags of rice.

As long as the service has been authorised to entrench and implant Federal Governments fiscal policy on anti-smuggling activities, we will continue to carry out our responsibility, the comptroller said.

The rice problem

Mr. Mulafu also said the Ogun Customs has seized so much smuggled rice that its warehouse is now filled to the brim.

He decried the attitude of smugglers who persisted in making rice smuggling a matter of life and death.

He said that there were so many creeks around the borders and the smugglers were using small canoes to take the rice across rivers.

Rice has become a staple food. It is the most smuggled item because of the financial benefits accruing to the smugglers.

People smuggle rice to avoid payment of Customs duty, Mr. Multafu said.

There is no place in our warehouse to put rice again. .Though, we are making efforts to dispose the ones we have in the warehouse.

The controller said the command generated over N3 billion in the first quarter of 2016. He said the amount exceeded what was collected in the corresponding period of 2015.

He noted that the command would block all revenue leakages.

Mr. Multafu, however, said that the economic meltdown had affected business activities at the border posts as it affected the seaports.

According to him, because of the current exchange rate, it is not profitable to smuggle an item like vehicle.

The controller, however, said that the smugglers still floated vehicles across rivers on wooden planks.

He warned that any attempt by smugglers to obstruct the activities of the service would be met with resistance.

He said that the service would not be deterred and would continue to make seizures.
There has been panic among Borno officials ahead of a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.

Officials of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, on Sunday boarded a flight that left Maiduguri ahead of the meeting with the president at the Aso Rock villa.

Mr. Buhari is said to be angry at reports that persons displaced by the Boko Haram, who are currently seeking refuge at government owned camps, have been dying of malnutrition. This is despite the billions of naira and materials provided by the federal government, state governments, non-governmental organisations and private individuals to assist the displaced persons.

The president is expected to seek explanations especially following the recent statement and photographs released by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) showing malnourished persons in the camps.

Last week, the MSF issued a statement saying some 24,000 IDPs are in dire health situation with at least 30 people  mostly children  dying every day.

Two weeks ago, the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, paid a visit to Bama camp upon receiving reports that hundreds of malnourished persons recently rescued from Boko Haram captivity were dying in a camp in Bama, 75km from Maiduguri, the state capital.

Governor Shettima ordered the relocation of 61 children with acute condition of malnutrition to the intensive care unit of the Umaru Shehu Ultramodern Hospital in Maiduguri where they are currently being attended to.

Another set of over 400 persons with lesser cases of malnourishment were also moved out of the camp to a special care unit for proper feeding and medication.

But before the Governors visit to Bama, dozens of the IDPs had died of hunger-induced ailments, an official said.

An official at the camp told journalists that We have been recording daily cases of mortality here in the camp since the soldiers brought in these set of IDPs who had been under the Boko Haram insurgents captivity for over two years.

A Borno official that visited the camp recently informed PREMIUM TIMES in Maiduguri that the local camp officials in Bama could not notice the case of malnutrition in the IDPs hence they continued to feed them with the normal staple foods consumed by the camp inmates.

A philanthropist, Modupe Ozoluwa, also visited the camp together with Mr. Shettima the next day. She later released some pictures showing her carrying one of the malnourished children in Bama.

The MSF officials visited the special care centre to treat the sick IDPs. They later issued a damning statement backed by disturbing images of malnutrition and deaths in the camps.

This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical, Ghada Hatim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria, said.

We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors.

Bama is largely closed off. We have been told that people including children there half starved to death. According to the accounts given to MSF by displaced people in Bama new graves are appearing on a daily basis. We were told more than 30 people are dying a day due to hunger and illness.

The MSF statement reportedly provoked the presidency who then summoned the Borno officials to Abuja.

Some agitated Borno emergency officials, unaware of the presidents plan, blamed the MSF for causing the state such embarrassment by insinuating that the Bama camp could not be accessed.

Although the state government is yet to react to the MSFs statement, an aide of Governor Shettima, who did not want to be quoted because he has not been granted leave to speak on the matter, accused the respected international organisation of insincerity.

The MSF had never visited the camps, even though other aid workers have been going to the camp frequently, he said.

It was because the Governor visited Bama and brought the sick and malnourished IDPs to Maiduguri after the soldiers of the Nigeria Army rescued them that even the MSF were able to go there to administer medication on them.

But instead of acknowledging our effort they were busy issuing statements claiming credit for what they did not do.

The official provided an unofficial version of the reason for the malnourished and dying IDPs.

The Governor had visited the camp twice and the Deputy Governor too had also visited the camp couple of times and all these while life in the camp was normal,, he said, until soldiers rescued these group of malnourished persons early this month and moved them into the Bama camp.

It was not as if the malnourishment was as a result of the situation in the camp but because of the torture and hunger the Boko Haram insurgents subjected them to over two years, the official said
A former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has said the current crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party is an indication that the party is strong.

Mr. Lamido told journalists in Bamaina village, Birninkudu Local Government Area of the state, that the party would emerge stronger and bigger.

According to him, it is normal for people to fight for what is existent, valuable, worthy and important.

PDP is a big party that has history and it is a party of conglomeration of all Nigerians across the divide, he said.

This is not our first crisis, if you go down our history from the formation of the party you will notice that this is not the first time we are having crisis.

You can remember that the late Sunday Awoniyi had battle of leadership with former Chairman Banabas Gemade.

We also had crisis during Audu Ogbehs reign.

You dont fight for what is not in existence.

PDP was in power for 16 years and the crisis and fight had always been with us.

Mr. Lamido said that both Ahmed Makarfi and Modu Sherriff are members of PDP and would remain members no matter what happened.

He said the party had the capacity to resolve its differences and gave the assurance that the discord within the party would soon be over.

The former governor stated that PDP would return to power in 2019 because it is a conglomeration of Nigerians.

(NAN)
The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Taraba State, has accused its former scribe, Tony Suleiman, of accepting money to join the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

The APC chairman, Hassan Ardo, alleged that Mr. Suleiman who decamped to the PDP last week, collected a huge amount of money as price for his defection.

We all know they decided to defect because they are money politicians and APC has no money to give, he said of Mr. Suleiman and his supporters. They were promised cash money before signed to leave our party.

He said the former scribes exit would have no bearing on the APC in Taraba.

Ask the former secretary, how many votes was he able to score in his own unit, in his own ward in Jaen, Karim Lamido Local Government? He had only one vote in that unit! one! vote!

We are not bordered about them because what we are doing in APC is not for money. We are not doing money politics. Its PDP that is using government money for its activities. So if they feel that they are not being carried along because we are not having money to share to them, they are very correct. We cannot carry them along because we dont have the money to share.

In his response, Mr. Suleiman denied receiving one single Kobo to join the PDP.

He told PREMIUM TIMES that the PDP had on two occasions offered him money which he refused.

It is a different thing this time around, PDP has not given me one single kobo, he said.

PDP gave me about N8 million during the presidential campaign, I refused to take. If Im after money I would have compromised. 

The former secretary said he dumped the APC because of its poor management

The state chairman (Mr. Ardo) is very greedy, he said. Whatever comes into the party, he always claims that the party is indebted by him; that he used his money to take care of the party, whereas it is a complete lie.
The Nigerian Army on Sunday said it killed four armed bandits in various operations in the hinterlands of Zamfara State.

The bandits were responsible for most of the recorded high profile robbery in the state, the army said in a statement by its spokesperson, Sani Usman.

Mr. Usman, a Colonel, said during the camps raid which took place in three different locations, soldiers were able to recover various types of ammunition and other communication gadgets.

Read the Armys full statement below:

Troops of 223 Battalion, 1 Brigade under the auspices of Operation SHARAN DAJI of 1 Division Nigerian Army, today carried out fighting patrol to Kabaru village forest, Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara against cattle rustlers and armed bandits. During the patrol, the troops engaged armed bandits and killed 3 of them and wounded some. The troops recovered 20 motorcycles, 4 empty cases of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition and 4 empty cases of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition. Other items recovered include 1 mobile telephone handset, some rings and a bag containing local charms.

The troops also carried out similar operation at in forests at Kusa, Bayan Dutse and Gusami general area in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of the same state. Although no armed bandit was killed, it is believed some of them have escaped with gunshot wounds. The troops however made the following recovery; 1 AK-47 rifle, 1 AK-47 rifle magazine, 13 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition, 2 motorcycles, 4 rustled cows and a machete. The troops also apprehended a suspected errand boy and informants to the armed bandits at Gusami village.

Thereafter, the patrol team proceeded to Maganawa forest where they equally engaged the armed bandits and killed one of them and recovered 1 locally made pistol, a Dane Gun and 5 rounds of ammunition before returning to base.
The Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency arrested 66 drug offenders in six months in Ondo.

The state commander of the agency, Mohammed Sokoto, disclosed this at a news conference to mark this years International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on Sunday in Akure.

The United Nations sets every June 26 to commemorate the event.

He said the agency seized 1348.62 kg of cannabis sativa and destroyed 367, 016kg (36. 7tons) of cannabis farms.

Mr. Sokoto said the agency would not relent in its effort to reduce the circulation of illicit drugs in the society.

The impact of this constant awareness programme is reduction in abuse of drug. It is not based on number of seizure, but the pattern determines the success, he said.

Mr. Sokoto also stated that 23 drug users had been counselled, while 7 clients were rehabilitated in six months.

He said Ondo State was famously known for the cultivation of cannabis, while the abuse was not prevalent in the state.

The NDLEA commander said sensitisation and enlightenment programmes were carried out in 18 primary and secondary schools with two tertiary institutions of learning.

He said the week-long event with the theme Just Listen, was to showcase the activities of the command in drug control.

In Jigawa State, the agency said it arrested 91 drug suspects between January and June 25 in the state.

The state Commandant of NDLEA, Abdullahi Abdul, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen to commemorate the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking in Dutse.

Mr. Abdul explained that within the period, a total of 1.296.078.9 tonnes of hard drugs and psychotropic substances were seized from the suspects in the state.

He said cannabis sativa also known as Indian hemp alone, measured 1.286.226.5 tonnes, while psychotropic substance which weighed 9.852.4kgs was recovered.

Mr. Abdul said that 51 of the suspects had been prosecuted in competent court of law in the state.

The commandant added that other suspects were standing trial at the Federal High Court in Dutse .

He stated that in the last six months, 62 drug addicts were counselled and rehabilitated by the command.

He said that drug abuse was a universal phenomenon which required concerted efforts, cooperation, and commitment of individuals, organisations and institutions to combat.

The menace of drug scourge is dangerous because it cuts across age, sex, and various socio-economic backgrounds, he said.

(NAN)
The Ogun State Police Command has deployed four teams of officers to communities in Ogijo area of Sagamu Local Government. The area has witnessed recent attacks by gunmen.

The gunmen, in the last two weeks, invaded some of the communities, killing and maiming residents, and later escaping through the waterways.

The attacks forced some residents of the communities to abandon their homes to seek safety in other areas.

The spokesperson of the Ogun State Police Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview on Sunday that it had deployed the Area Commander of Sagamu Area Command, Ali Janga, and more than four teams of police officers with an Armoured Personnel Carrier to secure the affected communities.

Mr. Adejobi said the police carried out the deployment after series of consultations on the necessary measures to be put in place to tackle the activities of the criminals in the affected communities.

The Area Commander, Sagamu Area Command, ACP Ali Janga, will remain in the area of operation to monitor operational and administrative engagements of the policemen deployed to the areas for the special operation in the affected communities which include Elepete, Imuti, kajola, Magbon and Ajegunle, he said.

Mr. Adejobi appealed to the fleeing residents of the areas to return to their homes.

He said the presence of the drafted officials would ensure the security of lives and property.

The Command also encourages the general public particularly, residents of the affected communities, to support the police in the fight against the deadly criminals and release useful information to the police about the plans/activities of the armed militants who have been attacking and killing innocent Nigerians in the areas, the police spokesperson said.
Ambassador of epic dimensions: Prof. Rasik Vihari Joshi

( Read 32067 Times)



26 Jun 16 Share |

Print This Page



The age of sages and Rishis is not over yet.If one looks around and tries to find out ,the rich tradition of selfless learning and scholarship continues in various forms.From President Abdul Kalam to Baba Amte and Mahashweta Devi the tradition lives in all its glory which would make every Indian proud .One such luminary in the annals of Indian literature and Indology is Prof.Rasik Vihari Joshi ,a creator of fifteen epics in Sanskrit and a scholar of ten different languages of the world including Ancient Greek, Latin , Spanish, French , English and Sanskrit .A resident of Beawer in Rajasthan,Professor Joshi is working as a professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Literature in EL Colegio de Mexico,Mexico.At the age of 83,he is the only Professor for whom the University has waived the rules of the age of superannuation.Recently,in the month of December,2010 on the occasion of the completion of 70 years of Colegio de Mexico,the President of Mexico awarded him a Gold Medal to honour him.

Dr.Rasik Vihari Joshi,the eldest son of Late Prof.Ram Pratap Shastri of Beawer was born on Sep.12,1927.He says that his father was his Guru who initiated him into scholarship and meditation.Prof.Ram Pratap Shastri was a seer whom Dr.Rasik Vihari Joshi describes as Trikaaldarshi.He was a professor of Sanskrit at Nagpur.After getting early education in Beawer ,Rasik Vihari ji went to Banaras from where he obtained the degrees of Shastri and Doctor of Philosophy in Sanskrit.He earned the Indo-French scholarship grant and went to Paris,France and obtained hid D.Litt. from Sorbonne University.In France he learnt French,Latin and Ancient Greek.He wrote his thesis for D.Litt. in French.His visit to France gave him the opportunity to come in contact with eminent scholars like Prof.Louis Renou,Prof.Lacombe and Prof. Filliozat.They wanted him to continue to serve in the University but he decided to come back to India where he was appointed directly as an Associate Professor in the department of Sanskrit in 1957.The fragrance of his scholarship and acumen to work with novel ideas spread soon.

Prof.Joshi came to Udaipur in December 2010.His sister lives in Udaipur who herself is a scholar of Sanskrit with a Ph.D. earned under the supervision of another eminent Sanskrit scholar late Pdt.Ram Chandra Dwivedi.Meeting Prof.Joshi is itself a spiritual experience which would make anyone humble in the presence of such a great scholar who is so affectionate,pious and soft hearted.A believer in the principle of Simple living and high thinking Prof.Joshi lives all alone in Mexico,cooks his own pure vegetarian food and devotes six to eight hours daily to reading and writing.He teaches Post Graduate and research students for which he has to travel for an hour in Metro and bus .He engages three hours classes twice a week and guides the students of his institution,gives seminars and goes for lectures in other universities as well.He believes that meditation helps in controlling the mind which in turn controlls the body.

His immensely striking career includes an assignment as a founder expert member for the establishment of Tirupati Sanskrit University for which he was chosen by the Ministry of Education,Government of India in 1961 for a term of five years.In 1964 he was invited by the Government of Czechoslovakia,Poland and Hungry to reorganise departments of Sanskrit in the Universities of these countries.After the death of Dr.Lasney,he went to Czechoslovakia as a visiting Professor and delivered a series of lectures in Prague,Warsaw and Budapest .There he was awarded a gold medal for his contribution to Sanskrit language and literature.

In 1965 he became Professor and Head,Department of Sanskrit ,University of Delhi.The same year he was invited to Thailand and Combodia where he delivered a series of lectures on Indian Philosophy and Metaphysics.He was invited by Ecole Francaise Extreme Orient ,Paristo organise research projects regarding Ankor Wat Temple Groups.In Combodia he was accompanied by Prof.Barot and Prof.Demain who have been recognised as great scholars of Indology of the century.

In 1968 he went to Columbia University,USA as a visiting Professor.

While in Delhi Prof.Rasik Vihari Joshi came in contact with the Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz,the then ambassador of Mexico in India.His wife was a French lady.Since Prof.Joshi had done his D.Litt. from France and wielded a good command over French ,they became friends.He was invited to Mexico in 1969 as a visiting Professor.On his return he was invited by Prof.V.V.John the then Vice Chancellor of Jodhpur University to work as the Professor and Head ,Department of Sanskrit at Jodhpur University.Prof.John had the eye for selecting eminent scholars for the university.He invited Agyeya and Dr. Namvar Singh in Hindi department as well.He accepted this offer because his mother ,who had grown very old ,stayed at Beawer.After the passing away of his mother ,he was again invited to University of Delhi where he served as Professor and Head for sixteen years.

All this while Joshiji kept his literary creativity going on which flowered into numerous works of poetry ,translation and editing of classical texts .His poetic work Karuna Kataksha Lahari won him three awards frpm Uttar Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh Sanskrit Akadamies in 1979.The same year he was invited by UNESCO as a visiting Professor of Indology for a period of four years where he prepared a long term project of one hundred volumes to translate with introduction and critical notes basic texts of Sanskrit and Pali into Spanish language.He was appointed Director General of this Project.

On completion of the term he returned to India .The Government of India offered him to be the Director of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan but he declined due to some personal reasons.The then education Minister of the Government of India insisted .Finally he accepted the offer.He was nominated as the President of the delegation to participate in the International Congress of the Orientalists at Vienna.Dr.Joshi presented his paper on The origin and Development of Swastik which was widely acclaimed.In 1981 he was awarded Uttar Pradesh Sahitya Akadami award for his epic Mohbhangam published by the University of Jodhpur.In 1984 he was again nominated as a member of the official delegation of the Government of India to attend the International Congress of the Orientalists at Philadelphia,U.S.A. In 1986 a felicitation volume was published in his honour in which authors from all over the world contributed.In 1987 he was awarded life long Certificate of honour by the President of India.In 1994 he was again invited to Mexico as a Professor of sanskrit and Philosophy where he is still working.In 1996 he was awarded Sahitya Akadami Award for his Sanskrit Kavya Radha Panchshati.The list of honours and felicitations is almost unending.In 2000 he was awarded Birla Foundation Award for best Sanskrit poetry and in2001 Dalmia Award for best Sanskrit poetry.



The special feature of the creative strength of Prof. Joshi is his ability to compose with equal ease in Hindi,Sanskrit,French,Spanish and Latin.He has published books and articles in all these languages in USA,Europe and India.He has composed fifteen epics in sanskrit and edited with translation ,introduction and critical notes scores of others.In all he has published thirty eight books and hundreds of scholarly articles world over.Some of his major works are Satyam-The Eternal Truth,Radha Panchshati,Upasana Cintamani(A book in eight volumes consisting of 400pages),Swarnamala-An Encyclopaedia in four volumes,Shivlingarahasya,BhaktiMimansa in four volumes,Shivlinga Rahasya,an epic RamPratapcaritam in twi volumes,Yogsutra Patanjali(In Spanish),Laxmi-Nrsimha-Sahsra-Nama Strutrs,Vide di un Saggio Parma,Italia etc. Prof.Joshi plans to write a treatise on Indian Philosophy running into one thousand slokas.

Devoted single-mindedly to the worship of the muse ,Prof.Joshi comes to India twice a year.He is deeply rooted in Indian culture and has contributed immensely to its propagation the world over through his scholarship best evident in his writings.













This Article/News is also avaliable in following categories : National News , Literature News

Your Comments ! Share Your Openion
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.




BRUSSELS, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Health stakeholders are being urged to 'get on the map' using an on-line collection tool which goes live today (Sunday 26 June) and is designed to capture key information from patient engagement (PE) initiatives across the globe.

Data collected through the tool will be used to produce a series of overview 'maps' of the PE landscape in the lifecycle of medicines development that will portray the global PE landscape through various perspectives to make them meaningful to diverse stakeholders. The maps will provide a searchable and dynamic 'who's who' of PE (more details and map visuals available from http://www.diaglobal.org/en/resources/publications/whitepapers/patient-focused-medicine).

The tool has been developed by Patient Focused Medicines Development (PFMD - http://www.pfmd.org) - a multinational coalition that aims to embed patients as active partners in the design and development of research and medicines. The collection and mapping initiative is being launched as health stakeholders gather at the DIA 2016 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

A unique report with visual mapping snapshots will be generated for each organisation or user that enters data. The report will show where their initiative 'fits' in the landscape according to a range of factors including focus area, therapeutic area, geographic scope, degree or spectrum of patient involvement, and level of patient expertise. A key feature of the tool is that information about each initiative will be entered by those directly involved - rather than relying on desk research alone - providing a greater opportunity to understand PE efforts, including their successes and limitations.

Much information on PE is not routinely published but instead is shared in meetings and discussions. As a result, there is a need for a pro-active collection process to gather data where there may be no documentation publicly available. "This is why the new online collection tool has been developed. It will capture quality data using pre-defined standards to allow for consistency in depiction and will also help to ensure that the information collected across various initiatives is credible, consistent, and up to date," said Nicholas Brooke, PFMD Chief Executive.

"Our end goal is to develop an efficient, measurable and reliable meta-framework for PE that involves patients as partners. But this cannot be achieved without knowing, understanding and learning from the many initiatives that already exist - this is what the mapping project has been designed to achieve. We urge everyone committed to more effective and meaningful PE to access the collection tool and enter their data to make sure their initiatives get on the map," said Brooke.

Notes for editors

The online collection tool developed by Patient Focused Medicines Development (PFMD) is now open for users and organisations to enter their data and can be accessed at: https://involvement-mapping.patientfocusedmedicine.org/register/

The collection tool and mapping initiative are described in detail in the PFMD White Paper " Collaborative Patient Engagement: Mapping the Global Landscape - A first step in co-creating an action-orientated framework for patient engagement " published on April 26, 2016 and available in the DIA White Paper Library at: http://www.diaglobal.org/en/resources/publications/whitepapers/patient-focused-medicine

" published on and available in the DIA White Paper Library at: http://www.diaglobal.org/en/resources/publications/whitepapers/patient-focused-medicine The PFMD group, established in 2015, is an open, independent multinational coalition based on expertise and commitment to develop and drive implementation of PE. It is a non-profit collaboration whose activities are funded by member organizations.

PFMD is a truly global partnership and a collaborative platform that synergizes efforts to integrate the voice of the patient across the lifecycle of medicines development. Its vision is to improve global health by co-designing the future of health care for patients with patients. PFMD aims to transform the way in which health ecosystem stakeholders understand, engage, and partner with patients globally in the design and development of research and medicines by focusing on unmet patient needs.

PFMD has developed an organic and inclusive partnership strategy that encourages evaluation and feedback, review and ongoing refinement of their work towards a meta-framework for patient engagement. Visit http://www.PFMD.org for more information about PFMD.

The DIA 2016 Annual Meeting takes place from June 26-30, 2016 in Philadelphia and is the largest global interdisciplinary gathering of life sciences professionals (http://www.diaglobal.org/flagship/dia-2016).

Contact: Nicholas Brooke, PFMD Chief Executive, nicholas.brooke@thesynergist.org, mobile +32(0)2-318-53-64 or visit http://www.PFMD.org (Interviews can also be arranged)

SOURCE PFMD
DUBAI, UAE, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

VIP recruitment firm Savoir Vivre has teamed up with the International Butler Academy to provide high-end domestic services across the UAE.



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160621/381933 )



Established just three years ago Savoir Vivre is now working with VIP households, Royal Palaces, yacht and private jet owners and key hospitality figures. The company provides a range of services and staff to cater to all aspects of household management, including au pairs, tutors, butlers, governesses, private chefs, elderly care, special care nurses, royal protocol, groom, concierge, florist, yacht and private jet personnel and other specific roles.

The deal with the Academy will give Savoir Vivre clients in the UAE exclusive access to the world's most highly trained and sought after butlers.

"The butlers we will now be able to offer to UAE clients are the most specialised when it comes to housekeeping, serving and servicing. When it comes to manners and etiquette, these staff will be able to provide the ultimate high-end service," said Katarina Janev, Communications Director of Savoir Vivre.

Service personnel show high refinement and grace, and are multilingual. They are willing to relocate, travel and cater to any special needs that a client requests. Additionally, the governesses and private tutors are trained in First Aid and CPR, and have a strong educational background in English tutoring, French and Arabic languages. Savoir Vivre also offers free in-house training, and a Mannerism and Etiquette Manual for clients, created by professional etiquette advisors. Services are handled with utmost discretion and confidentiality.

The high standards set by Savoir Vivre also extend to its rococo period domestic uniforms. The company's professional in-house designers have created the Savoir Vivre collection; a modern baroque-style, unique and culturally appropriate staff garment, catering to a wide range of personal uses and tastes.

In consideration of the preciousness of time and privacy concerns of clients, Savoir Vivre has a rigorous candidate screening system that maintains confidentiality to the highest level. Clients are given the option of meeting with the Savoir Vivre staff overseas, or locally, so they can interview and trial the prospective candidates before hiring them. Savoir Vivre also arranges visits to the houses, palaces and estates of clients by appointment.

To avail the services of Savoir Vivre you can visit its official website http://www.svnanny.ae

ABOUT SAVOIR VIVRE

Savoir Vivre is a Dubai based domestic recruitment company. It is a premium division of Kensho Recruitment Office Services providing recruitment consultancy for companies and clients. Savoir Vivre is an accredited domestic service operating as part of Kensho Group, which includes two other micro brands for hospitality and corporate industries. The service is headquartered in central Dubai at Business Bay. Savoir Vivre also has offices in South East Europe. The company offers custom made packages to meet with the most stringent household requirements. It caters to local and international clients. It has close relationship with the consular departments of many countries, ensuring streamlined services that meet with client needs appropriately.

Contact Address

Burlington Tower 22 level,

Business Bay Dubai, UAE

T: +971-4-558-59-18

F: +971-4-558-59-38

M: +971-567-444-372

W: http://www.svnanny.ae & http://www.savoirvivre.ae

E: info@svnanny.ae & svnanny.ae@gmail.com



SOURCE Savoir Vivre
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 23, 2016, a historic flood hit West Virginia, leaving 24 individuals dead, destroying homes and businesses, and devastating entire communities. Within hours of the news, multiple GoFundMe campaigns were created to support the victims and families. Over the last few days, the GoFundMe community has collectively raised over $150,000 from more than 175 campaigns to support the individuals impacted by the flood.

The GoFundMe community has a history of coming together in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Donations continue to pour in for those impacted by the fires in Canada, raising over $1 million. Over $1 million dollars was raised for the victims and their families of the earthquakes in Ecuador in April, and $7 million was raised on GoFundMe in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquakes.

To view the campaigns for those affected by the West Virginia flood, visit GoFundMe.com.

SOURCE GoFundMe

Related Links

http://www.gofundme.com


BOSTON, Mass., June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 3,300 Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) nurses, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), have reached a tentative agreement with the hospital that protects safe patient care, enhances hospital security, successfully fights off attempts to implement non-union benefits for new nurses and includes a fair wage increase.

"This is a huge victory for Brigham patients and the practice of nursing. The ultimate credit for this settlement goes to the 3,300 MNA nurses of Brigham & Women's Hospital," said Trish Powers, RN OR staff nurse and chair of the MNA BWH bargaining unit. "Brigham nurses stood together and were ready to hold an historic one-day strike for their patients, for our community and for the Brigham Way of excellent and safe patient care."

"We are especially proud to have significantly improved security at the hospital for everyone," Powers said. "Security was our top priority entering negotiations and we prevailed through hard-work, determination and the unity of 3,300 nurses."

The tentative agreement, which still needs to be ratified by the full Brigham nurse membership, averts a one-day strike scheduled for June 27 that would have been the largest in Massachusetts history and the first in Boston in 30 years. Brigham nurses had planned to strike for 24 hours to ensure that safe patient care and Brigham nurses are valued more than the profits of BWH/Partners HealthCare.

MNA/Brigham nurses achieved major safe patient care victories through a months-long, concerted effort by well-organized staff nurses. Brigham nurses built up intense pressure on BWH/Partners to value patients over profits, starting publicly in May with a picket of more than 1,000 nurses and supporters.

While continuing to negotiate a new contract with the hospital, the 17-member elected nurse bargaining committee walked the halls of the hospital, talking to nearly all of the 3,300 Brigham nurses about their concerns and their willingness to stand up for their patients and profession by voting for a one-day strike. The resulting vote, on June 13, was the largest and most successful nurse strike vote in Massachusetts history.

"We are by far most proud of our success in standing up for our patients," said Kelly Morgan, RN labor and delivery and vice chair of the MNA BWH bargaining unit. "Of course, the ultimate way to ensure excellent and safe patient care is maintaining quality core nurse staffing throughout the hospital, but this agreement is a positive step. The research on nurse staffing is irrefutable. When nurses spend more time with their patients, providing specialized care and education, those patients do better and are less likely to require re-admission to the hospital."

See some of the major nurse contract accomplishments:

Safe Staffing/NICU Alarms

The hospital agreed to restore core nurse staffing levels to December 2015 levels, with flexibility depending on patient volume, acuity and other factors. A reduction in nurse staffing earlier this year jeopardized the safe care of some of the hospital's sickest patients. Patients in the thoracic step-down unit on the 11th floor of the hospital have undergone lung transplant, heated chemotherapy and other serious procedures. They require constant, vigilant nursing care.

The hospital also agreed that mobile alarm devices planned for the NICU and devices with similar capabilities in other units would only be implemented after negotiations with and agreement of MNA/Brigham nurses. Nurses have significant concerns about these devices, including potentially dangerous delays in patient care due to alarms bouncing between nurses.

Security

Brigham nurses were forced to bring improved security to the bargaining table last fall following the tragic shooting death of a Brigham doctor. Nurses were also being assaulted at high rates throughout the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital was not working with the nurses to consider and implement their security proposals, so they turned to contract negotiations and received assistance from the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).

OSHA sent two hazard letters to the hospital about security concerns and nurses delivered their message about hospital safety to the press and to lawmakers on Beacon Hill. The hospital ultimately agreed to a lengthy list of security improvements proposed by Brigham nurses, and has said it spent more than $2 million making the hospital more secure.

Significant security items included in the tentative agreement and/or improvements already made or pledged by the hospital:

Improved access control at the BWH main campus and the Shapiro building

Signs at all hospital entrances notify entrants that weapons are prohibited and video surveillance is in effect

New weapons and ankle bracelet policies

Additional panic alarms installed, with training for staff and regular testing

Staff training to include online, live discussion and/or mock drills in areas such as personal safety, self-defense, security awareness, active shooter, threat assessment, de-escalation, SAFE response, Code Gray and/or crisis protocols

Nurses affected by workplace violence will be contacted by supervisors as soon as reasonably possible and the hospital will assist nurses who have experienced a security incident in receiving reasonable medical attention and/or psychological care

On request, the hospital will be available to meet with MNA representatives to discuss safety and security concerns, subject to patient privacy requirements

Equal Benefits

The hospital agreed to withdraw two proposals that nurses believe would have fostered a two-tiered, union-busting benefit system:

Flex insurance is a hospital-controlled health insurance program not subject to collective bargaining. Six years ago, the hospital lured nurses in with low rates and then part-time nurses saw their premiums double to quadruple in just one year.

Benefit time provides eight fewer days off per year than the traditional time-off system. It also takes away nurses' choice on when and how to use different types of time off and forces them to use days they may not have otherwise used when taking time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Wages

2% across-the-board for every MNA/Brigham nurse and 2.5% to a new top step for nurses currently at the top of the salary scale; all over three years

The three-year contract, if ratified by the full MNA/Brigham nurse membership, will have a start date of Oct. 1, 2015. The contract will expire Sept. 30, 2018. The deal was reached late Saturday, June 25 after 10 months and 23 negotiating sessions. Bargaining included the participation of a federal mediator. A vote of the full membership has yet to be scheduled.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest professional health care organization and the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 23,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public. The MNA is a founding member of National Nurses United, the largest national nurses' union in the United States with more than 170,000 members from coast to coast.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20060525/NETH016LOGO

SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United

Related Links

http://MassNurses.org


NEW YORK, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Espresso has always been identified as one of the symbols of the Italian tradition. Usually, it is attributed to Italy in a generic manner, but as the company's motto affirms "it's not just from Italy, it's from Naples where espresso is a passion". It is right in Naples where Kimbo has been producing its coffee since 1963, faithful to the Neapolitan tradition.

Kimbo's participation to the Summer Fancy Food will be a strategic opportunity for the company, which intends to transmit the background and the values that are hidden in a cup of espresso to the American market. For Kimbo, drinking a cup of coffee becomes an engaging sensory experience.

"Our mission is to share the experience of Italian coffee around the world, offering quality product the Made in Italy created with the most advanced technologies," says Fabrizio Nucifora, Marketing Director of Caffe Kimbo. "Attending the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York will enable us to bring the US consumer close to the real tradition of blending and roasting, which is what has always distinguished us from all the other Italian brands," concludes Mr. Nucifora.

Still a family company, owned by the third generation of the Rubino family, Kimbo has yearly revenue of around USD 200m and technologically advanced facilities, exporting its high-quality products in over 70 countries.

The respect for tradition is important for Kimbo just as much as its commitment to constant innovation and sustainability.

The participation to this year's Summer Fancy Food confirms Kimbo's commitment to a growing presence on the US market and a strong intent to present itself as key partner for the leading players in the food service and retail industries.

SOURCE Kimbo
NEW YORK, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomi, the premium Italian tomato brand owned by the Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro well known for being a leader in sustainability and transparency, presents its new organic product line to the American market in occasion of this Summer's Fancy Food Show, June 26 to June 28. Pomi Organic will be on the shelves starting September.

In recent years, Pomi has been expanding its presence in the United States and has been thinking of ways to cater to all the different sections of the US consumer market. During the Summer Fancy Food 2016, Pomi is presenting its organic line to the American consumer; Pomi Organic Chopped Tomatoes and Pomi Organic Strained Tomatoes are designed to appeal to customers who value quality and the very highest standards of production.

"Our new organic line is the natural evolution of a brand such as Pomi'. Tradition, innovation, and constant attention to detail are inherently part of our philosophy" comments Mr. Costantino Vaia, President of Pomi USA and Managing Director of the Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro. "Pomi' organic was something really hoped for by the market and our consumers, who believe in the superior quality and origin of our products" concludes Mr. Vaia.

In its effort to expand its presence across the United States, Pomi also recently launched its App for Apple and Android. The free app, downloadable on the App Store and Google Play, offers four sections (in both English and in Italian): Recipes, Products, Traceability, Shopping List. Each section engages the user into learning new ways to use Pomi' products while stressing concepts such as sustainability and best agricultural practices.

In fact, all Pomi products are 100% Italian, BPA-free, kosher, non-GMO, no preservatives, no artificial flavors, no citric acid, no water added.

As evidence of Pomi's commitment to these principles of sustainability, the company was bestowed with the Social Footprint  Product Social Identity (SFP). Pomi is the first in the Italian food sector to obtain the certification.

For more information, visit Pomi USA at the Italian Pavilion at the Summer Fancy Food Show. You can find the company at booths #3033-3035.

For further info, visit the official website at www.Pomi.us.com

SOURCE Pomi USA

Related Links

http://www.pomi.us.com


DUBAI, UAE, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

VIP recruitment firm Savoir Vivre has teamed up with the International Butler Academy to provide high-end domestic services across the UAE.

Savoir Vivre Teams up With International Butler Academy to Bring World's Best Butlers to the UAE (PRNewsFoto/Savoir Vivre)



(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160621/381933 )



Established just three years ago Savoir Vivre is now working with VIP households, Royal Palaces, yacht and private jet owners and key hospitality figures. The company provides a range of services and staff to cater to all aspects of household management, including au pairs, tutors, butlers, governesses, private chefs, elderly care, special care nurses, royal protocol, groom, concierge, florist, yacht and private jet personnel and other specific roles.

The deal with the Academy will give Savoir Vivre clients in the UAE exclusive access to the world's most highly trained and sought after butlers.

"The butlers we will now be able to offer to UAE clients are the most specialised when it comes to housekeeping, serving and servicing. When it comes to manners and etiquette, these staff will be able to provide the ultimate high-end service," said Katarina Janev, Communications Director of Savoir Vivre.

Service personnel show high refinement and grace, and are multilingual. They are willing to relocate, travel and cater to any special needs that a client requests. Additionally, the governesses and private tutors are trained in First Aid and CPR, and have a strong educational background in English tutoring, French and Arabic languages. Savoir Vivre also offers free in-house training, and a Mannerism and Etiquette Manual for clients, created by professional etiquette advisors. Services are handled with utmost discretion and confidentiality.

The high standards set by Savoir Vivre also extend to its rococo period domestic uniforms. The company's professional in-house designers have created the Savoir Vivre collection; a modern baroque-style, unique and culturally appropriate staff garment, catering to a wide range of personal uses and tastes.

In consideration of the preciousness of time and privacy concerns of clients, Savoir Vivre has a rigorous candidate screening system that maintains confidentiality to the highest level. Clients are given the option of meeting with the Savoir Vivre staff overseas, or locally, so they can interview and trial the prospective candidates before hiring them. Savoir Vivre also arranges visits to the houses, palaces and estates of clients by appointment.

To avail the services of Savoir Vivre you can visit its official website http://www.svnanny.ae

ABOUT SAVOIR VIVRE

Savoir Vivre is a Dubai based domestic recruitment company. It is a premium division of Kensho Recruitment Office Services providing recruitment consultancy for companies and clients. Savoir Vivre is an accredited domestic service operating as part of Kensho Group, which includes two other micro brands for hospitality and corporate industries. The service is headquartered in central Dubai at Business Bay. Savoir Vivre also has offices in South East Europe. The company offers custom made packages to meet with the most stringent household requirements. It caters to local and international clients. It has close relationship with the consular departments of many countries, ensuring streamlined services that meet with client needs appropriately.

Contact Address

Burlington Tower 22 level,

Business Bay Dubai, UAE

T: +971-4-558-59-18

F: +971-4-558-59-38

M: +971-567-444-372

W: http://www.svnanny.ae & http://www.savoirvivre.ae

E: [email protected] & [email protected]



SOURCE Savoir Vivre
New Delhi : Two days hence but in 1914 came possibly the most inept assassination in modern history, which may well have remained a farcical incident but for its consequences -- not only a long and ruinous war that engulfed and changed the world, but a further century of violence. Given what is at stake, it is not surprising that there have been many attempts -- in fiction -- to save Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his consort that fateful summer day in Sarajevo.

Britain may well have now signalled its intention to turn its back on Europe after centuries of involvement, but its engagement in the continent's affairs cannot be so easily forgotten. In half-a-dozen odd prominent stories of attempts to save the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, almost all involve British protagonists.

Only in one case, it is a trio of rebel Russian intelligence agents that tries to stop the assassins, while in one, a set of amateur British agents sent across Europe in a desperate bid to unearth and neutralise an effective opponent may have ended up helping to cause the assassination (Robert Wilton's "The Spider of Sarajevo", 2014).

And though the Master Detective - Sherlock Holmes himself - has so far not been involved in this case (in print at least though some related characters appear in a movie), he, decades back, foiled a similar plot (in Nicholas Meyer's "The Seven Per Cent Solution", 1974) and warned of such an incident in the future.

But before taking up these tales, it is necessary to note the view that the Archduke's assassination only served a pretext for World War I. With growing competition among leading powers, and the continent already divided into sets of opposing alliances, and secret treaties of what each country would do for its allies, war was already inevitable, and if not the Archduke's case, some other such event could have triggered it.

But, on the other hand, it might be possible that had it involved countries other than increasingly moribund Austria-Hungary, with its belligerent generals like Franz Conrad von Hotzendorff, and cocky, fanatically irredentist Serbia, with its military intelligence chief, Col. Dragutin Dimitrijevic, who was a law unto himself, wiser counsels may have prevailed and a wider conflict prevented. But then counter-factual history is a tricky subject, so let us remain with the present issue.

The earliest dealing with the episode was Dennis Wheatley's "The Second Seal" (1950; chronologically third of his Duke de Richleau series but seventh in order of writing).

A nostalgic depiction of ante-bellum Europe, it sees de Richleau, an exiled Frenchman and now a naturalised British citizen, undertake a perilous mission in Vienna and Belgrade for British intelligence. Having a link with Dimitrijevic, he soon learns about the plot, and killing the Serbian spy chief and two of his aides, rushes to Sarajevo to foil it. He arrives on the day itself, but though managing to stop one assassin, cannot prevent the other. (The real Apis and his aides were executed by the Serbian government three years later)

The same plot, though with a protagonist much lower in the social pecking order, is in Alan Bardos' "The Assassins" (2016) but this I am yet to finish. One highlight however is a cameo by Leon Trotsky, whom the protagonist Johhny Swift meets in Vienna.

Subtly different is Ben Elton's "Time and Time Again" (2015) where an ex-army officer, Hugh Staunton, in a vaguely dystopian Britain of 2025, is sent back in time by a group of Cambridge dons (acting on posthumous instructions from Sir Issac Newton) to avert the ruinous World War I by saving the Archduke. But he also must instead eliminate the 'militaristic' German Kaiser, Wilhelm I. He achieves both aims but what this leads to must be read in its chilling entirety. There are twists galore but the message is clear - changing history may not always be a wise step.

A non-British perspective is provided in Stephen Miller's "A Game of Soldiers" (2006). (Tsarist spy agency) Okhrana investigator, Inspector Pyotr Ryzhkov, tasked with protecting holy man Rasputin, in St Petersburg, probes the murder of a girl prostitute, despite his superiors' disapproval. But the trail leads to a Russian oligarch funding the Serbian government, and our Dmitrijevic, and others, trying to drag in Russia for their own machinations.

When two junior ministers who back Ryzhkov are killed in a blast, attributed to terrorists but arranged by the conspirators, Ryzhkov and his associates, Konstantin Hokhodiev and Dima Dudenko, proceed on their own to Sarajevo in the last week of June 1914 to prevent the assassination.

There could be more but the assassination itself was chancy - out of the six assassins armed with guns and bombs, only one could react as the Archduke's car passed but failed, and had it not been for the vehicle later taking a wrong turn and then stalling, the royal couple would still be alive. This how history works.

(Vikas Datta is an Associate Editor at IANS. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
Mumbai, June 26 : At a time when the demand for bilingual and dubbed versions of films is at an all-time high in Indian cinema, ace filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli of "Baahubali: The Beginning" fame, says it's only feasible to release those films in multiple languages which have a universal human connect.

Rajamouli's southern magnum opus "Baahubali: The Beginning", which was made on a whopping Rs 100 crore-plus budget, released across the world in different languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and minted over Rs 600 crore worldwide.

Rajamouli says whether a film should be released as a bilingual project or not depends on the subject of a project.

"Each and every film cannot be released in all the languages. If you get a subject which is predominantly based on human emotions, which are general to everyone irrespective of caste, creed, region, language or culture specific - if you know that your story is based on those human emotions and it connects to everyone - then it is eligible to release in all the languages," Rajamouli told IANS here.

"In the case of 'Baahubali: The Beginning' we believed it needs to be showcased to a wider audience," he added.

The National Award winner and Padma Shri awardee says mediocre subjects cannot register huge footfalls at theatres.

"Art is a very difficult business, and cinema is both art and business.

"You just cannot say that it is all art, and vice-versa. So that way, one has to give space for another and you should be sensible enough to think of both angles," said Rajamouli, credited with films like "Eega", "Magadheera" and "Vikramarkudu".

"If you are putting money in a film, there should be some avenue from where you can get the money back. No one wants to make films to be bankrupt. When you start believing in a mediocre subject thinking that it is going to fetch more in various markets just by pumping in more money to it, then that's where the problem starts," he added.

Now "Baahubali: The Beginning", starring Prabhas and Rana Daggubati in the lead, is set to release next month in 6,500 screens across China -- which is increasingly becoming an important market for Indian movies.

"There has been a lot of effort from the producer's side to release it as a mainstream film there (in China). This is not the first time, as a lot of (Indian) films have released there before. But all of them have received a very small number of screens," Rajamouli said.

" 'PK' broke that (image) as it got a wide release there. 'Baahubali: The Beginning' is going to release in 6,500 screens. Our film is going to release all over China. It's bigger than its India release," Rajamouli said.

He also appreciated how since the "Chinese are very aggressive in their marketing, they have grown exponentially (in terms of filmmaking) when they decided to put their eye on cinema 10 to 15 years ago".

"I hope our film does well, not just for us, but for the string of Indian films to follow," he added.

Asked why he never thought of making "Baahubali: The Beginning" in Hindi and release it as a commercial Bollywood film, Rajamouli said: "When I started 'Baahubali: The Beginning' and had the script and the schedule ready, we knew that I need my stars to give me their dates for two years.

"Can you think of any of the Bollywood stars who can give their dates for two years without committing to any other movies? It wouldn't have happened."

The sequel of "Baahubali: The Beginning", titled "Baahubali: The Conclusion", is slated to release in 2017.

(Sandeep Sharma can be contacted at sandeep.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 26 : India will soon launch a Rs 1,800 crore ($265 million) Digital Literacy Mission for 60 million people in rural areas as another initiative to bridge the gulf between those who have access to and can use computers and the Internet and those who don't, a top official has said.

"The government will spend Rs 300 each on training 60 million people, which would total around Rs 1,800 crore," said Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, chief executive officer, of CSC e-Governance Service India, a holding company to fund and monitor India's common services centres scheme.

"These 60 million people form almost 40 per cent of our rural population. The government target is to make each of these 60 million rural people digitally literate in three years. An approval from the cabinet is expected by end-July," Tyagi told IANS in an interview.

CSC e-Governance Service India has been promoted by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology to also implement the National Digital Literacy Mission that is tasked with IT training for 52.5 million people -- or one person in every family.

The National Sample Survey Organisation found in 2014 that 94 per cent people in rural India do not own a computer. Accordingly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed steps to address the issue once again during his budget speech in February.

"We need to derive greater benefit from our demographic advantage. We need to spread digital literacy in rural India. Out of 168 million rural households, as many as 120 million households do not have computers and are unlikely to have digitally literate persons," Jaitley had said.

"We now plan to launch a new Digital Literacy Mission Scheme for rural India to cover around 60 million additional households within the next three years," the finance minister had said.

Tyagi said that the new scheme will be separate from the National Digital Literacy Mission towards which the CSC e-Governance Service India has already trained three million people across the country till date.

"This year, with the help of village level entrepreneurs, another 2.25 million people will get training. These common services centres are delivering government-to-citizen and business-to-citizen services to the semi-urban and rural people," he said.

A key component of the Digital India initiative, common services centres are access points for the delivery of various electronic services to villages, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.

"The objective of these centres is to provide non-discriminatory access to e-services for rural citizens, utilising the backend infrastructure already created in terms of other mission mode projects," Tyagi said.

"Till June, we have already set up 170,000 centres across the country. The target is to reach out to 250,000 gram panchayats by the end of this year," Tyagi said. "Every gram panchayat gets one centre."

He said the reach of the Digital India mission has seen 30,000 banking correspondents working under the business-to-citizens initiative, going a long way in facilitating financial inclusion. "In fact they have also collected Rs 200 crore worth of insurance premia so far."

This apart, these centres generated over a tenth of the one billion Aadhar enrollments.

Explaining some other projects, Tyagi said some centres are already providing tele-medicines. "In about a month's time we are thinking of digital ayurvedic and homeopathic treatments wherever there is demand. It is better than going to quacks."

(Aparajita Gupta can be reached at aparajita.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 26 : Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 51 other AAP MLAs were detained on Sunday while marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence and freed after some four hours, police said.

All the legislators were taken to the Parliament Street police station in the heart of Delhi after being stopped just over one kilometre from Modi's residence.

Accusing Delhi Police of arresting Aam Aadmi Party MLAs on fake charges, Sisodia said they wanted to go to Modi's residence to offer themselves for en masse arrest.

"We will all go and surrender ourselves to Narendra Modi. There is an attempt by the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) to prevent the AAP government from working," he said. "Every day they are arresting our MLAs."

"Since they are doing the politics of arresting and harassing us one by one, why not arrest all of us at one go?" he told reporters before setting out to the prime minister's residence.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and some other AAP MLAs were not part of the group led by Sisodia. The AAP has 67 members in the 70-seat Delhi assembly.

The AAP decision came a day after one of its legislators, Dinesh Mohaniya, was arrested from a press conference on charges of "sexual harassment" - a charge he has denied.

At the Parliament Street police station, the AAP MLAs dramtically began cleaning the complex, one of the MLAs said.

Eventually, just before 3 p.m., police released all of them.

"All the MLAs including Sisodia have been released," Deputy Commissioner of Police Jatin Narwal told IANS.

Sisodia later accused Modi of sabotaging the Delhi government's bills including on regulating fees in private schools, increasing the wages of labourers and ending the no detention policy in schools.

On Saturday, the president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association here submitted a complaint against Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating traders during his official visit.

Delhi's Rural Development Minister Gopal Rai said: "Why no action is taken against BJP leaders despite allegations? Why are only AAP legislators targeted?"

AAP's Mohaniya was on Saturday sent to judicial custody.

The complaint was filed by a woman who visited his office-cum residence in Sangam Vihar in south Delhi over water related problems.
Dhaka, June 26 : The World Bank has approved $150 million in additional financing to help strengthen Bangladesh's health systems and improve its services.

The financing will support implementation of the government's health sector-wide programme, Xinhua news agency cited the World Bank as saying in a statement on Sunday.

The support will help the government address health sector challenges, including sustaining and improving immunisation coverage, further improving deliveries for pregnant women at public health facilities and tackling multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

It will also help Bangladesh improve public financial management to get more value from its public spending on health.

The programme and its predecessors have contributed to a 40 per cent reduction in maternal mortality since 2010, the World Bank said.

Bangladesh has reduced under-five child mortality by 29 per cent between 2007 and 2014, and during the same period, births attended by medically trained professionals increased from 21 per cent to 42 per cent, it said.

With this financing, the World Bank's support to the project now stands at $508.9 million.
New Delhi, June 26 : Haryana Police have arrested a man after a doctor complained that he approached him with his pregnant wife and sought to determine the sex of the foetus and other manipulation to ensure a male child.

The accused who gave his name as Aryan, a resident of Delhi, has been booked under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, complainant Anurag Bishnoi of National Fertility Centre in Hisar told IANS.

Aryan sought Bishnoi's services after learning about pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a medical procedure meant for screening genetic diseases through which sex selection also has reportedly been attempted, Bishnoi said in his complaint.

"Many people demand the same verbally and we never had any proof. This man had all his research done and written on a paper. So we had proof this time. I asked him to wait and informed the police," Bishnoi said.

While his clinic is not authorised to conduct PGD, Aryan's intentions were clear and illegal, he said.

"The man did not have any reference of a doctor and he wanted PGD for (ensuring) a male child and not for getting a disease diagnosed," he said.

"He also mentioned about Thailand where PGD is available," Bishnoi said.
New Delhi, June 26 : With nearly a month left for the start of the monsoon session of Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday accused the Congress of delaying the much-awaited economic reforms in the country.

"If one looks back at the Congress history after Independence, the blots on it are delay in economic reforms by over two decades, transformation of India into a dynastic democracy, the imposition of Emergency in 1975, Operation Blue Star and corruption," Jaitley said in a blog written on the 41st anniversary of the imposition of Emergency by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Jaitley questioned various decisions taken by the Congress, especially by Indira Gandhi which, according to him, proved to be politically counter-productive for the party.

"I wonder whether the current Congress leadership has a view on this subject. Will the Congress have an internal debate on these issues," the minister said.

Jaitley's assault is seen as another attempt to marginalise the opposition Congress who which has been blocking the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill in Parliament for a year.

While the central government is trying to garner support for the early passage of the constitutional amendment bill, the Congress wants the government to accept its proposed changes to the bill in lieu of its support.

The monsoon session of Parliament is expected to start in the third week of July.

In his blog, the minister accused the Congress of turning the country into a totalitarian state during the Emergency.

"The impact of the Emergency was to inflict a dictatorship on the country. All political opponents were detained. The authority of the courts to hear a challenge against the detentions was suspended. The Supreme Court caved in before the dictator. The Press was subjected to pre-censorship. The Press became a spokesperson of the dictator," Jaitley said.

The minister said that the collapse of the media and the Supreme Court before the dictatorship was the most significant phenomenon of that time.
A RISING STAR OF SCI-FI/ FANTASY:

With the forthcoming release of Nine of Stars, critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle is first author to transition from Harper Voyagers digital-original line to traditional print!

New York, NY, June 2016  Today, Harper Voyager, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, is proud to announce a major milestone for its Harper Voyager Impulse e-book original line: on December 27, 2016, critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle will be the first author to transition from Harper Voyagers digital-original line to the traditional print publishing Harper Voyager program. Her Harper Voyager print debut, Nine of Stars (mass market paperback, 12/27/2016, ISBN: 9780062437662; $7.99), will be the start of Wildlands, a Weird West-tinged Contemporary Fantasy series revolving around the adventures of geologist Petra Dee.

As the SFF industry begins to celebrate outstanding works of speculative fiction at the upcoming Locus and Hugo Awards, among others, Harper Voyager feels that Bickles books are equally outstanding and worthy of celebration! Says Harper Voyager Executive Editor, David Pomerico: The critical attention of Lauras work is what drew us to the books in the first place, and we feel Nine of Stars is a novel that showcases her talent at the highest level. Whether on the print or eBook list, Voyager is committed to publishing the very best speculative fiction, and with Lauras writing, we felt we had a truly unique project we couldnt wait to help find an even wider audience.

Harper Voyager is incredibly proud and excited to be publishing Laura Bickles novels; her original contributions to the Harper Voyager Impulse line, Dark Alchemy and Mercury Retrograde, both received multiple starred and top-tiered reviews. Nine of Stars will revolve around many of the same characters that populated these prequel novels, although it will effectively function as the starting point for a great new series.

MORE ABOUT LAURA BICKLE:

Laura Bickle is an award-winning author of multiple works of YA fiction. She grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology - Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs. Her work has been included in the ALAs Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohios Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016. More information about Lauras work can be found at http://www.laurabickle.com.

MORE ABOUT NINE OF STARS:

Winter has always been a deadly season in Temperance, but this time, there's more to fear than just the cold

From critically acclaimed author Laura Bickle comes the first novel in the Wildlands series

As the daughter of an alchemist, Petra Dee has faced all manner of occult horrors - especially since her arrival in the small town of Temperance, Wyoming. But she can't explain the creature now stalking the backcountry of Yellowstone, butchering wolves and leaving only their skins behind in the snow. Rumors surface of the return of Skinflint Jack, a nineteenth-century wraith that kills in fulfillment of an ancient bargain.

The new sheriff in town, Owen Rutherford, isn't helping matters. He's a dangerously haunted man on the trail of both an unsolved case and a fresh kill - a bizarre murder leading him right to Petra's partner Gabriel. And while Gabe once had little to fear from the mortal world, he's all too human now. This time, when violence hits close to home, there are no magical solutions.

It's up to Petra and her coyote sidekick Sig to get ahead of both Owen and the unnatural being hunting them all - before the trail turns deathly cold.

ABOUT HARPER VOYAGER:

Harper Voyager is a thriving global imprint dedicated to science fiction and fantasy. The imprint was originally founded as Eos Books in 1999 and relaunched in 2011 as a global brand, in conjunction with HarperCollins Australia and HarperCollins UK. Harper Voyager publishes some of the most notable names in science fiction, epic fantasy, and urban fantasy, including worldwide bestselling authors Raymond E. Feist, Kim Harrison, Robin Hobb, and Sheri S. Tepper. Harper Voyager is home to some of the SFF fields fastest-growing talent, including Richard Kadrey, Ian Douglas, and Brom.

Publicity Contacts:

Caroline Perny

caroline(dot)perny(at)harpercollins(dot)com | 212-207-7531

Pam Jaffee

pam(dot)jaffee(at)harpercollins(dot)com | 212-207-7495
This year, the Healthcare Informatics 100 includes product segment breakouts, revenue charts, and video interviews of the companys top executives. To further acknowledge those companies leading the industry, Healthcare Informatics is now releasing the top vendors in each of the seven (7) highly critical product segments, including: Financial Information Systems; Clinical Information Systems; Data Analytics; Data Management; Data Security; Data Exchange; and Consulting Services.

Over the next several days, Healthcare Informatics will be revealing its top 5 companiesbased on percentage of total health IT revenuewithin the aforementioned categories. This data, along with the content that accompanies it, gives readers a greater sense of the latest market trends within each of these respective product categories.

We are delighted to be able to provide an additional layer of nuance to the data and information that we had already been offering to our readers with the Healthcare Informatics 100, says Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Informatics. The editors of Healthcare Informatics are committed to helping our readers optimally understand the healthcare IT vendor market and its complexity.

Rich Tomko, Vice President and Managing Director for Healthcare Informatics, states, By gaining deeper insight into the revenue numbers submitted, we are better able to identify which companies and leaders are driving technological innovation, at scale, in each of the product segments developing in the U.S. healthcare industry. Further, as the year advances, we are excited to continually highlight the thought leaders at these companies in order to help our readers understand how these companies see the industry and specifically their product segments evolving.

About Healthcare Informatics 100:

For more than 20 years, Healthcare Informatics has compiled The Healthcare Informatics 100, a complete look at the top 100 revenue-earning companies in the industry, eligible to any company that can identify HIT-based revenues. To formulate the list, the Healthcare Informatics editorial staff works closely with outside industry consultants. Sales figures are submitted, compiled, and reviewed so as to ensure that the deserving companies are included in the list. Each year, companies submit over a three-month span that involves significant research and data management.

With its finger on the pulse of the most significant trends currently impacting the health IT landscape, Healthcare Informatics is committed to recognizing the expert thought leaders who are propelling their companies to the top of the market. Many of The Healthcare Informatics 100 company listings feature videos of vendor executives answering questions about todays most significant developments. These videos were showcased at the Healthcare Informatics booth at the HIMSS16 conference earlier this year in Las Vegas.

About Healthcare Informatics:

Healthcare Informatics serves a professional community dedicated to the planning, development, and implementation of important technological trends that will define tomorrows healthcare. These dedicated professionals exchange a wide range of pioneering concepts as they tackle important strategic and information technology issues facing organizations such as hospitals, medical groups, and integrated health systems. Members of the Healthcare Informatics community share a focus on healthcare IT leadership, vision, and strategydriving change forward by shaping innovations that point the way to the future of healthcare. For more information, visit: http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/
Allied now has close to 60 projects in the country, totaling more than 400,000 square feet, and recently opened an office there. With increased commerce, Panama will continue to grow a highly skilled workforce, which will act as a catalyst for continued upward social mobility for the Panamanian people. Past News Releases RSS

Today the international trade community is celebrating the long awaited inauguration of the expansion of the Panama Canal. Allied Steel Buildings, a leading global builder in the steel construction industry, views the canal expansion as a game changer that will usher in the next big wave of commercial development and economic prosperity for the country.

In the mid 2000s, Allied saw an opportunity on the horizon in Panama, which offered low barriers to entry and a welcoming business community. Allied delivered their first project in 2008, as part of the ground-breaking Panama Pacifico development, which built a new city from a wasteland of bunkers and barracks (formerly the Howard Air Force Base). Allied now has close to 60 projects in the country, totaling more than 400,000 square feet, and recently opened an office there.

Projects have included developments with various end users; from multinationals, to local enterprises, and government agencies. Allied has provided steel structures for PriceSmart, Mercado de Mariscos, the Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP)s Powerhouse at Miraflores, 3M Panama, Puente Atlantico, Nestle Parque Sur Panama and Centro Comercial Arraijan Sur to name a few.

The globalization of Panama has created a great deal of opportunity for multinational companies, since the expansion of the Canal in 2007, explains Lassner. In less than a decade, weve witnessed - and thanks to our partners, taken part in - the impactful development of this country. Lands once barren, have given rise to expansive facilities owned by some of the largest corporations in the world.

According to The World Bank, Panama has been one of the fastest growing economies worldwide in the past decade. The Panamanian economy grew by an average of 6% in the last two years and forecasted growth remains at a steady 5.9% for the remainder of 2016.

Opportunities will continue to grow as revenue from the Panama Canal Expansion makes an even larger economic impact, says Lassner. We will see more airports, schools, retail, and small to medium businesses develop. With increased commerce, Panama will continue to grow a highly skilled workforce, which will act as a catalyst for continued upward social mobility for the Panamanian people.

About Allied Steel Buildings, Inc.

Allied Steel Buildings, is a recognized leading supplier of high-quality engineered building systems. With more than thirteen years of experience, the company has developed over 4,000 projects in 64 countries, delivering building solutions for numerous industries; from aviation and commercial, to equestrian and industrial. One customer and one building at a time.

To learn more, visit http://www.alliedbuildings.com

Allied Steel Buildings, Inc.

Media Contact:

pFunk Media, LLC

Pabla Ayala

pabla(at)pfunkmedia(dot)com

Cell: +1- 954-554-4011
While its an honor to be invited to this event in the company of truly world-class physicians, Im sure my colleagues would agree that our biggest rewards come from caring for our patients.

Mark Deutsch, MD, founder of Perimeter Plastic Surgery and double board certified Atlanta plastic surgeon, was among those honored at Atlanta Magazines annual Top Doctors reception, held June 23 at the Flourish events facility located in Atlantas Buckhead district.

The reception took place just two months after Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., named Dr. Deutsch as a 2016 Top Doctor, and just days before Atlanta Magazines 2016 Top Doctors issue hits the newsstands, with Dr. Deutsch listed as one of the featured physicians.

Dr. Deutsch has over 20 years of experience in the plastic surgery field and is double board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. In addition to specializing in cosmetic surgeries such as breast augmentation, abdominoplasty, face and neck lifts, and liposuction, Dr. Deutsch regularly performs breast reconstruction for breast cancer patients.

I am truly humbled to be joining my colleagues with this honor as a Top Doctor in Atlanta, states Dr. Deutsch. But while its an honor to be invited to this event in the company of truly world-class physicians, Im sure my colleagues would agree that our biggest rewards come from caring for our patientsto help breast cancer patients get through the challenges they are facing, as well as to provide women and men with the cosmetic results they have always dreamed of.

Castle Connolly selects the nations Top Doctors every year through a peer nomination survey process. Each year, thousands of doctors cast tens of thousands of nominations. Once the specialists are nominated, a physician-led research team extensively reviews the nominees credentials, including their medical education, training, hospital appointments, board certifications and other achievements. Physicians who are selected as a Top Doctor are featured in regional magazines such as Atlanta Magazine, as well as Castle Connollys Top Doctors guides.

For more information about Dr. Deutsch and Perimeter Plastic Surgery, please visit http://www.perimeterplasticsurgery.com, or call 404-255-0886.

About Perimeter Plastic Surgery:

Dr. Mark Deutsch is the founder of Perimeter Plastic Surgery and a top plastic surgeon in Atlanta. He is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and performs a variety of cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries. In addition to his work in the United States, he travels annually to South America to perform volunteer procedures. For more information about Dr. Deutsch and Perimeter Plastic Surgery, please visit perimeterplasticsurgery.com.
ROCK ISLAND  Western Illinois University President Dr. Jack Thomas said Illinois' lack of a state appropriation for higher education sends a bad message to its residents.

Dr. Thomas was the keynote speaker at the The Rock Island County NAACP's 2016 Freedom Fund Banquet held at Jumer's Casino and Hotel on Saturday.

Speaking before the festivities, Dr. Thomas said Illinois' lack of a budget has resulted in serious challenges for students seeking an education at a public university.

"For the 12th month, we (WIU) have not seen a state appropriation, which has really hurt all of higher education, not just Western Illinois University," Dr. Thomas said.

"What it says is education is only for those who can afford it, for the wealthy. An institution like Western Illinois, we are a public institution.

"We take pride in the fact that we provide access, and we are affordable. With things happening in the state since 2002, we've had reduction after reduction. We've had to increase tuition, room and board.

"We're still among the lowest (tuition wise) of all public institutions, however, we're still placing a burden on our students and those who want to pursue an education."

Dr. Thomas said he supports the Rock Island County NAACP, saying WIU has its own NAACP chapter.

"When there are injustices and inequities, there are individuals (at the NAACP) that are willing to speak out on those issues and who are willing to address them and be at the table," he said.

Rock Island County NAACP President Berlinda Tyler-Jamison said the NAACP's message this year is, "Our lives matter," and "Our votes count."

Ms. Tyler-Jamison said the Rock Island County NAACP Branch 3268 is growing and diverse.

"I'm proud to say we have well over 100 members," Ms. Tyler-Jamison said. "We are recognized on the state level as one of the most diverse branches in the state of Illinois.

"It's African-American, white, Hispanic. We have members who are East-Indian. Diversity is a strength. I think any time you bring all kinds of cultures to the table, you avoid the risk of group think.

"The more people from different backgrounds, the better."

Ms. Tyler-Jamison said the NAACP is encouraging people to vote and to take violence seriously. In her program message, she said violence impacts not only those victims of police officer involved deaths, but also the police officers who have been killed while on duty.

She said violence, from the mass killings at an Orlando night club earlier this month to the victims of gang violence on Chicago's south side underscores the message that all lives matter.

She said voter participation is crucial to the country's future.

"All races and creeds died for our right to vote," Ms. Tyler-Jamison said.

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, attended the event along with her husband, Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos. Rep. Bustos was one of several lawmakers who staged a sit-in on the House floor last week to protest inaction on gun control legislation.

"My husband is sheriff of Rock Island County and he's carried a weapon off and on duty for the last 30 years," Rep. Bustos said. "All three of my boys are sportsmen and hunters. The oldest son finished second in the nation in collegiate trapshooting.

"All own guns and are law-abiding citizens. To say someone on a terrorist watch list should not get a gun, I think it's pretty reasonable. And, all we're asking for from Congress is that we get an opportunity to debate that.

"We have had 35 shooting deaths in my district last year. We have murders way too often and gun deaths way too often. I don't think we're askng for anything that's not reasonable."
The headquarters of the 188,000-acre Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which was occupied for 41 days, is still closed. Down the road, at The Narrows cafe, saloon, shop and gas station, things have settled. Co-owner Linda Gainer said the business she got from journalists, agents, occupiers, protesters against the occupation, and from protesters protesting the protesters, more than made up for any slower days now. The last militants surrendered Feb. 11.

"I met some awesome people. And you know, everybody that came through, they were all polite," she said, describing how even militia members and anti-occupation protesters exchanged greetings.

At her place, 26 miles south of Burns, Gainer feels isolated from the divisions that broke open during the takeover and still linger. Burns is the main town in Harney County, which at more than 10,000 square miles is the largest in Oregon. With only 7,100 residents, it is also one of the least populated.

Those divisions are evident in the signs about Tuesday's special recall election against County Judge Steve Grasty, who for the past 18 years has been the county's top administrative official. Grasty blocked occupation leader Ammon Bundy from holding a public meeting in a county building, an act cited as justification for the recall effort. Grasty says it was absurd for Bundy, who said he wanted to turn the federal refuge over to local residents, to ask to use county property.

"He had already taken over, with firearms, a whole compound of buildings. And (the request) didn't make sense to me, nor did it fit public policy about public safety," Grasty, his shirt adorned with a "No Recall" button, said in an interview in the county courthouse.

Grasty sees this election as a referendum on the county's handling of the crisis.

"I'll be disappointed if I'm recalled," Grasty said. "If I'm successful, I think it's an affirmation that the county government did the right things during the course of the occupation."

The vast majority of signs in Burns and on ranch fence posts are for Grasty, who, even if the referendum fails, retires in December.

"I certainly hope the recall is defeated hugely," said Donna Clark, who lives with her husband on 5 acres outside Burns, on ranchland they operated with other families before retiring. She said the recall effort is "sour grapes" for the minority of locals who supported the refuge takeover, which was carried out by outsiders.

More than two dozen occupiers were arrested. Several have pleaded guilty in federal court in Portland to conspiracy in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of firearms possession in a federal facility. Most of the remaining defendants, including Bundy, are scheduled to go to trial Sept. 7.

There was one fatality during the takeover. LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher, was shot by Oregon State Police at a roadblock on a snowy road on a mountain pass, far from the refuge as he and others headed for a meeting in an adjacent county. Aerial FBI video footage shows Finicum exit his pickup with his hands up, and then being shot as he reaches for what authorities said was a weapon.

Today, the snow is gone. Grass carpets the forest floor underneath towering ponderosas. At the spot where Finicum died is a makeshift memorial consisting of a stone slab with his LV cattle brand, American flags, a disc that says "land of the free because of the brave," flowers and other items. Wooden crosses are affixed to nearby trees.

William C. Fisher said he drove to the site three weeks ago from Boise, Idaho, after he heard that sheriff's deputies were ticketing people for erecting crosses. He began camping out to protect the site. He said one deputy removed crosses, even though roadside crosses for car-crash victims are permitted.

"I am here because there is an American hero that had been murdered over there, and I feel it is my duty that his memorial needs to stand," Fisher said. "This is a peaceful assembly. This is a peaceful protest. We have that right to assemble and protest and have freedom of speech."

A few others have joined Fisher. In the woods behind a roadside banner saying "Camp Freedom" a half-dozen tents have been erected. People dressed in camouflage military uniforms or street clothes sit around a campfire. Tarps provide shade. A decorated tomahawk hangs from a tree.

Someone is always on duty to protect the memorial, said John Hildinger, of Corpus Christi, Texas, wearing an American-flag bandanna on his head.

Larry Jay, a 72-year-old from Burns who describes himself as a Choctaw adopted into the Crow tribe, says the tomahawk and other ceremonial items provide spiritual protection.

"We are the honor guard," Jay said, his bicep tattooed with Finicum's brand. "We don't use labels like patriots or militia."

Later, a split emerged in the camp, with Jay and Fisher planning to get a permit for a permanent memorial, with others opposed. Fisher plans to pack up the memorial on Monday and deliver it to Finicum's widow until the permit is issued.

Jay, meanwhile, said he is voting against the judge.

"We tried to get a spot where we could meet and talk, with the ranchers and the ones coming up from ... all over," he said. "Steve Grasty put a stop to that."
Orlando suffered the greatest mass murder of individuals in our countrys history.

It is a day that will haunt the nation for the rest of our lives. It was yet another tragic, senseless, preventable loss of life. I say preventable because without the design of the assault rifle it would be impossible to shoot to death so many, so quickly.

Assault weapons exist to kill or maim as many as possible as fast as possible.

They have no place in protecting your home or hunting your favorite game, merely to kill with speed and ease. It must stop now! It is time to march!

I am fully aware of the Second Amendment rights to bear arms. I support that amendment. However, when the Second Amendment was written the single shot musket was the weapon of the day. Our founding fathers had no concept of a weapon that would shoot perhaps 45 bullets a minute or more. Assault weapons are truly weapons of mass death. They can no longer be tolerated. Let individuals own handguns to protect their home and family. Let the sportsmen own hunting rifles to shoot their favorite game. But it must end there.

We saw displays of solidarity with Orlando and the gay community across the nation, across the globe. We saw the Eiffel Tower illuminated in rainbow colors as we saw it illuminated in colors of the Belgium flag, of the French flag. We stated that, We stand with you Orlando.

It was a wonderful outpouring of emotional support. Im confident that Orlando needed it and appreciated it. But we stood with Paris. We stood with Brussels. We stood with Sandy Hook, and San Bernardino and Virginia Tech, and Tucson, and Aurora, and Columbine, and Ft. Hood. It is time to march!

On Sunday night, June 11th, the star of the Broadway musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda stated in his Tony acceptance speech and in reaction to the Orlando massacre, love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love. And Stephen Colbert later stated, Love is a verb. And to love means to do something.

I say the times of standing with are over. It is time to march!

We must gather the resolve to march on Washington, march on Congress, march into our local congressional offices, into our local senate offices, and demand that our representatives ban the sale of assault weapons to individuals. Dont settle for I cant do that. Dont settle for Ill think it over.

Let them know that if they cannot muster their own resolve to do the right thing, that you will have to find a candidate who will.

Perhaps you are that candidate? Nothing motivates these politicians more than fear of being turned out of office.

To date, they have mostly been rewarded because their resolve to do nothing has been stronger than our own, but it cannot persist.

Dont settle for merely stopping terrorists supported or inspired by ISIS. Dont settle for preventing the sale of assault weapons to those on the no-fly list. They are mere distractions; they are baby steps.

Terrorists had nothing to do with Columbine, nothing to do with Virginia Tech, nothing to do with Sandy Hook, nothing to do with Aurora, nothing to do with Tucson.

The only commonality between all the mass shootings is the use of multi-shot assault rifles and the insanity of the bearer.

Enough is enough is enough is enough is enough.

It is time to march!
Clearly we aren't doing something right, do we just need more education or is it something much more?

2 hours ago
In what the two parties call a significant move for the Indian video-on-demand (VOD) industry, Turner Indias kids shows will now play on Viacom18s VOOT channel.

The deal is said to cement VOOT as the largest online destination of children's content in India and the company already has a list of close to 100 characters that are said to cut through broadcast affiliations. The deal will see VOOT host Turner Indias kids shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Dexters Laboratory, Roll No. 21, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo and M.A.D. In addition to the Turner content, VOOT has its in house franchises such as Dora, Motu Patlu and SpongeBob, and all the Nick shows as well as over 7,000 new videos on the app and website. VOOT already hosts Chotta Bheem and Mighty Raju that run on Turner Indias broadcast channels Cartoon Network and POGO, and Pokemon that airs on Disneys broadcast network.We at Turner are dedicated in engaging consumers and collaborators in new ways to develop immersive worlds that enable our fans to experience our brands, franchises and content wherever, whenever and however they like, said Siddharth Jain, senior vice-president and managing director, South Asia, for Turner India , commenting on the partnership. The collaboration with Viacom18 is a strategic move towards achieving this objective of being where our fans are and we know from our own New Generations 2016 research that 71% of todays plurals are mobile phone users and 30% of them are on surfing the internet.Added Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats: Online kids' content is one of the major white spaces that exists in the country today. Through a dedicated offering within VOOT, called VOOT Kids, we had started our journey to create the largest online destination for kids content in India. This vision saw us aggregate content from both within our network brand Nick and outside, to launch with over 7,000 videos of kids content. This strategic partnership with Turner India will further bolster our content repository for VOOT Kids. Additionally, this also brings two powerhouses of kids content on a singular platform to bring forth the best viewing experience for our loyal little viewers.
Imagine Communications has contributed technology to Sonys dedicated IP Live Studio.

The studio, located at the Digital Motion Picture Centre Europe (DMPCE) at Pinewood Film Studios near London, is a testing and training facility meant to provide broadcasters and production companies with the opportunity to gain hands-on familiarity with IP-based live production environments.''It is an honour to be working with Sony to help accelerate the transition of live production workflows to more agile and versatile environments,'' said Glodina Lostanlen, CMO at Imagine Communications . ''As one of the early advocates of moving media operations to software-based environments built on generic computer and networking platforms, Imagine Communications is pleased to be part of this important initiative to provide media companies with the practical knowledge necessary for putting their live production facilities on a path toward the future.''Imagine Communications solutions deployed in the IP Live Studio are Selenio Uncompressed over IP (UCIP) processing, the Selenio IP Live encoder/decoder, the recently introduced EPIC Multiviewer (EPIC MV) and the Magellan SDN Orchestrator , a software control system for managing hybrid SDI-IP environments.Live production requires exacting precision and reliability and broadcasters must have assurances that IP-based solutions can meet these requirements before moving operations out of the baseband domain. A fully functional, state-of-the art production facility based on IT technologies is designed to provide these assurances through extensive hands-on training, as well as offer technology partners the ability to demonstrate widespread interoperability in a multivendor environment.Imagine Communications is a long-time member of the IP Live Alliance and has demonstrated interoperability with Sony's Networked Media Interface (NMI), both in the lab and in commercial deployments of IP-based live production environments.
Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale

Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada.

Search Real Estate
In the past, if you wanted to make your home more secure with an alarm system, you were dependent on an alarm company to wire it for you and monitor it when you weren't home. With the wave of smarthome products hitting the market, do-it-yourself home security is gaining in popularity.

From user-installed alarm systems to motion-sensor video cameras, let's take a look at some of the newest home security gadgets and examine whether a DIY system is right for you.

DIY home security is available with a variety of capabilities. There are systems with traditional entry detectors and motion detectors. Some have an on-site keypad, and others are controlled through a web-enabled application or on your mobile device. You purchase and install the equipment, so it's all customizable to your needs.

The benefits of these types of systems is that they can be considerably cheaper than professionally-installed systems. There are no installation or monthly monitoring fees. You own the equipment, so you can take it with you when you move, which is great for renters.

Customize the system to your specific monitoring needs. Access all the information you need to know about your home through your smartphone app. We once had our bicycles stolen off of our second-floor apartment balcony. A DIY system out there may have saved us some cash.

There are also drawbacks. Monitoring on these types of alarm systems is done by you. If you're in the movie theater when your alarm goes off and you miss the notification, there's no one else calling the police for you. What happens if you're in a work meeting or on vacation in Mexico? Some systems will auto-call contacts that you designate with a pre-recorded message, but friends and family may not love getting urgently alerted when you get misfires. If you're prone to ignore your phone regularly, you may not notice a break-in notification. And if you are home when a break-in occurs, a self-monitored system won't have the same silent panic capabilities of a monitored system. Also keep in mind that components of the alarm system will need to be tested regularly to make sure they're working properly and that maintenance is on you.

An easy plug-and-play solution for users wanting to get started with monitoring their home on their own is Piper NV $280). It's a motion sensor video camera with night vision that recognizes when you're home or away and includes sirens and alerts when it senses unexpected activity. A two-way audio allows you to check in and interact with your family or your pets. Download the app to your phone and set parameters for alerts. The system allows you to monitor temperature, humidity, light and sound in addition to motion. Pan, tilt, zoom or quad-view so you can see every corner of the room. It has a one-year warranty included with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you want a DIY system without the headaches of monitoring it yourself, SimpliSafe ($230 for a basic system) can give you the best of both worlds. A la carte components allows you to customize the setup for your needs, with entry, glassbreak and motion sensors. It's self-installed, with easy to mount wireless sensors  they promise installation in under 15 minutes. There's an option to pay for 24/7 live monitoring, while a phone app gives you the flexibility to monitor it yourself, as well. A wireless keycode panel offers silent panic alarm option.

Video cameras that you can view online can enhance any home security system you install. Nest Cam ($199) is a pretty cool option. Check in on your home happenings any time and stream live HD video to your smartphone. Advanced learning functionality for motion and sound alerts allows the Nest cam to "learn" what the room looks and sounds like when nothing's happening. It remembers the "picture" of the room empty and sends you an alert on your phone when a door opens or someone moves around. Customize alerts so they don't go off every time your dog walks through the room. It'll even learn to ignore background noise like the air conditioner, but still alert you when the doorbell rings or the fire alarm goes off.

Another smart-home product that can offer home security benefits is the video doorbell. The Ring Video Doorbell ($199) allows you to see who's at your door without opening it or letting on that you're home  or not. Motion sensors send an alert to your phone when someone approaches your door. A two-way radio lets you communicate with visitors when you can't get to the door, even if you're at the office. Be alerted to suspicious visitors before they have the chance to "case" your home. It's relatively easy to install, and has a long battery life.

The Ring has some pitfalls. How well it works depends on your home's WiFi network strength. Some users have reported such a long lag time between the ring of the doorbell and their phone notification, that they've received video of their doorstep as the visitor was walking away. Sometimes it's hard to differentiate Ring's alerts from the sea of other phone notifications, so you may miss it entirely.

With a relatively affordable price point, these DIY home security add-ons can benefit just about anyone, from renters to home owners, those with an existing monitored system or those looking to add a layer of protection to a home with no other security features.

Nerd Chick Adventures is written by Andrea Eldridge and Heather Neal from Nerds On Call, an onsite computer and laptop repair company in Redding. They can be reached at nerdchick@callnerds.com.
FILE - In this June 11, 2015, file photo, Anton Yelchin arrives at a special screening of "Burying the Ex" held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. Yelchin, a charismatic and rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, has died at the age of 27. He was killed in a fatal traffic collision early Sunday morning, June 19, 2016, his publicist confirmed. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

SHARE

By LINDSEY BAHR, AP Film Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP)  Anton Yelchin's accidental death Sunday ended the actor's life and career far too soon, yet audiences will be able to see his talent and devotion to his craft in several unreleased projects.

The 27-year-old actor reprises his role as Pavel Chekov in the third installment of the rebooted "Star Trek" film franchise due to be released in July, but at least five of the projects showcase his talents beyond a big-budget summer action film.

Yelchin stars in "Porto," a romance set in the Portuguese city that director Gabe Klinger hopes will be released this fall.

"The role, I wish people could discover it already, but we talked about it for a year before we rolled cameras," Klinger said in an interview. "He was developing that character in his mind for a whole year. It was that level of seriousness.

"It will be very bittersweet now."

"Trollhunters," an animated series from Guillermo del Toro, is scheduled to debut on Netflix in December. The project, promoted as an ambitious family-friendly series, was previewed just last week in France. Yelchin voices the show's main character, Jim, who discovers warring trolls living beneath his hometown.

Del Toro said he worked with Yelchin for about a year and called him "a great creative partner and artist."

The actor had also completed filming on several independent movies with writer-directors: Mark Palansky's science-fiction drama "Rememory," with Peter Dinklage, Peer Pedersen's family drama "We Don't Belong Here" with Catherine Keener and Cory Finley's Connecticut thriller "Thoroughbred," with Olivia Cooke.

Yelchin was killed early Sunday when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee pinned him between a mailbox pillar and a security fence. The actor had been scheduled to attend a rehearsal, and his body was found when his friends became concerned and went to his home to check on him.

The actor's vehicle was subject to a recall because the gear shifters have confused drivers, causing the vehicles to roll away unexpectedly. The SUV was part of a global recall of 1.1 million vehicles by automaker Fiat Chrysler in April.

The automaker expects to have a fix for the problem in July or August.

As of April, the company had reports of 212 crashes, 41 injuries and 308 property damage claims potentially caused by the shifters, it said in documents filed with the government.

Investigators were looking into the position of Yelchin's gear shift at the time of the accident, Los Angeles Police officer Jane Kim said. The actor had gotten out of the vehicle momentarily, but police didn't say why he was behind it when it started rolling.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said late Monday that it was in contact with Los Angeles authorities, and if the actor's death was related to the gear shift problem, it would be the first known fatality.

The agency also urged owners of recalled vehicles to use their parking brakes and turn them off completely every time they exited until their vehicles were fixed.

Fiat Chrysler said in a statement Monday that it was investigating and it was premature to speculate on the cause of the crash.

The actor's death comes a month before Paramount is scheduled to debut "Star Trek Beyond" in San Diego at the annual fan convention Comic-Con.

Director J.J. Abrams, who cast Yelchin in the franchise, wrote in a statement that he was "brilliant ... kind ... funny as hell, and supremely talented."

Klinger agreed, saying Yelchin studied film and aspired to be more than just an actor.

He said Yelchin was grateful he got to work with one of his acting heroes, Willem Dafoe, on the film "Odd Thomas."

"He used to refer to Willem as an artist, not an actor," Klinger said. "That's the kind of actor he aspired to be, where people didn't regard him as an actor, they regarded him as an artist."

___

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher and AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
Hundreds of portable buildings housing Syrian refugees stretch to the horizon at the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, Sunday, June 19, 2016. Since the start of the Syrian war, 4.8 million people have fled the country, with 655,000 taking refugee in country, 80,000 of which reside in Zaatari, the largest of Jordan's three refugee camps. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)

SHARE

By SAM McNEIL, Associated Press

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (AP)  Salam Ashara and his family left Syria in early 2013, when no one expected the civil war in their country to rage for years with no signs of relenting and create the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

The Asharas were among the first families to settle in Zaatari, Jordan's first and now its largest refugee camp, with 80,000 residents. Zaatari has grown up around them as they forged new lives among the dust and dirt, preparing for years in exile.

They are part of the mass displacement of Syrians  more than 4.8 million have fled their homeland since 2011, including 655,000 who have settled in Jordan.

Refugees' conditions have worsened. Many scratch out a living in exile close to home or risk their lives crossing deserts and seas. Some learn new languages and others face rising hostility toward the displaced in the Middle East, Europe and North America.

The U.N. refugee agency, marking World Refugee Day on Monday, says persecution and conflict in places like Syria and Afghanistan have raised the total number of refugees and internally displaced people worldwide to a record 65.3 million by the end of 2015. The previous year, 2014, had already seen the highest number since World War II, with 60 million displaced people.

Meanwhile, aid agencies lament chronic funding shortages. A U.N.-led aid appeal seeks $4.55 billion for Syrian refugees and host communities this year, but by April less than a quarter of the money had been received.

Donor countries are shifting the emphasis from humanitarian aid to long-term development in the regional host countries. It is part of efforts to discourage refugees from migrating to Europe, but education and work programs take time to kick in.

In Zaatari, the eight-member Ashara family  Salam, his wife Hoda and their six children  is trying to make a new home.

They live in two pre-fab trailers that they have connected with a tarpaulin canopy. They have two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom and a kitchen  relative luxury for a refugee camp.

Ashara owns a housing goods store in Zaatari's bustling market and once served as a community policeman in the camp.

After hours, the 43-year-old writes poetry and uses his verses to keep the memory of Syria alive for his children. One is titled, "Sixth Year," a reference to the duration of the Syria conflict.

"We entered our sixth year saddened and in pain. Every day my son asks me, 'How long, my father, until we return? I miss the children of our street, I miss the taste of our water and the weather of our gorgeous country,'" he sings to his sons Ayman, 13, and Saeb, 11.

All of his children, except two-year old Mohammad, were born in Syria, and he hopes his poetry can secure their memories of home.

Ashara's art once landed him in jail.

In 2012, as the conflict was intensifying, members of Syria's feared paramilitary group, the "shabiha," abducted Ashara from his family home in Syria's southern Deraa province. Ashara says he was taken because he had published songs and poems protesting against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

When Ashara was released four months later, an airstrike devastated their neighbor's home. The Asharas decided it was time to leave Syria. They packed bags and headed to Jordan, paying smugglers to take them past checkpoints. They walked the final three kilometers laden with their heavy belongings.

At the time, thousands were escaping Syria, heading to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Zaatari, which before the war was less than an hour's drive from Deraa, was established in the summer of 2012. It quickly swelled from a few tents to a de facto city of over 100,000 people. The population dropped when Jordan's second largest camp, Azraq, opened in 2014.

Ashara doesn't expect to return home soon. He hopes his children stay in school, marry well and prosper in the camp.

"If the regime fell tomorrow, we couldn't return for another 10 years," he says. "Ten years. Because what we will face in Syria will be much worse than what the people are now facing in Libya. In Libya it won't be another 10 to 20 years until it returns to half of what it was. With Syria I believe the dark times will be much, much worse."

He sits down, takes out his notebook, and begins reciting. His sons lean in on his right and left, Ayman looking at the words, Saeb focused on his father's face.

"Hear the voice of our village, and ask your loved ones about the conditions of exile," he sings.
SHARE Matthew James Schmidt

By Jim Schultz and Joe Szydlowsky

A California Highway Patrol officer has been charged by the Shasta County District Attorney's Office with spousal abuse and lewd conduct with a child.

Matthew James Schmidt, 47, of Palo Cedro, was arraigned Wednesday in Shasta County Superior Court on one felony count of corporal injury to a spouse, two felony counts of lewd conduct with a child and one misdemeanor count of annoying or molesting children.

Schmidt, out of jail on a $250,000 bond, is due back in Superior Court Sept. 1 for further arraignment. He has not entered a plea, court records show.

Schmidt is on paid administrative leave, the CHP said Monday.

In a statement issued Monday, the CHP said it is fully cooperating with the investigating agencies and is also conducting its own investigation into the allegations against Schmidt.

"His peace officer powers have been revoked, pending the results of the department's internal investigation," the statement added.

According to the criminal complaint, Schmidt is accused of inflicting corporal injury on a 31-year-old woman in April.

Additionally, the complaint alleges, he performed a lewd act on a then-14-year-old girl in 2013.

In a report filed in Superior Court by DA investigator Kert Rulofson, allegations of possible domestic violence and child molestation involving Schmidt were reported in 2013 to the Modoc County Sheriff's Office, which forwarded the information to the Alturas Police Department.

Schmidt lived in Alturas at that time, the report said.

Alturas Police Chief Sid Cullins referred questions to Shasta County prosecutors, citing the ongoing investigation.

According to Rulofson's report, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office was called in April after being notified that the CHP did a welfare check of one of their officers and a woman.

The woman reportedly said Schmidt punched her four times in the face, but later told investigators that her bruises were caused when she fell down the stairs, according to the report.

It also says deputies found scratches on Schmidt's chest believed to have come from someone trying to fight an attacker.

Rulofson's report also mentions other suspected victims, including a then-14-year-old girl.

The girl said in 2013 Schmidt repeatedly groped her at a wedding party and previously sexually assaulted her at her Alturas home, according to the report.

Rulofson identified a third possible victim, who told him she suspected a cover-up of the years-long abuse.

"(She) feels as if Matthew Schmidt was always protected by local law enforcement," Rulofson said. "She said when she reported the abuse nothing would ever happen."

Police Chief Cullins denies any special treatment for fellow law enforcement.

"She may have thought that, but I can guarantee you personally that I'm not going to protect anybody that has committed crimes," he said. "That's been my long-standing policy."
SHARE Eddy William Hoyt Date of birth: March 15, 1974 Vitals: 6 feet, 2 inches; 245 pounds; black hair, hazel eyes Charge: Attempted murder Anthony Richard McIntire Date of birth: June 11, 1980 Vitals: 6 feet; 175 pounds; brown hair, brown hairs Charge: Felon in possession of a firearm Christoper Daniel Cook Date of birth: Dec. 7, 1995 Vitals: 6 feet, 4 inches; 250 pounds; brown hair, brown eyes Charge: Assault with a deadly weapon Justin John Allen Date of birth: Aug. 14, 1982 Vitals: 5 feet, 8 inches; 155 pounds; black hair, blue eyes Charge: Vehicle theft

By Staff Reports

Shasta's Most Wanted, featured in the Record Searchlight in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, targets people who have failed to show up in court for sentencing after being convicted.

As of Friday a total of 632 arrests have been made through the Most Wanted program since it began in September 2013. Authorities say they have seen an increase in criminals failing to appear in court since the onset of Assembly Bill 109. Also known as prison realignment, the state program shifted certain state prison inmates to county supervision.

Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti said court appearances have been going up since the rollout.

Five new people are added each week. Those caught will be held until at least their next court appearances. Shasta County Secret Witness is offering a reward of up to $250 for information leading to an arrest. Tips can be provided anonymously at 530-243-2319 or at www.scsecretwitness.com/home/submit-a-tip.

Anyone with information also can call SHASCOM at 245-6540. The feature appears Sundays in the Record Searchlight's Northern California section and on Redding.com.
Sacramento police mounted officers prepare for crowd control after a scuffle broke out today at a protest near the state Capitol. (Jerry H. Yamashita via AP)

SHARE

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  Authorities say at least seven people were hospitalized today with stab wounds after a clash between members of right-wing groups and "anti-fascists" outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento.

California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada says about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party gathered at the capitol for a rally when they were met by about 400 counter-protesters and a fight broke out around noon Sunday.

Granada says the capitol is still on lockdown three hours after the fight broke out but that things have calmed down and only about 70 "anti-fascists" remain in the area.

Matthew Heimbach, chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party, tells the Los Angeles Times that his group and the Golden State Skinheads organized the Sunday rally.

Vice chairman Matt Parrott, who was not present at the Sacramento rally, says it was a peaceful march and blamed "leftist radicals" for instigating the violence. Heimbach says that in the clash, one of their marchers had been stabbed in an artery and six of the "anti-fascists" had also been stabbed.

A message left at a phone number for the Traditionalist Worker Party was not immediately returned to The Associated Press.

A post recently uploaded to site of the Traditionalist Youth Network says TWP members planned to march in Sacramento to protest against globalization and in defense of the right to free expression. They say they expected to be outnumbered 10-to-1 by counter-protestors.

Earlier, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey says emergency crews transported six people who were stabbed outside the California state Capitol building in Sacramento.

He says a large fight broke out after people carrying sticks rushed into the area where the rally was being held.

Harvey says California Highway Patrol officers managed to break up the large fight but that some members of both groups remain in the area.

Officer Matt McPhail with the Sacramento Police Department says none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening.
SHARE

By Sean Longoria of the Redding Record Searchlight

A pair of bills introduced in the California Assembly last week aim directly at overhauling the state's concealed weapons permit process.

The bills are ill received in Shasta County, where permitted concealed gun ownership is among the highest in the state.

Locals familiar with the existing concealed gun rules and proposed changes said the bills, if passed, could make it harder and more expensive to carry a concealed gun.

"It's not like we're trying to fix something, the state CCW program works very well," said Ted Lidie, founder and senior instructor for Redding-based Northern Firearms Instruction.

The bills, introduced by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would require law enforcement agencies which issue concealed carry permits to charge enough for those permits to cover both the issuance and enforcement and require those seeking permits to provide enough evidence that they're in greater danger than the general public.

"A CCW permit is a privilege and should only be given to those who have a genuine need to carry a concealed firearm," McCarty said. "Already strained local governments shouldn't be forced to cut essential programs because the fees for this privilege don't cover the full costs to Police and Sheriff's Departments."

Assembly Bill 450 would require agencies to charge the full cost of issuance and enforcement.

McCarty cites Sacramento County, which is facing a budget shortfall because it can't legally charge more than $100 on top of state fees for the permits. The amount covers less than half of the cost to its sheriff's department, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Shasta County, however, isn't facing the same problem. Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said volunteers help process concealed carry applications to help cut the costs.

Shasta County charges $153 for new permits and $64 for permit renewals, though $93 and $51 of those respective fees go to the state.

Shasta County has some 7,000 permit holders, Bosenko said.

Existing California law requires those seeking a permit to cite a "good cause" for the permit, though it's left to the issuing agency to judge that good cause as valid.

In Shasta County, for example, an applicant could simply list "personal protection" or "self-defense" as reason for a permit and be approved, provided they also pass a background check, take the required trainings and meet the other permit requirements, Bosenko said.

"Those more stringent and restrictive requirements generally come from more urban areas," Bosenko said.

Assembly Bill 466 would change that definition and require an applicant to show they face the potential for greater harm than the general public.

Lidie, who said he sees about 100 people per month to either get a new permit or renew one, questioned how the state would define a good cause to issue a permit among a myriad of potential options.

"They're going to be forever trying to figure that out," he said. "It's shortsighted, it shows lack of leadership."

According to a statement from his office, McCarty sees the changes as upheld by a recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that found no constitutional right to carry a concealed gun.

That case centered on a challenge to the San Diego County sheriff's refusal to issue a man a permit because he didn't provide sufficient reason to carry a concealed gun. The man said at the time he wanted a weapon to protect himself, but the sheriff said he needed a better reason, such as that his occupation exposes him to robbery, according to the Associated Press.

The State Senate Committee on Public Safety on Tuesday will hold a hearing on AB 450.
SHARE

Updated at 4:00 p.m.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the downed power lines in Shingletown were to blame for a fire that burned about an acre of vegetation.

There were no reported injuries or damages to any structures in the area.

Original story

Firefighters in the Shingletown area are battling a vegetation fire that has burned about an acre, but is close to a few structures.

The fire is in the area of Lack Creek Road in Shingletown off of Highway 44 and helicopters are working with ground crews to put out the fire, according to dispatch reports.

The fire was first reported at 11 a.m.

Reports also say some power lines are down in the area.
Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Katie Lawn, center, an interpretive Ranger with the National Park Service, leads a Saturday tour of kids down a trail at Oak Bottom Marina.

SHARE Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight Airin Bridges, 9, center, tries on a fire helmet Saturday during Fire Academy at Oak Bottom Marina.

By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

On what was a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, about a dozen children gathered at the Oak Bottom Amphitheater for the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area's annual summer Junior Firefighter program.

It was there they learned how fires promote and protect forest health.

Although Smokey the Bear wasn't around to make an appearance, park rangers Katie Lawn and Nikki Baldwin lead the educational session and took the group on a short trail hike, tasking the children with the opportunity to point out potentially burned trees.

"The hillside is already protected from what could be a potentially big fire," Lawn assured them. The group stopped by a manzanita tree, where Lawn showed the stark difference between the tree's usual red colored bark, to its darker base, signs of a "healthy burn," Lawn told the children.

"You guys in Northern California are so lucky to have so many national parks, and they're all different from each other," Lawn said

The interactive workshop also included a painting activity, learning about firefighter duties, lightning fires, control burns, poison oak, vegetation and how animals protect themselves during a fire. Lawn brought out some tools to show the children how rangers and firefighters use the same tools and equipment for multiple purposes.

Carol Lehman, brought her grandchildren Aubrey Lehman, 10, Gabriel Littlefield-Lehman, 12, and his brother Julian, 11, to attend the program. Julian and Gabriel, who are from Utah, head to Whiskeytown Lake whenever they're in town.

"Their great-grandfather was a fire chief," Carol told the rangers. "And I was terrified of matches till I was 18."

Aubrey and Gabriel each wore a green ranger vest, while Julian opted out of wearing one. After the program, they each received a Junior Firefighter badge and posed for pictures with the rangers and tried on some of the firefighter protective gear.

The Junior Ranger and Firefighter programs are scheduled for every Saturday through mid-September. "This is the least attended program of the summer," Park Ranger Nikki Baldwin, said. "So we're stoked when people come."

This year, the National Park Service will celebrate its 100th birthday, and the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area will celebrate with a symphony by the beach from The Shasta Symphony Orchestra on Aug. 20.
SHARE

By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight

Shasta County faces a lack of services that put mentally ill people in crisis at risk, the Shasta County grand jury found in a recent investigation.

The panel says in its report, "A Mental Health Crisis, Following the Call: The First 72 Hours Matter," a lack of law enforcement training, a severe shortage of psychiatric inpatient beds and psychiatrists add up to situations that can lead sick people lingering in hospitals for days without mental health care.

"Access to mental health stabilization services for people in a mental health crisis is lacking in Shasta County," the report starts bluntly.

Dean True, director of adult services for the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency, declined to comment on the report until the Shasta County Board of Supervisors has a chance to discuss it at a future meeting.

The grand jury looked deeply into what happens from when a 911 call is placed about a mental health emergency through the next 72 hours, a critical time when patients encounter law enforcement officers, medical practitioners and sometimes jailers. It found a woeful lack of services through each step of the process.

It recommends, among other things, that the Health and Human Services and law enforcement agencies create a mobile crisis stabilization team paid for by Mental Health Services Act funding, or the so-called millionaire's tax. Such a team made up of mental health professionals and law enforcement officers could help de-escalate crises and get patients help quickly and effectively, the grand jury said.

The way it works now is either police officers or sheriff's deputies respond to the crisis call along with EMTs. Sometimes these encounters go well, and sometimes not. In the past year, there have been a handful of occasions where law enforcement officers shot and killed mentally ill people in crisis and who were armed. The grand jury found that only 50 percent to 60 percent of the county's law enforcement officers have received crisis intervention training. This training teaches officers how to de-escalate a situation with a mentally ill person in crisis.

The grand jury said all local law enforcement officers should receive training every two years and recommends the county and cities of Anderson and Redding adopt a departmental policy to provide that training by the end of this year.

Anderson provides ongoing crisis intervention training, said Lt. Rocky Harpham.

Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti and Sheriff Tom Bosenko have said they send officers when staffing and funding allow it.

Harpham said with crisis intervention, "You're trying to resolve whatever issue that you are being sent to and reduce the chance of yourself or the person you're dealing with being injured. You're trying to avoid confrontation and resolving it peacefully."

After law officers respond, the patient is transferred to one of the county's three hospitals for evaluation. While the grand jury applauded a recent move by the county to place mental health evaluators at the two Redding emergency rooms, it noted that because they are available only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, patients brought in after hours or on weekends are left waiting overnight or even a full day in the emergency room for evaluations. If the patient needs inpatient care, the county offers scant resources. Its single inpatient psychiatric facility, Restpadd, only has 16 beds for adults. The nearest facilities for children are in Sacramento. It's up to county Health and Human Services to find a place to send patients on Medi-Cal, and in some cases the wait can be days and weeks. In one case cited by the grand jury, a patient spent 45 days in the emergency room until the county found a bed in a San Diego facility. The grand jury pointed out that during that month and a half, the patient received no mental health services.

In addition to recommending the county create plans to establish more inpatient beds for adults and children, it also encourages the county to continue with its plans to create an after-hours walk-in mental health center to help mentally ill patients and their families before they reach crisis.

As part of its investigation, the grand jury visited Tehama County's crisis stabilization center, referred to as a Community Crisis Response Unit, established in 1993 when that county closed its psychiatric facility due to limited funds.

That facility does not allow patients to walk off the street and get help, according to Valerie Lucero, executive director with mental health services in Tehama County. Patients can be brought in by law enforcement or voluntarily.

"There is an assessment that's involved. This takes the place of what happens now when people are assessed in emergency rooms," said Lucero.

Restpadd has proposed opening a 16-bed psychiatric facility in Tehama County that would serve adults and children. The grand jury recommends the Shasta County board of supervisors look into providing inpatient psychiatric beds for children and set a timeline by the end of this year.

Redding resident Linda LeDue and former National Alliance on Mental Illness member said the grand jury report does a good job evaluating the current services in place, including the mental health walk-in clinic on Breslauer Way.

"But it excluded one thing from the report," she said. "One of the most shocking things is that most of the services are for people on Medi-Cal. If you're blessed to have insurance, then you can only go to the emergency room."

She said that when her boyfriend, who has private insurance, needed mental health services, he could not find any facilities in the county and had to go to Woodland and Vallejo for help. The report "is giving the impression that these services are for everyone."
SHARE Christina Burke

A 26-year-old Redding woman was arrested Saturday on suspicion of identity theft, possession of stolen property and other crimes, Redding Police said.

Christina Marie Burke, who has an extensive criminal history and been arrested nine times this year alone, was taken into custody after she was spotted walking in the Parkview neighborhood, police said.

Her arrest comes after a Redding man reported Tuesday that his car was stolen after he had parked it near Placer and Market streets.

His wallet containing credit cards was in the car, police said.

On Friday, police said, the man learned one of his credit cards was used at a Safeway grocery store in Redding.

Officer Will Williams viewed video surveillance from the store and recognized Burke, police said.

Since she turned 18, police said, Burke has been arrested 41 times by the Redding Police Department, almost exclusively for property crimes and narcotics violations. She is on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) for burglary.

In addition to identity theft and possession of stolen property, Burke was arrested on suspicion of drug paraphernalia, burglary tools and violating her post release community supervision.
A Titiotus shasta, left, put head-to-head with a brown recluse. The benign Titiotus shasta often is mistaken for the brown recluse, which has a toxic bite.

SHARE

By Dylan Darling

The name Shasta identifies a mountain, a lake, a town, a dam -- and now a spider.

Meet the Titiotus shasta, dubbed a species by scientists only last month. It's a brown spider that often gets mistaken for a much more infamous arachnid.

"When I saw my first live Titiotus I thought it was a recluse," said Rick Vetter, an arachnologist, or scientist who studies spiders, at the University of California at Riverside.

He's talking about the brown recluse, a quarter-sized spider with a toxic bite that has made it legendary. So infamous is the brown recluse that tales of bites causing limbs to swell, skin to peel and lives lost have spread to areas where the spider isn't found -- including the north state, Vetter said.

"It's like a religion," Vetter said. "... People want to blame the spider."

He said most maladies are caused by microscopic bacteria with a big name, such as Staphylococcus. Although bacteria is everywhere, Vetter said the brown recluse is found only in the Midwest and South.

He said he often hears from people in California who say they've been bitten by a brown recluse, but Vetter has yet to meet anyone who can produce a spider. Such was a challenge he put out to Record Searchlight readers in summer 2006 -- find a brown recluse.

None of the 18 spiders turned in was a brown recluse, and most were Titiotus. In fact, Vetter said nine of the 16 Titiotus shasta specimens listed in the scientific paper announcing the species were turned in as part of the challenge.

He said he understands why people mistake the two spiders, which look strikingly similar. The best way to differentiate them is to look them in the eye -- the Titiotus has two rows of four while the brown recluse has three pairs of two -- but that's easiest done under a microscope.

Although the brown recluse is also known as a "fiddleback" because of the distinct, musical instrument-shaped, mark on its back, Vetter said the Titiotus shasta can appear to have the same marking when looked at in the right light.

The Titiotus shasta is among 16 species of Titiotus found in California described in an article in the April 9 edition of the journal American Museum Novitates.

Vetter said spiders are still being described, and named, by scientists regularly. Most of the larger animals on the planet are already named and described. Smaller ones like spiders are now being examined more closely, he said. Just a small group of scientists are doing the work, he added.

Although he thinks it's cool that a spider now has Shasta in its name, John Albright, a biologist with the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District said he doubts it will do much to dispel people's belief that the brown recluse is in the north state.

He said he will have people bring in multiple spiders thinking they're recluses, only to learn it is a Titiotus or other spider.

"You can do it over and over again, and they'll walk away convinced that they will find one," he said.

Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.
The waiter at Old Ebbitt Grill was a talkative fellow, a corporate dropout who spends his work day a block away from the leader of the free world as tourists and political titans sit back-to-back in cozy booths surrounded by dark wood and duck decoys.

Hillary Clinton will be the next president, he assured us as he brought the crabcakes, with an exaggerated tone of confidentiality. He talks to a lot of powerful people, he said, and he just knows. In addition to that, he meditates and listens to the universe. Fair enough.

The next day, Clinton secured the Democratic nomination, for whatever that's worth.

Not that he's a partisan, mind you. His all-time favorite customer was Barbara Bush, and he could really care less whether a Republican or Democrat lives in the big white house next door. The rhythm of life in D.C. will go on the same either way.

The crabcakes were delicious, but I'm not taking his political prognostications to the bank.

It may be Clinton, it may be Trump. There's even a tiny, tiny possibility it'll be someone else. If it's Clinton or Trump, we're in for a long period of desperate hand-wringing over The End of America.

These two have the highest negative ratings of anyone ever to run for president, at least since pollsters started measuring such things. We've already begun to hear the predictions that one or the other will cause the destruction of the republic.

People in my business will be as culpable as anyone in whipping up this fear, because apocalypses are interesting. But if there's anything I took away from two weeks of touring many of America's most sacred political sites, it is this: America is far, far more resilient than we give her credit for.

It's one thing to talk about this, but it's another thing to see it.

In Historic Jamestowne, at the Archaerium archaeology museum, we were confronted with the desecrated skull of a teenage girl who was almost certainly the victim of cannibalism by her fellow desperate colonists in that horrible winter of 1610. If ever our European forbears' hold on what would become America was nearly lost, it was there on the banks of the James River. They held on, though, and never left.

Nearby, at Yorktown Battlefield, a guide describes the brilliant victory of the French and American armies, and the French fleet, that won the final decisive battle of the Revolutionary War. What he doesn't mention is General George Washington's near certainty just months before that his hungry, unpaid and smallpox-ridden men would not be able to keep up the war for another year and the rebel colonies might at best hope for a negotiated settlement with the British. Yorktown was a gift  a moment where everything had to go right, and it actually did.

Again, a close call.

In Philadelphia, we sat in Benjamin Franklin's pew at Christ Church and then went and stood in Independence Hall, gazing at the chair Washington occupied while the country his army had won very nearly fell apart before it was properly assembled. The Great Compromise, proposed by others but brokered largely by Franklin, prevented the Constitutional Convention of 1787 from dissolving into an irreparable rift between large and small states. By a single vote, we got a Constitution.

We also got a House of Representatives and a Senate, splitting the difference between the bitterly divided camps and setting the stage for the next two and a half centuries of argument, folly, pontification and, yes, representation that have brought us to the present moment.

To sit in the gallery of either of those chambers, or to walk the stark marble passage of the Great Hall of the Supreme Court building, or just to wander through the blocks upon blocks of towering buildings that house the functions of our national government, is to be viscerally reminded of the distribution of power in this country.

We often lament it, because it binds the wheels of progress in what we dismissively call "gridlock."

But head down toward the Potomac River just north of the Lincoln Memorial and you'll pass another reminder of what the balance of powers gives us  the Watergate Hotel complex. A president is not a king.

Past performance, as they say, is no guarantee of future returns. And I'm certainly not suggesting that elections don't matter, or that the lack of integrity and good judgment in a commander-in-chief is not a frightening thought, indeed.

But this country has gotten through all sorts of crises. We even survived a war between our own states. We have witnessed massive injustices like slavery and racial repression and the treatment of women as extensions of their husbands rather than full citizens in their own right.

We faced the prospect of global fascism and did not easily defeat it.

We have often been in fear of our future. But we are persistent.

Our waiter said the rhythm of D.C. will go on regardless. The country has its own rhythm. It changes, but it doesn't stop.

Reach Editor Silas Lyons at 225-2810 or silas.lyons@redding.com. He's on Facebook and Instagram, and on Twitter @silaslyons_RS.
SHARE

The state of California wants to decide, rather than your local sheriff, what constitutes "good cause" for you to have a concealed carry permit for a gun. What could possibly go wrong?

Political pundits are constantly trying to get in the mind of the disaffected voter. You know, the one that votes in favor of Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, or who wants to create a 51st state called Jefferson, or if she happens to be British votes to leave the European Union.

Many of us here in the North State wear that "disaffected" label proudly. Sometimes we call it other things, like "mad as hell."

To the pundits, we say: Look, this is not so difficult to figure out.

When the state's urban majority acts as if the rest of us don't exist and exercises its power without regard to the impact on our way of life, we get mad. The $15 minimum wage was the most blatant example of that indifference. Until now.

If Assembly Bill 466 makes its way into law, sheriffs like Shasta County's Tom Bosenko will lose their discretion to permit concealed carry within their jurisdiction based on their best judgment.

Sheriffs are directly accountable to voters through elections. Politicizing the office has its drawbacks, but it is a good system for ensuring that the sheriff must fundamentally serve the interests  and reflect the values  of at least 50 percent of his or her constituents, plus one.

Under the proposed new law, applicants for what are commonly called CCWs would have to prove they face a risk of being harmed and so need the concealed weapon. The local sheriff's discretion is taken away.

In addition, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento, is proposing AB 450, which would impose new fees on the permits to pay for investigation and potential revocation of permits for people who already have them and are found to be dangerous.

Advocates of more gun control argue, not without merit, that people who have CCWs don't just stay home all the time. There have frequently been conflicts between jurisdictions where sheriffs believe in freely issuing the permits and those where law enforcement officials view the practice as unsafe.

But the reality is that's a relatively small issue. If Sacramento has too many concealed guns, and the voters agree, then they should replace the Sacramento County sheriff. A few people from Shasta County passing through town with a handgun legally concealed in their purses aren't going to make any difference.

Certainly, the population of the city has the largest population base in that county  as is the case in the state's other urban centers from which much of this anti-gun concern emanates. They should be able to impose their political will  locally.

And that's just the point.

Not only are we more politically conservative in this part of the state, we live different lives and use guns legally and reasonably much more as part of that lifestyle. So we also should have our own local say.

The voters of Shasta County have continued to re-elect Bosenko. His vigorous support of Seconnd Amendment rights is no small reason he has been able to retain unassailable support, despite a questionable track record on other issues and an overall rise in crime.

It is those voters who should determine whether the standard for issuing CCWs is too lax. So far, they've said quite the opposite.

We continue to believe secession is a pipe dream and political compromise the only path forward for the North State. But the state's liberal supermajority is treading dangerous ground as it continues to test the limit of its power. This terrible legislation should be the line that marks that limit.
SHARE

Richard Christoph, Redding

Several months ago, members of the Wildwood Park Neighborhood Watch, concerned with the large amounts of trash and debris being deposited along the tracks adjacent to our neighborhood, contacted Union Pacific Railroad to volunteer our services in cleanup of the unsightly and potentially hazardous material. We received a rapid response expressing appreciation for the offer, but stating that for legal reasons, Union Pacific does not allow private citizens on its property except under the auspices of a municipality and under the supervision of Union Pacific personnel.

We contacted Councilman Brent Weaver, who spoke with Redding Deputy City Manager Greg Clark. Due to their efforts, a meeting was arranged with Tom Savage from Union Pacific, Greg Clark, Nathan Cannon of city of Redding Solid Waste, neighborhood volunteers, and Matt Rivas and Mike Wieland, leaders of the Good News Rescue Mission's "Guests Giving Back" program. Safety training, equipment, procedures and supervision were thoroughly discussed with input from all attendees.

Since then, two cleanups of the Union Pacific property from South Street to the Market Street overpass have been successfully completed; the first on the east side of the tracks and the second on the west side. Redding Solid Waste provided trash pickers, Good News Rescue Mission and the neighborhood supplied volunteer labor, and Union Pacific generously provided bottled water, gloves, hard hats, safety vests, garbage bags, project supervisor Tom Savage and safety officer Mike Padilla, and subcontractors to pick up the bagged garbage and trim overgrown vegetation.

A big shout-out of appreciation to all those that persevered in the creation of an excellent collaborative effort with local government, ordinary citizens, a charitable organization, and a major U.S. corporation. With this type of cooperation, everyone wins.
SHARE

Don Farrell, Redding

Sen. John McCain, having a senior moment inspired by Trump, blamed President Obama for the killings and injuries in Orlando. He came to this conclusion using a long chain of events that occurred over many years. Using his logic, making the chain a bit longer, it was President Bush who went into Iraq in the first place, setting off the series of events. Make the chain really long and I suspect we could ultimately blame it on Mr. Columbus for discovering America in the first place. These politicians just don't seem to know when they're way past normal retirement age and should get out, but the money and power keeps them going.
SHARE

WD Ayres, Redding

For several years ISIS has been waging a declared war on the U.S. and has repeatedly called out to its followers for an attack against Americans in our homeland. A Muslim follower of ISIS then planned out and executed an attack on a nightclub full of gay people, murdering and maiming more than 50 peaceful souls. Leaders of ISIS and others in the Islamic community then praised the attack and claimed killing homosexuals was good.

In response to this atrocity the talking heads in our media and career politicians can't stop talking about how this shows we need more gun control laws. That's right, while we are involved in a global war with radical Islamists, some people think the answer is to pass more laws aimed at restricting lawful gun ownership.

Where is the logic and common sense in that?
SHARE

Norman Brewer, Redding

I've noticed that people across our nation are insisting that our government agencies restrict our rights as a means of controlling gun violence.

I believe the opposite. People should protect their friends and themselves. The job of the government is to get out of the way.

The demands of commerce will naturally provide for security if it is profitable to do so. If the government does not make it expensive and difficult, armed security can be provided. It need not be obvious or intrusive. Guards can blend in.

If some of any given group are legally armed the entire group is safer. Safer, not safe. There will be accidents. Security is costly. Freedom is not free.
EU operates as one block at the climate change negotiations and takes a single greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement

United Kingdoms exit from the European Union may not delay the execution of the Paris Agreement on climate change but it could mar the global pacts ability to achieve deep greenhouse emission cuts in the short- and medium- run.

The next step to operationalising the global compact requires at least 55 countries contributing at least 55 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions to formally join the agreement. The US and the EU have both lobbied and advocated that this get sealed by or at the G20 meeting scheduled for September 2016.

The UN is organising a high-level event, to be attended by ministers and heads of states in September, alongside the UN General Assembly, to try and get the requisite numbers of countries on board.

UKs exit from EU may not delay the coming into force of the Paris Agreement, with US President Barack Obama keen to seal this as his legacy.

Edward King, editor of the UK-based Climate Home, a specialist media outlet on climate change, said, UK may be able to ratify in 2016 before the EU and help the Paris deal come into force early. I dont see any new government opposing the PA, and remember the UK is well on course to meeting its 2020 carbon targets.

But Brexit could dull EU and UKs enthusiasm for meeting their emission reduction and climate finance commitments to the developing world.

Under the agreement, the developed countries are obliged to increase their emission reduction targets and financial commitments between now and 2020 as well and not just for post-2020. EUs appetite to do so will be further diminished by todays events, said an Indian climate negotiator.

We shall not be the only ones keenly watching how the EU now meets the climate change challenge going forward, especially their short and long term commitments to provide finance to the developing world, he added.

EU operates as one block at the climate change negotiations and takes a single greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement. The burden of this target is then shared between its member countries through internal negotiations. Talks for this were be held in July.

While UK would remain a formal member of the EU for at least the next two years, the climate targets are for a much longer time-horizon running up to 2030.

EU delayed the ratification of the second phase of Kyoto Protocol because it politically did not want to move further down that road. After Brexit, if EU members go slow on the Paris Agreement or lower their ambition, it too would be a political call. Technical and legal issues would be just a ruse, said the Indian negotiator.

Remember, the recession in the US too reduced the ambition and political capacity of the country to act on climate change. UK and EU are likely be see political and economic upheaval in the next two years as well, he added.

King said: The big question is how committed a new UK government will be to climate change. There may be so much on its to-do list when a new PM takes charge in October (that) climate gets pushed to one side... theres also concerns that in a drive for competitiveness and slashing red tape a swathe of environmental laws from rules on waste, renewables targets and a 2025 goal to phase out coal may be ditched.

EU would also go through its parallel and separate energy and climate policy upheaval. In recent years the UKs reputation as a climate leader has been tarnished, but theres no doubt from an EU perspective it was seen as one of the key drivers of ambition on emission targets. It supported efforts to get the EU to target 50 per cent greenhouse gas emission cuts on 1990 levels by 2030 as opposed to 40 per cent.

Without UK in the group to push the envelope, EUs climate policy will see a recalibration. EU was once considered a global leader on climate change. Since the failure of Copenhagen accord in 2009, it has tried hard to retain that mantel in the face of Obamas diplomatic overdrive. Brexit will could further test EUs claims and consequently also chip away at Paris Agreements effectiveness.

Photograph: Jacky Naegelen/Reuters
These start-ups are different from the ones that have made it big in India.

Subhayan Chakraborty reports.

Aum Project Engineers, Biomatiques Identification Solutions and Biomed Innovation are among 88 young companies, most of whom have names ending with 'solutions' or 'innovations', that have made it to the government's first list of firms to benefit from the Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) 'fund of funds' for start-ups.

The Small Industries Development Bank of India-backed corpus was announced in the Union Budget and was recently cleared by the Cabinet.

These start-ups, however, seem to be different from the ones that have made it big in India. In fact, it's hard to find anyone following the Flipkart or the Ola model.

With their origin anywhere between Bathinda, one of the oldest cities in Punjab, and Bengaluru, the country's IT capital, these firms are working in areas like manufacturing of agricultural vehicles to providing solar solutions, from making beverages to offering consultation for agro plants.

The only link to the likes of Flipkart and Ola is perhaps the Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). If Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (not related to each other) and Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal studied at IIT, Cygni Energy, one of the fortunate 88, was incubated at IIT-Madras.

'Solar energy is the fuel of 21st century... Cygni is on a mission to power a billion dreams by venturing into new solar solutions,' the company says on its website.

While these companies will get investments from the Sidbi-monitored fund, beginning with a total of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) in the first year, the government will also help them with faster approval of patents, an official at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion said.

None of the start-ups would get an income tax break for three years, a key incentive announced earlier, it is learnt.

The flipside is that the government has not performed a detailed background check before selecting the 88 firms.

Even the date of incorporation or total annual turnover -- two key factors defining a start-up -- were not checked, according to the DIPP official.

"While the government has focused on the innovation quotient, it has not probed into other aspects," he said.

The start-ups have submitted a 'letter of incorporation', but the government has not looked beyond that. No document proof was sought on date of incorporation or turnover.

The government has defined a start-up as an entity, incorporated in India not prior to five years before, with annual turnover not exceeding Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) in any preceding financial year, which is working towards innovation.

Even as these start-ups prove themselves and wait for funds from marquee investors, the government is planning another start-up conference in August. Already upbeat on the sector, the government will showcase the DIPP's initiatives at the event.

Around 10,000 participants as well as incubators are expected to participate in the event. The last big start-up conference 'Startup India' was in January where global and Indian entrepreneurs and investors had queued up and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the gathering.

There are plans to invite prominent international start-ups at a similar conference next year too, coinciding with the first anniversary of Startup India.
Describing the killing of eight Central Reserve Police Force troopers by terrorists in Srinagar as desperate attempts to create problems for the country, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Sunday that the government is committed to ensuring peace and security and necessary action will be taken.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were on Saturday killed and 21 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore near Srinagar, in what appeared to be a Fidayeen attack carried out by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

The incident is very unfortunate... We condemn such ghastly attack by terrorists and we pay homage to the departed martyrs and send our condolences to the bereaved family members, Rijiju told reporters in Hyderabad.

The CRPF team, they were returning from the firing range to the headquarters when they were attacked near Jhelum river. It was a tragic incident where eight of our jawans lost their lives, he said.

The situation is challenging...people who believe in extremism, they are very desperate because we have got a very dynamic prime minister and India is progressing very well and so they are doing everything to scuttle the efforts of the government to taking India to new level of prosperity, the Union minister said.

There are desperate attempts to create problems for the country...these are desperate attempts...but, we are committed and necessary action and response will be taken up...let the officers come back from the spot after they review the entire situation, he said.

There may be claims by groups (taking responsibility for the attack), but we have to make complete official assessment of the situation. Our DG CRPF has been asked to go there and other senior officers have rushed to Srinagar, he said.

On reports about statement given by Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on the incident, Rijiju said, He has a habit of giving such statements and the whole world is watching. I dont want to make political statements...I think the Ministry of External Affairs and the PMO (Prime Ministers Office) may react to it.

Reacting to another query, the minister said, The efforts to infiltrate along the LoC (Line of Control) in the western side have come down. The attempts have increased but the level of success has drastically come down and that is why this kind of desperate attempts are being made, and they may try to increase the level, but infiltration itself has come down.

On the Pathankot incident, he said, We are waiting for the date which Pakistan has to give and as and when the date comes our people -- the NIA (National Investigation Agency) team is ready.

IMAGE: Security forces stand guard after terrorists attacked a CRPF bus on Srinagar-Jammu National High Way at Pampore on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo
IMAGE: Senior police and CRPF officers carry the bodies of CRPF personnel killed in Pampore attack after a wreath laying ceremony at Humhama, on the outskirts of Srinagar on Sunday. Photograph: PTI Photo.



In a clear reference to Pakistan, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the neighbouring country was trying to destabilise India even as he announced that a committee will be sent to Pampore to look into any lapses in the handling of the terror attack that left eight Central Reserve Police Force personnel dead.

Showering praise on security men for successfully eliminating two terrorists involved in Saturdays attack, he said, I have asked the Home Secretary to send a two-member committee to Pampore to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents.

I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully, he said addressing a function to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in Fatehgarh Sahib.

The home minister said Indian youth should stand up to face forces which want to destabilise the country.

An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India. I call upon Indian youth to stand up to face such forces and we should greet and welcome the bravery of our security people and the way they are working with such valour and courage, said Singh without naming any country.

The home minister said, India cannot forget those security men who got martyred. They are not with us now and we pay our tributes to them.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in recent years, eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 others critically wounded on Saturday when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them at Pampore, in Kashmir.

The minister stressed that the country needed brave and courageous people to face the current challenge.

But this period is going on and we need brave people in this time like Banda Singh Bahadur who were ready to lay down their lives for the country and society. Such people can protect the nation, he said.

He noted that people should take inspiration from people like Banda Singh Bahadur. Today our country is facing many challenges and to win over these challenges, we can take inspiration from life of people like Banda Singh Bahadur, he said.

IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti pays tribute to slain CRPF personnel at a wreath laying ceremony on Sunday. Photograph: S Irfan/PTI Photo.

Meanwhile in Srinagar, paying tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said such incidents are only defaming Kashmir while keeping potential investors and tourists away from the state.

The CM laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the eight CRPF personnel.

She said targeting security forces personnel who were only doing their duty was condemnable.

This is a fasting month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins. This is the time when we should be making sure not to hurt others. This kind of attack where you are affecting families by snatching their bread earner is condemnable.

Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a set back to the religion we practice, Mehbooba told reporters.

She said the terrorists were also giving a set back to tourism of Kashmir.

People from many countries have started arriving but this would send a wrong signal about the situation here, she said.

Director General of Police K Rajendra Kumar downplayed suggestions that the CRPF casualties could have been avoided in view of prior intelligence inputs and said the attackers were neutralised due to alertness of the jawans and intelligence inputs.

It is a desperate act by the terrorists. You must have seen over the past few days the attacks at Anantnag, Bijbehara or Pampore, these are desperate acts. Over the past six months, many terrorists and their leadership have been eliminated, he said.

The CRPF personnel were returning after doing their duty and in such cases they become sitting ducks. In earlier attacks, the militants managed to escape but yesterday, our jawans were alert, there were intelligence reports which led to neutralising of terrorists. They could not escape, Kumar said.

Asked if there was any militant involved in Saturdays attack on the loose, the DGP said, We are investigating the case. We are looking at all possible angles and links and we will get them, we will get the perpetrators to the book.

On the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 2, Kumar said, We will take all steps necessary for safe and secure environment for smooth conduct of the yatra.

On infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control, the DGP said while some infiltration has taken place, JK police and security forces are all prepared and geared up to handle any sort of situation.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group, whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims.

In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, Indias application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India is not a signatory to the NPT and that was the ground used to thwart Indias bid.

However, diplomatic sources said today that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group.

Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources said that Mexicos suggestion was also opposed by China but it found support from a large number of countries including the United States.

A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossis appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a path forward for Indias acceptance as a member.

We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year, the Obama administration official said in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting Indias NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support Indias case on its merits.

An upset India later accused one country, a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.

Meanwhile, in an obvious reference to China, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday that there was only one country which persistently raised procedural hurdles as a result of which no result could be arrived over the issue on Indias NSG membership, adding that India will continue discussions with China on the issue.

There are some processes which take longer, Id evaluate the NSG membership process in that category, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

India will continue discussions with China on the NSG issue. There is a possibility of Indias inclusion, he said.

Some countries did raise procedure-related issues but not a single country apart from that one country opposed Indias membership of NSG, the MEA spokesperson said.

Asserting that India has already implemented all NPT provisions, Swarup said, Our position on the NPT is very well known. As far as the NSG is concerned, it said the implementation of NPT is important to the extent that goal post remains implementation of the NPT, we believe we have met the criteria and have all credentials to be an NSG member.

Claiming that Indias case on NSG membership cant be equated with that of Pakistan, he said, Our credentials on non-proliferation are very well known, our track record speaks for itself. As far as other countries are concerned, their track record speaks for themselves. I dont think anyone in global community can ever equate India with Pakistan on Nuclear non-proliferation issue.

Swarup said that not getting NSG membership in Seoul was not a failure but certainly we did not get the expected results.

But these are continuing processes and we will continue to work very actively on this. Today, the Indian diplomacy doesnt have fear of failure. If we dont get desired results it only means that we redouble our efforts, he said.

With inputs from ANI.
IMAGE: Police detain Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other AAP MLAs at Tughlaq Road Police Station during their march towards the PM's residence to protest against the arrest of party legislator Dinesh Mohaniya, in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo



With a complaint being lodged against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, 52 members of legislative assembly of the ruling Aam Aami Party on Sunday created high drama in the national capital as they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence to surrender him but they were detained more than a kilometre away.

The MLAs, including six ministers, were detained for violating prohibitory orders around 7 Race Course Road residence of the prime minister, a high security area.

The police, which asserted that they would take action against anybody violating the law, detained them outside Race Course Metro station and took them to the Parliament Street police station. They were released after some time.

The AAP has 67 MLAs in the House of 70.

The latest confrontation between the AAP government and the Centre was triggered over a complaint against Sisodia by the traders of Ghazipur market that he had threatened them. This came close on the heels of arrest of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya on charges of molestation and sexual harassment on Saturday.

I had just gone to tell Modi ji that let us work for the people of Delhi. If you are fond of arresting us then do it. Before they ask the police to arrest us, we said you have enmity against the MLAs. Arrest us. But dont obstruct the work of Delhi, said Sisodia, who led the march.

After his release, he said, We (AAP MLAs) all went together. If you (PM) want to do politics of sending us to jail then we will all come to you. Send us to jail together. At least the Delhi Police can nab the rapists. Which is why we went, but they detained us.

Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM.

The decision to take out a march to the prime ministers residence was taken a meeting of legislators called by Kejriwal this morning. It was attended even by Delhi assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel and his deputy Rakhi Birla.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju termed the act as a drama. He said the people of Delhi have given the AAP a mandate to work but Kejriwal was indulging in theatrics.

Sisodia, while attacking Modi, referred to 14 Bills that have been returned by the Centre which said procedures were not followed in passing these legislations.

The deputy chief minister had said on Sunday that he had gone for a surprise inspection at Ghazipur Mandi where some people were running illegal business and they registered a complaint alleging that he had threatened them.

I am sure that Modiji will tomorrow convert this complaint into accusations like violence, eve-teasing a girl and extortion and get me arrested, he had stated.

IMAGE: Police detain AAP legislators at Tughlaq Road Police Station in New Delhi on Sunday. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo



Talking about the incident, Special Commissioner of Police (North) S B K Singh said the president of Ghazipur Aadhti Association had given a letter at Ghazipur Police Station stating that Sisodia adopted a dictatorial attitude on hearing their grievances during his visit to the market.

He (the complainant) was worried that Sisodia could get something wrong organised due to his position. However, no police action is made out in the matter, he said.

Sisodia said although the AAP MLAs were detained, he and his party colleagues were ready to go to Tihar Jail.

On Saturday, he had tweeted, Modiji, your enmity is with us. Arrest us. But do not stop the work of Delhi. We all are coming to surrender before you.

Justifying action against the MLAs, Special Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) M K Meena said, We are not concerned with any party or any person holding whatever position. We will take action against whoever violates the law.

Seeking to differentiate between the cases of arrest of Mohaniya and compliant against Sisodia, Special Commissioner (Law and Order) Taj Hassan said the complaint received against Sisodia does not involve any cognisable offence.

In Mohaniyas case, Hasan said, complaint was cognisable, and the statement of the woman was also recorded in front of a magistrate and he was not joining the investigation.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai said the Modi government has give rise to an emergency like situation in Delhi and things are happening in a planned manner to obstruct the working of Delhi government.

When a BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MLA indulges in hooliganism, he is not arrested. There is no action against those whose name cropped up in the M M Khan murder case, but AAP is targeted, he said.

Rijiju said it is better not to react against Kejriwals charges.

We are so busy in running the country. The people have given us a chance to service the country. Arvind Kejriwal and his associates do drama all the time, the way he brings out things using theatrics? Does he have no work?

The people of Delhi have given them a mandate to work, but he is missing out on it and indulges in drama. If we start responding to every question of Kejriwal then we will have to stop working. PM is so busy. He is always thinking of what to do for the country. If we start acting like these dramebaaz then who will work for the country, Rijiju said.
IAF pilots would no longer have to fly deep into heavily defended airspace to strike enemy bases, they can launch a Brahmos from as far away as 295 km, reports Ajai Shukla.

With the successful test flight on Saturday, June 25, of a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter fitted with a Brahmos cruise missile, the Indian Air Force has moved closer to a potent new capability.

When the Indo-Russian Brahmos is operationalised on the Su-30MKI, IAF pilots would no longer have to fly deep into heavily defended airspace to strike enemy fighter bases, or targets like terrorist camps, nuclear installations and military headquarters.

Instead, they can launch a Brahmos from as far away as 295 kilometres, and turn back to safety while the missile flies on to do the destruction.

Business Standard learns the IAF will modify at least 40 Su-30MKI fighters to carry the Brahmos missile.

Air-launched land-attack missiles are not new, nor are cruise missiles like the vaunted United States Tomahawk missile, that can be launched from thousands of kilometres away.

What makes the Brahmos-Su-30MKI combination lethal is the speed with which it strikes -- the aircraft flies well above Mach 2, and the missile flies at Mach 2.8, giving enemy air defences little chance to detect and shoot them down before they strike the target.

Besides eliminating the need for taking a human pilot over heavily defended targets, the Brahmos has also proven to be a highly accurate missile.

For the IAF, getting Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd -- which builds the Su-30MKI under licence at Nashik -- to integrate the aircraft with missile has been a priority.

On instructions from Air Headquarters, Sukhoi (in Russia) and HAL (in India) independently conducted feasibility studies.

After the IAF determined that HAL had evolved the simpler, most manageable, design, it placed an order on HAL in January 2014 to integrate the Brahmos onto the Su-30MKI.

"It is a perfect example of 'Make in India' and an engineering marvel in the aviation history of India. It proves that when all agencies come together with one mission, there is nothing like impossible," declared HAL chief T Suvarna Raju after the flight test.

Business Standard was granted exclusive access to the Brahmos upgrade, while HAL was carrying it out at a facility called the Aircraft Upgrade Research and Development Centre in Nashik.

The AURDC had earlier upgraded MiG-27 and MiG-21 fighters, partnering a Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratory called the Defence Avionics Research Agency. Along with DARE, the Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai, also played a part in the Brahmos upgrade.

A key challenge was to strengthen the Su-30MKI airframe, particularly its underbelly weapons station, to carry the huge Brahmos missile (8 metres long, 0.7 metres in diameter, and 2,560 kg in weight).

Since the Brahmos protrudes beyond the Su-30MKI's air intakes, it was imperative to ascertain that it did not impede the flow of air into the fighter's engines. This was achieved through computational fluid dynamics modelling.

Meanwhile, DARE modified the pilots' digital cockpit display, creating a new 'page' that the pilots would use while launching the Brahmos.

Having established that the Su-30MKI can carry the Brahmos in flight, the IAF will now carry out flight testing to determine the penalty such a bulky external load imposes on flight parameters like speed and turn performance.

After that, the IAF will actually fire the Brahmos from the aircraft, ensuring that the missile separates from the fighter smoothly. This phase of testing will also check how accurately the Brahmos hits its target.

The Su-30MKI is already a highly modified aircraft, with HAL having carried out more than 40 modifications to the fighter originally delivered by Russia.

It is expected that countries like Malaysia, which fly a similar version of the Su-30, could also seek the Brahmos capability.
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.
Goodwill-West Texas staff announcements

Goodwill-West Texas recently announced the following changes to its staff:

Paul Klingler has joined Goodwill-West Texas as contracts manager. He oversees the grounds and janitorial contract services for Goodwill, and has 35 years experience in management of facility operations.

Julie McCay has been promoted to donated goods/retail director. She has worked for Goodwill-West Texas as retail director for almost 3 years, and was recently promoted to add donated goods responsibilities. She has more than 34 years experience in retail management and operations.

Christy Shaw has joined Goodwill-West Texas as donated goods/retail assistant director. She has 26 years experience in retail management and operations.

Sadie Smith has joined Goodwill-West Texas as communications/development director. She holds a master's degree in communication from Abilene Christian University and a bachelor's degree in communication from Hardin-Simmons University.

Brennan Favor has joined Goodwill-West Texas as mission services director. She holds a master's degree in social work from UT Arlington and a bachelor's degree in social work from Hardin-Simmons University.

Early chiropractor honored

The Texas Chiropractic Association has named Dr. Lorin Wolf, of Heartland Chiropractic, in Early, as the Texas Young Chiropractor of the Year 2016. The award recognizes doctors who are under age 40 or who have been practicing for fewer than 10 years. Wolf is the state director for District 7 of the Texas Chiropractic Association State Board.

Goodwill-West Texas store in Eastland recognized

The Goodwill-West Texas has been named the 'Business of the Month' by the Eastland Chamber of Commerce. Goodwill-West Texas operates 13 retail stores in West Texas.

Hotel opens in Snyder

Fairfield Inn & Suites Snyder, operating as a Marriott franchise, recently opened at 5207 Big Spring Highway in Snyder. The 81-room hotel is owned by Civitas Capital Group and managed by Pillar Hotels & Resorts, of Irving.
The reins of Little Joe Movers have passed to the second generation of the Leal family in Abilene, and the woman leading the company says they are still committed to the high standards set by her father.

Opened by Joe Leal in 1963, Little Joe Movers has been dedicated to serving the moving needs  big and small  of families and businesses all over the region.

'My dad was an entrepreneur who loved his community and was active in his church for many years,' said Sylvia Leal, Joe Leal's youngest daughter, who assumed day-to-day responsibility for the business in March. 'He was passionate about giving back and helping others.'

Joe Leal retired from the Army in 1961 and worked on the construction of Atlas missile silos in the area before starting Little Joe Movers.

'After retiring, my dad needed a job and my parents really liked Abilene, so my dad started his small business hauling items for people and later for a construction company,' said Sylvia Leal. 'The idea that began as a one-man operation  with one truck  has now grown into a full-service moving company that does local residential and commercial moves.

'My parents started the company by hard work, dedication and helping the customer customize every move. We have handled thousands of residential and commercial moves and we are proud of that.'

Joe Leal used a small business loan in 1970 to add several new trucks, property and equipment.

'Few family-owned moving companies in town can say they've been in business for more than half a century, and as second-generation owner, my sister and I are very proud of my dad's accomplishments,' said Sylvia Leal.

She said much has changed since the early days of her father's business, including the advent of other small, niche moving companies, and, of course, the big boys  the cross-country moving companies.

'Since 1963, many things have changed, such as the way we advertise, compliance, rules and regulations, and recently, in the last five years, local competition,' she said. 'We've remained successful because we have provided a niche service to the customer and the community consistently for 53 years.'

Little Joe Movers specializes in household goods moves, senior relocation, packing service and office and commercial moves. Sylvia Leal said the company just completed a large, commercial move recently, moving the Merkel Elementary School into its new building. It also was the mover for the Friends of the Library sale this year, moving thousands of books from storage to the Civic Center.

Joe Leal died in June 2011, but Joe's wife, and the family's matriarch  Lupe Leal  still stays involved in the business.

'Most of the daily operations is overseen by myself and my sister, Annie,' said Sylvia Leal. 'My mother is truly the rock of this family, and her insight adds tremendous value. In addition, the man who coordinates a lot of the moves, the crews, and our fleet of vehicles is Patrick Martinez, who has been with us for more than 30 years; we couldn't do as well as we do without Patrick.'

Little Joe Movers has packed and moved almost anything someone can imagine, said Sylvia Leal, including a stuffed (real) alligator. 'We have literally moved anything and everything,' she said, smiling.

As a certified, woman minority owned business, Sylvia Leal said she and her sister are currently working on certification to become 'certified moving consultants' through the American Moving and Storage Association; they are also active members of the Southwest Movers Association in Texas.

Sylvia Leal said taking on the task of running the business her father started is daunting at times, but she and her sister are dedicated to making it work.

'I'm so proud of my dad's accomplishments and it's important to see this business continue providing a service to Abilene and the Big Country,' she said. 'We love Abilene, we hope to continue his legacy by growing the business and learning the industry even better; our long-term plan is to pass this along to our children.'
It would take something major to miss high school graduation and something major was happening in the life of Corbin Cabrera the day his Cooper High School classmates walked the stage.

Instead of hearing his name called May 28 at the Taylor County Coliseum, Corbin was in Washington, D.C., participating in a program for people who lost a loved one in battle.

Lt. Col. David Cabrera, Corbin's father, was killed in a suicide bombing incident in Afghanistan Oct. 29, 2011, just a month after arriving with his Army unit.

Corbin knew for a long time that his high school graduation would fall on the same weekend as the annual meeting of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which was founded in 1994 to offer support to people who lost a loved one in military service.

He also knew for a long time that he would choose the TAPS meeting, his third consecutive time to attend and his last as the one on the receiving end. Beginning next year, Corbin will serve as a mentor at the camp, which is held Memorial Day weekend every year. He didn't even have to give his decision much thought.

'I was going to miss graduation for TAPS no matter what,' he said.

As it turned out, Corbin and two other graduating seniors at the TAPS camp didn't miss out entirely. Thanks to Corbin's mentor, a man he admires and wants to model his service after, something special happened at the three-day camp.

Daniel Davenport, a 31-year-old staff sergeant in the Army, was paired with Corbin two years ago, Corbin's first year to attend the camp. Davenport, who is assigned to the White House Communications Agency, knew Corbin would be graduating this year  he just didn't realize it was the same weekend as the TAPS camp.

He called Corbin in Abilene, wanting to know when the graduation would be so that he could attend. He couldn't believe what he heard.

'It was surprising,' Davenport said of the coinciding dates.

Davenport started checking with other mentors and found out that three of the 18 seniors at the camp would be missing graduation. He got on the phone with TAPS officials and told them they had to do something extra for those campers.

'That's like a pillar in everyone's life,' Davenport said of high school graduation.

So, when the graduating seniors arrived for camp, they learned that each of the three days would feature something special just for them. They had a luau party, they got special T-shirts and caps and gowns.

'We had a walking-across-the stage ceremony,' Davenport said.

Once Corbin returned home to Abilene, he got his Cooper High School diploma in the mail. He also 'graduated' out of the TAPS program. In the future, he will be a mentor like Davenport. And, he has the full backing of Davenport, someone he plans to stay in touch with the rest of his life.

'I think he's going to do great,' Davenport said.

Also attending the TAPS camp were Corbin's mother, Angela Cabrera, and his sister, Gillian Cabrera, who will be a senior at Cooper in the fall. This was the first year for them to attend and they were impressed with what they saw.

'It's nice being around people who have gone through the same thing we have,' Gillian said.

Corbin and Gillian were students at Madison Middle School in 2011, the year their father was killed. Their parents had divorced in 2000 and it was their father's wife who called and left a message for Angela to get in touch.

'I could tell by her voice that something was wrong,' Angela recalled. 'I don't know if she had to say the words.'

Corbin and Gillian, 13 and 12 at the time, also knew something was wrong when their mother returned the call, even though she did so in the privacy of her bedroom.

'We kind of knew what had happened,' Corbin said, but they thought one of their grandparents had died, not their father.

A casualty officer and a chaplain from the Army soon arrived at their doorstep to begin the grief process and to assist as they could. The family chose Arlington National Cemetery for the burial, although that wouldn't take place until June 2012, following several memorial services in various places.

David Cabrera was a 1992 graduate of Texas A&M University, with a degree in psychology. He later earned a degree in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington and found a job in Florida. That was followed by joining the Army in 1996, serving as a psychologist.

After basic training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Cabrera was assigned to a stint in Germany. Corbin was born there in 1998 and Gillian in 1999. The year Gillian was born, they were transferred to Fort Lewis in Washington state. Following the divorce in 2000, Angela and the two children returned to Abilene, home of Angela's parents, Jim and Mary Pizzorno.

Two years ago, the family learned about TAPS and Corbin agreed to attend the camp. He wasn't enthusiastic about it to begin with, thinking it would be 'stupid,' but that changed quickly.

'I went,' he said, 'and I loved it.'

The three-day 'Good Grief' camp mixes fun outings with group sessions where the youngsters learn how to cope with the loss of a parent. Nothing is held back. The youngsters are encouraged to talk about their experience, helping themselves and one another.

'It just gets everything out there,' Corbin said.

Another benefit Corbin learned about through TAPS is a scholarship available to all children of someone killed in action. The scholarship, named for Marine Gunnery Sgt. John D. Fry, covers up to $17,500 in state tuition, an allowance of up to $1,000 a year for books, a stipend, and 36 months of benefits.

Corbin will use his scholarship at Texas A&M, following in his dad's footsteps. He plans to major in business and minor in psychology, eventually earning a doctorate in psychology. Because of his own experience, he plans to work with children who have lost a parent in the military.

He will get some experience mentoring those children beginning next Memorial Day weekend, when he will return to Washington, D.C., as a mentor with TAPS. He wants to connect with a child and continue that connection for a lifetime, like the one he has with his mentor.

'The connection is really the best thing,' he said of his TAPS experience.

Gillian Cabrera understands that sentiment and already sees herself following in her brother's footsteps. Cooper High School graduation is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, May 27, 2017, the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend.

Like her brother, Gillian will just have to get her high school diploma in the mail.

'I'm going to TAPS,' she said.
Just watching the seven women sitting on the floor, cutting plastic bags into strips and then magically turning those pieces into colorful mats, no one would guess their background.

They smile and laugh and chat among themselves in their native Nepali. A translator helps others in the room understand what they are saying. The smiles and laughter need no translation.

They are thrilled to be in Abilene, a long way in many respects from the refugee camps in Nepal where they lived for years after being expelled from Bhutan in an ethnic cleansing before being resettled here through the International Rescue Committee.

Now, they are giving back to the community that has taken them in by making mats that are donated to The Salvation Army and Love and Care Ministries. The mats are distributed to homeless people, who put them underneath sleeping bags.

'I'm proud they are doing this to help the community,' said B.J. Kepache, who serves as a translator.

The sleeping bag mats are 6 feet by 3 feet. Smaller mats, crocheted in double thickness, are perfect for chair cushions or stadium seats.

The project also is a way for everyone to pitch in and help  both the refugees and the entire community. It takes 700 plastic bags to make one of the large mats, and donations are being requested. Instead of throwing away unwanted plastic bags, drop them off from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Eternal Threads, 101 Walnut St.

The mat-making magic takes place in a backroom of Eternal Threads. Each Wednesday morning, the seven women  Madhu, Lacchi, Chandra, Phisty, Saili, Harka and Lalita  are picked up at their homes by Eternal Threads volunteers Judy Ingram and Joyce Curtis and brought to the store.

For the next two hours, they cut the plastic bags into strips and then use a crocheting technique to turn the strips into mats. The process is called 'plarning,' meaning crocheting with 'plastic yarn.'

The finished mats have the look and feel of a rag rug, but they are waterproof. The women are so proud of their work that they clip their name to each finished mat.

The project developed when an Eternal Threads supporter, Carolyn Dycus, learned of a similar project at the Presbyterian church in Sweetwater, where a friend attends. Dycus is a member of Highland Church of Christ in Abilene. During a discussion at her church about homelessness in Abilene, Dycus realized the mats would be a perfect way to help.

'This just seemed to fit,' she said.

She talked about the idea with Linda Egle, founder of Eternal Threads. The women then contacted the International Rescue Committee to see if any refugees might be interested in the project. Mat-making is a skill familiar to the women from the refugee camps in Nepal, so they were a natural.

The only problem with that plan was that none of the women speak English. Dycus put a notice in her church bulletin  'Anyone speak Nepali?'

A church member happened to know Kepache, who agreed to serve as translator.

'I'm glad I met them,' Kepache said of the refugees.

The Wednesday morning sessions serve more of a purpose than just making the mats. The women get to socialize and work together. They are paid for two hours of work with funds donated by Highland Church of Christ.

Last Wednesday, the women got a surprise visit from Ramesh Sapkota, who founded a nonprofit in Kathmandu called Kingdom Investment Nepal or KIN. In 2008, Egle partnered with Sapkota to assist in his work of rescuing young girls from sex traffickers.

'I always say the Holy Spirit connected us,' Egle said.

Eternal Threads assists in teaching the girls living in safe houses in Nepal sewing and tailoring skills and also sells the girls' products through a store in Abilene and online. The girls get the profits, which helps to make them financially independent and less susceptible to sex trafficking.

Sapkota and his family are living temporarily with family in North Carolina. Sapkota visited Abilene last week to see the mat-making process and to meet with supporters of his work in Nepal. The women weaving the mats are among the 100,000 refugees who, since the early 1990s, have been displaced from southern Bhutan due to ethnic cleansing. The refugees, who are of Nepalese origin, were forced to live in refugee camps in Nepal until being resettled in other places.

Abilene is home to a number of such refugees and Sapkota said he was pleased that their stories had a happy ending. He and Egle are hoping the girls they are assisting in Nepal have similar success. Sapkota, the product of a broken home, said he feels an empathy toward sex-trafficking victims, some of whom are as young as 13.

'I could see how girls from broken homes could easily be deceived in the name of love,' he said.

The girls are convinced by the traffickers that they will be well cared for while earning money to help their families. Once they are taken in, it is usually too late to help. But thanks to Sapkota's nonprofit, nine border stations have been set up to interview young girls who try to cross into India, where they could be used as sex slaves.

KIN also established two safe houses to restore the rescued girls to health and teach them skills to earn a living. When the girls are ready to leave, most return to their home villages and are reunited with their families  with a major difference.

In addition to learning skills, the girls gain confidence at the safe houses and are not afraid to speak about sex trafficking. And they receive healing, both physical and emotional.

'We send the girls with a leader's mindset,' Sapkota said, 'not a victim mentality.'

HOW TO HELP

Want to get rid of those plastic shopping bags and help someone at the same time? Just drop off unwanted bags at Eternal Threads, 101 Walnut St. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.

Seven refugees from Bhutan, who were resettled in Abilene through the International Rescue Committee, are making mats from the bags. The women cut the bags into strips and then use a crocheting technique to create the mats. It takes 700 plastic bags to make one large mat, 6 feet by 3 feet.

The mats are donated to the Salvation Army and Love & Care Ministries to distribute to homeless people to place underneath sleeping bags. Call 672-6000 for more information.
Most likely, if you care about the world's creatures, that affection was sparked by an animal experience perhaps during a trip to a zoo.

As the Abilene Zoo celebrates its 50th anniversary, it's a good time to take stock of what the institution contributes to this community.

The zoo's activities comprise a healthy mix of animal welfare activities and research, cooperative breeding programs, science education and animal rescue. That's in addition to the more popular task of enhancing the quality of life for humans of all stripes. The zoo is fun. Even better, it draws guests to the city, attracting families from throughout the region to come spend a day in Abilene.

West Texans are animal literate. Ranchers, farmers and people who grow up in agriculture know a thing or two about animals and preserving habitats.

Zoos are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the auspices of the 1966 Animal Welfare Act, but most importantly, the Abilene Zoo has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums now for more than 25 years. The nation's 220 AZA facilities represent the highest standards in the industry, and Abilene has worked hard to deserve a spot among this elite group.

For those who worry about the animals' quality of life, our full-time animal behaviorist works with the zookeepers daily to encourage enriching activities for the animals, as well as monitor their well-being.

Abilene's small zoo participates in 38 AZA Species Survival Plans, breeding creatures lost to the wild such as the Panamanian Golden Frog, as well as the beloved ocelot  a small cat species struggling to survive in south Texas. Humans destroying habitat and other unsavory, often illegal, human activity cause hardship for animals throughout the world. Zoos are embassies abroad for animal ambassadors.

We treat animals like the rare treasures they are. In addition to providing routine physical examinations, vaccinations, and diligent dental and health care, our veterinary staff contributes to research designed to improve animal welfare in the wild. Researchers take note of common afflictions across species, looking for solutions. Necropsies provide precious data shared among colleagues.

The zoo also works closely with schools, bringing in promising young biologists for hands-on experience as volunteers and interns. This zoo served more than 15,000 schoolchildren from 82 districts on field trips this year alone. Hundreds more attend camps and classes throughout the year. The grounds are the site of family reunions, birthday parties and marriage proposals.

Research tells us that people who visit zoos become more engaged with animal conservation and learn about their impact on the world. Indeed, that is precisely this zoo's mission: to serve as a place of learning and adventure, where families make memories, share the joy of discovery and become inspired to preserve wildlife.

Come see us. Get inspired. Do something.

Bill Gersonde is director of the Abilene Zoo and executive director of the Abilene Zoological Society.
It is ironic. When we need to water our lawns, we can't. When we get rain, we can water with few restrictions.

Last week, the city of Abilene announced that thrice-weekly watering is OK again. It wasn't that long ago, when Lake Fort Phantom Hill more than 17 feet below its spillway, that Abilene residents could water once every two weeks.

Three times a week now sound like we'd be watering all the time.

Water, water, water.

Those with odd-numbered addresses can water Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; those with even-numbered addresses can water Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. If you have a business or you're a school or the government, you can water Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Our city looks green, thanks to spring rain that fell after a dry fall and winter. In May, the city measured 8.53 inches of precipitation  well above normal. Now that our green space is green, we want to keep it that way, of course.

After getting good rain to start June, Abilene has received 0.17 on an inch the past 20 days. Combine that with 12 straight days of 90 degrees or hotter and our soft turf is turning hard and dry.

Here's where responsibility comes in.

During our peak drought, we were told that we could get by on one good soaking every two weeks. If so, do we need to water three times a week? Maybe not.

City officials say once a week still is good.

With full lakes, or lakes at least at higher levels than a year ago, we'd like to maintain that storage. Those who go to the lake for recreation  to fish, sail, paddle, motor about or just enjoy the scenery  certainly welcome full lakes and easy access.

'Lake' Abilene was reduced to a puddle by drought. Today, calling it a lake doesn't seem so ludicrous.

Anyone recently flying from Abilene to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport with a window seat easily can see bodies of water below. Even those driving west toward the state's more arid regions see a green tint to the land.

Enforced hours to water still are the best hours to water  in the morning until 10, and in the evening, after 6 p.m. Those hours are when water is best retained and doesn't evaporate in the heat of the day and breeze.

Obviously, we need to keep planning to maintain our water resource. It will get dry again; this is the Southwest.

We wish the spillover from full lakes could be diverted to lakes that still have capacity. That's not feasible.

Hopefully, the state has learned a great lesson. After baking in 2011  we had 81 days of more than 100-degree readings in Abilene  and drying out in 2014  we measured less than 16 inches of precipitation locally during the year, we know how bad it can get.

Water smart is way better than being water greedy.
Afghan officials have reported heavy fighting between Islamic State militants and government security forces in the east of the country.



At least a dozen Afghan security forces and civilians had been killed, with another 18 wounded, Nangarhar Province Governor Saleem Khan Kunduzi said in a statement on June 26.



Local officials claimed more than 100 Islamic State fighters had been killed in fighting in Nangarhar over the past three days, although exact figures varied and could not be independently verified.



As many as 25 homes had been burned down in Kowt district, and five civilians were reported kidnapped, Nangarhar officials said.



Hundreds of police and soldiers are engaged in the area with reinforcements on the way, provincial police chief Zarawar Zahid said.



In recent months, insurgents claiming allegiance to Islamic State had largely appeared to be bottled up in a mountainous area along the border with Pakistan under threat of U.S. air strikes.



Analysts say the latest attacks indicate the group remains a potent threat to a government already battling an insurgency dominated by the rival Taliban.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
Dyslexia is a familiar subject to American video journalist Stephanie Strauss. Not only has she produced short films about the learning difference and how American school children cope with it, but she herself is also dyslexic.

Winning the 2015 Bakala Foundation Journey Journalism Bootcamp Fellowship allowed her the opportunity to come to the Czech Republic, where she produced a short video documentary on the Czech education advocates, most of them women, incidentally, and all from outside the education establishment, who are working to change the system and coming up with creative ways to help dyslexic children.

In her short film Ignoring Me, Strauss met Czech artist Alena Kupickova, who created an interactive learning tool to help dyslexic children read by connecting letters to shapes, sounds, and colors. Alena Kromerova, who teaches English to dyslexic students, organizes events for Czech schools that emphasize the talents of people with dyslexia rather than their difficulties. Lenka Krejcova works for an NGO that provides assistance to students with learning disabilities and their families. Rudolf Kutina developed a program which uses toys to help kids develop their visual, spatial imagination and critical thinking skills. All of her interview subjects believe more needs to be done to spread awareness about dyslexia and the tools available to help dyslexic students.

Because I understand dyslexia, I could quickly connect with the people involved in this story, said Strauss. The data and official information were difficult to come by, so I decided to focus on these individuals and what drives them.

Following her fellowship, Strauss interned for 2 months with RFE/RLs multimedia department, where she worked closely with RFE/RLs video and photo editors. Her previous work has focused on science, medicine, and human psychology, with a special emphasis on womens roles in these fields. She is a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Her next project will focus on family stories and oral histories.
Ukrainian troops are holding out against attacks near two towns in the eastern Donbas region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported on October 26, saying the front line has not significantly changed.



Zelenskiy said the fiercest battles were taking place near Avdiyivka and Bakhmut.

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.

"This is where the craziness of the Russian command is most evident. Day after day, for months, they are driving people to their deaths there, concentrating the highest level of artillery strikes," he said in his nightly address.



Russian forces have repeatedly tried to seize Bakhmut, which sits on a main road leading to the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. British intelligence has said Moscow may see the capture of Bakhmut as a prerequisite for advancing to the two cities -- the most significant Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region.



Russian-installed authorities in Shakhtarsk, east of the city of Donetsk, said Ukrainian shelling had set ablaze fuel tanks at the town's railway station.



The reports could not be independently verified.



Zelenskiy did not provide an update on the situation in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which has been the scene of recent movements on both sides.



"Generally, we are strengthening our positions all over the front line, reducing the invaders' capabilities, destroying their logistics, and preparing good news for Ukraine," he said.

Russia, meanwhile, repeated the unfounded claim that Ukraine plans to set off a dirty bomb.



This time it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who made the accusation, speaking in remarks carried by Russian TV.



Putin said Ukraine plans to use a so-called dirty bomb as a provocation. It was the first time Putin made the unsubstantiated allegation, which his officials have been repeating since the weekend.



Putin made the remarks as he monitored drills of Russias strategic nuclear forces.



"Under the leadership of...Vladimir Putin, a training session was held with ground, sea, and air strategic deterrence forces during which practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place," the Kremlin said in a statement.



Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin that the exercise simulated a massive nuclear strike retaliating for a nuclear attack on Russia.



The United States said Russia provided advance notice of the annual drills, which are taking place as NATO carries out its own annual nuclear exercises.



NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Russias unsubstantiated statements about the use of a dirty bomb "absurd."



The NATO allies reject this blatantly false accusation, and Russia must not use false pretexts to escalate the war further, Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.



Ukraine and its Western allies have denied the claims and contend that Russia might itself try to detonate a dirty bomb, a weapons that would use the explosion of a conventional warhead to spread radioactive, biological, or chemical materials over an area.



Shoigu on October 26 called his counterparts from India and China to share Moscows concern about possible Ukrainian provocations involving a dirty bomb, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.



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.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the United States has communicated directly and very clearly to the Russians the consequences of such an attack.



Blinken, speaking at an event sponsored by the U.S. news outlet Bloomberg, did not specify when the Russians were informed or who did it.



Blinken repeated that the U.S. is "very closely" following Russias comments about the use of nuclear weapons but "does not see any reason to change its nuclear position."



Russia's statement that Ukraine is considering the possibility of using a dirty bomb is "another fabrication and is the height of irresponsibility on the part of a nuclear state," Blinken said.



He noted that Russia has a history of accusing other doing something they themselves have done or are about to do. He also said the U.S. was in direct communication with the Russians about their attempts to use the false claim as a pretext for any escalation.



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." U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on October 25 . "I cannot guarantee you that it is a false flag operation yet. We dont know. But it would be a serious mistake."

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.

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
Russia and China have signed a number of energy agreements as President Vladimir Putin seeks to boost energy ties with Asia.

The deals were among more than 30 cooperation accords Russian and Chinese companies and regulators signed during Putins visit in Beijing -- in areas that also included trade, finance, the media, and sports.

Most of the agreements were the framework for deals that must now be finalized.

Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, committed on June 25 to negotiating the sale of 20 percent of its Verkhnechonskneftegaz unit to Beijing Enterprises Group.

According to Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin, talks on the stake in the East Siberian unit will be completed soon.

Rosneft also agreed to build a petrochemical plant in Russias Far East with China National Chemical.

ChemChina would get a 40 percent stake in the Eastern Petrochemical unit.

Rosneft said in a statement that the deal would help the Russian firm finance the project, which the Moscow-based exporter has been seeking to develop for more than five years, and get access to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region.

In addition, Rosneft signed a new one-year supply agreement to ship as much as 2.4 million metric tons of oil to ChemChina.

And Rosneft inked a framework agreement with China Petrochemical Corporation, Sinopec, regarding the construction of a gas processing and petrochemical plant in East Siberia.

The sides aim to set up a joint venture next year focused on the Russian and Chinese markets.

Russia was China's largest crude oil supplier in May for a third month in a row.

Sechin said Rosneft would defend its market position in China, which seeks energy to fuel its economic growth, amid competition with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Iran.

"We will stick to the volumes we have agreed on, he said. It's around 40 million tons [per year]."

Also on June 25, the Russian and Chinese central banks signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up a yuan-clearing mechanism in Russia aimed at facilitating cross-border trade and investment.

In the media sector, Putin announced that state-controlled Russian television TV3 will soon begin broadcasts to audiences in China.

The channel focuses on entertainment and is part of the Gazprom Media company.

The Russian president said Russia's state-run news agency TASS and state-run Channel One TV also agreed to develop contacts with their counterparts in China's state-controlled media sector.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for closer cooperation between news agencies in the two nations so that they could "together increase the influence" of their media on world public opinion.

In the area of sport, Putin said China's Red Star hockey team would begin competing in the Kontinental Hockey League, a Russian-run international professional ice hockey league.

Both Putin and Xi pledged ever-closer cooperation, with the Russian president saying Russia and China stick to points of view which are very close to each other or are almost the same in the international arena."

Xi emphasized that this year marked the 15th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship and expressed hope that the two countries might remain "friends forever."

With reporting by Reuters, TASS, Interfax, AFP, and Bloomberg
Moscow has issued its strongest warning yet over the prospect of Montenegro becoming a full member of NATO. The Russian State Duma addressed a statement to the parliamentary assemblies of NATO and OSCE countries, as well as to the national parliaments of the Balkan states, warning of the possibility of "a new Cold War."

Duma deputies are seriously concerned about the policy of Montenegros integration into NATO, which, they reportedly argue, threatens to rend Montenegrin society and ratchet up social and political tensions.

The Russian parliamentarians' statement can be seen as a direct response to an open letter published on June 20 by senior U.S. officials and military leaders. They urged the White House and Congress to formally approve Montenegro's accession to NATO by 2017, saying the Balkan country's membership would promote "stability and security in Southeastern Europe." The signatories of that letter include former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and two former NATO supreme commanders in Europe -- U.S. General Philip Breedlove and U.S. Admiral James Stavridis. They said that Montenegro has built a small but capable military and reformed its security services to meet NATO standards and made significant progress on rule of law, corruption, and organized crime.

Moscow's most recent denunciation of Montenegro's pending NATO membership comes after a series of threats and protests organized in Podgorica by a small but vocal Russian-sponsored opposition party. Speaking at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "The Soviet Union has collapsed, and the Warsaw Pact no longer exists, but NATO is still approaching our borders. It is hard to understand why Montenegro would want to join the alliance. Where is the threat coming from? There is an absolute disregard for our position [on this matter]."

Commenting on the Russian campaign against Montenegro's NATO membership, Montenegrin lawmaker Nikola Gegaj told RFE/RL in Podgorica that he was surprised at the blunt tone of the criticism from Moscow.

"I think this reaction is not expected from such a large and powerful country -- a country with a great tradition and culture," Gegaj said. "It is hard to understand, especially if we keep in mind that the criticism is directed at the smallest country in the region."

On a recent visit to Montenegro, I spoke to Zarko Radulovic, the manager of the luxury Hotel Splendid in the coastal town of Budva. He said of anti-NATO demonstrations organized by pro-Russian groups in Podgorica: "Russia does not understand the Balkans. [Russians] have chosen the wrong players. They have aligned themselves with people without substance or local influence. Otherwise, we would have reasons to be concerned."

Explaining why he believes he can be trusted on the issue, Radulovic pointed to his background: "My own father was imprisoned for supporting Stalin. He was a Russophile and he was accused of being a traitor to his own people. My first wife was Russian. My second wife is Russian. And yet I support Montenegro's NATO membership with all my heart."

I asked him what Montenegro might expect to get from joining NATO.

"For the first time in our history, we would be in the company of the most civilized nations," he answered.

In the opinion of this successful Montenegro entrepreneur, smaller is better. He is not concerned that Montenegro has a population of just 600,000.

On the contrary: "It is an advantage," he said. "We only need strong and sincere partners. In a small country, whatever problem you have can be fixed in a week."

Around one-third of Montenegro's inhabitants are ethnic Serbs and most of them oppose NATO membership.

A formal invitation was issued by the alliance on December 2. Final accession talks were concluded in May, allowing Montenegro to assume "observer" status pending ratification by the governments of the other members, as well as by Montenegro's own parliament. Ratification by each member state is expected to be completed by spring 2017.
Reports say at least 82 people, including 58 civilians, have been killed in Russian and Syrian government air strikes on an area of eastern Syria controlled by Islamic State militants.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian and Syrian warplanes on June 25 targeted the region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of the city of Deir Ezzor.

It said 58 civilians were killed in the air strikes. It did not specify whether the 24 others killed were IS militants or civilians.

The monitoring group had first reported that 47 people, including 31 civilians, had died in the raids.

IS militants control most of Deir Ezzor and have laid siege since March 2015 to the remaining government-held areas in the city of the same name, which is close to Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov visited his countrys northern Dashoguz Province in mid-June. He fired seven district officials and reprimanded nine others.

Berdymukhammedov visited the western Balkan Province at the end of May. Twelve provincial and district officials were fired and 13 others reprimanded. Qishloq Ovozi has written about earlier dismissals this year.

Regular dismissals of Turkmen government officials have become something of a tradition. The only person truly safe from being sacked is the president. A very, very small number of officials have lingered on; you could count them on one hand.

But 2016 has already been different. The rate at which officials are falling or receiving warnings about shortcomings is more accelerated than seen before in Turkmenistan.

To look a bit at the history of the tradition of the Turkmen sack and explore what might be prompting this recent, unprecedented wave of dismissals, RFE/RLs Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, organized a majlis, or a panel discussion.

Azatlyk Director Muhammad Tahir* moderated the talk. Luca Anceschi, chairperson of the Central Asian Center at Glasgow University, participated in the Majlis podcast, as did Ruslan Myatiev, who runs the Alternative Turkmenistan News website. I like talking with both of those guys, so I joined in also.

The symbol for the Turkmen governments coat of arms should be a turnstile."

Turkmenistans people -- and those watching the country from outside -- have long grown accustomed to an endless rotation of officials. The symbol for the Turkmen governments coat of arms should be a turnstile.

Myatiev explained that these changes of officials have reached the point where "very few people know who their governors are, who their deputies are, what their duties are..."

As concerns who they are, most of us stopped even trying to learn their names, since they dont stay in their positions for very long. As Anceschi said, The fact that we cant even remember their names shows...that the politics of Turkmenistan is really personalized.

And the ultimate person in the countrys politics, the one who makes policy is, seemingly, the president. That is, of course, currently Berdymukhammedov. But the architect of Turkmenistans unique system of governance is Berdymukhammedovs predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov.

That system includes a steady reshuffling of officials, most believe, to ensure that no one could ever have the time to develop a support base of any kind and potentially become a rival to the president.

There are inherent problems with this constant rotation.

Turkmenistan is an isolationist state. Few people get in and few get out. That extends to education. Turkmenistans education system has been hit hard since independence, to the point where some required course material deals with the mythology of the president that the state has been pushing on the people for 25 years. Subjects that could provide valuable management skills are not stressed in the curriculum.

I think that they lack competence, Myatiev said, because for 30 years Turkmenistan did not manage to prepare young professionals, who have, for instance, received Western educations...

Anceschi explained, The reasons theyve been appointed are not because they are more competent than their predecessor.

Loyalty to the president is clearly key in Turkmenistans system, but Myatiev said that, beyond that, God knows what [the presidents] criteria for these [appointments] are -- whether its tribal things, whether its personal devotion, whether its anything else."

And Anceschi said officials are staying [in office] only if the president wants [them] to stay.

So that brings us to the present and the wave of dismissals this year. As opaque as Turkmenistans internal affairs are, it is clear the country is suffering serious economic problems.

The dismissals of dozens of provincial and district officials, and a few ministers, this year seems to show some desperation on the part of the government.

Anceschi characterized the Turkmen government as a highly paranoid regime and said this trait can be seen in these recent mass dismissals.

When you have seven or eight dismissals at willayat (provincial) level or even etrap (district), you have to think that someone must have said to the center there might be a problem here or there, Anceschi said, adding, Decreasing loyalties are punished pretty quickly.

It was noted that despite a shrinking state budget, officials are required to meet government targets that would be difficult to achieve in better economic times. Without adequate funding or proper resources, these officials inevitably fail to fulfill their work.

In the meantime, Anceschi pointed out the average tenure of some district or provincial officials is not even long enough to become familiar with the requisite tasks.

Beyond that, Myatiev noted, it is not just the district chief or his deputy involved. A new official, Myatiev said, gets a new assistant; he gets new key personnel within that district. It can be as low as changing a school director or a factory chief.

Stability and productivity are difficult in such a situation.

The panel agreed this constant replacement of officials was generally counterproductive but is especially detrimental during these current hard economic times.

But these frequent dismissals do serve some purpose.

Myatiev said, Its a very expected move by President Berdymukhammedov, given the financial state of the country. And Anceschi added that many officials are sacked because the government needs that kind of rotation. It makes other officials afraid, providing a crude form of motivation.

But Anceschi also said he senses an elite instability and noted that Berdymukhammedov appears to trying to narrow down the elite and make himself the center of a patronage network which is narrower and narrower. Anceschi added that in some ways this could be a sort of rite of passage.

Berdymukhammedov has got to the point in which his grip on power is so stable that he can do exactly the same things that Niyazov was doing, Anceschi said.

And he has an opportune moment. The pieces of the pie the elites are fighting for are getting smaller and that, to some extent, probably explains some of the ministerial dismissals. The rich in Turkmenistan will not stay rich by taking from the poor. Turkmenistans people are too poor to offer much. So it is necessary for the rich to rob from the rich.

But when a top official falls, so, too, do all the lower level officials whose fortunes were tied to that individual. That is leading Turkmenistan into dangerous territory.

The panel looked at these issues in greater detail and discussed other topics related to the dismissals in Turkmenistan, the patronage network, and how people such as Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov have managed to stay in office for long periods of time.

Listen to or download the Majlis podcast above or subscribe to Majlis on iTunes.

* Muhammad will be heading to RFE/RL's Washington, D.C., office soon. Well miss him in the Prague studio, but he will continue to moderate the Majlis podcast from the U.S. capital. All the best in Washington, Mr. Tahir!
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Lindsey Jackson, 14, of King George County was among the 33 people who were baptized Saturday during the first Convention of Jehovahs Witnesses of the summer at the Richmond Coliseum. Those who were baptized ranged in age from 11 to 76.

Two at a time they were fully immersed in water, the culmination of about a year of intense Bible study and fellowship.

Thirty-three new Jehovahs Witnesses, ranging in age from 11 to 76, were baptized in a rectangular pool in the back of the Richmond Coliseum on Saturday during the first Convention of Jehovahs Witnesses of the summer in Richmond.

Your dedication to Jehovah is the most important promise of your entire life, said Thomas Craven, a convention speaker who addressed the audience before the baptisms.

The denomination, a Christian faith that has more than 8 million members worldwide, will be holding four similar conventions in the city this summer, all with the theme of Remain Loyal to Jehovah.

Never abandon the one who will never abandon you, Craven said.

The annual regional conventions in Richmond are three days of Bible education for congregations from across Virginia, as well as some from Washington and North Carolina. This weekends convention started Friday morning with symposiums and Bible readings.

Bible education is important because it allows Jehovahs Witnesses to have a deep understanding of what they believe and to grow with one another, said Donovan Greer, a Jehovahs Witnesses spokesman.

As part of the symposium, Witnesses gave testimonials on times of trial. One teen discussed overcoming the accidental sight of pornography and how his parents and Jehovah helped him through it. A former military paratrooper talked about praying during his missions.

Those testimonials and having so many people together help foster a community across Jehovahs Witnesses congregations, Greer said.

Not only do the attendees study together, they worship together as well.

With many of Saturdays 5,595 attendees standing, they sang Christian Dedication in unison. Some held hands, and others draped their arms around one another.

We truly feel like were brothers and sisters, said Greer, a carpenter by trade who came to be a Jehovahs Witness more than 40 years ago.

Still standing, the attendees ushered off the 33 candidates for baptism with applause and cheers.

This weekends convention will conclude today with more symposiums and a drama presentation of O Jehovah, ... I Trust in You.

The conventions will be for the next five weekends, except for July 15-17, and will include a convention for Spanish speakers on July 8-10.
Grey W. Ritchie, an advocate of early childhood education once known as Ms. Kindergarten, has died. She was 93.

Grey Ritchies legacy can be found in the commonwealths 1,156 elementary schools, where  due in large measure to her advocacy for early childhood education  there are kindergarten classrooms and children who enter the first grade prepared to learn, said Steven R. Staples, Virginias superintendent of public instruction, in a statement this week.

Mrs. Ritchie, who died Monday, had spent the past 10 years living in Richmond. Before that, she had lived in Chesterfield County.

During the past week, Mrs. Ritchie has been remembered as a committed leader who fought for young children and helped change Virginias education system. But she also was remembered as an inspiration who went back to school later in life and taught her children to be strong while putting others first.

A memorial for Mrs. Ritchie will be held Monday at 2 p.m. at Bon Air United Methodist Church at 1645 Buford Road.

Mrs. Ritchie likely will be best remembered for her efforts in the 1970s and 1980s to expand access to early childhood education and kindergarten in Virginia.

Ben Howerton, a former state superintendent of schools, said that around 1977, a statewide discussion began on the importance of kindergarten and the benefits of getting children into school early.

Mrs. Ritchie, kindergarten supervisor at the Department of Education, was the states authority on early childhood education, Howerton said.

Her main push was getting more children into kindergarten.

In 1974, the General Assembly approved revised Standards of Quality requiring all Virginia school systems to provide kindergarten by September 1976.

The state Board of Education had registered its support for state aid for kindergarten in 1966. In 1968, the General Assembly appropriated $15 million for the 1968-1970 biennium to support programs in divisions that were already offering kindergarten.

Mrs. Ritchie fought to make sure all students were getting access to kindergarten.

One problem she faced was that superintendents and school boards across the state were not sold on making kindergarten compulsory because they feared it would be a state mandate without funding.

Grey Ritchie went all over this state talking to school boards, superintendents, PTAs and other organized groups about the benefits of early childhood education, Howerton said.

She also aimed to dispel the notion that you did not need a trained teacher to work with 5-year-olds and that someone with good baby-sitting skills would do.

That would send Grey Ritchie up through the roof, Howerton said. She was a great believer that the skill set required to be a successful teacher of young children was as sophisticated, if not more so, than any other discipline. And she was absolutely right.

Patricia I. Wright, another former superintendent for Virginias Department of Education, met Mrs. Ritchie in 1985 when she started as mathematics supervisor in the department.

Wrights office was down the hall from Mrs. Ritchies and the two became friends, sometimes carpooling to work since they lived close to each other.

She too remembers Mrs. Ritchies passion for early childhood education.

Mrs. Ritchie took great care to help kindergarten teachers obtain the professional development they needed to serve young children, Wright recalls. And she worked to help parents understand the school registration process and all the requirements.

Grey was the departments first early childhood specialist. She set the standard for all those who followed in that role, Wright said. Grey was a caring and compassionate educator who always acted with integrity.

Edith Grey Walden Ritchie was born Sept. 4, 1922, in Scottsburg. One of six children, she grew up in the small town outside South Boston.

She left home at 16 to attend the State Normal School for Women in Farmville, todays Longwood University. She left the school with her teaching certificate and spent several years working around the state. On March 28, 1948, she married James Smith Ritchie Jr.

Mrs. Ritchie started a private kindergarten in the late 1950s and ran it for 10 years.

In the early 1970s, she went back to school at Virginia Commonwealth University, graduating with her bachelors degree in 1972. She eventually got her masters degree from Virginia State University.

She worked at the Virginia Department of Education from Aug. 1, 1971, until May 31, 1988.

Her courage came from her husband, said Diane Howerton, Mrs. Ritchies daughter. He believed in her and he supported her, and that gave her the courage to do what she did.

He died in 2004.

Lucia Tipton, another daughter of Mrs. Ritchies, learned from her mother how to be true to herself while also being true to family and others.

Tipton said her mother taught her that you can be whatever you want to be. Youre strong enough to do that. But dont you dare hurt anybody in the process.

In addition to her two daughters, Mrs. Ritchie is survived by another daughter, Kathy R. Toole; and seven grandchildren.
At 11:15 on a Sunday night, two Spotsylvania County deputies delivered the unthinkable news to Grady and Wendy Preston.

Their 26-year-old daughters car had been struck hours earlier by an alleged drunken driver. Samantha Sumter, Sam to her family, had died at Mary Washington Hospital.

Wendy Preston hit the floor crying. Her only daughter, who would stay up to talk with her mom until 2 or 3 in the morning, was gone.

That same day on Sept. 13, 2015, her 7-year-old son, Khyree, had to get stitches above his eye after a bike accident. The family then ate at Chipotle and shopped at Targetnot knowing that their daughter may have been fighting for her life at the time.

Its just mind-boggling that I was doing things while my daughter, my only daughter, was dead, Wendy Preston said.

Grady Preston said he drove to the hospital to identify the body about 1 a.m. He said he selfishly hoped that the whole thing was a mixup, that somebody else had died in the accident.

Preston, who was Samanthas stepfather, started raising her when she was 3. To Samantha, he was just dad.

More than nine months have passed, but Wendy Preston said she still struggles to sleep at night. As her husband puts it, her happiness has been stolen.

The family wanted to tell their story before the July 27 trial of Orange County resident Brandon Michael Williams, 31, who is charged in the accident with aggravated involuntary manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and destruction of property. He had a blood-alcohol content of .182, or more than twice the legal limit, according to the state Department of Forensic Science.

Williams could serve anywhere from one to 20 years on the involuntary manslaughter charge.

A PROMISING LIFE LOST

Wendy Preston said Samantha was her best friend.

The 2007 Riverbend High School graduate would call her mom just to ask if she was doing OK. And if Wendy Preston was driving during a bad storm, shed get a call from Samantha telling her to get off the road.

Those are the things about that girl that I just miss so much, she said.

Her daughter was a top sales associate at Vision Center in Stafford County, where she would fill in for colleagues at the last minute. To this day, some customers still ask about the friendly young lady with the bushy hair.

James Sumter, 33, Samanthas big brother, said she loved playing the guitar and the drums. His bedroom was next to hers, so he didnt always appreciate the drum set, he said with a laugh.

She also enjoyed writing poetry, Sumter said, describing his sister as artistic. A lot of the poems were about nature and family, two of her favorite things.

Samantha was the kind of person who baby-sat for a single-mom friend without asking for a thing in return, her family said. She told her mother to keep her young brothers clothes because her friend would need them.

Samantha was living with her parents to save money, her mom said. She had excellent credit and leased a storage unit filled with stuff shed need when she moved into her own place.

All the advice I gave her as a mom, she took, Wendy Preston said.

At age 26, things had clicked for Samantha.

She was getting ready to head off to Navy boot camp in December, her mom said. Samantha also aspired to be a meteorologist someday.

I was looking forward to seeing the amazing woman she was going to be, mom said.

Wendy Preston will never forget the day of her daughters death. It was actually a beautiful day outside.

Samantha was off work and left home without doing her hairmaking her mom think she was running a quick errand.

Wendy Preston wasnt home at the time, but her husband told her that Samantha was her regular bubbly little self when she left.

Samantha hated traffic and preferred to take back roads, her mom said. The crash occurred on Brock Road, where Samantha practiced driving with her stepfather when she was a teenager.

SEEKING JUSTICE

According to the Sheriffs Office, motorists called 911 that afternoon to report a Volvo being driven recklessly on Courthouse Road. The vehicle turned onto Brock Road and got into two accidents less than a mile apart near Brock Road Elementary School.

The Sheriffs Office investigation concluded that Williams was a passenger in the first wreck. Jermaine A. Young Jackson of Locust Grove is charged in that initial crash with driving while intoxicated and driving on a suspended license.

Police allege that Jackson and Williams switched positions after the first wreck, and Williams was almost immediately involved in a second accident as a driver. The Volvo left the scene of that incident and continued to the 10500 block of Brock Road, where the fatal collision involving Sumter took place, the Sheriffs Office stated.

Williams, who suffered a broken tibia, was arrested Sept. 27 upon his release from Inova Fairfax Hospital, said Bill Neely, who was the commonwealths attorney at the time.

He was bailed out of jail the following day on a $25,000 bond. Efforts to reach the suspects attorney for comment were unsuccessful.

James Sumter, Samanthas brother, said it was tough watching Williams walk out of the courtroom a free man after his arraignment in February.

Being a brother, especially an older brother, its just a natural instinct to protect, said Sumter, who lives in Jersey City. ... To see that person just get up and walk out of the courtroom, it took everything in me to stay seated.

Its not fair that the man charged in Samanthas death was able to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays at home, he said. For Samanthas family, those days are reminders that she will never be walking through our doors again, Sumter said.

He definitely has to pay for taking Sam away from us, he said. I dont think I can ever forgive him, just based on the level of irresponsibility that he displayed that day.

Sumter said he doesnt understand why the suspects kept going after crashing twice. Samanthas stepfather said they had a choice, but his daughter did not.

But a prosecutor warned the family that Williams, who has no prior drunken-driving convictions, could serve as little as a year in jail if he is found guilty. Grady Preston said a sentence like that would make him question the entire justice system.

Wendy Preston said her life will never be the same because of a reckless decision.

If I could just make him understand what he has done to me and my family, she said of the driver.
LYNCHBURG  The Commonwealth Transportation Board has approved $1.3 million for the Blue Ridge Tunnel restoration, allowing for the completion of the project that includes rehabilitation of the train tunnel, parking, and a walking and biking trail to its western portal near Waynesboro.

The funding, through the Transportation Alternatives Program, was announced this month. Nelson County and the city of Waynesboro each will receive about $650,000.

After so many years of hard work and planning for this important project, it is most gratifying to know we will now be able to complete it, Nelson Supervisor Connie Brennan said in an email. This tunnel is a precious part of Virginia history and a monumental engineering feat. It is part of the historical and cultural heritage of this area that makes Nelson County such a special place. Kudos to (tunnel engineer) Claudius Crozet for his vision, honor to those who died building it, and many thanks to those who have labored to protect it for all of us for all time.

The Transportation Alternatives Program is intended to help local sponsors fund community-based projects that expand nonmotorized travel choices and enhance the transportation experience by improving the cultural, historical and environmental aspects of the transportation infrastructure, according to a news release.

The tunnel opened in the mid-1800s to allow rail access through Afton Mountain. At nearly 4,300 feet, it was the longest tunnel in the U.S. at the time. The passage took about nine years to complete, and it was taken out of service in 1944.

The Blue Ridge Tunnel project first was proposed more than 15 years ago, said Nelson County Administrator Stephen Carter.

So far, about $1.5 million has been spent on Phase 1 of the project, covering initial design work and acquiring easements and the completion of the phase, which includes the eastern trail and parking area in Afton.

The county previously was awarded about $1.5 million for Phase 2, which includes tunnel rehabilitation. Phase 2 has not been completed yet, as the county was waiting to learn whether funding would be provided for Phase 3.

Carter said county staff members are in the process of consolidating Phase 2 and Phase 3 funding to complete the tunnel restoration through just one construction project.

He said he expects the project could be completed in about 18 months, but the timeline depends on approval of an updated grant agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration and the acceptance of a bid for construction costs.

Carter said the county, through its engineering consultant Woolpert Inc., has submitted updated project cost estimates to VDOT within the past 90 days, which allows for the approval of the project and opens the door to construction bids.

He said the prospect for success is certainly in place, though it is still unknown if construction bids will be within the funding granted through the Transportation Alternatives Program.

I am more than very happy that the project has been awarded the additional funding necessary for the projects overall completion, Carter said.
TANGIER ISLAND  As often as she can, Carol Moore steers her skiff through the workboats and crab shanties of Tangier harbor and into the Chesapeake Bay itself as she makes her way to what she describes as her favorite place on Earth: a nearby island known to locals as Uppards.

Each visit for Moore is bittersweet, as there isnt much left of Uppards, a defenseless piece of land that is losing ground to the bay at an alarming rate. More than a century ago, Uppards was home to a thriving community of homes, a school and stores, all connected by footbridge to the island occupied by the town of Tangier. All of those buildings are long gone, as are the people, the last of whom left around 1930, and all that remains are slivers of sandy beaches edged around ever- widening tidal marshes.

Moore and others who visit Uppards typically find shells, old bottles and, occasionally, arrowheads, as well as bricks from long-ago house foundations, tractor tires and even a bathroom sink. Something more distressing greets visitors arriving on the extreme northern end of the island: weathered tombstones the bay has lifted off graves now under water. Four years ago, on the day after Hurricane Sandy swept across the island, Moore arrived for a walk along the beach on Uppards and found a skull rolling in the surf.

I was like, Oh, Lord! Then when I looked more, there were at least three complete skeletons on the surface, Moore recalled. It bothered me, so I stayed three or four hours just contemplating  just feeling sad for the people and Uppards.

Scientists say a similar fate awaits the rest of Tangier.

A study published in December in Scientific Reports says Virginias only inhabited offshore island could be lost in less than 100 years, though residents might have to abandon their island home within 50 years and perhaps even sooner because of continuing wave-induced erosion and sea-level rise associated with climate change that already have reduced Tangiers land mass by more than half since 1850.

David M. Schulte, a marine biologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and one of the authors of the report, calls the combination of erosion and sea level rise a double whammy for Tangier.

The island is going away, he said. The action that has to save it has not been initiated. Theyve still got some time, but theyre running out.

The first step in that action is a jetty along one edge of Uppards at the widening western mouth of the channel that leads into Tangiers increasingly exposed harbor. The nearly 500-foot-long jetty would protect the harbor  the center of the islands economy with its workboats, docks and crab houses on stilts that contain the islands soft-crab operations  from damaging wave energy, particularly during storms. Without the protection, the harbor is in peril, meaning the island is, too.

The jetty was proposed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1996 and has been under discussion and study ever since, with funding being the principal holdup. Now, though, funding for the state and local share of the project  10 percent of the total $2.4 million cost  is in place, and the Norfolk office of the Corps of Engineers thinks the remaining federal contribution will be made available once the final stages of the planning and design process are completed in the coming months. Corps officials said they hope to begin building in 2018, with construction expected to take less than six months.

Even if the proposed seawall is built, it will provide only a partial remedy. More such man-made barriers would be required to give Tangier a fighting chance.

The Scientific Reports study suggests a series of offshore, segmented breakwaters be constructed around much of the island in conjunction with creation of a sand beach and dune system along the western shore between the breakwaters and the existing shoreline. The study also recommends building up low-lying marshes with dredged sand and planting loblolly pines and other woody vegetation to help maintain elevation and serve as a seabird nesting habitat.

Not that such a project is anywhere close to being formally studied or funded, but the authors of the report estimate the total cost would be $20 million to $30 million.

Thats a lot of money for a tiny piece of land thats home to only a few hundred. Tangier Mayor James Ooker Eskridge has heard that time and again from outsiders who dont see the value of such a steep investment in a place that scientists predict could be gone in a matter of decades.

Man, I get steamed when I hear that, said Eskridge, a native Tangier waterman who became mayor in 2006 when his predecessor decided hed had enough and quit. Eskridge has become the face of the island and the person who usually meets with government officials and others to press the islands case. He does not own a necktie.

They dont understand our way of life, he said. Weve been here for hundreds of years. The watermen here dont ask for a lot. We lose crab pots and crab houses from storms, but we dont ask to be compensated by the government. We just bear it and keep going. But what we need now is out of our reach. We cant do anything about it. Wed like some help from the government.

For generations, Tangier Island has been populated with watermen who speak with a distinctive dialect and cadence that some compare to Old English and others say is merely typical of an isolated fishing village. The island now is essentially three ridges separated by marsh and canals  or ditches, as the locals call them  that are connected by narrow bridges. Bicycles and golf carts are the principal modes of transportation on the island.

Tangier had a long history as a Native American hunting ground before Captain John Smith came upon the island when he and his crew explored the bay in 1608, a year after Jamestown was settled. However, the first English residents didnt settle on Tangier until the late 1700s, when Joseph Crockett arrived. Crockett remains one of the principal surnames on the island.

Farming was the primary occupation in the earliest days of English settlement on Tangier. Looking at the island now, its hard to imagine there was ever enough land to raise cattle, which at one time was the chief moneymaker.

Fishing didnt become the favored means of making a living until later in the 1800s when modern transportation provided a gateway to the markets of the Northeast for Tangiermen  as islanders call themselves  harvesting oysters and later crabs from the bay. The seafood business fueled a rise in population on Tangier, which topped 1,000 in 1900 and reached its peak of almost 1,200 by the 1930s.

The islands population has dropped in recent decades, and the 2010 census  and updated estimates  lists the population as more than 700, but Eskridge and Town Manager Renee Tyler say the actual population is below 500 as Tangiermen increasingly have left the island for jobs.

Enrollment at the Tangier Combined School  the states only K-12 public school  was more than 100 just 15 years ago but was down to 71 for the 2015-16 academic year, though holding steady from the previous year, said school principal Nina Pruitt. Of the seven members of the 2016 graduating class, two will be going to college, two into the military and three will be joining the workforce.

Marilyn Pruitt, an office assistant in the town office, a small structure at the end of the islands airstrip, was stuffing envelopes with water bills when she recalled the housing shortage on the island when she got married in 1992.

We couldnt even find a place to live, she said. There was nothing available.

Last summer, she counted 70 to 75 unoccupied houses on the island. That number has dropped into the 60s, said town manager Tyler, as several new families have arrived.

Jerry and Rebecca Dunivan moved five children and two goats from their farm in Chesterfield County to Tangier last fall, a chance for their kids to grow up in a place with a little bit more of a slow pace, said Rebecca Dunivan. They purchased a house across from Spankys, the islands ice cream shop. Its like a big family here, and, yeah, there are family squabbles and everybody knows your business, but at the same time, if theres ever a crisis, everyone is going to come out of the woodwork (to help). It reminds me of what I imagined the 1950s to be like.

The Dunivans are rarities: newcomers without any family connections on an island where many of the families go back generations. They settled on Tangier after considering a few other places, including Maine, which they determined was too cold.

Dunivan spoke as she took a break from finishing drywall in a neighbors house; her husband was installing new floors. The Dunivans have found plenty of work  roofing, plumbing and welding, as well as repairing golf carts  to make a living. Reports of a vanishing island did not dissuade them from coming.

I dont think were going to disappear, she said. If it did, it would be a crime. The way of life here is so unique. I plan on living here the rest of my life.

Maxwell House coffee in plastic foam cups fuels strong opinions and lively talk from those who gather in a backroom of the islands old health clinic. For an hour or so every day except Sundays, a half-dozen or more men sip their coffee, lean back in their chairs and offer their views on a wide variety of issues  sometimes all at once.

We solve a lot of things here, said Eskridge, the mayor, with a laugh.

On a Thursday afternoon, the conversation, as it often does these days, focused on the seawall issue. The men talked about government spending and how it doesnt make sense to them for the United States to spend billions of dollars to fight a war in a foreign country and then turn around and spend billions of dollars to build it back up, as Leon McMann put it. Makes a lot of sense, it does.

Tangiermen are particularly frustrated because they know a properly placed seawall can work. Thirty years ago, the southwestern side of the island was losing land at a rapid rate, threatening Tangiers airstrip, until a stone seawall was constructed.

We were losing 20 or 25 feet a year in shoreline there, Eskridge said. They completed that in 89, and we havent lost 1 inch since, so it works.

They are further perturbed because of extensive projects in the bay, such as the $9 million living shoreline constructed last year at Glenn Martin National Wildlife Refuge, a dozen miles to the north of Tangier just across the Maryland state line. There, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service used sand, rock and boulders to create almost 4 miles of barrier to protect the marsh, which is home to an array of migratory birds. No one lives at the refuge, though the work likely will benefit adjacent Smith Island, where fewer than 300 people reside and which also faces a similar plight as Tangier.

They put enough stone up there that you could circle (Tangier) with it almost, Eskridge said. Its people that need the help and not ducks.

Jerry Pruitt talked about the large percentage of Tangiermen who fought in World War II, recalling, I used to hear my mom say there werent no young men left on the island. He told the story of one man who was shot and bayoneted and still managed to survive. Nine didnt make it home from that war.

Eskridge is painfully familiar with the notion of patriotic sacrifice: An older brother was the lone Tangierman killed in Vietnam.

All were asking for, Eskridge said, is a few stones.

Carol Moore has been visiting Uppards since she was a child and would accompany her father.

The name, she thinks, comes from people in the town of Tangier saying they were going upwards or north to the island. I was up there all the time. I remember when it used to be filled with fig trees, maple trees, walnut trees and flowers, goats and chickens. I remember the land being so big and wide and high and long. In the 1970s, we didnt get to travel very much. It was like when you left Tangier to go to Uppards you were in a whole other world.

After finding the human remains four years ago, she returned home and called authorities.

Archaeologists with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources retrieved the remains  four adults and a child, a girl estimated to have been 3 to 5 years old  and cleaned, conserved and analyzed them. Analysis of coffin hardware and other funerary artifacts indicated that the individuals were likely buried in the very late 1800s or early 1900s, said Joanna Wilson Green, an archaeologist with DHR. The remains were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, where they will be held until the people of Tangier decide whether to rebury them on the main island.

I havent been up here since November, and I see a huge difference, said Lonnie Moore, Carols husband, who took visitors to Uppards in late April because his wife was recovering from recent surgery. As he walked on the ever-narrowing beach, he noted how much less of it there was since hed last been there. Its unbelievable. You get one real powerful storm,  and I dont think youd have anything left except the marshes.

What the disappearance of Uppards represents is not just the washing away of family cemeteries or personal history but a disquieting glimpse into the future of Tangier without construction of additional breakwaters to protect whats left of the island.

It almost feels like when I go to Uppards Im taking a journey into my past, but when I take my grandchildren, its like Im taking a trek into their future, said Carol Moore. I remember the life I had on Uppards and Tangier, and when I go, I try to imagine what it will be like for my grandchildren not to have Tangier and Uppards.

I dont really pay a lot of attention to what the scientists say. They can come here and look at it every few years and do statistics, but Ive lived it. I know whats happening.
When Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced that he was restoring the political rights of about 206,000 felons, it came as no surprise to New Virginia Majority, which had fliers already printed encouraging would-be voters to register immediately.

The progressive activist group got an official invite days ahead of the April 22 news conference, and Tram Nguyen, the groups co-executive director, had more than three weeks notice that the order was coming.

Now that Im home and have let the news sink in, Im literally sitting here crying, Nguyen wrote in a March 30 email to Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Thomasson, then a deputy in the office, after the two met earlier in the day.

Weve been asking for this since the Kaine administration. What this administration is doing is a game changer in so many ways  in particular, for the lives that youre touching. THANK YOU!

More than 7,500 people have registered to vote as a result of McAuliffes order. Voter registrars throughout the state, including Petersburgs Dawn Williams, learned of the order through media reports published as McAuliffe made the announcement on the steps of the Capitol.

We had no forewarning at all, Williams said. In essence, registrars across the commonwealth had no further notice than anyone else. Our concerns were how the process was going to be handled.

Emails obtained by the Richmond-Times Dispatch through a Freedom of Information Act request show the McAuliffe administration planning for the announcement by inviting rights-restoration advocates and political allies.

But the communications yielded little in the way of evidence of advance planning or consultation with the voter registrars, prosecutors or other officials who would deal with the mechanics of the order and its ramifications.

The administration refused to release hundreds of communications related to the order, citing, among other justifications, a broad exemption in state open-records law for executive working papers.

As questions and confusion arose about the status of felons submitting voter-registration applications, registrars calling the secretary of the commonwealths office for verification were met by a voicemail recording saying responses could take 90 days.

Please help me figure out how to proceed. We cant leave a citizen in limbo for three months, Manassas Park Registrar Patricia Brendel wrote in an April 28 email asking state officials for help with an ex-offender whose name wasnt showing up in the states searchable database. This will create issues as we approach November.

The voicemail message was an old, inaccurate recording updated the week after the governors order. In interviews, Brendel and other registrars said the state quickly cleared up much of the confusion and worked persistently to help registrars process new voters.

The communication from the state came out very quickly on how to handle these things, Brendel said. It wasnt like we were left in the dark.

However, Williams and others, particularly registrars facing a May 23 deadline to register for June 14 primary races, such as the Richmond-area election for the 4th Congressional District, wonder why they werent consulted earlier.

It could have been done better, said Hanover County Registrar Teresa Smithson, who didnt have a primary election to prepare for but faced an influx of phone calls the Monday after the announcement. That would have been nice. That would have been very nice.  We really were taken off guard as far as not having that direction.

Restored felon data from the secretary of the commonwealths office was not synced with the Virginia Department of Elections system until early May, records show. The McAuliffe administration has said it would have been premature to upload the data  which contains errors the governor has pledged to fix  before the governor signed the rights- restoration order.

Ideally, that wouldve already been done so that when the switch was turned on to restore these rights, all the documentation wouldve been in place, said Chesterfield County Registrar Larry Haake. That might too have avoided some of these ... what theyre calling clerical errors.

McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said the order was kept close deliberately because the administration knew General Assembly Republicans would likely file a lawsuit to stop it.

Confidentiality was an important factor in this process, Coy said.

***

The Times-Dispatch asked the governors office and Commissioner of Elections Edgardo Cortes for communications between McAuliffes staff, communications to local registrars and the Board of Elections, as well as all directions and guidance to local election, court and law enforcement officials before and after the rights-restoration order.

The governors office opted to withhold under a hundred communications, citing exemptions for attorney-client privilege and attorney work product, as well as for the correspondence and working papers of the governors office and the secretary of the commonwealth, said Noah Sullivan, a deputy counsel in the governors office.

Sullivan said the withheld communications concerned deliberations about the legal aspects of the order and deliberations of the secretary and other members of the office of the governor about the implementation of the order and briefing papers and development of such papers for the governor and legislators.

The governors office provided no communications for former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney, who resigned on April 15, announced his campaign for Richmond mayor on April 21 and had a speaking slot at the governors April 22 press event. The Times-Dispatch requested records going back to Jan. 1.

McAuliffe staffers estimated they would need to review 300 to 400 documents to respond to the request. State FOIA law requires agencies to identify with reasonable particularity the volume and subject matter of withheld records, but Sullivan considered under a hundred an adequate accounting.

It would take us a lot more time for us to get you an exact number, and I dont think thats useful for anybody, he said.

Cortes said his office withheld nearly 300 emails, including roughly 100 under the working papers exemption, 140 under attorney-client privilege and 50 under an exemption for voter registration information.

Virginias FOIA law allows a wide variety of records to be kept secret, but officials can choose to release them. Asked why the McAuliffe administration chose to withhold records on an action the governor has touted as one of his proudest achievements in office, Coy said the documents meet the standard as working papers.

These are nuts-and-bolts discussions within this office about the implementation of the order, Coy said.

***

McAuliffes rights-restoration order has become a political flashpoint, infuriating Republicans who have filed a lawsuit arguing that he lacked the legal authority to issue a blanket order and who also accuse the governor of attempting to stack the deck for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in November.

The order has also come under fire from a bipartisan group of prosecutors who must contend with violent felons now able to serve on juries and petition for their right to own a firearm restored without an individual review by the executive branch.

There have also been errors, including the fact that 132 sex offenders under civil confinement in a state facility in Nottoway County appeared in a state database as having regained the rights to vote, hold public office, serve on juries and notarize documents. The McAuliffe administration removed the offenders from the list, saying they were included by mistake and did not have their rights restored because they are still under supervision.

Through it all, McAuliffe has defended the order as a signature moment for his administration, a move that brings thousands of disenfranchised people back into the political system and civil life.

In a four-paragraph guidance email sent to registrars within hours of the order, Cortes hinted at the scale of the task ahead.

This is a large-scale restoration of rights, estimated at approximately 206,000 individuals, and it will take some time for us to ensure data has been transferred to our system from the Secretary of the Commonwealths office, Cortes wrote. If you receive a registration form in the coming weeks and there is some question as to whether the applicants rights have been restored, you must contact the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to make a final determination regarding whether or not the individual has had their rights restored. You should not deny any application until you have confirmed with the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth that an individual has not had his or her rights restored.

Some registrars pushed back. Stafford County Registrar Greg S. Riddlemoser said the directive to not deny applications without state approval seemed to contradict published guidance and legal opinions stating that registrars can ask applicants to prove their rights have been restored.

I believe far more detailed info from the Department of Elections  is going to be required, Riddlemoser wrote.

At the same time, the governors order, covered extensively by local and national media, produced a flood of calls and visitors to some registrars offices.

We had phones that were ringing off the hook. It was really a shock to me and my staff that this was coming, said Smithson, the Hanover registrar whose office has since processed more than 100 felons covered by the April 22 order.

Monday morning, it was dealing with the calls and the media and just trying to find out what that process was going to be.  The process wasnt clearly laid out when they flipped that switch.

As more questions arose, Cortes sent registrars four additional guidance emails.

Several registrars raised the prospect of keeping separate records for felons registered under the governors order because of the lawsuit seeking to have those registrations thrown out. On May 2, Cortes told registrars there was no need to keep separate files because the state has the ability to undo the registrations should that be necessary.

Though registrars have witnessed emotional moments when long-ineligible voters have been able to register for the first time in decades, they have also borne the brunt of their frustration when glitches, database errors and other problems prevented them from getting a clear determination as to whether they can vote again.

The city of Richmond submitted to the state for verification 488 felons applications received by the May 23 primary deadline, according to Registrar Kirk J. Showalter. When the primary came, Showalter said, 55 applicants had not been processed because their status could not be verified.

We were prepared to cast provisional ballots for those people if they showed up to the polls, Showalter said. But none did.

On Thursday, Williams, the Petersburg registrar, said she has 60 applications still under review by the state. She noted, however, that all 54 applications received prior to the May 23 registration deadline were processed in time for the June 14 primary. The 60 currently under review came in after the deadline.

Its not only been haphazard for registrars offices. Think of the individuals affected, said Williams, who argued that the state could have done a better job using available databases identifying and vetting the people affected by the order ahead of time.

They cant find their name on the database, they cant find a status. ... Im not giving them anything but hope.  Thats like tying a string to a June bug and hoping he can fly.

That hasnt been the case everywhere. In Henrico County, which has processed voter registrations for 499 people covered by the April 22 order, the registrars office wasnt aware of anyone who couldnt vote in the June primary because their rights restoration was still pending, said Anne Marie Middlesworth, Henrico deputy registrar.

In Dinwiddie County, about 27 felons have applied since the order and only two or three are still pending, said Linda Brandon, the county registrar.

The Department of Elections was very quick doing on their end what could be done, she said. We knew this was going to take a while, and we have encouraged our citizens that wanted to register to do it quickly.

Cortes said the Department of Elections has provided steady and regular guidance to local officials.

The governor is the one who has the decision to restore rights, he said. Registrars have never had a role in how the governor goes about that process. We gave them pretty specific instructions on how to do that.

***

Smithson and other registrars predict another big surge prior to the October deadline to register for the November election and hope the state has refined and streamlined the process by then.

When we close the books for voter registration on Oct. 17, if these folks that are in the investigation bucket  what happens to them, and how much of a whiplash are we going to get?  Its going to be killing the messenger, she said. This is going to be a huge election. The sooner they find out that theyre good to go to their polling place and where they go, the better.

Nguyen, the co-executive director of New Virginia Majority, said the early notice from the state was merely the product of years of work on the issue.

We were informed prior to the announcement, but we were not informed of any of the details or involved in the processes, she said. We were not given any details around processes or how they were going to come up with the list.

As her group has canvassed neighborhoods to help make people aware of the order and encourage them to register vote, it has encountered some of the same snags as registrars.

We have come across folks who have not appeared in the database. Weve just encouraged those folks to get in contact with the secretary of the commonwealths office. It hasnt been a large number, she said.

Datas not perfect. This process, as weve seen, it hasnt been perfect, but at the end of the day, only folks who have met the criteria have had their rights restored.

Ladelle McWhorter, chairwoman of the state board of Virginia Organizing, another group that got advance notice of the rights-restoration process, said that the list assembled by the governors office was recognized early on as incomplete and potentially prone to error.

The nonprofits work, through its 17 chapters across the state, has focused on barbershops and beauty salons, churches and housing communities to find people affected by the order, many of whom are already known to organizers because of past work on the issue, which she described as truly a nonpartisan effort.
WALLOPS ISLAND  With space station resupply launches expected to resume in August and a runway under construction for testing drone flights, Virginia is looking at another opportunity to lure a major federal research program to the states expanding spaceport complex on this barrier island on the Eastern Shore.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to ask soon for information about where to base a new science and technology testing ground for unmanned vehicle systems  operating in the air and underwater  and boosters say the regional spaceport would be an ideal fit.

What better place to do it than here? said Peter J. Bale, chairman of the Wallops Island Regional Alliance, as members of the House Appropriations Committee visited last week.

The federal agency has not yet issued a request for information for an unmanned vehicle testing ground, but officials for the alliance and the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority already are trying to ensure that Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard have a long-term home at the 3,000-foot state runway for testing unmanned vehicle systems that is expected to be finished in December.

Virginia also is making a big push with its congressional delegation in partnership with Maryland and Delaware to persuade the U.S. Navy to base a portion of its new Triton drone fleet at the Wallops Flight Facility operated by NASA since the mid-1940s. The Navy confirmed in April that it is considering Wallops and two bases in Florida as possible sites for the program, expected to bring at least 400 jobs.

Its becoming a very strong coalition, said Dale Nash, executive director of the state space authority, also known as Virginia Space, which operates the regional spaceport on the southern end of the island and plans to open the new runway at the northern end of Wallops early next year.

Nash led members of the appropriations committee on a brief tour of the spaceport, including the state-owned launch pad rebuilt after an Antares rocket bound on a supply mission to the International Space Station crashed just after takeoff on Oct. 28, 2014, creating a crater 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep next to the pad and causing $15 million in damage.

Virginia shared the cost of the repairs with NASA and Orbital ATK, the Dulles-based company that is carrying out commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station through 2024 under two contracts, with the second round of launches awarded in January.

The launch pad looks better than it ever has been, Nash told legislators during the tour of the spaceport.

Orbital ATK successfully tested the first stage of the Antares rocket with its new engines last month, which the company said validated the performance of the vehicle and pad. The new engines replace older refurbished engines blamed for a catastrophic failure almost two years ago.

The recently tested Antares first stage stood on the pad during the committee visit, but it will be taken away to be readied for a future mission and replaced by another Antares vehicle being prepared in a NASA-owned processing facility for the upcoming launch.

Were looking for the rocket to fly in mid-August probably, Nash said.

Virginia leases the land for the spaceport from NASA under a renewing five-year agreement, but the state has made major investments to the facility, especially its two launch pads, which cost the state more than $100 million. The state also dedicates $15.8 million a year in transportation funds for operating the spaceport.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe renegotiated the states long-term contract with Orbital ATK last year to ensure that the company insures the launch pad against future damage. The administration of then-Gov. Bob McDonnell dropped the insurance requirement from the original contract when it was renegotiated in 2012, according to a recent report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that was critical of state contracting practices.

But Virginia has not backed off from investing in the spaceport or expanding its footprint on the barrier island. In the 2015 fiscal year, it committed $5.8 million to build the runway for unmanned aerial systems research. The next state budget allows the authority to use $500,000 from its annual appropriation to build a temporary hanger next to the runway.

Customers include federal defense-related agencies,as well as private, commercial interests. Those agencies include an alphabet soup of federal acronyms  DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency, created after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space in 1957; NAVAIR, or the U.S. Navy Air Systems Command; and SOCOM, the U.S. Special Operations Command.

One of the biggest likely customers is DHS, or the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Coast Guard, a longtime resident of Wallops and the surrounding area along Virginias Atlantic Coast.

The Coast Guard owns a dock on the north end of the island, where unmanned submersible vehicles, either tethered to a ship or independently operated, could be based for the research program that Homeland Security reportedly is considering.

The advantages of Wallops as a possible base have everything to do with location  proximity to the Pentagon by a quick flight and what Bale called a discreet operating environment, including restricted air space and waters for testing.

They do not and cannot operate in an unsecure environment, he explained.

Bales association is based in nearby Chincoteague, but its members include about 15 major corporations, including Northrop Grumman, the producer of the new Triton drones for the Navy, which is likely to choose a base within the next year. The Navy is considering a base on the Eastern Shore mainland that is part of the NASA Wallops facility, as well as bases in Mayport and Key West, Fla.

The regional alliance has taken on a coordinating role with a lot of different things, Bale said.

The state space flight authority is trying to take advantage of the opportunities offered by federal initiatives, which help secure the future of the Wallops facility and boost the economy of the Virginia shore.

The question is, how much could it cost the state to provide the facilities necessary to anchor those programs?

Pressed by legislators about the authoritys wish list, Nash said the spaceport lacks a dedicated facility that can process scientifically sophisticated satellites for space launches, including projects that entail highly classified government information. While NASA owns a facility at Wallops for assembling rockets and their payloads, it cant handle all components in one place for some classified and scientific missions, Nash said.

A new payload processing facility would cost about $23 million, the biggest price tag of projects on the Virginia Space wish list. The list also includes up to $2.5 million for a permanent hanger at the runway for potential customers  including Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and other corporate and government entities  and $3 million to establish a dock complex for testing underwater systems.

The processing facility is probably the most important, said Del. Robert S. Bloxom Jr., R-Accomack, who helped guide the appropriations committee on the two-day retreat. It opens it up to super-secret stuff.

Secretary of Transportation Aubrey L. Layne Jr. said the McAuliffe administration is encouraging the space authority to explore options for expanding the state facility and stimulating economic development in the region.

Its an effort to bring a real business plan for the spaceport, Layne said. Its what can we do to leverage our existing facility.

However, the secretary made clear that money for new facilities wouldnt come from the states transportation fund.

Any of these requests would not be transportation revenues, he said.

That leaves the budgets general fund, which is why visits to the spaceport by the appropriations committee last week and the Senate Finance Committee in April are important to future funding requests.

There is a lot more going on out there than one might think, said Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk.

The spaceport will have to make its business case for more state support, Jones said, but I think theres real potential there.
William Calhoun Boinest, chairman emeritus of the F.W. Craigie & Co. Inc. investment firm in Richmond, said a single piece of advice from his father shaped his life: Always give back to the community.

He talked about that with family and friends after he had been hospitalized with a foot infection in Kilmarnock on Memorial Day, and later, when he had been moved to a Henrico County hospital. He was asking people what group they were trying to advance, who they were helping, said a daughter, Page Melton Ivie of St. Louis.

The idea resonated with him until pneumonia and complications from other health issues claimed his life Thursday. The Richmond native and resident was 83.

A memorial service will be Monday at 2 p.m. at First English Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1603 Monument Ave., where he was a lifelong member, former church council and foundation member, and a teacher of youth and young adults for a combined 25 years. Burial will be private.

He saw the work he did in business as a way to get in there (to help the community), Ivie said.

Mr. Boinest joined Craigie as a trainee in July 1958 after leaving active duty with the Coast Guard in Alaska. At the time, the business was a small municipal investment banking firm with a tiny office at Ninth and Main streets.

He rose to president in 1972 and chairman and CEO in 1979. He became a member of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange and had been a former chairman of the District Business Conduct Committee of the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc.

He grew the firm into a significant force on the East Coast, Ivie said.

Craigie issued bond certificates so municipal facilities were able to grow  that built infrastructure in communities around the state. Ivie said her father believed his greatest achievement was to live in a community where his work had helped the infrastructure grow.

After retiring in 1997, a lot of people would have said that was a full career, Ivie said. But not Bill Boinest. Actively involved in nonprofits before his retirement, he embraced fundraising for nonprofits full time afterward, she said. He had a great gift for that. He was fearless about raising money.

His efforts included chairing the 1986 United Way campaign and chairing the United Way board in 1993. He retired from the Hampden-Sydney College board of trustees in 2003 after 19 years  the last nine as chairman  and had been on the schools long-range planning committee. He was instrumental in raising millions of dollars for the school, Ivie said.

From 1992 to 2010, he served on the board of the Bon Secours Richmond Health System and chaired its board from 1999 to 2003. In early 2010, when a Bon Secours feasibility study revealed the need for a community hospice facility  there was no free-standing palliative and hospice care within a 55-mile radius of Richmond  he helped lead an effort that built the Bon Air Community Hospice House. The 16-bed facility opened in fall 2015.

He was extremely inspirational, said Peter Bernard, retired CEO of the Bon Secours Virginia Health System. He always gave back to the community to make the community better. He was a significant philanthropist and continuously raised significant sums of money for not only health care but for the poor and the underserved, Bernard said.

Mr. Boinest helped lead the effort to build Fisher House, a 21-suite facility that houses at no cost families of veterans receiving treatment at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center. It opened in 2008.

He also had chaired the boards of the Greater Richmond Chapter of the American Red Cross and served on other boards, including the Childrens Museum of Richmond, the Richmond Symphony, Leadership Metro Richmond, the Library of Virginia Foundation, the Northern Neck Land Conservancy Inc. and the Westminster-Canterbury Foundation.

The Central Virginia Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored him in 2001 as Philanthropist of the Year and in 2010 for lifetime achievement.

Hampden-Sydney gave him its Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion, awarded to those who are conspicuously helpful to and associated with the institution in its efforts to encourage and preserve a high standard of morals, as well as an honorary degree.

Bill was one of the most decent men I have known in my 93 years, said Samuel V. General Sam Wilson. I just learned of his passing, and it hits me like a crowbar in the belly.

In the course of my entire professional career, I have never worked for a man  I was president of Hampden-Sydney, and he was chairman of the board of trustees  who was more decent, a more active listener, thoughtful, considerate, unselfish, giving and always thinking of others.

I had three birth brothers and a fourth, whom I chose, and that individual was Bill Boinest.

Most recently, Mr. Boinest, a 20 percent owner in jailed developer Billy Gene Jefferson Jr.s Jefferson Investor Group LC, was in the news in spring 2014 after filing a lawsuit asking the Chesterfield County Circuit Court to begin the process of shutting down the company and liquidating its assets. In September 2014, Jefferson was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for fraud against the U.S. and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions related to a historic tax credits scam tied to apartment projects in Richmond. His $31 million apartment empire was auctioned to satisfy creditors.

Born Jan. 28, 1933, and the youngest of four children, Mr. Boinest was 14 when his father died. All of the children had to grow up fast, Ivie said. An elder brother, the late Munro Lebby Boinest Jr., who served in World War II, became a father figure to him. However, their father had already cast the decisive mold.

Mr. Boinest shared an early morning newspaper route with his twin, Daniel. When he drew his pay, his father would say, Twenty-five cents needs to go to church or to the community,  Ivie said. He learned to have a work ethic at a very young age. It was: I have a job; I have to do it.

After completing a liberal arts education in 1954 at Hampden-Sydney, he joined the Coast Guard, which stationed him at the Loran weather transmitting station on the remote Aleutian island of Attu. He was involved in water rescues and catching errant fisherman, Ivie said. He retired from the Coast Guard Reserve as a lieutenant commander in 1973.

A contemplative man, he loved the peace of fishing and fly-fishing and had fished waters from Labrador, near the Arctic, to New Zealand  the more remote the spot, the better, Ivie said. He taught everyone in the family old enough to hold a fishing rod how to do everything from running the fish to taking it off the hook and not be squeamish about it. He loved gathering his family at a home in White Stone.

Family was first and foremost, Ivie said. The death of his twin in the mid-1990s solidified for him how important family was. Our family was very, very close, and he knew it, and celebrated it. He talked about how it was the greatest thing having you all around the table sharing your stories.

The strength of his marriage with our mother brought that all together. He taught us to be good to other people and to lead a straight life. There was an integrity he brought to every phase of his life. He was a straight shooter, and he expected that of everyone around him.

His faith was so important to him. He took great joy that we continued in our respective churches, Ivie said. He thought that if youve got your faith, youve got everything.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife of 60 years, Jane Finegan Boinest; another daughter, Pemberton Hall of Richmond; a son, William Calhoun Boinest Jr. of Sandy Hook; and seven grandchildren.
Virginia made transportation history this June when the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) voted to fully fund the first wave of infrastructure projects that were scored and selected based on an objective, data-driven process.

The CTB approved $1.7 billion to build 163 projects, including roads, bridges and public transportation that will benefit every region of the state.

The vote is historic because never before has the state had a way to select the right transportation projects that generate the most benefit for the money.

This common sense, pragmatic approach to funding projects is just one example of how Gov. Terry McAuliffe is putting good governance ahead of politics on issues, ranging from transportation to research and development to workforce training, and its an approach that has won bipartisan support from the General Assembly.

It took an all-out collaborative effort, along with extensive participation from localities and regional bodies across the state, to launch project prioritization, formerly called House Bill 2.

Numerous meetings and work sessions were held across the state, involving officials and the public, on an outcome-based scoring system, the only one of its kind in the country.

The process has a new name, SMART SCALE, Funding the Right Transportation Projects in Virginia. SMART SCALE stands for System for the Management and Allocation of Resources for Transportation, and the key factors used in evaluating a projects merits: improvements to safety, congestion reduction, accessibility, land use, economic development, and the environment.

***

Heres how SMART SCALE is working:

As required by law, a scoring system was developed based on the key factors. Each locality weighed in on the process. This gave localities a consistent set of standards to select projects for scoring. Last fall more than 130 localities, metropolitan planning organizations, and transit agencies submitted projects totaling nearly $7 billion to be scored when $1.7 billion was available. An objective prioritization process becomes critical when the funding requests quadruple the money available.

The projects were screened and scored, and recommendations for funding were based on top-scoring projects.

These scenarios were reviewed, revised, and presented to localities, legislators, and the public for their input.

The CTB had the final say and voted on the projects during their June meeting.

Another major change: The 163 projects are fully funded through all phases of development and construction.

In the past, projects were often partially funded, dragging out the construction time-frame and increasing costs. Politics and wish lists determined what got built. No more.

***

SMART SCALE revolutionizes the way Virginia delivers transportation. Projects are scored based on their merits and value. Once they are scored, CTB members have the information needed to make the best decisions and are held accountable. Project scoring information and results are online, and made available at numerous public meetings. We have gone from an opaque system to a system our citizens can understand.

With the SMART SCALE process legislated into law, future administrations cant develop wish lists on a whim. Projects must be scored and vetted through the data-driven system. The secretary of transportation cant decide a project list. Neither can the General Assembly nor the governor.

The process now drives the transportation program, with the goal of generating the maximum benefit for hard-earned tax dollars.

The impact to localities is profound. They have a sound process to guide their thinking so they can analyze the most critical transportation needs. Once projects are scored and selected by the CTB for funding, localities can count on them getting built.

***

In addition to SMART SCALE, the governors 2015 Omnibus Transportation bill, now law, revamped the old transportation funding formula to get the most out of public resources. About half the money goes to new construction under SMART SCALE and the other half funds deteriorated bridges and pavements, called State of Good Repair. This program is subject to an asset management process so the most critical needs are addressed to ensure safety and to protect the massive public investment in Virginias extensive highway infrastructure.

Since the CTB makes the final decisions on project selection and funding, it is important members do so without undue political pressure.

Another facet of the transportation law is that CTB members no longer serve at the pleasure of the governor and can only be removed for cause. This enables them to vote their conscience and do what is right. Governor McAuliffe is a strong supporter of this reform because he understands that members need to have the independence to make the best decisions for our commonwealth.

With these game-changing reforms in place, Virginians should experience a better transportation system, one that funds the right projects, empowers localities to select projects that best benefit their residents, and enables the state to enter into the right deal for the taxpayers of Virginia.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
A conservative Virginia congressman has warned that the political currents in the United Kingdom that led to Thursdays Brexit vote also run swiftly through the U.S. electorate during this presidential election  and said Washingtons political establishment ignores them at their peril.

The British referendum should serve as a wake-up call, not just to Brussels, but also to officials in D.C., said Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th, who said lovers of liberty should cheer the referendum decision by England to leave the European Union.

From the inability of small businesses to take out loans thanks to Dodd-Frank regulations, the IRS targeting of conservatives, President Obamas unconstitutional amnesty, stifling regulations handed down by the EPA, our federal government has constantly trampled on the rights of citizens and Americans are fed up, Brat said.

Citizens the world over are saying loudly and clearly that they want to take their country back from elitist control and get back to the free-market and democratic principles that made them great.

The backdrop to Britains vote to leave the European Union  the rejection of immigration, globalization and political elites  is rife with parallels to the U.S. political campaign, said Clay Clemens, a professor of government at the College of William & Mary.

All those kinds of themes could come right out of a (Donald) Trump campaign, Clemens said.

Other state elected officials predicted the U.S. economy and the relationship between Britain and America will remain strong despite Thursdays vote.

The United States respects the decision of the British people, said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in remarks that were echoed Friday by state Democrats and Republicans and national party leaders.

The special friendship between our two nations has endured the test of time and will remain as strong as ever, Warner said.

Warner, who serves on the Senate Committee on Banking and the subcommittee on International Trade and Finance, said he expects the volatility in the global markets caused by the vote to continue for some time, but he said, The American economy is resilient and well-positioned to recover from any short-term impacts.

There is nothing in the world that can take away the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that has always been the life-force of the American economy, Warner said.

As for U.S. relations, no doubt our historically special relationship with Britain will remain, Clemens said. But the U.S. will have to pay attention to both sides of the Channel more so than we do now, he said. The U.S. has relied on U.K. membership as an access point to the broader EU market.

With Britain no longer present at the table, that sort of splits the American attention span a little bit, he said.

The position was echoed by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who called the prospect of a U.K.-free European Union an unprecedented new challenge for Europe and the global economy thats already having repercussions on our financial markets.

Beyond the economic impacts of this decision, its critical that the U.S. work to help ensure the continued strength of our trans-Atlantic alliances  central to our stability since World War II, he said.
APPOMATTOX  Flashlight beams cut through the gloom as the group of Appomattox local community members shuffled beside rows of bulletin boards where decades of time cards used to hang. Only the imprints of machines were left on the concrete factory floor, and pools of water gathered underneath the aging roof.

Bedford real estate developer George Aznavorian led the group on Saturday into to the empty building that used to house Thomasville furniture.

Aznavorian opened the abandoned factory to the public for an informational tour about his plans to develop the long-empty property.

Weve heard stories that people would like to see the plant be leveled. I dont understand the value in that because this could be a big opportunity to draw in jobs. Our goal is to maintain the plant and build it up over time with smaller businesses that will grow into the area.

Outside the building are small glassed-in offices that were once locations for supervisors and engineers. Motivational posters still hang on the wall in a large employee break room, and orange plastic chairs are stacked in the corner. A lone pack of cigarettes sat on top of a desk next to a crushed Mountain Dew bottle.

The Thomasville furniture factory closed in 2011 and the 20-acre plant has been unused since. In 2014, Lindenburg Industries purchased the site, received a state economic development incentive grant and promised 350 new jobs to Appomattox.

Over the course of a year, it became apparent the China-based company was not coming. The state has sued to recover its $1.4 million loan.

Aznavorian purchased the facility at auction for $1 million in December. While no firm plans currently exist for development, he is looking to subdivide the space for growing businesses. He wanted to show the space to reassure the community and also look for suggestions.

We want their support and their direction, Aznavorian said. Everything Ive ever developed in the past the community has given us great information. We want everyone to have ownership of the plant with intellectual property.

The factory floor is split into square sections that can be modified for tenants needs. The large space and relatively inexpensive purchasing price make the site a candidate to become an incubator for expanding businesses.

Were in a position to offer space at a very affordable price so they can get started, he said. These people dont have the revenue to build a building or even lease, but were in a position to put them into a space that has room for growth that they dont have to put a ton of money into.

Aznavorian said he has talked to businesses who are interested in the space, from doctors looking at the front office , to a trailer manufacturing company , and a data storage company . The large size of the building means each space can be customized to the businesses needs.

A lot of the work will be predicated on who the different tenants, he said. They might need the space air conditioned or with special walls. This large of a space can be reconfigured into multiple different types of spaces.

He projects another years work is needed before the facility is ready for tenants. That includes replacing the roof, upgrading electrical systems and filling in pits in the floor that were used to house machines.

This would probably be for someone who already has 100,000 square feet and theyre looking for another 50,000 or 100,000 instead of someone whos been working out of their garage, he said. In theory, this would be for regional expansion for businesses in distribution or storage.

As for the outside of the building , the developer foresees attracting local or chain retailers to the site near U.S. 460.

If it is built up along the road here and done in an inviting 1940s style with a lot of brick it would be inviting to people and they might then continue on into town, Aznavorian said. Most of your growth is near the bypass, so people are missing the center of town. This might be the best opportunity to get people to come into town from the highway.

Chamber of Commerce President John Redding is optimistic about the development of the old factory.

I like [Aznavorian], Redding said. I think this is a great opportunity to bring jobs in and help the community.
WALLOPS ISLAND  With space station resupply launches expected to resume in August and a runway under construction for testing drone flights, Virginia is looking at another opportunity to lure a major federal research program to the states expanding spaceport complex on this Eastern Shore barrier island .

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expected to begin looking for a place to base a new science and technology testing ground for unmanned vehicle systems  operating in the air and underwater  and boosters say the regional spaceport would be an ideal fit.

What better place to do it than here? said Peter Bale, chairman of the Wallops Island Regional Alliance, as members of the House Appropriations Committee visited last week.

The federal agency has not yet issued a request for information for an unmanned vehicle testing ground, but officials for the alliance and the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority already are trying to ensure that Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard have a long-term home at the 3,000-foot state runway for testing unmanned vehicle systems that is expected to be finished in December.

Virginia also is making a big push with its congressional delegation in partnership with Maryland and Delaware to persuade the U.S. Navy to base a portion of its new Triton drone fleet at the Wallops Flight Facility operated by NASA since the mid-1940s.

Its becoming a very strong coalition, said Dale Nash, executive director of the state space authority, also known as Virginia Space, which operates the regional spaceport on the southern end of the island and plans to open the new runway at the northern end of Wallops early next year.

Nash led members of the appropriations committee on a brief tour of the spaceport, including the state-owned launch pad rebuilt after an Antares rocket bound on a supply mission to the International Space Station crashed just after takeoff on Oct. 28, 2014, causing $15 million in damage.

Virginia shared the cost of the repairs with NASA and Orbital ATK, the Dulles-based company that is carrying out commercial resupply missions to the ISS through 2024 under two contracts, with the second round of launches awarded in January.

The launch pad looks better than it ever has been, Nash told legislators during the tour of the spaceport.

Antares rocket test

Orbital ATK successfully tested the first stage of the Antares rocket with its new engines last month, which the company said validated the performance of the vehicle and pad. The new engines replace older refurbished engines blamed for a catastrophic failure almost two years ago.

The recently tested Antares first stage stood on the pad during the committee visit, but it will be taken away to be readied for a future mission and replaced by another Antares vehicle being prepared in a NASA-owned processing facility for the upcoming launch.

Were looking for the rocket to fly in mid-August probably, Nash said.

Virginia leases the land for the spaceport from NASA under a renewing five-year agreement, but the state has made major investments to the facility, especially its two launch pads, which cost the state more than $100 million. The state also dedicates $15.8 million a year in transportation funds for the spaceport.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe renegotiated the states contract with Orbital ATK last year to ensure that the company insures the launch pad against future damage. The administration of then-Gov. Bob McDonnell dropped the insurance requirement from the original contract when it was renegotiated in 2012, according to a recent report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that was critical of state contracting practices.

But Virginia has not backed off from investing in the spaceport or expanding its footprint on the barrier island. In the 2015 fiscal year, it committed $5.8 million to build the runway for unmanned aerial systems research. The next state budget allows the authority to use $500,000 from its annual appropriation to build a temporary hanger next to the runway.

Customers include federal defense-related agencies, as well as private, commercial interests. Those agencies include an alphabet soup of federal acronyms  DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency, created after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space in 1957; NAVAIR, or the U.S. Navy Air Systems Command; and SOCOM, the U.S. Special Operations Command.

One of the biggest likely customers is the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Coast Guard, a longtime resident of Wallops and Virginias Atlantic Coast.

The Coast Guard owns a dock on the north end of the island, where unmanned submersible vehicles, either tethered to a ship or independently operated, could be based for the research program that Homeland Security reportedly is considering.

The advantages of Wallops as a possible base have everything to do with location  proximity to the Pentagon by a quick flight and what Bale called a discreet operating environment, including restricted air space and waters for testing.

They do not and cannot operate in an unsecure environment, he explained.

Super secret stuff

Bales association is based in nearby Chincoteague, but its members include about 15 major corporations, including Northrop Grumman, the producer of the new Triton drones for the Navy, which is likely to choose a base within the next year. The Navy is considering a base on the Eastern Shore mainland that is part of the NASA Wallops facility, as well as bases in Mayport and Key West, Fla.

The regional alliance has taken on a coordinating role with a lot of different things, Bale said.

The state space flight authority is trying to take advantage of the opportunities offered by federal initiatives, which help secure the future of the Wallops facility and boost the economy of the Virginia shore.

The question is, how much could it cost the state to provide the facilities necessary to anchor those programs?

Pressed by legislators about the authoritys wish list,

Nash said the spaceport lacks a facility that can process scientifically sophisticated satellites for space launches, including projects that entail highly classified government information.

While NASA owns a facility at Wallops for assembling rockets and their payloads, it cant handle all components in one place for some classified and scientific missions, Nash said.

A new payload processing facility would cost about $23 million, the biggest price tag of projects on the Virginia Space wish list. The list also includes up to $2.5 million for a permanent hanger at the runway for potential customers  including Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and other corporate and government entities  and $3 million to establish a dock complex for testing underwater systems.

The processing facility is probably the most important, said Del. Robert Bloxom, R-Accomack, who helped guide the appropriations committee on the retreat. It opens it up to super-secret stuff.

Secretary of Transportation Aubrey L. Layne Jr. said the McAuliffe administration is encouraging the space authority to explore options for expanding the state facility and stimulating economic development in the region.

Its an effort to bring a real business plan for the spaceport, Layne said. Its what can we do to leverage our existing facility.

However, the secretary made clear that money for new facilities wouldnt come from the states transportation fund.

Any of these requests would not be transportation revenues, he said.

That leaves the budgets general fund, which is why visits to the spaceport by the appropriations committee last week and the Senate Finance Committee in April are important to future funding requests.

There is a lot more going on out there than one might think, said Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk.

The spaceport will have to make its business case for more state support, Jones said, but I think theres real potential there.
My dear wonderful, faithful wife of 44 years entered the presence of the Lord June 25, 2016.Tricia was my perfect helpmate and friend through all of life's challenges, and fulfilled the words found in Proverbs: A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.Tricia grew up in Florida, graduating from Grace Livingston Hill High School, then attending and graduating from Bryan College with a degree in elementary education. She was an elementary school teacher for more than 40 years and enjoyed teaching at Roanoke Valley Christian School for 26 years. She taught young children not only how to read and write, but how to love God and serve Him. She had a heart for Missions and introduced her classes to the great world of opportunity to tell others about Jesus. She shared in my ministry at Faith Alliance Church for almost 34 years.Tricia loved strawberries, crepe myrtle, trips to Williamsburg and playing the piano. She and David traveled to Quito, Ecuador in 1995, visiting missionaries.Her quite spirit, cheerful countenance, thoughtful wisdom and genuine compassion were her hallmarks. She loved her husband well, her church family as her own, and her classroom children as special gifts from God. She will be greatly missed.She is survived by her husband, David; her sister and husband, Carol and David Swanson, Flat Rock, N.C.; nephew, Todd Swanson, Greenville, S.C., nephew and wife, Kevin and Misty Swanson, Hendersonville, N.C.; and numerous cousins.Thanks to Carilion Hospice for their kind and compassionate care.A Memorial Service will be held 1 p.m. Thursday, June 30, 2016, at Faith Alliance Church, 7505 Barrens Rd., Roanoke, with the Pastor Pjecha officiating.In lieu of flowers consider a gift to Missions through Faith Alliance Church.Arrangements by Simpson Funeral Home, 540-366-0707."Well done my good and faithful servant". Jesus
Features

The Delhi progressive metal band on returning to the stage after more than a year with a new vocalist

In July last year, Delhi prog metal band Colossal Figures and the metal community in India lost vocalist Govind Marodia, who passed away at the age of 24 following a road accident. Nearly a year to the date, the band returns to the stage today at The Double Bill at Antisocial.

Anurag Tagat: What has the last year been like for you guys?

Karan Mehta (guitarist): It has been really hard for most of us, everyone has been trying to keep themselves as busy as they can. Govind was more than just a band member, he was more like a brother.

AT: When did you begin to think about the future of the band after Govind passed away? Was the first reaction to disband or want to stay together to keep the memory alive?

KM: Initially, everyonne kind of drifted away from each other because we would remind each other of him. It was only recently that we met and decided to work on some music.

AT: Now you're playing in Delhi this week - your first gig in more than a year. What is it like getting back to these songs?

KM: The first couple of times we jammed on the songs, we could still hear Govind sing through them. I personally have been listening to the album quite a lot and the connection has only gotten stronger. Let's hope we can do justice to them and make some new music in the coming future.

AT: There was, at one point, the idea to play as an instrumental band, right? When did you start looking out for vocalists?

KM: There was, but then we never could really talk about all this initially, it was always very disconnected. Only recently when we all met, we thought of trying out some vocalists.

AT: Dhairya is now on vocals. What is it like coming on board with the band to play these songs?

Dhairya Sethi (vocalist, formerly of Rabbit is Rich): I have been used to doing both cleans and growls for my band but it's really difficult to fit into Govind's shoes. His melodic range was very good and the way he could do both the things at the same time so effectively is quite challenging.

AT: Which songs are you playing?

KM: Most of the stuff from the last album (Clockwork Dilation). The vocalist is still getting used to our style of music and for a prog metal band, learning songs and lyrics can be challenging.

AT: This is the first Colossal gig. What are the plans, if any, after this show? Has there been an interest from organisers for you guys to play more?

KM: We are playing another show on the July 3 in Delhi, paying our respects to a fan who passed away in a bike accident recently. Mutual friends from the metal scene are working on it and we just couldn't say no. We are still discovering the direction the new music will be taking, the idea was always to evolve as musicians. Hopefully, we can get something out in the next couple of months and expect other promoters to book us.

Colossal Figures join Kraken and Noiseware on day two of The Double Bill, on June 26 at Antisocial, HKV. Event details on Facebook.
National delegation keen on success of Kuwait consultations





KUWAIT, June 26 (Saba)  The national delegation confirmed on Sunday its keenness on the success of the Yemeni consultations in Kuwait under the auspices of the United Nations.



This came during a joint session between the national delegation and Riyadhs delegation in the presence of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.



At the session, the UN Secretary-General asserted that the position of the international community is clear, which is that the conflict should stop and Yemen should return to the path of political transition.



Ban Ki-moon expressed his optimism for the recent release of prisoners and detainees, urging the parties to release all prisoners as a goodwill initiative before the Eid al-Fitr.



He called on both sides to the Kuwait consultations to work seriously with his special envoy to Yemen for approving a roadmap, to be committed to the cessation of hostilities in order to translate the progress made so far and to reach a comprehensive solution as soon as possible.



At the meeting, head of Ansarullah delegation Mohamed Abdusalam affirmed the keenness of the national delegation on the peace and stability in Yemen,



 The peace is what we are searching for, which is the demand of the Yemeni people, who have suffered so much as a result of aggression," Abdusalam said.



He pointed out that a wide revolution broke out on the 21st of September 2014 demanding economic reforms and the implementation of the National Dialogue outcomes, and formed a government under the peace and partnership agreement, which was welcomed by the whole world.



The country is based on the principle of consensus since the beginning of the transitional period, he said, stressing they are now in Kuwait for the sake of peace according to that principle.



BA



Saba

Facebook Facebook

Twitter Twitter

Whatsapp Whatsapp

Telegram Telegram

Email Email

Print Print

[27/June/2016]
COLUMBUS  Dont ask the members of Freedom Road to explain the type of music they play.

Theyd rather show you by breaking into a rendition of Santanas Evil Ways or testing vocalist Murry Johnstons range with House of the Rising Sun by The Animals.

The music is about the only thing that hasnt changed since the band formed 50 years ago when a group of local teens were looking for fame and fortune.

Todays version of the band, which includes original members Don Peterson and Johnston and Tim Tarnick, who joined in 1969, isnt focused near as much on becoming the next big thing.

They keep playing because they love music, and delivering that perfect song still brings the same feeling, whether the performance is for a packed dance hall or the Red Hat Society women in Frankfort Square.

Fame and fortune, thats just not necessary for me today, said Johnston, who admits the group had aspirations of landing a major recording contract when Freedom Road formed in 1966.

Still too young to drive, they played their first gigs with borrowed equipment and Johnstons mother chauffeured them to a number of shows.

My mother was basically the bouncer at a lot of the dances, Johnston said.

Freedom Road made it big for a Columbus band, playing Livestock  Nebraskas version of Woodstock  in 1970 and booking performances across the Midwest, including a 1975 tour that stretched from New Mexico to North Dakota.

Today, Freedom Road takes the stage at community events, small-town festivals, country club parties and the occasional wedding. And thats exactly the way they like it.

I dont feel that pressure anymore. This is fun stuff, said Johnston, the groups lead vocalist and keyboard player.

Johnston had his share of fun with the band as a young man. Now hes a reverend with the United Methodist churches in Monroe, Genoa and Silver Creek who enjoys life in a different way.

Im sober  and the music is better, he joked.

Johnston, Peterson and Tarnick all continued to play music after Freedom Roads first run ended around 1980, which made the bands reunion a whole lot easier two decades later.

The group reunited in 2000, two years before Freedom Road was inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.

These days they meet about twice a month in Tarnicks basement, a tight space lined with movie posters and vintage furniture that more closely resembles a 1990s teen hangout than a practice spot for musicians sporting blue jeans and khaki shorts.

Its like the boys night out, Peterson said of the Thursday evening jam sessions.  ... This is bowling night.

The practice sessions are a time for five friends to meet, share stories and tell jokes between run-throughs of tunes like Sweet Caroline, Hound Dog and Folsom County Blues.

Its very relaxing, keeps me sane, said Johnston, who also performs as a solo act at area nursing homes.

With years of experience playing together, Freedom Road is like The Rolling Stones of Columbus.

We just dont work as hard as those guys do, said Tarnick, the bands drummer and background vocalist.

They play about six to eight shows a year, depending on how busy life is with work and family.

Tarnick is a loan officer at Columbus Bank and Trust and Peterson owns a garbage-hauling business. Jan Zaura, a bassist who joined the group in 2005, works as a self-employed auto mechanic and guitarist and vocalist Ken Lee, a member for about five years, recently retired from his job as an engineer at Vishay.

Weve all got straight jobs, Tarnick said.

Thank goodness because theres not a living to be made out here playing music, Peterson responded with a smile.

Freedom Road still gets paying gigs, but they no longer need the checks to cover day-to-day expenses.

Zaura, who also plays with the Columbus Jazz Band and for Central Community College musicals, gets his reward from the crowd interaction.

A live performance, theres energy to it, he said.

When a song really comes together, it just feels great, Johnston added.

Those songs mostly come from the '60s and '70s, from Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers to Creedence Clearwater Revival and Chicago.

We run the gamut of about everything, said Johnston.

Although they stick mainly to the oldies  because thats our age, according to Zaura  the band is constantly learning different songs to keep the set lists from getting stagnant.

We have to keep learning new old songs to stay fresh, Johnston said. We cant keep playing the same old old songs. Weve got to keep learning new old songs.

The set lists also vary from show to show, with a more family friendly version used during Thursdays Lawnchairs on the Square performance and higher-tempo rock n roll songs planned for July 8 when Freedom Road opens for Starship at the Platte County Fair.

Weve got some surprises for people that we havent played yet, Johnston said.

Freedom Road is also booked for the July 3 fireworks show at Platte County Agricultural Park and Columbus Days in August.

With decades of playing time under their belts, Johnston said the band members have kicked around discussions about Freedom Roads future.

But nobody is ready to hang up their instruments just yet.

I just like playing music, Zaura said. Im not ready to quit.
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 ...
By SA Commercial Prop News

Business confidence recovered marginally in February rising to 99.5 index points, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Wednesday.

Saccis monthly Business Confidence Index (BCI) increased by 2.4 index points to 99.5, the best level since June 2011 even though its 2.4 points below the level of February 2011.

Four of the 13 sub-indices were negative in February. Of the six financial sub-indices, five were positive on a month-to-month basis compared to only two in January.

On balance, the sub-indices on real economic activity also induced a positive effect on the BCI between January 2012 and February 2012. The annualised impact of the real economy was more positive in February than in January 2012 with six of the seven sub-indices reflecting improved performance, noted Sacci on Wednesday.

The chamber noted that although more-year-on-year changes were positive, the rate of improvement was still lagging the long-term performance trend of the economy.

Business confidence is still failing to identify real positive economic momentum, said Sacci adding that the horizontal movement in business confidence although erratic indicated that there is room for improvement in business activity notwithstanding trying times in the Eurozone and the US among other things.

From a confidence perspective, the real economy showed an improvement in February compared to a year ago while the financial environment remained neutral towards business confidence, said Sacci.

Sacci said the continued labour protests and rising cost of fuel remain constraining factors on business optimism.
If Dajuan Harris Jr. is underrated, its not by those at Kansas

Hawk Zone
Anthony Joshua defended his IBF heavyweight title by knocking out Dominic Breazeale in the seventh round Saturday, ending his American challenger's unbeaten record.

It was only the second time in the 26-year-old Joshua's career than he has required more than three rounds to see off an opponent.

A devastating left-right combination, similar to those that stopped many of the Briton's 16 previous opponents, sent Breazeale to the canvas so heavily it appeared the fight was over early in the seventh round.

Breazeale returned to his feet, clinging to the last seconds of his undefeated professional record, before a further barrage dropped him again.

It left the referee with little choice but to wave the action over, one minute and one second into the seventh round at London's O2 Arena.

Joshua was patient throughout the opening round, frequently landing left jabs and the occasional hurtful right, even showing a previously-unseen head movement to evade a Breazeale counter.

In the second Joshua displayed greater aggression. He punched through Breazeale's high guard, and repeatedly sought  and often successfully found  his opponent's resistant head with uppercuts, left hooks and straight rights. Significant swelling was already appearing around Breazeale's right eye.

What followed was a demonstration of Joshua's relish of combat. Breazeale's impressive punch resistance ensured he remained on his feet, and when he fought back and landed, Joshua responded with greater malice.

His inexperience showed at one point with punches that missed wildly, while Breazeale continued to absorb heavy punishment in the rounds that followed, particularly a perfectly-timed left hook midway through the fifth.

The most impressive performance of Joshua's career culminated with that combination in the seventh, and he clinically finished.

"It was a matter of timing and a process," Joshua told British broadcaster Sky Sports. "I only had two weeks off after my last fight (against Charles Martin in April) and now I want to have a nice bit of time off."

It is expected he will next face mandatory challenger Joseph Parker of New Zealand

Joshua is adjusting his plans after Tyson Fury was forced to postpone his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko after hurting his left ankle in training.

"I was looking at Tyson Fury and I hope he gets better soon because I was hoping to get that in the winter," Joshua said. "In the meantime, we'll look at other opponents like Joseph Parker."

-AP
Another week another dollar, they say.

And as we get down to business  with work or whatever your weekly routine is after taking some time off during the weekend  there is no doubt that there are so many issues we are faced with that demands our serious attention.

At a time when there is so much talk about rights and what have you, let me remind that among the most vulnerable members of the community whose rights are constantly violated are our children. We are referring to the children who are on the streets of Samoa at all hours of day and night. These children ave a right to protection, education and decent upbringing.

Yet thats not what we are seeing.

Whether we agree or disagree about the existence of poverty in Samoa, the truth is undeniable. If the growing number of young people hawking goods on the streets of Apia and all over Samoa at all sorts of hours during day and night is not a sign of poverty, I dont know what is.

As a community that cares, we cannot afford to ignore and allow the trend to continue as if its normal.

Indeed, using young children, who should be in school, to attract the sympathy of passers by, who are then forced to buy something from them or give them money, should be discouraged by everyone.

We say this because the reality is that everyday in this country, we are seeing so many young children taking to the streets to beg  and sell - for whatever they could get their hands on, to help their families survive.

In this newspaper, we believe that as a community, we should not allow this to continue. This is why as a newspaper; we have always been highlighting heart-breaking stories about these young people.

Take the story 10-year-old Suliveta Suliveta we highlighted not so long ago.

My mum asks me to come and sell this stuff so that we can get money, he said. There are so many people in our household and we usually dont have enough money and food.

So the money I make every day and night, I give it all to my mom. I am now used to what I do, and I love it.

Last year, we also featured a story about a five-year-old girl who sells hair clippers instead of going to school. Thats right, we are talking about a five-year-old girl.

But these are just some of many who have barely made it out of the baby stages who are unashamedly pushed by their by parents at all hours of the day and night to beg on the streets of Samoa.

Take a drive down to McDonalds at night or outside those nightclubs and you will see what we are talking about.

And thats not all. Even during broad daylight when these children should be at school, there are many of them out there.

Now, we are aware that sometimes desperation knows no end. We are also aware that in Samoa, some children are brought up on the notion that a child can be blessed beyond measure purely from listening and obeying the parents.

With that in mind, some children have voluntarily decided to stay home, instead of getting an education, so they can hit the streets to make whatever they could to help their parents.

This is truly tragic.

Let us remind here and now that it is the parents and caregivers responsibility to provide for these children. They should be given the opportunity to study and be nurtured until such a time when they can go out to find formal employment.

We talk about rights and this word is being thrown around so much for useless reasons.

But our children matter. And every child in Samoa should have the right to an education, quality health care, home, food, clothes and to be loved until such a time when they are old enough to make their own decisions.

Our children should be treasured as the gifts that they are supposed to be from God.

This is a message we should be promoting. This is a fight worth taking up.

When children are being forced to sell and beg from total strangers, putting their lives at risk at all hours of the day and night, as a responsible community, we shouldnt just sit around. There should be outrage, there should be public condemnation of the systems and the people behind the systems which have led to this. Have a wonderful week Samoa, God bless!
A former Police Constable, Dave Tomasi, who was sacked in a heap of controversy earlier this year, is a desperate man.

In a last ditch attempt to seek help, he is asking for legal help so he could continue what he terms as his fight for justice.

Unemployed, penniless and with a child, Mr. Tomasi said he could do with any kind of help  including a job.

Mr. Tomasi, whose services were terminated before the General Election following a string of incidents  including stopping the Police Commissioner about an alleged parking infringement - approached the Samoa Observer last week, seeking help.

I know people might think that I have been appearing on the newspaper because I am seeking attention, he said. Thats not the truth. I am not.

I am simply asking for help because I have basically went through everyone that I know - even the Prime Minister but there seems to be no help from anybody at all.

I want justice to be served because I know I was unfairly treated when they decided to terminate my services as a police officer.

Mr. Tomasi told the Samoa Observer he was on the verge of a breakdown because he does not know where else to go.

It got to the point where I was thinking of committing suicide because I felt useless, I felt alone and especially I couldnt provide for my family and my newborn child.

It feels like I am fighting this battle alone against the whole world which I am by the way, because I am going up against some very powerful people.

Earlier this year, Mr. Tomasis sacking made headlines. The matter reached Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and the Office of the Ombudsman where Mr. Tomasi lodged a complaint about his treatment.

Today, the former Police officer maintains that he has received no help at all.

What really strike me is the unfairness of the whole thing, he said. Thats what really bothers me and I cant seem to move on because I know I did not do anything wrong.

I was taught during our recruitment that the law is the law and the Commissioner himself told us and the public that no one is above the law.

Mr. Tomasi went on to say that the only people left are the community and he is asking anyone who can help in any way.

I dont know what has happened to my complaint that I have sent to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Prime Minister and everyone else that I know, he said.

I havent received any update from them so this is why I have come to the media again, maybe then they will finally hear my voice and my plea.

Mr. Tomasi had threatened to take legal action against the Police but he said he doesnt have money to pursue the matter.

I have gone to the Court again and I told them the truth that I dont have any money but I just need someone who will listen to me and willing to help me with my case, he said.

I am not seeking any attention but simply to get justice and to let these people know that they cannot continue with this kind of attitude.

Mr. Tomasi is also unemployed.

Because I was sacked from the Police, no one is willing to give me a job, he said.

I have a newborn child and parents to look after. They all rely on me but I cannot move on because this matter is dragging me down.

I have been longing for the day this case will be over so that I can move on I hope that there is someone out there who is willing to help me and be able to get to the bottom of this without anyone interfering.
Faafafines might have become members of the modern Samoan community but in the traditional Samoan set up, they were not part of the picture.

Thats the opinion of the Chairman of the National Council of Churches (N.C.C), Deacon Kasiano Leaupepe, in the wake of calls from Samoa Faafafine Association for the community to respect their rights.

Speaking during an interview with the Samoa Observer, Leaupepe said faafafines are human beings created by God and they should be respected.

But he objected to a commonly held misconception that faafafines are part of the Samoan culture.

Back in the days we hardly heard of this word faafafine because there were hardly any faafafines around in our days, he said.

To be honest, there is no faafafine in the Samoan way of life. There is the Village Fono for the matai, there is a sitting of the untitled men and of course there is a saofaiga for tina ma tamaitai (mothers and females) but there is nothing in the traditional setting for faafafines.

[But] because people have decided to make such changes to their physical appearance, that is why all this stuff has become about. Deacon Leaupepe said he has nothing against faafafine but he reminded that all the challenges Samoa is facing today stem from the break down in family values. Like I said before, parents play the most important part in any childs life and they are their childrens first teachers. It all starts from home; home is the foundation of any childs life.

If the parents see that in their sons upbringing that he acts like a girl and walks like a girl, they should start teaching them that this is not who they are and explain to them that God did not create them to be females. The problem is that some parents laugh at their children when they see these kinds of things. They think its funny but little do they know that, that laugh is encouraging the child to do what they think is right. This is why weve got this problem today.

Leaupepe added that in modern Samoa, faafafine are part of us. The are officially recognized by the government, with the Prime Minister being the Patron of the Faafafine Association. Therefore in the church, we accept them because they are human beings and that they were created by God, he said.

So in the church, our belief is that we are all the same and we were all created by God. So my personal view is that we leave the changes to the individual person to decide. When it comes to faafaine, that is their right whether they want to change what God has already given them or stay the same. For us in the church, as leaders we can only give advice, pray and tell them what the word of God says.

If only the church has the power to change what it is already in place we would have not allowed them but because in Gods eyes we are all the same people and we are all His children created in His own image.
The former Minister of Finance, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, received a stern telling off from Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi last week.

Before you say anything further, think about your time, Tuilaepa said. I dont want to go back to the past. I thought you would never bring this up but I urge you to think deeply about it.

The chiding happened during the discussion of the 2016/2017 Budget in Parliament when Faumuina questioned the governments commitment to the development of Savaii.

Reminding Prime Minister Tuilaepa and his administration about the H.R.P.Ps motto of whats good for Upolu is also good for Savaii, Faumuina said there is an urgent need to take the development of Salelologa to the next level.

Compared to Upolu, Faumuina said there are hardly any opportunities in Savaii and this is why most people on the big island have migrated.

Faumuina spoke about the strategic importance of turning the Salelologa Wharf into a full-blown international wharf, to attract businesses to Savaii.

No business would want to move to Salelologa because its very expensive to transport goods from Apia to Savaii, said Faumuina. Looking to the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, who is the M.P for Salelologa, Faumuina urged him to prioritise the development of the Salelologa Township.

He said it would be a waste of another Parliament term for M.Ps from the big island if the government doesnt move on the Salelologa Wharf development.

Lets go to Savaii and establish our own government because it seems like the government is being biased in the development of the two islands, Faumuina said. Faumuina added that the government should relocate the key services such as the hospital and the Police office to Salelologa from Tuasivi so that it would become easier for people in Savaii.

But Faumuinas tone did not go down well with Prime Minister Tuilaepa. He objected and asked Faumuina why he did not any of what he is talking about when he was a Cabinet Minister.

You were the Minister of Finance before, Tuilaepa reminded. But why has it taken you so long to look into to those developments? Tuilaepa told Faumuina to leave his request to the government because these are the things he should have done when he was in a position to make those strategic decisions. During his time, Famuina had served as the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Minister of Environment and a Minister of Finance. In response to Tuilaepa, Faumuina said he never had the opportunity to do any of those projects.

I was never given many projects for me to work on, he said. Whatever the Cabinet decided upon, those were our priority. But this is the time we need to focus on the development of Salelologa.

Faumuina pointed out that he started the construction of the Salelologa wharf when was a Minister. It was when he moved away from the portfolio that the project was put on hold. This is why he is asking the government to finish the project.

But Tuilaepa refuted the claim.

You moved away from where you were and you became the Minister of Finance. That is where you should have continued to push for that project to be completed.

Before you say anything further, think about your time.

He did not elaborate.

Still Faumuina would not budge. He reminded that during his time as the Minister of Finance, the governments priority was to the clean up after Cyclone Evan. That cost $400million, he said.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa took the floor immediately. He said once the country is affected by a natural disaster, the recovery work immediately becomes the governments priority. And that means all projects are put on hold. I dont want to go back to the past, Tuilaepa said. I thought you would never bring this up but I urge you to think deeply about it. Back on the floor, Faumuina said he is only raising the issues because he believes the people of Savaii deserve the best  just as the people of Upolu are enjoying. On that note, he said the government should also consider establishing a branch of the National University of Samoa in Savaii.

Business opportunities which provide jobs and incomes will stem the migration to Upolu, he said. Access to quality education in Savaii will also keep bright students there.

Let me remind you that whats good in Upolu is also good for the big island of SavaiI, he said. The Member of Parliament also asked the government about the process of the National Broad Band Highway. He said this is one of the projects believes would benefit Samoa, especially in the education sector because it would allow students from Savaii access to some of the best teaching methods and teachers in Upolu.

The service can also be useful for the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration especially Judges who can still work from Upolu internet technology. Lastly, Faumuina said that as Members of Parliament, it is their responsibility to remind the government about projects that can make a difference and improve livelihoods for all Samoans.
Apia 24, June 2016: The Office of the Ombudsman has received a number of complaints in relation to the article Suicide in Church Hall which was published on the front page of the Sunday Samoan on 19 June 2016.

Many of the complaints the Office received requested the Ombudsman to initiate an inquiry into the Samoa Observer, the publisher of the Sunday Samoan. The Office of the Ombudsman has the power to investigate matters of good-governance in public administration and to promote and protect human rights in Samoa.

It does not have the jurisdiction under the Ombudsman (Komesinao Sulufaiga) Act 2013 to regulate the media in Samoa.

Given that many of the complaints were concerned with poor journalism and a lack of media ethics on behalf of the Observer, the Office believes that the proposed Media Council is the appropriate mechanism to investigate and determine such complaints.

This statement does not concern the possible criminal investigation into the death of Jeanine. It is concerned with the article, the photo and the reporting of Jeanines death as a suicide by the Observer. It does not suggest that Jeanines death was either as a result of suicide or a possible homicide.

That is a matter for the Police and for the Coroner. Rather, the Office has weaved together relevant human rights and faasamoa principles to highlight how the article was inconsistent with Samoan culture and was also a fundamental breach of human rights.

The Office understands the anguish this article has caused within the Samoan community. Many complaints include passionate arguments in the defence of Jeanine and the faafafine community.

It is heartening to know that so many within the Samoan community defended Jeanines rights at a time when Jeanine could not.

It is also encouraging that so many people stood up for the rights of Jeanines family as well as faafafine in Samoa.

The Office notes that the Observer has since apologised to Jeanines family and to its readers for publishing the article. It has also published many editorials criticising the Observer, including a moving statement from the Samoa Faafafine Association. This statement seeks to assist in the reconciliation process so that Jeanines family can grieve for the loss of their loved one in private and to assure the faafafine community that they are loved and protected in Samoa.

The right to dignity and the lack of mutual respect afforded to Jeanine and family.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights.The dignity of the human person is not only a fundamental human right in itself, but constitutes the basis of all human rights.The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrined this principle in its preamble where it states recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Article 1 of the Declaration reminds us that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that people should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

This concept mirrors the core faasamoa principle of feavaai(mutual respect). Like the human right to dignity, feavaai is demanded of all Samoans. It is something that should be afforded to all people, regardless of their gender, race or creed. It should also be afforded at all stages of the human experience, from birth to adolescence, adulthood and even in death.

The Observer did not afford Jeanine, and the family family, respect when it published the photo and printed the article on the front page of the Sunday Samoan. It showed a callous disregard for Jeanine as a human being. It denied Jeanines right to inherent dignity and took away Jeanines humanity. The Office strongly endorses the Samoa Faafafine Associations comment that we all have a responsibility to incorporate our faasamoa in all that we do. This sentiment reflects a central theme of human rights which is that we should respect the rights of others without discrimination.

The misgendering of a faafafine

The article also failed to afford Jeanine and the faafafine community respect when it referred to Jeanine as a man when the term faafafine is widely recognised in the Samoan community Terminology can have a profound impact on a persons identity, self-worth and inherent dignity. The use of inclusive and accepted terminology empowers individuals. Terminology that describes such intrinsic parts of a persons identity or characteristics carries a heavy weight and significance. This is particularly so for groups that have been stigmatised in their community. In those circumstances, terms validate who someone is and may help them to feel connected to others who share that identity or those characteristics. While terminology evolves over time, what remains constant is the importance of treating each person with dignity, in a way that protects the person from discrimination and violence.

Faafafine are an important part of Samoan culture. They are traditionally known for their hard work and dedication to the family in carrying out the roles and responsibilities of both men and women. We should always consider our faasamoa by ensuring that we afford faafafine feavaai and refer to them in a manner that is both culturally and gender sensitive.

Freedom of expression, the role of the media and the need for industry oversight

The media play an important role in any democratic society. Media organisations such as the Observer help generate public debate on important public issues and ensure that the government and business are held accountable for their actions. Above all else, the media should report the news in an objective and responsible manner. The media should always serve the public by providing it with accurate and reliable information. The article did not do this. It was based on hearsay and insinuated the reasons for Jeanines death without corroborating its source.

In an edition of the Observer dated 22 February 2016, the Editor stated that Samoa did not need a Media Council as the Observer had been operating for many years without one. The inappropriate publishing of the photo, combined with the insensitive reporting of Jeanines death and gender clearly highlights the need for industry oversight of Samoas media.

The Media Council Act 2015 creates a mechanism for such oversight. It establishes the Media Council and requires it to develop a Code of Practice regulating the broadcast of news and current affairs in Samoa. Under the Act, complaints can be made to the Council about breaches of the Code. The Council has the power to hear, investigate and make decisions regarding such complaints. This mechanism is established practice around the world with many countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada enacting similar procedures with regards to regulating their media. It is regulation of the media, by the media.

It is the responsibility of the Journalists Association of Samoa (JAWS) to elect an executive committee which then appoints members to the Media Council. It has yet to do this. The Media Act also permits the Head of State, on the advice of Cabinet, to appoint an interim Council if JAWS fails to appoint one itself. It also allows the Interim Council to adopt a Code of Practice from another jurisdiction until one is adopted by the Media Council.

In the same editorial mentioned above, the Editor said that the Media Council would result in a restriction of press freedom and freedom of expression in Samoa. The right to freedom of expression is contained in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) as well as the Constitution of Samoa. It includes the right of a person to publish information and ideas of all kinds, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media. When the editor of a newspaper decides to publish an article he exercises his right to freedom of expression. However, freedom of expression is not an unlimited right. Under human rights law, a persons right to freedom of expression can be restricted in certain exceptional circumstances. These include things like protecting a persons reputation (defamation laws), as well as for the protection of national security, public morals, public health and public order.

As will be explained below, the prevention of suicide is considered a legitimate public health issue. A Media Code of Practice, which includes a set of standards for the reporting of suicide in Samoa is an appropriate way to regulate media behaviour, including preventing the inappropriate reporting of suicide. A Media Code of Practice would not breach Article 19 of the ICCPR and would be a permissible restriction to the right to freedom of expression.

Recommendation: If JAWS has yet to establish the Media Council, the Office of the Ombudsman recommends that the Cabinet establish an Interim Media Council. The Interim Council should adopt a code of practice from another jurisdiction until JAWS can appoint members to the Media Council for it to develop Samoas own Media Code of Practice.

Recommendation: The Office of the Ombudsman recommends that once appointed, the Media Council immediately take steps to formulate and adopt Samoas own Media Code of Practice.

Recommendation: The Office of the Ombudsman recommends that all the complaints relating to unethical journalism regarding the article Suicide in Church Hall be transferred to the Media Council for its consideration.

Reporting of suicide in the media

This section relates to the reporting of Jeanines death as a suicide. Again, the Office does not suggest that it was either a suicide or a homicide. This section is only concerned with the appropriate reporting of suicide in the media.

Suicide is a serious public health problem all around the world, including Samoa. The factors contributing to suicide and its prevention are complex and not yet fully understood. There is increasing evidence that suggests the media plays a significant role in both the cause and prevention of suicide. A number of studies have shown that inappropriate reporting can lead to copycat suicides. However, it has also been proven that responsible reporting of this issue in the media can help educate the public, and may encourage those at risk to seek help.

In 2008 the World Health Organisation and the International Association for the Prevention of Suicide released a Checklist for Media Professionals to be used when reporting this issue. The Observer failed to do nine out of eleven steps before publishing the article. It failed to:

 Take the opportunity to educate the public about suicide - suicide is never the result of a single factor or event. It can be misleading to attribute it to a single event such as failing an exam or a breakdown in a relationship.

 Avoid language which sensationalised or normalised suicide  The media should recognise the importance of language when reporting events. Rather than educate Samoa about suicide, the Observers article and photo sensationalised Jeanines death.

 Avoid explicit description of the method used. The Observers inclusion of the photo and the article itself failed to do this.

 Avoid providing detailed information about the site. Again, The Observers inclusion of the photo and the article itself failed to do this.

 Word headlines carefully  the word suicide should be avoided in the headline.  Avoid including a photo of someone who has died of a suicide.  Show consideration for family and friends who are grieving for the deceased. As

mentioned above, the Observer failed to afford Jeanines family mutual respect (feavaai) by publishing the photo and the article.

The Office notes that the New Zealand High Commission has offered to fund training for the media in Samoa on the appropriate reporting of suicide and suicide prevention. The Office understands that the media is responding positively to this initiative.

Recommendation: The Office of the Ombudsman recommends that the Media Council, once appointed, adopt a set of standards for the appropriate reporting of suicide in the media.

Recommendation: The Office of the Ombudsman recommends that JAWS, with the assistance of the New Zealand High Commission, facilitate training for all its members in the appropriate reporting of suicide.

This week has been a difficult week for the faafafine community, the staff of the Samoa Observer and indeed for the country. However, it must be remembered that it is the people who were closest to Jeanine that have had to endure the worst. The Office would like to offer its condolences to Jeanines family and friends as they grieve for the loss of

their loved one. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you go through this difficult
Three Australians, a New Zealander, a South African and two Nigerians were freed on Sunday, four days after they were kidnapped in an ambush on a police convoy in southeastern Nigeria that killed a driver, officials said.

No ransom was paid, according to Assistant Superintendent Irene Ugho, spokeswoman for the Cross River state police. She described the release as a "rescue exercise" involving security agencies but provided no further detail.

State security adviser Jude Ngaji, the seven mine workers' employer Macmahon Holdings and the Australian government confirmed that all seven had been freed.

Western Australia-based Macmahon said in a statement late Sunday that five of the men were injured, two seriously. They were receiving attention from a medical team. Macmahon did not identify the five.

But Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told 2GB Radio in Sydney early Monday: "I believe they are all well, undergoing health checks, and it's obviously been a very traumatic time for them and they are all returning home to their families."

She said the Australian government did not pay any ransom and would not say if Macmahon had.

Macmahon chief executive Sy van Dyk praised the men for the courage they displayed throughout the ordeal.

"Our men have been through a traumatic experience and we have mobilized medical and other support teams in Nigeria to provide immediate support," he said.

"I also thank the men's families for working so closely with the company during what has been an extremely difficult time for them as well. They too have endured an incredibly stressful experience," he added.

The families had been told of the release and had spoken to their loved ones, he said

Police had identified the kidnapped foreigners as Australians Jack Countentz, Mark Gabberdy and Peter Zoutenbier; New Zealander Jamal Khan, and South African Wayne Smith.

They were snatched at gunpoint along with two Nigerians on Wednesday and forced from their vehicles, which were in a convoy escorted by police near Calabar, the state capital.

It is not known if the perpetrators of the latest kidnapping made a ransom demand.

Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria but generally involves no fatalities. Hostages are returned unharmed once money exchanges hands, though a German construction worker was killed in southwestern Nigeria late last year by gunmen who kidnapped a second German. He was later released.
KINGSTREE, S.C.  Williamsburg County Council members are taking measures to park the County Supervisors work vehicle on weekends. The move is in response to what council members say is an abuse of privilege by elected Supervisor Stanley Pasley.

Council voted for Pasley to get a new vehicle and to use it as part of his duties, however Pasley purchased a vehicle that cost the county more than was budgeted and, according to council members W.B. Wilson and Jeanie Brown-Burrows, he uses the county vehicle for purposes other than county business.

At the beginning of the June 21 meeting, Pasley requested an amendment to the agenda, moving executive session to the top of the meeting and urging council members to go into the executive session to discuss personnel matters as it relates to the budget.

Council entered into a 40-minute closed session.

Upon their return to open session, when it came time to approve the budgets third reading, council member Franklin Fulmore Sr. asked that council members be given the weekend to read the budget, as they had just been given it and he didnt feel he had sufficient knowledge to pass third reading of the budget.

Council member Sam Floyd said he thought the reading should be tabled, but in order for the budget to go into effect July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year, third reading had to be given before the end of the month.

Council met this past Monday at 10 a.m. to have third reading on the budget.

During the Special Committees report to council, given by Brown-Burrows following their June 15 meeting, a long list of recommendations was approved by council. Among the recommendations were:

Keep solid waste, roads, bridges, landfill under the current budget structure  not combining them at this time.

Requesting contractual agreements being made by the county attorney to also have one member of council present during the draft and presenting of anything to do with county business.

Appropriate sub-committees of county council be invited to be present and notified when business is being conducted that affects those committees expecting to be invited and notified when county employees are meeting to do county business.

All county personnel driving county vehicles keep a mileage log.

To revisit the $30 landfill fee.

Consideration be given to a retirement recognition program.

Land development discussions should note size and acreage of the lot.

Change the department name from Emergency Preparedness to Emergency Management.

That county vehicles belonging to the supervisor and coroner be marked with a seal in the back window.

That the supervisor parks his county vehicle on the weekends unless there is county business and a mileage log is to be kept.

Council will receive a monthly financial report.

That a check be made to ensure that the county is in compliance with its audits concerns regarding where the county checkbooks reside.

Were just trying to do what is right for the citizens, Brown-Burrows said.

In other business at the meeting, Council passed second reading to close a section of Gator Road, and continued in the process to have a referendum placed on the November general election ballot to create a one-cent capital project sales tax. Floyd was the lone nay regarding the referendum resolution.

Williamsburg County neighbors Florence and Georgetown counties have imposed the one-cent tax to fund several projects the counties could not otherwise afford.

In March council began the procedure to have the tax on the ballot in November, County Attorney Billy Jenkinson said. This past Tuesday council members approved an amended resolution creating a Capital Projects Sales Tax Commission with regards to a proposed one-cent capital project sales tax.

The six-member sales tax commission will have the unfettered right to determine the projects, Jenkinson said. The commission is made up of two members selected by the countys largest municipality, Kingstree; one appointed by the second largest municipality, Lane; and three selected by county council. The group will have its first meeting June 30, as an orientation to the work they are undertaking, Jenkinson said.

There will be three readings and a public hearing before then on the questions to be put on the ballot, with the last one in August.

The Williamsburg County one-cent capital project sales tax would last not more than eight years. Additionally, the county will place on the referendum the question of authorizing the issuance of a bond so projects can be begun quickly and payback would come as the tax money is received, Jenkinson said.

A capital sales tax commission will be created. It is that group, and not council, which will decide how the collected money will be spent. The commission will take proposals for projects, and then decide on which proposals they will fund.

Council passed first reading of an ordinance to authorize and provide the issuance of a Waterworks and Sewer System Revenue Bond, not to exceed $3,455,000. The county supervisor and chairman of the county council will act on behalf of council in regards to such matters.

Council approved a resolution to issue a Tax Anticipation Note, in the amount up to $3.5 million. The county does this annually, Jenkinson said, to fund county government while waiting on county tax revenue to come in.

In keeping with the finance committees recommendation, council approved the move of approximately $16,000, transferring $40,000 to reimburse CERT team expenses, and approving new language in the budget ordinance regarding overtime usage, management and approval after a departments overtime funding has been used.

The next regular council meeting will be July 19 at 6 p.m. in council chambers.
FLORENCE, S.C.  John Leum thought he would never fish again.

The 68-year-old veteran of the Air Force, Navy and Army lost most of his shoulder mobility late in 2005 when he was injured in combat.

When I came back after 2006 and I found that I couldnt use my arms like I used to, I sold everything," he said. "I pretty much gave up fishing all together. It was really hard, yeah. I sold my big boat.  I sold all my fishing gear.

But that all changed when Leum learned about the Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing group. The organization is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing and other associated activities.

Since joining approximately five years ago, Leum has been on more than 20 fishing trips with the group.

As someone who grew up in the woods of Wisconsin fishing, hunting and camping, Leum said he often helps teach fly tying and casting to the veterans who have less experience.

Talking about experiences in the military is not always easy, particularly for disabled veterans and veterans with post-traumatic stress. But Healing Waters provides an outlet for Leum and other members to share their experiences.

Its a wonderful program.  Many of the veterans that are involved in our group are older veterans, and many of them have never talked about their experiences before, Leum said. Because Ive been through a lot of the stuff that theyve been through, we do a lot of talking.

Healing Waters is also instrumental in building special fishing areas for handicapped veterans and stocking locations so catching fish is likely, Leum said.

Though being a veteran and an outdoors-lover is a huge part of Leum, there is more to him than that. Leum also is an artist who worked for more than 30 years in art therapy and art education, including time spent teaching in Florence School District One at McLaurin Elementary and South Florence High School.

Leum also taught art classes at Lynda English Gallery Studio, where he now takes lessons.

Currently, Leum is combining his two interests and working on a series of paintings at the studio called Healing Waters, which depict photographs taken on various fly-fishing trips.

For Leum, the series has a special place in his heart for one main reason: the memories.

Several of his works hang on the walls of the Second Loop Road studio, where Leum says he one day might host an exhibit.

When she put my work on the wall for the first time, I was ecstatic," Leum said. "Ive never had my work on the wall before. I mean, that blew me away.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Long-serving Florence City Councilman Ed Robinson has been laid to rest, but his name will live on in the citys second district  figuratively as a champion for the downtrodden and literally as a street has been renamed after him.

A section of East Pine Street between South Church Street and South Jeffords Street recently was renamed Ed Robinson Way after a state resolution was passed to commemorate the citys longest serving councilman.

South Carolina Reps. Terry Alexander and Robert Williams co-sponsored a resolution to rename the state roads and hosted a dedication ceremony on Sunday afternoon, along with S.C. Sen. Kent Williams and Cumberland United Methodist Church  the church Robinson attended.

Alexander said this street naming is just a small way to remind the city of the legacy Robinson leaves behind.

We just wanted to leave something folks can identify within the community, Alexander said. No matter what people thought about Ed Robinson, he represented the people of that district, he brought about some changes and he loved the community in which he lived and served.

Alexander said Pine Street is within the heart of District 2, and that stretch was chosen because people will know when theyre on Ed Robinson Way, theyre in a place he devoted his life to.

Every time people ride that street they will see his name, Alexander said. The community was his heart and soul, and we think its fitting to commemorate him in this way.
EFFINGHAM, S.C. - Autopsy results for the Florence County Detention Center inmate who died Saturday will be released upon the return of toxicological and histological studies, Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken revealed Sunday.

According to von Lutcken, the inmate, 51-year-old Gerald Bush, was rushed to a local hospital ER early Saturday morning for an unspecified medical emergency. He died a short time later.

The incident remains under investigation by the Florence County Coroner's Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
WASHINGTON -- The Leave campaign won the referendum on withdrawing Britain from the European Union because the arguments on which the Remain side relied made Leave's case. The Remain campaign began with a sham, was monomaniacal with its Project Fear, and ended in governmental thuggishness.

The sham was Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to justify Remain by negotiating EU concessions regarding Britain's subservience to the EU. This dickering for scraps of lost sovereignty underscored Britain's servitude and achieved so little that Remainers rarely mentioned it during their campaign.

Project Fear was the relentless and ultimately ludicrous parade of Cassandras, "experts" all, warning that Britain, after more than a millennium of sovereign existence, and now with the world's fifth-largest economy, would endure myriad calamities were it to end its 23-year membership in the EU. Remain advocates rarely even feigned enthusiasm for the ramshackle, sclerotic EU. Instead, they implausibly promised that if Brexit were rejected, Britain -- although it would then be without the leverage of the threat to leave -- would nevertheless somehow negotiate substantially better membership terms than Cameron managed when Brexit was an option.

Voters were not amused by the Cameron government's threat of what critics called a Punishment Budget to inflict pain on pensioners (e.g., no more free bus passes) and others because Brexit might cause GDP to contract 9.5 percent and home prices might plummet 18 percent. Voters did not like being told that they really had no choice. And that it was too late to escape from entanglement in the EU's ever-multiplying tentacles. And that the very viscosity of the EU's statism guarantees its immortality.

Voters chose the optimism of Brexit. Sixty years after Britain's humiliation in the Suez debacle, Britain has a spring in its step, confident that it will flourish when Brussels no longer controls 60 to 70 percent of the British government's actions. Britain was last conquered by an invading army in 1066. In 2016, it repelled an attempted conquest by the EU's (BEG ITAL)nomenklatura(END ITAL).

By breaking the leftward-clicking ratchet that moves steadily, and only, toward more "pooled" sovereignty and centralization of power, Brexit refutes the progressive narrative that history has an inexorable trajectory that "experts" discern and before which all must bow. The EU's contribution to this fable is its vow to pursue "ever-closer union." Yes, (BEG ITAL)ever(END ITAL).

To understand why Brexit could and should be the beginning of an existential crisis for the EU, look across the English Channel, to France. There, King Clovis recently was invoked 1505 years after his death in 511.

Before a particular battle, Clovis promised that if the God to whom his Christian wife prayed would grant him victory, he would become a Christian. He won the battle and converted. Recently, Nicolas Sarkozy, France's once and perhaps future president, said France was "born of the baptism of Clovis," it has a Christian tradition and remains "a country of churches, cathedrals, abbeys and shrines."

Actually, 71 percent of the French say religion is unimportant to them and fewer than 4.5 percent attend weekly church services. But Sarkozy was aligning himself with the palpable desire in France and elsewhere in Europe to resist the cultural homogenization that is an intended consequence of EU's pressure for the "harmonization" of the laws and policies of its 28 disparate member nations.

In Paris these days there are marches by a group called Generation Identitaire, described as the "hipster right." It aims to rally "young French and Europeans who are proud of their heritage." A recent statement on its website declared that "Islamist attacks" and "the migrant invasion" made 2015 "a turning point in the history of our country." The statement continued: "The French have been silent for too long. ... It is time to show our determination to live on our land, under our laws, our values and with respect to our own identity." Sarkozy, the son of Greek and Hungarian immigrants, sympathizes.

Euroskepticism is rising dramatically in many EU nations. There might be other referendums. Or the EU might seek to extinguish this escape mechanism. A poll in Sweden indicated that it might follow Britain out. In France, there could be a campaign for Frexit.

Such was the Remain side's intellectual sloth, it wielded the threadbare aspersion that advocating withdrawal amounted to embracing "isolationism." Actually, Brexit was the choice for Britain's international engagement (BEG ITAL)as a nation(END ITAL). The revival of nationhood is a prerequisite for the reinvigoration of self-government through reclaimed national sovereignty. Hence June 23, 2016, is now among the most important dates in post-war European history.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
The Cosco Pacific Panama entered the first chamber of the Atlantic Agua Clara having paid $586,094.58 for the transit the day before she would make the historic inauguration voyage.

As the Cosco Shipping Panama arrived in the locks second chamber, CaptainJude Rodrigues was welcomed by Panamas president Juan Carlos Varela, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator Jorge Quijano and Coscocs chairman Xu Lirong.

Later this afternoon, the vessel will reach the Pacific Cocoli Locks where the official Inauguration ceremony will take place.

On the eve of the inauguration, ACP Administrator Jorge Quijano hosted a reception for the Canal customers and ship owners invited to witness the inauguration June 26 and the festivities Sunday afternoon in the Cocoli locks.

I would like to express my excitement of sharing this moment with our main customers and stakeholders, including the ports we serve, said Quijano to the audience who applauded him repeatedly.

You all know the effort that the construction of the expanded Canal entailed, and I have to thank you for your unwavering support during the ups and downs typical of a project of this magnitude and complexity. During the last nine years, we felt your support not only in words, but also in actions, as we witnessed the increased number of larger vessels being ordered that fit the new locks dimensions immediately after we announced the expansion,  Quijano said.

We also saw the rush by port terminals to deepen their channels and upgrade their infrastructure. Even shippers have done some shifting of their distribution centers. All this is proof of the trust that the shipping industry has on this projects impact on global trade. You all were with us during this voyage and tonight, I can proudly say that we did it and we did it together!

This is the beginning of a new era A new era that also brings new incentives. These include:

a loyalty programme for container vessels, which provides price improvements of as much as 6% on the capacity tariff, for customers who reach specific TEU volumes . Around ten container lines are already taking advantage of this programme since April this year;

We will apply the ballast rate for LNG vessels on the return voyage so long as this trip to the canal is made within 60 days after the laden transit was completed;

And we have also developed a ballast rate for dry bulkers to promote the repositioning of the larger vessels that need to use the Neopanamax locks.

Beginning next week, we will accommodate containerships of around 8,000 to 10,000 teu transiting the Canal, and in a year or more, we should be receiving the larger 13,000 and 14,000 teu vessels in our waters.

To this date, we have over 170 reservations for transits of neo-panamax vessels.
Singapore: APL and Port of Salalah have today announced the creation of a 50:50 joint venture to operate a new 1.6m teu two-berth container terminal scheduled to launch in 2011. The venture covers a 28-hectare deepsea facility that will have a total quay length of 700mtrs and be capable of servicing container vessels of more than 10,000teu.



"The partnership with Port of Salalah is part of our long-term commitment to enhance our service to customers," said Ron Widdows, group ceo of APL parent company Neptune Orient Lines (NOL). "Salalah's location on the southwest coast of Oman makes it one of the most ideal transshipment hubs connecting the East-West container routes to the fast-growing Middle East and South Asia regions."



"This deal will enable us to acquire new business and complements the network of other arrangements we have in the Middle East region that are vital to our service capability, including into the Arabian Gulf where it will enhance what we already do."



The Port of Salalah currently has six container berths, with a capacity of 4.5m teu. Port of Salalah has a 30-year concession to operate the port and also acts as the Port Authority. APM Terminals owns 30% of Port of Salalah, with public and private Omani interests owning the balance. The joint venture will invest in super post panamax cranes and other container handling equipment and systems.



Port of Salalah ceo Martijn van de Linde said, "Having partnered with APL since 2003, we are pleased to announce a strengthening of our relationship and the execution of this joint venture agreement. This agreement ensures guaranteed access to capacity for APL in one of the world's most desirable locations for transshipment. For Port of Salalah it secures the customer base and related organic growth for the long term. Having a partner such as APL that shares our enthusiasm for the future of the port of Salalah is a positive thing for both companies as well as for the Dhofar region and the Sultanate of Oman as a whole." [04/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Tokyo: Stock markets across Asia got to work today buying as much bulk shipping stock as they could as a pattern became a trend - the ascendancy of the Baltic Dry Index.

The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities soared 14 percent in London yesterday to 1,498 points, extending a 15 percent jump on the previous day, to the highest level since October 16. That's a 13-day winning streak, the longest since May 2007.

The daily rates for capesizes, which are the largest vessels, soared 21.5% to $26,495, up from $21,810, on Wednesday. Smaller Panamax ships are up 12.9%, to $9,040.

If freight rates remain high for a sustained period of time, it could lead to a 20.0% rise in ship values, Dahlman Rose analyst Omar Nokta said.

This is good news given that many dry bulk companies have breached their loan covenants due to slumping vessel values.

One- and two-year capesize charter rates would need to surpass $40,000 per day for ship values to increase 50% -- the level needed for companies to return to good standing with their lenders, Nokta added.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Natasha Boyden is more bearish. She tells Bloomberg the market shows little sign of recovering in the near term because of the large fleet supply growth on the horizon. Even with the rise in cancellations, the supply of vessels will outpace demand. "We believe recent output cuts by major iron ore miners along with indications that Chinese industrial activity continues to weaken could make 2009 a difficult year for dry bulk rates," she said.

Meanwhile, Boyden admits that iron ore stockpiles at Chinese ports have fallen to about 60.0 million tons in the first quarter of 2009, boosting demand for capesize vessels as miners Rio Tinto, Vale and BHP Billiton secure ships to carry iron ore to China. In addition, the annual iron ore price negotiations, which usually start in April, are already in full swing with Chinese steel mills pushing for a 40.0% price decrease retroactive to Jan. 1 from major iron ore producers.

Lower iron ore prices would push demand higher. Yet there are still about 65 to 70 capesize vessels anchored, Boyden said, which could put downward pressure on rates. [06/02/09]

Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Chennai: The Chennai Port Trust has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Canadian Port of Halifax for cooperation in various fields including exchange of experts, knowledge, and technical cooperation in port management covering operations of specialised terminals like containers, tourism and trade development between the two countries, reports the Press trust of India.



"This is a historic day for us and the signing will be a major initiative for Chennai Port especially in handling of automobiles'' said K Suresh (pictured), chairman of the South Indian port.



Halifax Port ceo and president, Ms Karen Oldfield stated that the MoU is particularly significant as it was the first that the Canadian port has signed with a South East Asian country. She pointed out that India accounted for a third of all business from South East Asian Ports - which are collectively responsible for 35% of Halifax's total throughput.



The agreement will see committees from both ports visit each other's facilities and exchange information gained through the meetings. [28/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Hong Kong: China Shipping Development Co, a major coal and oil carrier, said on Monday it planned to issue up to 5 billion yuan ($732 million) of bills to help fund ship orders and pay off bank debt. The bills, with a maturity of no more than 10 years, would be issued to institutional investors in the interbank market. The timing, coupon and other details have not been decided.

China Shipping also said it planned to sell a dry bulk carrier which was close to being retired to an affiliate for 11.3 million yuan. [10/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Seoul: Cash strapped Korean yard C&Heavy Industries is likely to be sold off to foreign investors. Its biggest creditor, Meritz Fire and Marine Insurance Co., is in talks with overseas investors to sell the shipbuilder.

Two foreign funds have expressed interest in buying C&Heavy, which lost management control to its lenders in December amid discussions to reschedule debt. Seoul-based Meritz said it would seek approval for its plan from the other lenders yesterday, including Woori Bank, South Korea's second largest.?C&Heavy, based in the city of Mokpo, 400 kilometers south of Seoul, has a market value of 11.5 billion won ($8.3 million). [02/02/09]

Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Tokyo: The Baltic Dry Index is roaring back hot on the firming prices for Chinese steel.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., operator of Japan's largest fleet of iron-ore ships, advanced in Tokyo trading this morning, along with other bulk shipping lines in Asia, after the Baltic index of prices for shipping commodities rose the most since 1985.

The shipping line gained as much as 6.3 percent to 645 yen and traded at 637 yen as of 9:52 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan's largest shipping line by sales, added as much as 5.9 percent. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the third-largest, rose as much as 9.3 percent.

The Baltic Dry Index rose 15 percent yesterday in London as the number of idled capesizes fell to almost zero, indicating strengthening demand for iron ore. As much as a quarter of the world capesize fleet was probably idled two months ago as charter rates fell to a record low amid factory closures in China.

Hanjin Shipping Co., South Korea's largest sea-cargo carrier, gained as much as 8.5 percent to 23,550 won in Seoul. Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea's second-largest shipping line, advanced as much as 8.6 percent.

According to data from the Baltic Exchange, the average daily timecharter for capesizes stood at $21,810, up by $3,204 from Tuesday, while the relative earnings for panamaxes are now over $8,000 for supramaxes at $7,121 and for handies at $5,181. In its weekly report on the market and especially on capesizes, Fearnley's said that "after a slow awakening of the market after Chinese New Year, the market has gathered considerable momentum, with the Brazil / China rate moving from $15.00 level up to a reported $19.25, equating to over usd 36,000 for an index type vessel. Also the Pacific market has started to move as a reaction to the front haul market which now again has become a viable alternative for early vessels open in the Far East. The rates for West Australia have, as a result jumped from a steady mid $5.00 level to over $7.00. The transatlantic market is also firm, but due to high steam coal stockpiles on the Continent, there has been little activity"

Citing much firmer China steel prices New York financier Dahlman Rose commented: "The activity in the steel markets in China has spurred a more positive sentiment for dry bulk, and FFAs are firming significantly across all forward periods. Capesize rates are now at a four-month high near $22,000/day. Based on current steel prices, we believe steel margins are wide enough to see Capesize rates in the $25,000/day to $30,000/day range shortly. [05/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Singapore: Dubai-headquartered GAC Group has announced plans to continue with its positive five-year growth strategy in spite of current economic conditions. "Times may be bad but they are not equally bad nor are they bad everywhere," said GAC Group president Lars Safverstrom, at a meeting last week. "We expect our operating income to grow by 13% in 2009 and our port call volumes to reach 60,000 for the year.



"Marine Service remains solid and while our logistics and freight forwarding operations are clearly being affected by the global conditions, we still expect to see growth in that business area," he said.



The Group's five-year strategic plan, "Vision Y - Global Values", was adopted in 2008. It sets a range of targets including those for revenue growth, operating margins and initiatives related to staff development and retention.



Among recent developments has been the establishment of a new business area called GAC Solutions whose task is to develop new services in partnership with leading global product and service providers.



Safverstrom told the management meeting that the coming years would see stronger emphasis on clear and open corporate governance and a greater commitment to high ethical standards. "I expect being ethical to align with being profitable as we go forward into the second decade of this century," he said.



He added there would be increased focus on improving and refining internal processes to ensure more effective customer service. [04/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Seoul: Hanjin Shipping has signed a joint venture agreement with Saigon New Port for construction of a dedicated terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vietnam. The Tan Cang-Cai Mep International Container Terminal, scheduled to open during the 1st quarter of 2011, will boast two berths and an annual capacity of 1.15m teu.



G.S. Choi, evp and chief executive of Hanjin Shipping's Terminal Business Unit commented, "Considering the potentials of the Vietnamese market, building a dedicated terminal in the region will allow us to ensure constant availability of berths for our vessels, upgrade customer service with reduced costs and improved schedules." He added, "In the long-run, we are confident that it will serve as a major hub port in South West Asia. Also, this will be a milestone for Hanjin Shipping's terminal business to become a new driving for the company."



Meanwhile, Hanjin Shipping, now with 12 dedicated terminals world wide, is scheduled to open additional terminals in Busan New Port during the first half of this year, Algeciras, Spain in 2010 and Jacksonville, Florida in 2011. [04/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Beijing: With new orders for China's shipbuilding industry estimated to be halved in 2009, experts are calling for the Chinese government to quickly pass the shipbuilding industry stimulus plan.

China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) estimates the country's new shipbuilding orders in 2009 may decline to 20 million to 30 million deadweight tons (DWT), down 65.6-48.4 per cent on year.

The industry, faced with withdrawal of orders, deferred delivery and severe overcapacity, is in urgent need of a bailout from the government, said experts.

"Confidence is dearer than gold. With the support of the government, China's shipbuilding industry can surely summon up the confidence and turn the crisis into opportunities," said an official with CANSI.

The association predicts shipbuilding completion in 2009 will fall to 40 million DWT and orderbook may drop to 160 million DWT by end-2009.

Meanwhile, the global new orders are projected to shrink to 40 million to 60 million DWT.

China's shipbuilding-boosting plan, initiated by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has been submitted to the State Council, or the cabinet for approval. Contained in the plan are plans to reduce the mandatory age for scrapping ships on the mainland.

China's shipbuilding industry made ships of 28.81 million DWT in 2008, up 52.2 per cent on year, but new orders fell 40.9 per cent to 58.18 million tons. The orderbook amounted to 204.60 million DWT by end of 2008, up 28.7 per cent over a year earlier. [09/02/09]

Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Manila: The Korean Labor Secretary Marianito Roque has launched an investigation into the string of accidental deaths at Hanjin Heavy Industry's Subic yard, reports GMANews.TV. "Before, we left it to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority to handle the matter. But now we have to intervene. I have sent a team there to Hanjin," Roque said in a translated interview with dwIZ radio.



The Labor department regional office in Central Luzon has despatched a team to the site and investigate the deaths. Roque has previously stated that subcontractors at the yard were negligent for worker safety, thereby alleviating the yard of responsibility.



The most recent incident, reported to have been the 18th death at the yard according to Hanjin's official count, saw laborer Raldon del Rosario killed last week after an 800-kilogram metal door being installed at the shipyard's "Assembly Part 3" section reportedly fell on him. Another worker, Camalio Buchie, 24, reportedly suffered a leg injury during the incident.



However, reports from But People's Task Force Hanjin indicate that the death count - from factors such as malaria- may be as high as 40. [26/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Jakarta: Indonesia's largest shipping terminal, the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), forecasts container handling to plunge heavily this year due to slowing exports and imports.

JICT President Derek J. Pierson said shipping business is estimated to drop 30 per cent overall this year with exports likely to shrink 15 per cent and import down 30 per cent, due to the global economic slowdown.

The crisis began to bite in the last quarter of 2008 when the number of containers handled by JICT declined 30 per cent, Pierson said.

JICT, which is 51 per cent owned by the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings and 48.9 per cent by state port operator PT Pelindo II predicted a 30 per cent fall in container handling to 1.33 million teu of containers from around 1.9 million teuTEUs last year. [02/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Sydney: Iron ore prices are set to fall in 2009 after six years of price hikes as deteriorating demand triggers severe production cuts in the steel industry, a Reuters poll shows. The fall will mark an end to a bullish run for miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale which last year secured hefty prices hikes, some of almost 100 percent. The trio control about three quarters of the 800 million tonne annual market in seaborne iron ore.

A Reuters survey of 15 analysts conducted in the last week showed Australian iron ore prices are expected to fall by 30 percent in 2009 annual contract talks. As recently as October analysts were forecasting no change from 2008 prices.

"After six consecutive yearly rises totalling almost 400 percent, iron ore prices are certain to fall due to major collapse in demand," Macquarie analyst Christina Lee said in a research note.

Negotiations between miners and steelmakers to set a benchmark price for 2009/2010 iron ore supply contracts are expected to be fierce, acrimonious and lengthy, as is often the case.

"Even with a 40 percent correction in contract price it will be second highest iron ore price in history and this is one of the worst recessions we've witnessed in 40 years," said Daniel Brebner, global head of commodities at UBS.

Analysts said miners are expected to try to limit a steep fall in the contract price by cutting iron ore output to help balance the market.

But with demand hit so hard in key steel consuming industries such as construction and automotive, steelmakers are likely to have the upper hand.

Analysts said iron ore miners have slashed production to match weakening demand, but not enough to prevent a glut of material.

"You have not seen enough cutbacks on the iron ore supply side," said UBS' Brebner. "We have seen significant cutbacks on steel...that should create a significant surplus on iron ore and thus pressure on price."

The $800 billion steel industry was hit it mid-2008, when the price went into free-fall, forcing steelmakers to cut back production sharply, lay off jobs and shelve investment plans.

Global crude steel production slumped by more than 24 percent in the last quarter of 2008. Rio Tinto's and Vale's iron ore output were down by 18 percent and 21 percent respectively.

Collapsing steel prices and demand have knocked down spot iron ore prices around 60 percent since last March -- making it impossible for miners' to come anywhere close to the near-doubling price hikes they have achieved last year.

Asian steelmills including Japan's JFE and major Chinese mills have said they want prices to fall at least to 2007/2008 levels, meaning Australian iron ore should fall by around 45 percent.

Yet Macquarie estimates that prices will not roll back to 2007/2008 levels as at current levels, already down to $80 per tonne from a high of around $200 last year, they remain quite attractive following output cuts by major miners in China.

The freight differential between Brazilian and Australian iron ore led to a rare divergence in the 2008 benchmark price and escalated discussions on alternative pricing mechanisms.

Miners have been keen to dump the traditional benchmark system and move towards a more flexible pricing mechanism to better align the dynamics of the steel and iron ore markets.

Several analysts believe steelmakers will want to stick to the existing benchmark system as it brings a certain amount of stability amid volatile prices -- the same reason why some analysts think steelmakers could sign up for more flexibility.

"Our view is that it leaves the way open for Australian iron ore producers to push for more hybrid contracts with linkages to benchmarks, indices and spot trades," said analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland.

"From a consumers perspective, this may not be a bad thing because it would enable them to reduce the cost of iron ore if demand falls further, as well as capture some of the benefit of low freight," it said.

In September, Rio Tinto said it was planning to sell more to the spot market in 2009 while BHP Billiton was in favour of moving away from the traditional benchmark towards index-based pricing mechanisms.

The world's top steel producer, ArcelorMittal, said in September that it supported the benchmark system as it provided a certain amount of stability.

Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and ArcelorMittal were all recently contacted by Reuters but declined to comment. [03/02/09]

Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Manila: A bus carrying at least 50 workers of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines Inc. fell off a mountain road Tuesday, injuring 24 in the latest mishap to hit personnel of the South Korean-owned shipyard, police said.

A Zambales police report said the bus was racing against two other buses when the accident happened at 7 a.m. on Hanjin Road just outside the facility, one of the world's largest yards.

Three of the injured--Darwin Samabella, 21, Nelmer Fontillas, 25, and Jaime Gaylan, 24, all residents of Subic town in Zambales province--were hospitalized in critical condition.

Authorities have suspended the bus service and are investigating.

Hanjin general manager Pyeong Jong Yu said the company does not operate the bus. "We rent it to provide free rides to our workers," he said.

At least 19 work-related deaths have been reported at Hanjin since it started operations in 2006. All the fatalities were Filipinos, except for a Korean foreman who was hit by a forklift driven by a Filipino.

The string of fatal accidents has prompted Sen. Pia Cayetano to call for a Senate inquiry into the cause of work-related deaths at the shipyard. [05/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Tokyo: Japanese shipping giant NYK is looking to expand in Malaysia through mergers and acquisitions, reports the Edge Financial Daily. "In this current economic crisis, we will continue to look for good opportunities to capture more market share via M&A and other channels," NYK Logistics' corporate representative Kimio Maki is quoted as telling the paper.



NYK currently holds a 27.8% stake in Trans-Asia Shipping Corp, said to be Malaysia's fourth-largest logistic company by sales. [28/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Nairobi: Somali pirates this morning successfully hijacked the 3,415gt LPG tanker, MV Longchamp, in the gulf of Aden. The Bahamas-flagged vessel was being managed by Hamburg-based Bernard Schulte Ship management and had a crew of 13 seafarers onboard at the time of the attack.



"There was a heavy exchange of gunfire (but) the crew is believed to be safe," Andrew Mwangura who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme is quoted as saying by the AFP. It remains unclear if the foreign navies patrolling the Gulf of Aden attempted to prevent the attack or were responsible for the gunfire.



The vessel is expected to be moored off the Somalian coast while the pirates negotiate the terms of its release. [29/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Tokyo: Japan's defense minister yesterday ordered the dispatch of ships to fight pirates off the shores of Somalia, joining countries ranging from the United States to Iran to China in the battle against the outlaws, writes AP.



Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada did not say how many Japanese ships would be sent or when, and said his dispatch order was an interim measure until parliament passes a formal law outlining the ships' activities in their mission against piracy.



"The pirates' activities off the Somali coast are a major threat not only to Japan but also to international society and it is a problem that we must deal with urgently," Hamada said. He ordered the government to study the size of troops needed and report back to him.



Japan made the decision in line with a U.N. Security Council decision in early December extended for another year its authorization for countries to enter Somalia's territorial waters, with advance notice, and use "all necessary means" to stop acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea. No Japanese vessels have been hijacked at time of press, but three of the country's vessels had been successfully defended from attacks with no injuries incurred. [29/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Kuala Lumpur: The Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Johor has retained its status as the country's leading port for the sixth year in a row, having handled 5.6m teu in 2008. According to new PTP ceo Captain Ismail Hashim, despite the global economic slowdown in 2008, PTP still managed to grow its "local" throughput volume by approximately 43%, up by 94,000teu from the 218,000teu recorded in 2007.



Hashim attributed the growth to factors including increased import and export shipping services available at the port. In particular he mentioned the new services between PTP and Australia, New Zealand and Philippines that have been introduced by Malaysia's leading shipping company, MISC, when they moved their hub from Singapore to PTP in June 2008. He also spoke of the new hapag Lloyd service linking PTP to Europe and the Far East.



"The various forms of shipping line arrangements such as joint services and slot exchange arrangements between the different shipping lines calling at PTP has made it possible for local cargo owners to move more cargo through PTP in 2008" Hashim said.



He also believes that effienct port services at PTP have led major container liner companies such as Maersk and Evergreen to introduce more service calls at PTP. " Evergreen last year introduced a new Vietnam Service linking Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and PTP whilst Maersk introduced a new service linking Asia and the US through their vessel sharing agreement with French shipping liner CMA CGM" he said.



Whilst acknowledging that the global economic outlook this year does not look too promising for the overall port and shipping industry, the captain is confident that the un-favorable economic conditions could bring about some opportunities for PTP. "Rising operational cost will force shipping lines to look for cheaper alternatives. At PTP, we have always prided ourselves with being able to deliver top class port services, operational efficiency and high productivity which translates into cost savings for our customers. Being able to serve our customer's expectations in a cost effective manner, whilst at the same time not compromising on our service levels to them makes PTP a very attractive value proposition" he concluded. [30/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Mumbai: Indian shipowner Great Eastern Shipping has announced a 17.9% decrease to net profits for Q3 FY 2008-09 to Rs.2.4bn, in spite of a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase to total income during the period. However, the company has stated that its operating profits remained resilient and stayed "marginally positive".



GE Shipping's freight and charter hire income was higher by 16% for the period, despite the fact that operating revenue days for the quarter were down by 12.8%. The earnings of the crude carrier fleet contributed to this in particular, with showing a 60% increase, while product tanker earnings were up 19%. However dry bulk earnings showed a substantial decrease, dropping by 32% for the quarter as compared to the same time in FY07-08.



"The tanker market has surprised most observers by continuing its strong streak. This was largely aided by the fact that there was a large contango in the oil prices, which caused a substantial demand for storage by some large oil trading companies," GE Shipping said in a statement. The company expects the tanker market to be volatile in the coming months, with OPEC cuts, winter delays and oil prices expected to effect demand and reduce rate predictability.



With regard to the bulk market, the company stated, "The uncertainty in the dry bulk trade continues as the global financial markets are still extremely unsettled, and every new economic forecast is bleaker than the last one. With economies going through a rough patch, we have seen a substantial reduction in steel production all over the world. This is likely to reduce demand for coal and iron ore imports on the one hand and also reduce the volume of steel export trade resulting in a double hit for dry bulk trade." [30/01/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Tokyo: The first LNG exports from the much delayed Gazprom-controlled Sakhalin-2 project on the Russian Pacific shelf to Japan are to start at the end of March, according to the county's energy ministry..

Oil and gas condensate production is planned at 5 million tons in 2009, the ministry said. ?Mitsubishi Corp holds a 10% stake in the project, while Mitsui & Co. owns 12.5%. Russia's OAO Gazprom holds 50% plus one share, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC has 27.5% minus one share. ?Under the contracts with Gazprom, Japanese electric and gas utilities plan to purchase more than 60% of the 9.6 million tons of LNG to be produced annually at the facility. MOL is tasked with moving the cargoes. [10/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Manila: Businessmen and economic experts have proposed that Subic Bay should be developed into a "mother port" to make the country more competitive in the Asia-Pacific region.

The proposal was raised recently by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

Meneleo Carlos, NCC Infrastructure Working Group champion, said that Subic is closer to most major sea lanes, so it would be easy for mother ships used in transshipment to pass by Subic and pick up cargoes for direct delivery to destinations like Europe.

Carlos said the use of the Subic Bay Freeport as mother port will result in faster shipment, lower cost, and more profits and jobs.

"Shipment will be faster," he said, pointing out that cargoes from the country won't have to be transshipped anymore through Hong Kong or Singapore.

Carlos said that NCC is now looking at the possibility of moving more cargo through Subic with the use of 50 to 80 teu barges that will carry cargo from Batangas, Cavite, Manila, and Bataan.

Meanwhile, moving goods between manufacturing centers in the country through water transport could prove to be more economical, provided that adequate systems for handling roll-on, roll-off (RORO) vessels are provided, Carlos added.

The announcement by NCC dovetailed with a call by the PCCI to develop a transshipment and logistics hub spanning the ports of Batangas and Subic, which is connected to the air transportation complex at the Clark Freeport by the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

The PCCI said the proposed logistics center is needed to decongest cargo traffic in Manila ports, reduce the cost of doing business, and improve the competitiveness of the Philippines as a business destination.

At the same time, PCCI officials urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to expand roll-on, roll-off facilities in the country to reduce wharfage fees to trim transshipment costs for domestic and foreign-bound cargoes.

Similar cost-cutting measures have been endorsed by the NCC, which said that reduced port and shipping charges would make the Philippines more competitive globally.

SBMA, meanwhile, lauded the proposals, saying it reinforces the agency's commitments to modernize the Subic sea port, which has posted a remarkable 26.6 percent growth last year despite the onset of recession.

"The picture of a modern, globally competitive and commercially viable Subic seaport gets clearer," SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said in reaction to the proposals.

"More and more people realize Subic's potential in catalyzing further growth in the country's maritime logistics industry, and that's great news for the SBMA," he said.

Arreza added that the SBMA has earmarked $215 million to modernize its port and gear up for a greater role as a logistics and marine services hub. The program included the construction of two container terminal with a total capacity of 600,000 teu, and the rehabilitation of several U.S. Navy-built piers that are being turned into specialized ports for passenger and cruise ships, as well as for loading and unloading grains, fertilizers, oil and petroleum products, and other bulk cargoes. [03/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
Dubai: The fire aboard a tanker off Dubai is now under control and the channel has reopened for vessel movement, reports Kanoo Shipping Agencies. Port operations have now resumed and all is back to normal.

Earlier an oil tanker was on fire after striking a container ship in a shipping channel at the city's Jebel Ali Port. A spokeswoman for port opeartor DP World, Sarah Lockie, said no casualties had been reported and that authorities had been alerted.

She said crews were trying to contain the blaze and determine how to clear the channel.

Clouds of smoke could be seen rising from the area of Tuesday's collision. The port is on the southwestern end of the city, in the direction of Abu Dhabi.

Lockie said the container vessel was a medium-sized "feeder ship." [10/02/09]





Copyright  2022. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently met with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House. It was fourth time in eight years the two had officially convened, and once again the meeting drew diplomatic objections from China.

As Jules Suzdaltsev explains in today's Seeker Daily dispatch, Tibet holds a unique position on the world stage. As a geographical region, the Tibetan Plateau spans nearly one million square miles and includes territories claimed by both China and India. China's claim is further split into the Tibet Autonomous Region and another ethnic autonomous prefecture in a separate Western province of China.

What we refer to today as Tibet are these portions of the Tibetan people's traditional homeland absorbed by China in 1951. The Dalai Lama, 16 years old at the time, signed the agreement handing Tibet over to China. But the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile have long held that the agreement was made under duress.

RELATED: Sherpas: Evolving into Superhumans?

Over the years, the Chinese government has detained and prosecuted hundreds of Tibetan protesters. While the Dalai Lama is the de facto political and spiritual leader of Tibet, the Chinese government considers him a dangerous separatist. Hence China's objection to Obama's recent meeting.

In any case, Tibet is home to around three million people, according to China. The Dalai Lama contends that the real number is closer to six million, counting the surrounding regions outside Chinese control. Tibet's GDP reached $13 billion in 2013, a small number relative to either population figure. Much of the region relies on sustenance farming, although tourism has become an important source of income in recent years. Tibet is home to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

Despite being an economically weak state, with its former government in exile, Tibet actually wields a good deal of influence in the larger world. The Tibetan independence movement has strong support in many countries, and the Dalai Lama is one of our most respected and influential world leaders.

-- Glenn McDonald

Learn More:

Reuters: Obama meets Dalai Lama in spite of China protest

Human Rights Watch: World Report 2015: China

NPR: Tibet's Economy Depends on Beijing

Business Standard: Tibet's economy registers 12 per cent GDP growth in 2014
A marine scientist is dwarfed by what is being called the biggest shark ever caught on camera in a recent video taken near Mexico's Guadalupe Island. How did this 20-foot-long (6 meters) great white Internet sensation become such a behemoth? Named Deep Blue, the female shark made a colossal impression in video clips shared on Facebook by shark researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, director of Pelagios-Kakunja A.C., a nonprofit organization that focuses on sharks and other open-water species. Underwater footage shows Deep Blue circling a shark cage holding Padilla and other divers. (Another video of this huge shark showed the animal giving what some called a "high five" to cage divers.) Even though great white females are typically larger than males, they average just 15 to 16 feet (just under 5 m) in length. Deep Blue's exceptional size, it turns out, is probably a combination of genetics and environment, experts say. [See Stunning Images of Great White Sharks] It's A Shark GIF-A-Palooza: Photos Great white sharks need decades to reach adult size, and they continue to grow throughout their lifetimes. So, a much-bigger-than-average shark, like Deep Blue, is likely an older shark. In fact, Gregory Skomal, a fisheries biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, and his colleagues found great whites grow even more slowly than scientists had thought: The biologists' research, published in January in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research, suggested males take 26 years to reach sexual maturity, whereas females aren't ready to have babies until they're about 33 years old - much later than once thought. That study also showed that great whites could live to be at least 73. Padilla estimated that Deep Blue was about 50 years old, based on her size. Skomal's study hints that there may be much older sharks than Deep Blue out there, and they could be even bigger. After reaching maturity, white sharks' growth slows - but it doesn't stop.

A number of factors influence shark growth and could have contributed to Deep Blue's unusual size, said Neil Hammerschlag, research assistant professor at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School and Abess Center. Genetics certainly play a part; some individuals are naturally predisposed to be larger, and great white females are typically bigger than males, Hammerschlag said. Environment and food supply are also important; plenty of nutritious meals would fuel steady growth, as could warmer waters. Great whites inhabit most seas and oceans, and average body size can also vary depending on where the population is found. But Deep Blue wasn't just longer than the average great white; she was also very wide around the middle. Padilla pointed to her unusual girth as a sign of pregnancy. And being "50 and pregnant" isn't a big deal for a shark. Once females reach sexual maturity in their mid-30s, the sharks can continue to reproduce for the rest of their lives. Shark Files: Largest Shark Ever Filmed Caught On Video The number of young a shark births can vary, but litters with as many as 10 pups have been documented, said Tobey Curtis of the National Marine Fisheries Service. And bigger sharks are more likely to produce big litters, making larger females important from a conservation standpoint. "The more big females like Deep Blue that we have in the population, the better off the white shark population will be," Curtis told Live Science. Glimpses of exceptionally large great whites like Deep Blue can help to shed light on the many unknowns of these elusive creatures. "There's a lot we still don't know," said Gavin Naylor, a biology professor at the College of Charleston. Great whites are especially difficult to raise and study in captivity, and as with any big marine animal, observing their habits in the ocean depths is challenging and often dangerous, Naylor added. Technologies like satellite tracking are revealing more about great whites and their lifestyles, and scientists may yet discover that 50-something giants like Deep Blue are not so rare after all. "Sharks that live in deep, cold water could be much older - well over 100," Naylor said. More from LiveScience: On the Brink: A Gallery of Wild Sharks Images: Weird Deep-Sea Sharks The 10 Wildest Pregnancies in the Animal Kingdom Copyright 2015 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Article originally appeared on LiveScience.

Great white sharks are the biggest predatory fish in the world. And despite their mass, they can travel at ridiculous speeds, at over 35 miles per hour, to track their prey. Marine biologist Joe Butler traveled with two friends off Hans Bay, South Africa, in hopes of seeing some great whites. Which they did. See more of Butler's story on a new episode of This Happened Here on the Seeker Network. Shark Files: Shark Bite Risk Down 91 Percent Since 1950

"In order to bring them in closer, to give everyone a good look, the crew would employ a tuna head on the end of a long rope and drag it out of the way before the shark had a chance to grab it," Butler said. Shark Files: Great White Shark Photobombs Friend

This amazing photo, taken from inside the cage, shows the shark grabbing the bait before anyone had a chance to react. "There's actually quite a sobering moment when you realize that proverbially you're the fish out of water, this is their home, and youre not actually supposed to be there," Butler said. Shark 'Highways' Crisscross The World: Photos
In the 2013 film "Gravity," a chain reaction of orbital collisions creates a cascade of debris circling the Earth at 17,000 mph. It's a spectacular dramatization of a very real threat. Because, as Julian Huguet explains in this DNews report, there's a lot of junk in orbit.

In addition to the satellites and space stations we've put in space, we've left a lot of litter up there. NASA keeps track of the bigger stuff and even publishes a newsletter called Orbital Debris Quarterly. Really. Still, the threat of a chain reaction increases every year.

Efforts into cleaning up space go back to at least 1996, when a special gel was put on the outside of the space station Mir, in an attempt to gather microscopic space junk. Since then, pretty much every space agency and aerospace company on the planet has proposed plans.

In 2012, Raytheon tested phase one of its Space Debris Elimination concept. The idea: A device suspended by balloons 80 km up would shoot a jet of atmosphere 600 km into space, snagging low-orbit junk and dragging it back to Earth.

The Japanese recently tried out a magnetic space net that pulls debris toward it, then burns it up on re-entry into the atmosphere. Last year, Swiss engineers at EPFL proposed a similar approach, designing a spacecraft that could grab up medium-sized orbital debris in a giant space cone.

The U.S. Air Force, meanwhile, has been developing a concept it calls a "laser broom" since the 1990s. Using ground-based laser cannons, scientists would vaporize select portions of space debris whizzing by overhead. The resulting vapor would create enough drag to slow the target and let it burn up in the atmosphere.

Julian has more specifics in the video, plus some good Star Wars jokes. Or feel free to dig deeper with our recent investigation into falling space balls.

-- Glenn McDonald

Learn More:

Wired: The Mad Plan To Clean Up Space Junk With A Laser Cannon

NASA: Orbital Debris Quarterly News

Extreme Tech: Japan Is Preparing To Launch A Giant Magnetic Net That Will Trawl Space For Junk


Description:

Want to take a fun vacation? Luxury Travel Holdings' Villas of Distinction Sweepstakes is giving you the chance to win one of two free dream villa getaways in either Jamaica or Utah, a prize worth between $10,000 and $14,000.

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:

International Travel Sweepstakes, US Vacation Sweepstakes, Big Sweepstakes, One Entry Sweepstakes

Eligibility:

USA, 21+

Start Date:

August 01, 2021

End Date:

September 06, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Entry Frequency:

One time per person/email

Sweepstakes Prizes:

Grand Prize: A five-night stay for up to four people at the Bambu villa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. (ARV: $14,500)

1st Prize: A five-night stay for up to four people at the Oakwood Lodge villa in Park City, Utah. (ARV: $10,000)

Additional Comments:

By entering, you agree to receive the sponsor's newsletters and promotions, but you can unsubscribe at any time.
Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney Michele Hanisee was gobsmacked when California lawmakers raged against the light sentence meted out to a former Stanford student convicted of sexually assaulting a woman while she was passed out behind a campus trash bin. Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Brock Allen Turner, 20, to six months in jail  hes likely to serve a mere three months  as well as three years of probation and a lifetime on the sex offender registry.

Outraged at this headline-grabbing punishment, 16 Democratic Assembly members and senators wrote to Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen urging him to appeal the sentence, which they described as a slap on the wrist. And 15 of those lawmakers also asked the California Commission on Judicial Performance to review Perksys ruling for possible improper misconduct. Turner, they wrote, is an upper middle class, white student-athlete who was privileged enough to earn both admission and an athletic scholarship to a highly selective university, just as Judge Persky himself did.

Soft-on-crime legislation

Hanisee considered the lawmaker letters to be really empty publicity-seeking gestures. She did a pronounced eye roll when she saw Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, among the signatories. Readers of this column may recall Weber as the author of a bill that would allow felons to vote in county jail. AB2466, which passed in the Assembly, would allow future Brock Turners to vote from county jails. Oddly, and yet predictably, all but one Assembly member who signed the antijudge letters on the Turner sentence  the exception is Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles  voted to allow felons to vote in jail.

Hanisee had her eye on another crazy soft-on-crime bill that Weber introduced. AB2590, also known as the Restorative Justice Act, would amend existing law to stipulate that the purpose of sentencing is no longer punishment, but public safety achieved through accountability, rehabilitation, and restorative justice. Under AB2590, Hanisee wrote in a newsletter for Californias Association of Deputy District Attorneys, judges would have the ability to impose community-based punishment for all criminal defendants  including those convicted of sex offenses. The means more sentences like Brock Turners.

Accountability includes traditional forms of punishment, including prison or jail time, responded Joe Kocurek of Webers office. It means actions have consequences. It applies to other approaches to dealing with criminal behavior as well. Alternative approaches would not be used without the consent and participation of the victims or their families.

The Stanford victim, Santa Clara Assistant District Attorney Jay Boyarsky told me, gave the world a gift. He compared her statement about watching the man who abused her get a light sentence (because he too had been drinking) with Martin Luther King Jr.s letter from a Birmingham jail. That letter hit a chord with women who have seen predators scope out easy victims, then plead intoxication as a mitigating factor.

Community-based punishment

The victim appears to have enjoyed many of the same privileges as her assailant. As a result, perhaps, she was so eloquent that anyone who read her statement felt a wrenching in the gut at the injustice of what she endured. If the assault had not happened on a college campus, if the victim had not protested with forceful words, and a judge meted out a light sentence, this story would not be news; it would be an example of the community-based punishment Weber and Sacramento Democrats want to expand.

Since Jerry Brown became governor (again) in 2010, he has worked with the Legislature to peel back tough-on-crime laws. He doesnt use soft-on-crime language; he talks about reasonable punishment for violent offenders and paring back the high cost of incarceration. It sounds great, but when the state passes laws that reduce penalties, there are more short-timers  and many of them are not first-time offenders. Theres this whole movement against tough sentences, noted Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Legal Director Kent Scheidegger. Brock Turner is what happens when you give judges unlimited discretion to go lenient.

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DebraJSaunders

Crime and lesser punishment

Since Jerry Brown was re-elected governor in 2010, California has seen a number of changes in criminal justice law.

In 2011, Brown signed two bills that pushed through his realignment initiative to allow nonviolent nonserious non-sex offenders to serve their sentences in county jail instead of state prison. No inmate was freed from state prison as a direct result of realignment, but Criminal Justice Legal Foundation L egal D irector Kent Scheidegger noted, Once theyre in county jail, lots of county jails are letting people loose to alleviate jail overcrowding.

In 2012, California voters passed Proposition 36, which scaled back prison time for the third offense under the three-strikes law.

In 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, which downgraded drug possession and many property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

By March 2015, the state prison population had fallen from 163,000 inmates in 2006 to 137,000 in 2012. In March 2015, the state prison population was 112,300.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Marine biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have joined a new international effort to rescue endangered coral reefs from the consequences of widespread human destruction and a warming climate.

Teams of research divers from the academy will set off this summer on expeditions to the Caribbean and Mexico, where they will seed two of the regions major reefs with millions of coral larvae born from the organisms sperm and egg cells.

As colorful as flower bouquets, corals are actually colonies of tiny animals that build their limestone homes from the sea, and derive their colors from the algae that live inside them. Their lives are increasingly threatened by global plagues like expanding human development, ocean pollution, and the twin signals of global climate change: rising temperatures and increasing ocean acidification.

Recent record-shattering El Ninos have raised Pacific Ocean temperatures and caused a new worldwide episode of coral bleaching that is turning the organisms dead white. The scourge began in 2014, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is already the worst and longest bleaching episode in history.

Bart Shepherd, the director of the academys Steinhart Aquarium, and Luiz Rocha, the curator of ichthyology, will lead about 20 divers on a new experiment in coral reproduction.

If its successful, Shepherd said, it opens the possibility for widespread application on coral reefs everywhere.

Shepherds group has joined with leaders of an international research and conservation group called Secore International  Sexual Coral Reproduction  whose founder and president, Dirk Petersen, led the original research into a unique method of in vitro fertilization of coral organisms.

Five years ago, Petersen and researchers diving at the Caribbean Marine Biological Institute in Curacao, collected coral sperm and egg cells in the water while the corals were spawning, and reared the coral larvae in the laboratory. When they matured, the researchers transplanted the coral larvae onto small, fist-size tiles that the divers then transplanted to the degraded reef by the thousands.

The experiment was successful and within two years a high proportion of new corals were flourishing and growing, Petersen and his colleagues reported in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation.

This is now actually a five-year plan, and eventually it could become a global restoration project for corals everywhere, Petersen said during a recent visit to San Francisco, where he and Shepherd completed working on details of the academy teams role this summer.

The expedition is scheduled for August because the corals spawn only about once a year, releasing their sex cells into the water by the millions, Shepherd explained. The event, he said, occurs only in August at night and only within a few days after a full moon.

Its during those fleeting nights of spawning action that Shepherd and his colleagues from the academy will be diving to collect the coral gametes. Then, after they have become larvae in the Caribbean institutes lab, the divers will return to seed the nearby reef with the fresh infant corals.

The researchers first two targets will be on the degraded reef at the institutes field station in Curacao, and then on the Yucatan Peninsula, where the famed Great Maya Reef stretches more than 620 miles south to the coast of Belize.

The academys effort at coral midwifery is part of a $10 million commitment the institution has made specifically to research and restoration efforts on the worlds endangered reefs.

Were planning 20 new expeditions over the next five years to regions where coral reefs are threatened, said Jonathan Foley, the academys executive director. And our people will be putting boots on the ground for a rescue experiment thats unique  not just for proving out a new technique to restore coral reefs, but for making the technique better.

David Perlman is The San Francisco Chronicles science editor. Email: dperlman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @daveperlman
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Scores of police, dozens of beeping metal detectors and a moving tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting cast a sobering presence over the traditionally exuberant Pride celebration Saturday in San Francisco.

Tens of thousands of people  some naked, some wearing only body paint, and some in 7-inch heels  filled Civic Center Plaza and surrounding streets for the first day of the weekend festival.

I came with a message, in light of Orlando, said Alex Golding, 22. Were gay, and were here to stay.

Golding and his boyfriend, Roman Lyman, 21, were wearing matching mesh tank tops, black shorts and high heels. They said all the extra security was a sign of the times.

We want to have fun, but we dont want to get hurt, Golding said.

On the main stage, set up on the Polk Street side of the plaza across from City Hall, a giant screen displayed a slideshow of portraits of the Orlando victims while the usually raucous crowd observed a moment of silence.

Two drag queens who were serving as emcees, Honey Mahogany and Sister Roma, thanked the crowd for their courage to attend.

Do not allow anyone to make you live your life in fear, Honey Mahogany said.

Sister Roma urged the crowd to report anything suspicious  If you see something, say something, she said.

The extra security was on everyones mind. Getting into the plaza meant standing in lines at one of nine checkpoints to pass through one of the 50 or so metal detectors. Lines moved faster than at the airport, in some cases because there was much less clothing to inspect. One of the detectors, which straddled the bike lane on Polk at Hayes Street, was designated to serve festivalgoers on bicycles.

Early in the day, there was no waiting. As crowds grew and lines formed, the wait to enter the plaza was 20 minutes or more.

There were no major incidents or arrests, police said. Half a dozen ambulances were lined up on Polk Street as a precaution.

Id rather have this event safe, said Elyse Kolnowski, 24, who waited 20 minutes to pass through a detector. If it means no ones going to come and shoot this place up, Im for it.

The metal detectors are a necessary evil, said a 61-year-old named Ricky, who said he did not have a last name or a gender but who appeared to be a man wearing lingerie. You cant deny them anymore.

But Charline Rosenmund, a transgender woman who said she was an Army veteran, called the lines an annoyance.

I know its intended to keep us safe, but look at this line, she said. As far as whether its necessary or effective, the jury is out.

I feel so liberated

Regardless of the security, a drag queen named Bunny said this years celebration was clearly different.

Its more personal, Bunny said. Its more of a movement and not just a celebration. We dont want to be silenced.

Stephanie Parrish, 39, said she moved to San Francisco two months ago after serving in the Army as a man for 11 years.

Pre-transition, I was so terrified because I couldnt be myself, said Parrish, who was wearing a pink satin gown and carrying a rainbow parasol. I feel so liberated.

The sun was bright, the music was loud, and the crowd was friendly. All over the plaza were booths, some set up by gay rights groups and others from commercial vendors. There were purveyors of sunglasses, health screenings, deep-fried Oreo cookies, new cars, stun guns, pupusas, jewelry made from salvaged nuclear missile cables, designer ice cream sandwiches, DNA tests and rainbow-colored grilled cheese sandwiches.

Variety of vendors

A T-shirt that said I Cant Even Think Straight cost $19. A tarot card reading cost $7.

At one booth, passersby were encouraged to grab a marker and write salacious messages on a large wipe board. At another booth, ministers were telling people God says its OK to be gay. At a half dozen other booths, free condoms were up for grabs by the handful.

At the stun gun booth, vendor Erica Black said her $60 stun gun packs 4.5 million volts. She said she doubted anyone would need to use it at a safe, friendly place like the Pride Festival.

But once you leave here, youre back in the real world, she said. Then its different.

Taking in the entire spectacle was Angelina Gica, 19, of San Francisco, who said it was her first Pride celebration. She was wearing a pink, yellow and blue flag around her neck to identify her as a pansexual. She said a pansexual is somebody who loves everybody.

It doesnt matter if theyre male or female or transgender, she said. We like them for the person they are.

A mile south of Civic Center, a few hundred people set up tents and blankets at Dolores Park for the opening ceremony of the 24th annual San Francisco Dyke March. Vibrant rainbow flags, colorful tutus and the occasional bottle of beer could be seen, but attendance seemed lower than in previous years.

Around 6 p.m., several thousand marchers proceeded up 18th Street to the Castro. Scores of police blocked intersections and traffic was delayed, but there were no incidents.

Before the march began, Cassie Walling, 35, of Sacramento proposed to her partner, Angela McDonald, 46.

I cant believe it, McDonald said. I said yes. Shes the love of my life.

The two fiancees marched together to show, Walling said, that they were part of this community, having to fight to keep our rights for just loving each other.

Kissiah Young, 41, of Oakland said attendance at the park was off.

I remember coming and not being able to find a piece of grass, Young said. Its not like how it was.

Oakland resident Emily Abad said fear after the Orlando shootings was keeping people away. She said she even considered not coming out of safety concerns but changed her mind.

This year feels especially important. The shooting in Orlando had a really big effect on me. That motivated us to come out stronger, she said.

Celebrating identity

Catherine Raynor, 29, a visitor from England, said it was her first Dyke March, and she said she felt safer in California with her wife and friends than she did back home.

This trip to San Francisco is coming to the motherland, said Raynor. Its like a mecca of gays.

Daly City resident Karina Padilla sat on a blanket at the park under a blue tent, reflecting on the LGBT movement.

Weve definitely come a long way, Padilla, 25, said. Were all just people. Were humans. We are all ideally just created equal. Its really important that were all out here today. Thats what its all about. Being together and celebrating who we are.

Steve Rubenstein, Jenna Lyons and Libby Rainey are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com, lrainey@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF, @jennajourno, @Rainey_l
The Contemporary Jewish Museum Executive Director Lori Starrs favorite Stanley Kubrick film is The Shining. Seeing the movies spooky twins dresses or the typewriter that Jack Torrance used with the All work and no play page sticking out of it resonates with her.

Associate Director of Public Programs Gravity Goldberg is taken by the personal: Kubricks own handwriting on notes and scripts and letters. Associate curator Anastasia James is struck by a poster for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb announcing the postponement of the premiere because of President John F. Kennedys assassination.

These objects and more are part of Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, opening at CJM on Thursday, June 30, and continuing through Oct. 30, a show that occupies the museums entire second floor.

When Kubrick died in 1999 at age 70, he left behind a wealth of material. The teenage Look magazine photographer who went on to make such classic films as Paths of Glory (1957), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980) was as meticulous in his archiving as he was in his art.

Starr first saw the exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2013, shortly after she took up her post in San Francisco. She was impressed at the show organized by Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt. More than that, she saw possibilities for a new way to present the material at her own museum, exploring Kubricks work not only as an artist but also in the context of the New York-born filmmakers identity as a secular Jew.

It was one of those blink moments where I realized that Stanley Kubrick would be a perfect person to examine in a Jewish context, Starr says. It was an interesting dialogue (with show organizers), because we are the first Jewish museum to present this exhibition.

Among the exhibitions sections is one on the film The Aryan Papers, a Holocaust drama that came so close to being made that Kubrick cast Dutch actress Johanna Ter Steege in the leading role. But the film  which he researched for two decades  was never made.

Were building out a great interpretive program around why that film never got made and what scholars are saying about it now, Starr says.

Although the Jewish content of The Aryan Papers is obvious, what such content there is in 2001: A Space Odyssey is less so.

Scholars are calling 2001 his most Jewish film, and were asking scholars to tell us whats Jewish about it, and were asking the public to tell us whats Jewish about it, Starr says. Ill just say that Stanley Kubrick called it his most Jewish film. We know two things: He was fascinated by the concept of the unknowable and how Jews dont say the name of God, dont even write it.

Kubrick scholar Nathan Abrams will discuss the meaning of 2001 in a gallery chat. Other chats will be about Kubricks life and work, his cameras, his visionary filmmaking, the violence in A Clockwork Orange, and his use of electronic music.

CJM is also partnering with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Alamo Drafthouse to screen all of Kubricks films, with YBCA presenting all of the directors black-and-white works and the Drafthouse the color films. Then on Oct. 13-15, the San Francisco Symphony will screen 2001: A Space Odyssey and perform the score live.

Were definitely pulling the threads on the Jewish story, Goldberg says. Theres never been a symposium on Kubricks Jewishness. This wont be a symposium, but we do offer the first time the scholars can get together and share their knowledge and insight.

We take these traveling shows, and while theyre archive-based shows, we have the opportunity to do something that many institutions dont, James adds. We present the survey of archival material, but then we ask questions. What is Jewish about this? And we invite them to answer. We dont provide answers for them. We dont force an agenda on them. We like to really interact.

Pam Grady is a Bay Area freelance writer.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

MADRID  Spains repeat election on Sunday failed to clarify the political future of the European Unions fifth-largest economy, with the main parties placing roughly the same as in last Decembers ballot, which brought six months of stalemate.

The conservative Popular Party, which ruled for the past four years, again collected most votes in the election but still fell short of the majority of 176 seats it needs in the 350-seat Parliament to form a government on its own.

With 97 percent of the votes counted late Sunday, incumbent prime minister Mariano Rajoys party earned 137 seats in Parliament. That is better than the 123 it won in December but still means it will need allies if it wants to govern. Its earlier efforts to find support from rival parties after December proved fruitless.

The center-left Socialist Party placed second, collecting 22.75 percent of the vote and 85 seats, according to the count by the countrys Interior Ministry. That was five fewer seats than six months ago but the Socialists kept their influence by fending off a challenge from a radical leftist alliance.

Unidos Podemos (United We Can)  which brings together Podemos, a two-year-old party that grew out of a grassroots protest movement, and the communists and the Greens  was third with 71 seats.

The alliance, headed by pony-tailed political science professor Pablo Iglesias, had hoped to overtake the Socialists and break the countrys traditional two-party system. The Popular Party and the Socialists have alternated in power for decades.

The business-friendly Ciudadanos party came in fourth with 32 seats. Other, smaller parties won the rest of the vote.

With no party getting enough votes to form a government alone, politicians will now have to return to the negotiating table. That may again prove difficult, for Spain has never had a coalition government.

Antonio Barroso, a London-based analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting group, said he expected tough negotiations between the parties in coming weeks.

It was hoped that these elections would bring clarity and that a government would be formed quickly, but I dont think thats how its going to be, Barroso said.

He said a third election was even a possibility, though politicians would be under enormous pressure to avoid that.

Public anger at high unemployment, cuts in government spending on cherished services such as welfare and education and unrelenting political corruption scandals shaped the two-week election campaign.
It's being called one of the largest rent increases ever in San Francisco.

A North Beach tenant recently received notice from his landlord that the rent on his apartment was going up from $1,800 a month to $8,000.

Neil Hutchinson, who has lived in the building at Columbus and Scotland streets for six years, has been hit with a rent increase of 344 percent.

Hutchinson, 47, said the increase went into effect on June 1, and is fighting it through the San Francisco Rent Board. But he says the landlord recently served him an eviction notice, stating he has to be out by July 21, and the rent board decision won't be finalized until August.

"I could be evicted before that decision comes through," Hutchinson told ABC 7. "So, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I'm struggling here."

Hutchinson told SFGATE his apartment is three bedrooms and in deplorable condition. When he moved into the apartment in 2010, he signed a lease and was living with roommates. The master tenant moved out in July 2015, and he says the landlord is now claiming that he's not on a lease.

"They've accepted money from me," Hutchinson said. "I filled out an application. They are saying the lease is not applicable to me. As far as I'm concerned the rent control should apply to me."

Working as a video engineer at San Francisco conventions, Hutchinson says living in the city is crucial to his career.

"If I have to move to say Vallejo, it would be very economically hard to produce the same number of hours," he said. "My life is in San Francisco. I don't have a car. The commute would be brutal to my career."

San Francisco's rental market is notoriously crazy as the Bay Area's tech industry booms, and the median rent per month in North Beach, according to Trulia, over the past month is $6,850 a month (Note: this number is based on all rental units, whether studios or three-bedroom homes).

Last year, Bernal Heights tenant Deb Follingstad made headlines when she posted a notice from her landlord on Facebook stating that her rent is jumping from $2,145 to $8,900. The post was shared thousands of times by people who were shocked by the increase.

SFGATE attempted to reach out to the landlord, but hadn't heard back at the time of publishing this story.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

The summer of bad tourist behavior continues.

National Geographic reports that an endangered loggerhead sea turtle in Lebanon is recovering after taking a battering at the hands of selfie-seeking tourists.

The disrespectful tourists allegedly "stepped on it to take selfies, and then beat it with sticks."

The incident reportedly started when a beach-goer pulled the turtle out of the waters at Havana Beach in Beirut. Witnesses say that a child was placed on the turtle's back for photos, and that after the picture-taking ordeal was over, the turtle was subjected to further cruelty when it was hit with a stick.

Happily, the turtle has been taken in by Animals Lebanon, an animal rescue group, which is helping the turtle recover from its extensive injuries.

MORE: Man who put Yellowstone bison calf in SUV pleads guilty

"The damage is visible and evidentthe blows and trauma she suffered have broken through the top of her head, and water from the sea has reached her sinus cavities," the group said on their website.

Without their attention, it's likely the turtle would have died.
Among the rainbow-clad revelers and tinsel-bedecked floats heading down San Francisco's Market Street for the annual Pride Parade today were a number of celebrities, CEOs and politicians.

The star-studded cast included everyone from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

In their first year back at the remodeled Dolores Park, the ladies of San Franciscos 24th annual Dyke March came out Saturday night with one message: Still here, still queer.

Thousands marched under that saying  the official theme for this years event  as they made an hour-long trek to the Castro.

Were taking back the streets, said Jocelyn Garibay, one of the event organizers. Were bringing the radical back to Dyke March.

Radical was one way to describe it. Supporters on the sidelines cheered, whistled and occasionally looked on in shock as a sea of women  some topless  flooded the road in rainbow costumes.

Led by a motorcycle contingent of queer women, a motorized cable car and a balloon-filled truck, marchers from all walks of life showed up. There were teens, newly engaged couples and parents with their kids, all walking behind the same banner, some hand in hand.

Ladonna Wallems of San Francisco dressed as a My Little Pony character, donning rainbow hair and a bright blue leotard as she pulled her 3-year-old daughter behind her in a red wagon.

She came out to support her best friends, who are same-sex partners, she said.

This feels really important  to be here and say we believe in love, and we believe love is stronger than hate, said Wallems, 43. I want my daughter to see this.

One of Wallems friends, Kathy Azada, marched just in front of her, holding a sign that read, Hillary, Beyonce 2016.

Azada, 44, said she came to show she was unafraid after the tragedy at a gay night club in Florida.

We dont hide in fear after what happened in Orlando, she said. Im from Orlando. I came out in Orlando. Those clubs were where we all grew up.

As the march ended in the Castro to hoots and cheers from bystanders, resilience was on the minds of many at the event, but so was celebration and community.

For 27-year-old San Francisco resident Rachel Schiff  strutting down 18th Street in black high heels  her reason for marching was simple.

Were queer, she said. We want to be with our family.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
Jacom Stephens/Getty Images

CONCORD (BCN)



A 29-year-old man was hospitalized early this morning after he was shot during a robbery in Concord, according to police.



Around 2 a.m., officers responded to a report of shots fired near La Vista Way and Clayton Road, police said.



Upon arrival, officers discovered a man suffering from a single gunshot wound to the buttocks.



Officers learned three men had confronted the victim, as he walking on La Vista Way, according to police.



One of the suspects tried to steal the victim's duffel bag. While the victim was struggling with the first suspect, a second suspect then shot the victim, police said.





The two suspects, along with a third, fled in a Silver Honda.



The victim was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening, according to police.



Investigators do not believe the incident was gang-related.



Descriptions of the suspects were not immediately available.



Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the police department's Major Crimes Unit at (925) 671-3030. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can call the police tip line at (925) 603-5836.




















Veda Manganaro, age 103, of Carlisle, PA passed away Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at her residence.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church, 10th & Williams Streets, Omaha, NE with the Rev. Danan Zuelein officiating. Interment will be at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Omaha, NE.
HARRISBURG  Authorities say an arrest has been made in the death of a man killed as he was walking home from his brother's wedding in Pennsylvania's capital.

Investigators said Shamir Hunter, 19, is in custody and has been charged in beating Steven Esworthy, 32, to death.

Hunter was also charged with theft for breaking into several cars according to police.

On his Facebook page, Hunter bragged about a mugging on June 19th, the same day Steven Esworthy was killed.

Steven Esworthy, 32, was found lying on a sidewalk and bleeding early on the morning of June 19 and died before emergency crews could arrive. An autopsy concluded that he died of a blow to the back of the head.

A witness told police they saw a man approaching Esworthy with a stick and later searching through the Lower Paxton Township resident's pockets after he was down. Surveillance video of a suspect was released Tuesday.

Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick said it appears the robber ambushed Esworthy from behind and struck him extremely hard with a piece of 1 x 1 oak lumber.

The Esworthy family put out a statment:

We are comforted to know that Harrisburg is safer with the suspect no longer at large. We thank the Harrisburg Bureau of Police for their extraordinary efforts in resulting a quick arrest.
Ranking right up there with the line, Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? is this recent headline in The Washington Times: Honesty issues aside, voters still back Hillary Clinton, poll shows.

Though Clintons negatives appear higher than that of any Democrat running for president in, perhaps, all of history  and Donald Trumps are even higher  honesty appears not to matter in this election, especially to younger voters.

The Washington Times story is based on a poll taken by the technology company Morning Consult, which found that Hillary Clintons 56 percent unfavorability rating is driven by the fact that 39 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of independents say she cant be trusted and that significant percentages of those who view her unfavorably also say shes flat-out corrupt.

Trump doesnt fare much better. A recent Gallup poll found that just 33 percent say Trump is honest and trustworthy, a mere 1 percent higher than Hillary Clinton. With such numbers, Trumps label of Crooked Hillary doesnt have the moral impact it might have if more people thought he was a man of good character. Perhaps if Trump were held in higher regard, his contrast to Hillary Clinton might work to his advantage.

Has the state of our politics sunk so low that voters no longer expect honesty, integrity and character to be factors in deciding for whom they will vote? How can this be? Isnt a persons trustworthiness essential when we decide to buy a house or car, conclude a business deal or get married? If character matters in these and other circumstances, why does it matter less in selecting our next president? And if character doesnt matter, wont that almost ensure that we will get more people running for and serving in office who have less and less of it?

Brandon Rottinghaus is a political science professor at the University of Houston. In the Times story he is quoted as saying: Trustworthiness by itself is less important than trustworthiness to handle specific issues, like national security or the economy. In the context of the 2016 election, Clintons low trust numbers may not mean much. If she is matched against a different nominee of the opposing party, she might be in danger. Trumps bucolic approach to politics gives her some much-needed cover.

But doesnt it all go together? If one is dishonest in ones private dealings that must spill over into ones public life, right? Take the Clintons as Exhibit A.

Sometimes one finds a quote from an unexpected source that summarizes an issue. The actor and martial arts expert, Bruce Lee, once said: Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.

In this election, two people are seeking power, but it looks like whichever one wins will have a long way to go toward gaining respect. Voters have become so angry and cynical about the state of our government and its leaders that they no longer expect to respect them. If that is where we are, does that not say more about us then it does about them?

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
Eating hot pasta while wedged between a steam pipe and a row of Vespas in an airless alleyway in the middle of July might seem like a form of Italy aversion therapy. One bite of luscious cacio e pepe, and the possibility that my legs might soon be welded to the back of my chair seemed like a small sacrifice.

Long waits, stifling crowds, mopeds bumping your table, jazz bands or jackhammers (or both) drowning out your conversation  its all part of the exquisite torture that is the Rome food scene at the height of tourist season.

The good news is, with a bit of planning and a few insider tips, its fairly easy to avoid the worst crowds and most overrated (and overpriced) trattorias and take in the full flavor of Rome.

EXPLORE THE CITY

Morning

Start your day with a fresh-baked cornetto (little horn), the slightly sweeter cousin of the croissant, at tiny Pasticcera Trastevere in the heart of the Trastevere district. Or for something more substantial, follow the heavenly scents to La Renella. The bakerys wood-burning ovens have been turning out breads, pastries and pizzas since 1870. Mouthwatering sheets of zucchini-blossom- and tomato-topped pizzas are sold by weight  one of the few spots in Rome where you can get pizza by the slice. Wander through the cobbled alleys of this hip hood early to catch a rare quiet moment. By late afternoon, the party will be in full swing with packed sidewalk tables, street performers, craft vendors and locals out for their daily passeggiata (stroll).

Walk to the lively main square, Piazza Santa Maria, and stop in at the Church of Santa Maria, one of Romes oldest churches, dating back to the fourth century and rebuilt in the 12th century with shimmering mosaics by Pietro Cavallini that depict the life of the Virgin Mary.

Midday

From here, its a 15-minute walk to the Jewish Ghetto to sample Romes kosher side. BaGhetto, set along the main pedestrian Via del Portico dOttavia, serves one of the citys best signature snacks: carciofi alla giudia (deep-fried artichokes, above), the tenderized leaves fried into a crispy golden flower. Up the street, the Great Synagogue houses a small but fascinating museum documenting the history of the Jews in Rome. The nearby 2,000-year-old ruins of Portico dOttavia served as a boundary to the original ghetto  Jews were forbidden to leave at night  and was home to Romes fish market from the Middle Ages until the late 19th century. Across the way, Teatro di Marcello is a mini Colosseum, built in 11 B.C. by Emperor Augustus. The luxe apartments on top (still in use) were built in the 16th century.

Afternoon

Save some appetite for a Locals Food Tour with the Roman Guys, which gives you VIP entrance to some of the best local eateries, accompanied by knowledgeable guides who pair a progressive feast of classic dishes with Roman culinary history. Highlights include fried salt cod at Filetti di Baccala, a hole-in-the-wall spot where no-nonsense ladies deliver delicately crunchy battered cod wrapped in paper, made from a recipe dating back to medieval times; and da Teo, a tucked-away trattoria where toothsome amatriciana (hollow bucatini pasta in a sauce of pigs cheeks, tomatoes and cheese) and rigatoni carbonara come with house wine poured from a barrel out back.

Then work off the carbs on your way to the Pantheon with a pit stop at Caffe Tazza dOro, one of Romes most celebrated coffee bars. Try a granita di caffe, a delicious crushed-ice-cream-topped coffee concoction, or go traditional with the secret signature blend espresso (pay at the cashier first and bring your receipt to the barista). After youve ogled the Pantheons improbable architecture  its the largest unsupported dome in the world and Romes best-preserved ancient monument  head to Giolitti, one of the citys oldest and most famous gelaterias, founded in 1900. The dazzling array of ice cream flavors range from traditional stracciatella and hazelnut to Champagne, marsala custard, and rice (for fantastic fresh-fruit gelato, youre better off at Corona Gelato or I Caruso).

Evening

Dinner starts late in Rome with the worst crowds from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Get there early and you may be labeled as a tourist, but you also wont wait two hours for a table. Back in Trastevere, soak up homey atmosphere and Roman specialties such as sauteed chicory and coniglio (rabbit) alla cacciatora at Trattoria da Lucia. Or for a special dinner, make a reservation at Roscioli near Campo de Fiori. The wildly popular family-run salumeria, wine bar and restaurant is perfect for a light bite (the deli features 300 types of cheese and 150 cured meats) or a memorable meal in the intimate dining area. Try burrata with sun-dried tomatoes, and dont miss the cacio e pepe  a deceptively simple and spectacular combination of spaghetti, pecorino, salted pasta water and pepper  arguably the best in Rome.

 Bonnie Wach

IF YOU GO

Pasticceria Trastevere: Via Natale del Grande 49.

La Renella: Via del Moro 15, www.panificiolarenella.com

BaGhetto: Via del Portico dOttavia, 57; www.baghetto.com

Roman Guy tours: www.theromanguy.com

Trattoria da Teo: Piazza dei Ponziani 7, www.trattoriadateo.it

Tazza dOro: Via degli orfani 84, www.tazzadorocoffeeshop.com

Giolitti: Via Uffici del Vicario, 40, www.giolitti.it

Trattoria da Lucia: Vicolo del Mattonato 2

Roscioli: Via dei Giubbonari, 21, www.roscioli.com
Mineta San Jose International Airport is strengthening its claim to the penultimate word of its name: The inaugural nonstop flight from San Jose to continental Europe starts next month, a second nonstop to China begins in just over two months, and service to London and Vancouver debuted last month.

Lufthansa Airlines will initiate service from San Jose to Frankfurt on Friday, July 1, flying five times a week on Airbus A340 aircraft.

Air China is expected to launch flights to Shanghais Pudong International Airport on Sept. 1, with departures at noon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving at 4:40 p.m. the following day. Flights depart Shanghai at 1 p.m. those three days of the week and arrive in San Jose at 10:10 a.m. the same day. Service will be on A330-200 aircraft.

British Airways began daily nonstop service to London Heathrow from San Jose, via Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, on May 4. Five days later, Air Canada debuted its twice-daily flights to Vancouver from San Jose, on Bombardier CRJ-705 aircraft. Last year saw the start of San Joses inaugural flight to China, with service by Hainan Airlines to Beijing.

San Francisco and Oakland airports are also seeing a rise in international flights.

United Airlines will begin nonstop service to Auckland from San Francisco on Friday, July 1, with flights three times a week on Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

The schedule will shift to daily flights on Oct. 28, at the start of the Southern Hemispheres peak travel season, using 787-9 Dreamliners.

WOW air, a low-cost trans-Atlantic carrier that serves multiple European destinations via Iceland, started nonstop service from San Francisco to Reykjavik on June 9.

Oakland International Airport marked its 50th international destination on May 12, when Norwegian Air inaugurated nonstop flights to London Gatwick. The airline flies the route three times a week on Dreamliner 787s.

 Jeanne Cooper
1 China-Taiwan relations: Beijing said Saturday it had cut off contact with the main Taiwan liaison body because of President Tsai Ing-wens refusal to endorse the concept of a single Chinese nation. In 1992, both sides acknowledged the existence of a single Chinese nation comprising both Taiwan and the mainland. That understanding underpinned dialogue between the sides that allowed them to build ties and partially overcome enmity stemming from their bitter split amid the Chinese civil war in 1949. Tsai has neither formally endorsed nor repudiated the construct.

2 Deadly ambush: Suspected rebels killed at least eight Indian soldiers and wounded another 20 in a highway ambush Saturday that was one of the years deadliest attacks in the Indian portion of Kashmir, authorities said. Two of the attackers were killed by soldiers who returned fire, said K.K. Sharma, a force officer. The ambush occurred on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir. Lashkar-e-Taiba, a rebel group based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the assault. Police said two suspected rebels were believed to have fled after spraying bullets on the Indian soldiers in a bus.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

PANAMA CITY  Fireworks exploded as a huge container ship made the inaugural passage through the newly expanded Panama Canal on Sunday, formally launching the Central American nations multibillion-dollar bet on a bright economic future despite tough times for global shipping.

The Chinese-owned Cosco Shipping Panama went through the Atlantic locks at Agua Clara in the early morning, sailed the 50-mile passage to the Cocoli locks near the capital and passed into the Pacific in the evening, stewarded by tugboats and cheered by dignitaries and exuberant crowds of thousands.

The $5.25 billion project went online nearly two years late after construction delays, labor strife and apparent cost overruns, but officials were still bullish and in a celebratory mood as they declared the expanded canal open for business.

This is an achievement that all of us Panamanians should be proud of, President Juan Carlos Varela said at the inaugural ceremony on the outskirts of Panama City. Today marks a historic moment for Panama, for our hemisphere and the world.

Crowds that began gathering before dawn lined both sides of the canal waving flags, partying to salsa music and watching videos on giant screens. Authorities said about 30,000 people and eight foreign heads of state were attending.

The Cosco Shipping Panama is a 158-foot-wide, 984-foot-long behemoth that is one of the modern New Panamax class of mega-vessels that are seen as the future of global shipping and will now be able to use the canal. It carried some 9,000 cargo containers during the inaugural voyage and now heads to South Korea.

The waterways capacity doubles with the new locks, and canal authorities are hoping to better compete with the Suez Canal in Egypt and tap new markets such as natural gas shipments between the United States and Asia.

The Panama Canal, with this expansion, is an important player not only for regional maritime commerce but worldwide, said Oscar Bazan, the Panama Canal Authoritys executive vice president for planning and commercial development. The canal is a winning bet.

Panamanians expressed hope that the expansion will help the economy in a country where about 25 percent of the people live in poverty. However, the party comes amid a lull in global shipping due to the drop in oil prices and an economic slowdown in China, which is the canals second-largest customer.
LONDON  Britains shocking decision to remove itself from the European Union brought more political turmoil Sunday as Scotlands leader threatened to block the move and the opposition Labor Partys leader faced a coup attempt from his own legislators.

The sense of unease spread as European leaders stepped up the pressure on Britain to begin its complex exit from the 28-nation EU immediately, rather than wait several months as British Prime Minister David Cameron prefers.

The vote to leave sent the pound and global stock markets plunging. Britains Treasury said finance minister George Osborne would make a statement early Monday to provide reassurance about financial and economic stability before the London Stock Exchange reopens.

The leaders of the successful campaign to leave the EU stayed largely out of the public eye, as opponents accused them of lacking a plan to calm the crisis the result has triggered. Leave leader and former London Mayor Boris Johnson used his column in the Daily Telegraph newspaper to urge unity and say the negative consequences (of the vote) are being wildly overdone.

The vote, however, risks causing a political schism in the United Kingdom. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would consider advising the Scottish Parliament to try to use its power to prevent Britain from actually leaving the EU. She said Scottish lawmakers might be able to derail the move by withholding legislative consent for a British exit.

Thursdays vote to leave the EU was very unpopular in Scotland, where 62 percent cast ballots to stay.

Cameron said after the results that he will resign as prime minister when the Conservative Party chooses a new leader. The new leader, who will become prime minister, is expected to be in place by October. At that point, he or she may choose to call a quick election to solidify a mandate  and the prospect of an election in the near future may have spurred a revolt Sunday against Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn was criticized by many for doing a weak job presenting the partys position favoring EU membership. Eleven shadow Cabinet members resigned Sunday after Corbyn fired shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn. The dissidents want Corbyn, who represents the far-left wing of the party, ousted before the next general election because many believe he cannot win.
This years budget requires common sense and an understanding that we are the stewards of other peoples money  the hard earned tax dollars of citizens.

Gov. Wolf will have his budget goals, as will members of the House and Senate. We can find a way to reach an understanding, but only after we recognize that a balanced, on-time budget must be grounded in fiscal reality, not unrealistic wishes.

The stage was set seven years ago by the Rendell administration. They used one-time, federal stimulus monies to plug operating expense holes. When the money ran out  as everybody knew it would  we were left to scramble to close a $4.2 billion hole.

Gov. Wolfs pursuit of a slate of tax increases covering income, sales, and the states struggling energy sector was the focal point of last years budget dispute. So it was gratifying to hear that the governor has ruled out any effort to increase income or sales taxes this year.

As Speaker of the House, I stood with members of the Republican caucus against any further tax burdens on Pennsylvania families and job creators.

Paying more taxes for less service is  and should be  a non-starter for Pennsylvanians.

Last years final budget, passed with bipartisan support in March of this year, spent less than the original, on-time budget that the governor vetoed in June 2015.

The salient question is how to make this budget season different. We are determined to avoid a repeat of last year.

First and foremost, Gov. Wolf should understand that real earnings by working families have hardly increased to match governments appetite for spending. If anyone needs to tighten a belt, its government, not working people.

The general assembly, in turn, must recognize that on some level, we need to identify our cost-drivers  pensions, debt-rate increases, and the growth in entitlement spending. We need to find a way to solve the root problem, while covering the cost of the transition.

Our current budget, for instance, increased spending by 2.8 percent, while the states economy grew by less than one percent.

For the long term, we need to acknowledge that state government hasnt often thought beyond the next election season. Economies dont move in cycles of two, or four years the way political campaigns do. We have only to look at the ballooning public pension debt to realize that one years quick fix often becomes the next decades fiscal nightmare.

We need to be smarter, look farther ahead, and acknowledge the hard reality that, when it comes to economic policy, the laws of mathematics dont bend.

We saw a small example of that truth earlier this month when the general assembly and the governor compromised on a cause that I have long championed: an end to the states monopoly on alcoholic beverages. My deeply held belief is that government has no place in the sale of wine and spirits. Gov. Wolf holds a different view. Still, we were able to put together a law that delivers a win for our citizens.

The larger point is that we got something done, and the states fiscal office believes it will add $150 million in new revenue every year.

With that approach, we can pass a budget that meets the needs of all our citizens, grows the economy, and respects the earnings of our working families.

Principled compromise is not a failure of government. It is the definition of successful governing.

Mike Turzai is Republican Pennsylvania State Representative representing the 28th Legislative District. He serves as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Silver Fern Farms will miss the June 30 deadline to satisfy conditions of the sale of a controlling stake in the country's largest meat processor to China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius but insists the deal hasn't been derailed.

The Dunedin-based meat company has also postponed a special meeting scheduled for July 11 for a second vote on the sale, which was requested by a group of dissident shareholders. It didn't give a new date for the meeting, saying it needed more time to supply information requested by the Overseas Investment Office.

We continue to believe that we will achieve OIO approval, however we need to allow more time to provide the required information and then for the OIO and Ministers to have sufficient time to review, said chief executive Dean Hamilton. "As a consequence of the anticipated extension, the July 11 special meeting has been deferred and a new date for the shareholder requisitioned meeting will be set to allow the notice of meeting to be updated and distributed to shareholders with adequate time to review."

Next month's special meeting was requested by shareholders opposed to the sale, who say an ordinary resolution voted in favour of the sale last October wasn't valid because as a major transaction a special resolution was required. They also say shareholders were effectively under duress because the board had warned the alternative could be receivership and there was no guarantee of continued support from its banks.

They also say the board withheld financial forecasts that showed a more optimistic outlook for the company. The Financial Markets Authority last month cleared Silver Fern after investigating a complaint about its disclosures related to the deal.

"The reality is that Shanghai Maling and SFF agreed last year that their documentation would expire if the proposed sale was not completed by 30 June," said John Shrimpton, a spokesman for the dissident shareholders. "Given it has been reported that the OIO is awaiting a reply from Shanghai Maling and that no extension was mutually agreed with SFF by the end of last week, I wouldnt be surprised if the documentation is left to quietly lapse."

The OIO stopped work on the application weeks ago, and said late last week that it was awaiting further information from Shanghai Pengxin. Land Information and Associate Finance Ministers Louise Upston and Paula Bennett would then be required to make a final decision. The pair turned down an application last year by Chinese investor Shanghai Pengxin to buy the iconic Lochinver Station, a central North Island property.

"The OIO is still awaiting information that will enable it to complete its assessment of the application," a spokesman told BusinessDesk on Friday. "Therefore we cant give an indication yet of when the application will be sent to the relevant ministers for a decision."

The OIO stops the clock on its approval process when it asks an applicant for more information. Regular timetable blowouts caused by applications generating numerous information requests have led to complaints from foreign investors and their New Zealand advisers.

Shanghai Maling is 38 percent-owned by Bright Foods, which has a 39 percent stake in Canterbury-based Synlait Milk. The Chinese investor has bid for 50 percent of Silver Fern Farms in a deal that would give it effective control of the company through the use of casting vote powers on key issues.

The OIO received the application from Shanghai Maling on Oct. 16 last year and accepted it for assessment on Oct. 23.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

October 25th Morning Report

Mainfreight Investor Day / Market Update

GFI - Greenfern - Offer closes 27th Oct

MCY - Quarterly Operational Update

VCT - Operational performance for the 3 months ended 30 Sept 2022

NZL - Forestry Estate Acquisition

October 21st Morning Report

Air New Zealand Limited Retail Bond Offer Books Close

Spark welcomes C-band spectrum allocation

AIA - 2022 Annual Meeting Chair & Chief Executive Addresses


Union Defence Ministry gives nod for purchase of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers guns from the US

Published: June 25, 2016

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has given its approval to for the purchase of 145 Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) guns from the US.

The procurement of ULH will be through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route from the US and it will cost around 750 million dollars.

As part of this deal, 25 ULH guns will come to India directly from US in a fly away condition. Rest will be assembled in India at the proposed Assembly Integration and Test facility (AITF) for the weapon system in partnership with Mahindra and Mahindra Company.

Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) Guns

It is being manufactured by BAE Systems Global Combat Systems division. It is smaller and lighter. It weighs 4,100 kg and can be easily transported by helicopters.

It has effective firing range of 24 km. It will be deployed in high altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, bordering China under the Mountain Strike Corps (raised in 2013).

Besides, DAC also approved

Acquisition of five diving support craft for 150 crore rupees

386-crore rupees project for modernisation and augmentation of facilities at naval dockyard and naval ship repair yards.

Buying of indigenously made simulators for Jaguar aircraft for 500 crore rupees and setting up of an electronic warfare range for 1,300 crore rupees through indigenous capability.

DAC also asked Ordnance Factory Board (Jabalpur) to provide three 155 mm 45 caliber indigenously produced guns Dhanush to Indian Army by end of June 2016. Dhanush is also known as Desi Bofors.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC): It is an apex body of Union Defence Ministry for clearing defence procurement proposals forwarded by the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016

Topics: DAC  Defence  Defence Ministry  India-US

Latest E-Books
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A time capsule with a dozen iconic symbols of Staten Island today was buried in concrete on Saturday for an anticipated 630 years to celebrate the start of construction on the actual New York Wheel.

Staten Island's first 21st Century time capsule was dropped with much fanfare into the final pour of concrete for the foundation by Rich Marin, president and CEO of the New York Wheel. Workers now will begin constructing the wheel itself, which is scheduled to open in late 2017.

The capsule is intended to remain buried in cement until 2646, marking one year from now for each foot in the wheel's height.

Marin revealed to the media that when Staten Islanders open the capsule some six centuries from today, they will find:

Saturday's copy of the Staten Island Advance with its banner story about the time capsule for the New York Wheel.

A New York Wheel shaped USB drive containing a video of how the wheel was built.

A jar of honey -- one of the few foods that never decomposes-- produced on site at the URBY residential/commercial complex in Stapleton as part of the North Shore renaissance.

A $10,000 gift certificate from Empire Outlets, New York City's first outlet center, for a lucky future shopper at the complex being built in conjunction with the wheel.

A pin from Robbin's Reef Lighthouse. The only working lighthouse in New York Harbor stands one mile off shore from the site of the New York Wheel.

A Ferry Rider's Guide; Staten Island ferryboats are expected to sail many of the patrons to the wheel.

A miniature hard hat for Gilbane, the company overseeing the construction of the wheel.

A small plastic Danny the Dolphin mascot representing the College of Staten Island.

A brochure and pen from the Staten Island Museum, keeper of arts and artifacts distinctive to our borough.

A Destination St. George brochure celebrating the neighborhood where the wheel is located.

A letter from Staten Island Borough President James Oddo where he expresses his desire for world peace and other aspirations for future generations of Staten Islanders. "And I hope you still have baseball," the letter concludes.

A press release commemorating the time-capsule burial.

Gilbane Building Company, the lead contractor, had more than 400 trucks accessing the site on Saturday to pour approximately 4,000 cubic yards of concrete into the 150-foot-by-30-foot foundation where construction began on June 11.

Staten Island Deputy Borough President Ed Burke, New York City Council Member Debi Rose, Staten Island Museum CEO Cheryl Adolph and other community representatives attended time-capsule ceremony.
YOUNG BOOZERS

Young boozers might be enjoying the night -- while on a path to disaster.

(AP photo)

The sad and tragic irony of it didn't escape us last week. Thumbing through the Monday Staten Island Advance print edition, we stumbled on story on Page A 4 headlined, "Liquor law would allow Sunday boozing with brunch."

On Tuesday, Page One of the Staten Island Advance screamed, "Beware demon drink, says grieving mother."

It went on to say, "Tighter rein on liquor stores sought after son dies from age-old alcohol addiction."

As that trite and old phrase goes, What's wrong with this picture? On the one hand, we tell readers about potentially tragic consequences of drinking, and on the other we tell them the state is gung-ho to increase the availability of liquor on weekends.

The argument, of course, is that alcohol consumption is legal and millions drink every day without consequence. And truth be told, Blue Laws that prevent alcohol sales in New York before noon on Sundays are archaic. They were made after Prohibition ended as a peace offering to temperance groups that wanted to keep Sundays holy.

In some states, you can't even buy liquor on Election Day, an effort we suppose to keep voters thinking straight when they cast their ballots. Given the histrionics during this primary/election season, we're unsure if it's be better to be sober or drunk when you cast your ballot on Election Day.

The real issue here, of course, is not the opportunity to have a mimosa with your scrambled and toast at Sunday morning brunch.

As Staten Islander Joan Tropiano, the mom of a 39-year-old who died because of alcohol, put it: "Pills and heroin aren't the only things killing our children."

It's well-documented that Staten Island is in the throes of the most serious drug crisis in decades -- or perhaps ever. The NYPD and District Attorney Michael McMahon have declared war and Mayor Bill de Blasio has committed $22 million to district attorneys around the city, with $3.66 million on Staten Island for McMahon to fight the crisis.

Tropiano wants liquor stores held accountable when they sell alcohol to visibly intoxicated persons, just as bars are held accountable. The New York State Liquor Authority calls it a crime to sell, deliver or give away alcoholic products to someone visibly intoxicated.

We agree, and take it a step further to suggest that any program instituted to educate our young about the disastrous consequences of getting hooked on drugs also include a segment on the potential dangers of alcohol.

Kids, whether they do it or not, know it's not OK to shoot heroin at the backyard barbecue, because at least we have sent that message. Somehow, we have to figure out a message that, although it's OK to enjoy a beer at the barbecue, it's not OK to "enjoy" a dozen with shots of Fireball on the side.
2016 SkS Weekly Digest #26

Posted on 26 June 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS in the News...Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Using the metric of number of comments garnered, the two most popular of the articles posted on SkS during the past week were:

Toon of the Week

Hat tip to I Heart Climate Scientists

Quote of the Week

Its actually crazy to me, and it should be crazy to anyone in the military, that Congress is telling them not to do this, said Andrew Holland, the senior fellow for energy and climate at the American Security Project.

This is what we ask our military and national security people to do, to think long-term, look at emerging threats, figure out ways to protect against these threats, he said.

Why the GOP is trying to stop the Pentagon's climate plan by Danny Vinik, Politico, June 23, 2016

He Said What?

Republicans say the directive is a distraction from the real threats the Pentagon should be focused on, particularly terrorist groups in the Middle East. The military, the intelligence community [and] the domestic national security agencies should be focused on ISIS and not on climate change, said Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who sponsored the amendment to block the funding. The fact that the president wants to push a radical green energy agenda should not diminish our ability to counter terrorism. Buck dismissed the idea that the military should focus on climate change as a threat: The president has talked about an increase in the climate temperature on the planet, he said. It is a fraction of a degree every year. How that is a current threat to us is beyond me.

Why the GOP is trying to stop the Pentagon's climate plan by Danny Vinik, Politico, June 23, 2016

SkS in the News

John Cook's A brief history of fossil-fuelled climate denial, originally published in the The Conversation AU, was reposted on Skeptical Science, DeSmog, and Resilience.

Coming Soon on SkS

Brexit and climate change are inter-generational theft (Dana)

(Dana) Alpine soils storing up to a third less carbon as summers warm (Robert McSweeney)

(Robert McSweeney) After six years of working on climate at Harvard, I implore it to show the courage to divest (Benjamin Franta)

(Benjamin Franta) Discovery exposes fragility of Antarcticas Larsen C ice shelf (Roz Pidcock)

(Roz Pidcock) The War on Science will change how you view the world (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #27 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #27 (John Hartz)

SkS Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review

97 Hours of Consensus: Glen MacDonald

Glen MacDonald's bio page & Quote source
      :     ;              
The dean of Mineral Area Colleges Arts & Sciences, Kay Crecelius, is retiring. She is the community colleges chief academic officer and has taught English for more than two decades.

Crecelius, who lives in Farmington, came to Mineral Area College as an adjunct instructor in 1989, becoming a full-time instructor in 1997. In 2006, when Dr. Steve Kurtz became president, she stepped into his former role, becoming the colleges dean of the Arts & Sciences Division.

She began a relationship with the community college field when she became a student at Moberly Junior College in Moberly. She went on to pursue a bachelors degree in education, majoring in English and minoring in French. She has a lifetime teaching certification in grades 7-12 from University of Missouri-Columbia. She earned a masters degree in English from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman University) in Kirksville, and pursued post-graduate studies at University of Missouri-Columbia, Webster University and Southeast Missouri State University.

Before teaching at MAC, Crecelius taught English and history classes at Antioch Junior High School in Gladstone, part of the North Kansas City School District. She also taught English at Ladue Junior High School in St. Louis County, part of the Ladue School District. From 1985-2013, she was both a teacher and the business and office manager for her husband, Dr. Norman D. Crecelius.

She is a past chair and member of the board for the Howard Park School for Developmentally Delayed Children (St. Louis). She was on the Advisory Committee for Audiology and Speech Pathology for the State Board of Healing Arts; a founding member, board member and director for Mineral Area Hospice (now Serenity Care), and she held state positions of vice chair and budget director for the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. Currently, she is a member of Missouri Community College Association, and is a former chair but still a current member of MCCAs Chief Academic Officer group.

Crecelius said one of the bright spots about her career has been seeing the changes that have occurred during her tenure as dean.

The departments I oversee have grown by leaps and bounds over the past 10 years, thanks to the continuous efforts of the veteran instructors I inherited when I took this position and thanks to the talent of the new instructors Ive been instrumental in hiring, she said. Our department chairs and supervisors are second to none. Theyre smart and knowledgeable departmental managers, and they make my job easy  or at least, easier!

She indicated that, while she wont miss the long hours, concerns and stress that come with the position, shell miss the people at MAC the most.

Ill miss the daily contact with my office staff, Lisa Johnson and Sara Briggs. They are the ultimate professionals and just down-right decent and often very funny human beings, she said. Ill also miss the personal contacts I have almost every day with the faculty, staff, other administrators, and students. It makes my day when I work various students through their academicand sometimes, personalissues and then see them walk across the stage at commencement.

In retirement, Crecelius said she plans to slow down, but she still plans to teach a couple of English composition classes this fall. She said shes looking forward to spending time at home with husband Norm, working in the yard, doing lots of reading and tackling jigsaw puzzles.

She hopes to continue to squeeze in church and civic groups. She is a member of a book club thats been meeting bi-monthly since about 1994, participates in the Theta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma which is a sorority for women educators, and is an active member of St. Vincents in the Vineyard (Episcopal Church), located on the grounds of Chaumette Winery.

Shes also looking forward to spending more quality time with family, which, in addition to her husband of 43 years, Norman, includes son Hogan, his wife, Bridget, and two grandsons who are in Jonesboro, Ark.; son Andy and wife Julie of Modesto, Calif.; and son Ryan of St. Louis.

I really enjoy time with my nieces and nephew and my sons and their families, she said. Theyve fully supported me and have had to work around my schedule the past 10 years; now its my time to be available.
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
After 27 years in the Coast Guard, Oregon native Kimi Raby has found a home among the rolling hills and treeline ridges of her 105-acre ranch just south of the Madison County line.

For the last 12 years, Raby has raised four kids, tended to her menagerie of dogs and watched over several horses that she has raised and allows to wander freely in her open pastures.

Its my little bit of heaven, Raby said. I had a horse when I was 13 and I use to ride with a neighbor when I was a kid. Every year he would give me a green broke filly. I would ride it all summer and then give it back. I knew I wanted horses when I retired. Its a lot of work, but its exactly what I wanted.

Although the ranch takes up a great deal of her time and energy, Raby does manage to always have time for her second home and family, AMVETS Post 113. A member since 2005, after being stationed in St. Louis, Raby has been a supporting member for the most part ever since.

When my then-husband and I moved here in 2004, he was a member of the Farmington VFW and we would also come over the AMVETS as well, Raby said. In 2005, I became the finance officer and I did that for a while. But working in St. Louis and trying to make the weekly meeting was too hard. So, I resigned, but after I retired in 2008, I got back involved ever since.

After several years of being involved with the post and holding key roles in the organization, Raby was called upon in 2014 to help her troubled post.

Gary Sutterfield called me on Dec. 30, 2014 to tell me they had asked him to be the post commander. He told them he would not accept unless I was his finance officer, Raby said. I said yes because the post was really ready to go under.

When Raby and Sutterfield began their tenure at the post, they were faced with bad debt and post that was in definite financial disarray.

The 914 taxes and sales tax had not been paid in almost a year and they had bills that hadnt been paid in over six months, Raby said. We owed over $18,000 on the building itself. But since then and July of last year, we have paid our back taxes and have paid the building off.

Using her skills she learned while serving in the Coast Guard, Raby said they were able to be successful through managing money really well, changing several different processes that were costing the post money and basically shutting everything down.

We basically started over from scratch, Raby said. It wasnt easy, but we are proud of ourselves for doing it.

Rabys hard work and dedication to the post did not go unnoticed by her peers. In fact, the post had so much trust in her that in May, they elected her post commander. Thus making her the first female commander of the post, and one of the few in the country.

Since the post has had it charter, there has never been a female commander, Raby said. I think there has been female commander in other states, but I am the first one in this area.

Although the post takes a great deal of time, Raby doesnt seem to mind. Whether it is her nurturing personality or her dedication to the serving, Raby is a constant at the post.

I love doing things for the veterans, Raby said. I love being around veterans and helping them out.

Raby has high hopes for the post. She would like to see the membership grow and to get more involved in the community.

In the past, we didnt have the resources to do much in the community, Raby said. But in the last six months, we have been getting calls to do things with other organizations, especially the VFW in Desloge. If they have a veteran event, they invite us, and when we have an event, we invite them down here. We are all working for the same goal, and I hope we continue working together.

Being one of the first females in a male-dominated world is nothing new to Raby. When she joined the Coast Guard in March of 1981, the Coast Guard had only just started to allow women in their ranks in 1979.

I joined the Coast Guard because of its mission  search and rescue, Raby said. The first four years things were tough, but it got easier.

During Rabys career, she had been stationed in several states including North Carolina, California, Oregon, Washington and Missouri, but she spent most her career in Alaska.

I spent most of my career in Anchorage and Kodiak, Alaska, Raby said. So when I got stationed to St. Louis it was quite an adjustment for us. We moved down in the middle of the summer and I thought we were going to die. We were coming from Kodiak where 65 degrees is a heat wave.

Although Raby grew up in Oregon and spent her most of her career in Alaska, it seems like it was almost destiny that she was drawn to the Parkland.

I was born and raised in Terrebonne, Oregon, Raby said. So you can imagine my surprise when I got stationed in St. Louis and I saw Bonne Terre.

After Raby retired from the service in March of 2008, she had no intentions of leaving the area. She had found her little piece heaven with her ranch, had made friends and had her family in the area.

When I retired, this is where I wanted to live, Raby said. I had my farm, I made a lot of friends and my four children, Danielle, Rhen, Morgan, and Austin were here. Why move?

But one of the things the military has taught Raby is that everything must change, and although she loves her farm and her horses, Raby is ready to move on.

Taking care of the farm is too hard to do by myself, Raby said. All of my kids are out of school and gone. I am going to give up my little piece of heaven and move into town. I am going to let someone younger take over and take care of it.

But rest assure, even though Raby maybe moving into town, she will still have plenty to occupy her time. Besides spending time at the post, Raby will have more time to spend with her new grandson, Lev, who was born on April 8.
Mr Woodford says rules require landholders to submit a development application, the same as a van park, or big-scale camping ground operator. "We're saying that is excessive, because no one is going to recoup costs doing that.

"The NSW government came out earlier this year saying they want to embrace the shared economy. We are saying that's great, but you are going to have to put in place more nimble planning regulations to allow that to happen," he said.

"The fact it has become so popular, and people are enjoying this type of camping, it shows there is a market for it. Not everyone wants to be herded into a packed van park or crowded public camping ground."

Eurobodalla Shire Council divisional manager Gary Bruce says exceptions to the DA rule can be granted for landholders for not more than two caravans, campervans or tents on any land, so long as they are not occupied for more than two days at a time and are not occupied for more than 60 days (in total) in any single period of 12 months.

South Coast caravan parks and public camping grounds are booked out over summer holidays, but Mr Bruce says the shire received few complaints about camping on private ground. "One or two complaints a year," he said.
When Kate Henderson's brother Ben was shot dead as he slept, nobody told her it was part of God's plan.

No one said it was for the best or that she still had other brothers.

Kate Henderson with her brothers Ben, right, and Huey, left. Credit:Kate Henderson

But when her baby daughter was stillborn, that was the reaction she received and it broke her heart.

"Everyone gets murder. My husband lost his father from a heart attack and people get that. They get cancer and heart attacks, but when it comes to stillbirth maybe it's too hard for some people," she said.
While many UK holidaymakers travelling abroad will pay more for foreign currency as a result of the Brexit referendum, foreign tourists can enjoy cheaper holidays in Britain - at least in the short term.

The pound plunged to its lowest level since 1985 following the EU referendum on Thursday, with the sterling down against every single major currency group.

This could make the UK a more affordable destination for overseas tourists.
Entrepreneur Patrick Grove is riding high after selling one of his startups, iProperty, to Rupert Murdoch's REA for a squillion or so.

Patrick Grove had a hard time when he started out. Credit:Peter Braig

It might be why Grove has been willing to open up about some of his struggles  or, to use his words 'F---ups'  that went with the terrain.

"The first eight years, we completely f---ed up ... we launched a search engine, we launched a free SMS service, and even launched a dating service," said a report of Grove's keynote address in Kuala Lumpur this month organised by his Catcha Group.
Financial crime is on the rise in Australia, with the country's senior money-laundering officials saying they've witnessed a dramatic increase in fraudulent transactions.

Deputy chief executive of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, Gavin McCairns, said the volume of data it received every day was growing "exponentially".

A PriceWaterhouseCooper survey found that cyber crime in Australia is being reported at a much higher rate than the rest of the world.

"The number of reports received in the past five years [increased] fivefold," he said.

He attributed the rise to new technologies such as blockchain that were transforming the financial sector.
How long does it take to sell alcohol in South Australia? Years.

One of the world's biggest retailers, Costco, is still waiting on a verdict from the South Australian courts on whether it can sell alcohol at its Adelaide store.

Costco sells the 2008 Penfolds Grange in some of its stores across the country. Credit:Justin McManus

In 2014, the country's biggest retailer, Woolworths, teamed up with the Australian Hotels Association to object successfully to Costco's bid for a special circumstances licence in South Australia.

The state's licensing court concluded that Costco's model for liquor retailing was not compatible with South Australian requirements and granting the big-box retailer a licence would risk setting an undesirable precedent.
Bondi Beach is a haven for tourists. The Brits had more to think about as they sipped on their coffee and enjoyed the sun. The pound has dropped and their future plans for work and travel may drastically change. Here's what they said:

British travellers and expats in Australia were still recovering on Sunday from their nation's decision to leave the European Union, known as Brexit.

After the result of the referendum, Mr Whitehead says he will not return to live in England . Arriving in Australia six months ago, the private equity consultant said his country has changed.

"I was very emotional about the results," Mr Whitehead said. "It's not the country it use to be and I don't want to go home. Australia is a wonderful country, it has a generosity of spirit."

Before moving to Australia, Mr Whitehead lived in London for 30 years. He is originally from Yorkshire and says the referendum shows the UK is extremely divided.

"They said if we left the EU it would be fine, only a few bumps in the road. Is Scotland leaving the UK one of them?" Mr Whitehead said.

The consequences in the market also affected Mr Whitehead and he said he has lost a significant amount of money.
And which serious politicians? Certainly none of the current leaders and nor should they. In this coming election, let us pick politicians who want to steer us towards 2032, and not 1952. Let us acknowledge Brexit for what it is, a political opportunity to galvanise the Australian people to not only be masters of our own destiny, but to be seen before the world to be exactly that! We fancy ourselves, and are, one of the most successful, egalitarian and multicultural nations on earth. And yet, here in 2016 if you compare the photo of the English Queen with her family on her Buckingham Palace balcony a fortnight ago, and compare it with your family photo from last Chrissie or holiday season, here is the stark truth. Under our current constitution, every one of the 20 odd people of that English family on that balcony, from the 90-year-old down to six months old, is automatically more qualified to be the Australian head of state than any one of your or my family!

Why? Because they are from the right, white English family, occupying the most entrenched, privileged and elite position on earth! And every one from your family is specifically barred, because they are mere Australians, not from the aforementioned right, white family. This is an embarrassing nonsense. Most of our politicians know it. About 50 per cent of Australians know it. And only 25 per cent of us are dead set against making the change. So be it. Let, now, the politicians lead on it. A week from now in this country there will be a different political paradigm, as power shifts. Whoever is in charge, let us insist they get moving in the next electoral cycle on Australia at last fulfilling our destiny, to be free-standing beneath the Southern Cross. Brexit has demonstrated that, whatever else, the Brits in general, and the English in particular, have got enough self-confidence to go it alone. I refuse to believe that this country will not demonstrate similar self-confidence and get cracking on this next obvious step. Join us.
Not many jobs have the potential to impact on people's lives, and those of their children and grandchildren, in such a profound way as that of the immigration officer.

This struck me most powerfully in the early 1990s in the Sudanese refugee camps of Wadi Sherifa and Gedaref, where hundreds of thousands of Eritrean, Ethiopian and Moro people existed in a bleak, unyielding limbo. While interviewing refugees for resettlement to Australia, I met an Australian of Eritrean origin who was scouring the camps for his mother and siblings. This man told me he could not understand how I could do my job knowing that probably one in every four families I rejected would have a family member die in the next 12 months.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection base in Canberra. Credit:Melissa Adams

The comment stunned me. And it stayed with me for the rest of my career as an Australian immigration officer. It is a comment worth bearing in mind during this election campaign, as the politics about border security and immigration threatens to trump the truth.

The Coalition government has repeatedly used boat arrivals and refugees to attack the opposition and instil fear in the electorate. The issue of people arriving by boat and claiming to be refugees has become 'the' major border security issue. In this debate, boat arrivals are synonymous with fraud, perpetuating the belief that anyone arriving by boat is not only not a refugee, but possibly a criminal or security threat.
During a visit to HMAS Albatross this month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the the Coalition had transformed the National Broadband Network from a failure into a success. In full election campaign mode, he said, "We've made a big turnaround ... to make a bad project better".

Voters have come to expect this blinkered view, from both sides of politics. However, the attitude of the Coalition towards the NBN is disappointing, to say the least. On one hand, Mr Turnbull praises Australia as a smart nation. On the other, the government is content to roll out what seems, to some, to be a second-rate broadband system.

The reputation of the former Labor government tarnished most of what it did, or tried to do. Thus the NBN, Labor style, is conveniently lumped with that administration's other failures, such as the home insulation scheme  a royal commission found the deaths of four installers participating in the program would not have occurred if the scheme had been properly designed and implemented.

The pros and cons of Labor's NBN and the Coalition's scheme have been canvassed widely. Labor began the more expensive, high-speed scheme with optical fibre cable laid from the telephone exchange to homes and businesses. The Coalition opted for the cheaper version  the fibre terminates at a street cabinet and the internet signal is taken the rest of the way by copper cable. This delivers slower internet speeds but may be able to be rolled out more quickly.
His mentoring explains many of my major defects as a person, but all of the flaws are mine. I gave up my car as it had an irresistible urge to park on freeways, loading zones, post boxes, driveways, fire hydrants and footpaths.

My mentor at the bar was Marcus Einfeld, who had been a Federal Court Justice before he retired and was jailed for a number of false statutory declarations about the real driver of his car. Before Einfeld, families juggled camera-captured speeding offences between themselves to attract an even balance of points to preserve their licences. Heavy-handed Justice Bruce James' sentencing of Einfeld largely put an end to point-swapping within families.

Former Woolloomooloo judge Marcus Enfield is writing a book which reflects on the major issues of his life and his attempts to deal with them. Credit:Jacky Ghossein JGZ

I caught up with him for dinner this week, my treat again, and the Twenty One in the heart of Double Bay seemed a natural and nurturing choice. He had enjoyed reading Lord Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diaries I gave to him at that final, last supper and claimed that George's at Piccadilly Arcade where I had taken him in 2010 was the last good meal for another two years while he remained prisoner at the Queen's pleasure. Her pleasure is at the expense of many people's pain, including Marcus'. He did not complain.

In May 2010, one of my first articles for this mighty masthead concerned my last meal with Marcus Einfeld, who entered the NSW prison system the next day and emerged two years later.

Post-prison Einfeld is 15 pounds lighter, doing yoga twice a week and walks with a better gait than myself. I said some shameful things about him a few months earlier in this column for which I apologised directly to him over chicken schnitzel at the "21". The cafe hasn't changed much since I shot an 8mm short film called "Jesus' 21st Birthday" there in the 1970s for the Law School Review with young Judas played by a Greek boy and Peter, Paul and Mary signing Puff the Magic Dragon and For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

Einfeld is writing a book for the same publisher as me and his deadline is Christmas which means his will be published before mine, which I had been working on since before he was charged. My mentor has become my tormentor. Einfeld's book is not a memoir but a reflection on the major issues of his life and his attempts to deal with them. One forgets he was a brilliant advocate at the bar, getting a sheepish Don Lane off importing marijuana into Australia when there was tonnes of it growing here anyway.

His advocacy led the Fraser government to quash and dismiss charges against 200 defendants charged for social security fraud. He sacked me from the following royal commission into why the original case took so long for repeated drunkenness and sleeping in. He had taught me that talent alone does not prepare you for court but hard work is required, up until sometimes 4am many mornings in unbridled giggling. I forgot his lessons when drugs came marching into Australia.

After Einfeld booted me from the commission I took refuge in taking even more of the same until sheer exhaustion and impecuniosity ended my decline. My clarion call until then was excess, but no further.

This week we discussed the disappearing art of speech and writing that has flowed as a direct result of the saturation of digital devices in everybody's hands, rather than pens or pencils. We raged against the Facebook until we were both black in the face and began to doubt whether anyone would read our books anyway. The emoticon appears to have become the better way to communicate feelings, comments, nuances and shades of ones current state of mind.
Growing up during the Depression, one of 10 children born to a dairy farmer in southern Montana, David Thatcher dreamed of leaving home and seeing the Pacific Northwest. After seeing a plane fly high overhead one day, he decided that aviation was his ticket out of town.

Thatcher joined the Army Air Corps in 1940, fresh out of high school, and one year later, after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and pushed the US into World War II, he volunteered for a top-secret mission that sent him far past the Northwest  on an aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, headed straight for the coast of Japan.

Sergeant David Thatcher (far right), who joined the Army Air Corps in 1940, has died at the age of 94. Credit:US Air Force

On April 18, 1942, then-Corporal Thatcher was one of 80 aviators who participated in a daring daylight air raid on Tokyo and other cities in an effort to retaliate for Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. Led by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, a former test pilot and engineer, the so-called Doolittle Raid brought Americans back from the brink of despair following four months of bitter defeats in Hawaii, Guam, Wake Island and the Philippines.

Thatcher, a gunner who was awarded the Silver Star for helping his four crewmates survive after their plane crash-landed off the coast of China following the Tokyo bombing run, died June 22 at a hospital in Montana. He was 94.
Taylor Swift discovered she had a duty to speak when she took a week to talk about the Orlando massacre. The pop star was condemned by many for "staying silent", failing some new duty on everyone to publicly mourn, to quickly condemn to the world the self-evidently appalling.

Perez Hilton, that modern arbiter of celebrity immorality, said every social media user  famous or not  has a "responsibility to this world to speak on this atrocity". He added an exclamation mark for good measure, not to laugh at his own joke but to make serious his censure.

We don't need to hear from Taylor Swift and other celebrities to know what to think about world events. Credit:Graham Denholm/Getty Images

What was Swift obliged to say? Repeat what had been said repeatedly already, that it was outrageous and awful and sad? Did she have to offer her sympathies, provide an answer, or add to the avalanche of speculation?

Why did she have to speak? Because she's famous, because she has gay fans, or because everyone must now be on record? Is it insufficient to merely think something is terrible; do we all have to say it is?
Michael Herr, the author and Oscar-nominated screenplay writer who viscerally documented the ravages of the Vietnam War through his classic non-fiction novel Dispatches and through such films as Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, has died after a long illness.

He was 76.

Matthew Modine stars as Private Joker in the Stanley Kubrick 1987 film, Full Metal Jacket.

His death on Thursday in an upstate New York hospital was confirmed by publisher Alfred A. Knopf, which released Dispatches in 1977, two years after the US left Vietnam.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Herr was part of the New Journalism wave that included Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote and Norman Mailer and advocated applying literary style and techniques to traditional reporting.
A piece of advice often dispatched to aspiring journalists back in the day was that when asked by an editor during their cadetship interview why they wanted to work in a newsroom they should never reply: "Because I love to write." The right answer was: "I want to break news stories."

To the novice this felt like peculiar guidance. Doesn't someone who writes all day need to be good at it? The answer is yes and no, and for people who write in any profession a passion for engaging text can be as much an asset as a liability.

"Doesn't someone who writes all day need to be good at it?" Credit:Alan Merrigan

Last week I spoke to a former colleague who now works in government.

He writes thousands of words a week but his experience in politics much mirrors my own; he likens the documents he drafts to illustrations by the Dutch artist Escher whose meticulously drawn staircases twist to disorienting nowheres. It's prose so laden with empty or overburdened phrases that its purpose can only be to discourage interested parties from reading it. In the midst of an election campaign, this switching off has its virtues.
Goldblum became well-known for fast-talking roles in The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Into The Night, The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy  both with former wife Geena Davis  before three of the biggest movies of the 1990s: Jurassic Park, Independence Day and the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Jeff Goldblum in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Credit:David James He hasn't been in movies as big as that since then, though he worked on Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Grand Budapest Hotel and his untitled next one as part of a pack of dogs also voiced by Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Bob Balaban and Edward Norton. On TV, he has been in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Glee and Portlandia. But as Independence Day has come back, just like new instalments of Jurassic Park, Star Wars and so many other old movies, Goldblum is back in a blockbuster. Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day.

In Independence Day: Resurgence, which has aliens threatening the earth again 20 years on, he returns as computer expert David Levinson, delivering some of the movie's cheesiest lines with snappy charm. Roland Emmerich has directed the sequel again but in the absence of Will Smith, his character's son, Dylan Hiller (Jessie Usher), and new pilot Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) take over the flyboy heroics. Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Emmerich jokes that one of the reasons he wanted to revive Independence Day was to work with Goldblum again. He describes him as an actor who brings "a lot of personality" to a movie, which Emmerich wanted to use when he and Dean Devlin wrote the first instalment. "There's nobody like Jeff Goldblum in the world," he says. "He's so unique. When we did the first one, Dean and I, we were such huge fans. We even wrote dialogue in Jeff Goldblum style ... He was the only actor we actually had in our head.

Jeff Goldblum with wife Emilie last year. "He's very intense and he always has a way with words. He's like 'tell me, tell me'." Hemsworth says Goldblum is truly as quirky off screen as on. "You never know what Jeff's going to say or what he's going to do but he's such a kind guy," he says. "The easiest person to work with. He's just very collaborative, loves to hear what your thoughts are on everything. And he's just a ball of energy. He's always happy and bouncy." Goldblum  one of four children with a father who was a doctor and mother who ran a company selling kitchen equipment  knew early that he wanted to be an actor. By late high school, he was obsessed.

"My dad said you've got to figure out a career," he says. "He was a doctor but he wisely said if you find something you love doing, that's the lighthouse or your compass." Goldblum's compass might be a little skewed by now given Australia was just the first leg of an Independence Day publicity tour that was taking him to Dubai, Berlin, London, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Japan  "pretty much up to July 4." That's a significant date for another reason than just the movie. On Independence Day last year, Goldberg's wife, Sydney Olympics rhythmic gymnast and dancer Emilie Livingston, 33, gave birth to his first child, son Charlie. "We were shooting the movie in the summer and they let me off for a week in the projected window," Goldblum says. "And then sure enough on the 4th of July, she had the baby. So I'm thinking about passing my whatever I have onto him and the fleetingness of life and the fragility of this planet." Goldblum loves being a dad and, unlike many a celebrity, happily shows off photos of a genuinely handsome child on his phone.

"I'm crazy about him," he says. "My wife is very good and sweet with him. There they are going on the plane  she's Canadian  so they're travelling to Toronto while I was going here because our kitchen is being remodelled. Look at that. I mean, come on." Becoming a father in his sixties has not made him wish he had kids earlier. "I think everything happens right on time," he says. "I probably wasn't ready before this. I hope it's not too late but I'm enjoying it now." So does he consider himself as off-beat as his screen characters? "I don't know," Goldblum says, dragging it out comically like a reluctant school boy. "I just am who I am.

"I had a good teacher, Sanford Meisner. He said 'don't copy anybody. If you find your voice so to speak it will be your own.' "So I guess I've pursued that advice. And I feel lucky to be still getting good chances to do it." Goldblum says the first Independence Day was a unique experience because of working with Emmerich. "To work with somebody with whom it's so fun to work and from whom I can learn  and I learned from him more on this [new movie]. Now he's even more masterful. "I'm always trying to get better myself. I specifically made some breakthroughs working with him in this movie."

What kind of things? "Well, I'm kind of a craft geek," Goldblum says. "I've been teaching it when I'm not working for the last two or three decades to figure out how to make myself more reliably better as I go along and do what Sandy Meisner said, which is keep improving. "It's really just pretending. And just pretending good, in an interesting way. "I play piano and, like that, it's kind of getting to trust yourself more. Something about Roland, maybe it's his self-trustfulness and his talent, got through to me in a way this summer. I'm anxious to do more  anxious to do more with him if I ever could  to exercise my self-trustfulness." When people see him in the street or at an airport, Goldblum says he is sometimes surprised by the movies they recognise him for.

"I've done a lot of things," he says. "The most widely seen ones were the first Independence Day and the Jurassic Park movies and The Fly. They seem to make an impression on people, they tell me. "The Big Chill people mention. Buckaroo Bonzai had some devoted followers. And Wes Anderson has his fans." Whenever he's at home in Los Angeles, Goldblum plays jazz piano as part of a quintet at a club. In Sydney, he hunted down a piano in the lobby of another hotel so he could practise. "I've played my set every day," he says. In September, Goldblum will be back in Australia to shoot Thor: Ragnarok with Hemsworth's brother Chris. It is being shot in Queensland with Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) directing.
More satisfying than delightful, Steven Spielberg's The BFG is a companion piece to his own classic release from that same year: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Separated by more than three decades but both written by the late Melissa Mathison, the two films pair hopeful children with fantastic creatures who become their closest companion.

The BFG is a reasonably faithful adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1982 children's book about the friendship between a big friendly giant and a little girl. Ten-year-old Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) is first seen in the middle of the night, prowling a London orphanage. She is a no-nonsense loner, shushing drunks in the street outside with a blunt "oi!" before covertly reading a book that features a far worse academy for unwanted children: Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby. She has an everyday defiance, but not a hint of precocious entitlement, which aids the movie immeasurably.

Drawn again to the dormitory window by noise outside, Sophie witnesses a giant sneaking through quiet streets  this London, vaguely situated in the early 1980s, has no 24-hour kebab shops  and flees to the safety of her bed. It is no safety at all, as the oversized being reaches into the room and snatches her up, carrying her through the city via camouflage and great strides, across the countryside and above the clouds.

Spielberg uses scale to dramatic effect. Sophie is small and demonstrative, the giant is large and withdrawn. Credit:Disney

That hand, bigger than her bed, is the breaking of our familiar scale, and Spielberg makes those double-take moments the centrepiece of his fantasy adventure, as Sophie sees the world from a third-storey view before arriving in the giant's ramshackle home. She is small and demonstrative, and the giant (Mark Rylance) is large and withdrawn. But he's also friendly, if lonely. His kidnapping is less about keeping her quiet than giving him a companion.

Rylance, the acclaimed English Shakespearean actor who won a best supporting actor Academy Award for his portrayal of a Soviet spy in Spielberg's previous feature, Bridge of Spies, brings out the nurturing warmth in his character. The BFG, as Sophie christens him, speaks slowly, and his mispronunciations such as "buttery flies" and "tele tele bunkum box" aren't played for comic effect. He's searching for the right words because he's never had anyone to converse with.
As the UK wrestles with the fallout of a successful Brexit vote, fans of TV's biggest fantasy drama are wrestling with concerns of their own: how will the UK's exit from Europe affect the production of HBO's Game of Thrones?

The series, which was commissioned by the US-based HBO channel, is filmed in studios in Northern Ireland, and on location in Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco and Spain.

But Northern Ireland is in the UK and, with the successful "leave" vote, is now poised to leave the European Union.

Four of the series' other filming locations - Croatia, Malta, Morocco and Spain - are EU countries.
MARVEL'S AGENT CARTER



Monday 7.30pm, 7Flix

They call it the MCU  the Marvel Comics Universe  and it incorporates not just dozens of heroes (super and otherwise) and villains (ditto) but a media spread that must be making Rupert Murdoch grind his teeth with envy. Comics, of course, and their grown-up cousins, graphic novels. Plus cinema, short films, web series, animations and television. There is no escape.

On the upside: why would you want to? Especially when the end result is as good as this. A companion piece to the big-screen Captain America: The First Avenger, here Hayley Atwell reprises her role as the unflappable Peggy Carter, the good captain's love interest and a formidable fighter for justice in her own right. Atwell is just perfect. Her wonderful face speaks volumes with the tilt of an eyebrow and  befitting the post-war setting  she often seems to be channelling the best of the screen stars of the era (a sort of Lauren Bacall/Rosalind Russell vibe).

That whole 1940s setting has been lovingly recreated, broadly drawn without ever tipping over in to caricature, and the script does the same, generously dishing out the wise-cracks and the hard-boiled dialogue without ever feeling strained. But this also has one foot firmly planted in the 21st century and while it never makes a meal of it, it does pointedly imagine what kind of life a female war hero might have once the guns have been laid down. That is, mostly typing and filing  until Howard Stark (again played by Dominic Cooper) appears and asks Peggy to help clear him of treason charges. (The radio play frequently running in the background is a not-at-all-subtle reminder of the way WWII history was rewritten to expunge the role of women.)
ROOKIE REPORTER: ELECTION ***

11.30am, 7pm, ABC3 What a great way to introduce the younger set to the nitty gritty of democracy in action. Since early June, 12-year-old Maya has been sharing her experiences as a rookie political reporter, from basic tuition in the skills of being a political journo to her precis of assorted policy announcements, introduction to the major parties and independents, and finally life on the campaign trail. It's been about as precise and informative a snapshot as you could wish for as the campaign has progressed. Tonight we get all the best bits in a sharp half-hour documentary. Rookie reporter Maya's election round-up screens tonight. Credit:Ashley Crawford BUILDING HITLER'S SUPERGUN

**1/2

8.35pm, SBS If this were actually about building Hitler's supergun it would have been a pretty good show. When we get a bit of Mythbusters-style engineering as a couple of boffins try to recreate a never-used piece of German artillery it's a fascinating watch. Unfortunately that stuff comprises about a fifth of the hour running time. The rest is a history lesson on the Brits and Americans trying to destroy Hitler's supergun once they found out about it, and if there is some small glimmer of interest in the fact that Joe Kennedy Jnr lost his life trying to do so, the rest is decidedly ho-hum for any but the most ardent military buffs. Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. MOVIE: FRANKENWEENIE ***

6.30pm, 7Flix
OUTBACK TRUCKERS ***

8.30pm, 7Mate I'm always a bit surprised at how much I enjoy Outback Truckers. It's not exactly Emmy-winning stuff. But there's something fundamentally honest about both the salt-of-the-earth types featured, and the way the story is told, that makes it thoroughly engaging. Sure, the narrator likes to constantly wonder aloud if this or that driver is going to make it (we know they all will  it's that kind of show) but the reality is we're watching some pretty skilful and stoic folk doing a really tough job under extraordinary conditions, and there's something genuinely admirable about that. Outback Truckers is on 7Mate.

***

8.30pm, Ten For all its cheesiness  and its flag-waving  has long shown a genuine interest in the fate of returned servicemen, and the pressure on the families of those still active in the defence force. Tonight it almost kicks down the fourth wall as it expressly advocates for Joining Forces (an Obama administration initiative designed to support active service members, veterans and their spouses) including a visit to the White House to meet with the actual Michelle Obama. It's a gambit that doesn't work particularly well, dramatically, but it is fun seeing Mark Harmon's Gibbs being out-acted by the First Lady. NCIS's Brian Dietzen, Rocky Carroll, Pauley Perrette, Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Emily Wickersham, Sean Murray and David McCallum. Credit:Kevin Lynch THE GRINDER New series

***1/2

9.30pm, Eleven
Australia's solar energy sector is facing further job losses amid falling numbers of new rooftop installations amid a lack of support during the Abbott-Turnbull governments, industry representatives say.

New investment in household and small businesses installing systems with less than 100-kilowatt capacity has dropped to a seven-year low, with Coalition policies largely to blame, John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian Solar Council, said.

"The sunburnt country has burnt its solar industry," Mr Grimes said. "Thousands of jobs have been lost and hundreds of small businesses have closed their doors."
It was the grimace that said a thousand words.

Three years ago Tony Abbott was in Brisbane on stage, in the spotlight, basking in the adoration of the Liberal Party faithful as he launched his campaign. A thumping victory was on the horizon. At least two terms in office, surely, lay ahead as a demoralised Labor Party searched through the debris of defeat for scraps of electability.

But it wasn't to be.
Australia's three largest political parties have promised to splurge billions of dollars on transport projects that have been identified as either wasteful or have not been independently assessed, raising concerns that public money will be squandered on pork-barrelling.

An analysis by the Grattan Institute of the transport promises of the Coalition, Labor and the Greens has found all are guilty of backing multiple projects that have not been given a green light by Infrastructure Australia, the federal government's independent advisory authority on major projects.

The Sydney gateway connecting WestConnex to the city's airport and port will be one of the last pieces of the $16.8 billion project to be built, inquiry told. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Instead, billions are set to flow towards projects of dubious or uncertain economic merit, no matter who wins this week's federal election. Meanwhile, other projects that have been rigorously assessed by Infrastructure Australia and judged as worthy have been sidelined.
She's too young to drive a car, but Jade Esler is Australia's youngest female pilot.

The year 9 student made her maiden solo flight at Fly Oz school in Cowra on her 15th birthday last week.

Jade Esler took her maiden solo flight on her 15th birthday last week.

At 15, the Jerrabomberra teenager is still too young to have an official pilot's license and had to fly with her instructor contactable by radio on the ground.

Esler, whose father and grandfathers were pilots, says her love of flying came at an early age. She would go up with her dad from the age of two, and always relished a rarely enjoyed part of family holidays: the airport.
The investigators identified one major corruption case inside the department involving an officer who subsequently fled overseas. Mr Petyanszki called for a major overhaul in the fight against migration crime. "In the border security debate, it has been easy to deflect the public's attention to boat arrivals. But this fearmongering has totally ignored where the vast bulk of real fraud is most significantly undermining our immigration programs," he said. The Fairfax Media-7.30 investigation includes interviews with two whistleblowers, and a covertly filmed sting, which captures a fixer saying that for $50,000 in cash per foreigner, his syndicate can create phantom jobs and visa sponsorship. The revelations suggest corruption infects every level of the visa supply chain  migration agents, employers who sponsor workers, education providers and immigration officials. There is little effective deterrence for perpetrators.

In a follow-up report on Tuesday, Fairfax and 7.30 will reveal how organised criminals are infiltrating the border security system, along with claims that the existing watchdog, the small Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, is badly outgunned. The large number of immigration corruption allegations referred to the commission has prompted Senator Nick Xenophon to call for Australia's anti-corruption measures to undergo major reform. Bark but no bite: Independent senator Nick Xenophon has called for greater powers for corruption investigators. Credit:Paul Jeffers "It's worse than a toothless chihuahua. At least a chihuahua tries to bite," Senator Xenophon said of the law enforcement integrity commission. The comments are likely to be backed by several independent senators and the Greens, who are pushing for a national Independent Commission Against Corruption. However, government sources defend the existing integrity commission, saying that even though it is under-resourced, it has helped uncover major corruption and quietly driven vital reforms.

Mr Petyanszki's concerns are supported by serving immigration and security officials who, speaking confidentially, say organised crime figures are among those rorting the visa system to set up criminal enterprises in Australia. These include prostitution rackets, drug importation networks and financial crime enterprises. In claims also backed by serving officials, Mr Petyanszki said the overwhelming focus by both major parties on stopping asylum seeker boats reaching Australia had enabled endemic visa rorting by those arriving by plane: "There remain major flaws in the integrity management of our immigration programs, including a major lack of resources." A departmental spokesman said the immigration department and the Australian Border Force had spent 12 months ramping up its attack on visa and migration fraud. "The department's activities are focussed on defeating visa fraud at the systemic level, including investigating and prosecuting networks involved in criminally exploiting Australia's visa regime," the spokesman said.

He cautioned that many of the 132 corruption allegations had not been verified and some involved allegations about people who falsely claimed to be Border Force staff. However, two whistleblowers have revealed their personal experiences, claiming the policing of migration crime is woeful. Indian community leader Jasvinder Sidhu says Indian nationals who have paid unscrupulous bosses to sponsor them have been exploited. Credit:Paul Jeffers Indian community leader Jasvinder Sidhu said he was aware of dozens of cases in which Indian nationals had paid crooked fixers sums of up to $80,000 to get visa sponsorship for jobs that did not exist, or for education courses that the applicant never attended. A fixer subsequently filmed by Fairfax Media and 7.30 claimed he was unable to keep up with demand for the corrupt services offered by his Korean boss, who is a migration agent operating in Sydney and Melbourne.

Indian nationals who have paid unscrupulous bosses to sponsor them have, according to Mr Sidhu, been exploited or, in some cases, sexually assaulted by their employer. They do not complain to police for fear of losing their visas. A second whistleblower, Queensland project manager Clint Raven, has revealed he was a key witness for the Immigration Department in its investigation into his former employer, contractor Murphy Pipe and Civil, which works on several major Australian infrastructure projects. The company is accused of sponsoring dozens of unskilled foreign workers to obtain skilled visas, at the expense of local workers. Fairfax Media first revealed the allegations about Murphy Pipe and Civil in 2014, leading to raids on the business by the Immigration Department and denials of wrongdoing by the company. Mr Raven has revealed he provided sworn testimony to the department about "blatant" visa rorting  which he described as "people smuggling"  but said the case was hand-balled between investigators who appeared unwilling to conduct in-depth investigations and prosecutors. Despite evidence of potentially criminal breaches, Murphy Pipe and Civil has been fined just $3500, and in December was banned from sponsoring more workers for four years.
Three judges in the Family Court have questioned why an abusive father who bashed his partner and held a samurai sword to his daughter's chest was granted access to the child by the same court.

An eight-year long dispute between the parents, given the pseudonyms Ms Tindall and Mr Saldo, took an extraordinary turn on Friday when three appeal judges said their colleague, Justice Margaret Cleary, appeared to underplay and ignore the history of violence in the relationship.

In a judgment delivered earlier this year, Justice Cleary ordered that Mr Saldo be granted monthly access to his nine-year-old daughter following his release from jail.

He had served more than two years for the horrifying ordeal in 2007 in which he bashed Ms Tindall, tied her to a chair in their western Sydney home, held a sword to the child and threatened to kill them.
A Sydney man allegedly raped a young woman he met through an escort agency before going on to kidnap and rape a 13-year-old girl from the city's west five days later.

The alleged sex offender's time on the run came to a dramatic end on Saturday when his car ploughed into a bus stop on a Bondi street during a car chase with police.

Detectives had been searching for Mustafa Kayirici, 26, since June 19 after a 22-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted and robbed in the CBD.

Five days later, on Friday, he allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old girl in Parramatta. It is understood Mr Kayirici did not know the teen but managed to lure her to him.
It was a fight that started in a pub, continued on Facebook and ended fatally in a dark park.

Not long before Sydney teenager Jed Coates was gunned down, he invited high school acquaintance Matthew Perry to meet him for a fight.

Matthew James Perry is lead from the court last week. Credit:Edwina Pickles

The pair had earlier been thrown out of the Colyton Hotel for fighting as the State of Origin played in the background.

"U think imma back DONW u gotta another thing coming," Mr Coates wrote on Facebook.
More needs to be done to recognise the increased suicide risk that physical diseases, such as cancer, can bring in older adults, a Queensland coroner has found.

Deputy state coroner John Lock recommended increased screening for depression in elderly patients following their diagnosis or treatment.

A deputy coroner has recommended closer observation and suicide prevention programs for elderly people diagnosed with serious illnesses.

Mr Lock ruled the death of a 75-year-old cancer patient living in a care facility to be suicide, determining the elderly man had caused his own death in January 2014 after returning from chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

While Mr Lock found there was no way the man's family or staff at his nursing home could have predicted his actions, the deputy coroner found the man's death was indicative of a wider issue of facing older adults given serious physical disease diagnosis.
Dinosaur tourism is becoming big business in Queensland.

But for many tourists, getting there means travelling over roads covered in the same rock the Jurassic beasts saw  which in 2016, is not an experience every tourist wants.

Mark Bailey, Winton Mayor Butch Lenton and Robbie Katter outside the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum.

With grey nomad tourism playing an increasingly important role in the state's drought-hit outback, making it as easy as possible for tourists to reach the attractions has become a priority for regional and rural communities.

Which is why Katter MP Robbie Katter believes the Palaszczuk Government's $10 million 'Transport and Tourism Connections' program couldn't come at a better time.
A woman has died in hospital after falling from a balcony and landing on a Melbourne rooftop.

The woman, believed to be in her 30s, fell from an apartment balcony on Queen Street just after 4pm on Sunday, an Ambulance Victoria spokesman said.

Firefighters had to use a crane to pull the woman from where she landed, six storeys above street level.

It's not yet known how far she had fallen, police said.
Kano: Nigeria's army said it rescued more than 5000 people trapped in areas held by Boko Haram and killed at least 10 of the Islamist militant group's fighters.

One soldier was injured and one civilian fighting alongside the military was killed in raids on about 10 villages in the north-eastern state of Borno, spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said in an emailed statement late Saturday.

Boko Haram has sought since 2009 to impose its version of Islamic law on Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy and second-largest oil producer. While President Muhammadu Buhari has managed to take back most territory held by the group since he came to power in May 2015, it still carries out suicide bombings and hit-and-run raids.
Beijing: The Chinese government said on Saturday it had stopped a communication mechanism with Taiwan because of the refusal of the self-ruled island's new government to recognise the "one China" principle, in the latest show of tension between the two.

China, which regards Taiwan as wayward province, is deeply suspicious of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who took office last month, as they suspect she will push for formal independence.

Tsai, who heads the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, says she wants to maintain the status quo with China and is committed to ensuring peace.

But China has insisted she recognise something called the "1992 consensus" reached between China's Communists and Taiwan's then-ruling Nationalists, under which both agreed there is only one China, with each having their own interpretation of what that means.


London: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday urged her fellow European Union leaders to react cautiously to Britain's vote to leave the EU, breaking with fellow European ministers who seek a swift and decisive divorce with Britain.

"It should not take ages, but I don't think there's any reason to fight now, pushing for a short time period" before talks begin, she told journalists, adding that the vote is "not a reason to be in some way nasty in the negotiations."

Merkel also underscored that even from outside the EU, "Great Britain will remain a close partner with close economic ties to us."
In America, throughout the Republican primary and into the general election campaign, white voters without college degrees have formed the core of Trump's support, and polls show they, too, are frustrated with immigration and economic integration (in the form of free trade). This referendum was not a fight between Britain and Europe. It was the first step of a pan-European uprising. Credit:Getty Images The forces driving those populist uprisings, both against EU bureaucrats in Brussels and elected officials in Washington, are complex and intertwined. They include long-simmering racial tensions and increased political polarisation. But across the West, the Serbian-American economist Branko Milanovic argues, the rise of populism corresponds to a decline in the income share held by the broad middle classes of those countries. Milanovic has studied global inequality trends extensively, and is the creator of a semi-famous chart showing how the rise of global trade boosted incomes for the poorest and very richest workers in the world -- everyone, really, except for the working class in the West. In a recent blog post, Milanovic writes that in the United States and other rich countries "populism is rooted in the failure of globalisation to deliver palpable benefits to its working class." It's not just global trade slowing that suggests to some globalisation may have peaked.

With the Brexit vote, the populist movement can already claim a victory: It has won a clear reversal from the economic-integration trend of the past decades. Now the question is whether the movement will ultimately push the world into a more Western-worker-friendly form of globalisation - or a full-fledged retreat to protectionism. Uncertainty over the exit is expected to fuel more volatility in the markets in the weeks ahead. Credit:Tomohiro Ohsumi Either seems possible. In the protectionist scenario, countries such as France and Spain could follow Britain out of the European Union. Trump could win and impose his 45 per cent tariffs on trading partners, and China, Mexico and others could retaliate with WTO complaints and tariffs of their own. Economists worry about those possibilities. Some have warned that they could trigger a global recession. (If Brexit has not begun to, already.) In the "reformed globalisation" scenario, if you will, political leaders could re-engineer the terms of trade to better cushion workers against shocks and better ensure the gains from trade are broadly spread among workers in rich countries, and do not just flow to the rich.

European Page 1 covers of newspapers reacting to the UK leaving the EU. Brexit, European Union, England, Britain, page one, news This appears to be Clinton's stated goal, for example. "I recognise we have to make some changes in trade agreements," she told The Washington Post in an interview this week, "but I also believe we can't shut our borders to trade." Last month in Washington, the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, a former Obama economic adviser named David Lipton, gave a speech titled "Can Globalisation Still Deliver?" In it, he called for a "new form of globalisation that works for all" -- one that clearly shows working-class voters "the opportunities of collaboration and integration." "Too many people in the developed world see only a loss of jobs to lower wage destinations," Lipton said. "Too many people fear that immigration is compromising their economic well-being. Too few see clearly the pay-offs -poverty reduction, the innovation that comes from shared ideas, higher living standards from greater access to trade and higher returns to the wealthy world from investment partnerships with developing countries." But if they want to sell wary workers on the gains from integration -- to salvage a new era of globalisation, instead of launching a new dawn of economic retrenchment -- public officials might need to be more honest with themselves about the trade-offs that come with deepening economic ties.
YWCA, police use 11 questions to protect domestic violence victims

The idea: See if a victim is at high risk of being seriously injured or killed. And if they are, hook them up with a shelter or services.
Country

Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.
The Brexit campaign became Johnson's latest populist plaything. He took over the movement like an investor snapping up a company -- but this was no hostile takeover. The freaks desperately needed Johnson.

Now he's achieved his goal. He gathered up all of the provincial rage outside of the capital and used it to place a huge bet. And perhaps it was too large. During his first statement after a long night of dismay for most continental Europeans, it sounded as if he wanted to prepare his country for hard times ahead.

"No time for haste," Johnson said. It sounded like he hoped protracted negotiations with Europe could stave off the worst for Britain.

Johnson will end up costing the British a lot of money. Back in his Bullingdon Club days in Oxford, Johnson and his cohorts would sometimes smash up the restaurants they visited, tossing food on the walls and trashing the furniture. Only to return the next day to pay in pounds for their vandalism.

This time it's different. The entire nation will end up paying for Johnson's folly. And the highest price is sure to be paid by those most downtrodden -- those who voted as Johnson wished.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Stamford Police / Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Stamford Police / Show More Show Less 3 of 3





STAMFORD  A Port Chester, N.Y., man who is a suspect in an armed home invasion last month is being held on $250,000 bond after being arrested by Stamford narcotics detectives Friday night as he attempted to flee an East Side hotel, police said.

Detectives staked out the Amsterdam Hotel at 19 Clarks Hill Ave. after receiving a tip from Port Chester police that the suspect, Lee Dragani, 46, was staying there, Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said.
STAMFORD  The Board of Education will vote Tuesday on a plan to hire two agencies to provide special education services for nearly 200 city students.

The panel is expected to approve three-year contracts, which combined will cost the district about $684,000 in the upcoming fiscal year.

The agencies provide specialized services to students with autism and related disabilities. The services are known as BCBA, or board-certified behavior analyst, and ABA, or applied behavior analysis.

James Connelly, the interim superintendent of schools, said the amount is a slight increase over the current years agreement.

The boards review committee chose the districts existing vendor, Stamford-based Seed Center, to continue providing most of the services. Its contract would cost $625,000 in the next fiscal year, with an unchanged hourly rate of $85.

But the committee also selected Applied Behavioral Strategies (ABS), an agency that would provide about $58,000 worth of services out of Roxbury in Litchfield County. Its hourly rate is $90 for the first year, $95 for the second year and $100 for the third.

Connelly said the committee was impressed with the ABS transition plan to decrease reliance on special education support for children, teachers and parents. The agencys transition plan begins immediately with every new case.

However, since the company is new to the district and does not have a local office, the committee felt it would be best to contract them for a smaller portion of the districts work, Roxbury School only, in order to evaluate their work first-hand before committing to a larger contract, Connelly said.

Stamford has 191 students with autism spectrum disorders. The new agency is expected to serve about 15 of them.

The contracts were discussed at the school boards fiscal committee meeting last week, just days after an independent report found that the district has done little over the past decade to curb the escalating cost of special education.

The District Management Council, a team of Boston-based consultants, concluded the schools failed to enact many of the recommendations it made when it first visited the district six years ago.

Higher costs were also caused by a recent influx of students with special needs. The number of special education students has risen 20 percent over the past four years and now makes up 12.5 percent of the student population.

Connelly said the contracts are in concert with the districts efforts to control special education spending.

Obviously, were scrutinizing these contracts, he said, adding that the district itself does not have the same special education resources.

The kind of specialized services these groups provide, I dont think we can duplicate in-house, Connelly said.

The consultants also found a rising number of students attending schools outside the district and mismanaged resources across all city schools.

The firm will monitor the districts progress for another year, Connelly said.

The districts special education budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year is about $60 million. The contracts to be voted on Tuesday are not part of the out-of-district tuition budget of about $11.8 million, which goes to other school districts for special education services.

Board of Education President Geoff Alswanger was not available for comment.

noliveira@hearstmediact.com, 203-964-2265, @olivnelson
The deep political ramifications of the Supreme Courts inertia over immigration policy last week must not be allowed to become a veil blocking the view to the more immediate reality that some five million people in the United States are left to move deeper into the shadows.

These arent faceless stereotypes. The immigrants President Barack Obama sought to protect are parents who may have entered the United States illegally, but are raising children born in America. They are also children under age 16 who lack documentation. They are people with clean records who are left to continue struggling to survive in an underground economy while living in fear of arrest.

The matter should have been settled before reaching the highest court in the land, but these justices failed. Instead, they threw the case back to the lower courts to settle as a matter of law.

Do not mistake this for a problem in other backyards. Many of these immigrants are in our Connecticut towns, working in restaurants and at construction sites, picking up various tasks as day laborers.

In Connecticut, a protest has already been scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. Monday in front of the Federal Immigration Building, 450 Main St., in Hartford.

Similar voices will rise across the country, in many languages. Its a start, but thats not where change will really happen.

The dividing line between opinions on this matter is not narrow. Its not a fissure. Its a canyon.

And for all the bold actions in Washington, D.C., and beyond in recent days to advance the cause of common-sense gun control measures, it may be the immigration issue that provides the straightest line to determining the winning scorecard on Election Day 2016.

Obama critics might give pause before they celebrate his defeat at the hands of the Supreme Court on Thursday. The matter will not be settled in his remaining six months in office, further exposing the chasm in opinion held by the camps of presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Theres a reason Trumps pledge to build a wall to block out immigrants remains a routine punchline on late-night comedy shows. Even his supporters arent buying it.

Its almost as impractical that the five million immigrants whose lives are left teetering by the Supreme Court could be ushered across the borders by vastly under-equipped federal officials. Theres also the nagging matter of industries that are reliant on immigrant labor.

Indecision by our Supreme Court justices, prejudices related to politics and race and pure, primitive hate all fuel this inability to make progress. The courts could break the impasse. More likely is that change will occur if reasonable people exercise their right to vote in November.

Average citizens can settle a matter that paralyzed Supreme Court justices. All thats at stake is our nations humanity.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Local pride can dictate behavior in irrational ways.

Years after moving from their hometown, people cling to native area codes like sacred birthrights. Some people risk tickets rather than surrender out-of-state license plates.

As someone who works in Greenwich and Stamford, its often entertaining to watch from the sidelines as these communities reinforce bubbles around one other. Many people act as though The Donald already built a wall along the border. High school rivalries make sense in any town. So does pride in favorite coffee shops or pizza joints.

Hospital rivalries never make sense, and never will.

Some people cling to decades-old perceptions. Others do favor one hospital over another based on the address.

Anxiety over our personal health has a way of making things look better on the other side of that phantom wall. From Stamford, some people think deep pockets in Greenwich Hospital equal better health services (perhaps its the piano in the lobby). Greenwich residents sometimes express a preference for a city hospital.

Ive run into this repeatedly. Back in the days when newspapers were produced with hot wax and X-Acto knives, I was chasing the Greenwich Time deadline in Stamford at about 4 a.m. when a compositor named Bob put down his blade and hunched forward.

Gimme a second JB, I dont feel so good.

It didnt take long for the deadline to become insignificant. We had to get Bob to a hospital. He was a pretty tough guy, so the first challenge was convincing him of that. As two of us walked him to a car, he presented the second challenge.

Dont even think of taking me to Stamford Hospital. Were going to Greenwich.

A few years later, a copy editor got into an accident on I-95 at about the same hour. She called me for help and I insisted on taking her to the emergency room. She later chastised me for taking her to Greenwich instead of Stamford.

For many, civic pride evaporates when it comes to health care. That doesnt mean these judgments are sound. Maybe its because we relate emotional and physical pain to hospitals. No one harbors sweet nostalgic memories about the place they rushed to with a kidney stone.

Ive never seen the logic in confining health care choices within boundaries. Our family has used not only Stamford and Greenwich hospitals, but Norwalk, Bridgeport and Yale-New Haven. You go where you can get the appropriate help.

Recently, Christopher Riendeau walked me through the new Stamford Hospital. It was 99 days before patients are to start moving in on Sept. 23. We entered near the Emergency Department, where he offhandedly noted why zip codes are meaningless during a crisis. Patients come from Greenwich and Darien as well as Stamford.

Riendeau is senior vice president of fund development for the Stamford Hospital Foundation. Translated, that means hes been heading the formidable challenge of raising $450 million during the leanest years of this generation. When the financial crisis crested a few years ago, he recalls people asking, Why are you doing this?

Now the question is How are you doing this? he said.

Riendeau is clearly proud that the 400 workers on the site have been able to push forward throughout the recession, among other obstacles.

When we started, there was no hospital tax, he said, referring to Gov. Dannel P. Malloys controversial tariff.

The work is impressive in the details, from the Disney approach to shielding patients from staging that goes on behind the scenes to putting them on the top five floors, where the din of street bustle and sirens recedes and views of Long Island Sound invite tranquility. Studying best practices at 25 other hospitals and collecting input from staff has created a health model for the future. Riendeau keeps mentioning elbow room, which is true in more ways than one.

Not only should visitors be more comfortable, but architects left space for the hospital to keep growing past 2016.

People tend to buy and build bookcases to contain the books they own, as though they will never read something new. Institutions often operate the same way. Architects of the new Stamford Hospital are trying to avoid this trap. What you cant see from the outside is that the fourth and fifth floors are shells.

This is where future expansion will take place, Riendeau said.

It takes him some 10,000 steps to complete each tour from the rooftop helipad (the infinity edge with no handrails freaks some people out) to what he refers to as my favorite spot in the lobby, a wall that will record the donors who kick in more than $1 million. There are already 32 contributors, and Riendeau is hopeful of reaching 40 by the campaigns end on New Years Eve of 2017. He knows renderings and tours wont convince everyone. Some people are in the Missouri, you have to show me category.

Its now 89 days until the 72-hour move. Hundreds of construction workers will be replaced by doctors, nurses and staff. The real players  the patients  will remain a mystery until Opening Day. But patients will show up, from Stamford, Greenwich, Darien and beyond. Stamford Hospitals reputation will get a reboot.

Riendeau is cautious in selecting his words so as not to appear competitive with neighboring hospitals, but clutches one prediction like team colors as he witnesses renderings being transformed into reality.

This is the last hospital that will be built in Connecticut for a generation.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time. John.breunig@scni.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
D rugs mule Melissa Reid attempted to smuggle cocaine to the value of 1.5 million out of Peru so she could boast to friends on the Ibiza party scene.

The 22-year-old Scot was jailed for six years and eight months in August 2013 after she admitted trying to export the Class A drug with Michaella McCollum from Northern Ireland.

Reid returned to Britain on Wednesday after spending nearly three years in a string of hellish Peruvian prisons.

In an interview with the Scottish Mail on Sunday, Reid said how she became a recruitment agent for gangsters when she spent a summer in Ibiza as a 19-year-old.

She said she was offered 5,000 euro (4,100) to fly to Argentina, spend a few days sightseeing and return to Europe with a package in her luggage.

She told the newspaper: I thought it sounded like a challenge and was blase about it.

"I was offered 5,000 euro but it wasn't just about the money. I had saved up before I left Scotland so I had cash for rent.

"I didn't owe any money or anything. I just wanted to be able to boast about it."

Reid said that she "wasn't in the right state of mind" and was living a "ridiculous life".

"[I] wanted to show I could manage it. I now realise that I put myself at risk and no one would have known where I was if anything had happened to me, but I didn't care at the time."

She met McCollum when she flew to Majorca.

After they spent two nights in a house with armed gangsters, they moved to Madrid where they were told they would be going to Peru.

Reid said she was never threatened at any point.

She was arrested with cocaine packed in her suitcase as she tried to pass security at Lima airport on her return to Spain.

Her mother, Debbie, said she was asked if she was sitting down when the Foreign Office called her to inform her that her daughter had been arrested for drug-smuggling.

Reid said she had followed instructions by telling police she had been forced to carry the drugs against her will.

The pair, branded the Peru Two, faced a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars but struck a behind-closed-doors plea bargain to receive a shorter sentence.

McCollum was freed in March under new legislation but was required to remain on parole in Peru.
T his is the shocking moment a driver appears to deliberately run a man over after a road rage clash in south London.

The motorist  who is in a driving instructors car  appears to plough into the man and knock him to the ground, before steering across the central reservation and onto the wrong side of the road.

He then drives off leaving the 26-year-old man writhing on the ground in agony.

Witness Alan Cooke, who filmed the clip, said he watched in horror as the man was knocked down after slamming his fist on the car bonnet.

He said the man let out a huge scream and was left with a broken leg after the incident in Woolwich on Thursday.

Mr Cooke, 34, an engineer from Woolwich, said he had started filming after the motorist in the instructors car got out and attacked the other man, who was driving the Toyota in front.

He was allegedly throwing punches through the Toyotas car window, before getting back into his own car.

Mr Cooke only started recording on his mobile phone as the Toyota driver then got out and went over to confront the other motorist.

He told the Standard: I was so shocked, Ive never seen anything like it.

He was in so much pain, he kept clutching his leg and his head. It was awful.

The incident happened in Woolwich Church Street at about 3pm on Thursday.

A suspect has been arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving in connection with the incident.
A irline passengers used slides to flee an American Airlines flight at Heathrow as the plane was evacuated.

Three slides were deployed when smoke filled the cabin of an Airbus 330 while it was grounded at Heathrow as it prepared to fly to Charlotte in North Carolina.

Footage has circulated of passengers fleeing the plane with 25 using the emergency slide while others used the jet bridge to vacate the aircraft.

Steve Parsons/PA Wire

Some passengers were given medical checks but no serious injuries were reported.

An American Airlines spokesperson said: "Flight 731 experienced smoke in the cabin while on the ground at Heathrow.

"Three slides were deployed on the aircraft and approximately 25 passengers deplaned via the slides. The rest of the passengers and crew safely deplaned via the jet bridge.

"A small number of the passengers are being seen by medical personnel but no significant injuries have been reported.

"The flight has been cancelled and we are working to reaccommodate passengers now."

The flight was carrying 277 passengers and 12 crew at the time of the incident.
A derelict garage has gone on sale for more than the price of a flat in the same street in north-east London.

The run-down garage in Stoke Newington, with a unique green interior, has been listed on Rightmove for an eye-watering 360,000.

Despite the high price-tag, the Foulden Terrace garage does not have any utilities and contains two large mounds of dirt, according to pictures

A one bedroom flat on the same street is valued at 295,000.

The garage offers a mint green interior / Rightmove

Courtneys Estate Agents, who are marketing the property, state in the advert: Courtneys are delighted to offer for sale this garage with planning soon to be submitted to the council.

The property is situated in a very quiet yet very central small mews just off Stoke Newington Road and thus benefits from being very close to numerous bus routes and the amenities of both Stoke Newington Church Street.

The planning application will be for a one bedroom, two-storey mews house, the application states.

The garage lies on a 'very quiet yet very central small mews' / Rightmove

Local housing campaign group Hackney Digs said the property was another example of London's housing crisis and criticised the government for failing to tackle the problem.

Heather Kennedy, the group's founder, said: "The fact that this squalid Stoke Newington garage would actually be out the price range of most people in London really shows the appalling extent of the problem.

"The real questions is why the government are encouraging [the housing crisis] rather than helping people who need a home."

She added: "The government's record on housing is truly shameful."
H ackney council is being forced to spend 140,000 a year to maintain a park which residents claim is routinely "trashed" by hipsters.

The cost of looking after London Fields - which is besieged by hipsters on warm weekends - was revealed after a Freedom of Information request.

Angry residents have previously lashed out at drunken hipsters after visitors to the park left it "looking like a warzone during a weekend heatwave.

A breakdown of the fees shows nearly 70,000 was used to pay for additional staff to clean up the park and 57,000 was spent on security.

Additionally, 9,500 was used to buy extra bins and clear rubbish while 3,600 was spent on fencing.

Revellers: Park users enjoying the sun. Others came in for criticism for leaving behind litter / Mike Barker

It comes as residents step up their efforts to ban barbecues from the popular east London green space.

The FOI request specifically asked for costs associated with the designated barbecue area, but the council said it could only provide figures for the maintenance of the entire space.

Mike Martin, chairman of the London Fields User Group, said an online petition will be launched to stop barbecues from burning in the park in the wake of the disclosures.

He told the Standard: It hasn't surprised me. These things do cost money.

The main problem is the smoke and foul smell that blows into houses and flats nearby. The council think it is just locals but they don't realise it is a lot of hipsters from all over the place.

It puts off many people from using their local park, I know of people with young children who won't go there when it is hot. A lot of parks wont allow barbecues but for some reason its alright here.

We have been trying to stop barbecues on the park for years. Most people who have them aren't local. We do get a lot of hipsters or trendies coming from all over London.

Hackney Council said the parks popularity, along with others in the borough, meant extra resources are needed to help maintain it over the summer months.

Cllr Jonathan McShane, cabinet member for health, said: The costs quoted for additional staff to help clean London Fields in the summer also cover other sites within that area as well.

London Fields was a popular park before barbecues were allowed and the issue here is not necessarily the number of park users, but the unacceptable behaviour of a minority.

All park users have the responsibility to behave appropriately and clean up and dispose of their rubbish in the bins provided or at home.
A man today told how he was thanked by strangers for cheering them up in a "rubbish" week of news after his police officer boyfriend proposed to him during London Pride.

Recruitment consultant Jonathan Sammons, 40, from Newham, was shellshocked when his partner - now fiance - PC Phil Adlem popped the question in front of thousands of festival goers.

PC Adlem was taking part in the parade when he broke away from colleagues and got down on one knee in what is thought to be one of the first public marriage proposals by a gay Met Police officer.

The heartwarming moment sparked messages of support from across the world with London Mayor Sadiq Khan among those to congratulate the couple.

On the same afternoon, two uniformed Met police officers were captured celebrating their groundbreaking engagement following another surprise proposal.

Heartwarming: PC Phil Adlem gets down on one knee to propose to partner Jonathan Sammons / Met LGBT Network

Mr Sammons told the Standard: Its pretty surreal, the whole thing has kind of been a bit dreamy.

I was with a friend and they made sure I was in the right place at the right time but I had no idea what was going to happen.

Happy couple: Phil Adlem (left) and Jonathan Sammons / Jonathan Sammons

When the formation broke I thought it was a bit weird and then when he separated from the parade I thought here we go.

Everyone has been so positive. We were in a bar last night and a straight couple came up to us and thanked us because the news has been rubbish this week.

They even bought us a bottle of champagne.

A picture of the couple posted on the Mets LGBT arm has received 2,000 retweets as the story soon spread across the world.

Pride 2016 - in pictures 1 /12 Pride 2016 - in pictures Record numbers are expected to attend Pride this weekend held in the wake of the homophobic killings in Orlando James Gourley/REX Extra significance has been placed on the LGBT festival since the attack James Gourley/REX London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was 'more important than ever' to embrace the LGBT community in the run-up to Pride James Gourley/REX A sea of colour transformed the West End for the parade James Gourley/REX Absolutely Fabulous pair Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley were among those having fun in the celebrations James Gourley/REX Marchers were due to hold a minute's silence in Trafalgar Square to honour the victims in Orlando James Gourley/REX One Muslim man holds aloft a sign as he joins in the march James Gourley/REX Peter Tatchell, one of the original founders of Pride, marches in the parade James Gourley/REX The festival is aimed to promote solidarity and acceptance of LGBT people across the world James Gourley/REX

Mr Sammons, who was born in New Zealand, said he is aware of the interest.

He added: I dont have Instagram or Twitter but Ive had articles sent to from friends in New Zealand and Australia.

It all happened so quickly but it was amazing.

This years Pride festival attracted record numbers as London geared up to celebrate the LGBT community in the wake of the horrific homophobic shootings in Orlando.

He added: It was at the forefront of everyones mind. There was definitely a degree of unity among the crowd.

Around 80 Met officers attended Saturdays parade as they teamed up with other police forces, the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade.

The LGBT Network is the Met's newest association and aims to create a more knowledgeable workforce that can respond to crimes and issues affecting the LGBT community sensitively.
A sex cinema hidden beneath a south-east London shop has finally shut down after an 18-month battle with the council and neighbours.

Club 487 quietly opened without a licence in the basement of an old printing shop on New Cross Road last January, opposite a church and secondary school.

Alongside watching the explicit films, some audience members, who paid 15 to get through the door, performed sex acts there.

Earlier this year, the cinema even set up its own website, with a blog telling regulars in advance when couples and single women would be visiting.

The venue sparked an outcry from local councillors and residents. One overseas student told a Lewisham council committee last year that she had been harassed outside by cinemagoers.

Boarded-up: Cinema staff are looking for a new venue

She told the council: "I was accosted numerous times by men who would not take no for an answer when they were trying to chat me up outside the premises.

"This is the only place that this has happened to me while I'm in London."

A licence granted last year to only show films rated 18 or lower was revoked by the council just months later.

But the cinema, described on its site as "the last of our kind left in London", stayed open pending an appeal hearing scheduled for next month.

However, last week police moved in with bailiffs acting on behalf of the building's landlords, boarding up the venue and bringing the saga to an end.

Cinema staff confirmed on their site: "We are now closed.

"We are looking for new premises to open up a new place and as soon as we do it will be put on here."

A spokesman for New Cross Baptist Church told the Standard: "This is simply an answer to our prayers.

"We are now praying for a healthy fruitful business to replace the cinema."

Local councillor Brenda Dacre said: "I'm very pleased that the club is finally closed.

"The local community had, and continued to oppose its operation opposite a secondary school in New Cross.

"Thanks to Lewisham council's licensing and enforcement teams, as well as the local police, the adult club's closure has addressed local concerns."
R acist graffiti has allegedly been smeared on a Polish community building in London this morning.

MP Greg Hands expressed his disgust this morning after the words Go Home were allegedly sprayed on the front of the Polish and Social Cultural Association (POSK) in Hammersmith.

Met Police officers are probing the criminal damage, thought to be racially-motivated, in a borough where 70 per cent of people voted to remain in the EU.

Mr Hands, who himself backed the Remain campaign, tweeted: Am hearing that the Polish Centre in Hammersmith has been smeared with Go Home. This is an unspeakable crime and is indescribably awful.

Further, let us all say it loud and clear that Poles are incredibly welcome in the UK and the word Solidarity never felt more appropriate.

A POSK spokeswoman said graffiti had been found on the front entrance after 6am on Sunday and it had since been washed off but would not confirm what it said.

Rise in racist and homophobic incidents reported following Brexit result

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Shortly before 11am police were informed of an incident of alleged racially-motivated criminal damage to a building in King Street, W6.

"Officers from Hammersmith and Fulham borough attended and enquiries are ongoing."

Anti-Brexit Protesters by Downing Street

Cambridgeshire Police are also investigating a potential hate crime after signs saying No More Polish Vermin were allegedly handed out in the Huntingdon area.
B oris Johnson and Theresa May should join forces to unite the Tory party and country after David Cameron steps down, a cabinet minister has said.

Brexit campaign frontman Mr Johnson and the Remain-backing Home Secretary are seen as the two leading candidates to replace the Prime Minister.

But Justine Greening said a leadership battle now would not be in the interests of the country and urged the pair to strike a deal to avoid a contest.

The International Development Secretary said a "strong Conservative government" should have Mr Johnson at its centre to recognise the outcome of the European Union referendum.

Mrs May would also have to be at the heart of the administration as the country works on tackling issues around migration and freedom of movement, she said.

Writing on the Conservative Home website Ms Greening said: "A leadership contest now is not in the interests of our country. It will mean our party focuses inward - at the very time our country most needs us to focus outward.

"Instead of a leadership contest which could take weeks and months, Boris Johnson and Theresa May should agree to forge a deal which means they are a united leadership, under one or the other: a united leadership that for the sake of unity I hope the rest of our party could support."

She added that if Mr Johnson and Mrs May were unable to agree, another pair of MPs from either side of the referendum divide could step forward to "bring Britain back together".

Mr Cameron announced his intention to leave Number 10 in the wake of the humiliating referendum defeat and said he would like his successor to be in place by the time of the Tory party conference in October.

The first potential contender in the Tory leadership contest has broken cover, with Liam Fox admitting he is "thinking about" standing to replace Mr Cameron.

The Brexit-backing former defence secretary made his comments after former leader Iain Duncan Smith said the new Tory prime minister must come from the Leave camp.

Mr Duncan Smith's hard-line stance would rule out Mrs May for the top job, as she is positioned as the "Stop Boris" candidate by MPs loyal to Mr Cameron.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
B oris Johnson summoned several Tory MPs to his home today has he prepares to mount an expected leadership bid.

Brexit campaign frontman Mr Johnson was pictured welcoming Remain campaigners Jake Berry, Amanda Milling and Ben Wallace, alongside Leave's Nigel Adams to his Oxfordshire home.

Meanwhile potential rival Theresa May was reportedly sounding out colleagues.

Mrs May, touted as the "stop Boris" side's candidate, was reported to be canvassing support among MPs ahead of the battle to replace Prime Minister David Cameron.

Both contenders have been silent since Friday's bombshell EU referendum result sent shockwaves through Britain's political system as the country questioned how Brexit could be delivered.

The pair, who are expected to announce their intentions this week, have been urged by Cabinet minister Justine Greening to form a "united leadership" to help bring together a country left divided after the poll.

The International Development Secretary said if Mr Johnson and Mrs May were unable to agree, another pair of MPs from either side of the referendum divide could step forward to "bring Britain back together".

Mr Cameron announced his intention to leave Number 10 in the wake of the humiliating referendum defeat and said he would like his successor to be in place by the time of the Tory party conference in October.

Liam Fox was the first potential contender to break cover, admitting he is "thinking about" standing to replace Mr Cameron.

He suggested that the timetable set by the PM should be extended to January 1 with candidates making their pitches at the October conference before MPs decide the two-person shortlist.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
L eadership is about tough choices. Politics is about standing up for what you believe in, and as a member of parliament it is about standing up for your constituents  three-quarters of mine voted to remain in the European Union and they will be the first to suffer when the post-Brexit recession hits.

The impact of an economic downturn on my constituents is too devastating to contemplate. The impact will be similarly catastrophic across whole swaths of our country, especially in areas that are already struggling. In the manmade recession to follow, the worse off you are, the worse your future will be.

We need to get real, quickly; $2tn was wiped off global markets on Friday; the pound has plummeted and Moodys has already downgraded our credit ratingfrom stable to negative. A Brexit would be self-immolation.

Farage and his gang of Brexiteers would have never quit or given up the fight on the basis of a result that was this close. You cant write off 48% of voters without a serious fight, and we cannot usher in rule by plebiscite which unleashes the wisdom of resentment and prejudice reminiscent of 1930s Europe.

Are we simply going to stand idly by and let a recession caused by the hubris of Boris Johnson push more and more people into poverty? Are we going to let our links with the outside world be cast asunder, leaving our children to grow up without the same opportunities for travel, study and cultural exchange that my generation have taken for granted?

Since Friday morning Britain has woken up to a hangover of nightmarish proportions. We could all see from the look on the faces of Johnson and Michael Gove that they know that they will be managing a perpetual decline in our economy and our national standing and reputation.

It is very clear that the leave campaign does not have the slightest semblance of a plan. The promises that their campaign was built on were nothing more than a pack of lies. Before bedtime on Friday the claims about 350m extra cash to spend on public services and the ending of free movement of labour had already unravelled before our eyes.

The future of our country, of our young people and of their children and grandchildren is too much to throw away on the basis of a duplicitous campaign that has already fallen apart.

It is clear that people are angry with the political class and that, with the European Union coming to represent everything that is wrong with our country, they took this opportunity to give the establishment a kicking. But is Johnson going to care about these disaffected people who feel left out and let down? Not a jot. We are slowly waking up to the fact that the emperor has no clothes. Is a post-Brexit government going to inject money into the areas that lose out on employers and investment because we leave the European Union? Not a chance in hell.

The referendum was advisory and non-binding, in contrast to the referendum onelectoral reform in 2011 which imposed a legal obligation on the government to legislate. Almost 500 members of parliament declared themselves in favour of remain, and it is within their powers to stop this madness through a vote in parliament.

It is also within parliaments powers to call a second referendum, now that the dust has begun to settle and the reality of a post-Brexit nation is coming into view. We need a second referendum at the very least, on the basis of a plan that is yet to even be drawn up.

Since the referendum it has also become apparent that if the UK leaves the European Union the break-up of the union will swiftly follow if Scotland gains independence and Northern Ireland is unified with the Republic of Ireland. Are we ready and willing to dismantle our nation? We werent asked this, and it was not a factor widely considered by voters on Thursday.

Of course we must recognise what has happened and address the decades of decline in the regions that voted leave which are the root cause of the backlash we have seen. We need to rebalance our economy and our country by devolving power away from Westminster and bolstering investment and opportunities away from London and the south-east.

Nevertheless the consequences of exiting Europe are grave. I have a simple message to all those who believe in remaining in Europe. We have to fight for our economic future, for our childrens future and for the country that we want to be. Speak out, sign the petition and tell your MP to ask for a vote.
A man claiming to have started the petition for a second EU referendum is as a right-wing activist who voted for Brexit, it has emerged.

Oliver Healey, who is a candidate for the far-right English Democrats party, complained the petition has been "hijacked" by Remain campaigners.

Three million people signed it in a matter of days as Remain backers seek to circumnavigate the result of the EU referendum.

But Mr Healey, who is named on the petition as its founder, said he created it "over a month ago" when he thought the Remain camp would win.

He said: "Due to the result, the petition has been hijacked by the remain campaign.

Surge in support: the petition has hit 3 million signatures

"However, since I am associated with the petition and before the press further associate me with it I felt the need to better clarify my position on the issue even if it looks bad. I am its creator, nothing more".

Mr Healey, who is standing for the English Democrats in Leicestershire, has a Facebook profile which is littered with anti-EU and nationalist material.

He added: "I have been opposed to the bureaucratic and undemocratic nature of the European Union as an institution privately for many years and for all of my political career."

"I believe what we need to do now for the good of the country is get behind the will of the British people, unite, issue Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon and move forward, with the process of leaving the European Union."

The comments came amid claims that the petition is being "fraudulently" manipulated by Remain campaigners.

Leave voters have been sharing a tweet which allegedly stated: If youre not British, sign this petition anyway pls and DM for postcode. Were desperate #VoteRemain.

It was apparently posted from an account which has since been deleted.

TODO: define component type apester

There were also claims that the petition had been targeted by hackers who were furiously voting. Commons officials denied the claims.

A screenshot of a message which was allegedly written by a hacker has also been sent to the Met Police after being shared on Twitter.

It stated: "I have hacked the UK petition website and am currently voting like crazy on this petition."

Anti-Brexit Protesters by Downing Street

Meanwhile, a German journalist claims to have signed the petition to prove it can be manipulated.

Lorenz Hemicker tweeted: Are you British? Sure! Voting for a 2nd #Brexit-Referendum takes only 30 seconds. Even for a German journalist.

People are asked to confirm they are a British citizen or UK resident and provide a postcode and email address to sign petitions on the Parliament.uk website.

They then have to click a link which is sent to the given email address to confirm their signature.

The petition went viral after the EU referendum ended with a narrow win for the Leave campaign.

It was created about a month before Thursday's poll, which saw 17.4 million votes cast to leave the EU, compared with 16.1 million for remaining, with a turnout of 72.2 per cent.

It states: We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based a turnout less than 75% there should be another referendum.

Loading....

But the countrys foremost elections expert today insisted there was no chance of a second referendum taking place.

Professor John Curtice, who produced the only general election exit poll to correctly predict a Conservative victory, was speaking after the petition reached a million signatures.

He said: How many people voted in favour of Leave? Seventeen million. One million is chicken feed by comparison.

It's no good people signing the petition now, they should have done it before. Even then, these petitions don't always mean a great deal.

It has passed the 100,000 mark for it to be debated in Parliament. All that means is that some MPs will say, 'It's a terrible shame', others will say, 'Hallelujah'. Then that's the end of it.
N igel Farage has said Britain is heading for a recession, but it has nothing to do with Brexit.

Mr Farage rejected claims that the UK economy would suffer after leaving the European Union, despite the pound falling to its lowest value in 30 years.

The Citys trading floors were thrown into chaos as markets were rocked by Thursdays result.

However Mr Farage said Britain's exit from the Union, for which he has campaigned for 25 years, would not be damaging.

Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures 1 /30 Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures David Cameron announces his resignation outside Number 10 Downing Street Stefan Wermuth/Reuters David and Samantha Cameron outside Downing Street as the PM announces his decision to stand down Stefan Wermuth/Reuters Boris Johnson leaves home following the stunning EU referendum result Lucy Young A triumphant Nigel Farage near the Houses of Parliament Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party, is followed by journalists as he walks towards the Houses of Parliament Rob Stothard/Getty Images London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to the media after Britain voted for Brexit Matt Writle Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Toby Melville/Reuters Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA Vote LEAVE supporter Christine Forrester celebrates with others outside Vote Leave HQ Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look dejected as results come in Rob Stothard/AFP/Getty Images The Houses of Parliament as dawn breaks on London after the vote Rob Stothard/Getty Images Stronger in campaigners look dejected after the result Leave supporters celebrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London Anthony Devlin/PA Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home this morning Rob Stothard/Getty Images A man reacts to a vote count results screen at an 'Leave.EU Referendum Party' in London Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at the Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA UKIP Leader Nigel Farage at the Leave.EU party in London as he claimed victory Stefan Rousseau/PA A London taxi driver holds a Union flag, as he celebrates following the result of the EU referendum Toby Melville Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard People gathered in The Churchill Tavern, a British themed bar, react as the BBC predicts Briatin will leave the European Union, in the Manhattan borough of New York Andrew Kelly/Reuters Traders monitor computer screens with the day's exchange rate at a foreign exchange brokerage at a securities firm in Tokyo Eugene Hoshiko/AP Conservative MP Nigel Evans (left) and UKIP's Paul Nuttall, members of the Vote Leave campaign, celebrate at Manchester Town Hall where the national result in the UK referendum will be declared later Peter Byrne/PA Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard

"There's nothing new here," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

"I think we are going into a mild recession anyway, completely regardless of Brexit. Our growth forecasts are down. Our public-sector borrowing is still not under control at all and everyone forgets that sterling is in a bear market, declining since July 2014."

What will Brexit mean for the economy?

Mr Farage said "increased global opportunities" await outside the single market.

"There is no reason why we really couldn't be benefiting two years from now," he told the newspaper.

Londoners react to Brexit: 'I'm upset, disappointed and disgusted'

He said he felt sympathy for Mr Cameron, but it was now time for a pro-Brexit government led by a pro-Brexit prime minister.

He stopped short of backing any particular candidate, but said he would be "happy" to see Boris Johnson, Michael Gove or Liam Fox in the post.

"Brexit prime minister, that's all I want," he said.
T ony Blair has said a second referendum on the UKs membership of the EU should not be ruled out.

The former prime minister admitted he did not see a possibility of how a second referendum could be carried out but added: "Why rule anything out?"

After Britain voted to leave the EU on Friday, a petition for a second EU referendum has been signed by more than three million people.

When asked on the BBC's Sunday Politics programme about the possibility of another vote, he said: "As I'm looking at it here, I can't see how we can do that.

Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures 1 /30 Leave wins EU referendum - in pictures David Cameron announces his resignation outside Number 10 Downing Street Stefan Wermuth/Reuters David and Samantha Cameron outside Downing Street as the PM announces his decision to stand down Stefan Wermuth/Reuters Boris Johnson leaves home following the stunning EU referendum result Lucy Young A triumphant Nigel Farage near the Houses of Parliament Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party, is followed by journalists as he walks towards the Houses of Parliament Rob Stothard/Getty Images London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to the media after Britain voted for Brexit Matt Writle Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Toby Melville/Reuters Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA Vote LEAVE supporter Christine Forrester celebrates with others outside Vote Leave HQ Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look dejected as results come in Rob Stothard/AFP/Getty Images The Houses of Parliament as dawn breaks on London after the vote Rob Stothard/Getty Images Stronger in campaigners look dejected after the result Leave supporters celebrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London Anthony Devlin/PA Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home this morning Rob Stothard/Getty Images A man reacts to a vote count results screen at an 'Leave.EU Referendum Party' in London Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at the Royal Festival Hall Rob Stothard/PA UKIP Leader Nigel Farage at the Leave.EU party in London as he claimed victory Stefan Rousseau/PA A London taxi driver holds a Union flag, as he celebrates following the result of the EU referendum Toby Melville Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard People gathered in The Churchill Tavern, a British themed bar, react as the BBC predicts Briatin will leave the European Union, in the Manhattan borough of New York Andrew Kelly/Reuters Traders monitor computer screens with the day's exchange rate at a foreign exchange brokerage at a securities firm in Tokyo Eugene Hoshiko/AP Conservative MP Nigel Evans (left) and UKIP's Paul Nuttall, members of the Vote Leave campaign, celebrate at Manchester Town Hall where the national result in the UK referendum will be declared later Peter Byrne/PA Traders react to the fast moving Euro results at ETX Capital in the City of London this morning Chris Gorman/Evening Standard

"But, you know, the point is, why rule anything out right now? As I say, you are going to have a reality to test yourself against."

Blair said the nation needs to "see the consequences" of Brexit as they play out in the coming weeks and months.

UK: Anti-Brexit protesters march for migrant and refugee rights in London

"I can't see how you would go through all of the mechanics of another referendum now," he continued. I just can't see it.

"But on the other hand I also think there will be a lot of people in the country who will say 'well, let's have a look at this and see what we are going to do' and Parliament will want to look at it."

Blair also warned that negotiating the UK's new relationship with the EU will be an "agonising and highly complicated process".

He said that failure to strike a good deal with the EU would have severe consequences for the UK economy.

He said: "If you take for example financial services, if we don't have the EU passport as it's called for our financial services what does that mean for the City of London?

"You could have thousands of jobs going, so how do you preserve it?"

What will Brexit mean for the economy?

However, he also urged the Government not to rush the UK's divorce with Brussels.

"It is not in the interests of Europe or of Britain to rush this," he said.

"We are dealing with vast consequences for our economy, for our politics, for our security and we have got to take it very carefully."
M att LeBlanc has reportedly vowed to quit Top Gear unless co-host Chris Evans is sacked.

The former Friends star has refused to film more series of the maligned motoring show with Evans, The Sun reported.

It comes amid plummeting ratings and bad reviews for the newly relaunched show after Jeremy Clarksons departure.

A source from the show told the Sun: The big question now is who goes and who stays.

Viewers switch off as revamped Top Gear fails to impress

The team does not gel at all, and the atmosphere between the presenters is decidedly frosty. Its very much a picture of him  Chris  and them.

Matt has already indicated that he wont continue on any further series if Chris remains part of it. And he is far from the only one who isnt happy.

The source also alleged that Evans had become jealous of the attention the other presenters were getting and has become distanced from the group.

Top Gear Presenters 2016 1 /9 Top Gear Presenters 2016 Chris Evans BBC Matt LeBlanc BBC The Stig BBC Eddie Jordan BB Sabine Schmitz BBC Chris Harris BBC Rory Reid BBC

They added: Chris is not encouraging when any of the others are doing their links.

On one occasion this month he even pretended to bump his head against a wall in frustration when Eddie Jordan kept fluffing his lines.

Evans has been forced to defend the show many times / BBC World Wide/Jeff Spicer

He also seems to be jealous of the attention and praise which has been heaped on Chris Harris and Rory Reid in particular since the show began.

You would have thought that with his experience, he would help out those new to studio recording. But he doesnt encourage them in any way.

Ladbrokes have slashed the odds of a second series being commissioned / BBC World Wide/Jeff Spicer

He just isnt interested. He doesnt even hang out with the others back stage and firmly keeps his distance from all of them at the aerodrome.

The show has faced much criticism since new presenters were introduced to replace Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

Top Gear hosts have are reported to have a 'frosty relationship' / BBC

Bookmakers have even slashed odds on a second series of the car show being commissioned.

Host Chris Evans has faced the brunt of frustration, with viewers stating they would rather undergo eye surgery then watch his presenting style.

A BBC spokesman refused to comment on the claims this morning.
W hile thoughts of World War II often conjure images of Normandy beaches and bombed-out German towns, Channel 4s new documentary brings fresh insight into the troops stationed in Burma.

Sometimes referred to as The Forgotten Army, theyre forgotten no longer  a discovery in Manchester Town Hall uncovered filmed footage of the soldiers, lost for 70 years.

The filming came from a scheme called Calling Blighty, intended as a morale boost for the troops, and though most of the 391 editions have not been found, 23 were recovered in Manchester.

In Channel 4s Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army, the recordings are seeing the light of day.

Theres a message of love from Norma to his future wife Betty, as watched in the present day by his sons Steve and Rob, and Private Ken Chadwick, now 92, sees his 21 year-old self in the recovered film.

Then theres Private Frank Miller. His daughter Alma always thought that her father was in the catering corps  but it becomes apparent that he was actually a member of elite special forces group the Chindits.

Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

Messages Home is full of stories of family and bravery, full of poignant, heart-warming, and heart-breaking scenes.

The Forgotten Army will certainly be remembered by those who tune in.

Channel 4, 8pm
This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for:

Enter Search Term(s):

Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL.

Thank you for visiting state.gov.
MEXICO, MO.  A smartphone camera poked out of his shirt pocket. An attorney stood at his side. And in his right hand was a manila folder containing a printout of a law whose impotence would soon be revealed.

Hi, there, said Aaron Malin to a jailer behind a security window at the Audrain County Jail. We are here for a meeting of the East Central Drug Task Force.

Malin and lawyer David Roland were buzzed in, but then were told to leave.

This meetings not a public meeting, said a man, identifying himself as a detective.

Yeah, it is, Malin said.

They argued for the next two minutes, until the officer said: You need to leave, man. Im not going to ask you again.

Theres going to be statutory liability, Malin said. Then he asked Roland: How fast do you think we can get this filed?

I bet not before the meeting is over, the officer quipped.

Ten days later, Malin filed a lawsuit. He was 21 years old, but he had already earned a reputation for attacking situations he deemed unjust with unrivaled tenacity.

Years earlier, he had concluded that the War on Drugs ruins more lives than it saves. Now he was focused on obtaining records to expose how that war is fought. Those details, he believed, would sway public sentiment.

In the past three years, Malin estimates he has filed between 500 and 1,000 records requests with the Missouri Highway Patrol, various drug task forces, and others he believed were subject to Missouris open records law, also known as the Sunshine Law.

Some agencies didnt respond to the requests. Others claimed the law did not apply to them.

So he sued one agency after another, summoning the states top law enforcement officers to depositions and, in one case, to trial.

The litigation campaign has highlighted points of contention in an ongoing debate about access to public records.

Does a provision of the states Sunshine Law protect taxpayers by deterring litigation?

Or does it incentivize ignorance?

Is a law intended to inform being used to torment?

He knows what hes doing, said Lt. Jason Grellner, president of the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association and a candidate for sheriff in Franklin County. Basically he is just harassing the task forces.

The exchange with the officer at the Audrain County Jail occurred 18 months ago and led to an unusual trial earlier this month.

The defendant  the East Central Task Force  had already admitted breaking the law. But did officials know it at the time?

Thousands of dollars in attorney fees depend on the answer.

Early start

When Malin was 8, his uncle died after overdosing on prescription painkillers.

I think that made me realize that things maybe werent quite right, Malin said. He died of the good drugs  the ones that werent supposed to be bad for you.

Malin said he was initially shy and withdrawn, until his freshman year at Marquette High School in Chesterfield, when he enrolled in a debate class. He discovered he had a lot to say and gained confidence as he honed his ability to deconstruct arguments.

At tournaments, a coin flip determined which side of an issue he would argue. Among the topics: The abuse of illegal drugs ought to be treated as a matter of public health not of criminal justice.

That led him to research other nations drug policies, including Portugals, where 15 years ago the use of all drugs was decriminalized. Drug use among youths fell, according to several studies, and deaths from overdoses sharply declined.

Just the discovery of the existence of alternative drug policies doing research on this debate resolution was kind of the first step, Malin said.

As his skills increased, so did his affinity for the marginalized.

He doesnt care about what anybody thinks, and he never has, said his father, Scott, a lawyer. Even in years when most kids are very susceptible to peer pressure, he couldnt care less.

Disturbed by the ridicule of some of his gay friends, he founded the Marquette Diversity Alliance in 2009. The Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest. Malin organized a counterdemonstration. While a handful of Westboro members held anti-gay signs across the street, hundreds of students stood silently around the flagpole.

At the end of his senior year, Malin earned a spot in the National Debate Tournament in Dallas, placing 17th in the nation.

It took him two years to earn a political science degree from Truman State University. During that time, he was elected student body president and led partially successful campaigns to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the nondiscrimination policies of his school, the city of Kirksville and the state of Missouri. Then he started work on a masters degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

For years, he had volunteered for Show-Me Cannabis, an organization advocating for the legalization of marijuana. At a meeting in Sedalia, he met a man who told him his father was serving a sentence of life without parole on a marijuana conviction.

Jeff Mizanskey had just turned 60 and had already spent a couple of decades behind bars  despite never having committed a violent crime.

Malin and other Show-Me Cannabis leaders were captivated by the story and began trying to free Mizanskey. Malin pitched the story to reporters, raised money for billboards that urged people to call Gov. Jay Nixon, and set up meetings between lawmakers and Mizanskeys family. He also became Mizanskeys unofficial spokesman, conducting hundreds of interviews.

While those efforts were underway, something else aroused Malins interest.

Drug task forces

In October 2013, as he exited Highway 63 to attend a Show-Me Cannabis meeting in Moberly, Mo., he encountered flashing blue and red lights of police cruisers from multiple jurisdictions.

The vehicle license and registration checkpoint was active only for the 30 minutes before the meeting, Malin said. He suspected it was an attempt to scare people away, so he filed Sunshine Law requests to find proof. He never did.

Instead, he learned of an entity called a drug task force, a federally funded, multi-jurisdictional agency established to combat drug trafficking.

He hadnt heard of them. He guessed most people hadnt either. And he believed that a lack of scrutiny often breeds corruption.

That year, he became Show-Me Cannabis director of research, and in his first records requests, he asked for information on how many raids they conducted and video or audio from the raids.

Missouri had 25 drug task forces at the time. At some point, more than half ignored his requests, he said. Others didnt respond for months, quoted him thousands of dollars in fees and illegally redacted material, he said.

One maintained it was under the jurisdiction of a federal agency.

Another seemed to deny its own existence.

Ignorance gets a pass

Like most open records laws, Missouris Sunshine Law rests on the belief that democracy depends on an educated electorate. But it stipulates that fines and attorney fees are awarded only when defendants know they are violating the law.

In other words, ignorance is an excuse.

It actually encourages them not to know, said Anthony Rothert, legal director for ACLU of Missouri.

Proponents of the provision say it protects small towns that rarely receive records requests and might be susceptible to an unscrupulous attorney who sues only to get paid.

Since 2011, the Missouri Attorney Generals Office has received 1,055 complaints over Sunshine Law violations and has sued three times.

Spokeswoman Nanci Gonder said the office prefers to mediate the complaints and has succeeded in correcting violations.

Malin said that the offices efforts to mediate did not go far enough to correct the problems.

He filed his first lawsuit in October 2014 against the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association, claiming that it fell under the definition of a quasi-governmental body and was subject to the Sunshine Law.

On Feb. 9, 2015, he filed three more suits  against the East Central Task Force in Audrain County, a task force operated out of the St. Louis Police Department and one based in Kansas City.

On May 20, he sued a task force in mid-Missouri.

Two days later, Nixon commuted Mizanskeys sentence, making him eligible for parole.

We were celebrating his freedom at that point, Malin said. It was almost guaranteed.

Malin hopped in his car and headed to the prison in Jefferson City. He wanted to make sure that Mizanskey knew.

The warden had informed Mizanskey moments before Malin arrived. They had a prison employee snap a Polaroid of them together standing in front of an American flag.

Malin smiles with pride. Mizanskey looks dumbfounded.

That July, Malin sued another task force, called NITRO, in northwest Missouri. But his legal battles would soon exact a price.

Still fighting

Last summer, as Show-Me Cannabis began its push to put a medical marijuana law on the ballot this November, Malins litigation appeared to threaten it.

John Payne, the organizations executive director and treasurer, said he had heard that the lawsuits had negatively influenced some law enforcement officials opinion of the initiative. He also said the organization had to make hard choices about its spending.

In August, about an hour before a Show-Me Cannabis board meeting, Malin received an email from Payne. It began: After much thought and deliberation, I have asked the board to consider severing ourselves from the litigation, which I believe will mean parting ways with you.

That afternoon his relationship with the organization ended.

Roland, the lawyer Show-Me Cannabis had been paying, agreed to continue with the cases, knowing that he would receive fees only if he could prove knowing or purposeful violations.

Malin enrolled in law school at the University of Denver last fall, but that didnt slow the pace of his litigation.

He sued ACT Missouri, a nonprofit group that advocates for drug free communities and that Malin contends receives most of its budget from state tax dollars. He followed that with a suit against the Cole County prosecuting attorney. The ACLU represents him in those cases.

In January, Malin sued the St. Louis County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force, alleging it had fabricated meeting minutes.

The Audrain County case was the first of his lawsuits to go to trial before a judge.

We are not the bad guys

In the courtroom, six police chiefs and sheriffs from three counties sat on one side. They sighed and rolled their eyes occasionally.

Malin was mostly expressionless, except for when he looked out over the gallery, searching for a familiar face. Mizanskey had been paroled in September, but Malin hadnt seen him outside of prison. Mizanskey had promise to attend the trial. After about 15 minutes, Mizanskey and his son slid past the law enforcement officials and into the back row.

The defendants, in the very memorandum that they sign each year, acknowledge they are subject to the Sunshine Law, said Roland, in his opening statement.

Louis Leonatti, a Mexico, Mo.-based attorney representing the task force, said the case was purely political.

They want to make us out to be the bad guys, he said. We are not the bad guys. We go after the bad guys.

Audrain County Sheriff Stuart Miller told the court that he had responded to records requests as sheriff. But he said a former prosecuting attorney told him the drug task force was exempt.

Then, he made a surprising admission. When Roland asked how he redacted documents, Miller said he deleted information that he could legally withhold, rather than blacking it out.

And when you would modify these original documents, would you include any sort of notation acknowledging that you made the modification? Roland asked.

No, I did not, the sheriff said.

During a recess, Malin emerged from the courtroom and rushed to the man whose freedom he helped win.

Its been too long, Malin said, hugging Mizanskey.

Mizanskey wept.

In his closing statement, Leonatti said the task force had quickly adjusted its procedures to comply with the law.

But that wasnt the issue, Roland argued. You dont escape the lawful consequences of your actions, just because you say, Oh, but Ill do better going forward, he said.

The judge is not expected to rule in the case for at least another month.

Malin hasnt seen the results he first envisioned but said he has realized some victories. Task forces were receiving attention. People were asking questions. Some were filing their own Sunshine Law requests.

I have gotten all kinds of records I never used to get, he said.

That evening he flew back to Denver and resumed other efforts aimed at addressing addiction and the criminal justice systems response to it. This summer, hes volunteering for a nonprofit organization distributing needles to people who inject drugs and working at a law school legal clinic that seals criminal records.

He hasnt chosen an area in which to specialize, but he has considered at least one possibility.

It has occurred to me that I could spend all day long after I have a law license suing noncompliant entities, and I wouldnt run out of entities to sue, he said. Like, ever.

Drug task forces

PURPOSE  To allow agencies to pool their resources and receive Department of Justice grants to combat illegal drugs.

FUNDING  Tasks forces are funded through a combination of federal dollars and contributions from participating agencies. The Missouri Department of Public Safety administers the federal money each year.

SUPERVISION  Task forces are governed by an executive board consisting of the chief law enforcement officer of every participating agency.

NUMBER  This year, Missouri has 21 drug task forces.

IMPACT  In the first two quarters of this year, the task forces have collectively seized 10,601 pounds of marijuana and 101,266 grams of heroin, and made 2,453 arrests, according to statistics from the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
LINCOLN COUNTY  The recovered digital device of a missing woman recorded sounds of an assault, but no trace of her was found after a full days search, a spokesman said Saturday.

Lt. Andy Binder of the Lincoln County sheriffs office said investigators found Sussette Benhardts cellphone and the recording device in a washing machine in the family home.

Binder said analysis of the recording leads us to conclude that she is a victim of assault by her husband.

The body of her husband, William Benhardt, was found Thursday afternoon in his truck near Bellflower, 20 miles west of the couples business and land near Troy, Mo.

He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and near him was a .357-caliber revolver that investigators said had been fired twice.

Binder said investigators had no information on Sussette Benhardts whereabouts or condition.

Teams of officers and firefighters, including divers and K-9 units, spent Saturday searching the couples 128-acre property, including their Snow Hill Nursery, where Sussette Benhardt was last seen arguing with her husband Wednesday morning.

William and Sussette Benhardt, both 50, were going through a divorce. They have three grown children.

Binder said officers suspended the search about 7 p.m. Saturday and will proceed with a more focused approach to include multiple properties the couple own.

Assisting the sheriffs office Saturday were members of Lincoln County Fire Protection District No. 1 and Missouri Region C Technical Rescue Team.

Binder said officers with the St. Charles County internet crimes unit assisted in analyzing the cellphone and recording device.

Binder said a murder-suicide is a possibility, but deputies have no way to know whether Sussette Benhardt is alive or dead.

Binder said the property they searched Saturday includes dense forests with several ponds. Divers checked three ponds Saturday, and firefighters used drones to scan the land, he said.

Anyone with information on Sussette Benhardts whereabouts is asked to call the sheriffs department at 636-528-6100.
Nobody brings the crazy quite like The Donald.

For years, the conspiracy-minded have been trying to prove that Hillary Clinton gave "stand-down" orders blocking the military from helping ambassador Chris Stevens and other U.S. personnel in Benghazi the night of the 2012 attacks. But Donald Trump asserts the opposite: Clinton was unconscious.

Stevens "was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee declared Wednesday in an unfocused jeremiad against his Democratic opponent. "That's right. When the phone rang, as per the commercial, at three o'clock in the morning, Hillary Clinton was sleeping."

That's not right -- unless Trump is accusing Clinton of taking an afternoon nap. Stevens and the others were attacked in the late afternoon, Washington time. Clinton, who was in Washington and closely involved in the response, issued a public statement about the attacks at 10 p.m. and wrote an email to her daughter about the matter an hour later -- well before Trump's imaginary 3 a.m. wake-up call.

Trump's dystopia is frequently at odds with reality here on earth. He and his followers live in a dark place where life ranges from bad to horrible, conspiracies abound and allegation passes for truth.

In his much-anticipated speech outlining his general-election themes against Clinton, Trump had much to work with from her record. But he went instead with conspiracies and inventions.

Trump quoted a "Secret Service agent posted outside the Oval Office" challenging Clinton's character; the "agent" in question was a low-level official who wasn't posted inside the White House.

Trump claimed Clinton's email "server was easily hacked by foreign governments. ... Sure they have it." No evidence of successful hacking has been found.

Trump said "we are, by the way, the highest taxed nation in the world." The United States is nowhere near the top.

He said "we could rebuild every inner city in America" with "the amount of money Hillary Clinton would like to spend on refugees." The amount she would spend would be a sliver of just one large city's budget.

He said Clinton "accepted $58,000 in jewelry from the government of Brunei." He neglected to mention that the U.S. government, not Clinton, kept the gift.

He said the trade deficit "soared 40 percent" under Clinton; it actually rose less than half of that.

He said he was "among the earliest to criticize the rush to war" in Iraq; in September 2002, he supported the Iraq invasion.

He alleged that Clinton's State Department refused "all" security requests from U.S. diplomats in Libya; actually, a number were approved.

Trump's volume of disinformation is so heavy that even the nimblest fact-checker can't keep pace. And that's no accident: In Trump's dystopia, things are so bad -- so utterly and desperately awful -- that no allegation, no matter how sinister, seems implausible to his followers.

Consider these fragments of woe, all pulled from Trump's speech Wednesday:

Crumbling roads and bridges. Dilapidated airports. Factories moving overseas. Our military ... is totally depleted. It's a rigged system. Our country lost its way. Wipes out our middle class. It's total devastation. Disastrous and totally disastrous. Among the most destructive. They are stealing billions and billions of dollars. It's not just our economy that's been corrupted, but our foreign policy, too. One deadly foreign policy disaster after another. We just can't take it anymore.

The person responsible for so much misery and mayhem? From Trump's speech:

She's a world-class liar. Pathetic. Phony. Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency. Has perfected the politics of personal profit and even theft. Doing favors for oppressive regimes. She gets rich making you poor. She sold out our workers and our country for Beijing. The Hillary Clinton foreign policy has cost America thousands of lives and trillions and trillions of dollars. Secretary Clinton managed to almost single-handedly destabilize the entire Middle East. Has the blood of so many on her hands. Needs to go to prison.

In Trump's dystopia, Clinton is "the biggest promoter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership," and the fact that she has expressly opposed the deal just means "she's pretending."

And Trump, who before Wednesday had raised about five dozen different conspiracy theories, produced another: "Our enemies probably know every single one" of Clinton's deleted emails. "So they probably now have a blackmail file. ... We can't hand over our government to someone whose deepest, darkest secrets may be in the hands of our enemies. Can't do it."

A blackmail file? Why not? In Trump's dystopia, no horror is impossible.

Dana Milbank

Copyright The Washington Post
You know that part of your vacation where you hold your breath and hope for the best? It used to happen just before the plane landed, in that precarious moment between heaven and earth. But lately, its been taking place on terra firma, when you arrive at the airport and face a Transportation Security Administration screening.

For good reason. A few months ago, the TSA announced that screening with a full-body scanner would no longer be optional for some passengers, meaning theres a better chance than ever youll be forced through one of the machines. What the agency calls a random and unpredictable security screening adds an aspect of fear and uncertainty to an already fear-inducing and uncertain process.

And then there are the long lines, which have been blamed on cutbacks related to the TSAs PreCheck program. The agency assigned to protect Americas transportation systems incorrectly predicted that more passengers would sign up for its trusted traveler program, so it cut staffing. The result? Record lines. The TSA says its taking steps to reduce the wait times.

The coping mechanisms have evolved in the past few months, so if youre a frequent air traveler, you probably already know a lot of the following strategies, at least subconsciously. But with the summer travel season underway, you may find yourself face to face with a TSA agent, unsure what to do. Travelers can avoid that fate with a little planning and a few insider strategies.

First, give yourself time. Lots of time. Josh Nathan, a professor at the Art Institute of Colorado, allows himself three hours to get through the TSA screening in Denver. Thats no typographical error. Its advice he would pass along to anyone whos thinking of flying this summer. Plan for three hours, and be delighted if you make it to your airplane, he says, adding, If that departs on time, you feel like you won an unpublicized lottery.

Why so long? Nathan reports that the Denver TSA, once one of the most efficient operations, has randomly closed checkpoints. A few weeks ago, the airport made headlines when TSA wait times exceeded one hour. To calm passengers, staff reportedly handed out bottled water, parceled out candies and brought in therapy dogs to soothe frayed nerves.

There are shortcuts, but theyll cost you. Sonita Lontoh, a San Francisco technology executive and frequent flier, recommends paying $100 for a five-year membership in the Global Entry program, which also gives you TSA PreCheck eligibility. And the PreCheck lines, which allow you to get screened without removing the computer from your bag, taking off your shoes or passing through a full-body scanner, are significantly shorter.

Its much faster, she says. For example, on a recent flight from Orlando, Fla., the difference between using the TSA PreCheck lane and the regular lane was more than an hour. How does she know? A colleague without PreCheck went through the regular line, and she didnt see her until shortly before the flight began boarding.

There are other ways to cut the line. In Orlando, for example, you can use Clear, a private biometric screening system. It costs about $15 a month to belong to Clear, which can be used at a number of airports in cities including San Francisco, Dallas and Baltimore (but not Washington). Neither Clear nor Global Entry are practical solutions for infrequent travelers, though.

What you wear this summer matters, says Katelyn OShaughnessy, a travel agent from Venice, Calif., who has advised countless clients on how to handle the TSA. With the agency beefing up security in the wake of various terrorist threats, you dont want to wear anything that could slow down the process.

Dont wear shirts or pants with extraneous pockets, buttons, zippers, or anything with sequined bling on it, she says. These items tend to appear suspicious on the scanner, which is programmed to flag anything out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, its possible to follow all of this advice and still fall afoul of the TSAs random and unpredictable security. Kimberly Marcus, an educational consultant from Alfred, N.Y., thought she had done everything right when she showed up for her recent flight at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tenn.

But an alarm sounded when she stepped through the scanner, and an agent ordered an enhanced pat-down.

An agent felt up my leg until she met resistance, she says. Several times. The agent also felt across the front of me with her fingertips. This routine is not at all routine or acceptable to me, and I found what would be sexual assault in other contexts to be very disturbing and upsetting.

And thats the problem with the TSA this summer. The expert advice works, but not every time. Which is to say, you can show up three hours early and still miss your plane. You can wear all the right clothes and still set off alarms.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Officials have identified the two teens who drowned Saturday in the Meramec River at Castlewood State Park.

Henry Manu, 18, of the 4100 block of Eichelberger Street, and Samuel Neal, 18, of the 7100 block of Alabama Avenue, entered the river near the boat ramp about 7:30 p.m. and began struggling, St. Louis County Police said. Witnesses said the two went under and didn't resurface.

Mike Thiemann, spokesman for the Metro West Fire Protection District, said searchers found the bodies in an area about 20 feet deep. The first was found about 10:15 p.m. and the second an hour later, Thiemann said.

The state park is just south of Ballwin. Swimming is prohibited in the area, which has been the scene of several drownings over the years. The river was at normal level.

Metro West firefighters and divers searched the river with the assistance of Valley Park and West County fire personnel and local police agencies, including the regional police helicopter. Thiemann said a Missouri Highway Patrol search boat equipped with sonar joined the effort.

Thiemann said that section of the river has deep pools.

"It's an area where we have had frequent drownings," he said. "They were not wearing (safety) devices and it's not believed they were strong swimmers."

He said a friend of the two made an emergency call. Thiemann said a sign at the boat ramp warns: "People drown here! Don't be the next one."

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story gave incorrect ages for the teens based on information from authorities.
Images taken at blessing of St Perter's Chapel in Holy Trinity - Stratford-upon-Avon

A special celebration to mark the completion of two major projects at Stratfords Holy Trinity Church was held last Sunday.

The Bishop of Coventry, the Right Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, attended a service of blessing and rededication at the church, marking the restoration of St Peters Chapel and the buildings new 550,000 South Side extension.

Work to restore St Peters Chapel began in January last year and has involved opening up the space and revealing the chapels spectacular American stained glass window.

The chapel was originally dedicated as a First World War memorial and incorporates a plaque remembering members of the RSC who died in the war.

The new South Side extension is the first major extension to the chapel in 500 years and houses a new clergy vestry, storage space and toilet facilities.

Both the chapel and extension were finished in time for a Royal visit by Prince Charles during Aprils Shakespeare celebrations.

The Vicar of Stratford, the Revd Patrick Taylor, said: The chapel now resembles the way it looked when dedicated as a memorial to the fallen, in 1920. It is the spiritual heart of the church.

Professor Ronnie Mulryne, chairman of the Friends of Shakespeares Church, which has raised 50,000 towards the chapel, said: This is a proud day for the Friends. We have almost completed our fundraising for the interior of St. Peters, though we shall now have to take on, with the Parochial Church Council, the even more costly task of raising funds to repair the exterior.
WASHINGTON, June 25, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross is responding to two massive disasters in the East and West, helping people who have lost everything to the raging wildfires in California and the devastating flooding in West Virginia.

"Our volunteers are helping people affected by the wildfires out west and the terrible flooding in West Virginia," said Brad Kieserman, vice president, Disaster Services Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. "We have more than 400 Red Cross workers helping now and are monitoring the situations with local and state officials to make sure people get the help they need."

HOW TO HELP These are large relief responses and the Red Cross needs the public's support now. Those who would like to help people affected by disasters like flooding, wildfires and countless other crises can make a donation to Red Cross Disaster Relief. People can donate by visiting redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. These donations enable the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.

Financial donations are the quickest way to get people the help they need. In California, if someone wishes to donate clothes or household items, they can be dropped off at Goodwill Industries of South Central California. The Red Cross is partnering with them to issue vouchers to support those who have had to evacuate. Information about where items can be donated is available here.

WEST VIRGINIA Thousands of people are without power and gas service. As many as 60 roads are closed to flooding and flood damage. There are almost 20 Red Cross and community shelters open across the affected counties where hundreds of people are taking refuge from the flooding. Red Cross workers are providing meals, relief supplies and other assistance to those affected as well as meals for first responders. Red Cross disaster mental health workers are helping people cope. Health workers are helping to replace needed items like prescription medications and eyeglasses. The Red Cross is monitoring the situation and working with state and local officials and partners to help ensure people get the help they need. Important Red Cross flood safety information is found here.

CALIFORNIA The Erskine Fire in Kern County started Friday and firefighters have been unable to contain the blaze which has already destroyed 150 homes, burned 35,000 acres and forced almost 3,000 people to evacuate. Red Cross workers have shelters open where more than 130 people spent Friday night. The Red Cross is providing food and relief supplies, along with health services and helping people cope with a very difficult situation. People in the path of the fire can find vital safety information here.

SAFE AND WELL People can register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website so loved ones can see their situation. Those who can't access a computer can call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) and a Red Cross operator can help them register. They can also update their Facebook and Twitter status through the Safe and Well website or visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell on their smart phone and click on the "List Yourself as Safe and Well" or "Search for friends and family" link.

DOWNLOAD EMERGENCY APP People should download the free Red Cross Emergency App to receive emergency alerts and information about what to do in case of flooding, wildfires and other disasters, as well as locations of shelters. The App also includes emergency first aid information and a Family Safe feature which allows people to instantly see if loved ones are okay. The free Emergency App is available in app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

CORPORATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

ADGP $1 Million members are: American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Boise Paper; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Disney; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx Corporation; The Home Depot Foundation; Humble Bundle; LDS Charities; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Mazda North American Operations; Merck Foundation; Nationwide Foundation; State Farm; Target; UPS; VSPSM Vision care for life; and Walmart and the Walmart Foundation.

ADGP $500,000 members are: 3M; Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bank of America; BNY Mellon; Capital One; Cisco Foundation; Citi Foundation; ConAgra Foods Foundation; Darden Restaurants Foundation; Discover; Edison International; Farmers Insurance; Ford Motor Company; Grainger; John Deere Foundation; Johnson Controls; Medtronic; Meijer; Mondelez International Foundation; National Grid; PepsiCo Foundation; Prudential Foundation; Southwest Airlines; Sprint; Sunoco; The TJX Companies, Inc.; United Airlines; United Technologies Corporation; Visa; Wawa; and Wells Fargo.

Disaster Responder Program members are: Alcoa; Almost Family; Astellas USA Foundation; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; AXA; Ball Foundation; BHP Billiton; CarMax; The Clorox Company; Cox Automotive; Duke Energy; Entergy Corporation; General Motors Foundation; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; Hi-Rez Studios; HP Company Foundation; IBM Corporation; IKEA; Ingersoll Rand Foundation; Interstate All Battery Center; Land O'Lakes, Inc.; Marsh & McLennan Companies; MetLife Foundation; Morgan Stanley; Neiman Marcus Group; New Balance Foundation; Northrop Grumman Corporation; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Procter & Gamble Company; PSEG Foundation; PuroClean Disaster Recovery; Red Heart Yarns; Residence Inn by Marriott; Ryder; ScriptRelief; Sealed Air; Servpro Industries, Inc.; Southeastern Grocers Home of BI-LO Harveys Winn Dixie; Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Foundation, Inc.; T O Y O T A; U.S. Bank; and U-Haul International.

About the American Red Cross:The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090108/RedCrossLOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/red-cross-responds-to-massive-wildfire-in-california-and-devastating-floods-in-west-virginia-300290292.html

SOURCE American Red Cross
PHILADELPHIA, June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over 1,800 people from 22 states came together today at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to celebrate the 20th annual Family Reunion hosted by the Hospital's Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment.

Each year, nearly 150,000 babies are born in the United States with birth defects, many with conditions so rare that most parents and even some clinicians have never heard of them. Too often, these families aren't made aware of the treatments available at a place like The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and they are left feeling overwhelmed, with few options.

The reunion brings together a unique community of families who have shared similar struggles. Nearly all of the children in attendance were prenatally diagnosed with a birth defect, such as spina bifida, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, or twin-twin transfusion syndrome, that had potentially devastating outcomes. Babies diagnosed with these birth defects before birth either underwent fetal surgery to treat the condition before birth or received highly complex care immediately after birth.

"The fetal family reunion is our team's favorite day of the year," said N. Scott Adzick, M.D., Surgeon-In-Chief at Children's Hospital and director of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment. "The families gathered here today represent more than 18,000 expectant mothers from around the world to whom we've been able to offer hope and support since opening our Center in 1995."

The Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at CHOP is a pioneer in the field of fetal medicine, and is one of only a few programs worldwide to offer comprehensive prenatal diagnosis, fetal surgery and therapy, and the option of delivering at a leading pediatric hospital. The Center was also the focus of a three-part documentary series called "Twice Born: Stories from the Special Delivery Unit," that aired on PBS in 2015.

"Since our first reunion in 1997, attendance has grown from just ten families to over 350 at today's event," said Lori J. Howell, R.N., M.S.N., Executive Director of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment. "Having known these children and teenagers since before they were born, watching them grow up into amazing young men and woman is truly remarkable."

Each week at CHOP, highly sophisticated surgical teams repair spina bifida and other birth defects in the womb, place fetal shunts to treat life-threatening congenital conditions, or perform minimally invasive procedures in the mother's uterus to treat complications in fetal twins. Of approximately 5,000 fetal surgeries done worldwide, a quarter of them have been performed at CHOP, more than at any other hospital. The Center staff has also managed thousands of pregnancies complicated by birth defects in which newborns need immediate specialized medical care or surgery after delivery.

Meet some of our Fetal Surgery Patients

Meet Maeve: After having twins, Kelly and Dan of Cleveland, Ohio, were hoping their second pregnancy would be a little more low-key. But at their 20-week ultrasound, the couple learned that their unborn daughter, Maeve, had a sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT), a tumor located at the base of her tailbone. Before she was born, doctors at CHOP performed fetal surgery to remove the huge tumor. Read Maeve's story here: http://www.chop.edu/stories/fetal-surgery-sacrococcygeal-teratoma-sct-maeve-s-story#.VpkVTNDQHbk

Meet Stella and Olivia: Five-year-old identical twins Stella and Olivia are full of giggles. They delight in the fact that people have a hard time telling them apart. But before the girls were born, there was a very significant difference that meant a life or death situation for one or both of the twins: twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). While still in their mother's womb, the girls underwent fetoscopic selective laser ablation, a procedure in which the Center's skilled surgeons used a special laser to disconnect the shared blood vessels between the twins with the hope of halting the progression of TTTS. Watch their story: http://www.chop.edu/fetal20/video/stella-and-olivias-story-twin-twin-transfusion-syndrome#.VpkRNtDQHbk

Meet Sean: In early September 2000, 21 weeks into their first pregnancy, Mike and Katherine Mulligan of Cincinnati, OH, went for their first ultrasound. They were both excited, expecting to hear only good news. Instead, they learned that their unborn baby was diagnosed with myelomeningocele (MMC), the most severe form of spina bifida, a condition in which part of the spinal column doesn't close around the spinal cord, exposing it to damage during fetal development. Sean underwent a complex fetal surgery, where surgeons repaired the opening in her spine before birth. Read Sean's story: http://www.chop.edu/stories/spina-bifida-and-fetal-surgery-seans-story#.VpkZL9DQHDM

"It is truly inspiring to see so many children, who as babies likely could have died, now running around and growing up healthy and strong," said Adzick, "and as the field of fetal surgery and therapy continues to advance, we look forward to treating more and more babies."

About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program receives the highest amount of National Institutes of Health funding among all U.S. children's hospitals. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 535-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.

Contact: Ashley Moore [email protected]Cell: 215.630.4683

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160626/383428

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphias-20th-annual-fetal-surgery-family-reunion-gathers-families-from-across-the-us-300290325.html

SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanize peace talks on the conflict.

Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa.

Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam.

In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported.

There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations.

Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war.

"The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise," Ban said, according to a text received from the world body.

"I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he added.

The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.

Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized.

The Yemeni government insists that any new government would only be formed after the Houthis hand over their weapons and turn into a political party.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Ahmed Hagagy, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Tania Shailer, 26, and David William Haerewa, 43, will be sentenced in the Rotorua High Court on Monday.

The extended family of Moko Rangitoheriri have a choice on Monday: take part in the march outside Rotorua High Court or watch his killers, Tania Shailer and David Haerewa, receive their sentences inside.

On Monday morning, Shailer and Haerewa will again be brought into Rotorua High Court, this time to receive their sentence for the manslaughter of three-year-old Moko.

They will be ferried into one of the many rear entrances to the court by prison or police transport. Family members will also be ferried in by police transport into the courtroom, where they will remain for the duration of the sentencing. If the decide to wait outside they will only know the fate of Moko's killers when the news breaks.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF.CO.NZ Nicola Dally-Paki hopes the memory of her son Moko Rangitoheriri will save other children.

READ MORE:

* Carer forced sister to deliver final blow to Moko

* Child killing runs in the family

* Crowd funding Justice for Moko

* Faces of Innocents: These are the kids we've lost

* Data: How NZ's numbers compare to the world

* NZ's shameful record of child abuse

* Staranise Waru: 10 years, still no answers

* Father's pleas for his baby's life fell on deaf ears

* The last thing they saw was the scissors in mum's hands

* Full coverage: Faces of Innocents

Senior government figures are talking up a life sentence  a term that can, on rare occasions, be imposed for the most brutal of manslaughters.

But Sensible Sentencing Trust's legal advisers have found precedent that paints a different forecast.

SUPPLIED Moko Rangitoheriri's mischievous smile.

Founder Garth McVicar predicts the killers could be jailed for as few as four years - one more than Moko lived.

"Police did the right thing," he said. "They charged Moko's killers with murder. But his killers were able to enter into a plea bargain arrangement that allowed them to plead guilty to manslaughter. That is an insult to Moko."

The group's legal advisers have found precedent in the sentencing of Ngatikaura Ngati's killers in 2006.

SUPPLIED Moko suffered vile abuse at the hands of caregiver Tania Shailer and her boyfriend David Haerewa.

Ngati was killed by his mother, Maine Ngati, and stepfather, Teusila Fa'asisila, in prolonged beatings that included the use of a baseball bat. His body was left with more than 50 bruises - the post-mortem examiner stopped counting, there were so many. It was said the only unbruised part of his body were the soles of his feet.

"They were both charged with murder, but acquitted on that charge and found guilty of manslaughter," McVicar said.

"The sentence was eight years, seven months, with a minimum non-parole period of four years, three months. Moko's killers' lawyers will no doubt offer the Ngati case as a precedent and urge the judge to impose a similarly totally inadequate sentence on their clients. It is, of course, open to the judge to "send a message" and impose a much longer sentence, but the sad reality is if he did so, any such sentence would inevitably be reduced on appeal.

MAORI TV Maori Womens Refuge social worker named in the horrific abuse case of Moko Rangitoheriri, has spoken out for the first time since the toddlers death.

"In short, these heartless killers will probably be in jail for five or six years at the most. Five or six years for brutally, heartlessly and callously taking a vulnerable child's life in the most horrific way."

No matter where you choose to sit or stand on Monday, it seems everyone in New Zealand has a vested interest in what sentence is handed down to Moko's killers. Amongst the placards outside will be fathers, mothers, children, teachers, tradies, lawyers, politicians and even patched gang members. All making a public display of unity against family violence and a large statement to the legal system of New Zealand.
Tauranga Intermediate is the largest in the country with more than 1200 boys and girls in 40 classrooms  but seven of the schools Mandarin language students found going to class in China a bit of a culture shock.

Students Te Wairere Te Moana, Riley Bartosh, Olivia Simmonds, Ngawaka Ririnui, Anne Robinson, Stephanie Austin and Jaimee Eades accompanied a small group of civic leaders to Taurangas sister city Yantai in April to celebrate the relationships 30th birthday.
He says he expects to meet with many of my European counterparts at the G20 meeting in Shanghai, on July 9 and 10.

I have already requested meetings with key ministers and the EU Trade Commissioner to discuss New Zealands best way forward, in light of the referendum result.

In the meantime, it is important for exporters to be assured that our economic relationship with the UK and Europe will remain the same for the foreseeable future.

Todd says the process of discussions between the UK and EU Member States is likely to take up to two years, once negotiations begin - with commentators suggesting that a final Brexit could be five or six years away.

I have already begun talks with exporters and will continue to engage with the sectors most affected including our meat, dairy, and horticulture industries. It is important that they are fully informed, and fully engaged in the process as it develops.

Even before Fridays referendum, we had sought assurances from UK and EU officials that the rules around New Zealand access would not change until they have negotiated new ones with us. We have received those assurances.

He says the Government will continue to talk to both sides, with the aim of ensuring that the quality and the value of our access to both the EU and UK markets is retained.

Todd does not expect the timelines around a possible NZ-EU FTA discussion to be significantly affected.

"A lot of important work has been put in by both sides over the past 12 months. New Zealand has a significant number of supporters in the EU and we retain a strong relationship with the UK.

Source: Todd McClays office.
Westpac Waikato Business Excellence Awards Leader of the Year, Jason Trower has gone all in on regional business with the formation of a new technology company, consolidating his Waikato and Bay of Plenty businesses.

The newly formed Vo2 Group Limited encompasses Vo2 Waikato (formerly CodeBlue Hamilton), Vo2 Bay of Plenty (formerly CodeBlue Tauranga) and the Hamilton-based Vo2 Software and employs more than 50 people.
The two people who pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter following the death of a Taupo toddler will be sentenced today.

David Haewera and Tania Shailer are due to appear in Rotorua High Court for sentencing.



Anti-child abuse protests were held in Tauranga and the rest of the country as two people were sentenced for the death of three-year-old Moko Rangioheriri. Watch a video of the Tauranga protest here.



Moko Rangioheriri, aged three, was assaulted during a two-month period in Taupo after his mother left him with the couple while she was in Auckland looking after another child in Starship Hospital.

He died on August 10, 2015, with a postmortem examination revealing hed been a victim of abuse for a number of months. Read more here.

An anti-child abuse rally will be held in Tauranga today to coincide with Haewera and Shailers sentencing.

The Tauranga rally for Moko will take place at the Edgewater Fan on The Strand from 9am.

Other marches are also planned throughout the country, including in Rotorua.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Suddenly, it was 1924 again at the grand lady of Central New York hotels.

Ninety-two years after its opening and 12 years after its closing, 1,100 people filled the Hotel Syracuse Saturday to celebrate its comeback.

They came for cocktails, dinner and dancing at "Forever Hotel Syracuse," a gala fundraiser for the Onondaga Historical Association, which has worked closely with new owner Ed Riley to ensure that his $70 million restoration of the hotel is historically accurate.

With 1920s vintage cars parked along South Warren Street and doormen wearing period uniforms, the event served as both a celebration of the hotel's storied past and a send-off to the Hotel Syracuse name. When its grand reopening happens later this summer, the hotel's name will officially change to the Marriott Syracuse Downtown.

Gregg Tripoli, executive director of the historical association, said the hotel is probably the most historically important building in Syracuse, and not just because of its architecture and grand ballrooms.

"It's the history that's been made inside the building," he said. "The weddings, the parties, the bar mitzvahs, the memories, the emotional attachment that this community has to this building and what it's meant to their lives and their own history over the past 92 years is what makes this building the most historic. It's not just the building itself. It's what transpired within these walls."

The association provided Riley with many historical photographs to assist him in restoring the building's common areas  including its majestic lobby, Grand Ballroom with its skyscape ceiling and Persian Terrace ballroom  to their 1924 appearance. But it also gave him something perhaps even more important to the restoration  the hotel's original architectural drawings.

"That's where you find out what's behind all the walls," said Tripoli. "They knew right where to go for things. It made it so much easier for the contractor."

Riley, a Camillus resident who has spent his career developing hotels around the country, bought the Hotel Syracuse in 2014 and soon after launched a renovation that will result in its reopening with 261 rooms under the Marriott flag. He said the the historical association's assistance made his job much easier.

"It would have been much more difficult to do it without them," he said. "In some cases, we would have had to guess."

The association surprised Riley at the event by presenting him with a painting of him and his wife, Janet, in 1920s garb in front of the hotel.

Among those attending the event was Aminy Audi, chairwoman and CEO of furniture maker L. & J.G. Stickley Inc., which has had a 92-year relationship with the Hotel Syracuse.

Stickley made furniture for the hotel for its 1924 opening and again for a renovation done soon after Audi and her husband, the late Alfred Audi, bought the furniture maker in 1974. And it restored the hotel's original "coffin" guest room doors and made much of the furniture that now fills its new rooms and restored historical suites.

"It's something we all feel proud to be a part of," said Audi. "Ed Riley has done a great job."

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
WATERLOO, N.Y. -- For more than 13 hours this weekend, police surrounded a home in the village of Waterloo after they received reports of a suicidal man with a handgun.

When Waterloo police arrived at 8 Lincoln St. around 7:28 p.m. Saturday, they saw 30-year-old Joseph R. Andrews outside the home with the gun.

"Joseph Andrews was distraught and uncooperative with officers and refused to comply with their orders and entered the residence with the handgun," Waterloo police said in a news release.

Andrews, who lives at that address, entered the home with the handgun, police said.

Waterloo police, along with Seneca County sheriff's deputies, state police and Seneca Falls police set up a perimeter around the home. A police negotiator talked to Andrews on a cell phone, but Andrews "refused to voluntarily come out" of the home, Waterloo police said in the release.

Police determined Andrews was alone in the house, but the police negotiator lost contact with Andrews around 9:40 p.m. Saturday.

"Numerous unsuccessful attempts were made to re-establish contact with Joseph Andrews over the next several hours while police officers continued to maintain a secure perimeter outside the residence," Waterloo police said in the release.

Police set up a command post at the district offices of the Waterloo Central School District. The Cayuga County Sheriff's Department, Waterloo Fire Department and North Seneca Ambulance also helped during the incident, Waterloo police said.

Then, at 5:39 a.m. Sunday, police negotiators were able to regain cell phone communication with Andrews, officers said.

About three hours later, at 8:54 a.m., police negotiators convinced Andrews to come out of the house without the handgun, Waterloo police said in the release.

Police took Andrews into custody and the standoff ended peacefully, officers said.

The incident remains under investigation and criminal charges against Andrews are pending, police said.
CSX Train Fire.JPG

East Syracuse firefighters responded just before 8:30 p.m. Saturday to West Manlius Street in the village of East Syracuse for a reported CSX train fire.

(Courtesy Chris Shields)

EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- An engine on a CSX train heading for Albany caught fire Saturday in eastern Onondaga County.

East Syracuse firefighters responded just before 8:30 p.m. to West Manlius Street in the village of East Syracuse for a reported train fire.

Fire destroyed an engine on a CSX train. It took several minutes to shut the tracks in the area down so crews could work, but firefighters kept the flames from spreading to other cars, said 1st Assistant Chief Chris Shields. The fire was knocked down in 10 minutes.

No injuries were reported on the freight train or by firefighters.

The train was heading to the CSX Selkirk Yard south of Albany when it caught fire. The railroad is dominant east of the Mississippi River, owning more than 20,000 miles of track in 23 states and Canada.
403 Forbidden 403 Forbidden Code: AccessDenied

Message: Access Denied

RequestId: 0765288CBD1F5A7E

HostId: eRI9zJtcoZHwJCeAtxKPxE4vu7ccUxNsSezFYLQ8trVkQ/3ZnDq7+pXKvcCNl2+JICcNe8OXdiI= An Error Occurred While Attempting to Retrieve a Custom Error Document Code: AccessDenied

Message: Access Denied

FAIRMOUNT, N.Y. -- You may now Super Kiss the bride.

Instead of walking down the aisle at their wedding, Ron and Peggy Blakley decided to ride through a Delta Sonic car wash in the back of a stretch limousine.

They were joined this morning at the West Genesee Street car wash by Ron Blakley's two sons, his father and a few of their friends, one of whom is a justice of the peace.

"We're a little nuts, we're a little crazy, but it's fun," he said.

Ron, 58, and Peggy, 54, of North Syracuse, have been together for eight years and began talking about marriage a few years ago. They were both previously married and agreed they did not want something elaborate or expensive, but by the same token, wanted to do something unique.

They talked about getting married at a park, but on a routine trip to the car wash, Ron Blakley took note of the bright blue and red lights and sudsy soap bubbles while driving through the aptly-named Tunnel of Love.

He thought it'd be a great setting for their wedding.

He called Delta Sonic and asked if it had ever hosted a wedding in its nearly 50-year history. Unsurprisingly, he was told he'd be the first.

Kim Canna, marketing director at Delta Sonic, said the car wash was honored to host the wedding. Delta Sonic provided the Lincoln Navigator limousine the Blakleys rode in through the car wash.

"They've been very, very fun to work with," Ron Blakley said.

At 11 a.m., the marquee outside the car wash changed to read "Just married! Ron & Peggy". Mechanical problems in the car wash threatened to delay the wedding, but at 11:15 a.m., the limo took its spot in line.

The ceremony wrapped up and the couple shared their wedding kiss just before they pulled up to the drying area. Passersby honked their horns and waved as the couple posed for photographs.

"We didn't need rice, we had bubbles," Peggy Blakley said.

After the ceremony and Champagne toast, Delta Sonic hosted a lunch reception inside, including a spread of pizza, sandwiches, salad and a wedding cake.

"This has been the best day ever," Peggy Blakley said.

The newlyweds are celebrating with 25 close friends tonight at the Retreat in Liverpool. The only thing is, the guests don't know about the wedding.

Ron Blakley said the guests think the party is for his father, who turned 88 years old on Friday.

"It's just a surprise element," he said. "It'll be a lot of fun."

What's next for the newlyweds? They're not planning any lavish honeymoon, just their usual Fourth of July motorcycle ride down to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

"We're doing it for all the right reasons," Ron Blakley said. "This is a fun way to make a serious commitment."

Contact Jacob Pucci: Email | Twitter | 315-766-6747
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Dozens of community members marched and gathered on a hot Sunday afternoon to decry gun violence a week after gunfire -- including at least one bullet fired by police -- caused an uproar and calls for action across the city.

One man, Gary Porter, 41, aka Terry Maddox, was shot and killed and his pregnant fiancee was shot and injured at a Father's Day party a week ago. Officer Kelsey Francemone fired "at least one" bullet during a chaotic series of events, police said, and police released surveillance video appearing to show several other men brandishing guns during the late-night gathering of hundreds of people near Skiddy Park.

It's unclear whose bullets struck and killed Porter, but the police involvement resulted in a large and sometimes tense response in some neighborhoods, particularly around where the shooting occurred in the Near West Side, in subsequent days. Sunday's march and rally were the latest in an attempt to have a conversation about policing in these neighborhoods and gun violence in Syracuse.

Activists called for an independent investigation of the shooting, possibly by the New York Attorney General's Office (which has already announced its interest in the case), and for a reduction in police militarization, in addition to other police reforms.

But they also stressed that they wanted a reduction in gun violence, calling on young men to put down their guns and work to build up neighborhoods afflicted by high concentrations of poverty and crime.

"We have to police ourselves. If you hurt me, I have every right to tell the police you hurt me," said Emmanuel Flowers of Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, during the rally in front of police headquarters downtown. "If I am a lawnmower technician, if I fix cars and go to church every Sunday, I have the right to tell somebody who is paid by taxpayers to do their damn jobs. Pardon my language."

Police and the District Attorney's Office have said they are having trouble investigating and prosecuting crimes due to the lack of witness cooperation and the culture against "snitching" in the city. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in a recent letter to Syracuse.com that potential witnesses to the Father's Day shooting have been "uncooperative at best, hostile at worst."

At the same time, Flowers said, police might have shot somebody on Father's Day and "someone needs to be held accountable," he said.

The event was organized by the local chapter of the National Action Network and other community groups, including the Syracuse Peace Council and OG's Against Gun Violence. About 20 people marched from St. Lucy's Church on Gifford Street to the police headquarters while chanting, "No Justice! No Peace!" and "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!"

Around a dozen speakers took turns raising a number of issues around gun violence and police accountability, their voices aided by a microphone and sometimes interrupted by drivers honking as they headed along State Street. About 50 people gathered in front of the headquarters to listen.

At one point, a Syracuse police officer walked out of the Public Safety Building and observed the rally and its speakers.

Speakers also announced a new attempt to raise money, shooting for $250,000, to create a foundation and a center aimed at facilitating re-entry for imprisoned people into society and also promoting self-policing in certain neighborhoods, said Twiggy Billue, president of Syracuse's National Action Network.

Quante Wright, a former member of the local gang Brighton Brigade, quoted Biblical teachings on looking out for one another as justification for "T-Lova's law", which he said is aims to prohibit black men from "striking out" at each other.

The 2016 "T-Luva Act". Under this law its now forbidden to strike your fellow brother or sister. Its time for us to unite and uplift our own community. Those that violates this law will fall under the curse of Cain. Read Genesis ch. 4. Spread this message to everyone. Its our job to uphold this law and hold those accountable if they break this law. Thus saith the Lord Yahweh. *Full video will be uploaded later. Posted by Tay Hova on Thursday, June 23, 2016

He created a Facebook video describing this self-styled law and spoke about his personal transformation after six years imprisoned.

"It is now forbidden for every African-American to strike out against another African-American," he said. "How can we expect them to respect our lives when we don't respect each other's lives?"

Speakers and those in attendance were critical of the police response at the Father's Day event and in subsequent days, in which a woman's house on Gifford Street was raided in execution of a search warrant and one person was arrested on a misdemeanor charge for allegedly inciting a riot after the event.

"That's really uncivilized and brutalizing behavior by the police department here," said protester Nikeeta Slade. "The fundamental problem is why did she (Francemone) have this type of response to this community? ... We know that police don't use that type of excessive force in Fayetteville or Manlius."

The local organization Mothers Against Gun Violence is also hosting a vigil for Porter around 5 p.m. at Skiddy Park today.
SHARE

Editor's note: Attorneys at Goede, Adamczyk, DeBoest & Cross, respond to questions about Florida community association law. The firm represents community associations throughout Florida and focuses on condominium and homeowner association law, real estate law, litigation, estate planning and business law.

Q.: If I own my condominium unit free of any mortgage, do I have to carry insurance on the condominium unit? Can the condominium association force me to acquire insurance?

 WT, Stuart

A.: In a condominium, the statute delineates every component is either the insurance responsibility of the condominium association or by the unit owner. The focus of this answer is the unit owner insurance. If you have a mortgage, the lender may require unit owner insurance for the contents so the collateral (the unit) is protected. If the unit owner does not have a mortgage, that statute would not require a unit owner to obtain contents insurance. Your condominium documents, however, may require each owner to maintain insurance and provide proof of insurance. Because water leaks are so commonplace in condominiums, many condominiums want to be sure there are funds to make all repairs. If a unit owner does not have insurance and intentionally or unintentionally causes water damage through an insurable event, the association would be left having to pay for all repairs because it should take action to prevent mold from spreading to other units through the common elements. If the unit owner maintains insurance, then there would be condominium insurance for the condominium responsibilities, and also unit owner insurance for unit owner responsibilities.

Q: I believe that my condominium board is having secret meetings under the pretense of discussing personnel matters. Can a board of directors have unnoticed, undocumented secreted meetings?

 KM, Stuart

A.: Florida law provides that a condominium board may meet outside of a public forum to discuss personnel matters. It is my opinion that these "executive session" meetings still must be noticed at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting and state the meeting is closed to the membership. The statute specifically exempts the requirement to allow membership attendance for these meetings, but does not exempt the requirement to post notice of the meeting in advance of the meeting. If the board is using a personnel matter as a pretense to discuss non-personnel matters, that would be improper and could expose the board to liability if decisions are being made in a private forum that should be made in a public forum.

Q.: Our community purchased a defibrillator, but it is locked in the manager's office and the manager is only part time. What are the liabilities in keeping this device and, specifically, making it difficult to access?

 AB, Port Saint Lucie

A: There is a statute (Cardiac Arrest Survival Act) that can insulate the owner of the device and the user of the device under certain circumstances, which would include training, audible instructions, whether the user is an employee of the Association and device maintenance. Initially, I would recommend you contact your local chapter of the American Red Cross as most chapters can facilitate the purchase of a proper device or provide training that is a part of the statutory liability protections. It is impossible to answer the questions without knowing some additional information, but the association may be immune from liability if the device meets certain requirements and therefore alleviate the need to keep the device under lock and key. I would recommend you contact your legal counsel and determine the liability issues surrounding your specific device and the above-referenced statute.

Steven R. Braten Esq., is managing partner, Palm Beach of the Law firm Goede, Adamczyk, DeBoest & Cross. Visit www.GADClaw.com or ask questions about your issues for future columns, send your inquiry to: question@GADClaw.com. The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The publication of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and Goede, Adamczyk, DeBoest & Cross, or any of our attorneys. Readers should not act or refrain from acting based upon the information contained in this article without first contacting an attorney, if you have questions about any of the issues raised herein. The hiring of an attorney is a decision that should not be based solely on advertisements or this column.
SHARE

Greg Clark, Hutchinson Island

Letter: Run for the Senate, Rick, so Treasure Coast can vote against you

For those of us disenchanted with Gov. Rick Scott's inability or unwillingness to provide strong leadership in the fight to clean up the Indian River Lagoon, we are in for at least two more years of the same.

Impeach the governor, you say. He has broken no laws. Recall the governor, you say. Florida has no recall procedure, though Rep. Rick Kriseman, a Democrat from St. Petersburg, has filed HJR 785 and HB 787 to allow for recall either through petition or statute. Fat chance that these bills will ever make it out of committee.

So, if you are upset with the pollution of our waterways, don't look to Gov. Scott for strong leadership to help. There will be no "do-over" voting.

Scott claims to have created 1 million new jobs. That took positive leadership, you say. Or could it be that the governor happened to be in office when the economy turned around and created more work? I won't even get into the All Aboard Florida debacle.

If this sounds like sour grapes, it is. I expected more out of Scott. Shame on him. He could have done so much more, and I don't get a "do-over" vote.

But wait. Scott is going to run for the Senate in two years, you say. Great, I say. I will get my "do-over" vote, and I suggest my fellow voters join me. We don't want any more of the same. The Treasure Coast and Florida deserve so much more.
A lifeguard took this photo at Stuart Beach on Saturday. (PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MARTIN COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT)

By Elliott Jones of TCPalm

Martin and St. Lucie County officials are appealing to state officials to test the water at local beaches after swimmers were warned Saturday and Sunday to stay out of the water because of potentially harmful algae.

Officials in both counties are appealing to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation to test the water, to see what type of algae is present and whether it is a harmful blue-green algae that is believed to be linked to freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

In the meantime, said Rene Rouse, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Martin County, "We are just telling people to avoid the water as a precaution."

The algae first started appearing off Stuart on Friday, then spread northward in Martin County. On Sunday, it was seen in southern St. Lucie County, prompting the county to advise people to only swim north of the Florida Power and Light Co. nuclear power plant south of Fort Pierce.

"People need to use common sense and stay out of the water that appears to have algae in it," said St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill. The algae turns normally bluish water greenish. Sometimes the algae appears as bits or clumps in the water.

"We urge residents to use beaches north of the power plant and prefer that they swim at lifeguarded beaches, which will be South Beach and Pepper Park on North Hutchinson Island," Gill said. He said he hopes the DEP will do the testing Monday. DEP officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Warning signs have been posted at public beaches and lifeguards are displaying double red flags, meaning beachgoers shouldn't go in the water.

The U.S. Coast Guard noticed fewer boats at the St. Lucie Inlet on Saturday, a spokesman at the Fort Pierce station said.

The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast is cautioning people adopting or fostering its dogs and cats to stay away from waters where algae is present, said society official Vanessa Aguirre. That includes going to beaches or boating.

The no-swimming alerts at the beach started in Martin County at Bathtub Reef Beach on Friday and were expanded to Stuart and Jensen Beach beach parks on Saturday, Rouse said. The alerts remained in effect Sunday in Martin County and an alert was posted at St. Lucie County's Waveland Beach, a mile north of Jensen Beach Park.

"We're taking this a day at a time," Rouse said.

So far, no one at the beaches has developed health problems from the algae, Rouse said.

Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, said the algae in the ocean came out of the St. Lucie Inlet and is being spread by the winds and tides.

Winds could continue pushing potentially harmful algae northward in the ocean along the coast of St. Lucie County on Monday, possibly closing off more beaches to swimming. The National Weather Service is predicting slight northward winds will remain through Tuesday, causing a northward drift in the nearshore waters.

DEP tests of algae near the discharges, from Lake Okeechobee, found specks of microcystis, which is a type of blue-green algae that often contains toxins, officials said.

Such toxins can cause nausea and vomiting if swallowed. Touching can lead to a rash and breathing may lead hay fever symptoms. Liver disease is linked to drinking water with toxins.

Warning signs also are posted at boat ramps from Port Mayaca in western Martin County to Sandsprit Park in Stuart, Rouse said.
Lawmakers in Kansas passed a funding plan on Friday in an effort to prevent a potential shutdown of all public schools in the state next week.

In a vote of 116-6 in the state House and 38-1 in the state Senate, the Republican-dominated legislature chose to adopt the measure, which has now been forwarded to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's office to have it signed.

State lawmakers were forced to conduct the special two-day session after the Kansas Supreme Court ordered Legislature to address inequities in the educational funding system, which it considers to be harmful to poorer school districts in the state.

Last month, the Supreme Court said the current formula that Legislature is using to allocate funds leads to the creation of intolerable, wealth-based disparities among school districts. It then issued an ultimatum to lawmakers to solve the problem by June 30.

Despite struggling to find a way to increase financial aid to poor school districts, legislators were able to allocate $38 million to take care of the situation for 2016-17.

Brownback praised state lawmakers for doing a "fantastic job." He said that when he arranged for the special to be held, his goal was to make sure that a plan would be passed that could satisfy the Supreme Court demand and prevent it from shutting down public schools.

Diverting Funds For The New Measure

With the state dealing with budgetary problems, lawmakers were able to secure the measure by diverting funds from other corners of the state government to public schools.

This include tapping into motor vehicle fees and dipping into Kansas' share of a legal settlement the United States entered with tobacco companies back in the 1990s. The plan also secures funds from the sale of assets of a state-owned economic development agency to private investment groups.

The new funding plan is considered to be not as reliant on a reshuffling of current educational funds as earlier measures proposed by Republican legislators.

"I think that solves the problem," John Robb, a lawyer for the four school districts that filed suit against the state government over education funding, said. "We should be able to put that chapter behind us."

The measure has received endorsements from various school districts in Kansas that stood to lose and gain some financial. Robb said this should allow the school districts and the state government to send a joint statement to the Supreme Court that its demand to fix the issue had already been met.

According to legislative researchers, the newly approved funding plan could result in the loss of financial aid for 77 of Kansas' 286 school districts. As many as 169 districts stand to gain from the new measure, while 40 of them are not expected to experience any changes.

The first plan proposed by Republican lawmakers would have had 141 school districts lose some of their educational aid.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In a step toward a greener future, Sweden has launched the first ever electric highway system on a public road.

The use of fossil fuels has been causing damage to the environment, and cargo transportation through trucks has been one of the worst offenders. One-third of the carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden is caused by transportation, with half of that coming from freight transport.

This fact has led to the partnership between Siemens and truck manufacturer Scania to create an electric highway system, which will now undergo testing.

The system will be tested over the next two years along the 1.25-mile stretch that it covers in a public highway located to the north of the country's capital, Stockholm. Similar to an electrified railroad, the distance covered by the system will feature overhead wires that hybrid trucks can connect to through connectors equipped at the top of the vehicles.

The specialized trucks to be used for the electric highway have sensors which check for the presence of the overhead wires. Once detected, the truck releases a connector known as a pantograph, either automatically or manually by the driver.

Once a pantograph-equipped truck is connected to the system's wires, the driver can deactivate the truck's combustion engine and instead use the electricity offered by the system to move forward. The connection will charge the truck's battery while it is moving, but it will also see excess energy being fed back to the overhead wires and into the energy system, with the power to be used by other trucks that will be traveling through the electric highway.

Once the electric highway ends, the driver can simply restart the truck's engine to continue the trip.

According to Siemens Mobility Division chief engineer Roland Edel, the system will be able to both cut energy consumption by half and reduce air pollution. Claes Erixon, an official for Scania, added that the testing is an important milestone in the quest toward fossil fuel-free transportation, with it being the culmination of a project that took two years to develop.

Siemens is also currently developing to bring an electric highway in California, this time through a partnership with Volvo. The testing of the project will run through next year, with the companies looking to figure out the interactions of different truck configurations along Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Another recently reported initiative to reduce the fossil fuels burned by trucks is that of Nikola Motor, which is looking to be the Tesla Motors of trucks. Its first concept, the Nikola One, features a range of up to 1,200 miles on a single charge, which will cost half compared with the fuel needed to power a combustion-engine powered truck over the same distance.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The citizens of the United Kingdom have voted for the country to leave the European Union. The result of the referendum is already having a massive impact, not just in the United Kingdom but also in the rest of the world.

The slim 52-48 margin for the vote is supported by the fact that 72 percent of surveyed Britons cast their vote with confidence. However, with such an important decision in their hands, it would seem that the citizens of the United Kingdom only thought of the implications of their choice after the polls closed.

According to Google Trends, "What is the EU?" is the second most asked question in the United Kingdom since the announcement of the official results of the referendum voting.

The top question was "What does it mean to leave the EU?", with the third most asked query being "Which countries are in the EU?", followed by "What will happen now we've left the EU?", and "How many countries are in the EU?"

Again, these questions were asked through Google after the voting has finished, with the queries being asked through the night after the closing of the polls at 10 p.m. local time.

The top questions are discouraging ones for the result, as it would seem that citizens had no clue what they were getting into when they sent in their votes.

Search queries on pound sterling reached an all-time high, as the value of the currency of the United Kingdom crashed against the U.S. dollar. Searches for "buy gold" also saw a 500 percent increase, while "getting an Irish passport" saw an over 100 percent spike and "move to Gibraltar" saw a more than 680 percent increase in United Kingdom searches. Gibraltar is a United Kingdom enclave located in Spain.

The vote is now over, and the results have been finalized. The whole world was stunned and thrown into turmoil with the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, and to make matters worse, it would seem that citizens only started to think about the effects of such a move after they cast their votes.

Among the citizens not happy with the results of the vote were the cast and writers of Doctor Who, who turned to Twitter to express their disappointment, anger and disgust over the decision.

Massively popular HBO TV series Game of Thrones will likely also see budget cuts coming its way with Brexit now happening, revealing that the move spans across economies and industries all over the world.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The star cluster NGC 1854 has been photographed by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in a dramatic new photograph. The collection of hundreds of clusters of stars sits roughly 135,000 light-years away from our home planet.

The constellation of Dorado (the Dolphin), visible from the southern hemisphere, is home to the colorful star cluster. This system sits within the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), neighboring the Milky Way galaxy. Star clusters are often the subjects of study by astronomers, and the HST is an ideal observatory to examine the fields in great detail.

"The LMC is a hotbed of vigorous star formation. Rich in interstellar gas and dust, the galaxy is home to approximately 60 globular clusters and 700 open clusters. These clusters are frequently the subject of astronomical research, as the Large Magellanic Cloud and its little sister, the Small Magellanic Cloud, are the only systems known to contain clusters at all stages of evolution," NASA officials wrote in a press release announcing the image.

The Hubble observatory is so powerful, astronomers are often able to discern individual stars in these systems. These studies allow investigators to measure the size and age of the system and unlock secrets of that body's formation, as well as other similar formations.

The HST was launched in April 1990, conducting research from 347 miles above the Earth. The space-based observatory was granted an extended mission just this month, as NASA extended the program until at least 2021.

"After the final space shuttle servicing mission to the telescope in 2009, Hubble is better than ever. Hubble is expected to continue to provide valuable data into the 2020's, securing its place in history as an outstanding general purpose observatory in areas ranging from our solar system to the distant universe," NASA officials wrote in a press release.

The star cluster was first seen by human eyes on Aug. 2, 1826, when Scottish astronomer James Dunlop viewed the object through a telescope.

This new photograph was recorded by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), aboard the Hubble. This instrument records targets in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as in visible light. This particular image was recorded through a pair of filters - one green, the other near-infrared.

The Magellanic Clouds, orbiting our home galaxy, are rich in interstellar gas and dust. The regions are home to widespread, active star formation, providing a rich field of study for astronomers.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Facebook and Google, two of the biggest hosts of videos on the internet, have quietly started to use automated processes in a bid to eradicate extremist content from their platforms.

Facebook and Google-owned YouTube are among the websites that have deployed systems to prevent the uploading of videos by the Islamic State and other such material, according to sources. The systems are also capable of immediately taking down the videos if for some reason they are are able to bypass the restrictions and are uploaded online.

The technology being used in targeting extremist content is the same one currently being used to seek and delete copies of copyright-protected videos from being uploaded to websites. The system detects so-called hashes, which are unique digital fingerprints that are assigned to videos. With a hash placed on the original video, all other videos with the same hash can be immediately removed.

This system would allow Facebook and Google to stop the spread of extremist videos, such as those which show the decapitation of hostages, by applying a hash on the original video. The limitation, however, is that newly uploaded videos will not be automatically blocked or removed.

However, both Facebook and Google have not discussed how exactly a certain video could be labeled as having extremist content. While a video showing a beheading will clearly fall under the category, where will the line be drawn between a passionate speech and a call for violence?

It is also unclear whether the companies will rely exclusively on the automated process to search for and delete extremist content, or whether the review process will have humans involved to assist in the selection of content to be kept and deleted.

Internet companies have largely supported governments in the suppression of the propagation of extremist videos, but they are also looking to not be liable for the content if the videos end up in their platforms. The political mood in the United States looks like there will be more pressure applied on tech companies to work on the issue, with President Barack Obama suggesting that online extremism could be the reason for the terrorist attack on an Orlando gay nightclub that left 49 people dead.

Another online platform, Twitter, has launched an all-out war against organizations such as ISIS which promote violent extremism. However, while the social media service has been trying its hardest to take down ISIS-related accounts, supporters have been faster in getting new accounts online.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Insect fossils trapped in amber reveal detailed, new information on how these ancient animals used sophisticated camouflage 100 million years ago. These new findings show how a sophisticated defense technique was already being honed back in that period.

Debris carrying is a behavior of insects which requires a significant amount of processing power in brains. The animal not only needs to know how to recognize targets, but also needs to understand a desire to collect the materials. Both mental and physical adaptations are required to carry the gathered goods and use them for camouflage.

Despite the importance of this behavior for insects, only a sparse fossil record of the actions has been seen in amber. Just a single insect, dating from the age of dinosaurs and discovered in Spain, has been found, preserved while the ancient animal was gathering debris.

Insects have developed a wide range of techniques to keep themselves hidden from predators in the wild. This included the use of debris found in the environment to disguise themselves from hunters. In a way, these insects used pieces of leaves and other debris as a form of ancient invisibility cloak.

"These fossils are the oldest direct evidence of camouflage behavior utilizing trash in the fossil record and show unequivocal evidence of camouflage in immature lacewings and reduviids dating back more than 100 million years. They demonstrate that the behavioral repertoire, which is associated with considerable morphological adaptations, was already widespread among insects by at least the Mid-Cretaceous," the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported in a press release.

Researchers at that institution now report finding several other examples of insects trapped in amber while gathering various materials. These natural relics were collected in France, Burma and Lebanon, and include such insects as assassin bugs, lacewings and owlflies. A wide range of materials was found along with the fossils, including plant matter, wood fibers and the exoskeletons of insects.

One of the most bizarre finds was the preserved remains of a pseudoscorpion and a lacewing larva, captured soon after the two engaged in battle. By the time they became encased in amber, the lacewing had killed the pseudoscorpion, and had sucked the body dry, which it wore like a jumpsuit. This would make the lacewing look, and smell, like another species.

This new study provides biologists with new data concerning the interrelationships between insects and their natural habitat tens of millions of years in the past. By examining the materials each insect carried, it is possible to infer how various species related to one another in the wild.

Analysis of the amber fossils is profiled in the journal Science Advances.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Under the leadership of the current Brazilian president, "in the Amazon alone, deforestation has nearly doubled since 2018," the British journal recalled. | Read More
Federal government continues to find new inroads into violating 4th Amendment protections that are supposed to be guaranteed to all citizens.Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that evidence of an alleged crime can be used against a defendant even if police did something inappropriate or even illegal to obtain it.In February, a state supreme court ruled 4-3 that evidence seized in a persons private home during a warrantless search can be used against the person under an expanded view of the community caretaker clause.The Free Thought Project has documented several other search and seizures cases that add to the dismantling of rights protecting against unreasonable search and seizure. The Snowden revelations allowed us to witness the massive intrusion into privacy being carried out by spy agencies such as the NSA and FBI.And the hits keep on coming.The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reported on Thursday, a federal district court in Virginia ruled that a criminal defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his personal computer, located inside his home. According to the court, the federal government does not need a warrant to hack into an individuals computer.The prosecution is a result of the FBIs investigation into an online child *********** website that the agency took over so it could catch the people downloading content. Instead of shutting down the website, the FBI actually kept running it for 13 days, allowing access to 215,000 people and allowing users to upload new content.Such pushing of boundaries is key to the States strategy in the death by a thousand cuts currently being inflicted upon the 4th Amendment. The Virginia court decision is the perfect complement to FBIs transgressions.The implications for the decision, if upheld, are staggering: law enforcement would be free to remotely search and seize information from your computer, without a warrant, without probable cause, or without any suspicion at all.Online child *********** is certainly a disturbing reality in the internet age, but the privacy rights of all citizens should not be cast aside to go after a relatively miniscule part of the population.It is strikingly similar to the way in which government uses the specter of terrorism to collect vast swaths of personal data on Americans, and has even resulted in the assassination of an American citizen along with his 16-year-old son.The recent drama over the FBIs attempt to coerce Apple into providing a backdoor to the San Bernardino shooters iPhone was a test case for the surveillance state. Even though it likely had the means to hack into the phone already, FBI embarked on a very public campaign to convince everyone that is was OK for the agency to bypass everyones encryption.As EFF notes, courts are feeling their way through the applicability of privacy rights as technology rapidly advances. It appears they are all too willing to capitulate to the surveillance state, especially when a dramatic issue such as terrorism or child **** is the subject.Read more at Federal Court Rules Govt Can Hack Your Computer Without a Warrant, No Probable Cause
Non-communicable diseases, also known as chronic diseases, like cancer, diabetes and heart conditions are increasing at alarming rates in Vietnam, now causing 75 percent of all deaths, officials said.

Health experts said at a conference in Hanoi last week that chronic diseases are and will continue to be a common killer in Vietnam. They said the diagnostic system is falling behind and many people are reluctant to change their habits, local media reported.

Figures released at the conference showed that the diseases kill 375,000 people in Vietnam every year, with cancer, heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes at the top of the list.

The death rate caused by chronic diseases in Vietnam is above the worlds average of 70 percent.

The country is having 150,000 new cancer patients every year.

But the treatment capability has failed to keep up with the pace.

Doctors at the conference said most provincial hospitals in Vietnam and those at district level are not able to provide cancer diagnosis and treatment services.

Hanois leading cancer hospital K is short of 100-150 doctors and cannot offer radiotherapy to all patients in need.

Bui Dieu, its director, said a survey of 51,000 patients at K and other leading public hospitals in Hanoi, Hai Phong and Hue showed that 71 percent went to hospital at stage three when chances of survival are already low.

Bad habits

Officials at the conference said non-communicable diseases are a heavy burden on the health care systems of all countries, but the burden is particularly heavier in developing countries, where more people are dying of the diseases.

Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said most of the non-infectious diseases require life treatment, but they can be controlled through daily habits, like less drinking, smoking and more exercising.

Studies have found that good control of the risk factors can help prevent cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Socorro Escalante, representative of the World Health Organization in Vietnam, said at the conference that its surveys found more than half of the men in Vietnam smoke, a quarter of male adults drink dangerous amounts of alcoholic drinks and 90 percent of its people eat more salt than the safe amount of six grams a day.

Those factors have led to the surge of patients with cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes in the country the past decade, he said.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (2nd L), former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (2nd R) and HCMC's Party chief Dinh La Thang (R) attend the ground-breaking ceremony for Ho Chi Minh Citys second Oncology Hospital in District 9 on June 26, 2016. Photo credit: Phuoc Tuan/Zing

Construction work began on Sunday at Ho Chi Minh Citys second Oncology Hospital, which is designed to have 1,000 beds.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Ho Chi Minh Citys Party chief Dinh La Thang attended the ground-breaking ceremony.

The hospital, which will cover 55,594 square meters in District 9s Tan Phu Ward, has a total investment of nearly VND6 trillion (US$270 million) funded from the state budget.

The 10-story hospital will include an outpatient clinic and inpatient, radiotherapy and chemotherapy sections. It is expected to help reduce overload for the current Oncology Hospital in Binh Thanh District once it is open in the last quarter of 2017.

Vietnam logs around 150,000 new cases of cancer annually, more than half of which prove fatal, according to figures released by the World Health Organization in late 2014.
A file photo of GIang Kim Dat, who has been accused of stealing nearly $16 million from a state-owned Vinashin's affiliated company.

The Ministry of Public Security on Friday proposed criminal charges against three former officials of a company affiliated to shipping giant Vinashin, and another man for misappropriating nearly US$16 million from 2006-08.

The trio -- Tran Van Liem, former CEO of Vinashin Ocean Shipping Co. Ltd. (Vinashinlines), Giang Kim Dat, former sales manager and Tran Van Khuong, former chief accountant -- face embezzlement charges, according to the ministry.

Dats father, Giang Van Hien, 66, faces charges of money laundering.

According to the inspectors, the money Dat pocketed was from 16 transactions related to either buying or leasing old vessels

They found that during the time that Dat was working, starting in May 2006, consulting his company's CEO to buy and lease ships, he had colluded with foreign partners to rig prices to illegally earn profits.

The money was transferred to multiple bank accounts in his fathers name, who later used the money to buy many houses and cars.

At least 40 luxury apartments and villas and five cars were found in the names of Dat's relatives. Dat also allegedly owns two apartments in Singapore, including one costing $3.6 million

Also according to the inspectors, Vinashinlines' former CEO Liem was paid VND3.2 billion (nearly 145,000) and former chief accountant Khuong got $120,000 in the scam.

Investigators also proposed that Dat has to return nearly VND249 billion ($11.23 million).

Dat was arrested on July 7, 2015 after he fled an arrest warrant in 2012.

Involving the case, a Hai Phong appeals court in 2012 upheld sentences against eight Vinashin ex-officials for losses of over VND910 billion ($41 million) incurred under their administration.

Pham Thanh Binh, former board chairman of Vinashin, has his 20-year-sentence unchanged. Seven others received jail terms of between 10 and 19 years, all for "deliberately acting against state regulations on economic management."

The court also ordered them to pay a total of VND1.06 trillion ($50 million) in compensation, of which Binh was held responsible for VND500 billion ($23.62 million).





A file photo of Hoa Sen (Lotus), which a Vinashin subsidiary bought in 2007 but ended up with losses of US$22.5 million According to the indictment, the defendants' violations were evidenced in five projects, including the purchase of the high-speed seagoing vessel Hoa Sen (Lotus) Ship for $87.8 million.

The used, Italian-made ship only operated 39 north-south trips, causing losses of VND470 billion ($22.5 million).
A ship of state-owned shipping line Vinashinlines. File photo The Ministry of Public Security's investigators on Tuesday took into custody a man for his alleged involvement in the misappropriation of millions of dollars at a state-owned shipping line.

Tran Van Khuong, 65, a former chief accountant at Vinashin Ocean Shipping Co. Ltd, which was formerly run by shipbuilding giant Vinashin, is now being investigated on charges of embezzlement.

Khuong's arrest came more than three months after the ministry nabbed Giang Kim Dat, 38, who later admitted to appropriating $18.6 million when he was working as a sales manager at the company, better known as Vinashinlines.

Dat started working for Vinashinlines in May 2006, and fled the country in August 2010, when the ministry started looking into dubious business deals at Vinashin and its subsidiaries.

Tran Van Khuong, 65, a former chief accountant at Vinashinlines, has been arrested on charges of embezzlement. Photo provided by the police As a consultant to Tran Van Liem, the then CEO of Vinashinlines, in making ship purchases and leases, Dat allegedly colluded with foreign partners to rig prices to steal from state funds. Liem, 60, is now serving a 19-year jail term, after being convicted of "deliberately violating state regulations on economic management" in 2012.

Eight other executives of Vinashin, including chairman Pham Thanh Binh, were then sentenced to three to 20 years in prison for their violations, which caused losses of over VND980 billion (US$40.98 million).

Vinashin, which had piled up $4.5 billion of debt by 2010, was restructured into the Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in 2013.

Vinashinlines was transferred to shipping giant Vinalines along with a few other subsidiaries. But in May last year the government approved the company's filing for bankruptcy.
The following is a news release issued late Friday from the office of United States Attorney Wendy J. Olson.

BOISE  The United States Attorneys Office extends its support to the five-year-old victim of assault, and her family, at the Fawnbrook Apartments in Twin Falls.



The United States Attorneys Office further encourages community members in Twin Falls and throughout Idaho to remain calm and supportive, to pay close attention to the facts that have been released by law enforcement and the prosecuting attorney, and to avoid spreading false rumors and inaccuracies.



Grant Loebs is an experienced prosecutor, and Chief Craig Kingsbury is an experienced law enforcement officer. They are moving fairly and thoughtfully in this case, said Wendy J. Olson, U.S. Attorney for Idaho. As Mr. Loebs and Chief Kingsbury informed the public, the subjects in this case are juveniles, ages 14, 10 and 7. The criminal justice system, whether at the state or federal level, requires that juveniles be afforded a specific process with significant restrictions on the information that can be released. The fact that the subjects are juveniles in no way lessens the harm to or impact on the victim and her family.

Olson continued, saying:
A file photo of Hoa Sen (Lotus), which a Vinashin subsidiary bought in 2007 but ended up with losses of US$22.51 million

Treaties like the United Nations Convention against Corruption that both countries were signatories to would make it "convenient" to seize the assets of Giang Kim Dat, 38, news website VnExpress quoted deputy chief government inspector Ngo Van Khanh as saying.

Dat allegedly owned two apartments in Singapore, but has sold one of them. The other reportedly cost $3.6 million.

He was a sales manager at Vinashin Ocean Shipping Co. Ltd, a shipping line run by Vinashin, before fleeing the country when an investigation into Vinashin's string of violations begun in August 2010. He was tracked down and apprehended in Singapore on July 7.

Preliminary findings show that from the time he started at his job in May 2006, advising his company's CEO to buy and lease ships, Dat had colluded with foreign partners to rig prices to pocket money.

The money, which he allegedly made from 16 transactions, was transferred to multiple bank accounts in his fathers name, who later bought the houses and cars. At least 40 luxury apartments and villas and five cars have been found in the names of Dat's relatives in Vietnam. The father, Giang Van Hien, was arrested in January for harboring a criminal and benefiting from illegal assets.

Dat is also suspected of being involved in the 2007 purchase of a second-hand Italian ship.

His company bought the ship for nearly VND1.5 trillion ($67.55 million) and spent another $300,000 repairing it. The ship was pulled out of service after just 39 trips due to huge losses, with the deal causing nearly VND500 billion ($22.51 million) in losses.

It was one of five major business deals that went wrong at Vinashin, causing total losses of over VND980 billion (US$40.98 million). Nine company executives, including former chairman Pham Thanh Binh, were jailed for terms ranging from three to 20 years in 2012.

Vinashin, which had piled up debts of $4.5 billion by 2010, was restructured into the Shipbuilding Industry Corporation in 2013.

Dat's company was transferred to shipping giant Vinalines along with a few other subsidiaries, but in May last year the government approved the company's filing for bankruptcy.
A documentary about Vietnam was aired on a French national network last week, promoting Hoi An and the Mekong Delta as well as local peoples smiles.

Les sourires du Vietnam (Smiles of Vietnam), aired on France 5 on Saturday, is now available on YouTube, though with no English subtitle.

The documentary takes viewers on a journey from Hue, the countrys former citadel, all the way down south.

It is made with support from the Vietnam embassy and the Vietnam Cultural Center in France, featuring various aspects of the country from life on the rivers in the Mekong Delta to the hustling city atmosphere, the countrys religious culture and its magnificent tourism charms.

Vietnams tourism authorities said this documentary with high artistic value would help promote Vietnamese tourism successfully, urging Vietnamese agencies abroad to make good use of it.

Vietnam attracted around 112,300 French visitors during the first five months this year, a 13 percent increase from a year ago, thanks to a visa policy that allows the tourists to stay in Vietnam for 15 days without a visa.
Flames from the Erskine Fire engulf a home near Weldon, California, U.S. June 24, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Noah Berger

A massive wildfire burning out of control in the foothills of central California has left at least 150 homes in ruins and damaged another 75, officials said on Saturday, warning that more residents may be forced to flee the advancing flames.

The so-called Erskine fire, which broke out on Thursday some 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Bakersfield in Kern County, has already claimed at least two lives, sent three firefighters to the hospital and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.

More than 1,100 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze, which has blackened some 35,700 acres and was zero percent contained as of Saturday afternoon. California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Kern County.

"It is a vicious wildfire. We are going to be committed to this for some time," Captain Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department told CNN. "A lot of communities are still in danger."

Crews were working in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames that were fueled by hot, dry weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by California's devastating five-year drought.

Officials have not identified the two people killed in the huge conflagration, one of the worst in an already intense fire season in California.

The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators had found what they believed to be the remains of a third victim at a mobile home in the community of South Lake.

"We are treating it like a crime scene. It appears to be one set of human remains, pretty badly burned," Kern County Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt told the paper.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a Friday evening press conference that more fatalities could be discovered once authorities are able to search burned-out neighborhoods with cadaver dogs.

Authorities say the cause of the fire remains unknown.

"My heart goes out to everyone here who has lost a home and my heart goes out to the family that perished yesterday in the fire," Sergeant Henry Bravo of the sheriff's office told evacuees at a community meeting on Saturday.

On Friday, authorities warned the more than 3,000 residents of the community of Lake Isabella on the shore of a reservoir to be prepared to evacuate.

Southeast of Lake Isabella, dozens of burned-out homes and car frames were left behind in a neighborhood reduced to a field of mangled metal and collapsed roofs.

To the south, firefighters were struggling to manage the so-called San Gabriel Complex fire in the foothills of Los Angeles County. There were two fires that started on Friday and cover a combined 5,285 acres, fire officials said. Containment was at nearly 50 percent for both blazes.
A fire that sent large plumes of smoke into the air and cut power to part of the National Zoo and Aquarium caused significant damage to sheds and equipment.

Firefighting crews arrived to find two maintenance and machinery sheds alight when they responded to numerous triple zero calls about 12.10pm on Sunday.

A plume of smoke caused by a fire at Canberra's National Zoo and Aquarium was visible across the capital on Sunday. Credit:Secure Aviation / Canberra Helicopters

The buildings adjoined enclosures for the Yarralumla zoo's three lions and a tiger and covered an area of several hundred metres.

Zoo owner Richard Tindale said staff fully evacuated the zoo and the Jamala Wildlife Lodge as soon as emergency services were alerted to the fire and it was closed for the rest of the day.
Health care professionals and law enforcement personnel in the mid-valley are working to reverse the tide of a declared national epidemic in prescription drug abuse and addiction.

While efforts to reverse the trend are new, the problem is not. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 1999, more than 165,000 have died nationally from prescription opioid overdose. Twenty-eight thousand of those occurred in 2014.

These deaths, according to health care industry leaders, are the result of a culture of prescription that was cultivated through the introduction of prescription opioids, or narcotic pain medication, in 1997, in concert with federal directives to increase prescriptions for chronic pain.

The problem has become so large that state medical and law enforcement officials have formed a joint task force to attack the problem, with doctors seeking ways to break away from their perceived role as enablers, and police, who are adding to their training and equipment a drug that counteracts the effects of narcotics.

A mid-valley task force, assembled in November 2015, chaired by Ryan Combs, Samaritan Health Services vice president for primary and specialty services, enlists the help of medical professionals, public health officers, and law enforcement leaders to find ways to reduce the amount of opioid pills in circulation, increase public education on the risks and limits of opioids, find ways to safely dispose of unwanted prescription opioids, provide treatment for people addicted to the medications, and cultivate leadership from state leaders, health plans and coordinated care organizations.

And while such task forces work to affect policy, doctors are getting together to change the way they incorporate the drugs in their treatment methods. More than 100 doctors gathered in Lebanon for a seminar in March, Chronic Opioids: Shifting the Paradigm, to learn more about how to find solutions to the problem.

The types

The seminar's keynote speaker Dr. Anna Lemke, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, addressed the group on the doctor-patient relationship aspect of the problem. Describing a dynamic where patients can manipulate doctors with guilt to get what they want, she used dark humor when she said, If your patients like you, they are more likely to die early.

What that means is that many doctors want favorable reviews, especially online, where open source patient reviews of doctors, similar to rate your professor or Yelp reviews for restaurants, can drive a doctors motivation for prescribing.

Doctors are pleasers, she said. Drug-seeking patients, whether we are consciously aware or not, make us feel anxious.

To illustrate what doctors are fighting when it comes to addicted patients who use manipulation to get drugs, Lemke presented a list of 10 drug-seeking patient types, each with their own descriptive label.

The senator will filibuster, running out the clock with stories and chatter, and then finally ask for a prescription refill at the very end of the visit. Another, the sycophant, will use flattery. The type she calls the exhibitionist will physically show their pain in order to guilt the doctor into prescribing.

The type she calls the dynamic duo, which is usually a patient and mother, works as a team to gain opioids. The city mouse/country mouse plays the part of a hapless traveler who just doesnt know how to get the pills they need. The loser is a patient who constantly says he or she has lost a prescription. Another type, which Lemke called the weekender, is always calling after hours to try to get a prescription refilled.

The doctor shopper will visit multiple offices in a day in order to find a doctor willing to give them opioids, and the bully will loudly complain and threaten to sue if he or she doesnt get drugs.

Maybe most difficult, Lemke said, is the type she calls the twin. This type is a colleague, another health care professional who has become addicted.

Lemke said interacting with patients who are clearly seeking drugs, while identifiable, is still something many doctors have limited experience resisting.

What motivates the drug-seeking behavior, she said, is a complex neurological disorder.

If we really buy into the idea that addiction is a disease, then we know that the need is greater than the conscience, she said. "And if we think of addiction as a chronic relapsing disease, then we can do better to help eliminate the problem. But despite all these interventions, prescription overdose death is increasing."

In terms of solutions, Lemke could only offer guidance for what she calls mindful prescribing. This means limiting prescriptions, reducing the dose and getting urine toxicology screens.

But don't ignore it, she said. Also, reward for good behavior.

After her presentation, one doctor said every first-year medical student should hear her talk.

'A collaborative effort'

Also at the seminar, Doctor James Shames, a Jackson County health officer with Oregon pain guidance, spoke about how doctors can change their habits. He opened with an argument that no real data exists to suggest opioids improve chronic pain.

Doctors are trying to change the way they treat pain, he said. The problem is that they've institutionalized opioids as a solution.

Shames also pointed to a culture of pressure within the profession, and even within society, where nonprescribing doctors are accused of not caring for their patients.

Asked about medical marijuana, such as the pill form Marinol, as an option other than narcotic prescriptions, Shames said there is a reasonable argument that marijuana is a good alternative. He added that in states where marijuana is available, opioid abuse is down.

You know what, it's an imperfect system, he said. It's a crazy world. Drugs are everywhere.

To countermand the drug-seeking efforts of the different types of patients, a tracking system exists that lets doctors follow the visits of their patients, effectively catching the doctor shoppers.

Called the Emergency Department Information Exchange, the online system provides access to a patients real-time clinical and utilization data. A quick search of these records can be a valuable tool for emergency room doctors who may suspect their patient is seeking drugs, says Russ McUne, an emergency room doctor at Samaritan Albany General Hospital.

It absolutely has to be a collaborative effort with doctors, said McUne of the effort to combat the opioid epidemic.

For his part, McUne started as an emergency room doctor 17 years ago, just as the opioid culture was beginning. At the same time, he said, the federal government was advocating for more active pain med prescriptions.

When the Democrat-Herald spoke with him recently at Albany General Hospital, he had been on shift for just three hours, and three of his nine patients had opioid addiction problems.

Its a delicate thing, he said of the business of trying to sense whether a patient is seeking drugs. We cant over-judge patients.

McUne added that doctors know theyre going to get burned once in a while when it comes to drug-seeking.

Sometimes a doctor will just prescribe 10 Vicodins, for example, just to get the patient to stop complaining, he said.

McUne also said the medical community really has done a lot to cause the problem, and that there are doctors who have a track record of over-prescribing.

In fact, according to the state of Oregon Prescription Drug Abuse task Force, the state has experienced a 450 percent increase in the number of deaths from prescription drug overdoses, and more people die each year from prescription drug overdoses than from automobile accidents.

But maybe most telling is this: McUne is hearing from the financial planning community that their businesses are suffering because clients who may build a large portfolio will turn up dead from opioid overdose.

When Im hearing from financial planners that we have a drug problem, thats a real big issue, he said.

New hope

As an alternative to prescriptions, McUne said doctors have started to refer patients to a pain management plan as a treatment alternative. Still, he allows, some patients really do need the drugs for legitimate reasons.

But maybe a bright spot, McUne said, is that younger doctors are much more aware of the problem.

The pendulum has swung the other way, he said. New doctors are more connected to the internet and have a higher sense of the addiction problem.

Street crime

While medical professionals work to change their culture of prescription, law enforcement personnel continue to be challenged with both prescription and illicit narcotic crimes. The Albany Police Department's Street Crimes Unit deals regularly with opioid theft, addiction, and a spillover to heroin and other illicit drug abuse.

Detective Travis Giboney said when just a decade ago, the typical heroin addict was the stereotypical fringe character: a street person, probably homeless, spending time in and out of jail. Now, he said, people with narcotics addictions come from every social category. This, he said, is the result of young athletes and professionals being prescribed opioids, developing an addiction and finally being turned away as a drug-seeking patient by the medical community.

Lemke, the Stanford doctor, calls such patients "opioid refugees." These patients will seek the much cheaper heroin to maintain their supply.

The interactions between police and addicted people have become so common that Albany police officers in July will begin carrying doses of a narcotic blocking agent called NARCAN, or Naloxone, as clinicians know it. NARCAN blocks the effects of narcotic drugs, but does not treat addiction. Officers will use the prescription drug to bring unresponsive suspects back to lucidity ahead of emergency medical personnel arriving.

The value for officers being able to administer NARCAN in the field is a matter of life and death, said Albany Police Capt. Eric Carter. He described his interactions, when he was a patrol officer, with unresponsive addicts as "a helpless feeling," because he did not have a way to revive a person and could only stand by until the medics arrived. Being able to dose them with NARCAN, he said, will allow officers to save lives. In fact, he said, the city of Medford issues NARCAN to its officers, and this year has saved nine people who otherwise would have died.

Still, the situation is urgent. On June 21, Albany police responded to a heroin overdose death, and Carter said he and fellow officers look forward to being able to save more through NARCAN delivery. McUne was instrumental in arranging for police to carry the counteracting drug, and was happy to learn they were eager to deploy the drug.

"I thought there might have been pushback from the police, but they're really excited about it," he said.

Another value for police, said McUne, is that the drug carries no side effects, so officers can use the full 4 milligrams on a patient. And because it only works to counteract the effects of narcotics, it can also be used as a diagnostic tool; if the patient doesn't wake up, then the officer can rule out narcotics as a cause.

One problem for patients with a particularly severe problem is that NARCAN can take them straight to withdrawal.

"For some patients, theyll go right to the bad part," he said.

Still, while narcotic addiction withdrawal is painful, it generally is not fatal.

Federal work

Beyond the street-level attempts to address the problem, others, such as U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, are working to change federal policy on the issue. Wyden, Oregon's senior senator, said a proper approach to the problem would address three facets of the epidemic.

"To get this done right, you have to have enforcement, prevention and treatment working in tandem," he said. "If all you do is enforcement, if all you do is take away choices, the addiction doesn't magically vanish."

Wyden said an opioid bill will be considered in Congress in the coming months.

"We (in Oregon) have the fourth highest level of opioid abuse in the country," he said. "And people need to recognize that just going at this in a parcel kind of way probably sounds superficially appealing, but it's not going to solve the problem."
The AFL Commission and all club presidents, including Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, and chief executives will be delivered an extraordinary address on prevention of violence against women at their next meetings. AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has invited advocacy group Our Watch to separately address the next AFL Commission meeting in July and then talk to all AFL presidents and CEOs about preventing violence against women and children when the club chiefs meet in September. Eddie McGuire will be among club presidents addressed by the Our Watch group Credit:Luis Ascui The move comes after McGuire and North Melbourne president James Brayshaw were both forced to publicly apologise for a Triple M segment in which they laughed about holding Fairfax journalist Caroline Wilson's head under ice water. Our Watch CEO Mary Barry requested the round table of all club presidents after the McGuire comments.

"Last week's comments show much more work there is to be done. The Commission is determined that our code be part of the solution to violence against women, and we want our partnership with Our Watch to deliver real and measurable change," Fitzpatrick said. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan will meet with Ms Barry on Monday to discuss "[mapping] out a plan of action for the AFL's commitment to prevent violence against women". Only a week before the radio comments were made on Queen's Birthday the AFL had joined the ARU, Netball Australia and the NRL in signing on to work with Our Watch to take action to prevent violence against women. "Violence against women is no joke. There is clear evidence to show that sexism and misogynistic attitudes create a culture where violence against women is tolerated," Ms Barry said. "What the last week has shown is that Australians will no longer accept comments that trivialise or jokes that condone violence against women. Our culture is changing for the better and no one, including the sporting community, can afford to be left behind," Ms Barry said.
Australia has proved a bright spot for Swedish fast-fashion giant H&M, with sales surging more than 50 per cent in a highly-competitive market.

Fresh from Wesfarmers department store boss Guy Russo warning that H&M and its international peers Zara and Uniqlo will "regret making the trip Down Under", H&M has revealed that sales in Australia rose to 449 million Swedish krona ($A71 million) in the May quarter.

This is a 61 per cent year-on-year improvement in Australian dollar terms. In the previous May quarter the clothing accessories, footwear and homewear chain reported Australian sales of 298 million Swedish krona ($A47 million).

The latest Australian results were boosted by the opening of two stores in the quarter, taking its total local store numbers to 13.
Its expense aside, it is polarising by design. It will cleaver a schism in the community soon after a national election  a time the winning party should spend unifying the country, not exposing more fissures.

With Malcolm Turnbull repelling Labor's attacks against the plebiscite with his impassioned defense of its merits, it is worth pivoting attention to the vote and how it will affect Australia.

With the likely return of the Coalition government on July 2 has come the shift of attention to Australia's next national poll: the plebiscite on marriage equality.

And it has no binding legal authority. It has been well-publicised that many Coalition members will exercise their conscience and vote against any marriage equality bill, plebiscite or no plebiscite. The vote will, therefore, be a conscience vote anyway  one that could be held the day Parliament resumes, and one that would likely bare a similar result.

But besides the waste of time and money, and the inevitable divisiveness the vote will bring, a vote on marriage equality is disturbing for a larger reason. Because a vote on marriage equality  a vote on the rights of an Australian minority  is not an exercise in democracy but an abrogation of it.

The Australian Christian Lobby has spent this election pleading with Bill Shorten to 'have their say' on marriage equality if he is elected. However, voting on the rights of a minority is fundamentally anathema to the democratic experiment: simply, it is not the ACL's right, nor anyone else's right, to prohibit the rights or another  even if they have the support of the rest of the community.

While a vote for all is, of course, a fundamental right in any democracy, it is not the only right. Nor it is a tool to be used to make every important decision.

Political equality, too, is as central to legitimate concepts of democracy as voting is. And political equality means that all citizens of a country are entitled to the same rights as each other, and that these cannot be arbitrarily rejected because of the tide of public sentiment of the day.
There are very few definitive rules in politics, but one of them is that whenever a media and intellectual consensus emerges it is almost always wrong. So it is today when so many journalists agree that the Prime Minister's declining poll numbers stem from his failure to implement more progressive policies.

This is the narrative: on refugees, the republic, climate change and same-sex marriage, it's too bad Malcolm Turnbull has caved to the Liberal Party's conservative rump since he came to power last September. If only the Member for Wentworth had embraced his inner small-l liberal beliefs, he would have secured, if not a landslide, then certainly a very comfortable governing majority.

Illustration: Jim Pavlidis

But then comes the paradox: if Turnbull has been disloyal to the progressive set, what accounts for the hostility that he provokes on the right?

In a lacerating article for The Spectator Australia, Neil Brown says the most interesting feature of the election campaign is "the distinct lack of enthusiasm among Liberal voters". It is also the first time, the former federal deputy Liberal leader writes, that "normally reticent Liberal voters have approached me and told me that they will not be voting for the party".
Indigenous issues have received lamentably little attention in this federal election campaign, given the policy and moral challenges of the appalling disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. So The Age welcomes that the notion of a treaty emerged during Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's recent solo appearance on the ABC's Q&A program. After agreeing British settlement of Australia should be described as an invasion and reaffirming his support for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, Mr Shorten also said we need to look further ahead, to talk about what a post-constitutional recognition of Indigenous people would entail. Asked whether this could look like a treaty, he concurred. Ilustration: Matt Golding Unfortunately, the government moved quickly to stymie the debate. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull accused Mr Shorten of potentially derailing the planned referendum on constitutional recognition, claiming discussion of a future treaty would jeopardise existing support for the referendum. This is an indication of the political sensitivity surrounding Indigenous issues. Peak Indigenous bodies have collectively released a historic plea for Indigenous voices to be heard and respected in the election campaign. They released a plan, the Redfern Statement, to address the plight of this marginalised group.

While it's not surprising that both parties want to stay "on message" during the election campaign, shutting down the treaty discussion was an error, and another example of our political leaders ignoring the Indigenous community's views. Many Indigenous leaders in recent days have publicly restated their support for a legally binding treaty, including the chairman of the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, and National Congress of Australia's First Peoples chief executive Geoff Scott. The Greens have also backed a treaty, which, while a legal document, is also fundamentally important symbolically. Mr Scott argues that the government has long ignored calls for a treaty and he is among many in the Indigenous community who argue that debate over a treaty and constitutional change can take place at the same time. There is a clear logic to the argument that you cannot have recognition without having a relationship, and you cannot have a relationship without some formal understanding of settlement  that is, a treaty. While calls for a treaty from the Indigenous community are not new, political leaders have rarely seized the issue. Bob Hawke promised a treaty when he was prime minister, John Howard quashed the proposition in 2000 and no prime minister has championed the idea since. Among the US, Canada and New Zealand, countries with comparable settlement histories, Australia is alone in failing to recognise Indigenous sovereignty with a treaty. Mr Turnbull says now is not the right time, that discussion of a treaty would muddy the waters for constitutional reform, but why is it never the right time for this issue to be considered? The Indigenous community suffers shocking outcomes in such areas as health, employment, incarceration and education.
All political leaders have their own quirks and peccadilloes when it comes to being interviewed.

John Howard used to prefer doing live talkback radio; it enabled him to talk directly to voters without the fear of some demonic leftie producer in the edit suite chopping up his words in a way that didn't suit him.

Kevin Rudd's distrust of journalists went  if anything  even further than Howard's; he tended to take matters into his own hands and ask himself questions, and press conferences would regularly turn into a festival of relentless self-interrogation. ("Do I wish that the global economic crisis hadn't happened? You bet. Do I think this government is capable of dealing with its challenges methodically and effectively? Yes I do," and so forth.)

But the past week has given us something completely, exhilaratingly new: A political leader interviewed by his own wife.
How'd that work out for him? Say, let's do that too! If this all sounds weirdly familiar, it's because "kick the can down the road to placate destabilising elements in the party" is the reason that Tony Abbott invented the plebiscite on same-sex marriage back in August last year. And the rise in racial abuse is some likely foreshadowing of what lies ahead for Australia's queer folk if we go ahead with said plebiscite - after all, we've already had the Australian Christian Lobby ask that hate speech laws be suspended so they can campaign without worrying about how they're inciting hatred, and the treasurer Scott Morrison has merrily dismissed the idea of anti-gay sentiment being unleashed on the grounds that he too experiences bigotry for his religious beliefs, which is apparently equivalent for some reason.

But even if you wrongly assume that the campaigns around the plebiscite won't become a virulent abuse-fest, there's the fact that Malcolm Turnbull has just announced that it's utterly unnecessary since MPs and senators will be left to vote on their own conscience without being bound by either a party line or, for that matter, the result of the plebiscite. Which is fine, beca hold on: if we're going to have a free vote on marriage equality after the plebiscite, why the hell are we having a plebiscite at all? A short history of avoiding responsibility The argument thus far has been that legislating about the legal definition of marriage is far too important a change for the parliament to do by, say, having a vote on the matter. As arguments go it's inconveniently bull: partially because parliament did exactly that in 2004, and mainly because the High Court determined that federal parliament has the sole and exclusive preserve of legislating about marriage when it overturned the ACT's brief attempt at legalising same sex marriage in December 2013.

When marriage equality bills were introduced into the 44th Parliament throughout the first half of 2015 by senator David Leyonhjelm, the Greens and Labor, then-PM Tony Abbott refused to even table them on the grounds that "If our parliament were to make a big decision on a matter such as this, it ought to be owned by the parliament and not by any particular party." That changed the second that parliament was faced with a bill which owned "not by any particular party" introduced by Liberal backbencher Warren Entsch and Labor MP Terri Butler and seconded by a multi-party coalition of Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro, Labor MP Laurie Ferguson, independents Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie, and the Greens' Adam Bandt. Then the goalposts were hastily moved: "The disposition,"the PM Tony Abbott proudly explained in August 2015, "is that it should happen through a people's vote rather than simply through a Parliament's vote." Turnbull maintained this line after taking power, not least because it was a condition that the National Party set in order to maintain the Coalition. He made the completely baseless claim at the time that "When the Australian people make their decision, that decision will stick. It will be decisive. It will be respected by this government and by this parliament and this nation. If you imagine that any government would spend over $150 million consulting every Australian on an issue of this kind and then ignore their decision, then they really are not living in the real world."

However, the problem was that many members of the government were perfectly happy to ignore the decision if they didn't like what the Australian people said: indeed, Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz declared that "Every member of parliament will make up his or her mind after the plebiscite is held" - although, in Eric's defence, there's a strong case to be made that he has never lived anywhere near the real world. Questions were subsequently asked about how it would be legally possible for a non-binding public vote to somehow oblige MPs and senators to vote in a law. And it turns out the answer is simple: it can't! And, as the PM has made clear, it won't! And of course, this wildly contradictory series of obvious rule-changing and evasions would all makes sense if the plebiscite was just an expensive, time-wasting method of placating the special terror-feelings of social conservatives in the Liberal and National Parties, but that would be cynical. No, clearly the plebiscite was a great way to avoid having a free vote by spending $160 million in order to decide er, whether or not to have a free vote. And if it means giving bigots a weapon to use against their fellow citizens: well, apparently that's just a bonus.
BURLESQUE

DITA VON TEESE - STRIP STRIP HOORAY!

Forum Theatre, June 25-26

    Dita von Teese is the Gypsy Rose Lee of the 21st century, refashioning American burlesque with unparalleled glamour and imagination. You only had to glance around the audience at Strip Strip Hooray! to realise how broad an appeal her striptease really has. Dita Von Teese. Yes, a few furtive-looking heterosexual men came solo, but they were vastly outnumbered by hipsters, gays and lesbians, middle-aged couples, and groups of young women on a tear. Watching von Teese, it's hard not to think of You Gotta Get a Gimmick and the advice sung by the stripper chorus in Gypsy: "If you wanna make it, twinkle while you shake it If you wanna grind it, wait till you've refined it If you wanna bump it, bump it with a trumpet!"

Here is a burlesque artist with twinkle, refinement and horn out the wazoo, though her performance goes way beyond mere gimmickry. Each dance becomes an eccentric, erotic fantasia, confected with lavish sensuality and elaborate attention to detail. Von Teese opens with her own inimitable take on the "dirty martini". She slowly divests herself of a resplendent gown encrusted with thousands of Swarovski crystals, before leaping into oversized martini glass to languorously bathe and splash around with an olive sponge. High society yields to a glittering country and western sequence, in which she unholsters her hourglass figure (the result of years of devoted corsetry) as cowboys in hotpants scoot across the stage. An eye-popping finish features the artist bucking and rolling on a mechanical bull. There's a glorious bird of paradise routine unleashed from inside a cage, and von Teese pulls out all the stops for the finale, set in an oriental opium den, with fans and screens and cherry blossom confetti. None of the six supporting acts hold a candle to the mesmerising sight of von Teese, though they bust out every imaginable kind of tassel-twirl and titty-trick, from Mexican jumping boobs to the voluptuous kiss of a spider woman.
SWEET HOME  Sweet Home and east Linn County residents are invited to a Share Fair Wednesday to learn about a number of community initiatives that could affect current and future quality of life.

The information session will begin at 6 p.m. at the Jim Riggs Community Center, 878 18th Ave.

Presenters at the fair will include:

 The Oregon Department of Transportation, discussion Sheep Creek Bridge work and Pioneer Mountain on Highway 20.

 Sweet Home Mill Redevelopment Project.

 Linn Shuttles Sweet Home to Clear Lake Recreation Shuttle and Saturday Shuttle to Foster Lake.

 The South Santiam Watershed Council.

 The South Santiam All Lands Collaborative.

 The Sweet Home Economic Development Group, discussing plans for the Knife River property.

 The Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce.

 The Visit Linn Coalition.

 The U.S. Forest Service, discussing the Cascadia Day Use Area and Trout Creek planning area.

 The Ford Alumni working group on economic development.

 The Linn County Roads Department, discussing the Quartzville project and potential North River Drive improvements.

 SHARE.

 The Federal Livability Initiative.

Other presenters have been invited as well.

From 6:30-7 p.m. there will be short introductions before returning to open input and information-sharing.

Snacks will be provided.

The event is hosted by the South Santiam All Lands Collaborative.

For more information, contact Sharon Kanareff, 541-401-4811, or sharon.ssalc@gmail.com.
Labor believes it's treating us like adults. Fully-developed human beings would have no problem with a set of policies that made the budget deficit worse over the short term while setting it up for the long-term. That's what Labor's panel of experts (two of whom have worked for the Coalition) say the policies will do.

But because we're not all as rational as those experts, Labor is opening itself up to an enormous scare campaign.

Late on Sunday the Coalition was beginning a "forensic" examination of Labor's 32-page costings document. On Monday Treasurer Scott Morrison and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will hold a Canberra press conference in which they will pick it apart bit by bit. By not delaying its costings announcement until hours before the poll (as the Coalition did last time) Labor has left itself wide open.
Miranda Kerr jetted home with a view of grooming our next Victoria's Secret Angel, however none of the aspiring models she mentored on set of Australia's Next Top Model asked how she managed to become one of our most successful fashion exports.

"They didn't ask me those questions and I was like 'Girls, I'm here just ask me whatever you want' but they were a little nervous," Kerr, the Dolly Model Competition winner who went on to become the first Australian ambassador for the lingerie conglomerate, told Fairfax Media.

Miranda Kerr in Japan prior to her trip home to Australia. Credit:Jun Sato

"The girls are a lot more experienced than what I was. I had no idea. But I feel like the internet has really helped with that. Social media wasn't around when I was young. When I started modelling, I remember walking into my first photo shoot and seeing all the clothes on the racks and I was 'Oh, yeah maybe I should wear this' and they were like 'Ah no, you're going to be wearing this'. I thought I got to choose what to wear, I didn't even know what a stylist was. I was so innocent, these girls are a lot more on top of their game than was I ever was."

Instead of imparting her 20-year knowledge garnered on the international fashion scene, the wily model, who finished at number six on Forbes' list of the World's Highest Paid Models last year, used the opportunity to promote her organic beauty line to the star struck contestants.
"This photo haunts me," says Sarah. "My soul was empty at this time. I felt nothing." "When I lived there you couldn't even see the back wall," says Sarah, of the kitchen in the house where she grew up. Sarah tried to stem the tide of junk her Mum brought home by smuggling it out in her backpack every morning and dumping it in the bin on the way to school. But it was pointless. When it got really bad, one of her brothers took the fly screen off his second-storey bedroom window and used a ladder to come and go. "You know something's wrong when your mother picks up five of every recipe card every time she goes to the supermarket but never cooks anything, and then you get in trouble for throwing one away," says Sarah.

Clinical psychologist and hoarding expert Chris Mogan says extreme hoarding, especially when it turns into squalor, can severely impact a child's psychosocial development. "For some people a little bit of hoarding doesn't interfere with their parenting, but for others there's neglect," Dr Mogan says. "You can get the impossible situation where you've got squalor where the appliances aren't working, where there's no cooking going on, the toilets are blocked, the animals are dominating the house." Mogan, of the Anxiety Clinic in Richmond, says children in hoarding households can be malnourished, bullied at school because of their appearance, and often fall behind in their studies. He has gone into many homes where the children have been removed. "These kids don't have friends visiting to play and they are not encouraged to go elsewhere so there's a real fortress mentality," he says. "In some situations children are going off to private school and coming home to bedrooms where they don't sleep on beds, but on newspapers on the floor." Dr Chris Mogan from The Anxiety Clinic. Credit:Jesse Marlow

In some cases it can be fatal. A five-year-old boy died in 2012 after cutting his foot on an opened can of cat food in his family's putrid Melbourne home. More commonly, the risks are associated with fire or falling objects. One of Sarah's brothers almost died when he was nine after catching rotavirus iglesia, a severe gastrointestinal disease normally contracted in third world countries. "He was drying out, his body shrivelled up like a sultana," Sarah recalls. "It was lucky one of the doctors at the hospital had seen it before." In Sarah's childhood home the family's pet dog, a poodle named Ebony who was blinded by her own matted hair, lived in the main bathroom. The other animals  52 guinea pigs, three cats, chickens, rabbits, mice and rats  overran the house. If Sarah wanted a shower she would first have to climb over the junk that walled in her Mum's ensuite (her Mum eventually moved in there). Sarah's only escape was her local dance school, where she did classical ballet. She also loved scouts. For a while she lived next door with her grandmother, who taught her to knit. At one point she was removed for her own safety and put in foster care. What went on inside Sarah's suburban house was kept secret from the outside world. The children were warned to stay silent, visitors forbidden. Sarah, whose uniforms were always clean and ironed, showed no signs of the horror at home. She never even told her father about the hoarding, which started soon after her parents separated.

Former mental health worker Tania Reid, who specialises in helping hoarders, says children who grow up in these households often carry the burden alone. "There's the cliche that you see on Today Tonight where all the stuff is spilling out of the house onto the footpath, but this also occurs in secret in ordinary looking houses," says Reid, who has written a children's book on the topic. "Children either join in with the person who's hoarding because that's the only way to get their attention and their approval, or children will leave young." Tania Reid has written a children's book, Credit:Michael Clayton-Jones MCJ Sarah moved out for good at 16 and is estranged from her mother and two brothers. She finished high school by distance education and went on to study social work. The first half of her life trapped in that house still affects her sense of identity today.

"All of my childhood memories, most photographs, my birth certificate, my ballet and scout achievements, they're all gone," Sarah says. "That is something which should never and would never have happened if not for growing up there." And she has unanswered questions for those who were meant to step in when there was every sign of neglect at home. Why weren't questions asked by the health department when her brother was sick? Why did the police fail to chase up social workers on one of the many times they were called to the house? Why did child services not check in after her foster care placement ended? "Why did they all leave me there?" Sarah didn't return to her mother's house when she became homeless earlier this year, having being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and unable to work and pay her rent. Instead, she bought a tent and lived in a caravan park on the outskirts of the city, got a job in a takeaway shop and saved up enough money for a new rental in Melbourne. Anything was better than going home. Her plan now is to become a children's counsellor specialising in helping young people who grow up in hoarding households. In her spare time Sarah knits stuffed toys the way her grandmother showed her and gives them away to friends' children. "If I could ever help anyone through this, I would," she says. "No child should have to live the way we did as children."
The owners of St Kilda's controversial Gatwick Private Hotel have received several offers to buy the property, raising expectations a multimillion-dollar sale will soon proceed.

Agents for the notorious Fitzroy Street boarding house believe the sale could be completed possibly within a week.

The Gatwick Hotel in St Kilda is owned by sisters Yvette Kelly and Rose Banks. Credit:Penny Stephens

The Gatwick has been advertised at $11 million to $12 million and is expected to reach that range.
"Millions" of taxpayer dollars are being spent on defusing violence between extreme left and right-wing protesters, Premier Daniel Andrews says.

And the Police Association warns that regularly committing major police resources to rallies would soon become unsustainable.

Up to 400 police gathered in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday to control rallies by anti-fascist and anti-immigration protesters  the first time the sparring groups have met since a violent clash in Coburg in May.

Sunday's massive police presence helped prevent a repeat of the violence.
Police are investigating the death of a woman who fell from a balcony onto a rooftop in the CBD on Sunday.

Firefighters performed a high-angle rescue to retrieve the woman, believed to be in her 30s, after she fell from an apartment balcony on Queen Street just after 4pm.

MFB crews had to use a crane to pull the woman from where she landed, six storeys above street level. She suffered severe injuries and was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she later died.

Police are not treating the woman's death as suspicious and she is yet to be formally identified.
A Perth driver claims he has CCTV footage which shows a parking inspector falsely chalking his car and issuing a fine, despite alleging his vehicle was parked legally.

On June 16, Tri Pham parked his van in a 30 minute loading zone at 10.06am for seven minutes and had his tyre chalked by a passing City of Perth parking inspector.

The footage shows Mr Pham driving away from the bay at 10.13am and returning to the same spot again at 10.52am.

During the time he was away, the inspector can be seen walking past the loading zone and seeing another vehicle parked in the spot.
Major Crime Squad detectives are on their way to the Goldfields to investigate the death of a man at a campsite near Leonora on Saturday night.

The man was found unresponsive by local police around 8.50pm at a campsite about eight kilometres north of Kookynie.

Major Crime Squad detectives will travel to Kookynie to investigate the death of a man at a campsite.

"Emergency first aid was provided, however the man could not be revived," a police spokesman said.

"A second person was located with injuries that required medical treatment.
Senior Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, the highly regarded Hilary Benn, was sacked on Sunday after calling on Mr Corbyn to quit as leader.

Brussels: British politics has descended into yet more crisis inthe wake of the Brexit vote, with the opposition Labour party moving closer to replacing its out-of-favour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The shambolic state of the Opposition effectively voids calls for a general election in the wake of the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, with neither the governing Conservative Party or the Labour opposition appearing in any fit state to guide the country through the Brexit crisis.

Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is fighting for political survival. Credit:PA

One senior EU official conceded the UK was in "deep political crisis", and that EU officials were urging European leaders to give the country time to recover stability before launching the formal divorce process.

"We, as the EU 27, stand ready to enter into this process swiftly and we expect the (Article 50) notification as soon as possible," the official said ahead of Tuesday's meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

"But ... everyone also understands that right now there is quite a significant crisis in the UK, a crisis which results from the outcome of the referendum.
Oregon State Police troopers are continuing to investigate a collision that killed a motorcyclist shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday on Old Salem Road at the on-ramp of Interstate 5.

According to police, a 1995 Kenworth truck tractor towing a chip trailer had been traveling south on Old Salem Road and began to make a left turn onto the Interstate 5 southbound onramp.

The truck turned in front of a northbound 1995 Kawasaki motorcycle, which crashed, killing the operator, Kevin R. Argo, 39, of Lebanon. Emergency personnel pronounced him deceased at the scene.

The operator of the truck, Ruben L. Defoor, 79, of Albany told police he was unaware of the crash and thus did not stop. He was later located and is cooperating with the investigation, troopers said.

The onramp was closed for several hours Sunday during the investigation, opening shortly after noon. OSP was assisted by Albany Fire, the Linn County Sheriff's Office and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Troopers responded to three fatal motorcycle wrecks in all this weekend.

Friday evening in Lane County, Michael Lucier, 56, of the unincorporated area of Swisshome, Oregon, died when his 2004 Harley Davidson motorcycle failed to make a corner on Highway 36 near Mapleton and struck a 1999 Ford Ranger head-on. The driver of the Ranger was not injured.

Saturday evening in Josephine County, motorcyclist Patrick Michael Daley, 57, of Cave Junction died when his 2001 Triumph left the road on a corner and struck a tree on Highway 46 near Cave Junction.
London: Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking legislation on a British exit from the bloc, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 per cent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 per cent in favour of an exit from the bloc.

Under the UK's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU may have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments.
When the two most prominent third-party candidates are mentioned, Mrs Clinton leads Mr Trump by only 10 points, 47 per cent to 37 per cent, with the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson at 7 per cent and the Green Party's Jill Stein at 3 per cent. The latest polling on Trump's comments on women, minorities and Muslims. Credit:Washington Post/ABC As the hard-fought general election gets underway, Mr Trump's political standing is on dangerous ground. Fifty-six per cent of the public at large say the celebrity business mogul stands against their beliefs, while 64 per cent say he does not have the necessary credentials to be president. Fifty-six per cent feel strongly that he is unqualified. Nearly one-third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say Mr Trump is unqualified for office, and 18 per cent say he does not represent their beliefs, exposing deep fissures in the GOP base as Mr Trump struggles to unite conservatives going into next month's national convention in Cleveland. Republican presidential candiadte Donald Trump wearing a white baseball cap. Credit:AP

Then there are the Americans who plan to vote for him despite their disapproval. For instance, 18 per cent of respondents who found Mr Trump's comments about the judge racist, 15 per cent of those who think his comments are generally biased against women, minorities or Muslims and 11 per cent of those who think he is unqualified say they support Mr Trump over Mrs Clinton. Mr Trump enjoys a big lead with those who want a new direction for the country, 64 per cent to Mrs Clinton's 26 per cent. After eight years of President Barack Obama, a majority of Americans, 56 per cent, say they want to elect a president who can set the nation in a new direction. Forty-seven per cent say they feel so strongly. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaking in Cleveland. Credit:AP The poll, conducted in the immediate aftermath of a massacre in Orlando that was perpetrated by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, showed Mr Obama's approval rating at 56 per cent - its highest level in Post polling since May 2011, after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Mr Obama is more popular now than Republicans George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush in the waning months of their presidencies.

Donald Trump's poll plunge from September 2015 to June 2016. Credit:Washington Post-ABC News Although Mr Obama's approval rating has not reached the level of former Democratic president Bill Clinton's in 2000, his standing suggests that he could be a relatively effective surrogate for Mrs Clinton on the campaign trail. The survey of 1001 randomly selected adults found a slight uptick in the share of people who identify as Democrats, from 33 per cent in May's poll to 36 per cent this month. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Credit:AP Self-described Republicans accounted for 24 per cent of those polled this month, ticking down from 25 per cent in May, while independents made up 33 per cent. This shift in party identification, however, accounts for less than half of Mrs Clinton's gains in the new poll.

In May, Mr Trump was more competitive with Mrs Clinton because he had just secured the Republican nomination and the party's electorate was coalescing around his candidacy. Mrs Clinton's unfavourable ratings among registered voters tied their record high last month, matching Mr Trump's at 57 per cent and weighing her down. But that dynamic reversed over the past month, with Democrats unifying behind Mrs Clinton and Republicans expressing fresh doubts about Mr Trump. While 88 per cent of Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents say they support Mrs Clinton, a smaller 79 per cent of Republican-leaning voters back Mr Trump. And there is evidence in the poll that the emergence of Mr Trump as the Republican Party's standard bearer has pushed some GOP voters out of the fold. Just 69 per cent of self-identified Republicans who supported a candidate other than Mr Trump in the primary say they now support Mr Trump; 13 per cent say they back Mrs Clinton, while 11 per cent volunteer "neither". There is also little evidence that Mr Trump is winning over Democratic primary voters. On the campaign trail in recent weeks, Mr Trump has made direct appeals to disaffected supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders. But the poll finds that just 8 per cent of voters who backed Sanders in the primaries say they support Mr Trump, down from 20 per cent in May. A 61 per cent majority of all Americans say Mrs Clinton is qualified to serve, while Mrs Clinton maintains a 2-to-1 advantage on which candidate has the better personality and temperament to be president.

The poll finds that 66 per cent say Mr Trump's controversial comments about women, minorities and Muslims show an unfair bias; 68 per cent say Mr Trump's criticisms of Judge Gonzalo Curiel were racist; and 85 per cent say the comments were inappropriate. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 36 per cent say Mr Trump's comments show he is unfairly biased toward certain groups while 39 per cent say the Curiel comments were racist and 71 per cent say they were inappropriate. With such broad public disapproval of Mr Trump's controversial comments, Republican elected officials have tiptoed awkwardly around their likely nominee. Mr Trump has chastised fellow party leaders when they have distanced themselves or denounced his comments. The poll found that 62 per cent of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents want GOP leaders to speak out against Mr Trump when they disagree with his views, while 35 per cent think they should avoid criticising him. The June 12 shooting rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando, which killed 49 people and the gunman, tested both Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump, who took divergent approaches with their responses, both temperamentally and substantively.
GM Dominates the Top 10 in Study of Most American-Made Vehicles







DETROIT 2016-06-20; For the fourth consecutive year, Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles are the leaders of the Made in America Automotive Index produced by American Universitys Kogod School of Business.

The Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia together tied for No. 1, while 17 other General Motors vehicles ranked in the Top 10.

The index is authored by Frank DuBois, a global supply chain management expert and professor at American University in Washington, D.C. More comprehensive than other studies of its kind, the Kogod index ranks models based on seven weighted data points including several factors unaddressed by the American Automotive Labeling Act (AALA), the basis for made in America automotive studies.

Kogod's method improves on AALA data by incorporating a more comprehensive research methodology, providing consumers with a more accurate view of their vehicle's composition. The Kogod study considers:

1. Profit Margin: location of the automaker's global headquarters

2. Labor: where the vehicle is assembled

3. Research and Development: location of R&D activities

4. Inventory, Capital, and Other Expenses: location of assembly

5. Engine: location of production

6. Transmission: location of production

7. Body, Chassis and Electrical Components

According to the AALA, if 75 percent or more of a cars parts by value come from the U.S. or Canada, its considered a domestic product.

Click here to view the complete 2016 Kogod Made in America Auto Index.

General Motors Co. and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com.

The Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1955. Committed to the belief that profit and purpose are not at odds, Kogod believes purpose-driven individuals create sustainable organizations which shape a thriving global economy. Kogod provides graduates with a rigorous framework of business education and research to develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills, prepares them to work and lead in organizations across the private and public sectors spanning the globe, and to understand the broad and enduring impact organizations have on individuals and society. Kogod is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). To learn more about the Kogod School of Business, visit http://www.american.edu/kogod/.
The main event on day one of the wonky nerdfest known as Politicon in Pasadena, California was undeniably the showdown between conservative shit-stirrer Ann Coulter and progressive CNN pundit Van Jones.

In fact, so many of the conferences attendees wanted to check out the debate that organizers had to move the event to a bigger room. As it turned out, a panel about Hillary Clinton featuring names like Paul Begala and Wendy Davis was not nearly as big of a draw and was relegated to the smaller space.

The line to get into the debate, moderated by newly-crowned Politico Playbook co-editor Anna Palmer, snaked around the convention hall corridors, causing the show to start about 30 minutes late. Among the audience members were former MSNBC host Toure and The Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore, who told me, If theres anything here worth eavesdropping on, I figured this was it.

Those two left-leaning media figures were representative of a crowd that was, for the most part, firmly on Van Joness side. Though the former Obama administration green jobs adviser and current CNN commentator may not be as well know as Coulter, he got an enormous ovation upon being introduced while Coulter received only a handful of groans.

The country is about to embark on a general election in which each nominee has a higher unfavorable rating than any who came before them. Democrats will be voting against Donald Trump perhaps even more than Republicans will be voting against Hillary Clinton. Similarly, Jones is probably hated by the right almost as much Coulter is reviled by the left.

Yet it was Coulter who had the first applause line of the panel when she said Bernie [Sanders] is right to challenge Clinton on the corruption of money in politics and what she views as the former Secretary of States too-cozy relationship with Wall Street. Both parties are serving the rich and not serving the voters, she added. Echoing her good friend Bill Maher, Coulter predicted that the UKs Brexit vote could be a seen as a precursor to her preferred presidential candidate, Trump, getting elected in the U.S.

However, any good will she may have gained was undone moments later when she received a loud chorus of boos for claiming that Cesar Chavez was the one who coined the term wetbacks to describe Mexicans crossing into the U.S. illegally (he wasntThe New York Times first used the derogatory term in 1920).

Those types of intentionally provocative statement riled up both the audience and Jones, whose voice started to resemble that of a bad Bill Cosby impersonator as he became more and more agitated.

Countering Coulters argument that President Obama has not been tough enough on immigration, Jones pointed out that many undocumented immigrants refer to him as the Deporter in Chief because he has deported more people than any president who came before him. It is not true that we have an open border, it is not true that the president hasnt done anything, he said, decrying the fact-free environment in which this election seems to be taking place. Jones argued that since Obama strengthened the border through executive action, it was only right that he also attempted to ease deportations the same waybefore those efforts were undone by a hobbled Supreme Court.

When Coulter predicted that immigrants would make up a significant portion of Trumps voters, Jones pushed back, joking that immigrants are bound to love that Trump is being so tough on their cousins and parents. If that were true, he said he would be worried that he is overreacting to Trumps blatant racism. Instead, what he is seeing is culturally different Latino groups, who previously did not see much in common with each other, are now coming together as one in opposition to the type of anti-immigrant hate spewed by Trump. Even Cubans, he pointed out, who are not typically friendly to the left, oppose Trump by enormous margins. Either all of them are mishearing you, or somebody is saying something horribly offensive, he said to loud applause.

To this, Coulter only doubled down, arguing that liberals only think their policies will help immigrant communities and once again predicted that Trump would get the same 30 percent of Latino voters that George W. Bush and John McCain got before him. (For the record, Bush actually won 44 percent of the Latino vote in 2004; Trump trails Clinton by 40 points among the group in one recent poll.) Coulter was greeted with hearty laughter when she added that Trump will definitely get more of the African-American vote than Republicans who came before him did.

On this point, Jones surprisingly agreed, saying, You guys shouldnt laugh at that. If Trump were a more disciplined candidate, he said he may be able to exploit a weakness in the Obama coalition. Namely that Hillary Clinton must get 90-92 percent of the black vote in order to win, something he called an extraordinary requirement. With anyone other than Trump, that might have been a big problem for Democrats.

This was one of the few points on which Coulter and Jones nominally agreed. The rest of the conversation was dominated by a difference of opinion on the topic of political correctness, a characteristic Coulter has said she values in Trump, even if on Saturday she said it is not among his most important strengths. Jones got one of the biggest cheers of the day when he said, in response to the debate over political correctness, It used to be called civility.

For the most part, things remained civil inside this packed room at Politicon on Saturday afternoon. Political junkies from both sides of the spectrum were itching for a fight, but in the end Coulter and Jones managed to make their points without ever literally coming to blows.
No one had a greater effect on how the Vietnam War has been processed in our popular consciousness than Michael Herr, best known as the writer of the book Dispatches and contributor to the screenplays of Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, who died near his home in upstate New York this past Friday. He was 76.

When you go to war, as Herr did, you naturally imagine the possibility of your own death. Ive thought about mine before, not in a grand way, but just as a sort of curiosity: What cemetery (Arlington National Cemetery, or a local place)? What headstone (standard white granite, or marble)? What internment ceremony (military honors, or nothing at all)? And I wonder if during his years covering Vietnam, and later when he wrote about it, if Herr gave much thought to questions of how he would be memorialized, if at all.

Herr took a circuitous route to his war. He attended Syracuse Universityamong his classmates was Joyce Carol Oatesand then dropped out to pursue a writing career and to vagabond through Europe like his idol Ernest Hemingway. He picked up some publishing credentialsNew Leader and Holiday magazinesand then struck a deal with Harold Hayes, then the editor of Esquire, to write a monthly column from Vietnam. Herr stayed for eighteen months, embedding with U.S. troops before anyone knew what an embed was, and returning to write Dispatches while simultaneously suffering an emotional collapse.

The book was an instant success. Fame followed and, eventually, Herr turned his back to escape it, relocating to England for many years. Yet, his influence on our modern conception of war is inescapable. Decades after he finished writing on Vietnam, an entire generation marched off to war in Iraq and Afghanistan with images from his books and the two films to which he contributed flickering in their heads, snatches of his dialogue trigger-ready on their tongues.

As Herr wrote Dispatches forty years ago, he seemed to understand the inextricable marriage between imagination and war:

I keep thinking about all the kids who got wiped out by seventeen years of war movies before coming to Vietnam to get wiped out for good  they were actually making war movies in their heads, doing little guts-and-glory Leatherneck tap dances under fire  They were insane, but the war hadnt done that to them  Wed all seen too many movies, stayed too long in Television City, years of media glut had made certain connections difficult.

Like others who were there for our war in VietnamTim OBrien, Oliver Stone, Karl MarlantesHerr produced works that were, at their core, deeply anti-war. After witnessing so much destruction, it seems little surprise that many whod experienced Vietnam then dedicated themselves to creative pursuits.

Yet did their anti-war message convey?

Quotes from Herrs books and films are deeply embedded within the modern militarys lexicon. Get some! a mantra repeated by a Marine helicopter door gunner in Dispatches as he mows down Vietnamese civilians in a rice paddy means the same thing as Go for it! or Gung ho! in contemporary Marine-speak. I would need all my fingers and toes to tell you how many times Ive watched the impacts of an airstrike or artillery fire mission geyser up clods of earth only to have the forward observer drop the radio handset from his ear and deadpan Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgores line from Apocalypse Now, I love the smell of napalm in the morning. When asked from time to time what it was like to fight in Fallujah, I have yet to come up with an explanation thats better than, Exactly like the battle scenes in Full Metal Jacket. In my rifle platoon we used to even joke, Its your favorite war movie and youre the star.

Does this result speak to Herrs success in conveying the universal qualities of all war? Does it speak to the inextricable feedback loop between life and art? Does it evidence that anti-war books and films from a generation ago failed to convey their message to the following generation? I dont think a definitive answer exits, only a series of contradictions.

Contradiction, after all, is the central truth of war, in which we renounce the bedrock of our humanitythou shalt not killin order to preserve that very same humanity by killing. Or, as John Lennon eloquently put it: Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.

What always set Herrs work apart from his contemporaries was that he intuited this contraction. His books and films never veered into the polemic. He understood that you could hate war and love it, and that this position made you neither a brutal warmonger nor a precious dove. Toward the end of Dispatches, he recounts an episode in which his friend, the photographer Tim Page, is approached by a publisher to write a book, whose purpose would be to once and for all take the glamour out of war. Herr then writes:

Page couldnt get over it.

Take the glamour out of war! I mean how the bloody hell can you do that? Go take the glamour out of a Huey, go take the glamour out of a Sheridan  Can you take the glamour out of a Cobra, or getting stoned on China Beach? Its like taking the glamour out of an M-79, taking the glamour out of Flynn  you cant take the glamour out of that. Its like trying to take the glamour out of sex, trying to take the glamour out of the Rolling Stones. He was really speechless, working his hands up and down to emphasize the sheer insanity of it.

Herr leaves behind a body of work that never shied away from the glamour of war, but it also didnt shy away from the horrors, the humor, and the insanity. Perhaps thats why his work has lasted and will continue to last. He showed us the whole thing and in so doing created his own memorial long ago.
On Valentine's Day, at her Meatpacking District HQ, Diane von Furstenberg held her New York Fashion Week show.

The beautiful people circulated with glasses of champagne, DVF (disclosure: the designer is married to Barry Diller, who is chairman of IAC, the parent company of The Daily Beast) had her own mini supermodel disco party upstairs, with Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Karlie Kloss, Jourdan Dunn, Lily Aldridge, and Irina Shayk.

At the bottom of the DVF HQ staircase stood the New York Times's Bill Cunningham, clad in a padded blue winter coat and his usual chinos, clutching his 35mm camera.

He was taking pictures of the famous and the extremely pretty, nimbly side-stepping around the crush to get the best shot, a beaming smile alternating with a look of beady concentration.

Forget all the fluttering supermodels and fashion-folk: Cunningham, a star not just of the fashion world but also New York, was the center of attention that evening, and was surrounded by people offering their greetings and hugs. It looked as if he would rather just get on with the job.

He was being photographed, and lionized and leapt upon as much as the people he was photographing.

On Saturday, it was announced that the much-loved Cunningham had died, aged 87, after suffering a stroke. An eloquent and richly detailed obituary in the New York Times by Jacob Bernstein summarized Cunningham's many achievements, not least--in 2009--being made a living landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

It was quite something to observe Cunningham at work, at parties, or at fashion shows, or on the street.

In my pictures of Cunningham that night at DVF's show, for example, Cunningham knows people are watching him, but his expression--and his own resistance to posing--shows he would much rather get on with the job that made his name: documenting fashion and the fashionable, or what he deemed those things to be.

Cunningham would scoot about town on a bicycle, do anything to get the perfect shot, and often stationed himself at 5th Avenue and 57th Street to photograph those who would later appear in his 'On The Street' column in the Styles section of the Times. (The galas and swanky events of the evening came under the heading 'Evening Hours.')

Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, told the Daily Beast that Cunningham had had a stroke "maybe 10 days ago. He was working fine until then."

Bernstein told the Daily Beast that Cunningham's formidable work ethic continued up to when he had the stroke: "In the last six months he was still attending three, four events a night. He would come into the office and greet us all with 'Hello kids.' There was a group of people who doted on him. He worked all the way to the end."

Stuart Emmrich, the editor of the New York Times' Styles section, told the Daily Beast: "Bill was a towering figure in the fashion world, but one with remarkable humility and generosity of sprit.

"Once, when Chanel inexplicably gave me a better seat than him, he shyly asked me if I would change places so he would be able to better photograph the runway.

"I said, 'Of course,' and after we swapped places, he looked up at me, grinned and took my picture. It was the highlight of my time as Styles editor."

Cunningham was a true ascetic, the simplicity and frugality of his life in direct contrast to the glamour and super-rich he photographed.

As Bernstein wrote in his marvelous obituary: "He didnt go to the movies. He didnt own a television. He ate breakfast nearly every day at the Stage Star Deli on West 55th Street, where a cup of coffee and a sausage, egg and cheese could be had, until very recently, for under $3.

"He lived until 2010 in a studio above Carnegie Hall amid rows and rows of file cabinets, where he kept all of his negatives. He slept on a single-size cot, showered in a shared bathroom and, when he was asked why he spent years ripping up checks from magazines like Details (which he helped Annie Flanders launch in 1982), said: Moneys the cheapest thing. Liberty and freedom is the most expensive.

Bernstein told the Daily Beast, "Bill had no financial motivation, he was only interested in working."

Cunningham was freelance, Bernstein writes in his obituary, until a 1994 accident when Cunningham was hit by a truck while riding his bike--and he joined the staff of the Times, saying it was "a matter of health insurance."

Born and raised in Boston, as a young man Cunningham dropped out of Harvard. He made women's hats, resisting his parents' efforts for him to get involved in advertising.

He also worked for an upscale couture salon called Chez Ninon. It was Cunningham who dyed black the red Balenciaga suit Jackie Kennedy wore for her husband JFK's funeral.

In journalism, Cunningham worked briefly for John Fairchild at Women's Wear Daily, before they fell out over who was better--Yves St. Laurent or Andre Courreges. (Cunningham thought the latter, and quit after Fairchild killed a piece he'd written about Courreges.)

"He really had an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion," Bernstein said. "He was a sweet guy, but there was no fooling him when it came to style."

When Cunningham was working at The Chicago Tribunes New York office, photographer David Montgomery gave him a camera. Montgomery's advice was: Use it like a notebook.

By the early 1970s, Cunningham had begun taking his now-legendary street-style photos for the New York Times.

"He really is the Big Bang of street-style," Bernstein said. "All of those people doing it today owe a big debt to him." With the anonymous, sexy or striking people he captured on New York's streets, there was "only a brief exchange" before he snapped them, says Bernstein. "He wanted them to respond to the camera without posing for it."

It wasn't the famous that interested Cunningham, but those with style--or a style that he found interesting, and they could be famous or not, and rich or not. The red carpet was too predictable a runway for Cunningham.

As Bernstein said to the Daily Beast, "He was a true advocate for diversity, and he had a very good eye. He photographed everyone, everywhere, white, black, rich, and not-rich."

In 1968, Cunningham embarked on an eight-year project to capture the architecture of neglected neighborhoods "and pair them with the remarkable fashions that defined their societies," as the Daily Beast's Justin Jones put it.

"He paired costumes by prominent society figures, such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitneywho founded the Whitney Museum of American Artand Mrs. J.P. Morgan Jr., with their familys extravagant architecture, capturing how the buildings of the era were influencing fashion," wrote Jones.

The series, titled Bill Cunningham: Facades, went on display at the New York Historical Society, in 2014.

But it was in his love of seeing, and snapping, fashion in transit that Cunningham became best-known, and much-loved, for.

In the Daily Beast in 2010, Philip Gefter, producer of the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, recounted how Cunningham's speediness on his bicycle outpaced the dual energies of the documentary's much younger directors'.

It was in that film that Anna Wintour said, "We all get dressed for Bill," of the rich and famous that Cunningham photographed. Gefter quoted Cunningham as dismissing all the plaudits showered upon him. "I'm just a hack," he told the crew, but Gefter thought that a cover so he could maintain his own independence.

Gefter recalls Cunningham looking dismissive at the paparazzi swearing around Catherine Deneuve after one event. She wasn't of interest to him, he said, as she wasn't wearing anything interesting.

"He wants nothing more than to be able to stand on the street and wait to be thrilled by what someone is wearing," Gefter wrote. "Period. At the same time, he is deeply circumspecthe did drop out of Harvardand he regards his two columns in the Times in the larger context of the paper's news coverage."

Gefter, a former picture editor at the Times, wrote that Cunningham was as scrupulously polite to a mailroom clerk at the paper as he was to a section editor. His biggest fights were with art editors, who thought they knew how best his photographs should be displayed on the page.

No one assigned Cunningham "to go out and find women on the street wearing pink scarves, say," Gefter wrote. "The endless trends he spotswhether leopard patterned bags or backless summer dresses or white leather bootscome from what he, alone, observes."

As for his personal life, in Bill Cunningham New York Cunningham did not answer the question of whether he was gay or not directly, but said he had never had a romantic relationship in his life.

Bernstein wondered if Cunningham's pictures weren't "acts of sublimation" of some kind--the romantic and personal subsumed by the pursuit of his photographic passions.

Whatever, he said Cunningham--who often appeared frustrated at people approaching him as a celebrity--may have also learnt something from favorite subjects like Wintour about how effective a tool mystery was if you are famous, especially in such over-exposing times.

Bernstein laughed as he recalled attending social events alongside Cunningham, where "you would definitely end up feeling like the jerk as he had been going to them for 10, 20, 30 years. He was immensely supportive of certain charities."

In an affectionate and heartfelt 2013 essay in New York, Dan Shaw celebrated Cunningham's "big gay heart," in chronicling, celebrating, and advocating through his pictures gay life in far less publicly visible times, whether through his pictures of AIDS fundraisers or in articles, like one about Fire Island, written at a time when the word 'gay' didn't feature in the New York Times.

Cunningham photographed downtown drag queens, long before drag had made its march into the mainstream, and the buff bare-chested dudes on Pride parades. Shaw writes that Cunningham, in this respect, was a doughty, quiet pioneer--who also, even more sweetly, made Shaw a Valentine's card featuring cutout images of him and his then-boyfriend.

On Saturday, in a letter sent to journalists at the Times, executive editor Baquet wrote: "Dear Colleagues, As you know by now Bill Cunningham, an icon of the fashion world and a beloved member of our Times family, has died. He was a familiar sight across the city, and a warm and smiling presence in our newsroom.

"I suspect that if his negatives were laid out one by one they would tell a vivid visual story of the city, from its social elite to its street fashion. Bill was working until just days ago when he had a stroke. We will miss him dearly. While arrangements have not been made I'm sure there will be a time to celebrate his life and journalism in the coming days."

In a further interview, Baquet told the Daily Beast of Cunningham: "He was one of a kind. He was this hugely ethical man who spent time with the most affluent and stylish people of New York and never let it get to him. He was completely humble, and if you looked at his pictures, they were not just pictures of an affluent New York. He sort of traveled around the city.

"There are people of all colors, shapes, income levels. I just think he loved people and he loved fashion and it showed in his pictures. He was just a remarkable figure. He was one of those names who not only made the fashion world, but as far as Im concerned was one of the principal names of the New York Times."

Baquet lives in Greenwich Village, "and I think I saw him (Cunningham) almost every weekend in the farmers market wandering around and taking pictures, and then I would see him on Madison Avenue taking pictures," he told the Daily Beast.

"He was such a figure, tootling around on his bike, this funny, amazingly warm man. He was once at an event with me and my wifewhich was rare for me to be at one of those events, and the next day on my desk was a picture that he took of us. Just a very sweet, decent human being.

"I think if somebody would have put together all of his pictures, all of his negatives over the years, it would be just a real historical visual portrait of New York."

Or, as Gefter wrote in his 2010 Daily Beast piece: "His (Cunningham's) daunting accomplishment is that he transformed an obsession with clothes into an exacting chronicle of the intersection of fashion and society in New York over half a century."
Based on the headlines, you might think Selma Blair was apologizing for having plowed a monster truck through a convent on Easter Sunday.

What We Can All Learn From Selma Blairs Apology (TIME)

Why Selma Blairs Apology Is Almost Perfect (USA Today)

If Only More Stars Apologized Like Selma Blair (New York Magazine)

In reality, the Cruel Intentions actress who recently played Kris Jenner on FXs The People vs. OJ Simpson, made the mistake of mixing medication with alcohol on a flight from Cancun to Los Angeles, resulting in an embarrassing blackout that got her removed from the plane on a gurney.

Not her finest moment, certainly, butexcepting Blair herselfa victimless crime.

But the celebrity apology, sincere or hollow, is both an art form and requisite ritual.

Stars have apologized for infidelities; bigoted rants; drunken outbursts; perceived slights against other celebrities; real beefs with other celebrities; generally socially unacceptable behavior; or, in Ariana Grandes case, licking donuts and making anti-American remarks.

The public expects celebrities to seek forgiveness and provide explanations for even the most minor infractions. Watching the famous and powerful grovel is a satisfying American pastime, one that briefly convinces observers of celebrity culture that stars really are Just Like Us!

In a statement published exclusively on VanityFair.com, Blair said she was filled with shame over the big mistake she made. She issued a mea culpa, particularly to her fellow passengers and the flight crew, and thanked those who had supported her in the immediate aftermath. I am a flawed human being who makes mistakes, she said. I am truly very sorry.

In 2014, when the actor Shia LaBeouf appeared to be a pathological plagiarist in the throes of a mental breakdown, he orchestrated a bizarre performance art piece titled #IAMSORRY, which saw him sit silently with a brown paper bag over his head as people sat across from him, one by one, in a small Los Angeles gallery.

In 2009, Kanye West went on a brief apology tour after rushing the stage at the VMAs as Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Video of the Year (West told the audience that Beyonce was the real winner).

In an interview with Jay Leno, West admitted his actions were rude and offered that perhaps he should take some time off and analyze how Im going to improve.

Appearing on Ellen, he vowed he would never sit in the audience of another award show again, prompting host Ellen DeGeneres to offer him redemption: Dont say thatWe want to see you out there! (Needless to say, West has been to plenty of awards shows in the last seven yearsand stopped short of storming the stage when Beck won during last years VMAs.)

By 2015, it was Swift who was saying sorryto Nicki Minaj for misinterpreting the hip hop artists tweet about systemic racism in the music industry. Swift, a pop princess who fancies herself a feminist, thought Minaj was taking a swipe at her personally. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke, Swift said. Im sorry, Nicki.

Interestingly, the tone of the celebrity apology hardly changes when the offense is more shocking.

When former Seinfeld star Michael Richards went on the David Letterman Show in 2006 to apologize for his racist tirade in a comedy club, even his apology was perceived by many as offensive.

Richards admitted he, said something pretty nasty things to some Afro AmericansYou know, Im really busted up over this and Im very, very sorry.

Also in 2006, evidently a banner year for celebrity racism, actor Mel Gibson lashed out at the Jews who he claimed were responsible for all the wars in this world when he was arrested for drunk driving. The next day, Gibson apologized for his vitriolic and harmful words. Ten years later, the actor still hasnt recovered from his fall from grace.

After he was arrested in 2009 for beating then-girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown issued a public apology in a two-minute video. I thought it was time that you heard directly from me that Im sorry, he said.

He referred to the assault as the incident and acknowledged his behavior was inexcusable. Brown said he wanted to live his life in such a way that he was truly worth the term role model.

The more that celebrities have become oversharerswith their own social media accounts that document the mundanity of their daily, human livesthe more we expect them to meet our high expectations for their personal behavior, to exist in a way that merits our adulation.

Meanwhile, the cliche of building our idols up solely so we can tear them down is a cliche for a reason. We cant help ourselves from moral grandstanding, and often take perverse pleasure in the drama of watching people prostrate themselves for the mob.

Our standards for apologies from public servants are even higher, and our satisfaction from their failures even greater.

Were used to the image of the politician, his wife standing dutifully beside him, expressing regret for extramarital dalliances and apologizing to the American people as a whole.

Bill Clinton, Anthony Weiner, James McGreevey, Mark Sanford and Eliot Spitzer, to name a few, have all sought public forgiveness for cheating on their spouses and, in Clintons case, lying to the country on public broadcast.

In 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy asked for guidance and prayersin addition to mercyfrom his Massachusetts constituents after fleeing the scene when his car overturned in a body of water in Chappaquiddick, leaving his young female passenger dead.

British journalist David Frost managed to extract a half-apology from Richard Nixon over the Watergate coverup (Elton John was right: Sorry does seems to be the hardest word) during a famous set of interviews in 1977, three years after Nixon resigned from the White House.

There are, of course, the apology refuseniks: late-era Kanye West, for instance, or Donald Trump, who famously told an audience of devout Christians that hed never even asked God for forgiveness.

Refusing to admit wrongdoing further elevates cultural and political leaders like West and Trump as American heroes in some peoples eyes. But to the rest of us, they come across as emotionally illiterate and obtuse.

That most celebrity apologies are insincere, carefully crafted by PR team to protect the stars brand," makes the ostensibly heartfelt ones all the more humanizingand, when done right, more likely to be forgiven, if not forgotten entirely.
In Americas War for the Greater Middle East, Andrew J. Bacevich, one of our most eloquent and incisive students of American foreign policy, military history, and the often-vexed nexus between the two, makes a startling claim: For the last 36 years, the United States has been engaged in an ill-advised, counterproductive struggle to shape the destiny of the Muslim worldnot only in the Middle East proper, but in Southwest Asia, North and East Africa, and the Balkans as well.

Like Vietnam, this has been an undeclared war that started off small, and escalated in fits and starts into a major conflict. Like Vietnam, it has been poorly understood by policymakers, senior military officers, and the American public.

And like Vietnam, it is a doomed undertaking, with tragic implications.

Since the early 80s, in almost imperceptible increments, the American militarys center of gravity has shifted from the plains of Europe, where it was deployed to fend off a Soviet attack against Western Europe, to the Middle East. After the 9/11 attacks, the conflict expanded exponentially, driven by invidious delusions about the efficacy of American military power, and a hubristic belief that the worlds only indispensable nation has both the right and the obligation to remake the region over in our own image.

Trouble is, millions of people in the Islamic world have rejected out of hand Western multiculturalism and the values of democracy and rule of law we see as universal, and seek to impose on them. They have come to see the United States not as an ally seeking to help them liberate themselves from repressive strongmen, economic dysfunction, and chronic instability, but as an imperialist purveyor of wantonness and materialism, bent on world hegemony.

Despite having been heavily engaged in the regions geopolitics for 35 years, we remain deplorably ignorant of the regions peoples and cultures, and continue to pursue political policies and military strategies in the region that exacerbate rather than diminish the regions myriad difficulties. And we squander precious American lives and resources that should be devoted to far more urgent concerns here at home.

Bacevichs book, in addition to providing a thought-provoking and penetrating account of the evolution of an ultimately futile conflict, is also a passionate plea to a self-absorbed American public to awake from their slumber, reflect seriously on what their leaders are doing in their name in the Islamic world, and force them to bring an end to the project.

The author charts the beginning of this war to the enunciation of the Carter Doctrine in January 1980. The Russians had just invaded Afghanistan. Fears that they had designs on the Persian Gulf, coupled with a recognition on the part of our most peace-loving post-war president that he was perceived as weak in defending American interests abroad, led Carter to declare that any effort to seize the oil fields of the Gulf would be perceived as an assault on a vital interest of the United States, and will be repelled by any means necessary, including the use of force.

Implementing the Carter Doctrine implied the conversion of the Persian Gulf into an informal American protectorate. Defending the region meant policing it While keeping the Soviets out, the United States would assume responsibility for enforcing good behavior of anyone inclined to make mischief. How else could the U.S. safeguard the uninterrupted flow of oil upon which the American way of life was dependent?

Our chief means of managing the protectorate hasnt been through the use of soft power or imaginative diplomacy, but through military interventions, ranging from retaliatory air strikes and commando raids, to extended deployments in hell holes like Somalia and Lebanon, to the two agonizing and inconclusive wars we have been fighting for more than a decade in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Yet as Bacevichs astute, often wry analysis of the fallout from more than a dozen military deployments over 35 years shows, these interventions have almost invariably aggravated problems and animosities, spurring further violence rather than bringing about even temporary peace and stability. And they have added fuel to anti-American firesfires which glow with far greater intensity now than they did back when Carter was president.

The American war for the Middle East began modestly and without a clearly enunciated overarching strategy. There was the CIA-led program to aid the Afghan rebels against the Soviets; a series of strikes against Moammar Qaddafi, an erratic megalomaniacal buffoon, less a serious menace than a perennial pain in the behind, and a disastrous and strategically lame misstep into the Lebanese Civil War in 1982.

In Lebanon, due to a peculiar blend of political and strategic obtuseness at the highest reaches of the Reagan administration, a battalion of Marines sent in to project presence and preserve peace soon came to be perceived by Muslim militiasHezbollah prominent among themas an active participant. Marine patrols began taking fire, and their base became an object of regular artillery barrages. Finally, on October 23, 1983, a truck bomb driven by a Hezbollah terrorist blew up the Marine barracks, killing 241 Americans. Soon thereafter, Reagan withdrew American forces in defeat. Bacevich offers this scathing critique:

The sad fact is that those who sent the Marines into Lebanon had no real idea what they were doing or what they were getting into. For the most part, the resulting failure there served to broadcast American ignorance, ineptitude, and lack of staying power. As for expectations of dramatizing Americas role as peacemaker, enhancing U.S. credibility in Arab eyes, and demonstrating a capacity to police the region: none of it happened Hezbollah soon emerged to form another sates-within a state. Its leaders could reasonably claim to have inflicted a decisive defeat on the worlds preeminent superpower, a conclusion not lost on other opponents of the United States.

A core theme of this compelling and sobering account is that even when our interventions have appeared to be successful and been widely celebrated as such by mainstream media and military experts, as in the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, the lightning-fast defeat of the Taliban in the opening campaign of the Afghanistan War, and the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003, they have had dire, unforeseen consequences down the road a bit.

The stunning victory against Saddam in 1991 soon proved nothing of the sort, as Saddam brutally crushed a Kurdish uprising in the north and a Shiite one in the South, forcing the United States to establish no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq and fight a quasi-war for more than a decade. After the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan in early 2002, a protracted war ensued, waged in a country where the United States was without vital interests, against an adversary that, however repellant, did not directly threaten U.S. security.

In Iraq in 2005, even as the Bush administration made claims that the insurgency was in its last throes, it was in fact gaining in strength and sophistication:

Two years after the fall of Baghdad, the armed resistance consisted of Sunni rejectionists unhappy with the prospect of the Shia majority exercising political power, Shia militias unhappy with prolonged military occupation, and the so-called foreign fighters who were anything but unhappy. Seizing upon the opening created by the invasion of Iraq, they welcomed the opportunity to wage anti-Western jihad there In October 2004 they took to calling themselves Al Qaeda in Iraq, their leader Abu alZarqawi pledging fealty to Osama bin-Laden. Prior to 2003, in its quest to create a new caliphate, Al Qaeda had not managed to gain a foothold in Saddam Husseins Iraq. Now, paradoxically, thanks to George Bushs war on terrorism, it had.

The logic of using the U.S. military to respond to threats to order and stability in the Middle East appeared particularly compelling in the heady days after the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91. That brief conflict, which marked the first major deployment of American forces to the region, had restored the American peoples faith in their military, vanquished the Vietnam syndrome, and seemed to confirm that a new American way of war, heavily reliant on speed, agility, and cutting-edge technology, could rapidly dispense with any adversary at acceptable cost in terms of casualties and collateral damage. The new military would be Americas chief tool in preserving a new world order.

Of course, it didnt work out that way. The passing of the Vietnam syndrome, in Bacevichs view, portended a heedless absence of self-restraint, with shallow, moralistic impulses overriding thoughtful strategic analysis Faced with some grave injustice or large-scale violation of human rights, presidents now found it increasingly hard to justify [military] inaction. An early and unfortunate result of the demise of the syndrome: the intervention in Somalia in 1992-94. That operation began with the best of intentions and culminated in a bloody defeat in the rough streets of Mogadishu. It revealed in stark terms the limitations of Americas technologically driven military to deal with asymmetrical threats.

Here, and not for the last time, the American obsession with taking down individual personalitiesin this case the warlord Mohamed Aididreflected a belief that neutralizing the top leader of an enemy state or network would lead to the complete collapse of the adversary. This is a patent falsehood, as the loss of various Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders confirms.

For a decade after the Persian Gulf War, the United States tried to stabilize the convulsions in the Greater Middle East by containing Hussein, and fighting two short wars in the Balkans. Yet while Bill Clinton deepened American military involvement in the region, and began a desultory campaign of cruise missile strikes against Al-Qaeda-sponsored terrorist attacks against American targets, he never devised anything remotely approximating an actual strategy. Prevailing assumptions about U.S. military supremacy and historys direction seemingly made strategywhich implies establishing priorities, making choices, and matching means to endsunnecessary.

No administrations Middle East policies, from Carters to Obamas, escapes harsh criticism in Americas War for the Greater Middle East, but Bacevich reserves special contempt for George W. Bushs grotesquely hubristic global war on terror. Without ever stopping to give serious consideration to the underlying causes of Muslim extremist hostility toward the United States, the real sources of political volatility in the region, or to the limits of American power, the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld team decided almost reflexively that it was us against them, and we were going to prevail.

There were delusions of grandeur inherent in the project from the outset:

A principal aim of the global war on terrorism was to unshackle American military power. Doing so held the key to preserving the American way of life and all that it entailed. From the outset, in other words, the wars purposes looked beyond any immediate danger posed by Al Qaeda or even by the disordered condition of the Greater Middle East Ultimately, the wars architects were seeking to perpetuate the privileged status that most Americans take as their birthright. Doing so meant setting down a new set of rulesexpanding the prerogatives exercised by the worlds sole superpower and thereby extending the American Century in perpetuity.

The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld triumvirate set about, in Rumsfelds phrase, to change the way they live, first in Iraq, and then throughout the region, without ever really thinking through the ramifications of the immense task theyd set for themselvesand for the American people. Unfortunately, Bacevich concludes, their achievements proved negligible, their blunders monumental and enduring.

The author has the highest regard for the men and women who serve in the armed services and finds little to criticize about their training or performance in combat per se. Rather, he assigns blame for our many military blunders during this long war by turns to the delusions of presidents, high-level policymakers, defense intellectuals, and to a welter of senior officers unable to decipher the political dimensions of the war they were charged with waging.

Of Norman Schwarzkopf, Bacevich quips: Generalship in wartime requires foresight, equanimity, and a supple intelligence. Whatever his other talents, Schwarzkopf was not especially graced with these qualities. Tommy Franks, the CENTCOM commander charged with overseeing the initial campaigns in both Afghanistan and Iraq, had an obligation to help [Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld] think realistically about war and formulate sound policies. In that regard, Franks failed abysmally. Bacevich is equally tough on the architect of the surge, David Petraeus: his achievement was to camouflage failure.

Yet, the ultimate source of the problem goes well beyond the performance of generals and admirals. It lies in the pernicious collective naivete embedded in a set of assumptions within the national security establishment: that those within the establishment are by definition able to discern the true historical forces at work in the Middle East; that the United States has the wherewithal to shape and direct those forces; and that American military power offers the most expeditious means to do the shaping. The great contribution of Americas War for the Greater Middle East, in the end, is that it demolishes the validity of these assumptions with equal measures of lucidity, persuasiveness, and common sense.

This is an exceptionally important book to be sure, yet Bacevichs overarching argument would be even more compelling if he had made an attempt to present the considered pro-intervention arguments of policymakers and academics with some degree of respect and objectivity before going on to challenge their validity. Time and time again, the author cherry picks quotes out of context from pro-interventionists with the clear intention of making them look plain foolish.

Its indisputable that cogent arguments for military intervention in the Middle East have been made many times over the years by some of the most respected foreign policy experts in the United States, but youd never learn that by reading this book. Invariably the author treats pro-interventionists with scorn and derision, and that ultimately diminishes the persuasiveness of his own case.

And not all the chaos and suffering that have bedeviled Middle Eastern history since 1980 have their origins in American military misadventuresnor does Bacevich say so. But he gives so little agency to the people who live in the region that one might well form that mistaken impression. In this sense, the authors tight focus on American initiatives and interventions at the expense of those of the local players has a distorting rather clarifying effect.

Finally, Bacevichs fine book urgently begs a question: Since conflict in the Middle East has obviously engaged the vital interests of the United States over the past 35 years, what might an enlightened American policy toward the region have looked like? The author never ventures an answer. Too bad. Im sure Im not the only reader whod like to know his thinking on that question.
In the first week of June, secular voters converged at the Lincoln Memorialatheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and unbelievers of all stripes, came to celebrate what they have in common, to raise awareness among their representatives, and to fight bigotry.

The Reason Rally, as it is called, was a reminder that secularism isnt going away anytime soon.

According to studies, institutionalized religion is losing its grip in The United States. Those who identify themselves as religiously unaffiliated (the nones) in Americapersons who check atheist, agnostic, or none of the above on surveysrose from 16 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014. According to Pew Research, atheists make up 3.1 percent of American adults today; in 2007 it was 1.6 percent. Evidence shows that the nones are quickly losing their belief in God and becoming increasingly secular.

While there are significant demographic changes occurring in the U.S., as a phenomenon, atheism is still a long way from having the lions share of the American identity; religion still dominates our social world.

America is still Christ hauntedto use the words of Flannery OConnor. Fears of public shunning and the risk of losing family connections and employment, keep many atheists quiet about their identity. There is a significant difficulty in being honest about disbelief in a country where prominent religious leaders warn that it leads to a nations demise.

This liberal godless kind of what they call reason should concern every freedom-loving American, said Franklin Graham, about The Reason Rally on Facebook. Heres a warning If you remove God, you remove Gods hand of blessing. Thats been shown over and over throughout history.

In a study from 2014, which asked Americans to rate how open they were to having some religious and nonreligious persons becoming family members, the only group that ranked lower than atheists were Muslims. For those Americans who have left a faith and felt the costs, this is not shocking news.

I have 5 grandchildren now, and 4 of them I have never held, says Dave Warnock, a former pastor and now board member for The Clergy Project (TCP), a safe place and network for former religious professionals who no longer have supernatural beliefs. (Full disclosure: this author is a member of TCP.)

They [his children] also withhold relationships from my wifetheir mother, simply because she stays married to me, an apostate. They really do believe that the best form of love is to shun me and pray that the pain of that will bring me to repentance and back to Godfrom whom they think I am just running. They cannot conceive of the fact that I no longer believe that a supernatural god exists.

Dave is one of 710 members of TCP, whose reach is global. Most have a Christian background, but a few are from Buddhist, Jewish, and Muslim traditions, though not all are out of the closet about being nonbelievers.

After 36 years in the Evangelical Charismatic movement in Tennessee, Dave left his faith. For me, he says, it all started with a critical examination of the Bible and how it came to bewhen I quit making excuses for the inconsistencies and contradictions, it started to have some gaping holes in it.

After enough time in rigorous study, he says he saw the Bible as a collection of books written by very human individuals. Now hes a stranger and pilgrim in a foreign land. I feel like an alien here in the south. Its all about where you go to church here, he says.

Dave is not alone.

My faith was the deepest, most sincere kind, says Samantha (last name withheld), a former conservative Christian, who was firmly entrenched in the world of biblical inerrancy and Creationism. Every thought in my mind was literally, how can I please God?

Featured at the website of Answers in Genesisthe controversial creationist organization responsible for the Creation Museum and the forthcoming Ark Encounterfor her promotion of Creationism and awarded a scholarship from another creationist organization, she was a true believer. She was married at 19saving herself for her husband to beand like many evangelicals, submitted to a patriarchal order once married.

That is when her problems began, she says.

Marriage was a very harsh disappointment for me, she recalls. Hetook advantage of my beliefs that a wife is supposed to submit to her husband, and was very controlling and verbally abusive. It was like a very cruel game of Simon Says. But she believed that it was Gods will for her, so she stayed married.

Her faith didnt begin to unravel until she took a class on the Bible in college in 2011. She discovered the historical context in which the Bible was written, how it came together, and the more she learned about it, the less she believed. She also discovered that she had to leave her ex-husband, simultaneously coming out not only as an atheist, but also as bisexual.

While her siblings and parents continued to embrace her, she found other relationships crumbling.

I knew I was leaving my husband, but I did not expect to lose my whole social structure of Christian relationships and support. I was shamed for leaving my marriage, abhorred for being attracted to women, and I was even told that my newfound confidence came from the devil.

While she misses the community she had in her church and her marriage ended in divorce, Samantha has found that through her initial trial she now has a richer life.

I feel like I gained more than I walked away [from]. I do not feel inequal as a woman. I have had delightful sexual relationships with men and womennone of which have ever made me feel ashamed about my body as my husband did.

Gender and sexual identity as presented in the Bible are common themes among those who leave Christianity.

I came out as an atheist publicly almost two years ago, says Alexis Wesley, a former missionary and now an orphan advocate living in California.

I spent 30 years as a very devout evangelical Christian, she adds. I became disillusioned with the Bible only after many years studying it. For a while, she was able to explain away its passages that portrayed women as seductresses, as weaker than men, and as their property, but eventually she came to see how damaging this was to marriages.

She and her husband, who remains a Christian, immediately felt the ramifications of her leaving her faith in her social life.

I was told by a close family member that I should stop fostering or adopting, and definitely not have another biological child since I shouldnt bring them into an atheist household.

Those who helped support their adoptions financially began openly expressing their regret.

Another Christian friend in my adoption support group said during a discussion [that]it would be better for kids to die orphans who loved Jesus after hearing a missionary talk about him, than to bring them into homes where Christ wasnt honored.

Those closest to her didnt yell or threaten to disown, as she expected. Its been harder in some ways than that, she tells me, cold shoulders, strained looks, nervous conversations, forced prayers, and fake pleasantries.hide heaps of anger or hurt.

Others found steep economic and personal identity costs in their departure from their faith.

Mark Farmer was a dedicated missionary and in ministry for most of his life. We had been totally committed as missionaries who had no fixed salary and never requested donations, he tells me. They lived on the hope of God leading others to send them money through their missionary society. By his 40s, and after he and his wife, Jean, raised three children in Western Europe, he managed to secure a position with salary and benefits while continuing his ministry.

It was that dedication to his faith, as well as liberal arts and seminary educations, that pushed him to study his faith deeper and presented troubling questions about the Bible.

In my early sixties, serving as pastor of an evangelical church in the Midwestit dawned on me that not only was Christianity a human construct and the Bible a thoroughly human book, none of it was plausible any more.I no longer believed in a supernatural god.

His children had already left their faith after becoming adults, though Jean remained a liberal Christian; they remain happily married. Deconverting meant breaking with a significant part of his wider social networkhe separated amicably with his church, though he did retain some Christian friends. It cost him a sense of self, and left life economically unstable, he says. The idea on which I had based my life had turned out to be an illusion.

Stories like these are not uncommon among nonbelievers. Many reiterate that departing a faith is not something they take lightly, but they often have to choose between being honest about who they are and losing family, friends, a job, or all of the above.

As more deconversions happen, it may produce less of a social shock for these unaffiliated expats. Until then, events, like The Reason Rally, and its sponsoring organizations, are representing the concerns of secular individuals and encouraging others to make their presence known as well.
Plenty of people wanted Mustafa Badreddine dead.

There were the Saudis, who blamed him for terror attacks in the kingdom and against its allies abroad.

The Israelis had already once tried to assassinate Badreddine, the military commander of Hezbollah and one of the most important and powerful figures in the organization.
When the histories are written, it wont be Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns fault that UK voters chose Leave. That honour will go to David Cameron by a Shropshire mile. But the leftist Corbyn behaved by all accounts disgracefully, never willing to put any of his position or prestige really on the line to avert the catastrophic outcome.

And it makes me wonder about something similar thats going to happen here in the United States in a few months time, when our version of Jeremy Corbyn (you know who I mean) will be called upon to speak forcefully against our version of Brexit (again, you know whator whoI mean).

But first, Corbyn. Back during his campaign for Labour leader, the Brexit issue came up, since that was right after Cameron first bruited the referendum idea, and Corbyn always expressed a certain ambivalence toward the EU. So fair enough. But when the eleventh hour came, and it was obvious that Leave would be disastrous and that the biggest winners from Brexit were going to be comb-less demagogue Boris Johnson, white ethno-nationalist Nigel Farage, and after them the international rogues gallery that includes names like Wilders, Le Pen, Putin, and Trump, he still did nothing. Not long before the vote, he said hed been no great fan of the European Union.

I knew all this, and I recognized it as the usual juvenile leftist dialectics: If its bad for the City, it must be good. You know the kind of thing. But then Saturday evening I read this, and my contempt soared:

Remain campaign operatives floated a plan to convince Corbyn to make a public gesture of cross-party unity by appearing in public with the prime minister. Polling showed this would be the number one play to reach Labour voters.

Senior staff from the campaign begged Corbyn to do a rally with the prime minister, according to a senior source who was close to the Remain campaign. Corbyn wanted nothing to do with the Tory leader, no matter what was at stake. Gordon Brown, the Labour prime minister whom Cameron vanquished in 2010, was sent to plead with Corbyn to change his mind. Corbyn wouldnt. Senior figures in the Remain camp, who included Camerons trusted communications chief Craig Oliver and Jim Messina, President Obamas campaign guru, were furious.

The number one play to reach Labour voters. And he wouldnt do it. If ever there was a matter on which to put party differences aside for a mere few days and make a couple of appearances together, it was surely this one. A mere few days. Then, right after Remain had won, go back to attacking Cameron about all the usual things, in plenty of time for next Wednesdays question time.

But Corbyn wouldnt do it. If nothing else, self-preservation should have guided him, because if Scotland, which backed Remain in huge numbers, leaves the UK as it is threatening to, Labour is all but dead. Labour without Scotland is like the Democrats without California. Or something more or less like that. Its not remotely the outcome Id prefer, but it is very much the outcome that this horses arse deserves. But its always the same with people like this. To true ideologues, practical politics is bourgeois; beneath them. Predictably and rightly, Corbyn now faces a coup.

All this brings us to Bernie Sanders.

Last Friday, Sanders was asked about the Brexit vote on Morning Joe. He essentially endorsed the result, or at least blithely rationalized it:

What this vote is about is an indication that the global economy is not working for everybody. Its not working in the United States for everybody and its not working in the U.K. for everybody. When you see investors going to China and shutting down factories in this country and laying off, over a period of many years, millions of people, people are saying you know what, global economy may be great for some people but not for me.

Now let me say: There is truth is Sanderss assessment. Obviously. And that truth is something that people like Cameron and Hillary Clinton need to do a better job of addressing. One of Clintons key challenges in this fall campaign will be to show that she is grappling with this anger and wants to ameliorate it.

By the way, I should note that I found Hillary Clintons response to be depressingly mealy-mouthed. Yes, she thinks shes likely to be the next president, and as such, she might have to work with a Johnson government. I get that. But she couldnt even say something gently reproachful like While Id have preferred the other outcome...? Her statement lessens my confidence in her ability as president to make clear moral statements on the United Statess behalf.

But that said, at least we know which side she is really on. Im not sure we know which side Bernie is on. Well, we need to find out, because Trump is our Brexit. He must not become the president. Yes, Bernie said as much last Friday. But he didnt say it with any conviction. He didnt look his MSNBC interlocutor in the eye; he just stared glumly down at the table. He spoke with all the commitment of a hostage reading a statement.

America needs more than that from him. If Donald Trump somehow wins in November, Clinton will go down in history as the Cameron. But if Sanders never goes much beyond the kind of half-hearted statement he made last Friday, then he will go down as the Corbyn, and he too will be disgraced for all time. He should, this week, avow forcefully that he will do all he humanly can to prevent what happened in the UK happening in America. And he should spend the entire fall doing the same. He doesnt have to say a single nice word about her if he doesnt want to. He just needs to tell his dead-enders why they must vote for Clinton to avert the catastrophe of President Trump.

Some might say the very premise of this column, tying Sanders and Corbyn together, is unfair. Maybe. If so, Bernie has plenty of time to prove me wrong.
Live theater exists for many reasons: to entertain, to inform, to educate and to challenge. We are so fortunate to have a number of theaters in this area that do a good job of presenting plays and musicals that do all that and more.

For instance, on Saturday, StageCenter in Downtown Bryan completed its production of Oleanna, David Mamets powerful play dealing with such important issues as sexual harassment and political correctness.

This week, This Is Water Theatre begins its presentation of another drama dealing with some critical issues of today. The Man in Her Dreams by award-winning playwright Katherine Glover deals with memory, justice and living with a loved one in prison.

In The Man in Her Dreams, Megan Shepard is convinced that Jabari Woods is the man who sexually assaulted her in a local park and left her for dead. But Woods wife, Nikki, is just as sure that Woods was home with her the night of the assault on Shepard. And, Woods mother, Gloria, simply wants her son out of prison.

Glovers play had its premiere in 2014 at the Freshwater Theatre Company in her hometown of Minneapolis. The upcoming presentation at This Is Water Theatre is the first time The Man in Her Dreams has been produced outside of Minnesotas largest city.

Ed Huyck of City Pages in Minneapolis wrote, The Man in Her Dreams plays like a taut thriller.

This Is Water founder Andrew Roblyer directs The Man in Her Dreams. The play will feature This Is Water ensemble cast members Jessica Lemmons, DaRel Johnson and Jovan Martinez and guest artists Mandy Reichelt, Essence Stowe and Priscilla Villareal.

Kristina Miller handles scenic design, Justin Miller is in charge of props and Rayna Dexter did costume design. In addition to directing, Roblyer designed the lighting and sound.

Roblyer said the company hopes the production will create and encourage conversation related to difficult topics that are very present in the news today, including sexual assault and race in the justice system.

Johnson, who portrays Jabari Woods, said, We allow the system to make so many of our choices and we depend on the people who operate the system to make positive choices, but sometimes the system can get corrupted by the people we placed there

This story is just one of many where the propagated stereotype trumps the truth of the situation.

Lemmons, who plays assault-survivor Megan Shepard, has experienced some of the issues in real life. This one hits very close to home. Personally, as someone who dealt with domestic rape  among other forms of psychological abuse  its cathartic.

In order to do the role of Megan justice, I have had to look back on what was done to me, and acknowledge to myself that it wasnt my fault.

The content of the show forces me to confront my own demons, and tell them in no uncertain terms that they do not win, and that they do not get to have one more second of my life, Lemmons said.

The Man in Her Dreams will be performed at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and again July 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14.

All performances are in the Watershed Garage, This Is Waters intimate theatre behind Texan Chiropractic at 2151 Harvey Mitchell Parkway S. at its intersection with Longmire Drive in College Station. For this production, though, the theater is being renamed the visitors room at the fictional College Station Penitentiary Garage.

In effect, the audience will become a part of the production, passing through a security screening checkpoint with a metal detector before entering the performance space. No cell phones will be allowed in the visitors room and the only personal items are car keys and wallets. A strict dress code will be enforced, with no revealing shorts, see-through garments, halter tops, crop tops, bathing suits, low-cut blouses or dresses, leotards, spandex, mini skirts two inches or more above the knee, dresses with a high-cut split in the back or front or on either side, sleeveless garments, backless tops, hats or caps, and clothing that looks like inmate uniforms such as khaki or green military-style apparel.

Roblyer said, The requirements for this production are modeled closely after actual detention facility regulations. We know that this may be a new experience for many of our patrons  in fact, we hope it will be.

We are excited to offer a story that asks difficult questions about justice inside of our recreation of a facility that is part of the system.

As with all of This Is Water Theatre productions, tickets to The Man in Her Dreams are pay-what-you-can. Tickets can be purchased online at www.thisiswatertheatre.com for a minimum of $5, or patrons may email info@Thisiswatertheatre.com or call 979-574-9364 to reserve a ticket and pay what you can at the door. The suggested minimum price is $15, while the break even price is $30. If youd like to help further the theaters goal to pay its artists a full wage instead of a stipend, $45 is suggested.

The pay-what-you-can pricing is part of Roblyers admirable goal of opening theater to new audiences who might not be regular attendees of plays at any theater. Through its presentations of new or recent plays  some familiar but most not  This Is Water Theatre is unique among the theaters of the Brazos Valley. It is most deserving of our support.

Patriotic Pops

Christ United Methodist Churchs Sanctuary Choir will present an evening of great music at 6 p.m. July 3 in the church sanctuary at 4201 Texas 6 S.

Patriotic Pops: A Celebration of America is designed to bring a sense of pride to all of us who love America and its great music. The concert is under the direction of church Minister of Music and Worship Don McAvoy and Associate Minister of Music Chris Caffee.

Caffee said, Our 2016 Patriotic Pops will include words and music that will acknowledge Americas history as well as pay tribute to those who made the freedom of all Americans possible.

We are excited to welcome the entire community to join the celebration of our countrys independence

Popular radio personality Mary Mike Matcher will be master of ceremonies.

There is no charge for the concert, which is the churchs gift to the community.

A casual July 4 social time will follow the concert.

Overtures

 Today  The St. Celia Consort will present a concert of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music from England, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 906 George Bush Drive in College Station, 7:30 p.m. Free but a freewill offering will be taken.

 Today and Wednesday  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Cinemark Movies 18 and XD, 1401 Earl Rudder Freeway S., College Station, today at 2 p.m., Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

 Tuesday  MST3K Reunion Show celebrating a decade of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Cinemark Movies 18 and XD, 1401 Earl Rudder Freeway S., College Station, 7 p.m.

 July 24  Preview Party for the 2016-2017 season, The Theatre Company, 7 p.m. (www.theatrecompany.com)

 Through Oct. 29  Tarzan: Myth & Mystery, an exhibit of Edgar Rice Burroughs most famous creation, Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, 3232 Briarcrest Drive, inside the Brazos Center, Bryan, Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $4 and $5. (brazosvalleymuseum.org)

 Sept. 22  Celebrate the Arts, Arts Council of Brazos Valley fundraiser, Brazos County Expo. (acbv.org)

 Every Sunday  Open mics and poetry slams sponsored by Mic Check Poetry, 8:30 p.m. Revolution Cafe in Downtown Bryan, (miccheckpoetry.com)

Items for Sundays Arts Watch column must be received by noon Tuesday. Send them to robert.borden@theeagle.com.
The quality of air in Hanoi is worsening due to the rising population and number of vehicles, according to Nguyen Trong Dong, director of the capitals Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The citys air quality has shown some signs of degrading, particularly in the city center, major transport links and ongoing construction sites. The levels of dust pollution in some places have also surpassed the permitted levels, Dong told a workshop on ways to enhance Hanoi's environmental monitoringy on Sunday.

The concentration of benzene across Hanoi has increased year by year because of the rising consumption of fossil fuels from vehicles, Dong said. He added that urbanization, which has resulted in increased construction activities, migration to the city and higher number of vehicles, has caused air pollution, especially dust and noise.

German experts who attended the workshop said dust accounts for the majority of pollution in Hanoi. Initial analysis has shown that it is because of the rise in the number of manufacturing plants, transport vehicles and machines that discharge air into the atmosphere.

The number of motorbikes in Vietnam in general and in Hanoi in particular has risen too quickly, a report from the German experts said.

The rising number of motorbikes is one of the main reasons for the poor air quality in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do

Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of Hanoi's Peoples Committee, said the city is implementing various measures to improve its air quality including planting a million new trees and building more lakes. The municipal government will announce a roadmap for reducing personal vehicles in the city center and banning the use of coal for cooking.

German experts are expected to present their research results and proposals for improving Hanois environmental monitoring in another workshop scheduled for next month.

Vietnam plans to publicize information about air quality in 19 cities, including Hanoi, across the country in 2017, according to the National Action Plan for Air Quality Management for 2020 with a vision to 2030 released earlier this month.

An air quality reading in March this year by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi showed a "hazardous" air quality index at one point during the day, raising concerns among local residents.

Related news:

> Air pollution in Hanoi reaches alarming levels

> Vietnam to make public air quality information in major cities next year
Ho Chi Minh City has embarked on VND10 trillion (nearly $450 million) project to cope with flooding caused by high tides due to climate change.

On June 26, Vietnams leaders gave the go-ahead for the project, which will cover 570 square kilometers in an area along the Saigon River and Ho Chi Minh City that is home to 6.5 million people.

Vietnams Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that to earn the old name of Pearl of the Far East, Ho Chi Minh City needs to improve traffic infrastructure by solving frequent flooding.

Ho Chi Minh City will invest nearly $450 million to prevent frequent flooding caused by high tides. Photo by VnExpress/An Nhon

The PM also asked the citys leaders to review and supplement the project with help from scientists and effectively manage reservoirs and prevent land subsidence.

The head of the Vietnamese government also underscored the importance of stamping out corruption, embezzlement and wastage during the project's implementation. Phuc asked for investors, consultant agencies and citizens to monitor the project to control quality and safety.

The investor said the timeline for the project is three years but plans to complete in just two.

Related News

> Vietnam pours $320 million to combat flooding in central city of Mekong Delta

> HCM City borrows $400 million in fight against flooding
You live and you learn and you think you've heard it all. Then someone says something about dressed bananas.

"Dressed bananas"? Is that, like, an unpeeled banana?

It was explained to me that this dish consisted of a banana (peeled) that is lightly coated in mayonnaise, then rolled in crushed nuts. (A colleague said her people call them banana logs.)

Well, I reckon I have had something on the order of a dressed banana, and then some.

Keener observers than me  Jim Lileks ("The Gallery of Regrettable Food") and Bill Bryson ("The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid")  have documented at length the domestic culinary excesses of the 1950s and 1960s. It was a time when a primary goal seemed to be to concoct kitchen novelties. Jell-O played an outsized role in this endeavor.

My mother contributed to the cause, and bananas did not escape her attention.

She never prepared dressed bananas exactly as they were explained to me.

Instead, she would halve a banana, then coat the flat interior with a generous dollop of mayo, topped that with nuts.

It was good. At least the additives imparted some flavor to bananas, which almost certainly were the bland but ubiquitous Cavendish variety.

Before the midcentury, the top banana in the world  the one most-exported to countries such as the U.S.  was the Gros Michel.

It might have been tasty; I don't know, or at least I don't remember. Because in the 1950s, the Gros Michel was more or less wiped out by a fungus known as Panama disease.

To the rescue came the Cavendish. It is mostly tasteless. But it travels well and it was largely immune to the fungus that had devastated its commercial predecessor. Its lack of flavor was conveniently overlooked.

Indeed, the banana became one of the nation's favorite fruits  and once, 70 percent of them paused in Fulton, Kentucky.

Fulton sits on the north-south Illinois Central mainline, about midway between the port of New Orleans  where bananas from South America arrived  and Chicago.

Fulton also reportedly was home to the only ice house along that rail line. Back in the day, trains would pause in Fulton long enough for the refrigerated banana cars to be re-iced before the fruit was shipped on to the rest of the country. Fulton declared itself the Banana Capital of the World. The city, in partnership with the adjacent South Fulton, Tennessee, has hosted a banana festival for more than a half-century (it returns this Sept. 9-17).

Meanwhile, postwar American housewives  perhaps worn a bit to the frazzle by the fact that many of them were holding down second jobs in their households  were looking to dress up dishes in as time-efficient a means as imaginable. It doesn't take long to peel, lubricate and encrust a banana with chopped peanuts.

My mother didn't stop with the halved dressed bananas. Sometimes instead of mayo and crushed peanuts, she applied peanut butter  which is, come to think of it, a sort of merger of mayo and crushed peanuts.

If she was feeling especially exuberant, she would halve some bananas, put on a base of Hellman's mayonnaise  "Bring out the Hellman's, and bring out the best," the jingle went  then follow with a generous slathering of peanut butter and top it off with nuts. Oh, the feasts we had!

I don't mean to sound ungrateful to dear old Mom. She helped put me on a solid track to adoring peanut butter that remains to this day.

Not that it was such a hard task. The largest peanut butter manufacturing plant in the world is located in my hometown of Lexington, as improbable as that might seem. (Lexington has been a surprisingly big player in the world of peanut butter going back some 80 years. But that's a story for another day.)

Long before I came along, some genius struck on the idea of smearing peanut butter and grape jelly on two slices of white bread and serving it to children. It was like catnip.

A lot can be said about peanut butter and jelly, and should be. But for now, let me share a few personal landmark moments:

Circa 1968: A neighborhood kid named Bobby convinced his mother that it was a good idea for her to prepare for him a singular concoction: A five-layer mayonnaise sandwich.

1970: The Stinnett household was momentarily out of Welch's grape jelly. In a panic, I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich. It became a staple for several years.

1972: Out of raw curiosity, a PB & mayo sandwich was concocted. It would not be the last.

1973: As my palate matured, I ventured beyond the known galaxy: Peanut butter and apple jelly. Mind blown. It was positively epicurean  a taste delight to be served to your finest guests.

It was along about this time that I regularly teased Dad about a childhood treat he had enjoyed, and held onto:

Sorghum molasses. Sorghum is like tar, and it has a bold, brash flavor. Dad loved it on buttered cornbread.

I hated it at first, but by adulthood I developed a taste for it. My fondness was sealed some years ago at the Hawesville Sorghum Festival.

It was fate that one day, I would make a peanut butter and sorghum sandwich. It was sublime.

Sorghum might even be able to redeem bananas. But that might not be necessary; news stories the past couple of years report that Panama disease is mutating, and the Cavendish is not immune. It might go the way of the Gros Michel.

In which case, hopefully someone will find a genuinely tasty and transportable banana to take its place, without the need for mayo, peanut butter or anything else.

Chuck Stinnett can be reached at chuck.stinnett@gmail.com.
SHARE

Compiled By Laura Osterfeld, Public Service Librarian for HCPL

Here are details about some of the new books at the Henderson County Public Library.

Fiction

"Glory Over Everything: Beyond the Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom (historical)  Jamie Pyke, son of both a slave and master of Tall Oakes, fled from the Virginia plantation he once called home and is passing in Philadelphia society as a wealthy white silversmith.

After many years of striving, Jamie has achieved acclaim and security only to discover his aristocratic lover Caroline is pregnant.

Before he can reveal his real identity to her, he learns this beloved servant Pan has been captured and sold into slavery in the South.

Pan's father, to whom Jamie owes a great debt, pleads for Jamie's help, and Jamie agrees knowing the journey will take him perilously close to Tall Oakes and the ruthless slave hunter who is still searching for him.

"We Love You, Charlie Freeman" by Kaitlyn Greenidge (fiction)  The Freeman family Charles, Laurel and their daughters, teenage Charlotte and Callie, 9,  have been invited to the Toneybee Institute in rural Massachusetts to participate in a research experiment.

They will live in an apartment on campus with Charlie, a young chimp abandoned by his mother.

The Freemans are supposed to teach sign language to Charlie and welcome him as a member of their family.

Isolated in their new, nearly all-white community not just by their race but by their strange living situation, the Freemans come undone.

And when Charlotte discovers the truth about the Institute's history of questionable studies, the secrets of the past begin to invade the present.

"The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror" by Joyce Carol Oates (horror)  In the title story of a haunting collection of six stories, a young boy becomes obsessed with his cousin's doll after she tragically passes away from leukemia.

As he grows older, he begins to collect "found dolls" from the surrounding neighborhoods. In "Gun Accident," a teenage girl is thrilled when her favorite teacher asks her to house-sit, even on short notice.

But when an intruder forces his way into the house while the girl is there, the fate of more than one life is changed forever.

In "Equatorial," set in the exotic Galapagos, an affluent American wife experiences disorienting assaults upon her sense of who her charismatic husband really is and what his plans may be for her.

Nonfiction

"Approval Junkie: Adventures in Caring Too Much" by Faith Salie  Faith Salie has done it all in the name of validation.

Whether it's trying to impress her parents with a perfect GPA, undergoing an exorcism in the hopes of saving her toxic marriage or maintaining the BMI of "a flapper with a touch of dysentery," Salie is the ultimate approval seeker.

With thoughtful irreverence, Salie reflects on why she tries so hard to please others and herself, highlighting a phenomenon that many people  especially women  experience at home and in the workplace.

Equal parts laugh-out loud funny and poignant, "Approval Junkie" is one woman's journey to realizing that seeking approval from others is more than just getting them to like you  it's challenging yourself to achieve and survive, more than you ever thought you could.

"Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do" by Chris Guillebeau  Finding the work you were "born to do" isn't just about discovering your passion.

Doing what brings you joy is great, but if you aren't earning a living, it's a hobby, not a career.

And those who jump out of bed excited to go to work every morning don't just have jobs that turn their passions into paychecks.

They have jobs where they also can lose themselves for hours in the flow of meaningful work.

This intersection of joy, money and flow is what Guillebeau will help you find in this book.

Hours, bookmobile

The Henderson County Public Library's hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Patrons can access their library account at hcpl.org.

This week's bookmobile schedule:

Monday: Aislynn Village, 1:45-2:15 p.m.; Independent Living Apartments, 2:30-3 p.m.; Fair Acres, 3:15-3:45 p.m.

Tuesday: Colonial Assisted Living, 12:30 p.m.; The Olive Branch, 2:45-3:15 p.m.; Dixon Street Apartments, 4:15-5 p.m.

Wednesday: Redbanks Towers, 1-2:30 p.m.; 840 N. Adams St. Apartments, 3:30-4 p.m.; Niagara, 4:15-5 p.m.

Thursday: Pleasant Pointe Apartments, 1-2 p.m.; Henderson Manor, 3:15-4 p.m.; Fagan Square, 4:15-4:45 p.m.
SHARE

Roy Pullam, Henderson

Were you to talk to me very long, you would hear how HCC was a critical decision on my part. I remain a proponent of the community college more than 50 years after attending the college on the hill. I hear that I was a non-tradition student. Maybe that is so, but I guess most of the people I went to HCC were. We were first generation college students. Our parents were blue collar. Another common trait is that we could not have afforded an away school.

HCC remains that gateway to a better life. It still has an open door and a welcoming spirit. A good, reasonable education is available for those individuals who want to change the back drop of their lives.

Several years ago another component was added to HCC. Mike Freels was hired by Murray State University to bring a satellite campus to Henderson. Mike took the Murray campus from the old 7th Street School, to the North Middle School annex to finally finding a home at HCC. Students could finish with an associate degree then go on to get a BS in Henderson. While I can see a need for attending at a college campus for the culture aspects, the associations, the independence, the research opportunities and just the aura of academia; I know that not everyone who wants a college education for numerous reason does not have that entree.

Mike was ideal for building a tradition here. He had gone through HCC, he had gotten his BS and Masters at Murray, he had been a teacher and administrator in Henderson County schools and he was well liked in the community. Mike built enrollment, he struggled to get better facilities, he constantly advocated for MSU, he built relationships with high school counselors, Kyndle and various school systems that would hire graduates.

Mike is retiring from MSU. I certainly hope Murray is not going to de-emphasis the program Mike built here. I know that whatever they do and whatever reason they are doing it, they will not undo all the good Mike did for the community and for the students.

I am often accused of being a cheerleader. Maybe that so, but I like to say that I was brought up to express gratitude to individuals and groups that go the extra mile and make a difference in the place where I live. Mike has been a wonderful resource for the community. I am grateful for his contribution, and I know he will hard to replace.
Security concerns emerge after Columbus Junction school vandalism

A student alleged to have vandalized Columbus' secondary school reportedly was inside the building for two hours, raising security concerns.
Vietnamese start-up project Monkey Junior has won first prize ahead of 1,075 competitors from 104 nations and territories at a contest chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama in Silicon Valley, California.

Monkey Junior, a foreign language teaching application for children up to 10 years old, beat strong global competition to be named champion at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology Tech-I 2016 (GIST Tech-I 2016).

Monkey Junior won first prize at the GIST Tech-I 2016. Photo from Facebook/Dao Xuan Hoang

The foreign language teaching app was developed by Dao Xuan Hoang who integrated multimedia content, including funny and exciting photos, videos and audio, to help toddlers and kids learn new languages.

Hoang will receive $15,000 to develop the education app and the Monkey Junior development team will receive advanced training courses.

Second prize went to a Malaysian start-up, while third prize went to a Pakistani innovation.

Launched in 2011, the GIST Tech-I is an annual competition organized by the US Department of State to promote young innovators and entrepreneurs and help them build successful start-up projects. The contest was chaired by President Barack Obama and contested applications were evaluated by 140 global business experts and scientists to choose creative, feasible and potential initiatives.
NORWALK  A Stamford man was charged with cruelty to animals Saturday afternoon after allegedly leaving his dog in his pick-up truck with an interior temperature exceeding 98 degrees.

An animal control officer was dispatched to Costco on Connecticut Avenue on a report of a dog in a truck who appeared to be in distress. The officer located the truck and reported it contained a gray-white shiatsu dog that was panting heavily.
NORWALK  He puts the pen between his fingers and snaps it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

When his mother identified his nervous habit, she realized her son didnt just have a speech problem  he also had a movement problem. But she said the educational plan she was sent after the school districts Planning and Placement Team meeting only offered her occupational therapy services on the condition that his speech therapy be drastically reduced .

When she tried to put up a fight, she said, they told her the same thing they tell many other special education parents: go to due process.

The story is always the same, said the mother, one of five parents of special education students who spoke to The Hour on condition of anonymity to protect their children.

Its repeated scenarios like this that have left parents feeling powerless at the hands of the team, they said, to the point of fatigue. Every few years, a new administrator has come on board with promises to solve Norwalks special education problem. For many parents, its become a sour taste that compounds each year; its a feeling that anything new is likely a bad idea.

But at a point when the school district is making drastic changes to its special education program with a new $3.6 million fund, it might need parental support more than ever. The fund is intended to improve overall services in Norwalk, so that the district can start bringing special education students who are outplaced at private schools, back to district classrooms. It follows a years-long series of scathing reports on the districts special education program by the Capitol Region Education Council, which was hired to make the assessments.

Im fighting for the life of my child. said the mother. Its his entire life.

The mothers were outspoken and angry, but with eyes that could water from one blink to the next when it came to speaking about their children. The story is always the same, they said  but for how much longer?

Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski, who came to Norwalk Public Schools last summer, said that with this three-year special education fund, the narrative is about to change.

With the right level of resources and commitment, were able to do this, he said. It may not be perfect, but it will certainly be more perfect, each of the years that go on.

The interim Chief Operating Officer Michael Cichetti, who has been running special education, was out-of-state and could not be reached for comment. In July, Lynn Toper, appointed last month as chief of specialized learning and student services, will take over the program.

Who really is the team?

With the alarmingly high turnover at the school district office, including the special education director position, the parents are one of the few voices in the special education system that have stayed consistent over the years. As policymakers came and went, many parents battled year after year at Planning and Placement Team meetings, getting plans they felt didnt meet the needs of their child.

The focus of the administration seems to be What are we required to do under the law? Not Whats best for the child? one mother said about her PPT meetings and the Individualized Education Plan for her child.

IEPs are the plans developed for each special education child by parents, teachers, advocates, lawyers and district representatives that outline the specialized services the child will receive throughout the school year. PPT meetings, which set the IEPs, are required by law to occur at least once a year.

The district members rarely speak in first person during a PPT meeting, the mothers said. Its always what the team wants, what the team agrees and what the team says.

Were not feeling like an equal member of the IEP team like we once were, said one mother. Parents are having less weight in PPT decisions, the district frequently refers to themselves as the team.

But not everyones experience with Norwalks special education system has been negative. While she said the dynamics of the PPT meetings were often antagonistic, Margaret Kozlark said overall shes been very satisfied with her childs enrollment at Wolfpit Elementary School.

Now, shes mostly worried about transitioning her fifth-grade child to middle school.

Which all leads to another fact cited by the latest Capitol Region Educational Council report: In Norwalk, there is currently little to no consistency between IEPs, and between grade levels.

Continuity is just one area of improvement the special education plan is looking to address for the district. Adamowski said his staff is working on a process manual, which was absent in Norwalk but is required by law. The manual, he said, will help with consistency across IEPs.

A large part of the $3.6 million fund is intended to provide more services in-house to decrease the number of students getting special education services outside the Norwalk school system. This fall, seven special education students attending the private High Road School will be moved to Norwalk High, and up to eight children with autism will return to Norwalk to be taught at Wolfpit.

Why are you creating more programs? Why dont you fix the ones we have first? asked one mother.

While the school board voted at its most recent meeting to create two new special education classrooms in Norwalk, Adamowski said the school district is not just focused on reducing outplacement, but is also working to fix its current programs. In addition to the process manual, he said the State Education Resource Center of Connecticut had come to train teachers in how to fill out an IEP well, and training will pick up again this fall.

Many of the parents expressed concern for the families of outplaced students who, scarred by past experiences, dont want to return their children to Norwalk Public Schools.

Any change of a childs placement requires parental agreement, Adamowski said.

Where the chicken-and-egg aspect of this lies is, in order to get the parents agreement you have to have something up and running to show the parent, he said. But to have something up and running, you need willing participants.

Of the almost half-dozen Norwalk parents of special needs students interviewed, all said that their PPT meetings were less of a dialogue and more of a take-it-or-leave-it scenario.

We are left reminding them that we are a part of the team. We are the forgotten part of the team, a mother said.

Board of Education member Mike Barbis acknowledged that things are bad now, and said hopefully, that will soon change.

I think things are changing and Im sure if youre a (special education) parent theyre not changing fast enough. But they are changing and some stuff you cant do overnight, he said.

Overcoming a climate of fear

One mother described it as bullying, another as intimidation. Either way, the mistrust between parents and the Norwalk schools system has led many to be just as mistrustful of the schools new special education fund.

The logical thing you would say is just trust us, said Barbis. But I dont think you can say that considering everything thats happened. Im sympathetic to that  And I understand (parents) are questioning, but I think things are truly being done differently.

It took The Hour weeks to find parents willing to speak up. All who did spoke to one thing: fear of retribution.

If theres any retribution, its going to be over for him and hes severely disabled, said one mother about not wanting her son or herself to be identified. And I dont want anything to happen for him, or (have to) spend my life fighting for him.

She broke into tears.

Ive fought my entire life so my kid can freaking tell somebody someday that he doesnt have anything wrong with him  Finally weve got some sort of services, she said. I dont want them to come after us.

Theyre really dismissive of the parent, another mother said. I feel like it took a complete 360 to probably worse than it was seven years ago.

While some are fearful of the new administration, others are hopeful for change.

I think we parents are scared and theres good reason for that, said one mother about the special education fund.

Theyre taking all the right steps, she said. But the work still has to be done, and its hard work. Im really optimistic and hopeful, and really thankful.

And Sue Haynie, whose kids both were dyslexic and went through the Norwalk Public Schools, said though Norwalk has it bad, so does every other city in the country.

It also helped, she said, that she had certain privileges.

I had the time, I had money and I had the ability to hire advocates and attorneys and I had the ability to basically make it a full-time job to get it done. Its something that simply shouldnt have been so hard, she said.

I think special education is always a bit challenging but when as a parent you want the best for your kids, the district and you are not necessarily on the same page, Barbis said. I think if you go to any school system theres a certain amount of friction between the two parties. But in our case, if you read these studies, its been a mess.

And evidence of that, to some degree, is shown in the three CREC reports that were released in the last 10 years. Each subsequent CREC report showed a deterioration of the special education program over time, and reported an alarming culture of mistrust that needed repair.

I understand parents have concerns, questioning, not having confidence in us, Barbis said. If I were them Id be in the same boat, and I dont think we can criticize them for that. The onus is on NPS to deliver and I think thats what the superintendent is trying to do.

Many meetings meant to include parents are check boxes  Parent input is carrying little weight yet were constantly reminded you were told about these changes, said one parent.

She said the lack of collaboration and inclusion would make anyone unwilling to embrace change.

The request for parents to just try it and see if it works is like asking someone to just try a parachute and see if it works, she said. The cost of failure for our kids is too high. Ive also heard it said There are going to be bumps in the road. I dont want my child to be a bump in the road.

SFoster-Frau@CTPost.com; @SilviaElenaFF
A man was arrested on Washington Street Sunday morning after reportedly telling an officer he mistakenly punched out a restaurant's window he thought was a wall.

The officer stepped out of his patrol car at 1:27 a.m. when he spotted a person working security at the Cask Republic, 99 Washington St., holding a man against a wall.
AURORA  Joe Blattner lost an important part of himself in February. And though he found it, hes still recovering from the trauma.

Joe, 41, of Aurora sawed off his right hand in a work accident. Doctors reattached it, but they told him itll never be the same.

As an employee at BonnaVilla, a modular home manufacturer, Joe was doing what he was used to doing at his construction job. He was cutting down 2x6 wood boards and operating a radio arm saw, which was activated by a foot pedal. Hed gone through the saw routine and knew it well.

Joe said he reached for wood on the ground to continue cutting, but in that process, his foot hit the pedal, starting the saw.

I watched the saw come out and take my hand off, Blattner said.

Joe said he remembers seeing his hand, which was cut off at the wrist, laying on the ground on the other side of the saw. Blood spurted from where his hand used to be.

He didnt pass out during the accident, but he said he was shocked and worried about what happened.

Joe said questions flurried through his head. Can doctors reattach my hand? Am I going to be able to make it there on time? What am I going to do now, I just lost my hand. Will I be able to work again?

He said he yelled for help, which quickly came. His right hand was put on ice, and he was rushed to the hospital.

Everyone that day, everyone just worked together, Joe said about coworkers and emergency personnel helping him. And real quickly turned a bad situation into a miracle in my eyes.

After 13 hours in surgery at a Norfolk hospital, Joes hand was re-attached.

Ive had numerous skin graftings on my hand, Joe said.

Nerves and veins were pulled from his arm in order to attach his hand.

He spent 10 days in the hospital, and had five surgeries on his hand. Within two days at the hospital, he had eight units of blood replaced because he lost so much in the accident.

His bandages were completely soaking, Brenda, Joes wife, said about the bleeding.

Brenda said when she heard the news of her husbands accident, she was in shock and thinking how she was going to explain it to their two teenage daughters. She spent the 10 days in the hospital with her husband.

She said her youngest daughter, who will be a junior in high school, rushed to her dads side upon first seeing Joe in the hospital.

She took it really hard, Brenda said.

She said both daughters constantly asked how Joe was doing, as they wanted him to come home from the hospital.

Immediately after being released from the hospital, Joe started therapy. He said doctors told him hed never be able to grip tools again, but Blattners goal is to hold and turn a wrench.

Most of my life has been construction kind of work, Joe said.

He said its hard for him to not be in construction and to be unemployed.

Its driving me nuts not being able to work, not being able to provide for my family, Blattner said.

He said the worst part about his accident is the psychological aspects, which he didnt initially think would be a factor.

Through Joes accident and after surgery, he didnt want to look at his hand. Brenda took photos to document progress, but Joe refused to see them.

Brenda couldnt finish taking photos through the whole process because she nearly passed out, she said.

Joe had to face what happened, sooner or later.

Upon first unwrapping his hand, Joe said he cried.

Its pretty emotional, he said.

He soon had nightmares of his accident. It got so bad that Joe saw a therapist and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

I didnt think I could get PTSD, Joe said. He said he previously thought only military personnel were prone to PTSD.

Brenda said it was hard watching her husband not being able to sleep. She said even when she ran a jigsaw, it was hard for Joe to be around.

He would jump out of his skin, Brenda said.

Joe said his therapy has been helping, but hell still be recovering years from now. He said he has to re-learn how to use his hand.

Hell never be able to move his thumb, since a screw goes right through his knuckle. He said he keeps moving his fingers every day, hoping hell recover faster.

He writes with his left hand, but did most other things with his right hand.

As her husband recovers, Brenda is recovering, too. She recently had shoulder surgery, so she said she and Joe have been trying to do everything left-handed. Both she and Joe are currently unemployed, as Brenda quit her part-time job to take care of her husband. Joe has been working with the American Red Cross as a safety advocate from time-to-time.

Brenda said the process is frustrating for her and her family, but every day gets a little better.

It has its ups and downs, Brenda said about the recovery process. We all try to encourage him to do what he can.

Joe said hes taking one day at a time and trying to make as much progress as possible.

Im hoping in a year Ill be out doing normal things again and not even realizing Im using my hand, Joe said.

He said no one should get complacent when doing anything, because thats the mistake he made.

Some tools can be replaced, Joe said. But your hands cannot be replaced.
Australia has suspended livestock supply to 18 abattoirs and feedlots in Vietnam as investigation into alleged animal cruelty by the former continues, the Australiam Embassy told VnExpress International.

Australia has suspended supply of its cattle to six abattoirs accused of animal cruelty by Animals Australia and further 10 approved abattoirs and one feedlot each in Phu Xuyen (Hanoi) and the northern port city of Hai Phong.

"There is sufficient evidence to believe the cattle are Australian and that ESCAS control and traceability requirements and animal welfare requirements are not being met," Amy Guihot, agricultural counsellor from Australian Embassy in Hanoi told VnExpress International via email.

The Exporter Supply Chain Assurance System (ESCAS) is designed to ensure that exported Australian livestock are handled in accordance with international animal welfare standards and to provide a mechanism to deal with animal welfare issues when they occur.

Exporters have been directed by the government to ensure that "any Australian cattle remaining in the suspended facilities are either removed or humanely slaughtered," the Australian Embassy said.

"The suspensions at this stage apply only to the above mentioned facilities," Amy Guihot said, adding it will continue until the investigation is complete or "there is enough information available to make informed decisions about various supply chain participants."

Any approved slaugherhouses found to commit animal cruelty will be prone to a permanent ban from Australia, said Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) in its media release dated June 17.

"Other [...] approved facilities in Vietnam are still able to receive Australian cattle," the Embassy added.

The Australian government has also informed exporters and Australian industry about the accusation, which is considered "serious" in nature.

The move follows a complaint, including video evidence, filed by Animal Australia earlier this month stating that Australian cattle are being supplied to non-approved abattoirs, and that non-compliant handling and slaughter of Australian cattle is occurring at 13 approved and non-approved abattoirs in Phu Xuyen District, Hanoi.

Animals Australia describes the cow as "frantic, terrified and utterly helpless". Photo by Animals Australia

The Embassy noted that the Australian live exporters are working with Vietnamese importers and government to improve animal welfare practices in Vietnam as "Australia remains committed to the live cattle trade with Vietnam."

According to the Meat & Livestock Australia Limited, Viet Nam was the second largest live cattle importer of Australia in the fiscal year 2014-2015 with 309,505 heads, valued at AUD328 million.

Related news:

> Australia to permanently ban livestock supply to Vietnam's "cruel" slaughterhouses

> Australia blocks Vietnam slaughterhouses for animal cruelty
ST. PAUL  Theodore Ted R. Bader, 78, of rural St. Paul was welcomed into eternal life on Saturday, June 25, 2016.

A divine funeral service where the Word of God of which Ted believed will be proclaimed at Zion Lutheran Church, Worms, at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Burial will be in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery. The Reverend Craig Niemeier will be officiating.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at Zion Lutheran Church in Worms.

Ted requested that in lieu of flowers he preferred that memorials would be given to Zion Lutheran Church, Heartland Lutheran High School or to the family.

Apfel Funeral Home is caring for the family. More details will follow.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Masajeng Rahmiasri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 26, 2016

Blessed with rich natural resources and a myriad of cultures, Indonesia is home to a vast number of traditional cuisines that also come in different flavors and varieties. Thus, those interested in cooking Indonesian dishes may find the task quite challenging, but you can start by checking out these cookbooks available in English.

The Little Indonesian Cookbook

Author : Heinz Von Holzen

Written by Heinz Von Holzen, a chef who specializes in Balinese food, this book has a total of 42 Indonesian dish recipes. Some of the recipes included inside are soto ayam (chicken noodle soup), otak-otak (minced fish), rendang (beef simmered in coconut milk and spices) and sayur lodeh (vegetables stewed in coconut cream). The book also comes with headnotes intended to make the food-making process easier.

(Read also: Must-try local foods served with cheese)

The Best of Indonesian Desserts

Author : Yasa Boga

Anyone looking for authentic Indonesian dessert recipes shouldnt go past this book. Readers will find recipes ranging from lemper ayam (stuffed chicken rolls) and agar-agar gula melaka (palm sugar jelly) to durian tarts, all written by Yasa Boga, a group of career women-turned homemakers with years of experience in the culinary world.

Indonesian-Chinese Cooking

Author : Cherry Hadibroto

Cherry Hadibroto, a member and initiator of Yasa Boga, shares her knowledge on Indonesian-Chinese or China Peranakan foods in this book. From foods that are served in restaurants and food stalls, to dishes that are only served in households, Cherry wrote the recipes she is familiar with as a Javanese-Chinese herself. Some of the dishes included are sup kimlo (meatball, mushroom, glass noodles and vegetable soup) and cap cay (Indonesian-Chinese style stir-fried vegetables).

(Read also: The best gado-gado eateries in Jakarta)

Indonesian Cooking: Satays, Sambals and More

Author : by Dina Yuen

With a desire to make an easy guide that anyone could follow in mind, Dina Yuen wrote this recipe book based on her experience in Jakarta. The Chinese-Russian chef and entrepreneur has learned about Indonesian culinary traditions since moving to Jakarta at the age of 12. Some of the recipes in the book are satay, gado-gado (steamed vegetables with peanut dressing), oxtail soup, and terong balado (eggplant sambal) recipe. (kes)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Maggie Tiojakin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, June 25 2016

The first time I was exposed to Ocean Vuongs work was in 2012, when a friend posted a link on social media of his then recently published poem, Home Wrecker. Something about the poem really got my head reeling, with lines like:

Because the year is a distance

weve traveled in circles. Which is to say: this is how

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung  Sat, June 25 2016

A three-year study of the Baduy Dalam tribe has revealed that the self-isolating Banten tribe does not recognize the concept of play for children, as akin to what mainstream society would consider games, play is instead considered as a task and responsibility among the Baduy Dalam.

The study, which was presented as a dissertation during an open session for a doctoral degree at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) last week, suggested that everything that Baduy Dalam children, women and men do is, in some way. linked to their ability and skill to respond to natural conditions.

The researcher, Mohamad Zaeni Alif, 41, said that the Baduy Dalam community did not recognize the concept of play or games in childhood.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Syofiardi Bachyul Jb (The Jakarta Post) Padang  Sat, June 25 2016

The Environment and Forestry Ministry is conducting public campaigns about climate change and taking other measures in 16 cities in Indonesia in June and July following the Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris last year.

The cities where the campaigns are being carried out are Manokwari, Banda Aceh, Padang, Pekanbaru, Palembang, Pontianak, Samarinda, Palangkaraya, Palu, Jayapura, Jakarta, Serang, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya.

The ministrys expert on the economics of natural resources, Agus Justianto, said the campaigns were necessary to help the country achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 to 2030.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 25 2016

Three beggars were apprehended during a raid on people with social and community problems (PMKS) carried out by the city administration at the Istiqlal Mosque in Gambir, Central Jakarta, on Friday.

A joint team consisting of officers from the Central Jakarta Social Agency, the military and the police, apprehended the beggars and took them to Bina Insan Social Institution in Kedoya, West Java, before they were sent back to their hometowns.

They were nabbed from several areas in and around the Istiqlal Mosque. They came from Central Java and East Java, agency head Susana Budi Susilowati said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Frederica S. Priyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 25 2016

Indonesias leading Muslim fashion online store HijUp has officially released its special Ramadhan collection, called Fitri Festivity.

Muslim fashion online store HijUp revealed its special Ramadhan collection in a show that featured designs coming from renowned designers Dian Pelangi and Ria Miranda, as well as seven rising designers.



The seven were selected from among 89 designers to collaborate with HijUp. These designers are those behind the Kami Idea, Zarrah Panoet, Lmira Ethnique, Yanna Azwar, Belyanza, Box Out and Layla brands.



The showcase, for which Road to Purity was picked by HijUp as the theme for this years Ramadhan, started out with a five-minute video in which five Indonesian women describe the judgments they face for wearing the hijab and how they stand their ground nonetheless.



HijUps chief community officer, Hanna Faridl, explained that the video is part of its #empowerchange campaign that is an addition to the Fitri Festivity Fashion Show itself, which demonstrates the principle to look good, feel good, do good.



The message that we want to get across through this campaign is that a Muslim should aspire to change for the better and that we have to acknowledge the progress of each in doing so, she said.



What HijUp can do to support that is by giving our best, through our best collection, so that they can look good in what they wear, feel good with what they wear and in the end they will be inspired to do good.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Foreign woman in stable condition after motorbike accident in Hanoi

The foreign woman who fell off a motorbike while driving on Tran Nhat Duat Street near Hanoi's Long Bien Railway Station is in stable conditions.

The Franco-Vietnamese Hospital (L'Hopital Francais de Hanoi), where she is said to receive treatment, declined to comment.

However, a source close to the hospital said late Sunday that the foreign woman is Ukrainian. She was knocked unconscious but luckily only soft parts were injured. The woman was discharged from the hospital after 2-3 hours of check-ups and treatment.

Another source who was indirectly involved in helping sending the woman to the hospital provided the same information.

The motorbike the foreign woman was driving. Photo by Bui Tuan Dat

At about 2 a.m. on June 26, a foreign woman driving a motorbike on Tran Nhat Duat Street near Hanoi's Long Bien Railway Station fell in the street and was knocked unconscious, eyewitness Bui Tuan Dat told VnExpress.

Another eyewitness said she was swaying before crashing in the street.

Related news:

> Unidentified foreign woman in serious accident near Hanoi railway station
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Ibrahim Kholilul Rohman (The Jakarta Post) Seville, Spain  Sat, June 25 2016

As reported by The Jakarta Post last week, tech giant Microsoft is set to acquire LinkedIn for US$196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $26.2 billion.

From an ICT industry perspective, it is fascinating to assess whether this acquisition is reasonable and to predict whether the decision will change the industry landscape.

Microsofts business model is based on a revenue stream from two types of customers: intermediate customers, called direct original equipment manufacturers (OEM), which are mostly other firms that preload Microsofts operating systems and software for their day-to-day businesses; and final customers, comprising individuals, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), enterprises, government, education institutions, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and application developers.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 25 2016

Indonesia has kept a close eye on the UK referendum and its ensuing result, which will form a new political and economic paradigm in the UK and in mainland Europe.

Even so, the government is confident that Thursdays surprise Brexit decision will not greatly affect diplomatic relations between Indonesia and theUK. The result of the landmark referendum marks the end of the latters membership to the EU.

Politically, there will be little in the way of a direct impact on Southeast Asias largest economy in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, as Jakartas priorities in existing bilateral partnerships with the EU and the UK remain unchanged, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Friday.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, June 25 2016

Whatever the official reason behind the sudden visit of President Joko Jokowi Widodo to Natuna waters on Thursday, the message is crystal clear. Though many may deem the Presidents gesture purely symbolic, his brief presence in the countrys outermost territory less than a week after Indonesia and China became embroiled in yet another maritime dispute there simply serves notice that national integrity is not something on which he is willing to compromise.

The Indonesian Navy meanwhile defied a request from its Chinese counterpart to release a Chinese vessel captured for alleged fish poaching in Indonesias exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Natuna waters last Friday. It was the third skirmish in as many years and the second in over three months involving the two countries in Natuna, which China has claimed as its traditional fishing grounds.

The actions against Chinese vessels are no different from other attempts to enforce the law against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which according to the Maritime and Fisheries Affairs costs the country US$2 billion in potential losses annually.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, June 25 2016

Traditional travel agencies have escaped the death by digital phenomenon by offering tour packages and embracing technology to maintain a presence in the leisure market, which is seeing a rise in middle-class customers.



Denny Putera, a 25-year-old university student, booked a travel package to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Macau a couple of years ago through Dwidaya Tour. He spent two weeks there with a group of 20 people, comprising members of his family and his church.



Denny said that the nitty-gritty details of preparing the tour were too much for him, so he left them all to the travel agency. He managed to negotiate the price as well, paying Rp 20 million (US$1,504) per person for the two-week tour package.



Meanwhile, Marcella Tjandra, 25, used to visit travel agencies solely to buy airline tickets. However, her preferences have changed after she booked a travel package for her honeymoon to Bangka Belitung for Rp 7 million in November 2015.



I was willing to buy a honeymoon package because of [the agencys] recommendation, she said.



Such assistance and recommendations are exactly what bricks-and-mortar travel agencies are now relying heavily on in order to survive the rapid growth of online travel agents (OTA).



Association of Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies (Asita) chairman Asnawi Bahari said that traditional agencies had already conceded a 30 percent market share to the OTA sector, countering however that tour packages had been a solace and a life raft.



Travel agent Smailing Tour, for instance, has created several specific packages with catchy names to attract customers, and especially young ones. Its flexy holiday aims at catering to those who want to organize their own itinerary, while JustTheTwoOfUs helps couples prepare their romantic getaway.



Smailing Tour vice president marketing and communications Putu Ayu Aristyadewi said the firm now also engaged more in corporate travel, a sector that OTAs cannot handle alone. The company, Putu said, is looking to grow at least 20 percent a year and has managed to achieve the target in previous years, thanks to the packages.



Travel giants Panorama Tours and Dwidaya Tour consider the Millennial Generation or Generation Y, those born between the late 1980s and 2000, as their new markets.



As the generation tends to have a special relationship with online shopping, the agencies have developed their own sophisticated online booking systems, through which they provide tour packages  among other things  for costumers.



The emergence of the digital era has actually led to a greater contribution to our business. The millennial generation, which relies heavily on digital media, is growing, so we have started to distribute our products to them through a digital platform, explained Panorama corporate secretary Karsono Probosetio.



The companys digital platform has been growing significantly since its launch in 2014.



In the first four months of this year, Panorama Tours booked a 39 percent increase in sales to Rp 1.28 trillion, from Rp 917 billion recorded in the same period last year. The contribution of online sales was around 32.4 percent.



Meanwhile, Dwidaya Tour also realizes the importance of going digital to boost business and claims that its website has been designed to target the younger generation.



Dwidaya Tour vice president commercial Hendri Yapto said that while digital was unavoidable, travel agencies such as his had several advantages over OTAs, including by offering promotional prices during travel fairs.



The shift in the role of travel agents from assisting ticket purchases to providing tours is seen as a positive move, both by experts and by the government itself.



Indonesian Tourism Academician Association (ICPI) tourism observer Azril Ashari said that the change was inevitable with emerging internet penetration, which enabled people to book tickets themselves.



According to ICPI observations, the tourism business has changed, with the popularity of nature-based tourism overtaken by enthusiasm for culture-based tourism. Its not just sun, sand and sea anymore, its also about culture, Azril said over the phone. (win, vny)

_________________________________

To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

e-Post daily digital newspaper

No advertisements, no interruptions

Privileged access to our events and programs

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 26, 2016

The recent referendum result obliging the UK to leave the European Union (EU) will not affect tuition fees for Indonesian students currently undertaking degrees in Britain, UK Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik has said.

The UK ambassador responded to increasing concern among Indonesians about tuition costs in the UK following the Brexit, as the UK government currently applies various tuition fees.

"There is no impact on Indonesian students living in the UK," Malik said at the British Embassy in Jakarta on Saturday, underlining that no official statement regarding tuition fee changes had been issued.

He underlined that the UK government would first address domestic issues regarding the Brexit plan, before proceeding with negotiations to leave the EU. The UK must also appoint a new prime minister in October.

"We remain competitive in education and our quality is second to none. So, there is no reason to pull back," Malik said.

The UK applies different tuition fees for citizens, EU members and international students, with the latter facing the highest costs. (ags)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin David Dishneau (Associated Press) Maryland  Sun, June 26, 2016

Four teens in camouflage fatigues march briskly around a brick plaza at the Maryland School for the Deaf, silently marking their cadence in American Sign Language: "Left!" ''Left!"

These members of the school's Cadet Corps aspire to military service, but their path is blocked. Deaf people are barred from joining the armed services, as corps creator Keith Nolan well knows. He's been told, "No," since 2001, when he tried to enlist in the Navy at age 18.

Nolan is determined to change that. "I want to show there are no barriers," he said through an interpreter.

His determination has led to passage of a House bill bearing his name  the Keith Nolan Air Force Deaf Demonstration Act of 2015, which called for a demonstration program.

The Defense Department declared in a report last month it would be "imprudent" to create a program assessing deaf people's fitness for military service. It cited the cost of equipment modifications, security risks from wireless assistive devices and the burden for nondisabled service members if their deaf counterparts can't perform the full range of military tasks.

But Nolan, his cadets and his congressional supporters are undeterred.

"They're not taking us seriously," said Cadet Jennida Willoughby, 16, through a sign-language interpreter. "We're going to keep fighting back."

During after-school and occasional weekend meetings, Cadet Corps members compete as teams in contests of physical strength and brainpower, and take turns leading problem-solving missions around town, said David Alexander, a school audiologist and Army veteran who helps to run the program.

They've gone overnight camping, taken a field trip to the U.S. Military Academy and made a presentation to other students and faculty about the West Point visit.

The cadet corps is independent, not affiliated with the military's Reserve Officer Training Corps. But Willoughby, an accomplished scuba diver, dreams of becoming a Navy SEAL.

She and her fellow cadets, all rising seniors at the school 45 miles west of Baltimore, note along with Nolan that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has been hiring deaf workers since 1987.

The agency, which analyzes aerial and satellite data, sent three deaf analysts to support U.S. military operations in Africa from 2012 to 2014, using only American Sign Language.

And the military already has members in jobs that require sound-deadening earphones, such as guiding planes during landings and takeoffs from aircraft carriers.

"We can serve our country," said Cadet Blake Brewer, 17, whose older cousin is a Marine. "We can show what we can do."

Although firearms training is barred by the school's no-weapons policy, Brewer said he's willing to take up arms for his country. "I'm flexible with where they would need me," he said.

Supporting roles

Cadet Maverick Obermiller envisions himself as an engineer, one of the "supporting roles," including cybersecurity positions, that Nolan says should be open to deaf people.

There's a precedent for deaf people in military service: The Israel Defense Forces have always recruited deaf volunteers and found ways for them to serve in uniform, spokeswoman Libby Weiss said in an email.

She said the IDF communicates with deaf or hearing-impaired soldiers through adaptive devices, text messages, emails and lip-reading. In 2012, the IDF announced an Israeli sign-language course to help commanders communicate better with deaf and hearing-impaired soldiers, then numbering more than 100.

Weiss said deaf service members are usually exempt from instructing roles, or jobs that would require them to communicate by telephone.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, cites Israel's experience as one reason he will continue pressing for a U.S. demonstration program. Israel has "the benefit of a more diverse and talented pool of service members," Takano wrote in an email. "Their example shows that this policy can be effective in some of the most tense and dangerous military arenas."

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, said in an email that she, too, will continue pushing the Defense Department to see whether Americans with disabilities can serve and meet required military standards.

Nolan, who teaches high-school government and history, said supporting the military in a civilian role isn't the same as serving in uniform, as one of his grandfathers and a great-uncle did.

Nolan made it through two years of ROTC at California State University, Northridge, before being told his deafness made him ineligible for advancement.

He founded the Maryland School for the Deaf Cadet Corps two years ago to teach skills he deems valuable no matter what career his students choose.

"I want to see them pave the way for the future," Nolan said. "I have done my part so far, but I want to see them take it and break through." (ags)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 26, 2016

A family of five has died of suffocation in Bogor, West Java, after a nightlong blackout led the father to switch on a generator, which in turn filled the house with carbon monoxide.

The family was found by their grandmother Wikinah, who came to wake them for sahur (predawn meal), on Saturday morning. After her knocks on the door went unanswered, she looked through the window and saw the confronting scene.

The victims were 34-year-old Lamtono and his wife Fatma, 29, their children Marsya Laudya, 10, and Tegar, 7, and their nephew Alldryan Marcellino, 2. The children were found hugging each other in a bedroom, while a generator was still running in the kitchen.

"In the bedroom, [Wikinahs] three grandchildren had suffocated, while Lamtono [their father] was lying breathless in the living room. The other victim was found in the same condition in the bathroom," Gunungsindur Police chief Comm. Agus Suyandi said as quoted by tribunnews.com in Bogor on Saturday.

Lamtono and his family were rushed to Hermina Hospital, South Tangerang, but died on the way there.

"They allegedly died due to carbon monoxide poisoning emitted by the genset in the house, which had poor air circulation due to lack of ventilation," Agus said. (ags)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Amir Vahdat (Associated Press) Tehran  Sun, June 26, 2016

Iranian security forces have clashed with Kurdish separatists who infiltrated a northwestern village, killing five insurgents, according to the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The Guard's website said five terrorists, including two "leaders," were killed in the fighting in the West Azerbaijan province, near the Iraqi border, and that a "chase operation to destroy other terrorists is underway." It said no Iranian forces were wounded in the clashes, and that they confiscated large amounts of weapons and ammunition.

The Kurdish group could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Guard clashed with Kurdish insurgents in West Azerbaijan earlier this month. The Guard said it killed 12 insurgents while three of its members died. The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan said the Kurds killed over a dozen Guard members, including a colonel.

Iran faces threats from several militant groups, ranging from Sunni Arabs in its southern, oil-rich region, Kurds in its northwest and Baluch separatists on its eastern border with Pakistan.

Attacks are rarely publicized in Iran, but last week authorities announced that they had broken up one of the "biggest terrorist plots" ever on Iranian soil by Sunni extremists.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi was later quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying that 10 suspects had been arrested in connection to the plot, which was to involve 50 bombings in the capital.

Earlier this month, police killed five members of the Sunni Jaish al-Adl militant group and lost one of their own during clashes in in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, near the Pakistani border.

Security forces have also clashed with drug traffickers in the province, which is on a major smuggling route for Afghan opium and heroin. (ags)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, June 26, 2016

The Navy has confirmed that Indonesian citizens are among crewmembers from the TB Charles 001 ship who have been kidnapped by militants. The ship was headed from Cagayan De Oro, the Philippines, to Balikpapan, Kalimantan.

The ship, which was found with some crew still on board, was escorted by the KRI Multatuli-561 to a safe port in Balikpapan, before joint team personnel verified the crewmen at the dockyard, said Navy spokesman Edi Sucipto.

"Responding to the news on the kidnapping, Indonesian Navy chief of staff Adm. Ade Supandi instructed the team in the field to locate the TB Charles for verification. Evidently, there has indeed been an abduction," he said as quote by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Sunday.

According to the information gathered, Edi said the ship, operated by 13 crew, had been the subject of two kidnappings. Although the abductions took place outside Indonesias jurisdiction, the Navy has persisted with launching a search.

He said the first abduction, which occurred on June 20, was carried out by around five Malay-speaking militants in Jolo waters. They removed the vessels communication devices and took three crewmen with them: the captain, the chief engineer and another engineer.

Around an hour later, the ship was stopped again by dozens of English-speaking militants. They kidnapped four more crewmen, before releasing the ship with six people remaining on board. (ags)
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has ordered an urgent investigation into so-called lasering of airplanes at Noi Bai International Airport that has been going on since February this year.

He has also asked related agencies to take all necessary measures to prevent it from happening again.

The Ministry of Public Security has been put in charge of instructing local police during the investigation and punishing those responsible, while the Ministry of Information and Communications is informing the public about laws and regulations on aviation safety as well as the dangers of lasering airplanes.

In June, the National Committee of Civil Aviation Security has reported four cases in which airplanes at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi have been targeted by laser beams.

On June 2, a security unit detected laser lights to the southwest of the airport.

The incident was repeated on the evening of June 11 when a pilot of state-owned carrier Vietnam Airlines, who was about to land the airplane, detected laser beams towards the west, 40 kilometers from Noi Bai Airport. A day later, another Vietnam Airlines crew detected green laser lights projected onto the cockpit.

Green laser beams, coming from the west, were also seen projected onto a VietJet plane on June 14.

According to the National Committee of Civil Aviation Security Committee, the four cases violated international and domestic aviation security regulations.

This isnt the first time the problem has occurred at Noi Bai Airport. During the first five months of this year, one pilot said a laser had been shone directly into his eyes.

In March, laser beams were projected onto a Vietnam Airlines plane when it was taking off, dazzling the pilot.

Aviation security experts said that projecting laser beams at pilots is a safety threat, especially if the aircraft is landing or taking off. Experts have asked authorities to control the sale of lasers to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

So far, security experts and airport authorities agree that the culprits are probably local youngsters, rather than hostile forces.

Its highly likely that local youngsters hanging out in the evening are projecting laser beams onto airplanes for fun,"a top official from the Northern Airport Authority said.

A security expert from Vietnams Civil Aviation Authority also agreed with the statement, adding that laser beams could originate from music gatherings in the surrounding region.

The culprits behind the cases have yet to be identified.

Related news:

> Youngsters suspected of "lasering" airplanes at Vietnam airport

> Laser beams threaten planes at Vietnam's international airport
The voters have decided and they have decided that Britain should leave the EU. It is a historical and momentous time in British politics. There has already been major fallout: weve lost a prime minister and could possibly lose the leader of the main opposition party. The vote has illuminated that we have a fractured country with major fault lines between young and old, between London and the rest of England and between the member states of the United Kingdom itself.

We must now move on from this to try and pick up the pieces and build the consensus that is greatly need. There is no use in grieving or chiding older voters for pulling us out of the EU. What we must now do is accept that there are people in this country with legitimate grievances that need to be addressed. People who feel left behind by the forces of globalisation. Regardless of whether or not you believe immigration is an issue worth debating, clearly a majority of the people in the UK do. The tendency among the privileged to condescend those they feel are not fortunate enough to view the world in their terms will not do any favours in the coming months We must now move on from this to try and pick up the pieces and build the consensus that is greatly need. There is no use in grieving or chiding older voters for pulling us out of the EU. What we must now do is accept that there are people in this country with legitimate grievances that need to be addressed. People who feel left behind by the forces of globalisation. Regardless of whether or not you believe immigration is an issue worth debating, clearly a majority of the people in the UK do. The tendency among the privileged to condescend those they feel are not fortunate enough to view the world in their terms will not do any favours in the coming months

I voted remain reluctantly but I did hope for it to be a close count. This would not settle the issue, which in my mind would be great for addressing the real problems that underpinned peoples disenchantment with the EU. The good thing about this vote is now the EU scapegoat has been freed. Our national politicians can be fully held accountable for decisions and promises they make. No longer can things be blamed on Brussels bureaucrats anymore.

much needed conversation A case in point of this is immigration. We can now have a sensible discussion that isnt encumbered by politicians claiming immigration is something they would rather not prefer but because of the EU, their hands are tied. Britain has full control over NON-EU migration  we even have a points based system  yet those levels are higher than migration from the EU. This lays bare a simple truth, that the UK economy is dependent on migrant work. So even where the government has full control, net migration levels still run at about 188,000. This decision has now pushed us to have aabout the sacrifices we are willing to make to lower migration levels or whether we could actually cope with better housing and public service policy in place.

The insidious side of politics

Immigration consensus won this campaign. I do not wish to reduce the case for leaving the EU to a singular argument but that is exactly what the leave campaign have done. Its a hard truth to accept when you see Britain as an outward facing cosmopolitan nation - but there has been a mandate from the people. We must not err on the side that laments "too much democracy"; the majority have spoken. We can only move forward by engaging with them from the position that we all voted for what we thought was right for this country. Now even though that may have led to us on to different paths we must still strive for convergence and. If we follow this referendum with contempt for our fellow citizens then the political alienation and distance felt by those who voted to leave will only increase further.

We have to answer questions about what type of country we would like to be, what our relationship will be with our European partners, and how to unify and move forward. This can only be done when we listen to one another instead of trying to suppress and muffle societal dissatisfaction. Post Brexit Britain can still be outward looking and tolerant, now that we have to renegotiate our place in the global landscape maybe we can do so without leaving anyone behind.
We have been divided as a nation. Some are ecstatic about what has happened whilst others are panicking about the impact such a significant event will have on our nation and theyre searching for solutions.

It is largely agreed that there will be hardship ahead of us and this has been at the centre of people's fears. We saw the pound drop to its lowest value since 1985 almost immediately as the market lost confidence in it. Whilst a fall was largely expected it was an unsettling event to see it plummet so far so quickly - but it is claimed that this is a temporary situation. It is largely agreed that there will be hardship ahead of us and this has been at the centre of people's fears. We saw the pound drop to its lowest value since 1985 almost immediately as the market lost confidence in it. Whilst a fall was largely expected it was an unsettling event to see it plummet so far so quickly - but it is claimed that this is a temporary situation.

The loss of confidence and the uncertainty from experts about what the future will hold has caused further lack of confidence in young people about the security of their nation. This has then triggered them to claim (whether jokingly or not) that they plan to move out of England.

Nicola Sturgeon is calling for a second referendum for Scotland's independence to enable the country to have its way and remain in the EU. Many people now see an independent Scotland as a better option than Brexit Britain.

With other European countries now talking of their own referendum to leave we could very well see the European Union as a whole disintegrate. But is this as bad as some claim? Many young people are anxious that the future is bleak and it's understandable.

Students across the country have cried out about their fears surrounding Brexit. These include an anxiety that racism will now increase and a fear that Britain will become a place lacking opportunity as a result of an economic crash. These fears don't seem unreasonable and whilst some are jokingly claiming that emigrating would be best (amongst others with serious plans to move) it seems that these fears are very real beneath the anxious humour.

Over 100 billion has reportedly been wiped off of the value of British companies since we voted to leave and some EU students have reported feeling anxious about facing more racism. This could originate from Nigel Farages insistence that we must leave the EU to control our borders, causing a lot of negativity towards EU immigrants.

It seems that there are equally as many people who are ashamed of Britain on this occasion as there are those who are proud. But what do young Remain voters think they have to do now?

Elanor Marriott, a Classics student originally from Essex, has said that she is seriously considering leaving England after graduating. When asked what made her feel this way she replied that she felt "a complete separation from most of Britain and what it now means to be British".

Grace Potter, an undergraduate student in Reading, has said that she feels that she will have to be a lot more careful with her money because of Brexit, but doesn't feel the need to leave the UK later on.

Now that we're out of the EU the same freedom of movement does not exist. It will be harder for Brits to move abroad to escape what many see as a sinking ship.

Whilst this is a sad reality that many feel this way an irony can be found in the way that the Leave campaign was focused primarily on working independently as a country - British people for British people. But many are so angered and ashamed that they see their best option now is to leave.

We're at a point of great division. Leaving the EU could work out for the best but people have legitimate and understandable fears. But whatever happens now we have to try and bridge this potentially damaging divide and work together to make the best out of an uncertain situation.
A hospital in the central province of Thanh Hoa has suspended its head of obstetrics following a mistake that nearly cost a baby girl her life two months ago.

The baby girl was born two months prematurely, and although she was breathing, doctors gave her little chance and told the family to say their goodbyes.

It was only when the baby's grandfather was putting her into a coffin that they realized she was still breathing.

The baby girl was nearly buried alive. Photo by VnExpress/Le Hoang

The family rushed her to hospital, and after two months of treatment, she is now in a stable condition.

Ha Trung Hospital, where the incident took place, has suspended its head of obstetrics for three months and capped salaries for the doctors and nurses involved.

Related news:

> Vietnamese hospital staff accused of putting phone call ahead of patients

> Vietnamese American arrested after fleeing Saigon hospital in stolen taxi

> Father goes on Hanoi hospital rampage, accuses doctors of neglecting his child
Vietnamese authorities have confirmed that an object salvaged by local fishermen is the pilot's seat from the Su-30 MK2 fighter jet that went down off Vietnam's central coast.

This morning, fisherman Nguyen Van Son and his crew found the object in waters between the provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An caught in their nets near the sea bed.

The seat has been identified as one from the Su-30 MK2. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Ninh

The object looked like the missing Su-30 pilot's seat so we sent it to the communes People Committee fisherman Son said.

Chairman of the Hai Ninh People's Committee Le Dinh Phuong said that at 10 a.m., representatives of Ministry of National Defense's Regiment 923 had confirmed it was Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quang Khai's seat, who was found dead at sea after the incident.

The seat was damaged but not too hard to identify. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Ninh

His body was recovered by a border guard vessel on June 17 after a four day search off Vietnam's central coast.

On June 23, search teams said they had pinpointed the exact location of the crash site 10 days after it went missing.

Related news

> Vietnamese fighter jet Su-30s debris found, crash site pinpointed

> Su-30 fighter and CASA-212 rescuer: the tragedy explained

> Body of Su-30 jet pilot brought ashore
28 illegal migrants rounded up in 'anti human trafficking' raids

PHUKET: In the latest drive to combat human trafficking authorities last night arrested and processed 28 illegal migrants, including 25 from Myanmar, two from China and one from Vietnam.

MyanmarChineseimmigration

By Darawan Naknakhon

Sunday 26 June 2016, 11:31AM

At 6:30pm last night (June 25) Vice Governor Chokdee Amornwat presided over the lineup inspection of the arrested migrants, rounded up by two raiding teams comprising a total of 40 officers from the Phuket offices of Provincial Security Affairs and Labour Protection and Welfare.

Carrying out orders from the Phuket Governors Office to combat human trafficking and illegal migrant labour, the first raiding team, led by Vice Gov Chokdee and Anirut Bua-on and Thamarong Chuai-aksorn of Phuket Provincial Security Affairs, roped in 20 Myanmar construction workers.

Officers said the workers were believed to be employed by a construction company contracted by a well-known retail shopping centre on Vichit Songkhram Rd, but The Phuket News has withheld the name of the contractor and retail company since no charges had been filed at the time of press.

However, the migrants were all charged with entering and staying in the kingdom illegally.

A second team, led by Mr Wansurachart Dechoran of the Phuket Security Affairs division and Thanapong Arachara of the Labour Protection and Welfare office, raided a Korean barbeque buffet (moo kata) restaurant, also located on Vichit Songkhram Road, not too far from the retail centre, where they arrested five more Mynamar nationals accused of working in the kitchen.

The team also raided a Chinese shop nearby and arrested a Chinese woman looking after the shop as well as a Chinese "assistant", in addition to a Vietnamese woman found tending to a fruit stall in front of the shop.

All eight aliens were charged with doing forbidden work without permit. The Vietnamese national was also charged with entering and staying in the kingdom illegally.

All 28 migrants were transported to Vichit Police Station for processing.

No official charges or fines have yet been issued to any company or individual for alleged involvement in employing or traffiking said migrants.
Phuket Editorial: Thai lessons from Jack Brown

OPINION: The recent video of Thai-speaking westerner Jack Brown ranting about elated private transport fares in Phuket has reignited sensitive debate and dialogue in the Thai social media world.

Sunday 26 June 2016, 12:11PM

At the very least, the viral clip seems to have prompted consideration among Phuket authorities, who so far have mandated to enforce the requirements for private taxis and tuk-tuks to display pricing signage in four languages, and to agree on a price before the trip, so as to prevent exploitation and confrontations.

The burning question: will the social media furor around Jack Browns video actually result in any serious policy reform, or simply fade away with time? Obviously, the latter is the situation that Phuket residents have, at the very least, been acquiescing to for decades. What, exactly should we hope that one random  albeit popular  video to achieve?

With vested interests entrenched on the island, Jack Brown is unlikely to effect true change in public transport in Phuket. After all, he was simply an internet personality on holiday looking for something topical to comment on, so as to engage attention from his tens of thousands of followers, and possibly gain a few more (If you didnt know him before last week, you certainly know him now!).

Meanwhile, the active stakeholders of Phukets tourism and transport sectors are more-or-less content with the status quo, and will likely continue to carry on as they have been for some time.

While it might seem easy and safe enough to share a video, comment and express outrage on social media, The Phuket News advises readers to exercise caution when using their computers or other IT devices to express their views  with the notorious Computer Crime Act, even the most constructive of intentions can be deemed as a criminal offense.

If anything, Jack Brown demonstrated his understanding of the underlying cultural factor of face, and rectified his potentially-murky situation by smiling for the cameras and shaking hands with the tuk-tuk driver at a press conference staged by Phuket Tourism Police last Monday.

After wai-ing, apologising and clarifying his pure intentions, authorities matched his gesture of humility by promising to enforce existing standards while considering revising pricing standards.

But the bottom line is: dont count on Phuket mirroring the more economical transport standards of say, Pattaya or Bangkok, any time soon. Why? Pure economics.
Physics in Motion

Premier 38: When you feel the need for speed

Sunday 26 June 2016, 12:00PM

by Lori Ashton

Lee Marine in Phuket recently hosted Fabio Rota, Production Coordinator Powerboats from Premier Composite Technologies, Dubai. The Lee Marine team, with Fabio at the helm sped across Phang Nga Bay on Atari VI, Lee Marines own Premier 38 (P38) demon.

When meeting Fabio Rota, humble as he seems, you are taken on a journey that encompasses what he best knows: SPEED  as in swiftness or fastness. Adrenaline-filled Fabio is pumped when it comes to getting the most out of his Premier powerboats. He is a seasoned professional with strong knowledge of the use of composites in building speedboats.

Premier Composite Technologies (PCT) is a leading global supplier and manufacturer of advanced composite components for architectural design, transportation, aerospace, marine, oil and gas markets. PCT is the only company in the world that makes production standard carbon boats, says Fabio.

PCT has built several high performance custom racing yachts. Some of these yachts are performing extremely well in competitions around the world. This technology by PCT, in the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, saw incredible success. Three high-profile, high-performance race yachts built using PCTs hi-tech construction, completed the demanding 628 mile race course, securing standings in the top finishing fifteen yachts. This is a remarkable achievement, considering that over the course of the race  and with a tremendously threatening first night at sea  25 per cent of the racing fleet withdrew from the race.

Mention SY Rebellion  Carkeek 40 MKII to racing enthusiasts and you will hear that these yachts are aptly named as Premiers: Grand Prix Custom edition. That is the sailors side of speed. PCT is committed to building boats for speed and performance. After enjoying much success with their sailboats, PCT has entered the power boat segment with the launch of the P38, a finely tuned, sleek design power boat capable of high speeds reaching 60 knots.

Performance depends on the experience and ability of the pilot at the helm of the boat, said Fabio, having reached speeds in excess of 125 knots whilst out on sea trials with the PCT marine team. Amazing, considering this is not far off the world speed record of 170 knots. Fabios experienced helming was evident when the Lee Marine team in Phuket went out on the bay. He coaxed higher speeds than ever seen on the Atari VI, their own P38.

Inseparable in his mind is Premiers technology combined with speed. He persistently fine-tunes the products at all levels, in the factory and on the water, insuring each model lives up to its well-earned reputation as a Ferrari of the sea. He is constantly looking, listening, waiting, meticulously adjusting and pushing for the highest possible performance.

Needless to say, the new breed of lightweight, sea-speed machines is here. Designed by Farr Yacht Designs, the P38 performance speedboats are built using the latest technology by PCT. The hull and deck are infused carbon/foam composite structures, while a full length carbon/glass chassis join the hull and deck together. A carbon fibre structure supports the carbon composite hardtop. GRP and infused carbon composites are combined to increase rigidity and to save weight. Powered by up to three, 350 horsepower engines, the P38 comfortably climbs in excess of 60 knots  one of the fastest in her class.

Hull design is most important on any boat striving for speed. Fabios long experience with boat hull designs is another real strength he possesses. On the P38 drawings, one of his first Premier assignments, he completely removed the 10 centimetre deep and 4 metre long keel. Then the rounded corners on the sub-structure were replaced by sharp corners. More important than the newly-created visual was the incredible addition of 5 knots of speed performance to an already fast boat.

These are revolutionary designed boats. The newest Premier 38 launches early next year with performance up to 70 knots powered by three Mercury Verado 400 HP engines. The Premier 61 (P61), when launched mid-2016, will carry the status of the longest, centre-console, outboard boat available in the market. The P61 features include a proper cabin and speeds that can easily surpass 70 knots (engine variant).

Firm plans are underway for the Premier 55 (P55) to debut later this year. Following this, the Premier 29 (P29) and Premier 45 (P45) are on the drawing boards with 2017 availability.

PCTs ground-breaking, fresh, new designs with low maintenance and high performance are perfect for Asian waters. The new range of centre-console powerboats from Premier Composite Technologies is available soon at Lee Marine International Marine Brokerage.

Lee Marines own P38, is soon ready for day charters around the islands of Phuket. Those interested may contact for a no obligation sea trial  you will not leave disappointed.

For more details, visit www.leemarine.com or www.facebook.com/LeeMarineOfficial | www.twitter.com/leemarinebroker | Youtube: MrLeeMarine
Russian man, 61, found dead in Karon hotel

PHUKET: Police are speculating that a 61-year-old Russian man whose body was found yesterday afternoon inside a locked Kata hotel room, most likely died due to a health condition.

Russiandeath

By Darawan Naknakhon

Sunday 26 June 2016, 10:10AM

Karon Police responded to a request at 4.15pm on Saturday (June 25) from staff at a beachfront hotel in Karon for permission to gain entry to one of their rooms in which a foreigner was thought to be inside, though unresponsive.

The cleaner wanted to access the room. There were electrical appliances on inside the room but the door was locked and no response to knocks, said Pol Maj Patiwat Yodkwan.

Upon gaining access to the room, police discovered the body of the man, who was named as a 61-year-old Russian national. The Phuket News is witholding his name until it can be confirmed that the next of kin have been notified.

There were no signs of a struggle but a lot of medication. So, we believe he most likely died from personal health condition, said Pol Maj Patiwat.

Among the other items collected in the room and photographed include a tablet, bag, smartphone, passport, wristwatch, B1,260 in cash, another official Russian document booklet and a handwritten letter.

Police have yet to comment about the contents of the letter or clarify if they believe there is any connection with the death of the man, whose body has been transported to Vachira Hospital Phuket for further examination.
Tourist numbers up, but concerns rise

BANGKOK: Despite rising tourist numbers and increasing revenue, the tourism sector remains worried by economic problems, fierce competition and the fact the increase in visitors is concentrated in some areas only, according to a new survey.

tourismeconomics

By Bangkok Post

Sunday 26 June 2016, 09:00AM

Although tourist numbers continue to rise overall, the tourism sector is worried because individual spending by visitors is down, according to a survey. Photo: TAT

The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Chulalongkorn University on Tuesday (June 21) reported results from their survey of 600 tourism-related business operators, 350 foreign tourists and 350 Thai tourists in the second quarter of this year.

The survey found the tourist sector had slightly more confidence in the second quarter compared with the first three months, but the outlook for the third quarter, often called the tourism low season, was not as certain.

The lower confidence resulted from fierce competition among business operators and economic problems that meant individual tourists were spending less, TCT president Ittirith Kinglake said.

Based on the survey, the number of visitors to Thailand should reach 33.87 million this year, up 13.35 per cent on last year, and revenue from foreign tourists is estimated at B1.71 trillion, up by 17.83%.

However, operators confidence would not rise accordingly, Mr Ittirith said, adding that, in addition to economic concerns and fierce competition, the increase in visitors is occurring only in some groups of tourists, notably the Chinese.

In the third quarter of this year, the number of visitors from Asean should rise by 7% year-on-year to 2.09 million, those from East Asia by 26% to 3.97 million and those from Europe by 3.4% to 1.11 million, he said.

The number of Chinese visitors was expected to increase by 27% to 2.68 million in the third quarter. Their numbers should exceed 10 million for the first time this year, Mr Ittirith said. The figure was 8.1 million last year.

The survey also found that foreign tourists were less satisfied with their visits to Thailand, mainly due to poor transport services. Thai tourism operators and local tourists shared the same view, Mr Ittirith said.

Foreign tourists wanted lower fares, more domestic flights, better local transport, transport alternatives like passenger boats, better quality destinations and a better standard of service.

The main competitors for tourists' dollars were seen as Hong Kong, Laos and Malaysia.

Most surveyed foreign tourists were repeat visitors. They came to Thailand because of its beautiful tourist attractions, culture, religion, food and because it gave value for money.

The survey also found that more Thai people intended to travel in the third quarter due to long holidays in July and August, but 47% of the Thai respondents said they would spend less on their vacations, while 40% said they would spend about the same amount as before.

Thai tourists wanted cleanliness, a good standard of service and convenient transport. For outbound Thai tourists, Korea and Laos were their main destinations.

Read original story here.
It was a tricky question when Jesus asked his disciples, Whom say ye that I am?

And it was a tricky question when conservative columnist Cal Thomas posed a version of it to Donald Trump.

You have confessed that you are a Christian, said Thomas, while interviewing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Trump responded: And I have also won much evangelical support.

Yes, I know that, said Thomas. You have said you never felt the need to ask for Gods forgiveness, and yet repentance for ones sins is a precondition to salvation. I ask you the question Jesus asked of Peter: Who do you say He is?

Trump responded: I will be asking for forgiveness, but hopefully I wont have to be asking for much forgiveness. As you know, I am Presbyterian and Protestant. ... We have tremendous support from the clergy. I think I will be doing very well during the election with evangelicals and with Christians. ... Im going to treat my religion, which is Christian, with great respect and care.

Thomas repeated the question: Who do you say Jesus is?

Trump tried again: Jesus, to me, is somebody I can think about for security and confidence. Somebody I can revere in terms of bravery and in terms of courage and, because I consider the Christian religion so important, somebody I can totally rely on in my own mind.

For the record, here is St. Peters response: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

That isnt political language, and people in pews and pulpits know that politicos fear being that blunt. Still, in a week in which Trump courted nervous religious leaders  primarily in a closed-door United In Purpose forum in New York City  it was obvious many were still struggling to discern if he could be trusted on issues crucial to millions of potential voters.

No one expects a canned evangelical-sounding answer when Trump faces religious questions, stressed historian Thomas Kidd of Baylor University, co-founder of the Gospel Coalitions Evangelical History website. The key is whether Trump can use personal language that rings true.

If Trump was a believer, theyd want him to say, Jesus is the Son of God, and my Lord and Savior. He died on the cross so I could be forgiven of my sins, said Kidd. I dont think he could say anything in evangelical-talk that wouldnt sound fake.

Before the New York gathering, Trump supporter Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, stressed  once again  that believers are seeking a political partner, not a pastor.

Trump doesnt expect you to agree with him on every issue or to endorse or condone his style of leadership, Falwell told Time magazine. If we all wait for the perfect candidate who has the demeanor of our pastors and agrees with us on every issue, including our personal theological beliefs, then we may all sit at home on election day for the rest of our lives.

The key issues? Trump offered a litany of pledges at a recent Faith & Freedom Coalition meeting, starting with, We want to uphold the sanctity and dignity of life.

Trump punched on: Marriage and family as the building block of happiness and success  so important. ... Religious freedom, the right of people of faith to freely practice their faith  so important. ... The importance of faith to United States society. Its really the people who go to church, who work and work in religious charities  so important. ... We will respect and defend Christian Americans.

At the New York forum, Trump made yet another attempt to state his faith-based credentials, according to recordings posted on Facebook by Bishop E.W. Jackson of Exodus Faith Ministries in Virginia.

Christianity  I owe so much to it in so many ways, Trump told the audience. I also owe it for, frankly, standing here, because the evangelical vote was mostly gotten by me. If you remember, I went to South Carolina, and I was going to be beat  very heavy evangelical state  and I was going to be beaten by (Ted) Cruz or somebody because he had a very strong evangelical vote, and I ended up getting massive majorities of the evangelical vote.

The bottom line, said Trump: I am so on your side. I am a tremendous believer.

Terry Mattingly is the editor of GetReligion.org and Senior Fellow for Media and Religion at The Kings College in New York City. He lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Emerson College/The Hill poll shows Noem with big lead in gov's race

A new poll out Wednesday from Emerson College and The Hill shows 56% of voters support South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's reelection.
BASIN  Joseph Robertson moved into an old camper down by his ponds about a month and a half ago.

His wife, Carri, is staying up at their cabin. Robertson cant be in their home because he cant be around the firearms there, a condition of his release following a conviction in April on federal charges he polluted waters of the United States. His sentencing is July 20.

Im facing 15 years and three-quarters of a million in fines, the 77-year-old said recently on his property, supporting himself with a hand on one of the plentiful aspen that canopy the land and a work boot resting on a downed fir. What theyre doing to me, the feds, they shouldnt have the ability to.

Joe Robertson, 77, discusses the legal trouble he is in recently regarding ponds he constructed on his property outside Basin. Im facing 15 years and three-quarters of a million in fines, Robertson said. What theyre doing to me, the feds, they shouldnt have the ability to.

The feds, specifically the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Robertson discharged dredged and fill material as a result of a series of ponds he built on land above the small town of Basin, just off Interstate 15 between Butte and Boulder.

Robertson doesnt deny building the ponds; he freely admits using an excavator and rubber-tired backhoe to do the work. Last week he talked about improvements he still wants to make, even after his conviction and before that a series of letters and visits from federal officials over several years telling him he was breaking the law.

They stopped me before I finished, Robertson said. I have a lot of work to do. I need to put a proper drain in here one of these days.

What he doesnt understand is how someone could claim his ponds could pollute anything, let alone the nearest navigable river  the Jefferson about 60 miles away. But the EPA has said, and a jury agreed, Robertsons actions dirtied waters that are critically important to the Jefferson and restoration would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I dont know how they say what happens up here can mean something all the way down there, he said, pointing through timber that obscured Cataract Creek, which eventually flows into the Boulder River and then the Jefferson.

The tale of Joe Robertson has all the characters of a new storyline playing out across the West: a landowner who doesnt think what he calls an overreaching EPA and Corps of Engineers should have a say about what he does on his property, two federal agencies that are tasked with protecting the countrys water resources and interested parties and likeminded groups watching from the audience, deciding if, when and how to take action.

The crux of Robertsons case is what qualifies as a waters of the United States, as defined by the Clean Water Act. The EPA only has jurisdiction over those waters, but definition of the term is as unclear as a muddy stream.

The inclusion of waters that have a significant nexus to navigable waterways comes out of a split U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2006 in which Justice Anthony Kennedy said a continuous surface connection wasnt necessary for a wetland to fall under the Clean Water Acts jurisdiction. A jury found that Robertsons ponds met the nexus test.

At Robertsons trial, experts from the EPA and Corps of Engineers testified the ponds Robertson built were in a stream and wetlands that had a significant nexus to traditional navigable waters  running into Cataract Creek, then the Boulder and finally the Jefferson, which the government said has been documented as navigable going back to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The Montana State Program Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who determined Robertson was in violation of the act, explained the importance of adjacent waters during Robertsons trial like this:

You think of a tree or a plant leaf where youve got a main branch and a leaf or a main branch on a tree and you get many smaller branches that come off of it and leaves on those branches. It all is connected into  you know, its all part of the same tree or part of the same plant.

The Supreme Courts lack of a majority in 2006 created confusion, in the wake of which the EPA proposed the Clean Water Rule rule in an attempt to clarify what falls under its jurisdiction.

The rule was developed by the agencies to respond to an urgent need to improve and simplify the process for identifying waters that are and are not protected under the Clean Water Act, and is based on the latest science and the law, said EPA Deputy Press Secretary Monica Lee.

The rule was published in the Federal Register in June 2015 and added headwaters, tributaries and adjacent wetlands and nearby waters to what the EPA can regulate. Organizations like the Farm Bureau said the rule would hamstring farmers ability to work their property that may have isolated wetlands or other protected waters while groups like Trout Unlimited said it will ensure protections for fish habitat.

Just four months later, on Oct. 9, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay against enforcing the rule after a lawsuit filed by several states that called it a power grab by the agency. Since then, the EPA and the Corps of Engineers have used earlier regulations to determine what is a waters of the U.S.

By resolution, Congress overturned the rule on Nov. 4, 2015. Montana Republicans, Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines, voted to overturn; Democrat Sen. Jon Tester voted no. But in January, with his ninth veto, President Barack Obama rejected that resolution. Senate Republicans tried to overturn the veto, but didnt get enough votes. Daines voted for the override; Tester voted against it.

Zinke said he thinks decisions about water are best made locally, not at the federal level.

What I face every day is someone in Washington, D.C., who has a better idea of how to manage our resources and control our resources than Montana, he said. If a person violates or dams a river or affects your neighbor or the environment adversely, certainly the state and even the county has enough provisions to take action. I dont think you need to prosecute under federal law for something that is a very local issue.

A spokesman for Tester said the EPA rule needs to protect our most precious resource and work on the ground, adding the goals arent mutually exclusive. He also said the failed override would have prevented future administrations from providing needed clarity on waters of the U.S.

Daines has been a critic of the rule, saying it would have a harmful effect on farmers and ranchers and is an attack on private property rights.

The crux of Robertsons case is what qualifies as a waters of the United States, as defined by the Clean Water Act. The EPA only has jurisdiction over those waters, but definition of the term is as unclear as a muddy stream.
Unidos Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias votes on Sunday. Bernardo Perez

The leaders of three of the four main parties in Spains general election  acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party (PP), Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sanchez, and Pablo Iglesias of the Podemos-United Left coalition Unidos Podemos  voted early in Madrid on Sunday morning, urging the electorate to turn out en masse.

In Barcelona meanwhile, acting Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz, the PPs candidate in the Catalan capital, and who finds himself at the center of a scandal over a leaked telephone conversation in which he appears to approve ordering investigations into leading Catalan pro-independence politicians, faced critics and supporters at his local polling station.

Overall, voting has begun largely without incident throughout the country

Also in Barcelona, Albert Rivera, the leader of Ciudadanos, which along with Podemos has emerged as a major force in Spanish politics over the last two years, voted early, calling for what he called moderate people to turn out to vote.

Carles Puigdemont, the head of the regional government of Catalonia, also called on the electorate to vote, while Gabriel Rufian, the candidate for the Catalan Republican Left party, called on voters to defend the interests of the region.

In Madrid, Albert Garzon, the Unidos Podemos candidate in the capital, and Mayor Manuela Carmena were among the first voters. The important thing is that as many people as possible vote and that there is a government soon, said Carmena.

While refusing to comment on whether this Sundays elections will be a repeat of the December 20 poll that produced a six-month stalemate, and thus lead to a third election, Carmena expressed the importance of a high voter turnout if a government is to emerge after todays vote. A high turnout will bring change, said Garzon.

In the Basque Country, Inigo Urkullo, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) head of the regional government, along with Socialist Party challenger Patxi Lopez, said they expected a high turnout in the northeastern region. The head of the Canary Islands regional administration, Fernando Clavijo, said: Today is a day to vote with our heads and not with our hearts.

Overall, voting has begun largely without incident throughout the country, although the windows of the Socialist Partys offices in the north of Cordoba province were broken during the night.

English version by Nick Lyne.
A polling station today in Madrid. Samuel Sanchez (EL PAIS)

A 92-year-old man died after voting in Spains general elections on Sunday at a polling station in Madrid, say emergency services. Accompanied by his wife, the nonagenarian suffered a heart attack after casting his vote and collapsed.

Police officers tried to resuscitate him while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Medics declared the man dead after 40 minutes.

The 1,028 polling stations in the capital are operating normally, say electoral officials

His wife, who was tended to by a therapist, was made comfortable at the school where she waited until her husbands body had been removed by undertakers. Meanwhile, medics tended another elderly voter who had felt faint while casting his vote.

Meanwhile, a 79-year-old man collapsed and died at a polling station in Santa Coloma de Farners, in Girona province, says Europa Press.

Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here.

In Valencia, a heavily pregnant electoral official's waters broke while the polling station was opening.



The central governments delegate in Madrid, Concepcion Dancausa, told reporters that the 1,028 polling stations in the capital were operating normally and that there had been practically no incidents at the 6,530 booths.

But National Police were told that political leaflets were being distributed at the doors of 22 polling stations in the Madrid region; 19 in the city itself, two in Getafe and one in Alcala de Henares.

English version by Heather Galloway.
Educational exposure of ideas, assumptions or hypotheses, based on proven facts" (which need not be strictly current affairs) Value in judgments are excluded, and the text comes close to an opinion article, without judging or making forecasts , just formulating hypotheses, giving motivated explanations and bringing together a variety of data

A young boy places a voting slip in Barcelona. Carles Ribas

Among the electoral requirements outlined by the Spanish Constitution are universal suffrage, freedom of choice, equality, and a direct and secret vote. But the Spanish system also produces a number of imbalances, notably that some votes carry more weight than others, depending on where in Spain they are cast. For a political party to secure a seat in Spains Congress, two plus two votes do not always add up to four, but instead can result in three, or eight. Whats more, this imbalance is built into the system.

Recent polls show that 80% of the population wants reform of Spains electoral system in order to give greater proportionality between the number of overall votes a party receives and the number of seats it wins in Congress, even if such a system makes it more difficult to form governments.

Based on the last general elections in December 2015, it should take around 72,000 votes for a party to win a seat in Congress: thats 25.3 million votes divided by the 350 seats in Congress, give or take a few thousand. But in reality, only a dozen or so of Spains 50 provinces (plus the Moroccan exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla), actually operate on this basis. For example, Cadiz, where at the last poll, each of the nine representatives that won a seat in Congress garnered 72,246. At either end of the extreme, in Madrid a seat in Congress required 100,748 votes, while in the rural province of Soria, in north-central Spain, it was worth just 25,986 votes.

To prevent the countrys cities from dominating politics, the Spanish Constitution implemented major restrictions on proportional representation

How is it possible that votes in Soria are worth four times those in Madrid?

The problem is rooted in the proportional representation system that Spanish legislators set up in 1977 as the country returned to democracy after 40 years of dictatorship, and that was then implemented into law in 1985. A 1985 Constitutional Court mentions the desire to balance the number of votes a party wins with the number of seats it is awarded in Congress. Proportionality is thus understood more as a goal than a strict mathematical rule. And the party in power has the flexibility to decide just how proportional the vote is.

The thinking behind the decisions made almost four decades ago were aimed at balancing out Spains unbalanced demographics. To avoid marginalizing rural areas and to prevent the countrys cities from dominating politics, the Spanish Constitution implemented major restrictions on proportional representation, notably by establishing that each of Spain's 50 provinces is a constituency and entitled to an initial minimum of two seats, and that there would be between 300 and 400 seats in Congress. Boosting the weight of Huesca and Guadalajara at the expense of Madrid and Barcelona was seen as a way of balancing a demographic imbalance in terms of representation.

The effects of this imbalance have, until now, favored the two main parties, which have a strong presence in rural areas. But the appearance of two major new political forces at the national level makes it increasingly difficult to justify the system of the last four decades. The four main parties take 85% of the vote, with none able to garner more than 30% and none with less than 10%.

In the final analysis, it isnt the Dhondt proportional representation system that is responsible for the imbalances of the Spanish electoral system per se, but instead its asymmetric application to Spains 52 constituencies. A certain amount of flexibility in establishing proportional representation is no bad thing, but in the case of Spain will require work to make the system fairer.

Francisco Camas Garcia is an analyst at Metroscopia.

English version by Nick Lyne.
David Franco Portoles checks ID cards at a polling station. Cristobal Castro

David Franco Portoles was arrested on April 8, 2015 along with 10 other individuals who allegedly belonged to a jihadist cell in Terrassa (Catalonia).

In a raid dubbed Operation Caronte, the police rounded up the suspects after investigations indicated they were planning to slit a hostages throat and plant bombs in a Jewish bookshop in Barcelona, as well as at various police stations in the region.

An Islamic convert, Portoles, 26, was subsequently released along with two others, and has since tried to keep a low profile. But on Sunday morning he found himself assisting with the general election after receiving an official notice appointing him a vocal - the person who checks voter IDs against a list of registered voters.

I am not a terrorist, a spy or an infiltrator

David Franco Portoles

Throughout Sunday, David Franco Portoles - who now goes by the name of Ibrahim Portoles - could be seen sitting at one of the electoral tables at the Montserrat Roig de Terrassa Civic Center, wearing full Islamic attire to perform his civic duty.

Portoles  who does not yet have a good command of the Arabic language - has always stood by his claim that his fellow detainees were innocent, including those now behind bars. He met the leader of the jihadi cell, Antonio Saez (or Ali) in Sabadell. They are both Spanish converts to Islam and worshiped together at the Terassa Mosque. Portoles swears that they only met to discuss Islam, not to plot attacks. I am not a terrorist, a spy or an infiltrator, he said repeatedly at the trial.

Meanwhile, Portoles wife Tahiri, who was in the couples apartment when he was arrested, told EL PAIS that they couldnt accuse him of anything more than watching Islamic State videos on the internet.

English version by Heather Galloway.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India, which today made it clear to China, responsible for torpedoing its recent bid, that it was necessary to take care of India's "interests" for forward movement in bilateral ties.

The 48-nation club is likely to meet again before the end of the year specially to discuss the process for granting membership to non-NPT signatories, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims after it failed to seal its entry into NSG at the plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India faced strong opposition from China and a few other countries and the fact that it is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was used for foiling India's bid.

However, diplomatic sources today said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the entry criteria for non-NPT countries. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Even as it emerged that NSG is likely to meet in the next few months, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."

His comments assume significance in the backdrop of Chinese Foreign Ministry's assertion that Beijing's opposition at NSG, which is a multi-lateral platform, will not impact the India-China ties adversely.

Swarup also said that though India did not get "expected results" at the Seoul meeting, the country will continue to make determined efforts to get into NSG.

China had voiced its opposition to Mexico's suggestion for an early NSG meeting on non-NPT countries' membership but the proposition found support from a large number of countries including the US.

A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossi's appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a "path forward" for India's acceptance as a member.

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official said in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.
With no let-up in discontent over removal of ministers and denial of cabinet posts to aspiring lawmakers, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has offered posts of chairmen of various boards and corporations to pacify some of them, a party source said on Saturday.

"Efforts are on to pacify the disgruntled lawmakers who lost their ministerial posts and those who could not become ministers in the June 19 cabinet reshuffle by making them chairmen of state boards, corporations and state-run enterprises, which carry minister of state rank," a party official told IANS here.

Revamping the three-year-old ministry, the chief minister sacked 14 ministers and inducted 13 lawmakers, including nine with cabinet rank and four as ministers of state, triggering revolt in the ruling Congress.

As the 20-day monsoon session of the state legislature is scheduled to commence on July 4, Siddaramaiah deputed senior party leaders and ministers to the dissident legislators with the offer of plum posts to quell the rebellion against him.

"On the advice of the party high command, especially our president Sonia Gandhi, state unit's working president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Power Minister D.K. Shiva Kumar met former ministers Srinivasa Prasad, M.H. Ambareesh, Qamar-ul Islam and some of the aspiring legislators, including Malaka Reddy, Someshakar and Basavaraju an advised them to air their grievances within the party fora," the source said.

The dissidents have also urged state unit president G. Parameshwara to convene the party's legislature meeting before the monsoon session to air their grievances and decide their next course of action.

Rao, however, managed to restrain Kannada rebel star and former housing minister Ambareesh from resigning as Mandya lawmaker over his sacking.
The death toll from a fierce tornado and hailstorm in China's Jiangsu province rose to 99, with 846 others injured, officials said on Sunday.

The deadliest tornado recorded in the area since 1966 was accompanied by strong and gusty winds, heavy rains and hailstorms pummelled through farmland and factories in Yancheng city on Thursday, toppling houses, damaging wire poles and destroying a solar panel factory where hazardous chemicals were stored, Xinhua news agency reported.

The city government said 1,591 homeless victims were accommodated in temporary shelters in two counties, and rescuers are rushing to repair electricity, water and telecommunication facilities.

Winds of up to 125 kms per hour first swept through several rural communities of Funing and Sheyang counties on the outskirts of Yangcheng.

The main concern now is to avoid chemical leaks, some of them toxic such as sulphuric and nitric acids, ammonia, hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen fluoride that were in the solar panels warehouse.
Voters lining up at a polling station in Santiago de Compostela. OSCAR CORRAL (EL PAIS)

Voter turnout at 6pm on Sunday was significantly lower than at the same time on December 20, when Spain held an inconclusive general election that was followed by six months of political stalemate.

Interior Ministry figures show that 51.20% of registered voters had exercised their right, compared with 58.22% at the previous election. Polling stations close at 8pm.

The figure is the lowest to be registered at 6pm during a general election since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s.

Zamora was the only one of Spains 52 provinces to record a higher turnout

While turnout figures had been similar throughout the morning, voter numbers began to drop by mid-afternoon, confirming pre-election forecasts. Opinion surveys had been suggesting that after six months of fruitless cross-party negotiations, the mood in Spain has changed from one of hope in a new political era to one of weariness at the ongoing stalemate.

Every region of Spain recorded lower turnout figures at 6pm, according to ministry data. This drop was particularly sharp in Catalonia, which shed around 10 percentage points compared with December 20. In the Madrid region, turnout was around nine points lower. The Basque Country and Aragon also scored lower than most.

At the other end of the spectrum, turnout was very similar in the Canary Islands, which is nevertheless the region with the fewest votes, followed by Castilla y Leon and Extremadura, where turnout fell by between three and four percentage points.

Zamora was the only one of Spains 52 provinces to record a higher turnout than in December of last year.

English version by Susana Urra.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will rush to Brussels and London on Monday to meet the top British and European Union diplomats, as the world grapples with the implications of Britains historic vote to leave the European Union.

Kerry will bring messages of support. Less likely: Answers or even suggestions for how to deal with a crisis that has spooked economists and forced countries in Europe and beyond to contemplate the possibility of unity across the continent crumbling.

The trip began Sunday in Rome, where Kerry has scheduled talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also meet Italian government officials.

But confronted with the gravity of Britains June 23 decision, which crushed markets from the U.S. to Japan, Kerry has set up a frantic, four-nation schedule Monday.

After gathering with Netanyahu in the morning, he will fly to Brussels to discuss Europes situation with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. He will go from there to London to meet British Secretary Philip Hammond, before returning to Washington before the days end.

With the Brits, Kerry will echo last weeks immediate response from Washington focusing on the unchanged nature of the special relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Even the gloomiest of predictions about the British exit from the EU, or Brexit, dont foresee the collapse of the close cultural ties or military alliance between Washington and London. But how relations evolve is an open question, especially if Britains divorce from the EU causes significant economic pain in the United States.

Visiting Britain in April, President Barack Obama noted ongoing U.S.-EU trade negotiations and warned Britons that a vote to leave could put them at the back of the line for similar deals.

Since the result of the referendum, however, Obama and other American officials have gone out of their way to emphasize the durability of the relationship, playing down the idea of any repercussions from Washington.

In Brussels, Kerry will emphasize U.S. backing for the European project amid speculation that other member countries could follow Britains lead.

The Obama administration sees a strong EU as key to stability in Europe and as a critical partner in bringing security to nearby flashpoints in North Africa and the Middle East, and far-flung places of conflict like sub-Afghanistan. It also has counted on the EU to enforce sanctions on Russia since its annexation of Ukraines Crimean peninsula in 2014.

But its unclear what more Kerry, or the U.S., can say or do right now to help Britain or the EU.

Britains exit negotiations are likely to be a complicated, protracted affair, and there is no guarantee of a smooth breakup. The Americans are likely to have little say in the matter.

And the U.S. has no answer for Brussels dilemma over how to respond to the first loss of a member in its history.

(AP)
Donald Trump has finally acknowledged that to best compete against Hillary Clinton he needs more than the bare-bones campaign team that led him to primary success. But many of the most experienced Republican political advisers arent willing to work for him.

From Texas to New Hampshire, well-respected members of the Republican Partys professional class say they cannot look past their deep personal and professional reservations about the presumptive presidential nominee.

While there are exceptions, many strategists who best understand the mechanics of presidential politics fear that taking a Trump paycheck might stain their resumes, spook other clients and even cause problems at home. They also are reluctant to devote months to a divisive candidate whose campaign has been plagued by infighting and disorganization.

Right now I feel no obligation to lift a finger to help Donald Trump, said Brent Swander, an Ohio-based operative who has coordinated nationwide logistics for Republican presidential campaigns dating to George W. Bush.

Everything that were taught as children  not to bully, not to demean, to treat others with respect  everything were taught as children is the exact opposite of what the Republican nominee is doing. How do you work for somebody like that? What would I tell my family? Swander said.

Trump leapt into presidential politics with a small group of aides, some drafted directly from his real estate business, with no experience running a White House campaign. An unquestioned success in the GOP primaries, they have struggled to respond to the increased demands of a general election.

As in years past, the primary season created a pool of battle-tested staffers who worked for other candidates, from which Trump would be expected to draw. But hundreds of such aides have so far declined invitations to work for him.

They include several communications aides to Chris Christie, as well as the New Jersey governors senior political adviser, Michael DuHaime, who has rejected direct and indirect inquiries to sign on with the billionaire.

Chris Wilson, a senior aide to Ted Cruz, said the Texas senators entire paid staff of more than 150 ignored encouragement from Trumps team to apply for positions after Cruz quit the presidential race. Wilson said that even now, many unemployed Cruz aides are refusing to work for the man who called their former boss Lyin Ted.

Thats the case for Scott Smith, a Texas-based operative who traveled the country planning events for Cruz, and earlier worked on presidential bids for Bush and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Its very clear that none of us are going to work for Trump, Smith said. Even if I wanted to work for Trump, my wife would kill me.

Smith, like many experienced strategists interviewed for this story, noted the intense personal sacrifice required of presidential campaigns. Many advisers do not see their families for long stretches, work brutal hours on little sleep and enjoy no job security.

With Trump, Smith said, I would feel like a mercenary. I cant be away from my young children if its just for money.

Trumps need for additional staff is acute. His paltry fundraising network brought in less than $2 million last month. He has just one paid staffer to handle hundreds of daily media requests and only a few operatives in battleground states devoted to his White House bid.

Last month, Trump fired Rick Wiley, who was the campaign manager for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a former 2016 candidate, and was brought on to run Trumps nationwide get-out-the-vote effort. On Monday, Trump fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who acknowledged he lacked the experience needed to expand Trumps operation.

This campaign needs to grow rapidly, Lewandowski told the Fox News Channel. Thats a hard job and candidly Ive never grown something that big.

Trump credited Lewandowski with helping a small, beautiful, well-unified campaign during the primary season. I think its time now for a different kind of a campaign, Trump told Fox.

Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the campaigns hiring. A former adviser, Barry Bennett, played down any staffing challenges, suggesting the campaign should be able to double its contingent by the partys national convention next month.

Trump announced four new hires in the past week, including a human resources chief to help with hiring, to supplement a staff of about 70. Thats compared with Clintons paid presence of roughly 700, many of them well-versed in modern political strategy.

Trumps senior team, including campaign chief Paul Manafort and newly hired political director Jim Murphy, largely represent an older generation of political hands more active in the 1980s and 1990s. The campaigns new Ohio director, Bob Paduchik, led state efforts for Bushs 2000 and 2004 campaigns.

A new generation of top talent active in more recent years has shown little interest in Trump. In Iowa, experienced operative Sara Craig says she will not work for Trump or even support him. I am more interested in working on down-ballot races, said Craig, who helped elect Joni Ernst to the Senate from Iowa and directed a pro-Bush super political action committee.

Ryan Williams, who worked on Mitt Romneys presidential campaigns, said hes happy working for a consulting firm, where hes involved with various other elections across the country, as well as with corporate clients.

When you sign up for a campaign, youre putting your name on the effort. Some of the things that Trump has said publicly are very hard for people to get behind, Williams said.

But Paduchik offered the kind of positive perspective expected of a campaign on the move.

Its been great, the response Ive gotten, Paduchik said. Republicans in every corner of Ohio are excited about Mr. Trumps campaign.

(AP)
President Barack Obama could count on Britain to back him at nearly every turn during his first 7 years in office. He knew British leaders had the global clout and shared perspective to be powerful U.S. partners.

But as Obama approaches the final months of his term, that sense of certainty has been shattered by the United Kingdoms decision to leave the European Union and by the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, a close ally.

In his public reaction to the vote, Obama offered assurances that the two countries would remain indispensable partners and that the special relationship would survive. He said he respected Britains decision and that he was confident in an orderly transition from the EU.

Yet before the vote, Obama had warned in no uncertain terms of the consequences for Britain leaving the EU. He put the U.K. on notice it would become a low priority on trade while pushing back on the isolationist and anti-immigrant sentiments that have taken root in the U.S. and elsewhere and now seem to be tearing at Europes seams.

Vice President Joe Biden was blunter, saying that Britains exit was not how we would have preferred it to be.

The incongruence between Obamas comments before and after the vote reflected the difficult spot in which the president finds himself.

With U.S. and global markets reeling, Obama wants to avoid the perception that U.K. relations will suffer. At the same time, playing down the significance of the exit could undermine his calls for Europe remaining integrated.

White House officials said they expect no immediate changes to the myriad areas where the U.S. and Britain are working together, including the British militarys involvement in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group. After all, Britains withdrawal from the EU could take years.

Still, theres far less assurance that Britain and other European countries will reflexively take the U.S. side as new challenges arise.

We instinctively turn to Europe for everything, and were going to turn and theyre just not going to be in a place to promote U.S. interests, said Heather Conley, a Europe analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The concern is that this is going to be so all-consuming that theyre not going to be able to take very difficult steps that are not popular.

Defining the new U.K.-U.S. relationship will largely fall to the countries next leaders. Camerons resignation may not come until October, three months before the end of Obamas term.

Early favorite to succeed Cameron is former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a forceful voice for leaving the EU who once suggested that Obama had an ancestral dislike of the British Empire due to his Kenyan roots.

American voters in November will likely be choosing between Democrat Hillary Clinton, who largely embraces Obamas worldview, and Republican Donald Trump, who cheered Britains decision and predicted other European countries would follow suite.

In the meantime, Britains departure could alter the dynamics on nearly every issue where the U.S. promotes its interests overseas.

Though the U.K. will remain in NATO, the disarray in the EU raises the possibility of less unity on issues like Russia. With Britains support, Obama has been pushing to maintain sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, but consensus has been hard to maintain as countries such as Germany and Italy, which trade heavily with Russia, lobby to lift them.

Britains record as a reliable partner isnt unblemished. Obama has said Camerons failure to persuade Parliament to approve airstrikes against Syrias government was a wake-up call that heavily influenced his decision to call off his own planned strikes in 2013. The White House was also frustrated that after leading the call for a NATO intervention in Libya in 2011, the U.K. seemed to lose focus as Libya descended into chaos.

Obama has maintained that a free trade deal being negotiated with the EU should be wrapped up by the end of the year, though that was doubtful even before the vote. Now the negotiations appear moribund.

Trade experts said the EU would be too consumed with figuring out its new economic situation to pursue a sweeping new treaty. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman argued Friday the deal is still worthwhile, but he acknowledged the U.S. was evaluating the impact of the United Kingdoms decision on the talks. Obama had warned before the vote that if Britain pulled out, it would go to the back of the queue for a one-on-one trade deal with the U.S.

(AP)
A corruption probe at the New York Police Department has cast a harsh light on how people get handgun permits in a city that boasts some of the nations toughest gun laws.

Federal prosecutors say a shady fixers cash bribes induced officers working in NYPDs licensing division to rubber-stamp dozens of gun applications, circumventing stringent background checks intended to weed out candidates with criminal records, mental health problems and other red flags. The potential public safety breach comes amid a national debate over whether easy access to weapons fueled the Orlando massacre and other mass shootings.

We dont want guns getting into the wrong hands, and we have officers of the law facilitating that process, said Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. That is not a good situation.

The New York investigation caught a Boro Park resident on tape bragging that he had obtained at least 150 licenses for people to carry guns by paying up to $6,000 in bribes for each weapon.

The bribes were covered by fees of $10,000 or more paid by clients who in turn saw their applications to carry a handgun approved in two months or less  compared to as long as a year in normal circumstances  while other clients saw their criminal histories ignored.

Investigators say one person got a permit despite being arrested for bribing a public official and for assault. Another license holder was arrested on a forgery charge and was the subject of domestic violence complaints, including one involving a death threat.

The suspect was no less than an arms dealer for the community, a federal prosecutor said at an arraignment last month when the man pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to commit bribery.

Two police officers who worked in the licensing division were also arrested in the bribery scheme  part of a broader, ongoing corruption case that has roiled the nations largest police department.

Last week, two high-ranking NYPD commanders were charged with accepting $100,000 in bribes including free flights, hotel rooms and other items in exchange for favors like police escorts, ticket fixing and getting gun license applications for corrupt businessmen.

The revelations have prompted the NYPD to so far revoke 79 gun permits of the roughly 260 that came under suspicion because of the corruption probe. Police also are reviewing ways to further tighten regulations for a system that processes thousands of new applications, as well as renewals for the 37,000 permits already in circulation.

Most of the applications are for permits to keep a gun at home. But a small percentage are from people seeking to carry handguns while working or at all times for personal safety  a request that triggers a thorough background check and an investigation into whether their safety concerns are legitimate.

Aside from rejecting applications based on arrest records and mental issues, the NYPD says it also disqualifies people with histories of drug abuse, domestic violence and poor driving records.

The department doesnt disclose the identities of handgun permit holders, saying only that retired law enforcement officers are a high percentage of them. But there have been reports that the rich and famous have gotten its permission to pack heat.

A website for John Chambers, a New York City lawyer whos part of a cottage industry of legitimate gun permit expediters, boasts that his clients include a best-selling author, a billionaire businessman, a radio personality and a movie star, along with liquor store owners, jewelers and club operators.

Chambers called the case a shocking aberration for a licensing division he has dealt with for decades.

Its going to hurt the law-abiding citizen, but its almost not the fault of the government, he said. Its these criminal cops and the suspect.

The suspect, he said, was a constant presence at the division offices.

Every time I was there, he was there.  I think it got out of control, he said.

Court papers say that behind the scenes, the suspect bragged he had gamed the system so well that his connections would automatically sign off on his clients applications simply because its him.

The papers add that in another instance, while seeking to recruit an officer for the scheme, he insisted, Im not bribing you. But the officer wouldnt have it.

Of course youre bribing me, he said.

(AP)
AUSTRIA

Norbert Hofer

Third president of Austrias lower house of parliament; former presidential candidate, Freedom Party of Austria

Norbert Hofer supports the idea that Austria must act independently of the European Union. Some refer to the third president of the National Council as Austrias Donald Trump; some accuse him of holding neo-Nazi views. Tweeting in the early hours of the results, Hofer said, #Brexit What an exciting night. The EU must break new ground if you want to survive. He lost a cliffhanger presidential election in May by 0.3 percent of the vote.

  

BELGIUM

Tom Van Grieken

Party councillor, party board, national chairman, Vlaams Belang

Tom Van Grieken is the 29-year-old leader of Belgiums far-right Flemish nationalist party, Vlaams Belang, which advocates splitting Belgium into Dutch and French-speaking nations. Campaigning on an anti-immigrant platform, Van Grieken and his party say they want a Flexit  or Flemish exit  if the EU fails to listen to their anti-immigration message.

  

DENMARK

Kristian Thulesen Dahl

Leader, Danish Peoples Party

Congratulating the British in a Facebook post, Kristian Thulesen Dahl said, The EU has taken too much power from the states and is now paying the price. The DPP opposes the European Union, saying, We will not allow Denmark to surrender its sovereignty. The DPP supports alliances with NATO and the U.N. Many see Denmark as the next potential departure from the EU.

  

FRANCE

Marine Le Pen

President of the National Front; member of the European Parliament, the National Front

Marine Le Pen celebrated Brexit, urging France to vote for a referendum on the countrys membership with the European Union. She is surging in the polls ahead of Frances 2017 presidential election. Opinion polls show Frances dissatisfaction with the European Union is greater than Britains.

  

GERMANY

Frauke Petry

Chairwoman, Alternative for Germany party

The time is ripe for a New Europe, Frauke Petry tweeted Friday. In a response to Brexit, Petry warns the European Union that more nations will follow the British and reclaim their sovereignty if changes are not made. Her party is poised to win big in German parliamentary elections next year.

  

HUNGARY

Viktor Orban

Prime minister of Hungary, national conservative Fidesz party

The far-right, anti-immigrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban shut Hungary to refugees last year, exacerbating the crisis. In Britain, the decisive issue was the question of immigration, Orban said in a radio interview on Friday. Europe can only be strong if answers are given to the questions of great significance, like immigration, that strengthen it, not weaken it.

  

ITALY

Beppe Grillo

Founder, Italian Five Star Movement

Beppe Grillo, a comedian-turned-politician in Italy who founded the Five Star Movement political party in 2009, has electrified voters fed up with their countrys old-style politicians. A 37-year-old Five Star politician was elected the first female mayor of Rome this month, and another Five Star candidate won the same office in Turin.

  

NETHERLANDS

Geert Wilders

Founder, Dutch Party for Freedom

Geert Wilders took to social media with excitement over the British leaving the EU with a tweet saying, Hurrah for the British! Now it is our turn. Time for a Dutch referendum! Referring to Brexit as Britains Independence Day, Wilders says Britain is paving the way for the liberation of European countries.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Stephanie Stamm, Michael Birnbaum, Anthony Faiola, Denise Lu, Weiyi Cai, Jeremy C.F. Lin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on erev Shabbos responded to UK PM David Camerons decision to step down from office in the coming months after voters decided to break away from the European Union.

I have great appreciation for Prime Minister David Cameron, a respected leader and a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

Throughout his premiership the security, economic and technological cooperation between the United Kingdom and Israel has greatly expanded.

Together we laid a strong foundation for continued cooperation.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
In an address to an assembly of civil service rabbonim, Rishon LTzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita called on the nations High Court of Justice to refrain from involving itself in matters of Torah and halacha and to leave these matters to rabbonim.

Rav Yosef cited how the court appointed a female director-general of the nations batei din without consulting with the Chief Rabbis of Israel and without their approval. In the past this did not occur, an appointment without the Chief Rabbis approval. They do as they please added Rav Yosef.

Rav Yosef asked the High Court justices to leave decisions in halacha to those appointed to address these matters, adding you were elected to be justices and you were not elected to be rabbonim. Leave Halacha in our hands and we will decide in line with Shulchan Aruch.

Do the justices want assimilation, a Reform rabbi performing a marriage with an Arab sheikh marrying an Arab woman and Jewish man as occurs too often in the United States? We have one Torah and it will not be replaced and there is a Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which must be permitted to operate in line with Halacha.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
At approximately 3:00 AM on Friday, 18 Sivan, large numbers of police detectives, Shin Bet agents, and police forces raided the home of the Yitzhar minor currently under administrative orders and detained him.

The family said that the police and Shin Bet forces broke into their house, did not present a warrant, confiscated the minors parents cell phones and refused to allow the father to accompany his son to the police station, which is in violation of the Youth Law.

The policemen also refused to allow the minor to take any personal items with him, including his tefilin.

On Thursday, in an unprecedented step, IDF Homefront Commander Major-General Yoel Strik, ordered the minor to stay at an isolated farm in the south of Israel for the duration of the order, despite opposition from his parents. The parents have not given their consent to the arrangement and they are not acquainted with the owners of the farm.

Major Yizhar Yitzhaki, the head of the Operations and Human Rights Branch of the Military Advocate General, sent a letter to the minors Honenu Attorney informing him that the minor must move that very day to an isolated farm in the south of Israel where he will receive, a bed to sleep in, food, and sanitary facilities, as required.

At some time on Friday a deliberation is expected to be held for the minor at the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
As the Chief Rabbinate of Israel probes ways to improve the state kashrus system, one of the ideas being floated is to license private hashgachos, with the latter employing the mashgichim that will provide supervision.

The private hashgachos would sign a contract with the Chief Rabbinate, acting as an outside contractor, committing to provide hashgacha on the level detailed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. The Chief Rabbinate would employ inspectors who would randomly monitor implementation of the kashrus and the Chief Rabbinate would maintain the right to cancel the hashgacha of a business and oust the private hashgacha for failing to maintain the proper standard.

In a recent ruling of the High Court of Justice, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel was given the exclusive control of kosher supervision, ruling against Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz and his Hashgacha Pratit organization that has replaced the Jerusalem Religious Council, providing a hechsher for close to 20 stores.

However, the court mentioned its displeasure with the current Chief Rabbinate system, stating it must improve the system within two years or the ruling will be reversed and permit the entry of private organizations.

It appears the Chief Rabbinate may be leaning towards contracting out the service, possibly to existing badatz hashgachos who might operate as an arm of the Chief Rabbinate, providing kashrus to the stores which would be in line with the regulations set forth by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

It is stressed the arrangement reported above is in the preliminary stages of discussion.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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
Zaka released a message on Sunday afternoon 20 Sivan that the search for Mrs. Esti Weinstein has come to a tragic end. She disappeared last week, last seen in northern Israel.

Zaka reports thousands of people were involved in the search for the mother of seven. She was found on Sunday afternoon in a locked vehicle on the Ashdod coast. It was determined that she was dead for a number of days.

Mrs. Weinstein became estranged from her chassidish family eight years ago when she decided to leave her life of observance of Torah and mitzvos with the exception of one daughter, Tami, who stood with her during the past years.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo: Police spokesman unit)
FTSE bosses who issued doom-laden warnings that a vote to leave the EU would damage the economy will be quizzed on the true impact of Brexit this week.

After executives from Barclays, EasyJet and Aviva performed U-turns on Friday  instead reassuring clients and customers that they would continue to thrive outside the EU  comments from other Remain supporters are eagerly awaited.

Dixons Carphones chief executive Seb James and chairman Sir Charles Dunstone, Serco boss Rupert Soames, and Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner and chairman Lord Rose, were among signatories to a letter from 1,285 business leaders to The Times last week, orchestrated by Downing Street, to warn that leaving the EU would mean uncertainty in our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs.

Weathering the storm: Executives from companies who backed Remain have performed U-turns to reassure clients and customers

While these three firms are set to issue updates to the City this week, fellow signatories have already climbed down on earlier threats.

The CBI, vehemently anti-Brexit during the referendum campaign, stated on Friday that British business was resilient and would adapt.

Barclays chief executive Jes Staley now claims the bank has guided its clients and customers through equally profound changes before.

He added: No matter what has been laid before us, we have been here to help them achieve their ambitions. That does not change.

John Redwood, the Eurosceptic Tory MP, said: I have every wish to see more jobs, more prosperity and more investment in our country  which these great companies admit is possible outside the EU.

They all want to make money  these are all firms with good staff, offices and factories in the UK. They were never going to uproot them overnight. Many will conclude they have excellent businesses here and will now concentrate on continuing to grow them.

The string of businesses whose bosses signed the letter admitted they will continue to prosper outside the EU, in what has been described as a humiliating climbdown.

Carolyn McCall, chief executive of EasyJet, said: EasyJet notes the result in favour of the UK leaving the EU and is confident it will not have a material impact on its strategy or its ability to deliver long-term sustainable earnings growth and returns to shareholders.

Insurance giant Aviva said: Aviva has conducted extensive analysis of the possible implications of a vote to leave the EU and considers it will have no significant operational impact on the company.

Leave campaigners mocked the sudden change of heart.

Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said: We always knew that the bloated warnings from big business owed more to the desire of corporate chiefs to buddy up with George Osborne than they did to economic reality. But frankly I dont care now as long as we can get some reassurance and stability and people realise its business as usual.

The boss of the Institute of Directors insisted that British businesses will overcome obstacles and will not lose faith.

Simon Walker, director general of the IoD, said: Businesses will be busy working out how they are going to adapt and succeed after the referendum result. But we cant sugar-coat this, many of our members are feeling anxious.
Wrong-footed: Shoe firm boss Claire Burrows says she cannot absorb more currency-induced price rises

Expansion plans are already being put on hold by small enterprises following Friday's referendum result, experts have warned.

James Abbott, president of UK200Group, an association of advisory accountants and lawyers, said: 'The legalities of Brexit will take a good two years at least to be put in place, but there are implications in the very short term.

'For example, I have a client who is a plumber and he is concerned about how customers are going to feel.

'Confidence is a big thing, particularly over these next few weeks. He was thinking of buying a van, but will probably delay that decision until we know more about what is going to happen.

'The result affects even the little businesses. We've got eBay sellers and they often buy goods from places like China because they are cheaper. Now the change in foreign exchange rates is going to have an impact on them.

'When they are buying, things are no longer going to be cheaper, so even the smallest businesses are going to be hit by the immediate changes that have happened literally overnight.'

Adam Marshall, acting director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: 'I think a period of reflection and analysis is in order. Companies need to assess their level of exposure to the coming transition and the opportunities and challenges that presents.

'That aside, businesses across the UK will expect stability, clarity and answers to some of the big questions they face. So they don't want an all-encompassing Westminster postmortem. They want real attention to issues that the economy faces alongside the start of this very big transition.'

He added: 'For some companies there will be a direct and immediate impact. Quoted companies have seen some of that. Particular sectors like financial services and housebuilding have also seen some big effects in the short-term.

'Companies that trade with Europe will obviously be looking carefully at everything from currency fluctuations through to their future export strategy or investment strategy. And importers will also be thinking about where their goods come from and the impact on their margins.

'So every business has its own set of considerations and challenges to look at as we approach the transition to leaving the European Union.'

Claire Burrows, founder of shoe maker Air & Grace, has just started exporting to Japan and Germany and had been looking into her 'next steps' for further exports, but she expects to put that on hold now.

Nobody really knows what is going to happen - I will just have to put up prices

She said: 'For my business it is tricky. I think it is for anybody, because there will definitely be a period of uncertainty, which I feel will hit consumer confidence. Nobody really knows what is going to happen. It will lead to prices going up, especially in my case. I'm buying my shoes from Portugal at the moment.'

She said the referendum had already affected her before the result was announced. 'I've taken that hit on the margin,' she said. 'If the pound is to be devalued further, I couldn't do. That's just going to lead to me having to put the prices up and pass it on to the consumer, which I don't want to have to do, especially as we've got a very price competitive product that is working. To put your prices up is automatically a barrier to growth.

'I was purchasing, I had orders prices coming out of the factory, at the time the pound dropped against the euro, back in the spring. After the referendum was announced there was a bit of a wobble on exchange rates, and that hit me.

'Going forwards, you can't sustain absorbing that into the margin. This is a small business - I just don't have that capability.'

But Marshall warned against exaggerating the effect of the referendum on investment and export plans.

He said: 'It's too early to tell whether businesses are going to simply slam on the brakes. Inevitably, some firms will deem it necessary to put future plans on hold, but we have to be very careful not to overblow that possibility. Because in addition many firms may see some big opportunities over the coming weeks.'




Small businesses are preparing to shore up Britain's role as a haven for high-tech start-ups in the wake of the Brexit vote.

While one entrepreneur called the result 'a disaster for this country', others called for action to protect London's leading status in the fast-growing sector.

Technology start-up Hire Space, an online market for venue hire backed by Karen Hanton, who founded restaurant booking website Toptable, has warned it is important that 'we protect London's position as an emerging tech centre by addressing skills gaps in the sector through investment in training and development'.

High-tech start-ups: While one entrepreneur called the result 'a disaster for this country', others called for action to protect London's leading status in the fast-growing sector.

Hire Space co-founder Edward Poland, 31, who voted Remain in the referendum, said: 'Access to top talent, particularly in technology roles, is hugely important for any growing firm.

'The next 18 months is going to be instructive in terms of how we recruit and retain top talent. We employ six continental staff and have benefited from the free movement of workers.' But Poland, who just secured 500,000 from more than 200 venues, event professionals and private investors via Crowdcube, said he would stay positive.

He added: 'The events industry is ripe for innovation and the way in which venues and event organisers have embraced technology and ideas should give everyone in the industry great confidence.

'The global events market is worth 350billion. Moving from 4,000 venues to 40,000 venues is a challenge, but one we're excited about.'

Edward Poland: 'Access to top talent, particularly in technology roles, is hugely important for any growing firm'

Other tech firms are less optimistic. A survey of UK tech workers before the referendum revealed 65 per cent thought Brexit would hit the industry. The study by Juniper Research found seven in ten respondents believed it would be more difficult for UK tech firms to attract skilled continental staff.

Nearly two-thirds believed the tech industry would suffer from reduced EU funding and London would be less attractive as a tech hub.

Jacyn Heavens, chief executive at Epos Now, which makes point-of-sale software, said: 'Many modern firms work within a network of European partners, suppliers and customers and rely on a pan-European workforce. How will this be affected? How will Brexit impact our relationship with US firms who have long seen the UK as a channel to the Continent?'

Angus Dent, chief executive of peer-to-peer lender ArchOver, said the outcome was a 'disaster for this country', and added: 'You can expect foreign businesses, institutions and other investors to start pulling out of the UK.

'The Chancellor will be forced to put together an emergency Budget and this country, which was on course to become the world's fourth largest economy, will now go backwards.

'What a waste of all the hard work.' Debbie Woskow, chief executive of home exchange website Love Home Swap and founding chairwoman of trade body Sharing Economy UK, described the result as 'seismic'.

She said: 'It is disappointing that we are in this situation. Entrepreneurs need to draw on their ability to embrace change and carve out a new way forward.' Britain's 'unicorns' - private firms with a valuation above $1billion [710 million] - that spoke out against Brexit include TransferWise, Funding Circle, Zoopla and Ve.
Message of His Holiness Pope Francis

The Message Of His Holiness Pope Francis, During The Pontifical Divine Liturgy Celebrated In The Mother See Of Holy Etchmiadzin (Holy Etchmiadzin, June 26, 2016) Your Holiness, Dear Bishops, Dear Brothers and Sisters, At the end of this greatly-desired visit, one already unforgettable for me, I join my gratitude to the Lord with the great hymn of praise and thanksgiving that rose from this altar. Your Holiness, in these days you have opened to me the doors of your home, and we have experienced how good and pleasant it is when brothers live in unity (Ps 133:1). We have met, we have embraced as brothers, we have prayed together and shared the gifts, hopes and concerns of the Church of Christ. We have felt as one her beating heart, and we believe and experience that the Church is one. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph 4:4-6). With great joy we can make our own these words of the Apostle Paul! Our meeting comes under the aegis of the holy Apostles whom we have encountered. Saints Bartholomew and Thaddeus, who first proclaimed the Gospel in these lands, and Saints Peter and Paul who gave their lives for the Lord in Rome and now reign with Christ in heaven, surely rejoice to see our affection and our tangible longing for full communion. For all this, I thank the Lord, for you and with you: Park astutso! (Glory to God!). During this Divine Liturgy, the solemn chant of the Trisagion rose to heaven, acclaiming Gods holiness. May abundant blessings of the Most High fill the earth through the intercession of the Mother of God, the great saints and doctors, the martyrs, especially the many whom you canonized last year in this place. May the Only Begotten who descended here bless our journey. May the Holy Spirit make all believers one heart and soul; may he come to re-establish us in unity. For this I once more invoke the Holy Spirit, making my own the splendid words that are part of your Liturgy. Come, Holy Spirit, you who intercede with ceaseless sighs to the merciful Father, you who watch over the saints and purify sinners, bestow on us your fire of love and unity, and may the cause of our scandal be dissolved by this love (Gregory of Narek, Book of Lamentations, 33, 5), above all the lack of unity among Christs disciples. May the Armenian Church walk in peace and may the communion between us be complete. May an ardent desire for unity rise up in our hearts, a unity that must not be the submission of one to the other, or assimilation, but rather the acceptance of all the gifts that God has given to each. This will reveal to the entire world the great mystery of salvation accomplished by Christ the Lord through the Holy Spirit (Greeting at the Divine Liturgy, Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Istanbul, 30 November 2014). Let us respond to the appeal of the saints, let us listen to the voices of the humble and poor, of the many victims of hatred who suffered and gave their lives for the faith. Let us pay heed to the younger generation, who seek a future free of past divisions. From this holy place may a radiant light shine forth once more, and to the light of faith, which has illumined these lands from the time of Saint Gregory, your Father in the Gospel, may there be joined the light of the love that forgives and reconciles. Just as on Easter morning the Apostles, for all their hesitations and uncertainties, ran towards the place of the resurrection, drawn by the blessed dawn of new hope (cf. Jn 20:3-4), so too on this holy Sunday may we follow Gods call to full communion and hasten towards it. Now, Your Holiness, in the name of God, I ask you to bless me, to bless me and the Catholic Church, and to bless this our path towards full unity.
Pope doesnt call for Crusade

After the joint liturgy in Etchmiadzin, Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, met with the journalists. He noted that the ecumenical aspects are the most important elements during Popes visit. Lombardi touched upon the peculiarities of Popes speeches, highlighting the important request of Pope, by which Pope called on other Christian leaders to bless him; this is a great message of unity. He noted that finally yesterday a joint statement was formed, which is an important document and sums up ecumenical approaches of Vatican and is a comprehensive synthesis of Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. Lombardi said Pope has felt in Armenia like at home. Federico Lombardi also touched upon Turkeys reaction to Popes comment on Genocide. If anyone listens to what Pope says, there is nothing, which could be commented as a call for Crusade. There was only a call for establishing bridges in his speech. I can only urge to read Popes messages right. It only aims at establishing bases for peace between the peoples and to pray for it and wish reconciliation between Armenian and Turkish peoples. He hasnt said anything against Turkish people. The RA MFA spokesperson Tigran Balayan added that though Turkey doesnt like it, it doesnt free Turkey from the obligation to face its history.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams

By Patrick Donachie

A group of three teenagers assaulted a Muslim man outside of his Queens Village mosque earlier this month as a part of a knockout game, according to a 14-year-old who was arrested and charged with the attack, police said.

The suspect, whose name was not being released due to his age, was charged with assault and a hate crime, according to the NYPD. The Queens district attorneys office said the teenage suspect would be processed through Family Court. Police were looking for the two other suspects.

At about 10:30 p.m. June 1, Mohamed Rasheed Khan, 59, left the Center for Islamic Studies at 206-09 Jamaica Ave. and started riding his bicycle, police said. The arrested teenager said that one of his friends suggested they play a version of the knockout game, which is an attempt to knock an individual unconscious with a single punch, police said. The three assailants subsequently approached Khan and began punching him on his face and head, knocking him off his bike in the process, according to the NYPD.

The assailants fled the scene eastbound on Jamaica Avenue towards Francis Lewis Boulevard, according to the police. A statement from the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released after the attack said the assailants had not stolen Khans wallet, watch or bike and noted that the three attackers were laughing as they fled.

After the attack, Khan was taken to Jamaica Hospital with lacerations, bruising and swelling to his face. He suffered from broken ribs and was initially unable to speak to authorities due to the extent of his injuries. Khan had surgery and was unable to open his eyes but was beginning to recover, according to a Facebook post on CAIR-NYs page June 9.

The council called on the NYPD to investigate the assault for a bias motivation. Police subsequently said they were investigating the attack on Khan as a hate crime and were looking for a possible bias motivation.

Police released video showing two of the alleged assailants in the immediate aftermath of the attack outside of 105-13 Jamaica Ave. The three suspects, including the arrested individuals were described as black males in their teens, according to police. The NYPD is encouraging anyone with additional information to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1 (800)-577-TIPS.
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.
William Roberts samples 100 Million Angels Singing, a double IPA, during a beer tasting for Texas Ale Project on Wednesday afternoon at Local Boys Liquor. The Dallas-based brewery is expanding its distribution to Wichita Falls with help from Falls Distributing. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS

SHARE Texas Ale Project beers are chilled on ice before being sampled during a tasting event Wednesday at Local Boys Liquor. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS From left: Eric Davis, Sean Carroll, Clayton Singleton and Kat Thomas pose for a pictures before sampling Texas Ale Project beer at Local Boys Liquor Wednesday afternoon. Thompson and her family founded the brewery in 2014, becoming the first brewery to be raised in the city of Dallas since prohibition. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS From left: 100 Million Angels Singing, 50 Ft Jackrabbit and Fire Ant Funeral are chilled in a glass door refrigerator at Local Boys Liquor. CHRISTOPHER WALKER/TIMES RECORD NEWS Related Coverage 100 Million Angels Singing high on hops, drinkability

By Orlando Flores Jr. of the Times Record News

Kat Thompson is not one to back down from a challenge.

Whether it's earning an MBA from Cornell University, carving out a career path in the fashion industry as a retail consultant for Neiman Marcus or  her latest venture  opening a brewery in Dallas with her husband, Brent, and parents, David and Shelley Stevens.

But Thompson's love for her hometown and entrepreneurial spirit would not let her open just any brewery. Instead of building a brewing facility on the outskirts of a major city, as most breweries do, Thompson and her family instead chose to build their 14,000-square-foot facility from the ground up in the heart of Dallas' Design District, where the Stevenses have operated a business for about 35 years.

The brewery, Texas Ale Project (T.A.P.), is the first brewery to be raised in the city of Dallas since prohibition.

"I really wanted to be in the heart of downtown Dallas," Thompson said Wednesday during Texas Ale Project's first official tour of Wichita Falls. "Dallas is our home  and it was important for us to be close to all the action and be a part of that Design District legacy."

Brewing up a plan

Plans for the brewery started in 2011 when the Thompsons moved back to Texas from New York. Thompson said Brent realized he wanted "to brew beer for the rest of (his) life," after the two were asked to try home brewing out for the first time as part of Cornell's beer club.

"I was the president of (Cornell's) wine club, and we supported each other," Thompson said. "We did not know what we were doing. So, we went and got the kit to make a batch of beer in our 700-square-foot apartment.

"It was very interesting and a lot of fun. We called the beer The Amateur Leprechaun, because it was an Irish Red Ale, and we were definitely amateurs."

Thompson said that first brew did not turn out too well, but it was drinkable. That experience, combined with the couple's love for food and one-time plan to open a restaurant shifted their endeavors.

"We love food, we love tasting wine and beers and were really fascinated by it," Thompson said. "We knew we had the taste buds (to make good beer), and we kept going and got better."

Thompson said she was first taken aback when Brent expressed his desire to brew beer for a living, but after he came back with a solid business plan, the ball got rolling. Fast forward a few years, after getting Thompson's parents on board and pouring over facility plans to perfectly maximize space at the brewery, and T.A.P. opened for business in November 2014.

Fast track to success

In the brewery's almost two years of operation, Thompson said T.A.P., along with brew master John Sims, has established three core beers  Fire Ant Funeral, an amber ale, 50 Ft Jackrabbit, an India pale ale, and 100 Million Angels Singing, a double IPA  with plans for a fourth. The brewery has also churned out a few limited releases and grown a reputation for well-balanced, and well-made beers.

"A lot goes into our beers," Thompson said. "We want to make sure we have something for everybody  and we also want to strive for well-balanced, flavorful ales.

"We've brewed (recipes) many different times to dial in the recipe to get what we're looking for before putting it in our production system."

That attention to detail led T.A.P. to sell more than 1,100 barrels in 2015 almost entirely on draft sales alone before starting canning production in December.

To make that feat more impressive, Thompson and her husband decided to do all this while self-distributing their beer in only the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including Dallas, Johnson and Rockwall counties.

"We just had a different strategy for our business," Thompson said. "We felt like we could better market the business by being centrally located, and we could better reach the bulk of our customers, at least in the initial stages of our growth, quicker."

Expansion to Wichita Falls, beyond

T.A.P. is now stepping out of its comfort zone by choosing Falls Distributing as its first outside DFW distributor, and Wichita Falls will be the central hub of its expansion that will also take the brewery's beer to Clay, Archer, Baylor, Wilbarger, Cottle, Knox and Foard counties. Falls Distributing's director of sales Mike Stokes said T.A.P. fits the distributor's craft beer portfolio well due to the Thompson's passion for great beer and attention to detail.

"When you walk into their brewery you see the passion and how much they care about what they do," he said. "I think Kat and her husband are just great people who want to make good beer and do it the right way, and those are the things we look for."

T.A.P. beers have been available in the Wichita Falls area for a little more than a month now, and Thompson plans to bring more beer, including limited releases like the brewery's porter, Somethin' Shady, and new unfiltered pilsner, Payne Pils, to town in the near future. Stokes and Thompson both said brewery reps will make monthly trips to Wichita Falls to host a few tasting events and tap nights to grow its presence.

Wichita Falls isn't the end for T.A.P.'s growth, though. Stokes said he hopes a strong establishment in Wichita Falls will open doors to the brewery's beer moving on to different markets out west in the future through the help of business partners.

"The plan is to get Wichita Falls established really strong and then be able to step into Amarillo, Lubbock and San Angelo to let (the brewery) try to grow the brand into that West Texas piece through all of our mutual friends," he said. "Hopefully this is the first step to bigger things to come."
<p>Torin Halsey/Times Record News United Regional Health Care System is feeling the pinch after a new TRICARE reimbursement methodology that began Jan. 1, 2014, resulted in a more than 60-percent reduction from $11.6 million in 2013 to $4.6 million in 2014.</p>

By John Ingle of the Times Record News

A lack of financial support by United Regional Health Care System is what has doomed the Wichita Falls Family Practice Residency Program, its director said.

But leadership at the program's training hospital said they provided what is mandated by law and would have provided more if a request had been made.

Medicare has two mechanisms in place when it comes to graduate medical education costs: direct and indirect. Direct GME funds are sent to teaching hospitals and are passed on to programs to help fund salaries of staff and residents as well as other expenses necessary for the program to operate.

Indirect GME funds are sent to hospitals to compensate them for the expenses  labs, treatment, inpatient care, duties required by hospital staff, etc.  they incur by having a training program in their facilities.

Dr. Ahmed Mattar, residency program director, said the majority of teaching hospitals share some of the indirect funds with residency programs to make them stronger, but that's not the case in the program's relationship with United Regional. He said the hospital keeps all of the roughly $2 million, making it difficult to operate a residency program.

"A hospital that has the best interest of successful cooperation knows that they have to share some of that money for programs to succeed," he said, adding that about 48 percent of the budgets of programs across the country comes from GME funds. "In our case, this money represents about 18 percent of our budget. And our budget, because we have learned how to survive on very little, is smaller than average, so it's even exaggerated more."

Phyllis Cowling, president and CEO of United Regional, told the Times Record News there had been growing concerns regarding the sustainability of the program dating back to a memo from her predecessor, Kevin Gross. She said the hospital approached the program between 2000 and 2010 to discuss how to restructure the relationship between the two entities, wanting to focus on three areas: program structure, operational performance and educational quality.

"Since at least 2002, the hospital and the program mutually agreed on funding levels, and the hospital has funded the program accordingly," she said. "In 2014, we restructured our agreement to allow the hospital to provide additional funding based on annual budgets submitted by the program."

Cowling said that since that agreement, the program either didn't submit an annual budget or the annual budget addressed immediate needs. She said the hospital was prepared to provide additional money to assist the WFFPRP, but the program did not request more funding.

In a memo sent to the Times Record News, the hospital said the program did not request additional funding in budget years 2014 and 2015. In 2016, the family practice residency program requested about $175,000 to cover budget shortfalls.

Mattar said the program has requested repeatedly an itemized list from the hospital of expenses United Regional has incurred as a result of the program's practices there, but a detailed account was not provided.

The program is currently on probation with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Mattar acknowledged. Seven years ago, the WFFPRP was cited with 28 violations by the body, he said, but that was whittled down to five by 2012. Significant violations included the number of hours the doctors were working, the lack of care for pediatric patients in the hospital or in clinic, and a board passing rate below 90 percent.

Mattar said while he wishes the program was not on probation, he's not ashamed of the status because the program was not cited for unethical practices or harming patients. He said the duty hours violation, specifically was for financial survival.

"In fact, the five citations that I have right now, three for certain and probably four of them are related to underfunding, which puts United Regional at the center of the reasons for these citations," he said.

Mattar said the program has revamped the physician's schedules to ensure they are not going over the number of hours they are allowed to work. In addition, the passing rate for physicians taking their board exams has been at 100 percent since 2013.

Cowling reiterated that the hospital has enjoyed a long relationship with the WFFPRP, but just as health care is changing, so, too, is graduate medical education. She said the goal of the URHCS board of directors is to align the hospital with a university-based program that matches today's model.

Cowling and board President Blake Andrews informed Mattar and Dr. David Whittiker, board president of the North Central Texas Medical Foundation, on May 26 of the hospital's decision to no longer allow the program to use United Regional as a teaching facility in two years.
SHARE

Richard Mooney, SGT Army (Retired)

A recent letter to the TRN spoke of banning so-called "Assault Weapons." I wish to inform the writer of that letter that there are no "Assault Weapons" sold to the public, as per the 1968 National Firearms Act.

My AR-15 (AR Means Armalite) Clone is a single shot rifle. It has never assaulted anyone, and is not a weapon of war.

When a drunken driver runs over 20 people, who do you blame? The car or the drunk behind the wheel?

When you hit your finger with a hammer while placing a nail into a piece of wood, do you blame the hammer or the person wielding the hammer?

Why is it then that when some mentally ill person, a religious fanatic or a racist uses a weapon to kill people that we blame the weapon and not the person using it?

Certain states, like Texas, allow people to own a machine gun. These are investment grade weapons and cost tens of thousands of dollars to acquire. A .50-caliber bullet for an M2 (Ma Deuce) machine gun costs $5.00 per round. The weapons sold to the public are no different from any other hunting or sporting rifle. My AR-15 Clone is a glorified .22 caliber single shot rifle. It may look like its military cousin, the M4 Automatic Carbine, but isn't automatic. They used to sell kit cars back in the day, when you could make a Volkswagen look like a Porsche. Just because civilian versions of the M16/M4/AK-47 LOOK like their automatic cousins, doesn't make them a danger to society. The danger is in the person who wields it. Lastly I'm very grateful for the politicians standing up to the biased anti gun agenda, & people who don't know a thing about firearms calling for a ban on them.
The LGBT community has made historic strides in the past few years, including a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States. But along with the victories have come crushing tragedies, such as the mass shooting at the Orlando gay night club earlier this month.

That makes this month's gay pride celebrations all the more important: It's a time to reflect on how far the community has come, and how much further it has to go.
Lenox, Mass.

On her third deployment to Afghanistan, Jess, the young woman at the center of the profoundly affecting drama "Ugly Lies the Bone," was blown up by an IED. Burn scars cover almost all of her right side. (The makeup, by Scott Jones, is exemplary.)

At the beginning of the play, running at Shakespeare & Company through late August, Jess is finally back home in Florida after almost two years of hospitalization and treatment.

"It took three surgeries to give me my eyelid back," she says.

More Information Theater "Ugly Lies the Bone" When: 7:30 p.m. Friday Where: Bernstein Stage, Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble St., Lenox, Mass. Continues: In repertory through Aug. 28. Call or visit website for schedule. Length: 80 minutes, no intermission Tickets: $24.50 to $49.50 Info: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org See More Collapse

She's on multiple medications, requires application of skin salves several times a day and remains in constant pain, which rises to excruciating levels with even the most mundane of movements, including getting dressed. In just one of many extraordinary scenes from Christianna Nelson, who plays Jess, she changes from her usual outfit, sweatpants and T-shirt, into a sundress; she's finally starting to feel human again, to however small a degree, and so she powers through the agony of donning the dress. But bending her torso is akin to torture. She says, "When the bigger (skin) grafts stretch, it feels like I'm still on fire."

The play, written by Lindsey Ferrentino and directed Daniela Varon, who directed the superb "Shakespeare's Will" in Lenox two summers ago, is an absorbing exploration of how we manage different kinds of pain  physical, emotional and spiritual. In a story based on real-world efforts to help vets deal with chronic pain, Jess is enrolled in an experimental therapy program that uses virtual-reality goggles. The researcher treating her, whom we hear but never seen (the voice is by Ariel Bock), tells Jess that the goal is to create a different world, a paradise, to "distract your brain with enough stimuli (that) it won't be able to think about your pain." (The sound and lighting designers, Amy Altadonna and Scott James Bilnoski, respectively, do fine work with these scenes.)

As she's undergoing therapy, Jess is also trying to rebuild some semblance of a life. She lives with her sister, Kacie (Rory Hammond), in their childhood home; their mother (Bock), who has dementia, is in a care facility. Jess, who dreams of returning to teaching elementary school, rages when she realizes that's probably impossible.

Anger  about her injuries, limitations and likely future  at times makes her lash out, particularly at her sister's sweet doofus of a boyfriend (Dylan Chalfy), who exhibits more insight than one would have expected from him when he identifies why she's so hostile to him: "I'm the only person who didn't know you before (the injuries), so I guess you have to hate me."

Matters are better with her former boyfriend (Hamish Allan-Headly), another dim sort, who's stuck in a dead-end job and a marriage he pursed thinking it would jump-start his life. Their scenes together are gentle, touching, true; they have the rhythms of people who once knew one another well and are trying to figure out what that means for them now.

"You are not built to endure," the researcher tells Jess. "You are built to recover." It's a privilege to watch her doing it.

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  @Tablehopping  http://facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
The Coxsackie-Athens Central School district is mourning the death of a 17-year-old after she sustained fatal injuries in a car accident just hours before her graduation.

Alyssa Christiana of Athens was a backseat passenger in a car with three other friends at 6 a.m. Friday when the 2002 Ford Focus left the road going south on Route 9G, near Route 23B, in the Town of Greenport.

State Police said the teenagers were coming home from a party in the Town of Cairo. The accident remains under investigation, but State Police have said there was no indication the driver, a 16-year-old girl, was impaired by alcohol.

Christiana, who suffered serious internal injuries, was taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson and then airlifted to Albany Medical Center Hospital. A preliminary investigation revealed Christiana wasn't wearing a seat belt, state police said, adding that as a rear seat passenger over the age of 16, it's not required.

Another 16-year-old female and a 17-year-old male were hurt, but their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Social media was alight Friday with rumors that Christiana had passed away. The school district put out a post on Facebook Friday saying Christiana's status had not yet been confirmed, but that her family had reached out to the district to ensure that graduation would be held as scheduled on Friday night.

Prior to the graduation ceremony where nearly 120 students graduated, counselors were available for students to speak to, school district Superintendent Randall Squier said. The commencement also began with a moment of silence for Christiana and several speeches mentioned the 17-year-old, he said.

"With heavy hearts we celebrated our commencement on Friday evening," Squier said. "We're taking it one day at a time here."

The school district announced on Facebook Saturday morning Christiana had died, asking that the family be allowed privacy and that the district will alert students to when services will be held. Details for events honoring Christiana's life as well as additional counseling services may be released Monday, Squier said.

Catskill Town Supervisor Doreen Davis posted a statement on Facebook Saturday saying that Christiana was a political volunteer at a young age, and she had been talking to the teenager recently about her future. Christiana's mother, Amanda Boomhower, has been a volunteer with the Greene County Democratic Committee.

"Many of you will remember Alyssa from her earliest years, working every election....making phone calls with a skill and maturity that made many of us adults embarrassed at our awkwardness," Davis wrote. "We had talked about her future just last week and she flashed that incredible smile which always left me a little bit happier for having seen it."

The Coxsackie Police Department also posted a statement, saying "We are here to assist the family and the CA community in any way we can. We are Indian strong!!," the department wrote. "Her beautiful smile and enduring spirit will live on forever in our memories."

As the community begins to heal, Squier said the focus will be "to celebrate Alyssa's life, and to live our lives with a little bit of her in our hearts."

lstanforth@timesunion.com  518-454-5697
London

With British politics in turmoil, there were already clear indications Saturday of a tense and bickering divorce from the European Union.

Britons woke up to a diminished currency and much confusion about the consequences of their vote Thursday to quit the European Union, including who would be their next prime minister. The leaders of the campaign to exit the bloc, or "Brexit," continued to disagree over what kind of relationship they wanted with Europe, and thousands of Britons started signing a petition asking for a second referendum.

Meeting in Berlin, European leaders told Britain to hurry up and begin the formal process of exiting the union, while Prime Minister David Cameron said that process could wait until his replacement was chosen in October, and leaders of the "Leave" campaign suggested it could come even later, after a new round of talks with Brussels.

"I do not understand why the British government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels," Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, told German television.

"I would like it immediately," he said. "It is not an amicable divorce, but it was also not an intimate love affair."

The emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the European Union's six founding states  Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands  revealed impatience and exasperation with Britain.

The Europeans want Cameron to start the legal process of quitting by immediately invoking Article 50 of the bloc's governing treaty, which sets guidelines for severing ties and provides for a two-year window for talks. But nothing in the treaty requires Britain to invoke the article until it chooses, since it remains a full member of the bloc, with all privileges and obligations, until it quits.

The EU has other considerable challenges, including the migrant crisis, Greece's turbulent economy and sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. European leaders, looking at Spanish elections today and German and French elections next year, want the uncertainty around the British question resolved as soon as possible so they can try to show their own voters that Brussels is capable and on track.

But the British have to decide what they want in a future relationship with the European Union, given the disagreement among the "Leave" campaign leaders, who are not a government. Cameron, humiliated and an opponent of leaving, clearly has no desire to bear the burden of those negotiations  both internally, within the divided Conservative party, and externally, with other European leaders. His counterparts in Europe think he has damaged not only himself and his country, but also them, by energizing European populism and diminishing the bloc.

The French are particularly impatient, with Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault saying Saturday that negotiations on Britain's departure from the bloc should begin soon. He warned that Cameron will face "very strong" pressure to accelerate the process when European leaders meet Tuesday in Brussels, where Cameron is expected to be asked to leave the room when the others discuss their plans. The Europeans are also expected to cancel Britain's six-month presidency of the council, which was to begin in July 2017.

There is confusion about Britain, too. Ayrault said Saturday that "they must designate a new prime minister, which would certainly require several days." In fact, the process will be considerably longer, because Conservative lawmakers must first agree on a leadership contest and decide when it will be. That contest will involve numerous ballots of Conservative legislators to winnow down candidates to two, and then the 150,000 or so registered members of the party (who had joined at least three months ago, to prevent infiltration) will vote by mail.

Even so, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said at a news conference in Potsdam that it "shouldn't take forever" for Britain to deliver formal notification of Article 50, "but I would not fight over a short period of time."

Merkel, trying to be conciliatory in the face of facts, said that she was seeking an "objective, good" climate in talks on Britain's exit, and that there was "no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations; they must be conducted properly."

Already weakened politically by the migrant crisis, Merkel was expected to meet Saturday with 20 top officials from her coalition government of center-right and center-left parties. But with elections coming, coalition unity is beginning to falter as the junior partner, the Social Democrats, seek to create their own profile for voters.

The situation in Britain was confused, too. The Scottish Cabinet held an emergency meeting in Edinburgh on Saturday after the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said it was "democratically unacceptable" that Scotland should be removed from the EU against its will.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly in favor of remaining in the bloc, and Sturgeon, who leads the Scottish National Party that favors independence, reiterated after the meeting Saturday that a second independence referendum was "highly likely."

She said Scotland planned to enter discussions with EU institutions and European governments to protect its place in the bloc. Sturgeon said she would establish an advisory panel on the legal, financial and diplomatic implications of the vote.
Lake Isabella, Calif.

A voracious and deadly wildfire in central California has burned 150 homes and the toll may rise, fire officials said Saturday.

The tally rose from 80 homes as firefighters began going through neighborhoods to count houses and mobile homes incinerated by the blaze.

Entire blocks were reduced to rubble, and at least 2,500 homes remained threatened.

Weather conditions that drove the fire through small southern Sierra Nevada communities with terrifying speed remained a worry, with low humidity and 30-mph steady winds forecast,

"That's something we have to keep an eye on. It could spark another disaster," Kern County fire Engineer Anthony Romero said.

About 1,100 firefighters battled the flames.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight the fire and to clean up in the aftermath. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also authorized the use of funds for firefighting efforts.

Since it began Thursday, the fire has swept through 35,711 acres  nearly 56 square miles  of parched brush and timber.

It moved so quickly that some residents barely had time to escape  and two didn't.

An elderly couple apparently were overcome by smoke as they tried to flee, county Sheriff Donny Youngblood said. Their bodies were found Friday but their names haven't been released.

Everett Evans, 45, fled Thursday as the fire came down a mountain with a roar toward his South Lake mobile home.

"When you hear a freight train, it's time to leave. You could hear it, you could see it, you could smell it," he said.

Evans said he knocked on doors to get neighbors to leave. Evans and his father, son and his son's girlfriend were in the convoy.

But he has nothing left to come back to. Virtually no homes survived in his neighborhood. A reporter visiting on Saturday found only a burned flag blowing in the wind on a pole above the rubble of Evans' home.

Evans hadn't been allowed back to the home but said he lost mementos and photos from his former marriage and years in the Marine Corps.

"That's all memories. You get to keep your life but you lose your memories," he said.
Stockbridge, Mass.

In a famous scene in Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus," the emperor tells Mozart that his latest composition is "ingenious," but "there are simply too many notes."

The emperor is meant to be understood as a musical simpleton who doesn't recognize the perfection he's just heard, but I felt rather like him while listening to the characters blather for nearly three hours in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," which opened Saturday night on the Berkshire Theatre Group's Fitzpatrick Main Stage. The production, directed by David Auburn, is at best modestly successful and probably will satisfy only true devotees of Tennessee Williams' 1955 drama about a splintering Southern family.

Characters say the same thing four or five times  in the same speech  when once would do. The title expression and close variations are uttered eight times or more, including in the penultimate sentence of the play. And when Big Daddy (Jim Beaver), patriarch of the 28,000-acre cotton plantation where the story takes place, describes a European vacation during which his wife spent lavishly, he says:

More Information Review "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: Fitzpatrick Main Stage at Berkshire Theatre Group, 83 E. Main St., Stockbridge, Mass. Length: 165 minutes; two intermissions Continues: 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; through July 16. Tickets: $62 Info: 413-997-4444, http://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org See More Collapse

"But a man can't buy his life with (a multimillion-dollar fortune), he can't buy back his life with it when his life has been spent, that's one thing not offered in the Europe fire-sale or in the American markets or any markets on earth, a man can't buy his life with it, he can't buy back his life when his life is finished. That's a sobering thought, a very sobering thought, and that's a thought that I was turning over in my head, over and over and over."

It's exhausting to read and, in this production, to hear; there's only occasional pleasure from luxuriating in Williams' overheated Dixie poetry. It would be absurd to expect the concision of Pinter or the terseness of Mamet from a Williams play, but this hyperventilating soap opera, set in a bedroom of the grand plantation house in the swelter of the Mississippi Delta, quickly becomes a feverish slog through a swamp of verbiage as characters scheme, accuse, recriminate and generally seem to be trying to talk one another to death.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

Beaver is the best of the lot, giving a vulgar, satisfying swagger to his portrayal of Big Daddy, whose 65th birthday is the occasion for the gathering of his family. Michael Raymond-James, known for his TV work on "True Blood," "Game of Silence" and as an excellent co-star on FX's "Terriers," doesn't bring much to the role of Brick, Big Daddy's son, until well into their operatic father-son heart-to-heart in the second act. Rebecca Brooksher finds the urgency, desperation and calculating nerve of Maggie the Cat, and Linda Gehringer offers much of the production's humor as Big Mama.

As lights came up for the second act during Saturday night's performance, a bird flitted around the stage, swooping above the actors' heads. The cast at first handled it in character, with Jenn Harris, as the pregnant, ditzy Mae, laughing with abandon and clutching her swollen stomach. Company director Kate Maguire understandably halted the performance while the crew searched for the intruder in the rigging above the stage. More than 15 minutes later, bird apparently banished, the play resumed. But the surprise intrusion lingered in memory because of the way it united cast and audience, the crowd eager to see how the performers would handle it. There was spontaneity in the moment fresher than anything in the evening's effortful run through a wordy classic.

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Stillwater

From the sweeping vistas of the Saratoga battlefield to the intimate spaces of the President Martin Van Buren's Columbia County home, the Capital Region's National Park Service sites have been gearing up for the organization's centennial celebrations this summer.

But rather than look back, the sites, like their counterparts nationwide, are focusing for the future on attracting more diverse visitors and improving their experiences.

A $2 million investment to modernize the information stations on the Saratoga National Historical Park tour road and plans for a new visitors center and headquarters at Martin Van Buren National Historic Site are ways the park service's second century is opening at Capital Region sites.

More Information How and where to celebrate The National Park Service celebrates its centennial with events at various parks around the country. Information about events can be found at individual park websites. These links will provide a gateway to events locally and nationally. National Park Service Centennial: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/index.htm Every Kid in a Park: http://everykidinapark.org Locate a National Park: http://findyourpark.com/ Saratoga National Historical Park: www.nps.gov/sara Martin Van Buren National Historic Site: www.nps.gov/mava Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor: www.eriecanalway.org Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area: hudsonrivervalley.com By the numbers The National Park Service in New York state as of Sept. 30, 2015 1: World Heritage Site - The Statue of Liberty 3: National trails managed by National Park Service 4: National Heritage Areas 22: National Parks 23: Threatened and endangered species in national parks (in 2014) 28: National Natural Landmarks 268: National Historic Landmarks 307: Archeological sites in national parks 2,012: Places recorded by Heritage Documentation Programs 5,630: National Register of Historic Places listings 4,421,705: Objects in national park museum collections 16,328,212: Visitors to national parks $69,277,663: Amount of historic preservation grants (since 1969) $151,321,965: Total dollars appropriated from Land & Water Conservation Fund for projects (since 1965) $606,700,000: Economic benefit from national park tourism $4,420,240,720: Rehabilitation projects stimulated by tax incentives (since 1995) Source: National Park Service See More Collapse

"The Park Service centennial is really about looking forward to the next 100 years and moving toward the future," said Megan O'Malley, the site manager of the property Van Buren called Lindenwald.

That means knitting together the many themes in the park service's wide range of units from the grand national parks in the West to the historic sites in the East. The park service marks its centennial of its creation Aug. 25.

The Capital Region's park service sites have compelling stories of national importance to tell specifically about the battles of Saratoga and the life of President Van Buren. The region is also home to the sprawling NPS-designated Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area and Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor that wrap landscape and cultural heritage together in a broader narrative.

"Our rangers do a great job of telling all our stories at once," said Saratoga National Historic Park Superintendent Amy Bracewell. "We want to continue that experience."

A crucial part in explaining the elements that led to the two Battles of Saratoga in 1777 is the park's tour road with 66 wayside exhibits at 10 stops.

"Our current signs were placed in the park in the Bicentennial. They're old," Bracewell said referring to improvements in 1976. "We want to plan for the next 100 years. How can we be relevant? How are we representing the people of America today?"

At Saratoga, that means expanding the use of technology and updating information to be installed in 2017 on the battlefield's tour road. The updates include tactile 3-D exhibits and wheelchair accessibility. It's also seen the park adding the nuances of the stories of women, African Americans, the Oneidas and the Mohicans.

The Van Buren site anticipates receiving funds to build a permanent visitors center.

The park service looks to expand stewardship and engagement with the public. Part of this effort is its "Every Kid in a Park" program, which gives each fourth-grader in the country a free pass to the national parks, which admits their entire family.

"Fourth-graders are still looking with the eyes of children. They're open and interested in what's going on," O'Malley said. "Our ultimate goal is stewardship. It's to get people involved with their parks."

Sparking an interest can be done by pointing out the subtleties in a site's story. At Lindenwald, O'Malley notes the room in which Henry Clay, a congressman and secretary of state, stayed while visiting Van Buren. Under a window on the floor is a bedroll similar to the one Clay slept on in the room.

The system's diverse 411 parks were visited by 307.2 million people in 2015. In New York in 2015, 16.3 million people visited the 22 national parks and other park service attractions.

Nationally, park visitors spent $16.9 billion in 2015. In New York, park service attractions have an estimated tourism impact of $606.7 million. Visitors to Lindenwald, spent $1.1 million and to Saratoga, $3.7 million.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter.

The Erie Canalway and Hudson Valley heritage areas tie together regions through history, culture and the environment.

"The Hudson River Valley is a cultural landscape. The story of the Hudson River Valley is the story of America," said Mark A. Castiglione, acting Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area executive director.

The heritage area brings together the story of the river from New York City to the Capital Region. Castiglione said the partnerships developed with local communities, historic sites and state agencies as pulling together this story. The annual Hudson River Valley Ramble generates $22 million in visitor revenues every fall in a regional collaboration.

Stretching west from the Hudson to Buffalo is the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, which has an overall economic impact of $307.7 million upstate, according to a study of heritage areas. The Canalway is striving to complete its trail that will run the length of the canal. It will mark the canal's bicentennial of the start of construction in Rome in 1817 and will host the World Canal Conference next year in Syracuse, said Jean Mackay, director of communications and outreach.

At Cohoes, $237,684 is being invested in a study of revitalizing the Matton Shipyard off Delaware Avenue, which closed 1983, said Andy Kitzmann, assistant director for the Erie Canalway.

Right now the Erie Canalway's headquarters is at the state Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation on Peebles Island. There is a plan to move it down the street to the Matton Shipyard, which would breathe new life into that historic enterprise.

"It's part of the canal story," Kitzmann said.

kcrowe@timesunion.com  518-454-5084  @KennethCrowe
[June 26, 2016]

After Devastating Flood, Over 175 GoFundMe Campaigns Have Raised Over $150,000 To Support West Virginia

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 23, 2016, a historic flood hit West Virginia, leaving 24 individuals dead, destroying homes and businesses, and devastating entire communities. Within hours of the news, multiple GoFundMe campaigns were created to support the victims and families. Over the last few days, the GoFundMe community has collectively raised over $150,000 from more than 175 campaigns to support the individuals impacted by the flood.

The GoFundMe community has a history of coming tgether in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Donations continue to pour in for those impacted by the fires in Canada, raising over $1 million. Over $1 million dollars was raised for the victims and their families of the earthquakes in Ecuador in April, and $7 million was raised on GoFundMe in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquakes.







To view the campaigns for those affected by the West Virginia flood, visit GoFundMe.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/after-devastating-flood-over-175-gofundme-campaigns-have-raised-over-150000-to-support-west-virginia-300290310.html

SOURCE GoFundMe
What you need to know about Colts starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger
CHECK THIS EPIC TWITTER BEEF BETWIXT KANSAS CITY MAYOR SLY JAMES AND FORMER COUNCIL CONTENDER EL BRYAN ON THE TOPIC OF VOTER APPROVAL!!!

WHO DO YOU THINK WON THIS KANSAS CITY TWITTER POLITICAL SLAPFIGHT?!?!

This weekend, while Kansas City is in the midst of a record-breaking homicide spike and community upheaval over a corporate development slate . . . Mayor Sly James is calling out his critics via social media.To wit . . .Here's the documentation of the debate . . .Accordingly . . .It was strange to see Mayor Sly James taking political criticism so personally. Did El Bryan's comments resonate?The problem with social media beef is that there's very little resolution or room to find common ground.Accordingly, we challenge our blog community to weigh in with something more thoughtful than 140-character-snark, insults or chatter . . .Moreover, with this town facing a myriad of problems including a murder spike, outrage over taxpayer subsidy and an epidemic of violence hitting the Midtown Corridor . . . Maybe asking Twitter or the Internets for a solution is far too much to expect . . . Especially given that the crux of this online discussion seems to be the waning popularity of Mayor Sly James.You decide . . .
The Governing Council of the European Central Bank announced that it will reinstate the waiver for Greek government bonds on Wednesday evening, effective as of the 29th of June. The ECBs statement is as follows:

ECBs Governing Council reinstates waiver of minimum credit rating requirements for marketable instruments issued or guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic, subject to special haircuts

Waiver will enter into force on the next MRO settlement date (29 June 2016)

Governing Council acknowledges the commitment of the Greek government to implementing current ESM programme and expects continued compliance with its conditionality

Possible purchases of Greek bonds under the PSPP will be examined at a later stage

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) today decided to reinstate the waiver affecting the eligibility of marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic. The decision suspends the application of the minimum credit rating threshold in the collateral eligibility requirements for these instruments. Provided that they fulfil all other eligibility criteria, they may be used as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations.

The suspension enters into force with the relevant legal act on the next main refinancing operation (MRO) settlement date, 29 June 2016, and will be maintained until further notice. It applies to all outstanding and new marketable debt instruments issued or guaranteed by the Hellenic Republic. The haircuts applied to these assets will be specified in the legal act.

The Governing Council has taken into consideration the approval of the first disbursement of the second tranche of the current European Stability Mechanism (ESM) programme for Greece by the ESMs Board of Directors, following the positive assessment by the European Commission, in liaison with the ECB, of a policy package which resulted in the completion of the first review of the programme. The Governing Council also acknowledges the commitment of the Greek government to implementing the ESM macroeconomic adjustment programme and, therefore, expects continued compliance with its conditionality.

The Governing Council will examine possible purchases of Greek government bonds under the public sector purchase programme (PSPP) at a later stage, taking into account the progress made in the analysis and reinforcement of Greeces debt sustainability, as well as other risk management considerations.

Source:tovima.gr

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten,  , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei,  , holidays in Turkey,   , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas,

This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768.
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) will begin construction on a major bauxite mine in the Republic of Guinea, to secure supply of the high-quality raw material for its primary aluminium production facilities in the UAE.



EGA also aims to create a new, substantial revenue stream through significant exports to Asia, a company statement said.



EGA announced it has received final approval from its board of directors to launch the first phase of the mine, to be managed through its subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC).



The project will develop an initial 12 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) bauxite mine in the Republic of Guinea, where the company holds a concession on more than 1 billion tonnes of bauxite. The project will also include the construction of a dedicated export terminal at Port Kamsar and upgrades to existing rail infrastructure for in-land logistics. Guinea holds the worlds largest and highest quality reserves of bauxite, the raw material used in the production of aluminium.



The mine is scheduled to begin production in 2018, with plans to export bauxite via Port Kamsar to the Middle East and Pacific markets. The development of this bauxite mine builds on EGAs strategy to integrate its current smelting operations with world-class upstream assets, thus reducing its dependency on third-party suppliers for critical raw materials.



EGA is also currently constructing the UAEs first alumina refinery, on a site adjacent to its Al Taweelah Operations aluminium smelter in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD). The 2 Mtpa alumina refinery will reduce EGAs dependency on alumina imports by more than 40 per cent.



Abdulla Kalban, managing director and chief executive officer of EGA, said: This investment builds on our plan to secure EGAs supply chain and capitalize on growth in the third party bauxite market.



Despite the prevailing challenges facing the aluminium industry, we remain confident in the long-term outlook for the sector, and believe it is the right time for us to invest in high-quality, cost-competitive assets. We have built a strong presence in-country with the support of the government and people of Guinea, and we will continue our work to support local communities there  including training of more than 200 Guineans in the UAE for deployment to key roles in our business, he added.



The mine development project is estimated to create approximately 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Boke region, increase Guineas GDP by more than 10 per cent annually, and solidify Guineas position as the worlds largest exporter of bauxite, thus providing a significant uplift to the countrys foreign earnings. Global demand for high-quality bauxite, particularly in China, is expected to grow significantly over the next decade.



EGA has plans for further investments in Guinea upon the successful completion of the bauxite export mine, including the development of an alumina refinery. EGA prides itself in the development of projects to exacting global standards of community and environmental responsibility, with substantial investments made to date and to be further developed through the life of the project.



EGAs areas of focus include community health centres (5 delivered to date), provision of clean water (26 wells delivered to date), primary and secondary education (schools for more than 5,500 children constructed), vocational training (approximately 500 trained to date) and SME development (thousands of adult literacy beneficiaries and financial assistance for SMEs), as well as investments in protection of habitats for rare and endangered flora and fauna.



EGA is one of the worlds leading aluminium companies with interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting; with plans for significant local growth and international expansion. The companys two operating sites in Abu Dhabi and Dubai (UAE) currently produce 2.4 Mtpa of primary aluminium.  TradeArabia News Service
Cisco, a global technology leader, has signed a MoU with the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Investment that sets a roadmap for an accelerated pace of digital transformation in the kingdom.



Saudi Arabia is the largest technology market by far in the Middle East and with a young, fast-growing demographic, its market is weighted heavily towards technologically literate early adopters.



Its strategic location also offers advantages of a technology hub that caters to over 350 million Arabic-speakers in the region, said a statement from the company.



The MoU was signed following a meeting between Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and senior Cisco officials including executive chairman John Chambers, chief executive Chuck Robbins and managing director (Saudi Arabia) Abdullah Al Swaha.



It serves as a partnership framework and underlines Ciscos strategic commitment in support of Saudi Arabias efforts to drive digital transformation at a country-wide level.



Digitization will play an important role as the Kingdom focuses on diversifying its economy and achieving its ambitious Vision 2030 agenda, launched last April, it added.



This partnership reflects the Saudi governments priority focus on embracing digital transformation and capturing the many opportunities presented by country digitization, remarked Dr Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Investment for Saudi Arabia.



Developing a vibrant digital economy is a key pillar of our economic diversification plan and collaborating with global technology leaders is essential to bring expertise and know-how to our program of development, he added.



The memorandum outlines a multipronged approach through which Cisco will help accelerate Saudi Arabias digital agenda and position the country for long-term prosperity in the digital age.



Through their partnering, Saudi Arabia and Cisco will identify a number of collaborative opportunities in areas that include developing national IT infrastructure, accelerating business innovation, stimulating startups and enhancing research and education.



"Saudi Arabia has a bold plan for fostering an innovation, talent and entrepreneurship ecosystem that will shift the economy towards greater private sector participation and a more market-based approach," stated Chambers.



The government and leadership have shown great appreciation of the importance of digitization as a pathway to prosperity and to the achievement of their vision. This lays a strong foundation for Kingdoms success and we are honored to collaborate closely with them to realize the immense benefits that Saudi Arabias accelerated digital journey will deliver, he added.



Al Swaha said: "Since we started operating in Saudi Arabia nearly 20 years ago, we have been committed to investing in long-term programs that support economic growth and greater Saudi workforce participation."



"As Saudi Arabia embarks on an exciting new phase of development, our country digitization acceleration program will unlock unprecedented opportunities that harness the power of technology to deliver real, sustainable value to the Kingdom and its citizens," he noted.



As part of the collaboration, Cisco will make its global expertise in smart transformation, digital government, and connected healthcare and education available to the kingdom, said the official.



Cisco will also play a leading role in the development of Saudi Arabias ICT infrastructure, increasing digital skills and awareness and supporting the alignment of investment with government priorities, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based retail major Lulu Group has opened its first hypermarket in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as part of its plans to further consolidate its retail presence in the Far Eastern region.



The 250,000 sq ft hypermarket was inaugurated by the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Sri Najib Tun Razak in the presence of Dato Sri Dr Ahmed Zahid Hamidi, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and other government officials.



Lulu had recently announced its plans to set up 10 hypermarkets in Malaysia over the next five years at an investment of $300 million.



The new hypermarket is ideally located in the CapSqaure, Jalan Munshi area of Kuala Lumpur is expected to be one of its kind in the country and will attract large segment of population from all walks of life with its attractive product offers and range.



It is spread in three levels and combines everything from grocery and supermarkets products to fashion, household and latest electronics and gadgets, said a statement from the retailer.



Hot food from around the world, fresh seafood and locally grown produce are some of the key highlights in the supermarket area, it stated.



Speaking at the launch, Najeeb Razak said: "We are very pleased to welcome Lulu brand to Malaysia as this will pave way for more international brands to come and invest in the country. I am also hopeful that Lulu will surely open many more hypermarkets and malls not only in Kuala Lumpur but also in other parts of Malaysia."



Yusuff Ali MA, the chairman, said: "With an initial investment of $300 million in the first phase, we plan to open 10 hypermarkets by the end of 2021 and a central logistics and warehousing facility in Malaysia. These projects are likely to generate more than 5,000 job opportunities for Malaysians."



We also plan to set up contract farming to ensure continuous supply of high quality products and to support the Malaysian agriculture sector, he added.



Apart from the hypermarkets, Yusuffali also announced the group's plan to invest another $500 million in setting up the largest shopping mall in Malaysia.



Today the whole world knows about Malaysias economic stability, investor friendly approach, liberalized policies and world-class infrastructure and we are confident about our success here and our hypermarkets encompass both supermarket and department store formats and we intend to bring a whole new world of shopping to the residents of Malaysia.



He added that other hypermarkets would be opening in Kota Baru (Kelantan), Shah Alam (Selangor), Johar Baru, Bangi, Ipoh (Perak), Malacca, Penang and Kuala Terengganu.



One of the largest retail chain in the Middle East, Lulu currently operates 126 stores across the GCC, Egypt, India, Indonesia and employs more than 38,000 people from different nationalities.-TradeArabia News Service
There has been an overwhelming response from the chocolate and coffee manufacturers and the dealers from the Middle east region for the inaugural Chocolate & coffee exhibition and festival to be held in Bahrain from September 1 to 3, said the organiser Events Staarts.



A number of the leading players in the chocolate and coffee industry have booked their places at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre and conferences for the debut event, it stated.



"When the marketing campaign for the exhibition began, a lot of companies from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon were eager to take part," remarked Yasmin Jamal, its executive director.



"We are working to sign participation contracts with several Gulf and Arab companies in addition to major British and Russian players," she said.



According to her, more than 100 companies are expected to take part in the inaugural show.



Besides the chocolate and coffee manufacturers, the list includes some of the top hospitality groups, in addition to representatives of the global chocolate companies in the region (franchisees), who aim to boost their brands' presence in the Gulf and the Arab market, and also strengthen communication with their customers.



"We are working to attract the local manufacturers along with shops that offer many luxury foreign brands mainly produced in Switzerland, Belgium, the US, Britain, France, Turkey, Malaysia and others," she added.-TradeArabia News Service
Russia and China sealed a raft of energy deals during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing on Saturday, strengthening economic ties while pledging to preserve the strategic balance of power among nations.



The deals involve the sale of stakes in a number of Russian projects to Chinese firms, an oil supply contract and joint investments in petrochemical projects in Russia.



Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, agreed with China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) that ChemChina would take a 40 percent stake in Rosneft's planned petrochemical complex VNHK in Russia's Far East.



The deal would help Rosneft finance the project and get access to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian firm said in a statement.



They also signed a new one-year contract under which Rosneft could supply up to 2.4 million tonnes of crude oil to ChemChina between Aug. 1, 2016, and July 31, 2017.



Rosneft and Beijing Enterprises Group Company Limited agreed the key terms of a potential sale of a 20 percent stake in Rosneft's oil producing subsidiary, Verkhnechonskneftegaz, to a unit of Beijing Gas Group.



The Russian firm also signed a framework agreement with Sinopec regarding the construction of a gas processing and petrochemical plant in East Siberia, aiming to set up a joint venture in 2017 focused on the Russian and Chinese markets.



Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said his company did not plan to reduce its crude supplies to China and would defend its market position amid competition with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Iran.



"We will stick to the volumes we have agreed on. It's around 40 million tonnes (per year)," TASS news agency quoted Sechin as saying.



Russia was China's largest crude oil supplier in May for a third month in a row, having surpassed imports from Saudi Arabia.



GLOBAL BALANCE



Although economic cooperation was the focus at Putin's talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders also agreed to strengthen global strategic stability.



A statement on the Kremlin website from the two governments called on nations to strictly abide by the norms of international law, keep military capabilities at the minimum level required for national security and refrain from steps aimed at expanding existing military-political alliances.



The statement criticised the deployment of anti-missile systems in Europe and Asia, saying those who deploy them often acted under false pretences.



It did not mention specific countries, but it comes at a time that Russia and NATO are at loggerheads over the western alliance's build up of capabilities in eastern Europe, including missile defence. NATO says its actions are a necessary response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine.



On North Korea, both countries agreed that the stalled six-party talks process remained the best way to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and that all sides should create conditions for talks to resume.



The countries' central banks also signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up a yuan clearing mechanism in Russia that they said would be beneficial to cross-border trade and investment.  Reuters
Zain Bahrain, a leading telecom operator in Bahrain, has launched its new postpaid packages for mobiles, which allows customers to consume social media applications without any data charges beyond their initial subscriptions.



The new Truly Unlimited Social Media packages give Zain customers unlimited access to the most popular social media applications including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter and others.



Data has grown to consume the bulk of the mobile telephony experience, with social media becoming a central part of this, said Zain Bahrain marketing director, Roland Loetscher.



We have created packages designed to meet the needs of heavy social media consumers, offering them a range of options to meet their particular channel preferences. We started by offering Truly Unlimited Social Media with our mobile prepaid packages, which was very well received by the market. Now we have extended the benefits so that our mobile postpaid users can receive the same tailored experience.  TradeArabia News Service
Raytheon Company, a US-based technology and innovation leader, has won a $523 million contract from the US Army for the upgradation of Kuwait's Patriot Air and Missile Defence Systems.



With this upgradation, Kuwait will be able to better protect its cities and key infrastructure against ballistic missiles, aircraft and other airborne threats.



The contract was announced by the US Department of Defense on June 23.



"Kuwait and other members of the 13-nation strong Patriot Partnership continue to invest in the system and trust Patriot to defend their citizens and militaries," remarked Ralph Acaba, Raytheon vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense.



"Patriot is the only system in the world that is combat-proven and designed to outpace the future threat through continuous evolution," he added.



The Kuwaiti upgrades, known as Configuration 3+, are an example of the evolutionary approach used to upgrade Patriot.



The Kuwaiti Configuration 3+ Patriots will have enhanced capability against a variety of threats, an improved Identification Friend or Foe capability and improved radar search, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
A new piece of debris found in Tanzania will be examined for a possible link to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian state news agency Bernama cited the country's transport minister as saying on Saturday.



"This debris is quite large... only if it is confirmed to be that of Boeing 777 will we send an investigation team there to study whether it really belonged to MH370 or not," Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai was quoted as saying.



Liow said recent discoveries of bags and other personal items found in Madagascar were not connected to MH370.



Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.



Investigators believe someone may have deliberately switched off the plane's transponder before diverting it thousands of miles off course over the Indian Ocean.



A piece of the plane washed up on the French island of Reunion in July 2015.  Reuters
The Aloft brand of hotels will makes its debut in Saudi Arabia this year with the 281-room Aloft Riyadh and 262-room Aloft Dhahran, both located in key city-centre locations.



The hotel concept features a vibrant design with a focus on technology including the country's first keyless entry system.



Opening in July, Aloft Riyadh will be led by general manager Sammy Gani. With over 20 years of hospitality experience, Gani takes on the new role following successful positions at The Westin Boston Waterfront and Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates.



Titus Rosier has been named the general manager of the upcoming Aloft Dhahran, which is scheduled to open in August. Rosier has been with Starwood in various Sales roles for over 11 years and was most recently director of sales for the two St. Regis properties in Abu Dhabi.



Both Aloft hotels will feature loft-inspired guestrooms with the brand's signature offerings, such as an ultra-comfortable plush signature bed, custom amenities, as well as fast and free wi-fi throughout the property. The hotels will also offer an all-day dining restaurant in addition to Re:fuel, a 24-hour grab and go for light meals; the brand's signature w xyz lounge, the go-to hangout with a fun social vibe; a trendy rooftop terrace pool & cafe and a well-equipped Re:charge gym. Aimed at the mobile generation, guests will be able to make requests from the hotel via the SPG Letschat text messaging service.



The two Aloft hotels will also feature SPG Keyless--Starwood's industry-first keyless entry system that enables guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key. - TradeArabia News Service
M. K. Bhadrakumar

Sweet are the uses of adversity/Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous/Wears yet a precious jewel in his head, writes William Shakespeare. Indeed, the humiliating defeat India suffered while attempting to gatecrash into the plenary of the Nuclear Suppliers Group in Seoul last weekend is a matter of deep anguish and indignation, but also provides useful markers on why the foreign policy establishment fumbled so miserably.

The NSG saga exposed that personalised diplomacy has severe limits. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be a wiser man. But his prestige should never have been risked. The establishment ought to know that nations doggedly pursue their interests and principles - and personalities cannot make much difference. Quite obviously, Switzerland, Brazil, South Africa, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Turkey, and China - and many others - in the 48-member NSG have established policies on nuclear non-proliferation.

Therefore, the decision to engage the Chinese leadership at the highest level was entirely avoidable. It remains unclear what gave the foreign-policy establishment the confidence that a demarche by our Prime Minister with President Xi Jinping will compel Beijing to change its principled policy brief. Ironically, Chinese media had even alerted our establishment repeatedly - three op-eds within the week in Global Times - that we were misreading the situation and making grave miscalculations. Nonetheless, our Prime Minister was pressed into service.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The India-China relationship is passing through an indifferent patch. Our Prime Minister had avoided meeting the Chinese leader for almost a year. Ever since joining hands with the US on the infamous Joint Vision Statement on Asia-Pacific (January 2015), China's attitude has become distant. Beijing senses that hardliners in the Indian foreign and security policy establishment are ruling the roost and our political leadership is incapable or unwilling to take course correction.

The series of nasty things we did with deliberation and planning through the period since January last year to hurt China's core interests betray a hostile mindset. Was the Prime Minister unaware that a hardline lobby was at work, determined to block his intentions of transforming the Sino-Indian relationship and making it an underpinning for his development agenda? There are no easy answers.

This hardline lobby manipulated the discourse over the NSG issue and made it a bilateral India-China tangle. The NSG membership question involves highly complex considerations over the future trajectory of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The NSG was created in 1975 by the Americans in the specific context of our Pokhran tests as the platform to pursue a containment strategy against India by denying it advanced technology. (China became NSG member only in 2004.) If India joins the NSG, the grouping will no more be the same.

The statement issued after the plenary at Seoul in the weekend underscored the bottom line: "Participating governments reiterated their firm support for the full, complete and effective implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime". It is futile to make this an India-China issue. As the NSG's 'founder' and patron saint, it is incumbent upon Washington to prepare the ground for India's admission. (The 2008 US-India nuclear deal makes it obligatory, too.) Yet, Washington has found it expedient to confine itself to making pious statements because yet another discord in the Sino-Indian normalisation works to its greater advantage. Washington preferred to covertly encourage its proxies within the Indian establishment to turn the NSG issue into the stuff of "China-bashing". Washington's calculation is that the snowballing negative opinion regarding China among the Indian public will help expedite the Logistics Agreement giving access for US forces to Indian military bases.

The Indian establishment overlooks the international milieu. In particular, the steady decline in the US' influence in global politics; the US' cascading tensions with Russia and China; the unravelling of the Western alliance system (which will be hastened by Brexit), growing "multipolarity" in the world order, China's rise and Russia's re-emergence, Sino-Russian entente - all this makes a strong case for India to preserve its "strategic autonomy".

The Indian Navy has just deployed ships on an extended mission in the South and East China Sea. Of course, it was a political decision to show the middle finger at China, coming on top of the trilateral Malabar exercises with the US and Japan, which were held near the disputed waters of the East China Sea. (Chinese war ships 'tailed' ours to make a serious point.) Suffice it to say, our Prime Minister's meeting with the Chinese President at Tashkent seeking support and understanding for our NSG membership had a strange setting.

Remember our catastrophic "forward policy" toward China in the late fifties? There has always been this maverick opinion in our country that it pays to be "tough" toward China. It is an interesting coincidence that as in the fifties, today also, these elements also form part of our "pro-American" lobby. Washington knows exactly who to count on in our foreign-policy establishment to do their bidding and how to raise dust on Raisina Hill. Make no mistake, the US' containment strategy against China is a high-stakes game and India is a 'swing' state. If Carnegie and Brookings recently opened branches in New Delhi and employed ethnic Indians in a coordinated effort to dominate the strategic discourses in our country, it is not an intellectual journey.

The NSG fiasco is not a sideshow. It calls attention to our flawed, US-centric foreign policy. Pakistan has cause to celebrate India's growing isolation. All that was needed was for the adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, to make a few phone calls to remind select world capitals to voice their opinions at the Seoul plenary. (Interestingly, Kazakhstan, which was once "denuclearised" and frog-marched into the NPT, was also on Aziz's list.)

Whereas, our Prime Minister travelled to Bern, flew from there to Washington, made a quick detour to Mexico City, and returned home to make a phone call to Moscow and thereupon travel to Tashkent. What was all this hyperactive diplomacy about? All four of India's BRICS partners have remained passive or voiced opposition to India's NSG membership - and the majority within the NSG swears by the NPT. And, as for the US, it refused to stand up and be counted, being mindful of Pakistani sensitivities.

The NSG setback inevitably casts a shadow on our case for membership of the UN Security Council. A post-mortem is needed and responsibility should be pinned for causing damage to India's standing as a responsible member of the international community. Alas, the Prime Minister's carefully cultivated image as an influential world statesman has been dented too - perhaps, irreparably.

The writer is a former Ambassador.
Simran Sodhi

THANK heavens for Brexit. It helped take some attention off the fiasco in Seoul where India's desperate bid to get into the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) suffered a rejection. What makes it even more embarrassing for the government is that this is a twin failure.

First, a rebuff at the diplomatic level, where despite the Foreign Secretary rushing off to Seoul failed to save the mission; and, second, a substantive failure at the political level where the Prime Minister received a royal Chinese snub.

The double rebuff was totally avoidable. India's desire to get into the NSG is understandable but what puzzles an observer is the hype that was created around it. Any oldtimer would have told the Modi establishment; do the smart diplomatic homework before shouting about it from the rooftops. Politically, one wonders who advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invest his personal prestige to the extent of himself raising the issue with the Chinese President. A smart diplomat and an astute politician should know that the Prime Minister steps in only to seal a deal, not to make requests. In the case of the NSG fiasco, India messed up at both the fronts and pretty badly.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

It makes no sense to now make a case that it was one country that repeatedly raised procedural issues and thwarted India's bid. China, to its credit, was very public in its opposition to India's entry. In the runup to the NSG plenary meeting in Seoul on June 23-24, China repeatedly issued statements that made it amply clear that it was in no mood to let India into the elite nuclear club. India had its work cut out  and that was to talk and convince China. From President Pranab Mukherjee travelling to China last month, to the Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar making a below-the-radar visit to Beijing just two weeks before the NSG session, India tried convincing China  and failed. The failure to convince China should have made the Foreign Ministry more cautious about going so public about its NSG bid. Again, this failure should have alerted the top bosses in the Foreign Ministry not to advise the Prime Minister to raise the stakes by taking up matter with the Chinese President when they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tashkent. To any observer of foreign policy, it remains a puzzling scenario as to who advised Prime Minister Modi to then raise this issue with President Xi Jinping. Did someone really think that China would reverse its decision just because the request was being made by India at the highest level? Surely, no one could have been that naive not even in this national security establishment. Maybe it was a political decision to hype the NSG berth and for Modi to raise the issue with Xi Jinping himself. After all the headlines would have been awfully good if the Prime Ministers request had been accepted by the Chinese leader. It makes one wonder who is doing all this fantastical thinking in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Prime Minister's Office. Is it the Foreign Office which misled the Prime Minister in thinking that India's NSG berth would give him the same kind of historical legacy as the Indo-US civil nuclear deal in 2008 gave former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh? Or was it a political push to the Foreign Office to deliver, to make this desperate bid so that a political historical event could be created? Whoever might be at fault, one thing that has emerged crystal clear from the NSG fiasco is that many of the top officials  bureaucrats and politicians  in this government are yet to grasp the brutal realities of geopolitics. If legacies were this easy to create, well, our history books would be way thicker. But both past and current history teaches us one valuable lesson  which was conveniently forgotten this time around  do the groundwork, be sure of the outcomes, before going public with it.

Also, somewhere let us not be parsimonious with facts. China was not alone. Turkey, New Zealand, Brazil and even Switzerland raised their objections in Seoul. Now Switzerland is another blot here. Modi travelled all the way to Switzerland, again made a public spectacle of the Prime Minister requesting the Swiss leadership for support for a berth in the NSG. The Swiss "agreed", a diplomatic feather was added to the Prime Minister's hat and everyone went ga ga over how India and the Prime Minister is winning the world over.

Cut short to Seoul, a few weeks later, and the Swiss don't seem to be supporting India. Again, should we not be asking some tough questions of the people who were leading the charge. China, yes, is uncomfortable with India's rise and wants to always hyphenate us with Pakistan and hence no support. We always knew that, but pray what happened to the Swiss? Someone should be doing a lot of explaining here. Even Turkey took a principled stand and said that India and Pakistan's applications be considered simultaneously. The world knows about Pakistan's proliferation record and no one needs a re-introduction to A Q Khan, but didn't India realise that right arguments do not always convince the other?

We owe it to ourselves to take a hard look at the way we conducted ourselves, diplomatically and politically in this entire NSG saga. We have ended up looking rather inelegant, a little immature and a bit desperate to grab things. And as India moves into the next round of negotiations for NSG or other "clubs", a bit more grace and quiet diplomacy should be the preferred norm.

simraj68@yahoo.com.
Chandigarh, June 26

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today demanded a CBI inquiry into the 'ink' controversy surrounding the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana.

He said it was unprecedented that as many as 12 votes had been cancelled in Rajya Sabha polls and truth needs to come out.

"A CBI probe is needed to find out the truth," the senior Congress leader told reporters here.

Congress and INLD have alleged that a BJP MLA replaced the pen during the biennial polls held here on June 11, resulting in rejection of 12 votes on the ground that these were marked with a different pen ink.

Election Commission is already holding an inquiry into the matter after losing candidate R K Anand, Congress and INLD approached it with complaints.

Commenting on the new railway line between Sonipat-Jind which was inaugurated by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today, Hooda said, "This was my dream project. During UPA time, we had completed 98 per cent work on this project, but the BJP Government took 18 months just to install pillars on this rail line".

"Be it Metro rail or this railway line, not even one project has started during their time," he said, hitting out at the BJP.

"This government has failed on all fronts. It is only doing one job, which is cutting ribbons for projects initiated during our time," Hooda said.

On the death of two youths during police recruitment drive at Kurukshetra recently, Hooda said, "for the first time I am witnessing that youths are being made to run on concrete as against proper tracks or kutcha path. Youths and their attendants, which number in thousands, are forced to sleep in parks with no adequate facilities for them".

He demanded adequate compensation for next of kin of those who had died during recruitment drive in Kurukshetra.

Hooda also slammed the BJP Government for invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act, for six months to prevent any disruption in power supply, after 25,000 employees of Haryana power distribution companies decided to observe two-day strike on June 29 and 30, seeking rollback of the decision of "outsourcing" of operation and maintenance of power sub-divisions.

"We never invoked ESMA during our ten years of rule. That is the last resort, but this government is using it as first resort. They want to murder democracy," Hooda alleged.  PTI
CUHP Pro VC visits Saudi university

Our Correspondent

Kangra, June 26

Prof Yoginder Singh Verma, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), visited Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, recently. Professor Verma visited the university as a member of the Review Panel Team. The team had 23 members from different countries, including Germany, Jordan, USA, Pakistan, Egypt, UK, Romania and Oman.

Professor Verma said he went as a member of special panelist for the National Commission of Academic Accreditation and Assessment (NCAAA), Saudi Arabia.

He said the purpose of his visit was to assess and accredit the university, for its performance based on different parameters developed by the NCAAA.

The team evaluated the self-study report submitted by different departments of Tabuk University.

The team checked the claims made by the university officials by personally visiting its different departments and inspecting the facts and figures on the spot, he said.

The panel was empowered to give their commendations, recommendations, and suggestions for improving the quality of education and start new courses.
Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 26

Even as the state unit of BJP has maintained a guarded silence over the state governments blunt refusal to grant citizenship to West Pakistan Refugees (WPRs), the Central leadership of the party has emphasised on the need for solving issues related to livelihood, jobs and education of this displaced community.

Despite the Assemblys rejection of this demand, BJP national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna, who is in charge of the party in J&K, said that there was no question of changing stand on this issue. We are committed to grant of citizenship to refugees because this issue is on the top of partys agenda, Khanna told The Tribune and reiterated that BJP would continue its effort in this regard. He said that issue would be discussed with the state unit to devise strategy to solve problems of the WPRs. We will sit together and examine statement of the coalition government in the Assembly on these refugees, said Khanna.

Union minister Jitendra Singh, on the other hand, said that some provisions must be made to ensure livelihood, jobs and education for these refugees.

Short of citizenship other immediate issues related to these refugees must be solved. A provision should be made to ensure that children of refugees would get admission in educational institutions, Jitendra Singh, who is Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Doda seat, told The Tribune, adding, Deliberations be held later on the issue of citizenship of these refugees.

A high-level meeting was held in New Delhi under the leadership of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in which the issue was discussed. Jitendra Singh was also present in the meeting which was held a day after the Assembly rejected citizenship for these refugees.

Due to denial of citizenship to them, children of WPRs are debarred from taking admission in higher educational institutions and from technical education. Furthermore, they are deprived taking benefits of state and Centre-sponsored job-oriented schemes, like MNREGA, because they do not have Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs).

On Wednesday, the state government made it clear in the Legislative Assembly that there was no plan to grant citizenship of these refugees.

As many as 5,764 West Pak refugee families have settled in Jammu and Kashmir. They came from the area which later became West Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947, J&Ks Revenue Minister Syed Basharat Bukhari had informed Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

The minister said the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state had no plan to grant permanent resident status to WPRs because they are not permanent residents of J&K.

He informed the lawmakers that no West Pakistan refugee had been appointed in any government department of the state.

West Pakistani refugees are not considered for appointment against any state government post because they are not permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said.

Leader of WPRs, Labha Ram Gandhi said, We were very much aware that Kashmir-centric parties like PDP and NC will never allow solution of our human issues. We too have pinned our hopes on Central leadership of BJP.
Srinagar, June 26

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh paid their tribute to eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, who had lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore, on Sunday, as a wreath laying ceremony was held for the martyrs.

Yesterday, Mufti condemned the militant attack, saying that such acts of violence were aimed at subverting the Government's efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the state.

"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the Government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," Mufti said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered his condolences saying that he was pained by the news.

"I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets.

Meanwhile, the senior officials of the Home Ministry and the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are arriving in Srinagar today to take stock of the situation in Pampore.

The CRPF yesterday asserted that the two terrorists, who were neutralised in the gun-battle, appeared to be Pakistanis and were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

In a fierce gun-battle that took place yesterday evening, 24 CRPF jawans were also injured.

The security personnel recovered arms and ammunition including 2 AK 47 Rifles, 11 hand grenades from the killed terrorists.  ANI
I am neither Congress-minded nor Akali-BJP minded, but I am humane, says Hans Raj Hans, vice-president of the Punjab Congress, when asked about his motive behind joining the Congress after leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Im in politics for not doing politics, but for the welfare of society and make people realise their rights. I will continue in the politics till the time I feel my motives are being backed by the party. The options to opt out are always open as I am a free bird.

Why did you join politics despite earning accolades in singing?

There are two kinds of people, religious and spiritual. I am the latter one. I dont believe in castiesm. My spirit told me to join politics and I jumped in. Discussing politics by sitting at home is futile. A layman should join politics to give a practical shape to his thoughts.

When you joined, some of the Congress leaders criticised you. They also called you parachute leader.

It happens in every party. Only two-three Dalit leaders protested the move to take me to the Rajya Sabha on the plea that population of my community to which I belong is less than the population of their community. I won the world with my singing and my caste has no role to play in it. Hun ta mere kol loka nu vota mangan da kam hai, keh dwage (now I am to seek votes for the Congress, I will convince people for sure). Had there been dozens of leaders against me, I would not have joined the Congress.

Do you regret that you were not taken to the Rajya Sabha?

My ideal BR Ambedkar once said if a leader wants to attain anything for society, he must be in the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. Had I been considered, I would have raised a lot of issues pertaining to Punjabis. If dumb leaders, suffering from age crisis or unable to walk properly, are being sent to the Upper House, how can they raise issues of the public? The only regret I have is, Dalit he Dalitan da dushman ban reha.(Dalit is becoming enemy of Dalits). I am an experienced person, I remained with rulers of America yet I became a victim of Dalit politics.

Do you think the government is ignoring the Dalits, their rights?

No, the government is doing work for Dalits, but not on the expected lines. In Punjab, social justice is not possible without agitation. The government is diverting funds meant for the welfare of Dalits towards other purposes according to its whims and fancies.

Once in an interview in Pakistan, you said politics is kohr (disease) and you will never go into that. Why you hug this disease now?

Then I just lost the LS election from Jalandhar and I was still in the SAD. My spirit and state of mind had said that, but I never said that I would not join politics for the rest of my life. I was also asked in Pakistan whether Punjab politicians speaks lie, I said, three times a day.

Why did you quit the SAD?

My voices for the welfare of the leaders who joined on my will in the SAD were not heard. I had joined the SAD on certain conditions, excluding any desire to earn money from politics, which were not considered, so I quit. Had I also got a share in sand (reta) business, I too would have opened big commercial malls now.

What difference do you see being in the Opposition and in ruling party?

I was vice-president in the SAD, member of core committee, had 14 security guards with an escort vehicle. The moment I quit politics, officials stopped picking my phones. I quit Akalis as they were not fulfilling the conditions on which I had joined the party. In politics, options are always open. I can quit politics any time if I am made to compromise on my principles. I dont believe in slavery.

Will you fight the Assembly elections?

A person of my type cant fight elections because even if I become an MLA, I have to speak lie, to criticise, resort to bad mouthing or get register fake FIRs against anti leaders which I cant do. During my stint as vice-president in the SAD, I even got registered an FIR against an Akali worker who had beaten up a Congress worker and was forcing me to get registered an FIR against the Congress workers, who were otherwise the victims. If such a situation arises in the Congress, I will not spare the Congressmen for being cruel to others.

What strikes your mind when I say Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal?

I respect the duo. I dont have any enmity with them, but I am against their system destroying Punjab. Wherever I meet Sukhbir ji, he hugs me and I treat him like my brother. Even several BJP leaders are also still my good friends. If earlier some Congress men were against me, they may be still against me.

Your icons in politics.

I dont have any icon in politics. My only icon of life is Dr BR Ambedkar and Guru Ravidas ji.

Will you allow your children to join politics?

I have not put any restrictions on my children. They are doing well in the film industry. It is up to them if they want to join politics after some time of their career.

Can the Congress win this election in Punjab? If yes, how and why?

Ithe bande ki reta (sand) bhi mehfooz ni hai(In Punjab, apart from people, even sand is not safe).I think whichever party brings best manifesto for the people of Punjab, it could win. Yes, the Congress will bring the best one. Let the election code of conduct come into force, many leaders of the SAD, BJP and AAP, who are already in our touch, will join the Congress.

Where do you see yourself in politics after five years?

I believe in destiny. I believe time is a super power. Its been 11 years since I am in politics. I never took a penny from anyone to get their work done. I have earned a lot of money. I have no desire to earn from any ill means. My children too are earning accolades in the film industry. I still remember the time when I used to live in a kutcha house in poverty. My songs proved a boon for me. I will define destine in this line, Banda akhda kra main badshahi honi akhdi kra faqir tenu, banda akhda ik lawa ik pawa,honi akhdi judey na leer tenu.

Hans, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste category, had joined the SAD in 2009 and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Jalandhar. He remained the party's vice-president, but announced his exit from the SAD in December 2014. He was also sent to Bathinda where he sang paeans for Badals daughter-in-law and now Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in her Lok Sabha contest from Bathinda. Hans was also a contender for the LS ticket from Jalandhar, but the SAD chose Pawan Kumar Tinu, who went on to lose to the Congress Chaudhary Santokh Singh. Hans Raj Hans, a winner of the Padma Shri and also the Punjab Rattan award during the Amarinder Singh regime, touches upon various issues pertaining to politics during an interaction with The Tribune reporter Nikhil Bhardwaj.
Washington, June 26

India will be the only country outside US formal treaty allies that will gain access to almost 99 per cent of latest Americas defence technologies after being recognised as a Major Defence Partner, a senior Obama administration official has said.

India (now) enjoys access to (defence) technologies that is on par with our treaty allies. That is a very unique status. India is the only other country that enjoys that status outside our formal treaty allies, the official told PTI explaining what Major Defence Partner status means for India.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Earlier this month, after a meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, the US, in a joint statement, recognised India as a Major Defence Partner.

We were looking for something unique. This language you would not find in any arms transfer legislation or any of our existing policies. This is new guidance and new language that is intended to reflect the unique things that we have done with India under our defence partnership, the senior administration official said.

This is intended to solidify the India-specific forward leaning policies for approval that the (US) President and (Defense) Secretary (Ashton) Carter...and our export control system have implemented in the last eight years, the official said.

Under this recognition India would receive licence-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that New Delhi has committed to taking to advance its export control objectives.

Acknowledging that the impression in New Delhi is that India is not getting access to the kind of technology it needs from the US, the official said it is a constant source of discussion.

(In reality), less than one per cent of all exports (requests) are denied (to India). They are not denied because of India. They are denied because of global US licensing policies. We do not share certain technologies with anybody in the world, the official asserted.

The perception in India that the denial of such technologies is reflective of the India-US relationship is far from the truth, the official said.

According to the official, India being recognised as a major defence partner puts it on par with our treaty allies.

Inside the American bureaucratic system, such a recognition removes a number of major export control hurdles for India. PTI
Agartala, June 26

BSF thwarted an attempt of about 300 Bangladeshi nationals to enter Indian territory at Champahaor area of Tripura's Khowai district and later they were taken back by the neighbouring country, police said on Sunday.

"Around 300 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday tried to enter through Champahaor but they were stopped by the BSF.

They returned last night following a flag meeting between BSF and BGB," SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said.

He said they were tribals and "evicted" by the forest guards of Bangladesh from Chunarughat area of Habiganj district of the neighbouring country.

BSF and district administration of Khowai provided them food and drinking water during their stay along the border, he said.

Bhowmick said due to barbed wire fencing and alertness of the BSF, they could not enter India.  PTI
Yash Goyal

Jaipur, June 26.

A Congress block president of Baran district was allegedly beaten to death by a group of miscreants at a roadside dhaba in Devari village on Saturday, the police said. PCC president Sachin Pilot, however, suspects it to be a murder as part of a conspiracy by BJP leaders.

Thirty-five years old Sonu Goyal was allegedly attacked by a group of miscreants with batons in Kasba Thana area of Devari village yesterday, Baran Superintendent of Police D.D. Singh told TNS over phone. Sonus wife is a sarpanch in Baran district.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

A case has been registered, but no arrest has been made so far, the SP said, adding that a police team was searching for the culprits. Singh said Goyal was beaten to death due to an election rivalry within the Congress Party as the victim was alone when he was attacked by the miscreants.

However, Pilot blamed the district administration for not taking up the case and arresting the culprits.

Pilot said the party has set up a three-member fact-finding committee headed by Dipendra Singh Shekhawat. The committee will visit the victims family and submit a report to the party high command soon, he said.
New Delhi, June 26

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims.

In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, Indias application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that was the ground used to thwart Indias bid.

However, diplomatic sources said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources said Mexicos suggestion was also opposed by China but it found support from a large number of countries, including the US.

A panel for informal consultations on Indias membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossis appointment came even as a top US official said the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a path forward for Indias acceptance as a member.

We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year, the Obama administration official told PTI in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting Indias NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support Indias case on its merits.

An upset India later accused one country, a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application. PTI
KV Prasad & Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 26

New Zealand today said it would be wrong to say that it opposed Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Rather, it wanted a criterion to be fixed for the entry of non-NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) states into the NSG.

In an email response exclusively to The Tribune, a spokesperson of New Zealands Foreign Minister Murray McCully sought to set the record straight.

Indias entry into the NSG was rejected by the plenary session of the NSG in Seoul. While India has blamed one country, meaning China, for blocking its bid to the NSG, it remains a fact that there were other countries (besides China) that had reservations on letting in a country that has not signed the NPT. Turkey, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, along with New Zealand, had their reservations on the Indian application to become a member of the NSG.

It is quite wrong to describe New Zealand as opposed to Indias membership of the NSG. New Zealand has a long history of taking a principled stand against nuclear weapons and their proliferation. New Zealand believes that it is very important for NSG members to consider carefully what criteria should be used in assessing applications from non-NPT states.

This was New Zealands position at the NSG plenary meeting which just ended in Seoul. India is the first applicant for membership of the NSG which is not a member of the cornerstone Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). All members of the NPT make legally binding commitments on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We believe constructive discussions should lead to a pathway against which Indias application can be properly considered, said a spokesperson in the office of McCully.

President Pranab Mukherjee had recently visited New Zealand and it was reliably learnt that the President had raised the NSG issue with the New Zealand leadership. However, it seems India was not able to deal with the reservations expressed by New Zealand.

NSG may meet again

New Delhi, June 26

The Nuclear Suppliers Group, whose membership India failed to get two days back, is likely to meet again before the end of the year to specially discuss the process for allowing non-NPT signatories into the 48-nation grouping, thus providing another chance to India to press its claim.

Sources said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the criteria for allowing non-NPT signatories like India into the group. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Sources added that Mexicos suggestion was opposed by China but found support from a large number of countries, including the US. A panel for informal consultations on Indias membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossis appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a path forward for Indias acceptance as a member.  PTI
New Delhi, June 26

Under pressure to control pulses prices, the Centre is hopeful of clinching a long-term deal with Mozambique for assured supply of lentils after the two countries had positive talks last week.

Indian delegations last week visited pulses growing nations, Mozambique and Myanmar, to explore government-to-government arrangement for assured supply of lentils, especially tur, on a long term basis.

"The delegation is back with long term solution in sight.

The final draft is awaiting response of Mozambique Government.

The Government of India is expecting positive response as soon as possible," Consumer Affairs Secretary Hem Pande told PTI.

Pande, who led the delegation to the African nation, said the talks were "positive" and definitely the country's pulses supply would improve once the long-term arrangement is signed.

"One thing is sure, we want long-term arrangement of assured supply with both Mozambique and Myanmar. The road map has to be in line with the arrangement between two sovereign governments and not private traders," he said.

"The work is in progress. They are looking at prices and other logistic issues like port. Let's see," he added.

Asked if India will talk to other African nations, Pande said, "If Mozambique model works, it might work for other pulses growing countries like Malawi and Tanzania."

Mozambique grows around 70,000 tonnes of pulses, mainly tur dal and some urad. The entire quantity is exported to India and to meet NRI demand in other parts of the world. Same is with Myanmar which produces about 50,000 tonnes of tur.

Even if India signs a deal with Mozambique, tur dal cannot be supplied immediately as the latter's rabi tur crop is expected to arrive only by September-October.

In domestic market, retail pulses prices have risen unabated for more than a year and at present ruling close to Rs 200/kg in view of seven million tonnes shortfall in domestic output following two drought years.

To tame price rise, the government is creating buffer stock of pulses up to 8 lakh tonnes from domestic procurement and imports. It has imposed stock holding limits on pulses to check hoarding, banned chana futures and also selling tur and urad at subsidised rates to give relief to consumers.

India's pulses output is estimated to be 17.06 million tonnes in 2015-16 crop year (July-June), marginally lower than the previous year's production of 17.15 million tonnes. But the output is lower than the overall demand of 23.5 million tonnes.  PTI
Vikramdeep Johal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 25

Over a century ago, Rabindranath Tagore paid a glowing tribute to Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the bairagi (ascetic) who became a valiant Sikh warrior after being blessed by Guru Gobind Singh. The Nobel laureates poem Bandi Bir (Captive Brave) captures the last days of the Rajouri-born Rajput who was tortured to death in Delhi by the Mughals in 1716.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Banda Bahadur never set foot in Bengal, but Tagores work enshrined his name in Bengali literature. Now, the great jarnail is set to make his presence felt at the place that was dearest to Gurudevs heart.

We plan to install five statues of Banda Bahadur in West Bengal, including one at Santiniketan, to mark the tercentenary of his martyrdom, says Ludhiana-based KK Bawa, chairman of the Baba Banda Singh Bahadur International Foundation. A delegation visited Kolkata and other parts of the state in March to meet the Punjabis settled there and hold talks with the authorities.

Jatinder Singh Chahal, a hotelier-transporter based near Santiniketan in Birbhum district, says, The Assembly polls in April-May delayed the process, but now we are hopeful of getting a statue installed at Visva-Bharati University within the next few months. Ruling Trinamool Congress MLA Chandranath Sinha has promised to provide land for the purpose.

According to Bawa, Bandi Bir is being translated into Hindi, Punjabi and other languages, besides a new version in English. This will familiarise a wide range of readers with the supreme sacrifice of this Sikh icon, who was not only a fearless fighter but also a messiah of the downtrodden, he adds.

Bandi Bir, the Captive Sikh Brave, in Bengali

Tagore, who was deeply influenced by Sikhism, wrote an inspirational poem on Banda Singh Bahadur that appears in the compilation Katha-O-Kahini, which is taught in Bengali schools. Ironically, its English translation is yet to be part of Punjabs school books, even though the state government has raised a 100-metre-high tower at Chappar Chiri (Mohali) to commemorate the warriors triumph in the Battle of Sirhind. This is how the poem describes the martyrs final moments:

And Bandas flesh they tore to shreds

With tongs burnt red,

Brave Banda died without a groan

A heros death,

All eyes were shut. Fell on the court

The hush of death.
Fatehgarh/Srinagar, June 26

In the wake of attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India, even as he said lapses, if any, in yesterdays incident would be looked into and status of infiltration ascertained.

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest one on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The team will look into the possible increase of cross-border Infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased eight CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the worst sufferers of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks defame the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins and making sure not to hurt others.

After the attack, the CRPF has moved about half-a-dozen heavy-armoured mine protected vehicles (MPVs), which were earlier used for anti-Naxal operations, to the Kashmir Valley to effectively secure its troops deployed there.

An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India, Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully, he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness.

He said the attack is a fallout of frustration as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from the Pakistani side.

I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry, he said.

Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to send a team to Pampore to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents.

The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.

We should greet and welcome the bravery of our security people and the way they are working with such valour and courage... India cannot forget those security men who got martyred. They are not with us now and we pay our tributes to them, the Home Minister said.

Mehbooba, who laid floral wreaths on the coffins of the CRPF personnel in Srinagar, said targeting security forces personnel who were only doing their duty was condemnable.

This is a fasting month when people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins. This is the time when we should be making sure not to hurt others. This kind of attack where you are affecting families by snatching their bread earner is condemnable.

Nothing can be achieved by this.... We are only defaming Kashmir and the state by these acts. We also deal a setback to the religion we practice, the Chief Minister said.

Emphasising that militants were also giving a setback to tourism of Kashmir, she told reporters that people from many countries have started arriving but this would send a wrong signal about the situation here.

She said such attacks also deprived Jammu and Kashmir from its share of development witnessed in the rest of India.

Today there is atmosphere of development. India is attracting lot of investments in infrastructure development and healthcare but when it comes to Jammu and Kashmir, the investors shy away because of these incidents. The worst sufferers of these attacks are people of Jammu and Kashmir, she said.

Director-General of Police K. Rajendra Kumar said, It is a desperate act by the terrorists. You must have seen over the past few days the attacks at Anantnag, Bijbehara or Pampore, these are desperate acts. Over the past six months, many terrorists and their leadership have been eliminated. He downplayed suggestions that the CRPF casualties could have been avoided if there had been better intelligence.

The CRPF personnel were returning after doing their duty and in such cases they become sitting ducks. In earlier attacks, the militants managed to escape but yesterday, our jawans were alert, there were intelligence reports which led to neutralising of terrorists. They could not escape, Kumar said.

Asked if there was any militant involved in yesterdays attack on the loose, the DGP said, We are investigating the case. We are looking at all possible angles and links and we will get them, we will get the perpetrators to the book. On the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra which begins on July 2, Kumar said, We will take all steps necessary for safe and secure environment for smooth conduct of the yatra. On infiltration of militants from across the Line of Control, the DGP said while some infiltration has taken place, JK police and security forces are all prepared and geared up to handle any sort of situation.  PTI
Chicago, June 26

A US congressional candidate has sparked outrage by plastering white supremacist billboards in Tennessee including one saying, Make America White Againa racist spin on Donald Trumps election campaign slogan.

The Make America White Again sign was posted by Rick Tyler, an independent candidate in the race for Tennessees 3rd congressional district seat, currently held by Republican Chuck Fleischmann.

Another billboard depicted the White House ringed with Confederate flags, with the statement, I Have a Dream, a takeoff from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. speech, WRCB-TV reported.

Tylers billboard saying, Make America White Again, is an overtly white supremacist spin on Trumps slogan Make America Great Again.

His views on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, seem conflicting. In blog posts on his website, Tyler calls Trump latest stalking horse entity to be foisted upon the American electoratebut also an inspiration.

His (Trumps) advocacy of a temporary ban on Muslim immigration and the construction of a wall on the Southern border have created a climate conducive to conversation relative to the elephant in the living room no one wants to talk about ... namely, the urgent and vital subject of race, Tyler wrote.

He, however, was quoted as saying that he has no hatred in his heart for people of colour.

Tyler said he put up the billboard to make a point that the Leave It to Beaver, Ozzie and Harriet, Mayberry America of old was vastly superior to what we are experiencing today.

In a Facebook post, Tyler wrote: It was an America where doors were left unlocked, violent crime was a mere fraction of todays rate of occurrence, there were no car jackings, home invasions, Islamic Mosques or radical Jihadist sleeper cells.

By Thursday the offending billboards located near Benton, Tennessee, were taken down after outraged residents complained, NBC News reported.

Asked if he feared for his safety or backlash from the campaign signs, Tyler was quoted as saying, I dont fear it.

I welcome it, and I will respond with the application of truth. He said he had been receiving death threats.

Tyler wants the signs to be put back up and said he paid for the signs to be there until after the November election.

If I could Id have hundreds of these billboards up across the 3rd District, he said.

Congressman Fleischmann also released a statement condemning the billboards.

Voters will head to the polls for Tennessees primary elections on August 4. The general election will be held November 8.  PTI
Beijing, June 26

At least 30 people were killed and 21 others injured when a tourist bus burst into flames after crashing into the side of a road in central China on Sunday.

The accident happened in Hunan province when the bus carrying 56 people crashed into the guardrails on a highway.

The ensuing oil leak may have caused the fire, the county government said.

Twenty-one people have been hospitalised and rescuers are still searching the charred frame of the bus.

The police have detained the driver of the bus, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.  PTI
London: Stephen Hawking, one of the world's best-known physicists, is set to announce plans to map the entire known universe using a supercomputing centre he founded at Cambridge University. The Cosmos computer will plot the position and movement of billions of galaxies, black holes, supernovas and other cosmic structures, The Sunday Times reported. Hawking will detail the plans of this super map during a talk at the Starmus science conference that begins on Monday in Tenerife, Spain. PTI

Soon, chocolates with 20 per cent less fat

Washington: Scientists have found a novel way to manufacture low-fat chocolate for guilt-free indulgence by applying electricity. When fat is removed from liquid chocolate, its viscosity, or consistency, changes and the chocolate jams the manufacturing pipeline. Researchers theorised that by applying an electric field, they could reduce the viscosity enough to lower the fat content, and also increase the density of the particles to maintain a proper flow of chocolate through the manufacturing process. They were able to reduce the fat on different brands by 20 per cent. PTI

Security firm kills dogs after losing contract

Kuwait City: Two dozen bomb-sniffing dogs were killed by an American-owned security firm on June 17 after its contract with a local oil company expired. The owners say they killed 24 dogs humanely because they were sick. There are a further 100 or so dogs at risk, RT online cited Kuwait Animal Rescue Unit, an animal rights group, as saying. The contract with Eastern Securities was terminated after the dogs failed to sniff out explosives during a third-party test. IANS
Lagos, June 26

Nigeria's army on Sunday said it had freed more than 5,000 people held by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram during an operation over the weekend in the northeast of the country.

Nigeria's army has over the last year, sometimes aided by troops from neighbouring countries, recaptured most of the territory that was lost to the group, which has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state in the remote northeast.

The army said troops, supported by members of a grassroots security force, conducted raids in 15 villages on Sunday, during which they "killed six Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others".

"The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists," it said in an emailed statement.

Reuters could not immediately independently verify the freeing of the hostages, in part due to the remoteness of the area in which the military operation took place.

More than 15,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon during Boko Haram's insurgency.

However, the jihadist group, which last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, still regularly stages suicide bombings, mainly in crowded areas such as markets and places of worship.  Reuters
London, June 26

Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking legislation on a British exit from the bloc, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in Thursdays referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 percent in favour of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit.

Sturgeon has said a new Scottish referendum on independence from the rest of the UK was highly likely if that were the best option to keep Scotland in the European bloc.

Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as a key reason to stick with the UK.

Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post published a poll by research firm ScotPulse, taken on Friday, that suggested support for independence had surged to 59 percent after the Brexit vote. Sturgeon said the Brexit vote was a game-changer that made it legitimate for Scotland to revisit the issue of independence. Sturgeon said she would seek a way of negotiating directly with the EU on the best way to achieve Scotlands aim of staying in the bloc.

She said it would be completely unacceptable for whoever succeeds David Cameron as British prime minister to try and stop Scotland from holding a second independence referendum on the basis that the issue had been settled in 2014.

Under the UKs complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU may have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments.

Asked whether she would consider asking the Scottish parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: Of course.

If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of whats right for Scotland then the option of saying that were not going to vote for something that is against Scotlands interest, of course thats going to be on the table. Sturgeons pro-independence Scottish National Party holds 56 of the 59 seats representing Scotland in the national parliament in London, while in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh it has 63 seats out of 129.

Asked if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said: I can, but its perhaps similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will.  Reuters
London, June 26

Britains Opposition Labour party on Sunday faced a full-blown revolt after Jeremy Corbyn sacked his foreign secretary and three other senior members of the shadow cabinet resigned as deep divisions emerged in the party over the veteran socialist leaders handling of the EU referendum.

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Ben was sacked after he said he no longer had confidence in Corbyns leadership. Soon after, his colleague, shadow health secretary Heidi Alexander announced her resignation on Twitter.

Next to go were Gloria de Piero, shadow minister for young people and voter registration, and Ian Murray, shadow minister for Scotland.

Other members of Corbyns shadow cabinet are also expected to follow suit as many of the Labour MPs have been critical of Corbyns handling of Britains EU referendum and demanding his resignation.

The shock decision by the country to vote to leave the 28-member European Union was against the wishes of most Labour lawmakers.

There is no confidence to win the next election if Jeremy continues as leader. In a phone call to Jeremy I told him I had lost confidence in his ability to lead the party and he dismissed me, Ben said.

Reports suggest that Benn has been encouraging shadow ministers to resign if Corbyn ignored a motion of no confidence.

At this absolutely critical time for our country following the EU referendum result, the Labour Party needs strong and effective leadership to hold the government to account. We dont currently have that and there is also no confidence we would be able to win a general election as long as Jeremy remains leader, Benn told BBC, ruling out his own ambitions to stand for party leadership.

67-year-old Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence over claims he was lacklustre and half-hearted during the EU referendum campaigning.

Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey had submitted a motion of no confidence against Corbyn to Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) chairman John Cryer soon after the results of the EU referendum in favour of Brexit.

The motion has no formal constitutional force but calls for a discussion at the PLPs next meeting tomorrow. The chairman will decide whether it is debated. If accepted, a secret ballot of Labour MPs could be held on Tuesday.

The Labour party campaigned for Remain during the referendum but it was widely felt that the party leader did not do enough to convince Labour voters after a 52-48 per cent result in favour of Leave.

In her resignation letter, Alexander said Our country needs an effective opposition which can hold the government to account. As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential.

A spokesperson for the Labour leader, however, said, Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so.

In a speech yesterday, Corbyn said: I did all I could Two-thirds of Labour voters voted for Remain in response to our partys call for that. There are some people in the Parliamentary Labour Party who would probably want somebody else being the leader of this party, they have made that abundantly clear in the past few days.

Asked if he would stand again if there was a challenge to his leadership, he said: Yes, Im here, thank you. This is the greatest threat Corbyn has faced to his leadership since he was elected leader of the Labour party just under a year ago.  PTI
A mayors race that has focused on education, experience, public safety, economic development and negative campaigning  just to name a few issues  could come to an end after Tuesdays primary vote.

A poll going into the last week of the campaign had Mayor Dewey Bartlett ahead of main challenger G.T. Bynum, 40 percent to 37 percent. But 14 percent of voters were undecided, meaning either candidate could take an outright win with more than 50 percent of the vote.

Other candidates on the ballot are Lawrence Kirkpatrick, 70; Tom McCay, 54, and Paul Tay, 53. Each had polled at or below about 3 percent in the Tulsa Worlds poll conducted by SoonerPoll.

Between Bartlett and Bynum, the single issue that sets them apart and that voters should consider in the voting booth  according to them  are Bartletts experience and Bynums focus on education.

From a pure policy standpoint, the great difference Ive identified in the race is education, Bynum said. It is a fundamental shift from what the city has done historically, including the seven years Mayor Bartlett has been in office. But its the greatest indicator of a citys long-term success.

I dont think we should have ever been in the position of saying  were just not going to have anything to do with it, and hope someone else takes care of it, Bynum said. Even more so when our schools are in crisis, business as usual just doesnt cut it.

During the campaign, Bartlett has also touted a plan for education. His plan involves installing workforce academies in high schools to ready students for needed jobs in Tulsa.

A major focus of his most recent term was creating an Aerospace Academy, a partnership program between area vocational tech schools and Tulsa Public Schools. Bartlett has promised similar programs installed in every Tulsa high school if re-elected.

The scope difference is that I come to it from a position of the city going to the schools and asking them how we can help them be successful, whereas his focus is on coming into the schools and telling them what they should do, Bynum said. I dont think we should be mandating a particular type of class while our schools are trying to keep their doors open five days a week.

Bartlett has said the idea for workforce academies came from business leaders telling him that what they need in Tulsa is a skilled workforce.

Bynums plan for education in his administration includes a cabinet of stakeholders from pre-K through higher education who would enable a unified voice from the mayors office to address issues at the local and state level, he said.

Id like to see us be more proactive in our communication because I think that serves the welfare of kids better in the long run, Bynum said.

Bartlett, meanwhile, points toward his experience in office and in business for voters to examine when they get to their polling place.

Both of those experiences have a tremendous amount of influence on how I approach management, Bartlett said.

How that applies to issues, he said, is through application of business acumen to courting Tulsas various industries, especially energy.

Bartlett is president of his familys business, Keener Oil and Gas.

I develop relationships not only throughout the community but also the city, state, nation and international fields, Bartlett said. Those relationships are extremely beneficial to Tulsa.

Bartlett pointed to the Williams Cos. merger with ETE, which shareholders will decide the fate of on Monday.

Bartlett has taken several opportunities to engage with Williams and ETE executives in recent months, alongside the Tulsa Regional Chamber, to try and influence the deal to keep jobs in Tulsa, he said.

They know that I know the energy industry, Bartlett said. That goes a long way in that whole conversation. I understand the history of it like the back of my hand.
Next month BBC First premieres UK drama Thirteen, which stars Jodie Comer as a woman who escapes from the cellar where she has been imprisoned for 13 years.

It also features Natasha Little, Stuart Graham, Richard Rankin, Valene Kane, Aneurin Barnard and Katherine Rose Morley.

The 5 part series premiered in the UK in February.

This tense psychological drama follows a young woman learning to live again after 13 years in captivity. 26-year-old Ivy Moxam stumbles out into the street, away from the cellar thats been her prison for the last 13 years. But escape is not the end of Ivys story. Its just the beginning.

As she returns home, Ivys parents keep their bitter separation from her, desperate to recreate the idyllic life she was wrenched from. A mother who cant confront the truth of those missing years, a father torn between two versions of his life, and a sister who still feels hidden in Ivys shadow. Theyre trying so hard to be normal, nothing is.

Ivys captor is on the run, and she isnt safe. Assigned to the case are DI Elliott Carne and DI Lisa Merchant. Their bond is more than professional, but it begins to break as Carne is drawn closer to Ivy.

Then cracks appear in Ivys account of her ordeal, and they start to doubt her motives. Beneath her childlike facade, shes become a strong-willed woman. What happened to Ivy in that cellar? How has it changed her? And can she be trusted?

Sundays at 8.30pm from July 31 on BBC First.
In the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub killings Foreign Correspondents Lisa Millar catches up again with Veronique Pozner, whose 6 year old son Noah was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre.

She remains defiant in her bid for gun control in America.

Its the question posed after Orlando and every other massacre: Will America ever regulate guns?

Lisa Millar revisits a mother who lost her little boy to a mass shooter and who  remarkably  sees positive signs of change.

Veronique Pozner has cried enough tears to fill an ocean in the past three years. Her six-year-old son Noah was ripped from her by a man with a military style assault rifle at Sandy Hook school, Connecticut, in December 2012.

If these things can be measured, Sandy Hook  with 20 first-graders among the 26 dead  exuded a unique horror. It was seen as a wake-up call, maybe even a tipping point in Americas debate over assault rifles.

They are weapons of mass carnage that are designed for the battle field They should be made illegal.  Veronique Pozner, interviewed by Foreign Correspondent just weeks after Noah died at Sandy Hook elementary school

But what followed Sandy Hook was more Congressional inertia. Then came San Bernardino (14 dead) and now Orlando (49 dead).

It was just that feeling of here we go again.  Veronique Pozner, June 2016

In the aftermath of the Orlando nightclub killings Foreign Correspondents Lisa Millar catches up again with Veronique Pozner. Despite a lack of progress on gun reform she is surprisingly upbeat, likening the campaign to the long haul of the civil rights movement.

We woke up as a nation to the injustices. So this is our next fight  the violence in society is our next fight.  Veronique Pozner

Her resolve is all the more extraordinary in the face of a vicious trolling campaign by conspiracists or gun truthers who claim that Sandy Hook never happened, that the family are all government-sponsored actors  and that Noah never died.

Noahs dad Lenny devotes himself to repelling the online assault.

I have to absolutely defend the memory of my son; I have no choice.  Lenny Pozner

The Pozners are now part of a landmark case which they hope will radically reframe gun laws, stripping legal immunity from gun makers and sellers when guns are used in a crime.

Drug manufacturers and tobacco manufacturers do not enjoy that (immunity). There are consequences and its about time people brought that to the forefront.  Veronique Pozner

9.30pm Tuesday June 28 on ABC.
In the nearly three years since Jonathan Holmes departed as host of Media Watch he is, as his Twitter profile tells us, still watching, listening, reading and occasionally writing. And he maintains a keen interest in the ABC.

Last week, speaking at an event for Friends of ABC in Melbourne, he shared his thoughts on the public broadcaster, and journalism more widely. In the lead up to the Federal Election, the lobby group has a well-pitched campaign in the wake of cuts to the broadcaster. And as ABC begins a new chapter under newly-installed managing director Michelle Guthrie, Holmes is watching with interest to see what changes the former Google exec will bring, particularly to ABC News 24.

While he commended Mark Scotts digitalisation of the ABC he differs on the value of the news channel versus the cost to run it.

Mark was tremendously successful in getting the changes made that needed to be made. I have some arguments with some of the things that he did. Posterity may find that some of things he decided to do were blind alleys, Holmes said.

I think, personally, News 24 is possibly going to be a very expensive blind alley which sucks an enormous amount of resources. As he kept telling us, he didnt get any extra money from government to make News 24. It was funded by efficiencies.

Whilst new technology has made improvements on inefficiencies, the hungry beast of the 24 hour news cycle makes increasing demands on journalists.

Theres something they dont have time to do anymore: to find out whats happening! he declared.

Our correspondents in Bangkok, when theres a riot or whatever going on, have no time to scratch themselves, let alone going into Bangkok and finding out whats happening for themselves. This is a huge problem, as it is for all journalism. But for News 24 the fact is young people most people- dont sit down and watch broadcast anymore. They have much more convenient ways of getting news on their mobile phones and tablets, and they dont want to watch hours of broadcasting. That was a 1990s cable television phenomenon when CNN was at their height.

Nowadays you have to pump out short news stories that people can consume in 30 seconds on their mobile phones.

I think Michelle Guthrie is very savvy on this, by all accounts. She might well say, You know what, we dont need to broadcast 24 hours a day with news that very few people are watching. Well put it online or get rid of it altogether and just focus on mobile platforms which is where the future is.

Funding cuts to the ABC have seen 500 jobs cut, with the further $48 million reduction listed in the May budget, including more than $6m axed from the ABC News Division.

The Fact Check Unit was only started 2 years ago. Frankly, I dont think it worked, he continued. Nobody understood it. It wasnt very high profile. Thats the least of our worries, that that should go. A lot of other things that have come from special funding, like the rural websites, have been quite successful and are still going to go. The National Reporting Team has been tremendous and caused great improvement in ABCs journalism which wasnt all that fantastic for a very long time.

While he acknowledges the distinctiveness of some SBS programming, Holmes suggests SBS is struggling to justify its existence as a second public broadcaster. It was a question Mark Scott had raised in his final tenure. Backroom mergers were worth considering.

Since it went partly-commercial, in order to get the audiences that it needs to get the advertising to pay for itself, its doing that less and less. The documentaries are much less effective than they used to be. It still does some great things, no question, Holmes said.

But the justification for it in terms of being a multicultural broadcaster I think is pretty thin these days. Its really a kind of toffs television that is provided free to those of us who like that kind of thing.

Its a little bit difficult to see how we justify having two public broadcasters. So look, maybe down the track there will be a merger, just because its a way of saving public money.

I think it would be a shame if that happened.

Describing the ABC as extraordinarily well-placed and extraordinarily important Holmes believes the ABC remains too popular to be in any real danger from politicians who remain reluctant to mess with it.

He rejected campaign catch-cries that the ABC is in danger of death by a thousand cuts.

I dont think the ABC is in that spiral of crisis yet, he insisted.

Weve had to make some comprises but weve always had to make compromises as long as Ive ever been at the ABC. And there are efficiencies still to be made as the technology improves and so on.

But I still think the journalism and the output of the ABC is as good as its ever been, while Ive been there.
In a matter of days viewers in regional South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Mildura and Griffith could be without Nine programmes unless a last minute deal can be reached.

New affiliate arrangements between Nine and Southern Cross, TEN and WIN begin on Friday.

TV guides already spell the bad news.

A note to viewers in the Sunday Tasmanian says: Due to pending licensing agreements broadcast schedules for Nine, 9GO and 9GEM were unavailable at time of print. These channels are available for viewing on 9now.com.au.

TDT boss Stephen Giles confirmed negotiations were in progress but declined to say whether TDT screens would be blank from midnight on Thursday.

The sticking points between parties remain price and the inclusion of clauses for streaming.

In WA and Mildura, WIN has joint-venture arrangements with Prime Media and in Tasmania WIN has a partnership with Southern Cross.

WIN and Nine are also negotiating for large areas of SA, including Mount Gambier and the Riverland, where WIN has affiliate agreements with all three metro broadcasters.

Mediaweek editor James Manning said Nine could afford to be off-air but only briefly.

It would be bad for their brand and there would be feedback from Tasmania which would damage the brand elsewhere and make them look like they didnt care about their audience, he said.

A spokesperson for Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said the Government was encouraging a resolution but had no power to force an agreement.

A spokesperson for Nine said, We are hopeful of an agreement, but if it does not happen in time for the switch-over we will have alternate arrangements.

Source: The Mercury, Australian Financial Review
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
AT&T Corporation officially confirmed that Samsung's "Galaxy Note 5" and the "Galaxy S6 Edge+" will receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates.

The updates of Samsung smartphones can now be accessed from the settings menu, and are being rolled out over the air (OTA) to subscribers of the network using the devices, Tech Times reported.

It's been quite a while since the Samsung smartphones were stuck on Android 5.1 Lollipop. But, the American multinational telecommunications corporation AT&T made an end to the customer's hold back.

The update of the smartphones was made known by AT&T in its online support pages, which it indicated that the updates are now available for downloads.

The "Galaxy Note 5" and "Galaxy S6 Edge+" updates will come with a heighten permission control, and the user interface is vaguely refurbished.

AT&T is the last major telecommunications company in the United States to push out the update of Samsung's smartphones. The Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates will have a unit of measure around 1.4GB, Android Central reported.

The Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates of AT&T have also started unleashing in the Netherlands, Austria, U.K., Russia, India, and Iraq. The Marshmallow updates recently touched down in Czech Republic, Croatia, Philippines, Germany, Nigeria, Nigeria, Italy, and more, Gotta Get Mobile reported.

The AT&T support forum also made it known that Samsung's Android smartphone - "Galaxy Note 4," will also receive the Marshmallow update in June. And since it's the last week of June, that would be an omen of a particular outcome for "Galaxy Note 4" owners.

However, Samsung "Galaxy Note 5" and "Galaxy S6 Edge+" users have been frustrated with AT&T, as the carrier has been extremely late in unleashing Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates. And as Android N along with the most talked about "Galaxy Note 7" is about to be unleashed in the market, it's a bit disturbing for the telecommunications corporation to be so far behind releasing the update.
About 12,000 inmates nationwide will be eligible for Pell Grant for a pilot program.

The Obama Administration announced on June 24, Friday, the chosen schools (colleges and universities) for a pilot program, in which about 12,000 inmates at state and federal prisons nationwide will be eligible for Pell Grants. This is the first time since 1994 that inmates are granted for college education, which fund low-income college students, Washington Street Journal reported.

The selected schools in New York state are Bard College, with 228 students; Marymount Manhattan College, 98; Nyack College, with 105; CUNY Hostos Community College and CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, with 435; Mercy College, 115; and North Country Community College, with 129 students.

In Connecticut, the selected schools are Quinebaug Valley Community College, 60;Middlesex Community College, 51; Asnuntuck Community College, 540; and Three Rivers Community College, with 150.

Lastly, the selected university in New Jersey is Rutgers, which will be eligible to receive Pell grants for up to 598 inmates, and will have both associate and bachelor's degree programs.

According to proponents of college-in-prison programs, a research shown that those prisoners who receive college education in a prison are less likely to commit future crimes, however, some disagree with the idea. Before this program was implemented, detractors criticized it because it is using taxpayer dollars to fund the education of those who have committed crimes. They also added that vocational education is more appropriate for people in prison.

Although the program aims to give hope to thousands of prisoners to have a brighter future by taking college education, there is disagreement about which inmates should be eligible. According to those who are in favor with the program, sex offenders and those serving life sentences should be banned. The new Pell grant pilot is more restrictive, and only favors to those who will be released within the next five years.

Blast from the past, the Congress banned prisoners from using Pell Grants in 1994 because of "tough on crime" legislation, Market Watch reported.
Faculty members and student groups of the University of Chicago are disappointed against the institution's leadership and its ongoing effort to cut off administrative personnel across campus.

Faculty members at the University of Chicago stated that leaders of multiple academic divisions were given an authoritative order to cut down the budgets by 8 percent, following an official order of the university to reduce spending on administration, Chicago Tribune reported.

As stated by the faculty and union representatives, a number of non-academic and secretarial staffers in the Humanities department were dismissed in mid-May. And at the end of June, another round of cuts will affect other sectors.

The layoffs at the University of Chicago appeared to be controversial, as the prestigious institution carried more than $8 billion in net assets. The financial statements of UC claimed that the institution in 2014 - 2015 paid out over $2 billion in salaries and benefits to faculty and employees.

A university spokesman could not provide any top administrators to be available to answer specific questions regarding the layoffs. Instead, the officials of the University of Chicago offered a statement stating that the institution focused to aggressive spending on financial aid packages, new academic programs and facilities.

The statement of the University of Chicago pointed out that the cost containment will be achieved primarily through gradual process and governs the hiring of staff. And the reduction of current staff positions is essential in order to meet budget targets.

On the other hand, the prestigious University of Chicago welcomed back the Indian economist - Raghuram Rajan, First Post reported.

Sunil Kumar, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Dean, stated that they salute Professor Rajan in coming back to the Chicago Booth faculty. The institution claimed that the experience of Rajan as head of India's top central banker will be of great benefit to the university.
A school will not allow anymore students to attend classes with fake eyelashes, fake tan, and heavy make-up.

A head teacher at the Hundred of Hoo Academy in England, Head Gary Vyse, ruled that his school is not a "fashion parade," Mirror UK reported. Students aged 11 to 18 have been warned they faced disciplinary action once they violated this rule next term.

Vyse thanked the parents through a letter, where he mentioned that the school is not a "fashion parade." He also accused some people for not being supportive to their children because it seems they allowed their children to attend the school with heavy make-up including heavy foundation, lips stick and bronzer, false eyelashes, heavily drawn on eyebrows, and fake tan.

A 48-year-old parents, Robert Stenhouse, who has a 16-year-old daughter, said that the ban was long overdue, and he called for a dress code for teachers as well. According to Stenhouse, there was a teacher that wore a short skirt.

Another parent told the media publication that she agrees with the fake tan and heavy make-up ban, however, with most girls wearing drawn-on eyebrows, the ban may cause chaos.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, Palmerston North Girls High School defended their decision to force a 13-year-old student to cut off her bangle, and they said "rules are rules."

A 13-year-old student, Jordy Goldsack, was forced to cut off a bracelet given by her father, who passed away in 2007 because she did not comply with school rules. Her mother Judith Goldsack told One News that the bracelet was too small to slip on and off her hand. After months of talks with the school, the bangle was cut off.



Judith added that her daughter was overwhelmed after the bangle was cut. Principal Karen Briggs said the rules for jewelry were written in the school handbook.

Briggs explained that taonga is allowed to wear around the neck as long it is not visible. This should be removed during physical education for safety reasons.
Cambridge University Vice Chancellor released a statement regarding the EU referendum results, saying that the University and the Government will ensure that staff and students will stay in the country.

The president of Universities UK, Julia Goodfellow, said that UUK respects the results of the EU referendum although it is not the outcome that they have campaigned for nor expected it. The decision to leave the European Union poses uncertainties in the future of the Universities throughout UK, Independent reported.

The University of Cambridge however, ensures that they will continue to charge the regular UK fee rate to current students of the University who will apply in 2016 to start their studies in 2017, provided that the UK law will continue allowing it. Also, please take note that UK fee rate may be subjected to increases. Furthermore, the University will work with the UK Government to ensure that staff and students will stay in UK. The University will remain deeply committed to global cooperation and to the dedicated staff whore are from all over the world, according to the statement released by the Cambridge University Vice Chancellor which is posted on the University's website.

Furthermore, the University of Cambridge recognize that there is a great uncertainty around the UK electorate's decision to leave the European Union. Also, the Vice Chancellor reassures that there will be no immediate changes to the university's activities.

The impact of the decision to leave the European Union leaves uncertainties with regards to UK policy on tuition fees, bursaries, and loans.

The Universities UK announced that convincing the UK government to ensure that students and staff from other EU countries will stay in British Universities will be their first priority. They will also ask the government to promote UK as a welcoming destination to brilliant minds because they make great contributions to university researches. The researches in return, have positive impact on the economy.
Kurt Angle, during his time in WWE, established himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world with his legitimate Olympic Style, making the transfer to the style of professional wrestling a smooth one.

His rivalry with The Rock and Triple H, as well as Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, demonstrated his world class ability making his departure from the company back in 2006 that much more dismal.

Return rumors

Angle said he does not expect his wrestling career to go on much longer (image: insidepulse.com)

One of the more frequent rumors that was touted by several publications hinted at the possible return of the 47-year-old to the wrestling ring ahead of the upcoming Brand Extension.

However, despite the widespread gossip and developing interest, WWE were quick to put the denounce the suggestion via a public statement and Angle was quick to issue one of his own.

He said via his official Facebook page:

"In response to some of your questions today regarding the WWE, and all of the media fanfare about it the last few days, I want to, once again, say that our confidential conversation never discussed the brand split. A few wrestling sites seem to have put a spin on this by twisting some words around to fit their agenda, something that I have no control over. What I CAN control is my own life, and my life isn't only wrestling. I do not expect to be in wrestling much longer. I AM excited about my future. Thank you."

Angle seems to have put to bed any suggestion of an in-ring return and may be suggesting his career as a professional wrestler is also soon to come to an end.

Whether or not the statement provided by the performer and the WWE are used as a distraction to make a one-off return seem that much more high profile remains to be seen but at this moment the chances of seeing The Wrestling Machine back inside a WWE ring are looking bleak.

Origin of the rumors

Kurt Angle said he had a conversation with Triple H several weeks ago - prompting rumours of a imminent return (image: whatculture.com)

The rumors first took flight when Angle appeared on a Pittsburgh radio station stating that he would 'eventually' return to the WWE.

The veteran said that he had recently spoken to Triple H several weeks ago before the Brand Split was officially announced, the former TNA performer said he was on 'good terms' with the company.

Although he said he has not been contacted to appear on WWE television, the feeling was that a return was imminent given the conversation the two former rivals had.
WASHINGTON  It's tough to establish yourself financially, so I understand when people seek help from others.

Sometimes the appeal for assistance is asking someone else to co-sign a loan. My rule if you ever get such a request? Don't do it. Ever. But recently I offered some suggestions on setting standards should you decide to co-sign anyway.

I have an occasional Color of Money feature called "Talk Back" in which I allow readers to offer counterpoints to something I've recommended. But this time, the vast majority of the feedback were stories of co-signing gone terribly wrong. I'd like to share a few of them.

One reader wrote: "I co-signed two student loans for my girlfriend some years ago, and, of course, we are not together anymore and I haven't spoken to her for a few years now. It was a long, 10-plus-year relationship, and ended with acrimony. I unfortunately have student-loan debt of my own  much higher than hers  and, while it appears she does pay her loans, rarely does she do it on time, and I receive calls from her bank."

And here's a cautionary tale from a woman who gave in to a friend who begged her to back some medical-school loans.

"At the time, she promised to switch the co-sign to her father after a year," the reader wrote. "He was unemployed and couldn't co-sign. Well, I'm still on the loans, and there's still a huge balance on them. I still get alerts when the payments are late. And I learned my near-perfect credit had a blemish on it when I bought a house. When I ask her about taking me off, she says she's really sorry but the loan agency won't let her. Is this true? Is there anything I can do to untie myself from her loans?"

Both readers asked the same thing: How can they get removed from the loans? I recommended they contact the lenders to see if there is a co-signer release policy and, if so, what the requirements are. There are usually a number of conditions that must be met, including that the primary borrower has made a certain number of on-time principal and interest payments. In these readers' cases, the primary borrowers are frequently paying late, which seems to show why they needed a co-signer in the first place. So why would a lender release them given the loan histories?

Finally, a Maryland woman shared a story about her uncle, who co-signed for a neighbor so she could purchase a car.

"He knew her and had loaned her money before, which she always repaid," the niece wrote. "But she often took long periods of time to repay. Major warning sign which he ignored because he is a good guy and has a hard time saying no."

The neighbor didn't have a car and the uncle was giving her rides to work, so "when she wanted to buy one, he thought that was good."

Things were OK for a while. The neighbor paid the loan as agreed.

"But she didn't pay the insurance," the niece wrote. "Next thing he knew, my uncle was getting notices from (the state Motor Vehicle Administration) because the tags were revoked due to the lapse in insurance. Unknown to him (only because he didn't read the contract when he signed it), the car was in his name with her as a co-owner. When he contacted the dealership, they told him his credit was better than hers and so they had put not only the credit, but the car, in his name with her as co-owner."

The Motor Vehicle Administration came after them both in court for more than $1,000 in fines.

Because the uncle was the technical owner of the car, he was also responsible for the insurance lapses. He ended up having to pay all of the fines.

Here's the epilogue to this story: "My uncle finally got his name off of the vehicle, but not without some hassle. The woman couldn't make the payments and it was repossessed. That still isn't finished, but (the lender) won't be able to touch my uncle on it. He is a senior citizen and his only income is Social Security. He has no possessions that can be sold, etc. So, while they may get a judgment on him, they won't collect from him. The woman thinks she is in the clear, but I'm sure the lender will turn its attention to her once they understand my uncle cannot be touched."

Again, consider yourself warned. If the bank, which has more money than you, isn't comfortable with lending someone money, that's a huge red flag that your co-signing might result in misery.

Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1301 K St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle.singletary@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/MichelleSingletary). Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.
Colleen Cason

A local priest, the Rev. Jon Majarucon has witnessed at least one minor miracle. He watched 60 years vanish from the face and form of parishioner Paul Laubacher.

You've heard of "The Flying Nun." Meet the flying priest. An avid pilot, Father Jon gave Laubacher an extended aerial tour of Ventura County in 2004, about the time the Oxnard native turned 80. After the apparent highlight  buzzing Laubacher's friend's home in Thousand Oaks  the plane touched down at the Camarillo Airport.

The padre pilot taxied the aircraft beside a World War II-era B-17 bomber on display beside the runway.

"Now, let me show you my plane," Laubacher told the priest.

Laubacher, who flew combat missions over Germany as a radio operator on one of these Flying Fortresses, climbed aboard and scurried down the narrow gangway, telling Majarucon, "Come see where I had my first job."

The veteran soon gleefully showed even the docents compartments they never knew existed.

"This was not an 80-year-old Paul. He was 19 years old again," Majarucon said. "We crawled around the plane like we were little kids."

But time can be held back only so long. On June 15, Laubacher became one of the estimated 430 World War II veterans who will pass from this life each day during 2016.

A couple hundred mourners gathered for his funeral at Santa Clara Church. When he was an infant, his mother carried him into this same sanctuary for christening. On Friday, his sons rolled his coffin out the door.

Laubacher survived the Great Depression only to face trial by inferno in World War II. We call this the Greatest Generation, and I would venture to say those who knew him would name Laubacher among the greatest of the greatest.

He dedicated his life to faith and family  wife, Adria, their six children and numerous grandchildren. He developed a talent for winning friends and making people laugh with trademark one-liners that he let fly even in his last days.

"Friend or enema?" he would say to his nurse when she entered the room.

When he sold suits to the gentlemen of Oxnard and a customer would ask how business was going, he quipped, "Let's not speak of the dead."

Sept. 13, 2004, stands out as one of the best days of my life as a columnist. Laubacher was turning 80, and his family planned a surprise  the logistics of which rivaled D-Day.

He and his B-17 comrades did more than bombard the Nazis. At war's end, they showered civilians with hope. The crew dropped tons of K-rations to alleviate hunger among people whose crops were destroyed as an act of war.

The crew decided to personalize one package. They scared up cigarettes, chocolate and gum before enclosing the pilot's address and jettisoning the bundle overboard.

After the war, the pilot received a note from a man who lived in the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium. Charles Deweerdt and his 5-year-old granddaughter, Mariette, found the package and wanted to thank the men for "the generous gift from heaven."

Through an amazing string of events, a letter from Mariette arrived at the Laubacher home 50 years after the war ended. These two people who still had never laid eyes on one another became faithful pen pals.

In the months before Laubacher's big 8-0, his family worked out the seemingly endless details to bring Mariette  then in her 60s and in a wheelchair  halfway around the world for the celebration.

We often see pure joy in the faces of young children. It's rarer when it arrives with no filters on the face of an adult  especially when it involves tears shed in front of 70 people. That is what I saw on Laubacher's face when Mariette rolled into the party.

"He was a man of great joy and great peace," Father Jon said.

Unlike too many others who went to war, Paul came home. He arrived in California on July 4, 1945. His brothers also returned safely. Paul liked to say his mother's daily recitation of the rosary shielded her boys from ruin.

"War," he told Father Jon, "is a stupid thing. But I did what I had to do."

Combat neither made nor broke Paul Laubacher. His making may have been his God-given good nature, his love of people, his determination to be brave and sturdy even when he might have felt anything but that inside.

It is estimated the last World War II vet will die by 2036. But let us hope the virtues embraced by Paul Laubacher's generation endure for eternity.

Email Colleen Cason at casonpoint101@gmail.com.
SHARE CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Caltrans has installed concrete barriers on the shoulder of Highway 33 between Main Street in Ventura and Casitas Vista Road north of Ventura. The transportation agency plans to construct underground installations to control and reduce pollution from stormwater runoff. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Temporary concrete barriers have been installed on the southbound exit ramp of Las Posas Road and Highway 101 in Camarillo. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Concrete barriers have been installed in several areas on the shoulder of Highway 33 between Main Street in Ventura and Casitas Vista Road north of Ventura. Caltrans plans installations to control and reduce pollution from stormwater runoff. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Temporary concrete barriers have been installed on the southbound exit ramp of Las Posas Road and Highway 101 in Camarillo.

By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star

The California Department of Transportation has begun placing temporary safety barriers along two highways in Ventura County to prepare for construction of a $9.6 million project to reduce pollution from stormwater runoff.

Caltrans contractors this month started installing the concrete work zone barriers on the shoulder of Highway 101 in Oxnard, Camarillo and Thousand Oaks, and along Highway 33 between Main Street in Ventura and Casitas Vista Road north of Ventura.

The barriers will separate work crews and passing motorists once construction starts, protecting both.

Caltrans plans to build underground facilities known as Austin Vault Sand Filters at eight locations along Highway 101, agency spokesman Michael Comeaux said. Caltrans will also install ground-level vegetated areas called biofiltration strips and biofiltration swales at 21 locations along the thoroughfare, he said.

"Caltrans wants to reduce stormwater pollution that flows off the highways to help meet water-quality goals," he said.

The sand filters remove fine sediment and particulate pollutants through two concrete-lined vaults  an initial sedimentation vault and a second filtering vault. The filter reduces runoff material including heavy metals, oil, grease and bacteria.

Biofiltration strips use plants such as grasses, ground cover and shrubs to capture and biologically degrade pollutants carried by stormwater runoff. They also reduce the velocity and volume of runoff.

Biofiltration swales are vegetated channels that receive and direct the concentrated flow of stormwater into drainage channels.

"Both methods are aesthetically pleasing because the vegetation makes it look like a landscaped roadside," Comeaux said.

The project also will include installation of devices to catch litter and large debris along Highway 33, and construction of drainage modifications and maintenance vehicle pullouts along both highways, Comeaux said.

The work is estimated to be completed by spring or summer 2017. The barriers will remain in place until about the end of this year.

Once construction is completed, it will take a year for the plants to "grow to the point that they can do the job and withstand a strong water flow," Comeaux said. "The vegetation is a key element of these installations."

The project is being paid for by state and federal funds, he said.
SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO

By Staff Reports

Seniors are invited to take a free driving course next month in Camarillo aimed at teaching them what kinds of issues may affect their driving abilities, officials said.

The course is limited to 40 people, and caregivers are also encouraged to attend, according to the Camarillo Police Department.

The class also will offer advice on how to be a safer driver and information for caregivers. Participants will learn about alternate forms of transportation and community resources available to seniors, police said.

The goal of the course is to reduce the number of crashes involving seniors, officials said. It will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. July 15 in the community room at the police station, 3701 E. Las Posas Road.

Call Deputy Tino Espinoza at 388-5125 for more information or call 388-5155 to sign up.
Nick Ut/Associated Press A helicopter makes a water drop over a wildfire near Bradbury, California, on Wednesday.

SHARE Firefighters from the Lompoc City Fire Department take shelter behind their engine as wind-driven flames advance from the Sherpa Fire on June 16. Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via Associated Press Watchara Phomicinda/San Gabriel Valley Tribune via AP Firefighters work a wildfire burning along the foothills in Duarte, California, on Monday. Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP A firefighter douses the grass with water along a hillside in Azusa, California, on Monday. Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune via AP The California state flag flies next to a home on Highway 94 south of Potrero, California, on Monday as flames roar behind it.

By Cheri Carlson of the Ventura County Star

Take a look at the potential for the fire to move like you would never expect it to move.

Flames ripped through thick, dry brush as a wind-driven fire burned thousands of acres in Santa Barbara County this month.

As of Friday, the so-called Sherpa Fire had burned for 10 days and spread over 7,500 acres near the Gaviota coast in the footprint of the old Refugio Fire from 1955.

"You have over 60 years of growth up on the hillsides there," said Capt. Brendan Ripley of the Ventura County Fire Department. "So the fire potential from a fuel standpoint is huge."

Adding pressure, the trees in drainage areas and brush higher in the hills were dried out or dead.

Those conditions aren't unique to Santa Barbara.

In its fifth year of drought, the state has millions of dead trees. Grass and brush in Ventura County and elsewhere in Southern California have dried out, reaching close to what officials consider critically dry levels.

Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department: A June 17 photo overlooking the Sherpa Fire.

As of Friday, more than two dozen fires were reported in Southern and Central California, five of them over 1,200 acres.

"This is the very beginning of our season," said Ripley, who was one of a few dozen personnel from the Ventura County Fire Department who helped with the Sherpa Fire.

"We're seeing historical drought conditions, and that's spilling over to very aggressive fire conditions that we have not seen before," he said.

When Ripley briefs firefighters, he tells them to be ready for the unexpected.

"Take a look at the potential for the fire to move like you would never expect it to move," he tells crews. Flames take less time to rebound between water drops and spread faster from grass to heavier brush.

#SherpaFire wind driven flames move down hillside near El Capitan State Park. pic.twitter.com/rZxRpPV2e8  SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) June 17, 2016

Local fire departments say any area in Ventura County is vulnerable to fire, a result of the dry conditions over the past several years.

But those spots that haven't burned in the past couple of decades have added vulnerability because of the old stands of trees and brush.

Ripley recently mapped out dozens of fires that burned in the county over the past 20 years. Then, he looked at the spots outside those boundaries, finding pockets in most areas of the county that could potentially be at risk.

"In the Santa Monica Mountains, there are some pockets up in the ridgeline between Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks," he said.

Other areas include spots down in Wildwood Canyon and up around Ojai.

On the north end of the county, officials at the Los Padres National Forest also worry about dry, dead trees and brush.

Based on the reports that forest officials get from the National Weather Service and other agencies, the Southern California forests are expecting heightened fire activity this summer, Los Padres spokesman Andrew Madsen said.

Sherpa was the second large fire in Los Padres this month.

"We're anticipating it's going to be a busy season," Madsen said.

"We got just enough rain (this year) to really grow a bumper grass crop but nothing to alleviate the drought," he said.

That grass only adds to the potential for fires to spread. Ripley likened the grass to putting a piece of paper into a campfire to get the heavier fuel burning.

"Having that grass out there is a key component that we haven't seen in the last three years," Ripley said. "Those fine, dead fuels are receptive to spotting. They are very receptive to ignition."

Ringo H.W. Chiu: A wildfire in Azusa, California, on Monday.

The vegetation likely won't get much of a reprieve next week.

The forecast from the National Weather Service calls for widespread temperatures in the 90s and to top 100 in some inland areas.

June typically is one of the mildest months. But this year, it started with a heat wave and is expected to end with more hot, windy weather, said Bill Patzert, a climatologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

"It's kind of a rough way to start what's guaranteed to be a hot, extremely dry summer," he said. "Everybody really has to be super careful out there."

To find current fire restrictions in the Los Padres National Forest, go to http://www.fs.usda.gov/lpnf/.

For information about protecting homes and other fire safety tips, go to http://vcfd.org/Ready-Set-Go.
SHARE

The Leave campaign won the referendum on withdrawing Britain from the European Union because the arguments on which the Remain side relied made Leave's case. The Remain campaign began with a sham, was monomaniacal with its Project Fear, and ended in governmental thuggishness.

The sham was Prime Minister David Cameron's attempt to justify Remain by negotiating EU concessions regarding Britain's subservience to the EU. This dickering for scraps of lost sovereignty underscored Britain's servitude and achieved so little that Remainers rarely mentioned it during their campaign.

Project Fear was the relentless and ultimately ludicrous parade of Cassandras, "experts" all, warning that Britain, after more than a millennium of sovereign existence, and now with the world's fifth-largest economy, would endure myriad calamities were it to end its 23-year membership in the EU. Remain advocates rarely even feigned enthusiasm for the ramshackle, sclerotic EU. Instead, they implausibly promised that if Brexit were rejected, Britain  although it would then be without the leverage of the threat to leave  would nevertheless somehow negotiate substantially better membership terms than Cameron managed when Brexit was an option.

Voters were not amused by the Cameron government's threat of what critics called a Punishment Budget to inflict pain on pensioners (e.g., no more free bus passes) and others because Brexit might cause GDP to contract 9.5 percent and home prices might plummet 18 percent. Voters did not like being told that they really had no choice. And that it was too late to escape from entanglement in the EU's ever-multiplying tentacles. And that the very viscosity of the EU's statism guarantees its immortality.

Voters chose the optimism of Brexit. Sixty years after Britain's humiliation in the Suez debacle, Britain has a spring in its step, confident that it will flourish when Brussels no longer controls 60 to 70 percent of the British government's actions. Britain was last conquered by an invading army in 1066. In 2016, it repelled an attempted conquest by the EU's nomenklatura .

By breaking the leftward-clicking ratchet that moves steadily, and only, toward more "pooled" sovereignty and centralization of power, Brexit refutes the progressive narrative that history has an inexorable trajectory that "experts" discern and before which all must bow. The EU's contribution to this fable is its vow to pursue "ever-closer union." Yes, ever .

To understand why Brexit could and should be the beginning of an existential crisis for the EU, look across the English Channel, to France. There, King Clovis recently was invoked 1505 years after his death in 511.

Before a particular battle, Clovis promised that if the God to whom his Christian wife prayed would grant him victory, he would become a Christian. He won the battle and converted. Recently, Nicolas Sarkozy, France's once and perhaps future president, said France was "born of the baptism of Clovis," it has a Christian tradition and remains "a country of churches, cathedrals, abbeys and shrines."

Actually, 71 percent of the French say religion is unimportant to them and fewer than 4.5 percent attend weekly church services. But Sarkozy was aligning himself with the palpable desire in France and elsewhere in Europe to resist the cultural homogenization that is an intended consequence of EU's pressure for the "harmonization" of the laws and policies of its 28 disparate member nations.

In Paris these days there are marches by a group called Generation Identitaire, described as the "hipster right." It aims to rally "young French and Europeans who are proud of their heritage." A recent statement on its website declared that "Islamist attacks" and "the migrant invasion" made 2015 "a turning point in the history of our country." The statement continued: "The French have been silent for too long. ... It is time to show our determination to live on our land, under our laws, our values and with respect to our own identity." Sarkozy, the son of Greek and Hungarian immigrants, sympathizes.

Euroskepticism is rising dramatically in many EU nations. There might be other referendums. Or the EU might seek to extinguish this escape mechanism. A poll in Sweden indicated that it might follow Britain out. In France, there could be a campaign for Frexit.

Such was the Remain side's intellectual sloth, it wielded the threadbare aspersion that advocating withdrawal amounted to embracing "isolationism." Actually, Brexit was the choice for Britain's international engagement as a nation . The revival of nationhood is a prerequisite for the reinvigoration of self-government through reclaimed national sovereignty. Hence June 23, 2016, is now among the most important dates in postwar European history.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
SHARE

As both parties rapidly approach their respective nominating conventions, it's clear that both parties are not unified. The Republican Party still has a choice in Cleveland. Will the party choose established Republican principles or their "presumptive" candidate who has the necessary delegates but wants to do this campaign his way?

In response to House Speaker Paul Ryan's continued call for Donald Trump to support conservative principles in the party plank, Trump suggests that the GOP leaders "have to get a lot tougher and be quiet. Just please be quiet, don't talk . We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I'll do very well."

The Wisconsin Republican reminded Trump that presidents and congressional leaders represent separate but equal branches of government. Ryan vowed to "robustly defend the separation of powers."

As James Madison wrote in Federalist 51, "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." Checks and balances are critical to our republic and should be to our political parties. We don't need subservient, "quiet" party delegates; we need principled, assertive delegates willing to exercise their will in preserving liberty, preventing tyranny, promoting effective government leaders and protecting the reputation of the party. Presidents need constraints, and so do candidates. It's time for Trump to start experiencing the checks and balances every president faces.

Trump has run as a Republican, but it's not clear that he actually shares the core principles of the party. Presidents come and go, but core principles must be preserved through good and bad administrations for America to endure and prosper.

If Republican voters knew that Trump did not support some core Republican principles, it's not clear he would've ever become the party's candidate. It's time for the GOP to free its convention delegates to vote their conscience in light of Trump's arrogance. It's not time for the GOP to be quiet. It's time for them to establish a convention "conscience clause" and nominate a candidate who actually supports what they believe.

There are signs that many of the party faithful are less than inspired by Trump's antics and poorly organized campaign. His poll numbers are down and both the GOP and Trump are having trouble raising campaign funds. Truly great negotiators don't go it alone. Unfortunately, Trump's plan to "make America great again" has a recurring theme song, "My way or the highway!" If he can't put agreed-upon party principles at the core of his campaign, maybe it's time for him to take the highway.

After all, until the convention delegates actually nominate Trump, he remains the "presumptive" candidate. His supporters will say that he earned the delegates and deserves to be nominated. Yes, but the unique nature of this election warrants special consideration. The sheer number of candidates made his early name-recognition an asset. He was combative instead of clear on the principles and positions he would espouse. As other established mainline candidates split votes, his "outsider" position garnered a winning faction that provided enough votes to secure the delegates he needed.

Freeing the delegates to vote their conscience will not ensure that Trump will lose. In fact, since most of the delegates would have been selected to support him, many will continue to support him. If he truly has the positions and principles needed to make "America great again," he'll earn the delegate votes needed, even if they're free to vote for someone else. Earning their nomination in an open convention will help bring the doubters on board.

Trump wants the party leaders to be quiet and subservient. The party needs them to be strong, assertive and supportive of the long-standing core Republican Party principles.

An open convention fight could be divisive, chaotic and potentially dangerous to the party, but so is a rogue candidate that the party faithful can't support and independents dislike. Any principled candidate who could truly unite this party at the convention would have enough time to rally support and defeat a weak Democratic candidate like Hillary Clinton. May it be so.

Terry Paulson, of Agoura Hills, is a speaker and author of "The Optimism Advantage." Email him at terry@terrypaulson.com.
SHARE

The following editorial appeared on Bloomberg View:

This was never supposed to happen. Three years ago, when U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron promised his country a referendum on remaining a member of the European Union, he was sure of victory. The country had other ideas. On Thursday Britain voted to quit.

It's a momentous choice  and not in a good way. The immediate risk to Britain's economy is grave, because the vote creates enormous uncertainty. This is likely to persist for months, until it becomes clear what kind of new trading rules will govern Britain's economic relationship with Europe and the rest of the world.

Add to this the likelihood of political turmoil at home. Cameron, in effect, has just lost a national vote of confidence; he announced his resignation Friday. Most members of Parliament  Labour and Conservative alike  were supporters of the Remain campaign. What confidence does the electorate any longer have in them? Scotland has supported remaining in the E.U., so demands for Scottish independence might surge anew. This vote will shake the U.K. to its foundations.

It may shake the European Union almost as badly. Britain is only one E.U. member, but among the biggest and most influential. The first country to leave the union in this fashion, it will now resolve to prove that exit works. If, against the odds, it succeeds, other E.U. members could be tempted to do the same.

Anti-EU sentiment is not confined to Britain. In 10 E.U. countries recently polled by the Pew Research Center, the union is viewed unfavorably by roughly one in two citizens. A median of 42 percent want powers returned to national governments, versus 19 percent who want more transferred to the EU. Today, the union is less popular in France than it is in Britain. An election is approaching in Spain, as is a referendum on constitutional reform in Italy. The shock of Brexit is sure to reverberate.

There'll be time later for blame  and there's plenty to go around. For the moment, amid all the uncertainty, the priority must be to restore calm. This means rowing back from the rhetorical excesses of the campaigns, with each side predicting doom if the other had its way. Instead, so far as possible, the emphasis should be on continuity over discontinuity.

As Britain prepares to leave the E.U., it will seek and should quickly be promised access to Europe's market on friendly terms, akin to those enjoyed by Norway and Switzerland. This is a matter of compelling mutual interest. To make this possible, the U.K. will have to accede to an array of E.U. rules and regulations, with details to be decided. In coming to this new accommodation, neither side should take a maximalist position. After the bogus certitudes of the referendum debate, a spirit of compromise is called for.

To be sure, Britain's former E.U. partners may be tempted to punish the U.K., and that way set an example for other would-be quitters. They should resist. First, because a punitive approach is unlikely to endear the E.U. to citizens elsewhere, already chafing at what they perceive to be its excesses. Second, because the U.K. and the E.U. can and must be close friends and allies, despite this vote. The time to start building this new relationship is now.

It's clear that the dangers in all this outweigh the opportunities  yet there are opportunities nonetheless, and they should be seized. Whatever posture the E.U. adopts toward its former partner, it should recognize the force of rising anti-EU sentiment elsewhere in the union and act to stanch it. Maybe Brexit will provide the necessary jolt. Europe's leaders have long preferred to ignore such discontent rather than acknowledge it  much less accommodate it.

Britain's vote for exit shows the great cost of such complacency. To minimize the harm to its own interests, and to stop the next such vote before it happens, Europe needs to change.


Miss USA Nana Meriwhether and all 51 Miss USA contestants attended a special appearance at the Chinese Laundry store in the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas on Sunday, June 9 (Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com).

Miss USA and contestants were there to meet and great fans, while showcasing the popular wedge Jam Session from Chinese Laundry.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.

Photo:  Erik Kabik / RETNA / www.ErikKabik.com.
Officials in eastern Afghanistan say security forces have killed more than 135 Islamic State (IS) militants, including top commanders, and wounded many more in days of ground and air raids near the border with Pakistan.

The clashes in Nangarhar provinces Kot district subsided on Sunday, but search and clearing operations are still under way, said regional civilian and security chiefs, confirming at least 12 Afghan security personnel were also killed while another 18 were wounded.

Provincial Governor Salim Kunduzi told reporters in Jalalabad, the regional capital, the clashes in Kot erupted late Thursday when about 600 heavily armed men linked to Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) staged coordinated attacks on security outposts in the area.

The fighting has forced civilians to flee to safer areas, and more and more families are still moving away from the conflict zone, witnesses reported.

This was the first major battle IS militants inflicted on Afghan security forces beyond neighboring Achin district where loyalists of the Syria-based terror group are believed to have set up their regional base.

The U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, says its counterterrorism mission is helping Afghan partners prevent IS from increasing its influence in the country.

We don't think that they are trying to expand we think they are trying to survive So, we believe right now at their peak they were probably in about 8 to 10 districts in the Nangarhar area," he said. "We think they are now probably in about two to three districts [including Kot and Achin]."

The anti-Daesh operations have probably reduced the number of its fighters in Afghanistan to around 1,000 from an estimated 3,000 last year when the group emerged on the local scene, according to Cleveland.

The U.S. military so far has no evidence confirming IS presence in the country beyond Nangarhar and parts the neighboring Kunar province on the Pakistani border, he asserted.

Gen. Cleveland said that while Daesh has been unable to win public support for its terror operations in Afghanistan, deadly clashes with rival Taliban insurgents have also limited the groups ability to increase its influence in Afghanistan.

The little bit of support that they get from some fighters is typically based on the fact that Daesh is able to pay higher salaries than the Taliban. So, they are paying up to 600 dollars a month per fighter and that appears about to be the only real incentive for any Afghan to be associated with Daesh, said Cleveland.

Afghan and U.S. commanders believe mostly renegade members of the Afghan Taliban and former militants linked to the extremist Pakistani Taliban operating on the other side of the border have filled the IS ranks.
Britain's vote to exit the European Union Friday drew stunned reactions across the globe and triggered a plummet in world stocks. But this didn't stop some folks from finding humor in the news.

Britain's The Sun newspaper couldn't resist a pun:

Social media users riffed on the #Brexit hashtag, coming up with hashtags they would assign to any other country that might contemplate a similar exit from the EU:

Twitter users noted parallels in history -- like Britain's defeat of Napoleon's French Empire ...

Or the Raj, Britain's 200-year rule in India:

Irish airline company Ryanair made sport of Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to step down:

Even Larry, the Chief Mouster at No. 10 Downing Street, got in on the action, making an appearance before members of the press awaiting a statement by the prime minister.

And then a dog showed up...

In the United States, The New Yorker magazine issued this cartoon:

And nationalists in the state of Texas pondered reviving the "Texas Secede" movement, which dates back more than a century:
A scene in "The life of Yen" (Source: Galaxy) Participating Vietnamese artists will include directors Vuong Duc, Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh, Vu Ngoc Phuong, scriptwriter Nguyen Thi Hong Ngat, actors Be Tran and Jun Vu, and actress Khanh Hien.

The film The life of Yen by director Dinh Tuan Vu, which won big at the 19th Vietnam Film Festival 2015 and the 2016 Golden Kite Awards, will vie under the Main Competition section.



On the occasion, Vietnam will be chosen as the Country of Honour with its eight films to be screened throughout the festival, providing a good opportunity for the country to introduce its culture, people and tourism to international friends.



The eight films include the comedy Trung So (Jackpot), the historical film My nhan (Beauties), the war film Nhung dua con cua lang (Children of the village), plus films such as Nha tien tri (The Prophet), Toi thay hoa vang tren co xanh (Yellow flowers on the green grass), 12 chom sao: Ve duong cho yeu chay (Zodiac 12: 5 steps of love), Tren dinh binh yen (On the peaceful land), and Nuoc 2030 (Water 2030.)



A series of tourism documentaries will also be screened, and an exhibition featuring Vietnams film shooting backgrounds will open.



The Vietnam Cinema Department will also popularise the fourth Hanoi international film festival in the Philippines./.
U.S.-based Cambodian community activists are campaigning for a congressional resolution calling for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Cambodia.

House Resolution 728, which was introduced by Congressmen Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) in May, needs 55 votes before it can be sent to the executive branch for action.

This resolution is seeking co-sponsors from other U.S. congressmen, Rany Lushenski, a member of Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy, told a gathering at Harvest Moon restaurant in Arlington, Virginia, last week. Therefore, Im asking you to call your congressmen to support the resolution HR 728 in order to have free elections in Cambodia.

The resolution condemns all forms of political violence in Cambodia, urges the Cambodian government to end human rights violations and calls on the government to respect press freedom, citizens rights to protest, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech. It supports elections reform and free and fair elections in 2018 with the participation of international observers. It also calls for an end to charges against opposition politicians.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.), and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), have now co-sponsored the resolution.

Lobbying for the resolution



Prom Saonora, honorary president of the Cambodia-America Alliance (CAA), is traveling from state to state and leveraging an online network to expand support for the resolution. However, he faces some challenges.

The problem with our Khmer people is that they seldom meet their representatives, Saonora told VOA Khmer. They didnt know that the Congress has a big say on aid; thats why they have to contact the Congress if they want things done. They wanted to have a say on the resolution HR 728, but didnt know how until CAA advised them.

The most important thing is that people in Cambodia are now under pressure from the government who bend the law at will like an elastic band, Saonora continued. This is important. If we can change that, there will be peace and prosperity in Cambodia.

Congressman Lowenthal also urged the Cambodian community to join his campaign. When nearly 200 Cambodians converged on a rally at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, he emphasized the resolution's importance.

I need the support of you to ask my fellow members in congress to co-sponsor this resolution, he told the protesters. The more support we have, the stronger our case in the House of Representatives to pass this resolution and to demonstrate that the United States strongly supports human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Cambodia, which does not exist today.
Iraqi forces have liberated the city of Fallujah from Islamic State fighters, following a month-long military offensive to seize control, according to a senior Iraqi official.

Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said Sunday Fallujah is now "fully liberated" after Iraqi forces took control of the Julan neighborhood, the last area of the city still held by IS.

The destruction of the city is extensive.

Backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and a strong contingent of Shiite militias, Iraqi forces fought fiercely for weeks to oust the extremist fighters. There are no clear reports of how many IS militants and how many Iraqi security forces died or were wounded in the battle for the city.

Tens of thousands need aid

Afraid of dying in the crossfire, 85,000 people have flooded out of the city and surrounding areas, overwhelming humanitarian agencies and Iraqi government efforts to help them. Many of the displaced are without adequate shelter, living under searing summer temperatures of 45 degrees or higher and punishing sandstorms.

With every day that passes in the camps, the conditions for some of the most vulnerable keep deteriorating, warned NRCs Iraq Country Director Nasr Muflahi.

The director of a health center in Amariyat al-Fallujah, where many of the displaced ran to, warned of the lack of water and sanitation.

We have too many people, with very few latrines, and there are no more spaces in the camps. Every five meters you find a family, said director Ahmed Basel. If this crisis is not tackled we will soon see diseases spreading."

Situation unstable

But despite the dire conditions in the camps, Muflahi cautioned against having civilians return to their homes too soon.

We just do not know which areas are safe and which arent; we need a thorough demining of civilian areas and safety assessments, he said in a statement released Sunday.

Many of the displaced are women and children. All males over the age of 14 were separated from their families upon leaving Fallujah to undergo security screening to make sure they were not IS members. Those released are given special badges to identify them. The screening procedure is supposed to be conducted solely by Iraqi Security Forces.

But the UNHCR said Sunday that roughly 850 men and boys from the traditionally Sunni city have been held since June 3 by paramilitary groups, a term indicating Shiite militia forces.

Interviews with families confirmed reports indicating that almost all families are missing multiple family members, UNHCR said.

Many analysts have warned of the risks of sectarian violence by the Shiite militias upon Fallujahs Sunni population.

Iraqi Prime Minster Haider al-Abadi on Friday had already declared victory over the IS militants. "Daesh will be defeated," he announced, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Mosul next

The next step, Abadi said, would be to retake Mosul.

For several weeks, U.S. intelligence officials have described the IS group as being "at its weakest point since its rapid expansion."

U.S. President Barack Obama said during a recent news conference the group is "under more pressure than ever" and that IS has been losing it key leaders.

But Iraqi Kurdish military commanders warn that Mosul, Iraqs second largest city, will be a much tougher fight that will require a political-military agreement between all the parties involved. Kurdish commanders, for example, have warned against allowing Shiite militias participate in the offensive in the predominantly Sunni area.

Humanitarian agencies are already worried of the possibility of having some 600,000 Mosul-area civilians displaced, a disaster many times the size of the current desperate situation outside Fallujah.

The UNHCR is already working to build a camp to house some 6,000 future displaced on land donated by the Governor of Irbil. But it is a drop in the bucket, and nearby camps of those fleeing the ongoing fighting outside Mosul are already full.

The UNHCR overall appeal for $584 million to deal with Iraqs 3.3 million displaced since 2014 by the war against Islamic State, is less 21 percent funded.
Ghana's Inspector General of Police John Kudalor says officers will be positively neutral in the upcoming November general election.

Kudalors spoke at the official opening of the recently held national police command conference attended by police commanders across the country. The focus of the conference was to ascertain the preparedness of the police before presidential, legislative and local elections.

Local media quoted Kudalor as saying, We are going to be very professional, politically, I am going to be very neutral to ensure that the people of this country get the best of security services... We have no reason to fail this country... To ensure that in spite of the turmoil in the sub-region, Ghana would still be a beacon of peace.

Kudalor also called on citizens, as well as prospective voters, to eschew violence and to remain peaceful during the election process.

Cephas Arthur, Ghana police spokesman, insisted that officers have discharged their mandate fairly by enforcing the law irrespective of the political party in power since the re-introduction of constitutional rule in 1992.

Training for election

He says the police have also stepped up training efforts for officers who would be deployed to polling stations across the country during the elections.

The National Election Security Taskforce which is the body that oversees the security arraignments for the election has been inaugurated earlier than usual. This particular year, the National Election Security Taskforce was inaugurated on the 20th January quite earlier than other election years when it is usually inaugurated in June or July, said Arthur. As part of preparation towards the elections, a series of orientation, training programs and seminars have been lined up to bring personnel of the service up to speed with modern trends of protecting or policing elections.

Supporters of major political parties including the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) have often accused police officers of bias during elections.

Arthur dismissed the allegations.

Often times these allegations are baseless, he said. Nonetheless, the police are going to be impartial. How do we become impartial, how do you become positively neutral? We become so when we are professional, we adhere to the tenets of our profession to remain neutral. And when you adhere to the tenets of the profession, you are [a] hundred percent likely to be neutral and to be impartial and that is what we are going to adhere to.

Vigilante groups

Meanwhile, Ghanaians have expressed concern about vigilante groups hired by political parties to provide protection during elections. The groups are accused of attacking opponents during elections. Interior Minister Prosper Bani called on the police to ban the vigilante or security groups.

We are not going to give any such groupings be they personal security groupings or vigilante groupings, any leeway to operate. And in fact we have made it very clear to them that they dont have existence in our laws, said Arthur.
Bullet-scarred and buttressed, Beiruts Yellow House has lain dormant for decades, an indelible and often painful reminder of Lebanons recent history.

Once a marker of Beiruts shift into the modern era, its sandstone confines became synonymous with death as a snipers den during the countrys civil war.

Yet, having escaped demolition, it is now set to begin a new chapter as a museum and research center and hopes are that in forcing its visitors to confront the past, it can help build a better future.

Horror and Hope

When Mona Hallack first entered the Yellow House she could scarcely have realized the role it would play in her life.

It was 1994, and Hallack stepped into a building that remained largely untouched since its notorious role during the countrys 15-year civil war, which began in 1975.

I stood there, and in two seconds images of war flashed into my mind, memories of snipers, anecdotes of people being killed, explained Hallack, whose subsequent tireless campaigning is the main reason the Yellow House stands today.

A crumbling shell, it stood on the crossroads of what was known as the citys "Green Line" dividing the warring factions of east and west Beirut. 

The detritus of families and businesses that had once made it their home lay scatted beneath her feet: school photos, letters from loved ones, reels of film from a photography shop.

These snippets of life contrasted starkly with more recent, and brutal, additions.

Sandbags that had once protected snipers lay untouched, while graffiti screamed from the walls, Hell, one read.Though Hallack saw horror, she also saw hope.

A murderous house

Built in 1924 for the wealthy Barakat family, (it is also known as the Barakat Building) its neo-Ottoman style offered a cutting edge innovation, an open entrance that plunged deep into the building, and a transparent design that spoke of wider cultural changes taking place in the city.

All this changed with the civil war. Once a blessing, its openness and prominent location between Damascus Street and Independence Street became a curse, allowing snipers unparalleled views over the area.

It went from an avant-garde, innovative presence in the city to become a tool for killing, a murderous house, explained Youssef Haidar, the architect tasked with renovating the building, now renamed Beit Beirut, before its re-opening to the public this Autumn.

Due for demolition in the 1990s, it was Hallacks ongoing campaigning that raised the profile of the building, and eventually the municipal council stepped in to expropriate it in 2003.

Since then, Haidar has sought to retain the character of the Yellow House while introducing 21st century design.The pock marks, snipers bunker and graffiti now share space with an underground auditorium and towering glass facade.

Their efforts, and the efforts of those who have worked with them are focused on one thing, giving Lebanese a space in which to confront their past, no matter how painful.

Importance of remembering

Some people dont want to remember because they were too much implicated in [the war] either as actors or victims, but in both cases I believe that remembering is important, explained Haidar.

Though the civil war ended, its echoes are felt in present day Lebanon, whether it is in a political class dominated by warlords from that era, or sectarian tensions that continue to bubble beneath the surface.

But the Yellow Houses history is far more than the war that came to define it.

Though buildings carrying the scars of this era are not hard to find, much of the old city has made way for lucrative high rise developments.

Hallack will be curating content in the museum, something she explained she hopes will focus on allowing people to "tell their stories."She said that in the drive to rebuild the city, something is being lost.

It is something that can be found in the striking architecture of the Yellow House, or in the remnants of life that were strewn across its floor.

These arent just buildings, it is the traditions and quality of the lives of those who lived there that are being lost.This is what differentiates Beirut from Dubai or from any other city.

What is Beirut today? Now you have to go look for it, its not obvious any more.

Looking to the future

The focus may be on addressing the past, but the power of the project lies in hopes that it can help shape the future.

Among those allowed to visit the museum before its opening were the family of Fouad Kozah, who, as a young architect in 1932, added two more floors to the work of Youssef Afandi Aftimos, the buildings original creator.

Though he lived to see it saved, Fouad died before work truly began on restoring and renovating his design.

His daughter, Nadine, hopes that younger generations will visit the building and learn from it as a reminder of never again.

For her, though, the re-opening represents a restoration of what the Yellow House is truly about, life, not death, what lies ahead, not what has gone before.

Now we are going to turn the page, she told VOA. Instead of being prisoners of the past, we see it, but we dont stop at it, we continue.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld abortion rights Monday, ruling that states across the country had no right to curb the constitutional right of women to end their pregnancies by imposing an "undue burden" on them to limit their access to abortion clinics.

The 5-3 decision was perhaps the court's most important abortion rights ruling in a quarter century.

The majority overturned a law in the southwestern state of Texas, similar to that enacted in other states, that required abortion doctors to have patient-admitting privileges at hospitals near their abortion clinics and that their clinics be equipped with costly hospital-grade healthcare equipment.

Writing for the court majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said that the state's regulations were medically unnecessary and unconstitutionally limited a woman's right to an abortion.

"The surgical-center requirement, like the admitting-privileges requirement, provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an 'undue burden' on their constitutional right to do so," said Breyer.

President Barack Obama said he was pleased with the decision Monday, noting "every woman has a constitutional right to make her own reproductive choices."

The Supreme Court ruling, coming on the last day of the court's current term before its summer recess, could affect thousands of women in Texas alone, and many more throughout the U.S.

Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the clinics, said, "The Supreme Court sent a loud and clear message that politicians cannot use deceptive means to shut down abortion clinics."

But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton denounced the ruling, saying, "It's exceedingly unfortunate that the court has taken the ability to protect women's health out of the hands of Texas citizens and their duly elected representatives."



Abortion rights advocates say the ruling could particularly benefit poor and minority women in Texas, giving them access to abortion clinics in their rural communities or small towns where they live, rather than seeing the clinics close because their operators said it was too costly to meet the requirements of the state law.

The abortion advocates said that the 2013 law had already forced the closure of about half of the state's 40 abortion clinics and that more were set to close if the law's constitutionality had been upheld, forcing women to travel hundreds of kilometers to the state's remaining clinics in big cities.

Reaction outside the Court:

The decision is likely to immediately reverberate through the country's 2016 presidential race. The presumptive Democratic nominee, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, supports a woman's right to end a pregnancy.

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump says he is "pro-life," opposed to abortion except in the cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is at stake. Years ago, he supported abortion rights.

Clinton called the decision "a victory for women in Texas and across America."She said a "safe abortion should be a right, not just on paper, but in reality." Trump had no immediate reaction.

President Barack Obama praised the decision, saying, "We remain strongly committed to the protection of women's health, including ... her right to determine her own future."

The decision was made by the Supreme Court's eight justices, with the court left with a vacancy when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, shortly before lawyers for Texas and abortion rights groups made their arguments in the case. Scalia, a stalwart conservative on the court for nearly 30 years, was an ardent abortion foe.

In Monday's ruling, the court's four liberal justices sided with abortion rights groups to overturn a lower court's ruling upholding the Texas law, and were joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative justice who nonetheless over the years has mostly sided with abortion rights justices on the court. Kennedy had suggested at the March hearing on the dispute that lower courts might need to hear more evidence in the case.

The court's three other conservatives -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito -- dissented from the ruling, voting to uphold the Texas law. If the court had deadlocked 4-4, the Texas law would have been upheld, although no national precedent would have been set.

Writing in dissent, Alito, said the court majority had overstepped its authority in the way it considered the case, when it could have limited the scope of its ruling.

"Federal courts have no authority to carpet-bomb state laws, knocking out provisions that are perfectly consistent with federal law, just because it would be too much bother to separate them from unconstitutional provisions," Alito wrote.

Kennedy's vote was also the decisive one in a 1992 case upholding abortion rights. Abortion was first ruled constitutional in a landmark 1973 decision that to this day is a contentious issue in American politics and society at large.

The 1992 ruling had a direct bearing on the Texas dispute since it set the standard that states could regulate abortion as long as they did not impose an "undue burden" on a woman's right to the medical procedure. The court decided that the Texas law imposed such a burden.

With better birth control measures, the number of abortions in the U.S. has been falling in recent years, now down to below a million a year. But conservative states, where lawmakers are opposed to the medical procedure, have enacted more than 250 anti-abortion laws since 2010 aimed at cutting the number of pregnancies that are terminated.

Some of these laws could be affected by Monday's Supreme Court ruling, while legal challenges to other state abortion restrictions could eventually reach the high court in the years ahead.
Syrias main opposition alliance is conveying serious concerns over Irans campaign of recruiting and training thousands of Afghan men to fight in Syria.

Officials in Afghanistan confirmed Sunday they have received a letter expressing the concerns from the Syrians.

The letter urges President Ashraf Ghani to take urgent steps to stop religiously-motivated exploitation of Afghans and discourage them from becoming part of the Syrian conflict, a government official told VOA on condition of anonymity. He did not provide any other details.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Shakeb Mustaghani told VOA that not only through this letter, but through other previous reports, the government is fully aware of activities of Afghans in Syria.

"Unfortunately, through non-governmental organizations and sometimes through official channels in countries where Afghan refugees are being hosted, the displaced population is forced to indulge in activities that are against international norms and also beyond the control of the Afghan government, the spokesman lamented.

He said Kabul is looking into the issue through the offices of the U.N. refugee agency and other diplomatic channels.

Afghans in Iran



There has been increasing evidence Tehran is recruiting men from among an estimated three million Afghans in Iran, with only about a million Afghans having a formal legal status as refugees the country. Many of the displaced families have fled persecution and armed conflict in Afghanistan.

Irans Revolutionary Guards is believed to be behind mobilization of a multi-national Shi'ite Muslim armed militia in support of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The recruits are said to be mostly from the improvised ethnic Hazara Shiite community who are promised a monthly salary and residence permits in exchange for what Iranian authorities tell them is a sacred mission to defend Shiite holy shrines in Damascus from Islamic State or Daesh.

Rights groups say that there have also been instances of forced deportations of Afghans who refused the offer. Many of the recruits, they say, fled the battlefield and joined the refugee trail seeking asylum in Europe.

In its report published earlier this year, the Human Rights Watch estimated that up to 10,000 Afghans may have been recruited and trained to fight in Syria.

It said funerals for Afghans killed in the fighting are frequently held in Iran, sometimes attended by Iranian officials.
Authorities in Somalia say a terrorist siege of a Mogadishu hotel has ended, but not before at least 20 people were killed, including a government minister.

The militant group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for the attack, saying the hotel is frequented by what it calls "apostate government members."

Somalia's foreign minister says among the dead is the country's environments minister, Buri Mohamed Hamza.

The Somali National News Agency said Sunday the death toll stands at 20, including three staff members of a radio station.

Police say the terrorists set off a car bomb outside the Hotel Naso-Hablod Saturday afternoon before gunmen burst into the building, firing their weapons at random and seizing hostages. Police stormed the hotel and engaged the gunmen in a firefight, cornering them on the top floor.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has condemned the attack, the second by al-Shabab in Somalia during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



Al-Shabab gunmen took over the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu three weeks ago, holding guests and staff hostage for more than 12 hours before police ended the siege. Twenty-one people and three gunmen were killed.

After Saturday's attack, a U.S. State Department official said the U.S. "strongly condemns the attack and express our deep condolences to their victims, their families, and the Somali people. We remain committed to Somalia's security and stability and are proud to stand side-by-side with Somalia in the fight against terrorism."

Al-Qaida linked al-Shabab has killed thousands since it began its campaign of terrorism 10 years ago to turn Somalia into a conservative Islamic state.

Somali and African Union forces have pushed the militants out of large cities and into rural areas, but, as Saturday's attack proves, al-Shabab is still a lethal force.
Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga (Source: VNA)

The Ambassador made the call at the 26th meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) held in New York from June 20th-24th, attracting 79 out of 168 member states, international organisations and 10 observer countries.



Speaking at the meeting on June 23rd, Nga affirmed the significance of the UNCLOS in creating a legal framework to adjust member states rights and interests in terms of the peaceful, fair, stable and effective use of the sea and the oceans.



She hailed the Resolutions on the Law on the Sea and Oceans, and sustainable fishing adopted by the UN General Assembly last year, as well as the working outcomes of the Preparatory Committee on marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction.



Nga also expressed concern over the recent complicated developments in the East Sea, particularly large-scale construction and upgrade that changes the nature of several structures in the East Sea, as well as militarised actions that erode trust, exacerbate tension and seriously impact peace, stability and security in the region.



Disputes in the East Sea must be resolved by peaceful means in line with international law, including the UNCLOS, she said, adding that parties concerned need to fully and effectively realise the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work towards a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).



During discussions, the Vietnamese delegation spoke highly of the operations of agencies established under the UNCLOS and lauded the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for its rulings and suggestions last year, contributing to the explanation and application of the UNCLOS terms.



It also welcomed the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS)s efforts to examine member countries reports last year, and underscored the need to amend CLCSs operation rules to make it possible to offer recommendations to rejected reports, including those made by Vietnam, in accordance with the UNCLOS./.
Energy giant TransCanada is suing the United States for canceling the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

TransCanada filed its suit Friday, saying it was seeking $15 billion to recover costs and other losses. It announced its intention to sue in January, but said it wanted to give arbitration a chance first. The company said it was unable to reach an "amicable settlement" with the U.S.

TranCanada sued under provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement that aim to protect foreign investors.

The Keystone XL was to have carried crude oil from western Canada's tar sands oil fields to U.S. refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. President Barack Obama stopped the project last year, saying it was not in the U.S. national interest to build a huge fossil-fuel related project while at the same time leading the fight against global warming.

Conservatives and other critics blasted the president, saying the project would have created thousands of jobs.

Environmentalists say crude oil from tar sands is incredibly dirty and a spill from the pipeline could have been a catastrophe.
Tougher law enforcement and regional cooperation to combat wildlife and timber trafficking is needed in South East Asia, says the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

The call comes as Thailand steps up investigations on tiger farms, after a high profile raid uncovered tiger parts and trophies at a Buddhist temple in western Thailand.

Thailand has long grappled with a reputation as a key transit and destination point for trafficked wildlife from as far away as Africa to the poaching of its own Indochinese tigers.

In 2007 Thailand adopted the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, resolution calling for an end to the intense breeding of tigers for commercial use.

But Edwin Wiek, founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation, says the tiger populations in farms and zoos have sharply increased from just 660 in 2007 to almost 1,500 tigers in 2016 in some 30 farms around Thailand.

Thailand, just like Laos and Vietnam and China have basically not kept their promise under the CITES agreement, says Wiek.

Tiger parts in high demand



Tiger bones and penises are in high demand in markets in Southern China and Vietnam to be used in traditional medicine. Bones are also made into pills and sold for up to $300 in the United States.

Renewed attention on the tiger farms and their potential dark side of trafficking to lucrative markets in China and Vietnam, followed raids on a famed "tiger Buddhist temple" or Wat Pa Luang Maha Bua, in western Kanchanaburi province in late May.

More than 140 tigers at been held at the temple grounds and zoo, of which 15 tigers and cubs were daily brought before tourists for contact and photo opportunities and interaction with visitors.

Disturbing discoveries



The scandal surrounding the temple erupted as Department of National Parks (DNP) officials were removing the tigers to new temporary holding centers, uncovered 60 frozen and bottled cub carcasses and pelts, a cache of other endangered species parts, together with tiger skins in the abbots private residence.

The first images coming out of those dead cubs and the amount of them was absolutely shocking. Over 60 in total is a shocking amount, Wiek said.

But when you are inbreeding tigers, just breeding without responsibility, you are inbreeding generation after generation, you create an extremely weak specimen and a lot of those animals will not make it, he said.

Other live tigers were found at a house 50 kilometers away in a fenced compound police alleged was used to hold the tigers before slaughtering them for their skins, meat and bones.

It is very clear that there has been at least a small group of people involved in illegal wildlife trafficking from the temple. That is pretty clear, but it is not as bad as some people have said, where its like a whole syndicate or something. I dont believe that, Wiek said.

Also found were hundreds of talismans made from tiger parts, hornbills, tiger cub carcasses, skeletons, and stuffed bears.

Tanya Erzinlioglu, a volunteer and worker of six years at the tiger temple, said while she may have held suspicions, her main priority had been the welfare of the tigers under her care. But Erzinlioglu's fears were realized when three tigers disappeared in December 2014.

Until the three tigers I never really saw anything untoward. Obviously once the three tigers suddenly disappeared then that suddenly changed everything because then there was concrete proof in what might have been going on, but I had not seen it, she said.

The temple was a high profile tourist attraction, with estimated annual revenues at of more than $3 million a year.

Investigations are underway into the other zoos and tiger holding centers in Thailand. Wildlife protection groups say Thailands policy of licensing zoos, clearing them to breed tigers has helped to stimulate trafficking instead of curbing it.

Strong enforcement required

Jeremy Douglas, Asia representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says to curb wildlife trafficking will require strong law enforcement. Analysts have often blamed lax law enforcement or corruption for the trafficking to thrive.

The concern were most concentrated on is the disruption of the supply chain towards the markets, Douglas told VOA.

Thats really important that theres a strong law enforcement and criminal justice response in place to identify this as a crime, investigate this as a crime, investigate the networks involved through the supply chain and ultimately disrupt supply that goes into markets, he said.

Animal welfare groups have welcomed Thai Government moves to strengthen legal protection for all wildlife, including tougher penalties including a minimum jail term of four years for trafficking with greater direct involvement by non-government groups to assist in the care of confiscated wildlife.
Photo: Douglas Mason/2016 Douglas Mason

Bernie Worrell was one of the great under-sung artists of the 20th century. He was a vital member of Parliament-Funkadelic, the George Clintonled psych-funk-rock collective. They changed American music. Originally a 1960s doo-wop outfit, P-Funk imbued rock with African Americaninfluenced beats and rhythms. They helped engender Afro-Futurism. Worrell, who died of lung cancer on Friday at the age of 72, didnt get the credit (or rights) he deserved. His sinuous, shimmering, sultry moog bass lines and synth solos enmeshed with Clintons capricious wordplay. His artistry has lingered in the music landscape, as if steeped in eternal reverb. The synth work he did for P-Funk permeated West Coast rap, or G-Funk, in the 90s (Aqua Boogie is a favorite of Dr. Dres). Talking Heads guitarist and keyboardist Jerry Harrison invited Worrell to join the New York band for The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, and he appeared in Jonathan Demmes sumptuous concert film Stop Making Sense. Worrell played with an incredibly eclectic group of artists and entertainers, including Keith Richards, Mos Def, David Lettermans Paul Shafferled house band, and that mustachioed madman Les Claypool.
Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL/This content is subject to copyright.

This week, Channing Tatum sat down and talked with Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles, a conversation that was broadcast via Facebook Live from The Girls Lounge in Cannes. During the audience Q&A segment, the Stanford rape case came up in the context of a larger question regarding what can be done to end the culture of sexual violence. Tatum addressed the topic at large (Rape culture is a very real thing), and took the opportunity to make his feelings clear about Brock Turners 6-month prison sentence.

This is like if you killed someone, if you got caught red-handed murdering someone, and then just because you went to a nice school and you were a good swimmer, you somehow get a lesser sentence than what you wouldve for cold-blooded murder, Tatum said. I mean, that doesnt make any sense.

In the same line of thought, Tatum said, I really think its a horrible, horrible idea to let someone off because of possibly what theyre gonna be capable of doing. Because if you start doing that, where do you end? Where does that stop? Where does that line actually quit? I dont think its right. I think he shouldve been punished, personally.

Tatum went on to talk about the importance of consent education.

I think we need to use education and we have to be comfortable talking about [sex]. Look Im uncomfortable talking about it and Im saying we should be comfortable talking about it. But it is, its an awkward thing to talk about, its an awkward thing to talk about especially probably with your kids. So how do we do that better? How do we actually come up with a plan to be able to communicate about sex and what do we need from each other and what are the lines and how do you even know where the lines are if youre not strong enough to say OK Im not comfortable with this anymore People want from both directions and the only way to get to what you want is communication.
Jesse Eisenberg is currently in London, performing in the play The Spoils, which he also penned. His West End debut happens to coincide with Londons LGBT Pride Festival. As a recently posted YouTube video shows, Eisenberg was walking his bike along the parade route when he came across a group of about a dozen protesters, holding up signs with bible quotes, while a man on a microphone preached anti-LGBT sentiments.

Eisenberg shook his head several times at the scene before him. When one of the protesters offered him a pamphlet, Eisenberg shook his head again. When the protester repeatedly asked him Is your mind closed? Eisenberg finally spoke.

Is my mind closed? Dude, thats so fucked up, he said, and wheeled his bike away. In an interview with the Guardian released this weekend, Eisenberg told the publication that he was raised to support social issues.

It was totally understood, growing up, that we should support people who are struggling, he explained. This was not debatable.
Photo for illustration

Along with the recently approved Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Project, this source of finance marks a new phase in World Bank support as Vietnam continues to focus on inclusive green growth while addressing key climate change vulnerabilities.

Fostering climate change adaptation and mitigation and enhancing resilience is important to Vietnam and the sustainability of its development. Supporting this agenda in Vietnam is part of our global effort to respond to climate change, a priority at the World Bank, said Mr Achim Fock, Acting Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam.

This is the first in a series of three credits that will support the nation in response to climate change, led by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The credit will fund the implementation of policies to improve integrated coastal zone planning and management, public investments related to climate change and green growth, protection of water resources and greater water use efficiency, as well as coastal forest development. It also supports policies in transportation and industrial production that will improve air quality, and in energy efficiency and renewables that will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Such policy actions will help Vietnam prepare to implement commitments made ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Funding for the operation comes from the International Development Association of the World Bank, which lends money on concessional terms for the worlds poorest countries./.
Historic Waco Foundation is organizing a summer trip July 12-13 to Fredericksburg.

Buses will leave at 7:15 a.m. July 12 from the Historic Waco Foundation office at 810 S. Fourth St.

The trip will include stops at the National Museum of the Pacific War, the Texas White House and Lyndon Johnsons ranch, the Pioneer Museum and the largest working wildflower farm in the United States.

Cost is $225 per person for double occupancy or $275 for single occupancy.

Reservations are required by Friday.

For reservations, call 753-5166.

Campaign trivia event

The McLennan County Democratic Party will have a Campaign Trail Trivia event at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Outback Room at Poppa Rollos Pizza, 703 N. Valley Mills Drive.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. for the event, which will feature teams of four people competing in campaign trail trivia from 1876 to 2016, including slogans, music and jingles.

Spectators are welcome as well, with a $15 donation suggested.

The event, open to all political persuasions, will include a silent auction.

Event proceeds will support McLennan Democratic Party and Texas Democratic Women of Central Texas efforts.

For more information, call Mary Mann at 715-1923.

Dinner and a movie

The Community Race Relations Coalition will have a dinner-and-a-movie event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the St. Albans Church Parish Hall, 305 N. 30th St.

The featured film will be Rosewood, which depicts the true story of a primarily black town in Levy County, Florida, that was destroyed in racial violence in 1923.

Dinner will be provided.

The event is free, but reservations are required. For reservations, call 836-4599 or email Jo_Welter@hotmail.com.

Rotary Club of Waco

Local meteorologist Conley Isom will speak to the Rotary Club of Waco at noon Monday at the Lions Den, 1716 N. 42nd St.

Isom will speak about severe weather preparation and safety.

Cost is $10 for a catered lunch from Blaneks.

For more information, call 776-2115.

Waco NAACP meeting

Waco NAACP will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Education Center at the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and Museum, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.

The agenda will focus on local school issues and voter registration.

Refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 733-5261.

Submit items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com.
The soon-to-be completed widening of a nearly 10-mile stretch of Interstate 35 between Waco and Bruceville-Eddy will allow a more seamless flow of traffic, with more improvements on the way, Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jodi Wheatley said.

The I-35 Waco Project 3B-Lorena was quietly finished around Memorial Day when TxDOT crews converted the four-lane portion of the interstate to a six-lane roadway for about 9.8 miles from Old Bruceville Road to Sun Valley Boulevard/Farm-to-Market Road 2063 in Hewitt.

The project, which began in March of 2012, had a projected budget of $169.4 million to support the increased amount of truck traffic along the I-35 corridor, allowing the regions population growth to benefit with the smoother, larger roadway, Wheatley said.

It has been four years and it really has been a long project, but it is wrapping up now, she said. There are still some daytime and nighttime closures to finish up some painting, striping and hanging some signs and stuff like that, and we normally would have completed that before opening the main lanes, but we really wanted to get the project opened for Memorial Day.

Although final costs have not been totaled for the roadway renovation, Wheatley said crews accepted a bid of $169.4 million.

Three or four lanes remain open in both southbound and northbound lanes to accommodate a larger traffic volume as crews wrap up the final stages of work on the project, which is expected to be fully completed in the next several weeks.

It really feels like there is a lot less traffic out there now, because the road is so much smoother and all the traffic is spread out onto the extra lanes, Wheatley said. I think there is a lot less stress all the way around.

Lorena Police Chief Tom Dickson said local law enforcement have noticed a vast difference in interstate traffic since Memorial Day. He said it appears motorists are driving through with more ease.

It is much more different than when construction was going on. Our accidents have gone down tremendously, Dickson said. At one point, we had barrier walls up on both sides, so it was just two lanes, and now that those are gone and three lanes are open, traffic is moving smoother.

Dickson said officers continue to monitor traffic along the interstate and look for speeding vehicles now that the roadway is wider. Regardless, he said, the nearly completed project is adding benefit to Lorena.

All along, we said that once the project was completed, we knew we were going to have a beautiful road through the city, Dickson said. It is really shaping up and we hope this is just the beginning of Lorenas growth.

In Waco, Wheatley said bridge repairs are continuing on I-35, especially north of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Construction near McLane Stadium is expected to be completed by fall 2017 as maintenance projects continue south of the Fourth/Fifth Street exits to New Road, scheduled for completion at the end of August.

TxDOT officials said they continue to wait on additional funding to begin work on widening I-35 through the city limits of Waco, but no projected start date is available.
Marvin Bob Osborn has lived a long, full life. His experiences during World War II often come rushing back in vivid detail.

There are some days when I dont even remember my own name, joked the 90-year-old Gatesville resident. So its no surprise that his military service during World War II fades at times. But he has distinct memories of serving in Europe  some of which he chooses not to share and others he would prefer to forget forever.

Born and raised in Bastrop County (where he lived for over 60 years), Osborn was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 at 18. He was inducted as an infantryman at Fort Sam Houston and went through basic training at Camp Wolters near Mineral Wells. He moved on for advanced training at Camp Gruber in Oklahoma.

Osborn was a rifleman in the 222nd Infantry Regiment of the 42nd Infantry Division, also known as the Rainbow Division. Organized in World War I and reactivated during WWII, the division traveled on a converted luxury liner to France, arriving in December 1944.

In Le Havre, the troops bivouacked in pup tents along the countryside. From the camp, they could see and hear explosions and tracer bullets from the German troops, who preferred to attack the ports at night. U.S. ground troops never took fire because of their distance away.

Always the first unit to move out, the 222nd moved through France. The units objective would come in and the men would wait for the command unit and others to arrive. At one point the 222nd was in place, but the Battle of the Bulge had begun, so a special task force comprised of three regiments was formed under the command of Gen. Henning Linden. There were approximately 5,000 men from the 222nd, 232nd and the 242nd regiments according to Osborn.

The task force made its way to within five miles of the front. After regrouping, it went to the Maginot Line, a massive fortification along the France-German border the French had built after WWI. On Christmas eve, the task force arrived to relieve the 36th Division.

Strasbourg was our starting point, he said. Thats where we jumped off into the real war.

Eager new arrivals end truce

There was a truce to lay down arms for Christmas Day, but Osborn said the Americans broke it. We were up there, new and trigger-happy, Osborn said. We were shooting into their pillboxes and they were shooting at ours. If you saw someone come out, you shot. Otherwise, we remained silent. Once, a stray bullet came into his pillbox and ricocheted around. No one was hurt.

Advance ends in grim discovery

The 222nd Division reassembled and the task force was disbanded. The division fought on to Germany, through the Hardt Forrest in the Alsace-Lorraine region, the Siegfried Line, Dahn and Busenberg. It moved across the Rhine River on March 31, 1945, taking Wertheim and other locations before arriving at the infamous Nazi concentration camp at Dachau.

Bodies were stacked on railcars and the liberated prisoners were skin and bones, Osborn said. The Nazis worked those people until they couldnt work anymore and then they incinerated them.

Several other units were involved in the Dachau liberation. The 222nd, on the flank, soon moved on. Word came that a German convoy was coming, so all roads were secured. When the Germans arrived, their leader surrendered. The next day, military police came and took the prisoners. There wasnt a shot fired, Osborn said.

After the war ended in Europe, the division began training for an invasion of Japan which never happened. War had been a grueling ordeal, but it wasnt quite over for Osborn. The 222nd moved on to Austria, policing the railways in the border region.

Just before Easter in 1946, Osborn was two days from New York on a liberty ship. He was discharged as a staff sergeant in May 1946. Sadly, he lost a brother in the Battle of the Bulge.

Reports show that by the end of the war, the division had been the first to enter Germany, the first to penetrate the Siegfried Line and the first to enter Munich. For its actions, the division received the Presidential Unit Citation. Osborn earned a Bronze Star for Heroic Achievements, but he said he didnt do it by himself. He credits the division and prayer that he came out unscathed.

After the war, Osborn worked at Camp Mabry in Austin as an instrument repairman and fireman for 33 years. Today, married for nearly 65 years, he has three children, five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

What is the saying  all gave some and some gave all? Those were the real heroes, he said. If I had to do it all over, Id do it again.

Voices of Valor, featuring stories about Central Texas veterans, publishes every Sunday in the Waco Trib. To suggest a story about a Central Texas veteran, email voicesofvalor@wacotrib.com. Voices of Valor is proudly sponsored by Johnson Roofing.
Like everybody else in London, I woke up Friday morning, after not much sleep, to graphic depictions of the pound crashing, the stock exchange collapsing and markets all over the world in turmoil. I have no doubt that tomorrow, or the next day, the story will be different. Traders will take a step back and notice that nothing, actually, has happened yet. There will be cheap assets to pick up. Markets will stabilize.

The true impact, on Britain and on Europe, will not be visible for many years. In a certain sense, it will not be visible at all, for the real damage will be done by the things that will now not happen. The slow agony of the divorce proceedings will take up precious political time and energy in London and other European capitals, so Europes leaders will not unite to cope with other crises. The United Kingdom will turn farther in on itself, so British energy and talent will not be dedicated to pushing back against the Islamic State, resettling migrants, resisting Russia. The situation of the U.K. will be unstable and uncertain for a long time to come, so investments will not take place. Money will not be spent. Opportunities will not be created.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are tens of thousands of decisions to be made in the U.K. on legal issues, on joint foreign policy, security and diplomacy and, if Britain leaves the European single market altogether, on tariffs and trade.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in Europe and so the question of Scottish independence necessarily returns. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister, has called the referendum result democratically unacceptable for Scots, and one sees her point.

Unification of Ireland

Northern Ireland voted to stay in Europe, and so the unification of northern and southern Ireland becomes a live issue again. Minutes after the referendum result was announced, Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, declared that This British government has forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests of people in Northern Ireland, and so it has. It can only be a matter of time before a movement calling for a northern Irish referendum takes off.

Other European countries may now face political instability as well. The British vote has, in just a few hours, energized the supporters of anti-European  and in some cases anti-democratic  parties elsewhere in Europe. Not just in the smaller European nations but in big countries  France, the Netherlands, Italy and possibly even Germany  the political scene may shift dramatically, particularly given the likelihood of slower economic growth. Once again, much of the damage will be invisible, taking the form of things that will not happen. The Dutch prime minister, the German chancellor or the French president, consumed with fighting off new political challenges at home, will not have time to think creatively about their own economies or Europes institutional structures, let alone the outside world.

Finally, I do realize that its facile to talk about the impact on a U.S. election which is still many months away, that its too simple to say first Brexit, then Trump. But there is a way in which this election has to be seen, at the very least, as a possible harbinger of the future. This referendum campaign, as I wrote a few days ago, was not fought on the issues that are normally central to British elections. Identity politics trumped economics; arguments about independence and sovereignty defeated arguments about British influence and importance. The advice of once-trusted institutions was ignored. Elected leaders were swept aside. If that kind of transformation can take place in the U.K., then it can happen in the United States, too.

We have been warned.

Anne Applebaum writes a biweekly foreign affairs column for The Washington Post. She is also the director of the Global Transitions Program at the Legatum Institute in London.
The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. Although this may sound like a bureaucratic factoid from the other side of the ocean, it is not. This historic event will have serious negative consequences for the global economy, the politics of Britain and Europe and the geopolitical interests of the United States.

Here in Texas, we are isolated from none of these effects.

The U.K. is now set to Brexit the EU, a long and arduous process of legal decoupling that could take years. However, the effects of the vote are much more immediate.

First, the U.K.s impending departure from the largest economic block in the world has rattled markets. The British pound lost 10 percent of its value within hours of the vote, and global stock markets are down 5 to 10 percent on the news. U.S. markets were hard hit as well, underlining one of the economic lessons of the 2008 financial crisis: that all major crises have global implications. The uncertainty is likely to continue, which means Texas families investments and pension plans will probably be affected.

Second, the vote has laid bare huge tensions within the U.K. itself. Scotland  which narrowly decided against splitting from the U.K. and becoming an independent country in 2014  voted overwhelmingly for the United Kingdom to stay in the EU on Thursday. It is certain to demand another vote for independence, given the new realities. Similarly, Northern Irelands Sinn Fein party has called for a vote to unify with Ireland. The breakup of the United Kingdom is no longer a fanciful prospect.

The political landscape in the U.K. is also at risk of major shifts, none of them suggesting a robust, reliable U.K. on the world stage.

This could be a major problem for the United States. America has always looked to the U.K. as its most natural partner across the Atlantic. This special relationship, however, could erode if the U.K. loses its influence in Europe and turns isolationist and inward-looking. A British government without global ambitions is unlikely to be as loyal a supporter of U.S. foreign policy as it has been in past decades  keep in mind that after the United States, the U.K. sustained the highest number of casualties in Afghanistan.

Finally, the impending Brexit will also weaken Europes influence in the world. At worst, the unprecedented exit of a major member state from the EU could spark a series of similar moves across the continent. Far-right parties in France and the Netherlands have already called for this. The U.S. should be wary of any steps that could lead to the disintegration of the EU itself, jeopardizing the peace that has reigned in Europe for so long. If nothing else, the EU has meant that no American forces have had to engage in major war on the continent in decades.

But even in the best scenario, in which a Brexit is quickly and relatively painlessly managed, the process will take at least two years. Europe will be focusing all of its energy on the legal details of the U.K.s future relationship with the EU. It will have no capacity to deal with the truly important problems it faces: continuing violence in Ukraine, civil war in Syria or mass movement of migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean. And whenever the EU fails to deal with important geopolitical questions such as those, it is America that has to step in.

When Europe is strong and willing to shoulder its burden, it can be a great asset to U.S. interests. When Europe turns inward and dithers, it leaves these problems to America to resolve. The Brexit vote is bound to weaken the EU as a whole  and we will all be worse off for it.

Lorinc Redei is a lecturer and graduate adviser at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. His research focus is on the European Union.
The lowering skies full of turbulence matched the mood of the 50 or so people who gathered June 12 at Heritage Square in downtown Waco. We had come, with little notice, to mourn and memorialize those killed and injured in the Orlando mass shooting of that morning. Fifty people dead in the largest mass shooting in the United States (49 plus the shooter). Fifty people who had gathered in a gay club  an establishment that offered sanctuary from a world that is increasingly polarized by hatred toward the LGBT community.

The news that morning was a lightning bolt to my system. Sadly, we are not unfamiliar with mass shootings, yet this one seemed to be such targeted hatred toward one faction of our citizenry. The initial information the next day seemed to confirm that: the actions of a homophobic, mentally ill, domestically abusive man filled with hate who had a legally obtained military assault rifle.

The sheer hatred of the action sickened me. Maybe I was so stunned partially because I have been following the struggle of a few local churches over whether or not to conduct same-sex marriages. A week ago, that had seemed such a big hurdle. But when 49 people are targeted and slaughtered because of their gender identification, same-sex marriage pales. Except, its one of a thousand cuts that deny human beings their basic rights. I wonder, do churches take a vote to decide whether or not they will conduct funeral services for gay people, too?

My husband and I were at Heritage Square to grieve, to find solace, to be reminded that despair is a victory for hate. The church we attend is small but also is welcoming and affirming. Not all of us are always comfortable with that, but then comfort is not a perk in following Christ. We do so because we can find nothing in the teachings of Jesus to support otherwise. Love one another. There is no clarifying clause with that commandment. It is absolutely clear.

It is the saddest of ironies that the people killed that Sunday morning were in a place where they felt loved, free to be themselves without judgment, and safe. Sounds like what church should be, doesnt it? We know personal stories of those who came to realize they were other-gendered and then were belittled, shamed and cast out of their home churches. And to so many, they were made to believe they also were cast out of Gods love and grace and mercy. That is the abomination. The church has failed them.

More tears fell at the memorial service than raindrops, despite the graying sky. It was meant to be a candlelit service, but the gusty winds of the gathering storm snuffed out the candles as quickly as they were lit. I pray this is not the churchs response. The church has not stepped forward boldly on this issue of full citizenship rights for the LGBT community. People are suffering. People are dying.

I implore every church to examine its polity and practices to see whether it professes or parodies the Living Christ. If your church is sitting quietly on the fence hoping all this fuss will go away, wake up! This is an issue of basic human rights. We all are created in Gods image. There are no second-class citizens in Gods creation.

Let me break this down: Fear breeds hate. Drawing a line to define them and us breeds hate. Hate is the opposite of love. God is love. The church is to express Gods love into the world.

This is Faith 101, people. If you make it more complicated than that, you have been led astray. Can we hold the light of Gods love steadily enough to light the world? We can, if we join together. We can if we will.

Vicki Kabat is a local author, artist and activist.
Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking products and services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services. It also provides mutual funds, insurance and securities brokerage, foreign exchange, financial leasing, factoring, financial consulting and advisory, investment management, foreign trade, treasury, and transactional services, as well as specialized services to finance projects for the real estate industry. In addition, the company offers short-term financing and fund raising, and brokerage services, as well as derivatives, securitization, and other tailor-made products. It serves individuals, small to middle-sized entities, companies, and large corporations, as well as universities, government entities, and local and regional governments. As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 326 branches, which include 220 under the Santander brand name, 14 under the Select brand name, 7 specialized branches for the middle market, and 22 as auxiliary and payment centers, as well as 1,338 ATMs, including depository ATMs. Banco Santander-Chile was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.
Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit

Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools:

Portfolio Monitoring

Top Stock Lists

Premium Reports

Stock Screeners

Live News Feed

Premium Support

Free for your first month.
All jokes aside, it's hard not to feel sorry for Scott Morrison.

It must be tough backing a doomed cause. A cause so doomed that, even though you must know on some rational level that it will fail, and that soon gay couples will be clogging up chapels and bickering over bomboniere, you nonetheless feel compelled to engage in the world's most hectically-expensive and inconvenient delaying tactic: a plebiscite.

It's like when your kid won't go to sleep and keeps insisting he "needs" a glass of water. Except  because this is the Coalition's conservative wing we're talking about and not a recalcitrant four-year-old, although you'd be forgiven for not always noticing the difference  this delaying tactic means the entire citizenry is obliged to haul itself off the couch and into a polling booth to formalise what the majority of them think anyway. To wit (and I paraphrase): "If you want to get married, good luck to you. Now can I get back to my couch?"

Oh, and it will cost us $160 million.
On two of these issues, the republic and climate change, Turnbull has managed to mould positions that have assuaged disappointment to a surprising degree. In the case of the republic, he says he remains fully signed up but believes nothing can occur while the current Queen remains on the throne.

That was two months into Turnbull's leadership when his well-known anti-Coalition positions on the republic, climate change and same-sex marriage presaged a style of government that was similarly centrist in orientation.

Turnbull's personal popularity, which in November saw him leading 69-18 over Bill Shorten (51 points) and saw his Coalition also ahead 56-44, had turned very specifically on his personal brand as a moderate centrist.

Anything less than this, represents a failed strategy. But it threatens to get a lot worse than an electoral blood nose for the Coalition.

Bear in mind, the predominantly conservative Liberal Party didn't suddenly fall in love with Turnbull in late 2015. Indeed, it only repeated Labor's reviled leadership coup in order to win. And Turnbull himself, having seized the top post, then only insisted on enforcing a double-dissolution, to strengthen his government's hand through a renewed mandate, and through a Senate relieved of "ferals".

On climate change, a combination of stealthy progress by his fellow traveller in Greg Hunt, simple public despair over bilateral chain-dragging in Canberra, and the befuddling complexity of the arguments, has allowed Turnbull to neutralise the issue to some extent.

But on same-sex marriage, a potentially weakened Turnbull is sitting on a powder keg. Sources within the Coalition party room say this issue will be his biggest problem in 2016, "and that includes the challenge of winning this election".

It would be difficult to overstate the determination of some conservatives - let's more accurately label them reactionaries - to defeat the push for marriage reform. The fact that they have been relatively quiet of late, should not be mistaken for any softening of their opposition.

Rather, it is only a public quiet. And it is a public quiet that has been paid for with costly private undertakings which once known, will further denude an already pointless and expensive plebiscite of its remaining integrity.

Tactically the silence is wise. Objective number one is to ensure the Coalition is returned, thereby ensuring the issue will be litigated by way of public vote, rather than Labor's parliamentary vote. The Parliament, by the way, is where the law will be changed when it does occur - irrespective of any plebiscite. That is as it should be, both as a technical matter of law, and as a proper function of "representative democracy". The High Court has affirmed this as has political and moral precedent. Weightier moral matters have come before the Parliament, such as the abortion drug RU486 and live stem-cell research without resorting to a plebiscite.
"It is the last shot in the locker for the minor parties," says Glenn Druery, the fixer who has made a living guiding many fringe candidates through the complexities of creating a party then trading preferences in the hope of slipping into Parliament.

Suddenly fringe views have an outside chance of being aired on the national stage.

"If I was the Health Australia Party I would be as extreme as possible," he says. "I'd be screaming about vaccination. The vast majority of people disagree with them, but they don't need the vast majority, they need 3 per cent."

The new laws passed by the government with the support of the Greens encourage voters to distribute their own preferences rather than leaving it up to parties to do so. This means voters are more likely to opt for names they know - Labor, Liberal, Greens or even Xenophon - rather than those they have never heard of.

One habitual candidate, this year vying for a NSW Senate seat, is Peter Breen, a former state upper house member who has served both Labor and the Liberal parties, the Bill of Rights Group, the Motoring Enthusiast Party, the Reform the Legal System Party and the Human Rights Party. This year he is running for the Renewable Energy Party, an outfit he formed having recycled the constitution of the Human Rights Party.
And on that note I'm going to love you and leave you to write this afternoon's edition of our daily campaign newsletter, Campaign Insider (which I'm sure you've signed up for).

Alex, Andrew and I will be back with you on Saturday and Sunday next week to take you through the colour and movement of election day as well as the big result.

Until then, thank you for your company.
Many of the results of Saturday's election have been tentatively coloured in on maps at major party headquarters.

But a handful of key seats remain blank and operatives from both sides will be watching them intently this week.

Labor needs 21 seats to win government. Depending on some variables the coalition could lose its majority with as few as 15 losses.

ALP strategists put their potential gains at between eight to 10 seats, with many likely changing hands in regional Queensland and NSW while Victoria remains largely stable.
Labor is promising a worse budget outcome than the Coalition in each of next seven years.

The revelation, in the costings document released by Labor on Sunday, means that by 2022-23 the budget would be a cumulative $22 billion worse off, but that by 2026-27 it would be a cumulative $10 billion better off.

The worse short-term outlook is due to Labor's decisions to spend more on Medicare, education and infrastructure. Were it not for those extra commitments its budget position would be better than the Coalition's in every year but the first. The improving long-term outlook is due to its decision to abandon the steadily increasing cost of the Coalition's promised tax cuts for big business and to restrict negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.
A Coalition candidate who belongs to an obscure religious community had an apprehended violence order taken out against him by a fellow member of his flock.

Adam Farhan is the Liberal candidate for the western Sydney seat of Fowler and also a leading figure in Australia's Sabaean Mandaean community.

Members of the Mandaean community perform a ceremony in the Nepean River, Sydney. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Fairfax Media can reveal a fellow Mandaean secured an interim AVO against Mr Farhan in July 2014. The complaint was heard in Liverpool Local Court a few weeks later but was promptly thrown out.
"These communities, once cradles of both social activism and deep patriotism, cannot be ignored," he writes below. Boris Johnson's campaign ally Michael Gove. Credit:Mary Turner "The Conservative Party, with its unique and history One Nation mission, must speak for them." Mr Crabb, who has been tipped as a future leader, does not declare whether he will put his name forward as a candidate but his article in The Telegraph will be seen as a personal manifesto for the job of leader, signalling he would stand on a "modernising" platform of social reform. "The truth is that many white working- class people no longer have a natural political home," he says. Boris Johnson appealed for unity in his speech after the vote. Credit:Mary Turner/Bloomberg

Mr Johnson, who won two terms as Mayor of London before leading Vote Leave to victory in the EU referendum, will portray himself as "a proven winner" who can lead the Tories to general election success, sources said. He is also expected to emphasise his credentials as a modernising liberal Conservative with a social conscience, who wants to spread opportunity to people from deprived backgrounds who feel market forces have left them behind. Stephen Crabb has been tipped as a future party leader. Credit:Rob Stothard The election process will begin formally this week, when the leaders of the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs meet to formulate the rules for the contest on Monday. The rules will then be sent for approval by the Conservative Party Board on Tuesday, before MPs begin voting to whittle down the list of candidates to two. The first vote by MPs is expected to take place in the first week of July.

Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, is keen to stand. Credit:Getty These final two names will be put on a ballot paper that is sent to party members across the country who then vote by post to choose their next leader. Mr Johnson is the bookmakers' favourite but there are reports of a plan being hatched by Remain campaigners to make it harder for him to win. The rumoured "stop Boris" proposal would involve changing the election rules so that one of the two final contenders must be a woman. Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary who is keen to stand, has said she wants to see at least one woman among the final two candidates. A senior Tory source said such a plot was "possible" but unlikely to succeed because MPs on the 1922 Committee do not like positive discrimination.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, once seen as almost certain to become PM, is expected to stand aside in the leadership contest after his Remain campaign lost the referendum. One of the Chancellor's allies said last night that he had been working "flat out" trying to stop the economy from crashing after the Brexit vote and had not had time to consider his own future. Mrs May, who was seen as a reluctant supporter of the Remain camp, has not commented since Mr Cameron's resignation on Friday. Her team of advisers have also gone to ground. Mr Gove, the Vote Leave campaign chair who is close to both Mr Osborne and Mr Johnson, has been described as a potential "kingmaker". His endorsement in the contest could seal the victory for any candidate. Mr Gove said last weekend he had ruled out ever standing for the leadership because he believed he lacked the qualities needed for the job.

However, his allies said on Friday he was being urged to run as a candidate to replace Mr Cameron. Sources suggested the Justice Secretary was considering his colleagues' expressions of support but was "very unlikely" to change his mind. With so many senior Tories badly scarred or tarnished by the referendum campaign, it is possible that the party will look to elect someone from a new generation of rising stars. Two Brexit backers who have impressed colleagues at Westminster - Dominic Raab, the justice minister, and Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister - are rumoured to be considering standing on a "joint ticket" as potential Prime Minister and Chancellor. Mrs Leadsom was one of Vote Leave's star performers during the television debates. She and Mr Raab both entered Parliament in 2010 and are good friends as well as political allies in the Brexit campaign. There was speculation that one of the two could step aside to allow the other a clearer run for the leadership. They are likely to meet to discuss plans this week. Chris Grayling, leader of the Commons, and Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, have both been mentioned as possible candidates but sources said they are now seen as unlikely to enter the race.
The children heard the gunfire, but didn't see the fatal encounter that left their mother dead.

Their 63-year-old grandmother, Elizabeth Wall, had taken the boys outside Thursday in Georgia and put them in a truck, according to Cobb County Police Sgt. Dana Pierce.

Then, Wall "goes right back inside, and shoots and kills their mom," Pierce said.

Police say Wall allegedly fatally shot her 35-year-old daughter-in-law, Jenna, who was reportedly in the midst of divorcing Wall's son.
After Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in a historic referendum, foreign ministers from six founding countries of EU met on Saturday here, pushing for a speedy exit procedures of Britain.

"This process should start as soon as possible," said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier after a meeting with his counterparts from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Saturday in Berlin.

The aim must be "not to fall into a prolonged stalemate", he added.

"We'll start immediately", French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also said, adding that "we now expect that the process will be triggered under Article 50." He said British Prime Minister David Cameron initiated this referendum, and "he must now live with the consequences".

With his colleagues, he would send the signal that "Europe is alive," Ayrault said.

Meanwhile, the official also urged a speedy transfer of power in Britain.

Cameron announced on Friday his intention to step down after his country has voted to leave the EU.

Beyond that, Britain's European Commissioner Jonathan Hill, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, also decided to resign from his post, said a press release issued by the European Commission on Saturday.

In the meantime, Labour's opposition leader is urged to go and there is a new call for Scottish independence. All these were reactions to a shock decision by Britain to say "au revoir" to its membership of the European Union.

"I hope that we are not playing cat and mouse," warned Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn with a view at London's policy.

"The people have spoken. And we need to implement this decision," he said, adding that Britain must now quickly start up the mechanism for exit which was defined in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

While EU pushed Britain for a quick exit, a petition to parliament calling for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership have gathered more than one million signatures by midday Saturday.

The petition demands a change in the law to pave the way for a re-run of Thursday's national vote. It calls for a majority of 60 percent and a turnout of 75 percent before any change in Britain's EU membership can take place. The petition was gaining pace at a rate of thousands of signatures every hour.

The petition was started by British citizen William Oliver Healey, and reads:"We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60 percent based a turnout less than 75 percent, there should be another referendum."

It was started by Healey following shockwaves after 17.5 million Britons voted to leave the EU. That represented 51.9 percent of voters, compared to 48.1 percent who opted to remain part of the bloc.

A second petition, already signed by more than 100,000 people, is calling on London's mayor Sadiq Khan, to declare the British capital independent from Britain so that it can apply to join the EU.

The petition, launched by Londoner James O'Malley, stated that London is an international city and "we want to remain at the heart of Europe".

So far,the outcome of the referendum has not only caused political earthquake across Europe, but also sent shock waves aross European stock markets on Friday.

The result came as a surprise to European stock markets, which saw slumps in nearly every major index. The Euro Stoxx index plummeted by 8.62 percent, France CAC 40 down by 8.04 percent, FTSE100 by 3.2 percent and Germany's DAX index by 6.82 percent.

Commenting on the result, Deutsche Bank AG CEO John Cryan said in a written statement that it was not a good day for Europe and negative on all sides.
China conducted the first flight of the new-generation Long March rocket on Saturday night, marking the first use of the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in the island province of Hainan.

The rocket took off from its launch pad at the Wenchang center at 8pm and put a Yuanzheng 1A restartable upper stage into space. The Yuanzheng 1A released six payloads into their preset orbits.

The Yuanzheng 1A is a spacecraft dubbed a "shuttle bus in space" by some experts. It is capable of sending multiple satellites or other payloads into different orbits during a single mission. It ferries satellites using its own power system after reaching an initial orbit atop a rocket.

The first mission of Long March 7 achieved the planned goal and opened a new chapter in China's space lab project. Its success laid a solid foundation for the project's upcoming missions. The launch was aimed at testing the design and capabilities of Long March 7, as well as the capacity of the Wenchang center. It was also tasked with verifying the coordination and compatibility of different systems. In addition, Long March 7 will carry out technology demonstration tests with its payloads, such as the scale model of the multi-purpose re-entry capsule.

Today's launch is the 230th flight among the Long March rocket family.

The Long March 7 is a liquid-fuelled carrier rocket developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the leading rocket developer in China. Its propellants are liquid oxygen and kerosene and they are pollution-free, according to the academy.

The Long March 7 is 53.1 meters tall. The diameter of its core module is 3.35 m.

With six 120-ton-thrust engines, the rocket can send 13.5 tons of payloads to the lower Earth orbit and 5.5 tons to the Sun-synchronous orbit. Having a take-off weight of 597 metric tons, it is currently the most powerful rocket in China's launch vehicle family as its payload capability is about 1.5 times bigger than that of the Long March 2F, the most powerful Chinese rocket before the Long March 7, designers said.

Long March 7 is also the first Chinese carrier rocket developed completely through digital design technology and the first to be able to conduct launch in rain thanks to its water-proof designs.

The rocket will be used to transport the country's cargo spacecraft and manned spacecraft, the academy said.

Long March 7 is the third new-type carrier rocket that China has launched since September, after the Long March 6 and Long March 11, both of which performed their maiden flight that month.

No other countries have put as many as three different new rockets into service within just one year, so China has set a record in this field, experts said.

The heavy-lift Long March 5 will carry out its first launch before the end of the year, also at the Wenchang center.
TROOP E NEWS RELEASE

June 26, 2016

Vernon Parish  Early this morning, a single vehicle crash killed a teenager from Pitkin, LA and injured another. Alcohol usage is a suspected factor in the crash. Both teenagers were not wearing a seat belt.

Troopers responded to the crash around 3:55 a.m., which occurred on LA Hwy 10 east of Pitkin, LA. The crash involved a 2015 Toyota pickup, driven by Alfred J. Trosclair III (W/M 19 yrs). The Toyota was westbound on LA Hwy 10 when Trosclair III lost control and exited the left side of the roadway. After exiting the roadway, the vehicle collided with a tree and overturned.

Trosclair III was pronounced dead on the scene. His only passenger, identified as Carl L. James (W/M 19 yrs), was ejected during the crash. He received moderate injuries and was transported to Cabrini Hospital.

The investigation remains ongoing. Routine toxicology tests are pending.

Motorists must be reminded that alcohol has many effects on the body. Alcohol can impair visual ability, alter sense of time and space, impair fine motor skills needed to operate a motor vehicle, and decrease reaction times. Just one drink may cause these effects.

Louisiana State Police would like to take this opportunity to remind/inform motorists that properly wearing your seat belt will dramatically reduce your chance of being injured or killed in a crash. We ask you to take one second to buckle up! Louisiana law requires that every person in a vehicle, regardless of seating position, always remain buckled up. Not wearing a seat belt remains the leading cause of death in motor vehicle crashes.

Troop E Troopers have investigated 26 fatal crashes in 2016, resulting in 31 fatalities.
Story Saved

You can find this story in My Bookmarks.

Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2016 | 07:19 AM | PADUCAH, KY

A McCracken County man was arrested Thursday in connection to an assault two weeks ago at a Paducah restaurant. Paducah police were called just after 10 pm Wednesday, June 8, to Texas Roadhouse on James Sanders Blvd. An employee told officers he was walking through the restaurant when a man hit him in the face with a beer mug.

The man allegedly continued to assault the employee until he was pulled away by other patrons. Police said the employee had cuts to his face and inside his mouth, and one of his teeth was knocked out.

The suspect fled in a white car, nearly hitting another restaurant employee as he left. Officers determined that the suspect was 34-year-old Anthony Davis of West Paducah. Police had been unable to locate Davis, but found him Thursday afternoon when he reported to his parole officer.

Davis declined to answer any questions about the incident and was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and first-degree wanton endangerment. He was booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail.
Three juveniles charged with robbing same Paducah store twice in one day
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2016 | 04:13 PM | BENTON, KY

The Benton Police Department is asking for the public's help identifying a shoplifting suspect.

According to police, the theft occurred at the Benton Wal-Mart on Saturday. Officers said a man was seen on video selecting a TV and removing the security wire. The suspect then put the TV into a shopping cart containing other merchandise and left the store.

Police said the total of the theft is over $500 dollars, making the theft a felony shoplifting. The suspect was driving a small white pickup truck.

If you have any information regarding this case or recognize the suspect in the photos, contact the Benton Police Department at 270-527-3126.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2016 | 08:27 AM | MURRAY, KY

An incident Friday in Murray left one man injured and another man facing charges.

According to the Murray Police Department, officers responded to the Fox Meadows subdivision around 5:45 p.m. where officers found 29-year-old Jared Tabers of Murray lying in the roadway with visible serious injuries.

Witnesses identified 61-year-old Leonard Martin of Hazel as the driver of the vehicle that struck Tabers. After investigating the accident scene, Martin was taken into custody and charged with first degree assault.

Tabers was transported to Murray-Calloway County Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
"We should not allow Japan to delete its wartime aggression in Asia," says Philippine group for "comfort women"

MANILA, June 25 -- Hilaria Bustamante was only 16 years old when, one day more than 70 years ago, three Japanese soldiers abducted her, hauled her onto a military truck and brought her to a garrison where she was reportedly imprisoned and repeatedly raped for a year.

Now at the age of 90, her tragic story as a Philippine comfort woman for the Japanese army during the Second World War is among those included in a document submitted to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

To keep alive the memories of up to 200,000 women and teenage girls from around Asia who were forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels, support groups of former sex slaves from China, Japan, the Philippines and the Netherlands have jointly asked UNESCO to include documents related to wartime sex slavery in the UN body's Memory of the World Register.

On June 1, a group called the International Solidarity Committee said in Seoul, South Korea, that they filed the application titled "Voice of the Japanese Military Comfort Women" to UNESCO.

It included testimonies of the victims, their photos, court case documents and even art works like drawings and quilts made by the aging women who came forward since the early 1990s, according to Rechilda Extremadura, executive director of the Lila Pilipina (League of Filipino Women), a non-governmental organization assisting the elderly Filipinas.

"These documents must be registered on the UNESCO list. This will preserve the official records and prove that Asian women were indeed forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II," she told Xinhua.

"We should not allow Japan to delete its wartime aggression in Asia. We did not make this up. Sex slavery existed and these documents will prove their existence in the Philippines, the Korean Peninsula, China and Indonesia," she said.

The group took two years to collate all the necessary data. "The process was tedious and meticulous. You need to include measurements of the art works for instance," she said.

Extremadura said the group has decided to keep the idea under wraps to make sure that Japan will not do anything to derail the plan.

"We had to do it very discreetly because we expect Japan to thwart our move. No announcements were made; no press releases. (Tokyo) only learned about it when we filed the application early this month," she said.

Japan is a major donor to UNESCO. Last year, Tokyo threatened to halt or slash its funding to the UN body after UNESCO included China's documents about the Nanjing massacre in its Memory of the World list, despite protests from Japan.

Extremadura stressed the significance of the move, saying the victims are not getting any younger.

"Many of them are getting sick. Time is running out," she said, adding that many of the victims are now in their late 80s and 90s. "Many have passed away without seeing justice."

"It's very important that we preserve the memories of these women who suffered under the hands of Japanese imperial army during the war. If these documents will make it to the list then it will be accessible to everybody interested to do research on the subject," she said.

"When these documents are registered the memory of comfort women will last forever. This will ensure that these significant records will last even beyond the times of the Lolas (grandmothers)."

"The narrations, for example, are very important because these women, due to old age, could no longer testify," Extremadura said, adding that the group will make sure that Japan will not get in the way.

"We have to do what we need to do, that is to make sure that the stories of these Asian women who were imprisoned in garrisons in the Philippines and other Asian countries and places and raped repeatedly by Japanese soldiers are preserved," she said.

She added: "We can not allow Japan to distort history to clear its name in the international community. The scar of war is there. We can not allow Japan to simply erase that scar and pretend the war crimes didn't happen."

"Wartime sex slavery happened. The victims have come forward to tell their brutal stories. So, we want their stories, written or in art form, to be remembered forever."

The Japanese government has officially denied and continues to deny the existence of a "comfort system."

In its reply to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women early this year, the Japanese government stated that following a "full-scale fact-finding study on the comfort women issue since the early 1990s ... 'forceful taking away' of comfort women by the military and Japanese authorities could not be confirmed in any of the documents that the (government of Japan) was able to identify in the above-mentioned study."

It also reiterated its position not to compensate comfort women other than those covered by the Asian Women's Fund in the mid-1990s, including in China and East Timor, as it recently did to South Korean victims.

Tokyo and Seoul clinched a deal in late December to "finally and irreversibly" resolved a decades-long spat over reparations for Korean victims. Under the deal, Tokyo agreed to offer one-time final apology and to pay 1 billion yen (8 million U.S dollars) to provide care for the surviving victims though a foundation.

Finally, it also stated that the Japanese government "is not in a position to answer the question on the specific contents which are taken up in school textbooks and how these contents are described, since (it) does not adopt a government-designated textbook system."

Japan's position was in reply to a question whether the Japanese government intends to reintegrate into school textbooks references to the issue of comfort women and raise awareness among the population of the issue.

Lila Pilipina again raised hell over the statement, accusing Japan of "making moves to distort history."

"After being victims of Japanese war crimes, comfort women are now being made victims of historical distortion," Extremadura said, adding that Japan is "sweeping the comfort women issue under the rug to deny their existence altogether."

"We have long ago submitted documents and testimonies from victims to Japan and the UN. As a result, the UN had declared World War II sexual slavery as a war crime. Japan still continues to contradict the UN and refuses to abide by the resolutions regarding the comfort women system as a war crime. And now, it is revising history by making deals that would silence the victims as they did to (South) Korea."

Extramendura said the inclusion of comfort women in the UNESCO list is all the more important now.

"There may not be many comfort women left to hear the apology or personally receive compensation should Japan, by a miracle, suddenly agree to it but historical inclusion will give justice even to the Lolas who have died fighting for their cause," she said.

Lila Pilipina has documented 174 "comfort women" who have gone public since early 1990s. Only 70 of them remain alive, including Bustamante. Another group, the Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers), has documented 90 but the number dwindled to 33 following the death of the rest over the years.

Both groups are demanding official apology, just compensation and inclusion of the comfort women issue in Japan's historical accounts and textbooks.

The Philippine government has intentionally avoided discussions of the issue in bilateral talks with Japan.

"What we fear now is the disregard for the issue involving our comfort women," said Romel Bagares, legal counsel for Malaya Lolas.

"We are getting soft loans from Japan, patrol boats, maritime aircraft but they are silent on their responsibility as a state over what their soldiers did during WWII. This does not clear Japan of its responsibility despite the payment," Bagares said.

"This is sexual slavery, a grave violation of international humanitarian law."
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 26, 2016 | 07:29 AM | FRANKFORT, KY

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) is working with Kentucky Fish & Wildlife and State Parks to inform residents about the risks of exposure to the Zika virus through mosquito bites and how to stay safe in the outdoors throughout the spring and summer season.

It is important that everyone act to protect yourself and your loved ones this summer from mosquito bites and potential illnesses that mosquitos may carry, said Dr. Ardis Hoven, Infectious Disease specialist for the Kentucky Department for Public Health. With the summer season upon us and residents spending more time exploring the great outdoors in Kentucky, we want people to be aware of Zika virus and we want to advise residents to follow these recommendations in order to prevent mosquito bites while outside.

 Wear long sleeved shirts and long pants. In warmer weather wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing that covers exposed skin. Wear socks

that cover the ankles and lower legs.

 Use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered insect repellents such as DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. When

used as directed these are safe and effective, even for pregnant and breast-feeding women. Always follow directions, and reapply as

directed. Apply sunscreen prior to insect repellent if using both.

 Do not use insect repellents on babies under two months of age. Instead, dress your baby in clothing that covers the arms and legs, or

cover crib, stroller, or carrier with mosquito netting.

 Treat clothing and gear with permethrin. Do not use permethrin directly on your skin.

We encourage state park guests and anyone who will be outside this summer to take these precautions to prevent mosquito bites, said Donnie Holland, commissioner, Kentucky State Parks. Its a good idea to keep these steps in mind when you make plans to camp, hike or play outside.

We want families to enjoy Kentuckys great outdoors this summer, said Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Gregory Johnson. These simple, common sense precautions will help protect people against illnesses borne by both mosquitoes and ticks.

DPH recently launched its Fight the Bite Day and Night campaign to provide information to the public about the Zika virus and ways to avoid being bitten by the mosquitoes that carry it. Currently, no Kentuckians have acquired the Zika virus infection through local transmission in Kentucky.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
WENCHANG, Hainan, June 25 -- Long March-7, China's new generation carrier rocket, has carried an upper stage aircraft into the space in its maiden flight Saturday, said a senior space program official.

The upgraded model of Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) is an independent aircraft carried by the carrier rocket with the ability of sending multiple spacecrafts into different orbits in space, said Wang Xiaojun, chief commander of the Long March-7 program, at a press conference after the Long March-7's successful launch.

The aircraft, dubbed the "space shuttle bus", has been launched into the earth orbit by the Long March-7 and in the next 48 hours will deliver several "passengers" to different orbits using its own power system, Wang said.

These "passengers" aboard Yuanzheng-1A are of different size and weight, he said.

This will be the most complicated and longest launch mission that the country has ever operated, he said.

Compared with the Yuanzheng-1, the upgraded Yuanzheng-1A has far better capabilities. Besides the extension of flight duration from 6.5 hours to 48, its main engine can start nine times and it can unload cargos seven times, compared with the old model that unloads only once and starts its engine twice.

If the mission succeeds, it will be a landmark for China's space transport and lay a solid foundation for future moon and Mars exploration as well as orbital transfer and space debris clearing, Wang said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

Trend:

Armenian armed forces have 12 times violated the ceasefire with Azerbaijan on the line of contact over the past 24 hours, says Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry.

Armenian armed forces, stationed in the village of Aygovit of Armenias Ijevan district, opened fire at Azerbaijani positions located in the village of Balajafarli of Gazakh district.

Moreover, Azerbaijani positions underwent fire from the positions located near the village of Chileburt of Terter district, Horadiz, Ashagi Seyidahmadli and Ashagi Veyselli of Fizuli district.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
The people in these photos are of interest to police and may be able to provide investigators with information about the offences. These images are released for identification purposes only. The people pictured may or may not be responsible for the crimes indicated. If you are able to identify anyone pictured, call Winnipeg Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (204-786-8477), text TIP170 and your message to CRIMES (274637) or send a secure tip online at winnipegcrimestoppers.org.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 26/06/2016 (2313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has been a long time coming. After 52 years of fighting, almost four years of peace negotiations and three months after a final deadline, the Colombian state and the Marxist guerrillas of the so-called Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have agreed to a bilateral and definitive ceasefire.

That is cause for celebration, for Colombia and for the region, but the peace deal is controversial. Putting it into practice will be tricky, and it may be made harder by the unpopularity of the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.

On June 23, Santos was scheduled to fly to Havana, the site of the talks, for a ceremony with FARC leader Rodrigo (Timochenko) Londono in the presence of Secretary Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations and five Latin American presidents.

FERNANDO VERGARA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A boy holds a sign that says, in Spanish, Children celebrate peace during the celebration of an agreement between Colombias government and the FARC in Bogota Thursday.

In practice, the two sides all but stopped firing a year ago when the FARC declared a unilateral ceasefire and the government halted offensive actions. Nonetheless, the governments formal declaration of a ceasefire is historic.

It is possible because the two sides have agreed on the details of the FARCs demobilization. This involves the groups 6,800 troops and 8,500 militia assembling at 22 fixed points around the country. Only after Colombians have approved the peace deal in a plebiscite, perhaps in October, will the FARC start putting their weapons beyond use, watched by international monitors.

The negotiators now have reached agreement on all five of the points on their original agenda. There still are details to be resolved. Santos hopes the final accord can be signed in July, but both sides are saying, in effect, there is no going back.

For Colombians, the agreement involves swallowing toads, in a local metaphor. The FARC claims to have fought a just war against unequal land ownership. In that cause, the country suffered bombings, firefights, murders, kidnapping and extortion. Many people find it hard to accept FARC leaders accused of crimes against humanity will not go to jail, provided they confess. They will, however, face a special tribunal and restrictions on their liberty for as long as eight years.

Many other points in the agreement involve the government saying it will do things it should do anyway, such as foster rural development and adopt better ways to fight drug-trafficking and criminal gangs.

Alvaro Uribe, Santoss predecessor as president, has launched a campaign of civil resistance against the agreement, which he portrays as handing Colombia over to the FARC and Castro-chavismo. That is a travesty, but there are legitimate grounds for worry. Nobody knows how much money the FARC has made from its criminal businesses and invested. Many distrust the sincerity of the FARCs conversion to democracy.

Moreover, partly because the peace negotiations have taken so long and missed so many deadlines, Colombians have no love for Santos. In a recent poll, his approval rating was only 20 per cent, lower than that of the besieged President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

In the eyes of Colombians, the credibility of the agreement will turn on the integrity of the special tribunal and effective verification of disarmament. Polls suggest the agreement probably will be ratified by a margin of around two to one.

Equally important will be the governments ability to flood the areas of FARC influence with quick-starting development projects to employ the guerrilla rank and file and to impose security, justice and effective administration.

FERNANDO VERGARA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A woman in Bogota cries as she watches a live broadcast from Havana of the signing ceremony.

There are two further complications. A smaller guerrilla group, the ELN, shows no serious interest in peace. It may recruit FARC renegades and will have to be fought. Criminal gangs whose leaders emerged from right-wing paramilitary groups that demobilized a decade ago are growing in strength.

Unfortunately, the peace agreement comes at a time when Colombia is facing a sharp economic adjustment. The International Monetary Fund expects the economy to grow by only 2.5 per cent this year, compared with 4.4 per cent in 2014. To fill a hole in government revenues caused by the oil slump, Santos is preparing to raise taxes later this year. His opponents bridle at the notion of paying taxes to help the FARC.

As Santos says, however, war is more expensive than peace. If the agreement is less than perfect, it is because Uribes military buildup  which for three years was directed by Santos as defence minister  weakened the FARC but did not defeat it.

That Colombias conflict has long been an anachronism does not make it any easier to end. Peace with the FARC will improve the lives of Colombians, especially those in remote rural areas. However late in the day, it is a big prize.

 the Economist
Dave Dickson loves his 1969 Roadrunner so much that he has tattoos on his arm to prove it.

If you get it inked on you, youre making sure its not going anywhere, Dickson laughed.

Dicksons vehicle was just one of dozens Saturday at the annual Steamboat Days Car Show, which also featured food booths, ice cream, two live music stages and open shops along Winonas downtown.

For Dickson, it was an opportunity to show off a vehicle he waited a long time to finally own.

His uncle Ricky drove a 1969 Roadrunner that fascinated Dickson when he was younger. He was bummed that he never had the chance to own it. But when his father died, he left the car to Dickson.

And now Dickson shows it off.

I like showing the younger generation what they look like, Dickson said. But its my baby.

The Freys, from Cadaract, Wis., spent 20 years fixing and polishing their bright orange baby. The 1968 Chrysler 300 came to them all the way from Arizona, and the couple has loved it since, taking home 27 trophies.

It has been a labor of love and a great hobby, according to Dennis Frey.

[Its] something to do to pass the time, Dennis said.

The couple pride themselves on owning one of 1,700 1968 Chrysler 300s, and they are certainly known for it.

It just smokes. When you can outrun the cops and wait for them in the driveway at home ... you know you have a fast car, Rebecca Frey laughed.

The Freys said they like speeding their way into Winona for the car show because of the way they get treated and the goodies they receive.

The vehicle that caught the most attention at the show was the Ghostbusters Ectomobile replica by Randy Gotz, decked out with skeletons and matching Ghostbusters uniforms for the whole clan.

Gotz was collecting money for Ronald McDonald House in honor of his late wife, Deb, who died of cancer.

Replica cars have always been a favorite of Gotzs, who decided to replicate the Ectomobile because of his children.

Together, Gotz and his wife hosted 16 exchange students, and raised six foster kids and four children of their own.

He is currently also working on a replica of the Batmobile.

As for what Deb would think of the vehicle, Gotz thinks he knows what her reaction would be.

Shed think Im nuts, Gotz laughed.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Randy Gotz's late wife; her name was Deb, not Kim.
John "J.D." Davis will never forget Bill. The horse and wagon enthusiast met Bill when the boy was attending Camp Winnebago, a summer camp for children with disabilities. When it was time to leave, Bill and John began crying over the connection they made.

"It gets you sometimes. Right here," Davis said pointing to his heart.

Kids like Bill are why Davis and members of the Friendship Wagon Train ride their horses and wagons through Minnesota for a week in the summer, traveling city to city to ask people to help them raise funds for the campers.

The group  comprising people from Minnesota to as far south as Alabama and Georgia  began its 28th 110-mile journey at Whalen's Cove in Minnesota City, one of many stops along their journey through southeastern Minnesota.

John has directed the event every year since the 1980s, and his wife, Monica, has helped. Despite not knowing anyone personally who has disabilities, the couple is excited to put the hobby of raising horses and riding wagons to good use.

"It all comes down to the cause," Monica said. "Being able to do what we love to do for a purpose ... A lot of the people they just can't believe we do it."

The covered wagons left for Lewiston, Minn., Sunday morning after an early breakfast from the Winona Lions organizations.

According to Lion Jim Kreisel, coming out to help a group like the Friendship Wagon Train is what the Lions focus their attention on.

"We serve. That's our motto," Kreisel said. "Everybody that's in the Lions has a servant's heart."

Kreisel said the breakfast was just one way the Lions felt they could get involved in a worthwhile cause.

Camp Winnebago is not government funded, according to Monica, so the camp uses the funds the wagon train raises and spreads it out among all its campers. Campers who are in greater need for money to pay for the camp will receive more, but every camper still has some of the cost of attending paid for by the wagons, Monica said.

As of Saturday night, the group had raised more than $6,500 for the camp.

The generous donations are the reason the wagon riders continue to trot along, according to the treasurer of the event, Roberta Anderson of Rushford, Minn.

"I just think that's what we're here on Earth for," Anderson said.

The train has traveled to other parts of Minnesota to raise money, but Anderson said the southeast tour is her favorite.

"People are so much friendlier here," Anderson said.

In September 2015, the Davises were reaching out to local businesses and families to play host to the wagon as they passed through each town. Whalen's Cove volunteered to host the wagon train as it readied itself to start the journey. Owners Jim and Virginia Whalen hosted the wagons "it's be great for the community, and it's a great cause," said Virginia, a special education teacher.

The Whalens are hoping the tour will visit them again next year. And the Davises have reached the point where they have seen children who grew up with the tour now have children of their own, John said, making every year feel like a family reunion.
MINNESOTA CITY, Minn.  John J.D. Davis will never forget Bill. The horse and wagon enthusiast met Bill when the boy was attending Camp Winnebago, a summer camp for children with disabilities. When it was time to leave, Bill and John began crying over the connection they made.

It gets you sometimes. Right here, Davis said pointing to his heart.

Kids like Bill are why Davis and members of the Friendship Wagon Train ride their horses and wagons through Minnesota for a week in the summer, traveling city to city to ask people to help them raise funds for the campers.

The group  comprising people from Minnesota to as far south as Alabama and Georgia  began its 28th 110-mile journey at Whalens Cove in Minnesota City, one of many stops along their journey through southeastern Minnesota.

John has directed the event every year since the 1980s, and his wife, Monica, has helped. Despite not knowing anyone personally who has disabilities, the couple is excited to put the hobby of raising horses and riding wagons to good use.

It all comes down to the cause, Monica said. Being able to do what we love to do for a purpose ... A lot of the people they just cant believe we do it.

The covered wagons left for Lewiston, Minn., Sunday morning after an early breakfast from the Winona Lions organizations.

According to Lion Jim Kreisel, coming out to help a group like the Friendship Wagon Train is what the Lions focus their attention on.

We serve. Thats our motto, Kreisel said. Everybody thats in the Lions has a servants heart.

Kreisel said the breakfast was just one way the Lions felt they could get involved in a worthwhile cause.

Camp Winnebago is not government funded, according to Monica, so the camp uses the funds the wagon train raises and spreads it out among all its campers. Campers who are in greater need for money to pay for the camp will receive more, but every camper still has some of the cost of attending paid for by the wagons, Monica said.

As of Saturday night, the group had raised more than $6,500 for the camp.

The generous donations are the reason the wagon riders continue to trot along, according to the treasurer of the event, Roberta Anderson of Rushford, Minn.

I just think thats what were here on earth for, Anderson said.

The train has traveled to other parts of Minnesota to raise money, but Anderson said the southeast tour is her favorite.

People are so much friendlier here, Anderson said.

In September 2015, the Davises were reaching out to local businesses and families to play host to the wagon as they passed through each town. Whalens Cove volunteered to host the wagon train as it readied itself to start the journey. Owners Jim and Virginia Whalen hosted the wagons. Its be great for the community, and its a great cause, said Virginia, a special education teacher.

The Whalens are hoping the tour will visit them again next year. And the Davises have reached the point that they have seen children who grew up with the tour have children of their own, John said, making every year feel like a family reunion.
In every love life, theres always The One That Got Away.

He got away because you were both too young, too scared, too broke, or too different. Things were said that couldnt be unsaid, done that shouldnt have been done. It just didnt work out then, but now? In the new novel, I Almost Forgot about You by Terry McMillan, hell never get away twice.

It should have been an ordinary run-of-the-mill Monday.

Thats the way it started for optometrist Georgia Young: new prescriptions, return clients, follow-ups, and one new Monday-morning patient who  big surprise!turned out to be the daughter of a man Georgia dated in college and had fallen for. She never told the guy she loved him, though, and she never would because he was dead.

Shaken to the core, Georgia began to think about all the men shed slept with, and the ones shed fallen in love with. How would life have changed if shed stayed with any one of them? Shed been divorced twice; would that number have been higher or lower? Would she have more than her two daughters, live somewhere other than San Francisco, travel, cook for two?

At nearly 55 years old, she figured shed never find love again, but she at least needed closure. With the urging of her BFF, Wanda, Georgia made a list of the men shed once loved, and she promised herself shed find themnot because she wanted to rekindle anything, but because she had so many questions for them and for herself.

Finding her ex-husbands was easy. Michael happened to be moving back to California, and Niles was out of jail for his white-collar crime; both were happy and had moved on with their lives. Georgia was even able to stop hating them.

But Abraham wouldnt be easy to find. Neither would Lance. There were two Jameses, two Harolds, Thomas, Horace, and others, and one white guy that Wanda remembered, and added to the list. Georgia knew shed never find them all, especially since she had a business, a busy family, and a life to live.

Still, they were all men shed remember forever. But would they remember her?

Show of hands: who hasnt spent girlfriend-time talking about boyfriends? Probably nobody, so I Almost Forgot about You is a comfortably familiar story.

Thats not to say that its same-old, though. Like she did in many of her other novels, author Terry McMillan gives readers a cast of strong-minded, smart women who lean on other strong-minded, smart women. In this book, however, we see a few more bruises from living, rather than from relationships: Georgia and her friends are looking toward retirement, a little less stress, and no more drama. Even so, they get drama anyhow, and youll be glad for it.

Definitely, this is a novel for anyone whos lost a love and wondered, What if? Its a book youll want to share with your BFFs. I Almost Forgot about You is a book you shouldnt let get away.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Irans second largest auto manufacturer Saipa has started car exporting to Lebanon, Ahmad Esmaeili, an official with the company, said.

The first consignment including 152 sedan and commercial cars was sent to Lebanon, Esmaeili said, IRIB news agency reported June 26.

He further said that the company plans to export 500 cars to Lebanon by March 2017.

Saipa has already established car production plants in Syria, Venezuela, Iraq and Sudan.

Iran plans to produce three million cars a year over the next 10 years.

Iranian carmakers manufactured 1.1 million cars over the last fiscal year (ended March 20) and there are plans to increase the figure to 1.3 million this fiscal year(by March 2017).

Iran exported $14.118 million worth of cars and car parts in the first two months of current fiscal year (March 20-May 20).

Venezuela, Egypt, Poland, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan, France, Russia, Iraq, Sudan, Cote dIvoire, the Czech Republic, Syria, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Italy, the United Arabic Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan, Jordan, Germany, China, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan were the destinations of Irans car and car parts exports.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company (IOEC) has held talks with several European companies to develop the Islamic Republics energy sector.

Managing director of the Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Company ,Abolghasem Rahmani, has said in the past South Korea built huge gas and oil platforms for Iran, IRNA news agency reported.

But now the country is capable of building such platforms domestically, he added.

However, he did not name the countries or companies that Iran has discussed the issue of cooperation in gas sector.

According to him five new platforms have been built in the countrys South Pars gas filed over the current Iranian year (starting March 20) and they will be installed as off July 10.

Abolghasem Rahmani further added that after the full installation of the platforms the countrys capacity for producing gas will increase by 100 million cubic meters on daily basis.
Tehran, Iran, June 26

By Mehdi Sepahvand  Trend:

The Iranian government has expelled the president of Bank Refah after a salaries scandal brought a heavy barrage of criticism to President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet.

The former bank president was laid off and a new president will be introduced tomorrow, Minister of Labor Ali Rabii said, IRIB news agency reported June 26.

In a relevant move, the countrys Judiciary ordered to arrest a suspect official involved in the case.

One of the officials refused from introducing his pay slip, after which his arrest order was issued, General Inspection Organization chief Nasser Seraj told reporters the same day.

Seraj did not say who he meant.

The scandal was stirred after pay slips of a number of officials from Bank Refah went viral on social media around Iran.

The slips showed the officials had received salaries a few tens of times greater than average Iranians receive.




China News on Women





Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page
Isaac Kwangari

By: Chan Yuan

A mother of South Africa, killed her children while her husband was spending a night with his mistress.

Talent Muchara, 26, killed her two children and then herself because her husband was cheating.

The husband, Isaac Kwangari, 28, told police that his wife called him and begged him to come home, but he refused because he was spending the night with his mistress.

When he returned home the next morning, Kwangari did not find his wife, but his two children were neatly tucked in their beds.

However, he soon found a bloody hammer. He returned to the room to check on the children. That is when he discovered that eight-month-old Dignity and Sherlyn, 4, died from multiple blows from the hammer.

He called police, who were also investigating an accident of a woman who walked in front of a speeding car about 60 meters away from the coupleas home.

Police took Kwangari to the scene, and he identified the dead woman as his wife.

A neighbor said that Kwangari cheated on his wife since she came to live with him from Zimbabwe about four years ago.

aShe wanted to go back to Zimbabwe many times, but he refused to give her money to leave,a the neighbor said. aHe never bothered to hide the fact that he was cheating,a the neighbor added.

Both Kwangari and his lover were detained by Ermelo police for questioning.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 26

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has said that the country would strike terrorists beyond its borders.

Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the IRGCs Ground Forces, has said that a group of terrorists are based in northern Iraq, Tasnim news agency reported.

If the neighboring countrys officials fail to prevent the terrorists from carrying out actions against Irans security, the IRGC will target their bases.



A couple of armed clashes between the IRGC and members of a dissident group, dubbed Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) have taken place in north western Iran over the past several days.
TALLAHASSEE, FL.(WTXL)-- Local candidates for Office were hitting the ground running Friday after qualifying for the ballot at Advance Driving System's Candidate Forum.

Advanced Driving helps those with mobility challenges and disability. The company decided to celebrate it's 40 Year Anniversary with the forum to give back to the community.

Candidates were able to connect with voters to discuss accessibility issues and disables rights, saying these forums are important because it allows them to connect with voters to understand specific needs.

The Primary Elections begin in October.
TALLAHASSEE, FL.(WTXL)-- A local sorority hosted its 12th year of an event highlighting male chefs in the area.

Alpha Kappa Alpha hosted the 12th Annual Gentlemen's Sampler, where 50 male chefs cooked up traditional, gourmet, and international dishes.

These chefs included local elected officials, civic leaders, and law enforcement.

Proceeds from the event benefited programs in the providence community. One of these being, "Because I'm Happy Summer Enrichment Camp."

The Delta Kappa Omega Chapter also gave out more than 16,000 dollars in scholarships this year.
TALLAHASSEE, FL. (WTXL)-- Muslims and non-Muslims gathered on the front steps of Florida's Capitol last night in the wake of the worst mass shooting in American History.

The crowd gathered to pray for the families, victims, and survivors of those involved in the mass shooting in Orlando two weeks ago.

49 people were gunned down at the Pulse Night Club by Omar Mateen, who later pledged allegiance to ISIS before being killed by police.

The gathered with the message to unite against hate, violence, and bigotry. They stayed at the capital until eight in the evening.
Israel and Turkey on Sunday reached agreement to normalize ties, a senior Israeli official told Israeli reporters traveling with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Rome, Reuters reported.

An official announcement on the restoration of full ties is expected on Monday and comes after three years of talks, encouraged by Washington, to end a rift over the Israeli navy's killing of 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists who tried to sail to the blockaded Gaza Strip in 2010.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the Israeli official's announcement.
At 26, Lisa Jaeger learned she was infected with Hepatitis C.

The Yakima native had just had her first child and was experiencing some stomach pain and unusual color in her skin, so she went to see a doctor.

Hep C: The disease and the cure Hepatitis C is a chronic viral infection affecting an estimated 3.5 million people in the U.

She knew her husband had the virus, but back in the old school days, she said, I didnt take it real serious.

Jaeger, now 55, went through three different treatment regimens over the next few decades, each with severe side effects that often confined her to bed. None of them killed the virus.

Then last year, she was cured.

Jaeger received a miracle drug: Harvoni, which eradicates the disease in a simple 12-week course with almost no side effects.

Now my whole body is coming together, she said. I am blessed.

Not everyone is so fortunate.

Harvoni comes with a $94,500 pricetag for the three-month treatment regimen, and while states and private insurers receive substantial rebates to lower the cost, theyre still scrounging for ways to restrict access to the medication, balancing profitability against patients lives.

Washington states Health Care Authority was sued this year for forcing Medicaid patients to wait until they were severely ill to receive the cure. The agency even gave millions of unused dollars back to the state, rather than expand its criteria to treat all patients.

In May, a federal judge commanded the state to drop those restrictions and come in line with national medical standards  setting a cautionary precedent for payers nationwide looking to save money at the expense of their clients health.

The ruling is an unequivocal victory, says Michael Ninburg, executive director of the Seattle-based Hepatitis Education Project.

At the end of the day, it means that thousands of people in Washington will avoid unnecessarily premature death, he said.

But as more high-end drugs hit the market, and even long-running generics see explosions in price, insurers say theyre up against a wall of real fiscal limitations.

Its just the beginning of a tsunami of often miraculous but incredibly expensive drugs, said Sydney Smith Zvara, Association of Washington Healthcare Plans executive director. We just havent seen anything yet.

The lawsuit

The February lawsuit against the Health Care Authority was brought on behalf of two Medicaid patients who had been denied treatment with Harvoni because they didnt meet the states criteria: Their livers werent yet damaged enough by the virus.

Another 28,000 Washington patients were represented in the class suit,

As of last year, national medical recommendations call for all Hep C patients to receive Harvoni as the standard of care, regardless of disease progression.

The lawsuit successfully argued Washingtons only reason for withholding the drug was financial, which is illegal. Washington receives federal money for Medicaid, and the Medicaid Act requires that participating states cover medical services deemed medically necessary.

Providers say waiting to treat people until theyre sicker also carries the risk of those people developing cirrhosis or liver cancer, which hinders their ability to be cured later in life, and are costly to treat in themselves. It also risks continuing the spread of disease.

The moral stigma of Hep C, often seen as a disease exclusive to drug addicts, seems to skew insurers policies, advocates say.

I think its safe to say that if the new drug is for Alzheimers, or the new drug is for cancer, and a payers response was, Were going to wait until the cancer metastasizes to Stage 4, there would be widespread outcry, said Kevin Costello, director of litigation in the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. Costello was co-counsel in the lawsuit.

Defining the need

In September, state Medicaid director MaryAnne Lindeblad estimated there were 23,310 Washington Medicaid patients with chronic Hep C, 8,000 of whom were expected to be eligible for Harvoni in 2015 under the states restrictive policy.

The cost of treating all those patients, even with rebates, was calculated to be $242 million out of the agencys $1 billion pharmacy budget, she told state legislators in a letter. (That works out to just $30,250 per patient, less than a third of Harvonis $94,500 sticker price.)

If HCA were to pay for hepatitis C treatment for all Medicaid clients infected with hepatitis C, Lindeblad wrote in bold, italicized letters, the cost would be three times the current total pharmacy budget.

The agency initially requested $77.7 million to treat patients with extensive liver scarring. But then it gave back $44.4 million of that money after not enough patients came forward  rather than making its policy more inclusive and spending that money to treat less-sick patients.

In fact, the HCA only spent about $23 million on Hep C treatments with Harvoni, Sovaldi and Viekira Pak in fiscal year 2015, a spokesperson said.

Accurately predicting how many patients will need the drug is hard when reliable monitoring of the disease doesnt exist, state epidemiologist Dr. Scott Lindquist said in a March interview, shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

I dont think our Hep C data is very representative of what Hep C looks like in our community, he said. And thats a national problem, not specific to the Northwest or Washington or even Yakima.

In Yakima County, the number of new chronic cases swung from zero in 2012 to 225 in 2014, indicating incomplete data.

Yakima Health District community health director Sheryl DiPietro said a changeover in the state database led to wonky numbers in 2012 and 2013. But going forward the data should be accurate, as long as labs continue to report all positive Hep C tests.

What this means for patients: A life-changer

The week the judges ruling came out, ARNP Tanda Ferguson mentioned it to a patient in her Yakima practice.

The woman said a good friend of hers had been contemplating suicide after being denied access to Hep C treatment. She stopped mid-appointment to text her friend the good news.

Its a life-changer, Ferguson said of Harvoni. Its pretty amazing to see the difference in the patients.

The Health Care Authority moved to amend its policies immediately after the ruling. The agency is supposed to report back to the judge in late July.

The agency has stopped denying any requests for Harvoni and similar drugs based on liver damage, spokeswoman Amy Blondin said, and will be sharing revised criteria with medical providers as soon as possible. And, its also prioritizing patients whose cases are in appeal. Blondin said there are only two open cases at the moment, both dependent on more information from the providers.

This is a matter of life and death for lots of people, and its a matter of equity, said Ninburg from the Hepatitis Education Project. Its a matter of marginal populations getting access to curative treatment for a potentially fatal condition.

The ruling means relief for providers trying to give their patients the best care possible, too.

Dr. Blaire Burman, who runs the Hepatitis C treatment clinic at Seattles Virginia Mason Medical Center, has been repeatedly frustrated by insurers stubbornness to treat infected patients.

When we apply for treatment, it is really not up to us, she said. Insurance should not be dictating how long and what we treat our patients with, and we see that.

When Harvoni first came out, Ferguson said she submitted 29 patients to receive the prescription. Only one was approved.

Almost all Hep C patients in Yakima are referred to Ferguson, to the point that she helped start a liver clinic at Memorial Cornerstone Clinic to address needs.

Under the states previous restrictions, she says she spent 20 hours a week on patient appeals to get Harvoni prescriptions covered. Often, the state would approve only one month of treatment, forcing providers to fight to get the remaining two months covered.

The liver clinic hired someone to do the paperwork, which freed up Ferguson to see patients.

Ive successfully treated and cured 250-300 people since the drugs came, she said.

Ferguson said she uses all of the Hep C breakthrough drugs to treat patients, based on individual needs, but she was recently paid to speak on behalf of Harvoni at a conference. She still requires six months of abstinence from drugs and alcohol of patients who want Harvoni, aiming for a 100 percent cure rate. Providers nationwide disagree on that condition, with many saying drugs or alcohol have no impact on the drugs efficacy and that its just another moral hoop for patients to jump through.

For the coming year, Ferguson has already scheduled consultations for about 200 new Hep C patients.

The courts decision is great for patients, and its hopeful for providers, she said.

Cost bemoaned by insurers isnt real

While predicting accurate usage rates is a challenge, states and insurers looking to estimate future costs of Hep C treatments are not being honest with the public when they trumpet the $1,000-a-pill number.

The truth is, like with most things in health care, no one pays the sticker price.

States automatically receive a 23.1 percent rebate on drugs made by any of the 600-odd manufacturers currently participating in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. As a result, the price of Harvoni drops from $94,500 to $72,670.50.

Additionally, many states negotiate supplemental rebates, which may be larger than the automatic rebates and can get states down to paying far less than half the price, said Robert Greenwald, a clinical law professor and director of Harvards Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation.

And with increased competition from newer drugs, such as Mercks Zepatier, which came out in January at a list price of $54,600, the actual cost to Medicaid programs for Harvoni could drop into the $20,000 range, Greenwald said.

One could argue that our system is working, because in a relatively short period of time, the price of the cure has decreased dramatically, he said. Im sure all the companies are in there trying to negotiate a system of cost that gets them on the preferred-drug list with state Medicaid programs, which gets as many people as possible to take their medications, in exchange for reduced cost.

Attorney Rick Spoonemore of the Seattle law firm Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger which filed the lawsuit against the state, said rebates arent even the final story  with the Affordable Care Act picking up 100 percent of the cost of expanded Medicaid in states that chose to expand, the actual state expenditure on some Medicaid Hep C patients is below $10,000 per patient.

The federal governments portion of the bill drops down to 90 percent by 2020, so Spoonemore says the state should have been trying to get as many people covered now as possible, before Washington has to spend more of its own dollars on treatment.

Its a lot of money, but you spend it now, and the savings five, 10, 15 years from now are enormous, he said.

The cost of Harvoni (and its more toxic predecessor Sovaldi) has been the focal point of the drugs media coverage, despite the revolutionary news the drugs represent a cure for an infectious disease and could theoretically eradicate Hep C.

But the cost stands out because Harvoni manufacturer Gilead has already recouped the $11 billion they did in (research and development), said Dr. Vinay Prasad, assistant professor of medicine and senior scholar in the Center for Health Care Ethics at Oregon Health & Science University.

Harvoni and Sovaldi together have raked in more than $23 billion since their respective approvals.

The companys just engaging in blatant profiteering, he said in a March interview, after the Washington lawsuit was filed. Its total arrogance that they think they can charge this and get away with it.

In December, a U.S. Senate investigation released documents on Gileads pricing of Sovaldi, which was approved in late 2013, a year before Harvoni, and costs $84,000 before rebates. The documents show that Gilead knew the high price would generate outcry, but believed it wouldnt hinder patient access to uncomfortable levels.

Investigators noted Gilead was wrong in this assumption.

The documents explain how Gilead based its price for Sovaldi on existing drugs in the market, justifying its higher cost because of better real world cure rates.

Acknowledging that Harvoni and similar drugs truly cure the disease, Prasad says there still needs to be a conversation about reasonable pricing.

What does the future look like? I think were reaching a breaking point, he said. As more expensive, highly effective drugs hit the market, at some point, Society cannot bear all these things.

Nobody thinks that their expensive medicine is preventing other people from getting a cheaper medicine, he continued. But at some level it is a kind of a tradeoff.

With Hep C, the situation is less dire now that there are multiple manufacturers in the market  Gilead, Merck, AbbVie. But if theres only one product on the market, there is nothing stopping the drugmaker from charging as much as it wants, Prasad said.

If the pharmaceutical market operated like a normal market, he said, drugs that cost $100,000 would be considered luxury items, like Lamborghinis. To capture all the customers who cant afford Lamborghinis, manufacturers would make Toyotas, he said.

Fortunately for both patients and insurers, the Toyota-level costs in Hep C drugs are emerging now.

Big picture ramifications: tip of the iceberg

Both payers and patient advocates nationwide have been watching the Washington case closely, as similar lawsuits are being considered around the country. One suit is pending in Indiana; Delaware recently revised its policy to avoid litigation, and Pennsylvania and New York also have lessened restrictions.

What I would call this is kind of the first litigation domino in a national campaign to improve access to Hepatitis C treatment for Medicaid enrollees, Costello said.

The Washington ruling is the first time a federal court has interpreted the medical necessity requirements of the Medicaid Act in the context of Hep C treatment, he said.

The courts interpretation of those requirements is consistent with what we view to be a states moral responsibility, a states fiscal responsibility, and a states legal responsibility, he said.

On the fiscal side, he said, long-term modeling shows early treatment for Hep C is cost-effective in reducing health care needs over a lifetime, despite the up-front cost of the drug. The old interferon-based treatments cost up to $120,000, which the state paid with no objection.

I think the states concerns about the short-term fiscal exposure are overstated, Costello said.

In Massachusetts, where fee-for-service Medicaid programs have provided Harvoni to patients regardless of liver damage, fewer than 20 percent of Hep C patients have sought treatment. Increasing that number would require a separate public health campaign to get people to engage with care, Costello said.

In Lindeblads initial letter, Costello says, her calculation seems based on the maximum number of patients at the maximum possible price. In states that have opened up care to all patients who might need it, the cost doesnt get anywhere near that nightmare number, he said.

When Im asked the question, Where is all this money going to come from? my answer is, Its not as much money as everybody wants to scare people away with.

In Indiana, the ACLU sued the state in November, but the case sat in limbo for a few months on procedural grounds. The state has the same restrictive policy as Washington. Though the Washingon case doesnt hold any jurisdiction over what Indiana eventually does, the precedent could influence that states policy.

Its certainly something weve pointed out to our judge here, ACLU attorney Gavin Rose said. I think its a persuasive authority that we were right all along.

In Washington, private insurers have fallen in line with the national recommendations for treatment, but not without pleading their financial limitations.

Chad Murphy, Premera vice president of pharmacy, said the cost savings gained in treating someone with Hep C now rather than later are not a benefit many private insurers are likely to see, as the most costly portions of Hep C treatment usually dont happen until people hit Medicare age.

The federal payer ends up being the one that saves the money, just avoids the (cost) of that liver transplant, he said.

He emphasized that Harvoni and drugs like it are a great advance for medicine, but the initial cost was an absolute shock to the system in total.

Right now, Murphy said, overall pharmacy costs are increasing 15 to 20 percent each year, a trend expected to continue for the next three to five years.

And thats largely driven by these high-cost or specialty drug therapies, he said.

Whats more, he said, only about 1-2 percent of the population is taking such high-cost drugs, but they account for up to 30 percent of total drug costs. And that number is predicted to increase dramatically.

As far as insurers tools to regulate prices, Murphy said the increased competition in the market helps.

Premera wants prescribing doctors in its network to understand how much drugs cost, not just their clinical efficacy. Its engaged in ongoing discussions with drug manufacturers and industry regulators about fair pricing. The final piece of the puzzle is patients and customers, Murphy said.

The challenge with Hep C treatments, he said, is the fact that not all Hep C patients get seriously ill right away.

Patient advocates argue back that the one-time cost of $94,500 (or $30,000, with discounts) is still cheaper than paying for a liver transplant or for constant care and even disability payments over decades.

But insurers feel like theyre between a rock and a hard place, said Zvara with the Association of Washington Healthcare Plans.

Its a tough balance, she said. People need to have access ... in a way that doesnt just break our state budget and make health care premiums unaffordable.

A good first step would be transparency in how drug manufacturers arrive at their given price for a drug, Zvara said.

Insurers and doctors have a lot of transparency requirements, but it seems drug companies have a blank check, she said. Our health care system cant afford to have anyone have a blank check.

I think that as other drugs come on the market further, for arthritis, multiple sclerosis  tons of things coming down the pipe  that we will hardly even be thinking about Hepatitis C because Harvoni and Sovaldi will become one of many."
Militants killed eight Indian police officials and injured 20 when they attacked a security convoy in northern Jammu & Kashmir state on Saturday, a police spokesman said, in an attack claimed by Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Two men attacked a convoy of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on a highway near the Pampore town, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the state capital Srinagar. The militants were killed by CRPF officials who were guarding the highway, police spokesman Bhavesh Kumar Choudhary said.

Dr. Abdullah Gaznavi, a spokesman for LeT, told Reuters by phone that the attack was carried out by members of the group's suicide squad. Gaznavi claimed 13 CRPF police officials were killed in the fighting that lasted for an hour.

Violence in Kashmir has spiked against a backdrop of rising social tension and separatist sentiment in the Muslim-majority region, which for decades has been at the center of a strategic tussle between India and Pakistan.

In May, militants shot dead three Indian policemen at point-blank range. In February, militants attacked a bus carrying police reservists near Srinagar, before breaking into a training institute.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels in the portion it controls and sending them to the Indian side, a claim its neighbor denies.

Mehbooba Mufti, state chief minister, condemned Saturday's attack. "The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people," she said in a statement.
Pope Francis is wrapping up his trip to Armenia with a Sunday liturgy in the Apostolic cathedral celebrated by his Orthodox hosts and a visit to Armenia's closed border with Turkey amid new tensions with Ankara over his recognition of the 1915 "genocide."

Turkey issued a harsh rebuttal late Saturday to Francis' declaration upon arrival in Armenia that the slaughter was a planned genocide to exterminate Armenians. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli called the comments "greatly unfortunate" and said they bore the hallmarks of the "mentality of the Crusades."

Turkey rejects the term, saying the 1.5 million deaths cited by historians is an inflated figure and that people died on both sides as the Ottoman Empire collapsed amid World War I. When Francis first used it last year, Turkey withdrew its ambassador for 10 months and accused Francis of spreading lies.
Cpl. D., who came out in defense of Sgt. Elor Azaria, the Hebron soldier filmed shooting and killing a neutralized and disarmed Palestinian terrorist, Abed al Fatah a-Sharif after he had already been neutralized and disarmed, is set to stand trial for writing a Facebook post accusing Kfir Brigade company commander, Major Tom Na'aman of providing false testimony during Azarias trial.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Na'amans said that Azaria had shot a-Sharif in the head after it was clear he was no longer a threat. But while Na'aman claims that at first he did not understand what was going on, D. claimed to the contrary, despite an IDF spokesperson having rejected D.'s claims.

You stood 23 meters from the terrorist. Elor was standing in front of you, saying hes going to shoot while cocking his gun, aiming, while my platoon commander pulled you back to protect you from getting hurt. But you still didnt understand that he was shot. Interesting.





Kfir Brigade company commander Tom Naaman (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

While Na'aman now faces new criticism, he recenty received a great deal of support from top military and political offcials.

D also denied Na'amans claims that a-Sharif did not pose a threat after being neutralized. Moreover, he cast doubt over previous claims that Azaria ever told Na'aman that, The terrorist is alive and he should be dead. Addressing Na'aman, D. said, the video clearly shows that Elor wasnt near you when you stood next to the terrorist. I have no idea how he could have told you that he needed to die.

Hebron shooting soldier Sgt. Elor Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

D. went on to rebut Na'amans various claims. You said you were angry at (Azaria)? Thats strange. You told him to step aside? The way I remember it, after the shooting Elor went into the Palestinian area beyond the blockade with me and the rest of my platoon, to make sure there wasnt a crowd gathering."

Going directly on the offesnive, D. said, "You said you werent concerned about an explosive device? You didnt even bother checking for one, despite the fact that civilians and paramedics warned us about it. Its good that you werent concerned, though.

D. concluded his testimony by launching a scathing summary of Na'aman's character. Every word that left his mouth only highlighted his own self interest, of looking to advance in rank, to the point of praising himself and presenting himself as a responsible, quick-thinking leader, despite the fact that anyone who has seen the video can attest that this just isnt true. I never imagined he would betray his own soldier like this.

An IDF spokesperson released a statement, saying that Cpl. D. gave his testimony during the investigation. He did not see the shooting performed by Elor Azaria, since at the time he was on another mission.

The IDF rejected D.s request for a military trial, fearing it would draw further media attention. D. is due to stand trial before a senior officer, while Azarias trial is set to continue on Sunday.
The Shalit family marked on Saturday the first decade since their son, Gilad, was kidnapped on 25th June, 2006 by Hamas terrorists and held in captivity until October 2011.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



During an interview on Saturday, Gilad's grandfather, Tzvi (90), said that he always believed that his grandson would one day return to Israel: I am optimistic by nature, and I always believed that Gilad would return eventually, he said. I have no doubt that the communal struggle and the public pressure led to the decision to release my grandson. Thank God he returned healthy and in one peace.

Gilad Shalit in captivity

The day on which Shalit was kidnapped, a squad of seven Hamas terrorists enetered Israeli territory through a tunnel under the Gaza border near the Kerem Shalom crossing. At around 5am, the squad attacked a Merkava tank stationed near the security post. During the attack, two of the tank crew, including the tank commander, were killed while Shalit was captured and taken into captivity.

Four years ago, on October 18, 2011, after five years and four months in Hamas hands, Shalit was returned to Israel in exchange for the release of 1,027 terrorists.

Shalit, who in August will turn 30, is now completing his studies in economics in Herzliyah. He lives in central Israel with his girlfriend. All that is now behind us and we are looking forward, his father, Noam, concluded on Saturday night.
The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Yishai Schlissel on Sunday morning, who stabbed a girl to death who was marching at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem last year, to 31 years in prison.

A further 25 years were handed down for six counts of attempted murder. The state also requested that the court sentence him to an additional 60 years.
Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed Shira Banki to death at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem in July last year, was sentenced on Sunday morning to 31 years in prison. He was given an additional 25 years for the attempted murder of six people.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The court also ruled that Schlissel compensated the victims of his attack with NIS 2.064 million.

His long prison sentence (for a similar prior offense ed.) did not bring about a change in his ways. His dark zealotry, which stops him from seeing people as people, continues to guide him even now, the Jerusalem District Court judge wrote in the verdict.

Photo: Gil Yohanan

We have here, a man who does not see a human being before him. He is a cruel man," the judge continued. "This dangerous man can no longer be allowed to walk the streets of Jerusalem or any other place. He had nothing to do with the young and pretty Shira. The defendant wrought havoc on Shira Bankis family and on society as a whole.

Photo: Gil Yohanan

Two months before the 2015 Pride Parade, Schlissel completed a ten-year prison sentence for carrying out a stabbing attack at the Gay Pride Parade in 2005. After he was released from prison, he expressed his opposition to the approaching parade, both in the media and in ads posted at Haredi synagogues in Jerusalem.

During the afternoon on the day of the parade, Schlissel left his parents home in Moshav Yad Binyamin and travelled to Jerusalem. When he arrived, he tried to enter the parade from Lincoln Street but was asked to leave by the police. He made his way to Washington Street nearby. Concealing a knife in his clothes, he entered the parade, managed to slip past the policeman and policewoman posted there and proceeded to stab marchers in their upper body.
The trial of Hebron soldier Sgt. Elor Azaria was reconvened on Sunday morning, during which more testimonies were heard and more witnesses cross-examined.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



During the day, the defense questioned two investigations conducted by the IDF Criminal Investigation Division. One of the investigators, Yair Magen, was asked to verify that he confronted the platoon commander who was at the scene, telling him that the terrorist was neutralized and that he no longer posed a threat, despite the fact that he stated the opposite. The investigator responded by saying, What I meant by that was to ask how could he (the platoon commander) have said that there was an explosive belt if he (a-Sharif) was neutralized and could not detonate such a belt.

Continuing with the trial of Elor Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Dissatisfied with the investigators position, the defense sought to discredit it. Your goal was to bring about a conviction, rather than getting to the truth. Witnesses told you there was concern over the existence of an explosive device and that the soldier acted correctly, but still you claim otherwise.

During his testimony, Magen also mentioned Ofer Ohana, the ambulance driver who was filmed kicking the knife toward a-sharif (allegedly to cover up for Azaria shooting an unarmed man). Magen said, Ohana agreed to let us search his phone, which was how we found a conversation between Ofer Ohana and the defendants father. Magen stated that during the conversation, Ohana suggested to the defendants father that he get a good lawyer.

The defense attempted to paint a picture of the de rigueur atmosphere for soldiers serving in the West Bank, in an effort to explain the backdrop that led up to the shooting of the neutralized and unarmed Palestinian terrorist, Abed al Fatah a-Sharif. Cpl. T. attempted to depict the general attitude in the area, telling the court, We would watch videos of Arabs getting blown up.

So far, the most dramatic testimony in the trial had been that of Maj. Tom Naaman, Azaria's commander, who spoke against the defendant by detailing his shooting of the unarmed terrorist.

His testimony caused on a backlash on social media, as well as a contradicting account from another soldier who came to Azarias defense. Naaman received the full backing of IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Yaalon, while the newly-appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he opposes attacks against any soldier serving in the IDF.

Over the next month, the prosecution is set to finish calling its witnesses to the stand, after which the defense will begin to summon its own witnesses. The trial is expected to end by the beginning of 2017.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen called on Russia to report on the movements and the number of its troops, local media reported Sunday.

On Thursday, German Federal Foreign Office's coordinator for intersocietal cooperation with Russia, Asia and the Eastern Partnership countries said that a further escalation of tensions between NATO and Russia should be prevented.

Earlier in June, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier blamed NATO member states for saber rattling, provoking much criticism from German politicians, including from the ruling Christian Democratic Union.

"It would be wise if NATO and Russia would publicly reported on the movements and the number of its troops within the framework of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]. Such a proposal has been made a long time ago by NATO, which is exclusively a defensive alliance," the minister said in an interview with the Bild am Sonntag.

The German minister supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) strategy in response to the "Russian aggression."

She noted that there is a need to improve the relations with Russia, but insisted that Moscow must adhere to international rules.

"At least two sides are needed for dialogue," the minister added.

Since 2014, NATO has been building up its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext for the move. Moscow has repeatedly denied the claims and warned NATO that the military buildup on Russias borders is provocative.

The bloc's members are set to discuss the Alliance's increasing activities on its eastern flank on July 8-9 at the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw.
Israeli and Turkish negotiation teams were set to meet Sunday in Rome, in order to finalize the two countries' reconciliation deal, six years after their relationship soured due to the Mavi Marmara incident.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Most of the deal's details have already been agreed upon, but a number of adjustments are expected to be made. The two sides are hoping to announce the conclusion of negotiations by day's end, and perhaps even partake in an initial signing.

The deal is expected to be approved by the Israeli Security Cabinet and the Turkish government on Wednesday while the official signing is expected to take place next month. The signing, however, will only come after President Racep Tayyip Erdogan's government makes legislative changes which will oversee the cessation of lawsuits brought against IDF officers in Turkey.

There agreement reportedly comprises 8 central points:

1. Israel and Turkey will reestablish full diplomatic and normalized relations, including the exchange of Ambassadors and mutual state visits. The two parties will also committ themselves to refraining from acting in a manner deemed harmful to their respective interests in international fora such as NATO and the UN.

Erdogan and Netanyahu. Turkey and Israel are very close to finalizing their reconciliation deal. (Photo: AP, Kobi Gideon/GPO)

2. The Turks will withdraw demands that the blockade on Gaza be lifted in exchange for an Israeli pledge to allow for the delivery of Turkish aid to Gaza via the Ashdod port, after it goes through Israeli inpection. Israel will also allow the Turks to build a new power plant, desalination plant (in cooperation with Germany), and hospital in Gaza.

3. The agreement does not contain a clause dealing with the return of Israeli civilian Avera Mengiustu , who has been missing in Gaza since September of 2014, or the return of the remains of fallen soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin who were killed in Operation Protective Edge earlier that same year. The Turkish government, however, promises that it will undertake efforts to secure the release of the soldiers' remains through its contacts with Hamas. It also agreed to be a mediator between Israel and Hamas if necessary.

4. Israel will transfer approximately $21 million to a Turkish humanitarian fund that will provide money to the families of those who were killed or wounded in the Marmara incident.

5. Turkey will terminate all ongoing legal proceedings in Turkish courts against Israeli officers invloved in the Marmara incident.

6. Turkey will prevent Hamas from using the country as a base from which to work against Israel. In turn, Israel has rescinded its demand that Turkey expel Hamas' command center from the country. Senior Hamas member Salah al-Arouri, who was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach in Gush Etzion in the summer of 2014, is no longer in Turkey, and the authorities there have promised that he would not be allowed to return.

7. The two nations will resume their military cooperation and begin sharing intelligence once more.

Hadar Goldin (left), Oron Shaul (center), and Avera Mengistu (right). Reportedly, the three are not part of the deal.

8. The two countries will begin official talks regarding the laying of a gas pipeline, so that Israel's natural gas reserves may be extracted and transported. Turkey will express interest in purchasing gas from Israel and selling it to European markets.

Israel' representatives in the negotiation were Joseph Chicanover and Brig. Gen. (ret) Yaakov Nagel. Their Turkish counterpart was Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu.

Israel updated Russia, Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus about the main points of the agreement, making it clear that no actions will be undertaken at the expense of its relationship with them.

Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke of the coming agreement at the start of his government's weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying, "There is a lot of misinformation and disinformation regarding the possible agreement that is being formulated with Turkey and therefore I would like to make it clear: We are continuing our constant efforts, both open and in secret, to bring Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin back to Israel, may their memories be blessed, and also the two Israelis being held in Gaza. We are in continuous contact with the families and we will neither rest nor be silent until we bring the boys back home."
The Security Cabinet is due to approve Israels surrender agreement to Turkey, which is a real pity. Before the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in 2010, I too thought it would be better not to get drawn into any Turkish provocations. If they want to take responsibility for Gaza, I thought we should let them have it. That way, the pressure wouldnt be on us. Got a problem? Talk to Turkey.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The Cabinet, however, thought otherwise, which brought about a series of unfortunate events. Its not that we were wrong, it said. Its just that we werent smart about it. The then Cabinet moved on to its next mistake: an apology.

When someone apologizes and expresses their willingness to compensate the other party, it is only because they have acted inappropriately, unlawfully, or unjustly. And so, I would appreciate it if the Cabinet were to explain what exactly we are apologizing for. Even the UN concluded that it was Israels right to block the sea passage to Gaza. So what part of that do we regret? What is our sin here?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo: AP)

Israels relationship with Turkey is important to us, just as Turkeys relationship with Israel is important to them. Even so, being the megalomaniac that he is, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set national dignity as his top priority. His position is not set in stone and should be taken with a grain of salt; when Germany recognized the Armenian genocide, Erdogan huffed and puffed for a bit before calming down, but when it comes to Israel, he knows we can be pushed around. Why shouldnt he put pressure on our Cabinet if it will just fold beneath it? In that case, though, one could ask what about our own national dignity, then? What about a little respect for the brave IDF soldiers whom the Cabinet sent on board a deck filled with abominable people?

To recap: We apologized when we should have been receiving apologies, and we are about to pay a generous sum of money to the terrorists families, Hamas will continue to have offices in Turkey ,and Erdoganthat poor mans sultanis once again meeting with his good friend, Hamas leader and terrorist Khaled Meshal. On top of all of this, Turkey will now dictate to Israel it should treat Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Does this make sense to anyone?

Would Erdogan ever allow the transportation of supplies to the Kurdish people, who seek to gain independence? Would he give into demands made by us to stop attacking Kurdish towns and villages or stop oppressing this people? Have we ever even brought it up? Israel has always has a friendly relationship with the Kurds, and in our region, that should not be taken for granted. And yet, one can assume the subject never came up. What of Turkeys business deals with ISIS? Did we ever demand that they end all trade and oil agreements? Probably not.

Allow me to recommend another way to manage our relationship with Turkey, instead of the sadomasochistic path weve been treading on: What if we were to tell them, What's done is done. If youre interested in looking forward, by all means. If not, thats okay, too? What would happen? Is anyone claiming that Israel would forfeit any kind of relationship with Turkey? Nonsense; a little bit of time would pass, and thats about it. And if it wouldnt have reached a resolution during the little dictators reign, it would have happened following his time in power.

Its been six years since the Mavi Marmara, and we still havent gotten the relationship back on track. After all this time, what has groveling gotten us? Weve sold our dignity without managing to bring about any repair. And so I ask the Cabinet members to remember one thing: Our relationship with Turkey is important, but our national dignity is no less important. The terms of the agreement currently being drafted would keep us perpetually on the masochistic side of the equation. Right now, we have no dignity and no relationship. At the very least, lets save our dignity.
Iran's supreme leader has blasted as "foolishness" a decision by Bahrain's leaders to strip a top Shi'ite Muslim cleric of his citizenship, and said it could provoke violence from Shi'ites, who make up the majority in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom.

The speech by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, carried by state media, came after Bahrain's Sunni authorities stepped up measures against the island island's Shi'ites and stripped their spiritual leader, Ayatollah Isa Qassim, of his citizenship.

"This is blatant foolishness and insanity. When he still could address the Bahraini people, Sheikh Isa Qassim... would advise against radical and armed actions," Khamenei said in remarks carried by state television on Sunday.
The family of fallen IDF soldier Oron Shaul , who was killed during 2014's Operation Protective Edge and whose remains are held by Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas , erected on Sunday a protest tent in front of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem. Shaul's brother Ofek, and his aunt Nava are currently occupying the spot, and his parents, Zehava and Herzl, are set to join them on Monday. They will have a few meetings at the Knesset and then arrive at the tent, which was raised due to the family's anger over the government's upcoming reconciliation with Turkey

The Shaul family's protest tent. (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

"My son Oron went out to battle in Gaza. It's been two years now, and he hasn't come back. During these two years, we met with the prime minister (many times), and time after time, he promised that there would not be a negotiation without Oron and (fellow Protective Edge casualty) Hadar Goldin being part of the conversation. Now a deal with Turkey is about to be signed," Zehava Shaul said on Saturday.

Hadar Goldin's father Simcha told Ynet on Sunday, "This deal is a gift to Hamas. If the ministers vote on it, approve it, it (would be) a first failure for Israel after Operation Protective Edge, and that's very severe in our eyes."

Goldin said that the families have been in contact with Netanyahu for the past two years or so, "And from the first month, he promised that in any negotiation (involving) Gaza, the precondition would be returning the (fallen soldiers), before anything else. He said this to us on the 30th, since then we've had four-five meetings with him He's said it on every opportunity We now understand that this was nowhere (among his) priorities."

Zahava and Herzl Shaul. "The prime minister must deliver on his promises." (Photo: Avihu Shapira)

"If the government approves this agreement, then we're in bad shape. The next abductees are on their way, because Hamas will keep abducting. If no pressure is put on it and it receives a prize in the form of a hospital that the Turks will build and a power plant that the Turks will build, then why give back the fallen soldiers, what's the political logic?"

Goldin (left), Shaul (center), and Mengistu (right). The Turkey reconciliation is not expected to include a provision for them.

The family of Avera Mengistu, who has been missing in Gaza since September 2014 and is thought to be held by Hamas, and their associates protested in front of the prime minister's office on Sunday, demanding that the Turkey reconciliation agreement not be approved until Israel receives proof of life from Mengistu, and until a negotiation for his return begins.

In addition to the families' demonstrations, a separate protest has arisen among reservist soldiers from the IDF's Givati Brigade, where Goldin was a soldier, who served in Protective Edge. The protest, which came in the form of text messages passed among the reservists, was started by a soldier named Tzlil Turgeman. "Two years ago we went to defend our home in the Protective Edge war. Each of us who went to battle left a whole family at home all to bring back calm to (Israel's) southern towns, protect our home and our special people. But two years have passed, and the mission is still incomplete. Our two friends Hadar and Oron are still in the hands of (Hamas)," he said.
For the first time in Israel, the authorities have taken steps this week to revoke the citizenship and permanent residency of two ISIS operatives.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri (Shas) filed a request this week with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to revoke the citizenship of Khalil Khalil, 26, a resident of East Jerusalem, who has been condemned to two years' imprisonment after he travelled to Syria with the intention of joining ISIS's ranks.

Deri also requested to revoke the permanent residency of Lukman Atun, 24, also of East Jerusalem. Atun is accused of having established an ISIS cell in Sur Baher with the intention of carrying out terrorist attacks on targets in Israel and on foreign embassies.

ISIS flag graffito in East Jerusalem

Khalil was tried in the Jerusalem District Court in Jerusalem. He confessed to contacting a foreign agent and attempting to join a disallowed organization as part of a plea bargain.

The Citizenship Law empowers the minister of the interior to file a request with the courts to revoke citizenship on the condition that the minister has first received approval for this from the attorney general. In recent years, several interior ministers have, in individual cases, begun citizenship- and permanent-residency-revocation proceedings against persons involved in terrorist activities.

Since the beginning of the current wave in terrorism in Israel in the fall of 2015, the rate has increased. Since the wave's commencement, four persons have had their permanent residency permits revoked for having been involved in terrorist activities. A further eight persons are currently in similar proceedings. Two requests have been filed with courts to revoke citizenships. According to the Population and Immigration Authority, this is the first time that such proceedings have been employed against ISIS operatives.

Deri based his request on a professional assessment provided by the Shin Bet.

Khalil, who has held Israeli citizenship since August 2009, left for Syria in January of last year with another person. He stayed there for three weeks in an ISIS "military training camp," took part in training exercises, and asked to participate in operations.

Aryeh Deri (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The interior minister wrote in his letter to the attorney general, "On realizing that he couldn't quickly become a senior member of the organization, (Khalil) requested authorization from the organization's command to leave and return to Israel." This trip was not exposed in Khalil's indictment, which charged him for an additional trip that he took during which he was arrested by Turkish security officials when he attempted to cross the border from Syria into their country.

Regarding Atun's establishment of an ISIS cell in Israel, Deri's letter reads, "In the framework of his activity, he taught four youths in an area mosque all the relevant information concerning the organization's activities, ways of joining it and methods of action."

According to the Shin Bet's assessment, Atun later attempted to obtain funding for his cell members to travel to Syria and join the fighting there, travelling via Turkey. However, when these attempts failed, Atun turned to planning terrorist attacks in Israel.

In March of this year, after Atun's cell was exposed, he was indicted on charges of attempting to join and operate for a disallowed organization, attempting to join a terrorist organization, supporting a terrorist organization, and attempting to illegally exit the country. He remains in detention until the completion of his trial.

In Deri's letter to Mandelblit on Khalil, he wrote, "There is no need to elaborate on the importance of Israeli citizenship, which includes a duty of loyalty between the citizen and their country and between the country and its citizens. It is clear that (Khalil's) actions constitute a breach of the duty of loyalty to the State of Israel, as they undermine its very existence.

"Against the backdrop of rising global terrorism, we must fight with all our strength against the phenomenon of persons voluntarily joining terrorist organizations. Revoking (Khalil's) citizenship will serve as a genuine deterrent to anyone who is considering joining a terrorist organization."
Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanise peace talks on the conflict.

Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iranian-allied Houthis from overthrowing the government.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa.
According to a report published Sunday by the Ministry of Finance, the financial implications last week's British referendum calling for their withdrawal from the European Union are not necessarily negative, from an Israeli point of view.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter



The Finance Ministry estimates that the UK's exit is likely to increase uncertainty, lower investors' confidence, and cause a series of shocks to the financial market in Britain and across Europe. The British economy is the fifth largest in the world and the second in Europe, yet it is less than 4 percent of the global GDP (about one sixth of the US GDP).

According to the ministry, a recession in the UK, in light of the damage to its exports, is not likely to bring about a real global crisis , but it may contribute to volatility in capital markets that will accompany the ongoing process of exiting the EU. "The global effects will depend on the extent of the British economy's crisis and the degree of spillover to EU countries."

The world economy reacts to Brexit. (Photo: AP)

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry estimated that the impact of volatility in global markets on the Israel capital markets will be similar to that of the 2012 eurozone crisis, following which the Israeli capital market indices declined 6.5 percent.

"Realistically, we reiterate that Isareli exports to the UK are less than $5 billion ($4 billion of goods exports and some $800 million of exports of services)," the ministry added. "If we assume that the devaluation in the pound is permanent and Israeli export flexibility to Britain relative to the exchange rate against the pound is 0.2, then the negative impact of Israeli exports will be small, around 0.1 percent."

If growth in the UK (and to a lesser extent, growth in the EU) suffers, the Finance Ministry believes that it could lead to a certain decline in the demand for Israeli exports. "However, it is possible that the UK's exit from the EU will improve Israel's ability to compete in the European market (which is a major destination for Israeli exported goods)."

The ministry explained that, in this scenario, an increase in Israeli exports to Europe is likely in high-productivity goods, such as pharmaceuticals, electronic machinery and equipment, and optical equipment, which they say Israel has a relative advantage on in export and which now constitute a significant share of British exports to Europe.

A potential positive impact on Israeli exports, according to the Finance Ministry, is the possible increase in British demand for Israeli exports, which could substitute importing from Europe in many industries, such as pharmaceuticals. Israeli exports constitute 40 percent of the total British imports in this sector.

According to economic bodies throughout the world, in the event that Britain would be denied direct access to the EU market, the flow of direct foreign investment in the country would decrease. That, together with increased uncertainty, would lead to an overall decline in investment. Meanwhile, the financial sector will be affected by the reduction in activity in the City of London. At the same time, the damage is expected to concentrate on the UK's neighbors (e.g., Ireland and Belgium), which export a significant share to Britain.
Oil militants who have slashed Nigeria's petroleum production with attacks on pipelines are calling for a referendum on breaking up the Nigerian federation.

The Niger Delta Avengers group posted a map on social media Sunday suggesting that the West African power house could be split into five countries.

Analysts had predicted that the stunning result of the British referendum to leave the EU would encourage separatists in Nigeria.
Mariano Rajoys Popular Party has emerged victorious in Sundays general elections in Spain but fallen short of a majority, with no obvious coalitions for a functioning government.

The results come days after the U.K.s EU referendum, which saw Britons vote to end their countrys 43-year membership to the bloc.

With virtually all votes counted, Popular Party is set to win more seats than it did in the inconclusive December, 2015 elections, but the deadlock remains.

Meanwhile, a big surge in Spains far-left party United Podemos, predicted in exit polls and pre-election surveys, failed to materialize, results show.

The traditionally leftist Socialist Party held on to their second-place position, while United Podemos saw zero change in seats since Decembers elections, even though they were widely forecast as the new main opposition.

The results have surprised us all given the expectations, a somber Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed leader of Podemos, told the media late Sunday night.

Rajoys conservative Popular Party is up 14 seats compared to Decembers election and will hold 137 seats in the new parliament -- still far from the 176 seats needed to govern.

The ruling party took many of their seats from the centrist Cuidadanos Party, which branded itself as an anti-corruption alternative. Cuidadanos dropped eight seats compared to last year.

Many analysts point to the shock of Thursday's 'Brexit' vote as a likely cause of voters unpredicted shift away from change and towards familiarity.

Pacts will again be necessary to form a government and avoid a third election. Although the traditional parties had unexpectedly positive results, the Spanish Parliament is still extremely fragmented.

Also in contrast to general expectations that voter participation would drop in Sundays repeat elections, the turnout was higher at 69.8 percent on Sunday, Spains Interior Ministry reported, compared to 69.7 percent last December.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli criticized on Saturday Pope Francis's comments on the deaths of Armenians in 1915 during his recent visit to Armenia, saying that the Pope's remarks have no relation to the truth and they reflect the mentality of crusaders.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to Giresun province in the Black Sea region, Canikli said: "First of all, it is unfortunate that the Pope made such comments. Unfortunately, just like how the U.K.'s separation from the EU has exposed, or as it is seen in this situation, the activities of the Pope and the papacy bear the traces and reflections of the crusader mentality. The same goes for the Pope's remarks, as well."

"It is not an impartial remark. It has no relation to reality," Canikli said and added that the truth about the so-called 'genocide' is known by everyone, including the Armenians themselves.

Canikli also recalled the recent motion passed by the German parliament on recognizing the 1915 events as "genocide", saying these are political decisions that have no relation to historical facts.

"These comments are political explanations and are based on religious factors," he added.

Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, committed the so-called genocide against Armenians living in Anatolia in 1915. While strengthening the propaganda of "genocide" in the world, Armenians achieved its recognition by parliaments of some countries.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will make a statement about reconciliation negotiations with Israel on Monday, sources at the Prime Ministry told Anadolu Agency.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, Yildirim is due to make a statement at 1 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) regarding the stage at which negotiations with Israel have reached.

Turkey and Israel have been holding talks to normalize relations more than six years after Israeli troops stormed Gaza-bound aid flotilla Mavi Marmara in international waters.
News

Dinosaur, Colorado  Search and rescue staff from the National Park Service, Moffat County Sheriff's Office and a commercial outfitter are responding to a report of a missing rafter at Disaster Falls on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.

At approximately 5:00 pm on Friday, June 24, 2016, a raft guided by one of the commercial companies operating in the monument flipped at Disaster Falls on the Green River in the Canyon of Lodore. All occupants made it to the shore except for a female occupant of the raft. The raft is currently pinned to a rock in the river due to the force of the current. The trip leader notified the monument about the incident by satellite phone.

Classic Lifeguard Air Ambulance was dispatched to conduct air reconnaissance along the river corridor until darkness prevented further efforts. The search and rescue team was mobilized at Gates of Lodore in preparation to launch Saturday morning.

Disaster Falls, which has a class III-IV rating depending on river levels according to the International Scale of River Difficulty, is located in a remote section of the Canyon of Lodore, approximately 7 miles from the river launch at the Gates of Lodore. The Green River was flowing at approximately 8,600 cubic feet per second at the time of the incident.

Disaster Falls was named by Major John Wesley Powell after the wreck of one of his wooden boats at the site on June 9, 1869. The Powell expedition continued their trip by boat down the rest of the Green River to its confluence with Colorado River and on through the Grand Canyon.

The name of the missing person is being withheld until the family has been notified. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
News

Edinburg, Texas - A Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol canine (K9), who recently showcased his ability to locate injured and abandoned immigrants at the Border Safety Initiative event in Falfurrias, passed away on Monday.

Rio Grande Valley K9 Lazer

Canine Lazer (K9 Lazer) was working with his handler on a Falfurrias ranch, attempting to locate a group of undocumented immigrants who were in need of assistance, when Lazer began to display signs of heat exhaustion. His handler quickly took measures to cool off the canine and transported him to a veterinary clinic for treatment. Unfortunately, K9 Lazer succumbed to heat related injuries.

K9 Lazer was an asset to the Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) team. He was used in numerous trainings, events and apprehensions. Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla, Jr. said, Our sector suffered a great loss, as these loyal companions have given their lives to ensure their handlers, fellow agents, and our community members stay safe.

K9 Lazer is credited with 93 human apprehensions, his loss will be greatly felt by those who came to rely on his keen senses.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Monday, Craig Dewalt, 61, of Cave Creek, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Z. Boyle to serve two days in prison, given three years probation, and ordered to pay a $2,500 fine. Dewalt was previously found guilty at a bench trial of committing lewd, indecent, or obscene acts on an aircraft.

On Feb. 27, 2015, while on a Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank, California, Dewalt twice exposed his genitalia while seated in a window seat. This exposure was observed by the female seated next to him. The female passenger testified at trial and suffered emotional trauma from Dewalts conduct.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Phoenix Police Department. The prosecution was handled by Lisa E. Jennis and Abbie Broughton Marsh, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, District of Arizona, Phoenix.
Health News

Rochester, Minnesota - When people seek information on health-related symptoms, many turn to the internet, and Google in particular, as the first stop. Now, when consumers access Googles mobile search for information about certain symptoms, they will get facts on relevant related medical conditions up front on their smartphone or other mobile device.

For example, a symptom search - even one using common language free of medical terminology like my tummy hurts or nose blocked - will show a list of related conditions. For individual symptoms like headache, searchers will see overview information as well as have the ability to view self-treatment options and suggestions of when to seek help from a healthcare professional. To ensure quality and accuracy, teams of doctors, including expert clinicians at Mayo Clinic, have written or reviewed individual symptom information and evaluated related conditions.

The goal of this new symptom search feature is to help searchers explore and navigate health conditions related to symptoms, get basic answers quickly and lead to more in-depth research on the web or contacting a health care professional. Google will navigate searchers to information about symptoms and treatments. For many common conditions, this will include key overview information provided by Mayo Clinic. This can include details about how common a condition is, risk factors associated with the condition, self-treatment options and guidance on when to seek medical care.

At Mayo Clinic, we constantly seek to discover and share medical knowledge for the benefit of everyone, says Sandhya Pruthi, M.D., chief medical editor, Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions. Providing reliable and accessible health information at the digital consumers' initial point of need  such as through Google search  is a natural extension of Mayo Clinic and our health information website, MayoClinic.org.

Google reviewed health conditions mentioned in online search results and checked them against medical information it compiled from physicians. Google worked with teams of physicians to review individual symptom information, and expert clinicians at Mayo Clinic evaluated related conditions for a representative sample of searches to help improve Googles lists.

Mayo Clinic has the opportunity to share useful and concise information with consumers, says Dr. Pruthi. Google symptom search should be viewed as a more efficient exploration tool for individuals needing accurate health information, and as they seek more in-depth knowledge, they can quickly connect to trusted health information sources like MayoClinic.org.

The information is not intended to be medical advice or a diagnostic tool, and it is presented for informational purposes only. According to Dr. Pruthi, cases may vary in severity from person to person, and there are bound to be exceptions. She adds, consumers searching new symptoms and other health information should consult a health care professional if they have a medical concern or seek emergency medical care for more serious symptoms.
Latest News

Flint, Michigan - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released the results of its investigation into the potential health impact that lead contamination in the Flint, Michigan water supply had on the blood lead levels of local children.

The findings indicate that when the source of the water supply was switched to the Flint River, without appropriate corrosion control measures, young children who drank the water had blood lead levels (BLLs) that were significantly higher than when the source of water was the Detroit water system. After the switch back to the Detroit water system, the percentage of children under 6 years with elevated blood lead levels returned to levels seen before the water switch took place.

This crisis was entirely preventable, and a startling reminder of the critical need to eliminate all sources of lead from our childrens environment, said Patrick Breysse, Ph.D., director of CDCs National Center for Environmental Health. CDC is committed to continued support for the people of Flint through our Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention program and efforts to raise awareness and promote action to address the critical public health issue in communities across the country.

To understand the impact of consuming contaminated drinking water on childrens blood lead levels, CDC researchers examined data on levels of lead in blood of children younger than six years before, during, and after the switch in Flints water source. The current CDC blood lead level of concern (also known as a reference level) is 5 or more micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (5 g/dL). This reference value is based on the population of children ages 1-5 years in the U.S. who are in the top 2.5% of children tested for lead in their blood.

From April 25, 2014, to October 15, 2015 (the period when the Flint River was used for drinking water), the levels of lead in Flint tap water increased over time and analysis of childrens blood lead data detected an increase in BLLs 5 g/dL. The likelihood that a child consuming the water would have a blood lead level 5 g/dL was nearly 50 percent higher after the switch to Flint River water. CDC continues to recommend that all children under age 6 living in the City of Flint have their blood tested for lead by a health care provider, particularly if they have not had a blood lead test since October 2015. All children with BLLs 5 g/dL should receive evaluation and follow up, including a home assessment for sources of lead, and health and developmental assessments.

The CDC study had limitations. Researchers were not able to account for all of the factors that might have contributed to a childs exposure to lead, including whether lead-based paint was present in the childs living environment. In addition, researchers did not have information on the amount of lead in or the amount of water consumed by the tested children, limiting the analysis to evaluation of changes in blood lead levels over time as the source water changed.

Lead exposure remains a health concern for young children in the United States. Risk varies across the country, but because there are often no obvious symptoms, the exposure frequently goes unrecognized. Even low levels of lead in childrens blood have been shown to affect intelligence, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement.

Parents and teachers can do a lot to help children grow up healthy and strong, even if they were exposed to lead, said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dr. Nicole Lurie, M.D., who is leading the federal response efforts in Flint. We have followed up directly with the families in Flint whose children showed elevated levels of lead in their blood in an effort to ensure they are getting the additional assessments and case management services they need. We have also expanded Medicaid and strongly urge parents to enroll their children and schedule appointments for them to be seen by a health provider, who can follow their health as they grow and develop. It is also important to for families to take advantage of the programs we have made available that offer healthy foods, and to get kids involved in programs that stimulate their brains  like Head Start and summer reading programs.

CDC lead screening recommendations urge state and local health departments to review local data and develop recommendations for health-care providers that target at-risk children in their areas, focusing on children ages 1 to 2 years. Based on data in Michigan, public health authorities and health care providers recommend blood-lead testing for children living at or below the poverty level and children enrolled in Medicaid.

Flint residents are advised to use lead-certified water filters that are properly installed and maintained on their household taps and to use filtered water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth. Regular household tap water can be used for bathing and showering because lead is not absorbed into the skin; however, parents should watch young children to prevent them from drinking bath water.
Latest News

Brighton, Colorado - The U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Interior today announced more than $47 million in investments to help water districts and producers on private working lands better conserve water resources. The funds include $15 million in USDA funds and $32.6 million from the Bureau of Reclamation for local projects to improve water and energy efficiency and provide a strengthened federal response to ongoing and potential drought across 13 states in the West.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Reclamation Commissioner Estevan Lopez announced the funding in Brighton, Colo. The Bureau of Reclamation funding will support 76 local projects through the Department of the Interior's WaterSMART program. Funding from USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) will support on-farm water delivery system improvements through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program, in tandem with the 76 Interior-funded projects. Vilsack and Lopez were joined by a local water authority and landowner who spoke about the importance of the federal funding in the cost share program.

"By working with communities and producers to more wisely manage the water they have, we help ensure that this and future generations will have sufficient supplies of clean water for drinking, agriculture, economic activities, recreation, and ecosystem health," said Secretary Vilsack. "As drought continues across the west, our farmers and ranchers are stepping up to the plate to partner with communities and strengthen efficiency to better conserve our water supply."

"Water and energy efficiency are intricately linked," Commissioner Lopez said. "When we conserve water, we also conserve the energy it takes to move it. One way we can achieve these efficiencies is to bring federal resources to the table for local projects that focus on saving water. This program represents one more way we're focusing resources on projects to provide resiliency in the face of drought."

Interior's funding is made available through competitive grant programs, which are part of the WaterSMART sustainable water initiative. The grants and selection process are managed by Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, which is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier, providing one in five western farmers with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland and potable water to more than 31 million Americans across 17 western states.

Of the 76 new projects announced today, Reclamation has selected 53 projects in 11 states to receive a total of $25.6 million in WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grants which, when leveraged with local and other funding sources, will complete more than $128 million in efficiency improvements. In addition to the new grants announced today, Reclamation will provide $2.1 million to support previously selected WaterSMART projects. Together, these projects are expected to enable water savings of more than 123,000 acre-feet. More details on the program and projects announced today can be found on the WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grants website.

Alongside the 53 water and energy efficiency grants, Reclamation also selected 23 additional cost share grants through its WaterSMART Drought Response Program, totaling $4.9 million, which when leveraged with cost-share funding will provide a total of $23.5 million in efforts associated with the program. More detail on the program and the projects announced today can be found on the Drought Response Program website.

Through its EQIP program, NRCS is investing $5.2 million in on-farm assistance to complement several projects that have been funded previously by BOR, and will provide an additional $10 million in 2017 to support some of the Reclamation projects announced today. NRCS is able to complement WaterSMART investments by targeting assistance in areas where WaterSMART sponsors indicated that water delivery system improvements might facilitate future on-farm improvements. NRCS will work with producers in select WaterSMART project areas to offer financial and technical assistance for practices that increase on-farm efficiencies, such as improving irrigation systems.

USDA works with private landowners to implement voluntary conservation practices that conserve and clean the water we drink. USDA supportleveraged with historic outside investmentsboosts producer incomes and rewards them for their good work. At the same time, USDA investments have brought high quality water and waste services to rural communities, which are vital to their continued health and economic viability. For information on USDA's drought mitigation efforts, visit USDA Drought Programs and Assistance. To learn more about how NRCS is helping private landowners adapt to changing climate conditions including drought, visit the NRCS' drought resources.

This partnership is a priority action identified in the President's Memorandum Building National Capabilities for Long-Term Drought Resilience and accompanying the Federal Drought Action Plan. USDA, as permanent co-chair, is working with DOI and other members of the National Drought Resilience Partnership to better coordinate drought-related programs and policies, help communities reduce the impact of current drought events and prepare for future droughts.
Latest News

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A woman originally from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, entered guilty pleas today in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to all 23 counts of an indictment related to an odometer tampering conspiracy, the Department of Justice announced.

Judith Ann Aloe, 55, previously residing in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, was scheduled to stand trial in May 2014, in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. When she failed to appear for trial on May 14, 2014, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest by Chief Judge Petrese B. Tucker. Aloe remained at large for 21 months. In February 2016, she was located in Baja California, Mexico, and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service at the Mexico/California border. Today, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to tamper with odometers, make false odometer certifications, and commit securities fraud and to 11 counts each of securities fraud and making false odometer certifications. Her sentencing is on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. before Chief Judge Tucker.

In April 2014, Aloes co-defendant, Kyle Novitsky, then 46, of Scott Township, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to several counts in the indictment. In October 2014, Novitsky was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,482,000 to victims. From at least as early as 2004 through 2010, Aloe and Novitsky purchased high mileage cars and trucks, and then rolled back the odometers on the vehicles to make them appear more valuable. Doing business under various company names, Aloe and Novitsky sold close to 250 vehicles with rolled back odometers.

The purchase of an automobile is one of the biggest purchases consumers make, and consumers rely on accurate mileage information to assess the value and safety of a vehicle, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Departments Civil Division. Not only do purchasers pay more for used cars, but odometer fraud could ultimately affect a cars safety and the costs of future repairs to the consumer. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce consumer protection laws by bringing those who commit this crime to justice.

Aloe admitted to participating in the purchase of high-mileage cars, sport-utility vehicles and trucks from various locations of a national car rental company. She then worked with Novitsky to roll back and alter the odometers and resold the vehicles at wholesale automobile auctions in Pennsylvania. Aloe also caused to be altered the high mileages shown on the titles received from the car rental company to reflect false, low mileages and retitled the vehicles in Pennsylvania with false mileages. These titles were then given to the buyers so that the mileage on the titles matched the mileage shown on a vehicles odometer.

This case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Linda I. Marks of the Civil Divisions Consumer Protection Branch and former Consumer Protection Branch Trial Attorney Jessica Gunder, now an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Idaho, with assistance from the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case was investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations (NHTSA) Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation.
Turkey will normalize relations with Israel if Tel Aviv compensates families of Turkish victims killed in the 2010 aid flotilla attack and lifts its embargo on Gaza, Turkish foreign minister has said, Anadolu Agency reported.

In remarks made at an iftar fast-breaking dinner organized by the Womens and Democracy Association in the Turkish resort city of Antalya late Sunday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey and Israel were continuing their negotiations for normalization of bilateral ties.

But Cavusoglu made it clear that Ankara would not make any concessions to Tel Aviv on two of its conditions.

One of these [conditions] is compensation for the families of our brothers who lost their lives and fell martyrs, he said, while referring to the incident in 2010 when nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli forces in an attack on the Mavi Marmara.

The second one is lifting of the embargo on our Palestinian brothers, who for years have been under persecution, living in difficult conditions under embargo, where infrastructure has been destroyed as a result of attacks, he added.

Cavusoglu recalled that Turkey previously said: We will normalize our relations if our conditions are fulfilled, adding: We have made no compromise on these two conditions [before] and we will not [do that now].

The minister said that normalizing ties with Israel does not mean for Turkey to remain silent when our Palestinian brothers are wronged.

He vowed Turkey would continue to deliver humanitarian and development aid to Palestinian.

In 2010, six civilian ships in a humanitarian aid flotilla were attacked in international waters by Israeli forces.

The vessels had been trying to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Nine Turkish citizens were killed and 30 other people injured; one person died nearly four years later after being critically injured in the attack.

Turkey had demanded for an official apology from Israel, compensation for the families of those killed in the attack as well as the removal of Israels blockade on Gaza in the aftermath of the attack.

In 2013, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to then Turkish premier and now current President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the attack, while in recent months the two countries have been engaged in talks aiming at normalizing ties.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will make a statement about reconciliation negotiations with Israel on Monday, sources at the Prime Ministry told Anadolu Agency Sunday.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, Yildirim is due to make a statement at 1 p.m. local time (1000 GMT) regarding the stage at which negotiations with Israel have reached.
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
VISION PROTECTION: Use PPE in the Workplace and Keep Your 'Eyes' on the Prize

ELECTRICAL SAFETY: Reducing Electrical Hazards

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE/GAS MONITORING: Selecting the Right Gas Detection Solution

HEARING PROTECTION: Can Industrial Chemical Exposure Cause Hearing Loss?

ASSE SAFETY 2016 PREVIEW: Dateline Atlanta

DEFIBRILLATORS & CPR: Working Against Time: Nine Steps to Implementing a Successful AED Program

DEFIBRILLATORS & CPR: CPR and AEDs -- Two Important Acronyms for Your Workplace First Aid Program

OIL & GAS SAFETY: Seven Ways to Go Back to Basics With Your Safety Program

OIL & GAS SAFETY: Weighing BSEE's Well Control Rule

HEALTH CARE: Three Steps to Minimize the Risk of HAIs in Your Facility

HEAT STRESS: Understanding the Ramifications of Heat in Work Environments

HEAT STRESS: It's Not Just the Heat -- How OSHA Enforces Occupational Exposures to Hot Environments

TRANSPORTATION SAFETY TRAINING: FMCSA's New Training Standards for Entry-Level Drivers

EMPLOYEE GIFTS & INCENTIVES: Strategic Planning in Hard Times: Why Safety Incentive Programs Are a Budget Trimming Tool

EMPLOYEE GIFTS & INCENTIVES: Keys to Employee Engagement Click here to subscribe.



Cover Story

Understanding the Ramifications of Heat in Work Environments By Iris Floyd Non-weather dependent hot work environments are created by the heat generated and/or contained within the environment, due to the task being performed, or both.



Features

Working Against Time: Nine Steps to Implementing a Successful AED Program By Jeff A. Woodin Setting up an AED program takes planning but is not difficult. Here are the key steps to implementing one within the workplace.



Keys to Employee Engagement By Jerry Laws Yoga classes were the top wellness activity for incentives, and 41 percent of the MeetingsNet/IRF surveys respondents said they consciously build wellness opportunities into their agendas.



CPR and AEDsTwo Important Acronyms for Your Workplace First Aid Program By Mike Stearns There are still scenarios where the AHA strictly recommends conventional CPR.



Weighing BSEE's Well Control Rule By Jerry Laws While Director Brian Salerno calls it "one of the most comprehensive offshore safety and environmental protection rules ever developed by the Department of the Interior," one industry group said the rule "could result in unintended negative consequences leading to reduced safety, less environmental protection, fewer American jobs, and decreased U.S. oil and natural gas production."



Three Steps to Minimize the Risk of HAIs in Your Facility By Thom Wellington Despite CDC recommendations, there is no law requiring infection prevention training for any construction worker or other vendor working in a health care facility.



Strategic Planning in Hard Times: Why Safety Incentive Programs Are a Budget Trimming Tool By Sean Roark Here are a few responses that will help keep the red pen away from your program.



Dateline Atlanta By Jerry Laws For those who attended the 2015 National Safety Council Congress & Expo nine months ago, the facilitys layout and downtown Atlanta are familiar territory.



Use PPE in the Workplace and Keep Your 'Eyes' on the Prize By Dustin Boss Next is the concern that PPE is unattractive or doesn't fit properly. If employees are content with their appearance, they will be more likely to use PPE.



It's Not Just the HeatHow OSHA Enforces Occupational Exposures to Hot Environments By Lisa Neuberger If an employee needs medical treatment for heat stress, you would mark that as an illness on the OSHA 300 Log.



Can Industrial Chemical Exposure Cause Hearing Loss? By Robert M. Ghent Jr. It is important to remember that any chemical that is ototoxic is also likely to be poisonous to the kidneys, because the inner ear and the kidneys arise from the same germ layer during embryonic development.



Reducing Electrical Hazards By Jerry Laws When safety becomes one of the design criteria for a project, it's a much more economical approach for that customer or company.



Seven Ways to Go Back to Basics With Your Safety Program By Jennifer Choi Using effective control factors to streamline PPE selection and simplify conformity across sites has the full attention of todays safety managers.



Selecting the Right Gas Detection Solution By Praveen Sharma Temperature, humidity, and pressure levels at the location all have a direct bearing on the type of equipment that should be selected.



FMCSA's New Training Standards for Entry-Level Drivers By Matt Holden The ripple effects of the 2016 proposed rule have yet to be determined.



Departments

The 'Deadliest Catch' No More By Jerry Laws Efforts by the fishing industry, Coast Guard, and National Marine Fisheries Service have all contributed to the fleet's improved safety.


A low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target (Photo : Reuters)

NASA recently announced their latest discovery regarding Mars, which was made possible by the help of Curiosity rover. Though there is still no sign of alien or the so-called Martians life form, still this unprecedented discovery may soon explain the elusive history and evolution of the Red Planet.



Advertisement

NASA's Mars rover managed to discover a type of silica mineral that are found mostly the extremely hot volcanoes here on earth. Thanks to the X-ray diffraction instrument found in Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, it helped scientist detect and identify a significant amount of tridymite, a mineral generally associated with silicic volcanism.



Though this mineral may be insignificant here on earth, but finding tridymite mineral on the surface of the Red Planet, somehow suggest that the planet once had explosive volcanoes, which led to the presence of such minerals.



"On Earth, tridymite is formed at high temperatures in an explosive process called silicic volcanism." NASA quoted planetary scientist Richard Morris, as saying. "Mount St. Helens, the active volcano in Washington State, and the Satsuma-Iwojima volcano in Japan are examples of such volcanoes. The combination of high silica content and extremely high temperatures in the volcanoes creates tridymite. The tridymite was incorporated into 'Lake Gale' mudstone at Buckskin as sediment from erosion of silicic volcanic rocks."



The discovery of the mineral tridymite in the area of Mars named "Buckskin" may affect earth and how it sees the formation of such mineral. This new finding will surely stimulate scientists to re-examine other ways that tridymite may be formed.



Apart from that possible repercussion, the discovery may somehow shed some light on how this planet that is alien to humanity came to be as it is now. For tridymite may change how scientists view the evolution of Mars, including the potential very violent and explosive volcanic history capable of leaving significant traces of the said mineral. Thus, ultimately changing the views of experts regarding the Red Planet as compared to what was previously thought of it, according to RedOrbit.



Since the landing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover on the surface of the planet next to Earth last 2012, discoveries and footages were sent. However, the elusive sign of civilization and previous life form has yet to reveal itself the human race, thus authenticating man's imagination of Martians.



Watch here below Curiosity Rover Video of 2016:






Mogadishu: At least 16 people, including a state minister, were killed in an attack by Al-Shabaab militants on a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, an official said on Sunday.

More bodies, including of State Environment Affairs's Minister Bur'i Mohamed Hamza, were found from the debris of the hotel, Xinhua news agency quoted Internal Security Ministry spokesman Abdikamil Mo' allim Shukri as saying.

More than 30 others were injured in the attack, he said.

Twin explosions rocked the Nasa-Hablod Hotel in Mogadishu on Saturday and Al-Shabaab militants stormed the hotel frequented by politicians.

Somalia's security forces have retaken the hotel after gunfire.

Somalia's Islamist group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the latest in a series of attacks by its militants on hotels in Mogadishu.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has condemned the assualt and vowed continued efforts to pacify the country.

"This coward attack was aimed at inflicting fear among Somalis and discourages them from supporting the government," President Mohamoud said.

Al-Shabaab militants, fighting to topple the Somali government, frequently carry out deadly attacks in Mogadishu.

Early this month, at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in an Al-Shabaab attack on another hotel in Mogadishu.
Patna: Bihar toppers scam accused Ruby Rai was on Saturday arrested by Special Investigation Team (SIT) when she appeared for a re-test at the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) office, police said.

However, Ruby, who had not long back surprised everyone when she had quoted that 'prodigal science was all about cooking' left the expert panel guesssing after she penned down an essay on poet and saint Tulsidas.

Tulsidas ji pranam  the Bihar's Class 12 topper in Arts, who had appeared for a re-test, could write only this when she was asked to pen down an essay on poet and saint Tulsidas. Her answer not only shocked the panel but also left them wondering how this girl, who doesn't even have a basic knowledge of her subjects, managed to score 444 out of 500 marks in the Arts stream.

When a panel of experts confronted Ruby after evaluating her answer-sheets, Ruby told them confidently that she had studied for two years when she had appeared for exam in February but had forgotten everything now.

Before Saturday, Rubi Rai failed to appear in the re-test twice on June 3 and on June 17. She had then cited her illness for failing to appear for the re-test.

A total of 14 students were called for a re-test by the BSEB after a news channel broadcast a sting in which Rubi Rai had said, "Prodikal (read political) science is about cooking", and Saurabh Shreshtha, a Science topper, said, "Most reactive element in the periodic table is Aluminium". Really?

The results of Rubi and other toppers were put on hold after the scam came to light in May.

After her arrest, Ruby was brought to CJM's residence by police and was sent to the judicial custody till July 8.

A police constable present there, said that Ruby appeared confidently when she appeared for the re-test and even refused to cover her face after she was arrested. Adding further, the constable said her confidence, despite her arrest, strucked everyone there. She used a scarf to cover her face only after a police official insisted her to do so.

Ruby even refused to answer media's questions and hit back saying, 'Nahi bolenge toh jaan maar dijiyega?' (Will you guys kill me if I don't answer you?)
New Delhi: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will stage a protest march to the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and surrender himself today, after the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association submitted a complaint accusing him of intimidating the businessmen during his official visit there.

"Complaint filed against Manish Sisodia yesterday. Manish will go to 7, RCR today to surrender himself before PM," Kejriwal tweeted this morning with a copy of the complaint filed against Sisodia.

After the complaint was filed yesterday, Sisodia, quickly turned to Twitter to stating that the Prime Minister may turn the complaint into a case of extortion, violence and molestation and use it as an excuse to arrest him.

He also alleged that the people who filed the complaint were indulging in illegal activities in the market, where he had gone for a surprise inspection.

According to reports, the police said earlier that they have received a complaint from the president Surender Goswami, but no FIR would be registered as no cognizable offence was committed by Sisodia.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: Delhi BJP executive meeting on Sunday slammed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly pushing the national capital into a "constitutional crisis" by his "autocratic, anarchic and whimsical attitude".

In a two-part resolution, adopted by the committee, it hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah for their leadership, for enhancing India's prestige world over and for providing benefits of government schemes to the poorest of poor in the country, a party statement said.

The second part listed alleged "failures and corruptions" of Delhi government, holding the "autocratic, anarchic and whimsical attitude" of Delhi Chief Minister Arivind Kejriwal "responsible" for plunging Delhi into a "constitutional crisis" and bringing the administrative and development work to a "standstill "in the national capital, the statement added.

Addressing the closing session, Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot asked the workers to use "conducive" media to fight "false" campaign by ruling AAP in Delhi.

"Following a few electoral reverses, media-created a hype against BJP but since Assam victory and growth in vote percentage all over again the political media atmosphere is conducive towards BJP," he was quoted as saying.

"Delhi BJP workers should make maximum use of this changed media approach to rebut the false campaign of AAP to ensure party's victory in municipal elections next year," he said.

In his address, Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay presented a road-map to expose "corrupt maladministration" of Kejriwal government in Delhi.

"With alert, active communication we have to fight out this government," he said.

In another statement, Upadhayay accused Kejriwal and his "gang" of shaming the democracy by protesting against the arrest of AAP MLA, who is in judicial custody for allegedly molesting women.

He said "Kejriwal began the process of breaking the constitutional federal structure of centre- state relation in January 2014 by trying to hinder Republic Day celebrations and thereafter made number of attempts to push the city administration into a crisis".

"We always knew that he has no respect for women but we never knew that Arvind Kejriwal can stoop so low that he will stand up to defend his colleague accused of molesting women," he added.

Upadhayay said before accusing the central government or the police for any excesses, AAP government should realise that Delhi police acted on a complaint of women following direction of a Magistrate court, where they had registered her statement.

"We also wish to ask Chief Minister Kejriwal to tell why did the clash between women and MLA took place? To best of the knowledge the women and others had gone to request for proper water supply during Ramzan," he added.

Upadhayay further said Kejriwal and his "gang of thugs are trying to divert attention from the main issue of rampant corruption in Delhi and failure to provide proper water and electricity supply to citizen.

"Delhi Jal Board, VAT and Excise department's have become a den of corruption to extort funds for the ruling party," he alleged in a statement.

Dinesh Mohaniya, AAP MLA from Sangam Vihar, was arrested yesterday for alleged assault on a group of women in Neb Sarai here, and sent to judicial custody.
New Delhi: A French woman, facing extradition to Chile for her alleged role in the murder of a senator there in 1991 and in judicial custody here since February last year, has been granted bail by a Delhi court which said the proceedings to extradite her would take time.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Shunali Gupta granted the relief to Marie Emmanuelle Verhoeven subject to furnishing of a personal bond of Rs five lakh and two sureties of the like amount.

The magistrate also ordered Verhoeven to surrender her passport and not leave the national capital without its permission.

The court ordered that its decision be also forwarded to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and the immigration department so that no fresh passport or exit permit is issued in her favour without its permission.

It directed that a fresh look out circular be opened against the French woman who is alleged to have participated in a conspiracy leading to the assassination of Chilean Senator Jaime Guzman Errazuriz on April 1, 1991.

Verhoeven's challenge to the government's decision to extradite had reached the Supreme Court which on April 28 held that there was a binding extradition treaty between India and Chile.

The woman had contended there was no valid extradition treaty between the two countries.

She was arrested on February 16, 2015, from Uttar Pradesh on the basis of a red corner notice issued against her.

The Centre had opposed her bail on the ground that she would flee the country.

Seeking the relief, senior advocate Meet Malhotra and advocate Ramni Taneja, appearing for the woman, claimed she was languishing in jail for 16 months and was a "victim of political vendetta orchestrated by the government of Chile".

The court noted in its order that the French embassy had in a note verbale sent to the Indian government sought release of the woman on humanitarian grounds.

It also noted that the French embassy in another note verbale to the government had said that it has no objection if Verhoeven's passport is seized to prevent her from leaving the country.
Hisar: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said the state would be open-defecation free by December next year and every household would be provided LPG connection.

"Haryana would be made open-defecation free by December, 2017, under the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign and every household would have a toilet," he said.

Urging people to get toilets constructed in their houses and avoid defecating in the open, Khattar said the state government is providing a grant for building toilets.

The Chief Minister also said the government is preparing a scheme to make the state kerosene-free and provide LPG connection to every household within the next one-and-a-half-year.

"With a prescribed time-frame, the scheme to provide LPG connections would be given final shape soon. LPG connection in every household would not only help reduce health risks posed by burning of kerosene, wood and other fuels, but also bring down pollution," Khattar said today.

It would also put a check on the black-marketing and misuse of kerosene, he said at a function in Hansi.

Khattar also said that his government would provide assistance to nomadic tribes for setting up their homes at one place and get their children educated.
Cuttack: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday asserted that those involved in the AugustaWestland chopper scam will not be spared.

"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is after them (those involved in the Augusta scam) and none of them will be spared," Parrikar said while addressing a large gathering here as part of 'Vikash Utsav' organised to mark the BJP-led NDA government's two years in office.

Listing Narendra Modi government's achievements in these two years, the Defence Minister emphasised that the present government has taught as to how to remain clean (corruption-free) even in power.

Parrikar said he valued "integrity" as his most precious possession as a political leader.

Lauding the efforts of security personnel deployed in border areas, the Union Minister said these days, infiltration from across the border has declined because nearly 70 to 75 per cent armed infiltrators were eliminated.

Parrikar also came down heavily on the BJD regime in Odisha claiming the Naveen Patnaik-government has done nothing to create jobs for the millions of educated youth of the state.

"There is plenty of scope to industrialise the state and develop the skills of educated youth so that they can stand up to earn their bread with dignity," the former Goa chief minister said.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and state BJP president Basant Panda also spoke on the occasion.
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Sunday said BJP would be able to retain power at Centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Also, she said that her party BJP would be able to retain power in next state assembly election in 2018.

"I would go to every district and collect feedback from the BJP workers who are the eyes and ears of the party," Raje addressing the party workers in Bhilwara said.

"It is the party workers who make us reach here (in the power) therefore under the 'Apka Zila Apki Sarkar' programme, I would reach out to the party workers and collect feedback on what is going in the districts," she added.

The party workers across the state have geared up and are working to ensure victory in next elections, Raje added.
The larvae usually live concealed and camouflaged in ground litter or under stones, lying in wait for prey. Left: Well camouflaged with small stones. Middle: Carbonized plant residue is used as camouflage here. Right: Reconstruction of a yet uncamouflaged (Photo : Bo Wang, Nanjing)

Insects trapped inside amber reveals new evidence how ancient insects utilize costumes or "invisibility cloaks" to disguise themselves from potential predators as early as 100 million years ago.



In this new study by University of Bonn researchers, scientists have recorded different kinds of insects that are trapped inside fossilized amber that included plants, dirt, grains of sand or even other remnants of their prey. These materials also serve as a "costume" of early insect camouflage that can offer new clues about the habitats of ancient insects.



Advertisement

Among the evidence studied by the team, one amber fossil reveals a lacewing larva and pseudoscorpion battle. The lacewing larva killed the pseudoscorpion by sucking it dry from its powerful mandibles and used its prey's body like an armor, dressing up as a pseudscorpion.



According to Jes Rust from the Steinmann-Institute at the University of Bonn, this type of "disguise" is an indication that the lacewing larva is pretending to be something completely different. By using pieces of its prey, it can even incorporate the scent of the pseudoscorpion.



Scientists were able to examine and document the camouflage uses of 35 insect species that lived during the Cretaceous period. Apart from its prey remnants, the insects were discovered with cloaks made from sand and plant remnants, including wood fibers and dust particles.



According to Torsten Wappler from the Steinmann-Institute, these are considered to be very rare fossils that can provide unique insights about the insect kingdom some 100 million years ago.



The team also suggests that insect costumes made from sand can also provide protection for insects during attacks and some species even adapted some flexible appendages to incorporate these disguise material onto their bodies.



This new study is published in the journal Science Advances.


New Delhi: In the wake of the recent Lashkar attack in Pampore that claimed lives of at least eight CRPF personnel, former union minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Sunday alleged that India`s current policy with Pakistan was a complete failure and called on the Narendra Modi-led government to take action against the hostile neighbour or continue to face attacks like Pathankot and Pampore.

The former finance minister stated that the continuous assaults on the Indian defence, which has resulted in the deaths of several personnel, have given birth to a war-like situation between India and Pakistan.

"When these numbers of our people are being slaughtered, it`s a clear open attack on India by Pakistan. It is with great distress that I am saying that our government`s policy towards Pakistan has failed. There are still many leaders, who will call for cordiality with Pakistan saying they are `bechara`. They are not `bechara`, they have been attacking us for years and now, they are targeting our defence personnel head on," Sinha said.

Calling on the Centre to muster courage and make Pakistan accountable for all they have done, Sinha said that there was absolutely no reason for India to be afraid."If we never question Pakistan and keep `bowing down` to them then attacks like those in Pathankot and Pampore will continue. After incidents like Pathankot, we bang our chests and weep and then forget about it," he added.

Stating the time has come to teach Pakistan a lesson, Sinha said, "If they have nuclear weapons, so do we. For the government, I am under the category of brain dead as I do not even have the status to give an opinion. But I have continuously opposed this government`s policy towards Pakistan.

"Hitting out at the Pakistan High Commissioner for his casual reaction on the Pampore attack, the senior BJP leader asserted that Abdul Basit`s statement calling to focus on their `Iftar party` instead was against all norms of diplomacy and was highly objectionable.

"Earlier also, I had asked our government to declare the Pakistan High Commission as persona non grata, that means that we do not accept them and that they should go back to Pakistan.

But this High Commissioner to still remain on India`s soil is just not right," Sinha added.Basit on Saturday shrugged off the question on the attack and said that one should instead focus on the Iftaar celebrations in the Pakistan High Commission.

"It`s the month of Ramzaan, let`s focus on this Iftaar party. The issue of Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed issue between India and Pakistan. It`s an issue, which needs to be solved. We hope we will sit and discuss on the issue and find a solution. Let`s have the Iftaar party and enjoy ourselves," he told the media.

Saturday`s attack was the fourth one on the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir this month. At least 17 security personnel were killed and several others injured in the last three major strikes along the Jammu-Srinagar Highway during the period.

Officials say infiltration has dramatically gone up compared to the previous year with more than 50 terrorists crossing the border in the last five months. Last year, there was zero infiltration in the first four months.
Bhubaneswar: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday expressed doubt if the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was followed properly by the bus-borne CRPF personnel at Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir who were attacked by terrorists leading to eight jawans being killed.

He said he "doubted if the SOP was followed properly" while noting that the clear picture will emerge after the inquiry.

"We will only get to know the exact reason after the inquiry," Parrikar told reporters here.

The minister termed the killing of CRPF personnel at Pampore as an act of "frustration" on part of Pakistani terrorists several of whom were killed by Indian forces in past one year.

"In last one year, we have eliminated over 25 terrorist from Pakistan who had infiltrated into our country. It was an act of frustration," he said.

Eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and 21 others wounded when terrorists rained bullets on the bus carrying them in Pulwama district yesterday.
New Dei: Al Qaeda's South Asian wing AQIS (al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent) trains its recruits not only to carry out terror attacks but also to radicalise vulnerable Muslim youth in the name of jihad, Delhi Police sources said.

"Askari" and "Deeni" are major training provided to new members of the outfit by AQIS handlers based in Pakistan, the sources said.

"Askari is over month-long rigorous training in weapons and battle modes to carry out terror strikes while Deeni is 45-day religious training provided to AQIS members to motivate and radicalise youth," said an official on the condition of anonymity.

Mohammad Asif, 41, the suspected "Indian incharge" of AQIS who was arrested by Delhi Police's special cell in December last year, had informed investigators about these training modules in his testimony.

Asif's revelation is part of the chargesheet filed on June 10 by the special cell in Delhi's Patiala House court against 17 accused, 12 of whom are absconding. They have been charged with allegedly conspiring and recruiting Indian youth and seeking to establish a base of AQIS in the country.

AQIS was established by al Qaeda in 2014 to spread its wings in South Asia.

The chargesheet reveals that Asif, a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, took "religious training" in Waziristan in Pakistan in 2014. However, due to "his old age", he was not sent for "rigorous Askari training". It also states that Asif stayed near the training camp where chief of Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsood, was killed in a US drone attack.

The chargesheet states that Asif was made "in-charge" of AQIS in India after completion of training in Waziristan by an AQIS member Sayed Akhtar, who also hails from Sambhal and is learnt to be staying near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

It states that Asif, who reached Pakistan in June 2013, managed to return to India in October 2014. He was arrested in Delhi on Dec 14, 2015, following a tip-off.

Asif informed police that he along with Serjil, another resident of Sambhal, stayed in Miranshah in Pakistan where Akhtar delivered lectures for them on jihad.

Akhtar told Asif and others about formation of "Tanzeem AQIS" for carrying out terrorist activities in India.

The chargesheet states that Asif was among a group of 10 people who were provided Deeni training on the instruction of AQIS's Amir Maulana Asim Umar alias Sanaul Haq-- who was appointed to the position by AQIS's overall chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2014.

Investigators said that Serjil, Rehan and five other boys were selected for Askari. "One Pakistan national Ustad Sohail taught these new recruits about handling of explosives and IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices), they said.

Another suspected terrorist Jafar Masood, who was arrested by special cell of Delhi Police in December 2015, told the interrogators that he along with other youth was trained in using assault weapons including guns and grenades during Askari training.
New Delhi: Close on the heels of a setback on the issue of membership into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India on Sunday said it is all set to get into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) on Monday and that joining the NSG may take "slightly longer".

"In the past also, we (India) have tried to get membership into restrictive regimes so to speak. We had applied membership into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and MTCR. At that time, many people said we will never get it. We had applied 10 years back," said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

He said "this week alone", India got membership into SCO and on Monday "we are going to become full members of MTCR".

"As I said, there are some processes which take longer (time). I will evaluate the NSG membership process in that catageory," he said.

The MTCR seeks to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500kg payload for at least 300 km.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is likely to sign the document of accession into MTCR in the presence of Ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on Monday.

Swarup, admitting that India "did not get the desired result" at Seoul vis-a-vis NSG, added: "Probably it will take slightly longer."

Official sources said NSG is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India.

On Friday, India had failed to seek entry into the NSG at the plenary meet in Seoul primarily due to technical objections raised by China.

Much to India`s discomfort, China`s objections also got support from a few other members like South Africa, Norway, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey.

India has blamed China for the same as the set back in Seoul came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 45-minute meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Tashkent.

Sources on Sunday claimed at the suggestion of countries like Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the 2015.

Swarup also said: "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."

His comments assume significance as Beijing also said that its opposition to India at NSG will not impact bilateral ties adversely.

"Today, the Indian diplomacy doesn`t have fear of failure. If we don`t get desired results it only means that we redouble our efforts. There are some processes which take longer," Swarup said.
New Delhi: Days after Indias most wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed said that India will soon pay for it's growing relation with the US, the Mumbai attack mastermind recently announced that he will wage 'jihad' to get the Pakistani rivers freed from India.

"We are going to wage jihad (war) against India to get our rivers freed," Saeed said while addressing a gathering of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) workers in Sialokot district of Punjab Province on Friday.

Saeed said Dukhtraan-e-Milat's head Asiya Andrabi told him that situation in Kashmir has "changed" now.

"Asiya Bibi told me by telephone that those who were talking about Independent Kashmir are no more on the scene while young leadership has come forward and it will give a fresh impetus to the freedom campaign," Saeed, who founded the terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, said.

Saeed said Pakistan should take serious notice of the United States' warnings which have raised the curtain from its "evil designs" against it.

"Time is ripe now for Pakistan to change its foreign policy with the US, Iran and India," he said.

The 26/11 mastermind also vowed to foil every conspiracy aimed at damaging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

He also said that Pakistan should take serious notice of US warnings which have raised the curtain from the evil designs of the US and other national enemies.

The JuD chief further said that the Pakistan should take up the drone matter at every international forum.

Pakistan should adopt very bold steps against the US drone attacks in Pakistan, he said.

Saeed further added that the time was ripe now for Pakistan to revamp its foreign policy with the US, Iran and India.

He also asked all the religious and political parties to shun their differences and be united coming on a page against the anti-Pakistan conspiracies especially the US drone attack in Pakistan and US warning to Pakistan to attack everywhere in Pakistan when and where needed.

However, Hafiz had earlier said that India  US relation is the biggest drawback for Pakistan's growth and India will soon pay for it.
New Delhi: Sharing his thoughts with the nation through his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign has touched many lives and the results of various examinations show how women are excelling.

On the occasion, PM Modi congratulated the country for having the first batch of women fighter pilots inducted into the Air Force. On 18th June, first batch of women fighter pilots inducted in Air Force, we feel very proud, I congratulate them and their families, he said.

Yesterday in Pune I met college students who made one of the satellites that was launched by ISRO.

This satellite signifies the skills and aspirations of the youth of India," PM Modi said.

He said that there was a need for more youth to choose science and research as their profession.

"I feel proud to see the contribution of our young students's contribution in the field of science and technology. I want more and more students of the country to ... and choose science and research as their profession," PM Modi said.

The two satellites built by students and launched by ISRO are very important and special for me. This is a classic example of high ambitions of Indian youth, he said his 21st edition of the Mann Ki Baat programme.

PM Modi said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had made the country proud.

"The matter of pride in the recent launch of the satellites was that 17 out of the 20 were the satellites of the foreign countries. Isn't this great. Our scientists are working hard to take our country to new heights," the prime minister stated.

Like our farmers, our scientists too are working hard to take our country to new heights.

For the last few weeks we have got positive news about rainfall in various parts of the nation.

Scientists have forecast a good monsoon, I give my best wishes to my farmer brothers, PM Modi said.

PM Modi also highlighted the success of the International Day of Yoga events across the world.

Yoga has the power to connect the entire world, if only each one of us connect ourselves with Yoga. The International Yoga Day on June 21 was celebrated at over 1 lakh places in our country with enthusiasm, he said.

PM Modi also asked people to declare their undisclosed income by September 30, making it clear that this is the last chance to avoid problems that will follow after the window of opportunity closes.

He said no questions would be asked about the source of the undisclosed income or assets if the declaration is made voluntarily by September 30.

"For those having undisclosed income, the government has provided a special chance to declare it by September 30," Modi said.

He said by paying a penalty, those having undisclosed money can free themselves from various kinds of burden.

"I have promised that there will be no inquiry into the source of the undisclosed income and assets if the declaration is made voluntarily. That is why I am saying it is a good chance for becoming a part of transparent system," he said.

"Let me tell the countrymen that this chance is till September 30. Consider this as the last chance," the Prime Minister asserted during the programme.

He said he has told BJP MPs that if anybody faces any problem after September 30 for not abiding by the rules, no help should be provided to them.

"It will be better that you take advantage of the window provided and save yourself from the difficulties that you can face after September 30," he said.

Modi said there was a time when taxation rules were such that people would tend to avoiding paying taxes.

"But gradually, times changed. Now, for a taxpayer, it is not much difficult to abide by the government rules. Still, old habits die hard," he said, adding there are still people who feel that it is better to avoid paying taxes.

"My plea is that by running away from rules, we lose our peace. Any small person can harass us. Why should we let it happen? Why not ourselves give correct information to the government about our income, about our wealth? For once, dispose off the baggage of the past. I appeal to my countrymen to get free from this," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)
New Delhi: NSG is likely to meet again before the end of the year to discuss membership of non-NPT signatories like India, which on Sunday made it clear to China, responsible for torpedoing its recent bid, that it was necessary to take care of India's "interests" for forward movement in bilateral ties.

The 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet again before the end of the year specially to discuss the process for granting membership to non-NPT signatories, thus providing another chance to India to press its claims after it failed to seal its entry into NSG at the plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.

India faced strong opposition from China and a few other countries and the fact that it is not a signatory to the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was used for foiling India's bid.

However, diplomatic sources today said that at the suggestion of Mexico, it has now been decided that another meeting of NSG should be held before the end of the year to consider the entry criteria for non-NPT countries. Normally, the next meeting of NSG would have been held sometime next year.

Even as it emerged that NSG is likely to meet in the next few months, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "We will keep impressing upon China that mutual accommodation of interests, concerns and priorities is necessary to move forward bilateral ties."

His comments assume significance in the backdrop of Chinese Foreign Ministry's assertion that Beijing's opposition at NSG, which is a multi-lateral platform, will not impact the India-China ties adversely.

Swarup also said that though India did not get "expected results" at the Seoul meeting, the country will continue to make determined efforts to get into NSG.

China had voiced its opposition to Mexico's suggestion for an early NSG meeting on non-NPT countries' membership but the proposition found support from a large number of countries including the US.

A panel for informal consultations on India's membership has also been set up by the NSG and it will be headed by Argentine Ambassador Rafael Grossi.

Grossi's appointment came even as a top US official said that the NSG session in Seoul had ended with a "path forward" for India's acceptance as a member.

"We are confident that we have got a path forward by the end of this year. It needs some work. But we are confident that India would be a full member of the (NSG) regime by the end of the year," the Obama administration official told PTI in Washington.

China was unrelenting in thwarting India's NSG bid despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered his condolences after eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were martyred in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore of Jammu and Kashmir.

"I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. (sic)," PM Narendra Modi tweeted.

I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2016

"My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon. (sic), " the PM added through a tweet.

My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 25, 2016

Pampore attack

Eight CRPF personnel were martyred and 24 injured in the major ambush by two terrorists, who were neutralised in the encounter in Pampore.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar offered his condolences to the families of the martyred and said that he is praying for the early recovery of those injured.

CRPF DG K Durga Prasad has briefed Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the incident and will be visiting Pampore on Sunday to take stock of the situation.

'Terrorists were from Pakistan'

The CRPF on Saturday asserted that the two terrorists, who have been neutralized appeared to be Pakistanis and were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

"According to the first hand info, both killed terrorists appeared to be Pakistanis and definitely from Lashkar and in all likelihood fidayeen," IG, CRPF operation Nalin Parbhat told ANI.

Arms and ammunition recovered

Security personnel recovered arms and ammunition including 2 AK 47 Rifles, 11 hand grenades from the killed terrorists.
Fatehgarh/Srinagar/Ranchi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday clearly accused Pakistan of trying to destabilise India, a day after militants ambushed a CRPF convoy in Kashmir killing 8 personnel, and said a central team will look into possible lapses which may have led to the incident.

He also said security forces have "standing orders" not to fire the first bullet, but "not count bullets while retaliating".

A three-member team of Home Ministry officials will visit Kashmir on Tuesday to find out if there were any lapses involved in the attack in Pampore, the deadliest on security forces in recent years, in which eight CRPF personnel were killed and 21 injured.

The team will look into the possible increase of cross border Infiltration and practices being followed during the movement of paramilitary forces convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while condemning the incident and paying tributes to the deceased CRPF personnel, said the people of the state were the "worst sufferers" of such attacks as these deprive them of development and employment.

Observing that such attacks "defame" the state, she highlighted that the strike had been carried out during Ramzan, the holy month when "people should be seeking forgiveness and expiation for past sins" and "making sure not to hurt others."

Strongly condemning the militants, Mehbooba said,"They not only defame the state but I think they also bring discredit to the religion behind which they take shelter to perpetrate such acts."

"An attempt is being made by these terrorists and our neighbouring country to destabilise India," Singh said in a clear reference to Pakistan but without naming it.

"I want to praise the bravery of our security men. I salute their courage. Terrorists attacked them (security men) deceitfully. But our security men killed those two terrorists successfully," he said addressing a function in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to mark the 300th martyrdom anniversary of legendary Sikh Warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur.

Later addressing a function in Ranchi, Singh said India will win against terrorism.

"We will win against terrorism," he said addressing a BJP event where he voiced deep pain over yesterday's incident.

He recalled an order he had given after the killing of five citizens by Pakistani Rangers a-year-and-half ago. "I told them we will not fire the first bullet, but when we come under attack don't count bullets while retaliating ....That standing order remains in force," he said.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, said India seeks peace "but from the position of strength and not from the position of weakness".

He said the attack is a "fallout of frustration" as he cited the records of last one month during which 25-30 terrorists have been gunned down after their infiltration from Pakistani side.

While suspecting that Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) might not have been followed by the CRPF contingent yesterday, he said,"I am pained that eight jawans were killed. Why, how it happened and whose fault it was, it will be clear after an enquiry."

Rajnath Singh said he has asked the Home Secretary to send a team to Pampore "to look into any lapses so that we can correct it in the future and our jawans do not face martyrdom in such incidents."

The team, to be headed by Secretary (Border Management) Sushil Kumar, is to submit its report at the earliest. The other officials are Special Secretary (Internal Security) Mahesh Kumar Singla and Joint Secretary Gyanesh Kumar.

After the attack, CRPF has moved about half-a-dozen heavy-armoured mine protected vehicles (MPVs), which were earlier used for anti-Naxal operations, to Kashmir Valley to effectively secure its troops deployed there.
New Delhi: In a significant development which will certainly raise the eyebrows of the intelligence agencies, Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) - affiliated by the dreaded terror group known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) - has released a new "kill list" of over 4,000 people across the globe which includes 285 Indians.

According to a Zee Media report, apart from Indians, half of the names in the 'kill list' are of Americans, residents of the UK, France and Canada. Along with the names, the list consists of addresses and emails of the targeted people.

The hacker group distributed the list on the encrypted messaging service, Telegram, calling for ISIS supporters to target the individuals listed.

"O wolves of the Islamic State, (this is a) very important list, kill them immediately," International Business Times quoted the hacker group as saying on Friday.

Coincidentally, some reports credits the UCC (United Cyber Caliphate) for releasing the list. However, since the CCA was incorporated into the UCC when the various pro-ISIS hacker groups were merged in April 2016, the credit could perhaps be attributed to both hacker groups.

Notably, Indian software engineers, who help the government officials to tackle with militants to keep the country safe, are mostly topping the 'kill list', as per Zee Media.

In April 2016, The UCC had made headlines when it released a hit list of thousands of New Yorkers, shortly after announcing itself as the joint hacking arm of ISIS.

However, the list was later found to contain outdated information, which may also be the case in this instance.
It is with a very measured sense that Hoda ElSadda, member of the recently founded Institution to Defend the Constitution, and rapporteur of the liberties and rights chapter for the C-50, expressed optimism over the recent statements made by Minister of State for Legal Affairs Magdi ElAgati that promised an amendment of the controversial law to regulate the right for civil protests.

Earlier in the month, ElAgati had promised that in the near future the law that was issued under the interim presidency of Adly Mansour, in 2014, in the long absence of a legislative body would be subject to amendments that are designed to reduce what critics had been arguing are excessive constraints that go against the text and spirit of the constitution drafted by the C50 and adopted with an overwhelming majority in January 2014.

This is an overdue process; this law has always been incompatible with the constitution and it is time to rectify this without any further delay, ElSadda said.

She argued that this move, should it happen, should be followed by a reverse of legal courts that sent young men and women to jail for having violated this law which is unconstitutional to start with.

ElSadda insisted that once the amended law is issued, prompt measures to release those who had been sent to jail should be taken without any further delay.

This is about the respect of the constitution and it is also about the pursuit of a much needed social cohesion, she added.

ElSadda is convinced that the issue of social cohesion is central to the dominating idea of the 2014 constitution. And, she said, the issue of social justice is consequently very key because in the absence of social justice and politics sensitive to the economically challenged there is no way we could obtain social cohesion, she said.

As such, ElSadda is very worried about the new state budget which she finds to be totally off the line of social justice as off the text of the constitution.

ElSadda is particularly concerned with the failure of the executive to honour the share of the budget that the constitution stipulates as a minimum for public spending for health, education and scientific research.

According to the 2014 constitution the state should allocate 3 percent of the budget for health services  which are in a very unfortunate shape  and 6 per cent for education  which prompts endless criticism  and 1.5 cent for scientific research.

This is supposed to be the minimum; the fact that the executive decides to forgo this minimum is very alarming, ElSadda said.

She explained that there are two reasons for concern: the first is the almost systematic shrugging off the constitution and the second is the insensitivity to the acute complaints of the vast majority of the about health and education services.

ElSadda had already been worried with the little attention that she found that Prime Minister Sherif Ismail had given to these two very crucial issues in his statement before parliament in April.

I could see this coming in the budget but I was hoping that I was wrong, she said.

ElSadda is currently discussing the issue with members of the new institution as with members of parliament.

She does not have immediate answers about how this could  or if it would be  rectified. But she is certain that advocacy is required if only to secure future change  and certainly to take the constitution off the shelf where it has been put for the most part during the past two years.

I think that even though we have been going through a lengthy transition and have been faced with no small challenges, we are way overdue in implementing the text and spirit of the constitution especially on the chapter related to rights and liberties seems to have been almost all forgotten, she argued.

The failure of the state to amend the regulations on the right to protest and the failure to allocate the necessary resources to health and education are but some of many other signs of the lack of attention tht the executive is showing to the constitutional text on rights and liberties.

I am not just talking aobut rights and freedom of expression, which are essential liberties according to the constitution, but also about socioeconomic rights, she said.

She added  the whole purpose of drafting this constitution was to make sure that it is implemented this was not just designed as act as a reminder that this constitution was not designed to serve a cosmetic purpose, ElSadda insisted.

Moroever, she argued that the executive cannot simply decide to overlook any particular chapter under any given pretext, because I do hear some who suggest that there are those in executive quarters who argue the incompatibility of the chapter on freedoms and rights with the requirements and challenges of the confrontation the state is having with terrorist groups, and I think it is wrong for anyone to even start to suggest this.

According to ElSadda, there is no "either/or" argument to be made on freedoms versus terrorism.

ElSadda acknowledges that calls for introducing amendments to a constitution that has not even been taken to practice are unrealistic. I mean, even if we decided that we want to go through amendments soon, we need to at least explore the text that we have in practice, she said.

ElSadda insists that "taking the constitution towards implementation" cannot be done selectively.

Honouring freedoms and rights, including socioeconomic rights, freedoms of expression and other public liberties, is actually essential to consolidating society, which should be the obvious requirement for any war against terrorism, anywhere in the world and we are not an exception, she said.

Moreover, ElSadda insisted that it is erroneous of the same sceptical currents in the ranks of the executive to argue or act against the role of civil society, as demonstrated with the attack on several prominent NGOs, including Al-Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture.

According to the constitution that the executive, from the top to bottom, is sworn to uphold, ElSadda reminds, the role of the state is to support and not to hamper the contribution of civil society.

Moreover, she reminds, the post-30 June/3 July regime agreed, during the periodic review of the situation of rights in Egypt in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in November 2014 and March 2015, to honour and support the role of the civil society, alongside other still unfulfilled commitments related to the right to demonstrate and to assemble, and the need to protect human rights defenders.

Egypt, ElSadda reminds, should have acted to prepare and adopt the law affirming the right to establish non-governmental organisations merely upon notification, as per the commitment it accepted.

She equally expressed concern over the official rigidity demonstrated on the matter during a session of the UN Human Rights in Geneva earlier in June. This is not a very positive sign, she argued.

This month, the working groups of the "Institution to Defend the Constitution" will consider "what needs to be done" on these and other matters, that actually touch the core of the constitution that is designed to secure the formation and protection of a civil state in the full sense of the word," according to ElSadda.

We need to look at what should be done on the law that regulates demonstrations, which we have always argued was unconstitutional, and what should be done towards implementing the constitutional text on securing a specific share for women in judicial bodies, and what needs to be done on honouring constitutional stipulations on the role of labour and professional syndicates, ElSadda said.

She added: I have to say that one is really worried because it is not only that these texts are overlooked, but at points they are actually  and maybe even deliberately  contradicted.

It is not happening; the constitution is just not being implemented and we actually sense that there is a smear campaign that targets some of the basic rights included there  especially those related to human rights, political liberties and civil society, ElSadda said.

Our ultimate objective is to secure the rule of law. This is the basic foundation of a civil state, just as it is the foundation of securing development and combating terrorism. Without the rule of law, and here I should note without the role of NGOs that are the watchdogs that observe the rule of law, we are up to some unfortunate challenges, she said.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Washington: A US lawmaker has compared an unprecedented sit-in inside the House of Representatives by Democratic lawmakers to the protest by AIADMK members in the Rajya Sabha in March, saying "other governments may behave this way" but US should not follow suit.

Congressman Mark Meadows posted two photos -- one of the Democratic party sit-in and the other of AIADMK protest by lawmakers inside the Rajya Sabha in March -- saying they look "disturbingly similar".

"Other governments may behave this way, but it is crucial that we set an example for democracy and not follow suit," Meadows, who is a two-term Congressman from North Carolina, said in a tweet accompanying the photographs.

Under the leadership of legendary John Lewis, Democratic lawmakers resorted to an unprecedented sit-in inside the well of the House of Representatives demanding vote on a strong gun control laws earlier this month after the Orlando massacre in which 49 people were killed by Afghan-origin gunman Omar Mateen.

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives described this as a publicity stunt. The Democrats ended the sit-in after 24 hours.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti stirred a controversy while she was condemning the militant attack on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pampore in which eight defence personnel were killed.

Mehbooba was speaking at the wreath laying ceremony of troopers killed on Saturday near Pampore town when she allegedly linked terrorism with Islam.

Terror attack in Ramzan is against Islam

"I condemn the attack. I feel ashamed as a Muslim that such an incident happened during Ramzan that is observed for piety and penance. Allah has ordered that we should stay away from all bad and sinful acts during Ramzan. Such an act only defames Kashmir," CM Mehbooba Mufti said.

"All the big countries across the world had been advising their citizens not to visit Kashmir, but they have now relaxed their travel advisories," CM Mufti said.

Mehbooba Mufti said such acts deprive mothers of their sons, sisters of their brothers and families of their livelihood.

"The killing of people who were doing their duty brings a bad name to Kashmir and those who indulge in such acts are not doing any service to Islam," she said.

Opposition slams Mehbooba Mufti's statement

National Conference spokesperson Junaid Mattu while condemning Mehbooba Mufti's remarks said that the statement is shameful. "This is the same Mehbooba Mufti who used to say that terror has no religion. Now suddenly she sees terror as an offshoot of Islam for which Muslims should be ashamed. This is shameful coming from a Chief Minister," Mattu said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and MLA from Beerwah Omar Abdullah also attacked CM Mehbooba Mufti over her alleged remark where she said 'she was ashamed as a Muslim'.

So @mehbooba_mufti has joined the "Islamic terror" bandwagon after spending years saying terror had no religion. Sad https://t.co/vKzwPpBupO  Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 26, 2016

Eight troopers killed, at least 22 injured in Pampore attack

The attack was triggered by two suicide militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba group who were also killed in the incident. The dead men include Sub-Inspectors Jaichandran and Sanjay Kumar, Head Constables Bir Singh and Jagtar Singh and Constables Santosh Sahu, Satish Chand, Kailash and Rajesh.

As many as 22 CRPF troopers injured in the attack are being treated at an army hospital in Srinagar.
Baramulla (J&K): Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday shot dead two militants during a gunfight in the state's Baramulla district, even as a massive search operation is underway to secure the area.

The gunfight broke out near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector in North Kashmir's Baramulla district on Saturday.

The soldiers of 17 JAK RIF and Baramulla Police were patrolling the area near the Lachipora forest on Saturday when the militant group opened fire at them.

After being challenged, the suspected militants opened fire on the forces triggering off an encounter. So far, two militants have been killed during the gunfight," he said. The encounter is currently underway, ANI reported quoting an Army officer.

The encounter comes close on the hills of another attack by militants in the state's Pampore region on Saturday.

Eight CRPF personnel were martyred and 24 others injured in the attack. Two terrorists involved in the attack were gunned down.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences and said, "I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. (sic)."

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that he is praying for the early recovery of those injured.

CRPF DG K Durga Prasad has briefed Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the incident and will be visiting Pampore on Sunday to take stock of the situation.
Srinagar: The nation paid tribute to the eight Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel today, who lost their lives in an encounter with Lashkar terrorists in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, as a wreath laying ceremony was held for the bravehearts with full honours.

State Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh were present at the ceremony and paid their respects.

Yesterday, Mufti condemned the militant attack, saying that such acts of violence were aimed at subverting the Government's efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the state.

"The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people and subvert the Government's efforts aimed at bringing permanent peace and prosperity to Jammu and Kashmir," Mufti said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered his condolences saying that he was pained by the news.

"I salute the courage of the CRPF personnel martyred today in J&K. They served the nation with utmost dedication. Pained by their demise. My thoughts are with the families of those martyred today. May those injured recover soon," the Prime Minister said in a series of tweets.

Meanwhile, the senior officials of the Home Ministry and the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) are arriving in Srinagar today to take stock of the situation in Pampore.

The CRPF yesterday asserted that the two terrorists, who were neutralized in the gun-battle, appeared to be Pakistanis and were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

In the fierce gun-battle that took place yesterday evening, 24 CRPF jawans were also injured.

The security personnel recovered arms and ammunition including 2 AK 47 Rifles, 11 hand grenades from the killed terrorists.
Srinagar: Top security officials on Sunday reviewed the security in Kashmir Valley in the wake of the deadly Pampore attack and the upcoming Amarnath Yatra.

A meeting of the officials was chaired here in the afternoon by Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar.

He stressed on the need for effective and responsive mechanism among all security forces and Intelligence agencies to maintain peace and security in the state.

"Peace is imperative for development and growth in different fields which should be maintained at all costs," Kumar told the meeting.

Senior officers of Police, CRPF, BSF, Army, ITBP and Intelligence were present in the meeting held at the Police Control Room. Jammu IGP attended the meeting through video conference.

The meeting deliberated on various important issues relating to the internal security situation in the state, a police spokesman said.

Officers representing different agencies briefed the meeting about the measures taken on different fronts to safeguard the interests of the state, he said.

Kumar said rule of the law should be ensured at all costs and nobody should be allowed to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in the state.

He added police along with other security forces are firm to tackle any situation and all subversive acts by the militants will be faced with fortitude.

"The desperate attempts by the militants to target security personnel would not deter us to prevail complete peace in the state," Kumar said, adding all security forces in the state will collectively eradicate the menace of terrorism.

Referring the recent attacks by the militants targeting the security personnel, the DGP said that men in uniform are retaliating with the a view to avoid killing of innocent people.

He said the forces are exercising restraint while responding to such acts in order to avoid collateral damages.

He also asked the officers to implement the common strategy, already framed to deal the situation and said joint meetings and input sharing will give better results of the strategy adopted by the agencies.

"Convene joint regular meetings to share the inputs and

strengthen the communication to foil nefarious designs of the anti-national elements," Kumar said.

Security arrangements for Amarnath Yatra were also discussed in the meeting for its peaceful and smooth conduct.

The annual pilgrimage will begin from the first week of July.

The meeting was informed that all required arrangements have been finalised for a safe and secure pilgrimage.

The DGP asked for smooth regulations of traffic on the national highway and other routes leading to the Holy Cave via Pahalgm and Baltal, so that the pilgrims and commuters do not suffer due to traffic jams.
Bhubaneswar: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Sunday claimed the attack on the convoy of two Union ministers in Odisha's Bargarh on Friday was a "panic reaction" of the ruling BJD.

"General election in Odisha is scheduled to be held only in 2019. But, from now itself the earth beneath their (BJD leaders') feet have started slipping. (Abhi se unke paon ke nichhe ki zameen khisak rahi hai)," he said.

The senior BJP leader was responding to a question on Friday's incident at Baragarh where the cavalcade of Union ministers Santosh Gangwar and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was stoned allegedly by the ruling BJD's activists including MLAs who also carried black flags.

He said the incident was a "panic reaction" of the ruling party as the BJP has emerged as a force to reckon with in the state.

Dubbing the attack as a "planned action", Parrikar challenged the attackers to face him.

"It (attack on ministers convoy) was a planned action. I condemn it. Kisiko takat hei to mere samne ane do (If anyone has guts, let him come in front of me)," he told reporters here.

Stating that the people of Odisha are peace loving and therefore no one needs security here, Parrikar said, "As the former chief minister of Goa, I know that there are about 15,000 Odia people in Goa. They are absolutely humble and peaceful like the people of Goa. Therefore, one need not have security cover here. However, no one can do anything, if things are planned and executed."

Parrikar was on a visit to Odisha to attend a 'Vikash Ustav' of BJP at Cuttack, barely two days after the ruling BJD activists attacked the cavalcade of two union ministers and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda.

"It is a very unfortunate incident which took place in Bargarh where a group of people attacked and damaged the vehicle of Union Textiles minister Santosh Gangwar. I have never seen such an incident anywhere in the country," Union Drinking Water and Sanitation minister Ram Kripal Yadav, who also came here today, told reporters.

Yadav, who hails from Bihar, said though political differences in his state are high, there is no 'goondaism' among the parties.

"But the incident which took place in Bargarh is open hooliganism. Union Home minister has expressed grave concern over the incident. All I can say is that politics of this kind can be possible only in Odisha, not elsewhere in the country. I strongly condemn this incident," he added.

Yadav said he is a common man and if attacked, the people of Odisha will decide.

Union Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the ruling party (BJD) friends have adopted an undemocratic method of protest.

"The people of Odisha always believe in democratic process. Use of slippers, sticks, stones and filthy language are utterly undemocratic methods and those who practise these methods have an autocratic mentality. May God give them the wisdom," he said.
Beijing: China's finance minister and leading economists on Sunday voiced concerns about Britain`s vote to leave the European Union, with the policymaker saying it has heightened market uncertainty, though some expect a limited impact on the Chinese economy.

The "Brexit" decision "will cast a shadow over the global economy... The repercussions and fallout will emerge in the next five to 10 years," said Lou Jiwei, China`s Minister of Finance, at the first annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.

"It`s difficult to predict now," he said. "The knee-jerk reaction from the market is probably a bit excessive and needs to calm down and take an objective view."

Stock markets around the world plunged in the wake of the referendum while the Sterling`s value also plummeted.

Lou`s views were separately echoed by other economists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in China`s northern city of Tianjin.

"It`s hard to talk about and judge the direct impact on China`s economy," said Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank`s monetary policy committee.

"If (Brexit) is an important landmark in terms of a reversal of globalisation, I think that`s very bad for the world, it`s very bad for China," Huang said.

Li Daokui, a professor at Tsinghua University and a former adviser to China`s central bank, was more optimistic on the referendum`s effects on the world`s second-largest economy.

"China is perhaps one of the least impacted economies in the world by the event of Brexit," he told an audience at WEF.

"The only short-term impact I can think about is the exchange rate of the renminbi... But I do think within a few trading sessions that situation will very quickly subdued," said Li.

Also speaking at WEF was economist Nouriel Roubini, famed for predicting the global financial crisis, who said the decision to leave the European Union "creates a whole bunch of financial, economic, political and geopolitical uncertainties."

It could be the "beginning of the disintegration" of the bloc of countries, the euro zone or the United Kingdom, said Roubini.

"I don`t expect a global recession or another global financial crisis," he added. "I think the impact of Brexit is significant but not of the same size and magnitude of the one we had 2007 to 2009."

Michael Falcon, CEO of Global Investment Management Asia Pacific at JP Morgan, said he expects more market volatility but doesn`t think the vote would derail a global recovery.

"It is a shock, not a crisis and so far markets seem to be handling this pretty well," Falcon said at the WEF conference.
Kabul: Sixteen Taliban militants were killed in a US drone attack in Afghanistan's Kunduz province, a military statement said on Sunday.

"A senior Taliban leader named Mullah Jannat Gul along with 15 of his men were killed after a drone struck two vehicles along a road in Quash Tipa, Chahar Dara district on Saturday night," said the statement issued by the Afghan army`s Division 20 Pamir stationed in the region.

The insurgents tried to relocate but the struck came after a tip-off confirmed the movement of the militants, Xinhua news agency reported citing the statement as saying.
Beijing: At least 30 people were killed and 21 others injured when a tourist bus burst into flames after crashing into the side of a road in central China today.

The accident happened in Hunan province when the bus carrying 56 people crashed into the guardrails on a highway.

The ensuing oil leak may have caused the fire, the county government said.

Twenty-one people have been hospitalise and rescuers are still searching the charred frame of the bus.

The police has detained the driver of the bus, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Members of the delegation will also discuss with Egyptian officials bilateral relations and efforts to fight terrorism

A US Congress delegation started saturday a three-day visit to Egypt for meetings with Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for talks on security issues, according to a US embassy press release issued Saturday.

The delegation, which is headed by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (Republican, California), Chairman of the Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, will also meet with other public officials.

The congressmen will "discuss [with Egyptian officials] the long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt, efforts to fight terrorism, and shared interests in regional stability and security," the US embassy said.

The delegation also includes representatives Juan Vargas (Democrat, California), Steve King (Republican, Iowa), Richard Pittenger (Republican, North Carolina), and Alex Mooney (Republican, West Virginia).

Search Keywords:

Short link:


London: Britain`s political crisis deepened Sunday amid party infighting in London and new polls showing bolstered support for Scottish independence, even as EU leaders seek a quick divorce after a seismic vote to leave the bloc.

Prime Minister David Cameron will meet with his cabinet Monday and parliament will reconvene, four days after the shock Brexit vote which plunged the bloc and global financial markets into unprecedented turmoil.

Finance minister George Osborne will make an early morning speech to try to steady markets, while US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in London and Brussels for crisis talks and the leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet in Berlin.

Three days after Cameron announced his resignation after losing last Thursday`s referendum, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also facing pressure to stand down, with a string of his top team resigning Sunday.

EU powers have called for a swift divorce amid fears of a domino effect of exit votes in eurosceptic member states that could imperil the integrity of the 28-nation alliance.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz warned Sunday that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs" and said a summit of EU leaders Tuesday, which Cameron will attend, was the "right time" to begin exit proceedings.

But Cameron has said negotiations on Britain`s departure must wait until a successor is chosen from his Conservative party, which could be as late as October.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will host French President Francois Hollande, Italian premier Matteo Renzi and EU President Donald Tusk on Monday, has said there is "no reason to be nasty in the negotiations".

On Sunday Hollande and Merkel confirmed they were in "full agreement on how to handle the situation" French presidency sources said after a phone call between the two leaders.

Both heads of state "want the greatest clarity to avoid any uncertainty," and "stressed the need for European initiatives and the need to act quickly on concrete priorities," one source told AFP.

Kerry meanwhile, during a stopover in Rome on Sunday, expressed regret at Britain`s decision to become the first EU nation to leave the bloc -- and vowed Washington would maintain close ties with the 28-country alliance.

"Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU," he said.Britons cast aside warnings of isolation and economic disaster to vote 52 percent to 48 percent in favour of quitting the EU in Thursday`s referendum.

The vote wiped $2.1 trillion from global equity markets Friday and sent the pound plunging 10 percent amid fears of a new threat to the global economy.

All eyes are on market reaction on Monday. British finance minister Osborne is due to make a statement at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) to steady nerves in the global financial hub.

The historic vote, fought on the battlefronts of the economy and immigration, exposed deep divisions in the country, which were particularly keenly felt in Scotland.

Scotland voted by 62 percent to stay in the EU, and the prospect of being pulled out against their will has renewed support for a second independence referendum, less than two years after they chose to stay in the United Kingdom in a referendum in September 2014.

"The UK that Scotland voted to stay in in 2014 does not exist any more," First Minister and Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon told BBC television Sunday.

Two polls on Sunday put support for Scottish independence at 59 percent and 52 percent respectively. In the 2014 referendum, 55 percent voted against it.

Sturgeon has said a second independence vote was now "highly likely", and a meeting of her cabinet on Saturday agreed to start drawing up the necessary legislation.In London, likely candidates to succeed Cameron, including Brexit campaigner and former London mayor Boris Johnson, began sounding out support over the weekend.

The referendum decision has also lit a fuse under disgruntled members of the Labour party, many of whom have been unhappy with Corbyn`s leadership since he took office last September.

The party leadership had campaigned to stay in the EU, but critics accuse Corbyn of failing to reach out to working-class voters drawn in by the "Leave" camp`s anti-establishment rhetoric.

After a symbolic vote of no confidence was proposed on Friday against Corbyn, he sacked foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn late Saturday for challenging his leadership.

That decision sparked a string of resignations among members of the shadow cabinet. By Sunday evening 10 members of Corby`s top team had quit.

But allies of the veteran socialist said he had no plans to step down.

"He was elected nine months ago, the biggest mandate of any political leader in our country, and he is not going anywhere," Labour`s finance spokesman John McDonnell told the BBC.

The motion of no confidence is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday.



Any challenger would need the support of 20 percent of the party`s 229 MPs and it would then be put to party members.
London: Prime Minister David Cameron`s decision to resign after he lost the campaign to keep Britain in the EU triggered a leadership contest in his Conservative party, the winner of which will replace him in Downing Street.

He had already said that he would step down before the next election in 2020, and a number of Conservative lawmakers have positioned themselves as potential successors.

Britain`s next prime minister will have the task of negotiating the country`s exit from the European Union.

Here are the key steps following his resignation:

Cameron had called the referendum and campaigned hard for a "Remain" vote in Thursday`s vote, so his departure was inevitable, but is a humiliating end to his career.

The 49-year-old became Britain`s youngest prime minister in nearly 200 years in 2010, and last year was re-elected with a Conservative majority.

Cameron will hand over the leadership and the keys to Downing Street by the latest at the Tory party conference in October.

He leaves behind a party that is deeply divided, with six of his ministers and 128 of 330 Conservative lawmakers having backed a Brexit.

A committee of senior Conservative lawmakers will meet on Monday to formally start the leadership process.

Here are some potential candidates:

- Boris Johnson:

Instantly recognisable with his mop of golden hair, Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson can claim much of the credit for propelling the "Leave" side to victory.

The 52-year-old former London mayor has the popular touch, and his relentless campaigning for a Brexit has endeared him to many eurosceptic Conservative voters.

It has also boosted his national profile, although he has critics among Conservative MPs and some accuse him of only backing the "Leave" camp out of political self-interest.

- Michael Gove:

The justice minister was a close friend of Cameron`s and his decision to defy him and campaign for a Brexit was a blow to the prime minister.

The 48-year-old former journalist presented the more sober, cerebral face of the "Leave" campaign.

His low point was comparing economic experts warning about the effects of a Brexit to the Nazis who smeared Albert Einstein in the 1930s.

He later apologised.

- Theresa May:

Interior minister Theresa May avoided the in-fighting that has dominated the campaign, giving her a unique position among those likely to want to succeed Cameron.

May declared herself officially in favour of Britain staying in the EU, despite being a long-standing eurosceptic and hardliner on immigration.

But the 59-year-old kept a low profile, treading a fine line between remaining loyal to Cameron and appeasing Tory core supporters with a call for reform to the rules that allow any EU citizens to move to Britain.

- George Osborne

Finance minister George Osborne, Cameron`s close ally, has long been mentioned as a possible successor but his strong support for a "Remain" vote angered many Tory members.

He fronted a raft of official warnings over the economic risks of a Brexit that rivals dubbed "Project Fear", and accused his rivals of being "economically illiterate".

His final warning that he may have to raise taxes and slash spending on schools and hospitals if Britain voted to leave saw him dubbed the "kamikaze chancellor".

Most commentators agree that his leadership ambitions are now all but dead.

- Other possibilities include two pro-European cabinet ministers: Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, and Stephen Crabb, the work and pensions secretary.

In Britain voters elect parties and not prime ministers, so a change of the leadership at the top of the governing party does not require a new election to be called.

Those hoping to succeed Cameron must first submit to a vote by Conservative MPs. The two most popular candidates will then be put to a vote by the party`s 150,000 members.

Cameron said the new prime minister will have to launch a procedure to leave the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which defines the conditions for a voluntary and unilateral exit.

There would then be a period of negotiation leading up the exit, since Britain and the EU need to define their new bilateral relations.

The premier will also have the task of uniting a country profoundly divided by the EU vote, and dealing with the potential secession of Scotland.
London: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed today to protect Scotland against the "devastating" fallout of Brexit, as new polls found over half of Scots now want independence, which she may put to a second referendum.

Scotland had rejected independence in a 2014 referendum but Sturgeon said the landscape had changed since then due to Thursday's seismic national vote to leave the European Union.

The United Kingdom -- as it was when Scotland voted to stay in it -- "does not exist any more", she said.

Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU but Scotland voted strongly for Britain to remain -- by 62 percent to 38 percent.

After the result became clear, Sturgeon said that a new independence vote within two years was now "highly likely" and that Scotland was seeking "immediate discussions" with European leaders.

"What's going to happen with the UK is that there are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences... I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Scots rejected independence two years ago by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent, but surveys taken after Thursday's vote showed most would now back going it alone.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 percent of respondents wanted to break with the rest of Britain, while 48 percent were opposed.

In another poll for Scotland's Sunday Post by research firm Scotpulse, 59 percent said they would vote for independence.

In a round of broadcast interviews, Sturgeon also said it was possible that the Scottish parliament may have to give its consent to laws to extricate Britain from the EU.

Asked whether she would consider asking Scottish lawmakers not to give that consent, she replied: "Of course."

However, Adam Tomkins, an opposition Scottish lawmaker and professor of public law at Glasgow University, said the government did not have the right to bloc a Brexit.

"Holyrood has the power to show or to withhold its consent," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the seat of government in Edinburgh.

"But withholding consent is not the same as blocking."

Sturgeon leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, which has 63 out of 129 seats in the devolved parliament, as well as 54 out of 650 seats in Britain's House of Commons lower house of parliament.

Setting out Scotland's negotiating position with Brussels, Sturgeon said that the country would not need to rejoin the EU as a new member state because it would never leave.

"Our argument is that we don't want to leave. It's not that we want to leave and get back in," she said.

She also cautioned any future British prime minister against vetoing a new Scottish independence vote.

"I think people in Scotland would find that completely unacceptable," she said.
Fallujah: Iraqi forces took the Islamic State group`s last positions in the city of Fallujah Sunday, establishing full control over one of the jihadists` most emblematic bastions after a month-long operation.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had already declared victory on June 17 after IS defences collapsed, with Iraqi forces facing only limited resistance in subsequent clearing operations.

The offensive saw tens of thousands of civilians risk death to flee their homes, leaving Iraq to grapple with a humanitarian crisis as its forces prepare to attack the last remaining major IS hub of Mosul.

"The Iraqi security forces now control the whole city of Fallujah," said Sabah al-Noman, spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) that has been leading the fight.

CTS fighters on Sunday eased into Jolan, a northwestern neighbourhood of Fallujah where the last IS fighters in the city were believed to be holed up.

"Jolan was Daesh`s last stronghold in the city and Fallujah is now free of the threat posed by Daesh terrorists," he said, using an Arab acronym for IS.

"It did not take more than two hours for CTS to retake Jolan. Daesh did not fire a single bullet," Noman said. "This proves that Daesh was defeated even before our forces got there."

A spokesman for the Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS said some jihadist pockets remained northwest of Fallujah and that the overall operation could not be considered over yet."We still have an ongoing fight northwest of Fallujah. We never made central Fallujah the ultimate goal of our operation... the aim is to clear the whole area," he said.

The offensive began on May 22-23 with an initial phase of staging operations aimed at tightening a months-old siege on Fallujah and led by the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organisation dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias.

Qassem Suleimani, the powerful head of Iran`s elite Revolutionary Guards` overseas operations arm, was more visible than ever before in Iraq during the early days of the operation.

The US-led coalition offered some aerial support but was less involved than six months ago during the operations to retake Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in which Fallujah is also located.

The US had favoured focusing the battle on Mosul, the country`s second city, where IS proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria two years ago almost to the day.

While some pockets of IS fighters on the outskirts of Fallujah remain to be flushed out, the jihadist organisation does not appear in a position to contest the area any longer.

The loss of Fallujah, which looms large in jihadist mythology and in 2004 saw US forces suffer some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War, is a blow to IS.

The organisation has lost several key leaders in air strikes, more than two thirds of the territory it controlled in Iraq two years ago and it also faces multiple offensives in Syria.Facing a seemingly inexorable decline of its de facto state, IS had reverted to old tactics and recently ramped up bombings against key infrastructure and civilian targets.

Few major attacks have been reported in Baghdad since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan however.

Iraqi commanders have praised the level of cooperation between CTS, police and army during the Fallujah operation.

The aid community was largely caught flat-footed however by the scope of the humanitarian crisis that resulted from mass displacement out of Fallujah.

According to the United Nations, 85,000 people were forced to flee their homes over the past month, leaving many crammed in hastily set up camps with scant food or water.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the leading groups that has provided assistance to the displaced since the start of the operation, warned that the crisis was serious.

"With every day that passes in the camps, the conditions for some of the most vulnerable keep deteriorating. Doctors are warning of impending disaster," NRC`s Iraq director Nasr Muflahi warned on Saturday.

There are no figures on the number of civilian casualties during the Fallujah operation but they are believed to be much lower than when US forces stormed the city in 2004.

Iraqi commanders have not divulged combatant casualties either but the influx of wounded in Baghdad hospitals and the number of burials in Najaf, home to Iraq`s largest cemetery, suggest the security forces paid a heavy price.

According to an official in Basra, at least 100 members of the security forces from the southern province have been confirmed killed during the Fallujah offensive.
Karachi: A leader of a Pakistani religious party had a lucky escape when several shots were fired at his car here, days after renowned Qawwal Amjad Sabri was killed by Taliban militants in the country's largest city and economic hub.

Aqeel Anjum, a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, was travelling in his car in the Orangi area when several shots were fire at his car yesterday.

"Yes they were several bullet marks on his car but he escaped unhurt and his driver drove him away from there," a police officer said.

The reason for the attack has not been ascertained as yet as further investigations are underway.

This is the second assassination attempt on a prominent personality in Karachi after the target killing of well-known and popular Qawwali exponent Sabri last Wednesday by Taliban militants in the Liaquatabad area of the city.

After Sabri's killing, prominent television personality Farhan Ali Waris also escaped an assassination attempt near his home in the Teen Hatti area near Liaquatabad in Karachi.

Waris said his guard had retaliated before the unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle could open fire on him and sped away.

Last Monday, the son of the sitting Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court was also kidnapped from outside a shopping centre in the upmarket Clifton area.

Karachi which is Pakistan's economic hub and biggest city has for years been a hotbed for criminals, gangsters and militants who are involved in kidnapping for ransom, target killings, sectarian violence, terrorism, bank robberies and other crimes.
San Francisco: Seven people were hospitalized with at least two in critical condition after a stabbing spree broke out during a neo-Nazi rally at California's state capitol building, officials said.

The white supremacist rally on Saturday was met by counter protesters, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey told AFP.

The fire department posted on Twitter that some of the patients had "critical trauma stab wounds." It was unclear to which group the wounded belonged.

According to The Sacramento Bee newspaper, the stabbing spree broke out between some 25 neo-Nazis who had permission to protest on the capitol's west steps and more than 150 anarchists and "anti-fascist" counterprotesters.

Emergency responders received a call to the scene just before noon (1900 GMT).

The Los Angeles Times reported that a white-supremacist, anti-immigration group called the Traditionalist Worker Party staged the event.

Protesters had mostly cleared the capitol lawn, with only small groups remaining as of mid-afternoon, Harvey said.
Lagos: Six people have been killed in villages on the outskirts of Lagos, police and the state government said, blaming "suspected militants" from the Niger Delta.

The Lagos State government yesterday said police had started an "aggressive manhunt for suspected militants" after the attacks in the Igbo-Olomu and Ishawo areas of the eastern suburb of Ikorodu on Friday.

"The gunmen, who were alleged to be from the Niger Delta, were said to have come in through the waterways close to the communities and started shooting sporadically," it added in an emailed statement.

The southern Niger delta region, which produces most of Nigeria's oil, has been hit since February this year by a string of attacks on pipelines and installations, severely hitting production.

But the Niger Delta Avengers group, which has claimed most of the attacks, has stressed it does not target oil sector personnel, only its infrastructure.

The majority of attacks have also been concentrated in the states of Bayelsa and Delta.

Lagos, in the southwest, only became an oil-producing state in May, when it began production from an offshore field. But Nigeria's financial hub is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines.

Lagos State police commissioner Fatai Owoseni denied some local media reports that as many as 50 people were killed.

"I can confirm that the casualty is six and no family till now has come out even while I was there to say that they have extra corpses," he told reporters on Saturday.



Owoseni also did not elaborate on what he meant by "suspected militants", while locals said the villages attacked had been targeted before by oil thieves.

The state government deployed police and soldiers to the location last year because of repeated oil theft from pipelines - or "bunkering" as it is known locally.

Security has been stepped up to prevent attacks using boats via the nearby creeks, he added.
Rome: Top US diplomat John Kerry will fly to Brussels and London on Monday for talks with Washington's key allies in the aftermath of Britain`s vote to leave the European Union.

US officials travelling to Rome with the secretary of state told reporters on the flight that two stops had been added to his European itinerary at the last moment.

"Tomorrow we`ll go to Brussels and then on to London," one official said.

Washington was dismayed last week when British voters chose to leave the European Union, a decision that triggered global economic uncertainty and fears other EU members will follow suit.

President Barack Obama had made clear his concern about the Brexit referendum, and now US officials are scrambling to try to stop the political crisis harming Western unity.

Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday on a planned visit to have lunch with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But officials on his flight said that on Monday he would fly on to the EU headquarters in Brussels for crisis talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini had been expected to meet Kerry in Rome on Sunday, but she was busy dealing with the fallout of the dramatic vote, which stunned European and world leaders.

From Brussels Kerry will continue to London to see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials from outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron`s government.

The two senior diplomats are expected to hold a joint news conference before Kerry leaves to return to Washington.

Obama and Kerry have been at pains to insist the vaunted "special relationship" between Washington and London will survive what US officials view as the Brexit debacle.But Washington foreign policy experts are all but unanimous in assessing that the White House will increasingly turn to core EU allies to defend its interests on the continent.

Obama himself, on a visit to London last month, warned British voters that their nation would go "to the back of the queue" for a US trade deal if they voted "out."

US officials are also keen to help London`s divorce from Brussels go through smoothly without further inflicting further damage on skittish world financial markets.

But they, like many EU capitals, are also concerned not to allow Brexit to serve as an inspiration for eurosceptic forces in other members such as Italy or The Netherlands.

The London visit will be the first by a senior US official since Thursday`s dramatic referendum, when voters demanded Britain leave the world`s richest trading bloc.

Kerry's trip had originally been planned as an opportunity to meet Netanyahu and discuss regional security and the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials played down the chance of any concrete progress, insisting that the pair meet regularly and that no new initiative would be on the table.
Antananarivo: At least two people were killed and some 70 wounded in a grenade blast at a stadium in Madagascar's capital today during celebrations marking the country's independence day, the gendarmerie said.

"The explosion was caused by a grenade," general Anthony Rakotoarison, head of security and intelligence with the national gendarmerie, told AFP by phone.

"We consider this a terrorist act," he said, but added that the motive was as yet unclear.

The blast struck the Mahamasina municipal stadium in Antananarivo at around 1600 GMT, just as a free concert was taking place to celebrate the island nation's 56th anniversary of independence from France.

A military parade was held at the stadium earlier in the day.

Prime Minister Olivier Solonandrasana Mahafaly, who rushed to hospital to visit the injured, strongly condemned the "disgusting and shameful" attack.

He told reporters some 72 people were hurt in the explosion.

The last attack to hit Madagascar was in January 2014 when a grenade blast killed a toddler and injured several other people outside the same stadium targeted on Sunday.

No arrests were ever made in connection with that attack and there was no claim of responsibility.

Madagascar, one of the world's poorest countries, is slowly getting back on its feet after a lengthy period of political instability triggered by the 2009 ouster of president Marc Ravalomanana by Antananarivo's then-mayor Andry Rajoelina.

Rajoelina led a transitional government until late 2013, when a new election that was designed to resolve complex power struggles brought President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to power.

International donors, on which the country relies heavily, only recently returned to Madagascar after withdrawing over the 2009 turmoil, and the economy is starting to show the first signs of recovery.
Clendenin (US): Surrounded by muddy devastation, Cathy Light and her husband Chris thought it was "heaven sent" they had free burgers to munch on in a Clendenin parking lot.

To their left, the roof of a Dairy Queen slumped to the pavement. Behind it, a trailer home was ripped from its foundation, with four concrete stairs all that remained in the ground. Occasional whiffs of rotten food wafted from a nearby grocery store that, not long ago, was filled with five feet of muck water.

Before they jumped in a rescue boat in Clendenin yesterday, the Lights could only save their dog Odie and a TV that sat atop a bedroom dresser the highest-up they stored anything in their house, really.

The heavy rains that pummeled West Virginia resulted in at least 24 deaths, leaving families homeless with the tearful realization that they're starting from scratch.

"I don't have anything," said Cathy Light, as she ate the free meal provided by Grace Community Church. "Where do we go now?"

The scene in Clendenin, located in Kanawha County, wasn't as deadly as in Ranielle. Sixteen people died in Greenbrier County, at least 15 of them in Ranielle. Greenbrier is the only county where Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration believes people remain missing.

"It does not appear there are unaccounted for people in other counties, but it's still a somewhat fluid situation," said Chris Stadelman, Tomblin's chief of staff.

Ranielle Mayor Andrea "Andy" Pendleton wept as she surveyed her town yesterday.

"I weep for my people, I weep for the businesses," she said.

About six buses full of people whose homes were either without power or too damaged to inhabit were evacuated. Some were taken initially to a fire department facility, but then it flooded so they were moved to an abandoned store.

When that started to flood, buses took the evacuees to a church 40 miles away.

Search and rescue teams went house to house, marking those checked with a spray-painted 'X.' Abandoned pets were taken to a shelter. A water department filtration system, built with a $2.6 million loan, was damaged, Pendleton said.

Help came from multiple sources, including two search and rescue teams from Virginia.
Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry discussed with Norway's Middle East peace envoy Tor Vinslad the recent Paris-based Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, the ministry's spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said Sunday.

"The Norwegian peace envoy listened to the assessment of the foreign minister of the results of the meeting that took place earlier this month in Paris between different international foreign ministers to discuss the peace process," Abu Zeid said in a statement.

The spokesperson added that the duo "discussed President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Egypt's efforts to resume [stalled] negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis."

Norway was instrumental in finalizing the Palestinian-Israeli peace accord signed in Oslo in 1993 that led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority in parts of the occupied territories.

Oslo has continued to play a key role in attempts to mediate negotiations between the two sides.

In May, President El-Sisi urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work for peace and a two-state solution, noting that peace is possible based on the Egyptian-Israeli experience of overcoming decades of war.

"I call on our Palestinian brothers to unite their various factions so as to be able to reach real reconciliation [and prepare for talks with Tel Aviv]," El-Sisi said.

The president also asked Israeli leaders to "seize the moment", promising Tel Aviv a better future if it reaches a deal with the Palestinians.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


State of New York: Hundreds of thousands of Americans took to streets from New York to San Francisco on Sunday to celebrate gay pride, honor those who died in the Orlando massacre and promote tolerance.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, buoyed by a double digit poll lead over Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House, joined the tail end of the route in New York.

In San Francisco, the crowd cheered and electronic music blared from floats, a group carried placards with photos of the Orlando victims and men in leather bondage walked the route under bright sunshine.

"One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Let`s keep marching until they don`t," tweeted Clinton, joining a slew of elected state and city Democrats who took part.

She was referring to the US Supreme Court decision a year ago to legalize gay marriage across the country.

New York, which prides itself on being one of the most diverse cities on the planet, is the birthplace of the gay rights movement.

Just days before the parade, President Barack Obama designated America`s first LGBT national monument at the city`s Stonewall Inn, where protests that came to be known as the Stonewall Uprising erupted in 1969 following a police crackdown.

At the same spot, once synonymous with law enforcement brutality, a uniformed police band with "Happy Pride Day" signs played "God Bless America" to cheers.

The US events, also in Chicago and Seattle, were a celebration but also a tribute to the 49 people killed at a gay nightclub on June 12 in America`s single worst mass shooting, which has once again inflamed calls for gun control.

"We have extraordinary NYPD presence to make sure that this will not only be the biggest but the safest parade we`ve ever had," said Mayor Bill de Blasio before the first march kicked off in New York with a moment of silence.

"We will stand up to hatred. We will stand up to those who would try to undermine our values. We believe in a society for everyone. And I have to say the response has been amazing," he added.

Scouts carried 49 flags with rainbow stripes to honor the victims, a group was dressed head-to-toe in white and wore veils, with placards with the names and photographs of the Orlando dead hanging around their necks.Along the route, the newly created Gays Against Guns (GAG) pressure group staged a die-in to raise awareness, lying down on the hot road in a heap.

But despite somber remembrance, the parade was also a giant street party with participants dancing to thumping music, a giant arc of rainbow balloons and street vendors doing a brisk trade in all things rainbow.

Spectators donned rainbow feather boas and waved rainbow flags. Parents came with young children, tourists from overseas and exhibitionists indulged in show-stopping costumes and glittery catsuits complete with stilettos.

Police lined the route, which started in Midtown and culminated in Greenwich Village, home of the Stonewall Inn.

Subhi Nahas, a Syrian refugee who has addressed the UN Security Council on the plight of LGBT people in his home country, said the Orlando shooting had jolted gay immigrants` relative sense of security.

"I felt like the accident shook our sense of safety here in the States, like, profoundly, because we came here for safety," he said.

"Every parade has its own purpose but this year`s purpose has been very profound, I would say, for not only New York City but all of the United States and I really believe the whole world," said retired teacher Pedro Lugo.

"Tolerance is still a number one priority," added the 56-year-old, wearing a striped rainbow shirt and draped in colored necklaces. "We are all God`s children."

Davit Chirgadze, a 25-year-old restaurant manager from Tbilisi wearing Mickey Mouse shorts, said he flew all the way to New York just to attend Gay Pride and marry his Georgian husband, calling his country "very homophobic."

"You can live here and have a boyfriend, girlfriend and you can have your own way without any discrimination," he told AFP. "To my country I want to say, `love each other.`"
Aden: Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels killed 41 people on several fronts Sunday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the rival factions in Kuwait to accept a peace plan.

UN sponsored talks between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in the Gulf emirate on April 21.

The Huthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have seized control of large parts of the impoverished country since 2014 and still control swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

UN special envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed has repeatedly urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

But the clashes raged on Sunday, with the rebels pressing ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.

The rebels and their allies captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province.

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi`s government killed 11 rebels in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.

Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, said a loyalist militia source.

Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official said.

Meanwhile, nine rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes in northern Yemen, after rebels attacked loyalists in Nahm, northeast of the Sanaa, a military official said.Clashes have continued despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on April 11 and paved the way for the peace talks in Kuwait.

In the Gulf emirate on Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the warring parties to accept a roadmap for peace and quickly reach a comprehensive settlement to the 15-month-old conflict.

The peace roadmap proposed by Ould Cheikh Ahmed calls for the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

"I ask both delegations to work seriously with my special envoy to agree to a roadmap of principles... and quickly reach a comprehensive agreement," Ban told a joint meeting of the negotiators.

Ban also urged "the delegations to prevent any further deterioration of the situation, and to show the responsibility and flexibility required to arrive at a comprehensive agreement ending the conflict."

The Yemeni government insists the rebels withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.

The Huthis for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.

Ban said the international community wants the conflict to end and Yemen return to the transitional process before the war.

The UN chief also warned the humanitarian situation in Yemen is alarming with scarcity of basic food and the economic conditions have deteriorated.

Ahead of the meeting, Ban held talks with Kuwait`s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, as well as the Gulf country`s prime minister and foreign minister.

faw-tm/ak/dv
YEREVAN, JUNE 25, ARMENPRESS. Catholicos of All Armenians His Holiness Garegin II delivered a speech during the mass delivered by Pope Francis in Gyumris Vardanants Square.

Armenpress presents the full speech:

Your Holiness,

Beloved spiritual brothers and faithful children,

Today, as our Church is commemorating the Feast of the Holy Apostles of the Lord, this message directed by our Lord to His disciples, is so ever sweetly and powerfully resounding in our souls. With this God-given warm feeling of love in the name of all the faithful of the region we welcome you to the city of Gyumri, beloved brother in Christ. It brings us great joy to be joining you in prayer, a great friend of the Armenian Church and the Armenian people, in a Mass celebrated by you.

Gyumri is one of those historical towns of Armenia where centuries-old Armenian Christian values have flourished, where the history and culture of our people and the spirit of generosity have harmoniously been shaped. The people of Gyumri are distinguished for their particularly profound faith and love towards the Church. They are also bearers of a beautiful tradition of Christian brotherly coexistence, which is witnessed by the prayerful presence of the faithful of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches, as well as of other Christian denominations. During the Soviet years of atheism churches were being destroyed or shut in Armenia, and only through the zealous resistance of our people, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and a few other churches were still open. During that time, Gyumris church of the Holy Mother of God (Yotverk) opened its maternal bosom and became a haven and a place of prayer for all the Christians of the Northern districts of Armenia and of the ethnically Armenian towns and villages of Georgia, regardless of their national identity or what denomination they belonged to, may they be Armenian Apostolic, Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. The Northern apse of Yotverk church was turned into a place of prayer for the Catholic faithful where the crucifixion statue in the Catholic tradition, brought from the Catholic Church of Arevik village, was erected and is maintained to this day. While the Southern apse was provided to the Russian Orthodox where in a most honorable place, the Russian icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker was placed. Thus, Gyumri and the church of the Holy Mother of God (Yotverk) became a tangible provider and preacher for ecumenism, years before the modern definition of ecumenism was established.

Beloved brother in Christ, the city which we are visiting today, on its warm and hospitable heart, also carries the seal of anguish. At the dawn of the twentieth century, when our people were subjected to genocide, Gyumri as well felt the heavy blows of the Ottoman Empires devastating and invasive politics. Today as well Gyumri faces closed borders as a witness to the genocide committed one hundred years ago and to the continuous denialist policies.

The pious people in Gyumri stood against the disaster of the earthquake through faith and brave heart. On this occasion we extend our words of appreciation to the Catholic Church, who also in those difficult days gave a helping hand of brotherly love to the victims of the earthquake, according to the words of the apostle, And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:23-24). Today as well our Children in Gyumri continue to overcome the difficulties and make dedicated efforts to transform Gyumri into a prosperous and thriving city. The testimonies to this are the Catholic Church, built in the recent years, and the two restored historic churches, gracefully overlooking this square as symbols of the revival of Gyumri.

Giving thanks to the Lord for this blessed day of unity of prayer in Gyumri, together with our beloved brother Pope Francis, we bring to you, dear faithful, our plea and wish so that through the firm steps of faith, brotherly love, and hope, you may witness in this world to the following commandment of Christ, I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. (John 13:34)

With this wish we also greet and extend our appreciation and blessings to government officials of Gyumri and the region, and to our faithful people of Shirak. We bring our appreciation and blessings to the Primate of the Diocese of Shirak, His Grace Bishop Michael Ajapahyan, and his co-serving clergy, as well as to the clergy of the Catholic community under the leadership of His Eminence, Archbishop Rafael Minassian. We wish them, with the support of the Lord, to successfully continue the pastoral care of their flock and the partnership in brotherly love.

We extend our prayer to Almighty God with the intercession of the Holy Apostles and all the witnesses of the Lord, for peace in the world, a prosperous and secure life for humanity and for the vibrancy of the holy Church of Christ.

Your Holiness, our dear brother in Christ, your visit to Gyumri is a spiritual renewal for the faithful of the region of Shirak, and it shall always be remembered with warmth and love.

Again with a joyous heart we reaffirm that your visit is a new testimony to the fraternal relationship between our churches.

May God keep steadfast the brotherhood and make fruitful the cooperation between our churches. Forever and ever. Amen.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Divine Liturgy kicks off in Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin at the St. Trdat Open Air Altar offered by Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II with the participation of Pope Francis. Armenpress reports pilgrims have arrived from various parts of the world to attend the liturgy.

A number of other events will be held at the Mother See, after which Pope Francis and Catholicos Karekin II will visit one of the most important shrines of the Armenian people and the Armenian Apostolic Church  Khor Virap- where they will pray together and release doves towards Ararat. Afterwards the Pope will head to the airport to return to Rome.

On June 24 Pope Francis arrived in Armenia on a three-day visit. The Pope was welcomed by President Serzh Sargsyan and His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II in the Zvartnots Airport.

A welcoming ceremony took place in Mother See of Holy Etchmiatsin. Afterwards, the Pope arrived in the Presidential Palace, where a private meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan took place, followed by announcements for Armenian officials, foreign diplomats and representatives of the society.

Pope Francis visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial on June 25, where he put a wreath on the memorial and prayed for the souls of the holy martyrs. Later on the same day, a mass was held in Gyumris Vardanants Square. After the mass the Pope invited Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II into his popemobile and they toured around Gyumris square. A number of other events took place in Gyumri, after which the Pope returned to Yerevan, where the most important and most open event for the society during his visit took place in the Republic Square- Pope Francis and Catholicos of All Armenians delivered ecumenical peace prayer.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. International media reacted to Pope Francis peace prayer and ecumenical ceremony in Yerevans Republic Square.

Al Jazeera says the Pope urged Armenia and Turkey to reconcile during the prayer, and expressed hope that peace will be established in the Caucasus.

May God bless your future and grant that the people of Armenia and Turkey take up again the path of reconciliation, and may peace also spring forth in Nagorno Karabakh, - Al Jazeera quoted the Pope.

Al Jazeera writes  Addressing the future generation, Francis said  the future belongs to you. Cherish the great wisdom of your elders and strive to be peacemakers: not content with the status quo, but actively engaged in building the culture of encounter and reconciliation.

Reuters also reacted to the peace prayer, again drawing attention on the fact that Pope Francis urged reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey.

Reuters also made a reference to the Popes urge of peace in Nagorno Karabakh, highlighting that the conflict has led to closed borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and no diplomatic relations.

ABC News reports about the peace prayer of Pope Francis in Yerevans Republic Square, writing that the Pope once again touched upon the events of the beginning of the 20th century in Ottoman Turkey and stressed the importance of memory  in order to exclude similar tragedies in the future.

Memory, infused with love, becomes capable of setting out on new and unexpected paths, where designs of hatred become projects of reconciliation, where hope arises for a better future for everyone  ABC quoted the Popes speech.

ABC News says Pope Francis urged Armenia and Turkey to take the path of reconciliation, and expressed hope for peace in Nagorno Karabakh.

Daily Mail reported the Popes prayer in Yerevan, stressing that the ceremony was the largest event during Pope Francis visit to Armenia. Daily Mail says according to Vatican, approximately 50 thousand people attended the prayer.

The British agency also draws attention on the Popes urge for reconciliation of Armenia and Turkey. Pope Francis urged Armenia and Turkey to reconcile and said : Let there be peace in Nagorno Karabakh, Daily Mail reported.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Federico Lombardi, SJ, Director of the Holy See Press Office singled out three important aspects of Pope Francis three-day visit to Armenia.

During a briefing in Etchmiatsin, Lombardi said first is the big expression of ecumenism, second  interactions with the Armenian people, and third  the Popes meetings and discussions with the Catholic community of Armenia.

We experienced several ecumenical moments  Beginning from the Etchmiatsin Cathedral until this mornings religious ceremony, which was implemented as an exchange of offerings, Lombardi said.

He touched upon the Liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, calling it highly impressive. It was interesting for us to see, how several elements were have been combined in the long history of the Armenian liturgy and Mass, because the prayer at the beginning and Gospel reading in the end are elements, which were borrowed from the Catholic tradition a few centuries ago. In this context we see manifestations of exchange in this Liturgy, he said.

Regarding the Popes meetings with Armenian people, Lombardi singled out the gathering in the Presidential Palace and the prayer in the Republic Square. The Pope expressed his sympathy, his participation in the issues of the Armenian peoples history, as well as his admiration for the greatest traditions, he said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS. Pope Franciss pilgrim to the first Christian country completes. Armenpress reports the final destination of the Popes 3-day visit was in Zvartnots airport, where the President of Armenia, First Lady, Catholicos of all Armenians, as well as other representatives of religious and state authorities had come to see him off. Good-by ceremony between the delegations took place.

President Sargsyan shook hands with the members of the papal delegation. The anthems of Armenia and Vatican were performed. The Pope walked up to the plane on a red carpet, cordially said goodbye to the Armenian President and got on board the plane from where he for the last time blessed the gathered.
All scenarios are possible during Sunday's High Administrative Court session to look into the government's appeal of the lower court's decision last week to void April's maritime border demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, Rights lawyer Khaled Ali, who co-filed the original case, told Ahram Arabic website.

The Administrative Court had ruled last Tuesday that the Saudi-Egyptian agreement was void, putting Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir under Egyptian sovereignty.

According to Egyptian law, the ruling is to be respected until a decision on the appeal is issued.

During Sunday's session, the court will hear the government's request to stay the ruling, Ali said, adding that he plans during the session to ask for the reasons behind the government's motion.

Ali added that that the court may decide to stay execution of the ruling and send the case to the State Council's Commissioners Committee to prepare a report before issuing a final ruling.

Ali noted that the highest court in the country, the Supreme Administrative Court may also refer the case to the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The lawyer added that he hopes that if the case reaches the Supreme Administrative Court, the lower court's decision to keep Tian and Sanafir Egyptian would be upheld.

State Lawsuits Authority's Assistant Secretary General Abdelsalam Mahmoud declined to comment on details related to Sunday's hearing, saying the Authority will issue a statement following the session, Ahram Arabic reported.

A 'sovereignty' case

Ali rejected the government's argument that the Administrative Court is not responsible for cases related to sovereignty, adding that there is no definition of sovereignty in the law.

He said the case is a first, as never before has executive power transferred Egyptian land to the sovereignty of another nation.

"The executive power must first provide evidence that the land is not Egyptian, so that they prove they are not violating the constitution, which they have not done," Ali said, adding that in the case he filed, 23 documents were provided to show Tiran and Sanafir islands are Egyptian, making the agreement unconstitutional.

The State Lawsuits Authority's assistant secretary general Mahmoud told Ahram Arabic that sovereignty has a clear definition in the law and the judiciary does not have the right to look into sovereignty cases, leading the Authority to defend the case on procedural premises.

The Authority was sure the court would not tackle the core of the lawsuit  the argument that the islands are Egyptian - and was surprised when it did, Mahmoud added, saying that the parliament is the solely responsible to decide upon the agreement's validity.

Ali objected to the fact that the government refused to provide a copy of the agreement to the Court on the premise that it is a sensitive issue of national security, adding that the agreement was discussed by the Saudi Shura Council on April 25 and in the Israeli Knesset.

"All this taken into consideration, presenting the matter to those who own it [the Egyptian people], is what contradicts national security? Would it also contradict national security to present it to the State Council to study it?" says Ali.

"The State Lawsuits Authority relied on denying the reality [of the case] without presenting any documents, and refused the Court's request to subpoena a version of the agreement and of the reports of the committee meetings between Egypt and Saudi Arabia [regarding maritime demarcation]," said Ali.

Ali called the Authority's strategy "wrong."

"[The State Lawsuits Authority] only defended their case in the media [and] without documents, which is why I expect this strategy will change before the Supreme Administrative Court," Ali said.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


French Prime Minister Manuel Valls speaks at the "Banquet Republicain" on June 26, 2016 in Belleville-sur-Mer

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday blasted a planned EU-US trade treaty, saying the ambitious deal was against "EU interests."

"No free trade agreement should be concluded if it does not respect EU interests. Europe should be firm," Valls told members of the governing Socialist Party, adding "France will be vigilant about this."

"I can tell you frankly, there cannot be a transatlantic treaty agreement. This agreement is not on track," Valls said.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aims to topple regulatory and tariff barriers and establish the largest free-trade and investment area in the world.

The United States and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating the deal for the last three years.

The two sides have been pushing to resolve remaining issues by year's end, coinciding with the end of Barack Obama's presidency. The next round of negotiations is expected in July.

But the project has been facing mounting opposition in parts of Europe, especially in France and Germany, where critics say the talks have been conducted in secret and fear a far-reaching impact on agriculture and the environment.

The TTIP agreement "would impose a viewpoint which would not only be a breeding ground for populism, but also quite simply be a viewpoint that would be bad for our economy," Valls said.

He pointed in particularly to the "dramatic" consequences of ending milk quotas. The dairy industry is one of France's prime sectors.

Valls was speaking in the wake of Thursday's "Brexit" referendum which will lead to Britain -- a firm supporter of free trade -- leaving the 28-nation EU.
Chinese-chartered ship Cosco Shipping Panama crosses the new Agua Clara Locks during the inauguration of the expansion of the Panama Canal in Colon on June 26, 2016

Panama has declared its century-old canal open to a new generation of supersized cargo ships after years of massive expansion works aimed at profiting from burgeoning US-Asia trade.

A giant Chinese-chartered freighter, baptized COSCO Shipping Panama especially for the occasion, made its way along the 80-kilometer (50-mile) waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Its passage was to show off the third shipping lane and gargantuan locks built into the canal catering to vessels of its class, known as Neopanamax, or New Panamax, ships.

It stopped in the locks giving access to the Pacific, where VIPs and 25,000 Panamanians had gathered to celebrate the inauguration.

The freighter's horn bellowed out triumphantly several times, triggering applause and cheers from the flag-waving crowd before they were treated to fireworks and a song-and-dance show relating the history of the canal.

President Juan Carlos Varela, who has hailed the renovated canal as "the route that unites the world," led the event alongside foreign dignitaries including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, all wearing white.

Varela, in his speech, admitted he had not initially backed the canal's expansion, before he became president.

But as leader, he said, he recognized it would deliver "a better future" for the country.

"This is the beginning of a new era," said the head of the state Panama Canal Authority, Jorge Quijano.

The United States -- builder of the original canal, which opened in 1914 and is still in operation alongside the additions -- was represented at the ceremony by Jill Biden, the wife of the US vice president.

The United States and China are the two most frequent canal users.

- Untapped market -

The expansion work was carried out since 2007 and finished two years late at a cost of at least $5.5 billion.

Labor disputes and friction between the government and the European consortium that carried out the project dogged the work. Still outstanding are consortium demands for costs overruns of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Story continues

Sunday's celebrations however focused on the achievement, which promises to double the volume of cargo passing through the canal and allow it to accommodate 98 percent of ships on the oceans.

Neopanamax freighters can carry up to three times the cargo of older and smaller Panamax ships. Cruise ships built to the same dimensions typically double the number of passengers of the previous iteration.

The expansion will also allow Panama to lure gargantuan liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers.

This is a lucrative segment of the shipping market untapped until now by Panama. Its importance has grown with the development of US natural gas exports, most of which head to Japan and South Korea.

Panama's plan is to triple the $1 billion in revenue it currently gets from canal shipping fees.

However, that goal might still be a decade away, according to officials from the Panama Canal Authority, the autonomous government agency that runs the waterway.

Panama might have been overly ambitious in calculating how fast it will see its investment pay off, particularly as world shipping prices that have dropped due to capacity oversupply.

"Everybody is always overly optimistic," said Peter Shaerf, deputy chairman of Seaspan Corporation, a container ship group with a fleet of 100 vessels, more than half of which are Neopanamaxes.

But, he told AFP on Saturday, the canal itself is "one of the engineering wonders of the world" and it "will have a huge impact on trade."

- Countering 'Panama Papers' damage -

For Panama, the feat is a source of national pride, symbolizing the country's enviable modernity compared to neighbors, and its consistently high economic growth.

The government hopes the glitz and historical nature of the broadened canal will help overshadow the blow the country took to its reputation this year with the "Panama Papers" scandal.

Revelations of offshore companies started by a Panama law firm, and used by the world's rich and influential to dodge taxes and stash assets, have become the first thing many people think of when the Central American nation is mentioned.

But the canal, and the work to develop it for modern trade, is "the real face of Panama," Quijano, the Panama Canal Authority chief, told AFP this week.
TransCanada argued that the US government's decision was not based on technical analysis, but "was symbolic, and based merely on the desire to make the US appear strong on climate change"

TransCanada has formally filed a $15 billion suit against the US government for blocking its controversial project for an oil pipeline linking Canada with the Gulf of Mexico, legal documents show.

The company first announced its intention to sue in January, but then sought negotiations toward "an amicable settlement of the dispute" surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, according to legal documents posted on its website.

Unable to settle, the company formally filed suit late Friday, asserting that denial of a permit to complete the pipeline was "unjustified" under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and that the decision also exceeded US President Barack Obama's constitutional powers.

The suit is based on Chapter 11 of NAFTA -- the 1994 trade pact between the United States, Canada and Mexico -- which aims to protect foreign investors from potential losses.

The Calgary-based company is seeking $15 billion for losses it says it suffered because of the pipeline's rejection.

The decision to block the pipeline, which came seven years after the company first submitted the project, marred US-Canada relations and angered many in the oil industry in both countries.

The pipeline would have carried crude oil from the Alberta tar sands deposits all the way to the US Gulf Coast. The US government's blocking of the 1,179-mile (1,900 kilometer) Alberta-Nebraska section effectively undermined the entire project.

Environmentalists have assailed the project -- and the move to sue -- arguing that the Alberta deposits produce some of the "dirtiest" crude in the world.

In its latest filings, TransCanada argued that the US government's decision was not based on technical analysis, but "was symbolic, and based merely on the desire to make the US appear strong on climate change."

A summit that brings together the leaders of NAFTA's three countries will be held next week in Ottawa.
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be different from institutions like the World Bank because it has a greater understanding of the developing world's needs, officials said on Sunday at its first annual meeting. Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the bank two years ago and it began operations in January, with 57 founding member countries and $100 billion in committed capital, which it plans to invest in projects across the region. The AIIB, which intends to invest $1.2 billion this year, has said it is aiming to meet international standards of governance, though some members say there is still work to be done. Speaking on the final day of the bank's inaugural annual meeting, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the AIIB needed to establish its niche. "The AIIB needs to establish its comparative advantage relative to existing multilateral development banks like the World Bank," Lou said. "...Compared with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other multilateral development banks, the AIIB's advantage lies in its keener understanding of the successful experience and lessons of developing countries' years of development." The AIIB's board approved its first four deals worth $509 million on Friday, with three projects co-financed with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The co-financed projects are a slum renovation in Indonesia and highway construction in Pakistan and Tajikistan. A power grid upgrade project in Bangladesh will be solely AIIB financed. AIIB President Jin Liqun said it was the focus on infrastructure that specifically marked out the bank as different and that they were committed to the concept of international best practice. "The question is, how do you define international best practice? I will not agree to anything which could be considered international best practice unless this kind best practice incorporates the development experience of China and many countries in Asia and elsewhere over the last three or four decades," Jin said. "So our bank would like to have the development experience, the so-called international best practice, reflecting the experience of China, India (and) so many countries in Asia. So we should have a different model of development." The AIIB is also looking to expand its numbers this year and will take applications for new members through the end of September. (Editing by Nick Macfie)
American luxury real estate brokers are hoping Brexit will lead to money flowing to high-end properties on this side of the Atlantic.

The post-Brexit vote selloff in equities took a particularly heavy toll on British homebuilder shares. For example, Persimmon (PSMMY) lost a third of its value in Fridays trading.

Central London, after all, had for many years been the safe haven real estate market for many moneyed purchasers. In 2013, roughly three-quarters of all newly built central London residences were bought by non-Brits, according to research by brokers Knight Frank. About 44% were from Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, with Russia and the Middle East also represented.

But last year, the super-prime market in the city (homes above 10 million) saw a decline by a third, in part because of higher property transaction taxes.

With Britain now seeking to end its membership in the European Union, US luxury real estate brokers are anticipating that overseas investors in the London market will unload their properties and take their money stateside.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Leonard Steinberg, president of New York-based brokerage Compass, anticipates a 5% annual decline in UK real estate over the next two years, with London seeing heavier losses.

London has, for the longest time now, been the global center of the economy, and I do believe that this is a stumbling block for them, said Steinberg, whose agencys $672 million in residential transactions in the past year were the most for any team in the US, according to data firm Real Trends.

Anything in the United States will fare very well with the European-centric audience, he added. New York, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los AngelesI think major centers will always do very well with a foreign buyer.

Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, doesn't see London real estate money flooding into America just yet. The British pound received a significant drubbing on Friday, making American property even more expensive to U.K. buyers. Besides, about 44% of Britain's exports go to the European Union and unwinding the relationship could lead to a drag on the U.K.'s economy over the next couple of years.



Story continues

Nonetheless, he expects some upside in the highest reaches of the luxury market, especially in New York City. London as a competitor is probably off the table for many global investors, he wrote in his latest note. New York super luxury remains challenged by oversupplywith more supply comingbut it's still a better outlook for the NYC market, if only a nominal amount.

Yet the benefits maybe short-lived. Prolonged uncertainty in Europe might work its ways to these shores, and uncertainties about the US presidential elections are also a worry, warns Steinberg.

There is so much uncertainty that the only certainty that is out there is uncertainty, he said.

More from Yahoo Finance

'Dividend Aristocrats' may get messy and overvalued, warns portfolio manager

The market is getting more defensive, and the reasons why could be very worrisome

Ex-FBI hostage negotiator gives advice for getting a higher salaryand for Donald Trump
SUNDAY, June 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- An international team of scientists has identified dozens of new genetic variants associated with migraine headaches.

The researchers say their findings could lead to new treatments.

Most of the variants are in or close to genes involved in circulatory system regulation. This supports the theory that abnormal blood vessel function in the brain is an important factor in migraines, the investigators said.

"These genetic findings are the first concrete step towards developing personalized, evidence-based treatments for this very complex disease. We doctors have known for a long time that migraine patients differ from each other and the drugs that work for some patients are completely inefficient for others," said John-Anker Zwart, of Oslo University Hospital in Norway, who participated in the research.

"In the future, we hope that this information can be utilized in dividing the patients into different genetic susceptibility groups for clinical drug trials, thus increasing the chances of identifying the best possible treatment for each subgroup," he added in a news release from the University of Helsinki in Finland.

Migraine affects about 1 in 7 people worldwide.

The findings stem from analysis of DNA samples taken from 375,000 Europeans, Americans and Australians. Nearly 60,000 were migraine sufferers.

The team pinpointed nearly 30 new genetic variants linked with migraine. The variants are in 38 genomic regions, only 10 of which have previously been associated with migraine risk.

"Our consortium is devoted to uncovering the genetic causes of migraine and during the past few years we have been able to identify many risk variants," said Dr. Aarno Palotie, leader of the International Headache Genetics Consortium, which coordinated the study.

"Yet, in this latest, large-scale study, tens of new genetic risk factors were discovered," added Palotie, from the Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"Because all of these variants modify the disease risk only slightly, the effect could only be seen when this large amount of samples became available," he noted.

The study was published online June 20 in the journal Nature Genetics.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more on migraine.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
The Administrative Court ruled that the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) March decision to set a 9-year term limit for banks CEOs is void.

The court accepted lawsuits that called for nullifying the decision and ordered the decision be canceled.

The governor Tarek Amer told Reuters that the central bank would not appeal the court decision.



The lawsuits were filed by Monir Yassin, general assembly member of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), and lawyer Ibrahim El-Salamouny as an owner of shares in various private banks.

The CBE decison concerned public and private bank CEOs as well as heads of foreign banks operating in Egypt and was aimed to "inject new blood" and modernise the public sector, it said at the time in a statement.

The lawsuits argued that the CBE governor, with this decision, was controlling what he does not own, referring to private banks.

If implemented, the decision would have forced eight top executives to resign their positions.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Egypt's High Administrative Court hearing Sunday a government appeal on a Saudi-Egyptian border demarcation case postponed the session until 3 July to study a recusal request presented by lawyers opposed to the deal

Earlier on Sunday, lawyers who argued against the 8 April agreement with Saudi Arabia requested the panel of the High Administrative Court hearing the government's appeal to void the deal recuse itself.

The judges adjourned Sunday's session to prepare a response to the lawyers' request.

Later in the day, the judges decided to refer the lawyers request to a separate panel within the Administrative Court to review the legal basis for the lawyers' request and issue recommendations on whether to step down or not.

On Sunday, the judges heard opening arguments from government lawyers who had submitted the appeal.

Immediately afterwards, lawyers Khaled Ali and Adel Soliman , who have spearheaded the campaign to establish Egyptian sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, moved to request the panel step down.

Egypt's Administrative Court ruled on 21 July that the border re-demarcation agreement signed between Cairo and Riyadh that placed the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters is void, adding that they should remain under Egyptian sovereignty.

The judge who issued the ruling, State Council Vice President Judge Yehia El-Dakroury, reasoned that since the agreement was void, "the islands should remain part of Egyptian territory and within Egyptian borders; Egyptian sovereignty over the islands holds, and it forbidden to change their status in any form or through any procedure for the benefit of any other state."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Police arrested earlier this month the alleged administrators of Facebook pages where exams were being leaked

Egypt's education ministry voided the standardised high school (Thanaweya Amma) applied math (dynamics) final exam  which students took Sunday  after it was leaked, Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The ministry also postponed the geology, environmental science, history and pure maths (algebra and spatial geometry) exams as a precautionary measure, according to ministry sources.

The new dynamics exam will take place Saturday 2 July, and the geology, environmental science, history and pure maths will be held 4 July.

The religion exam will be held as scheduled on Wednesday 29 June at 9am, the ministry said.

Police arrested earlier this month the alleged administrators of Facebook pages that were being used as platforms for leaking final high school exam questions and their answers.

Investigations reportedly revealed that officials at the ministry's printing house were allegedly responsible for the leaks, and the prosecution has ordered their detention pending further investigation.

The final French, Spanish and economics exams were also reportedly leaked online last Thursday.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Egypt MPs approved in a plenary session on Sunday a presidential decree on a Saudi-Egyptian loan agreement  the King Salman Programme for the Development of Sinai  that targets development in the peninsula.

The agreement, which was signed in Riyadh in March, provides Egypt with a $1.5 billion soft-term loan to help develop Sinai and buy Saudi oil products.

"Half-a-million dollars from the loan will be allocated to developing Sinai in the form of building the King Salman University in El-Tor, funding agricultural and irrigation projects and upgrading North Sinai's road network," said a report by parliament's Economic Affairs Committee.

The remaining $1 billion will be earmarked for buying Saudi oil products, which "Egypt needs for development purposes."

The loan agreement was provisionally approved by parliament in the first week of June.



Parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee concluded at the time that the loan agreement is in line with Article 151 of the constitution, which stipulates that no foreign agreement can be approved if it involves Egypt ceding part of its territory to another country.

"It is clear the Sinai development agreement with Saudi Arabia does not affect Egypt's sovereign rights in any way, and therefore it will not be put to a public referendum," said parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al.

In its report on Sunday, the Economic Affairs Committee said the agreement  signed by Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf on 20 March  aims at helping Egypt improve the performance of its national economy.



The report also said the agreement "forms a basic part of Saudi Arabia's package of financial support deals unveiled during the Sharm El-Sheikh Economic Development Summit last March."



'Landmark deal'

Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat, chairman of parliament's Human Rights Committee, said the agreement represents a landmark deal aimed at changing the face of Sinai.

"But we hope that this agreement does not turn out be a fiasco like many previous ones that were aimed at developing Sinai," said El-Sadat, adding that "different institutions like the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Armed Forces Development Apparatus have previously attempted to develop Sinai but without success."

El-Sadat recommended that a special apparatus under the name "Sinai Development Apparatus" be formed to take charge of implementing all Sinai development programmes.

"This will help implement these programmes in short time and in an efficient way," said Sadat.

Salma El-Roqaie, a North Sinai MP, said that not only will the Saudi loan help develop Sinai, but will also help rid it of terrorism.

"Channelling a lot of investments into Sinai will stand as an obstacle in the way of terrorist groups turning it into a magnet for terrorism and violence," said El-Roqaie.

El-Roqaie also said that building a bridge between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will revolutionise development in Sinai.

"Not only will the agreement help connect Sinai with other parts of Egypt, but will also help connect it with Arab Gulf countries, Jordan and Iraq," said El-Roqaie.

Parliament's approval of King Salman's Sinai development programme was completed on the same day Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court was hearing a government appeal on the Saudi-Egyptian border demarcation case.

The appeal was filed against the Cairo Administrative Court ruling on 21 July voiding the border re-demarcation agreement signed between Cairo and Riyadh that placed the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters.

Parliament speaker Ai Abdel-Al said in a TV interview this week that it is parliament that will have the final say on the Red Sea islands agreement.

Bahaaeddin Abu Shoka, chairman of parliament's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, said that "if, like the King Salman loan agreement, the Red Sea agreement is judged not to be in violation of Article 151 of the constitution, it will not need to be put to a public referendum".

He also insisted that "regardless of any court rulings, it is parliament that must have the final say on the agreement in line with Article 151 of the constitution."

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Israeli and Turkish negotiators will meet on Sunday in Rome aiming to reach an agreement on normalising relations after the two countries fell out six years ago, sources said.

Previously, the discussions had been expected to take place in Turkey.

If an agreement is reached, it would go before Israel's security cabinet for approval on Wednesday, according to media reports and an Israeli official who requested anonymity.

Analysts say it is very likely that an agreement will be concluded on Sunday.

Once tight relations between Israel and key NATO member Turkey were significantly downgraded after Israeli occupation forces staged a deadly pre-dawn raid on a six-ship flotilla in May 2010 killing nine activists and injuring dozens others on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship as the flotilla tried to break the blockade on Gaza.

Two of Turkey's key conditions for normalisation -- an apology and compensation -- have largely been met, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, as the main obstacle.

According to the Turkish daily Hurriyet, the two sides have reached a compromise whereby Turkey would send aid for Palestinians via the Israeli port of Ashdod rather than directly to Gaza.

A meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry is also expected on Sunday in the Italian capital to discuss the state of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Richard Stallman's personal site.

For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.

RMS's Bio | The GNU Project

Reasons not to be used by Facebook

Why you should not 'use' (i.e., be used by) Facebook.

I have never had a Facebook account. There is a Facebook account called "Richard Stallman", but it is an impostor. Putting the photo of someone on Facebook (or Instagram) contributes to surveillance of that person. Please don't post any photos there that include me, and I suggest you avoid posting photos of anyone else too.

The "metaverse" is *another place to spend money on things, except in this place the empty promise that buying stuff will make you happy is left even more exposed by the fact that the things in question do not physically exist.*

The article informs us that Facebook is thinking about ways to track and profile people in its metaverse even more than they are tracked in the physical world.

Comparing Facebook to a doomsday machine: its power over the world is too great, so we must get rid of it before it wrecks things.

I am proud that I never had a Facebook account. But if you did have one, it is not too late to delete it.

If you feel your organization needs a "presence" in Facebook see this page.

If you feel you need to be used by Facebook to find out about parties at your school, you might look for someone in your circle who isn't ready to break ties with Facebook, but who is willing to take note of parties via Facebook and send messages to a list of Facebook-rejecting friends to inform them.

Here's a good article to present many of Facebook's injustices to your friends.

Housing Bias

Proposed Replacement

Real Names

Censorship

Privacy

Ads

Psychological Harm

Taxes

Racism

Control of media

Attacks on Democracy

Miscellaneous

Permitting Violence

Facebook Allowed Violent Posts by Man Charged with Ilhan Omar Death Threat.

Housing Bias

Facebook imposes bias on showing housing and employment ads even if the advertiser does not ask for any.

Proposed Replacement

I think Facebook should be eliminated entirely and replaced with an index of people. People would create records in the index under their names. Your record  if you make one  would give other people a way to contact you through various methods of messaging.

You could include a small amount of information about yourself to help people tell if you are the person they are seeking to contact, rather than another person with a similar name. Their messages to you would carry various contact coordinates in case you decide to respond.

It would do nothing more than that. It would not be allowed to do anything more, or have a special relationship with any other communication system.

This would provide a chance to decentralize the web again  but taking advantage of that chance would require other changes.

Real Names

Facebook requires useds to use their 'real' (the name they normally go by as defined by Facebook) on the site or risk having their accounts suspended.

Facebook is not your friend. Its 'real name' policy is enough reason to refuse to let it use you, but there is so much more nastiness in Facebook.

Even as Facebook oppresses real useds with its "real name" requirement, it is easy to buy and run a realistic Facebook account that is completely fake.

Facebook spontaneously asked its useds questions trying to expose useds who had not given their real names.

Facebook with its 'real name' policy makes itself the arbiter of other people's selves.

Under pressure from cross-dressers, Facebook said it would relax the 'real name' policy and allow people to use aliases, but only if they are generally known by those aliases or if they were victims of certain types of abuse or stalking.

This relieves a very specific acute problem, but does not enable ordinary people to use Facebook without being tracked.

However, reportedly Facebook has not really changed the policy.

Even if Facebook makes this change, it will be unacceptable because companies and the state will be able to connect the account with your real identity. In order for the site not to mistreat people, it must let you have one account to show your boss and your parents, another for your friends, and others for various kinds of political activism.

Facebook continues to close the accounts of people who go by unofficial names.

What happened to Koko the clown demonstrates why it is very foolish to talk with your clients through Facebook or to keep any important information in a Facebook account.

Facebook makes a practice of asking its useds* to rat on their friends who use aliases.

People who don't dare identify themselves feel compelled to be used by Facebook, so they register under pseudonyms, which makes them vulnerable to blackmail by those who threaten to report their real names to Facebook.

These people feel compelled to be useds of Facebook because their friends and relatives are useds of Facebook. In other words, their friends and relatives are victim-coperpetrators: initially victims of Facebook, they contribute to its wrongs by pressuring others to be useds of Facebook.

Don't do this to others  don't be used by Facebook yourself!

Facebook silently changed its search system to expose the existence of hidden accounts.

The depressive effect of being used by Facebook is directly traceable to its "real name" requirement and stopping people from having multiple accounts.

Young People Hate Facebook Because It Forces Them to Have a Single Identity.

Censorship

Political Censorship

*Facebook and Instagram removing posts with mentions of abortion pills.*

There are many more reasons to reject Facebook and Instagram.

*Facebook is quietly pressuring its independent fact-checkers to change their rulings.*

Facebook has developed a chat system for coworkers which allows the company to censor words of their choice. For instance, "unionize".

Facebook has frequently removed postings about protests (both planned and ongoing), political satire, and various political issues. Specific examples are given below.

Facebook has imposed political censorship on Instagram, bowing to Russia.

* Facebook cut off accounts of researchers examining its political ads and misinformation on the platform.*

Israel bullied Facebook into imposing tight censorship on criticism of the occupation of Palestine.

Facebook deleted the news item announcing a major protest against Monsanto.

Facebook blocked a page announcing a protest in Russia obeying orders from the Russian government.

The order says the protest is illegal. In a tyrannical state, protests are generally illegal.

Facebook has yielded to Turkey's religious censorship, just as previously it yielded to China's political censorship.

Jim Wright forcefully condemned the pressure put on Americans to endorse all the bellicose or dangerous "responses" to the September 11 attacks. Facebook censored it, apparently for political reasons.

This shows the danger of depending on facebook.

Facebook deleted without explanation the page of a publisher in the UK that had posted articles about publications that criticize Erdogan.

The article shows that Facebook has censored on behalf of Erdogan before.

Facebook blocked the account of activist Shaun King after he posted a racist email that was sent to him.

2018: A black manager for Facebook quit, and posted on Facebook that Facebook had treated black useds and black staff badly and had censored blacks' postings.

Facebook deleted his post, saying it went against "community standards".

Algorithmic filtering can affect history, not just hide history. Facebook's filtering algorithm suppressed news about the riot by uniformed thugs in Ferguson until after it became national news.

Facebook censorship guidelines have been leaked. They include political censorship catering to various countries that do not respect freedom of speech.

Facebook has censored political satire aimed at the UK unemployment agency and associated organizations, apparently at the request of a target of the satire.

Facebook deleted posts that presented evidence of individuals' use of shell companies, evidence coming from the Panama Papers.

This resembles Amazon, which famously shut down Wikileaks' virtual server because Wikileaks didn't have US government authorization to publish leaks.

Instagram (one of Facebook's mouths) deletes postings simply for containing photos of General Soleimani.

This reflects badly on the freedom of speech which the US defends.

Facebook has a rule against incitement to violence, but it decided to ignore the rule when the bully does it.

Journalism

Facebook took down a negative movie review because the movie company claimed the review was copyright infringement.

Facebook banned a video made by the Swedish Cancer Society about breast cancer because it showed cartoon figures with circles as breasts.

It got Facebook to accept the video by putting in squares for the breasts.

The real problem here is not that Facebook draws the line at the wrong place (though it does). It is that Facebook has so much influence that organizations such cancer charities feel obliged to publish through Facebook.

Facebook censored an ACLU post about censorship.

Facebook deletes postings for obscure reasons, and even denies deleting them. It is not safe as a platform for journalism.

By the way, I cannot understand why people make a fuss about just how they find out that someone they loved is dead. Compared to the fact of that person's death, such details seem insignificant.

If Facebook achieves its goal of becoming the main publication site for journalism, it will be a new chokepoint for censorship.

Facebook wants to present itself as a virtual town square  a censored one.

Facebook deleted a statement by a human rights group, then said that was a mistake.

That Facebook invited the group to post the statement again  instead of undoing the deletion  demonstrates arrogance.

However, the problem here goes deeper. It is not good for human rights groups' (or anyone's) statements to be posted using a platform where statements are censored.

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie exposed how Cambridge Analytica misused the data Facebook gave it, so Facebook shut down his account.

How Facebook's algorithm for what articles to show to each used are chosen to increase profits, but they systematically disfavor thoughtful criticism of anything, if posted by those who can't pay to get it seen.

I agree that Facebook should be regulated, but the purpose of the regulation should be to ensure that not very many people read news or commentary through that site. Or any other specific site.

Personal

Facebook arbitrarily censors and closes the accounts of prisoners.

Facebook did an experiment in biasing the filtering of useds'* news feeds (which are always filtered by Facebook in other ways) towards the emotionally positive or the emotionally negative. This experiment was widely condemned as "unethical" based on details, but this criticism was naive in that it disregarded the fundamentally unethical nature of Facebook.

Facebook deleted a photo of two men kissing, which was used to support a kiss-in in a pub that had shown bias against gays.

The person who posted it thinks that Facebook is not anti-gay, but rather than it is quick to censor whatever someone complains about.

While it might seem that the former would be worse, I think the latter makes Facebook really dangerous. Don't use Facebook as a substitute for your own web site!

Facebook censored a photo of two men kissing, posted as a protest against India's criminalization of homosexuality.

Facebook's censorship rules are sometimes incomprehensibly strict. Many women's accounts have been turned off for posting "men are scum".

Some men are scum, but not all. It is unfair to generalize that statement to all men. People should ideally know better than to be sloppy in generalization, even if they are justifiably angry at grave crimes.

However, is it right to gag people for unkind sloppiness like that? Clearly not.

*Facebook agreed to censor posts after Vietnam slowed traffic.*

There's more about Facebook censorship.

Privacy

Personal Data

Reportedly it is possible to actually delete a Facebook account.

I would not suggest trusting Facebook to delete all the data it has about you, but you may as well try.

Facebook buys personal data from various data brokers, and correlates that with what it figures out directly about its useds.

Facebook advises useds that they can tell the data brokers to stop collecting data about them, but it doesn't ensure that this really works. After all, no one will punish Facebook for false claims of that sort.

Facebook snoops on surfers via disqus comments: when a page uses disqus for comments, the proprietary disqus software loads a Facebook software package into the browser of every anonymous visitor to the page, and makes the page's URL available to Facebook.

Facebook claimed to support "closed" groups and said it would not release the names of the members. Meanwhile, companies could get their names, and other personal data.

Facebook provided personal data to Mastercard.

The data was provided in anonymized form, but Mastercard could reidentify the data by correlating it with other data.

Facebook made a deal with Huawei to give it access to personal data of Facebook useds. This included useds who were customers of Huawei, and their "friends". This even though the US government considers Huawei a spy for China.

Facebook did the same thing for other phone manufacturers such as Apple and Blackberry.

Facebook's "conversation topics" experiment actively shows certain selected useds everything that their "friends" are doing.

A detailed, long list of the data Facebook collects about each used, for targeting ads. Facebook may collect other information which is not used for targeting ads.

Look at the way the article ends by considering it incredible that someone might not submit to this. Maybe Facebook has Peter Eckersley, but it doesn't have me. Don't be a used of Facebook!

Facebook stores a huge amount of data on each used. This can include:

The time and location of every Facebook login

All audio messages the used has sent or received through Facebook

Every file the used has sent or received through Facebook

Facebook admits having presented audio recordings of conversation between useds for purposes of improving its speech recognition.

I think this is a secondary issue. The job being done is not malicious in its own right.

What I find more worrysome is that Facebook (or Google, or Apple) could transcribe conversations automatically and use the results automatically for purposes such as surveillance capitalism, censorship, and repression.

Facebook useds who download "all their data" are astounded by some of the kinds of data they find.

Facebook bought WhatsApp and committed not to combine that data with Facebook's other data. Now it is going to do just that.

For Facebook, any commitment is meant to be broken, after a delay for people to forget about it.

The Facebook app obtained useds' whole contact lists, either directly grabbing them or by tricking useds into agreeing without knowing it.

You have to expect a nonfree program to be malicious.

Facebook's app has started scanning photos people take with their phones.

The article says "camera", but that word is misleading; cameras do not have a Facebook app installed in them. This applies only to phones and tablets.

I suspect the face recognition is done by sending the photos to a Facebook server. If so, the server could do other things with those photos. It could save them and send them to Big Brother. From now on, when people want to snap me with a mobile, I will verify it does not have a Facebook app installed before I say yes.

Facebook's mobile app snoops on SMS messages.

Using the Facebook app on a portable phone tells Facebook about any phone calls and texts.

When useds log in to a site through Facebook, Facebook gives the site access to lots of information about the used.

If this is what a site demands from you, you should not touch it anyway!

Facebook also announced it planned to track mouse movement even in the absence of a click.

These work by means of malicious Javascript code.

Pages that contain Facebook "like" buttons enable Facebook to track visitors to those pages. Facebook tracks Internet users that see "like" buttons, even users who never visited facebook.com and never click on those buttons.

The ACLU has a way of enabling users to click a Facebook "like" button, which avoids this problem. Its pages have a link called "like us on Facebook" that leads to a Facebook page where it is possible to push a "like" button for the ACLU. But if you don't follow that link, Facebook gets no information about your visit to the ACLU page.

This page gives details about how much Facebook tracks people's browsing, which applies even to people that don't have Facebook accounts.

Facebook's tracking of useds through cookies combined with Like buttons violates EU law.

Facebook has turned on automatic face recognition on photos.

Facebook says that it only suggests identifications for faces in photos for people who are the used's friends. However, it might run the algorithm over every photo posted and not publicly announce the results.

I ask people not to post photos of me on Facebook. You might want to make the same request, for you and your children.

Facebook goes to great lengths to hide some privacy settings. Apparently it wants to claim useds have that option while making it so hard to find that people won't use it.

Innocent-seeming text posted on Facebook could cause you lots of trouble, due to development of systems to deduce things about you.

Facebook has automatically pushed useds' @facebook.com email addresses (which they never asked for) into the contact lists in other people's phones.

The lesson here is that it is a fundamental mistake to trust a company such as Facebook to give anyone data about you. It will give them the data it wants them to have, not the data you want to give them.

Facebook collected its used's phone numbers for "security" but uses them for advertising.

How did Mari Sherkin end up on a dating site unwillingly? Facebook opens browser windows showing other companies' sites, which trick Facebook useds* into agreeing to let those companies get their personal data from Facebook.

Facebook's app listens all the time, to snoop on what people are listening to or watching. In addition, it may be recognizing their conversations.

Cambridge Analytica collected data about 50 million useds of Facebook and used them in violation of Facebook's rules, and perhaps in violation of British data protection law.

Rules are frequently broken; therefore, any organization that collects personal data which then are misused cannot excuse itself by saying "That was against our rules".

Facebook looks at Facebook Messenger chats, but that's supposed to be ok since it is only for certain purposes.

Facebook saves all videos that useds make  even videos they say to delete.

Facebook asked US hospitals to give patients' data to Facebook.

The data was going to be "anonymized", but Facebook planned to "match it up" with other data  which probably means to reidentify it.

Facebook and Google joined with ISPs to defeat a privacy initiative in California.

Facebook made deals for phone and computer manufacturers including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung to access data about its useds and their friends as well. These deals seem to still be operative.

When Zuckerberg testified to Congress, he said Facebook had stopped doing this years ago. Apparently he lied.

Facebook erroneously made millions of users' private postings visible to all useds.

Everyone makes mistakes, so I won't reproach Facebook for the mistake itself. However, this mistake demonstrates the folly of using a single system for both publication and private communications. They ought to be separate systems.

Facebook's new "smart camera" offers people the opportunity to completely surrender the privacy of their home to that company. Perhaps it will help others wake up to the danger.

Internal Documents Show Facebook Has Never Deserved Our Trust or Our Data.

No system deserves such trust.

Facebook used trickery to get personal data of Android users.

Facebook got "consent" to upload call logs automatically from Android phones while disguising what the "consent" was for.

Facebook imposes location tracking on its useds, and location-based advertising too.

In my view, the mere fact that a used of Facebook cannot prevent Facebook from finding out per location and putting it in a data base is an injustice, a threat to the used's human rights, and in some cases even per safety.

Facebook made a secret deal with Amazon to give Amazon access to Facebook's data about users. A plague on both of those companies!

Facebook says its useds "own their own data", but "their own data" doesn't mean what you would think. It includes only some of the data Facebook keeps about its useds.

This is one reason why the demand that users "own their data" is fundamentally inadequate.

Facebook plans to integrate its three mouths  the services Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp  so all the data they swallow goes to the same stomach.

Around 40% of gratis Androids apps report on the user's actions to Facebook.

Often they send the machine's "advertising ID", so that Facebook can correlate the data it obtains from the same machine via various apps. Some of them send Facebook detailed information about the user's activities in the app; others only say that the user is using that app, but that alone is often quite informative.

This spying occurs regardless of whether the user has a Facebook account.

Facebook allowed big companies (including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Sony) special access to its useds' personal data, setting aside its supposed rules for use of that data.

Facebook requested, even occasionaly demanded, mobile phone numbers from its useds in the name of "security", then treated them as personal identifiers for lookups and advertising.

Profiling People

Many US hospitals have installed a tracking pixel in their web sites, and various actions on those sites send identifying data to Facebook.

Facebook may be able to identify whether each of its useds is mentally ill or not.

Facebook can tell when its useds are asleep. Via Facebook, others can tell that too.

When Facebook sees two useds are in the same physical location, it may suggest that the two 'friend' each other.

This can cause lots of trouble for people in certain circumstances. But remember that the NSA is doing the same thing, and doesn't let you opt out  except the way I do, by not carrying a mobile phone.

Facebook and Master Card will join forces to profile Master Card customers so banks can push them to spend more.

By doing this, Master Card is ratting on its customers. This reinforces the point that using a credit card enables others to take advantage of you. It also interferes with your efforts to limit your spending.

Don't be tracked  pay cash.

Many things can be determined about a Facebook used*, with pretty good accuracy, from the used's published list of "likes".

If you do as I do, and reject Facebook, you are safe from this form of snooping.

How can we get the news items that interest us, without telling a server what criterion to use? Simple: download lists of items, and have software on our own machine decide which articles to show. This software can fetch additional articles (which it doesn't actually show us) just to create a false trail.

Facebook's new patent suggests that Facebook may be planning to use the computer's camera to detect its useds' emotions. It might already be doing so.

Facebook increased its visible use of face recognition.

Nothing stopped, or stops, Facebook from privately recognizing all the faces in photos, and selling that data as part of "anonymizied" records to other companies that can reidentify them.

Facebook facilitates age-discrimination in employment ads. Facebook has been sued for this.

Workers are suing Facebook for its age-discriminating job ads, as well as the companies that buy the targeted ads.

Facebook compiles extensive profiles about people that are not its useds.

If you resist other forms of profiling, such as carrying tracking devices, identifying yourself to web sites, and paying other than with cash, you will deny lots of data to Facebook as well as to the others that accumulate that data. What data nobody collects, nobody can get.

Facebook leads its useds into joining "private" medical patient support groups, but "private" is misleading since they aren't safe from being profiled based on this.

Other People

Facebook predicts who new useds* know, based on their phone lists and email address lists. Along with the phone and email lists of all the other useds.

This is a measure of how complete and dangerous Facebook surveillance is.

It implies that giving your email or phone list to a company is mistreatment of everyone in that list!

The NSA tracks Americans' social networks, and Facebook is just one of its sources.

Thus, if you talk about your friends in Facebook, you're ratting on them. If you say that you saw John and Arthur, you tell the NSA that John knows Arthur. If John and Arthur are dissidents, or journalists, your information will help the government suppress dissent or journalism.

Facebook invites useds* to nag other useds to fill in their profiles with all sorts of personal information.

Facebook has a new trick to get people to identify their spouses and babies in photos.

Facebook asks its useds to provide their entire list of other people's email addresses.

This by itself is surveillance of those other people, but Facebook uses it to go further and try to guess the relationships of people who are not Facebook useds* (along with collecting their phone numbers, and email and postal addresses).

That information must be worth some money to companies. It is surely worth money to the secret police of any country that isn't democratic enough.

However, the principal wrong here is not that Facebook can guess which non-useds know you or me. It is that Facebook collects information from its useds about whether they know you or me.

I think we can formulate the principle that any social network that asks its members for information about other people is abusive.

Facebook apps have access to that used's* information  and the useds' "friends'" information, too. Thus, if you make the mistake of using Facebook, even if you don't let a company access your data, any of your "friends" can give the company access to your data.

For more see here.

Ads

*The researchers discovered that numerous political advertisers were violating Facebook's disclosure rules, yet the company has been letting it happen.* People speculate that that's why Facebook wants to shut down this research.

Facebook pressures political organizations to show ads only to people that Facebook believes support them. It charges extra to show the ads to anyone else.

This has the effect of encouraging twofaced campaigning.

Useds say that Facebook mostly shows them infomercials rather than anything about their friends, and what they post doesn't reach their friends. Knowing this could make it easier for you to decide to close your account for all the other reasons described in this file.

Facebook exploits its useds* by conscripting them for ads.

Facebook settled a lawsuit by promising useds will be able to 'limit' this use of their names and photos in ads shown to other useds. However, since this is "opt-out", by default useds will still be exploited. What's more, it may not even be a complete opt-out.

Facebook will no longer allow useds to decline to let their names be used in advertisements. More than ever, Facebook is really Suckerberg.

In addition, Facebook secretly collects useds' phone numbers. The article says it is not clear why. Perhaps it's a favor for the NSA.

Did the vegetarian used of Facebook* really "like" McDonalds, or did Facebook make it up? In fact, Facebook invents phony "likes", and worse, falsely suggests people liked specific text that they had never even seen.

Facebook publishes ads citing specific useds as if they endorsed the ads. Martin Lewis is suing Facebook for misrepresenting him this way.

Facebook sends political messages as coming from people who have clicked Like buttons.

Facebook recently settled a lawsuit, promising to stop a very similar practice involving ads, but these political messages are not considered "ads" and Facebook continues to send them.

Facebook developed algorithms to detect teenagers that are in a vulnerable or susceptible state, to target them with ads.

Aside from all the ethical reasons not to let Facebook use you, there is a practical reason small businesses might care about: advertising there is ineffective for them.

Facebook "support groups" must be a windfall for Facebook's profiling and advertising. They are also used to lure people into expensive "therapy".

Facebook gives video-publishing media sites exaggerated view counts to attract them to move from Youtube. Some of them borrow money to invest to profit from this increased popularity, and they go bankrupt.

Another drawback is that if you refuse to be a zucker, the site becomes inaccessible to you when it is on Facebook.

Psychological Harm

Research comparing various US universities shows a correlation between when Facebook started operating in each and when there was an increase in depression. In other words, Facebook is harmful and addictive.

Facebook knowingly worked with game developers to encourage children to spend their parents' money.

Facebook cuts some useds off from in-person interaction with their friends and family.

Tricks that Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat use to make people feel anxious and spend time there.

Facebook Helped Advertisers Target Teens Who Feel "Worthless".

Heavy use of Facebook tends to make some people feel worthless.

Facebook lurkers are likely to feel happier if they stop being used by Facebook for at least a week.

If you want to "engage with others" more, how about doing it outside of Facebook? That would provide the same benefits and would avoid giving Facebook any more information about you or the others you engage with.

A study found that people get measurably happier (on the average) if they stop being used by Facebook.

Being used by Facebook tends to be bad for your mental health.

Facebook tends to lead its useds into a sort of trance in which they believe, more or less, whatever comes up in the feed.

Facebook makes it easy to say different things to different groups of people, which has the effect of breaking up the common culture of any society.

Reading the feed on Facebook makes many useds feel envy and sadness.

They can reduce these feelings by posting more about themselves. Thus, the system (Facebook and the used) pressures the used into giving Facebook more personal data.

In some regions, 10% of Facebook useds don't realize that talking to Facebook is using the internet. And Facebook is directing millions of people into having no internet access except to Facebook.

This is the sort of thing that a democratic society should prohibit, for the same reason we prohibit other kinds of monopolies.

Why Facebook Is the Junk Food of Socializing.

Parents should regard Facebook as a sort of gang that you don't want your kids to get mixed up in.

The competition for "likes" on Facebook lures teenagers to procure "likes" by any means necessary, and no means is too sleazy. The way a player scores in this game is by selling the list of people who "liked" him to a company, thus paying back favors with abuse; but these useds* have adopted an amoral attitude in which they no longer try to judge exploitation ethically.

This competition inculcates an amoral attitude in which nothing is genuine and the only value is success. I don't think that the desire to build a career (no matter what kind) excuses this behavior.

A person's number of 'friends' on Facebook measures narcissism.

Facebook is designed to get useds* addicted to vanity.

One used writes that Facebook led her to be in love with "the projection of [her] own desired life".

Social networks, for lonely people, may only show them how lonely they are.

A study found that being heavily used by Facebook tended to make people sad, independent of how the useds felt at the start of the study.

The study eliminated the hypothesis that people let Facebook use them more because they were sadder to begin with.

This is not yet proof, but given so many other reasons to avoid Facebook, why not take this precaution?

Another study shows that being used a lot by Facebook encourages depression; since people generally post an exaggerated positive picture of their lives, their lives appear to be better than your own.

Allowing yourself to be used frequently by Facebook promotes eating disorders.

Facebook (along with Twitter and Snapchat) uses tricks to make people feel anxious and spend time there.

Facebook treats the video moderators like shit. And that's in addition to the depression they feel from watching the videos.

The article gives no evidence that Utley's death was caused by his job, but the way the managers treated it is despicable even if they did not cause it.

Naturally, these workers are subcontracted, so that Facebook can deny responsibility for how they are treated. But Facebook is in fact responsible: it demands contractors offer a low price, which they achieve by treating the workers like shit. We need laws to hold companies like Facebook responsible for the treatment of indirect workers, and give them employee rights such as sick leave.

It should be a felony for employees of a company to ask a worker to sign a nondisclosure agreement covering any aspect of the working conditions, benefits, or pay.

The most important of the techniques used by Facebook (and other antisocial media) to addict and manipulate victims.

Taxes

Facebook is a tax dodger.

Of course, it's not the only one, but that is no excuse.

Racism

Facebook guesses the race of each used, and companies use this to show people different ads.

Facebook has introduced a racial discrimination feature that lets advertisers direct ads at people selected by race.

In response a group of Facebook useds have filed a lawsuit, which has led Facebook to stop allowing discrimination, although only in the specific areas where that is illegal in the US.

In other words, Facebook supports racism as far as the law allows.

Facebook is effectively racially profiling its useds, in an indirect and deniable way.

How "personalization" done by Facebook, presented as a feature, turns into a dangerous because it is done corruptly.

Facebook still allows housing advertisements to be targeted in discriminatory ways.

Facebook continues to facilitate racial discrimination in housing ads, according to a 2018 lawsuit.

Facebook faces a US government complaint for racial discrimination in housing advertisements.

Control of media

When a company has dangerous power, it is irrelevant whether it got that "fairly" in a "in a competitive open market". We should not let that irrelevance distract us from what matters: protecting ourselves from their power.

It is important to keep in mind that Facebook is bad for many other reasons. This is one more reason to oppose it, but we had plenty already.

It is unfortunate that the article uses the term "content" to refer to published text. Just because CNN does that is no reason why we should follow its example.

Facebook Is Eating the Internet.

Facebook's corporate-only news feed both directs useds away from independent journalism and tracks their reading.

Twitter told people about protests and the uniformed thugs' violence in Ferguson (those who were interested), while Facebook mostly steered people away.

A convicted blackmailer who helped Putin crush independent media in Russia now owns a large stake in Facebook.

Facebook tries to discourage useds* from visiting other web sites.

(This article uses the word "content" to refer to published works. I think that is a bad practice since that term disparages the works. See gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html.)

To free writers and publishers from the power of Facebook, don't let Facebook direct what you read or watch.

You will do this automatically if you refuse to be a used of Facebook. I don't have a Facebook account, so Facebook doesn't know what I read, and has no direct influence on my choices.

Facebook Helped Consolidate Power for Cambodia's Dictator and His Attack-Dog Media, Then Killed the Independent Press's Platform.

To some extent the Cambodian government figured out how to use the policies that Facebook had anyway. However, some of the methods described in the article show that Facebook went out of its way to cooperate.

*With Zuck's Blessing, Facebook Quietly Stymied Traffic to Left-Leaning News Outlets.*

The sites that suffered were not very leftist. One example cited was Mother Jones.

Attacks on Democracy

The employee in charge of dealing this was fired, and posted internally a report on the magnitude of the problem. It seems that in most of these cases the staff mean well but they have no idea how to cope.

Don't be so easy to manipulate  stop being a used of Facebook!

By not letting it use us, we reduce that capacity.

Allowing them to do this fits Facebook's stated mission, "Bringing the world closer together".

Arguing that Facebook deliberately promotes right wing extremism because it would benefit from a Republican victory.

Facebook sent troll farm output to 140 million Americans users each month. 100 million of them had not expressed any interest in those things -- Facebook sent it to them spontaneously.

(Those figures are from 2019.)

Facebook did not seen to consider it urgent to put an end to this.

Miscellaneous

Facebook was compelled to offer some additional options to limit use of certain kinds of personal data. So it designed the user interface to discourage people from using them.

Facebook plans to work with a right-wing think-tank funded by rich fossil fuel interests, supposedly to "protect" democracy.

The funding suggests that what they plan to protect is plutocracy.

A used of Facebook developed a browser add-on to make it easier to unfollow everyone and make one's newsfeed empty. Users loved it, until Facebook threatened an absurd lawsuit that he could not afford to defend.

If the client software for Facebook were free, users could probably make the newsfeed disappear by modifying that software.

Nobelist journalist Maria Ressa says Facebook is "biased against facts." I never thought of it that way, but that fits what we know about it. It does indeed "prioritize the spread of lies laced with anger and hate over facts."

Facebook draws useds by promising interoperability, then eliminates the interoperability once it gets them hooked. Here's how it did that with XMPP for messaging.

The writer of that page has recognized that the power Facebook has over its useds is dangerous, but hasn't thought it through to the conclusion that we shouldn't let Facebook use us.

Facebook measured the depth of its grip over its useds by trying to drive them away with malfunctioning apps. No matter how bad things got, the useds would not be driven away.

It is very important for you personally to refuse to use Facebook, especially if some of your friends do (or might), because that's how you influence them, for good or for ill.

Facebook keeps track of how long people look at an item.

Unfriend Facebook now  you are its product, not its customer.

Facebook says that a used can't have Facebook's data about him, because it's a trade secret.

A German regulator says that Facebook's face recognition is illegal.

It appears Facebook spontaneously sends phone messages to people in India who have had no connection with Facebook. This person is trying to find out why.

Facebook has put an outrageous trademark claim on the word "book" into its terms of service.

To be dependent on Facebook, or any other specific company you could not replace with another, is to make yourself vulnerable to unbounded legal aggression. Don't be a fool  unfriend Facebook today rather than accept these terms.

A credit agency in Germany plans to evaluate people's creditworthiness by who their 'friends' are on Facebook.

The lesson is that we should make sure that no activities collect information about lots of people's social networks.

Facebook is attempting to gouge companies and web sites that use it to keep in touch with their customers.

The attitude of this criticism is too narrowly commercial for me to sympathize fully with it, and I expect that Facebook will reduce this charge so as to avoid driving these customers away. I am also repelled by the shallowness that leads to thinking that Facebook in April 2012 was good merely because it aided their commercial goals.

Nonetheless, this demonstrates the arrogant way Facebook treats anyone that deals with it, which is a reason not to be one of them.

Parents of children used by Facebook are suing for a refund of money Facebook let the children spend using the parents' credit cards.

Facebook: the most congenitally dishonest company in America.

Lauren Weinstein: Fixing Facebook May Be Impossible.

If so, we must make it go away.

When useds of Facebook stop logging in, Facebook sends them emails to manipulate them to come back.

This does no direct harm to the used, but demonstrates how manipulative Facebook is in general.

Your real friends will keep in touch in some other way. Your other "friends", you can do without.

Facebook protects far-right activists even after rule breaches.

Facebook pays its subcontracted workers very little, and treats them in a way that is cruel if not fraudulent. When they demanded better treatment, the subcontractor told them to shut up or quit.

Subcontracting enables Facebook to disclaim legal responsibility for all of this, but morally Facebook is entirely responsible.

If company A buys goods or services from company B, and none of the workers of B are particularly associated with company A's purchase, there is usually no reason to hold A responsible for how B treats workers. But when B is hired to provide people to work for A, morally speaking they are working for A. We should change the law to match the morality.

Facebook staff discussed in a tone of cupidity how they were leading minors to spend their parents' money playing games. Facebook kept the parents confused about the situation, too.

Facebook sponsored the rightwing Federalist Society to host a dinner honoring Justice Kavanaugh, who tried to commit rape years ago and lied about it while testifying to Congress.

This article argues that the bully's executive order targeting social-media, supposedly a threat to Twitter, is really a message to Zuckerberg: "Keep on letting me use your platform to spread hatred and lies." Zuckerberg seems to be willing.

Facebook's management knew in 2018 that it profited by stirring up division between users, and decided to continue.

Facebook insisting on merging all WhatsApp data into its main data base. This is a great impetus to stop using WhatsApp forever.

Facebook told a subcontractor to pull the union representative (of subcontracted janitors) off work on Facebook's building. That was because he organized a protest against Facebook's demand to work so fast that it made people work overtime unpaid. This is likely to be tantamount to firing him, though perhaps with a legal loophole.

This is one more reason why subcontracting should be limited by law to small numbers of workers doing small total amounts of work.

Not every business is nasty to workers like this, but no business deserves rights the way humans do. Subcontracting generally gives workers less power over their work (pay, schedules, working conditions), even as it reduces the accountability over the business in regard to the work they do for customers. It benefits the business but harms everyone else. So let's forbid it, except for small cases where a full-time employee would simply not make sense.

* We call them 'useds' rather than 'users' because Facebook is using them, not vice versa.

Copyright 2011-2019 Richard Stallman released under Creative Commons Attribution Noderivs 3.0 unported
Cannes

The ad industry descended on Cannes on the Cote d'Azure in France last week to drink the town dry of rose, take meetings, and complain about the business they're in. (Oh yes, and to give some awards to the most interesting, creative, and innovative advertising work of the last year.)

Anyone who is anyone in the marketing and media world comes to Cannes in June, and it is not unusual to meet VIP execs who have been to Cannes more than 10 or 20 times. Politicians have Davos. Tech people have CES. Media and marketing people go to Cannes.

But the cost of getting to Cannes is staggering. Conference badge fees start at 1,500 ($1,667) and entry fees for competition work start at 499 ($555). Those are the basic fees. VIP passes and major entry fees can go as high as 5,000 for a badge and 1,500 for an entry.

A large global agency might send 100 or 200 people to Cannes, and enter 1,500 pieces of work, according to two executives at different agencies.

So here's some math on the total cost for a large global agency network:

200 staff who need passes at 1500 each = 300,000

1,500 work entries at 500 per entry = 750,000

Total = 1.15 million ($1.28 million)

That's before anyone gets on the plane. Almost all of those 200 staffers will then need plane tickets, and hotel or Airbnb rooms, plus meal expenses.

A source told Business Insider there is even a 10,000 special VIP ticket that gets you access to all the top hotel rooms (the best hotels and their rooms are essential controlled by the Cannes Lions conference).

The Daily Mail spent at least 1 million on two yachts and a stage  and that doesn't include any attendee badge costs. Luma Partners, the private bank that advises on media and advertising tech company mergers, made this map of luxury party yachts from agencies and vendors who want attention:

Luma cannes yacht image1.JPG



"It's not cheap," one global creative director told us.

Bear in mind that the primary activity of most people during the week is partying. Events shut down around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., and "sundowners" begin thereafter. They are followed by all-nighters. Getting to bed at about 4 a.m. in Cannes is considered normal.

Story continues

So why do agencies put up with this cost?

"It is the gold standard for clients. It's really the only award they know and care about," the creative director said. And while winning a Lion won't automatically win you clients, it does create the kind of buzz that eventually leads to clients. WPP and Omnicom executives spent the week wining and dining AT&T executives at the Hotel du Caps Eden Roc Grill. AT&T is considering consolidating its entire $3 billion ad account at just one network.

"It's worth it for things that are difficult to measure, intangible things," the president of one global agency told Business Insider. "We have back-to-back meetings all week but not one of them can I not have elsewhere, New York or London or Shanghai."

Essentially, the agencies are paying for efficiency: "The convenience is that everyone is in town at one time."

yacht

NOW WATCH: How the US could prevent a North Korean nuclear strike  according to a former Marine and cyberwarfare expert





More From Business Insider


(Adds Corbyn, Bryant)

By Kylie MacLellan and William James

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader said on Sunday he would not resign despite more than a third of his senior team withdrawing their support for him, plunging the party into crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Corbyn, elected last year with the overwhelming support from grassroots Labour members, has faced criticism from some Labour lawmakers that he had not done enough to convince millions of voters in the party's heartlands to back remaining in the EU.

"I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me, or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them," Corbyn said in a statement.

"Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate."

After a stinging election defeat for Labour last year, Corbyn won the leadership thanks to grassroots support but he has struggled to win the backing of Labour lawmakers, many of whom find themselves far closer to the centre ground than him.

Britain is not due to hold a parliamentary election until 2020, but after Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement that he would resign after losing the referendum, many expect that one could now be called earlier by his successor -- putting pressure on Labour to present itself as a credible alternative.

"I urge you, because you are a decent man, to do the decent thing and take the only action that can avert potential disaster by stepping aside," senior lawmaker Chris Bryant said in a letter to Corbyn, which he posted on Twitter (Xetra: A1W6XZ - news) .

"If you do so I believe future generations will praise your selflessness. If you refuse to step aside I fear you will go down in history as the man who broke the Labour Party."

Bryant, who said he was stepping down from his role in charge of Labour's parliamentary business, said Corbyn's "ambivalent attitude" to the EU campaign had betrayed the Labour party and wider movement.

Story continues

Since the referendum, two Labour lawmakers have submitted a motion of no-confidence in Corbyn, calling for his leadership to be debated at a meeting of the party's lawmakers on Monday, followed by a secret ballot.

Early on Sunday the Labour leader sacked his foreign policy chief, Hilary Benn, after Benn said he had lost confidence in the ability of Corbyn, who is on the party's far left, to lead Labour.

Over the course of the day 11 others -- Bryant, Gloria de Piero, Heidi Alexander, Lucy Powell, Ian Murray, Kerry McCarthy, Vernon Coaker, Charles Falconer, Lilian Greenwood, Karl Turner and Seema Malhotra -- said they were stepping down from Corbyn's top team of 30 lawmakers, known as the "shadow cabinet".

Malhotra, a member of Corbyn's finance policy team who had introduced him at a speech on Saturday, said Labour needed to strengthen its influence at a time of such political and economic upheaval.

"We need to recognise that we do not currently look like a government in waiting," she said in a letter to Corbyn, which she also published on Twitter.

Several of the others also said in statements that they doubted Corbyn's ability to lead the party to victory in the next election. (Additional reporting by Conor Humphries, Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sandra Maler)
By David Nelson, CFA



Thursday, June 23 will go down in history as Britains Independence Day. Understandably, fear and confusion over just what a Brexit looks like will weigh on all parties in the weeks and months ahead.

I'm sure when the United States declared its independence there were many saying it would be an economic disaster. We went on to become the most powerful economic engine the world has ever known.

In the wake of Fridays aftermath, it was hard not to notice that the FTSE was holding up better than most markets on the continent. I suspect that with the British pound down to a 30-year low, investors understand that it should help British exports. It remains to be seen just how much help the weaker currency will be in the long run.

For the EU, this is a gut check. In my humble opinion, Britain wont be the last to exit. Without significant changes, other countries will consider an exit as their best option. Already, nationalist parties throughout the continent have petitioned to hold exit referendums similar to the Brexit.

In the end, I believe theres life after divorce. Its in everyones best interest for trade to go on. Treaties will be re-negotiated under Article 50, which probably comes into play in October when Prime Minister Cameron steps down. The process could take as long as two years.

Youre going to hear a lot of people do an about face in the days and weeks ahead. Weve already seen a reversal from U.S. President Barack Obama. It wasnt that long ago when he was saying Britain would have to go to the back of the line. Today, he says that our special relationship will survive."

Political Outlook

Theres a strong parallel between whats happening in Europe and our election cycle here. Unchecked immigration and too many regulations has set off a populist wave that has already toppled one major governmentWhos next?

The man on the street

A couple of weeks ago, one of the international managers at my firm was in London and made the following observation: It's clear politicians and business leaders want to remain, but the man on the street dealing with the day-to-day challenges want out.

Story continues

Putting it in perspective

Over the last week, markets had priced-in a remain victory, so a big part of Fridays 610 point fall in the Dow Industrials (^DJI) was unwinding that trade. The polls and bookies were 180 degrees wrong. What does that say for the polls here?

The knee jerk reaction will be to punish Britain, and some heads of state have spoken to that end. I think those voices will soon be drowned out as leaders get down to business.

Rejection of the political elite

This was not only a rejection of the EU, but also a rejection of the political elite. Theres a huge parallel between what just took place in Europe and our election cycle here.

Both here and abroad, there is a large group of citizens who feel government has turned a deaf ear to their causes. Again, the concerns around unchecked immigration resonates across oceans. When Brexit voters were confronted with evidence that it may hurt the economy or markets, their answer was, I dont care. Its already bad, and Im ready to roll the dice."

In the long run, I believe this can be good news for all parties. Its a wake-up call for Britain, but it's also a wake-up call for the eurozone. Over the weekend, the six original member countries of the EUBelgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlandsare all meeting Saturday in Berlin to chart a course forward.

Its safe to say that traders will be up late Sunday evening preparing for Mondays open.
Iraq is screening 20,000 people leaving the Fallujah area to stop militants of the Islamic State (IS) group escaping among civilians displaced by fighting, the army said on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people have fled as government forces fight to oust IS group from Fallujah, a city 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Some of those screened have accused security forces of beating and torturing them.

Of those detained, 2,185 were suspects based on testimonies or other information, while 11,605 were released and about 7,000 were still being checked, said a spokesman for Iraq's Joint Operations Command.

When fleeing civilians reached government forces, teenaged boys and men were screened separately, with some being released after a few hours while others underwent more thorough interrogation.

Relatives mobbed Iraqi officials at a camp for displaced last week to ask about the fate of hundreds of missing males.

One man said he was held for four days without anything to drink or eat by the Popular Mobilisation forces, an umbrella organisation for volunteer fighters dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Another said detainees were beaten, and others had similar accounts of torture.

Human Rights Watch this month called for Iraq to "unravel the web of culpability underlying the government forces' repeated outrages against civilians".

HRW said it had received credible allegations that federal police and pro-government forces executed at least 17 people fleeing the fighting in Sijr, northeast of Fallujah.

The watchdog also listed reports of civilians being stabbed to death and others dying after being dragged behind cars in the Saqlawiya area, northwest of Fallujah.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office previously said that he had issued "strict orders" for prosecutions in the event of any abuses.

IS group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant ground from the militants, who now hold only one major city in the country.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Turkey has condemned as "very unfortunate" Pope Francis's declaration that the mass killings of Armenians a century ago by Ottoman forces amounted to a genocide, saying it bore traces of "the mentality of the Crusades."

"It is not an objective statement that conforms with reality," Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canlikli said late on Saturday, quoted by the state-run news agency Anadolu.

The pope on Friday denounced the World War I killing of Armenians as a genocide, prompting Turkey's anger.

"Sadly this tragedy, this genocide, was the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century," the pope said at the presidential palace in Yerevan.

Canikli said: "It is possible to see all the hallmarks or reflections of the mentality of the Crusades in the Pope's activities."

When Francis last used the term in the Vatican in 2015, on the centenary of the killings, Ankara angrily recalled its envoy from the Holy See for nearly a year.

The pope on Saturday visited the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan but sought to strike a conciliatory tone during evening prayers.

"May God bless your future and grant that the people of Armenia and Turkey take up again the path of reconciliation, and may peace also spring forth in Nagorny Karabakh."

Armenians have long sought international recognition for the World War I killings as genocide.

Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor state -- argues that it was a collective tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians died.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The future of glyphosate remains unclear after another EU vote on the future of the product failed to reach an agreement, with its licence due to expire in days.

The EU Appeal Committee of member states did not give an opinion on a proposal to reauthorise glyphosate, used in Monsantos Roundup weedkiller, for a limited period.

This is despite the EUs food safety body, the European Food Safety Authoritys conclusion that glyphosate was unlikely to cause cancer in humans.

See also: D-day for glyphosate and neonicotinoids

A previous vote on 6 June by the EUs Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Paff) standing committee ended with no decision after countries including France, Germany and Italy abstained. Twenty member states, including the UK, voted in support of the proposal.

The European Commissions proposal to relicense glyphosate for a limited period of up to 18 months seeks to allow time for the European Agency for Chemical Products (ECHA) to reassess the safety of the product.

However, after the EU Appeal Committee failed to reach a decision, the licence on glyphosate could run out by 30 June  unless the commission uses its powers to relicence the product.

If no decision to approve glyphosate is taken, member states will have to begin withdrawing the plant protection products, which contain glyphosate from the market.

Commission to decide

EU health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said the commission would meet on Monday (27 June) to discuss the next steps. The commission is expected to push through the temporary relicensing of glyphosate.

EU farmers umbrella group Copa-Cogeca, which represents 23 million EU farmers and 22,000 agri-cooperatives, said it regretted that the appeal committee failed to give an opinion on the relicensing of glyphosate and it urged the commission to reapprove the product before 30 June.

Copa-Cogeca secretary-general Pekka Pesonen highlighted the many environmental benefits of using glyphosate.

Farmers have been using for example no till  a sustainable agricultural practice  and its with the use of glyphosate that they can do this in a cost effective manner to ensure soils are in good condition.

It is an important tool together with catch crops to prevent soil erosion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Without glyphosate, farmers competitiveness would be put at risk and EU food production threatened as no alternatives exist.

The European Crop Protection Association said: Failure to re-approve glyphosate would have significant negative repercussions for the competitiveness of European agriculture, the environment, and the ability of farmers to produce safe and affordable food.

Major concern for farmers

Lynn Dicks, a research fellow at the University of Cambridges Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), said: This decision on the future of glyphosate is a major concern for the farming industry, and the uncertainty around its regulation surely influenced voting by farmers in the British referendum on Europe.

This case illustrates the challenges of developing regulations informed by the latest scientific evidence.

Science is almost always uncertain and by its nature highly responsive to new evidence. Policy and regulation require certainty and seek long-term stability. When policy changes quickly, jobs and livelihoods can be put at risk.

Soil Association calls for ban

But UK organic certification body the Soil Association urged the commission to take note of a growing body of scientific evidence regarding the impact of glyphosate use.

Emma Hockridge, head of policy (farming & land use) at the Soil Association, said: Many farmers have expressed support for a ban on pre-harvest use, as such use has led directly to glyphosate being found in our food.

We also support a ban on glyphosate use in private and public green areas, such as parks and playgrounds, where children and adults have been exposed to it.

We welcome the caution that European member states have taken over reauthorising glyphosate in light of new scientific evidence, including emerging evidence that glyphosate may harm soil life.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo paid inspection visit to the Dangote Refinery at the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos, on Saturday, June 25.

Osinbajo was accopmanied by Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Solid Minerals; Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance; Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing; Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state.

Speaking with journalists shortly after the inspection tour, Ambode said that the refinery, petrochemical, gas and fertilizer projects being undertaken by Aliko Dangote in Lagos would significantly boost the economy of the state and Nigeria in general.

Firstly, there is a refinery project that is ongoing, second there is a petrochemical project that is also ongoing. There is pipeline transfer project that brings gas from Bonny down to Olokonla and down to Lekki and then the fourth one is the fertilizer project all in one location," he said.

According to the governor, the coming of the vice president to inspect this project is "a sign post that the federal government is in support of what is going on here".

While briefing journalist, Osinbajo, noted that the project is one of the largest and the most ambitious in Africa.

This is incredible if that can be done because it would be a major strategic asset for Nigeria, It would boost our power supply tremendously, he stressed.

Dangote that in his turn explained the decision to site the projects in Lagos was due to the investment friendly climate in the State.

Lagos is one state that is very investor friendly and the governor himself has always been asking what are the issues and he normally put in place steps to resolve those issues immediately, he said.

Source: Legit.ng
Iraqi commanders announced the complete recapture of key Islamic State group stronghold Fallujah on Sunday after declaring victory in the city a week earlier.

Here is a recap of key cities and towns retaken from IS group in Iraq and neighbouring Syria:

Fallujah: Anbar province's second city and one of IS's most emblematic bastions in the country, located just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad. It was seized by anti-government fighters in 2014 and later became a key IS group stronghold.

While the battle has been won, Iraq still faces a major humanitarian crisis in its aftermath, with tens of thousands of people who fled the fighting desperately in need of assistance in the searing summer heat.

Ramadi: The capital of Anbar, the country's largest province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to just west of the capital.

IS group seized Ramadi, located 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, in May 2015 in an assault involving dozens of suicide bombers driving explosives-rigged vehicles. Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake the city late last year and declared full control over the area earlier this year.

Tikrit: Hometown of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein located 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad, it was the second city after Mosul to fall to IS group. It was recaptured in April 2015 by Iraqi troops, police and Shia-dominated paramilitaries. The operation, which was at that time the largest by Iraqi forces against IS group, was helped by the fact that much of Tikrit's civilian population had fled the city.

Sinjar: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes recaptured Sinjar, 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Baghdad, from IS group last November. That cut a key supply line linking areas held by the militants in Iraq and Syria. IS group captured Sinjar in August 2014 and carried out a brutal campaign against its Yazidi minority that included massacres, enslavement and rape.

Baiji: Iraqi forces recaptured the town of Baiji, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Baghdad in October 2015.

Baiji and the country's largest refinery, located nearby, were the scenes of some of the longest-running battles with IS group in Iraq. The town lies at a major crossroads and its recapture was seen as key to preparing the ground for offensives in Anbar and Mosul, the last major Iraqi city held by IS group.

Palmyra: Known as the "Pearl of the Desert", Palmyra was overrun by IS group in May 2015, after which the militants blew up UNESCO-listed temples and looted ancient relics.

Syrian regime forces backed by Russian warplanes and allied militia retook the ancient city from IS group in March this year.

Kobane: A Kurdish town in northern Syria on the Turkish border. It became a symbol of the fight against IS group, and the militants were driven out of Kobane in January 2015 after more than four months of fierce fighting with Kurdish forces backed by US-led strikes.

The city, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, is the capital of one of three semi-autonomous "cantons" established by Kurds after the Syrian war erupted.

Tal Abyad: Another city on the Turkish border, it was captured by Kurds in June 2015. Tal Abyad lies on a key supply route between Turkey and IS group stronghold Raqa, and militants fighters and arms regularly passed through the city before its recapture.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


The head of Libya's unity government said Sunday that only a united military bringing together all the country's armed factions would be able to defeat the Islamic State group.

"We are convinced that the only way to end this organisation (IS) is through a united military command that brings together all Libyans from every region of the country," Prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj told AFP in a written response to questions.

Forces loyal to Sarraj's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) have been fighting since mid-May to oust IS group from Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.

Backed by the international community, the GNA set up base in Tripoli at the end of the March but has struggled to assert its control over all of Libya.

It has backing from some military units and armed groups mainly from western Libya.

But forces based in eastern Libya, including local militias and units of the national army loyal to a controversial general, Khalifa Haftar, have not joined with pro-GNA fighters in the battle against IS group.

Loyalist fighters made significant early advances in the battle to take Sirte, but the offensive has slowed in the face of a fierce IS group counter-attack.

Sarraj said a key reason for the slowdown was care that pro-GNA forces were taking for some 30,000 civilians estimated to still be inside the city.

"Victory is only a matter of time. We hope it will come very soon," Sarraj said.

Libya descended into chaos after the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed strongman Muammar Gaddafi, with the country awash in weapons and rival factions vying for power.

IS group took advantage of the chaos to seize control of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, in June last year.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Have you ever walked around an entire parking lot looking for your car? Of course, it is the

hottest day of the year and you specifically parked your car in a spot you would remember. Forgetful parkers, rejoice  an upcoming feature in the Apple Maps app might be able to solve this problem.

Whenever a user ends a trip that isnt at their house, Apple Maps will drop a parked car locator automatically.

The users car will be represented by a parked car icon on the map. Users can change the

location of the pin, determine how far away they are from their car and even find the fastest way to their vehicle.

Apple also stated that both Siri and the Apple Maps app will be opened to third-party developers at the companys Worldwide Developer Conference. You may also be able to book a reservation at a restaurant and order a Lyft or Uber directly in Apple Maps as early as this fall. Siri can even take care of doing all of that for you.

Another update on Apple Maps will allow the app to intelligently provide directions to the

destination youre most likely en route to by recognizing appointments in your calendar. This way, if you are going to see a movie at a theater in a new town, Apple Maps can suggest the best way from your hotel.

Apple Maps is about to make parking in a crowded lot a little more relaxing.

Lauren Spiler is a freelance journalist based in Athens, Georgia, but most call her Spiler.
<p><em>Joey Mjahed</em><span></span></p>

Cydney Cross receives roughly 1,000 emails and phone calls every week from people looking for help with unwanted and abandoned pit bulls. As cofounder of Out of the Pits, a nonprofit rescue group based in Albany, New York, this is to be expected.

Hero in Lebanon before he got the help he needed | Joey Mjahed

But one recent email in particular jumped out at her. A stray pit bull across the world in Lebanon needed immediate intervention - so he wouldn't be forced into the country's dogfighting scene. Spotted in the streets of Hosrayel, a small municipality in the Jbeil district, the pup, later named Hero, was suffering from a grave injury to his front leg. Long before the plea was sent to Cross all the way in New York, Joey Mjahed, a 21-year-old animal activist in Lebanon, stepped in to help the dog, whom he had heard about through a friend. He combed the city's streets until he found Hero and brought the badly injured stray to a local veterinarian. As it turned out, Hero's leg was broken in several places and would need to be amputated, according to the veterinarian. Because Lebanon is known for its dogfighting rings and pit bull breeding, Mjahed believed the scars on Hero's body and mouth were an indication that the pup had already been a victim of this blood sport. Mjahed made it his mission to get Hero the surgery he required, and enlisted a network of friends to help.

Dodo Shows Odd Couples Dog Is So Gentle And Patient With Her Foster Kittens

Animal activist Joey Mjahed took action to help Hero. | Joey Mjahed

Mjahed already had several foster dogs at home and contemplated sending Hero to his mother in Germany. Unfortunately, pit bulls have been banned in Germany since 2001.

Hero in Lebanon shortly after his surgery | Judith Jallad

So, a friend of Mjahed, Judith Jallad, started reaching out to rescue organizations all over the world. No one answered her. And then, Cydney Cross received her email from Mjahed.

Hero proved to be a sweet and friendly dog despite his past. | Judith Jallad

Because Out of the Pits relies solely on donations, the cost of getting Hero to the U.S. proved challenging. Cross told Mjahed that if he could get Hero to her, she would take him. In the meantime, Lisa Feigen, a friend of Mjahed's, fostered Hero before and after his surgery, until Hero was able to fly to the U.S. So, Mjahed and his friends immediately began seeking donations for airfare to get Hero to the U.S. - and they were able to raise $1,000. Hero still had to fly from Beirut to the U.S. via Frankfurt, Germany - and while exporting what is considered a dangerous breed is allowed, a specific crate had to be built to get Hero through the country. Mjahed and his team then needed to build this special crate to accompany Hero on his journey. Upon seeing the finished product upon his arrival, Cross half-jokingly referred to it as "the Hannibal Lecter crate." (The character Hannibal Lecter, in the film "The Silence of the Lambs," infamously wore a metal mask with bars covering his mouth.)

Hero spent eight hours in this crate while flying from Germany to the United States. | Cydney Cross

Cydney Cross

Two Out of the Pits volunteers waited for Hero's arrival at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, and immediately removed him from his confinement. Finally, after a three-hour ride to his new foster family's home, Hero got to feel the grass under his feet. "When he got to his foster home, he ate a wonderful dinner and settled into bed right away," Cross told The Dodo.

Hero in his new bed | Cydney Cross

"It's like he'd always been there!" said Cross. As a certified therapy dog trainer and former veterinary technician with more than 20 years of experience, she immediately observed positive behavior from Hero. For a dog who had endured so much hardship, she found him to be loving, outgoing and responsive to training.

Hero is thriving in his foster home | Cydney Cross

Now, Hero is up for adoption. Cross considers him to be a miracle and a blessing. "We work locally first, but certain stories tug at your heartstrings and, when all falls into place, we feel it's meant to be," Cross said. She is very grateful to all the young people around the world who desperately wanted to save Hero, a dog who had no hope. "They put hope into action and did everything they could do to get him here and that is quite amazing," she said.
Roughly 3,960 metres above sea level, Nepals Everest View Hotel is nestled on a ridge overlooking the famous mountain that shares its name.

Mithan Kansal was walking near the hotel on an April morning in 2015 when the whole mountain suddenly started shaking. Surrounded by thunderous cacophony as the ground shuddered violently beneath his feet, Kansal dug both his hiking poles hard into the mountainside until the steel began to bend, then he fell to the ground  and blacked out.

Kansal, a 66-year-old retired warehouse co-ordinator from Markham, was climbing Mount Everest when the region was hit by one of Nepals most devastating recent earthquakes  one with a magnitude of around 7.8  which killed more than 8,000 people and injured thousands more.

It was just one piece of his retirement bucket list to climb a series of mountains or passes of more than 5,000 metres  a daring, death-defying, around-the-world adventure, taking him from the base camp of Aconcagua in the Andes to the peak of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and pitting him against below-freezing temperatures, avalanches, and whipping winds.

Born in India, Kansal first came to Canada in 1975 and spent the next four decades trying to provide the best life for his wife, Kalpna, and the couples three children; adventure took a back seat to being a family man and provider.

I worked for 40 years without ever thinking about me, Kansal says from his home in Markham. Then came retirement  and all my dreams and ambitions came back.

He started thinking back to a trip to Tibet he made around a decade ago, five years before his retirement. It was a religious expedition  though Kansal considers himself more spiritual than religious  to the regions sacred Mount Kailash Kora.

Kansal traversed the Drolma La Pass, the most challenging stretch of the regions holy pilgrimage route. The fun part was, it was an expedition into the unknown, he says. You had to cross over about 6,000 metres. I did that and I loved it. The mountain was so beautiful; being around nature gave me so much peace and happiness.

Kansal also visited holy sites in India with his wife. These were places a horse and buggy can carry you, if youd like. Hed walk, and Id sit on the horse, recalls Kalpna with a laugh.

Years later, after watching a television show about Mount Everest, Kansal made a decision: He was going to make a climbing bucket list, with the Drolma La Pass as the first box to tick off.

He imagined himself on top of a summit. He made sure he had money saved for all his expeditions. He found guides and climbing companies to help make the trips a reality. And then he started training  both his mind and his body  six to seven hours a day through meditation, yoga, and workouts. The routine included walking around five to six kilometres a day, often with a 50-pound backpack, for three months.

Then, he says. I booked my ticket.

Kansals first stop was a second trip to the Drolma La Pass in 2011. Then, in December 2014, he embarked on a climbing expedition to Aconcagua in the Andes mountain range of western Argentina. At 6,962 metres, its the highest mountain outside of Asia, but he didnt summit  a snow storm hit after he reached the second camp, upwards of 5,000 metres on the mountainside. Back at base camp, Kansal cried throughout the night. I was so disappointed, he recalls.

His next attempt was the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, the famous dormant volcano in Tanzania. During Kansals 17-hour expedition, the wind whipped volcanic ash into his face and temperatures near the top dropped to around -20 degrees. When he reached the 5,895 metre summit, Kansal screamed and shouted in a fit of joy. What man in his 60s, he wondered, is supposed to climb a mountain?

His next two years of travel also took him to Mount Elbrus in Russia, the highest mountain in Europe, Mount Bonnettee in Argentina, and Mount Meru in Tanzania  though he didnt count that last one on his bucket list, since its only 4,565 metres.

And, of course, his travels brought him to the heights of Everest on that fateful day in April 2015.

After passing out amid the earthquake, Kansal woke up on the ground. He later found his climbing guides and eventually made it the town of Namche Bazaar, south-west of Everest. The whole town was a ghost town, Kansal recalls. There was nothing  nothing at all.

He spent two days in the town, and two more days sleeping outside, before heading south to another town  Lukla  for three days. Then, he took a flight in a small plane to Nepals capital, Katmandu, where stranded Canadians were able to fly out on a Canadian Armed Forces plane.

Kansal felt lucky to be alive. But after returning home to Markham, he wanted another go.

I couldnt handle the failure, he says. I had to succeed.

His wife of 41 years admires his determination, but every trip  each of them lasting weeks at a time  left Kalpna at home, praying and worrying about his safety, and waiting for his sporadic phone calls. She busied herself with friends and family to ease her mind. But, she says, she never wanted to stop his adventures.

A lot of people asked me, Why would you let him go? she says. I say, if he wants to go, he should go.

And this past March, her husband did go  yet again  to Mount Everest.

For his second attempt, Kansal hoped to reach base camp, more than 5,300 metres above sea level. And he made it, but not without another terrifying moment as an avalanche roared down the other side of the mountain. I thought: Im going to die for sure, Kansal recalls. There were some aftershocks, but nothing major happened. We made it safely back.

Kansal is putting his climbing gear to rest for now, but hopes his whirlwind journey around the world leaves a legacy for his children, and their children  the knowledge their grandfather accomplished something amazing. He also hopes others look to him for inspiration. Retirement is not old age, he says, but a chance to fulfill your dreams.

The experiences Ive had  I look back at how hard it was to climb Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, the Everest base camp  and I look at what I do in my daily life, and its nothing. I can do anything, I feel, he says.

If you have experience reaching the summit of your life  whatever you want to do  that will give you so much strength.

SHARE:
Israel and Turkey reached a deal on Sunday aimed at ending years of acrimony and restoring normalised ties that soured after a deadly 2010 raid on an aid flotilla, an Israeli official said.

The Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP the deal had been reached but details would not be officially announced until Monday. Negotiations were said to have been held in Rome, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.

There were multiple reports in Israeli media that a deal could be announced as early as Sunday, though officials were declining to speak publicly on the talks.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday afternoon, citing a senior Israeli official, that an agreement was expected to be announced within hours and that negotiating teams were meeting in the Italian capital.

Speculation that the highly anticipated deal was close came six years after an Israeli raid that killed 10 Turkish activists as an aid flotilla sought to run the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Both sides have been pushing to complete the deal in recent months, with Israel in search of a potential customer for its offshore gas exports and NATO member Turkey wanting to restore its regional clout, analysts say.

The United States has also pushed for the two countries to resolve the dispute as it seeks cooperation in the fight against extremists from the Islamic State (IS) group.

If an agreement is reached, it would go before Israel's security cabinet for approval on Wednesday, according to media reports and an Israeli official who requested anonymity.

Two of Turkey's key conditions for normalisation -- an apology and compensation -- were largely met earlier, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, as the main obstacle.

Reports in recent days described a compromise on the issue.

Under the reported terms of the deal, Israel will allow the completion of a much-needed hospital in besieged Gaza, as well as the construction of a new power station and a desalination plant for drinking water.

Turkey's aid to Gaza would also be channelled through the Israeli port of Ashdod rather than sending it directly to the Palestinian enclave, the reports said.

Turkey has also committed to keeping Islamist movement Hamas from carrying out activities against Israel from its country, Haaretz reported Sunday.

Hamas would continue to be able to operate from Turkey for diplomatic purposes, the paper said.

Israel has reportedly committed to depositing some $20 million in a fund for compensation for the Turkish victims' families.

Previously tight relations between Israel and Turkey were significantly downgraded after Israeli occupation forces staged a botched pre-dawn raid on the six-ship flotilla in May 2010 as it tried to break the Gaza blockade.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.

The talks to restore ties, ongoing for months, have been accompanied by a change in tone from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan, a stout defender of the Palestinian cause, in July 2014 accused Israel of "keeping Hitler's spirit alive" over its assault on the Gaza Strip that summer.

He has more recently said that "we, Israel and the Palestinians and the region have a lot to win from a normalisation process."

The about-turn came amid a drastic worsening of ties between Turkey and Russia following Ankara's downing of a Russian warplane over Syria on November 24, which wrecked several joint cooperation projects including on energy.

Israel is also motivated to find new allies in the region, in part due to a need for export partners for its natural gas. There has been talk of building a pipeline to Turkey.

It has also found itself under increasing pressure over the lack of any progress on peace efforts with the Palestinians and has sought to build relationships with regional countries partly to counter such criticism.

In addition, normalised ties could open opportunities for further cooperation between NATO and Israel since Turkey's objections would be lifted, analysts say.

"There's the question of isolation," said Dror Zeevi, professor of Middle Eastern studies at Israel's Hebrew University.

"Turkey's lost almost all of its good relations with its neighbours ... Israel doesn't have many friends in the region either."

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in June 2006. The restrictions were tightened a year later when Hamas took control of the enclave.

Gaza has lived through three Israeli devastating wars on the strip over the past six years, including Israels 51-day assault on Gaza in the summer of 2014.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


PETAWAWA, ONT.They deployed to Vancouver in 2010, ready to intervene if terrorists took aim at the Winter Olympics.

When a gunman murdered a soldier at the National War Memorial and stormed Parliament Hill in 2014, these soldiers readied their gear and helicopters prepared to move the team into action.

They are Canadas insurance policy against the worst-case scenario when a terror strike proves more than local police forces can handle.

Joint Task Force 2 is the oldest and most skilled of Canadas special forces units. Its experienced members  the average age is 37  are known as assaulters and if theyre coming in your front window, its a bad day for someone.

In April, the Toronto Star and CTV News were given exclusive access to Canadas special forces mission in northern Iraq, where Canadians are training Kurdish peshmerga soldiers, and later to their training facilities at Garrison Petawawa.

With its counterterrorism mandate, JTF2 is at the heart of what Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau calls the home game for the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, which he heads.

JTF2, along with the unit trained to handle chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, make up the national mission force, to respond to a domestic terror incident.

JTF2 is always on a pretty coiled spring to be able to respond, said Rouleau, himself a former JTF2 member.

We can see the nature of crises, the Paris attacks, what happened in Brussels. These things happen very quickly. The modus operandi of the terrorist is actually to kill as many people in as short a time as possible, Rouleau said.

Yet Rouleau cautions that JTF2s involvement in any crisis would come only after consultations with cabinet ministers and it was clear that the incident was beyond the ability of local law enforcement to manage.

Were not first responders, he said.

You dont use military force of that description unless youve exhausted whats available in the law enforcement portfolio. Clearly, using JTF2 in a counterterrorism sense means that the situation has gotten to the point where you need that level of tool for the problem, Rouleau said.

He offered the example of a hijacked aircraft at Torontos Pearson International Airport as one scenario that might call for an intervention by JTF2.

That is a very, very complex problem to go and rescue hostages in a structure like that. . . We train for that rigorously, Rouleau said.

We are capable of assaulting what we call any stronghold in Canada, whether its a train, an airplane, a ship, a building, moving vehicles, Rouleau said.

Thats the domestic counterterrorism mandate for that worst-case scenario, should it ever happen, he said.

Even as Rouleau took the wraps off some elements of special forces capabilities and personnel, JTF2 was kept firmly in the shadows. But in an interview, he offered some details about the unit, which he calls the jewel in the crown of the special forces command.

It is the one that has the most highly specialized and precise skill sets in CANSOFCOM (the acronym for Canadian Special Operations Forces Command). Precision shooting, moving, communicating, intelligence support, sustainment. All of it is extremely precise. It has enormous value added in a non-lethal sense as much as a lethal sense, Rouleau said.

Its a unit that can be deployed against a wide spectrum of issues or crises. It can be very low signature. It can be very clandestine in the way that it is used, he said.

One source familiar with JTF2 said the skills of the units members come from the time devoted to training.

What makes JTF2 good is the training. The missions are demanding and the intensity in planning is much more demanding, the source said. When youre not on mission, you train.

Operating from their base in Dwyer Hill, just outside Ottawa, JTF2 dates back to the early 1990s, when the military took over the role that had been done by the RCMPs special emergency response team.

In those early days, JTF2 had fewer than 100 people. By 2006, its capabilities and manpower had significantly expanded, primarily as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Today, Rouleau describes it as a very big unit though he doesnt disclose numbers. Its organized into squadrons  several of them assault squadrons  while others provide support in areas such as technology.

From its original domestic mission, JTF2 has done missions abroad in places such as the Balkans and Rwanda. Its members protect the prime minister and other high-level VIPs when they visit hot spots such as Iraq.

JTF2 soldiers have also readied for potential rescue missions when Canadian citizens have been taken hostage abroad. Yet JTF2s role, if any, in the release of kidnapped Canadians has never been publicly disclosed. Nor will the military discuss whether JTF2 troops were in the Philippines, where two Canadians were recently killed by their captors.

Rouleau says it was in Afghanistan that JTF2 proved its mettle and earned the respect of allies. JTF2 first deployed there in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks and remained for almost a year. During that first tour, the unit was largely unknown among other allied soldiers. At the beginning, people said, Who the f--- is JTF2?  one soldier recounted to the Stars Allan Woods in a 2010 interview.

JTF2 returned to Afghanistan in 2005. Their task was often what Rouleau describes as kill and capture missions.

We would work essentially only at night, basically doing raiding on specific targets of interest, bomb makers, commander and control facilitators, key commanders with a view to capturing them so that they could be exploited for their intelligence value, Rouleau said.

Similar raids by American special forces soldiers proved controversial at times when Afghan leaders complained that innocent civilians were being caught in the crosshairs.

Rouleau, who commanded Canadian missions in Afghanistan, said the work of special forces troops saved many Canadian lives by chipping away at the IED networks and the command and control structure of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Theres no question about it that JTF2 really earned its international bona fides after 9/11, Rouleau said.

SHARE:
More than 40 years ago, Larry Porter was perched 450 metres above Toronto, towering over the city from the height of the CN Tower.

It was a very windy day.

That day, I think it was about an 80-mile-an-hour (130 km/h) wind or something like that, Porter said.

Unconcerned, he straddled a steel beam while installing outriggers that hold up the towers famous revolving restaurant, 360. Star photographer Boris Spremo was there and snapped a photo of him. It was 1974.

Porter was one of 1,537 workers who toiled on the tower around the clock, five days a week, for an hourly wage of $8 if they worked below 1,000 feet (305 metres). They got danger pay plus an additional $1 per 200-300 feet (60-90 metres) if they worked above that height.

My job was up there, all the time. There was nobody else up there, Porter said. One worker led Spremo, the photographer, all the way up the tower to where Porter was working.

And so (Spremo) asked me if I would sit out at the edge of the beam (for) a picture. And I said, sure thing,  he said.

It turns out that, despite the alarming appearance that Porter lacked a safety harness, he was actually tied off.

It was the old type  you tie it off on the back, but you cant see it, Porter said, admitting it wasnt very safe at all. If you fell, it would slip out . . . and you were gone.

The picture scared someone at the health and safety board and his work site was nearly shut down the day after the Star ran the photo, Porter said.

Nevertheless, he said, I enjoyed that job.

From his vantage point atop the tower, Porter had the city at his feet. He could even see car crashes on the Gardiner Expressway from where he worked.

And also, it was the greatest place to be for the air show at the Exhibition, Porter added.

Heights werent a problem for him, but the ironworker hated underground work. While working on a mine in Sudbury, he only descended about six metres before getting a nosebleed.

That was enough of underground, he said.

Porter, now 83, is retired after roughly six decades as an ironworker, proud to be able to say that he never refused a job in all of his years.

The veranda of Porters home overlooks the lake and he sees the CN Tower every minute of every day. Forty years after construction was finished, looking at it still brings back memories.

My grandson, when he was 6 or 7 years old, called it Papa Tower,  Porter said.

These days, an attraction called Edge Walk lets people get a feeling of what it might be like to have worked on the towers construction. Thrill-seekers walk around the towers perimeter tethered only by a body harness attached to an overhead rail.

Porter actually thought of doing the Edge Walk with the president of his union, but when he called up the CN Tower and asked to do it for free, they refused.

But I would do the Edge Walk alone, Porter said. Hes turning 84 next month, and said he still makes a point of hitting the gym for several hours each morning to stay in shape.

Would he consider doing the walk on his birthday?

Now that you mention it, I might, Porter said.

SHARE:
Austin Clarke, the acclaimed Toronto-based novelist of books such as the 2002 Giller Prize-winning The Polished Hoe, died early Sunday morning after a long illness. He was 81.

Clarkes passing was confirmed by Patrick Crean, his long-time friend and former publisher. He is survived by four daughters, a son and his former wife, Betty.

Clarke, who was born in Barbados, moved to Toronto in 1955 to study at the University of Toronto. A handful of brief digressions aside, he never left, evolving here into a frank and forthright literary voice and a champion of black rights.

But he was leery of taking Canadian citizenship, acquiring it only in 1981, explaining later that I was not keen on becoming a citizen of a society that regarded me as less than a human being.

Indeed, Clarkes observations of the splintering of Canadian society in the 50s and 60s gave voice to a new version of a country in its earliest stages of becoming.

Austin wrote our multicultural moment before we even had a language to describe it, said Rinaldo Walcott, a professor at the University of Toronto and a longtime friend. He was an astute observer of those social dynamics, and he was a critic of it as well.

Clarke was bluntly critical of the endemic racism he encountered both here and at home, in Barbados, a colonial British outpost where he attended Anglican schools before coming to Canada. Membering, his lyrical memoir published last year, recalls with vivid detail his daily struggles with discrimination in an uptight city of not-so-long ago.

In it, he writes of living in the atmosphere of great physical fear, of the expectation that a policeman might shoot me  bang-bang, youre dead, dead  of being refused the renting of a basement room, or an apartment in a public building, that I would find myself standing noticeably longer than other customers at a counter in Eatons store, at the corner of Yonge and College Sts., that I might be thrown out, sometimes physically, from a restaurant, or a nightclub, as Oscar Peterson was, and face the embarrassment of being told by a barber that he does not cut niggers hair. This is my Toronto.

Yet in private, friends speak of a generous, passionate spirit filled with an affection for simple pleasures in life: A love of cooking, of conversation, and of music. But he was also a complicated man, whose fiery passions around issues of inequity seemed at times to chafe with his conservative Anglican beliefs.

If you were going to have a real relationship with Austin, you had to be prepared to move nimbly, said the author Barry Callaghan, a decades-long friend and literary colleague who in 1996 published The Austin Clarke Reader through his imprint, Exile Editions. He was a worldly fellow, a man of elegance, a man of conservative principles, but at the same time, he could be engaged with people that most conservatives wouldnt let into their house.

Clarke, famously, made a failed run as a Progressive Conservative candidate for the Ontario legislature in 1977, though his literary and intellectual fascinations seemed a clear ideological contradiction. He had built his reputation as a novelist as a keen observer of the nuanced plight of immigrants in Toronto, and specifically women. Meanwhile, his advocacy for a racially tolerant society had led him to places far outside standard conservative boundaries.

In 1963, while working as a journalist at the CBC, Clarke found himself in Harlem, N.Y., seeking an interview with the great African American writer James Baldwin, but instead came back with an hour of tape from a chance encounter with Malcolm X. Quickly building a reputation as a voice of black empowerment in Canada, Clarke wrote at a furious pace, though his passion would drive him away, at least for a time.

In 1968, Macleans magazine published a piece Clarke had written about his encounters with racism here under the headline Canadas Angriest Black Man. Disillusioned at the simplification of what he had written as a complex issue, Clarke moved on to Yale University, where he became one of a group of professors to establish the schools Black Studies program, one of the first in the United States.

Clarkes enthusiasms were diffuse, straddling culture and politics. From Yale, they would lead him to Washington, D.C., where he served as a cultural attache for the Barbadian embassy in 1973, and back home to Barbados, where from 1975 to 1977, he ran the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.

He eventually circled back home to Toronto, and Walcott believes his return helped seed the rich literary fabric that the city, and the country, enjoys today. His great passions were for food, for drink, but much more than that, for young writers across race and class and gender, whom he would have to his home and mentor selflessly, reading manuscripts and offering his feedback, Walcott said.

Though his passion for social justice never wavered  he served on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada from 1988 to 1993  his commitment to his writing could be a powerful, monastic counterbalance.

In the late 90s, Walcott lived downstairs from Clarke while he wrote The Polished Hoe, in a central Toronto duplex. I wouldnt hear a sound for three days, Walcott recalls, so Id call and see if he was all right. He would tell me he was writing  he hadnt eaten, or slept. It would possess him like a spirit.

Clarkes literary accomplishments, coupled with his strong social conscience, won him the Order of Canada in 1998, a poignant honour given the critical voice he had so often taken regarding his adopted homeland.

All the accolades aside, what Callaghan recalls most is a complicated friend who changed all around him for the better.

When I think of special dinners here, it was also Austin that said grace, he said. There was no one like him, because there could be no one like him. There were just too many cross-references in his personality. He was singular.

A funeral will be held at St. James Cathedral on July 9.

SHARE:
The Canada Revenue Agency claims at least nine people have been convicted of offshore tax evasion over the last two years, receiving $4 million in fines and 84 months of jail time, but it is keeping the names of these tax cheats secret.

Yet there are dozens of people  carpenters, hairdressers, farmers, plumbers, foresters, realtors, architects  who are named and shamed on the CRAs website for not paying small amounts of tax.

This double standard means that small business owners who fall behind on tax payments, or servers who dont declare their tips, are publicly outed for their relatively paltry offences, while wealthy individuals and businesses caught hiding millions in offshore tax havens are guaranteed anonymity.

Even though criminal convictions for tax evasion should be public information, without the defendants names, case numbers or knowledge of which courthouse the convictions were handed down in, its impossible to determine the identities of offshore tax cheats.

In the wake of the Panama Papers revelations, Ottawa pledged $444 million over five years to crack down on tax cheats and said it will focus on those who use offshore tax havens. But in several high-profile cases of offshore tax evasion that have emerged over the last year, including one scheme in which KPMG helped wealthy clients hide $130 million in the Isle of Man, the perpetrators remain unnamed.

Although the CRA can provide aggregate statistics on the convictions with links to money or assets held offshore, we are not able to give the names and case numbers of the people convicted as this may contravene taxpayer confidentiality, wrote CRA spokesperson David Walters in an email to the Star.

The details that we are able to include in our conviction news releases is limited to what is presented in the courts and part of the public record. As a result, if the public record does not include information linking the convicted taxpayer to money and assets located offshore, we are not able to report this information, he wrote.

In April, the federal anti-money-laundering agency, Fintrac, fined a bank $1.1 million for failing to report a suspicious transaction, but refused to name the institution.

Its outrageous, said NDP MP Murray Rankin. All the CRA wants to do is go after big penalties for the hairdresser who wrote off more than she should.

The former revenue critic says the policy contributes to the development of a two-tier tax system.

The people who have the ability to arrange their affairs using tax havens tend to be large family trusts, corporations and the like, whereas the government goes after little people to collect their taxes very aggressively, he said.

While the CRA will not divulge the identities of people caught stashing millions overseas, it has no problem naming people who were charged for owing small amounts of tax.

In January, the agency posted a news release on its website naming eight Ontarians and two businesses that were fined between $1,000 and $8,000 after they were convicted and sentenced for failing to file corporate, personal and/or GST/HST returns.

One of those people is Dragan Micanovic, a 59-year-old cabinetmaker from Etobicoke, who was fined $2,000 for failing to file tax returns. His company, CIC Fine Woodworking & General Contracting Ltd., was also fined $2,000.

Micanovic, who fled war-torn Bosnia with his wife and two small children in the late 1990s, arrived in Canada with nothing, he said, and built his business from scratch.

Its not fair, said the silver-haired craftsman as he stood on a carpet of sawdust in his Mississauga workshop. Its very hard for the little people.

Last year, the CRA froze my account. They took money. I lost insurance, he said. I say: If you freeze my account, how can I work? How can I pay tax? 

For years, Micanovics bread and butter has been replacing kitchens in rental apartments, he said, explaining that each building brought him about 10 kitchens a year. But when he lost his contract with a major landlord, he said he no longer had regular income and was owed $120,000 for work hed already done.

I lose business and I dont know what to do, he said. The bank dont want to help you. Nobody help you.

Big companies, Bell, Rogers, if I dont pay my bill, they cut off the phone. But if my client doesnt pay, what can I do but cry?

Desperate to make ends meet, Micanovic took out lines of credit and maxed out his credit cards in order make mortgage payments, pay rent on his workshop and support his daughters university education.

I have enough for rent, but no money to live, he said.

Micanovic moved to a workshop with cheaper rent and even shut down his business in an effort to put the debts behind him. But soon the CRA started calling.

They no stop calling you, he said. I stopped answering the phone.

He filed five years of tax returns for his now defunct business, but that did little to dissuade the CRA.

My bookkeeper sent them everything. He put zeros everywhere, but they still want money. They push you, push you, push you. I dont get paid for three months, they dont care. And they no try to help you. Thats the problem.

If you have no money, they charge you interest. And it goes on and on. It never ends.

Beyond keeping them anonymous, some critics say the CRA is misleading the public about the number of prosecutions of offshore tax cheats.

Queens University tax law Prof. Arthur Cockfield questions the CRAs claims to have convicted any real offshore tax evaders.

I cant find any successful prosecutions, he said. Ive had researchers look.

If the government doesnt publicize the names of convicted offshore tax cheats, theres no deterrence for others who might go down the same path, Cockfield said.

If you want to deter criminals, convict them, he said.

Sen. Percy Downe, who has made cracking down on offshore tax evasion his personal quest, said he has not been able to get a single name out of the CRA.

The CRA does an outstanding job on domestic tax evasion. If you owe money to the Revenue Agency and you live in Canada and you bank in Canada, your chances of getting caught are extremely high. There are criminal charges, prosecutions and jail sentences, Downe said. But there hasnt been one overseas tax evasion conviction.

Theres no penalty, Downe said. Nobody has gone to jail for this. The carpenter from Saskatchewan or the plumber in New Brunswick, its a different story. Theyre shamed and charged and so on.

In 2013, the CBC filed a freedom of information request and received a list of 25 names of people convicted for offshore tax evasion. But after going through court records, the CBC determined that only eight of the people on the list actually were actually found guilty of hiding income or assets in a tax haven.

In an effort to bolster offshore tax prosecutions, the CRA launched an offshore tax cheat tip line in 2014, offering informants 5 to 15 per cent of the amount recovered, as long as its more than $100,000.

The agency says it has launched 140 tax audits based on tips that came in through the program. But to date, there have been no convictions and no awards have been paid out.

The CRA reports that 145 people have been convicted for tax evasion or fraud since April 1, 2014. The tax cheats were fined $14.1 million for evading $19 million in federal tax, and received 1,219 months in jail.

Nine of these people were involved in offshore activity in 2014/2015, the CRA says, though it was unable to break out statistics for convictions linked to money and assets held offshore for 2015/2016.

SHARE:
LONDON  The political fallout from Britains stunning decision to leave the European Union intensified Sunday, with debate escalating inside the governing Conservative Party over choosing a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron and a coup attempt emerging against the leader of the opposition Labour Party.

The turmoil underscored the degree to which Thursdays Brexit vote, described here as the most significant event in the postwar history of Britain, has left the country unsettled, virtually leaderless and in uncharted territory. The complex process of negotiating the terms of the separation from the European Union has collided with a leadership crisis triggered by a voter revolt against nearly the entire political establishment.

Related:

British county votes Brexit  then realizes EU may stop sending them money

Why those who really wanted Brexit may soon regret it

Overnight came news that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had fired one of the most senior members of his leadership team, Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary. The sacking of Benn, whom Corbyn accused of plotting against him, led to the resignation of another member of Labours leadership team, with British news organizations reporting that additional resignations would be coming.

The Labour revolt reflects fears that the party could suffer what Benn called a catastrophic defeat if there is a general election this fall, after the Conservative Party chooses a new leader to succeed Cameron.

Hes a good and decent man, but he is not a leader, Benn said of Corbyn during an interview with the BBCs Andres Marr.

Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence among his parliamentary peers this week, but has vowed to stand firm against efforts to oust him. He enjoys widespread support from Labours rank-and-file membership, setting up what could be a potentially disastrous civil war within the party just a year after he was chosen to lead it.

The fate of Corbyn is seen as secondary to the question of who will lead the Conservatives, as that person will immediately become prime minister. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and the leading voice in the campaign to exit the EU, is considered the favourite to take over from Cameron.

But the flamboyant Johnson is a magnet for controversy and there were reports Sunday of efforts by other Conservatives to deny him the post he has long been manoeuvring to claim. One possible challenger is Theresa May, currently the home secretary and a quiet campaigner in favour of Britain remaining in the EU.

The political crisis came as European leaders continued to demand swift action by Britain to begin the process of leaving the EU and as the leader of the Scottish National Party pressed forward with another referendum to declare independence from the U.K. and seek a separate arrangement to stay in the EU.

The sense of unease spread as European leaders stepped up the pressure on Britain to begin its complex exit from the 28-nation EU immediately, rather than wait several months as British Prime Minister David Cameron prefers.

With London's jittery stock market set to reopen Monday, the leaders of the successful campaign to leave the EU stayed largely out of the public eye, offering few signals about their plans.

If they were silent, Scotland was not. Popular First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would "consider" advising the Scottish Parliament to try to use its power to prevent Britain from actually leaving the EU. She said Scottish lawmakers might be able to derail the move by withholding "legislative consent" for a British exit, or Brexit.

"If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland, then the option of saying 'We're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interests,' of course, that is on the table," she said of the possibility of withholding consent.

Sturgeon said she believes Scotland's approval is required for the move but conceded the British government would likely take "a very different view."

Thursday's U.K.-wide vote to leave the EU was very unpopular in Scotland, where 62 per cent cast ballots to stay, and Sturgeon says she is studying ways to keep Scotland part of the EU bloc.

The Scottish question looms large because Sturgeon also has said another referendum on Scottish independence from Britain is "highly likely" as a result of Britain's EU vote. A Scottish referendum in 2014 ended with voters deciding to remain in Britain, but analysts believe Britain's withdrawal from the EU may strengthen the independence movement.

In Northern Ireland, which also is part of the U.K., Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said his priority is forging "special arrangements" to enable Northern Ireland to maintain its EU ties. Some Brexit opponents have also talked of trying to use Northern Ireland's Assembly to try to block Britain's departure.

Northern Ireland voters also expressed a preference for keeping Britain in the EU. The unhappiness with the results in both Scotland and Northern Ireland is adding to the sense that the Brexit vote may over time lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, Cameron's lead official in Belfast, played down the suggestion that the Scottish Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly had the standing to prevent a British departure from the EU.

She said decision-making power resides solely in the British Parliament, which is expected to abide by the results of the referendum, which showed 52 per cent of British voters wanted out.

"In the weeks and months ahead, we will be working with both the Scottish government and the Northern Ireland executive on all these matters," she told BBC. "But ultimately it is (the British) Parliament's decision."

Adam Tomkins, a law professor and member of the Scottish Parliament, agreed with this assessment. The Conservative Party legislator tweeted that it was "nonsense" to suggest the Scottish party could block a British departure simply by withholding consent.

The vote is already cutting short Cameron's career. He said after the results that he will resign as prime minister when the Conservative Party chooses a new leader, who will be charged with implementing the separation from the EU.

When Cameron on Friday announced his intention to resign, he said the formal process of withdrawal would not begin until a new prime minister is in place. But on Saturday, foreign ministers from six original EU countries put pressure on Britain to begin that process immediately to avoid further instability resulting from a delay.

Cameron has sought a looser timetable to give Conservatives a chance to choose his successor, who would fashion a withdrawal deal over the course of two years. But technically, negotiations cant start until Britain triggers the blocs Article 50  the never-before-used mechanism to leave it.

Cameron has given no indication of pulling that lever fast. But patience was wearing thin for European officials stung by the Brexit vote.

We start now, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in Berlin. We must be clear. The British people have decided after an initiative that was taken by Mr. Cameron. That was, is his responsibility.

The top diplomats from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg issued a joint statement Saturday that called for a start of exit talks as soon as possible. Their fast meeting underscored the continental effort taking shape to prevent further disintegration of European unity in the wake of the British decision.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier echoed calls for quick talks, warning of the risks of a drawn-out quagmire.

We understand and respect the result and understand that Great Britain now concentrates on Great Britain, Steinmeier said. But, he added, this process should begin as soon as possible, so that we dont end up in a long stalemate but are able to concentrate on the future of Europe and work on it.

Two camps appeared to be lining up, however. Some European diplomats were eager to hold Britains feet to the fire for leaving  seeking a tough deal that would dissuade other member states from seeking similar referendums to leave the bloc.

But Steinmeier, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will be instrumental in the exit talks, were, at least publicly, staking out a position that made Germany the adult in the room. Earlier Saturday, Steinmeier told Germanys ZDF television that Europe should not go looking for revenge.

Speaking in Potsdam, Germany, Merkel sounded resolute but patient. To be honest, it shouldnt take forever, she said of Britains exit. But I wouldnt fight over a short period of time.

In the tumult, Jonathan Hill, Britains European commissioner, announced his resignation Saturday, citing his disappointment at the outcome of the referendum. His departure as Britains most senior official in Brussels was expected, but it nonetheless was another reminder of how the vote Thursday is quickly shrinking the countrys role in European affairs.

As Britons fretted over the consequences of their decision, a petition for a second referendum  considered a long shot for myriad of reasons  garnered more than 2 million signatures.

Read more about:

SHARE:
LONDONOn Thursday, 56 per cent of all voters in the southwestern county of Cornwall voted in favour of leaving the European Union. It was a decision supported by a majority of the countys members of Parliament.

But only one day later, Cornwall residents were asking, What have we done?

The county is heavily dependent on the more than 60 million British pounds ($106 million) in EU subsidies per year that are transferred to the region and that have helped finance infrastructure proj8ects and education schemes. Now, county officials are panicking  fearing the worst for the countys future and wondering why one of the most EU-dependent counties in Britain voted against the EU  and its money.

Now that we know the U.K. will be leaving the EU we will be taking urgent steps to ensure that the U.K. Government protects Cornwalls position in any negotiations, council leader John Pollard was quoted as saying on Cornwalls official governmental website.

We will be insisting that Cornwall receives investment equal to that provided by the EU program, which has averaged 60 million pounds per year over the past decade, Pollard said.

Cornwall can hardly afford to go without the annual EU transfers or equivalent compensations by the British government: The county with more than 500,000 inhabitants is considered one of Britains poorest regions, and experts say further funding cuts could be catastrophic.

In a 2014 study by research community Civitas found that impoverished counties such as Cornwall would have most to lose from Brexit. The EU particularly supports poorer regions and member states with its subsidies  which is why the poorest in Britain may feel the lack of money being transferred from Brussels most.

Cornwall is a major beneficiary of EU spending so if Britain were to leave then the Treasury would have to take great care in ensuring its local economy was not crippled as a result, Jonathan Lindsell, one of the studys authors, explained in an interview with the Western Morning News after the study was published in 2014.

But such warnings did not deter Cornwall residents from voting for Brexit.

Leave campaigners had previously reassured the county that it would not lose any subsidies if it left the EU. However, Cornwall officials are now worried that such reassurances might have been little more than ill-thought-out promises.

Prior to the referendum we were reassured by the leave campaign that a decision to leave the EU would not affect the EU funding which has already been allocated to Cornwall, the council wrote in a statement on Friday. We are seeking urgent confirmation from Ministers that this is the case, the statement continued.

Cornwall officials fears are not unjustified: Only hours after helping to convince the British to vote for Brexit, the leader of the U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage, appeared to show uncertainty whether all promises would be kept.

Some Brexit supporters had previously told voters that the $470 million the British allegedly transfers to the EU each week would be allocated to the national health-care system in case of a Brexit.

Besides immigration, the desolate state of Britains health-care system (NHS) significantly contributed to anti-EU anger, as Euro-skeptics blamed the European Union for costing the country too much and wasting resources that could be spent domestically.

But on Friday, Farage suddenly said it was a mistake to have promised allocating $470 million to the NHS and distanced himself from that campaign slogan, saying he had never agreed to it.

Read more about:

SHARE:
BAGHDADA senior Iraqi commander declared that the city of Fallujah was fully liberated from Daesh militants on Sunday, after a more than month-long military operation.

Iraqi troops have entered the northwestern al-Julan neighbourhood, the last area of Fallujah to remain under Daesh control, the head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, told The Associated Press.

Al-Saadi said the operation, which began in late May, is done and the city is fully liberated. The Iraqi army was backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and paramilitary troops, mostly Shiite militias.

From the centre of al-Julan neighbourhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief...and declare that the Fallujah fight is over, he told Iraqi state TV, flanked by military officers and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were shooting in the air, chanting and waving the Iraqi flag.

He added that troops will start working on removing bombs from the citys streets and buildings.

The announcement comes more than a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory in Fallujah after Iraqi forces advanced into the city centre and took control of a government complex. While al-Abadi pledged the remaining pockets of Daesh fighters would be cleared out within hours, fierce clashes on the citys northern and western edges persisted for days.

The operation has fuelled an exodus of thousands of families, overwhelming camps for the displaced run by the government and aid groups.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. Like other aid agencies, the UNHCR warned of the dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 degrees Celsius and shelter is limited, calling for more funds to meet the mounting needs of the displaced.

It is still too early to speak of (civilians returning to Fallujah), said Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an international humanitarian organization that does extensive work in Anbar province. UNHCRs representative in Iraq, Bruno Geddo, also said that families are expected to remain in camps for some time as (Fallujah) is reported to be littered with IEDs  makeshift bombs and booby traps.

Schembri said clearing away the bombs could take anywhere from days to months.

We need a thorough de-mining of civilian areas and safety assessments before civilians are given the option to go back, he said. The situation in the camps is extremely dire, but we are also not in a position to ensure that people will get supplies and services inside Fallujah either.

When civilians initially returned to Ramadi after it was declared fully liberated from the militants in February, about 100 people were killed by booby-trapped explosives. The time-consuming de-mining process there is still continuing.

Fallujah has been under the control of Daesh, also known as the Islamic State group, since January 2014.

Fallujah, which is located in Anbar province about 40 miles (65 kilometres) west of Baghdad, was the first city to fall to Daesh in January 2014. During an insurgency waged by Daeshs militant predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, Fallujah was the scene of some of the bloodiest urban combat with American forces. In 2004, more than 100 U.S. troops died and another 1,000 were wounded fighting insurgents in house-to-house battles.

Daesh extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the countrys second-largest city of Mosul. The group declared an Islamic caliphate on the territory it holds in Iraq and Syria and at the height of its power was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

The campaign for Mosul, which lies some 360 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, has been bogged down by logistics problems as Iraqs political leadership jockeys over the planning of the operation.

Those divisions in the military at times stalled the Fallujah offensive. A similar scenario is expected to play out in the Mosul campaign, because the various groups that make up Iraqs security forces  including Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga  have all vowed to participate in the complex operation.

In total, more than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since Daesh swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014, according to UN figures. More than 40 per cent of the displaced are from Anbar province,

Read more about:

SHARE:
PANAMA CITYA mammoth ship bearing 9,472 containers and the unwieldy name Cosco Shipping Panama on Sunday will become the first vessel to officially pass through the new expanded Panama Canal, a $5.25-billion (U.S.) project designed to modernize a 102-year-old landmark of human ambition, determination and engineering prowess.

The Chinese vessel, which set sail from the Greek port of Piraeus on June 11, will cross the isthmus from the northern Atlantic Ocean end of the 77-kilometre canal. On Sunday morning, it entered one of the new locks, and during the day, it will transit the man-made Gatun Lake, slip along the widened Culebra Cut through a verdant mountain ridge, then descend through another lock that will lower it into the Pacific Ocean.

Like the channel that opened in 1914, the enlarged Panama Canal is a feat of engineering, albeit one that ran over budget and two years behind schedule. The contractors dredged enough material to fill the Egyptian Great Pyramid at Giza, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, 25 times over. The amount of steel used could have erected 29 new Eiffel Towers. The Empire State Building could lie down and fit into just one of the three chambers in each of the new channels locks.

Although cargo tonnage through the canal has risen 60 per cent since 2009, Panama needed to expand the canal to accommodate a new generation of container ships, known as neo-Panamax, which are too big for the old canal locks. The new locks are wider than the old ones, 180 feet versus 110 feet, and are deeper, too, at 60 feet versus 42 feet. Officials say the larger locks and new lane will double the waterways cargo capacity. More than 170 neo-Panamax ships have already booked reservations in the expanded locks.

We knew that if we did not embark on this project, the quality and span of our services ran the risk of deteriorating, impacting shippers, customers and our country alike, the Panama Canal Authoritys chief executive, Jorge Quijano, said in a speech to customers Saturday night. The expansion will open new trade routes.

Export facilities being built to send abundant U.S. shale gas to foreign markets, many of them in Asia, where Chinas fast growth and Japans idle nuclear plants have created demand.

A tanker of liquefied natural gas loaded on the U.S. Gulf Coast and bound for Asian markets could shorten its travel distance by about 5,000 nautical miles and seven to nine days, according to Martin Houston, co-founder of Tellurian, a developer of liquefied natural gas projects. He estimated that the expanded canal could accommodate about 80 per cent of the current world liquefied natural gas tanker fleet, compared with the 7 per cent that could pass through the old facilities.

All this adds up to additional commercial flexibility and lower cost, which is what our customers want, he said.

The Boston Consulting Group and C.H. Robinson, a transportation logistics company, estimated last year that as much as 10 per cent of the container traffic from East Asia to the United States could shift to East Coast ports instead of landing on the West Coast and finishing the journey by truck or rail. That, they said, would be rerouting volume equivalent to building a new port roughly double the size of the ports in Savannah and Charleston.

This prospect has triggered activity up and down the East Coast. After delays, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey now says that a $1.3 billion project to raise the 85-year-old Bayonne Bridge will enable ships to pass under by late 2017.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) is planning to dredge Charlestons 45-foot-deep harbour to a depth of 52 feet by the end of the decade. The old Panama Canal was an impediment to deploying ships to the East Coast of the United States from Asia, SCPA chief executive James I. Jim Newsome said.

Newsome gave the example of a cargo bound for Charlotte from Asia. If it landed in Los Angeles, it would cost $2,000 to send it across the country by rail. If it landed in Charleston, it would cost only $600 to send the rest of the way by truck. Even if it took a little more time, he said, supply chain is more about reliability than transit time.

For Panama, the new canal is giving a boost to the economy by attracting new investment and jobs in the service sector. The government, as owner of the canal authority, receives dividends equal to 2.1 per cent of GDP.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Panama will continue to grow at its current rate of nearly 6 per cent a year. Ivan Zarak, deputy vice minister of the economy, said foreign direct investment had nearly tripled since 2009. And he boasted that Panama has done this without oil and without any single sector accounting for more than 20 per cent of the economy.

The canal is just part of a formidable infrastructure spending program here.

Panama is adding a second metro line at a cost of $2 billion and is planning a third. It built a new bridge over the canal that will have six lanes for cars and two for a metro monorail. It is doubling the size of its airport. It is exploring a port for its Pacific coast. It is adding a third electric transmission line. And it is sinking $450 million in urban renewal of poor sections of Colon on the north side of the canal.

Nevertheless, the canal expansion did not go off without hitches. The European consortium expanding the canal demanded more money as costs soared, but arbitration went largely in favour of Panamas canal authority. Visible leaks in the cement walls at the locks also prompted major repairs.

We knew from the beginning that it was going to be a difficult project, Zarak said. When you build a house, you have problems.

Others worry about the ability of the nearly 300 canal pilots to safely guide the new giant ships through the snug locks and channels. The height of the bigger container ships  capable of carrying 14,000 containers, more than double previous maximums  could leave them susceptible to wind gusts. Underwater currents can vary with the size of a ship.

Since there is no other canal like it, safety experts recreated the canal at a scale of 1 to 25, with miniature ships. In a small pond and channel dug at a cost of $8 million, pilots ride in motorboat size barges fabricated in France, nudged by tug boats small enough to fit into a shopping cart.

To handle a small ship is more of a challenge, Capt. Fernando Jaen, a Panama Canal pilot trainer, said.

Even so, the canal authority did a practice run before the official opening. On June 11, the bulk carrier Baroque eased through the new lock on the Atlantic side.

The expansion of the canal has also strained supplies of fresh water, which the canal needs to run the locks. The artificial Lake Gatun provides water to the canal and drinking water to much of the country.

The canal builders came up with an elegant, though partial, solution. They built three water basins that exchange water with the locks, thus reusing up to 60 per cent of the water in the new locks. But the locks are still an added load.

Then there is the matter of the Chinese. A Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, who made money in financial consulting and telecommunications, has proposed carving a canal through Nicaragua. Hes hardly the first. People have been toying with similar plans for at least 200 years. The cost of the project has been estimated as high as $50 billion. And while that might not be a wise investment, if it would create stiff and nearby competition for Panama.

The Panama Canal occupies a special place in the American imagination. President Ulysses S. Grant sent a 100-person scouting party, which recommended against it. A 20-year French effort, led by the engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, was abandoned after thousands of workers were stricken with yellow fever, malaria and dysentery.

President Theodore Roosevelt launched construction again, and the canal opened Aug. 15, 1914. The United States took control of the canal zone in a long-term lease that ended in 1999.

More than a century later, Panama is hoping to give the canal another lease on life.

SHARE:
A spate of racist incidents in the U.K. in the wake of Thursdays vote to leave the European Union have Britons concerned the result is emboldening extremist elements in society.

Police are investigating a report of racially-motivated damage at the Polish Social and Cultural Association, a community centre in west London, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said on Sunday. Twitter users described graffiti that read Go Home daubed on walls and windows. In Cambridgeshire, police are investigating flyers left outside a primary school that said Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin, the Evening Standard reported.

After a bruising referendum campaign in which supporters of leaving the EU were accused of stoking xenophobia, these and other incidents will intensify worries about whether a generally tolerant country is becoming less so. While politicians on both sides of the vote have urged calm and said the result does not reflect prejudice toward migrants from Europe or elsewhere, some arent so sure.

There is no question the U.K. is shifting to a more racist atmosphere and policies. This is a rhetoric thats showing up in the lives of schoolchildren, said Adam Posen, a former member of the Bank of Englands Monetary Policy Committee who now leads the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

British politics are in chaos after the vote in favour of a so-called Brexit prompted the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, spurred a rebellion against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and opened the door to a second referendum on Scottish independence. On Sunday several senior Labour Party members resigned from Corbyns shadow cabinet to protest what they said was his lacklustre advocacy for staying in the EU.

The Leave campaigns message was centred on reducing immigration, including by raising the spectre of Turkish EU membership  a prospect diplomats say is remote at best. A week before the referendum, U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage unveiled a billboard showing a column of hundreds of refugees walking on a road, under the heading Breaking Point. A day later, Labour member of parliament Jo Cox, an outspoken advocate for Syrian refugees, was murdered in her Yorkshire constituency.

Some incidents are occurring in the heart of the U.K.s cosmopolitan capital. Sebastien, a 26-year-old Frenchman, was walking in the Kensington district on Friday with a friend and her mother, who was visiting from Paris. Hearing them speaking French, a man walking his dog began shouting at them to Leave, Leave! said Sebastien, who declined to provide his surname for fear of retaliation.

The tone of some campaign discourse has legitimized racist rhetoric, said Jasvir Singh, a London lawyer and Labour Party activist. There is now a vocal minority who feel emboldened to use the result of the referendum as a reason to spout their hatred.

Schoolchildren were racially abused in a west London district this week, Seema Malhotra, one of Labours team of Treasury spokespeople, said on Saturday. Someone shouted: Why are there only 10 white faces in this class? Why arent we educating the English? she said, citing a letter from a teacher in her constituency about an incident on Wednesday. Another went close up to the children and said: You lot are taking all our jobs. Youre the problem. 

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said political leaders have a big responsibility to help our country get through whats going to be an agonizing process. After a vote that largely pitted London, Scotland and a few other enclaves in favour of staying in the EU against the bulk of England and Wales, we have a divided country but there is the possibility of bringing people back together if we are sensible about it.

Britons have taken to Facebook and Twitter to report other racist incidents. One user, Fiona Anderson, described an older woman on the 134 bus gleefully telling a young Polish woman and her baby to get off and get packing. A professor at Coventry University, Heaven Crawley, said on Twitter on Friday that This evening my daughter left work in Birmingham and saw group of lads corner a Muslim girl shouting Get out, we voted leave.

More on thestar.com:

Political fallout from Brexit continues with coup attempt against Labour leader

British county votes Brexit  then realizes EU may stop sending them money

Why those who really wanted Brexit may soon regret it

Read more about:

SHARE:
Hillary Clintons victory in the June 7 California primary represented more than just establishment political forces prevailing over a Bernie Sanders insurgency. It was yet another notch in the belt for dynastic political families.

Dynastic politics are often challenging: the idea of politicians rising to power under the steam of a family name challenges the ideal of meritocracy we praise in democratic systems. It seems like a revival of the monarchies of the past: sweeping tales of glory, pride and redemption, or, sometimes, rejection.

In recent political history, there have been a number of political dynasties. The Clintons, the Bushes, the Le Pens, the Notleys, the Trudeaus: the list of families in democratic nations that have heavily influenced modern politics is long and growing.

Its not a particularly difficult phenomenon to understand: voters become intimately familiar with high-profile political figures, and lionize (or demonize) their name and brand. The goals, values and aspirations that voters associate with the parent or spouse who came first in the dynasty are superimposed over the public image of the successor.

Many of these dynasties began decades ago, and almost all were initially headed by men. Those in the family who follow as politicians must embrace the legacy of their parent or spouse, and simultaneously forge their own independent legacy, highlighting differences and divergences.

Recent history shows just how tentative that dance can be.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far-right National Front party in France, ignited controversy with inflammatory speeches and anti-immigrant sentiment that appealed to right-wing French voters. His daughter, Marine Le Pen, took over the party in 2011 and has taken it to new heights by adopting many of his ideas, but she has taken steps to highlight a softer, kinder approach. This shift has been reflected in French politics, with Le Pen leading some recent polls on the 2017 French presidential election.

In the United States, George H.W. Bush was elected president as a continuation of Ronald Reagans legacy. However, his policy-heavy approach and struggle to connect with average Americans led to his eventual defeat. A little less than a decade later, his son, George W. Bush, was elected as a two-term president. He followed his fathers right-wing agenda, but complemented it with a folksy charm and an easy manner in connecting with Americans.

Closer to home, Alberta Premier Rachel Notleys father, Grant Notley, served as leader of the moribund Alberta NDP for 16 years. His daughters sweeping victory last year would have been unimaginable to a man who had spent decades fighting conservative hegemony. Premier Notleys centre-left agenda has all the trademarks of her fathers cautious, yet populist-left wing views.

No one need be reminded that our Prime Minister himself is the product of dynastic politics  the son of one of Canadas most memorable prime ministers. Pierre Elliott Trudeau left an indelible imprint on our society, with his personable charm and his commitment to socially and fiscally liberal policies. Not surprisingly, Justin Trudeau has benefited immensely from his fathers legacy.

The current prime minister followed in his fathers footsteps in many ways. He has pursued many of the nation-building ideals credited to his father. He has inspired a generation of younger voters to engage in the political process. And he has attacked Canadas economic travails with the same Keynesian strategy his father followed.

But there are also palpable differences. While his father was often described as unbending, our current Prime Minister prides himself on flexibility. Pierre Trudeau enjoyed sparring, while Justin Trudeau prefers co-operation. Trudeau senior was dismissive of giving MPs independence, while Justin Trudeau has promised to empower them.

The politics of dynasties are fascinating  and a relatively new phenomenon in Canada. It remains to be seen how far Canadian voters are willing to allow a brand to stretch. However, it was certainly a harbinger of things to come when, just two months ago, a 19-year-old Ben Harper, the son of former prime minister Stephen Harper, took his first tentative steps into the political arena by penning an op-ed piece criticizing Justin Trudeau for his deficit spending.

Plus ca change.

Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Top US diplomat John Kerry will fly to Brussels and London on Monday for talks with Washington's key allies in the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

US officials travelling to Rome with the secretary of state told reporters on the flight that two stops had been added to his European itinerary at the last moment.

"Tomorrow we'll go to Brussels and then on to London," one official said.

Washington was dismayed last week when British voters chose to leave the European Union, a decision that triggered global economic uncertainty and fears other EU members will follow suit.

President Barack Obama had made clear his concern about the Brexit referendum, and now US officials are scrambling to try to stop the political crisis harming Western unity.

Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday on a planned visit to have lunch with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But officials on his flight said that on Monday he would fly on to the EU headquarters in Brussels for crisis talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini had been expected to meet Kerry in Rome on Sunday, but she was busy dealing with the fallout of the dramatic vote, which stunned European and world leaders.

From Brussels Kerry will continue to London to see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials from outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron's government.

The two senior diplomats are expected to hold a joint news conference before Kerry leaves to return to Washington.

Obama and Kerry have been at pains to insist the vaunted "special relationship" between Washington and London will survive what US officials view as the Brexit debacle.

But Washington foreign policy experts are all but unanimous in assessing that the White House will increasingly turn to core EU allies to defend its interests on the continent.

Obama himself, on a visit to London last month, warned British voters that their nation would go "to the back of the queue" for a US trade deal if they voted "out."

US officials are also keen to help London's divorce from Brussels go through smoothly without further inflicting further damage on skittish world financial markets.

But they, like many EU capitals, are also concerned not to allow Brexit to serve as an inspiration for eurosceptic forces in other members such as Italy or The Netherlands.

The London visit will be the first by a senior US official since Thursday's dramatic referendum, when voters demanded Britain leave the world's richest trading bloc.

Kerry's trip had originally been planned as an opportunity to meet Netanyahu and discuss regional security and the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials played down the chance of any concrete progress, insisting that the pair meet regularly and that no new initiative would be on the table.

Short link:


Could there be a more precipitous time for the 10th Annual North American Leaders Summit (once known as the Three Amigos) to gather in Ottawa next week? In the wake of the historic boulversant of the Brexit vote, the European continent as we have known it is in danger of further dissolution. And the U.K.s own prospects may also be dim.

What better time to showcase North American relationships and friendship? What better time to overcome trade irritants, cross border issues and challenges with visa requirements between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. What better time to show strength? Right?

The problem is we have an outlier among us, but just as the Brexit vote crept up on the world, this is only now becoming apparent to North Americans. The same forces of austerity, inequity between peoples, and fear of newcomers do not only belong in the U.K. Right wing parties and leaders without acceptable limits are becoming too familiar. Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, Ted Cruz, Boris Johnson and of course, Donald Trump are leading this new pack of politicians who are happy to exploit fear, rather than hope.

However, there is momentary good news and Canadians must bask in it. On the whole, the Three Amigo Summit should be positive news, both for photo ops and meaningful trilateral discussions on climate change integration, cyber security and trade. Following the summit, the bromance of the year will be on display as PM Justin Trudeau and President Obama continue their well known political hug. Not since Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan sang When Irish Eyes are Smiling have a Canadian PM and an American President enjoyed such a sympatico friendship.

Both men, along with their popular and outgoing spouses, genuinely believe in the Audacity of Hope, the title of Obamas first book and the mantra for his presidency. Both the Obamas and the Trudeaus reject the use of fear, intimidation and nasty politics as valid policy options and election strategies.

But hope sometimes fades as realities set in. While it must be a great relief to Obama to finally find a North American partner who shares his deep concern for the environment, for health care and social issues in general, the fact remains that a quarrelsome and stubborn Congress has managed to derail much of his presidency.

Nevertheless, next weeks photos will show genuine warmth between all three leaders, with a special spotlight on the longest undefended border in the world, Canada and the U.S. Obama will take to the floor of the Canadian Parliament for a special joint address. Unelected senators and elected MPs will sit together and listen to one of the most historic figures and no doubt one of the most historic speeches of our time.

It will be a moment to remember for all. A time to carpe diem because a what if is lurking in the weeds.

What if this time next year, President Trump is ensconced in the Oval Office? Canadian American relations will be upended. Gone will be sunny ways and sunny days. Dark menacing clouds will loom full of bombastic fury.

What if NAFTA, our always contentious but business successful trade deal, is renegotiated by a President Trump, as he has promised it will be? (How he will negotiate with Mexico while building a wall along their border is anyones guess). In fairness, Hillary Clinton also has concerns about both NAFTA and the Trans Pacific Partnership, which 12 Pacific Rim countries have signed. Protectionism will rear its head no matter who is the president, a matter of huge concern for both Canada and Mexico.

What if a new American ambassador to Canada does not share our values? It is not beyond the realm of possibility that either Chris Christie, the hapless New Jersey governor or Sarah Palin, the unusual former governor of Alaska, could technically fit the bill for a Trump presidency. Both have supported him and both New Jersey and Alaska are close in proximity to Canada.

What does all this mean for Justin Trudeau and the still new Liberal government? With Obama about to exit the political stage, can Canadians become the keeper of the flame of hope and tolerance?

Too bad we cant look into the future ... or maybe. It is better that we cant. Lets just enjoy the day.

Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Ministers Office for Jean Chretien.

Read more about:

SHARE:
Just as the tang of salt air draws Washingtonians each year to the Atlantic Ocean, so, apparently, did a group of rescued sea turtles respond in Maryland last week to the scent of their ancient watery habitat.

Their nostrils flare when they get that whiff of the surf, said Tony LaCasse, spokesman for the New England Aquarium, which rescued the nine turtles months ago, drove them south and released them Thursday at Assateague State Park.

After weeks away from the sea, being set down on the beach is a reawakening for the turtles, according to LaCasse. Sea air revives memories of their prior lives and their old home. It is, he said, an epiphany.

For the crowd drawn by news of the release, watching the turtles respond to instinct and head for the water was also a great event, he said.

Its like being at a rock concert, LaCasse said, a great feel-good moment for everyone involved.



The turtles were stranded on Cape Cod, Mass., last fall and winter and restored to health by the aquarium. It was time for them to return to the sea, LaCasse said. But waters off Cape Cod remained inhospitably cold. So Assateague it was, he said.
Perhaps if I went to church more often, I would have realized it sooner. Next year is the 500th anniversary of when priest Martin Luther nailed 95 anti-papal theses to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. That simple act from a 33-year-old man transformed Western civilization with the rise of Protestant Christianity.

My interest was sparked by Andrew Pettegrees new popular history, Brand Luther: 1517, Printing and the Making of the Reformation. I learned a great deal I didnt know, particularly that Luther inspired an approach to schooling that deeply influenced  through German, English, Scottish, Dutch and other immigrants  how American children, for good or ill, are taught today.

Luther set a course for how our schools relate to the economy, to elites, to genders and to religion. The great change he made in history stemmed from his own education. The son of a copper mine investor who could afford to send him to the university, Luther read so deeply and widely that he found, to his shock, that the Bible and thinkers such as St. Augustine did not sanction what the popes of his time were doing with their church.

I grew up thinking Luther was a dour scold. That comes from the liberal denomination (United Church of Christ) in which I was raised. Some of Luthers flaws, such as his anti-Semitism, are impossible to defend. But he was also  as I learned from Pettegree  witty, creative, musical, kind and quite brave. He built a new church while under the equivalent of a death sentence from Rome.

He was also deeply interested in the lives of children, including the five he had with the resourceful runaway nun he married, Katharina von Bora. His major work on education was A Sermon on Keeping Children in School. It was written in 1530, a time when education was largely a prerogative of the church. Schools trained future priests and the children of the political and economic elite.

Pettegrees book describes how Luther revolutionized the infant publishing industry. He was born 44 years after Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type in Europe. Five years after Luther posted his 95 theses, excoriating the Catholic practice of raising money by promising less time in purgatory, he was Europes most published author, Pettegree said. That sermon on education was one of his bestsellers.

The sermon throbs with his amazement at the technological progress of his era, similar to the way people my age feel about the Internet.

Knowledge of all kinds is so abundant, what with so many books, and so much reading, Luther wrote. One can learn more in three years than used to be possible in twenty.

Christianity could only be saved if there were more schools, he said. I would like to know where we are going to get pastors, schoolteachers and sacristans three years from now if we do nothing about this.

Schools had to be public, he said, supported by the German princes who ruled the fractured Holy Roman Empire. He wanted education available to everyone. The next generation needed lessons in literature, history and science if they were to fulfill their destiny. He wanted to include girls. By the late 16th century, rural German schools were gender balanced, Pettegree reported, while Venetian students were nearly all male.

Luthers passion for better schooling feels like the impatience of todays educational reformers. Many of his readers might have thought, as many do today, that Luther was pushing reform too hard. Many German parents preferred their children stay home to help make ends meet.

But Luther didnt relent. He thought the world would soon end. He wanted his people educated so they would be ready for God. Our rush for better schools has different roots, but we live in a time like his, full of innovation, conflict and anxiety. Like him, we pray that our schools will prepare the next generation to handle all that.
THE DISTRICT

Man is fatally shot

in Southeast

A man was fatally shot early Sunday in the vicinity of a Southeast Washington charter school, D.C. police said.

Police said a shooting was reported shortly after midnight in the 900 block of Wahler Place SE. D.C. police spokeswoman Alice Kim said the incident was a confirmed homicide, but did not immediately provide further details.

The location, near the intersection of Valley Avenue and Wheeler Road SE, is the same block occupied by Achievement Prep Wahler Place Middle School, a public charter school serving grades four through eight, according to its website.

Police had not identified a suspect by Sunday afternoon.

 Faiz Siddiqui

Suspect stabs officer

who chased thief

A police officer was hospitalized with stab wounds after chasing down a suspected thief in a Giant grocery store Saturday morning, D.C. Police said Sunday.

Police said the stabbing occurred about 11:40 a.m. inside the store at 1535 Alabama Ave. SE.

According to an incident report, loss prevention personnel notified a uniformed officer that a man was spotted on video stealing. When the officer approached the suspected thief, the man became upset and started running, the report said. The officer chased the man and briefly apprehended him before a struggle ensued, the report says, and the man produced a knife.

Police said the man stabbed the officer in the neck, upper body and back. The officers was taken to George Washington University Hospital.

The assailant fled on foot. A suspect had not been identified by Sunday afternoon.

 Faiz Siddiqui
Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

Sherri Swenson, physical therapist

Sherri Swenson, 62, a physical therapist and former director of rehabilitation in the Prince William County, Va., hospital system, died May 12 at her home in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The cause was cancer, said her wife, Jane Klein.

Ms. Swenson was born in Columbus, Ohio. She moved to Rehoboth Beach from Manassas, Va., in 2006 after 22 years with the Prince William hospital system. She had been a physical therapist at the Beebe Hospital in Rehoboth Beach and was also co-owner of Rehoboth Beachs in2soles shoe store.

Emily Cooper-Gibson, organist, church musician

Emily Cooper-Gibson, 80, an organist, church musician and music teacher, died May 19 at her home in Marshall, Tex. The cause was pneumonia and complications from injuries suffered in a 1998 auto accident, said her husband, Gerald Gibson.

Mrs. Cooper-Gibson was born Emily Cooper in Memphis and came to Washington in 1972 as assistant music director at First Baptist Church in Washington. Later she was music director at Potomac Presbyterian Church in Maryland and, from 1976 to 1993, music director at St. Johns Episcopal Church in McLean, Va. She also taught private organ and piano lessons and gave organ recitals. In 2004, she moved to Texas from Rockville, Md.

Bernard Feiner,HEW lawyer

Bernard Feiner, 93, a lawyer for the old U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1958 until his retirement in 1981, died May 4 at a hospital in Washington. The cause was kidney failure, said a sister, Isabel Kouri.

Mr. Feiner, a Washington resident, was born in New York City. He began his career as a lawyer with the War Claims Commission and then the Public Housing Administration. He joined HEW as a staff attorney and in 1970 was named regional attorney based in San Francisco, where he earned the departments Distinguished Service Award. He returned to Washington five years later to serve as assistant general counsel for administrative law.

Marie Clanahan, secretary

Marie Clanahan, 87, a retired secretary for federal agencies in Washington, died May 25 at a hospice center in Falls Church, Va. The cause was Alzheimers disease, said a daughter, Holly Selb.

Mrs. Clanahan, a resident of Springfield, Va., was born Marie Mazuk in Battle Creek, Mich. She came to the Washington area in 1962 as a secretary for the Defense Departments Office of Civil Defense, which was later absorbed into the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She also spent 10 years as a secretary for the Environmental Protection Agency before retiring in the late 1990s.

Joseph A. Kamalick, journalist

Joseph A. Kamalick, 71, a journalist who retired last year after 11 years as the Washington-based chief correspondent covering chemical, commodities and energy industries in the Americas for the digital information service ICIS News, died May 23 at his home in Springfield, Va. The cause was prostate cancer, said his wife, May Kamalick.

Mr. Kamalick, a Chicago native, was a combat reporter for Stars and Stripes based in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Later he worked for Westinghouse Broadcasting in East Asia and the Chicago Daily News in the Middle East before running an international trade journal based in Houston. He joined ICIS News in Houston in 1997 and came to Washington in 2004.

William B. Fender III, systems analyst

William B. Fender III, 81, a systems analyst with government contracting companies specializing in defense intelligence, died May 22 at a hospice center in Wilmington, N.C. The cause was an aortic aneurysm and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said a daughter, Valerie Fender.

Mr. Fender was born in New York City and came to Washington in 1968. Among the firms he worked for were with Chase, Rosen and Wallace, and Logicon, from which he retired in 1995. A former resident of Alexandria, Va., he moved to North Carolina in 2005.

E. Edward Bruce lawyer

E. Edward Bruce, 77, a partner in the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling, who specialized in appellate law, died June 1 at a medical care center in Washington. The cause was complications from Alzheimers disease, said a daughter, Caroline Macaulay.

Mr. Bruce, a District resident, was born in Hutchinson, Kan. He was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1966, then joined Covington & Burling the next year. He was appointed partner in 1973 and retired about seven years ago. His legal practice included arguing cases before appeals courts and the Supreme Court on behalf of clients such as Exxon Mobile and Procter & Gamble.

Januarioa Gomez Velasquez, accountant

Januarioa Gomez Velasquez, 85, an accountant with the Pan American Health Organization for 20 years, died May 23 at a hospital in Alexandria, Va. The cause was cardiac arrest, said a daughter, Stella Gomez.

Mr. Gomez Velasquez, who lived in Falls Church, Va., was born in Manizales, Colombia. He was a bank manager in Colombia before emigrating to the United States in 1966. He retired from PAHO in 1991.

James F. Ireland Jr., State Dept. political analyst

James F. Ireland Jr., 86, who tracked political events for the State Department from 1956 to 1989 in overseas posts in Asia and Europe, died April 21 at a care center in Ashburn, Va. The cause was complications from Parkinsons disease, said his wife, Mary Ellen Ireland.

Mr. Ireland, a former resident of Great Falls, Va., was born in New York. He represented U.S. interests with foreign officials in discussions frequently conducted in Chinese or German. He was a member of St. Thomas a Becket Catholic Church in Reston, Va.

James C. Leyshon, software programmer

James C. Leyshon, 88, who retired in 1993 after 15 years as a systems analyst for Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund, died April 26 at a care center in Silver Spring, Md. The cause was kidney disease, said his wife, Shirley Leyshon.

Mr. Leyshon, a Silver Spring resident, was born in Washington. He was a literacy tutor for prisoners at the Montgomery County Pre-Release Center in Rockville, Md., in the 1980s.

Nancy P. Youssefi, obstetrician

Nancy P. Youssefi, 76, who delivered thousands of babies during her career as a physician, died April 30 at a care center in Houston. The cause was non-Hodgkins lymphoma, said a daughter, Anna Youssefi. Dr. Youssefi, a resident of Potomac, Md., was born Parvaneh Navai in Tehran, where she attended medical school. She continued her medical training in Washington in the 1960s. After working in private obstetrics and gynecology practices in Wilmington, Del., and in Tehran in the 1970s, Dr. Youssefi opened a private practice in Bethesda, Md., in 1979. Her office expanded to Laurel, Md., in the 1990s.

Leye Jeannette Chrzanowski, news service founder

Leye Jeannette Chrzanowski, 69, the founder and president of Disability News Service, an organization providing information to the media on issues related to disabilities, and who also founded a networking group for people with disabilities, died June 7 at her home in Washington. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said her son, David DeSeve.

Mrs. Chrzanowski was born Leye Leibler in Forfar, Scotland, came to the United States in 1964 and later became a U.S. citizen. As a military wife, she lived on military bases in the United States and abroad. After a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 1986, Mrs. Chrzanowski wrote and spoke widely on disability issues.

In the 1990s, she edited a newsletter on disability issues while working for the Washington-based Evan Kemp Associates, and also founded EXCEL, a networking group for professionals with disabilities. She was a member of the Fairfax County Disability Services Board and the Fairfax County Community Services Board and advised officials on the implementation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

After launching Disability News Service in 1997, Mrs. Chrzanowski prepared publications for federal agencies and other national organizations. She lived in Chantilly, Va., before moving to Baltimore and later to the District. She was a past parishioner of St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church in Fairfax Station, Va., and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Herndon, Va.

 From staff reports
Manassas Symphony opens auditions for string players

The Manassas Symphony Orchestra is seeking experienced musicians for its string section, particularly viola and bass players, in the 2016-2017 season.

Auditions will be by appointment and will include a brief interview with the music director.

The orchestra rehearses Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Metz Middle School in Manassas.

Visit manassassymphony.org or send an email to personnel@manassassymphony.org for information, a list of audition materials or to schedule an audition.

Manassas tower added to states Landmarks Register

The Manassas water tower is one of 14 historic sites recently listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register by the states Department of Historic Resources.

The 147-foot tall tower, built in 1914, is the oldest surviving public water tower in Northern Virginia, according to a news release. It is the first water tower to be individually listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register.

FEMA seeks comments on countys flood-plain maps

Prince William County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are inviting residents, developers, engineers and surveyors to provide information on flooding concerns in the county.

FEMA is conducting a study to update flood-plain maps for the countys noncoastal streams in the Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan Watershed.

The map will include all of the streams in the county except Powells, Quantico and Chopawamsic creeks.

The study, which will be released next year, will result in revisions to the countys Flood Insurance Rate maps. Any changes could affect flood-plain insurance rates for residents, according to the countys Public Works Department. Prince William does not determine flood-plain insurance rates; those are set by FEMA.

For information or to comment, call the countys Environmental Services at 703-792-7070, visit pwcgov.org or mail comments to Environmental Services Division, Attn: Flood Risk Study, 5 County Complex Ct., Suite 170, Woodbridge, Va. 22192.

Veterans and the Arts Initiative gets $20,000

Azalea Charities recently donated $20,000 to the Hylton Performing Arts Centers Veterans and the Arts Initiative, doubling its support from last years inaugural event.

The initiative is a day of music and art experiences for veterans, service members and their families. The 2015 event included music lessons and freestyle jams, a musical instrument petting zoo for children, performances from community music groups, visual arts exhibits, demonstrations and a local arts fair.

The free event is set for Nov. 11 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore seeks donations

Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Manassas has kicked off its summer drive for donations.

The organization seeks new and gently used household items, appliances, building materials, furniture, lighting fixtures and cabinets.

Revenue generated from sales at the ReStore are used to help build, rehabilitate or repair Habitat for Humanity homes in partnership with low-income families.

The ReStore offers free pick-up service Mondays through Saturdays.

Donors are also encouraged to drop off materials at the ReStore, 10159 Hastings Dr., Manassas, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Call 703-369-6145 or visit habitatpwc.org/restore.
Many bank robberies seem to follow a pattern. The robber approaches the teller, presents a note, gets cash and leaves.

But on two recent occasions in the District, on Thursday and Friday, notes did not appear to have the desired effect, and would-be robbers left without money, according to police accounts.

On Thursday, after a man failed to get money with a note, he was involved in a second robbery a few minutes later, according to police. The account of the second robbery said nothing about a note but indicated that force was used.

In the first incident, money was demanded by note from the Industrial Bank of Washington in the 100 block of 45th Street NE, police said.

However, police said, the robber fled without money and entered a car, which drove off, with two others inside.

Only 15 minutes later, the robber was at it again, police said, this time at the Citibank in the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue NE.

In that incident, police said two robbers entered the bank and one approached the counter and grabbed the victim by the neck before demanding money. Police said the two robbers took money and fled in a car driven by a third person. At least one person was involved in the incidents at both banks, police said.

In Fridays incident, police said a robber entered the BB&T bank in the 600 block of 13th Street NW and demanded money by note but fled without any and ran north on 13th Street.
A man was shot and killed early Sunday in the vicinity of a Southeast Washington charter school, D.C. police said.

Police said a shooting was reported shortly after midnight in the 900 block of Wahler Place SE. D.C. police spokeswoman Alice Kim said the incident was a confirmed homicide but did not immediately provide further details.

The location, near the intersection of Valley Avenue and Wheeler Road SE, is the same block occupied by Achievement Prep Wahler Place Middle School, a public charter school serving grades four through eight, according to its website.

The shooting was initially reported in the 1200 block of Valley Ave. SE, about a half-mile away, but occurred on Wahler, according to Kim.

The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately known. Police had not identified a suspect by Sunday afternoon. Kim said police would release more information later in a news release.
Prince William County Police officers Jesse Hempen, left, Ashley Guindon and David McKeown were shot while responding to a domestic call in February. Guidon was killed. Hempen and McKeown were wounded. (Prince William County Police)

With police officers as regular customers, there could be a toast to law enforcement most any weekend at Tin Cannon Brewing. But today, such well-wishes are likely to carry special meaning.

The business, which has brewed a special beer in memory of Prince William County Officer Ashley Guindon, is holding a fundraiser at its Gainesville headquarters for her family and for police officers Jesse Hempen and David McKeown.

The Tin Cannon event is the latest in a series of charitable efforts for the three officers, who were shot while responding to a domestic call in February. Guindon was killed; Hempen and McKeown were injured.

[Officer fatally shot on her first day on street in Prince William County, Va.]

Aaron Ludwig, Tin Cannons co-founder and brewing operations manager, said those in the company wanted to do something for the officers after they heard about the shootings, which occurred on Guindons first day on the job.

Tin Cannon Brewing has made an ale, not pictured, in memory of Officer Ashley Guindon. Tin Cannon is holding a fundraiser Sunday for her family, Hempen and McKeown. Selected ticket holders will get pint glasses with the image of a police badge. (Jonathan Hunley/For The Washington Post)

Pretty much, we all were heartbroken, he said.

They talked to their regulars who are Prince William police, and they decided on the commemorative brew. Proceeds from its sale will be donated to Guindons family and to Hempen and McKeown.

The brewery decided to produce an amber ale  one that isnt too dark or too light. The name for it also came from the police: Heart of the Lion.

That ale will be served Sunday. Buyers of advance fundraiser tickets can take home a special pint glass emblazoned with the image of a Prince William police badge and a biblical verse: The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1).

Tin Cannon had sold about 100 tickets as of early last week, and Ludwig and John Hilkert, co-founder and general manager of the brewery, were hoping that another 200 people might show up.

The company decided to hold an event to get the community involved, Ludwig and Hilkert said. They planned to sell raffle tickets Sunday, and to conduct a silent auction that was to include Washington Capitals items.

Hempen and McKeown also were scheduled to attend. Theyre both continuing to recover, Prince William police Sgt. Jonathan L. Perok said in an email.

Officer Hempen has returned to work in a part-time, light assignment, while Officer McKeown is still out awaiting at least one more surgery and subsequent physical therapy, Perok said.

Stan Korson, president of the Prince William County chapter of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association, said he has been in contact with Hempen and McKeown, as well. He said the February shootings were shocking to a community where law enforcers generally have a good reputation among residents.

Its not something that happens a lot, he said.

The incident also resonated because Guindon was a new officer, and Hempen and McKeown were raised in Prince William, Korson said. Both were graduates of county schools, he said.

[Thousands turn out for funeral of slain Prince William officer]

The local PBA chapter and the Prince William County Police Association have collected donations for Hempen, McKeown and Guindons family since February. Proceeds from Sundays event will go to the PBA for the officers, and that organization already has raised about $180,000, Korson said.

He pointed out that when officers are sidelined with an injury, they can receive workers compensation insurance benefits but they lose the opportunity to generate income through extra duty, such as providing security at public events.

It can severely affect families, said Korson, who noted that, as an officer, he works an additional 40 hours per month to make extra money.

Fundraisers such as Sundays can help with this particular need. But they also are morale boosters for those who wear the badge and try to protect their neighbors despite the dangers involved, he said.

The support of the community is what drives us to do that, Korson said.

Tin Cannon Brewings fundraiser in memory of Officer Ashley Guindon and in honor of officers Jesse Hempen and David McKeown will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday. For information, see the brewerys Facebook page, or call 571-248-0489.
European leaders embark this week on a frantic drive to push Britain into a quick divorce, with top US diplomat John Kerry rushing to join discussions as the "Brexit" crisis goes global.

Germany's powerful Chancellor Angela Merkel will host the leaders of France, Italy and the European Union in Berlin on Monday amid fears Britain's vote to leave will create a domino effect in eurosceptic member states.

In what promises to be one of the bitterest summits in the EU's history, British Prime Minister David Cameron will then face huge pressure in Brussels on Tuesday to immediately trigger the two-year exit process.

But Cameron, who has said he will resign by October and leave the negotiations to his successor, is to be left out in the cold on the second day of the summit on Wednesday when the other 27 EU leaders meet without him.

With a dismayed Washington fearing key ally Britain's decision to leave the EU will harm Western unity, Kerry flies in to Brussels and London on Monday.

"An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today," Kerry said after talks in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

"Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU."

For European powers the priority is to divorce as soon as possible and stabilise a union that is already struggling with growing anti-EU populism, a migration crisis and economic woes.

Merkel has said there was "no reason to be nasty" in Britain's exit negotiations.

But there are increasing fears in London that an impatient EU will want to make an example of Britain to discourage others thinking about a referendum of their own.

Merkel's talks in Berlin Monday with French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and separately with EU President Donald Tusk, will also focus on a plan for reforms of the bloc to stem the tide of populist anger against the EU.

Hollande stressed on Sunday that France and Germany should take initiative to prevent the loss of the peace and prosperity the EU has brought.

"A friendly country, an allied country with whom we have so many ties has just decided to leave our union, the European Union, which we believed to be indestructible and indissoluble," he said.

In Brussels Tuesday, Cameron must run the gauntlet of his fellow leaders who just four months ago backed a deal meant to keep Britain in the EU, and will now be talking to a lame-duck leader who failed to convince his own country to stay.

Cameron will "explain the situation in the UK after the referendum" at the EU summit dinner on Tuesday, according to a invitation letter sent by Tusk to the 28 leaders.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz, who will also be present, urged Cameron to begin the formal proceedings to leave and warned that failure to do so will risk jobs across the bloc.

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," Schulz told Bild am Sonntag.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."

Triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty -- which has never been used before -- starts a two-year clock ticking on a formal exit arrangement.

Britain will also have to negotiate trade deals and other aspects of its future relationship with the EU.

On Wednesday, the other 27 leaders will meet "informally" without Cameron to "discuss the so called 'divorce process'" and "start a discussion on the future of the European Union with 27 Member States," Tusk's letter says.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned at the weekend that it would not be an "amicable" divorce.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


NEW YORK

Orlando recalled during gay pride parade

Rainbow flags were held high along with portraits of the dead as thousands of people marched Sunday in gay pride parades tempered by this months massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida.

Crowds of onlookers stood a dozen deep along Fifth Avenue for New York Citys parade. Some spectators held up orange We are Orlando signs, and indications of increased security were everywhere, with armed officers standing by. An announcer introducing state officials and guests also shouted out, Love is love! New York is Orlando! in memory of the 49 people killed in Florida. Elected officials turned out in force, as did presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Authorities had expected a larger-than-usual crowd, and 15-year-old Chelsea Restrepo, of Staten Island, was among the onlookers. She had brushed aside her fathers concerns about security to attend the march for the first time.

What happened in Orlando made me want to come more, said Restrepo, swathed in a multicolored scarf. She said she wanted to show her support.

New Yorks parade was one of several being held Sunday across the country, along with San Francisco and Chicago. They came two weeks after the nations deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

In Chicago, 49 marchers at the head of the parade each held aloft a poster-sized photograph of a different Orlando victim as the procession wound through the city. Above each photo were the words Never forget.

 Associated Press

CALIFORNIA

Blaze kills 2, damages 75 homes

A ravenous and deadly wildfire in central California has burned 200 homes, many belonging to retirees on fixed incomes with few other possessions.

Most people here, this is all they had, said Daniel OBrien, 53, who lost two rental mobile homes. You have these moments where you just want to break down crying and fall apart.

The 58-square-mile fire has killed at least two people, and officials warned that the death toll may rise. Cadaver dogs were being brought in Sunday to search for remains.

Gov. Jerry Brown (D) declared a state of emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight the fire and to clean up in the aftermath. The fire tore through small communities of houses and mobile homes that surround the lake  actually a reservoir  and the Kern River, a popular spot for fishing and whitewater rafting. The communities are nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range that runs hundreds of miles north and south through eastern California. Seventy-five homes were damaged.

 Associated Press

TEXAS

No arrests in shootings that killed 2

Fort Worth police still hadnt made any arrests Sunday in connection with the suspected gang-related shootings that left two people dead and several injured during an unauthorized party at a hip-hop dance studio in Fort Worth.

The Tarrant County medical examiners office identified those killed as 18-year-old Jordan Larkin and 22-year-old Treavon Lewis. At least five others were injured in the shootings early Saturday at Studio 74 in Fort Worth, and their conditions were unknown.

Officer Daniel Segura, a Fort Worth police spokesman, said detectives are working nonstop on the case but hadnt made any arrests. A day earlier, police said arrests were imminent.

 Associated Press

COLORADO

Funeral for veterans remains

Fort Logan National Cemetery honored 30 veterans whose remains have gone unclaimed with a funeral ceremony Saturday in Denver, including veterans whose cremated remains were left at funeral homes and others who had no next of kin.

Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards, the services guest speaker, said In my mind, (theyre) almost MIA, because they just sat there. Each of them has a story. I only wish we knew their full story.

Stan Paprocki, president of Chapter 1071 of the Vietnam Veterans Association, said it took the chapter more than a year to assemble the remains for the service.

Paprocki said another 36 veterans would be honored at another service in two months.

The ceremony was part of the Missing In America Project, a national nonprofit that works with veterans groups to inter unclaimed veterans remains.

 Associated Press
WEST VIRGINIA

24 dead in flooding; state to receive aid

West Virginias three most devastated counties and possibly others will receive federal assistance after the states worst flooding in more than a century killed at least 24 people, officials said on Saturday.

President Obama declared a major disaster for West Virginia and ordered federal aid to affected individuals in Kanawha, Greenbrier and Nicholas counties that could include grants for temporary housing, repairs and other programs.

Obama spoke with West Virginia Gov.Earl Ray Tomblin on Saturday afternoon to give his condolences and make sure the governor has the federal resources he needs, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.

West Virginias death toll from flooding is the highest for any state this year, with 16 deaths reported in Greenbrier County in southeast West Virginia, where the heaviest rain fell, and six in Kanawha County, officials said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and state officials were assessing damage in at least six other counties and the state may ask for additional assistance, Tomblin said. Ohio and Jackson counties also reported one death each.

Up to 10 inches of rain fell on Thursday in the mountainous state, sending torrents of water from rivers and streams through homes and causing widespread devastation.

Tomblin has declared a state of emergency in 44 of 55 counties and expected 400 members of the West Virginia National Guard to help rescue efforts on Saturday. About 32,000 homes and businesses remained without power.

 Reuters

CALIFORNIA

Fire burns 150 homes, others in danger

A voracious and deadly wildfire in central California has burned 150 homes and the toll may rise, fire officials said Saturday.

The tally rose from 80 homes as firefighters began going through neighborhoods to count houses and mobile homes incinerated by the blaze.

Entire blocks were reduced to rubble, and at least 2,500 homes remained threatened.

Weather conditions that drove the fire through small southern Sierra Nevada communities with terrifying speed remained a worry, with low humidity and 30-mph steady winds forecast,

Thats something we have to keep an eye on. It could spark another disaster, Kern County fire engineer Anthony Romero said.

About 1,100 firefighters battled the flames.

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight the fire and to clean up in the aftermath. FEMA also authorized the use of funds for firefighting efforts.

Since it began Thursday, the fire has swept through 35,711 acres  nearly 56 square miles  of parched brush and timber. It moved so quickly that some residents barely had time to escape  and two didnt.

An elderly couple apparently were overcome by smoke as they tried to escape, county Sheriff Donny Youngblood said. Their bodies were found Friday, but their names have not been released.

 Associated Press

FLORIDA

Authorities suspected terrorism in shooting

Law enforcement officials immediately suspected terrorism and adjusted their staging areas due to fears about an explosive device as they responded to reports of shots fired at a gay nightclub in Orlando, according to sheriffs office incident reports released Saturday.

In the reports, Orange County Sheriffs Office deputies describe receiving limited information about an active shooter as they rushed to control the chaos outside Pulse on June 12 in what turned out to be the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Sgt. David Legvold wrote that as he assessed the sheriffs office personnel and resources at the early morning scene, he was told by a superior that this incident had been declared a National Special Security Event and should not be discussed outside the law enforcement community.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security makes that designation for events deemed to be potential targets for terrorism, mass protests or other criminal activity.

Legvold wrote that the commander of the sheriffs offices Critical Incident Management Team informed him about the special security designation, but it was not clear where that information came from. A report by the lieutenant that Legvold identified as the teams commander was not released.

 Associated Press

Bear cub escapes in Ohio zoo before being corralled: A black bear cub scaled a 12-foot fence in its new enclosure at an Ohio zoo and escaped for about 15 minutes before being corralled and sedated Saturday morning , said zoo spokeswoman Patty Peters. No one was hurt. The 7-month-old cub, Joan, climbed the fence and managed to evade a hot wire that would have given her a jolt,Peters said. Employees then trapped her inside a building, where she was sedated.

 Associated Press
ARMENIA

Pope: World should not forget massacre

The world should never forget or minimize the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians, Pope Francis declared Saturday, even as he urged Armenians to infuse their collective memory with love so they can find peace and reconcile with Turkey.

Francis began his second day in Armenia by paying his respects at the countrys imposing genocide memorial and greeting descendants of survivors of the 1915 massacres, who have been emboldened by his comments upon arrival that the slaughter of Armenians a century ago was a planned genocide meant to annihilate an entire people.

Here I pray with sorrow in my heart, so that a tragedy like this never again occurs, so that humanity will never forget and will know how to defeat evil with good, Francis wrote in the memorials guest book. May God protect the memory of the Armenian people. Memory should never be watered-down or forgotten. Memory is the source of peace and the future.

While soothing to Armenians, the popes comments did not go over well in Turkey, where Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli called the comments greatly unfortunate and said they bore the hallmarks of the mentality of the Crusades.

 Associated Press

SYRIA

Airstrikes reportedly kill dozens in village

Opposition activists say airstrikes on an eastern Syrian village held by the Islamic State group have killed at least 30 people and wounded many others.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 46 people, including children, were killed in Qourieh. It says that 31 of the dead were civilians and that the rest have not yet been identified.

Activist Omar Abu Leila, who is from the eastern city of Deir el-Zour but monitors the situation in Syria from Europe, where he currently lives, says the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes. Russia has denied targeting civilians.

Qourieh is in the province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq. Most of the province is ruled by the Islamic State.

 Associated Press

Belgium arrests two on terrorism charges: Belgian authorities arrested two people and charged them with participating in activities of a terrorist group, federal prosecutors said Saturday. The arrests are part of wide-ranging investigations following the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels that have been claimed by Islamic State. The prosecution said in a statement that police searched houses overnight in the towns of Verviers and Tournai. It identified the two people arrested only as Arnaud C., born in 1983, and E., a Belgian national. It gave no further details.

Iranian leader says Bahrain is being foolish, insane: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans supreme leader, is accusing Bahrains Sunni-led government of blatant foolishness and insanity for stripping a prominent Shiite cleric of his citizenship. Bahrain stripped Sheikh Isa Qassim of his citizenship this week, accusing him of fomenting sectarianism and forming groups that follow foreign religious ideologies and political entities, an apparent reference to Shiite-majority Iran. The move sparked demonstrations by his supporters and outrage among Shiites across the region.

Murder convict tied to Amanda Knox is on leave from prison: A man from Ivory Coast who is serving 16 years in an Italian prison for a British students slaying was enjoying 36 hours outside jail for good behavior. Rudy Hermann Guede was convicted in the 2007 stabbing death of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, where she was studying and sharing an apartment with U.S. student Amanda Knox. Guede has denied killing Kercher. Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, after earlier convictions and an acquittal, were definitively acquitted last year by Italys highest criminal court.

Mexican police officers gunned down at market: Authorities in southern Mexico say three Federal Police officers were shot dead at a market in an attack that also wounded two civilians. Guerrero state prosecutors said Friday in a statement that the officers were eating at the market in the city of Chilapa when they were shot by unknown attackers bearing high-caliber firearms. Guerrero has become one of Mexicos deadliest states, racked by turf battles between drug gangs.

Iranian security forces clash with Kurds: Iranian security personnel clashed with Kurdish separatists who infiltrated a northwestern Iranian village, killing five insurgents, according to the countrys Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Guards website said five terrorists, including two leaders, were killed in the fighting in the West Azerbaijan province, near the Iraqi border, and that a chase operation to destroy other terrorists is underway. It said no Iranian personnel were wounded in the clashes and that the Iranian forces confiscated large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

 From news services
Jonathan Capehart is a Post opinion writer.

Truth be told, the Stonewall Inn was nothing special. Just a dive bar on Manhattans Christopher Street where drag queens and drag kings gathered with others from what we now call the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. But how many Americans today would know what the acronym LGBT meant if not for what happened there in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, and during the six days that came after?

Police raids of the Stonewall were nothing unusual in those days. Being gay then was an open invitation to state-sanctioned harassment. But Stonewalls patrons had had enough, and this time they fought back. The New York Daily News report on the Stonewall raid and riot was as horrifically homophobic as it was vividly written. It also made a bold prediction: The police are sure of one thing, reporter Jerry Lisker wrote. They havent heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.

That was an understatement. What emerged was the beginning of the modern LGBT civil rights movement, with Stonewall as its Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Its been quite a journey from there. In 2000, the Greenwich Village bar was named a National Historic Landmark. In 2013, President Obama invoked the site in his second inaugural address, linking the drive for equality for LGBT Americans at Stonewall to that of women at Seneca Falls and African Americans at Selma. Now, Sunday, marchers in New Yorks annual gay pride parade will file past the Stonewall as they have every last Sunday in June for the previous 45 years. But this time they will be crossing through a national monument.

The White House announced Friday that the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park directly across the street and the surrounding streets and sidewalks  some 7.7 acres of land  will join the Statue of Liberty, Rainbow Bridge and Muir Woods as a place of national honor. Think about that. A bar that was home to persecuted societal outsiders will be recognized by a federal government that once viewed its patrons with contempt  by order of the president of the United States.

Of course, the march to this moment for the Stonewall Inn started before the 1969 rebellion that bears its name. Im thinking back to 1965, when Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny led the first-ever pro-gay pickets in front of the White House and the Pentagon. Kameny had been fired from his job with the Army Map Service in 1957 because he was gay. His petition for relief at the Supreme Court in 1961 was denied, but not before he made history as the first gay person to argue on behalf of LGBT equality before the highest court in the land. Fifty-four years later, the justices would rule that denying the right to marry to same-sex couples was a violation of the Constitution.

And of course, there have been setbacks and pain at the same time. The AIDS epidemic robbed the community and the nation of a generation of talent in the 1980s. So-called religious freedom laws and bathroom bills are present-day efforts to chip away at the progress made. Because sexual orientation and gender identity are not covered under federal civil rights law, you can be fired for being LGBT in 28 states. The mass shooting in Orlando at an LGBT dance club in the early hours of June 12 was the worst of its kind in U.S. history and a devastating blow to the communitys sense of unrelenting progress.

Stonewall is a living, breathing national treasure, as we saw last week when thousands of New Yorkers gathered outside to mourn Orlando or last year when we celebrated the Supreme Courts decision on marriage equality, said New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D), who lives in the historic neighborhood. As a gay dad, it means a lot to me that my daughter and future generations will now know it for its place in American history and the broader civil rights movement.

Hoylmans point about future generations is important. As what happened at Stonewall gained in national prominence over the years, ironically the bar itself became a victim of its own success.

Ive never been inside the Stonewall Inn because, when I moved to New York in 1991 in my 20s, there were better options, like the Monster and Uncle Charlies. By the end of the decade, there were other, more modern bars to go to  ones with big windows that allowed the patrons to see out and the outside world to see in. And then there were the coffee houses and restaurants with their unabashedly gay vibe and clientele. Folks, brunch, that most public of activities, became a verb thanks to us.

Actually, all that progress, in New York and beyond, began with a small group of LGBT Americans who got fed up and fought for their rights and their dignity 47 years ago outside an unremarkable bar in Greenwich Village. That that bar is now a national monument tells you just how much they won.
If Hillary Clinton had to pick her running mate today, I think shed pick Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Heres why.

The defining trait of Clintons political career is caution. She doesnt ever leap before she looks  and looks and looks. Part of this is a function of the fact that Clinton doesnt have great natural political instincts  which she has repeatedly acknowledged during this campaign. Its also the result of being enemy No. 1 (or, at worst, No. 2) for Republicans for most of the past two-plus decades. Youd probably be pretty wary of what you said and did if you had been at the center of that storm since 1992.

Now, consider the state of the presidential race from Clintons perspective. Her near-certain opponent (Donald Trump, you may have heard of him) is viewed unfavorably by 7 in 10 voters, had $1.3 million in his campaign account at the end of May, and continues to war with a not-

insignificant bloc within his own party.

Clinton will never say this, but looking at those factors there has to be a belief within her campaign that if she simply blocks and tackles effectively in the next five months she will win. As a result, she will aim to do very little to fundamentally alter the race.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's short list of potential vice presidential candidates. Here's what you need to know about him. (Sarah Parnass,Osman Malik/The Washington Post)

Combine Clintons natural caution with the state of the 2016 race and all signs point to her settling on a vice presidential pick who a) cannot possibly do any harm and b) is regarded as a governance pick  a person who has the resume and knowledge to help Clinton run the decidedly complex federal bureaucracy.

Thats Kaine  a former mayor of Richmond, a former Virginia governor, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and now a senator. That he was a very early endorser of Clintons 2016 campaign (he announced his support in May 2014!) and hails from a swing state doesnt hurt, either.

Kaines big downside? He doesnt exactly light up the party base  or many others. I am boring, he acknowledged in an interview with NBCs Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that aired Sunday.

Who else might Clinton pick? There has been quite a bit of reporting around this question of late; we know, for instance, that Clinton is vetting a shortlist that includes Kaine, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.). But her aides insist that Clintons list of potential picks includes more than just those three.

Below is my attempt to rank the top five people by their likelihood of ending up as Clintons running mate.

5. Amy Klobuchar

The senator from Minnesota gets the least attention as a VP pick of anyone on this list. That is probably deserving because shes a bit of a dark-horse choice. But if Clinton wants to pick or shortlist a woman  and doesnt want to pick or shortlist Warren  then Klobuchar makes sense. She has been an active surrogate for Clinton, has clear ambition beyond the Senate and hails from the Midwest, which will be the central battleground of this election.

4. Sherrod Brown

The senators stock seems to be down somewhat in recent weeks, largely because picking the Ohio native would allow Republican Gov. John Kasich to appoint Browns successor in the Senate for the next two years. Brown remains appealing for his liberal credentials, his more protectionist view on trade and the fact that he represents an absolutely essential swing state. Perhaps most important, Brown is a stylistic contrast to Clinton  a sort of gruff-voiced everyman and a populist. That could serve as a nice complement to Clinton and round out the ticket.

3. Warren

Im on record as being very skeptical that Clinton will wind up picking the senator. The two women dont have the best relationship  Warren was the last female Democratic senator to endorse Clinton, and she did it after the primaries were officially over  and Warrens hero status among liberals isnt really what Clinton needs right now. (Clintons poll numbers among liberals have been quite strong.) But, as of today, Warren is one of three people we know that Clintons VP search team is vetting. So I dont think she can rank any lower than third. My theory on why we know Warren is being vetted? A savvy strategy by the Clinton team to show liberals that they are taking Warren seriously  without any real negative consequences to floating her name.

2. Castro

The former San Antonio mayor was always going to be a member of the presumptive Democratic nominees shortlist  and here he is. Castro is a less-safe pick than Kaine  hes less proven on the national stage, hes younger, etc.  but his upside is also higher than Kaines. Castros speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention was a giant hit and showcased his natural charisma and communication skills.

Picking Castro would do two other things for Clinton: bridge the generational divide in the party (Castro is 41) and perhaps cement Hispanic voters as a reliable Democratic voting bloc for decades to come.

1. Kaine

See above. Also, worth noting: Kaine had been vetted for the second-banana job by Barack Obama, adding to the sense of safety that picking him exudes.
Republicans and Democrats alike are slamming Donald Trump for his comments about a federal judge. Here are six times something Trump said made sparked a huge backlash from critics. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail from Scotland this week contending with sweeping unease about his candidacy as a large majority of Americans register their disapproval and see the Republican Partys presumptive presidential nominee as discriminatory and unqualified, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Following a month of selfinflicted controversies, the survey shows that support for Trump is plunging, including among fellow Republicans, propelling Democrat Hillary Clinton to a double-digit lead nationally. The poll reveals fresh doubts about Trump within his own party just three weeks before Republicans convene in Cleveland for their national convention.





The survey finds broad objections to Trumps candidacy  from his incendiary rhetoric and values to his handling of both terrorism and his own business  foreshadowing that the November election could be a referendum on Trump more than anything else.

Roughly 2 in 3 Americans say that they think Trump is unqualified to lead the nation; are anxious about the idea of him as president; believe his comments about women, minorities and Muslims show an unfair bias; and consider his attacks on a federal judge because of his Mexican American heritage to be racist.

A slimmer majority say they disapprove of the way Clinton has handled questions about her use of a personal email server while she was secretary of state, and half of Americans are anxious about the prospect of a Clinton presidency, underscoring the historic unpopularity of the two major-party candidates. In fact, so strong is many Americans opposition to Clinton and desire for a change in Washington that even some registering their disapproval of Trump say that as of now they feel compelled to vote for him.





[Democrats see danger signs in states where Clinton has not fully engaged]

Nevertheless, in a head-to-head general election matchup, Clinton leads Trump 51 percent to 39 percent among registered voters nationwide, the poll found. This is Clintons largest lead in Post-ABC polling since last fall and a dramatic reversal from last months survey, which found the race nearly even, with Trump at 46 percent and Clinton at 44 percent.

When the prominent thirdparty candidates are mentioned, Clinton leads Trump by 10 points, 47 percent to 37 percent, with the Libertarian Partys Gary Johnson at 7 percent and the Green Partys Jill Stein at 3 percent.

[May poll: Election 2016 shapes up as a contest of negatives]

As the hard-fought general election gets underway, Trumps political standing is on dangerous ground. Fifty-six percent of the public at large say the celebrity business mogul stands against their beliefs, while 64 percent say he does not have the necessary credentials to be president. Fifty-six percent feel strongly that he is unqualified.

Nearly one-third of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say Trump is unqualified for office, and 18 percent say he does not represent their beliefs, exposing fissures in the GOP base.

Underscoring these doubts, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused when pressed Sunday to say whether he thought Trump was qualified.

I think theres no question that hes made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks, McConnell said on ABCs This Week. I think theyre beginning to right the ship. Its a long time until November. And the burden, obviously, will be on him to convince people that he can handle this job.

Then there are the Americans who plan to vote for him despite their disapproval. For instance, 18 percent of people who found Trumps comments about the judge racist, 15 percent of those who think his comments generally are biased against women, minorities or Muslims, and 11 percent of those who think he is unqualified say that they support Trump over Clinton. Trump enjoys a big lead with those who want a new direction for the country, 64 percent to Clintons 26 percent. After eight years of President Obama, a majority of Americans, 56 percent, say they want to elect a president who can set the nation in a new direction. Forty-seven percent say they feel so strongly.





The poll, conducted in the immediate aftermath of a massacre in Orlando that was perpetrated by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, showed Obamas approval rating at 56 percent  its highest level in Post polling since May 2011, after the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Obama is more popular now than Republicans George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush in the waning months of their presidencies. Although Obamas approval rating has not reached the level of former Democratic president Bill Clintons in 2000, his standing suggests that he could be a relatively effective surrogate for Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.





The survey of 1,001 randomly selected adults found a slight uptick in the share of people who identify as Democrats, from 33 percent in Mays poll to 36 percent this month. Self-described Republicans accounted for 24 percent of those polled this month, ticking down from 25 percent in May, while independents made up 33 percent. This shift in party identification, however, accounts for less than half of Clintons gains in the new poll.

In May, Trump was more competitive with Clinton because he had just secured the Republican nomination and the partys electorate was coalescing around his candidacy. Clintons unfavorable ratings among registered voters tied their record high last month, matching Trumps at 57 percent and weighing her down.

But that dynamic reversed over the past month, with Democrats unifying behind Clinton and Republicans expressing fresh doubts about Trump. While 88 percent of Democrat-leaning voters say they support Clinton, a smaller 79 percent of Republican-leaning voters back Trump.

And there is evidence in the poll that Trump is pushing some GOP voters out of the fold. Just 69 percent of self-identified Republicans who supported a candidate other than Trump in the primary say they now support Trump; 13 percent say they back Clinton, while 11 percent volunteer neither.

There is also little evidence that Trump is winning over Democratic primary voters. On the campaign trail in recent weeks, Trump has made direct appeals to disaffected supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). But the poll finds that just 8 percent of voters who backed Sanders in the primaries say they support Trump, down from 20 percent in May.

A 61 percent majority of all Americans say Clinton is qualified to serve, while Clinton maintains a 2-to-1 advantage on which candidate has the best personality and temperament to be president.

Clinton and her surrogates have focused on temperament to draw distinctions with Trump.

Hes a chaos candidate, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said on ABCs This Week on Sunday. The differences between Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump in terms of temperament, in terms of judgment, in terms of values, couldnt be more stark.

The poll finds 66 percent of voters saying Trumps controversial comments about women, minorities and Muslims show an unfair bias; 68 percent say Trumps criticisms of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel were racist; and 85 percent say the comments were inappropriate.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 36 percent say Trumps comments show he is unfairly biased toward certain groups, while 39 percent say the comments about Curiel were racist and 71 percent say they were inappropriate.

With such broad public disapproval of Trumps controversial comments, Republican elected officials have awkwardly tiptoed around their probable nominee. The poll finds that 62 percent of Republican-leaning voters want GOP leaders to speak out against Trump when they disagree with his views, while 35 percent think they should avoid criticizing him.

The June 12 shooting rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in which a gunman killed 49 people before being killed, tested both Clinton and Trump, who took divergent response approaches.

[Trump pushes expanded ban on Muslims and other foreigners]

By a margin of 18 percentage points, more Americans say Clinton had the better overall response than Trump, though a significant share, 26 percent, had no preference. The survey found no increase in support for temporarily banning Muslims who are not U.S. citizens from entering the United States, one of Trumps signature proposals. Forty-three percent of Americans support the ban on Muslims; 52 percent oppose it.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who was sharply critical of Trump in the primaries but has since endorsed him, declined Sunday to say whether he trusted Trump with the nuclear codes.

Hes going to have the next three months to go out and make the argument to the American people and help us envision him as president, Rubio said on CBSs Face the Nation.

Clintons support has risen significantly among male registered voters, jumping 11 percentage points since May to tie with Trumps, at 45 percent. Trumps support fell by 11 percentage points among men overall and by 10 percentage points among white men specifically, a bloc with which he still enjoys a substantial advantage over Clinton.

Although Trump leads Clinton among white voters overall, 50 percent to 40 percent, he trails her badly among nonwhite voters, 77 percent to 15 percent. His is the smallest Republican advantage with whites for a Republican presidential candidate since 1996, when Bob Dole lost to Bill Clinton.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted June 20-23 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults reached on cellular and land-line phones. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
The last time Bernie Sanders came to this city, in April, he was flat-out running for president. Six thousand people packed the downtown Oncenter to cheer him on, and a thousand more cheered from outside.

The crowd was smaller Friday, just 500 people  but technically, they were not there for Sanders. The senator was rallying for a 70-year-old academic named Eric Kingson, who is running for Congress and who worked the crowd, praising Bernies genuineness and indisputable integrity as he promised to defend and expand Social Security.

The campaign stop, Sanderss first for a congressional candidate, offered a glimpse of the post-presidential-bid figure he would like to become: a politician who uses his unexpectedly strong showing in the presidential race to push his progressive policies in Congress, in campaigns and across the country.

But as he ponders his next moves, and the fate of perhaps the biggest donor list in politics, Sanders is facing a challenge almost as steep as a presidential campaign. How does a revolutionary persuade his supporters to continue the revolution with someone else? Can he maintain the enthusiasm of followers who were new to politics after falling in the primaries to establishment stalwart Hillary Clinton? Can he transfer his popularity to relatively unknown figures?

And has Sanders frittered away the leverage he built by remaining an active candidate when most of the party has moved on to a bruising fall battle against Donald Trump?

In an interview with C-SPAN, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said in the strongest terms yet that he will not be the Democratic nominee for president. (C-SPAN)

On his website, Sanders has already started to make the transition from active presidential candidate to another kind of leader. This is your movement, it now says, showing a montage of diverse faces.

And at the urging of his wife, Jane Sanders, he has been talking to his inner circle about launching a grass-roots organization to harness the energy of his supporters. Among aides, there is chatter about who might staff such an organization, which might resemble Democracy for America, the group that former Vermont governor Howard Dean launched following his failed 2004 presidential bid.

Sanderss profile in the Senate is expected to increase once he returns to the chamber full time, and aides say he will almost certainly seek reelection in 2018  though it is unclear whether either will translate into more muscle on Capitol Hill. Sanders has suggested that he will try to mobilize his supporters around key issues and that he wants to lead the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over many of the high-profile issues he pushed during his campaign.

Sanderss donor list, which the campaign says includes 2.7 million contributors across the country, is another uncertain  and highly coveted  asset. Sanders proved to be a surprisingly potent fundraiser, taking in more than $229 million as of last month, the vast majority in online, low-dollar increments.

Seeking shared values

Eric Kingson is one of the early beneficiaries of Sanderss new role. On Friday night, in New Yorks 24th House district, Sanders let Kingson speak first, and then, still flanked by Secret Service agents, he spent much of his own 24-minute speech praising the candidate, who is running in Tuesdays congressional primary. Sanders brought Kingson and his family onstage for photos that would make the front page, as intended.

We really can win on Tuesday  seven or eight thousand votes is very achievable, said Sanders as he closed out. Where is Erics campaign manager? Where are you?

Zach Zeliff, a bearded 23-year-old veteran of Sanderss New Hampshire landslide, waved his hand.

1 of 42 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Highlights from Bernie Sanderss campaign, in pictures View Photos The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Caption The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. June 14, 2016 Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton to meet with Hillary Clinton in D.C. Matt McClain/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

You got the names of everybody whos here? Sanders said. Okay, great!

Syracuse showed an awkward but promising transition for Sanders. A warm-up band called Sophistafunk got the crowd to dance and cheer for President Bernie Sanders. Many in the crowd said the senator from Vermont was the only candidate they trusted.

Its my last chance to introduce my son to an honest politician, said Stacey Edwards, 31, with 13-year-old Jonathan in tow. Ive been a fan of Bernie for 20 years, and Im so glad hes back.

Edwards and others said they could not support Clinton for president. Ill go Green or Ill write in Bernie, she said. Then she added a caveat: Down the ballot, Ill vote for anyone who shares his values.

That was what Sanders wanted to hear. Since June 16, when he asked supporters to run for office, at least 21,000 said they would  or at least hit the streets to help.

What is unclear is whether Sanders, who enjoys higher favorable numbers than Clinton or President Obama, will ever tell those voters to support the winner of the presidential primary contests.

Clinton aides have privately expressed frustration over Sanderss continuing campaign and refusal to this point to endorse her, a step they believe could help unify the party heading into the fall.

The intensity of his supporters is so much greater than the intensity for any other candidate, including Hillary Clinton, said Rep. Beto ORourke (D-Tex.), a Clinton endorser whose El Paso-based district went strongly for her but who suggested that Sanders could pull out voters who might normally skip elections. In El Paso, she crushed him, and yet in terms of incoming calls and emails to our office, asking where to vote, it was like 3 to 1 Bernie. In Texas, he could get some of those folks who dont traditionally vote to come out.

Sanderss role is under discussion, but he has said a more immediate priority is trying to find common ground on the issues he championed during the primaries.

Its not just Bernie Sanders saying, Oh, yes, just vote for Hillary Clinton,  Sanders told CNN on Sunday. It is Hillary Clinton standing up and saying, You know what? These are the things we need to do. And if she does the right thing, I am absolutely confident that the vast majority of my supporters will vote for her.

Sanders has been lobbying Clinton to embrace several of his proposals, including tuition-free public universities and a $15 minimum wage. Asked why he had yet to endorse Clinton during an appearance Friday on CBS This Morning, Sanders said he had not heard her say the things that need to be said.

That struggle is visible in Sanderss attempts to influence the Democratic Party platform, as well. A chief reason he has given for remaining an active candidate, the negotiations illustrate both the opportunity and the limitations of his newfound status.

[Sanders puts his stamp on DNC platform but presses for more]

A draft document approved Saturday would move the party to the left on wages, banking reform and climate change, and represents several concessions by Clinton. But Clinton allies on the panel also resisted Sanderss aggressive overtures on trade, several environmental issues and universal health care, a core of Sanderss mission to tackle income inequality.

Is the party already united?

There is some evidence that most Sanders supporters have already fallen in line behind Clinton. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Sunday, just 8 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Trump; just 1 percent of Democrats and 3 percent of self-identified liberals said they would vote for the Green Party.

[In new poll, support for Trump has plunged, giving Clinton double-digit lead]

The Clinton camp, meanwhile, is moving forward with the use of other high-powered campaign surrogates. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another darling of the left and a potential running mate, will campaign with Clinton in the battleground state of Ohio. Obama is expected to join Clinton on the campaign trail soon.

And Sanders is lending his support to candidates whose chances are just as slim as his own were. In the primary on Tuesday, Kingson faces Colleen Deacon, a 38-year-old veteran staffer for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), backed by both the senator and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

As of the last fundraising report, Deacon had raised $293,565 to Kingsons $199,445. She had gone on the airwaves with slick positive ads, telling the story of a single mom who had to go on food stamps but went on to build a career for herself.

And then Sanders showed up. On Friday afternoon, at the final candidate debate before the primary, journalists at Syracuses NewsChannel 9 started their questions with one about Sanders and party loyalty. Over an hour, Deacon and Kingson found little to disagree about. When they did, it was on the issues that defined the Clinton-Sanders primary  whether to raise the minimum wage to a living wage or specifically to $15, whether to expand Social Security or merely raise the cap on the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or FICA.

In an interview, Deacon had nothing bad to say about Sanders. By coming to town, hes reminding them that theres an election on Tuesday, she said in her downtown campaign office, as interns in the next room worked phones.

But when asked how she would define the establishment  the term used by Kingson  Deacon fought back. She had campaigned for paid family leave, and she had just paid off her student loans. What about that was establishment?

Somebody might say establishment  I say experience, I say track record, I say working with people to achieve change, she said. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer are wonderful senators for New York, and Im proud to have their support. I dont think that should penalized. I think it should be rewarded if you get things done.

Early Saturday morning, Kingsons campaign office  formerly a Sanders outpost and still festooned with Bernie pop art  bustled with volunteers. Zeliff gave quick instructions to canvassers as young at 17, as old as 80, before they headed out.

Zeliff and 24-year-old Tom Giancola, a fellow New Hampshire Sanders veteran, explained how canvassers would rank the voters they met from 1 (Oh, Im definitely voting for Eric) to 6 (Theyre probably voting for Trump). Then they headed out, ready to tell their neighbors that Kingson was a Bernie-supported champion for Social Security.

Empowering volunteers to be leaders and make the difference is kind of the whole MO of the Bernie field campaign, I think, Zeliff said. Thats what we learned this year, and were not stopping.

Wagner reported from Washington. Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.
Eleven people including nine children were injured Sunday when a rollercoaster crashed at a theme park in Scotland, police and media reports said.

Images posted on social media showed a mangled carriage and a number of people trapped upside down in their seats in the Tsunami ride at M&D's amusement park near Glasgow.

The ride had been full when it derailed, according to eyewitnesses at the park, which was evacuated after the accident according to its website.

"Kids and adults are still on it upside down," said Katie Burns, who had just ridden the rollercoaster and was walking past it when the crash occurred.

"It's like something out a horror film, children crying and everything," she wrote on Facebook.

Lanarkshire Police said in a statement: "At this time we are aware of 11 casualties - two adults and nine children, who are all being treated at local hospitals."

Six ambulance crews, a specialist operation team and emergency doctors were dispatched to the scene, said a spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Iraqi government forces flash the "V" for victory sign in Fallujah after retaking the embattled city from the Islamic State militant group. (Haidar Mohammed Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

Iraqi commanders said Sunday that they had completely retaken the city of Fallujah after a month-long battle, depriving Islamic State militants of a symbolic stronghold just an hours drive from the capital.

There was a celebratory mood in the city as pickup trucks ferried around cheering members of the security forces, who unloaded volleys of bullets into the air in jubilation. While the city appeared to be under their control, commanders conceded that militants could be hiding out.

The Sunni city 45 miles west of Baghdad was the first in Iraq or Syria to be captured by the Islamic State, about 21 / 2 years ago. Fallujah was a quagmire for U.S. service members during the Iraq War, so there were expectations that it could be a bloody and drawn-out fight this time, too. But the Iraqi military made quick progress after breaking through defense lines outside the city earlier this month.

The loss of Fallujah deals a significant blow to the Islamic States self-proclaimed caliphate, which has been steadily shrinking as Iraqi forces have advanced with the help of airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Even before the Fallujah operation, the militant group had lost an estimated 40 percent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq.

But parts of the Sunni city, once home to 300,000 people, are still laced with roadside bombs. In the narrow streets of the old-city area, secured earlier Sunday, an officer urged caution as he pointed out a booby trap, its yellow wires leading out of the ground and over the gate into a nearby house.





Danger explosives, someone had written on the wall. Thamer Ismail, a commander with the Iraqi polices rapid reaction force, also known as S.W.A.T., said his forces had detonated two booby-trapped houses and 13 roadside bombs on Sunday alone.

While S.W.A.T. and federal police forces focused on the older area of the city, Iraqs special forces stormed the Jolan neighborhood Sunday morning.

Standing on a street corner, Capt. Mudher Moussawi from the federal police said the operation for the old-city area had faced little resistance. Only about 30 militants were defending it, he said.

But there may be fighters in the houses, he said, pointing down a road toward a mosque. Lots of streets are not yet cleared. Many were blocked with dirt and the shells of burned cars, makeshift defenses against Islamic State car bombs.

While some neighborhoods, particularly on the outskirts of the city, have suffered extensive damage, others are largely intact, raising hopes among residents who were forced to flee. Tens of thousands are now stuck in desert camps with little assistance.

Its still too early to speak of returns, said Nasr Muflahi, the Norwegian Refugee Councils Iraq director. We just do not know which areas are safe and which arent.

[After more than $1.6 billion in U.S. aid, Iraqs army still struggles]

The actions of the Shiite-led governments security forces in this City of Mosques  the most important in Iraq for Sunni Muslims  have been highly scrutinized.

Given concerns about reprisal attacks, Iraqs government initially announced that its popular mobilization units  armed groups largely made up of Shiite militias  would not be entering the battle inside the city. Many among Iraqs Shiite militias view the local population as largely sympathetic to the militants.

However, forces from the Shiite Badr Organization had been fighting alongside police in recent days, commanders said.

In the beginning, we decided to only support them, Hadi al-Amiri, a member of the Badr group, said during a visit to the S.W.A.T. base. But they found that they couldnt do it alone. Therefore, we entered the city.

He said the popular mobilization units had held back until civilians had left.

Plumes of black smoke billowed out of houses in an area under the control of police and militia forces.

Amiri denied that militia forces were setting properties ablaze. He said that the burning houses were the result of the fighting or Islamic State militants setting fire to their bases as they retreated.

An electrical fire, said one officer, when asked to explain a burning building that hadnt been alight a few hours before, after Islamic State militants had left the area.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the city Sunday afternoon, speaking outside its main hospital.

He said that some sick souls may have committed violations here and there but that they were isolated incidents and unacceptable. He said it was a day for all Iraqis to celebrate.

We had promised that we would raise the Iraqi flag high in Fallujah, and we have fulfilled this promise, and we will raise it soon in Mosul, Abadi said as he hoisted the national banner. Mosul, about 250 miles northwest of Baghdad, remains the last significant Iraqi city in the hands of the militants.

Iraqi forces have proved that they have the capability to liberate all their land, Abadi said.

Iraqi commanders attributed their rapid progress in Fallujah to the Islamic States weakness after being besieged by security forces for months and to a growing backlash in the city against the militant groups rule.

More than 1,800 Islamic State fighters were killed in the offensive, Lt. Gen. Abdelwahab al-

Saedi, commander of the Fallujah operation, told state television. That is more than double the estimates provided by security forces for the number of fighters in the city before the operation began.

But some cautioned that completely defeating the Islamic State requires more than just military operations.

Weve fought the militants, but we havent fought the ideology, said Brig. Gen. Dawood al-

Shammari, another S.W.A.T. commander.



Read more:

These Iraqis dodged bombs and bullets to escape ISIS, but their misery hasnt ended

A desperate womans email from Iraq reveals the high toll of Obamas low-cost wars

U.S. Marine killed in Islamic State rocket attack in northern Iraq, military says

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
People walk over Westminster Bridge wrapped in Union Jacks, toward the Queen Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) and the Houses of Parliament in central London.

June 26, 2016 People walk over Westminster Bridge wrapped in Union Jacks, toward the Queen Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) and the Houses of Parliament in central London. Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

In late June, many celebrated the referendum results, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls.

Many celebrated the referendum results Friday, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls the day before.

Many celebrated the referendum results Friday, and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he will resign after Britons went to the polls the day before.

The political fallout from Britains stunning decision to leave the European Union sharply escalated Sunday, with debate growing inside the governing Conservative Party over choosing a successor to Prime Minister David Cameron and a coup attempt emerging against the leader of the opposition Labour Party.

The day was marked by a succession of fast-moving events against the backdrop of a leadership crisis in the aftermath of Thursdays Brexit vote. The political maneuvering came as Britain and other nations prepared for more potential financial shocks when markets open on Monday after Fridays worldwide sell-off.

The turmoil here underscored the degree to which the decision to break with Europe  an action seen widely here as the most significant event in the postwar history of Britain  has left the country politically divided, deeply unsettled and in uncharted territory on multiple fronts.

[Millions of Brits signed a petition for another E.U. referendum]

The complex process of negotiating the terms of the separation from the European Union has suddenly collided with a leadership crisis triggered by a voter revolt against the nations political establishment.

In a stunning victory for the leave" campaign, Britain has voted to exit the European Union. Here's what happens next. (Jason Aldag,Adam Taylor/The Washington Post)

The decision by Cameron to hand off to his successor the issue of how to exit the E.U. and the absence so far of any concrete plans advanced by the government or by leaders of the leave campaign who could inherit that responsibility have heightened the uncertainty and increased tensions across the political spectrum.

Sunday opened with news that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had fired one of the most senior members of his leadership team, Hilary Benn, after Benn told the leader he had lost confidence in him.

The sacking of Benn led to a succession of resignations by other members of the Labour cabinet. By late in the day, at least 10 others had quit their positions in what amounted to a rolling repudiation of Corbyns leadership by his elected colleagues.

On Sunday night, Corbyn again said he would not be pushed out. I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me, he said.

The Labour revolt reflected fears that the party could suffer what Benn called a catastrophic defeat if, as expected, there is a general election called this year after the Conservative Party chooses a leader to succeed Cameron.

Hes a good and decent man, but he is not a leader, Benn said of Corbyn during an interview with the BBCs Andrew Marr. Thats the problem.

Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence among his parliamentary peers this week. The two Labour members of Parliament who offered the motion, Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey, sent a letter to colleagues expressing pessimism about the partys future under Corbyn. If a general election is called later this year . . . we believe that under Jeremys leadership we could be looking at political oblivion, they said.

Corbyn has vowed to stand firm against efforts to oust him and began to rally a counter movement to fend off the coup attempt. As the resignations came one after another Sunday, his allies rushed to his defense, with more shows of support planned in coming days.

Corbyn was elected just a year ago with overwhelming support from rank-and-file members of the party. That base still appears to be strong, despite the defections among elected leaders, setting up the possibility of a disastrous civil war between the partys progressive grass roots and many elected leaders who come from Labours centrist wing and others.

The fate of Corbyn, however, is currently seen as secondary to the question of who will lead the Conservatives, as that person will immediately become prime minister upon Camerons official resignation. Cameron said Friday that he wants to see a successor in place by early October.

Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and the leading voice in the campaign to exit the E.U., is considered the favorite to take over from Cameron. But the flamboyant Johnson is a magnet for controversy. Newspapers Sunday were filled with reports of gathering efforts by other Conservatives to deny him the post he has long been maneuvering to claim.

[Media reacts to Brexit: Welcome to Boris Island]

Despite Johnsons position as the Conservative front-runner, the leadership contest could end up with a number of candidates seeking to block his path. One potentially strong challenger is Theresa May, currently the home secretary and a quiet campaigner in favor of Britain remaining in the E.U. But some Tory leaders say the next prime minister should come from the partys pro-Brexit wing.

Cameron has been largely invisible since he emerged Friday morning to announce his intention to resign. So, too, has his ally George Osborne, the finance minister. He is the architect of the governments economic policies and is regarded as a key player in dealing with the economic and budgetary fallout from Brexit. But his hopes of becoming prime minister have taken a beating because of the Brexit decision.

The most visible leader in Britain in the days since the vote has been Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first minister and the head of the Scottish National Party. On Sunday, she continued to press for a new independence referendum, a move that could lead to the dismantlement of the United Kingdom. Scotlands voters rejected a similar referendum in 2014. But the U.K. that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 isnt there anymore, Sturgeon said Sunday on BBC Scotland.

[Scottish leader threatens a second independence referendum]

Scotland voted strongly to remain in the E.U. Sturgeon has said she would seek negotiations directly with European leaders in Brussels in an effort to keep Scotland in the E.U. as a way to protect the regions economic interests.

A query to the E.U. offices about the possibility of Scotland negotiating separate standing produced a text reply from spokesman Daniel Rosario: Scotland is part of the U.K., he said. The respective constitutional arrangements apply. We will not speculate further.

Sturgeon on Sunday also raised the possibility of the Scottish Parliament blocking Britain from leaving the E.U., but other officials said that they doubted that was within the powers of the Scottish body and that withholding consent would not amount to a veto.

Since Thursdays vote, European leaders have pushed back against Camerons desire to delay triggering the process of withdrawing from the E.U. under the blocs Article 50. On Saturday, foreign ministers from the six original members of the E.U. spoke as one in calling on Britain to get moving as soon as possible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, offered a softer tone, suggesting more patience over the timing of the start of the divorce proceedings.

Amid the public pressure from Europe for Britain to quickly trigger Article 50, there were also suggestions that continental leaders believed hope was not yet lost.

In an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newspaper published Sunday, Merkels chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, said politicians in London should be given an opportunity to reevaluate the consequences of exiting the bloc, suggesting the Germans believed there might still be a chance to keep Britain in the fold.

[Who could be next?]

The posture of the European leaders could become clearer this week during a series of scheduled meetings. On Monday, Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi plan to huddle in Berlin to coordinate their demands for Britain ahead of a Tuesday summit of all 28 E.U. leaders in Brussels.

Cameron will be present for that Tuesday meeting and will no doubt be asked to explain himself over what could be a foul-spirited dinner. On Wednesday, the leaders will kick Cameron out of the room and discuss how to handle what will probably be years of torturous divorce negotiations.

[European power suddenly shrinks]

President Obama spoke with Cameron on Friday, and in the subsequent days there have been multiple conversations between administration officials and their European and Asian counterparts about the economic and security implications of the Brexit vote. The United States has taken no position on how quickly the divorce proceedings should begin.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to visit Brussels and London on Monday. Speaking in Rome on Sunday, he said that the United States respects the will of the voters and that he and Obama, who had urged a vote to remain, were confident that we will be able to work through this in a sensible way.

Faiola reported from Berlin, Birnbaum from Brussels.

Read more:

Would a break from Brussels also splinter Britain? Probably not.

Why North America wont copy European unity

Despite assurances, immigrants in Britain are uncertain of their future

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
A mammoth ship bearing 9,472 containers and the unwieldy name Cosco Shipping Panama completed on Sunday the first official voyage through the new expanded Panama Canal, a $5.25 billion project designed to modernize a 102-year-old landmark of human ambition, determination and engineering prowess.

The Chinese vessel, which set sail from the Greek port of Piraeus on June 11, began its crossing of the isthmus from the northern Atlantic Ocean end of the 48-mile canal. On Sunday morning, it entered one of the new locks, on its way to the man-made Gatun Lake, the widened Culebra Cut through a verdant mountain ridge, and then the Pacific Ocean.

Like the channel that opened in 1914, the enlarged Panama Canal is a feat of engineering, albeit one that ran over budget and two years behind schedule. The contractors dredged enough material to fill the Egyptian Great Pyramid at Giza, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, 25 times over. The amount of steel used could have erected 29 new Eiffel Towers. The Empire State Building could lie down and fit into just one of the three chambers in each of the new channels locks.

Although cargo tonnage through the canal has risen 60 percent since 2009, Panama needed to expand the canal to accommodate a new generation of container ships, known as neo-Panamax, which are too big for the old canal locks. The new locks are wider than the old ones, 180 feet vs. 110 feet, and are deeper, too, at 60 feet vs. 42 feet. Officials say the larger locks and new lane will double the waterways cargo capacity. More than 170 neo-Panamax ships have already booked reservations in the expanded locks.

We knew that if we did not embark on this project, the quality and span of our services ran the risk of deteriorating, impacting shippers, customers and our country alike, the Panama Canal Authoritys chief executive, Jorge Quijano, said in a speech to customers Saturday night. The expansion will open new trade routes.

A tugboat leads a Neopanamax cargo ship as it approaches the new Agua Clara locks near the port city of Colon, Panama. (Moises Castillo/AP)

Export facilities are being built to send abundant U.S. shale gas to foreign markets, many of them in Asia, where Chinas fast growth and Japans idle nuclear plants have created demand.

A tanker of liquefied natural gas loaded on the U.S. Gulf Coast and bound for Asian markets could shorten its travel distance by about 5,000 nautical miles and seven to nine days, according to Martin Houston, co-founder of Tellurian, a developer of liquefied natural gas projects. He estimated that the expanded canal could accommodate about 80 percent of the current world liquefied natural gas tanker fleet, compared with the 7 percent that could pass through the old facilities.

All this adds up to additional commercial flexibility and lower cost, which is what our customers want, he said.

The Boston Consulting Group and C.H. Robinson, a transportation logistics company, estimated last year that as much as 10 percent of the container traffic from East Asia to the United States could shift to East Coast ports instead of landing on the West Coast and finishing the journey by truck or rail. That, they said, would be rerouting volume equivalent to building a new port roughly double the size of the ports in Savannah and Charleston.

This prospect has triggered activity up and down the East Coast. After delays, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey now says that a $1.3 billion project to raise the 85-year-old Bayonne Bridge will enable ships to pass under by late 2017.

The South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) is planning to dredge Charlestons 45-foot-deep harbor to a depth of 52 feet by the end of the decade. The old Panama Canal was an impediment to deploying ships to the East Coast of the United States from Asia, said SCPA chief executive James I. Newsome III.

Newsome gave the example of cargo bound for Charlotte from Asia. If it landed in Los Angeles, it would cost $2,000 to send it across the country by rail. If it landed in Charleston, it would cost only $600 to send it the rest of the way by truck. Even if it took a little more time, he said, supply chain is more about reliability than transit time.

For Panama, the new canal is giving a boost to the economy by attracting new investment and jobs in the service sector. The government, as owner of the canal authority, receives dividends equal to 2.1 percent of gross domestic product.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Panama will continue to grow at its current rate of nearly 6 percent a year. Ivan Zarak, deputy vice minister of the economy, said foreign direct investment has nearly tripled since 2009. And he boasted that Panama has done that without oil and without any single sector accounting for more than 20 percent of the economy.

The canal is just part of a formidable infrastructure spending program here.

Panama is adding a second metro line at a cost of $2 billion and is planning a third. It built a new bridge over the canal that will have six lanes for cars and two for a metro monorail. It is doubling the size of its airport. It is exploring a port for its Pacific coast. It is adding a third electric transmission line. And it is sinking $450 million into urban renewal of poor sections of Colon on the north side of the canal.

Nevertheless, the canal project did not go off without hitches. The European consortium expanding the waterway demanded more money as costs soared, but arbitration went largely in favor of Panamas canal authority. Visible leaks in the cement walls at the locks also prompted major repairs.

We knew from the beginning that it was going to be a difficult project, Zarak said. When you build a house, you have problems.

Others worry about the ability of the nearly 300 canal pilots to safely guide the new giant ships through the snug locks and channels. The height of the bigger container ships  capable of carrying 14,000 containers, more than double previous maximums  could leave them susceptible to wind gusts. Underwater currents can vary with the size of a ship.

Since there is no other canal like it, safety experts recreated the canal at a scale of 1 to 25, with miniature ships. In a small pond and channel dug at a cost of $8 million, pilots ride in motorboat-size barges fabricated in France, nudged by tugboats small enough to fit into a shopping cart.

To handle a small ship is more of a challenge, said Capt. Fernando Jaen, a Panama Canal pilot trainer.

Even so, the canal authority did a practice run before the official opening. On June 11, the bulk carrier Baroque eased through the new lock on the Atlantic side.

The expansion of the canal has also strained supplies of fresh water, which the canal needs to run the locks. Gatun Lake provides water to the canal and drinking water to much of the country.

The canal builders came up with an elegant, though partial, solution. They built three water basins that exchange water with the locks, thus reusing up to 60 percent of the water in the new locks. But the locks are still an added load.

Then there is the matter of the Chinese. A Chinese billionaire, Wang Jing, who made money in financial consulting and telecommunications, has proposed carving a canal through Nicaragua. Hes hardly the first. People have been toying with similar plans for at least 200 years. The cost of that project has been estimated as high as $50 billion. And while that might not be a wise investment, it would create stiff and nearby competition for Panama.

The Panama Canal occupies a special place in the American imagination. President Ulysses S. Grant sent a 100-person scouting party, which recommended against it. A 20-year French effort, led by the engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, was abandoned after thousands of workers were stricken with yellow fever, malaria and dysentery.

President Theodore Roosevelt launched construction again, and the canal opened Aug. 15, 1914. The United States took control of the canal zone, 10 miles wide. In a 1977 treaty signed by President Carter, the United States turned over sovereignty to Panama under a long-term lease that ended in 1999.

Panama is now hoping to give the canal another lease on life.

Read more

For U.S. tax cheats, Panama Papers reveal a perilous new world

How Panama ended up in the middle of a financial scandal

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Texas police shot and killed a woman Friday after they said she shot and killed her daughters and then refused to drop her weapon.



Authorities say Christy Sheats, 42, was found armed in the street outside a Fort Bend County home Friday afternoon, near the bodies of her daughters Madison, 17, and Taylor Sheats, 22.



One of Sheats' daughters was pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said; the other was hospitalized but later died from her injuries. It was not immediately clear which daughter died at the scene.



Authorities first responded to the scene about 5 p.m. local time, following calls of shots fired in the area.



"After refusing to drop her weapon," Sheats was shot and killed by a Fulshear city police officer who was assisting, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.



Sheats' husband, the girls' father, was at the home at the time of the shooting and ran for help, police told KHOU.



A handgun was recovered from the scene, police told the station.



 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.



"It would be too premature to give you a motive as to why something like this took place," Sheriff Troy Nehls told KTRK. "The best we can to pray for the father and husband so he can work through this."



Nehls said deputies had been to the home before, but was unable to say why, according to KTRK.



Fulshear police confirmed their officer's involvement in a statement on Facebook: "Our officer was forced to take action. He was not injured and no deputies were injured. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved."



The department later wrote, "This was a tragic and unfortunate occurrence and we are deeply saddened by the results."



A Fulshear police representative told PEOPLE he did not have information on how the department will handle the officer involved in the shooting, and he said no such information would be released going forward. Fort Bend County Sheriff's representatives did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.



The neighborhood is reportedly still reeling from the shooting  and what it means about the Sheats family.



"Those parents are good. They are hard-working," one neighbor told KTRK. "Very good family. I do not know how this happened. So I cannot believe that."



Neighbor Austin Enke, who said he had attended school with one of the daughters, told KHOU: "It's crazy. The neighborhood has never seen this kind of thing before. It's always quiet. This is surprising. They never showed any kind of thing that was wrong with them whatsoever."
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f12743%2fb4e70076c5c34d578d96549ab5777c4c

In cities around the world, members of the LGBTQ community gathered for annual Pride marches to celebrate progress and demand further action in pursuit of equality.

The marches on June 25 and 26 capped off the final weekend of Pride Month.

SEE ALSO: 6 ways to be a better straight ally at Pride events

June has been a particularly difficult time for the LGBTQ community on June 12, a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando left 49 people dead. Many marched on Saturday and Sunday in solidarity with the survivors and victims of the shooting.

See how marchers around the world came out in celebration and support of LGBTQ pride in the photos below:

Click here to view this gallery
Tunisia held a minute's silence Sunday marking one year since a seaside attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group that killed 38 tourists including 30 Britons in the North African country.

Tunisia's Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik and British Foreign Office official Tobias Ellwood laid down flowers to remember the victims of the shooting in the town of Port El Kantaoui south of the capital.

A priest then called out the names of the victims under the watchful eye of security forces, who were out in high numbers for the occasion.

Hotel employees as well as diplomats from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Russia -- whose countries also lost victims in the attack -- also attended the ceremony.

Tourists fled in horror on June 26 last year, as a Tunisian gunman pulled a Kalashnikov rifle from inside a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel near the city of Sousse.

Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of militant violence since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The beach bloodbath was the second of two deadly militant attacks that dealt heavy blows to the country's vital tourism sector last year, following four years of decline due to political instability.

The shooting came just months after 21 tourists and a policeman were killed in another attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. Both were claimed by IS.

In November, a suicide bombing in the capital -- also claimed by the militant group -- killed 12 members of the presidential guard.

The authorities implemented a state of emergency, which remains in place after it was extended for the fourth time on Monday.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f127236%2fsweepee-rambo

The judges have spoken: Sweepee Rambo, a Chinese crested chihuahua, is the world's ugliest dog.

In this case, that's a compliment.

The hairless pooch took home the top prize at the 2016 World's Ugliest Dog Competition, held on Saturday in Petaluma, California.

Image: josh edelson

In her competition bio, Sweepee's owner, Jason Wurtz, writes that she's accompanied him to work each morning for the last 15 years. She placed second in last year's competition.

Seventeen dogs came to Petaluma to try their paws at the top spot. Though the Chinese crested reigned supreme, the competition also featured a few other breeds, including a Chinese pug and a miniature wire-haired dachshund. The California town has hosted the event for more than 50 years.

This year's second and third place prizes went to Josie, a Chinese crested mix, and Rue, a Chinese crested, respectively.

Image: josh edelson/getty images

Image: Justin sullivan/getty images

Of course, every pup is a winner at the World's Ugliest Dog competition.

Image: Josh edelson/getty images

Image: justin sullivan/getty images

Image: Justin sullivan/getty images

BONUS: Dance the night away at Corgi Prom
Summer entertaining can be a bit of an undertaking--the grilling! The outdoor furniture! The cocktails!--but it doesn't have to be a traumatic experience. In fact, it should be just as fun for you, the host, as it is for all of your guests. To help cut down on prep time, consider making these three, simple no-cook appetizers, which just happen to be the go-to recipes of some InStyle staffers. The best part about of each of these how-tos is that you won't have to turn on your oven, which means no unfortunate pre-party sweat.

In the video above, InStyle's Life & Home editors Joanna Bober and Anne Vorassi demonstrate how to make Tomato Basil Bruschetta, which originally appeared on foodnetwork.com; Prosciutto-Wrapped Breadsticks, which were featured in the October 2011 issue of InStyle; and Pea and Green Herb Hummus, a recipe from A Modern Way to Eat ($29; amazon.com) by British chef Anna Jones. Take a look at the full recipes below, and then watch our demo for the full tutorial and tips from the editors.

RELATED: These Red Velvet Ice Cream Sandwiches Are What Fourth of July Dreams Are Made Of

Tomato Basil Bruschetta

Ingredients

2 red ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

4 basil leaves, cut into chiffonade

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

4 1-inch slices Italian peasant bread, grilled (crackers)

Directions

For each respective variation, combine all ingredients (except bread), seasoning each batch with salt and pepper, to taste. Spoon some of the mixture onto the bread, drizzle with high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

RELATED: Everything You Need to Host an Epic Fourth of July Party

Prosciutto-Wrapped Breadsticks

This recipe originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of InStyle

Ingredients

Breadsticks

1/2 tsp truffle salt

1 stick of butter

Directions

Mix one stick butter with 1/4 tsp truffle salt. Break each bread stick in half; smear 1 tsp truffle butter on last 2 inches of broken end of each breadstick. Rip a slice of prosciutto in half; drape loosely around end of breadstick, over truffle butter. Repeat. Running short on time? Skip the truffle butter, lay slices of prosciutto on a wooden cutting board, and pop the breadsticks into a glass.

Story continues

RELATED: Yes You Can Make a Healthy Strawberry Shortcake -- Here's How

Pea and Green Herb Hummus

Ingredients

10 1/2 oz frozen peas

A small bunch of fresh mint

A small bunch of fresh basil

2 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil

Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the peas in a bowl and cover them with hot water. Let sit for a minute, then drain. Put them into a food processor with everything else and blend until you have a bright green paste (a hand blender works well too), then taste and season with more salt and pepper or lemon if needed.
The most wonderful time of the year, the hap-happiest season of all, etc...  Shark Week 2016  kicks off Sunday.

Discovery Channel's annual weeklong special dedicated to one of television and film's most famous sea creatures will include its typical offerings of educational segments, man-in-cage-plunged-into-depths-with-deadly-sharks spectacles, shark attack porn and sensational "documentaries" masquerading as fact. (2013's Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, for example, was pure myth.)

Here are five Shark Week features not to miss:

Tiger Beach

8 p.m. EST on Sunday

Neil Hammerschlag, who Discovery Channel calls the "world's leading tiger shark expert," will answer three big questions about how tiger sharks mate, gestate and give birth based on his work studying the habits of the hers that congregate off the Bahamian coasts.

Called Tiger Beach, the stretch of shallow water was recently host to a feeding frenzy of tiger sharks tearing apart a dead whale, which, of course, high-flying drones managed to capture on video.

A taste, if you will, of what's to come:

Shallow Water Invasion

8 p.m. EST on Monday

Two marine biologists explore why great white sharks have begun to frequent shallower waters recently. Is it to make friends? Eat us? Convince us, as Blake Lively's upcoming film The Shallows seems to suggest, that our deepest darkest Jaws-inspired fears were well placed?

Good news: biologists Mauricio Hoyos and Grant Johnson say it's "normal behavior." They'll break out a self-propelled shark cage (!!) and maybe quell your anxiety about hitting the beach this summer.

Maybe.

Sharks Among Us

10 p.m. EST on Monday

This segment examines the responses to spikes in "shark encounters," which typically result in shark culls. Dr. Craig O'Connell sets out to prove sharks and humans can get along just fine, without anyone dying, which is jolly good news for us and the sharks.

Story continues

We're all ears.

Sharks vs. Dolphins: Face Off

10 p.m. EST on Wednesday

It's a classic good vs. evil plot: Dolphins save people, save dogs and are smart enough to make cute faces at themselves in a mirror. Sharks eat them.

In this Shark Week special, Dr. Mike Heithaus takes a close look at the antagonistic relationship between these creatures.

Always root for the underdog:

Blue Serengeti

10 p.m. July 1

Marine biologist Barbara Block brings you never-before-seen (in high res) views of the depths of California's coasts using new camera and tracking technologies to study the region's white sharks.

Discovery Channel promises a window into the "vast, rich, and hidden world" Block calls the Blue Serengeti.

Last but not least, heed the sage advice of Tracy Morgan's character on 30 Rock: Live every week like it's shark week.
50 Cent was reportedly arrested during his Saturday night (June 25) concert on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts for using profanity on stage, a violation of the nation's law.

DMX Arrested For Using Profanity

The rapper was booked for saying the word "motherf---er" in front of 40,000 people during his hit song "P.I.M.P.," TMZ reports. 50 Cent's DJ reportedly didn't have a clean version of the 2003 single and the rapper refrained from pulling away the microphone when using the curse word.

#50cent #PIMP #stkitts #stkittsmusicvestifle

A video posted by Samantha Stowe (@yayysamm) on Jun 26, 2016 at 12:17am PDT

After the performance, officials took the rapper to the police station and booked him for using profanity in public. A representative for 50 Cent tells Billboard that he went to court Sunday morning, paid a fine and the matter is now settled. He is now en route home.

50 Cent & Dr. Dre Reportedly Sued Over 'P.I.M.P.'

"Mr. Jackson was only booked to host the show. When he arrived at the festival organizers asked him to perform, he obliged and used the DJ they had there. Unfortunately, they didn't have the clean version to his tracks, so there were profanities used during his performance," the rep confirms. "The show was a great success and he will make sure for future trips to St. Kitts that he leaves the "motherf-----s" in the United States."

In 2003, authorities also arrested DMX for using profanity during a concert on St. Kitts. The rapper performed before a crowd of about 3,000 at St. Kitts' annual music festival. Organizers said they warned DMX he would not be allowed to use obscenities on stage, which is a misdemeanor in this former British colony.

"There was a contract signed in which it was made very clear long before the arrival of the artists that there are laws in St. Kitts that do not take kindly to the use of indecent language on stage," information minister Jacinth Henry Martin said at the time.

DMX, however, said he signed no such contract, and he would not have performed if he had been forced to censor his language.
50 Cent was reportedly arrested Saturday following a performance on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts after cursing onstage, which is prohibited by the nation's law. The rapper was booked on charges of profanity after dropping a "motherfuckin'" while performing his hit "P.I.M.P.," TMZ reports.

7 Ways Donald Trump and 50 Cent Are the Same Person

The site added that 50 Cent's DJ forgot to play a censored version of the 2003 single at the St. Kitts Music Festival, but when the F-bombs were broadcast over the speakers, the rapper still muttered the profanities instead of sidestepping them. That was enough for authorities to charge 50 Cent with using explicit language in public.

The rapper's representatives did not respond Rolling Stone's request for comment.

Had 50 Cent brushed up on his Eastern Caribbean Law prior to the St. Kitts performance, he would have read that cursing in public is illegal in the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2003, rapper DMX was also arrested for cursing during a concert in the Caribbean country.

"There was a contract signed in which it was made very clear long before the arrival of the artists that there are laws in St. Kitts that do not take kindly to the use of indecent language on stage," Information Minister Jacinth Henry Martin said at the time of DMX's arrest. The rapper denied signing any contract that warned that explicit language was prohibited.

In the 50 Cent case, like in the DMX incident, it's expected the rapper will pay a small bail  DMX was forced to pay $376  before being released. However, 50 Cent must wait until Monday, when the St. Kitts court is in session, to face the profanity charge.

50 Cent has not commented on the arrest on social media, although he has spent the past few days promoting his vodka and disparaging Puff Daddy.

#50cent #PIMP #stkitts #stkittsmusicvestifle

A video posted by Samantha Stowe (@yayysamm) on Jun 26, 2016 at 12:17am PDT

Related
Watch your tongue, young man! 50 Cent was arrested for swearing during a concert on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts on Saturday, June 25, after dropping a motherfkin during a performance of his hit P.I.M.P.

According to TMZ, the 40-year-old rapper was originally set to host the show at the St. Kitts Music Festival, and so was unprepared with a clean version of his 2003 track.



PHOTOS: Stars at Court

Hence, he let loose with the profanities in front of 40,000 audience members, rapping along to the song, and was promptly booked after the show. Profanity in public is against the law in St. Kitts.



PHOTOS: Shirtless Hunks: Hot Celebs and Their Insane Physiques

[Curtis "50 Cent"] Jackson was only booked to host the show, when he arrived at the festival organizers asked him to perform, he obliged and used the DJ they had there," the rapper's rep said in a statement. "Unfortunately, they didn't have the clean version to his tracks, so there were profanities used during his performance. The show was a great success and he will make sure for future trips to St. Kitts that he leaves the 'motherfks in the United States."

PHOTOS: Celebrity Mugshots

50 Cent isnt the only rapper whos gotten in trouble with the law because of cursing, however. In 2003, DMX was also arrested for using some unsavory words on stage at a concert in St. Kitts.






50 Cent was arrested at the St. Kitts Music Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

50 Cents trip to St. Kitts wasnt your typical celebrity getaway. The In da Club rapper found himself in da courthouse after getting arrested for using indecent language, which is prohibited by law, during a performance on Saturday night.

The 40-year-old performer (real name: Curtis Jackson) headlined the St. Kitts Music Festival. While performing P.I.M.P., 50  who had been warned not to use profanity, according to TMZ  sang the word motherf***** several times in front of 40,000 concertgoers. He was formally arrested and charged for the offense of making use of indecent language during his performance, according to the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.

While the Power star initially had to surrender his travel documents ahead of a court appearance on Monday, according to police, his rep tells Yahoo that the issue is already resolved  and hes headed back to the U.S.

Mr. Jackson was only booked to host the show, explained his spokeswoman, Amanda Ruisi. When he arrived at the festival, organizers asked him to perform, he obliged, and used the DJ they had there. Unfortunately, they didnt have the clean version to his tracks, so there were profanities used during his performance. The show was a great success, and he will make sure for future trips to St. Kitts that he leaves the motherf*****s in the United States.

She added, He went to court today and paid a fine and is on his way home.

50 Cent, who has had several serious run-ins with the law in his life, isnt the first performer to be arrested for using bad words on the island. In 2003, DMX was arrested for using profanity at the same music fest.
Theres been one recurring comment appearing in the reviews for AMCs Preacher, currently showing in the UK through Amazons Instant Video - that Joseph Gilgun is an example of perfect casting for his portrayal of Cassidy.

This will come as no surprise to anybody familiar with Gilguns work - very rarely can an actor show such great range in their work. Whether his character is angry, emotional, sick, timid or downright psychotic, Gilgun will undoubtedly completely captivate the viewer.

The great recognition of Gilguns work is surely set to continue as he makes his mark in America. Heres why he is one to watch:

1. He was one of the main reasons Misfits was successful after Robert Sheehans departure

While many argued that Misfits wasnt the same once Robert Sheehan left, Joe Gilgun managed to intrigue the audience in a different way with his multi-faceted character, Rudy.

The character could be just as rude as Sheehans Nathan but Rudy had a little more emotional depth and honesty.

Arguably, the audiences intrigue and interest in his character breathed new life into the show and kept the series going when even more new cast members were introduced.

2. Hes one of the few actors who has managed to play multiple characters on the same show, where you felt like you were watching different actors

It happens very rarely, but Gilgun portrayed three versions of Rudy in Misfits and managed to make you forget they were all played by the same actor, even though they looked exactly the same.

The intensity of all of the different characters proved that Gilgun crafted the stories and different personalities of each version he played.

3. His range on This Is England was incredible

Seeing Gilgun portray Woody in the This Is England movie and all three TV spin-offs was a true delight as we got to see so many dimensions and emotions of a character that we had quickly grown to love.

Having formed such a bond with the rest of the cast, This Is England 88 particularly showed his incredible acting skills as his character, Woody, had left the rest of the group and struggled to continue with life following the betrayal of his nearest and dearest.

Story continues

4. Hes the kind of person we all want to be friends with

Watch or read any interview with Joseph and you will realise he is the kind of person who you would love to have a pint with down the pub. His humility comes across in every discussion and it quickly becomes apparent that he knows a hell of a lot about his craft.

5. He captured our hearts in Pride

In a cast full of such big names and characters, Gilgun portrayed Mike Jackson with such heart. The real-life Mike Jackson, who was involved with the making of the film, only had praise for Gilgun throughout the filming process and for the his portrayal in the film.

6. He terrified us in Lockout

While we fell in love with Gilgun in Misfits, This is England and Pride, he terrified us in his role as Hydell in Lockout, which also featured Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace. Hydell was completely psychotic and Gilgun completely stole the movie for his intense portrayal.

7. His humour off-screen

Whether hes talking about his inability to find a girlfriend, bravely joking about his anxieties or discussing how he struggles to find where his character end and he begins, Gilgun always seems to be light, chipper and honest in his endearing interviews.

8. Theres no sign that hes slowing down

As well as continuing to blow our minds in Preacher, Joseph will next been seen in The Infiltrator alongside Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo and Diane Kruger. He is also due to start production on Six More Sleeps which will also feature Janet Montgomery.


Its fair to say that the fourth season of Orange is The New Black righted the wrongs that left some viewers feeling a little less satisfied after watching season three.

If youve not finished season four yet, stop reading this and go and binge-watch it right now. You wont regret it. Otherwise, be prepared for *SPOILERS*.

In season four Orange is The New Black wasnt so much the Piper show as background characters were brought to the forefront and lesser known characters got to shine.

While it was a shame that some favourites, like Daya and Sophia, were not as prominent, it was great to learn more about the likes of Maria, Judy and Bayley.

The show was funny, scary, gut-wrenching and, as always, heartbreaking. The events of the final two episodes have set us up for a very dramatic, and different, season five.

With that in mind, what do we want to see when Orange Is The New Black returns? Here are a few of my thoughts. Share yours in the comments section.

A cameo by Samira Wiley



Lets start with the obvious and get it out of the way. The death of Poussey was, by far, the most heartbreaking, upsetting and traumatising moment of the show so far.

To see a character who had grown to be so happy, who was looking forward to and planning her next steps after prison, die in such a traumatic yet simplistic way was almost too much to handle.

While Samira Wiley has stated that she will be heading into movies now its hard to imagine Litchfield without Poussey. It would be amazing to see her pop up in a flashback of some kind, although thats likely to be wishful thinking.

Bayley

The prison inmates may never want to see him again but, lets face it, despite what happened with Bayley and Poussey, he is potentially the nicest staff member at Litchfield and Pousseys death was the result of a tragic accident, there was no malice on Bayleys part at all.

With Caputo saying that Bayley will return to the prison after a short leave of absence, how will the girls react upon seeing him again and will he be able to live with the consequences of his negligence?

Story continues

Daya making the right decisions

Daya is one of my favourite Orange is the New Black characters. With her mum out of prison and John still AWOL, as she is left holding a gun aimed towards sadistic Humphrey, will she make a decision that could see her staying in prison for the rest of her life?

My hope is that, despite her claims that she will seek vengeance on Humphrey, one of the other characters will step in and stop Daya taking her first steps down a very dark path.

Maria and Piper sharing a scene

The race rows in Litchfield became difficult to watch at times throughout season four. As Maria, who was previously not a prominent character, became somewhat of a leader for the Dominicans there was a great rivalry between herself and Piper as Maria began her own underwear business in competition with Pipers.

After Piper told Piscatella what Maria was up to, Marias sentence was extended and, as retaliation Maria branded Piper with the swastika.

Understandably, Piper was traumatised after the incident and we have yet to see the pair have a discussion following the incident.

A happy ending for Lolly



It was horrible watching Lolly go to the Psych ward after confessing to the murder of Aydin. Hopefully, now that she has been separated from the rest of the inmates we will not see any less of her.

It will also be interesting to see how Alex reacts to the guilt of knowing that Lolly did not actually murder Aydin and whether she will take any steps to get Lolly out of Psych.

More Maritza and Flaca

Even though they had their fair share of traumatic moments this season (let us never discuss the mouse incident ever again), Maritza and Flaca provide the light relief that is all too often needed in Orange is the New Black.

As the press are likely to want to talk to Litchfield inmates, lets see if they manage to get in front of the cameras as planned.

Humphreys Comeuppance

I dont even know where to begin when talking about Humphrey. Remember when we thought Pornstache was bad? He was a saint compared to the sadistic, immoral and disgusting new guard.

His treatment of the inmates, particularly Maritza and Suzanne, was truly evil this season and it would be great to see him take responsibility for his sickening actions in season 5.

The question is, will he make it past the first episode of season 5 if the inmates have their way?

Piscatella vs Caputo

Now that Caputo has caught on to the fact that Piscatella and his staff might not be as good as he was led to believe, who will end up taking control of Litchfield?

We know that Piscatella isnt concerned about going behind Caputos back, so will he push for more authority?

More Sophia

Sophia obviously struggled with life down in the SHU but, now thats shes back in minimum security along with her friends, she seems to be slowly returning to her old self.

Sophia is such a great character and Laverne Cox is amazing, so it would be great to see more of Sophia in season five as, in my opinion, with her limited appearances this season, she was sincerely missed.
MELILLA, Spain (Reuters) - About 30 people forced their way into Spain's North African enclave of Melilla on Sunday, a local government official said, one of few successful attempts to storm the border so far this year following increased patrols and security. Spain has two enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla, and migrants from all over Africa regularly try to reach them, by climbing the triple barriers that separate them from Morocco or swimming along the coastline. After thousands of migrants crossed from Africa to the enclave in 2014 and 2015, Spain last year stepped up security at the Melilla border. Although there is no official data, just a few dozen are believed to have made it so far in 2016. The migrants chanted "victory, victory" as they arrived at the short-stay immigrant center, where they usually stop for a few weeks before they seek to reach continental Spain and either stay there or travel throughout Europe. (Reporting by Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda, writing by Julien Toyer; Editing by Digby Lidstone)
The entire process leading up to last weeks vote by the citizens of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union was an extended exercise in bluff calling that doesnt appear likely to end anytime soon.

It began with a revolt among members of Prime Minister David Camerons fellow Conservatives -- a minority of the parliament as a whole, who pressed the case for a Brexit and threatened his job unless he acquiesced. To the surprise of many, Cameron did, forcing the Leave faction within his party to go all-in supporting a cause that he appeared to believe was doomed to fail.

Related: Meet Boris Johnson -- the Man Who Led the Brexit and May Lead the UK

Cameron was trying to send a message: The British people dont actually support the Brexit option, so Conservatives would be silenced when they proved it in a referendum. That massive political miscalculation resulted in a 52 percent to 48 percent victory for the Leave party and cost Cameron his job.

However, media reports out of the UK in the days following the vote suggest that a similar dynamic was operating among many Leave voters -- like Cameron, they were trying to send a message. Theirs appears to have been one of frustration with government elites, the changing face of the UK due to immigration, and European bureaucracy. But, also like Cameron, they never expected the Leave vote to actually succeed. There has been no polling yet, but it appears possible that a significant percentage of Leave voters woke up Friday morning regretting how they cast their vote.

Over the weekend, a government website crashed under the weight of people signing an online petition to reconsider the Leave vote. As of this writing, more than 3 million Britons have signed the petition.

The next step in the move to separate the UK from the EU is for the British government to give the EU formal notice under the Unions Article 50 that the country has decided to secede. It can take the form of a letter or speech, but it must be explicit and it must emanate from the British government itself. There is no mechanism for the EU to compel the UK to give Article 50 notice.

Story continues

Related: What the Brexit Vote Means for the US Economy

And crucially, there is no formal requirement that the British government do so -- now or ever, despite the results of the referendum. It was an advisory rather than a mandatory decision, meaning that Cameron or his successor could, in perfect legality, ignore it.

Now, its Europeans turn to call the bluff of the Brits, and some wasted no time issuing calls for a rapid Article 50 declaration. It was rather like an annoyed adult looking at a child who has threatened to hold his breath until he gets what he wants, and saying, Okay. Do it.

This process should get under way as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe, said Germanys Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Apart from the British publics reaction, there is good reason for many in Europe to believe that the UKs leaders never really expected to leave the EU -- even in the event the Leave vote succeeded. Thats in no small part because former London Mayor Boris Johnson, the public face of the Brexit campaign and a possible successor to Cameron, all but said so earlier this year in an article published in the Telegraph newspaper.

Related: Clinton Assumes Role of Anti-Trump After Brexit Win

There is only one way to get the change we need, and that is to vote to go, because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says No, he wrote. The fundamental problem remains: that they have an ideal that we do not share. They want to create a truly federal union, e pluribus unum, when most British people do not.

It is time to seek a new relationship, in which we manage to extricate ourselves from most of the supranational elements.

A new relationship, in which Britain is freed from most supranational elements sounds to many European leaders very much like a plan to continue enjoying many of the benefits of the EU -- like free trade -- while providing the British people with special benefits that other counties in the Union do not have, such as strict control over immigration.

Johnson on Friday quickly went before the television cameras to remind the British people -- and the world -- that there is no requirement that Article 50 notification take place immediately, and specifically warned against acting in haste.

Related: Brexit Wins -- Is President Trump Next?

As the process creeps forward, the next question to be answered is whether or not EU authorities will be willing to start negotiations with the British outside the process laid out within the EU charter, or will require a firm Article 50 notice first. The latter sets a two-year clock in motion, during which the UK will no longer be allowed to participate in joint EU decision making.

The stakes are great for both sides. If EU leaders are seen as accommodating Britain in an effort at appeasement, the fear is that other member countries will view a Leave referendum as the first step in renegotiating their status within the Union. For the British, the terms on which they begin discussions with officials in Brussels will be a strong signal about just how isolated the UK will be from the continent in the years ahead.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
The New York Times

HOUSTON  Tony Earls hung his head before a row of television cameras, staring down, his life upended. Days before, Earls had pulled out his handgun and opened fire, hoping to strike a man who had just robbed him and his wife at an ATM in Houston. Instead, he struck Arlene Alvarez, a 9-year-old girl seated in a passing pickup, killing her. Is Mr. Earls licensed to carry? a reporter asked during the February news conference, in which his lawyer spoke for him. Sign up for The Morning newsletter
By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's oil and gas output is moving back to growth after years of stagnation, helped in part by increased production at the North African OPEC member's existing fields, state energy company Sonatrach said on Sunday. The North African country has struggled to draw in foreign energy companies to help it to explore new fields, its efforts undermined low global oil prices and last year's near-50 percent drop in energy revenue that accounts for more than 60 percent of the Algeria's budget. Oil output will reach 69 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016, against 67 million tonnes last year, while gas production will rise to 132.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) from 128.3 bcm in 2015 and 130.9 bcm in 2014, a Sonatrach report showed. "The era of stagnation is behind us and we are now in a phase of growth," Sonatrach chief Amine Mazouzi told reporters on Sunday. A drop in European gas demand has dented Algerian exports that have also been squeezed by a combination of slowing production at mature fields, low investment and Algeria's own rapidly increasing need for gas to generate power. Sonatrach, however, has invested to stabilise and increase production at its large, mature fields and expects to bring five new gas fields online in the south of the country over the next few years. Gas output is expected to reach 141.3 bcm in 2017, 143.9 bcm in 2018, 150 bcm in 2019 and 165 bcm in 2020, according to a Sonatrach document. Oil output will reach 75 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2017, 75 million tonnes in 2018, 77 million tonnes in 2019 and 82 million tonnes in 2020, the document showed. Energy companies and Algerian and European Union officials held a summit last month to explore ways Algeria can adapt to more competitive markets and attract the investment needed to pump more gas. Italy's Eni almost doubled its imports of gas from Algeria to 11.5 bcm in 2015, compared with only 6 bcm in 2014, Sonatrach said. About 30 international companies are present in Algeria's oil and gas market, including Eni, Anadarko, BP, Cepsa, Shell, Statoil and Sinopec. Two previous bidding rounds for oil and gas fields failed to attract a lot of interest. But Sonatrach has said it will start direct bilateral talks with companies in an effort to jumpstart investment. (Editing by Patrick Markey and David Goodman)


Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Ariel Winter, aka one of our favorite human beings, will not have any of your body-shaming, #thankyouverymuch. The actress who has been an advocate for body positivity fired back at Internet trolls who criticized the dress she chose to wear to her high school graduation party. Naturally, the Modern Family star's response was not only classy, but also very inspiring.

In a series of Twitter messages, she made it clear that she will not let anyone bring her down, and at the end of the day, it's her body and she will dress it as she pleases. Preach.

RELATED: Ariel Winter Reveals New Hip Tattoo in Sexy Bodysuit-Clad Instagram

"Embrace all that you are. Don't let those outside voices become your inner voice," Winter wrote.

And to those who body-shame her, she had the perfect message: "Please, get a hobby."

#SLAY

The Modern Family actress shared an empowering quote from about not losing yourself in fake Facebook statuses or people's online comments.

Winter's latest body positive tweet is so simple yet has such a powerful message: embrace yourself.

Isn't that the truth.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday for murdering a teenage girl at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem last year, an attack he carried out just weeks after serving a jail term for a similar attack a decade earlier. Yishai Schlissel said during his trial in a Jerusalem court that he had been doing God's will by killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding five other participants at the July 2015 event. At a gay pride parade in Jerusalem in 2005, Schlissel stabbed three people, all of whom survived. In 2007, he was sentenced to 12 years and subsequently released early, in June 2015, with the customary time off for good behavior. Following his release from prison before last year's march, police were instructed to be on the lookout for Schlissel and bar him from the event. Seven police officers were reassigned and four formally reprimanded for failing to do so. In addition to his life sentence, the court tagged an additional 30 years onto his term for attempted murder, a Justice Ministry statement said. The Jerusalem parade has long been a focus of tension between Israel's predominantly secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, who object to public displays of homosexuality. (Writing by Jad Sleiman; Editing by Jeffrey Heller, Larry King)
By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - One of Australia's poorest states is emerging as an unlikely key battleground in July 2 elections that could hand the balance of power to a folksy independent senator and threaten the government's economic agenda. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dissolved both houses of Parliament in May, blaming intransigent independents in the upper house Senate for stymieing his agenda, but the election campaign has thrown up a political firebrand. The growing appeal of Nick Xenophon, a senator from South Australia, which is battling high unemployment despite being home to the naval shipbuilding industry, is forcing Turnbull to divert much needed resources to protect previously safe seats. "This is a federal election like no other," South Australia Liberal Senator Sean Edwards told Reuters. "For the first time in modern political history we're faced with a three-way contest, which we take very seriously." Xenophon, whose party named for himself is fielding almost 50 candidates in the election, could emerge as kingmaker in a hung parliament. That scenario looks increasingly likely, as opinion polls put Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition government neck and neck with opposition Labor. Online bookmaker Sportsbet has increased its chances of a hung parliament from A$5 to A$4. Xenophon told Reuters any common ground he found with Turnbull's economic agenda must include his election plank of adding manufacturing jobs. "Right now we need to deal with the existential threat posed by the collapse of manufacturing in this country, and they don't get it. They just can't get it through their heads." Xenophon has built his position by exploiting widespread political fury sparked by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott's 2014 decision to buy a A$50 billion ($37.27 billion) fleet of 12 submarines from Japan. That decision shattered a promise Abbott had made to build the vessels in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and Xenophon relentlessly pushed the government to open up the process and hold a tender. France's DCNS emerged the winner, beating out Japan and Germany, but not before the badly weakened Abbott had been ousted in a party coup. Turnbull has pledged almost A$90 billion in naval contracts but South Australia's ten lower house and six senate seats are very much up for grabs, forcing the diversion of key resources from traditional battlegrounds like Western Sydney. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING It will take a decade for jobs to materialize from the naval contracts, and with nearly 60,000 South Australians now out of work, Xenophon lures away voters by talking about the reality of their struggles, said Greens Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. "They know the submarines aren't the silver bullet to the jobs crisis," she said. "They want to see the positive vision being displayed by the other players, the Greens and Nick Xenophon, rather than reverting back to the devil they know." With June unemployment running at 6.9 percent, a full point above the national average, South Australia's economy illustrates how hard it is to shift away from resource extraction to services and high-tech manufacturing. Chinese demand for high-quality iron ore and coal fueled more than a decade of unparalleled economic growth for Australia, but now, faced with record low commodity prices, it has to change tack quickly. But Australia has seen kingmakers crumble before. In 2013 mining magnate Clive Palmer's Palmer United Party won three senate seats and briefly held the balance of power, before imploding spectacularly. "We're a known quantity," said South Australian Labor Party Senator Anne McEwen, the opposition Senate Whip, urging voters not to succumb to the temptation to vote for parties centered on individuals. "These personality-based political parties, like the Xenophon one, you don't know what you're getting. A political party based around a personality is not going to be particularly stable." Xenophon said he was counting no chickens, however. "A lot of politicians suffer from premature exultation," he said. "I'm not one of them." (Additional reporting by Wane Cole in SYDNEY)
"I always knew this was what I was gonna do," says film and television actor Richard Dreyfuss as we sit down to record an episode of the 'Awards Chatter' podcast. The 68-year-old made his name with a string of terrific performances in great films of the 1970s: George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973), Ted Kotcheff's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Herbert Ross' The Goodbye Girl (1977). But the rest of his life and career - leading up to his most recent and acclaimed portrayal of Bernie Madoff in February's ABC miniseries Madoff, for which he is a strong contender for the Emmy for outstanding actor in a limited series or movie - has been something of a rollercoaster ride. "I realized, years later," he says, "that I was most comfortable on the hunt - not being a star, but trying to get to be a star." He adds, "I figured out, in retrospect, that I managed to lose it so I could regain it so I could lose it and then I could regain it."

Click above to listen to this episode now, or click here to access all of our episodes via iTunes. Past guests include Steven Spielberg, Amy Schumer, Louis C.K., Lady Gaga, Will Smith, Jennifer Lopez, Harvey Weinstein, Jane Fonda, Aziz Ansari, Brie Larson, J.J. Abrams, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, Kristen Stewart and Michael Moore.)

Over the course of our conversation, Dreyfuss talks about starting out in the business when he was still a kid - in TV guest spots ("I was pretty terrible") and bit film parts (including one in 1967's The Graduate, after auditioning to play the lead) - before landing in 28-year-old Lucas' American Graffiti, thanks, in part, to a casting director, whom he had shown kindness years earlier. Disappointed at not getting the lead in Catch-22, he was delighted to land the lead - for the first time - in the Canadian equivalent, Duddy Kravitz, which he regarded as "clearly the greatest role for a young actor in the world."

Story continues

Dreyfuss initially turned down Jaws, and didn't feel much better about it coming out of the six-month shoot "because the shark never worked, you know?" However, the film became one of the first blockbuster in Hollywood history, establishing the viability of wide releases, and Dreyfuss aggressively lobbied Spielberg to cast him in his next project, Close Encounters, which also proved a hit, despite being overshadowed a bit by another sci-fi film, Star Wars, which had opened six months earlier. But it was The Goodbye Girl that was Dreyfuss' favorite filmmaking experience, and the one for which the Hollywood community celebrated him: He became the youngest person ever to win the best actor Oscar, a distinction he held for the next 25 years.

Dreyfuss is the first to admit, though, that he did not wear the crown well. He descended into depression and addiction - he says he "spent those years being a low-down dirty dog and drugging myself into oblivion" - and his low-point came on Nov. 9, 1982, when, under the influence of drugs, he flipped his car, was arrested and was committed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. At the time, he says, he had a vision of a girl, who he later realized was the daughter his wife would give birth to a year later, and he has spent the ensuing 33-plus years trying his best to be a better man.

By the time Dreyfuss was ready to act again, his days at the top of the Hollywood food chain were over. But, as a first-rate character actor, he did standout work in Paul Mazursky's Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Barry Levinson's Tin Men (1987), Martin Ritt's Nuts (1987), Frank Oz's What About Bob? (1991), Rob Reiner's The American President (1995) and Stephen Herek's Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), for which he received another best actor Oscar nomination. And, even when he could have used the money, he refused to be a part of any sequel to Jaws because, he says, producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck declined to share any of their immense profits from the first one - "and so my name is manure at Universal, and I'm not kidding."

After being hired to star in a 2004 West End production of the musical The Producers despite insisting that he cannot sing or dance - and then being fired from it for that very reason - Dreyfuss decided that he'd had enough of acting. He instead devoted himself to study of American civics - he had never been to college because of his early success - and spent the next decade as an "autodidact," loving every minute of it. "I had no intention of coming back to work," he says. "I had the intention of taking my wife on river cruises. And then there was a family crisis problem and there was no money, and I had to go back to work because I literally did not know how to feed my family unless I was acting. And so I started all over again with one-day parts and two-day parts and stuff like that. And I made my way back to Madoff."

For his work in the ABC miniseries, which makes the "sociopathic son of a bitch" title character not just an embodiment of evil but a fascinating three-dimensional character, Dreyfuss has received rave reviews. He's frustrated with ABC for blocking the production from naming Madoff's co-conspirators - "They actually told us we couldn't name the banks or the financial institutions that had already been named as culpable," he says with disbelief - and from not showing Madoff even smoking a cigar, which Dreyfuss feels would have been far less disturbing than what Madoff and associates did to others. "The financial industry is at the top of the list of those who either will burn in hell or be responsible for the end of this nation," he vents.

Does Madoff mark a full-fledged return to acting for Dreyfuss? "I have to act - I have to do the thing I love - because I have to feed my family," he says (while noting that he's also writing an American civics book with several historians and the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden). But, despite his frustrations with the network, Dreyfuss clearly relished the opportunity to play a big, meaty, leading role once again, to say nothing of the applause that has come with knocking it out of the park.
Donald Trumps controversial accusations against the Muslim community have only increased since the deadly mass shooting at Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month. He even went as far as to accept congratulations via social media for being right about radical Islamic terrorism. In an op-ed piece for The New York Times, actor and comedian Aziz Ansari chose to speak about how Trumps rhetoric promotes violence against Muslim Americans and perpetuates ignorant stereotypes.

Today, with presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and others like him spewing hate speech, prejudice is reaching new levels, Ansari writes.  Its visceral, and scary, and it affects how people live, work and pray. It makes me afraid for my family. It also makes no sense.

The Parks And Recreation star went on to demonstrate how illogical Trumps statements are. Ansari points out that when a tragedy occurs at the hands of a white male, in such instances as school and movie theater shootings, no one suggests that white male freedoms be restricted.

Following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Trump made statements such as Muslim Americans know who the bad ones are and were dancing in the streets. Ansari says unfounded statements such as these imply that millions of innocent people are somehow complicit in awful attacks.

Ansari recalls 9/11 very well, and he says there was definitely no cheering. At the time he was in class at NYU and remembers that the building he was in was so close to the World Trade Center that he could feel the ground shake and his heart drop when the planes crashed. He, just like every other American, was trying to contact family, trying to navigate the chaos.

Ansari doesnt consider himself a religious man, but as a Muslim American man, as a brown man, he identifies with the feeling of having to prove his right to be just as scared by tragedies like what happened in Orlando as any other American. His skin color should not be a factor.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium arrested two people and charged them with "participating in activities of a terrorist group", federal prosecutors said on Saturday, part of wide-ranging investigations following the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels that have been claimed by Islamic State. The prosecution said in a statement police searched houses overnight in the towns of Verviers and Tournai. It identified the two arrested only as Arnaud C., born 1983, and E., a Belgian national. It gave no further details. The prosecution statement made no reference to either the Paris or Brussels attacks that killed in 130 in the French capital last November and more than 30 in Belgium in March, 2016. Last year, Belgium said it had dismantled an Islamic State cell in Verviers. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska. Editing by Jane Merriman)
By Noah Barkin and Andreas Rinke PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and France agree on one thing: that Europe must change following the shock of last week's Brexit referendum. But after years of economic and political crisis in Europe that have left deep scars in Berlin and Paris, there appears to be little agreement between the bloc's top two powers about what kind of change is needed and how fast it should come. That suggests that the Franco-German engine that has powered the EU for decades may struggle to deliver the change many European officials feel is necessary to win back the support of citizens, fight off a right-wing populist surge and avert a gradual disintegration of the bloc. Over the weekend, as Europe began digesting the prospect of an EU without Britain, a cacophony of conflicting signals were being sent out by politicians on either side of the Rhine, despite a joint paper by the German and French foreign ministers meant to minimise the differences and highlight common ground. The most obvious and immediate divide is over how to treat Britain in the immediate aftermath of the vote. At a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives south of Berlin, she and her aides made clear that they were ready to give Britain the time it needs to sort through its political mess before starting talks on the terms of a Brexit. Some officials in Berlin may even be hoping that the referendum could be reversed. Regardless, their priority is to prevent an acrimonious rupture with London. "Of course the EU has the means to pressure Britain but we shouldn't focus on that," one senior German official told Reuters. "They need the time to realise what they've done. There is no need for threats or pressure at the moment." French politicians from across the political spectrum are sending a different message. They have made clear in recent days that a quick divorce is necessary. Some are describing Brexit as an opportunity for France to reassert its leadership in the EU. "There can be no cat and mouse game," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said. DIVERGING PRIORITIES Beyond the question of how quickly Brexit talks should start, Germany and France remain deeply divided over how to reform Europe, beyond the notion that something must be done to remind sceptical populations of Europe's purpose. Merkel will meet with Hollande in Paris on Monday, along with European Council President Donald Tusk and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, to try to forge a common message before an EU summit on Tuesday and Wednesday. The ever-cautious Merkel told members of her conservative party at the weekend that she saw no need for a radical reinvention of the European Union in the wake of the Brexit vote. Instead, she said, Europe should take time to reflect and work patiently to address its flaws. For the Germans, there are two main priorities for Europe: agreeing a fair mechanism for distributing refugees across the bloc and pressing ahead with structural reforms in economically weak countries to improve long-term growth prospects. The French are in a different place. Unlike Merkel, who seems on track to win a fourth term next year, President Francois Hollande is politically weak and, if he runs at all, seems unlikely to make it into the second round of the French election next spring. His government faces a major challenge from the far-right National Front. It is battling protests against its labour market reforms. And the country remains in a state of emergency following attacks by Islamic militants last November which killed 130 people in Paris. "The Franco-German couple no longer exists as far as I'm concerned, not because of who is in power, but because we no longer have any credibility with the Germans," said former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Sunday. "It will be very difficult for Francois Hollande to launch a new European initiative. You need credibility to do that." That hasn't prevented Hollande and his Prime Minister Manuel Valls from talking about the need to move fast to "reinvent" Europe. Their vision however, elements of which can be found in the joint paper from Ayrault and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is one that prioritises security on the one hand and a more "social" Europe on the other. This vision is shared by Germany's Social Democrats (SPD). SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel and his party colleague Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, issued a separate paper at the weekend which called for a major shift in economic priorities in Europe, away from fiscal discipline towards more pro-growth policies. But Merkel's conservative allies are having none of it. "The Socialists want German taxpayers to subsidise countries that aren't reforming," one senior ally told Reuters. "This would be a catastrophe." (Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander, Paul Carrel; Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Anna Willard)
627712

Image via mtv.com

Its been thirty years since the Beastie Boys reminded us to fight for our right to party, and its a right we shall to continue to exercise in the face of narrow-mindedness and bad vibes every day. In turn, were an open church when considering which mixes to include our regular round-up of the best, and weve been blessed with a really good bunch this time round.

Tychos live DJ set in Las Vegas, Maribou State going back-to-back with Pedestrian once again, and mixes of nothing but originals from Dubbel Dutch and Mux Mool respectively received a gold star from us, but a special mention is necessary for Ghiblis latest mix and his accompanying open letter following the events which tragically unfolded in Orlando recently.

These and many more new mixes should hopefully help give you the energy to fight another day.

Ghibli: Pride Prom Mix for Bedroomer

Ghibli: Pride Prom Mix for Bedroomer

Image via Skye Oleson-Cormack/Ghibli on Facebook

Following on from the tragic events at Orlandos Pulse nighclub, Edmonton-based producer and Manicure Records founder Ghibli (aka Thomas Michael) offered not only a mix for one of the many Pride events which formed in immediate response, but also a moving statement, which can be read in full on his Soundcloud. It starts:

Im not good at really communicating the constant existential dread that I feel on a daily basis, about how I look or how others are perceiving me or whether or not they have the potential to hurt me in some way, so I listen to music instead. Outside of my own bedroom or friends car sound systems, the only place to really hear and experience music on a bigger scale is music venues, and for a lot of marginalized people the places where ppl end up are nightclubs.

Read the rest of Ghiblis statement here and listen to the mix below.

Semtek: Patternburst Select Mix Volume 1

Semtek: Patternburst Select Mix Volume 1

Image via Don't Look Now on Facebook

No stranger to spinning records up and down the UK, Dont Be Afraid bossman Semtek served up the inaugural mix for Patternbursts new series.

Story continues

And if they intend to continue as theyve started, any future mixes that surface should be worth a listen. Sun-bleached house, deep soul, and British accents feature.

Mux Mool: Million Hearts Mix

Mux Mool: Million Hearts Mix

Image via Dylan Bessler on Facebook

Anyone unfamiliar with Mux Mool should take a minute or fifty to get acquainted with the Ghostly International family member by way of pressing play on this mix.

If you enjoy Company Flow instrumentals, Clams Casino mixtapes, or just own a J Dilla record, prepare to make some more space for songs perfect to smoke to.

Tycho: EDC Sunrise 2016

Tycho: EDC Sunrise 2016

Image via mtv.com

Recorded during Electric Daisy Carnival at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Tychos tune selection was on point for this particular DJ set. Opening with Boards of Canada followed by some Jamie xx, the hour-or-so set also sees features from Todd Terje, Throwing Snow, Bibio, and of course, some music from Tycho himself.

Evil Needle: Back To The 90's Mix Vol.2/HW&W Mix #18

Evil Needle: Back To The 90's Mix Vol.2/HW&W Mix #18

Image via Evil Needle on Facebook

You should know by now that were suckers when it comes to a throwback hip-hop mix done well, so this mix by Evil Needle for the homies at HW&W had to be included. In this instance, fans of le hip-hop Francaise will find particular enjoyment from the tracklist.

Maribou State & Pedestrian: Desert Island Mixtape Pt.II

Maribou State & Pedestrian: Desert Island Mixtape Pt.II

Image via youtube.com

Joining forces to do good once again are Maribou State and Pedestrian with a mix thats much more than a mirage.

Two summers ago we made a desert island themed mix for Bestival and we were really flattered by the response. So, we decided to put together a new mix in the same vein as a thank you to everyone that showed love the first time round, and to share a bunch of tracks we love to listen to on those sunny afternoons.

So lets continue showing these mixes love so they keep making them, eh?

The Interns: Gravitational.WAVs [The Adventures Of Soul Clap #133]

The Interns: Gravitational.WAVs [The Adventures Of Soul Clap #133]

Image via The Interns on Instagram

Los Angeles-based duo The Interns have won this weeks pun competition, with their recent Gravitational.WAVs mx for Soul Clap via Discobelles Soundcloud.

Q: How do you make a really good mix that includes Bonobo, Blood Orange, Jungle and more?

A: You planet!

Nailed it.

Gundam: Dummy Mix #338

Gundam: Dummy Mix #338

Image via bandsintown.com

What happens when you throw R&B and UKG into a blender, pour over crushed ice and add a cherry? Something like this mix by Gundam for Dummy, probably.

With the summer mix Ive tried to incorporate this hip-hop and R&B sound as a whole, including older and newer artists/songs with a few extra fruity bits as well. Its still a developing sound that I dont think can be strictly linked to its ties in grime, its not just being made for club anymore which Ive tried to show that in this mix.

O'Flynn: Lucid Transmission 002 for Hoxton FM

O'Flynn: Lucid Transmission 002 for Hoxton FM

Image via O'Flynn on Twitter

If youre after a mix to put on whilst taking care of lifes boring business or are equally unimpressed by the lack of disco currently playing in your office, then listening to this mix from OFlynn will lift some of the weight. Released ahead of his set at Bussey Building in London next week, be sure to make it down if youre in the area.

Dubbel Dutch: Rare Earth Tones

Dubbel Dutch: Rare Earth Tones

Image via Dubbel Dutch on Facebook

Weve been fans of Dubbel Dutch for a little while now, so it was with open arms we welcomed this recent mix of 100% his own productions. More dreamy than his usual dancefloor heaters, this one is more of a journey, although its certainly not short of the fire weve come to expect from the proucer.

More from Pigeons & Planes
London (AFP) - Controversial British heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury strongly denied a newspaper claim on Sunday that he failed a doping test last year.

The Sunday Mirror alleged that Fury -- who won the belt in an upset defeat of Wladimir Klitschko last November -- returned a sample with a banned steroid in it.

"We are baffled by today's story in the Sunday Mirror," said a statement from Fury's promoter Hennessy Sports.

"Tyson Fury absolutely denies any allegation of doping. He looks forward to recovering from his injury and defending his titles against Wladimir Klitschko in October."

The allegation comes only two days after the 27-year-old -- who has sparked a furore with sexist remarks about women, homosexuality and paedophilia -- said he would not be able to defend the WBA, WBO and IBO belts in a rematch with Klitschko in July after injuring his ankle during a run.

The Mirror claimed that the banned steroid nandrolone -- which aids muscle growth -- had been discovered in a test Fury underwent either in February or March last year, well before his remarkable win over the ageing Klitschko.

UK Anti-Doping agency refused to confirm or deny the allegations.

"UK Anti-Doping does not discuss or disclose details of any cases until due legal process has been completed or a respondent chooses to put the information into the public domain," said a UKAD spokesperson.

"This is to protect the rights and privacy of all involved and to ensure that a case is not subjected to unnecessary prejudice.

"It is important to note that an anti-doping rule violation is only deemed to have been committed once the legal process, including any appeals, has been completed. At that point, details of a violation will be made available on the UKAD website."

According to the newspaper, Fury's cousin Hughie, also a boxer, failed a test for the same substance, although he too denied any wrongdoing.
The only person happier than Boris Johnson over Britains exit from the European Union may be Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin has spent years trying to create fissures within the NATO alliance and the European Union, but with little success. Now Britains vote to leave the EU fulfills Putins wish for a more divided Europe, one potentially preoccupied with its own disagreements while Londons influence recedes.

They are drinking copious amounts of vodka in the Kremlin today, Derek Chollet, a former senior advisor at the U.S. Defense Department, told Foreign Policy.

What makes it depressing is that this was an unforced error, said Chollet, now at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Putin has been trying to force divisions in the West, but he actually hasnt been succeeding that well. This is a benefit to him without him having to do anything.

Russian politicians celebrated the vote, hoping it would sabotage the continents resolve when it comes to enforcing the sanctions levied against Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine.

Without Britain, there wont be anybody in the EU to defend sanctions against us so zealously, Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, wrote on Twitter.

Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the international affairs committee of the upper house of the Russian Parliament, told the New York Times on Friday that he doesnt think the European Union will now have time to think about Ukraine or about sanctions.

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, agreed. He tweeted Friday that Putin benefits from a weaker Europe. UK vote makes EU weaker. Its just that simple.

The advocates of Britains departure from the EU argued that the country would be able to reassert itself on the world stage without being weighed down by the European Unions bureaucracy or the need to send large amounts of money to Brussels each year.

But former senior U.S. officials and analysts say Britain will be weaker and more isolated as a result of the move.

Story continues

The vote came just two weeks before a major NATO summit kicks off in Warsaw, Poland, that is supposed to refocus the alliances attention on the growing threat posed by Russia. But Britains departure from the European Union  and the specter of fraying unity across the continent  will hang over the meeting, and NATO leaders are already trying to steady nerves within the alliance over Thursdays referendum.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement Friday insisting that the vote would not alter Britains status in the alliance. As London defines the next chapter in its relationship with the EU, I know that the United Kingdoms position in NATO will remain unchanged, Stoltenberg said.

Britains importance as a strategic ally for the United States, as a power that could punch above its weight, is partly based on its ability to exert influence over Europes approach to national security and persuade other EU members to back Washingtons tougher line from the war in Afghanistan to challenging Russia. That status will be undercut by the British electorates decision to bail out of the EU, experts said.

The vote also could have a potentially significant knock-on effect, possibly stripping Britain of its nuclear arsenal and changing the strategic nuclear landscape of Europe.

A clear majority of voters in Scotland opposed leaving the EU, and Scottish leaders say they will hold a new referendum on whether Scotland should secede from the United Kingdom. If Scotland bolts, however, Britain would be forced to confront another problem with serious implications for European security: It would have no place to dock its nuclear-armed submarines.

Since the 1960s, the Royal Navy has parked its four Vanguard nuclear-armed submarines at Faslane in Scotland. There is no other facility in the United Kingdom capable of housing the vessels, so Scottish independence would force a stark choice: Lose the capability altogether, or spend at least a decade  and millions of pounds  building new port facilities for the vessels. If Britain were to lose its undersea atomic arsenal, the United States could be forced to rewrite its own nuclear strategy.

Londons ambitious plans to expand its military spending over the next decade after years of deep cuts could be another casualty of the Brexit. If outside forecasts prove correct, Britains economy could shrink by up to 6 percent, draining away funds that could have otherwise been devoted to the defense budget, which has fallen significantly in recent years. Military spending declined 8 percent between 2010 and 2015, with 31,000 service members cut from the force amid major spending cutbacks across the government.

The U.K. has been one of this countrys most important partners. It will be less willing and able to play that role, former U.S. diplomat Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told reporters during a teleconference. The net result is the special relationship will be that much less special.

Even before the referendum, Britains status as a staunch and crucial military ally of Washington had faded in recent years. London pulled its combat troops out of Afghanistan in 2014, and the British Parliament rejected possible U.S.-led military strikes against the Syrian regime in August 2013.

Those changes were happening just as France  which for decades had been regarded as a high-maintenance partner for Washington  has taken on a more muscular role, showing a greater willingness to deploy its troops alongside American forces or to launch its own counterterrorism missions in Africas Sahel region.

When it comes to working on urgent policy crises, France has become the more activist, more engaged partner, Chollet said.

But London hasnt completely pulled back. British warplanes fly daily missions over Iraq, and the government has committed to supply one of four NATO battalions to be stationed in the Baltics next year. Analysts expect Britain to honor those commitments, but questions remain over what kind of foreign deployments a potentially more inward-looking British government may undertake in the future.

British and EU leaders now face the daunting task of hammering out the details of Londons disentanglement, a time-consuming job that will probably crowd out other priorities, experts said.

Field Marshal Lord Bramall, a former head of the British Army, issued an appeal before the Brexit vote to stay in the EU, saying Londons voice was needed to ensure a stable balance of power in the West. He argued that a broken and demoralized Europe just across the Channel, lacking the practical influence of this country, would constitute a far greater threat to our future, indeed to the whole balance of power and equilibrium of the Western world, than having to continue to endure some irritating and unnecessary meddling from Brussels.

Britains absence will be felt acutely in the European Unions burgeoning military force, designed to fill gaps in missions in areas of Africa and Eastern Europe where an overstretched NATO doesnt have a presence. While the U.K. plays only a small role in the program, planning in Brussels has always been based on the idea that Britain would become an important contributor, said Christopher Chivvis, the associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at Rand Corp.

Without the U.K.s backing, the project is for all intents and purposes no longer possible.

Photo credit: ARTUR WIDAK/NurPhoto via Getty Images
For the first 18 years of my life, I was stateless. A Palestinian refugee, I officially belonged nowhere and had no passport, no citizenship and very few rights, particularly in the developed world. It took years of government lobbying, thousands of dollars in lawyers fees and hours of late-night prayer, but in 2004, my family and I at last became citizens  of the United Kingdom.

Thats why a bolt of fear ran through me as I watched the results come in: The U.K. had voted to leave the European Union. The same country that had offered my family its saving grace appeared to be turning its back on us. The Vote Leave campaign, driven by concerns about immigrants dragging down the economy, pledged to shut down so-called out-of-control borders and rein in overstretched services. Such sentiments discount the complex fabric of the demographics in Britain, where 13.1 percent are foreign-born and 8.5 percent are non-British citizens. In fact, long before immigration was a hot-button issue, the size of the foreign-born population in the U.K. almost doubled, from about 3.8 million in 1993 to more than 8.3 million in 2014, according to Oxford Universitys Migration Observatory report.

Rather, the rhetoric fueling the Leave campaign was fearmongering, with a strong undertone of prejudice. Far from squeezing resources, most refugees have had astounding financial and academic success. The work they do may not be glamorous or high-profile, but it is worthy work. Take my parents: My father, Aziz, and my late mother, Ayda, were both born in the United Nationsfunded refugee camp of Shatila, one of the largest Palestinian camps in Lebanon during the 1950s and 60s. They landed at Heathrow Airport in 1994, with two daughters, two suitcases and the clothes on their backs. In the ensuing years, my parents transformed not only their lives but also their childrens. My father became the manager of a printing press and my mother (who didnt speak a word of English until she was in her 20s) managed the IT system for a large college.

Story continues

I never expected this country, my adopted home, could breed so much xenophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Yes, we may now be British citizens on paper, but it is impossible to forget the journey we have taken. We are the only members of our entire extended family with an official passport from a country. In fact, if the stringent rules of immigration law  sure to become even stricter with the passing of a Brexit vote  had applied in 2004, when I was awarded my passport, my family would probably be living a very different life. Todays Britain does not resemble the tiny island where I made my closest friends and settled with family. I never expected this country, my adopted home, could breed so much xenophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Britain is not the same place it was 72 hours ago. Emboldened by a fear that immigrants are the easy channels for terror, the British bureaucracy has increasingly tightened its requirements for incoming immigrants. And history is repeating itself with my family. My sisters husband, Mahmoud, a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon, has had his visa to the U.K. repeatedly denied. He has to prove his worth to England despite fathering two British-born daughters: my nieces Widad, 2, and Maryam, 1. What happens to the opportunities for young families trying to make a break in England? A vote against the EU is not a vote against terrorism, as UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage claimed. It is a vote against British families.

Related Articles
By Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - To leave, or not to leave: that is the question. Still. After Britain's historic vote to leave the European Union, there is no indication that a so-called Brexit will happen soon. It maybe never will. Prime Minister David Cameron, who is resigning, has said he will not take the formal step to an EU divorce on the grounds that his successor should. Because the referendum is not legally-binding, some politicians are suggesting a parliament vote before formally triggering Brexit. A petition on the UK government's website on holding a second referendum has gained more than 3 million signatories in just two days. European leaders, facing the biggest threat to European unity since World War Two, are divided over how swiftly divorce talks should start. Paris wants haste and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging patience. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he wanted to "start immediately". And on Sunday, Scotland's leader said Scotland may veto Brexit altogether. Under devolution rules, the parliaments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are required to consent to any EU divorce, according to a report by the House of Lords. Most British politicians agree such a decisive 52-48 win for Leave in the referendum means a divorce must happen. Anything less would be a slap in the face of democracy. "The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered," a choking Cameron said in his resignation speech, which marked the most tumultuous end to a British premiership since Anthony Eden resigned in 1957 after the Suez crisis. Still, the upswell of chatter - #regrexit is trending big on twitter - over whether Britain might be able to reconsider speaks to the disbelief gripping this continent in the wake of a vote that has unleashed financial and political mayhem. Sterling has plunged, and Britain's political parties are both crippled. Cameron is a lameduck leader, and the main opposition Labour party on Sunday attempted a coup against its leader, with nine top officials resigning. "The kaleidoscope has been shaken up not just in terms of our relationship with the EU but in terms of who runs our parties, who governs the country and what the country is made up of," said Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King's College London. "It is very hard to see where the pieces are." ARTICLE 50 The law provisioning an EU member country's exit from the union is Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty that is effectively the EU's constitution. It has never been invoked before. Before the vote, Cameron had said Article 50 would be triggered straight away if Britain voted to leave. Over the weekend, several EU officials also said the UK needed to formally split right away - possibly at a Tuesday EU meeting. But officials of the Leave campaign - including former London mayor Boris Johnson - are stepping on the brakes. They say they want to negotiate Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU before formally pulling the trigger to divorce. European officials and observers say such a deal is unlikely, especially considering the thorny issues involved. For example, it is unlikely that the EU would grant Britain access to the single market - key to allowing Britain trade goods and services in the EU - without London accepting the free movement of EU workers. But the biggest issue for those who voted to leave the bloc was limits on immigration - something the Leave campaigners promised. DIVIDED UK On Sunday, a petition to call for a second referendum was gaining supporters, reaching 3.3 million signatories by the afternoon. David Lammy, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, said it was within parliament's powers to call a second referendum and urged that it be done. Perhaps the most vocal resistance to a British exit is coming from Scotland. Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent, compared to the 54 percent in England who voted to leave. Under the United Kingdom's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to set off an EU divorce would have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments, according to a report by the House of Lords' European Union Committee. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC on Sunday that she would consider urging the Scottish parliament to block such a motion. It is not clear, however, whether such a scenario would ever materialize or be binding. Sturgeon's spokesman later said that the British government might not seek consent in the first place. Moreover, Sturgeon is simply laying out the groundwork for a new referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom --something the first minister said was "highly likely." WITHDRAWAL While there is no precedent for Article 50, the House of Lords has discussed how any Brexit would work. In May, it published a report after consultations with legal experts. In the report, Derrick Wyatt, one of the professors involved, said that while it would be politically difficult, the law allows the UK to change its mind after invoking Article 50. "In law, the UK could change its mind before withdrawal from the EU and decide to stay in after all," said Wyatt. (Editing by Alessandra Galloni)
The U.K. was still reeling Sunday from its cataclysmic vote to leave the European Union, with a shake-up of the entire political order under way in Westminster as the economic prospects for the country remain cloudy.

Following David Camerons announcement of his resignation Friday  one day after Britons voted 52% to 48% in favor of leaving the 28-nation bloc  the Conservative Party must now nominate a new party leader and Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and champion of Brexit, is currently in pole position. But senior Tories are said to be determined to prevent Johnson from taking power, blaming him for Camerons downfall and for the result of the vote. They are said to be seeking an anti-Boris candidate, with Home Secretary Theresa May an early favorite.

On the other side of the political aisle, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing all-out rebellion from his shadow cabinet. Early Sunday, he sacked his popular foreign-affairs spokesperson Hilary Benn for attempting to engineer a coup. Benn and others believe Corbyns lackluster campaign for Britain to remain within the E.U. proved he cannot win a general election.

He is a good and decent man but he is not a leader, and that is the problem, Benn said on the BBC on Sunday morning.

Reports on Sunday suggested much of Corbyns front bench would resign after Benns dismissal, though the Labour leader has said he will not stand down as Cameron did. If the leaders of both Britains major political parties were to stand down, pressure for a snap general election would grow.

With a vacuum at the top levels of government, there is uncertainty as to when the U.K. will officially pull the trigger on withdrawal from the E.U. The mechanism for leaving is by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and Cameron has suggested that his successor would be the one to officially notify the E.U. under the terms of the clause.

Story continues

Leaders in France and Germany have called for Britain to begin the process earlier, kick-starting two years of exit negotiations within days. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germanys Foreign Minister, said Saturday: We say here together that this process must start as soon as possible.

The results of Thursdays vote had an immediate impact on the countrys economy, with the pound slumping dramatically on Friday morning to levels not seen in 30 years. The following day, credit-ratings agency Moodys downgraded its outlook for the U.K. from stable to negative.

Billionaire investor George Soros said Saturday the U.K. would suffer significantly in the short to medium term and said the consequences for the globe could be comparable to the financial meltdown of 200708.

The financial markets worldwide are likely to remain in turmoil as the long, complicated process of political and economic divorce from the E.U. is negotiated, he said.
By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain will get a Norway-type deal to keep close economic ties with the European Union but will have no say on decision-making in the bloc after "Brexit" materializes, Finland's former prime minister Alexander Stubb said on Sunday. The shock British referendum result has put into question Europe's post-war order, sent stocks tumbling around the world and left the EU pondering how to handle the divorce. Stubb, who served as Finland's prime minister in 2014-15, said the EU should not push Britain into quickly launching a formal exit procedure. "This will be an extremely complicated set of negotiations, there will be hundreds and thousands of legal, political and economic implications. After the initial shock, we should now take it easy and be patient, one step at a time," Stubb said. "It's going painful and long," he told Reuters in a phone interview, adding that putting a firm deadline on the process would be "unwise". Many European politicians - with the notable exception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel - have put pressure on Britain to trigger the exit procedure as soon as possible after Britain's outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron said the move was unlikely before October. "We should not be childish in thinking about punishing the UK. It's not in the interest of Europe to cut relations with the United Kingdom and it's not in the interest of the UK to be cut off from the continent immediately either," he said. Stubb, who held several EU jobs and was most recently Finland's finance minister until his party sacked him earlier this month, said the new deal between Britain and the bloc should keep maximum economic integration possible and pointed to non-EU member Norway as the example. "We should try to keep Britain as close as possible but they will not have the possibility to influence decision-making. The UK will become a new Norway," he said. "They will pay for membership, have less influence on decision-making and laws but at the end of the day have similar benefits they have today." As a member of the European Economic Area, Norway gets access to EU's single market in exchange for contributing about 400 million euros a year to the EU budget. But it must accept EU's rules on the single market and free movement of people without a vote. Stubb dismissed as unrealistic the Brexit campaign promise to curb immigration into Britain. "If Britain wants to participate in the free movement of goods, services and money, it will have to participate in the free movement of labor as well. That's what Norway does. That's tough luck but that's how it goes," he said. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Digby Lidstone)
Brussels (AFP) - Britain "may never" trigger the formal divorce process with the EU despite last week's referendum in which the country voted to leave, EU diplomats said Sunday.

"My personal belief is they will never notify" the EU about their intention to leave, a senior EU diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

A state leaving the EU must formally notify the European Council of all 28 EU leaders under Article 50 of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, setting the clock ticking on a two-year period for Britain to negotiate its divorce.

"We want London to trigger Article 50 now, to have clarity. I expect, as we can't force them, for them to take their time," the diplomat added.

"And I would not exclude, it's my personal belief, that they may never do it."

The official did not specify if he believed Britain would avoid it by holding a new referendum, or simply dragging out the process to extract a better divorce deal, but said all such decisions were up to London.

Cameron has said he will resign by October and that it is for his successor to launch the process and lead the negotiations.

Despite growing pressure from EU leaders, Cameron was not expected to trigger Article 50 at an EU summit on Tuesday, another senior EU official said.

Britain's EU partners believed the notification should come by Christmas at the latest.

"There cannot be any kind of negotiation with Britain before there is a notification."

Meanwhile the EU had received "thousands" of emails from Britons since Friday saying they were unhappy with the result, including some from people who had voted to leave the EU and were now regretting it.

"It's the first time after a decade of hate mail from Britain, we are flooded with love emails," said the diplomat.
Just three days after a shocking vote to leave the European Union, millions of Britons are asking for a do-over. But is it possible to stop the process?

Technically, yes. While the chances are slim, there are several ways the UK could reverse course.

1) Members of Parliament vote against it

The referendum vote to leave the EU is not bindingthe decision must be officially ratified by Parliament, following any legal challenges.

This gives the Members of Parliament, who mostly oppose the Brexit, an opportunity to vote to stay in the EU. However, the people have spoken, and the MPs have a responsibility to represent their interests.

"Opposing the will of the people is not going to help you get elected next time, particularly if you are in a marginal constituency," write James Knightley, Chris Turner and Carsten Brzeski of ING Group.

2) A re-do referendum



Over 3 million UK residents signed a petition on Parliament's site demanding a second vote take place, the largest petition the government's website has ever seen. Parliament must debate any proposal with over 100,000 signatures.



The petition, which launched before the referendum, asked for a second vote on EU membership if support for the remain or leave vote was below 60% with turnout under 75%.

Thursday's British exit vote had only 52% backing on a 72% turnout. While the petition must be considered by Parliament, members do not need to act on it.

3) EU concessions

Before Britain invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, the never-used provision that sets out how a country would leave the union, the EU could negotiate more favorable terms with the UK.

"The EU offered major concessions after Danish voters initially rejected the Maastricht Treaty and Irish voters opposed both the Nice and Lisbon Treaties. It is therefore possible that some members want to keep the EU together at all costs and are prepared to offer the UK more on migration," write Knightley, Turner and Brzeski.

Story continues

However, given that the free movement of people is one of the EUs central tenets, many EU members will likely oppose further negotiations on this front, add Knightley, Turner and Brzeski. "Getting an agreement to give the UK more power to control EU migration whilst staying in the EU does not appear to be a probable outcome," they write.

4) Scotland and Northern Ireland veto the decision



Per the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Parliament would need to approve measures that remove EU law from Scotland, according to the House of Lords report "The Process of withdrawing from the European Union."

The report states that same might be true for Northern Ireland. However, this is simply an interpretation and not the letter of the law. Also, the UK Parliament ratified the Scotland Act, and it's possible they could override a potential veto by amending the Act.

Oh my! Looks like Scotland and Northern Ireland may have a veto on #Brexit process - p 19 https://t.co/7aqGpTDlBn pic.twitter.com/82zR5UFPfw  Jim Fitzpatrick (@jimfitzbiz) June 25, 2016

Going forward

"What we do know is that the longer it takes to decide the outcome, the greater the political and economic costs for both the UK and the EU," write Knightley, Turner and Brzeski.



Given that Prime Minister David Cameron has already announced his resignation and many EU members are calling for a quick separation, the path toward a Brexit will likely be difficult to stop.



Its not an amicable divorce, but it never really was a close love affair anyway, said Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Commission President.



Follow Justine on Twitter @jj_under
London (AFP) - Britain's political crisis deepened Sunday amid party infighting in London and new polls showing bolstered support for Scottish independence, even as EU leaders seek a quick divorce after a seismic vote to leave the bloc.

Prime Minister David Cameron will meet with his cabinet Monday and parliament will reconvene, four days after the shock Brexit vote which plunged the bloc and global financial markets into unprecedented turmoil.

Finance minister George Osborne will make an early morning speech to try to steady markets, while US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in London and Brussels for crisis talks and the leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet in Berlin.

Three days after Cameron announced his resignation after losing last Thursday's referendum, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also facing pressure to stand down, with a string of his top team resigning Sunday.

EU powers have called for a swift divorce amid fears of a domino effect of exit votes in eurosceptic member states that could imperil the integrity of the 28-nation alliance.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz warned Sunday that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs" and said a summit of EU leaders Tuesday, which Cameron will attend, was the "right time" to begin exit proceedings.

But Cameron has said negotiations on Britain's departure must wait until a successor is chosen from his Conservative party, which could be as late as October.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will host French President Francois Hollande, Italian premier Matteo Renzi and EU President Donald Tusk on Monday, has said there is "no reason to be nasty in the negotiations".

On Sunday Hollande and Merkel confirmed they were in "full agreement on how to handle the situation" French presidency sources said after a phone call between the two leaders.

Both heads of state "want the greatest clarity to avoid any uncertainty," and "stressed the need for European initiatives and the need to act quickly on concrete priorities," one source told AFP.

Story continues

Kerry meanwhile, during a stopover in Rome on Sunday, expressed regret at Britain's decision to become the first EU nation to leave the bloc -- and vowed Washington would maintain close ties with the 28-country alliance.

"Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU," he said.

- Boost for Scottish independence -

Britons cast aside warnings of isolation and economic disaster to vote 52 percent to 48 percent in favour of quitting the EU in Thursday's referendum.

The vote wiped $2.1 trillion from global equity markets Friday and sent the pound plunging 10 percent amid fears of a new threat to the global economy.

All eyes are on market reaction on Monday. British finance minister Osborne is due to make a statement at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) to steady nerves in the global financial hub.

The historic vote, fought on the battlefronts of the economy and immigration, exposed deep divisions in the country, which were particularly keenly felt in Scotland.

Scotland voted by 62 percent to stay in the EU, and the prospect of being pulled out against their will has renewed support for a second independence referendum, less than two years after they chose to stay in the United Kingdom in a referendum in September 2014.

"The UK that Scotland voted to stay in in 2014 does not exist any more," First Minister and Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon told BBC television Sunday.

Two polls on Sunday put support for Scottish independence at 59 percent and 52 percent respectively. In the 2014 referendum, 55 percent voted against it.

Sturgeon has said a second independence vote was now "highly likely", and a meeting of her cabinet on Saturday agreed to start drawing up the necessary legislation.

- Labour revolt -

In London, likely candidates to succeed Cameron, including Brexit campaigner and former London mayor Boris Johnson, began sounding out support over the weekend.

The referendum decision has also lit a fuse under disgruntled members of the Labour party, many of whom have been unhappy with Corbyn's leadership since he took office last September.

The party leadership had campaigned to stay in the EU, but critics accuse Corbyn of failing to reach out to working-class voters drawn in by the "Leave" camp's anti-establishment rhetoric.

After a symbolic vote of no confidence was proposed on Friday against Corbyn, he sacked foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn late Saturday for challenging his leadership.

That decision sparked a string of resignations among members of the shadow cabinet. By Sunday evening 10 members of Corby's top team had quit.

But allies of the veteran socialist said he had no plans to step down.

"He was elected nine months ago, the biggest mandate of any political leader in our country, and he is not going anywhere," Labour's finance spokesman John McDonnell told the BBC.

The motion of no confidence is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday.

Any challenger would need the support of 20 percent of the party's 229 MPs and it would then be put to party members.
Entebbe (Uganda) (AFP) - Skimming above the choppy waves through the dark the four planes swooped in low over Lake Victoria, packed with over 200 elite Israeli commandos on a daring raid to free hijacked hostages.

Landing soon after midnight at Uganda's Entebbe airport on July 4, 1976, it took the paratroopers less than an hour to storm the base and free over 100 passengers aboard an Air France plane, an operation that has gone down in special forces legend. The plane had been hijacked a week earlier on June 27.

Four decades later, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit Uganda for the anniversary not only to mark the operation and boost now-friendly ties between Uganda and Israel, but also to pay a deeply personal tribute.

The commando leader, the only Israeli soldier killed in the raid, was his older brother, 30-year old Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu.

As an operation, it was "a difficult one", remembered Amir Ofer, then a sergeant major and now a businessman, visiting Uganda earlier this month as part of preparations to mark the anniversary.

- Bullet scars preserved -

Uganda and Israel are planning the memorial to be one of reconciliation, preserving the bullet scars in the walls of the old terminal at Entebbe, still the airport for the capital Kampala, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north.

Earlier this month, some of the retired commandos who took part in the raid visited the scene of the extraordinary rescue, standing alongside Ugandan officials, including the son of their then enemy, dictator Idi Amin.

"We had short time to prepare for it," said Ofer, noting the more than 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) between Uganda and Israel, with a 48-hour ultimatum before the gunmen would start killing hostages. "The clock was ticking away after the terrorists gave their ultimatum."

An Air France plane en route from Tel Aviv to Paris had been hijacked by two Palestinians and two Germans in Athens, and ordered to fly to Entebbe with 250 passengers aboard.

Story continues

Uganda's Amin, who had cut ties with Israel in favour of cash handouts from Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, allowed the hijacked plane to land.

On arrival, Jewish and Israeli hostages were separated and others freed, leaving about 100 hostages and crew members guarded by the hijackers.

Neither the hijackers nor Ugandan troops ever expected special forces could stage a raid from so far away, taking the airport by complete surprise.

"We fanned out without any one realising that we were an enemy force," Ofer said, describing how they rushed out of the plane after touching down in the dark. The initial force roared out of the plane in a black Mercedes that looked like Amin's personal car, but their cover was blown when they had to shoot a Ugandan guard.

"Within minutes of our arrival, we were able to arrive at the terminal, killed the terrorists and within an hour we were on our way back to Israel," Ofer added.

- All but 3 freed -

All but three of the hostages were freed in the raid while 20 Ugandan soldiers and seven hijackers were killed, along with several Ugandan citizens.

One other hostage, a 75-year-old Israeli woman who had been transferred to a hospital, was subsequently killed on Amin's orders.

Enemies in 1976, the raid today is hoped to help build ties between the two nations.

The raid "will forever remain at the heart of all those that got involved," said former Israeli sergeant-major Alex Davidi who also took part in the raid.

Bonifence Byamukama, from the Uganda Tourism Board, said they were "working on a monument in order to preserve the history" of the operation, including the bullet scars in the walls.

Netanyahu's planned trip, the first by an Israeli premier to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited Casablanca in 1994, is a culmination of years of rapprochement and is hoped will boost links with African nations, particularly on security issues.

- 'Sign of reconciliation' -

Galvanised by a growing demand for Israeli security assistance and his government's search for new allies, Netanyahu has put a fresh focus on improving ties on the continent.

Amin's son Jaffar, a 10-year old boy when the raid took place, welcomed the commandos to Uganda this month as a "sign of reconciliation", remembering the stories his father told after he was deposed and forced into exile.

Amin, whose eccentric eight-year regime helped his name become a shorthand for African dictatorship and violent misrule, said he had been "close" to the soldier who shot dead Yonatan Netanyahu.

The officer, named as Captain Rafael Osacha, reportedly died quietly in retirement in the 1990s.

Jaffar recalled what his father had said when he asked why he had not sent fighter jets to shoot down the departing Israelis.

"My father said of the Israelis, 'Son, those are the children of God, when they start to fight, they never stop,'" Jaffar said.

"To him, he felt they had come to rescue their people, they had accomplished their mission, so he let them go."
Brussels (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron is not expected to trigger the Article 50 mechanism to leave the EU when he meets his European Union peers on Tuesday, a senior bloc official said.

"We expect Cameron to present the outcome of the referendum and the situation in the UK ... we do not expect Cameron to trigger Article 50 at that stage," the official told a briefing Sunday on next weeks summit.

Cameron resigned Friday after losing the referendum he had called on Britain's EU membership, saying he would leave it to his successor to invoke Article 50 and so begin the negotiations on leaving the bloc, most likely in October.

The top EU leadership, including summit host Donald Tusk who heads the European Council, has pressed Britain to begin the talks as soon as possible so as to avoid further damage to the bloc where eurosceptic sentiment has grown sharply.

The senior EU official, speaking after a meeting of the other 27 member state envoys to the bloc, said everyone "understands that there is quite a crisis in the UK right now."

"The question of when and how (to leave), I believe will be part of the presentation by Cameron on Tuesday," said the official, asking not to be named.

"The position on the part of the other leaders is that they stand ready to start this process as soon as possible, as that is the best interests of the UK and the EU," he added.

All 28 EU leaders will meet Tuesday, with a dinner that evening where Cameron will brief his peers.

The other 27 will then meet without Cameron on Wednesday to discuss their position in light of the Brexit crisis.
VIENNA (Reuters) - Major central banks will limit market turbulence as much as possible after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the head of the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday.

Some of the world's biggest central banks offered financial backstops on Friday to soothe plunging markets after the British referendum, and some intervened in currency markets as they worried that the volatility could hit growth.

The BIS, a Switzerland-based forum of major central banks that is holding its annual general meeting this weekend, said on Saturday evening that central banks are ready to cooperate to support financial stability.

"There is likely to be a period of uncertainty and adjustment," BIS head Jaime Caruana said in the text of a speech to be delivered on Sunday. "With good cooperation at the global level, I am confident that uncertainty can be contained and that adjustments will proceed as smoothly as possible."

The Bank of England has offered to provide more than 250 billion pounds plus "substantial" access to foreign currency to ease any squeeze in markets, and Governor Mark Carney has said it would consider more measures if needed.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has said it is ready to provide dollar liquidity through its swap lines with central banks, "as necessary, to address pressures in global funding markets, which could have adverse implications for the U.S. "economy"

.

Caruana said stronger capital and liquidity buffers put in place by banks had made markets more resilient in the face of disturbances, and central banks were ready to ensure markets keep working in an orderly manner.

"Central banks have acted swiftly in the past, they stand ready to act again, and they have the tools," he said.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, edting by Larry King)
By Ben Blanchard and Kevin Yao

BEIJING/TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - China's policymakers and leading economists on Sunday voiced concerns about Britain's vote to leave the European Union, with the finance minister saying it has heightened market uncertainty, though some expect a limited impact on the Chinese economy.

The "Brexit" decision "will cast a shadow over the global economy ... The repercussions and fallout will emerge in the next five to 10 years," said Lou Jiwei, China's minister of finance, at the first annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.

"It's difficult to predict now," he said. "The knee-jerk reaction from the market is probably a bit excessive and needs to calm down and take an objective view."

Stock markets around the world plunged in the wake of the referendum. Sterling's value also plummeted.

Lou's views were echoed by the head of China's top economic planning authority and other economists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the northern city of Tianjin.

"For Chinese firms that are going to invest or carry out mergers, entrepreneurs are smarter than me, and they will definitely wait and see," Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at WEF on Sunday.

"The Brexit incident wil affect China's economy via investment, trade and capital," he said. "But I believe the impact will not be big and relevant government departments have made contingency plans."

Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said it is hard to judge the direct impact of the British referendum on China's economy.

"If (Brexit) is an important landmark in terms of a reversal of globalisation, I think that's very bad for the world, it's very bad for China," Huang said.

Li Daokui, a professor at Tsinghua University and a former adviser to China's central bank, was more optimistic on the referendum's effects on the world's second-largest economy.

Story continues

"China is perhaps one of the least impacted economies in the world by the event of Brexit," he told an audience at WEF.

"The only short-term impact I can think about is the exchange rate of the renminbi ... But I do think within a few trading sessions that situation will very quickly be subdued," Li said.

Also speaking at WEF was economist Nouriel Roubini, famed for predicting the global financial crisis, who said the decision to leave the European Union "creates a whole bunch of financial, economic, political and geopolitical uncertainties."

It could be the "beginning of the disintegration" of the bloc of countries, the euro zone or the United Kingdom, said Roubini.

"I don't expect a global recession or another global financial crisis," he added. "I think the impact of Brexit is significant but not of the same size and magnitude of the one we had 2007 to 2009."

Michael Falcon, CEO of Global Investment Management Asia Pacific at JP Morgan, said he expects more market volatility but doubts the vote will derail a global recovery.

"It is a shock, not a crisis, and so far markets seem to be handling this pretty well," Falcon said at the WEF conference.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Kevin Yao, Elias Glenn and Lisa Jucca in Tianjin; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Michael Perry and Sam Holmes, Larry King)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Wirecard AG (WDIG.DE) is negotiating with representatives of Alipay, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA.N), about it taking a stake of up to 25 percent in the German banking software company, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Without citing its sources, the Bild am Sonntag weekly said Wirecard was in confidential talks with Alipay about it taking a stake of up to 25 percent, and possibly more later.

A Wirecard spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the report but confirmed that the company was in strategic talks with various partners, without elaborating.

A source familiar with the matter said Ant Financial, which operates the Alipay platform, was not talking to Wirecard about an investment.

In December, the two companies agreed to a deal to provide mobile phone payment services for Chinese tourists visiting Europe.

The newspaper said both sides had an interest in the deal: The Chinese want access to German expertise, while Wirecard would like to have a large shareholder, because its share price has come under pressure from short-sellers.

A deal would mark the latest Chinese investment in a German firm after a 4.5 billion euro takeover bid by China's Midea for German industrial robot maker Kuka (KU2G.DE).

Alipay counts more than 400 million active users of its payment systems in China, representing an estimated 80 percent of the mobile payments market and 50 percent of the online market in the world's second-largest economy.

Its electronic wallet system is widely used in both retail shops and for online transactions.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, John Ruwitch and Joern Poltz; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
* China fin min - Brexit casts shadow over global economy

* China fin min - Markets may have overreacted to Brexit

* Roubini - Brexit could mean EU, UK or euro zone disintegration

* Roubini - don't expect Brexit to lead to global crisis

* Former PBOC adviser says China least impacted by Brexit (Adds state planner head comment)

By Ben Blanchard and Kevin Yao

BEIJING/TIANJIN, China, June 26 (Reuters) - China's policymakers and leading economists on Sunday voiced concerns about Britain's vote to leave the European Union, with the finance minister saying it has heightened market uncertainty, though some expect a limited impact on the Chinese economy.

The "Brexit" decision "will cast a shadow over the global economy ... The repercussions and fallout will emerge in the next five to 10 years," said Lou Jiwei, China's minister of finance, at the first annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.

"It's difficult to predict now," he said. "The knee-jerk reaction from the market is probably a bit excessive and needs to calm down and take an objective view."

Stock markets around the world plunged in the wake of the referendum. Sterling's value also plummeted.

Lou's views were echoed by the head of China's top economic planning authority and other economists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the northern city of Tianjin.

"For Chinese firms that are going to invest or carry out mergers, entrepreneurs are smarter than me, and they will definitely wait and see," Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at WEF on Sunday.

"The Brexit incident wil affect China's economy via investment, trade and capital," he said. "But I believe the impact will not be big and relevant government departments have made contingency plans."

Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said it is hard to judge the direct impact of the British referendum on China's economy.

Story continues

"If (Brexit) is an important landmark in terms of a reversal of globalisation, I think that's very bad for the world, it's very bad for China," Huang said.

Li Daokui, a professor at Tsinghua University and a former adviser to China's central bank, was more optimistic on the referendum's effects on the world's second-largest economy.

"China is perhaps one of the least impacted economies in the world by the event of Brexit," he told an audience at WEF.

"The only short-term impact I can think about is the exchange rate of the renminbi ... But I do think within a few trading sessions that situation will very quickly be subdued," Li said.

Also speaking at WEF was economist Nouriel Roubini, famed for predicting the global financial crisis, who said the decision to leave the European Union "creates a whole bunch of financial, economic, political and geopolitical uncertainties."

It could be the "beginning of the disintegration" of the bloc of countries, the euro zone or the United Kingdom, said Roubini.

"I don't expect a global recession or another global financial crisis," he added. "I think the impact of Brexit is significant but not of the same size and magnitude of the one we had 2007 to 2009."

Michael Falcon, CEO of Global Investment Management Asia Pacific at JP Morgan, said he expects more market volatility but doubts the vote will derail a global recovery.

"It is a shock, not a crisis, and so far markets seem to be handling this pretty well," Falcon said at the WEF conference.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Kevin Yao, Elias Glenn and Lisa Jucca in Tianjin; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Michael Perry and Sam Holmes, Larry King)
Panama has declared its century-old canal open to a new generation of supersized cargo ships after years of massive expansion works aimed at profiting from burgeoning US-Asia trade.

A giant Chinese-chartered freighter, baptized COSCO Shipping Panama especially for the occasion, made its way along the 80-kilometer (50-mile) waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Its passage was to show off the third shipping lane and gargantuan locks built into the canal catering to vessels of its class, known as Neopanamax, or New Panamax, ships.

It stopped in the locks giving access to the Pacific, where VIPs and 25,000 Panamanians had gathered to celebrate the inauguration.

The freighter's horn bellowed out triumphantly several times, triggering applause and cheers from the flag-waving crowd before they were treated to fireworks and a song-and-dance show relating the history of the canal.

President Juan Carlos Varela, who has hailed the renovated canal as "the route that unites the world," led the event alongside foreign dignitaries including Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, all wearing white.

Varela, in his speech, admitted he had not initially backed the canal's expansion, before he became president.

But as leader, he said, he recognized it would deliver "a better future" for the country.

"This is the beginning of a new era," said the head of the state Panama Canal Authority, Jorge Quijano.

The United States -- builder of the original canal, which opened in 1914 and is still in operation alongside the additions -- was represented at the ceremony by Jill Biden, the wife of the US vice president.

The United States and China are the two most frequent canal users.

- Untapped market -

The expansion work was carried out since 2007 and finished two years late at a cost of at least $5.5 billion.

Labor disputes and friction between the government and the European consortium that carried out the project dogged the work. Still outstanding are consortium demands for costs overruns of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Story continues

Sunday's celebrations however focused on the achievement, which promises to double the volume of cargo passing through the canal and allow it to accommodate 98 percent of ships on the oceans.

Neopanamax freighters can carry up to three times the cargo of older and smaller Panamax ships. Cruise ships built to the same dimensions typically double the number of passengers of the previous iteration.

The expansion will also allow Panama to lure gargantuan liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers.

This is a lucrative segment of the shipping market untapped until now by Panama. Its importance has grown with the development of US natural gas exports, most of which head to Japan and South Korea.

Panama's plan is to triple the $1 billion in revenue it currently gets from canal shipping fees.

However, that goal might still be a decade away, according to officials from the Panama Canal Authority, the autonomous government agency that runs the waterway.

Panama might have been overly ambitious in calculating how fast it will see its investment pay off, particularly as world shipping prices that have dropped due to capacity oversupply.

"Everybody is always overly optimistic," said Peter Shaerf, deputy chairman of Seaspan Corporation, a container ship group with a fleet of 100 vessels, more than half of which are Neopanamaxes.

But, he told AFP on Saturday, the canal itself is "one of the engineering wonders of the world" and it "will have a huge impact on trade."

- Countering 'Panama Papers' damage -

For Panama, the feat is a source of national pride, symbolizing the country's enviable modernity compared to neighbors, and its consistently high economic growth.

The government hopes the glitz and historical nature of the broadened canal will help overshadow the blow the country took to its reputation this year with the "Panama Papers" scandal.

Revelations of offshore companies started by a Panama law firm, and used by the world's rich and influential to dodge taxes and stash assets, have become the first thing many people think of when the Central American nation is mentioned.

But the canal, and the work to develop it for modern trade, is "the real face of Panama," Quijano, the Panama Canal Authority chief, told AFP this week.
Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State group Sunday published a video showing the execution-style killing of five Syrian citizen journalists they kidnapped eight months ago in the east of the war-torn country.

The victims seen in the footage -- which was posted on the blog of the group's Al-Bayan radio -- were all from the city of Deir Ezzor, 60 percent of which is controlled by IS.

A Britain-based monitor that works with sources inside Syria to collect information on the five-year conflict said it recognised one of the victims as a citizen journalist it had worked with.

The activists were kidnapped in Deir Ezzor in October and killed between November and December, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The video was only published now because IS -- who are losing ground in Syria -- want to send a message that they are still strong," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The jihadist group has come under pressure in Syria, where a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance is pressing an offensive to retake its bastion of Manbij near the Turkish border.

IS has previously claimed the killing of several citizen journalists working secretly in areas it controls in Syria -- including the group's stronghold of Raqa -- and accused them of being spies.

It has also claimed to have killed activists in Turkey.

Last October, the decapitated bodies of two activists originally from Raqa were found in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, 55 kilometres (35 miles) from the Syrian border.

In late December, Syrian anti-IS filmmaker Naji Jerf was killed in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.

And in April, Syrian journalist Mohammed Zaher al-Shurqat died in hospital after he was shot in the head by IS jihadists in the same city.
Aden (AFP) - Fighting between Yemeni government forces and Shiite rebels killed 41 people on several fronts Sunday, as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the rival factions in Kuwait to accept a peace plan.

UN sponsored talks between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in the Gulf emirate on April 21.

The Huthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have seized control of large parts of the impoverished country since 2014 and still control swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

UN special envoy Ould Cheikh Ahmed has repeatedly urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

But the clashes raged on Sunday, with the rebels pressing ahead with attempts to advance towards the strategic Al-Anad airbase, in the southern province of Lahj, a military official said.

The rebels and their allies captured the area of Qubaita, on the frontier between Lahj and Taez province.

Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi's government killed 11 rebels in Qubaita and Kirsh, the official said.

Also along the frontier between Lahj and Taez, five rebels and three government soldiers died in clashes triggered by a rebel attempt to advance in the Waziya area, said a loyalist militia source.

Six other soldiers were killed in clashes in the flashpoint city of Taez, where rebels attacked an army base, a military official said.

Meanwhile, nine rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the past 24 hours in clashes in northern Yemen, after rebels attacked loyalists in Nahm, northeast of the Sanaa, a military official said.

- Alarming humanitarian situation -

Clashes have continued despite a UN-brokered ceasefire that entered into effect on April 11 and paved the way for the peace talks in Kuwait.

In the Gulf emirate on Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the warring parties to accept a roadmap for peace and quickly reach a comprehensive settlement to the 15-month-old conflict.

Story continues

The peace roadmap proposed by Ould Cheikh Ahmed calls for the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

"I ask both delegations to work seriously with my special envoy to agree to a roadmap of principles... and quickly reach a comprehensive agreement," Ban told a joint meeting of the negotiators.

Ban also urged "the delegations to prevent any further deterioration of the situation, and to show the responsibility and flexibility required to arrive at a comprehensive agreement ending the conflict."

The Yemeni government insists the rebels withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.

The Huthis for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.

Ban said the international community wants the conflict to end and Yemen return to the transitional process before the war.

The UN chief also warned the humanitarian situation in Yemen is alarming with scarcity of basic food and the economic conditions have deteriorated.

Ahead of the meeting, Ban held talks with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, as well as the Gulf country's prime minister and foreign minister.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton holds a double-digit lead over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, according to a new national poll released Sunday.

The former Secretary of State leads Trump by 51% to 39% among registered voters nationwide, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows. The poll also found that 56% of the public at large say Trump stands against their beliefs and 64% say he does not have the necessary credentials to be president. Fifty-six percent feel strongly that he is unqualified.

The poll, which randomly sampled 1,001 adults between June 20 and June 23, also found that half of Americans are anxious about Clinton possibly leading the country should she win in November. (The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.) On Sunday, Clintons opponent Bernie Sanders told CNN the vast majority of my voters will vote for her if she works to embrace some of his policy positions. The Vermont Senator, who has not officially suspended his campaign, has said he will vote for Clinton.

In another national poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, Clinton is ahead of Trump by just 5 points. Forty-six percent of registered voters support Clinton, while 41% support Trump, according to this poll, conducted from June 19 to June 23 among 1,000 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

The Democratic National Convention will be held in Philadelphia from July 25 to July 28. The GOP convention will take place in Cleveland from July 18 to July 21.
The Supreme Court ends its current term on Monday with three very different cases, on abortion, political corruption and the qualifications of gun ownership. Here is a breakdown of the cases.

Abortion

UPDATE: Court rules against Texas abortion laws

The petitioners in Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt claim a Texas law enacted in 2013 would force about 75 percent of the states abortion services to close. Two provisions in the law require that doctors at clinics have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of the clinics, and that clinics have facilities equal to those of an outpatient surgical center.

Texas officials believe the laws protect the health of the women seeking abortions by guaranteeing better care. the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the state of Texas, but the Supreme Court stopped the law from going into effect until it could decide if it would accept an appeal.

The Supreme Court will decide two issues. First, it will look at if the appeals court properly handled a question about if the new restrictions would actually work to protect the health of women. The appeals court said it needed to defer to the Texas state legislature on that issue.

The second question is a broader one. The Court must decide it the law imposes an undue burden on women who seek abortions. The Court last ruled on this question in a 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which reaffirmed the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

In the Planned Parenthood decision, a divided court said that states couldnt place an undue burden on a womans right to have an abortion before fetal viability, and such burdens included unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion. The last abortion case before the Court was Gonzales v. Carhart in 2007, which upheld the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

In the Whole Womans Health case, Justice Anthony Kennedy could be the swing vote. He wrote the majority decision in the Carhart case, but he also co-wrote the plurality opinion in the Planned Parenthood case.

Story continues

Political Corruption

UPDATE: Court rules mostly for McDonnell

The stakes are high for the former Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell as his two-year prison sentence is on hold while the Court considers his case. The Courts decision could also affect other public officials convicted or accused of acts of political corruption.

The McDonnell case is about the definition of alleged official acts undertaken by McDonnell to benefit a businessman, and if those acts were actually bribes.

McDonnell and his wife were convicted under a handful of laws that make it a crime to take money or other valuable things in return for the exercise of official acts in government, at the national, state or local level. Congress, in passing those laws, however, did not specify what official acts would be covered.

The Court is considering a two-pronged question: Whether official action is limited to exercising actual governmental power, threatening to exercise such power, or pressuring others to exercise such power, and whether the jury must be so instructed; or, if not so limited, whether the Hobbs Act and honest-services fraud statute are unconstitutional.

During Aprils arguments, several Justices seemed openly skeptical of a broad definition of official acts equating to actual acts of bribery.

Federal Gun Law

Update: Court agrees with federal statute

Although not considered a major case by Court watchers, Voisine v. United States is notable as the case where Justice Clarence Thomas questioned lawyers at the bench during arguments  breaking a 10-year period of public silence at the Court.

The Voisine case is about the ability to restrict gun ownership for someone previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of recklessness. Under federal law, a person convicted of such a crime, as defined by a state, is also consider to fall under a category of conviction for domestic abuse under federal law.

Stephen Voisine was convicted in Maine of domestic assault under the states broad definition of the law for intentional, knowing, or reckless causing an assault. He was later found in possession of a rifle after his Maine conviction.

The Justices considered whether a reckless act is actually a use of force under the federal law, which probably caused some debate in private among the Justices about the definition of the word reckless. They didnt consider direct Second Amendment issues -just the interpretation of the federal statute.

During the March arguments, Thomas asked nine questions, and his first question addressed a broader issue: This is a misdemeanor violation. It suspends a constitutional right. Can you give me another area where a misdemeanor violation suspends a constitutional right?

Court watchers wouldnt be surprised if Justice Thomas says more about this question when the Voisine decision is announced on Monday.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

Constitution Check: Are the courts the answer to partisan gridlock in Washington?

Updated Supreme Court Scorecard: June 2016 Edition

Lyle Denniston joins National Constitution Center as Supreme Court correspondent
Once upon a time  that is, back in the 1990s  a lot of smart and serious people believed liberal political orders were the wave of the future and would inevitably encompass most of the globe. The United States and its democratic allies had defeated fascism and then communism, supposedly leaving humankind at the end of history. The European Union seemed like a bold experiment in shared sovereignty that had banished war from most of Europe. Indeed, many Europeans believed its unique combination of democratic institutions, integrated markets, the rule of law, and open borders made Europes civilian power an equal if not superior counterpart to the crude hard power of the United States. For its part, the United States committed itself to enlarging the sphere of democratic rule, getting rid of pesky autocrats, solidifying the democratic peace, and thereby ushering in a benevolent and enduring world order.

As youve probably noticed, the heady optimism of the 1990s has given way to a growing sense of pessimism  even alarm  about the existing liberal order. The New York Timess Roger Cohen, a thoughtful and committed liberal, believes that the forces of disintegration are on the march and the foundations of the postwar world  are trembling. An April white paper from the World Economic Forum cautions that the liberal world order is being challenged by a variety of forces  by powerful authoritarian governments and anti-liberal fundamentalist movements. And in New York magazine, Andrew Sullivan warns that the United States itself may be imperiled because it has become too democratic.

Such fears are understandable. In Russia, China, India, Turkey, Egypt  and yes, even here in the United States  one sees either resurgent authoritarianism or a yearning for a strong leader whose bold actions will sweep away present discontents. According to democracy expert Larry Diamond, between 2000 and 2015, democracy broke down in 27 countries, while many existing authoritarian regimes have become even less open, transparent, and responsive to their citizens. Great Britain has now voted to leave the EU; Poland, Hungary, and Israel are heading in illiberal directions; and one of Americas two major political parties is about to nominate a presidential candidate who openly disdains the tolerance that is central to a liberal society, repeatedly expresses racist beliefs and baseless conspiracy theories, and has even questioned the idea of an independent judiciary. For those of us committed to core liberal ideals, these are not happy times.

Story continues

I may have a realist view of international politics and foreign policy, but I take no pleasure whatsoever from these developments. Like Robert Gilpin, if pressed I would describe myself as a liberal in a realist world, by which I mean that I appreciate the virtues of a liberal society, am grateful to live in one, and think the world would in fact be a better place if liberal institutions and values were more widely  even universally  embraced. (Im deeply skeptical about our ability to accelerate that process, and especially with military force, but thats another matter). So it would have been perfectly fine with me if the liberals earlier hopes had been realized. But they werent, and its important to consider why.

The first problem was that liberalisms defenders oversold the product. We were told that if dictators kept falling and more states held free elections, defended free speech, implemented the rule of law, and adopted competitive markets, and joined the EU and/or NATO, then a vast zone of peace would be created, prosperity would spread, and any lingering political disagreements would be easily addressed within the framework of a liberal order.

When matters didnt go quite so smoothly, and when some groups in these liberal societies were in fact harmed by these developments, a degree of backlash was inevitable. It didnt help that elites in many liberal countries made some critical blunders, including the creation of the euro, the invasion of Iraq, the misguided attempt to nation-build in Afghanistan, and the 2008 financial crisis. These and other mistakes helped undermine the legitimacy of the post-Cold War order, open the door to illiberal forces, and left some segments of society vulnerable to nativist appeals.

Efforts to spread a liberal world order also faced predictable opposition from the leaders and groups who were directly threatened by our efforts. It was hardly surprising that Iran and Syria did what they could to thwart U.S. efforts in Iraq, for example, because the George W. Bush administration had made it clear these regimes were on its hit list, too. Similarly, is it that hard to fathom why Chinese and Russian leaders find Western efforts to spread liberal values threatening, or why they have taken various steps to forestall them?

Liberals also forgot that successful liberal societies require more than the formal institutions of democracy. They also depend on a broad and deep commitment to the underlying values of a liberal society, most notably tolerance. As events in Iraq, Afghanistan, and several other places demonstrate, however, writing a constitution, forming political parties, and holding free and fair elections wont produce a genuinely liberal order unless individuals and groups in society also embrace the key liberal norms as well. This sort of cultural and normative commitment cannot be developed overnight or injected from outside, and certainly not with drones, special forces, and other instruments of violence.

It is also abundantly clear that post-Cold War liberals underestimated the role of nationalism and other forms of local identity, including sectarianism, ethnicity, tribal bonds, and the like. They assumed that such atavistic attachments would gradually die out, be confined to apolitical, cultural expressions, or be adroitly balanced and managed within well-designed democratic institutions.

But it turns out that many people in many places care more about national identities, historic enmities, territorial symbols, and traditional cultural values than they care about freedom as liberals define it. And if the Brexit vote tells us anything, its that some (mostly older) voters are more easily swayed by such appeals than by considerations of pure economic rationality (at least until they feel the consequences). We may think our liberal values are universally valid, but sometimes other values will trump them (no pun intended). Such traditional sentiments will loom especially large when social change is rapid and unpredictable, and especially when once-homogeneous societies are forced to incorporate and assimilate people whose backgrounds are different and have to do so within a short span of time. Liberals can talk all they want about the importance of tolerance and the virtues of multiculturalism (and I happen to agree with them), but the reality is that blending cultures within a single polity has never been smooth or simple. The resulting tensions provide ample grist for populist leaders who promise to defend traditional values (or make the country great again). Nostalgia aint what it used to be, but it can still be a formidable political trope.

Most important of all, liberal societies are in trouble today because they are vulnerable to being hijacked by groups or individuals who take advantage of the very freedoms upon which liberal societies are based. As Donald Trump has been proving all year (and as Jean-Marie Le Pen, Recep Erdogan, Geert Wilders, and other political entrepreneurs have shown in the past), leaders or movements whose commitment to liberal principles is at best skin-deep can take advantage of the principles of open society and use it to rally a popular following. And there is nothing about a democratic order that ensures such efforts will invariably fail.

Deep down, I think this explains why so many people in the United States and in Europe are desperate to keep Uncle Sam fully engaged in Europe. Its not so much the fear of a declining but assertive Russia; its their fear of Europe itself. Liberals want Europe to remain peaceful, tolerant, democratic and embedded within the EU framework, and theyd like to pull countries like Georgia or Ukraine more fully into Europes democratic circle eventually. But deep down, they just dont trust the Europeans to manage this situation, and they fear it will all go south if the American pacifier is removed. For all of liberalisms supposed virtues, at the end of the day its defenders cannot shake the suspicion that its European version is so delicate that it requires indefinite American support. Who knows? Maybe theyre right. But unless you think the United States has infinite resources and a limitless willingness to subsidize other wealthy states defenses, then the question is: what other global priorities are liberals prepared to sacrifice in order to preserve whats left of the European order?

Photo credit: MATT CARDY/Getty Images
Lubumbashi (DR Congo) (AFP) - When 2016 rang in, Divin Lwamba, a street vendor with nine mouths to feed, says he was making up to 300 dollars a day selling samosas in Lubumbashi's main market.

With meat and vegetable samosas flying off his cart almost faster than they were made, Lwamba says he could make enough cash in a single day to stock up on food for a month.

But that was before the knock-on effect of the plunge in world copper and cobalt prices hit Lubumbashi, capital of the mineral-rich province once known as Katanga where DR Congo's lucrative mines are located.

"Since the price of copper tumbled, what I now earn each day only just covers our daily food expenses," says Lwamba, one of the tens of thousands hit by the crisis in the copperbelt of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"Today, unless I dig into my savings I can't live like I used to," he says, adding that since February he has struggled to make a third of what he used to earn.

Ranked in 2014 as the world's fifth biggest producer of copper and top in cobalt, the DR Congo saw strong economic growth powered by its mining industry from 2010 to 2014.

But last year growth slowed sharply due to the global slump in commodity prices triggered by an economic slowdown in China.

The government in Kinshasa now expects growth this year to slow to 6.6 percent.

In a ripple effect, the problems currently faced by the mining companies in the vast nation's southeast region are also harming economic activity in Lubumbashi, the country's second city.

The Chamber of Mines there estimates that copper production dropped by 11.6 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with 2015, while cobalt mining fell by 16.3 percent.

Several mining firms have halted work, in some cases permanently.

And there is no sign of a rebound. While other commodities are experiencing their best start since 2008, Bloomberg reports that copper ranks as the worst of the major metals in its commodity index. Copper prices have swung over the past year from 195 to 267 dollars per pound.

Story continues

- Chinese are gone -

The Chamber of Mines estimates that mining companies have cut 3,000 jobs, while subcontractors have laid off more than 10,000 workers.

But such statistics give only limited insight into the full extent of the crisis in a country where most of the population lives in severe poverty.

Analysts say one job lost in mining or linked to subcontractors affects a minimum of 10 other people.

Dieudonne Kisimba Selemani, administrator of Congo Steel Mills, meanwhile said he believed that each job in the formal mining sector provides for the needs of 20 people, because of the strong tradition of family support in DR Congo.

His company, which provides reinforced steel for mining facilities, has been forced to lay off a third of its employees in the past few months and now has a workforce of no more than 200.

Many former clients have shut up shop and "no rush took place" when Congo Steel Mills tried to drum up more business by slashing 15 percent off prices, Kisimba said.

Nowadays the industrial district of Lubumbashi is strikingly quiet, while across the street from the steel firm, the land formerly occupied by Congo Wise Mining is vacant.

"The Chinese (who ran the firm) left in February. Everybody was sacked," a watchman said.

The watchman showed AFP an open-cast quarry a few hundred metres distant, where the dismissed workers joined others scrabbling to collect loads of gravel for sale to construction firms.

At the market, Lwamba's colleagues also say business has slowed sharply.

Therese Nkolo says she has divided her prices by three since February but "rarely" sells anything and is struggling to feed her two children and pay her fares.

"At the end of the day, I now accept any price offered on condition that nothing goes unsold," admits Berthe Kalanga from behind two tubs of fresh fish.
A New Jersey mother was arrested Saturday after her six-year-old accidentally and fatally shot his four-year-old brother in the head, officials said, marking the latest grim instances of children as both the shooter and victim.

The older child was playing with his mothers gun at an East Orange home about 11 a.m. when it accidentally went off, city spokeswoman Connie Jackson told NJ Advance Media. The four-year-old later died at a Newark hospital.

Itiyanah Spruill, the 22-year-old mother of both children, was at home during the time of the shooting, Jackson said. Its unclear how the boy got a hold of the gun. Spruill was arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and a weapons violation in connection with the death, according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and East Orange Public Safety Director Sheilah Coley.

East Orange Mayor Lester E. Taylor III said the shooting was a terribly unfortunate incident. In a statement, he added, Our thoughts are with him and his family.

The tragedy stunned neighbors, including one who reflected on recent incidents involving children accidentally getting their hands on guns. This is crazy, neighbor Vania Limage told CBS New York. Thats been going on in the news over and over where you hear about those incidents going on. So people should not have a gun around a four-year-old and a six-year-old.

[NJ]
Prague (AFP) - The Czech foreign minister on Sunday accused Jean-Claude Juncker of failing to try to stop Britain's departure from the bloc, suggesting the European Commission chief should quit.

"Right now I can't see the European Commission chairman as the right man for the job," Lubomir Zaoralek said in a debate on public Czech Television.

"I don't want to call on anyone (to quit), but... someone in the EU maybe should contemplate quitting, because (Brexit) is a responsibility someone should have assumed," he added.

Zaoralek echoed Juncker in saying Britain should now act fast to leave the EU, but he accused the Luxembourger of inactivity ahead of the referendum held Thursday.

"I would imagine the Commission is led by an honourable, trustworthy man who, in a situation when we are facing the loss of a leg or arm, might go to the country and tell the Britons: 'We want you to stay'."

"And I'm asking: did this happen or not?" Zaoralek said.

The leftwing minister also said Juncker was not the only one to blame as "the problem of European elites is bigger."
Day one: Why Im traveling to Liberia, Morocco, and Spain to #LetGirlsLearn

Day one: Why Im traveling to Liberia, Morocco, and Spain to #LetGirlsLearn

This week, Ill be traveling to Africa  to Liberia and Morocco  and then to Spain to highlight an issue I care deeply about: global girls education  the fact that right now, more than 62 million girls around the world arent in school.

I know it can be hard to wrap your mind around such an overwhelming statistic, especially since, growing up here in the U.S., we all just take it for granted that well get a free public education through high school. But in many parts of the world, thats simply not the case  particularly for girls.

Sometimes the problem is resources. Unlike in the U.S., in many countries parents are required to pay school fees and cover the cost of books and uniforms, and a large number of families simply cant afford to send their daughters to school. Sometimes girls live in remote villages hours from the nearest school, and they have no safe way to get there each day. And sometimes there is a school nearby, but it might not have adequate bathroom facilities for girls  or girls might not be able to afford pads or tampons  so they have to stay home every time they have their period.

Just think about that for a minute. Imagine what high school would have been like if you missed a week of school every month because of your menstrual cycle. Imagine how far behind you would have fallen. Thats exactly what happens in many parts of the world  after missing so much class, girls just cant keep up, and they wind up dropping out.

But often, the issue isnt just money and infrastructure, its also attitudes and beliefs  whether families and communities think girls are worthy of an education, or whether they believe girls should be kept at home to help with household labor, or should be married off young, sometimes before theyre even teenagers.

For me, this is where this issue gets personal, because as Ive traveled around the world, I have met so many of these girls. And I can tell you, these girls are ambitious  they dream of being doctors, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs  just like girls here in the U.S. And these girls are hardworking. They get up before dawn and spend hours cooking, cleaning, and harvesting their families crops. Then they walk miles to and from school and study for hours at night by candlelight, determined to seize any opportunity to learn.

Story continues

So just imagine the heartbreak they feel when, at the age of 11 or 12, someone tells them, Sorry, no more school for you. Forget all those dreams you have for yourself and get ready to marry a man twice your age and start having children of your own. Imagine how you would have felt if someone had said that to you when you were a girl.

Its unthinkable, right? But today, that is the fate of millions of girls around the world. And I simply cannot accept that  none of us should.

Like for many of you, my own education was everything for me. Neither of my parents had gone to college, but they pushed me to succeed in high school and apply to college and law school, where I learned how to think analytically, write clearly, and advocate forcefully for myself and others. And those degrees led to opportunities my parents never could have imagined for themselves.

I believe every girl on this planet should have that same opportunity to fulfill her promise and shape her own destiny. And we know that giving girls that chance doesnt just transform their life prospects  it transforms the prospects of their families and their countries too, since girls who are educated earn higher salaries, raise healthier families, and can even boost their countries economies with their contributions to the workforce.

Thats why, last year, President Obama and I launched Let Girls Learn, an initiative to help adolescent girls worldwide attend school.

As part of that effort, this week, Ill be meeting with young women in Liberia and Morocco to highlight their stories and to announce major new investments that the U.S. Government will be making to help girls in these two countries get an education. Ill be joined by award-winning actresses and education advocates, Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto, and by an outstanding CNN correspondent named Isha Sesay, who are working together to create a CNN film highlighting the stories of girls who are struggling to get an education.

Finally, Ill be ending my trip in Spain where Ill be giving a speech to a group of young women who are in high school and college, and Ill be urging them to do their part to help girls worldwide attend school. And thats really the key point I want to make during this trip to young women like you here at home: You have the power, right now, to step up and be a champion for those 62 million girls who arent in school. You have everything you need right now to raise awareness about their stories and to support their efforts to get an education.

If you follow this blog over the course of this week, youll get a window into these girls lives  youll learn about their challenges, their successes, their hopes and dreams  and youll find out what you can do to help them get the education they need and deserve. So I hope youll join me. Ill be posting daily here on HelloGiggles as well as on Twitter (@FLOTUS), Instagram (@MichelleObama), and Snapchat (MichelleObama). And you can go to 62MillionGirls.com to start learning more about global girls education today.

The post Day one: Why Im traveling to Liberia, Morocco, and Spain to #LetGirlsLearn appeared first on HelloGiggles.
By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A massive wildfire burning out of control in the foothills of central California has left at least 150 homes in ruins and damaged another 75, officials said on Saturday, warning that more residents may be forced to flee the advancing flames. The so-called Erskine fire, which broke out on Thursday some 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Bakersfield in Kern County, has already claimed at least two lives, sent three firefighters to the hospital and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. More than 1,100 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze, which has blackened some 35,700 acres and was zero percent contained as of Saturday afternoon. California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency for Kern County. "It is a vicious wildfire. We are going to be committed to this for some time," Captain Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department told CNN. "A lot of communities are still in danger." Crews were working in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames that were fueled by hot, dry weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by California's devastating five-year drought. Officials have not identified the two people killed in the huge conflagration, one of the worst in an already intense fire season in California. The Los Angeles Times reported that investigators had found what they believed to be the remains of a third victim at a mobile home in the community of South Lake. "We are treating it like a crime scene. It appears to be one set of human remains, pretty badly burned," Kern County Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt told the paper. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told a Friday evening press conference that more fatalities could be discovered once authorities are able to search burned-out neighborhoods with cadaver dogs. Authorities say the cause of the fire remains unknown. "My heart goes out to everyone here who has lost a home and my heart goes out to the family that perished yesterday in the fire," Sergeant Henry Bravo of the sheriff's office told evacuees at a community meeting on Saturday. On Friday, authorities warned the more than 3,000 residents of the community of Lake Isabella on the shore of a reservoir to be prepared to evacuate. Southeast of Lake Isabella, dozens of burned-out homes and car frames were left behind in a neighborhood reduced to a field of mangled metal and collapsed roofs. To the south, firefighters were struggling to manage the so-called San Gabriel Complex fire in the foothills of Los Angeles County. There were two fires that started on Friday and cover a combined 5,285 acres, fire officials said. Containment was at nearly 50 percent for both blazes. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas, Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio and Tom Brown)
"We join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible, so we don't end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and the work toward it," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said following the meeting.

The ministers of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg said in a joint statement that they expected the British government "to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible," after Britons voted Friday to quit the bloc.

Leaders of the six European Union founding countries gathered in Berlin Saturday morning for an impromptu meeting to discuss the future of the European Union, and called on Britain to begin exit negotiations as quickly as possible.

He stressed the meeting was not "an exclusive format," and instead several issues were discussed, including the refugee crisis, unemployment woes and EU security. Steinmeier also called on the remaining EU countries to adhere to "the spirit of the founders," which was to avoid conflict following World War Two.

Speaking to reporters Saturday at a news conference in Potsdam, outside Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the negotiations with Britain should not take the form of a deterrent to other countries, adding that there was no hurry for London to trigger the exiting process. "Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight over a short period of time," Merkel said.

French President Francois Hollande said Saturday from Elysee palace in Paris that he regretted the decision of the British people to quit the bloc, but had to accept it because "that is democracy." Britain should leave the EU in an orderly fashion, he added.

Hollande's guest, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said that Britain and the EU "will now have to start intensive talks to define the steps to take. I am confident that these talks will take place in a positive and pragmatic way."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault earlier said that "there is a certain urgency... so that we don't have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences."

Meanwhile, Britain's EU commissioner, Jonathan Hill, announced his resignation, saying that it would not be right to continue after the British vote. Hill said he was very disappointed by the referendum result, but "what is done cannot be undone."

Hill said in a statement that he started his job skeptical of the EU but leaves it "certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy."

Hill said he will work with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to ensure there is an "orderly handover."

Juncker said he regretted the resignation of Hill and wanted "the British commissioner to be in charge of financial services," as a sign of his confidence in Britain's membership of the European Union, adding that to his regret, "this situation is now changing."

Juncker said he would transfer Hill's responsibilities to Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commissioner from Latvia.
The comment last spring was startling, coming as it did from NATOs commander. Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration from Syria in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, since retired, said of Moscows Vladimir Putin and his long-time ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Immigration from inside the European Union, as well as the nearly 5 million fleeing Syrias civil war, no doubt played a role in the U.K.s historic vote last Thursday to bail out of the E.U. While there were expressions of shock across European capitals as well as Washington, there were half-hidden smiles from inside the Kremlin. Thats because any increase in internal European tensions following Brexit can only benefit Putins Russia.

The consequences will be global. They are inevitable, Putin said following the vote. They will be both positive and negative.

The vote exposes cracks in Europe that could make it tougher to impose economic sanctions on Russia for its actions in Crimea and Ukraine. I am concerned about a more fragmented Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday. But it is important now to look forward and work with leaders in NATO and the European Union to make sure we both strengthen NATO as a platform for European cooperation. NATO officials had repeatedly declared before the vote that a British departure from the 28-member E.U.largely an economic and political unionwould hurt the continents stability, but took pains afterward to declare NATOa 28-state military allianceto be the true guarantor of Europes security.

Thats why the looming North Atlantic summit in Warsaw, starting July 8, will be closely watched. Now that Great Britain has made clear it wants to pull back from Europe, will it also trim its defense spending? The U.K. is one of the handful of European nations spending 2% of its gross domestic product on its military and has been the E.U.s mightiest military power. Not only will Britain likely be a weaker ally in the aftermath of Brexit, but Europe will also be feebler, Kori Schake, a fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, writes at Foreign Policy. But not everyone concurs. Brexit, counter-intuitive as it might sound, will likely produce a stronger NATO, argues ex-NATO chief James Stavridis.

Story continues

But his is a rare voice. Since World War II, the United States, aided principally by Britain, has worked to reduce the potential for international conflict, with particular success in Europe; encourage democratic governance; promote free markets; and lift billions of people out of poverty, the New York Times noted in its lead editorial on Sunday. A crucial brick in that system is now in danger of being removed.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter spoke Friday with his counterpart, U.K. defense minister Michael Fallon, to stress the two nations military resolve despite Brexit. Carter emphasized that the United States and the United Kingdom will always enjoy a special relationship, one reflected in our close defense ties, which remain a bedrock of U.S. security and foreign policy, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said.

Ever since World War II, Washington and London have toasted the special relationship that has seen them standing shoulder-to-shoulder on a wide variety of international-security issues. And while leaders in both nations have said Brexit will not change that relationship, the leaderswhose urgings that Britain remain in the U.K. came to naughtcould be wrong here as well.
Donald Trump

Donald Trump got back to touting his proposed immigration policies in a series of tweets Saturday night  the same day he pulled back on his original calls for blanket bans on Muslim immigration to the US.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said "We must suspend immigration from regions linked with terrorism until a proven vetting method is in place."

He also insisted that he only wants to admit "those who love our people and support our values."

Earlier Saturday, CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond, tweeted that Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks clarified that he does not support banning all foreign Muslims  just those from "terror states."

The clarification comes after the businessman was hit hard by Democrats and his own party for comments he has made suggesting that mass deportations were needed in order to keep America safe.

Trump backed away from the term "mass deportation," but only so much:

I have never liked the media term 'mass deportation' -- but we must enforce the laws of the land!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2016

The GOP candidate's latest proposals come in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre, in which 49 people were killed by a New York-born man whose parents are from Afghanistan.

Trump points to the killings  the worst on US soil since the September 11 attacks  as proof that his proposals to keep some Muslims out of the US are necessary. He had words about President Barack Obama, too:

Obama has blocked ICE officers and BP from doing their jobs. That ends when I am President!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2016

Obama, growing increasingly exasperated with Trump's rhetoric, tore into him last week, saying "We don't have time for charlatans, and we don't have time for hatred, and we don't have time for bigotry."

Story continues

"We don't have time for just popping off and saying just whatever comes to the top of our heads," Obama added.

NOW WATCH: Obama slams Trumps half-baked plan to make Mexico pay for a US border wall





More From Business Insider


Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has found himself the victim on the business end of one of his favorite lines of attack: low poll numbers.

After a month of heavy criticism for the self-congratulations he offered himself following a deadly mass shooting in Orlando, racist attacks on a Mexican-American judge and collapsing Republican Party support, the GOP billionaire has fallen 12 points behind his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

While roughly half of respondents were "anxious" about the prospect of President Clinton, "in a head-to-head general election matchup, Clinton leads Trump 51 percent to 39 percent among registered voters nationwide, the poll found," the Post wrote. "This is Clinton's largest lead in Post-ABC polling since last fall and a dramatic reversal from last month's survey, which found the race nearly even, with Trump at 46% and Clinton at 44%."

The poll also found 62% of Americans believe Republican leaders should speak out against Trump when they disagree with his views, 64% believe Trump is not qualified to be president and 70% of voters are anxious about the prospect of the real-estate billionaire seizing the presidency. Just 28% of those polled felt Trump has a "better personality and temperament" than Clinton for the nation's highest office.

The bad poll numbers follow on the heels of other very bad news for the Republican candidate.

For comparison's sake, Donald Trump is running for president and has $1.29M COH. Bill de Blasio has about $891K COH.pic.twitter.com/wwJ0QtCIdT https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClcUlW6XEAkbXO0.jpg:large

Earlier this week, monthly FEC filings revealed Trump's presidential campaign had just $1.3 million in the bank  and $45.7 million in debt, owed mostly to himself.

Story continues

"It's mindblowing," Republican strategist and Trump opponent Rick Wilson told Mic, "and it's a staggering indictment of not only how inept and weak he is as a real candidate, but how his enablers at the [Republican National Committee] have ignored this nightmare until it's almost too late."

The Post-ABC News poll isn't the only to show a precipitous drop in support for Trump. Since late May, Trump has fallen dramatically against Clinton in an average of polls kept by Real Clear Politics.
donald trump

After a week that began with a major staff shakeup and a dismal report on his finances, Donald Trump is taking a hit on one of his favorite stump-speech topics: His poll numbers.

A new Washington Post/ABC poll published on Sunday found Trump trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by double digits in head-to-head matchups nationally among adults.

Support for Trump fell from 46% in May to 39% in June, while Clinton's support jumped from 44% to 51%  a 14-point month-to-month swing.

Almost two-thirds of voters said he is not qualified to serve as president, while 70% of respondents said the thought of him as president makes them "anxious."

The Post/ABC poll published Sunday is the latest in a series of surveys showing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee pulling ahead of her Republican counterpart in national surveys.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll also published on Sunday found the real-estate magnate trailed Clinton by 5 points, down from 3 points in May, while a Reuters survey on Saturday found Clinton ahead by 13 points among likely voters.

Following the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub earlier this month, Trump appeared to experience a brief, slight bump in popularity. But more recent surveys found that Trump's toxic image among female and minority voters was hindering him from gaining an edge over Clinton.

A Monmouth University poll released last week found that 49% of registered voters thought that it is "very important" to make sure Trump is not elected president, while 41% of respondents felt similarly about Clinton.

For his part, Trump maintained that reporters were over-analyzing his poor national poll numbers.

In a "Today" show interview last Tuesday, the real-estate magnate noted that he is still tied with Clinton in battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, despite tough news cycles that focused on his inflammatory comments about a federal judge and his response to the Orlando shooting.

Story continues

"I'm right there, with the horrible few weeks I've had with the press," Trump said. "Pennsylvania, Ohio  we're practically even," Trump said.

But while analysts tend to agree that surveys of key battleground states are more important to watch as Election Day nears, some point out that national polls can give a good sense of the electorate's mood before pollsters begin increasing the number of state polls.

"Generally, it would be ideal to watch battlegrounds such as Ohio/Florida/Pennsylvania. However, state polls are sparse," Princeton University polling expert Samuel Wang told Business Insider in an email earlier this month. "This year's states are mostly correlated with 2012, so there's no realignment. This means that watching national numbers is probably a reasonable substitute."

NOW WATCH: TRUMP SPOKESWOMAN: Why the Republican Party has 'miserably failed'





More From Business Insider


Dutch anti-cigarette campaigners Thursday launched a lawsuit against the government calling for an end to spaces reserved for smokers in cafes and bars.

Despite a general ban on smoking in restaurants, pubs and bars introduced in 2008, more than 25 percent of the country's cafes still have an enclosed area inside where patrons can legally light up, campaigners say.



"More cafes are creating designated smoking areas. That doesn't fix the problem, it is working the other way around," Floris Van Galen, the lawyer for Clean Air Nederland told AFP.



"We have a smoking ban, but if there are more designated smoking areas in cafes, people will see others smoking, younger people will be tempted to enter the smoking area to also start smoking."



The organisation says that the number of smoking areas in cafes shot up from 19 percent in 2014 to 25 percent in 2015.



Under Dutch law, cafes which are smaller than 70 square metres (753 square feet) can set aside a screened-off area for smokers behind floor-to-ceiling glass windows.



But it must be less attractively decorated than the rest of the cafe, and no food or drink is allowed to be served inside.



The Netherlands is a signatory to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control signed by 168 states and which entered into force in February 2005.



And Clean Air Nederland put forward the convention as the basis for its argument in court for a total ban.



But lawyers for the government said it is working "as part of a process" towards the "final result in which there are no cigarettes in 100 percent of all public places" adding no deadline had been set to implement a total ban.



The existing arrangements meant "people can go to these places and not be bothered by cigarette smoke," said lawyer Bert-Jan Houtzagers.



The court in The Hague is due to deliver its ruling in about six weeks.
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt cancelled a high school final exam on Sunday after papers for it were leaked online, the education ministry said, in the latest such incident this month.

The exam in applied mathematics would instead be held next Saturday, it said, and other tests in geology, history, and pure mathematics were rescheduled.

The prosecutor's office said on Sunday that the state security prosecution would handle the issue as it affected "the state's highest interests".

The latest case comes after Education Minister El-Helaly el-Sherbeeny said this month that the government would punish anyone involved in leaking exam papers after answers to tests appeared online.

Sherbeeny said previously that those found guilty of cheating or of leaking tests could be fined up to 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,600, 4,900 euros) and face jail terms of up to three years.

He spoke days after a religious studies test also had to be rescheduled when answers were leaked online just 90 minutes before students were due to sit the exam.

Several Facebook pages that have shared exam answers say they are doing so to push for high school reform, including raising teachers' wages and upgrading outdated curricula.

The interior ministry has reported arresting several people -- including education ministry officials -- over the leaks.

The high school education system is frequently criticised in Egypt and is widely seen as corrupt, with the wealthy and well-connected allegedly receiving preferential treatment.
Brussels (AFP) - European leaders embark this week on a frantic drive to push Britain into a quick divorce, with top US diplomat John Kerry rushing to join discussions as the "Brexit" crisis goes global.

Germany's powerful Chancellor Angela Merkel will host the leaders of France, Italy and the European Union in Berlin on Monday amid fears Britain's vote to leave will create a domino effect in eurosceptic member states.

In what promises to be one of the bitterest summits in the EU's history, British Prime Minister David Cameron will then face huge pressure in Brussels on Tuesday to immediately trigger the two-year exit process.

But Cameron, who has said he will resign by October and leave the negotiations to his successor, is not expected to trigger the Article 50 mechanism to leave the EU when he meets his European peers, a senior bloc official said.

The British premier is to be left out in the cold on the second day of the summit on Wednesday when the other 27 EU leaders meet without him.

With a dismayed Washington fearing key ally Britain's decision to leave the EU will harm Western unity, Kerry flies in to Brussels and London on Monday.

"An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today," Kerry said after talks in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

"Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU."

- Cameron to 'explain' at summit -

For European powers the priority is to divorce as soon as possible and stabilise a union that is already struggling with growing anti-EU populism, a migration crisis and economic woes.

Merkel has said there was "no reason to be nasty" in Britain's exit negotiations.

But there are increasing fears in London that an impatient EU will want to make an example of Britain to discourage others thinking about a referendum of their own.

Story continues

Sources in the French presidency said Merkel and Francois Hollande spoke by phone Sunday and were "in full agreement on how to handle the situation" created by the referendum outcome.

Both leaders "want the greatest clarity to avoid any uncertainty" after the Brexit vote, said a source close to Hollande.

Merkel and Hollande will hold further talks when they meet in Berlin on Monday for talks that will also include Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

The German and French leaders will also meet separately with EU president Donald Tusk, for discussions likely to also focus on a plan for reforms to stem the tide of populist anger against the EU.

Hollande stressed earlier Sunday that France and Germany, seen as the twin motors of the EU, should take the initiative to prevent the loss of the peace and prosperity the bloc has brought.

"A friendly country, an allied country with whom we have so many ties has just decided to leave our union, the European Union, which we believed to be indestructible and indissoluble," he said.

In Brussels on Tuesday, Cameron must run the gauntlet of his fellow leaders who just four months ago backed a deal meant to keep Britain in the EU, and will now be talking to a lame-duck leader who failed to convince his own country to stay.

- Britain out in the cold -

Cameron will "explain the situation in the UK after the referendum" at the EU summit dinner on Tuesday, according to a invitation letter sent by Tusk to the 28 leaders.

European Parliament chief Martin Schulz, who will also be present, urged Cameron to begin the formal proceedings to leave and warned that failure to do so will risk jobs across the bloc.

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," Schulz told Bild am Sonntag.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."

Triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty -- which has never been used before -- starts a two-year clock ticking on a formal exit arrangement.

Britain will also have to negotiate trade deals and other aspects of its future relationship with the EU.

On Wednesday, the other 27 leaders will meet "informally" without Cameron to "discuss the so called 'divorce process'" and "start a discussion on the future of the European Union with 27 Member States," Tusk's letter says.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned at the weekend that it would not be an "amicable" divorce.
Berlin (AFP) - The European Parliament's chief called Sunday for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week.

Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," he said.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."

The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".

They added that "no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been completed".

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave the Brexit negotiations to his successor.

To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.

The first step is to inform the European Council of member states which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.

The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.

Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding states meeting in Berlin on Saturday urged Britain to begin the exit process "as soon as possible".

Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, was more cautious, saying it was up to Britain to decide when to begin withdrawal proceedings, although they should not "drag on forever".

Story continues

"There is no reason to be nasty in the negotiations. We have to follow the rules of the game," she said Saturday.

Her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, told German public radio Sunday said he did not believe that Cameron would start the Brexit process on Tuesday.

"I have no indication that will happen. I tend to think that the application will be filed in the coming weeks or months, possibly only by a new government," he said.

After it has been formed, the new British government will "then sort itself out and, as the case may be, present its application. We should all wait calmly for that".
With its deserted casinos, ice-cream parlours and seagulls circling above a lofty Victorian pier, the English seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea is like a postcard for the Britain of yesteryear.

Nostalgia for the domestic beach tourism heyday of the 1940s-1980s is palpable in this small Essex resort, the unlikely epicentre of a eurosceptic wave that peaked on Thursday with Britain's stunning decision to pull out of the EU.



Clacton's local area, a bastion of the UK Independence Party of top anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage, voted 69.5 percent to 30.5 percent in favour of leaving the union.



But many residents say that, though they believe a Brexit holds the promise of a brighter future, the road ahead will be rocky.



Feelings still ran high between octogenarian sisters Pauleen and Margaret who were out for a spot of fresh air, both moving with the aid of walking frames, a day after the momentous vote.



Pauline, 87, voted for Brexit, while Margaret, 85, voted to continue Britain's 43-year dalliance with the EU.



For Margaret, the page was turned too easily. "We should have stayed with the devil we know. She's happy, I'm not," she said.



For Pauline, it was good riddance. "I spend my money in my country, not abroad," she explained.



The city, which boasts the only UKIP MP in Britain, thanks largely to the grey vote, was once a booming resort, but has since fallen on hard times with little to entertain visitors other than slot machines.



Its tourist destination days began in 1871 with the construction of its pier, still the town's centrepiece, which drew holidaymakers and day-trippers from London.



But cheap holidays to Spain ended the boom years.



The area now has 40 percent unemployment, ranking 29th out of 632 constituencies in Britain, and is the second most-aged town in the country, with 31.3 percent of the population 65 or over.



"I don't like David Cameron, I knew he'd resign that's why I voted out," explained local Brexit supporter Christine Mason, 58.



"The other European countries are going to do the same," predicted Terry Lovadaw, a 57-year-old shop supervisor.



"There'll be more jobs. I think we have to give England its own chance, in the future..., it'll be better," he added.



- 'Give us 10 years' -

For Elaine Norman, 61, and Sylvia Middleditch, 63 -- another set of sisters -- there was no discord, with both seeing a Brexit vote as "saving our country".



"There is no infrastructure and work for anyone, whether from the UK or the EU," said Elaine, whose abiding memories of the Europe will be "promises, over and over".



"It's going to be hard, very hard," she accepted. "But give us 10 years we will certainly not be worse off, and then our children, and our children's children, will see."



The pair accused young people, most of whom voted to remain within the EU, of apathy.



"They don't see the future, we remember what it was before," said Elaine.



Builder Robin Francis, 52, warned that "tiny" Britain was "running out of room".



"We don't want all the foreigners to come in," he said. "Within five years we'll be back on our feet, we'll keep our borders."



Evie Allan, 15, was one of the few people met by AFP to sing the EU's praises.



"It's all I've known," the teen, who is not yet eligible to vote, told AFP. "We don't know what lies ahead, but Britain is going to regret it."
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Stalemate between Britain and the European Union over what happens next following Britons' referendum vote to leave has opened up a host of possible scenarios. Here are some that are (in some cases, barely) conceivable: 1. BY THE BOOK Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he will resign after losing his gamble to end British ambivalence about staying in, agrees with the EU establishment that the only legal way to leave is to use Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to negotiate a withdrawal. He wants to leave triggering the process to his successor, who may not be chosen by the Conservative party until October. EU leaders want him to do it now, or at least as soon as possible, but they lack the legal power to force him. In the most amicable divorce scenario, Britain would trigger Article 50, possibly (though unlikely now) as early as Tuesday when Cameron meets the other 27 EU leaders at a Brussels summit, or via a formal letter later from Cameron or his successor. That sets a two-year time limit on negotiating an amicable withdrawal. Ideally, it would divide up assets and liabilities in the shared EU budget and other priority business, such as perhaps the status of British and other EU citizens who find themselves living on the wrong side of a hard new UK-EU border. In an even more ideal world, it would set out a new, close economic relationship between Britain and the EU, possibly in a separate, parallel treaty taking effect from the exit date. The withdrawal treaty can be enacted by just 20 of the 27 other states representing 65 percent of the remaining population. A full new relationship would probably need unanimous support. Two years is very tight but the negotiations can be extended if all 28 countries agree. If there is no deal, then Britain is simply out of the EU two years after Article 50 was triggered -- an outcome written in to the treaty to limit uncertainties. REALLY? TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. THE EU IS NEVER THIS EASY 2. SORRY, WE DIDN'T MEAN IT Britain is in political meltdown, with both main parties in civil war and pro-EU Scotland threatening to either block Brexit legally (unclear how) or break away. The referendum result is not constitutionally binding and government and parliament, maybe after a new election, could just ignore it. If so, the EU would carry on as before but a special membership deal it gave Cameron in February has been killed by the referendum result. REALLY? PUSHES DEMOCRATIC CREDIBILITY BEYOND BREAKING POINT 3. WE MEAN IT, BUT NOT YET Brexit campaigners have long been suspicious of the two-year limit in Article 50 and some have explicitly said it should only formally be triggered AFTER they have agreed a comprehensive free trade deal that relieves Britain of EU rules such as open EU immigration. Five years or more is the norm globally for such big trade deals. Britain would be a full EU member until then. That is a nightmare scenario for EU leaders, plunging the bloc into open-ended negotiations with its second biggest power that would inspire eurosceptics across the bloc to emulate it and distract governments from other pressing European issues. They rule out opening any negotiation until Britain binds itself to the timetable set out in Article 50. And they insist Britain cannot have its cake on market access and still eat it by ending EU budget payments and free movement of workers. In theory, there could be an endless standoff, with Britain the sulky teenager at the table, poisoning the atmosphere next year as France and Germany run elections and the EU starts confrontational talks on a new 7-year budget. Something would have to give and some compromise would start to be worked out. REALLY? COMPROMISE IS THE EU WAY; DON'T RULE THIS OUT 4. WE MEAN IT -- OR MAYBE WE DIDN'T Article 50 suggests a one-way exit, rather than a revolving door. EU officials insist that once triggered, a state cannot back out and stay. It is not entirely clear, however. Could a future British government conclude that the best settlement to divorce proceedings is just to stay married, if others agree? REALLY? SEE SCENARIO 2, BUT WITH ADDED FADING OF MEMORIES 5. CAN WE JUST TWEAK THIS QUICKLY? Some Brexit campaigners have suggested that the Leave vote simply serve as leverage to renegotiate better, semi-detached terms for Britain inside the EU which could be put to another referendum. EU leaders have ruled that out on the same grounds as above that "cherry picking" will spread and wreck the Union. Cameron's deal, to protect the City of London from the euro zone and curb EU immigration, has been killed by a clause that linked it to last week's referendum result. So any talks would start from a lower base and EU leaders would have to eat their words. But some kind of "associate membership" or "special partnership" has been around as an idea in Europe for a time. REALLY? SEE 4, BUT NEVER SAY NEVER IN EURO-COMPROMISE LAND 6. LET'S JUST SLIP INTO SOMETHING MORE COMFORTABLE Britain could try to join the European Economic Area or European Free Trade Association, joining the likes of Norway, Switzerland or Iceland in close partnerships with the EU. That could fly with the EU but British leaders would have to persuade Brexit voters to agree to the EU budget contributions and migrants that are accepted by some of those countries. It also would lack the kind of EU market access for services trade which is so important to Britain's big financial sector. A more tailor-made deal would bring things back to earlier scenarios. REALLY? DOESN'T SEEM TO BE WHAT BRITONS WANT, AT LEAST NOW 7. WHY DON'T WE START AGAIN? One extreme view is that the fallout from Brexit in the EU might be so cataclysmic that Europeans would go back to the drawing board and effectively create a new kind of Union that could include Britain. Marshalling disparate national ambitions into a new structure would be a colossal task, not least in the wake of the bitterness that the current crisis has engendered. REALLY? A DEFINITE LONG SHOT, NOT ONE FOR THE NEAR FUTURE 8. SECOND TIME LUCKY? Some people who voted to Leave have said that if it doesn't work outside, Britain could always join the EU again. That is true, though it would get no favors. It would face a years-long accession process and require unanimous acceptance by existing members and have to accept a host of conditions that Britain has opted out of during its past 43 years -- notably adopting the euro and a virtually 50-percent rebate on EU membership fees. REALLY? ONE FOR THE (VERY LONG-LIVED) BIRDS 9. ROOM FOR A LITTLE ONE? Some Scots hope to avoid Brexit by breaking from England. An idea that an independent Scotland could somehow simply sit in the vacant UK chair in Brussels is dismissed by EU officials. At the time of the 2014 independence referendum, the EU said Scotland could apply for membership but would go to the "back of the queue", behind the likes of Serbia, and that its hope of keeping the pound rather than the euro was a non-starter. There is some sympathy for Scots losing their place in the EU but also deep suspicion of secession, especially in Spain, Belgium and Italy, which have their own separatist problems. And a veto. REALLY? NOT SOON, BUT SCOTLAND COULD JOIN THE EU ONE DAY 10. SLAMMING THE DOOR A new British government simply walks out. It could launch Article 50 and leave legally in 2019 without any negotiation. It could also ignore the two-year notice period and tear up its treaty obligations and quit right away, though that would undermine its credibility as a party to international law. There is, however, nothing the EU can do to prevent that. It could retaliate on trade or against Britons living in the EU, however much that would create a painful tit-for-tat that would badly hurt Europe's economy and citizens. Nonetheless, EU leaders fear that letting Brexit Britain walk all over them will only inspire other European nationalists to destroy the Union. REALLY? THREAT OF MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION THEN DETENTE? <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ European Parliament on Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/577971/EPRS_BRI(2016)577971_EN.pdf ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; editing by Anna Willard)
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Following are answers to key questions on what will happen next in Britain's relations with the European Union following its referendum vote to leave: 1. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? The EU is in shock and entering uncharted territory. No member state has ever left, and Article 50 of the EU treaty, which sets out how a state can exit the bloc, offers little detail. Although it provides a sketchy legal framework for a two-year period of withdrawal (see below), many believe it will take longer to establish a new trading relationship between Britain and the EU. Some fear the process will become bitter, disrupting the economy and European affairs across the board. There is already a tug-of-war over Britain delivering the formal notice to quit that will set the two-year clock ticking. Prime Minister David Cameron, who said before the vote that Article 50 would be triggered straight away, announced on Friday he would resign and leave that task to a successor who may not be chosen by the Conservative party until October. One potential successor, Boris Johnson, sees no rush. Some Brexit campaigners argue for negotiating a comprehensive new relationship with the EU, including access for British business to the EU market, before triggering the mechanism, which states Britain must leave with no deal at all if none is agreed within two years. EU leaders demand Cameron start the clock immediately but are divided on whether that means days or, maybe, a few months. In any case, they see no way to force his hand, beyond appeals to his "honour" and that he respect the will of his own voters. A deal Cameron struck with EU leaders in February to curb EU immigration, protect London finance interests from the euro zone and opt out of "ever closer union" has been killed by the referendum result, and EU leaders have ruled out new talks on a different form of British EU membership - "Leave means leave". The stalemate essentially results from dilemmas on either side: Whoever speaks for Britain wants to be seen to honour the referendum result and also get the best possible EU trade deal, which it is unlikely can be negotiated in just two years; the EU is anxious for minimum economic disruption, which implies a fast move to a new deal with Britain but fears conceding anything new to London will trigger a domino effect wrecking the whole Union. Many EU officials see two treaties with Britain being worked on in parallel: a "divorce" pact under Article 50, unwinding the EU budget for example, which would have to be agreed by a weighted majority of the 27 others and done in under two years; and a separate deal on a new economic relationship that would require unanimous acceptance by the bloc and which most expect would take longer to complete. That mechanistic approach may not give the kind of smooth transition leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel say they want and Brussels' creative officials and diplomats are certain to consider a range of flexible options. The two-year limit is intended to shorten uncertainty but can be dodged: the leave notice could be held back; a unanimous decision by all 28 states can extend it (though many question how feasible that unanimity is); and one EU official has said a departure treaty negotiated within two years, and approved by a majority, might carry a delayed action clause to bring it into effect only later, once a broader new relationship was agreed. There are a number of options open to Britain, including to maintain access to EU markets as Switzerland and Norway have -- although EU leaders have said the price for that could be allowing free EU migration and accepting other EU rules that British voters have just rejected in the referendum. For now, Britain remains, in principle, a full member of the EU but will be excluded from discussions affecting its exit terms. In practice, many expect British ministers and lawmakers to be rapidly frozen out of much of the Union's affairs. Some Brexit campaigners have also said Britain should act more quickly, for example to stop funding the EU budget or curb immigration from EU states. That could provoke EU reprisals. An array of laws and EU entitlements will cease to apply to British business and citizens, creating what Brexit campaigners say will be opportunities for more growth and more selective immigration but which Cameron has said will do long-term damage to the economy and Britain's global influence. 2. WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW? EU leaders and the heads of EU institutions in Brussels have delivered statements that broadly stress a mantra of Three Rs: Regret - at losing nearly a fifth of the EU economy and more of its military and global clout; Respect - for the will of the British people; and Resolve - to keep the other 27 together. They also reminded Britain that it remains a full member for the time being, with all the rights and obligations that entails. EU "sherpa" advisers to the leaders meet in Brussels at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on Sunday, when a Spanish general election will also affect EU business. On Monday, EU summit chair Donald Tusk and French President Francois Hollande meet in Paris at 11 a.m. and then travel to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at 3 p.m. Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the EU's executive Commission which will negotiate the details of a deal with Britain, plans a meeting of its college of national commissioners for Monday. Britain's commissioner, Cameron ally Jonathan Hill, resigned on Saturday. It was untenable to keep a key portfolio overseeing financial services, a battleground of the Brexit negotiations. Cameron has left it to his own successor to decide how to use the Commission seat Britain is entitled to until it leaves. EU leaders meet in Brussels for a 24-hour summit starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. EU officials expect Cameron to report on the vote and what Britain will do next over dinner, then go home. Tusk will chair a meeting on Wednesday of the remaining 27, a format that will become familiar in the coming divorce talks. Leaders may agree to meet again in July. 3. WHAT IS ARTICLE 50? These are the key phrases of its 261 words: - A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention ... The Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. - It shall be concluded ... by the Council, acting by a qualified majority. - The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification ... unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period. - The member of the European Council or of the Council representing the withdrawing Member State shall not participate in the discussions ... or in decisions concerning it. 4. WHERE DOES THE EU GO FROM HERE? The Union needs quickly to fill a 7 billion euro hole in its 145 billion euro annual budget, which is currently fixed out to 2020, as it loses Britain's contributions while saving on what Britons receive from EU accounts. The EU will also want to clarify as quickly as possible the status of firms and individuals currently using their EU rights to trade, work and live on either side of a new UK-EU frontier. Britain is expected to give up its six-month presidency of EU ministerial councils, due to start in July next year. Its place may be filled by Estonia or, possibly, Malta or Croatia. EU leaders may push for a quick show of unity on holding the bloc together in the face of eurosceptics inspired by the result in Britain -- including National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who leads polls for next April's French presidential election. But there is little prospect of major new projects. Divisions between Berlin and Paris on managing the euro zone probably rule out a big move on that front before both hold elections in 2017. A major EU security and foreign policy review is already on the summit agenda as is a new push to tighten control on irregular immigration from Africa. Many leaders caution against alienating voters by moving too fast on integration, which they say has alienated voters. Summit chair Tusk wants to launch a formal process of reflection on where the Union has failed to connect with people. 5. SO WHAT CHANGES? In principle, nothing changes immediately. Britons remain EU citizens and business continues as before. In practice, many believe trade, investment and political decisions will quickly anticipate British departure from the bloc. The EU could also face a Britain breaking apart as europhile Scots plan another push for independence and seek to join the EU on their own. There is a "Brussels consensus" that Britain must be made an example of for leaving to discourage others and will face a chilly future, cast out to perhaps talk its way back later into some kind of trade access in return for concessions such as free migration from inside the bloc and contributions to the EU budget - things which Brexit voters want to end but which the likes of Norway and Switzerland have accepted in varying forms. However, cautious diplomats do not rule out surprise turns. There is even speculation that Britons could try to step back from the brink -- the referendum itself is not binding. EU leaders would not -- indeed could not -- throw Britain out if a London government simply decided to ignore the Leave vote. In theory, if London holds fire on Article 50 but pushes for a new membership deal, the EU would have to accept its remaining an awkward presence at the table. Patience for a soured marriage is already short, however, and other states would probably look for ways to end strife that would risk destabilising the Union. (Editing by Mark John, Janet McBride, Anna Willard)
(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court's key rulings on abortion, dating to the landmark 1973 decision that legalized the procedure nationwide, have long provoked social, religious and political tensions. As the court majority became more conservative over the decades, it set standards that enhance states' ability to regulate abortion. Yet even in the most recent rulings, extending to 2007, there have never been five votes on the nine-member court to reverse the fundamental right to abortion. Here is a look at the court's major abortion rulings. Roe v. Wade, 1973, 7-2 vote The court rules that a woman's constitutional right to privacy protects her decision to end a pregnancy, and only a compelling state interest can justify regulating abortion. The decision institutes a three-part legal test, connected to a nine-month pregnancy and a fetus' viability, that gives states more latitude for regulation with each trimester. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1992, 5-4 vote The court affirms the right to abortion. Rather than the trimester framework, the test is whether a government regulation imposes an "undue burden" on a woman seeking an abortion by creating a "substantial obstacle" to the procedure before the fetus develops to the point at which it becomes viable. Stenberg v. Carhart, 2000, 5-4 vote The court decides that a Nebraska ban on a late-term procedure critics call "partial birth abortion" violates a woman's right to abortion. The procedure, known medically as "intact dilation and extraction," involves a physician removing most of the fetus intact rather than dismembering it. The justices fault the Nebraska ban, similar to laws in a majority of the states at the time, for its ambiguity about precisely what type of medical procedure is prohibited and for lacking an exception for the health of the mother. Gonzales v. Carhart, 2007, 5-4 vote The court decides that a federal Partial Birth Abortion Act, involving the same type of procedure as in the Nebraska dispute and without an exception for the woman's health, is constitutional. The majority distinguishes the ruling from the 2000 case by noting that Congress developed findings that the procedure would never be necessary for the health of the mother. Another factor in the reversed course was that in 2000, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor had voted to strike down the partial-birth ban. She was succeeded by Samuel Alito in 2006, and in 2007 he cast the fifth vote in favor of the ban. Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, 2016, ruling pending The court takes up a challenge brought by abortion providers to provisions in a 2013 Texas law that impose regulations on abortion doctors and clinic facilities. The challengers say the regulations are medically unnecessary and intended to shut abortion clinics. The state says the law protects women's health. The court is due to issue its ruling on Monday. One provision requires doctors to have a type of formal affiliation called "admitting privileges" at a hospital located not more than 30 miles (48 km) from the abortion clinic. The other establishes minimum standards for abortion facilities equivalent for those applying to "ambulatory surgical centers" in the state. These requirements for costly, hospital-grade facilities apply to numerous building characteristics. (Compiled by Joan Biskupic in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
The broadcast networks have nearly 20 shows debuting this fall, including new sitcoms from Kevin James and Matt LeBlanc, the story of MLBs first female player and Michael Weatherlys NCIS follow-up. To help you prep for it all, TVLine is offering First Impressions of the not-for-review pilots.

Next up on our list.

THE SHOW | CBS Pure Genius (Thursdays at 10/9c, premiering Oct. 27)

THE COMPETITION | ABCs How to Get Away With Murder and NBCs The Blacklist

THE CAST | Dermot Mulroney (Shameless), Augustus Prew (BBCs The Village), Odette Annable (House), Reshma Shetty (Royal Pains), Brenda Song (Scandal), Ward Horton (One Life to Live) and Aaron Jennings

THE SET-UP | Billionaire tech titan James Bell (Prew) courts an elite but disgraced surgeon (Mulroney) to serve as chief of staff at Bunker Hill, a wayyyy-beyond-state-of-the-art hospital founded to treat the rarest and most challenging medical mysteries, at no charge.

RELATED Fall TV Schedule 2016: Whats on When? And Versus What?

THE FIRST IMPRESSION | Upon first seeing this trailer at Upfronts, I tweeted that Pure Genius seemed poised to supplant Limitless as CBS craaazy science show, merging as it does a rote TV set-up (e.g. law enforcement procedural, medical show) with improbably advanced technology. But once you buy into the translucent iPads, domestic abuse-predicting algorithms and such, series creator Jason Katims (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights) has crafted a uniquely engaging hospital drama.

As Bunker Hills resident skeptic, Mulroney offers a nice and needed contrast to Prews overly optimistic champion of next-gen medical magic, while Annables cool and confident Dr. Zoe Brockett does her best to mold the socially awkward Bell into a better manager of people. (The duos Will They/Wont They dynamic is demarked early on, and often.) Among the rest of the cast/hospital staff, Jennings gets the most to do in the pilot, as an ex-gangbanger spearheading a process to provide remote health monitoring to poor neighborhoods.

Story continues

THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE | There may be some bloom off of How to Get Away With Murders rose, but it and The Blacklist (coming off a buzzy season) will force Pure Genius work hard to secure a meaningful audience. Katims-created heart-tuggers have beat the odds before, though.

MORE FIRST IMPRESSIONS Foxs Lethal Weapon, NBCs This Is Us, ABCs Designated Survivor, NBCs Timeless, CBS Bull and ABCs Notorious

Watch the overly spoilery trailer for CBS Pure Genius, dab your eyes dry and then vote in our poll.

Related stories

Fall TV 2016: Your Handy Calendar of 90+ Season and Series Premiere Dates

Bethany Joy Lenz Joins American Gothic

The Young and the Restless Versus Victoria Rowell Lawsuit to Proceed
BAGHDAD  Five weeks after a military operation began, a senior Iraqi commander declared Sunday that the city of Fallujah was fully liberated from the Islamic State group, giving a major boost to the countrys security and political leadership in its fight against the extremists.

Recapturing Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State group more than two years ago, means that authorities can now set their sights on militant-held Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, visiting central Fallujah with the celebrating troops, vowed that the Iraqi flag would next be raised above Mosul. But that campaign has been progressing in fits and starts, revealing the deep divisions among the different groups that make up the security forces.

Iraqi troops entered Fallujahs northwestern neighborhood of al-Julan, the last part of the city under IS control, said Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, head of the counterterrorism forces in the operation.

The operation, which began May 22, is done, and the city is fully liberated, al-Saadi told The Associated Press.

Al-Abadi, dressed in the black fatigues of the counterterrorism forces and carrying an Iraqi flag, visited Fallujahs central hospital Sunday evening and called for residents of the city 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad to celebrate the military advance.

But tens of thousands of people from Fallujah who were forced to flee their homes during the operation are still at overcrowded camps for the displaced with limited shelter in the Anbar desert. The U.S.-led coalition said it was still conducting airstrikes in the area, and aid groups warned it was too early to say when residents could return to their homes in the city, citing the presence of makeshift bombs left behind by the militants.

The Fallujah operation was carried out by Iraqs elite counterterrorism troops, Iraqi federal police, Anbar provincial police and an umbrella group of government- sanctioned militia fighters  mostly Shiites  who are known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Story continues

Fallujah, a predominantly Sunni city, was a stronghold of insurgents following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. More than 100 American soldiers died and hundreds more were wounded in intense, house-by-house fighting there in 2004. Many residents of the city welcomed the Islamic State group when it overran the city in 2014, complicating the fight by government troops to retake it.

The IS militants who had held out for more than a week on the northern and western edges of Fallujah largely collapsed early Sunday under a barrage from coalition warplanes, including a single airstrike that killed 47 fighters in the Jolan neighborhood, said Brig. Haider al-Obeidi of Iraqs special forces.

From the center of al-Julan neighborhood, we congratulate the Iraqi people and the commander in chief  and declare that the Fallujah fight is over, al-Saadi told Iraqi state TV, flanked by troops.

Some of the soldiers shot their weapons into the air, sang and waved Iraqi flags.

The coalition continues to provide support through strikes, intelligence, and advice and assistance to the Iraqi Security Forces operating in Fallujah and will continue to do so through deliberate clearing operations, said U.S. Army Col. Christopher Garver, the spokesman for the coalition.

Al-Abadi initially declared victory in Fallujah over a week ago, after Iraqi forces advanced into the city center and took control of a government complex. He pledged that remaining pockets of IS fighters would be cleared out within hours, but fierce clashes on the citys northern and western edges persisted for days.

Iraqs defense minister tweeted that 90 percent of the city is safe and inhabitable, but aid groups are advising the government to exercise more caution.

The U.N. refugee agency said more than 85,000 people have fled Fallujah and the surrounding area since the offensive began. The UNHCR and others have warned of dire conditions in the camps, where temperatures are well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and shelter is limited. Officials have called for more funds to meet mounting needs.

It is still too early to speak of (civilians returning to Fallujah), said Karl Schembri of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an international humanitarian organization that does extensive work in Anbar province. UNHCRs representative in Iraq, Bruno Geddo, also said that families are expected to remain in camps for some time as (Fallujah) is reported to be littered with IEDs  makeshift bombs and booby traps.

Schembri said clearing away the bombs could take anywhere from days to months.

We need a thorough de-mining of civilian areas and safety assessments before civilians are given the option to go back, he said. The situation in the camps is extremely dire, but we are also not in a position to ensure that people will get supplies and services inside Fallujah either.

When civilians initially returned to Ramadi after it was declared fully liberated from the militants in February, about 100 people were killed by booby-trapped explosives. The time-consuming de-mining process there is still continuing.

Besides Mosul, IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq. The group, which swept across Syria and Iraq in the summer of 2014, declared an Islamic caliphate on that territory. At the height of its power, it was estimated to hold nearly a third of each country.

The campaign for Mosul, which lies some 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, has been bogged down by logistics problems as Iraqs political leadership jockeys over the planning of the operation.

Those divisions in the military at times stalled the Fallujah offensive. A similar scenario is expected to play out in the Mosul campaign, because the various groups that make up Iraqs security forces  including Kurdish forces known as the peshmerga  have all vowed to participate in the complex operation.

More than 3.3 million Iraqis have fled their homes since the IS advance, according to U.N. figures. More than 40 percent are from Anbar province, where Fallujah is located.
Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - After Iraqi forces took full control of the Islamic State group's bastion of Fallujah, what's next in the battles against the jihadists, not just in Iraq but in Syria and further afield?

The loss of Fallujah is the latest in a series of defeats shrinking the "caliphate" that the group proclaimed two years ago over the vast areas it conquered in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

What is the next big battle in Iraq?

Fallujah was one of only two major cities IS still held in Iraq and the security forces are now training their sights on Mosul, whose fall commanders and analysts believe would spell doom for the caliphate in Iraq.

The battle for the northern city will have different contours than previous ones, with an ever greater variety of forces than usual potentially involved in operations and staking their claim in a post-IS Mosul.

Operations aimed at retaking Mosul began months ago, with an offensive moving up the Tigris from the south and another led by Kurdish forces moving from the east, but the battle appears far from starting in earnest.

What else does IS control in Iraq?

After losing Fallujah and surrounding areas, the Iraqi half of IS's "caliphate" looks increasingly fragmented, with limited territorial contiguity between some its remaining bastions.

IS has lost the major towns and cities of Anbar but still controls the far west of the vast province, including the town of Al-Qaim near the Syrian border.

The jihadists also have fixed positions in the Hamreen mountain range north of Baghdad as well as further north around Hawijah.

To the west of Mosul, IS also still holds Tal Afar, a city which was one of the first that the group took when it swept into Iraq just over two years ago.

Where are IS falling back in Syria?

On May 31, a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance launched a vast offensive to retake the IS stronghold on Manbij in north Syria, which lies on a key supply route for the jihadists from the Turkish border.

Story continues

In around 10 days, the Syrian Democratic Forces -- who are supported by air strikes from a US-led coalition -- surrounded the city, cutting off the supply line to the jihadist group's de-facto capital of Raqa city.

SDF forces have since entered the city and are edging slowly towards its centre, as IS puts up fierce resistance with suicide bombers and car bombs.

If the jihadists lost Manbij, it would be their second most serious defeat since emerging in the chaos of Syria's civil war, after regime forces retook the ancient city of Palmyra from them in late March.

Is Raqa under threat?

Since late May, IS has faced two offensives in the northern province of Raqa, which the jihadist group has controlled since 2014.

The SDF launched an advance from the north on May 31, but soon headed west towards Manbij in neighbouring Aleppo province.

And Russia-backed regime forces led an offensive into the province from the southwest, advancing towards the IS-held town of Tabqa. But suicide bombers drove Syrian regime troops out of the province in a lightning counter-attack last week.

Experts have said the troops backing President Bashar al-Assad in the offensive were probably not elite forces and too few to make gains in the desert area.

The provincial capital of Raqa remains the main strategic and symbolic goal for anti-IS forces, but analysts say that the jihadist group's strong defences in the city mean it is unlikely to fall soon.

Can IS hold on to Sirte in Libya?

Since mid-May, Libyan pro-government forces have pressed an offensive to retake Sirte, a coastal city east of the capital Tripoli that has been under IS control since last June.

On June 9, forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) entered Sirte, which is the only main city held by the jihadist group in Libya.

They have pushed the jihadists into a residential zone of just five square kilometres (two square miles) inside the city, but IS has hit back with suicide car bombs and sniper fire.
The notion of a midnight movie is still enough to provoke a primitive tingle of excitement. It is, after all, not just something you watch at midnight  its something that belongs at midnight. Its a movie that opens up into the darkness, into the strange and the outre, the forbidden, the jaw-dropping, the eye-widening, the mind-blowing. Its something  in theory, at least  thats not ready for prime time. No movie, of course, absolutely has to be watched at midnight (though Alejandro Jodorowsys 1970 El Topo, the spaghetti Western head trip that started it all, sort of does; it wilts in the sunlight). But Intruder, a low-budget woman-in-peril thriller thats as bare bones as its title, is being released under the IFC Midnight banner, so in a way its only fair to evaluate it as a post-polite-hours experience.

An early scene offers an amuse-bouche of midnight kink, even if it isnt totally clear where camp leaves off and ineptitude begins. A trembling blonde ice princess, who looks like she has never so much as attended a classical music concert, is sawing away at the Dvorak Cello Concerto (is the scene meant to be stylized, or did the director forget to tell her to move her fingers?). Then her teacher approaches. Hes played by Moby  yes, that Moby  in a gray sweater and professorial beard and horn-rims. He proceeds to give her a shoulder rub, in a Greatest Hits Of Sexual Harassment 1978 way, then leans right down next to her face to stage-whisper, When youre playing, really pay attention to your breathingand really listen to your body. And that, believe it or not, is the fun part of the movie.

The cellist, whose name is Elizabeth (shes played by the British-born Louise Linton), returns to her comfy place of residence in Portland, and its not long before the title stalker slips inside the house. Hes an anonymous psycho in a hood, and his every furtive move is heralded by the kind of boom/clang! on the soundtrack that has been goosing audiences for decades. Once that happens about half a dozen times, a menace-who-cried-wolf feeling starts to hover over the proceedings, and we begin to wait for something a little more interesting to occur. But no. The stalker, in his cloak of mystery (i.e., is he the Moby character or the handsome uptight young Norman Bates hipster at the laundromat?), just does a lot of standard stalker stuff. He hides in the closet and looms in the shadows, takes a bite out of an apple and returns it to the fruit bowl, pets the kitty cat and then pets our heroine while shes sleeping. The whole staging is so generic it begs the question: Wheres the gimmick, the midnight twist? And somewhere around the 45-minute mark, it begins to dawn on us: This is the twist. The fact that a stock intruder-in-the-house suspense scene that, in another film, would have been a minor exercise in routine string-pulling has now become the entire movie.

The slightly preposterous thing about Intruder  apart from the way that Lintons British accent comes and goes, to the point that you honestly cant tell whether the character shes playing is supposed to be British or not  is that as the stalker keeps doing his creepy thing, until he almost begins to fade into the furniture, the movie persists in subjecting the audience to those boom/clangs! on the soundtrack, as if we were supposed to be surprised, each time, that a maniac is skulking around and taking his sweet time doing it. Intruder is a novel concept indeed: a slasher film without the slashing (or much of anything else), which in theory makes it the best midnight movie of 1952. Or, just maybe, a film that should be shown deeper into the wee hours, when even addicts of late-night movie danger are asleep.
By Noah Berger SOUTH LAKE, Calif. (Reuters) - Firefighters have begun to contain a wildfire in central California that has killed at least two people and destroyed 200 structures, fire officials said on Sunday, as six other blazes burned in the state in an already intense wildfire season. The fire known as Erskine, about 110 miles (180 km) north of Los Angeles, smoldered over a wide area on Sunday after melting steel and reducing homes to ash when it was an intense conflagration on Thursday and Friday. The Erskine fire is 10 percent contained after ripping through 36,810 acres - or nearly 60 square miles - the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), said on Sunday. California Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Kern County due to the fire damage. In addition to the 200 destroyed structures, 75 homes have been damaged. "Two fatalities have been confirmed. Additional fatalities are possible due to the extreme fire behavior during the initial hours of the incident," the Kern County Fire Department said in a statement on Sunday morning. Investigators were studying a third set of charred remains to determine whether they were human, officials said. More than 1,700 firefighters were working on the fire at the southern end of the Sierra Nevada range. Hundreds of people from more than 10 communities were evacuated as Erskine spread rapidly on Thursday and Friday as winds drove it south and east from the Lake Isabella reservoir. "I got out just as the flames were at my back fence," said Terralyn Lehman, who is staying at a campground with her mother and her dog after their home in South Lake was destroyed. She and her mother were awoken by the sound of a propane tank exploding. Lehman said her mother told her "'grab your dog and go.' So I did." Crews worked in steep, rugged terrain, fighting flames fueled by hot, rainless weather and brush, grass and chaparral left bone dry by a five-year drought. Helicopters and air tankers were also in action. By Sunday morning, firefighters were optimistic they had brought some of the eastern edges of the fire under control. "It's looking really good," Joe Reyes, operations section chief for the team fighting the fire, told reporters at a briefing. Fire officials told people at a community meeting that was transmitted over the internet on Saturday that they hoped to let people back to fire-hit areas on Sunday. (Writing by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Dun-les-Places (France) (AFP) - France and Germany should "take the initiative" after British voters decided their country should quit the EU, French President Francois Hollande said Sunday.

"A friendly country, an allied country with whom we have so many ties has just decided to leave our union, the European Union, which we believed to be indestructible and indissoluble," Hollande said at a World War II commemoration.

"It is now the responsibility of France and Germany to take the initiative, because we have shown that from unhappiness, horror and war, we (two) were able to forge a strong friendship," said Hollande, referring to the post-war forces behind the founding of the EU.

"If we are separated, we run the risk of being disunited, divided and quarrelling," Hollande warned.

But "if we are together, we can not only win peace, but also the respect of the citizens of this fine union called Europe."

Prime Minister Manuel Valls also weighed in, saying the Brexit vote "clarifies the debate" and would allow "a recast, rebuilt Europe".

He also addressed the issue of so-called "posted workers" sent from one EU nation to another to work temporarily, and who have sparked controversy in France.

The workers are subject to their home country's laws, raising concerns foreign service providers with looser labour rules can undercut locals.

Valls, who spoke before some 200 Socialist activists in northern France, called for a "minimum wage and very clear rules on the posting of workers".

Hollande was speaking at the inauguration of a memorial at Dun-les-Places, a village in central-eastern France where Nazi troops torched homes and massacred 27 inhabitants in June 1944.
Paris (AFP) - Business groups in France and Germany on Sunday said EU nations should respond to Britain's decision to quit the bloc by working even more closely together to limit the "turbulence" caused by the Brexit shock.

In an joint appeal published in the French Journal du Dimanche, the heads of Germany's powerful BDI and BDA industry groups and the president of France's MEDEF employers' federation made the case for stronger political and economic cooperation.

"Europe must reunite, recover its confidence and go on the offensive," wrote the presidents of the three groups, Ulrich Grillo, Ingo Krame and Pierre Gattaz.

Noting that the outcome of Thursday's referendum in Britain had plunged the bloc into "an area of turbulence", the industry group leaders said the Franco-German motor of the European project was "more than ever indispensable... to regain its strength".

They urged the leaders of France and Germany to "solemnly remember their commitment to European values" and boost European cooperation on foreign policy and security, especially in the fight against terrorism.

They also called for "immediate, credible and visible measures to strengthen the governance" of the euro area and said their countries should pursue "national reforms to make our economies stronger and more competitive to assure the sustainability of our social model".

Turning to the looming Brexit negotiations, they said they hoped to "chart new ways of cooperating with Britain" but warned that it risked the loss of its cherished EU "financial passport", which allows financial institutions in one member state to operate across the bloc without having to set up shop locally.

Were it to be deprived of this privilege, Britain's London-based financial services industry could take a big hit as firms may be swayed to move their operations to financial centres on the continent.
PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union must stop being nit-picky and intrusive, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday as the bloc scrambled to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave. The Brexit vote to leave the EU has deepened fears among mainstream politicians across Europe about the rise of eurosceptic, anti-establishment parties, particularly in France, where the far-right National Front is increasingly popular. That concern has also prompted mainstream French politicians on the left and right to call for an overhaul of Europe, in a country where surveys show disillusionment with Brussels is growing. "We must put an end to this sad and finicky Europe. Too often it is intrusive on details and desperately absent on what's essential," Valls said. "We must break away from the dogma of ever more Europe. Europe must act not by principle but when it is useful and pertinent." Former President Nicolas Sarkozy echoed those sentiments. "Europe cannot continue to build itself against the people," he said. While a large majority of French are attached to EU membership, polls over the past few years have consistently shown a majority also want Europe to have fewer powers, said Francois Miquet-Marty, head of the Viavoice polling institute. Only one on five voters want "more Europe", he said. Long in the EU's driving seat alongside the bloc's power-house Germany, France, dogged by a poor track-record on abiding by the EU's fiscal rules, has been steadily less active on the EU scene over the past years. In his speech on Sunday in Normandy, Valls insisted Europe "is not about seeing sovereign states disappear." He also said Europe must defend its economic interests better, on trade matters but also on financial, social, environmental and cultural issues. "Europe must be firm," he said. While an Odoxa opinion poll on Friday showed 64 percent of French want to stay in the EU, the number of those who want to leave rose by 7 percentage points in the course of three months. Sarkozy said he wasn't sure what the answer would be if the French were asked a Leave or Remain question in a referendum. "Do you think that 30 kilometers of Channel between us mean we'd think that differently?" he told France 2 television. However Sarkozy, who had so far rejected the idea of an EU referendum in France, added his voice to a growing chorus of politicians of all political stripes saying a referendum on a new treaty or EU project could be a good idea. Only the far-right National Front wants a referendum on EU membership. "We should not be afraid of the people," Sarkozy said. If there was a new treaty setting out clear choices for Europe "I don't see how we could refuse (a referendum)," he said. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Stephen Powell and Alexandra Hudson)
Belleville-sur-Mer (France) (AFP) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Sunday blasted a planned EU-US trade treaty, saying the ambitious deal was against "EU interests."

"No free trade agreement should be concluded if it does not respect EU interests. Europe should be firm," Valls told members of the governing Socialist Party, adding "France will be vigilant about this."

"I can tell you frankly, there cannot be a transatlantic treaty agreement. This agreement is not on track," Valls said.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) aims to topple regulatory and tariff barriers and establish the largest free-trade and investment area in the world.

The United States and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating the deal for the last three years.

The two sides have been pushing to resolve remaining issues by year's end, coinciding with the end of Barack Obama's presidency. The next round of negotiations is expected in July.

But the project has been facing mounting opposition in parts of Europe, especially in France and Germany, where critics say the talks have been conducted in secret and fear a far-reaching impact on agriculture and the environment.

The TTIP agreement "would impose a viewpoint which would not only be a breeding ground for populism, but also quite simply be a viewpoint that would be bad for our economy," Valls said.

He pointed in particularly to the "dramatic" consequences of ending milk quotas. The dairy industry is one of France's prime sectors.

Valls was speaking in the wake of Thursday's "Brexit" referendum which will lead to Britain -- a firm supporter of free trade -- leaving the 28-nation EU.
Damascus (AFP) - This Ramadan, a radio station in Syria's capital Damascus presented cash-strapped listeners with a challenge: plan a meal to break the fast for just $3.

Diala Hasan's cooking show on Sham FM used to feature recipes for sumptuous Ramadan feasts.

But in government-held parts of Syria, where a five-year war has devastated the currency and unemployment is rife, listeners' budgets are stretched to the limit.

"We decided to make a programme that demonstrates thrifty recipes costing 1,500 Syrian pounds ($3) to match peoples' incomes," Hasan, 26, told AFP as she prepared to record the show at a studio in Damascus.

"We're not using lamb, expensive spices, or even almonds," she said.

Throughout the holy month, Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours and sit down to a feast -- known as iftar -- once the sun goes down.

But in Syria, many struggle to scrape together ingredients even for a basic meal.

Salaries in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad's forces have dropped dramatically with the 92 percent devaluation of the pound since the war began.

A UN report published in April estimated 83.4 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line, compared with 28 percent before the war.

Hasan has even changed the name of her show from "Bread and Salt" -- an Arabic saying referring to friendships forged over a meal -- to "Ramadan of the poor".

- Handouts double -

Rida Saleh and his wife Umm Hassan are among those whose quality of life has plummeted since 2011.

On a recent evening they broke their fast around a little table in a cramped apartment where they settled after fleeing the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta.

They sat down to a modest meal: a few stuffed courgettes, some potatoes, a bowl of salad and a plate of beans -- normally used as appetisers but now their main course.

"There are so many dishes and drinks that have become for us just a distant memory," said Rida, 49.

Story continues

"It's the first year we don't have dessert."

Umm Hassan agreed.

"Even fruits are now a dream for us. We used to be able to buy apples by the kilo -- today the whole family just shares two little apples," she said.

Living costs have risen so much that charities have nearly doubled the number of iftar meals they distribute to the needy during Ramadan.

"We distributed 130,000 meals in 2013 compared to 230,000 in 2015. But this year, we may reach as many as 500,000," said Issam Habbal, who heads the charity "Saed" (Help).

"The crisis didn't spare anyone. If even the rich have been affected, you can imagine how those that were already unfortunate have been devastated," he said.

In the shade of the famous Umayyad mosque in the Old City of Damascus, about 100 Saed volunteers cooked and distributed large pots of rice with meat.

Men and women were hard at work chopping cucumbers to add to a mix of lettuce and carrots.

"With each additional year of war, we need more volunteers because there are more poor people," said Tareq, 24.

- Every month is Ramadan -

Desserts and syrup-covered sweets are an integral part of iftars across the Middle East and are a special delicacy in the Syrian capital.

But today, they have become too expensive for many Damascenes.

In Midan, a neighbourhood in southern Damascus, Ahmad Qaysar tended his bakery, which sold a mix of Arabic sweets. But few customers were buying.

"I inherited this trade from my father and my grandfather. We've never had a season like this," the 30-year-old said.

"Our sales have dropped by half because of the rising prices for pistachios, margarine, semolina, and flour" -- indispensable ingredients for delicious oriental sweets, Ahmad said.

In another shop, Shawkat Qornfola, 67, said he won't be able to buy desserts for his grandchildren this year.

"My grandchildren adore sweets but I can't afford a kilogram of maamoul at 20,000 pounds," he said, referring to cornmeal pastries stuffed with pistachios, dates, and walnuts.

"I'll have to just stick to barazek," he said, referring to crunchy biscuits made of pistachios and sesame seeds.

The price of food also makes it hard to invite guests.

"Before the war, we used to invite everyone over each Friday, but now we don't have the means," said Riad Mahayni, who works at the national water service.

He makes 30,000 pounds, which amounted to $600 before the war but now is worth just $65.

Leaning against the wall of Damascus's citadel, Mohsen, a pistachio seller, told AFP every month is Ramadan now in Syria.

"Because of the rising prices, we fast the whole year," he said.
(Adds detail)

* Foreign ministers warn of creeping erosion of EU

* Set out plan for security, migration, economic policies

BERLIN, June 26 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Germany and France have drawn up a nine-page document entitled "A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties" in which they propose common European security and migration policies and strengthened economic convergence.

Acknowledging that the European Union is "being severely put to the test", Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault said the bloc was challenged by a series of crises to its south and east while economic growth was on a slow recovery path. Work on the paper began before Britain voted on Thursday to quit the EU.

"Neither a simple call for more Europe nor a phase of mere reflection can be an adequate answer," Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault said in the paper, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

"To prevent the silent creeping erosion of our European project we have to be more focused on essentials and on meeting the concrete expectations of our citizens," they added.

The two ministers, whose countries are at the core of the EU, said it was important to recognise that member states had different appetites for deepening European integration.

"We have to find better ways of dealing with different levels of ambition so as to ensure that Europe delivers better on the expectations of all European citizens," they said.

To this end they proposed three initiatives:

1. A European Security Compact, under which:

- The EU should establish agreed strategic EU priorities for foreign and security policy and promote an integrated EU policy in these areas.

- Those EU member states willing to establish permanent structured cooperation in the field of defence should be able to do so in a flexible manner.

- If needed, EU member states should consider establishing standing maritime forces or acquiring EU-owned capabilities in other key areas.

2. A common European asylum and migration policy. The ministers said:

Story continues

- We are determined that the EU should establish the world's first multinational border and coast guard.

- The EU must find a common answer to the rising number of migrants seeking to enter the EU for economic reasons.

- We will work to reduce push factors for irregular migration.

3. Fostering growth and completing the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The ministers said:

- To unlock growth and to increase the productivity of the European economy, a renewed effort for more investment, both private and public, is necessary.

- A deepening of EMU will not come as a big bang but as the result of a pragmatic and gradual evolution.

- An EMU fiscal capacity should start by 2018 at the latest to support investment in the member states most severely hit by the crisis.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
BERLIN (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Germany and France have drawn up a nine-page document entitled "A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties" in which they propose common European security and migration policies and strengthened economic convergence. Acknowledging that the European Union is "being severely put to the test", Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault said the bloc was challenged by a series of crises to its south and east while economic growth was on a slow recovery path. Work on the paper began before Britain voted on Thursday to quit the EU. "Neither a simple call for more Europe nor a phase of mere reflection can be an adequate answer," Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Jean-Marc Ayrault said in the paper, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. "To prevent the silent creeping erosion of our European project we have to be more focused on essentials and on meeting the concrete expectations of our citizens," they added. The two ministers, whose countries are at the core of the EU, said it was important to recognize that member states had different appetites for deepening European integration. "We have to find better ways of dealing with different levels of ambition so as to ensure that Europe delivers better on the expectations of all European citizens," they said. To this end they proposed three initiatives: 1. A European Security Compact, under which: - The EU should establish agreed strategic EU priorities for foreign and security policy and promote an integrated EU policy in these areas. - Those EU member states willing to establish permanent structured cooperation in the field of defense should be able to do so in a flexible manner. - If needed, EU member states should consider establishing standing maritime forces or acquiring EU-owned capabilities in other key areas. 2. A common European asylum and migration policy. The ministers said: - We are determined that the EU should establish the world's first multinational border and coast guard. - The EU must find a common answer to the rising number of migrants seeking to enter the EU for economic reasons. - We will work to reduce push factors for irregular migration. 3. Fostering growth and completing the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The ministers said: - To unlock growth and to increase the productivity of the European economy, a renewed effort for more investment, both private and public, is necessary. - A deepening of EMU will not come as a big bang but as the result of a pragmatic and gradual evolution. - An EMU fiscal capacity should start by 2018 at the latest to support investment in the member states most severely hit by the crisis. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
A glass slide 1,000 feet in the air just opened in Los Angeles and people are freaking out

A glass slide 1,000 feet in the air just opened in Los Angeles and people are freaking out

Los Angeles has a great many attractions it is known for: the Hollywood sign, the TCL Chinese Theatres, the stars along Hollywood Blvd, just to name a few  and thats not even touching on the many great art and history museums in the city (or, for that matter, nearby Disneyland.) Well, now LA has yet another fun attraction to add to its collection: a glass slide thats 1,000 feet high.

Almost a thousand feet above the city, there is a 45-foot long, 1.25 inch thick clear glass slide attached to the side of the U.S. Bank building, which allows riders to slide down from the 70th floor to the 69th. There is also an adjoining 360-degree observation deck called the Skyspace, which gives visitors more time to enjoy the view or realize their fear of heights.

According to Instagram fans, the Skyslide is pretty darn cool:

Who says you can't have fun at work? #skyspacela #glassslide #transformyourview #happyFriday A video posted by Rina Hoshino (@rinahoshino333) on Jun 24, 2016 at 12:21pm PDT

Okay crazy as it is we have now done the Skyspace outside glass slide!!! #glassslide #slide #downtownla #whatafool #imback #saturday #goodtimes #rush #adrenaline A photo posted by John Lefkowitz (@jleftysundevil) on Jun 25, 2016 at 1:32pm PDT

We hope the slide is as cool as it looks  it cost as much as a roller coaster to build: $3.5 million! Were not sure whats more terrifying: the price tag or the actual experience. To ride, visitors board a gray mat and pull it up over their feet to form a makeshift sled, then scoot themselves over the precipice. Commence screaming! (Concerned about traffic jams? Dont be: Only one person may go at a time.)

Story continues

And dont worry, the slide is perfectly safe. Lucy Rumantir, president and chief executive of the company that owns the building, told The Los Angeles Times that the slide is strong enough to hang a school bus filled with people off of it. Thats pretty darn strong.

Nonetheless, if you are not comfortable riding the slide, you can chill out on the Skyspace and take in the view. To ease those nerves with liquid courage, the Skyspace will also host a small bar.

Tickets to visit the Skyspace are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, and $19 for children ages 3-12. A ride on the Skyslide costs an additional $8.

With this and the arrival of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood, we dont know which new attraction to visit first!

The post A glass slide 1,000 feet in the air just opened in Los Angeles and people are freaking out appeared first on HelloGiggles.
New York's governor has pledged up to $1 million for the creation of a New York City monument to Pulse nightclub victims.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday morning plans for an LGBT Memorial Commission before the start of New York's annual gay pride march down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

We want this terrible event remembered and we want the lesson learned so it never happens again, Cuomo said.

Read: Florida Prosecutor Fired Over Orlando Rant Posted to Facebook After Shootings

According to the Associated Press, the 10-member commission will come up with recommendations on the design of the memorial and the specific location by year's end.

Today were appointing a commission to build a monument in honor of the victims of Orlando and hate crimes everywhere.  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 26, 2016

Cuomo's announcement came after the annual march kicked off with a moment of silence dedicated to those killed in Pulse nightclub, a gay Orlando hotspot, on June 12.

Read: America Pays Tribute to Orlando Victims As Hundreds Line Up To Donate Blood

Forty-nine people were killed in the nightclub when police say Omar Mateen stormed inside with a semi-automatic weapon.

A beautiful day to celebrate #Pride2016 and honor the LGBT community worldwide. pic.twitter.com/2eeqcdSEJR  Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 26, 2016

The siege, which authorities have deemed an act of terror, lasted three hours and left dozens injured as well as an indelible mark upon the LGBT community in Orlando and beyond.

The attack ended when police fatally shot Mateen. It has been called the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

Story continues

Watch: Pastor Faces Backlash For Praising Orlando Massacre: 50 Pedophiles Were Killed

Related Articles:
Gwen Hiller, the wife of Love Story director and former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Arthur Hiller, died Friday at her home in Beverly Hills, her family announced. She was 92.

Gwen (the youngest of 10 children) and Arthur both were born in Edmonton, Alberta, she 10 days before him on Nov. 12, 1923. Her family noted that when they were schoolmates, he proposed to her when they were 8 years old. They married in 1948.

Gwen Hiller graduated from Brandon College in Manitoba, then worked as a social worker and librarian. After Arthur served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and attended the University of Toronto, they came to Los Angeles in 1955.

Arthur Hiller also is known for directing films including the 1970s classics The Out-of-Towners, The In-Laws and Plaza Suite. He served four terms (1993-97) as Academy president and in 2002 was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his lifetime of charitable efforts.

Gwen "was the core of support for her husband's career as a film director - successfully navigating the Hollywood scene while remaining stubbornly un-Hollywood in character," the family said.

She was a volunteer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and worked with many other community organizations.

In addition to her husband, survivors include son Henryk, daughter Erica, grandchildren Sienna and Kellen, son-in-law Kevin, daughter-in-law Melora and step-grandchildren Christopher, Patrick and Claire.

The family said a private service will be held.

See More: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2016


Credit: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock

A memorable Wednesday calls for mingling with Oscar-winning actresses, an occurrence matched only with one-of-a-kind works of art on display. At least that's how Michael Kors chose to spend his hump day last night in London, where the beloved New York designer was in full larger-than-life character to celebrate his brand's newly minted Regent Street store, the largest flagship in Europe.

To cut the ribbon of the impressive new brick-and-mortar locale, Kors welcomed muses like Gwyneth Paltrow, who did what Gwyneth Paltrow does best and shone in a silver-on-silver two-piece frock that consisted of a totally embellished short-sleeve gray sweater with a matching pleated sequined skirt. Her strappy metallic sandals completed the cocktail-appropriate ensemble, but everyone also gawked over artist Clym Evernden's illustrations, which will color the store's windows all summer long.



Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Michael Kors

Inside of a lavish dinner setting, Kors sandwiched himself between Paltrow and another boldface beauty: Jessica Chastain. The trio enjoyed white wine and, like most partygoers, didn't forget to pose for Insta-ready pics as they donned paper aviator-like glasses with Evernden's drawings on them. For Chastain, the sunset affair called for a black-and-white patterned dress with a hardware-adorned belt and, like Paltrow wore, strappy sandals.



Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Michael Kors

PHOTOS: Gwyneth Paltrow's Red Carpet Style

As Paltrow and Chastain proved, Kors makes glowing in your own skin an effortless affair.
On Saturday, the Hillary Clinton campaign released a video featuring LGBT staff members and allies, celebrating Pride Month and letting others know they are not alone.

The video opens with a quote from Clinton: "You have millions of allies who will always have your back. I am one of them."

Clinton staffers then begin to tell stories of how they came out, and what pride means to them. One worker credits Clinton's 2012 gay rights speech in Geneva for helping him come out to his parents.

Source: YouTube

The video also highlighted the injustice LGBT people across the world face.

Source: YouTube/Mic

But they all had one common message: While there is still a lot of work to be done, you should always be proud of who you are.

Source: YouTube/Mic

Source: Mic/YouTube

Source: Mic/YouTube

Watch the full video below:
Hillary Clinton marches in the NYC Pride Parade on Sunday. (Seth Wenig/AP)

Hillary Clinton made an unannounced appearance in the New York City Pride Parade on Sunday, marching alongside thousands of LGBT supporters two weeks after the massacre at an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub.

The presumptive Democratic nominee joined New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Rev. Al Sharpton at the event, which began with a moment of silence for the 49 shooting victims of the June 12 attack.

Clinton touted her appearance on social media:

Clinton has made appealing to the LGBT community a cornerstone of her presidential bid. On Friday, her campaign released a video featuring former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank highlighting her past experiences marching in the parade. Frank, who was the first openly gay member of Congress, described marching with Clinton in 2000 as one of the most emotional moments of my life.

In the clip, Frank noted that the country has made great progress on LGBT rights. However, he said, we werent there in 2000.

.@BarneyFrank on the time he marched in NYC's gay pride parade with the First Lady of the United States in 2000.https://t.co/G1b5cUV0pJ  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 25, 2016

Security was beefed up ahead of Sundays parade, with officials expecting the largest crowd in its history. And in light of the Orlando shooting, the New York City Police Department deployed extra security measures along the parade route.

Slideshow: New York dedicates Gay Pride to Orlando massacre victims >>>

Story continues

New York police planned to deploy roving counterterrorism units and use bomb-sniffing dogs, rooftop observation posts, police helicopters and thousands of officers to provide extra layers of security at Sundays parade, the Associated Press reported. Thousands of uniformed officers were to line the route, supplemented by plainclothes officers in the crowd.

A presidential candidates scheduled appearance at such an event would have undoubtedly complicated that plan. The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News about her decision to march in the parade, but sources volunteering on her campaign said the teams participation had been planned for multiple weeks and was a top priority.

Clinton, dressed in a blue pantsuit, was flanked by Secret Service as she waved to revelers in Greenwich Village near the historic Stonewall Inn, designated on Friday by President Obama as the first national monument to LGBT rights.

The Pride Parade comes nearly a year after the Supreme Courts historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage. And the anniversary was not lost on the Democratic presidential hopeful.

One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Let's keep marching until they don't. -H  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 26, 2016

One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court, Clinton tweeted before joining the parade. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Lets keep marching until they dont.

Later Sunday, Clinton is scheduled to speak at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis and then attend a finance event in Cincinnati.

 Additional reporting by Lisa Belkin
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a half-hour phone conversation on Sunday how to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, an aide to Hollande said.

Although Berlin and Paris have been sending conflicting signals on Brexit since Thursday's referendum, the aide said: "They noted their full agreement on how to handle the situation created by the British referendum."

They also discussed the need to act quickly on a set of specific priorities and "they hoped for full clarity to avoid uncertainties," the aide said, giving no further details.

Merkel will host talks in Berlin on Monday with Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Over the weekend, as Europe began digesting the prospect of an EU without Britain, a cacophony of conflicting signals were being sent out by Europe's politicians despite a joint paper from the German and French foreign ministers meant to minimise their differences and highlight common ground.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Louise Ireland)
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a half-hour phone conversation on Sunday how to handle the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, an aide to Hollande said. Although Berlin and Paris have been sending conflicting signals on Brexit since Thursday's referendum, the aide said: "They noted their full agreement on how to handle the situation created by the British referendum." They also discussed the need to act quickly on a set of specific priorities and "they hoped for full clarity to avoid uncertainties," the aide said, giving no further details. Merkel will host talks in Berlin on Monday with Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Over the weekend, as Europe began digesting the prospect of an EU without Britain, a cacophony of conflicting signals were being sent out by Europe's politicians despite a joint paper from the German and French foreign ministers meant to minimise their differences and highlight common ground. (Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Hollywood names, including the cast of Orange Is the New Black, joined the hordes of New Yorkers who came out in full force for Sunday's NYC Pride March.

The annual march is meant to celebrate the breaking of barriers for gay rights. But Sunday's march, which falls on the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country, also served as a remembrance for the tragedy in Orlando, Fla.

The lead float was dedicated to the victims of Orlando, as marchers carried 49 orange flags - the color of choice for campaigns against gun violence - through the Manhattan route. Before the parade began, many walked down Fifth Avenue holding banners with photos of those who died. The parade kicked off at 12 p.m. ET with a moment of silence for the victims.

Sunday's pride marches, which are also taking place in San Francisco and several other U.S. cities, are happening two weeks after the deadly shooting at Pulse nightclub, the Orlando gay nightclub that has become the site of the nation's deadliest mass shooting.

Paradegoers will see increased security, anti-violence messages and tributes to those killed in Orlando, as police ramped up security ahead of the annual parade.

Read More: How 'Orange Is the New Black' Tackled Black Lives Matter in Season 4

New York police planned to deploy roving counterterrorism units and use bomb-sniffing dogs, rooftop observation posts, police helicopters and thousands of officers to provide extra layers of security. Thousands of uniformed officers were to line the route, in addition to plainclothes officers in the crowd.

A "We Are Orlando" solidarity group, along with gun-control and anti-gun-violence groups, have joined the lineup since the shooting has forged new bonds between gun-control and gay-rights activists.

Before the start of the parade, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Stonewall Inn would be designated as a state historic site. On Friday, President Barack Obama designated the bar, which saw a 1969 police raid and helped catalyze the gay rights movement, as the first national monument to gay rights.

Story continues

On Sunday, Obama took to Twitter to say: "Marriage equality is one year old. But we still have a long way to go for full equality. #LoveIsLove."

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who released a video dedicated to pride on Saturday, marched in the NYC parade with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo on Sunday and was active on her Twitter account throughout the day.

See all the famous names who are posting about #NYCPride on social media below.

When the float is still a bar in a lobby in midtown. #cominforyou

A photo posted by Natasha Lyonne (@nlyonne) on Jun 26, 2016 at 9:30am PDT

Happy Pride!! pic.twitter.com/1yy7jH8UiO

- Samira Wiley (@samirawiley) June 26, 2016

#OITNB float!Let's gooo! #NYCPridepic.twitter.com/JPMoEyCH9E

- Kelly Le Rox (@KellyLeRox) June 26, 2016

Stay proud, NYC. Happy Pride.

#Stillproud #pride2016- Uzo Aduba (@UzoAduba) June 26, 2016

Love is love is love is love....

- Danielle Brooks (@thedanieb) June 26, 2016

pic.twitter.com/xA7o9gyTpw

- natasha lyonne (@nlyonne) June 26, 2016

#Love is #Love... #orangewillsetyoufree #PrideParade #NYC pic.twitter.com/ipPEH2CM6Y

- DASH (@SheIsDash) June 26, 2016

#GayPrideNYC #orangewillsetyoufree pic.twitter.com/DNWDgZb1OT

- Laura Gomez (@lg_lauragomez) June 26, 2016

Can't wait to start today's celebration #PrideNYC @OITNB #loveislove

- Selenis Leyva (@selenis_leyva) June 26, 2016

Here we are on our float getting ready for the start of the #NYCPride march. #NBAfamily @NBA @WNBA @nbacares pic.twitter.com/FY5t2yQluh

- Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) June 26, 2016

Be on the lookout for our #NYCPride float with @jasoncollins98 & @WNBA Legend @Suewicks23! #NBAPride #WNBAPride pic.twitter.com/PYht5JrYSk

- NBA Cares (@nbacares) June 26, 2016

Who's going to #NYCPride today??

- Brad Goreski (@mrbradgoreski) June 26, 2016

Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love. #NYCPride #WeAreOrlando https://t.co/skSz7rvvJR

- Hamilton (@HamiltonMusical) June 26, 2016

Last year I had a great time marching with you Jason! At home w Aidan cheering you & all #NYCPride! https://t.co/eiCllPnbDl

- Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) June 26, 2016

Happy #NYCPride! Remember, Stonewall Inn is a bit different than other national landmarks.https://t.co/5pTiOHftFS pic.twitter.com/dKSS6KZyMu

- The Nightly Show (@nightlyshow) June 26, 2016

Have the best day #NYCPride! Wish I could be celebrating with you all today

- Betty Who (@BettyWho) June 26, 2016

I stand with #NYCPride today. Equality and Love my friends. pic.twitter.com/2Bs6y4P1Xw

- Justin Guarini (@JustinGuarini) June 26, 2016

Happy Pride from my Mom! Grateful I have parents who accepted me for who I am. Not everyone is https://t.co/fypiBQe7Q1

- Andy Cohen (@Andy) June 26, 2016

Happy #NYCPride everyone!!! Hope you all have an amazing #pride !!!

- Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) June 26, 2016

Marriage equality is one year old. But we still have a long way to go for full equality. #LoveIsLove pic.twitter.com/nwM1XFHKzG

- Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 26, 2016

One year ago, love triumphed in our highest court. Yet LGBT Americans still face too many barriers. Let's keep marching until they don't. -H

- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 26, 2016

Happy #NYCPride! pic.twitter.com/ZV75RMBiM2

- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 26, 2016
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Icelanders elected historian Gudni Johannesson on Saturday as their first new president in 20 years, amid distrust of politicians and business leaders after the 2008 global financial crisis and the Panama papers scandal. The final count showed 39 percent of Icelanders voted for Johannesson as president, public broadcaster RUV reported. The post is largely ceremonial but does carry powers to block legislation. Contenders included a former prime minister and central bank governor. Johannesson, a lecturer at the University of Iceland who has said he has never been a member of a political party, will take office on Aug. 1. In his campaign, he advocated a constitutional clause allowing citizen-initiated referendums over parliamentary bills, saying it would help ensure the nation always had the final say in the largest issues affecting it. Icelanders' faith in authorities was shaken by years of austerity measures and capital controls, which were imposed to restore a shattered economy after the country's largest banks collapsed in 2008 during the global financial crisis. President Olafur Grimsson, 73, who has served five straight four-year terms, had been ahead in polls until May, when he withdrew his candidacy after leaked documents called the Panama papers showed his wife had links to offshore accounts. Grimsson had begun his candidacy citing a need for stability after then-Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned in 2015 when the Panama papers showed he also had owned an offshore company in a tax haven together with his wife. Neither Gunnlaugsson nor Grimsson have been accused of doing anything illegal related to the offshore dealings. But the links still raised ire among many Icelanders, sparking demonstrations in the capital. Iceland has been gradually recovering from the 2008 financial meltdown in recent years. Economic growth is expected to reach 4 percent this year and unemployment is at a pre-crisis levels. But gross national income per capita is still down by a quarter since 2007 and a tenth of the 330,000 Icelanders have fallen into serious loan default, with thousands of homes repossessed. Candidates in presidential elections in Iceland run as independents. (Reporting by Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir, Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Michael Perry, Larry King)
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urged all Iraqis to celebrate the recapture of Fallujah Sunday by the security forces and vowed the national flag would be raised in Mosul soon.

"I call on all Iraqis wherever they are to get out and celebrate," he told Iraqiya state television, standing in front of Fallujah hospital with an Iraqi flag around his neck.

"We will raise the Iraqi flag in Mosul soon," he said, referring to Iraq's second city, which is the Islamic State group's last remaining major hub following the retaking of Fallujah.
By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces on Sunday recaptured the last district of Falluja held by Islamic State militants and the commander of the operation declared the battle over following a month of fighting. Iraqi troops reached the city center, an hour's drive west of Baghdad, last week but militants had holed up in some parts, including Golan district which the military retook on Sunday. The assault is part of a wider offensive against Islamic State, which seized swathes of territory in 2014 but is now being driven back by an array of forces backed by a U.S.-led coalition. Gains in Falluja give fresh momentum to the campaign to retake Mosul, the largest city anywhere in the jihadists' self-proclaimed caliphate spanning Iraq and Syria. As we promised you, today this flag is flying high in Falluja and, God willing, it will soon fly in Mosul, said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, wearing a black military uniform and waving the Iraqi tricolour in front of the main hospital. Swift advances in Falluja surprised many who expected a drawn-out battle for the bastion of Sunni Muslim insurgency, where some of the toughest fighting of the U.S. occupation took place in 2004 against Islamic State's al Qaeda forerunner. Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, who was in charge of the operation, told state TV at least 1,800 militants had been killed and the rest had fled or been captured. Some were still holding out in buildings, he said. The U.S.-led coalition continued to provide air strikes and intelligence support in Falluja, a spokesman said. Iraqi officers said air strikes had killed most of the insurgents ahead of ground advances to clear out remnants. Aerial bombardment also dug craters into main streets to prevent militants from slipping between neighborhoods. Insurgents in Falluja, the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, had put up limited resistance and folded after some commanders abandoned the fight, military officials said. Defence Minister Khalid al-Obeidi said on Twitter around 90 percent of Falluja remained "safe and habitable", comparing that favorably with Ramadi and Sinjar, cities recaptured from Islamic State last year but badly damaged in the process. Parts of Falluja, especially a southern frontline that was mostly static for around two years, have been severely scarred by air strikes, artillery fire and Islamic State mines. Many buildings are pancaked or damaged beyond repair; others, like a stadium near the city center that partially collapsed, less so. Dozens of homes were set ablaze but remain standing. REHABILITATION NEEDED Trenches and earthen berms bisect many of Falluja's main arteries. Debris from weeks of clashes -- rubble, bullet casings, discarded water bottles -- are strewn across roads and piled more than a meter high on either side. Iraqi forces are now dismantling bombs and booby-trapped houses, whilst pursuing militants who slipped out of the city from the northwest, Sabah al-Numani, a spokesman for the counter-terrorism forces that spearheaded the offensive, told Reuters. Combat units mortared Islamic State positions in a western outskirt on Sunday afternoon as the thunder of controlled detonations echoed across the city. Counter-terrorism forces and local police tasked with keeping Islamic State out after military units leave refrained from entering most buildings to avoid improvised mines. Fighting to recapture Falluja forced the remaining 85,000 residents to flee over the past month, overwhelming government-run camps. The population was more than three times that size before Islamic State's takeover. The mayor of Falluja told Reuters that displaced families could return within two months if the government and intentional agencies provided assistance. "The city doesn't just require a rebuilding of its infrastructure but also serious rehabilitation of its society," said Essa al-Esawi. "We need serious programmes from the international community to help people get rid of (Islamic State's) deviant ideologies and restore their normal life." But an aid group said it was too early to speak of returns. "We just do not know which areas are safe and which aren't," said Nasr Muflahi of the Norwegian Refugee Council. "We are not in a position to ensure people will get basic supplies and services in Falluja." The United Nations says it has received allegations of abuse of civilians fleeing the city, including by members of Shi'ite armed groups supporting the offensive under the umbrella of Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). Fearing they would enflame sectarian tensions in the mostly Sunni city, PMF that fought in outlying areas were largely sidelined during the main push into central Falluja. But some units appeared near the frontlines at the weekend and a top commander visited the battlefield on Saturday. Two fighters wearing military fatigues who were patrolling a northwestern district on Sunday said they belonged to Badr Organisation, one of the most powerful Shi'ite factions, while counter-terrorism forces detained three PMF fighters on allegations of vandalism and arson. (Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Erbil; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Stephen Powell)
Jalalabad (Afghanistan) (AFP) - Heavy fighting between Afghan forces and Islamic State fighters has killed dozens of people, officials said Sunday, raising fears the militant group is staging a comeback months after Kabul said they had been defeated.

The fighting began late on Friday in the Kot area of the Rodat district in eastern Nangarhar province after a contingent of IS fighters attacked police check posts, provincial governor Salim Khan Kunduzi said.

The interior ministry in a statement said at least 18 fighters had been killed and more than 40 others wounded so far, though Kunduzi placed the number of IS fighters killed as high as 36 and said at least a dozen security forces personnel and civilians had also died.

Scores of people have been forced out of their homes, according to local officials.

IS fighters began making inroads into Afghanistan in late 2014, winning over sympathisers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf, primarily in the country's east.

But in March, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced that the Islamists had been defeated following a months-long military operation.

The US military estimates between 1,000 and 3,000 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly comprised of disaffected Pakistani and Afghan Taliban, as well as Uzbek Islamists and locals.

Earlier this month the US President Barack Obama ordered the US military tackle the resurgent Taliban more directly -- in tandem with Afghan allies, ratcheting up a 15-year conflict he had vowed to end.

On Saturday the US military carried out its first air strikes against Taliban targets under the newly approved rules, which mean US troops can now work more closely with local fighters in striking the Taliban.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the strikes occurred in southern Afghanistan, but he did not provide additional details.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel and Turkey reached a deal on Sunday aimed at ending years of acrimony and restoring normalised ties that soured after a deadly 2010 raid on an aid flotilla, an Israeli official said.

The highly anticipated agreement comes six years after an Israeli raid that killed 10 Turkish activists as an aid flotilla sought to run the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Both sides have been pushing to complete the deal in recent months, with Israel in search of a potential customer for its offshore gas exports and NATO member Turkey wanting to restore its regional clout, analysts say.

The United States has also pushed for the two countries to resolve the dispute as it seeks cooperation in the fight against extremists from the Islamic State group.

Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the Israeli official said the agreement had been finalised but that details would not be officially announced until Monday.

Negotiations were said to have been held in Rome, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday.

The agreement between the Muslim majority country and the Jewish state was expected to go before Israel's security cabinet for approval on Wednesday.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim is expected to talk about the Israel reconciliation deal at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) in Ankara on Monday, a Turkish official said.

The Turkish official confirmed that "the prime minister will talk about the contents of the Turkey-Israel agreement at tomorrow's press conference."

- Botched raid -

Two of Turkey's key conditions for normalisation -- an apology and compensation -- were largely met earlier, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, the main obstacle left.

Reports in recent days described a compromise on the issue.

Under the reported terms of the deal, Israel will allow the completion of a much-needed hospital in Gaza, as well as the construction of a new power station and a desalination plant for drinking water.

Story continues

Turkey's aid to Gaza would also be channelled through the Israeli port of Ashdod rather than sending it directly to the Palestinian enclave, the reports said.

Turkey has also committed to keeping Islamist movement Hamas from carrying out activities against Israel from its country, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday.

Hamas would continue to be able to operate from Turkey for diplomatic purposes, the paper said.

Israel has committed to depositing some $20 million in a fund for compensation for the Turkish victims' families, the Israeli official said, ending all claims against Israeli soldiers.

Netanyahu has also come under pressure within Israel not to agree to the deal if it does not include provisions for Hamas to hand over four missing Israelis, including the remains of two soldiers presumed dead and two civilians believed held alive by Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli official said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to instruct "all relevant Turkish agencies to help resolve the issue of Israel's missing citizens."

The deal is to result in the restoration of ambassadors, the Israeli official said.

- Change of tone -

Previously tight relations between Israel and Turkey were significantly downgraded after Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on the six-ship flotilla in May 2010 as it tried to run the blockade on Gaza.

Nine activists aboard the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara ferry were killed, with a 10th person later dying of his wounds.

The talks to restore ties, ongoing for months, have been accompanied by a change in tone from Erdogan.

Erdogan, a stout defender of the Palestinian cause, in July 2014 accused Israel of "keeping Hitler's spirit alive" over its offensive in the Gaza Strip that summer.

He has more recently said that "we, Israel and the Palestinians and the region have a lot to win from a normalisation process."

The about-turn came amid a drastic worsening of ties between Turkey and Russia following Ankara's downing of a Russian warplane over Syria on November 24, which wrecked several joint cooperation projects including on energy.

Israel was also motivated to find new allies in the region, in part due to a need for export partners for its natural gas. There has been talk of building a pipeline to Turkey.

It has also found itself under increasing pressure over the lack of any progress on peace efforts with the Palestinians and has sought to build relationships with regional countries partly to counter such criticism.

In addition, normalised ties could open opportunities for further cooperation between NATO and Israel since Turkey's objections would be lifted, analysts say.

Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza in June 2006 after Palestinian militants there kidnapped an Israeli soldier. The restrictions were tightened a year later when Hamas took control of the enclave.

There have been three wars between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since 2008, including a devastating 50-day conflict in the summer of 2014.
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's second most wanted mobster Ernesto Fazzalari was arrested on Sunday after almost two decades on the run, apprehended by the paramilitary Carabinieri police. Fazzalari, of the notorious Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, Italy's richest and most powerful criminal organization, had been a fugitive since June 1996. He was the country's second most wanted mafia boss in terms of influence and danger to society behind Matteo Messina Denaro, of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra Mafia, a police statement said. Fazzalari, 46, faces a life sentence, having already been tried in absentia and found guilty of murder, mafia crimes, drug trafficking, robbery and illegal possession of weapons. He was found in the early hours of Sunday in a house in a remote and mountainous area of the Calabria region on the southern tip of mainland Italy and did not resist arrest, the police said. Fazzalari was at the head of one of the many family-based groups that control much of Calabrian society and make vast profits through the import and sale of drugs. Federico Cafiero de Raho, of the DDA national organization of anti-mafia prosecutors, described the arrest as "historic". He said Fazzalari was found close to his last known home, indicating that he relied on an extensive network of local contacts to protect him. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thanked the police and prosecutors involved, tweeting "Hurrah for Italy #Happy Sunday" Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said: "These are the victories that comfort and support us in the difficult path against organized crime ... There is no fleeing from justice." (Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by David Goodman)
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said on Saturday that Britain's vote to leave the European Union could lead to the Italian economy growing less than initially forecast, with a negative impact on public finances. Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, has posted weak growth since it emerged from a three-year recession at the start of 2015 and continues to lag the rest of the currency bloc. "We have to be very clear: it can't be ruled out that, following Brexit, for reasons outside our control, the economic picture worsens and we will have less growth," Padoan told the Corriere della Sera daily in an interview. "This will hit public finances. I hope it doesn't happen but it is probable." The government's present forecast is for growth of 1.2 percent this year. Italy's public debt, at around 133 percent of gross domestic product, is the highest in the euro zone after Greece's. Unicredit, the country's largest bank, said that following the British referendum it was slashing its 2017 growth forecast for Italy to between 0.2 and 0.7 percent, down from a previous 1.2 percent. On Friday, the Italian economy ministry said Britain's decision could have a "limited" impact on growth. Padoan told Corriere della Sera that to avoid the previously "unthinkable" risk that the British vote leads to other countries also leaving, the EU must now review its priorities. "Europe can no longer only worry about banks," he said, calling for "common policies that don't only regard banking union but also immigration, security and the fight against inequality." Ministers are making clear that they see the outcome of the British referendum offering opportunities for Italy as well as risks. Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said Italy, which was granted what the European Commission called "unprecedented" budget flexibility for this year, would now call for the EU to make fiscal rules even more flexible as it prepares its 2017 budget. He told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore there was a need for "much more freedom of action" to allow countries to invest more in "culture, innovation and education," without falling foul of deficit limits. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told Il Messaggero daily that Italy's role in Europe would increase because "before there were four principle players, now there are three." Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Friday he believed Milan would become a more important financial hub as business moves away from London. (reporting by Giulia Segreti and Gavin Jones; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Rome (AFP) - A convicted killer who was one of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses was arrested Sunday in an operation hailed by prosecutors as a historic breakthrough in the fight against organised crime.

Ernesto Fazzalari, 46, a fugitive for 20 years, was captured in the early hours of the morning in an apartment in a remote part of the southern region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta network of criminal clans.

Fazzalari was a leading figure in 'Ndrangheta, now considered the most powerful of Italy's crime syndicates.

He was the second most-wanted mafia fugitive after "superboss" Matteo Messina Denaro, a suspected leader of the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra.

On the run since 1996, Fazzalari was convicted in absentia in 1999 of mafia association, kidnapping, illegal possession of weapons and a double homicide linked to a bloody 1989-91 feud which left 32 people dead in his home town of Taurianova.

Federico Cafiero De Raho, Calabria's chief anti-mafia prosecutor, said it was hugely significant that Fazzalari had been captured on home turf.

"Taurianova is a place where the clans control every clod of earth," he said.

"He felt safe. That is why he was found with only his girlfriend and no bodyguard. He thought he was protected on his own turf, that he would be warned if he was in danger.

"But no alarm came. The investigation proceeded without him hearing a whisper. In the past people were afraid to talk but now I think the situation has changed.

"We have accountants and business people prepared to give evidence because they know there are judges and police who are on their side."

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said: "This shows that you cannot run from justice. These are the kind of victories that encourage and support us in the difficult but winnable fight against organised crime."

Notoriously ruthless, the 'Ndrangheta has surpassed the notorious Cosa Nostra and the Naples-based Camorra thanks to the wealth it has amassed as the principal importer and wholesaler of cocaine produced in Latin America and smuggled into Europe via north Africa and southern Italy.

Story continues

That trade is worth billions and previous police operations have indicated that the 'Ndrangheta has well-established links with Colombian producer cartels, Mexican crime gangs and mafia families in New York and other parts of North America.

The organisation is made up of numerous village and family-based clans based in Calabria, the rural, mountainous and under-developed "toe" of Italy's boot.

- Fed alive to pigs -

The name 'Ndrangheta comes from the Greek for courage or loyalty and the organisation's secretive culture and brutal enforcement of codes of silence have made it very difficult to penetrate.

A series of arrests in late 2014 and early 2015 confirmed that the organisation had expanded its Italian operations outside Calabria by buying up dozens of legitimate businesses across the wealthier north of the country, largely to launder cocaine profits.

The arrests also provided an unprecedented glimpse into the group's shadowy culture with police secretly filming a quasi-religious initiation ceremony in which new "wise brothers" swear an "oath of poison" in which they vow to kill themselves rather than betray a fellow clan member.

There are dozens of 'Ndrangheta figures still at large despite regular arrests in Italy and around the world -- but prosecutor Cafiero de Raho said the most important fugitives had all been caught.

One alleged don, Rocco Zito, 87, was shot dead in Canada in January, Switzerland arrested 15 convicted 'Ndrangheta fugitives in March and last month the owner of a popular pizzeria in the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen was unmasked as convicted Calabrian drugs smuggler Rocco Gasperini, 73.

Two mobsters who stayed in their homeland were arrested in January "living like animals" in a Calabrian mountain bunker with a cache of sub-machine guns, rifles and pistols.

Giuseppe Ferraro and Giuseppe Crea were hiding from gangster enemies as well as the authorities.

In 2013 one of their associates, Francesco Raccosta, was killed by being fed alive to hungry pigs in revenge for his assassination of a rival boss.
When Drake released Views, opinions came from every angle. The opinion that sent the most shockwaves was Joe Buddens as clips of his passionate, harsh criticism of the multi-platinum project spread across social media.

Shortly after the podcast aired with the full critique, French Montana snapchatted a preview of his upcoming collab No Shopping that features Drake and what many interpreted as a response to Budden. At the end of the clip you can hear Drake spit, pump, pump it up in the usual condescending tone hes become accustomed to using in songs addressing other artists.

These rumors of Drake taking jabs at Budden escalated even further when during the most recent episode of OVO Sound Radio he released 4PM in Calabasas.

This song may have been the last straw as the New Jersey vet spent a good part of the following podcast dissecting the record and pointing out each line that he feels was directed towards him and now has followed up with a preview of what appears to be a Drake diss.

In the video clip at the top of the page, you can see Budden vibing to a flip of Drakes Madonna from If Youre Reading This Its Too Late and you can hear the line But my words aint ghostwritten I aint Drake/Thats all gimmick Im authentic I aint Drake.

Check out the clip above.

More from Pigeons & Planes
Jon Bon Jovi made a trip to his JBJ Soul Kitchen in Toms River, N.J., to give a fan a special surprise.

The New Jersey native and the staff at the non-profit community restaurant worked together to surprise Carol Cesario, who is fighting stage 4 lung cancer. Cesario's wish to meet her favorite rock star came true on Saturday (June 25) at a dinner arranged by Bon Jovi.

Jon Bon Jovi Campaigns for Hillary Clinton in New Jersey

"Today my mom's dream came true!," Cesario's daughter, Rosie Skripkunis wrote on Facebook. "After loving Jon Bon Jovi for 30 years she finally met him. He invited our family to his restaurant for dinner and surprised her. He spent almost two hours hanging out with her and just chatting with my family."

Bon Jovi broke bread with the family and gifted Cesario with an autographed guitar and book. She also got an extra special private first listen of the forthcoming Bon Jovi album This House is Not For Sale.

"What you did for our family is amazing and we are so grateful. This has been one of the best days of our families [sic] life," Sripkunis wrote. "Seeing my mom this happy filled me with so much joy. I still can not believe this happened. Jon is a[n] amazing human. We appreciate everything he did for our mom and for our family today."

The JBJ Soul Kitchen is a "Pay It Forward" community restaurant that serves an in-need and paying customer. Diners can "earn their meal" by volunteering at the restaurant. Paying diners directly affect change by purchasing a Pay It Forward certificate. By paying $20 or more, they defray the cost of an in-need meal.

The eatery, which offers a SoHo-like dining experience with nutritious, upscale fare and no prices listed on the menu, is located at 1769 Hooper Ave., Toms River. It is the second location in New Jersey, with the original restaurant located at 207 Monmouth Street, Red Bank.
Happy anniversary to Julia-Louis Dreyfus and Brad Hall!

The 55-year-old actress star and her actor/director hubby celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary on Saturday, and the sweet throwback photo she shared on Instagram to commemorate the occasion just might make you believe in love again  that, and the power of a good anti-aging cream.

WATCH: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Now Has As Many Emmys as Mary Tyler Moore

29 years ago today, Louis-Dreyfus wrote, alongside a sweet pic from her wedding day. A good choice. #remain.

We cant get enough of the actress as a blushing bride, holding hands with her new hubby in the pic. Seriously, how does she look exactly the same as she did nearly three decades ago?

Twenty-nine years is quite the accomplishment, but the Veep star and her husband arent the only ones celebrating a big milestone. Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman also celebrated their 10th anniversary on Saturday, and appear to be just as in love now as theyve ever been!

RELATED: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman Celebrate 10th Anniversary! 10 Reasons Theyre Our Favorite Celeb Couple

As if you needed more proof that Louis-Dreyfus doesnt age, check out this flashback video of her and Hall performing in the same improv group, Chicagos The Golden 50th Anniversary Jubilee  in 1982, five years before they got hitched.

Related Articles
James Blake had two surprises in store for attendees at Englands Glastonbury Festival this weekend: I Need a Forest Fire collaborator Justin Vernon and Long Beach, California rapper Vince Staples. Blake and Vernon of course performed I Need a Forest Fire, but Staples brought fresh energy to Timeless, another track from Blakes recent, somewhat stultifying album The Colour in Anything.

The album cut of Timeless lacked lyrics (besides Blake moaning the title a few times), but the Glastonbury version gives the song new urgency as an intense, spiraling backdrop to Staples stream-of-consciousness rhymes. We remain convinced theres nothing a little Vince Staples cant improve, no matter how insipid the original. And stay tuned for more: Staples upcoming EP, Prima Donna, features production from Blake.

Watch footage of Blake performing with Vernon and Staples below via Stereogum (the Timeless audio begins around the :20 mark).
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry left Washington on Saturday to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the publication of an international report expected to criticize Israeli settlement building.

Kerry was flying to Rome to meet the Israeli leader on Sunday and Monday. Some reports have suggested he will use the meeting to assess the possibility of reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials have been careful not to predict any breakthroughs and the meeting is likely to touch on the imminent release of a report by the Quartet, which is seeking to foster a "two-state" solution to the conflict.

This diplomatic group -- the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia -- is concerned that Palestinian violence and Israel's building on occupied land is pushing the prospect of peace further away.

This week, ahead of Kerry's trip, his spokesman John Kirby said: "There are plenty of issues coming up that merit Israel and the United States's discussion."

Kirby said the Quartet's report "will include recommendations that will help inform international discussions on the best way to advance a two-state solution."

The document will "largely" reflect the Quartet's previous statement in September last year, he added.

The September report cited Israel's "ongoing settlement activity and the high rate of demolition of Palestinian structures" as "dangerously imperiling the viability" of a two-state deal.

Washington, the traditional mediator in Middle East peace efforts, has not taken the lead in recent months, concerned that the situation is not promising and that another round of failed talks would only further embitter both parties.

But France has launched a diplomatic initiative to build international pressure on both sides.

The United States gave the French move a cool reception, but Kerry attended its inaugural meeting in Paris and has called on both sides to take "affirmative steps" to calm tempers and preserve the possibility of peace.

Story continues

On the ground, however, the situation remains fraught and sporadic violence since October has killed at least 210 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese.

Most of the Palestinians were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

On Thursday, in an address to the European Parliament, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused a group of Israeli rabbis of urging their government to poison Palestinian water supplies.

Netanyahu in turn furiously accused his opponent of resurrecting the ancient "blood libel" against Jews, a charge Abbas denies.
Rome (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret Sunday that Britain has chosen to leave the European Union and vowed Washington will maintain close ties with the bloc.

Kerry, who flies to Brussels and London on Monday for crisis talks with EU and British leaders, said the ideal of unity must remain paramount as Britain negotiates "Brexit".

"An EU united and strong is our preference for a partner to be able to work on the important issues that face us today," Kerry told reporters during a visit to Rome.

"One country has made a decision, obviously it's a decision that the United States had hoped would go the other way," he said, alongside Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

"The vote about Brexit and the changes that are now being thought through have to be thought through in the context of the interests and values that bind us together with the EU."

Gentiloni said Brexit demonstrated the need for the EU to change.

"We are working to relaunch the Union in light of the decision by the British electorate.

"Our historic friendship with Britain and our alliance through NATO are not up for discussion.

"The challenge we have before us is to translate a crisis into an opportunity by turning a difficult moment into the occasion to relaunch the EU."

Washington was dismayed last week when British voters chose to leave Europe, a decision that triggered global economic uncertainty and fears other EU members will follow suit.

But Kerry said he had no doubt that Europe would pull together and reassure the markets, noting that even without Britain the EU single market counts 455 million consumers.

President Barack Obama had also made clear his concern about the referendum, and now US officials are scrambling to try to stop the political crisis harming Western unity.

Kerry arrived in Rome on Sunday on a planned visit to have lunch with Gentiloni and a working dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Story continues

But officials on his flight said that on Monday he would fly on to EU headquarters in Brussels to meet EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini had been expected to meet Kerry in Rome on Sunday, but she was busy dealing with the fallout of the dramatic vote, which stunned European and world leaders.

From Brussels, Kerry will continue to London to see Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other officials from outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron's government.

Hammond and Kerry are expected to hold a joint news conference before Kerry leaves to return to Washington.

Obama and Kerry have been at pains to insist the vaunted "special relationship" between Washington and London will survive what US officials view as the Brexit debacle.

- Dramatic referendum -

But Washington foreign policy experts are all but unanimous in assessing that the White House will increasingly turn to core EU allies to defend its interests on the continent.

Obama himself, on a visit to London last month, warned British voters that their nation would go "to the back of the queue" for a US trade deal if they voted "out."

US officials are also keen to help London's divorce from Brussels go through smoothly without inflicting further damage on skittish world financial markets.

But they, like many EU capitals, are also concerned not to allow Brexit to serve as an inspiration for eurosceptic forces in other members such as Italy or The Netherlands.

The London visit will be the first by a senior US official since Thursday's dramatic referendum, when voters demanded Britain leave the world's richest trading bloc.

Kerry's trip had originally been planned as an opportunity to meet Netanyahu and discuss regional security and the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace process.

But US officials played down the chance of any concrete progress, insisting that the pair meet regularly and that no new initiative would be on the table.
Kylie Jenner and Tyga just love to tease us!

The 18-year-old reality star and the "Rack City" rapper have seemingly rekindled their romance, spending Saturday night together at 1 OAK nightclub in West Hollywood, California.

WATCH: Tyga Posts Pic of Kylie Jenner, Hints That They're Back Together

The two arrived in style, pulling up in the Ferrari that Tyga bought Jenner for her 18th birthday. Photographers later captured the reunited pair leaving the celebrity hotspot together, with Tyga in the driver's seat.

Splash News

Before heading to the club, Jenner took to Instagram to show off her outfit, which consisted of a colorful bomber jacket emblazoned with horses, black skirt, and thigh-high boots. She opted for a bright red lip, painting her pout with the Mary Jo K shade from her Kylie Lip Kit collection. (Which we just found out is now one of Ariana Grande's favorites.)

And what would a night out be without starting an impromptu photo shoot?

WATCH: Kylie Jenner Shares a Steamy Smooch With PartyNextDoor in Rapper's New Music Video

A source confirms to ET that they are, indeed, back on. "Yep, they sure are back together," our source says. "Never say never with these two."

Jenner and Tyga, 26, were spotted together just one night earlier at the premiere of Kanye West's "Famous" music video at The Forum in Inglewood, California. While the pair didn't display any PDA, they did sit next to each other. An eyewitness told ET "it was clear they were there together."

Rumors of a reconciliation began earlier that day when Tyga posted a snap of the beauty guru sitting on a bed. "They always come back," he captioned the now-deleted pic.

Jenner posted the same photo to her own account, tagging her booty as Tyga (naturally).

She also made headlines on Thursday when she shared a steamy smooch with rapper PartyNextDoor in his "Come and See Me" music video. The two were rumored to be dating, but it appears that's no longer the case as Tyga has seemingly swooped Jenner back for good!

Story continues

WATCH: Kylie Jenner Attends Kanye West's 'Famous' Show With Tyga

Related Articles
LONDON (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Britain's main opposition Labour Party should "calm down" and hold together, John McDonnell, the party's finance spokesman, said on Sunday, after a sacking and resignation plunged the party into open warfare. "I know how disappointed people are about the loss of the European referendum, but now is the time we hold together," McDonnell told BBC television, referring to Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Asked whether Jeremy Corbyn will remain leader of the Labour Party, McDonnell said: "He's not going anywhere." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
RAMYGALA, Lithuania (Reuters) - The Lithuanian village of Ramygala held its annual beauty pageant on Sunday, the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte, or "Little Spot". Around 500 people braved the summer heat to attend the parade in honor of the goat, a traditional symbol of the northern village. The pageant also included a marching band, dancers in fancy costumes and a "king" and "queen" presiding over ceremonies. It was the first time Demyte's owner, 74-year-old retired veterinarian Ferdinandas Petkevicius, had won the competition after six years of trying. "The only thing we didn't do to prepare the goat for the pageant is we didn't polish its nails - because we thought of it too late," said Petkevicius, holding the leash of the winning white goat with black spots, who was decorated with two roses on its head. Six goats decorated with flowers were paraded on a red carpet before a jury comprising the local member of parliament, the head of the local school and a cucumber farmer. Several contestants stubbornly refused to walk and were instead carried by their owners. Cakes, jars of honey, books and coupons for a haircut were awarded to winners' owners, before they walked their goats away from a by-then generously stained red carpet. (Reporting By Andrius Sytas; Editing by Digby Lidstone)
The 2016 Logo Trailblazer Honors, which taped last Thursday and air tonight on Logo and VH1, are being dedicated to the 49 victims who lost their lives at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Vice President Joe Biden addressed the audience in a pre-taped message, mourning the innocent lives lost.

Our hearts are still heavy for Orlando, he said somberly. Youre showing tonight we are Orlando. Were all Americans. Unbowed. Unrelenting. We endure. We overcome. Were hopeful. We will not be silent.

The vice president also took a moment to denounce anti-trans bathroom legislation, referring to draconian state laws [that] deny transgender Americans basic civil rights.

Also Read: Donald Trump Says 'Ask the Gays,' Gays Make Him Immediately Regret It on Twitter

RuPaul Charles, the drag queen and RuPauls Drag Race host, echoed the vice president. As gay people we get to choose our families. And my chosen family includes millions of brave men and women around the world.

Charles added: Dont f with my family, before leading the audience in a moment of silence honoring the Orlando victims.

LGBT pioneers Billie Jean King, Harvey Fierstein, and The Advocate were among several other honorees.

Check out Bidens speech and Rachel Platten perform her hit Fight Song from the show, dedicated to the Orlando victims, below.

The third annual Trailblazer Honors air tonight on Logo and VH1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Stars Slammed for Silence on Orlando Shooting

JK Rowling Sends Flowers to Orlando Victim's Funeral

Christina Aguilera Releases New Song in Honor of Orlando Shooting Victims
In many ways, Pride this year has been met with mixed opinions from the LGBT community. In the wake of Orlando, people have felt a strong need to take to the streets and make their strength and defiance visible. And yet others have felt conflicted about the new direction Pride seems to be taking; corporate sponsors have a tighter hold on proceedings than years previous, and anti-war advocates have objected to military presence at the event in the form of the Red Arrows flying over, and BAE  an arms manufacturer  marching in the parade.

Still, if you'd turned on Grindr in Soho Square yesterday, you might have found your phone ready to combust; the streets were packed with thousands of revellers celebrating LGBT love. Despite heavy rain, despite falling on the same weekend as Glastonbury, despite disappointment over news that Britain will leave the EU, Saturday afternoon's turnout was immense. As Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, Ab Fab 's Eddy and Patsy, led the parade, umbrellas could be seen all the way down Old Compton Street with a throng of drag queens, tourists and shirtless men dancing underneath.

If you weren't able to make it, here's a run down of what you missed courtesy of those that were there...

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley kicked off the parade with their AbFab float @wjconnolly

Amnesty International's placards ward off homophobia @londonlgbtpride

Out and Proud Diamond Group show support for Ugandan LGBT people @talibambu

Rainbow balloons outside G-A-Y on Old Compton Street @dahowarth

Drag queen Jodie Harsh takes a selfie from atop the AbFab float @jodieharsh

Banners respond to Orlando @jkaplanphoto

Glitter lipstick was in this year @jordwarn

Glynn from Sink The Pink makes a friend @sinkthepinkldn

Stonewall UK march in their trademark red Tshirts @stonewalluk

Impromptu tube performance from drag queen Jacob Mallinson Bird @jmallinsonb

Flags represent worldwide Pride @londonlgbtpride

As the rain started to fall, street DJs dropped Rihanna "Umbrella" - apt @amelia_abraham

Girl Guides show their support of gay members @gemmarollsbentley

His and hers dresses @sienna.world

Eddy and Patsy pose for the cameras @abfabmovie

Stalls offered rainbow face paint @davehjbrown

Teachers partied atop a bus in the parade, which lasted from 1pm to 4.30, making its way through central London @londonlgbtpride

London Mayor Sadiq Khan on stage @londonlgbtpride

The Red Arrows  not emitting rainbow colours, for some reason @londonlgbtpride

Full body paint... at least until the skies opened @gioia_sun

Leather clad bikers in the parade @londonlgbtpride

Rainbows Across Borders, a voluntary charity for LGBT asylum seekers @londonlgbtpride

No Pride In War protestors demonstrate against the Red Arrows' appearance @noprideinwar

These two, having a grand old time @londonlgbtpride

Performances took place in Trafalgar Square all afternoon long @londonlgbtpride

Important Tshirts for bisexual people  the letter in L, G, B and T that arguably gets the least airtime @londonlgbtpride

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

"Let LGBT People Of Colour Speak For Themselves"

How We Can Take On Sexual Violence In Conflict

This Londoner Wants To Take Back Her City
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to announce a new cabinet on Monday in a reshuffle to fill vacant positions, The Star newspaper said quoting sources. The reshuffle might involve up to four ministers and three deputy ministers, the paper said quoting a source. Najib had announced his plan to rejig the lineup after the ruling coalition won the Sarawak state elections by an increased majority last month. However, he told reporters on Friday that he needed more time to think about a cabinet reshuffle. The Prime Minister's office was not immediately available for a comment. (Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Michael Perry)
Bill Cunningham, a legendary fashion photographer who spent decades chronicling street fashion, died Saturday, according to the New York Times. He was 87.

Cunningham, who almost always wore his signature blue French workman's jacket, worked for the New York Times for 40 years. He had recently been hospitalized after having a stroke.

PHOTOS: Stars We've Lost

The Massachusetts native began his fashion career in millinery after dropping out of Harvard University. After serving in the Korean War, he eventually pursued a career as a fashion reporter and went on to work for the Chicago Tribune, Women's Wear Daily, and, most notably, the Times.

Following the news of his death, many celebrities and prominent figures in the fashion industry shared their condolences as well as tributes on social media.

Marc Jacobs tweeted a photo of Cunningham sitting front row at a fashion show taking photos, captioning the picture with three blue emoji hearts.

Legendary supermodel Iman also expressed her condolences, tweeting, "RIP Bill Cunningham, legendary NY Times photographer, loved by all in fashion & beyond."

RIP Bill Cuningham legendary NY Times photographer loved by all in fashion & beyond #rip #BillCunningham pic.twitter.com/Z3DBTUT2OS  Iman Abdulmajid (@The_Real_IMAN) June 25, 2016

NEWS: Iman Shares Heartbreaking Tribute to David Bowie on What Would Have Been Their Anniversary

Fashion Police host, Brad Goreski, wrote, "So sad to hear about Bill Cunningham passing away. He was a special man with a great talent and a love of all things fashion. A true legend."

Story continues

So sad to hear about Bill Cunningham passing away. He was a special man with a great talent and a love of all things fashion. A true legend.  Brad Goreski (@mrbradgoreski) June 25, 2016

See more reactions from his friends and fans:

He defined much of what we call #NYStyle. He was a devoted artist and style icon that will be missed... #BillCunninghamRIP  Mr. Kenneth Cole (@mr_kennethcole) June 25, 2016

As someone who was always supportive, kind, elegant and brilliant, I will miss your enormous https://t.co/mSKbSVn6oC  Vera Wang (@VeraWangGang) June 25, 2016

No  we love you SO MUCH Bill. Thank you for everything- thank you for making it special - I will miss you  https://t.co/pKuxhz8SQX  Jaime King (@Jaime_King) June 25, 2016

RIP Bill Cunningham, the #legend and OG street style photographer. We will always remember you by your passion in your photographs..   Martha Hunt (@iammarthahunt) June 25, 2016

I took this photo of #BillCunningham in 2012- Rest in Peace legend  pic.twitter.com/hZ38efYr6y  Bryant Eslava (@BryantEslava) June 25, 2016

RIP Bill Cunningham, the #legend and OG street style photographer. We will always remember you by your passion in your photographs..   Martha Hunt (@iammarthahunt) June 25, 2016

Related Articles
New York (AFP) - Legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham died Saturday, according to the paper where he worked for nearly 40 years. He was 87.

Cunningham, whose watchful eye brought images of New Yorkers -- from the well-heeled to unsuspecting trendsetters -- to the public, had been hospitalized recently after a stroke, the Times reported.

Credited with creating the genre of street fashion photography, Cunningham held a passion for capturing a subject or trend's look, whatever it may be.

He was, as the Times called him, an "unlikely cultural anthropologist."

Cunningham, who plied New York in his trademark blue workman's jacket with a camera slung around his neck and traveled on his bicycle, had an uncanny talent in unearthing major, even avant-garde trends on the street, on the catwalk or at glittering parties.

In a 2010 documentary about Cunningham, Anna Wintour -- the powerful editor of American Vogue and one of the photographer's muses -- marveled at his ability to "see something, on the street or on the runway, that completely missed all of us. And in six months' time, that will be a trend!"

Frank Rich, a former New York Times columnist and executive producer of the HBO series "Veep," tweeted: "Bill Cunningham was as delightful and fascinating a person and colleague as he was as artist. An independent mind, big heart, no airs."

- A 'Living Landmark' -

A 2008 recipient of France's Legion of Honor, Cunningham was also named a living landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy in 2009.

"Today we lost a Living Landmark, not that he ever stood still. Let's all be more fabulous in Bill's memory," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's office wrote on Twitter.

De Blasio added: "We will remember Bill's blue jacket and bicycle. But most of all we will remember the vivid, vivacious New York he captured in his photos."

Story continues

Cunningham's "wealth of knowledge is absolutely staggering and he is self-effacing," one of the founding editors of InStyle magazine, Hal Rubenstein, told AFP in 2014.

Times publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr added: "His company was sought after by the fashion world's rich and powerful, yet he remained one of the kindest, most gentle and humble people I have ever met."

Cunningham, born in Boston in 1929, "used his camera like a note pad, keeping careful tabs on every genus, phylum and species of stylish bird," The Hollywood Reporter wrote.

Former CNN correspondent Alina Cho, an editor at large at Ballantine Bantam Dell who was often photographed by Cunningham, first met the photographer "many, many years ago" on a cold February day during New York Fashion Week.

"I didn't yet know him and he certainly didn't know me, but he did notice that I was inappropriately dressed for the blizzard-like conditions," Cho told The Hollywood Reporter.

"And, so, he just quietly walked over and put his big blue parka over my shoulders and said something to the effect of, 'Child, wear this -- you're cold.' I'll never forget it," Cho said.


Credit: Johan Sandberg

If Blake Lively can't be your real-life big sister, having her play the role onscreen is a close second, says Sedona Legge, who shares a fictional family with the vivacious actress in the surfer drama The Shallows, in theaters June 24. "I got to hang out with her all the time when she wasn't filming," says Legge. "I even got to hold her baby." As Lively helped her navigate the plunge into Hollywood, Legge simultaneously got schooled in eco-friendly fashion. "I just did my first runway show for Undress," she notes proudly. "Every gown was made out of recycled materials."

Nibbling on home-baked vegan chocolate chip cookies in the Sydney town house she shares with her mom, Legge says her own look is far more casual. For her chat with InStyle, she's sporting the skinniest of skinny Abercrombie & Fitch jeans, an off-the-shoulder Free People top, and black ankle boots that she hunted down at T.J. Maxx. Named for the mystical Arizona city, she spent most of her life toggling between Los Angeles and Sydney (she speaks with a sweet Californian accent but switches effortlessly to a deep Aussie drawl on demand), which she says provided the foundation necessary to become an actress.

RELATED: See Blake Lively Get Ready for The Shallows Premiere

"To play a character, you have to adapt to new scenarios and experience a whole different way of looking at the world," she says. Though she seems like the quintessential cool girl, Legge insists she's come into her own only in the past year. "Kids can be cruel, and I've always been insecure," she says. "But it's important to find your inner kindness without caring what others think. If you're satisfied with yourself, you can do anything."



Credit: Johan Sandberg

Photos: Johan Sandberg/Artlist; hair: Sophie Roberts/Oribe/The Artist Group; makeup: Kellie Stratton/Charlotte Tilbury/M.A.P.; styling: James Valeri; manicure: Oli Antunes; production: M.A.P. Australia
ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) -- Melatonin won the $500,000 Gold Cup by 1 1/2 lengths Saturday at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, Melatonin ran 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.79 and paid $5.60, $4 and $3 as the 9-5 favorite. The 5-year-old gelding earned an automatic berth into the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at the track this fall.

Win the Space rallied three-wide outside of Melatonin turning for home and was head-to-head with the eventual winner inside the furlong pole. Win the Space returned $24.80 and $9.40 at 24-1 odds.

Defending champion Hard Aces was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $5 to show. Hoppertunity finished fourth.

Trained by David Hofmans, Melatonin led all the way to win the Santa Anita Handicap on March 12 at 16-1 odds.

The victory, worth $300,000, increased Melatonin's career earnings to $1,218,552, with five wins in 13 starts. The gelding was limited to earnings of just $132,552 before this year because of a rare neurological disorder.

Melatonin won the $500,000 Gold Cup by 1 1/2 lengths Saturday at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, Melatonin ran 1 1/4 miles in 1:59.79 and paid $5.60, $4 and $3 as the 9-5 favorite. The 5-year-old gelding earned an automatic berth into the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at the track this fall.

Win the Space rallied three-wide outside of Melatonin turning for home and was head-to-head with the eventual winner inside the furlong pole. Win the Space returned $24.80 and $9.40 at 24-1 odds.

Defending champion Hard Aces was another three-quarters of a length back in third and paid $5 to show. Hoppertunity finished fourth.

Trained by David Hofmans, Melatonin led all the way to win the Santa Anita Handicap on March 12 at 16-1 odds.

''He's a jockey's dream,'' Talamo said. ''He just does his thing. He does not have to go to the lead. As you saw, he laid second comfortably. What impressed me the most about him today was when Win the Space came to him at the eighth pole, he just battled back. He gives you everything he's got.''

Story continues

The victory, worth $300,000, increased Melatonin's career earnings to $1,218,552, with five wins in 13 starts. The gelding was limited to earnings of just $132,552 before this year because of a rare neurological disorder.

''I think we gave him enough time to get rid of that awful thing in his body,'' Hofmans said. ''I think that held him back and since we got rid of that, he's developed into such a nice horse.''

In the $300,000 Triple Bend Stakes, Lord Nelson defeated Subtle Indian by a half-length under Rafael Bejarano.

Lord Nelson ran seven furlongs in 1:21.04 and paid $6.20, $3.80 and $2.60 as the 2-1 second choice in the wagering.

Subtle Indian returned $4.60 and $3.40, while Kobe's Back was another 1 3/4 lengths back in third and paid $2.60 to show.

It was the fifth career victory in the Grade 1 race for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

''That was pretty game,'' he said. ''I didn't think he was going to get there. It was pretty exciting to watch, more exciting to win.''

The victory, worth $180,000, increased Lord Nelson's career earnings to $598,271, with five wins in 11 starts.
Paris Jackson and the Jackson 5 paid loving tribute to Michael Jackson on the seventh anniversary of his death.

On Saturday, his beloved daughter took to Instagram to pay tribute to the late music icon. She shared a beautiful black-and-white collage that featured three photos, two real snapshots and a Photoshopped image of what the two might look like today if the King of Pop were still alive.

WATCH: Paris and Jermaine Jackson Defend Michael Jackson Over New Allegations

7 years, rest in peace, my best friend in the entire universe. I love you more than anything, she wrote.

Things may be a little sh**ty in the press right now but everyone knows its all bull and i swear on the family name i will protect you for as long as i live, she added, calling out a recent report alleging that Michael had a pornography collection. Theres no one like you, and there never will be. thank you for touching millions of hearts, but especially my own.

RELATED: Michael Jackson Apparently Appeared in a Cloud on the 6th Anniversary of His Death

On Friday, Michael was also honored at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, California, with a special performance by The Jackson 5. Jermaine, Titi, Jackie, and Marlon Jackson all took the stage to sing a few of their hits, including One More Chance, along with Michaels Wanna Be Startin Somethin, which were shared on social media via Instagram user @mattinreallife.

WATCH: Paris Jackson Gets Another Tattoo in Honor of Dad Michael Jackson

Jackson died on June 25, 2009, at age 50 at his Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles.

Back in April, Paris celebrated her milestone birthday by getting a tattoo in honor of her late dad. To everyone else he was the King of Pop. To me, well, he was the king of my heart, she captioned a photo of the new ink.

One month later, she went to another tattoo shop to get part of the illustration from Michaels 1991 Dangerous album cover tattooed on her arm. Hear more on her body art in the video below.

Story continues

Related Articles
Michael Jackson was remembered by his family on Saturday, seven years after his passing at the age of 50.

Daughter Paris paid tribute to the late King of Pop by creating a photo collage featuring images of herself and her father, including childhood snapshots and what appears to be a Photoshopped picture of what the two might look like if they could pose together today. She posted the collage on Instagram.

"7 years, rest in peace, my best friend in the entire universe. i love you more than anything," Paris wrote in a touching note. She continued on to address the recent pornography collection allegations against her father: "things may be a little shitty in the press right now but everyone knows it's all bull and i swear on the family name i will protect you for as long as i live. there's no one like you, and there never will be. thank you for touching millions of hearts, but especially my own."

7 years, rest in peace, my best friend in the entire universe. i love you more than anything. things may be a little shitty in the press right now but everyone knows it's all bull and i swear on the family name i will protect you for as long as i live. there's no one like you, and there never will be. thank you for touching millions of hearts, but especially my own.

A photo posted by Paris-Michael K. Jackson (@parisjackson) on Jun 25, 2016 at 1:31pm PDT

Jackson's brothers - Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Marlon, who made up the Jackson 5 with him - also honored him with a performance at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, Calif., ET reports. The Jacksons sang such hits as "One More Chance" and Michael's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," both of which were captured on video and uploaded to Instagram by a fan at the show.

Watch clips of their performance below.

I go to a lot of shows. I've seen some of my favorite bands 20..30...even 40+ times. But I never got to see my favorite artist live before he passed away But it was pretty cool to spend tonight, the eve of the 7th anniversary of his death, with his mom and brothers and family. We miss you Michael. You left us way too soon. #TheJacksons #Jackson5 #RIPMichael #MichaelJackson

Story continues

A video posted by Matt InRealLife (@mattinreallife) on Jun 24, 2016 at 9:36pm PDT

Seven years ago today we lost a legend. Glad we got to celebrate last night. #RIPMichael #MichaelJackson #TheJacksons #wannabestartinsomethin

A video posted by Matt InRealLife (@mattinreallife) on Jun 25, 2016 at 12:47pm PDT

This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.
Rome (AFP) - A total of 3,324 migrants were rescued off Libya Sunday in 26 different operations, the Italian coastguard said, bringing to more than 10,000 the total saved since Thursday.

There were no reports of confirmed or suspected casualties after the operations to pick up migrants packed on to 25 rubber dinghies and one wooden boat, all of which were rescued less than 35 miles from the Libyan coast.

Coastguard and navy boats took part in the rescues, along with vessels operated by Eunavformed, the EU borders agency Frontex and the charities Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Sea Watch.

The migrants were all being transferred to southern Italian ports. The latest rescues pushes to more than 66,000 the number of mostly African migrants to arrive in Italy since the start of 2016, according to figures compiled by the UN refugee agency.

The rate of arrivals is broadly in line with the pattern of last year, with officials attributing this week's high figure to calm sea conditions, which make it less risky sending overcrowded boats out to sea from Libyan ports.

More than 10,000 migrants have died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean since 2014, just over a quarter of the casualties having happened this year.
Glasgow (AFP) - More than half of Scots now back independence following Britain's decision to leave the European Union, a new poll showed on Sunday.

A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times found 52 percent of respondents wanted to break with the rest of Britain, with 48 percent opposed.

Scotland rejected independence in a 2014 referendum, but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a second vote was now "highly likely" to prevent Scots being pulled out of the European Union against their will.

In Thursday's historic EU referendum, Britain voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the bloc. But Scots voted by 62 percent to stay in.

After an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday, Sturgeon told reporters said that "a second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table and is very much on the table".

"To ensure that that option is a deliverable one within the required timetable, steps will be taken now to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place. Cabinet this morning formally agreed that work," she said.

In the independence vote two years ago, Scotland voted by 55 percent to 45 percent to stay within the UK.

The Panelbase survey, which interviewed 620 adults on Friday and Saturday, found that 52 percent think Scotland is likely to be independent within five to ten years.

This is up from 30 percent when the same question was asked in April.

Ruth Davidson, leader of the Conservative party in Scotland who opposes independence, said after the EU results came in on Friday that it was not the right time for another vote.

"I do not believe that a second independence referendum will help us achieve that stability nor that it is in the best interests of the people of Scotland," she said.

"The 1.6 million votes cast in this referendum in favour of remain, do not wipe away the two million votes that we cast less than two years ago.

"And we do not address the challenges of leaving the European Union by leaving our own union of nations, our biggest market and our closest friends."
We MUST GET to this incredible Harry Potter pop-up store

We MUST GET to this incredible Harry Potter pop-up store

If youre a fan of the Harry Potter movies (um, who isnt?), youve probably noticed that the world is wonderfully detailed, right down to every sign, map, newspaper, and storefront. Those intricate elements are the vision of graphic designers, Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima, who met back in 2001 on Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

They became great friends and collaborators, and were proud to announce that these two designers now have their own pop-up shop in London! Its called House of MinaLima, and it includes exclusive Harry Potter art prints and awesome HP stationery.

Of course, the exterior of House of MinaLima is cute-as-a-button.

And the floor is Marauders Map (if you need a refresher, thats the magical map of Hogwarts that shows what everyone on the grounds is doing, and who they really are. Also, secret passages!).

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good... #harrypotter #minalima #houseofminalima #marauders #maraudersmap A photo posted by Jessica Wright (@justjesshere) on Jun 26, 2016 at 4:31am PDT

Everything inside looks like we need to go visit immediately.

 Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stuff A photo posted by Ruth Lily (@ruthlily) on Jun 25, 2016 at 8:32am PDT

 #houseofminalima #Minalima #harrypotter #undesirableno1 #harrypotterart #potterhead #cursedchild #london A photo posted by Rebecca Cook (@itsrebeccacook) on Jun 25, 2016 at 2:32am PDT

#harrypotter #minalima A photo posted by (@ohthesleepyone) on Jun 24, 2016 at 4:58pm PDT

If you live in London, score! If not, a quick trip, perhaps? But if you CANT get there in person, the e-shop has a lot to offer. Its not all Harry Potter themed; theres some Peter Pan and The Jungle Book artwork, as well as MinaLimas own mid 20th century collection of prints, stationery, and books.

Story continues

This design team are prolific, with their most recent credit being Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (and before that, The Legend of Tarzan, and before that, The Imitation Game). Were grateful for their contribution to film, and for House of MinaLima fulfilling our innermost Harry Potter dreams!

Where is a thestral when we need one? Or a Firebolt? Heck, well even take an unregulated Axminster flying carpet. Just get us to London as fast as possible!

The post We MUST GET to this incredible Harry Potter pop-up store appeared first on HelloGiggles.
YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The Niger Delta Avengers, a Nigerian militant group which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil facilities in the country's southern energy hub, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to visit the region. The militant group says it wants a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region. Crude sales make up about 70 percent of Nigeria's national income and most of that oil comes from the southern swampland. Last week, Petroleum Ministry officials said the government had agreed a one-month ceasefire with the militants, but the group later denied that. "President Buhari should visit Niger Delta," the Avengers said on their Twitter feed on Saturday. Last month Buhari, a 73-year-old former military ruler, cancelled a trip to the region at the last minute, days before flying to London to receive treatment for an ear infection. It would have been his first visit to the area since taking office in May 2015. "Mr. President come and see for yourself what the host communities are going through in the hands of Nigeria government and the multinationals," the group said in a message on its website, adding that he should go to various export terminals. On Twitter the group, which has previously called for the Niger Delta to break away, also urged Buhari to hold a referendum "just like what David Cameron of Great Britain did" to enable people to "decide if they want to stay as Nigerians". Nigeria, an OPEC member, was Africa's top oil producer until the spate of attacks in the last few months pushed it behind Angola. Production has fallen from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year to around 1.6 million barrels. (Reporting by Tife Owolabi and Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Catherine Evans)
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's army on Sunday said it had freed more than 5,000 people held by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram during an operation over the weekend in the northeast of the country. Nigeria's army has over the last year, sometimes aided by troops from neighboring countries, recaptured most of the territory that was lost to the group, which has waged a seven-year insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state in the remote northeast. The army said troops, supported by members of a grassroots security force, conducted raids in 15 villages on Sunday, during which they "killed six Boko Haram terrorists and wounded several others". "The troops also liberated over 5,000 persons held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists," it said in an emailed statement. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the freeing of the hostages, in part due to the remoteness of the area in which the military operation took place. More than 15,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced in Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon during Boko Haram's insurgency. However, the jihadist group, which last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, still regularly stages suicide bombings, mainly in crowded areas such as markets and places of worship. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Digby Lidstone)
President Obamas approval rating is at its highest level in more than five years, an ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Sunday shows.

According to the results of the survey, conducted in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., two weeks ago, 56 percent of Americans approve of Obamas handling of his job as president, compared to 41 percent who disapprove.

The last time the presidents approval rating was this high was in May 2011 following the killing of Osama bin Laden in a nighttime raid led by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan.

According to the Washington Post, Obama is more popular now than Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush were at this point in their presidencies, though not quite as popular as Bill Clinton in 2000.

Pres. Obamas approval rating rises to 56% in new @ABC News/WaPo poll, up 5 points https://t.co/4798SeSTdQ pic.twitter.com/z62uFAwMU4  World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) June 26, 2016

The results of the survey are in line with a recent CNN/ORC poll that found 52 percent of Americans approve of Obamas performance as president, up 5 points since January.

And according to that survey, also conducted in the wake of the nightclub massacre, Obama ranks as the most positively viewed recent second term president.

Both Clinton and Ronald Reagan were viewed favorably by just under half of adults in the spring or summer of their final years in office. George W. Bushs favorability rating, by contrast, was just 38 percent at this point in 2008.

All of this is good news for Hillary Clinton, who was endorsed by Obama earlier this month.

The president plans on campaigning for the presumptive Democratic nominee in the coming weeks and has already begun to take aim at her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.

Story continues

In Seattle on Friday, Obama offered a preview of his anti-Trump stump speech while speaking at a Democratic fundraiser for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.

We dont have time for charlatans, and we dont have time for bigotry, Obama said. And we dont have the luxury of just popping off and saying whatever comes to the tops of our heads. Dont have time for that.
Athens (AFP) - Orthodox church leaders from around the world on Sunday called for the protection of religious minorities in the war-torn Middle East at a rare global meeting that also warned against the "moral dilemmas" of rapid scientific progress.

"The Orthodox Church is particularly concerned about the situation facing Christians, and other persecuted ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East," the church leaders said in a circular concluding the first such gathering in a millennium.

"In particular, she addresses an appeal to governments in that region to protect the Christian populations  Orthodox, Ancient Eastern and other Christians  who have survived in the cradle of Christianity," they added at the close of the week-long Holy and Great Council on the Greek island of Crete.

The gathering, attended by nearly a dozen churches from around the world, also saw discussions on issues including wedlock, fasting, and united representation in dioceses in countries such as the United States and Australia.

However, Orthodox unity was undermined by the absence of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kyrill, who represents some 130 million faithful -- half the world's Orthodox population.

Aside from Russia, the Orthodox churches of Bulgaria and Georgia were also absent. Both are considered close to Moscow.

- Political strife -

The Patriarchate of Antioch also stayed away because of a spat with Jerusalem over the appointment of clerics in Qatar.

A key topic at the council was the "negative consequences of scientific progress", with council leaders on Sunday expressing concern about "moral dilemmas" stemming from rapid advances in genetics and biotechnology.

"Man is experimenting ever more intensively with his own very nature in an extreme and dangerous way. He is in danger of being turned into a biological machine, into an impersonal social unit or into a mechanical device of controlled thought," the council leaders said.

Story continues

Churches were also encouraged to work more closely and "promote a new constructive synergy" with their respective secular states.

The last such meeting was in 1054 when Christianity split between Catholicism and Orthodoxy, in the so-called "great schism" -- and working out the details of the new council required over 50 years.

The Orthodox communion has about 250 million followers worldwide and consists of 14 autonomous churches.

Shaken by the upheaval in the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East it is frequently plagued by national and political strife.

The Orthodox communion is divided up into what are basically national churches, such as Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Egypt and others.

The Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, based in Istanbul, is considered their spiritual head and "first among equals".

But on the strength of its own numbers, the Russian church has been contesting that position for some time.
Spoiler warning: Do not read on unless youve seen Outlander Season 2, Episode 12, titled The Hail Mary. Refresh your memory with last weeks Outlander recap.

On the eve of the Battle of Culloden, we get a sense of just how dire the circumstances have become for Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan), who are ready to use any means necessary to avert the slaughter that awaits them on April 16, 1746  even if it means making a deal with Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies).

The inevitability of it is barreling down on them, it feels like a pressure cooker  no matter what they do, no matter what they try, fate is stronger than their will, Balfe tells Variety. Claire makes a very, very unusual alliance  Its less about him, its more about Mary Hawkins and Alex, and the guilt she feels over having inserted herself into their relationship before and causing their split for a while. But the fact that she is in contact with Black Jack after everything hes done and she has to make this alliance for information is so telling about how desperate they are. As an actor, every fiber of your being is screaming theres no way she would stay in this room because she hates him so much for what hes done, but Claire is pragmatic and I think she needs his help and she needs that information and she needs to also help Mary Hawkins and Alex. Its a very tough situation that shes put herself in, but its so indicative of how out of control everything is that even Jamie would allow it.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Jack feels it too; hes willing to give up vital military information to Claire in exchange for her medical expertise, as we discover that his brother Alex is on deaths door, barely able to take a breath without choking on it.

Its a marriage of convenience, for sure, but they both, in different ways, need each others help, Menzies agrees. In that way, we see the depth of Jacks feeling for his brother.

Story continues

The episode juxtaposes two very different sibling bonds: Jack must deal with his personal demons as he attempts to say goodbye to Alex, while Colum and Dougal MacKenzie struggle to move past their lingering animosity as the clan leader approaches his final hours. Alex chooses (perhaps naively) to believe that his brothers love is enough to outweigh his darker impulses, entrusting his beloved Mary to Jacks care, while Colum refuses to see the good in Dougal, passing control of Clan MacKenzie and guardianship of his heir over to his nephew, Jamie, instead of giving his brother a chance to redeem himself.

The end of Colums reign is very sad, very emotional, Heughan says in Varietys video recap above, admitting that Colums choice to name Jamie as his successor comes as a slight surprise to [Jamie] and certainly to Dougal. Dougals expecting to be given the leadership and the power, but Jamies the natural successor and doesnt want it  hes finally taken on board the responsibility and [hes] becoming a new leader.

That leads to a heartbreaking scene between the two MacKenzies as Dougal, in a stunning performance from Graham McTavish, pours out a lifetime of regret, resentment and an overwhelming desire for acceptance  only to discover that his brother has died without hearing a word of it.

Jacks farewell to Alex is just as much of a showstopper, albeit for a very different reason. After Alex sees Mary married off to a reluctant Jack, thereby ensuring financial security for her and their unborn child, Alex dies peacefully  but after hes gone, Jacks violent nature rears its ugly head, and he viciously beats Alexs dead body in a shocking and evocative departure from Diana Gabaldons novel.

It was so intense and I think there was a lot of conversation about whether he would do it, whether he wouldnt, Balfe recalls of filming the dramatic scene. There was a thought of do we leave Black Jack with any redeeming qualities? I thought it was a really powerful way to show that this is how emotions are worn by this man; this is the perversion within him. This is a man that, when he feels or when hes made to feel, he deals with that by inflicting pain upon other people. Because ultimately hes a sadist, and ultimately its that perversion and that sickness that has made him do everything hes done up to this point. It was hard as an actor in those scenes to be like what would your character do at this point? because my instinct was to protect Mary, but youre like, is he going to come after us next? The fact that he just straightens his suit and walks out of the room, its so chilling. Its so creepy, and Tobias just does such an amazing job with it.

Menzies says the scene originally called for Jack to break down in tears, and the final version evolved during filming. It came out of pretty free conversations on the floor when we were shooting. There was a common feeling that we wanted something emotional from Jack, something that revealed how important his brothers death was to him, he says. In the original writing he just broke down, he wept, but that felt like wed all seen that scene before, and I suppose the one consistent thing about Jack is that hes surprising in his responses, so I think there was a common feeling that we needed something odder and weirder in that moment. And in a way, we see that darker nature reclaim Jack. While we were shooting, through talking about it, we came up with the idea that he attacks the body, which feels very transgressive and definitely in the right territory for and consistent with his character. Well see how people respond to it.

He admits that he was pleasantly surprised to see that the scene made the final cut: It seemed like maybe it was going to be too dark, but Im glad it made it, he says. We didnt have that long to do it, and in a way its a purely physical thing. You dont see the body at all, its mainly just my back, which I think is much more sinister  its through suggestion and its sold through Claire and Marys reaction.

The episode ends on a particularly dark note in the aftermath of those deaths, with Jamies last-ditch effort to avert Culloden being stymied by the arrogance and ineptitude of Prince Charles and his followers. Jamie has this idea of going on this surprise attack; he knows that they need to do it now, they cannot wait until the point in time that history has foretold that theyre going to lose this battle, Heughan says. Ultimately, the commanders and Bonny Prince Charlie have the upper hand, and it feels very desperate.

Outlander airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Starz. The extended Season 2 finale airs July 9 at 9 p.m.

Related stories

Starz, Lionsgate Shares Rise on Renewed Merger Chatter

Starz Promotes Jeffrey Hirsch to Chief Operating Officer

'Outlander' Recap: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan on the Bloody Reveals of 'Vengeance is Mine'
mcdonalds ronald mcdonald protest

The restaurant industry is providing some ominous insight into how Americans are feeling about the economy.

Restaurant sales are virtually flat, and they're expected to remain weak for the rest of the year, according to The NPD Group, an industry research firm.

Weak growth in the restaurant industry is a warning sign for the entire economy, Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski told Business Insider.

People need to eat, and when they pull back on restaurant spending, it's a clear sign that they aren't feeling confident about the economy.

"The whole restaurant industry in aggregate is pretty lackluster," Kalinowski said. "It's not impossible for things to get better, but it does look like the odds are against a rebound."

Restaurant owners have told Kalinowski that one of the main concerns on customers' minds right now is the presidential election.

"People spend more when they feel confident about who the president is and the direction he or she is leading the country," Kalinowski said.

Fast Food

But consumers are feeling uncertain about both presidential candidates, and that probably won't change  no matter who is elected, he said.

"Restaurant owners ... hear a lot about how customers are worried about politics, and they dont really care for either presidential candidate," Kalinowski said. "I think Americans' feelings about those candidates are probably going to be pretty similar on election day to their feelings today."

The spending pullback in the restaurant industry is forcing many chains to offer steep discounts, which is great for consumers but will end up hurting those companies' profits.

McDonald's, Wendy's, KFC, Burger King, and Chipotle are among the restaurants battling for customers with new combo-meal promotions and free food offers.

The deals seem to be working. While overall traffic to fast-food restaurants was flat, deal traffic increased 3% in the first quarter, according to NPD Group. Promotions accounted for more than 25% of fast-food restaurants' sales in the quarter.

Story continues

The industry will likely need to maintain this level of promotional activity to keep customers coming back.

NOW WATCH: We went to check out the new 'walk-up' McDonald's that has no dining tables or chairs





More From Business Insider


Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte says he could be open to peace talks with the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf, which recently beheaded two foreign hostages and kidnapped seven more.

"The Abu Sayyaf is not my enemy. I know it is connected with the issue of Mindanao," Duterte told supporters in a speech in the central city of Cebu late Saturday, referring to the rebellion-torn south of the country.

"That is why I want to ask them: are they willing to talk or do we just fight it out?" said the firebrand politician, who campaigned on promises to get tough on crime and who takes office on June 30.

The incoming leader himself hails from Mindanao, where a decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

While previous administrations have opened talks with major Muslim separatist groups in the South, they have deployed troops to hunt down the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a few hundred Islamic militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network that has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings-for-ransom.

Although its leaders have pledged allegiance to Islamic State, analysts say they are mainly focused on lucrative kidnappings.

Duterte said on Friday that he and his aides were responsible for successfully negotiating the release of one of the group's hostages, a Filipina who had been kidnapped along with several foreigners in September.

The Abu Sayyaf beheaded two Canadian hostages who were among that group. Thee fourth hostage, a Norwegian, is still being held.

Last week seven Indonesian seamen were abducted in waters off the southern Philippines, prompting Jakarta to ban any Indonesian-flagged vessel from sailing to the Philippines.

The Philippine military said Sunday it believes the Indonesians are being held in the remote Sulu archipelago, the main Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

Earlier this year Abu Sayyaf kidnapped four Malaysian seamen and 14 Indonesian sailors. They were freed several months later.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to consider joint measures aimed at curbing the seaborne kidnappings.

These include sea and air patrols over a designated transit corridor where vessels could travel between the countries.
Larry Wilmore ventured far from his NYC studio to the heart of Pasadena to moderate the Deconstructing 16 panel at Politicon. In one of the larger convention center halls, he dissected this years unusual election and its effects on the democratic process with Democratic strategist James Carville, former Obama administration consultant Van Jones, Democratic strategist Paul Begala, Republican commentator S.E. Cupp, and veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy.

The generally friendly conversation started on the topic of Donald Trump, with Wilmore referring to the opening line of The Graduate: We now begin our descent into Los Angeles, likening it to Trump coming down the Trump tower escalator and taking us all down with him. S.E. Cupp said shes known Trump for years and had talked to his team and they found the climate good now for Trump to make a run. When Wilmore asked if they had run the Mexicans are rapists line by her, she said, Rapists did not appear in the script I had. Not once.

Asked if he believed Hillary Clinton was the presumptive Democratic nominee from the jump, Paul Begala said, The Democratic nomination will always be contested. I dont think she underestimated Bernie. Some people joked Buy him off with a bagful of weed. I dont think she took it that way at all. Theres authenticity to the pain Bernie spoke to. But has Hillary connected with voters the way she needs to in order to take the win in November? Said Van Jones, To those of us on the left, you have to look at why Bernie came up short. Its a completely anti-establishment year. Hillarys a human being. Im not sure Trump was a carbon-based life form. I take the Left very seriously  there was a mistake on Bernies part, he talked so much about Wall Street, he didnt get to connect on race and gender. That left a lot of black voters cold. HRC was saved from a socialist uprising by black voters. Wilmore agreed and chimed in, Hillary knows how to fan herself in a black church.

When Wilmore asked Carville if Bernie Sanders had a chance to win, Carville was clear: No. Democratic politics has two distinct hands: one, the pure who believe oppressed people have rights and two, the people who say its tough, you gotta scramble, scratch, and fight for progress. Bernie comes up and says were gonna have a revolution  theres a streak in American liberalism that held itself as pure and above politics. Im not of that  the scrapping is part of the political process. The person whos come the farthest to my POV is President Obama. He used to be, We are one people with one vision. Howd that shit work out? (laughs) He understands now that this contention is how stuff gets done. Lincoln was a master politician. Basically, thats my message. This is a necessary business for the country. Its a good thing.

Van Jones agreed with Carville, with some caveats, I think that strain of crazy dreamers, over time, wins the country. Part of the frustration of the Bernie folks is that part of the establishment doesnt agree with them and holds them in contempt as dumb and naive. They think its kind of dumb to compromise and run. They think its better to hold out a strong vision so you have somewhere to compromise from. This was met with loud applause from the Bernie supporters in the hall.

Turning to the failed run of Jeb Bush, Bushs strategist Mike Murphy explained, We went to a tractor pull with opera and nobody was interested. The country is pissed off at politics. If youre on the right, you want Cruz or Trump to blow up the system, if youre on the Left, you want Bernie to blow up Wall Street. Im proud of Jeb. We tried to run a positive campaign that would beat HRC but it wasnt the year for what we were selling. We have a candidate on my side [Trump] that was designed in a lab to lose an election.

Wilmore brought up the Never Trump movement and asked the panel, If Trump were a disease, would he kill the party or can he be cured like Hep C? S.E. Cupp got huge laughs when she answered this query, Trump is wearing the Republican party like a rented tuxedo and at the end of the prom, that tuxedo is going to have cigarette holes in it, maybe have fluids on it. The party is going to have to figure this out. Youre already seeing a divide. George Will is leaving the party and challenging other conservatives to do the same. I, for one, will not let Trump push me out of my own party. I dont think he represents my party at all. Ill fight to keep my party intact and preach what I think we should be preaching. I wont work to support Trump.

Murphy had a shorter answer, Hes more like a skin disease  you cover it up and wait for it to go away. Well have to rebuild conservatism to appeal to the whole country. He (Trump) doesnt know what the Republican platform is. Wilmore added, He doesnt know what a platform is.

Wilmore asked the panel what they thought were the dumbest and smartest moves of the 2016 election process. Carville led off with, When you say dumb, I think Jeb was an idea that was never gonna happen from the get-go. They were 3 supporters short of the nomination: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. He also thinks HRCs slogan could be better, Im voting for her. Im with Hillary  I think the slogan is idiotic. Carville then praised the HRC campaign, It was an obvious move but the way theyre dealing with Bernie is smart. Its not an equal relationship  she needs his supporters. Candidates are who they are  shes been around a long time, is set in her ways, thinks things out, thinks you can shape a future with well thought out policies. Trump is back in 1958. I think shed be a thoughtful, prepared, judicious president. It doesnt lead to the most ferocious campaign message though.

S.E. Cupp started to talk about dumb things in the election. Trump happened to everyone. One of the dumbest things we did from our side was make Trump sign a pledge to run as Republican. He was running away from us and we went to himthat was dumb. Now were wedded to this guy.

Taking a bigger picture look, Van Jones observed, There are three American stories that work: the rot at the top story  elites are screwing us over  thats Elizabeth Warren and Bernie; the mobs at the gate story  outsiders are coming here to ruin America  thats Trump; were all one people, a benevolent story.

Jones continued, Hillary is not telling any of these stories. At some point she may land on one of those squares  she hasnt yet. Carville jumped to Clintons defense saying, Shes thoughtful and judicious. If you want her to be what she is, why demand her to play a role that is not her? Larry Wilmore nailed the sentiment in the room, answering Carville with Because politics is theater.

Wilmore steered the conversation to the upcoming conventions, asking the panel which convention is most important and for whom?

Mike Murphy did not mince words, Theres gonna be a civil war in the party if Trump is the nominee. I think he may drop out. Hes like Charlie Mansons fox trot instructor, he signs the pledge, then stabs you in the eye. Theres gonna be a war between the mathematicians and the priests  Im a mathematician. In the primary so far, the voters have favored the more priestly.

Cupp was blunt as well. The Republican convention for Trump  its gonna be a sh*tshow. Every time, Trump promises to be more presidential then he turns the car the other way. This convention will put that on a big stage: the lack of unity, the lack of professionalism, the lack of presidentialism. The Democratic convention will be like a Super Bowl party, a jamboree. As a participant, Im looking forward more to Philly.

Van Jones pointed out, 43% of the delegates are Bernie Delegates  thats a big number. I dont think the party has yet digested our dyspepsia. I dont think our convention will be as crazy (as the Republicans.) Theres a scenario in which we play this a year from now while Trump is president. Im not in the camp that thinks Trump will fall apart and Hillary will win in a blowout. I think this will be a very very tough race. Its hard to describe the level of pain, disgust and distrust out there. Trump can win. Brexit just happened. Liberals said the whole time it was impossible. The Republican convention is very important for Trump.

The final question for the panel: who swears in next January?

Begala: Hillary

Murphy: (coughs)

Jones: Hillary, but itll be close

Cupp: Can women vote? If we can, yeah, Hillary.

Carville: Itll be close. Looking at the numbers, I cant see any way Trump wins.

Wilmore put a button on the session: Nothing scares me more than everyone thinking something is inevitable.

Related stories

John Oliver Dissects Brexit Vote, Warns Americans: "There Are No F***ing Do-overs"

Aziz Ansari Calls Out Donald Trump's "Hate Speech" In Hard-Hitting Opinion Column

Kanye West 'Famous': Rapper Unveils Shocking Video Featuring Naked Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Bill Cosby & More
By Philip Pullella ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that Christians and the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness from homosexuals for the way they had treated them. Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome from Armenia, he also said the Church should ask forgiveness for the way it has treated women, for turning a blind eye to child labor and for "blessing so many weapons" in the past. In the hour-long freewheeling conversation that has become a trademark of his international travels, Francis was asked if he agreed with recent comments by a German Roman Catholic cardinal that the Church should apologize to gays. Francis looked sad when the reporter asked if an apology was made more urgent by the killing of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida this month. He recalled Church teachings that homosexuals "should not be discriminated against. They should be respected, accompanied pastorally." He added: "I think that the Church not only should apologize ... to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologize to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by (being forced to) work. It must apologize for having blessed so many weapons." The Church teaches that homosexual tendencies are not sinful but homosexual acts are, and that homosexuals should try to be chaste. Francis repeated a slightly modified version of the now-famous "Who am I to judge?" comment he made about gays on the first foreign trip after his election in 2013. "The questions is: if a person who has that condition, who has good will, and who looks for God, who are we to judge?" FORGIVENESS, NOT JUST APOLOGY Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that the pope, by saying "has that condition", did not imply a medical condition but "a person in that situation". In Italian, the word "condition" can also mean "situation". "We Christians have to apologize for so many things, not just for this (treatment of gays), but we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologize! Forgiveness! Lord, it is a word we forget so often!" he said. Francis has been hailed by many in the gay community for being the most merciful pope toward them in recent history and conservative Catholics have criticized him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality. He told reporters on the plane "there are traditions in some countries, some cultures, that have a different mentality about this question (homosexuals)" and there are "some (gay) demonstrations that are too offensive for some". But he suggested that those were not grounds for discrimination or marginalization of gays. The pope did not elaborate on what he meant by seeking forgiveness for the Church "having blessed so many weapons", but it appeared to be a reference to some Churchmen who actively backed wars in the past. In other parts of the conversation, Francis said he hoped the European Union would be able to give itself another form after the United Kingdom's decision to leave. "There is something that is not working in that bulky union, but lets not throw the baby out with the bath water, lets try to jump-start things, to re-create," he said. He also denied reports that former Pope Benedict, who resigned in 2013, was still exercising influence inside the Vatican. "There is only one pope," he said. He praised Benedict, 89, for "protecting me, having my back, with his prayers". Francis said he had heard that when some Church officials had gone to Benedict to complain that Francis was too liberal, Benedict "sent them packing". (This version of the story has been refiled to add dropped word "for" in paragraph 12, fix typos in "Francis" and "officials" in last paragraph) (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Kevin Liffey)
Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Sunday warned of the "Balkanisation" of Europe in the wake of Britain's shock vote to quit the EU and urged the bloc to chart a new way forward by giving member states greater freedoms.

"We have to come up with a new kind of Union," the pontiff told reporters on a plane heading back to Rome after a controversial visit to Armenia, as the European Union grappled with the unprecedented task of having to negotiate a divorce from a member state.

"There is something that's not working in this massive, heavy Union. But let's not throw the baby out with the bath water," Francis said.

He warned that places like Scotland and the Spanish region of Catalonia could push for "secession" following the seismic Brexit vote, which he said could lead to "the Balkanisation" of Europe.

He said the bloc could recover its strength by being open to "creativity and healthy disunity.... That is to say, to give more independence, more freedom to countries in the European Union".

Speaking to reporters on his way to Yerevan on Friday as news of Britain's referendum outcome came in, Francis had said Europe had a duty to look after all its citizens.

"The people's will has been expressed," he said. "This requires of us great responsibility to ensure the well-being of the people of Great Britain, as well as well-being and coexistence of the whole European continent."
The Supreme Court deadline in United States vs. Texas put President Obamas executive order on immigration on hold, but showbiz immigration activists believe that it could help spur greater turnout among Latinos in the presidential race.

Filmmaker and activist Paola Mendoza tells Varietys PopPolitics on SiriusXM that she believes that the decision absolutely will create more of a sense of urgency to get more voters who support immigration reform to the polls. Now more than ever, she said.

In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, she is worried about friends whose families risk being split apart by deportations.

I have a lot of friends that have been affected that had the idea of hope in their lives and now it has been taken away from them, she says.

Mendoza produced and directed a live performance earlier this month that was tied to the Supreme Court ruling.

We have to learn from our past and we have to learn from other movements, she said. Theres been times when you get knocked down and you have to get back up. You have to get back up and be stronger than you were before. Now we are going to go straight for immigration reform.

She says Donald Trumps idea of what the United States is is petrifying, and added, I am worried about where the country is heading.

Listen below:

The Sit-In  Did Gun Control Benefit from C-SPAN Blackout?

House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered House cameras to be shut off during Democrats sit-in over gun legislation last week. That forced C-SPAN to turn to lawmakers own Facebook Live and Twitter Periscope feeds for coverage.

Nikki Schwab of the Daily Mail and Alexander Heffner of The Open Mind on PBS talk about whether this had the effect of only magnifying the sit-in, giving it a wider audience and attention than had it just been a feed from C-SPAN.

Listen below:

Destined and Detroit

Qasim Basir and Cory Hardrict talk about Basirs Destined, in which Hardrict plays two parallel roles  a rising star Detroit architect named Rasheed, and a drug dealer named Sheed. Their paths were set when they were kids, in decisions they made in fleeting moments.

Story continues

Basir and Hardrict talk about what Destined says about the lack of chance opportunities in inner city communities, as well as the struggle for those areas to survive in the face of gentrification.

Listen below:

Also:

All roads seemed to lead to Donald Trump at this weekends Politicon.

Hamilton throws its support to Hillary Clinton.

Daniel Radcliffe calls Brexit the worst kind of nationalism.

PopPolitics,  hosted by Ted Johnson, airs Thursdays at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT on SiriusXMs political channel POTUS. It also is available on demand.

Related stories

President Obama Nominates Judge Merrick Garland for Supreme Court

Apple Ebook Price-Fixing Appeal Rejected by U.S. Supreme Court

The Hip-Hop Case the Supreme Court Should Reject
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f12746%2fa2607b28252446b4953588e6cf0a93bf

As LGBTQ Pride marches took place across the nation on Sunday, a message of support appeared on President Barack Obama's Twitter account.

SEE ALSO: 6 ways to be a better straight ally at Pride events

In June of 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that all 50 states must allow same-sex marriage, a high point of Obama's presidential tenure.

This year's round of Pride events come during a difficult time for members of the LGBTQ community. Earlier this month, 49 people were killed in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Obama condemned the shooting  the most deadly in recent U.S. history  in a speech given later that day.

"This is an especially heartbreaking day for our friends, our fellow Americans, who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," he said. "The place where they were attacked was more than a nightclub. It is a place of solidarity and empowerment, where people come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds and to advocate for their civil rights."

On Sunday, other politicians shared their support for Pride on Twitter:
The insurgency angle was just too juicy to resist: House Speaker John Boehner, sick of fending off endless revolts from pesky tea partyers, finally threw up his arms in defeat. And the man pegged to fill his Ohio 8th District seat of a quarter century seemed to be the embodiment of those who all but forced Boehners retirement last year  a political neophyte, backed by powerful conservative grassroots groups, with a platform of antis (anti-tax, anti-amnesty and, wouldya know it, anti-Obamacare). John Boehner lost without even being in the race, the Cincinnati Enquirer snarked, while the Wall Street Journal said the win marked a rebuke to the political establishment.

Warren davidson 011 ccp4403ur

Davidson goes sans tie.

Source: Courtesy of Warren Davidson

The only issue with that narrative? Despite all those rebellious conservative planks, Warren Davidson sounds nothing like a candidate hell-bent on sticking it to his forbears. Working with people, building a team, thats what I enjoy the most, says the 46-year-old with a military-short haircut, open-collared shirt and unbuttoned blue blazer. This is no government-shutting-down Ted Cruz incarnate a la 2013. Sure, the ex-Army man has criticism for some of his marble hallwaytrotting compatriots. (The Republican Party has played an awful lot of defense, he says. When are we going to play offense, guys?) But he peppers that urgency with an incisive practicality that includes promises to learn the lay of the land and how Congress works. Davidson still has to make it through a general election fight with a Democrat, but in a district that is almost bound to vote red in November, he can afford to look ahead a little.

In fact, sitting here in a single-day rental office thats closer to the Capitol than the famously insider-y K Street, Davidson is getting a jump-start in assessing who really get things done, as he puts it. Hes met with lawmakers and power players all day. For one, hes already received the support of Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. (Since our meeting, Davidson has joined the caucus, which helped push out Boehner). Davidson was also endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund and Club for Growth, which have backed the candidacies of conservative stars like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio in the past. A lot of politicians lick their fingers and stick it into the wind. And you wont get that with him, says Andy Roth, political director of Club for Growth, which threw $1 million behind Davidson to help him emerge from a crowded 15-person Republican field in March.

Story continues

Does his punch lack the kind of pizzazz that pushes through legislation in an age of shareable memes?

Today, in Washington, Davidson is trying to get a sense of what levers of power he could pull. The House Armed Services Committee would be a natural fit, says Davidson, who grew up in the 80s with Army Ranger dreams, back when the epic commando commercials of today didnt exist, and only after he realized that he probably wouldnt play second base for the Reds. After graduating high school, he started a decade in uniform. As a cadet at West Point, the company commander carried a nascent seriousness, focusing on doing things right and enforcing the standards of made beds and organized drills. The normal term we [used for] someone like that is a tool, says Army Lt. Col. David Zinn, a friend and classmate. But Davidson, he adds, was well-liked. Davidson never saw the battlefield but had honor-laden stints with the 101st Airborne Division, a storied combat unit, and at Fort Myer, the outpost overlooking Arlington Cemetery.

Despite his rising clout, Davidson decided to move on from the military in 99, frustrated with what he perceived as a lack of leadership from the Clinton administration. Returning to Ohio, he built a high-tech manufacturing company, a resume item that leads to his other committee interest, the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Manufacturing and Trade. Show me the data, Davidson says, and for him, business is all about accountability and cold, hard stats. Frankly, coming into this potential job, thats one of my concerns: Do facts matter to some of these folks? After taking over his fathers business in the early aughts, Davidson grew it from 20 employees to around 200, he says. There are so many dynamics in this globally flattened, hypercompetitive manufacturing age, says Greg Knox, president of Knox Machinery, a longtime client. Right from the get-go, he had a board of advisers. I found him to be extremely strategic.

Is tactical precision enough to overcome the gridlocked strife that plagues Washington, though? Davidson stabs at the capitals do-nothing sentiment, but his punch lacks the kind of pizzazz that pushes through legislation in an age where shareable memes drive change. He promises online to hold Congress feet to the fire by insisting that they have the same health care as the [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs], which seems proficiently tongue-in-cheek (the VA plan is tragically awful), until I ask Davidson about it. Its not a joke, he says, adding that it would force lawmakers to create a high-functioning plan by 2020. When I note that hes been endorsed by Fair Tax groups, he hedges, insisting hes just working for simpler and flatter. Davidson does show a glimmer of his wry writ when, as his wife, Lisa, tells the story of their youthful courtship by snail mail, he jabs knowingly at modern romance: It takes a lot of Snapchats to get a full letter out.

Even though outsider candidates like Davidson have performed well in races for vacant seats, the University of Virginias Kyle Kondik cautions that his victory doesnt spell a nationwide trend. Incumbents still have huge advantages  even in the age of anti-establishment sentiment harnessed by Donald Trump on the presidential level. Still, the fact that Davidson doesnt hold the kind of leadership position Boehner owned for so long may actually help him, Kondik adds. Davidson himself seems to sense this: Voters were anxious to just have a regular Congressman, he says. A fresh set of ears.
By Robin Shobin for Charlottes Book

Rob Lowe is an ageless wonder, a god among men (my husband, in particular). I found this out a little while back while out to dinner on vacation in Hawaii. My husband could not stop staring at someone behind me. His eyes glued to something gorgeous as if I didnt exist. Was Elle McPherson in the restaurant? My husband finally confessed, Dont look now but the best looking man I have ever seen in my life is sitting behind you. I think its Rob Lowe. Buthe looks so young? He looks like The Outsiders version of Rob Lowe. How does he not age?





Image via The New Daily News



It was most definitely Rob Lowe. Hard to admit, I coyly followed him to the restroom so I could stand in line behind him and get a closer look. Despite being absolutely gorgeous, the man has somehow stopped father time in his tracks

You May Also Like: I Met The Founder Of Drunk Elephant And Went Inside Her Bathroom

So when he released his new mens skincare line late last year, PROFILE, I wanted to know all about it. Should I buy it for my husband? Should I be using it, too? I was deterred by Fashionistas honest review. They got a few men to try it out and it got mixed feedback, but thats normal for any new, especially celebrity-endorsed, product. So I dug a little deeper.

Lowe built the company from the ground upfinancing, picking the labs, and product testing, etc.with some consultation from his wife Sheryl Berkoff, a makeup artist. He has told media outlets it was a true labor of love.

The line, six years in the making, launched with five products meant to be used together as a regimen. Prices range from $24.50 for a shave gel to $59.50 for a post-shave serum. The products are: the ACTION Rehydration Cleanser, $27.50, a hydrating cleanser based on botanical ingredients like aloe vera leaf juice; the PRO-COMFORT Triple Action Shave Gel, $24.50, it contains alpha-hydroxy acids to help exfoliation while also including moisturizing and soothing ingredients like iris moss and oat extract; RECHARGE Age Combating Serum, $59.50, a peptide filled anti-aging serum; LIFT Anti-Gravity Moisturizer, $57.50, a soothing moisturizer based on botanical elements; and REVIVE Under Eye Rescue.

Story continues

You May Also Like: Is This Collagen Actually Bulletproof?

These all contain great ingredients, packed with total anti-aging powersbut there was one major problem that everyone seemed to notice: not one of these products contains sunscreen. We all know that if there is one thing you do in the name of anti-aging its put on sunscreen every day.

After further development, Lowes line finally released DEFEND Hydrating Facial Sunscreen. My husband, eager to look like the best looking man in the world, asked me, Should I buy this? You always tell me I need to wear sunscreennow I can buy Rob Lowes sunscreen.

The answer, my dear husband, is no. Unfortunately, its only an SPF of 15. And furthermore, its a chemical sunscreen and not a physical one. Rob, we are not satisfied.

You May Also Like: Why We Need To Stop Using #botoxfree?

When asked about his own skincare routine, Lowe said, I use our Pro-Comfort shave gel. I shave in the shower with that, and then I use the shave serum after. Most of the line has the age-combating elements, which, at my age, are really important to have, particularly because men dont realize that you start losing them at 20. So I just use this as I would hope that our first customers would use it. I then use the under-eye cream to help with the puffiness and anti-aging. And then the cleanser. The scent of the cleanser is why its one of my favorite products. If I am in a rush, my regimen is fairly simple: I wash my face, splash some water and use the eye cream. I carry this product with me everywhere I go. If I dont have enough time to do the full regimen, I just do this and Im off.

Hmm, still no sunscreen, Rob?

Still, Rob Lowe does have some good advice to offer to your husbands and boyfriends: Dont neglect your skin. Develop a routine and stick to it. Cleanser, moisturizer, and eye cream are your friends. (And Sunscreen, Rob!) He also adds, I take very good care of myself, I dont drink, I work out a lot. Ive learned some tricks over the years.

Not sure how Rob stays so ageless without sun protectionouter-worldly, I supposebut Im not letting my hubby take such risks. Im making him wear Drunk Elephant SPF 30 daily because its chock full of zinc, and only the best for my man. Sorry we are passing on your products, Rob, but we still love you, very much indeed.

Image via The New Daily News

FIND BEAUTY AND WELLNESS EXPERTS

Only the best cosmetic doctors, skincare gurus, nutritionists, fitness and wellness professionals make it into our book.Read client reviews, book appointments, and get expert advice.
By Geert De Clercq, Svetlana Burmistrova and Jack Stubbs

PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The $100 billion overseas order book of Russia's nuclear power plant builder Rosatom -- bigger than all its Western competitors combined -- makes it look like the giant in its field.

But if the company -- formed in 2007 from the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and tasked with turning nuclear power into a major export industry -- is ever to reach its potential as a global industrial giant, it will have to shed Russia's reputation for using energy policy as a means to political ends.

Deal after deal has collapsed in Europe, where individual countries and the European Union as a whole consider it a priority to reduce dependency on Russian energy, and relations have deteriorated over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine.

A project in fast-growing, energy-hungry Turkey -- possibly the ideal market on paper -- has been stalled because of a collapse in relations between the two countries supporting opposite sides in the Syrian civil war.

And an array of deals announced in poorer developing countries like Egypt, Jordan and Bangladesh seem unlikely to reach fruition any time soon because of the countries' lack of experience with nuclear power, shortage of capital and grids that are unsuitable.

"Rosatom is pretty good at announcing $100 billion euros of orders in 25 countries, but not an awful lot of these are firm contracts, they are just bits of paper," said Steve Kidd at East Cliff Consulting.

Since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the world nuclear industry has been stagnant as Germany and other countries decided to exit nuclear, Japan closed most of its reactors and even China reduced its pace of nuclear expansion.

Supporters say nuclear power still has a future as a proven technology to generate electricity without emitting carbon that causes global warming. But low gas and coal prices and the competition of increasingly cheap wind and solar power have made it uneconomical in large parts of the world.

Story continues

In the United States, several nuclear plants have closed and in Europe new nuclear plants can only be built with state subsidy, as French utility EDF's Hinkley Point project in Britain shows.

Yet Rosatom still announces a new deal every few months as it markets nuclear to developing countries. It offers a unique business model in which it finances, builds and operates the nuclear plants, and then takes away the waste.

Experts say many of these deals have little chance of turning into firm contracts, as many of these countries are decades away from being able to use nuclear energy in their grids.

In more developed countries like Hungary and Turkey, where Rosatom won billions worth of nuclear reactor orders, its projects have been stalled for years due lack of funding, local opposition and suspicions about the Kremlin's political motives.

"The Russians are increasingly viewing their energy fuels and technologies as a lever for foreign policy," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace associate Mark Hibbs said.

Rosatom declined to comment on the status of its foreign projects or whether its investments had a political component. The Kremlin did not immediately reply to written questions submitted by Reuters.

But Rosatom First Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov said in November the firm's contracts abroad were solid.

"All of the contracts that we have already signed we think to be very reliable," he said at a nuclear conference.

FLURRY OF MOU'S

Turkey was an ideal market for Rosatom. A large developing market, with its own scientific community, domestic capital and fast-growing power needs, as well as a cross-roads for energy infrastructure. But it also shows how politics trumps commerce.

In 2013, Rosatom won a $20 billion contract to build four reactors in Akkuyu in what was to become Turkey's first nuclear plant as Ankara tried to cut reliance on imported energy.

But late last year, Rosatom stopped construction following the downing of a Russian jet flying sorties over Syria near the Turkey-Syria border. The incident led to a crisis in relations between Turkey, which supports rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Russia which has intervened in support of his government.

In April, a source told Reuters a Turkish construction firm is in talks about buying up to 49 percent of the project.

Komarov told Reuters in May the Akkuyu project had not collapsed.

"The project is not subject to sanctions. As far as we know, work is continuing," he said.

EXPERIENCE

Russia has a lot of experience building reactors abroad: there are Soviet-era reactors all over Eastern Europe.

But without a captive market and facing fierce competition from other vendors, Rosatom has built relatively few reactors since 2007: two in Tianwan, China, one in Bushehr, Iran, and one in Kudankulam, India are working. Rosatom said a second one in Kundankulam will start operating this month.

Experts say some deals Rosatom boasts about are not contracts, just a "memorandum of understanding" or "framework agreement". Many of these are with countries that will not be ready for nuclear for years, if not decades, such as Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia and Nigeria.

Russia is not the only nuclear vendor to sign MOUs with unlikely customers. China recently signed a nuclear agreement with Sudan, and before its government bailout France's Areva also spoke of selling numerous reactors in developing countries.

In more advanced emerging markets like South Africa and Vietnam, Rosatom competes with U.S., French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean vendors, all eager to win business in the tight market since Fukushima.

"I would not draw the conclusion that Russia is about ready to take over the nuclear universe," CEIP's Hibbs said.

For competitors like GE Hitachi, Toshiba and Areva, Rosatom's frenetic dealmaking -- even if it leads to few firm contracts -- is a worry, as it allows Russia to occupy the terrain.

"The Russians are clever, they announce lots of deals and freeze the market, so other vendors stay away," said a board member of a nuclear reactor builder.

DEALS COME UNDONE

Russia's most focused nuclear export drive is in Europe, which is trying to wean itself off Russian gas as its main source of energy for power generation. Opponents suspect the Kremlin of aiming to use nuclear power to wield political leverage, the way it has with gas, turning the taps down during confrontations with Ukraine.

"As Russia's gas card is losing its strength, it tries to play the electricity card," said Greenpeace Eastern Europe energy specialist Jan Haverkamp.

Several Rosatom attempts to break into the EU market via former East bloc countries have come to nothing, although these projects had seemed like serious prospects a few years ago.

In Bulgaria, a contract to build two reactors at Belene on the Danube River was abandoned in 2012 for lack of financing.

From Kaliningrad, a Russian territory located between Poland and Lithuania, Rosatom hoped to export power to Poland and even Germany with an undersea cable. That plan too was quietly dropped around 2013 as it became clear there was no hope of selling electricity into the EU.

In 2014, Czech utility CEZ scrapped a tender for the $15 billion Temelin project - where a Russian consortium and Westinghouse were the two remaining bidders - due to low power prices and the state's refusal to provide price guarantees.

That same year, Hungary awarded Rosatom - without a tender - a contract for two reactors in Paks. In November 2015, the European Commission launched proceedings over the contract saying it could infringe the EU's procurement rules, and opened an investigation into possible illegal state aid.

Rosatom's best chance to build a reactor in the EU could be in Finland, where it bought a 34 percent stake in consortium Fennovoima from German utility E.ON on condition it could build a reactor in the Hanhikivi peninsula.

After a row about Russian investors trying to use a Croatian firm to circumvent shareholder nationality requirements, Russia finally convinced Finnish utility Fortum to buy into Fennovoima.

Experts expect Rosatom will divert resources from Paks and other projects to speed up the Finnish project, and stay ahead of China, which also wants to break into the EU.

Chinese utility CGN in 2015 signed a deal with Britain to build a reactor there in exchange for financing French utility EDF's nuclear project in Hinkley Point.

Meanwhile, whether any new plants ever get built, Rosatom is likely to keep signing new deals around the globe.

"Rosatom likes to sign MOUs everywhere, they like one every few months, for the photo opportunity," Haverkamp said.

(Writing by Geert De Clercq)
By Geert De Clercq, Svetlana Burmistrova and Jack Stubbs PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The $100 billion overseas order book of Russia's nuclear power plant builder Rosatom -- bigger than all its Western competitors combined -- makes it look like the giant in its field. But if the company -- formed in 2007 from the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry and tasked with turning nuclear power into a major export industry -- is ever to reach its potential as a global industrial giant, it will have to shed Russia's reputation for using energy policy as a means to political ends. Deal after deal has collapsed in Europe, where individual countries and the European Union as a whole consider it a priority to reduce dependency on Russian energy, and relations have deteriorated over Moscow's intervention in Ukraine. A project in fast-growing, energy-hungry Turkey -- possibly the ideal market on paper -- has been stalled because of a collapse in relations between the two countries supporting opposite sides in the Syrian civil war. And an array of deals announced in poorer developing countries like Egypt, Jordan and Bangladesh seem unlikely to reach fruition any time soon because of the countries' lack of experience with nuclear power, shortage of capital and grids that are unsuitable. "Rosatom is pretty good at announcing $100 billion euros of orders in 25 countries, but not an awful lot of these are firm contracts, they are just bits of paper," said Steve Kidd at East Cliff Consulting. Since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, the world nuclear industry has been stagnant as Germany and other countries decided to exit nuclear, Japan closed most of its reactors and even China reduced its pace of nuclear expansion. Supporters say nuclear power still has a future as a proven technology to generate electricity without emitting carbon that causes global warming. But low gas and coal prices and the competition of increasingly cheap wind and solar power have made it uneconomical in large parts of the world. In the United States, several nuclear plants have closed and in Europe new nuclear plants can only be built with state subsidy, as French utility EDF's Hinkley Point project in Britain shows. Yet Rosatom still announces a new deal every few months as it markets nuclear to developing countries. It offers a unique business model in which it finances, builds and operates the nuclear plants, and then takes away the waste. Experts say many of these deals have little chance of turning into firm contracts, as many of these countries are decades away from being able to use nuclear energy in their grids. In more developed countries like Hungary and Turkey, where Rosatom won billions worth of nuclear reactor orders, its projects have been stalled for years due lack of funding, local opposition and suspicions about the Kremlin's political motives. "The Russians are increasingly viewing their energy fuels and technologies as a lever for foreign policy," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace associate Mark Hibbs said. Rosatom declined to comment on the status of its foreign projects or whether its investments had a political component. The Kremlin did not immediately reply to written questions submitted by Reuters. But Rosatom First Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov said in November the firm's contracts abroad were solid. "All of the contracts that we have already signed we think to be very reliable," he said at a nuclear conference. FLURRY OF MOU'S Turkey was an ideal market for Rosatom. A large developing market, with its own scientific community, domestic capital and fast-growing power needs, as well as a cross-roads for energy infrastructure. But it also shows how politics trumps commerce. In 2013, Rosatom won a $20 billion contract to build four reactors in Akkuyu in what was to become Turkey's first nuclear plant as Ankara tried to cut reliance on imported energy. But late last year, Rosatom stopped construction following the downing of a Russian jet flying sorties over Syria near the Turkey-Syria border. The incident led to a crisis in relations between Turkey, which supports rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Russia which has intervened in support of his government. In April, a source told Reuters a Turkish construction firm is in talks about buying up to 49 percent of the project. Komarov told Reuters in May the Akkuyu project had not collapsed. "The project is not subject to sanctions. As far as we know, work is continuing," he said. EXPERIENCE Russia has a lot of experience building reactors abroad: there are Soviet-era reactors all over Eastern Europe. But without a captive market and facing fierce competition from other vendors, Rosatom has built relatively few reactors since 2007: two in Tianwan, China, one in Bushehr, Iran, and one in Kudankulam, India are working. Rosatom said a second one in Kudankulam will start operating this month. Experts say some deals Rosatom boasts about are not contracts, just a "memorandum of understanding" or "framework agreement". Many of these are with countries that will not be ready for nuclear for years, if not decades, such as Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia and Nigeria. Russia is not the only nuclear vendor to sign MOUs with unlikely customers. China recently signed a nuclear agreement with Sudan, and before its government bailout France's Areva also spoke of selling numerous reactors in developing countries. In more advanced emerging markets like South Africa and Vietnam, Rosatom competes with U.S., French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean vendors, all eager to win business in the tight market since Fukushima. "I would not draw the conclusion that Russia is about ready to take over the nuclear universe," CEIP's Hibbs said. For competitors like GE Hitachi, < 6501.T> Toshiba <6502.T> and Areva, Rosatom's frenetic dealmaking -- even if it leads to few firm contracts -- is a worry, as it allows Russia to occupy the terrain. "The Russians are clever, they announce lots of deals and freeze the market, so other vendors stay away," said a board member of a nuclear reactor builder. DEALS COME UNDONE Russia's most focused nuclear export drive is in Europe, which is trying to wean itself off Russian gas as its main source of energy for power generation. Opponents suspect the Kremlin of aiming to use nuclear power to wield political leverage, the way it has with gas, turning the taps down during confrontations with Ukraine. "As Russia's gas card is losing its strength, it tries to play the electricity card," said Greenpeace Eastern Europe energy specialist Jan Haverkamp. Several Rosatom attempts to break into the EU market via former East bloc countries have come to nothing, although these projects had seemed like serious prospects a few years ago. In Bulgaria, a contract to build two reactors at Belene on the Danube River was abandoned in 2012 for lack of financing. From Kaliningrad, a Russian territory located between Poland and Lithuania, Rosatom hoped to export power to Poland and even Germany with an undersea cable. That plan too was quietly dropped around 2013 as it became clear there was no hope of selling electricity into the EU. In 2014, Czech utility CEZ scrapped a tender for the $15 billion Temelin project - where a Russian consortium and Westinghouse were the two remaining bidders - due to low power prices and the state's refusal to provide price guarantees. That same year, Hungary awarded Rosatom - without a tender - a contract for two reactors in Paks. In November 2015, the European Commission launched proceedings over the contract saying it could infringe the EU's procurement rules, and opened an investigation into possible illegal state aid. Rosatom's best chance to build a reactor in the EU could be in Finland, where it bought a 34 percent stake in consortium Fennovoima from German utility E.ON on condition it could build a reactor in the Hanhikivi peninsula. After a row about Russian investors trying to use a Croatian firm to circumvent shareholder nationality requirements, Russia finally convinced Finnish utility Fortum to buy into Fennovoima. Experts expect Rosatom will divert resources from Paks and other projects to speed up the Finnish project, and stay ahead of China, which also wants to break into the EU. Chinese utility CGN in 2015 signed a deal with Britain to build a reactor there in exchange for financing French utility EDF's nuclear project in Hinkley Point. Meanwhile, whether any new plants ever get built, Rosatom is likely to keep signing new deals around the globe. "Rosatom likes to sign MOUs everywhere, they like one every few months, for the photo opportunity," Haverkamp said. (Writing by Geert De Clercq)
Beirut (AFP) - At least 82 people including 58 civilians were killed in Russian and regime air strikes on an Islamic State group-held area of eastern Syria, a monitor said Sunday in a new toll.

"Three Russian and Syrian regime air raids on the region of Al-Quriyah, southeast of Deir Ezzor city, killed 58 civilians," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that 24 other people were killed, without specifying wether they were civilians or IS fighters.

The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, initially reported that 47 people including 31 civilians died in the raids around Al-Quriyah.

The UN children's agency UNICEF said 25 childre were reportedly among those killed in Saturday's raids on Al-Quriyah.

"Three attacks reportedly hit heavily crowded areas including a mosque during prayer time," it said. "Health workers were reported to have pulled bodies of children out from under the rubble."

Russian warplanes have been carrying out an air war in support of President Bashar al-Assad since September 2015.

IS holds around 60 percent of Deir Ezzor city, the capital of the province of the same name, which is next to the jihadist-held Raqa province.

More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, after a widespread protest movement evolved into a complex, multi-front war that has drawn in global powers.
John DeLibero, of Westport, Conn., had been with his partner, Martin Johnson, for more than 14 years when they learned of the U.S. Supreme Court's first major decision supporting marriage equality in June 2013. At that time, DeLibero quickly took two steps to invest in their future.



First, he called his accountant. Then he married Johnson.

"My partner was carrying a very large capital loss from stocks that we both hoped to benefit from, tax-wise," says DeLibero.

The courts 2013 decision recognized that same-sex marriages in individual states could not be treated as unequal. By getting married in Connecticut, which legalized such unions in 2008, the couple could file federal taxes jointly and both would benefit from those losses over many years.

When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide on June 26 of last year, many others also got access to financial benefits that only heterosexual married couples previously enjoyed. Likewise, their marriages have also led to new financial challenges in some cases, including being subject to whats sometimes known as the marriage penalty tax.

On the upside, same-sex married couples in every state are now eligible for spousal Social Security retirement and death benefits; spousal Department of Veterans Affairs benefits; and the right to take time off from work through the Family Medical Leave Act.

By legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, the Supreme Court also enabled same-sex couples to automatically inherit the estates, 401(k) balances, and pensions of their deceased spouses, unless they've waived that right. The surviving spouse doesn't have to pay state or federal estate or gift taxes on a spousal inheritance, and has priority as the administrator of the estate. A couple can also choose whether to file taxes as married filing jointly, or married filing separately to pay the least.

For same-sex couples like DeLibero and Johnson, the rulings mean potentially lower expenses. Before they were allowed to marry, DeLibero had to pay a lawyer to set up a trust to ensure that a house he owned would pass to Johnson. That's because they didn't have the same rights as a heterosexual married couple where the spouse automatically inherits the property.

Story continues

The rulings have also meant greater financial security for Johnson, an artist. He is now entitled to spousal and survivor benefits from Social Security based on DeLibero's income. "My Social Security payment is a lot more than what a freelance artist gets," DeLibero says. "It gives us peace of mind."

It's Not All Good

Not all gay married couples, however, have found that marriage leads to financial bliss. For example, Jacob Baron, a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., married his partner Sam Marrell in April 2015, two months before the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. He says they were unpleasantly surprised when they found they would not get a tax refund this year, regardless of whether they filed as "married filing jointly" or "married filing separately."



"Combining our incomes might have put us in a new tax bracket," Baron explains.

David Wegner and Michael Baccoli of Clarks Summit, Pa., were married in 2015. They too struggled with how best to complete their taxes. Initially, they prepared them using the "married filing separately" status. But they discovered that by filing that way Wegner would not be able to contribute as much to his Roth IRA as he had before they got married. By filing jointly, Wegner could contribute to his Roth IRA as he had done in the past.

Janis Cowhey, a partner and co-leader of the Modern Family and LGBT Services Practice Group at Marcum LLP, an accounting and advisory firm in New York City, says one newly married couple even contemplated divorce when they saw how much more tax they'd pay filing jointly. "They said, 'Weve been together 25 years, lets just go back to the way we were,'" she recalls.

Other same sex couples are facing the reality that when a relationship unravels, marriage equality leads to divorce equality as well, says Pam Friedman, a partner with Silicon Hills Wealth Management in Austin, Texas. If significant assets are involved, she says that same-sex couples should plan ahead and consider signing a prenuptial agreement to avoid legal fees in the future. That will help couples decide how assets should be divided, who will look after any children and how child support payments will work.

All things considered, DeLibero says marriage equality has made life less stressful.



Instead of figuring out how much he owes and how I much I owe, every time we get a bill, we pay it from one account," says DiLebro. "Its not his money or my money, it's our money.





More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
Democrats took important steps towards reconciling festering differences between former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on key domestic and foreign policy issues that could affect the course of the presidential campaign this fall.

Sanders fell well short of derailing Clintons drive for the Democratic presidential nomination and the right to take on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this fall. But he scored several impressive victories during a two-day meeting of the Democratic Platform Committee in St. Louis over the weekend in shaping the platform to reflect his revolutionary liberal economic and foreign policy views.

Related: Sanders Finally Concedes He Lost to Clinton in the Democratic Contest

Sanders has yet to formally endorse Clinton while conceding that she has locked up their partys presidential nomination. On Sunday, he described the platform committee action as a good start, but vowed to fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention floor in July to secure support for the remainder of his agenda.

We won some very, very important victories in our effort to try to make it clear to the American people that the Democratic Party stands with the middle class, stands with working families and is prepared to take on Wall Street and the big money interests, Sanders told Jake Tapper of CNN today. But we lost some very important fights. Were taking that fight to Orlando, where the entire committee meets in two weeks. And if we dont succeed there we certainly are going to take it to the floor of the Democratic National convention.

Although he has acknowledged in previous interviews that he is probably not going to be the Democratic presidential nominee and that he would certainly vote for Clinton in the general election over Trump, Sanders is withholding a formal endorsement of the former secretary of state as leverage in maximizing his influence in reshaping the partys platform and rules.

Story continues

Sanders captivated millions of young voters, working class Americans and independents and drew huge crowds with his call for health care for all, free college tuition, a crackdown on Wall Street, an end to international trade agreements that he says are harmful to working class Americans, and reforms of the campaign finance system. By contrast, Clinton sounded a more pragmatic, stay-the-course tone that was reassuring to many voters but rarely sparked excitement.

Related: Trumps Biggest Gift to Clinton: Choosing the VP She Really Wants

With some polls suggesting that more than half of Sanderss supporters would refuse to back Clinton in the general election, Sanders today urged Clinton to Stand up, be bolder than you have been, if she hopes to eventually attract many of his liberal supporters to her side. And he agreed with some political analysts that last weeks Brexit vote in Great Britain to leave the European Union should be a wakeup call to Clinton and the Democratic Party that they, too, could fall victim to anti-establishment forces backing Trump for president.

I think there is massive resentment throughout Europe and the UK and in the United States about the global economy which works very, very well for large multi-national corporations . . . but that is not working in many ways for the middle class and working families of this country, Sanders said. He neglected to point out that many of those trade deals make goods and services affordable to the very people who shop for bargains at Walmart and other retailers.

Clinton narrowly leads Trump among registered voters across the country, 46 percent to 41 percent, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released today. However. Clintons lead shrinks to just one percentage point if the Libertarian Party and Green Partys presidential candidates are factored in, according to the poll.

The draft language adopted over the weekend by 15 members of the Democratic Platform Committee marked a decided liberal drift on issues that were central to Sanderss campaign, ranging from banking reform and minimum wage to climate change. Among Sanderss biggest victories, according to The Washington Post, was agreement to move the party closer to supporting a federally-enforced breakup of some of the largest Wall Street banks, such as JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and a revival of the old Glass-Steagall law that restricted risky banking investment practices.

Related: Sanders: It doesn't appear that I'm going to be the nominee

Sanders sharply focused his campaign on the need to rein in the excesses of Wall Street that contributed to the 2008 housing bubble and financial crisis and to begin to close the massive income gap between middle-class Americans and the millionaire class. The Democrats draft platform includes his call for a $15 an hour minimum wage, in contrast to Clintons preference for a $12 an hour floor and gradual increases in the minimum wage.

The platform  a statement of the partys principles on 12 broad topics  also reflects Sanderss call for an end to the death penalty. Clinton has said that she supports the death penalty under some circumstances.

However, Sanderss forces suffered a number of setback during the two-day platform gathering on issues that are certain to be debated again when the full Platform Committee meets next month, just ahead of the national convention in Philadelphia.

One of the biggest outstanding differences is over trade. Sanders and Clinton both oppose President Obamas signature Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries other than China. But the White House has aggressively sought to keep language out of the platform that would essentially pit the Democrats against their own president in the current congressional deliberations over the trade agreement.

Related: Top Picks for Hillary Clinton's Vice President

The Sanders campaign intends to try to enlist support from organized labor and environmental groups critical of the trade deal to try to force inclusion of an anti TPP plank in the platform next month, according to The Post.

The Sanders forces also suffered setbacks in the platform committee deliberations in several other important disputes:

Sanders lost his call for a universal single-payer government health insurance program for all Americans to gradually supplant the Affordable Care Act. Sanders has complained that the U.S. is the only major developed country that doesnt offer a national health care program for all its citizens, while Clinton contends it would be a serious mistake to abandon Obamacare just when it has begun to sharply reduce the rate of uninsured Americans.

Sanderss camp fell short advocating a ban on hydraulic fracturing  or fracking -- in producing natural gas. Critics say that popular technique for extracting gas is harmful to the geology and underground water sources and contributes to green house gas emissions. And the platform committee turned down a highly controversial proposal for imposing a carbon tax to discourage the use of coal in energy production.

Related: Clinton Increases Her Lead Over Trump

Sanders was rebuffed calling for new foreign policy language to boost the importance of Palestinian sovereignty and encouraging the U.S. to adopt a more even-handed approach to relations with Israel, our chief ally in the Middle East, and the Palestinian government.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland's parliament would consider blocking legislation on Britain's exit from the European Union if that were necessary to protect Scottish interests, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday. Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in a referendum on Thursday, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted 52 to 48 percent in favor of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit. Under the United Kingdom's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU would have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments. Asked on BBC television whether she would consider asking the Scottish parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: "Of course." "If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest, of course that's going to be on the table." "Don't get me wrong, I care about the rest of the UK, I care about England, that's why I'm so upset at the UK-wide decision that's been taken. But my job as First Minister, the Scottish parliament's job, is to judge these things on the basis of what's in the interest of people in Scotland." Sturgeon, leader of a party that wants Scotland to become independent of the UK while remaining in the EU, has repeatedly said since the referendum result was announced on Friday that she would take whatever steps were necessary to ensure that Scotland's democratic will was respected. That means that a new referendum on Scottish independence was now "highly likely", she has said, arguing that splitting away from the United Kingdom may be the only way for Scotland to remain in the EU while the rest of the UK exits. Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as one of the main attractions of sticking with the UK. Asked what she would do if the UK's central government tried to block Scotland from holding an independence referendum, Sturgeon has repeatedly said it was "inconceivable" that London would stand in the way of Scotland exercising its own democratic way. Asked on the BBC if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said: "I can, but it's perhaps similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will." (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Conor Humphries)
BERLIN (Reuters) - An independent Scotland would be welcome to join the European Union, a senior German lawmaker and ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel has said after Britain's vote to leave the bloc. "The EU will still consist of 28 member states, as I expect a new independence referendum in Scotland, which will then be successful," said Gunther Krichbaum, a member of Merkel's conservatives and chairman of the European affairs committee in parliament. "We should respond quickly to an application for admission from the EU-friendly country," he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday that Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the EU, including potentially blocking legislation on a British exit from the bloc. While Britain as a whole voted narrowly to leave the EU in last Thursday's referendum, Scotland voted by a 62 percent to 38 percent margin to remain. In a referendum in 2014 Scotland voted 55 percent to 45 percent to stay part of the United Kingdom, but polls show that support for independence has since risen. (Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Stephen Powell)
BERLIN, June 26 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff has said politicians in London should be able to have the chance to think again about the consequences of leaving the European Union.

"Politicians in London should have the possibility to reconsider the consequences of an exit," the RND newspaper network on Sunday quoted Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, as saying.

If Britain really left, that would be "a difficult watershed with many consequences," RND quoted Altmaier as saying. Of course Britain could apply to rejoin the EU later, RND reported him as saying, "but that would take a long time."

(Writing by Paul Carrel, editing by Emma Thomasson)
By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader said on Sunday he would not resign despite more than a third of his senior team withdrawing their support for him, plunging the party into crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Corbyn, elected last year with the overwhelming support from grassroots Labour members, has faced criticism from some Labour lawmakers that he had not done enough to convince millions of voters in the party's heartlands to back remaining in the EU. "I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me, or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them," Corbyn said in a statement. "Those who want to change Labour's leadership will have to stand in a democratic election, in which I will be a candidate." After a stinging election defeat for Labour last year, Corbyn won the leadership thanks to grassroots support but he has struggled to win the backing of Labour lawmakers, many of whom find themselves far closer to the centre ground than him. Britain is not due to hold a parliamentary election until 2020, but after Prime Minister David Cameron's announcement that he would resign after losing the referendum, many expect that one could now be called earlier by his successor -- putting pressure on Labour to present itself as a credible alternative. "I urge you, because you are a decent man, to do the decent thing and take the only action that can avert potential disaster by stepping aside," senior lawmaker Chris Bryant said in a letter to Corbyn, which he posted on Twitter. "If you do so I believe future generations will praise your selflessness. If you refuse to step aside I fear you will go down in history as the man who broke the Labour Party." Bryant, who said he was stepping down from his role in charge of Labour's parliamentary business, said Corbyn's "ambivalent attitude" to the EU campaign had betrayed the Labour party and wider movement. Since the referendum, two Labour lawmakers have submitted a motion of no-confidence in Corbyn, calling for his leadership to be debated at a meeting of the party's lawmakers on Monday, followed by a secret ballot. Early on Sunday the Labour leader sacked his foreign policy chief, Hilary Benn, after Benn said he had lost confidence in the ability of Corbyn, who is on the party's far left, to lead Labour. Over the course of the day 11 others -- Bryant, Gloria de Piero, Heidi Alexander, Lucy Powell, Ian Murray, Kerry McCarthy, Vernon Coaker, Charles Falconer, Lilian Greenwood, Karl Turner and Seema Malhotra -- said they were stepping down from Corbyn's top team of 30 lawmakers, known as the "shadow cabinet". Malhotra, a member of Corbyn's finance policy team who had introduced him at a speech on Saturday, said Labour needed to strengthen its influence at a time of such political and economic upheaval. "We need to recognise that we do not currently look like a government in waiting," she said in a letter to Corbyn, which she also published on Twitter. Several of the others also said in statements that they doubted Corbyn's ability to lead the party to victory in the next election. (Additional reporting by Conor Humphries, Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sandra Maler)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least seven people in Yemen on Sunday, residents said, as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon flew to Kuwait to try and galvanize peace talks on the conflict. Yemen is more than 15 months into a war involving a Saudi-led Arab coalition that intervened to prevent Iran-allied Houthis, who control the capital, from completing a takeover of the country and overthrowing the government. The Houthi-run Saba news agency said five citizens were killed in two air strikes in Khawlan district, southeast of the capital Sanaa. Residents confirmed that five people died in the attack but did not say if they were civilians or armed members of the Houthis, a movement from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam. In southern Yemen, residents said two women died in an air strike on the home of a merchant in the Qubaita district, located between the Taiz and Lahej provinces. Another Yemeni died in Saada province by shelling from the Saudi side of the border, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported. There was no immediate comment from the coalition on the reports. The Saudi-led coalition says it does not target civilians in Yemen and has been observing a truce, acting only in response to Houthi violations. Ban hopes to push the combatants to make concessions. In a speech to Yemeni negotiators from the Saudi-backed government on one side and the Houthis on the other, he said they must try to learn from the example of Colombian rebels and the government who signed a deal last week in Cuba after decades of war. "The agreement last week demonstrated the perseverance of all those who work to end violent conflict not through the destruction of the adversary, but through the patient search for compromise," Ban said, according to a text received from the world body. "I urge both delegations to avoid driving the situation to a crisis, and work responsibly and with flexibility for a comprehensive solution that would end the conflict," he added. The Yemen war has killed more than 6,400 people and caused a severe humanitarian crisis in a country that was already one of the poorest in the world. Yemen shares a long border with the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia. Officials say the talks have been going in circles: The Houthis demand an agreement on the fate of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the formation of a broad government that would include them before any withdrawal from cities they seized. The Yemeni government insists that any new government would only be formed after the Houthis hand over their weapons and turn into a political party. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Ahmed Hagagy, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea may seek a separate free trade deal with Britain in coming years in an effort to minimise the impact of Brexit on the country's trade with the European Union and Britain, the trade ministry said on Sunday. It added the more lucrative Korea-EU trade agreement, worth six times the value in exports, will be maintained for the next two years as it will take at least that long for Britain to exit the EU. "We plan to consult with the EU to reflect appropriate changes on the free trade agreement we have with the bloc after reviewing the possible impact of Brexit," the ministry's statement noted. Following Britain's decision to leave the 28-country bloc last week, the trade ministry said it expects Brexit would have a limited impact on the country's real economy. As of 2015, South Korean exports to Britain amounted to about $7.4 billion, accounting for 1.4 percent of the Asia's fourth largest economy's total exports, according to the trade ministry data. Korean exports to the EU amounted to $48.1 billion, accounting for 9.1 percent of the total exports. (Reporting by Jane Chung; Editing by Michael Perry)
Sydney (AFP) - One man was killed and several buildings torched in violence at a university in Papua New Guinea, its vice-chancellor said Sunday, some two weeks after police opened fire on students in the capital.

The students have been demanding that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, who is being investigated for corruption, step aside and have been boycotting classes as part of their campaign.

The undergraduate killed at the campus in Lae, the country's second-largest city, was reportedly targeted amid clashes over the class boycotts.

"We believe it is the same group (that killed the student and burnt the buildings)," said Albert Schram, vice-chancellor of Papua New Guinea University of Technology.

He said several dozen men carrying stones, sticks and bush knives mounted the attack on Saturday night, "and they moved about very fast, so it was very difficult for our security forces to follow them or arrest them".

Schram said the student, believed to be in his early 20s, was at a dormitory on campus when he was hurt in the "apparent targeted attack" and died several hours later.

O'Neill said his cabinet would consider imposing a curfew on university campuses to "maintain law and order".

"The attack on this young man was an act of brutality and an innocent life has been lost," the PNG leader said in a statement.

Schram told AFP the attack may have been retaliation for a brawl about two weeks ago between students who supported prolonging the boycott and others who wanted to call it off.

"In that brawl, there was one student that was wounded, and possibly this is a revenge attack for that victim."

Schram said the group then set fire to several academic buildings, which suffered significant damage.

They outnumbered police and campus security officers "for some time" but were finally dispersed with tear gas early Sunday, he said. Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Story continues

Separate clashes between security guards and students broke out at the University of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on Thursday, PNG's Post-Courier reported.

Students have been locked in a standoff for more than a month with authorities in the impoverished Pacific nation north of Australia, as they demand O'Neill step aside over corruption allegations which he denies.

Some 23 people were hurt including five critically when police opened fire on June 8 on students.
When Consumer Reports released its study that not all sunscreen was living up to their proclaimed SPF ratings in May, it had a lot of people taking a second look at their products. The test, which rated more than 60 sunscreens that hit the SPF claim of 30 or higher, found that 43 percent failed to meet the number they were boasting, with some coming in under an SPF of 15a number far less than the recommended 30.

Now, a Brooklyn man, Paul Lambrakis, has filed a class action suit against the makers of Banana Boat Sunscreen, saying he bought a bottle of the lotionwhich said it had an SPF of 50for his daughter. After he read the Consumer Reports study, he sent the bottle for testing to a lab in North Carolina. What they found? The lotion only came in at an SPF of 12.69.

You May Also Like: The Biggest Myths About Sunscreen

The suit seeks class action for anyone who was forced to overpay for the sunscreen based upon false, inflated SPF.

Defendants have known, or should have known, for years that Banana Boat Kids SPF 50 products contain less UV protection than Defendants advertise, the lawsuit states.

Edgewood Personal Care, which owns Playtex, the parent company of Banana Boat sunscreen told TODAY the company does not comment on ongoing litigation but provided a statement:

"We stand behind the accurate labeling of our products. All Banana Boat products and undergo rigorous internal and independent testing to ensure they meet all relevant FDA regulations, including for their stated levels of SPF protection. People can feel confident using our products for safe and effective sun protection, when applied as directed."

You May Also Like: Summer's Most Effective, Most Invisible Sunscreens
VIENNA (Reuters) - Switzerland will propose in talks with Brussels that it should be allowed to protect economic sectors in specific regions against immigration from the European Union, its president told a Sunday newspaper. Switzerland only has until February to implement a binding 2014 referendum demanding limits on the influx of foreigners to a country whose population is already a quarter foreign. But a blanket curb on immigration would torpedo a set of interlinked bilateral economic accords under which Switzerland agreed to allow free movement of people. "Not much can be obtained with a bare figure," Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper in an interview. He said the aim instead would be to set limits only to protect at-risk sectors in specific regions: "Let's imagine that in (the Italian-speaking canton) Ticino an above-average number of immigrant taxi drivers is recorded while at the same time many taxi drivers are unemployed." The EU insists it cannot brook any impediments to the free movement of people enshrined in bilateral accords. Negotiations with Switzerland had been on hold until Britain's referendum last week, in which it voted to leave the bloc. With Brussels now preoccupied with Britain's departure, Swiss officials fear the chances are fading for a quick deal. "Before Brussels goes on (summer) holiday, I want us to be able to establish the general direction of the talks," Schneider-Ammann said. (Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
A Texas mom who fatally shot both of her daughters in the street after a "family disturbance" was shot dead by a police officer shortly afterward, according to the Associated Press.

Calls of a disturbance in the city of Fulshear, a suburb outside of Houston, began coming in at around 5 p.m. local time. When a police officer arrived at the scene, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office says, he encountered three women who were later identified as 42-year-old mother Christy Sheats and her two daughters, 22-year-old Taylor Sheats and 17-year-old Madison Sheats.

Christy Sheats was holding a pistol, the Houston Chronicle reports. Her two daughters were laying on the ground.

Both of the daughters had already been shot, and Sheats appeared to be preparing to shoot one of the girls a second time when the responding officer neutralized the situation by fatally shooting Sheats, Sheriff Troy Nehls told the AP.

He added that the shooting appeared to have been the result of a family argument, but said that the reason for the fight remains unclear. In a Facebook post, Nehls called the incident an "unimaginable tragedy that it seems we see too often."

One of the girls was dead at the scene when authorities arrived. The other was flown to a nearby hospital in critical condition, but later died from her injuries.

In a statement, the Fulshear Police Department's Facebook page said that their officer had been "forced to take action", and that he had not been harmed in the altercation.

Nehls also told the Chronicle that the girls' father had been home at the time of the altercation, and that he had been badly rattled by the incident.

"He's going through a very difficult time," Nehls said.

In a September 2015 Facebook post dedicated to her daughters, Christy Sheats wrote, "Happy Daughter's Day to my two amazing, sweet, kind, beautiful, intelligent girls. I love and treasure you both more than you could ever possibly know."

Story continues

Posts from Sheats' Facebook also reveal her to be a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment.

"It would be horribly tragic if my ability to protect myself or my family were to be taken away, but that's exactly what Democrats are determined to do by banning semi-automatic handguns," she wrote in March.
LONDON (Reuters) - Gloria de Piero, youth policy chief for Britain's opposition Labour Party, resigned on Sunday, British media reported as the party plunged into full-blown crisis in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Media reported that De Piero wrote to party leader Jeremy Corbyn to say she did not believe he could deliver a Labour victory at a general election, which may take place within months after Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Friday he would step down by October. Earlier, Labour's foreign policy chief Hilary Benn was sacked after saying he had lost confidence in Corbyn, and health policy chief Heidi Alexander resigned. Corbyn loyalist John McDonnell, the economy policy chief, urged the party to stay together and said Corbyn was "not going anywhere". (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon)
Jay Zs Reasonable Doubt is such a classic that we wouldnt question Tidal making a documentary for its 20th anniversary if Jigga wasnt that companys boss. Its the sort of album that were going to be spending crazy reissue money on when were old and gullible, much like dads and Pink Floyd today. The streaming music company dropped RD20 today (June 25) to mark the platinum anniversary (how fitting) of one of the most luxurious debuts of all time.

Jay Z himself has made some questionable statements about his own legacy  he still thinks that Blueprint 3 is good, for example  but even he admits that Reasonable Doubt was his best album. The release of the documentary even caused Jay to tweet, which we all know he only does once in a blue avatar moon.

Related Links:





This album literally saved my life.. I can't thank you all enough.  Mr. Carter (@S_C_) June 25, 2016

So, on the 20th anniversary of an undisputed classic of rap music, you owe it to yourself to check out RD20, a Tidal exclusive doc that walks the viewer through the creation of an album that wasnt recognized in its time, but served as the foundation of one of the most important careers in the history of hip-hop.

And when youre done, dont miss this interview with Roc-A-Fella co-founder Kareem Burke for another insider perspective on Jay Zs um-laut-ed up beginnings.

(via Complex)
On June 20, the Turkish governments crackdown on human rights took another turn for the worse when a court placed Sebnem Korur Fincanci, Erol Onderoglu, and Ahmet Nesin in pre-trial detention on charges of terror propaganda. The three were among 44 journalists and activists who have acted as temporary editors for the persecuted pro-Kurdish newspaper, Ozgur Gundem, since its editors-in-chief were imprisoned in early May. Thirty-seven of the 44 temporary editors are under investigation, but these are the first three to be arrested. They face up to 14 1/2 years in prison each.

Turkeys assault on fundamental freedoms has been building steam for years, and especially since the resumption of fighting with the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) last summer, it has become a frequent subject of international coverage. Even amid the never-ending torrent of bad news from Ankara, though, these new arrests are significant  both for what they say about where Turkey is headed and for the future of the European Unions cynical migrant deal with President Erdogan.

This episode shows that mainstream Turkish human rights activists  not just those closely affiliated with the Kurds or the Gulen movement  are now in the crosshairs.

Fincanci is a widely published forensic scientist and one of Turkeys best-known human rights activists  she helped write the U.N.s manual for documenting torture so it would stand up in court. In the last year, her organization, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, has been the only one publicly documenting casualties in the states war against the PKK.

Onderoglu, too, has been a defender of the rights of Kurds and leftists in Turkey, but he was still considered a meticulous, neutral monitor of free speech issues. A longstanding editor and researcher for the Turkish press monitoring organization Bianet, he has also been the Turkey representative of Reporters Without Borders for 20 years.

Story continues

If activists like these have become the governments enemies, anyone else could be next. In this respect, the latest arrests recall the governments recent expulsions of foreign journalists. Up to now, there have been some red lines beyond which the government would not attack, but one by one, it has erased them without consequences.

The arrests are also a signal to the European Union. In November, at the height of the EUs panic about the migrant crisis, then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a proposal: if Brussels would grant Turkish citizens visa-free access to the EU Schengen zone (as well as some other sweeteners), Turkey would prevent migrants from crossing the Aegean and accept the EUs deportation back to Turkey of those who had already made it. Led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EUs desperate political leaders agreed. The flow of migrants dried up almost immediately, and the EU advanced the deadline for finalizing the visa liberalization agreement with Turkey to the end of June.

The problem for the EU is that the visa negotiations had begun long before the refugee deal, and that, like all EU harmonization processes, the talks were supposed to be based on technical issues, not political considerations. The 72 requirements that constitute the roadmap for Turkey to achieve visa-free travel to Europe are matters of public record that cannot simply be tossed aside when they become inconvenient. As of May 4, there were five outstanding requirements. The most important one is number 65: revising the legal framework concerning organized crime and terrorism to ensure the right to liberty and security, the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, of assembly and association.

This benchmark requires Turkey to change the laws precisely at issue in this weeks prosecutions: its vague and overly broad definition of terrorism, under which even a newspaper editor who prints a story about the PKK that deviates from the official line can be jailed for propaganda.

The investigation and arrest of prominent figures like Fincanci and Onderoglu on terror propaganda charges shows Turkey doesnt care what the visa liberalization roadmap says. It is not changing its laws on terrorism, and it is daring the EU not to fulfill its side of the migration deal. In February, President Erdogan himself threatened that if the agreement were to fall through, Turkey would open the floodgates back up and send migrants into the EU.

This is the definition of blackmail. It is a tough time for EU leaders, who agreed to the Turkey deal due to intense domestic pressure to do something about the migration crisis. But Ankaras refusal to change its terror laws and to uphold basic freedoms of speech, assembly, and association should be a clarifying moment. Bargaining away the EUs values cannot be the solution. Unfortunately, its apparent willingness to use the Turkey deal as a model for future migration agreements with other countries means Brussels is bound to see even more of this kind of extortion.

Even critics of the EUs migration policies note that increased European support for refugees in Turkey  a provision the current deal includes  is an indispensable component of a sustainable solution to the refugee crisis. But it can only work as part of a larger, coordinated set of reforms: more legal opportunities for refugees to seek asylum in Europe, a single EU border guard and asylum agency that would ensure they are distributed equitably and with full rights across the union, and so on. While the EU is moving hesitantly towards implementing some of these components, as it stalls for time, it is essentially paying Turkey to act as a holding cell for refugees, and negotiating away its own values to boot.

The migration deal was bad from the start: illegal in its treatment of migrants and dangerous in the precedent it created for placing human rights on the negotiating table. With this weeks arrests, Turkey has given the EU an honest opening to walk away from a mistake. The EU should take it.

In the photo, demonstrators protest the detention of three journalists and activists in Istanbul on June 21.

Photo credit: OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
Washington (AFP) - Influential conservative columnist George Will says he is leaving the Republican Party over Donald Trump's polarizing presidential campaign and urged others to follow suit, even if it means rival Democrats take the White House.

Will, a Washington Post columnist, told a luncheon Friday: "This is not my party," according to the conservative PJ Media news website.

The Pulitzer Prize winner told the media outlet Republicans should "make sure" Trump loses, after giving a speech at the conservative Federalist Society luncheon.

Will said he had changed his voter registration from Republican to "unaffiliated" this month.

During the event, Will said it would be worse for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, to be president with "no opposition" from a Republican-led Congress than for Hillary Clinton to be president with a Republican-led Congress.

Will did not indicate whether he would vote for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, noting that it was unclear whether this third-party ticket would help or hurt Clinton.

In a column published this week in the Post, Will urged Republicans to "save your party, don't give to Trump."

"Trump's campaign has less cash ($1.3 million) than some congressional candidates have, so Republican donors have never been more important than they are at this moment. They can save their party by not aiding its nominee," he wrote.
BERLIN, June 26 (Reuters) - European travel group TUI , which makes about a third of its turnover in Britain, expects a dent to its profits because of the fall in the pound after Britain's decision to leave the European Union but does not see a big change in travel habits.

TUI Chief Financial Officer Horst Baier told Germany's Boersen Zeitung that the company had hedged against currency volatility and the oil price for the 2016/17 financial year.

"There are no real risks relevant to results because of the (Brexit) decision for the current financial year. However, because of the translation effect from pounds to euros, we will feel an effect in the profit-and-loss account," he said.

Baier said that a sustained weakening of the pound would hit purchasing power, making holidays abroad more expensive, but he doubted whether that would dampen the love of travel among British holidaymakers.

"Even if Britain is an important market for us, we are a globally active company. And the growth prospects for global tourism are very positive. So we are confident that we can keep the impact small," he said.

TUI said in May that bookings for the summer were 1 percent ahead of last year and demand for holidays was strong.

That contrasted with warnings from airlines that attacks in Paris in November and in Brussels in March has hit demand for flights.

Airlines had also warned that a Brexit vote could lead to a slide in demand for leisure and business travel, though analysts say that a fall in the pound could make leisure travel to the UK more attractive.

Baier reiterated that Brexit would not affect the London listing of TUI, which was created in 2014 by the merger of London-listed TUI Travel and German majority owner TUI AG.

"London will remain an important financial centre in future," he said. ($1 = 0.8777 euros)

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by David Goodman)
Khor Virap (Armenia) (AFP) - Pope Francis on Sunday released peace doves on the Armenia-Turkey border in a gesture of reconciliation as Ankara slammed the pontiff for denouncing the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as "genocide".

Standing on a terrace of the Khor Virap monastery, Francis and the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Karekin II released the two white birds in the direction of Mount Ararat -- the Biblical final resting place of Noah's Ark -- now in modern-day Turkey.

The long-planned gesture at the end of a three-day visit to ex-Soviet Armenia came in the face of fresh Turkish ire after Francis used the word "genocide" to refer to the century-old slaughter that Ankara furiously rejects.

The Vatican was forced to refute claims from Turkey that Pope Francis showed a "mentality of the Crusades" over his use of the term.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli late on Saturday labelled the pope's declaration "very unfortunate" and said it bore traces of "the mentality of the Crusades".

"It is not an objective statement that conforms with reality," Canikli said.

- 'Bridges not wall' -

The Vatican rejected the allegations and said the pontiff was trying to build "bridges not walls" and had nothing against Turkey.

"If you listen to the pope, there is nothing that evokes a spirit of the Crusades," spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

"Francis prayed for reconciliation of all and did not say one word against the Turkish people. The pope does not conduct Crusades, is not looking to organise a war."

The pope himself defended his use of the word, admitting that he had strayed from his pre-prepared remarks by saying it but that it had been right to do so.

"After feeling the tone of the speech by the (Armenian) president and having already used the word last year at St Peter's, I thought it would have sounded odd not to use the same word," he told reporters on the flight back to Rome Sunday evening.

Story continues

"I did not use the word with an offensive intention, but objectively," he added.

When Francis first used the term "genocide" in 2015, on the centenary of the 1915-1917 killings that Armenians say wiped out some 1.5 million of their people, Ankara angrily recalled its envoy from the Holy See for nearly a year.

Armenians have long sought international recognition for the World War I killings as genocide.

Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor state -- argues that it was a collective tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians died.

- Conciliatory tone -

The pope on Saturday visited the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan but sought to strike a conciliatory tone during evening prayers.

"May God bless your future and grant that the people of Armenia and Turkey take up again the path of reconciliation, and may peace also spring forth in Nagorny Karabakh," he said.

On Sunday morning Francis called for unity with the Armenian Apostolic Church as he attended a service alongside its head Karekin II.

"We should follow God's call and hasten the steps towards... the communion between us becoming full," Francis said, insisting such unity "does not mean a submission of one to the other or an absorption."

The Armenian Apostolic Church separated from the Catholic Church in the fourth century after rejecting Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine of Jesus Christ's dual nature -- instead professing that Christ is both divine and human simultaneously.

According to the 2011 census, some 96 percent of the country's three million people belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
By Nick Tattersall ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police detained 19 people and fired tear gas in central Istanbul on Sunday to disperse dozens of activists attempting to gather to mark the annual Gay Pride week after authorities banned their march. A German lawmaker and a member of the European Parliament were also briefly detained while police chased activists into side streets and blocked them from gathering and reading out a statement, saying it was banned. Organizers called off the annual Gay Pride march, carried out largely peacefully since 2003, after authorities did not allow the event to go ahead but deployed hundreds of riot police near the main Taksim square. Volker Beck, a member of the German Bundestag and a veteran gay rights activist, was among those briefly detained. Two other German citizens were also detained. "They did nothing wrong. They were put into a police car," he told Reuters as police officers once again tried to force him into a taxi telling him he should hold his news conference in his own country. Beck said Turks in Germany freely demonstrated in the streets of Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities for or against the German and Turkish governments. "It is a fair and democratic right in Turkey as well as Germany and I cannot understand that such threatening of an MP can happen in front of the police," he said. The Istanbul governor's office last week said the march had been banned out of concern for public order. Security in the city is already tight after a series of bombings in recent months blamed on Islamic State and Kurdish militants. But an ultra-nationalist youth group had also threatened violence if the march went ahead, calling it immoral. While homosexuality is not a crime in Turkey unlike many other Muslim countries, homophobia remains widespread. Critics say President Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded have shown little interest in expanding rights for minorities, gays and women, and are intolerant of dissent. Historically the gay pride parade in Istanbul - a city seen as a relative safe haven by members of the gay community from elsewhere in the Middle East, including refugees from Syria and Iraq - has been a peaceful event. But last year police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse participants, after organizers said they had been refused permission because it coincided with the holy month of Ramadan, as it does again this year. Some foreign diplomats who had attended the previous years' events have sent solidarity messages for the Gay Pride week via social media. The Swedish Consulate held a reception while the Norway delegation co-organized a boat trip. John Bass, U.S. ambassador to Turkey, posted a picture on his Instagram account showing a rainbow flag flying in the garden of the U.S. embassy in Ankara marking the Gay Pride week. "It reminds all of us that human rights are universal rights and belong to everyone, no matter who they love," he wrote. (Additional reporting by Melih Aslan; Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Digby Lidstone)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Negotiators from 27 European Union states met in Brussels on Sunday to discuss Brexit at the first such meeting after Britons voted to leave the bloc, and a senior official said London's envoy was not invited. Britons voted by 52 to 48 percent to leave the European Union, an unprecedented blow to Europe's post-war order, leaving politicians in EU capitals and Brussels pondering how to handle what they expect to be a long and painful divorce. The 27 EU affairs negotiators - or 'sherpas' - held talks to prepare a meeting of their countries' leaders on Wednesday when they will have their first chance to discuss the Brexit vote. It will be held without the British leader for the first time - a practice likely to become the new normal in Brussels. "The UK sherpa... was not invited but he understands," the senior EU official said of Tom Scholar, the top adviser on European and global issues to the outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron. "I think also Prime Minister Cameron understands that if the UK is in the logic of 'Leave', then the EU 27 needs to be in the logic of 'We have to prepare ourselves for that step'. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Stephen Powell)
The UK stunned the world when voters decided Thursday to leave the European Union. World financial markets reacted violently with the British pound crashing and the stock markets plummeting.

On Friday, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) plunged 75 points or 3.6%. The Dow (^DJI) fell 610 points or 3.4%. The drops in these US stock markets surely had some folks wondering about the US's exposure to the UK.

However, the US economy and stock market doesn't actually have much direct exposure to the UK.

US trade exposure to UK is miniscule

"American exports of goods to the United Kingdom totaled $56 billion last year," Wells Fargo's Jay Bryson observed. "However, this figure pales in comparison to the $218 billion that went to the EU-27, not to mention the $1.5 trillion of total US exports last year."

The UK represents a small percentage of US exports to Europe. (Image: Wells Fargo)

At just $56 billion, exports to the UK accounted for under 4% of US exports in 2015. That's about 0.4% of US GDP, Bryson noted.

The UK represents a tiny portion of US exports. (Image: Wells Fargo)

"Even if the UK economy slips into recession, which would depress British demand for American goods, the direct economic impact on the US economy would be miniscule," Bryson said.

US financial exposure to UK is limited



What about America's exposure to British bonds and stocks?

"Direct financial effects on the US economy also appear to be limited," Bryson said. "American bank exposure to British entities (i.e., households, businesses and the government) totals nearly $500 billion, but this amount represents only 3% of total US bank assets. A UK recession could cause some of this exposure to turn to non-performing status, but it likely would not have a meaningful [impact] on the overall American financial system."

Remember, the value of this stuff is unlikely to go to zero. It's also unlikely to lose half its value. All of this is to reiterate how small the exposures are.

Americans hold a lot of British stocks and bonds, but it's only a small part of Americans' portofolios. (Image: Wells Fargo)

"Americans own $1.3 trillion worth of British securities, 70% of which are UK equity securities," Bryson continued. "But with $70 trillion worth of financial assets, household balance sheets in the United States would be little affected by lower prices of British securities, if those prices declines were confined solely to British assets."

Story continues

US stock market exposure to UK is immaterial

Despite the massive and multi-national nature of America's biggest corporations, the US stock market's direct exposure to the UK is very small.

"According to FactSet Market Aggregates and FactSet Geographic Revenue Exposure data (based on the most recently reported fiscal year data for each company in the index), the aggregate revenue exposure of the S&P 500 to the United Kingdom is 2.9%," FactSet's John Butters wrote. "This is the 3rd highest country-level revenue exposure for the index, trailing only the United States (68.8%) and China (4.9%)."

The US stock market doesn't have a lot of direct exposure to the UK. (Image: FactSet)

Despite the limited direct exposures, the reality of what's going on in the financial markets is indeed very powerful. Uncertainty spurred by the UK has contributed to tighter financial conditions around the world.

"The sharp fall in stock prices in most economies and the widening of credit spreads represent a tightening of financial conditions," Bryson added. "If financial conditions remain tight in coming weeks, economic activity in many economies could decelerate from already lackluster rates of growth."

In other words, while the direct exposures may be limited, the indirect exposures via the financial markets are very significant.

For more on the Brexit:

What the Brexit vote means for the US economy

A single word explains why financial markets everywhere are nosediving

Currency expert warns the British pound faces a 'grave danger' in the weeks ahead

The UK may have committed 'an act of economic self-harm with global ramifications'

One chart captures the night of insanity as the Brexit vote counts trickled in
By Philip Pullella and Margarita Antidze YEREVAN (Reuters) - The Vatican hit back on Sunday at Turkey's depiction of Pope Francis as having a "crusader mentality" after he used the word genocide to describe the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago. "The pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organize wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges," spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters. "He has not said a word against the Turkish people." Addressing Armenia's president, the government and diplomats on Friday, Francis departed from his prepared text to use the word "genocide", a description that infuriated Turkey when he first used it a year ago. Turkey's deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli said on Saturday it was "very unfortunate" the pope had used the word, adding: "It is unfortunately possible to see all the reflections and traces of crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy and the pope." Francis first used the word last year in a ceremony at the Vatican. An infuriated Turkey responded by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and keeping him away for 10 months. The word appeared again in a joint declaration signed at the end of the trip by the pope and the head of the Armenian Church, using the same phrase that riled Turkey last year. Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies that the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide. It also says many Muslim Turks perished at that time. On Sunday morning, at the last main event of his three-day trip to Armenia, Francis again made reference to the massacre, paying homage to "the many victims of hatred who suffered and gave their lives for the faith". The pope was a guest in a Christian liturgy presided over by Catholicos Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which split from Rome over a theological dispute in the fifth century and is part of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Francis sat to one side as Karekin led an elaborate service filled with chanting in the compound at Holy Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian Church near Yerevan. The pope has urged Armenia and Turkey to seek reconciliation and to shun "the illusory power of vengeance". The dispute about the massacres and differences over Yerevan's support of the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, have led to fraught relations that include closed borders and a lack of diplomatic ties. At the trip's last stop on Sunday before the pope was due to fly back to Rome, the two religious leaders released doves from a monastery near the Turkish border as a symbol of their hopes for peace between the countries. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Digby Lidstone)
Since the Volkswagen emissions scandal broke last September, Consumer Reports has called for the carmaker to make owners whole and pay penalties for its deception.

By June 28, the carmaker must give the U.S. District Court in San Francisco a proposed final settlement regarding its deliberate cheating of Environmental Protection Agency emissions regulations with 600,000 diesel vehicles. This settlementbetween VW, several government agencies, and car owners represented in class-action lawsuits against the companywill be released for public comment then.

In advance of Tuesday's announcement, the Associated Press reported on June 23 that sources briefed on the terms of the civil settlement revealed it will cost VW about $10.2 billion. Volkswagen would use most of that money to buy back the offending vehicles at their pre-scandal value, or to fix the polluting 2.0-liter cars. In addition, consumers will also reportedly receive between $1,000 and $7,000 depending on the cars age. The AP said those terms were still under review and could change by June 28. The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal also could include $4 billion to cover the environmental effects and to promote zero-emission cars.



While these reports are promising, there is much we still don't knowincluding which cars will be eligible for buybacks and what restrictions might be on the money given to VW ownersso it is still too soon to be certain whether consumers and the environment will be fully and appropriately compensated. Consumer Reports looks forward to reviewing the settlement's terms to make sure that's the case.

Related Stories

Some VW Owners: Don't Take My TDI Away



Report Says VW to Pay $10.2 Billion in Diesel Scandal



Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Settlement High on Promise, Short on Details

FTC Charges Volkswagen With False Advertising

How to Hold VW Accountable

In preparation for the settlement, Consumer Reports and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group have called on VW to make reparations for the damage its cars have caused to consumers and the environment. Here is a checklist compiled by the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports based on criteria it helped develop along with U.S. PIRG and four other public interest advocates:

Story continues

1. Make consumers whole by offering to fix or buy back their affected cars

All owners should have the option of a buyback where they receive at least the full current value of the car, plus compensation for any lost value attributable to VWs deceit.

While all owners should be able to choose a buyback, those with cars that can be fixed to meet emission standards should also have the option to have them fixed.

However, simply fixing the cars might leave customers less than whole, because their cars resale values may fall. Whether a full or partial fix is available, Consumer Reports' preliminary tests show the cars could get lower gas mileage and have weaker performance than promised and advertised. If so, resale values will likely fall. VW should provide appropriate incentives for owners to take the time and trouble to get their cars fixed or bought back.

Any buyback of a VW or Audi vehicle should not require VW owners to purchase or lease another Volkswagen Group vehicle. Too many of these corporate settlements are merely ways to turn over repeat business, using the settlement as a de facto marketing and incentives fund. If VW owners feel burned and want to turn in their cars, they should not have to patronize the brand again.

2. Mitigate past, ongoing, and future emissions

Repaired emissions control systems must be engineered to keep emissions below current federal standards well into the future.

Volkswagen should offset its past and ongoing emission violations. The future emission violations of cars that are not fixed or only partially fixed should also be calculated and offset.

3. Assess large civil penalties.

The Clean Air Act sets a maximum penalty of $37,500 per car, or more than $18 billion in total penalties. A large civil penalty will send a strong deterrent message to others not to violate the law. While it is unlikely that the maximum penalty will be assessed, we do not want VW to be able to merely write off the expense so that it is borne by taxpayersas happened with BPs $20.8 billion Deepwater Horizon fine.

4. Set up Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)

In addition to offsetting the emissions attributable to the defeat devices, VW should set up Supplemental Environmental Projects to offset a portion of the civil penalties while achieving concrete pollution reductions. The SEP should direct a substantial amount of funds, perhaps calculated on a per-car basis, to implement projects to reduce pollution from on-road vehicles and increase deployment of zero-emission electric vehicles. The SEP should be above and beyond other penalties and remedies paid by VW.

5. Criminal Prosecution

While it may be part of the settlement filed by June 28, it is also important for the government to criminally charge responsible executives and hold VW criminally accountable for its lawbreaking. Complete justice includes the full array of criminal monetary penalties and other remedies available under the law against the firm, not only to punish it but also to deter similar misconduct by others.





More from Consumer Reports:

5 least reliable cars from Consumer Reports' survey

Best Used Cars for $25,000 and Less

Which Car Brands make the Best Vehicles





Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright  2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
The wife of Maine Governor Paul LePage has a new summer gig: waiting tables at a local restaurant. Her goal: to buy a new SUV.

Ann LePage is working part-time as a waitress at McSeagulls Restauant in Boothbay Harbor three days a week at lunchtime to save enough money to purchase a new Toyota Rav4, CNN reports. Gov. Paul LePage said she also took the job to supplement his $70,000 salary, the lowest of any U.S. governor, according to the Associated Press.

Because of who I am and who Im married to, I want to work extra hard just so I can show them I can do the job, Ann LePage told the AP, adding that being a waitress is something shes always, always wanted to do.

Maines First Lady for the last five years has already proven her worth at the restaurant, Jackie Barnicoat, McSeagulls general manager, told CNN. Its not just all fun and games, Barnicoat said. Theres a lot of grueling side work that comes with it and she doesnt stop. I wish they could all be like her.
Two New York City Fire Department EMTs got engaged during the citys annual Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26. In their dress uniforms, Julianna Arroyo, who is stationed in the Bronx, got down on one knee and proposed to her now-fiancee Erika Marrero.

This parade is monumental for us because of the Orlando shooting. It hit really close to home. We wanted to walk in the parade in honor of the 49 victims. At the same time, I wanted to give Erika something positive to remember from the parade, Arroyo said in a post on the FDNYs Facebook page. Arroyo worked with family and friends to make the Pride Parade proposal possible.

Thousands of people were expected to march in New Yorks parade, the largest in the country. Officials told everyone to come to the parade to make it the biggest, and the best after the shooting in Orlandos gay nightclub, Pulse, that killed 49 people. The parade planners also re-opened the parade to new entries after the shooting.

Earlier in the day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there were plans to build a memorial to the 49 victims in New York City, and on Friday, President Barack Obama declared New York Citys Stonewall Inn a national monument. Credit: Facebook/New York City Fire Department
There are plans for a memorial to be built in New York City to honor the 49 victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the plans for a memorial on Sunday, June 26, during a press conference ahead of the citys annual Pride Parade, one of the largest in the country.

A commission of 10 people will pick an artists rendering for the monument that will be built in Christopher Park, Hudson Park or Battery Park. Christopher Park is located across the street from the Stonewall Inn, and Cuomo said the Battery Park site would be in the gaze of the Statue of Liberty. The monument will also be dedicated to the victims of hate crimes.

Cuomo said he believes the shooting is another moment in history that will reinvigorate the LGBT community as it continues to fight for rights and against hate. He also said the state will begin running ads telling people if they feel threatened because of their diversity, they should come to New York. Everyone is welcome in New York, he said.

New Yorks LGBT community started gathering at the Stonewall Inn on the day of the June 12 attack at Pulse for an unofficial vigil. The following night, thousands of people gathered in the same spot for an official vigil, where the names of all 49 vigils were read.

The news comes days after the Stonewall Inn was declared a national monument. A 1969 police raid at the gay bar in Greenwich Village that lead to riots is considered the start of the gay pride movement. Credit: YouTube/Gov. Andrew Cuomo
A California federal judge has given the green light to former The Young and the Restless leading lady Victoria Rowell to proceed with her discrimination lawsuit against the daytime drama, Soap Central reports.

PHOTOS12 Soap Characters Who Are Heading Into Red-Hot Summer Storylines

The actress, who played spitfire Dru, alleges that Y&R, CBS, Bell Dramatic Serial Company and Sony, which distributes both Y&R and Days of Our Lives, retaliated against her for speaking out about a lack of diversity at the network and Sony. Though a judge dismissed her complaint in November 2015, she was allowed to amend it  which she ultimately did, adding that, when she made it known that she wanted to try out for a Days role, her name was at first left off the list of auditioners.

Rowell last appeared on Y&R in 2007, when Dru fell off a cliff during a photo shoot; her body was never recovered.

In a statement released last year, CBS said that its powers that be were disappointed to learn that, after leaving the cast of Y&R on her own initiative, Ms. Rowell has attempted to rewrite that history through lawyers letters and a lawsuit that has no merit.

Who do you think will emerge victorious in court? Do you miss Dru on Y&R? Hit the comments.

Launch Gallery: Best Soap Opera Couples

Related stories

Zoo Review: Season 2 Is Unabashedly Crazy Like a (Feral) Fox

Fall TV 2016: Your Handy Calendar of 90+ Season and Series Premiere Dates

Bethany Joy Lenz Joins American Gothic
Bill Cunningham, a New York Times fashion photographer who documented street style through several decades, died Saturday in New York, the newspaper announced. He was 87.

Cunningham had been hospitalized after a stroke earlier this week.

From bell bottoms to fanny packs and beyond, Cunningham immortalized not only the fashions of the moment, but the cultural shifts as they changed. As the Times puts it, the photographer became an unlikely anthropologist in his 40 years at the paper, as his street photos reflected a change from formality into more self-expressive trends.

Though he preferred not to photograph celebrities, but rather passing residents on the streets of Manhattan, Cunningham became something of a star himself in the fashion world. The French government honored him with the Legion dHonneur in Paris in 2008, and he was congratulated at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, where a life-size mannequin of him was installed.

He was also the subject of the critically acclaimed 2010 documentary Bill Cunningham New York, which premiered at the Museum of Modern Art.

Cunningham was born in Boston in 1929, the second of four children. His gravitation to fashion was apparent early on  he made hats as a child, and worked part-time as a teenager at department star Bonwit Teller. He received a scholarship to Harvard, but dropped out after two months. They thought I was an illiterate, Cunningham said of the experience. I was hopeless  but I was a visual person.

He then moved in with an uncle, Tom Harringston, in New York, who was in the advertising industry. Cunningham said his family hoped his uncle would rub off on him and that he would also enter the business, but his fascination with fashion held firm, and he later moved out after his uncle forced him to choose between their living situation and his hat-making.

He freelanced a column for Womens Wear Daily for extra money, but quit in the early 60s after a feud with publisher John Fairchild over who was the better designer: Andre Courreges or Yves Saint Laurent. In 1967, he turned to photography, taking assignments for the Daily News and Chicago Tribune that summer.

Story continues

He became a regular contributer to the Times in the late 70s, but refused to take a staff position until 1994, when he was hit by a truck while riding his bike. He later explained he took the staff position for health insurance, and stayed at the publication for years after.

His company was sought after by the fashion worlds rich and powerful, yet he remained one of the kindest, most gentle and humble people I have ever met, said Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., the Times publisher and chairman, in a statement. We have lost a legend, and I am personally heartbroken to have lost a friend.

He was a hugely ethical journalist, said Dean Baquet, the Times executive editor. And he was incredibly open-minded about fashion. To see a Bill Cunningham street spread was to see all of New York. Young people. Brown people. People who spent fortunes on fashion and people who just had a strut and knew how to put an outfit together out of what they had and what they found.

Bill was an extraordinary man, his commitment and passion unparalleled, his gentleness and humility inspirational, added Michele McNally, The Times director of photography. Even though his talents were very well known, he preferred to be anonymous, something unachievable for such a superstar. I will miss him everyday.

Related stories

New York Times Is Sending Another 300,000 Cardboard Viewers to Subscribers

Tribeca: Documentary Goes Inside the Secret World of N.Y. Times Obit Writers

New York Times Hands David Carr's Media Column to Jim Rutenberg
Xi Yanchun:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the policy briefing of the State Council. This weeks State Council executive meeting discussed work on the Internet plus smart energy action plan. In order to tell us more about it, today we are so glad to have Li Ye, chief economist of the National Energy Administration (NEA). Please welcome Mr Li to give us more details and answer questions.

Li Ye:

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, media friends. I feel very grateful to attend todays policy briefing of the State Council. As we all know, the State Council executive meeting on June 22 discussed the work report on implementing the Internet plus smart energy action plan proposed by NEA. We know that listening to the work report is also an inspection and deployment of this work by the State Council. Now let me give you a brief account.

The State Council attaches great importance to the innovative development of the energy industry, represented by Internet plus smart energy. Premier Li Keqiang has stressed many times that energy supply is related to Chinas economic and social development. We have to promote the Internet Plus strategy, boost deep integration of the Internet and energy industry, facilitate smart energy development, improve the level of development of green, low-carbon and smart energy, the Premier said. He urged building a clean, high efficient, safe, and sustainable energy development road, which can bolster sustainable and sound development of the economy and society.

Currently, the concept of energy Internet is attracting great attention at both home and abroad. Generally, people think energy Internet (also known as Internet plus smart energy) will bring some opportunities for the development of the energy industry. First, it will greatly promote the development of clean energy, especially the well-known method of distributed renewable energy use.

Li Ye:

Second, it is of great significance for the intellectualization of energy technology and equipment through the development of energy Internet technologies. China has launched the Made in China 2025 strategy, and a corresponding implementation plan for energy and equipment has also been issued. This plan includes lots of equipment for energy Internet and gives a clear direction for Chinese technology standards going forward.

Third, using new technologies and business modes such as energy Internet can provide examples for reform of the energy system. Therefore, according to the unified arrangement by the State Council, the guideline to promote Internet plus smart energy development was issued in February, jointly by the National Development and Reform Commission, NEA, and Ministry of Industry and Information, clearly setting 10 tasks.

From theory to practice, the energy Internet is still under exploration. In the guideline, we encourage carrying out pilot demonstration programs and accumulating new technologies and business modes that can be duplicated before 2019. By the end of 2025, we will promote some sophisticated technologies and models, summing up the successes from the demonstration projects.

Li Ye:

Guidelines on the energy plus Internet has attracted much attention, and the National Energy Administration and other department worked together to put it into practice. The current focus is to carry out the plan, and so far we are mainly promoting the work through the following four aspects:

First is to start the pilot program. The National Energy Administration has put together an implementation plan on the smart energy pilot program, which will be released later. It focuses on encouraging effective investments in the energy sector, laying a road map and timetable for the program. As we know, many regions are excited about the program. We estimated that it will bring about investments of at least 40 billion yuan this year. The National Development and Reform Commission also set up a specific construction fund, about 300 million to 400 million yuan, in the energy sector to support research and pilot programs.

Second is to widely promote technological innovation, and conduct technology research into key technology equipment. Recently, the NEA and NDRC printed and distributed a detailed action plan on energy technology revolution based on the energy development strategy of Four Revolutions and One Cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping. In the action plan, we have deployed nine innovation actions in many important sectors that are related to the energy Internet, such as energy production, smart consumption, and energy systematic integration. It is one of the 15 important tasks in the energy technology revolution plan, and also clearly maps out a timetable for the innovation plan.

Third is to build a standard system. We all know that energy is related to the safety of national economy, and the technology and concepts of the Internet, and the technology standard is especially important. We have organized experts in energy and information industry to jointly conduct the research on a standard system building and to help find the common points of traditional energy field and modern Internet technology. It has formed a general framework and action roadmap for the standard. China now has become a full member of the smart energy system of the International Electrotechnical Commission, which signals that the standard of energy Internet we are building is synchronized with international levels.

Fourth is to continuously push the reform and reserve development space. We are trying to conduct research on support measures for industry access, including the pricing mechanism, and interconnectivity through the Internet pilot program. After the release of the No.9 document, reform on the electric power system is being promoted intensively, and we hope the energy Internet could help produce new models and new businesses in the reform of electric power system and make room for the reform. In the implementation process, we will make use of the active dual role of the government and market to encourage the participation of private capital, and expand the financing channels for energy Internet.

Li Ye:

In recent months, we have done some work in the above four areas. Next, we will focus our efforts on the following aspects:

First, technological innovation. Technological innovation is the key to developing energy Internet. Next, we plan to set up a national research and development platform for energy Internet, taking as reference foreign practices of establishing key labs and R&D centers. Meanwhile, we will also support the establishment of industrial and technical alliances for national energy innovation. Now many enterprises are calling for such alliances, wishing to integrate several large sectors, especially energy and Internet. A lot of large enterprises have brought forward requests in this regard. This will be the first step. Many projects and research on technology and equipment will be carried out at the same time.

Second, we will pay close attention to developing related standards. Standards involve all aspects of the energy sector. We have now initially formed the overall framework and the course of action for building a standards system. Next, based on the implementation of pilot projects, we should lose no time in developing a group of much-needed standards and specifications to provide support for such projects. Meanwhile, we will actively strengthen communication with the International Electrotechnical Commission and other related international organizations to keep track of some standards that are currently being studied by these organizations, and even make our standards the internationally accepted ones.

Third, we will expedite the implementation of pilot projects. A large number of projects are now being organized, which will soon be implemented. At the same time, we, as the authority of national energy industry, should strengthen services in terms of tracking, monitoring, coordination, expert consultation, guidance, evaluation, summary, promotion and application. We should try our best to perform the duties of the National Energy Administration, and develop new technologies, models and business trends that can stand the test of the market and be integrated with internationally accepted models.

Fourth, we will speed up the study and improvement of support policies. One expert in our industry has noted that policies are crucial for promoting energy development. Next, we will pay close attention to implementing the national strategy of big data to integrate, share and trade big data in the energy sector. We will also encourage Internet companies to cooperate with energy enterprises to facilitate application innovation and strengthen safety supervision. And, in order to improve the support measures for pilot projects, we will conduct further studies on some special construction funds, including some support policies on taxation and pricing.

Li Ye:

I have just briefly introduced our recent work and what we plan to do in the next step to our media friends.

The National Energy Administration attaches great importance to todays policy briefing. Today, responsible people from the Department of General Affairs and the Department of Technology and Equipment are here with me. And members of the main drafting group of the Energy Internet Action Plan, who are also members of the Energy Internet Expert Committee, are here, too. We have specially invited two professors from Tsinghua University: Dr. Gao Feng and Dr. Chen Qixin, executive vice dean and vice dean of the Tsinghua University Energy Internet Research Institution. Both are industry experts. Next, my colleagues and I are willing to answer questions from media friends and discuss some issues of common concern.

Xi Yanchun:

Thanks to Mr. Lis introduction. Now question time, and please identify yourself before you ask your questions.

China Radio International:

My question is about Internet plus and smart energy. Mr. Li, would you please expound on this? In addition, how can the market play a decisive role in it? What support measures will the government make to boost the progress? Is there any explicit timetable or roadmap? Thank you.

Li Ye:

Thanks for your question. There are two keys in Internet plus and smart energy, or the energy Internet. One is technology. The other is system and mechanism, or policies. Technology is an important part. In the past, traditional enterprises in the energy industry were separated based on what sectors they were in. Now, the most important idea of energy Internet is the complement of coal, electricity, and gas, especially the interaction between production and consumption, in which technologies and ideas of Internet are applied. In terms of technology, we have deployed many technologies and equipment in our plan, and I will not introduce them one by one. The first thing to do is technology innovation, especially in core technology research and development. R&D efforts cannot simply depend on the work behind closed doors. In fact, we want to coordinate basic research, research and development of technical equipment, and engineering application to make a major technology breakthrough in energy Internet.

The second thing is system and mechanism. Generally speaking, energy Internet is a new thing. So regulating and market systems in this regard are not mature. The next thing we should do is build a market system featuring equality, interconnectivity, sharing, and opening-up. In addition, regulation will be strengthened, and the regulating system will always be there to monitor the energy Internet industry.

Li Ye:

The third thing is industry guarantee. In the past, people conducted businesses on their own. Now if energy Internet became a new industry, there will be many new products coming out. Who will manufacture the new products? So industry guarantee, which includes manpower, material and financial resources, is very important.

The fourth thing is strengthened organization. The feature of energy Internet is cross-industries. It even connects closely with the individual consumer. So we think that organization is also very important.

In terms of timetable and roadmap of the energy Internet, we have explicit statements in the plan. Three will be in two stages. In the first stage, all kinds of energy Internet demonstration projects will be completed before the end of 2019. The energy Internet will be advocated and applied in the second stage, from 2019 to 2025. Of course, these are not simple dividing points. Timely efforts will be made in order. Thank you.

China News Service:

Promoting energy conservation and reducing emissions reduction are twois one of the important goals of enhancing the Internet plus smart energy. Could you please have an offer an introduction about on how to promote the efficient use of fossil fuels? Thanks.

Li Ye:

This is a very important question. No matter what kind of technology and business mode we adopt, the most crucial thing in the energy field is to make full use of its nature natural essence. What is the nature natural essence of the energy? In the past, it was to ensure supply and was the food fuel of industries. This nature still exists today and it is still an important guarantee for the national economy, social development and peoples livelihood. Meanwhile, the clean and efficiency of energy is raised to a higher agenda. Adjustment of the energy structure and its large-scale and efficient allocation and consumption on the whole industry chain is are the keys to of the energy development in both China and the whole world. Either implementing the energy Internet action plan, or developing one in accordance with the energy Internet Internet model, or using Internet Internet technology and ideas to upgrade the traditional energy industry, - these ir goals are all first to adjust structure, and secondly to improve efficiency.

Your question is very important because Energy Internet is usually looked at as a new business model and is easily linked with new energy and renewable energy. However, we saw a greater potential on in its role for traditional fossil fuels. Traditional energy still occupies a large proportion of use in China, with fossil fuels accounting for about 89%. percent of energy sources. Last year, the proportion of new energy and renewable energy respectively reached 11.4 percent and 11.5 percent and all the rest were fossil fuels.

Just now we mentioned a concept of multi-energy complementarity, such as, raising the concept of smart mines from the production and consumption-supply of fossil energy.  eEven if you are in Beijing, you can know the production situations and safety status of all mines by Internet technology. Now we have realized smart mines, and have completely applied digital and Internet Internet technology in the production of traditional energy.

Li Ye:

On the other hand, there is a huge space area to improve the energy efficiency in its transmission, distribution and end-use, which also has also witnessed the most loss of energy efficiency. In the past the traditional fossil fuels were involved large-scale production and use. Actually there are many new use patterns for fossil fuels. If you have the opportunity, I recommend you to visit Beijing Gas Group, which is a good such example of such. Adopting the Energy Internet model and concept is actually a great revolutionary promotion for traditional fossil fuels. In this regard, if you have any particular interest in the technology, we have experts who can discuss this with you at any time. Thanks.

China Daily:

Mr Li, would you please tell us what benefits we will receive if the Internet plus energy action plan is put in place? Thank you!

Li Ye:

Thats a good question. Energy not only concerns our countrys economic and social development, but concerns peoples living standards. The concept of Internet plus energy has attracted many Internet enterprises attention in recent years, and we also invited experts and technicians at Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei to carry out researches with our colleagues when drawing up the action plan.

We all recognized that the Internet plus energy will not only change the traditional energy production mode, but also change the pattern of consumption, which may greatly influence the direct consumers of energy, especially the people. In the past, we were simple buyers who bought electricity and heating from power, as well as thermal, companies; in the future, people also will become energy producers, with the use of the smarter energy mode. For example, in the future, you can use your house to develop your own energy, to help meet the needs of daily life. Once put into production, it can also be sold to energy companies. When there is a power failure, we can borrow electricity from our neighbors, which is exactly a private transaction. The consciousness of consumers will change.

Second, changes will take place in some areas, such as the well-known electric battery vehicle industry. I suppose most of you here have had experience driving an electric car. Although the industry has grown fast nowadays, there are still some problems, such as the inconvenience of charging. We know that since the popularization of private cars in the United States from 1918 to 1920, automobile culture has already existed for over 100 years. In China, most households began to own private cars after 30 years of reform and opening up, and in the next step, the implementation of the Internet plus energy action plan will bring a revolutionary change and great convenience to the use of electric cars. For instance, people can make an appointment to charge a battery, choosing a charging pile with a lower load rate in advance.

Third, smarter energy management will bring great benefits to energy saving in households. In the past, the energy consumption of a household was too costly and might cause waste for lack of smart management. However, smarter energy management changes it. For example, if we are here without turning down the air conditioner when leaving home, we can turn it down now. And if you want to save time and cook dinner earlier, you can order the energy controller to switch on a kitchen appliance here now. It is of great importance for energy savings to apply smarter energy management to every household in China. Those are the three aspects that will be beneficial to people. Thanks!

Peoples Daily

Internet plus smart energy will follow distribution concept so how should we handle the relationship between Internet plus energy and construction of centralized and large scaled grid. Thank you

Li Ye:

Your question is very acute. Internet plus smart energy covers the entire industrial chain of the energy sector and is related to fossil energy, renewable energy and other energy production and consumption. Indeed, we feel that Internet plus smart energy has obvious advantage in the use of renewable distributed energy.

However, it is not in conflict with the application of centralized production, centralized distribution, grids and giant transmission projects. In China, large-scale centralized construction, centralized distribution and transmission projects are what we urgently need in the current situation, in which the energy in our country is now mostly produced in the western region and vastly consumed in the eastern area.

We still have to maintain this large-scale centralized construction and distribution guaranteed by the traditional fossil energy or energy achieved by traditional methods within years. This large scale centralized construction and distribution of energy cannot be replaced within a short period of time.

However, actually the concept of network has been applied to the field of traditional centralized production and distribution of energy, reflecting the concept of smart grids. We now have begun to explore to use Internet technologies to transform and update traditional fields including large-scale electric power plants, the production, distribution and transmission of electricity, oil, natural gas and coal.

Judging from Chinas reality and its demand of energy, centralized production and distribution of energy is not in conflict with the distributed energy and is complementing each other.

Professor Gao Feng, executive vice-dean of the Tsinghua University Energy Internet Research Institution, will give you more detailed explanations.

Gao Feng:

Id like to cite an example. Beijing Telecom owns about 30,000 base stations in Beijing, with each station storing at least 40 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. That means a total of 1.2 million kWh of electricity is available. The peak in demand occurred on July 13 last year, three percent higher than in the previous peak, or 550,000 kilowatts more. If the peak time lasts for two hours, only 1.1 million kWh of electricity is needed to secure normal operation. This is the advantage of a distributed energy system controlled by the Internet, which could save costs in the hundreds of billions of yuan on power grid construction. Thus, the distributed model could cooperate with and help the centralized model in energy usage.

Chen Qixin:

In fact, Internet Plus can bring some unexpected benefits. We talked about some obvious benefits just now, while there are some others we have never thought of. For instance, the United States has taken advantage of the Internet to integrate resources from users to respond to their requests. As for electric power, it can reduce the costs for electric investment, so long as these users agree to cut power for four to eight hours during the warmest weather in the summer or go outside rather than keep the air conditioner on at home for several hours.

There are also some unexpected aspects for the Internet. For example, as long as you have an air conditioner at home and set up a controller, you can enjoy energy-saving services in which the refrigeration system can be shut down automatically when demand is low. An Internet-based system can distribute energy resources as needed.

Guangming Daily:

Mr Li just mentioned that the Internet plus smart energy program will be under testing until 2019. Would you please tell us the target and the main area of the pilot program this year?

You said that a bundle of projects are eager to participate in the program. What are they? How would the program change peoples lives?

Thank you.

Li Ye:

We officially launched the plan for Internet plus smart energy on Feb 24, exactly four months ago. Though local governments have been enthusiastic during these months, we have to be frank that the work has just started and is still underway.

We plan to issue a notice to invite projects, as many projects should be launched for the benefit of the whole country. To be frank, many projects are related to either Internet or energy, but not all of them meet the standard.

With macro and grand goals and strategies in sight, the national program mainly supports modeling projects with a specific purpose.

The modeling projects must be achievable, and capable of formulating a platform and production chain for technologies, standards and industries. It should serve as trailblazers, the success of which can be followed by others.

Some local governments applied for the program, and other applicants are enterprises, some of which are purely involved in IT industry.

Our next major task is to encourage. In addition to national support, we encourage social resources and enterprises to tap into the field. We will also encourage financial institutions, and foreign technologies and theories to explore and discuss these issues.

Currently, we are striving to make breakthroughs in some major products and technologies. And this is very import at present.

For example, energy storage. People say renewable energy is scattered, and distributed energies are volatile. But as former US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, if energy storage is workable, the combination of distributed photovoltaic energy, energy storage and smart grid will overthrow the traditional way of power distribution. I will not judge his opinion, but we can take it as a reference.

The media, methods, and technologies for energy storage vary a lot, and different kinds of energy require different ways of storage.

Our concept of energy storage chiefly refers to the storage of electricity, but it can also be the storage of other forms of energy, such as thermal energy.

Li Ye:

Second is power energy storage, whether the storage is on the generation side, power side, grid side or user side, they are all different storage patterns. We will want some demonstrations on smart grid and energy storage. We agreed to establish a large-scale chemical energy storage demonstration project in some key areas such as Dalian in Liaoning province. Dalian was selected due to its specialties: First, it is the grid end in Northeast China. Second, there are many types of energy that exist together, such as offshore wind power and nuclear power.

The storage we talked about today has a completely different concept from what people would usually consider. As there are differences in peaks, the most important thing is the adjustment function. We will expand experiments and demonstrations accordingly. There are more projects in the long-run. The two professors have more thoughts, but I dare not publicize their information for them. Some are astonishing world projects.

Some traditional Internet enterprises are inventing new technologies. For example, Huawei has invented many new technologies. Now they are entering the field of energy. Whether the things they invented work needs to be tried in test areas. Demonstrations need at least one key element. Technologies and facilities need breakthroughs to mature. Otherwise, a new idea with immature technologies and facilities cannot become reality. Thank you.

Xinhua

Mr Li. What investment opportunities will emerge from building the energy Internet? Will the National Energy Administration take some new measures to absorb the social capital?

Li Ye:

I want to answer your question from two aspects. First, China is the largest energy production and consumption country in the world, and energy is our most important basic industry. There are boundless commercial opportunities in energy. As everyone can see, currently the leading new energy enterprises are mostly private enterprises and foreign enterprises. And now some private capital and private enterprises have even started to enter the traditional energy field. So the energy field has become a hot spot for national, social capital and enterprise investments.

It has been said that energy Internet or Internet plus smart energy will bring many new businesses. You may have noticed that the ongoing electricity power system reform is rather different from the reform in 2003. This time, the reform focuses on power distribution and sale. In a few months, hundreds of power selling companies have registered. They purchase electricity and sell it according to the differences in peak demand and off-peak demand, which is pure trade. Some other companies want to build commercialized areas, residential communities or research and development institutions with the new concept of energy Internet. Previously, the power supply infrastructure in these areas was not good enough. Now some companies have proposed that they will use their own funds to build the infrastructure, which will enable power, gas and heat to be distributed in such areas through the energy Internet. And later they will run such infrastructure and gain profits. I learned from many enterprises and local governments that there are many people who want to do such businesses and felt very excited. Two professors, do you have any good examples for our media friends? Mr Chen, please.

Chen Qixin:

I will give you some examples I have learned about. Just like Mr Li said, there are many new models and investment opportunities. Currently, Guangdong and Chongqing are two pilot areas. Guangdong has been doing quite well owing to its sound market environment. We can see that now some power selling companies are combining electricity meters with users data. After the data is dealt with according to state regulations, they may turn out to be very useful information. For example, the car-using app Didi can reveal when most people in a community go to work, and home appliance retailer Suning may learn how many years air conditioners are being used and when they will be replaced. So we can see that once the traditional energy companies, including power supply companies, combine with the Internet, various new commercial models will pop up. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun

Thats all for todays policy briefing. Thank you all.
Premier Li Keqiang met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 25.

The Premier highly commended the current Sino-Russian relationship and the cooperation that has progressed in various fields between the two countries. He said several meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Putin this year greatly pushed the comprehensive and in-depth development of the bilateral ties.

Premier Li Keqiang (R2) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L3) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 25. [Photo/Xinhua]

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership. The development of the bilateral ties between China and Russia is facing new opportunities, said the Premier.

China is willing to continuously deepen political mutual trust with Russia, promote the pragmatic cooperation in various fields and enhance non-government friendly exchanges, Premier Li added.

During the meeting, the Premier stressed that the uncertain and unstable factors in the world economy are still increasing and the global economic recovery and economic growth in all countries need a stable political environment.

China is willing to strengthen its cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, initiated by Russia, to achieve institutional arrangements relating to trade and investment as soon as possible, Premier Li said.

Meanwhile, following the principal of co-sharing benefits and risks, China will explore an integrated cooperation with Russia, covering the sectors of oil, gas, nuclear energy and coal. It will also promote mutual investment and large project cooperation and carry out financial cooperation, such as currency swap and payment system, the Premier added.

Premier Li also called for the two sides to continue to host the Media Exchange Year, and promote educational and cultural cooperation in an effort to deepen the friendship among people in the two countries.

Putin said the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership has developed fast and robustly with broad prospects. China is Russias biggest trading partner, and the foundation for the economic cooperation has become increasingly strong. Putin expressed hopes to work with China in the construction and connection of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union framework.

He also expressed his willingness to promote capacity and production cooperation, and deepen ties in areas such as nuclear power, electricity power and aviation and aerospace, while also carrying out third-party market cooperation and supporting and expanding non-governmental trade cooperation in the two countries. This aims to enhance China-Russia economic and trade cooperation in both quality and quantity, Putin added.

Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yandong, and Wang Yang also attended the meeting.
Mammootty's Rorschach hits all the right notes, except in the end | Movie Review
The age of criminal responsibility will be lowered by one year from the current 14, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday, announcing measures to cope with an increasing number of...
By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will be different from institutions like the World Bank because it has a greater understanding of the developing world's needs, officials said on Sunday at its first annual meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the bank two years ago and it began operations in January, with 57 founding member countries and $100 billion in committed capital, which it plans to invest in projects across the region.

The AIIB, which intends to invest $1.2 billion this year, has said it is aiming to meet international standards of governance, though some members say there is still work to be done.

Speaking on the final day of the bank's inaugural annual meeting, Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the AIIB needed to establish its niche.

"The AIIB needs to establish its comparative advantage relative to existing multilateral development banks like the World Bank," Lou said.

"...Compared with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and other multilateral development banks, the AIIB's advantage lies in its keener understanding of the successful experience and lessons of developing countries' years of development."

The AIIB's board approved its first four deals worth $509 million on Friday, with three projects co-financed with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The co-financed projects are a slum renovation in Indonesia and highway construction in Pakistan and Tajikistan. A power grid upgrade project in Bangladesh will be solely AIIB financed.

AIIB President Jin Liqun said it was the focus on infrastructure that specifically marked out the bank as different and that they were committed to the concept of international best practice.

"The question is, how do you define international best practice? I will not agree to anything which could be considered international best practice unless this kind best practice incorporates the development experience of China and many countries in Asia and elsewhere over the last three or four decades," Jin said.

Story continues

"So our bank would like to have the development experience, the so-called international best practice, reflecting the experience of China, India (and) so many countries in Asia. So we should have a different model of development."

The AIIB is also looking to expand its numbers this year and will take applications for new members through the end of September.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)
(Repeats to additional subscribers with no changes to text)

By Joseph Menn and Dustin Volz

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - Some of the web's biggest destinations for watching videos have quietly started using automation to remove extremist content from their sites, according to two people familiar with the process.

The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States.

YouTube and Facebook are among the sites deploying systems to block or rapidly take down Islamic State videos and other similar material, the sources said.

The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites. It looks for "hashes," a type of unique digital fingerprint that internet companies automatically assign to specific videos, allowing all content with matching fingerprints to be removed rapidly.

Such a system would catch attempts to repost content already identified as unacceptable, but would not automatically block videos that have not been seen before.

The companies would not confirm that they are using the method or talk about how it might be employed, but numerous people familiar with the technology said that posted videos could be checked against a database of banned content to identify new postings of, say, a beheading or a lecture inciting violence.

The two sources would not discuss how much human work goes into reviewing videos identified as matches or near-matches by the technology. They also would not say how videos in the databases were initially identified as extremist.

Use of the new technology is likely to be refined over time as internet companies continue to discuss the issue internally and with competitors and other interested parties.

In late April, amid pressure from U.S. President Barack Obama and other U.S. and European leaders concerned about online radicalization, internet companies including Alphabet Inc's YouTube, Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc and CloudFlare held a call to discuss options, including a content-blocking system put forward by the private Counter Extremism Project, according to one person on the call and three who were briefed on what was discussed.

Story continues

The discussions underscored the central but difficult role some of the world's most influential companies now play in addressing issues such as terrorism, free speech and the lines between government and corporate authority.

None of the companies at this point has embraced the anti-extremist group's system, and they have typically been wary of outside intervention in how their sites should be policed.

"It's a little bit different than copyright or child pornography, where things are very clearly illegal," said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University's Program on Extremism.

Extremist content exists on a spectrum, Hughes said, and different web companies draw the line in different places.

Most have relied until now mainly on users to flag content that violates their terms of service, and many still do. Flagged material is then individually reviewed by human editors who delete postings found to be in violation.

The companies now using automation are not publicly discussing it, two sources said, in part out of concern that terrorists might learn how to manipulate their systems or that repressive regimes might insist the technology be used to censor opponents.

"There's no upside in these companies talking about it," said Matthew Prince, chief executive of content distribution company CloudFlare. "Why would they brag about censorship?"

The two people familiar with the still-evolving industry practice confirmed it to Reuters after the Counter Extremism Project publicly described its content-blocking system for the first time last week and urged the big internet companies to adopt it.

WARY OF OUTSIDE SOLUTION

The April call was led by Facebook's head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, sources with knowledge of the call said. On it, Facebook presented options for discussion, according to one participant, including the one proposed by the non-profit Counter Extremism Project.

The anti-extremism group was founded by, among others, Frances Townsend, who advised former president George W. Bush on homeland security, and Mark Wallace, who was deputy campaign manager for the Bush 2004 re-election campaign.

Three sources with knowledge of the April call said that companies expressed wariness of letting an outside group decide what defined unacceptable content.

Other alternatives raised on the call included establishing a new industry-controlled nonprofit or expanding an existing industry-controlled nonprofit. All the options discussed involved hashing technology.

The model for an industry-funded organization might be the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which identifies known child pornography images using a system known as PhotoDNA. The system is licensed for free by Microsoft Corp.

Microsoft announced in May it was providing funding and technical support to Dartmouth College computer scientist Hany Farid, who works with the Counter Extremism Project and helped develop PhotoDNA, "to develop a technology to help stakeholders identify copies of patently terrorist content."

Facebook's Bickert agreed with some of the concerns voiced during the call about the Counter Extremism Project's proposal, two people familiar with the events said. She declined to comment publicly on the call or on Facebook's efforts, except to note in a statement that Facebook is "exploring with others in industry ways we can collaboratively work to remove content that violates our policies against terrorism."

In recent weeks, one source said, Facebook has sent out a survey to other companies soliciting their opinions on different options for industry collaboration on the issue.

William Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Alphabet's Google unit, which owns YouTube, also declined to comment on the call or about the company's automated efforts to police content.

A Twitter spokesman said the company was still evaluating the Counter Extremism Project's proposal and had "not yet taken a position."

A former Google employee said people there had long debated what else besides thwarting copyright violations or sharing revenue with creators the company should do with its Content ID system. Google's system for content-matching is older and far more sophisticated than Facebook's, according to people familiar with both.

Lisa Monaco, senior adviser to the U.S. president on counterterrorism, said in a statement that the White House welcomed initiatives that seek to help companies "better respond to the threat posed by terrorists' activities online.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco and Dustin Volz in Washington; Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Jim Finkle; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Bill Rigby)
YENAGOA, Nigeria, June 26 (Reuters) - As many as seven contractors, including three Australians and a South African, have been released unharmed four days after they were kidnapped by gunmen in southern Nigeria, local police and a state security adviser said on Sunday.

Police had given conflicting accounts of how many had been seized and what their nationalities were but they all worked for cement company Lafarge and were taken on the outskirts of Calabar, capital of Cross River State, in the Niger Delta.

Cross River State Commissioner Jimoh Ozi-Obeh said they were released "unhurt" on Sunday but gave no further details.

The state governor's security adviser, Jude Ngajim said five expatriates and two Nigerians had been released.

"They are safe and sound," he said, noting that a doctor had made medicals checks and pronounced them "fit and sound".

Kidnappings of foreigners are common in the region, which holds most of the OPEC member's crude oil and contributes about 70 percent of national income. Nigeria was Africa's top oil producer until a recent spate of attacks on oil facilities.

Lafarge Africa and Australian contractors Macmahon Holdings Ltd could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Tife Owolabi, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu and Ani Akpan; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Louise Ireland)
By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will continue to have access to the European Union's single market despite voting to leave the bloc, leading Brexit campaigner and favorite to become the country's next prime minister Boris Johnson said in a newspaper article on Sunday. Britain's shock decision to leave the EU has thrust Johnson into the gaze of global financial markets, who are eager to see what his plan for a post-Brexit Britain looks like and how, if he does become leader, it will affect the country's trade with the rest of the world. Johnson said Britain could now forge a relationship with the EU based on free trade and partnership rather than a federal system, and that Britain would also be able to do free trade deals with growth economies outside the EU. "There will continue to be free trade, and access to the single market," Johnson wrote in a regular column for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, adding that there was "no great rush" for Britain to extricate itself from the EU. He did not set out any details of how the arrangement would work, but suggested Britain would not accept free movement, saying the government would be able to implement an immigration policy which suited the needs of business and industry. Johnson said the negative consequences of Brexit were being "wildly overdone" and that Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who came under fire from some Brexit campaigners ahead of the referendum for flagging the risks of leaving the bloc, should continue in his job. "The economy is in good hands," he said, praising 'In' campaigners Prime Minister David Cameron and finance minister George Osborne for the work they have done to reduce public spending. "Most sensible people can see that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has done a superb job  and now that the referendum is over, he will be able to continue his work without being in the political firing-line." IMMIGRATION Johnson is seen as the frontrunner to replace his schoolmate and once close friend Cameron, who announced he would resign after the British public voted against him by backing Brexit. Cameron has said he will stay on until October. No-one has yet put themselves forward to replace him but the new leader is expected to come from the eurosceptic camp. Several sources believe Johnson, who as London mayor built a broad appeal beyond the ruling Conservative Party, threw his support behind the "Out" campaign in a calculated move to boost his chances of replacing Cameron. Johnson, who abandoned his support of immigration to win more support for the "Out" campaign, said he did not believe those who voted to leave the bloc were driven mainly by concerns over immigration, saying sovereignty was the biggest reason. EU citizens in Britain would have their rights protected, as would Britons living in the EU, he said, while British people would still be able to go and work, live and travel in the EU. Johnson also said he did not detect "any real appetite" for another Scottish independence referendum, despite the country's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying it was highly likely if it is the best option to keep Scotland in the bloc. Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole, which voted by 52 to 48 percent in favor of an exit from the bloc, or Brexit. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James; Editing by Sandra Maler)
(Adds details from joint statement on North Korea)

By Denis Dyomkin

BEIJING, June 25 (Reuters) - Russia and China sealed a raft of energy deals during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing on Saturday, strengthening economic ties while pledging to preserve the strategic balance of power among nations.

The deals involve the sale of stakes in a number of Russian projects to Chinese firms, an oil supply contract and joint investments in petrochemical projects in Russia.

Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, agreed with China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) that ChemChina would take a 40 percent stake in Rosneft's planned petrochemical complex VNHK in Russia's Far East.

The deal would help Rosneft finance the project and get access to the markets of the Asia-Pacific region, the Russian firm said in a statement.

They also signed a new one-year contract under which Rosneft could supply up to 2.4 million tonnes of crude oil to ChemChina between Aug. 1, 2016, and July 31, 2017.

Rosneft and Beijing Enterprises Group Company Limited agreed the key terms of a potential sale of a 20 percent stake in Rosneft's oil producing subsidiary, Verkhnechonskneftegaz, to a unit of Beijing Gas Group.

The Russian firm also signed a framework agreement with Sinopec regarding the construction of a gas processing and petrochemical plant in East Siberia, aiming to set up a joint venture in 2017 focused on the Russian and Chinese markets.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said his company did not plan to reduce its crude supplies to China and would defend its market position amid competition with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Iran.

"We will stick to the volumes we have agreed on. It's around 40 million tonnes (per year)," TASS news agency quoted Sechin as saying.

Russia was China's largest crude oil supplier in May for a third month in a row, having surpassed imports from Saudi Arabia.

GLOBAL BALANCE

Although economic cooperation was the focus at Putin's talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders also agreed to strengthen global strategic stability.

Story continues

A statement on the Kremlin website from the two governments called on nations to strictly abide by the norms of international law, keep military capabilities at the minimum level required for national security and refrain from steps aimed at expanding existing military-political alliances.

The statement criticised the deployment of anti-missile systems in Europe and Asia, saying those who deploy them often acted under false pretences.

It did not mention specific countries, but it comes at a time that Russia and NATO are at loggerheads over the western alliance's build up of capabilities in eastern Europe, including missile defence. NATO says its actions are a necessary response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine.

On North Korea, both countries agreed that the stalled six-party talks process remained the best way to achieve the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and that all sides should create conditions for talks to resume.

The countries' central banks also signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up a yuan clearing mechanism in Russia that they said would be beneficial to cross-border trade and investment.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Yao, Jason Subler and Ben Blanchard; Writing by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Toby Chopra)
Leader of the Popular Party (PP), Spain's caretaker Prime Minister and party candidate, Mariano Rajoy (C) arrives in a car at the PP headquarters during Spain's general election in Madrid on June 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Cesar Manso) (AFP)

Madrid (AFP) - Spain's ruling conservative Popular Party (PP) took first place in a repeat general election on Sunday but fell well short of a majority while far-left formation Unidos Podemos came second, an exit poll showed.

Acting Prime Minsiter Mariano Rajoy's PP was on track to win 117-121 seats in the 350-strong parliament while Unidos Podemos leapfrogged ahead of the Socialists to finish second with 91-95 seats, the exit poll for public television TVE showed.
Justin Solomon | CNBC. The United Kingdom's vote to split from Europe is likely to hasten the dissolution of the European unity project, George Soros wrote on Saturday.

The United Kingdom's fateful decision to break away from the European Union makes an eventual dissolution of the 28 member bloc "practically irreversible," billionaire financier George Soros wrote on Saturday.

In a somber post at Project Syndicate, Soros, who rose to prominence by speculating against the British poundimmortalizing him as the man who broke the Bank of Englandspeculated that the U.K.'s referendum to split from Europe's common market is likely to hasten the breakup of the entire EU.

Brexit, combined with Europe's festering migrant crisis, has created a "catastrophic scenario" that has grave consequences for Britain and the world economy, Soros wrote, "making the disintegration of the EU practically irreversible."



Noting that Scotland is agitating to leave the U.K., Soros said the county itself "may not survive" the decision to leave Europe.



"The consequences for the real economy [from Brexit] will be comparable only to the financial crisis of 2007-2008," wrote the billionaire, adding that a domino effect could potentially end decades of continental unification.



"But the implications for Europe could be far worse," Soros cautioned. "Tensions among member states have reached a breaking point, not only over refugees, but also as a result of exceptional strains between creditor and debtor countries within the euro zone."

Soros, a polarizing figure who is known for financing left-wing causes, is an enthusiastic backer of European integration. In 1992, by betting against sterling, he dealt a fatal blow to Britain's participation in Europe's exchange rate mechanismthe precursor to the single currency.



The billionaire also appears to be profiting from the turmoil stemming from the U.K.'s vote.

Last week, CNBC reported that Soros and fellow "macro" fund manager and Stanley Druckenmiller, who also runs a private firm managing family money through investments in a range of assets, hold bullish positions in gold. Bullion is a safe-haven asset that rises during times of market volatility, but exactly how those positions are performing for both men aren't yet clear.

Story continues

Brexit "is sure to be fraught with further uncertainty and political risk, because what is at stake was never only some real or imaginary advantage for Britain, but the very survival of the European project," he added. "Brexit will open the floodgates for other anti-European forces within the Union."



Already, political opposition is mobilizing in other countries opposed to further European integration. Barely a day after the U.K. referendum, parties in places like the Netherlands and Austria suggested they might hold votes of their own.



A report in the U.K. publication The Express said the German government was bracing itself for the possibility of at least 5 more countries threatening to leave the EU. In his article, Soros said a potential threat also comes from Italy, where the populist Five Star Movement may rise to power as a "full blown banking crisis" looms.

The billionaire ended on a slightly optimistic note by saying that proponents of European integration "must not give up. Admittedly, the EU is a flawed construction."

However, he added, "all of us who believe in the values and principles that the EU was designed to uphold must band together to save it by thoroughly reconstructing it. I am convinced that as the consequences of Brexit unfold in the weeks and months ahead, more and more people will join us."

--CNBC's Kate Kelly contributed to this article.









More From CNBC


Yemeni children walk on stones in front of buildings that were damaged by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition over the past year in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 23, 2016 (AFP Photo/Mohammed Huwais) (AFP/File)

Kuwait City (AFP) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to meet Sunday with Yemen's warring sides in a bid to push forward peace talks that have made no headway after two months.

Ban, who arrived in Kuwait City late on Saturday, was to meet delegates from the Iran-backed rebels and the Yemeni government in a joint session on Sunday, according to a UN spokesman.

UN-backed talks between the Shiite Huthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in Kuwait on April 21.

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the rebels.

But the Yemeni government is insisting the rebels withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.

The rebels for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.

Despite a 15-month-old Saudi-led military intervention in support of Hadi's government, the rebels and their allies remain in control of swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

Before the Yemen meeting, Ban was scheduled to hold talks with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, as well as the Gulf country's prime minister and foreign minister.
A VW sign is seen outside a Volkswagen dealership in London, Britain November 5, 2015. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) should offer European drivers similar compensation to what the German carmaker is expected to pay U.S. customers, Europe's Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska told a newspaper on Sunday.

"Volkswagen should voluntarily pay European car owners compensation that is comparable with that which they will pay U.S. consumers," Bienkowska told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Volkswagen is expected to agree next week to pay nearly $10.3 billion to settle claims by U.S. regulators stemming from its diesel emissions cheating scandal.

The settlement includes offers to buy back nearly 500,000polluting U.S. vehicles and pay an average compensation to owners of around $5,000.

Bienkowska said it would be unfair of VW to treat European consumers differently just because of a different legal system.

"Treating consumers in Europe differently than U.S. consumers is no way to win back trust," she said.

In Europe, VW officials have said they will repair vehicles to remove illegal software, but have no plans to pay consumers compensation, arguing they have suffered no loss.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson. Editing by Jane Merriman)
We value your privacy.

Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy.
Bombardier Job Cuts To Affect 200 As Some Production Shifts To Mexico, China

TORONTO  Bombardier Aerospace and its union have agreed on a plan for cutting 200 positions at the company's Q400 manufacturing operation in Toronto so some work can be outsourced to other countries.Some of the Bombardier employees currently in those positions will be offered training and transfer opportunities within the company. Others will be offered retirement packages under the agreement with Unifor.A Bombardier spokeswoman says the agreement is part of a five-year plan, announced in November, to make the company's products more profitable and competitive in the long term.Bombardier plans to make the Q400 wings in Mexico and cockpits in China, for final assembly in Toronto.The Toronto operation currently has about 3,500 employees  including 1,400 working on the Q400, a turboprop used by commercial airlines around the world. Toronto-based Porter Airlines and WestJet's Encore service are among the Q400's customers.Besides the Q400s, Bombardier does final assembly of the Global Express 5000 and 6000 business jets in Toronto. The Downsview plant is also scheduled to work on the longer-range 7000 and 8000 Global Express jets.Bombardier spokeswoman Marianella de la Barrera said it's too soon to say how many of the Q400 positions will be eliminated through retirements and how many will be dealt with through retraining and other mitigation measures."We can't speculate until we've done the exercise with the union," de la Barrera said Monday.Scott McIlmoyle, president of Unifor local 112, was unavailable for comment.
Brexit: Do you #Regrexit? UK voters voice doubt over referendum choice

LOL Buyers remorse..

London (CNN)From Brexit to #Regrexit -- an online petition demanding a second referendum on Britain's decision to leave the EU has passed 2 million signatures.By Saturday afternoon, more than 2 million people had signed the petition on the official UK Parliament website. That number takes it well over the 100,000-signature threshold needed to force a debate on the issue by members of Parliament.A rush to sign the petition caused the website to crash temporarily due to the high volume of traffic.The petition, set up by William Oliver Healey, states: "We the undersigned call upon [the UK] Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60%, based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum."Thursday's referendum had a turnout of 72% -- an increase over last year's general election turnout of 66%, but below the 75% suggested in the petition.The "Leave" campaign won with 17,410,74 votes -- 52% -- to the "Remain" team's 16,141,241, or 48%.Ben Howlett, a Conservative MP, confirmed on Twitter than the petition would be discussed by the House of Commons petitions Select Committee Tuesday.That news came as some voters who had backed the "Leave" campaign took to Twitter to register their regret -- adopting the #Regrexit hashtag.One voter, Adam from Manchester, told the BBC: "My vote -- I didn't think was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to remain."The David Cameron resignation has blown me away to be honest. I think the period of uncertainty we're going to have for the next few months has been magnified, so I'm quite worried."Another "Leave" voter, Mandy, told the London Evening Standard that she would change her vote if she could."This morning the reality is actually hitting in and the regret is hitting in," she said Friday. "I wish I had the opportunity to vote again, simply because I would do things differently."Meanwhile, Cornwall in southwest England -- a region which voted to leave the EU -- is now seeking confirmation from government ministers that it will keep getting funding equal to its previous EU allocation."Now that we know the UK will be leaving the EU we will be taking urgent steps to ensure that the UK Government protects Cornwall's position in any negotiations," said John Pollard, the leader of Cornwall Council."We will be insisting that Cornwall receives investment equal to that provided by the EU program which has averaged 60m (more than $82 million) per year over the last ten years."Source: Brexit: Do you #Regrexit? - CNNPolitics.com ........................................
Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says security forces clashed with suspected Kurdish militants in the country's northwest, leaving at least five insurgents dead.



A statement on the IRGC's official website on June 25 said five "terrorists," including two "leaders," were killed in the fighting in the West Azerbaijan province, near the Iraqi border.



The statement added that a "chase operation to destroy other terrorists is under way."



It said no Iranian forces were wounded in the clashes in the Mahabad area on June 24, and that they confiscated large amounts of weapons and ammunition.



On June 16, Iran's Revolutionary Guard battled armed members of an insurgent Kurdish group in West Azerbaijan province. The IRGC said it killed 12 insurgents while three of its members died.



Iran faces threats from several militant groups, ranging from Sunni Arabs in its southern, oil-rich region, Kurds in its northwest, and Baluch separatists on its eastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Based on reporting by AP and IRNA
Linda Heinold , of Rockwell, will be honored at a retirement open house from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, July 3, at East Park Gazebo in Mason City. Linda is a registered nurse at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, Mason City.

Come help us celebrate her retirement of 46 years as an OB Labor and Delivery Nurse, Lamaze Educator and NRP Instructor. If you are unable to attend, please share your memories via cards sent to her at: 20210 150th St., Rockwell, IA 50469.
Larry Christensen and Janice (Ostby) Christensen will celebrate 50 years of marriage on June 25. They plan to celebrate by retracing their honeymoon trip to the Wisconsin Dells. They were married in Kensett, Iowa, at the old Bethany Lutheran Church by the Rev. Otto Zwanziger on June 25, 1966. They plan a family get-together upon their return.
CHARLES CITY | Bill Kyle has a booming voice and a smile as wide as an airport runway.

Kyle, head of Charles City Aeronautics, knew when he was a kid what he wanted to do when he grew up.

He wanted to be in aviation, just like his dad, Lyle Kyle, said Bill, who succeeded his father in running Charles City Aeronautics and who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary in aviation.

"My father was my mentor, especially from a mechanical standpoint, but he also taught me how to fly," said Kyle.

"I knew when I was in high school -- I guess I was about 16 -- that this is what I wanted to do."

A third generation of Kyles is also in the aviation business. Todd Kyle, Bill's son, is operations manager for North Iowa Air Service at Mason City Municipal Airport.

"We are the only three-generation aviation family in Iowa," said Bill Kyle. "I'm very proud of that. Todd got the bug early, just like I did. He grew up at the airport."

Kyle began his aviation career on June 1, 1966, while he was still in high school, as a line boy at the Charles City Airport, working for his father and his father's partner, Norbert Baltes.

A line boy does a little bit of everything at an airport, from pumping gas to washing planes to cleaning the restrooms.

"It was typical for high school kids to work as line boys," said Kyle. "Norbert Baltes asked my dad if he thought that was something I would want to do. My dad said, `Yes, but you'll have to hire him.' That was the start of it. And here I am 50 years later. I've never done anything else."

He earned his private pilot license in 1968 while he was still in high school. He worked at the airport on weekends while going to college during the week, earning an associate degree in marketing from North Iowa Area Community College in 1970.

He furthered his education by focusing on his future career, earning an associate degree in aviation maintenance from Hawkeye Institute of Technology in Waterloo in 1972.

He then returned to Charles City and worked for his father as a mechanic at Charles City Aeronautics. He received his commercial pilots license in 1973 and FAA Inspection Authorization in 1975. In 1982, Kyle took over as airport manager in Charles City.

Upon the death of his father in 1998, Kyle became president of Charles City Aeronautics. In January 2001, he and Todd began operating the air service in Mason City for which Todd is now operations manager.

Airplanes have to be inspected annually in order to be fly-worthy, said Todd. And people bring their planes from all over the country to have Bill Kyle inspect them, he said.

"He has an incredible work ethic. If someone brings him a plane and it takes him a little longer than he thinks it should have to get the job done, he'll only charge them for time it should have taken him," Todd said.

He said other family members apply the same admonition to both father and son: "You need to say `no' more often."
MASON CITY  A motorcycle rider died early Sunday when he apparently struck a turning lane median, according to a press release by the Mason City Police Department.

Jason Michael Brahm, 39, of Forest City, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident occurred at 2:25 a.m. at the intersection of College Drive and Highway 122. Brahm was operating a 1998 Harley-Davidson Roadking motorcycle, according to a news release from Mason City police.

Assisting the Police Department were the Mason City Fire Department, Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office and Cerro Gordo Medical Examiners Office.
Donald J. Rahe

BANCROFT  Donald J. Rahe died Thursday, June 23, 2016, at St. Marys Hospital, Rochester, MN, at the age of 81.

A funeral Mass will be held Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Johns Catholic Church in Bancroft with Father Sunny Dominic officiating. Burial will be in St. Johns Catholic Cemetery with military honors conducted.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Oakcrest Funeral Services of Bancroft with a Scripture Prayer Service beginning at 7 p.m.

Oakcrest Funeral Services, Algona. 515-295-3731. www.oakcrestfuneralservices.com.
CLARION  Marilyn Edwards, 86, of Clarion passed away Thursday, May 26, 2016, at the Clarion Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in Clarion.

Memorial services for Marilyn Edwards will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 29, 2016, at First Lutheran Church, 420 First St. N.W. in Clarion, with Pastor Nicole Woodley officiating. Visitation will be held one hour prior to services at the church on Wednesday.
MASON CITY | After five years as head of Lincoln Intermediate School, Tom Novotney is confident the school will continue its innovative embrace of STEM education.

Novotney, 40, the Lincoln principal, is resigning effective this month to become principal of the Blessed Maria Assunta Pallotta Middle School in Waterloo.

The move will allow him to live closer to his wifes family there, he said.

Since 2010, when the school was renamed and reorganized to house fifth- and sixth-graders, Lincoln Intermediate has won multiple awards and recognition for its incorporation of hands-on STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- learning.

That includes its robotics club, STEAM festival and science night.

Novotney also cites implementation of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) -- a positive reinforcement system for behavior used nationwide -- and Competency-Based Education (CBE) -- a system of learning that allows students a more flexible, individualized learning environment -- as accomplishments at the school.

"We want kids who can problem-solve, kids who can collaborate," Novotney said. "This building needs to be run as a new learning experience for students."

The goal is not duplicating what is done at another school, he said.

Last year, the school was named its division winner of the National STEM Excellence Award at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando.

Last fall, Lincoln Intermediate was one of 12 programs across the state to receive a $25,000 cost-matched grant from the organization to transform typical K-12 classroom environments or to unite business and education to develop clear pathways from science, technology, engineering and math education to STEM careers.

Novotney credits his "forward-thinking" staff with embracing the changes.

He is moving on after a career spent entirely at Lincoln Intermediate and its predecessor -- Roosevelt Middle School.

In 2000, Novotney was hired in Mason City as a special education paraprofessional at Roosevelt. Novotney became a special education teacher there in 2002.

He was dean of students at Roosevelt in 2010, then became dean of sixth-grade students at Lincoln Intermediate before becoming principal in 2011.

On June 20, the School Board accepted his resignation, which is effective at the end of the month.

News of Novotney's departure came at the same meeting the board accepted the resignation of Superintendent Anita Micich following a signed agreement for her to leave the district last month.

Interim Superintendent Mike Penca -- who was appointed to a one-year term on June 6 -- presented the board with plans to restructure administrator duties after the departure of Executive Director for Educator Quality and Leadership and 5-12 Programs T.J. Jumper this month.
ST. ANSGAR | Progress on a community visioning program continued this month in St. Ansgar.

The Iowa Living Roadways Community Visioning Program is designed to address local parks, trails and roads and is part of a larger project which aims to revitalize Fourth Street with new facades as well as establish a formal town center.

Architects from Ritland & Kuiper Landscape Architects, Waterloo, took suggestions and comments from community members during a forum this month. A preliminary draft of drawings was presented to the public which architect Craig Ritland said served as a guide to public wants and community needs.

Areas recommended to be addressed include new signage on all entrances into St. Ansgar as well as "wayfinding" signage to include town and school logos. Storm water run-off at parks and other areas was also of concern as well as improving pedestrian and school walkways along Fourth Street.

A solution for entrance signage involved a new sign design with stone pillars on either side of inscribed limestone, with evergreen trees and shrubbery surrounding the sign.

To combat erosion at parks, architects proposed removing mulch from playgrounds and replacing the surface with pea gravel to prevent flooding, as well as adding rock ledge around the playground perimeter.

Architects plan to take advantage of School Street as the safe route to school due to the long stretch of sidewalks. Crosswalks will be implemented on all intersections that lead to and from school.

Because there are no sidewalks connecting School Street to Eighth Street, architects plan to also use the stop signs in creating a diagonal crosswalk that will lead children down the street to elementary school.

Meredith Borchardt, field coordinator for Trees Forever, said the Community Vision committee will meet in July to review more detailed plans from architects. In August, the public will be invited to deliver more input, and possible approval of the plans could occur by September or October.

The Community Vision Program is a selective program which takes applications from towns with fewer than 10,000 people and is partial to communities that lack planning resources in their city government.

To be considered for the application, a community must be willing to contribute $2,000 toward project implementation.

St. Ansgar is one of 10 communities to be selected in 2016 phase. Past Mitchell County communities to be part of the project include Osage and Riceville in 2015.

The Community Vision Program is collaboration between the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Living Roadway Trust Fund, Iowa State University and Trees Forever.
A long trip across this amazing country has dispersed the miasma of doom I have been suffused with during this dreadful election season, during which many have been doing their best to make us feel really bad about the future.

First of all, there really arent very many Trump or Clinton yard signs, which I choose to take as a sign of rebellious ambivalence.

But this is not about them; this is about a sign of progress! Yes, America has a lot of greatness! And one wonderful barometer of that is agriculture.

We have heard for decades about the declining family farm. And we all know families who have worked their hearts out and their fingers to the bone but still lost the farm. This is especially visible in the Midwest, but its true across the country. The Agriculture Department says the number of farmers declined 4.3 percent from 2007 to 2012; 3.2 million farmers now work 2.1 million farms.

That sounds grim. But nowhere is the legendary American ingenuity more evident than on the farm. The truth is that farmers now are using the fruits of technology in ways that are increasing their yields, feeding more people around the world, making crops less susceptible to the vagaries of weather and implementing the amazing research that is underway in our universities. Todays small farmers have college degrees and are constantly updating their methods, their business skills and their connectivity with each other and the world,

Drive across Iowa and see not only the behemoth agribusinesses but really savvy family farmers who know exactly what they are doing. Oh yes, they still work long, tough hours, but they sow, water and fertilize with computers. They talk knowledgeably about genomes, and they are fully aware of changing tastes around the globe and the huge demand for better-tasting, more healthful food that does not wreak havoc on the environment.

You Texans may live for the fried beer at your state fair, but your cattle ranchers are producing beef for vast new markets around the world as consumers in rising new economies want to eat the same steak Americans crave.

In just 35 years, the worlds farmers will have to produce 70 percent more food than they do now. This cant be done without huge investments in research and development.

The Economist, the incomparable news magazine that tracks major global social issues with dispassion and accuracy, reported that John Deere, the worlds largest manufacturer of agriculture equipment, began equipping tractors with global positioning systems so farmers could greatly increase efficiency, reduce redundant seeding or missed sections, and cut fuel bills.

Sensors now monitor nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium needs of crops being sprayed. Farmers get computer software that routinely helps them with farm management issues that have plagued farmers for centuries. Farmers are using drones and satellites and small planes on a daily basis.

There is amazing research underway on getting rid of weeds without harmful chemicals. And, yes, robots are coming to the farm, which will free millions of people to do other jobs.

While the most dramatic innovations in farming are taking place in the West, philanthropist Bill Gates notes that even in Africa, where millions of farmers still rely on primitive farm tools, there are innovations that will change the world, such as the mapping of Africas soils, which will tell farmers what seeds to plant, how to fertilize and how to increase yields.

Computer modeling has cut the breeding time of cassava plants in half and reduced the plants susceptibility to viruses. Farmers are discussing best practices on YouTube videos. New jugs are available to help get milk to market without spoiling.

All over, fish farming of saltwater fish is being explored. New drought-tolerant corn will revolutionize life for many farmers. Researchers are exploring ways to improve the ways plants process carbon dioxide.

They are looking at tweaking photosynthesis. Cattle sensors give producers early indication of disease or general health and whether cows are ready for insemination.

Worried about animal rights issues, researchers are experimenting with growing meat muscle directly in labs, bypassing the need to slaughter animals. Synthetic eggs, which might not cause allergies, are in development.

While there are social and ethical implications in some of the research, overall it is exciting. It should provide hope and proof that American greatness is alive and well.

PS: There are a lot of awesomely beautiful, productive farms out there.
LAS VEGAS, June 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- St. Francis Animal Hospital of Las Vegas, NV, recently stepped up its efforts to raise awareness about the importance of pet weight control. The animal hospital, which is staffed by Las Vegas veterinarian Dr. David Drake and his team, hopes to assist pet owners in helping their pets lose weight or to avoid becoming overweight in the first place. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, more than half of all dogs and cats in the United States are obese. "Pets' health is negatively impacted by being overweight, so we are ramping up our efforts to help pet owners keep their pets' weight in check," said Dr. Drake.



The doctor and his team understand that many pet owners have a hard time telling whether or not their pets are overweight. It can be difficult to gauge, but there are certain rules of thumb that can be followed. Most notably, pets should have only a thin layer of fat over their spines and rib cages. If individual ribs and vertebrae can't be felt by running a hand along the spine or belly, chances are that the pet is carrying around too much extra weight. "An even easier way to tell if your pet is obese is by coming in for wellness exams regularly," said Dr. Drake. "We keep records of pets' weights, so pet owners can easily tell if their pets are maintaining healthy weight or if they are putting on too much," he said.

In addition to bringing pets in for regular wellness exams, pet owners can take steps at home to keep their dogs' and cats' weight in check. Counting calories works for pets just as it does for humans, and the Las Vegas veterinarian at St. Francis Animal Hospital can advise pet owners on approximately how many calories their pets should be consuming. The food itself should be healthy, and the veterinarian can prescribe special low-calorie food for pets who are overweight or obese.

Pet owners are encouraged to keep snacks to a minimum and are reminded to avoid giving pets "people food." Finally, exercise plays a huge part in keeping pets healthy and in preventing obesity. "Dogs can be taken for walks or allowed to run around the yard," said Dr. Drake. "It's trickier with cats, but their owners can use laser beams and other toys to get them moving," he said.

By keeping pets' weight in check, pet owners can help them avoid issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney issues and joint pain. St. Francis Animal Hospital is available to assist pet owners in maintaining their pets' overall health, including pet weight control assistance. The practice is located in Las Vegas and may be reached by calling (702) 384-6161. Additional information on their full range of services can be found on their website at http://www.stfrancisanimalhospitallasvegas.com/.




The idea of building New Towns to absorb growth is frequently considered a cure-all for urban problems. It is erroneously assumed that if new residents can be diverted from existing centers, the present urban situation at least will get no worse. It is further and equally erroneously assumed that since European New Towns have been financially and socially successful, we can expect the same sorts of results in the United States.



Present planning, thinking, and legislation will not produce the kinds of New Town that have been successful abroad. It will multiply suburbs or encourage developments in areas where land is cheap and construction profitable rather than where New Towns are genuinely needed.



Such ill-considered projects not only will fail to relieve pressures on existing cities but will, in fact, tend to weaken those cities further by drawing away high-income citizens and increasing the concentration of low-income groups that are unable to provide tax income. The remaining taxpayers, accordingly, will face increasing burdens, and industry and commerce will seek escape. Unfortunately, this mechanism is already at work in some metropolitan areas.



The promoters of New Towns so far in the United States have been developers, builders, and financial institutions. The main interest of these promoters is economic gain. Furthermore, federal regulations designed to promote the New Town idea do not consider social needs as the European New Town plans do. In fact, our regulations specify virtually all the ingredients of the typical suburban community, with a bit of political rhetoric thrown in.



A workable American New Town formula should be established as firmly here as the national formula was in Britain. All possible social and governmental innovations as well as financial factors should be thoroughly considered and accommodated in this policy. Its objectives should be clearly stated, and both incentives and penalties should be provided to ensure that the objectives are pursued. If such a policy is developed, then the New Town approach can play an important role in alleviating Americas urban problems.



Show Spoiler C

1. The passage contains information that answers which of the following questions?



(A) Where did the idea of New Towns originate?

(B) How does Britains New Town formula differ from that of other European countries?

(C) What is the purpose of building New Towns?

(D) What incentives and penalties will be necessary to make a New Town formula workable?

(E) Why have European New Towns been financially successful?





Show Spoiler B

2. The author believes that New Towns are not being built where they are genuinely needed because



(A) the government offers developers incentives to build in other areas

(B) the promoters of New Town are motivated chiefly by self-interest

(C) few people want to live in areas where land is still cheap

(D) no studies have been done to determine the best locations

(E) federal regulations make construction in those areas less profitable





Show Spoiler A

3. According to the author, ill-considered New Towns will tend to weaken existing cities in which of the following ways?



I. They will cause an erosion in the tax base of existing cities.

II. The will divert residents from existing cities to other areas.

III. They will increase the number of low-income residents in existing cities.



(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) I and II only

(D) II and III only

(E) I, II, and III





Show Spoiler A

4. According to the passage, as compared with American New Towns, European New Towns have been designed with greater concern for



(A) social needs

(B) financial factors

(C) urban congestion

(D) the profits of developers and builders

(E) the environment





Show Spoiler A

5. The authors tone in discussing developers, builders, and financial institutions ( Highlighted ) can best be described as



(A) critical

(B) pedantic

(C) evasive

(D) captious

(E) vitriolic





Show Spoiler C

6. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following about suburbs?



(A) They are a panacea for urban problems.

(B) They will soon be plagued by the same problems that now plague cities.

(C) They are poor models for New Towns.

(D) They drive up property values in inner cities.

(E) They alleviate some, but not all, of Americas urban problems.





Show Spoiler B

7. It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers the present American New Town formula to be



(A) thoroughly considered

(B) insufficiently innovative

(C) potentially workable

(D) overly restrictive

(E) financially sound





Show Spoiler A

8. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with



(A) arguing for a change in policy

(B) exploring the implications of novel idea

(C) comparing and contrasting two manifestations of the same phenomenon

(D) proposing a radically new solution to an old problem

(E) summarizing recent research on a topic (A) Where did the idea of New Towns originate?(B) How does Britains New Town formula differ from that of other European countries?(C) What is the purpose of building New Towns?(D) What incentives and penalties will be necessary to make a New Town formula workable?(E) Why have European New Towns been financially successful?(A) the government offers developers incentives to build in other areas(B) the promoters of New Town are motivated chiefly by self-interest(C) few people want to live in areas where land is still cheap(D) no studies have been done to determine the best locations(E) federal regulations make construction in those areas less profitableI. They will cause an erosion in the tax base of existing cities.II. The will divert residents from existing cities to other areas.III. They will increase the number of low-income residents in existing cities.(A) I only(B) II only(C) I and II only(D) II and III only(E) I, II, and III(A) social needs(B) financial factors(C) urban congestion(D) the profits of developers and builders(E) the environment(A) critical(B) pedantic(C) evasive(D) captious(E) vitriolic(A) They are a panacea for urban problems.(B) They will soon be plagued by the same problems that now plague cities.(C) They are poor models for New Towns.(D) They drive up property values in inner cities.(E) They alleviate some, but not all, of Americas urban problems.(A) thoroughly considered(B) insufficiently innovative(C) potentially workable(D) overly restrictive(E) financially sound(A) arguing for a change in policy(B) exploring the implications of novel idea(C) comparing and contrasting two manifestations of the same phenomenon(D) proposing a radically new solution to an old problem(E) summarizing recent research on a topic
We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today
"This is a protest, not a parade!" And with that, thousands of lesbians of all ages stepped off onto Fifth Avenue yesterday afternoon for the 24th annual Dyke March.

Held on the Saturday of Pride Weekend ever since the New York Lesbian Avengers started the tradition in 1993, the Dyke March pointedly does not seek a permit for the nearly two-mile walk from Bryant Park to Washington Square, nor are there any sponsors for the event. And though NYPD did, in fact, close off half of Fifth Avenue down to 23rd Street, and the entire thing after that, a dedicated crew of Dyke Marshals provided an extra layer of security for the marchers, blocking traffic at each intersection and running interference against the occasional harasser.

Despite the political seriousness of the event, the atmosphere was more festive than anything else, with loud out-and-proud chants; at least two drum corps, including the always-excellent Batala NYC; a strong message of love over hate; plenty of moms with their kids, and rampant public displays of affection.



Edie Windsor in the "Nobody knows I'm a lesbian" shirt (Scott Lynch / Gothamist)

The most poignant moment of the day came when the entire march stopped at around 20th Street for an emotionally devastating minute of silence for those killed in Orlando, every woman completely quiet, two fingers held in the air. Shortly after that, a loud cheer went up at the front of the march, as Edie Windsor, a pivotal figure in the overturning of DOMA in 2013, joined the demonstration for the final few blocks to the park.

As it does every year, the fountain beckoned In Washington Square, and several dozen marchers ended the day by splashing and laughing in the cool water. Click through to check out photos from throughout the event.
Business

IMF chief wants central banks to keep raising rates

The ECB had for months said that its first step will be to raise rates to a neutral setting, where it was neither driving nor restricting growth, but some policymakers are now advocating more aggressive action, saying the ECB should go further to tame inflationary pressures.
Names and faces

Nicole Bomar has joined Robert Peccia and Associates as a computer support specialist. She is responsible for the installation, maintenance, and support of hardware and software on the company network. She also serves as the network security administrator. Bomar previously provided computer support in the medical community.

Matthew Campbell will serve as a summer intern in RPA office. A native of Juneau, Alaska, he attends Montana State University in Bozeman where he is working toward his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering with anticipated graduation in 2017. Campbell is working with the Streets and Highways Group. Both Bomar and Campbell will work in the Helena office.

RPA is an employee-owned ESOP firm that provides civil engineering, landscape architecture and land surveying services throughout the United States with offices in Helena, Kalispell, Bozeman, and Fort Collins, Colo.

***

Ascent Bancorp has announced the completion of its capital raise to purchase First Security Bank of Helena. More than 90 local investors have made this transition possible. The board of directors would like to thank these investors and would also like to introduce the new executive team:

Loren Brown, chief executive officer: As chief executive officer, Brown is the key figure in execution of the long-term plans for the organization. He has a deep background in banking leadership, bank financing, and bank operations, most recently serving as an executive with Mountain West Bank. More importantly, however, Brown understands how a bank can and should serve the community. Brown has called Helena home since he was in preschool. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout and remains active in various adult leadership roles with the Boy Scouts of America. Brown serves on the board of directors for West Mont as well as the St. Peters Hospital Finance Committee.

Tom McGree, chief operating officer: A Helena native, McGree began his banking career in 2012 after spending more than 11 years serving as a risk management executive working with businesses from Montana and across the Pacific Northwest. His breadth of knowledge and experience will provide innovative solutions to customer needs, and help First Security to provide more value to the organizations clients, business partners, and the greater Helena community. As chief operating officer, McGree will guide the organization toward being highly responsive and flexible while remaining a true community bank. McGree is actively involved in a number of nonprofit and economic development entities across the state including the United Way, the Montana Business Assistance Connection (MBAC), the Montana Ambassadors, and Leadership Montana.

Tyler Armstrong, chief credit officer: In the role of chief credit officer, Armstrong brings extensive experience and leadership to the organizations credit department. He was instrumental in helping Mountain West Bank successfully navigate the 2008 economic downturn and related regulatory changes, all while improving the banks credit quality and strength. Armstrong served as a consumer loan officer and commercial loan officer for Mountain West Bank, working with customers to find banking solutions for both personal and business needs. Armstrong most recently served as an assistant vice president with Valley Bank of Belgrade, and now returns to his hometown of Helena to serve the community in which he was raised. Armstrong is involved in a number of nonprofit efforts including the Exchange Club.

First Security Bank of Helena will continue to serve as a hometown bank dedicated to providing convenient, flexible, and timely financial solutions for its customers and the community.

Having received regulatory approval, the bank expects the transition of local ownership to be finalized in July of 2016. For more information about the upcoming transition please email info@ascentbancorp.com.

News and notes

Singapore's ambassador to speak

The Montana World Affairs Council will host a program featuring, Singapores ambassador to the United States, Ashok Mirpuri, United States Engagement with the Asia-Pacific: A View from Singapore.

The program will be held at the Helena Great Northern Hotel, 835 Great Northern Blvd., on Tuesday, June 28, from noon-1:30pm. The event will feature a discussion with Ambassador Mirpuri and a light lunch.

The program will be $20 for individuals and $100 for a table that seats eight.

Call (406) 728-3328, or email info@montanaworldaffairs.org to RSVP.

***

Awards and honors

AAA auto insurance earns award

AAA Insurance has earned Brand of the Year status in the auto insurance category, according to the 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend study.

Using an academically vetted brand equity model that examines familiarity, quality and purchase consideration, the annual Harris Poll EquiTrend survey captures and analyzes more than 97,000 American opinions on more than 3,800 brands across nearly 500 different industry categories.

For more information about AAA Insurance, visit a local AAA club, or online at AAA.com.

Guidelines

The IR welcomes reports of hiring, promotions, awards, recognition, learning opportunities and other news from local companies and nonprofits. We accept press releases and photos (digital images at 300 dpi or more are preferred, but we can also use regular photos; we dont guarantee return of these).

There is no charge for items appearing in the Business Briefcase. Items are run on a space-available basis, and we reserve the right to edit and use information as we see fit.

The deadline is Tuesday at noon to be considered for publication the following Sunday.
What a beautiful June we have had  hopefully Helenans are getting out and enjoying the amazing outdoor opportunities we have living in the Helena area. We also hope visitors are making Helena a stop along their trip to Montana. Being located halfway between the two national parks makes Helena the perfect place for visitors to take a breather, relax and enjoy all the sights, events, and great ambience of Montanas Capital City!

Tourism is off to a super start for the summer with the May Smith Travel Report posting Helena as having an excellent occupancy -- the highest May since 2010! The Average Daily Rate was also the highest at $95.

There is quite a bit of construction going on around town. On the north side of town, the large building on the west side of North Montana past Rocky Mountain Credit Union is the new Goodwill Building  it is quite a bit bigger than its current building. Just past Macys on the right you can see the storage buildings going in on the north side of the Trinity Center. Going further north on North Montana Avenue -- on the right past the cemetery -- the new building going up is for Century 21 Heritage Realty owned by Julie Lamb-Heller and her husband Parker Heller.

On the opposite side of Helena at the South Interchange, there are a couple of new building getting underway. Robert Peccia and Associates Engineering is building a new office location at 3127 Saddle Drive. Montana Implants and Perio is building new dental office building at 3275 Colonial Drive. Edgewood Vista is building a 69-unit senior living facility also on Colonial Drive.

Watkins Shepherd Trucking has recently been purchased by Schneider National Carriers. Watkins & Shepard, which is headquartered in Missoula but has a large presence and terminal in Helena, has been a leading provider of LTL, truckload and logistics services for goods such as furniture, floor coverings and much more since 1974. The company had 1,300 employees including 800 drivers. Schneider is an international provider of truckload, intermodal and logistics services headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and is one of the largest carriers in North America. It appears that Schneider will continue its operations in both Helena and Missoula.

If you are going to be in Helena over the Fourth of July, dont miss the fun event (on the Fourth) at Centennial Park. The Chamber Ambassadors, The Helena YMCA, and other partners head up this free event that starts out with a Skateboard Exhibition at 10 a.m. (next to the YMCA); then the YMCA Firecracker (family) Fun Run at 10:30 a.m. (around the park!); Kids Activities including bounce houses from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 11 a.m. Old Glory Flag Ceremony; and the Rob Quist Concert from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. -- also featuring Robs daughter, Halladay Quist. Free hot dogs and root beer floats make this great family event even more fun. What a great way to celebrate our great nation at a free family event! Plus, youll still have time for your own family gatherings (or a little time on the lake) and for taking in the East Helena fireworks display at dark.
BILLINGS -- The national battle over whether food labels should identify genetically modified ingredients took a major turn that Montana producers say they can stomach, but dont necessarily find helpful.

After years of debate over whether genetically modified ingredients were unique enough to warrant listing on food labels, lawmakers on the Senate Agriculture Committee have agreed disclosure is necessary, sort of.

A proposal requiring food companies to identify genetically modified organisms, or GMOs is expected to be introduced in the Senate after the Fourth of July break. It would be the first mandatory nationwide label for GMOs, though the ingredients might not actually be printed on food labels.

Companies are being the given the option of providing a phone number, or a website referral where the information would be listed, instead of simply printing the GMO ingredients on the wrapper. Thats a compromise that food manufactures required, insisting that the science has repeatedly shown no difference between GMO and non-GMO ingredients.

Its a compromise demanded by sugar beet growers, a group that harvests 45,000 Montana acres annually. There are at least five different GMO crops raised on Montana farms. Sugar processed from GMO beets have no unique traits, according to the American Sugar Beet Growers Association.

These were very difficult negotiations, and they played out right until the end, said Luther Markwart, of the American Sugar Beet Growers Association. I think the piece they got is the best compromise you can get.

The only way the compromise would have been better is if it were struck earlier. Senate lawmakers announced the deal a little more than a week before Vermont was prepared to roll out its own GMO labeling requirements. Other states had been working on their own labeling laws, as well and food companies were concerned about the expense of complying with a patch quilt of individual state food labeling laws.

The Senate proposal, should it become law, would supplant the state requirements. Its the kind of national response that lawmakers like U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., were ready to support.

Montanas agriculture producers shouldnt be hindered by arbitrary regulations. Sound science and the free market should drive innovation in agriculture, Daines said.

The proposal had just been circulated to lawmakers at weeks end. Daines was still looking into the details Friday.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., did not respond to a Gazette email requesting comment Friday. He had previously opposed a labeling plan that would have supplanted state laws with a non-mandatory federal labeling law. The compromise issued last week had some of the same labeling options as the plan to which Tester objected, but compliance is mandatory. Tester farms organic crops near Big Sandy.

Montana organic producers were ambivalent about the compromise proposals effect on their businesses, mostly because certified organic labeling is an established marketing tool. They werent certain consumers would be helped by the Senates plan.

It may be that this is good for our business, said Doug Crabtree, chairman of the Montana Organic Association. But pretty much everyone has a right to know whats in their food. This seems like a very weak way to do that.

If consumers cant tell if a product has GMO ingredients without making a phone call or consulting the Internet, maybe they reach for organic labeled foods as the sure bet, Crabtree said. On his farm near Malta, Crabtree raised 19 different crops, some of which wind up in national organic brands like Kashi, Daves Killer Bread or Annies Homegrown, an organic line of pasta and prepared foods from General Mills.

Bob Quinn, of Kamut International, a company dealing in organic ancient grain varieties, said it was hard to see a shopper saddled with a couple children scanning packages with a mobile phone to determine whether GMO ingredients were included.
June 23

At about 11:50 p.m. near North Cooke and Cedar Streets for a traffic violation. The officer arrested the driver, a 19-year-old Helena man, for a warrant he had from Jefferson County Justice Court, in addition to citing him for no insurance and for failing to stop at a traffic light. He was booked at the detention center.

At 3:44 p.m. officers were called to the 800 block of North Cooke concerning a possibly suicidal female. She was located, placed in protective custody and transported to the hospital for evaluation.

June 24

at about 3:15 a.m. officers were notified that the motorhome reported stolen from AAA Storage on North Last Chance had been located in Klamath Falls, Oregon. One person was arrested in possession of the motorhome. Once that person is actually charged in Helena with the theft, police will release further information. The owner was contacted as to the whereabouts of the motorhome.

At 1:40 a.m. officers responded to a residence in the 1700 block of Butte Avenue to check the welfare of several children at the residence after a disturbance was reported. No criminal charges were filed.

At 4:27 a.m. officers were called to a residence in the 300 block of 11th Avenue concerning a possibly suicidal female. She was located and transported to the hospital for evaluation.

At 2:42 p.m. an officer was called to investigate a parenting plan violation that occurred in the Helena area.
All right, Attorney General Fox, your reputation depends on what you do now.

You could say thats impossible - a previously distinguished career in public service cant be defined by a single arbitrary decision about relocating 35 jobs.

But political careers have been made and lost on a lot less.

Here are the facts: Bureaucrats in the Department of Justice (which you, not the governor, control under a vagary of the Montana Constitution) made a decision to close the Title and Registration Bureau office in Deer Lodge.

When Department of Justice employees confirmed to The Montana Standard that the decision had been made, they reported that the building owner had demanded a significant rent increase (completely untrue). They further reported that they had searched Deer Lodge and Butte and failed to find a suitable building, necessitating the move to Helena.

Now we find out that the Department of Administration, which acts as the agent of the Department of Justice to find facility space, was asked only to look for space in Helena.

We also find out that no city officials in Deer Lodge, no county officials in Butte-Silver Bow and no local development officials in either community were asked about any alternate space available.

Your department has been caught lying to the public.

It is up to you to make this right.

Either negotiate a new deal with the current landlord or find space pronto in Deer Lodge or Butte. Both are eminently possible. Wed bet that in about an hour, we could find you several potentially suitable sites here in Butte. And if you actually tasked the Department of Administration with doing so, and they actually talked with local people, they could certainly do so in short order. At the governors order, they stand ready to do so.

Its time to intervene, restore the integrity of your office and those who work for you, and settle this right. If somebody lied to you or the public, they should be gone. And those jobs should stay here in Southwest Montana without people having to commute 120 miles a day.

Do whats right, Mr. Attorney General. Were waiting and watching.
Thomas Edison said in 1931, Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we dont have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.

Three quarters of a century later, the promise of solar energy is finally being realized. The price of solar panels has dropped by more than half since 2009, and there are now more jobs in solar in this country than there are in oil and gas extraction or coal mining.

To allow Montanas solar industry to continue growing toward its enormous potential, we need the right policies in place. Thats why I was so glad to see the energy plan released by Gov. Bullock this week.

Here in Montana, rooftop solar is growing at a rate of 30 percent per year, and large-scale solar projects are also beginning to be developed. Within the last year, three Montana electric cooperatives have installed community solar projects, allowing co-op members to buy into a larger solar array built by the co-op. Solar developers have signed contracts to build six large-scale solar arrays in Montana, and dozens more similar projects have been proposed.

As owner of a solar business near Red Lodge for the past 22 years, Ive witnessed the growth of Montanas solar industry firsthand.

In addition to creating jobs and boosting our economy, solar is a valuable energy resource. It produces at times of high demand for electricity, when energy is especially valuable, and it helps to diversify our energy portfolio and make the grid more resilient.

Despite its recent growth, today solar accounts for just 0.1 percent of Montanas in-state electricity use. But its potential is huge. A recent study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that rooftop solar in Montana could meet 28 percent of Montanas electricity needs.

The governors plan, titled The Future of Montana Electricity, addresses our states shifting energy landscape and lays out a variety of strategies to advance clean energy. When it comes to solar, the plan includes a goal of doubling solar development in the state by 2025. I am confident that we will meet that goal well ahead of schedule, thanks in part to some of the strategies outlined in the plan.

For example, net metering is Montanas foundational solar policy and has made rooftop solar development possible in the state. The Governors plan opposes efforts to weaken the net metering law, ensuring that rooftop solar be allowed to continue growing.

Its also great to see the state government leading by example on solar. The plan calls for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to evaluate the potential of solar on its own building in Helena, as well as other state-owned buildings and facilities around Montana.

As the governors plan points out, Over the coming decades, the energy landscape will dramatically change.

Coal has been an important part of Montanas economy for a long time, but as buyers of Montana electricity increasingly demand cleaner energy sources, theres no question that our energy sector is in flux. Change can be disorienting, but with change comes opportunity. The people of Montana have always been known for their resourcefulness and adaptability. By seizing the clean energy opportunities before us, we can come through this transition stronger and more prosperous than ever.

Thank you, Gov. Bullock, for an energy plan that embraces Montanas clean energy potential.

Henry Dykema is president of the nonprofit Montana Renewable Energy Association and owner of Sundance Solar Systems, a solar installation business near Red Lodge, Montana.
TUSCOLA  A judge ruled Friday that Alan Beaman is not entitled to a jury trial on his claims that three former Normal police officers botched the murder investigation that led to his wrongful conviction in the death of a former girlfriend.

The six-page decision from Douglas County Judge Richard Broch Jr. grants a motion from the city of Normal and its former officers, Tim Freesmeyer, Dave Warner and Frank Zayas, to have the lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 dismissed.

We are pleased, but not surprised, by this decision," Normal Corporation Counsel Brian Day said. "The town of Normal stands by the professionalism and integrity of our police department.

Beaman spent more than 13 years in prison for the 1994 death of Jennifer Lockmiller, an Illinois State University student from Decatur, and was released in 2009 after a unanimous ruling by the Illinois Supreme Court that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction.

The state followed by dismissing the murder charges.

Locke Bowman, one of Beaman's lawyers, said, "We are surprised and disappointed at Judge Broch's decision today. We will appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court, where we hope and expect to prevail."

Broch's ruling follows a March hearing on the lawsuit and three months of consideration of an opinion by the judge. In the meantime, lawyers attended a June 15 hearing in Tuscola, where further hearing dates, including an Aug. 8 trial, were scheduled.

Pretrial motions filed by both sides include hundreds of pages of documents for more than 20 motions the defense asked to be heard ahead of a trial.

In his decision, Broch found that police had probable cause to arrest and prosecute Beaman for Lockmiller's death. The judge also found no malice on the part of police in the way they handled the investigation.

Other suspects were reasonably excluded from consideration "either due to alibi evidence or lack of evidence" Broch ruled.

Beaman also failed to prove a conspiracy existed between the police and former prosecutors, now retired judges James Souk and Charles Reynard, Broch said.

In their arguments to Broch in March, lawyers for Beaman repeated the claims they have held since his first post-conviction petitions were filed after he began serving his 50-year sentence: The state's case rested mainly on the improbable proposition that Beaman sped to Normal from his home in Rockford within a 3-hour window  between a phone call he placed at home and his mother's return where she found his car in the driveway.

Defense lawyer Thomas DiCianni told Broch the history of heated arguments between the couple, coupled with physical evidence that placed Beaman in the victim's apartment, was ample reason to consider Beaman a suspect.
LEXINGTON  Northeast McLean County is the site of unlikely turf war.

In Chenoa, Lawndale, Lexington and Yates townships, two energy companies are vying to secure property that may be McLean County's next wind farm.

Its a land race right now," said Mike Swartz, manager of the McLean County Farm Bureau. "It's all about who can acquire the most land for the towers before the other one.

The competitors are Houston-based EDP Renewables North America and Chicago-based Invenergy. Both have local experience: EDP owns and operates Twin Groves Wind Farms east of Bloomington-Normal, and Invenergy developed and sold White Oak Energy Center near Carlock.

Both want to install at least 200 megawatts of capacity, or between 83 and 100 2- and 3-megawatt turbines. That could require as much as 35,000 acres of land, said Invenergy Business Development Manager Allyson Sand.

"Yes, there's competition," said Katie Chapman, a project manager for EDP that also is looking for land in Gridley Township.

The area is sought-after because "it is a windy area and there is a transmission line nearby," said David Loomis, director of Illinois State University's Center for Renewable Energy.

EDP got to the area first, in 2008, when the company started securing land leases, and county officials approved the project, then called Bright Stalk Wind Farms, in 2010. That was the last time the county approved a wind farm.

Today, most of those leases have lapsed, and county approval for the project expired after three years.

We had to let a lot of that land go because the projects didnt have good prospects. We depend on the energy market, which fluctuates, said Chapman. We came back and are refreshing our effort.

Both companies have held public outreach events for local landowners this spring and early summer, including an EDP landowner dinner on May 5 and an Invenergy open house in Lexington at the end of May. Sand said 80 people attended that event.

With the landowners mostly being farmers and in the field planting, its been harder to get meetings, (but) weve been getting a good response and building relationships, she said.

Unlike White Oak Energy Center, the new Invenergy project would continue to be owned and operated by the company, said Sand.

Some factors that might differentiate offers from the two companies include not only compensation, but "what are the rights allowed to the landowner for their ingress/regress roads and decommissioning, especially what is the company doing up front to put money aside for decommissioning, Swartz said.

In addition to securing land, the companies will need to file agricultural impact mitigation agreements with the state, a new requirement as of this year, and receive approval from the McLean County Board.

Neither has filed paperwork with the county, said Building and Zoning Director Phil Dick.

They could also be subject to a new set of county-level guidelines that are set to be approved by the county board next month. Those include a detailed decommissioning plan and adherence to specified heights and noise levels.

Theres been concern from some board members about setbacks, especially when it deals with non-participating property owners, said Jim Soeldner, county board vice chairman.

Anna Ziegler, assistant manager at the farm bureau, said the previous ordinance was vague and many of the things in our proposed text were imposed by the Zoning Board in previous special use permits, but the bureau wanted to make these changes before (EDP and Invenergy) applied.

The companies also are rushing to receive the maximum federal production tax credit for construction. Wind projects can receive 2.3 cents for every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, but that amount will decline 20 percent each year after 2016 as the incentive is phased out.

Both companies hope to finish construction in 2017.

And, both projects could succeed, Loomis said.

"I have seen two wind companies design projects so that they are right next to each other  (in) fact, they look like one big project to the (uninformed) visitor. Sometimes they work things out afterwards, (and) their respective land leases are intermixed," he said. "But the company that has more land leases is in a much stronger position."
Dear Dr. Roach: I'm a 69-year-old woman in excellent health. I take valsartan and doxazosin for high blood pressure. I am concerned because I have developed swelling in my left foot and ankle, with none at all in the right foot. Until now, I have never had any foot or ankle swelling, even in the hottest weather or during long periods of standing.

My doctor says that this is venous insufficiency, but he didn't explain what that is, its cause or how serious it might be. Is it common? Life-threatening? The doctor says there is no treatment, just compression stockings if necessary.

 W.D.U.

A: A great many people suffer from chronic venous insufficiency. Up to 50 percent of individuals will have it to some degree.

Veins normally have very low pressure, and they efficiently do their job of returning blood to the heart. Since there isn't enough pressure to go against gravity, the veins work via a system of valves, which allow only one-way flow of blood back to the heart. The action of the muscles propels the blood up the legs. The word "insufficiency," when used in a medical context, refers to the inability of the valves in the veins to properly do their job, causing the pressure in the veins to increase, often producing visibly dilated "varicose" veins. Veins with high pressure allow fluid to leak out, causing swelling in dependent (meaning, below the center of gravity) areas and those with some loose tissue. This is why ankles may appear worse than feet in some people.

Venous insufficiency often is a diagnosis of exclusion (rendered after other causes are ruled out), but it can be supported by an ultrasound of the legs. In the case of one-sided swelling, there must be a concern about a blockage in the veins or lymphatic vessels of the affected leg, so an ultrasound is done to exclude the diagnosis of a blood clot in the deep veins of the leg, thigh or pelvis. Although a deep venous thrombosis (clot) is potentially life-threatening, venous insufficiency is not. It can lead to complications, such as ulcers, that dramatically worsen quality of life, however.

Your doctor is right that compression stockings are an appropriate treatment. I hope you also heard that regular exercise (to take advantage of the muscle pumping action) and periodic elevation (a half-hour, three times a day, with the leg above the heart) are effective. For people with advanced disease or visible varicosities, surgical treatments sometimes are needed.

Human growth hormone

Dear Dr. Roach: What do you think of human growth hormone? It's supposed to help wrinkles, help with sleep problems and reduce fat. I just wondered how safe it is for an adult to be taking.

 A.H.

A: Human growth hormone has been tested in older adults in a six-month trial, and the results were published back in 2002. The study did show that muscle mass increased and fat decreased in participants. The study did not evaluate wrinkles or sleep. Although a benefit is postulated, I couldn't find any high-quality evidence for it.

There are benefits to HGH, but there are harms, too. The most serious of these is development of prediabetes or diabetes, which occurred in half of the men taking HGH, compared with 18 percent in the placebo group. Also, 32 percent of men taking HGH reported carpal tunnel syndrome; 39 percent of women reported swelling in the legs; and 41 percent of men reported joint pain. The authors of the study recommended against HGH in older adults except as part of further studies, and I agree, based on the modest benefits and significant harms.
In this image from video provided by House Television, House Speaker Paul Ryan gavels the House into session on the night of June 22.
Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Some people watched the video of the arrest of black 18-year-old Genele Laird at Madisons East Towne Mall on Tuesday and saw an abusive, racist police force.

Some saw officers doing what was necessary to control a woman who had allegedly just threatened a store employee with a knife and was resisting arrest.

I saw an advertisement for putting body cameras on Madison police. Unfortunately, Madison police, elected officials and citizen advisors have proven themselves surprisingly immune from the effects of advertising.

Whatever conclusions you draw from the 6-minute, 34-second video, taken by a bystander, its hard to see why either police detractors or police supporters wouldnt hanker for more such documentation.

Certainly those suspicious of police want more attention paid to alleged police transgressions, and its pretty unlikely Lairds arrest would be getting anywhere near the attention its getting in the absence of the video, which has quickly gone viral.

Besides, for those concerned with the way suspects are treated, it seems pretty heartless to hope some stranger will come along and document their arrests. How many other Lairds are out there in Madison whose treatment at the hands of police hasnt been exposed simply because no one was there to digitally record it?

Meanwhile, the video of Lairds arrest is largely confined to the part of her interaction with police when she is actively resisting and police are trying to control her. Why wouldnt police be wishing they could provide video and audio of the things Laird did that caused them to believe they had to physically restrain her in the first place?

After the fatal police shooting last year of unarmed black 19-year-old Tony Robinson, ad hoc citizens committee recommended against adopting police body cameras, saying cameras wouldnt improve trust between police and (especially) minority communities. The City Council and mayor went along.

On Wednesday, Veronica Lazo, who co-chaired the ad hoc committee, doubled down. Lairds arrest only demonstrates that body cameras are not the answer, she said.

There was a camera present that sheds enough light on the incident, she said, and didnt stop the officer from behaving as he did.

Ald. David Ahrens said residents would object to the millions of dollars it could cost to buy and maintain the cameras  especially given the backlash among some to the councils decision to spend $400,000 for a consultant to do a top-to-bottom review of the police department.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said our position has been to await the decision of the community. ... Should the city determine that the time is right for bringing cameras to the workforce, we will take them on willingly.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Koval referred to other amateur video of Lairds arrest and said for me, more is better. The more context I can get the better appreciation I will have for the holistic dynamic of what occurred.

No doubt, police body cameras wont magically alleviate mistrust between police and the black community  or, for that matter, prevent police misconduct or keep suspects from lying about how they were treated by police. By themselves, cameras arent an answer to anything.

But in the absence of some omniscient arbiter of truth, routinely having video documentation of police-citizen encounters aint exactly chopped liver, either.

Sure it would be expensive. So is the kind of litigation that arises when the only evidence in a police misconduct case consists of the dueling memories of the litigants.

The video of Lairds arrest puts police in a bad light  especially when one of the officers repeatedly knees Laird in the side and hits her with a closed fist.

Although making police look bad may well have been part of the point. The person who appears to be doing the videotaping can be heard telling Laird to ask if youre under arrest, asks for the badge number of one of the officers and threatens a security guard who tries to block his view.

If I were a cynical person, Id say therein lies the only logical reason for avoiding police body cameras. For those intent on painting police as racist and abusive, and who are uninterested in any evidence to the contrary, the lack of police body cameras gives them a shot at setting the terms of the debate.

Police body cameras wouldnt be deployed in Madison without formal rules for their use, overseen by a City Council and the mayor and, by extension, the people who elect them  none of whom have been shy about criticizing police.

Video taken by the public, though, can be framed, edited, altered and pretty much used in any way befitting the video-takers biases, interests or axes to grind. God bless their right to do so. But God help us if we have to rely on them to present reality.

Im not that cynical, though. Someday Madison leaders will do the right thing and adopt police body cameras.

The question is: How many police shootings, rough arrests and allegations of police misconduct it will take for them to do it?
Emergency responders rescued six stranded boaters on Lake Monona early Sunday morning after a seventh occupant notified authorities, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said.

A little before 12:10 a.m., sheriff's deputies responded to a report about a boat that had capsized on the lake, according to authorities. One of the boat's seven occupants swam to shore and initially alerted authorities to the situation, the sheriff's office said.

The boat was about a mile off shore from Tonyawatha Trail, with three people in the water hanging onto the boat and three others, including a 10-year-old child, sitting atop the overturned vessel, authorities said.

The people, who were uninjured, and the boat were taken to shore, according to the sheriff's office.

Sheriff's deputies, the state Department of Natural Resources, Monona Fire and Resuce, and Madison Fire and Rescue all responded to the incident.
A 57-year-old man was arrested early Saturday morning on a tentative felony OWI charge, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said.

Around 3:15 a.m., John Reuhl, of Madison, was detained by deputies at the Truckers Inn in the town of Burke, authorities said. Earlier, witnesses said they saw Reuhl's vehicle back into a light pole in the inn's parking lot, 6162 Highway 51, before taking off on the highway, the sheriff's office said.

His vehicle later crashed into a telephone box near Highway 51 and Highway DM after it went off the road, authorities said.

Reuhl then returned to the inn and was arrested by deputies, the sheriff's office said.

He was taken to the Dane County Jail on tentative charges of felony OWI and felony bail jumping, authorities said.
A small snake was instrumental in the narrow view Cathy Stepp adopted regarding state Department of Natural Resources employees years before she was appointed to lead the agency.

Stepp was a builder of custom homes in 1997 when the state placed the Butlers garter snake on its threatened species list. She heard countless complaints at builders association meetings about how DNR protection of the reptile was complicating the business.

In 2000, Stepp landed a seat as a Republican appointee on the DNRs policy board, but it wasnt until her 2002 election to the state Senate that she started swinging hard at the agency and its workers for what she saw as their anti-business practices.

She fought to streamline environmental regulations, earned a zero rating from conservationists, gathered testimony about overzealous DNR employees, and authored a bill to criminalize state worker retaliation against companies seeking pollution permits.

Fines for pollution fell to 30-year low in 2015 Penalties for pollution of air and water sharply decreased under Gov. Scott Walker, according to state data released by conservationists.

Frustrated by the slow pace of change, Stepp left the Senate when her four-year term ended. She worked for Republican causes until 2011 when the party took control of state government, and Gov. Scott Walker appointed her as the DNRs top administrator.

Waving off mounting signs that the agencys enforcement of existing laws has faltered, top Republican leaders say they are focused on easing unneeded burdens on private companies. And they say they are unreservedly happy with Stepp.

For her part, Stepp insists she remains uniquely qualified to represent the agency before a Legislature that is skeptical of the way it protects the states air, water, wildlife and other natural resources.

Among her qualifications she lists her record of self-described strident criticism of DNR employees  for example, her sarcastic 2009 blog entry calling them anti-business, cubicle-bound bureaucrats who develop outrageous ideas people in the real world have to contend with.

In an interview in her Madison office last week, Stepp said her well-known antipathy for the DNR helps her win over GOP skeptics.

I think I have a lot of credibility there because my former colleagues certainly know where I was coming from, Stepp said. So they say If Cathy thinks this is OK and shes comfortable, then I feel comfortable because I know where Cathy was coming from before.

Stepps critics scoff, saying she and the Legislature are far too comfortable with deteriorating enforcement of pollution laws.

They point to her policy that ended the DNRs practice of pushing back publicly against proposed laws agency scientists see as harmful. Department leaders havent openly fought budget cuts like the ones that wiped away nearly 200 positions since 2011 including last years loss of 93 senior scientists, educators, foresters and others.

When things are proposed in the Legislature that are very damaging to the environment, you have to have the secretary out there saying, Its still your decision, Legislature, but here are the ramifications, said George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and a former DNR secretary.

Stepp said she fights for the DNR behind the scenes, and her top administrators have said they have quietly stopped budget cuts that would have been worse than those enacted in 2015. Out of respect for the lawmakers involved, Stepp said, she wont detail those proposals.

We have made terrific inroads with some the toughest critics in the Legislature against this agency who have a very skewed perception of who makes up this agency, Stepp said.

The agency must be apolitical publicly, deferring to elected officials, Stepp said. As DNR secretary she said she has no opinion on whether environmental regulations are excessive or inadequate. The DNRs job is to put the law into practice, she said.

EPA to impose pollution rules if Wisconsin doesn't make changes in two years The state plans to fix its rules on fine particles from smokestacks, but critics say DNR priorities neglect public health.

Conservationists point to failings in water quality enforcement documented by the states nonpartisan audit bureau and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stepp says she has been hobbled for five years by organizational problems she inherited, and state work rules that slow hiring of key personnel.

But she claims progress in her primary mission  better customer service. She exhorts employees to address the public with an unfailingly pleasant tone and a full willingness to explain.

Some people misconstrued that, at least early on, to infer that it means something that it doesnt mean: saying yes to every question you are asked, granting every permit thats applied for, Stepp said. What its really about is being able to speak to people the way they speak to each other, being able to help people comply with the rules and explain the why behind the what that we do.

Stepp acknowledged that poor customer service can often be traced to chronic staff shortages had have left employees overwhelmed by heavy workloads. This summer she plans to reveal a comprehensive plan aimed at coming to their rescue.

Snake made impression

Stepp said her initial view of the DNR  and its employees  was shaped by her time as a builder in Racine County when other builders in southeastern Wisconsin were frustrated because their developments were complicated by DNR activities such as the protection of the endangered Butlers garter snake.

As Stepp has molded the DNR, she has changed the way she speaks about the DNR employees she once openly ridiculed.

I actually apologized to my staff at all supervisors meetings a few years ago about the comments I made because I painted with such a broad brush, and it was unfair, and was myopic, Stepp said.

In five years, DNR employees have taken her to visit a bear den, on tours of forestry sites and on ride-alongs with game wardens, allowing her to see how multi-faceted the agency is. And she has learned more about the science, laws and rules behind regulations.

I am a far more enriched person than I ever could have imagined being at this time in my life, Stepp said.

Still, she stands by other seemingly harsh comments she has made more recently. In employee meetings she has referred to some DNR activities as beloved but nonessential glitter and rainbows. In a videotaped management seminar in Florida, she described difficulty remaking the DNR, saying she has needed to tell employees that deer and the butterflies and clean air and clean water ... dont pay taxes and they dont sign our paychecks.

Stepps words and the belief of some employees that she hasnt defended them has spurred employee departures and a huge drain of expertise, several critics said.

Board asks why DNR hasn't fixed water pollution flaws Department leaders tell Natural Resources Board members that budget constraints were a problem, but new solutions may appear soon.

Its heartbreaking, said Kimberlee Wright, a former DNR attorney and now the director of Midwest Environmental Advocates, whose petition for federal intervention to fix state water pollution flaws drew signatures of more than 50 agency retirees.

She was making fun of staff, Wright said of Stepp. Oh, hey, you care about some little bug. They are talented professionals and they deserve respect.

Stepp said employees tell her that department morale is higher than ever. They understand that her remarks mean the agency must set realistic goals and take a practical, customer-oriented approach to its core mission of protecting resources, Stepp said.

Sprawling reach

The DNR has long been a lightning rod, drawing complaints from hunters who fail to bag deer, businesses subject to regulations, homeowners downwind of sand mines, and conservationists who are alarmed about waters that are polluted or simply drying up.

The agencys full-time work-force has declined 15 percent in the last two decades under both Democratic and Republican administrations. During Stepps tenure, a shrinking workforce collided with rapid expansion of industries the DNR regulates.

DNR concedes its rules are faulty, then allows more frac sand mining The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources let the rules lapse in March because they weren't adequately preventing pollution.

An explosion of industrial frac sand mining has fouled streams and raised worries about air pollution as the department struggled to write adequate permit rules. Rapid growth of large feedlots, manure spills and high-capacity well drilling are linked to tainted drinking water and widespread limitations on use of lakes and streams.

A recurring theme is inadequate staffing dating back at least a decade.

Stepp and her top administrators have been working for a year to document what each DNR employee does and how those duties are responsive to federal and state mandates. Soon the department will unveil plans created with staff input for shedding unneeded activities and shifting resources to where they are needed, she said.

She tells DNR employees theyve been asked to do more with less for too long.

This is a collective work product to give them the relief that they have been begging for for fourteen years, Stepp said. Finally they have a secretary that is willing to acknowledge it.

The core work analysis document will also help lawmakers understand the effects of any proposed budget cuts in the future.

When they say they want to cut staff, I will have the list of things that they will no longer get done in legislators back yards, and they can make better educated decisions, Stepp said.

DNR secretary says feds 'are over-reaching' in closing state-managed lands Cathy Stepp says Wisconsin natural and park areas are still open for business despite the federal shutdown.

Now (if) I ask for more staff, I will have a business reason why, Stepp said. I have the documentation to back it up. Thats the best way to advocate for staff.

Answering questions about water program problems at a meeting of the policy-making Natural Resources Board last week, Stepp said its possible she could ask Walker to propose more staffing in the 2017-2019 budget, but she was sensitive to the needs of other departments.

Thanks to Cathy Stepps strong leadership, the DNRs mission is to enforce our laws, work proactively with citizens to avoid violations, and take a common sense approach in balancing economic growth with environmental protection, said Walker spokesman Tom Evenson.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said he has been pleased with Stepps work.

You dont just walk in the front door of that agency and make all the changes overnight because you have to be sensitive to the concerns of the people in that agency, Fitzgerald said in an interview. It doesnt happen overnight, but ultimately you reach the goals the governor has set.

In 2013, the Natural Resources Board removed the Butlers garter snake from the states list of threatened species. Stepp signed off on the change, but said the proposal was generated by DNR scientists.
At about 3:15 a.m., John W. Reuhl, 57, crashed his vehicle at two separate locations along U.S. Highway 51  into a light pole at a gas station in the town of Burke and into a telephone box in the town of Windsor about 2.5 miles away, according to the sheriff's office.
President Barack Obama came into office promising the most transparent administration in history. Nearly eight years later, his administration appears determined to bury that promise as deeply as it struggles to keep thousands of Hillary Clinton emails and other documents secret.

The State Department recently said it had completed a search of correspondence from Clinton and top aides about the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and it promised to release the relevant documents  in late November. No doubt it is but a coincidence that that is several weeks after the presidential election for which Clinton just became the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Meanwhile, Justice Department lawyers argue that a federal court should throw out a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit because complying with the request by the Republican National Committee could take the State Department up to 75 years.

Whats important about these cases  and the many other instances in which citizens have been forced to sue the federal government to try to shake loose information  is not who is making the request, what issue the request concerns or what the information might mean for the election prospects of any individual.

Whats important is that public documents belong to the people of this nation, who ought to be able to see them without first filing a lawsuit. The Obama administration doesnt seem to agree.

Public records belong equally to Republicans, Democrats or independents. They belong equally to Trump supporters and Clinton supporters. They belong to people who think the TPP is a grand idea and those who think it would be an awful deal.

President Obama says all the right things about government transparency, but he fails to deliver. Recent developments involving documents that might shed light on Clintons shifting position on TPP and other issues make this clear, as does a pattern of conduct and behavior by his administration throughout his two terms.

The Obama administration has also gone to great lengths to track down anonymous whistleblowers, and has brought more cases against whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than every previous administration combined. The administration has targeted journalists, simply for doing their jobs, even seizing the phone records of an Associated Press reporter in one case.

Last year, a group of more than 50 media and open government groups sent a letter to the White House urging Obama to stop practices that prevented the flow of information to the public. The letter specifically spoke to the practice of prohibiting staff members from talking to journalists without the approval, oversight and monitoring of public affairs offices and political appointees.

Broken presidential promises are hardly anything new, of course. And there seems little reason to believe either a President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump would improve on Obamas record.

Openness and transparency are vital elements of a democracy because they ensure the people are able to make informed decisions and because they reinforce the important concept that elected officials are our representatives, not our rulers.
Boston Dynamics has released a video introducing SpotMini, a smaller version of its Spot quadruped robot at large in a domestic environment. We see SpotMini loading a dishwasher, suggesting that it might be capable of being useful.

SpotMini is a very odd-looking four footed beast.

In place of a neck and head it has a robotic arm and it is this gripper that means it can manipulate objects,and fetch and carry them. Though as you can see in the video it hasn't mastered walking around and doesn't always want to part with things. Overall, it's like a human toddler crossed with an overgrown puppy, crossed with the robot maid/butler that we really want.

According to information from Boston Robotics SpotMini weighs 55 lbs, (65 lbs if you include its arm). It is all-electric (no hydraulics) and runs for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing. It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs. These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation.

Boston Dynamics also states that it is one of the quietest robots we have ever built - but it is still rather clattery to judge from the video. Another telling point is:

SpotMini performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.

So the tussle over the can of coke in the out-take at the end of the video was a managed stunt which rather casts doubt on the degree of discrimination it showed in deciding which objects to put into the dishwasher and which to assign to the trash.

The falling over behavior doesn't inspire confidence, especially as it didn't pick up the banana skins that had caused the fall in the first place.

Boston Dynamics was acquired by Google in 2013. Earlier this year, as we previously reported, rumors emerged that Alphabet, its parent company was looking for a buyer, perhaps on the grounds that robots like Atlas were not likely to generate a revenue. Is a move to smaller robots an attempt to have a mass market product?

More Information

Boston Dynamics

Related Articles

Spot Is Boston Dynamics' New Robot "Dog"

Atlas Robot - The Next Generation

Happy Holidays From Boston Dynamics - A New Branch Of The Uncanny Valley

Vyo - A Robot For Controlling Smart Home Devices



ASUS Unveils Zenbo Home Companion Robot

Antbo Your Cuddly Robot Ant







Comments



Make a Comment or View Existing Comments Using Disqus





or email your comment to: comments@i-programmer.info
Parliament has to consider a debate on any petition posted on its website that attracts more than 100,000 signatures.

By Reuters: Just days after voting to leave the European Union, more than 2.5 million Britons and UK residents had signed a petition calling for a second vote, forcing lawmakers to at least consider a debate on the issue.

Parliament has to consider a debate on any petition posted on its website that attracts more than 100,000 signatures.



SECOND REFERENDUM PROPOSED



advertisement

The proposal, posted before the June 23 referendum, said the government should hold another plebiscite on EU membership if the support for Leave or Remain in a referendum was less than 60 per cent in a turnout of under 75 per cent of eligible voters.

The result on Thursday saw 52 per cent of voters, 17,410,742 people, back a British exit, on a turnout of 72 per cent.



According to an opinion poll conducted on Friday, half of voters said the result should stand, even if the EU offered more reforms to Britain's EU membership, while 39 per cent said a second referendum should be held under the new terms offered.

Some 48 per cent of British adults said they were happy with the result against 43 per cent who were unhappy, according to the poll by ComRes for the Sunday Mirror.

2.5 MILLION SIGN PETITION



The online petition -- which only British citizens or UK residents have the right to sign -- was proving so popular that by 2136 GMT on Saturday, 2,503,065 people had signed it.

Most of those who signed were based in areas where support for staying in the EU was strongest, most especially London, the website indicated.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who said on Friday he would resign after leading the failed campaign to keep Britain in the EU, had said there would be no second referendum.

The ComRes poll also asked a representative sample of 1,069 adults when the next general election should be.

2020 NEXT ELECTION

One third said there should be a vote as soon as the next prime minister was in place in the autumn, while 23 per cent said an election should be held early next year.

Some 27 per cent said the next election should be in 2020 as currently planned, according to the online poll.

--- ENDS ---
The president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association had submitted a complaint against Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating the businessmen there during his official visit to the market.

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Police on Saturday received a complaint against Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia from the president of East Delhi's Ghazipur vegetable market association.

The president of the Ghazipur Vegetable Market Association had submitted a complaint against Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, accusing him of intimidating the businessmen there during his official visit to the market.

advertisement

The police said that no FIR would be registered as no cognizable offence was found to be committed.

The deputy chief minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may turn the complaint into a case of extortion, violence and molestation and use it as an excuse to arrest him.

ALL AAP MLAs TO GO TO PM'S RESIDENCE TO PROTEST HARASSMENT BY DELHI POLICE IN ALLEGED FAKE CASES



1. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia will lead the MLAs.

2. ALL AAP MLAs to meet at Kejriwal's residence at 9 am.

3. Party believes all their MLAs are being harassed by Delhi Police on behest of PMO.

4. False and frivolous cases are being lodged against them.

5. Manish Sisodia along with all MLAs will ask PM to get them all arrested at once.



Also Read

Kejriwal takes on Modi as AAP MLA arrested

AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya sent to 14-day judicial custody, Kejriwal slams Modi

--- ENDS ---
Even though the opposition National Conference and Congress had described vote for the PDP as vote for the RSS, such appeals had no impact on voters.

By Naseer Ganai: In spite of being described as face of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Kashmir by opposition Congress and the National Conference, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti won the Anantnag by-polls defeating INC's Hilal Shah by a margin of 12,085 votes, highest margin as compared to previous elections.

BJP-PDP unity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, "Congratulations to J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti for the phenomenal victory in the Anantnag assembly by-election."

advertisement

"Spoke to Jammu & Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti ji over the phone and congratulated her on her electoral win in Anantnag bypolls", Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted.

Incidentally during the election Chief Minister repeatedly talked about importance of the PDP's alliance with the BJP and stated "if for peace of J&K she will have to forge alliance with the BJP one thousand times, she will do it."

Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra, PDP's youth leader, who was campaigning for Mehbooba in the constituency, told Mail Today, "the win signifies faith in leadership of Mehbooba Mufti. Despite propaganda against our party, people have bestowed faith and trust on us."

"This election is answer to lot of things. Besides, Kashmir is always different. It has its inherent problems, which needs solutions. One shouldn't view J&K from the prism of what is happening in other states. There is no correlation", Parra added.

ANANTNAG BY-POLL

Mehbooba was sworn in as the chief minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government on April 4 this year after three month long deadlock over re-alliance of the PDP with the BJP.

The death of Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed on January 7 this year had necessitated the Anantnag by-poll.

As it is mandatory for a chief minister or any other minister in the state to become a member of either House of the state within six months of being sworn in, the Chief Minister, who presently is representing South Kashmir's Anantnag constituency in Lok Sabha, preferred to contest from Anantnag constituency.

Mehbooba was first elected to the Assembly in 1996 on a Congress ticket from her hometown Bijbehara constituency. In 2002 she won from Pahalgam constituency of South Kashmir and in 2008 she won Wachi in Shopian district.

The Anantnag constituency had voted for the PDP in the past two elections, held in 2008 and 2014. On both the occasions the PDP's founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was its representative. In 2014 Mufti had won the Anantnag assembly seat with 16,983 votes, while Hilal Ahmad Shah of Congress, who got 10,955 votes. This time Mehbooba defeated Shah with good margin.

advertisement

ATTACKS PROVE FUTILE

Even though the opposition National Conference and Congress had described vote for the PDP as vote for the RSS, such appeals had no impact on voters. Congress party had described Mehbooba as face of the RSS in Jammu and Kashmir and vowed to "send her back to Nagpur."

PDP chief spokesman, Mehboob Beg, said, "people have reposed their faith in Mufti Sahab's idea of sewing together this alliance for the larger good and development of the state and have not fallen for the gimmicks played by the opposition",

Beg described vote for Mehbooba as vote for late Mufti's ideology. Then he explained Mufti's ideology his way. "Mufti Sahab was clear in his mind that this was the coming together of the North pole and the South Pole and stitched together this alliance for the larger benefit of the people. The people have shown their continued faith in his ideology and conviction and the state shall see an era of peace and development, based on the agenda of alliance', Beg said.

The state BJP is equally excited over the win. "This was first test of alliance between BJP and PDP after formation of coalition government and the people have voted for alliance and approval of alliance by masses is very clear and sound", state BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi said.

advertisement

"People are fed up with divisive politics of Congress and National Conference and has accepted with love and grace the reality that people of both regions have to live and progress together", he said. "Politics of fear and misinformation campaign by opposition has failed to the will of the masses. The people have rejected the ill efforts of tweeter king of National Conference who had been trying to incite passion of voters by trying build negative campaign by trying to use name of nationalistic organisation like RSS but voters could see through his trick and have shown place to its candidates", he added.

--- ENDS ---
Former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said India should not accept NSG membership as it has already got what it needs.

By India Today Web Desk: Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today criticised the Narendra Modi-led NDA government over its vigorous push to get Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership, saying there was no need for it and India should not have gone to the elite grouping as an "applicant".

The BJP veteran, who has often been critical of the Modi government after being sidelined in the party, said India should not accept NSG membership as it has already got what it needs.

advertisement

"India which has shown so much keenness in getting NSG membership, it is not required at all. I say this very strongly that India should not accept the NSG membership. We should not go there as an applicant. Whatever we had to get, we have got it," 83-year-old Sinha said.

"Indian government is being regularly misguided by some people sitting in the government on entry into NSG. If today we get the NSG membership, we will be the 'loser'. It will be a loss for us, no benefit," Sinha added.

His comments come after India's push for becoming at member of the NSG came a cropper at the plenary meeting of the 48-member NSG recently as divisions persisted over admitting non-NPT members with China leading the opposition to it.

Ahead of the meeting, India had pushed its case with a number of countries, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge and also meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tashkent urging him to take a decision on India's membership on merit while seeking Beijings support.

IT IS RIGHT TIME TO TEACH PAKISTAN A LESSON: SINHA

In the wake of the deadly Lashkar attack in Pampore in which eight CRPF personnel were martyred, Sinha said he has continuously opposed India's policy towards Pakistan at every level and the current policy with the neighbour is a complete failure.

With great sadness, I would like to say that our Govt's Pakistan policy has completely failed: Yashwant Sinha,BJP pic.twitter.com/NSeeV25NfY&; ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

The former finance minister told reporters the continuous assaults on the Indian defence have given birth to a war-like situation between the two neighbours and if we bow down to Pakistan terror attacks like those in Pathankot and Pampore will continue. He said it is right time to teach Pakistan a lesson.

But I have continuously opposed the government's policy towards Pakistan: Yashwant Sinha,BJP pic.twitter.com/9GK3Piwt1t&; ANI (@ANI_news) June 26, 2016

"If it is true that the two terrorists killed yesterday were Pakistanis, then its clear that its a war-like situation India and Pakistan. It is with great distress that I am saying that our government's policy towards Pakistan has failed. There are still many leaders, who will call for cordiality with Pakistan saying they are 'bechara'. They are not 'bechara', they have been attacking us for years and now, they are targeting our defence personnel head on," Sinha said.

advertisement

"If we never question Pakistan and keep 'bowing down' to them then attacks like those in Pathankot and Pampore will continue. After incidents like Pathankot, we bang our chests and weep and then forget about it," he added.

Stating the time has come to teach Pakistan a lesson, Sinha said, "If they have nuclear weapons, so do we. For the government, I am under the category of brain dead as I do not even have the status to give an opinion.

ALSO READ:

India has suffered cross-border terrorism for 25 years, says Yashwant Sinha

India's NSG bid dashed against the Great Wall



--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) BJP Mahila Morcha workers today staged a protest near the residence of AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya who is in jail under charges of molestation and misbehavior with women in his constituency.

The protesters led by Mehrauli district Mahila Morcha president Santosh Goel raised slogans against the Sangam Vihar MLA who was arrested by police yesterday.

advertisement

The protesters were stopped at a police barricade as they tried to reach the residence of Mohaniya.

Earlier, 52 MLAs of ruling AAP today created high drama here as they marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence to "surrender" before him but they were detained more than a kilometer away.

The MLAs were detained for violating prohibitory orders around the 7 Race Course Road, a high security area. Later they were released. PTI VIT PPS RCJ RG RCJ

--- ENDS ---
By Ankit Kumar: The head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD)chief and India's most wanted terrorist Hafiz Saeed often holds radical views on several issues, but his views on Britain's exit from European Union are more than dramatic. Addressing a gathering in Pakistan's Faisalabad, the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks said that Jihad was the main reason behind Brexit. In a unusual style, Saeed started his speech with an announcement "Aaj Ki Taza Khabar, Suno Jara Gaur Se (Breaking News of the day, listen to me very carefully)". Saeed rejoiced the global slowdown in share markets following Brexit and said "you might not realise it now, but all these changes are taking place due to Jihad". He held Britain responsible for USA lead actions and said "USA is just the operating hand, the real policy maker is UK, and now they are facing the wrath of God".

advertisement

INDIA's MOST WANTED

Saeed who figures in the most wanted list of India and US has been holding regular rallies across cities in Pakistan recently. Despite having an Interpol notice and US announcing a reward of $10 million, Hafiz Saeed continues to enjoy a VIP treatment by local administration in various Pakistani cities. He continues to deliver open hate speeches against India and US calling youngsters to join jihad against the enemies.



SAEED CELEBRATES UK'S EXIT FROM EU

Addressing an gathering of JuD supporters at Khyber centre of Faisalabad on Friday evening, Saeed celebrated UK's exit from EU and termed it the beginning of the end of mighty Europe. Saeed also went ahead to predict the fall of European Union in very near future "time is not far when the entire western civilisation would fall" said Saeed. Predicting the future of EU Saeed said "Britain's exit from EU will lead to downfall of the Great Britain and very soon France, Germany and Italy will follow". This statement from Saeed lead to loud cheers from his supporters. Saeed called upon his supporters to carry on their Jihad promising that Jihad would lead to impossible results. "Very soon, an Islamic Union will take over the world," announced Saeed as he ended his speech amid cheers and slogans from the crowd.

Also Read

Exclusive: India can deal with any eventuality arising out of Brexit, Economic Affairs Secretary tells India Today

Brexit pushes back India-China financial dialogue



Brexit: Here's what you need to know





--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Agartala, Jun 26 (PTI) BSF thwarted an attempt of about 300 Bangladeshi nationals to enter Indian territory at Champahaor area of Tripuras Khowai district and later they were taken back by the neighbouring country, police said today.

"Around 300 Bangladeshi nationals yesterday tried to enter through Champahaor but they were stopped by the BSF. They returned last night following a flag meeting between BSF and BGB," SP (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said.

advertisement

He said they were tribals and "evicted" by the forest guards of Bangladesh from Chunarughat area of Habiganj district of the neighbouring country.

BSF and district administration of Khowai provided them food and drinking water during their stay along the border, he said.

Bhowmick said due to barbed wire fencing and alertness of the BSF, they could not enter the India. PTI JOY PR DIP PS

--- ENDS ---
The 20th annual Sindhu Darshan festival, which concluded on Sunday, began on Friday evening with the inauguration of Sindhu Bhawan at Choglamsar Leh by former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

By Ashraf Wani: The three-day Sindu Darshan Festival concludes in Shey Manla in Leh

The Sindhu Darshan festival is organized annually on the banks of the River Sindhu. Celebrated on the full moon night of Guru Poornima in the month of June, the festival is an effort to promote unity and communal harmony in the country.

The 20th annual Sindhu Darshan mela commenced on Friday evening with the inauguration of Sindhu Bhawan at Choglamsar Leh by former Deputy Prime Minister and Member Parliament, L K Advani.



WHAT ADVANI SAID

advertisement

Demanding the opening of Kailash Mansarvovar Road through Ladakh for the convenience of pilgrims, Advani said, "China should accept the appeal of India to open Kailash Mansarvovar Road through Ladakh so that Yatris don't have to go via Nepal".

He also suggested inviting the Nobel laureate and world famous spiritual leader Dalai Lama in the festival in future. Advani further extended his greetings to the pilgrims, particularly Ladakhi people, for the success of this festival.

Advani said that India had a unique identity in the world for accepting people of all cultures and religions.

POPULARITY ON A RISE

The popularity of Sindu Darshan festival is increasing across the country. This year, the number of devotees was much more compared to previous years.

UP Chief Minister Akhlesh Yadav announced Rs 10,000 subsidy for pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh attending the festival this year.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FESTIVAL The Sindhu Darshan Festival is an iconic gesture to the brave soldiers of the country, who endanger their lives to save ours. The festival represents River Sindhu as a symbol of diverse cultural identities and peaceful co-existence in India. It is a perfect occasion for people who live in far-off places to visit and witness the picturesque beauty of Leh and Ladakh. River Sindhu is considered to be sacred as it originates from the holy Lake Mansarovar and people all across the country visit the place to catch a glimpse of the holy river and make offerings. Traditionally, people brought water from their region in clay pots and immersed it into the Sindhu River, thereby merging the river water with other waters of the land, symbolizing the assorted cultural identity of the country. The celebrations of the Sindhu Darshan Festival include traditional ceremonies involving Buddhist prayers by senior Lamas, which commence the festival. A series of cultural programs and performances by artists from various parts of the country follows. Many sightseeing tours including the 'Sindhu Yatra' are also organized during this time. Describing Sindh river as the cradle of one of the oldest civilizations in the world, BJP leader L.K.Advani said that he remembered the day 20 years back, when he, with a handful of devotees, visited the place and decided to make Sindu Darshan Festival a yearly calendar event.

advertisement

Also Read:

Planning to visit Ladakh? You can now take a direct bus from Delhi!

While China continues to develop across LAC, Indian villages struggle for basic amenities







--- ENDS ---